Happy Valice(r) Anniversary!
Jul. 7th, 2024 11:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickAnd House-iversary too, since today is the date we signed the papers to buy the place we're currently living in -- seven years ago today, damn. O.o But to me, this date will always be first and foremost associated with my OTP's wedding anniversary, and any OT3 weddings too. :) And I had a very good day celebrating it --
Tumblr: Managed to do exactly what I wanted to do today, AND a little extra besides on my other blog –
Victor Luvs Alice – Kept up on my dash here as best I could, and managed to complete my drafts for this week’s Chill Valicer save update – adding some links to last year’s fiasco of a Valicer Weenie Roast (I’d forgotten one of the guests set themselves on fire in addition to the campfire being broken because of the Simple Living lot trait) to the very first post, then getting the image alt text done on all the remaining posts (had to finish up the last post after lunch, but that’s because lunch was early). And I put up a bonus “here’s a cute picture from today’s Sims 4 session” post tonight to go with the Valice/Valicer Wedding Masterpost I queued up earlier. :) So that was all good!
Valice Multiverse – Nothing happening over here, so I reblogged the above-mentioned Valice/Valicer Wedding masterpost onto my dash because, well, I wanted to acknowledge the anniversary in SOME way. :) It’s something!
Sims 4: Well, it took a LITTLE longer than I was hoping for (mostly because I spent the first half-hour playing working on the lot that I wanted them to visit), but the Valicer Spookfest Group Date to the Haunted Museum went off largely without a hitch –
A) As per the above, I actually started the session visiting the Haunted Museum lot I’d plopped down in Newcrest yesterday in Build/Buy mode and updating what Petey did by adding some more pictures (adjusting the height of all the wall lights on the second story to accommodate the ones I wanted) and items for Sims to view – adding more Werewolves prints and Crystal Creations moon-patterned rugs and prints to to the werewolf artifacts section in the basement, and some Realm of Magic tables with the Paranormal Stuff mini-cowplant and falcon statue to the second floor around the werewolf book display, for example. Plus a handful of CC pieces, like a few A:MR pictures here and there. :P I also added the “Vampire Nexus” and “Peace & Quiet” lot traits to the museum, along with the “Spooky” lot challenge in hopes of maybe seeing a ghost or two. Hey, Petey himself suggested doing the latter – it is supposed to be a haunted museum, after all!
B) With the museum all sorted, I headed back over to the Valicer farm to see how everyone was doing – Smiler was working on their Servo; Victor was in the upstairs white-and-blue bathroom, ready for a shower; and Alice was hanging out outside by the water collectors, having been stopped from mopping up puddles in a rainstorm. I had Victor take his shower and prompted Alice to let out a somber howl to lower her Fury (didn’t want to risk her having an “episode” during their date), then sent them both to bed so I could speed up time for a while and get them to morning quicker. I slowed things back down around 4 AM to get Smiler to mop a puddle that had ended up inside (I suspect one of the pets, but I have no idea which one – Shadow is generally pretty well potty-trained, and the cats have what I hope are plenty of litter boxes) and some mysterious symbols, then had Victor and Alice get up around 4:30 to start their day while they were getting that sorted (noting with amusement that Victor had a special “I Woohoo’d a Werewolf” flirty moodlet XD You certainly did, sir!). I had Victor clean the spoiled food out of the fridge while Alice took a feral poo, then had both of them grab a slice of blueberry pie for breakfast since that was the next thing in line to go off. They had a lovely meal, with Smiler joining them to have one of their plasma fruits, and Kelly joining them to beg for food. XD Alice ATTEMPTED to lecture the cat on not begging when she was done with her slice, but Kelly just seemed utterly confused by the concept of not asking for the people food right in front of her. XD
C) With breakfast done and dishes cleared (I think my Sims very much like their new dishwasher), it was time to take care of the chores! Victor of course was sent to take care of the greenhouse (lot of weeding to be done!), while Smiler cleaned the chicken coop and Alice cleaned the cow shed. Around this time, the official “it’s Spookfest” holiday overlay popped up, and I prepared to hop into Build/Buy to drag the decorations in the attic out –
And then noticed that Alice already had the “tradition complete” notice waiting in her action queue. It was only then that I realized that I’d never actually taken down the lights I’d had Smiler hang up for the PREVIOUS holiday. XD Whoops! Well, I didn’t let that stop me – I got the ghost lights set up around the new entrance sign; put the pumpkin decals on the wall; added a new plastic jack-o-lantern, paper haunted house display, and the laser-light-show cauldron to the front porch; and changed the cards in the living room to be Spookfest and fall-related. And of course had Smiler go and change the hanging lights on the eaves to orange and yellow to fit the holiday, since the previous ones were multicolored. (Weirdly enough, we already seemed to have the right ghostly banners up on all of the fences. *shrug* Not complaining! One less thing to worry about.)
