#the lamp admits

[2-toons-2-twists]

…would you actually be surprised if he did?

Heck, you should check the resting place, just to be sure.

"...We'll check the resting place later. If he actually did..." [ Brightney balled up her fists. ]

I am going to kill that guy if I'm able to, incorporeality be damned.

[squeakadeeks]

"that damn white boy keeps coming into my dungeon and eating all my various beafts" - Thistle

YIPPEE Thistle is done! Dungeon meshi has had my brain in a gorilla grip for months and I really wanted to make something from it. I was already drawn towards Thistle for his jester aesthetic, but I ended up becoming quite fond of his character too, which I am oft to do haha. He was a fun one to add accents to and play around with his various vibes, although blunt cutting his bangs physically pained me.

The main jacket is made of 3 yards of purple microsudede and red matte satin, both from big Z fabrics. The pattern was McCall's M6800 (one of my all time favorites!)

There are organza sleeve petticoats in the arms to add extra volume. Additional weathering was added to the seams using black pigment powders for dimension. The underskirt is a full double circle skirt. The wig is an arda wigs luthern silky in mica. the arms are a polyester ribbed fabric from joanns that was dyed purple. (fun fact! I did actually attempt to dye the microsuede with a blue/purple gradient but holy moses this polyester microsuede absolutely refuses to uptake dye. I tried valiantly, but ultimately made peace with just purple)

[completeoveranalysis]

[1]

Chapitre 197 - Two Lives

Oh mister imbalance himself! No thank you take it back. 

The splash text reads:

My indecision and my hesitation I discarded long ago

So that I may obtain one singe thing

And yeah I guess that does sum him up pretty well.

The pose is frankly incredible, I don’t think he deserves it. 

This is the giant oil painting of himself he hangs in the break room of his evil organisation. He has smaller poster versions he puts up in all the hallways. He also has bookmarks made as well. He loves this version of himself dearly. It’s the way he really sees himself. It’s the way he assumes he is. 

And the moon he reaches towards is so beautiful, but I think there’s a little bit of actual moon nonsense I don’t quite get with him yet. The full moon appeared in the reflection of the water that one time, out of sync with the time around it, and I’m not sure if that’s if further significance to Evil Wolverine himself or if it was more of a warning of the time of his arrival. 

But either way It’s so interesting that he could be just be standing by the moon, but instead he’s standing in front of a roughly hewn out poor imitation of the moon instead. It’s not even exactly the right shape, and you can see the broken base at the bottom, still jagged. And IS it the moon, or is it a leftover fragment of that statue Sakura that was praying at? Is it an echo of Evil Wolverine hacking away at the universe and taking the remnants proudly for himself? 

Is it a continuation of how he hacks away at everything he touches in service of his own wish, leaving everything else around him a broken ruin that suits him perfectly? How he not only doesn’t care about the lives he ruins but ACTIVELY aims to do it in order to get what he wants? 

Is it a peek into the fact that he wants "the moon", but all he’ll ever be able to achieve is an ugly simulacrum of it? How he’ll never get exactly what he wants, but thinks that ruining the universe until he can get something close enough is good enough for him? That it’s some incredible and worthy goal worth looking forward to, but in reality it's just a shambles of broken rock, battered and stolen and only a fraction of what it might have been without him? 

Is the fact that it’s all Rock a sign that Evil Wolverine’s wish is essentially just a barren landscape, a lifeless universe that roughly looks almost like what he wants if you squint a bit?

And yet he thinks he’s pulling it off masterfully the entire time. 

Also there's a JUICY, delicious morsel in the fact that the splash text refers to him leaving behind "hesitation" specifically - and it was Lava Lamp's hesitation that ultimately lead to him missing Sakura's hand and being unable to save her. It shows the parallel between the two (that Evil Wolverine himself is so thrilled by) and also demonstrates why Evil Wolverine thinks he's right. It's almost like he's experienced the exact same moment already, or something very similar to it. If he ever does hesitate he'll have the same result - he'll lose the person he's fighting to save. So he's decided to go Full Speed in the other direction and never hesitate or let anything else ever hold him back again, and this has lead to him full on slaughtering countless worlds without ever thinking twice.

It's a great reflection on what Lava Lamp's own dedication could turn into - and he's from the same bloodline, so the parallels write themselves. If pushed in the same directions WOULD Lava Lamp end up as the next Evil Wolverine, or will his heart let him grow in ways that Evil Wolverine cut out of himself a long time ago?

[tiredlessinsomniac]

This game is so beautiful.

[ssomepersonn]

u know what time it is...

