#Tune into the madness | In character

[voxuli]

[ alone ] for one muse to find the other trying to treat themselves /and or

[ drugged ] for one muse to take care of the other while they’re delirious

@a-hazbin-spider ?

[ alone ] from the injury/hurt prompts list!

~

Vox usually likes to be alone after a fight; to lick his wounds in private, so to speak. He has a habit of walling himself off in his sanctum, free to keep tabs on everyone while secure in the knowledge that no one could see him. The solemn darkness of the space was the next best thing to real reassurance that things were going to be okay, and much easier to get ahold of.

He's careless, perhaps. Maybe too injured to think as he stumbles inside, a prominent trail of black oil and bright blue coolant marking his path from the nearest CCTV camera to the door. He forgets to lock the door on the way in.

So it's a nasty shock some time later when the door slides open in the middle of his work. The bright glare of the hallway floods in, illuminating both his headless form and his TV on the table in front of him, its case pulled open and innards exposed for repairs. In lieu of his normal vision, each of the many screens around all swivel to look at the intruder, all displaying a single, familiar red eye.

Vox snarls as he recognizes the silhouette, sinking claws into the table. His speakers blow out and warp his voice as his audio processors fail to keep up.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Angel Dust?"

[voxuli]

It's a tick that Vox doesn't miss, tickling at his memories somehow. He's certain he would remember if he'd ever been down to New Orleans, so maybe someone else he'd known had pronounced it the same way. Another phantom sensation washes over him as he smiles, invisible on his dark screen.

It fades when Alastor asks about his own life. A double-edged sword, his dead screen was; he's grateful it can't reflect the grimace that spreads across his features. "Only selling," he says ruefully, keeping it short. "Not many opportunities for that sort of thing in Ohio."

Later, Vox will learn to keep that little detail entirely to himself. Ohio didn't exactly get people's attention, not like New York or Los Angeles did. Having now experienced actual hell, Vox wouldn't be calling it "hell on earth" anymore, but it had still been boring as fuck in the middle of nowhere.

"New Orleans, though..." Vox's tone turns a little wistful. "Now there's a city I wish I could've seen. Never did get that far down south."

"Oh yes! I was quite well known at the time, had a lovely little show down in New Orleans," the accent dropped slightly at the name of the city, something more natural coming out, before the transatlantic picked right back up, "died in '33 and then I got here and I said to myself, well, dying's no reason to stop doing what you love! I suppose I should be thankful I didn't end up with a radio for a face! Ha!"

Deft, clawed hands reached inside, carefully prying the burnt out and broken tubes to replace them with new ones. Vox's head was mechanical enough that he didn't feel the usual desire to rip and tear, no reason for betrayal and to sink his teeth in. No meat there, and Alastor had purposely recategorized him out of the prey classification.

"What about you, Vox? Did you work with the picture shows?"

[voxuli]

@staticintone I couldn't resist

"What-t-t the ffuu-zzt—does that-t-t—"

Vox promptly hacks up a rosebud like a cat having a hairball.

[post-it-notes7]

Please tell me this will be a happy ending

dearest anon, only time will tell

[voxuli]

Beach Week with Hotelier!Vox and Vark - Open Starter

Hardly a day into the trip, and already there was some kind of chaos going on. He'd raised his eyebrows at Charlie using the intercom to explicitly ban any soul dealings, sure, but based on his experiences with the hotel, Vox can't say he's surprised. The only difference here was that for one blessed week, none of it was his problem.

And that had remained true, for about twelve hours. Just a man and his hellshark having a nice little walk along the farther reaches of the beach. Vark had enjoyed a little bit of fishing and a great deal of rolling around in the sand, and Vox had enjoyed watching him from a suitable distance that avoided getting sand or fish guts on his nice linens. Now they were ambling back to the resort at about dinnertime.

Or they were supposed to be. Vark perks up when they approach the pool. He bounds forward; Vox stumbles before losing the leash.

"VARK!" he yells, far too late. A couple hundred pounds of sand-coated hellshark pelts headlong into the pool, swamping any poolgoers unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity.

