#hes a part of the emilys now

[hearts401]

tttb greg and tttb charlie are actually so sibling its insane

[ingravinoveritas]

Gorgeous new behind the scenes pictures of Michael in Bright Young Things. His makeup here is everything...

[fazgoo-connoiseur-1987]

important thing that I don't think I've mentioned is that Henry was THERE for Cassidy's murder- or the end of it at least. It was a breaking point cus of the obvious violence of it but also the sudden reality of the situation hitting Henry like a freight train. Hiding the bodies after the fact and watching a child die and doing nothing in the moment are different things. No backing out now. In far far far too deep.

[incidentale]

«Hey, can we shoot hoops first?»

DINNER IN AMERICA (2020) dir. Adam Rehmeier

bonus walk of shame:

[nachosncheezies]

People like Bill Jr. got all kinds of things wrong about Scully but probably none moreso than thinking it was tragic that Mulder was dragging her along on some descent into madness, when actually the real tragedy was how few of the people she loved ever realized it wasn't a descent.

(It couldn't be bc 1. it's not madness and 2. she was already there.)

[women-of-malevolent]

Idk why I'm surprised that I seem to be the only person to ever post in the Emily MacFarland tag. I mean. There's not much to say about her, is there. There's not much to her at all

[unhingedlesbear]

Y'all my dream was wild. It was the scene in TDIM where Erin and Mark tie up Charlie outside the lighthouse but... they literally killed him??? And started eating his dead body???? And they were on a snowy mountain too??? All I'm saying is thanks for the free Until Dawn AU, brain. Really great stuff.

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: That Three-Player Childhood Friends Valicer AMA AU I Mentioned Briefly Before

So -- as per the title, I've talked a bit about this idea before, in the tags of the "Childhood Friends" prompt story I did for OT3 Week earlier this year, and as part of explaining why I chose to reblog the "Take Me Home To My Heart" Corpse Bride fan video for Song Saturday recently. But now it is time to give this AU a Proper Explanatory Post! *thumbs up* So here we go --

-->The basic conceit is that this is a Valicer twist on my old "Somebody I Used To Know" idea (where Victor and Alice were childhood friends before Alice got committed, and when Victor learned about what happened to Alice and started visiting her in Rutledge, he got sucked into the events of American McGee's Alice, going through that game with her. And then Victor managed to accidentally trigger the events of Alice: Madness Returns in the middle of Corpse Bride by inviting her to his arranged wedding to Victoria, accidentally marrying Emily, bringing the corpse bride back to meet Alice in the hopes they could somehow find her family down there -- the shock threw Alice back into Wonderland early, and this time she dragged Victoria and Emily in along with Victor, causing them to all have some interesting revelations about themselves and Barkis Bittern along the way, along with figuring out Bumby's damage). In this world, things are kicked off by that party in the "Childhood Friends" prompt, with Alice, Victor, and Smiler all making firm friends hiding out under one of the banquet tables, sharing stories and snacks and building card castles. Nell Van Dort and Dr. Kelman aren't initially happy that their children spent the duration of the party under a table -- but end up changing their tune when they learn Alice is the daughter of the distinguished Dean Liddell and his wife. So the trio are allowed to stay friends, with the Liddells tolerating the Van Dorts' and Kelman's presence in their lives for the sake of their younger daughter.

-->The trio have a lovely time together, becoming thick as thieves, with Alice introducing Victor and Smiler to Wonderland and them coming up with their own ideas for domains (Victor, who loves playing explorer and trying to hunt down new butterflies, naturally comes up with the Butterfly Jungle, while Smiler, who wants to live in a place where everyone is actually happy and not being tormented by their dad for not being "socially compliant," comes up with Smile Street). Alice and Smiler eventually agree that they both want to marry Victor when they grow up, and Alice designs a house for them all to live in when they're older (it looks like a mirror-flipped version of the Liddell house, with space for Victor to have a butterfly garden and Smiler a chemistry lab). She also makes bracelets for them all to wear out of spare yarn and some red, yellow, and blue beads she salvaged off an old worn-out pillow, because she couldn't find any toy rings and she thinks the bracelets are more fun anyway.

