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commenter2 · 8 days ago

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Ghostsf*%kers review

We have a Blitzo and Millie centered episode, which I like as I have stated that those 2 really need more unique interactions between them and that Millie needed her own episode. Hopefully this better than the camping episode.

The ticking is back in the warning, and it is very loud than usual, but no sirens though. If you are wondering why I’m bringing this up I talked about this theory about the ticking in my Full Moon review.

The opening so far is cheery but given Vivzie said this episode would be scary, this episode likely won’t end well though after all we have seen in both shows so far can it be scary?

Blit3, Luna, and Foxxie. Loona’s cup even has a dog treat in it.

Verosika’s crew is still works at the same building as I.M.P., even though last time Tex said it was temporary. Millie seems to be on good terms with them, despite the last time we saw her interacting with them she was really mad at them. Not to mention there was that moment where Moxxie was “attacked” by them last season which I wonder if Millie knows about or not. I wonder if Blitzo and Verosika getting closure with each other in the last episode had a role in this?

No surprise Blitzo is heartbroken over Stolas. At least later he admits that he now realizes he had a chance to have a relationship with him but messed it up.

What is with Wally’s outfit? Did he actually hunt those stuffed owls? Also could him wondering if he could hang out with I.M.P. foreshadow him being a member of I.M.P. one day, or a business partner of theirs since he owns all kinds of companies?

It wasn’t a matter of when I.M.P. went bankrupt, but how horse related the bankruptcy was. Now would be a good time to get Wally as an investor.

How long do you think it will be before we get fan art of Moxxie as popular critics? My money is on seeing a Nostalgia Critic one before the weekend.

Cryers ice cream.

So Hell can not only get TV signals from Heaven, but also from Earth. Does this mean Hell has access to Earth radios and the internet? I hope so as my OC need his Earth web shows/web comics stories!

Millie says there are only 2 places a human soul can go to when they die but given how Hazbin Hotel revealed that Heaven doesn’t know how that process works, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other places a soul can go to/end up in, or indeed become a ghost on Earth.

Off topic but my last comment just gave me a theory that maybe one of these after lives, or “after afterlife” is connected to Roo. What I mean is what if every time a sinner is killed in Hell, she absorbs that person’s “soul” or whatever you call it like Freddy Krueger or in a manner similar to the DC character Ragman, and every soul she gets makes her gain power. That would be an interesting twist in Hazbin Hotel as it could be revealed she’s been playing the long game and manipulated everyone into causing the Exterminations to happen in order to gain enough power to her evil plans.

I once recall Viv saying Blitzo was scared of ghost. Guess that changed in the background or that ghost show he was watching changed his mind, which wouldn’t be surprising since the entertainment industry from movies to anime have been really focused on making monsters sexy over the past few decades.

I applause Blitzo for making such a card system, as I like to think that his recent experiences have changed him and is starting to care about interrupting Moxxie’s time with Millie.

The company Succ In. has ownership of floors of 1,2,3,5, what I thought was a 6 but is really and 8 which itself is surprising since they own floor 9 and this series is infamous for its innuendo addiction. IMP is on floor 7, yet that is where Verosika’s crew is so could Verosika have been lying about working for Succ Inc and just wanted to get close to Blitzo to annoy him/she still has feelings for him? I wonder if there are other unique companies on the other floors. Also wasn’t the building suffering from structural integrity that it got shutdown?

Loona caring about Blitzo is always cute.

4:41 GOD THOSE ARE SOME LONG EYE LASHES!!! That is the scariest thing in this episode so far!

Well internet, Viv made and gave you a screenshot of a shirtless Moxxie. I hope your happy.

Aww we got some Millie and Loona bonding :3

The One Star Wonder hotel’s structure has eyes on it. Just wanted to point that out as I feel like it will mean something for later.

Finally were going to learn about this guy and if he is Leviathan, or maybe someone related to the von Eldritch family. He has a cat plushie in draw which seems odd for a fish demon, maybe he is a hybrid.

Its Scooby-Doo montage time. Saw a kid with an Eric Cartman outfit and someone Naruto running.

Finally! Release all that longer overdue anger out on Blitz Millie!

Is that demon blood?

While I appreciate the spooky atmosphere this is giving, and how this scene reminds me of that new upcoming Gravity Falls comic in which we are seeing alternate versions of Millie who has died by certain things she and the others went through in the series like being burned by hellfire at Loo Loo Land, killed by the Cherubs angelic arrows, and from her wounds inflicted by Striker, but this is just an alternate version of Blitzo’s drugged up hallucination scene from season 1. Still better than how Seeing Stars was just Loo Loo Land 2.0.

(Sees Blitzo’s mom) Uh no, don’t do it epiOH COME ON!

13:11 Who is that demon lady! Hope we get more art of her soon.

Love the jacket on Millie as well as seeing her with her long hair. Damn Millie was angry back then, well… angrier. Random thought but I wonder if this happened shortly after she and Chaz broke up.

I brought this up a bit in Harvest Moon, but I feel like the upper class demons love to belittle Imps.

Damn that was emotional, and explains why Millie was always nice to Blitzo, despite his wacky personality and his constant interrupting of her and Moxxie’s married life. It is also cute that Moxxie fell in love with Millie the first time he saw her.

We have a new kind of demon now, Infestor demons. Now IDK if that is a unique race of aquatic demons or if any demon can be trained to be an Infestor, so I’m just going to write down what I see Ronaldo doing to see what could fit in what category.

Ronaldo can take on a liquefied form to get around.

He seems to be able to teleport to water sources, a useful skill for aquatic demons as I bet they still need soak in water every few hours. However I wonder if that is a unique ability to aquatic demons/Infestors OR if he has a Asmodean Crystal.

Obviously he is fast IN the water given his aquatic anatomy. Could he know Fishman karate?

His arms were very rubber like for a second, meaning he likely doesn’t have bones but cartilage like sharks do. The only kinds of demons I can see not having bones are octopus demons like the von Eldritch family.

I wonder if Ronaldo is part electric eel, as that would explain that blast of energy that knocked down Blitzo and Millie and break the lights. Never mind it seems like Infestor demons have telekinetic abilities which would explain the illusions earlier and his levitation AND he can enter people’s minds, even demons. Could Infestor demons the sources for sleep paralysis demons in the Helluva/Hazbin universe? Also are there things he can’t enter like higher up demons? Still I definitely could see some fan art of Infestors messing with other demons and sinners like one makes Mammon relive times he lost money or Lucifer seeing the moment Lilith left.

Along with a liquid form, Ronaldo can have a gaseous form. I feel like he can only do this while in his victim’s mind.

Is Ronaldo breaking the law like what Blitzo and Millie are doing?

Blitzo seeing his past deeds is another Truth Seekers inspired moment.

Ronaldo hasn’t seen much of Blitzo’s head yet has he, as I’m confidant all “nasty” thoughts Blitzo has about Millie are in a sexual nature.

I’ve seen that pose before, but I can’t remember where. Is it Jojo related or that stereotypical female villain smug hand gesture you see in anime that is followed by the “OH ho ho ho ho” laugh?

I’m glad Blitzo decided to kill Ronaldo, as he could have revealed their secret Earth access to someone, but Blitzo really should have doubled checked if Ronaldo was really dead, as that is a cliché with horror villains. Now we have to wait until we get confirmation that he is really dead or could return to tell someone about the operations of I.M.P.

That “fuck hotels” joke really hurt, considering I’m more exciting to seeing more Hazbin Hotel then Helluva Boss right now. More on that later.

Holy shit Blitzo doesn’t want to fuck M&M anymore. He HAS changed!

A small thing but I am intrigued that they are that close to a cross without anything bad happening.

Of course the episode had to end with the usual “Moxxie is a punch bag” joWHERE IS Loona taking Moxxie? Did he just blanket him up and give him ice cream?

Wait wait wait wait wait, the episode ends with Moxxie being HAPPY? Did Vivziepop thought this would be scary or is she actually giving Moxxie a break?

This was a good episode, which compared to most of season 2 makes it great mainly because it was a proper Millie centered episode that easily makes up for Unhappy Campers.

I also liked that we got info on a new kind of demon class “Infestors”, which I could see being either in the Hellborn part of Hell’s hierarchy or in between Hellborn and Overlord given what we saw Ronaldo being able to do.

Ronaldo also gives us a potential better understanding about aquatic demon culture, as I think similar to how succubi are focused on the emotion of lust, aquatic demons focus on fear. Ronaldo isn’t the first scary fish hellborn we have seen as the von Eldritch family have such a vibe, even an old Hela pic by Vivzie describes her as an “apex predator”, plus this fits with an old myth I recall about Leviathan as it said God was concerned/scared about the idea of him reproducing and thus killed his mate. Maybe in a twist God was too late and they already had kids (making them the gods of all aquatic demons like Satan is the god of Imps) but the incident left Leviathan to embrace his spookiness and vowed to spread fear in God’s world and thus inspiring all kinds of myths about monsters.

There also isn’t much to complain about the episode besides some minor similarities to Truth Seekers, and how it wasn’t really scary as Vivzie said, though sadly I can’t say that for the last 2 episodes of the season. A bit of a rant here but I am not really looking forward to the next 2 episodes as I fear that they will be really predictable. I mean with the franchise’s history of repeating itself I think the trial episode is going to end in a similar to the Heaven trial episode in Hazbin Hotel or at least put I.M.P. in a bad situation that bites them in the ass in the finale. Another big cliché I can see happening is that the season ends with Octavia AGAIN thinking, or gets manipulated by Stella and Andrealphus, that her father doesn’t care about her and leaves him for Stella and her uncle not knowing their plans for her. I mean the season has 2 more seasons left, which I personally think is a season/ half a season to long but again that is just me, so I could see them doing this to not only hook fans for the next season but to make episodes around it. Still I’d be okay if I was proven wrong but I’m still more excited for a Hazbin Hotel season 2.

What are your thoughts about the latest episode?

#helluva boss #vivziepop

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frenchie-sottises · 4 years ago

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ADDICT Animation Thoughts.

HEY, WANNA LEARN DRUGS?

This is me not having doing one of these review sort of things in a while. I’m kinda swallowed in the love for the newest animation for Hazbin Hotel, so I’mma do a review on it.

Yeah, I’m talking about the whole music video for the song “ADDICT”. Yes, it’s a song I freaking LOVE and will probably sing it to the ceilings for the rest of the week.

I actually had no clue there was an animation being produced for this song. I thought it was a good fan song and it was just gonna be left like that, but no, the person, and team, decided to make a video for it.

Okay, first off, can I just gush over how much I freaking love this thumbnail?? It’s done by Arielle Somerville, and even though this doesn’t have Cherri included, who takes up the second verse and I’ll talk about that in the minute, she definitely gets the message across that this video, and song, is mostly about Angel himself. I especially love the reflection on the pole, showing Valentino, who showed his face in the comic that’s supposed to be a prequel to the actual pilot. I also love the expression on Angel’s face. To me, it spells utter hatred for Valentino, and why shouldn’t he?

I’m sure most people who like Hazbin Hotel have seen this vid, so I don’t think I need to put a spoiler warning. Instead of explaining what happens in the video, I will break down the actual song and what comes to mind when I hear the lyrics and see the imagery.

Til death do us part, but we're already past that phase. This is a brand new start, and I think I deserve some praise

I will forever love this shot.

for the way that I am. Despite having overdosed, and ending up comatose.

I don't give a damn, I've let my emotions go- Fuck being a sober hoe.

The first verse is fairly clear about what happened to him before and after he died. Angel states with the whole “Till death, do us part” that now that he’s in Hell, he’s starting anew. He then further states that he should “deserve some praise” for the way he is despite the fact he “overdosed” and “ending up comatose”. While it IS confirmed that Angel died via PCP overdose, PCP can cause anything from organ shutdown (lungs and kidneys specifically) to seizures and coma. It’s not exactly clear what specifically killed him, but if I had to guess: organ shutdown. Specifically respiratory arrest since the oxygen is crucial for sustaining the brain.

He then, like typical Angel Dust, sings about not giving a damn, which makes sense since cause, y’know, it’s Angel. He claims to have let his emotions go and “fuck being a sober hoe.” PCP is.. odd when it comes to the psychological effects of it. PCP can block NMDA receptors, which are responsible for pain sensations, memory function, learning, and yes, even emotions. However, it can also cause anything from euphoria and calmness to anxiety and violence depending on how much is taken and who is using it. I’m not an expert, so I don’t know what’s specifically causing such contradicting results. (If someone does know PCP back to front, I’m giving you the shot to put your two cents in.)

This is the mantra, this is my life you're playing with now til the end of the night. Surrounded by fire, the passion ignites, a hit of that heaven and hell, a helluva high!

We then hit the bridge. Angel walks towards the moth in the thumbnail named “Valentino”, and yes, I got plenty to say about him later, and tells him he’s playing with Angel’s life “til the end of the night.” I don’t exactly know what he means by this since Valentino is Angel’s boss and we all know it’s not some one-time thing. He then sings about being “surrounded by fire” as “the passion ignites” and “a hit of that heaven and hell.” Heaven and Hell, huh? I believe he, himself, knows of its effects. (I’m not calling him stupid/oblivious, but sometimes the effects of these sort of drugs tend to be underestimated when it comes to what they can actually do.)

I'm addicted to the madness. This hotel is my Atlantis. We're forever gonna have a fucking reason to sin. Let me leave my soul to burn and I'll be breathing it in. I'm addicted to the feeling. Getting higher than the ceiling. And we're never gonna want this fucking feeling to end. Just concede and give in to your inner demons again.

Angel, along with Cherri, sings about how he’s “addicted to the madness.” I mean, he did have a casual conversation while happily killing Sir Pentious’s minions. He then makes a reference to the lost city of Atlantis, a city that was said to be inhabited by people who were half-man/half-god and created a utopian civilization.. basically the hotel is an “oasis” of sorts to flee from his current situation. Of course, being in a place called Hell, he states how there will always be a reason to sin and that he’ll leave his soul to burn and breathe it in. I mean, it’s Hell, you can’t fault him for thinking that, and, if you know a thing or two about Hell, once you’re there, have fun getting out, so you might as well leave your soul to burn and breathe it in. Of course, Hell is a lot uglier than this, but we’re talking fictional characters here, so there’s gonna be some rule bending.

