#stephanie grinrich

[chriscdcase95]

Hiatus is up! And so is chapter ten!!

So cards on the table, my reason for putting this story on hiatus was because the announcement of True Colors caught me off guard. I originally wrote Steph as Rachel's love interest for this story, but her being in True Colors had me changing a lot from my original plans. Coming up with an explanation for Steph’s presence wasn't the hard part (tulpa), but rather waiting to see what will change. And quite a lot has changed from the first plan.

In forthcoming chapters, Control and Until Dawn tie-ins will be more frequent insofar as the Until Dawn cast are gonna be minor/supporting characters, and that the FBC is a frequent presence. True Colors may become  part of the crossover (the present day chapters are set in 2020), so we may be seeing be seeing Alex, Gabe, etc, down the line.

Picking up right where chapter nine left off, this chapter was gonna be longer than it currently is, and was gonna wrap up Rachel's arc in LA (as I have long since grown tired of it, and want to move on to the "present day" story, and what Max and/or Chloe were up to over the time skip). But I had to split it due to length issues. As such not much happens here in the action department. It's mostly focused on Rachel meeting Reid and Ashbury, as well as flashbacks leading up to the time Rachel was marked by the Red Queen.

I did sneak some Chasemarsh in towards the end, just something I wanted to include in one of my later chapters, but figured it'd work better here.

Content warning: This chapter contains death, drug abuse, depictions of Rachel’s “relationship” with Jefferson, as well as Rachel's affair with another older character; one of the reasons it took me a while to write this was because of having to write this relationship without skimming. Luckily the Jefferson affair is only covered here. There's also instances of nudity and allusions to sex; there was gonna be some Ambergrich smut and a lot of vampire related violence, but that's saved of the next chapter.

[chriscdcase95]

LIS + Vampyr: Fanfic worldbuilding and update.

Unlife is Strange related post. Edit: As of August 2023, with several changes to the story, this post is a little out of date. On the upside, I get to do another update!

It's been a while since I talked that much it exclusively. While I’m gonna put more work into Love’s Sacrifices, I thought “Why the Hell not ?” Especially since the current story is a far cry from what I originally planned.

As my readers know Unlife is Strange is a crossover between Life is Strange, Vampyr and Until Dawn. I already talked about ideas for the Until Dawn side of things, should I write a solo story, but I never talked at length over the Vampyr and Life is Strange stuff in a while. 

The story is going on temporary hiatus, due to the upcoming True Colors. This mostly has to do with Steph's presence, and me having to rework the later half of the story; Steph was going be a more active character in the later chapters, and Ambergrich was gonna be one of the main ships - but I really want to take True Colors into account and see what’s gonna change. And it would give me time to finish up the chapters that are already half written.

 In the meantime, I thought I'd share a little world + character building. Most of what I share is already put in the story thus far, so it’s not like I'm not spoiling much. 

 1. I have gone back and forth on whether or not to tie Unlife is Strange and Love's Sacrifices together. I ultimately decided they wouldn't be directly connected, but I do entertain the idea that the two are part of a multiverse and that they are each others "parallel". Not even directly, but more of a "Weird that it happened twice" sort of way. 

See here for details. 

 2. Multiple mythological figures existed as vampires as per Vampyr lore. In Unlife is Strange,  Myrddin's champions include figures such as Cú Chulainn and Beowulf; examples of the Red Queen's champions include Queen Medb and Morgause. While Myrddin usually takes male champions - and his mother takes females - there is a rare occasion they will accept an "heir" of the opposite gender in the event of their champions premature death. 

Examples for the Red Queen include Mordred, who also serves as one of the secondary antagonist of the story (who I am having a blast writing). Female examples serving Myrddin, Ashbury previously took up William Marshall's sword when he disappeared from the world. In the present day, Ashbury also leads her own Escalon club, because she is the stories girl boss. 

As for roots the in mythology, The Red Queen was the partial basis behind the myth of Morgana Le Fey. Also to differentiate the Red Queen from the goddess Morrigan, I use an interpretation I’ve been told that the Morrigan was a title that three goddesses shared. On the flip side, Myrddin was also known as "Merlin" in Arthur's time, and in Cú Chulainn's time, was called (and the basis behind) the Celtic god Lugh.

3.  As anyone who reads the story can guess, the protagonist would is a vampirized Rachel Amber. I picked her as I decided that out of any LiS character to become a vampiric champion, Rachel made the most sense to be, behind Chloe.