[victorluvsalice]

We’ve reached Spring Tuesday in the Chill Valicer Save, and -- as promised last week -- I have fixed the lighting situation in the house! And made a few other little tweaks and improvements while I was at it, because build mode is my passion. :p First though, please marvel over my very impressive shot of lightning striking the tree behind the greenhouse, because I basically NEVER pause the game in time to get a snap of lightning when it strikes in this game. :D

Okay, so -- first things first, the updates from my little trip into build mode:

1. The major update -- I have replaced ALMOST all electric lights in this house with candle chandeliers and sconces from Vampires! Mostly because those are the brightest and best off-the-grid lights I could find in the catalog. The only places that didn’t get this update were Smiler’s party on the upper level of the barn (as I felt it made more sense for that spot to have electric lights), and the greenhouse (as I couldn’t find any other good lights that would fit). Now, when the power inevitably goes out again, the house itself will stay lit, because candles work off-the-grid! My HOPE is that having fewer electric lights will also allow the household to rebuild its power surplus and thus have power for longer stretches.

2. I replaced Victor’s CC Bioshock Infinite upright piano with the actual upright piano from Growing Together -- while I like the CC one, I really liked the colorful swatches on the new “canonical” one, and wanted to use it. It even has slots on top, making it the perfect place to store that MySim trophy Smiler recently picked up. :) I also hung up a painting Victor did recently on his sketchpad, and put down a new rug -- one of the swatches available on Simularity’s new nursery rug set! Yes, okay, the rug is INTENDED for nurseries, as in the name, but the minute I saw that butterfly swatch, I knew it was perfect for Victor. XD

3. After talking to my friend Squid (@gaydragonwizards) about the new moon mirror from Werewolves, I realized it would be a good addition to the seance room, so I hung it up over the rocking chair. I also got the little moon salt lamp and stuck that in there too, atop the bizarre idol shelf. :)

4. And you can’t really see any of these in any of the pictures, but I added a couch to the back porch, made the greenhouse a little bit bigger to accommodate either more trees (or possibly stairs, if I decide I need a second level at some point) and rearranged the trees/plants on the grounds to accommodate that, and swapped out the games table in Smiler’s party room to one of the new Growing Together ones because it had better swatches.

Whew! Mostly little tweaks, like I said, but it did all take some time (especially the greenhouse thing, given I had to figure out where the tree that was in the corner was going). I also took a moment to turn off the Self Discovery mechanic (I mentioned this before, but unless you want the game to pester you on the regular about making Sims Paranoid, I wouldn’t recommend having it on in a Haunted House) and note down everyone’s conversational likes and dislikes:

-->Victor is a fan of Deep Thoughts, Stories, Affection, and talking about Hobbies

-->Alice is a fan of Deep Thoughts, Stories, and talking about Hobbies

-->Smiler is a fan of Compliments, Stories, being Silly, Pranks, and talking about Hobbies and Interests

*shrug* They all have something to talk about that they all like, at least!

Okay, so, now that building and preferencing is all done, what about gameplay? Well, after a bit of early Victor/Smiler flirting, Smiler took advantage of a brief burst of power to head upstairs and FINALLY upload their latest SimsTube video, while Alice did some painting and Victor went out to clear some creepy hands -- just in time for Temperance to appear! Well, we know what to do about HER, don’t we?

[eccentricksies]

lockwood usually defaults to making sure to walk at the same pace as those he’s with especially if conversing; that being said sometimes if he’s excited he’ll bound ahead and then start walking backwards to show he’s still attentive towards them+conversation

[audigir]

he graduated from being The Red to being a Crimson Explorer

[galwaygremlin]

lise rants xmas special:

not really a rant, just feeling Sad. finally put on a christmas song (i’ll be home for christmas bing crosby), i’ve been avoiding them this year. I will not be home for Christmas for the second year in a row. Buffalo’s been getting one of the most intense winters ever. And I’m. In Texas. For the second year running.

And I don’t miss my family.

Not right now, at least- it’s weird, I don’t get it, I go weeks on end being homesick or missing them whenever I think about them, and then weeks at a time where I reach for any shred of that feeling and can’t find it. I love them, I never stopped, but missing them means wanting to be with them- at least a little bit- and I don’t. Not yet.

Still feels wrong not to be with them this time of year.

[2-toons-2-twists]

For Apollo, Goob, Brightley, and Takash, what was your first few days in Gardenview like?

"my first days of gardenview was a bit of a rodeo. tryin' to understand how this world works was hard, but i was able to live."

