Standard Birthday Formation!

[flightattendantguy]

Oh come on, you all know the drill by now, don't you? Simon (and friends) are just grateful that the cold snap held off coming today.

"Yeah, Vic's been telling stories about the great April Fool's day snowstorm from when she was a kid. Tempted to hit back with the one about the guy who got diarrhea mid-flight. . ."

Someone please come along and stop this conversation before it takes a turn for the very worse.

((OOC: Yeah, it's finally happened -- I'm out of present ideas. So let's just go for silly fun from now on, okay?))

Comments

[alienlisa]

AL and the guys do their marching-in thing. AL is still sticking to Luke a bit and Coulson is sporting a new bionic hand that actually looks like real flesh.

"Howdy-do!" AL chimes. "Happy birthday Simon!"

[flightattendantguy]

Oh, good, a reason not to talk about airplane toilets. "Hey AL!" Simon says, waving back at her. "How are things? You're looking good, Coulson."

[alienlisa]

AL decides she very much does not want to know.

"Thank you," says Coulson, saving her from having to comment. "My tech guy outdid himself on this one. Lots of bells and whistles. Scanning, signal interrupting, EMP pulses."

"Also comes in handy when needing someone else's palm print," adds AL. "Shake a hand, make a 'glove', infiltrate the enemy."

[flightattendantguy]

Neither does Vic, frankly, so good timing, AL.

"Seriously?" Simon and Doc both crane forward for a closer look at the hand. "Sheesh, S.H.I.E.L.D. gets all the good tech, don't they?"

"Do you get free wifi?" Marty jokes.

[alienlisa]

Coulson obligingly holds his hand out. AL runs her fingers over it and he activates (or deactivates?) something to allow them to see a trail of little yellow glowing lights that follow the touch trail and then disappear. He then presses on the wrist and a few yellow electrical lines appear. The jukebox and anything else electronic suddenly play nothing but white noise. He only lets it stay like that for a few seconds before returning things to normal.

He then smiles at Marty. "We're SHIELD. We have wifi everywhere."

[flightattendantguy]

Doc whistles at the technology on display, quite impressed. "Incredible. . .though I'm glad my prosthetics are at a tech level below that which yours can affect. I assume, anyway." Most high-tech organizations don't plan for steampunk.

"The real question is, can you use it as a phone?" Simon asks, half-joking, half-serious. "I mean, I'd want that if I ever got a super-high-tech hand. Would have been real handy when stumbling on zombie town."

"Pun not intended, I'm guessing," Vic comments. "And its your own fault for not replacing your cell after the plane incident."

"I know, I know. . ."

[alienlisa]

"But," says Coulson, "you may be susceptible to anyone who can manipulate non-biological objects."

"Like telekinesis but only with non-organic matter instead of both like I can do," says AL, making both a snack bowl and Hooks (who squeaks in protest) levitate for a moment to demonstrate.

Coulson thinks a moment at Simon's words. "Hm...Lisa, remind me to mention that to Fitz, will you?"

AL rolls her eyes. "Boys and their gadgets...generally they have other forms of communication. In-the-ear communicators and the like."

"But...phone hand!"

AL facepalms. "Thanks, Simon."

[clockwork_doc]

"Yes, but as it's not like I can take these out. . ." Clockwork shrugs. "It's a risk I'll just have to take. So far, so good, at least when it comes to the Nexus. And you forget--" A rumble of thunder sounds outside. "I do have the ability to control the weather to defend myself."

Dee picks up Hooks after he's levitated, petting him. "You should really ask before you do that," she scolds Lisa.

Simon laughs. "Sorry. Chalk it up to living with an inventor and his three very eager assistants. You'd totally do the phone hand if you could, right Doc?"

"It's a temptation," Doc admits, grinning. "And besides, it would be a handy backup if the other communicators failed." Pause. "Pun not intended there either."

[alienlisa]

Coulson nods. "Yes, that's true."

It's a humbling event to be scolded by a child. AL pats Hooks' head. "Sorry."

"S'okay," he responds, cuddling Dee and nomming the snacks from the bowl

"Well, we have about a month 'til the end of the season," says AL. "We'll see what else happens. In the meanwhile...anything new?"