-->And then the Van Dorts host the Kelmans and the Liddells for a visit, and Alice, Victor, and Smiler all have a play wedding with their favorite toys where Alice hands out the bracelets and they all vow to love each other forever and always be friends and such. They then happily go down to tea, and when Nell questions the bracelets, Victor cheerfully informs her that they all got married --

Cue Nell Van Dort and Dr. Kelman both loudly objecting to this (Nell because, while being friends with the Liddells is good for their family socially, Victor can't marry the daughter of a mere Dean, never mind that they're all eight and it's all pretend, while Dr. Kelman is more focused on the whole "you cannot marry more than one person at once and boys can't marry boys, Marmaduke, I don't care what you say you are" side), and all three sets of parents getting into a huge fight, which ends with the visit being cut short and the Liddells and Kelmans heading home. Dr. Kelman gives Smiler the business on the way back and tosses their bracelet out the window of the carriage; Nell Van Dort tells Victor he is not going to embarrass her like that ever again and to get that bracelet out of her sight (prompting him to hide it in his dresser drawer instead of throwing it away in a small rebellious act of technical compliance); and the Liddells comfort Alice as best they can (while also gently explaining that you can only marry one person at once, which Alice thinks is stupid), with Arthur finally going, "Well, at least we won't miss Bonfire Night back home."

-->Yeah, cue the Liddell Fire, and poor Alice being chucked into Rutledge without Victor or Smiler knowing. And, of course, losing her bracelet in the process, because she wasn't wearing it in bed. :(

-->Fast forward to roughly ten years later -- Victor, feeling very anxious about the fact that his parents are shopping around for a wife for him, finds the bracelet in his dresser again and feels inspired to try and reconnect with his childhood friends. He decides to start by writing Alice and asks Mayhew if he could help him secretly deliver a letter --

Cue Mayhew spilling the beans on where Alice has been the last ten years, and Victor, horrified and furious this was kept from him, decides he's going to see her, come hell or high water. He thus sets out from Burtonsville to Rutledge before his parents can stop him, and arrives at the same time a doctor and his child do, with the doctor explaining he's here to help treat a patient. Victor ends up sitting in the waiting area with the kid while the doctor talks to the nurses...

-->And, when the kid gives him a tentative smile, abruptly recognizes them as an older Smiler. The two delightedly reconnect (with Victor being startled by how deep Smiler's voice has gotten, while Smiler is similarly startled by how tall Victor's gotten), and Victor asks if Smiler and Dr. Kelman are here to see Alice too.

Revealing Smiler ALSO had no idea what had happened to Alice and causing them to become similarly furious that no one told them. They inform Kelman that they're seeing Alice along with him -- Kelman is annoyed, but the nurse at the front desk says that if Smiler is a childhood friend, it might help, so he reluctantly allows it. Victor and Smiler thus go in to visit Alice together, and while they're initially shocked by her conditions, they do their best to reach out to her. At first, it doesn't look like it's working...

But at the end of the visit, when they go to leave, Alice does turn to look at them. Dr. Wilson, who has been observing all this, is pleased to see any reaction out of her and encourages the two to keep coming back to see if they can get her any further out of her catatonic state.

-->Cue Victor and Smiler staying near Rutledge and visiting Alice on the regular, hoping to break through to her (the Van Dorts arrive at one point to try and drag Victor back home, but Victor, with Smiler's help, successfully convinces them that he's making them look good by being so kind to this poor mad orphan that has lost her family and gets them to let him stay for a little longer). The pair recount old stories, read books to her, and generally do what they can to hopefully get a reaction -- and in the process, start reconnecting themselves, talking about their lives and where they've ended up (Victor telling Smiler about how his parents are looking for a socially-advantageous match and how he'd really rather be allowed to go to art school or something, while Smiler talks about Dr. Kelman trying to turn them into his successor and how they wish they could strike out on their own as a traveling alchemist or something). For a while, nothing much seems to be happening with Alice --

-->And then the incident with the orderlies spooning porridge all over Alice's beloved bunny happens. Victor and Smiler arrive for their visit in the middle of the whole mess, and while trying to stop the orderlies from retaliating against Alice's attack, see Alice go at her wrists with the spoon. Horrified, Victor screams at her to stop while Smiler tries to get the spoon from her --

Cue Alice looking up and apparently really seeing them for the first time, and collapsing crying in their arms. Dr. Wilson comes and tends to everyone's injuries, then -- once Alice is quiet again -- asks if Victor and Smiler wouldn't mind feeding her from now on, as he thinks they would get better results. Victor and Smiler are agreeable, and indeed Alice almost eagerly eats her gruel when they're the ones holding the spoon. They slowly become more and more involved with her actual care, with Smiler double-checking Wilson's various concoctions so he doesn't accidentally kill Alice while Victor helps keep the superintendent from making a fuss using his family's cash --

-->And then, one stormy day, they're both just hanging out with Alice when Nurse D returns Mr. Bunny after a cleaning. And shortly after she leaves, they all see the rabbit doll turn to Alice and beg her to "save us."

-->Cue all three of them dropping into Wonderland without warning (Victor and Smiler ending up unconscious in the real world, with the frightened staff unable to wake them). Alice is naturally rather startled to have her childhood best friends with her in Wonderland, while Victor and Smiler are naturally rather startled to be in Wonderland. They have a confused reunion before Cheshire urges them to chase Rabbit, and the trio find that Wonderland is in a very bad way thanks to the Queen of Hearts, and it's up to them to set things right...

