victorluvsalice - Tumblr blog

[victorluvsalice]

Sir Daniel Fortesque, back from the dead once again!

—

What started as a practice sketch quickly blew up into a full blown poster for the story, and I can’t complain over the chain of thought that led me to this decision. Then the thought process had me thinking about recreating one of MediEvil II’s posters, if not just making one for myself. Plus, this gave me an excuse to work on full-backgrounds again!

[victorluvsalice]

Did i ever post gay rights Smiler

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Smiler's Otherland -- Not-Incorrect Quotes Collection!

Because you know me and these by now XD

--

Alice: [taking Victor and Smiler on a tour of the Vale of Tears] All right, next we're heading to the Duchess's house -- not particularly because I want you two to meet her, but because the path provides some perfect opportunities for you to practice your jumping and --

Insidious Ruin: [bubbles up out of the ground in front of them, squealing and screeching]

Alice: Oh damn it. [pulls her Vorpal Blade, motioning for Victor and Smiler to hang back] You two get behind me, I'll --

Smiler: Hang on, let me try mine! [pulls out the Inoculator and hits the Ruin with a stream of bright yellow liquid]

Ruin: [stops in its tracks, blinking and dripping yellow] ...

Ruin: [lurches forward again and, with a happy noise, grabs Alice around the legs in a hug]

Alice: [jerking backward] What the --

Smiler: [grinning] Aww, it loves you!

Alice: [desperately stabbing it in the head] I DON'T WANT IT TO LOVE ME

--

Alice: [looking around Smile Street and seeing a familiar swirly-eyed grin everywhere -- painted on houses, trimmed into bushes, on people's clothing] ...

Alice: [looks up and spots the same smile on the freaking sun itself]

Alice: [taps Smiler on the shoulder and jerks her head toward it] Really?

Smiler: [gives her a look] You're giving me that when you have all those statues of yourself scattered around the Vale of Tears?

Victor: [raising a hand] If we're having a narcissism contest, my Otherland is almost entirely populated by copies of myself.

Alice: [pause] ...that is pretty bad.

Smiler: Yeah, I think you have to win that contest.

Victor: Hey!

--

Alice: [climbing aboard the SS Gryphon] Mock Turtle? Are you here?

Mock: [popping out of the captain's cabin with a giant grin] Hi Alice! Great to see you! Isn't it such a spectacular day?

Alice:

Alice: [peering around them suspiciously] Smiler? Did you use the Inoculator on Mock?!

Smiler: [calling from the cabin] He asked me to!

--

Victor: [standing with Smiler and Alice in front of Mr. Explorer's treehouse in the Butterfly Jungle] And this is Smiler! Which you might already know, but we wanted to introduce you properly.

Smiler: [beaming] Great to meet you!

Mr. Explorer: [looks Smiler up and down, focusing on the yellow-and-black-spiral-pattern waistcoat under their jacket] Oooooh! You're the reason for them!

Smiler: ?

Alice: Beg pardon?

Mr. Explorer: Just a moment! [hurries away into the undergrowth, and returns with a butterfly -- sporting yellow-and-black spiral-patterned wings] They showed up a little while ago! They're really sweet, and all the other butterflies really seem to like watching them flap around.

Alice: [lightly nudging Victor] Gee, I wonder why.

Victor: [nudging her back, whispering while slightly pink] Let's not corrupt my inner child.

--

Alice: [standing beside one of the swirly portals from the first game, now set into a rock in the new and improved Vale of Tears] And so these allow me to travel between various locations nearly instantaneously, instead of having to rely on the rail line.

Smiler: [grinning at the portal] Oh, that is neat! And they look so cool too -- don't you think so, Victor?

Victor: [staring at the portal, doesn't reply]

Smiler: ...Victor?

Alice: Victor! [snaps her fingers in front of his nose]

Victor: [starts, blinks rapidly, blushes despite himself] Oh, uh, ah, t-they're -- they're very -- n-nice.

Smiler: [slowly growing predatory smile] Oh, are they now...

Alice: [also grinning] Perhaps we could use one to find a slightly more private spot for you to stare?

Victor: [going even deeper pink] Shut up.

--

[the trio are watching two Inoculated Menacing Ruin throw fireballs at a very confused Colossal Ruin in the Dollhouse]

Alice: [to Smiler, as the Colossal Ruin tries to run away, only for one of the Menacing Ruins to slam into its side] I've changed my mind, your weapons are great.

--

[victorluvsalice]

I said I might do this in the tags on the first post of last week's Chill Valicer Save update -- here's the full-sized images from the in-game photoshoot I had my trio do right before said update so I'd have at least one shot of them in the correct order and wearing the correct clothes for my "OT3 Math" Valicertine's Day post. And then I ended up using all three anyway because I couldn't decide which one I liked best. XD Did I really need to do this for a single silly tumblr post about how much I love my Valicer OT3? No. Am I glad I did it anyway? Yes. XD

[victorluvsalice]

Old Tree Stump With Grass Growing Over It On The Faroe Islands Kind Of Looks Like A Unicorn

[victorluvsalice]

Bringing this back to celebrate the posting of the first chapter of "Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland!" Which, uh, features a certain someone making a cameo... Hey, I warned you I was gonna do it. XD

Ed Sheeran - Bad Habits [Official Lyric Video] by Ed Sheeran

Okay, this is probably the newest song I’ve ever featured on a Song Saturday, because the music videos for this dropped just last month. But it’s been playing on the radio fairly consistently lately, and I decided I wanted to get a better listen at home, and – well, I like it! I like it rather a lot! Good beat, easy to dance, to – and okay, yeah, based on the official music video alone, I think we can safely say which AU this reminds me of.

