Happy Birthday To Me
Dec. 27th, 2025 11:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickThough I have to admit it was a very low-key birthday -- we ended up getting four or so inches of snow last night, so going anywhere was off the table (not that I really wanted to go anywhere), and Dad in particular didn't seem to be doing so hot (I think his side was bothering him more than he let on -- especially since he insisted on shoveling. We're very lucky that the snow turned out to be pretty light and powdery), so the vibes around the place were not so good. But despite that, I still managed to have a pretty decent day -- here are the deets:
Present Haul: Didn’t get a lot for my birthday this year, but I got a few nice things, both from my parents and for myself (if you’re wondering where my aunt’s presents are, she’s been sick, so we haven’t been able to see her; I’ll get whatever she got me for Christmas and my birthday when she and my uncle are feeling better):
From My Parents –
-->Three long-sleeved shirts in pink, white, and purple that are appropriate for me to wear to work under my various sweaters (I specifically requested this as most of my “winter” work shirts were button-up blouses with three-quarters-length sleeves, and those bunch up horribly at the elbows when I try to wear them under sweaters)
-->A Valicer hoodie! :D Yeah, uh, I finally told them about the whole “Valicer” thing because I desperately wanted something Valicer to wear (to go with my Valice t-shirts), and it finally overrode my “how the FUCK do I explain this” embarrassment earlier this month – fortunately, Mom took the whole “I have an OC based on the Smiler coaster and they’re in a relationship with Victor and Alice” thing in stride (hell, she actually likes Smiler’s design, especially their hair), and got the help of Custom Ink (a place that prints images on shirts and hoodies and whatnot) to make me a hoodie featuring my OT3 Math picture from Valicertine’s Day 2024 (it was one of the images I sent her as an example of what I’d like to see). Here’s a picture of the completed product:
Nice, huh? :) I am admittedly a little terrified of staining it, but that’s just how getting these things goes, honestly. It’s nice and soft and warm and I love it a lot. :)
For Myself –
-->Another year of Premium Paid time here on Dreamwidth – I am enjoying having a lot of image storage on this site, as you may guess (*glances upward*), and it feels good to support one of the few places on the net that doesn’t have fifty million ads
-->Blades In The Dark: Deep Cuts by John Harper – yes, I have finally purchased the supplement book pdf that came out last year, now that John’s upgraded it to version 1.2 and fixed some of the mistakes in the original “printing!” Wanted to get the best version of it available, don’t you know. I had an initial skim of the contents this evening, before supper – here are some initial impressions:
I. The “Innovations” included at the start of the book are great and will probably find a place in my Duskwall – in fact, one of them already has, thanks to a preview image on the book’s itch.io page (the “Percussion Slug Gun,” aka “slugger,” which is a pistol or rifle that fires a concussive blast of air instead of a traditional bullet or slug – the Van Dorts have a Hull who has two slugger rifles built into its hands, appropriately known as Slugs, who helps guard their vault). Other items likely to make an appearance are the Plasmographic Camera (which can sometimes pick up things in the ghost field), the Lightning Thrower (aka the Duskwallian equivalent of a proton pack – I suspect Victor will get to test one thanks to the efforts of a Dr. Spengler and a Dr. Holtzmann…), and the Hockney Steam Car (a new, EXTREMELY expensive car – Nell and William HAVE to own one of these, and I suspect good old Lord Nathaniel Rowan may have one too)
II. I can see some of the new factions making an appearance in my Duskwall too – Piper of course will have to be part of the Ink Rakes, and I was already planning a story featuring the Rail Jacks. The workers who make up “Ironworks Labor” will probably also be important, given they’re trying to unionize, and I already plan for the trio to be pro-union. On the flip side, I’m probably NOT going to use the new backstory for the Rowan family (which includes them actually being descended from people from another world – see below), since I already have Nathaniel Rowan, landlord of Six Towers, ready to go, but I’ll probably use some of the names, at least (Veretta Rowan, the matriarch of the family as per the write-up, could be Nathaniel’s mother, for example). We’ll see what happens!
III. The “fractures” that are pulling in people and things from other worlds (including, apparently, the ancestors of the Rowans)? I love the concept – official canonical excuse to do crossover bullshit! :D – but I don’t know if I’m going to use it yet or not. Depends on where the series goes, I think. (Though I have occasionally had thoughts about a story where the trio end up temporarily in a world where they never met...a fracture yanking them into a parallel timeline could be useful there...)
IV. Not sure I’m going to be using any of the new rules for playing – I rather like the original ones presented in the original Blades – but I did enjoy seeing that Level 1 Harm now includes shit that will probably heal up on its own and doesn’t necessarily have to be officially “treated.” I always thought healing was a little too hard in this game, so it’s nice to see that acknowledged!
*nods* So yeah – worthwhile purchase, I think! For $14 bucks, you can’t go wrong. I look forward to spending more time with this book and its ideas going forward!
-->The Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate bundle on Steam, which is the base game and all the DLC in one convenient package. Because after a little bit of waffling, I decided I could not resist the siren song of “The Best Fallout Game.” Especially since the whole bundle only cost $8.55 thanks to the Steam Winter Sale! Means I still have plenty of cash left over to put toward Paralives when it finally comes out (which is now on my wishlist, incidentally – figured I might as well). I still need to figure out what mods I absolutely must have for this game (other than the local Unofficial Patch), but at least the game is now in my library and ready to go once I DO figure it out!
Other –
-->One REALLY NICE comment from my friend Newt on “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of,” who apparently saw my masterpost of my VITD fic and my request for love to be given to the universe and decided to sneak in some time to read the first chapter. And tell me that he was really proud of me and that he hoped I kept writing the stuff I loved. Really gave me the feels, that. (And made me feel bad about not trying harder to think of a Christmas fic for him...I’ll go read and comment on some of his stuff instead, I think!)
