victorluvsalice

[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.

#valicer #wonderland #otherland #otherlands #smiler alton #the smiler #smiler otherland #fashion #sharp dressed man #(or nonbinary person in this case) #I also keep wanting to give Alice a yellow apron on her Classic dress whenever she's in Smile Street #it just feels appropriate you know? #anyway yes here are the outfits I have managed to puzzle out for your enjoyment #it's been a while since I've done stuff like this #I'm out of practice #kind of want to make some sort of master doc for Alice Victor and Smiler's various Wonderlands #listing domains common enemies most notable inhabitants #all these fucking outfits #stuff like that #perhaps I will one day #more likely I will forget once this series is over but #it's nice to dream :P #I do at least want to finish coming up with Smiler's outfits for Alice and Victor's worlds #and Victor and Alice's Musical Mayhem looks #that's the core stuff #we'll see what happens! #queued

[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!

#sims 4 #the lazy save #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler always #as you can see the photo distribution between this week's posts got a little weird XD #but this is how it worked with my write-up #anyway yes this is one of the big reasons I wanted Home Chef Hustle #extra side hustle for the trio! #part of me actually wanted to open up a restaurant to go with their grocery store and use up all the spare food they have #but a food stand seems like a better idea #smaller scale can take it around to different places for more variety #doesn't have the same massive bugs that Dine Out has #(I mean yeah I'd happily download Carl's Dine Out Reloaded mod but still) #we'll see how it goes! #queued

[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 –

#sims 4 #the lazy save #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler always #yeah real busy day at the store in the end! #I'm never sure what kind of day it's going to be when they first open #because there's generally always lots of people #but most of them are just wandering around with no real plan #today though #yeah everybody wanted to buy everything at once #which is not good when you're trying to test out your new small appliances in the basement processing room #I am trying to make pizzas here people XD #ah well it all turned out all right in the end #partially because Alice has super speed and thus can rush up and help pretty damn quickly #no idea what happened with that one lady in the blue dress though #it looked to ME like she should have been perfectly reachable #but Smiler said no not happening #Sims routing issues people #someone standing by some shelves can't be reached #someone standing IN shelves often can #*shakehead* #queued

[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!

#sims 4 #the lazy save #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler always #yeah I'd been meaning to lower their prices for a while now #as stated they do NOT need the money #and I want to get this place emptied so I can rethink what I want to sell and how I want to sell it #thinking of going toward a more 'prepared foods' model #we will see #in the meantime you can see things remain pretty busy on the lot #good thing Smiler loves socializing :p #and Victor and Alice can tolerate it :p #and I liked upgrading the processing area downstairs with the new small appliances #looks a little more professional now #Alice seems to enjoy using everything #though now I'm thinking we should have more than one of each appliance #so we could have multiple items getting cooked at once #I mean I have two ovens and two fridges already #things to ponder as we move forward! #and yeah that LE really does seem to be related to people trying to buy things out of the produce fridge #that normally wouldn't go in a produce fridge #and since I have a mod from Brazen Lotus that allows you to put things in the produce fridge that normally don't go there #not gonna worry about it for now but #it is a factor in me considering redoing the store a bit #we'll see what happens! #queued

[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 –

#sims 4 #the lazy save #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler always #might share the actual pictures from the photoshoot as one of my 'in-between' posts next week #might as well right? #I do find them both cute and amusing #that's why all three ended up in the OT3 math post XD #anyway typical morning for the trio here #Smiler doing SimsTube and robotics stuff before moving onto chicken tending and herbalism #Alice helping out in the greenhouse before taking care of cows and cowplants and anything else that needs doing #and Victor cleaning up before being banished to tend all his plants #and having to magically repair all the broken wind turbines #at least we got some cute pet moments to go along with it all #and Smiler using the big weeding vacuum to tend just ONE plant just made me smile XD #which I think they would like so yay #and yes do intend for them to eventually make a Servo #never had one before and I think it would be useful in helping run the store #just a bit of a process to get all the parts you know? #but we'll get there #queued

[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.

#song saturday #skrillex #sirah #bangarang #valicer #otherlands #smiler otherland #no seriously I have in fact been sitting on this for months #listening to it and picturing this scene of Alice then Victor then Smiler being badass #and being like ARGH #I mean I guess it kept poking me to finish off the damn posts already #so that's something? :P #but yes something about the song made me thinking of the trio fighting #possibly because I'm pretty sure I was introduced to this song through someone's A:MR fan video to it #and thus it already had associations with Alice for me #but yeah it just made a good fight song in my mind #and I do love Bumby getting attacked by his own creations thanks to Smiler's stuff #your mind control is not as powerful as Smiler's XD #queued

[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!]

#the smiler #alton towers #roller coaster oc #well this is a unique take on a Smiler OC #it is a melty melt #but it looks cool #giving me kinda fucked-up dinosaur vibes #I bet it is very good at causing trouble and leaving goo everywhere #queued

[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...

#valicer #wonderland #otherland #otherlands #smiler alton #the smiler #smiler otherland #arsenal of imagination #thank you Alton Towers for designing The Smiler with The Inoculator The Tickler The Flasher The Giggler and The Hypnotiser #made my job here a LOT easier XD #and of course I couldn't resist the silly factor of a Vorpal spoon #though it occurs to me twisted cutlery would actually be good Smiler merch #they already did coffee mugs sooo #but yeah I'm pretty happy with this set #it was sometimes a bit tough to figure out how the weapons would change for upgrade paths #but I think it all came together in the end #and it's kind of fun having a character whose schtick is stunning and converting enemies #unless they've been forced into Hysteria mode #then all bets are off #but yeah a nice change from Victor and Alice's strictly-lethal stuff #queued

