Ah, my brain and my bladder.  My worst enemies when it comes to sleep.

Me: It's 2am I should be asleep.
Brain: You are going to now imagine an elaborate story setup that would make Wheels of Time seem modest by comparison.

Me: I am finally asleep.
Bladder: WAKE UP WE GOTTA PEE

They're conspiring, I swear.

Also, me getting out of bed before 8am is a genuine struggle regardless of when I fall asleep the night before OR how well-rested I am.

...

west coast best coast east coast least coast >.>

All of the truths today!  It's nice to know it's not just me....  On the other hand, if it's not just me...  It /could/ be a conspiracy....  Not just Meara's brain and bladder...  How deep does this go....

As a note, I work semi-outside with no AC....  My brain /may/ be cooking or I /could be right/.

AC should be a legal requirement in all buildings and vehicles.

No, I don't care where the building is or where the vehicle is registered.

I live in the Pacific Northwest and it gets hot in the summer sometimes (also I'm a snow child and anything over 69° F nice is too hot for me).

Also my roomie and I drove her (free, gifted with obvious reasons that will become apparent by the end of this sentence) car from Florida back home to here... with no AC, because the AC was busted.  We were told it was inconsistent, not completely broken.

My first car that I drove from my late teens until my mid-late twenties was a 1990 Honda Prelude that I has over 300,000 miles on by the time she gave up the ghost. She never had AC because she ran on R-12 and the price to have her converted over cost more than I had. So for years I rolled around in GA Summers with the windows down and the sunroof open. Needless to say Atlanta traffic was miserable.

I am so, so sorry.

It's all good. I haven't had that car for about 10 years now, but the one I currently drive has AC.

Also, on the topic of plot hooks for Brun/Gwydion/Meara I am working on a list of a potential ones for each of you and there are some good ones. Several are mutually exclusive depending on the choices you make in response to the setting or just personal choices you make for yourselves. Right now it looks like a big web. Of course, you three being you three are going to come up with brilliance that I can't predict, so it will be a web in flux. I just wanted you to know that I am over here in agony because I cannot share details. Spoilers are the anathema of joy.

I feel like the Emperor on the Golden Throne.

Hey, at least you've got your Text to Speech device!

*highfives West Coast buddy*

Our AC is mega loud and doesn't actually cool down the bedrooms, where my computer is and thus where I spend all my time, so we just gotta have windows and the front door open and a ton of fans creating a cross-breeze. It is mega-warm except in winter, when it's just pretty warm.

So during my re-reading of things to catch up, I absolutely missed Rose and Brun's early interactions being basically what we were suggesting. XD I might suggest that rather than trying to avoid Brun, she might be spending time staying closer to him at this point to either get a better read on him or simply because she likes what she's experienced more than she dislikes what she's heard. (I mainly say this because Brun having been the Damsel In Distress archetype and always being so down on himself means pursuing anyone is likely not in his wheelhouse, at least not anytime soon. She'd have to do some poking and prodding first.)

So, having put some thought into it, Meara is definitely a young woman with certain things on the mind.

The absence of Freyr and Iliza in that is because Iliza clearly only has eyes for Gwydion (it's okay to admire his smile!  That's not lusting!) and Freyr is as much a sister to her as one can be without being blood related.  Honestly, possibly even closer because of that.

Also she didn't really get much of a good look at Iliza before all the bad things happened so she's only really seen her in her trauma state, which is, ah, not exactly alluring.

If Gwydion ever does ask Meara for advice on how to cheer up Iliza, Meara's answer would be something like skeeball.  She's not very good at this but she's trying.

I was just playing a visual novel the other day, and the group cheered up by playing skeeball. It works! :o

Meara definitely hung out with Gwydion and Iliza after his victory over Sir L1-4MNT in the tournament. They partied together and Meara spent the evening sitting next to Iliza. But, she mostly spent the evening thinking they were adorable and trying to subtly wingwoman for Gwydion.

Best cousin ever. <3

I forgot about that!