...and, okay, it's 2 AM here, so I think everything else is going to have to wait until the morning. *shakehead* I just -- couldn't get myself to get moving on the write-ups this afternoon, unfortunately. I'll finish this entry up tomorrow. And hopefully get to Moose's messages too -- sorry to keep you waiting! Night all.
EDIT 12/28/2025: It's the next morning -- let's finish the write-up of what I did yesterday:
Tumblr: There was nothing again to do over on Valice Multiverse, and again that was good, as I had plenty to do over on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – specifically –
A) I traded a couple more reblogs with Satirical Demon over the course of the day about his “Mortasheen Valicer” concepts – both on the original write-up on what he thought they’d be like in the fucked-up-body-horror-loving world of Mortasheen, and on a new post he made talking about their YGOREs (aka “Your Go-To Option Regarding Endeavors,” aka their main, most loyal monster friends – Alice has a Carerazor, essentially a shadow creature that goes around as a living, perpetually-happy bunny plush, named Beth; Victor a Twileye, a vampire fish with sparkling scales, that goes by Sir Rhodes Glitterfin; and Smiler a Madcap, a living jester’s cap creature with a vicious sense of humor and a love of skull handpuppets, named Marmally) and other potential monsters they might pick up to round out their “teams” (because, hilariously, Mortasheen works a bit like POKEMON in that respect – your characters befriend various monstrous creatures, who then help them out in tight spots; examples included Alice picking up a cat-like monster called a Snickerscratch – I approved mightily of the name – Victor a moth creature called Mothstrous, who is nice and fluffy, and Smiler getting what is essentially a living TV signal that can influence minds called a Psychodrome). I still don’t quite understand everything he’s going on about, simply because I don’t have the book and thus can’t look up shit, but it’s clear he’s having loads of fun, and I rather like hearing about these twisted takes on my beloved OT3. I love a good fucked-up world for them to live in, even if it’s not exactly my flavor of fucked up (as previously stated, some of the monster designs and whatnot are a little too gross for me)! And it’s just nice to see people taking an interest in them. :)
B) I reblogged “Parachute” as my Song Saturday song of choice, as it’s a favorite Valicer song of mine and I wanted to have one of those on my blog for my birthday
C) And I did a photo post showing off my new hoodie for the tumblr peeps. :) It’s here if you want to see it – has an extra close-up pic of the image on the front.
I know it doesn’t LOOK like I was that busy, but trust me, those convos with Satirical took a while! Not complaining, just extremely aware of how much time in the day they eat up. *shakehead* One day I will learn time management again.
Little Corners: I may have just bought New Vegas, but as previously stated, I have to figure out the mod situation before I start playing it. And I suspected that was going to take a while (as these things often do), so instead I decided to fire up this, my other new end-of-2025 game, and instead keep working on my Alchemist’s Tower corner! And I’m pleased to say I had a very productive session, including:
A) Unlocking all three hidden stickers – the “burning fireplace interior” sticker (which I actually did by accident – I thought you had to put the log sticker in the fireplace, then put a torch or something in there, but it as it turned out, putting the logs on top of the fireplace and then accidentally moving the fireplace was enough), the “poison bottle” sticker (the hint was you had to put something in the big cauldron full of green liquid – after a bit of experimentation, I found that dropping in a green mushroom did the trick; the poison bottle itself was a cool green skull-shape, but I couldn’t find a good place for it in the room), and the “happy mouse” sticker (the hint was “say cheese, mouse” so I gave both mice stickers the cheese sticker – giving it to the one standing up unlocked the sticker, which was a very full mouse sitting among some half-eaten cheese chunks XD)
B) Cluttering up the work table with everything I thought my hypotheticalSmiler alchemist would need – which took some doing, let me tell you! Not only did I have to move the little table-sized cauldron over to its own little table pushed up next to the main one just so I’d have space for everything else I wanted, I also had to keep adjusting the layering of my stickers to make sure everything was overlapping everything else correctly every time I added something or decided I wanted to move an element! And let me tell you, that shit ain’t always easy, especially when you’re dealing with the really small stickers, like some of the piles of colorful ingredients you can put on the scales. *shakehead* I got there in the end, but man. I’m glad that moving stuff behind or in front of other stickers only involves a combination of SHIFT + the mouse’s scroll wheel – otherwise it would get a lot more complicated a lot faster!
C) And adding more decorations to the place to add a bit more color – like colorful banners on the fireplace and the wall by the door; boxes of potions ready to be sent out near the edge of the floor on the right-hand side of the corner; a box of yellow flowers between the standing desk and the fireplace; a blue circular rug under the standing desk; hanging herbs on the window above the standing desk; and a little frog on the chair next to the desk, along with the happy cheese-filled house near a hole in the wall by the bookcase. *nods* Just some stuff to liven the place up a bit! I still wish we could at least choose from a few different color swatches from our stickers, but I will take what decorations I am given in the meantime.
*nods* Fun times! Well, mostly, some of the layering stickers shit was a little frustrating. XD But I’m pretty happy with what is currently the final product – take a look:
Nice, huh? :) I’m pretty proud of it. Not sure I want to add anything else just at the moment – you don’t want to overclutter your rooms, after all – but we’ll see how I feel the next time I play. Plenty of other corners to try if I want to move onto a new one, after all!