[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

#sims 4 #cas looks #fashion #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler alton #valicer in the dark au #well appropriate that I had this in the queue after getting that ask about Valicer multichapter fics #and me talking about the first fic in the VITD series that I'm working on XD #but yes more fun with CC clothes #I really do like Alice's outfits #that's an excellent conversion of her canonical dress #I have taken a turn toward preferring Maxis Match stuff but I will make an exception there #and her new dresses and corset fit her very well #and Smiler and Victor are rocking the Solardius suit #particularly Victor who looks very nice in that shade of blue #aw but the sack suit #I really DO need to learn how to do clothing recolors #there's so much stuff that would suit Smiler so well if it came in the right swatches! #who do I have to pay to add bright yellow and yellow-and-black stripes to everything #no more of this beige nonsense Smiler needs to be LOUD AND PROUD #...also someone explain to me how jewelry works in this game and why some tops hide necklaces and others don't #I genuinely don't understand :( #Sims 4 you are confusing #queued

[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

#anonymous #ask #valicer #valicer in the dark au #yes multichapter Valicer fic is coming #mostly because if I don't write this PARTICULAR Valicer series #I will burst #seriously you guys don't know how much time I spend thinking about it #my crime trio are like on my mind 25/8 #I want to do all the worldbuilding and write all the stories and #there isn't enough TIME IN THE DAY #especially when I'm also still working on Londerland Bloodlines #first chapter of 'Downtown Queensland' should be appearing soon folks! #so you have that to look forward to as well

[victorluvsalice]

What about au where smiler was partially marmalised and works for the ministry and is trying to manipulate Victor and Alice into getting marmalised and becoming advocates

*waggles hand* So, not opposed to such an AU, but it would have to end with Alice and Victor getting Smiler out of the Ministry instead of Smiler successfully getting them to become Advocates. Reason being is, well, a Smiler working for the Ministry and trying to manipulate Victor and Alice is an unethical mind controller! And we know what Alice does to unethical mind controllers:

[ID: Animated gif by thedestinysunknown of the moment in A:MR when Alice, in her Wonderland form, shoves Bumby off the platform of the Underground station and into the path of an oncoming train]

Yeaaah, if you've ever thought my Smiler seems a little nice when compared to the coaster's actual theme, that's the reason. I had to give them ethics, otherwise they were going to get stabbed. So yeah, an AU like that would have to be along the lines of Smiler trying to get Victor and Alice to join up, only for Victor and Alice to instead show THEM how the Ministry is actually not really interested in happiness and is pretty evil honestly and get them out of there. (Which is actually not dissimilar to what happens in my Londerland Bloodlines AU (after the events of the game), where Smiler THINKS they've joined a group interested in making people happy and helping them through rough patches in their lives, but in fact the Ministry they've fallen in with is Ministry as in "Formerly The Followers of Set," and THEY'RE more interested in corrupting people with false joy...awful shame that they end up targeting Victor...)

#anonymous #ask #valicer #ministry employee AU #it's an interesting idea #just I have to go with the 'Smiler is ultimately redeemable' angle #because otherwise #see the gif #that is the tricky part about having an OT3 where one member is based off of a brainwashing machine coaster #and the other dealt with an evil brainwashing psychiatrist corrupting not only her but literal children #you gotta make sure your coaster OC is actually a decent human being #suppose it helps that I tend to focus on the more fun silly parts of the canon instead of the creepy parts #the Smiler most like the coaster is probably my Valicer In The Dark Smiler #and even THEN they don't actually pressure Victor and Alice into joining the Advocates cult #hell Smiler doesn't even mention they're a hypnotist for a while because they're worried it'll decrease maximum happiness in the group #(they end up revealing it after they think it'll add to happiness if they use it to help Victor's insomnia #but that's another post) #basically all the evil stuff tends to get offloaded onto Dr. Kelman #because he is a Convenient Evil Psychiatrist #and Smiler gets to be lots of fun and at least reasonably ethical

[victorluvsalice]

Hear me out

Modern au where Alton towers is still a thing, and smiler is an advocate actor during the smiler takeover, and valice are at the park for a date

Ha, I like that -- my original idea for involving The Smiler in Victor and Alice's relationship WAS for them to go to Alton Towers and end up having some fun with the ride and its theming (you know, before Victor insisted on me making a version of it that he could date). Smiler would be an excellent Advocate for the park -- and if this is set during the Takeover, maybe they could have one of the special roles? I'm leaning toward them being a Felix, since they love karaoke and the costume seems very them. XD But yeah, I think that would work out nicely -- Victor and Alice go to the park, enjoy the various shows and Smiler's over-the-top acting, then maybe go to a restaurant outside the park later and happen across Smiler out-of-costume. And quickly realize "oh, they WEREN'T playing it up at their job, they really are just Like That." XD And Relationship Shenanigans ensue. XD

#anonymous #ask #valicer #modern AU Smiler Employee #yeah my original conception had Victor and Alice just using the ride itself for fun and games #and then Victor INSISTED on making it into something he could have a relationship with #aaaand we see where that has gone XD #but yeah Smiler as a The Smiler employee does totally make sense #they'd be ideal either as a Felix #or just your average employee #probably see Victor and Alice and think 'aw they're cute' #make it their personal mission to make sure those two are smiling #and then afterward they run into them off the clock #and then it's 'oh the guy is especially cute' #'and the girl is really funny and smart' #'I gotta get in on this' XD #and as stated Relationship Shenanigans #I am here for it

[victorluvsalice]

*waves* Hi there -- to save people's dashes I'm initiating readmore times, because holy shit did this get long fast XD

Ah, so you like yeeting the characters from their own world into another, like most LiveJournal/Dreamwidth RP games I’ve participated in. XD Nothing wrong with that, it’s a venerable tradition, and one I quite enjoy as well. Valicer In The Dark just works best if everyone is native to the timeline...though I do enjoy yeeting the trio from that into OTHER worlds so people can react to just how fucked up their native world is (short form, sun blew up and afterlife broke 850 years ago so everyone lives in eternal night with ghosts everywhere). XD And I see – I’ve had plenty of AUs like that, where it ends up just being a few scraps of an idea. Maybe one day the Sanitized Cephalopocalypse shall come into the spotlight, but it is not this day. :p