…wait, I have two AUs featuring a vampire Alice now IT’S LONDERLAND BLOODLINES. Though this one actually makes me think of Victor, and him dealing with his ghoulhood. I mean, look at the opener:

“Every time you come around you know I can’t say no Every time the sun goes down I let you take control I can feel the paradise before my world implodes And tonight had something wonderful”

Yeah, sounds like a ghoul dealing with his feelings for his vampire mistress, right? And the chorus about where his “bad habits” lead makes me think about Victor dealing with his addiction before he tracks it back down to Alice – trying to lose himself in other stuff, but his mind constantly going back to that taste, and the woman who gave it to him…yeah, this is a great song for them and the somewhat-fucked-up tone the blood bond lends their relationship.

[victorluvsalice]

Oh hey, remember when I wrote that story about Alice becoming the Malkavian Fledgling in Vampire: the Masquerade -- Bloodlines and doing all the Santa Monica missions in her snarky, snarky way?

Here's the first chapter of the sequel. :p Enjoy!

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Smiler's Otherland -- Outfits!

Time to cover what Smiler's wearing during all these adventures in Alice's Wonderland, Victor's Otherland, and their own Otherland! My attitude toward their various outfits can be summed up thusly --

AAAAAAAAH WHY DID I GIVE EVERYBODY SO MANY DOMAINS WHY DID I DO VICTOR VERSIONS OF ALICE'S DLC STUFF NOW I FEEL OBLIGED TO DO THEM FOR SMILER TOO SO MANY FUCKING OUTFITS AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

*coughs* Uh, yes -- got rather a lot to get through here! ^^; And I fully admit that I am struggling to come up with an outfit for every domain and situation -- as indicated above, it's a lot of fucking outfits! Especially when you remember that I also have to do outfits for Alice and Victor for Smiler's domains... *facepalm* Anyway, here's what I have settled on for the time being:

Smiler's Outfits:

Smiler's Own Otherland --

Smile Always: The equivalent of Alice's "Classic" blue dress, this is what Smiler wears in their own Smile Street domain, as well as any domain in Alice's Wonderland or Victor's Otherland that doesn't prompt a unique outfit (such as the Vale of Tears or the Living Dead Forest). It's a yellow-and-black-striped suit (think the variant Beetlejuice suit (courtesy of @the-crypt-o-club) my Smiler Van Liddelton Sim sometimes wears in their vampiric dark form -- actually, don't think that, let me just show you:

Cripes, remember when Smiler used to live in Britechester? This is a blast from the past...)

Anyway, yes -- yellow-and-black-striped suit jacket and pants like the above; black waistcoat with decorative yellow stitching; a yellow-black-and-white spiral tie (picture one of the eyes of The Smiler logo overlaid on a tie); white shirt; and black shoes with yellow laces. They are basically the exit tunnel from The Smiler coaster in human form. :p Oh, yeah, and if their eyes don't naturally glow bright yellow, they do now! Which holds true for all of their Wonderland outfits.

Neurological Reprogram: The outfit for their X-Sector domain, based off of Dr. Gladwell's outfit from the Smiler Takeover "Fear Test!" Gladwell's outfit, for reference, is a white labcoat that buttons up in the front (in a kind of wrap-around style, though it doesn't go very far around), a white shirt, a black-and-white-striped tie, black pants, black shoes, and yellow glasses. Smiler's outfit is very similar in make, but is a little more colorful, as is their wont -- a yellow wrap-around labcoat; a white shirt; a yellow-and-black-striped tie; black-and-white-striped pants; black shoes; and yellow spiral goggles. Gotta lean into that yellow!

Let Me Entertain You: The outfit for their Musical Mayhem domain, based off Felix E. Lated's outfit from the Celebration Stage! Felix's outfit, for reference, is a glittery yellow jacket, a yellow shirt, a black-and-white-striped bow tie, black pants, and white shoes. Once again, Smiler's outfit is similar in make, but has a bit more color and a few more patterns -- a slightly longer glittery yellow coat (going down to about the top of Smiler's thighs) covered in sequined black and white spirals; a yellow shirt; a rainbow-striped bow tie; black pants with white stripes; and white shoes with yellow laces. Because they gotta stand out on that stage. :p

Ministry: The outfit for their Sanctuary domain, which in this case doesn't have a specific inspiration (though it is supposed to have Kelman vibes, at least) -- a pale gray suit jacket and pants; a white shirt; a slightly darker gray waistcoat; a white tie with the Sanctuary Logo stitched on it in black; and black shoes. Basically, this outfit is meant to be completely clinical and colorless, which Smiler absolutely hates. But well, this is the suit that goes with the domain where all their fears and anxieties live, so why should it be something Smiler LIKES?

Alice's Wonderland --

Splashdown: Smiler's Deluded Depths outfit! This is an old-timey bathing costume like the one Victor wears, only Smiler's top is more like a tank top, and their shorts are shorter, as they're more comfortable showing more skin. The suit has alternating black, white, and yellow stripes, with the yellow stripes glowing. And instead of Victor's seaweed tie and waistcoat, they have a straw boater hat dyed black with a yellow hatband, attached to them with a black chin strap -- so it can be worn on their head or left to float slightly behind their neck. Nice and summery for the waters of Wonderland!

Fifty-Two Pickup: Smiler's Queensland outfit -- and for those of you who remember the first "Sharp-Dressed Victor" post and are like "wait, isn't that the name of Victor's Queensland outfit?" -- well, Smiler's stealing the name because I feel it suits them better. XD (I'm trying to come up with a new name for Victor's outfit -- "Aces Wild" sounds good...) Anyway, it's a dark purple suit jacket and pants; a white shirt; a dark yellow waistcoat with decorative purple stitching; a white tie with the card suits embroidered on it in red and black stitching; and black shoes with purple laces. Figured this one would be a good one to lean into the purple with, given that "royal purple" is a thing.

