Merry Christmas Fictime!
Dec. 25th, 2020 06:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickWanted to put these up in their own post, so here we go!
For Gigs (gigs_83)
“So.”
“So.”
Victor stared at his duplicate, their innate social awkwardness amplified at least a dozen times by sheer proximity. “We – ah – we should p-probably start with figuring out nicknames,” he finally suggested, rubbing the back of his head. “I mean, we’ll know who we mean when we say ‘Victor,’ but for everyone else’s benefit. . .”
“Yes, yes, of c-course,” the visiting Victor agreed, tugging at the collar of his shirt. (And wasn’t it weird to see himself sans a tie! And jacket. At least his alternate still had a vest of sorts. . .) “D-do you have a preference?”
“Um. . .” Victor fiddled with his fingers, thinking. “I’m sure we both like butterflies, right?” His alternate nodded. “Have you made a – well, I guess I haven’t exactly made a career out of them, but – close enough?”
The visiting Victor chuckled. “Close enough,” he agreed. “And no, I haven’t. So – what, do you want to be called something like – Butterfly Boy?”
Victor snorted. “Oh dear – but you know what, it’ll do. Alice – both of them – will find it amusing, I’m sure. . .” He tilted his head. “How about you? Any thoughts?”
The visiting Victor ran his fingers through his hair. “Ah – the only thing coming to mind is – is – well, ‘Ghoul.’”
Victor made a face. “That’s – rather morbid, don’t you think?”
“It’s what I am!”
“I know – you don’t easily forget walking in a copy of yourself drinking blood out of a copy of your wife’s wrist,” Victor said, the image swimming across his mind as he spoke. “And I still don’t understand how that makes you any stronger or faster or – able to turn invisible so long as you’re standing still and no one looks at you for half a minute.”
“That’s because it’s magic, not science,” his alternate pointed out. “I don’t know how it works either – only that it does.” A weird, crooked, overly happy smile spread across his face. Victor got the feeling his friends would describe it as the same kind of smile he sported when he was really deep into an experiment. “And it tastes wonderful.”
“Don’t try to sell me on it – your Alice was very firm about not giving me any to drink,” Victor reminded him.
The smile vanished, leaving an embarrassed look behind it. “I know, I know,” the visiting Victor said, dropping his head. “I understand why it’s a bad idea – I wouldn’t wish the, um, twitchier parts of being a ghoul on anybody. And I know that Alice. . .she never wanted to do this to me. She was just trying to help me that night in the clinic, and the idea that she permanently cracked my free will. . .it hurts her. And it hurts me that there’s nothing I can do about it.” He bit his lip. “Because – if we want to stay together, if I want to stay with her for as long as she’s around. . .I have to have it.”
Victor patted his other self’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. If – if there was anything I could think of that we could do to help. . .”
“I know.” The other Victor looked back up at him, expression a little lighter. “In fact. . .you and your Alice have helped.”
Victor blinked. “Really? How?”
“Just by being here. Being married. Having a – okay, it wasn’t a normal courtship,” the visiting Victor allowed, holding up a hand. “But it didn’t involve mind control of any kind. You two just met and – connected. You fell in love the regular way.” Another smile appeared – warm and bright and purely, normally happy. “You proved to my Alice that I was right. What, thanks to circumstances, I could never quite convince her of.” He squeezed his hands together in his lap. “I love her. And it’s not just the blood bond.”
Victor found himself smiling back. “It never could be. She’s too amazing not to fall in love with.”
“You’ve got that right.” The visiting Victor sighed. “She’ll always wish we’d met a different way, I know. But this whole experience, weird as it is – it should quiet some of her worries. And that’s good enough for me.”
“Happy to demonstrate a healthier version of our relationship.” Victor glanced left and right, then leaned in. “Even if, honestly? I feel like I’m a bit dependent on my Alice too. Just, you know, in a different way.”
The visiting Victor chuckled. “What can I tell you? She’s addictive. In every sense.”