D) With the house appropriately tricked out, chores could continue – Alice scavenged the garbage she’d dropped coming out of Moory’s shed for parts, then stuck that in her inventory before cleaning, feeding, and chatting with the cow, while Smiler finished updating the decorations before going to feed and chat with the chickens. They then got the eggs (the promised orange egg from yesterday’s pumpkin treat to Leghorna and four regular eggs) and Alice the milk (usual six bottles) –
And then, while I was distracted for just one moment seeing how Victor was coming along in the greenhouse, they both ran off to Smiler’s party barn to play ping-pong again. *shakehead* Since they’d already taken care of the animals, I just let them go ahead and have their game – which was a pretty tough one, it seemed! The two of them constantly slipped the ball past each other, seemingly very well matched indeed. But Alice end up winning in the end, four points to three. Smiler really just doesn’t seem to have much luck with the old ping-pong table at all these days, huh? At least they weren’t utterly steamrolled like they were at juice pong a few playsessions ago…
E) While those two were pinging and ponging, Victor finished up his garden tending – I had him grab everybody’s various cans of fertilizer and fertilize his oversized crops (super vitality for lettuce and pumpkins, regular vitality for the rest), then get his beeswax and honey out of the bee box and check in on the bees (little irritated, nothing to worry about). I had him then super-sell everything in the greenhouse (Smiler has over SIXTY plasma fruits in their inventory and a ridiculous amount of herbalism stuff in the herbalism box, they’re set) while I sent Alice to finish the painting she started yesterday and Smiler ran off on their own to have a nice bubble bath. Once Victor was done super-selling, I had him take a moment to “open” the pile of feathers one of the pets brought him that’s been sitting in his inventory for ages (two finch feathers and a blue jay feather – I hung up the blue jay and one of the finches in the study and sold the spare), then join Alice in the study to work on the song in his inventory (though I think it’s glitched, honestly – might want to scrap it and start another one). Smiler joined them after they were done with their bath to do a little jamming on their guitar –
But of course, in the time it took for them to get down there, Alice had completed her painting and run off to shower in the rain. *sigh* I let her finish (her hygiene was getting slightly low), then had her play chess so I could get a nice shot of everyone in the study together –
F) Just in time for the mail to arrive! Just bills, nothing special. I had Smiler go and get the mail and pay the bills (turning on the cauldron laser light show along the way, because why not) while Alice got sent to clean more spoiled food out of the fridge while I used the “put away” option granted by Brazen Lotus’s “Core” mod to put away the eggs and milk she and Smiler had gathered earlier. (Seriously, SO fucking convenient!) She and Victor then had grilled fruit for lunch (again, the next thing liable to go off), while Smiler had a plasma pack (made from a freshly-bred spotted eggplant frog) and a plasma fruit with them. Because I like family meals, damn it, especially on a day like today. :p I got a notification that Shadow was very hungry right after the human-shaped Sims finished their meals – I had Victor call Shadow to eat, then had Smiler and Alice call Shock and Kelly to eat too for good measure (Surprise was out having Free-Spirit Cat adventures). Alice cleaned the dishes as Victor wandered off to the bedroom to mold clay – she followed him up there to chat, but I had her watch the fish instead so I could send Smiler up there and propose a group date (I was going to have Smiler ask Victor, but then realized it made more sense to have Victor ask Smiler, as Victor is the one with multiple romances here) –
Cue Victor and Smiler wandering downstairs for no good reason, and the interaction canceling out as Victor gave up on the clay and put it in the downstairs bathroom on the sink. *sigh* Sims 4, I swear sometimes… Fortunately, my second attempt to set up the date worked fine –
G) And so the trio went off to the Haunted Museum! Where, of course, their first order of business was to change into costumes. :D Alice got to be a pizza delivery lady; Victor a space ranger; and Smiler – well, they just turned into their Dark Form, because that counts as a costume for vampires. XD (Still think werewolves transforming into their beast forms should count too!) I then had them head inside and sit around the séance table on the first floor (after Alice “donated” her jar of purple forbidden candy to the display of “Hello Dalhia” dolls and candy jars there – what, there was a gap and I wanted to fill it! We have TWO at home!) to have a chat to help fulfill the date goals – sharing jokes, flirts, and deep conversations. Alice and Smiler got up a couple of times to look at items (I mean, they WERE at a museum, that’s what you DO there), but everything went very well, and soon the date was at gold level. :) I had Victor blow a kiss to Alice, lay a smooch on Smiler –
Then transportalate up to the attic bathrooms as he REALLY had to pee. XD Alice and Smiler amused themselves while he was busy looking at the art, sharing the spooky spirit, talking to one of the Hello Dalhias (Alice), and watering the little plasma tree in its side room (Smiler). Once Victor was done, I had him bring everyone up to the second floor so they could reconvene and finish off all their date goals while looking at the specters-in-jars display there (potential rewards from the Paranormal Investigator career, in case you were wondering). They all had a nice chat together looking at the specters and some of the pictures I added to the lot, with Victor ending things off by giving Alice a nice shoulder massage to complete the last group date goal –
H) And then, pumpkins! :D Because Petey included a couple of pumpkin-carving stations and a special pumpkin display made out of platforms on this floor, and I wanted the trio to get in on that. Smiler and Alice went first, making a pale orange smiling pumpkin and a white cat pumpkin respectively, while I kept Victor busy looking at the handful of pumpkins Petey had included in the display. He then took over Smiler’s station once Smiler was done (carving a Masterpiece of a pumpkin, nice! Victor’s and Alice’s were just Excellent, which, still great), while Smiler chatted with Alice and checked out a pumpkin themselves. Once everyone was done, I made sure all the pumpkins were lined up on one side of the display, properly preserved (so they won’t ever rot), and lit up –
Then had Alice take a picture of them all together! :D Which proved to be a BIT tricky, as my initial attempts to get her lined up had her look at the pumpkins at an angle, and then when I got her straight on, Victor’s elbow was in the corner of the shot. XD I just zoomed in as much I could while keeping all three pumpkins in-frame and took my wanted snaps, playing around with filters and sizes a bit as I do. (What can I say – I like variety. And the medium picture size.) And once THAT was all settled…
I) It was time to turn off autonomy for a little bit and set up the tripod for some group pictures! :D Which, again, proved to be a little trickier than anticipated – I initially set up the tripod in front of the display I’d made with the mini-cowplant and the falcon, but when I sent the trio over there, the interaction first just canceled out, then the camera just kept beeping for ages while the three lined up around the SIDE of the tripod. And then I accidentally canceled out the interaction AGAIN by accidentally moving the camera trying to get Alice to try the picture again. I decided that they probably didn’t have enough room with the camera facing the side wall display and turned it around so the backdrop would be the specters-in-jars display and the stairs up to the bathroom, prompting Alice to try one more time. Again, the camera timer beeped for AGES, making me worry that something was wrong –
But I did eventually get to take my pictures! Whew! I promptly had fun putting everyone into various poses (silly, romantic, and just plain random) and taking a variety of small and medium-sized pictures. :D Gotta commemorate the moment, after all! And I will never stop loving that the tripod allows me to take group pictures of the three. :D It’s great, it really is.
