The Waiting Game

Well, we're still waiting on the biopsy, as despite the doctors saying they'd put him on the schedule (or at least try to) today, nothing's happened so far. Now they're saying it'll be done by the end of the week. >( Accordingly, I have talked to Mom and taken the rest of the week off work so she can keep using my car to go see him at the hospital and I can keep an eye on the house and help out with the chores and whatnot. Very glad now that I have loads of sick time banked up that I can dip into! And that my coworkers have been very understanding about all of this. Still, I'll be very glad once the procedure is done and he can come home already. *shakehead*

Anyway -- as it was another day of hanging around the house waiting for things to happen, I did a bunch of my usual day-off activities -- here's the write-up on those:

Tumblr: Nothing to do over on Valice Multiverse again, but I got a bit done on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – specifically, I went through my tracked tags before lunch and dropped into my drafts:

I. Some fanart of Beckett from Vampire: The Masquerade by trefa, showing the man in the woods gazing off at something with a book in his hand – it was really well done (made Beckett look like a hero on a mission), so I had to save it for later

II. A video by gemini-serpentis of the Fem!Malkavian Fledgling dancing in the Asylum in VTMB with a bunch of goths...except that the music had been replaced by “Cotton-Eyed Joe” – this was very amusing, not in the least because the frantic flailing of the Fledgling actually matched the music very well; probably will use this for a Song Saturday at some point

III. Some fanart by iothesc of his Smiler OC design (who I believe is called “Dr. Smiler”) – a black feminine-looking person (pronouns were not given for the OC, so I’ll use “they” for now), with black hair with glowing-yellow-streaked bangs (and a bit more glowing yellow in their bun), spiral eyes and spiral goggles, and a bit of a fiendish grin – it was a very nice Smiler OC design, and I really liked the hair (and goofy little Smiler hair ornament), so into the drafts it went

IV. A sped-up gif by pixiecorpse of Alice rocking on her heels in front of Cheshire in the Village of the Doomed from the original American McGee’s Alice – I just liked it, as I’ve always liked Alice having that little idle fidget (not sure I can put why into words, it just feels right for her) – and it’s fun to occasionally go back to the original game in reblogs

V. And some fanart by platonbatonn of Emily, Victor, and Victoria from Corpse Bride all lying tangled up together (Victor’s head laying on Emily’s legs while Victoria grips his, with him reaching for them both), red spilling across their bodies, and two bloodied swords and the Wine of Ages lying nearby, paired with some My Chemical Romance song lyrics referencing vows and cyanide – I saw this and went “oooh, dark OT3 mood right there, I like,” so I saved it

So yay, got some more stuff to drop into my queue at some point, including a new thing from each of my primary fandoms. :) We love to see it!

Writing: Decided to get this done before doing any video gaming today, so I didn’t have to worry about it while inevitably taking ages to finish off the session write-up later – and I’m pleased to say I completed a pretty heavy chunk of edits on Chapter Six of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” this afternoon! Specifically, I finished off the Pisha boss fight, which included:

A) Alice getting very angry when she saw Pisha reanimate the members of Simon’s camera crew as zombies to attack her, but being counseled by Cheshire to prioritize action instead of words – accordingly, she took out the legs of two of them, and the head of the third

B) Pisha getting angry about Alice sullying her dinner (complaining she’d been looking forward to eating that one guy’s brain), and trying to climb up the shelves Alice was hiding on to reach her – Alice managed to kick her off and land a shot on her while letting Pisha know it was her own fault for throwing her food at Alice as a weapon, and that she would have loved to turn the zombies on her if she knew how; cue Pisha managing to scratch her leg and inform her that her only chance of that would be to study the teachings of the Nagaraja or the Giovanni, and that wasn’t happening anytime soon

C) Pisha then asking Alice if she was one of those ridiculous vampires who only feeds on animals and doesn’t acknowledge what they’ve become, and Alice responding that “I’m not such a bleeding-heart that I don’t make humans bleed” but that she at least only takes what she needs – she admitted to having some sympathy for Pisha’s condition, which meant she HAD to be a monster to eat, but said that the least Pisha could have done was make it quick, as even tigers (which Pisha had brought up previously) did that. Pisha responded how she ate was none of Alice’s concern (well, you kind of MADE it Alice’s concern when you tasked her with finding Simon, lady) and that tigers were also territorial, and that she intended to make sure Alice never intruded on hers again (Alice: “Same, just different method”)

