Slightly Scattered Thursday Night
Jul. 21st, 2022 11:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickBeen bouncing around between a few different sites in "distraction mode" for a good portion of the evening -- fortunately I've managed to focus enough to answer my messages and get everything on my to-do list done:
Work – Well, it didn’t start great, with traffic backed up for AGES on the highway because of a car fire (fortunately out and cleared by the time I got up there), and I had a late lunch because of various coworker delays. *grumbles* But it was a quiet day overall, with me actually wondering if I’d run out of shit to do for a moment before spotting there were more obituaries up for grabs. Day was mostly that, with a little of me reviewing credit card bullshit and getting annoyed that nothing ever gets done with that. *sigh* Half-day tomorrow, at least!
Beanbags – Nooo – it was actually a little less hot today, but a LOT more humid, meaning it was just BLUGH outside. We remain hiding in the AC.
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another evening on the bike, finishing off the Oxventure Stream “Court In The Act!” With the escape route created by Merilwen, we cut back to checking on Dob and Corazon, who actually had a bit of a heartfelt conversation with the guard who made them their noodles, who admitted that this is the only part of his job he likes because he knows the whole system in Otherway is terrible and corrupt, but this keeps a roof over his head, so he just does his best to give everyone a nice last meal. And then Dob mentioned that he overheard the whole “staying late” bit, and how that seems to be causing some strife with his wife, and the guy straight up said, “well, she’s the ex-wife now.” Awwww. . .
And then Corazon instantly jumped in with “you know what would make you feel better LETTING US GO.” XD The guard demurred, and Dob’s attempt to give him the noodles to take home to his wife as a sort of “please don’t leave me” gift backfired horribly as the wife apparently doesn’t like these kinds of noodles. :( So that went poorly. Fortunately, Corazon’s attempt to turn the noodles into nooses went INCREDIBLY, producing nooses that would easily pass for the real thing. The only complication was to keep the hungry Dob from eating them, but that was managed by spending the night giving each other prison tattoos (Dob gave Corazon a sailboat on his left shoulder; Corazon gave Dob a unicorn tramp stamp). Dob’s was already infected by the time the flaxsmith showed up in the morning, mostly because Corazon covered it with a flattened rat. XD The flaxsmith, for his part, was FURIOUS at having to redo the nooses and took it out on them, so Corazon and Dob promptly egged him on to start bragging about his excellent workmanship to all the courtroom, which he promised he would do before storming out. And THEN, to pull off the switcheroo, Corazon instructed Dob to eat the REAL nooses. Which Dob did, after causing a distraction with Major IMAGE (which apparently is the proper name for “Major Illusion”) showing a naked oiled prisoner trying to get out. A decent roll meant he was in no danger of death, but he hadn’t QUITE got them down, so he had to keep his mouth shut lest the ends of the rope be seen. :p
And so the trial began! Allie and Egbert collected their clients and brought them to the courtroom, where they were placed on the gallows and the noodle-nooses tested and deemed satisfactory; meanwhile, Corazon started working on his bound hands by some judicious application of Grease to slip the bonds off. Prudence lurked in the crowd, trying to see if she could spot the REAL Giovanni and Giamarco, but no dice; while Merilwen lurked in the sewers underneath the judge’s toilet. The judge came out and immediately had the prosecution start calling witnesses, as there was no time for opening remarks. XD The prosecution (another clear Mafioso) called Giovanni’s wife to identify Dob as Giovanni – Egbert TRIED to use Dob’s new tattoo as proof that he wasn’t Giovanni, but the prosecution clocked that it was a brand-new prison tattoo and the evidence was inadmissible. Though Dob at least got to moon the whole courtroom. XD There was also a dead body brought in with Dob’s lute smashed over it, with the prosecution claiming that “Giovanni” clearly used it to kill the guy after he was brought in – Egbert was almost convinced, but Allie managed to point out that it would be very hard for “Giovanni” to commit a murder like that after he’d been arrested. The prosecution just said that proved what a dangerous criminal “Giovanni” was. XD The third witness hadn’t been “set up” properly, so the prosecution rested after that – as Corazon managed to Grease his way out of his bonds and free Dob with one of his sharper rings, Egbert tried to persuade the jury by pointing out just how innocent the pair looked – and followed that up with a Command Word on the judge, telling him to “Believe” and getting the guy to tell the jury that they should consider an acquittal.
GUY CAUGHT A CROSSBOW BOLT BETWEEN THE EYES THE INSTANT AFTER HE SAID THAT. Yeah, turns out there were a lot of ARMED Mafia boys in that courtroom, and the terrified jury was easily persuaded into deciding Dob and Corazon were guilty. Egbert decided that, well, he was already there, he might as well pull the lever to start the hangman’s drop –
And after a couple of good rolls from Johnny, the noodle-nooses broke like they were supposed to. XD Because there was always a CHANCE they wouldn’t, as they told Ellen. Corazon promptly Greased up himself and Dob, and they slid for freedom through the cutouts Merilwen had prepared – though a middling roll meant that Corazon bumped his head on the way through, stunned himself, and had to be helped through the toilet by Dob and Merilwen (fortunately, they did NOT immediately land in the shit, though they did stink).
