#vsmp headcanons

So I've been thinking about StarterSwap AUs-

I particularly like the Legs and Pyro duo, specifically where Pyro is Legs' fledging (which i got from @/astro_nommer on TikTok)

Doc has the whole "Death is a disease, I'm the cure" mentally and Pyro hates humans but loves to find out what makes them tick, aka playing with his food

I haven't thought too far into it besides how it effects Louis and Owen though, but that alone is angsty as all get out

First things first, Legs isn't as old as canon Scott, in fact he's younger than Louis but not by a lot. He still went to battle, and was turned by an officer when he nearly died. He left service after that, becoming a traveling doctor. At first he was for only turning those who really needed it (Pyro being one of those people after nearly being beaten to death by bullies), letting everyone else live their mortal lives, and he met Louis around this stage of his life

Louis welcomed him in warmly, talking about how noble is was to use his immortality for such good. They quickly became friends, almost something more which lead him to staying in Oakhurst for a long time. This would start his descent

He never stayed in one place long enough to watch his new found friends age and die while he stayed perfectly young and healthy. Finally having to be faced with this he started to want to stop it from happening, save these people from one true sickness, death

Louis told him that he couldn't do that, that most people loved their humanity even if it meant dying some day. He had to simply be the observer, he had to let them go.

Legs accepted this for awhile but it hurt too much to be just an observer, so he eventually left Oakhurst and Louis, traveling once more

But the sights of his friends aging into death haunted him and his desires to stop that from happening never left him. And it only got more tempting as one of his patients turned vampire wanted to remain his fledgling rather than be passed onto a coven. Watching Pyro thrive as a vampire, if a little extra hungry, made him only more and more sure that he was right

So eventually he traveled to a small town, revealing himself and offering to turn everyone to help them escape death. But instead of the relief and willingness he expected he was met with fear and wrath. The townfolk turned on him and Pyro and they were forced to kill the town, only getting a few fledglings out of the some that begged to be turned during the massacre

Legs then knew he'd have to be more discreet, turning the next town slowly. And though he started off successfully, he was eventually found out and most of the town perished again. This only kept happening and Pyro started trying to convice Legs that humankind was ungrateful and deserved to suffer, become an addict to the bloodlust and feeding the rage that still lingered from being beaten down as a human. Legs somewhat agreed, becoming harder as the years went on and his kill count rose but would not give up on those who would accept the necessary path.

Eventually the society caught onto what was happening and began to hunt down Legs and Pyro which made the two desperate, so Legs decided it time to go into hiding for a bit and he thought he knew a place that would keep him safe. Oakhurst.

Legs returned to Louis and Louis, not having heard what the society had realized yet, welcomed him and his fledgling with open arms. Safe to say this didn't last as Legs ended up not being able to help himself from "saving" the people of Oakhurst.

Louis got word from the society as he found out about Legs' turnings and he heartbrokenly began to plan how to stop his old friend. But as he did that, the townfolk found out and a riot began but Oakhurst was no match for two vampires.

In the end, Louis was confronted with a bloodied Legs as Pyro took out the rest of the town. They argued, Louis crying at the loss of his people and his friend, Legs yelling that it all could have been avoided if Louis helped him. When Pyro joined the room, Louis knew it was too late for his town but not too late for him to save everyone else from these monsters. He had a plan after all and he used it then, putting the two into a cursed sleep with a spell he had gotten from a society witch. He locked them both in the crypt and hoped that would put an end to the nightmare.

Louis stayed in the ruins of Oakhurst, mourning everything he lost. Nearly 200 years of grieving all by himself until a lone, sick lumberjack came along, looking for a secluded place to live, away from ridicule and hatred.

Owen didn't expect to find anyone living in Oakhurst and was suspicious of Louis as he greeted him, surprising himself with how ready he was to help a new face.

Louis reveals himself to Owen a lot quicker than the canon, but Owen is not afraid, only intrested and compassionate as Louis explains what happened to his town. How two monsters killed everyone, how he had failed his people

Owen and Louis make a new life out of Oakhurst, trying to rebuild by themselves, though it's still pretty run down by the time people start showing up a couple years later when the official 200 year anniversary of the massacre comes around

Louis is genuinely grateful to have new people arriving after having no purpose for so long, though Owen was already helping with that, and greeted the newcomers happily. They were confused at how he was possibly the mayor of the beaten up town but simply accepted it and went on to rebuild

As for the beacons, Louis didn't know about them. He didn't know what the one in town was until Avid began consecrating. He felt a shift when it happened, something changing on the wind. He worried about if it effected Legs and Pyro and snuck away to check and to his horror found the crypt empyt.