He then repeats the first line of the chorus, but it’s slightly altered. He’s “addicted to the feeling” and “getting higher than the ceiling”, which is probably referring to the drugs again cause, well, you know. Of course, like how drug abusers become drug abusers, he doesn’t want this “feeling to end”, so he takes more angel dust to keep this feeling going. He then says to “concede and give in to your inner demons again.” Concede means to “admit after resisting or denying”, so Angel, at some point, was resisting, or denying, the situation he was in, but after either fighting it/denying it for so long, before or after death, he accepted that he’s fucked up and gave in to his inner demons.

I also love this shot.

After a few seconds of awesome music, Cherri gets her time to shine.

Yeah you fell in love, but you fell deeper in this pit. While death rains from above, so count your blessings cause this is it.

You're not letting it go, so what if I misbehave? It's what everybody craves.

You already know, so come if you're feeling brave, and fancy yourself a mate.

Cherri seems to have suffered an abusive relationship before as she seems to use past tense for whoever she’s referring to. "Yeah, you fell in love, but you fell deeper in this pit.” Whatever it was, it’s not something that can be made up for. She then says “While death rains from above, so count your blessings cause this is it.” I don’t exactly know what she means by this. Technically, they’re both dead and in Hell, so I don’t think whoever this man is has had his soul destroyed.. mainly because of what she says later. However, as death does what death does best, she’s telling him to count his blessings as this is it. I don’t know what she means as we don’t actually know that much about Cherri to begin with, so it’s more of a hit or miss kind of game in this playing field. She doesn’t seem to have any grudges against him, or at least doesn’t act like she does. I know somewhere down the line that our “protagonists” will have to face their problems, but I’m not sure what Cherri has in store for a man she seemingly got over.

However, it may be over for her, but she states that it isn’t for him by telling him that he’s “not letting it go.” She continues by asking “so what if I misbehave?” and then following that up with “It’s what everybody craves.” She makes it seem like he couldn’t handle her overly energetic attitude. It may also suggest that Cherri, along with her use of bombs and how much she seems to love blowing up shit, may be emotionally unstable. While yes, she may be kind and friendly to Angel, but he’s just a friend, I don’t think he’s anything more.

It doesn’t stop there though, whatever it is, she tells him he already knows, so come if he’s feeling brave and fancy himself a mate. Mate is often referring to a lover, but could also mean friend or someone for a one-night stand. Again, since we don’t know much about her, these lines could mean anything.

You want it? I got it! See what you like? We could have it all by the end of the night! Your money and power.. my sinful delight! A hit of that heaven and hell, a helluva high!

The bridge doesn’t do much in terms of explaining what’s happened to Cherri. While yes, it’s definitely explaining something, we don’t know what that something is. We can only guess at the moment.

Cherri tells whoever this man is that if he wants it, she’s got it. She then teases him with “See what you like? We could have it all by the end of the night!” The whole “end of the night” has now been said on both sides. It could mean about the similar situations between them. Heck, it might be why they’re friends to begin with. Nothing brings people together more than having similar experiences.

Then, and I don’t know if this is me, Cherri’s voice seems to tone down slightly when saying, “Your money and power” before kicking it back up with her smiling and saying, “my sinful delight!” The animation may support this as everything tones down, except the music, as if she’s reminiscing. She then follows it up with the line that leads into the chorus. As far as I know, she isn’t taking drugs, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be addicted to certain habits. *cough, cough* Blowing shit up. *cough, cough*

We then hit the chorus again. The chorus before introduced Cherri into the video, but now it’s being sung by both on the same stage and in the same building: the same one Cherri decides to blow up as they both sing about their respective situations. There isn’t much to this other than the fact that it feels more of a wrap up on explaining their current states.

Of course, those who have listened to the VIP version knows there was an extra verse sung by Angel, which was included at the end of the video.

I'm addicted to the sorrow when the buzz ends by tomorrow. There's another rush of poison flowing into my veins, giving me a dose of pleasure that resides by the pain.

I'm addicted, I'm dependent. Looking awesome, feeling helpless. And I know I'm raising Cain by every highway in hell. Maybe things won't be so terrible inside this hotel.

I.. don’t know where to begin with this. I had to go back several times because there’s just so much detail in every scene. Everything from seeing Travis getting kicked in the face to the cigarette that Angel threw in the ash tray looking like a heart.

I think I’ll start with what I think might be going on.

Angel, more than likely, is still in an abusive relationship with Valentino, who I will ramble about in a few. I’ve seen a few who’ve said that he isn’t, but I don’t think he managed to break it just like that. He is the one who told the audience to give in to their inner demons after all.

As far as Cherri goes? She’s become an addict to her own habit of blowing stuff up for fun. While yes, she’s seen blowing stuff up that is about/for Valentino, with a habit that’s become an addiction, I don’t think it’s gonna be very specific.

Of course, I could be very wrong about Cherri. She is seen blowing up a sign that literally says “ADDICT.”

So maybe she has broken an addiction of hers and is stronger than I give her credit for. Maybe that’s also why she’s coming to the hotel, cause she also said the hotel is her Atlantis, so it’s probably a hint that she’s gonna be added later.

Speaking of Cherri...

I love her solely for this.

While they aren’t exactly ideal people, they are, almost, ideal friends. Whenever one struggles, the other comes to help. Angel helped Cherri fight off Pentious while Cherri is here comforting Angel as he goes through his abusive relationship with Valentino. (She also helps with, again, blowing up anything that belongs/is for Valentino. Ridding imagery of an abuser will bring some ease to the victim’s life.) I say “almost” as they don’t go about it in the tamest of ways.. though I understand why people would come to defend what Cherri did. If nothing stops them from fighting and taking land, then nothing would stop Cherri blowing up a billboard or two, especially if it’s Valentino.

I think it’s time I’ve rambled about Valentino and the relationship he and Angel have, SO HUGE WARNING, this is gonna mention sexual assault/rape.

Valentino... I know I’m right when I say that just about everyone in the Hazbin Hotel fandom absolutely hates this fucker.

I can’t tell you how many people have made jokes about it already. Who wouldn’t hate him? I can tell you right here, right now, that moths, because he’s a moth, are my favorite insects. They’re fluffy, amazing to look at, and can make for some nice character designs. However, I have not once found myself being fond of Valentino. He has a great design, but that’s about it. He may not be real, but I’d strangle him too for not respecting Angel’s boundaries.

who

the fuck

aRE YOU

TO DO THIS??

My god, it doesn’t even stop here. This was pretty tame. I have a feeling not many know what was actually shown in the mirror when Angel was in his room.

Yeah, I don’t need to tell ya. I mean, I hope that’s not what’s happening, but Valentino IS one of many of the overlords of Hell, so who knows how twisted he is. It looks like he’s just holding him in place and just glaring at him through the mirror as he probably monologues about some bull about Angel being his and whatnot, but this is Hell and tame can just go out the window.. that and Valentino is literally fucking drooling.

As a final note, I’m pretty hyped for whatever Vivzie and her crew have in store for this series. I’ve seen the pilot, I’ve read the comic, and now I’ve seen the music video, all have been great.

I can’t really guess on where Vivzie’s gonna go with this whole story. I’ve always learned that Hell is an inescapable place, so I’d expect that Hazbin Hotel will be about Charlie hoping to rehabilitate people to go to Heaven only to find out that there’s no way out. Maybe it’ll be about how Hell doesn’t have to be some horrible place for nothing but pain, but a place to finally try and fix your problems so they don’t control you in the afterlife.

However, Hell has one issue: the overpopulation and extermination. It’s why Charlie opened up the hotel to begin with, so maybe the plot is far more clear cut. It is a fictional world. Technically the Hell most people think of is nothing really like this. It’s just an eternal fire pit where you’ll suffer physical pain over and over. However, Vivzie’s take on it is far more abstract. It seems Hell is where you’re put into situations you wouldn’t want to be in. Angel seems to want love and have fun, but is instead stuck with someone abusive and what he finds fun has been turned into work, both of which he hates.

In the end, I’m really loving Hazbin Hotel’s story as a whole. I love the fact Angel got some more depth to him. I’m looking forward to what’s in store for Cherri and the others.

P.S.: You wanna know the irony to this? I love moths, but most spiders I hate. However, I’m here hating Valentino, a moth, while having a fondness for Angel, a spider.

I’ve never had something like this happen to me before and it’s one of many reason why I love Hazbin Hotel.

#Frenchie Rambles #Hazbin Hotel #Angel Dust #Cherri Bomb #Valentino #Frenchie Screenies

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sssardonian-ssserpent · 3 years ago

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Knowing your partner well makes writing together a lot easier. Tag this with the people you enjoy roleplaying with but want to get to know better.

NAME: Don’t feel comfortable using real names on here so just call me Blight, after my Discord handle

AGE: 22

PRONOUNS: she/her.

SEXUALITY: Lesbian.

ZODIAC SIGN: Sagittarius

TAKEN OR SINGLE: Taken.

THREE FACTS:

1. I want to be a professional writer and novelist and work hard to eventually publish my own books or book series. I also read the entire Eragon series when I was 8 years old.

2. I’m a huge fan of Pokémon, specifically of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, and my favorite Pokémon Generation is Gen 4.

3. I’m working on learning how to properly bake and cook (with middling success 😂)

EXPERIENCE:

HOW LONG (MONTHS/YEARS?): I think I’ve been writing and RPing ever since I was 13? Around middle school.

HOW’D YOU START?: Mainly texting with my GF which is frankly what started our relationship to begin with.

MUSE PREFERENCES:

FEMALE OR MALE?: Doesn’t really matter to me, I think, I’ll happily take anyone of any gender.

FAVORITE CHARACTER?: If we’re talking characters in general, obviously my top choice is Sir Pentious. But if we mean favorite characters to see as muses? Alastor, Angel Dust, Vox, Valentino, pretty much all of the main cast of Hazbin that we know of so far.

LEAST FAVORITE CHARACTER?: Don’t really have a least favorite in terms of who do I generally dislike, but I generally don’t find myself that interested in the idea of writing muses who are characters that we don’t know of yet, like Baxter or Mimzy or the other characters that have yet to make a full blown appearance in the show yet. No hate to the people who do have those characters as muses at all! I just personally can’t find myself getting that into them because we have no basis of who they are as characters.

WRITING PREFERENCES:

FLUFF, ANGST, OR SMUT?: Definitely a healthy mix of all three, though I do find myself LOVING angst and just generally horrible stuff happening to my muse. I’m a sadistic writer like that.

PLOTS OR MEMES?: I HAPPILY ACCEPT BOTH!

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSES?: I will admit, an unashamedly high amount of headcanons about Pent, like his autism are based off of my own traits (I too also have autism as well as ADHD). Not all of his headcanons, I certainly don’t make Youtube videos about how to be a proper supervillain or flick my tongue out when I sleep, but I will admit I pour a lot of my own ideas about my own self into him to help flesh him out better. But that doesn’t mean I wanna go blow up buildings or kill people. 😂

Tagged by: @dementedstatic

Tagging: @steelgrey-demon, @strikers-saloon,

#mun post #ooc post #dash games

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jetsetlife138 · 5 years ago

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Imaginary - Chapter 1

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel Rating: Mature for this chapter, but Explicit in future chapters Pairing: Alastor x Fem!Reader Summary: You come across a device that throws you into the animated world of Hazbin Hotel. Once an average human living in a three-dimensional world, you’re now transformed into a two-dimensional human that has been cast into Hell. The inhabitants of Hell are curious and most harbor ill-will towards you. Charlie and the staff of the Happy Hotel take you in and offer you protection while they try and figure out how to return you to your world. That is… until you come across a certain Radio Demon with different intentions. Chapter Warnings: Alternate Universe, Canon divergence, language, drug references

Note: This first chapter is kind of a tease for where the story could go. I wasn’t sure how it would go over with an audience, so I’m eager for some feedback. As the story goes on, it will focus around the Reader and Alastor’s relationship.

Agony. That’s the only word one could use to describe what you had been through. One minute, you were shopping at your local thrift store inspecting an old remote control, and the next minute you were thrown into a black hole. Your body had felt like it had been ripped apart and messily thrown back together over and over again as you continued to float through time and space. It was a sensation unlike anything you had ever experienced and never wanted to again.

Your head felt so heavy. It was difficult to tell whether or not you were still floating or if you were finally stagnant. Reaching your arms out, the palms of your hands were met with a hard, flat surface, letting you know that you were steady on solid ground.

It was difficult to decipher the noises around you considering there was a loud ringing in your ears, but from what you could tell it sounded like multiple hisses and whispers. Strangely, the thought of that brought you a bit of comfort. At least you weren’t dying alone… if that was really what was happening.

Using all of your remaining energy, you started to focus on the voices around you.

“What is it?”

“Dipshit, what does it look like? It’s a human.”

“It’s a girl!”

“A girl?”

“No, it’s a woman!”

“Is she dead?”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“How the fuck did a human get here?”

“Can we eat her?”

Whoa, what? It was incredibly overwhelming. Clearly there was a group of people surrounding you, and trying to differentiate each voice was negatively impacting your already fragile state of mind. They couldn’t possibly be saying what you thought they were saying.

Hesitantly, you opened your eyes, blinking a few times due to the brightness. After allowing your vision to focus, your breath caught in your throat at the sight. Everything was… animated? On top of that, you seemed to be surrounded by freaky creatures; things that you would only see in nightmares. Oh shit. What kind of drugs were you on? Did you accidentally drop acid? Did someone sneak an insane amount of magic mushrooms into your lunch? No, no, no, this couldn’t be possible.

Rubbing your eyes and looking around once more, much to your dismay, your surroundings remained the same. One of the creatures took a step closer to you, causing you to instinctually raise your hands defensively. When you saw your own hands, you outwardly yelped. They, too, were animated and now only two-dimensional.

You felt nauseous. Your whole world was crashing down around you. It couldn’t be real. It had to be a freaky nightmare. But then… why weren’t you waking up?

Looking around, your eyes met one of the creepy creatures. She appeared to be a cross between a human and a snake, her eyes glowing yellow as she stared daggers at you.

