Semi-Productive Penultimate Monday
Aug. 14th, 2023 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickIt took me rather longer than I would have liked this morning to actually get up and get going (had a hard time getting to sleep last night, sadly, and that coupled with period tiredness meant I was fairly fatigued when I first got up), but I still managed to get a pretty good chunk of stuff done with my second-to-last day off --
Tumblr: Just a Victor Luvs Alice day today – spent the time before lunch catching up on the dashboard and tracked tags, then moved onto doing some starter drafts for a few Smiler Otherland posts! Yes, posts, plural – I decided it would be easier on me and allow me to go in more detail if I had specific posts for the domains, the weapons, and the outfits, so I’ve set those up with some starter text and tags. I also set up a Not-Incorrect Quotes collection, and ended up actually completing all the quotes themselves this evening. Because I love these collections a bit more than I should. :p So at least I’ve made a start on those for the future!
Sims 4: I did indeed go back to the Chill Valicer Trio today, as I missed them – and I ended up having some unexpected Surprise and Shock during their Harvestfest celebrations! Let me elucidate –
A) Things started off pretty normally, with Smiler taking Shadow out on a very early morning walk, Alice going upstairs to look at the fish and then start a new motivational book (“Solving Your Problems With Trains” ;) ), and Victor waking up from his slumber to study his new tomes, Nimble Mind and Emotional Stability, and learn those potions. Apparently the first requires parsley and a spotted dirt frog, while the second requires obtanium (an element, I think) and a potato. Two of those items Victor can easily grow, the others. . .well, we’ll see what we can do! Also discovered something very surprising when he went to go put the tomes away – apparently, the CC fossil shelf I got from Somecreative CC on tumblr? DOUBLES AS A BOOKSHELF. Like, uh, wtf. O.o I mean, yes, convenient, I don’t actually have a bookshelf upstairs, this is fine, but still – W. T. F. *shakehead*
B) While all that was going on, I was both keeping an eye on Smiler and Shadow on their roam around the Henford-On-Bagley countryside and Kelly as she ran around the house – and while Shadow didn’t seem to have anything wrong with her, I noticed a puddle of sick by Kelly’s scratching post downstairs. This seemed to confirm that Kelly was the pet that was ill –
A hypothesis confirmed when she came upstairs to lay by Alice while she wrote, and a puddle of sick appeared next to her. Well then! I had Victor use the power of Scruberoo to clean up the puddles, then give her a brush just in case the sick was hairballs instead of anything major (as the cat didn’t LOOK sick in any significant way). He then chatted to Alice while Kelly was sick AGAIN near her chair and then ran off to go do cat things. *shakehead* Well, I already knew I needed to take her and Shadow to the vet, sooo. . .
C) With the ill pet confirmed, all that remained was to wait until the greenhouse could be harvested so I didn’t get fifty million things in my household inventory again. Victor got sent to the barn to make another eco upgrade part, though along the way I noticed that one of the water collectors and three of the wind turbines were on the fritz and stopped to have him Repairio all those first. He also got kinda spooked thanks to the house making creepy noises and that stupid glitched “fear of the dark” moodlet that won’t go away, so I had him make some more sacred candles and put a set out in the barn to keep him calm. (Note to self – see if I can sell those too.) He successfully made his part, then headed into the barn to do some early tending and fertilizing while the plants began to fruit (and I’m happy to say that they ALL remained fully bloomed this time, yay).
D) As for Alice and Smiler – Alice actually maxed her Writing skill as she finished off her new book, yay! :D Once it was done, she headed outside to play with the cow plant and clean the chicken coop, while Smiler came home from their walk with Shadow and ATTEMPTED to play “laser pointer” with Kelly (the cat indicated that she wanted to play, but then wandered off into the obstacle course and went around the tunnel while Smiler chased her around in bat form trying to play with her – it worked in the end, but it just took a while!). Alice then submitted her latest book to the Literary Digest –
E) And I noticed Harvestfest was officially on because there was a creepy Reaper gnome hanging out on the front porch! Welp, time to try appeasing – do Grim Reapers like coffee?
No, apparently not. Fortunately, the Reaper gnome was very receptive to Alice begging for forgiveness and was easily turned from causing trouble. A relieved Alice went to feed the cow plant (which, since we seem to be keeping it around for the time being, I gave a name – Toothy), then started a Grand Breakfast while Smiler decorated the house (yellow and orange lights and bunting), collected the eggs (three eggs of normal quality, with one being hatchable – I had them put that one back in the coop, since we have room for chicks again) and fed the chickens, and milked Moory (which the cow allowed, though she was still not interested in Smiler’s attempt at a joke afterward). They then tried their own gnome appeasement by going to the greenhouse to try and given the alien gnome in there a future cube –
Only to have to backtrack to the barn when all the gnomes teleported over there. *grumbles* Fortunately, the alien gnome liked the future cube, and Smiler fulfilled that tradition, no problem! It’s always nice when appeasing these stupid gnomes is easy. . .
