And So We End On Independence Day. . .
Jul. 4th, 2022 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickI have to say, despite a slightly-iffy start with the whole "waking up extra early on Friday" and occasional moments of annoyance, it's been a very nice long weekend. Got a lot of stuff that I wanted to get done, done. :) And I had a very productive 4th, I'm pleased to say, especially when it comes to catching up on all these damn YouTube videos I have lying around:
1.Either go back to "Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland" or finish up the Hypnokinky Valicer Stuff: Yeah, I think me deciding to finish off the holiday weekend with the Hypnokinky Valicer Stuff was inevitable. XD But I did get the final page of my little snippet of Smiler hypnotizing Victor with Alice watching on edited, so that’s good. :) Didn’t change a hell of a lot, but I still feel like it’s stronger for having had a second pass. I mean, who knows if anyone’s ever going to read it, but in case I ever feel like posting it anywhere! XD
2. Keep up on YouTube Subs and clear out the Plumbella in the Watch Later: Check plus! I mean, this was helped immensely by the fact that only Gray uploaded today in my Subs, leaving me with enough free time to watch even more videos from the good old WL, but still – good to finally clear some of this stuff out!
A) Started this afternoon post my own Simming with the Plumbella –
I. “I am losing every single werewolf fight this is not very rawrsome” – the penultimate episode of her pre-review Werewolves LP, in which Remus Lupisn’t continued to have a time of it! They lost an Epic Tug-Of-War to Rory in an attempt to become the Wildfangs Alpha; they rampaged multiple times because they hate reading and thinking but Plumbella keeps forcing them to read books (and if I remember her actual review correctly, they’re a BOOKWORM, which is an additional level of irony); their dog Maya ended up running away for a few days; they did not successfully get Rory pregnant, forcing them to woohoo in the bush again; and when they tried to marry Rory in a simple ceremony on their home lot (with one Mortimer Goth in attendance), they couldn’t get it together enough to exchange their vows before they went on another rampage fueled by the full moon and everyone gave up and ran off. XD Also they couldn’t catch the lunar fish after their rampage because it was just too cold. Also also their cowplant died. Basically, the only good things that happened to them in this episode were advancing a few ranks in their pack, finding some new neat artifacts (including a tiny tamed cowplant skull), becoming an Apex werewolf, and leveling up their fitness in the library gym. We’ll see if things improve for them in the final episode!
II. “I have completed The Sims 4: Werewolves pack :(” – the final episode of the LP, and things did indeed improve for Lupisn’t! After the failure of the wedding last episode, Lupisn’t was able to just elope with Rory thanks to their status as “fated mates,” AND it quickly became obvious she was pregnant with their kid too! They moved in together, and she spent a lot of time going around scavenging while Lupisn’t made friends with a fellow named Dennis and finally successfully asked for werewolf sympathy from him, unlocking the final dormant power. Plumbella then sneakily had Rory eat a moonpetal flower to reset her ability points and get rid of her “alpha” ability in the powers tree, allowing Lupisn’t to finally win an Epic Tug-Of-War against her and gain control of the Wildfangs! Completing their aspiration and becoming a Chomp Champion. After that, it was just a matter of trying to catch that elusive Luna Fish (no dice – even setting it to be the full moon constantly didn’t help because Lupisn’t was just that shit at fishing), and waiting for the kid to be born (a little boy by the name of Teddy, whom Plumbella was very disappointed in because he could not howl on his own). So yeah, that about wrapped things up for Remus Lupisn’t – leader of the Wildfangs, married to the former leader and his fated mate, with a kid and lots of cool artifacts around. Could have been a lot worse for him!
III. “AHHH THE SIMS 4: HIGH SCHOOL YEARS REACTION” – because of course she had to react to the new reveal trailer XD Her initial reaction was basically a load of “SQUEE YES AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL IS THE ONE AMERICAN THING I DEFINITELY WANTED TO EXPERIENCE IN THE SIMS” but once the high wore off, her actual opinion was “this looks really good and has a lot of elements that I want and that teenage Sims need, but I am genuinely worried that the pack won’t be able to live up to the hype – after all, I thought the Journey to Batuu trailer looked cool.” And the commenters feel much the same, with a lot of people worrying that “customizable prom” is gonna go the way of My Wedding Stories weddings. . . Personally, I have already admitted that I’m not that hype because I don’t really play with the younger life stages, and I’m not sure if I trust the Sims team to pull this off yet, but I’m willing to wait for more information. (And if it turns out it is good? I HAVE had some thoughts about a save file where I start Victor, Alice, Victoria, Emily, and Smiler as kids or teenagers. . .)