Advocate: Smiler's Dollhouse outfit! The inspiration behind this one are the various costumes the actual ride employees wear, because I figured it wouldn't be hard to put a more "kiddie" spin on those. As such, the outfit consists of yellow overalls over a black-and-white-striped shirt; black-and-white-striped high socks; and purple shoes just for fun. Very bright, and something I could see a young Smiler wearing under the right circumstances.

Hysterical: Smiler's "Hysteria Mode" outfit! Yes, they get access to Hysteria Mode, though in their case they're not so much bloody as they are glitchy -- the inspiration for this suit is the static and glitches that show up in the various Marmaliser videos and the Smiler Shop TV. We have a white suit speckled all over with lots of little multicolored squares (black, gray, yellow, red, green, and blue) that are meant to look like pixel-y static, with larger concentrations on the left shoulder and right leg; a matching white waistcoat with more squares sprinkled across it; a white shirt; and black shoes. Their eyes also become full black-white-yellow spirals, like in The Smiler logo, with yellow "blood" leaking down their cheeks, and their grin stretches PAINFULLLY wide across their face. Their weapons all end up splattered with yellow and purple "blood" as well -- and as indicated in the Weapons post, this is the only time any of them do direct damage, instead of just stunning enemies or turning them over to Smiler's side. Basically, Smiler is Laughing Mad when they're in this state -- best to give them their space!

Victor's Otherland --

Paintbrush Person -- Smiler's Sketchbook World outfit! Which, as you might imagine, is inspired by a paintbrush. XD Look, Victor's suit for this world is inspired by his sketchbook, while Alice's dress is inspired by the pencil she favors for sketching -- I had to keep to the theme! (And yes, after realizing I called Victor's suit "Paperman," I decided Alice's dress had to be "Pencil Girl," and thus...) Though I partly chose a paintbrush because it was an easy way to get some yellow tones into the outfit -- gotta keep on theme there too. Anyway, this is a suit with a golden jacket and waistcoat (to represent the metal "ferrule" that holds the bristles); a black shirt with a pinstripe pattern (for the bristles themselves); a tie that's all multicolored splotches like paint splatter; black pants patterned with grey swirls to suggest wood grain (for the actual handle); and black shoes.

Still In Progress --

Hatter's Domain: This is one of the outfits I've been struggling with, since -- well, as seen above, Smiler already has a "tech domain" outfit for their own Otherland, and I wanted to make this one distinct. The best option I've come up with so far is to base it off of the magician from Meet The Ministry, since that's guy's black outfit with the long black coat actually matches Alice's Steamdress and Victor's Steamsuit aesthetically the most. (Though I imagine Smiler's will have yellow worked into it -- maybe a yellow shirt or waistcoat?). I also don't know what I'm going to call it -- feels like it should be Steam-something, but... *shrug*

The Mysterious East: I have no idea what I'm going to do with this one -- I guess by necessity it would have to look like Victor's jacket and pants, and I could probably do purple silk with yellow, black, and white patterns, but I don't know what those patterns would be and how to make their version more unique. Hmmm...

The Butterfly Jungle: I almost know what I want to do with this one -- I want it to be based off Sir Algernon (or possibly Sir Algenon, I've seen both spellings), the explorer character who's become a kind of mascot for Alton Towers, and call the outfit "Sir Algie." I'm just having a little trouble pulling it all together -- especially since there's two distinct looks to work with. The Sir A animatronic on the airship in the Alton Towers hotel sports a classic flight cap with a propeller on it and a pilot's brown jacket with a fuzzy collar; while the Sir A performer is a much more classic steampunky gentleman, with a long brown coat, a waistcoat, and a fancy top hat (along with long flowing curly locks). I really like the propeller flight cap for Smiler, and the waistcoat -- I KIND OF want the jacket as well, but I worry that it'll be too hot for the Jungle. Just something I need to think about more.

The Magic Tower: I really don't know what this one will look like yet, I just know that purple and yellow swirls are a MUST. Though, thinking about it, I always have them as having a love for chemistry, so maybe something that makes people think "alchemist?" Hmmmm...

Orchestralia: Another outfit where the problem is "they have their own musical domain and thus their own musical domain outfit, so how do I make this one distinct from that?" Looking at Victor and Alice's stuff, I went with "stripes and musical notes" as a key theme for both -- maybe Smiler has something similar, only their stripes and notes are at an angle or otherwise a bit wonky? And their version would definitely have to be more colorful... Pondering continues!

Victor And Alice's Outfits:

Updates To Previous Outfits --

Beloved(s): Okay, so -- you know how I've been calling Victor's blue suit that matches Alice's dress "Classic" or "Alice Classic?" Well, I had a brainwave a little while ago, and decided that it should instead be "Beloved" to reflect the fact that he's dressing like his beloved. :) And thus, when he's in a situation where he's with Alice AND Smiler, the suit changes to "Beloveds," and gains elements to reflect both of them! Basically what I was thinking is that the suit jacket and pants stay Alice blue, and the shirt white, but Victor now has a yellow waistcoat, yellow socks, and a tie that has a smoky yellow-and-purple swirl pattern on it. And their tie clip is now a silver A and a golden S joined together. All of it reflecting just how much he loves both of them. <3

Smiler's Otherland --

Joytide: Alice's X-Sector dress, based on the outfit the Agent Joytide actors wore in the Fear Test! Because if Smiler's got the Gladwell look going on... It's sort of like the Dollhouse dress when it comes to the basic fit, but the top is black leather with big yellow buttons, while the skirt is yellow and black plaid patches that don't really line up with each other. Her boots also get yellow laces, and her eye shadow turns yellow, natch.

Agent: Victor's X-Sector suit, based on the outfits of the wandering Ministry agents during the Takeover! It's a nice simple black suit with a bright yellow shirt; a black-and-white-striped tie; a spiral-patterned yellow and black waistcoat; yellow socks; and black shoes. Oh, and sunglasses if appropriate. :p I thought the look suited him well.

