Portal 2 Beats Both Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4

[thosetwoturrets]

It's a new year, and of course a new birthday for Steve & Gary! If artificial intelligences can even be said to HAVE birthdays, of course. . .then again, one could make a decent argument for their puppy forms having ones. So yes, the Inkwell is done up with red and white balloons and blue and orange streamers for the occasion -- Dee's even made a pair of fake portals on two of the walls using the streamers and some paint -- the soundtrack to the second game is playing on the jukebox, and everybody's ready to have some fun! Go ahead and say hello -- you know you want to.

((OOC: And as of this party, presents are going almost entirely off-screen, as my well is really running dry. Right now the plan is for one present thread between myself each party, typically for a 'big' or unusual present. Otherwise, it's just going to be socializing. Might as well cut down on the selfcest, right?))

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[forgotten_vows]

Forgotten Vows approaches the turrets with a pair of small packages, wrapped in red and white respectively. "Happy birthday!" he announces, placing the gifts in front of them. "Look, this year I was actually able to get you something."

[thosetwoturrets]

"Thanks!" the turrets chorus.

"Mind getting the paper? Our hand attachments are on the fritz," Steve adds.

[forgotten_vows]

"Not at all," Victor says, dutifully unwrapping the boxes. "These are actually for your puppy forms. . .I think you'll find them amusing."

[thosetwoturrets]

The turrets laugh as the boxes are revealed. "They seriously make chew toys shaped like video game controllers?" Gary says, snickering.

[forgotten_vows]

"They seriously do!" Forgotten says, laughing himself as he frees the toys from their confinement. "I got you an X-Box and a PS3, since that's what they had. I trust they're acceptable?"

[thosetwoturrets]

"More than," Gary says, shifting to dog form to accept the X-Box toy. "The only thing better would be a controller we could actually use as dogs."

"They gotta save something for next year, I guess," Steve says, also shifting and attacking the PS3 toy. "Thanks, Forgotten!"

[forgotten_vows]

"You're welcome -- and I'll pass that along," Forgotten promises. "I'm sure that between them, both Clockwork and Secundus Doc could rig something up."

[alienlisa]

AL and the guys enter, fashionably late as always. AL is once again clinging to Eleven, but as promised Rising Rog the Kinsellan flit is riding on her shoulder.

"Hey, all," says AL. "Happy birthday Steve and Gary!" Turning to the flit on her shoulder, she says, "Everybody, this is Rising Fog from my future. Jamie, this is everybody." She smiles.

The flit roves his eyes over the group and nods his head. Hello, he says telepathically and AL translates for Data and anyone else who can't hear him's benefit.

[thosetwoturrets]

"Hey there," Steve says, wagging his tail. "Good to see you again, Lisa! And hey to you too, Rising Fog. Or Jamie. Whichever."

Moonlight is fascinated by the visitor, whirring his own hello the flit's way as his eyes whirl light green and light blue.

[alienlisa]

Jamie gives them a look and AL whispers, "Only I'm allowed to call him Jamie...he'll let it go for now, but just so you know..."

AL pets Moonlight while Jamie regards the young one. Hello, Moonlight, he says. I've heard about you. He looks to the group. I've actually heard about all of you. Lisa gave me a brief summary when she came to get me.

Again, AL translates if anyone needs it (Data definitely). "For those who weren't at my party, Rising Fog here is a Kinsellan flit I got...get in the future. He's am Empath, which means he's sensitive to others' feelings and, as you can...er, hear...he speaks telepathically. He has a Bond with a future version of me...the one who's on the Enterprise and beyond, which is kind of why he's not around normally. But I mentioned him to Forgotten and he wanted to meet him, so here he is." She points to the band on Jamie's leg. "Those're my initials. He's intelligent, reserved and a bit moody but I love him anyway." She cuddles him, causing him to rumble happily. Moody, maybe, but he loves his Bond even though she's technically not his Bond yet.

((I was trying to figure out how big he is but if I compare the photo of us to "real life" either he's maybe two-and-a-half feet tall minus the length of his tail or he comes to my knees, which is about a foot-and-a-half again minus the tail...I actually messaged the girl who gave him to me but no idea if she'll give me an answer, lol))

[forgotten_vows]

"Hey, we didn't know," Steve defends himself. "Rising Fog is fine by us."

"Didn't realize it was personal, dude," Gary adds, before resuming his chewing.

Moonlight does his own happy rumbling while he's petted, then comes over for a closer look at Rising Fog, examining his wings and legs in particular with his eyes fully light green. "Excuse him -- I think he's still puzzled by the fact that you only have four limbs while he has six," Victor says, shaking his head. "Other types of dragons and dragon-like creatures like yourself are still a very new experience for him." Moonlight chirrups agreement with this. "Funny, though -- his species is nicknamed 'flitt' by the fans. Two ts, though."

((Well, if he's about two and a half feet, that makes him just about as big as Moonlight -- our little fire lizard is two feet seven inches now that he's reached his full size. Here's hoping you get a response!))

[alienlisa]

Jamie nods his understanding, then, if it helps Moonlight any, jumps down to the floor to show the firelizard his full form to examine better, spreading his wings out to their full span.