It was around this time that Prudence noticed there seemed to be absolutely no interest by any of the gathered Mafioso, or even Allie, in chasing their escaping patsies. She asked Allie, and she explained that what matters is that the courtroom is in chaos (mostly because the flaxsmith tried to attack Egbert for covering the escape by calling the nooses “shoddy” again – Egbert easily disarmed him thanks to a nat one on Johnny’s part and just pushed him over) – everyone can simply CLAIM Giovanni and Giamarco got hanged, the judge died of “natural causes” shortly thereafter, and things will just go back to normal in Otherway. Egbert suggested that they start a law firm together, but Allie firmly demurred, so he and Prudence just left through the main doors, meeting up with their friends and getting covered in stank by Corazon offering freedom hugs. And having to help Dob by pulling the nooses out of his tummy. But hey, what matters is that they escaped free and clear, right?
. . .No, what matters is making sure these assholes get their just desserts, and so there was a stop on the way before fleeing to burn down The Billy Club, just like Prudence wanted. Johnny promptly told them they had made some powerful enemies – again, just like Prudence wanted. XD Good times!
Oh, and since I had three minutes after the end of the episode, I went ahead and watched another cover by that guy who did “Never Gonna Give You Up” in the style of Blink 182 – this time a Blink 182-style take on Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” Again, surprisingly good despite the change of band – Alex Melton is a talented musician!
2. Continue writing “As Long As You Love Me”: Check – Victor has taken a chance on serenading Alice with the titular Backstreet Boys song, and while he was initially embarrassed when she couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter, Alice has proven to be an appreciative audience. So appreciative, in fact, that she wants them to try the next song together! A shame they won’t get far into it before everything goes off the rails again for a bit. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – easy enough as tonight only Kevin uploaded. So I was even able to fit in a quick bonus –
A) First, time for a quick OXBox list – “7 Annoyed Tutorials That Can't Believe You're This Bad at the Game!” Andy takes us through a few games that have tutorials that don’t appreciate it if you’re either super-awful or deliberately fucking things up. Splinter Cell doesn’t mind if you go out of your way to find the character who will do your field tech support early as a little Easter egg in the initial training course, but attack her? Oh, that’ll get you fired within seconds. Refuse to properly learn all the button prompts in Spider-Man 2? Bruce Campbell is going to be increasingly annoyed with you (though maybe that’ll just inspire you to do worse to get all the voice lines). Attempt pacifism in Call of Duty 2 as a newly-minted Russian solider by refusing to get your starter weapons? Hope you like being called a traitor and being shot in the face! Basically, don’t piss off the tutorial, as it WILL either snark you down to size or end your game early. :p
B) And then it was over to the Subs for Call Me Kevin and “evil cat simulator” – aka, Kevin plays Stray, where you are an adorable cat with an adorable backpack who is – *consults notes* helping the robots who have taken over after the death of humanity escape their cyberpunk slum city so they can see the wonders of the outside world. *blinks* This game about being a parkouring cat is more cyberpunk than I initially thought. But it does look very fun, especially with Kevin at the controls, going full cat by scratching up and knocking over everything that he possibly could. Especially the rugs, furniture, and paint cans of the robot city citizens. XD Though he drew the line at trying to fight a robot with a big stick, possibly because he knew he wouldn’t win that fight. XD Anyway, plot so far has been adorable cat romping with its cat-mates in the outside world, only to fall into the slum city; cat learning how to navigate said slum city; cat accidentally helping and befriending the robot B-12, who gives them the adorable backpack; cat accidentally menacing the robot population of the city; and cat solving puzzles and gathering notebooks for one particular robot citizen while being menaced by strange creatures that can literally suck the life out of you unless you figure out how to herd them in such a way so as you can escape. Kevin’s cat-brain hurt from working all of this out, so when the robot guy ran off to the bar to talk about their successes, he decided to declare squatter’s rights on his apartment. XD We’ll see if he continues – I wouldn’t mind!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – another easy one as I just had the one ask reply for The Valice Multiverse. *nods* I’ll take it!
*nods* Hooray for some productivity. Now I just have to answer my final comment and head to bed, as I have half a day of work to get through tomorrow. And something to add to my to-do list for the afternoon:
5. Buy and start playing Superliminal
I've been MEANING to get that puzzle game for a couple of weeks now, and it's happening TOMORROW, damn it. Hmph. Especially since it is still supposed to be super damn hot tomorrow, so there's likely to be more hiding in the AC. . . Hopefully it's as good as when I saw Kevin and Jon play it! Night all!
