#🍂 Adelard | Keeper of knowledge & death

[singthesongsofsin]

🍂🍂 | picrew

Borrowed from @arachnaemboss

Perhaps the funniest part of this for me, is that the song Harpy Hare as soon as I heard it, ended up on Adelard’s playlist! So therefore of course I had to do the picrew in the style of!

[singthesongsofsin]

@do-these-eyes-look-human

Bothersome beast, comforting friend

[singthesongsofsin]

MULTIMUSE QUESTIONAIRE

Tagged by @e-m-p-error

RULES: Answer the questions with the Muses that would best fit the answers. Bonus if you give details why. If tagged, copy and paste into a new post – DO NOT REBLOG!

1) Rank your softest Muse and your toughest Muse. (Personality-wise)

Jayden is the softest by far. He's here for a good time. He's not scary. He's here because he was an idiot. He's a cupcake.

The toughest... is either Hellaina or Tara I think. They're both pretty stable, take no shit muses. Hellaina is Vox's second, and Tara is many things, one of which is a Fallen Angel and a mercenary.

2) Which Muse would blow through $1000 quickly?

Vox or Metatron for two entirely opposite reasons: Metatron only mildly understands money, and just Would Not Get it. Vox has enough money that he just doesn't care. He'll make it back in a day or two.

3) Do any of them have nicknames? Is there a meaning behind them?

Yes! A few of them do! Depending on how much of a nickname one considers Vox, he counts, which was the pretentious gay's use of latin coming in clutch for his name in Hell because he couldn't be Vincent.

Dia's name is already a nickname from life.

Tara's has a few motivations behind it. On one hand, it's more subtle when on Earth, but it's also more casual than Astaroth-- Astaroth is the name of the Fallen Angel, and delegate to Earth and the other Rings. She is a greater demon. Tara is Belphegor's best friend, she's the one who's eating gelato in Italy because she spends so much time in Italy.

Svetlana uses Lana a lot of the time, because it's more recognizable to non-Russian people, but she has a whole list of diminutives with specific usage meanings behind them.

4) Are any of them up-to-speed on the latest trends? Anyone more old school?

I know we all expect Vox to be the most up to date, but he's not. He owns the trends, and he runs them, but the person who spends the most time online, keeping up with them is Jayden. Hellaina also knows as a result of her job.

Adelard barely understands the modern era. He's not up to date on the trends, he doesn't have a cellphone. He thinks radio is too complicated some days. Metatron also has no idea.

5) Who has the best relationship with their siblings?

...Belphegor? The bar isn't super high. Most of them are only children, and while Hellaina has a sister that relationship is... not good. And at least some of Belphegor's are also down in Hell as the other Sins. He has their numbers. It's... well it is. He misses them despite them all, in theory, being there.

6) Karaoke night! Who is likely to grab the mic first and bust out a tune?

Jayden. Jayden is lord of the pop sensation. Dia also is likely to! She'll drag people into musical theatre duets.

7) Who is least likely to enter a beauty pageant/model?

Hellaina wouldn't, Dia... I can see her doing it, but it would be more for fun, some sort of fashion show Cannibal Town is putting on. Vox would be dragged into it through like... Velvette and Valentino, it's a press thing, he would not do it of his own volition. Adelard, Belphegor, Svetlana, and Astaroth wouldn't. And honestly I think Jayden would.

8) If your Muses visited a haunted house where actors scare you, who would panic and who would be unfazed? 

Hellaina wouldn't be phased. Dia is having a great time, she's not scared at all, but she's having fun! Svetlana... honestly, I think, might be spooked, but depending on what it is, but has a decent poker face. Tara is unafraid, Belphegor is more likely to be. Metatron would have the like... funny moth-eye effect in which he is shocked but not scared. Honestly I can't decide if Adelard is scared of them, or if he's just been down in Hell for so long nothing even registers anymore, it's just another Tuesday. Vox isn't scared. Jayden is livestreaming the whole thing, he's going in unafraid of anything! And at the second scare immediately spooks and drops his phone.

9) Are any of your Muses particular about taking certain modes of transportation?

