Thursday Charloft Prompts #31-40
7/7/2011: insomnia
Time Period: Pre-"Secundus," Victor's teenage years
Notes: Poor Victor. I don't know what precisely inspired my idea of giving him sleeping problems, though I suspect a fic in which it was mentioned those dark circles around his eyes made him look perpetually tired. Either way, it's a curse he's gotta live with. Though happily not as much these days, as I never did as much with him having insomnia as I thought I would.
Victor wondered if one could get a job staring at ceilings. If so, he should apply – he was certainly qualified. In fact, he was probably overqualified. After all, he couldn't remember a day when he hadn't stared at a ceiling, wondering when he'd finally sleep.
He sighed and rolled over, deciding to stare at the wall for a change. Why did his brain always do this to him? He hated the fact that, no matter how tired he was when he first climbed into bed, he could never just fall asleep.
Maybe his brain liked staring at ceilings.
Stupid brain.
7/14/2011: perfection
Time Period: Anytime pre-"Secundus" Notes: Did something a little different with this one – a drabble from Nell's perspective about Victor. I wanted to show that she doesn't outright hate her son, but she's never really been satisfied with him and his behavior. Add in the family secret that he wasn't actually her first child, and. . . . Pity Victor – he's being held up to an ideal he can never hope to match.
He was – all right. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but all right. Quiet and dutiful and polite – all good qualities in a young man.
But he was also clumsy. And shy. And he always seemed to know just how to embarrass them in public. A daughter wouldn’t have been like that, Nell knew. A daughter would have been graceful. A daughter would have been a socialite. A daughter would have been the paragon of dignity, impressing all the right people and elevating their name.
Yes, her son was all right. But a daughter would have been perfection.
7/21/2011: work
Time Period: Anytime during "Secundus" (before the shit hits the fan obviously)
Notes: Just an average transaction at Dr. E.L. Brown's 24-Hour Scientific Services. Originally the customer was a guy working on a doomsday device, but I decided to represent the female contingent of the Touched and have her work on something relatively harmless instead.
“Did you find everything you needed today, ma’am?”
“Oh yes,” the woman said, dumping a large pile of parts on the counter. “This is such a lovely store, don’t you think so?”
Victor nodded as he checked prices. “I quite agree. I’m very happy to be working here. Your total is 10 pounds even, please.”
The woman handed over the money, then scooped her parts into the bag over her shoulder. “Now I can finally start work on that Sonic Messaging Mechanism! Don’t be surprised if you hear pigs oinking from nowhere tomorrow.”
“I won’t, ma’am. Have a nice day!”
8/4/2011: lipogram (letter omitted: L)
Time Period: Post-"Secundus," pre-wedding
Notes: A lipogram, for those not in the know, is a story where one letter of the alphabet is deliberately omitted. The hardest and most famous ones get rid of all mentions of "E," but I went with "L" after deciding to write something about Victor and Alice. Little personal challenge. The "they had a fight" thing came as a sudden flash of inspiration – they love each other, but arguments happen. Not often, but they do.
"I just – I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Everybody fights at some point, Victor," Marty said.
"Yes, but – she got so angry with me–"
"Her bark is worse than her bite. You ought to know that."
"I do," Victor admitted, sighing. "I wish I hadn't upset her, though. I wanted the night to go – better than it did."
"Jennifer and I have gone through the same thing. It's tough, I know." Marty patted his back. "Forgiveness is on the way, I'm sure. You two can't break up over one fight."
"I hope not."
"You won't, Victor. Trust me."
8/11/2011: deprivement
Time Period: Day of Victor and Alice's wedding
Notes: I thought about doing something from Victor's childhood, but decided to focus on something arguably more pleasant.
This was slow torture.
Victor paced the main hall of the church, then glanced up at the clock. There was still half an hour to the ceremony. He sighed and continued pacing, wishing again that he could see his bride to be. But Susan Liddell was a traditionalist – the bride and groom weren’t to see each other before the ceremony. Nothing he’d said had made her budge. And so he was left to pace and think about Alice. Her hair, her eyes, her smile. . .
Considering all the time they spent together normally, he shouldn’t feel so deprived. But he did.
