#do you ever just have a persona that you kinda build up on

[nonomives]

Persona

[our-hextech-dream]

i haven't seen anyone fully articulate what i personally felt disappointed by wrt viktor's s2 persona and ending so i guess i have to do it myself even tho i'm bad at talking!! can someone who is better at this just read my mind and say it fancier and more coherently?

agency, the loss of

i have seen people already mention the way disability came into play at the end and what a wild choice it was for jayce - born able-bodied and healthy - to be the one to tell viktor - trapped in a body that was actively killing him - that actually your disability is a part of you and made you who you are and you owe everything to it. ... huh? jayce (by which i mean the writers), do you think without his disability, viktor wouldn't have still been a genius? yes, viktor is disabled - that's not even remotely what makes him a compelling character and power player. it is his mind not his body that makes him who he is. the fact that he had to waste almost his whole life fighting against that body to achieve anything is the entire crux of his frustration - imagine what he could have dedicated his mind to if he weren't constantly struggling to find a way just to survive another year, another month, another week, one more day. have you thought about it? because he has. so yeah that whole conversation, trash. bruno mars just the way you are ass one direction that's what makes you beautiful ass argument. viktor was not going crazy over cosmetic surgery, he was trying not to die.

but it strikes me as just one more expression of an overarching theme for s2 viktor - that of the complete and total loss of his agency. (more on a meta level than in the show itself, but also in the show!) i said after act 1 that viktor had died in that explosion and jayce was going to be chasing that corpse until the end, and i was correct. viktor bounced from one mindset to another, never seeming to have any consistent ideology of his own that couldn't be changed as soon as the plot demanded it. at any given point he was just kinda... wandering around, doing some random shit with the powers that worked through him. gone was the viktor who used his own hands and mind to influence the world directly, to bend it to his will. i always always felt this and i stand by it - taking viktor's abilities as an inventor and scientist away and turning him into some arcane mage jesus figure was a mistake and a disservice to his character. arcane said no this boy wasn't smart or determined, his ability to build and invent and seek and learn don't matter and never mattered, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and as soon as the arcane got its goop on him he just became the most specialest magic pixie dream boy to ever live and his own goals, dreams, ideals, morals, talents, skills, and hard work ceased to matter in any meaningful way. he never had to work to master magic to be able to use it to further his goals, because he immediately stopped having goals.

viktor became a non-character. he became whatever ideological and technological threat level the show needed to challenge to heroes and never more. he ceased to have any control or understanding over what was happening to him, rather he just gave up and decided to use his magic indiscriminately for whoever made the most convincing argument, a choice that would have been completely antithetical to his character up to that point if he'd still been alive. 'fuck zaunites, sure i'll turn them into robots so a foreign power can use them to attack and take over piltover and zaun, who cares. it's not like these are the people i've spent 30 years of my life trying to protect and save.' <- something viktor would never ever ever have agreed to! ever! no matter what! they have played us for absolute fools.

ambiguity, the loss of

the thing i wanted the most and was expecting because of the way viktor's original lore was set up was that the series would end with viktor and jayce unreconciled and with mutually exclusive worldviews, both fully believing they were right and the other was misguided but not evil or irredeemable, setting them up for future conflict. this felt like what was being set up when arcane made it a plot point that jayce was being convinced to turn hextech into weapons while viktor started getting unethical and unhinged with the experimentation. they both had good reasons to do what they did - and i'm absolutely not going to insult jayce's intelligence by claiming he was just manipulated into it by anyone, give me a fucking break - but the point was that both of them were doing something the other thought was misguided and dangerous. and they also felt that if they could just make the other person see their completely logical and rational pov, they could fix the divide between them and make up and be best science buddies again.

but then at the end arcane completely gave up on viktor having any belief in his own ideals. it just turned into 'aw actually he was just lonely all along and none of that science stuff or difference in morals or worldviews mattered bc he's got a buddy now and he's completely unequivocally on jayce's side. :)'

it was like. insanely selfish. as in, self-centered, concerned *only* with the self. the viktor i liked, and the one i wanted to flourish and hoped arcane would canonize, was someone who was entirely dedicated to zaun, to righting the wrongs of piltover and helping the people in the way he thought best - no matter what jayce or piltover thought about it. an ambiguous villain, just like all the other really well-written ones in arcane.

accountability, the loss of

viktor killed people. not sky, who was an accident despite his fixation on her; i'm talking at least a hundred or more zaunites during his stint as the machine herald. he ripped their minds out and made them play house with him, then turned them into weapons of war for ambessa's siege, and all of those people - primarily sick, desperate zaunites - died. this was always the entire crux of the conflict between (league) viktor and jayce giopara. viktor was willing to destroy people and use their bodies for his own gain unapologetically because he thought what he was doing was a blessing and the people were better off under his control because they would never feel fear or anger again. agree, disagree, depends on your view of free will and human nature, but the fact is that everyone who came to viktor hoping for a chance to be healed so they could pursue their own dreams and lives had those dreams and lives ripped away from them and they never got justice or even a single scrap of acknowledgement from the narrative.

in arcane, the horror of viktor's actions just... fade away into the background. viktor and jayce waltz off into magicspace together, leaving viktor's dead, ruined victims for piltover and zaun to deal with. he doesn't return their minds or bodies, he doesn't even seem to remember or care about what he had just been doing to other sentient living human beings. he's not sorry, he doesn't feel regret, he got what he wanted (a friend) and fuck everybody else.

because the narrative just shrugs and handwaves and says no no forget all that it doesn't matter it was just the hexcore or whatever, viktor becomes a flat, uninteresting character. he loses the depth that villains like ambessa and silco had, villains who had their victims validated by the story, who faced challenges in their arcs specifically because of the people they had hurt despite thinking they were doing the right or noble or most important thing. and not just the villains! even the heroes had to wrestle with the people they stepped on on the way to their lofty goals. but not viktor. he just floats away scot free, completely blameless, having no affect on the world and the world having no affect on him.

on arcane's status as the new canon lore and the Implications™

reminder that arcane is somehow supposed to tie into the world of runeterra at large, but now viktor and jayce both have been seemingly entirely removed from it. if it only mattered that they knew the people we'd already seen them interact with, okay, i guess. but that isn't the case. they both have a ton of connections to other champions - from regions other than p&z even - that haven't been introduced and don't have any plausible explanation for how they could have met in the past, which means they should have been set up to meet somehow in the future. implying that jinx escaped and has gone traveling the world is the perfect way to incorporate her in-game relationships with people like lux - she could have met her while traveling! but jayce and viktor don't get that plausible continuation of their story and development of further relationships - they just disappear out of existence. (ambessa also has this problem because they killed her, but unlike jayce and viktor she does have a huge amount of unexplored backstory where she could have spoken to (for example) swain and hwei and shyvanna at some point.)

note 1 - jayce and viktor are so old that they don't have any voice lines in game when meeting other champions. but other champions who are either newer or who have had voiceover updates do talk to them, which is how (aside from the old lore) you can infer that they do have relationships with other champions including ones who weren't in arcane.

note 2 - maybe riot actually doesn't care and none of the champions are really supposed to know each other or be involved in each others' lives canonically, they just have random quippy voice lines that imply that. which would fucking suck. having the lore of the game have no impact on the game itself and vice versa would objectively suck. if the characters talk to each other on the rift and say something interesting, i want that to have meaning. i want to be able to extrapolate the state of the world and the relationships between the characters from the things they verbally say with their mouths. i'm not arguing about this. the voicelines should be seen as the most high irrefutable canon that there is for the game because it is the ONLY source of lore in the game itself.

anyways there's my bible i guess. i miss evil laser robot viktor i want him to perform unethical brain surgery on me (fixing my adhd but also turning me into his personal puppet attack dog) and then give a weapon to a child so they can kill their bullies.

[keikakudom]

I decided to make a HH AU cause...y'know....anyway.... now introducing

Reset Resort! A Hotelier Vox AU

- you already know, it's a hotel Vox AU.....but not quite what you're thinking. Kind of a swap between Alastor and Vox, it focuses on the butterfly effects of this single change, rather than a full reversal.

- Most things are kinda(?) the same. Except the hotel is not as run-down and quite more successful. As if S1’s hotel started with S2's reputation and building. It's also more modern/sleek and closer to your typical strip hotel.  Much more busy with additional residents coming in and out. Think Vegas-style. It has way too many amenities than necessary, and it's actually an enjoyable place to hang out , but the message for "redemption" might be a bit....lost.

- It’s supposed to be a place where Sinners can (lightly) indulge in their vices without risk of falling into a soul-binding deal on their road to recovery.

- In this AU, movement between Sinners/Winners has been proven. NOT redemption yet. With this “concrete” evidence, Vox considers it "purely a business investment" to sponsor the hotel.

