#vemilicia

[victorluvsalice]

Making Valice AUs Valicer: The Colorful Soulmates AU

Okay, so this one is actually "Making Vemilicia AUs Four Victorians Riding A Roller Coaster," but the "Making Valice AUs Valicer" title is a little shorter and punchier. :p Anyway, yes, this the other post I wanted to make concerning the idea of sticking Smiler into some of my older pre-Smiler AUs, and -- as per the title -- it concerns the Colorful Soulmates AU! Which is another AU that I haven't talked about in quite some time (barring a mention in a "self rec" post seven months ago), so let me quickly get everyone back up to speed on this one as well:

->The inspiration behind the AU is this tumblr post by elimymoons:

"multiple soulmate AU where the world is grey (and that’s okay!!), but each time you meet one of your romantic/platonic soulmates, a new color is added into your life"

Neat, huh? When I saw the original post twelve(!) years ago, I was immediately like "oh, this is GREAT -- it fits Victor's relationships with Victoria and Emily in Corpse Bride so well, and goes pretty much perfectly with my own Valice and Vemilicia leanings! Maybe Victor gets red from Victoria from her red dress, and blue from Emily because of her blue skin, and green from Alice because of her green eyes? Yes, perfect, I love." XD However, at that time, I was only thinking of the idea in terms of "this would make neat fanart," and thus didn't really do anything with it beyond that...

->And then I did a little series about how I might do various "stock" AU concepts with Valice (like "wingfic" and the like), with the very first one being about how I might do a "soulmates" AU. The writing of which made me recall the original prompt and my vague ideas on the colors Victor would get from each of his lady loves -- and made me wonder if I should perhaps do a series of shorts on the topic...

->Which eventually morphed into the 28-chapter story "The Technicolor Phase." XD Because even back in 2018/2019, I was struggling with keeping things brief.

->As for the AU itself, while I loved the original prompt, I immediately ran into a problem with it -- namely, why would Emily run away with Barkis if, in this world, she had proof that he wasn't her soulmate (AKA she didn't get a color from him)? My solution was to adjust things so that, in the world of the AU, anyone who is going to be important to you gives you a color (apart from your parents, who give you the shades of grey everyone starts out with). And, as poor Emily found out (as did poor Lizzie), "important" does not necessarily have to mean in a good way. I also decided that the "anyone" did not have to be human (to facilitate Victor getting a color from his beloved dog Scraps, and Alice one from her beloved cat Dinah), and -- naturally -- that people could still give each other colors in the afterlife (both to facilitate Emily giving colors to the very-much-living Victor and Victoria, and to facilitate some Land Of The Dead LizJangles action). Basically, it's just kind of a weird universe. :p

->And if you're wondering what the story's about -- basically it's a series of moments in the lives (and deaths, as applicable) of Victor, Victoria, Emily, Alice, Bonejangles, and Lizzie -- showing off which colors they get from which people; how Corpse Bride goes in this universe (rather off the rails, as you might expect -- the Alice games, by contrast, are largely unaffected and thus kept off-screen for the most part); and how they all get to know each other -- and in the case of the first four and the last two, how they fall in love. :)

...well, it was shorter than the sum-up for Catch Us If You Can, you have to admit! XD Anyway, originally this AU was going to be a one-off one-shot, as I was pretty much out of ideas (and out of colors I could give the main characters) once I was done with "The Technicolor Phase." I thus let it be and continued working on my other AUs, like The Forgotten Vows Verse and Secundus and Londerland Bloodlines --

And then Smiler showed up. And started sparking all the Valicer AUs, including variations on some of my previous AUs. Which did lead me to have some thoughts about how I might fit them into the Colorful Soulmates AU --

Only for all of those thoughts hit the exact same roadblock: the fact that I'd already given Victor yellow from Barkis in "The Technicolor Phase." And it didn't really feel right to have Smiler, of all people, give Victor any other color. Thus I put the idea on a shelf, only taking it down very rarely to poke at it and sigh --

And then, somewhat recently, I found myself considering the idea again -- and abruptly had this thought: "...what if Victor was the one to give Smiler yellow instead?"