He nods again at Forgotten. Yes, I can sense that, he says. I've actually not seen many draconic creatures myself except for Calla Lily.

"She's a dragon on Alnilam," says AL. "I probably mentioned her once before but there ya go." She smiles. "We spent...spend...will spend?...ugh, time travel...um, we'll spend most of our time either on my planet or on a starship, so not much chance to be seeing dragons."

Jamie shrugs his wings. I'm not complaining.

"Really?" says AL to Forgotten. "That's interesting. I wonder where it came from? Maybe when they fly they 'flit' around?"

((Maybe...though Jamie's definitely older than Moonlight, lol...and speaking of dragons...guess what app was available for my phone. :p))

[forgotten_vows]

Moonlight glides down to sit by him, watching Rising Fog display his wings, then doing the same with his own before looking the flit over carefully.

"Well, he's pretty new to the world as well," Victor explains. "He was born in October. He's about full size now, but it'll still be a good few months yet before he's properly mature." He looks up as AL explains about the dragon on Alnilam. "What kind of dragon is she, then? And yes, I can understand that. I live in a fairly magical area, but not a lot of people have dragons. I think Vic's occasionally wondered if she shouldn't seek out a Pern RP blog to follow."

"If I can find one," Vic says.

Forgotten chuckles, then shrugs. "I haven't the slightest. Possibly."

((This is true. And Moonlight's shorter -- it would be more correct to say Jamie's about as tail as Moonlight is long. :P And really? Cool! Perhaps we could friend each other on Game Center (if you have an account).))

[alienlisa]

AL giggles at the pair. "So cute," she whispers.

She actually shrugs at Victor. "Beats me. The story goes that Lily's mother, Aureate, moved to Alnilam but her egg - Lily's egg - got lost. In her distress, she scared Wind Chaser, a young unicorn filly, into running away. She ran through a Gate, found Lily's egg and it hatched and, together, they found their way home. They've been friends ever since. Lily's gold with a purple calla lily-shaped mark on her leg, hence her name. Wind Chaser wasn't very original." AL shrugs. "Lily used to be small enough to ride on Wind Chaser's back, but as she's grown it'll be Lily carrying Wind Chaser at some point." She thinks a moment. "I have a picture from when she was young." Rummaging around hammerspace for a moment, she brings out a photo ((drawn by a good friend of mine, not me, lol)). "Now that she's older, though, she's growing horns on her head and claws where the 'fingers' are on her wings. So I'm not sure what kind of dragon she is because I've no idea where they came from. I never asked...they just wanted to live on Alnilam and I've never turned anyone away who wanted to move there."

Even the territorial unicorns who attack anything that moves, quips Jamie.

AL glares at him. "I heard that, but he's right. At least there are only two and they do listen to me and the only real dangerous one lives deep enough in the forest that not many encounter him."

((Well at first it connected through my Facebook but it has a local option...I'm still fiddling with it and my phone is about to die so I'll poke at it tomorrow. Since yours is an iDevice and mine is a Droid I dunno if they'll like each other :p))

[thosetwoturrets]

"They are, aren't they?" Forgotten agrees.

"Hey, that's okay -- we're named after the people who reprogrammed us," Steve comments. "Calla Lily at least makes sense with the mark and all." He tilts his head as Lisa shows the photo. "Huh -- pretty cute, honestly."

"Very," Victor agrees. "Though I keep thinking she should have headknobs or something, like Moonlight." He nods. "Ah, I see. Well, maybe one day you'll find out, and if not -- as long as they're happy on there, it's really not a big deal, is it?"

"Better than stabby-mcstabberson unicorns, yeah," Steve says, arching what would pass for an eyebrow on a human. "Says a lot about a place when the dragon is less dangerous than the horses -- or, well, horse-like creatures."

((Ahhh, I see. Okay then. Mom's been saying we should make gaming-only Facebook accounts to faciliate things, so. . . we'll see what happens on the morrow!

Oh, BTW, something I just found -- there's a goal that says if you invite friends you get five free gems. It turns out that just means going to the Social tab, going to the Friends tab in that, and clicking "Redeem code." You don't actually need a code or anything -- just the mere act of going there nets you the gems.))

[alienlisa]

"I don't have any pictures of her being older; the nubs grew first, then the horns sprouted from that." And, in all honestly, I was like 14 when I created her and forgot about the nubs... "Weird dragon anatomy or something." Sure, let's go with that.

"Nah," she says. "I pride myself in having a planet where anyone's welcome to come if it makes them feel comfortable." She cants her head towards the Time Lords in the room. "The Doctor's loved the place for ages."

Eleven, stuck next to her, just smiles and shrugs. "It makes me feel calm."

"Well," AL says to Steve, "nowhere is perfect."

((I'm actually hoarding the gems, lol...you know when it says 'Spend a gem and finish things early!'? Well, I just wait the time it wants and save the gem. If there's one thing the MLP Gameloft game taught me, it's hoard those things until you REALLY need them. And thanks for the tip.))

[thosetwoturrets]

"Ah -- Moonlight's pretty much always looked like this," Victor says, indicating the headknobs, the multifaceted eyes with their swirls of color, and the forked tail. "Just smaller. He was barely as big as my hand when hatched."