8/18/2011: work ethic
Time Period: During the early chapters of "Secundus"
Notes: A change of pace – here's a drabble from Doc's perspective. I figured he might have a few worries about bringing on a new assistant. But we all know it worked out fine in the end. Even if my RPing seems to suggest Victor doesn't actually spend all that much time at his job XD
Doc hadn’t been sure it would really work out at first. Victor was a nice fellow, but he seemed slightly intimidated by the demands of his new job. Specifically, dealing with customers. He’d looked as if he’d wanted to bolt the first time someone snapped at him (and actually did just that once the customer had left, hiding in an aisle briefly). And his nervous stammer when interacting with strangers didn’t help matters.
But he was also unfailingly polite, eager to please, and willing to learn. So Doc kept him on, certain all the young man needed was a chance.
8/25/2011: after
Time Period: LONG Post-"Secundus 2"
Notes: Oh man – I knew immediately I wanted to do an "afterlife" drabble, to show what exactly happens to the departed in the Secundus-verse, but it took me three rewrites to get it under 100 words! Apparently I'm chatty about this particular subject. Still, I managed, so here's your sneak peek at the Secundus underworld. And before anyone asks – no references to Beetlejuice in here. I've seen neither the movie nor the cartoon series. This is just what I came up with to explain the Reanimated.
He hadn’t expected a waiting room.
Of course, Victor hadn’t known what to expect when he died. He’d been prepared for just about anything. But a waiting room?
“Victor Van Dort?”
He looked up as a woman approached, consulting a piece of paper. “87 years old – you won’t be called back, I’m sure. As for your record. . . .” She smiled. “You’re in. Alice is waiting. Right through there.”
“Thank you!” Victor ran to the door, then paused. “Er. . .I have to ask – a waiting room?”
“Well, we had to do something when you lot figured out how to bring people back. . . .”
9/3/2011: portmanteau
Time Period: Anytime during "Secundus," after Sir Christopher shows up
Notes: Oh, I had to do something referencing Jabberwocky. Lewis Carroll was the king of these things, after all. :) The weird thing is, even I wasn't sure where I was going with this until the end.
“The worst thing about Jabberwocks and Jabberspawn is their tendency to be frumious. Not as bad as Bandersnatches, but still annoying.”
“Um – forgive me if this is a silly question, Sir Christopher, but – what exactly does ‘frumious’ mean? I understand it’s a bad quality monsters have. . .”
“Oh, not at all Victor! It’s simply a faster way of saying ‘fuming’ and ‘furious.’ ‘Frumious’ has both of their meanings bound up in it.”
“Oh! I see now.”
“You’re not the first to ask, honestly. I think the time I save in not saying two words is taken up in explaining the one.”
9/8/2011: lock
Time Period: Post-"Secundus," pre-wedding
Notes: Holy crap, I'd forgotten about this one – but then again, it wouldn't have been right to force Victor to leave all his stuff behind. The prompt made me think for a bit before writing – a metaphorical lock or a literal one? This ended up having elements of both. Poor Victor – he may be angry at his parents, but it still hurts him to be rejected by them.
He was surprised that his parents let him come back to the house to pick up his things. After what had happened in Secundus, he had been fairly certain they never wanted to see him again. (Not that he was very fond of them these days. . . .)
The visit was short – Doc dropped him off, he said “hello,” then went up to his room and gathered up his sketchbook, books, bell jar, and pictures. The most important parts of his life here. Then he turned around, said “goodbye,” and walked out.
He pretended hearing the door lock behind him didn’t hurt.
9/15/2011: first time finding out about: how to play the piano
Time Period: Pre-"Secundus," Victor's childhood (he's specifically six here)
Notes: Wasn't sure what to do for this until I came up with the idea of Victor's first piano lesson. Everybody's gotta start somewhere!
“Now, Victor, just like this.” Mr. Carter played the scale, as he had for many other children. He could probably perform it in his sleep now. “Do just what I did.”
Victor nodded, watching his tutor’s fingers intently. He reached out to the keyboard and, after a moment, did the scale. Mr. Carter smiled and nodded. “Good. Let’s try it in a slightly different order.”
“Yes sir.” Victor looked at the keyboard. “When will I be able to play music?”
“Soon, my boy, soon,” Mr. Carter assured him, patting his head. “Let’s get the basics out of the way first.”