[comfort-clubhouse]

Comfort Characters (Waves 10-11)

Pocoyo

Timmy (Timmy Time)

Mittens (Timmy Time)

Otus (Timmy Time)

King (Owl House)

NormalCD

Yellow Hemka (Hanazuki)

Pink Hemka (Hanazuki)

Chowder (Chowder Series)

Mung Daal (Chowder Series)

Garfield

Captain N The Game Master

Simon Belmont (Captain N The Game Master)

Pocoyo

Mickey Mouse

Minnie Mouse

Jafar (Aladdin)

Hades (Hercules)

Sulley (Monsters Inc)

Bob Velseb (Spooky Month)

Yoshi (Mario DIC Cartoons)

Mario (Mario DIC Cartoons)

Luigi (Mario DIC Cartoons)

Emily Elephant (Peppa Pig)

Zuzu & Zaza (Peppa Pig)

Lammy (Happy Tree Friends)

Toga Himiko (MHA)

Mirio Togata (MHA)

Asriel (Undertale)

Sam & Max (Sam & Max: Freelance Police Series)

Iago (Aladdin)

Jack O Lantern (Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy)

Jessicake (Shopkins)

Milk Bud (Shopkins)

Jack Sparrow (Pirates Of The Caribbean)

Hector Barbossa (Pirates Of The Caribbean)

Fleagle (Banana Splits)

Drooper (Banana Splits)

Heisenberg (Resident Evil Village)

Jeff The Killer (Creepypasta)

Laughing Jack (Creepypasta)

Donatina (Shopkins)

Enid Sinclair (Wednesday)

Apple Blossom (Shopkins)

Solazar (FNF)

Nezuko (Demon Slayer)

Mike (Monsters Inc)

Moony (ENA)

Tails (Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog)

Starfire (Teen Titans)

Red Hood (Injustice 2)

Davy Jones (Pirates Of The Caribbean)

Freddy Krueger (Nightmare On Elm Street)

Bubbles (Powerpuff Girls)

Rainbow Dash (My Little Pony)

Fluttershy (My Little Pony)

Granny Smith (My Little Pony)

Discord (My Little Pony)

Princess Celestia (My Little Pony)

Pixie (Pixie & Brutus)

Nerris (Camp Camp)

Nikki (Camp Camp)

Marvin The Martian (Looney Tunes)

Kedamono (Popee The Perfomer)

Frankie Stein (Monster High)

Abbey Bominable (Monster High)

Dracalaura (Monster High)

Catty Noir (Monster High)

Madeline Hatter (Ever After High)

Kitty Cheshire (Ever After High)

Tricky (Madness Combat)

Hank J Wimbleton (Madness Combat)

Sanford (Madness Combat)

Deimos (Madness Combat)

Tessa (Skylanders)

Dr Krankcase (Skylanders)

Mags (Skylanders)

Mao Mao (Mao Mao: Heroes Of Pure Heart)

Adorabat (Mao Mao: Heroes Of Pure Heart)

Onion Cookie (Cookie Run: Kingdom)

Frost Queen Cookie (Cookie Run: Kingdom)

Clover Cookie (Cookie Run: Kingdom)

Screech (Doors)

Seek (Doors)

Agatha (Dark Deception)

Mr Stitchy (Piggy)

Orange (Rainbow Friends)

Fizzarolli (Helluva Boss)

Leonard Mudbeard (Angry Birds)

Courtney (Angry Birds)

Gary (Angry Birds)

Tankman (Tankmen Series)

Zoey (Total Drama)

Mike (Total Drama)

Penny (TAWOG)

Chuck (Angry Birds)

David Jones (Criminal Case)

Charles Dupont (Criminal Case)

Melody (Little Mermaid)

Bart Simpson (Simpsons)

Maggie Simpson (Simpsons)

June Bellamy (Simpsons)

Krusty The Clown (Simpsons)

Victor Creel (Stranger Things)

[lab-gr0wn-lambs]

Look I'mma be honest every time twd kills off a long-beloved character at this point I'm just

[voxuli]

At Alastor's comment, Vox snorts, his antennae twitching. Of all things, it's the comment to finally get him to pluck the airwaves. You know that hasn't scared me since the 60s, right? he needles. He's far too wiry, in the most literal of senses, to be palatable to Alastor or most other cannibals.

He reluctantly grabs one of the chairs that Charlie had put aside, settling back down in it with his legs spread and posture a little looser. He's less than thrilled about the direction Charlie has taken them, especially with this nonsense about working together to get the key. He's not sure what exactly that means. Not a fight, from the sounds of it; but nor did it seem they would simply earn it from participating in her little game.

....Game, Vox muses, and files that away just in time to hear Charlie ask about their first meeting. The question makes him burst out in laughter, a crooked and sardonic smile hanging on his screen. He leans forward.

"How we met? Do you want the one where we met in the radio frequencies and he tried to eat me? Or the first physical interaction, where he tried to eat me again?"

@radiomurdeer

Finally satisfied that the pair were calmed down enough to listen, she finally could explain her strategy for this.

"So! The plan here is to first discuss aspects of you're working relationship to make sure we address anything needed and clear the air. Then you will need to work together to get the key to get out of the handcuffs. Simple!" Well maybe not entirely simple as the latter part was a scavenger hunt she still needed to set up.