Legs and Pyro had found their way out and to town, gaining trust and using Avid's paranoia to their advantage. After all, they couldn't get away with their plans with Louis in town.

Avid was suspicious of Louis from the begining because of his mayor story but even more so when he realized Louis had went off into the forest alone which he found out from Owen. Legs picked up on this quickly and started conversation with Avid, encouraging his vampire talk and planting seeds that Louis was one.

When Louis got back in a panic, still not having been able to find Legs and Pyro in the woods after a couple days, Avid confronted him at the beacon. Louis tries to calm him down, saying there was a bigger evil at play that he needed to stop, that everyone is in danger but not from him. Avid is shaking, he doesn't know what he's doing but knows he shouldn't trust a vampire and takes out his stake. Louis continues talking in a calming tone, approuching Avid in hope of grabbing the stake but Avid doesn't hesiate like Louis expects. He lunges, staking Louis in the heart.

Everyone hears the scream and rushes to the beacon and sees the terrible sight of Avid covered in dark ichor, trembling over Louis' body. He stammers, trying to explain why he had to do it. Owen wasn't able to see and pushes through the crowd as he hears Louis' name on Avid's tounge. He is horrified and runs to Louis, shoving Avid out of the way. Louis is already long gone as Owen holds him close and begs through sobs not to leave him.

Avid tries to defend himself again but Owen snaps at him, saying Louis wouldn't have hurt anyone. He would have tackled and strangled Avid if one of the others didn't stop him

That's when Legs steps in, siding with Avid, coming up with a falsehood that Louis had tried to turn him against his will when he had met him before. This makes the rest question.

Owen is still a mess and tries to fight against the hands restraining him to attack Legs as well, not standing for any slander against his lover. This peaks Legs' intrest in Owen

People come to an agreement that Avid will be contained, at least for a while. Owen isn't satisfied with this conclusion but begrudgingly accepts it as he goes to bury Louis. Everyone can tell he doesn't want help though most wanted to, Louis had been nice to them and Owen was clearly struggling with the task since he still had his sickness, but they left him be, especially when he started crying again

All expect Legundo who stopped Owen in the middle of digging and offered to do it instead. Owen glared at him but saw sincerity in the doctor's eyes and Legs apologized for what had happened, noting he was partially responsible though he didn't expect such brutality, but it was only fair that he helped

Owen nearly refused despite trusting his word as he wanted to do it himself but his body protested so he handed the shovel over and began carving a headstone instead. He and Legs had a conversation as they worked, asking each other how they knew Louis. Legs told half truths but mostly lies about how they used to be friends when he was passing through the ruined town a few years back but he had fled when Louis had tried to turn him. Owen is quiet for a while after that, not sure how to feel sense the Louis he knew would never do such a thing. Legs catches onto that, saying Louis must've seen his mistake when he ran and changed his ways by the time Owen showed up, and Owen accepted that.

They continued to talk into the evening, even after Louis had been properly buried, talking about life, mainly Owen's as he explained his illness and Legs offered to try and help him. They eventually realized how late it is but Owen hesitates to head home, it will feel empty without Louis. Legs offers his home as Pyro had went off to make "friends" with Apo and after their long bonding moment, Owen feels safe enough to accept

Time goes on, people are turned (Scott, Shelby, Apo), Legs and Pyro get found out and they flee to the "castle" (it's still technically a townhouse) with Scott and Shelby who joined them pretty willingly

Owen is confused and hurt by the revelation, wondering what was a lie and what was truth in Legs' story and so they have their forest scene where Legs lies and says that Louis did end up turning him but that he had grown to see the gift of vampirism, that he could show Owen and that it would cure him. Owen refuses but says he wants to help Legs, help him see the beauty in humanity again which he has found in Oakhurst. They have back and forth, "I need blood" yada yada, " I trust you" yada yada, bite scene YIPPEE

Everything's great, but it's not as Legs keeps turning people and Pyro is giving up his act, just terrorizing town. Scott's here for the power and chaos and Shelby's trying to be supportive of her new family.