D) Pisha managing to dodge Alice’s next two shots – only to trip over one of her own downed zombies and accidentally plunge into her own mystical flames; cue Alice, horrified, running up and mercy-killing her with the shotgun because, no matter how big a monster Pisha was, she did not deserve to die like that

E) And Alice standing over the resultant pile of ash and now-inert corpses, rubbing her fire-scarred shoulder and wondering why it always came back to fire with her (Hatter suggested she was extraordinarily unlucky, which she said she could believe); complaining that she’d been feeling good earlier, and Caterpillar reminding her that Sanguine-charged blood was still in her system, ready to be used whenever necessary (causing Alice to put her hand over her heart as she thought about Victor’s taste and the memory she’d accidentally plucked from his mind, aw); and apologizing to the corpses of the crew, stating she hoped they rested in peace now that their murders had been so quickly avenged. And that she hoped they were glad Simon got out, though given she had no idea how they actually felt about him in life… *shrug* :p

And there we have it! Felt good to make some solid progress on that. I left it with Alice leaving the hospital to finally head to the museum – next time, after the loading screen timeskip, we’ll catch up with her arriving at her intended destination! Or, well, close enough to. :P

Baldur’s Gate III: Looped back around to this today, continuing the adventures of Tav!Smiler and friends in Faerûn – and they had a fair number of adventures today, let me tell you –

A) Picked up where I left off last time, with the group hanging out in their camp post-saving Arabella – I’d previously toyed with the idea of having them just end the day there (as, again, there’s some cutscenes I want to see), but today I decided, “No – FIRST let’s find that tiefling guard who saw the githyanki patrol so Lae’zel can have a word with him. THEN I’ll consider that a full day for the group and have them rest.” So the group returned to the Emerald Grove, where they headed up the stone steps from the Sacred Pool back into The Hollow – passing along the way the tieflings Amek (sitting on a rock behind the wagon Lae’zel took the Metallic Gloves from – he complained, “Those dirt-kissers would let us die for the sake of their bloody grove!” when Smiler said hi), Xeph (standing by the wagon examining the contents – she too was annoyed with the druids when Smiler stopped to chat, going “We could help each other – fight the goblins together. Instead these fools are trying to chase us away!”), Rechel (who briefly stood by Mattis’s shop looking down into the little hollow behind it before wandering off past the wagon – good thing we already spoke to her) –

And Doni! Hanging out by the big rock formation in what I think is the “center” of the Hollow (behind the training ground where you recruit Wyll), having reappeared after his little disappearing act from a couple of sessions ago! Smiler promptly went over to say hello, and he greeted them with the usual grunt – Smiler then asked “Where the hells did you disappear to before?” This prompted an active DC 10 Wisdom (Insight) check – fortunately, with a little help from their various proficiency bonuses and Shadowheart’s Guidance cantrip, they passed it with a solid 14, causing Smiler to watch Doni’s hands as he grunted out his reply, realizing the kid was miming opening something somewhere. Curious, they asked “Is it a chest? A door? Can you show me where it is?” This prompted a DC 10 Charisma (Persuasion) check, which they easily beat with a 16 thanks to being quite Charismatic (and a little more Guidance from Shadowheart), and Doni happily showed them the hidden hatch he meant. Smiler thanked him for showing him the door, getting an affirmative grunt in return –

And when they came out of the conversation, it was revealed that a little pile of stones near the base of the rocks, right across from the wagon, was in fact the concealed hatch Doni had just shown them! Naturally, I had to have the group use it –

( Your Usual Reading Page Saving Cut )

Workout: Another night on the bike, another night with Jon of Many A True Nerd, pedaling my way through –

A) The end of “Fallout: New Vegas - The Worst Courier!” The first episode of the Adventures Of Useless Steve concluded with:

