#I genuinely know things about grout off the top of my head

[creativitycache]

I love writing how tos and lists. For decades I’ve posted various guides, breakdowns, and long lists about things all over the internet.

Now in 2024 as I write out another bullet pointed list I wonder if sometimes people think I write like Chat GPT.

Then I remember that Open AI data scraped Reddit and other platforms to make Chat GPT.

And I look at my Reddit Comment Karma score, and I wonder if Chat GPT talks like me.

[badass-at-fandoming]

Just Little Ventrue Things ~

I finished a Camarilla Ventrue run of VTMB. Mostly, the only thing Ventrue these days know how to do is Dominate, run screaming, eat hot chip, and lie, and [high falsetto voice] here’s a list of other nonsense I discovered:

PC’s name is Christina; she’s a Dominatrix because I’m bi. Her sire was one of her clients, and she’s actually very, very angry about his death. She doesn’t mind being a vampire. She’s Wiccan and part of a coven

In this Camarilla run, I decided I would only do quests given by Camarilla members. My justification was that, while Christina is intelligent and curious about lore, she focuses on tasks that immediately relate to her and her goals. She’s not curious about others; won’t go out of her way to talk to them. She’s not a bleeding heart, like my other PCs, and she believes in the Camarilla’s laws. She just hates LaCroix for killing her sire. Her plan during the game is to curry as much favor within the Cam as possible and cozy up to LaCroix so she can stab him.

Enough backstory

Nonsense time

Smiling Jack laughs at you if you don’t eat a rat in the tutorial. LOL. The Ventrue dialog is like “I could barely choke down the homeless man: please don’t make me eat a rat!”

The blood in the Santa Monica haven’s fridge is now blue blood. Does regular blood make Ventrue sick? I was too scared to experiment.

[spots Mercurio] I am going to steal that ghoul

Rosa: The people you’re looking for are up there. Christina, assuming Rosa is a Cam agent: Okay, thanks, bye

Never spoke to the Thin-Bloods again (sorry Lily baby ;-;)

Everyone except Julius still leaves when the PC reaches Hollywood

If you try to feed on Julius, he WILL kick you in the head and you WILL glitch into the fire, be on fire; run away screaming in Prada

You can skip the whole basement of the Ocean House Hotel if you manage to jump over the hole in the staircase???? Like?? You mean the spookiest fucking level has been optional this whole time I”M

[ghost appears] [Christina smacks it with an axe] None of that.

Club girls speak to Christina and I’m on the FLOOR

Therese “kills” Jeanette, even though I had enough oompa to make that not happen.

Therese joins the Camarilla and says she’s in good position to be the next Prince??? Hello??? Where is our Prince Voerman ending????

Went straight to LaCroix, called him “sir,” and he name-dropped Napoleon.

LaCroix tells Christina to go visit the Anarchs. She blows the Anarchs off (Nines made a growly face, Damsel dialog yowl-exited out after I asked if she wanted to join the Cam; Skelter threatened to murder me twice). When LaCroix told Christina that, while he admired her Cam loyalty, she must listen to her enemies to understand what they wanted, it felt like he was actually being a good sire and mentor.

That’s weird.

When Christina asked for his history, he very carefully explained his lineage, like the important part of Ventrue culture it is.

Overall, I found LaCroix-being-nice-to-me extremely unsettling.

Sir. Stop smiling at me, sir. Stop being impressed I don’t ask for money. STOP MAKING ME UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIKE YOU, SIR.

In contrast, LaCroix sounded genuinely betrayed at the end

Also made it more obvious when he started to lose track of his marbles

Ventrue PC seems juuuuuuust tall enough for her forehead to glitch into the ceiling of literally any confined space

The dirty Elizabeth Dane policeman didn’t psspspspsp at Christina so the whole ship was 15 white-knuckled minutes of making police dance and scuttling about

There is!!! A lot less!!! Talking in this game!!! Than I remember!!! She is only good at talking and ordering people around i am bEGGING

All EXP goes to Dominate and making Christina extremely charismatic and buff.

Ventrue himbo????

Beckett un-himbo-ifies her

She insults Beckett on their first meeting, spitting out “What do you want, wolfie?!” I thought this was appropriate because she died like, 4 times on that warehouse mission and was Extremely Stressed And Under Duress

Beckett’s response of “Oh, you’re too young to have mouthed off to the truly old ones yet.” makes his later snide remark of “the young ones are so temperamental” 900% funnier. Yeah, LaCroix! Beckett thinks I’ve grown and am now more mature than you! XD

Missions involving sex workers hit different when you’re a sex worker.

