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A Better Wednesday
May. 11th, 2022 11:34 pmAt least in the sense of me not being quite SO stressed out by work and whatnot, though I am still pretty damn tired -- see here:
Work – Quiet busy, meaning that while I had a lot to do, it wasn’t so much in the form of the phone going off constantly and people coming by to assign me tons of tasks. Instead, what I had today was All Of The Spreadsheets – billing files, data questions, all stuff like that. I wasn’t able to complete EVERYTHING, but I got through a lot of it, so that’s something. And a lack of phone calls today was nice. The only one I remember is somebody checking if she gave or not. It was a bit stressful, but I could deal with it – and I made DAMN sure to take all my breaks, so. . . Just one more day to go this week!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike, and back with the Oxventure Stream “Bone To Pick!” We left it with Corazon, as Green Geoffrey, demanding that the terrified villagers find a way to appease him – and Prudence yelling out “Human sacrifice!” So Corazon grabbed Bryce to threaten. XD He then told the villagers that clearly the competition was driving them apart and he didn’t want them to hold it anymore, which everyone very sadly agreed to, though at least a couple of people admitted they looked forward to it. Corazon told them to think up a NEW festival instead, then – everybody working together to grow a giant marrow or something. The point was, they should do vegetable-related things that bring them TOGETHER, not drive them apart.
And then he put a knife to Bryce’s throat and asked if they wanted him to sacrifice him. Guess what chant Arthur started up? XD Yes, suddenly faced with a crowd that very much wanted Bryce dead (especially after he admitted to using growth spells on his marrow), Dob quickly pulled out the Calm Emotions spell to chill everyone out. And then Prudence started working everyone up again. XD Merilwen quickly gave Corazon an out by telling him to claim it was a test that the village had failed – Corazon did just that and demanded that the festival tent be wrecked instead. Merilwen saved the sunflowers as the marrow smashing began – and then Dob cued Egbert to burst out of his marrow as a sign of Green Geoffrey’s displeasure, causing everyone to scatter. And providing enough distraction for Prudence, wanting blood, to spiralize Bryce with a knife. XD The skeletons were very pleased with the chaos, and Prudence’s murder (one of them kept bouncing the long slice of Bryce up and down like a slinky), but said that the “good” wasn’t visible enough. That is, they agreed that the village coming together after the shock and horror of the festival and learning how to cooperate more and get along better was indeed a good thing – but it was a future good thing. The whole point of their deal is that they twist what should be something good into something evil right then and there – not turn it nasty later on. The Oxventurers allowed that this was once again a fair criticism, and promised to try and do better on the next job.
Speaking of the next job, it was back in the hammer for the five as the skeletons transported them to the next location. Merilwen tranced, Egbert and Prudence hung out, Seal Gaiman apparently went from hammock to hammock having naps, and Dob and Corazon had a pool rematch – which went incredibly poorly, as Dob rolled a three and Corazon a natural one. Corazon ended up tearing the fabric on the table, and Dob insisted on calling a draw and Mending it to not get in trouble with the skeletons. Eventually they were called back out again in a cave, in which a group of flumphs (telepathic Lawful Good jellyfish-like creatures with long eye stalks and the ability to change color) was living. After emphasizing how cute and harmless they were, the skeletons tasked the Oxventurers to “beat them up.” The Oxventurers immediately set to planning (the skeletons allowing that because, on the way, they remembered that the Oxventurers aren’t part of a blood magic hivemind and thus NEED to talk their ideas over) and – after trying to find ways to beat up a flumph that wasn’t just overtly mean (figuring out if any were war criminals, trying to entice them to attack a poacher to change the poacher’s ways), they hit upon the idea of reinterpreting the command. Specifically, they decided to “beat them up” via laying some sick beats and throwing a dance party! Corazon even decided to double up and found some beetroot in the woods to jar and give to the flumphs to “beet” them up. XD He also cast Dancing Lights for party atmosphere, while Dob and Egbert built a pretty decent drum kit (well, Dob did – Egbert’s pet project was – less good), Prudence used Thaumaturgy (DND edition) to make her voice all low and spooky and lay a bass line, and Merilwen used Druidcraft weather forecasting to make a “disco ball” out of a future vision of the sun. Egbert wailed on the drums, Dob played his lute, Corazon thought of some strong emotional moments in his life to make the flumphs change color (as yes, they do change color in response to their emotions – the gang also decided that happy flumphs are yellow, as apparently that color isn’t given in the standard write-up!), and everyone had a really good time! The Oxventurers happily presented this outcome to the skeletons, and the skeletons were forced to admit that yes, this kind of bullshit was pretty much exactly their thing.
