thevalicemultiverse

[thevalicemultiverse]

What if I took the coins I have and went to the future to sell them? For all we know Indian head cents could be worth a fortune to collectors of the future.

Marty: Maybe -- but actually, what if money from the future doesn't look like money now? That shit changes over time -- you might get a load of cash, but not be able to spend any of it.

Doc: Though that might be the point, if you wanted to get a head start on collecting FUTURE coins and bills... I still don't think it's the best use of time travel, but at least with going to the future, you have more opportunities to correct any possible negative changes.

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Secundus #~T: We’re All Mad Here #time travel coin collecting #~C: Doc Brown #~C: Marty McFly #((Doc still isn't fully sold but #at least this one carries less risk of fucking up the past and thus the present #the future is a bit more easily fixed if necessary! #and yeah currency DOES change over time so #kind of trading one coin collection for another! #well if they still have physical money in the future of course #depends on how far you go I guess)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

(Miss hancock was not a wrestler; actually, more of a sex appeal to keep ratings up before she emerged as Stacy Keibler. She would come out and seductively dance, do cat fights and sometimes put input on the match. Overall; someone Therese would hate.)

Alice: Ahhh, I see -- so she may have dressed like Therese, but she acted more like Jeanette, got it. Yes, Therese definitely would not be happy with the comparison then!

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Londerland Bloodlines #~T: Epic of the Ankaran Sarcophagus #therese miss hancock voerman #~C: Alice Liddell #((ah so she was more like eye candy than an actual wrestler in the early days #I gotcha #and yes I looked up some images of her #definitely a 'Jeanette cosplaying as Therese' situation #basically when Jeannette gets control of the body before Therese can change :p)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

Therese can talk shit all she wants when she literally looks like miss Hancock from WCW lmao

Alice: I -- don't know who that is, but I presume someone attractive? I mean, if that's what floats your boat, fine, but you weren't the one having to run errands for her and deal with her and sister's feuding.

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Londerland Bloodlines #~T: Epic of the Ankaran Sarcophagus #therese miss hancock voerman #~C: Alice Liddell #((I was pretty sure it involved wrestling with those initials #and I was right #I find it kind of amusing Therese apparently looked like a wrestler #she would not appreciate the comparison I am sure XD)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

What if you got a job in the past and used the money for coin collecting?

Doc: [grimacing] That carries even more risk of altering the space-time continuum, because you'd be naturally displacing the person who normally be working there, who would then go and do something else, and--

Marty: You really think that one person getting a job in the past might screw over the whole universe, Doc?

Doc: The risk may be small, but it is still present. The problem with time travel is, you never know what small change might end up having huge effects later on! And I personally don't want to take the risk of, I don't know, half of England being leveled as a bizarre side effect of one person from the future getting a job in the past to look for rare coins.

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Secundus #~T: We’re All Mad Here #time travel coin collecting #~C: Doc Brown #~C: Marty McFly #((Doc continues to worry about the integrity of the space-time continuum #Marty continues to be like 'is this really such a big deal' #You'd think differently if you were the Marty whose own mother tried to mack on him thanks to time travel dude #then again that Marty is the one who ended up trying to bring future gambling knowledge back with him to the past #so maybe not)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

I imagine having a Time Machine would make collecting rare coins so much easier. You can just go to the past, buy something and look through your spare change for Indian head pennies or mercury dimes or three cent coins.

Doc: Technically true, but in actual fact you'd need money appropriate to the time period first in order to make your purchases so as to not cause confusion or be accused of counterfeiting and the like. So you'd likely have to collect some rare coins -- or, more accurately, rare bills -- before you could go back and make your purchase, depending on the time period you'd want to go to. Also you shouldn't be making frivolous purchases in the past in the hope of getting rare coins in your change anyway; you never know what might change the future.

Marty: But if you have to purchase something, then no harm in looking for neat stuff, right?

Doc: I guess not, but it's not behavior I'd like to encourage. Going to the past should be carefully planned sightseeing, not a romp around altering people's lives willy-nilly in small but potentially significant ways just because you want a special kind of penny.