Time Period: Pre-"Secundus," Victor's teenage years
Notes: Poor Victor. I don't know what precisely inspired my idea of giving him sleeping problems, though I suspect a fic in which it was mentioned those dark circles around his eyes made him look perpetually tired. Either way, it's a curse he's gotta live with. Though happily not as much these days, as I never did as much with him having insomnia as I thought I would.
Victor wondered if one could get a job staring at ceilings. If so, he should apply – he was certainly qualified. In fact, he was probably overqualified. After all, he couldn't remember a day when he hadn't stared at a ceiling, wondering when he'd finally sleep.
He sighed and rolled over, deciding to stare at the wall for a change. Why did his brain always do this to him? He hated the fact that, no matter how tired he was when he first climbed into bed, he could never just fall asleep.
Maybe his brain liked staring at ceilings.
Stupid brain.
7/14/2011: perfection
Time Period: Anytime pre-"Secundus" Notes: Did something a little different with this one – a drabble from Nell's perspective about Victor. I wanted to show that she doesn't outright hate her son, but she's never really been satisfied with him and his behavior. Add in the family secret that he wasn't actually her first child, and. . . . Pity Victor – he's being held up to an ideal he can never hope to match.
He was – all right. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but all right. Quiet and dutiful and polite – all good qualities in a young man.
But he was also clumsy. And shy. And he always seemed to know just how to embarrass them in public. A daughter wouldn’t have been like that, Nell knew. A daughter would have been graceful. A daughter would have been a socialite. A daughter would have been the paragon of dignity, impressing all the right people and elevating their name.
Yes, her son was all right. But a daughter would have been perfection.
7/21/2011: work
Time Period: Anytime during "Secundus" (before the shit hits the fan obviously)
Notes: Just an average transaction at Dr. E.L. Brown's 24-Hour Scientific Services. Originally the customer was a guy working on a doomsday device, but I decided to represent the female contingent of the Touched and have her work on something relatively harmless instead.
“Did you find everything you needed today, ma’am?”
“Oh yes,” the woman said, dumping a large pile of parts on the counter. “This is such a lovely store, don’t you think so?”
Victor nodded as he checked prices. “I quite agree. I’m very happy to be working here. Your total is 10 pounds even, please.”
The woman handed over the money, then scooped her parts into the bag over her shoulder. “Now I can finally start work on that Sonic Messaging Mechanism! Don’t be surprised if you hear pigs oinking from nowhere tomorrow.”
“I won’t, ma’am. Have a nice day!”
8/4/2011: lipogram (letter omitted: L)
Time Period: Post-"Secundus," pre-wedding
Notes: A lipogram, for those not in the know, is a story where one letter of the alphabet is deliberately omitted. The hardest and most famous ones get rid of all mentions of "E," but I went with "L" after deciding to write something about Victor and Alice. Little personal challenge. The "they had a fight" thing came as a sudden flash of inspiration – they love each other, but arguments happen. Not often, but they do.
"I just – I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Everybody fights at some point, Victor," Marty said.
"Yes, but – she got so angry with me–"
"Her bark is worse than her bite. You ought to know that."
"I do," Victor admitted, sighing. "I wish I hadn't upset her, though. I wanted the night to go – better than it did."
"Jennifer and I have gone through the same thing. It's tough, I know." Marty patted his back. "Forgiveness is on the way, I'm sure. You two can't break up over one fight."
"I hope not."
"You won't, Victor. Trust me."
8/11/2011: deprivement
Time Period: Day of Victor and Alice's wedding
Notes: I thought about doing something from Victor's childhood, but decided to focus on something arguably more pleasant.
This was slow torture.
Victor paced the main hall of the church, then glanced up at the clock. There was still half an hour to the ceremony. He sighed and continued pacing, wishing again that he could see his bride to be. But Susan Liddell was a traditionalist – the bride and groom weren’t to see each other before the ceremony. Nothing he’d said had made her budge. And so he was left to pace and think about Alice. Her hair, her eyes, her smile. . .
Considering all the time they spent together normally, he shouldn’t feel so deprived. But he did.
