#just again Londerland Bloodlines

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday : Valicer In The Dark -- Playbook Tweaks, A Bit of Worldbuilding, Potential Scores

Been thinking more about my Valicer In The Dark AU as of late, and I have a few updates and additions to the Three Pillars and their particular version of Duskwall that I would like to share with you, as indicated by the title:

Playbook Tweaks -- While I’m pretty happy with Victor’s stats as a Whisper from the original post on this subject, I found myself wanting to tweak Alice’s and Smiler’s just slightly after writing them up. Specifically, I wanted to add a special ability to Alice’s, and an extra ability point to Smiler’s. I didn’t want to do this without a concurrent trade-off somewhere else, though (yes, I know I’m just using this for potential fic-writing purposes, not actually playing the game, but it still feels only fair!), so after some thought, this is what I’ve come up with for each of them:

Alice -- I felt like she really needed to have The Devil’s Footsteps special ability (the one that allows you to do things like jump extra high or extra far) along with Not To Be Trifled With (the one that allows you to do superhuman feats of strength or battle six people at once) at the start -- those two in concert basically cover everything she can do in the games! So, in exchange for her having two starting special abilities, I’ve decided she also starts with the Haunted trauma! This is a trauma that means you are haunted by bad things in your past and sometimes slip off into fugue states -- which meshes perfectly with Alice’s memories of the fire and Wonderland occasionally dragging her out of reality! It also means she can only take three extra traumas before having to get out of the criminal game -- usually, starting characters have four slots for having their brains broken. *shrug* Them’s the breaks!

Smiler -- After reviewing their stats vs their history, I realized that maybe I should have put that dot in Survey in Attune instead -- after all, they’ve been directly touched by their god Mar-Mal! That’s how they got the glowing yellow eyes in this verse! However, I still liked them having that dot in Survey, as it did also suit their character. So, in exchange for getting that extra starting dot in Attune, I’ve decided that Smiler has a slightly shorter stress tracker than most characters -- instead of nine slots, they get seven. Stress is something that characters can use to push themselves to perform certain feats (get an extra die while rolling a weak stat) or resist the consequences of their actions (downgrade a potentially crippling blow into one that just hurts a lot). It’s very useful, but you have to track it carefully, because once your character fills up their stress tracker, they have a mental break and gain a trauma. I figured that trading two stress slots for the Attune dot was both fair and thematically appropriate -- Smiler has lived in a cult that venerates happiness as holy for years, and was directly touched by a god of pure joy. It only makes sense that they’d be a little worse at handling stress and bad emotions!

Worldbuilding -- I haven’t fully fleshed out my Duskwall yet, but there’s a few ideas I’ve been banding around:

-->This first one is straight from the Oxventure Presents Blades In The Dark stuff -- one of Kasimir’s and Edvard’s earliest scores in Volisport was at Cab-Con, a convention for the various cabdrivers of the cities. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but as I wrapped up the episode, a pun popped into my mind referencing the even-more-powerful gondoliers faction (as more of the city is traversable by canal than by road) -- Con-Dola! XD So yeah, that’s the big convention in my Duskwall -- an annual festival the gondoliers put on where they try out new boat types, exchange stories, and have races. Members of the public can come in for a fee and bet on the boat races. It’s a fun time and everyone looks forward to it!

-->While the official book outlines a few holidays on the Duskwall calendar (the monthly Moontide celebration, Arkenvorn to honor the spirit wardens, Gratitude to honor the ascension of the Immortal Emperor to his throne (and just more general Thanksgiving stuff)), I decided we needed a Halloween equivalent as well and came up with “Devil’s Night,” where children dress up as devils and go around causing minor bits of mischief and knocking on doors for spare food and coin. The actual devils in the city are also said to offer better deals than usual, with prices that mortals are better able to pay, but people tend to be iffy about checking out if this is true or not. Because, you know, devils. There’s always someone desperate enough to try, though. . .

