Somewhat Less Sticky Tuesday
Jun. 27th, 2023 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickI actually thought it was pretty reasonable most of the day -- perhaps that's a side effect of the thunderstorms that I somehow managed to sleep through last night. :p AC's still on for sleeping times, though, simply because it has NOT really cooled down any. Gotta have it nice and chill if I want to get my shut-eye! *nods*
Anyway, as for my day --
Work – Another quiet day – more duplicates and a couple of messages from people needing to reduce or write off pledges. Nothing particularly exciting! *shrug* And it was still hot and kinda muggy (and my poor mom kinda exhausted herself cleaning the house before I got home), so still no beanbags. We’re really not getting a lot of chances to play this year, I gotta say!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike, and back to the Oxventure One-Shot Wonder, “Adventure Skeletons!” Having decided to venture further out into the human realm and hopefully find some clothes to not freak out the locals, Lionel Spinel, Dr. S. Kelly, Bony Emily, and Cursed Skeleton #18 started down into the valley towards Devil’s REST (I misremembered the name of the town yesterday). Their chosen path brought them through a field of grain, where Lionel stumbled over the sleeping form of a young farm boy! The kid was naturally a little frightened to see himself surrounded by skeletons (particularly one super-speedy one, as Bony Emily did still have her gloves), but after being told it was the “dead of afternoon” by #18, proved to be more frightened of something else – namely, the fact that he hadn’t gotten any of the farm chores done! Turns out that while his parents go off to market to sell their goods and have a drink and a chat with their friends, it’s the kid’s job to milk the cow, harvest the eggs, feed the dogs, and bring in the grain. If he doesn’t, he has to sleep outside. #18 pointed out that the kid was already sleeping outside, so this wasn’t much of a punishment, and the kid revealed that he was rather used to sleeping rough at this point. #18 promptly decided the kid’s parents were pretty shitty, which, fair. After some chat about what the skeletons wanted (Dr. S. reassuring the kid that they wouldn’t take his parents and turn them into fell creatures of darkness, they’d probably just kill them and steal their limbs), a deal was struck – in exchange for doing the kid’s chores, the kid would procure them clothes, with half up front (one of the dad’s really nice church shoes, for example, or the top half of a pair of dungarees). Bony Emily WANTED to try and do a montage of trying on clothes to get out of helping with the chores, but the kid told her his dad always told him the montage-ing had to wait until the chores were done, and then admitted he was pretty sure the guy wasn’t well. XD She got half a montage with the items the kid brought down initially, at least. XD
And so the skeletons split up to do the chores! Success rates were – variable. XD Bony Emily took on feeding the dogs, despite not being sure what dogs were or what they ate – once they expressed an interest in her bones, however, she just let two of them take her hands, and the other her still-skeletal leg below the knee. The dogs were thrilled with this arrangement, while Emily did her best to make do with a stolen chew toy and a rake to replace the missing bits. Lionel Spinel went to collect the eggs, and – working on the logic that frightening the chickens would make them produce MORE eggs – used his incredible screaming abilities to terrify them. And indeed, they all laid an extra egg each – even the rooster. XD Dr. S. Kelly took on milking the cow, Bertie – his initial plan was to use one of the great axes he’d bought from Lionel to chop it out, but fortunately for Bertie, she was actually a very intelligent cow, and was able to communicate to him (through clever use of some leather straps and her tongue) how to ACTUALLY milk her. Dr. S. thought that whole process was disgusting and attempted to stop himself from seeing it by using his own head as a milk pail – unfortunately, a VERY poor roll meant that him decapitating himself terrified poor Bertie into kicking him and staying as far from him as possible. Eventually, though, Dr. S. hatched a plan to teach Bertie how to milk HERSELF by attaching his old skeletal right hand to a post and showing her where to bite to get the fingers to squeeze her udders. That day’s milk was wasted as he forgot to also put down a pail, but hey, the system works! And Cursed Skeleton #18 decided to take in the grain – after using a cloak to pretend to be the Grim Reaper, they discovered that, for whatever reason, there was no scythe available in the barn. There was, however, a sickle and some rope, so #18 decided to make do –
