Rough Morning, Better Afternoon

Yeah, it was a bit of a tough morning today, I have to say -- first, Mom told me shortly after I woke up that Dad had had a bad night last night (couldn't sleep much) and that he was panicking a bit about her possibly not being able to see him in the hospital, so she needed me to take the rest of the week off so she could use my car without having to worry about getting an Uber or anything. (Also that our road's condition remained shit -- seriously, it's apparently the one unplowed road in the city -- and that there were accidents all over the place, so she had to leave later than normal in the hopes they'd be cleared up by then.) Then, I had to text my coworkers to tell them that my mom needed me to take the rest of the week off (and that I was sorry this kept happening)...only for them not to get back to me right away. Which was both unusual and put me on edge because I thought, as per last night's entry, this was going to be the moment the patience ran out. Then I spent most of the rest of the morning in the basement, looking for a book Mom couldn't find but wanted to see if I could, only not to find it. It seemed to be shaping up to be a rather unpleasant day --

And then, after noon, I texted my supervisor again directly, and she told me that she'd just been caught up in meetings and that it was okay if I took the rest of the week off, stressing she knew that these were bad times for me and my family and that I had the time to burn (though to let her know this weekend if I needed yet more time, because then, as per procedure, we needed to discuss me having an Official Leave Of Absence. She stressed again it wouldn't affect my job, though, which was a relief). And then Mom and Dad FaceTimed me as Dad was getting his first dose of chemo to let me know things were going well in the hospital and to make sure I was doing all right. And then Mom came home letting me know that Dad was actually feeling really good after his first round of chemo, which was borne out when he FaceTimed us this evening and said he hadn't needed his pain meds since 2 PM because the pain under his arm was nearly gone! :) So yeah -- bad start, but a good finish. Hopefully tomorrow will be good all the way through, but we will see. Keep your fingers crossed!

Anyway -- while all that was going on, I managed to get some of my typical day off stuff done too. Let me tell you all about it:

Writing: I edited a pretty good-sized chunk of Chapter 3 of “The Van Dort Vacancy” today after lunch, covering:

A) Alice meeting Smiler by one of the sinks (while she washed a knife and they rinsed out a bottle), letting them know that Mrs. Pemberly was now on-board with them being new employees thanks to her chopping skills and their cleverly fixing that soup, admitting she would have never thought of honey to kill the acidic taste – Smiler explained it was something they picked up from helping their mum in the kitchen (and that there were a few different ways to do it, but they preferred honey), before confessing they hadn’t seen their mystery man; Alice said she hadn’t either but she’d let them know if she did

B) Alice going back to her chopping station while Smiler went to work on their cream sauce, slicing up some lovely juice shadefruits (the equivalent of the tomato in Duskwall) and wondering where the Van Dorts got such high-quality produce...only to get her answer when someone behind her complained about how they’d run out of berries for the tarts again and she did not have time for another trip to the greenhouse...followed by a familiar voice saying that he could go get her what she needed if she pointed him in the right direction…

C) Alice looking over her shoulder just in time to catch the mystery man getting a basket and directions to the Van Dort greenhouse from the grateful woman making the tarts (along with a warning that the toffs sometimes liked to tour it during these parties, so be polite to any visitors), before watching him vanish out one of the back doors (somehow not getting bumped or jostled by anyone else running around); Cheshire advised she pursue him, as he was pretty sure that the guy was not coming back

D) Alice making sure she wouldn’t be missed by finishing chopping up her shadefruits, then taking her messy cutting board and knife to the sink to wash them before wandering over to Smiler and their sauce to see how that was coming; Smiler finished it off with some thyme, and got Alice’s opinion on whether or not it was good (Alice confirming it was as delicious as their tea) before asking what she’d seen, and Alice told them about the mystery man going to the greenhouse – cue Smiler telling the guy working on the chicken beside them that the cream sauce was done and that they were helping “Allison” grab more vegetables from the greenhouse to cover their disappearance

Good stuff! I left off with the pair preparing to escape the busy kitchen – tomorrow, they wander off in the direction of the greenhouse, and Alice gets a shock when something she assumed to be a hallucination turns out to be anything but...