---
Merry Christmas, have some random "Secundus"/"Londerland Bloodlines" crossover fic. XD This is purely inspired by the fact that a) I know you like Secundus, given your own AU where AL ends up a part of that verse, and b) we both like VTMB. So I figured you might get a kick out of my Secundus Victor meeting my Londerland Bloodlines one. And, of course, I was sure that one of the first things they'd discuss was the whole "ghoul" thing. . . This is genuinely something I'd want to do if I did a proper crossover between Londerland Bloodlines and any other verse -- prove to LB!Alice that no, Victor does NOT just love her thanks to the Blood Bond. She's not happy about that side effect her in her own "canon," and finding a world where she and Victor got together without it -- like LB!Victor says, it helps her feel better about their own relationship. Not to mention, I just liked getting to name drop my standard nickname for the Secundus Victor. He is very much my butterfly boy!
For Mad Scientist (whitedove01s)
“Awww – you guys were so cute back then!”
We think you’re focusing on the wrong thing, Jeannie.
“Oh, I’m paying attention, I promise,” Jeannie said, waving a hand. “I mean, I’m all for getting the backstory on who you are, and where you came from, and how this whole mess with collapsed realities started.” She grinned at the screen. “But you four seriously were adorable!”
Four youngsters who wake up in a strange land with almost no idea who they are or what they’re doing there, only to be told that they’re the prophesied heroes and need to stop a great evil, are adorable?
“Yeah, look at you!” Jeannie clapped her hands. “Getting the hang of your weapons, buying better armor, killing a few slimy things, learning the ropes. . .it’s sweet! I like seeing people make good.”
Well, um, we’re glad, but –
“And hey, these versions of you? Bring up some good points about the game! I’ve wondered too about why these old-school games only let you carry up to 99 of something. I mean, if you’re gonna have a limit, why not make it an even hundred, at least?”
It’s probably something to do with backend counters overflowing and causing item glitches or the like. I don’t think we ever figured out an “in-universe” explanation, however. It was just – very weird, at the time.
“Yeah, I can see that.” Jeannie frowned as the group managed to kill another monster, before sharing out healing items. “You guys were really in over your heads, weren’t you.”
Constantly. At all times. No one was willing to do more than give us cryptic hints or sell us absurdly expensive gear when it came to aid. Except the dragon, who allowed us to improve our classes, but even then. . . People simply accepted us as the heroes and assumed we’d do – hero-y things. But none of them wanted to be the heroes themselves. Or even the sidekicks. They just – assumed everything would be done for them. That everything would be all right without them having to lift a finger.
Jeannie made a face. “Dangerous mindset to fall into. Reminds me of Gotham, in fact – I think some of the people there got a little too reliant on old Batsy and his ilk to take care of the supervillains to actually do anything about them themselves. Never mind regular crime.”
Yes, we have noticed a similar thing happening in worlds with superheroes. That’s why we thought you would understand.
“Heh, don’t know how super I would personally call Batman. . .but yeah. Sure it didn’t help that you guys were stumbling through this world blind.”
As the proverbial bat, if you don’t mind the metaphor. It was – extremely unpleasant. Not something we would ever want to go through again.
“. . .or put someone else through?”
Exactly. This is why we need someone like you in our new world. Someone who can help ease those who will be joining our new reality into said new reality. Someone who can explain things, make sure they know themselves before they set out. Someone who can – offer help.
“Well, I’m happy to join the team.” Jeannie smirked. “Though I gotta say – it’s pretty funny that you’re asking freaking Harley Quinn to be the friendly face welcoming people into a whole new patchwork reality.”
To be fair, you could be quite personable when not indulging in villainous acts – or even when you were. And having a known reality warper explicitly on our side is better than the alternative.
“Didn’t exactly mean to break the universe trying to get back to my puddin’,” Jeannie defended herself, turning pink around the ears. “Besides, he’s the one who kicked it off with that half-moment of sanity the writers gave him.”
Nevertheless. We’d rather not be hit in the face with the giant comedy mallet.
“Can we keep pieing you in the face if you annoy me on the table?”
. . .We’ll consider it.