Things escalate a whole lot faster because Legs intends to turn everyone (whereas canon Scott just wanted to do what he wanted) though it's slow burning with Owen cuz he really wants to convice him he's right (Pyro teases him for this)

The lake interactions are combined, it's Owen trying to convice Legs to stop but Legs invited him and he came alone with no garlic cuz he trusts Legs but Legs ends up turning him which is a whole lot more tragic in my mind cuz like I said, Owen trusted him but also Owen is a sick, scrawny man and is up against not only a vampire, but a trained soilder so there's not really a fight, it's just begging and crying ☹️ (but that also means, Legs doesn't hurt him like canon Owen does canon legs)

On top of that, Owen still has his three day rest like in the canon cuz the vampirism is fighting against his heavily infected body. When he wakes up, he's in the castle and is terrified because it's not Legs he wakes up to which he can at least try to reason with or expect him to hesiate hurting him if he fights, but instead a level three Pyro who won't hesiate to hurt him if he tries escaping before sire can convice Owen to stay with him

And that's really as far as I've thought up at the moment but clearly that's more than enough

HOLY YAP mb

Anyways, I think it's really intresting and I love it even if I hurt my own feelings coming up with it 🙃

Specifically cloth.

He's lucky to get his bandages on without crying-not just because of the pain of the blisters but because of how distressing the texture is.

He can't stand wet clothing, but works outside every day and doesn't have any other choice but to bear it and keep working when it rains.

He can't take care of his hair,

Partly because he's too poor to afford proper supplies

Partly because as his sickness progresses, the mobility in his hands gets worse

And partly because it's greasy to the point he cannot touch it anymore because the feeling of it gets on his hands and stays on his hands and he can't stand it.

All of his clothes are too scratchy against his skin, but he can't afford anything better so he is forced to just deal with it.

Every day is a battle.

Not just because of the prejudice from the town,

Not just because he's sick,

But also because even wearing clothes is hard for him.

Because every day he has to fight with himself just to get dressed in the morning.

I said earlier that I was gonna do VTM-esque vampire "clans" for the VSMP-universe for no particular reason (fanfic. fanfic is the reason). And I have since jotted down some ideas from it. I think I'm cooking here, but I still feel like some stuff is missing.

I've got a couple of "covens" here, with their summaries and which vamps I've put them in. My question is - do these fit, and or do we need more. Cause I feel like we need one or two more. But Idk.

Am calling them Covens because "Clans" is too VTM-ish. I want this to be a little different. I also think you wouldn't be the same coven as your sire nessecarily. I'm thinking that these all formed because powerful vampires sired so many people that they engrained themselves in the curse and once a new person is turned, a certain strain of the curse will **choose** them based on their attributes and stuff.

running a bunch of thoughts off of the headcanon that all of the vampires' hair will get a bit longer at stage 3.

based on Minecraft skins alone, I only remember Pyro and Shelby getting a change to their hair shape, with only Shelby explicitly noting how her hair got longer. however, I think it'd be fun to apply this to all of the vamps.

human/early stage Scott had relatively short, clipped hair. neat and tidy as expected of a rich nobleman.

stage 3 Scott would have more visible length to his hair but it'd still be above shoulders short. it's a little wilder, a little less meticulously combed, now that he doesn't have human standards to deal with, only his own.

human/early stage Owen would have messy unkempt hair tied back purely for practicality reasons. he could never really be bothered to take care of himself with everything he was going through.

stage 3 Owen looks so much more cleaned up. at least for the bit before he snapped and crashed out on the other vampires as well, he tried so hard to be elegant and graceful the way Louis was. he actually took care of himself, and in that time, did everything to keep his hair pure clean white like the other vampires. his hair got longer but his hairstyle didn't change that much. but post-crashout Owen fell back into his not taking care of himself habits and was a bloodstained somewhat feral mess for the rest of VSMP.

human Pyro had neat well-kept but not super short hair. i’m thinking he really does have a bow on the back of his head (i know it’s the tower/house aligning but! the whimsy!), and it’s on a pin or clip because there’s no other way to secure it.

stage 3 Pyro has longer and much messier hair. bangs in his face instead of swept out of the way, generally a lot more loose strands and spiky bits that stick out. his hair is also now long enough to tie back in a small ponytail, and he does do that, taking the bow off its clip because he now has an actual practical purpose for a hair ribbon.

human Shelby had very long, and rather matted hair. It’s so long, and she just isn’t the type of person to much as much effort as she needs to into caring for and detangling it. her hair was a bushy mess and probably had some small creatures living in it.

stage 3 Shelby had Even Longer hair, but surprisingly, it's probably in better condition. Scott loves to pamper his favourite fledglings because he doesn't know how to communicate affection aside from gifts & service. he'd be willing to help her brush it out in his spare time, and he's also try to style it fancy. so, stage 3 Shelby has part of her hair in spacebuns.

human Apo's hair was fully down. the sidebangs reached her upper chest, and the back of it went to her lower back. She took good care of her appearance- gotta look professional as military personnel- but also didn't put too much effort into styling it fancy.

stage 3 Apo would have her hair half-up, but only to disguise that it's gotten longer. spacebuns, braids, partial ponytail, she's tried different methods. anything to pretend as little has changed as possible.