Unlife’s portrayal of Rachel is largely based off of my headcanons of her, based in part of an analysis of her and Chloe’s relationship I wrote back in 2019. Rachel is someone who, simply put, has issues. I play up the chameleon aspect of her character, in that she takes on at least two personas to cover up her resurrection.

One of these is “Vivian Manning”, who she poses as in her “public life” in LA, wherein she makes a name for herself as an obscure but successful YA novelist. There is a story arc that focuses on Rachel’s unlife in LA leading up to the present day; honestly one of the reasons I’m taking a while to write the chapters is due to Arc Fatigue and wanting to focus more on the present day arcs.

All in all, Rachel can be a toxic person, as per canon, but I use this to write her as more of an Anti Hero. She’s not without her virtues or morals; she has complicated feelings regarding Chloe and her other partners; feels general compassion to those she attaches herself to; and she has a Mama Bear streak we will be seeing more of; she isn’t exactly sure of her place as the Red Queen’s champion. She’s also not without her vices; she might not go out of her way to kill innocent people, but she will make a mess when she does fight/kill others. She still has a party girl/drug and drinking habit and takes advantage of the fact they can’t kill her. She’s also shameless about her sexuality - in fact, there are times where she borders onto nymphomania.

The best way I can describe what Rachel will be like in forthcoming chapters is the love child of Tree Gelbman (Happy Death Day) and Jennifer Check (Jennifer’s Body).

4. Among the crossovers I already include, I also write tie-ins to what I call the Rockstarverse (Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead) and Remedyverse (Alan Wake and Control). Nothing to significant, mostly just cameos and Easter Eggs. 

In this world, the fictional cities from GTA are swapped out for their real world counterparts (Los Santos - Los Angeles, Liberty City - New York, etc), but characters and events remain otherwise the same. Control at least has plot relevance with the FBC being involved in ongoing investigations. I even have a small gag where GTA and RDR myths are under the FBC's watch. 

I'm also considering a few animated titles for future crossovers or follow ups; even have a cameo for a certain character in mind for the current story. Just mixing things up a little. I just haven't put as much thought into these ones as the others, other than The Owl House and Amphibia.

 I just haven't thought of a plot for that yet. 

 5.  I said it before, but it bares repeating. Some chapters I dub Route A and Route B. These take longer to write as Route A takes place in a "Sacrifice Arcadia Bay/Parting Ways" timeline; Route B follows "Sacrifice Chloe/Redemption". 

Regardless, following both ends of the first Life is Strange, the events of Arcadia Bay were investigated by the FBC. An investigation that went on until late 2015, and will be covered in two upcoming chapters. In Route A chapters, I made a list of characters who I decided survive the Storm. 

What this segways too is that I am also writing two versions of Chloe Price. In Route A, who I dub Mama!Chloe is a parent with Max and has become a more stable individual over time, due to being in an out of therapy, and largely changing herself for her son, Bill. This may a spoiler, but Route B will be featuring Vampire!Chloe, who is a different character due to different circumstances. 

Let me put it this way. Mama!Chloe = Eda Clawthrone; Vampire!Chloe = Catra.

 6.  Mary Reid has an ongoing, significant role in Unlife, and like the Red Queen, will be expanded on a more than the game does. 

My main reason for bringing Mary back to life in this story was because I felt she was under-utilized in Vampyr proper. Here Mary and her relationship with Jonathan is one of the primary focuses on their arcs. As my introduction chapter for Mary shows, she ends up enslaved to the Red Queen and her followers; at their creates and helps groom potential champions. She's a dark counterpart to how I wrote Rachel, in that to write them both as self indulgent, outgoing and carefree girls, and are shameless about their sexuality. Matter of fact, Mary is part of the reason the Red Queen had her eyes on Rachel. They get along famously.

Mary and Jonathan's relationship as siblings is pretty on and off over the course of the 20th, and in the present day, they are pretty distant. Not helping is that Mary does go back and forth to serving the Red Queen and being "free".  There are still unfinished chapters I’m working on that explore their history and dynamic over the years; I’ll be finishing them up during the hiatus.

 7.  Vampires are capable of sexual reproduction, it's just requires a lot of "work". Damphir pregnancies more often than not result in miscarriages or stillbirths. Even if one is born, it's rare they live to adulthood. Their blood however is lucrative as it allows vampires to survive in the daylight. An example of a damphir in this story is Mordred; one of the reasons he's held in such a regard is not only is he a damphir who lived to adulthood, but he has lived for nine centuries at the time of the story. 

