Cant believe I haven't done one of these for Valice yet tbh
As always, 18+ muns and muses only, one troll per reblog, but multiple reblogs allowed. Judgebacks are definitely appreciated, but not required. Interactions can be considered canon if you like, but do not have to be
Secundus was a weird city. Victor was intimately familiar with that, as both a witness and contributor to that weirdness.
The massive sinkhole that replaced the intersection of the street (and parts of the corner shops nearby) still surprised him. A jagged hole that was deep enough to trap your average person, which had already claimed several vendor’s stalls.
“I regret not using the train today…” Doc sighed, holding a bag of groceries in one hand, the other on his hip.
“Well, it wasn’t here when we left, so no way we could’ve known.” Marty added, kicking a stone into the pit of loose soil and rocks. It bounced for a bit before getting stuck in one of the inexplicable pieces of blue-black goop that were dotted around in the sinkhole.
“Hopefully someone can-” A cracking sound made Victor pause. There was a pause, and then suddenly the spot Victor had been standing on crumbled, sending him tumbling into the hole. His scream of surprise was broken by exclamations of pain and gibberish as he tumbled over dirt, stones and the odd goop to the bottom.
“Eugh…” There were definitely going to be bruises in the morning.
“Shit- Victor! You ok?” Marty shouted down (from a safer distance from the edge).
“Nothing serious but- agh- I’m not exactly peachy…”
“Marty, go to Richard’s shop, he might be able to get Victor out!”
“On it!”
Victor slowly uncrumpled himself, finding himself amidst the pile of wreckage that was, apparently, the produce stands. At least it couldn’t get worse.
Clack-clack-clack-clack
As Victor turned to be face-to-eye with some sort of black, skull-like head with brown peg-like teeth and a single yellowish eye, he regretted his choice of thought.
The horrible thing was semi-transparent, its neck extending down through the ground like a phantom. It was massive, the teeth alone nearly half his own height. A faint red glow outlined its silhouette, and a puddle of the blue-black goop had formed where its neck poked through the ground. Well, that’s one mystery solved.
New mystery: How to get away from this thing as fast as humanly possible.
It didn’t give him the chance, however, as the thing’s head when solid, bent down and (mercifully gently) picked up Victor with its teeth pressed into his stomach. And Victor could only scream as it raised its head higher, higher, higher, until they were just past the roofs of the 4 story buildings. He clung to the teeth like a lifeline, knowing if he wriggled free he’d be a splatter soon after.
And then the rest of the creature came up from the ground.
The shape reminded Victor of a scorpion, albeit one so massive that even Ferdinand would look dwarfed by it. A shiny black was the color of its carapace, with the six smaller legs being more of a grayish teal. Instead of claws, its huge arms ended in a pair of horrifically monstrous heads. The left was almost reptilian, boasting 3 pairs of yellow eyes and a mouth full of much bigger and sharper teeth. The right had no eyes, replaced with a pair of stout spikes with a much more human grin to it, though the teeth were just as vicious.
And at the junction of the two arms, where the “head” of the scorpion would be, was a single yellow eye that looked up at him with…amusement? Hopefully amusement. The arm heads growled and rumbled, smacking their jaws with loud snaps that flung more goop around.
Victor silently prayed that someone (preferably his wife but this wasn’t time to be choosy), anyone would save him before he was thrown around like some chewtoy by a gigantic scorpion-reptile-monster-thing.
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Alice didn’t need to ask when Marty burst into Richard’s shop with “Victor fell in a sinkhole!”. She simply followed him with all the adrenaline and iron-steel nerves one could ask for in this situation. The growing crowd split as she ran, if not out of recognition of one of the better monster hunters in Secundus, then for the glare that could bore through stone on her face.
Even the sight of some towering, black, long-necked creature didn’t deter her steps until she was met with a very pale-faced Doc.
“What’s going on?”
“That thing-” Doc pointed to the creature. “Has your husband in its mouth!”
The impulse to carve up the great beast right then and there was strong, but it was too risky with how high Victor was. “Any ideas?”
“It’s likely a Touched creation, so hopefully it can understand orders.”
Alice snapped to Marty. “Seriously?”
He shrunk under her gaze. “If it gets him down safely, it's worth a shot?”