- Because of this "proof", Heaven has granted Hell/Charlie a grace period of an extra year with no exterminations, so long as they continue to monitor the process and Hell provides further progress and evidence of redemption.

Vox is there for the start up of the hotel with Charlie. He sponsors her project with his reach and expertise. His personality is much more subdued, his TV persona taking center stage, except for rare occasions. His temper is not as bad as in-canon. AKA, he’s much more fake and corny in this AU.

Charlie is slightly more mature and realistic in this AU. She studies redemption seriously and notes behavioral patterns/is much more patient and careful with the process. With Vox being extremely efficient and taking over the managerial/facility side of the resort, she is able to dedicate her time fully towards the redemption of sinners and being a therapist. She is still overzealous sometimes because she knows that if nobody else will show enthusiasm/push sinners to do better, then nobody will.

- Vox tried to manipulate Charlie very early on when they first met, and Charlie ended up realizing his kindness was just for his own benefit and has been wary of that fact ever since.

- Their relationship is like: she knows he’s reliable and will do everything she asks, but is doubtful/sad that he’s ingenuine. Vox thinks Charlie looks at him with pity and absolutely HATES it, but he still plays carefully so he can do a repeat and build up her trust again. Doesn't like Vaggie for a similar reason. They just think he's another misguided sinner in need. Neither have fully grasped the idea that most Sinners chose to do-evil(which he certainly has). 

- Vox holds a contract with Lucifer. What for? Well... let's say that they're on good terms and are friends. They meet with each other once a week (where Lucifer gets social interaction and updates on Charlie). 

I already have sketches for Alastor and Vaggie planned out in this AU~

It's less of a full "reversal" and more so one swap and the butterfly effect that follows. This AU has been my brainchild for a few weeks, so PLEASEEE I'd love to answer any questions or asks....

My AU tag is #au: reset resort

All information can be found under there! Until I make a masterpost or something.

Old design under the cut:

[delqcate]

hi angel!!! im aware of how super busy you are rn, but I can't get like frenemies scott barringer and reader out of my head, imagine it, like he's so annoyed by everything she does, she's the total opposite of him, sweet and kind, but also the sarcastic angry feminist, and he's the self-righteous football captain arsehole.

But no matter what he does, she's constantly stuck in his head, and it's kinda like the song "you look so pretty, pretty like the sun, i could watch forever while you shine on everyone" and he's so in love and a little insecure, which he covers up with this pompous arrogant fboy persona

anyways, you're writing gives me life more than anything! when i first discovered your flannel shirt fic on scott, i became obsessed and stalked your profile and obsessively read through all your fanfics, hayden characters or not, I read them all, and im head over heels in love w u :) you genuinely write the best fluff ever, like your my favourite blog for fluff, like don't get me wrong smut is cute and that, but god i would kill for some forehead kisses and hayden fluff

because i love you.

scott barringer x reader

anon you own my whole heart ilysm!!! you're soso incredibly sweet and being your favorite fluff writer??? such an incredible honor 🥹 i'm sorry it took me a while to get to writing this and i feel so bad cause i feel like i just didn't have enough inspiration for this so it's all messy but I hope it's still good. scott and shelby don't get together here but they're still good friends

summary: you and scott don't necessarily hate each other, but you can't tolerate both that much either. after a plan gone wrong, turns out there's a reason why.

warnings/cw: swearing, kissing (i don't know if that's warnings but yeah), fluff fluff fluff

word count: 1.9k

Where does Scott even begin with you? The Cliffhanger's sweetheart, the epitome of the sun in this hell hole, is his friend. Well, sort of.

Because every time he was near you, it felt like he was constantly basking in the sun, yet at the same time, he was warmed up by everything you did, from your smile to your voice. It was almost like he was constantly taunted.

He couldn't get enough of you, though. You were everything he's ever wanted—the warmth and love of another—and yet he still seems to be pushing you away.

But then that all changes when a little surprise is left on one of the class boards one morning when Scott and the other Cliffhangers are called to meet up with Peter and Sophie.

Scott walks into the classroom, wearing a sweater he just threw on due to the cold, and looks at the board in confusion. "Morp? Wh-what's a morp?" His brow was furrowed, and he frankly didn't care too much about decoding it until Auggie followed from behind him. "Oh, cool, a prom?"

Scott looks at Auggie, realizing everyone else is inside already. His eyes land on you, and he suddenly can't focus on anything but you. Everyone was taking a seat, and it took him a moment to realize you sat with him until a hand waved at his face.

"Scott, y'there?" Your voice rings out, and he looks at you, his face brooding as always. "Why? What's up?" He clears his throat and focuses his gaze on you. Despite hating you, he seems to be interested in what you have to say. Probably just sucking it up so it would be over.

You look at him, and suddenly you find yourself drawn to his eyes. Do they seem more blue than usual lately, or have they always been this way? But you don't have time to ponder about that because now it’s his turn to snap you out of your thoughts.

"Hey, are you there?" He gives you a small smirk, and you playfully roll your eyes. “Yeah, sorry,” you say, clearing your throat and resting your head on your palm. “Sophie and Peter paired us for morp planning.”

His eyes widen slightly, but he immediately covers them up with his emotionless stare again. “Why us? ," he asks, sounding annoyed. “Dunno,” you reply. “Probably ‘to build a stronger relationship between us’,” you say, playfully mocking what Peter constantly tells everyone whenever there’s a team activity.

He let out a soft scoff but couldn't help but let a smirk form on his lips. He was starting to let his guard down, something he rarely does around people; besides Shelby, she relates to him more than anyone. "Yeah, all that bullshit."

You nod and chuckle, watching as he bounces his leg, a habit you share with him. "All we have to do is plan the music, so it shouldn't be too bad. They're letting us use Peter's office and a couple more gadgets, I think." You shrug, but all you could think of was Scott.

Spending time alone with him in a room for days on end sounded both eventful and terrifying. But at least it was him instead of anyone else; at least you could get some peace and quiet for once.

————————————————————————

It had been days since you and Scott were assigned to make the playlist, and despite the bickering and constant grogginess you two would feel the next day, it was bearable. It caused something in Scott to brew—something he thought he could keep in, but it was just waiting to burst.

Scott dragged Shelby away to a corner in the common room—not the best place to have a private conversation, but it'll do.

"Let me guess," Shelby starts, her gaze landing on Ophelia talking to Peter and back at Scott. "You need advice to ask her out?" Scott scrunches up his face, annoyed but thinking about it. "Well, yeah," he says after a moment.

She chuckles and looks over at you again, trying to think of anything. "Morp's tomorrow, Scott. How are you sure Auggie or someone else asked her out?" Scott suddenly seemed upset at the thought, however. "You think Auggie has more of a chance than me?" His angry question was a little too loud, loud enough to catch your attention, at least.

Shelby quickly looks away and narrows her eyes at Scott, slapping his arm playfully. "Will you keep it down, you idiot?" He whines and leans against the wall, crossing his arms and staring at you from afar. "How am I ever going to ask her out? I'm just the cocky football star, a pompous asshole fuckboy. Every bad thing you could think of."

She sighs and moves closer, taking his hand and watching his expression before continuing, "Sure, you can be a complete asshole." He scoffs and looks at the floor. "Great way to start that off," he muttered. She rolls her eyes and continues with, "But all that matters is what they think of you. You wanna go all out and be stupid with your promposal? Go ahead. I'll be there every stupid step in the way."

He moves his gaze on her and mutters, "Stop calling me stupid. But, thanks."

————————————————————————

The plan was perfect. You and Shelby would be hanging out together, saying some good stuff about Scott, and Scott would play football with Auggie. Auggie would throw the ball at you, and he would save you. He would tie that to some smooth way to ask you out, but he would worry about that later. What was the worst that could happen?

Scott watches nervously as Shelby and you sit at the bleachers, taking a deep breath as Shelby discreetly nods and Scott starts to play. Your gaze moves to Scott, and a small smile grows on your face. Seeing Scott play football was cute to you. Despite being an ex-football captain, he still never lost his love for the sport, and you admire him for that.

Shelby notices your stare and chuckles, looking at Scott and back at you. "You eyeing Scott?" Your cheeks heat up and your eyes land on her, shaking your head as your face gets all flushed up. "No- well yeah, but not in that way! He's my friend; I just want to watch him."

Your gaze moves back to the two boys playing, and you swear you saw Scott wink at you, but maybe it was your mind playing tricks on you; he probably got something in his eye.

But you didn't even have time to think because the football started flying towards you, and Scott's amazing plan came crashing down as soon as the ball hit him right in the face.

"Scott!" You yell out and rush down to him with Shelby. He lets out a loud groan and covers his face. He's never felt so much pain and embarrassment before. "Auggie, fuck!" He groans out. "I didn't mean to, I- I'm sorry!" Auggie frowns and looks at the two, watching as you take Scott into your arms and prop your leg up for him to rest on.