-->I’m still working on how the other Alton Towers coasters beyond Smiler and Wickerman would fit into this world, but I know the other secret weapons would all have various cults -- the Agents of Oblivion for, well, Oblivion (who sacrifice people to the void -- not sure if they’re trying to keep it contained or encouraging to grow yet. Maybe both, with a secret internal schism in the cult?); the Spirits of the Trees for Thirteen (who worship the poisonous trees in that one park and are trying to create more -- though perhaps a little less poisonous so they don’t immediately kill everyone they come into contact with); the Clan of the Creature for Nemesis (who worship this bizarre crab-like demon and believe it will somehow save them when the leviathan blood eventually runs out); and the Galactic Rangers for Galactica (who believe the stars are the remains of their god and that if they give her enough worship, she’ll do something about the moon that seems to keep getting either bigger or closer year by year. . .). Rita doesn’t get a cult -- rather, she’s the leader of the Speed Queens, a group of smugglers known for their insanely fast car that only she can drive properly. She is, however, involved with the head priestess of the Spirits of the Trees, even if she’s not an official member. XD

-->Very tempted to put Doc and Marty somewhere in this world, of course -- don’t know if they’d be criminals, but Doc would HAVE to be a Leech well-known for his bizarre contraptions and strange experiments with electroplasm. Probably they have the local equivalent of the DeLorean around, and Doc’s looking to get his hands on an old train. . .

-->And another one just for the funsies -- having gone through both the main book and a semi-official “cookbook” supplement (see the Supplements page -- I can recommend it, it’s a short but fun read), I have decided to pull a Fallout with this universe and declare that horses went extinct sometime during the great Shattering, and goats have taken over all of their roles. This is purely because sometimes I imagine my Three Pillars trio ending up in other worlds, and it amuses me greatly for them to go “what’s a horse?” whenever the subject comes up. XD

Scores -- Obviously, you can’t have a criminal gang and not have any crimes for them to commit! Here are some of the higher-profile missions the Three Pillars would undertake during their career:

-->Sorting out Dr. Bumby at the Houndsditch Home for Wayward Youth (their first score after getting together, and after Alice tells them what he’s up to -- their goal being to either get evidence of his misdeeds to one of the incorruptible Inspectors, or just straight-up kill the guy in a way that doesn’t leave a ghost)

-->Getting some of Victor’s stuff out of the Van Dort mansion (which involves Victor learning just how little his parents worry about his actual safety when he encounters them and all his mother can do is complain about how Victoria Everglot has now TWICE married someone else while he’s been missing; I am also SO TEMPTED to have Barnaby and Kasimir in the mansion on their OWN score to rob the place, only to run into Victor, Alice, and Smiler, and Victor to tell them “hey, help me get my stuff back and I will just GIVE you some money from the safe”)

-->Taking care of one Dr. Kelman and his Sanctuary when he puts out a bounty on the three of them, saying that they need his special “social compliance therapy” (this is how Alice and Victor learn Smiler’s birthname, and Smiler justifies the Advocates’ gray morality by saying “at least we don’t CUT THE SMILES INTO PEOPLE’S FACES BEFORE SCOOPING OUT THEIR SOULS”)

-->Acquiring rare and not-always-legal ingredients for the Golden Plum restaurant (I have this in mind as a score that would be kicked off by the first time Smiler overindulged their Pleasure vice there -- the owner and chef, having realized who they are and that they’re a scoundrel, does a little light blackmail to get the gang to help get him ingredients; part of Smiler’s price is that they get first taste of the resultant dishes, which the owner is happy to agree to)

-->Being hired by Victoria to embarrass her parents by stealing a silver egg they recently acquired and won’t stop bragging about (as you might imagine, she’s a little bitter about the Barkis thing and wants to stop them acting like it wasn’t her husband’s money that bought it; midway through the score though, things go off the rails when the egg HATCHES and produces a baby dragon -- cue the gang getting a surprise new pet)

-->Getting Alice’s Jabberwock’s Eye Staff (she needs it as her scary weapon, and I think it would be fun to make getting it an adventure -- maybe in the Lost District outside the lightning barrier?)

-->Attending Con-Dola (this would be a “joke” score where the goal is to actually have some fun in their lives; I can see Victoria hiring them for this one too, saying she needs them to do a few things there, and at the end they realize she hired them literally to have a nice day out XD)

-->And I’m kind of tempted to do something inspired by The Hangover movies and that one Skyrim quest “A Night To Remember” where, after a night of drinking, the gang wakes up in the Lord Mayor’s house not knowing WHAT happened last night (only that for some reason the lady of the house doesn’t seem to mind they’re there) and have to figure out what they did (possibly may involve them getting drunken group-married and being upset only because they didn’t realize that was an option and they would have liked to do that SOBER damn it)

We’ll see if any of these actually make “written” status! (I mean, I hope so, but with the monster of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” looming over me. . .)

[thevalicemultiverse]

You guys ever thought about eating a piece of cake before your make out with your kindred girlfriend? That way she taste the cake from your breath which is probably the closest she’ll get to eating that stuff again.