Christina was incandescent with rage at the Brotherhood

Grout’s mansion mission was a lot of “I have no interest in this nonsense.”

For the first time ever, I didn’t kill anyone during the Museum quest! This is because Christina ran very fast and Dominated every guard as quickly as possible. Every single fucking guard knew she was there, but could do nothing about it, because they were dancing. The door to the sarcophagus locked (it will do this if too many guards are agro), but locked doors are no match for noclip hack.

Entertaining image of a tall woman absolutely blasting into this museum room and Beckett tackling her to the floor like wait! I must snark at you! You are legally obligated to speak with me!

Isaac is still somehow a pretty chill guy to work with if you’re Camarilla.

Christina didn’t visit VV or Ash. Interestingly, Ash didn’t show up at the hunter monastery later. Did he just die in his club? Is he still there, waiting, deciding?

Christina @ Andrei: what the fuck is this shit

“I don’t care. It’s ugly. Clean it up.”

SEWERS.

Not as bad as I was expecting

Did take shortcut, run away from fights, ducked out in the middle for a snack, and bring 7 blue blood packs tho

Gary threatened to shred her face with a cheese grater, which I thought was Toreador only dialog?? It must be connected to the Appearance Stat. Which Christina has maxed out.

When Heather became Christina’s ghoul, I was delighted because I thought this meant Christina would always have fresh blood.

No

If you ask to feed on her too soon after the last time, Heather says she feels light headed and wants to lie down. The dialog exits out

I love you, Heather bb

Perfected the art of nudging NPCs into corners

Mitnick’s quests now feature Enforced Nap Time for all guards

Seriously, Dominate is ridiculously powerful, hooooly shit. I get why people like it. I also like it when people do things I ask them to do.

Christina can’t sneak, but she CAN strongly encourage everyone to choke on their own tongues.

Very high contrast in the beginning of the game: 2 punches would knock her over, but anyone she spoke to would obey immediately and without question

Chinatown goes by ridiculously fast if you can’t sneak and don’t do any sidequests besides Mitnick’s.

For the first time ever, Zhao survived! This is because Christina made him take a nap.

He just told her to leave

You’re welcome, my good dude

IDK if it’s a game glitch, but Christina would vocalize? In battle, she grunts with effort and pain.

Got to the point where I kept expecting Dominate dialog in every interaction and would get disappointed if it didn’t show up. What do you mean I have to actually convince people? That’s lame.

Christina was polite and charming to Ming Xiao, who also conveyed a deeper betrayal than normal at the end. ;-;

I promise to give you a Ventrue boy toy soon, Xiao

Finale arc quests went by VERY FAST because Christina can’t sneak for shit. Just run in, Dominate blazing

You can skip the outside bit of the Hallowbrook Hotel if you find the open door on the top level what the fuuuuuuuuuCK

[“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” plays while Christina wipes out the Sabbat in 10 minutes]

Andrei disappeared mid-fight and didn’t come back until I complained that only I was allowed to run away from boss fights

I’m categorizing “triggering the interaction to save Heather” as something quite difficult to do. The timing has to be just right. I’ve missed it twice now. BUT hacking into the game to save her is easy.

I love you, Heather bb

Final Beckett talk had the vibe of “You’re a very different person than me, but you’re also High Humanity and trying to do good. You don’t deserve to die.”

Damsel threatens to kick the shit out of Christina and is extremely reluctant to tell her where Nines is

“Out of all people, they send you? All right, let’s just talk terms.” - Nines because Christina was short with him one (1) time

WEREWOLF HARD

You can just?? Walk out of your haven?? Without speaking to Jack at all???

I didn’t do that

But I could have

[”Dust in the Wind” plays while Christina kills entire Camarilla hit squad in 3 minutes]

You can visit Mercurio and Trip on your way out of Santa Monica??

Mercurio makes no comment on the blood hunt. Business as usual with him. This is fine.

Christina: I’m SO going to adopt that ghoul. And perhaps Isaac can be convinced to part with Romero...