And then they pointed out the one flumph with an eyepatch and a knife and said that they’d expected the gang to beat that flumph up. Yes, turns out there WAS a freakin’ war criminal among the group, holding sway over the other flumphs. XD Merilwen managed to skewer it with an arrow (making it fly all over the cave like a deflating balloon), but then had to narrowly dodge a spray of foul-smelling poison liquid from some of the other flumphs, who – despite being terrified of the guy – were still sad over their death. Merilwen WAS able to use her “Speak With Animals” spell to properly talk to them (despite them being technically “aberrations”), but was unable to raise their mood much, even with the offer of a hug. The skeletons promptly used how bad she felt about not being able to get through to the flumphs to make a point, saying it was how they felt during the whole “rescuing everyone from the acid room” situation. Everyone agreed that that was an unfair situation to put the skeletons in, and Dob nearly put Option B of this whole exercise – fight the skeletons in a big battle – back on the table in an attempt to make amends. XD One half-hour to go now – we’ll see what happens then!
2. Continue writing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – Alice has made it back to the heart of Downtown Los Angeles after a short walk, and has decided that, despite practically being on his doorstep, LaCroix can go fuck himself, she’s going to see Nines first. Though I’ve left it on her discovering that the Tremere Chantry is actually on the way and figuring, well, as long as she’s going this way. . .time to meet Strauss and pick up a side quest! A very unpleasant side quest that hits a lot differently in the pandemic days, but still.
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – just the one today, but I had extras in the Watch Later –
A) Started with the OXtra list of the week – “7 Games that Clearly Assumed They'd Get a Sequel!” Those games that were trying to set up their follow-up, only for said follow-up to never materialize because the studio got shut down or the original game didn’t perform well. Sly Cooper is permanently lost in Ancient Egypt at the end of Thief of Time; Mega Man is stuck on the robot planet Elysium forever at the end of Mega Man Legends 2, and we have no idea what the blue alien “Ur-Goth” threat was at the end of Anthem. Admittedly, not that anybody cared about that LAST one. . . XD
B) Then a quick pop over to Anna Rudolf’s channel for a quick clip of her playing Dead By Daylight on stream (as the killer, in fact!), and Kevin coming in to give her a “not great” smoothie. XD Complete with him talking like a doting Irish grandma. XD Hilarious and adorable at the same time!
C) And finally, over to the Subs for GrayStillPlays and more Happy Wheels! Started with the customary bottle flip (this one with a knife swarm that could kill you, but could also go into one of the win areas for you), then went on to Bike Dad riding the circles (not too difficult until the head-crushing yeet at the end); Pogo Guy having to jump down JUST RIGHT through the spikes to find the win (took a few stabby tries); Segway Nixon having to run from the death wall (both forwards AND backwards, as people are mean XD); Segway Nixon breaking out of jail and escaping through the underground (and learning that you have to outrun the meteor that falls in there with you, otherwise you’re trapped forever); Bike Dad taking a Florida log ride (now with more spikes!); Bike Dad taking an “impossible” table ride (avoiding various forms of death by clinging to its cheap plastic leg); Nixon taking a short but colorful rope swing (and managing to kill himself TWICE before completing what is probably the easiest rope swing Gray’s ever played); Pogo Guy having to do a coin-collecting battle against Grandpa and all of his clones (wielding a variety of weapons, including a bunch of spears that liked to heat-seek Pogo Guy’s head); and finally Bike Dad and Tom Hardy robbing a bank (which involved Gray having to write down numbers because otherwise harpoony death). Good times!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check, though it’s the minimal “reset the queue speed on Victor Luvs Alice back to one post per day.” *shrug* Writing took a long time tonight, between Oxventure recap and actual fic! Doing more tumblr draft stuff is something I hope to work on over my long weekend.
So yes, still not the greatest day at work, but MILES better than yesterday, that's for damn sure. We'll see how tomorrow goes -- hopefully well! Night all!