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Secundus #~T: We’re All Mad Here #time travel coin collecting #~C: Doc Brown #~C: Marty McFly #((Doc cares about the space-time continuum damn it #get outta here with your numismatism XD #I mean it's an interesting idea but as Doc points out #you might have to do some collecting BEFORE you get to the past anyway #...and now I'm really wondering where he got all the money he has in Part II in his briefcase #did he spend his time working on the time machine collecting all those bills? #did he get them in the future? #inquiring minds BTTF trilogy)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

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

#~M: meanwhile in our reality (OOC) #~F: I like your enthusiasm (just like this) #~V: Valicer In The Dark #~F: if i ever see that van dort boy (victor) #~F: is she the chosen one (alice) #~F: smile always! (smiler) #((some more looks for my crime trio #mostly for Alice but she needed some more pretty dresses and such to wear #and Smiler definitely needs some more colorful stuff #I will have to go on a hunt for anything that has particularly bold swatches in the future #or finally learn how to recolor clothes #one or the other)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

Dormouse: I don't have any glasses for the eclipse someone relay it to me when it happens

Hare: sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, no sun :(

more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, sun again

Dormouse: It's like I'm there

Alice: I'm going to be honest, I rather appreciate the description myself, given that I'm never actually going to see a solar eclipse again. Part of me does wonder if I'd be able to move about normally during the day during the moment of totality, but the rest of me knows it is not worth the risk.

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Londerland Bloodlines #~T: Nice Place To Live #less sun less sun no sun #~C: Alice Liddell #((I dunno just doing this with vampire!Alice #who will never be able to experience this kind of thing again except secondhand #well it felt right #and no Alice I agree it would not be worth the risk to find out #leave that kind of experimenting to other Malkavians #or maybe the Tremere)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

Send 🎵 for my muse to sing to yours!

Whether it be a confrontation, a serenade, or a lullaby, my muse will sing to yours no matter who they are!

#~M: meanwhile in our reality (OOC) #~M: what’s going on here? (meme) #music note meme #((note that the muse most likely to sing is Smiler #as thanks to my Sims playing they have a love of karaoke XD #other muses may give it a try but they're the most enthusiastic about it)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

Valicer OT3 Week, Day Seven: Free Day!

It's the finale of OT3 Week! Thank you @ot3-week for bringing it to us! And, as is tradition, the final day is a "free day" for anything you may want to write --

And without a prompt to guide me, I naturally went back to my beloved Valicer In The Dark trio! :D Because my favorite AU of the moment definitely needs to be represented during this week as well. So have the trio hanging out in their lair after they've gotten established and fixed the place up some, with Victor bringing up an interesting topic of conversation...

--

“This is about as far from how I expected my life to go as possible.”

Smiler looked up from their spot on the floor, hand still wedged in the brushes of their Smile Sweeper automaton. “Hmmm?”

“It’s just – whenever I pictured my future, I pictured the plan my parents had made for me,” Victor continued, absently picking out a melody from the piano. “An arranged marriage to whoever was most likely to get them the status and the house in Brightstone my mother so craved. A job working in, then running Father’s cannery once he was ready to give up the reins. Children whenever Mother decided she wanted grandchildren. Things like that. I never – I hoped that I would come to love whoever my parents picked out for me, and that they wouldn’t mind me having a dog, but other than that...I didn’t really have any dreams for myself.” He looked around the living room. “Certainly not any that included me running away from home, becoming a Whisper, and setting up house in Six Towers with two people who actually and truly love me.”

“Don’t forget becoming a semi-famous criminal,” Alice put in, eyes still on her sketchbook.

Victor snorted. “That too. But yes – it’s really not where I thought I’d end up in life.”

“I don’t think any of us expected to end up here,” Smiler pointed out, finishing unwinding the thread that had tangled in the brushes. They flipped the Sweeper back over and switched on its electroplasmic battery, causing it to come back to life with a happy ping! “On my end, I thought I’d be living in Advocate headquarters for the rest of my life. Helping out fellow Advocates, advancing our causes, eventually trading Joy Serum sales on the street for taking over the shop in Nightmarket from Mum and Dad. Maybe get married and have children, maybe not – I wasn’t going to commit until I knew for sure it was going to make me happy. But in my future, I always put the Advocates first.” They grinned. “Then a man fell out of a wall in front of me and Alice, and everything took a big old left turn.”