FreeTube/Invidious: Ended up watching two things over here today –
A) “Trapdoors, Cart On The Road and Insider Trading - The OX Crew Play BITD” by CaitlinRC – basically a collection of “best of” moments from “Fate Of The Dimmer Sisters,” the Lilith and Barnaby adventure where they had to save Rosie & Josie from being burned at the stake to get some vital information out of the head of the Dimmer Sisters, Kelly! I watched this mostly for the Barnaby moments to get a reminder of how he talks and conducts himself (so I could write him correctly in “The Van Dort Vacancy”), but it was very fun on its own merits too – Caitlin chose a lot of good moments, including Ellen saving Luke from having to do a really scratchy voice for Kelly by having Lilith offer her a throat sweet; Barnaby NOT being subtle in indicating to Rosie and Josie that they needed to go “through the floor” of their carriage to escape their fate; and of course Barnaby’s infamous “pump and dump” of his shares in Darnell’s security firm, right before the reveal that his high profile prisoners had mysteriously disappeared. XD Ahh, I do love “Oxventure Presents: Blades In The Dark…”
B) And “CaFae Latte Season 80 - TikTok Compilation” by C. M. Alongi – the TikTok compilation videos of my favorite webseries are back, right in time for my birthday! :D And today’s was a fun one, covering:
I. Kelly showing up at the cafe to confirm that JC was good to be her and her friends’ designated driver tonight – and shoving her hand in Cyrus’s face to make sure he didn’t see anything when Husniya showed up with her scarf slipping and a bit of her hair exposed; Kelly explaining that she and her friends were going to Bloody Mary’s, the vampire bar that was also an unofficial lesbian bar (unofficial because it’s run by a guy who intended to just make a bar – it turned lesbian thanks to the guy’s lesbian daughter or niece constantly bringing her friends there, as Kelly explained to Drek), to have some fun and celebrate some life events; and Drek revealing that he was still DMing for people at Divergent Realms, the TTRPG community made by and for neurodivergent people – allowing Bob to slip in a fourth-wall-breaking plug for the CaFae Latte game over there and C. M.’s discount code XD
II. The waitress at Bloody Mary’s seating Lisa the ER nurse (who will be known in this recap as ER Lisa going forward) and David (Bob’s former fuckbuddy), who were out on their third date together – cue Kelly showing up briefly to reveal that she and David knew each other (fun weekend fling, as he explained afterward), and cheerfully informing ER Lisa about his love for bondage, prompting a conversation about how ER Lisa was a stickler for safety and how many people she’d treated for bondage-related injuries (including this one rude asshole just last week – David offered to stick a virus on his cellphone, but he’d already been discharged) – and a reassurance from her that she was a switch, so they were still compatible –
Followed almost immediately by the sounds of a barfight nearby, which seemed to be coming from Kelly’s table. Cue the pair looking at each other, then going over to help, ER Lisa grabbing her chair on the way. XD Girl is ALWAYS ready to throw down, it seems!
III. A rewind to the waitress seating Janine and Patrick at the bar on THEIR date night, which featured Patrick asking the “muscle mommy” bartender (later named Denice) her lifting routine when he was impressed by her biceps (she initially blew him off, but when she saw he was a) a werewolf and b) asking legitimately, she apologized and gave him a proper answer...and then judged him when he admitted to trying to deadlift a car WITHOUT the adrenaline rush of trying to save someone from it, which led to a stay in the hospital with a cracked skull); the pair ordering their drinks, and Patrick complimenting the vibes of the place before spotting JC and heading over to ask them a question – allowing the bartender to ask Janine if Patrick knew this was a lesbian bar (Janine admitted that she had no idea, but said that Patrick would be cool if he found out later); Janine getting bumped by none other than Oscar, who was passing through the bar for some reason (Patrick revealed when he got back the guy was there with Vet Grandpa and Yarn Granny); and Patrick coming back to enjoy his cinnamon roll cocktail and explain to a slightly puzzled Janine that JC was in the bar acting as designated driver for their sister before moving onto what bar snacks he wanted –
Right before they heard the sounds of the bar fight starting. And realized it was coming from JC’s table. Cue Denice going over to break some heads, Patrick and Janine heading over to help – and Patrick revealing that he did know he was in a lesbian bar, thanks. XD
IV. Another rewind to the waitress seating none other than Yarn Granny Caroline, Vet Grandpa Andy, and Oscar at a table, and their conversation including Oscar (having noted Yarn Granny’s banter with the waitress) asking if they came there often, and Yarn Granny revealing she started visiting the place after their granddaughter came out to learn more about the community and ended up falling in love with the vibes (especially after they helped her host a few fiber crafts events that her own shop was too small to hold; by contrast, Vet Grandpa said that he usually gave the ladies here their space, but that a fellow firefighter had held her retirement party here – and that he’d had to practically drag one of their coworkers out by the ear when he wouldn’t stop trying to flirt with the uninterested waitress); Yarn Granny revealing that she thought they needed to have a chat about the current state of their relationship and if they were all on the same page, as their “experimental fling” had lasted quite a while – Oscar revealed that he wasn’t really sure if he was in love with them yet, as it often took longer-lived species longer to decide that, but he did care deeply about that them and wanted to keep doing what they were doing, Yarn Granny said she felt pretty much the same, and Vet Grandpa admitted that he was pretty sure he fell head-over-heels in love three months ago but didn’t want to rock the boat (reassuring Oscar that he was fine with the imbalance as he was pretty sure he fell in love with Yarn Granny first too); and Oscar fleeing the table to use the bathroom and Yarn Granny and Vet Grandpa talking about how he was probably a little freaked out, and Yarn Granny confessing she’d been freaked out when Vet Grandpa told her he loved her the first time (she’d just hid it well, not wanting to lose him) –
Only to be interrupted by the start of the bar brawl at Kelly’s table. Vet Grandpa promptly told Yarn Granny to get out the back while he went to get Oscar.