Victor: I -- thought of that before, but then thought it was probably more of a tease than anything and might not be appreciated.

Alice: Anything involving the taste of mortal food is a tease with me -- I'd rather have what scraps I can get than never experience it ever again!

[victorluvsalice]

Oh hey, remember when I wrote that story about Alice becoming the Malkavian Fledgling in Vampire: the Masquerade -- Bloodlines and doing all the Santa Monica missions in her snarky, snarky way?

Here's the first chapter of the sequel. :p Enjoy!

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: How's "Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland" Going?

Been another fairly lengthy gap between updates -- our last being in August -- and just as that one hailed me starting Chapter 6, this one hails me ending it -- and thus COMPLETING THE FIRST DRAFT! *blows party horns* Yes, Alice has made it through the trials and tribulations of Downtown --

-->being attacked by the Sabbat the minute she first stepped foot down there and saved by Nines once again (though she didn't appreciate him just speeding off afterward)

-->being sent back to Santa Monica to investigate the Elizabeth Dane (with the inadvertent help of Officer Heinz)

-->meeting up with Victor again and taking him on as a roommate (and quickly growing to really like his company)

-->taking down a plaguebearer cult (which became VERY PERSONAL after no less than two people died from their disease right in front of her)

-->stealing a briefcase for good old Fat Larry (and helping to set off a gang war in the process)

-->helping Venus with her Russian Mafia problem (and accidentally freaking out Venus when she had to admit to being under twenty-one)

-->having the ABSOLUTE WORST NIGHT OF HER LIFE at Grout's little hellhole (seriously, it is so bad)

-->dealing with the local Nagaraja (and not the way you may think)

-->and then infiltrating the Museum Of Natural History almost perfectly -- only to discover the sarcophagus LaCroix wants was no longer inside (though a Beckett was)

I've left it with Alice -- having just discovered how fucking rich Victor is, and with Victor insisting he wants to get her something to show his appreciation for her -- letting Victor take her on a shopping spree for some new clothes before they head over to Hollywood. :D We'll let this sit while I deal with the December gift fics, then next year, it'll be time to start editing and posting! I hope you're all looking forward to it. :)

[thevalicemultiverse]

Dormouse: I don't have any glasses for the eclipse someone relay it to me when it happens

Hare: sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, less sun, no sun :(

more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, more sun, sun again

Dormouse: It's like I'm there

Alice: I'm going to be honest, I rather appreciate the description myself, given that I'm never actually going to see a solar eclipse again. Part of me does wonder if I'd be able to move about normally during the day during the moment of totality, but the rest of me knows it is not worth the risk.

[victorluvsalice]

Fic Resolutions for 2023!

Yeah, I know I don’t usually post on Sundays anymore, but it’s just become the New Year, and I’d like to set my fic resolutions down early. So let’s see --

1. Finish the first draft of “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” at least -- Yes, I am still working on that story, it’s just slow going because a) chapters long and b) lot of looking things up on YouTube for reference to get dialogue right and stuff like that. I am a decent amount of the way through, at least -- Alice is currently finishing up Venus’s quests, and will be resolving the plaguebearers in the next couple of days. Then she’s gonna hit Grout’s, and this particular chunk of the story will end with LaCroix ordering her to Hollywood and Alice and Victor preparing to see what that chunk of the map is like. I certainly don’t want to say it’ll be posted in 2023, but I should be able to finish the first draft and hopefully get at least a teaser chapter up by the end of the year!

2. Edit and post the full version of “As Long As You Love Me” and at least finish the first draft of its sequel “The Joker And The Queen” -- the other major project I was working on before taking a break in December to write gift fics (and get the ideas for my other coaster OCs straight in my head), this one should be easier to complete. The first draft of “As Long As You Love Me” (well, the first draft of all the bits I wrote to link together my previous snippets) is completed, and I’ve gotten a couple of chapters into the sequel. . .dunno if I'm gonna try to finish the first draft of said sequel first, or if I’m gonna go back and edit the original for posting first, but both will be done at some point!

3. Post those darn Secundus drabbles already -- I never did it last year, so I’m gonna try to get it done this year. If I can finally decide whether I’m doing just one drabble a chapter or many. . .ugh, if anyone wants to chime in on what they would prefer on that front, it would be helpful! But yeah, if I can at least get a START on doing that (maybe this summer, as a bunch of them were written for a summer challenge on a LiveJournal community I used to be a part of), that would be great.

