#danny and alicia team up against vlad WHEN tho

[starlightshore]

1stswagmastere said: Do u have any different lore or backstory for Vlad in your AU?

I'm going to have fun here and cover his FULL backstory lmao. As for canon -we only know what happened from the Accident in college and that's it. Nothin about his family life.

[has alt id]

Vladimir Masters moved to America with his family when he was 9. They moved because his parents divorced and his father had visited the country often for work. He felt it'd be good to get a fresh start.

Vlad himself knew English but hadn't needed it for daily use, and thus struggled in practice. Plus, I'd imagine the cultural differences were a lot to get used to -suddenly living in the middle of nowhere in Arkansas must of been a shock. Even if he's visited the states before, this was a life altering experience.

Vlad always felt like a misfit, even before the move. His older brother was too old to hang out with his Cringe Fail lil bro and his father couldn't relate to him. Something about the kid was just... different, as his father put it. The two never saw eye to eye, having few things in common. None of this was malicious, his father still supported him and did his best to keep food on the table and the family happy.

I like the idea while the family wasn't perfect -the father had a drinking problem but was never abusive. Nothing super dramatic happened in Vlad's home life -notably so he doesn't have any tragic backstory or "justification" for how much of a manipulative bastard he is modern day. (not that there's anything wrong with tragic backstories. go ham if that's your jam!)

Growing up, Alicia and Maddie were Vlad's best friends. Back then, Maddie was more of a "wild child" and did whatever she wanted on impulse. Alicia was a Baby Butch, a tom boy who wasn't aware of her sexuality but knew she was not like other girls. Being in a small church town in the US South, the trio were the regular misfits. (Notably Alicia is a tad older and acted as the groups babysitter just as often as an instigator to adventure)

Jack lived in the small town but wasn't friends with them until high-school. Jack was a Cool Kid Jock, well liked for his jokey personality and his mid-to-bad football playing. Which, while not great, wasn't terrible and that's an improvement to the small town's crappy team.

However, one day Jack came into the school raving about seeing a ghost. It was funny for a few days -but Jack became obsessed and upset over the whole thing. No one believed him and mocked him, Jack took it very personal.

Maddie approached Jack and gave his story a shot. There's a ghost at the lake, he says. While neither Vlad nor Maddie believe him, they give it a shot cause Maddie thought it'd be fun.

Yeah. Ghosts are real. The trio are terrified but become enthralled. That summer they spend it trying to investigate the ghost -try to find her murderer and appease her vengeful spirit. The three cry and piss themselves scared but it's a major life-long bonding experience.

Turns out the ghost isn't a murder victim -she's just a woman who drowned when drunk while fishing. Her unfinished business was to escape the waters, scaring any locals who neared the water under moonlight. Sadly, without a strong tether to the ghost zone, her ghostly form fizzled out. The teens never really learn these truths.

The whole town is sick of their ghost hunting and are happy to see them leave for college lmao. The three have become Besties For Life, set out to become scientists and find an explanation to the supernatural. Vlad focused on mythology/technology, Maddie quantum physics, Jack with biology/medicine.

The accident happens but it's a direct result of BOTH Fentons. I feel it's thematically important if it's both of their faults, to mirror Danny's accident. Vlad's portal is kept on the whole time, after his death he sneaks into the lab and steals it for himself to keep. It speaks to him. Whispering to him of the Hell he's opened up. This is his portal, yet unnamed and characterized cause i spent all my creative energy on Danny's Portal, Liminal Gates. I don't wanna derail the post to those OCs, but essentially think of them as sentient portal ghosts. they're... not exactly that, but that's the gist.

// OK BELOW i get into depth over both Danny and Vlad's cause of deaths, not like, SUPER gorey detail but its implied of some very awful stuff. skip 4 paragraphs if you don't wanna read that

Tangent: Danny's accident is a result of exposed wire within the portal. In my AU, he doesn't touch an "on" button but rather grabs an exposed switch, yanking on a wire that burnt through his rubber glove and shocked him from hand to foot (which then bounced up to the brain). I got the sense from the theme song that the parent's just... forgot they had that switch in the blueprints, so it makes sense to me that it'd be unfinished and left unattended like that.

anyway now for Vlad's accident. I've mentioned before that in my AU that ectoplasm is in itself the opposite of life, and when in high concentration it'll become acidic and burn through organic matter.