Fallout: New Vegas: Returned to the post-apocalyptic Mojave today to continue the adventures of Courier Victor – though, admittedly, today’s adventures consisted mostly of “having a couple of conversations, wandering around Goodsprings, and taking stuff from mailboxes.” Which I guess means it paired well with my Tav Smiler’s adventures in Baldur’s Gate III yesterday! XD Anyway, here’s how things went with a few more specifics:

A) I picked up right where I left off on Monday, with Victor having just arrived at Victor The Securitron’s (Victortron going forward) shack to find the bot himself idling outside, staring at his own wall. Victor went around the side and waited until Victortron turned toward him, then said hello – Victortron greeted him in turn with a warm “Howdy, partner! Might I say, you’re looking fit as a fiddle.” Victor acknowledged that was thanks to Victortron with a “Thanks for digging me out of that grave,” to which Victortron replied, “Don’t mention it! I’m always ready to lend a helping hand to a stranger in need.” Which is not what Trudy said about you, buddy, but you certainly helped Victor when he needed it, so we’ll let it slide. Victor then asked how Victortron even found him, and he explained that he’d been out for a “stroll” (air quotes because Victortron doesn’t actually have legs, he balances on one single wheel) when he heard a commotion up at the “bone orchard.” Upon checking, he “saw what looked like a bunch of bad eggs so I laid low. Once they’d run off, I dug you up to see if you were still kicking. Turns out, you were, so I hauled you off to the Doc right quick.” Victor followed up with, “Do you know who those men were who attacked me?” hoping for more information –

But Victortron had to admit, “Can’t say I’m familiar with the rascals. Some of the fine folks in town might be able to help you out with that.” Well, good thing Trudy already gave us some hints about where Benny and friends might be going! Victor, realizing the bot was probably not going to be any more help in his search, then admitted that he’d never seen a robot like Victortron before – Victortron informed him that “I’m a Securitron, RobCo security model 2060-B. If you ever see any of my brothers, tell them Victor says howdy.” Victor, curious, asked how Victortron had even ended up in Goodsprings then, and the bot explained that he’d “moseyed into town, oh, ten, fifteen years ago? Before that, I...hmm. I can’t quite seem to recall. Odd.” Yes, very odd...anyway, Victortron waved it away and declared that he found Goodsprings to be a “right peaceful town” and “as fine a place to settle as any.” And apparently he’s just been in town ever since! So it seems like this fellow did not arrive with a human owner, unlike what Trudy said. Hmmm. Curiouser and curiouser...good thing this machine of mystery seems to be on Victor’s side!

( Your usual cut to save reading pages )

Workout: Another night on the bike, another night with Useless Steve as I pedaled my way through –

A) The end of “Fallout: New Vegas - The Worst Courier - Part 3 - Idiot Savant!” The last fourteen-or-so minutes of which featured –

I. Useless Steve finally killing the turret that was giving him so much trouble before (as he straight-up couldn’t hack it to make it his friend) and making his way up to the top of the Helios One tower – a dangerous trip that involved throwing multiple pulse grenades at a Mr. Gutsy in his way (mostly because he could never quite tell where it was to score a direct hit) and running from a whole gaggle of Protectrons (after he tried and failed to avoid the laser tripwire that released them all from their charging pods); he managed to survive everything, though, and was able to use the Poseidon Energy employee ID card he picked up along the way to activate the PYTHON Mr. Handy repair-bot to fix the problems with the mainframe he could not before powering said mainframe up and distributing electrical power to the whole Mojave, as per the request of the “Flowers of the Pock-lips.” XD

II. Useless Steve then heading out onto the observation deck and – when 9 AM rolled around – realigning all the mirrors to catch all that gorgeous, gorgeous sunlight (slightly blinding himself in the process, because it is BRIGHT), before discovering to his delight that you could fast-travel off said observation deck, meaning he didn’t have to go back inside the tower and fight his way down through all the robots! Yay!

