#but i forgot how relaxing adventure games are when everyone's fucked off before you arrive

[falselyprofound]

Finished Zork Nemesis. It's good 👍

Don't have a whole lot to say on it tbh. It's just a well-structured adventure game with some easy, satisfying puzzle design. Sure, it's weirdly dark for the series, has some cheesy acting, and I didn't realise one plot point was supposed to be a twist because of how obvious it was, but that didn't take away from it for me.

Stand-out element imo is probably Bivotar's journal, which comes packaged with the game. While it's not required to progress, it's an interesting read in its own right and has subtle hints you can use for alternate solutions. (I've got a physical copy, but if you pick it up on GOG or Steam it comes in pdf format.)

Now... to revisit the text parser games, or see how much of Myst I remember...

[endclean]

Before || Mianite

idk if this counts as a fanfic

its about Kevin, Betsy, and Terry from Mianite and Jordan’s channel

Im sorry this is s u ch   s h i t but i wrote it in literally a day and its satire soooo...

So, here’s the epic adventure:

This was the night.

The night Betsy, Terry, and Kevin were going to break into Disneyworld. It seemed unusual, but the three have been planning this since high-school. It was the initiation into their very own club, “Tiem Reester”. They made it up to spite their nemesis friends, “Team Rooster”.

But why Disneyland? It’s simple. Each had a job to take care of that involved them not getting caught. Kevin was in charge of the maps and the cameras, Betsy was in charge of timing and activities, and Terry was in charge of the security team.  Everyone had to trust eachother and everyone had to do their job right. That was the test.

So, At 12:38 am, the trio reached the back of Disneyland. The only thing left to do was get over the gates. Kevin started to set up the rope.

Terry rubbed her wings around nervously. “I don’t know… What if we do get in trouble? What if you or I go to prison? I don’t want to be alone! Would you visit me, Betsy?” She said, looking at Betsy for comfort. All Betsy could do was smirk at her girlfriend.

“I know for a fact nothing will go wrong. We all can trust each other.” Betsy calms Terry down, before pressing their foreheads together in an intimate moment before briskly running off. Climbing up the rope Kevin set up, she shouts, “Now come on, we got some rides to climb!” This idea made Terry a bit more scared though. She was deathly scared of heights but would never tell Betsy.

The next person to climb the rope was Kevin. “We can never Leave Disneyland if we never enter Disneyland, so come on!” He tried his best at giving advice, but it pretty much sucked.

Once both Betsy and Kevin reached the top, They looked down to see Terry, the Terrified™. Betsy let out a slightly irritated but humorous sigh. Kevin shouts out some words on encouragement that eventually get Terry up the ladder.

Once every chicken was up on the wall, they stood, gaysing at the empty, dark park. Sure, there still were a few security guards walking around, so they were not completely alone. They couldn’t even see any while overlooking the whole park. Betsy had her eyes fixed on the giant Ferris wheel with the ladder on it, imagining herself standing on it, taking in the breeze. Kevin was looking at the drop down the wall. It was at least 15 feet on gentle falling, and he knew that would be the calmest moment of the night. All Terry could look at was the passion in Betsy’s eyes. The tip of her right wing moved around the promise ring that was located in the bottom of her bag. It had, “Loving forever” inscribed on the inside, and a ruby design on the outside.

“Wow. It sure is nice being on top.” Kevin says.

“You betcha.” Betsy, replies, smirking.

Kevin goes to playfully punch her in the arm, but she doges it by jumping down first. Without hesitation, Kevin grabs Terry by the elbow, and looks her in the eyes, making sure she is ready. With a nod, they jump off towards the concrete below.

After a few seconds of falling, they join Betsy at the bottom. “Home, sweet home” Kevin says, shamelessly. Betsy punches him in the arm.

The first thing on the list was to visit the spinning swing set. It wouldn’t be functional, but at least the three could spin around on it before making the trek to the Ferris wheel. And that is exactly what the three did. Betsy and Terry span Kevin around, and then Kevin span Betsy and Terry around on the same swing. By the end, the trio were laughing, and dizzy.

Betsy took a map out of the pack she brought. After studying it one last time, she points in one direction, down a road to the west. “This way, guys.” The other two follow silently, anticipating the fun games from atop the Ferris wheel.

