xt1me

There’s a thing going around on tumblr right now about bringing back the citrus system.
I’m old enough to remember lemons & limes.
I remember the reason behind disclaimers.
I remember writers arguing w/ their characters in authors notes.
And while I’m not old enough to have been part of Usenet & fanzines I do remember webrings.

Make of that what you will.

And all these trips down memory lane reminded me of an old fandom thing I think may be coming back as well.

There was a type of fic that was set in a place, usually a bar or a pub or even a café where characters from all types of fandoms would meet up.

The fic was usually an excuse to do an easy crossover. The tavern could be set up on a multidimensional gateway or on the 4^th wall or just exist. The characters could know they were in a story & complain to each other about fics & author abuse or they could just stumble about the place & it would be played straight.

Off the top of my head I can think of one good example that I can find right now but here were many things like this done back in the day.

It’s a lot like ItsJustSomeRandomGuy’s series or HISHE’s villain’s pub & super hero café just expanded to include whatever character you want, or even multiple versions of the same character.

I’ve been reading a bunch of YouTuber fics lately and the thing that struck me was a lot of them had the same vibe as some of those old fics. I’m guessing because YouTube is so good for collaboration, writing fics where one creator’s character just know about another’s without having to explain just make’s sense.

This fic was inspired by this pic and a random comment under one of NateWantsToBattle’s music vids.

I have since read Confusion Aside by The_WritersBlock &, though I had the idea for this beforehand, it did inspire me to finish writing it up.

>-°°\/\/\/\_ _/\/\/\/°°-<

Deceit was lurking in the common area looking at something.

“What’s that?” asked Virgil.

Deceit clutched the letter to his chest, manfully pretending not to be startled.

“None of your business is what it is.” He replied.

Virgil snorted, “Please, if you really didn’t want anyone to ask you’d be in your room or hiding. You’re sneaky enough that they only reason you’d be out in the open like this is because you hoping someone will ask.”

“Spoil my fun why don’t you,” Deceit grumbled handing the letter over.

Honestly, one of the reason they didn’t get on is because they both knew each other too well by now.

Virgil glanced over the letter. “Right, you’ve been in a couple of vids now, no wonder you got an invite to the YouTube Villain meet up.”

“Don’t be jealous you didn’t get one.”

“Oh no, I got one. I just wasn’t planning to go.”

“Why did you get one? You’re doing such a terrible job being a goodie two-shoes these days.”

“Yeah well, when all you invite are arrogant antisocial assholes you tend not to get a lot of repeat guests. They’re a lot more lenient in the scope of invitee then the opposition anyway.”

“What’s it like?” Deceit asked, “No that I care or anything.”

Virgil shrugged, “I’ve never gone. I don’t like parties. I guess we’re finding out together.”

“You don’t have to come, I don’t need looking after. Don’t you trust me?”

“Yeah right,” Virgil snorted, “Besides I trust them less. What if something happens?”

Deceit rolled his eyes, “Oh yes, it’s not like we’re imaginary or anything. There’s just so much that can harm us.”

“I’m not risking it. Come on danger noodle, let’s figure out when we’re going.”

_/\/\/\/°°-<

When they arrived at the location on the invitation it became obvious that if there were any evil party planners on YouTube they hadn’t been consulted.

There was a forlorn banner hanging up saying ‘Villains Welcom’. One end of it had been scorched and was still smoking.

The punch bowl was so obviously poisoned it had a bottle with a hazard label floating in it.

The music seemed pretty good though there were a lot of labels warning away people from trying to touch, destroy, modify, date or give sentence to any part of the music system.

Virgil, predictably enough, headed off to a darkened corner of the room to hold up a wall. Probably for the rest of the night.
It seemed he wasn’t the only one with that idea as a man in a suit and another man with a bloody neck were already there.

Well he could make friends while hiding and glowering at people. Deceit was going to see just how much trouble he could get into.

_/\/\/\/°°-<

Deceit was subtly winding up a man wearing swirly goggles into a truly impressive rant when he heard loud distorted voices coming from the other side of the room.

Anyone who spend any significant time around Anxiety was familiar with the voice. By its very nature it instinctively imparted fear on anyone who heard it. Even when it wasn’t loud it was very hard not to listen to. It was also something that Virgil very rarely did on purpose.