I. Useless Steve attracting the attention of the giant radscorpion he accidentally lured into town again...then realizing he could weaponize it and luring it to the correct side of town so it would fight the Powder Gangers when they spawned in – a process that involved getting it away from the Bighorners it so wanted to murder; crippling its nearly-broken right legs (and then hastily downing some antivenom when it managed to sting him in return); luring it to over near Easy Pete’s old house (RIP Easy Pete) before ducking inside, waiting a few hours to make sure it would lose interest in him, then exiting out the other side to get back into town proper

II. Useless Steve starting the assault against the Powder Gangers with Ringo and Sunny Smiles (and Cheyenne, of course) in the middle of the night, and Jon being delighted that “my stupid, stupid plan has worked” when the Powder Gangers spawned in and immediately ended up in a fight with the giant radscorpion. They did manage to take it down, but not before it killed about half of them, and with the help of his new plasma gun and the assistance of Ringo, Sunny, and Cheyenne, Useless Steve was able to kill the others, becoming Vilified among the Powder Gangers but Idolized by Goodsprings (well, what was left of Goodsprings – which Jon estimated was over 50%, given Doc Mitchell, Chet, Sunny, and Trudy were all still alive – along with that one unnamed guy who never leaves Trudy’s bar except to sleep XD)

III. Useless Steve hitting the road to try and get some supplies for his adventures ahead, including:

a. Hitting Jean Sky Diving for whatever goodies he could pick up in there (a silenced .22 pistol and some other crap he could sell)

b. Sneaking down the road disguised as a Powder Ganger (to fool the average grunts) to rob the corpses near the trailer home and grab a “Today’s Physician” and a Stealth Boy from inside

c. Hitting Sloan to steal all the mining money and the two skill books in the worker’s barracks (one for Explosives, one for Repair) – plus six pulse grenades that happened to be in there

d. Swinging by Lone Wolf Radio, an abandoned radio station that was maintained by some sort of conspiracy nut previously (it’s full of somewhat-depressing graffiti and old cans) for its Wasteland Survival Guide to boost up Survival (and also so Jon could tell everyone “hey, that story you may have heard about this location being the site of a cut quest where this would be the home of a serial killer, and if you caught up to the killer and joined him, it could unlock the ability to kill children in this game? Yeah, that’s bullshit, this was inspired by a conspiracy theorist with a megaphone one of the devs encountered on his old college campus”)

e. And finally hitting the NCR Correctional Facility to grab the “Lying Congressional Style” Speech skill book inside, along with the Administration key off the leader so he could loot that room for mines, dynamite, and ammunition (which involved Jon using a fun glitch involving using the “sit” interaction on an outhouse from the rear to teleport Steve past the fence so he wouldn’t have to meet the door guard, who would see through Steve’s disguise and start shooting, then burning one of his Stealth Boys to sneak past everyone upstairs, since his initial foray up there resulted in everyone shooting at him)

IV. And Useless Steve ending the episode by sneaking past a few last Powder Gangers (and taking a couple of their explosives) before reaching and looting the ruins just outside Primm itself, gaining some more medical supplies and ammo! Because Useless Steve may be useless, but the RNG does not seem to totally hate him. :p

B) And the beginning of “Fallout: New Vegas - The Worst Courier - Part 2 - Armed But Not Dangerous!” The second episode of the Adventures Of Useless Steve began with...something I will tell you tomorrow, as it's too late and I have to wrap this up. Watch this space!

FreeTube: Finally managed to get to one of the videos that have been waiting for me in my Subs over here: “CaFae Tales: The Well of Youth” by C. M. Alongi! The first of the new YouTube series where the CaFae Latte cast will be retelling various folk and fairy tales that Chris has discovered while researching stuff for the series. This week’s tale was the story of an elderly Scottish medieval couple, Angus and Bessie, who used the Well Of Youth to become young enough to be able to work again and thus pay their rent to their landlord, and featured:

A) Bob breaking the fourth wall to express some confusion about being in a YouTube video – she seemed quite puzzled by the widescreen format XD

B) Bob being inspired to tell the tale by Mike talking to Cyrus and JC about his recent family vacation to Scotland (visiting cousins who lived there), and how they’d visited the Well Of Youth, which is apparently a cute little heart-shaped pool that’s supposed to confer magical youth upon those who drink from its waters thanks to a blessing from St. Brigid – Mike didn’t believe that the pool actually conferred YOUTH, but felt that the waters had to be magical in some way due to the pool being a sacred spot for so long. Cyrus was more skeptical (having heard of too many scams involving stuff like that), while JC didn’t believe it because they remembered what Bob had said back when Erik first tried to sell Cyrus to the Stone Oak Coven that the only way to make something that granted immortality was to kill an immortal first – and indeed, Bob said she’d been to the pool herself, and could confirm it had no effects like that on people