(For the first time ever, my PC boinked Romero. Twice, to receive the break up email)

This is definitely a glitch, but Christina brushed up against Caine, and a worried voice said, “Are you all right?” It sounded like the same voice actor, but a higher pitch?

Always nice to think about Caine demonstrating care

Christina asked Caine who he is, and Caine replied that he “gets people where they’re going. [He’s] a driver,”  which is a nice nod (lol) to both his literal job as a driver and as a shepherd/creator/god to Kindred. Caine creates and makes fate.

Caine triple checks with Christina that she’s sure Strauss won’t betray her. Thanks, Vampire Dad. :’D

For some reason, only other Ventrue guarded LaCroix’s tower. I wonder if this is intentional. Like all the other Camarilla Clans backed Strauss and left? So only LaCroix’s Ventrue lackeys remain? Anyway, it created some weird moments where Christina fought her double.

KILL YOUR DOUBLE

Sheriff laughed in haughty joy that he was to kill Christina. I don’t remember him laughing in other playthroughs.

Christina ruining Caine and Jack’s prank oh noes

[quirkoholic]

Time May Change Me: Sparks

Kristanna Week Day 3

Modern AU, Part 1 of 3

Rating: T (Traumatic themes, Trigger warning: Fire)

Words: 2349

A/N: I turned the last three prompts into a mini story. The title is a line from “Changes,” by David Bowie. Also I tried to do some research into Kristoff’s job but if things don’t seem completely realistic it’s because I couldn’t find a ton of detailed information.

Anna lay in her old bed, surrounded by stuffed animals and pillows. She’d recently returned to her childhood home with her sister, Elsa. Their parents’ will specifically left the house to both of them, but they’d never been to visit it together. Elsa had checked up on the house from time to time, but work always called her back to the city. Anna was busy finishing her degree and planning a wedding in her free time, and so had never bothered to return. It brought back memories she didn’t want to remember, and so she let herself be distracted with flower arrangements and china patterns. After Elsa had a series of work-induced panic attacks and Anna found her fiance cheating on her, they’d both decided it was time to head back to Arendelle for a fresh start, together.

They’d arrived earlier that day to find the place untouched by time, save for a thick layer of dust covering the furniture. After attacking the place with several dusters and a vacuum, it looked as if they’d never left. It was a bittersweet feeling, being home again without their parents.

“Hey, Anna? I’m going to get some groceries for dinner tonight. Do you need anything?” Elsa yelled across the large empty house. She could hear Anna running from the hallway and she slid across the living room floor in her socks to meet her in the kitchen.

“What’d you say?” She asked, out of breath.

“I’m going to the store. Do you need anything?”

“Oh, um. I think I lost my deodorant.” She replied and looked down at the tile in the kitchen, tracing some of the grout with her foot.

“I’d ask you to come, but you always hate grocery shopping.” Elsa hesitated. “But you can come if you like, of course.”

“No, no. I DO hate it. It’s pretty boring.” Anna chuckled and swung her arms back and forth.

“Are you sure you’ll be OK here?” Elsa searched her face, but Anna’s eyes darted around, looking anywhere but her.

“Yeah! It’s a big place. I’ll find something to do.” She tried to make her smile look genuine, though she wasn’t sure her sister would buy it.

Elsa could tell something was wrong, but it was getting late and they had absolutely no food. It’d been enough of a hassle to get the water and the power turned on before they moved in, they didn’t need to skip dinner on top of that.

“We’ll talk when we get home, OK?”

“OK, sure!” Anna perked up the best she could, still trying to convince her sister, and herself, that she was perfectly fine.

Elsa grabbed her keys and left, leaving Anna alone. She wandered back to her bedroom and sunk into her bed to stare off into space.

Kristoff jumped awake to the sound of the alarm. Most of his team was already up and pulling their suits on.

“What’s the call, Jake?” he asked a man nearby, swinging his legs over his mattress and into the boots on the floor.

“Housefire. On Lakewood. I think it’s that big one on the corner.” Jake grabbed his coat and slung it over his suspenders.

“I thought that was abandoned?” Kristoff pulled the large fireproof pants up and fastened them in place with a belt and suspenders that were already attached.

“Maybe so. Might just be some stupid kids getting into trouble. C’mon, dispatch said it’s a big one.” Jake grabbed his helmet and ran off toward the station’s vehicle bay.

Kristoff continued to put on his gear and followed.

