Slightly Less Rushed Wednesday
Jul. 26th, 2023 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickThe heat is coming into RI, and I have managed to get some stuff accomplished without it taking up my entire evening --
Work – An all right day – I put on one last big load of checks for our capital campaign, took a few credit card/ACH update phone calls, did a few write-offs, cleared up a bit more credit card company bullshit, and endured my coworker’s chatter about how they didn’t understand the point of the Barbie movie coming out now. Nothing of particular note, and the day went by without dragging too much, so yeah. Not bad for midweek!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, finishing off Oxventure Presents Blades In The Dark – “To The Depths!” With Edvard and Barnaby having both rolled well on the Finesse roll to lower the bell into said depths, their descent into the Volis River was pretty smooth and calm, with Billy Bell doing a good job of lowering them (though Barnaby did wonder, just as they were going in, if Billy had in fact lost his hand in a bell-lowering accident – Edvard assured him that it was actually the result of a horrific misunderstanding of the game of “Five Finger Fillet” (where you stab between your fingers with a knife repeatedly – Billy thought the point was to cut your hand off as fast as possible XD)). They reached the wreckage without issue, and Edvard was able to use the directional light atop the bell (flashback, stress) to take a look around, trying to find where they thought Astor’s office might have have landed. A good Study roll from Edvard allowed him to spot the remains of the ornate window/sundial clock that had been a prominent feature of the office, and he called up Billy on the speaking tube to move them closer toward said window so he could deploy the Submersible Mechanical Frog-Man (SMFM). ANOTHER excellent roll brought them smoothly right OVER the window in question –
But then Billy called up to let them know that a guard from one of the patrol boats had boarded the ship and was determined to know what the hell was going on. Billy was all for giving the guy the hook, but Edvard told him no, not yet anyway. XD Barnaby told Billy to put the guy on with him and span an absolutely outrageous yarn about this being a migraine cure to the annoyed and bewildered Bluecoat (with Edvard shouting out various comments to make him sound like Barnaby’s doctor). A little bit of pushing himself yielded DOUBLE SIXES on his roll – a critical success! The Bluecoat may not have fully bought it, but he DID recognize that the rich got to do what they liked in Volisport and backed off, with Barnaby and Edvard saying that they’d be out of the crime scene in about forty-five minutes. :p
With the police off their backs, the pair were free to peer through the window with the directional light to see if they could spot the safe, or at least where the safe was hiding. Barnaby, with another fantastic Survey roll (seriously, the dice were BLESSED this game, successes all over the shop) found the enormous gilt frame that had ONCE held Astor’s self-portrait (apparently Astor couldn’t bear to let THAT drown), and Edvard used his harpoon gun (flashback, stress) to break apart the frame and pull it off to reveal the safe. However, Edvard’s roll WASN’T a six, so he got a success with a complication –
And that complication was EELS! XD Specifically, it was the start of a clock labeled such, as the eels began to take more of an interest in the bell and that weird darty thing that came out of it. Edvard decided this was a good time to release the SMFM, giving it his instructions and then booting it into the water before it could start getting all existential on him. XD Barnaby was like “why do they always sound like they’re in pain?” and Edvard was like “I don’t know, I program them to play chess and smoke cigars!” XD At any rate, the SMFM headed down, swimming spinning-armed Action-Man-toy style, and after some discussion of what he was supposed to do (Edvard was initially like “crack the safe and bring what’s inside to me,” Luke reminded him that all of this was very much underwater, and Edvard used a flashback to revise the instructions to “get the safe, bring it into the bell, we’ll crack it on land”), Edvard got to roll for the SMFM’s success. He rolled well enough that the SMFM was able to get the safe and bring it back –
But uh-oh, there was a complication, and that complication was EELS! Specifically, an eel coming in to attack the SMFM. Edvard quickly detailed all the SMFM’s various eel defenses (shoulder-mounted crossbows, coated in eel poison, could electrify itself to kill eels) and decided that a bite attack would likely fall victim to the poison – it did, fortunately, killing it cleanly and quietly. And with no blood in the water to provoke a frenzy (Edvard admitted he’d temporarily forgotten that part). The SMFM reached the bell, and they were able to hoist the safe inside and get it on the sitting bench. However, as they did so, they began noticing more and more eels around, so (after some amusement with Andy speaking into his glass and Luke into a nearby bowl to try and make their voices sound more “old-timey” for the speaking tube) Edvard hailed Billy to pull them up. Barnaby, however, made the mistake of mentioning the eels in an attempt to get Billy to winch them up faster, which panicked the old sailor –
