#they can be very finicky about what they'll accept and what they won't accept let me tell you that

[victorluvsalice]

We have hit Winter Sunday in the Chill Valicer Save! And with this update, we enter the period of time in this save that I like to call "Time To FINISH FILLING THOSE DAMN SHELVES PLEASE." AKA, the next few updates are all about trying to get their grocery store into an openable state! Hope you like farm chores and food processing! *big smile, thumbs up* And speaking of the former, let's get right to it --

-->We start in the wee, wee hours of the morning, as we usually do around here as Smiler doesn't need sleep and Victor and Alice's bed is so good, they have developed a bit of a wonky sleep schedule as a result. XD (Victor having chugged a Potion of Plentiful Needs at the end of last "episode" also didn't help!) Specifically, we start in the old crafting barn, where Victor, after using his powerful magical talents to Scruberoo a slightly dirty Smiler, returned to making candles for his "bee products" shelf at the store! As he'd leveled up in Fabrication skill, I decided that he could make a black-dyed molded candle to show off his new talents...a process that I quickly discovered really just consisted of a lot of the Sim just standing in front of the candle bench, waiting for the wax to cool in the mold. Which, okay, probably accurate, but not exactly the most exciting thing to watch, huh? I prefer dipped candles, at least then they're DOING something.

-->As for Smiler and Alice -- well, the gardening bots Elmer and Bugs needed another tune-up, so that kept Smiler busy for a good chunk of the morning. Alice, for her part, snoozed until her energy bar was full, then came downstairs to fix some broken wind turbines because the phase of the moon meant that she would get extra Handiness skill from it. :p She was feeling rather hungry after that, so I had her transform and go out for a hunt -- hey, nothing like fresh meat for a werewolf tummy! And it's always a good source of XP.

-->Once Victor was done with his candle, I decided to check what he needed to brew up a potion of Emotional Stability, as he was all set with the ingredients needed for Plentiful Needs and Nimble Mind. Turns out he needed some Obtainium if he wanted to brew up emotionally-calming drinks, so I quickly checked Alice's metal collection upstairs to see if she had any. To my delight, she did indeed have a sample! So Victor got sent up there to use his overpowered Copypasto spell on it a couple of times. XD Seriously, I would be SOO lost in this save without that spell now...

-->While Victor was doing that, Smiler finished up their bot repairs and decided it was the perfect time to make some drinks! And I decided "actually, yes, it IS the perfect time to make some drinks -- so you can give them to the damn specters floating around the greenhouse and the back yard, distracting everyone." So Smiler poured out a few glasses and went searching out specters to give them to. Happily, both the specter floating by the tree annoying Shadow and the specter bopping around in the greenhouse appreciated the gifts, and both rewarded Smiler with the same thing -- soul scraps! I put those in their inventory for later -- I don't think I've used one of these yet? Probably should at some point...but they do look VERY cool with that little flame glowing above the disc, don't they? There's a reason I have a few on display in the seance room. :)

-->Anyway -- with that sorted, Smiler set Elmer and Bugs on the greenhouse and started cleaning up all the spoiled plates of chicken saltimbocca left everywhere from the family reunion. Victor fed Toothy the cowplant (I do not blame him for looking so nervous -- cowplants are very ENTHUSIASTIC about being fed), then went to check on Shadow, who was angry about something or other -- possibly all those specters hanging around. Victor calmed Shadow down as Alice returned from her hunt and gobbled down her fresh meat...