But, once they arrived at the ride, all three were frightened by the massive height of the structure. Even Betsy quivered at the sight of it. Putting her wing on the first ladder step, she gulped. Terry felt comfort in knowing the others were scared too, so she went up before Kevin could.  They climbed up steadily and slowly.  Breathing heavy, it took a few minutes to reach halfway. This was when the unexpected happened.

When the couple heard Kevin shout, “Oh my god! We are so high” they both looked down. Below them was 80 feet of nothing. The sight was terrifying, even for a chicken.

A moment was all it took for Terry to lose her grip on the ladder. While falling, she panicked and flapped her wings. The flapping made her fall sideways. Instead of floating, she was falling. Falling fast. Betsy called out her name, unable to do anything. Betsy let out a terrified, “TERRY!” in fear of her own bestfriend and girlfriend dying. Kevin was frozen in fear.

Fortunately, Terry was able to grab back onto he ladder before she reached the ground. Gasping for breath, she was asked if she was okay by Betsy. Nodding slowly and refusing to look neither up nor down, she waved upwards at the other two chickens. Betsy shouted down, “Do you want to go back?” But all Terry could do was shake her head and start to climb up again.

Once all three were at the top, Betsy pulled Terry into a tight hug. The eventually went to the seat of the wheel, where Terry leaned on and hugged Betsy, while crying quietly.

Terry became of aware of how cold and tired she felt. Some feeling of dread and sadness overpowered her. She felt absolutely helpless as she sat there, selfishly gathering every bit of warmth from Betsy’s body. It wasn’t satisfying, though, so she just stayed there. Still. Tranquil, almost. As if she had actually died. Her eyes were stuck wide open, and no matter how dry, cold, irritated or teary they got she couldn’t bring herself to move enough to close them.

Kevin just stared onto the void that replaced the park, grateful that nothing permanent had happened. This was both false and true, because nothing is permanent. But the memories of that night would stay with Kevin forever. It is both fortunate and unfortunate.

After about fifteen minutes, Terry was able to recover enough from the stress to sit up and look more relaxed. With a deep sigh, “We should start heading down.” Broke the silence. Betsy and Kevin nodded and all three jumped off and floated down gracefully. They kept a watchful eye on each other to make sure everyone stayed upright and safe. Betsy pulled out her map, but before she could look at it, a bright light appeared behind them.

They turned around to see nothing but a security guard. He had gelled down feathers and a nametag that read “Guard Tom”.

“Alright, turn around, wings behind your necks.”

He called for backup. Two other guards came.

Everyone was being read their rights as they were escorted to the front gate. Betsy was speaking harshly to the guards and Terry was crying at a volume that was almost lukewarm, if you could compare the two. Kevin just looked up. He chose a star.

He said, “If there is anything out there, please do something. Take me somewhere where this never happened. Where I can be safe. Come on, Help me out, please!”

Selfish, almost.

I say it’s selfish because it was all about him. He really didn’t give a fuck about the other two, even if they were his best friends.

As he was getting pushed into the main office until the police would arrive, Kevin noticed that everything seemed damp. Quickly, the entire place was filled with water. Kevin couldn’t breathe. He eventually passed out.

..

He woke up on a beach, somewhere he had never seen before. After standing up and gaining some energy back, he tried to yell for help. All that could come out was clucks. He looked around for his friends. He made his way into the civilization, where he would spend his time spying on the humans and gods for entertainment. There was gods, love, hate, death, and life. There was even a relationship between a Goddess and a man. And other between a man and a man. It wasn’t satisfying.

Every night, he wished upon the stars that his friends would be reunited with him.

The End.

 ~7 years later~ (lmao chickens live forever in mc so suck it)

Kevin was making his way to his makeshift hut in the forest, when he chose to peek through a window of Urulu. Inside, he saw the young man that was dating a god. With his messy hair and pajamas, he was trying to get a small child to eat something. She looked like she was under 10 years old. She was too excited to go to school, so she insisted on skipping breakfast. The young man groaned.

“If you don’t eat anything, you won’t have a good time.” The girl was persistent in keeping her mouth shut, even though she was smiling and holding back giggles. The young man groaned.

