please look under the cut for navigation & info

Various pictures of Yuri and Victor have been on my pinned post since 2021. If you think I should change it, feel free to comment who you’d rather see on the welcome banner.

What stories? I’m just posting random nonsense at this point 😅

Catch of the Day

Vika and Dash went for a walk which ended in them fishing from the boardwalk.

It turns out Dash is an expert angler. Vika didn't have much luck, but she was content enough just to watch Dash do his thing. He's nice to look at and seems like a pretty good catch himself.

He’s so nice to look at, in fact, Vika asked him to take a picture with her.

Dash: I'll do it on one condition.

Vika: What condition?

Dash: Text a copy of it to me, so I can have a picture of you as well.

Vika and Dash's boardwalk selfie

Vika: Tell me your phone number. I will text picture.

Dash: Got it! And now I've got your phone number as well.

Vika: That means you must call me.

Dash: I will. I need to get going now, but I'd really like to see you again.

Vika: For dinner sometime?

Dash: Yes, or for a picnic or sailing, or anything you like.

Vika: A picnic. The only picnics I have are with my students. I think picnic with mature adult would be nice.

Dash: Okay, then. Picnic it is. I know a really pretty spot on the island. Do you mind boats? We'd need to sail there.

Vika: Yes, I like boats.

Dash: Brilliant. I don't have my own boat, but I can see about borrowing one.

Vika: Do you know how to sail?

Dash: Yes, I do. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t have suggested it otherwise.

Vika: Good. But… I shouldn’t keep you. You said you have to go.

Dash: It’s all right. All I meant was, I don’t want to be out wandering around the waterfront half the night. I can walk you back to wherever you’re staying before I head home, if you want.

Vika: I'd like that. You can walk with me to my brother's house. It would be just like in films..

Dash: I can do that, and I'll call you tomorrow, so we can plan our picnic.

Cake

Vika was hungry (again), so she walked down the hill to the café to get some chocolate cake, and look who she met outside:

Dash: Hello, beautiful lady. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you around here before.

Vika: You’re speaking to me?

Dash: Do you see any other beautiful ladies around at the moment?

Vika: Excuse me. My English is bad. You said two times, I’m beautiful.

Dash: Because you are.

Vika: You don’t know me.

Dash: Do I need to know you to recognize your beauty?

Vika: Maybe I’m evil. What then?

Dash: Are you? Evil, I mean.

Vika: Sometimes, in bedroom.

Dash: Ooh… are you indeed? Now I’m intrigued.

Vika: What means ‘intrigued’?

Dash: Well, it means I’m very interested and curious to know more about you.

Vika: You can know my name. It’s Viktoriya.

Dash: It’s nice to meet you, Viktoriya. My name is Dash.

Vika: Dash? Like… running very fast?

Dash: *laughing* Yes, exactly like that, as a matter of fact. My real name is Richard, but nobody ever calls me that. It’s always been Dash, ever since my father stuck me with the nickname when I was a young child.

Vika: My family calls me Vika.

Dash: May I call you Vika?

Vika: Buy me cake. Then I decide.

Dash: Nothing like the direct approach, is there? If you want cake, then you shall have cake. My treat.

Vika: Thank you.

The café was super busy, but Vika and Dash didn’t seem to mind.

Dash: How’s the cake?

Vika: Tastes like you can call me Vika.

Dash: Ha! Success! If I can get this far with cake, imagine what might happen if we went out for dinner sometime.

Vika: I like food. Also pretty men. I could have dinner with you, and dessert.

Dash: Cake for dessert?

Vika: Yes, but also dessert you don’t eat.

Dash: *amused* My favourite kind.

Uh-oh… Look who just came in from the bookshop next door.

Vika: Dash, we should go.

Dash: Why?

Vika: I see… somebody.

Dash: Who?

Vika: No! Do not look. I try not to be noticed.

Dash: It’d be hard not to notice you.

Vika: I know.

Dash: Is this person someone you’re afraid of? I’ll give him a talking to.

Vika: Is not him. Is her. And I’m not afraid of her, but my brother is. She should be afraid of me.

Dash: And… you don’t want to be involved in a scene?

Vika: I don’t want to be arrested by police in foreign country. If I’m in same room with her for long time, it won’t be scene. It will be entire crime film.

Dash: Ah, okay then. Let’s get out of here and go for a walk. I just met you. I don’t want our first date to be at the police lockup, or for you to get sent home for breaking the law.