F) About that time, the meal was almost ready, and Victor had finally finished harvesting and tending his plants – I sent him in to use the bathroom, as the poor guy was busting, then had Smiler go and sit at the table while Alice finished up the breakfast (even if they can’t actually eat the food, they can at least sit with their besties!) I was going to have Victor sit with them, but then thought “hang on, it’s a holiday – let’s put out nice place settings! That’ll be cute and keep Victor busy so he doesn’t try to grab any food early.” So that’s what he did, while I had Smiler go search the pockets of the laundry in the hamper to keep out of the way. Victor finished up the place settings right as Alice completed the breakfast, and upon her ringing the bell, everyone grabbed a plate – including Smiler, who, despite having had a plasma pack right beforehand, still insisted on trying to eat a few bites. You have a Withered Stomach, Smiler! I eventually got them to stop and have a plasma fruit instead while Victor and Alice chowed down, and had them all express their thankfulness for each other. :) Very positive and happy meal!
G) With that tradition out of the way, I had Alice take care of a few needs and Smiler clean up the dishes, and sent Victor to the greenhouse where the gnomes had gathered around one of the trees to try his luck with appeasing one. He chose one of the new ones, a cute little guy sitting on a rock, and tried giving him some pie –
No dice – the gnome rejected it and promptly spawned a trash pile. And Victor’s attempts to plead for mercy fell on deaf ears, leading to him being very nastily electrocuted. *wince* Did not miss THAT happening on this holiday! Fortunately, Alice was already heading out to talk to him, so I had her give him a hug to help him feel better. At least even failing to appease the gnome satisfies that stupid tradition!
H) Okay, probably best to spend plenty of time AWAY from the angry gnome, and those pets need to be looked at – time for the trio to hit Brindleton Bay and the Brindleton Pawspital! They arrived in good time, and Alice signed Kelly in for a little check-up (Victor also attempted to book Shadow, but I don’t think that action every completed). She and Victor then hung out in the lobby, slow dancing and flirting, while the vet checked Kelly over and Smiler went around collectible-hunting – I was looking SPECIFICALLY for frog logs to try and grab that spotted dirt frog, but didn’t find any in the world. So instead Smiler dug up some dirt piles and found a couple of fossil rocks – a fossilized udder and a perfectly preserved mustache, nice. I then sent them over to one of the fishing spots to fish with some of their spare fireleaf, where they proceeded to catch two guppies and a tambaqui. It was while they were fishing that we got the results of Kelly’s exam –
She was fine. No sickness to be found. Puzzled, but now half-certain the “sick” was in fact the game equivalent of some kind of hairball, I had them give her a preventative shot and then had Alice stock up on wellness treats at the vending machine while Victor booked Shadow for a spay (because, for some reason, Kelly wasn’t available as an option. . .). Poor Shadow went into the machine and came out with a big old cone on her head that prevented most ways of interacting with her – I made sure to have Victor at least praise her for being a good girl. I then figured that we should bring Shadow somewhere nicer to recuperate, so after getting a litter box for the lot (as Kelly was meowing for one) and having Smiler fill the feeder there. . .
I) It was off to Isle of Volpe National Park! Because I was still looking for collectibles, damn it – and I still didn’t find any, damn it. >( Alice, who was starting to feel a bit of the Fury, got sent on a “zoomies” jog around the park, while Victor and Smiler indulged in a little flirting and kissing and the pets hung out and enjoyed the fresh air. When I was unable to find any regular collectibles while looking over the general park area, though, I had Smiler fly over to Sophie and see what was under her –
Three plantains. Uh, okay? *shrug* I took them and had them hide that darn llamacorn toy that’s been sitting in their inventory ever since Father Winter gave it to them – it always felt wrong to sell it, but giving it away to the next random searcher should be fine! :p As they were starting to feel a bit of the old Thirst, though, I then started looking for a potential new friend/plasma donor wandering around, and settled on one Brian Pimental, who apparently Smiler already knew a bit! Which meant it was rather confusing to click on him and realize Smiler needed to introduce themselves. . .asking him about his career during the required “must do all the friendly interactions before asking to feed” period cleared things up a bit, though, as he’s an Eco Inspector! Meaning Smiler’s probably met him when he’s come by the house to check how they’re complying with various NAPs. *nods* Smiler formed a nice solid bond with him despite their bad compatibility, thanks to their incredible likeability, and got a nice drink of plasma from him. :) Victor, meanwhile, did some cloudgazing, splashed around a bit in the nearby pond, and tried socializing with a rabbit (who didn’t like him much), while Alice came back from her zoomies with barely any Fury left and checked in on the pets –
J) And that’s when I got the pop-up that Kelly had gone into labor.
Cue me going “SHE’S PREGNANT?!” in utter shock. O.O Yes, uh, THAT was apparently why Kelly couldn’t be spayed along with Shadow – apparently, during one of her “roaming around off lot” absences, she had a night of loving with a tom and came back with some kittens in her! The fuck. . .game, why do you do this sort of thing to me? (“Because you never spayed her earlier,” I know, I know. . .)
Anyway – THAT felt like a good reason to head back home, so after Victor successfully completed Shadow’s “lie down” training (because apparently she could do THAT with the cone on her head) and got a final kiss from Smiler, the trio headed back to the farm. Victor and Alice, both quite tired, headed upstairs for a nap, while Smiler headed into the greenhouse to try their chances with the angry gnome. Fortunately, THEIR pleading had a bit more weight to it, and the gnome deigned to forgive the family. Smiler, relieved, searched the nearby trash pile for parts and put it in their inventory for later recycling, then went and made a yellow tulip flower arrangement.