B) Then, after supper and writing, it was time for more catching up on the old OXBoxtra –
I. “The Ellen vs Luke Archery Tournament 🏹 | Show of the Weekend” – Ellen vs Luke go head-to-head in a five-shots archery tournament to celebrate the release of a new expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online! A six-minute video I have been trying to watch for just under a month now. XD But I have watched it, and I am proud to report that, despite Ellen’s DnD character, Merilwen, being the archer, Luke ended up taking the tournament, with 34 points to Ellen’s 25 (she got a good hit on the first shot, while the rest of them went wide – with one arrow disappearing completely; Luke, by contrast, got all five arrows on decent targets). They joked that this is why Merilwen constantly relies on stuff like Moonbeam and Spike Growth, and suggested Dob should think about multiclassing to Ranger. XD As a bonus, they also showed them learning to swordfight (with wooden swords, obviously), and how Ellen could cut off Luke’s arms if necessary. XD Looked like a fun day out!
II. “7 Weirdest Kart Racers We May Have Imagined” – and going back to the lists, here Luke and Ellen take us through some of the weirdest “kart racing” games out there! Mostly the result of frankly baffling license deals. I mean, Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing is strange, but understandable as something you might make a racing game out of (just to try and profit off the name). . .but Living World Racing is a racer sponsored by a pet care brand (specializing in small pets like mice and rabbits – it even comes with explanatory slide shows!). Genuinely. And even that fared better fun-wise than M&M Kart Racing, which featured the M&Ms racing each other in a game that holds the RECORD for being the lowest-ranked kart racer. Seriously, it’s in Guinness. I think Ellen’s suggested IKEA kart racer sounds much better. XD
III. “7 Guilt-Inducing Details That Made Us Feel Bad for Being Terrible” – and over on OXBox, Mike and Jane took us through some little moments in video games that made the player feel awful because of their choices. Most of them were cases of “this boss you fought actually had a sad backstory of some kind or family who loved them” (like Quelaag the Chaos Spider, just trying to protect her frail, blind sister in Dark Souls) or “your party members in a party-management game get either really sad or really pissy when you try to change them out” (like the party members in your squad in Final Fantasy Tactics). But there was one instance where it was simply a case of “this guy JUST got the news that he doesn’t have prostate cancer – wouldn’t it be funny to yank him out of a window and throw him to his death?” from Hitman Absolution. Which a) should definitely make you feel guilty and b) unfortunately IS kind of funny. XD Oh Hitman series, why are you like this. . .
C) And finally, it was over to the Subs for the sole video there tonight – “I upgraded my legs to level 999999,” aka GrayStillPlays takes on weird-ass mobile game Jump Girl! This is a game where you control a ragdoll of a girl, and you have to tap on her to make her jump and flip across an obstacle course without smashing her head on the floor below. You are allowed to smash her head on such things like couches, couches with people laying on them, hot dog warmers, grocery store fruit displays, vending machines, snowmen, pool tables, people trying to play pool, people vomiting in toilets, and wheelbarrows full of champagne. Your reward is either a warm bath, the chance to flip-murder people at a rave, getting checked out at the grocery store, or the chance to flip-murder people in a hot tub. It took Gray a bit to determine just exactly how to manipulate JumpGirl’s weird floppy physics to get the best amount of destruction with the least chance of dying, but – this is Gray. We all knew he was gonna figure it out. :p Got through sixteen levels and five different costumes too!