Get Corrected: Alice's Sanctuary dress, based off -- well. Based off the straitjacket "dress" she gets in the Rutledge section of Alice: Madness Returns, because Sanctuary is a horrible asylum along those same lines! Though, at least in THIS dress, Alice has her arms free if she needs to fight... The outfit itself is a drab, off-white, sleeveless gown with a limp skirt hanging down just below her knees, and a bunch of black leather belts around the bodice, secured in the back, with the Sanctuary logo stitched above her right breast in black. Her signature omega is tied around her neck with a fraying string. Oh, and no boots -- much like in the Rutledge hallucination, she has to go barefoot. I'm sure she's thrilled. :p

Cedars: Victor's Sanctuary suit, based off the outfits of the male patients in Alice's Rutledge hallucination! And also the kind of stuff Miles Cedars was wearing during his time as Kelman's patient in the Smile Always series, hence the name. It's a dull gray t-shirt top with the Sanctuary logo stitched over the right side of his chest, and matching dull gray drawstring pants that don't QUITE reach his ankles. And yes, again, no shoes for the "patient." Someone get these people some socks at least, I'm sure those floors are cold.

Still In Progress --

Musical Mayhem: The only thing I know right now about Victor and Alice's outfits for this domain is that they'll have to be glittery to match Smiler's. I suspect Alice will be in something blue and white, but I'm not sure exactly what the dress will look like yet...and Victor's suit is a complete mystery. I'll come up with something, I'm sure, but I need to think about it some more.

Whew -- yeah, it is a lot, isn't it? And I haven't even finished all the domains yet...or done Smiler versions of the A:MR DLC dresses. *thunks head against desk* Basically, expect an update to this post at some point in the future, once I've puzzled a few more things out.

[victorluvsalice]

-->Where I took a moment, transferred $10,000 back to the house from the store, then brought them a little food stand! In the most colorful swatch, of course. :D I have named it “Van Liddelton Snacks” and intend it to be an addition to their grocery store – maybe once or twice a week they’ll take the stand around to a random location and do a food sale or two. Feels like another good way to use up all the produce and ingredients they grow, and add some variety to their lives as small business owners! We’ll see how it actually goes, of course...

-->With THAT sorted (and Alice’s garden pizza safely stored within the stand so it wouldn't go rotten too quickly), I had Victor and Alice do a little flirting and kissing, then sent them up to bed as Smiler trimmed the living room bonsai into a pretty heart shape, got the laundry started, and got to know Surprise a little better after the cat refused their attempt to offer friendship. Fortunately she was much more amenable to playing laser pointer. :p Alice got woken up early by Shock’s yowling – the cat ran off before she could be lectured for this behavior, so I had Alice (who was feeling most inspired) hop on the computer to start a new book (a Wonderland mystery called “Who Stole The Tarts?”). My playsession ended shortly after Sim midnight, with Alice writing, Victor sleeping, and Smiler having put the laundry in the dryer and headed back off to the barn to make a mechanism. *nods* Not a bad day at all for them! :) Next time, the gang will be heading to Brindleton Bay for their first food sale with the new snack stand – and to get Surprise and Shock spayed because we do NOT need any more surprise kitten events! Oh, and they'll be completing New Skill Day too. :) Should be fun! See you then!

[victorluvsalice]

-->Anyway, with the rush over, I decided that I wanted Alice to make a pizza in her new pizza oven, so I had her check out her options, then prep some veggies and make some cheese in order to get a garden pizza going. Victor and Smiler kept working the sales floor, chatting to customers and leading to a few more sales – a guy named Umber snagged one of Victor’s Energizing scents for $744, while Brytani deigned to buy some watermelon conserve for $171 (I made sure Victor rung her up, since Smiler doesn’t like her for some reason). Cameron Fletcher also came by to grab a $2 spinach – I’m glad he’s not too annoyed that I banned him from the break room microwave. XD Alice wandered back upstairs while waiting on the stand mixer to clean one of the displays (which WERE getting a bit manky) – I promptly sent her back downstairs to collect her prepped vegetables and get the pizza in the oven while I had Victor finish the cleaning magically and conjure up some spaghetti for himself. Smiler meanwhile got another sale – someone named Anaya buying a box of veggie MREs for $241. For five seconds, everything seemed to be going well –

-->BOOM ANOTHER MASS BUYING EVENT! Complete with lag, because you gotta have lag. *heavy sigh* I had Alice stay downstairs long enough to get her pizza (as it was almost done by the time everyone decided they wanted to buy something), but after that, it was all hands on deck to take care of customers! Fortunately, they got them all – Paolo with a cube of beeswax for $18; Tetsuya with a box of canned fishcakes for $413; Dali with a box of chocolate syrup jars for $413; Jeb and Osuma both with friendly animal treats for $17 each. Oh, and a guy named Chad grabbed a strawberry out of the produce fridges for $19. Whew! I put Victor on "removing all of the out-of-stock signs" duty afterward while Smiler cleaned up some stray plates and glasses that had ended up on the produce stands (the custom “farmer’s market”-style ones I got from Brazen have slots on the little shelf underneath, it appears – perfect for Sims to hide shit from you) and Alice made a clay bunny. As you do. Alice then used the toilet and ate a container of prepped veggies over the bathroom sinks (I forgot you could just eat prepped ingredients straight-up) before running off to shower in the rain. *shakes fist* ERRATIC SIMS! While she was busy causing newcomers to the lot to gasp, Victor and Smiler handled what I decided would be the last sales of the day – Ivana with a box of canned tomato sauce for $413, and Francine with a pumpkin animal treat for $46. There was another lady wanting to buy something, but for some reason Smiler kept insisting they couldn’t get to her, so before things got any more chaotic, I decided to have them close the store. All in all, they sold 18 total items for a profit of $3,729! Not bad for a day’s work!

