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A Slightly Different Birthday

It's the end of October, and we all know what that means -- party time! And, as usual, first up is Doc's birthday. Also as usual, the party's being held in the Inkwell's main room, with orange ribbons bedecking the walls, shiny brass balloons bobbing on the chairs, and the usual BTTF medley playing on the jukebox. But there's something a little less usual about this particular party --

This is the first one Doc's had since his family grew by one son and one nephew. Who seem about ready to give him his present. . .

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And considering the circumstances, it's Victor who has been chosen to present it. "Happy birthday," he says with a bright grin as he hands it over, wrapped in red paper. "It's from all of us."

"Thank you very much," Doc says, accepting the gift and pulling it open. Inside he finds -- "A scrapbook?" he asks, opening it curiously. "'A History of Our Family. . .'"

"Marty came up with the idea!" Dee reports, bouncing on her heels. "He told us how much the other one, with you and him being friends, meant to you, so he wanted to give you another one with all of us!"

"Yeah," Marty says with a soft chuckle. "It only seemed right since -- you know. New paperwork and all. . ."

Doc nods, smiling as he flips through pages of pictures and drawings and scribbled notes capturing all the moments they've shared together. "I do know -- and it's an amazing gift." He looks up, eyes twinkling as steam hisses from his back. "Though I do note that it's not quite complete yet. . ."

"Hey, plenty of time to make new memories, Unc," Marty says, nudging him -- then furrows his brow. "I dunno, I think I still like 'Doc' better."

Doc laughs and hugs him. "It's fine -- I like 'Doc' myself. But seriously, call me whatever you want. The important thing is how we feel about each other." He scoops Dee and Victor up into the hug as well. "And thank you all very, very much for a such a thoughtful present."

"You're welcome, 'Uncle Doc,'" Marty jokes, hugging back.

"You're welcome, Daddy!" Dee says, squeezing him around his middle.

Victor wraps his arms around Doc's shoulders. "Yes, you're welcome--" And then, with a slight, happy tremor in his voice "--Dad."

AL and the guys march in fashionably late. The tension between AL and Twelve seems to have lessened slightly, though he's still confined to sitting quietly.

"What up, peeps?" AL says, giving the assembled Docs a hug. "How's everything going?"

"Still in the corner, dude?" Marty notes as Twelve takes his seat. "Somebody go smack whoever's playing him and tell him to be nice already."

Doc snorts, shaking his head. "Marty. . .and we're doing quite well, thank you," he adds to AL as he and the others return her embrace. "I don't suppose you've heard the news?"

Twelve nods solemnly.

AL shrugs. "In his defense, he was pretty awesome last week. You know, one of those moments that makes one go 'I love this man'." She pauses. "The alter ego hasn't seen this week's episode yet, so for us it hasn't happened yet, so we don't know if that opinion's changed."

"You said you weren't going to let my personality sway your feelings anymore," states Twelve.

"I know and it won't as long as you remain that person who protects the underdog. Clara may be addicted to traveling with you but you know I can leave whenever I want."

"That's what scares me..." he mutters to himself.

She pats his hand. "I've only ever left two of my guys thus far and only one because he pissed me off so much that I had to leave." Her wings twitch; she doesn't like talking about that incident.

And she decides to change the subject and turns to Doc. "With Victor and Marty?" She chuckles. "Even if I hadn't, I would know - " She taps her head. " - with all the happy thoughts being projected around this place like a tennis game." She grins.

"Well, that's all right then," Doc says with a glance at Twelve. "Hopefully this week's episode keeps up the streak. And I'd say those are pretty good odds for you and her staying together if she's only left one because of behavior issues. Though who was the other? I know you were apparently yanked away from my other self at one point, but I assume you're referring solely to voluntary departures."

That gets a round of soft laughter. "Hey, can you blame us? We're excited," Marty replies.

"Yeah!" Dee agrees, bouncing. "I gotta big brother and a cousin and I'm gonna have a sister!"

"In-law, technically," Alice reminds her.

"Still counts!"

AL nods. "Some of you may not have been around for this, but the alter ego was once engaged to a guy. She broke up with him, but he had an alter ego of sorts that was in a relationship with me. Since the parting between them was...well, it wasn't on good terms but they're still able to have a conversation once in a while, she didn't break us up at first." She scratches the back of her head (and let's just note that AL did NOT get her hair cut, lol). "Unfortunately, Jedi Ben - that's what his nickname was like mine is Alien Lisa - is just as long-lived as I am so the alter ego figured that if I'm to have relationships with other people after him, then I'd have to leave." She shrugs. "So I suppose the story goes that I fell out of love with him just as the alter ego did...so I left. If he needs anything he knows he can contact me because I'll always care, but to me that's different than being in love and wanting to be around someone all the time." She shrugs again.

Clearing her throat, she ruffles Dee's hair. "That totally counts."

"Oh." Okay, now Doc feels rather awkward. "All right then. I'm -- I'm sorry for bringing it up. I understand it's probably not the rawest moment in your history, but still. . ." At least they're still on somewhat good terms, which is probably more than can be said for the other guy.

He's only too happy to change the subject, grinning and nodding at Dee. "Of course it does. She'll be sharing our last name, after all."

AL spreads her hands. "Nah, it's okay. At least I can still think of Ben and smile." And that is certainly more than what could be said about Wesley. "I try not to let the bad apples spoil the bushel, you know? Luckily there's only been two amongst many." She eyes Coulson. "And the list is just growing." She snickers. "I now have a new friend. He's a defense attorney named Phoenix Wright. The alter ego hasn't decided yet if I'm dating him or not." She digs around hammerspace for a picture. "Not the best pic of him...anyways, he's originally from a visual novel adventure game that the alter ego's become slightly obsessed with - "

"Slightly?!" the guys chorus.

