victorluvsalice

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Birthday Nebby!

@nebbychan -- when I asked you for ideas, you indicated you were looking for something involving my Valicer trio showing up somewhere in your "MediEvil II Resurrection" fic. And, as you may remember, when we started discussing which scenes they could appear in, I ended up latching onto them being a part of the "Freakshow" chapter. So that's what I went with! Please enjoy this AU scene where knife-thrower Alice, alchemist Smiler, and late-lingering guest Victor find themselves magically trapped in the midway, watching a mysterious skeletal knight battling his way through the foes around him..

---

“W-what’s going on now?”

“Well, the Flapjack just ended up somersaulting straight into one of the Fiji mermaid tanks,” Smiler reported, peeking out from behind the stage they were all hiding behind. “Have to say, they’re taking being mauled like a champ. Still got the smiles on their faces.”

“Maybe they’re just glad their horrible existence is being ended,” Alice muttered, peeking out beside them and shuddering as she saw the mermaids tearing apart her unfortunate fellow performer. “I don’t know what terrible arts the circus used to make that poor fellow, but I never got the impression either half was genuinely happy to be like that.”

“Me either – and you know me, I know happy,” Smiler agreed, giving her a nod. “I think that skeletal knight agrees with us – he looks pretty disturbed by the whole thing. Which is impressive, given he’s got one eye and no actual face.”

“Skeletons can be surprisingly expressive, in my experience,” Victor said, venturing forward to take a look himself. “Though, ah, I-I’ll grant you that it’s impressive for this fellow in particular, given he has no lower jaw either...he’s definitely not one of the exhibits, right?” he added. “I know I didn’t see him when I was wandering around earlier...”

“If he was hired or acquired by the ringmaster, nobody told me,” Alice said. “And I’m reluctant to pop out and ask him – mostly because I’m not sure how he’d answer.”

“He seems capable of making sounds – I’d swear he screamed earlier,” Smiler told her.

“And in the Land of the Dead, there was a man, Paul, who was merely a head, and he could talk just fine,” Victor added, watching as the knight pulled his eye away from the remains of the Flapjack with a shudder. “The lack of a jaw might not matter as much as you – oh!”

“What – oh,” Alice said as she caught sight of the ginormous form of the Pincushion, looking rather worse for wear than she remembered, lumbering up to the startled knight as he tried to continue on. “Yes, that’s not good for our skeletal friend – the Pincushion not only can take a sword to the back, he knows how to use them too.”

Victor grimaced. “Poor man...I saw him earlier, back before – whatever happened,” he said, waving a hand to try and encompass all the weirdness they’d recently experienced. “I couldn’t understand how he could have so many swords sticking out of him and not, well, d-die.”

“Oh, that’s easy – he’s got a very high tolerance for pain; a lot of fat for the swords to get stuck in before they do any major damage to his internal organs; a probably-inherited tendency to heal quickly – and most of the ‘swords’ are just hilts stuck to him with glue,” Smiler told him with a grin. “This is a carnival – most of what we do here is trickery of some kind.”

“He does have some real swords, though,” Alice added, watching as the Pincushion drew one from his flesh. “And like I said, he knows how to use them. Though I guess the knight does have that cane of his – maybe he can shatter the Pincushion like he did those mermaids that came after him earlier.”

“Maybe – I’d love to know how that thing works,” Smiler said, grinning as the knight raised said cane high. “And it looks like we’re about to get a demonstration! All right, it looks like it gathers some sort of energy, and then when he slams it on the ground, it releases it all in one big shockwave – oooh! But whatever it is, it’s not enough to knock the Pincushion over! He must be just too heavy!”

“So I see – and the knight does not look keen on trying to swordfight with just a cane,” Alice agreed, biting her lip.

“It’s better than a fork,” Victor mumbled, grimacing as the mysterious knight began dueling the Pincushion, an expression of pure panic on his jawless skull. “Oh dear...and here’s me thinking I’d be happy to have my story about the dead being able to walk proven to the world at large...”

“To be fair, your particular set of dead didn’t seem keen on mauling everyone around them – just one particular murderer,” Alice said, frowning as the Pincushion forced the knight back, closer and closer to the Fiji mermaid tanks. “Whereas this fellow – well, I think he could use a little help.” Before either of her companions could object, she darted from their cover, pulling one of her knives from her belt and launching it at the Pincushion’s face.

Her aim, as always, was true – the blade landed right in the unfortunate zombie’s eye. He roared in pain – then screamed again as a bang! put a hole in his shoulder. Alice jerked her head around to see – “Professor Kift!”

“Alice!” Kift lowered his pistol. “I didn’t realize you were still here – I thought the other performers had mostly managed to escape! Is anyone else trapped?”

“Yes – it’s me, Smiler from the alchemy show, and a late-lingering guest, Victor,” Alice told him, gesturing over to her companions – Smiler gave Kift an enthusiastic wave, Victor a more half-hearted one. “We were sealed in when those weird gates suddenly sprung up, and – well, you’re the expert on magic. Do you have any idea what happened?”

“Simply put, an imp stole one of my spellbooks, and now we have a magical disaster on our hands,” Kift said – then beamed, gesturing at the skeletal knight. “Fortunately, we have the Hero of Gallowmere himself, Sir Daniel Fortesque, on hand to assist us!”

Splooosh! Alice turned just in time to see the Pincushion topple into a mermaid tank, the knight – Daniel – standing over him with the remains of one of those “test your strength” mallets in hand. He tossed the stick away and picked up the broadsword the zombie had dropped with an approving noise. “Well, he’s acquitting himself well enough against the current crop of monsters,” she allowed. “I don’t suppose the three of us could tail behind you and him for the time being?”

“I – it’s going to be dangerous,” Kift hedged. “And you are all civilians...”

“So are you,” Alice retorted with a frown. “And it’s not like we can’t take care of ourselves – I’m the best knife-thrower this carnival has ever seen; Smiler has all their alchemical equipment and can probably whip us up a bomb if we need one; and Victor – well, according to him he once dueled a man wielding a sword with a barbecue fork and got three hits on the fellow before being knocked down, so he can’t be utterly useless in a fight. And, frankly, if we’re going to be stuck in this miserable nightmare of a circus, I think it’s best that we stay near the people with the biggest weapons.”

Kift laughed at that. “All right – but it’s up to Sir Fortesque,” he said, getting Daniel’s attention. “He’s the hero, so he has final say.”

“Fair enough.” Alice turned and waved Smiler and Victor over. “Come on, you two! Looks like we’re having an adventure tonight!”

[victorluvsalice]

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A post shared by Zachary Rubin, MD (@rubin_allergy)

‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

Hey, this is important and I'm gonna use up spoons I maybe shouldn't to spread awareness of this because it's that important! There is a wide-reaching heat dome expected over the next 3-5 days (as of 6/20/2025). Especially if you and your loved ones are immunocompromised, elderly, pregnant, or disabled, take precautions to stay safe. Stay inside with the AC on as much as you can. If you don't have AC, look now for a library, cooling center, or another community space that has it where you can spend as much time as possible in over the next several days. If you do have to be outside, limit your time outside, hydrate well with electrolytes, wear sunscreen and reapply it as needed, and wear loose fitting and light colored clothing so it doesn't absorb as much heat. Check on your friends and loved ones, especially those who are at high risk. Familiarize yourself with the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke and what to do about them.

Also, Dr. Rubin (and his wife, who's really cool and smart too) is on multiple platforms, including Instagram and Substack spreading awareness of health issues and what's going on with public health in the US. I've found them both to be good sources of reliable information in an accessible manner. He also has a book on allergies and allergic diseases coming out, if that's something you'd be interested in learning more about. People like @thebibliosphere, I'm not sure if it's going to talk about MCAS, but he does talk about it in some of his videos.

"Signs of heat stroke

High body temperature

Hot, red, dry or damp skin

Fast, strong pulse

Headache

Dizziness

Nausea

Confusion

Passing out

Heat stroke occurs when the body is unable to regulate its temperature. This happens when the sweating mechanism fails and the body cannot cool down, according to the CDC.

Having a heat stroke can cause the body temperature to rise to 106°F or higher within 10 to 15 minutes.

How to treat someone with heat stroke

If you see any of the listed signs, call 911 immediately because a heat stroke can be life-threatening. Then move the person to a shady area and cool them off with something, but do not give them anything to drink.

Signs of heat exhaustion

Heavy sweating

Cold, pale and clammy skin

Fast, weak pulse

Nausea or vomiting

Muscle cramps

Tired or weakness

Dizziness

Headache

Fainting

How to treat someone with heat exhaustion

Move the person to a cool place, and give them some water to sip. Some cooling methods include wetting the skin, soaking clothing with cool water, or giving them a cold shower or ice bath if possible.

Call 911 if symptoms last more than an hour, if they get worse or if they are throwing up."

(The emphasis is mine.)

Source:

[victorluvsalice]

I feel like tumblr should be bigger fans of The Blues Brothers. It's a movie that has everything we value as a community. Attention and respect to pioneering black musicians, open hostility to nazis, open defiance to police, Carrie Fisher with a rocket launcher and flamethrower, a soundtrack that goes hard as hell, John Belushi so blasted on cocaine that he continues to do somersaults despite having a broken ankle. It's got it all!