-->Except – when Smiler closed up shop, three people stayed behind, the previously-stuck lady and two others, all with shopping carts over their heads. Puzzled, I had Smiler and Alice (back in her clothes) ring up the two that could be reached (Victor heading back into the break room for another nap) while I let the “stuck” one time out – this did NOT result in any post-closing sales, though, just some customer goodwill. Well, for everyone except the customer who was mysteriously blocked. Sorry, lady, not sure what happened there! Try again next time!

-->Anyway – with that sorted, the trio decamped to the break room to watch a bit of TV and do a bit of flirting, as they do. :) Once the last customer had FINALLY left the store, they headed back to their place, arriving back home at about 9 PM in-game –

[victorluvsalice]

-->And with that, it was finally off to Van Liddelton Groceries once more! Alice got to open the place up this time, though first, I had her set the prices to “Sale” (aka 15% markup) down from the regular 25% markup. Why? Because they DO NOT need the money, and I wanted to see if stuff would sell faster if it was a little cheaper. She then got sent to have some zoomies to deal with her slowly-growing Fury (no wolfing out at work!) while Victor bunked down for a nap in the break room and Smiler went out to handle the sales floor (after consulting their future cube for advice, since I wanted them to do something while waiting for customers – “the cube abides,” apparently)! Amusingly, the very first Sim to show up for the day was L. Faba – guess she was tired of Morgyn getting all the attention whenever the gang visited the Magic Realm. XD (Which reminds me, I really gotta bind Victor’s dragon familiar to him already...) Anyway, after a bit of lag, Smiler was able to let off one of their patented vampiric happiness bursts for the incoming customers and chat with Catarina Lynx for a bit to try and convince her to buy stuff –

-->And then Alice came back, and I decided that I wanted her to make some more food downstairs rather than force her to chat with customers. A decision that led to me transferring $40,000 of their household funds over to the store so I could upgrade the downstairs kitchen area with the best Schmapple fridges and ovens, and add a counter by the corner so I could put in a stand mixer, a waffle iron, and a pizza oven! All in the blue swatches, since I thought those looked nice. :) I then had Alice use the bulk food processors from Simsonian Library to process some potato flour so she could whip up a batch of dough –

-->Aaand suddenly EVERYONE WAS BUYING SHIT. Yeah, apparently cheaper prices DO encourage more sales. I quickly had Alice run up there to help Smiler with the initial rush (since Victor was still working on taking care of his needs) – Catarina picked up a loaf of cheesy bread for $71; Christen a jar of blueberry jam for $80; and Janae a small mushroom for $5. We got a brief break while some of the customers got distracted by the sight of celebrity Brytani Cho in the store (long enough for Victor to get up and go to the bathroom), but after that and another annoying case of lag, the sales started coming again, with Bella Goth grabbing a box of dried sage for $413, and L. Faba getting a box of cheese for $621. I took a moment to check downstairs and saw that Alice’s dough was ready, so I had her go downstairs and grab that –

Aaand got an LE as she did so. However, that was shortly followed by customer Olivia grabbing an avocado from the produce fridges/warming racks, so I think the LE was actually related to that – specifically, to my Brazen Lotus stuff. Meh. At least I'm pretty sure I know what it is (the game doesn’t have a proper animation to play if a Sim is getting a normally-not-allowed-in-produce-fridges item out of a produce fridge, so it goes “hey”) and that it’s not TOO game-breaking!

[victorluvsalice]

Welcome back to the Chill Valicer Save, where it's the day after Love Day, Spring Saturday, and we have more store shenanigans to get through! Because these three are small business owners and thus occasionally need to run their small business. It's kind of a thing. :p

-->Started with where I left everyone after the Valicertine’s Day photoshoot – you know, the one I did for the OT3 Math post? Anyway, we had Alice snoozing in bed (setting up the tripod and doing all those silly poses was hard work), Victor having just used the toilet (and having gotten a new outfit – yup, the CC one I slapped on him for the shoot is staying, I like it), and Smiler having just weeded Snappy their Sixam Mosquito Trap plant (with the big weeding vacuum, which amused me). I sent Victor to go clean out the spoiled food from the fridge (which turned into a VERY lengthy trip around the lot for him as he gathered up every dirty plate he could find...and then tried to leave them under the phonograph in the living room, prompting me to go “HEY” and force him to actually bring them to the SINK) while Smiler sat down and studied the latest SimsTube trends at their video production station. Happily for them, tech reviews were trending, and they had one of those in storage – their old Bunnypad Review! So I had them release that before flying down to the barn to kick apart some creepy hands and make a computer chip. Gotta keep making all those parts to potentially make a Servo in the future! They finished that up while Victor FINALLY cleaned up all the stinky plates, finished off a glass of water Alice had left on the kitchen table, and had some berry waffles for breakfast –

-->And then – farm chores time, as always! Smiler was, as per usual, on chicken duty, cleaning the coop and spreading a bit of feed before trying to chat with the chickens – unfortunately, only one was vibing with them today, for some reason. These chickens are fussy. *shakehead* Alice got weeding duty in the greenhouse at first to test if those two bugged plants were still bugged (answer: yes), then I had her throw on some clothes (as she’d run down to weed in her underwear – seriously, why do none of my Sims actually get DRESSED to visit the greenhouse??) and go say hi to Moory as Victor took over gardening duties (evolving some plants along the way, nice). Alice earned Moory’s favor with a prairie hay treat and was able to successfully milk her as Smiler gave up on talking to the chickens and just collected the eggs (five normal ones, yay). Alice then got sent to feed Toothy, sort out the recycling, and get herself some breakfast (more berry waffles, of course), while I sent Smiler to the greenhouse to get their plasma fruit and herbalism supplies (and dumped the eggs, their spare fizzy plasma juice, and a Sweet & Spicy drink they made the other day into the fridge). Victor had gotten stuck in the “weeding loop” by this point, so I had him quit tending to bond with his bees and get some beeswax, then had him harvest all the “newer” plants, like the soy and black beans, bell peppers, pineapples, and coconuts before super-selling everything else. I mean, they have five tons of all the other produce, but not much in the way of those items yet – might as well make sure we have them in case they’re needed! I then reset the bugged weedy plants while Victor finished up his tending by spraying a few plants for bugs; Smiler made some insect repellent liniment (and gave Victor a little kiss on the cheek :) ); and Alice finished off her waffles while I told her “no, no ping pong with Smiler” repeatedly. *sigh* Why do Sims get obsessed with stuff like that sometimes... Smiler eventually wandered off to play some SimScuffle (on Victor and Alice’s computer AGAIN – you have the same one! Why do you always use theirs?!) while Alice spent some time playing with Surprise and Victor scratched Shadow’s favorite spot, awww. :) Victor then magically fixed all the broken wind turbines (again) and a broken water collector –