*nods* I think this all sounds doable without being too much. Wish me luck! Happy New Year!

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: A “Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland” Status Update!

Yes, I AM currently working on the seconds part of this massive epic, and I am pleased to report that I am in Chapter Two! :D In case you were wondering, Chapter One covered Alice’s arrival to Downtown, the Sabbat’s attack on her and Nine’s rescue, her walking around Downtown proper and meeting Strauss and the Anarchs (and not particularly liking either) and picking up the “plaguebearers” missions, her reporting to LaCroix, and her taking on the Elizabeth Dane mission. So far, Chapter Two has covered her turning in “Elizabethan Rendezvous” to LaCroix and receiving “Calling Dr. Grout” for later --

And finally, FINALLY catching up with Victor. :D Having just gotten the Skyeline apartment, she’s taken him there and they’re discussing histories. Such as the fact that he once married a corpse bride. XD Dunno how long this one’s gonna go, but we’ll find out -- Alice has to do a BIT of side-questing and work on the plaguebearers before the evening is out. . .

[thevalicemultiverse]

Always remember, every time you survive a mission it just pisses off LaCroux a little bit more. Feeling better now?

Alice: . . .I do a bit, honestly. Thank you.

[victorluvsalice]

The WIP Tag Game

Was tagged by @dont-offend-the-bees a little bit ago, figured it might make a fun Thursday post!

Rules: Post the names of all the files in your WIP   folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it! Tag as many people as you feel like tagging because you haven't had breakfast yet and your brain is oatmeal.

Now, I don’t have a specific WIP folder (though perhaps I should), and I only have two proper “story” WIPs that I’m currently working on, but I’ll throw a few other things that are either currently sitting unfinished due to a lack of inspiration or aren’t really “stories” in the traditional sense but are scenes and whatnot I dabble in when I’m not feeling the other stuff (or, in one case, after I’ve finished playing my weekly session of a certain video game):

An Introductory Guide To Magic

As Long As You Love Me (The Full Version)

Blades In The Dark Valicer

First Time

Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland

Learn To Love Again

Tell Me Where To Find Shelter

The HypnoSnippet Archive

So, uh, yeah, have at, if you’re curious! Even if you just want an update on the One Known Project (it HAS been a while since I updated anyone on Londerland Bloodlines, hasn’t it?)

Tagging: I don’t have a lot of people I follow on here, but I know two people who are writing -- @nebbychan and @anonymoose-au! No pressure, but if you’re interested! :)

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: “Londerland Bloodlines” Is Still A Thing

Been a few months since I actually talked about this one, huh? At least in terms of how the writing’s going. . . As a reminder, I finished up the rough draft in January -- now, here in July, I’m currently editing the start of Chapter 3. Which, for the curious, starts with the Bloody Mess quest (retrieving the werewolf blood) and transitions into Trick or Treatment (saving a certain lady -- or, in Alice’s case, young man -- from certain death with one’s blood. . .). I’m currently on page 78 of 192 (yes, the damn thing has grown further as I edit).

Now -- that does mean that I do have two chapters “in the can,” as it were. Or, at the very least, with a second editing pass done. My friend Gigs on Dreamwidth has been making noises about actually reading some of this story, but I find myself balking a little bit simply because of the size of the chapters. Chapter 1 covers Alice’s Embrace and very first night as a vampire -- aka the opening cutscene and tutorial -- and it weighs in at just over 38 pages in LibreOffice Writer. That’s -- that’s a lot, right? I’m not imagining that that is A Lot? And I know there’s plenty out there about readers not complaining about chapters being too long, but. . .yeah. Mental hurdles. (Not to mention there’s the whole “doing the final typo pass on this thing is going to take AGES” part to worry about. . .)

So yeah, I guess my question to you is -- given that I would probably likely post them mostly “as-is,” and they WOULD be long chapters -- WOULD you guys like me to upload “Londerland Bloodlines: Santa Monica’s Deluded Depths” (the first part of the journey, because holy hell this is gonna take a while) sooner rather than later? Or should I see if can break this stuff down into smaller chunks first? Let me know!

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Birthday RingletsAndPearls/SoFamiliarAGleam!

@ringletsandpearls Another one following in the vein (ha) of my previous two gift fics to you -- more “Vampire Alice and Claudia in Bloodlines“ fun! We all like that, right? This year’s fic brings us closer to the endgame of Bloodlines -- looks like Claudia hitched a ride when Jack came up to Griffith Park to get Alice after that whole mess with the werewolves. . .