[victorluvsalice]

Finally some appropriate business formal atire for high powered executives like you and me.

[victorluvsalice]

Another thing fandom needs to start doing more of is projecting on tops.

There are delicious amounts of psychological distress you can inflict on that guy once you get into his head. The brainworms of forcing agency and initiative on someone who genuinely is Not Fucking Ready For It are exquisite.

[victorluvsalice]

"why do you write?" because it’s the only way to silence the characters pacing around my brain like victorian ghosts with unresolved issues that prevent them from moving on.

[victorluvsalice]

Three by Gaia Consort

Well, much of this week has been at least lightly poly-themed (especially with the completed Polyheart OT3 build on Wednesday) so why don't we cap it off with another poly song taken from @polyamorousmood's famous list? I chose this one basically at random, and while I wasn't sure I was going to like it at first, it ended up winning me over. :) I think it was mainly the chorus that did it (official lyrics from Gaia Consort's site):

Every touch our grace is multiplied Every kiss our souls are opened wide Every moment is precious and sanctified And our time is filling like cups of honey wine Sweeter the water, the deeper the well Life is spilling out all over We're spilling out over ourselves

Isn't that just beautiful? :) And definitely a mood when it comes to my beloved Valicer OT3 -- I can picture them all tangled up in each other when I read/listen to these lyrics, just enjoying as much of each other as possible, feeling like the world is so much brighter and warmer and better now that they're together. Excellent stuff. :) And while the name of the song is "Three," and focuses on someone building up from being strong in themselves, to finding a partner, to creating the perfect triad, a little nearer the end we get:

Four – who knows what the future will bring Four – now I know three works I'm open to possibly more

Which I think works well with the fact that I do have some larger polycules that Victor, Alice, and Smiler are all involved in! Granted, the groups jump from three to five and from three to nine, respectively, but still. "Open to possibly more" could mean even more than four! :P Bottom line, it's a nice song, and it's got some good Valicer vibes to me. If you like poly-themed music, give it a try!

[victorluvsalice]

love is stored in the fictional couple i’ve gotten overly invested in

[victorluvsalice]

Bringing this post back around because:

A) It's Pride and thus appropriate to remind you all of my gender and sexuality headcanons for my Valicer trio and all their friends/potential partners/potential metamours

B) I was originally going to reblog it back onto my RP blog again as something to stick in my queue during a quiet period...and then spotted the following tags on the original reblog:

#((the definitive list!#well mostly definitive#I'd do an update with Doc and Marty if I was feeling less period-y#but the short version is I think Doc's some version of gray-ace#because he wasn't really interested in romance or sex until Clara#and Marty's either het or bi#I will figure it out in full later))

And -- well, it is later, and I'm not periody at the moment, so let's indeed figure this out for Doc and Marty -- and let's throw Clara and Jennifer in there for good measure, since they appear in the AUs where the BTTF characters appear more often than not these days:

Doc Brown: Cis male, Demiheteroromantic heterosexual

My "some version of gray-ace" has evolved into Doc being mostly straight, but needing an emotional bond of some kind to experience romantic attraction. Hence why women are the "other great mystery of the universe" to him. XD Now, you may say that doesn't really sync up well with him falling in love at first sight with Clara, but I argue that there's no better way to speedrun an emotional bond than saving someone's life! XD And you can't say that they didn't find they had a lot in common VERY fast in the third movie. So yeah, Doc's on the demi side of things.

Marty McFly: Cis male, Biromantic Bisexual (strong lean toward women partners)

I wasn't sure if Marty was going to be bisexual or straight for a while -- in the end, though I decided it would be interesting if he had at least some attraction toward guys, such as the occasional crush on a famous actor or musician. Not that he ever really acts on it, because a) he grew up in the 80s, not exactly a kind decade for queer people and b) he is of the monogamous persuasion and fell in with Jennifer pretty quick. Though perhaps he's a little more open about it when he's older -- maybe Junior is bi too, and Marty comes out in solidarity?

Clara Clayton: Cis female, Demiheteroromantic Demiheterosexual

I decided pretty quickly that Clara was probably the same stripe as Doc, but decided to make her demi for both romance and sex based on what I remembered of her backstory in the "Clara's Story" comic. It just seemed right that she'd need an emotional connection to be attracted to a guy, and she really wasn't getting that with the suitors she had back in New Jersey! And again, I know, the "love at first sight" thing, but again, Doc saved her life -- that's an instant connection right there!

Jennifer Parker: Cis female, Heteroromantic, Heterosexual

And here we have another straight person to keep Bonejangles company. XD She just strikes me as straight! Though I'm also sure she's a proud ally, supporting all of her family and friends in their identities. Especially her beloved husband and kids (because of course I also subscribe to the "trans Marlene" headcanon).

Okay, THAT will do it. Happy Pride, all!

AU Thursday: Mega Gender/Sexuality Headcanon Post

Because it’s Pride Month, and because I just did a post on all the various ships I have featuring Victor, Alice, and their friends/potential partners. Time to bring everyone up to date on my various headcanons regarding their genders and sexualities! To make things a little easier on myself, I’m using the names that they would have in the Running Headlong Into The Bullshit mega-poly ship (that is, the Modern AU one where the first nine people here are all in one big relationship tangle together), but you can assume that these headcanons also apply to other versions of them from other verses (e.g., the headcanon for Christopher White also applies to Sir Christopher Lloyd in “Secundus”).

Here we go:

Victor Van Dort: Cis male, Biromantic Bisexual (leans toward women partners)

Victor used to be my token straight person, but then I started realizing that I could picture him easily being in a relationship with the right sort of man (or nonbinary person, see below), and things evolved from there. He does still tend to lean toward women partners, and that preference is why he identifies more as “bi” than “pan,” but he is attracted to multiple genders!

Alice Liddell: Cis female, Demipanromantic Greyasexual

Otherwise known as “the complicated one.” XD This is largely because I’d already established her as willing to have sex with Victor to the point of having biological children by the time I found the “Ace Alice” headcanons and decided I rather liked them (also, noticed a lot of what they said about asexuality fit me…) Having played around with her character a bit more over the course of my stories, both public and not, I have come to the conclusions that a) she doesn’t really have any gender preferences, but she does need a strong emotional bond with someone to start seeing them as a romantic interest; b) she is generally uninterested in sex (if neutral toward its existence, despite her traumas) but has a few specific circumstances that can get her motor, if not running full speed, at least puttering. (These circumstances are invariably very specifically kinky because I know what I like when it comes to those sort of stories. There is a reason that I would call any specifically NSFW writing handle “Alice Dommes Victor” or similar!)

Victoria Everglot: Cis female, Biromantic Bisexual

By contrast, Victoria’s easy – she’s basically a “perfect” bisexual, with a roughly equal attraction toward her own and other genders. There might be a tiny lean toward men as partners, but I suspect that shows up more in Victorian-era Victorias than modern ones.

Emily Cartwell-Merrimack: Cis female, Biromantic Lesbian

I don’t recall exactly when I decided it would be interesting for Emily to be romantically but not sexually attracted to men, but it must have been around the time I discovered that romantic attraction and sexual attraction didn’t NECESSARILY have to match. But yeah, as it turns out, I picture Emily as someone who is happy to be romantic with multiple genders, but is exclusively attracted to her own when it comes to sex. Victorian-era Emilys either don’t realize they don’t have a “proper” attraction to men or figure everything will work out once they get married to their One True Male Love; more modern ones come to grips with their sexuality earlier and happily embrace their “three-quarters lesbian” nature. :p

Christopher White: Cis male, Biromantic Bisexual

Another fairly simple one – the Christophers were initially conceived of as straight, like Victor, but I embraced the bi when I updated the character for the Cuddlepile poly pairing. Like Victoria, they have roughly equal attraction to a variety of genders, with maybe a slight lean toward women.

Richard Hatter: Agender (amab) with “xe/xim” pronouns; Panromantic Asexual (no gender preference, no interest in sex)

Another one where things got interesting – learning about different sexualities also involved learning about different gender identities, and I was already familiar with neo-pronouns through earlier RP on LiveJournal, so I figured I could make one of the original Cuddlepile have a different gender identity than “cis.” Richard felt like a good choice, as I can’t see even Hatter in the games having an especially strong connection to the concept of being male. So yeah, Richard is like “Gender? Nah” – though obviously only the modern versions use the “xe/xim” pronouns – the Victorian-era “Richard Dodgson” from “Secundus” just goes with “he/him” because that’s what he’s used to by this point (and because I wrote that version, again, before learning about all this). I think I had xim as just bi all the way before, but panromantic feels more right to me the more I think about it – and I’ve also NEVER been able to imagine xim having sex (I’m not sure some of the more robotic ones even have the capability anymore), so yeah – asexual it is!