V. A final rewind to what was happening at Kelly’s table all this time, including the reveal that the group was celebrating friend Yvonne’s acquisition of a corporate job and friend Gilliene (an incubus) leaving her latest sugar daddy for being abusive (apparently he wanted to “break the bitch” because, as an incubus, Gilly is naturally a dom, and he didn’t care for that – Kelly confirmed she’d gotten him blacklisted in her circles, while friend Pamela had banned him from her massage parlor); the reveal of what Patrick wanted to ask JC (what was a good werewolf-safe dessert option he could make for his upcoming family Christmas dinner – JC gave him a recipe for a peanut-butter-and-oatmeal cookie they make in the cafe for dogs) while Yvonne talked about how her last sugar daddy had thrown himself into helping her get an office job (dude had spreadsheets!); Gilly commenting on how hot Patrick was and getting disappointed when JC informed her that he was taken and exclusive; and Kelly asking if JC was packing and JC confirming they were, but they didn’t want to start firing in a crowded restaurant without good reason – right in time for Gilly’s terrible ex to show up…
VI. Gilly’s terrible ex trying to bully her into leaving with him – backed up by a few dangerous-looking friends – and Gilly refusing, with Kelly, Pamela, Yvonne, and JC backing her up; JC threatening to shove the guy out the door, the Terrible Ex saying they did not want to fight him and his guys, and JC and Kelly both revealing their guns; the Terrible Ex pointing out that shooting would not be a good idea, they’d just kill the bartender (Kelly: “she’s a vampire, she’ll survive”) –
And JC agreeing and deciding to get their hands dirty instead, giving their gun to Kelly for safekeeping (since they knew she wouldn’t get involved as she’d just gotten her nails done XD). Cue Kelly retreating to the back while the other girls prepared for battle, and JC throwing the first punch and starting the brawl that caught everyone else’s attention
VII. The aftermath of the battle, with ER Lisa checking on people (JC insisting they just had a busted nose, no concussion, and ER Lisa insisting on checking them out anyway); David revealing he was still a little blind after Oscar, upon exiting the bathroom and seeing the fight, accidentally literally flashed everyone with bright angelic light (he was very apologetic); Vet Grandpa wrapping up Pamela’s hand for her, and Pamela thanking him for the aid and Patrick for stepping in (Patrick: “really spiced up date night”); Janine asking what started the whole thing and Gilly explaining about how it was her abusive ex trying to bully her back into a relationship (the vampire waitress: “okay, suddenly I’m 100% fine with cleaning up this mess”) and confirming that he and his had left the premises, having been scared away by the bartender post-angel flash (waitress: “she does that”); JC wondering if Gilly’s ex was in the mafia as they recognized the way some of those guys hit people, and Gilly saying he wasn’t an OFFICIAL member, but he knew people (Vet Grandpa: “and they STILL lost? Pathetic bastards”); Vet Grandpa checking in with Pamela about her ribs, and Pamela assuring him that she’d know if they were broken, as she once busted them during her stripper days stumbling off the stage in her heels (Vet Grandpa: “those things are more dangerous than hand grenades,” Yarn Granny: “Why do you think I never wore them?”); Yvonne trying to get a drink because the group had multiple reasons to celebrate now, and Kelly confirming with JC that they were still good to be designated driver – ER Lisa said “don’t push yourself and drink something sugary,” and JC said Kelly was paying for their dinner, which she allowed was fair. :p
VIII. And JC filling in Rethu on the brawl after the fact – ER Lisa just decking one of the guys with a chair, Patrick body-slamming a guy who cornered Pamela, bartender Denice throwing a guy across one room straight into another – and Rethu being very sad they missed it; some talk on the holiday scheduling (Rethu was leaving early that day with Cyrus for a Hanukkah party, and they and Bob would be off the next day for Yule, with Husniya and Drek covering – JC noted that Husniya getting all the shifts this time of year was a plus of Ramadan being in spring); Rethu noting Bob had a new kicky purple scarf (Yarn Granny found a new pattern, apparently); and a customer coming in with a request for a protection charm for a schoolbus, as they’re a driver and just had a VERY scary incident with an asshole who drove UP ON THE SIDEWALK to get around them when they were stopped dropping some kids off (the PTA parents voted down a motion to buy charms for all the buses thanks to some parents being concerned about their kids being “influenced by black magic,” but the driver had an “under the table” secret agreement with the more level-headed parents; their combined payments got them a 20-year enchantment of protection on the bus itself from Bob).
Good stuff – I loved seeing all the characters ending up in the bar and getting pulled into the brawl in one way or another, and I KNEW the minute Gilly mentioned her ex that he was going to be the source of the trouble. Very satisfying to learn that he and his mafia friend creeps got theirs in the fight! Looks like I should get used to seeing these on Saturdays again for a while!
Writing: Well, I started later than I might have liked, and I did struggle a bit with getting started, but I did manage to successfully edit another page of “The Van Dort Vacancy” today – specifically, the page where Victor first meets Barnaby “The Butcher” Fortescue III! Hence why I watched that “best of” video by CaitlinRC today. XD Our page today featured:
A) Barnaby accepting Victor’s apology by saying that he knew the middle classes were often too busy with whatever it is they did to look where they were going, and at least Victor didn’t spill his drink – Victor was immediately like “oh no, why him” XD
B) Barnaby talking about how he couldn’t miss a Van Dort soiree, because while they were obviously upstarts trying to buy their way into high society, they always threw a hell of a party – proving it wasn’t who you knew or what you did that was important, but how rich you were XD
C) Victor going over everything he knew about Barnaby in the narration for the benefit of the audience – specifically that Barnaby was roughly a decade older than him; extremely rich thanks to his family having their fingers in all the pies; charming to his equals and a bit of a boor to his inferiors (since he had enough money to not worry about “the little people” making problems for him); and pretty much ALWAYS drunk XD
D) And Victor hoping that Barnaby wasn’t in the mood for a long conversation – only for Barnaby to dash those hopes the minute he realized who Victor was and start nattering on about the whole thing with Barkis, telling Victor that life was nothing without a little risk and that he needed to get out there and taste danger when Victor commented that living the events of the last few days was much less entertaining than reading about them. And then qualifying that with “well, not enough danger so you die or bring shame on your family name.” XD
Good stuff! I think I’ve got Barnaby’s voice down, but I’m gonna keep watching clips of him just to be sure. Tomorrow, I’m gonna see if I can finish this chapter off, since I’ve only got about a page left – then we can move into the final editing pass, and maybe get this sucker posted in the first few days of 2026...
