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81scorp · 4 years

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Constructive criticism: XO: Wolverine

(Originally posted on Deviantart Sep 30, 2016)

Ah yes... X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

The first two X-Men movies may not have been perfect but they weren`t bad and at least they understood that at the heart of this comicbook universe was a theme about xenophobia. The third movie may have been bad but it was bad in a way that I was mostly OK with. Then... there`s this movie. I remember when I saw this in the cinema. The only people in the audience was me, two women and one man. Talk about overcrowded (he said, not without a small hint of sarcasm). I should have seen the warning signs right there. As the movie played on the screen I kept telling myself "It doesn`t have to be superfaithful to his origin in the comics, it`s still good, it`s still good... -ish". Technically, I was right. Then came the final fight in the climax, and that`s where I felt: "Really? You`re really gonna do it like that?" It was like, not only had they not put enough effort into getting it right. They had put extra effort into getting it wrong! Bastardisation of a popular character and crappy CGI claws aside, the movie had the structure of a videogame. Nothing wrong with videogames but (and I`m generalizing here) they don`t always have great stories and rely more on the player enjoying it because of the interactivity. Movies are not interactive. (And yes, I have seen walkthroughs of the videogame based on this movie, the story wasn`t that great in the game either but it was more enjoyable than the movie.) They had some great opportunities to tell a good, character-developing story. But when those opportunities came they just fastforwarded through them get to their own (mostly) generic revenge story. If I could travel back in time and rewrite this mess, what would I change? A lot.

We begin In Media Res (look it up on Wikipedia). Somewhere in... let`s say Kenya. Seven soldiers are preparing themselves for raiding a secret base. Four of them are wearing black clothes, black ski-masks and carry machine guns. (They are not mutants, they are normal humans who are highly skilled mercenaries. One of them have two swords strapped to his back). The three other soldiers are (besides not wearing ski-masks) dressed slightly different than the four other soldiers. They are Logan, Victor "Sabertooth" Creed and a woman named Domino. (In my version Sabertooth is smart, like he was when he was played by Liev Schreiber.) They enter the base, sneak around, fight some guards, find the Macguffin they were looking for (a rock made out of some alien metal) and exit the base. (Sabertooth seems to enjoy the killing more than Logan does. Domino`s superpower seems to be enhanced reflexes and agility.) On the planeride back to their HQ the mercs have taken off their ski-masks, the one with swords on his back seems to be ill. One of the other mercs asks him: "Wade. You OK?" Wade says that it`s probably just something he ate. He`ll get himself checked when they`re back at HQ. Back at HQ Stryker congratulates them for stealing the Macguffin and for another job well done. Wade goes to the doctor. Logan asks Domino if she`s ever had any second thoughts about the things that they do. Domino: (Short pause) "Nah." To get his mind on something else, Logan goes to the gym and starts beating a sandbag. He remembers his childhood.Logan`s childhood: Canada: 1887. Rose O`Hara, a young girl who`s parents have just died, have been sent to live in the mansion of John Howlett Jr. He was a friend of her parents and is a very kind man. She is soon introduced to the other people. John Howlett Sr (who unlike his son is not a kind man). Elisabeth Howlett (John Howlett`s wife, a reclusive shut-in). Thomas Logan (the grumpy, alcoholic, antisocial groundskeeper). "Dog" Logan (Thomas Logan`s son, a troublemaker who gets beaten by his dad). Last but not least: James Howlett (John`s son who`s physically weak and often gets sick). Rose, James and "Dog" become good friends after a while and we get a montage of them having a great time together. At the end of the day, Rose and James goes back to the mansion and Dog goes back to his father`s cabin. We get a small hint that there`s a thing between Elisabeth Howlett and Thomas Logan, the groundskeeper.