*pats* Trust me, I feel that. *stares at the growing list of scores and such for my Valicer In The Dark verse* Like, brain, not only are there only so many hours in the day, but I’m working on other stuff too… *sigh* Hopefully you get some time to get to work on it soon enough! And huh, had no idea there was a manga (though I guess I’m not actually surprised, given I understand it’s a pretty popular game...sorry to hear that it’s apparently not very good, or at least the main plotline isn’t). *snrk* Yeah, you murder that canon – if you’re having fun, who cares, and I, a person who has never played Splatoon and is very unlikely ever to because I don’t like multiplayer games, isn’t going to be able to tell the difference. :p Though I did know the whole thing about humanity going extinct in those games – so yeah, I can imagine there’s going to be a lot of “wow, humans!” among the inklings, who are otherwise just vibing. Unlike everyone else in this universe. XD

Ooooh~ :D How interesting – so it sounds like there are going to be some shenanigans with Wonderland and Headspace and their potential connection to dreams/the afterlife. Though I feel a bit bad for that character who had their world forced on them – that’s never fun. And ooooh, cool! We do love a good spirit design. (LOL, I see – and yeah, honestly, if you’re doing the Liddell sisters as anthropomorphic animals, they HAVE to be cats of some description. Just like Victor would have to be a dog in my head)

It is fascinating culture clash times, isn’t it? And yeah, you know what, that’s fair, I do put them through a lot of shit. (I mean, Alice’s shit is mostly just the same shit she got in canon, but Victor definitely gets extra bullshit.) And TELL me about it, I’d love for there to be a 2024 that doesn’t suck and where everybody could just get along and be happy, human and nonhuman and other (for the most part, since dumb shit causing conflict is ALWAYS gonna happen). I would HOPE cake and candy would be cheaper for them, but I honestly have no idea how current prices would compare to the 1870s anymore. Though I hear you on going down the research rabbit hole – I used to have so many various Victorian trivia websites bookmarked when I was writing the Forgotten Vows Verse. XD We do love our shipping goodness… And LOL, I see – so, basically, the portion of Whitechapel that Victor and Alice spend most of their time in doesn’t notice anything’s up until at least a few months in, and then they realize what’s going on, and – well. It’s not like they didn’t have ENOUGH to deal with before discovering that huge chunks of different worlds have been suddenly thrown together through unknown means. XD Like, Alice is like “I really wish this WAS just a hallucination of mine, because then I’d know I could get back to the real world at SOME point.” XD And yeah, I imagine that’s easier for everyone than in the Time Travel AU (and I’m sure they’d love to meet the dork!)

Ahhhh, I see – so they’re being thrown around to help fix different worlds, or at least help people in those worlds? Well, you think the universe would be kind enough to give them a head’s-up on what they’ll be investigating. *shakehead* Poor kiddos… And I see – well, at least Manami doesn’t have to worry about the fighting and death, usually? I mean, granted, I don’t think she’s gonna be wild about this assignment, especially when it comes out what Bumby’s been doing, but still. She can leave any fighting up to Alice in Wonderland. (And Victor punching out Jack Splatter.)

Oh, I know a bit about Okami! I’m pretty sure a guy I used to watch for his video game LPs did a LP of that game once! And Victor had some nice interactions with some Ammys over on Dreamwidth back when I did RP over there. :) Not really familiar with Okamiden other than it stars adorable puppy kiddo. :p But ah, okay, I see – well, okay, I’m not sure I DO see, but I get that we have two sisters and one not-brother thanks to time anomaly weirdness, and they all have special supernatural powers but not necessarily the ones that they’re supposed to have. (I do not blame Manami for NOT wanting to tell anyone about her very powerful pyrokinesis, ESPECIALLY Alice. I feel like this would be an EXCEEDINGLY bad idea, at least at first. Alice would need some time to get used to the idea, and would probably STRONGLY PREFER Manami never use it in front of her if possible.) And LOL, maybe – I know he has the spell for seeing magical auras, and if he used that on her, it would probably be a “WTF ARE YOU” moment, since her magic would be SO DIFFERENT from what he knows. XD

*snrk* I mean, I’m sure there’s only so much the guy can do, given that his magical experience cannot help her particular brand of supernatural weirdness. And I see, interesting… (sounds like it’s time to go look this sucker back up – you want all the info you can on fae-like creatures!) And that’s good! I mean, I don’t know if he will appreciate having such an important role, since, again, this is entirely new supernatural weirdness for him, but still. XD (And ooooh, well then – sounds like they’re going to be doing some fighting of dangerous mental creatures. Strength in numbers is always a plus there!)

Oh come on, purple is my favorite color! Why were so many Victorian paints and dyes and whatnot made with damn arsenic?! (Because they didn’t realize that arsenic was dangerous even if you weren’t eating it *sigh*) I’m not sure if it would be popular in Burtonsville because they seem to be allergic to color in general, but I guess the original form would be dark enough for their gloomy sensibilities… (And don’t say stuff like that, because then it puts the idea in my head XD I shall spare him the purple wallpaper, but maybe Nell has a fancy purple dress she brings out for special occasions…) Hopefully his tie is not murdering him every time he plays with it! Seriously, Victorians, can you not poison yourselves for the sake of color… And I can’t say I blame her! I wouldn’t want to touch anything from the Victorian era either at this point! (Though yes, gotta take some risks when it comes to keeping Bumby from being all Bumby at her friends. That guy is worse news than arsenic.)