"Shit- Scott, move your hand." You frown and try to move his hand, watching as a crowd of people form, someone rushing to grab Peter. Scott whines and shakes his head, saying something about how it really hurt, but it's muffled from his hands.

"C'mon, please? I swear the pain will be gone soon; I need to see how bad it is." You were trying to stay calm for the both of you, and after a moment, he moves his hands away to reveal a bleeding nose and some tears.

You wince and help him stand up. With the help of Shelby and Auggie, you guys safely bring him to the girls rooms and onto your bed, hurrying off to the bathroom while the two find something that could help Scott besides a wet rag.

You return to him on the bed and move his hand away. A small hiss escapes you, and you start to clean him up. The silence was killing you after a while, so you mumbled out, "That was stupid, y'know?"

He looks at you with an annoyed expression and scoffs, trying not to move too much as you clean his nose and check if it is broken. "Well, I'm sorry for saving your life," he says sarcastically, clearly upset that you didn't appreciate him saving you. Maybe his plan was just stupid.

"I mean, I appreciate it, but look at you now." You frown and place the rag on your side table, grabbing some tissues to clean the spot better. "Why'd you do it? Ruin your oh-so-perfect face for me?" He smirks and looks at you. "You like my face, huh?" You roll your eyes, and he lets out a small laugh as you punch his arm.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it." He lets his laughter die down and listens to the two of you breathing. It calmed him down to hear your breath, especially because he definitely needed to calm down. He took a deep breath and calmly let out, "Because I love you."

You stop your arm and move your gaze from his nose to his gaze, which was locked onto yours. You couldn't tell if it was because he was frozen in embarrassment or because he wanted to show you he really meant it; either way, it left you shocked.

How does he like you? He's made it very clear that he has some hatred towards you , so it didn't make sense. "But the way you act around me—" he quickly interrupted you. "It's because I'm insecure." He sighs and looks down at his hands, feeling the embarrassment creep up on him.

"You're just so- so gorgeous. You make everyone smile and laugh; it's like the goddamn sun. You shine so bright, and I can't help but feel this jealousy towards you because everyone gets to experience all of that." Although he didn't outright say it, it was clear to you that he was jealous, and it was incredibly adorable.

You let out a soft laugh, and at first he thought you were laughing at him, but a small smile formed on his lips when he realized you were laughing with him. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I feel like I shine brighter when I'm with you. You make me sparkle, I guess."

He chuckles and moves a little closer, sensing the change in tension, and he was sure you did too because you moved closer. "Sparkle, huh? What are you, a vampire?" He smirks and wraps his arm around you, making you roll your eyes and cup his cheek. "Just shut up and kiss me."

"Yes, ma'am." He smirks wider and kisses you gently, immediately crash-landing into heaven as soon as he feels your lips. They were soft and felt heavenly, just like he imagined. The kiss grew deeper but didn't last too long as someone threw a box of bandages at them.

Scott pulls away in annoyance but quickly gets flustered as soon as he sees Shelby and Auggie; he completely forgets they were coming back. "Congratulations, lovebirds!" Shelby smirks and moves her gaze between Scott and you. "But do us all a favor and get a room, will you?"

You let out a small chuckle and quickly helped Scott clean up, hearing the pair's footsteps as they headed outside. Despite both of you being complete opposites, Something told you it would all work out in the long run.

taglist: none!

[plainclothesdisaster]

Red Knight - Chapter 5

DP x DC | Dead on Main

Jason Todd encounters one Danny Fenton in the streets of Gotham and suddenly he's thrown into a world of ghosts and monsters. Will he embrace this life? Or will it just end up with him dead again?

Read on AO3 | Chapter 1

---

“Gargoyles,” Danny proclaimed one night after theyʼd successfully captured a curse ghost.

Jason replied with an eloquent, “Huh?”

“Thatʼs what they kinda remind me of,” Danny spun the thermos in his hands. “The curse ghosts. They're like really messed up gargoyles.”

Jason thought about it and he was right. The curse ghosts were like if the gargoyles on Gothamʼs buildings had 20% more limbs and teeth and were made of goo instead of stone. Fitting really, for the embodiment of a curse on Gotham.

They perched on the roof of a building not far from an old tire shop where the curse ghost had reared its ugly head. A few gargoyles perched with them, thankfully all stone and completely motionless and definitely not cursed. Shadows crawled across them as occasional car headlights passed in the street below.

“The real question is if they're less nasty or more nasty than other curses you've fought?” Jason didnʼt know if Danny even had fought curse ghosts specifically before, but it seemed likely all things considered.

Danny paused, contemplating. “Every city has ghosts that haunt it. But none as bad as this, at least that I’ve seen. None that have such a distinct form. And none that have had such a strong effect on the living.”

“Arenʼt we special,” Jason grumbled.

Danny chuckled. “Very.”

“Good thing you came here to stop them.”

Danny frowned. “Well. Not exactly. If Stanford had accepted me Iʼd be bumping heads with the ghoulies under Alcatraz, but GU was my next choice.”

Jason’s train of thought came to a skittering halt. Danny wasn’t here to fight these ghosts specifically? He made it seem like taming the curse was the only way to keep Gotham from eating itself inside out. And it was clear that he was the only one actually trying to do something about it. Maybe the only one that could.

“Wait. Fixing the worst curse ever is just what you do in your free time between lectures?” Jason folded his arms.

Danny sighed. “Iʼm not a hero, remember? And I’m trying not to do ghost stuff full time. To do that I need to do human things. Like get a degree.”

“Who says you need a degree?” Jason’s voice pitched up, betraying his incredulity.

“NASA, definitely.” Danny wasn’t looking at him anymore. Instead he tilted his head up to the sky, toward the few stars that dared to poke through the fog.

Jason bit back a laugh. He couldn’t be serious. Crime fighting- ghost hunting- whatever, it wasn’t something that you just did on the side. If there’s one thing Bruce taught him it was that civilian life was an afterthought, a persona that they had to play. Their real life, the life that mattered, was what happened once they donned their masks. And after Jason died he’d been freed from the responsibility of being a civilian at all.

Yet looking at the melancholy on Danny’s face he knew he was being sincere. It struck Jason that Danny had dreams, like real dreams, ones that didn’t involve stopping crime and saving cities and meting out justice.

It twisted something in his stomach. Dreams were a luxury Jason hadnʼt ever been able to afford. Not when he was young and fighting and stealing his way through the streets of Crime Alley. Not when he was fighting beside Bruce, desperately eager to fill the mantle of Robin. Not now, especially not now, when there was only the work of purging the rot from this city. The work that sent him back to the gutters and the alleys night after night, always looking down.

And there Danny was beside him, just as capable of fixing Gotham (or even more capable, he did begrudgingly admit), and it hadnʼt completely consumed him. He was still selfish enough to dream.

He was still looking up at the sky.

A pang of something like hatred smacked at the back of Jason’s teeth, ugly and hot. He couldn’t believe Danny’s selfishness. His naivety. Both incredibly stupid things to have in this line of work. And still Jason felt something else– a rumbling and an ache from the place under his heart. A pulling that tried to stretch across the space between them. He bit his tongue and shoved that feeling down.

//

Later that night when Jason couldn’t sleep he scoured the net for any more hits on Danny. He knew it would be easier if he just asked Tim for help. He bet that little creep could have the full dossier delivered within an hour, everything he wanted to know about Danny Fenton, but that would open Jason up to way more questions than he wanted to deal with. He still needed to keep this as far away from Bruce as possible for as long as possible.

His less than ideal search methods still yielded him a yearbook photo he hadn’t seen yet. The sister Danny mentioned– Jasmine Fenton. Turns out she was attending Stanford, psychology major. Stanford, where Danny could have been instead of Gotham. Fighting some other city’s ghosts. And Jason would have continued to be unaware of and unable to do anything about Gotham’s curse. Or his own.

He turned his attention to digging up anything he could on the Fenton parents. No real estate records, no taxes, not even driver’s licenses. But no death certificates either. Jason didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing. What he did know is that they were equally as erased as their son.

He found himself drifting away from Fenton research and on to the question that nagged at him in a different way– how to predict where the curse ghosts would show up. The data from Danny’s thumb drive was already on his computer and he dutifully logged the coordinates and relevant details from that night’s encounter, another dot among hundreds on the map of Gotham.

Jason had already whittled through all the possible easy connections. Haunted places, typical goon hide outs, historic sites, even fucking ley lines– none of them had enough correlation to be a valuable predictor. Or even a decent lead.