[victorluvsalice]

Skrillex - Bangarang (Ft. Sirah) [Official Audio] by Skrillex

You guys don't know how long I've been sitting on this one. XD I've had this in mind for a Song Saturday for a few months now, but I didn't want to post it until I started posting the Smiler's Otherland stuff I've been working on -- specifically, the post regarding their weapons from earlier this week. Reason being, I now associate this song with the trio battling Ruins in Wonderland! Specifically, the scene runs like so:

-->The trio are up against Bumby/The Dollmaker, who is spawning Ruins to go after them; Alice starts off alone at first, slicing, dicing, smashing, and otherwise wrecking them with her weapons (both AMA and A:MR ones)

-->Eventually, though, she starts to get overwhelmed despite her best efforts (around the time of the second set of "shout to all my boss boys") -- cue Victor running in with HIS weapons in time for the second "BANGARANG," and the two fighting together to destroy yet more Ruins as Bumby starts sending out the big guns. They do really well for a while --

-->And then a bunch of Drifting Ruins get off some lucky hits (around the spot where it gets a bit quieter and calmer), and the pair find themselves pinned by a bunch of Ruin glop. Bumby sends in a Menacing Ruin to finish them off -- but before it can actually do anything, it's suddenly hit by a stream of glowing yellow liquid. Pan over to Smiler holding the Inoculator and grinning. Bumby derisively points out the liquid doesn't seem to have done anything, and Smiler explains that their weapons are actually based around converting enemies to their cause.

-->And then as the bass picks up again, the Menacing Ruin turns toward Bumby with a snarl, and Smiler goes, "Or, to put it more simply -- that's my friend now."

-->Cue Bumby having to dodge his own creation's fiery Ruin balls in the last part of the song as Smiler frees Victor and Alice, and the trio working in concert to finish off the last of the Ruins -- Smiler softening them up or turning them to their side while Victor and Alice take them out.

Yeah, perhaps a little weird, but I think it's a lot of fun. :) I like imagining the trio working together in Wonderland to take out a threat -- and I really like Bumby having to run for it while being chased by his own monsters. XD Good stuff. And the song is great on its own if you like the scratchy bass-drop style! Go ahead and give it a listen if you like.

[victorluvsalice]

@tamamoarts 's marmie got me inspired to make my own version! It only goes by SW7 or experiment 7! Something definitely went wrong on one of the MoJ's experiments, now they have this abomination.

i dont really have too much backstory on it. i just wanted to make my own version of the Smiler ;; hope yall like it. [it usually always has a bubbly disposition even when doing terrible things!]

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Smiler's Otherland -- Weapons!

We've done the domains -- time to cover Smiler's marmalising arsenal! Well, if you can call it that, given these weapons are all nonlethal unless Smiler's in their version of Hysteria Mode... These admittedly got covered pretty well in the original post, but I wanted to expand a little bit upon what each one does (both in normal and Hysteria modes) and what their upgrade paths might look like --

Vorpal Spoon: As previously indicated, this came about because I needed an equivalent to Alice's famous Vorpal Blade, and since Victor got the Vorpal Fork thanks to his big fight scene in Corpse Bride involving him using a barbecue fork...well, I guess Smiler wanted to complete the cutlery set. XD

Look -- An oversized silver spoon with a black handle grip (with little yellow spirals painted on it, natch) and a twisted slatted "neck" (the part that actually connects the handle and the bowl) -- it's supposed to look like a heartline roll, which is the first inversion on the Smiler coaster. The bowl itself is a bit oversized, and would probably be engraved either with spirals, or the full-on swirly-eyed Smiler logo.

Effect -- Not having any sharp bits like the Blade or Fork, the Spoon is instead a stunning weapon -- Smiler bops enemies on the head with it, and they freeze for a few seconds, unable to move, while swirls go around their heads. Perfect for giving Victor or Alice the chance to get in close with a more lethal weapon! The Hysteria Mode version would still stun the enemy, but also cause damage as Smiler hits harder.

Upgrade Path -- Like the Vorpal Blade and the Vorpal Fork, the look of this weapon doesn't change as you upgrade it -- instead, the trail it leaves as Smiler swings it and the spirals that appear around bopped enemies changes. I'm thinking we start with simple black spirals, then move to purple, yellow, and finally a whole rainbow of spirals.

The Inoculator: One of the elements of the Marmaliser, and probably one of the most famous, since -- well. Big needle full of mind-control juice! That grabs people's interest! This is the equivalent of Alice's Pepper Grinder or Victor's Wedding Wine, functioning much like the latter.

Look -- A big old syringe (about the size of the Pepper Grinder) with a copper needle and plunger and a glass barrel full of yellow liquid (Joy Serum). The serum drains as Smiler presses the plunger, and will need a few seconds to refill -- longer if Smiler empties it completely.

