Thursday Charloft Prompts #1-10
12/2/2010: lost
Time Period: "Secundus" Chapter 17
Notes: My very first Charloft drabble prompt – and it's about my muse's then-future breakdown into a Touched. Welp, we all know immediately the kind of writer I am, don't we?
Victor had been lost before. A number of times in fact. It wasn't that he didn't have a good sense of direction – it was just that oftentimes he walked around lost in a daydream, not quite noticing where his feet were taking him. He'd gotten lost in the woods outside Burtonsville, he'd gotten lost on his first trip to London, he'd even gotten lost in their house on the town square once. After every time, he thought he'd never been so scared.
But none of it compared to this.
None of it – compared to being lost inside your own head.
12/9/2010: fabrication
Time Period: Within "Secundus," around the time Victor starts getting the headaches
Notes: This one also focuses on Victor's transformation into a Touched, though in a rather more oblique way. It's kind of supposed to be foreshadowing – he wants to do something incredible like his friends, and he has this one really cool idea. . . (Probably would have worked better if my FIRST drabble hadn't been him actually having the breakthrough.)
Even after a few weeks in Secundus, Victor still couldn’t get over the Inventions that surrounded him. Doc’s gadgets, Richard’s machines, Lewis’s creatures. . . . They were all so amazing. He watched Doc at work sometimes, fascinated by the way his friend could take a pile of parts, bring them together, and, despite any laws of physics telling the scientist otherwise, assemble them into a coherent, functional whole. It was – it was just –
Well. Victor had to admit it. He was a little jealous. Part of him wanted to make something like that. Something big, something wonderful. Something like – like –
Glowing butterflies.
12/16/2010: holiday special
Time Period: Christmas after "Secundus"
Notes: The prompt for this week was was Imagine your character has their very own holiday special. Give a 100 word summary of that Very Special Show. So this one's a little off the wall in that it's less a "story" and more a commercial for another set of stories I did: "A Week of Secundus Christmas." Serves as a good sum-up for that, though.
It’s Victor’s first Christmas in Secundus, and his friends are determined to make it special. Of course, given that they live in the Mad Science Capital of the world, AND that most of them are Touched or Igors, things are sure to not go quite as planned. Mutated fireflies, busted lights, rocket sleighs, gingerbread monsters, ice cream snow, twisted carols, and the March Hare’s pudding – this will definitely be a holiday to remember. Join Victor Van Dort, Alice Liddell, Doc Brown, Marty McFly, Richard Dodgson, Sir Christopher Lloyd, Victoria Everglot, and Emily Cartwell (and everyone else) for a very Creative Christmas.
12/23/2010: plans
Time Period: Pre-Secundus, Victor's teenage years
Notes: A bit of backstory – Nell's assertion in the original Corpse Bride that Victor "doesn't even know any women!" is not quite true in my fanon. The Van Dorts, being rich, have attended (and hosted) their fair share of balls and parties. So Victor's MET girls, he's just never gotten to know any of them outside of a brief dance. And those were usually set up for him by his parents. At this particular ball, Victor's been observing the other boys (who are, in his view, more manly than he'll ever be), and making a plan on how to impress a lady on his own. . .
Victor stood up as straight as possible, inflating his chest to try and look more broad. After many unsuccessful balls, he had determined that tonight was going to be his night. Tonight he would make Mother proud. Tonight, he was going to successfully ask a girl to dance on his own. Flicking that one stray lock of hair out of his eyes, he swaggered over to the nearest young lady. “Hello,” he said, in as suave a voice as he could manage. “May I trouble you for a dance?”
The young lady bursting into hysterical laughter deflated him almost immediately.
12/30/2010: auld lang syne
Time Period: Post-"Secundus"
Notes: . . .I'd completely forgotten about this one. The prompt was "doing something for old time's sake" (since that's what "auld lang syne" means), and I guess the first thing that came to mind was Victor communicating with someone from his hometown. And Mayhew seemed the most obvious choice, since I'd written them as semi-close before. Before you ask, I guess avoiding the events of the movie allowed the carriage driver to avoid his death as well! For a little while, at least.
Victor knew many people – including his own parents – would think him silly for writing regular notes to Mayhew. After all, the older man was just a servant. What was he doing, treating the help as a friend?
But that was just it – Mayhew was a friend. They weren’t as close as they had been, but Victor had fond memories of Mayhew helping him out of trouble, taking him places, even just talking to him. If it hadn’t been for the carriage driver, his childhood would have been a lot lonelier. And Victor felt that deserved at least the occasional note.