As much as he had practiced taming his frustration, another fruitless night with no answers had him sulking. He felt certain that figuring out the curse ghosts would also help him figure out Danny. And figure out himself. He couldn’t deny that he hadn’t felt even a hint of the Pit’s clawing rage since his nightly escapades with Danny became more frequent. He considered Danny’s offer– to make the fix permanent. And Jason believed him now, that he actually did want to help.

But he couldn’t accept that offer. He wouldn’t. Not until he was sure what it really meant. Maybe if and when they solved the curse problem for good, maybe then he would accept Danny’s help.

But not yet.

//

“Try something for me.”

Danny stopped mid patrol loop of known curse hotspots. Jason followed his gaze and saw a curse ghost rummaging through a demolition site where a condemned apartment once stood.

“Blast it-” Jason pulled a gun, finger ready at the trigger- “Wait!” Danny held up his hands to stop him. “First, see if you can hold the energy back before you release it.”

Danny held his palms out over one another and a ball of familiar green energy formed between them in demonstration. “Let it build up and grow.”

He focused for a moment and the ball grew larger, spun faster. He widened his palms as the ball grew, crackling with potential energy. He let it linger just a moment before— a twist of his wrist and it dissipated.

“I don’t think it works like that for me.”

“Just try it,” Danny cajoled. “I’d be a bad ghost mentor if I didn’t try to teach you how these powers work.”

Jason rolled his eyes. This felt like some kind of test, and the way Danny looked at him with rapt attention all but confirmed that. Did he truly want to help? Or Did he want to gauge how much Jason could push the limits of this power? Still, Jason’s own curiosity won out in the end.

He began by focusing on the feeling he got when he shot his usual energy bullets, allowing it to prickle through his chest and underneath his skin. Rather than let it out immediately, as he’d always done, he did as Danny instructed and held it back. He focused on his pistol. As he did, a small green sphere formed at the end of the gun.

Slowly he fed more energy to it. It grew, just as Danny’s had, spinning faster. His heart accelerated at the same pace, straining against the pull of the power. He gritted his teeth. His head felt hot, like it did when he let his rage get the better of him. Danny’s eyes glinted, reflecting the green glow with impish delight.

The sphere grew to baseball size, then basketball. Then it grew larger than that, so large he couldn’t even see the beast he was aiming at anymore. Danny said simply, “Now.”

Jason pulled the trigger. A massive green fireball exploded out of the end of his pistol, burning across the pile of wreckage. The ghost finally looked up just in time to take the blast directly to its side. It wailed in terrible unearthly tones as the green fire swallowed it.

Danny whooped in triumph. Meanwhile, Jason’s knees wobbled and he fell to all fours in the dirt. He felt suddenly cold, in that terrible clammy way right after a fever breaks.

Danny looked over as if to share the celebration but his face fell as he saw Jason.

“Shit,” he said, kneeling next to him. “You okay?”

“Yeah I— yeah.” Jason panted, swallowing a few dry breaths.

Every time he’d used this power before, he’d let it out instantly, through his guns or his gadgets. He’d never actually let it sit or take the time to feel it properly. Now he wished he hadn’t.

Using that power felt like his worst memories of the Pit, unnatural and cloying like he could still feel the waters dripping off of him. It tasted like grave dirt in his mouth.

But as he raised his head he saw the damage he’d done. There was a fucking crater the size of his living room blasted through the remains of a concrete foundation. No sign of the curse ghost. He did that.

He laughed, all shaky breath. Maybe he could get used to it. He’d have to. He didn’t have a choice but to use it against the curse ghosts. He’d be useless in fights against them otherwise.

“Let’s head back,” Danny offered.

“Yeah.” Jason ignored the small tremor in his hand as he holstered his pistol and started to get his feet back underneath himself.

Jason was halfway to standing when out of nowhere he took a hit. A force crashed into his gut from behind like a cannonball and he barely registered a curse ghost underneath him- it looked like a rhino with way way too many horns- before it flung him ten feet across the demo site and sent him careening into the rubble. He tumbled over broken concrete and snarled rebar, hard-trained muscle memory kicking in to relax his muscles enough to not take the worst of it anywhere he didn’t want to.

He blinked the dizziness from his eyes as he settled. Fuck that hurt. He felt a trickle of blood running down his face. The helmet was padded just enough to protect him from concussions. Didn’t help much with the biological nightmare that was the human nose though. He took the helmet off to keep the blood from pooling in his mouth, leaving him in just his domino mask.

“Jason?” He heard Danny shout.

“Mmfine,” was what he managed to reply as he pushed himself up. It took him a few tries to find his legs. They were still wobbly from the expenditure of power before.

Across the demo field Danny fought the new curse ghost with his usual evasive style. His mouth a hard set line as he ducked beneath swipes from many-angled horns and he responded with blasts of his own, cornering the ghost handily.

Then his gaze landed on Jason and he paused, eyes wide.

His stance went rigid. He snapped around unnaturally fast to face the curse ghost, a total shift from his flighty movements from a moment before. His gaze was sharp, cast in stark shadows from the streetlights, and impossibly, dangerously green. He raised a palm toward the ghost, slowly. And then a nuclear blast went off.

Or at least thatʼs what it felt like. Jason lifted an elbow to shield his eyes from the blinding green light. Surprisingly it wasn’t hot. Instead it felt like the air pressure had been turned up, as if the whole atmosphere was somehow heavier around them, pressing in from all sides, making it harder to breathe.

It lasted only a moment. When Jason lowered his shielding arm there was no sign of the curse ghost. No other damage from the blast either. Just scraps of shadow floating on the wind, dissipating as they rose up.

Danny lowered his hand. A bit of a glow still lingered around him like a halo, a silver outline that shimmered on top of his skin. Jason’s heart raced drunkenly as he stayed rooted to his spot. He wasn’t sure he trusted his legs to move. Danny still looked at the empty space where the ghost had been, his gaze still burning with an overwhelming power. One that Jason was very thankful to not have directed at him. Still, something stirred in his chest like a tug on a wire. The sweet sharp tang of adrenaline saturated his fear. He wasn’t sure if he could stomach that oppressive attention, but a reckless part of him craved it.

Then Danny shifted his stance again. He seemed to shrink back into himself, the glow dimming to a level that passed as human. He turned to Jason with something like guilt on his face, no hint of the commanding presence he held a moment earlier.

“Are you okay?” Danny spoke gently, but his fists were still clenched.

“Yeah. Yeah Iʼm fine,” Jason replied before he even really took stock of his injuries, but as he did he saw he hadn’t lied. The bleeding from his nose had mostly stopped. It hadnʼt been that bad in the first place.

“I think thatʼs enough for tonight.” Danny breathed, finally, releasing the last of his tension. He wouldnʼt meet Jasonʼs eyes.

It had been a while since anyone had saved him. He didn’t have anyone who watched his back, hadn’t for a long time. Strictly speaking, tonight he would have been fine even without the save. Probably.

While he was thankful that Danny covered his ass, it also annoyed him that he thought he had to.

“Thanks,” he grumbled, and then finally Danny looked at him with soft attention.

“You’re sure you’re okay? If it’s a concussion-“

“I’m fine,” Jason said, using his thumb to brush away the drying blood under his nose.

Danny just looked at him with naked concern, his fingers twitching like he didn’t know what to do with them, mouth pressed in a firm line. He took a breath as if to voice another worry but Jason cut him off with a resigned sigh.

“Look, if you're so worried why donʼt you come back to mine.” If it got Danny to stop nagging he didn’t mind burning a safehouse.

Danny nodded, mutely accepting the invite.

Jason led him back to his latest safehouse, a corner loft of an abandoned building, only accessible by rooftop. The walk there had proved that Jason wasn’t hurt bad, though Danny’s eyes kept going back to the blood on his face.

Once inside, Danny sat down on the couch. It was the only real piece of furniture in the house besides his half-broken bed. Jason felt less like a shitty host because truly it was equally as dingy as the one in Danny’s own apartment.

“Want a beer?” Jason asked from the kitchen, as he finished up rummaging his way through some makeshift first aid. The slapdash brace on his nose wasn’t his finest work, but eh. It would heal fine. It always did.

“You drink?” Danny seemed suspiciously surprised. “For me the accelerated healing makes any normal alcohol consumption pretty pointless.”

Jason froze with his hand on the fridge. “Oh. Huh.” That would explain why he had to down a whole handle and a half to feel anything. “No shit.”

Zombie-like he pulled a six pack out of the fridge. He set it down on the coffee table in front of Danny as he fell onto the couch next to him.

A part of him had still not fully believed the whole half ghost thing. Fighting ghosts was one thing. Being one was another. The tech helped maintain the illusion quite well- he had ghost power cuffs that made him invisible and ghost power socks that let him float. That explanation was easy to swallow.

But no gadget could explain why wounds that should take weeks to recover from only took him days. Couldn’t explain why he didn’t get drunk.

But there was a good explanation. A simple one too.