And tied the sickle to the kid’s hands (having previously told him to go back to sleep) and started spinning him in a giant circle to cut down the grain. XD Another poor roll meant that this worked for a while, but at the very end #18 accidentally let go, and the kid ended up briefly a twinkle in the sky before crashing through the roof of the house. As this was a comedic game, though, the kid survived with a few bruises and a dislocated shoulder. Everyone at the table was very surprised. XD Anyway, the kid proved to be impressed with the job done (lots of grain, extra eggs – Lionel demonstrated his scream technique, getting the kid to lay an egg – and then DR. S. to lay one, that could even potentially hatch (Bony Emily was just staring at his pelvis like “HOW” while #18 wasn’t sure if they were ready to be an uncle) – dogs fed, and no milk but now that Bertie can milk herself, that’ll save him loads of time) and brought them down pretty much his parents’ entire wardrobe so they could layer themselves up. (Bony Emily also took the sickle to replace her other missing hand.) As they prepared to leave, they asked if the kid had seen their missing friend Benny – the kid wasn’t aware of any other skeletons in the area, but said that down in town there had been “happenings” – he wasn’t sure WHAT as he wasn’t allowed in town, but SOMETHING was going on, so they should probably check there. #18 got a detailed description of the kid’s dad, and the quartet headed off, Bony Emily saying they were PROBABLY not going kill his parents. XD Speak for yourself, Emily – I think #18’s got plans. . . Anyway, I left it off with the quartet arriving in Devil’s Rest, finding a bunch of people in red robes arguing with a couple on a cart – with the male half matching the description of the absent farmer father. I sense shenanigans (and possibly cult activity) shall wrap up this one-shot tomorrow!
2. Continue writing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – Alice has listened to the tape of Grout discovering the Camarilla in L.A. and being offered the position of Primogen after impressing them with his ability to speak eloquently, and was not impressed by it at all. She was even LESS impressed when she tried talking to the one ghoul she’d met who was willing to talk back, and discovered that the woman doesn’t remember her name, only her subject number. Yeah, Alice is pretty much ready to kill Grout and just damn the consequences at this point. >( She did offer to at least try to help the lady and her friend get to freedom, but the woman was pretty much of the attitude “better the devil I know” and refused politely, saying she’ll just raid more snacks from the kitchen later. Alice assured her the offer was open before leaving through the secret fireplace door, getting through the “mirror” side of the room without any problems. Unfortunately, there IS another clawed ghoul in the hallway just beyond – hope you have quick reflexes, Alice!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check plus – managed to fit in a bonus video on top of the usual Subs stuff, yay –
A) First up, an OXBox list that is weirdly appropriately given that I’m watching the “Adventure Skeletons” one-shot this week – “7 Most Embarrassing Storytelling Skeletons in Bethesda Games!” In honor of the latest trailer for Starfield and Bethesda indulging in a little self-depreciation by talking about environmental storytelling over a shot of a skeleton, Andy took us through a few skeletons (mostly from Fallout 4, with a couple from Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas) who died in VERY embarrassing ways. Like the skeleton who was apparently sharing the company of a mannequin in Concord before he died! The couple in the outhouse off the coast of Spectacle Island who were indulging in some spanking! Or an unfortunate stuntman in the Presidential Tunnels under The Capital Wasteland who got his head stuck in a light while trying to ramp some cars! ...You know, normally I headcanon that the raiders move the skeletons around and put them in funny poses to explain why they’re in such weird positions so many years later, but I think that guy genuinely just died like that. Sad. Hilarious, but sad. :p
B) Then it was over to the Subs for today’s offering from Josh Way – “SKETCHY: My Girls!” Which, if you were wondering, refers to his wife and his daughter! Yes, he drew them from a couple of favorite photographs, adding in the old Josh cartoony flair. :D It was a very sweet little episode, with him gushing about how much he loves his little family. Good stuff. :)