“It was more to our side,” Alice said, smirking as she looked up. “But they have a point, Victor – do you think I expected any of this to happen? I couldn’t picture a future for myself at all for years – all throughout my time in Rutledge. It was too hard to think of a life without my family. And even when I realized I had to and defeated the Queen of Hearts to get myself out of there, I never thought much beyond the next week or so – simple survival always took precedence. Hell, even when you caught me on the way to Nan’s to talk to her about Bumby and what I should do, Smiler, I didn’t have any plans beyond taking care of him.” She bit her lip, lowering her sketchbook to her lap. “I think, subconsciously, I assumed I’d immediately get caught for his murder and Hollowed out.”

“Alice,” Victor started, getting up from the bench.

“I’m fine,” Alice assured him, holding up a hand. “And that’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it? I’m fine. Not perfect, but – bloody hell, in a better state than I ever thought I might achieve after Rutledge. I still talk to things that aren’t there, sure, but it’s not nearly as bad as it was. Wonderland’s even gone from hindrance to help, in fact – you two know my hallucinations are better at picking up things than I am sometimes. And as for the rest of it – I’ve got a roof over my head, I’ve got time for hobbies, I’m making a difference for those less fortunate than myself – in a very illegal manner, granted, but fuck the Bluecoats and all the corrupt shites they stand for–” She looked from Smiler to Victor, expression softening. “And I’ve got two people who love me, which is two more than I ever imagined.”

Victor smiled, going to join her on the couch. “Me too. I’m – I’m so happy I fell out of that wall in front of you two. Or, to the side, or – near you,” he finally said with a laugh. “Let’s just say near you.”

“I’m happy too,” Smiler said, releasing the Sweeper onto the floor and getting up to join them. “I don’t even want to imagine life without you two now. You’re my best friend, Alice – and you’re the best partner I could have ever dreamed of, Victor. I love you both so much.”

“I couldn’t have put it better myself,” Alice said, taking Victor’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “I know it was a bit of a long, bumpy road to get here, what with all the nonsense surrounding how we met and our chosen profession, but – I am so glad we put in the work.”

Victor squeezed her hand back, then took Smiler’s as they sat down next to him. “Me too. I am truly blessed to have you both in my life. I can’t wait to spend all our remaining years together.”

“Same,” Smiler said, leaning their head against his shoulder.

“Same,” Alice echoed, doing the same. “I just hope we have plenty of them – we have ticked off a lot of powerful and important people.”

“Well, they have to find our heavily-warded and ghost-protected house first,” Smiler said with a cheeky grin. “And good luck to them.”

“Mmm – though, that reminds me,” Victor said, looking between them. “I overheard in the greenhouse the other day a woman talking about how she was looking for someone to steal a brooch back from her estranged husband...”

#~M: meanwhile in our reality (OOC) #~M: Illustrated London News (fanfic) #~V: Valicer In The Dark #~F: if i ever see that van dort boy (victor) #~F: is she the chosen one (alice) #~F: smile always! (smiler) #((hey look it's a fic that actually goes with one of the verses over here #I love my lovely crime trio XD #this may not be where they expected to end up in life #but it's where they are happy and together #and that's what's important)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

Particularly feral looking Vampire in Wizard hat: "You present me with a two pronged road! One leads to Hell, and the other ALSO leads to Hell!"

Presumed Vampire Hunter: "CHOOSE WISELY!"

Feral Wizard Vampire: "But meaty fool that you are, you do not realize that I can simply WALK OFF THE FUCKING ROAD!!!"

Hunter, distraught: "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

[This meme was sourced from Hunter: The Parenting, a Youtube series inspired by World of Darkness lore]

Alice: ...I refuse to believe this isn't just two Malkavians fucking around. From what I understand, this is totally something my clan would do.