---
In keeping with your current creative projects, I drew inspiration from the posts you were making about your Final Fantasy playthrough to construct a scenario where Jeannie's bosses are giving Jeannie a run-down on how this all started, so she knows exactly what she's dealing with. And why they want to do this -- I figured that, after being thrown into a world and told they were the heroes while receiving little to no help with said heroing, they'd want to make sure the world they were creating avoided that nonsense. And getting someone from a super hero universe, who would get that sort of thing, would be an ideal partner. And Jeannie does get it -- when she's not being distracted by the adorableness. XD What, I felt it was at least somewhat in-character!
For Moose (anonymoose_au)
“So, Doc, what do you think? Easier or harder?”
“Honestly? In terms of effort? I’d rank the two activities roughly equal.” Doc wobbled as he looked at his feet, tightening his grip on Marty’s shoulder to keep his balance. “But I think I prefer this kind of skating simply because, if you fall, there’s no chance of ending up in the middle of an icy lake.”
“Yeah, I’ll admit that’s a selling point,” Masrty agreed, nodding at the smoothly polished wooden floor beneath them. “Mom and Dad might go on about ice-skating every chance they get, but rollerblading is definitely more my speed.”
Doc smirked at him. “When you don’t have your elderly friend clinging to you at naught-point-two miles per hour in the outer lane, you mean.”
“Hey, come on, Doc, you’re not elderly.”
Doc raised an eyebrow practically straight up into his hairline. “Marty. I’m well into my 70s.”
“And you can still outpace me when you’re knee-deep into an explanation about your latest invention, so. . .” Marty shot him a smile. “Elderly’s just a state of mind, Doc.”
Doc chuckled. “Trust me, if it was, I wouldn’t have availed myself of the services of that rejuvenation clinic.”
“Right, well, I’m glad you did.” Marty leaned a little closer to him as they rounded another corner. “I want you around for a good long time, Doc.”
“I would prefer to be around for a good long time myself.” Doc bit his lip. “Especially considering some of the near-misses I’ve had.”
Marty winced. “Trust me, Doc, I know.” He dropped his voice. “I – I still have the occasional nightmare about Buford or the Libyans shooting you in the head.”
“I do too,” Doc admitted, trying not to picture either a tiny Derringer or an AK-47 aimed at his skull. “And while I’ll defend my actions with Buford as a deeply unfortunate misreading of my epitaph, dealing with those Libyans was the stupidest thing I’ve ever had to do to ensure the safety of the space-time continuum.” He scowled. “If I could slap the Doc Brown of your original timeline for setting me up to give a bunch of angry terrorists a bomb full of used pinball machine parts. . .”
“To be fair, Doc, I never mentioned that bit in my letter,” Marty pointed out. “You could have totally done something different.”
“True, but I was in a rush at the time – and the last thing I wanted was to give them an actual nuclear bomb.” A shiver ran up his spine. “Imagine how that timeline would have turned out.”
“I don’t want to. Not here, anyway.” Marty looked up at the multicolored lights dancing over the roller rink, flashing in time to the thumping rhythm of the music. “I know you’ve got an awesome time machine and all, and it’s great to go back and forth with you, but – how about we just live in the present for a while?”
“I’m happy enough to do that,” Doc agreed. His leg started trying to skid away from him – he dragged it back before it could trip the skater behind him. “Especially since I’m liable to end up on my ass if I don’t.”
“Heh – don’t worry, Doc. You’ve always got me to pick you back up again.”
Doc shot Marty a smile. “I know,” he said, hoping his tone conveyed just how grateful he really was for all the times Marty had “picked him up.” “And thanks.”
Marty’s returning smile indicated he’d gotten the message loud and clear. “No problem, Doc.”
---
. . .it's still skating, right? XD Yeah, I ran out of ways to milk the characters ice-skating, so I decided to go with rollerblading instead this time around. Poor Doc's still having trouble, but at least he isn't cold and wet on top of it this time around! And I'm not sure why it took kind of a dark turn with the characters reminiscing about the near-misses Doc's had thanks to time travel saving his life a couple of times -- I just made the "elderly" quip, and things kind of proceeded from there. But it's a good exploration of how Doc feels about a couple of those near-misses now, on the other side of it all -- I liked bringing some nuance to his dealings with the Libyans. And it ends on a nice warm note, I think. Anyone who's seen these movies KNOWS these two are always gonna have each other's backs, as long as they can. :)
All right, hope everybody enjoys those! I'll be back later tonight to sum up my own Christmas in more detail! :)
For Gigs (
gigs_83)“So.”