A few years later: The kids are now teenagers. Dog has become a jerk and one day he tries to force himself on Rose. Rose knees Dog in the groin and James, who saw the whole thing, runs to his dad to tell him what Dog tried to do. John Howlett has a stern talk with Logan and tells him to raise his son better. Logan doesn`t like being told what to do and a few nights later he and Dog breaks into the mansion with rifles to steal some stuff, kidnap Elisabeth and run away. John hears them, tries to talk sense into them. James comes into the room, wondering what`s happening. Logan`s rifle goes off and shoots John. James is in shock, he punches Dog in the face and attacks Logan. Logan dies, everyone realizes that Dog has claw wounds across his face and James has boneclaws coming out of his knuckles. James runs outside, Rose runs after him and Elisabeth commits suicide with Logan`s rifle. Rose finds James outside, sitting on the gound. He says that he feels different: He doesn`t feel sick or weak in the way that he has felt all his life (His immunesystem has improved.), his sense of smell has improved and the boneclaws in his knuckles have retracted back inside his hands, leaving small holes that are already healing. Rose goes to James`s grandfather to get protection for James and herself, but he wants nothing to do with them, especially not some monster like James. He gives them money and tells them to leave and never come back. Rose and Jack travel through Canada and after about a month they find themselves in The Youkon territories where they seek refuge in a mining town. They pretend to be cousins and try to find work in the quarry. When Smitty the foreman asks their names James is still unable to talk due to his trauma. Rose, wanting to hide their identities, comes up with a name, the first that pops into her head: Logan. A couple of days later: Rose helps Smitty organize his paperwork and James (now Logan) has worked on the quarry a few days. He doesn`t like it, growing up with rich parents he`s not used to hard, manual labour. He is picked on by a bully, the camp cook, named Cookie, who often uses his massive size to intimidate Logan and rough him up. Logan fights his desires to fight back and is often rescued by Smitty. Sometimes Rose finds Logan staring at the nearby forest, as if he wants to belong with the animals. One day Logan pushes a full wheel barrow up a hill but quits when he has come halfway. He`s tired, cold, hates manual labour and doesn`t want to do this anymore. But then he gets determined, decides that he`s not gonna be a quitter, grabs the heavy wheelbarrow again and continues to push it to the top of the hill. We skip forward in time, Logan has reached the top tof the hill and is no longer a teenager, but a man (figuratively AND literally).

We learn that Logan has gotten tougher, better, and has earned the respect of his fellow workers, especially Smitty (but not Cookie). They`ve even given him a nickname: Wolverine. Logan still has moments when he looks at the nearby forest. One day one of the workers dies of pneumonia. There`s a funeral and later that evening Logan discovers Cookie in the cabin of the recently dead worker, stealing stuff. Logan beats up Cookie and runs to Smitty`s cabin to tell him about Cookies behavior. Through the window he sees Smitty and Rose kissing. It causes him to run away into the woods where he finds himself surrounded by a pack of wolfs. The lead wolf stares at Logan and growls. Logan unleashes his claws and stares back. After a minute the lead wolf accepts Logan as part of the pack. Meanwhile, back at the Howlett mansion: Logan's grandfather is weak and lies in his bed. He regrets chasing James and Rose away and is talking to someone about finding James. The other man turns out to be Dog, now an adult, but still with clawmark-scars across his face. He swears to Mr. Howlett that he will hunt him to the ends of the earth. (NOTE: In my version Dog and Sabertooth is NOT the same person. Wolvie and Sabertooth doesn`t have to be related. They COULD be second cousins or something, but that`s as far as I`m willing to go.) Some time later: The mining town in Youkon: Logan has become distant from Rose as he is hurt by her engagement to Smitty. He tells her he always thought they would end up together. Smitty, meanwhile, is trying to sell off some possessions in order to raise money so that he and Rose can make their way to Vancouver, where he is to take another job, better suited for a family man. Unsuccessful in his attempt, Smitty decides to enter into a cage fight tournament to earn the money. Logan also enters the tournament when he finds out that Cookie`s in it. After getting the pleasure of beating up Cookie publically, Logan meets Smitty in the final match but takes a dive so that Smitty can win the prize money, travel to Vancouver with Rose and live happily with her. Smitty and Rose will leave in a couple of days and he tells Logan that since he knows that he can trust him he makes him the new foreman of the quarry. Smitty then leaves Logan alone to help Rose pack for their journey. Logan is attacked by Dog who has no intention to bring him back to the Howlett mansion but to kill him. Dog has the upper hand at first but then Logan starts to win the fight. The next moment everything happens so fast, Logan gets ready to unleash his claws to kill Dog, Rose tries to interfere and stop him and... Logan regains his senses. He realizes that he has stabbed Rose, his best friend, in the shoulder, and by doing so he has revealed to everyone that he is a mutant, a dangerous mutant. He flees into the woods. Smitty comes running to check on Rose and her injured shoulder, then they both watch Logan disappear. Back to the present: Logan is still in the gym. Victor Creed comes and talks to him, reminds him about what a badass and a killing-machine he was back in Vietnam and how he has lost a little bit of that edge now. He wonders what happened that made Logan go soft. Logan: "People change Creed, it happens." He walks out of the gym. We see that they were watched the whole time by a hidden camera. In a surveillance-room Stryker watches Logan leave the gym. He also points out that Logan used to be a more effective killer in the past. He`s afraid that Logan will one day grow a conscience and turn against him, good thing that he`s prepared. He turns and looks at another monitor, one that shows an X-ray of Logans skull, some parts of his brain has been highlighted. Turns out that they have been mapping Logan`s brain. Logan goes to his room, lies down on his bed and keeps remembering his past. Back to the past: We get a montage of Logan living like an animal in the woods, he still wears pants but they are very torn. A few times during this montage he steps out of the woods and looks at the human civilisation, wondering if it´s worth it to return to that world but rejects the idea. Finally at the end of the montage he decides to go back to civilsation. He steals some clothes that are hanging out to dry. A voice-over says: "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy," followed by a montage of Logan fighting in World War 2. This is followed by a scene of Logan drinking in a bar in New york while eveyone else is celebrating that the war is over and Hitler is dead. Logan is not as enthousiastic as everyone else, probably because he has lived long, seen many things and knows this will not be the last war he fights in. Years later: Logan is fighting in Vietnam. He`s killing Viet Cong soldiers brutally and without remorse. He meets Victor Creed (who is nicknamed "Sabertooth") for the first time. They realize that they both have healing factors and become partners. In one scene Creed shows that he has great senses and aiming skills by throwing a knife at a tree. A dead Viet Cong soldier falls out of it, he thought he was safe, but no one is safe from Sabertooth. What made Logan go "soft"? He saw Creed kill too many innocent families. He saw a reflection of himself in Creed, what he could become if he continued down this path.

