#valicetine

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Valicertine's Day, everyone! :D Time to celebrate my OT3 once again as if we're not always doing that around here. Once again, I raided the archives of the sadly-defunct Chill Valicer Save for fun screenshots I could turn into my required three Valicertine's -- but this year, I somehow ended up making three "sequels" to previous Valicetines and Valicertine's I've made. Allow me to explain further in the traditionally-mandated descriptions below (though all the images are alt-texted as well):

(a screenshot from the Spooky Day date the trio took at the Haunted Museum, with Smiler in their dark form watching Space Ranger!Victor massage Pizza Deliverer!Alice's shoulders with a smile) "COMPERSION! It remains pretty awesome. Happy Valicertine's Day!" -- This one is obviously a sequel to the first Valicertine in the 2024 Collection! I wanted to do a follow-up with Smiler looking lovingly at Victor and Alice being cute/romantic together, and of the shots I got of such a thing, I like this one from their Spooky Day date the best. Just that little smile! It's so cute. :)

(a screenshot of the trio dancing together in the Gnome's Arms of Henford-On-Bagley, with Victor looking lovingly at his partners while they smile back at him) "Yup -- two years on, and you two still give me...ideas. ;) Happy Valicertine's Day!" -- And this one is a sequel to the first Valicertine in the 2023 Collection! I stumbled across this shot while looking for other good potential Valicertine images, thought it was cute -- and then remembered "hey, I did something similar for my very first Valicertine! And the other one I've made so far this year is already a follow-up to an older Valicertine...why not go ahead and make this one a sequel too?" So I did. :) I do love them dancing together -- always gives me the fuzzies. <3

(a screenshot of Smiler at the Copperdale Weenie Roast, playing their guitar as Victor and Alice watch on and the rest of the guests do their thing at the campfire behind them) "Love Is...supporting your partner/metamour when they break out 'Wonderwall' at the party. Happy Valicertine's Day!" -- And finally, we have a sequel to, of all things, the 2017 Collection of Valicetines! You know, the one I had to repost because, for reasons I will never understand, the original post was flagged for adult content. *shakehead* Anyway, what happened is, I was doing another trawl of the Chill Valicer Save screenshots, saw this shot, and was like "Oh hey, what if I made a joke about 'love is being supportive when your partner breaks out Wonderwall' or something like that?" ...and then was like "hang on, didn't I do some Valicetines like that one year?" Leading to me looking them up, and deciding to ape the style of them just for the hell of it. XD Took a little fiddling to make it look good, but I'm pretty happy with the end result!

And there we have it! Enjoy these sort-of-blasts from the past! XD

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Valicertine's Day! :D Yes, once again we are celebrating my beloved OT3 in honor of the holiday, with another set of lovely Valicertines! :D I had a lot of fun making these this year, pulling on my vast collection of Sims 4 Chill Valicer Save screenshots to get our required three valentines ready. As you might imagine, given everything that's happened in that save file over the last couple of years, I had my fair share of things to pick from. XD All are alt-texted, since that's a thing now, but let's do a little description below too so I can add a bit of commentary:

(Alice gazing at Victor and Smiler going in for the kiss with a smile on her face) "COMPERSION! It's pretty awesome. Happy Valicertine's Day!" -- I've had this in mind pretty much since I took the shot (it's from one of their New Year's Eve celebrations, where they went to that club in Windenburg). It's just the perfect image for an V-shaped OT3 Valentine!

(An image of Victor and Smiler cuddling at one of the picnic tables on Plumbite Pier joined together with an image of Victor dipping Alice at the ThrifTea thrift shop) "Having two partners. . .Means having two Valentines! Happy Valicertine's Day!" -- my ORIGINAL thought for this was to use the images of Victor smooching both Smiler and Alice during the New Year's Eve trio date with the text "Having two partners means twice as many New Year's kisses," but then I figured I ought to actually use images from some of the gang's Love Day dates. Ended up going with the trip to Copperdale where I experimented with having Smiler and Alice tag along on each other's dates with Victor, which had some cute stuff in it.

(Smiler, Alice, and Victor all doing slightly-goofy "fashion" poses in their wedding finery) "Get yourself a polycule that can look THIS FINE~ Happy Valicertine's Day!" -- Okay, I HAD to do something involving the big Valicer Wedding. Especially since that was there I discovered I could use the tripod camera to do proper trio shots. And when I came across this one -- well, the text popped into my head, and I had to use it. XD I mean, they do look FINE. ;)

Enjoy! :)

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Valicertine’s Day! :D Yes, as you might have expected, this year (the tenth of me doing Valicetines! Time freaking flies) the annual Valicetines have become Valicertines in celebration of my beloved weird-ass OT3 and their shenanigans in my Sims game. :) Look, if you don’t know by this point I am into my ship of “awkward Victorian-era Tim Burton stop-motion puppet/dark action-adventure video game protagonist take on Alice in Wonderland/a mind-controlling roller coaster I gave a human form in Sims,” I don’t know what to tell you. XD Anyway, hope you find these three little Valicertines amusing. I sure did. :) Text below!