Preston Garvey: Cis male, Biromantic Bisexual

Back to fairly simple for good old Preston – he’s a romanceable companion in FO4, and you can flirt with him no matter your character’s gender, so – basically he’s CANONICALLY bi! Doesn’t get easier than that!

Piper Wright: Cis female, Biromantic Bisexual (leans toward women partners)

Piper is slightly more complicated – like Preston, she’s a romanceable companion in FO4 regardless of player gender, so canonically bi. But she ALSO has a reasonably well-known moment where she accidentally flirts with Magnolia and gets flustered if you take her to The Third Rail and then talk to Magnolia after her set. I’ve decided this is good enough for me to push her toward generally favoring women partners, though she likes guys too if they hit the right buttons (which my Sole Survivor Victor does – as does Preston!).

Smiler Alton: Nonbinary (amab) with “they/them” pronouns; Panromantic Pansexual

This one proved to be easy after I devoured as much information on The Smiler roller coaster as I could on tumblr – the moment I discovered the coaster and its theming shares the colors of the nonbinary flag, I knew my Smiler had to be nonbinary too. And given The Smiler’s thing is spreading joy and happiness to all, pan felt like the right label for their romantic and sexual attractions – why would someone like that have a gender preference? (Which is very much reflected in my Sim Smiler Always and their Wonderful Whims attractions. XD) Smiler loves who they love, and they’re very happy that way.

Lizzie Liddell: Cis female, Demibiromantic demibisexual (sex-repulsed after trauma)

Lizzie, by contrast, proved to be difficult simply because – well. The big character beat of her life in the Alice games is what Bumby did to her. Looking at how I wrote her in “In The Land Of The Dead” and “The Technicolor Phase” and thinking about the kind of person I picture her as, I have decided that, like her sister, she’s capable of being attracted to multiple genders, but she needs to form a strong bond with the person first. However, her experience with Bumby left her heavily sex-repulsed, so she’s unlikely to actually want to have sex with anyone. (Not that she can in the stories I’ve written for her so far, but yeah.)

Jeremy Samuel “Bonejangles” Thatcher: Cis male, Hetero-romantic Heterosexual

…I have decided we do need a token straight and BJ strikes me as such. XD He likes the ladies and that’s that. (Well, so far he likes Lizzie and that’s that, but I implied an at least sexual history with other women in “In The Land Of The Dead.”)

[victorluvsalice]

Hey, everyone -- I am pleased to announce that, after much trial and error and fiddling around with things, the Polyheart OT3 house is now officially done inside AND out! :D Yes, as hinted at in previous posts, I decided that, after all the work I put into the interior of the house, I didn't want to leave the lot around it blank -- my OT3 deserves better than that. So I proceeded to give them a heart-shaped pool; a barbecue area to go with the heart-shaped pool; a heart-shaped mini-greenhouse to match the heart-shaped pool on the other side of the house; and a picnic area to match the barbecue area. Because I like symmetry and I figured, if I already had a heart-shaped house... XD I also made a couple of last-minute tweaks to the interior (separate from the Pride SDX drop updates I showcased last month), because I am never truly satisfied with anything. :p Let me take you through all the changes in a little more detail:

Interior: As stated above, I made four little tweaks to the interior of the house while finishing off the build:

->I added a coffee table to the living room! Because the longer I looked at it, the more I was like "it needs a coffee table -- if only because I think the couch is a little too close to the TV." :p The coffee table is the one from Paranormal Stuff to match the couch and armchair (in the purple swatch with the flowers painted on top because pretty), while the plant atop it is the base game "Feng Shui Planter." Because I felt it needed a plant, and that was like the ONLY one that looked good atop it without taking up too much space. Trust me, I went through a LOT of options. *shakehead* Decorating in Sims 4 is hard sometimes, let me tell you.

->I swapped out the "Panels of Perfection" multi-canvas painting of the winding river over the dining table in the kitchen for a giant picture of some chocolate chip pancakes and bacon from Dine Out – while I really liked that river picture, I thought the breakfast scene was just more fun, and went well with the "fried egg" rug under the dining table. *shrug* I'll find a place for that river painting in another build!

->I adjusted the placement of the big fancy "cherry blossom branch" triptych picture in the right-hand hall, outside Victor’s room, so it lined up a bit better with the other set of three pictures nearby (it just looked kinda weird otherwise), and added a Werewolves "Moonwood Mill Print" picture in the "butterfly print, silver frame" swatch on the bit of diagonal wall next to the grandfather clock (I’ve been wanting to put something on there for AGES, and a butterfly picture felt very appropriate given it’s right outside Victor’s personal space).

->And I moved the knitted pride flag decoration I added to the left-hand hall in the "Pride SDX" update so it was next to the bedroom door, rather than across from it, then adjusted that picture of the lady with the wacky blue hair on a yellow background so it was more properly centered on the opposite wall. Because I though the pride flag made more sense next to the door, and the painting just looked better centered -- though I don't know why it looks so flat in that picture! Like, seriously, it didn't look that 2D the last time I took a picture of it from a Sim's-eye view! Weird...

Pool: This was the first thing I added to the exterior of the lot -- mostly because I really wanted to see if I could make a heart-shaped pool to go with the house. XD Turns out I could, and I'm actually quite happy with how it came out! :) As for more specific details:

->Lovestruck was pretty instrumental in making everything look good out here -- both the pink-yellow-and-blue pool tiles and the fancy mosaic terracotta tiles around it are from that pack, as are I believe the big hanging strings of star-shaped lights at the back separating the pool from the barbecue area (they're fun, colorful, and provide some really good light!)

->The colorful outdoor lanterns going around the edge of the pool area, and the cute frog-shaped fountain sitting at the center of the bumps of the heart, are from I believe Backyard Stuff (I had to include the frog fountain when I saw it -- it would be the kind of thing Smiler insisted on XD)

->The rainbow lounger floatie and the regular loungers under their shade umbrella are from Island Living, as you might expect (the spiral one is Smiler's, obviously, while the triangles one is Alice's (couldn't find a decent red one)and the blue dots one is Victor's)

->You may be able to spot one of the Outdoor Retreat coolers and the Seasons water balloon bucket by the "entrance" to the barbecue area -- I thought it made sense to provide the trio with places to get cold drinks and water balloons if they were in the mood for either

->And I hung up the hose decoration on the exterior wall near the water balloon bucket because I wanted to include it somewhere in the build (it just didn't QUITE fit in the greenhouse), and I felt it made sense to put it near the thing that would need to be filled up with water on the regular. XD

Barbecue Area: After creating the pool, I decided it looked kind of weird on its own over in the front left corner of the lot (not in the least because it butted up right against the edge of the buildable area), so I figured I might as well extend out the patio to create an "official" outdoor eating area along the side of the house! Because, honestly, how can you have a pool but not a barbecue? :P Here are the deets on that space:

->The table and chairs are -- I BELIEVE Backyard Stuff, but don't quote me on that -- it's been a while since I placed them. I just really liked that blue fabric with the multicolored polka dots all over it -- it was fun, AND it had all of the trio's colors in it, yay~

->The barbecue I'm reasonably certain is from Perfect Patio (it's the nicest one in my game, at any rate -- only the best for my OT3!), while the counters I think are the base game "Harbringer" counters? They're whatever counter came in the right yellow, red, and blue swatches while also looking like they belong outdoors, anyway! (And I appreciate that I didn't take a very good photo of them, but trust me, I spent a lot of time trying to find good "outdoor" counters for this space! Even if I can't tell you off the top of my head which ones I chose. XD) Naturally, I covered them with every barbecue-related bit of decor I could find, plus the "Party Pak" plastic plates and cutlery from Toddler Stuff. Because you're not using the good china with barbecue.

->For lighting, I added a few strings of the fun Backyard Stuff flip-flop lights to the side wall to help light the space up, along with another string of star lights over the BBQ itself -- this place is surprisingly well-lit at night as a result!

->And, if you were wondering where the mural that used to be behind the TV in the living room went, it's now out here next to the dining table! Sized down a bit and carefully placed with "move_objects on" because it wouldn't stick to the slightly-curved wall on its own. I just really liked the idea of having this beautiful bright mural next to the table to provide something nice and summery to look at while the trio, and any friends they might have over, eat. :) Probably makes more sense here than behind the TV too.

Picnic Area: After getting the pool, the barbecue area, and the greenhouse (below) sorted, I struggled for a while with what I wanted to do with the back-right corner of the lot -- I didn't want to just leave it blank, but I wasn't sure what activities my OT3 would enjoy that would also suit the space. I eventually went for a picnic area because I thought it would be cute for the trio to have a spot that was designated for more informal outdoor dining -- and come on, who doesn't like a picnic? :) And once I had that sorted, that allowed me to come up with more ideas for the space and things they could do around their picnic spot! :) Accordingly, we have:

->The base game telescope, for gazing up at the stars at night (well, probably more gazing up at the TREES on this lot, but I tried!)

