#v. melanie // tag tbd.

[candledburns]

“...What happened to you?”

With her arms folded across her chest, Melanie gives Neo a distinctly unimpressed look - though hidden behind that facade of disinterest is a hint of curiosity. It’s not like Melanie’s ever liked Neo, but she’s certainly not boring - especially considering what Melanie had heard, albeit second-hand...

“I thought you’d like, died, or whatever.”

@tricoloredillusion ( starter for neo! )

[worldoftheskeptic]

Verses

Note: I’m going to add something called Universe Alternates to slightly modified verses, where a verse is the same except for one thing. Say it’s my main verse, but set in the current year. That would be tagged, v: the firehouse, ua: modern. A verse modified for DC comics would be tagged, ua: dcu

Main Timeline Verses

v: the firehouse

The main verse. This takes place at any time during Peter’s career as a Ghostbuster. Mid/post movie verse.

v: he turned out to be a lizard

A between movies verse. Peter hosts World of the Psychic and suppresses his skepticism against his better judgement.

v: smells like college

A pre-movie verse. Venkman ends up roommates with Egon and/or Ray, etc. in college. Hijinks ensue.

v: new girls

Default verse for interacting with muses from Ghostbusters 2016. If you’d rather not interact in this verse, please specify.

Main future verse. Post 2016 movie. Buckle up, kids, it’s lengthy exposition time.

The Ghostbusters kept doing their thing for years after dealing with Gozer (and Tiamat). Until all hell broke loose. A mysterious lab accident that released all of the busted ghosts from their holding chamber ended up getting Egon killed in the process.

Ray and Winston (and others) were out on an assignment, and Peter had finally gotten a date with Dana, so when the ghosts were released, Egon was alone to deal with them all, and with broken technology everywhere, it wasn’t an easy battle to fight. Egon was able to contact the other Ghostbusters, but since Peter was in the easiest situation to get out of, he ended up getting there first. With Peter’s help, Egon was able to get the ECU functional again, but the surge of electricity required to do so ended up killing him.

The rest of the Ghostbusters arrived on the scene to find Dana panicked outside of the firehouse. They went inside to find Peter attempting to revive Egon. Ray immediately rushed to help, dismantling one of their packs to use like a defibrillator. When he attempted to jump start Egon’s heart again, his soul manifested itself as a ghost and took over Dana.

The Ghostbusters were able to say their last goodbyes to their friend before he left Dana’s body, but something strange happened in the process. Part of Egon’s soul stayed inside of Dana. She started to remember things she’d never experienced, and retained much of Egon’s knowledge of the Ghostbusters’ equipment.

Egon’s death lead to the end of the Ghostbusters, and each member parted ways. Ray became a taxi driver, Winston bought a funeral home, and Peter took on an alias and began debunking ghost stories, determined to never let what happened to Egon happen to anyone else.

With Dana’s newfound obsession with Ghost busting technology, she and Peter got into repeated arguments until they were forced to go their separate ways as well. Later Dana took on an apprentice, Jillian Holtzmann.

Peter continued debunking ghost sightings until Ghostbusters was practically erased from history. But New York remembered. When he learned that a new team had cropped up, he made it his mission to tear them down, but at the same time, he was curious. He wanted to know if they’d really achieved what he and the others had done thirty years before. He prompted them to release their captured ghost, and nearly died from the resulting fall from their second story window. When he got out of the hospital, he didn’t press charges. Instead, he decided to keep watching the New Ghostbusters. Perhaps one day his expertise could be needed.

Events in this verse subject to revision depending on what is agreed to by both partners.

v: a game changer (Martin Heiss Verse)

Martin grew up in the 50s and 60s, afraid to come out as gay, but inspired by the civil rights movements and changing culture which surrounded him.

He was naturally soft spoken, and even reclusive, but what was mistaken for a shy nature didn’t keep him from speaking his mind as he grew into a young man.

He studied sociology and psychology in college, with a particular fascination for myths and legends of different cultures, but he never believed them. A combination of a religious upbringing, the disappearance of his grandfather, and the fear of being kicked out on the street by his parents made him skeptical of things that couldn’t be proven by empirical evidence.

From his middle age onward, Heiss became a well known sociologist, and eventually earned his keep as a paranormal debunker. This allowed him his seat on the Council For Logic and Data, from which he worked his way up to chairman. By then he was known to be openly gay, and even better known for his odd sense of fashion. And then he met the Ghostbusters.

Alternate Timeline Verses

v: incorporated

The Ghostbusters are looking to expand their company, and in addition to adding a Chicago branch, they’ve hired four new trainees with a lot to offer. Who knows, maybe they’ll be the New York branch someday, if the boys ever retire.

v: let’s do the time warp (again)

Ghostbusters 101 verse. Will update with the comics.

Unfortunately, a mishap with the interdinensional portal has caused the Ghostbusters’ universe to merge with well, the other Ghostbusters’ universe. They’ll get it sorted out eventually, but for now, the teams founded in 1984 and 2016 have come together to kick some ghost.

v: time slips

Another Ghostbusters 2016 verse, but with a younger Venkman. Venkman and the rest of the Ghostbusters stayed in limbo longer than they had thought. It’s thirty years later and a new team of Ghostbusters has cropped up in New York. Based on the events in Volume 5 of IDW Ghostbusters.

v: seven sermons to the dead

Peter Venkman and the rest of the Ghostbusters have been committed to the psychiatric ward, but this time the mayor’s aid won’t come clean. Trapped, and with no one to believe them, (no one with a key anyway) the Ghostbusters are separated with the hope that their delusions will subside with less exposure to the others.