1. (Victor, Alice, and Smiler all dancing together in the Gnome’s Arms Pub, Victor sporting a flirty smile and a little yellow light bulb behind his head) Seeing you two together gives me. . .ideas. ;) Happy Valicertine’s Day!

2. (Smiler, Alice, and Victor all reading books in a line on the couch in the Moonwood Mill library) Sometimes love. . .looks like a study group. Happy Valicertine’s Day! (three hearts in yellow, blue, and red)

3. (Alice laughing at one of Victor’s jokes and Smiler looking at him with a grin while they’re seated around a table at the Humor & Hijinks Festival, with three hearts in red, yellow, and blue around Smiler’s head) True love involves a lot of things. . . But it should always involve a good laugh. Happy Valicertine’s Day!

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Valicetine’s Day, everybody! :D Would you believe that this has been going on for NINE YEARS now? I think I had some specifically Corpse Bride and Alice: Madness Returns ones before then, but the actual “Valicetines” started in 2013. So next year will be ten years of these, wow. . .

Anyway, this year we have the now-standard three taken from my Sims game -- and, like last year, they’re themed around the recent vacation my current Victor and Alice have taken! This one is shots from the Chill Save Selvadorada honeymoon -- you probably recognize the top and bottom two, with the one in the middle being the close-up version of another shot from their last update. They had some excellent and cute moments together during their time in the jungle, and I just had to make use of it. :) Text below:

1. (above their heads as they dance close to each other) You’re the one I always want dancing behind me, Valentine. Happy Valicetine’s Day!

2. (in the text boxes because the pattern on the walls made it impossible to see otherwise) Cuddle up nice and close, Valentine. . . So we can better ignore we’re in the bathroom. Happy Valicetine’s Day! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

3. (again above their heads as they take their selfie) Loving You Is An Adventure! Happy Valicetine’s Day!

Enjoy! :D <3

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Valicetine’s Day, everyone! :D And look at me, bringing you a whole five Valicetines to add to the collection I’ve built up over the years. :D We have four standard Sims 4 Newcrest Adventure-themed Valicetines -- this year themed around that Sulani vacation they went on with their kids -- and one classic photo mashup that was kind of inspired by the fact that a) I didn’t want to stop making Valicetines and b) the picture I’m using is the one that I’m use as my new computer’s “login screen” picture. XD Hope you enjoy -- text, as usual, is below!

1. (Top left corner; Victor and Alice kissing in the water) Being with you always makes me feel like I’m in paradise. Blurry, blurry paradise. Happy Valicetine’s Day!

2. (Top right corner; Victor suave-kissing Alice while glowing blue) I’m possessed by love for you! (Well, okay, by this island spirit, but love is definitely involved.) Happy Valicetine’s Day! 

3. (Bottom left corner, Victor and Alice fishing together) Doesn’t matter if the fish here aren’t biting -- you’re still my greatest catch. Happy Valicetine’s Day! 

4. (Bottom right corner, Victor and Alice having caught some fish together) No matter what we hook here, you’ll always be my biggest catch. (Nice clownfish, though!) Happy Valicetine’s Day! 

5. (Bottom large, Victor rubbing the back of his neck as Alice looks at him) Give me a minute, Valentine -- talking to you always makes me shy. Happy Valicetine’s Day!

[victorluvsalice]

Aaaand, as a special treat this year -- let’s have a VEMILICIATINE! Or, well, a little photo comic that more or less serves as one. XD I really wanted to do something featuring my favorite poly OT4 for this year, and hit upon this idea using my Corpse Bride and Alice: Madness Returns figures pretty quick. Maybe should have had Alice drop the knife, but -- I kind of like it where it is. XD Plus it’s on the side with Emily’s skeletal hand, it’s fine XD

Text for those who might have trouble:

1. (Victor between Victoria and Emily) Two love interests? Good thing Victor has two --

2. (Alice shows up, and everyone looks at her with their arms angled to suggest concern)

3. (Victor, Victoria, Emily, and Alice all stand in a circle with hands joined) Good thing EVERYONE has two hands! Happy Valentine’s Day!