Work – Quiet busy, meaning that while I had a lot to do, it wasn’t so much in the form of the phone going off constantly and people coming by to assign me tons of tasks. Instead, what I had today was All Of The Spreadsheets – billing files, data questions, all stuff like that. I wasn’t able to complete EVERYTHING, but I got through a lot of it, so that’s something. And a lack of phone calls today was nice. The only one I remember is somebody checking if she gave or not. It was a bit stressful, but I could deal with it – and I made DAMN sure to take all my breaks, so. . . Just one more day to go this week!
To-Do List –
1. Get in a workout: Check – back on the bike, and back with the Oxventure Stream “Bone To Pick!” We left it with Corazon, as Green Geoffrey, demanding that the terrified villagers find a way to appease him – and Prudence yelling out “Human sacrifice!” So Corazon grabbed Bryce to threaten. XD He then told the villagers that clearly the competition was driving them apart and he didn’t want them to hold it anymore, which everyone very sadly agreed to, though at least a couple of people admitted they looked forward to it. Corazon told them to think up a NEW festival instead, then – everybody working together to grow a giant marrow or something. The point was, they should do vegetable-related things that bring them TOGETHER, not drive them apart.
And then he put a knife to Bryce’s throat and asked if they wanted him to sacrifice him. Guess what chant Arthur started up? XD Yes, suddenly faced with a crowd that very much wanted Bryce dead (especially after he admitted to using growth spells on his marrow), Dob quickly pulled out the Calm Emotions spell to chill everyone out. And then Prudence started working everyone up again. XD Merilwen quickly gave Corazon an out by telling him to claim it was a test that the village had failed – Corazon did just that and demanded that the festival tent be wrecked instead. Merilwen saved the sunflowers as the marrow smashing began – and then Dob cued Egbert to burst out of his marrow as a sign of Green Geoffrey’s displeasure, causing everyone to scatter. And providing enough distraction for Prudence, wanting blood, to spiralize Bryce with a knife. XD The skeletons were very pleased with the chaos, and Prudence’s murder (one of them kept bouncing the long slice of Bryce up and down like a slinky), but said that the “good” wasn’t visible enough. That is, they agreed that the village coming together after the shock and horror of the festival and learning how to cooperate more and get along better was indeed a good thing – but it was a future good thing. The whole point of their deal is that they twist what should be something good into something evil right then and there – not turn it nasty later on. The Oxventurers allowed that this was once again a fair criticism, and promised to try and do better on the next job.
Speaking of the next job, it was back in the hammer for the five as the skeletons transported them to the next location. Merilwen tranced, Egbert and Prudence hung out, Seal Gaiman apparently went from hammock to hammock having naps, and Dob and Corazon had a pool rematch – which went incredibly poorly, as Dob rolled a three and Corazon a natural one. Corazon ended up tearing the fabric on the table, and Dob insisted on calling a draw and Mending it to not get in trouble with the skeletons. Eventually they were called back out again in a cave, in which a group of flumphs (telepathic Lawful Good jellyfish-like creatures with long eye stalks and the ability to change color) was living. After emphasizing how cute and harmless they were, the skeletons tasked the Oxventurers to “beat them up.” The Oxventurers immediately set to planning (the skeletons allowing that because, on the way, they remembered that the Oxventurers aren’t part of a blood magic hivemind and thus NEED to talk their ideas over) and – after trying to find ways to beat up a flumph that wasn’t just overtly mean (figuring out if any were war criminals, trying to entice them to attack a poacher to change the poacher’s ways), they hit upon the idea of reinterpreting the command. Specifically, they decided to “beat them up” via laying some sick beats and throwing a dance party! Corazon even decided to double up and found some beetroot in the woods to jar and give to the flumphs to “beet” them up. XD He also cast Dancing Lights for party atmosphere, while Dob and Egbert built a pretty decent drum kit (well, Dob did – Egbert’s pet project was – less good), Prudence used Thaumaturgy (DND edition) to make her voice all low and spooky and lay a bass line, and Merilwen used Druidcraft weather forecasting to make a “disco ball” out of a future vision of the sun. Egbert wailed on the drums, Dob played his lute, Corazon thought of some strong emotional moments in his life to make the flumphs change color (as yes, they do change color in response to their emotions – the gang also decided that happy flumphs are yellow, as apparently that color isn’t given in the standard write-up!), and everyone had a really good time! The Oxventurers happily presented this outcome to the skeletons, and the skeletons were forced to admit that yes, this kind of bullshit was pretty much exactly their thing.