----

"What happened?"

"Damned if I know!" Alice shot back as they bounced along the road out of Griffith Park in the back of Jack's car. "One minute, I'm up there, talking to Nines about how Ming Xiao confessed to impersonating him and that she and LaCroix are metaphorically in bed together, the next–" She flung her hands up above her head. "Fwoom! The whole bloody park is on fire! That's the third time since coming to this wretched city that I've ended up in the middle of some sort of firestorm! I'm getting rather sick of reliving that particular trauma!"

"Yeah, I bet," Jack said, taking a corner perhaps a bit harder than necessary. "Betcha anything a couple of LaCroix's lackeys were the ones to drop the match. I've heard you bitch enough about the kind of stuff he makes you do. Bastard up his ivory tower's been trying to kill you since the beginning."

"For what?" Claudia asked, looking between them.

"Living," Alice hissed. "I was an illegal Embrace, remember? Apparently it's traditional to kill the childe along with the sire in these cases, but Nines spoke up for me, and LaCroix backed down before they could put me to the literal sword."

"Yeah – you've been a sign of weakness for him ever since," Jack agreed. "And if there's one thing good old LaCroix hates, it's lookin' weak. Especially in front of the Anarchs."

Claudia groaned, sprawling dramatically over the backseat. "How I despise vampire politics! And here I thought I'd left the worst of it behind me in Paris. . ."

"I'm sorry, but vampires being covert assholes seems to be a thing all over," Alice grumbled, rubbing her face.

"Ha! Ain't that right." Jack glanced back at them in the rear view mirror. "But hey, if it makes ya feel better, the werewolves up there probably ripped 'em to pieces before they could get away."

". . .werewolves?" Claudia repeated squeakily.

"Yes – two at least," Alice confirmed. "They came after me and Nines – one of them tackled him right over a cliff." She grimaced in Jack's general direction. "I'm sorry. I don't know how close you were, but I know how important he was to the movement."

"Shit. . .dude knew the risks of hidin' out up there," Jack said, though Alice thought she detected a hint of genuine sadness in his voice. "But yeah, Damsel and the rest are gonna be pissed. . .how the hell did you manage to outrun the other one?"

". . .uh, I – I actually – sort of – crushed it. In the observatory."

There was a moment of silence. "You what?" Claudia finally asked, sitting back up.

"It was practically an accident – I was running around the main building, found my way up to the main telescope, and when I opened the dome to escape, I noticed how thick and sturdy the doors were. So I caught the monster's attention, did a couple of laps outside, then got it up onto the balcony and through the doors just in time for me to hit the button and close them on it." Alice smirked. "I may have even yelled, 'You're terminated, fucker!'"

"Holy shit!" Jack spun around in his seat, eyes wide. "How the fuck do you keep doing this kinda stuff?! First that gargoyle, then the whole fuckin' L.A. Sabbat, now this?! You know how hard it is to kill even a weak werewolf?"

"Eyes on the road!" Alice demanded, pointing through the windscreen where the guardrail was getting a bit too close for her liking. Jack turned around and yanked them back on track. "And trust me, I know! I don't attribute my survival to anything but incredible luck!" She glanced over her shoulder, at the sword strapped firmly to her back. "And the Tal'Mahe'Ra blade softening it up a bit!"

Claudia shook her head, gaping. "I don't – you are – I don't know what to make of you," she finally settled on. "Except to say that I'm glad you're my side!" Her voice softened. "And that I'm not going to lose another friend to Final Death."

Alice gave her a smile and a pat on the shoulder. "I don't have any intentions of heading into that darkness anytime soon."

Jack shook his head, rounding a curve. "Fuckin' hell. Crushed a goddamn werewolf in the middle of a goddamn forest fire." He looked at Alcie again in the mirror. "LaCroix ain't gonna know what hit him when you come for him."

"Oh, he will," Alice replied, fangs gritted. "I'm going to make sure of that."