K) And it was midway through this arrangement that Kelly laid down next to them and had her kittens! And at this point, you may have finally realized why I capitalized “Surprise” and “Shock” at the beginning of this write-up. XD Yes, those are indeed the kitten’s names. They both look very much like their mother, and they have similar personalities – both are Talkative and Free Spirits, while Surprise is Frisky and Shock is Affectionate. Smiler took a moment to greet the new kittens and be charmed by their cuteness –
L) And that’s when Temperance showed up, perhaps emboldened by the fact that I recently kicked her ex off the premises. Fortunately, Victor and Alice were both up and having a bit of late-night coffee to help get on a better sleep schedule, so it was the work of a moment to grab Victor’s bizarre idol and just plop it down next to her to trap her in a cowering loop. :P I’d disallow you too if I could, lady! At any rate, she was rendered harmless by the mere sight of the idol, so Smiler just finished their flower arrangement (getting up to 5 in the Flower-Arranging skill, nice), while Victor took the cone off Shadow and started teaching her to play dead, watched by Kelly (getting up to 3 in the Pet Training skill in the process, nice). Alice went out to meet the kittens and carry them inside the house, and Smiler then flew up to their room to hype their next video for their SimsTube fans, continue editing their old videos, and tried combining their “charisma” video (of them just standing around) with the sand sculpture video – this annoying lowered the quality of the resultant spliced-together video, but eh. They then researched trends as Victor and Alice got some proper shut-eye – and as fashion videos were in for the day, they did a fashion video as Harvestfest wrapped up, showing off some favorite looks (which included an astronaut costume, so I guess I should have had them dress up as THAT for Spookfest – maybe next time!). The session finally ended with everyone having had a successful Harvestfest (except the new kittens, apparently. . .game, first, they’re CATS, second, they were JUST BORN), Smiler having just finished their video, and Victor having just fed Toothy.
Whew! Lot happening, huh? I really did NOT expect Kelly to be carrying kittens to be the reason for all the sick. . .and now I have to figure out what to DO with them, as I was not expecting to have more than two regular pets in this household! Have to see who might want a kitten among their friends, I guess. . .
Writing: Started on the next bit of “Londerland Bloodlines,” with Alice arriving at LaCroix’s office absolutely DONE with everything. She didn’t even let him finish his “hey, you weren’t supposed to come back until we heard from Grout” bit before telling him the dude was dead and demanding to know who Bach was. LaCroix was – a bit taken aback, as you might expect. XD He did note her sudden attitude problem, but Alice’s response was essentially “can it, I am actually being as polite as is possible for me after the night I had, kick me out if you want but this is the Alice you’re getting now.” XD And he has indeed run with that, indulging her need to know who Bach is and giving his history with the family. He’s incredulous that Bach might NOT be the one who killed Grout, though. . .if only Alice could end the conversation there instead of accidentally mentioning she saw Nines Rodriguez there in the next paragraph. . .
YouTube: Just GrayStillPlays tonight (the various write-ups and my fic-writing tonight took up a loooot of time), with the newest Alex Torture Board – “Cars vs 100 Potholes in GTA 5!” Yes, Alex was back with a brand new pothole board, this time themed around weird potholes, and a lot of them. Gray had to find the correct car or truck to get himself across the Sprunk Potholes (a bunch of giant open Sprunk cans with water spouts jetting randomly from their mouths; also they went from side-by-side to a more pyramid-like pattern near the end), the Wallride Potholes (yup, an admittedly-short wallride that just so happened to be full of holes – and happened to also be made of breakable concrete, as Gray found out early on), the Abstract Potholes (a bunch of potholes made up of stacked rings, with teleporters both visible and invisible to teleport Gray back to the beginning if he tried to cheat by riding the rims – he had to figure out a way across without catching his tires or grill on a particular ring and falling to his doom through all the layers and into the water), the Plywood-Coverd [sic] Potholes (a grid of EXTREMELY UNEVEN potholes covered by a layer of very breakable plywood – incredibly easy to catch a tire and fall through one of the big holes into the water), the Futuristic Potholes (potholes made up of the rings underneath those weird futuristic tower props, set up in a wavy line, with the last one spinning so the legs of the tower got in Gray’s way), and 30 Nacho Potholes (a straight line of open nacho chip cans, with another can to the side shooting the occasional nacho at him near the end) and to the win. The Sherp with its giant wheels but incredibly low speed made it over the Sprunk but not the wall ride; the Canis Lifeguard-mobile made it to the Abstract Potholes but couldn’t get past the rings; and the space-marine-branded truck made it ALMOST all the way to the end before being felled by nachos. . .but you know who won?
THE FUCKING WASTELANDER, BABY! :D Yes, my favorite rustbucket truck frame came back and managed to take this one! It was extremely hard, yes, especially with the way the back end liked to smack into things on the Futuristic Potholes and then sway from side to side on the Nachos, but with a little luck and a lot of masochism, Gray got it to the end. :D Delightful!
