A Slightly Different Birthday

[clockwork_doc]

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. . .

Comments

[clockwork_doc]

"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.

[alienlisa]

"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."

[deadgirlslikeme]

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."