J) With the final goal of the date (well, sort of – the date ended at Gold level right before the actual picture-taking took place, but it was MY final goal for the date anyway) sorted, and Victor and Alice’s energy flagging a little, I figured it was time to wrap up the holiday. I thus had Alice put away her camera and tripod, directed Victor and Alice to share an intense kiss (since Victor and Smiler had locked lips earlier), then sent the trio back home –
Where, to my surprise, both Surprise the cat and Brian Pimental the NAP inspector/family friend were waiting at the entrance. I had Smiler go and chat with Brian for a while as Victor petted the cat (remaking friends with it, yay), then had Victor and Alice watch “Sims Of The Dead” (which they didn’t think much of) while Smiler got a free drink from Brian’s wrist and I dragged all the photos out of Alice’s inventory to look through them and decide which ones I wanted to keep. I ended up keeping one small picture of the trio doing silly “fashion” poses and putting it in Victor and Alice’s bedroom, on the side table with the sacred candles, and four medium pictures – two pumpkin pictures (one normal one, one “inverted filter” one – I thought it looked cool) and two of the trio posing. The pumpkin pictures and the trio doing more fun “fashion” poses ended up on the wall of the basement over the “alchemy couch,” while another one of the gang doing “romantic” poses ended up in the barn next to Smiler’s robotics bench as I had nowhere else to put it. XD Not enough visible wall space in this house! Oh, and while I was at it, I hung up Alice’s latest abstract painting in the barn as well, near her jewelry bench and crystal displays, as it looked rather crystal-y itself. Might as well, right? Barn could use some decoration too. (Which I guess is as good a reason as any to put up the photos I don’t have any room for in the house in there.)
L) And with THAT all done, it was time to finally wrap things up in this playsession! I had Smiler say bye to Brian, then go and feed Toothy the cowplant (sorry to keep you waiting Toothy!) and pop into the basement briefly so I could get a picture of the new photos on the wall, before joining Alice and Victor to watch the end of the movie – interrupted by their house making scary noises. XD Alice then ran off to use the toilet while Victor ate the ectocake in his inventory and headed off to bed, with Alice joining him after she had some ice cream (next best thing after candy). Smiler, of course, was sent to finish off their Servo –
And finish it off they did, right around midnight! :D Delighted, I let them wander off to do their own thing, and they chose to turn the lump of clay that Victor had left on the downstairs bathroom sink into a bust. Which they proceeded to leave on the downstairs bathroom sink. XD I then sent them into the barn as the holiday officially ended for everyone around 2 AM (“Spookfest was awesomes” all around) –
And THAT is where I saved and quit for the day! Meaning, when we NEXT visit this save, Smiler will be booting up their Servo and adding them to the family, yay! :D But yeah, good session – very pleased that I was able to get that all done. :) As a bonus, please enjoy one of my favorite in-game snaps I took of the trio (the one I posted in my “bonus” post on tumblr earlier today):
I love them so much. XD <3
Writing: No actual writing – as stated, I was willing to make this optional to fit in the Sims stuff, especially since I finished a chapter of “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of” yesterday – but I did take a moment to add “do an actual ‘them getting married’ story” to the Valicer In The Dark master doc. I’d already had the idea of them getting drunkenly group-married in a non-binding way (being drunk, they didn’t sign any of the necessary paperwork) for a different story, so this would be the follow-up to that. How do they get group-married in Duskwall, you ask? Simple, there’s a loophole allowing for legal marriages with more than two participants if they get married under the purview of a sympathetic god, and Mar-Mal is only TOO happy to support polyamory. XD I’ll expand on this later, I’m sure, but it’s nice to have in the list!
YouTube: Managed to get in my usual Sunday Two, w00 –
A) First up, we had the GrayStillPlays offering of the day – “Pou's back for revenge,” aka Gray plays Pou’s Revenge! This was one of those janktastic “horror games” where you are a person taking care of a suspiciously-brown-and-triangular being called Pou. First day is fine – you feed, wash, medicate, play with, then put Pou to bed. No problem. Second day, you get a friend for Pou called Poulina, who disappears after you go shopping, and that is where it all starts going wrong. XD Basically, you find a secret room behind the shelf with Poulina’s murdered body in it, Pou cuts off your legs, and you have to fix the toy car in the game room to try and escape before you end up the next snack for your ever-growing Pou “friend.” Gray had a delightful time tossing Pou around while it was still little (to the point where he accidentally tossed it OUT OF THE GAME by trying to shove it in the oven after he was supposed to go to bed), then proceeded to have a less-delightful time during the escape sequence because the toy car is so freaking jank that it constantly flips on its side, making driving it an absolute nightmare (and Gray, who does GTA V challenge boards on the regular, knows about driving absolute nightmares). He finally ended things by blowing up Pou and himself in a fiery conflagration made by tossing matches into the oven, so I guess in a WAY he did manage to get the horrible poop monster in there after all. XD Good stuff!
B) And second up, we had Jon and “Fallout 4: Sim Settlements 2 - Part 42 - Taking Care Of Business!” Which featured Bob mostly doing work with the New Liberty Trading Company after finding a letter from one Lydia Proudmore (the representative he spoke to back when the Nightingales needed funding) in his mailbox outside his quarters in HQ (also after finding the mailbox outside his quarters in HQ because had no idea it was there until the comments told him XD). Now, these write-ups ALWAYS take me too long because I ALWAYS go into too much detail, so I am going to keep this one short and sweet. In short, Bob:
I. Hit the Marina and – after deciding two of the Legendaries he found last episode are not worth it because he doesn’t have the Science! needed to upgrade them on his own (low INT character, remember?) – moved all the upgrades on the Margeret sniper rifle he got from Old Paul onto the Plasma-Infused Hunting Rifle he found looking for Raphael in the sewers, because better damage against all creatures, not just synths. He also doused it with Enclave paint so the light plastic recon scope didn’t look silly against the dark gun. He also spent his level-up from last episode on Armorer 3, because he wants that higher-level ballistic weave, damn it.
II. After discovering he didn’t have one laying around in his workbench, took a moment to swing by Milton General Hospital to acquire a high-powered magnet, then burnt his last vertibird grenade to hit Boston Airport and build Liberty Prime his special actuators. However, his attempts to continue the “Liberty Reprimed” quest line hit a snag after that, because he has both that quest and “Mass Fusion” (where you have to decide if you’re helping the Institute or the Brotherhood get the Beryllium Agitator by helping one or the other get it from Mass Fusion) active, both require talking to Ingram – and Ingram is prioritizing the “Mass Fusion” quest. Meaning that Bob is stuck unless he wants to pick a side, and he’s not keen on doing that because he wants as many allies as possible helping him fend off the Gunner army that’s incoming as per the end of the last episode. So THAT’S going to go nowhere fast until he decides if he wants Liberty Prime or the army of synths that comes with being Director of the Institute more.