Workout: Another day on the bike, keeping up on the Sims theme with –
A) The end of “Last day as teenagers! High School Years (Part 42)” by James Turner! The poor guy had been struggling with getting Addison’s aspiration done and Breanne’s Emotional Control character value up so he could finally age them up from being teenagers, but fortunately, he succeeded! :D Here’s how it went down –
I. Addison managed to get to Mischief level 8 by scaring their Dad Kevin a few times once back at home, and THAT allowed them to “summon the urban myth” (using a hand mirror to pretend to summon a spectral hand before spooking Kevin again). James did that three times – twice to fulfill the aspiration milestone, once (after a save) to see if it would do anything creepy (it didn’t – Addison never got the “scared MYSELF” moodlet that you need to have to kill yourself via myth). Fulfilling that ALSO reset their date counter back to 4/5, so after taking the dog out for a jog, they called up Hilary and asked her to a final date at ThrifTea to fulfill THAT goal. That just left a final goal of “dare a Sim to pull a prank or frame them for something,” which seemed to require Addison getting even MORE mischief skill, so they hung around ThrifTea all day annoying the various customers and even the owner with their mischievous ways. XD They finally managed to get the interaction after getting Mischief Level 9 and talking to their sister Breanne – convincing her to pull a prank fulfilled the aspiration and made them Dauntless, meaning they always live life to the fullest and can plead more successfully with the Grim Reaper. Nice.
II. Breanne, meanwhile, had the much easier job of just doing yoga until her Emotional Control was in range to get the positive character value trait. :p Her progress was briefly threatened by her talking to Reginald to ask for advice about being hideous, and James accidentally picking an option that raised manners but lowered emotional control, but she soon got it back with some more time on the yoga mat. She must take after Kevin. :p
III. And with that, Addison made a hamburger cake, and both kiddos aged up! Addison officially became a “Foodie,” and James had them pick the Bodybuilder aspiration so they could get the “High Metabolism” trait and stay fit and trim easier. Breanne, meanwhile, got the “Creative” trait, and James ended up sticking with the World Famous Celebrity aspiration for the “Gregarious” bonus trait it provided (though he admitted to being open to other aspiration ideas for her). AND she aged up with the positive Responsibility, Emotional Control, and Manners traits, so that fulfilled REGINALD’S Super Parent aspiration as well! So that was nice. :D (Addison got the “Responsible” and “Good Manners” traits as well, for what it’s worth – they just didn’t get the third to make Dad proud.)
And with that, the episode ended, with Breanne and Addison ready to move onto the next stage in their lives! :) Specifically, Addison is gonna of course be working on their restaurant all the time now in the “Dine Out Reloaded” LP, and I already know from the thumbnails of future videos that Breanne is gonna move to San Myshuno to make it as a photographer. . .we’ll see how that works out when she gets there!
B) Two more Petey Plays It videos –
I. “Complete Guide To Nectar Making | The Sims 4 Horse Ranch” – Petey telling us all about how to make nectar, what kinds of nectar you can make and what effect they’ll have on your Sims, how best to age nectar, and how best to make it a profitable venture. Nectar-making is one of the other possible reasons I might eventually get Horse Ranch, so it was good to get a look at how it works and what you need to do to make the stuff! I was very amused to learn that drinking four glasses of nectar in a row will get a Sim pass-out “juiced.” :p No word if the same thing happens if you suck down straight from the bottle. XD And apparently trash nectar is a very good thing to make, as it gives you a scent that farm animals just adore! Interesting. . .
II. “7 Club Ideas For Your Child Sims | The Sims 4 Get Together Guide” – Petey giving us ideas on clubs you can make for your child Sims to make their lives a little richer! Examples included a “little scientists” club that would encourage kids to experiment on the kids’ science table and have them look through telescopes at the sky, preparing them for scientific pursuits; an “afternoon care” club designed to meet after school, where kids would do homework and play board games and video games; a “little pranksters” club where kids would be wandering around public parks just pranking the hell out of people XD; and a “Voidcritters” club where kids could trade cards and battle voidcritters on the battle machine. Something to think about for all you family players!
Other: We did play beanbags today, as the weather was good enough – and everyone had a good enough day to win once, yay! :) Dad was the star, of course, winning three, while I did slightly better than my usual and Mom did pretty good (she would have gotten my win if not for a last-minute dud!). Final scores were me 3-2-W-2-2; Dad W-W-3-3-W; and Mom 2-3-2-W-3. *nods* I like it.
Not too shabby -- I would have liked to do more with the Smiler Otherland drafts, but at least having a start on all of them is something! And hey, I'm very glad to have all the Not-Incorrect Quotes finished. :p And that Sims 4 session means I'm officially about three updates ahead of where I am on tumblr, which is a pretty good buffer. Even if it means I'm dealing with surprise kittens. XD Always spay and neuter your pets, kids!
Anyway -- tomorrow is my last day off, and I hope to make it a productive one, period or no period. Mom's got us all scheduled for a COVID 19 booster around 11 AM, so I gotta work around that (but I will gladly get boosted too), but the plan is to try and get a bit more done on my various tumblr drafts; start "Into The Deathlands" during my workout; keep up on Gray and any OXboxtra stuff that may pop up that I wanna watch; and write some more on my "Valicer In The Dark" stuff, as that's where my brain is. Oh, and I'll either skip gaming entirely, hit Sims 4 for a short "let's finish dressing Wickerman at least" session, or do something else in one of my shorter games. We'll see. *shrug* As it stands, I'd better get off so I can get to bed with plenty of time to get some actual sleep. Night all!
