#I do like the idea of Smiler being one of those who hops right out of bed

[victorluvsalice]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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