“So.”
Victor stared at his duplicate, their innate social awkwardness amplified at least a dozen times by sheer proximity. “We – ah – we should p-probably start with figuring out nicknames,” he finally suggested, rubbing the back of his head. “I mean, we’ll know who we mean when we say ‘Victor,’ but for everyone else’s benefit. . .”
“Yes, yes, of c-course,” the visiting Victor agreed, tugging at the collar of his shirt. (And wasn’t it weird to see himself sans a tie! And jacket. At least his alternate still had a vest of sorts. . .) “D-do you have a preference?”
“Um. . .” Victor fiddled with his fingers, thinking. “I’m sure we both like butterflies, right?” His alternate nodded. “Have you made a – well, I guess I haven’t exactly made a career out of them, but – close enough?”
The visiting Victor chuckled. “Close enough,” he agreed. “And no, I haven’t. So – what, do you want to be called something like – Butterfly Boy?”
Victor snorted. “Oh dear – but you know what, it’ll do. Alice – both of them – will find it amusing, I’m sure. . .” He tilted his head. “How about you? Any thoughts?”
The visiting Victor ran his fingers through his hair. “Ah – the only thing coming to mind is – is – well, ‘Ghoul.’”
Victor made a face. “That’s – rather morbid, don’t you think?”
“It’s what I am!”
“I know – you don’t easily forget walking in a copy of yourself drinking blood out of a copy of your wife’s wrist,” Victor said, the image swimming across his mind as he spoke. “And I still don’t understand how that makes you any stronger or faster or – able to turn invisible so long as you’re standing still and no one looks at you for half a minute.”
“That’s because it’s magic, not science,” his alternate pointed out. “I don’t know how it works either – only that it does.” A weird, crooked, overly happy smile spread across his face. Victor got the feeling his friends would describe it as the same kind of smile he sported when he was really deep into an experiment. “And it tastes wonderful.”
“Don’t try to sell me on it – your Alice was very firm about not giving me any to drink,” Victor reminded him.
The smile vanished, leaving an embarrassed look behind it. “I know, I know,” the visiting Victor said, dropping his head. “I understand why it’s a bad idea – I wouldn’t wish the, um, twitchier parts of being a ghoul on anybody. And I know that Alice. . .she never wanted to do this to me. She was just trying to help me that night in the clinic, and the idea that she permanently cracked my free will. . .it hurts her. And it hurts me that there’s nothing I can do about it.” He bit his lip. “Because – if we want to stay together, if I want to stay with her for as long as she’s around. . .I have to have it.”
Victor patted his other self’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. If – if there was anything I could think of that we could do to help. . .”
“I know.” The other Victor looked back up at him, expression a little lighter. “In fact. . .you and your Alice have helped.”
Victor blinked. “Really? How?”
“Just by being here. Being married. Having a – okay, it wasn’t a normal courtship,” the visiting Victor allowed, holding up a hand. “But it didn’t involve mind control of any kind. You two just met and – connected. You fell in love the regular way.” Another smile appeared – warm and bright and purely, normally happy. “You proved to my Alice that I was right. What, thanks to circumstances, I could never quite convince her of.” He squeezed his hands together in his lap. “I love her. And it’s not just the blood bond.”
Victor found himself smiling back. “It never could be. She’s too amazing not to fall in love with.”
“You’ve got that right.” The visiting Victor sighed. “She’ll always wish we’d met a different way, I know. But this whole experience, weird as it is – it should quiet some of her worries. And that’s good enough for me.”
“Happy to demonstrate a healthier version of our relationship.” Victor glanced left and right, then leaned in. “Even if, honestly? I feel like I’m a bit dependent on my Alice too. Just, you know, in a different way.”
The visiting Victor chuckled. “What can I tell you? She’s addictive. In every sense.”