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Londerland Bloodlines -- Already Editing The Pre-Game Timeline

Mostly because, the day after I posted it, I had a better idea for triggering Victor's move to Los Angeles while trying to remember when you meet Samantha in the main game (whom Victoria is replacing -- turns out it's right after you get the "Dead Ex" quest from Isaac). Rather than Victoria sending him a letter saying her parents (and thus she) aren't moving back to Burtonsville, I imagine it going down closer to this:

-->First of all, I've compressed the timeline down some -- I felt like Victor and Victoria were dating for way too long, especially given their canonical relationship is formed in a much, much shorter period of time. So I've moved the date of their first meeting to late April, and the date of the "Corpse Bride" incident to late June. This means Victor and Victoria were dating for roughly two months, and then the below also takes place over roughly two months, which feels more realistic (Victoria is willing to put up with a lot from her parents, but not quite THIS much)

-->Anyway, yes, at the end of June, after the kidnapping and Emily and all of that, Maudeline, Finis, Victoria, and Hildegarde all go to the summer house to destress, and for a while, everything is okay

-->Maudeline and Finis decide to take the opportunity of being away from the Van Dorts to start introducing Victoria to new suitors once more; an annoyed Victoria, not ready to date again, turns them down

-->There are an increasing number of fights about this -- Victoria finally forces herself to go out on a date with one Augustus Giovanni one evening in September, but she hates the experience (not in the least because Augustus refuses to eat anything and creeps her out) and fakes illness to get out of it early

-->Victoria finally has enough shortly after Augustus and decides she wants out -- with Hildegarde's help, she scrapes up enough money for a plane ticket and a hotel for a little while and flies out to Los Angeles herself

-->Her intention was to send Victor a letter explaining she'd moved so he'd know where to contact her going forward, leaving it with Hildegarde to post -- however, poor Hildegarde loses the letter when Maudeline interrogates her about Victoria's flight. Maudeline takes the letter, destroys it, and sends her own letter to Victor telling him Victoria is "gone" and not to contact them again

-->Victor receives the letter and is stunned, with his brain bouncing back and forth between "did she even care for me, maybe she got sick of me while she was away" and "what the hell did her parents do to make her just up and leave like that" -- either way, he knows he's never finding out where she went from the Everglots, and decides if Victoria can leave her parents, he can too

I feel like this scenario works better with the characters as they're established -- Victoria didn't want to break permanently with Victor, after all, she just wanted some time to get herself back together after a traumatic experience. And then her parents started retraumatizing her and -- well, it all got to be a little much. AND this allows me to note when she met one of the Giovanni clan! So good news all around. :)

Oh! And an idea that I just had while posting this -- maybe the reason she’s coming out of the Cavoletti Cafe when she encounters Victor and Alice isn’t because she’s a patron, it’s because she’s a waitress. She needs a job if she’s been in L.A. the longest out of the mains, after all! So maybe she’s just coming off her shift when she spots her ex? Oooh, I like that. . .

[victorluvsalice]

Happy Thanksgiving -- here’s the second chapter of “Londerland Bloodlines: Santa Monica’s Vale of Tears!” We have Alice settling into Santa Monica proper this night, going out and picking up a bunch of sidequests along with meeting up with Mercurio and taking care of his drug dealer problem. As you might expect, this one contains plenty of canon-typical violence and gore, so if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing, watch out! Though if you’ve played VTMB, I assume you know what your limits are. Fingers crossed the third chapter will be up in time for Christmas!

[victorluvsalice]

I haven’t read all of your fan fictions yet, so if I missed important info, I’m sorry, but - if Victor married Alice, do you think he’d go by “Victor Liddell” or “Victor Van Dort-Liddell?” I know women took their husband’s name in that era and that the Van Dort name has a prestigious ring to it because of his dad’s company, but Victor knows how important Alice’s family was to her. I think it would be very in-character for him to keep their memory alive by taking their name as his own.

Huh, I never thought of them hyphenating it before. . . Anyway, I’m in favor of Victor taking Alice’s last name -- his family name may be prestigious, but he doesn’t have a very close connection to it, or his parents. In fact, in a lot of my AUs, their relationship just gets even more strained over time. And, as you note, he’s sensitive to how important Alice’s family is to her, and how she’d like to keep them close. In any more modern AU where they got married, he’d happily become Victor Liddell officially (and damn the consequences from his parents).

In the Victorian ones, though. . .I guess the problem is, I’m not sure how they’d go about doing that officially. As far as I know, that sort of thing didn’t happen in that time period, and they might run into legal issues -- or people just saying “no, that’s wrong, the woman takes the man’s name” -- if they tried. I suppose there’s always bribery, but. . .as I’ve got it set up, Alice just takes Victor’s name in those verses, assuring him she’s really okay with it (because, Victor being Victor, he does feel kind of guilty). And he’s probably referred to as “Victor Liddell” more casually with friends (that certainly pops up enough in the RPing I do with him). Perhaps later on they find a way to change the family name. . .