As ridiculous as the idea was, it was the sort of solution Secundus tended to be resolved by. So, with determination, Alice approached the edge of the sinkhole.
The main body, equally monstrous and unusually scorpion-like, snapped all its eyes to her. The horrible heads on each of its arms snarled at her at a volume that made her bones jitter, and the eye smack in the center between them gave her a challenging stare.
Alice didn’t flinch. “You. Whatever you are. Set my husband down, or ELSE.”
To her inward surprise, it flinched. The two heads frowned at her, looking less confident. Good, this makes things easier.
“I said. Set. Him. Down.”
The creature’s available eyes widened in fright, and quickly (but not too quickly), the long-necked head slowly came down, down, down…
Until it was barely a foot over her head. She could see Victor (at least the lower half not obscured by teeth) flailing in terror. Quickly, she readied herself, and as it opened its mouth enough for Victor to drop, she caught him.
To her, at least, he seemed alright. Terrified to bits, a bit sticky with goop and bruised from the original tumble, but fine.
“A-Alice!” For a moment, her rage simmered down as her husband looked up at her with joyous surprise.
“Don’t worry, I got you.” She smiled at him, before passing him off to Doc and Marty. She turned back to the creature, who’s collective heads were fixed on her, and to her amusement was trembling slightly.
“Now…Piss Off!”
With a nearly deafening screech of terror, the massive beast whipped around and phased through the road as it scrambled away, leaving a trail of goop in its wake.
Alice let out a weary sigh. At least her husband was safe…
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Dear Mr. and Mrs. Van Dort-Liddell,
My sincerest apologies for the incident that occurred last week. I had been invited into the city as part of the recent collaborations between Secundus and Mortasheen, where I was to host several seminars on the various classifications of bioengineered monsters our city hosts and produces. Several specimens from my laboratory were brought in as exhibitions for this. My Ectophasm specimen, a Carnogeist named Kron, had gotten bored and decided to set up his new ambush spot in the city streets, using his incorporeal state to escape his container.
While you are no doubt aware of Mortasheen’s infamous…lack of concern over death, injury, or damage, I assure you that all my specimens, including Kron, were properly trained in interacting gently with people outside the city. Given that there were no casualties that day, I like to think I succeeded.
Regardless, Kron has been severely reprimanded and measures have been taken to ensure this does not repeat with him or any other of my specimens.
I am intrigued by the recollection of events Kron gave to me. While Carnogeists are known to be easily startled by smaller beings, Mrs. Van Dort-Liddell has practically traumatized him. If you are willing, can I arrange for you to assist in improving the discipline of some other unruly specimens? You will be compensated handsomely.
As for Mr. Van Dort-Liddell, I have enclosed an appropriate sum of cash to help compensate for any damage caused. I also would like to extend you an offer to attend my seminar on the Arthropoid class of monsters. I have been informed of your specialization in Lepidoptera and my Mothstrous Clara has always appreciated non-Mortasheen Touched who do not find her repulsive.
Regards, Doctor Bogleech, P.H.D. Parabiology
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Secundus as an idea belongs to good mutual @victorluvsalice
And Mortasheen (RELEASING SOON :D) is the brainchild of @bogleech
Made her with this picrew cause I haven't felt like drawing in a long time
She is my war cleric of Eilistraee that is learning how to be good and not a murder hobo for the Curse of Strahd game that I'm in. Somehow she is the smartest one in the party with an INT of 11 (oh no) and she is BARELY tolerating the himbo men around her. She's not sure how she ended up in the service of a young noble lord, she never agreed to this, and yet everyone views this short human fighter as the one in charge. She hates the paladin because he's loud. She's fine with the barbarian because he shares the same interest in violence. She gets along with the other two cleric ladies because where else is she going to find a shred of sanity?
We've only played one session and she's already my favorite character I've ever made. Hopefully she doesn't die when we go in the "Death House" lol
While I was looking through American McGee's Alice tagged fanfics on AO3, I came across Victor Van Dort/Alice Liddell (American McGee's Alice) fanfics that were done by Crossover_Chick. When I checked out Google for any fanart that might have been done on the ship, I noticed that Valice uses London Alice Liddell rather than Wonderland Alice Liddell. If I had to guess why, it must be due to the dark and gray colour scheme of Victor Van Dort and his film's universe.
