InsaneJournal continues to be down, but should be restored today. In the meantime, here are the things getting me through the mid-week slump.

1. I made a giant batch of soup last night, using this super-easy but tasty recipe. (Just a note - I find it a little too salty, so you may want to add plain water.)

2. I made a semi-impulse buy and ordered a coffee maker and coffee grinder yesterday. I don't drink coffee on a regular basis, but I have been drinking it more lately; and this way I won't have to make a trip upstairs to the coffee stand every time.

3. Work on the Warmakers 4-koma continues. It's slow-going, because I'm so not good at humorous art ... but hey, it's a new skill to develop.

4. My BPAL order arrived! I still have to go pick it up from nekokoban, but ... my BPAL order arrived! :D Also, I'm wearing Bengal today, and while it's not my one of my favorites so far, it's still quite nice.

5. ratzeo is running game on Sunday!

Galath and Nexus talk. Nexus thinks. Nym watches.

Thanks to ratzeo for helping me RP with Galath (an NPC), which I used as a loose guide for this story.

( Aftermath )

I need a Nexus icon. Hm.

Anyhoo, this is a little mini-fic I started writing a while ago, to start exploring Nexus' concept of gender. Then miss_arel's character brought the subject up at Sunday's game, so it seemed apropos to finish it up and post it.

In case it isn't clear, this scene takes place when Nexus is very young, before it rebelled from its former owner, and is still a soldier.

( A Dialogue )

The good: I finished my fic for ratzeo's game on Thursday night.

The bad: I stayed up until close to 1 a.m. writing the fic, thereby giving me 6 hours of sleep before work on Friday (I generally need 8-8.5 hours a night).

The good: I got to sit in on the adventure ratzeo ran on Friday, even though he split the party into two groups and I was supposed to play on Sunday. Watching Friday's game meant that my character could interact with niwatorimegami's character before he left the game - and, more importantly, I got to see niwatorimegami one last time before she left for Japan.

The bad: I stayed up super-late again, and I couldn't sleep in the next morning because it was the library book sale.

The good: I got to the library book sale early enough to be near the front of the line of people waiting to get in. A lot more people seemed to target the comic book section this year, so I didn't have quite as good of a haul as I'm used to, but I still picked up a few interesting graphic novels. I also snagged a few Octavia Butler novels from the sci-fi section, books by Ronald Takaki and bell hooks from the ethnic studies area, and a collection of essays by contemporary feminists about relationships between straight women and lesbians (I forget the title). I'm trying to educate myself more about homophobia (and transphobia too), and while this book isn't theory-heavy, it's a start. I also figure it's better to start from a source that is explicitly feminist, since I'm particularly interested in the homophobia that infiltrates feminist movements.

The bad: I had to get up at 7:30 to do that. Erg. After the book sale, I ran home to make lunch, then had to go to the grocery store, then had to leave again to meet up with nekokoban and miss_arel for a birthday party.

The good: The party was fun! Also full of nerdery, as we played Apples to Apples and Betrayal at House on the Hill. After that someone broke out The Great Dalmuti, but I was too sleepy and full of boozcohol to participate. I didn't drink enough to get drunk, but it was enough that I promptly fell asleep once I got into bed.

The bad: I got up early again to play in ratzeo's adventure. My poor sleepy self. Sad cries.

The good: The adventure. (Duh.)

The bad: I was supposed to leave in the early afternoon in order to meet my old classmates and talk (feminism) shop. However, I started feeling ill with whatever bug has been traveling around my office in the last week or so. I didn't feel like getting up and going anywhere, so I called in sick and missed the get-together, which was incredibly disappointing. I really don't get to see those women enough.

The good: I did feel well enough to sit at a table and roll dice, so I played the rest of the adventure, albeit fuzzy-headed.

The bad: I'm now sitting at work hit with both sleep-deprivation and desperately fending off sickness. Argh. D:

I was planning to implement a Monday-Wednesday-Friday gym schedule, but I'm too wiped to go, and I'd much rather rest now than get sick later in the week. I want to keep myself healthy and happy, and keep up the good routine I've been having lately.

Three more hours, and I can go home and collapse. I'm going to make this a good month, darnit.

I am totally up past my bedtime. Damn you, ratzeo. XD

I wrote this because I wanted to have a record of the awesomeness that was Saturday's adventure. As such, this is mostly a straightforward recounting of the events of the final battle. I hope it's accessible (and interesting) to people who weren't at the game. I really do think this is one of my favorite adventures that I've ever played, and I hope to convey some of the excitement for others.

That said, the details of the events may not be entirely accurate. Because, well, I forgot them, and my notes are at ratzeo's place. :P Additionally, I got GM approval for retconning a bit at the end so that Nexus could take a token from Kershahk.

( Battle's End )

Two (and a half) adventures in, and ratzeo has me writing fic for his game. I don't know if that's cool, or sad. :P

My character in this game is Nexus, a construct based off of the Warforged race from the Eberron campaign setting (just with a different origin story). It is three years old, and has spent over two years wandering on its own, since it killed the man who once controlled it. It is a chaotic neutral Crusader whose powers are granted by Tempus, deity of warriors. (It also eschews gender identity, for reasons I'll probably write about later.)

In this story, it has just survived a battle against a cult of evil werewolves who threatened to overrun a human town. Lyson (played by Rommel) is its faithful sidekickhuman companion. Other characters who show up are Anora (zinjadu, Luth (Kindra), Levanter (casaval), and Buron (niwatorimegami). Those may or may not be the correct spellings of their names.

( War Trophies )