And there we have it -- the COMPLETE recounting of what I did on the 27th! Please enjoy while I try to figure out time management skills again.
Present Haul: Didn’t get a lot for my birthday this year, but I got a few nice things, both from my parents and for myself (if you’re wondering where my aunt’s presents are, she’s been sick, so we haven’t been able to see her; I’ll get whatever she got me for Christmas and my birthday when she and my uncle are feeling better):
From My Parents –
-->Three long-sleeved shirts in pink, white, and purple that are appropriate for me to wear to work under my various sweaters (I specifically requested this as most of my “winter” work shirts were button-up blouses with three-quarters-length sleeves, and those bunch up horribly at the elbows when I try to wear them under sweaters)
-->A Valicer hoodie! :D Yeah, uh, I finally told them about the whole “Valicer” thing because I desperately wanted something Valicer to wear (to go with my Valice t-shirts), and it finally overrode my “how the FUCK do I explain this” embarrassment earlier this month – fortunately, Mom took the whole “I have an OC based on the Smiler coaster and they’re in a relationship with Victor and Alice” thing in stride (hell, she actually likes Smiler’s design, especially their hair), and got the help of Custom Ink (a place that prints images on shirts and hoodies and whatnot) to make me a hoodie featuring my OT3 Math picture from Valicertine’s Day 2024 (it was one of the images I sent her as an example of what I’d like to see). Here’s a picture of the completed product:
Nice, huh? :) I am admittedly a little terrified of staining it, but that’s just how getting these things goes, honestly. It’s nice and soft and warm and I love it a lot. :)
For Myself –
-->Another year of Premium Paid time here on Dreamwidth – I am enjoying having a lot of image storage on this site, as you may guess (*glances upward*), and it feels good to support one of the few places on the net that doesn’t have fifty million ads
-->Blades In The Dark: Deep Cuts by John Harper – yes, I have finally purchased the supplement book pdf that came out last year, now that John’s upgraded it to version 1.2 and fixed some of the mistakes in the original “printing!” Wanted to get the best version of it available, don’t you know. I had an initial skim of the contents this evening, before supper – here are some initial impressions:
I. The “Innovations” included at the start of the book are great and will probably find a place in my Duskwall – in fact, one of them already has, thanks to a preview image on the book’s itch.io page (the “Percussion Slug Gun,” aka “slugger,” which is a pistol or rifle that fires a concussive blast of air instead of a traditional bullet or slug – the Van Dorts have a Hull who has two slugger rifles built into its hands, appropriately known as Slugs, who helps guard their vault). Other items likely to make an appearance are the Plasmographic Camera (which can sometimes pick up things in the ghost field), the Lightning Thrower (aka the Duskwallian equivalent of a proton pack – I suspect Victor will get to test one thanks to the efforts of a Dr. Spengler and a Dr. Holtzmann…), and the Hockney Steam Car (a new, EXTREMELY expensive car – Nell and William HAVE to own one of these, and I suspect good old Lord Nathaniel Rowan may have one too)
II. I can see some of the new factions making an appearance in my Duskwall too – Piper of course will have to be part of the Ink Rakes, and I was already planning a story featuring the Rail Jacks. The workers who make up “Ironworks Labor” will probably also be important, given they’re trying to unionize, and I already plan for the trio to be pro-union. On the flip side, I’m probably NOT going to use the new backstory for the Rowan family (which includes them actually being descended from people from another world – see below), since I already have Nathaniel Rowan, landlord of Six Towers, ready to go, but I’ll probably use some of the names, at least (Veretta Rowan, the matriarch of the family as per the write-up, could be Nathaniel’s mother, for example). We’ll see what happens!
III. The “fractures” that are pulling in people and things from other worlds (including, apparently, the ancestors of the Rowans)? I love the concept – official canonical excuse to do crossover bullshit! :D – but I don’t know if I’m going to use it yet or not. Depends on where the series goes, I think. (Though I have occasionally had thoughts about a story where the trio end up temporarily in a world where they never met...a fracture yanking them into a parallel timeline could be useful there...)
IV. Not sure I’m going to be using any of the new rules for playing – I rather like the original ones presented in the original Blades – but I did enjoy seeing that Level 1 Harm now includes shit that will probably heal up on its own and doesn’t necessarily have to be officially “treated.” I always thought healing was a little too hard in this game, so it’s nice to see that acknowledged!
*nods* So yeah – worthwhile purchase, I think! For $14 bucks, you can’t go wrong. I look forward to spending more time with this book and its ideas going forward!
-->The Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate bundle on Steam, which is the base game and all the DLC in one convenient package. Because after a little bit of waffling, I decided I could not resist the siren song of “The Best Fallout Game.” Especially since the whole bundle only cost $8.55 thanks to the Steam Winter Sale! Means I still have plenty of cash left over to put toward Paralives when it finally comes out (which is now on my wishlist, incidentally – figured I might as well). I still need to figure out what mods I absolutely must have for this game (other than the local Unofficial Patch), but at least the game is now in my library and ready to go once I DO figure it out!
Other –
-->One REALLY NICE comment from my friend Newt on “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of,” who apparently saw my masterpost of my VITD fic and my request for love to be given to the universe and decided to sneak in some time to read the first chapter. And tell me that he was really proud of me and that he hoped I kept writing the stuff I loved. Really gave me the feels, that. (And made me feel bad about not trying harder to think of a Christmas fic for him...I’ll go read and comment on some of his stuff instead, I think!)
