crossover_chick | More Victor/Alice Fic Time!

Mostly because I have little else to say, besides beating the Red King in American McGee's Alice. Next up is the Mad Hatter's domain -- gotta love the creepy.

Anyway, today's fic is another from the Anna Lived Miniverse. Here's your refresher course:

I. Falling For You
II. Dress You Up

And here's the fic:

15. Ballroom – Ballroom Blitz
Victor had always found ballrooms a bit intimidating. Their large ceilings, their elaborate decorations, the way they were either too empty or too crowded unnerved him. They reminded him of all the parties his parents had dragged him to against his will to meet the elite classes. Of how he ended up either standing by the wall all night, ignored and alone, or else forced to stumble his way through a dance with some girl he didn’t know and who didn’t care to know him. Ballrooms, to him, were synonymous with humiliation and loneliness.
But he’d hoped the Liddells' ballroom would be different. After all, in this case he was a friend of the family. He’d been there before a couple of times. What could be intimidating about any part of their house?
As it turns out, quite a bit, Victor thought, nervously pulling at his tie. It was the night of Alice’s debutante ball, and the room was packed with people. Many were just friends of the Liddells, but a good number of them were important in some way – high-ranking officials, well-respected teachers, and a few lords and ladies. Nell had already warned him that he’d better not embarrass her, a sentiment strongly echoed by Anna. The pressure not to make a fool of himself was terrible, but that actually wasn’t what was worrying him the most. No, what was really setting his nerves on edge was – what was going to happen when he saw Alice?
It was terrible – normally, he’d be thrilled to see Alice. She was a wonderful friend, and they always had a lovely time together. But ever since that dance lesson, the thought of her filled his stomach with nervous butterflies. Why did I have to offer to teach her how to waltz? he thought miserably. And why did I have to trip? If only that hadn’t happened, I might have been looking forward to this. Instead now I’m wondering if things have – changed between us. He wrung his tie between his hands. Everything seemed all right once we got off the floor – oh, God, that sounds so wrong – but I haven’t seen her since then, and one never knows. . . .
“Victor, stop that!”
Victor yelped as Anna hit his hands with her fan. She glared at him, huffing. “It’s embarrassing to see my brother unable to keep still for five minutes!”
Victor guiltily dropped his hands and put them behind his back. “I’m sorry, Anna,” he said. “I-it’s just – y-you know. I’m n-not fond of t-these events.”
Anna hmphed. “I thought you’d be glad about your friend coming out in proper society,” she said, sarcasm dripping off every word.
Victor did his best to ignore her tone. “Oh, I a-am! It’s just that--” That I keep remembering the feel of her skin, warm and soft beneath my hands. . .and the way her green eyes sparkled as I taught her to dance. . .and the way she looked at me after we fell, with no rancor, no anger, just this indescribable something. . .and how close, how kissable her lips looked then “– p-parties always m-make me nervous.”
Anna shook her head. “Victor, you’ll never mix properly in society with that attitude. Mother and I can’t do all the work in improving the family name.” She sighed. “Well, just stop fiddling with your tie where everyone can see.”
“Yes, Mother,” Victor mumbled, earning himself another whap from her fan. He kept his hands firmly behind his back, twiddling his fingers to try and relieve his fidgets. Oh, I do hope we can still talk like we used to. I’d hate to lose her as a friend just because of one awkward (wonderful) romantic moment. When did I even start feeling this way about her?
And – is there any possibility she feels the same way about me?
“Ladies and gentlemen, it gives us great pleasure to formally announce our niece – Miss Alice Liddell!”
Victor yanked himself out of his thoughts and looked toward the wide double doors as everyone applauded. Alice was standing there, flanked by her aunt and uncle, and –
And she looked absolutely beautiful. Not that she wasn’t pretty under normal circumstances, but tonight, in that flowing blue dress and her hair pinned up, she shone. Victor felt his breath catch in his throat. Oh my. . . .
Alice curtsied politely to the group at large. She scanned the crowd as she stood up straight – and then her eyes met his. A wide smile broke out on her face. Victor couldn’t help but smile back. Well, she was obviously happy to see him. And he was happy to see her, awkwardness over his newly-discovered feelings aside.
Maybe this ball wouldn’t be so intimidating after all.

We're actually at the party! And we finally get to meet Anna! And she's a bitch!
-TD: You've been watching too much Nostalgia Critic lately.-
Hey, not my fault I just discovered he's been doing a bunch of commentaries on old episodes. Anyway, yes, this is the party the other two stories were leading up to. The Liddells are basically throwing a big shindig to get their daughter out and about in society. The Van Dorts were invited because of a) William employing Charles as his solicitor, and b) Victor being a friend of the family, as stated above.
-TTV: How did that come about?-
I'm still puzzling that out, though I know Victor and Alice meet somewhere on or near-campus and find they rather like each other. I'm half-tempted to have his math teacher be Charles Dodgson, that would be an easy in.
-HD: If confusing for the multiplicity of names.-
Oh, they're always Mr. Liddell and Mr. Dodgson around the others -- though I really don't know what possessed me to name Alice's uncle Charles. It just sounded right.
Anyway, more comments on this story -- although it's in the middle chronologically, I actually wrote this one last of the Anna Lived stories. I needed something for Ballroom, and I decided to go with an establishing shot of Victor at the beginning of the party. Yes, his being forced to dance with girls does seem to contradict Nell's, "He doesn't even know any women!" from the movie, but I can't see social-climber Nell Van Dort avoiding parties. Besides, Victorian manners said that an introduction at a dance was not a real, formal introduction -- a lady has every right to ignore a man who asked her for a dance if she meets him again out in the street. I'm thinking the young ladies Victor was forced into contact with exercised this right very forcefully.
-TTV: *nods* Meeting and knowing are two different things.-
Yeah. Now, about Anna -- she was ALWAYS planned on being the younger version of Nell. The way I see it, Nell so doted on her daughter that Anna absorbed a lot of her personality from her. She's just as obsessed with the social ladder as Nell -- and, as you'll see in the next installment, she can be even meaner than her mother. She's kind of the "spoiled princess" of the family. Originally, I'd even planned on her looking quite a bit like Nell, but I'd decided that it might be more interesting to make her actually pretty attractive. She still takes more after her mother, but her father's influence is clear. Like Victor, she has black hair and brown eyes, though her skin's a little healthier looking. She's also quite curvy. (Not that this matters in either story she appears in -- she's never actually described.)
Beyond that, the story's more or less the typical "Holy crap, I think I like her, should I say anything, does she like me back, oh wow there she is, she cleans up nicely" romantic stuff. My Victors and Alices tend to agonize about actually discussing their feelings with each other. Luckily, this particular pair solves the problem earlier that most.
As for the title -- you might guess that the actual song Ballroom Blitz has little to do with the content of the fic. I just couldn't find anything better. It seemed to fit, that's all I can say!

And with that, I'm back off to read El Goonish Shive's entry on TV Tropes.