3. Play Sims 4 and do Winterfest with Smiler: Check! Smiler had a very nice Winterfest (in July) indeed – I started by sending them to Plumbella’s Pub for a bit to take advantage of the new moon’s automatic vampire energy regen and practice their powers for a bit. They ran into their friend Davion outside, so they had a bit of a chat, and Smiler was able to get a drink off them. They also insta-friended fellow barfly Seiji, and gave everyone a nice burst of happiness. :) Then, after swinging by the local skating rink behind the library for a bit, it was time to head home and decorate for Winterfest! They technically already had some decorations up – some lights around the roof eaves that never got taken down – but since those were barely visible, I had them buy some paper garlands, a door garland, a nutcracker, a wreath, some display cards, and – of course – the decorate-it-yourself tree. :) And, as Smiler wanted to throw a party, I decided to have them do an ungoaled “tree-trimming” house party with Victor, Alice, and their new friend Coty! To my absolute delight, Alice showed up in her “Late But Lucky” outfit from PlazaSims (I’d completely forgotten I’d set that as one of her party outfits XD). She and Coty got to know each other (useful for later) while Smiler and Victor did a bit of flirting and got the tree skirt ready, then Alice helped Smiler with the tree garland, and Coty helped with the ornaments. It was all very nice and friendly –
And then the notification saying Smiler had class soon popped up.
Riiiight, in this universe, everyone has to go to class, no matter WHAT day it is! I hastily had Smiler complete as much of their homework for said class as possible, then sent them off because, well, good grades are important! Fortunately the guests were able to amuse themselves (and finish off a few more of Smiler’s leftovers), and Smiler actually got home before the party ended, just in time to put the topper on and light the tree. And give Victor a gift of a holly sprig. Which he actually didn’t like, booo. >( Ah well, didn’t have much of an effect on their relationship. The party ended at “auto-Bronze” level (giving Smiler a wholly-unneeded Charisma skill book – free cash, though), and Smiler picked up their kicked-over garbage can and played in the trash (ew) before heading upstairs to have a bath before their next class. Once all their academic requirements were sorted, it was back home to practice more powers on passerby, build a snowpal (after a couple of false starts), and clean out the fridge before Father Winter showed up! Oh, and check the mailbox for presents – Lilith Pleasant was nice enough to send a gnome, aww. :)
Father Winter appeared just about then – Smiler did their usual “I say hello and you immediately consider me a good friend” schtick, shared the Winterfest spirit, and learned a bit about him – Father Winter is apparently into alternative music. Who knew? XD They also, of course, asked him for a present –
And got a KARAOKE MACHINE! The big, expensive one too! Holy crap! Smiler promptly gave Father Winter the bear they’d won from the arcade a little while back (which Clement appreciated), and once he’d gone, went upstairs and rearranged their “bedroom” to accommodate the damn thing (including just straight-up getting rid of a window XD). They had a lovely time testing it out, then went downstairs to start on their latest batch of homework, having had a very successful holiday. :) And I, seeing they had a ton of aspiration points, decided to have them pick up the “Brave” trait – it felt appropriate, and it’s going to be VERY handy once they start living in a haunted house. . .
4. Work on tumblr drafts: Check – did the usual morning catch-up on Victor Luvs Alice, then updated a few posts relating to Fallout 4 and the related “Fallout of Darkness” verse in my drafts to reflect where I actually am in my playthrough – and in the case of a post about “Fallout of Darkness” pets for Victor and Alice, add in that I’ve got a mod now that allowed me to adopt Mutt the wounded mongrel. :D Also went back through my “fanart for me” tag on the blog and found something very appropriate to reblog for the Friday after the Valice Anniversary this upcoming Thursday – one of my favorite pieces of fanart from one DanyDarkly, which has been my computer wallpaper for AGES. :) So that’s this entire upcoming week all set! And, to finish things off, I cleaned up a post on new Smiler Alton headcanons before lunch (including changing their natural eye color from blue to green to better match the coaster’s logo). Productive stuff!
5. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike this evening, and onto the next Oxventure Stream – “Oxventure in Space #2!” Yes, the gang were back with their Laserventurer characters (Corazon de Estrella, Stardob MD, Egbot, Pru D’Enzia, and Mer-Llwen) aboard their ship, ready to play another round of Lasers and Feelings for virtual New York Comic Con! They picked up shortly after their last adventure, aboard their ship – which now absolutely stinks of coconut shrimp, because Egbot’s strategy of just overloading ship AI L1L14N4’s databanks with ER episodes and whatnot to stop her killing them all in a coconut-shrimp-making contest led to her become passive, but absolutely OBSESSED with coconut shrimp. She responds to pretty much everything with either coconuts or shrimp – Corazon E, decorating the bridge with all his weed posters and other kitsch, found shrimp in his damn lava lamp. XD I mean, it’s better than her actively trying to murder either them or an entire space station, but still.
Despite their shrimpy ship, however, the gang were out and about in space, following an all-frequencies message that they weren’t quite in range to hear. Once they finally got into range, Corazon E got distracted by whether or not the image on the radar was a ship or some more damn shrimp, but Pru managed to figure out it was a ship and put the message up on the big old viewscreen. It proved to be a terrified-looking man pleading for help into a camera as something battered down the bulkhead behind him, saying there were only a scant few people left – and then the whatever got through the door and took him out, leaving the camera to go to static.
Corazon E was immediately like “welp, I think we should get out of here.” XD Stardob pleaded with him that there might be survivors and whatnot that they could help, but Corazon was unconvinced – in fact, his first instinct was to try and fire on the ship with the cannons. Fortunately, they were full of coconuts, which smashed harmlessly against the other ship’s hull – then L1L14N4 revealed that it was a mining ship, and that there was gold somewhere on it. Corazon E was immediately like “WE MUST SAVE THESE PEOPLE ARE YOU ALL ANIMALS” and did a beautiful parallel park against the other ship so they could extend the umbilical and dock. XD Pru pointed out there might be weird alien spores or something and that they should send some sort of probe over –
Oh, hey, yeah, Egbot is entirely mechanical! Send him! Egbot was only too happy to go over, and proceeded across to the other ship while the others prepped themselves for potential trouble (notably, Mer managed to find a crowbar and a coconut-smashing hammer, and Stardob gave her his bonesaw because he promised to do no harm, but she didn’t; Corazon put a couple of coconuts into a bag to form a crude – swingy weapon, I don’t know the actual name; and Stardob filled a “medical kit” (aka a lunchbox, apparently) with spare blood in case they needed it). Egbot scanned the ship and got Laser Feelings on his roll (this is the equivalent of a crit in this system, basically), meaning he got a ton of good information (atmosphere breathable, toxin levels normal, no alien spores, hold has lots of precious metals and minerals, there is paprika and rice in the kitchen meaning they might be able to convince L1L14N4 to try some new shrimp recipes) and the chance to ask Johnny a question – namely, how many of the life forms on this ship are human? Not many, honestly. . . Still, everything seemed okay from his end, so he told the others they could come over (Corazon E rushing across once he learned the other ship did not smell of coconut shrimp).
It did, however, smell of iron – and that’s because the area just past the airlock was covered in blood. Egbot just thought it was some sort of decorative statement. XD And not only that, there were three strange vaguely-humanoid-mole-rat creatures, ready to attack them! Fortunately the Laserventurers were prepared – Corazon E was able to put his coconuts-based weapon to good use, slinging it into a mole-ratoid and knocking it head over heels (and distracting it in the process, as it promptly began attacking the coconuts), while Egbot just smashed the one that tried to attack him into a light fixture with a powerful uppercut (which, uh, motion is generally used when he, um, gets lonely – to be fair, Johnny walked into that one by doing a particular hand gesture when asking Egbert what he normally used it for XD). However, Corazon E’s particular attack roll was a Laser Feelings one, which allowed him to ask Johnny if the mole-ratoids were pure alien or something that was previously human. . .and as it turns out, they were previously human. Ooh boy. I look forward to seeing where this one goes tomorrow!
Additionally:
-->Another nice day, another day out in the yard for beanbags – and things weren’t quite as good for Mom today, who had some real trouble properly aiming her shots. And Dad had a couple of good games, but had a tendency to come in just a POINT behind me, so. . . Final scores were me 3-W-W-2-W; Dad W-2-2-W-2; Mom 2-3-3-3-3. Perhaps things will be more equitable tomorrow!