->The Backyard Stuff bird feeder for feeding the local birds (which I put in front of Victor's window because I figured he'd enjoy watching the birds while playing the piano :) )

->The Lovestruck checkered blanket paired with a Cottage Living picnic basket for the actual picnic space (two great tastes that go great together)

->The Lovestruck bench with the heart-shaped back for extra seating beside the blanket -- mostly because I saw it came in a Pride-themed swatch and figured I really ought to include it (goes well with the rest of the Pride-themed stuff I added in the "Pride SDX" update too!) -- with a set of Backyard Stuff wind chimes over it for the pretty tunes

->And the two chess-themed lights (I forget if they're base game or Get Together -- pretty sure the latter) flanking the bench to help light the area at night (because they come in red and white and of COURSE Alice would want to get chess-themed lights XD)

Makes for a pretty fun place to hang out outside, I think!

Greenhouse: I added in this in mainly because I headcanon Victor as enjoying gardening (especially after the Chill Valicer Save), and I thought it would be nice to give him a little greenhouse to grow things in...and then went "holy shit what I could make it heart-shaped" and proceeded to do just that. :D I'm pretty happy with how it came out -- even if the unusual shape meant roofing the thing was a pain in the ass. I could get away with a flat roof for the main house, but I wanted proper glass for the greenhouse, and that meant doing a LOT of fiddling with the roof tools! I think the final product is -- not TOO horrific to look at. XD Anyway, the deets on the greenhouse:

->The wall paneling is I believe from Horse Ranch, as it had some nice walls in the right color swatches (gotta keep the red/blue/yellow theme, obviously!). The big double front doors are from Lovestruck (seriously, I made such good use out of that pack's Build/Buy catalog in this house), while the windows I am reasonably certain are from Discover University, as they went the best with the doors and had a good "curved" variant for the bumps. The moonpetal lantern lights outside are from Backyard Stuff, I believe (no, NOT Werewolves -- I'm guessing these lamps inspired the actual flower in that pack!), while the cute colorful metal flowers on the outside should be from Seasons. And inside is lit by a Cottage Living hanging lamp, carefully elevated with "move_objects on" to make it look like it's hanging from the mess of metal beams running through the glass ceiling. XD

->Oh, and the floor? That's actually a terrain paint, because I couldn't get the game to floor it properly with actual tiles! One of the downsides of using those curved walls. I'm pretty sure it's from Get Together and is meant to match one of the stone floors from that pack -- either way, I thought it looked appropriate for the greenhouse, so in it went!

->Since space was at a premium inside, I decided it made sense to use smaller planters instead of bigger ones to give Victor more growing space -- accordingly, we have three plant pots in the correct color schemes going across one wall; a trio of vertical planters from Eco Lifestyle ringing one of the bumps; and one Werewolves big square planter (because it's both cheaper than the standard one and comes with painted swatches -- I naturally got the blue) in the other bump. I have no idea if all of them are accessible by a Sim, but as I have said before, this is much more of a "show" house than a livable one.

->As for interior decorations, I made sure the space had a light switch for the light (I have grown fond of these tiny touches of realism), plus a broom and dustpan on the other side of the door for sweeping up spilled dirt and fallen leaves. I also added one of those lovely "thrifted" High School Years cabinets and filled it with various gardening supplies (like the base game little gardening toolkit on top, and some extra gloves, a trowel, and a rake on one of the shelves -- I also put the old books you get in Werewolves in there to represent ancient gardening books for Victor to consult), and put the flower-filled watering can next to it. Because I really wanted a watering can, darn it. :p

->And as for exterior decorations -- well. I really wanted to use that cute little flower cart that comes with Get Together somewhere around the greenhouse, and after a little fiddling, I determined the only place it fit was the right-hand wall, facing out at the corner of the lot. But I couldn't stop thinking that it needed something to go with it. So I started looking for some sort of plant to stick next to it. Which led me to the various topiary bushes --

And to the adorable rabbit one that comes with Cottage Living! Which, when I put it next to the cart, looked kind of like it was driving it! :D So of course I had to go with that. Isn't it adorable? I love it -- perfect finishing touch for that wall!

Landscaping: And, just to finish everything off, I painted in dirt paths to all the outdoor areas (realism again), and stuck some plants around the lot to liven the place up a bit, including:

->"Cosmic Aster-Nots" in red, blue, and yellow on either side of the front door, running along the diagonal walls

->A bunch of irises (I believe from Romantic Garden) in every color swatch running along the diagonal wall next to the greenhouse (I originally just had a clump in red, yellow, and blue outside the window looking into the kitchen, but they looked lonely like that, so I decided to go ahead and add all the others. Yes, even the weird ultra-purple one -- I tried to put that one in the middle, at least :P)

->Some "Shaggi-luscious" bushes in red, blue, and yellow under Victor's windows, since those looked pretty (hilariously, I once removed them because I wasn't sure I liked them there, only to immediately REPLACE them at the end of that particular building session as I'd completely forgotten that I'd removed them and was like "Victor's window needs some plants" XD)

->And a big crooked tree over the barbecue area, with various colors of wildflowers and a couple of rocks at its base -- yes, I know in real life having a tree like that over a food preparation area would suck thanks to leaves falling in your food and the like, but I REALLY liked the look of it and how it provided some shade. Sometimes Realism must bow to Aesthetic in these games!

And there you have it -- a fully-finished house for my beloved Valicer OT3! :D This took me absolutely AGES to do, but I am very happy with the final product -- it really does feel THEM, you know? Yeah, maybe it's a bit small -- I often thought while I was doing the exterior stuff that I should have built this on a bigger lot -- but I still think it's an excellent-looking home and that I did a good job in furnishing it and all that. :) I hope you all agree! (And if you want it on the Gallery, just let me know -- I didn't upload it because of how closely tied to Victor, Alice, and Smiler it is, but if other people want to see if it's actually usable, I'm happy to provide access! Just, uh, be warned it uses like ALL the packs. I did NOT discriminate when building this thing. XD)

[victorluvsalice]

Welp, we're now up to THREE Ghostbusters AUs, so it feels like the perfect moment to bring this song back. XD And, as I said before, who DOESN'T like this song? (Other than, possibly, Huey Lewis.)

Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters by RayParkerJuniorVEVO

Yeah, not exactly a Valicey note to end the year on – but we’re actually doing a Ghostbusters marathon for New Year’s this year (original two from the 80s and the new one) and I felt it appropriate. Besides, I do HAVE two Ghostbusters AUs for the pairing. And come one, who DOESN’T like this song?

[victorluvsalice]

Writing isn't the hobby. Being insane about little fake people is the hobby. Writing is just the only outlet i have for that

[victorluvsalice]

anyway,. back to your usual queue'd posts.

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Not-As-Vague-As-I-Anticipated Thoughts On A Valicer Ghostbusters AU Part Two!

Aaand we're back! :D So, we left off with the gang dealing with Edna Strickland being a jerk and trying to get them shut down while they're trying to bust ghosts and figure out what the hell is going on with the paranormal activity in the town -- here's where we go from there:

-->After meeting with the mayor and getting semi-officially sanctioned, the group retrieves the device that Jennifer found at the concert venue, and determines that it's the exact same kind as the one they found in the subway. Meaning Bumby was almost certainly the one who planted it and summoned that bat-ghost-thing to terrorize everyone. Alice complains that she wishes she could have caught the bastard in the act, then wonders "why the hell is he even doing this?" Doc says he can't be sure why Bumby specifically might want to do this, but tells her that, in his book, he'd advanced a theory that summoning ghosts to raise the psychokinetic energy (PKE) level of an area might allow one to open portals to other times, or even other dimensions (that sort of thing, particularly time travel, is another one of his interests -- whole reason he bought the DeLorean, its stainless steel construction makes it ideal as a potential time machine). Alice's first thought after hearing that is "okay, I can see him wanting to find a portal back to the past to make sure I don't survive the fire so he never gets caught" --

But Clara's first thought is "fuck, what if he joined the same Destroyer cult that built my apartment building? Or a group worshiping some other terribly-destructive god, and he's trying to open up a passage for them?" Everyone agrees that either possibility would be bad --

-->So, in between more busts (with Doc getting concerned that Edna might actually have a point about their storage methods, as the current containment unit is getting preeeetty full), the gang hit the books to study time travel and eldritch gods! They quickly come to the conclusion that, if Bumby's trying to create a time portal, he's not going about it in the most efficient way (Doc is only TOO happy to go on about his own ideas about a "flux capacitor" that would help store and release the energy needed to create a stable temporary wormhole to the past or future) -- but if he's trying to summon a god, well...there are worse ways to get one's attention. Cue them researching and making notes on as many of them as they can find, including Gozer (responsible for at least one gnarly ancient disaster that wiped out two civilizations; Clara's fridge monster Zuul is one of two "terror dogs" that is sent ahead whenever it's summoned to help open the way by possessing two unfortunate people and forcing them to be intimate -- everyone agrees that is very gross), Cthulhu (yes, that one -- everyone is a little disturbed that Lovecraft was apparently describing a real creature sleeping in the ocean, but fortunately it seems he won't be waking up any time soon due to the very specific astrological phenomena necessary to start the rituals) --

And Mar-Mal. An apparent god of pure happiness that, when summoned by a cult back in the 60s, did indeed make all of the participants in the ritual happy...so happy that none of them actually ate or drank on their own anymore. As you might imagine, the entire cult quickly died of starvation and dehydration. Alice is like "Well, this is why you don't trust extradimensional beings calling themselves gods, especially one of happiness" --

But oddly, Smiler rises to Mar-Mal's defense, pointing out that "well, they weren't human -- maybe they simply didn't realize that 'hunger' and 'thirst' were necessary to keep humans alive. I can't see a god of HAPPINESS deliberately killing their followers, can you?" Alice allows the point but retorts that all those people still died and they don't want a repeat, which Smiler does firmly agree with. And so the studies continue...