-->And so the gang travel through Wonderland, going through all the events of American McGee's Alice in a three-player format! With the most notable changes and additions so far being --

a) Alice, rather than wearing her standard blood-spattered blue dress, is in the Ash Dress from the original take on Alice: Asylum (because while I was never a big fan of the various A:A concepts, I loved that dress); Victor is in a dark blue suit that doesn't look that different to his real-life clothes; and Smiler is in a plain pale yellow suit -- though they do also get their glowing yellow eyes and purple-tipped hair to go with it (Victor and Alice are like "???" while Smiler is like " :D ")

b) While I'm not 100% on everybody's weapons for this game, particularly Smiler's, I know we definitely get the trio of the Vorpal Blade, Fork, and Spoon, and Smiler's attacks are still more about stunning people than about actually hurting them

c) While traveling through the various domains, the trio come across a dead and dried jungle that none of them recognize...until Victor finds a weakly-glowing butterfly under the remains of the foliage and realizes to his shock that this is the Butterfly Jungle -- it basically died along with his dreams of being an explorer when he grew up :(

d) Similarly, they also encounter a cobble street with a bunch of unfinished houses and a dried-up fountain at the end -- Smiler clocks it after seeing the spiral clouds in the sky as their old Smile Street, guessing that it never got properly completed after they lost their friends :(

e) While going through the Land of Fire and Brimstone, the trio eventually clock that the Liddell house on the top of the volcano doesn't look quite right -- in fact, it seems to be a mirror image of the real house. Cue one of them (currently I generally have Victor as the one to make the connection) finally realizing that it's not the Liddell house -- it's their house, the one Alice made for them when they were small. Cue them redoubling their efforts to reach it, and finally going inside and getting to enjoy a space that is all theirs --

For about five seconds, before the Jabberwock arrives to burn it all down. >( And then hit them all with their guilt about being the only survivor of the fire (Alice), and not even trying to find out what had happened to Alice earlier (Victor and Smiler). Because the Jabberwock is an asshole.

f) Which makes it even more satisfying when, during the second boss fight against him, the trio all grab the Jabberwock's Eye Staff and just ultra-blast him with its awesome laser >D

g) At some point, the bracelets come up again (probably after Jabberwock Part I), with Alice and Smiler mourning the loss of theirs -- and then Victor revealing he still has his, offering them comfort that at least ONE of the damn things survived

h) Undecided currently if Alice insists on facing the Queen of Hearts alone, or if Victor and Smiler come with -- I mean, the Queen is a very personal enemy for Alice, but at the same time, it feels weird to have Victor and Smiler sit out such an important fight... Hmmm. Maybe split the difference -- have Alice insist on doing the first part of the fight alone after Cheshire gets beheaded to try and spare her friends, only for Victor and Smiler to come help her back on her feet after the Queen's speech and join her for the second phase? Yeah, I rather like that, let's go with that. :)

-->Once the Queen is defeated, everyone wakes up, and Victor, Alice, and Smiler all share a big real-world embrace while the doctors and nurses (along with the Van Dorts and Kelman) try to figure out WTF just happened. XD Alice is eventually pronounced well enough to leave, and the trio finally go their separate ways (the Van Dorts insisting that Victor has to come home now; Dr. Kelman wanting to get back to his own Sanctuary with Smiler; and of course Dr. Bumby arriving to take Alice to Houndsditch), though they vow to stay in contact this time, no matter WHAT life throws at them.

-->...and this is where I run into a bit of a roadblock, because I'm not actually sure what to do with the A:MR/CB portion of the AU. I mean, it's gotta be done, Bumby cannot be allowed to get away with his bullshit, and not only do we have to expose Barkis's murders, we also have to expose Kelman's horrific brain surgeries on innocent people (I in fact already have an idea where Alice's Rutledge hallucination from the second game ends up overlapping with Smiler having a bad time in a hallucinatory Sanctuary, revealing Kelman as a monster in the process)...but I'm not entirely sure a post-AMA Victor would actually go along with being forced into an arranged marriage. Dude would have had to have gained some confidence after fighting all those monsters, right? Though I have had the thought that maybe he would make a deal with his parents to marry whoever they picked without a fight in order to keep seeing Alice (a deal he starts regretting after he starts realizing he's in love with Alice and Smiler post all the nonsense), which would put him in a position to do the Corpse Bride stuff...and would allow me to get Victoria and Emily in on the fun like in the original "Somebody I Used To Know" idea. Go big or go home, right? :p I'll figure it out eventually, I'm sure.