He wasnʼt fully human.

Shit.

Jason grabbed a beer from the coffee table, popped it with his thumb, and downed it in one long pull.

“Batman doesnʼt like metas in Gotham.” He didn’t look at Danny. He wasn’t really even talking to him. He tossed the beer bottle to the floor.

“Weʼre not metas,” Danny said, a gentle echo of what he’d said the first night they met.

“It doesn’t matter. Meta, supernatural, itʼs all the same. All are a dangerous liability in this city. You- we- count.” Jason opened another beer. Downed it. Waited to feel any hint of the alcohol hitting him. Nothing.

He could, however, feel Danny looking at him. “Iʼm not afraid of Batman.”

Jason didnʼt look back. He fiddled with the empty beer bottle, tossed it on the floor with the other one. Of course Danny wasnʼt afraid of Batman. Jason had no doubts which way that fight would go if it ever came to it.

That was an awful image to consider– Batman getting his ass handed to him by some nobody punk in jeans– and all the more reason that Bruce should never know about any of this. The curse ghosts, Danny, Jason’s own burgeoning ghost powers- more secrets he had to keep. More reasons to keep all the Bats at arm's length.

And if they ever did find out? No way their shaky truce could weather that. It’d be another war.

“Heʼs- well, they all are I guess- kind of my family. All Iʼve got left of one, anyway.” The words spilled out. He didn’t want a war with them. He never had.

Danny let out a long breath. “Oh. Family.” He laughed a sad laugh. “My parents tried to kill me. Multiple times actually. I donʼt blame them– theyʼre ghost hunters and well, they looked at me and saw a ghost.”

Danny reached for a beer. He pulled out two and handed one to Jason. He took it. “So at least it canʼt be as bad as that with yours?”

Jason grumbled. “Judging by how it went the first time I came back from the dead? It will be an absolute shitshow.”

Danny clinked his beer against Jasonʼs and took a long swig. “I dunno. I think Bruce might come around if you give him a chance.”

Jason straightened his spine, suddenly alert, alarm bells ringing in his head. “Bruce?”

Danny deflated, suddenly sheepish. “Ah. Whoops.”

That all but confirmed it. Jason groaned. Just when he thought it couldn’t get worse, Danny somehow knew one of Gotham’s most dangerous secrets. “How did you find out?”

“You can probably guess.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “It wasnʼt hard with a little ghostly snooping. It was one of the first things I did when I got to Gotham. I wanted to know just to double avoid him, honest.”

It wasnʼt hard to imagine any number of ways Danny could have uncovered Batman’s identity. Heʼd recognized Jason with and without his mask, but he figured that was because Danny had a sense for ghosts and, well, whatever he was. He hadnʼt considered how easy unmasking the Batman would be for him even without that trick.

“If he finds out you know, you’re dead.”

“I already am. Besides, I thought Batman had a strict no-kill policy?”

Ultimately this changed very little. Just another nail in the coffin of the strict Batman avoidance protocol. Still, he wished Danny would be a little less blase about the whole thing.

Fuck it. In for a penny, he couldn’t un-learn all the ghost shit that had turned his life upside down. He downed the beer. Danny was right the first time. It didnʼt matter what Bruce thought. He couldnʼt stop them from fighting curse ghosts. And it was truly none of his business. Danny sipped his beer with a grimace. Jasonʼs heart twisted.

“How do you stand the taste of this stuff?” Danny asked, a hint of a smile.

“It’s not about the taste. It's about the feeling.” Or lack of one. Jason thought maybe he felt the slightest tingle of tipsiness, but it could just be placebo.

Danny looked at him with that same casual intensity. He could tell his eyes lingered on his half-broken nose. Still worrying over him. Why? Why did he care if Jason got hurt? Jason stared back, trying to get a read on any of the real thoughts behind Danny’s eyes.

The silence stretched out, wide open.

Danny broke it first. “Sorry, uh. I guess I should get going.”

Jason took a beat and remembered how to breathe. “You good? Donʼt drink and fly.”

“I donʼt feel a thing,” Danny smirked. “Still, Iʼll walk.”

“You sure? You could always just crash here tonight.” The words spilled out of him before he could think better of it. He and Danny both froze, like the air has been sucked from the room. He stared at the empty six pack on the coffee table, swatting away any thoughts that dared surface, fighting the rising heat in his cheeks and desperately trying to keep his face blank.

“Itʼs okay,” Danny said finally, quietly releasing Jason from his turmoil. “Iʼll see you tomorrow?” Jason dared a look at Danny then. Warmth in his half smile like a sweater, a glint in his eye that made him feel lightheaded.

Danny stood and left, closing the door gently behind himself. Jason breathed out into the empty apartment. It felt suddenly cavernous and dead without Danny in it.

It shouldn’t mean anything but it did. Friends crashed on each other’s couches regularly, didn’t they? Jason didn’t have much experience with friends, if that’s what he and Danny were. This invitation certainly crossed that threshold. But he’d been careless. All the unknowns were still dangerous. He couldn’t let this be more than a working relationship. A partnership of convenience.

He pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. Pain, tender and sharp, sprung up beneath them. He sighed at the comforting familiarity of it. Then he flopped face first onto his bed, alone.

[myunconquerablesoul]

Home

s.gojo x gn!reader

Warnings: none (one ore two curse words; is that even a warning?)

Wordcount: tba

Satoru Gojo is a whirlwind of a human being.

It's been a hard month for him, with the higher-ups constantly sending him from one place to another and always up his ass. 

You, on the other hand, took care of Tsumiki and Megumi. 

Ensuring that both their lunchboxes were filled, that they got to school on time, that dinner was ready by the time they got their homework done, and that when their bedtime enrolled, they were freshly bathed and prepared to sleep…

It felt like playing house at the beginning, really.

When Satoru first enrolled with not one but two children at your doorstep, you almost wanted to murder him right on the spot.

Both of you were barely out of school. Freshly moved in together... it definitely was something.

But this dys­funk­ti­o­nal family you four built in the last years... 

You wouldn't trade this for the world.

So yes, Satoru Gojo is a whirlwind of a human being, but it never got boring.

The last years were filled with loud laughs, unconditional support, piggyback rides, fireworks, and knowing someone would catch you when you fell. 

You were content with your current life. 

Satoru came home not more than an hour ago. And while you insisted that he shower and change into a more comfortable attire, he simply moved you to sit on the couch, laid his head on your lap, and practically begged you to play with his hair.

You always loved playing with his hair, and he melted every time you did. Seeing him relaxed was calming for you, too. Knowing he was safe with you, that he was home. Knowing that in these moments, there were no obligations for the both of you other than being in love.

And so you did. You couldn't bring yourself to deny him something this little, when it was clear how exhausted he was.

Satoru doesn't have many people in his life that he can say he loves from the bottom of his heart.

Being the positive persona he is, gojo is rarely ever sad, but when he's really going through it, he's as quiet as a mouse, unresponsive and stiff, like he's unsure what to do with himself. 

You take care of him in moments like these. When he feels lost or overwhelmed. You do not ask for anything in return. Everyone has so many expectations for him, and he has to shoulder everyone's problems and responsibilities, but when he's with you, he feels so light he could fly; he feels at home. 

This past Month has been a living hell for him. Constantly being sent from one mission to another. He barely had any time to call you while he was away.

He hated every second of it.

At that time, he felt like he was neglecting his little family. And even if he didn’t like to admit it- it kinda hurt him…

The kids really grew on him. In these last years, he learned to love coming home. 

He always thought that he would hate routines- that he wasn’t that kind of man that wanted to have this thing called family- but the domestic feeling, the love and safe haven you build together-

The delicious sent that would be in the air. Little angel Tsumiki would come running and excitingly tell him what she did that day. Megumi would sit on the couch, reading a book about animals or painting on the floor. 

And every time, Satoru would come up to him to ruffle his hair a bit just to piss that little demon off. 

Then there was you, the love of his life, standing in the kitchen cooking or setting the table for everyone. 

The moment you see him, your eyes would light up, and you would welcome him home with a kiss that he wouldn't mind escalating into something more.

And as if on cue choking noises can be heard in the background as he smiles against your lips…

It felt like really coming home, every time.

But unfortunately, Satoru was stuck in god knows where for a month, fighting ugly curses.

So when he got home, he just wanted nothing more than to take you into his arms and never let go.

He's currently resting his head on your lap, cheek smushed against your thigh while he snores contentedly. 

Looking at how peacefully he was asleep was a strong contrast to his constantly teasing nature.

He enjoys teasing and annoying you a bit too much.

Once, you even asked him why he would do it as much as he did, and that little Fucker just sent a smirk your way. "It's a secret."

In reality, his heart just bursts out of his chest whenever he makes you blush, and it's too cute when you're embarrassed. It just makes him feel so soft and mushy-

You couldn't help but think about the day the two of you finally got together...