After the war is over Logan disappears for a few years. Stryker finds him one day in a bar in Osaka. He tells Logan that he has heard things about him and that he could have use for a man with his "rare talents". Logan is reluctant at first but agrees to join Strykers organisation: Weapon X. It only has three mutants so far: Logan, a woman named Domino and also (unforunately) Victor Creed. Domino`s power seems to be enhanced reflexes and agility but it`s actually the ability to subconscoiusly manipulate the probability in a situation to end up in her favor, or: luck. She explains that her power is largely participatory: in order for the luck to take effect, she must engage in an action whose chance she can affect. She can`t consciously control her ability, she can only activate it by being in a position in which she could be harmed. For example: If she where to stand still before a hail of bullets she would be a bullet-ridden corpse. If she tried to avoid the gunfire her power would kick in and allow her to miraculously move fast enough and duck just in time to avoid the bullets. "Learned that the hard way." she says and shows Logan some old bullet-wound scars. They go on their first mission accompanied by a team of four Ski-mask wearing mercs (the scene is short and the mission goes smoothly). Montage of them going on a few more missions. Finally they`re sent to the same mission we saw them do in the beginning where they had to steal an alien rock-Macguffin made out of metal. This time we see an abridged version of their robbery (because we don`t have to see the whole thing over again). Logan lies on his bed in his room, the flashbacks have caught up with the present. He closes his eyes and sleeps.

One day or a week later later: Stryker and a scientist are watching videos of Logan and Creed in action. The scientist asks: "So... Creed or Logan?" Stryker decides that the honor should go to Logan: He is more mentally stable than Creed and since he`s gonna be re-educated soon he will be easier to control. Stryker meets Logan later and tells him about a procedure that will make him stronger and indestructible. Logan thinks about it for a minute and accepts. They walk past a door that leads to the doctor`s office. The doctor gives Wade the bad news: he has cancer. Logan is led into a room where he is put into an aquarium and has a helmet put on his head. He is completely naked (with the exception of his dog tags, one says "Logan" the other "Wolverine"). Machines put the adamantium into his body and it is extremely painful for him. The pain makes him pass out and he goes to a better place: a happy childhood memory, back when he, Rose and Dog were children and best friends, before all the bad stuff happened. In the the real world Stryker gives the order: "Erase his memory." Zap! The happy memory is gone! And many other memories follow it`s path! Nothing left... but darkness... and an animal rage! A worker is removing the memory-erasing helmet (because continuity). Logan wakes up and unleashes his claws, he has only one thought: Escape! He acts purely on instinct and kills or wounds anyone who puts any effort in trying to stop him. After having killed a few people he is alone in a hall and has a few seconds to pause and collect his thoughts, this is when he notices that the claws on his knuckles are metal. Who did this to him? Why did they do it? How did he end up in this place? So many questions, no time to answer any of them. He must run! Run towards freedom! He opens a large metal door and is now outside. Stryker has given Creed and Domino the order to capture Logan, only kill him if absolutely necessary. (They can always use the adamantium on some other mutant with a healing factor. They only picked Logan over Creed because Logan seemed like the better choice.) The Weapon X facility is surrounded by woods (It IS near Alkali lake after all.) Logan has come a long way from the base and is now taking a pause so that he has the energy to run some more. Little does he know that Domino and Creed have already caught up to him. Domino is hiding on a cliff, aiming her rifle and Creed is hiding among the trees. (Logan can`t smell them because of the wind direction.) Logan`s words echoes in Domino`s memory: "Do you ever have any second thoughts about the things we do?" Domino whispers to herself: "Yes." We see that she`s actually aiming her rifle at Creed. Creed notices this and quickly throws a knife at her, she fires. BLAM!