#thesatiricaldemon #~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~V: Londerland Bloodlines #~T: Nice Place To Live #feral wizard vampire versus presumed hunter #~C: Alice Liddell #((I mean the Malkavian clan IS the most likely to wear a wizard hat #or at least is tied with the Tremere in that regard #and this whole thing feels like something the clan would do #Hunter: the Parenting huh? XD #might have to look that up later)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

Valicer OT3 Week, Day Six: No One Wants To Leave The Cuddle Pile

The penultimate day of OT3 Week, courtesy of @ot3-week, and we have a fairly soft prompt to go with it -- "No one wants to leave the cuddle pile!" Because why would you? :p This one also said "Modern!AU" to me, so here we have Victor, Alice, and Smiler hanging out together at Victor's in a blanket nest. And while no one WANTS to leave the cuddle pile, a certain someone feels he HAS to... (Oh, and again, a warning for slight kinkiness at the end -- it's not even as explicit as the Day Four prompt, but the last line makes it clear where this is going. XD)

--

“I really should get up.”

“No, you really shouldn’t,” Smiler instantly retorted, snuggling their head more firmly into Victor’s chest as they continued playing phone Solitaire. In their peripheral vision, they spotted Alice put one of her legs over Victor’s, silently echoing the sentiment without looking up from her book.

“I should,” Victor insisted, though without much force behind it. “I promised my mother that I’d look at those photos she sent me of Duke Melbourne’s party, and I haven’t gotten to them yet.”

“Sod your mother,” Alice said, wriggling into Victor’s side. “I’m comfortable.”

“Same,” Smiler agreed, glancing up at Victor’s – well, mostly his chin from this angle. “We spent a half-hour getting this pillow nest together, and I’m not getting up until I’m good and ready.”

“I didn’t say either of you two had to get up,” Victor pointed out, poking Smiler’s nose. “I’m certainly not going to make you look at the probably twelve million pictures she’s sent me. But she’s expecting me to fake enthusiasm for her little trip in an e-mail before the day’s out, so...”

“It’s not that late,” Alice said, finally looking up. “At least, I don’t think so. Smiler?”

Smiler glanced at the top of their phone screen. “Only 5 PM,” they confirmed. “You’ve got plenty of time to pretend to be excited she got invited to a party you don’t care about.”

“I – I don’t know,” Victor muttered, unwrapping his arm from Alice’s shoulders to rub the back of his head – Alice pouted at the loss. “If I don’t respond to her in time, she’ll send me another e-mail about how electronic post isn’t supposed to get lost, and then it’ll become a whole thing, and – I should get it over with.”

“How about you stay here instead, and after supper, I’ll help you set up a form e-mail that’ll automatically mail itself to her a couple of hours after she sends you one of her ‘you won’t believe who I saw throwing up in a gold toilet’ photoshoots?” Smiler offered. “She’ll never notice you keep saying the exact same things for each party, right?”

“You really could – no,” Victor cut himself off, shaking his head. “I should at least make some effort. And I know neither of you think much of her attention span in regards to me–”

“Or her in general,” Alice added, recapturing his arm and wrapping it around herself.

“Of course – but she probably would at least eventually notice that it’s the same e-mail each time. And that would be...” He grimaced. “Bad.”

“You’re a grown man living on your own,” Alice pointed out. “She can’t do that much to you anymore.”

“Unless she comes barging over here to demand what I’m on about,” Victor muttered. “And if I think I’m funny and don’t I care about how our family is perceived and why am I always like this and...”

“Okay, yeah, let’s avoid her actually showing up in person,” Smiler agreed, grimacing. “But come on, the e-mail can wait until after supper. Just pretend you were giving all the pictures an extra-close look.”

“You can bullshit her anytime,” Alice agreed, still hanging onto his arm. “Stay?”

Victor pulled some faces, and for a moment Smiler was sure he was about to give in...and then what they’d privately dubbed the “familial bullshit” frown crossed his face, and he sighed. “I r-really should just do it now,” he mumbled, reluctantly pulling his arm free from Alice’s grip. “At least – pretend to be a good son.”

Smiler frowned, then looked over at Alice as Victor continued untangling himself from them. She met their eyes, then nodded once. Smiler nodded back and sat up, ending their Solitaire game and moving over to Photos. From there, it was just a matter of flicking through their collection of gifs until they found the right one –

And then, just as Victor made to stand up, grabbing Victor’s wrist and saying, gently but firmly, “Open your heart to joy, Victor.”