Awww, good – they need a kind person in their lives. And yeah, unfortunately that kind of closeness wouldn’t exactly be tolerated in the time and location that they all find themselves in! Not to mention Alice isn’t really into being touched by anyone she doesn’t know very well… (though AFTER making friends, she’d be at least a little more open to hugs.) And oof, hmmm, concerning…

Oh, I’m pretty sure Victor had a lot more than one moment of going red if Manami is as pretty as you say she is. XD But yes, Alice is definitely going to be the one having the most crises as she tries to figure out what the fuck these new feelings are that she’s having for this impulsive-yet-kindhearted new woman in their lives. XD Good to have an idea what Manami and her siblings look like anyway! Sounds like they’ve all got really cool-looking eyes too, even if two of them don’t have the “standard” eye color for their family type. (Nothing wrong with a pretty teal, and thanks to Smiler I am a pretty big fan of yellow, soooo…)

Oh Manami – though honestly, Alice would totally sympathize with/get Manami ending up in a dissociative state from ADHD, given her own brain problems (even if hers are a different flavor from Manami’s). And she’d probably be interested in the fidget cube – Victor too, if he spotted her with it. I suspect he might actually like those kinds of toys – keep his hands away from his tie. :p And I seeeee – sounds like Manami has some learning to do if she wants to see Cheshire and the others! But Alice appreciates the support no matter what. :)

Which Victor also appreciates! It’s nice to have more people believe him about Emily. (And LOL, I bet, though I suspect Victor would actually rather like that song. XD It’s a bit of fun, isn’t it?) And awww, I see… Butterflies do seem to be associated a lot with death and rebirth and all that, huh? (And I’m not surprised if you have a spirit form for a certain older sister…)

*snrrrk* Well, to be fair, Fixxler is playing up being “weird” and “foreign” in order to get more sales. He’s more normal than he lets on. XD And yeah, she’s trying her best.

Ooooh, oh boy...well, I mean, I get why she would be very reluctant to bring up that the person she considers her soulmate isn’t human, that’s a hell of a thing to admit. And probably wouldn’t be taken well by a decent number of people. :( But if anything poly happens, she’s gonna have to bring it up sometime. Not the kind of secret you can keep from people you are now potentially going to be romantically involved with! Hopefully they can all work their way through the revelation if and when it becomes relevant.

LOL, oh dear – I imagine he’d do his BEST to keep up with her, but – well. He’s not the highest-energy person, and while he appreciates her enthusiasm about music...some of it just isn’t for him. XD And yeah, I can bet – Victor isn’t so great at that kind of multitasking! (And damn, yeah, I’m sure they LOVE having someone else to entertain the kids around so they can get on with their own shit! Sounds like she’s very well-versed at handling potentially-unruly children too, good for her.) And good, yes, Alice needs that patience. Though Alice WOULD be rather confused by that response, being like ??? Which would probably lead to more shenanigans. :P

Damn, Sunny, you definitely have your own fair share of fucked-up shit in your head, don’t you? Poor kid indeed. . . *will pat him if he’s okay with that* And LOL, yeah, I can understand that – she’s used to the nonsense, basically! And awww, I see – well, I’m glad Victor’s drawings don’t freak her out! Victor would be very sad and apologetic if they did. And good, yes, I am all in favor of her messing with that asshole (she’s completely right about rats, rats are good animals, unlike Bumby) and turning his own bullshit around on him. I’m sure Bumby will in turn make it his personal mission to break her so she stops screwing with him, but, uh, good luck to him. Kick his ass, Manami! Physically, verbally, mentally, I don’t care, just make sure he doesn’t get to you. (And I am PERFECTLY FINE with that – non-con is not my thing either, really, and I actually was really hoping to AVOID the whole Thirteen situation when I FIRST came up with this verse. I just realized it wasn’t realistic and thus tried to make sure Victor’s torment was kept to as short a period as possible. :( Yes, let the mind-jumping happen in different ways for different purposes, instead of Victor dealing with massive trauma!)

Oh, wow, that would just make Fixxler feel even more like he’s out of his depth. XD Like, he’d be FASCINATED, but also “I really don’t think I can help you much here.” XD But honestly, it’s probably good that she tries her hardest to not muck up the timeline, we want time travelers to be careful. But it sounds like the time situation is pretty weird already. O.o

*snrrk* We’re all disappointed about the lack of flying cars (though, as someone who has to drive on a regular basis, I don’t think I’d trust the average motorist WITH a flying car, honestly. Ground-based cars are dangerous enough!)

Hah, I see – well, sounds like she’s making some sweet dosh off it, at least. XD And I think Doc and Marty would look at each other and nod in response to that, given some of the nonsense THEY’VE gone through. XD

I knoooow – see my previous complaints about my brain refusing to stop giving me ideas about the Valicer In The Dark verse. *bonks head against desk* And yeah, not having the time to write stuff down is the worst. I’ve been doing my best, but...again, hope things are a little less hectic for you now!

Helo yes, I just want to say that I found your Forgotten Vows verse again, and also your Secundus verse, because of @thesatiricaldemon 's "Beneath A Broken Sky" and all I have to say is:

... how dare you both, now I have two AU fic ideas that sprouted from them because of inspiration! [Positive] (Actually three, but that one is just an afterthought)

*snrrrk* How very dare we XD But hey, I'm glad that both my fics and SatiricalDemon's have been inspiring to you! Love to know more about what percolating in your head! (And hey, don't dismiss that "afterthought" idea -- my ORIGINAL idea for an Alice: Madness Returns / Corpse Bride crossover after the release of the former was for them to meet after Alice killed Dr. Bumby and Victor had gone through both the "corpse bride" incident and its aftermath, but while I was sorting out that, I had a stray thought of "but what if Victor's parents hadn't believed him and instead sent him to Dr. Bumby to force him to forget the whole thing...and we see where THAT ended up. XD)

#magicalcaffeine #magical-caffeine #ask #finding you Valice AUs #ah the wonders of school #I get having no time for shit trust me #8:30 to 4:30 job here Monday through Friday usually #and lately I've been dealing with PMS and period brain sooo #plus like you I wanted to respond to everything as best I could and #well it took me a while to get through the actual reply XD #and LOL I see #well I'm glad that you still love Spiritfarer so #we all need to have a thing we are utterly obsessed with and hold close in our hearts #and yeah Spiritfarer sounds like a game that is full of The Feels #a game you have to play when you know you're emotionally ready for it!