And that, ladies and gentlemen and honorable guests, finally made things click. Allow me to present to you my new idea for a potential sequel story to "The Technicolor Phase," entitled (what else?) "The Rainbow Connection" --

->The story would kick off a couple of years after the end of "The Technicolor Phase" and the birth of Chester Van Dort (who I have just decided has the full name "Chester Samuel Van Dort" so he can also be named after Bonejangles's "real" name -- well, Bonejangles's PREFERRED "real" name :P), and would feature Smiler arriving in Burtonsville to peddle their various alchemical goods (including, of course, Joy Serum). Victor eventually wanders over to see what's going on in the town square, and Smiler cheerfully gives him their pitch and waves at the various bottles on display --

Only to pause because, huh, some of them look kind of funny now. An amused Victor, having already realized what happened, informs them that those bottles happen to be yellow --

->Causing Smiler to get extremely excited because, as they reveal shortly thereafter, this is the very first color they've ever gotten. Victor is mildly horrified by this, because Smiler is the same age as him -- mid-20s by this point -- and even he and Victoria, isolated as they were, got one color each as children! Smiler explains they never had a pet and didn't really meet a lot of people growing up (or, at least, not ones capable of giving people colors anymore), and their work as a traveling salesperson means most of their interactions with others are pretty brief. They're over the moon about finally being able to see even one color, and wonder if there might be anyone else important to them in Burtonsville --

->Cue Victor taking them home, because, well, if they got a color from him, there's a good chance they'll get colors from his wives too. Sure enough, Smiler gets purple from Alice and blue from (the pregnant with her second child) Victoria when they meet them. Naturally, this prompts them to invite Smiler to stick around and bunk down at the Van Dort place so they can meet Emily, Lizzie, and Bonejangles during their monthly "real world" visit and see what happens there! Smiler is only too happy to do so...

->...and much like what happened with Alice in "The Technicolor Phase," what was supposed to be a temporary situation quickly turns into a permanent one. XD Smiler is firmly folded into the lives of the core group after trading colors with all of them, and soon becomes just part of the family. Smiler, personally, is just thrilled to have such awesome people in their lives, and to have so many beautiful colors after so long spent seeing everything in shades of grey. :)

->And then, one fateful day, while doing their sales in the town square, they happen to lock eyes with both Nell Van Dort and Maudeline Everglot, granting them red and brown respectively. Smiler is delighted to get more colors, but both Nell and Maudeline are absolutely furious that they got colors from a "common street merchant" (and rather horrified that they agree with each other on something) --

And then it comes out that Smiler is living at the younger Van Dorts' house with Alice, and knows about the whole situation with Emily. Causing both of them to storm off in a snit, leaving a very confused Smiler in their wake. Smiler later relates the incident to their housemates, and Victor and Victoria explain that the women in question were their mothers. And, frankly, given what Nell and Maudeline are like, they're a little concerned about how those two are going to be important to Smiler. Smiler is like "oh, maybe I win them over and help repair your relationships" --

->...and then one Dr. Kelman shows up in Burtonsville. Having been summoned by Nell and Maudeline to teach their "wayward children" about being "socially compliant" (AKA, to stop them "taking in more strays and bringing shame to their families"). Naturally, he recognizes Smiler as his runaway "son," Marmaduke, and is very eager to bring them back home to The Sanctuary to be "corrected." Smiler, however, is not eager to go back to that hellhole and end up a vegetable like their poor mother Margaret in the basement, and makes it very clear that they are not going --

Backed up by an absolutely furious Victor, Victoria, and Alice (possibly Emily, Lizzie, and Bonejangles too if I decide this happens on one of their "visit" days). Kelman is kicked out of the younger Van Dorts' house and sent packing, and Victor and Victoria make it very clear to their parents that they don't want to have anything to do with them anymore. (Which does mean that they will need a new source of income other than the Van Dort fortune, but I can picture Smiler encouraging Victor to sell his drawings and Victoria her quilts and such, so they'll probably be okay.)