[victorluvsalice]

Here’s the 2019 set of Valicetine’s! I decide this year I wanted to do a set featuring each of the standard “Valicetine” models:

A) A photo mashup Valicetine, like from the old days. The text reads “I’d climb every mountain. . .swim every ocean. . .just to get back to you. Happy Valicetine’s Day! <3″ I was inspired by a song on the radio that, if it doesn’t have those EXACT lyrics, is pretty close. (pics from dj43′s CB screencaps collection (LiveJournal, defunct), Grande Caps, Spyhunter007.com, and RiseRose on tumblr (defunct))

B) A toy-based one, this time featuring my Victor and Alice figurines! Plus Cheshire and Scraps, as the whole point of this one is: “Cat Person. . .Dog Person. . .You’re MY kind of person! Happy Valicetine’s Day!” :p

C) A Sims-based one, as has been the trend lately. I wasn’t sure what to use for the picture, though. . .and then I remembered this “outtake” from one of Eric’s updates, where the Van Dort family showed up unexpectedly. “I’d totally take over someone else’s Sims 4 update for you, my Valentine. Happy Valicetine’s Day! <3″ XD

Hope you enjoy these, and have a lovely Valicetine’s Day! :D

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone! As per usual, I’ve got a set of Valicetines for you all to enjoy on this day of loverly love.

As NOT per usual, we’re starting off with a blast from the past. See, if you look at my Valicetine tag, you may notice that 2017 is mysteriously missing from the group. I was completely confused by this, as I was CERTAIN I’d done a set for that year --

And then I looked in my archives and found they’d been hidden for potential adult content. *grumbles* So, here’s the entire set again, featuring Victor and Alice (Victor with his old skintone because this was before I discovered I could edit him in Manage Households). As you can see, tumblr apparently has it out for my Sims. (Okay, yes, one of them MENTIONS sex, but they’re both fully clothed in all of them!)

[victorluvsalice]

And then, since it was the only place with a TV anywhere nearby, it was into the Cantina itself to enjoy the New Year’s countdown! After a quick game of chess lit by Alice’s personal sun, that is -- Alice managed to take this one, leaving them tied at 1-1 for this trip. XD Gotta remember to get them a chess table once they move house. . . But yes, they, along with pretty much everyone else in the area, gathered around the little TV to count down to midnight, then shared hugs and kisses. And a more private cuddle once they got back to the rental. . .seriously, I do love that “cuddle from behind” interaction, especially since they’ll do it autonomously. :) Maybe they could stand to do it less in the bathroom, but. . .

And so the trip to Selvadorada ends, just about the time Victor and Alice started feeling homesick. XD And, in fact, it’s the end of our time with them in the Chill Save for a little bit! Because I’ve added another Sim to the save that I plan to play with for a while, and --

Actually. . .explaining this Sim is going to take another post.

[victorluvsalice]

Forgotten Vows Friday: Silly/Cute “Victor and Alice in Two-Player Wonderland” Idea

Yes, another one for the pile that includes those weapon idles and Wonderland suits for Victor and all that. You know how, when you first get a weapon or test out an ability in Alice: Madness Returns, you first get a little “chalkboard tutorial” featuring a scribble of Alice showing off how it works? Well, I figure that, if you were doing the two-player Valice version, Victor would have his own character that would appear in those tutorials, showing off his weapons and how the various abilities might work for him. Seems reasonable enough, right? And honestly, I just think it would be adorable. Especially if you had stuff like a normal-sized Victor scribble riding Giant Alice scribble’s shoulder in the “stomping around Queensland” mini-game and whatnot. :) I’d try drawing an example, but a) it’s kind of hard to find reference pictures for the tutorials, shockingly and b) I’m not great with Paint, and I don’t have a electronic sketchpad of any kind. I could probably work something out on paper, but I don’t have a scanner either. . .if anyone else thinks they can manage it, feel free!

[victorluvsalice]

Once they were done trying the local food, it was time to get down to the local music! And -- well. You can see how they chose to dance. XD No, seriously, I had NOTHING to do with that -- Victor and Alice got into that position on their own. I especially like the fourth one, where it looks like Alice is looking back at Victor -- there’s a good chance that shot’s getting used for a Valicetine this year!

All that dancing was thirsty work, so they hit the bar afterwards for some drinks -- Victor got juice on the rocks, while Alice got, hilariously, a cup of tea. XD I didn’t even know they SERVED that here! And then, just to keep the party going, I sent them outside tooo -- play some chess! Yeah, strangely enough, Logic is a skill that I’ve been neglecting for this version of Victor and Alice, and I figured now was as good a time as any to try and improve it. They had a good game, and Victor ended up winning before they finally headed back home -- good for him.