[victorluvsalice]

Have you considered making a hypothetical forgotten vows version of smiler???

Oh, trust me, it was one of the first things I did. XD I've mentioned this more obliquely in other posts talking about my OT3 (notably the Thanksgiving "I fuckin' love Valicer" post), but here's a specific write up for my "Smiler in A Forgotten Vows AU" idea:

-->This would be one of those "Victor and Smiler knew each other first" AUs, with Victor and Smiler meeting at one of Nell's parties after she invited Dr. Kelman and his "son," maybe a year before the events of Corpse Bride -- the two end up hitting it off and becoming friends, then eventually lovers as their feelings take a turn to the romantic

-->They actually also experiment a bit with hypnosis during this time, because Smiler's actually a talented hypnotist in their own right, and they have some fun with it, with Victor enjoying the way Smiler occasionally fucks with his brain

-->Eventually, though, Victor's arranged marriage to Victoria Everglot is announced by Victor's parents. Victor, not wanting to marry a stranger when he's already in love, attempts to run away with Smiler, but it doesn't go off, instead revealing their relationship to their respective parents; Victor is dragged back to Burtonsville, and Smiler is sent off to rural Lithuania by Kelman to keep them apart. Victor, after an initial attempt to get back to Smiler, learns that they're no longer even in the country and, despairing of ever seeing them again, resigns himself to marrying Victoria

-->Cue the events of Corpse Bride (with Victor being briefly heartened by the fact that Victoria seems very nice and just like the kind of woman he could come to love, and then the whole "accidentally married a dead woman" thing happened, and then he's like "wtf I like the dead woman too the hell"), which lead into the events of the Forgotten Vows verse

-->Nell and William actually do ask Dr. Kelman to come in and make Victor socially compliant during the events of "Losing You"; Kelman, still steamed about Victor "corrupting" his "son," says no

-->When Victor ends up at Houndsditch and befriends Alice, he eventually tells her about his relationship with Smiler -- not all the details, of course, but enough that Alice knows that it was romantic (and that Smiler is a they/them); she asks why he doesn't try to run off to Lithuania himself to find them, and Victor admits that he's pretty sure he'd be caught before he could get any considerable distance away, and he has no idea where he'd start looking for Smiler

-->The rest of the events of "Finding You" and "Forgetting You" happen, along with the beginning of "Remembering You" (June, Dr. Wilson, and Victoria and Christopher White all showing up to help at Houdsditch/restore Victor's memories) -- and then, not long after, there's another knock at the door. Alice answers it to find an anxiously-smiling dark-haired green-eyed stranger on the doorstep, asking about Victor -- when questioned, they say they don't know if Victor mentioned them, but they used to be close: "I'm, uh -- well, I'm calling myself Smiler Alton these days--"

-->Oh Shit It's The Ex.jpg

-->Alice quickly realizes that maybe Smiler might have the best chance of helping get back some of Victor's memories and reintroduces them -- Victor DOES recall Smiler in bits and pieces, but of course Bumby's wall is making things difficult

-->Smiler also quickly picks up on the fact that Alice and Victor are in love now and stresses they don't want to come between them; they just want to have SOME presence in Victor's life (after spending quite a lot of time getting back from rural Lithuania to be with him again)

-->Smiler also smartly decides to tell Victor straight out "we had a relationship, it was sexual, hypnosis was involved" to get it out of the way -- Victor is initially furious ("YOU'RE the reason Bumby found me such a -- a--"), but soon realizes that Smiler of course isn't responsible for what Bumby did and never intended for him to get hurt :( They quickly patch things up, and Smiler does their best to help Victor remember more

-->However -- naturally, as they spend more time together, some old feelings start coming to the forefront. Smiler is awkward because they can see how much Victor and Alice love each other and really DON'T want to come between them (especially since they've become friends with Alice in the meantime); Victor is awkward because he's started having dreams where he's with Alice AND Smiler and of course he's feeling guilty about that

-->And Alice feels a bit jealous of their renewed connection, until Wonderland prompts her to examine her feelings in a little more depth; Alice does so, saying that what scares her is that Smiler will somehow take Victor away from her -- "I don't mind if Victor loves them, I just don't want to lose him! ...wait."

-->Oh Shit I'm Polyamorous?? I At Least Don't Mind Sharing?.jpg

-->Alice initially isn't sure how to bring this up, but then the whole "Victor's in love with both of us" thing comes up (maybe he has another nightmare, they both come to comfort him, and Victor ends up crying about how he's so sorry but he doesn't want to lose EITHER of them), and Alice explains her own feelings; Smiler is like "I don't mind sharing at ALL" and things get better as they decide to secretly have a V relationship

-->How Victor Regains His Memories -- while I love how I did it in the original universe, I feel like the fact that Smiler and Victor's relationship involved Smiler hypnotizing Victor needs to be involved. Specifically in the form of Smiler's old trigger phrase for Victor still working at least partially. Hmmm -- maybe instead of doing it alone in a dream, maybe Victor faces off against the wall while in a trance induced by Smiler, and Smiler and Alice are sitting with him in reality, offering encouragement as he busts his way through and kills the heart; cue delighted hugging and kissing when Victor awakes with his memories back

-->"Fixing You" is still a thing as Victor still has trauma after the fact to deal with, but Smiler comes along for the Wonderland ride (I'm thinking that, when talking to Fixxler about how "Travel Into Fantasy" works, Alice asks if they can somehow daisy-chain it to get it to work with three people (like she casts it for herself and Victor, and Victor casts it for himself and Smiler) -- Fixxler says "I have no idea but give it a try, love to hear the results"), and develops their own Otherland as Victor develops his. There would probably also be some stuff with Smiler dealing with the previous abrupt end of their relationship with Victor (with their anger at Kelman and maybe a little resentment that Victor didn't try harder to find them, even if they KNOW it would have been really hard for Victor to do) and their own worries about ending up an asshole like Bumby or Kelman

-->...Actually, them realizing "wait, Smiler's father is an evil psychiatrist too, even if he's not doing the extra-evil shit Bumby was doing" and somehow taking down him and his Sanctuary probably would be a whole extra story in this version of the verse

-->Endgame would have them all moving in together in Sandford, claiming Smiler needs the help getting back on their feet after returning to England -- if they never move out, and if they seem extremely close to Victor in particular, the people of Sandford mind their own business about it :p

...yeah, uh, definitely thought about this a lot more than I originally realized. XD But then again, producing dozens of AUs for my characters is kind of my THING on here...

