It's been an interesting week. Got to treat the family to some chocolate, and we walked out to explore some more of our new home. We thought about naming the planet something pronounceable, like...well, Gaia. Maybe we'll call it that, too. Gaia. Something that reminds us of our old home. As we walked, we found an interesting biome filled with flowers and hopping monsters that I had to slice apart for the sake of safety. Marlene was running around, enjoying the area, picking flowers and making necklaces. We found some blueprints for a hanging flower lamp in a chest(which sits in Marlene's room now), and the girl insists it be made for her room.
So, I bought a Robot Hen for...well, a lot of pixels. We should make back what we lost eventually, anyway. A new light hangs in Marlene's room now, and she'd love more flower decorations. Denzel isn't sure what he wants his room decorated with yet, but I promised him we'd look into something cool. I gave him a sleek looking storage container I found during a spelunking bout, and now I have more than enough Manipulator Modules to upgrade Tifa and mine's gizmos. I finished up a shallow pond the kids can play in, and I worked on a stick lantern to light the cavern system I found. Bleh. There was tar(and bones) everywhere, but the oil I sucked up should come in handy later. I've been going deeper into the caves, into the planet, discovering gold veins and sometimes abandoned homes. How old are they, I wonder? Where did everyone go? The AI said the planet was uninhabited, but it was at some point.
Later in the week I worked on digging that basement I was thinking about. I reinforced it with cobblestone walls and copper beams, and put some storage boxes down there after I finished placing the stairs. These Matter Manipulators are something else...You know, I'll probably replace the lower half of the house with brick after a while, that way the heat doesn't disperse so quickly. I need to check with that toad guy at the outpost and see if he has any kitchen appliances in, again. What he has seems to change day to day, so I'll just keep a daily watch until I can get some things Tifa could use. He also has colony deeds, so if I want to have others live nearby(and profit off of it), I can do that, too. Should I? Maybe some day. I'm happy with just my family with me right now.
Yesterday, a Hylotl merchant beamed down to visit the farm. They didn't have a lot, but some of the furniture they had was pretty interesting. Got a lily clock for the living room, and a couple of neat lanterns I can hang off a small chain. A new fruit, too...It's called a "Reefpod". It can only grow underwater, too. I saved whatever seeds I could from the fruits we bought and I plan on making a deeper, smaller pond to try growing them. The merchant taught us a few recipes for the strange fruit; it's savory but sweet, and salty too. I asked her where these things come from, and she said planets covered in ocean readily supply them. There's also Hylotl cities down there, too. The merchant seemed prideful of her species' artistic accomplishments and enduring spirit after the Florans almost wiped them out. Sounds like there's bad blood between the two species, that's for sure.
Denzel thinks both Floran and Hylotl look cool. He might be right, but I'd rather be stuck in a room with the latter in most cases. One is a hyperactive hunter, and the other a stuck up artist. Maybe I'd end up strangling both, I don't know. They're alright if you can walk away from them.
For now, Tifa tried out reefpod milkshakes. It was actually pretty good, I have to admit. We drank them while star gazing, and Tifa said I had a smile on my face the whole time. Guess I just felt good last night. I feel good right now, too. Life is good.