III. Swam across the bay after stalling out with the Brotherhood to meet with Lydia in the NLTC’s current little hidey-hole on the Boston waterfront, who in turn took him to meet the Chief Investor, Jeremiah Glatton – a dude who talked like a used car salesman, complete with extremely expansive gestures. He indicated that he was very impressed with Bob’s work in the region and that he wanted to invest in the Commonwealth, assuring Bob that their little empire of merchants and traders and skilled artisans and whatnot was built upon the fact that they ALWAYS honor their contracts to the letter. Once it is written down, it is law with them. Bob was cautiously optimistic about what they wanted (hoping that they could enrich each other by setting up some good trade agreements) and Glatton revealed that the first thing they were hoping to do, to get their foot in the door, was to set up a trade outpost nearby, in Custom House Tower (a base game location I have NEVER heard of before and must now seek out when I’m back in that area of the world, even if it is technically only one room). Unfortunately, the place was currently occupied by super mutants, so they were having trouble with that – Bob offered his services (because that is what the player character does), which Glatton cheerfully accepted. Lydia gave Bob the details – meet up with their head of security, Allison Gale, and clear the mutants out –
And completely NO-SELLED his attempt to get more money out of her for the job. Like, he passed the speech check, but she just went, “you are getting 1,000 caps and that is it” and Bob could only stand there and take it. XD Jon was like, “B-but my Charisma O.o” XD It was very amusing. At least you still got the XP for it, Jon!
IV. Went over and met up with Allison, who was immediately like “Suicider out front and mines on the door, wanna kill some mutants?” Bob was like “do I!” and sniped the Suicider with his new rifle, before heading into Custom House Tower and taking out the three super mutants within without a problem. With the area clear (Jon was surprised at how easy that was, while Allison, who apparently enjoys “ethical” violence, was all happy about seeing some action), he went over and reported back to Lydia on the NLTC boat, who complimented him on fulfilling his contract to the letter, paid him his 1,000 caps, then asked if he was up for another job – namely, negotiating a trade agreement with the quartermaster of Diamond City. Bob was a little iffy about acting on their behalf (especially since they seemed so interested in his stellar reputation to help prop themselves up), but agreed to do it, if only to see what kind of agreements they were offering so he’d know if he wanted to deal with them in the future. She also put Allison at his disposal, since apparently she “makes her own entertainment” when she’s bored, and since she likes her violence… Bob was all right with that (even if Jon considered it “babysitting”) and sent Allison on ahead to meet him on location, since, of course he had the fast way to get there. :p
V. Teleported to the Institute and took a moment to stick the Railroad’s tape into the nearest terminal and meet Liam for “Underground Undercover” (gotta keep the Railroad happy with him too) before returning to the CIT ruins at the surface and running over to Diamond City, where he met back up with Allison before talking to one Quartermaster Kingsley – who was not interested in the contract, unwilling to tell Bob why he wasn’t interested in the contract (even with Bob sporting his best dress), and just wanted them to go away, thanks. Bob went “now what?” to Allison, who revealed that Lydia had given her a packet “in case of resistance” and told her to visit an information broker in the city to see what could be done. Bob was getting even MORE dubious about the NLTC at this point, but as Allison’s other proposed option was, “we could murder the guy but I think the bosses and security here wouldn’t like that,” he agreed to go see The Ron…
And a good thing too, as The Ron immediately picked up that he was working with the NLTC and was willing to give him the skinny on them for free (probably still grateful Bob doesn’t blame him for selling out Jake that one time). Basically, they do honor their contracts, and the company DOES have a lot of money...but they are NOT as open to sharing it as they say they are, as the neighborhoods around their headquarters are basically slums. A fact that Allison corroborated, saying she grew up in one. Bob, now feeling really bad about taking them at their word, jumped at the chance to have The Ron look over the contract he was giving to the Quartermaster – fortunately, The Ron told him that he didn’t see any suspicious fine print or scams, so this particular contract should be all right. Though he was surprised to see Lydia’s name on there – apparently the Proudmores are bigwigs in the company, with guaranteed spots on the Board of Directors. Lydia being here, and not even as Chief Investor...well, it was weird. Bob filed that little tidbit away for later.
VI. After confirming with The Ron that this contract is good, bought his services in getting some info on Quartermaster Kingsley with the packet that Lydia sent with Allison – The Ron said that he had enough info to bury Kingsley if Bob wanted to blackmail him, but that things could probably be settled with some gentle persuasion too. Bob was like “let’s go persuasion,” and The Ron told him that Kingsley’s main problem was that the caravan’s coming to Diamond City were too unpredictable lately, and that he was getting a lot of pressure from upstairs to fix the problem. Armed with this information, Bob went back to Kingsley and – after persuading him that more interaction with the Commonwealth might be good and would help his caravan situation – got him to sign. Though not before telling the guy that no, he and HIS empire would NOT assume responsibility for any “harm” done to the caravans going into and out of DC, because that was a term not well-defined and thus could be used to put him on the hook for ANYTHING. Bad quartermaster!
VII. And, finally, went back to Lydia to tell her all was good with the contract and get another 1,000 caps – because, if nothing else, these jobs pay well. Jon ended up leaving it with Bob preparing to talk to Glatton about furthering their partnership in his nice fancy new office in the Custom House Tower – we’ll see how that goes, and if the New Liberty Trading Company finds any lines that Bob isn’t willing to cross, next week!
Workout: Back on the bike for the upcoming week, and back with the GrayStillPlays compilations since I still need to keep catching up on those – today’s offering was the start of “I made driving 1000x more dangerous,” aka Gray playing a variety of “dangerous driving” games! Made it through the first video about Ramp Car Jumping (one of those Boombit games about sending a car sailing through a course to hit a target – this particular one had bonus levels where you could draw your own ramps to send a car down, which saw Gray do things like make a ramp that went straight up, and a ramp that curled over itself so his car would drive around it infinitely), and have just started the next video on Draw Jousting (where you have to draw a vehicle for your character to use to fight against someone else – Gray is drawing things like sushi roll spirals and very crooked beer cans, and somehow winning constantly). Should be a fun few days with this one! :D
Okay, still running a bit later than I should here, but it's not as bad as SOME Sundays, so I will take it as a win. Time to hit the sheets and prepare to head back to work tomorrow, meh. Hopefully it'll just go by fast...Night all!