And then they pointed out the one flumph with an eyepatch and a knife and said that they’d expected the gang to beat that flumph up. Yes, turns out there WAS a freakin’ war criminal among the group, holding sway over the other flumphs. XD Merilwen managed to skewer it with an arrow (making it fly all over the cave like a deflating balloon), but then had to narrowly dodge a spray of foul-smelling poison liquid from some of the other flumphs, who – despite being terrified of the guy – were still sad over their death. Merilwen WAS able to use her “Speak With Animals” spell to properly talk to them (despite them being technically “aberrations”), but was unable to raise their mood much, even with the offer of a hug. The skeletons promptly used how bad she felt about not being able to get through to the flumphs to make a point, saying it was how they felt during the whole “rescuing everyone from the acid room” situation. Everyone agreed that that was an unfair situation to put the skeletons in, and Dob nearly put Option B of this whole exercise – fight the skeletons in a big battle – back on the table in an attempt to make amends. XD One half-hour to go now – we’ll see what happens then!
2. Continue writing “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland”: Check – Alice has made it back to the heart of Downtown Los Angeles after a short walk, and has decided that, despite practically being on his doorstep, LaCroix can go fuck himself, she’s going to see Nines first. Though I’ve left it on her discovering that the Tremere Chantry is actually on the way and figuring, well, as long as she’s going this way. . .time to meet Strauss and pick up a side quest! A very unpleasant side quest that hits a lot differently in the pandemic days, but still.
3. Keep up with YouTube Subs: Check – just the one today, but I had extras in the Watch Later –
A) Started with the OXtra list of the week – “7 Games that Clearly Assumed They'd Get a Sequel!” Those games that were trying to set up their follow-up, only for said follow-up to never materialize because the studio got shut down or the original game didn’t perform well. Sly Cooper is permanently lost in Ancient Egypt at the end of Thief of Time; Mega Man is stuck on the robot planet Elysium forever at the end of Mega Man Legends 2, and we have no idea what the blue alien “Ur-Goth” threat was at the end of Anthem. Admittedly, not that anybody cared about that LAST one. . . XD
B) Then a quick pop over to Anna Rudolf’s channel for a quick clip of her playing Dead By Daylight on stream (as the killer, in fact!), and Kevin coming in to give her a “not great” smoothie. XD Complete with him talking like a doting Irish grandma. XD Hilarious and adorable at the same time!
C) And finally, over to the Subs for GrayStillPlays and more Happy Wheels! Started with the customary bottle flip (this one with a knife swarm that could kill you, but could also go into one of the win areas for you), then went on to Bike Dad riding the circles (not too difficult until the head-crushing yeet at the end); Pogo Guy having to jump down JUST RIGHT through the spikes to find the win (took a few stabby tries); Segway Nixon having to run from the death wall (both forwards AND backwards, as people are mean XD); Segway Nixon breaking out of jail and escaping through the underground (and learning that you have to outrun the meteor that falls in there with you, otherwise you’re trapped forever); Bike Dad taking a Florida log ride (now with more spikes!); Bike Dad taking an “impossible” table ride (avoiding various forms of death by clinging to its cheap plastic leg); Nixon taking a short but colorful rope swing (and managing to kill himself TWICE before completing what is probably the easiest rope swing Gray’s ever played); Pogo Guy having to do a coin-collecting battle against Grandpa and all of his clones (wielding a variety of weapons, including a bunch of spears that liked to heat-seek Pogo Guy’s head); and finally Bike Dad and Tom Hardy robbing a bank (which involved Gray having to write down numbers because otherwise harpoony death). Good times!
4. Get my tumblr queues sorted: Check, though it’s the minimal “reset the queue speed on Victor Luvs Alice back to one post per day.” *shrug* Writing took a long time tonight, between Oxventure recap and actual fic! Doing more tumblr draft stuff is something I hope to work on over my long weekend.
So yes, still not the greatest day at work, but MILES better than yesterday, that's for damn sure. We'll see how tomorrow goes -- hopefully well! Night all!