"Where are we going?" 

"We?"

"Yes." A warm smile was plastered on his lips as if he was trying to lure you into his charms.

"The last time I checked, you're not my boyfriend, so there isn't any reason for you to accompany me anywhere." 

"You're right. I'm not your boyfriend."

He looked determined as he stood beside you. "Yet."

You literary did not have enough patience today to deal with him, so you simply ignored his comment. 

"I'm going to get some groceries. Want to come with me?" 

A smile spread over his lips, and his eyes sparkled under his sunglasses.

"I'd love to." 

Gojo never learned to flirt because girls always threw themselves at him, so he never had to fight for attention. Pissing people off is the only way he knows.

He's a crazy dude with no particular place for romance. However, with you, it's different.

His hand wraps around yours as he is now escorting you to a nearby grocery store.

"You don't have to hold my hand, you know."

"Oh, but I want to," he says as a matter of fact as he makes no attempt to let go as you walk through the street.

"People are going to assume that we are together."

Gojo dared to smirk. "What's wrong with that? Are we not a sweet couple?" He earnestly hoped that people actually thought so when they saw you.

"No."

"Oh, c'mon. I'm not that bad." The corners of his lips curved into a mischievous smile as he wrapped his arms around yours. "C'mon, admit it, I already stole your heart."

It pisses you off, really. The effect Gojo has on you. "What about you? Did I steal yours?"

Without hesitation, he nods. "Of course, but you are always so hard to approach." His voice sounded somewhat quiet as if his words were meant to be confidential for only you to hear. And it tugs on your heart.

"That's enough teasing for today, Gojo." You shook him off you and took a few steps away from him.

It hurt him, really. Hearing his family name out of your mouth. As if you were reminding him and yourself that you could never be something more than friends.

You call everyone else by their names, Suguro, Shoko, Kento, Yuu... but him? It's always been Gojo.

"No, I'm not done." He's getting closer to you. When you looked up to him... God, you looked so effortlessly beautiful to him that he couldn't even stop the words from slipping from his mouth.

"How about a kiss?" 

The second his words tumbled out of his pretty lips, Gojo cringed.

And you, well, you exploded. 

"Is this all a joke to you? Playing with people's feelings until you're bored and then move on to the next one?"

This has been going on for two years now. You know he wasn’t really playing you, but you couldn't take it any longer. 

"No, Y/N. I genuinely like you."

You only scoff. "And what makes you say that?"

"I've never met someone with your kind of charisma. Your wit and sass. I never felt like this before..."

He was trying his best to stay calm. Gojo's voice was soft and filled with admiration as he stared into your eyes.

"Sweet words won't get you far with me."

"These are more than just sweet words. Just give me a chance." His hand brushes against your cheek. His other hand entangles with yours.

"Let me make you happy. I just want to make you happy." Gojo was desperate. He was practically plea- no... he- he was begging.

Gojo Satoru never begged.

That was until it came to you. Just like he let you in his personal space. Constantly touching you and keeping you close. Always making you the center of his attention. Always putting you before anyone else. Never has he blocked you out with his infinity…

And somehow, this realization made you anxious.

What if-

"What if I can't make you happy?" you whispered. "What if this will not be what you wish for?"

Gojo pulls you closer as he whispers, "What if you can? What if this is everything you wish for?" He looks at you with a soft smile. It is as if nothing scares this man.

You couldn't take this anymore, so you averted your gaze. "What if I'm scared of exactly that?" It was almost inaudible, but he heard you clearly.

"Are you scared of being loved?" He pulls your hand to his chest and lays his forehead on yours.

"Are you not? What if this is all a mistake? What if you're mistaking attraction for love?"

"Trust me." His tone sounded as serious as ever. "The way I feel for you. There is no way I'd mistake it for anything else." 

You don’t even know why you’re dragging all of this out… it’s been two years by now. It’s obvious that he is sure in what he feels.

You can feel his chest rising as he inhales intensely the scent of your hair. "Why are you hesitating?"

"I'm afraid of getting hurt. Empty promises, false hopes. Pretty words to conceal cruel intentions... I'm not saying you'll have ulterior motives, but still..."

"Trust me. I mean every word I said." Gojo's hand goes up to cup your chin as he stares directly into your eyes. "I know how cruel the world is, but I promise I will never hurt you."

He then leans in a bit more, his lips hower over yours- he waits for your permission to seal this as his eyes are halflided but still locked on yours.

"Can I...?"

And you just nod because you always felt this pull towards him. So what, allow yourself this much happiness. 

Gojo's lips press against yours gently as if he doesn't want to hurt you. His lips are soft, and his breath is warm. 

It does not take long before he pulls you in tightly as his tongue tries to gain access, and he devours you. His lips are greedy, and his hands are all over you.

After the exchange, he rests his forehead on yours as his eyes remain closed.

"was that convincing enough?" he asked with a smirk. That bastard is back on teasing you again.

You just roll your eyes. "Don't make me regret this."

"You won't," He replies before kissing you again. 

All your worries disappear, and you lose touch with the real world as he consumes all your senses. 

"I'll never let you regret this."

A few years later, of course, Satoru was proven right. You never once regretted falling in love with him.

"Why are you smiling like that?" His hoarse voice startled you a bit. 

Looking down at him, his azure blue eyes meet yours. "You should rest a bit more." You spoke softly at him as you ran your fingers through his hair. Satoru only hums in delight, leaning more into your touch. "The kids only finish school in about three hours." 

"Lay with me? Want to hug you." He sounded like a little kid. You chuckled. "Sure, Baby." 

Satoru let you get up so that you could lay on top of him on the couch, and the moment you're settled, his arms wrapped around you with a tight grip, he kissed you on the top of your head.

"Ahh... That's much better."

Yeah, it is.

Now that he was home…

[entropicbias]

your existence is genuinely befuddling to me. like i mean this in the absolute nicest way possible, which is kinda stupid because it's going to sound incredibly condescending and mean anyway. i just do not understand how you can build your life and personality around a character you ostensibly have the same name as and get offended when people ask if you are roleplaying or kinning or treat you as a character. especially in the homestuck community. understandably i'd get pissed too but in this community people seem to lack critical thinking skills and you seem aware of that too

i think the way you type everywhere and the fact that a lot of your friends do the exact same thing as you but with other characters from hs gives it away

im not even necessarily saying it's a bad thing to kin a character but if you're gonna do it, it just seems disingenuous to frame it as "i've always been this way"

i understand that i am an asshole for even insinuating that you're just playing a character or maybe it's just that people noticed that you share some similarities with a certain character and you just play into that for fun or something

so i guess my question is whether this is just a huge bit or not. you don't even have to answer this i was just wondering as somebody who previously built my entire identity around a fictional character before

(very well said. john egbert isn't really unique in personality. maybe you should've gone to someone who acted like xehanort. i think that would've landed you a better answer.)

here are multiple tweets of me humoring comments i get regarding this. and also casually telling people i'm not doing a bit, and i don't think i'm john egbert from homestuck. very casually, i've only gotten offended when people have associated me with the character to make assumptions about my personal life and my identity. i'm not sure where else you've seen me "get offended over it" like it's a federal issue. i am pretty aware that that is a normal assumption to make based on what i act like.

here are some youtube comments i made when i was nine or ten. i have never typed exactly like this for all my life consistently. just like any other person. i have had phases where i've just changed to adjust to whatever was big in internet humor and language. but, using periods is just muscle memory to me.

my friends are also their own people. matter of fact, i am friends with a lot of them because this is a shared experience. you see many people in the fandom who have either been like me or there are many cases where people are transgender and have taken on the name and look of a character they relate to. or some people are genuinely just like, people with DID.

there was a brief period in my life where, because of the way i was, i was told i needed to associate with an identity close to how people claim they are "irls" of characters. but i was also 15, and i was a very impressionable kid. and you have to remember that this was like, a trend. even so, i don't think i have ever publicly associated myself with the label at all. it was just a thing i picked up from some weird friends i had going into the fandom. i am obviously grounded in reality, and i am my own person!!!!

i do not currently "kin" or say i "kin" cause that is really gay. no offense to kinners, the concept is fun! it just got ruined by fandom people.

john egbert is more like a persona to me than anything! but it's not like you could tell my drawings of him and me apart. again, not a federal issue.

i think this was a really presumptuous way to ask me this question, like you've completely figured out my act out or something by insinuating that i am being disingenuous. i would have a lot more respect for you if you either approached me privately or didn't make the only way of answering your question to publicly have to tell people i am not lying about my image. i'm really only answering this because i'd hate it if other people thought the same. so, let me clear the air!

i am not building my life around john egbert. that is not even possible at this point because i am a grown ass man. if i wanted to be more like john egbert, i wouldn't draw gay homestuck art as my main hobby.

does this answer your invasive question.

