More Late Updates
Aug. 30th, 2023 11:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickBecause, as usual, I'm running late with the tumblr stuff, though it's not quite as bad as it was yesterday --
Work – Another exceedingly quiet day – two credit card calls right before lunch, and then the rest of the time I was doing duplicates and cleaning up deceased people and suchlike. Which, I know is important work and all, but it does sometimes make the day drag. *sigh* Problem is, now that I’ve said that, there’s a non-zero chance tomorrow will be horrifically busy and remind me why it’s okay for me to be bored. We’ll see how it goes!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike, this time with a pair of videos –
A) First up, the end of Oxventure Presents Blades In The Dark – “Foundry No. 12!” To my surprise, while they did go over a couple of the rules for Mogwai when Legally-Not-Gizmo appeared (namely don’t feed them after midnight, don’t get them wet), Legally-Not-Gizmo never actually transformed into a gremlin, instead just doing his level best to help with the engine block. Feels odd, but maybe we’ll get a proper Gremlin-izing in the last episode, should he tag along. :p
Anyway – Luke cut back briefly at this point to check in on Kasimir, who – having wounded the Red Sashes after him – was on his way to fetch his new ghost seagull companion (whom he’d named Coleridge – reference to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, author of that famous albatross-killing poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner) out from under the spiritbane charm. As he got closer to them, though, he was able to see that, despite them being injured, they were still up and ready for a fight, bandaging each other and generally doing their best to shrug the injuries off. Kasimir decided to try and put them out of their misery and fired off another volley of shots from the repeater – a five meant that he hit and killed two of them, no problem, while the third was able to dive under the bullet. He came up with his knife, ready for a fight –
Cut back to Edvard, desperately trying to shove the engine block over the railing and onto the Red Sash making his way up the stairs. A four on the roll meant that he got it over, but didn’t hit the guy – but DID smash the staircase, making a big hole and halting the Sash’s progress. The Sash attempted to throw a knife at him – another decent roll meant that Edvard was able to dodge, with the knife instead hitting the door. Moments later, one of the guards inside opened the door a crack and began demanding a password. Edvard managed to force his way in via a successful Finesse roll, and found himself face to face with Strangford, Bakaros, and their two guards. As the guards raised their swords, Edvard reached into his pocket, pulling out the last thing he brought with him on this trip –
A FUCKING HOMEMADE FRAG GRENADE. WHICH HE THEN PROCEEDED TO PULL THE PIN OUT OF AND SLAM HIS THUMB DOWN ON THE FIRING MECHANISM. Cool as a fucking cucumber (and with Legally-Not-Gizmo backing him up from his pocket), he ordered Strangford to tell his men to stand down. Strangford was like “you’d never actually do it, you’d die too,” and Edvard cheerily responded, “Ah, but my friends would escape, and that’s the important bit – now, did I put a three or two-second fuse on this, let me just lift my thumb and check.” XD Strangford capitulated, and Edvard ordered him to get everyone to stand down so he and the other Hobbyhorses could leave in peace. Strangford very reluctantly did so, resulting in both the Red Sash trying to fight Kasimir and Marlane squaring up against her friend Zillah instantly sheathing their weapons. Marlane, not one to hold a grudge, immediately got into an excited discussion about the new hand-wraps in the fighting circuit with Zillah and had her try some moisturizer she had on her; Kasimir’s Red Sash basically tried to imply it was nothing personal and got head-butted unconscious. XD With THAT sorted, Edvard NEARLY left the room, but then (reminded voice-in-head style by Luke that Strangford could just get back on the speaking tube and order the fights to resume) demanded that someone destroy the speaking tube, causing Bakaros to melt it with his electroplasmic mace. Strangford furiously told Edvard that his ultimate plan would never work, even if this immediate plan was working very well – that they knew the group were after the Barricade, and its defenses were being quadrupled in preparation for an assault. If they went after the machine, they would most certainly die, meaning their only chance for survival was to take his previous offer – surrender, leave Volisport forever, and never return, lest they be hunted to the ends of the earth. Edvard was like “no thanks, because if the Barricade IS that well-defended, we’ll just die trying to bring it down, and I don’t trust you to keep your end” and ordered them out of the room, walking behind them coolly to keep them at grenade-point.