Vika: Good. I don’t want to go back to my country yet, and orange is not my colour anyway.

I just realized it’s only a little over two weeks until Life By You releases in early access. I’ve already signed up to be an early access player, and I cannot even begin to say how excited I am for this game to release. It looks insanely complex and amazing already, and the more I see of it, the more I like the idea of it. It shares similarities with The Sims, but it’s immediately obvious that it’s a completely different game both in style and quality. I think I’ll still play TS4 — I’ve invested way too much time and effort into it to just give up, and I do love it despite its flaws — but definitely expect to see some familiar faces recreated in LBY and appearing in this account.

Also… LBY comes out the day I return to work after my medical leave. At least that’s something to look forward to, even if I won’t get to play as much as I might like until the weekend.

I have reached the probably unsurprising conclusion that I really like Mishka in suits/formal wear

There we go... the guys are all outfitted for their wedding

((Mishka says don't ask about the amount of hairspray and tears required to wrangle Nikolai's hair into submission))

Eden, Stan, Luka, and Mishka's former roommate Sam are going to be wearing a similar shirt/vest combo, but with different coloured ties. Now, the next order of business will be to find something for the girls.

And yes... they indeed have a huge wedding party with eight attendants, which is a far cry from Nikolai's first marriage, where he and Anya only had his sister Natascha and her brother Alex as attendants at their wedding.

As if I haven’t already made 642368832 recolours of the vest/tie combo from MWS, I’m about to do some more for Mishka & Nikolai’s wedding photo shoot. 😅

I kind of want to do the vests in dove grey, so I’ll probably have to recolour some trousers too.

And I need to find dresses for the ladies that don’t just look good on Natascha’s & Ginger’s curves, but also work for Vika & Beth-Anne. (something already in the game hopefully, so I can recolour it to exactly match the guys’ shirts).

It seems Vika is re-evaluating her choices

She’s incompetent in the kitchen, but she’s always hungry and loves to eat. A microwave meal seemed like the elegant solution, but a short time later, Vika wondered whether it was such a great idea after all.

big feelings

Vika got out of the pool and was instantly super angry about something, so I checked her needs and it turned out she was tired. When I turned headline effects back on, her little thought bubble was a bed.

She threw a tantrum because she needed a nap.

But would she just go inside and lie down on the nearest bed or sofa by herself? No, of course not. I had to direct her to do it (unlike Mishka who will plop down and sleep pretty much anywhere on his own).

Basically she’s a toddler trapped in an adult’s body.

So much for full autonomy being enabled.

🤣

I don’t know why I’ve never tried CAS poses before, but today I decided to see what they’re all about. They were fun to play with, but they’re not something I can see myself using a lot. Still, they produced some cute results:

Vikaaa!!! 💙🩵

I’m slightly obsessed with her. I usually don’t like my female sims that much, and it’s rare that I create a female OC that I connect with on more than a superficial level (regardless of whether I bother to make a sim avatar for them or not).

I’ve had Vika as an OC for a while, simply by virtue of the fact that she’s Mishka’s sister, but lately I’ve been giving her more thought beyond the basic details of her life. I created her sim avatar the other day, and I’m actually shocked at how well she turned out. She may be one of my favourite female sims now.

As for original characters, she may eventually find her way onto the very small list of my favourite female OCs 😆

Vika being a total fashion icon regardless of her somewhat masculine proportions, and attracting men at the pub without even trying, and Anya being super mad about it.

Also Vika drinking those same men under the table (it makes them admire her even more).

Vika: “Who wants to arm wrestle?”

The problem is, she’d probably accidentally hurt someone. 😅

Vika: “I break hearts. Sometimes also little man arms.”

They have to walk home because Vika and Mishka have consumed enough vodka and beer to render normal people unconscious, and Nikolai forgot he was meant to be the designated driver and had a few too many as well. Vika has temporarily forgotten the English she knows, and Mishka is sounding less bilingual by the second. The siblings sing Russian drinking songs at the top of their lungs, all the way up the hill. Nikolai can’t decide if he’s embarrassed or entertained.

Vika’s three-month visit is off to a (literal) roaring start.

Bonus: Some guy with his arm in a sling shows up at their door the next day with coffee and flowers, looking for Vika.

Because everyone (read: me) needed to see just how big the Vasiliev siblings are

Look who randomly showed up at Nikolai & Mishka's place

She doesn't look too happy

This is a meeting I may have to write, because I mean... imagine how this would go 😅