And then, once they got back, the first thing on their minds? A midnight swim! I was for it and let them both swim laps and get their Fitness up a little bit, before finally sending them to bed for a bit of honeymoon woohoo. XD Which they were both very happy with, I’m glad to say. Look at those fireworks go. XD

Next time -- BIG update, as the pair head out into the jungle to find the temple and pick up some very shiny souvenirs! See you then!

[victorluvsalice]

It’s February, and you know what that means -- Valicetine’s Day is coming up! Or, rather, Valicertine’s Day, given my love for my new OT3. And to help celebrate that, I have found myself some OT3 ship memes to post for the next couple of weeks! :D Here is one by @junnieevee, which I found very nice indeed. :) As per last year’s Valice Ship Meme February, some explanations of why I did some of the things I did on this meme are under the Read More:

Jealousy/Horniness/Clinginess Levels: None of them get particularly jealous (Smiler is naturally fairly chill, while Victor and Alice tend a little more toward self-loathing, unfortunately) -- I put Alice as the highest there because we’ve SEEN her jealous in the Forgotten Vows Verse, meaning I feel like she’s the most prone to it. Horniness was easy -- Victor has a fairly low sex drive, and Alice basically has none at all unless very specific buttons are pushed, so Smiler took that by a mile. XD It was a toss-up between which of Victor and Alice would be clingier (Alice due to the loss of her family, Victor due to the loss of his first two romantic interests) -- I eventually decided Victor struck me as the clingier type and put him a little ahead of the others.

Tropes: Victor and Alice’s tropes were easy -- Alice is very much a Violently Protective Girlfriend when it comes to Victor, and their dynamic (with Alice being the harder one who knows a thing or two about fighting, and Victor being the softer one who prefers to keep to the background) does at least invoke Pitbull Dates Puppy. Victor and Smiler were a little more difficult, but after a scan through some of the romantic tropes on TV Tropes, I decided on Romantic Ribbing (as Smiler really does strike me as the type to lovingly tease their partners) and Laugh Of Love (as Smiler would definitely make Victor laugh more!). Alice and Smiler also took some thought, as they themselves aren’t in a romantic relationship -- they’re just good friends who have a common partner. However, once I confirmed Friends With Benefits was also a trope, that immediately went on there -- one of Alice’s favorite jokes is that she and Smiler are “friends with benefits,” with Victor being “benefits.” XD I also gave them Casual Kink because -- well. At least in the main Modern AU verse, the relationship IS a kinky one, and the pair are basically co-Domming Victor. XD It felt like the best fit!

Alignment Chart: Okay, this one took some thought -- I ended up putting Victor and Alice in “Neutral Good” and Smiler in “Chaotic Good” because, the way I characterize them, they’re all good people who will help others, with Victor and Alice maybe being somewhat more inclined to follow regular old laws and such than Smiler. However, I put them at the BOTTOM of those squares (with Smiler actually coming out of theirs) because I feel like there is an argument to be made that they might shade Neutral due to caring about each other and their friends most of all -- I’m really not sure. I’m not a D&D player, and I feel like this is a really subjective one. But yeah, so far, so Good.

The Graphs: The “Be Gay. . .” one was probably the easiest -- Smiler is definitely the one to do chaotic crime, while chaotically SOLVING crime is kind of the plot of Alice: Madness Returns, sooo. . . XD Victor is of course a more peaceful sort, and Corpse Bride has him accidentally solving a crime as well (that being the murder of Emily), so yeah!

“Greeting Each Other” was probably the next easiest -- I was TEMPTED to put Smiler or Alice in the “’sup bitch” quadrants, but ultimately decided it didn’t fully fit their personalities and kept them below the horizontal line -- if close to it. Smiler is definitely more of a “bro” person, though, while Alice kinda leans toward “My Love” and Victor much more strongly leans toward it. He’s probably the mushiest of the three.