->(...and if Alice disappears for a few days after the incident, and after she comes back everyone learns that Dr. Kelman has mysteriously died on his way back to The Sanctuary...well, nobody says anything.)

->However, this whole kerfluffle leads to Smiler realizing that their feelings for the group are not exactly platonic, and that they've fallen in love with Victor in particular. Which strikes them as a pretty shitty way to thank the ladies who call him "husband" for helping them (it also doesn't help that the current polycule set-up does strongly suggest that Victor is only into girls). They thus decide that they should probably get back on the road and take their leave, promising to come back to visit sometime in the future (once their feelings have cooled). Victor and the others are saddened but understanding, and Victor insists on them taking a token that will allow them to join the others in Alice's Wonderland via the modified "Travel Into Fantasy" spell Elder Gutknecht's cooked up. Smiler promises to pop in once they are settled...

->Except before they can, Lizzie pops into their head using her token to be like "wtf why are you running away??" A startled Smiler ends up confessing to her about their feelings and how they aren't sure they'd be wanted, only for Lizzie to point out that the two of them exchanging colors is probably a good sign they're meant to be some form of in-laws (relating the story of how she got blue from Emily). Smiler thus allows themselves to be persuaded into following her to Alice's Wonderland to talk to everyone else, where they nervously confess their attraction to Victor --

->Which leads to him kissing them and begging them to "please come home," because of course Victor reciprocates their feelings! He was in fact trying to work up the courage to suggest Smiler join the polycule when they suddenly left and made him think they weren't interested! (Alice tells Smiler "I would have gotten Cheshire to pester you into confessing if I'd been able!" XD) Smiler naturally returns to Burtonsville post-haste, and while they do go out and travel around the immediate area to sell their potions from time to time, it's with the expectation that they will always be coming back to the younger Van Dorts' home. :)

->And the whole thing would finish up a few months later, with Smiler rushing back from one of those trips just in time for the birth of Victoria and Victor's second child, a daughter...and Victoria informing Smiler that they would like to name her Margaret after their mother. :) (And yes, she would have "Elizabeth" for her middle name.)

Touching, right? :) I think so, anyway. So yeah, that's how a Smiler-focused sequel to "The Technicolor Phase" would go! I don't know if I'll ever have the time to write it, granted, but -- the idea is there if I can find a few spare hours somewhere!

[victorluvsalice]

The Return of Ship Name Silliness

So! Anyone remember this particular post of mine: Ship Name Silliness? I’m guessing not, as it’s from late 2017 and thus about four-and-a-half years old at this point.The short version is that I made it when I came up with the name for my Victor/Alice/Victoria/Emily foursome ship, Vemilicia, and it covered both that and pretty much every combination of the four that I could come up with. Well, I looked it up recently (because I was like “I think I used the wrong ship name on that post about OT3s and everyone’s respective roles for Victor/Victoria/Emily”), and I have decided to make a sequel to the nonsense because -- well, I have a lot more poly ships featuring a lot more characters these days! So, without further ado, here are the ships that I currently have for Victor/Alice universes:

Featuring Victor and Alice themselves:

Valice -- Obviously, the core ship of Victor/Alice, present in most of my fics! A requirement for these universes, I think you will agree. (Don’t point at “Londerland Bloodlines,” it’s coming!) I’m reasonably certain that @danydarkly is the originator of this name, and I liked it so much I adopted it as the “official” ship name.

Vemilicia -- The poly ship that inspired the first post, as above -- Victor/Alice/Victoria/Emily. I was an OT3 shipper for the main Corpse Bride trio before getting into Valice, so combining the two ships was probably inevitable. :p So far, my only major fic for it is “The Technicolor Phase,” but “Londerland Bloodlines” is eventually going to go in that direction too.

(Oh, and since I just mentioned the CB OT3 -- yes, I did originally use the wrong ship name in the OT3 post linked above. As seen below, I intended “Vemilia” for just Victoria/Emily. The one I came up for Victor/Victoria/Emily was Vemiglot -- a combination of “Vemily” (Victor/Emily) and “Everglot” (Victoria’s last name, because her and Victor’s first names are too similar to use together). Though, now that Emily has a semi-canonical last name from that old script that went around a while back, “Merrimack,” you could also do Everdortmack (combining it with the standard Victor/Victoria “Everdort” name).)