“Wh-where am I?” you croaked, your voice hoarse and thick with emotion.

The snake creature cackled before hissing back at you, “Isn’t it obvious, girl? You’re in Hell!”

Hell? Is that what happened? You died, plummeted to Hell, and this was your eternal torment?

When you didn’t respond, one of the other creatures grew impatient, addressing you with a thunderous voice, “Why do you still look human? Are you alive or dead?”

“I don’t… I don’t know,” you murmured, shaking your head, still trying to cope with your current predicament.

Suddenly, you felt a firm grip on your arm as one of the creatures grabbed you harshly, raising you to your feet. “I call dibs! Finders keepers!”

“That’s bullshit!” one of the others called out, snarling. “I saw her first!”

The others burst out in arguments, trying to determine which of them would take ownership of you. It terrified you to hear things like, “Can I have her left arm?” or “I’ll take her foot!”

Just as you were about to have a complete mental breakdown, a voice cut through the crowd. “Get your hands off of her!”

The crowd parted to reveal a less terrifying looking creature, who seemed to be more human-like than the rest of the animalistic mob. At first glance, she seemed to be a girl with wide eyes, long blonde hair, and suspenders, giving her a somewhat innocent appearance.

“She’s coming with me,” she declared, though her demeanor was timid, almost as if she was unsure of herself.

“Over my dead body!” one of the other creatures bellowed, followed by multiple jeers of agreement by the rest.

The girl snarled, catching you off-guard when her face temporarily morphed into something else entirely. Horns sprouted from her head while her eyes glared with red hues. Baring her sharp teeth, her menacing expression instantly silenced the others. After a brief moment, she effortlessly returned to her former and much less terrifying self. “As princess of Hell and heir to the throne, I hereby decree that she is under my protection… um… until further notice. Okay?”

Suddenly, you were shoved from behind, causing you to stumble towards the princess who had basically just claimed ownership over you.

She met your eyes with a tender smile, placing a hand on your shoulder and whispering, “You’re safe, I promise. Just stick with me.”

All you could manage was a grateful nod of your head, still not able to properly speak.

As the two of you walked away, you could hear the others behind you hissing and growling in disapproval, apparently disappointed that they weren’t able to have their way with you.

Your mind was in a fog as you followed the princess, feeling woozy as you took in more of your surroundings. There’s no way this could have been a dream. It felt too real. On top of that, there was no way that you were creative enough to come up with an entire world such as the one you were in. This was a version of Hell that you never could have fathomed, but it was all too authentic.

“My name is Charlie, by the way,” the princess greeted, cutting through the awkward silence. “Well, actually, it’s Charlotte, but everyone calls me Charlie.”

Barely managing a smile, you nodded before stuttering out your first name in return.

“It’s so great to meet you!” she beamed. “So, um… how did you end up here? We’ve never had an actual live human here before! This is so crazy! Where did you come from?”

It was obvious that she was trying to contain her excitement, but her curiosity was getting the better of her. You couldn’t blame her. You were also just as curious about the other inhabitants of Hell as they were of you, but you couldn’t quite form enough words to ask her any of the things that you wanted to. It was difficult enough to try and cope with your current predicament.

“Honestly… I don’t know how I got here. The last thing I remember was going shopping with my friends. Next thing I know, I’m here, looking like a cartoon.”

“A cartoon?” she questioned. “What’s that?”

You gawked at her for a moment. Did she really not know? “Um… it’s what you are. An animation. A drawing.”

She continued to stare at you, clearly not understanding what you were trying to explain. How were you supposed to clarify? “In my world, we look different. This world is two-dimensional, and we’re three-dimensional where I come from. The way you and your world looks… it’s what we call a cartoon. It’s… difficult to explain.” "I see..." she trailed off, clearly uncertain of how to respond to that kind of information." "So, um," you began, awkwardly wringing your hands. "What were those things back there? You seem different than them. More... like me, I guess." She smiled warmly at you, easing the tension a bit. "Those are Sinners, the inhabitants of this Ring of Hell. They were alive once, but now they're here in our Kingdom. Their appearance is less human-like because once they arrive in Hell, they become demons and lose some of their human attributes. They can be a little... aggressive." That was putting it mildly. "I look different because I'm not from the human world. I was born here in Hell." "That's... bizarre," you commented more to yourself than to her.

“Well, we can talk more about it later when you’ve had a chance to relax. We’re almost there!” she squealed with excitement.

“Where are we going?” you inquired.

Her eyes grew larger with a certain sparkle as she raved, “The Happy Hotel! Vaggie, the manager and I opened it together! It’s the first facility to have its own demon-rehabilitating program!”

She beamed with pride as she spoke of it, but everything she said was nonsense. “You have your own demon-rehabilitating facility? ...In Hell? Does that really work?”

“Well…” she murmured unsuredly. “It’s still in the beginning stages. It’s a work-in-progress, but we’ve just employed some new staff members that’s really bringing it all together!”

This entire conversation was absurd. In what universe was this an actual topic of discussion? Well… apparently this one. It was extremely difficult to wrap your brain around, and you weren’t sure if you were ever going to come to terms with it.

“We’re here!” she revealed, her demeanor absolutely giddy. It was obvious that she was proud of her work.

Looking up, you took in the large building. It was… insane. It defied all logic. The alleged hotel was a mix of a grandeur building constructed out of things that had no place there, such as a train engine and a large boat. It reminded you of a glitch in the Matrix or something. On top of that, it seemed a bit run-down, and could obviously use some work, but maybe that’s just how things looked in Hell. Oh, yeah. You were definitely going crazy.

She led you inside where you were met with an incredible and regal entryway. The architecture was… bizarre, for lack of a better word, which matched its outer appearance. Everything was exaggerated, just as it would be in a wacky, fantastical animation.

Stepping further into the hallway, you saw a mirror out of the corner of your eye. Hesitantly approaching it, you were finally able to take in your full appearance. You couldn’t help but laugh when you saw your reflection. It seemed that you were still very much yourself, but your features were altered to fit the universe you were now in. It was surreal to say the least.

Charlie approached you from behind, speaking softly, probably to keep from startling you. “Just sit tight for a minute, okay? I’m gonna go grab Vaggie.”

Nodding, you watched her skip down the hall and disappear, leaving you alone with your thoughts. What were you going to do now? How were you going to get home? Could you even leave this place? How was she going to keep you safe from those other creatures that wanted to kill you?

As you mind flooded with questions, a chill in the air caught your attention. A high-pitched ringing made you flinch as you rubbed your ears, confused as to where it was coming from.

You were caught off-guard when an unnatural static-filled voice spoke from behind you. “Well, hello there, my dear.”

Tags: @beetlewise-and-pennyjuice @edgy-drama-queen

#hazbin hotel #alastor #Multi-Chapter #slow burn #kind of #alastor x reader #alastor x you #hazbin alastor #charlie magne

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hazbinhoteltheories · 5 years ago

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What if the Demons' names refer to how they died? Like, Angel Dust is another term for PCP and he died of a drug overdose. "Alastor" means "avenger" - maybe he was killed by someone trying to avenge one of his victims?

The Angel Dust one is pretty much canon. The drug he overdosed on was actually angel dust. So he literally named himself after the drug that killed him. The Alastor one also makes a lot of sense. He was a serial killer, so chances are a lot of people wanted him dead.

As for everyone else, I don’t know if I could link everyone’s names to their deaths. I think a lot of them are tied more to their personalities and who they are as characters. But if it was true that all their names refer to how they died, it would make for some clever foreshadowing and it would be fun to make guesses on how they died. And I do think some of their names are, at least partially, tied to their deaths and for the sake of interaction, and because I overthought one of these submissions again I’m going to go ahead and list those and what I think each character’s name means in general.

Vaggie: Vaggie’s name started out as a joke. It was going to be short for Vagena and no prizes shall be given for what some of the others mostly Angel Dust would have called her. I have no way of knowing if this is still true, as this information came from her earliest concepts, but I think it is because Vaggie’s nickname/the name most people call her hasn’t changed.

Husk: The word husk means an outer shell and an empty husk is vacant and hollow, with nothing on the inside. This word is often used to describe people who have lost all the qualities they had before. Or people who don’t have anything within them at all. This is so in sync with Husk’s character, it’s almost self-explanatory why he chose it but I think it could have a double meaning. Given that Husk struggles with a gambling addiction and that he lived to be an old man, I think it could represent what was left of him by the time he died. After he had long since lost everything.

Nifty: Nifty is a somewhat dated trendy buzz word. The 1950′s equivalent of neat or cool. But its actual definition, or at least the main one, is particularly good, skilful or effective. This could mean that Nifty herself is highly skilled or very good at what she does, which is why she works for Alastor. But of all the characters in Hazbin Hotel, I think Nifty might have put the least amount of thought into what she wanted people to call her. So even though I think the potential for a deeper meaning is there, I think consciously, she just went with her favourite word.

Katie Killjoy: I think Kaite took inspiration for the name she chose from her job. News anchors cover all the terrible things that happen in the world and broadcast far more bad news than good. Most news stories are really depressing and I think Katie was aware of this. I think she knew full well that her reports were bumming people out. That, even if the people watching at home were in a good mood, she sucked out anything positive they were feeling with her daily reminders that the world sucks. To them, she was a downer. A buzzkill. A Killjoy.

Tom Trench: Here’s one whose name I think does tie in solely with his death. I think he literally died in a trench while fighting in the First World War. Possibly from a gas attack, which is why he’s stuck wearing a gas mask all the time.

Mimzy: Mimzy is a nonce-word created by Lewis Caroll and it means a blend of miserable and flimsy. The only thing I have to say about that other than yeesh is that having this be her name could really mean anything. It could refer to her career or a relationship or just her life in general. It could maybe, not really likely, have a tiny per cent chance of being tied to her death. If the only guess I have for how she died somehow turned out to be miraculously right. I always had a feeling Mimzy was sentenced to death for the crime of murder, just because she strikes me as the type that would poison her husband for the insurance money. If that turned out to be true, it could symbolize how she tried to appeal her sentence and lost. Prisons tend to take their sweet time when it comes to executing someone on death row. This would have especially been the case for Mimzy, as I don’t think they would have been keen to execute a woman in the 1920′s. She might have had time to make multiple appeals for a lesser sentence only for them all to be denied and the word that became her name might have been the best word to describe how she felt. About the fairness of her trials and to have her hopes for survival dashed over and over.

Baxter: I couldn’t find much about Baxter’s name I thought could mean anything. It’s an Anglo-Saxon/Scottish name meaning Baker and it’s more commonly a surname than an actual name. I doubt very much that Baxter was a baker when he was alive but there was a form of this name, Bakster, that was feminine, with Baker being the masculine equivalent. So for anyone who thinks Baxter might be transgender, that could be more fuel to add to the fire. Or that could be me grasping at straws. Other than that, I’ve really got nothing other than pure guesses. It might have been an alias he took on. It might have been the name of someone he was close to and wanted to remember. Or it might have been his real name and he couldn’t be bothered to change it.

Crymini: Crymini’s name is taken from the word Criminy. Which is basically a mild oath expressing surprise or disbelief. I think those two words could some her entire outlook of the situation she’s in. Surprised that she died so young. Disbelief that she’s in hell. A place she might not have even believed was real. Or that her death came out of nowhere and happened in a way she would have never seen coming. I also think the way her name is spelt is quite interesting. Obviously, if this was a mistake, it would have been corrected by now so it must have been intentional. It looks like her name is comprised of two words, cry and mini and perhaps this was a way of giving yet another character’s name a double meaning. Perhaps these words refer to Crymini being in despair and feeling small or insignificant.

So there you go. To some it up, I think the ideas and meanings behind the names of each of Hazbin Hotel’s characters are different and unique to them. And while there could be lots of different things their names refer to, one of them could indeed be how they died.

#hazbin hotel #angel dust #alastor #vaggie #husk #nifty #katie killjoy #tom trench #mimzy #baxter #crymini

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syntaxeme · 5 years ago

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One Good Turn ch. 2

[Read on AO3] | [First Chapter] | [Next Chapter] Rating: T Story summary: Angel’s clean streak is broken when Val forcibly calls him back to the studio. On principle (and not at all out of concern for Angel's wellbeing), Alastor takes it upon himself to free Angel from Valentino's control. But what started as a simple favor becomes something much more complicated, all because of an innocent thank-you kiss.

— — –

Angel sat quietly in the limo, not daring to speak even though he could feel Valentino’s eyes on him. Val’s cold smile was in place, as usual, his gaze as intense as ever…but he didn’t speak. Not yet. Much to Angel’s dismay, he waited nearly half an hour, until they’d reached the studio again, to say any more.

“Angel cakes,” he purred, gesturing toward the door as the limo came to a stop. “Go on inside, baby.” Despite knowing it was stupid, knowing there was nothing good waiting for him in there, Angel sidled out of the car and strutted inside as if he wasn’t aware that all of Val’s thugs were watching. Or maybe because he was aware. When he got inside and upstairs, he found a couple of Val’s recent favorite girls sitting by on one of many plush couches and watching him expectantly.

“What’re you bitches lookin’ at?” he growled, sneering at them disdainfully, and they giggled at his anger. Who the hell did they think they were? Who the hell did they think he was? As if he hadn’t made Val more money in the last five years than they would over their entire careers combined.

“You better watch that mouth, honey.” Val’s voice sent a cold chill up his spine, and he turned quickly to see the boss strolling into the room, self-assured as always. Striding over to the couch to stroke one long, thin hand over one of the girls’ hair, he went on, “Champagne and Sherry ain’t the ones in hot water here. They been keepin’ me company since you up and walked out on us.”

Angel rolled his eyes, hating himself for being jealous of Val’s attention. “Great. Well if ya like their company so much, what do ya need mine for?”

“What’d I just tell you?” In a flash of movement, no warning at all, Valentino closed the distance and grasped Angel’s throat roughly in one hand, lifting him off the floor despite his height. “You been away from me too damn long if you think you can shoot your mouth off without me doin’ somethin’ about it.”