Vigo’s plan to possess Oscar succeeds, but it will be several years before he is able to carry out his plan for world domination while Janosz raises him as his son. Will the Ghostbusters escape in time to stop him?

Historical

v: ESP expert

Surprisingly enough, aging paranormal expert Peter Venkman is employed by the US military during World War II to investigate unnatural phenomenon in battle ravaged Germany. (Can apply to other wars/places as well, WWII is default. Based on the movie Monuments Men.)

v: won’t be missed

A young medic finds more than he bargained for overseas when he finds he’s capable of communicating with the dead. (MASH/Another historical verse)

v: a preacher and a con-man

Set between the 1930s and 1960s, Peter Venkman is a lapsed Catholic priest still trying to make a living at preaching after a quiet excommunication from the Catholic church because an “exorcism” he performed was discovered to be a fake. He’s still famous for the exorcism and makes good money giving advice for supernatural ailments and leaving town before anyone can discover he’s a liar (and an atheist).

Ghost Verses

v: college buddies

Peter was killed in college when a car hit him on a walk back to his dorm. Ever since, he’s haunted his roommate, Egon Spengler. Years later, he caused the “accidental” meeting of Ray Stantz and Egon when he tripped the latter, causing him to drop his books and skin his knee in front of Ray. Venkman later appeared to them in ghost form, remarking that he “knew they would get along.”

v: through the window

Martin Heiss definitely died from that fall from the second story of the Chinese takeout place. The thing is, now he’s a class IV, full torso apparition, and he’s a bit focused, that meaning that for some reason, he’s now stuck in the firehouse he inhabited in life. These days, he enjoys his retirement from life by messing up the Ghostbusters’ smartphones and startling Erin out of her wits.

v: a full life

Peter Venkman has died a natural death after many years of being a pain in everyone’s ass. He thought he’d escaped this plane of existence for good, but for some reason, he’s come back. There’s some unfinished business to take care of. But what?

Alternate Universes

v: no ghost

A catch all for any verse where Peter isn’t a Ghostbuster or ghosts don’t exist. Peter probably works as a psychologist in either research or patient care. Will probably be accompanied with v: tbd until I figure out specifics for the interaction. Then I will switch to a specific verse.

v: realish

The Real Ghostbusters verse. All TRG canon applies.

v: more precious than gold

Peter is a single father to his daughter Aurelia. He has sole custody after a messy divorce.

v: goddamneded

A Blues Brothers verse. Peter works as their publicist, or their “hype man” as he calls it.

v: unfortunate souls

Think Disney villains. Martin Heiss has never been good a day in his life. An aging professional criminal posing as a debunker with a certain dramatic flair, he seeks to release ghosts onto New York and gain power over the city. This is definitely going to backfire.

v: fear and loathing (in Gillikin)

Wicked verse. Mostly musical based, some book influences. Martin Heiss is a Gillikinese man with a short temper and a sharp tongue.

v: we’re ready to believe you

A Men In Black verse. It turns out Melanie Ortiz works for more than one government agency. The Ghostbusters actually do run into alien ghosts in Area 51, as well as the MIB. Apparently the world is ready for ghosts, but not quite ready for aliens. At least Egon gets to play with some new toys, if he doesn’t get neuralized first.

v: not quite psychic

Superhero verse. The Ghostbusters are a team of mercenaries for hire who specifically target supervillains (they have to work within the law, after all). Usually they are under government employ, but occasionally work for private companies if they have the cash. Their name comes from their powers, which all have to do with ghosts or the supernatural.

Peter is an empath and a limited clairvoyant, with the ability to read emotions and auras, influence others with his own emotions, and read future and past events by touching objects and people associated with them. His visions are often unclear and focus more on the emotions tied to the events than the events themselves.

Peter’s emotional influence can be quite powerful, working other people or animals into a rage, and then using his natural manipulative abilities to sic them on other people. He can be somewhat of a psychic vampire, attracted to people specifically because of their emotional energy. Ray is optimistic and positive, a trait Peter draws on when he needs to. Egon, being non-emotional, Peter uses to help balance himself out. Peter is not capable of real mind control, but many of his detractors believe he is, and controls the other Ghostbusters with that.

v: BPRD

Peter is a BPRD agent and psychic with expertise in psychology and parapsychology. He’s usually employed in diplomatic ventures with faeries, ghosts, or other beings capable of “reasonable” communication. His seances are known to be much less formal than usual.

v: certified psychologist

Peter is a psychologist employed by Arkham Asylum battling a mental illness of his own. He’s been able to keep it under wraps before, so why would now be any different?

v: walkman on the moon

verse established with chariotsofthegodsman. Peter is the captain of Ecto-1, a trade ship that travels the cosmos. He co-owns the trading company with Ray, Egon, and Winston. Venkman hired William Palmer as an engineer when several of them didn’t show up for the job, and he’s quickly earned his place as Peter’s unofficial translator and guide.

v: cute deflections

House M.D. AU. Peter Venkman is employed as a clinical psychologist at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital after being fired from his job as a research psychologist at Columbia University. Though he enjoys patient care more than research, he is still wary of working with severely traumatized patients due to his own insecurities. He prefers the humanistic approach to psychology, however, he often favors cognitive-behavioral tactics with patients and is not above keeping a bowl of candy on his desk to encourage positive association with patients.

v: thin gray line

Apocalypse AU. Gozer and his sister Tiamat have taken over this dimension. It now serves as a boxing ring for their never ending rivalry and the Ghostbusters are caught in the middle of it. Takes place in the ‘90s.