Which made it all the more worrisome that there was another voice that sounded similar.

He couldn’t hear what Virgil and the almost grey-scale man in the suit were saying but he wasn’t about to go over here without a plan.

Luckily he spotted soothing that might help.
Or rather someone.

_/\/\/\/°°-<

“You will stay away from-”

“Do not dare think you can order me-”

“Dark! What’s this I hear about you wanting to do karaoke?”

The tense argument was abruptly interrupted by a pink mustachioed man in suspenders.

The man grabbed the grey suit wearer that shared his face.

“Will, wha-”

“Come along, I know just what you can sing to.”

The two disappeared.

Deceit took this as the opportunity to sidle up to Anxiety.

“I’m sure this isn’t the perfect time to pick the flight part of fight or flight.”

“Can’t” Virgil was standing stock still, glaring at the spot the two men had disappeared from. “He threatened Thomas.”

Deceit was beginning to see what the problem was. Virgil was very good a split second reactions, it was part of his function for protecting Thomas. While even he would admit he didn’t always get it right, as a rule he tended to prefer Flight to Fight. Sometimes he would grab Sleep or Deceit and throw them at Thomas in the cases of Faint or Fawn but Freeze only happened when he was stuck between two or more equal urges. And Thomas wasn’t exactly here to protect. Or to snap him out of it.

Deceit backed away as ice started forming on Virgil.

“Um, everything is ok now. There’s nothing to worry about.” He had no idea what to do. Virgil needed to pick an option or he’d freeze over. That had never happened when they were outside Thomas’s mind before. He had no clue whether that meant he’d be stuck for good or not.

“Did someone say something about a fight?”

Deceit back up further but the only part of Virgil to move were the eyes as he tracked the approaching man.

He had a strange green ting to him and was holding a large knife. Blood was dripping from a large gash on his neck but that didn’t seem to bother him judging by the maniacal grin on his face.

“I can give you a fight if you want,” he said as he twitched like a computer glitch.

For a long moment Virgil said nothing.

“Yes.”

The knife wielding psychopath leaped forward.

Deceit had been far enough away that he wasn’t directly in his path but decided that now was a good time to join the crowd gathering around them. Virgil was on his own for this.

It seemed at first the frozen Side wasn’t going to be able to react. But just as the knife reached him he moved. Grabbing the attacker’s wrist he turned and flung him to the side. Frost flaking off and disappearing.

Twisting in mid-air the green glitch landed grinning, “Oh, this is going to be fun”

Settling back into the gathered crowd Deceit conjured some popcorn. The group gathered, being who they were, there was no one rushing in to try and stop the fight. In fact it was being treated as part of the entertainment. He could already hear bets being waged on the possible outcomes. That seemed like it had possibilities, but maybe later. For now, he decided he might as well sit back and watch.

Unlike Roman’s fighting, Virgil wasn’t bothering to keep things PG13.

Whereas Roman would have tons of creative moves, that were no the less effective, and make fighting look more like a dance. Virgil didn’t bother with anything flashy. Hands, feet, elbows, knees, he used whatever he could to bash away at his enemy. Throwing the other around when he could meant there wasn’t much room to try and avoid his opponent’s weapon.

There was a lot of blood.

Deceit winced when the knife was stabbed into Virgil’s chest but the hooded side didn’t react as he simple yanked it out, throwing it back in the direction of his adversary.

Deceit smirked. He knew there had been nothing to worry about. Of course the only reason Virgil was acting like he couldn’t feel any pain was because, as Anxiety, he had a far bit of adrenaline to call on so he couldn’t feel any pain right now. But it was obvious, as an imaginary character, nothing done here was going to be permanent.

Deceit munched his popcorn gleefully as Virgil narrowly dodged a swipe and retaliated by clawing up the side of his opponent’s face.

He hadn’t seen those talons since Thomas hit puberty.

That had been a busy time. Thomas was still lying to himself about liking girls meaning Deceit had been rushed off his feet. Anxiety had also been working overtime. It had been around then that he’s started bugging the main sides more, convinced that no one would listen to him otherwise.

Deceit wondered if any of the others even knew about Virgil’s claws. As far as he know he never actually attacked any of them and he tended to keep them hidden otherwise. But there was still scratch marks in some places in Virgil’s room that were too deep to cover up. Putting posters up over them wasn’t enough to hide them from someone like Deceit.

