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

[alienlisa]

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?"

[clockwork_doc]

"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. . ."

[alienlisa]

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."

[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."