“I-I’m sorry!” Angel gasped, all four hands grasping at Val’s arm, trying in vain to pry his hand away. Angel might’ve been scrappy, he might’ve been capable, but in terms of strength, he was nothing compared to Val—and he had the scars to prove it. Remembering a thousand punishments in the past, he quickly went into full submissive mode and panted, “I know better, Daddy. I’ll be good, okay? I swear.”

After a moment more of restricting his airway, Val let out an irritated “tsk” and released him, letting him collapse to the floor. A snap of his fingers sent Champagne and Sherry from the room, leaving the two of them alone, and he wandered away to seat himself on the thick-cushioned couch against the far wall, spreading his arms out over the back of it.

“The fuck is this shit I’m hearin’ about you at Princess Purity’s little redemption parade?” the boss demanded, all charm utterly void from his voice, all efforts at false sweetness dropped. He crossed one leg over the other and drummed his fingers along the couch’s arm. “You been outta the studio for months, not even workin’ the streets, just sittin’ around on your ass at that joke she calls a hotel. If you’re not makin’ money, I’m not makin’ money, baby. So what am I supposed to do here? What do you think?”

“You got other girls,” Angel pointed out, rubbing his throat absently while he tried to catch his breath. “I ain’t your only moneymaker.”

“No, just the biggest. You know what you are to me, Angel.” Valentino leaned back against the couch and patted his thigh. After a moment of hesitation and an impatient sneer on the boss’s lips, Angel Dust forced himself up and went to sit on the couch next to Val—but Val was unsatisfied and pulled Angel over to rest in his lap instead, fingers deliberately combing through pale pink hair. “Don’t tell me that goody-goody daughter of Lucifer’s has got you thinkin’ you’re Heaven-bound.”

“Yeah, as if,” Angel scoffed, ignoring the chilled pit in his chest. The hurt and disappointment he felt weren’t even so much for his own salvation as for Charlie’s dream. Despite himself, he was almost starting to believe in it, to believe in her. But Val was right; it just wasn’t realistic. “I’m not an idiot.”

“What the hell are you doin’, then?” Long fingers slid slowly up and down his spine. “You have a place here. Somewhere you belong. That’s more than most demons can say.”

“I know, but—”

“But nothin’,” Val hissed. “You’re supposed to be here, full stop. What’d you say when I took you in? What’d you promise?”

“…I’m yours?” Angel answered quietly.

“Goddamn right. If you think you’re about to walk away from that scot-free, you got another thing comin’.” His grasp on Angel’s thighs tightened—but Angel surprised them both by shoving to his feet and taking a step back.

“I’m so tired of you touchin’ me,” Angel Dust barked, wrapping both pairs of arms around himself. “I’m so fuckin’ tired of everyone fuckin’ touchin’ me when I don’t ask for it. I don’t wanna do this anymore, Val.”

A few seconds passed in tense silence. When Val spoke, his expression was placid, but his voice was like ice. “You ungrateful fuckin’ skank. What do you mean you ‘don’t wanna do this’? How long’ve you been workin’ for me? How long since I took your scrawny ass in?”

“About sixty years, give or take. Haven’t I given you enough since then? Haven’t I paid you back?”

Val surged to his feet, too tall, too menacing, and despite himself, Angel flinched again. “You tell me, Angel.” Sharp teeth framed a frown so dangerous it could’ve torn him in two with ease. “Think about everything I’ve done for you. Think about how much you owe me. Where would you be right now if it wasn’t for me?” When Angel didn’t answer, Val took a step closer and grabbed his jaw tightly, forcing him to look up. “Think about it and tell me.”

Angel wanted to thrash, to jerk away from Val’s touch, but he didn’t want to get slapped. “Look, I get it,” he said, trying hard to stay firm on this. “I know how much you’ve done for me, and I ain’t sayin’ I’m not grateful.”

“Bullshit. If you were grateful, you wouldn’t be tryin’ to walk away. So what is it at Hazbin that’s got you hooked?” The anger in Valentino’s voice had turned quiet, speculative, which Angel recognized as part of his pattern; he would sling insults and threats, he would get violent, and then he would tone everything down into something smooth and gentle, something calm and charming. This little song and dance had gotten to Angel a million times before, and even though he could see it happening, he still had trouble resisting it. “You got someone over there fuckin’ you right? Somethin’ like that?”

“No.” In fact, despite his flirtatious attitude, it had been weeks since Angel had gotten any, either because he was in the hotel with all Charlie’s wannabe saints or because of…something else. He didn’t really understand it himself. Charlie probably would’ve said it was because he was realizing that sex and drugs couldn’t fill the voids in his life forever—but he figured it was more likely he just didn’t have many options at the Hazbin. Maybe he just needed a real specific kind of person to fill his ‘voids.’ Maybe, he realized with horror, he had actually missed the way Val manhandled him. At least that meant he was wanted.

“No? They got drugs, then? Booze? I know you, Angel cakes, and there’s only so many things you care about,” Valentino chuckled. Even while keeping his firm hold on Angel’s chin, he contradicted it by softly petting his hair.

“It ain’t like that,” Angel muttered. Sure, there were reasons he chose to stick around at the hotel, but he wasn’t about to explain them to a fucking Overlord of Hell who wouldn’t recognize empathy if it bit him in the ass.

“Then it sounds like I did you a favor gettin’ you out of there.” Val’s hand slid down the back of his head, down his neck, down his spine, to come to rest on Angel’s hip and pull him closer. His voice rumbled from somewhere deep in his chest as he crooned, “You know I missed you, baby. All this time, I been waitin’ on you to come home. You know how that felt?”

Please. As if he felt anything. His whole big victim act was nothing but a joke, a game, and Angel knew it—but there was something about Val when he got like this that made him irresistible. Maybe it was some kind of demon voodoo that came with being an Overlord, especially a creature of Lust, which Angel had always been painfully susceptible to. Whatever the reason, when Valentino decided to really switch on the charm, he could seduce anyone into doing, saying, or thinking pretty much anything.

“I…I missed you too,” Angel said quietly, not sure whether it was true or not but willing to say whatever was necessary to please him.

“Then I bet you’re glad to be back where you belong,” Val agreed, leading him, and he nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Good boy.” Val’s thumb glided over his lips to pull them apart, then deliberately swiped across the sharp points of his teeth. Hot, rich blood dripped onto Angel’s tongue, and he let out a moan of perverse pleasure as he swallowed it. God, this is so fucked up. But he knew that was part of the reason it turned him on so much. What the hell was he thinking, playing along with Charlie’s hopeful anyone-can-be-redeemed philosophy when this was the kind of thing that got him going, when he was totally aware of how toxic this ‘relationship’ was but didn’t care as long as it meant he got screwed by someone who knew what he was doing?

“Fuck,” he whimpered, the word slightly slurred from Val’s fingers between his lips. Maybe he was right. Maybe this was where Angel belonged. Not just there in the studio, but there on the couch, on his back, pinned down by someone who was willing to use him, his mouth full to keep him quiet.

If nothing else, it was the easiest place to be.

#Angel Dust #Valentino #Hazbin Angel Dust #Hazbin Valentino #fanfiction #my writing #Hazbin Hotel

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variantia · 4 years ago

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BELLUM. everything else aside, in the Hazbin AU, Rose is a very positive force for the hotel once she shows up

Charlie and Vaggie are great gals, but even they admit that they don’t really know what they’re doing

i.e., Charlie’s idea of ‘curing’ a drug addict ( at least in terms of her televised song ) is to throw away their drugs / burn the drugs in front of them

and Vaggie presumably is on a similar line of thinking

like they think the idea is to remove temptation rather than help someone learn to resist temptation even when it is present

as evidenced with Angel, he’s back to his old ways in two weeks ... not even, when you consider he’s been ‘on a shit load of Bolivian marching powder‘ and honestly, probably never stopped doing drugs

Rose, on the other hand, is a very flawed person who’s had a chance to look back on her life and see where exactly she fucked up. and where did she fuck up exactly ? by trying to HIDE things, by denying them, by pretending they didn’t exist, by RUNNING AWAY, instead of addressing any deeper issues.

she knows you can’t just sweep things under the rug and pretend like they don’t exist, and that removing temptation doesn’t automatically ‘fix’ whatever issues were leading a person to temptation in the first place. that’s something she tries to get everyone to understand, by admitting to everything in her life before and demonstrating that it didn’t work since Steven got sent to hell because of her actions.

deep down, she never addressed her issues, at least not to anyone else. she never told anyone the truth while she was alive, and even though she changed a LOT, she never fully healed. and because she never fully healed, because she was always denying her true self, she was never actually redeemed, at least not by heaven’s standards

that’s something she needs the hotel to understand ; that progress and redemption isn’t going to happen because someone is trying to ‘behave’ better. it needs to happen because their mind has undergone a true change and they’re acknowledging their flaws, not ignoring them, while working to better themselves. it needs to come from a place of ‘I want this and it’s going to make me happy even if it might be hard‘ rather than a place of ‘I’m doing this even though I don’t want it, because someone says it’ll make me happy, but as soon as I can I’ll just go back to doing what I used to do’ or ‘I’m scared if I don’t do this, or even if I do, that bad things will happen, so I’ll just go along with it even though I don’t want it’

it’s going to be hard. there will be setbacks, and denying that fact is only going to pressure people and make them feel like worthless failures if they aren’t perfect. it isn’t going to happen overnight. it’s going to be long and it’s going to be work and it won’t always be pleasant but ‘quick fixes’ aren’t going to solve anything, especially if the person isn’t ready or doesn’t genuinely want to change.

redemption is difficult. THAT’S THE POINT. it’s because you have to EARN IT, and if you’re not earning it, then you’re not really working toward redemption.

moreover, Rose is VERY apprehensive about Alastor. she doesn’t trust him, and she doesn’t think he has the hotel’s best interests at heart. he proved that with all his talk about how this is just entertainment and with the fact that his second improvement to the hotel was a BLATANT bar run by a poker-cheating alcoholic who doesn’t want to be there

what she doesn’t know is Alastor’s endgame. is he really just looking for a cure to his boredom and decided fucking over Charlie’s biggest ever project was a good idea ? or is this a step to something much, much bigger ? she’s extremely wary of him, and is always trying to get inside his head to figure out how she can keep him from hurting people or undermining the hotel

her biggest priority is Steven, and getting him out of hell. when she’s at the hotel, she’s either doting on Steven, talking to him about things, trying to fix their relationship, or, if he needs some space, she’ll be trying to help with anything that she can. all judgments aside, she doesn’t mind spending some time with Husk, and once the two of them cool off a bit toward each other, Rose actually starts to treat Angel Dust like he’s her son, too

( if Husk cheats, she’ll laugh and tell him, “Okay! You win!” but she discourages him from taking too many victory shots. if she hears Angel’s been out with Valentino, she’s going to bring him an ice pop or five while she tends his wounds. they’re kind of both her kids in a way even if it’s tricky to get them to be vulnerable. )

if she isn’t at the hotel, she’s most likely out on the streets of hell, trying to get an audience with Lucifer so maybe she can fix this mess, or doing her best to gather information on ways to switch places with Steven. that’s what she’s aiming to do ; if she can’t get Steven back to the living world, then she’s making sure he gets into heaven where he belongs. either way she intends to take his place, because it’s not actually his, it’s hers.

whatever else happens, her child is DONE paying for her bad choices.

#is that a fucking gremlin ?? ( OOC. )#she became someone they couldn't ignore. ( ROSE / PINK. )#( VERSE. ) at the end of the rainbow there's happiness ...

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tongue-decieved · 5 years ago

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About and Rules

This is an Independent RP blog for Lilith Magne for Hazbin Hotel Web Cartoon Series. This blog and it’s contents are not ‘gospel/canon/or series info’

Heavy on fan speculation and headcanons, potentially canon divergent as more information and episodes come out.

Rules:

Mun is in her 30′s and Hazbin Hotel is a cartoon meant for an adult audience, so all followers have to be at least 18. Don’t try to interact if you are under 18, trust me the minute I find out your ass is blocked.

This blog will be low/sporadic activity since I also have a Mimzy blog that I love writing and I work full time. So please be patient with me in terms of long/plotted threads and I’ll do the same with you.

The less said about fan discourse/drama the better, just know if you are constantly stirring up shit, you will be blocked. I won’t bother with a callout, you know what you’re doing and I’m not the fandom police or hall monitor. We’re all adults, act like it.

Unless I follow your personal/art blog first or you have an RP side blog: please don’t follow this blog! It’s been a persistent problem in this fandom. I have a few personals that I’m okay with because they are chill and I talk to them from time to time, all others though, please. don’t.

I will mostly be icon-less since there’s little offical art of Lilith and I feel bad using fan art without permission.

In terms of shipping, my main ship is Lilith/Lucifer, but I am open to talks/plotting of Lilith and Lucifer having an open marriage and/or polyships, but no adultery/cheating plots please and don’t try to start that right away, kay thanks.

Now just cause this blog is ‘technically’ single ship doesn’t mean I don’t want to write with you guys, I like cultivating relationships of all stripes through writing!

Will eventually add verses/AU’s, but at her core Lilith loves one goofy, short man and will only ever truly love him.

Important about Trans and Non-binary Muses:

I know there are Hazbin Muse blogs that are trans/non-binary and I’m so proud of you guys and want to write with you all!

I will be keeping a list of pronouns for different character blogs so I can refer back to it, but if I call your character the wrong pronoun/gender identity, please please please correct me OOC and I will fix it!

I love you guys different headcanons/takes on the characters and I want to be respectful of how you write your muse, so if I make a mistake and misgender the character in a thread, please let me know so I can fix it.

Blog Tags: to be added

#About #Rules #RP Rules

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snarkybluechristian · 6 years ago

Text

Hazbin Hotel: Angel’s Reason

It was a dark evening in hell. It usually was, but it was unusually so for the demon heading to the Happy Hotel.

Everyone had laughed when they heard about this “experiment” on TV, even Cherri, but Angel Dust, he felt the spark of something he thought he had lost: hope. But it wasn’t just normal hope, it was hope that connected him to memories, more specifically memories of the child he had lost forever.

Her name was Cassandra Maria di Lucchese. She was the result of an experimental phase he was in with a good high school friend when he wanted to know whether he was bi or purely gay. He realized he was gay, and she accepted it. They left the relationship on good terms.