C) And finally we had GrayStillPlays with something much less wholesome – “Taking spelunking to dangerous extremes,” aka Gray plays more Happy Wheels! We started with the customary bottle flip (where Gray got the “even Gray can’t” part early and on ACCIDENT, and ended by getting a watermelon shoutout, the holy cup, AND the ultimate win), then moved on through a blue multiple-choice rope swing (where most of the choices led to death, but you can’t show Gray an alternate path or a secret area without him trying it at least ONCE); a trip through a medieval village with Gray having to fend off hobos with weapons (and avoid being crushed by a meteor to make it hope); a boss-killing simulator where you had to flip a table and flip your boss out of a window (FROM THE TOP ROPE of the science museum, apparently); a Gray Everything Run (where Gray had to go across bottles while dodging jets, harpoons, and wrecking balls – and also there was a fake bottle run at the bottom that ended in falling car death); an “impossible” jet fall (which Gray completed first try); a television run (with extra falling ball death at the beginning, meaning Gray got this one on the THIRD try); a “steal the gold” driving simulator (Gray was more concerned with the horribly-drawn trees in the background over everyone he was running over); a Big Bottle Run (both in the sense that it was long and that it was on custom-created giant bottles – Gray NEARLY got head-spiked); a spike fall with loads of secret wins (including a secret danger tunnel in the back and a couple of wins on the side if you could figure out how to leave the spike fall early); a money-themed “don’t move” board (collect all the coins and just barely survive until the end – capitalism in a nutshell); a ball throw that Gray won in two throws (and it only took him that long because he wanted to see what happened if you got a negative score – nothing); an asteroid level with killer watermelons, cleaver butterflies, and a load of secret wins made by the Big Bottle Run creator (Gray had to try it out after learning nobody had earned the shout-out for it, and managed to win the first time by ACCIDENT before insisting on learning all the secrets and getting every win); and a final cave adventure where Gray took Young Tom Hardy on a trip spelunking and ended up in a secret base (which is where the level ended, as the Russian creator hadn’t designed the base yet). The usual utterly ridiculous fun, now with more secrets! I approve. :D
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – got my Wednesday (Sims 4 looks for Smiler, Victor, and Alice), Thursday (some more Valicer In The Dark AU stuff, including playbook tweaks and worldbuilding) and Friday (Valicer In The Dark-themed Not-Incorrect Quotes) posts for Victor Luvs Alice sorted right before going into “Londerland Bloodlines!” And this evening, put two ask replies in my Valice Multiverse queue (one about how “chai tea” is “tea tea,” and one about how vampires shouldn’t be “hemophobes” when it comes to drinking blood from your own gender). So that’s all sorted, yay~
*nods* Not bad, not bad at all. And now it's time to head to bed and prepare to do it all again tomorrow. *sigh* At least Wednesday marks the halfway point of the week -- slowly inching closer to Long Weekend Time! Night all!
Anyway, as for my day --
Work – Another quiet day – more duplicates and a couple of messages from people needing to reduce or write off pledges. Nothing particularly exciting! *shrug* And it was still hot and kinda muggy (and my poor mom kinda exhausted herself cleaning the house before I got home), so still no beanbags. We’re really not getting a lot of chances to play this year, I gotta say!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike, and back to the Oxventure One-Shot Wonder, “Adventure Skeletons!” Having decided to venture further out into the human realm and hopefully find some clothes to not freak out the locals, Lionel Spinel, Dr. S. Kelly, Bony Emily, and Cursed Skeleton #18 started down into the valley towards Devil’s REST (I misremembered the name of the town yesterday). Their chosen path brought them through a field of grain, where Lionel stumbled over the sleeping form of a young farm boy! The kid was naturally a little frightened to see himself surrounded by skeletons (particularly one super-speedy one, as Bony Emily did still have her gloves), but after being told it was the “dead of afternoon” by #18, proved to be more frightened of something else – namely, the fact that he hadn’t gotten any of the farm chores done! Turns out that while his parents go off to market to sell their goods and have a drink and a chat with their friends, it’s the kid’s job to milk the cow, harvest the eggs, feed the dogs, and bring in the grain. If he doesn’t, he has to sleep outside. #18 pointed out that the kid was already