1/6/2011: cheese
Time Period: Anytime after "Secundus"
Notes: Just some silly fun featuring the eccentricities of a beloved secondary character. You know the actual Wonderland version would probably pull this too.
When the invitation came to the March Hare’s wine and cheese party, Victor was quite startled. He’d never thought March would plan such an event. The hare was a product of the tea table – wine and cheese seemed odd choices for his culinary talents. Victor agreed to attend, though, and was honestly quite impressed when the date arrived. The room was warm and cozy, the host attentive and gregarious, and the platters filled with delicious cheeses.
In fact, if March hadn’t forgotten that one generally served wine and not tea at a wine and cheese party, it might have been perfect.
1/13/2011: reading someone's mind
Time Period: Anytime during "Secundus"
Notes: Oh come on – I get a prompt like that and you expect me not to do something with one of my favorite BTTF inventions? One day Doc might get it right. . .
“All right, try it.”
Victor squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. This was important. If this worked, it could change the world. He concentrated hard on the thoughts flowing through his head, searching for something new in his mind, something he knew wasn’t supposed to be there, something that spoke with a voice different than his. . . .
Nothing. Nothing but his own scattered musings. Victor opened his eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry, Doc. I have no idea what you were thinking just now.”
Doc sighed too and removed the suction cup. “Ah well. Back to the drawing board.”
1/20/2011: interaction with another culture (Burkina Faso)
Time Period: Anytime after "Secundus"
Notes: The prompt required you to use a random number generator, and I ended up getting #38, which linked to Burkina Faso – which made things rather hard, as that country technically didn't even exist in the era "Secundus" is set in. Instead it was a French colony, Upper Volta. After getting over that hurdle, I went around and around trying to figure out how Victor would interact with the culture of an African country – I couldn't see any reason he'd go down there, and I wasn't sure one of the natives would come to Secundus. Fortunately, discovering that their main export is labor – a lot of their workforce migrates to other countries to find jobs – justified getting a hopeful immigrant into the country. The joke at the end refers to certain recurring themes in the webcomic "Narbonic" – namely, Helen is never above tampering with your food (even if you're her boyfriend).
“Excuse me – do you speak French?”
Victor turned. Standing behind him was a young African man, looking rather lost. “Yes, actually,” Victor replied. “Do you need help?”
The man nodded. “Please. I heard Narbonics Labs is in need of workers. Do you know where it is?”
“It’s down this street and to the right – there’s a large sign out front,” Victor said, pointing.
“Thank you,” the man said. “Please excuse my lack of English – I’m from Upper Volta. I came here seeking a better life.”
Victor nodded. “In that case, some advice – be wary of anything edible Helen gives you.”
1/27/2011: celestial body (moon)
Time Period: Anytime during "Secundus"
Notes: Another one referencing "Narbonic!" This time it obliquely mentions one of the Victorian cast and his quest to get to the moon. Helen and company will later be the first ones to successfully get there – after some very interesting adventures, of course. Victor himself having an interest in space travel is a little character quirk that doesn't come up much these days. But I still think he'd find it cool to take a visit to the moon.
“Has anyone ever tried to reach the moon?”
“Oh, yeah, loads of people. Nobody’s ever made it, though.”
“Why not?” Victor asked. He and Marty were perched on top of Doc’s train, looking at the night sky before turning in.
“Nobody’s managed to invent a rocket strong enough to get that far,” Marty explained. “The only one still seriously working on it is Professor Madblood.”
Victor smiled. “I can’t blame him,” he said. “Imagine, being the first to step foot on the moon.”
“Yeah. . .but Doc wants to take care of time travel first, so don’t get your hopes up.”
2/3/2011: writing stuff
Time Period: Anytime
Notes: I made the decision early on that Victor wasn't much of a writer – technically good, but tending to lack a certain vivacity to his prose. It was intended to balance out his skill with art and music. Therefore, when the prompt about writing and the stuff you use to do it came up, I went with the tack of comparing Victor's lackluster approach to note-taking to his meticulous requirements for drawing. His insistence on quill pens is borrowed from a fic by CB-fandom favorite Player Piano, An Afternoon in the Parlor. It just felt so him I had to adopt it as my own headcanon too.
Victor wasn’t much of a writer. His handwriting, spelling, and grammar were all perfectly acceptable, of course. But he wasn’t the sort to carry around a journal, or even an appointment book. He’d write down whatever he needed to know with whatever paper was at hand, and with any kind of pen or pencil. Such things just weren’t that important to him.
Drawing, however. . . . That was different. That required a sketchbook of a certain size, with plain white paper; a bottle of fine ink; and a quill pen (never a fountain). When it came to his art, Victor could be downright fussy.