And that combined with a roll of three from Luke meant that they didn’t have a great ride up. Mostly because a load of seawater ended up flooding the bell up to their chests (ruining Barnaby’s coat, as is tradition), leading to the further complication of EELS! Specifically, one eel managing to get inside the bell. A panicked Edvard yelled for Barnaby to strangle it, then began punching it as the startled Barnaby tried to get a hold of it – a group Skirmish roll saw Barnaby take some stress but Edvard do some surprisingly good punching, throwing Mai Tais in its eyes to blind it in the process. XD He eventually knocked it unconscious and threw it out of the bell. . .where a tiny cut led to the other eels immediately swarming it to devour it, which – eep. Fortunately, the boys and their bell made it safely back onto the boat, where Billy was very impressed by Edvard’s story of punching an eel. A little too impressed, in fact, as he tried to take Edvard’s hands in both of his and ended up puncturing Edvard’s palm with his hook. XD
Still, the score was successful, and the safe was taken back to their warehouse, where the SMFM cracked it handily. Inside were some slightly damp (because Luke was willing to allow Edvard the pleasure of an Astor-brand product not performing up to snuff) documents, the most pertinent of which were the ancient designs for some bizarre and huge octagonal-ring-like contraption made by one of Astor’s ancestors (Edvard took that to study later) – and a list of the members of the Brightstone Society for Analytical Alchemy! :D Marked with the sign of a light bulb, which had also been on a ring Astor wore, so we should look out for that in the future. The list included a number of city council members, Kellinor of the Dimmer Sisters (their patron Eleanor’s twin sister), Astor himself of course –
And Earl Montgomery Fortescue. AKA Barnaby’s beloved Uncle Monty. The episode ended on Edvard exclaiming “YOUR UNCLE’S IN THE ILLUMINATI?!” XD (To which I headcanon Barnaby replying, “No, no, the Illuminati is that thing I started with Squiffy, remember?” XD) So yeah, big revelation there – though I was kind of expecting a Fortescue family member (or possibly Barnaby himself!) to be part of the society, so. . . Good stuff still! And a truly delightful episode – between the hilariously blessed dice and the three boys constantly cracking each other up, I had a marvelous time. :) Tomorrow, though – probably more James Turner High School Years Rags To Riches Generational Epic, but I’m not ruling out starting that latest GrayStillPlays compilation video. . .
2. Continue writing “The Joker And The Queen”: Check – I have finished off the “everyone gets to be poly” scene, with Alice explaining that she, Victoria, and Emily came to the revelation that they are good with sharing Victor (and may have some sort of feelings for each other – I want to see where the fic itself goes with this; it may be romantic or more queerplatonic), and they’re happy to add Smiler to the group if they want to join. Victor was ecstatic about this turn of events, and Smiler –
Well, Smiler tackle-kissed Victor against a wall, so we know how they feel about this. XD No more mixed signals from the universe about what will make Victor happy, w00! :D Ended the scene with Thirteen coming in and joking about how long it took Victor and Smiler to get together, and learning a bit more about the group’s potential sex life than she ever wanted to know. XD Next scene is gonna be one of the others that has been in my head for ages – the bit where everyone’s families end up at the same gas station, just in time for the crew’s pilfered van to show up and reunite everyone. :) Should be warm and fuzzy!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Still a half-check, with me focusing on today’s GrayStillPlays – “Cars vs Unfinished Roads in GTA 5!” Another Alex Torture Board, this time with a theme of horrible horrible road construction. As a Rhode Islander, this board hit close to home. :p Gray had to find the right car to get him through the “Fit It In!” Unfinished Road (a large gap in the roadway with a spinning thumbnail hole made out of concrete in the middle for Gray to jump through), the “Rebar” Unfinished Road (a long section of rebar “road” over the water, with gaps in it that Gray had to jump), the “It Don’t Fit!” Unfinished Road (a section of slightly curved road with a forklift on it being dragged from right to left on a crane before teleporting back – Gray had to jump onto the road, drive along it while not sliding off, and then jump again onto the roadway on the other side), the “Pothole Plugging” (a bunch of very rectangular