That uh, happened directly to Vlad's face. After the initial blast, the ectoplasm congealed with his blood creating a thick barrier between his face and the air. So even after removing the blast's plasm, it was stuck.

Vlad was rushed to the hospital and bled out, the plasm seeping through into his lungs. It wasn't a fast death like Danny's. Miraculously, he "survived" and had his face bandaged and had to have surgeries to fix the damage. Sadly, even with what little skin was left, because the ectoplasm rooted itself into the skin layer it continued to blister with ecto-acny like in the show. It left him in the hospital for years.

Anyway while Vlad is also a Halfa-Paradox like Danny, he needs to consume Actual Literal Blood. (Not necessarily human blood, nor a living host's blood. usually he drinks animal blood in secret. He's a monster, but he's not THAT much of a monster!)

His body is more unstable and requires more blood to repatch itself. Danny's death was instantaneous and a 1 hour time range surrounding it to connect his timelines. For Vlad, it took 1-2 hours to die, so his timelines and time frame are more scrambled and full of various states of decay and gore. He needs to steel that life essence as well replenish his blood loss. Someone who is a Halfa-Paradox is the living embodiment of of those hour (or for Vlad, hours) they died and didn't die. They're a center point of those timeline selves, fused into one person while shifting between different bodies those timeline selves inhabit. Vlad's is incredibly unstable.

Anyway that aside, Vlad's power is blood based. He really is a vampire ghost. I know my AU mainly has been comedy but I do enjoy the darker side of the fandom (not to... the point some of ya'll go lmao) and Vlad focuses a lot more of this side of things. I've been uncertain on how to take his blood power -do I do blood bending? bleed on you until you're uncomfortable power?

Nah i think I'm going to go with a simple "those he's drunk blood from temporarily are mind controlled" or something. Vampires are a drain on society, a metaphor for their hoarding of wealth and feasting on the life force of the common man. Now as an adult, I see how some people can fall into a warped mindset that loves Capitalism even when it's the root of all evil in society. Uh. That's the best I got chief, Vlad's power is propaganda essentially.

He already uses his over-shadow power for a similar effect in canon, it's a very Vlad thing to do. It's just more.. gross and evil this time around.

Back to the Backstory: after the transition, Vlad fell onto desperate times as the hospital bills were enormous. After trying to handle it morally, he ended up resorting to petty theft using his new powers. Same as canon, this escalated to bigger robbery and then political power. Vlad is more subtle about than in canon, never showing his ghost form and learns to explain his wealth through business rather than staged luck.

Once he had some power and influence, he went back to his old friends hoping to prove to them that they did not ruin him but rather gifted him a wonderful life of wealth and success. He wanted to make them jealous and regret ghosting him and hurting him.

Except, they moved on and were forced to take on jobs outside of their ghost hunting interests. Vlad realized he hadn't actually won out here, he missed out on human connection and turned himself into a monster in the process. Now he's motivated in envying their humanity and family, rather than just a sick obsession to get with Maddie.

Vlad is a master 4D chess player, using his power to influence under his thumb. The Fentons actually were just stuck using their degrees for (gasp) more mundane use like medical research and engineering. Vlad masked his anger and played up the hero, becoming Uncle Vladdie and their boss. He funds their paranormal research, they see him as their good ol' college chum who's got everything.

But the Fentons and him don't connect well on a personal connection. Vlad is too distant and far-too-gone in his own world and self-obsession, Maddie and Jack are pleasant but never have free-time so end up blabbing about research or their kids. Not a great fit for reconnection. It's important to note these old friends have the potential to become buddies again, but Vlad feels compelled to plot and play a more distant role to get what he thinks will worm his way into their lives. Instead of, you know, being normal and just Talking Things Through.

So basically: Vlad is a lonely misunderstood kid who is befriended by some country girls and then later become a group of 3 ghost obsessed weirdos in town. Jack and Maddie are his only friends he's ever had since his hospitalization (isolated again) and later becoming obscenely rich that you stop seeing people normally. He's got rich fuckboi disease essentailly.

iirc Alicia doesn't like Jack because she blames him for getting her sister into ghost hunting (OR MAYBE that's fanon idr) but I also like to think she hates Vlad for becoming so slimey and doubling down on enabling their ghost interests. Like in my timeline of events, the Fentons were able to become normal respected scientists. (albeit, obscure) it's HIS fault they're able to do whatever they want now. she fucking HATES him