Hereditary vampires are a little different. At birth, they are effectively human, and their vampire traits really don't kick in until their pubescent years. Even then, they have to drink human blood to become a full vampire. If not, they remain effectively human, only they live longer than normal, and age slower. A hereditary vampire in their 90's would appear no older than their early 60's.

 8. Count Dracula exists in this "verse". We know little of him, but where humans take him lightly, vampires dread him. There’s a Running Gag where someone would jokingly bring him up, and those who know of him would warn not to invoke his name.

 9. An OC character of mine for the present day is Bill Caulfield Price, who is Max and Chloe's son. He'll exist in both Route A and Route B, the explanation for the latter is that Chloe was an organ donor, and Max got a hold to her ovums.

 In either timeline, Bill is the golden child of his clan, honorary to otherwise. There's not much to talk about him other than he's baby, and much like pretty how I write Bella Conrad in Loves Sacrifices, just gender swapped. In Route A, he's largely responsible for Chloe getting her act together, and she's an absolute Mama Bear towards him; in Route B, Max is mostly a single parent, reliant on friends and family to help raise him. His two favorite aunts are Kate and Dana (something they are very competitive about). 

One thing that stands out about Bill is his own set of powers; e is a seer of sorts, and dreams of the past, present and truth. Especially if it is of someone he's connected to. They mostly involving King Arthur and Mordred, but he also has dreams of Chloe and Max, mostly seeing the events of the first game, BTS, and Farewell from their perspective. He even dreams of Rachel, despite having no apparent connection to her or even knowing who she is. 

There's also a downside to his "power", as it makes him a target of the supernatural; vampires, evil spirits, you name it ? Drawn to him like moths to a flame. It’s usually the wicked ones who are attracted to him.

[chriscdcase95]

Living!Chloe and Vampire!Chloe designs.

Quality is shit I know. Art isn’t my expertise, but I have a hobby of using character creations on Saints Row: The Third and Saints Row IV to make character designs or redesigns. As of late I have used them to make character designs for Unlife is Strange an AU crossover fanfic between Vampyr and the Life is Strange series. Currently ongoing on AO3.

What you see is two designs I have for Chloe Price, based on both Route A (based on the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay/Parting Ways endings) and Route B (based on the Sacrifice Chloe/Redemption endings).

I normally don’t put anything spoilery in my posts, but I figured the twist of a Vampire Chloe in a “Bay” ending timeline wouldn’t be a spoiler in on itself, but rather her role and characterization in Route B is. As you can see, I based Route A in part on her Life is Strange 2 redesign. Hence the green hair.

I also have vampric designs in mind for Rachel Amber considering she’s set to be the main character of the fic, I just don’t have images to save of them yet. I also have designs in mind for the corporeal/humanoid forms of The Red Queen and Myrddin Wilt. 

The former of whom I modeled after Katie McGrath.

Addendum: Had to edit to fix some formatting issues.

[chriscdcase95]

Content Warning: This fic is going to contain disturbing subject matter from extreme violence, abuse, potential racism, and implications of sexual violence. Considering Mark Jefferson, and other LiS2 antagonists like Lisbeth Fischer will be featured in forthcoming chapters, that is a warning in on itself.

Alright, here is chapter six.

Sorry if some of you where waiting. I would have had this up a week or so ago, but I ended up losing the files for it. Twice. As a result I spent the better part of my time rewriting what I lost and saving them to different files, and spent my day editing the chapter as it is now.

I wanted to introduce Daniel's arc this chapter, but his bits are still being written. Between this, an Until Dawn tie in story I am writing, as well as Love's Sacrifices, I am going to be busy. That said, in this chapter we get our proper introduction to Mary Reid's arc.

And after a few chapters of hyping him up, we get our proper intro to one of this stories secondary antagonists in this take on Mordred. Yes, that Mordred.

Now to clarify something, that I probably shouldn't; only chapters dubbed Route A or B can refer to a specific ending these chapters refer too. If not listed as such, they applicable to both Bae or Bay endings, and are written neutrally in a way that could refer to either. 

I wrote a list of characters in this story who survive the storm (Kate Marsh, Dana Ward, etc) for Route A, and will be featured in both routes. In neutral chapters, "Survivors" can either refer to Dark Room/Jefferson's survivors, or survivors of the storm, and "The Incident" refers to either the storm or Chloe's death.

[chriscdcase95]

Chapter Nine is up, and some news.