Tumblr: Just a Victor Luvs Alice day today – spent the time before lunch catching up on the dashboard and tracked tags, then moved onto doing some starter drafts for a few Smiler Otherland posts! Yes, posts, plural – I decided it would be easier on me and allow me to go in more detail if I had specific posts for the domains, the weapons, and the outfits, so I’ve set those up with some starter text and tags. I also set up a Not-Incorrect Quotes collection, and ended up actually completing all the quotes themselves this evening. Because I love these collections a bit more than I should. :p So at least I’ve made a start on those for the future!
Sims 4: I did indeed go back to the Chill Valicer Trio today, as I missed them – and I ended up having some unexpected Surprise and Shock during their Harvestfest celebrations! Let me elucidate –
A) Things started off pretty normally, with Smiler taking Shadow out on a very early morning walk, Alice going upstairs to look at the fish and then start a new motivational book (“Solving Your Problems With Trains” ;) ), and Victor waking up from his slumber to study his new tomes, Nimble Mind and Emotional Stability, and learn those potions. Apparently the first requires parsley and a spotted dirt frog, while the second requires obtanium (an element, I think) and a potato. Two of those items Victor can easily grow, the others. . .well, we’ll see what we can do! Also discovered something very surprising when he went to go put the tomes away – apparently, the CC fossil shelf I got from Somecreative CC on tumblr? DOUBLES AS A BOOKSHELF. Like, uh, wtf. O.o I mean, yes, convenient, I don’t actually have a bookshelf upstairs, this is fine, but still – W. T. F. *shakehead*
B) While all that was going on, I was both keeping an eye on Smiler and Shadow on their roam around the Henford-On-Bagley countryside and Kelly as she ran around the house – and while Shadow didn’t seem to have anything wrong with her, I noticed a puddle of sick by Kelly’s scratching post downstairs. This seemed to confirm that Kelly was the pet that was ill –
A hypothesis confirmed when she came upstairs to lay by Alice while she wrote, and a puddle of sick appeared next to her. Well then! I had Victor use the power of Scruberoo to clean up the puddles, then give her a brush just in case the sick was hairballs instead of anything major (as the cat didn’t LOOK sick in any significant way). He then chatted to Alice while Kelly was sick AGAIN near her chair and then ran off to go do cat things. *shakehead* Well, I already knew I needed to take her and Shadow to the vet, sooo. . .
C) With the ill pet confirmed, all that remained was to wait until the greenhouse could be harvested so I didn’t get fifty million things in my household inventory again. Victor got sent to the barn to make another eco upgrade part, though along the way I noticed that one of the water collectors and three of the wind turbines were on the fritz and stopped to have him Repairio all those first. He also got kinda spooked thanks to the house making creepy noises and that stupid glitched “fear of the dark” moodlet that won’t go away, so I had him make some more sacred candles and put a set out in the barn to keep him calm. (Note to self – see if I can sell those too.) He successfully made his part, then headed into the barn to do some early tending and fertilizing while the plants began to fruit (and I’m happy to say that they ALL remained fully bloomed this time, yay).
D) As for Alice and Smiler – Alice actually maxed her Writing skill as she finished off her new book, yay! :D Once it was done, she headed outside to play with the cow plant and clean the chicken coop, while Smiler came home from their walk with Shadow and ATTEMPTED to play “laser pointer” with Kelly (the cat indicated that she wanted to play, but then wandered off into the obstacle course and went around the tunnel while Smiler chased her around in bat form trying to play with her – it worked in the end, but it just took a while!). Alice then submitted her latest book to the Literary Digest –
E) And I noticed Harvestfest was officially on because there was a creepy Reaper gnome hanging out on the front porch! Welp, time to try appeasing – do Grim Reapers like coffee?
No, apparently not. Fortunately, the Reaper gnome was very receptive to Alice begging for forgiveness and was easily turned from causing trouble. A relieved Alice went to feed the cow plant (which, since we seem to be keeping it around for the time being, I gave a name – Toothy), then started a Grand Breakfast while Smiler decorated the house (yellow and orange lights and bunting), collected the eggs (three eggs of normal quality, with one being hatchable – I had them put that one back in the coop, since we have room for chicks again) and fed the chickens, and milked Moory (which the cow allowed, though she was still not interested in Smiler’s attempt at a joke afterward). They then tried their own gnome appeasement by going to the greenhouse to try and given the alien gnome in there a future cube –
Only to have to backtrack to the barn when all the gnomes teleported over there. *grumbles* Fortunately, the alien gnome liked the future cube, and Smiler fulfilled that tradition, no problem! It’s always nice when appeasing these stupid gnomes is easy. . .