III. Useless Steve then reporting to Dr. Rivas to get his reward, a nice skill book (presumably a Big Book Of Science)...only for Rivas to refuse to acknowledge that he’d done anything. Like, there was no option to turn in the quest at all. Jon went through the guy’s entire available dialogue tree. Either he’d bugged out or he wasn’t willing to reward a Low Intelligence character. Boo.

IV. ...Jon rewinding time via saves and having Useless Steve instead power up the ARCHIMEDES II super-weapon the power plant was attached to, because if he didn’t get his skill book he was getting his deadly orbital laser instead, damn it! (And then confirming that, no, Rivas was still bugged out and refusing to acknowledge anything had happened. Really hoping this doesn’t happen when I have Victor do this quest!)

V. And Useless Steve rewarding himself for a good job well done by going to the New Vegas Medical Clinic and getting the Agility implant to make himself a tiny bit more agile (though that bugged out a bit too, as for some reason he was straight-up not offered the chance to take the Strength or Endurance implants. Jon couldn’t figure out why. *shrug* At least the one he got helped boost his Guns and Sneak skills a tiny bit?

B) And the beginning of “Fallout: New Vegas - The Worst Courier - Part 4 - The Doomsday Device!” The first fifteen-or-so minutes of which featured –

I. Useless Steve beginning a quest to get a bunch of XP and actually level up his terrible terrible skills (and also to hopefully trigger Jon’s favorite line of dialogue in the game, which is apparently really hard to hear because it requires very specific conditions – including the powering-up of ARCHIMEDES II) by traveling to the 188 Trading Post and getting Veronica (the secret Brotherhood scribe) to travel with him! The recruitment involved him telling her that he’d heard the Brotherhood could shoot lasers from their eyes, which caused her to be like, “Well, you have completely defied my first impression of you.” XD Fortunately, this did not discourage her from traveling with him – maybe she just figured, “Well, this idiot is going to need help staying alive.” XD

II. Useless Steve making a quick detour back to the REPCONN HQ to pick up something he’d forgotten to grab the first time he visited – Nikola Tesla And You, the Energy Weapons skill book! Which was in the same room as he’d gotten his beloved Q-35, sitting on top of a safe – Jon had just completely forgotten it was there. Well, Jon, you and Steve both have horrendously low Perception, so maybe that’s only to be expected. XD (He also grabbed some microfusion cells for the road, though he refrained from picking up too many because, well, heavy ammo is heavy.)

III. Useless Steve and Veronica helping the NCR fight some Fiends near a sacked caravan (with Jon liking the fact that Steve can now PROPERLY use the Q-35 to commit murder) and then storming Allied Technologies and killing the giant ants inside (along with the Fiends that Veronica aggroed and who followed them through the door) so Steve could pick up some star bottle caps (Jon noting with amusement the pile of Sunset Sarsaparillas behind a certain desk, indicating that SOMEONE was really into the star cap promotion), ant nectar off the ants, and a Tales Of A Junktown Jerky Vendor skillbook to improve his Barter (because he will just take what he can get, damn it). Veronica proved to be an absolute BEAST with what I presume to be a Ballistic Fist, and her incredible ability to murder things prompted Jon to comment that this was why he was banning companions for most of this run – they just made things too easy!

IV. Useless Steve taking Veronica to McCarran to show her how the NCR was getting on (causing her to comment they had more troops here than she thought), then around to the science labs at the back of the building to get the Vault 22 quest and show her how the NCR was researching new technologies (causing her to annoyedly note that even the “stupid NCR” was investing in research and that her people were getting left in the dust), then finally over to Freeside to have a chat with the doctor in charge of the Followers Of The Apocalypse in the Old Mormon Fort, Julie Farkas, about leaving medical supplies (causing her to admit she was impressed with what the Followers were doing there). Reason? Doing so got three “Veronica points,” causing Veronica to admit she’s a member of the Brotherhood and start her personal quest to try and save the Brotherhood from itself, “I Could Make You Care!” Which should both provide a good amount of XP and hopefully some fun with Low Intelligence dialogue.