. . .Well, at least until they reached the gap in the stairs that he’d made with the engine block. Then there was some awkwardness with Lord Strangford needing help from his remaining Red Sashes to get over the hole. XD (Edvard apparently managed to jump it, while Bakaros creepily hovered across.) They rejoined the group downstairs, where Strangford swore vengeance and said that they would be hunted mercilessly. Edvard was basically like “so be it” –
And then extended his hand, let Strangford’s handshaking instincts kick in, palmed him the grenade and slammed his thumb on the firing mechanism, then threw the pin across the room before running. XD Edvard, seriously, you’re amazing. XD Kasimir quickly got the others onto the back of his goat, and had them all gallop over to Foundry No 5, which actually DID provide aid to the group (as per their role in the engagement roll) by acting as a sort of makeshift safehouse for them to hide out in! Hell, Kasimir was able to put in that they’d converted part of their foundry into a spa and that the girls let the trio use it, which allowed them some much-needed relaxation time AND got them all two ticks on their healing clocks (allowing Edvard to finally relax away the last of Zillah’s punching damage and Kasimr and Zillah to make good progress on healing THEIR damage). The group discussed what next, agreeing that Eleanor’s place was surely not safe anymore and wondering if the others were actually dead or alive –
Cue Kasimir having a brainwave and bribing Coleridge the Ghost Seagull with loads of peanut brittle (or, rather, the ghostly echo of the peanut brittle) to go out and see if it could find the two (relying on the fact that, since he picked up the seagull during the balloon race, it would at least know Barnaby by sight). Coleridge went off, and came back reporting through its link with Kasimir that yes, Barnaby and Lilith WERE still alive, and were on their way back to the townhouse. The trio quickly finished their spa bath and got back on the goat to intercept them, arriving just in time to meet up with Lilith and Barnaby at the front door –
Which opened, revealing a bloody and hurt but still alive Eleanor, who’d been attacked by two Red Sashes but had managed to overpower them (at the cost of her beloved exposition room’s carpet). Glad to see them all alive, she recommended that they get to their train and get moving toward the Barricade NOW – everyone agreed, and Eleanor was bundled on the goat as they made for the trainyard. :D Next week, we have the big old finale – “Magic, Ghosts, Danger, And Death!” :D
B) However, in the immediate term, we had “Meet The Ministry - Festival of Thrills Smiler Takeover” by CablesTwisted! I’ve seen most of their videos on The Smiler Takeover at the beginning of the year, but while I’d seen plenty on The Fear Test and my beloved Celebration Stage, I hadn’t seen much of the “Meet The Ministry” mini-stage show, featuring a magician and a contortionist, so I decided to check that out. This short video was mainly focused on the contortionist doing tricks with a number of Hula Hoops – spinning them around various parts of her body, juggling them, spinning loads at once around her waist as the magician tossed them onto her like a giant ring toss – though we saw a bit of the magician’s act, tying knots in a handkerchief and them pulling the knots off as separate pieces of fabric with the help of a kid from the audience. Pretty nice stuff, though I didn’t envy the two performers having to work in the rain! But then again, it IS England, so. . .