...and, okay, it's 2 AM here, so I think everything else is going to have to wait until the morning. *shakehead* I just -- couldn't get myself to get moving on the write-ups this afternoon, unfortunately. I'll finish this entry up tomorrow. And hopefully get to Moose's messages too -- sorry to keep you waiting! Night all.
EDIT 12/28/2025: It's the next morning -- let's finish the write-up of what I did yesterday:
Tumblr: There was nothing again to do over on Valice Multiverse, and again that was good, as I had plenty to do over on Victor Luvs Alice (N Smiler) – specifically –
A) I traded a couple more reblogs with Satirical Demon over the course of the day about his “Mortasheen Valicer” concepts – both on the original write-up on what he thought they’d be like in the fucked-up-body-horror-loving world of Mortasheen, and on a new post he made talking about their YGOREs (aka “Your Go-To Option Regarding Endeavors,” aka their main, most loyal monster friends – Alice has a Carerazor, essentially a shadow creature that goes around as a living, perpetually-happy bunny plush, named Beth; Victor a Twileye, a vampire fish with sparkling scales, that goes by Sir Rhodes Glitterfin; and Smiler a Madcap, a living jester’s cap creature with a vicious sense of humor and a love of skull handpuppets, named Marmally) and other potential monsters they might pick up to round out their “teams” (because, hilariously, Mortasheen works a bit like POKEMON in that respect – your characters befriend various monstrous creatures, who then help them out in tight spots; examples included Alice picking up a cat-like monster called a Snickerscratch – I approved mightily of the name – Victor a moth creature called Mothstrous, who is nice and fluffy, and Smiler getting what is essentially a living TV signal that can influence minds called a Psychodrome). I still don’t quite understand everything he’s going on about, simply because I don’t have the book and thus can’t look up shit, but it’s clear he’s having loads of fun, and I rather like hearing about these twisted takes on my beloved OT3. I love a good fucked-up world for them to live in, even if it’s not exactly my flavor of fucked up (as previously stated, some of the monster designs and whatnot are a little too gross for me)! And it’s just nice to see people taking an interest in them. :)
B) I reblogged “Parachute” as my Song Saturday song of choice, as it’s a favorite Valicer song of mine and I wanted to have one of those on my blog for my birthday
C) And I did a photo post showing off my new hoodie for the tumblr peeps. :) It’s here if you want to see it – has an extra close-up pic of the image on the front.
I know it doesn’t LOOK like I was that busy, but trust me, those convos with Satirical took a while! Not complaining, just extremely aware of how much time in the day they eat up. *shakehead* One day I will learn time management again.
Little Corners: I may have just bought New Vegas, but as previously stated, I have to figure out the mod situation before I start playing it. And I suspected that was going to take a while (as these things often do), so instead I decided to fire up this, my other new end-of-2025 game, and instead keep working on my Alchemist’s Tower corner! And I’m pleased to say I had a very productive session, including:
A) Unlocking all three hidden stickers – the “burning fireplace interior” sticker (which I actually did by accident – I thought you had to put the log sticker in the fireplace, then put a torch or something in there, but it as it turned out, putting the logs on top of the fireplace and then accidentally moving the fireplace was enough), the “poison bottle” sticker (the hint was you had to put something in the big cauldron full of green liquid – after a bit of experimentation, I found that dropping in a green mushroom did the trick; the poison bottle itself was a cool green skull-shape, but I couldn’t find a good place for it in the room), and the “happy mouse” sticker (the hint was “say cheese, mouse” so I gave both mice stickers the cheese sticker – giving it to the one standing up unlocked the sticker, which was a very full mouse sitting among some half-eaten cheese chunks XD)
B) Cluttering up the work table with everything I thought my hypothetical
C) And adding more decorations to the place to add a bit more color – like colorful banners on the fireplace and the wall by the door; boxes of potions ready to be sent out near the edge of the floor on the right-hand side of the corner; a box of yellow flowers between the standing desk and the fireplace; a blue circular rug under the standing desk; hanging herbs on the window above the standing desk; and a little frog on the chair next to the desk, along with the happy cheese-filled house near a hole in the wall by the bookcase. *nods* Just some stuff to liven the place up a bit! I still wish we could at least choose from a few different color swatches from our stickers, but I will take what decorations I am given in the meantime.
*nods* Fun times! Well, mostly, some of the layering stickers shit was a little frustrating. XD But I’m pretty happy with what is currently the final product – take a look:
Nice, huh? :) I’m pretty proud of it. Not sure I want to add anything else just at the moment – you don’t want to overclutter your rooms, after all – but we’ll see how I feel the next time I play. Plenty of other corners to try if I want to move onto a new one, after all!