Cool beans! Glad to be so caught up on everything (except Linkara -- I'm four episodes behind on Atop The Fourth Wall now! Watching a couple of those will have to be a priority this weekend. . .). And now I must be off to bed, as I do have work tomorrow. Without my coworker either, as she took the day off. . .but then, I took Thursday off, sooo I think it balances out in the end. :p Night all!
1.
2. Keep up on YouTube Subs and clear out the Plumbella in the Watch Later: Check plus! I mean, this was helped immensely by the fact that only Gray uploaded today in my Subs, leaving me with enough free time to watch even more videos from the good old WL, but still – good to finally clear some of this stuff out!
A) Started this afternoon post my own Simming with the Plumbella –
I. “I am losing every single werewolf fight this is not very rawrsome” – the penultimate episode of her pre-review Werewolves LP, in which Remus Lupisn’t continued to have a time of it! They lost an Epic Tug-Of-War to Rory in an attempt to become the Wildfangs Alpha; they rampaged multiple times because they hate reading and thinking but Plumbella keeps forcing them to read books (and if I remember her actual review correctly, they’re a BOOKWORM, which is an additional level of irony); their dog Maya ended up running away for a few days; they did not successfully get Rory pregnant, forcing them to woohoo in the bush again; and when they tried to marry Rory in a simple ceremony on their home lot (with one Mortimer Goth in attendance), they couldn’t get it together enough to exchange their vows before they went on another rampage fueled by the full moon and everyone gave up and ran off. XD Also they couldn’t catch the lunar fish after their rampage because it was just too cold. Also also their cowplant died. Basically, the only good things that happened to them in this episode were advancing a few ranks in their pack, finding some new neat artifacts (including a tiny tamed cowplant skull), becoming an Apex werewolf, and leveling up their fitness in the library gym. We’ll see if things improve for them in the final episode!
II. “I have completed The Sims 4: Werewolves pack :(” – the final episode of the LP, and things did indeed improve for Lupisn’t! After the failure of the wedding last episode, Lupisn’t was able to just elope with Rory thanks to their status as “fated mates,” AND it quickly became obvious she was pregnant with their kid too! They moved in together, and she spent a lot of time going around scavenging while Lupisn’t made friends with a fellow named Dennis and finally successfully asked for werewolf sympathy from him, unlocking the final dormant power. Plumbella then sneakily had Rory eat a moonpetal flower to reset her ability points and get rid of her “alpha” ability in the powers tree, allowing Lupisn’t to finally win an Epic Tug-Of-War against her and gain control of the Wildfangs! Completing their aspiration and becoming a Chomp Champion. After that, it was just a matter of trying to catch that elusive Luna Fish (no dice – even setting it to be the full moon constantly didn’t help because Lupisn’t was just that shit at fishing), and waiting for the kid to be born (a little boy by the name of Teddy, whom Plumbella was very disappointed in because he could not howl on his own). So yeah, that about wrapped things up for Remus Lupisn’t – leader of the Wildfangs, married to the former leader and his fated mate, with a kid and lots of cool artifacts around. Could have been a lot worse for him!
III. “AHHH THE SIMS 4: HIGH SCHOOL YEARS REACTION” – because of course she had to react to the new reveal trailer XD Her initial reaction was basically a load of “SQUEE YES AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL IS THE ONE AMERICAN THING I DEFINITELY WANTED TO EXPERIENCE IN THE SIMS” but once the high wore off, her actual opinion was “this looks really good and has a lot of elements that I want and that teenage Sims need, but I am genuinely worried that the pack won’t be able to live up to the hype – after all, I thought the Journey to Batuu trailer looked cool.” And the commenters feel much the same, with a lot of people worrying that “customizable prom” is gonna go the way of My Wedding Stories weddings. . . Personally, I have already admitted that I’m not that hype because I don’t really play with the younger life stages, and I’m not sure if I trust the Sims team to pull this off yet, but I’m willing to wait for more information. (And if it turns out it is good? I HAVE had some thoughts about a save file where I start Victor, Alice, Victoria, Emily, and Smiler as kids or teenagers. . .)