Logan reacts to the gunshot and realizes that he`s still not safe. Gotta keep running. Domino hit Creed right in the forehead, Creed hit her... right in the shoulder. She gets up and, with a grimace of pain, pulls out the knife. Domino: "I hope that`s the last time I have to save your ass Logan." She holds her hand to her wound and walks away in pain. After a minute the hole in Creed`s head heals and he gets back up. His personality and intelligence has now changed, thanks to the bullet in his brain (Continuity!), he walks away, not remembering Logan and other parts of his life. Logan comes out of the woods, sees a town, steals some clothes that are hanging out to dry. One of the clothes is a cool looking jacket. He looks at his dog tags and sees that his name must be Logan. A new chapter of his life begins as he wanders towards the horizon.

Epilogue, before the credits roll: Wade Wilson sits in a bar. He`s had chemo but appearently it didn`t work. A man (who`s face we don`t see) walks up to him and reveals that he knows things about him and offers him a cure and a chance to be a superhuman. Wade is listening. Post credit scene: Creed is sitting in a bar, drinking. All the other guests are staying as far away from him as possible. A woman comes in, goes over to Creed and talks to him. She tells him that she works for a man that could have use for someone with Creed`s "special talents". Her eyes turn yellow for a second. (Gasp! It`s Mystique!)

THE END

And that`s how I would have done it.

#81scorp #x-men #last stand #constructive #criticism #movie #editorial

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notprincehamlet · 7 years

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the bookworm tag

I was tagged by @ladyhamiltons ♥♥♥

I’m tagging: @borispavlikvsky @la-violet-sent-mari @asapphicmess @sherlocks-east-wind @sarahlancashire (not sure if you all like to read or would like to do this, so feel free to ignore!)

1. Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?

I dunno, I feel like it didn’t even have to develop. I’ve been into reading ever since I finally grasped the concept of it, really.

2. Where do you usually read?

At the moment, my favourite spot for reading (and napping) is my parents’ bedroom for reasons unknown. But I’m also okay with reading while lying on my own bed lol

3. Do you prefer to read one book at a time or several at once?

I would prefer to read one book at a time but I’m too impatient for that, so it’s like a million books at once.

4. What is/are your favourite book(s)?

I’ll list some off the top of my head: Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O’Neill, The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams...

5. Do you have a least favourite book?

Oh man. I don’t really have a book that I absolutely hated, but there is a couple that I didn’t like, like Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. To be fair though, I started reading it while knowing I don’t even like Dan Brown (ha!). I just wanted to watch the movie and used the opportunity to read the book first. But at least I got to imagine Ayelet Zurer in shorts while reading it, so... not a complete waste of time.

6. What is your favourite genre?

Crime fiction, thrillers, classic, anything really? I’m not even sure which genre is my favourite anymore, but it used to be crime fiction.

7. Is there a genre you won’t read?

Nope, I doubt there is one at this point

8. What is the longest book you ever read?

Uhh, it’s been a while since I’ve read a really long book... I would say It by Stephen King was at least one of the longer ones - idk how long it is in English, but the Russian edition is quite a brick. Oh, and speaking of bricks, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo definitely counts as the longest book or one of them.

9. What book are you currently reading?

The Martian by Andy Weir, End of Watch by Stephen King, Paradise Lost by John Milton, and doing a reread of The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket.

10. What was the last book you finished?

Finders Keepers by Stephen King

11. What was the last book you bought?

I may have ordered five books... accidentally... knowing that I have to save money for the Pia trips which are supposed to happen later this year... oopsies. Anyway, I ordered The Beatrice Letters and The Unauthorized Autobiography by Lemony Snicket because the Netflix show rekindled my love for ASoUE ♥ And the other three books are fragments of Sappho translated by Anne Carson, A Self-Portrait in Letters by Anne Sexton and four plays by Noёl Coward (in one book).

12. Do you have a favourite book quote?

I definitely have a lot of favourites but I can’t really pick one right now (as usual, I forgot every single one of them as soon as I read the question lol). I’ll go with the first verse of T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock because a). I love it, and b). it calms me down when I’m anxious.

Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherised upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question ... Oh, do not ask, “What is it?” Let us go and make our visit.

13. Do you prefer library books or buying books?

Libraries are wonderful, but I personally prefer buying books. I like having them all to myself and reading them whenever I want.

14. Where do you buy your books?

In Russian chain bookshops, mostly, but if I’m abroad I usually take some time to visit English bookshops (preferably the ones selling used books because I love a bargain)

15. How many books do you buy a month?

I don’t really keep score on that. Sometimes it’s zero, sometimes it’s 33456 if there’s a sale or if I want to cheer myself up

16. How many books do you own?

I haven’t the slightest idea.