Unknown to either of them, Cassie was conceived. Her mother Maggie Walters was only 17. He was 19. She wrote him a letter as soon as she found out four months later. He wasn’t in love with her and she wasn’t in love with him. Nevertheless, they decided to enter a common law marriage, so that Maggie wouldn’t bear the shame of being an unwed mother and the child would be supported at least from a distance with money from his family. They didn’t plan on even living together. Angel had too much living to do.

It was so scandalous. His father was so angry. Angel couldn’t suppress a smile at that memory.

That smile grew wider when he remembered the day Cassie was born.

He was at the birth per Maggie’s request. She didn’t want to be alone and it was his fault, so he thought he could at least support her even if he intended to only pay child support and visit every so often. She was his friend after all.

Angel only planned on staying until the birth was over. He would sign the birth certificate, pay the bills, and leave to drink himself to oblivion. That was the plan, but everything changed the moment he met his daughter.

Tears formed at the corner of his eyes in remembrance. When he entered that room and looked into his baby’s eyes, his heart melted. When Maggie let him hold her, he knew from that moment on that he would be wrapped around her finger. He fell madly in love and knew that nothing would ever be the same for him.

They named her Cassandra and called her Cassie for short. When her mother left the hospital, Angel went home with her and helped her around the clock. He forgot all his plans for most of the next several months. He hardly left Cassie’s side and forgot about his substance addictions and other commitments for a while. His family would have to come pick him up for work because they knew he wouldn’t leave his daughter without some persuasion.

Most of the family couldn’t understand his level of devotion, not even the ones who were legitimately married. Whenever he was away, Cassie was all he thought about.

It was ironic. He was a queer man whose heart had been stolen by a baby girl. When he would finally let himself leave her side for a night on the town, his romantic flings and drinking buddies pointed out his hypocrisy and laughed in his face, but he didn’t care.

As she grew up, Angel remained very involved in her life despite his work and his flings and his addictions. He came by so often that Maggie made him his own guest room. He prided himself on being the Daddy that his father never was. As a result, he and Cassie were very close.

They bonded over their shared love of clothes and the arts, especially dancing and singing. He took her to more than a few dance clubs where no child had any business being, but she didn’t mind and somehow managed to survive more than a few of his drunken nights out on the town.

He made sure she had the best of everything as only a father of the mob could do. He set his “wife” and his baby up in a nice house in a nice neighborhood and had her sent to the best schools. He tried not to spoil Cassie, but sometimes, he couldn’t help himself. He just couldn’t resist seeing her smile.

Nevertheless, Cassie was a good kid, sometimes too good, and it only got worse as she got older. Her mother grew more involved with the local Catholic Church and so did Cassie. They both grew into very devout and very good people. So good that they decided they weren’t comfortable living off the mob’s money anymore.

Of course, Angel had problems with that and more problems when Maggie and Cassie decided to live honestly in a crappy apartment off their own hard-earned money.

He and his daughter remained on good terms, mostly, but she started resenting him and what his family did. Cassie had strong moral convictions and a mind of her own. Two things that got her and Angel into many arguments throughout her teenage years. As a result, Angel started spending more time away from her.

All those arguments were Angel’s biggest regrets. He cursed his mind’s renewed ability to remember as he reflected on his last evening with her.

It was Halloween 1946. Angel parked his black 1946 dodge in front of one Little Italy’s biggest theaters to see Cassie. He had been out of town for a month while he and his family took care of some business in Italy and was dying to see her.

Cassie was 17 and had graduated high school the spring before. Her dream was to be a Broadway star, so she joined this theater to work herself up to that goal.

Unbeknownst to her, her Daddy had pulled some strings and made some threats to make that happen. There were many advantages to being a member of a crime family.

Angel remembered checking himself in the rearview mirror before heading inside. His human appearance was jarring in comparison to how he looked now. He had dark brown hair and light green eyes. His skin was olive, and he wore a suit like what he wore in death, except for the darker colors of course.

After making sure he looked fine, he strutted out of the car and into the theater. It was empty out front in the lobby except for a lone janitor sweeping the floor. He looked around for a second before the janitor yelled at him.

Without looking up at him, the janitor said curtly, “Hey, buddy! If you ain’t here for an audition, could ya move it? Some of us have work to do.”

Annoyed at his tone, Angel said, “Shut it, pal. I’m the father of one of the dancers, and I wanna see my little girl. Is that alright wit’ ya?”

“I suppose,” the janitor said still without even looking for him. “What’s her name?”

Angel’s lips curled into a smug smile and said, “Cassandra di Lucchese. I’m her Daddy, Angelo di Lucchese.”

The janitor finally stopped his work to look up at him and stared at him in pure unadulterated terror. His attitude was gone, and he began to shake.

Angel adored this terror that came whenever he spoke his family name. He adored the prestige and the notoriety that gave him and his family his power. He also adored the look on his face. It was priceless.

“Not so sassy now, are we, pal?” Angel gloated as he walked over to the now cowering janitor.

“I-I’m sorry,” the janitor said. “I-I didn’t know…P-Please…I’ll give you anything…”

“Good, well, lucky for you, I just want to know one thing,” Angel said standing over him and intimidating him with his presence. “Do you know where my daughter is?”

“Uh, no…S-Sorry. I-I know every gal in the chorus line…Th-there’s no Cassandra di Lucchese here…You must h-have the wrong place,” the janitor said backing up against the wall.

Angel looked to the side and sighed deeply before he asked, “Do ya know a Cassie Walters?”

“Oh, yeah, she’s in rehearsal right now, but it’s almost over,” the janitor said. “She’s right in there.”

Angel walked past him in preoccupation and said, “Thank you. Next time watch the attitude, buster.”

He followed the jazz music and walked through the theater doors. The girls were in the middle of a tap-dancing number, so rather than interrupt, he stood against the wall and sulked.

When she started high school, Cassie started using her mother’s last name instead of his whenever she introduced herself and whenever she signed her name. When they argued about it, she explained to him that she wanted to be known as herself rather than the daughter of a mafioso. Cassie didn’t want to be associated with any of them.

That irritated Angel to no end. That was probably why he kept choosing to forget about it rather than keep fighting pointlessly.

He watched Cassie dance to get his mind on something better. She had the tap-dancing solo, and boy, was she knocking it out. Her feet moved with such dexterity, finesse, and speed. He never knew where God got that talent to put in her. It certainly didn’t come from him or her mother. She was unbelievable.

On top of that, she could sing, she could act, and she could play several instruments. Cassie was a Broadway star in the making.

Angel smiled. He couldn’t help but be proud.

The rehearsal soon ended, and as soon as all the ladies returned to their dressing room, Angel talked to the director about her progress and wrote him another check. Then when he thought the ladies had enough time to make themselves decent, he got the director to show him where the dressing room was.

The director knocked on the door and yelled, “Are you all decent? One of your Dad’s wants to come in!”

When he received the confirmations, the director opened the door and said, “Go on in, Mr. Lucchese.”

“Much obliged,” Angel said as he strutted in.

He walked past about a dozen other girls before he saw his still sitting in front of a mirror.

Cassie had her mother’s face, but she had his hair, eyes, svelte body, and olive skin. Of course, Angel was biased, but she was absolutely beautiful.

She was wearing a white blouse with black pants, her tap-dancing shoes, and an old-fashioned looking broch. For some reason, her long hair was up in a bun. Cassie always had a weird sense of style. Just like him. It made him so happy.

Cassie was too busy adjusting her hair to notice he was present, so Angel crept up, hugged her from behind, and said, “Guess who?”

Cassie turned around, hugged him, and squealed in surprise, “Dad! You’re back!”

Angel picked her up, spun her around, gave her a kiss on the cheek, and said, “What’s the buzz, bambina? I swear to God you’re getting lighter. All that dancing is making you too thin.”

“I missed you too, Dad,” Cassie said when her Dad finally put her down. “But in your letter, you said you weren’t coming back for another week.”

“We got done early so I thought I’d surprise you,” Angel said leaning against the table.

“So, you lied to me? That’s just swell.”

“I’m here for one minute, and you decide to give me sass. Is that any way to treat your old man?”

“You’re not that old.”

“And that’s why you’re my favorite.”

Cassie rolled her eyes playfully, sat back in her chair, and went back to messing with her hair.

“By the way, what’s with the new duds?” Angel asked. “Not that I don’t like ‘em. Mind you. Just curious.”

“It’s a costume,” Cassie replied twirling around and showing him her cape. “I’m goin’ to a Halloween party with the cast tonight after we go out for dinner. I’m goin’ as Dracula.”

“So, you’re goin’ for more of a Bela Lugosi look then?”

“You got it. I’ve been lookin’ forward to this all month. I spent days getting the cape just right and getting all the clothes perfect. There’s gonna be a costume contest, and whoever wins gets treated by all the losers.”

“No kiddin’? Well, in that case, your costume could use some work.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Cassie asked indignantly.

“First of all, you need to wear your hair down,” Angel said turning her back around and pulling bobby pins out of her hair. “For God’s sake, Cass, ya look like a fuddy-duddy school teacher.”

“Dad!” Cassie complained putting her hands on top of his. “Stop it. You know it takes forever to do anything with this hair. Besides, I’m supposed to look like Bela Lugosi. Suave and sophisticated and all that jazz…”

Angel gently pushed her hands off, continued pulling out bobby pins until her hair was again at its full long length, and said, “Cassie, babe, there’s nothin’ suave and sophisticated about looking like my high school English teacher. You look fuddy-duddy.”

“But I’m supposed to look old, Dad,” she retorted. “I’m Dracula…”

“He lets his hair flow freely in the book,” he retorted while brushing out her hair. “Remember? Think of it this way. You’re now more authentic than all the other posers. Besides, you look better with your hair down, Cass.”

“I suppose you have a point,” Cassie relented as her father finished brushing her hair and put the brush down.

“Of course, I do,” Angel said quietly as he leaned in closer to her ear. “I’m a queer. You can trust me when it comes to this stuff.”

Cassie smiled and said, “That is true.”

“And take off this cheesy broch,” Angel said taking the opportunity to snatch the broch from the collar Cassie’s shirt and toss it in the trash. “Good God, babe, are you tryin’ to look like a geezer? Where’d you get this garbage anyway?”

“Dad!” Cassie said reaching down into the waste basket and pulling her broch out. “I bought this at a trinket shop with Caterina when we were shoppin’ for costume supplies. Excuse me if this theater gig doesn’t pay much.”

“I understand, so why don’t ya wear this instead?” Angel replied pulling a ruby diamond platinum pendant out of his pocket. “I bought it for ya as a little souvenir from Italy. Let me put on for you.”

“Dad,” Cassie said in surprise while Angel clasped it around her neck for her. “It’s beautiful.”

Angel kissed her cheek and said, “There, doesn’t that look better?”

“Dad, I don’t know what to say,” Cassie managed to get out while looking over the pendant in awe.

“No need to thank me, bambina,” Angel replied with a smile while readjusting her hair. “You know how I love to get my girl pretty things.”

Cassie then paused, turned to him, and asked with a look of suspicion, “Dad, where did you get this?”

“I told you, Italy,” Angel said purposely dodging the question.

“Where specifically?”

“At a store.”

Cassie continued studying his face in a way she knew annoyed him.

“Bambina, what’s that face supposed to mean?” he whined.

“Cassie, are ya ready to go or what?” Cassie’s friend, Caterina, said walking up in her witch costume and saving him from another unwanted explanation which would lead to an unwanted argument. “Wow, honey, your outfit is killer, especially that pendant you’re wearing.”

“Told ya,” Angel said hugging his daughter on the side and kissing her on the cheek again before walking away. “I won’t hold you up since you got plans. I love you, and I’ll call ya later. Okay?”

Cassie sighed and said, “Ok, see ya.”

“Bye, Mr. Lu—Ow!” Caterina started to say before Cassie swiftly elbowed her in the side. “I mean, bye, Mr. Walters.”

“Bye,” Angel said heading walking away with mixed feelings.

Apparently, her school buddy Caterina was the only one who knew who Cassie really was. If that was what she wanted, then who was he to say no?

His thoughts were interrupted by an obnoxious, grandstanding masculine voice saying, “Hey, Cass!”

Angel turned around. He knew this fat-head’s voice. He was the doll-dizzy creep who took his baby out on the town, got wasted, and left her out in Harlem by herself in the wee hours of the morning.

Thankfully, Cassie had the sense to find a payphone and call Angel to come get her. Naturally, he did not like that boy.

Angel hid behind a rack of clothes and watched from a distance. Tony was dressed in the same outfit Cassie was much to her chagrin.

“You ain’t supposed to be in here, Tony,” Cassie said in annoyance walking past him with Caterina.

“Yeah, creep, get a move on,” Caterina said strutting past him as well.

“Cassie, look at this,” Tony said. “You and I are dressed the same. How about that?”

“Mine looks better,” Cassie said playfully paying him little attention. “Yours looks like you bought it from a cheesy department store.”

“Well, maybe, but I was thinking we could, you know, go as a couple since we are dressed the same and all,” Tony said standing in front of her.

“As swell a time as I’m sure that would be,” Cassie replied sarcastically. “I’m gonna say no.”

“Why not, babe? I know the first date didn’t go so well, but…”

“‘Didn’t go so well?’ I had to call my Dad to get me out of Harlem at 2 in the mornin’. Then, you don’t even have the decency to call and apologize?”

“That was over a month ago, babe, you’re the faithful one. Don’t ya believe in forgiveness?”

“I do, but the Bible doesn’t tell ya to act a fool. Scram, Tony.”

Cassie walked past him exiting the dressing room without another word with Caterina silently following behind her. Her hands were tightly gripped around the strap of her bag.

Angel knew from that that she was pissed. This knucklehead was not taking no for an answer. He had to do something, and now was the time to do it.

Angel crept up from behind, pushed Tony into a chair, pulled a knife out of his pocket, grabbed the collar of his shirt, and said, “Listen, you active duty fat-head. That girl you’re so clobbered on is my daughter and she doesn’t like you, so you better lay off, or next time, Daddy Angelo di Lucchese is gonna do a little more than just bust your chops. You hear me?”

When Tony meekly nodded, Angel let him go.