B) Then, after supper and writing, it was time for more catching up on the old OXBoxtra –
I. “The Ellen vs Luke Archery Tournament 🏹 | Show of the Weekend” – Ellen vs Luke go head-to-head in a five-shots archery tournament to celebrate the release of a new expansion for The Elder Scrolls Online! A six-minute video I have been trying to watch for just under a month now. XD But I have watched it, and I am proud to report that, despite Ellen’s DnD character, Merilwen, being the archer, Luke ended up taking the tournament, with 34 points to Ellen’s 25 (she got a good hit on the first shot, while the rest of them went wide – with one arrow disappearing completely; Luke, by contrast, got all five arrows on decent targets). They joked that this is why Merilwen constantly relies on stuff like Moonbeam and Spike Growth, and suggested Dob should think about multiclassing to Ranger. XD As a bonus, they also showed them learning to swordfight (with wooden swords, obviously), and how Ellen could cut off Luke’s arms if necessary. XD Looked like a fun day out!
II. “7 Weirdest Kart Racers We May Have Imagined” – and going back to the lists, here Luke and Ellen take us through some of the weirdest “kart racing” games out there! Mostly the result of frankly baffling license deals. I mean, Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing is strange, but understandable as something you might make a racing game out of (just to try and profit off the name). . .but Living World Racing is a racer sponsored by a pet care brand (specializing in small pets like mice and rabbits – it even comes with explanatory slide shows!). Genuinely. And even that fared better fun-wise than M&M Kart Racing, which featured the M&Ms racing each other in a game that holds the RECORD for being the lowest-ranked kart racer. Seriously, it’s in Guinness. I think Ellen’s suggested IKEA kart racer sounds much better. XD
III. “7 Guilt-Inducing Details That Made Us Feel Bad for Being Terrible” – and over on OXBox, Mike and Jane took us through some little moments in video games that made the player feel awful because of their choices. Most of them were cases of “this boss you fought actually had a sad backstory of some kind or family who loved them” (like Quelaag the Chaos Spider, just trying to protect her frail, blind sister in Dark Souls) or “your party members in a party-management game get either really sad or really pissy when you try to change them out” (like the party members in your squad in Final Fantasy Tactics). But there was one instance where it was simply a case of “this guy JUST got the news that he doesn’t have prostate cancer – wouldn’t it be funny to yank him out of a window and throw him to his death?” from Hitman Absolution. Which a) should definitely make you feel guilty and b) unfortunately IS kind of funny. XD Oh Hitman series, why are you like this. . .
C) And finally, it was over to the Subs for the sole video there tonight – “I upgraded my legs to level 999999,” aka GrayStillPlays takes on weird-ass mobile game Jump Girl! This is a game where you control a ragdoll of a girl, and you have to tap on her to make her jump and flip across an obstacle course without smashing her head on the floor below. You are allowed to smash her head on such things like couches, couches with people laying on them, hot dog warmers, grocery store fruit displays, vending machines, snowmen, pool tables, people trying to play pool, people vomiting in toilets, and wheelbarrows full of champagne. Your reward is either a warm bath, the chance to flip-murder people at a rave, getting checked out at the grocery store, or the chance to flip-murder people in a hot tub. It took Gray a bit to determine just exactly how to manipulate JumpGirl’s weird floppy physics to get the best amount of destruction with the least chance of dying, but – this is Gray. We all knew he was gonna figure it out. :p Got through sixteen levels and five different costumes too!