sleeping outside, so this wasn’t much of a punishment, and the kid revealed that he was rather used to sleeping rough at this point. #18 promptly decided the kid’s parents were pretty shitty, which, fair. After some chat about what the skeletons wanted (Dr. S. reassuring the kid that they wouldn’t take his parents and turn them into fell creatures of darkness, they’d probably just kill them and steal their limbs), a deal was struck – in exchange for doing the kid’s chores, the kid would procure them clothes, with half up front (one of the dad’s really nice church shoes, for example, or the top half of a pair of dungarees). Bony Emily WANTED to try and do a montage of trying on clothes to get out of helping with the chores, but the kid told her his dad always told him the montage-ing had to wait until the chores were done, and then admitted he was pretty sure the guy wasn’t well. XD She got half a montage with the items the kid brought down initially, at least. XD
And so the skeletons split up to do the chores! Success rates were – variable. XD Bony Emily took on feeding the dogs, despite not being sure what dogs were or what they ate – once they expressed an interest in her bones, however, she just let two of them take her hands, and the other her still-skeletal leg below the knee. The dogs were thrilled with this arrangement, while Emily did her best to make do with a stolen chew toy and a rake to replace the missing bits. Lionel Spinel went to collect the eggs, and – working on the logic that frightening the chickens would make them produce MORE eggs – used his incredible screaming abilities to terrify them. And indeed, they all laid an extra egg each – even the rooster. XD Dr. S. Kelly took on milking the cow, Bertie – his initial plan was to use one of the great axes he’d bought from Lionel to chop it out, but fortunately for Bertie, she was actually a very intelligent cow, and was able to communicate to him (through clever use of some leather straps and her tongue) how to ACTUALLY milk her. Dr. S. thought that whole process was disgusting and attempted to stop himself from seeing it by using his own head as a milk pail – unfortunately, a VERY poor roll meant that him decapitating himself terrified poor Bertie into kicking him and staying as far from him as possible. Eventually, though, Dr. S. hatched a plan to teach Bertie how to milk HERSELF by attaching his old skeletal right hand to a post and showing her where to bite to get the fingers to squeeze her udders. That day’s milk was wasted as he forgot to also put down a pail, but hey, the system works! And Cursed Skeleton #18 decided to take in the grain – after using a cloak to pretend to be the Grim Reaper, they discovered that, for whatever reason, there was no scythe available in the barn. There was, however, a sickle and some rope, so #18 decided to make do –
And tied the sickle to the kid’s hands (having previously told him to go back to sleep) and started spinning him in a giant circle to cut down the grain. XD Another poor roll meant that this worked for a while, but at the very end #18 accidentally let go, and the kid ended up briefly a twinkle in the sky before crashing through the roof of the house. As this was a comedic game, though, the kid survived with a few bruises and a dislocated shoulder. Everyone at the table was very surprised. XD Anyway, the kid proved to be impressed with the job done (lots of grain, extra eggs – Lionel demonstrated his scream technique, getting the kid to lay an egg – and then DR. S. to lay one, that could even potentially hatch (Bony Emily was just staring at his pelvis like “HOW” while #18 wasn’t sure if they were ready to be an uncle) – dogs fed, and no milk but now that Bertie can milk herself, that’ll save him loads of time) and brought them down pretty much his parents’ entire wardrobe so they could layer themselves up. (Bony Emily also took the sickle to replace her other missing hand.) As they prepared to leave, they asked if the kid had seen their missing friend Benny – the kid wasn’t aware of any other skeletons in the area, but said that down in town there had been “happenings” – he wasn’t sure WHAT as he wasn’t allowed in town, but SOMETHING was going on, so they should probably check there. #18 got a detailed description of the kid’s dad, and the quartet headed off, Bony Emily saying they were PROBABLY not going kill his parents. XD Speak for yourself, Emily – I think #18’s got plans. . . Anyway, I left it off with the quartet arriving in Devil’s Rest, finding a bunch of people in red robes arguing with a couple on a cart – with the male half matching the description of the absent farmer father. I sense shenanigans (and possibly cult activity) shall wrap up this one-shot tomorrow!