"Well, it sounds like a nice place," Gary says, pausing in his chewing. "All pastoral and stuff. Really great if you're a nature lover. Can't say we are, but then GLaDOS was never a big fan of nature. For all her taunting Chell with seeing deers and shit."

"We'll stay away from any crazy unicorns, if you don't mind," Steve adds.

((LOL, yes, good idea. I'm the patient type myself, and while I spent the training gems to get things going, I quickly realized it was better to save for the big stuff (like upgrading the Nursery/Breeding Cave). You're welcome!))

[alienlisa]

AL strokes Moonlight's head absently as she speaks. "The swirling colors in the eyes was always so interesting to me. I've only encountered one other 'dragon'-so-to-speak that had the same feature." She looks off into the distance. "I have a friend...she's a Time Lady...well, half. Her mother is from a place called Gallitrexia and they have dragons there as the native form like Alnilam has unicorns. She showed me a miniature dragon once that did that." ((My friend Ashley, the one that I always say I MISS YOU when I mention the telepathy between AL and the Doctor)) She looks down at Moonlight. "I may be able to read minds but the different colors are kind of a mystery to me for some reason."

"Well," AL says to Steve, "Woodhorn wouldn't hurt you...you're not human in either form." Beat. "Well, he'd probably give your turret form the side-eye. And as for Janis Thorn, again, he lives so deep in the forest that the only one who has encountered him was an owl that turned out to be a certain King of the Goblins." She pets both Moonlight and Jamie with both her hands. "That's why I tell people to stay on the paths. Why does no one ever listen?"

"Then you wouldnae have a story," deadpans Jamie-the-human.

"Yeah, true."

[thosetwoturrets]

"Ah -- fascinating," Forgotten says, leaning forward as Moonlight looks back up at her, eyes deepening to a content dark blue. "Well, I couldn't tell you why that dragon's eyes were like that -- but as for Moonlight, the colors reflect his moods. Blue is content, light blue excited, light green curious, dark green calm, purple anxious, orange angry, and so on. If he's got a mix, he's feeling a couple of emotions at once."

"Well, I'd give our turret forms the side-eye too, simply because we know Aperture," Gary comments, shaking his head. "And trust me, we'd listen to you about that. No matter how interesting it smelled out there. We had enough of a brush with death when it looked like we were going to be dropped into the furnace."

"Yeah, lucky that Nexus portal popped up when it did!" Steve agrees with a shudder. ((Referring to the fact that their short ends with them dropping into a furnace.))

[alienlisa]

AL nods. "Oh, like my wings in that respect, huh? Blue is sad, green is jealous, pink is embarrassed, red is angry."

"Furnace?" AL asks, eyes wide. "Great Orion...that sounds awful..."

[thosetwoturrets]

"Exactly," Forgotten confirms. "Red with Moonlight is hungry."

"Or lustful," Vic can't help but put in.

Victor colors. "We won't have to worry about THAT until next October and if he ever actually SEES a female ready to mate."

"It wasn't exactly fun, but we managed to escape the worst of it," Steve assures her. "Although you know the really bad part? Aperture science made us to last -- we're all operational up to 4000 degrees Kelvin."

"So unless the furnace is hot enough, you don't actually shut off -- you just sit there and cook," Gary says, shuddering.

[alienlisa]

AL snickers at Forgotten's reaction. "Ehehe, gotcha."

And she grimaces at Gary's description, cuddling up a bit to Eleven, who pats her head. "I'm glad you escaped. I don't like heat on normal days, never mind that my wings absorb some of it...I can't imagine." She shudders, too.

[thosetwoturrets]

"Not yet," is Forgotten's response. "And if I'm lucky I won't have to be gotten for a while."

"Humans -- and human-like aliens -- probably have a hard time imagining something that hot," Steve allows. "I think I can sum it up in two words: it sucks."

[alienlisa]

AL ponders. "So if two firelizards become mates, what does that mean for the Bonds?"

She nods to Steve. "I can't compare, but Luke and I did live on Tatooine for a while. Desert planet with two suns." She makes a face. "I was only there for a little while before the whole Death Star thing but Luke lived there since he was a baby."

Luke nods. "Yeah. Of course it didn't get as hot as you're talking, but some days it did feel like walking into an oven as soon as you stepped outside."

"Yeah," AL agrees. "I think my wings still have retained some of the heat from that place." She's kidding, of course, but only just.

[forgotten_vows]

"Lizard lust," is Vic's immediate response.

Forgotten blushes harder. "Yes, well. . .there's some bleedover. Nothing like what you get with a dragon on Pern, apparently, but you do. . .you might want to excuse yourself somewhere."

"Gettin' it on while your pet's getting it on," Steve comments. "Whole new level of weird there."

Victor glares at him, then looks back at Lisa. "I can't really compare either -- England's always been on the cooler and rainier side. Though there was that one day in Houndsditch. . ."

"Trust me, none of that compares to the furnace," Gary says. "You all would have gone up in a 'whoosh' of flame. Even the indestructible Chell had to portal out of there in a hurry."