“Showing Affection” -- well, I immediately knew Smiler is the kind of person who will easily and often go in for hugs and kisses with their partner, so putting them high up in the “Physical PDA” quadrant was a no-brainer. Victor and Alice I decided were more verbal (I’d already established in earlier memes that Alice is more verbal than Victor anyway), though they do like their kisses, and I decided that, due to his upbringing, Victor was probably the one more likely to keep affection behind closed doors. Though I imagine that’s a habit Alice and Smile quickly manage to break him out of. XD

“They Are. . .” was probably the hardest because -- hmmm. While was fairly comfortable putting Alice in “Jock Goth” (if only because of A:MR combining pretty, generally dark-colored dresses with lots of platforming and running around), and I was pretty certain Victor and Smiler leaned more toward “Nerd,” I wasn’t sure if either Smiler or Victor was “Goth” or “Prep.” After looking up prep styles, I decided to put Victor on the “Prep” side, and Smiler on the "Goth” one, but keep them VERY CLOSE to the line -- Victor in particular because I think you could argue he’s got Prep clothes in Goth colors. *shrug* Again, very subjective, this one!

The Middle “Who Fits This Criteria Best” Bit: I imagine some of these are easy to figure out -- Victor strikes me as very much the first to apologize after any fights; Alice is definitely the “excuse me, they asked for no pickles” girl; Victor is only too happy to use his money to spoil his beloveds; and I think I make it clear my ships all tend to be ride-or-die, with all three of them being willing to sacrifice themselves for their loved ones. But as for some of the others:

First To Confess: This is Alice because, in the modern AU, she’s the first to bring up that she’s noticed Victor and Smiler have a mutual crush going on AND that she’s open to polyamory. The trio wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without her deciding to address the elephant in the room!

First To Kiss: Victor is much more comfortable letting his partners kiss him first, due to not wanting to misjudge a situation and make it awkward. So yeah, when it came to first kisses, both Alice and Smiler initiated their respective ones.

Prone To Hide Their Feelings: Victor because he’s shy and easily convinced others will reject him; Alice because she’s either oblivious to her own feelings or is also convinced no one will feel the same way about her. Smiler is much more up front about their feelings -- when they realize they HAVE them, see below...

Wakes Up First: Fear for Victor and Alice, as I have decided Smiler is a Morning Person. XD More seriously, when thinking about it, it felt right that they’d be the first one up -- they’re maybe not the EARLIEST riser, but they’re better at getting up in the morning that Victor and Alice for sure! And a lot peppier, which is either cute or annoying depending on how groggy Victor and Alice are.

What’s Updog?: Okay, simply put, Smiler would make the “updog” joke, and Victor would fall for it. I wasn’t sure which way to read the category. XD

First To Propose: Victor seems like the one who would most worry about marriage and somehow finding a way to make their relationship more “legal.” Though I don’t know if he WOULD propose just because -- well, which one does he actually MARRY? He’d personally feel like he was leaving one of them out.

Wants Children: I was tempted to line this out, but I eventually went for the “Victor with a ?” instead because I could imagine him KINDA wanting kids (he certainly does not mind becoming a father in the Secundus and Forgotten Vows verses). But I have never actually pictured the trio WITH kids, and I think he’d be fine if it just stayed the three of them, so... *shrug*

Didn’t Know They Were Dating: This is Smiler because, in the modern AU as I’m currently picturing it, they’re actually the LAST to figure out they wanna be with Victor. XD Basically, they waved off any potential for romantic feelings as “aw, I just think he’s a bit cute, not like I want a guy who’s already partnered with such a great girl!” -- up until the hypnosis session, when Alice called Victor “darling” and it hit Smiler like a TRUCK how much THEY wanted to say that to Victor. Cue a lot of panicked texting to their friends afterward (and a lot being on the receiving end of shit from those same friends XD). But yeah, for now, poor Smiler’s the one in that category.

Initiates Contact: Basically a repeat of the “First To Kiss” category -- Victor would rather let his partners come to him with physical affection than go to them and be rejected (especially with Alice, who does prefer to be the one to initiate contact in general due to her touch thing).

Approached First: Basically a repeat of the “First To Confess” category, as Alice was, again, the first one to bring up and okay the idea of a polyamorous relationship. She’s also the one who encouraged Victor to say hi to Smiler in the first place after realizing who they were, sooo -- yeah!

Says The L Word First: I think Smiler would be the first to drop it, with Victor following behind -- I’ve given Alice trouble saying “love” in the past due to worry about what it might mean for the person she says it to (see the Secundus version of Alice, who couldn’t get it out without stuttering for most of the fic). Plus Smiler’s just the most open with their feelings, and Victor the most mushy, so yeah.