Whew -- that was longer than anticipated! But I hope you enjoyed it. And can maybe offer up some ideas for the A:MR/CB parts of the AU. :p

[nade2308]

I am not the ghost you are to me

@thethistlegirl @malewifebillcage

Part 1 || Part 2

[eliza-fernway-art]

“This City Needs You Now”

Dr. Albert Wily, Dr. Thomas Light and Ms. Emily Stanton.

Some info below the cut!

Each image is roughly their design for each act / parts of each act.

The first image is what they look like during act one, right before they plug the city in.

The second image is when Light meets Joe, about 19 years after Emily’s murder.

The third image is when Megaman goes to seek vengeance, about 45 years after Joe.

I’ve got a few sketch’s of the versions in between as well as a concept for act 3. But the act 3 designs might change when the album gets released, so there is that.

[maschotch]

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

"We'd be delighted to," June smiled warmly, brightening at the offer: She and Wilhelm had enjoyed a very nice, leisurely dinner that evening, but were rather disappointed to see that most of what the theater had to offer was either sold out or didn't much appeal to the two of them, hence their decision to head on home after their walk. Thus, a night in, spent watching a movie with their boy and his new sweetheart, was a pleasant change of pace to them.

"I don't suppose you've ever taken part in an actual Saint Patrick's Day celebration, lass," Wilhelm was saying, as he and June settled down in their respective seats, while Randall took a seat on the sofa, beginning to flip through the guide in search of what was coming up. "Contrary to what most folks around here will tell you, it's not all leprechauns and green rivers-the way my folks and I used to celebrate it back home in Ireland is very different to how it's done here, and if you'd be up for it, I'd be honored to share it with you."

At this, Randall smiled to Emily, a surge of excitement seizing him: It was clear as day that the Pace's were taking very kindly to her presence, and so Wilhelm's offer to involve her in their annual Saint Patrick's Day celebrations spoke volumes to that fondness. He hoped she'd take him up on the offer-it'd certainly make for an interesting way to spend her birthday!

[britneyshakespeare]

you know i mentioned last night that i realized only *after* i started rereading david copperfield that since i recently became an aunt, i was gonna see the story from a whole new angle and start relating more to betsey trotwood. i didn't even think about how at salem house i was gonna be poor mr. mell...

[steevejr]

there is nothing more masturbatory in this world that spending countless hours having an animated discussion with my partner about my own oc that i made in my head and wrote 800 pages of for my own enjoyment. nothing can top the level of hedonism i experience when emily tags something as #margo or brings her up unprompted like summoning a demon.

[playerkingsley]

trinyvale, where after the climax & resolution of defeating a common evil and the joining together of disparate communities, friends, allies, our heroes celebrate in a mid-sized room at applebees and are even more entrenched in their shallow con artist ways with the earned & unabashed confidence of knowing they can pull it off—in other words, "I think we have a lot of people left to con."

[icannotgetoverbirds]

fanfic hell (/pos)

For those of you wondering what my brain's been chewing on for the past few months. I present to you my incredibly long fanfic.

How long, you may be wondering if you haven't seen the other post?

The low estimate is 154-253.5k.

The more accurate estimates are at about 308-338k.

The most generous estimates could be up to about 507k (assuming the intended goal of 169 chapters is reached).

For reference, Gone With The Wind tops out at just under 420k (haha nice).

Why? Why am I doing this? The answer is, I don't know.

Something about this story just has my brain chewing and chewing and chewing like an overdone but delicious steak that keeps giving you more and more flavor as you chew it.

Every time I think the plot's going to thin out and I'm going to have to give up or shorten this, my brain spits out more plot points to happen.

I have so many fucking notes and a decently well-documented source material to work with (the SDV wiki is pretty extensive).

Even the documentation of the source material that already exists isn't extensive enough for how ridiculously in-detail I'm going - so I'm spending at LEAST 6 fucking hours using a mod to record NPC paths, which I'll then manually input into those spreadsheets I was talking about. Some NPCs are going to get more content than the original source material gave them, so their schedules are going to have to be generated from scratch.

Mind you, this whole fic starts a year before the PCs even arrive. So not only do I have to figure out schedules for things that happen before the events of the game (such as Abigail exploring the farm and Elliott moving in), but I have to adjust schedules for Year 1 (or 2 depending on how you look at it) according to deviations from the source material.

Y'all can probably find this if you look hard enough for it, the first 8 (correction: 9) chapters are published on AO3 and I've been talking about some of the details on both my AO3 and my Tumblr account. The fic tags need updating since some new developments happened - I'll get to that eventually.

Anyways, those little lines and dots are just to indicate that Jackson and Apollo are both farmers. Yes, Apollo is a woman, despite her name. fuck your gender roles and gendered names she does what she wants. Yes, Maru is non-binary, because why the fuck not. Yes, Haley's trans because fuck the police.