#btw bg3 versions are coming soon

[alistairstheirins]

Barbie Style Posters ft. Companions (pt. 1) [insp and template by @userparamore]

Dragon Age: Origins (2009) dev. BioWare

[kariswritingblog]

Chapter 3 is being worked on!

And surprise Loki will be introduced in chapter 3, which means the full team has been formed and in the end of ch3/beginning of ch4 the action will finally start!

The version of Loki I am using for this fic will be the 2019 version. I know at some point in the fic it will definitely become clear what has diverged from canon in all of the sources I used for these characters. I am also really excited to show off the setting for my friends story and the worldbuilding he created!

[victorluvsalice]

Okay, I guess Thanksgiving is now Me Talking About How Much I Love Valicer Day! XD Because I do still freaking love it, in case it wasn't blindingly obvious. I mean, just this past year, I've:

-->Created another set of Valicertines -- and a bonus "OT3 Math" picture that wouldn't leave me alone and required me to set up a very specific photoshoot in Sims 4 so I could make the reality match what was in my head

-->Participated in BOTH OT3 Week and Polyship Week 2024 with stories about my beloved trio over a variety of different universes (the masterpost for the second is coming up tomorrow, BTW!)

-->Posted a bunch of "lookbook" posts featuring my version of the trio in Sims 4 (including Valicer In The Dark-based outfits, some swimsuits for the trio, some messing around with the Crystal Creations CAS assets, and a whole post just dedicated to Smiler and their goofy fashion sense)

-->Posted more Not-Incorrect Quotes collections for the trio (including multiple Valicer In The Dark-themed ones, a VITD/BG3 crossover, two sets featuring the residents of the trio's respective Wonderlands/Otherlands, and a couple of Modern AU ones -- one completely new one, one update to an old one)

-->Relatedly, designed Smiler's Otherland so they'd have their own set of domains, weapons, and outfits (because if Victor got an Otherland to go with Alice's Wonderland, Smiler deserves one too damn it)

-->Wrote up posts for more Valicer AUs, including the Hypothetical Smiler In Forgotten Vows AU; the Childhood Friends Take On American McGee's Alice Together AU; and the Valicer Severance AU (aka "I Owe My Soul To The Company Store")

-->Did a silly entirely-gif-based post on the trio's dynamics

-->Updated the Valice Wedding Masterpost with links to the Chill Valicer Save Valicer wedding (and a lovely screenshot of the gang's two wedding certificates on the wall and wedding photos on the dresser)

-->And, most notably, posted my first Valicer In The Dark story on AO3, "Start At The Beginning...Sort Of!"

Whew! Quite a lot of Valicer content there, eh? And that's not even getting into some of the other asks I've answered, or AUs I've mentioned, or Valicer In The Dark info posts I've done -- but this thing is probably getting long enough, so how about we call it there? XD Point is, I love my OT3, and I don't intend to stop loving them anytime soon.

...to the point where I think it might be time to update my user name on here a little...

A Gush About Valicer

So this is probably a bit of a weird post for me to make, given that it’s literally just me gushing about the weird OT3 I’ve had for less than a year, but – it’s Thanksgiving, and I feel like it’s weirdly appropriate to start talking about a ship that I’ve grown to be very fond of over the past few months. I’m thankful that it’s in my life. So, yeah – I’m taking this opportunity to say it –

I fuckin’ love Valicer.

I mean that. I’m the first person to say that I don’t understand how or why I got so into The Smiler coaster at Alton Towers, and I especially don’t get why I went from trying to use the roller coaster for some Valice AU funtimes straight into shipping a human/humanoid (depending on the AU) version of said coaster with Victor and Alice, but even with that…I just love it so much! Smiler’s been a fun coaster OC to develop through Sims and the Not-Incorrect Quotes posts and generally all the weird situations I’ve come up with for them in my head. They’re so different to Victor and Alice by being extroverted and loud and generally cheerful, and yet they love their boyfriend and his girlfriend so much and want to see them happy… Granted, they want to see everybody happy, but still. And Victor and Alice love them, despite their differences, and they have such a great dynamic! I really feel like Smiler brings out Victor and Alice’s more fun-loving, jokingly-feral sides (as seen in the Not-Incorrect Quotes), and it’s great. :D I love all the little variations I’ve made up for them:

–>The Sims trio, living in their haunted farmhouse: Smiler working on robots in the barn and sending out bursts of vampiric happiness, Victor tending to his plants in the greenhouse and practicing his magic, Alice painting on the porch and coming to grips with being a werewolf