#ask #anonymous #forgotten vows verse #smiler alton #valicer #sorry it took me a couple of days to get to this! #PMS and period brain is real I'm afraid #and as you can see once I got writing this actually kind of took on a life of its own O.o #I had all these basic ideas in my head previously but I refined them a lot once I started typing #like I knew I wanted Smiler hypnotizing Victor to be part of Victor regaining his memories in this verse #but I really liked the wall stuff from the original story #and while I was writing I was like 'actually I could combine them' #'like have Smiler hypnotize Victor and guide him to the place where he could smash down the wall' #Victor's still doing the work on his own but Alice and Smiler are more actively cheering him on from the sidelines #(and getting kind of spooked when he goes weirdly quiet near the end) #(but then after he wakes he suddenly remembers them both in full and cue the happy kissing) #and yeah have to include Smiler in the Wonderland stuff this time around! #and deal with some of their issues too #and Kelman because Kelman is doing the horrific brain surgeries and whatnot #and needs to be taken down as well #but yeah it all works out and they're a happy V trio in the end :)

[victorluvsalice]

Bringing this back around now that we're doing the Smiler's Otherland stuff! :) I still really love this cover/remix of the song, and still think it's great for scenarios where Alice is introducing people to her Wonderland. Or perhaps being introduced to various Otherlands -- like Victor's Living Dead Forest, or Smiler's Smile Street! "We'll begin/with a spin" seems like an appropriate line for Smiler's stuff, given the whole "based off a coaster with fourteen inversions" thing. XD So yeah, enjoy this and think of my OT3 exploring each other's various mental landscapes. :)

Fiona Apple - pure imagination (Kenny grey edit/remix) by Rey Anex

Hey look, it’s that “Pure Imagination” cover I reblogged the other week, only longer for a proper Song Saturday! :D Thanks to my friend @callhermoonchild for telling me that it was Fiona Apple who sang the cover – I managed to stumble across the right remix while looking up the video for that one again. I just really love the way this sounds, you know? The original Apple cover has a great generally Gothic vibe to it, but the introduction of the extra bass beat just kicks it up a notch.

At any rate, the reason it’s getting featured for Song Saturday is, when I took another listen to the lyrics of “Pure Imagination,” I realized it worked incredibly well as a song for Alice taking Victor (and, in applicable cases, Victoria and Emily) to Wonderland for the first time. I mean, Wonderland IS a world of pure imagination, and the things you see there DO defy explanation. (You explain to me Mock Sparrows and Samurai Wasps. :p) So yeah, when I finally post the “Victor visits Wonderland” chapters of “Fixing You,” you can put various remixes of the song on repeat as background. Starting with this one, of course. :p And you’d better believe that I’m now thinking some variation on the lyrics has to be used as a chapter title for that bit…

#song saturday #pure imagination #fiona apple #kenny grey remix #valicer #wonderland #I wasn't sure what I wanted to do this week #and then on Wednesday I had a brainwave getting out of the shower #surprised I apparently haven't reblogged this in ages O.o #I really do like the remix #so good to bring it back #I do love the mental images of the three of them exploring all their various domains and having fun #(well okay not in Sanctuary or Queensland probably but #almost all the other places) #...of course this is making the 'three player American McGee's Alice' thoughts come back to the forefront #as if I didn't make things difficult enough on myself back with the old 'Somebody I Used To Know' AU #(for those of you not in the know that was a 'Victor gets dragged into AMA' #'then Victoria and Emily get dragged along with him into a variant A:MR' AU #I have made a looooot of AUs over the years so #no worries if you have no idea what I'm talking about XD) #queued

[victorluvsalice]

Valicer OT3 Week Masterpost

Did it for Polyship Week, so should do it for OT3 Week as well! This is just a straight-up list of the fics by day, with the relevant AU information and anything else you might need to know next to it in parentheses; "established" AUs (that is, AUs I already had tags for, instead of being a one-shot AU for the specific prompt) have their AU tag linked as well:

Day One: Meet Cute (Modern!AU)

Day Two: The Cool Kid, The Jock, And The Nerd (High School!AU)

Day Three: Childhood Friends (Vaguely Victorian!AU, Kidfic)

Day Four: The Knight, The Princess, And The Dragon Are Actually All Together (Medieval Fantasy!AU, hypnokinky and slightly NSFW at the end -- the post itself has the "Mature" community tag)

Day Five: Nontraditional Soulmates (Soulmates!AU)

Day Six: No One Wants To Leave The Cuddle Pile (Modern!AU, slightly hypnokinky near the end)

Day Seven: Free Day (Valicer In The Dark!AU)

Hope you enjoyed this week of Valicer prompts! As always, I am continuing to work on Valicer fic in the background -- making some good progress on the first official "Valicer In The Dark" fic, "Start At The Beginning...Sort Of." Really hoping I can release that for general consumption soon!

#ot3week #fan fic #valicer #victor van dort #alice liddell #smiler alton #human smiler AU #valicer soulmates AU #valicer in the dark au #plus all those one-shot AUs I did specifically for the week #at least one of which is trying to escape containment #*eyes the Vaguely Victorian!AU kidfic and its efforts to become a 'three player American McGee's Alice' AU* #I swear my brain just wants to write all the Valicer AUs at once #if I had infinite free time you'd see so many Valicer fanfics from me #but unfortunately I have limited free time #so we're focusing on the True Obsession that is Valicer In The Dark #be prepared for weirdass crime trio in a city of eternal night shenanigans upcoming #and also more Song Saturdays dedicated to them #because I have at least two more songs for that verse I found semi-recently #...once again stolen from the Leverage OT3 people XD #I should probably just watch the show at this point huh #queued

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Smiler’s Otherland -- Domains!