Victor jerked to a stop, eyes wide – and then the trigger actually hit him, and his gaze took on a familiar muzzy look. “Oh, that’s not fair,” he complained, voice already dulling.

“Wouldn’t work if you didn’t want it to,” Smiler sing-songed, tugging Victor backwards.

“Indeed,” Alice agreed, lightly pushing on Victor’s chest to help topple him over. “Now lie down on the pillows again, there’s a good boy...I think Smiler has something special for you to watch, don’t they?”

��Yup – your favorite,” Smiler confirmed, holding the looping gif of the twin spinning spirals right in front of Victor’s face. His eyes immediately locked onto the screen, and Smiler saw his shoulders sag into the pillows just a little bit more. “Let the spirals empty out your head now, Victor. Let them drain away all those worries, all those cares, all that everything that was stopping you from relaxing and enjoying yourself. Let it all go. No more thoughts for now, Victor. No more thoughts. No thoughts...”

“...just smiles,” Victor responded, his lips lifting into a beautifully silly grin as the trance took full hold.

“That’s right,” Alice nodded, shooting Smiler a pleased smirk before curling up by Victor’s side and stroking his hair. “No thoughts, just smiles.”

“Just smiles,” Smiler agreed, getting themselves into a slightly more comfortable position as well –

And then they grinned, and rested a hand on Victor’s thigh. “Well. Maybe a little more than just smiles...”

#~M: meanwhile in our reality (OOC) #~M: Illustrated London News (fanfic) #~F: if i ever see that van dort boy (victor) #~F: is she the chosen one (alice) #~F: smile always! (smiler) #((more Modern AU shenanigans #that get veeery lightly kinky at the very end XD #I like the image of them all lounging in a pillow nest #cuddling and keeping themselves occupied #don't blame Alice and Smiler for making sure Victor didn't leave when he really didn't want to #and he doesn't either :P)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

Valicer OT3 Week, Day Five: Nontraditional Soulmates

In the home stretch of @ot3-week's OT3 Week, and we've come to a good one today -- "Nontraditional soulmates!" Which, of course, is a perfect opportunity for me to bust out the Soulmates AU I came up with for the trio! :D I did two fics for this for last year's Polyship Week, and this one is sort of the sequel to the first, "Day Four: Soulmates." (The second being "Day Six: Drabble(s)," and coming even later in the timeline.) That story dealt with Victor running into Alice in the Whitechapel marketplace and accidentally activating their soulbond, only for a slightly-panicked Alice to run, leaving Victor to report the discovery to his other soulmate Smiler alone -- here, we have Alice, having mostly gotten over her initial "SHIT IT'S MY SOULMATE I'M NOT READY" reaction, finding her way to Victor via the bond so they can actually talk -- only to hesitate right outside his door...

--

All right. Here we are. No turning back now...no matter how much I kind of want to turn back.

Alice rocked anxiously on her heels, staring at the door in front of her. It was a pretty plain, ordinary door, all things considered. Little more than a flat piece of wood with a handle attached. Oh sure, there was a bit of perfunctory decoration in the form of a couple of shallow squares roughly dug out of the front, and the usual assortment of nicks and dings acquired from daily living, but other than that – it was an uncomplicated door for an uncomplicated building. There was nothing special or interesting about it at all, really.

Beyond the fact that one Victor Van Dort, her soulmate, was behind it.

Alice swallowed, worrying her lip with her teeth. It is so bizarre to just – know he’s there, she thought. With the sort of rock-solid certainty I don’t have about anything else in my life right now. But then – he must know I’m here, right? Why doesn’t he just – open the door? Spare me the trouble of knocking? But then again, he didn’t try to chase me when I ran from him in the market...perhaps he assumes that I still want to make the first move. And since we can only share emotions, not actual thoughts, I can’t really correct him. She sighed. Bloody hell – whoever or whatever force tied our lives together, it could have given us proper telepathy instead of just its poor cousin.

“It could have,” Cheshire agreed, sitting by her feet. “But it didn’t. Time to turn thought into action and spur him forward in the process.” He gave her a trademark grin, teeth glittering in the dim light of the hallway. “Or purrhaps spur forward someone else.”