FreeTube/Invidious: Ended up watching two things over here today –
A) “Trapdoors, Cart On The Road and Insider Trading - The OX Crew Play BITD” by CaitlinRC – basically a collection of “best of” moments from “Fate Of The Dimmer Sisters,” the Lilith and Barnaby adventure where they had to save Rosie & Josie from being burned at the stake to get some vital information out of the head of the Dimmer Sisters, Kelly! I watched this mostly for the Barnaby moments to get a reminder of how he talks and conducts himself (so I could write him correctly in “The Van Dort Vacancy”), but it was very fun on its own merits too – Caitlin chose a lot of good moments, including Ellen saving Luke from having to do a really scratchy voice for Kelly by having Lilith offer her a throat sweet; Barnaby NOT being subtle in indicating to Rosie and Josie that they needed to go “through the floor” of their carriage to escape their fate; and of course Barnaby’s infamous “pump and dump” of his shares in Darnell’s security firm, right before the reveal that his high profile prisoners had mysteriously disappeared. XD Ahh, I do love “Oxventure Presents: Blades In The Dark…”
B) And “CaFae Latte Season 80 - TikTok Compilation” by C. M. Alongi – the TikTok compilation videos of my favorite webseries are back, right in time for my birthday! :D And today’s was a fun one, covering:
I. Kelly showing up at the cafe to confirm that JC was good to be her and her friends’ designated driver tonight – and shoving her hand in Cyrus’s face to make sure he didn’t see anything when Husniya showed up with her scarf slipping and a bit of her hair exposed; Kelly explaining that she and her friends were going to Bloody Mary’s, the vampire bar that was also an unofficial lesbian bar (unofficial because it’s run by a guy who intended to just make a bar – it turned lesbian thanks to the guy’s lesbian daughter or niece constantly bringing her friends there, as Kelly explained to Drek), to have some fun and celebrate some life events; and Drek revealing that he was still DMing for people at Divergent Realms, the TTRPG community made by and for neurodivergent people – allowing Bob to slip in a fourth-wall-breaking plug for the CaFae Latte game over there and C. M.’s discount code XD
II. The waitress at Bloody Mary’s seating Lisa the ER nurse (who will be known in this recap as ER Lisa going forward) and David (Bob’s former fuckbuddy), who were out on their third date together – cue Kelly showing up briefly to reveal that she and David knew each other (fun weekend fling, as he explained afterward), and cheerfully informing ER Lisa about his love for bondage, prompting a conversation about how ER Lisa was a stickler for safety and how many people she’d treated for bondage-related injuries (including this one rude asshole just last week – David offered to stick a virus on his cellphone, but he’d already been discharged) – and a reassurance from her that she was a switch, so they were still compatible –
Followed almost immediately by the sounds of a barfight nearby, which seemed to be coming from Kelly’s table. Cue the pair looking at each other, then going over to help, ER Lisa grabbing her chair on the way. XD Girl is ALWAYS ready to throw down, it seems!
III. A rewind to the waitress seating Janine and Patrick at the bar on THEIR date night, which featured Patrick asking the “muscle mommy” bartender (later named Denice) her lifting routine when he was impressed by her biceps (she initially blew him off, but when she saw he was a) a werewolf and b) asking legitimately, she apologized and gave him a proper answer...and then judged him when he admitted to trying to deadlift a car WITHOUT the adrenaline rush of trying to save someone from it, which led to a stay in the hospital with a cracked skull); the pair ordering their drinks, and Patrick complimenting the vibes of the place before spotting JC and heading over to ask them a question – allowing the bartender to ask Janine if Patrick knew this was a lesbian bar (Janine admitted that she had no idea, but said that Patrick would be cool if he found out later); Janine getting bumped by none other than Oscar, who was passing through the bar for some reason (Patrick revealed when he got back the guy was there with Vet Grandpa and Yarn Granny); and Patrick coming back to enjoy his cinnamon roll cocktail and explain to a slightly puzzled Janine that JC was in the bar acting as designated driver for their sister before moving onto what bar snacks he wanted –
Right before they heard the sounds of the bar fight starting. And realized it was coming from JC’s table. Cue Denice going over to break some heads, Patrick and Janine heading over to help – and Patrick revealing that he did know he was in a lesbian bar, thanks. XD
IV. Another rewind to the waitress seating none other than Yarn Granny Caroline, Vet Grandpa Andy, and Oscar at a table, and their conversation including Oscar (having noted Yarn Granny’s banter with the waitress) asking if they came there often, and Yarn Granny revealing she started visiting the place after their granddaughter came out to learn more about the community and ended up falling in love with the vibes (especially after they helped her host a few fiber crafts events that her own shop was too small to hold; by contrast, Vet Grandpa said that he usually gave the ladies here their space, but that a fellow firefighter had held her retirement party here – and that he’d had to practically drag one of their coworkers out by the ear when he wouldn’t stop trying to flirt with the uninterested waitress); Yarn Granny revealing that she thought they needed to have a chat about the current state of their relationship and if they were all on the same page, as their “experimental fling” had lasted quite a while – Oscar revealed that he wasn’t really sure if he was in love with them yet, as it often took longer-lived species longer to decide that, but he did care deeply about that them and wanted to keep doing what they were doing, Yarn Granny said she felt pretty much the same, and Vet Grandpa admitted that he was pretty sure he fell head-over-heels in love three months ago but didn’t want to rock the boat (reassuring Oscar that he was fine with the imbalance as he was pretty sure he fell in love with Yarn Granny first too); and Oscar fleeing the table to use the bathroom and Yarn Granny and Vet Grandpa talking about how he was probably a little freaked out, and Yarn Granny confessing she’d been freaked out when Vet Grandpa told her he loved her the first time (she’d just hid it well, not wanting to lose him) –
Only to be interrupted by the start of the bar brawl at Kelly’s table. Vet Grandpa promptly told Yarn Granny to get out the back while he went to get Oscar.
