#🍂 Adelard | Keeper of knowledge & death

[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 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]

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

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Astaroth

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

Bio

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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

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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

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Dia F. Hyde

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

Bio

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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

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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

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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]

"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"

[singthesongsofsin]

Adelard! Done! Tags fixed. His have probably needed the least fiddling with.

[singthesongsofsin]

✏️ the bird trio

@novinare | incorrect quotes

Mary: pretending to joke So when are you going to go out with me? Adelard: I don't know. When are you going to ask me to? Esaie: And you just ran away?! Mary: I didn't expect them to flirt back!

Adelard: Are you sure Esaie’s going to be able to handle that IKEA furniture? They’re not very good with technical stuff… Mary: Why are you worried? IKEA was never complicated; these days, it’s even easier! Everything’s color coded, numbered, and there’s even an assembly robot option to make it even easier for Esaie, which we’ve obviously opted in for. All they need to do is press the clearly labeled ON button, scan the QR code on the front of the box, and it’ll take care of the rest. Even a monkey could do it! Mary’s phone rings Esaie: Hey, so I’m at Lowes… Adelard: … Adelard: I should have gone with the monkey.

Mary: What are you writing? Adelard: The government wants to know what kind of weapons we have in the house. I'm letting them know it's private information. Esaie, looking over Adelard's shoulder: This just says 'fuck around and find out' in calligraphy.

Esaie: How do you tell someone that you wanna have sex with them in a polite way? Mary: Excuse me Mx. Would you give me the honours of indulging in sexual activities with you? Adelard: What the fuck is wrong with you two?

Mary: The moon looks beautiful, doesn’t it? Esaie, looking at Mary: Yeah… but do you know what’s more beautiful? Mary and Esaie in unison: sighs Adelard

[singthesongsofsin]

✨✨| I was going to do up a fun ranking of which of the muses have the highest death counts, because I was amused at the idea of Vox, the big bad Overlord having a very low one before realizing something important: it would be a list of two. Astaroth, who was a soldier and now is a part time mercenary, and Adelard. Who has killed A Lot of people, and didn’t flinch. I need to do up a headcanon about that.

[singthesongsofsin]

👗 + Adelard's pajamas

@novinare | When Adelard wears pajamas at all (rather than just his small clothes!), a habit he picked up when people started staying at his house, which is more often than not, they tend to appear quite old in nature. It's linen night gowns, and long shirts. He doesn't have slippers in the modern sense, so much as the velvet, hard-soled ones of smoking shoes, which he finds delightfully versatile, and mean if he has to go into his garden for more plants, its easy. His tea is often some herbal sleep-aid one, like chamomile, lavender, or valerian root, all of which he grows in his garden.

[singthesongsofsin]

Which of the muses is most likely to consume (in some form or another) marijuana?

Hellaina: Not her drug of choice-- she is more likely to go for uppers of some sort. But even then, not something she uses much of.

Dia: Nope! Was a medical student for too long.

Tara: Has, but doesn't usually. If she does, it's more of a social thing.

Belphegor: No, it would just put him to sleep, and he has enough trouble staying awake as is.

Adelard: Surprisingly yes. He grows it, like a lot of other plants. it was being used and cultivated in Medieval Europe, so it's hardly some new foreign thing. He was using it in life too.

Svetlana: Nope, like with Dia, she's too aware of the effects on the body. She was training to be a cosmonaut that she didn't go near a lot of sugars and fats much less drugs!

Metatron: Could probably benefit from some occasionally, but no.

Jayden: Yes, but in the sort of awkward giggly way of someone for whom it was a crime for most of their life.

[singthesongsofsin]

✏️ the bird polycule!

Mary: You don't need my blessing to go kiss Esaie . In fact, I was pretty sure you were already kissing Esaie! Adelard: Nope. Mary: In that case, as the archbishop of Adelard's fully awakened gaydom, I give you my blessing to immediately leave and rectify that as soon as possible! Go now, my child, and kiss Esaie right on the lips!!!

Mary: Did Adelard just tell me they loved me for the first time? Esaie: Yeah, they did. Mary: And did I just do finger guns back? Esaie: Yeah, you did.

Adelard: Hi, sorry I’m late. I was doing a couple of things and got distracted. Esaie : I’m “a couple of things”. Mary: I’m “got distracted”.

[singthesongsofsin]

Adelard's intern (Well, if you want to get technical, the intern Vox assigned to digitize Adelard's library, but really, that's just his kid now) got Adelard, Mary, and Esaie matching Plague Doctor plushes their first holiday in Hell. It's only fitting after all that the Bird Family all have one!

They love them, and they occupy a place of pride.

(All of the pictures are from the Squishable site!)