Merry Christmas SatiricalDemon!

@thesatiricaldemon *waves* So you requested a fic about Daniel, Dommik, and N on an inter-dimensional vacation to one of my other fic verses...and the very first thing that came to mind was a follow up on a thread about a certain crystalline butterfly birthday present Dan sent to the Victors that my Secundus boy found very inspiring. XD So yeah, that's what you're getting. Hope you enjoy!

This Feels Like A Recipe For Disaster

“. . .and that allowed me to dampen the threat response! They still react if one of the flock gets injured, but it’s more of a ‘chase away the potential threat’ thing – they won’t try a full swarm unless you full-on shatter one of them.”

“Oh, excellent, excellent! And I see in your notes here you were looking to see if you could get different colors – I would imagine that if you added that lovely compound to the caterpillar mid-metamorphosis, you could get a truly acidic shade of green!”

“Maybe, but that also has a good chance of completely destabilizing the metamorphosis entirely. . .though I guess it’s all about how much I add. . .”

Alice looked over at the two, hunched over the main experimentation table in Victor’s greenhouse lab, and shook her head fondly. “I’m sorry, it sounds like they may be at this for a while,” she commented, turning back to their other two guests. “Victor was – very inspired by that little gift your Dr. Daniel sent along for his birthday.”

“So I can see,” Dommik said, grinning in that rather off-kilter way he had. Then again, Alice supposed that since he was really some sort of odd vampire-worm thing running around in a human suit (and how she wished she didn’t know that), it was only to be expected. “Daniel was hoping that he’d enjoy the statue, but I don’t think he expected him to try and recreate it.”

Normally it’s a bad idea for anyone to attempt to copy anomalous flora and fauna, N added, their cold gaze fixed on Daniel and Victor as they kept exchanging ideas on tweaks to the crystalline butterflies Victor was working on. But your husband seems to have a rare talent in that regard.

“Only because it’s a butterfly, I’m sure,” Alice replied, folding her arms. “Lepidoptery is Victor’s specialty. He can work with other insects too – we’ve got a hive of modified bees from a honey-making venture he attempted a little while back – and he’s got some talent with engineering, but butterflies and moths are where he shines.” She grinned. “Possibly because his very first project as a Touched was figuring out how to make them glow.”

“Oooh! I’d love to see that!” Dommik said, excitement shining through his eye sockets. “I’m sure they’re beautiful!”

“They are – and much less deadly than the creatures you lot apparently deal with on a daily basis,” Alice said, glancing between them and Daniel. “I thought Secundus could be a rowdy place to live sometimes, but after the stories you’ve told us of your world, it seems almost – peaceful.”

It is a difficult place to exist sometimes, N agreed. But we have found happiness there, regardless of the circumstances. They tilted their head at her. I do still find it interesting you do not exhibit the same Hume potential as the Alice we know at home.

“Oh, I’d love to be able to bend reality to my will,” Alice grumbled. “It’d make life so much easier. . .then again, your Alice seems to have had a very different life to mine, even if some of the broader events match up?”

“Mmm? Oh, yes – I’ve noticed your meta-narrative placement is much different from hers,” Daniel commented, looking up from the notepad he’d been sharing with Victor. “As is this Victor’s from the one I know. No waking up Emily means no potential for necromancy at all!”

“I’ll take raising butterflies over raising the dead,” Victor mumbled, scribbling something with a frown. “Hmmm – I’m not entirely sure that’s adding up right. . .”

“I’m just wondering where Smiler is,” Dommik said, looking around.

Alice blinked, then glanced over at Victor, who looked equally confused. “Ah – who?”

“You know – Smiler! Your themfriend?”

“Wrong universe, dearest,” Daniel said, with a slightly softer version of his trademark manic grin. “This romantic situation was resolved before their creation – though they may be here somewhere in potentia! Perhaps I could look into the matter!”