"That said, the two of you can leave at any point, but because of the handcuffs you will need to agree on when, where, and how in order to manage it, and eventually have to come back to at least get the key."

She looked between the two before deciding to go ahead and jump in. "So! In your own words, how did you two meet?"

@voxuli

[crybabydraws]

"EVEN I COULDA CRUSHED ME ALL LOONY TUNES STYLE BETTER THAN YOU!! AT LEAST I WOULDA HIT ME!!"

I liked the idea of her being less mad at the acme ass attempt on her life and more on the fact that someone sent an incompetent hitman or goon or smth to do it and thought that they'd be enough to take her down lmao. ("Toony" explanation in the tags for anyone who is interested lol)

Tenna belongs to @tvlandofficial and the original anvil post was made by @gasterofficial lol

[voxuli]

Vox is being a gremlin @hellsdisneyprincess

"Sure, sure, Princess, I hear what you're saying! But if I may suggest- the right business partner could have a lot more people taking you seriously."

"Mostly by paying them enough.'

[mystcryshcck]

Fuck it I think I'm going to make a blog for Stan lol

[voxuli]

Vox thinks her confidence in that fact borders on naivety, but he keeps his mouth shut on the matter.

"Oh, sure, the Overlord here that's your and your brother's best shot at protection if that angel decides to come back doesn't need to know," he mocks, rolling his eyes with a sneer. "Whatever."

That only heightened his curiosity anyhow--he'd do a little digging later and see if he couldn't find out the details.

In the meantime, he wanders over to the edge of the kitchen, watching Ran cook with a straight-up confused look. "Seriously? You're worrying about your freaking meal right now?"

"He'll probably bounce back pretty quickly," she answered, stopping her pacing and went to the kitchen.

Deciding to go back to what she had been doing before the angel broke in just to have something to do, Ran resumed cooking her kimchi-jjigae, though really all that was left to do was actually add the last few ingredients so she turned the heat back on and did so before letting the food sit in the pot to finish cooking and sat on a barstool to keep an eye on it.

Ran glanced back at him at the question, "hmm I think that falls under a need to know basis and you don't need to know right now."

[voxuli]

continued from being stabbed in the feels here with @staticintone!

~

It's a strike that's made with surgical precision. Vox feels some phantom ache seize his bones and wires, squeezing tight around where his heart should've been.

Oh, do the words fill that gap with anger.

Alastor is right; of course he is. Vox has achieved a symbiosis with the flower that no other could hope to achieve with the parasite. Had taken it, manicured it, trimmed it into something useful. Perfectly controlled, as anything under his direction should be.

Even if it was still parasitical, he used it much as surgeons of old used leeches. And how could anyone faced with that knowledge see it as anything more than a tool, then?

"So fucking what?" he spits, his voice dipping into a lower register. "Even if you were right-what does it matter, Alastor? Surely you don't need me to tell you that it takes so much more than a feeling to make something work."

Wasn't Alastor's dissatisfaction with it proof enough of that?

Ever since their split, the fact that Vox's entire success was based upon Alastor was a wound that refused to heal. Now he sinks his claws into it and pulls Vox further apart.

It's the contempt that burns the most.

"Don't fucking lie. We both know you've never seen so much as a single leaf in the entire time we've known each other."

[innanzituttoticalmi]

i'm sorry if you genuinely think bozzi and leclerc "copied the other driver/engineer's strategy" i canttttttt take you seriously

[skullislandproductions]

Dr. I.B. Gruesome, Undersecretary of Special Services and the Arcane Arts & Brother-in-Law of Dr. I.Q. Hi. The mad scientist inspired by Boris Karloff, from the 1952 Chuck Jones Bugs Bunny short “Water, Water, Every Hare,” joins the cast, for the second attempt to sell "Duck Dodgers" as a TV show in late 1998. He would eventually find his way into the show as Marvin’s chief adversary, much to Dodgers’ chagrin.

[voxuli]

Vox's first interjection is simply a short bark of a laugh. It's not specifically the idea of the sharks taking nibbles off of sinners, but just the fact that Vepar prefaces it with 'no offense'. After all, he's speaking to the man known for feeding his assailants and other starry-eyed wannabe overlords to his own collection of biomechanical monstrosities, cooing over them in the process. "They're sinners," he says, with a vague wave of his hand. "They can handle it."

He leaves it at that, however, listening again to Vepar talk. It's unusual for someone to be so forward with what they want from him, but hey–he'll take it. Having the terms laid out clearly managed expectations and set clear goals.

Or... he'd thought he would.

But this is not the usual business request, now is it? And to be fair, Vox generally knows that for all his power, he doesn't have a lot that he can offer to a figure of Vepar's status. It's not nothing, since his networks had reach over all of Hell; more than some other Overlords can say.