Content warning: This chapter contains a brief glimpse of Rachel and Jefferson's "relationship". You'd understand if I skimmed some of it while writing. There’s also vampire related violence, but y’know, lesser of two evils

Okay, this chapter took me quicker than I thought to write, but I have some news pertaining to the upcoming True Colors. While the next few chapters are already planned and half written, once they are done, I may be putting this story on hold, at least until True Colors is released. Especially since I still intend on implementing True Colors in this fics world.

The reason for this is obvious; the presence of Steph in both. Before TC was announced, I actually intended Ambergrich to be one of the main ships for Unlife. In fact, this chapter is very Ambergrich heavy.

Since Steph is gonna be in TC, and I intend to avoid canon divergence is possible, there's quite a bit I gotta rework from my original plan. Also I just really wanna wrap up the Rachel in LA arc in the next chapter; It’s getting me some Arc Fatigue. I already have an In-Universe explanation for Steph's anomalous presence here, in case of any major contradictions in the upcoming game. But I still want to wait until it's out before I can put it into action so I can know what I'm working with. My one hint is it has to do with a forthcoming SCP crossover I plan to write in the future, set in this fics "verse".

In the next few chapters, tie-ins to Until Dawn and Control will be a little more prominent, and more focus on the Reid's/Ashbury in the 20th century; we are also gonna have a Route A and Route B version of the "Arcadia Bay Investigation" by the FBC. In the meantime, I also may be putting more work into Love's Sacrifices and another fic I’m planning; Still Here Breathing.

[chriscdcase95]

Life is Strange: Pricefield parenting headcanon

Updated.

This has partially to do with Unlife is Strange, but is a general headcanon AU. This isn't an immediate update of the AU, and it's still taking time for me to work on. 

For those who are following the hashtag or still care at this point I have been planning and writing an AU storyline on her that serves as a crossover between Life is Strange and Vampyr. It's gonna take some time to work on and I lost the initial file for the character sheet. So I have to do all that work on a different file. My grandmother recently passed away and it took a damper on my writing motivation. I'm still taking it kind of hard, but I am working through it. 

On the upside my older sister recently announced that she is pregnant which got me thinking of an old headcanon I had. It involves Max and Chloe as parents. This one I am considering to implement into the Undeath AU. 

The headcanons to as such. 

1. The kids name is Bill, after William Price. 

2. Max and Chloe have a "Fun Parent/Responsible Parent" dynamic. That being said Max is considered the responsible parent, Chloe is surprisingly the more competent parent and better with kids than Max. Like Max could spend an hour or so trying to rock a baby to sleep and get the kid to stop crying; Chloe would manage to do so in under a minute. 

3. If the kid is one of theirs biologically, I am considering Chloe to be the biological mother. At the very least it's her eggs that are used, and Max might be a surrogate to carry the child to term. 

4. In my headcanon, there's quite a few survivors of the Storm (let's say somewhere in the double digits, again this is following my "Undeath" story). Among them are students and friends of theirs (Kate, Warren, Steph, etc) who take the role of surrogate aunts/uncles. Also to go with the surrogacy and artificial insemination idea, I was thinking that a possible sperm donner would be from a trusted friend of theirs. I have Warren in mind for this.

 5. Every time Aunt Victoria is alone or thinks she's alone with the baby, she gets all cutesy and cuddly with him; baby talk, raspberries, tickles, the whole nine yards. Whenever caught she vehemently denies everything. 

6. I was considering the possibility of giving the kid powers. I don't think he would inherit Max's time travel powers...especially considering I aim for him to be Chloe's biologically. After thinking about it for some time I decided make him see spirits and detect supernatural phenomena. 

He doesn't just see or sense spirit animals, but spirits in general; angels, demons, spirits so long as they are attached to people around him. He can also immediately tell if someone is a witch/vampire/spirit, etc. Point is, he is usually the first if not the only one to pick these things up, but the thing is, he can’t talk

The wicked ones especially tend to seek him out. They get closer and closer everytime Max and Chloe go on an outing with him. Seemingly he’s the only one who notices them

7. Chloe would be a total Mama Bear. That goes without saying. She does what she can to be the best mother she can be, to the point of quitting pot cold turkey. She also took cues from David's book when it comes to being an overprotective parent. Putting that much thought into it, it seems like the most natural route I can take Chloe being a parent. 

8. Ironically on the flip side, David turns out to be a natural at playing grandpa, he'd be playful, a little goofy. We have seen the "Good Guy" side of David before. Now we are seeing go absolute doting.