“Who are they?” Victor asked. “Other than a ‘themfriend.’” He smiled, tone light. “What, are we supposed to be a threesome too?”

Daniel laughed. “You could if you wanted to be! In fact, in studying the meta-verse for this trip, I actually located a reality where you and Alice are part of a nine-person polycule!”

Alice and Victor shared another, much more astonished glance. “. . .all right, now you have to tell us about that one,” Alice said after a moment, shaking her head. “Because I have got to know.”

OOC: Updates And New Characters!

I recently updated my Google Doc featuring rules, verses, and characters with some new stuff, including one new alternate timeline for the “Cuddlepile” verse and a handful of new characters! Let me give you the scoop:

New Cuddlepile Timeline: ~T: Running Headlong Into The Bullshit – an AU timeline in which this polycule expands from six to nine! Mostly because, just for fun, I wanted to combine all of my various ships into one to see what resulted. XD In this world, after Victor, Victoria, Emily, Alice, Richard, and Christopher all got together, three more people ended up becoming friends, and then more, with the group — Preston Garvey (cis man, he/him, biromantic bisexual), another student who does a lot of volunteer work (Habitat for Humanity and stuff like that) and is part of a “Futuristic History” group that does joking “reenactments” of stuff, like the Minutemen with laser guns; Piper Wright (cis woman, she/her, biromantic bisexual with a lean toward female partners), journalism major who was kicked off the official school paper by the head of the department, McDonough, and now prints her own “underground” paper exposing corruption in the school; and Smiler Alton (nonbinary (amab), they/them, panromantic pansexual), psychology major who has a reputation for being the cheeriest person in the school, throwing the best parties and generally trying to put a smile on everyone’s face. (Yes, this is basically “let’s throw the two Fallout 4 companions I love the most and my roller coaster OC into the mix.”) Things, as you might imagine, get even more chaotic concerning relationships and such with this set-up. XD The new character tags here would be ~C: Preston Garvey, ~C: Piper Wright, and ~C: Smiler Alton.

New Inevitable High School Character: ~C: Smiler Alton (yes, my roller coaster OC has made it here too! A new transfer student, they’ve quickly become notable for their bright yellow contacts and their excessively cheery attitude — they seem not to be bothered by anything! They’re also surprisingly good at anything involving chemistry or robotics)

New Fallout of Darkness Characters:

~C: Preston Garvey (the sole surviving member of the Minutemen at the start of Victor’s adventures, he and the few survivors of the Quincy Massacre are saved by Victor from some Concord raiders not long after Victor leaves the vault. To Preston’s delight, Victor agrees to continue helping the Minutemen and even become General (reluctantly), and the two become firm friends as they work to make the Commonwealth a better, safer place. . .and eventually more. Preston believes strongly that the world can be better if people just band together and help each other, and though he struggles sometimes with depression and despair, he’s always willing to lend a hand. Credits Victor with saving his life, not only from the raiders, but himself)

~C: Piper Wright (the publisher and reporter behind Publick Occurrences, Diamond City’s newspaper, Piper met Victor when he was trying to get into Diamond City and she’d been locked out for her latest article, which insinuated the mayor, McDonough, was an Institute spy. She used Victor’s presence to trick them into letting her inside again — fortunately, Victor was willing to forgive her the deception, especially when he saw what a jerk McDonough was for himself. After getting an article from him regarding his time in Vault 111 and his search for his son, Piper joined forces with him, and the two quickly became good friends, and eventually lovers (though it took a bit, given how awkward they both are at flirting). Piper is sassy, opinionated, and has a drive to find the truth no matter what, which has made her a lot of enemies as well as friends — but she also believes strongly in helping others, and feels that making sure people are well-informed is the best way to do that)

Minor Character Change: I updated my headcanon for Richard Hatter in “Cuddlepile’s” sexuality a bit ago, and changed xis entry to make sure it matched -- they are now panromantic asexual.

That should cover everything! Any questions, please let me know.