Time Period: "Secundus" Chapter 17
Notes: My very first Charloft drabble prompt – and it's about my muse's then-future breakdown into a Touched. Welp, we all know immediately the kind of writer I am, don't we?
Victor had been lost before. A number of times in fact. It wasn't that he didn't have a good sense of direction – it was just that oftentimes he walked around lost in a daydream, not quite noticing where his feet were taking him. He'd gotten lost in the woods outside Burtonsville, he'd gotten lost on his first trip to London, he'd even gotten lost in their house on the town square once. After every time, he thought he'd never been so scared.
But none of it compared to this.
None of it – compared to being lost inside your own head.
12/9/2010: fabrication
Time Period: Within "Secundus," around the time Victor starts getting the headaches
Notes: This one also focuses on Victor's transformation into a Touched, though in a rather more oblique way. It's kind of supposed to be foreshadowing – he wants to do something incredible like his friends, and he has this one really cool idea. . . (Probably would have worked better if my FIRST drabble hadn't been him actually having the breakthrough.)
Even after a few weeks in Secundus, Victor still couldn’t get over the Inventions that surrounded him. Doc’s gadgets, Richard’s machines, Lewis’s creatures. . . . They were all so amazing. He watched Doc at work sometimes, fascinated by the way his friend could take a pile of parts, bring them together, and, despite any laws of physics telling the scientist otherwise, assemble them into a coherent, functional whole. It was – it was just –
Well. Victor had to admit it. He was a little jealous. Part of him wanted to make something like that. Something big, something wonderful. Something like – like –
Glowing butterflies.
12/16/2010: holiday special
Time Period: Christmas after "Secundus"
Notes: The prompt for this week was was Imagine your character has their very own holiday special. Give a 100 word summary of that Very Special Show. So this one's a little off the wall in that it's less a "story" and more a commercial for another set of stories I did: "A Week of Secundus Christmas." Serves as a good sum-up for that, though.
It’s Victor’s first Christmas in Secundus, and his friends are determined to make it special. Of course, given that they live in the Mad Science Capital of the world, AND that most of them are Touched or Igors, things are sure to not go quite as planned. Mutated fireflies, busted lights, rocket sleighs, gingerbread monsters, ice cream snow, twisted carols, and the March Hare’s pudding – this will definitely be a holiday to remember. Join Victor Van Dort, Alice Liddell, Doc Brown, Marty McFly, Richard Dodgson, Sir Christopher Lloyd, Victoria Everglot, and Emily Cartwell (and everyone else) for a very Creative Christmas.
12/23/2010: plans
Time Period: Pre-Secundus, Victor's teenage years
Notes: A bit of backstory – Nell's assertion in the original Corpse Bride that Victor "doesn't even know any women!" is not quite true in my fanon. The Van Dorts, being rich, have attended (and hosted) their fair share of balls and parties. So Victor's MET girls, he's just never gotten to know any of them outside of a brief dance. And those were usually set up for him by his parents. At this particular ball, Victor's been observing the other boys (who are, in his view, more manly than he'll ever be), and making a plan on how to impress a lady on his own. . .
Victor stood up as straight as possible, inflating his chest to try and look more broad. After many unsuccessful balls, he had determined that tonight was going to be his night. Tonight he would make Mother proud. Tonight, he was going to successfully ask a girl to dance on his own. Flicking that one stray lock of hair out of his eyes, he swaggered over to the nearest young lady. “Hello,” he said, in as suave a voice as he could manage. “May I trouble you for a dance?”
The young lady bursting into hysterical laughter deflated him almost immediately.
12/30/2010: auld lang syne
Time Period: Post-"Secundus"
Notes: . . .I'd completely forgotten about this one. The prompt was "doing something for old time's sake" (since that's what "auld lang syne" means), and I guess the first thing that came to mind was Victor communicating with someone from his hometown. And Mayhew seemed the most obvious choice, since I'd written them as semi-close before. Before you ask, I guess avoiding the events of the movie allowed the carriage driver to avoid his death as well! For a little while, at least.
Victor knew many people – including his own parents – would think him silly for writing regular notes to Mayhew. After all, the older man was just a servant. What was he doing, treating the help as a friend?
But that was just it – Mayhew was a friend. They weren’t as close as they had been, but Victor had fond memories of Mayhew helping him out of trouble, taking him places, even just talking to him. If it hadn’t been for the carriage driver, his childhood would have been a lot lonelier. And Victor felt that deserved at least the occasional note.
