Sinful Saturday
Sep. 8th, 2012 11:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickActually, it's been kind of a shitty Saturday (when my parents have a bad day, I have a bad day), but that doesn't make such a good headline. Anyway, who wants another story from Sins & Virtues. I believe we're up to our second sin now:
2. Envy
Fandom: Hot Fuzz
When she first arrived, Victor envied Alice a little.
Not because she’d been a police officer in the busy metropolis of London, doing things taking down drug dealers with Kalashnikovs. While Victor liked hearing about her various exploits and comparing them to the movies he’d seen, he didn’t really crave such action in his everyday duties. Ticketing speeders, catching shoplifters, and helping to clean up after someone suffered a tragic accident was enough for him, thank you. No, what he envied was her control. Her strict devotion to duty. Alice Liddell was every inch a police officer. She wore her uniform like a second skin. And she never, ever failed to obey and uphold the law as best she was able in any situation.
Victor admired her for it, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit – inadequate whenever she was around. Alice was the very model of “the law,” and he was – well, he was Victor Van Dort, the shy, retiring son of the chief inspector. He was the sort who couldn’t help but apologize to criminals as he cuffed them, who couldn’t keep track of his helmet, who doodled butterflies in his notepad rather than filling it with important notes. Nobody expected him to be a model officer, least of all himself. (In fact, there was a very small part of him who resented the fact he’d become a policeman at all. He hadn’t particularly wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, but after Mother’s death, he hadn’t really felt like he had a choice.) It hadn’t been so bad when it was just the usual crowd – nobody expected them to be model officers either. But the arrival of Alice had changed all that. Suddenly, there was someone around who kept pushing them to do more. To be the best they could be. And Victor was quite certain that his best could never equal up to Alice’s best.
All of that changed, however, the night they’d both gotten a bit tipsy at the pub. They’d talked about their pasts, laughed at his idiotic idea of a magic trick, and somehow she’d ended up at his flat. They’d continued chatting, and he’d told her again just how amazing a copper she was.
And then she’d looked at him and confessed that – she didn’t know how to switch off. Didn’t know how to not be a police officer. Didn’t know how to be just Alice, instead of Sergeant Alice Liddell.
His envy had vanished in an instant. He’d never considered her being a supercop to be a bad thing, but apparently it had cost Alice a lot – her peace of mind, her ability to relax, even what little social life she’d had. And underneath the shell of the “model officer” was a rather scared young woman who had no friends and no idea how to have fun. He resolved then and there to teach her – to show her everything she’d been missing out on while she tried to be the perfect policewoman.
Whenever anyone later asked him when he’d fallen in love with her, he pointed to that moment as the start of it all.
-TTV: Interesting choice.-
Yeah, I thought it might fit the character. This prompt actually gave me the chance to develop "Victor as Danny" the way I thought he should be in this crossover-verse. Putting Victor into Danny Butterman's role presents some challenges, after all, given the different personalities. This story let me work out at least a couple of the kinks -- Victor still likes action movies, but he doesn't actually crave such stuff in his everyday work. Instead, he's the shy, retiring sort who's almost intimidated by Alice and her perfection as a police officer. He likes her and admires her, but -- he feels kind of second-rate around her too. Until she opens up to him that night in the pub. Need to figure out a reason for them to get soused, though. The main problem I've always had with this verse is how to introduce Victor and Alice -- Victor's not the sort to attempt drunk driving. Or even drink at all, really. Guess it's something I'd have to tweak for this Victor.
Anyway, not too much to say about this one -- it's really all about Victor's views on Alice as supercop, and him realizing that that's not all there is to her. (Of course, it comes as a shock to Alice that being a cop isn't all there is to her either, so. . .) I also felt the need to add in that Victor never really wanted to be a policeman -- I can't really see him putting on the blue of his own volition. It would be something William talked him into -- "I want you close, Victor. I want to see you safe." In my head, after the bomb incident, I'm thinking Victor might quit the force and go do something he actually enjoys, like illustrating stuff. Does kind of deny us our awesome ending, but like I said -- Victor really ain't Danny.