Vox has been Hell's foremost advocate for a subway system for literal decades. He cannot drive, so mostly he is driven or walks. He's sort of the one with an interesting answer.

Metatron can fly but doesn't usually.

10) Share a little-known fact about any Muse.

Of the sinner muses, Adelard has the highest body count. He has killed far and away the most people, and considers it wholly justified.

[singthesongsofsin]

Adelard Verse: Setting Quiet Pages Free

An entirely seld indulgent verse, but if anyone wants familial fluff or to be adopted (age of adoptees can range from newborn to 700) then this is the one for you!

As mentioned in this headcanon, Adelard had two great lives if his life: Esaie, and Marian. Neither of them ended in Hell.

I like the idea that at some point, high above in Heaven, they meet. They don’t necessarily recognize each other at first, not beyond the shared history of being from the same time. But the more they talk, the more they realize that while they never met, they did know the same man in life.

Heaven is good. It’s not what either of them ever expected either. Esaie spent his life in service to a God he needn’t serve any longer. He won, an Angel told him, enjoy it. Mary enjoys the leisure time, but inevitably, there’s only so much time you can spend talking whilst learning to play the harp, or reading, or cross stitching. It’s not that they have anything against the modernization in Heaven, but well, it also isn’t really their scene either.

They do end up sharing a cottage— it’s lonely without the company. He teaches her how to read, and in exchange, she teaches him to bake bread. They both take care of the garden in the front.

It doesn’t exactly take a genius to know where Adelard must be. They make the choice to Fall together, and perhaps thematically, all three of them share the bird motif. Adelard is the Corvus, black, signal of death. Mary is a pigeon, pretty, but nothing very fancy either. Esaie is a dove— beautiful, pure, the opposite of Adelard who strayed from the path.

He’s in his own garden when they approach the house. Theirs had been a well maintained one, full of flowers. His is far more utilitarian, growing foods, with a handful of flowers. Seven centuries apart or not, they all click back together.

(Adelard, even now takes months to ask to actually court Mary— at the six month mark, she gives up and asks him herself. Esaie is laughing in the background at the fact that before this, he was the only one to kiss both of them).

[singthesongsofsin]

Feeding the Cats

Adelard feeds any and all wild cats that live anywhere near his house. Some of them live with him more or less, others come and go as they please. Like with any guests, it’s an open door policy. Most of the ones he sees a lot of gain names.

However, and it’s a notable however, Adelard’s definition for what a cat is is… broad. Sure, there’s the normal cats, there’s also some distinctly weird looking cats, that are, actually, not cats at all: raccoons, possums, lizards, deer, dogs, etc.

It doesn’t stop him feeding them, or bringing them in, or some of them leaving lovely… offerings for him. He does the same thing for the birds, though they are more likely to bring him shiny things than dead mice. They’re also less pleased at being pet, though they sometimes perch on him when he’s in the garden or taking walks around the city.

One of the ones you’re most likely to find around at the moment is a ‘cat’ (it’s actually a raccoon) that he’s named Gawain. Gawain is, technically, wild, but he’s also nonplussed by being picked up and carried around by Adelard.

[singthesongsofsin]

✨✨| So.... I caved.. I made my plague doctor! His name is Adelard and he's honestly really lovely. You can read his whole bio here! He's 700 years old, so if anyone wants a sinner that's really old, you've got him!

[singthesongsofsin]

Muses

Hellaina

With a soul technically belonging to her boss, Hellaina is the second most powerful person in Vogitek.

Bio

--

Astaroth

Deals, nightmares, and sloth, Tara is one of the original fallen Angels who started Hell.

Bio

--

Belphegor

Prince of Sloth, and ruler of the Sloth ring, Belphegor is one of the single most powerful people in Hell... provided you can keep him awake long enough.

Bio

--

Adelard

The kindly uncle to all of Hell, Adelard is the closest thing Pentagram city has to a librarian... and library. A former plague doctor, Adelard is probably the oldest sinner most people interact with.

Bio

--

Dia F. Hyde

Cannibal, pathologist, and loving wife to Vox's PA. Dia is one of the regulars at the Cannibal colony.