1/6/2011: cheese
Time Period: Anytime after "Secundus"
Notes: Just some silly fun featuring the eccentricities of a beloved secondary character. You know the actual Wonderland version would probably pull this too.
When the invitation came to the March Hare’s wine and cheese party, Victor was quite startled. He’d never thought March would plan such an event. The hare was a product of the tea table – wine and cheese seemed odd choices for his culinary talents. Victor agreed to attend, though, and was honestly quite impressed when the date arrived. The room was warm and cozy, the host attentive and gregarious, and the platters filled with delicious cheeses.
In fact, if March hadn’t forgotten that one generally served wine and not tea at a wine and cheese party, it might have been perfect.
1/13/2011: reading someone's mind
Time Period: Anytime during "Secundus"
Notes: Oh come on – I get a prompt like that and you expect me not to do something with one of my favorite BTTF inventions? One day Doc might get it right. . .
“All right, try it.”
Victor squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. This was important. If this worked, it could change the world. He concentrated hard on the thoughts flowing through his head, searching for something new in his mind, something he knew wasn’t supposed to be there, something that spoke with a voice different than his. . . .
Nothing. Nothing but his own scattered musings. Victor opened his eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry, Doc. I have no idea what you were thinking just now.”
Doc sighed too and removed the suction cup. “Ah well. Back to the drawing board.”
1/20/2011: interaction with another culture (Burkina Faso)
Time Period: Anytime after "Secundus"
Notes: The prompt required you to use a random number generator, and I ended up getting #38, which linked to Burkina Faso – which made things rather hard, as that country technically didn't even exist in the era "Secundus" is set in. Instead it was a French colony, Upper Volta. After getting over that hurdle, I went around and around trying to figure out how Victor would interact with the culture of an African country – I couldn't see any reason he'd go down there, and I wasn't sure one of the natives would come to Secundus. Fortunately, discovering that their main export is labor – a lot of their workforce migrates to other countries to find jobs – justified getting a hopeful immigrant into the country. The joke at the end refers to certain recurring themes in the webcomic "Narbonic" – namely, Helen is never above tampering with your food (even if you're her boyfriend).
“Excuse me – do you speak French?”
Victor turned. Standing behind him was a young African man, looking rather lost. “Yes, actually,” Victor replied. “Do you need help?”
The man nodded. “Please. I heard Narbonics Labs is in need of workers. Do you know where it is?”
“It’s down this street and to the right – there’s a large sign out front,” Victor said, pointing.
“Thank you,” the man said. “Please excuse my lack of English – I’m from Upper Volta. I came here seeking a better life.”
Victor nodded. “In that case, some advice – be wary of anything edible Helen gives you.”
1/27/2011: celestial body (moon)
Time Period: Anytime during "Secundus"
Notes: Another one referencing "Narbonic!" This time it obliquely mentions one of the Victorian cast and his quest to get to the moon. Helen and company will later be the first ones to successfully get there – after some very interesting adventures, of course. Victor himself having an interest in space travel is a little character quirk that doesn't come up much these days. But I still think he'd find it cool to take a visit to the moon.
“Has anyone ever tried to reach the moon?”
“Oh, yeah, loads of people. Nobody’s ever made it, though.”
“Why not?” Victor asked. He and Marty were perched on top of Doc’s train, looking at the night sky before turning in.
“Nobody’s managed to invent a rocket strong enough to get that far,” Marty explained. “The only one still seriously working on it is Professor Madblood.”
Victor smiled. “I can’t blame him,” he said. “Imagine, being the first to step foot on the moon.”
“Yeah. . .but Doc wants to take care of time travel first, so don’t get your hopes up.”
2/3/2011: writing stuff
Time Period: Anytime
Notes: I made the decision early on that Victor wasn't much of a writer – technically good, but tending to lack a certain vivacity to his prose. It was intended to balance out his skill with art and music. Therefore, when the prompt about writing and the stuff you use to do it came up, I went with the tack of comparing Victor's lackluster approach to note-taking to his meticulous requirements for drawing. His insistence on quill pens is borrowed from a fic by CB-fandom favorite Player Piano, An Afternoon in the Parlor. It just felt so him I had to adopt it as my own headcanon too.
Victor wasn’t much of a writer. His handwriting, spelling, and grammar were all perfectly acceptable, of course. But he wasn’t the sort to carry around a journal, or even an appointment book. He’d write down whatever he needed to know with whatever paper was at hand, and with any kind of pen or pencil. Such things just weren’t that important to him.
Drawing, however. . . . That was different. That required a sketchbook of a certain size, with plain white paper; a bottle of fine ink; and a quill pen (never a fountain). When it came to his art, Victor could be downright fussy.