Cuddlepile -- Previously my biggest poly ship, and the first without a portmanteau name -- it’s Victor/Alice/Victoria/Emily/Christopher/Richard, aka “the main Vemilicia ship plus the two versions of The White Knight and The Hatter that I’ve shipped Victoria and Emily with before (see below).” I came up with this one while doing various sexual orientation headcanons for my characters after discovering and liking the “Alice is ace/on the ace spectrum” tumblr posts from a few years back, and it’s persisted ever since. This is specifically a Modern AU set during everyone’s college years -- Christopher White is an inventor who is interested in food science (referencing the White Knight’s infamous gunpowder pudding) and Richard Hatter is an agender master of prosthetic limbs (both xe and Emily use them in this verse thanks to various accidents, and of course it references how the AMA Hatter is mostly steampunk robot these days). It features most prominently on my RP blog, @thevalicemultiverse.

Queer Apocalypse -- One of the newer kids on the block, my second foursome ship and another I couldn’t think of a good portmanteau for -- this is Victor/Alice/Preston/Piper, the latter two being specifically Preston Garvey and Piper Wright from Fallout 4. As you might imagine, this is specific to my “Fallout of Darkness” universe. :p Basically what happened here is I fell in love with both of these companions on my first attempt at a playthrough of FO4, and decided that Victor (who is bisexual in my headcanons) could fall in love with them too. Preston’s just such a genuinely good guy, and Piper has exactly the kind of spunk Victor appreciates in a partner. :) I haven’t romanced either in my current playthrough (too early with Piper, and I need more Charisma-enhancing stuff to try it with Preston, as Victor is LOW Charisma), but I do intend to!

Valicer -- Pretty much the newest kid on the block, and the start of some of the weirder shipping on this list -- Victor/Alice/Smiler. As in The Smiler roller coaster. Because for some reason I got obsessed with the damn thing last year, had some thoughts about a hypnokinky Valice AU that featured the actual coaster -- and then Victor came up with his own AU within that featuring a romance with an AI version of the coaster, which led to me eventually creating a humanized coaster OC and yeah. I don’t understand my brain either. I have gotten rather invested in this weirdly cute threesome, though -- a Sims 4 vampire version, Smiler Always, now lives in my Chill Save and is dating Victor while being great buds with Alice (Victor and Alice having married some time earlier -- they’re all marked as polyamorous though), and I have multiple versions of the fanfic OC, Smiler Alton, for a couple of different universes, including “Londerland Bloodlines,” “Fallout of Darkness,” and the “As Long As You Love Me” holistic verse. . .

Four Victorians On A Roller Coaster -- And realizing that a couple of those verses, notably “As Long As You Love Me,” were leading to a Victor/Alice/Victoria/Emily/Smiler match-up is how we got this. See, my brain was able to come up with a ship name for it! Not being a ship that lent itself well to a portmanteau (I guess the closest would be “Vemliciar?”), I instead decided to focus on the silliness of it all. XD Obviously haven’t written anything for it yet, but it’s in the background of a couple of verses, including “As Long As You Love Me,” possibly “Londerland Bloodlines” (depending on how long it takes me to write the “main story” -- Smiler would be introduced in a sequel set long after the main action of Bloodlines), and a fairy tale AU idea I will be detailing in a future post.

Running Headlong Into The Bullshit -- And just because, I decided to come up with a ship name for ALL OF THE ABOVE PUT TOGETHER -- Victor/Alice/Victoria/Emily/Christopher/Richard/Preston/Piper/Smiler. XD Yes, NINE FREAKING PEOPLE. You need a flow chart to track the relationships here. XD I actually originally was thinking of this as “Alphabet Soup” (because this would be IMPOSSIBLE to portmanteau), but changed it to the current one after doing that OT3 post linked above and realizing how often Victor is dragged into bullshit by his love interests. XD If you’re wondering how this would work, I picture it as a variation on the main Cuddlepile verse, with Preston, Piper, and Smiler also college students -- Preston volunteers a lot and is part of an “anachronistic history” joke-reenactment group for fun (hence keeping his “Minuteman with a laser musket” aesthetic); Piper is either on the school paper or has created her own alternative; and Smiler is a psychology student and is known for throwing the best parties.