Tumblr: Managed to do exactly what I wanted to do today, AND a little extra besides on my other blog –
Victor Luvs Alice – Kept up on my dash here as best I could, and managed to complete my drafts for this week’s Chill Valicer save update – adding some links to last year’s fiasco of a Valicer Weenie Roast (I’d forgotten one of the guests set themselves on fire in addition to the campfire being broken because of the Simple Living lot trait) to the very first post, then getting the image alt text done on all the remaining posts (had to finish up the last post after lunch, but that’s because lunch was early). And I put up a bonus “here’s a cute picture from today’s Sims 4 session” post tonight to go with the Valice/Valicer Wedding Masterpost I queued up earlier. :) So that was all good!
Valice Multiverse – Nothing happening over here, so I reblogged the above-mentioned Valice/Valicer Wedding masterpost onto my dash because, well, I wanted to acknowledge the anniversary in SOME way. :) It’s something!
Sims 4: Well, it took a LITTLE longer than I was hoping for (mostly because I spent the first half-hour playing working on the lot that I wanted them to visit), but the Valicer Spookfest Group Date to the Haunted Museum went off largely without a hitch –
A) As per the above, I actually started the session visiting the Haunted Museum lot I’d plopped down in Newcrest yesterday in Build/Buy mode and updating what Petey did by adding some more pictures (adjusting the height of all the wall lights on the second story to accommodate the ones I wanted) and items for Sims to view – adding more Werewolves prints and Crystal Creations moon-patterned rugs and prints to to the werewolf artifacts section in the basement, and some Realm of Magic tables with the Paranormal Stuff mini-cowplant and falcon statue to the second floor around the werewolf book display, for example. Plus a handful of CC pieces, like a few A:MR pictures here and there. :P I also added the “Vampire Nexus” and “Peace & Quiet” lot traits to the museum, along with the “Spooky” lot challenge in hopes of maybe seeing a ghost or two. Hey, Petey himself suggested doing the latter – it is supposed to be a haunted museum, after all!
B) With the museum all sorted, I headed back over to the Valicer farm to see how everyone was doing – Smiler was working on their Servo; Victor was in the upstairs white-and-blue bathroom, ready for a shower; and Alice was hanging out outside by the water collectors, having been stopped from mopping up puddles in a rainstorm. I had Victor take his shower and prompted Alice to let out a somber howl to lower her Fury (didn’t want to risk her having an “episode” during their date), then sent them both to bed so I could speed up time for a while and get them to morning quicker. I slowed things back down around 4 AM to get Smiler to mop a puddle that had ended up inside (I suspect one of the pets, but I have no idea which one – Shadow is generally pretty well potty-trained, and the cats have what I hope are plenty of litter boxes) and some mysterious symbols, then had Victor and Alice get up around 4:30 to start their day while they were getting that sorted (noting with amusement that Victor had a special “I Woohoo’d a Werewolf” flirty moodlet XD You certainly did, sir!). I had Victor clean the spoiled food out of the fridge while Alice took a feral poo, then had both of them grab a slice of blueberry pie for breakfast since that was the next thing in line to go off. They had a lovely meal, with Smiler joining them to have one of their plasma fruits, and Kelly joining them to beg for food. XD Alice ATTEMPTED to lecture the cat on not begging when she was done with her slice, but Kelly just seemed utterly confused by the concept of not asking for the people food right in front of her. XD
C) With breakfast done and dishes cleared (I think my Sims very much like their new dishwasher), it was time to take care of the chores! Victor of course was sent to take care of the greenhouse (lot of weeding to be done!), while Smiler cleaned the chicken coop and Alice cleaned the cow shed. Around this time, the official “it’s Spookfest” holiday overlay popped up, and I prepared to hop into Build/Buy to drag the decorations in the attic out –
And then noticed that Alice already had the “tradition complete” notice waiting in her action queue. It was only then that I realized that I’d never actually taken down the lights I’d had Smiler hang up for the PREVIOUS holiday. XD Whoops! Well, I didn’t let that stop me – I got the ghost lights set up around the new entrance sign; put the pumpkin decals on the wall; added a new plastic jack-o-lantern, paper haunted house display, and the laser-light-show cauldron to the front porch; and changed the cards in the living room to be Spookfest and fall-related. And of course had Smiler go and change the hanging lights on the eaves to orange and yellow to fit the holiday, since the previous ones were multicolored. (Weirdly enough, we already seemed to have the right ghostly banners up on all of the fences. *shrug* Not complaining! One less thing to worry about.)