The Oblivious One: Smiler and Alice get to share this one due to a shared “it took us a while to realize we loved Victor” problem. XD Yeah, in this verse, it took Alice a little while to cotton on that she LOVED Victor, not just LIKED him, after they’d become friends, and I just explained what happened with Smiler above. It’s kind of adorable in its own way. XD

Where Are They On The Lines: I imagine most of these are reasonably easy to figure out, but a few notes just in case:

Big/Small Spoon: I have Smiler on the “Big Spoon” side and Alice on the “Small Spoon” side, but you can easily flip them -- what’s important is that Victor is sandwiched in the middle, which he really enjoys. :)

Kills The Bug/Lets It Out: I see Smiler as equally likely to kill or release the bug -- it depends on if they can catch it, where it is, and how easy a release would be. (Either that or they just get whoever’s closest to deal with it instead.)

Steals Clothes/Has Clothes Stolen: I put them all in the middle because, well, I can SEE Smiler and Alice being the type to borrow clothes -- but the different body types on display here means I’m not sure that anything any of them took from the others would FIT. Unless we’re talking some REALLY baggy hoodies and the like. Maybe they buy each other stealable clothes as the relationship goes on. XD

Swears Like A Sailor/Oh Fiddlesticks: I put Smiler closer on the “Oh Fiddlesticks” side simply because I feel they would use that kind of goofy non-swearing just for a laugh. They ARE capable of saying “fuck,” but “fudge” is often funnier. :p

Makes Dinner/Can’t Cook: They all have their strengths -- Alice is good with general cooking; Victor enjoys baking; Smiler is excellent with mixing drinks and making sauces and stuff like that. Dinner is often a team effort!

Responsible Driver/Don’t Let Them Behind The Wheel: I was tempted to make Smiler “drives like crazy,” but decided against it -- they may go a little faster than Victor would like, but they won’t do anything too reckless to avoid getting into an accident, which would really ruin everyone’s day. Meanwhile, I see Alice as wanting to be responsible, but oftentimes she DOESN’T drive because having a Wonderland hallucination on the road would be -- bad.

Can Live In A Dumpster/Clean Freak: Well, it’s not exactly a dumpster, but yeah, easy for me to picture Smiler as the messiest of the lot. The kind to leave clothes on the floor and water bottles in odd places. :p

[victorluvsalice]

Valice Calendar In Honor Of 15 Years

Yeah, you read the title right -- as of 2023, I will have been shipping Victor Van Dort from Corpse Bride with Alice Liddell from American McGee’s Alice and Alice: Madness Returns for FIFTEEN YEARS. I actually went back into my old LiveJournal/Dreamwidth entries some time ago to see if I could pinpoint when the hell I actually started shipping them -- turns out it was June 22nd, 2008 when I first mentioned having shipping thoughts about them (in response to a TV Tropes binge apparently). Granted, it was in the context of “what the fuck, me, you know they’d be a terrible pairing,” but -- yeah. We see how long that attitude lasted. XD And that means that next June, it’ll be 15 years! Holy hell.

So! Given that 15 years is a bit of a milestone, I thought I’d set up a “Valice Calendar” for the next year so I know which dates I should try and acknowledge as Important Valice Dates. :) Some of these should already be familiar to my regular followers, as I’m already in the habit of doing something special for them, while the rest are from that deep dive into my journaling past:

January 27th -- the date that I posted my first Valice fic, “Suffocating,” on my LiveJournal! Which was obviously in 2009, not 2008, but still a momentous occasion! Also, conveniently, the birth date of Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll.

February 14th -- Valicetine Day, obviously :)

May 4th -- the historical Alice Liddell’s birthday, and thus my Alice’s birthday!

June 9th -- Johnny Depp’s birthday, and as I have a habit of using actor birthdays if a canonical one is not given for a character, thus my Victor’s birthday! (Also, amusingly, the birth date of Michael J. Fox, and thus also my take on Marty McFly, which comes up in “Secundus.”)

June 14th -- release date of Alice: Madness Returns in North America! (According to Wikipedia, anyway, but I can confirm because I got my copy from GameStop the very next day.)

June 22nd -- as stated above, the first time I mentioned thinking about shipping Victor/Alice back in 2008! Even if I thought at the time it was also a pure crackship. XD

JULY 7TH -- Victor and Alice’s wedding anniversary! Which I picked because a) I liked the idea of a summer wedding and b) it’s easy to remember. *facepalm*

September 10th -- first mention in 2008 of me associating songs with the ship (I believe it was “Love Me Dead”); the entry indicated I’d already started associating any vaguely romantic songs with them, but this was the first time I mentioned a specific one, so we’re going with this.

September 23rd -- release date of Corpse Bride in the United States! (According to Wikipedia again, but I’m inclined to believe them.)

October 6th -- Mad Hatter Day (because of the date -- 10/6 like on his hat) and thus just a general Alice day of mention. (I’ve also seen it stated as a release date for the first game, but I’ve never been able to fully confirm that.)