---
Merry Christmas, have some random "Secundus"/"Londerland Bloodlines" crossover fic. XD This is purely inspired by the fact that a) I know you like Secundus, given your own AU where AL ends up a part of that verse, and b) we both like VTMB. So I figured you might get a kick out of my Secundus Victor meeting my Londerland Bloodlines one. And, of course, I was sure that one of the first things they'd discuss was the whole "ghoul" thing. . . This is genuinely something I'd want to do if I did a proper crossover between Londerland Bloodlines and any other verse -- prove to LB!Alice that no, Victor does NOT just love her thanks to the Blood Bond. She's not happy about that side effect her in her own "canon," and finding a world where she and Victor got together without it -- like LB!Victor says, it helps her feel better about their own relationship. Not to mention, I just liked getting to name drop my standard nickname for the Secundus Victor. He is very much my butterfly boy!
For Mad Scientist (
whitedove01s)“Awww – you guys were so cute back then!”
We think you’re focusing on the wrong thing, Jeannie.
“Oh, I’m paying attention, I promise,” Jeannie said, waving a hand. “I mean, I’m all for getting the backstory on who you are, and where you came from, and how this whole mess with collapsed realities started.” She grinned at the screen. “But you four seriously were adorable!”
Four youngsters who wake up in a strange land with almost no idea who they are or what they’re doing there, only to be told that they’re the prophesied heroes and need to stop a great evil, are adorable?
“Yeah, look at you!” Jeannie clapped her hands. “Getting the hang of your weapons, buying better armor, killing a few slimy things, learning the ropes. . .it’s sweet! I like seeing people make good.”
Well, um, we’re glad, but –
“And hey, these versions of you? Bring up some good points about the game! I’ve wondered too about why these old-school games only let you carry up to 99 of something. I mean, if you’re gonna have a limit, why not make it an even hundred, at least?”
It’s probably something to do with backend counters overflowing and causing item glitches or the like. I don’t think we ever figured out an “in-universe” explanation, however. It was just – very weird, at the time.
“Yeah, I can see that.” Jeannie frowned as the group managed to kill another monster, before sharing out healing items. “You guys were really in over your heads, weren’t you.”
Constantly. At all times. No one was willing to do more than give us cryptic hints or sell us absurdly expensive gear when it came to aid. Except the dragon, who allowed us to improve our classes, but even then. . . People simply accepted us as the heroes and assumed we’d do – hero-y things. But none of them wanted to be the heroes themselves. Or even the sidekicks. They just – assumed everything would be done for them. That everything would be all right without them having to lift a finger.
Jeannie made a face. “Dangerous mindset to fall into. Reminds me of Gotham, in fact – I think some of the people there got a little too reliant on old Batsy and his ilk to take care of the supervillains to actually do anything about them themselves. Never mind regular crime.”
Yes, we have noticed a similar thing happening in worlds with superheroes. That’s why we thought you would understand.
“Heh, don’t know how super I would personally call Batman. . .but yeah. Sure it didn’t help that you guys were stumbling through this world blind.”
As the proverbial bat, if you don’t mind the metaphor. It was – extremely unpleasant. Not something we would ever want to go through again.
“. . .or put someone else through?”
Exactly. This is why we need someone like you in our new world. Someone who can help ease those who will be joining our new reality into said new reality. Someone who can explain things, make sure they know themselves before they set out. Someone who can – offer help.
“Well, I’m happy to join the team.” Jeannie smirked. “Though I gotta say – it’s pretty funny that you’re asking freaking Harley Quinn to be the friendly face welcoming people into a whole new patchwork reality.”
To be fair, you could be quite personable when not indulging in villainous acts – or even when you were. And having a known reality warper explicitly on our side is better than the alternative.
“Didn’t exactly mean to break the universe trying to get back to my puddin’,” Jeannie defended herself, turning pink around the ears. “Besides, he’s the one who kicked it off with that half-moment of sanity the writers gave him.”
Nevertheless. We’d rather not be hit in the face with the giant comedy mallet.
“Can we keep pieing you in the face if you annoy me on the table?”
. . .We’ll consider it.
---
In keeping with your current creative projects, I drew inspiration from the posts you were making about your Final Fantasy playthrough to construct a scenario where Jeannie's bosses are giving Jeannie a run-down on how this all started, so she knows exactly what she's dealing with. And why they want to do this -- I figured that, after being thrown into a world and told they were the heroes while receiving little to no help with said heroing, they'd want to make sure the world they were creating avoided that nonsense. And getting someone from a super hero universe, who would get that sort of thing, would be an ideal partner. And Jeannie does get it -- when she's not being distracted by the adorableness. XD What, I felt it was at least somewhat in-character!