D) With the house appropriately tricked out, chores could continue – Alice scavenged the garbage she’d dropped coming out of Moory’s shed for parts, then stuck that in her inventory before cleaning, feeding, and chatting with the cow, while Smiler finished updating the decorations before going to feed and chat with the chickens. They then got the eggs (the promised orange egg from yesterday’s pumpkin treat to Leghorna and four regular eggs) and Alice the milk (usual six bottles) –
And then, while I was distracted for just one moment seeing how Victor was coming along in the greenhouse, they both ran off to Smiler’s party barn to play ping-pong again. *shakehead* Since they’d already taken care of the animals, I just let them go ahead and have their game – which was a pretty tough one, it seemed! The two of them constantly slipped the ball past each other, seemingly very well matched indeed. But Alice end up winning in the end, four points to three. Smiler really just doesn’t seem to have much luck with the old ping-pong table at all these days, huh? At least they weren’t utterly steamrolled like they were at juice pong a few playsessions ago…
E) While those two were pinging and ponging, Victor finished up his garden tending – I had him grab everybody’s various cans of fertilizer and fertilize his oversized crops (super vitality for lettuce and pumpkins, regular vitality for the rest), then get his beeswax and honey out of the bee box and check in on the bees (little irritated, nothing to worry about). I had him then super-sell everything in the greenhouse (Smiler has over SIXTY plasma fruits in their inventory and a ridiculous amount of herbalism stuff in the herbalism box, they’re set) while I sent Alice to finish the painting she started yesterday and Smiler ran off on their own to have a nice bubble bath. Once Victor was done super-selling, I had him take a moment to “open” the pile of feathers one of the pets brought him that’s been sitting in his inventory for ages (two finch feathers and a blue jay feather – I hung up the blue jay and one of the finches in the study and sold the spare), then join Alice in the study to work on the song in his inventory (though I think it’s glitched, honestly – might want to scrap it and start another one). Smiler joined them after they were done with their bath to do a little jamming on their guitar –
But of course, in the time it took for them to get down there, Alice had completed her painting and run off to shower in the rain. *sigh* I let her finish (her hygiene was getting slightly low), then had her play chess so I could get a nice shot of everyone in the study together –
F) Just in time for the mail to arrive! Just bills, nothing special. I had Smiler go and get the mail and pay the bills (turning on the cauldron laser light show along the way, because why not) while Alice got sent to clean more spoiled food out of the fridge while I used the “put away” option granted by Brazen Lotus’s “Core” mod to put away the eggs and milk she and Smiler had gathered earlier. (Seriously, SO fucking convenient!) She and Victor then had grilled fruit for lunch (again, the next thing liable to go off), while Smiler had a plasma pack (made from a freshly-bred spotted eggplant frog) and a plasma fruit with them. Because I like family meals, damn it, especially on a day like today. :p I got a notification that Shadow was very hungry right after the human-shaped Sims finished their meals – I had Victor call Shadow to eat, then had Smiler and Alice call Shock and Kelly to eat too for good measure (Surprise was out having Free-Spirit Cat adventures). Alice cleaned the dishes as Victor wandered off to the bedroom to mold clay – she followed him up there to chat, but I had her watch the fish instead so I could send Smiler up there and propose a group date (I was going to have Smiler ask Victor, but then realized it made more sense to have Victor ask Smiler, as Victor is the one with multiple romances here) –
Cue Victor and Smiler wandering downstairs for no good reason, and the interaction canceling out as Victor gave up on the clay and put it in the downstairs bathroom on the sink. *sigh* Sims 4, I swear sometimes… Fortunately, my second attempt to set up the date worked fine –
G) And so the trio went off to the Haunted Museum! Where, of course, their first order of business was to change into costumes. :D Alice got to be a pizza delivery lady; Victor a space ranger; and Smiler – well, they just turned into their Dark Form, because that counts as a costume for vampires. XD (Still think werewolves transforming into their beast forms should count too!) I then had them head inside and sit around the séance table on the first floor (after Alice “donated” her jar of purple forbidden candy to the display of “Hello Dalhia” dolls and candy jars there – what, there was a gap and I wanted to fill it! We have TWO at home!) to have a chat to help fulfill the date goals – sharing jokes, flirts, and deep conversations. Alice and Smiler got up a couple of times to look at items (I mean, they WERE at a museum, that’s what you DO there), but everything went very well, and soon the date was at gold level. :) I had Victor blow a kiss to Alice, lay a smooch on Smiler –
Then transportalate up to the attic bathrooms as he REALLY had to pee. XD Alice and Smiler amused themselves while he was busy looking at the art, sharing the spooky spirit, talking to one of the Hello Dalhias (Alice), and watering the little plasma tree in its side room (Smiler). Once Victor was done, I had him bring everyone up to the second floor so they could reconvene and finish off all their date goals while looking at the specters-in-jars display there (potential rewards from the Paranormal Investigator career, in case you were wondering). They all had a nice chat together looking at the specters and some of the pictures I added to the lot, with Victor ending things off by giving Alice a nice shoulder massage to complete the last group date goal –
H) And then, pumpkins! :D Because Petey included a couple of pumpkin-carving stations and a special pumpkin display made out of platforms on this floor, and I wanted the trio to get in on that. Smiler and Alice went first, making a pale orange smiling pumpkin and a white cat pumpkin respectively, while I kept Victor busy looking at the handful of pumpkins Petey had included in the display. He then took over Smiler’s station once Smiler was done (carving a Masterpiece of a pumpkin, nice! Victor’s and Alice’s were just Excellent, which, still great), while Smiler chatted with Alice and checked out a pumpkin themselves. Once everyone was done, I made sure all the pumpkins were lined up on one side of the display, properly preserved (so they won’t ever rot), and lit up –
Then had Alice take a picture of them all together! :D Which proved to be a BIT tricky, as my initial attempts to get her lined up had her look at the pumpkins at an angle, and then when I got her straight on, Victor’s elbow was in the corner of the shot. XD I just zoomed in as much I could while keeping all three pumpkins in-frame and took my wanted snaps, playing around with filters and sizes a bit as I do. (What can I say – I like variety. And the medium picture size.) And once THAT was all settled…
I) It was time to turn off autonomy for a little bit and set up the tripod for some group pictures! :D Which, again, proved to be a little trickier than anticipated – I initially set up the tripod in front of the display I’d made with the mini-cowplant and the falcon, but when I sent the trio over there, the interaction first just canceled out, then the camera just kept beeping for ages while the three lined up around the SIDE of the tripod. And then I accidentally canceled out the interaction AGAIN by accidentally moving the camera trying to get Alice to try the picture again. I decided that they probably didn’t have enough room with the camera facing the side wall display and turned it around so the backdrop would be the specters-in-jars display and the stairs up to the bathroom, prompting Alice to try one more time. Again, the camera timer beeped for AGES, making me worry that something was wrong –
But I did eventually get to take my pictures! Whew! I promptly had fun putting everyone into various poses (silly, romantic, and just plain random) and taking a variety of small and medium-sized pictures. :D Gotta commemorate the moment, after all! And I will never stop loving that the tripod allows me to take group pictures of the three. :D It’s great, it really is.