9. Sometimes, the kid will wake up in the middle of the night to see an inhuman figure looking down at him. Again, could range from a vampire, demon or the like.

10. Just as their is supernatural beings that pose a threat to him, whether his mothers knew it or not, there’s supernatural beings living among them that will try to protect him, It’s only a matter of time before Max and Chloe discover the truth.

[chriscdcase95]

Undeath: A Life is Strange/Vampyr crossover concept - an Introduction.

Disclaimer: This is, if anything, a fanfic. I do not own the characters or licences to either Life is Strange, nor Vampyr, The respective rights to these franchises and any characters featured here that originated from these two labels belong to Dontnod, Square Enix, Deck Nine, and Focus Group Entertainment. Any songs featured in this concept are I have no intent on making such a crossover nor do I intend to profit off of this concept. 

Any characters I feature that do not originate from the Life is Strange series or Vampyr may be my own take on historical or folkloric characters and/or are in the public domain.

----

A girl awakens in a dark room, but not the same one she was taken too. She is greeted by an older female voice in her head.

“Where...where am I ?”  

“Hush now child, your dream is over.“

“Where’s the light ? Where’s Nathan ? Where’s Mar-?”

“Light? That’s what people always say they see. And yet you wake in darkness? Do you know why that is child?”

“Who are you ? Answer my questions!“

“My my, quite demanding are you ? I will forgive your ignorance, for now. Your brain has been decaying for some time, as has the rest of your body, and it took more time trying to repair the damage. There’s still work to be done, but I’d say you’re almost as right as rain. The simple answer is, you were asleep and mommy woke you up. Now be a good little girl for mommy, and take your medicine.” 

“Momm-? I don’t even know who you are or what’s happening ?”

“You are in a hospital dearie, and in the wrong wing by the looks of it...I can see you’re confused, and a little hungry...down the hall you will find a nurse on the graveyard shift. She is tending to some fool who thought guns were toys and played with them with other children. She should help you with that.”

“But what. Is. Happening ?”

“All will be revealed in due time my dear, but for now go to the nice nurse, and get your medicine...“

With that, the disoriented girl gets off the morgue bed, and walks out towards the door, looks up and down the hall, to see nothing. Even with the dim lights on, a darkness still covers the room. She figures it has more to do with a haze in her own vision than the actual lighting. The girl talks again (possibly in her head).

“What are you ? The devil ? God ?“ 

“Some may call me that, but do you really expect such an easy answer so soon ? It will do you good not to question me.”

The girl feels a pull down the hall as she follows it, and in the back of her head, a chanting sound. As she staggers her way down a couple halls, she hears the chanting becoming louder and louder. She makes her way to a door, entering a room to see a woman tending to a man lying in a bed; or more accurately, the dark shapes of two people, with a red spot glowing in their respective chests - their beating hearts. The girl stands their awkwardly, as the nurse turns, see’s her, and panics. We hear the nurses muffled panicking voice as the girl advances towards them.

“Ahhh! Wha- what is-? You’re dead! You’re dea- No! Please! Don’t! Somebody! Help!”

The nurse begins whimpering and cowering in the corner as the girl backs her into. The girl looks back and forth between the nurse and the patient. The chanting overpowers any other sound in the room; save for the female voice which whispers in the girls ear.

“Feed, child.“

And with that the girl gives into her instincts.

----

What you have just read is the introduction for an AU story that serves as a crossover between Life is Strange and Vampyr. It was something I had in mind ever since Vampyr was advertised. I used to jokingly think of ideas to this shared universe crossover between these titles. It may seem ridiculous, but I still thought this idea interesting. I decided to make this AU as a description how such to a hypothetical game and story would look like.

This has been inspired by Whitelight’s concept for a hypothetical Prototype 3 game on YouTube, so if you’re curious what you’re in for you can check out his videos. He made one video based on what gameplay he’d use for such a game, and a second video as a summary for the story he had in mind for his game.

How this particular concept is gonna work is I will be making five or six posts; the first would be covering what kind of hypothetical gameplay would look like, as well as the kind of soundtrack we’d get. Next, we will be talking about the characters that will appear in this AU and the kind of roles they play. And the last three or four will be a multi-part, in-depth summary of the storyline I have in mind.

I already made a disclaimer above; this is purely a fan made project, I do not own or have access to the licences, nor characters within; they are owned by Dontnod, Square Enix, Focus Group Entertainment, and DeckNine. All rights to go to their respective creators. I have no intent to profit off this idea or make it into an actual game.