-->And then. One evening, Clara is sitting alone in her apartment, watching some TV and just generally relaxing after a long day -- when suddenly she hears weird noises coming from her fridge. Turning, she sees the door undulating, bulges appearing all over it...as if something is trying to claw its way through. Oh shit, she thinks --

And yanks the trap that she took from work out from under her chair, because she was expecting some bullshit sooner or later, and she wanted to be prepared! Her chair does attack her a minute later, spinning around as arms explode out to restrain her, but she manages to throw the trap down in front of her --

And when Zuul flings open the fridge and tries to drag her into it, slams on the foot pedal. Zuul is promptly sucked into the trap, howling and screaming all the while. The arms disappear, and Clara takes a moment to collect her wits and make sure the terror dog is secured before calling Doc to let him know what just happened --

And learning that he just caught the other terror dog, one Vinz Clortho. Who made the mistake of trying to attack him at Ghostbusters headquarters (Doc was having a late night tinkering with some tech). Yeah, uh, Vinz lasted about three seconds against him. XD She and Doc dump the terror dogs into the containment unit, and the next day, the group has a little celebration over stopping the return of Gozer, as all their research has indicated that the Destructor can't come into their reality if its terror dogs don't open the way.

-->And THEN. A few days later, some of the gang -- let's say Doc, Marty, Alice, and Clara -- bust a particularly nasty ghost at one of the local hotels, and find another one of the devices Bumby's been putting around the city in the room where it spawned. They show it to the owner of the hotel, and explain who they think is the culprit --

And the owner goes, "Wait, Angus Bumby? Tall, kind of bony fellow with a thick brown beard? Glasses? Permanently kind of condescending? That's our janitor."

Alice promptly laughs her head off because she knows that oh boy, being a janitor must rankle someone who once commanded respect as a psychiatrist and philanthropist, and leads the charge down to his little basement office to confront him. Bumby attempts to play innocent and throw Alice's mental state into question, but the other Ghostbusters make it very clear that they know its him and that they believe Alice over his lies. Alice informs him that she's looking forward to dragging him back to the authorities so he can finally face justice --

Only for Bumby to go "I don't think so" and promptly electrocute himself. Everyone is rather "holy shit WTF" about that, as you might imagine. O.O The police are called, and while his death is ruled a suicide, it does prompt another meeting with Mayor Wilson, who isn't exactly pleased that somebody died during one of their busts. Neither is Edna, who happily accuses them of murdering Bumby and making it look like a suicide -- Marty has to be restrained from attacking her, while Alice is like "trust me, if I'd murdered him, you'd know I'd murdered him." Things don't really improve from there, and the four leave the meeting in poor spirits, worried that Edna will get her way and the mayor will shut them down...

-->And then, when they get back to the station and report to the others what happened, Victoria essentially goes, "Does anyone else think it's slightly suspicious that the man who was so obsessed with summoning nasty ghosts all over the place killed himself?" Everyone agrees that that is suspicious, and Doc and Smiler head down to the local police station to see if they can get their hands on any of Bumby's personal effects. Turns out, among the items in his office was a copy of Doc's book! Smiler is able to sway one of the officers into handing it over (claiming the Ghostbusters would be better qualified to investigate any supernatural phenomena Bumby was studying), and take it back to headquarters for everyone to study --

And discover a bunch of scribbled notes from Bumby, revealing that his plan was to plant the devices on various ley lines around the city, summon ghosts to increase the PKE in Hill Valley and center it on -- what else -- Clara's apartment building (taking advantage of the fact that it was already supposed to be an antenna for the stuff), then use that energy to try and turn himself into a godlike being. And that killing himself was always a part of said plan -- shedding his mortal body so he could absorb the PKE better. However, studying the map that Bumby drew and his notes, Doc is able to determine that he wasn't able to hit every ley line -- they found out about him midway through his attempt, and forced him to put the "kill myself" part of his plan into effect early. Alice is certain that Bumby's going to try and come back as a ghost to finish what he started, though, and she, Doc, Marty, Victor, and Smiler decide to head out and investigate all the spots on the map Bumby didn't already check off, just to see if there's been any suspicious activity at any of them. Clara, Jennifer, Victor, and Emily agree to hold down the fort, and the other five pile into Doc's van and do their tour. They are deeply relieved to find no ghostly Bumbys or ionizing devices at any of them --

-->But. While they're out, Edna Strickland appears with a bunch of cops, declaring that she's determined the group are massive frauds, she's not going to let the mayor be taken in by them anymore, and that she is shutting the Ghostbusters down. Clara, Jennifer, Victoria, and Emily of course loudly object and try to stop her, but she had the police restrain them and then goes down and shuts off the containment unit, declaring this "nonsensical farce" over --

And cue a MASSIVE blast of PKE exploding out of the roof of the building as all of the ghosts the gang have caught are released at once. Followed by a ghost Bumby (having just snuck into the building, hoping to possess one of the Busters to continue his work) materializing, thanking a dumbfounded Edna, and then rushing off to Clara's apartment building, as of course that's where all the energy is being attracted to. The other Busters arrive just in time to see the light show and furiously throw Edna and the police out, then the entire team suits up in preparation for going to fight the threat --

-->Aaand cue Slimer stealing the DeLorean and nearly running a few of them over. And when Marty goes to blast the car to stop him, Doc is like "NO NO NO THERE'S A FUSION ENGINE ON THE BACK OF IT!!!" Turns out he and Clara had a breakthrough on one of his old designs, and yeah, managed to stick a fusion engine (partially built out of an old coffee grinder, of all things) on the back of the DeLorean to power some of its ghostbusting tech. As you might imagine, the others are all like "as if we didn't have ENOUGH to worry about!!" However, there's not much they can do about it, and Doc says there shouldn't be a nuclear explosion unless Slimer really wrecks the damn thing (he made DAMN SURE his shielding was good), so they decide to focus on the "Bumby trying to become a ghost god" threat first and head toward Clara's apartment building --

-->Which involves going through the town square. Which, thanks to the intense amount of PKE in the area, now keeps flickering between various versions of itself (naturally, the versions from 1885, 1955, 1985, and 2015) -- and is CHOCK FULL of various ghosts and other supernatural entities from those periods. All of which seem very interested in taking out the Ghostbusters. The gang does their best to fight off as many as they can with their proton packs and traps, but there's just too many of the damn things, and for a minute it looks like they'll be overwhelmed --

And then Alice, after getting her proton wand knocked out of her hands, somehow manifests a ghostly version of her Vorpal Blade and manages to slash the ghost in front of her. Turns out that, thanks to some latent psychic powers in her bloodline, she can use the high levels of PKE in the area to turn her hallucinations semi-real -- real enough to hurt the monsters, anyway! Cue her summoning up her arsenal and going to town on the creatures threatening her and her friends. The ability turns out to be a bit of a double-edged sword, as she also starts manifesting some of the enemies she usually fights in Wonderland (notably some Ruin monsters), but THOSE prove to be vulnerable to the Ghostbusters' tech, due to how they were created, and working together, the gang manages to fight their way through the town square and to Clara's apartment building!

-->Where they find not one, but two problems -- at the base of the building is a weird vortex, apparently opened up by the sudden influx of PKE into the local ley lines, that's just spewing yet more extradimensional entities into the area and keeping the PKE levels high; and at the top seems to be some sort of supernatural storm, which they guess is Bumby gathering energy to ascend himself to godhood. It's quickly agreed to divide the party, with Clara, Jennifer, Emily, and Victoria staying at the bottom to find a way to deal with the vortex, and Doc, Marty, Victor, Alice, and Smiler climbing to the roof to deal with Bumby. Goodbyes are exchanged, with Doc making sure Clara has a walkie-talkie so they can keep in contact, and the two groups set about their tasks.