Tony fell backwards, trembled in his chair in absolute horror, and said, “C-Cassie’s a Lucchese? Oh, my God…”

“That’s right, buddy,” Angel said leaning close to his face. “If you bother her again, you’re gonna have the whole Lucchese family on your tail…”

“DADDY!” Angel heard a familiar voice yell behind him.

He turned around and saw his daughter standing pale-faced in embarrassment in the doorway next to Caterina.

“Bambina…” Angel said as Tony took the opportunity to run out of the dressing room.

“Uh, I forgot my purse,” Caterina said awkwardly walking past them.

“Dad, what in God’s name were you doing?!” Cassie yelled.

“I was getting that creep off your back, Cass,” Angel replied.

“He would have left me alone anyways! You didn’t have to do that! God have mercy! Now, the whole damn theatre is going to know that I’m a member of the Lucchese family!”

“Good, now, he’ll leave you alone!”

“Uh…” Caterina said having walked back when no one was looking. “Cassie, why don’t we go?”

“I can’t go,” Cassie replied.

“Why not?”

“He’s going to blab to everyone that I’m the daughter of Angelo di Lucchese. You know how awkward that party’s going to be. They’re going to keep me at arm’s length and treat me like a China doll. That’s what always happens.”

“But Cass…”

“Get going, Caterina,” Cassie said. “You don’t wanna keep Johnny waiting.”

Caterina sighed, gave her a hug, and said, “Okay, I’ll call you later.”

Cassie hugged her back and said, “Have fun.”

Caterina walked out. Cassie glared at Angel and then walked out behind her.

Angel facepalmed, sighed deeply, and ran out after her yelling, “Cassie! Bambina, where’d you go?! I’m sorry!”

When he didn’t hear a reply, Angel sulked back to his car. He had ruined his daughter’s evening. The only thing left for him to do was to look for some drugs.

But right as he entered the car, he saw Cassie go out the front door of the theater. She had changed into her normal clothes: a black sweater with a green plaid skirt, normal shoes, and a headband that matched her skirt. The only thing she was still wearing was the ruby pendant.

Cassie saw Angel through the windows, but she clutched her bag and her coat and walked down the stairs as if she didn’t see him.

Angel hopped back out of the car and walked over to the other side.

“Cassie, you can’t keep ignoring me,” he said. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Where do you think I’m going?” Cassie asked. “I’m walking home.”

“No, you’re not,” Angel said throwing the car door open. “Get in.”

Cassie turned around, rolled her eyes, and climbed into her Dad’s car.

When Angel climbed in, he started the car and started heading for his favorite Italian restaurant. The drive would give them time to talk.

Angel looked over and saw that Cassie was staring out the window.

He sighed and asked, “Would it help if I said I was sorry?”

“It couldn’t hurt,” she replied.

“Well, then, I’m sorry.”

“But you keep doing it.”

“I do not.”

Cassie turned around and said, “Oh, really? Remember Jacob?”

“He was a Jew,” Angel said. “You’re Catholic. You weren’t interested. He wouldn’t take the hint.”

“Paul?”

“He had it coming.”

“Emilio?”

“He gave off bad vibes. I didn’t like him.”

“Well, how about Steve?”

“Uh…okay, I went too far that time.”

“That time? You go too far every single time a guy shows interest in me.”

“I was just trying to protect you.”

“Protect me? By doing what? By making every boy I turn down think the Lucchese mob is after them?”

“It makes them leave you alone. Doesn’t it?”

“Yeah and ruins any chance of having a normal relationship. Do you know how hard it is to be friends with a boy who can’t look at you without shuddering in fear?”

“That’s what gives us power, bambina,” Angel said proudly with a twisted smile. “You should take advantage of it.”

“I don’t want to,” Cassie said passionately after a brief pause. “I don’t want people to look at me and be afraid of me. I want them to know I can be their friend, not their enemy. And I want them to be good to me because they know I’m a good person and respect me for who I am, not because I’m forcibly connected by genetics to a bunch of murderers and thieves.”

Angel looked at her. His features softened when he saw the passionate tears at the corners of her eyes.

He looked back at the road, sighed deeply, and said, “Cass, I’m really sorry for threatening your suitors. Okay? If it makes you happy, I’ll leave ‘em alone from now on. Unless they threaten to hurt you or if they actually hurt you. Or, if they get you pregnant. Hell, if that happens, I’ll fire a shot gun right into their genitals and up their asses. Either way, they’ll never enjoying making love ever again.”

“Dear God, Dad,” Cassie said looking at him with an amused smile. “Do you always have to talk like you’re reading a porn novel?”

“Yes,” Angel said as she playfully rolled her eyes. “I hope you’re in the mood for Italian food. We’re going to Fragole.”

“I figured that out when you passed my apartment.”

“I love it when you’re a wise guy.”

“Your apology is accepted by the way.”

“Thank God!” Angel said switching the radio on and having his eyes light up when he heard his favorite Halloween song come on. “Oooh, yes! My favorite!”

“Oh, no,” Cassie said. “You know how much this song annoys me.”

“You know you like it,” Angel teased wrapping his arm around her shoulder while he drove. “Now, come here, you.”

“Dad, you do this every year,” Cassie complained playfully as the opening instrumental part of the song finally finished.

“Just like the magic potion,” Angel sang much to his daughter’s “chagrin.” “You fill me with emotion. You control my very soul. You got me voodoo’d. Who knew the goddess Venus would start this love between us?”

“How appropriate,” Cassie added sarcastically.

“You fill me with desire,” Angel sang. “You got me voodoo’d.”

Finally, Cassie relented, and they sang together, “You knew you had power. Pick the hour when the full moon was above. I was hypnotized when I looked in your eyes and my heart was filled with love. Just like the power of Circe, you’ve got me at your mercy. Always yours to have and hold, you’ve got me voodoo’d.”

“There, was that so bad?” Angel asked as the song continued with its big band instrumentals.

“It gets more tolerable every year,” Cassie admitted as she leaned on his shoulder.

“Then, I’ll just have to keep singing it.”

“You’re insufferable.”

Eventually, Angel got them to the restaurant where they had their meal. Fragole was a friend of “the family” so Angel managed to get him and his girl a section to themselves. They had a good time. They got to talk and catch up while enjoying some great food. Everything was fine…until Angel once again opened his big mouth.

Angel had mentioned seeing the end of Cassie’s rehearsal, so she had been talking about how her dancing was going.

“I still can’t believe I got the solo,” Cassie said between bites of spaghetti. “I’m the youngest girl there. I mean, I thought I’d get in the chorus line for sure, but not the solo. Those usually go to the older girls.”

“Believe it, Cass,” Angel said between sips of wine. “You’re goin’ places. I always knew you were. I talked to the director while you were changing in the dressing room. He says you cook with helium every time you’re on that stage. He knew you were amazing from your first audition. He would have taken you even without my check…”

The words escaped his mouth before he even thought about what he was saying. His only thought then was, “fuck.”

Cassie dropped her fork on her plate and yelled, “WHAT?!”

“Oh, shit,” Angel said facepalming himself.

“DAD!” Cassie yelled angrily as the color vanished from her face. “How could you?! You knew I wanted to earn my place, but you bribed my director anyway?! What’s wrong with you?!”

“Cass, I was only trying to help,” Angel said trying to calm her and himself down.

“That’s always your goddamn excuse!” Cassie replied standing up from her chair. “Why can’t you ever let me earn anything on my own?!”

“Because I don’t want to see you fail,” Angel said starting to get annoyed himself.

“Failure’s a part of life, Dad! You have to work hard to get what you want, and you don’t always succeed, but I want to earn what I want because it’s the right thing to do! Because that’s what’s fair!” Cassie yelled back.

Angel finally snapped standing up himself, “I got news for you, Cass! Life isn’t fair, and it sure as hell isn’t gonna respect your noble intentions!”

She might be mad, but he couldn’t take it anymore.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Cassie demanded.

“That means I stepped in cuz I knew that unless I did you’d be discarded like all the other nobodies of this world,” Angel began. “Do you know how the big wigs of this world see girls like you? To all them at the top, you’re a nobody! To them, you’re just a Walters, a name they don’t know and don’t care about. You’re a dime a dozen, and if you go, there are a million others waiting to take your place! To get to the top, you have to slave away for them and do whatever disgraceful, dirty thing they ask! You can’t trust them to do the right thing! They won’t do the right thing unless you force them to care! That’s what our family did and look at where we are now! You have to stop being naïve and take advantage of the connections you have in this world, Cass. Unless you do, you are gonna be eaten alive out there! And I love you too much to watch that happen! You also need to stop pretending you aren’t as much a Lucchese as I am for the sake of some naïve, self-righteous, and idealistic crusade!”

“I don’t care what you say! I’m a redeemed woman now! I’m not goin’ back to livin’ as a pampered pet livin’ off your blood money. And self-righteous? At least, I’m honest! Unlike you!”

“What is that supposed to mean?!”

“I know all your sins. You’re a murdering, lying thief in a family of other murdering, lying thieves! You’re a junkie and a drinker who loves sodomy and adultery! But that’s not the worst thing about you!”

“What is the worst thing about me then?!”

Cassie’s face suddenly fell as if she was hesitating, but Angel was still angry.

“Come on, Cassie!” Angel yelled. “You brought it up! What do I do that you think is so awful?! What could I possibly do that is worse than all those other sins combined! Huh?!”

Angel felt a hard object get thrown at his eye. Thankfully, he blinked before it could do any damage, but he still felt a bruise forming. Angel looked down to see what it was and saw the ruby pendant on the ground.

He looked up to see Cassie crying angry tears.

“You’re a hypocrite and a fucking coward,” Cassie said before she took her purse and her coat and powerwalked away from the table and out of the restaurant.

Angel picked up the pendant and stared at it silently for a few minutes. When the owner came by to check on them, Angel gave him enough cash to cover the bill and told him to keep the change before he walked outside to find his daughter.

He found her smoking on the sidewalk. He could tell from her face that she had been crying. When she saw him, she turned away until he asked her for a match. She handed him a book of matches from her purse, and he lit his own cigarette. They stood there in silence for a while taking in the scene and watching dusk turn into night. Each of them was trying to cool down in their own way.

Angel knew where Cassie had got her temper from. He wasn’t angry at her. He was more confused than anything. There was so much on his mind, but he couldn’t will himself to speak until the street lamp finally came on.

“Cassie, I ain’t mad at ya,” Angel said before taking another puff from his cigarette. “I’m just confused. We used to be so close. You know. Then after ya moved out with your mother, we started fighting more. I understand you hating my family. I do, too. I hate almost every single one of those bastards. But I don’t understand why you’re upset at me. Why do you think I’m a hypocritical coward?”

Cassie looked at him and visibly hesitated.

“Bambina, you’ve never been afraid of talking to me,” Angel reassured her. “You don’t have to start now. You know I would never lay a finger on you for being honest. If I did, you have my permission to fire a shotgun up my ass. Okay? Now, tell me. Why am I a hypocritical coward?”

Cassie sighed and said, “You act like you’re a hard-boiled mafia gangster who only really cares about a handful of people, but I know for a fact that that’s not who you really want to be. You hate being a part of it as much as I do, but instead of cutting yourself off from it like I am, you indulge your flesh to numb your pain. That’s why you indulge in your liquor, your drugs, and your sodomy. You do it to make living with yourself easier because you’re miserable. That’s why I called you a hypocritical coward. I’m not wrong. Am I?”

Angel paused for a second and asked, “What makes you think I don’t like being a part of the mob?”

“When you’re drunk, you talk…a lot. I’ve been around you during your binges often enough to hear it. ‘Oh, bambina, I hate killing people for my Dad. I always see their faces in my dreams.’ ‘Oh, bambina, I wish I was an orphan, so I could do what I wanted with my life.’ ‘Oh, bambina, I don’t like carrying out Dad’s stupid campaigns. I’d rather be at the clubs snortin’ coke or f****** another queer…’”

“Christ, I really said that to ya?”

“Yes.”

“Well, uh, Cassie, I was drunk,” Angel said defensively. “I didn’t mean any of it.”

“Jesus said out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks,” Cassie pushed.

“Don’t quote the Bible at me.”

“That means that something in you wants to leave it even if it’s just a little bit.”

“Cassie…” Angel said defensively.

“You want to leave, but you won’t let yourself admit it!” Cassie said with more passionate tears rolling down her cheeks. “If you were really all bad like the others, I would learn to live with it, but you’re not! You’re just too scared to change, and one day, it’s gonna destroy ya! I love you too much to watch that happen, but there’s nothin’ I can do, and I hate it!”

Cassie stared at him with her eyes that pierced his soul. In the present and in the past, Angel reflected on her words and knew she was right.

Angel sighed deeply before he said, “Okay, stop it. You’re right about me. Why did God make you so damn perceptive?”

“Then, why don’t you leave it?” Cassie asked.

“Cass, it’s a lot easier for you than it is for me. First of all, you’re a woman…”

Cassie shot him a questioning glance and he said, “Okay, there’s a lot about being a woman that’s unfair, but you still have an advantage over me. Unless you do somethin’ really crazy, no one in the mob cares what you do. It’s not like that for me. I’m a son of the Don. I have no choice but to be involved in this, Cass. My Dad already hates me. If I were to leave, he’d hunt me down and make me pay. Even if he left me alone, I’d be watched for the rest of my life. Hell, you wanna know where I really got the pendant? I took it as a bribe from a guy I was supposed to kill for desertin’.”

“Then Dad, why don’t you leave New York and go somewhere else?”

“I’d have to go somewhere far away, Cass, and I could never come back. I mean, where would I go? What would I do?”

“You could go to San Francisco. I’ve heard that there’s a large community of queers over there. You’d fit right in.”

“I’d have to change my name.”

“How about ‘Angel Dust?’ It’s fittin’ for all the drugs you do.”

Angel looked at Cassie and smiled. He loved her sense of humor.

“You’d be alone,” Angel said. “If they found out you knew anything, you’d be in trouble and I couldn’t protect you.”

“I’d go to San Francisco with you if it would make you feel better,” Cassie said with a smile. “I’d miss Mom and my friends, but I could write them letters and call them when I wanted.”

Angel’s cigarette was done so he flicked it on the ground and said, “I don’t know, babe. That’d be a big change for me.”