F) About that time, the meal was almost ready, and Victor had finally finished harvesting and tending his plants – I sent him in to use the bathroom, as the poor guy was busting, then had Smiler go and sit at the table while Alice finished up the breakfast (even if they can’t actually eat the food, they can at least sit with their besties!) I was going to have Victor sit with them, but then thought “hang on, it’s a holiday – let’s put out nice place settings! That’ll be cute and keep Victor busy so he doesn’t try to grab any food early.” So that’s what he did, while I had Smiler go search the pockets of the laundry in the hamper to keep out of the way. Victor finished up the place settings right as Alice completed the breakfast, and upon her ringing the bell, everyone grabbed a plate – including Smiler, who, despite having had a plasma pack right beforehand, still insisted on trying to eat a few bites. You have a Withered Stomach, Smiler! I eventually got them to stop and have a plasma fruit instead while Victor and Alice chowed down, and had them all express their thankfulness for each other. :) Very positive and happy meal!
G) With that tradition out of the way, I had Alice take care of a few needs and Smiler clean up the dishes, and sent Victor to the greenhouse where the gnomes had gathered around one of the trees to try his luck with appeasing one. He chose one of the new ones, a cute little guy sitting on a rock, and tried giving him some pie –
No dice – the gnome rejected it and promptly spawned a trash pile. And Victor’s attempts to plead for mercy fell on deaf ears, leading to him being very nastily electrocuted. *wince* Did not miss THAT happening on this holiday! Fortunately, Alice was already heading out to talk to him, so I had her give him a hug to help him feel better. At least even failing to appease the gnome satisfies that stupid tradition!
H) Okay, probably best to spend plenty of time AWAY from the angry gnome, and those pets need to be looked at – time for the trio to hit Brindleton Bay and the Brindleton Pawspital! They arrived in good time, and Alice signed Kelly in for a little check-up (Victor also attempted to book Shadow, but I don’t think that action every completed). She and Victor then hung out in the lobby, slow dancing and flirting, while the vet checked Kelly over and Smiler went around collectible-hunting – I was looking SPECIFICALLY for frog logs to try and grab that spotted dirt frog, but didn’t find any in the world. So instead Smiler dug up some dirt piles and found a couple of fossil rocks – a fossilized udder and a perfectly preserved mustache, nice. I then sent them over to one of the fishing spots to fish with some of their spare fireleaf, where they proceeded to catch two guppies and a tambaqui. It was while they were fishing that we got the results of Kelly’s exam –
She was fine. No sickness to be found. Puzzled, but now half-certain the “sick” was in fact the game equivalent of some kind of hairball, I had them give her a preventative shot and then had Alice stock up on wellness treats at the vending machine while Victor booked Shadow for a spay (because, for some reason, Kelly wasn’t available as an option. . .). Poor Shadow went into the machine and came out with a big old cone on her head that prevented most ways of interacting with her – I made sure to have Victor at least praise her for being a good girl. I then figured that we should bring Shadow somewhere nicer to recuperate, so after getting a litter box for the lot (as Kelly was meowing for one) and having Smiler fill the feeder there. . .
I) It was off to Isle of Volpe National Park! Because I was still looking for collectibles, damn it – and I still didn’t find any, damn it. >( Alice, who was starting to feel a bit of the Fury, got sent on a “zoomies” jog around the park, while Victor and Smiler indulged in a little flirting and kissing and the pets hung out and enjoyed the fresh air. When I was unable to find any regular collectibles while looking over the general park area, though, I had Smiler fly over to Sophie and see what was under her –
Three plantains. Uh, okay? *shrug* I took them and had them hide that darn llamacorn toy that’s been sitting in their inventory ever since Father Winter gave it to them – it always felt wrong to sell it, but giving it away to the next random searcher should be fine! :p As they were starting to feel a bit of the old Thirst, though, I then started looking for a potential new friend/plasma donor wandering around, and settled on one Brian Pimental, who apparently Smiler already knew a bit! Which meant it was rather confusing to click on him and realize Smiler needed to introduce themselves. . .asking him about his career during the required “must do all the friendly interactions before asking to feed” period cleared things up a bit, though, as he’s an Eco Inspector! Meaning Smiler’s probably met him when he’s come by the house to check how they’re complying with various NAPs. *nods* Smiler formed a nice solid bond with him despite their bad compatibility, thanks to their incredible likeability, and got a nice drink of plasma from him. :) Victor, meanwhile, did some cloudgazing, splashed around a bit in the nearby pond, and tried socializing with a rabbit (who didn’t like him much), while Alice came back from her zoomies with barely any Fury left and checked in on the pets –
J) And that’s when I got the pop-up that Kelly had gone into labor.
Cue me going “SHE’S PREGNANT?!” in utter shock. O.O Yes, uh, THAT was apparently why Kelly couldn’t be spayed along with Shadow – apparently, during one of her “roaming around off lot” absences, she had a night of loving with a tom and came back with some kittens in her! The fuck. . .game, why do you do this sort of thing to me? (“Because you never spayed her earlier,” I know, I know. . .)
Anyway – THAT felt like a good reason to head back home, so after Victor successfully completed Shadow’s “lie down” training (because apparently she could do THAT with the cone on her head) and got a final kiss from Smiler, the trio headed back to the farm. Victor and Alice, both quite tired, headed upstairs for a nap, while Smiler headed into the greenhouse to try their chances with the angry gnome. Fortunately, THEIR pleading had a bit more weight to it, and the gnome deigned to forgive the family. Smiler, relieved, searched the nearby trash pile for parts and put it in their inventory for later recycling, then went and made a yellow tulip flower arrangement.