-->After a long climb, Team Rooftop find their way to said roof, where they find Bumby, much larger than before and looking disturbingly like his Dollmaker persona from Wonderland (Alice is not pleased). The team manage to restrain him with their proton pack beams, but he proves to be a little too large and powerful to go into the standard trap. Bumby breaks free and taunts them about trying to take on a god as they try to recapture him --

And then a glowing portal opens up behind him, two familiar terror dogs appear and each grab a limb, and a massive burst of lightning shoots through the portal and absolutely shreds him. Moments later, GOZER walks through the portal, having used the influx of PKE into the antenna to bypass their usual requirements to enter this realm. The horrified group try to hit the god with their beams, but Gozer simply shrugs them off and shoots lightning at them too, sending them flying to the very edge of the roof --

-->Where something catches them. Alice theorizes that Gozer doesn't want to give up its playthings too soon, but Victor notes that Gozer actually seems a little puzzled by this turn of events --

And then Smiler announces that they want to try talking to Gozer, and all questions of how they survived are dropped in favor of trying to talk them out of it. Smiler's insistent, though, and -- after telling Victor and Alice that, no matter how this goes, they want them to know they love them -- they get up and approach Gozer, politely asking it to vacate their world and head back to its home point of origin or the nearest alternate dimension. Gozer laughs and asks mockingly, "Are you a god?" And Smiler responds, with a big grin --

"Yup!" Everyone's like "WTF?!" with Marty in particular being "Smiler, you don't make those claims without being able to back them up--"

-->And then the clouds above them start turning yellow and black and twisting into spirals. And a steady "ha ha ha, HA HA HA" fills the air around them. And Smiler's form begins to fuzz out around the edges a little bit, revealing, among other things, strange twisting tentacles emerging from them...and wrapping around the others, keeping them away from the edge of the roof.

Yup, in a possibly-shocking twist, it turns out Smiler is INDEED a fucking god, and they are kind of pissed that Gozer just tried to kill the people they love. Cue the pair fighting while the shocked Ghostbusters try to figure out what the HELL is going on (and keep the terror dogs off Smiler because, well, they want them to win)...

-->And then cut to Team Vortex, blissfully oblivious to this and desperately trying to figure out how to close the PKE portal! After taking some readings, Clara is able to determine that, if they could drop something sufficiently explosive into the portal and detonate it, they could force it to reverse its flow and start sucking IN all the ghosts and monsters and PKE around the shop, which would at least start fixing the problem. There's a brief discussion on whether or not they should sacrifice their proton packs to the cause --

And then Slimer drives by in the stolen DeLorean and they're like "...yeah, the fusion engine mounted on the back of that thing would totally work, wouldn't it?" Cue them chasing down the DeLorean; Emily using Ecto-1's gunner seat to get close enough to Slimer to trap him and force him out of the driver's seat; then Emily climbing into the DeLorean herself from said gunner's seat and gunning it toward the portal. She manages to throw herself clear at the last second as the DeLorean plunges in, and a shot from Clara's proton pack explodes the Mr. Fusion she and Doc worked up --

-->And success! The vortex does indeed switch from "blow" to "suck," dragging in all the ghosts and monsters that it was previously spewing out. The girls take a moment to celebrate as Emily gets back to her feet --

And then one of the monsters grabs her and drags her into the vortex as a final "fuck you" to the ladies. A horrified Victoria immediately grabs the nearest rope, ties it around herself, throws the other end to Clara and Jennifer, and dives into the portal to rescue her. She does manage to successfully wrestle Emily away from the creature, and Clara and Jennifer do manage to successfully to haul them both out, but the trip ends up having some -- interesting side effects. Specifically, poor Emily's skin and hair turn bright blue for some reason (Victoria's hair also changes color, but for her it's luckily just a lightening of her brown hair into a more gray shade). Emily isn't exactly pleased, but has to admit it's better than being dead or trapped with all those ghosts.

-->Back on the rooftop, the fight between Smiler and Gozer continues -- but while it was previously fairly evenly matched, the vortex below suddenly going from spewing out monsters and PKE to sucking them in ends up weakening Gozer, and Smiler gains the upper hand. Smiler starts forcing it back toward its portal, declaring that there is no way Gozer can destroy the world now --

But then, for some reason, Gozer beams and declares "THE FORM HAS BEEN CHOSEN" before disappearing. Baffled, Team Rooftop is like "what form? Chosen by who?" for a minute before the ground starts shaking --

-->And then, up the street, the giant form of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man appears. Turns out Smiler had a joking thought about Gozer being reduced to using an advertising mascot like Stay-Puft at its current power levels while trying to get it to leave, and Gozer was like "fuck, I'll take it." The girls on the ground also see this and are like "what the FUCK" -- Doc explains the situation to Clara via walkie-talkie and asks what she did to the vortex to stop it empowering Gozer. She explains how they sacrificed the car, and everyone starts wondering if there's anything they could do that's similar to stop Gozer --

-->And then Victor suggests crossing the streams. Marty is like "uh, hey, remember when Doc told us that was a VERY BAD idea," but Victor explains his thought: basically, if they fire into the portal Gozer opened up, and THEN cross them, the whole "every molecule freezing, then exploding" thing Doc warned them about should happen to GOZER'S dimension, not theirs. Doc thinks it's a likely possibility, and Smiler backs him up, causing everyone to admit that Smiler would probably know, given THEY'RE A GOD TOO. Doc suggests to Clara that she and Team Vortex do the same thing with the vortex to try and shut it for good, and the two teams cross the streams into their respective portals --

-->Aaand it works! Both portal and vortex close, and Gozer-as-StayPuft violently explodes into a massive rain of marshmallow. (Doc: [contacting Clara over the walkie-talkie] Are you okay?! Clara: Well, I feel like a s'more...) Team Rooftop make their way down to reunite with Team Vortex and make sure everyone is all right, and everyone agrees that they really just want to go home, get the marshmallow off, and maybe then just lie in bed for a few days --

-->But then the same police officers who showed up to take them to the Mayor the first time at the concert show up again to do the same thing. Though they hastily assure everyone -- including the gathering citizenry, who do not look like they're about to take any bullshit -- that they are not ARRESTING the heroes of the city, the Mayor just wants to see them.The group agrees to go, and after working their way through the cheering crowed, get in the provided cars and head to Town Hall --

Where Mayor Wilson greets them kindly, thanks them for saving the city ("even with all the collateral damage -- hope you all like paperwork!"), and apologizes for Edna's role in this disaster, assuring them that she has been fired for it. (Marty: "About goddamn time!") Wilson then says that he has plans to give them a Proper Official License, and a bigger, better facility -- Doc says they like the firehouse as their "main office," but he would enjoy having a bigger, more secure building dedicated to containment. Mayor Wilson is more than happy to fund that! They chat a bit about logistics, and then Wilson sends them all back to the firehouse to rest, clean up, and get ready to re-bust all the ghosts that got released.

-->And then, once they're back at the firehouse, and everyone is no longer covered in marshmallow and in a somewhat-better state of mind than they were earlier, Marty turns to Smiler and is like, "Um. So. The eldritch god thing? Wanna explain that?" Smiler says yes, they can --

Only for Alice to cut in with "you're Mar-Mal, aren't you?" Turns out she'd guessed after seeing Smiler in action and remembering how they defended the god's actions during that summoning they read about earlier. Smiler confirms they are, and reiterates that they NEVER meant to hurt those people, much less kill them. The problem was just as they said -- Smiler had no human form back then, and thus no idea how humans worked. They only saw that hunger and thirst seemed to be stopping those in the cult from being fully happy, so they removed the feelings. They were utterly HORRIFIED when their followers died as a result, and decided they had to try and figure out what it was to be human before they bestowed any more blessings. So they took on their Smiler form...

And ended up really loving being human. So much so that the fight with Gozer was the first time they'd gone back to any of their eldritch ways in quite a while. They apologize for not saying anything earlier, pointing out that they were pretty sure they weren't going to be believed (everyone goes "yes, that's fair"), then offer to leave if they make the others uncomfortable...

-->And the other Busters are all like "we'd prefer you not to go THAT far." Because, well, while this is a huge revelation for everyone to adjust to, the fact of the matter is they all still consider Smiler a friend. And it doesn't hurt that Smiler actively saved Doc, Marty, Victor, and Alice's lives on the rooftop, and fought very hard indeed to help save the world. Smiler is relieved, as they didn't really want to go, and says they'd be happy to help Doc with his studies, which he appreciates, and answer any questions they have. (First questions consist of Doc asking "so why didn't the PKE meters pick up on your nature?" Smiler: "Well, you did calibrate them when I was in the room, so..." and Marty asking "Hey, why did you get spooked by the ghost in the library if you're a freaking eldritch god?" Smiler: "I may be a god, but that doesn't mean I can't get startled!")

-->Later, in private, Smiler also asks Victor and Alice if they're interested in continuing their relationship, making sure to reiterate they're not going force them into anything. Victor says it's going to take some getting used to, but he does want to stay with Smiler, and Alice says that, as long as she has a promise from Smiler that they won't mess with their minds or bodies, she's willing to give it a try. Smiler swears they won't do anything that the pair don't want them to do, and the trio resume their relationship with just a few bumps as the humans get used to being partnered with an eldritch being. (Which does have some benefits, including Smiler now being able to use their powers a bit to improve any Sexy Fun Times they have...)