2. Continue writing Valicer In The Dark, “Home Sweet Lair”: Check – Smiler has told Victor and Alice all about their god Mar-Mal, the Unending Smile, and how the Advocates work to spread the pure happiness of the god among the masses. Their end goal is a world where everyone is happy all the time and all fear and pain is gone. This includes finding a way to stop pet death (as Victor mentioned how, while he would have appreciated not feeling QUITE so miserable after losing Scraps, he wouldn’t have wanted not to be sad at ALL, that would have been weird), regular death, all injury, and all inequality. Though not bodily needs, as Alice accidentally got them rambling on that when all their stomachs growled – and then got them to confess that, okay, Mar-Mal accidentally made some early Advocates basically smiling vegetables, but it’s fine, they’re taking care of them, and Mar-Mal is doing much better these days at NOT breaking people’s brains, they’re living proof, where did you think the yellow eyes came from? Which has caused Victor and Alice to both be like “we never actually questioned those.” XD Admittedly, Victor thought it was a side effect of the Joy Serum-making process – no, alchemical weirdness is how I’m explaining the purple in their hair. XD We’ll pick up with Smiler explaining how they got their yellow eyes next week – tomorrow, we start what I expect to be the final chapter of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland!”
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Once again, just the one GrayStillPlays video – “Cars vs Custom Speedbumps in GTA 5!” An Alex and DANNY Torture Board, which made me quite happy because we haven’t seen Danny’s work on the channel in a while. :D Alex apparently tutored Danny in the art of “Gray-hating speedbumps,” and Danny learned his lessons well – Gray had to face things like The Son, Mama, Dad Speedbumps (a set of three speedbumps, each set within a squared-off pit so if you didn’t clear them you got stuck against the sides, each getting higher than the last); My 11th Birthday Speedbump (featuring Gray having to ramp a large rotating blueberry and cherry “cake” with candles fully capable of setting Gray and his vehicle on fire at least briefly); Noob, Pro, Legend Spikes (a set of FOUR essentially spike strips made of rebar, with the spikes getting taller and more numerous as he went on); My Art Classes Speedbumps (a set of speedbumps made from abstract things, starting with colorful bocci balls/bowling balls, then moving over two large curved chunks of marble, before forcing Gray to climb the incredibly steep and weirdly shaped sides of the “giant alien vase” thing); My Math Exams Be Like Speedbump (a speedbump made up of a math equation where the numbers were much taller than they had any right to be); Inappropriate Meaty Bits Speedbumps (a ring of young deer made out of dark matter circling endlessly in the middle of the road, in front of what I presume to be Meaty Bits’s and Mrs. Meaty Bits’s house (Meaty himself was continually heading inside)); and finally the Everything Speedbump! (a speedbump that was – well, EVERYTHING. Spikes in front of it, blades on the front, giant rotating cylinder that was on fire, a windmill embedded into the middle of it, a random Meaty Bits, 69, and pair of cherries on top, all surmounted by an endless storm with lightning sparking all over the place). It was UTTERLY BRUTAL. XD Gray tried pretty much every car offered to him, from off-brand Power Wheels to giant pick-up trucks – a lot of cars couldn’t get past the birthday cake (which was JUST tall enough to make getting on top of it difficult), and almost NOTHING could get past the final Art Class speedbump because of how steep and weirdly shaped the alien vase thing was (I’m not sure what it ACTUALLY was, I presume part of a building somewhere). What finally made it was a green car with really springy tires, great speed and air, and a propensity for losing its hood – it struggled mightily with the Ring Around The Meaties, and even MORE mightily with the Everything Speedbump (getting knocked off by the windmill SOO much), but eventually, after one near miss that I think Gray felt in his very soul, he managed to get it over the accursed thing and through the win circle. XD Basically, at this point, if Alex ever needs a break, I think Danny could fill in for him and we’d never notice a thing. :P
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: 5/6’s check, let’s say tonight –
Valice Multiverse – finished up the final thread replies and ask replies I needed to get in the queue this morning, though it was a very close thing. *sigh* But everything got done, and at least I didn’t have to look at it tonight.
Victor Luvs Alice – I’ve got my Friday reblog of some funny VTMB fanart sorted, and MOST of my AU Thursday “Londerland Bloodlines” update post done – still need to finish up the tags and maybe add a little bit to the main text, but I can do that in the morning. It’s done enough for now!