[clockwork_doc]

Dee grabs the bowl so he can more easily nom -- she's nothing if not a good helper.

"All right," Doc nods, then shrugs. "Beyond Vic working on various improvements to the Forgotten Vows Verse? Not particularly. How about on your end?"

[alienlisa]

And Hooks is nothing if not polite. He tilts his bowl to share his snacks with Dee.

AL shrugs. "Not really. Though ever since the alter ego made my Secundus self's house on The Sims, the game's all she's been doing on the weekends. The latest idea is a haunted house with the different ghosts one can get from the different deaths." Beat. "There's 15, if you're curious."

[flightattendantguy]

Dee's only too happy to share. Yummy!

Simon laughs. "Yeah, Vic said she saw that in one of her updates. And that she was making them feel better by having them go Perma-Plat first."

"I suppose it is the nicest thing you can do for your murder fodder," Vic says, smirking. "I'm still playing through Sims 4 myself, though I'm being a lot nicer to the Sims under my command."

[alienlisa]

AL chuckles. "She actually has her own Geeker McTest. Had to make a Sim that wasn't gonna live in the house to check on one of the hacks, and she figured 'eh, why not?'. He's just a Knowledge Sim with whatever zodiac sign that got randomly generated. And, usually, the alter ego tries to be nice to her Sims when she actually plays the Sims and is not just on a Let's-Build-A-House spree." Building houses is fun! "Haunted House is currently three stories with seven Sims living in it: two Witches...what is it? Infallibly Good and Atrociously Bad? And a zombie, a werewolf, a vampire, a Plant Sim, and a 'ghost'. She's hacked to walk through walls and stuff. Last one's gonna be Bigfoot. Though, naturally, there's the thought of 'Oh, this lot is too small I should stick all the gravestones in someone's inventory so I can move 'em out and rebuild on a bigger lot'." AL sighs. "Never stops, that one." Yeah, well...you got a cool Sims!house out of it so shush.

[flightattendantguy]

"Really? Green skin and everything?" Vic asks, curious. "Though I suppose if you have the right mods. . . And I'm sure she does, although I know from previous conversations she tends to 'play' on ultra fast forward."

"Whereas your method is constant stopping and starting to set up actions and comment on said actions," Doc observes.

"That's how I roll!" She nods as AL describes the residents of the house. "Sounds cool -- and yeah, I think those are the ultimate levels of Witchery. That's one sad thing about Sims 4 so far -- the supernatural Sims haven't really come back in force yet. We've got aliens, but what I really want are my magic users. And pet dragons. I want those to be a thing again."

"Is your alter ego ever satisfied with the size of her lot on her first go?" Simon asks, leaning on her hand.

"Probably not, because houses ALWAYS seem to need more room than you've got," Vic observes.

[alienlisa]

AL shakes her head. "In-name-and-Aspiration only. She actually doesn't have a green-skin mod. Data's skin and gold for making a human-Sim-version of Goldy, that she has. And, yes, she tends to play on ultra speed."

She's quick to defend V's perspective. "Well, she has to tell a story with screenshots and stuff. That takes a lot of playing and pausing and taking screenshots and stuff. I get it." She then scratches her head at the mention of dragons while the alter ego heads to Sims Wiki. "Oh, way back in Sims 1. I can't count Sims 3 since the alter ego doesn't own it. But, yeah, that'd be nice to bring back."

She then shakes her head again, this time at Simon. "Nope, usually not. Unless she's making my house on Alnilam because its general layout is only good for one lot in the bin." I'm at work so I can't look up exactly which one that is currently. "Otherwise things don't line up right...and even then it's still a tiny bit off. She should try just using the biggest lot and seeing how that works out."

"No, no she shouldn't!" the guys chorus.

"Oh, come on. Not redoing the whole neighborhood again. Just sticking it somewhere to test it out."

The guys frown at the prospect but now that it's been said it may just happen.

[flightattendantguy]

"Aww, I see -- well, the only reason I made him green was because it's a skin option in 4. . .along with blue, which certainly helps out all those Corpse Bride Emilys I've seen popping up on the Gallery."