K) And it was midway through this arrangement that Kelly laid down next to them and had her kittens! And at this point, you may have finally realized why I capitalized “Surprise” and “Shock” at the beginning of this write-up. XD Yes, those are indeed the kitten’s names. They both look very much like their mother, and they have similar personalities – both are Talkative and Free Spirits, while Surprise is Frisky and Shock is Affectionate. Smiler took a moment to greet the new kittens and be charmed by their cuteness –
L) And that’s when Temperance showed up, perhaps emboldened by the fact that I recently kicked her ex off the premises. Fortunately, Victor and Alice were both up and having a bit of late-night coffee to help get on a better sleep schedule, so it was the work of a moment to grab Victor’s bizarre idol and just plop it down next to her to trap her in a cowering loop. :P I’d disallow you too if I could, lady! At any rate, she was rendered harmless by the mere sight of the idol, so Smiler just finished their flower arrangement (getting up to 5 in the Flower-Arranging skill, nice), while Victor took the cone off Shadow and started teaching her to play dead, watched by Kelly (getting up to 3 in the Pet Training skill in the process, nice). Alice went out to meet the kittens and carry them inside the house, and Smiler then flew up to their room to hype their next video for their SimsTube fans, continue editing their old videos, and tried combining their “charisma” video (of them just standing around) with the sand sculpture video – this annoying lowered the quality of the resultant spliced-together video, but eh. They then researched trends as Victor and Alice got some proper shut-eye – and as fashion videos were in for the day, they did a fashion video as Harvestfest wrapped up, showing off some favorite looks (which included an astronaut costume, so I guess I should have had them dress up as THAT for Spookfest – maybe next time!). The session finally ended with everyone having had a successful Harvestfest (except the new kittens, apparently. . .game, first, they’re CATS, second, they were JUST BORN), Smiler having just finished their video, and Victor having just fed Toothy.
Whew! Lot happening, huh? I really did NOT expect Kelly to be carrying kittens to be the reason for all the sick. . .and now I have to figure out what to DO with them, as I was not expecting to have more than two regular pets in this household! Have to see who might want a kitten among their friends, I guess. . .
Writing: Started on the next bit of “Londerland Bloodlines,” with Alice arriving at LaCroix’s office absolutely DONE with everything. She didn’t even let him finish his “hey, you weren’t supposed to come back until we heard from Grout” bit before telling him the dude was dead and demanding to know who Bach was. LaCroix was – a bit taken aback, as you might expect. XD He did note her sudden attitude problem, but Alice’s response was essentially “can it, I am actually being as polite as is possible for me after the night I had, kick me out if you want but this is the Alice you’re getting now.” XD And he has indeed run with that, indulging her need to know who Bach is and giving his history with the family. He’s incredulous that Bach might NOT be the one who killed Grout, though. . .if only Alice could end the conversation there instead of accidentally mentioning she saw Nines Rodriguez there in the next paragraph. . .
YouTube: Just GrayStillPlays tonight (the various write-ups and my fic-writing tonight took up a loooot of time), with the newest Alex Torture Board – “Cars vs 100 Potholes in GTA 5!” Yes, Alex was back with a brand new pothole board, this time themed around weird potholes, and a lot of them. Gray had to find the correct car or truck to get himself across the Sprunk Potholes (a bunch of giant open Sprunk cans with water spouts jetting randomly from their mouths; also they went from side-by-side to a more pyramid-like pattern near the end), the Wallride Potholes (yup, an admittedly-short wallride that just so happened to be full of holes – and happened to also be made of breakable concrete, as Gray found out early on), the Abstract Potholes (a bunch of potholes made up of stacked rings, with teleporters both visible and invisible to teleport Gray back to the beginning if he tried to cheat by riding the rims – he had to figure out a way across without catching his tires or grill on a particular ring and falling to his doom through all the layers and into the water), the Plywood-Coverd [sic] Potholes (a grid of EXTREMELY UNEVEN potholes covered by a layer of very breakable plywood – incredibly easy to catch a tire and fall through one of the big holes into the water), the Futuristic Potholes (potholes made up of the rings underneath those weird futuristic tower props, set up in a wavy line, with the last one spinning so the legs of the tower got in Gray’s way), and 30 Nacho Potholes (a straight line of open nacho chip cans, with another can to the side shooting the occasional nacho at him near the end) and to the win. The Sherp with its giant wheels but incredibly low speed made it over the Sprunk but not the wall ride; the Canis Lifeguard-mobile made it to the Abstract Potholes but couldn’t get past the rings; and the space-marine-branded truck made it ALMOST all the way to the end before being felled by nachos. . .but you know who won?
THE FUCKING WASTELANDER, BABY! :D Yes, my favorite rustbucket truck frame came back and managed to take this one! It was extremely hard, yes, especially with the way the back end liked to smack into things on the Futuristic Potholes and then sway from side to side on the Nachos, but with a little luck and a lot of masochism, Gray got it to the end. :D Delightful!