One of these days, I will get my tumblr queuing back under control. . .for now, though, time for bed again. Still got to get through Thursday and most of Friday! Night all!
Work – Another exceedingly quiet day – two credit card calls right before lunch, and then the rest of the time I was doing duplicates and cleaning up deceased people and suchlike. Which, I know is important work and all, but it does sometimes make the day drag. *sigh* Problem is, now that I’ve said that, there’s a non-zero chance tomorrow will be horrifically busy and remind me why it’s okay for me to be bored. We’ll see how it goes!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike, this time with a pair of videos –
A) First up, the end of Oxventure Presents Blades In The Dark – “Foundry No. 12!” To my surprise, while they did go over a couple of the rules for Mogwai when Legally-Not-Gizmo appeared (namely don’t feed them after midnight, don’t get them wet), Legally-Not-Gizmo never actually transformed into a gremlin, instead just doing his level best to help with the engine block. Feels odd, but maybe we’ll get a proper Gremlin-izing in the last episode, should he tag along. :p
Anyway – Luke cut back briefly at this point to check in on Kasimir, who – having wounded the Red Sashes after him – was on his way to fetch his new ghost seagull companion (whom he’d named Coleridge – reference to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, author of that famous albatross-killing poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner) out from under the spiritbane charm. As he got closer to them, though, he was able to see that, despite them being injured, they were still up and ready for a fight, bandaging each other and generally doing their best to shrug the injuries off. Kasimir decided to try and put them out of their misery and fired off another volley of shots from the repeater – a five meant that he hit and killed two of them, no problem, while the third was able to dive under the bullet. He came up with his knife, ready for a fight –
Cut back to Edvard, desperately trying to shove the engine block over the railing and onto the Red Sash making his way up the stairs. A four on the roll meant that he got it over, but didn’t hit the guy – but DID smash the staircase, making a big hole and halting the Sash’s progress. The Sash attempted to throw a knife at him – another decent roll meant that Edvard was able to dodge, with the knife instead hitting the door. Moments later, one of the guards inside opened the door a crack and began demanding a password. Edvard managed to force his way in via a successful Finesse roll, and found himself face to face with Strangford, Bakaros, and their two guards. As the guards raised their swords, Edvard reached into his pocket, pulling out the last thing he brought with him on this trip –
A FUCKING HOMEMADE FRAG GRENADE. WHICH HE THEN PROCEEDED TO PULL THE PIN OUT OF AND SLAM HIS THUMB DOWN ON THE FIRING MECHANISM. Cool as a fucking cucumber (and with Legally-Not-Gizmo backing him up from his pocket), he ordered Strangford to tell his men to stand down. Strangford was like “you’d never actually do it, you’d die too,” and Edvard cheerily responded, “Ah, but my friends would escape, and that’s the important bit – now, did I put a three or two-second fuse on this, let me just lift my thumb and check.” XD Strangford capitulated, and Edvard ordered him to get everyone to stand down so he and the other Hobbyhorses could leave in peace. Strangford very reluctantly did so, resulting in both the Red Sash trying to fight Kasimir and Marlane squaring up against her friend Zillah instantly sheathing their weapons. Marlane, not one to hold a grudge, immediately got into an excited discussion about the new hand-wraps in the fighting circuit with Zillah and had her try some moisturizer she had on her; Kasimir’s Red Sash basically tried to imply it was nothing personal and got head-butted unconscious. XD With THAT sorted, Edvard NEARLY left the room, but then (reminded voice-in-head style by Luke that Strangford could just get back on the speaking tube and order the fights to resume) demanded that someone destroy the speaking tube, causing Bakaros to melt it with his electroplasmic mace. Strangford furiously told Edvard that his ultimate plan would never work, even if this immediate plan was working very well – that they knew the group were after the Barricade, and its defenses were being quadrupled in preparation for an assault. If they went after the machine, they would most certainly die, meaning their only chance for survival was to take his previous offer – surrender, leave Volisport forever, and never return, lest they be hunted to the ends of the earth. Edvard was like “no thanks, because if the Barricade IS that well-defended, we’ll just die trying to bring it down, and I don’t trust you to keep your end” and ordered them out of the room, walking behind them coolly to keep them at grenade-point.