“Please. For me?” He sounded irritated, but you could see a soft smile on his face. The girl sat down at the table and started eating her breakfast after agreeing that she would take 10 bites of food. This was when the young man let his grin grow cheek to cheek. Kevin forgot what it was like to have that kind of closeness with a person. He missed it, yes, but he thought he didn’t deserve it.

But that was before he met Waglington.

[sally-annesstories]

Day 14 - Mérida to Rio Lagartos, Mexico

And we’re moving

1. A 9am start today to head to Rio Lagartos from Mérida. I’m excited for this as it’s where we get to visit Las Colorada’s which I want to see. We had a vote on whether to stop via Izamal. To be honest I initially wasn’t keen but there was a bit of disappointment in the group so when it came to voting I ultimately changed mine to keep the peace. Not usually one for caving to peer pressure but I am aware there’s not much happening in Rio Lagartos aside from Las Coloradas so it was ok. It’s funny the dynamics with a bigger group etc. harder for Salvador organising people (seems that people are more likely to be chatty and then waiting for them to start being quiet). Once on the road I continued to read. Have now finished ‘still me’ and am onto ‘the subtle are of not giving a fuck’. I started it 6 months ago but got a bit over it so just picking up where I left off.

2. The stop at Izamal was well worth it! The town was so beautiful and yellow buildings everywhere you looked! Initially had a wee walking tour and then Kristin and I went wandering to explore and get food. There were wee markets in the town square with odds and ends for sale at each stand. We wanted to get something but hunger was in our way so we walked into a little alley way which had heaps of options available. To be honest everything looked so questionable. If I went into a food alley like that at home there is no way I’d stay for a meal. Everyone eating was Mexican and there were quite a few Mayans as well. Ultimately this older lady started talking to us, she was dressed so beautifully carrying her handbag and she worked at one of the stalls and we elected to eat there. I had a vege taco and Kristin and chicken and beans. The vege was all fresh tomato, lettuce, avocado. If I’m sick it’s because of this but it was 100% worth it. So damn good. Crazily it was only 12 pesos! Translates to about $1. Also got a glass of coke as there’s something special about Mexican cola! Actually that was another thing with this wee food alley and kinda everywhere in Mexico is the level of Coca-Cola advertising. The tables and chairs were all red with the logo. From there we went back to the market. Kristin picked up some art for her family and I got braided anklets. Feel I need to take advantage of this funemployed thing I have going on given I haven’t worn them in years! Then we ventured to a wee store for Cheeto puffs (or poffs, it is of course Mexico)..I’m addicted and finally an iceblock. We also did a walk up a temple before hopping on the bus to Rio Lagartos.

3. On the bus Salvador took food orders for when we arrived at Rio Lagartos. As Kristin and I had eaten we skipped lunch and went straight to the hotel. We spoke to the woman at reception about going to Las Coloradas ourselves. The internet had given mixed reviews on time of day that was best and so we thought given not much else to do there we should just give it a go. Well turns out there are no taxis in Rio Lagartos and so we thought let’s get bikes. She did look at us like we were idiots for suggesting we bike there. It would take an hour and at 32 degrees + 90% humidity she might’ve been right. Either way she sent us in the direction of hiring bikes and off we wandered. First stop we get there and 6 people are looking at us oddly as we walk round the property. A guy asks what’s up and we (Kristin...) tells him we’re after the bike hire. He said the guys on lunch but gave him a call. Rio Lagartos is like the islands, everyone is friendly and chill. Anyway bike hire man was enjoying his day and didn’t want to hire bikes today. The friendly man that called though sent us further down the road to another place that could help. We found a woman with a bike out the front and a tandem one at the back. She was happy to rent to us saying we could have two people on either bike. We (Kristin) said where we wanted to go and she screwed get face as too far and too hot. But she provided an alternative watering hole which was not so far. Approx 1km. We wanted our togs for this so said we’d come back once we had these from our bags. On the way to the hotel we went via a store for water and the guy asked our plans and he seemed happy with watering hole idea and proceeded to give directions. It’s so nice getting away from a mass of people to really experience the people and culture. Also amazing having Kristin leading all the communication. The locals everywhere have been so impressed with her and Julia. Back at the hotel and bags and everyone had arrived. We grabbed ours and popped on togs. Majority were heading on a boating excursion. Julia wanted to rest but Ed was up to coming with us. Five minutes we were all ready and headed back to the lady with the bikes.