Workout: Another day on the bike, keeping up on the Sims theme with –
A) The end of “Last day as teenagers! High School Years (Part 42)” by James Turner! The poor guy had been struggling with getting Addison’s aspiration done and Breanne’s Emotional Control character value up so he could finally age them up from being teenagers, but fortunately, he succeeded! :D Here’s how it went down –
I. Addison managed to get to Mischief level 8 by scaring their Dad Kevin a few times once back at home, and THAT allowed them to “summon the urban myth” (using a hand mirror to pretend to summon a spectral hand before spooking Kevin again). James did that three times – twice to fulfill the aspiration milestone, once (after a save) to see if it would do anything creepy (it didn’t – Addison never got the “scared MYSELF” moodlet that you need to have to kill yourself via myth). Fulfilling that ALSO reset their date counter back to 4/5, so after taking the dog out for a jog, they called up Hilary and asked her to a final date at ThrifTea to fulfill THAT goal. That just left a final goal of “dare a Sim to pull a prank or frame them for something,” which seemed to require Addison getting even MORE mischief skill, so they hung around ThrifTea all day annoying the various customers and even the owner with their mischievous ways. XD They finally managed to get the interaction after getting Mischief Level 9 and talking to their sister Breanne – convincing her to pull a prank fulfilled the aspiration and made them Dauntless, meaning they always live life to the fullest and can plead more successfully with the Grim Reaper. Nice.
II. Breanne, meanwhile, had the much easier job of just doing yoga until her Emotional Control was in range to get the positive character value trait. :p Her progress was briefly threatened by her talking to Reginald to ask for advice about being hideous, and James accidentally picking an option that raised manners but lowered emotional control, but she soon got it back with some more time on the yoga mat. She must take after Kevin. :p
III. And with that, Addison made a hamburger cake, and both kiddos aged up! Addison officially became a “Foodie,” and James had them pick the Bodybuilder aspiration so they could get the “High Metabolism” trait and stay fit and trim easier. Breanne, meanwhile, got the “Creative” trait, and James ended up sticking with the World Famous Celebrity aspiration for the “Gregarious” bonus trait it provided (though he admitted to being open to other aspiration ideas for her). AND she aged up with the positive Responsibility, Emotional Control, and Manners traits, so that fulfilled REGINALD’S Super Parent aspiration as well! So that was nice. :D (Addison got the “Responsible” and “Good Manners” traits as well, for what it’s worth – they just didn’t get the third to make Dad proud.)
And with that, the episode ended, with Breanne and Addison ready to move onto the next stage in their lives! :) Specifically, Addison is gonna of course be working on their restaurant all the time now in the “Dine Out Reloaded” LP, and I already know from the thumbnails of future videos that Breanne is gonna move to San Myshuno to make it as a photographer. . .we’ll see how that works out when she gets there!
B) Two more Petey Plays It videos –
I. “Complete Guide To Nectar Making | The Sims 4 Horse Ranch” – Petey telling us all about how to make nectar, what kinds of nectar you can make and what effect they’ll have on your Sims, how best to age nectar, and how best to make it a profitable venture. Nectar-making is one of the other possible reasons I might eventually get Horse Ranch, so it was good to get a look at how it works and what you need to do to make the stuff! I was very amused to learn that drinking four glasses of nectar in a row will get a Sim pass-out “juiced.” :p No word if the same thing happens if you suck down straight from the bottle. XD And apparently trash nectar is a very good thing to make, as it gives you a scent that farm animals just adore! Interesting. . .
II. “7 Club Ideas For Your Child Sims | The Sims 4 Get Together Guide” – Petey giving us ideas on clubs you can make for your child Sims to make their lives a little richer! Examples included a “little scientists” club that would encourage kids to experiment on the kids’ science table and have them look through telescopes at the sky, preparing them for scientific pursuits; an “afternoon care” club designed to meet after school, where kids would do homework and play board games and video games; a “little pranksters” club where kids would be wandering around public parks just pranking the hell out of people XD; and a “Voidcritters” club where kids could trade cards and battle voidcritters on the battle machine. Something to think about for all you family players!
Other: We did play beanbags today, as the weather was good enough – and everyone had a good enough day to win once, yay! :) Dad was the star, of course, winning three, while I did slightly better than my usual and Mom did pretty good (she would have gotten my win if not for a last-minute dud!). Final scores were me 3-2-W-2-2; Dad W-W-3-3-W; and Mom 2-3-2-W-3. *nods* I like it.
Not too shabby -- I would have liked to do more with the Smiler Otherland drafts, but at least having a start on all of them is something! And hey, I'm very glad to have all the Not-Incorrect Quotes finished. :p And that Sims 4 session means I'm officially about three updates ahead of where I am on tumblr, which is a pretty good buffer. Even if it means I'm dealing with surprise kittens. XD Always spay and neuter your pets, kids!
Anyway -- tomorrow is my last day off, and I hope to make it a productive one, period or no period. Mom's got us all scheduled for a COVID 19 booster around 11 AM, so I gotta work around that (but I will gladly get boosted too), but the plan is to try and get a bit more done on my various tumblr drafts; start "Into The Deathlands" during my workout; keep up on Gray and any OXboxtra stuff that may pop up that I wanna watch; and write some more on my "Valicer In The Dark" stuff, as that's where my brain is. Oh, and I'll either skip gaming entirely, hit Sims 4 for a short "let's finish dressing Wickerman at least" session, or do something else in one of my shorter games. We'll see. *shrug* As it stands, I'd better get off so I can get to bed with plenty of time to get some actual sleep. Night all!