Hope you enjoyed that! I've got a bit of tumblr to catch up on.
2. Envy
Fandom: Hot Fuzz
When she first arrived, Victor envied Alice a little.
Not because she’d been a police officer in the busy metropolis of London, doing things taking down drug dealers with Kalashnikovs. While Victor liked hearing about her various exploits and comparing them to the movies he’d seen, he didn’t really crave such action in his everyday duties. Ticketing speeders, catching shoplifters, and helping to clean up after someone suffered a tragic accident was enough for him, thank you. No, what he envied was her control. Her strict devotion to duty. Alice Liddell was every inch a police officer. She wore her uniform like a second skin. And she never, ever failed to obey and uphold the law as best she was able in any situation.
Victor admired her for it, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit – inadequate whenever she was around. Alice was the very model of “the law,” and he was – well, he was Victor Van Dort, the shy, retiring son of the chief inspector. He was the sort who couldn’t help but apologize to criminals as he cuffed them, who couldn’t keep track of his helmet, who doodled butterflies in his notepad rather than filling it with important notes. Nobody expected him to be a model officer, least of all himself. (In fact, there was a very small part of him who resented the fact he’d become a policeman at all. He hadn’t particularly wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, but after Mother’s death, he hadn’t really felt like he had a choice.) It hadn’t been so bad when it was just the usual crowd – nobody expected them to be model officers either. But the arrival of Alice had changed all that. Suddenly, there was someone around who kept pushing them to do more. To be the best they could be. And Victor was quite certain that his best could never equal up to Alice’s best.
All of that changed, however, the night they’d both gotten a bit tipsy at the pub. They’d talked about their pasts, laughed at his idiotic idea of a magic trick, and somehow she’d ended up at his flat. They’d continued chatting, and he’d told her again just how amazing a copper she was.
And then she’d looked at him and confessed that – she didn’t know how to switch off. Didn’t know how to not be a police officer. Didn’t know how to be just Alice, instead of Sergeant Alice Liddell.
His envy had vanished in an instant. He’d never considered her being a supercop to be a bad thing, but apparently it had cost Alice a lot – her peace of mind, her ability to relax, even what little social life she’d had. And underneath the shell of the “model officer” was a rather scared young woman who had no friends and no idea how to have fun. He resolved then and there to teach her – to show her everything she’d been missing out on while she tried to be the perfect policewoman.
Whenever anyone later asked him when he’d fallen in love with her, he pointed to that moment as the start of it all.
-TTV: Interesting choice.-
Yeah, I thought it might fit the character. This prompt actually gave me the chance to develop "Victor as Danny" the way I thought he should be in this crossover-verse. Putting Victor into Danny Butterman's role presents some challenges, after all, given the different personalities. This story let me work out at least a couple of the kinks -- Victor still likes action movies, but he doesn't actually crave such stuff in his everyday work. Instead, he's the shy, retiring sort who's almost intimidated by Alice and her perfection as a police officer. He likes her and admires her, but -- he feels kind of second-rate around her too. Until she opens up to him that night in the pub. Need to figure out a reason for them to get soused, though. The main problem I've always had with this verse is how to introduce Victor and Alice -- Victor's not the sort to attempt drunk driving. Or even drink at all, really. Guess it's something I'd have to tweak for this Victor.
Anyway, not too much to say about this one -- it's really all about Victor's views on Alice as supercop, and him realizing that that's not all there is to her. (Of course, it comes as a shock to Alice that being a cop isn't all there is to her either, so. . .) I also felt the need to add in that Victor never really wanted to be a policeman -- I can't really see him putting on the blue of his own volition. It would be something William talked him into -- "I want you close, Victor. I want to see you safe." In my head, after the bomb incident, I'm thinking Victor might quit the force and go do something he actually enjoys, like illustrating stuff. Does kind of deny us our awesome ending, but like I said -- Victor really ain't Danny.
Hope you enjoyed that! I've got a bit of tumblr to catch up on.