4. Back at the bike hire the lady said 25 pesos per bike an hour. Sunset and then dinner was around 7 so we thought 3 hours would be good for a swim. It was bordering on 4pm. We hired both the single and the tandem. I think I’ve tandemed biked maybe once or twice before and bloody hell it was a balancing act to begin with. Kristin was up the front and I was behind with Ed on the solo. I was way too tall for the bike but all part of the adventure! We hit the road heading to the water front and following maps to what appeared to be the jungle. We first came across some water but it wasn’t on the map where we thought we were going so continued riding down a dirt road. Found a deserted building, potentially a church and a dead-end. We headed back to where we had been and a local was on the road who confirmed where we were was where we were meant to be. After our bike ride on the no-gear bikes we were pretty hot so we jumped it to cool off. The water was so good to be in! No idea on how clean but it was coming from the ocean so likely ok. There were so many young locals swimming. Playing tag or Marco Polo (Mexican equivalent!) and just generally playing. The swam and splashed everywhere. Was so fun. Such a relaxing way to spend the afternoon! Once we were done in the water there was a dock to chill on and continued soak up the fading sun for the next hour or so. More and more kids arrived jumping in the water , onto the dock and in again. So much chaos and happiness. Finally was time to embrace the world again and bike back to the hotel. Turns out our bike must’ve got a punctured tire on the way there. We took a look and decided if we took an easy ride it would be ok. Well that lasted for a few hundred metres and then the tubing was tangled everywhere in the rim! Between the 3 of us (Ed) we/he de-tangled the tubing and then popped it back in the tire. You could see a bunch of patches so they’d obviously seen a puncture or 10 before! The ride back was then a walk but at only a kilometre it was easy and flat. Plus we got to take advantage of the view longer. Handing in the bikes was a bit confusing. Kristin led the chat given she speaks Spanish and we were quite happy to provide some pesos because of the puncture. Anyway I couldn’t really follow the chat (sometimes I can) because Kristin was chill but the woman seemed mad. She also looked at me a lot (I think she forgot I couldn’t really understand). Anyway after 5 minutes we leave all happy as Larry. Turns out the woman was chill about the puncture. Just Mexicans show more emotions than maybe kiwis do so her tone which I took as being unhappy her just her way of expressing herself. Overall she was so friendly and lovely. For a place that’s not really on the maps of somewhere to go, I really liked Rio Lagartos a lot.

5. At 7 we had a team dinner. Not compulsory but decided to go. There’s not a whole lot of options in Rio Lagartos! Pollo a la Mexicana (onions, tomatoes, that whole jam!) was exactly my vibe. Continuing the teams of heat supressing my appetite I didn’t even eat half. Probably heat combined with the fact I had a second fizzy coke for the day. Kristin and I headed back to the hotel. She wanted an early night and I wanted 30 mins of alone time. After a while I heard noise of people hanging out downstairs. I wasn’t tired and had caught up on me (feeling human again!) so I went down. Turns out there were 3 bottles of tequila and cards on the menu. I ended up acting as sober supervisor for the games. Drinking games have different names across the world but I think as kiwis were pretty aware of this so while a mild amount of confusion existed I could name the majority in the slang from a variety of places. Also there were a few confused faces from cards so helped out there too. Cheers to uni days. I opted to stay away from the tequila as have had my fair share of late and didn’t want to feel below average in the morning. The night progressed till 12.30am before the games were over the majority of us hit the hay. Some very happy faces amongst the booze. Back in our room I was mildly awake but forced myself to get some rest. I think I’m averaging 5-6 hours a night at the moment so just going with it. Even when I’ve been in cars I right or read so no naps either. Obviously all I’m needing in this lifestyle. Planning a chill next week on the beach as well which will be good (granted nothing is booked but I’ll do it eventually).

Rio Lagartos is bloody great!

Tally:

Times I complained while biking: 3 (it was not a flash bike)

Kids swimming in the inlet: 14

Friendly locals who helped us or had a chat: 7

Izamal / alley where we at lunch / Izamal x2 / biking adventures + swimming hole at Rio Lagartos