" - due to a couple Let's Players playing the first game in the series," she finishes without missing a beat. "There's five in total but he's the protagonist in four of them and he's been in two crossover games - one of those 'this company vs. that company' fighting games (Marvel vs. Capcom) and one crossing over with this archaeologist from London who specializes in puzzles by the name of Professor Layton and the latter the alter ego has...and completed in less than 40 hours. Personally, I think the alter ego's got a bit of a crush on the guy." Um...yeah. "Not that I blame her...he's cute." She laughs. "She's got this weird idea in her head that I saved him from falling off a cliff by teleporting him to safety. Nothing concrete in story yet, so things can change."

In closing, she eyes Victor. "So you're gonna be Victor Brown now and Alice will be Alice Brown?"

Edited (needed to add something) 2014-10-27 12:08 (UTC)

"Well, good," Doc says, nodding sagely. "That's an excellent attitude to take toward it all. You can't let a few sour relationships spoil all the sweet ones." He chuckles as she glances toward Coulson. "Especially since you seem to be collecting even more of the latter."

The group listens with interest to AL's little ramble about her newest pal/crush/what-have-you. "This is the guy from that 'boot to the head' vid you like, right?" Marty asks Vic.

"Yeah, but that's just a spoof video," Vic says with a laugh. "Like Lisa here says, he's been in actual video games. Never actually played one or seen it played, but the characters are way popular on tumblr. Same with the Layton crew -- Forgotten Vows is pals with a genderbent pair of them. Hendel Layton and Clarence Foley. They just had a kid together." She grins. "I look forward to seeing if Phoenix joins the gang officially!"

"Me too," Victor says, before nodding at AL. "Precisely. Though in Alice's world, people will know me as Vincent. I didn't want to use my own name, and -- well, people ALREADY confuse my name with that one, so. . ."

AL nods at Doc. "Yep, exactly." She then snickers. "And, technically, not everyone is here. There's still a couple of my guys who don't live at the house. I think reason being is that the alter ego doesn't have easy access to the shows they're from." She thinks a moment. "Well, at least one of them. Netflix has the other...probably never got around to moving Ryan in I guess." Um, sure. We'll go with that.

"If you want a Let's Play, we suggest SuperJeenius," says AL. "He has a pleasant voice and he's pretty good at trying to figure out what evidence and stuff to present. I know you don't have as much time as you used to, but it's there whenever you have a spare half hour. Oh, and not all the videos are on the playlist yet but the LP is complete." She smiles. "Oh, I'm sure he'll join. Just in what capacity remains to be seen. I think the alter ego wants to at least finish the games she has and try to get or see an LP of the latest one before she makes the ultimate decision on whether he's added to my list of guys or just to the long list of people I know."

"I see," she says to Victor. "I don't blame you for wanting to get away from 'Van Dort', no offense. Whatever works for you and as long as you're happy."

Edited 2014-11-02 20:18 (UTC)

"Perhaps this is why Vic sticks to different alternates of the same character, rather than a large variety of different potential love interests," Doc jokes. "Less work involved in keeping up on a variety of different canons."

"He says, knowing darn well how I can get when plotting out AUs," Vic points out, gesturing toward Forgotten Vows and Butterfly Boy as exhibits A and B. "Anyway, thanks for the tip -- I'm actually going to have at least two days off in November, so maybe I'll get a chance to check him out. It would be nice to know a little more about what everybody's talking about. And yeah, that's probably for the best. You want a full dossier on his personality before deciding on 'romantic' or 'just pals.'"

"Thank you," Victor says with a smile. "Though, honestly, who was expecting me to be the one who gave up the Van Dort name first?"

"You mean over the one who was disowned and the one who basically no longer speaks to his parents?" Marty says, laughing.

"The alter ego's usually pretty good about keeping track of the information. Sometimes to frightening degree depending on who it's about." She gestures at Five as an example. "You can ask about anything that happened during my time with him and it's like it just happened. Others, well, it's a little harder." She shrugs.

She nods at V. "Yeah...apparently in later games he has an adopted daughter - a teenager named Trucy. She's a stage magician. He took her in after her mother disappeared and her father died. I may be a mother in a few universes and of course the alter ego is...but I don't know if I'm cut out for that especially for a teenager." She shrugs again. "We'll see. There's still two and a quarter games to get through."

"Someone had to be first," she says to Victor. "Maybe you just had the right opportunity to do it. No one's said the other Victors wouldn't follow. And if they do, okay. If they don't, okay. Again, as long as you're happy."

Vic giggles. "I can be like that too -- I just focus really intensely on a few certain properties rather than spreading it out like she does. Still, good for her -- she's got a better memory than I have, I'm sure."

"Oh yeah, I've heard about her!" Vic nods a few times. "Though I can see how it would make relationships difficult. . .you should probably reserve judgement until you 'meet' Trucy in the games," she says, holding up a point-making finger. "Once you get a sense of her personality, you'll know if you'll be suited to Mom or more of an aunt."

"That's true enough," Victor admits, glancing back at his alternates, who nod. "Vic set it up so I had to use an alias to get married to Alice in her world, and it all sort of went from there. . ." He grins. "I'm very happy, trust me. I'm -- I'm getting the family I always wanted."

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A Slightly Different Birthday

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