October 31st -- Halloween! Not a specific Valice date, but this is the holiday that sees the biggest spike in interest in the two fandoms, sooo. . .

November 27th -- first mention of me starting to seriously think about fanfic for Valice! Seems weirdly appropriate I’d publish the first one exactly two months later. :p

December 6th -- release date of American McGee’s Alice in North America! (Again, according to Wikipedia -- as stated above, I’ve also seen October 6th cited, and November 22nd on at least one site, so -- I’m just going with this!)

December 8th -- the first time I had one of my RP Alices (”save_us_alice,” though she didn’t have her journal at the time) call one of my RP Victors (”deadgirlsliekme” -- the proper spelling had been taken!) her “boyfriend.” While I’d obviously started genuinely shipping them before that, this is the first date that I saw anything about the pairing being Official, so again, we’re going with this.

December 27th -- my birthday, which -- as the person who came up with this ship -- I feel deserves to be recognized. :p

So yeah, that’s kind of the official Valice Calendar! :D Except -- well. You guys know that a certain OT3 has become very popular around here as well, huh? So yeah, because I know me, here’s also a handful of Valicer dates --

January 8th -- the actual creation of Smiler Always, the sim that informed the look of all my human/humanoid Smilers for my AUs, and their insertion into the Chill Save.

May 31st -- the actual opening date of The Smiler roller coaster! (It was supposed to open earlier, but delays in the final construction meant that it missed the first two dates.) Meaning this is the birthday of my own Smiler!

December 27th -- yes, doubling up with my birthday, because -- well. December 26th of 2021, I watched “One Night In - Alton Towers” with my parents, which led to us looking up a bunch of the rides on YouTube so we could see what they were like. Which included one called “The Smiler,” which I found myself very intrigued by the next day. . .meaning you can trace my Smiler obsession and the eventual creation of the OT3 to me binging Smiler videos and lore posts on my birthday last year.

December 31st -- the date four days later where I realized that the “private hypnokinky AU with Victor and Alice using the coaster’s theming for private fun times” had somehow become “I have made a human Smiler, a vampire Smiler, and a robot-run-by-an-eldritch-abomination Smiler for three different AUs VICTOR WHY DO YOU WANT TO FUCK A ROLLER COASTER” XD AKA the more EXPLICIT creation date of the OT3.

Okay, that should cover just about everything. XD Next year, we celebrate Valice (and Valicer) in style! :)

[victorluvsalice]

I did say last week I was planning on doing a few others, right? Welcome to Ship Meme February! :D I’ve seen a couple of ship memes going around the various tags I frequent, and I figured that filling out a few would be a fun thing to do for the month in which Valicetine’s Day falls. ;) First up is this “My Ship In Five Minutes” meme that I’ve mainly seen in the #fallout 4 tag (and is apparently available at imgur here -- thank you very much, @its-sixxers!)! It’s not that dissimilar to @kalidels‘s ship meme from last week, as you can see, but there are a few things I’d like to discuss under the read-more:

Checkboxes: Most of these are self-explanatory -- and, again, some of them are shared with the previous meme from Kalidels -- like Alice being the main cook while Victor bakes. A few of them, though, I’d like to expand on my thoughts --

The more popular/charismatic: This has a half-tick for Victor “mostly because of Fallout of Darkness,” as per the text. Generally in my fics both Victor and Alice are on the outcast side in the respective social circles -- BUT, in FoD, Victor is the General of the Minutemen and his general kindness and willingness to help makes him a very popular leader around the Commonwealth. Victor himself is baffled by this, as his Charisma score is a 2 to start out with, but. . .yeah. Add in that even in more canonical universes, Victor comes from a rich family and is allowed to get away with more for that reason alone, and I decided it deserved half a tick.

The best caregiver when the other is sick: I imagine they’d both do their best, but Alice would have more experience in any verse where she looked after the kids in Houndsditch, and I suspect Victor’s desire to help would be hampered a bit by his natural worrier tendencies. Thus it goes to Alice.

Does the housework: “They divide up chores,” as stated! I don’t know HOW they divide them up yet -- maybe it’s a lottery system, maybe each has a job they really hate so the other one offers to do that -- but they do try to keep it equal.

Does most of the speaking: Victor is shy and awkward; Alice is snarky and doesn’t care who knows it. No contest. XD

The overprotective one: Victor has shades of this, due to usually having lost his chance with previous loves (or just lost his previous loves -- sorry FoD!Victor), but Alice is the one who had to flee her burning house as the sole survivor of her family and spent ten years in an asylum coming to terms with that. She is NOT letting ANYTHING happen to Victor.