Hi everyone, I’m back on my Smiler’s Otherland bullshit! :D After making my initial “here’s my first ideas on the concept” post back in May 2023, I’ve been trying to get my thoughts organized regarding what Smiler’s Otherland should look like, more details about their weapons, how many outfits they need, etc. And now I’m going to share some of those thoughts with all of you! Because it’s my tumblr and you’re my captive audience. :p

So -- let’s start with the domains! Because you can’t have an Otherland without actual, you know, lands in it. So far, I’ve come up with four domains for Smiler:

Smile Street: The “hub” domain, or at least the domain any visitors would be likely to land in first, much like Alice’s Vale of Tears or Victor’s Living Dead Forest. This domain is arguably the "coziest," and allows Smiler to put their best smiling face forward. :D

-->As indicated by the name, it’s a long winding street lined with brightly-painted houses in all colors of the rainbow -- in fact, here, the shot of Towers Street from this The Smiler ad gives you a good idea of what I’m picturing:

Only, instead of just those spiraling yellow clouds in the sky, there's also a big yellow sun featuring a Smiler-logo face on it, as per this screenshot from this video on The Smiler mobile game: (WARNING -- the linked video does have flashing lights/strobe-like images starting about midway through!)

...maybe a little less overtly creepy, as this is supposed to be the friendliest domain, but you get what I mean.

-->And who lives in those cheery little houses? Why, the Advocates, of course! Who are based on these guys from The Smiler mobile game (screenshot from the same video linked above):

You know, just a little higher resolution. XD They're naturally very friendly, greeting visitors enthusiastically, and spend most of their time wandering around, trimming trees and hedges into spirals, having little get-togethers in each other's yards where they tell jokes and laugh a lot, playing various games with each other, painting big grinning faces on portable easels -- that sort of thing.

-->At the end of the street is -- well, the town SPIRAL rather than square, as the road just spirals in on itself until it stops at a big fountain full of glowy yellow liquid at the center. Around the outer curve of the spiral is a little cafe (which serves a variety of drinks and treats, though many of the drinks glow at least slightly, and the treats tend to have spiral decorations), a playground (with all the equipment painted with yellow and black stripes with occasional touches of purple and white), a general shop selling a variety of goods (which, yes, would basically be the shop from the Smiler Shop TV video, manned by Matt and Carol -- Smiler can put their parents into their Otherland, as a treat), and a train station consisting of a bright yellow covered platform with spiraling columns holding the roof up, a Smiler coaster car (like that seen above) for the "train," and tracks that start out flat but quickly spiral off into wild loops and twists (because, of course, the coaster itself has to serve as transport to the other two "nice" domains). Just a nice place to hang out, chat, and watch the spiral clouds swirl overhead. XD

X-Sector: Named after the section of Alton Towers that The Smiler coaster is actually in, this is the domain dedicated to Smiler’s interest in technology and chemistry (with the actual look of the tech ranging from more steampunky to more cyberpunky depending on the time period of the AU it features in).

-->The domain consists mostly of a big old lab, surrounded by a yard featuring grass made out of green wire, flowers made out of twisty bits of metal with stained glass leaves and petals, and simple conical trees (like the kind you might see in an old Playstation or XBox game before graphics really started taking off -- that Smiler Game screenshot above is roughly the right aesthetic). The sky here would be filled with swirling, spiraling yellow and black clouds, lit with the occasional flash of lightning. It's all very dramatic.

-->The lab itself is divided into two wings, separated by a main hall with lots of optical illusions a la the actual The Smiler station (with various changing patterns on the walls -- be warned, that linked video has a fair amount of flashing lights in it!). The left wing would be devoted to engineering and be filled with things like whirring little hypno-wheel gadgets, boxes with flashing lights, various skittering tiny robots, and other things of that nature. The right wing would be devoted to chemistry and have various workstations covered with bubbling flasks of liquid and hissing tanks filled with volatile gases -- though I'm really tempted to throw in a little bit of Willy Wonka flavor and have a big old waterfall of Joy Serum somewhere in here too. XD I mean, it feels like something Smiler would have -- maybe it flows into a giant pipe to provide the liquid for the fountain in Smile Street? Or perhaps it just serves as the "drinking water" for everyone there...

-->As for residents -- well, I suppose in addition to Advocates in lab coats tending all the various experiments, it would make sense to have Dr. Gladwell from the Smiler Takeover "Fear Test" show at the very least. After all, he is the Ministry's Chief Neurological Cortex Reprogrammer! :p The only thing complicating that is that I wanted to name Smiler's outfit for this area after him...but I suppose I could name it after his role in the Ministry instead... Anyway, the most notable resident here would naturally be the Marmaliser itself -- a big robot wandering around on its five limbs, looking for unhappy people to make happy and coming by the lab to have its Inoculator syringes and Giggler gas tanks refilled and its Tickler brushes, Flasher bulbs, and Hypnotiser wheels looked at and realigned as necessary.

Musical Mayhem: Hey, Victor wasn’t using the name :p This domain is all about Smiler's love of music and festivals and things of that nature, and -- as you might expect -- is strongly based around that whole The Smiler Takeover that Alton Towers did for the ride's 10th anniversary.

-->The domain itself is a giant fairground set in a field of glittery green grass under more of those yellow spiraling clouds, with a couple of black-and-white-cobbled looping paths winding through it. There are various carnival games scattered about (like the "Beat the Buzzer" game where you have to get a wire loop around a metal simplified Smiler logo without touching it, otherwise it'll buzz and you'll have to start again; hook-a-smiling-duck; bag tosses with grinning Smiler-logoed bags; one of those water gun games where you shoot Joy Serum at a target to make something rise up; etc), along with food stalls, comfy sitting areas, and carts where people can get balloons and little sparklers and trumpets to blow. As you might imagine, it's chaotic, but in a good way!