potholes being filled in with rubble with a HUGE gap on the other side – Gray had to grab one of the rubble-filled trucks and drive it into one of the holes to provide a ramp), and, after a checkpoint, the “Spinning” Unfinished Road (a chunk of road that was spinning in the center of the main roadway, held aloft by helicopters – Gray had to jump onto it at just the right time, STAY on it as it rotated, make it through the construction equipment thumbnail hole in the middle, and then jump back OFF it, using another rubble ramp, at just the right time to hit the last section of road and the win). He actually started with the Wastelander this time – and just as quickly finished it, as it turned out my most beloved GTA car was actually too big and a little too slow to make it through the “Fit It In!” thumbnail hole. :( In fact, most cars couldn’t make it through the first couple of challenges – those that were fast enough to get through the thumbnail hole generally couldn’t make it over the rebar without flipping all over the place. The few that could generally didn’t have the grip to stay on the sliding “It Don’t Fit!” roadway, and the first car that COULD make it across, a cloth top sedan with a spoiler, didn’t have the speed to make it past the giant gap at the end of the potholes. Ultimately, the winner was a race car that I don’t know the name of – all I know is it had speed, agility, and two tires tied to the back for some reason. XD But it made it through all the challenges and to the win, ending Gray’s torment for another video. XD Good times!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – ended up doing this one early tonight because I wanted to give myself a bit of time to find the Song Saturday I needed for Victor Luvs Alice. . .but, happily, I stumbled across a song that I haven’t featured since 2018 despite really liking it (“Run Away With Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen) pretty early and chucked that in the queue! With the queue speed reset to one a day, that means we have the Rage Alice cosplay tomorrow, the cute clay Victor Friday, and Carly on Saturday. Nice. :D
*nods* Not bad, not bad. And now it is time to head to bed and get some sleep and do it all again tomorrow with subtle variations. :p Night all!
Work – An all right day – I put on one last big load of checks for our capital campaign, took a few credit card/ACH update phone calls, did a few write-offs, cleared up a bit more credit card company bullshit, and endured my coworker’s chatter about how they didn’t understand the point of the Barbie movie coming out now. Nothing of particular note, and the day went by without dragging too much, so yeah. Not bad for midweek!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – another night on the bike, finishing off Oxventure Presents Blades In The Dark – “To The Depths!” With Edvard and Barnaby having both rolled well on the Finesse roll to lower the bell into said depths, their descent into the Volis River was pretty smooth and calm, with Billy Bell doing a good job of lowering them (though Barnaby did wonder, just as they were going in, if Billy had in fact lost his hand in a bell-lowering accident – Edvard assured him that it was actually the result of a horrific misunderstanding of the game of “Five Finger Fillet” (where you stab between your fingers with a knife repeatedly – Billy thought the point was to cut your hand off as fast as possible XD)). They reached the wreckage without issue, and Edvard was able to use the directional light atop the bell (flashback, stress) to take a look around, trying to find where they thought Astor’s office might have have landed. A good Study roll from Edvard allowed him to spot the remains of the ornate window/sundial clock that had been a prominent feature of the office, and he called up Billy on the speaking tube to move them closer toward said window so he could deploy the Submersible Mechanical Frog-Man (SMFM). ANOTHER excellent roll brought them smoothly right OVER the window in question –
But then Billy called up to let them know that a guard from one of the patrol boats had boarded the ship and was determined to know what the hell was going on. Billy was all for giving the guy the hook, but Edvard told him no, not yet anyway. XD Barnaby told Billy to put the guy on with him and span an absolutely outrageous yarn about this being a migraine cure to the annoyed and bewildered Bluecoat (with Edvard shouting out various comments to make him sound like Barnaby’s doctor). A little bit of pushing himself yielded DOUBLE SIXES on his roll – a critical success! The Bluecoat may not have fully bought it, but he DID recognize that the rich got to do what they liked in Volisport and backed off, with Barnaby and Edvard saying that they’d be out of the crime scene in about forty-five minutes. :p