(also, part of me wondered if stage 2 Apo had a streak of white hair because her eyes were already so close to red that they couldn't make it noticeably more red. but then again, Owen's stage 2 doesn't have a particularly noticeable eye colour change, and Avid- and Martyn, although we don't see that in the main series- also have partially white hair at stage 2. so I guess it's just a person-by-person thing.)

human Cleo's hair would be fully down. she'd take care of herself as much as she could. even with her difficult life situation, she knows that taking care of herself pays off.

stage 3 Cleo's hair is longer, and she needs her new crown- which has metal "branches" to give it actual structure- to keep her bangs out of her face.

human Drift would have her hair in a neat bun. no flyaway strands, her best attempt to look like a professional detective.

stage 3 Drift's hair would no longer be perfectly contained in her bun. there'd be flyaway strands and loose curls. she staged up too late in the series to bother making it neat again with all of the finale stress going on around her. I also think stage 3 Drift would have ringlet curl sidebangs. just because.

human Avid has the messy spiky hair that sticks out in all directions. it gives both mad scientist and anime protagonist, which i suppose he kinda is a combination of. he's definitely has not been taking care of himself. i imagine he has put no thought into it aside from finger-combing his bangs out of his face when it becomes a practicality concern.

stage 3 Avid's hair is still incredibly messy. he could possibly tie it into a short ponytail like Pyro but doesn't. Scott tried to comb it neat once and it went back to messy so quickly that Scott then decided it's not worth trying again. plus, the erratic and hyperenergetic troublemagnet vibe is kinda v!Avid's unique charm anyway. dude is constantly Going Through It.

human Sausage definitely tried his best to look prim and proper as much as possible. even with Oakhurst's general disrepair he was trying to live nicely. his hair and beard are neatly trimmed. his beard isn't very long but dense enough to be solidly there (for colourblocking).

stage 3 Sausage would have a longer beard as well as his regular hair getting longer. and despite the chaos of the finale, he somehow still finds the time to look relatively put together. especially compared to everyone else. I envision Abolish, Scott, and Sausage to be the "always looks flawless no matter what, don't question how" trio.

now for the miscellaneous yaps.

Legs's hair doesn't change at all for his stage 3 skin? anyway, I envision V!Legs to have a buzzcut and be like. nearly bald. anyway. because military doctor. if Legs' hair turned white and got longer at stage 3, i think it'd just look like a buzz cut that'd grown out for a few weeks, a month or two max, and white.

Pearl getting streaks of red hair at Stage 2 is very interesting. Perhaps it has something to do with the werewolf blood in her? do werewolves have their hair turn red at stage 3 in this universe? how do werewolves even work in this universe anyway? either way it looks cool and I haven't watched any of Pearl's POV so I don't have much to say lore-wise.

Abolish's "split dye" look in the epilogue is also so cool. it is a very literal representation of "halfway vampire" though. but also cool. I think 2006!Abolish would also have one red eye on the side with the white hair. general Abolish yap, I like the headcanon that he arrived in Oakhurst with slicked back hair but soon decided to wash it out and leave it natural but neat. and modern Abolish would have a wolf cut, based on vibes.

that's all! another very long textpost from me that i'm pretty sure no one will read...

tell me if you do finish it though, and leave a ":>" for me as a little checker! i want to see if anyone does read to the end...

An OOC yap post explaining the various "full names" listed in the roll call.

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Confirmed Canon, Direct from VSMP:

Renhardt Dogmourne

Scott Goldsmith

Jack von Pyroscythe

Abolish Veylocke

Not a lot to explain here, these were directly given from VSMP.

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Basically Canon, Special Cases:

Apo Kuna

This is how Apo has formatted their "full name" in previous series. As MonCo AU Apo has a bit of influence from O!Apo, I decided to continue with this convention.