Don’t you lot even think of intruding, Alice scolded, giving him her best glare. I mean, yes, he probably knows about you and Wonderland already, and how mucked-up my mind is, but – my stomach’s already in knots about this. She ran her thumb over her wrist, tracing the faint line that only she – and Victor – knew about. I don’t need the stress of having to wrangle you or Caterpillar or Hatter or God forbid the Queen of Hearts into the bargain.

“Have it your way,” Cheshire said, fading to eyes and smile. “Though I think you’ll soon find it’s not only us who can intrude.”

And with that, he was gone – predictably before she could ask him what the hell he meant. She looked up and down the hallway, but there was no one else there – and none of the doors to the other flats in this place looked ready to open anytime soon. “Maddening,” she muttered, shaking her head. “As if I needed any help in that regard...”

But he’d had a point before he’d vanished – nothing was going to happen if she didn’t make it happen. Alice ran her fingers through her hair to neaten it a bit, brushed off her skirts, then plucked up her courage and rapped smartly on the door. A moment later, it opened –

Revealing, of all people, Nanny’s new bartender at the Mangled Mermaid.

Alice stared. The bartender – one Smiler Alton, if she recalled correctly – stared back. Then, just before it could get awkward, they snorted. “Oh – that Alice,” they said, apropos of nothing. “I didn’t think I lived in that coincidental a universe.”

“...beg pardon?” Alice said, for lack of anything better.

“What she said.”

Victor appeared in the doorway behind Smiler, looking as confused as she felt. “Uh – hello,” he greeted her, before turning his attention to his – roommate? “‘That Alice?’”

“From the Mermaid,” Smiler explained, glancing up at him. “She’s Nan’s old charge – dropped by a couple of times to talk to her. Didn’t expect to see you under these circumstances,” they added in her direction.

“When it comes down to it, neither did I,” Alice said, tilting her head. “You and Victor live together?”

“Ah – yes,” Victor said, twisting his tie. Alice found herself resisting the urge to fiddle with her own blouse’s collar as the nerves poured off him and into her. “I – I d-don’t know how much the b-bond told you, but...well...”

“Hi,” Smiler cut in, sporting their namesake expression. “I’m your other soulmate.”

...Not even “beg pardon” seemed sufficient for that. “What?” Alice blurted. “You – but – what?”

“Yes, ah, sometimes – sometimes you can get two,” Victor said, shooting Smiler a look before favoring her with an awkward smile. “It’s, um, k-kind of a long story...how about you come in?”

“There’s tea and biscuits in it for you,” Smiler promised, stepping out of the way.

No, I want you to explain to me what the hell you mean by “sometimes you can get two” right now – but before Alice could put words to tongue, she caught sight of Smiler’s arm, resting against the door frame. Specifically, their wrist, leaned up against the wood above their head. Even more specifically, the thin scar running along said wrist –

That looked very, very much like the kind one might get if they’d taken a blunt spoon to their flesh in a desperate attempt to end their life. Alice swallowed and nodded. “I – I think I could use some tea right now, thank you.”

#~M: meanwhile in our reality (OOC) #~M: Illustrated London News (fanfic) #~F: if i ever see that van dort boy (victor) #~F: is she the chosen one (alice) #~F: smile always! (smiler) #((have some soulmate fun #poor Alice she wasn't expecting this at all #but she will adapt #and she will be glad of it eventually :p #just maybe not while she's feeling guilty over the Spoon Incident)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

Send 🌌 and ask a question about my muse, and I'll compare the answer across different verses they have!

(Remember to specify character if relevant. If the sender does not specify verses, the receiver decides which to compare)

#~M: meanwhile in our reality (OOC) #~M: what’s going on here? (meme) #answer across universes #((bringing this one back because I actually quite enjoyed the couple of asks I got for it #so yeah throw something at all my various muses #never got to do a Smiler question so fingers crossed :p)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

In Italy. Two provinces, Modena and Bologna. Modena stole the bucket from the well in Bologna. So they went to war. Two thousand people died. My favorite part is that, to this day, you can still go to Modena and see the bucket displayed as a point of pride. Two-thousand people dead, over a bucket, and they’re bragging about it. That’s what it’s like studying Earth.