With the police off their backs, the pair were free to peer through the window with the directional light to see if they could spot the safe, or at least where the safe was hiding. Barnaby, with another fantastic Survey roll (seriously, the dice were BLESSED this game, successes all over the shop) found the enormous gilt frame that had ONCE held Astor’s self-portrait (apparently Astor couldn’t bear to let THAT drown), and Edvard used his harpoon gun (flashback, stress) to break apart the frame and pull it off to reveal the safe. However, Edvard’s roll WASN’T a six, so he got a success with a complication –
And that complication was EELS! XD Specifically, it was the start of a clock labeled such, as the eels began to take more of an interest in the bell and that weird darty thing that came out of it. Edvard decided this was a good time to release the SMFM, giving it his instructions and then booting it into the water before it could start getting all existential on him. XD Barnaby was like “why do they always sound like they’re in pain?” and Edvard was like “I don’t know, I program them to play chess and smoke cigars!” XD At any rate, the SMFM headed down, swimming spinning-armed Action-Man-toy style, and after some discussion of what he was supposed to do (Edvard was initially like “crack the safe and bring what’s inside to me,” Luke reminded him that all of this was very much underwater, and Edvard used a flashback to revise the instructions to “get the safe, bring it into the bell, we’ll crack it on land”), Edvard got to roll for the SMFM’s success. He rolled well enough that the SMFM was able to get the safe and bring it back –
But uh-oh, there was a complication, and that complication was EELS! Specifically, an eel coming in to attack the SMFM. Edvard quickly detailed all the SMFM’s various eel defenses (shoulder-mounted crossbows, coated in eel poison, could electrify itself to kill eels) and decided that a bite attack would likely fall victim to the poison – it did, fortunately, killing it cleanly and quietly. And with no blood in the water to provoke a frenzy (Edvard admitted he’d temporarily forgotten that part). The SMFM reached the bell, and they were able to hoist the safe inside and get it on the sitting bench. However, as they did so, they began noticing more and more eels around, so (after some amusement with Andy speaking into his glass and Luke into a nearby bowl to try and make their voices sound more “old-timey” for the speaking tube) Edvard hailed Billy to pull them up. Barnaby, however, made the mistake of mentioning the eels in an attempt to get Billy to winch them up faster, which panicked the old sailor –
And that combined with a roll of three from Luke meant that they didn’t have a great ride up. Mostly because a load of seawater ended up flooding the bell up to their chests (ruining Barnaby’s coat, as is tradition), leading to the further complication of EELS! Specifically, one eel managing to get inside the bell. A panicked Edvard yelled for Barnaby to strangle it, then began punching it as the startled Barnaby tried to get a hold of it – a group Skirmish roll saw Barnaby take some stress but Edvard do some surprisingly good punching, throwing Mai Tais in its eyes to blind it in the process. XD He eventually knocked it unconscious and threw it out of the bell. . .where a tiny cut led to the other eels immediately swarming it to devour it, which – eep. Fortunately, the boys and their bell made it safely back onto the boat, where Billy was very impressed by Edvard’s story of punching an eel. A little too impressed, in fact, as he tried to take Edvard’s hands in both of his and ended up puncturing Edvard’s palm with his hook. XD
Still, the score was successful, and the safe was taken back to their warehouse, where the SMFM cracked it handily. Inside were some slightly damp (because Luke was willing to allow Edvard the pleasure of an Astor-brand product not performing up to snuff) documents, the most pertinent of which were the ancient designs for some bizarre and huge octagonal-ring-like contraption made by one of Astor’s ancestors (Edvard took that to study later) – and a list of the members of the Brightstone Society for Analytical Alchemy! :D Marked with the sign of a light bulb, which had also been on a ring Astor wore, so we should look out for that in the future. The list included a number of city council members, Kellinor of the Dimmer Sisters (their patron Eleanor’s twin sister), Astor himself of course –
And Earl Montgomery Fortescue. AKA Barnaby’s beloved Uncle Monty. The episode ended on Edvard exclaiming “YOUR UNCLE’S IN THE ILLUMINATI?!” XD (To which I headcanon Barnaby replying, “No, no, the Illuminati is that thing I started with Squiffy, remember?” XD) So yeah, big revelation there – though I was kind of expecting a Fortescue family member (or possibly Barnaby himself!) to be part of the society, so. . . Good stuff still! And a truly delightful episode – between the hilariously blessed dice and the three boys constantly cracking each other up, I had a marvelous time. :) Tomorrow, though – probably more James Turner High School Years Rags To Riches Generational Epic, but I’m not ruling out starting that latest GrayStillPlays compilation video. . .