-->The dominant feature of the fairground, though, is a huge stage at the far end -- a bigger version of the Takeover's Celebration Stage, with all the smiley-face decorations but yellow curtains instead of red. There's a few rows of seats in front of the stage for people who want to sit down and watch, and designated "dancing spots" for those who want to dance and sing along. The dancing spots are generally more populated than the seats, as you might expect. XD

-->Again, the domain is mostly populated by Advocates from Smile Street, just enjoying the carnival -- but you can't have a Celebration Stage without Felix E. Lated as the star performer! :D (Again, Smiler can have their uncle in their Otherland, as a treat.) When he's not up on stage singing, he's wandering the fairground, encouraging everyone to let loose and have fun. Possibly Grin-Grin the clown (from the above-linked "Fear Test") also makes an appearance from time to time, creating balloon animals and telling ridiculous stories -- oh, and we probably should also have the contortionist and the magician from the "Meet The Ministry" stage show up too! All the performers for the Advocates to enjoy!

Sanctuary: Unfortunately for Smiler, as stated in the original post, we can’t neglect the spookier, scarier parts of the coaster’s theming -- and that means having a domain where everything is creepy and horrible, to represent their fears about going too far and actually harming people. And thus we have Sanctuary, inspired by all the Kelman-related materials, such as the Smile Always series and the Sanctuary scare mazes (a few clips of which can be seen in this informative video -- again, watch out for some flashing lights)! Hooray! :D

-->The area is a large, underground asylum, accessed by a pair of rusty metal swinging doors spray-painted with "THE TRUTH" in bright yellow (taken from one of the AR spots you could access with The Smiler Mobile Game back in the day -- there's a set hidden away in each of the other three domains) -- once inside, you're confronted with an absolute maze of concrete corridors, all painted a faded white. The place is not in good repair, with plenty of patches of exposed rebar and wiring on the walls and cracks in both the ceiling and the floor. The whole place is poorly lit, with buzzing yellow lights dangling from the ceiling and occasionally sparking or going out entirely. The only concession to color is in the various posters that have been hung up -- images of spirals with DO NOT RESIST written under them, photos of decaying animal corpses captioned with LIFE IS BAD, and various images of people with their mouths distorted into extremely creepy smiles. It's just a very unpleasant place to be!

-->There are two groups of people that live in this horrible location -- the first being the Corrected. These are the asylum's patients, dressed in tattered and dirty white t-shirts, pants, and dresses, who roam the halls and live in the various cells dotting the hallways. Most of them either have Glasgow smiles or various bits of machinery forcing their mouths into grins, and many also have at least a partially-shaved head and nasty scars on their scalps indicating brain surgery. However, the Corrected are all completely non-violent, either just wandering around doing their thing (vaguely giggling to themselves, drawing on the walls with whatever they can find, standing in small groups and laughing together) or hiding away from anyone they think is a threat.

-->No, the actual enemies of this area are the Staff -- the nurses and orderlies who run the place. The nurses are dressed in stained white uniform dresses, sporting dark circles around their eyes, vicious grins accented by dark lipstick, and long claw-like nails ready to take a swipe out of misbehaving patients; and the orderlies are dressed in similarly-stained yellowed scrubs, with the same dark circles around their eyes and vicious grins. The nurses carry syringes to stab unsuspecting victims, subjecting them to a variety of bizarre hallucinations; the orderlies carry shock batons guaranteed to bring patients to their knees. Their favorite activities are to stalk unwitting Corrected, then take them down while laughing hysterically. Not nice people at all!

-->And the person in charge of the whole shebang? Why, that would be Dr. Minister, a Kelman-like old man with a neat white suit sporting the Sanctuary logo, glinting glasses, and a smile that -- well, it's obvious the man's HEARD of smiling, but you're not sure he's ever seen it in action. He's insistent that everything he does for the Corrected is for their own good, and his ultimate goal is to turn Smiler into his apprentice/successor -- and Victor and Alice into Corrected. Smiler, as you might imagine, loathes this guy, and is absolutely terrified of ending up like him. :(

And that's everything I've got for now! It does make me slightly annoyed that I only have four domains for Smiler when Victor has five and Alice -- well, as per A:MR, the minimum is eight (presuming you don't count the Vale of Doom as separate from the Vale of Tears). But I do think that these four cover pretty much everything important when it comes to the coaster, it's themes, and all the events and attractions related to it. Next up, we have the weapons -- which, believe me, was a much easier post to make...

#valicer #wonderland #otherland #otherlands #smiler alton #smiler otherland #this took much longer than I anticipated #because while I had a general idea of everything I wanted to include #pinning down what everything should actually look like proved shockingly difficult! #finally wrestled it into submission though #with the help of a lot of links and screenshots of stuff #I didn't actually want to use Theme Park Worldwide video for the Celebration Stage link #since the video was ultimately very negative about the event and that particular show #but it is literally the only one I had with the 'correct' Felix #aka the brown-haired Felix I first saw and headcanoned as Smiler's uncle #I don't like the blond Felix look nearly as much soooo #also I would have linked or done a screenshot of the doors into Sanctuary #but the only video I could find is by someone I'm pretty sure has me blocked here on tumblr #so it felt weird #look up 'the smiler AR' and you'll find it really easily #and yes minimum eight domains from Alice if you only count A:MR #if you look at all the places she goes in AMA and cross out the ones that are repeated in A:MR #she has fifteen or fourteen domains (depending on if you separate out Queen of Hearts Land from Queensland) #also that weird hub area after the Wonderland Woods #which given the way it looks I would classify as part of The Land of Fire And Brimstone #girl has a fucking HUGE imaginary world is what I'm saying :p #Smiler and Victor have gotta catch up XD #queued