[goldensunset]

as with any thing i’m obsessed with i often daydream about what i personally would do if i got the chance to remake pla and make any changes i wanted

some things include:

•better graphics of course and like just bigger areas obv

•*gestures to both of volo’s designs* Something ahout those! lol

•also i’d remove his evil laughter at the celestica ruins lol. don’t give it away boy!!!!!! or at least turn it into a simple, moderately off putting chuckle

•make a Bad Ending cutscene for if you lose to volo. or at the very least a cut to black and a concerning sound effect of some sort and a game over

•otherwise i really can’t think of how i’d top his fight lol it was soooo good

•i would. change his dialogue right beforehand to make it a little more natural and logical. maybe even have him intimidatingly approach you as if he were trying to grab the plates from you until your lead pokémon jumps out to protect you. ik it would never happen like that in this series but like please it would be so good

•this is a big one- i’d make it so you really aren’t allowed to access any base camps in the wilds during the red sky exile sequence. giving you access to most things you had in jubilife anyway, plus you being allowed underneath the banner of the galaxy team, kinda cheapened it. me personally i will always choose not to use those during that part and only do things at cogita’s place. it would be suuuuper cool if like the guys at the camps like threatened you if you tried to approach!

•i think all wild pokémon should’ve taken on an aggressive nature during the red sky part. or more alphas. or like in my fantasy if you make one of them angry you start getting Chased all the way across the map, baby!!! like you’ve got a horde going after you! like it’s actively terrifying. either that or everyone gets a timid disposition because Nature is being Abnormal and they’re scared. k but like imagine the strange lightning suddenly coming down around you at random and striking random pokémon around you and they go insane. you never know when it’s gonna happen. watch out for that level 3 bidoof man!!!

•would’ve made the frenzied nobles a lil more Frenzied outside their battles. i’d love to be just wandering around the map and see them in the distance, visibly aggressively stomping around, and oh no is that thing coming this way? oh it better not be— like i want that thang to be Violent

•i know voice acting is never going to happen bc of being able to name your character etc and i get it but also like they could do it persona style right??? change the spoken dialogue ever so slightly from the text to be more generic and just use pronouns and such. listen we deserve to hear volo go insane

•find a way to fit the distortion world into the plot. no listen i don’t care how but just do it

•also make the stone portal a whole cave system like in the original gen 4! we deserve a dramatic ascent up the mountain. with!!! the mount coronet theme playing the whole time!!!!!

•i would’ve liked to battle volo more often throughout the story! but in a casual way such as not to build up suspicion for him or anything

•just uhhh. have the overworld music play more often and get interrupted by less stuff lol. also if at all possible do it sv style and have different battle tracks for each area that don’t break the immersion. no but like i know they’ve gotta be loyal to the sinnoh wild encounter theme ik…

might think of more later. but like this is what the inside of my brain looks like. no hate to the game as it is of course the entire reason i have so many thoughts like this is because i love it way too much. these are my fantasies

[wistrea]

(シ. .)シ woe, wishlist be upon ye! * this is basically a list of things of plots that i want to really do, so here we go! for reference, if anyone's interested in doing these.

childhood friends because your muse trained at the horikoshi estate, since the horikoshi clan has a very long history of swordsmen and fighters, and people often come there to train in their estate. also possibly? childhood rivals while your muse was staying in anmatsuri.

FRIENDS OR LOVERS TO ENEMIES... i just need the angst of that situation so bad...

your muse and kira being on the same adventuring party together.

ARRANGED MARRIAGE BUT SOME KIND OF DISPUTE HAPPENS AND SUDDENLY THEY FIND THEMSELVES ON OPPOSING SIDES?? and the next time they meet, they're no longer lovers, but instead enemies…

kinda similar to the last one but i'm really interested in writing rivals stuff. academic rivals, family rivals, rivals based on their profession, etc. i just know kira would love the competition with someone.

something revolving around kira traveling as a single mom with her apprentice, solace, and meeting your muse. and maybe them helping ki hide solace from the people who are hunting him?

things in her wisteria shop verse! in which kira owns a magic shop somewhere in a seaside town where her ravens deliver her packages for her and her building is never without the birds perching along the roof.

i've been having brainrot for hero / vigilante stuff, so imagine fake marriage / relationship for the same of an alibi plot, wherein both muses have secret identities but one mission led them to finding out each other's secrets and said mission also needed them to have an alibi because they were almost caught. they needed to improvise and just said they were married and it worked so they've been stuck like that ever since. maybe real things develop, maybe they do a messy public divorce, who knows 🤔

[ more under the cut because it got long ^_^ ]

more stuff for ki's vigilante verses, but i'd loooove something revolving around knowing each other when they were younger (especially in kira's verses where she was basically alone as a kid and fighting to get by) and then meeting again years later. i just looove the idea of that being their established past and that being the foundation of their future interactions -> reunions, revelations, and seeing how each other has changed after everything that's happened to them since they last saw each other and GRRRRRRRR

ok last for the hero stuff but your muse and kira on opposite sides of a fight but it's a star-crossed lovers or friends kind of thing. maybe ex-friends or ex-allies, lovers on different sides. but also what if like, frenemies in the sense that they team up together only when necessary.

i need to write more things revolving around kira's wings, honestly. her allowing your muse to touch them, or wrapping her wings around them while they need warmth, etc.

PLOTS WHERE SHE LETS YOU SEE HER SCARS... she turns off the glamour that's on her constantly, allowing them to see what she usually hides on her skin.

CRIME AU'S! the horikoshi clan being a criminal family / gang who owns a club called the wisteria den. it’s believed that the eldest son, matsuko, runs things while the second son, ashitaka, is a feared assassin known as the beheading serpent. the youngest and only daughter is known as an “angel” amongst her family. kira is just known as someone who can be found in the lounge singing ever so often, when in fact it’s Kira who really runs things in the horikoshi clan and is ruthless behind her feigned innocence. kira projecting this angel like persona but becomes ruthless the moment she turns it off. imagine her wearing all white to play the part but by the end of the night the dress is covered in red….

[everlastingremorse-blog]

Ok, so, In Sound Mind is an amazing game and you should definitely play it if you think you’d like it. So I’m gonna be posting a lot about it because I finished it and it’s super good.

So let’s start with what it is.

It’s a psychological survival horror indie game with a soundtrack by The Living Tombstone (‘you should’ve picked Mercy’ guy). If you’ve played any persona game, then it’s like if that was survival horror. It has some really cool ‘monster designs,’ that are like symbolic and stuff.

Anyways, you play Desmond Wales, a therapist who wakes up in the basement of your building. As you start to explore, you realize that the world isn’t quite what it seems, and you begin investigating the situations of your patients (one died, one is in a coma, and two are missing). While they at first seem unrelated, a large narrative and conspiracy starts to unravel.

Besides Persona, it’s also like the comic Monstermind, if you’ve ever read that. That one is a comedy, but it’s kinda the same concept. It’s also good, so maybe check it out if you like anthropomorphizations of mental illnesses/concepts. Also, Dimension 20’s mentopolis.

Quick note, Tlt didn’t do the sound design, he just made 6 incredible songs for the game.

EDIT: So apparently he did do the entire soundtrack, I think. I’m 90% sure he did, maybe with some help from the sound design team at We Create Stuff. But the whole ost on Spotify, and it says that he’s the author. On the other hand, the credits had some for sound design (at least I think I remember seeing that, I wasn’t paying super close attention)

It’s made by this small indie company called We Create Stuff. It seems to be their first foray into an original IP that is a full game with a narrative and stuff. They have other games, but they’re not necessarily “games.” That mean. If you check out their website, you’ll see what I mean. They have other games, but In Sound Mind is their first game game.

Anyways, I’ll get more in depth in later posts, but we’ll end here rn because no spoilers.