Effect -- Smiler can depress the plunger to squirt out the serum onto enemies -- any enemy hit by the stuff ends up covered in dripping yellow liquid for a short time, and during that time, is friendly to Smiler (and Victor and Alice, if they are present). The enemy will also attack other enemies if they are present. The Hysteria Mode version is a full on "needle jab" attack, where Smiler gets in close and actually injects an enemy with Joy Serum -- this causes the enemy to take some damage from getting stuck, but also turns them completely yellow and makes them fight at Smiler's side for longer.

Upgrade Path -- The needle and plunger go from copper, to silver, to gold, to black; the barrel gradually gains some minor decoration in the form of swirly engravings, and the Joy Serum inside gets more and more excited, going from just plain liquid, to bubbling a bit, to actively fizzing, to occasionally having the Smiler logo fade in and out of it.

The Tickler: Another Marmaliser element, big fuzzy rollers designed to tickle people -- though I wouldn't be surprised if most people looked at them and thought "car wash." :p This is the equivalent of Alice's Hobby Horse or Victor's Grim Scythe.

Look -- The ride Tickler is made up of big car wash brushes; mine is a paint roller. XD Specifically, it's a long black pole with a large fuzzy yellow roller mounted on the end. Just -- picture a paint roller, yeah.

Effect -- This is another weapon designed to stun -- Smiler hits enemies with it and rolls the roller over them, and they get incapacitated for a short time with laughter, as shown by little yellow "ha ha ha"s coming out of their bodies. It's got better reach and stuns for longer than the Vorpal Spoon, but Smiler can't swing it as fast, or move as fast while they're using it. Like the Vorpal Spoon, the Hysteria Mode version of the attack has Smiler hit harder and more aggressively, actually causing damage while also stunning the enemy for a bit longer.

Upgrade Path -- The pole goes from plain black, to black-and-white-striped, to black-and-yellow-striped, to black-white-and-yellow-striped. The roller, meanwhile, goes from plain yellow, to yellow-and-black-striped (like it's presented in The Smiler Game), to black-white-and-yellow-striped, to black-white-yellow-and-purple-striped.

The Flasher: Another Marmaliser element, and the one that most people I think would be fine skipping, as it does involve being flashed with bright light. This is what makes The Smiler fandom not great for anyone who doesn't like or can't view flashing images! This functions much like Alice's Clockwork Bomb or Victor's Altar Candle.

Look -- A medium-sized yellow box covered on all four sides and the top with light bulbs -- a set of six to a side. The bulbs blink on and off occasionally.

Effect -- Smiler puts this down on the ground, holding a small black switch in their hand as they then move about freely. The Flasher will remain where it is placed, with bulbs blinking on and off randomly to attract enemies. After thirty seconds, or when Smiler presses the switch, the box will let off a brilliant flash using all its bulbs at once, then explode, stunning all nearby enemies briefly. It can also be used to hold down switches temporarily. In Hysteria Mode, the explosion is accompanied by flying glass from the bulbs and thus actually causes damage. (I know the Clockbomb Bomb doesn't really have a "Hysteria Mode" equivalent like the main weapons, but I still like this idea.)

Upgrade Path -- N/A -- as the Clockwork Bomb has no upgrades, neither does this. (Given it can literally blind enemies from the start, does it really need them?)

The Giggler: Another Marmaliser element, this one being tanks full of laughing gas sprayed at riders as they pass. This one doesn't get a lot of love -- I think most people are more into the Inoculator's Joy Serum -- but I like it as it's fun and, from what I can see, the gas itself is the ride's explicit purple element. :) It's the equivalent of Alice's Teapot Cannon or Victor's Quill Bow.

Look -- A small tank about the size of the Teapot Cannon, with a black top and bottom over a clear glass middle, showing the purple Giggler gas. A black handle with a trigger is attached to one side, and a black nozzle on a short flexible black hose is attached to the other. Smiler holds it by gripping the handle in one hand and holding the nozzle with the other.

Effect -- Smiler can depress the trigger in the handle to release clouds of gas from the nozzle, which then drift toward nearby enemies -- the longer they hold the trigger, the bigger the resultant cloud, and the faster it moves. Any enemies hit by the cloud end up tinted purple with a purple "ha ha ha" over their heads, and, like with the Inoculator, end up friendly to Smiler and will attack other enemies for them. The clouds have better reach than the Inoculator and can go through barriers, but the tank empties faster than the syringe and takes longer to refill -- it's best used with large groups of enemies, as the clouds can affect multiple enemies at once. The Hysteria Mode version would have Smiler getting up closer to give enemies a bigger dose of gas straight in the kisser, causing damage from lack of oxygen but also making the enemies brighter purple and keeping them loyal for longer.

Upgrade Path -- The top, bottom, and handle of the tank go from black, to white, to yellow, to yellow-and-black-striped; the actual tank gets engraved swirly decorations, then an engraved Smiler Logo with a hazardous X on the bottom, like can be seen in the front in this Tower Times picture; and the nozzle and hose go from plain black, to black-and-white-striped, to black-and-yellow-striped, to black-white-and-yellow-striped.

The Hypnotiser: The final element on the Marmaliser, and probably the other most famous/liked one of the lot, basically just a lot of spinning spirals and other patterns designed to, well, hypnotize. This would be the equivalent of Alice's Umbrella or Victor's Sketchbook.

Look -- A large disc on a black pole, printed with concentric white, yellow, and black spirals (much like the eyes in the logo), which spins at a steady rate.

Effect -- Smiler can pull this out and use the disc to reflect back projectiles or as a defensive shield. It also has a chance of distracting enemies so they don't attack, leaving them open to another weapon. The Hysteria Mode attack would be -- hmmm. Maybe if Smiler pulls it out, it can frenzy enemies into attacking whoever or whatever is closest? (Again, I know the Umbrella doesn't have an Hysteria Mode attack, but come on, it's fun.)

Upgrade Path -- N/A again, as the Umbrella never gets upgraded. (Though if it did have one, I'd imagine the spirals would get more complex -- maybe it would start with just black and white spirals and gradually add the yellow?)