When they arrived, the flames were at the roof, and there was a blonde woman frantically pacing back and forth on the phone.

“Oh, Thank GOD,” she yelled and approached the truck. “I can’t find my sister! She isn’t answering her phone!” She yelled up to the truck.

“Alright ma’am, just try to stay calm.” The team of five climbed out of the truck and began hooking the fire house up to the nearest hydrant.

“Do you think she’s still in there?” She asked no one and everyone at the same time. “Surely, she would have gotten out?”

“What does she look like?” Kristoff asked the blonde woman.

“What? Why?” The woman asked frantically.

“So I know who I’m looking for!” Kristoff yelled over the blaze and the sound of the other firefighters shouting instructions. He grabbed an oxygen tank and slung it on his back, attaching a large mask under his helmet and onto his face.

“She’s, um. She...I guess she kind of looks like me, about my size, but with red hair.”

“Got it,”  Kristoff ran toward the house. “I’m going in!” he shouted to his team, who had already wrangled the hose and was spraying at the front of the house.

The stairs to the front porch were still mostly in tact, but black smoke billowed out when he opened the door. Flames enveloped most of the furniture in the room, but he noticed no signs of a person anywhere. He ducked under a fallen post into what used to be a hallway and found a series of rooms with closed doors. The fire had reached the first room already and most of the insulation and drywall had burned away.

“Hello?!” He shouted, trying to listen for any movement, though it was difficult with flames roaring on either side. He heard nothing, but the flames were beginning to follow him down the hallway, so he quickened his pace and flung open the next door.

There, in a child sized bed filled with stuffed animals, lay the redhead he assumed was missing. He hoped she was just asleep, but smoke had already filled the room, so it was possible she’d already passed out. He shook her shoulders to gauge a response. Her head flopped toward him and her eyes squinted up and she began coughing.

“There we go, OK.” He began to pick the girl up off the bed and stand her up. “Can you walk?” he asked.

“Where are we?” She mumbled. “Why’s it so stuffy.”

“We need to get out of here quickly, so I’m going to pick you up and carry you, OK?” Kristoff picked the girl up and held her to his chest.

“It’s hot.” she mumbled into his suit.

“I know, just hold on for a little longer OK? We’ll get you out of here.” Kristoff walked out of the room and headed back for the front door, but the flames blocked the way he came.

“Ok, let’s look for a back door.” He said, mostly to himself.

“Kitchen.” She mumbled again.

Kristoff looked further down the hallway to find an open archway leading to a dining room attached to the kitchen. Flames were already lapping at the other side of the room, he assumed it was attached to main room he’d come in. He found a door at the side of the room and was glad to see it not on fire. He ran out of the door and rushed toward the front of the house where the truck was parked.

“ANNA!!” The blonde woman from before ran to meet him.

“Stay back just a bit, the suit is still hot and she needs oxygen!” The blonde woman complied, but followed him to the truck as he sat her down in the grass. He tore off his own mask attached to his helmet and ran to the back of the truck where they kept the oxygen masks. He quickly plugged a new mask into a fresh tank and cradled the girl in his other arm as he placed the mask on her face.

“You said her name is Anna?” Kristoff asked the blonde woman sitting in the grass on the other side of the girl.

“Yes. Yes.” She replied, not taking her eyes off of Anna.

“OK, Anna? I need you to breathe for me. Nice and deep, OK? And try to keep your eyes open.” Kristoff directed his attention back to the redhead. She grunted and moved her head, eyes still closed. He looked back up at the blonde and nodded at her, to try to get her to join him.

“Anna, sweetie,” she caught on quickly. “It’s me. It’s Elsa. Can you look at me?”

Anna mumbled something and squinted her eyes toward Elsa’s voice.

“Oh Anna. Thank god.” Elsa exhaled the breath she was holding. “We need you to breathe, OK? Get some oxygen in those lungs.”

Anna tried to respond, but it was muffled by the mask. She turned to look at Kristoff holding her with the mask to her face. She opened her eyes wide to admire the strange man and breathed deeply. He smiled and nodded as if to encourage her to keep going, so she did. With each breath her head began to focus, began to put pieces together and figure out what was happening. Why did she need oxygen? Why was this stranger, granted he was a handsome stranger, but still, there was a STRANGER holding her close in the grass. She began to move her eyes around and take in her surroundings. There was an orange glow above her and she strained her head to see what it was.