2. Continue writing “The Joker And The Queen”: Check – I have finished off the “everyone gets to be poly” scene, with Alice explaining that she, Victoria, and Emily came to the revelation that they are good with sharing Victor (and may have some sort of feelings for each other – I want to see where the fic itself goes with this; it may be romantic or more queerplatonic), and they’re happy to add Smiler to the group if they want to join. Victor was ecstatic about this turn of events, and Smiler –
Well, Smiler tackle-kissed Victor against a wall, so we know how they feel about this. XD No more mixed signals from the universe about what will make Victor happy, w00! :D Ended the scene with Thirteen coming in and joking about how long it took Victor and Smiler to get together, and learning a bit more about the group’s potential sex life than she ever wanted to know. XD Next scene is gonna be one of the others that has been in my head for ages – the bit where everyone’s families end up at the same gas station, just in time for the crew’s pilfered van to show up and reunite everyone. :) Should be warm and fuzzy!
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Still a half-check, with me focusing on today’s GrayStillPlays – “Cars vs Unfinished Roads in GTA 5!” Another Alex Torture Board, this time with a theme of horrible horrible road construction. As a Rhode Islander, this board hit close to home. :p Gray had to find the right car to get him through the “Fit It In!” Unfinished Road (a large gap in the roadway with a spinning thumbnail hole made out of concrete in the middle for Gray to jump through), the “Rebar” Unfinished Road (a long section of rebar “road” over the water, with gaps in it that Gray had to jump), the “It Don’t Fit!” Unfinished Road (a section of slightly curved road with a forklift on it being dragged from right to left on a crane before teleporting back – Gray had to jump onto the road, drive along it while not sliding off, and then jump again onto the roadway on the other side), the “Pothole Plugging” (a bunch of very rectangular potholes being filled in with rubble with a HUGE gap on the other side – Gray had to grab one of the rubble-filled trucks and drive it into one of the holes to provide a ramp), and, after a checkpoint, the “Spinning” Unfinished Road (a chunk of road that was spinning in the center of the main roadway, held aloft by helicopters – Gray had to jump onto it at just the right time, STAY on it as it rotated, make it through the construction equipment thumbnail hole in the middle, and then jump back OFF it, using another rubble ramp, at just the right time to hit the last section of road and the win). He actually started with the Wastelander this time – and just as quickly finished it, as it turned out my most beloved GTA car was actually too big and a little too slow to make it through the “Fit It In!” thumbnail hole. :( In fact, most cars couldn’t make it through the first couple of challenges – those that were fast enough to get through the thumbnail hole generally couldn’t make it over the rebar without flipping all over the place. The few that could generally didn’t have the grip to stay on the sliding “It Don’t Fit!” roadway, and the first car that COULD make it across, a cloth top sedan with a spoiler, didn’t have the speed to make it past the giant gap at the end of the potholes. Ultimately, the winner was a race car that I don’t know the name of – all I know is it had speed, agility, and two tires tied to the back for some reason. XD But it made it through all the challenges and to the win, ending Gray’s torment for another video. XD Good times!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check – ended up doing this one early tonight because I wanted to give myself a bit of time to find the Song Saturday I needed for Victor Luvs Alice. . .but, happily, I stumbled across a song that I haven’t featured since 2018 despite really liking it (“Run Away With Me” by Carly Rae Jepsen) pretty early and chucked that in the queue! With the queue speed reset to one a day, that means we have the Rage Alice cosplay tomorrow, the cute clay Victor Friday, and Carly on Saturday. Nice. :D
*nods* Not bad, not bad. And now it is time to head to bed and get some sleep and do it all again tomorrow with subtle variations. :p Night all!