Whew -- I think that covers all their current weapons pretty thoroughly! Once again I count myself lucky that the ride's various "Marmaliser" elements could be so easily converted to weapons. :p Next time in Smiler Otherland news, we'll talk outfits! At least, those outfits I've managed to figure out...

[victorluvsalice]

Mini VITD Sims Lookbook (Largely Alice Focused Edition)

Hi all -- I ended up downloading and playing with some more Victorian and Victorian-esque CC for Sims 4 last Saturday, looking for some new looks for my Valicer In The Dark versions of Victor, Alice, and Smiler (mainly Alice, as per the title). And, as I'm still getting the next Chill Valicer Save update ready, I figured I'd share the results, in case any of you were interested/wanted some more CC to download! Here we go:

First up, we actually have something that I downloaded from someone’s lookbook post for their Alice Sim a little while ago (I'm afraid I don't remember whose at this point ^^;) – a conversion of Alice’s London dress from Alice: Madness Returns! As in, one Mimoto-Sims ripped this dress straight from the files of that game (along with a bunch of others) and turned it into an outfit in Sims 4! :D I’ve been looking for this for a while, and I’m quite pleased with it, though it is a little weirdly shiny – and if you think Alice suddenly looks a LOT thinner than usual in this dress, she is. Apparently I didn’t make my Sim Alice underweight enough! I think I prefer my Sims 4 version having a waist that doesn’t look like it could snap in half at any moment, though. XD

Okay, onto the CC I actually downloaded on Saturday, with Alice modeling the Ever Elegant Blouse v2 and the Rather Ravishing Skirt v2 from Gilded Ghost’s New Woman set! I ended up pairing these two together because, with the apron, I thought this made another good “maid” Alice outfit – though she looks like she’s working somewhere fancier than Houndsditch in this set, that’s for sure. (Now I’m tempted for her to somehow get her hands on a maid’s outfit from the Van Dort estate when her and Smiler’s attempt to return Victor to his parents ends up in them robbing them for being shitheads who don’t care about their son...) But it’s a nice look for her, and I am THRILLED that this and the other tops from that set worked with her necklace! :D Seriously, so many outfits hide that necklace, and given that it’s suppose to be her wearing Lizzie’s room key, I’d like it to be visible more often than not!

Case in point, the necklace is also visible in this outfit, which is Alice wearing the Jacket Jubilee top with the Perfectly Plain skirt from the New Woman set. This set I just thought looked nice on her, and made a nice – semi-formal? This feels fancier than casual, but not fancy enough to be formal. Like, maybe this is something she’d wear if the gang were heading to the Golden Plum for a nice dinner, or to a park for a trio date. That sort of thing. Not “fancy neighborhood” wear, but a step above hanging around the house.

By contrast, Alice is definitely not leaving the house in this outfit. XD This is dzifasims’s Bespoke Corset, paired with a plain Get Famous skirt that I thought looked like a shift or underskirt (I thought the corset CAME with one, but apparently I was mistaken). It’s nice to have a plainer corset that doesn’t look like it was bought for sex purposes, unlike the base game one. Though I do like the “bought for sex purposes” one too. XD Alice probably prefers this one, though – it’s more her style, and I think it makes good underwear for her.

Onto the masc stuff, with Smiler showing off pandorasimbox’s Azariah’s Sacksuit. I have mixed feelings on this – the basic shape of the suit is okay, and I liked pairing it with the bowler, but as per usual this suit did not have any of the right swatches I needed for Smiler. The problem is, people do a lot of muted colors for Victorian-style clothes, and even the ones that include brighter swatches tend not to do a lot of yellow. Meaning I often end up with poor Smiler wearing beige because that’s as close as I can get. *sigh* I mean, I do rather like the look on them – they kind of look like they’re auditioning for a Charlie Chaplin movie – but it’s gotta be BRIGHTER, you know? *sigh* I gotta learn how to recolor clothes... (Also, amusingly, the boots are actually from Moschino – they actually look Victorian enough when you cover up the tops with a long pant.)

Fortunately, while [LonelyBoy]’s TS4 Solardius Outfit doesn’t have a yellow swatch, it DOES have a black swatch with gold decorative details, and that I can work with – especially when paired with the High School Years shoes I love so much for Smiler in the “black with yellow stitching” swatch. :) Not sure how much I like the high collar on Smiler, but this is certainly not a bad look for them!

And it CERTAINLY isn’t a bad look for Victor, who suits that high collar much better. XD As you can see, Victor got the nice dark blue swatch with the red tie, which is kind of the inverse of his tie/vest color scheme in the movie. XD But it suits him, and again, this seems like a nice, semi-formal outfit he might wear for an outing with his partners where he wanted to look a little more put together. :)

And there you have it – me playing with my favorite trio like dolls again. XD What can I say, it’s fun to dress them up in new outfits! And these particular sessions help inform me of what I’d like my trio to wear in the Valicer In The Dark universe. Since, you know, I’m pretty well obsessed with that these days. XD So don’t @ me, downloading CC is writing research, okay? Okay. :p

[victorluvsalice]

Are you ever going to write a valicer multichapter fic? Like on ao3??

I am, in fact, currently working on one! "Start At The Beginning...Sort Of," the first story in my Valicer In The Dark AU series! (Which is that AU where Victor, Alice, and Smiler are all in the city of Duskwall from the Blades In The Dark RPG -- more details are in the tag!) This is the story where they all meet, with the title referring to that the story picks up near the end of the local version of Alice: Madness Returns for Alice and roughly in the middle of the local version of Corpse Bride for Victor. Features ghostly shenanigans, the trio getting accused of a murder they didn't commit, what I think is one of the best chase scenes I've ever written, and plenty of exposition. :P I'm almost done with the first official draft (though you can see the three snippets I originally wrote here: First(ish) Meeting, Discoveries, and Accused), and hope to have it up later this year! :D