-->And so the Ghostbusters become an Officially Licensed City Service! Going around, busting loads of ghosts, and studying them to find the best ways to contain them and hopefully help them move on. Helped by the fact that Smiler can now be more open about being an eldritch being, of course. Probably the hypothetical "epilogue" chapter would be set a little ways in the future, with Doc and Clara married and balancing their Buster duties with taking care of a young Jules; Marty and Jennifer also married and having transitioned to part-time busting so Marty can continue getting his band off the ground and Jennifer can do some stuff with her art; Victoria and Emily planning their wedding in between helping train new Ghostbusters (since it's now a viable career path in Hill Valley); and Smiler, Alice, and Victor still as full-time Busters, living together now and still very much in love. With Smiler sometimes freaking out the new hires by using their tentacles to grab stuff. :P

And there we have it! I have NO idea if I'll ever write this thing in full, as complicated AU is complicated, but at least the idea is out there in the wild. Which means the verse is available for Not-Incorrect Quotes scenes and prompt fic if I am so inclined. :p Hope you all enjoyed reading that! I think I did a pretty good job welding the two movies together, personally. :)

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Not-As-Vague-As-I-Anticipated Thoughts On A Valicer Ghostbusters AU

Hi everyone! Say, do you guys, gals, and nonbinary pals remember when I had not one, but two Ghostbusters AUs kicking around on my blog: I Ain't Afraid Of No Ghost, based on the original movies from the 80s with Doc, Marty, and Victor as the Ghostbusters and Alice as their receptionist, and Who Ya Gonna Call?, based on the 2016 reboot with Victoria, Emily, Clara, Jennifer, and Alice as the Ghostbusters and Victor as the receptionist? Weren't those good times? Well, it may interest you to know that, ever since Smiler showed up and became a notable presence in my head and on this blog, I've been having on and off thoughts about trying to fit them into one of those AUs! Because I am still a fan of both the original and 2016 Ghostbusters, still enjoy those AUs, and thought it would be fun to include Smiler in one of them! There was just one problem --

"I Ain't Afraid Of Not Ghost" was the one with a slot open for Smiler (as I always had trouble filling the "Winston Zeddemore" role in that one -- I think my best option was considering Clara for the role, as in the linked post)...but Smiler's general vibes always seemed a better fit for "Who Ya Gonna Call?" (which did not need any more characters in it!).

A dilemma, as I'm sure you will agree! And so the Ghostbusters AU thoughts, whenever they popped up, kept getting tabled in favor of AUs that I could actually make work. That is, until recently, when an idea hit me. An idea that can basically be summed up in the form of a meme:

Yes, my solution to my Ghostbusters AU dilemma? Smash the original 1984 movie and the 2016 reboot together. AKA make everything even more complicated and crowded! XD And so I present to you my initial ideas/timeline for the Mega-Ghostbusters AU that I'm thinking of calling "Busting Makes Me Feel Good." It's not totally feature-complete yet, but you should at least get a good idea of where I'd want go with this! Let's begin:

-->Our starting group, before all the supernatural nonsense kicks off, is Doc, Marty, and Smiler -- Doc's a professor at Hill Valley Community College, teaching applied physics and studying parapsychology in his off hours, while Marty and Smiler are two students of his turned lab assistants because they found out what he was doing in his free time and thought it sounded cool. (Think a situation kind of like what Abby and Holtzmann had going at their college at the start of Answer The Call.) The three haven't really gotten anywhere with their research into ghosts and paranormal extra-dimensional entities yet, but Doc's determined to figure this shit out, and Marty and Smiler are enjoying the ride. (And occasionally playing pranks on him, like the "ghostly fart noises" prank Abby and Holtz played on Erin.)

-->And then, one day, they're summoned to the local public library to talk to someone who says he saw a ghost down in the basement. Cue them meeting one Victor Van Dort, newly-moved to the city, who is understandably freaked out by his supernatural experience. The trio assure him that they believe him and ask him to take them down to see the ghost for themselves...and end up freaked out as well because holy shit actual ghost. They're eventually scared out of the building, a la the incident in the 1984 movie, but Smiler got the whole thing on their phone, and they gleefully present that and the ectoplasm samples they retrieved to their college Dean.

-->...Doc is immediately fired for wasting university time and resources, because the Dean does not believe them at all and has been looking for an excuse to fire that weirdo Dr. Brown for a while. Marty and Smiler are quite annoyed, but Doc sees an opportunity -- for you see, he's been working on a way to try and catch ghosts for some time now. And he's pretty sure those librarians would pay to get that ghost out of the library. So now that he has the free time, why not set up some sort of business where they can catch ghosts and similar entities to study them? Marty and Smiler are into it --

As is Victor, and it's about this time that everyone realizes, "wait a minute, why are you still hanging out with us?" XD Turns out that he just kind of followed along when Doc took them all to see the Dean because Doc seemed to know what he was doing, and well, now he's intrigued by all their research. Doc's like "cool, free third lab assistant" and says he's welcome to help out however he likes, and the core group grows to four.

-->Quick additional note here: while I intend for Emily to be a living human and not a ghost in this AU (as she was part of the core team back in "Who Ya Gonna Call?" -- you'll see her show up in a moment), I do very much want Victor, when questioned by Doc, Marty, and Smiler if there's a history of mental illness in his family, to admit that an ancestor of his back in the 1870s claimed to have temporarily married a corpse. It just amuses me to have that be his "I had an uncle who thought he was St. Jerome" moment. :p

-->Anyway, Doc gets his stuff out of the university lab (along with some of the university's stuff -- that does cause a bit of a kerfluffle, as you might imagine), and he and his assistants go looking for a good place to set up shop. And, as you might expect, they find an old abandoned firehouse that might be just perfect (Smiler in particular likes the fire pole). Unfortunately, between the needed repairs to the building and the asking price of the realtor, Doc isn't sure they can afford it --

Cue Victor revealing he's the son of canned food magnate William Van Dort and using some trust fund money to buy the place. (Victor: "I -- did tell you my last name when we first met." Marty: "I thought you were a cousin or something, NOT HIS FUCKING KID!") After the initial shock, the others decide to just be grateful they have a rich friend, and repairs begin apace. As their new headquarters comes together, Doc decides they could use some help filing and fielding phone calls and whatnot, and puts out an ad for an receptionist...

-->Cue not one, but both of Victor's high school exes, Victoria Everglot and Emily Cartwell-Merrimack, showing up to apply for the job. XD There's a somewhat-awkward reunion, with the three explaining their situation -- namely, that Victor and Victoria dated during senior year because their parents were "strongly encouraging" them to be together (the Van Dorts to leach off the Everglots being more "high society," the Everglots to leech off the Van Dort money); then, midway through said year, Emily ended up glomming onto Victor as a rebound boyfriend when he showed her some sympathy after her previous boyfriend broke her heart (and stole her mother's jewelry); and then there was a bit of a "thing" about who was cheating on who when Emily saw Victor with Victoria shortly after said glomming. But they managed to move past that (with a lot of profuse "I didn't realize you two saw this so much more seriously than I did" apologies from Victor, who was actually in the process of explaining the Emily situation to Victoria when Emily showed up -- just not very well), and they all ended up decent friends before falling out of touch after graduation due to going to different colleges. Both ladies prove to be good at the tasks required for the job AND not afraid to get their hands dirty helping with renovations, so Doc ends up hiring them both, figuring "this is probably going to be a 24-hour business, we should have day and night shift receptionists anyway."

-->Naturally, business is rather slow at first, with not a lot of people taking these new "Ghostbusters" seriously...but eventually they get a call from one Clara Clayton, local schoolteacher, asking them to come investigate her apartment because she recently opened her fridge and a weird dog-demon thing started yelling "ZUUL" at her. Doc and company promptly head over to investigate --

And, as you might imagine, Doc and Clara are instantly smitten at first sight. Somewhat annoying Marty, who keeps having to interrupt their awkward flirting over Clara's Jules Verne collection and her telescope to get Doc to focus on the job. XD Anyway, they don't actually find anything in the fridge, but Doc does note some fairly high PKE readings in the apartment generally and tells Clara to keep an eye out, maybe bunk up in a hotel if things start getting too bizarre. And that she can call him anytime, or visit him at the firehouse, or -- maybe join him for coffee sometime...basically Marty, Victor, and Smiler have to drag him out the door. XD

-->And then, shortly after that, they get a call from a local hotel saying that they have a bit of a ghost problem, and if they're legit, could they come bust it please? (I picture Emily being the one to take this call, mostly because I can better picture her being the one to yell "WE GOT ONE!" Janine-style. XD) Doc, Marty, Victor, and Smiler rush over to the hotel with their proton packs, and --

Well, of course it's Slimer, being his usual gluttonous self. Poor Marty's the one who gets the "he slimed me" moment, incidentally. XD But the boys and enby manage to wrangle the ghost with only moderate collateral damage, and with this first public bust, business starts picking up as more people become willing to tell them about the various hauntings they're dealing with.