. . .Well, at least until they reached the gap in the stairs that he’d made with the engine block. Then there was some awkwardness with Lord Strangford needing help from his remaining Red Sashes to get over the hole. XD (Edvard apparently managed to jump it, while Bakaros creepily hovered across.) They rejoined the group downstairs, where Strangford swore vengeance and said that they would be hunted mercilessly. Edvard was basically like “so be it” –
And then extended his hand, let Strangford’s handshaking instincts kick in, palmed him the grenade and slammed his thumb on the firing mechanism, then threw the pin across the room before running. XD Edvard, seriously, you’re amazing. XD Kasimir quickly got the others onto the back of his goat, and had them all gallop over to Foundry No 5, which actually DID provide aid to the group (as per their role in the engagement roll) by acting as a sort of makeshift safehouse for them to hide out in! Hell, Kasimir was able to put in that they’d converted part of their foundry into a spa and that the girls let the trio use it, which allowed them some much-needed relaxation time AND got them all two ticks on their healing clocks (allowing Edvard to finally relax away the last of Zillah’s punching damage and Kasimr and Zillah to make good progress on healing THEIR damage). The group discussed what next, agreeing that Eleanor’s place was surely not safe anymore and wondering if the others were actually dead or alive –
Cue Kasimir having a brainwave and bribing Coleridge the Ghost Seagull with loads of peanut brittle (or, rather, the ghostly echo of the peanut brittle) to go out and see if it could find the two (relying on the fact that, since he picked up the seagull during the balloon race, it would at least know Barnaby by sight). Coleridge went off, and came back reporting through its link with Kasimir that yes, Barnaby and Lilith WERE still alive, and were on their way back to the townhouse. The trio quickly finished their spa bath and got back on the goat to intercept them, arriving just in time to meet up with Lilith and Barnaby at the front door –
Which opened, revealing a bloody and hurt but still alive Eleanor, who’d been attacked by two Red Sashes but had managed to overpower them (at the cost of her beloved exposition room’s carpet). Glad to see them all alive, she recommended that they get to their train and get moving toward the Barricade NOW – everyone agreed, and Eleanor was bundled on the goat as they made for the trainyard. :D Next week, we have the big old finale – “Magic, Ghosts, Danger, And Death!” :D
B) However, in the immediate term, we had “Meet The Ministry - Festival of Thrills Smiler Takeover” by CablesTwisted! I’ve seen most of their videos on The Smiler Takeover at the beginning of the year, but while I’d seen plenty on The Fear Test and my beloved Celebration Stage, I hadn’t seen much of the “Meet The Ministry” mini-stage show, featuring a magician and a contortionist, so I decided to check that out. This short video was mainly focused on the contortionist doing tricks with a number of Hula Hoops – spinning them around various parts of her body, juggling them, spinning loads at once around her waist as the magician tossed them onto her like a giant ring toss – though we saw a bit of the magician’s act, tying knots in a handkerchief and them pulling the knots off as separate pieces of fabric with the help of a kid from the audience. Pretty nice stuff, though I didn’t envy the two performers having to work in the rain! But then again, it IS England, so. . .