Bio

--

Svetlana Leonidovna

Russian cosmonaut who got lost in space. Now she's made of the fabric of it, and trying to find her way home.

Bio

--

Metatron

The Voice of God-- Metatron is the first creation, and older and more powerful than that. Right now is is also a false God.

Bio

--

Jayden

Velvette's PA-- he's pretty sure it's mostly for the joke, but that's alright. He's been dead for about a year and a half and has not stopped screaming yet.

Bio

[singthesongsofsin]

🍂🍂| Fun fact: pigeons, doves, and crows are all, generally, monogamous. This means that Adelard, who has loved two people in his life, is just sort of rolling with the averages! Even if they are in Heaven (except in the verse where they fall to be with him).

It’s not that you can’t ship with Adelard, it’s just that it’s… harder than with some other muses. You’ve got to be old enough to not just be labelled as ‘adoptable child’ shaped. So you know, the nobles have a higher chance, the sins or other fallen demons, and honestly, Zestial.

[singthesongsofsin]

Adelard nods to the people who had brought the young prince. "Thank you," he says, as he passes, taking the handles of the wheelchair. He'd been briefed on the status of Stolas, even if they had ever so conveniently failed to mention who he was. It was hardly the first time, in Hell or in life, where he had been called to help the blind.

Adelard clicks his tongue gently. "If not tea, then coffee? I'm certain there is some hot chocolate around somewhere..." And if not, it wasn't hard to purchase. That was one thing he had to give to the modernization that had swept Hell in the last few centuries. Grocery stores were a remarkably useful invention.

"But but but, if you still don't want anything now, that's wholly understandable. Do you have anything you'd like for dinner? Usually I make soup, but as my guest it seems only fitting to ask."

[singthesongsofsin]

🍂🍂| The funniest part of Adelard for me, is that he is a legitimately lovely man, who just so happens to also have a kill count in the triple digits (and potentially higher).

In fairness! They were already dying! He didn’t kill anyone that wouldn’t have died already, but still, he was the ultimate cause and not the plague.

Even including all the people Vox has killed since falling (who eventually come back) I don’t think he meets Adelard’s count.

[singthesongsofsin]

🍂🍂 | And the other song I associate with Kaniel! Even more so if you've ever seen the concept that it's written about a parent rather than a boyfriend.

[singthesongsofsin]

🍂🍂| More for Adelard's intern, Kaniel, then him. In the story, Delilah is the lover of Sampson, and it makes for an interesting, if tragic, reversal of roles.

[singthesongsofsin]

🍂🍂 NPC Spotlight :: Adelard's Intern

Trigger warnings include: child death, terminal illness, and merciful euthanasia

Kaniel's sister, Delilah, was born when he was ten, in 1990. Sure, most teenage boys don't want to be seen hanging out with their baby sister, but Kaniel was always taken with having her around. She'd stop crying with him, he'd do his homework on the floor of her room, and talk to her through questions he was stuck on. (He will always credit passing middle school to her 'sage advice' even if it was mostly nonsensical babbles and gurgling).

A few years later, when she started school, she'd ask him for help on her homework. When they were both done, they'd play video games. Most of the time, Kaniel would win, but sometimes Delilah would, and he was always ridiculously proud of her).

It was in and around this time that both of them started to get sicker. Kaniel was sixteen, and Delilah was six, and the diagnosis was the same for both of them. Not good, and something to be concerned about, but liveable. So life continued.

Near the start of the second major computer science boom, Kaniel started at university. Most days, he'd call home, and visit every long weekend and holiday. Sure, his own health was in progressive decline, but it was mostly slower progress. He was beating the average. Deliliah... wasn't.

She gets sicker, and Kaniel defers the second semester of his third year to stay home wit her. When the stroke comes, he stays with her at the hospital as much as he can.

She gets worse, and their parents find it harder and harder to accept that their daughter isn't going to make it. When the coma comes, they pray that she will wake up, and for a while, Kaniel joins them. When her heart stops, the doctors bring her back. But Kaniel knows then, that if she ever wakes up again-- and that's more of a hypothetical than a potential-- she won't be the same. And that's if she's much of a person and not just a vegetable.