Side Ships not featuring Victor and Alice:

Vemilia -- As stated above, Victoria/Emily as their own ship! This was inspired by me seeing “Vemily” used as a Victor/Emily ship name, and figuring “Vemilia” would be the natural version to use for Victoria/Emily. I haven’t used it much as a side ship -- currently it’s only in “As Long As You Love Me” -- but it’s there as an option!

LizJangles -- Probably the most popular side ship I have, this is Lizzie/Bonejangles -- AKA, Alice’s sister Lizzie Liddell and ensemble darkhorse of Corpse Bride Bonejangles! Much like Valice itself, them getting together wasn’t really intentional on my part -- I just thought it would be interesting if they interacted, and things took off from there. I like them as a ship because Bonejangles is such a different kind of person from the men that so annoyed Lizzie in life, I figured he’d be a breath of fresh air for her, and Lizzie allows Bonejangles to show a softer, less showmany side of himself. They’re just a fun dynamic, and I like including them when I can. Obviously they’re most obvious as a ship in the Forgotten Vows Verse (having a whole side story, “In The Land Of The Dead”), but they also pop up in “The Technicolor Phase,” and they’re intended to show up eventually in “Londerland Bloodlines.”

Victopher -- Probably the most common side ship so far in my stories, this is Victoria/Christopher, covering both Sir Christopher Lloyd from the Secundus Verse and Christopher White from the Forgotten Vows Verse. As stated in the Cuddlepile write-up, the Christophers are meant to be a take on the White Knight from Wonderland, since it amused me to ship Victoria with a Wonderland character while giving her a happy ending that didn’t necessarily mean ending up with Victor. And as you might guess from the Secundus version, they’re named after and at least partially based on Christopher Lloyd’s portrayal of the role in that one Hallmark version that I otherwise don’t like very much. They too have a good dynamic, I feel -- Christopher in either incarnation is an open and caring guy, with a touch of bombastic-ness to his personality that I like. :)

Richily -- And now to the least common side ship, since it’s really only appeared once -- Richard/Emily, from the Secundus Verse! Again, this was born of wanting Emily to have an alternate love interest that was also a Wonderland character, so she got the Hatter. Whom she could bond with because of loose limb problems. XD It really only works in Secundus because Richard never had the “turned evil once” problem Hatter did in the games, and because it was written before I decided Emily was a biromantic lesbian (though, admittedly, the sexual incompatibility would never come up for them, given Emily’s dead and Richard’s mostly robot and not that interested) -- I can see her getting along with the actual Hatter, but not being romantically interested in him. Currently it’d probably only show up in Secundus-related stories, and as part of larger poly groups, like Cuddlepile and Running Headlong Into The Bullshit.

And there you have it! Or at least there I have it, since I don’t know how many of you are gonna use these ship names. XD But they’re there if you need them!

[victorluvsalice]

The Greatest Showman Cast - This Is Me (Official Audio) by Atlantic Records

And, as promised last week, the happier of the two songs @gaydragonwizards recommended to me from the soundtrack! This one is by the performers in Barnum’s circus, after he’s started getting a little big for his britches and stopped associating with them in public (in this particular case, at a fancy party while he’s wooing aristocratic backers) -- it’s a big “we don’t care about your opinion, we’re here and we’re staying and we won’t let you shame us” anthem which is really nice. :) And it feels like exactly the kind of song Victor and Alice might sing after a hard day -- Alice especially, given her reputation around London as “that girl from Rutledge.” It’s just so great -- affirming that you’re worthy to be seen as a person, no matter who you are or what’s happened to you.