Yeah, that would be why she wasn't having those thoughts about Iliza, then.

Lemme see if I can catch up with all that I didn't get to comment about...

-I agree that AC should be a legal requirement.

-I also had a car with "inconsistent" AC.  And that also meant didn't work.  Didn't drive it /that/ far though so, but all the driving was also in Georgia.

-I now know what R-12 is and why that was a problem.  Learned something!

-Knowing all the plot hooks and ideas, but not being able to share them...  The eternal struggle of the GM.  You want to share the brilliance, but the only people that would understand it all are the players and you /can't/ tell /them/.  I've tried telling others, but they don't care...

-Gwydion has seconded my position that Rose/Brun is all on Rose to push forward for whatever reasons she may have.  That's two votes.  Which feels like alot.  That's just math.

-It /is/ very hard to play skeeball and be sad.  But, I feel like Brun could find a way.  Poor, little lamb.

-I'm glad I'm not the only one who missed things after seven years!  And Meara does seem like the best cousin.

-Going back a bit further now.  Mikus Rampant is a hilarious phrase.  I now know what a Miku is and it made me feel OLD.  I also tried to figure out the difference between Miku and the Gorillaz?  I mean they are both virtual musical acts, right?  Or am I missing something....or just too old.  And I have been listening the Panalysts.  Good, silly stuff done seriously.  Thanks Meara!

So the Gorillaz are a group of actual musicians who perform and sing and are represented by animated characters (drawn by the same artist who brought us Tank Girl <3). Miku, on the other hand, is NOT a real musician. She's a virtual pop idol created by a computer program that lets you input lyrics and a melody and it will generate a "voice" for her, or you can buy one of the other vocaloids to get their voices and imagery instead. You do need musical skill, of course, but at no point are you performing the music or singing yourself. Think of Miku like a pop singer you can license, whereas the Gorillaz are their own band.

I mean, at this point Miku's sort of a real pop idol, what with having several live concerts under her belt at this point, but yeah, at her core she's a character face for the (formerly) VOCALOID program (now Piapro Studios) that's an incredibly robust synthesized vocal suite for the singing parts of songs.

This has been noted and will be handled appropriately. If I add extra eyebrows does it get more menacing? >>>>=D


I, too, now know what a Miku is.

:o

I am so glad Gwydion isn't there. He have to plug his ears and hum. His aunt's being diiiiirty. XD

Yes, but, you know, classy dirty. Because she's the Queen.

If I have learned anything it's that a group of ladies is just as bad about these things as a group of men.

I, for one, am grateful for the levity. Especially after the Arthur speech and the Iliza post. Good god that Iliza post was rough to write. And I'm not sure if I did it justice.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:47, Sun 16 July 2023.

Poor Iliza has a lot going on, including, but not limited to:

1. PTSD
2. Survivor's Guilt
3. A boat load of Grief
4. A very sudden understanding of the fragility of life.

She was making an effort to drive Gwydion away as a way of hurting herself because she feels like she deserves that pain.  But Gwydion made it clear that he's not going anywhere.

It's going to be a long road before she's in a good place again, but I think she's taken her first step. Honestly, Iliza is a good microcosm for the refugee crisis itself.

Poor thing. She needs snugs. <3

Poor Iliza is about to hibernate. She's gonna drool all over Gwydion. =P

Gwydion, congratulations on being the first of you to unlock your free stunt for Chapter 2. Please add the following to your character sheet:

High As Hope: Your devotion to the Code of Chivalry inspires hope in the darkest hours. Once per session you can reduce someone else’s consequence by one level of severity (severe to moderate, moderate to mild, mild to nothing at all) by succeeding on an Chivalry roll with a difficulty of Fair (+2) for a mild consequence, Good (+3) for moderate, or Great (+4) for severe. You need to talk with the person you’re aiding for at least half an hour in order for them to receive the benefits of this stunt, and you can’t use it on yourself.

Yay. Team therapist powers activate! :D

Thank Goodness!

We needed a Team Therapist!

That makes sense.  I have now learned yet another thing.