-->It's around this time that we cut over to one Alice Liddell, getting ready to ride the subway to work (I have no idea if Hill Valley is actually big enough to support one of those, but this is supposed to be a modern day-ish AU, and we know Hill Valley gets bigger in the future judging by the fact it seems to be a much more bustling city in BTTF II's 2015 -- pretend it's a small local system that the mayor funded as part of a "better public transport" initiative or something) -- when she spots a familiar face sneaking off from the crowd. It's one Dr. Angus Bumby, the asshole who murdered her parents and sister and burned down her house, condemned her to ten years in Rutledge Psychiatric, turned to child pimping disguised as helping to rehabilitate troubled orphans after graduating university, tried to wipe her mind when she ended up in his care after Rutledge, and then -- when she FINALLY managed to drag him to the authorities -- escaped and disappeared into the ether. Alice is like "oh, you are NOT getting away from me THIS time fucker" and chases after him --

-->But then he sets down an odd device on the tracks -- and moments later, a very angry ghost appears in the tunnel, forcing her to back off and closing down the subway. Alice, seeing a poster for the Ghostbusters on the wall of the station, heads over to their office to tell them what she saw and ask them to investigate. The 'Busters are keen (especially since the subway authority have ALSO called them to be like "something supernatural is on our tracks, please get rid of it") and follow her to the station --

-->Where, before they do the bust, they encounter a young woman doing some graffiti art on the wall of the station. Turns out it's Marty's girlfriend Jennifer Parker, who's indulging a bit of a rebellious streak now that she's out of her parent's house (aka she's a bit like the 1986 Citizen Brown Jennifer from the Telltale game, because I really like that Jennifer). Upon hearing they're there to bust a ghost, she jokingly does the classic "no ghosts" logo on the wall -- the group agrees that would actually be a great logo and ask Jennifer if she wants to talk licensing later (Jennifer: "Yeah, I'll take money for this, sure"). With that sorted, the group busts the ghost (with a little distracting help from Alice and Jennifer, who insisted on coming along to watch) and find the device, which Doc notes is a specialized "ionizer" designed to attract ghosts, based on a design he mentioned in a book he authored on the subject of parapsychology ages ago. Alice is like, "I don't know why Bumby's now into ghost attracting, but I don't want him to keep doing it--"

-->And asks to join the team as a Buster. Jennifer is also into the idea (partly because she's a LITTLE worried about Marty's safety after seeing a bust in action, and at least this way they're risking their lives together), and Doc says that if someone is trying to summon ghosts, they probably could use all hands on deck and agrees to take them on, stating that they should train Victoria and Emily in how to use the equipment too. So it's back to the firehouse --

Where they find Clara waiting! Turns out, while she fortunately hasn't had any Zuuls in her fridge lately, she has been doing some research into the history of her apartment building, and, well, she's not exactly keen on what she's found. Turns out that the architect behind it, Ivo Shandor (name subject to change -- I am SO freaking tempted to make it "Cave Johnson" because they had J. K. Simmons play the guy in Afterlife), was part of some world-destruction cult, and built it to act as a sort of "antenna" to focus paranormal energies and attract the attention of a god named Gozer, otherwise known as "The Destroyer." Clara's like, "I feel like shit is going to go down if monsters are appearing in my kitchen -- can you maybe lend me one of those proton packs and teach me how to use it?"

Doc's response? "I'll do you one better -- you want a job?" Clara is initially thrown, but then is like "you know what, it's summer vacation and I really want to make sure this thing in my fridge doesn't get me and it means spending more time with you, so sure."

-->Cue a training and tech montage as Doc, Marty, Victor, and Smiler instruct Alice, Clara, Jennifer, Victoria, and Emily in how to use the proton packs and traps and test out some of Doc's new inventions in the field of ghost-busting! Also cue:

a) Clara getting really into how Doc's putting all this stuff together and helping him with it whenever she can, causing the two of them to grow closer and finally act properly on their attraction (kissing over a disassembled proton pack is as romantic as kissing in front of a telescope under the stars, right?)

b) Victoria and Emily taking a look at the 1984-inspired jumpsuits everyone is wearing and going "these desperately need an update -- hi-vis stripes would add visual interest AND probably make you easier to spot in dark environments," before using their sewing skills to make jumpsuits more akin to the 2016 ones; along the way they start acknowledging a mutual attraction

c) Alice and Smiler both noticing that Victor seems to be attracted to the other and attempting a little subtle matchmaking...only to discover what they're doing when Smiler asks Alice if she'd like to go on a date with Victor, and she's like "...I thought you wanted to date him." Talking to Victor after that reveals he's into both of them but had absolutely no plans to act on his attraction after what happened with Victoria and Emily. Smiler is like, "well, no worries for me, I'm polyamorous, so if you guys want to try the 'throuple' thing, I'm down" -- Alice and Victor decide it's worth it, and the three end up in a hinge relationship with Victor at the center

d) Marty and Jennifer, the Established Couple With Their Shit Together, wondering why busting ghosts seems to be such a romantic activity for all their coworkers (Alice: "Jennifer, you joined up SPECIFICALLY to be with your boyfriend.")

-->Also cue the gang getting some proper branded vehicles to drive to busts with, instead of just taking Doc's old "24 Hour Scientific Services" van! The fleet includes:

a) the classic Ecto-1 (with the spin-out gunner seat introduced in Afterlife because that is an objectively cool thing to add to it)

b) a DeLorean where all the time travel modifications are adapted to be for ghost-busting purposes instead (because you can't have the BTTF characters without THEIR classic 80s car)

c) the Ecto-2 motor scooter from Answer The Call, both because it's neat and because there are a LOT of characters involved here, so it's probably best we have at least one more transportation option

-->So, how does teaching the ladies how to bust ghosts go? Well, they all get opportunities to join the more experienced members of the team on smaller busts, and acquit themselves pretty well...but the real test of their training comes on a day when Marty, Doc, Victor, and Smiler are all taking the night off -- Marty's got a concert gig with his band, the Pinheads; Doc's helping him with the special effects for that gig; and Victor and Smiler are going to see said gig as part of a date night together (with Alice saying she might stop by and see how they're doing later). Jennifer of course also goes to see her boyfriend and cheer him on -- but while hanging around backstage, she spots a figure sneaking away from a storage room. And, upon investigating, finds another one of those devices they found in the subway -- which, before she can do anything about it, spits out a horrible demon-like bat-ghost. Horrified, she calls Clara at the firehouse and gets her to bring the gear with Victoria, Emily, and Alice -- however, by the time they arrive, the concert is in full swing, and there's no chance to get the stuff to Marty and the others in time. So the ladies suit up and charge in --

Just in time for the bat-ghost to start attacking the stage. Marty gets the other members of the Pinheads out of harm's way, while Doc offers advice to the women over the sound system and Victor and Smiler try to direct the panicking crowd to the exits (Smiler is much better at this than Victor). Fortunately, the quintet of ladies learned well, and while there is the usual collateral damage, they manage to wrangle the ghost and force it into a trap. Cue the crowd cheering, the various couples/throuple sharing a celebratory kiss --

-->And then the police busting in and insisting all nine of the Ghostbusters come with them immediately. There's a little "wait, what??" but the group do comply, and are whisked away to the town hall for an emergency meeting with none other than Mayor Goldie Wilson III. As it turns out, he and his fellow elected officials have been tracking the Ghostbusters' activity, and they're a little concerned -- both by the rise in paranormal events around the town, and by the fact that the people combating those paranormal events are bunch of unlicensed weirdos with probably-illegal tech. Doc points out that he couldn't exactly apply for a license to be a ghostbuster, which Goldie allows. He also admits to the group that he does not want them to stop busting ghosts, because they seem to be a legit threat -- he just wants someone to take a look at how they operate and whatnot, just to make it look like the local government knows what it's doing. Everyone's like "yeah, all right, we understand, got nothing to hide," and Goldie reveals his appointee as Official Hill Valley Mayoral Liaison --

-->And it's one Edna Strickland. AKA Doc's high school ex, former newspaper reporter, current member of the Public Health And Safety Department, and all-around nosy busybody with exceptionally prudish morals. And while Mayor Wilson is happy to let the Ghostbusters keep doing what they're doing, she considers the lot of them to be dangers to the town. Not in the least because she thinks Doc's a crackpot who chose science over her (Doc: "Edna, that was fifty years ago, let it go") AND because she's discovered Alice was formerly institutionalized and still suffers from hallucinations and suchlike (Alice: "I have gotten way better at telling fantasy from reality, thank you very much"). Things are NOT improved by Marty antagonizing her every chance he gets, both because she's being such a dick to his friends and because he has awful memories of dealing with her younger brother Stephen Gerald Strickland when he was in high school (dude's the local assistant principal and head of discipline and did NOT like constantly-late Marty). So the Ghostbusters now have to deal with her demands -- most of which seem to concern how real ghosts are (Doc: "How many eyewitness accounts of paranormal activity do you want, Edna?"), and how safe the ghost containment unit Doc built really is -- while simultaneously keeping an eye on the ghost situation...

And okay, it's no surprise that this AU crossing over the plots of two whole-ass movies with a bunch of other stuff is getting freaking long. So how about we take a break here, and we'll pick it up with the adventures of the gang as they head toward the dual climaxes in Part Two? Sound good? Sounds good.

[victorluvsalice]

Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzmann in GHOSTBUSTERS (2016)

[victorluvsalice]

Ivan Reitman’s GHOSTBUSTERS hit theaters on June 8, 1984.