V. And Useless Steve taking Veronica to Hidden Valley and the secret Brotherhood Bunker, where she said what is now one of MY favorite lines in F:NV into the speaker by the interior door – “I’d like a large Atomic Shake and a Double Brahmin Burger. And easy on the agave sauce this time.” XD The guy who wanted a regular password from her wasn’t impressed with her shenanigans, but I was. I like you, Veronica, you’re all right. :P

So yeah – The Adventures Of Useless Steve continue apace! Tomorrow, we’ll continue with Episode 4 and see how Steve deals with the Brotherhood! I hope he annoys the hell out of them.

FreeTube: Managed to fit in one of the videos I’ve been trying to get to tonight – “CaFae Tales: the Fae Nurse” by C. M. Alongi! Which – okay, I thought I knew which fairy tale she was doing for this one – a story about a nosy woman who sees her neighbor use an ointment on her children’s eyes, rubs a bit on her own eye, and becomes able to see the hidden world of the fae...only to lose all sight in the eye altogether when she stupidly confronts her neighbor’s husband when she spots him invisibly stealing things in the market. But as it turns out, C. M.’s version was rather different… The video featured:

A) A pre-story warning about how this story dealt with abduction and rape due to the fact that it was written back in medieval times, when women were pretty much considered their husband’s property...which prompted a few comments saying, in essence, “Uh, your warning needs a warning – could you not use flashing lights, the migraine-sufferers and those with epilepsy will thank you”

B) JC and Cyrus talking about JC fighting a white supremacist in prison (about a year before JC met Cyrus and joined CaFae Latte), and JC asking him if he had any good fights with Fae supremacists, and Cyrus saying yeah...mostly because they were all very eager to throw hands once they learned he was mixed. Cue a shocked JC being like “you’re part human?!” and Cyrus confirming that his great-grandmother was a human woman...and that how she became part of his family tree was pretty fucked up…

C) Cyrus starting the actual story with a recap of his great-grandmother’s pre-Fae situation – living in Ireland when Christianity was talking hold and talking about the Fae would get you in real trouble, with an older sister who was a midwife. Said midwife sister was pretty horrified when the great-grandmother – let’s call her GG – revealed she was being courted by a Fae, noting that they didn’t know his intentions and that he could ruin her reputation or whisk her away, but GG was unconcerned, saying that all that just made him like any other man who might court her (given, the whole, you know, women treated like property thing). She was sure it would all be fine, whether it ended in marriage or a dalliance –

Cue JC being like “I am guessing it was not just a dalliance,” and Bob confirming that Fae men would take human women as concubines as a symbol of status in the Fae realm (as Fae women had rights and demanded respect) – either through the long con of a fake courtship, or straight-up mind control. JC was not particularly happy that Cyrus’s great-grandmother was essentially a sex slave – Cyrus wasn’t either, but pointed out that the human realm in that time period was really no better, with Bob adding that, given how many daughters were sold off by their fathers for wealth or business deals with no say in the matter, human trafficking was basically totally legal and accepted back then. JC considered it and admitted that, under the circumstances, yeah, maybe they would have run away with the hot Fae guy too

D) Cyrus continuing the story by talking about how GG disappeared one day, and how nobody could find her...and then, a year later, a mysterious man came to the midwife and told her that his wife was giving birth, and that she only trusted her sister to deliver the baby. (JC was like “girl, get your gun,” then revised to “sword, knife, pointy stick” when Bob reminded them that guns weren’t invented yet.) The midwife naturally went with the man, and was initially thrilled when she arrived at what looked like a gorgeous manor, with her sister dressed in an elegant nightgown on a beautiful bed, looking well-fed and healthy…