Work – Well, it didn’t start great, with traffic backed up for AGES on the highway because of a car fire (fortunately out and cleared by the time I got up there), and I had a late lunch because of various coworker delays. *grumbles* But it was a quiet day overall, with me actually wondering if I’d run out of shit to do for a moment before spotting there were more obituaries up for grabs. Day was mostly that, with a little of me reviewing credit card bullshit and getting annoyed that nothing ever gets done with that. *sigh* Half-day tomorrow, at least!
Beanbags – Nooo – it was actually a little less hot today, but a LOT more humid, meaning it was just BLUGH outside. We remain hiding in the AC.
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another evening on the bike, finishing off the Oxventure Stream “Court In The Act!” With the escape route created by Merilwen, we cut back to checking on Dob and Corazon, who actually had a bit of a heartfelt conversation with the guard who made them their noodles, who admitted that this is the only part of his job he likes because he knows the whole system in Otherway is terrible and corrupt, but this keeps a roof over his head, so he just does his best to give everyone a nice last meal. And then Dob mentioned that he overheard the whole “staying late” bit, and how that seems to be causing some strife with his wife, and the guy straight up said, “well, she’s the ex-wife now.” Awwww. . .
And then Corazon instantly jumped in with “you know what would make you feel better LETTING US GO.” XD The guard demurred, and Dob’s attempt to give him the noodles to take home to his wife as a sort of “please don’t leave me” gift backfired horribly as the wife apparently doesn’t like these kinds of noodles. :( So that went poorly. Fortunately, Corazon’s attempt to turn the noodles into nooses went INCREDIBLY, producing nooses that would easily pass for the real thing. The only complication was to keep the hungry Dob from eating them, but that was managed by spending the night giving each other prison tattoos (Dob gave Corazon a sailboat on his left shoulder; Corazon gave Dob a unicorn tramp stamp). Dob’s was already infected by the time the flaxsmith showed up in the morning, mostly because Corazon covered it with a flattened rat. XD The flaxsmith, for his part, was FURIOUS at having to redo the nooses and took it out on them, so Corazon and Dob promptly egged him on to start bragging about his excellent workmanship to all the courtroom, which he promised he would do before storming out. And THEN, to pull off the switcheroo, Corazon instructed Dob to eat the REAL nooses. Which Dob did, after causing a distraction with Major IMAGE (which apparently is the proper name for “Major Illusion”) showing a naked oiled prisoner trying to get out. A decent roll meant he was in no danger of death, but he hadn’t QUITE got them down, so he had to keep his mouth shut lest the ends of the rope be seen. :p
And so the trial began! Allie and Egbert collected their clients and brought them to the courtroom, where they were placed on the gallows and the noodle-nooses tested and deemed satisfactory; meanwhile, Corazon started working on his bound hands by some judicious application of Grease to slip the bonds off. Prudence lurked in the crowd, trying to see if she could spot the REAL Giovanni and Giamarco, but no dice; while Merilwen lurked in the sewers underneath the judge’s toilet. The judge came out and immediately had the prosecution start calling witnesses, as there was no time for opening remarks. XD The prosecution (another clear Mafioso) called Giovanni’s wife to identify Dob as Giovanni – Egbert TRIED to use Dob’s new tattoo as proof that he wasn’t Giovanni, but the prosecution clocked that it was a brand-new prison tattoo and the evidence was inadmissible. Though Dob at least got to moon the whole courtroom. XD There was also a dead body brought in with Dob’s lute smashed over it, with the prosecution claiming that “Giovanni” clearly used it to kill the guy after he was brought in – Egbert was almost convinced, but Allie managed to point out that it would be very hard for “Giovanni” to commit a murder like that after he’d been arrested. The prosecution just said that proved what a dangerous criminal “Giovanni” was. XD The third witness hadn’t been “set up” properly, so the prosecution rested after that – as Corazon managed to Grease his way out of his bonds and free Dob with one of his sharper rings, Egbert tried to persuade the jury by pointing out just how innocent the pair looked – and followed that up with a Command Word on the judge, telling him to “Believe” and getting the guy to tell the jury that they should consider an acquittal.
GUY CAUGHT A CROSSBOW BOLT BETWEEN THE EYES THE INSTANT AFTER HE SAID THAT. Yeah, turns out there were a lot of ARMED Mafia boys in that courtroom, and the terrified jury was easily persuaded into deciding Dob and Corazon were guilty. Egbert decided that, well, he was already there, he might as well pull the lever to start the hangman’s drop –
And after a couple of good rolls from Johnny, the noodle-nooses broke like they were supposed to. XD Because there was always a CHANCE they wouldn’t, as they told Ellen. Corazon promptly Greased up himself and Dob, and they slid for freedom through the cutouts Merilwen had prepared – though a middling roll meant that Corazon bumped his head on the way through, stunned himself, and had to be helped through the toilet by Dob and Merilwen (fortunately, they did NOT immediately land in the shit, though they did stink).