J) With the final goal of the date (well, sort of – the date ended at Gold level right before the actual picture-taking took place, but it was MY final goal for the date anyway) sorted, and Victor and Alice’s energy flagging a little, I figured it was time to wrap up the holiday. I thus had Alice put away her camera and tripod, directed Victor and Alice to share an intense kiss (since Victor and Smiler had locked lips earlier), then sent the trio back home –
Where, to my surprise, both Surprise the cat and Brian Pimental the NAP inspector/family friend were waiting at the entrance. I had Smiler go and chat with Brian for a while as Victor petted the cat (remaking friends with it, yay), then had Victor and Alice watch “Sims Of The Dead” (which they didn’t think much of) while Smiler got a free drink from Brian’s wrist and I dragged all the photos out of Alice’s inventory to look through them and decide which ones I wanted to keep. I ended up keeping one small picture of the trio doing silly “fashion” poses and putting it in Victor and Alice’s bedroom, on the side table with the sacred candles, and four medium pictures – two pumpkin pictures (one normal one, one “inverted filter” one – I thought it looked cool) and two of the trio posing. The pumpkin pictures and the trio doing more fun “fashion” poses ended up on the wall of the basement over the “alchemy couch,” while another one of the gang doing “romantic” poses ended up in the barn next to Smiler’s robotics bench as I had nowhere else to put it. XD Not enough visible wall space in this house! Oh, and while I was at it, I hung up Alice’s latest abstract painting in the barn as well, near her jewelry bench and crystal displays, as it looked rather crystal-y itself. Might as well, right? Barn could use some decoration too. (Which I guess is as good a reason as any to put up the photos I don’t have any room for in the house in there.)
L) And with THAT all done, it was time to finally wrap things up in this playsession! I had Smiler say bye to Brian, then go and feed Toothy the cowplant (sorry to keep you waiting Toothy!) and pop into the basement briefly so I could get a picture of the new photos on the wall, before joining Alice and Victor to watch the end of the movie – interrupted by their house making scary noises. XD Alice then ran off to use the toilet while Victor ate the ectocake in his inventory and headed off to bed, with Alice joining him after she had some ice cream (next best thing after candy). Smiler, of course, was sent to finish off their Servo –
And finish it off they did, right around midnight! :D Delighted, I let them wander off to do their own thing, and they chose to turn the lump of clay that Victor had left on the downstairs bathroom sink into a bust. Which they proceeded to leave on the downstairs bathroom sink. XD I then sent them into the barn as the holiday officially ended for everyone around 2 AM (“Spookfest was awesomes” all around) –
And THAT is where I saved and quit for the day! Meaning, when we NEXT visit this save, Smiler will be booting up their Servo and adding them to the family, yay! :D But yeah, good session – very pleased that I was able to get that all done. :) As a bonus, please enjoy one of my favorite in-game snaps I took of the trio (the one I posted in my “bonus” post on tumblr earlier today):
I love them so much. XD <3
Writing: No actual writing – as stated, I was willing to make this optional to fit in the Sims stuff, especially since I finished a chapter of “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of” yesterday – but I did take a moment to add “do an actual ‘them getting married’ story” to the Valicer In The Dark master doc. I’d already had the idea of them getting drunkenly group-married in a non-binding way (being drunk, they didn’t sign any of the necessary paperwork) for a different story, so this would be the follow-up to that. How do they get group-married in Duskwall, you ask? Simple, there’s a loophole allowing for legal marriages with more than two participants if they get married under the purview of a sympathetic god, and Mar-Mal is only TOO happy to support polyamory. XD I’ll expand on this later, I’m sure, but it’s nice to have in the list!
YouTube: Managed to get in my usual Sunday Two, w00 –
A) First up, we had the GrayStillPlays offering of the day – “Pou's back for revenge,” aka Gray plays Pou’s Revenge! This was one of those janktastic “horror games” where you are a person taking care of a suspiciously-brown-and-triangular being called Pou. First day is fine – you feed, wash, medicate, play with, then put Pou to bed. No problem. Second day, you get a friend for Pou called Poulina, who disappears after you go shopping, and that is where it all starts going wrong. XD Basically, you find a secret room behind the shelf with Poulina’s murdered body in it, Pou cuts off your legs, and you have to fix the toy car in the game room to try and escape before you end up the next snack for your ever-growing Pou “friend.” Gray had a delightful time tossing Pou around while it was still little (to the point where he accidentally tossed it OUT OF THE GAME by trying to shove it in the oven after he was supposed to go to bed), then proceeded to have a less-delightful time during the escape sequence because the toy car is so freaking jank that it constantly flips on its side, making driving it an absolute nightmare (and Gray, who does GTA V challenge boards on the regular, knows about driving absolute nightmares). He finally ended things by blowing up Pou and himself in a fiery conflagration made by tossing matches into the oven, so I guess in a WAY he did manage to get the horrible poop monster in there after all. XD Good stuff!
B) And second up, we had Jon and “Fallout 4: Sim Settlements 2 - Part 42 - Taking Care Of Business!” Which featured Bob mostly doing work with the New Liberty Trading Company after finding a letter from one Lydia Proudmore (the representative he spoke to back when the Nightingales needed funding) in his mailbox outside his quarters in HQ (also after finding the mailbox outside his quarters in HQ because had no idea it was there until the comments told him XD). Now, these write-ups ALWAYS take me too long because I ALWAYS go into too much detail, so I am going to keep this one short and sweet. In short, Bob:
I. Hit the Marina and – after deciding two of the Legendaries he found last episode are not worth it because he doesn’t have the Science! needed to upgrade them on his own (low INT character, remember?) – moved all the upgrades on the Margeret sniper rifle he got from Old Paul onto the Plasma-Infused Hunting Rifle he found looking for Raphael in the sewers, because better damage against all creatures, not just synths. He also doused it with Enclave paint so the light plastic recon scope didn’t look silly against the dark gun. He also spent his level-up from last episode on Armorer 3, because he wants that higher-level ballistic weave, damn it.
II. After discovering he didn’t have one laying around in his workbench, took a moment to swing by Milton General Hospital to acquire a high-powered magnet, then burnt his last vertibird grenade to hit Boston Airport and build Liberty Prime his special actuators. However, his attempts to continue the “Liberty Reprimed” quest line hit a snag after that, because he has both that quest and “Mass Fusion” (where you have to decide if you’re helping the Institute or the Brotherhood get the Beryllium Agitator by helping one or the other get it from Mass Fusion) active, both require talking to Ingram – and Ingram is prioritizing the “Mass Fusion” quest. Meaning that Bob is stuck unless he wants to pick a side, and he’s not keen on doing that because he wants as many allies as possible helping him fend off the Gunner army that’s incoming as per the end of the last episode. So THAT’S going to go nowhere fast until he decides if he wants Liberty Prime or the army of synths that comes with being Director of the Institute more.