3. Play Sims 4 and do Winterfest with Smiler: Check! Smiler had a very nice Winterfest (in July) indeed – I started by sending them to Plumbella’s Pub for a bit to take advantage of the new moon’s automatic vampire energy regen and practice their powers for a bit. They ran into their friend Davion outside, so they had a bit of a chat, and Smiler was able to get a drink off them. They also insta-friended fellow barfly Seiji, and gave everyone a nice burst of happiness. :) Then, after swinging by the local skating rink behind the library for a bit, it was time to head home and decorate for Winterfest! They technically already had some decorations up – some lights around the roof eaves that never got taken down – but since those were barely visible, I had them buy some paper garlands, a door garland, a nutcracker, a wreath, some display cards, and – of course – the decorate-it-yourself tree. :) And, as Smiler wanted to throw a party, I decided to have them do an ungoaled “tree-trimming” house party with Victor, Alice, and their new friend Coty! To my absolute delight, Alice showed up in her “Late But Lucky” outfit from PlazaSims (I’d completely forgotten I’d set that as one of her party outfits XD). She and Coty got to know each other (useful for later) while Smiler and Victor did a bit of flirting and got the tree skirt ready, then Alice helped Smiler with the tree garland, and Coty helped with the ornaments. It was all very nice and friendly –
And then the notification saying Smiler had class soon popped up.
Riiiight, in this universe, everyone has to go to class, no matter WHAT day it is! I hastily had Smiler complete as much of their homework for said class as possible, then sent them off because, well, good grades are important! Fortunately the guests were able to amuse themselves (and finish off a few more of Smiler’s leftovers), and Smiler actually got home before the party ended, just in time to put the topper on and light the tree. And give Victor a gift of a holly sprig. Which he actually didn’t like, booo. >( Ah well, didn’t have much of an effect on their relationship. The party ended at “auto-Bronze” level (giving Smiler a wholly-unneeded Charisma skill book – free cash, though), and Smiler picked up their kicked-over garbage can and played in the trash (ew) before heading upstairs to have a bath before their next class. Once all their academic requirements were sorted, it was back home to practice more powers on passerby, build a snowpal (after a couple of false starts), and clean out the fridge before Father Winter showed up! Oh, and check the mailbox for presents – Lilith Pleasant was nice enough to send a gnome, aww. :)
Father Winter appeared just about then – Smiler did their usual “I say hello and you immediately consider me a good friend” schtick, shared the Winterfest spirit, and learned a bit about him – Father Winter is apparently into alternative music. Who knew? XD They also, of course, asked him for a present –
And got a KARAOKE MACHINE! The big, expensive one too! Holy crap! Smiler promptly gave Father Winter the bear they’d won from the arcade a little while back (which Clement appreciated), and once he’d gone, went upstairs and rearranged their “bedroom” to accommodate the damn thing (including just straight-up getting rid of a window XD). They had a lovely time testing it out, then went downstairs to start on their latest batch of homework, having had a very successful holiday. :) And I, seeing they had a ton of aspiration points, decided to have them pick up the “Brave” trait – it felt appropriate, and it’s going to be VERY handy once they start living in a haunted house. . .
4. Work on tumblr drafts: Check – did the usual morning catch-up on Victor Luvs Alice, then updated a few posts relating to Fallout 4 and the related “Fallout of Darkness” verse in my drafts to reflect where I actually am in my playthrough – and in the case of a post about “Fallout of Darkness” pets for Victor and Alice, add in that I’ve got a mod now that allowed me to adopt Mutt the wounded mongrel. :D Also went back through my “fanart for me” tag on the blog and found something very appropriate to reblog for the Friday after the Valice Anniversary this upcoming Thursday – one of my favorite pieces of fanart from one DanyDarkly, which has been my computer wallpaper for AGES. :) So that’s this entire upcoming week all set! And, to finish things off, I cleaned up a post on new Smiler Alton headcanons before lunch (including changing their natural eye color from blue to green to better match the coaster’s logo). Productive stuff!
5. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike this evening, and onto the next Oxventure Stream – “Oxventure in Space #2!” Yes, the gang were back with their Laserventurer characters (Corazon de Estrella, Stardob MD, Egbot, Pru D’Enzia, and Mer-Llwen) aboard their ship, ready to play another round of Lasers and Feelings for virtual New York Comic Con! They picked up shortly after their last adventure, aboard their ship – which now absolutely stinks of coconut shrimp, because Egbot’s strategy of just overloading ship AI L1L14N4’s databanks with ER episodes and whatnot to stop her killing them all in a coconut-shrimp-making contest led to her become passive, but absolutely OBSESSED with coconut shrimp. She responds to pretty much everything with either coconuts or shrimp – Corazon E, decorating the bridge with all his weed posters and other kitsch, found shrimp in his damn lava lamp. XD I mean, it’s better than her actively trying to murder either them or an entire space station, but still.