Vepar is not speaking to him as the CEO of VoxMedia, though. And Vox... Vox is not at all sure what to make of that.

(Yes. A part of him salivates at the very opportunity. Yes, yes, yes.)

His mind circles back around to his own tank at the tower, and he wonders how much the Goetia knows about him. How much he perhaps buys into Vox's public persona. Make no mistake, Vox has encountered more than his share of starry-eyed imps and sinners alike. Normally it's a boost to his ego like no other, but here... A seed of doubt stubbornly persists, forcing Vox to wrangle his tongue back under control.

"That's... That's a.... A very generous offer. Especially to someone you've only just met," Vox says, side-eying his companion contemplatively. "I'm honored, and I truly do mean that. I appreciate the time to think it over." Not in the least to run it by his lawyers, find out a little more about what it meant to be named in the will of a Goetia. Certainly to do a more thorough investigation into the Duke himself.

They fall into a short silence, though it doesn't take long for Vepar to blindside him with another offer.

Well, Vox thinks, this was certainly more than fulfilling his expectations. What had he originally thought–the most interesting thing to happen to him all year? No, he'd lowballed that estimate, it seemed. The whole decade, easily. Maybe more.

"Y'know, I'm not sure if the whole turning into electrical current really counts," Vox says, accompanied by a short laugh to disguise his own unease. And make no mistake–the thought of being entirely organic again makes him uneasy, to his own surprise. A particular discomfort that curls through his wires, not unlike when he knows his cameras and microphones are about to shut off for repairs or upgrades.

"That's, uh–well, I don't want to refuse, but I think I'll need a little time to get warmed up to the idea, as it were." He casts around for something to fill the gap meantime, and on replay of his last couple of moments, his mind latches onto something that he'd initially missed.

And it's a wonder that he missed it, truly. After all, Vepar had just casually implied that the place had a fucking megalodon.

A motherfucking megalodon.

How the FUCK had he missed that little nugget the first time?

Vox's eyes widen to saucers again in realization, and he rounds on Vepar with a desperate enthusiasm that he struggles to contain, bordering on fervent. Because if he has that, he might also–

"Vepar. Fuck. Man–it's not a shark technically but–please tell me you have a heliocoprion. Please please pleaseplease say you have a heliocoprion–"

"Not at all. I never open a can of worms unless I wish to see them squirm," Vepar answered, unable to stop smiling. Vox loved them! He loved them, clearly loved them, and so this was all worth it. "And they do indeed. As far as each shark is concerned, they are in an environment they've always known--the temperatures, the salinity, the types of food, even the angle of the light they perceive. It has been... a complicated bit of magic to pull off," he said, well-aware that he probably sounded like an ass for putting it that mildly, immediately blushing, "but well worth while. They are from different oceans, and some..." He nodded towards a massive shadow far off to the side. "Such as that giant, no longer exist on Earth. Still others never have at all, but evolved all the same in other worlds.

"And just as the sharks experience their own physical realities, so does each guest. Even if there are a hundred Sinners in this particular exhibit, they'll only see the party they come in with; every group will have a staff member with them, of course, to ensure safety--for the sharks. No offense intended, of course, but I don't particularly care if one of my sweetlings takes a bite out of a Sinner for misbehavior.

"Each party is always in their own pocket of reality, so this can be an escape from the... rather crowded confines of Hell, at least for a little while... No, my love. Let go of my finger. Thank you." A disappointed little chain catshark swam up and settled onto Vepar's arm instead. He stroked it idly. "And while I am delighted to share this with you, I won't pretend not to want something from you in return, Vox, nor will I wait to spring it on you at the end. I do not... anticipate my own death happening anytime soon. But if it does? I do not want this place to fall into the hands of just anyone. If you are amenable, I would like you to be my heir. It will take some doing, of course, for me to create the necessary magic that will prove self-sustaining and yet malleable by your will, but I will gladly craft such a thing if you will consider accepting it.

"And that is it. That is all I hope to gain from you: assurance that if I am killed, you will do your best to care for this place. The magic and the funding will be provided for, but the creatures within? They require not just care, but caring. Love. An eye to notice if one is ailing. Even if you were only able to stop by for a brief while each night... it would be a comfort to me, to know that there is someone who understands--inherently understands... how beautiful all of these lives are.

"You needn't answer now, of course. There is much more to see. But I do not wish to--leave you wondering when the proverbial trap will be sprung, or the pitch made.

"While you consider... do you shapeshift? Or would you enjoy being shifted? I thought we might swim with them, take on their forms for a while. Conversation will not be possible, but it might be... pleasant? To taste and feel the ocean as they do."