[victorluvsalice]

And we complete Ship Meme February with this “Understand My Ship In 5 Minutes” meme, made by GibSlyThe -- this one’s actually from twitter, and you can find the original tweet here! As usual, some stuff has been covered in previous memes (height and age seem to be constants, and this one also has “gender” and “sexuality” like the previous one -- though you’ll see here for “sexuality” I went “okay, for readability Alice’s is just going outside the box” XD), but the newer stuff is explained in more detail under the “read more!”

The “Mark On The Line” Bars: This was a bit tricky, as I always wonder about the placement of my Xs on these kinds of lines and graphs, but I’m pretty happy with these. To take them one-by-one:

Big/Little Spoon: Despite Victor being the taller one, he prefers being the little spoon, as he likes to be held and snuggled like that. Similarly, Alice likes being the big spoon as she likes feeling like the “protector” of the little spoon. They can and do switch, but that’s their preferred set-up.

Lends/Borrows Clothes: I put these close to the middle as I don’t think there’s much clothes-sharing just on the basis of “I’m not sure they’d FIT each other’s clothes” -- though in a more modern setting, I can see Alice occasionally stealing a baggy hoodie from Victor’s closet, so she gets closer to the Borrows Clothes side.

Doesn’t Use/Uses Pet Names: Again, close to the middle as it isn’t too common with them, but they’re not opposed. I feel like Victor would be prone to it more often than Alice (usually “darling” or “love”).

Introverted/Extroverted: They are both introverts who don’t like being around lots of people if they can help it. XD Victor scores higher than Alice thanks to being generally socially anxious too.

Affection Through Words/Affection Through Actions: I put Alice a little closer to the “words” side, as she’s fairly open about saying how much she loves Victor, while Victor’s a little closer to the “actions” side thanks to the whole “his two main love languages are ‘acts of service’ and ‘gifts’“ thing I established in the very first ship meme. Obviously Victor can use his words and Alice can do things for Victor (”acts of service” is one of her love languages too), but this felt like their usual dynamic.

Confesses First/Waits For Confession: This one was a little tricky, because there’s not a lot of traditional confessions in my Valice stuff. . .but looking at the evidence, Victor is both generally the one to figure out his feelings first, and the one to express them first, however accidentally. While Alice, who has less experience with love and is demiromantic anyway. . .yeah. Victor gets the “blurted out without meaning to” confession, Alice the “holy shit so THAT’S how I feel about you” moment. XD

Screams About The Bugs/Squashes Bugs w/a Shoe: Victor only screams about bugs in an enthusiastic sense 99% of the time, so he goes closer to the middle -- Alice goes closer to the squashing side as she is not really a bug fan, and besides, she’s killed a LOT of Army Ants, Mechanical Ladybugs, Nightmare Spiders, and Samurai Wasps in Wonderland. (Yes, I know spiders are arachnids, but they can still be lumped in under the “bug” label.)

Drives The Car/Can’t Drive lol: Victor goes in the middle simply because I imagine he learns to drive in modern settings (hell, he’s Victoria’s ride to the Giovanni Mansion in “Londerland Bloodlines”). Alice, meanwhile, is generally out of commission during the time most people normally learn how to drive, and I’ve yet to picture her learning. Honestly, she probably doesn’t because she does NOT want to risk a Wonderland episode behind the wheel. Too much risk!

Can’t Cook For Shit/Makes Dinner: As I have stated previously, Alice does much of the regular cooking (when applicable -- aka when she eats and they’re not living with June), but Victor likes to bake. And he does help out in the kitchen with regular meals, so they’re kind of a dinner-making team. :)

Dislikes PDA/Loves PDA: They don’t torture people with it, but they have indulged (notably in “Fixing You” where Alice scandalized some ladies by daring to kiss Victor on the sidewalk), so closer to the “yes” side. Victor I imagine is generally somewhat more open than Alice about it (hell, him suddenly NOT being okay with it is basically a plot point early in “Fixing You”).

Overprotective/Chill Going: While they’re both independent people, they also both have some abandonment issues, along with those they love being threatened in front of them, so they tend toward overprotective. Alice more than Victor, as -- well, I believe I’ve mentioned what the Liddell fire did to her head. She’s NOT losing someone she loves again if she can help it.

Has more relationship experience/Has NO relationship experience: Alice has been in an asylum most of her life, and generally found the people who tried to hit on her in Whitechapel pretty repulsive. Romance to her is a foreign land! Victor generally isn’t much better, but he at least has the short amount of time he spent with Victoria and Emily (and sometimes more, like “Fallout of Darkness’s” Victor being married and in a secret poly relationship with them). It’s something!