V. A final rewind to what was happening at Kelly’s table all this time, including the reveal that the group was celebrating friend Yvonne’s acquisition of a corporate job and friend Gilliene (an incubus) leaving her latest sugar daddy for being abusive (apparently he wanted to “break the bitch” because, as an incubus, Gilly is naturally a dom, and he didn’t care for that – Kelly confirmed she’d gotten him blacklisted in her circles, while friend Pamela had banned him from her massage parlor); the reveal of what Patrick wanted to ask JC (what was a good werewolf-safe dessert option he could make for his upcoming family Christmas dinner – JC gave him a recipe for a peanut-butter-and-oatmeal cookie they make in the cafe for dogs) while Yvonne talked about how her last sugar daddy had thrown himself into helping her get an office job (dude had spreadsheets!); Gilly commenting on how hot Patrick was and getting disappointed when JC informed her that he was taken and exclusive; and Kelly asking if JC was packing and JC confirming they were, but they didn’t want to start firing in a crowded restaurant without good reason – right in time for Gilly’s terrible ex to show up…
VI. Gilly’s terrible ex trying to bully her into leaving with him – backed up by a few dangerous-looking friends – and Gilly refusing, with Kelly, Pamela, Yvonne, and JC backing her up; JC threatening to shove the guy out the door, the Terrible Ex saying they did not want to fight him and his guys, and JC and Kelly both revealing their guns; the Terrible Ex pointing out that shooting would not be a good idea, they’d just kill the bartender (Kelly: “she’s a vampire, she’ll survive”) –
And JC agreeing and deciding to get their hands dirty instead, giving their gun to Kelly for safekeeping (since they knew she wouldn’t get involved as she’d just gotten her nails done XD). Cue Kelly retreating to the back while the other girls prepared for battle, and JC throwing the first punch and starting the brawl that caught everyone else’s attention
VII. The aftermath of the battle, with ER Lisa checking on people (JC insisting they just had a busted nose, no concussion, and ER Lisa insisting on checking them out anyway); David revealing he was still a little blind after Oscar, upon exiting the bathroom and seeing the fight, accidentally literally flashed everyone with bright angelic light (he was very apologetic); Vet Grandpa wrapping up Pamela’s hand for her, and Pamela thanking him for the aid and Patrick for stepping in (Patrick: “really spiced up date night”); Janine asking what started the whole thing and Gilly explaining about how it was her abusive ex trying to bully her back into a relationship (the vampire waitress: “okay, suddenly I’m 100% fine with cleaning up this mess”) and confirming that he and his had left the premises, having been scared away by the bartender post-angel flash (waitress: “she does that”); JC wondering if Gilly’s ex was in the mafia as they recognized the way some of those guys hit people, and Gilly saying he wasn’t an OFFICIAL member, but he knew people (Vet Grandpa: “and they STILL lost? Pathetic bastards”); Vet Grandpa checking in with Pamela about her ribs, and Pamela assuring him that she’d know if they were broken, as she once busted them during her stripper days stumbling off the stage in her heels (Vet Grandpa: “those things are more dangerous than hand grenades,” Yarn Granny: “Why do you think I never wore them?”); Yvonne trying to get a drink because the group had multiple reasons to celebrate now, and Kelly confirming with JC that they were still good to be designated driver – ER Lisa said “don’t push yourself and drink something sugary,” and JC said Kelly was paying for their dinner, which she allowed was fair. :p
VIII. And JC filling in Rethu on the brawl after the fact – ER Lisa just decking one of the guys with a chair, Patrick body-slamming a guy who cornered Pamela, bartender Denice throwing a guy across one room straight into another – and Rethu being very sad they missed it; some talk on the holiday scheduling (Rethu was leaving early that day with Cyrus for a Hanukkah party, and they and Bob would be off the next day for Yule, with Husniya and Drek covering – JC noted that Husniya getting all the shifts this time of year was a plus of Ramadan being in spring); Rethu noting Bob had a new kicky purple scarf (Yarn Granny found a new pattern, apparently); and a customer coming in with a request for a protection charm for a schoolbus, as they’re a driver and just had a VERY scary incident with an asshole who drove UP ON THE SIDEWALK to get around them when they were stopped dropping some kids off (the PTA parents voted down a motion to buy charms for all the buses thanks to some parents being concerned about their kids being “influenced by black magic,” but the driver had an “under the table” secret agreement with the more level-headed parents; their combined payments got them a 20-year enchantment of protection on the bus itself from Bob).
Good stuff – I loved seeing all the characters ending up in the bar and getting pulled into the brawl in one way or another, and I KNEW the minute Gilly mentioned her ex that he was going to be the source of the trouble. Very satisfying to learn that he and his mafia friend creeps got theirs in the fight! Looks like I should get used to seeing these on Saturdays again for a while!
Writing: Well, I started later than I might have liked, and I did struggle a bit with getting started, but I did manage to successfully edit another page of “The Van Dort Vacancy” today – specifically, the page where Victor first meets Barnaby “The Butcher” Fortescue III! Hence why I watched that “best of” video by CaitlinRC today. XD Our page today featured:
A) Barnaby accepting Victor’s apology by saying that he knew the middle classes were often too busy with whatever it is they did to look where they were going, and at least Victor didn’t spill his drink – Victor was immediately like “oh no, why him” XD
B) Barnaby talking about how he couldn’t miss a Van Dort soiree, because while they were obviously upstarts trying to buy their way into high society, they always threw a hell of a party – proving it wasn’t who you knew or what you did that was important, but how rich you were XD
C) Victor going over everything he knew about Barnaby in the narration for the benefit of the audience – specifically that Barnaby was roughly a decade older than him; extremely rich thanks to his family having their fingers in all the pies; charming to his equals and a bit of a boor to his inferiors (since he had enough money to not worry about “the little people” making problems for him); and pretty much ALWAYS drunk XD
D) And Victor hoping that Barnaby wasn’t in the mood for a long conversation – only for Barnaby to dash those hopes the minute he realized who Victor was and start nattering on about the whole thing with Barkis, telling Victor that life was nothing without a little risk and that he needed to get out there and taste danger when Victor commented that living the events of the last few days was much less entertaining than reading about them. And then qualifying that with “well, not enough danger so you die or bring shame on your family name.” XD
Good stuff! I think I’ve got Barnaby’s voice down, but I’m gonna keep watching clips of him just to be sure. Tomorrow, I’m gonna see if I can finish this chapter off, since I’ve only got about a page left – then we can move into the final editing pass, and maybe get this sucker posted in the first few days of 2026...
And there we have it -- the COMPLETE recounting of what I did on the 27th! Please enjoy while I try to figure out time management skills again.
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