Martyn "Woodhurst"

So I think we can all agree that this guy is making stuff up. I personally headcanon his "real" last name to be "Littlewood" for MonCo AU. The Monster College kinda lets applicants write whatever name they want and don't ID check since they know a lot of supernatural beings may have no ID or are required to change aliases over time. MonCo AU Martyn is trying to pretend like he knows how magic works and what he is doing. He doesn't want the others to know that he got his magic 2 weeks ago without even knowing it at the time until Ren told him that killing a witch meant gaining their magic. He's worried the others will think he "doesn't deserve to be there" if they knew that he was "basically human" and a last-minute entry on an emergency grant.

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VSMP Cast, "I was making stuff up lol":

I did not need to be bribed but I will accept bribery anyway

So hey Vert do you perchance have cosmetics / fragrance headcanons for anyone other than Dr Legundo?

A very, VERY belated thanks for vote, Jay!

& yes! I most definitely do have fragrance & cosmetics headcanons for other characters! Though in a kind of weird twist, most of them are for the handful of characters I’m not specifically unhinged about?

Like, when I started doing a bit of research for Doc, I spent some time scrolling the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab website as they do have a good number of historically inspired perfumes. & while I didn’t find anything that was quite right for the Doctor, I did wind up deciding on a fragrance that M would wear.

M doesn’t go anywhere without at least a small vial of his signature scent: a lilac fougère with additional lead notes of oakmoss, lemon, soft lavender, & tonka.

Fougères are one of the core genres in modern perfumery & started with the release of Fougère Royale by Houbigant in 1882. Fougère translates to "fern" in French, & while ferns don't actually smell like anything, Fougère Royale was supposed to be what they hypothetically would smell like if they did smell like something. It featured lead notes of lavender, geranium, oakmoss, & coumarin (making it the first fragrance to feature a synthetic component) as well as various citruses, woods, fresh herbs, spices, & musks.

Since that first perfume, fougères have changed over the years, with shifting trends for the additional notes & which ones take center stage in the fragrance, bringing in floral forward, wood forward, herb forward, spice forward, & vanilla/gourmand variants. & overwhelmingly, these have been men's fragrances. (Fun fact I learned while researching to write this: Drakkar Noir is a fougère.*)

Another fun fact is that despite being primarily considered masculine & worn by men for most of their history, fougères were initially formulated for & marketed to women.

& there is something about that fact alongside the general vibe of fougères that just sounds so very, very M.J. Sausage to me.

I chose lilac as the most forward note (despite that managing to be a bit anachronistic even in the incredibly vague time of vsmp) because something flowery but masculine just hits right for him.

Lavender is a traditional component for fougères, but also M does go off on a whole ramble about washing with lavender water & how it's been sooooo long since he's touched anything with lavender, so obviously his fragrance needs lavender. I do think it would be a softer, smoother, more floral lavender (vs sharp, astringent, more herbal lavender) because there is nothing sharp or biting about M.

The citrus for the blend would be mostly lemon, less sweet & juicy than orange because I think that would overwhelm the floral notes, less zingy than lime to keep it smooth, less bitter than bergamot because M has too much of a goldfish memory & is far too swayable to ever really be bitter.

& tonka rather than vanilla to get the lovely hay-like note to it & be a bit softer & lighter, but not straight coumarin because the other aromatic compounds in tonka give it the vanilla-esque feel I also wouldn't want to lose.

(For context: tonka is a bean that has a hay-vanilla-amaretto-cinnamon-tobacco scent profile, in part thanks to the high concentration of coumarin which was first extracted from it & was named after the tree it comes from, the cumaru/kumaru/Brazillian teak. Coumarin was used as an early artificial vanilla flavouring because the aroma is strong enough to illicit the illusion of a taste before any food containing tonka beans being banned in the US due to coumarin being potentially lethal, though this is argued against due to coumarin maybe not even being toxic to humans & if it is, it would require such a ludicrous quantity, it is extremely unlikely to happen. Also there's coumarin in things like strawberries & cinnamon & cherries so... Seems a little ridiculous.)

Okay. So.

I do have more headcanons on this topic (I especially have Thoughts about Scott's tastes since the massive gap of time he was MIA from the waking world has interesting implications for his tastes), BUT I have straight up been working on this post for over a month & everything from most of the history onward I wrote over the last several hours tonight because I kept having to do research to confirm/expand on what I already knew.

I just really want to be able to hit post, therefore I am going to end this here. But! If people are interested in hearing more of my vsmp character fragrance &/or cosmetics headcanons, with a side of me rambling about various aspects that go into those headcanons & some of the history I've dug up in the process, I might make a series of posts like this to cover everyone I have thoughts about.