. . .come to think of it, this would actually be ideal for one of my poly situations, as Victoria and Emily could also use this song in their lives. To relate it back to the movie’s situation, maybe they’re at a party with the elder Everglots and Van Dorts, nervous about being seen as an openly poly relationship. . .and then Alice starts singing the opening, and they all take up the song as they go out together, reminding themselves that it doesn’t really matter what anyone thinks -- they’re happy together, and that’s what matters. :) (And besides, it’s kind of fun to see the scandalized looks on Nell’s and Maudeline’s faces.)

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: As Long As You Love Me Sequel -- Me Vs My Brain

Me: Okay, so that post about the Valice ship just edging out the Bumby/Alice ship makes me want to post more stuff to AO3. I suppose I could put up what I have of “As Long As You Love Me,” though -- hmm. I do kinda want to make that more of an actual STORY. Maybe I could work on it along with the second part of “Londerland Bloodlines. . .”

My Brain: And I have a sequel idea already!

Me: ?? Uh, yeah? For a while now? Victor gets kidnapped by whatever the equivalent of Blackwing is in this universe and Alice ends up teaming up with Victoria and Emily to find and rescue him? Had this in my head for a while now?

My Brain: Aaaah, but now we have a proper evil organization to take the place of Blackwing, since you already used them for the motorcycle gang that Alice kills. And people to populate it!

Me: Do tell?

My Brain: Well, I don’t know if we want to call it specifically “The Ministry of Joy,” but --

Me: Wait wait WAIT WHAT --

My Brain: Don’t tell me you don’t think Smiler, at least in the guise of “someone with the power to make people happy and compliant,” wouldn’t fit into the verse! And we could totally adapt the other coasters as other “experiments!” Hell, we could even use the “secret weapon” numbering scheme for how the scientists refer to their prisoners!

Me: Excuse me, the whole reason to bring in Victoria and Emily was because I was gonna end this thing as a Vemilicia story!

My Brain: And now you can have Smiler as well because we both know you have a soft spot for the humanized roller coaster with Victor. And, before you object, A) you’ve already allowed Smiler into a Vemilicia verse with the Londerland Bloodlines Malk!Smiler write-up, and B) I know you came up with a potential ultra-polycule featuring EVERYONE you’ve ever shipped with Victor and Alice, and that’s NINE people. You are NOT opposed to this fivesome.

Me: [bonk] Well then, keep yourself busy trying to think up a ship name for that fivesome, because a portmanteau one isn’t going to work and you know it. Seriously, what the hell happened with me and Alton Towers. . .

[victorluvsalice]

Aaaand, as a special treat this year -- let’s have a VEMILICIATINE! Or, well, a little photo comic that more or less serves as one. XD I really wanted to do something featuring my favorite poly OT4 for this year, and hit upon this idea using my Corpse Bride and Alice: Madness Returns figures pretty quick. Maybe should have had Alice drop the knife, but -- I kind of like it where it is. XD Plus it’s on the side with Emily’s skeletal hand, it’s fine XD

Text for those who might have trouble:

1. (Victor between Victoria and Emily) Two love interests? Good thing Victor has two --

2. (Alice shows up, and everyone looks at her with their arms angled to suggest concern)

3. (Victor, Victoria, Emily, and Alice all stand in a circle with hands joined) Good thing EVERYONE has two hands! Happy Valentine’s Day!

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Londerland Bloodlines -- Some Romance-Related Headcanons

Because, well, it's the day before Valentine's Day, and I do have feelings about the poly foursome that results in this verse:

-->I've mentioned this before, but the favorite "date night" activity for the gang in this verse is a trip to the movies. It starts with Victor and Alice going to the theater to relax after some tough times while they're still in L.A., and expands to include Victoria and Emily as they join the group. (Lizzie and Bonejangles are often in attendance too.) Victor is known for being able to polish off a whole large bucket of popcorn by himself. XD

-->They also all visit the Santa Monica Pier at least once after it reopens post-the Slasher murder -- they browse some of the stores and play around in the arcade. Emily proves to have a competitive streak and insists on playing everyone at pinball until she beats them all, while Victoria proves to be strangely good at the claw machine.

-->In Hill Valley, they continue their movie-seeing ways (they go about once a month), but they'll also roam the local mall, play at the local arcade, and visit the local park. Evening picnics are popular! (Alice generally feeds on Victor or Victoria on these nights so she can participate fully in the activity.)

