#it is AMAZING how much mental time I've put into giving Velvet Velour a tragic backstory

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: Londerland Bloodlines -- Evolution

All right -- last week, I made a post to bring everyone back up to speed on the Londerland Bloodlines AU -- the one with Malkavian Vampire!Alice, Ghoul!Victor, and a surprise Vemilicia situation. Now, I figured it's time to discuss some of the changes I've made since I last seriously talked about this thing:

-->Obviously, the biggest one is putting Bonejangles, aka Sam Thatcher, into the AU after realizing there was basically no reason not to. He's part of the "Giovanni zombie" set with Emily and Lizzie, summoned and bound back to flesh by the clan's necromantic magic. He proved to be as uncooperative as the girls and was imprisoned in the room across the hall -- Emily was simultaneously glad and horrified to see him. He's busted out with the others, of course, and starts working to make a new life for himself in the modern age (with Lizzie, of course -- they form a connection while locked up, and it progresses to romance once they're free and can actually see each other).

-->Speaking of the Giovanni, the whole quest with them goes very differently than I originally planned. Rather than Alice and Victor sneaking into the family reunion as a "cousin" and her fiancee via stolen invitation (and getting some unwanted attention as the Giovanni are thrilled to have a Van Dort of Van Dort Fish potentially joining their ranks), I'm thinking instead Victoria wrangles an actual invitation of her own to the party. How? Well, in a past post, I had the elder Everglots obliviously introduce her to one of the clan (named Augustus Giovanni for now; last name subject to change as they're not all surnamed that) while they were looking for another "suitable" boyfriend for her. Victoria rejected him at the time (in fact, getting away from him and her parents was her reason for moving to L.A.), but when she hears that Alice has to sneak in into the family reunion to retrieve the Sarcophagus, she calls him up with the number he gave her, and suggests that she'd be willing to come as his date. Augustus is all for it, and she plays distraction while Alice breaks into the house via another route. I haven't decided yet whether Victor joins Victoria upstairs somehow (and runs into the same "Giovanni are all about a Van Dort" trouble) or sneaks into the crypt with Alice (and ends up helping her fight the Kue-jin brothers mini-boss). I'd still like to involve Nadia, the necromancer-in-training who will kindly sneak the PC downstairs if you treat her nicely while crashing the party, but I'm not sure how yet. Maybe's visiting Emily, Lizzie, and Sam, debating with herself about whether or not she wants to free them? (Because mindless undead monsters are one thing, but this group can clearly think and they're not having a good time. . .)

-->Gross side note: The Giovanni forced their three zombies to eat human flesh, claiming it was necessary to prevent them rotting away. Once the trio get their hands on the book that created them, they discover they only have to eat meat daily -- what kind isn't important. They're both disgusted and pissed.

-->Most of the vampires in Los Angeles end up ticking Alice off one way or another (she doesn't trust LaCroix, an ill-timed joke and a refusal to accept an apology spoils any relationship with Nines, Isaac demanding tribute REALLY rubs her the wrong way, she gets along with Strauss until the gargoyle incident and the reveal that he basically made himself a slave, etc), but she does end up on at least semi-good terms with a few:

A) Beckett -- I knew they'd get along from the start, as he reminds me a lot of the Cheshire Cat in Gangrel form. They form a great snarky friendship as the game goes on. Helps that Rosa confirms he’s basically one of two people you can fully trust.

B) Bertram Tung -- the Nosferatu whom you have to find at the beginning of the game. Even if he and Knox manipulate her into killing the Cathayan for them, Alice appreciates that he's a little more honest than most of the vampires she meets, and he gives her more information on the clans than she got from anyone else. She's likely to go to him if she needs information on something.

C) The Voerman Sisters -- Alice sympathizes strongly with their backstory, and manages to get them to join forces by reminding them they used to get along -- and telling them that there are plenty of people out there who call Therese a bitch and Jeannette a slut, getting them both riled up in a "how dare they, the only one allowed to insult my sister is me" fashion. She remains welcome at the Asylum afterward, and she and Victor keep it as a regular clubbing spot if they want to go out.

D) Ash Rivers -- Alice thinks he's a bit whiny when she first meets him, but emphasizes with his backstory of being turned without a choice and helps him escape the hunters. She's horrified when she finds him in the vampire hunters' lair later and helps free him without a second thought; he ends up repaying the favor by helping her and the professor she's there to rescue escape when main baddie Bach sets the place to explode (Ash is a Toreador, meaning he gets access to the "super speed" discipline). He disappears after that, but he and Alice at least part on good terms.