8/18/2011: work ethic
Time Period: During the early chapters of "Secundus"
Notes: A change of pace – here's a drabble from Doc's perspective. I figured he might have a few worries about bringing on a new assistant. But we all know it worked out fine in the end. Even if my RPing seems to suggest Victor doesn't actually spend all that much time at his job XD
Doc hadn’t been sure it would really work out at first. Victor was a nice fellow, but he seemed slightly intimidated by the demands of his new job. Specifically, dealing with customers. He’d looked as if he’d wanted to bolt the first time someone snapped at him (and actually did just that once the customer had left, hiding in an aisle briefly). And his nervous stammer when interacting with strangers didn’t help matters.
But he was also unfailingly polite, eager to please, and willing to learn. So Doc kept him on, certain all the young man needed was a chance.
8/25/2011: after
Time Period: LONG Post-"Secundus 2"
Notes: Oh man – I knew immediately I wanted to do an "afterlife" drabble, to show what exactly happens to the departed in the Secundus-verse, but it took me three rewrites to get it under 100 words! Apparently I'm chatty about this particular subject. Still, I managed, so here's your sneak peek at the Secundus underworld. And before anyone asks – no references to Beetlejuice in here. I've seen neither the movie nor the cartoon series. This is just what I came up with to explain the Reanimated.
He hadn’t expected a waiting room.
Of course, Victor hadn’t known what to expect when he died. He’d been prepared for just about anything. But a waiting room?
“Victor Van Dort?”
He looked up as a woman approached, consulting a piece of paper. “87 years old – you won’t be called back, I’m sure. As for your record. . . .” She smiled. “You’re in. Alice is waiting. Right through there.”
“Thank you!” Victor ran to the door, then paused. “Er. . .I have to ask – a waiting room?”
“Well, we had to do something when you lot figured out how to bring people back. . . .”
9/3/2011: portmanteau
Time Period: Anytime during "Secundus," after Sir Christopher shows up
Notes: Oh, I had to do something referencing Jabberwocky. Lewis Carroll was the king of these things, after all. :) The weird thing is, even I wasn't sure where I was going with this until the end.
“The worst thing about Jabberwocks and Jabberspawn is their tendency to be frumious. Not as bad as Bandersnatches, but still annoying.”
“Um – forgive me if this is a silly question, Sir Christopher, but – what exactly does ‘frumious’ mean? I understand it’s a bad quality monsters have. . .”
“Oh, not at all Victor! It’s simply a faster way of saying ‘fuming’ and ‘furious.’ ‘Frumious’ has both of their meanings bound up in it.”
“Oh! I see now.”
“You’re not the first to ask, honestly. I think the time I save in not saying two words is taken up in explaining the one.”
9/8/2011: lock
Time Period: Post-"Secundus," pre-wedding
Notes: Holy crap, I'd forgotten about this one – but then again, it wouldn't have been right to force Victor to leave all his stuff behind. The prompt made me think for a bit before writing – a metaphorical lock or a literal one? This ended up having elements of both. Poor Victor – he may be angry at his parents, but it still hurts him to be rejected by them.
He was surprised that his parents let him come back to the house to pick up his things. After what had happened in Secundus, he had been fairly certain they never wanted to see him again. (Not that he was very fond of them these days. . . .)
The visit was short – Doc dropped him off, he said “hello,” then went up to his room and gathered up his sketchbook, books, bell jar, and pictures. The most important parts of his life here. Then he turned around, said “goodbye,” and walked out.
He pretended hearing the door lock behind him didn’t hurt.
9/15/2011: first time finding out about: how to play the piano
Time Period: Pre-"Secundus," Victor's childhood (he's specifically six here)
Notes: Wasn't sure what to do for this until I came up with the idea of Victor's first piano lesson. Everybody's gotta start somewhere!
“Now, Victor, just like this.” Mr. Carter played the scale, as he had for many other children. He could probably perform it in his sleep now. “Do just what I did.”
Victor nodded, watching his tutor’s fingers intently. He reached out to the keyboard and, after a moment, did the scale. Mr. Carter smiled and nodded. “Good. Let’s try it in a slightly different order.”
“Yes sir.” Victor looked at the keyboard. “When will I be able to play music?”
“Soon, my boy, soon,” Mr. Carter assured him, patting his head. “Let’s get the basics out of the way first.”