C) Bob setting the scene by explaining how, back in medieval times, Scotland was divided up into parcels of lands ruled by lords, who sent people called “factors” around to collect the rent from the tenants who lived there (various farmers, crofters, and fishers), and how Angus and Bessie’s problems started when their lord employed a new factor who was much less willing to give some old people a little extension to gather their rent money than the old one. Cue the pair trying to figure out what they could do, and Angus floating the idea of using the Well Of Youth to become young and strong and able to work again, explaining that his mother used it to regain her youth when his father’s eye started wandering. Bessie pointed out that his mother then proceeded to die in childbirth along with her next baby, framing it as a possible punishment from God – but then Angus asked if she had any better ideas, and she admitted she did not. So off they trotted –

Right before JC interrupted to be like “Angus’s mother regained her youth and then went back to her terrible potential-cheater of a husband?! She should have fucking left him and started over elsewhere!” Mike pointed out that she couldn’t leave her kid with the terrible husband – and when JC said “well, she should just bring him along,” Cyrus pointed out that a mother taking her child and leaving her husband was hard enough today, never mind in medieval times. JC did not look like they wanted to accept that point

D) Bob continuing the tale by talking about how the couple found the well and drank from it, regaining their youth – only for JC to interrupt again by being like “there were no GUARDS? A castle? Nothing? I’d protect that thing with my life and charge through the nose for people to access it” (Mike: “With a gift shop at the end.” JC: “Exactly! He gets it”). Cyrus agreed the lack of guards was silly and said that the story of the Healing Spring was better in this regard – the spring was in a cave, guarded by a whole bunch of animals (the kind depending on the story), AND you could only drink the waters via a special cup (with Bob noting in an aside to the audience that this was likely a precursor to the Holy Grail). Granted, in that story, all the animals were asleep when the hero came a-calling, but still. An effort was made!

E) Bob then revealing that, after regaining their youth and getting the money for the rent from a neighbor (because they could now work off the debt with their new vitality), Angus and Bessie actually told the startled factor about the Well Of Youth and what they’d done – cue JC yelling at the characters “DON’T TELL HIM, HE’S A PARASITE, CHARGE HIM FOR IT!” Bob tried to insist some things shouldn’t be behind a price wall, but JC and Mike disagreed, with Mike stating that, if the well really DID confer youth, overpopulation would be a real issue. Cyrus countered that people could just expand into different realms – like the Fae Realm, the Abyssal Realm, the Celestial Realm, the Eldritch Realm… Bob was like “you know humans go insane in the Eldritch Realm,” only for Cyrus to respond that humans were barely sane in their OWN realm. *nods* I’m with Cyrus on that one.

F) Bob finishing off the tale by revealing that the factor vanished after talking with Angus and Bessie (as per one of their neighbors), and the pair heading up to the Well Of Youth...to find a baby crying there, as apparently Mr. Factor drank too deep of the waters. Cue Bessie and Angus adopting the baby and raising him as a much more upright citizen – though the neighbors did occasionally comment on the kid’s resemblance to the disappeared rent-collector. JC was not happy that the neighbors chose to comment on THAT and imply Bessie’s a whore and NOT about the couples’ seeming immortality, but Bob was like “that’s how the story goes.” Mike said he thought it was adorable, and that he liked that Angus and Bessie simply wanted to be able to make their rent – JC responded that they thought drowning the landlord would have had better results.

Cue Cyrus saying, with a far-away, world-weary look, “You’d think so...but it usually just causes more problems.” XD Methinks he’s speaking from experience there.

So yeah – a fun first episode of this new series! I’m looking forward to future tales and in-universe commentary thereon. :)

*shakes head* I have to find a way to get through those game write-ups quicker...or at least remember that I have less time than usual at night these days because of FaceTiming Dad and trying to help Mom. Anyway, I'm heading to bed -- we'll see what I manage to get done tomorrow. Night all.