It was around this time that Prudence noticed there seemed to be absolutely no interest by any of the gathered Mafioso, or even Allie, in chasing their escaping patsies. She asked Allie, and she explained that what matters is that the courtroom is in chaos (mostly because the flaxsmith tried to attack Egbert for covering the escape by calling the nooses “shoddy” again – Egbert easily disarmed him thanks to a nat one on Johnny’s part and just pushed him over) – everyone can simply CLAIM Giovanni and Giamarco got hanged, the judge died of “natural causes” shortly thereafter, and things will just go back to normal in Otherway. Egbert suggested that they start a law firm together, but Allie firmly demurred, so he and Prudence just left through the main doors, meeting up with their friends and getting covered in stank by Corazon offering freedom hugs. And having to help Dob by pulling the nooses out of his tummy. But hey, what matters is that they escaped free and clear, right?
. . .No, what matters is making sure these assholes get their just desserts, and so there was a stop on the way before fleeing to burn down The Billy Club, just like Prudence wanted. Johnny promptly told them they had made some powerful enemies – again, just like Prudence wanted. XD Good times!
Oh, and since I had three minutes after the end of the episode, I went ahead and watched another cover by that guy who did “Never Gonna Give You Up” in the style of Blink 182 – this time a Blink 182-style take on Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” Again, surprisingly good despite the change of band – Alex Melton is a talented musician!
2. Continue writing “As Long As You Love Me”: Check – Victor has taken a chance on serenading Alice with the titular Backstreet Boys song, and while he was initially embarrassed when she couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter, Alice has proven to be an appreciative audience. So appreciative, in fact, that she wants them to try the next song together! A shame they won’t get far into it before everything goes off the rails again for a bit. . .
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – easy enough as tonight only Kevin uploaded. So I was even able to fit in a quick bonus –
A) First, time for a quick OXBox list – “7 Annoyed Tutorials That Can't Believe You're This Bad at the Game!” Andy takes us through a few games that have tutorials that don’t appreciate it if you’re either super-awful or deliberately fucking things up. Splinter Cell doesn’t mind if you go out of your way to find the character who will do your field tech support early as a little Easter egg in the initial training course, but attack her? Oh, that’ll get you fired within seconds. Refuse to properly learn all the button prompts in Spider-Man 2? Bruce Campbell is going to be increasingly annoyed with you (though maybe that’ll just inspire you to do worse to get all the voice lines). Attempt pacifism in Call of Duty 2 as a newly-minted Russian solider by refusing to get your starter weapons? Hope you like being called a traitor and being shot in the face! Basically, don’t piss off the tutorial, as it WILL either snark you down to size or end your game early. :p
B) And then it was over to the Subs for Call Me Kevin and “evil cat simulator” – aka, Kevin plays Stray, where you are an adorable cat with an adorable backpack who is – *consults notes* helping the robots who have taken over after the death of humanity escape their cyberpunk slum city so they can see the wonders of the outside world. *blinks* This game about being a parkouring cat is more cyberpunk than I initially thought. But it does look very fun, especially with Kevin at the controls, going full cat by scratching up and knocking over everything that he possibly could. Especially the rugs, furniture, and paint cans of the robot city citizens. XD Though he drew the line at trying to fight a robot with a big stick, possibly because he knew he wouldn’t win that fight. XD Anyway, plot so far has been adorable cat romping with its cat-mates in the outside world, only to fall into the slum city; cat learning how to navigate said slum city; cat accidentally helping and befriending the robot B-12, who gives them the adorable backpack; cat accidentally menacing the robot population of the city; and cat solving puzzles and gathering notebooks for one particular robot citizen while being menaced by strange creatures that can literally suck the life out of you unless you figure out how to herd them in such a way so as you can escape. Kevin’s cat-brain hurt from working all of this out, so when the robot guy ran off to the bar to talk about their successes, he decided to declare squatter’s rights on his apartment. XD We’ll see if he continues – I wouldn’t mind!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – another easy one as I just had the one ask reply for The Valice Multiverse. *nods* I’ll take it!
*nods* Hooray for some productivity. Now I just have to answer my final comment and head to bed, as I have half a day of work to get through tomorrow. And something to add to my to-do list for the afternoon:
5. Buy and start playing Superliminal
I've been MEANING to get that puzzle game for a couple of weeks now, and it's happening TOMORROW, damn it. Hmph. Especially since it is still supposed to be super damn hot tomorrow, so there's likely to be more hiding in the AC. . . Hopefully it's as good as when I saw Kevin and Jon play it! Night all!