17. How do you feel about second hand books?

THEY ARE AMAZING, LOVE THEM

18. Do you prefer E-books or physical books?

Physical books, but I’m totally okay with e-books most of the time

19. Do you prefer paperback or hardback?

Paperback. I hardly ever buy hardbacks for myself because they are overpriced and heavy, albeit nice to look at. Not that I’m a huge fan of paperbacks (definitely not lmao) but they just seem more practical.

20. Do you prefer to read trilogies/series or standalones?

Depends on wether I like the book, I suppose. Some books are better as a part of a series, some are better as standalones. I may get bored and not continue reading a series if I disliked one of the books, but sometimes I wish a standalone got a sequel or something. I really have no preference here. It depends.

21. What is the weirdest thing you’ve used as a bookmark?

I don’t think I’ve ever used anything weird as a bookmark? I usually use old price tags and stuff like that but if I don’t have one of those, I have plenty of random paper scraps on my table or a spare notebook in my bag. Also, if the book is mine, I may just dog-ear it and carry on with my life.

22. What is more important to you: characters or plot?

Godddddd. Well, to me, either of them can save the book. I like it when the book has a character I love or relate to, in this case I can let the bad plot slide. The same happens the other way around, so I feel like they are equally important for me.

23. Do you ever judge a book by its cover?

I hardly ever buy books that are completely unknown to me, but I still do judge books by their covers sometimes. Especially if the cover is a still from a film adaptation.

24. What’s the most beautiful book you own?

I initially struggled with this question because most book covers in Russia are ugly as fuck, but probably The Rendezvous and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier! It’s really pretty.

25. What is your favorite book to movie/tv adaptation?

I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed an adaptation as much as I have enjoyed Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events so I’m gonna go with that :)

26. What is the best beverage to drink while reading a book?

Any kind of tea ♥ not vanilla flavoured though, that one’s gross

27. Are you looking forward to any book release? If so, which one?

Hmm, I’m not really informed about upcoming book releases, so I’m not looking forward to any book in particular. But I’m gonna buy whatever Stephen King writes next as soon as it hits Russian bookstores.

28. Recommend me a book :3

The Color Purple by Alice Walker, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, everything I mentioned in the ‘favourite books’ question :)

#about me #~#meme ma'am

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victorluvsalice · 4 years

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AU Thursday: Alice Vs The Questionnaire I Just Made

Because it would be remiss for me to send it out into the world and not answer it myself, right? ;p

1. How many of the sidequests did your characters do? Did they manage to complete all of them?

Alice completed most of the sidequests, mostly because I find them interesting, they're good to advance the plot of my story, and -- in-game -- they're good sources of XP. The only ones I skipped/failed were (Edit: naturally I forgot a few on my first posting; what can I say, there’s a lot of side quests!):

Drug Trip -- The Unofficial Patch Plus only quest where you can get some XP and +1 Finance by stealing some drugs for Trip from the clinic. In-game, I completely forgot this was an option and never did it. In-story, Alice is trying to get drugs by more legitimate means for Mercurio rather than steal morphine, so I don’t think she’d be keen to get the recreational stuff for Trip.

Daydream Believer -- Only marked as an official “quest” by Unofficial Patch Plus, this is where you can sell Copper “unicorn blood,” fang-blunting gum, and a stake to kill the head vampire if you’re feeling maliciously playful. Alice was not -- in fact, she likes the Thin-Bloods and wants to help them. And that includes sympathizing with Copper about his desire to become human again, while also warning him off doing anything stupid.

Replanting A Lily -- The quest where you send Vandal someone to replace Lily in his blood-draining chair once you’ve freed her as part of Thinned Blood. In-game, I simply Demented him into some hysterical laughter to forget the whole thing (in case I needed him for emergency rations). In-story, Alice slammed him up against the wall and informed him the only reason she wasn’t about to kill him was because she needed to stay in the Voerman sisters’ good books. Vandal being Vandal, he immediately found this the sexiest thing that had ever happened to him and tried to give her free blood (like might happen with the Intimidation option), which she told him to stick where the sun don’t shine. Yeaaaaah, Alice doesn’t like Vandal.

Occultish Personality -- The quest where you get occult items for Pisha, and she gives you powerful items in return. Rather than work with Pisha, I had Alice kill her after taking care of the Simon business. This was purely a character choice, as I didn't see Alice ever working with her (she disapproves too strongly of what Pisha does to sate her Hunger -- she understands that the woman is under a pretty nasty curse, but the entire camera crew?!).

