crossover_chick | Standard Friday, Really

Though I do have a few complaints:
1. Please, employees who work the bank drive through, notice when somebody's sent back an empty tube by accident quicker. It's kind of annoying to wait for you to notice. Also, to the person who sent it back, WTF??

2. Lady who came in needing some stuff pressed -- we're happy to have your business, really. Even if it's a rush job, it's all good.

BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PUT ON A BRA.

And get a new sundress that ISN'T cut down to there. Really, no one needs to see thy sagging boobies.
-M: . . . Ewwwwwww.-
Yeah, not exactly a pleasant moment at work. And this was an older lady, so. . . .
-VD: Does this happen often, people wearing things they really shouldn't?-
Luckily, no. I've only seen a couple -- mostly older women wearing stuff that really looks like it belongs on a younger crowd. Please, everyone, age gracefully. Don't try to fit yourself into a hot pink minisundress or something.

Anyway, to take my mind off things, let's have another Victor/Alice that's been on my mind:

1. Look over here – Deeper And Deeper
“Unnhhh. . .”
Victor stared at the ceiling, sighing deeply. Why did this always happen to him? What did his body have against him getting a proper night’s sleep? It was dark, the bed was comfortable, and he was quite tired. Yet, somehow, he couldn’t relax enough to actually fall asleep. Grumbling, he turned on his side. Maybe a shift in position would help.
There was sudden movement beside him. “Wha – Victor?”
Victor winced. That was exactly what he’d been hoping to avoid. “I’m sorry, Alice,” he said, sitting upright and looking at her. “I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep.”
“No, no, it’s all right,” Alice said, sitting up herself. Looking at him with a worried frown, she added, “How long have you been up?”
Victor sighed. “Since we went to bed,” he admitted. “So – five hours so far.”
Alice made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat, smacking her pillow. “Damn it, Victor, this is the third night in a row you’ve had insomnia! And heaven knows you never exactly sleep well. You have to get some rest!”
“I know!” Victor replied, shaking his head. “Don’t you think this annoys me too? I – I really wish I could just lie down and fall asleep, but I can’t. I’ve tried everything!”
There was a brief silence. Then Alice spoke, sounding oddly thoughtful. “Not quite everything.”
Victor looked at her, one eyebrow raised. “Really? You have an idea?” he asked, trying not to sound as desperate as he felt.
“I believe I do.” Alice got up and opened the shade. Moonlight filled the room with a bluish glow. “Trade places with me,” she added, coming around to his side of the bed.
Puzzled, Victor scooted over. Alice climbed back into bed with him, putting an arm around his shoulders. “Good. Now, look out the window. Can you see the moon?”
Victor looked. The moon shone back at him through the glass, the crescent in its customary position – lying on its side. Two stars twinkled above it, giving it the look of a giant version of the Cheshire Cat’s grin. “Yes,” he said with a nod, wondering what Alice was up to.
“Perfect. I just want you to look at it for a while. Don’t do anything else but look at the moon.”
Victor glanced back at her, frowning. “Alice, what are you doing?”
“You’ll see in a bit,” Alice told him, gently turning his head back around. “Trust me.”
Victor was honestly baffled at this point, but nodded and focused his gaze on the moon. Strangeness or not, it was certainly worth a try if it meant finally getting some sleep. Behind him, Alice started talking softly about how relaxed and comfortable he was, and how nice the moon was to look at. Victor smiled a little – it was rather pretty, honestly. Certainly better than staring at the ceiling all night. And Alice’s voice was quite soothing. He leaned back a little, listening to her tell him that he was getting even more comfortable and relaxed, his eyelids starting to get heavy. . . .
Actually, they were starting to get a little heavy. Victor blinked a couple of times, wondering when that had happened. Alice apparently sensed his confusion and started running her fingers through his hair (oh, he loved when she did that), telling him not to worry about it, that all he had do was look at the moon, look at the moon and let himself get sleepier and sleepier, eyelids heavier and heavier. . . .
After a few minutes, Victor was finding it rather hard to keep his eyes open. He struggled to keep them on the moon like he was supposed to. He just felt so tired. Alice was still stroking his hair, telling him he was doing very well, feeling very sleepy. . .and then, she told him it was okay, he could let his eyes close. Victor gratefully let them shut. He felt himself being lowered onto the pillows, heard something about sleeping until he felt properly rested – then Alice’s lips pressed against his, and she whispered, “Good night, Victor.”
After that, everything faded into peaceful blackness.

-TTV: *obviously not quite sure how to take this one* Well.-
Better than the angst, right? This one's really more of a personal "kink" fic (despite the lack of sex). Most of the other stories I write are more or less fanon for the Victor/Alice pairing, but this one was just something I wanted to write. I'm a bit of a hypnosis fic junkie, so the prompt immediately demanded something along those lines. It didn't take long to flesh out -- my version of Victor's always been an insomniac (I blame reading all these stories where he's up in the middle of the night for some reason), so it seemed natural for him to get hypnotized to sleep. I came up with the moon thing mostly because I like the minor Easter Egg in the game of it looking like Cheshire's grin.
-D: I suppose it's a nice enough story, but where on earth would Alice learn hypnosis? Wasn't this back in the very early days of the practice?-
I've got this idea in my head she's been picking up stuff like this from the Gnome Elder. And yeah, this was back in the early days. James Braid, the guy who first started calling it "hypnosis," started practicing with it in the 1840s. It gained most of its favor in France in the mid to late 1800s, so Victor and Alice would probably hear more about it from the continent. It was in the 1880s it really picked up in England and the like again.
-HD: Been at Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge?-
Yeah. Anyway, not much else to say -- it's all pretty straightforward. The title's just something that sounded right, given the subject matter.

*yawns* I'm tired. I think I'm gonna go mess around with Spymaster some more. Bought all the safehouses so I could try and play the money-making game. Seems to be working out pretty well for Ael, so. . . *shrug*