“Well this is certainly a jolly good show.” A man next to him reached over and stole some of his popcorn.

Deceit glared at the man and then did a double take as he recognized the pink mustache and suspenders.

“If you’re here then were is-?”

“Enough!”

The grey-scale man appeared between the two opponents stopping the fight abruptly. Turning to Virgil, red and blue aura fluctuating wildly, he angrily straightened his jacket and cracked his neck.

“I wish to … apologize.” Whatever anyone was expecting him to say it wasn’t that.

“I should not have threatened what was yours,” he continued, annoyed. “I may have … overreacted.”

“Um…” Virgil fiddled with his hoodie, then seemed to realize what a state it was in and tugged it, fixing all the damage done to it and himself.

Taking a deep breath he answered, “Yeah I … I shouldn’t have said what I did either. Sorry. I panicked.”

Glaring disdainfully at the gathered crowed and completely ignoring the laughter from the other combatant the man said, “Maybe we should continue this in private.”

A swath of shadow flowed out and covered that corner of the room, hiding them. There was a collective sigh of disappointment from the crowd as the entertainment was now over. Arguments started over the results of the many bets that had been placed.

Deceit tossed the rest of his popcorn at the annoying man beside him, the fun was over. Glancing at the shadows he decided he had better things to do them check up on the other side. Besides he spotted a Loki in the crowd earlier and he was somewhat curious in meeting him.

_/\/\/\/°°-<

Deceit hurried though the crowd.

“Get back here you!”

The person following him unfortunately did not seem like the type to give up easily. It was officially time to leave.

Making his way over to the dark shadowed corner he dived in as soon as he was sure his pursuer wasn’t looking.

He had already tested that he could pass though unimpeded. After a fascinating conversation earlier with a gargoyle that could only speak in lies he had checked up on Virgil only to find the anxious side discussing eyeliner with the grey man and a man with a cane and a red shirt. So it looked like Virgil was enjoying the night after all.

“-to be perfectly accurate it should be They/Them but my body is male so I am more used to He/Him. I supposes I’ve never thought about it before.” The grey man was speaking.

“Well it’s about what makes you the most comfortable so-” Virgil cut himself off as Deceit dived behind him. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing, nothing. Don’t worry about a thing.”

“Wait until I get my hands on you, you little snake!” the shout drifted in from outside the darkness. Considering how little noise could be heard from the rest of the party they must be close.

“Right,” Virgil drawled sarcastically.

“Oh, like I’m the only person with reptilian features at this shindig.”

“I’m going to stuff that ridiculous bowler hat so far up you, you’ll be spitting pieces of it for a month!”

“It wasn’t me?” Deceit’s statement was more of a question since he knew he wasn’t actually going to get away with it.

Virgil just sighed, “I suppose it’s getting late, I guess now’s a good a time to leave as any.” He turned to the man he had been talking to, “See you around Dark.”

“Yes, quite. It was good to meet you.” Darkipler waved away the darkness. Deceit took the opportunity of the distraction to change his form to the crazy green guy who had attacked earlier as they made their way out of the room.

All in all, he’d had a great time.

He couldn't wait to see what fun he could get up to next time.

>-°°\/\/\/\_ _/\/\/\/°°-<

So I wanted to have a bunch or characters from all over youtube not just letplayers & stuff. So the guy in the swirly goggles is Dr. Linksano from Atop the Fourth Wall (or, since I don’t mention what he’s wearing it could be Dr. Insano from the Spoony Experiment). The grey man is Darkiplier & the green guy w/ the throat wound is, of course, Anti Septiceye. The Loki mention is actually from Parle Productions' Some Assembly Required. The gargoyle is from the Zombie Orpheus series JourneyQuest. The guy with the cane is Pantom from the music vid I mentioned earlier. I have no idea who Deceit pissed off at the end there so it could be any villain from any youtube channel. It doesn’t matter.

(I did make Deceit more chaotic annoying rather than evil for this. And I mention Sleep even though I know he’s not & probably never will be a canon side. Also I just found out Virgil’s demon voice is called Tempest Tongue.)

I wish I could think of a better ending for this