And then, after the baby was born, the Fae man gave her an ointment to rub all over the child to protect the newborn girl from disease (JC was like “was that really what it was?” but Cyrus confirmed it was, reminding JC fairies can’t lie, with Bob explaining various fairy medicinal magics and how there’s a special ointment for newborns that was developed especially for mixed human/fae children to keep them safe from disease). The midwife did so, but right near the end, got an itch in her right eye and rubbed it with her finger…

E) Resulting in her suddenly being able to see through the glamours the Fae man had put up with that eye, including the fact that she was in a cave, not a manor, and that her sister was lying on musty animal skins dressed in rags, not a fancy bed in a fancy nightgown. She managed to play off her surprise as tiredness to the Fae man, though – and when he tried to insist she stay for a meal, GG put her foot down, saying that her sister was the midwife for the village and that people depended on her, so she was not staying. (JC realized shortly thereafter “right, if you eat any Fae food, you’re trapped in the Fae realm because you can’t eat anything else” – Cyrus confirmed GG, who had been stuck there a year, would have died if she’d gone back to earth, and endangered her baby as well if there was no wet nurse around, while Bob confirmed that they now had ways to reverse the curse, but there was nothing that could be done back then. :( ) The midwife tried to insist on leaving with GG or the baby when the Fae man went to get his horse ready, but GG said she had to get away while she still could, and that the half-Fae baby would have a happier life in the Fae realm than she would, so...yeah. Midwife sister left her sister and niece behind, and was paid in five “gold coins” – actually pieces of bark – by the Fae man. JC was like “what an asshole,” but Cyrus was like “it gets worse…”

F) Cyrus finishing the main story by telling how the midwife saw the Fae man in the market a little while later and warned the merchant selling him apples that his money was no good, so she’d pay for the fruit, before demanding to know if her sister and niece were still alive. The Fae man said they were before pointing out he’d glamoured himself into another form for this shopping trip, so how the hell did the midwife know it was him? She said “I had my ways” –

But he quickly realized she’d touched her eye with the ointment when she had an itch – and ripped her eye out of her socket. Leaving her, naturally, unable to see through glamours anymore and with a need for an eyepatch. JC was absolutely horrified, as you might expect, but Bob admitted that was the guy being merciful – he could have killed her for using the Fae ointment, and none of the other Fae would have batted an eye. (...no pun intended.) JC was furious, being like “so after all this, the abuser just went free?!”

G) Leading to Cyrus and Bob telling the actual end of the story – namely, that GG’s daughter and grandson (Cyrus’s dad) ended up on the side of the human rebellion Bob joined when Cyrus was a kid, while the Fae man supported her Fae supremacist asshole royal family. Which led to him and Bob getting into a knife fight – and while she didn’t kill him, as he was more valuable as a prisoner to be ransomed, she did end up taking out of one HIS eyes. And then little Cyrus told him how badly he was treating his new human wife –

Leading her sending little Cyrus to the kitchens to get a snack while she went to work on another part of the Fae man’s body with a smaller knife. JC was delighted, while Cyrus told Bob, “You know, you didn’t have to send me away, I knew what you were doing.” Bob was like “let me pretend I was being a responsible adult there,” only for Cyrus to gleefully say, “Nope, fairies can’t lie.” XD

So yeah – very different from the fairytale I knew! Though I did like seeing the CaFae twist on the whole thing – and that Fae bastard get his. Looking forward to the next story!

*whew* And once again, doing all that led to me staying up later than I'd intended. Story of my life. At least I know I don't have to worry about work for the next couple of days... Anyway, I'm off to bed -- gotta do laundry for Mom tomorrow, but I'm also hoping to fit in some Baldur's Gate III, some more "The Van Dort Vacancy," another workout, and maybe another video or some work on my Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) tumblr drafts -- we shall see. Night all!