For Moose (
anonymoose_au)“So, Doc, what do you think? Easier or harder?”
“Honestly? In terms of effort? I’d rank the two activities roughly equal.” Doc wobbled as he looked at his feet, tightening his grip on Marty’s shoulder to keep his balance. “But I think I prefer this kind of skating simply because, if you fall, there’s no chance of ending up in the middle of an icy lake.”
“Yeah, I’ll admit that’s a selling point,” Masrty agreed, nodding at the smoothly polished wooden floor beneath them. “Mom and Dad might go on about ice-skating every chance they get, but rollerblading is definitely more my speed.”
Doc smirked at him. “When you don’t have your elderly friend clinging to you at naught-point-two miles per hour in the outer lane, you mean.”
“Hey, come on, Doc, you’re not elderly.”
Doc raised an eyebrow practically straight up into his hairline. “Marty. I’m well into my 70s.”
“And you can still outpace me when you’re knee-deep into an explanation about your latest invention, so. . .” Marty shot him a smile. “Elderly’s just a state of mind, Doc.”
Doc chuckled. “Trust me, if it was, I wouldn’t have availed myself of the services of that rejuvenation clinic.”
“Right, well, I’m glad you did.” Marty leaned a little closer to him as they rounded another corner. “I want you around for a good long time, Doc.”
“I would prefer to be around for a good long time myself.” Doc bit his lip. “Especially considering some of the near-misses I’ve had.”
Marty winced. “Trust me, Doc, I know.” He dropped his voice. “I – I still have the occasional nightmare about Buford or the Libyans shooting you in the head.”
“I do too,” Doc admitted, trying not to picture either a tiny Derringer or an AK-47 aimed at his skull. “And while I’ll defend my actions with Buford as a deeply unfortunate misreading of my epitaph, dealing with those Libyans was the stupidest thing I’ve ever had to do to ensure the safety of the space-time continuum.” He scowled. “If I could slap the Doc Brown of your original timeline for setting me up to give a bunch of angry terrorists a bomb full of used pinball machine parts. . .”
“To be fair, Doc, I never mentioned that bit in my letter,” Marty pointed out. “You could have totally done something different.”
“True, but I was in a rush at the time – and the last thing I wanted was to give them an actual nuclear bomb.” A shiver ran up his spine. “Imagine how that timeline would have turned out.”
“I don’t want to. Not here, anyway.” Marty looked up at the multicolored lights dancing over the roller rink, flashing in time to the thumping rhythm of the music. “I know you’ve got an awesome time machine and all, and it’s great to go back and forth with you, but – how about we just live in the present for a while?”
“I’m happy enough to do that,” Doc agreed. His leg started trying to skid away from him – he dragged it back before it could trip the skater behind him. “Especially since I’m liable to end up on my ass if I don’t.”
“Heh – don’t worry, Doc. You’ve always got me to pick you back up again.”
Doc shot Marty a smile. “I know,” he said, hoping his tone conveyed just how grateful he really was for all the times Marty had “picked him up.” “And thanks.”
Marty’s returning smile indicated he’d gotten the message loud and clear. “No problem, Doc.”
---
. . .it's still skating, right? XD Yeah, I ran out of ways to milk the characters ice-skating, so I decided to go with rollerblading instead this time around. Poor Doc's still having trouble, but at least he isn't cold and wet on top of it this time around! And I'm not sure why it took kind of a dark turn with the characters reminiscing about the near-misses Doc's had thanks to time travel saving his life a couple of times -- I just made the "elderly" quip, and things kind of proceeded from there. But it's a good exploration of how Doc feels about a couple of those near-misses now, on the other side of it all -- I liked bringing some nuance to his dealings with the Libyans. And it ends on a nice warm note, I think. Anyone who's seen these movies KNOWS these two are always gonna have each other's backs, as long as they can. :)
All right, hope everybody enjoys those! I'll be back later tonight to sum up my own Christmas in more detail! :)