[Blank] Levels: By contrast, these were pretty easy to fill in --

Horny Level: Yeah, neither of them are the horniest people. Alice gets a tiny bit because she’s grey asexual and thus under the exact right circumstances can want to get it on; Victor gets a little more as he’s allosexual, but he’s not a very horny guy by nature -- and growing up in Burtonsville with his parents and the looming presence of Pastor Galswells probably didn’t help!

Awkwardness Level: Okay, yeah, I think we can all agree that Victor, being socially anxious and not good with words, is pretty much made of awkward. XD Alice also gets a pretty high awkwardness level because spending most of your life in supervised hospitalization doesn’t give you that much in the way of social skills. She’s better than Victor, but she finds it hard to socialize with others, and her snarky sense of humor isn’t often appreciated.

Jealousy Level: And right back to low, as neither of them tend to be the jealous type (hell, they’re both poly if given the chance). Alice gets a higher level than Victor thanks to the green-eyed monster rearing its head a couple of times around Victoria in the Forgotten Vows Verse, while Victor never really gets jealous of anyone -- he’s more prone to slipping into self-loathing. Aw.

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Londerland Bloodlines -- This Girl Does Not Want To Be On Fire

So -- we all know that the most traumatizing event in Alice’s life is the house fire that killed her family, correct? Well, going through Vampire: the Masquerade -- Bloodlines in various forms (actually playing it, watching LPs, etc.) in order to write her Malkavian adventures in the Londerland Bloodlines series -- specifically, writing the Ocean House chapter in “Santa Monica’s Vale of Tears” -- got me thinking: how often does our poor Fledgling Alice have to face off against fire during the course of the story? So I took a look at the main quest line, and I’ve identified four major incidents where fire was a genuine threat to Alice (instead of just being a thing in the world, like the fire barrels that the homeless warm themselves around). Here they are, ranked by how traumatizing the fire itself was to her:

4. The final fire trap of the Mandarin’s death course -- This one is the easiest of the lot to handle, no surprise -- she only has to look at it for a minute or two before one of the Wonderlanders (likely Cheshire, but it might be somebody else) points out she can explode the trap with a well-placed bullet to escape. It’s not exactly fun for her to contemplate having to figure out a way through the trap, but it’s quickly forgotten as she works to escape the Mandarin’s lab.

3. The memory of the Ocean House Hotel fire -- Alice made it through this one okay -- she didn’t enjoy having to crawl on her belly around ghostly flames and dodge bursts of steam, but I think the fact that it wasn’t technically real fire, just a ghostly image of such, actually helped. It made it all feel a touch less real to her. Plus it was reasonably short, ending the moment she made it to Dorothy and Ed’s burned-out room. Not great, but not terrible.

2. The burning of Griffith Park -- Okay, before anyone asks why this is at number 2 -- the criteria for this list is how traumatizing the fire itself is to her. And yes, having the park go up in flames around her was extremely unpleasant and terrifying, especially when she and Nines tried to flee, only to discover the cable car already leaving --

But the furious werewolves quickly establish themselves as the top threat. Alice never forgets the park is on fire, trust me -- she spends a lot of time avoiding the flames as well as the werewolf, and the smoke does not make dodging it easier -- but the most terrifying thing to her in that moment is the eight-foot-tall toothy death machine trying to claw her to death. At least until she manages to lure it into the observatory telescope’s doors. . .

1. The burning of Grout’s Mansion -- This is the big one when it comes to the fire itself. Alice already hated Grout’s mansion because of his horrifyingly Victorian approach to mental health and what he did to his ghouls, but Bach setting the entire place aflame? Forcing her to run past all those ghouls, now burning alive because they’re too addled by Grout’s experiments on them to avoid the fire, until she has to save herself by throwing herself out an upper-story window?

Yeah, how did Alice escape the fire that killed her family again?

*slow clap* Winner on the basis of forcing Alice to relieve the absolute worst moment of her life. There is a reason that, after this mission, Alice goes from “trying to be polite to LaCroix because she’s worried about what will happen to her if she isn’t” to “fuck you asshole I’ll do your dirty work because I haven’t a choice but you can pay me for it and deal with my sarcasm in the meantime.” (Though, on the plus side, it also marks a more pleasant milestone in her relationship with Victor, as his genuine concern and care for her when she gets back to the apartment ends up earning him touch privileges. . .and is probably the moment when she starts falling in love with him.)