She slowly lifted herself up and the stranger loosened his grasp to let her move, but still kept his arms close. She twisted around to look at the scene and gasped. She pushed the mask away and scrambled to get off the ground. Elsa grabbed her and held her in place.

“ELSA WHAT HAPPENED?” she screamed. “THAT’S OUR HOUSE!” Anna desperately tried to wriggle away from her, but Elsa kept her hold.

“Anna, just calm down OK?”

“HOW can I be calm when everything is ON FIRE?” she shouted again. “How did this happen?” She whirled around to Kristoff, who looked at her in disbelief.

“Anna, we don’t know what happened! I came home and there was smoke everywhere and I couldn’t find you!” Elsa’s voice cracked and her lip began to tremble. She threw her arms around Anna and let out a sob. “I’m just really glad you’re OK.”

Anna turned toward Kristoff again, who shrugged.

“I found you in a bedroom so I guess you were asleep.” He said, then chuckled a bit. “I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how you stayed asleep with all that going on.”

Anna began breathing heavy and wrenched out of Elsa’s grasp. She hopped up and ran toward the house before Kristoff registered what happened.

“Hey!” He yelled and ran after her, catching her by the waist and pulling her back. “Are you crazy, what are you doing?”

“I’m going BACK!” She shouted and pulled against him, forcing him to tighten his hold on her.

“Oh no you aren’t!” Kristoff pulled her back against him to hold her in place.

“LET. ME. GO!!” She kicked off the ground to knock him off balance. He stumbled back, but held on.

“You’re going to get yourself killed!” He tried to reason with her, but she continued kicking the ground to throw him off, so he lifted her off the ground and held her there. Her legs thrashed and her arms tried to find every place to hit him, to scratch at his arms that kept her from returning home. She screamed and bucked her entire body against him.

“ANNA!” Elsa ran up and tried to grab one of her arms. “STOP!”

“THIS IS OUR HOME!” She screamed and kicked some more, Kristoff bewildered and trying to hang on to her. How did she have this much energy? He finally lost his footing and tumbled into the grass, but he kept his grip tight. She continued to wriggle and fight, but he curled his body around her in an attempt to block her movements.

“Anna PLEASE! Mom and Dad wouldn’t want you DEAD!” Elsa yelled and fell onto the ground beside them.

Anna slowed her movements enough for Elsa to hold her face and brush the hair out of her eyes.

“Please?” Elsa begged. “I can’t lose you too.” Tears leaked out of eyes, dripping down her face. Anna stopped struggling and lay still on the ground. Kristoff pulled her up so they were both sitting upright, but he kept his arms and legs wrapped around her.

“But...this is all we have left.” Anna squeaked out, her face scrunching up as her own tears came.

“I know, Anna. I know. But what’s important is that we have each other.” She reached and wiped away some of Anna’s tears, but they both continued crying.

Anna turned her red face toward Kristoff, who loosened his arms to let her move.

“Hi, um...” she trailed off looking down at his suit.

“Kristoff.”

“Kristoff. Th-thank you for saving me.” She sniffed. “And. I’m...sorry if I kicked you.”

“It’s OK.” He smiled. “You gave me a workout there.”

“I just...” She trailed off again and sobbed. “There’s just...so much.” She brought her hands up to her face and sobbed louder. “It’s a lot.” She gave up her attempt at forming sentences and tried to wipe her face, but everything was still wet.

“I know.” Kristoff said softly. “I’m sorry.” He always hated this part, trying to console victims who just lost everything. He had no words of wisdom and he knew nothing he said would make it any better. Something about this case, though, made his heart break a little harder. He wanted nothing more than to take their pain away, especially the redhead in front of him.

Anna slowly lifted her face and looked at the firefighter, really looked at him for the first time. His brown eyes were warm and full of compassion. She just wanted to be held. She wrapped her arms around his neck and climbed into his lap. She felt him stiffen before crossing his legs underneath her and pulling her close to him. She cried into him and he tried to comfort her by rubbing her back and whispering in her ear.

“It’s OK. It’ll be OK. I’ve got you.”

Elsa sat next to her sister huddled in the firefighter’s lap and wrapped her arms around her as well, joining his affirmations. They all rocked slowly back and forth while the other firefighters fought into the night to gain control of the fire.