Alice: [heavy sigh] That's what it's like indeed. Why are we like this?

Victor: I don't know, but I'm very tempted to go lie on the floor about it for a while.

Smiler: [getting down on the carpet] Way ahead of you.

((referencing this set of my Not-Incorrect Valicer Quotes))

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Cuddlepile #~T: Running Headlong Into The Bullshit #modena bologna bucket war #~C: Victor Van Dort #~C: Alice Liddell #~C: Smiler Alton #((the world is an extremely weird and stupid place sometimes #and sometimes the only way to deal is the floor)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

"Man! I love being 6'0 as a trans man. In fact; my best cis friend is 6'3 without heels! And she often wear four inch when at a function!" "Er‐ sir, that woman is quite literally stabbing a man." "Yes, because he was being rude. You're doing great, babe!"

"Tall murder-friends for the win, I suppose?" Alice says, raising an eyebrow as she watches the scene. "Do I even want to know how rude that man was to get stabbed like that?"

"I'm going to guess pretty damn rude," Smiler says, tilting their head as they watch as well.

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Cuddlepile #~T: Running Headlong Into The Bullshit #tall trans dude and cis woman #~C: Alice Liddell #~C: Smiler Alton #((I imagine Victor is actually at wherever this is too #he's just too stunned by the unexpected violence to speak right now XD)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

Fact Core: The difference between a crocodile and an alligator is if you see it in a while or later

Alice: ...I genuinely can't tell if you actually believe that's a fact, or if you have figured out how to make jokes. I mean, probably the former, but still.

#~M: I want some questions! now! (ask) #~M: grin without a cat (anon) #~V: Aperture Wage Slave #crocodile or alligator #~C: Alice Liddell #((I would go 'Fact Core thinks that's actually a fact' too Alice #I mean I believe it's capable of being snarky but #mmmmm *squints*)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue

[thevalicemultiverse]

Valicer OT3 Week, Day Four: The Knight, The Princess, And The Dragon Are Actually All Together

We have passed the halfway point of OT3 Week (as per @ot3-week), and we've got an interesting prompt here -- "The knight, the princess and the dragon are actually all together!" Very specific, no? But, well, it was pretty easy for me to picture Victor as the knight, Alice as the princess, and Smiler as the dragon, so a snippet of a Medieval Fantasy AU it is! Have a Victor trudging up a hill toward the cave his lady love and his dragon partner are staying in for a rendezvous under the cover of him trying to slay the dragon...

Oh, and, uh -- just so you know, this one gets a little, uh, kinky at the end. ^^; Nothing super-explicit, but you will know where my tastes lie.

--

I swear this armor gets heavier every time I go up this hill.

Victor let out a deep, exhausted sigh as he finally clanked his way onto the plateau. Reflexively he went to wipe the sweat off his brow, only for his gauntlet to clang against his helmet. He winced as the noise reverberated through his head. “Right – you have to get out of the armor before you can do that,” he muttered to himself, making for the mouth of the cave in front of him. “Which I am only too eager to do...” He stumbled inside, leaning against the cool wall with a heavy huff. “One of these days, I know I’m going to broil to death in this plate before I can get up here.”

“Well, we certainly don’t want that to happen.”

Victor jerked his head up. Standing before him, in an eminently-more-sensible-for-the-summer-heat light blue dress, was Her Highness Alice Liddell, Heir To The Crown Of Oxford, Last Of Her Line – or, as she insisted he call her, just Alice. “You’d think at some point your mother would get suspicious over the fact that you keep coming back in armor that’s still perfectly polished,” she added, looking him up and down. “Surely she’d wonder why it never seems to get any wear?”

“This is my mother we’re talking about here,” Victor told her, grabbing his helmet and lifting it off his head. “As long as I look the part of the noble and–” he glanced down at the curled fish of the Van Dort crest painted upon his almost mirror-like breastplate “–absurdly shiny knight, she doesn’t care what I actually do inside the armor. Which is probably why she isn’t suspicious about me making the trip up here so often. To her, it’s me doing what I ought to be doing – making the Van Dort name proud by trying again and again to valiantly rescue the kidnapped princess from the dragon.”