-->Emily is the one most into pet names -- she calls Victor "darling," Victoria "my dear," and Alice "love." Victoria calls everyone "dear" indiscriminately (leading to occasion confusion if she's asking someone for something and doesn't specify who), while Victor tends to use "love" (Victoria and Alice) or "darling" (Emily). Alice doesn't usually use pet names, though she'll throw in a "love" or "my love" every so often.

-->Emily is also the most cuddly of the group, though Victor comes a close second, to everyone's surprise. Victoria enjoys cuddling, but doesn't usually initiate thanks to her upbringing. Alice, by contrast, doesn't cuddle often and strongly prefers to initiate thanks to her "I don't generally like being touched" thing -- she's a lot more comfortable with contact within the group as a whole thanks to knowing and caring about them all, but she still likes to have control over when it happens. (Lizzie is the only one who can definitely get away with a surprise hug, by virtue of being her sister. Victor might be able to, given he has seniority in the poly-pile, but he's too respectful of Alice's boundaries to try.)

-->At some point, Alice spots Emily looking wistfully at a bridal boutique on a nightly roam and asks if she's okay -- Emily says she's fine, and very happy with her current romantic situation, but. . .well, she dreamed about getting married all through her childhood, and it is a little sad to know that she won't get to. Alice then asks if she misses the actual legal part of getting married, or if she just wants a big fancy wedding. An embarrassed Emily realizes it's the latter, saying, "Oh, that is so shallow--"

Alice responds, "No, no, that's good -- shallow we can give you."

Cue the four of them setting up a psuedo-wedding where they all dress up, bake a cake, and exchange some unofficial vows, throwing a little party with their friends. Everyone enjoys it very much. :)

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Some "Theme Park Trip" Headcanons For More Modern AU Valice/Vemilicia

Inspired by the fact that I've gone to my fair share of theme parks, most recently Six Flags New England and Canobie Lake Park this summer (the latter just last Sunday, in fact!), and have very fond memories of taking vacations to Universal Studios Florida when I was younger:

-->As you might guess from the header there, I'm generally picturing these theme park escapades with Victor, Alice, Victoria, and Emily all going together. The rest of the headcanons work the same if it's a double date between two separate couples, or a group date with a polycule, so I decided to leave the possibility of poly open. Depending on the verse, Lizzie and Bonejangles would probably like to tag along at least once too.

-->Victor and Victoria are frightened of roller coasters at first, but Alice and Emily eventually tempt them to try one of the gentler wooden coasters (which obviously can't go upside-down or anything), and they end up enjoying that. They graduate up to steel coasters as time goes on, but I don't think either of them ever gets up the nerve to try a coaster where your feet dangle -- they like proper cars with seat belts and lap bars.

-->In fact, Alice is the only one who will go on the biggest and baddest coasters, especially the dangling ones. Emily's enthusiasm for the rides only goes so far, and -- well. She tries a couple of the more intense ones, and the resultant losing her lunch convinces her to stick with the coasters Victor and Victoria like.

-->Water rides are a favorite with all four -- again, Victor and Victoria need some coaxing to get on their first one, but they soon come to enjoy it. Though Victoria never breaks the habit of squealing really loudly when they hit the final big splash and get soaked. (The others think it's adorable.)

-->Victor actually quite likes those chain swing rides that rise up and whirl you around -- given how he's always wanted to fly, it's a good substitute!

-->They're all fond of spinning cup rides, especially when the theme is actual teacups. They'll often ride multiple times in different configurations, and sometimes have little spin contests where it's one pair versus another. (Victor's long arms make him a much-wanted partner!)

-->They definitely take every opportunity to load up on junk food! They each have staples too -- Alice likes getting a bag or tub of popcorn; Emily will get a stick of cotton candy; Victoria enjoys funnel cakes or doughboys, whichever they have; and Victor always gets a giant ice cream sundae.