"ya'll three don't wanna be on camera? okay"

"Well, it was a bit hectic! It's pretty damning when most of the things you knew are useless in this world! So, I tried to understand it by sticking to the library parts of Gardenview."

"Not the greatest. Especially considering which episode I came from. Forever stuck like the "grump" of the Goobs, I was forced to act similar to Goob from the show. I am somewhat glad that Gardenview shut down, it was taking a toll on me."

"...Well, you may have heard a bit of me from Curio. I was a curious man, just like other Rodgers. I was more adventurous though, and kept looking through crevices and other things. Maybe they quickly got me to work 'cause of how antsy I was behaving."

[thedeaddiscodame]

Look not to do the whole 'born in the wrong time' bullshit but. Organizing lamp oil sounds infinitely more interesting than sonic YouTube videos

[completeoveranalysis]

[3]

OH WATANUKI?

WATANUKI RIGHT? I’m just going to turn the page and see.

WILD. 

W I L D. 

So the reason they’ve been deliberately making Watanuki’s missing memories a plot point over in xxxHolic is because they were about to reveal it over here in Tsubasa - that the REASON Watanuki doesn’t recall anything is because he traded those exact memories for THIS moment. 

WHICH, I ASSUME, WAS YEARS AGO? BEFORE EITHER SERIES BEGAN? 

Back when Watanuki still knew who Lava Lamp was, and - oH AND HE KNEW THIS MOMENT WAS COMING????

DID WATANUKI ALSO HAVE THE ABILITY TO SEE THE FUTURE?? OR IS THAT SIDE OF THE SCENARIO JUST LAVA LAMP’S SKILL???

DID THEY PLAN THIS OUT TOGETHER? OR DID THEY BOTH JUST SEPARATELY DO THEIR BEST TO PLAN FOR THIS WHOLE MESS?

We already knew that Lava Lamp had traded away something (was it time?) to save Watanuki from death when he feel out the window, and THAT seemed like a big brain plan in the moment. But that was still nothing compared to the fact that Watanuki already knew that they were going to need to wish to know where Sakura’s body was taken by Kyle Rondary and traded his MEMORIES for that knowledge years ago. 

THESE TWO. THESE TWO BOYS WILL HAVE NOTHING LEFT IF THEY KEEP JUST TRADING PIECES OF THEMSELVES AWAY TO ACHIEVE THIS PLOTLINE.

[tsubasaclones]

My sister was like you need to text me instead of discord messaging and I’ll respond more when neither of us had sent a text to each other in like 5 years because we were using discord instead. So I started texting her instead and she still takes a month to respond

[yarnings]

I understand why companies don't want their trademarks to become the generic term. But they tend to walk a very fine line, because they are well aware that there are a lot of people who aren't going to buy "in-line skates" or "facial tissues" or "hook and loop fasteners" because the package doesn't say "Rollerblade" or "Kleenex" or "Velcro". The people who manage to not learn what the generic name for something are make those companies a LOT of money.

I had a co-worker once ask me to pick up some Tylenol for her on my break, so I ran upstairs to the pharmacy and picked up a thing of acetaminophen. She looked at it and went "what's this?". When she wanted Tylenol she literally meant Tylenol because that's what she took. (Meds are obviously a bad example, because "Tylenol" can be more than one kind of medicine, but it's the same problem).

no idea where i was going with this but i abandoned it at the most disconcerting moment possible

[ananke-xiii]

Emotionally distant alcoholic abusive God-stand-in father whose job is literally saving people raises soft sensitive highly emotional Christ-wannabe son who follows in his parent's footsteps in the family business and he's consequently crushed by the unavoidable comparison and the slowly but inevitable transformation into his own ol' man. But will he or won't he?

Wow, never heard that story before.

[batsyheere]

Tim froze. "Huh?"

"I mean, you're definitely cute. But I don't feel comfortable with strangers? And I don't want there to be any misunderstandings."

Danny Nightingale looked flustered, nervous, and far too pretty with his cheeks flushing red under the glow of the nearby lamp fixtures. Tim wondered when his brain would finally come back online. Right now it was far too interested in putting everything else on the backburner.

On one hand, he had been trying to get information out of Danny on his connection to Vlad Masters- a connection that had seemed more tenuous with each passing minute of the evening. On the other, Tim could admit it had sounded a bit like he was inviting Danny for something more.

And if he was honest with himself, it was only mostly unintentional.

"It's not even you, I just get attached really easily and don't want something casual. Sorry."

Tim hadn't even realized boundary setting could be so attractive.

"No. Yeah, that's- fine." Smooth. The Drake-Wayne charm at its finest. Tim could hear Jason snickering on the comms.