Venucide -- Okay, this is an interesting one -- this is the alternate side quest you get if you take Boris up on his offer to kill Venus during And Her Name Was Venus. I didn’t do this in-game -- I’m not doing low Humanity with Alice, and besides you earn a lot more with Venus alive and giving you club profits -- but I mention it because Alice pretends to take the offer, goes back to Venus, and works with her to fake her death before going back to Boris to get the reward, then kill him. Venus is quite tickled by the whole thing. XD

Dirty Dishes -- The quest where you help one of the three Giovanni relatives at the party to gain an advantage over the other two. I attempted this one, with the intent of having maybe Victor or Victoria do something with the info in the story (as they're the ones actually doing the social stuff -- Alice snuck in Obfuscated with them), but as it turned out, I didn't have the Persuasion necessary to get the dark secrets out of all three. I only managed to get Adam Dunsirn to admit he’s broke -- ratted him out to Mira for an experience point. Ah well. . . In-story, Victor will probably learn Adam’s secret while socializing, but not actually tell anybody.

Model Citizen/Cover Girl -- Imalia's quests -- either planting webcams to spy on her rival Tawni, or (if you piss her off/want extra XP after the previous quest), getting her a copy of a magazine with her on the cover back before Nosferatuing. Imalia is one of those characters who reacts very poorly to meeting a Malkavian, and is generally pretty conceited, so I didn't have Alice stick around to actually get the quests. By this point in the story, she's not doing favors for people who treat her like ass unless she has to.

Poster Session -- The quest where you trade various objects you can collect around the world to Gary for posters of the ladies in the game. Okay, in all actuality, I am doing this one in my game, if only because I'm collecting the objects he's asking for anyway while doing other quests and I might as well, but Alice in-story wouldn't be interested, and I'm not sure Gary would make the offer anyway, given their relationship.

2. How long do you think their stay in L.A. lasted, from Embrace to ending?

I'm working on figuring this out right now in my current playthrough! Part of the reason I fired up Bloodlines again was to actually work out a timeline for "Londerland Bloodlines," as the one given on the wiki feels absurdly short (and cuts out all the side quests). The way I've currently got it, it looks like Alice's Adventures In Los Angeles will stretch from October 21st, 2004, to the middle of November that same year (maybe about the 15th or so?), though I think I'm going to be adding in extra time in the story to help develop relationships and build in some extra breathing room for the characters. So, at a rough estimate, about two months.

3. Which ending did they go for? And if they're the rare Kindred who sided with Ming or LaCroix, did they somehow manage to escape their canonical fates (blown up/sunk to the bottom of the ocean)?

Alice is Independent all the way -- by the end of the game, she neither likes nor trusts practically anyone in the Kindred/ghoul community of L.A. (with four key exceptions, and one of those -- Beckett -- has already skedaddled by the end game) and just wants out. Hell, she would have left earlier if she'd gotten the chance -- she would have happily left L.A. the moment LaCroix sent her up against the Sabbat alone if said Sabbat hadn't kidnapped Lizzie and Victoria, and she would have just left straight after rescuing them and killing Andrei if she hadn't had a guilt attack about helping to get a Blood Hunt called on Nines and deciding she had to tell him about what Ming-Xiao told her. And the Cabbie is the one who talks her into taking down LaCroix and Ming-Xiao when she escapes the Blood Hunt, telling her that the only way to truly feel free is to make sure neither of them can come after her again. She is only too happy to leave the city when everything and everyone is done and dusted.

(Also, semi-related I had what I feel is a pretty awesome idea regarding why she gives LaCroix the key -- a post in the vtmb tag mentioned that anyone who had Auspex might be able to scan the sarcophagus and see there's no uber-vampire inside. The way Alice uses Auspex in her story, it functions partially as a real-life "Shrink Sense,” to fit with her madness. Maybe, at the end of the game, Alice finally uses Auspex on the sarcophagus to see what she can glean, and sees that a) there's no vampire and b) the Insane Children have drawn jack-in-the-boxes all over it, along with arrows to leave. Figuring LaCroix can suffer the disappointment of it being empty, she drops the key and heads off, not QUITE realizing WHY the kids told her to leave -- that is, until her Wonderland friends start BOOKING IT out the door when she gets down to the lobby, and she realizes those jack-in-the-boxes look like her own Jackbombs. . .)

4. How do they feel about the major power players in L.A. (LaCroix, Strauss, Smiling Jack, Nines, Isaac, Ming-Xiao, Gary)? Did their opinions of them change at any point thanks to a quest or just more time spent with them?

LaCroix: Hates him from the moment he Dominates her into leaving the Nocturne Theater instead of bothering to answer any of her questions. She's willing to keep her head down when she's around him (for fear of more Domination) up until Grout's mansion -- then she starts demanding she be paid like a proper employee, at least, and getting a lot snarkier in his presence. When the Blood Hunt on Nines was called (which involved him Dominating her AGAIN so she wouldn't warn Nines beforehand), she was about ready to gut him, and sincerely hoped there was something in that damn Sarcophagus so it would eat him. She doesn't particularly mind he got blown up in the end -- she was much more concerned for anyone else who was in the upper levels of the tower.