"Exactly," Vic says proudly. "And yeah, I remember hatching a mean one for one of my old Brown families way back when. . .can't comment on the Sims 3 ones either, but learning about them in their little downloadable world was basically the ONLY time I was ever tempted to get that version of the game. Keeping my fingers crossed they're part of the pets expansion this time."

"I'm assuming the longest given the whole 'hall of rooms' thing. . ." Simon chuckles as AL mentions trying it on the biggest lot. "Sorry about that, guys. Didn't think she'd get inspired."

Vic arches an eyebrow. "You live with me and you didn't think that would happen?"

"Well, how much building do you do in that game?"

". . .Touche."

[alienlisa]

"Yeah, the alter ego's computer looks at the specs for 4 -- and 3 -- and laughs." AL shakes her head. "She's lucky 2 with all the expansions and Stuff packs work. Load times are chuggy, but it works. So your standard skin colors plus the few downloads we have is all that's there. Kind of a 'download-what-is-needed' thing. We got Data and Goldy and Phoenix Wright when the alter ego was on that kick."

"Longest or widest," she says to Simon. "But yes, because of the Hall. And it can only fit six, which isn't enough. That's why the Sims!guys all have their own house."

AL snickers. "The widest lot is only one grid line longer than what the house is built on right now, so it may not even make any difference." She shrugs. "Probably won't stop her from trying, though."

[flightattendantguy]

"Those specs -- plus the preferred ones for Alice: Madness Returns -- was my whole reason for asking for a new computer a couple of years ago," Vic says. "Some games can be a bit chuggy or glitchy -- especially older stuff, and if I'm just on battery power -- but most of the time, works like a charm. And that's fine -- I don't have a ton of custom content for my current Sims game either. Some mods to keep the game from doing stupid shit, and Alice's dresses and knife so far. Works for me."

Simon glances at the crowd behind AL and nods. "Not near enough. And I see. . ." He tilts his head. "Can you build up to the edge and fake-merge two lots? Like, have one lot be the front half of the house and the second be the back half?"

"Did you want to be an architect when you grew up or something?" Vic asks, tilting her head. "Also, wouldn't work unless she built sideways. Lots have to be attached to a street."

"Ah, damn. . .and I did build a lot of things with Legos as a kid, so. . ."

[alienlisa]

AL nods. "I heard about the 'erasing Townies' thing it pulled when you first got it. Dunno what Maxis was thinking making that part." She shakes her head.

She smiles at her ensemble. "And whose here isn't even everyone. Sim!Alnilam has all the guys except..." Her wings twitch, cycling through hues of angry red and sad blue so quickly they may have actually turned sad-mad purple at one point, as she clears her throat. "You know...the one I left on purpose cuz he changed." She sighs. "Plus whomever else we want to add to the neighborhood. Human!Sim!Goldy's one, though while we have ears and a tail -- though it's fox ears and tail they're yellow-gold and do in a pinch -- for him we haven't found a Sims-2-compatible horn we like yet. There's also Doc and Clara with Jules and Verne and Marty and Jennifer with the twins because why not. Probably more I can't think of at the moment." Back at work; can't check.

Lastly, she shakes her head at Simon. "The walls can only be built one or two grid lines from the lot border. Unless there's a cheat or hack to bypass it, only fences work that way as seen with Sim!Secundus!Me's house and clinic."

[flightattendantguy]

"I don't think I'll ever forgive them for the first version of Geeker's potential girlfriend going walkabout," Vic growls. "I think it's some sort of population cap to keep the game running smoothly, but it's distressingly low, and it ruins the whole generational business -- which means a couple of their achievements centering around that are kind of worthless." She sighs. "But what can you do. . ."

"Ah, yeah, figured," Simon comments, watching the colors whip across her wings. "And Vic, you had those too, right?"

"Or something similar -- never found a unicorn horn, though. Mostly because I didn't go looking, admittedly. My furry bits were for wolves and cats and foxes and such. I'm currently keeping it simple with just five families in my game -- Victor and Alice, Marty and Jennifer, Emmett, Eric and Nikal, and Geeker. Though I'm planning on adding a Wheatley and Chell to that last."

"Darn it," Simon pouts. "That true with 4, V-- oh, you wouldn't know."

"Har har -- though I suspect it's roughly the same."