Cassie’s face fell. Angel could never stand seeing her sad.

He walked over to her, gave her a hug, and said, “I’ll think about it. Alright?”

Cassie hugged Angel back and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

When she finally let go of him, she said, “Maybe you can go to Alcoholics Anonymous, too. Get help for all your addictions…”

“Let’s focus on one problem at a time, babe. Slow down a bit. Will ya? Next thing I know, you’ll tell me to go to an asylum for my queerness,” he replied.

“Hell, no. Have you ever read the accounts of Nellie Bly? That was a long time ago, but not much has changed since then from what I’ve been reading. I wouldn’t send a rat to one of those places.”

“Speaking of queers, wanna go to Greenwich Village for a Halloween party? I told some buddies I’d be there, and I’d hate for that costume you worked so hard on to go to waste.”

Cassie smiled playfully and said, “You can’t fool me. You just wanna go fishing under the guise of spendin’ some time with me.”

“Can’t I do both?” Angel asked while posing dramatically. “You like the cabarets anyhow, and if I find a date, you can drive yourself home.”

“Only you would choose a place where no boy’s gonna flirt with me.”

“So, you wanna go?”

“Yeah. Just let me change in the car.”

As they walked to the car, Angel remarked, “You know. You’re remarkably tolerant of hedonism for a good Catholic girl.”

“On the list of eight cardinal sins and in Dante’s circles of hell, lust and gluttony are at the bottom in terms of seriousness,” Cassie replied. “Besides, Jesus ate with the prostitutes and tax collectors, so I do, too.”

“Aren’t you an enlightened little saint?”

“You’re insufferable.”

When they reached the car, Cassie changed into her Dracula costume while Angel drove down to his favorite night club in Greenwich Village.

He had brought her to these places since she was small enough to sit on the pool tables and push the white ball around whenever he’d play pool with her. Looking back, it was not a responsible thing to do with a little girl, but he was 23 and stupid. Thankfully, the others liked her enough and Angel never got drunk enough to black out.

The worst thing that ever happened was that Angel got too drunk to drive or even find the car, and Cassie was tired and scared to the point of tears. He ended up sleeping on bench with her on his chest covered by his coat. God was truly merciful to the stupid.

They arrived at the cabaret where everyone was dressed up in their best costumes, mostly in drag but others in Halloween costumes. The place was crowded with queers from all over New York. It had Halloween decorations all over to dazzle the eyes and loud big band music with a large dance floor to dance on. Angel was home.

Angel talked to Isabella, the club’s bisexual bartender, to open a tab for him and his daughter. She and Isabella were good friends, so he knew it was safe to leave them together.

“Alright, bambina,” Angel said handing her the keys to his car while clasping the pendant around her neck again to complete her costume. “I’ll come by to tell you when I get a date but take the keys in case I forget. You’re still too young to drink, but if you do, don’t leave the drink out of sight of yourself or Isabella. I know we’re at a gay bar, but believe me, some of the lesbians in here are thirsty. And for God’s sake, call your mother if you get too drunk to drive or she will murder me slowly. You did tell her you were with me, right?”

“Yes, Dad, you have given me the same spiel every time since I was 13,” Cassie said sassily. “Do you think I haven’t memorized all this by now?”

“Bambina, I’m your Daddy,” Angel said. “I’m always gonna be paranoid when it comes to you. You know that.”

“Then why are you leaving me alone in a bar?” Cassie said sarcastically before Angel gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I love you, bambina,” Angel said rubbing the top of her head. “Wish me luck. Daddy’s going fishing.”

“Don’t drown,” Cassie replied as he walked away much to Isabella’s laughter.

“Shut up,” Angel said while Cassie and Isabella continued laughing.

“You’re such a gas, Cass,” Isabella replied.

“Don’t encourage her!” Angel yelled over his shoulder.

He could hear the girls laugh out loud while he got ready to mingle. Angel spent most of the night after that drinking and striking out with every man he tried to flirt with while Isabella and Cassie watched and cracked up at his expense in between conversations of their own.

Eventually, Angel sat down in an empty seat next to Cassie, leaned backwards from both disappointment and drunkenness, and moaned quietly.

“What’s wrong, Dad?” Cassie asked mockingly. “Is the sugar all rationed?”

Angel sat up, turned around, and said, “I just can’t figure out what I’m doin’ wrong, Cass. I’m doin’ everything right. I swear to God. These men aren’t really queer. They’re all posers just comin’ in to laugh at us on Halloween.”

“Maybe it just isn’t meant to be, Dad,” Cassie replied with her unique blend of optimism and sass between sipping her soda. “It could be a sign. Maybe God’s killin’ your sex appeal to make you start actin’ like a marred man.”

“Nah, that can’t be it. First off, your mother and I aren’t technically married, so I’m not technically ‘adulterous.’ Second, if this is a sign of anything, it’s that I’m becoming a geezer. I just don’t got it in me anymore.”

“Dad, you’re being overdramatic cuz you’re drunk. You’re 36.”

“I know. I’m ancient. No one wants me. I can’t even get anyone to dance with me.”

Cassie looked at him thoughtfully and said, “I’ll dance with ya, Dad.”

“Really? You’ll let yourself be seen in public with a cheesy old geezer?” Angel said staring at her pleadingly.

“It’s never stopped me before. Has it? Besides,” Cassie said before she stood up, took off her cape, and tap-danced in place. “Do you think I brought these shoes just for the aesthetic? Come on.”

“Bambina, you make your Daddy so happy,” Angel said leaping up joyfully. “You’re so good to me in my old age.”

“Hey, Isabella,” Cassie said leading her Dad to the dance floor. “Could you close the tab? He doesn’t need any liquor in his system.”

“Hey!” Angel said staggering behind her. “I’m not drunk.”

“Do you wanna know how much you’ve spent already?”

“Alright, fine.”

Angel sobered up a little once he started dancing with Cassie. He usually did. Looking back, those were the best times he had with her. It was him who taught her how to swing dance and do every other dance he knew, but she had long since surpassed him. It was all Angel could do to keep up with her now. Of course, he might say it was because he was buzzed but he knew the truth. She was much better than him and he was okay with that. Angel ran out of energy long before Cassie did, but he kept going. He didn’t want it to stop, so they kept going until she was finally tired out.

In the present, Angel wondered if he kept going because he somehow had a premonition of what was going to happen next.

At around 2am when Angel and Cassie were too tired to keep going anymore, Cassie helped her father walk to the car with the intention of driving herself and her father back to the apartment.

Unfortunately for both of them, the car had a flat tire, so Cassie helped her Dad get to a bench and said, “Alright, Dad, I’m gonna call a cab. You have a preference for who I call?”

“Nah, babe, as long as they get us home,” Angel said sinking into the bench he was sitting on while she walked over to the pay phone not ten feet away.

Looking back, Angel thought of a million ways this scenario could have gone differently, a million things he could have done instead, but his memories forced him to face the truth.

While Angel was sitting there in his drunken stupor, he heard Cassie call for him once. Then twice. Then finally in a blood curdling scream that sobered him immediately.

Angel leaped to his feet and heard a loud pop. He saw someone clad in black run away leaving a trail of blood behind him. He saw Cassie lying on the ground of the phone booth struggling to breathe and coughing up blood with a bullet wound in her chest.

“Oh, my God,” Angel said as he ran over to her throwing off his coat and suspenders and pulling off his shirt to use as a tourniquet. “CASSIE! Cassie! Cassie! Stay with me, bambina! Please!”

“What the hell is…?!” Isabella yelled running out and seeing Cassie bleeding on the ground. “OH, MY GOD!”

“AMECHE AN AMBULANCE NOW!” Angel yelled at her as he wrapped the shirt around his hand and held it over the wound.

Isabella quickly nodded and ran inside to do what he asked.

“Cassie, can you hear me?” Angel pleaded as climbed in and propped her up on his lap to help her breathe more easily. “If ya do, please say something.”

“Dad…” Cassie replied weakly. “I’m sorry…”

“What? What on earth do you have to be sorry for?”

“He wanted the pendant. But I didn’t want to give it to him, so I stabbed him with my pocket knife, but he shot me and took it anyway. I hope he’s not hurt too bad…”

Angel only noticed then that the necklace was gone. The thief only wanted the necklace he gave her…

“I’m sorry…” Cassie said. “I was stupid…”

“Cass, don’t say that,” Angel replied unsuccessfully trying to hold back his tears and using one of his hands to stroke her face. “You’re not stupid. You’re brave. You’re so brave. You’re the bravest person I’ve ever known in my life. You had the guts to leave a comfortable, protected life as a gangster’s child to live a hard but honorable life as a godly woman. You’re so much braver than I’ll ever be.”

“You can be brave, too…You can do the same thing…”

“No, I can’t. I need you, bambina. I can’t do it without you. I’m too much of a fucking coward.”

“I think you have it in ya…”

Cassie started coughing up blood uncontrollably. Angel sat her up holding her against his chest to help her breathe and begged God to take him instead of her. He wept and rocked back and forth as his white undershirt was covered in blood until the coughing subsided. He felt so completely helpless.

“Dad, it’s okay…” Cassie finally said as Angel lowered back down against his chest. “I know where I’m goin’ and I pray one day I’ll see you there, too…”

“Cassandra Maria di Lucchese, don’t say that,” Angel pleaded. “You have so much to live for. You have me, your mama, your friends, the church, your career. For God’s sake, you want to be a star. You can’t leave yet! Please, I’m beggin’ you! Don’t go! You’re the best thing to ever come out of my goddamn life! I love you so much!”

“I love you too, Dad…” Cassie replied with her voice getting weaker. “I love everybody…Please tell them that…But it’s okay…I’ll see them all again, and the way I see it, I still get to dance among the stars with the best audience of all…I’ll be okay…”

Cassie looked up and weakly reached up to her Dad’s face with her right hand. He held it against his face as he felt her life slipping away.

“Dad…could you sing me out?” Cassie asked more quietly than before. “I’m about to die, so please make it a good one…”

“No,” Angel replied. “I’ll make it the one you hate the most. That way, you have to wait until I sing something better.”

“You’re insufferable…” Cassie said with her sassy smile.

Then Angel began singing slowly to her as the tears kept flowing and he looked into her eyes to be sure she got the message, “Just like the magic potion, you fill me with emotion. You control my very soul. You got me voodoo’d. Who knew the goddess Venus would start this love between us? You fill me with desire. You got me voodoo’d. You knew you had power. Pick the hour when the full moon was above. I was hypnotized when I looked in your eyes and my heart was filled with love. Just like the power of Circe, you’ve got me at your mercy. Always yours to have and hold, you’ve got me voodoo’d.”

Cassie was too weak to hold her hand up anymore, so it slipped down but Angel held it in his hand and squeezed it tightly. There was almost nothing left in her. It was all Angel could do to not lose it completely.

“How was that, bambina?” Angel asked gently.

“That was the best you’ve ever done…” Cassie replied as she finally slipped away. “Joke’s on you, though…I always loved that song…”

Cassie’s eyes slid shut and she stopped breathing.

“Cassie?” Angel asked shaking her shoulders. “Cassie?!”

Angel heard Isabella crying outside the phone booth. As the sirens approached, his mind grew quieter. All emotions were silenced except for his grief that overpowered them. Tears flooded out of his eyes as he opened his mouth and wailed out his pain.

The ambulance came and told him what he already knew. She was gone, but reluctantly, he let go of her hand and watched them take her body anyway.

It was then that he noticed the trail of blood left behind by his daughter’s killer. Temporarily, another emotion possessed him: pure, unadulterated rage.

Angel stood up, put on the coat he had thrown on the ground, and pulled his hand gun out of his pocket.

Isabella saw him and only said, “Put a good shot in for me.”

Angel turned around, nodded, and followed the blood trail. It led to a small warehouse down the road. He didn’t think. He didn’t need to. He was guided by his own criminal instincts and the rage that sharpened them.

When Angel arrived, he opened the door and looked around until he saw the bastard with his shoulder being bandaged in the corner. He was holding the ruby pendant in his hand, but he had the audacity to ask Angel what his problem was.

Angel pointed the gun at his head and said with unbridled fury behind his voice, “THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM THE LUCCHESE FAMILY, YOU SON OF A BITCH! SPECIFICALLY, MY LATE DAUGHTER WHO YOU JUST KILLED, CASSANDRA MARIA DI LUCCHESE!!!!!!”

Angel didn’t just shoot him in the head. He emptied his magazine on him. Then when he saw Cassie’s knife sitting on the table, Angel used it to stab him repeatedly until he was soaked in his blood and the corpse was almost unrecognizable.

When his rage was satisfied, he grabbed the pendant out of his hand, stuffed it in his pocket, and walked away. No one dared to approach him. Angel then ran to his car to go to the hospital where his daughter was.

Angel wished he could say he changed for Cassie after that, but he didn’t have the strength. He lost his mind. After the funeral, he locked himself in his apartment with his drugs and liquor and refused to open the door for anyone, not even his sister Molly.

He only opened the door when Maggie came by one night. When she entered with luggage, food, and more liquor, she said nothing, but she opened her alcohol and gave him some as well.

Her only words were, “I know you’re the one who killed our baby’s murderer. Thank you.”

She then sat down next to him and started chugging her liquor next to him. Very quickly, she was binging and crying along with him, and they talked more than they had in years. He appreciated his friend’s presence. She was the only one who understood how he felt. And she didn’t leave until the day he died.

Together, they went on a path of mutual self-destruction. They left their respective jobs and became full-time junkies. They lived together and even slept in the same bed, which ironically made them more of a husband and wife than when Cassie was alive. Together, they drank. Together, they used. Together, they became prostitutes when their families cut them off, so they could buy more drugs. Together, they tried any new thing they could to numb the pain just a little bit more and make their lives more bearable, whether that was substance abuse, sex, or anything else that caused trouble.

They grew very close over the next year. It made sense, because very soon, all they had was each other. Angel and Maggie pushed everyone else away. They lived in an isolated wonderland of hedonism all their own. They had so much fun that it drowned out the misery their hearts were feeling. Despite it brought on them, they were happy together, and the way Angel saw it, he was in some way doing what Cassie had wanted.