Strauss: She found him a little condescending, but helpful, when she first arrived in Downtown and sought him out. (Didn't think much of his poetry skills, though.) He gave her some good information on vampires around the city and the Camarilla in general, and she can't deny he paid well for helping take care of the plaguebearer situation. Her opinion of him plummets the moment she learns about his role in creating the Gargoyle, though. The idea that he kept that living, thinking being as his slave. . .not to mention, his low opinion of ghouls doesn't do much to endear him to her either.

Smiling Jack: Like Strauss, she spends most of the game thinking he's not exactly the best company, but he was helpful and gave her a hand in a very tough spot in her life. And he seems to be the most chill of the older vampires she's come across.

And then the sarcophagus explodes, Alice manages to put together the clues on who's behind it, realize he slaughtered all those people on the Elizabeth Dane and is indirectly responsible for a lot of the shit she's gone through. . .and basically exiles herself from Los Angeles forever by staking him and leaving him for the sunrise on her way out. (She is as shocked as anyone that she managed to pull it off -- she thought it would be a much worse fight!)

Nines: Alice is grateful to him for helping to save her life at her initial trial, and she likes his philosophy just fine. Unfortunately, their relationship was wrecked fairly early on by two factors:

1) Alice making a joke about the Last Round, which Nines took poorly -- Alice attempted to apologize, but Nines refused to hear it

2) Alice not liking Skelter and Damsel, both of whom immediately gave her shit for being LaCroix's "lapdog" and a Malkavian

So yeah, there was definitely some tension there. And the whole Blood Hunt mess happened, and frankly Alice is shocked Nines was willing to talk to her when she went looking for him on her way out of L.A. post-Sabbat. She sometimes wishes they'd had a chance to make up, but given that she doesn't think much of the Anarchs in general anymore. . .she's not losing sleep over their cool relationship.

Isaac: He's one of the main reasons she doesn't think much of the Anarchs in general. She thought it was pretty smart of him to have someone to direct vampires new to Hollywood to him to say hello -- up until he mentioned "tribute." That and his generally imperious attitude toward her at first means she considers him just another Prince under a different title. Learning what happened between him and Ash didn't help either -- she can understand not wanting to let someone you care about just die, more than she would admit, but he doesn't seem to have handled things well post-Embrace, given he didn't do jack shit about the hunters menacing him. (Hoping the threat would drive Ash back into his arms, perhaps?) Add in that he didn't even pay her for taking care of the Gargoyle (never mind Alice didn't actually kill it -- she still convinced it to leave), and -- yeah. She considers him everything wrong with the Anarch movement.

Ming-Xiao: Alice considered her fairly stuck-up when they first met, but really no worse than any of the regular Kindred she'd met -- and it was interesting to quiz her on how Kue-jin are different. Of course, learning that the Mandarin was on her payroll and she's actively trying to kill her lowered her opinion of her a bit. She actively avoids Ming-Xiao after the Fu Syndicate stuff, and nearly just puts her new enchanted katana straight through her when she shows up post-Sabbat. She certainly doesn't shed a tear when she has to destroy her at the end of game.

Gary: Alice thinks he's a bit of an overdramatic jerk, but she kind of enjoys matching wits with him. And at least he's more honest about being a jerk than most vampires, and keeps up his end of the bargain when she frees Barnabus, no problem. Whatever relationship they have is built upon snarking at each other, basically. :p

5. How did they handle the situation with Heather (or, if you're like me, whoever you replaced Heather with in their personal story)?

Obviously, in my world, Victor got hit by the car and got the ghouling treatment. Alice saw him lying all alone in that room and -- couldn't let him just die like that. She's utterly horrified to learn that she created an addict by doing so, and actively has Betram and Knox seek Victor out (using the Cathayan's laptop as payment) and send him her way so she can keep an eye on him and hide any Masquerade violations he may commit. Her original intent was to hold onto him until he stopped being a ghoul, then quietly set him loose, away from prying Kindred eyes. . .

. . .And then she fell in love.

Cue quite a lot of angsting over the fact that she doesn't want to lose him, but she feels so guilty about the Blood Bond and she doesn't know if Victor's feelings are actually real -- which only gets worse when Victoria and Emily join the group, as then she's like "I should let Victor be with one of them -- oh crap I like them too, what the hell Alice, years of not falling in love and now it's two mortals and a zombie." It took Mercurio explaining that his Blood Bond does not actually force him to like LaCroix, just be loyal to him, to convince her that keeping Victor -- and turning Victoria into her ghoul -- might not be as bad as she feared.