–>The Modern AU with all of them in college, with them starting out just as friends and becoming more after that one awkward hypnosis session with Victor, and transitioning into a very happy polycule with a nice support network of Smiler’s friends and family and Victoria and Emily (excellent for dealing with Victor’s shitty parents)

–>The Londerland Bloodlines AU where Smiler initially looks like an antagonist, but as it turns out they’re being manipulated by their “friends” and they do have some ethics under their “I can manipulate emotions to help people be happier, so why shouldn’t I?” exterior. Smiler wanting to atone after Victor gets kidnapped just for knowing them and they see some of the horrors the Setites were visiting on the people they wanted to help, and slowly being integrated into the vampire/ghoul/zombie polycule in the process

–>The Fallout of Darkness AU where I actually lean the closest to the ride’s actual theming (with The Smiler itself being a mind control device run by an eldritch being), but even then Mar-Mal has enough ethical sense to understand that you don’t kill the people you’re trying to make happy, and enough sense of humanity to enjoy Victor and Alice’s company and want to stay in their robot form with them, and Victor and Alice go from being kind of scared of the robot run by an eldritch being to seeing it as a friend they want to stick around – and possibly, if Mar-Mal gets a handy Gen-3 synth body at any point, friendship might become something more…

–>The multi-fairy-tale AU with Victoria and Emily, featuring Smiler at their Fae best, just wanting to do nice things and make fun deals with these mortals to spread some joy, and slowly being sucked into genuinely caring for them, to the point where Victor’s “death” by poisoned apple nearly breaks them; Alice going from just surviving her awful tenure in Bumby and the Tweedles’ hell-house to having actual friends and loved ones; Victor and Victoria both escaping their toxic parents and finding that a simpler life, if harder, agrees with them SO much more, and finding so much love in that life; Emily reclaiming the happiness that she used to have on land, and finding real love after Barkis tricked her with his poisonous version

–>The upcoming Holistic!AU, where Victor and Alice are practically soulmates thanks to the universe bringing them together; and then Victor falls in with Smiler and their friends thanks to being kidnapped by Kelman and finds that his social circle doesn’t have to be just Alice, that the universe will let him have more friends and more loved ones, and Smiler’s happiness sense keeps giving them mixed signals about how okay it is to kiss Victor – until Alice finally shows up for the rescue and lets them know it’s all right, she’s willing to share (as are Victoria and Emily, who are actually starting to appreciate this mad ride)

–>The Blades In The Dark-inspired thing I’ve been poking at – this’ll get a proper write-up at some point, but the gist of it is that, after some incidents involving Victor getting kidnapped by a ghost bride on the eve of his wedding, Alice finding out Dr. Bumby’s horrible plans for the Houndsditch orphans, and Smiler just trying to help them both out, they end up as a criminal gang focusing on stealing from the rich so they can do things like create a community greenhouse (which I appreciate isn’t QUITE how you play BitD but this is fanfic not me actually playing XD) and go from friendly acquaintances to polycule in the process

–>All the various half-formed AUs that float through my head at night – Victorian AUs where Victor and Smiler meet thanks to Dr. Kelman dragging their “son” to a Van Dort party and end up secret lovers for a time, before either Smiler gets banished to rural Lithuania and Victor has to go through some Forgotten Vows-style shenanigans before they can get back, and Alice has to deal with the fact that this is Victor’s ex who still clearly loves him, but does that mean she has to give Victor up? (Nope, as it turns out, she doesn’t), or the two run away together to avoid Victor’s arranged marriage and end up meeting Alice in the process, and Smiler has to deal with the fact that Victor clearly thinks Alice is attractive, and she’s nice, and are they ready to share Victor with someone else? (Yup, they totally are.) Or modern AUs where Alice and Smiler were friends first, and they both meet Victor, and discover they’re both falling for him, and initially they try to be noble and push him toward each other, until finally Victor reveals he’s in love with BOTH of them and they realize that they don’t HAVE to give him up. All the different ways they can meet, and become friends, and fall in love that I can think up.

And this is getting REALLY long, and I’m not sure how coherent it is anymore. XD Just – the point of it is, having all this strange and wonderful Valicer (and Four Victorians On A Roller Coaster) stuff has really made me happier over the past year, and I’m really glad it’s part of my life now. I love my silly little Smiler OC, and I love my ship with them and my original OTP. So I hope you guys like it too, because it’s gonna be sticking around. XD