Designated driver: “Neither are big drinkers” -- I don’t drink, so my characters usually don’t either. If pressed, I could see them trading off in situations where they seem themselves drinking -- or both acting as drivers for other friends who are drinking.

Has good penmanship: My original thought was “the only penmanship we ever see is Victor’s, which is pretty neat” -- but then I remembered we get a couple of Alice’s diary pages at the end of the old Storybook app, and went to look up that and the font used on YouTube. I can confirm it’s fairly scratchy, which means my answer stands. (I always figured good penmanship was more enforced with Victor than Alice anyway!)

Has more experience with relationships: BARELY in most cases, but Victor’s story revolves around him and marriage, while Alice canonically has no love interest, sooo. . .

Sensitive to subtle changes in their partner: I wasn’t sure about this one at first, but I gave it to Alice as she was pretty aware of Victor being “off” at the beginning of “Fixing You.” I wouldn’t say Victor’s unaware of changes in Alice, but -- well, let’s face it, I usually give Alice the ability to “cheat” this sort of thing through Wonderland noticing stuff. :p

The one who dies protecting the other: “Both would, no questions asked.” Says it all really, huh?

Graphs: “Attachment” and “Jealousy” are pretty much identical to Kalidels’s version -- Alice can be a little more independent while Victor gets a little more anxious, but they’re both protective; Alice can get a little more jealous and they both need space to deal. As for the others --

Showing Affection: This is similar but not identical to “Expressing Affection” on Kalidels’s, so I ended up adjusting my answer. Alice is more verbal and more likely to take the lead; Victor is more reactive, but I decided he’d be most likely to take the initiative on giving presents (remember, that’s one of his love languages), so I ended up sticking him in that corner of the graph. It’s a bit of a tricky one, but I’m happy enough with that placement for now.

How It Happens: Have I EVER had them court each other intentionally? XD Yeah, these two falling into a friendship, then being shocked to realize that they’re actually in LOVE is my go-to for this relationship. Alice got put higher-up than Victor on the “falls in love slowly” axis because she generally takes longer to recognize her feelings for what they are (see Forgotten Vows!Alice being oblivious for the vast majority of “Forgetting You”).

Handling Conflict: They don’t fight often, and when they do, while they need some time alone afterward, they don’t let bad feelings linger. Victor in particular tries to avoid fights and forgives quicker than Alice, I feel -- probably at least partly due to his anxiety, and growing up the son of Nell Van Dort, who you do NOT want mad at you.

Relationship Attitude: Oh yeah, they’re dedicated. They regularly go through HELL for each other. I put Alice on the “reserved” side of the line and Victor on the “PDA” side as I think, under normal circumstances, Victor’s the one a little more willing to be open with his affections among strangers.

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Valicetine’s Day, everybody! :D As is typical for this day for the past seven or so years, I have some Valice-themed valentines for you all! And, as has become typical since 2016, they’re based around my Sim versions of the couple, since it’s very easy for me to get pictures of them being appropriately romantic. XD

Text for each Valicetine, for those who might have trouble reading:

1. “Valentine, you make me sing my heart out! Almost literally, in fact. Happy Valicetine’s Day!” (featuring Alice serenading Victor -- which she did on her own, I might like to point out. My game ships them almost as much as I do!)

2. “Loving you. . .is my favorite tradition to fulfill! Happy Valicetine’s Day!” (featuring Victor giving Alice a rose to fulfill the “giving flowers” tradition of Egg Day)

3. “I’m not afraid to get steamy with you, Valentine! (Within reason. There are other people here.) Happy Valicetine’s Day!” (featuring Victor giving Alice a massage in the Center of Center Massage Parlor sauna on their recent date, and a reference to the fact that, if Jennifer hadn’t been there, I might have tried sauna woohoo XD)

[victorluvsalice]

THE ANXIETY, WILLOW, Tyler Cole - Meet Me At Our Spot (Official Audio) by THE ANXIETY

It’s the weekend before Valicetine’s -- how about a new Valicey song I’ve recently become enamored with on the radio? It’s a simple song, but it gives me the vibes as a good Alice/Victor duet -- Willow’s portion about not even being able to stay up and sleeping through the day suits Alice not being able to work herself free of Wonderland in her waking life, and Tyler’s portion about not being to get to sleep because something’s got a hold of him feels very Victor in my opinion. Plus I just like the mental image of Victor and Alice having a private spot where they can just chill together, or taking a drive together on a lonely road. :) Like I said, gives me the vibes.