2. Continue writing Valicer In The Dark, “Home Sweet Lair”: Check – Smiler has told Victor and Alice all about their god Mar-Mal, the Unending Smile, and how the Advocates work to spread the pure happiness of the god among the masses. Their end goal is a world where everyone is happy all the time and all fear and pain is gone. This includes finding a way to stop pet death (as Victor mentioned how, while he would have appreciated not feeling QUITE so miserable after losing Scraps, he wouldn’t have wanted not to be sad at ALL, that would have been weird), regular death, all injury, and all inequality. Though not bodily needs, as Alice accidentally got them rambling on that when all their stomachs growled – and then got them to confess that, okay, Mar-Mal accidentally made some early Advocates basically smiling vegetables, but it’s fine, they’re taking care of them, and Mar-Mal is doing much better these days at NOT breaking people’s brains, they’re living proof, where did you think the yellow eyes came from? Which has caused Victor and Alice to both be like “we never actually questioned those.” XD Admittedly, Victor thought it was a side effect of the Joy Serum-making process – no, alchemical weirdness is how I’m explaining the purple in their hair. XD We’ll pick up with Smiler explaining how they got their yellow eyes next week – tomorrow, we start what I expect to be the final chapter of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland!”
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Once again, just the one GrayStillPlays video – “Cars vs Custom Speedbumps in GTA 5!” An Alex and DANNY Torture Board, which made me quite happy because we haven’t seen Danny’s work on the channel in a while. :D Alex apparently tutored Danny in the art of “Gray-hating speedbumps,” and Danny learned his lessons well – Gray had to face things like The Son, Mama, Dad Speedbumps (a set of three speedbumps, each set within a squared-off pit so if you didn’t clear them you got stuck against the sides, each getting higher than the last); My 11th Birthday Speedbump (featuring Gray having to ramp a large rotating blueberry and cherry “cake” with candles fully capable of setting Gray and his vehicle on fire at least briefly); Noob, Pro, Legend Spikes (a set of FOUR essentially spike strips made of rebar, with the spikes getting taller and more numerous as he went on); My Art Classes Speedbumps (a set of speedbumps made from abstract things, starting with colorful bocci balls/bowling balls, then moving over two large curved chunks of marble, before forcing Gray to climb the incredibly steep and weirdly shaped sides of the “giant alien vase” thing); My Math Exams Be Like Speedbump (a speedbump made up of a math equation where the numbers were much taller than they had any right to be); Inappropriate Meaty Bits Speedbumps (a ring of young deer made out of dark matter circling endlessly in the middle of the road, in front of what I presume to be Meaty Bits’s and Mrs. Meaty Bits’s house (Meaty himself was continually heading inside)); and finally the Everything Speedbump! (a speedbump that was – well, EVERYTHING. Spikes in front of it, blades on the front, giant rotating cylinder that was on fire, a windmill embedded into the middle of it, a random Meaty Bits, 69, and pair of cherries on top, all surmounted by an endless storm with lightning sparking all over the place). It was UTTERLY BRUTAL. XD Gray tried pretty much every car offered to him, from off-brand Power Wheels to giant pick-up trucks – a lot of cars couldn’t get past the birthday cake (which was JUST tall enough to make getting on top of it difficult), and almost NOTHING could get past the final Art Class speedbump because of how steep and weirdly shaped the alien vase thing was (I’m not sure what it ACTUALLY was, I presume part of a building somewhere). What finally made it was a green car with really springy tires, great speed and air, and a propensity for losing its hood – it struggled mightily with the Ring Around The Meaties, and even MORE mightily with the Everything Speedbump (getting knocked off by the windmill SOO much), but eventually, after one near miss that I think Gray felt in his very soul, he managed to get it over the accursed thing and through the win circle. XD Basically, at this point, if Alex ever needs a break, I think Danny could fill in for him and we’d never notice a thing. :P
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: 5/6’s check, let’s say tonight –
Valice Multiverse – finished up the final thread replies and ask replies I needed to get in the queue this morning, though it was a very close thing. *sigh* But everything got done, and at least I didn’t have to look at it tonight.
Victor Luvs Alice – I’ve got my Friday reblog of some funny VTMB fanart sorted, and MOST of my AU Thursday “Londerland Bloodlines” update post done – still need to finish up the tags and maybe add a little bit to the main text, but I can do that in the morning. It’s done enough for now!
One of these days, I will get my tumblr queuing back under control. . .for now, though, time for bed again. Still got to get through Thursday and most of Friday! Night all!