He loves her, more than anything. He would rather she die and find some peace than be dragged along in a half state. It's what he holds onto. He spends so long alone with her that it's easy to tick up the dosage on the IV to the maximum. He kisses her forehead, and then just... waits.

He goes back to school, finishes his degree, and gets a cozy office job as a software developer until he dies, quite peacefully, at the age of twenty-four.

He ends up in Hell, of course. Adelard finds him and takes him home for a few weeks while he gets his bearings, and helps get him set up working for Vox. He's not doing much, mostly bouncing around departments that need an extra pair of hands. The Blue Light District is nice enough, and he has no real ambitions beyond that. He keeps his name on the off chance someone ever asks after him, he'll know.

When Vox decides he wants to digitize Adelard's library, Kaniel volunteers. He's worked on library software before, and and he likes Adelard.

He's been working on the library for roughly a decade now, and suspects there's at least another twenty years of it (and that's without Adelard collecting more books).

Kaniel lives full time at Adelard's manor, and is incredibly content. Maybe, when the library is done, he'll try out the hotel and shoot for redemption in order to see his sister again. But for now, he does his work, and he still gets paid. (Kaniel is the reason Adelard's house has internet at all).

[singthesongsofsin]

Some (WIP designs) picrews of Mary and Esaie!

[singthesongsofsin]

🍂🍂 | House

Adelard's house is an old and expansive manor on the edges of Pentagram City. Originally, it belonged to one of the Ars Goetia-- at least, as far as Adelard knows it did. In either case, he'd been dead for roughly a decade when it was vacated, and Adelard moved in.

It's undergone some remodelling in the almost seven centuries that Adelard has lived there. The most necessary rooms, such as the laundry, the kitchen, and a parlour all exist on the first floor, near enough to the entrance. Adelard's room, also, is on the first floor.

The upper floor encompasses the guest bedrooms, of which there are a decent number. Were there ever a need for more, there is far more space that could be converted, though there's never been a need.

Most of the house however, exists, almost entirely, as a strange hybrid between a house and a library. The rooms clustered near the front are done so, because expanding through the rest of the house, is the library that Adelard has slowly been building since his death. The house is organized by topic and by age within that, with the more modern content often being closer to the peripheries. Tables and seating is scattered all through, and a not insignificant amount of the house's remodelling has just been to convert more of the house into a library.

It can be a bit of a maze to navigate at first, but Adelard is always happy to show people where things are located, and for people who enjoy losing themselves for hours in bookstores, there's no better place than Adelard's.

He upkeeps it-- he shelves, he dusts, he preserves and restores books. When there is time, translates the oldest into modern English-- a task especially useful for books in Old English, medieval French, and Latin; languages most people don't speak anymore.

The gardens, outside, are largely considered a no-man's land by most people who visit him. They are entirely free to go into the garden's, but unlike richly manicured lawns, Adelard's is a much more chaotic combination of flowers, and foods, and poison. He can tell it all apart, but the average person struggles to.

He keeps bees, and many other stray animals often end up at Adelard's. While it does have internet, Adelard doesn't use it. His intern (Vox's originally, who was sent to digitize the archives) are the only people who live there full time, though there are guests more often than not.

[singthesongsofsin]

"He looked me dead in the eye, like a warning from the past, and I wanted him immediately. He wore a ruffled collar, a long brown cape, and a porcelain beak which in the seventeenth century would’ve been filled with juniper berries, roses, mint leaves, camphor, cloves, and myrrh. {...} As it turns out, plague doctors rarely cured their patients. Instead, they served to make a public record of the infected and the dead. They could not heal, only witness. To the dying, they must have appeared nightmarish: half-doctor, half-animal. Their long beaks heavy with medicine and herbs they’d never dispense, only inhale. The sticks they carried were used not to fix, but to keep a distance. Why did I want the plague doctor? I am not sure. Maybe I wanted him because he reminded me of me, writing down things that are happening or have happened. Like this fairy tale. I can’t find the ending. I’m scared. I’m sorry."

Sabrina Orah Mark, "The Fairy-Tale Virus"