And then Victor had his prophetic dream about the Sabbat. He and Emily successfully fled the city (the "letting Heather go" branch of her mini-storyline), but Lizzie and Victoria got captured by the Sabbat and used as bait for a trap for Alice (the "Heather gets captured and killed" branch). Unlike in canon, though, Alice is able to successfully save them (with the help of Bonejangles, VV, and Bertram), and ghouls Victoria to help her heal before sending them away. They all reunite once she's done with the endgame. :)

6. More generally, how closely does their storyline stick to how you have to do things canonically? For example, in quests, did they find third options that weren't offered by the game? Are their stories affected by mods you use while playing the game?

I play with the Unofficial Plus Patch, so there's going to be some stuff from that included in my story, just because that's what I'm used to -- for example, Alice is doing the restored library quest featuring the Lasombra in her storyline. As for the main storyline itself, I'd say that, even with the character replacements and suchlike, it stays pretty much true to the game until about the time Alice hits Hollywood -- namely because I've replaced one-shot character Sam with Victoria, who has a much larger role in "Londerland Bloodlines." After that, it starts to veer off a bit more, in particular during "Italian Dinner," where Emily, Lizzie, and Bonejangles join the party --

But the most major break with canon is in the endgame. Namely, Alice decides to skip fighting her way up Venture Tower and instead climbs up the outside with the help of some climbing equipment she sources from Mercurio. :p Lacroix is more than a little surprised. XD (Though she still has to fight the bat-form of the Sheriff -- can't escape the whole boss fight, Alice!)

7. Do they have an alternate storyline/history of what might have happened had they been Embraced but not ended up the protagonist Fledgling?

I covered that a couple of weeks ago! You can read the "Mistakenly Thinned Blood" AU of the AU in detail here, but the short version is "Alice is Embraced more secretly by her sire Fish, manages to kill him post-Embrace, goes to Santa Monica, and ends up hanging out with the Thin-Bloods because everyone thinks she's one of them. Still saves Victor, meets Victoria, and rescues Lizzie, Emily, and Sam from the Giovannis, though -- and then gets out of town before the freaking-out populace who just learned what she actually is can catch up with her."

8. Is the Cabbie a) Caine, b) another Kindred who believes himself to be Caine for whatever reason, c) another Kindred playing the long con by pretending to be Caine, d) something else entirely?

He's Caine -- I like the headcanon, and the idea of him posing as a random taxi driver in L.A., looking upon all this chaos and wondering "why. why." amuses me. XD

9. How do you handle/explain away obvious "this only works in a video game" mechanics in their storyline (e.g., the inventory system that allows them to carry like seven guns and five melee weapons at once)?

With me, Alice is going to be carrying a lot fewer weapons at once -- she'll generally pick a few favorites to take with her on missions (she always has a knife on her, at least), and uses Obfuscate to truck them around invisibly when she's in crowded areas. She probably also gets a bag or backpack to carry useful things. She also goes through a lot more clothes until she gets some decent leather jackets and such -- her starting outfit is basically wrecked by the tutorial mission, leading to LaCroix's agents having to buy her a new dress before she can pick up her things and go to her new haven in Santa Monica. (I have decided to make it Symbolic by having her wear the modern equivalent of her London outfit from A:MR when she gets Embraced, and the outfit being destroyed representing her change from human to vampire.)

10. How do you explain why the Fledgling is so ridiculously overpowered when compared to most other vampires their age (beyond the fact that they're likely 8th generation, going by their blood pool)?

My personal explanation, which might come up in the final conversation Alice has with Caine in the cab, is that some people in this universe are born with great supernatural potential, for whatever reason, and Alice is one of them. There's just something about her that lends itself well to being a supernatural creature -- and a powerful one at that. If she'd been from a werewolf line, she would have been an amazing werewolf; if she had awakened as a mage, she would have been a super-talented mage. As she was Embraced, she gets to be a terrifyingly strong vampire. Alice personally considers this a pretty shitty "chosen one" status, but she can't deny she liked getting really good at Obfuscate really fast!

#londerland bloodlines #vtmb #questionnaire #this about covers most of what I wanted to talk about with Alice #and I really like that idea for Alice giving LaCroix the key #my original idea was her just going 'you know what #here I hope the vampire inside eats you'#but that felt a little too vicious #not toward LaCroix but toward everyone else in L.A.#Alice may hate most of the Kindred she deals with #but that doesn't mean she wants them all dead from super-vampire #better to have her thinking 'oh there's nothing inside? just a toy?#great all yours LaCroix enjoy disappointment'#she probably should have recognized the explody jackbombs sooner but #she'd had a long night #queued

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