“And she’s not bothered by the fact that you have yet to carry me down the hillside, swooning in your manly arms, the blood of the dragon splattered across us both?” Alice asked, coming over to help him out of the rest of the plate.

“Well – she’s a little bothered by that, yes,” Victor admitted, stripping off the gauntlets and wiping his brow at last. “That’s better...I have heard more than once that I should have succeeded by now. Just today, in fact...but the fact that I keep coming up here mitigates it somewhat. I guess she appreciates that I’m still trying?” He shrugged. “Not to mention, I’m the only knight who’s made it up here more than once – she’s still happily riding that bit of fame.”

“I’m glad that you being the only knight whose company I can stand is working out so well for her,” Alice deadpanned, working on the ties to his breastplate. She flashed him a cheeky smile. “Though I suspect she’d feel differently if she knew exactly what it was we were doing up here.”

Victor went pink – well, pinker than he already was from the heat. “Let’s not tell her, shall we?”

“My lips are sealed,” Alice promised. “Mostly because I doubt I’ll ever be in a position to mention it to her. Kidnapped princesses don’t really get a chance to go gossip in the town square.”

“I mean, you could!”

A familiar yellow serpentine head poked itself out of the darkness at the back of the cave. “I’m not stopping you!” the dragon known as Smiler continued as they joined the two humans, dropping their long neck as to not tower over them. “You know me – I’m a big proponent of doing whatever makes you happy.”

“Yes, and what makes me happy is not getting actually kidnapped by any goons that bastard Bumby might have sent to look for me,” Alice said, pulling a face. “Until we can figure out the best way to knock him off my family’s throne and preferably into a pit of eternal despair, I’ll make do with sticking up here listening to you natter on.”

“That also works for me,” Smiler said, grinning. “Anyway, hi Victor! Delighted to see you again!”

“The pleasure is all mine,” Victor said, smiling and ducking his head.

“Aww, why are you being shy? We all know why you’re up here,” Smiler teased, giving him a little nudge. Then they paused, studying him. “Though – you look more tired than usual, honestly. Bad day?”

Victor grimaced, thinking of his mother demanding to know why he hadn’t yet taken the dragon’s head, and his father helpfully reminding him that “the pointy end of your sword goes in the creature’s neck.” “It’s been – not great,” he muttered, stepping out of his greaves and sabatons as Alice finished freeing him from his metal prison.

“Oh, then we’d better get started right away,” Smiler said firmly. “Can’t have you wallowing in unhappiness.” A claw went under Victor’s chin, lifting it gently. “Come on, eyes on mine, that’s a good boy...”

Victor’s gaze locked with Smiler’s – and once again, he had a split-second to wonder at how strongly this always hit him before the twin spirals of yellow-black-and-white swallowed up his mind. He stared helplessly into the dragon’s gaze, slumping against Alice as his muscles relaxed. “That’s right,” Smiler purred, their deep voice filling Victor’s increasingly-empty head. “That’s it...falling deeper and deeper into my power now. Feeling your mind go completely blank. Opening your heart to joy.” They moved a little closer, their eyes growing even larger in Victor’s view. “You belong to me now, Victor. You belong to the Smiler.”

“I belong to the Smiler,” Victor repeated tonelessly, his dull voice hiding the mindless pleasure bubbling up inside of him. Oh God, this was why every snide remark from his mother, every “helpful comment” from his father, every blazing-hot trip up the hill was worth it. For these moments where all he knew were the spirals, and happiness...

And Alice’s warm hands, helping him out of his clothes. “Good boy,” she whispered in his ear. “Very good boy...how about one orgasm for starters, then we discuss getting you away from your mother once and for all?”

Victor shuddered under her touch. “Yes, Mistress.”

“Good. Down on your knees, then, that’s right...”

#~M: meanwhile in our reality (OOC) #~M: Illustrated London News (fanfic) #~F: if i ever see that van dort boy (victor) #~F: is she the chosen one (alice) #~F: smile always! (smiler) #((have a slightly weird and slightly kinky one today #I just #I knew what I wanted to do here and I ran with it #hopefully you all enjoy!)) #~M: with this hand I will lift your queue