-->Emily insists they always take a bunch of silly pictures in front of rides and at every photo opportunity. Alice makes a habit of kissing Victor in what she feels is the worst place to take a photo of someone kissing every time. (Victor puts up the occasional token protest, but he's actually got his favorite as his phone lockscreen.)

-->For a more "magical" universe -- remember the "Alice vs ALICE" fan-comic series where you had Disney's animated Alice hanging out with American McGee's Alice? One of the arcs was them visiting Disneyland, with one specific comic showing off AMA Alice's dress changing with each new area, much like it changed with the domains in A:MR. Given my love of designing new Wonderland outfits for Victor and Alice. . . I have a few outfit ideas in mind already, themed around Universal's Islands of Adventures in Florida (as that's the park I've been to with the most distinct theming so far):

1. Superhero costumes for the Marvel island (maybe Victor could have something with a spider pattern of some sort, since I've made enough jokes about him climbing as well as Spidey)

2. Either paleontologist shorts and shirts or a dress and suit combo with a dinosaur theme for Jurassic Park island (you know, scale-pattern cloth, maybe a fake tail in the back, some feather detailing to catch up with what we know currently about the beasties)

3. Harry Potter robes for the Harry Potter island, natch (I'm thinking Gryffindor for Alice, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw for Victor)

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Once Upon Multiple Times -- How Do The Vemilicia?

So -- I have a LizJangles fairy tale AU, two Vemiglot OT3 fairy tale AUs, and one Valice fairy tale AU. Obviously, one favorite poly pairing of mine is missing -- Vemilicia! Obviously I need to come up with one last AU to cover my OT4, right?

Well, I'd like to, but it's proving harder than expected. As I indicated with "Snow White Victor" and "The Little Corpse Mermaid," while they work as OT3s, I can't think of a way to get them into OT4 territory -- there's no real place for Alice to "fit." And "Cinder-Alice" really does seem to work best as a Valice-only idea, with perhaps side Vemilia (Victoria/Emily) in the background. And I can't think of another singular fairy tale that might accommodate a foursome off the top of my head either.

So maybe the solution is not to use a single fairy tale.

Yes, after some thought, I've come to the conclusion that the best way to do a fairy tale Vemilicia AU might be to combine a few different fairy tales into one! Have Victoria, Emily, and Alice each going through their own plot, and they all just happen to converge on Victor as a common prince. And the solution to the problem of multiple women being in love with the prince, and he in love with them? Have everyone discover that there's an ancient polygamy law on the books, meaning it's LEGAL for Victor to marry all of them. (The law was designed for the purpose of helping a royal family without any spares to their heir solidify multiple alliances -- the fact that the four are all in love is just a nice bonus in this case!)

Of course, now the trick is to figure out which fairy tales to use for everyone. Emily and Alice are fortunately pretty easy -- I can reuse their situations in "The Little Corpse Mermaid" (mermaid already fascinated with the land who develops a crush on Victor after saving him from a boating accident, uses dangerous magic to give herself legs so she can go and romance him) and "Cinder-Alice" (young lady trapped in her old family house under Bumby's control, who meets Victor when a hunting trip he's been forced into passes by her estate and he gets lost on the edge of the property, and who ends helping a Fae who proceeds to sneak her into a royal ball so she can romance him). Victor and Victoria, though. . . I'd really like them to each have their own fairy tale, but I'm not sure which ones would fit. Victor might be able to still fit into his “Snow White Victor” circumstances, but the way that fairy tale runs, it doesn’t seem to mesh very well with the other two. And Victoria -- based on her breaking out of her own house with a quilt looking for help for Victor in the movie, I could slot her into the general “runaway princess” mold, but I can’t come up with a specific fairy tale to match. I suppose there’s something to be said for making her the “Snow White,” but, unlike Victor, she doesn’t have the right look. . . Then again, the reason for the look in the fairy tale is to drive home her beauty, right? If I simply establish Victoria as pretty, and have her fleeing a murder attempt from Barkis, who wants to usurp the throne. . . Of course, that leaves Victor without a fairy tale, and I really want him to have one too. . .

I dunno. It’s something to ponder in spare moments when I’m not working on the AUs I’m actually writing. I’ll let you know if and when there’s an update!