Despite their shrimpy ship, however, the gang were out and about in space, following an all-frequencies message that they weren’t quite in range to hear. Once they finally got into range, Corazon E got distracted by whether or not the image on the radar was a ship or some more damn shrimp, but Pru managed to figure out it was a ship and put the message up on the big old viewscreen. It proved to be a terrified-looking man pleading for help into a camera as something battered down the bulkhead behind him, saying there were only a scant few people left – and then the whatever got through the door and took him out, leaving the camera to go to static.
Corazon E was immediately like “welp, I think we should get out of here.” XD Stardob pleaded with him that there might be survivors and whatnot that they could help, but Corazon was unconvinced – in fact, his first instinct was to try and fire on the ship with the cannons. Fortunately, they were full of coconuts, which smashed harmlessly against the other ship’s hull – then L1L14N4 revealed that it was a mining ship, and that there was gold somewhere on it. Corazon E was immediately like “WE MUST SAVE THESE PEOPLE ARE YOU ALL ANIMALS” and did a beautiful parallel park against the other ship so they could extend the umbilical and dock. XD Pru pointed out there might be weird alien spores or something and that they should send some sort of probe over –
Oh, hey, yeah, Egbot is entirely mechanical! Send him! Egbot was only too happy to go over, and proceeded across to the other ship while the others prepped themselves for potential trouble (notably, Mer managed to find a crowbar and a coconut-smashing hammer, and Stardob gave her his bonesaw because he promised to do no harm, but she didn’t; Corazon put a couple of coconuts into a bag to form a crude – swingy weapon, I don’t know the actual name; and Stardob filled a “medical kit” (aka a lunchbox, apparently) with spare blood in case they needed it). Egbot scanned the ship and got Laser Feelings on his roll (this is the equivalent of a crit in this system, basically), meaning he got a ton of good information (atmosphere breathable, toxin levels normal, no alien spores, hold has lots of precious metals and minerals, there is paprika and rice in the kitchen meaning they might be able to convince L1L14N4 to try some new shrimp recipes) and the chance to ask Johnny a question – namely, how many of the life forms on this ship are human? Not many, honestly. . . Still, everything seemed okay from his end, so he told the others they could come over (Corazon E rushing across once he learned the other ship did not smell of coconut shrimp).
It did, however, smell of iron – and that’s because the area just past the airlock was covered in blood. Egbot just thought it was some sort of decorative statement. XD And not only that, there were three strange vaguely-humanoid-mole-rat creatures, ready to attack them! Fortunately the Laserventurers were prepared – Corazon E was able to put his coconuts-based weapon to good use, slinging it into a mole-ratoid and knocking it head over heels (and distracting it in the process, as it promptly began attacking the coconuts), while Egbot just smashed the one that tried to attack him into a light fixture with a powerful uppercut (which, uh, motion is generally used when he, um, gets lonely – to be fair, Johnny walked into that one by doing a particular hand gesture when asking Egbert what he normally used it for XD). However, Corazon E’s particular attack roll was a Laser Feelings one, which allowed him to ask Johnny if the mole-ratoids were pure alien or something that was previously human. . .and as it turns out, they were previously human. Ooh boy. I look forward to seeing where this one goes tomorrow!
Additionally:
-->Another nice day, another day out in the yard for beanbags – and things weren’t quite as good for Mom today, who had some real trouble properly aiming her shots. And Dad had a couple of good games, but had a tendency to come in just a POINT behind me, so. . . Final scores were me 3-W-W-2-W; Dad W-2-2-W-2; Mom 2-3-3-3-3. Perhaps things will be more equitable tomorrow!
Cool beans! Glad to be so caught up on everything (except Linkara -- I'm four episodes behind on Atop The Fourth Wall now! Watching a couple of those will have to be a priority this weekend. . .). And now I must be off to bed, as I do have work tomorrow. Without my coworker either, as she took the day off. . .but then, I took Thursday off, sooo I think it balances out in the end. :p Night all!