E) Velvet Velour -- Alice likes that she prefers all her quests be solved with as little bloodshed as possible, and in a weird way she kind of reminds her of Nanny (not that she knows a good way to tell her that). I have actually become surprisingly invested in Velvet and given her a rather interesting backstory -- Velvet's past self, Susan, had a boyfriend who turned out to be a Sabbat Toreador. He offered her immortality -- and then Embraced her and smashed her over the head with a shovel, as is typical for Sabbat. Velvet clawed her way out of her own grave and immediately ran for it -- she bumped into Isaac and begged for help. Isaac, realizing she had no intentions of attacking anyone, "adopted" her, and argued that she should be allowed as a regular member of good L.A. vampire society. The motion passed with Strauss of all people backing Isaac up (which makes sense with him letting a Tremere PC into the usually-heavily-guarded Tremere pyramid once they prove themselves via sidequests), explaining why Velvet sees Isaac as a father figure and playfully flirts with Strauss every chance she gets. She and Alice end up becoming quite good friends, and Emily gets along great with her too.

-->Alice also becomes pals with Mercurio (stand-up guy who buys her the good shit -- she gives him plenty of warning when she goes after LaCroix at the end so he can cover his ass and find a new source of blood); Knox (he helps her find Victor, which makes up for the Cathayan stuff); Venus Dare (she actually ends up completing BOTH sides of the sidequest where you either kill Boris for her (and become a silent partner in her club and get a steady stream of cash) or kill her for Boris (and get a one-time payment and the chance to feel evil) by taking Boris's offer, going back to Venus, conspiring with her to fake Venus's death, going back and getting the payment from Boris, and then killing him); and Yukie (she is totally on-board to help the girl get her revenge against the shark demon who killed her mentor, especially after learning Yukie's an orphan. She also learns that Yukie speaks English perfectly well and her broken phrasing and random sprinklings of Japanese phrases is an act for the tourists).

-->When it's time to storm the Sabbat (both on LaCroix's orders and because they've kidnapped Lizzie and Victoria before they could get out of town with Sam -- Victor and Emily managed to flee earlier), Alice begs a few different vampires to help her out, only to be rebuffed. She's basically at the end of her rope when, by chance, she happens to run into Bertram (who's recently visited the Hollywood Nosferatu warrens for a reason I haven't determined yet) and Velvet (taking a break from her club). She tells them about her predicament, and Betram figures he can help her. . .

And so does Velvet, who grabs the leather jacket her asshole ex buried her with and marches into the Hallowbrook Hotel with Alice, Bertram, and Sam. They help Alice get through the Sabbat vampires (Velvet even getting the chance to slay her ex -- with a shovel no less) and rescue Lizzie and Victoria. Alice ghouls Victoria to help save her from the wounds inflicted by the Sabbat, then tasks Sam, Velvet, and Bertram with getting them out safely while she goes after Andrei. They escape successfully while Alice plunges deeper, and Velvet and Bertram help Sam, Lizzie, and Victoria get to the city limits. Because sometimes vampires can be nice.

-->You know how, when you're going after LaCroix at the end of the game and you need to fight your way through the army of human and vampire guards standing between you and the asshole? I recently came up with a funny idea -- Alice using her beloved Obfuscate and a bit of pinched climbing gear to SCALE THE TOWER FROM THE OUTSIDE and scare the CRAP out of LaCroix by bursting through his window. Unfortunately, the Sheriff intervenes before she can get him, and she still has to go through that boss battle. But LaCroix is pretty damn rattled, as you might expect. (No wonder he flubs his Dominate attempt on her later!)

-->Okay, this one is an idea I’ve actually had in mind for a while, but I haven’t actually brought it up, I don’t think. Remember how I said earlier that pretty much every vampire ends up pissing Alice off for one reason or another during her time in L.A.? Well, that includes Smiling Jack. She’s actually on reasonably good terms with him for most of the story -- he helped her when she’d just been turned, and he’s easily the most “chill” of the Brujahs she knows -- and willing to drop some information when she needs it. And she appreciates that, even if he thinks of humans as “cattle,” he doesn’t go out of his way to kill them.

And then the sarcophagus explodes. And Alice manages to figure out who was behind the explosion. And while she doesn’t give a damn about LaCroix -- she knows there were innocent people inside his tower. And she remembers very well the horrors she saw on the Elizabeth Dane.

Which is why I have a very clear scene in my head of Alice STAKING Jack at the end of her time in L.A. and leaving him for the sunrise.

Granted, I know this is kind of implausible, given the badass Jack apparently is -- I imagine her pulling it off ONLY because she has top-level Obfuscate at this point, and manages to hit his heart on what she knows will be her only try. She also knows doing this will have consequences -- chiefly, she’d best never set foot in Los Angeles again. Because if anyone finds out it was her. . .fortunately, she’s happy enough to leave the city behind and head north to where her little family has settled down in Hill Valley. (Though she does miss the friends she made there -- I imagine Velvet at the very least stays in touch.)