Then came the day Angel died. It was Halloween. He woke up early in the morning from another nightmare, but his partner-in-crime wasn’t there. He got up to look for her, and all he found was a note she left.

Maggie said that she was tired of the empty life she was living and the pain her addictions could never cure. She had left to check herself into the rehab facility her church sponsored and begged Angel to come with her to receive the help he needed.

Angel crumpled the note in his hand and tossed it aside in anger. His only friend had abandoned him, and he was by himself again. Angel sat down and wept quietly for a while until he remembered the stash of PCP they had bought the night before.

Angel dumped out her share and his share for himself. He inhaled all of it until it was gone.

Not too long after, he fell on the floor convulsing uncontrollably. He tried to call for help, but his voice was gone. His vision began fading, and his mind began to create more hallucinations. He could have sworn that he saw his little girl looking as she was on that fateful day a year before begging him to change. She was beautiful. He tried to reach for her, but his body wouldn’t cooperate, and she disappeared.

The last thought Angel remembered thinking before he died was, “I’m sorry, bambina…”

When the Grim Reaper took Angel’s soul to Judgement, he accepted it without complaint. When God gave his judgement, he listened quietly and unapologetically, but somehow, he could feel from the love and sadness emanating from him that he understood how he felt.

The only thing Angel said before he was sent to hell was, “Thank you for looking after Cassie. I know you’re a trillion times the father to her that I ever was.”

When he was taken away, Angel could somehow still feel Cassie’s tears falling.

From then on in hell, Angel lived as he wanted. He took the name “Angel Dust” from Cassie’s joke, made a name for himself in the adult porn industry, and stayed away from the mob when his relatives finally did descend. He was no saint, but he figured that his actions would make Cassie a little bit happier.

As time wore on, he didn’t forget, but the pain became easier to bear as he lived his new life and made new friends. He was slightly disappointed when Maggie didn’t come to join him when she died but only slightly. After all, he couldn’t blame her for wanting to avoid hell.

Life was still miserable, but the drugs, sex, and bad friends made it tolerable.

Back in the present, Angel was finally standing in front of the Happy Hotel. He didn’t know what redemption would take or how hard it would be. He didn’t even know if he could do it, but for the first time in forever, his heart felt hopeful. That hope reminded him of Cassie, and even if that was the only result from it, it was still worth investing his time in, especially if it meant he could finally see his daughter as the man she always believed he could be.

#hazbin hotel #vivziepop #angel dust

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syntaxeme · 4 years ago

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Sugar is Sweet (and So Are You) ch. 2

[First Chapter] [Next Chapter] [Read on AO3] [Support me on Ko-fi] Rating: T Summary: Plagued by jealousy toward the men Angel sleeps with, Alastor comes up with a plan to keep Angel from having to work the streets. He wasn't planning on becoming an actual client, but having Angel all to himself might prove too sweet to give up--for as long as he can afford it, that is.

— — —

Alastor wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself after his conversation with Angel, but he felt he should be doing something. After some time of pacing around his own room, running his mind in circles trying to figure out what was expected of him here, he was forced to concede that he simply didn’t have the information necessary to make that determination. So he would have to seek someone who did. He went down to the lobby to sit at the bar with a visibly-hungover Husk and asked for his usual—gin and tonic, hold the gin.

“Husker,” he ventured carefully, swirling the tonic water in his glass. His friend (though he used the term loosely) grunted in response. “Would I be right to assume you’ve had some experience with. Er. Filles de joie?”

“First of all, dial down the volume,” Husk grumbled flatly, squeezing his head between his hands as if that might alleviate his headache. “And second, speak English.”

“You know. Working girls. Ladies of the night. Cocettes? Streetwalkers?” How many ways could he say it gently?

“Hookers.”

“…yes.”

“Sure,” Husk agreed with a shrug, resting heavily against the bar. “But what’s it to you? Since when d’you care about that kinda shit?”

“Oh, I don’t. In so many words. But I’ve always been a curious sort, and since I don’t have any personal experience of my own, I figure a secondhand account is better than none,” Alastor explained. The two had known each other long enough that inquiries like this weren’t entirely out of the ordinary, as there were plenty of things about society—mortal or demon—that Alastor had only seen at a distance. Husk, on the other hand, had seen and done quite a lot in his years and could be very helpful when he chose to be.

“Don’t know what you’re gonna do with it, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. Whaddaya wanna know?” He groped absently along the bar for the tumbler of gin he’d withheld from Alastor’s drink and tossed it back all at once, then immediately got dizzy and regretted the sudden motion. “Just. Keep it down.”

“It’s my understanding that escorts, like many other professionals, have regular clients,” Alastor answered, lowering his voice slightly, more because he didn’t want to be overheard having this particular discussion than for the sake of his friend’s comfort. “But I’m not sure what sort of relationship that constitutes.”

“Like you said, a professional one,” Husk told him. “It’s a job, and a client’s a client. No matter how many times ya see ‘em, that doesn’t change.”

“I see. So…that dynamic isn’t likely to develop into something else?”

He let out a dry laugh. “Somethin’ else like what? A gal doesn’t date a john if that’s what you’re askin’.” He was answering almost automatically, not bothering to question where this curiosity had come from. “I hear when a guy starts gettin’ ideas like that, most ‘workin’ girls’ are pretty quick to cut him off.”

Which was exactly what Alastor was afraid of, considering what he knew of Angel Dust. But then, maybe there was a difference if the escort in question had only one patron. Maybe whatever he was getting into with Angel didn’t have exactly the same rules. “In a slightly different vein, then, what about…” Even saying the word felt like an admission, like an embarrassment. But he truly needed some sort of reference point before he got into this, so he had no choice. “Sugaring. The sort of arrangement where—”

“Yeah, I know how it works,” Husk said, waving him off. “Not my thing, though. Too much commitment.”

Well. That was a positive thing, wasn’t it? In terms of what Alastor actually wanted from his interactions with Angel? Commitment, as far as he was concerned, meant exclusivity, which his jealous tendencies certainly appreciated. “Commitment. On the part of the client, you mean?”

“Sure. Once you tell ‘em they can rely on you, they’re gonna. And that means you hafta be able to deliver. Money. Presents. Dates. Whatever she wants, you hand it over.”

None of that sounded bad to Alastor, not if it was Angel he was spoiling; if his previously-idle money could provide enjoyment or satisfaction for the object of his affections, why not let it do so? ‘Dates’ would even mean they were enjoying time together. How could that be negative? “And in return…?”

Husk shrugged again. “She sleeps with you and pretends she likes you. Ain’t worth it if ya ask me.”

Alastor’s eager smile faded slightly. ‘Pretends’? That could be an issue. Even if he hadn’t yet expressed it, the attention and affection he wanted from Angel was the genuine sort, not something motivated purely by money. Maybe he was being greedy in hoping for something like that, when the point of this plan had simply been to stop Angel sleeping with other men. But after the spider’s welcoming attitude and that kiss earlier, he was now starting to hope (a four-letter word if ever there was one) that more might come of it.

As he was trying to decide how to word his next question, the lobby elevator dinged, and Charlie marched out of it, dragging a fully-clothed but obviously reluctant Angel Dust by his wrist. “Don’tcha have night classes or somethin’ I could take? You two givin’ out drinks at this thing?” he grumbled, trudging along behind Charlie without otherwise protesting. When he caught sight of Alastor, his expression shifted from annoyance to a sweet smile. “Hey, boys. Room for one more?”

“Come on, Angel, it’s bad enough that we’re late already,” Charlie scolded.

“What she said,” Husk muttered, his ears turning back and downward at the voices ringing through the lobby. “Get to your fuckin’ meeting already.”

As they walked past on their way to the conference room, where Vaggie and several of their other patrons were already gathered, Angel paused to steal another kiss to Alastor’s cheek, causing Charlie’s eyes to open wide even as he casually strolled past her. The Radio Demon refused to look anywhere near their proprietor, grasping his glass tighter and trying to pretend he didn’t notice her eyes boring into him. She must have taken the hint eventually, as she disappeared into the conference room and shut the doors to begin their meeting, allowing the tension in Alastor’s body to dissipate, at least somewhat.

“Y’know, no one could blame you if ya smacked him when he does that shit,” Husk pointed out, still dispassionate, illustrating with a swipe of his own dangerous claws. “After a couple times, he’ll get the picture, trust me.”

Now this was unusual. Alastor couldn’t recall ever having felt so violently vengeful on the behalf of another person before. He’d never borne Husk any ill will in the past. That said, the thought that he had at some point struck Angel instilled in Alastor a powerful urge to tear out his feathers one by one and then stab them all back in.

“I’m sure violence isn’t necessary,” he said instead, forcibly shoving those images to the back of his mind and reminding himself that Angel had proven more than once already that he could take care of himself. “Maybe he just needs a proper focus for his energy…”

“Hey, if you wanna volunteer, be my guest,” Husk snickered without smiling.

Their conversation was interrupted by an unfamiliar demon nervously slinking into the lobby, looking to check himself in. Alastor quickly shifted into salesman mode to secure another patron and get him set up in his own room. After a whirlwind tour of the establishment, which put him back in his element and did wonders to take his mind off any other concerns he might have at the moment, they made their way back down to the lobby.

“And if I’m not much mistaken, Charlie and the others should be finishing up another session just now,” he crowed, still leading the new arrival with an arm around his shoulders and gesturing to the conference room doors. “She’ll want to welcome you personally, of course, and discuss your goals and expectations for your stay.”

His prediction didn’t come a moment too soon, as the double doors swung open to release the handful of lesser demons who had been gathered for Charlie’s group counseling session. Alastor led the newest member of their merry band of misfits to the princess to call her attention. “Charlie, this fine fellow is—remind us of your name, my good man.”

“Knix,” the burly gent answered, apparently having some trouble with looking anyone in the eye.

“A new arrival!” Alastor concluded, and Charlie beamed at the thought, as always.

“Welcome to the Hazbin! I’m Charlie, and that’s Vaggie”—she indicated her partner, who was straightening up the conference room on her own—“and we run the group meetings. How did you hear about us? What inspired you to come in? Tell me everything there is to know about you.” While she was haranguing the poor fellow to within an inch of his life, Alastor conceded that his work was done and took a step back to watch Charlie’s protégés disperse to their own rooms.

He recognized one self-involved feline named Davronius, a rabbitlike misanthrope simply called Io, an elegant and aloof owlish demon who went by Donatella—but no spiders. Odd, considering how often Charlie held Angel Dust up as her ‘star pupil,’ the exemplar of the hotel’s efficacy. And he typically basked in the attention it got him. Maybe he was still talking with one of his fellow recovering sinners? What a ridiculous thing for Alastor to be jealous of. And yet…

A flash of color darted between the guests and into the conference room, then back out only a moment later. Niffty stood to one side of the doors, her face screwed up into a pout, her eye darting around the room to seek out imperfections. She must have been in a mood, further evidenced by her scurrying over to the stairs to fuss at a guest who was leaning against the banister. Once he had backed off, intimidated despite her tiny stature, she whipped a handkerchief from her pocket and started to polish his fingerprints off the otherwise-pristine wood.

“You know,” Alastor said, strolling in her direction, “the banister can’t serve its purpose if you won’t let anyone touch it.”

“Well maybe if they washed their hands once in a while, it wouldn’t bother me,” she answered testily. “Besides, Vaggie already cleaned up after the meeting, so I don’t have anything else to do. I have to do something.” That was a fair point; there was too much energy in her little form to stand still for long. If she tried, she might spontaneously combust.

“And the entire hotel is already spick-and-span from top to bottom?”

She shot him what he had come to recognize as her version of a glare. “What d’you think I was doing during the meeting? We only have sixteen occupied rooms, and all the empty ones don’t get messy. You don’t even let me go in your room, so it might as well be fifteen. The new guy just got here, so it’s basically fourteen! And now Angel’s not here leaving dirty dishes in the lobby or doing target practice in the common area—”

“N҉o҉t҉ ҉h҉e҉r҉e҉?” There was a scratch of static in Alastor’s voice that he tried to will away as he asked casually, “A҉ng҉el ҉isn’t here? Where is he?” There were only so many reasons he would leave, and considering his recent track record, Alastor was quick to assume the worst.

“He left with some lady while you were upstairs with the new guy,” Niffty explained, flicking her handkerchief briefly in the direction of Knix, who was still in mostly one-sided conversation with Charlie. “His manager, I think.”

That statement was confusing for a few reasons. First, the only person Alastor knew of who could be called Angel’s ‘manager’ was a fellow Overlord named Valentino—a man. Furthermore, Angel had mentioned some time ago that he and Valentino were no longer working together, and Alastor had noted the improvement in his mood since.

But most importantly, the manager issue shouldn’t have applied at all, considering what they had agreed upon earlier in the day. His time shouldn’t need to be managed. Or if anyone is managing it, it should be me. He realized immediately how possessive and controlling that idea was and chastised himself for it. Yet it didn’t change how he felt. This day had come to involve entirely too many feelings, the way he saw it, and he was beginning to get exhausted. Since Angel wasn’t there to explain himself at the moment, Alastor was sure to drive himself up a wall fixating on the problem—unless he had something else to do.

“Do you know what always lifts my spirits when I’m distraught, dear?” he mused, glancing in Niffty’s direction again.

A delighted smile lit up her face and banished any lingering frustration. “A good meal?”

“That’s exactly right. In fact—Charlie!” he called, striding across the room to meet his co-manager with Niffty on his heels. “I hate to interrupt your onboarding discussion, but would you be so kind as to let all our guests know that I’ll be serving dinner this evening?”

“You’re cooking? That’s great! I’ll make sure everyone’s there,” she assured him. With a sly smile, she pointed out, “You sure seem like you’re in a good mood today. Any particular reason for that?”

“When am I ever not in a good mood? Especially when we have a new guest to welcome.” He gave a brief pat to her head, refusing to acknowledge what she was implying, and swept off to the kitchen with Niffty to occupy himself with something he knew how to control.

#RadioDust #can never tell when my stuff's going to turn up in the tag or not...#Angel Dust x Alastor #Alastor x Angel Dust #Sugar is Sweet #Hazbin Angel Dust #Hazbin Alastor

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