2. Continue writing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – Alice has listened to the tape of Grout discovering the Camarilla in L.A. and being offered the position of Primogen after impressing them with his ability to speak eloquently, and was not impressed by it at all. She was even LESS impressed when she tried talking to the one ghoul she’d met who was willing to talk back, and discovered that the woman doesn’t remember her name, only her subject number. Yeah, Alice is pretty much ready to kill Grout and just damn the consequences at this point. >( She did offer to at least try to help the lady and her friend get to freedom, but the woman was pretty much of the attitude “better the devil I know” and refused politely, saying she’ll just raid more snacks from the kitchen later. Alice assured her the offer was open before leaving through the secret fireplace door, getting through the “mirror” side of the room without any problems. Unfortunately, there IS another clawed ghoul in the hallway just beyond – hope you have quick reflexes, Alice!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check plus – managed to fit in a bonus video on top of the usual Subs stuff, yay –
A) First up, an OXBox list that is weirdly appropriately given that I’m watching the “Adventure Skeletons” one-shot this week – “7 Most Embarrassing Storytelling Skeletons in Bethesda Games!” In honor of the latest trailer for Starfield and Bethesda indulging in a little self-depreciation by talking about environmental storytelling over a shot of a skeleton, Andy took us through a few skeletons (mostly from Fallout 4, with a couple from Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas) who died in VERY embarrassing ways. Like the skeleton who was apparently sharing the company of a mannequin in Concord before he died! The couple in the outhouse off the coast of Spectacle Island who were indulging in some spanking! Or an unfortunate stuntman in the Presidential Tunnels under The Capital Wasteland who got his head stuck in a light while trying to ramp some cars! ...You know, normally I headcanon that the raiders move the skeletons around and put them in funny poses to explain why they’re in such weird positions so many years later, but I think that guy genuinely just died like that. Sad. Hilarious, but sad. :p
B) Then it was over to the Subs for today’s offering from Josh Way – “SKETCHY: My Girls!” Which, if you were wondering, refers to his wife and his daughter! Yes, he drew them from a couple of favorite photographs, adding in the old Josh cartoony flair. :D It was a very sweet little episode, with him gushing about how much he loves his little family. Good stuff. :)
C) And finally we had GrayStillPlays with something much less wholesome – “Taking spelunking to dangerous extremes,” aka Gray plays more Happy Wheels! We started with the customary bottle flip (where Gray got the “even Gray can’t” part early and on ACCIDENT, and ended by getting a watermelon shoutout, the holy cup, AND the ultimate win), then moved on through a blue multiple-choice rope swing (where most of the choices led to death, but you can’t show Gray an alternate path or a secret area without him trying it at least ONCE); a trip through a medieval village with Gray having to fend off hobos with weapons (and avoid being crushed by a meteor to make it hope); a boss-killing simulator where you had to flip a table and flip your boss out of a window (FROM THE TOP ROPE of the science museum, apparently); a Gray Everything Run (where Gray had to go across bottles while dodging jets, harpoons, and wrecking balls – and also there was a fake bottle run at the bottom that ended in falling car death); an “impossible” jet fall (which Gray completed first try); a television run (with extra falling ball death at the beginning, meaning Gray got this one on the THIRD try); a “steal the gold” driving simulator (Gray was more concerned with the horribly-drawn trees in the background over everyone he was running over); a Big Bottle Run (both in the sense that it was long and that it was on custom-created giant bottles – Gray NEARLY got head-spiked); a spike fall with loads of secret wins (including a secret danger tunnel in the back and a couple of wins on the side if you could figure out how to leave the spike fall early); a money-themed “don’t move” board (collect all the coins and just barely survive until the end – capitalism in a nutshell); a ball throw that Gray won in two throws (and it only took him that long because he wanted to see what happened if you got a negative score – nothing); an asteroid level with killer watermelons, cleaver butterflies, and a load of secret wins made by the Big Bottle Run creator (Gray had to try it out after learning nobody had earned the shout-out for it, and managed to win the first time by ACCIDENT before insisting on learning all the secrets and getting every win); and a final cave adventure where Gray took Young Tom Hardy on a trip spelunking and ended up in a secret base (which is where the level ended, as the Russian creator hadn’t designed the base yet). The usual utterly ridiculous fun, now with more secrets! I approve. :D
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – got my Wednesday (Sims 4 looks for Smiler, Victor, and Alice), Thursday (some more Valicer In The Dark AU stuff, including playbook tweaks and worldbuilding) and Friday (Valicer In The Dark-themed Not-Incorrect Quotes) posts for Victor Luvs Alice sorted right before going into “Londerland Bloodlines!” And this evening, put two ask replies in my Valice Multiverse queue (one about how “chai tea” is “tea tea,” and one about how vampires shouldn’t be “hemophobes” when it comes to drinking blood from your own gender). So that’s all sorted, yay~
*nods* Not bad, not bad at all. And now it's time to head to bed and prepare to do it all again tomorrow. *sigh* At least Wednesday marks the halfway point of the week -- slowly inching closer to Long Weekend Time! Night all!