III. Swam across the bay after stalling out with the Brotherhood to meet with Lydia in the NLTC’s current little hidey-hole on the Boston waterfront, who in turn took him to meet the Chief Investor, Jeremiah Glatton – a dude who talked like a used car salesman, complete with extremely expansive gestures. He indicated that he was very impressed with Bob’s work in the region and that he wanted to invest in the Commonwealth, assuring Bob that their little empire of merchants and traders and skilled artisans and whatnot was built upon the fact that they ALWAYS honor their contracts to the letter. Once it is written down, it is law with them. Bob was cautiously optimistic about what they wanted (hoping that they could enrich each other by setting up some good trade agreements) and Glatton revealed that the first thing they were hoping to do, to get their foot in the door, was to set up a trade outpost nearby, in Custom House Tower (a base game location I have NEVER heard of before and must now seek out when I’m back in that area of the world, even if it is technically only one room). Unfortunately, the place was currently occupied by super mutants, so they were having trouble with that – Bob offered his services (because that is what the player character does), which Glatton cheerfully accepted. Lydia gave Bob the details – meet up with their head of security, Allison Gale, and clear the mutants out –
And completely NO-SELLED his attempt to get more money out of her for the job. Like, he passed the speech check, but she just went, “you are getting 1,000 caps and that is it” and Bob could only stand there and take it. XD Jon was like, “B-but my Charisma O.o” XD It was very amusing. At least you still got the XP for it, Jon!
IV. Went over and met up with Allison, who was immediately like “Suicider out front and mines on the door, wanna kill some mutants?” Bob was like “do I!” and sniped the Suicider with his new rifle, before heading into Custom House Tower and taking out the three super mutants within without a problem. With the area clear (Jon was surprised at how easy that was, while Allison, who apparently enjoys “ethical” violence, was all happy about seeing some action), he went over and reported back to Lydia on the NLTC boat, who complimented him on fulfilling his contract to the letter, paid him his 1,000 caps, then asked if he was up for another job – namely, negotiating a trade agreement with the quartermaster of Diamond City. Bob was a little iffy about acting on their behalf (especially since they seemed so interested in his stellar reputation to help prop themselves up), but agreed to do it, if only to see what kind of agreements they were offering so he’d know if he wanted to deal with them in the future. She also put Allison at his disposal, since apparently she “makes her own entertainment” when she’s bored, and since she likes her violence… Bob was all right with that (even if Jon considered it “babysitting”) and sent Allison on ahead to meet him on location, since, of course he had the fast way to get there. :p
V. Teleported to the Institute and took a moment to stick the Railroad’s tape into the nearest terminal and meet Liam for “Underground Undercover” (gotta keep the Railroad happy with him too) before returning to the CIT ruins at the surface and running over to Diamond City, where he met back up with Allison before talking to one Quartermaster Kingsley – who was not interested in the contract, unwilling to tell Bob why he wasn’t interested in the contract (even with Bob sporting his best dress), and just wanted them to go away, thanks. Bob went “now what?” to Allison, who revealed that Lydia had given her a packet “in case of resistance” and told her to visit an information broker in the city to see what could be done. Bob was getting even MORE dubious about the NLTC at this point, but as Allison’s other proposed option was, “we could murder the guy but I think the bosses and security here wouldn’t like that,” he agreed to go see The Ron…
And a good thing too, as The Ron immediately picked up that he was working with the NLTC and was willing to give him the skinny on them for free (probably still grateful Bob doesn’t blame him for selling out Jake that one time). Basically, they do honor their contracts, and the company DOES have a lot of money...but they are NOT as open to sharing it as they say they are, as the neighborhoods around their headquarters are basically slums. A fact that Allison corroborated, saying she grew up in one. Bob, now feeling really bad about taking them at their word, jumped at the chance to have The Ron look over the contract he was giving to the Quartermaster – fortunately, The Ron told him that he didn’t see any suspicious fine print or scams, so this particular contract should be all right. Though he was surprised to see Lydia’s name on there – apparently the Proudmores are bigwigs in the company, with guaranteed spots on the Board of Directors. Lydia being here, and not even as Chief Investor...well, it was weird. Bob filed that little tidbit away for later.
VI. After confirming with The Ron that this contract is good, bought his services in getting some info on Quartermaster Kingsley with the packet that Lydia sent with Allison – The Ron said that he had enough info to bury Kingsley if Bob wanted to blackmail him, but that things could probably be settled with some gentle persuasion too. Bob was like “let’s go persuasion,” and The Ron told him that Kingsley’s main problem was that the caravan’s coming to Diamond City were too unpredictable lately, and that he was getting a lot of pressure from upstairs to fix the problem. Armed with this information, Bob went back to Kingsley and – after persuading him that more interaction with the Commonwealth might be good and would help his caravan situation – got him to sign. Though not before telling the guy that no, he and HIS empire would NOT assume responsibility for any “harm” done to the caravans going into and out of DC, because that was a term not well-defined and thus could be used to put him on the hook for ANYTHING. Bad quartermaster!
VII. And, finally, went back to Lydia to tell her all was good with the contract and get another 1,000 caps – because, if nothing else, these jobs pay well. Jon ended up leaving it with Bob preparing to talk to Glatton about furthering their partnership in his nice fancy new office in the Custom House Tower – we’ll see how that goes, and if the New Liberty Trading Company finds any lines that Bob isn’t willing to cross, next week!
Workout: Back on the bike for the upcoming week, and back with the GrayStillPlays compilations since I still need to keep catching up on those – today’s offering was the start of “I made driving 1000x more dangerous,” aka Gray playing a variety of “dangerous driving” games! Made it through the first video about Ramp Car Jumping (one of those Boombit games about sending a car sailing through a course to hit a target – this particular one had bonus levels where you could draw your own ramps to send a car down, which saw Gray do things like make a ramp that went straight up, and a ramp that curled over itself so his car would drive around it infinitely), and have just started the next video on Draw Jousting (where you have to draw a vehicle for your character to use to fight against someone else – Gray is drawing things like sushi roll spirals and very crooked beer cans, and somehow winning constantly). Should be a fun few days with this one! :D
Okay, still running a bit later than I should here, but it's not as bad as SOME Sundays, so I will take it as a win. Time to hit the sheets and prepare to head back to work tomorrow, meh. Hopefully it'll just go by fast...Night all!