[stoic--rose]

just finished persona 1, spoilers under the cut

alright now that we've weeded out all the JOKESTERS, i loved this game, i love the characters, story, surreal atmosphere and setting, all that jazz. that being said those last few dungeons, ESPECIALLY avidya world, gave me so much heartache and grief, since grinding wasnt a mindless task i could just zone out to, since some of the encounters have enemies that either null or reflect magic or guns, so you have to be conscious of what's going on in the battle, and it just drove me up the wall near the end. that being said, the 7 hours of endgame grinding really paid off when i got to absolutely stomp pandora into the pavement with heiroglyphein. one of the most liberating feelings ive ever gotten playing an rpg. also, i dont think i like persona's demon system. i wish that you got the actual demon itself like you do in normal smt, rather than these stupid cards, and im especially not a huge fan of the fact that theres persona rank, persona level, and the persona's level, it was mad confusing and it took me until literally the final dungeon of the game to fully understand it. i also feel like ranking up personas takes WAY too fucking long, and the encounter rates are pretty crazy in places like the overworld map.

next, specific comments on the psp version, i didnt jive with the alternate soundtrack at first but it definitely grew on me over time. and some songs like bloody destiny absolutely fuckin kick ass. still not used to the original names though, nanjo will always be nate to me. also wasn't a huge fan of the new world map at first, since i do prefer the janky ass 3D overworld map of the ps1 version aesthetically, but i think that the new 2D map is just a lot better from a gameplay standpoint, it's a lot easier to navigate and you don't get lost as easily. sorry cate, gonna have to give this point to the psp version........ i also do GREATLY appreciate the skip feature they put into the battles, i played up until about the end of the sebec building in the ps1 version before just giving the fuck up because of how damn slow the battles were, it drove me nuts. after seeing how much grinding i ended up doing at the end of the game in my playthrough, i know for a fact i would have just given up if i kept going with the ps1 version. that being said, i think i definitely want to give the ps1 version another shot at some point, i kinda love how shitty the localization is, stuff like that is always fascinating to me

final playtime was 147:18, which is probably the longest time ive ever spent on an rpg just beating the main story, not going for anything like 100%. played on normal mode, took the SEBEC route, brown was my chosen party member. overall, i really loved persona 1 and will definitely be playing it again. im especially excited to check out the other routes, although i might do my other playthroughs on easy mode just to save my sanity. i did my time, i beat this game with no save states or fast forward on an original psp, i earned this

[ncityavenue]

| Late | M.L

》in which, Mark's late to his first class and you're stuck "alone" in that class without him.

Warnings: none, short story

A/N: okay cause this is kinda based off a dream I had so yeah

──────────✰

You walk into your first class, which is gym, huffing and puffing. You check the time on your watch and it's nearly 8:30, you sat in your spot on the bleachers looking around to see no sight of your best friend, Mark.

You couldn't text him since phones weren't aloud in the building and had gave it in already, so you sat in your space of the gym hearing your teacher's lecture about being better in gym and putting more effort.

he's usually earlier than me,

Maybe the bus is being slow today, he would've told me if he wasn't coming in.

You thought.

You saw his other friends that are your acquaintances walk in through the door. Johnny,Taeyong, and Jaehyun.

They had spotted you and waved at you, well at least Taeyong did. Taeyong nodded to Johnny and Jaehyun to sit near you, they silently agreed with him.

"Where's mark?" Which is the first thing to come out your mouth.

"Hello to you as well." Jaehyun's monotone deep voice answers.

"Sorry, hello guys."

"I thought you would know where he would be." Johnny said.

"He's probably late." Taeyong shrugged.

"No He's usually here before me." You pout a bit.

Johnny noticed your normally bubbly persona being nowhere in sight considering Mark isn't here.

"It'll be fine y/n, he didn't leave you."Jaehyun slightly poked fun at you.

You stayed quiet the entire time, you remained on the bleachers having your head rested on your arms which are rested on your heavy book bag.

You watched everyone else play basketball and volleyball, you contemplating going inside the weight room but that would just be too awkward for you considering you go in there only with mark when he's doing sets with his friends and for you to work out yourself a little.

Jaehyun,Johnny, and Taeyong were playing basketball still semi keeping you company, " Y/n, come play with us." Johnny suggested.

"I'm good thanks."

"Oh no you're not, you are not gonna just sit there long faced." Johnny grabbed you by the arm dragging you off your butt.

You groaned placing your bag down, Johnny gently pushed you into the small court area you stood there awkwardly since normally you didn't play basketball with them. You played with—you guessed it— Mark.

Jaehyun threw you the ball with a look that deceived you a bit. "Cmon shoot it, it's ok if you don't make it! Jaehyun's worse." Taeyong whispered the last part making you giggle.

You threw it and successively got it through the hoop, Taeyong and Johnny clapped while Jaehyun had a look of approval on his face.

"Okay we're gonna play a game now, we'll teach you as we g-"

"Bro, she's friends with Mark. She obviously knows how to play basketball." Taeyong cut Johnny off.

"Or she probably doesn't considering she is friends with Mark." Jaehyun corrected.

"I'm telling him you said that." You spoke finally.

"Go ahead, also tell him he owes me a match. Considering I couldn't play him last time because you were hogging him up." Jaehyun said.

What is his problem?

Maybe he didn't get laid this past week from the party we had.

Not my fault you get no bitches dude.

You thought to yourself before rolling your eyes shooting the ball in the hoop making it in again.

"I wasn't hogging no one up, he had the choice of playing with you or not. He chose me, get over it." You said dribbling the ball.

You always had to shit talk jaehyun in the mornings for some reason, it became a routine. It's like you genuinely had to degrade him to get his respect ever-y-day. Maybe it's his kink.

You passed the ball to Taeyong, so you could check the time. It was almost 2nd period.

There's no way Mark was this late, okay maybe 20 or 10 minutes late but missing all of 1st period??? No way.

"It's almost time to leave." Johnny mentioned, you nodded.

"..Well maybe he slept in late." Taeyong reassured you about Mark.

You continued to play with them until the bell rings, picking up your bag you dread going to second period which was science. Science was only fun because of Mark.

"You could walk with us to our class before going to yours." Taeyong suggested, you happily took the opportunity as you waited for them to change out of their gym clothing to their regular clothes.

You walked with them to their second period, " Man I really don't feel like going to science today."

"..I thought you liked science?" Taeyong raised his eyebrow.

"Mark." Johnny mumbled to him, Taeyong nodded softly.

"You really are a vegetable without him huh?" Jaehyun remarked.

"Oh hush Jeffery, their friendship is adorable. Stop being Jealous." Johnny scolded him.

You chuckled at the nickname Johnny gave him, "Jeffery." You mocked Jaehyun, he only gave you a side eye.

They were infront the classroom they were going to, they had said their farewells and not without sweetheart Taeyong giving you a small side hug.

You walked back to your class with long drawn out steps, you seriously didn't wanna go to science but you had to.

You were only 5 minutes late, you walked in apologizing to the teacher as you turned your head to find a seat you saw no one other than your best friend Mark sitting in his usual seat. Which was way in the back almost in the corner but not quite since you took the corner seat.

"Mark!" You squealed nearly, he smiled at you holding his arms out to give you a hug.

"I'm sorry I was late" Mark apologized.

"You gave me a heart attack, I thought something happened to you."

"I know I know, sorry. I woke up late, thought I set my alarm to 6:00 but I guess I forgot. So when it was 8:30 I sped out my bed, I even forgot to put on my bracelet you gave me." Mark sheepishly explained.

"I can tell you rushed, your hair isn't evenly gelled or parted. It's okay I got a small tub of gel in my bag and a comb." You said.

"Why would you have that in your bag?"

"Well, if I ever beat a bitch up but after I still wanna look cute or if I just look dusty and wanna fix up my hair orrrr situations where my best bud is late and didn't do his hair correctly such as this one." You explained, taking out your notebook.

"Hah, I love you y'know that?" Mark said looking at you fondly.

You paused a bit before replying, "I love you too."

─────────✰

[sorrinslays]

Hey it's me, the person who keeps bugging you about your headcanons lol. I really liked ur take on Seele and Sampo, even though you said you're not super familiar w her character! To me, they feel like they have a more outwardly hostile relationship similar to Kaeya and Amber from genshin (which i'm not sure if you've played or not lol) and so i agree with you on a lot of ur points! I'll try to stop after this, but if you have any headcanons for either Natasha or Serval and Sampo's potential relationships, I'm all ears!

Hi anon!!!!!! Don't worry, you're not bothering me at all! I love answering your asks!!!

I have played Genshin and, yeah, I can see the Kaeya&Amber comparison! It's pretty on point.

I don't really have aby headcannons per se, but I can give a small relationship analysis between the characters? Hope it's a good enough trade off!

So, Sampo came to Belobog a month or two before the Underworld was sealed in which he spent time just observing the city, trying to understand how it works so it's not obvious that he's an outsider. He educated himself on Belobogian history, traditions, language, slang and the like.

Then, the seal happened and, as a way to help the Underworlders without just barging into Natasha's orphanage and being like ' I know you know nothing about me and I just kind of spawned in here. Don't question it. I can help you'. No, he needed to build a name for himself first. So while he was starting up his scamming business he would leave bandages and medicine vials for the moles to find and give Natasha.

Of course, she realized that it's not a coincidence that medicine, something she needed, something that was hard to obtain, just spawning around for the moles to find. So tries and catch however is leaving the medicine, and that's how Sampo and Natasha met.

After that they started working together. Delivering Medicine bled into delivering medicine and intel until slowly a friendship was created.

I know a lot of people like to imagine Sampo and Natasha being close friends and 'oh Natasha can read Sampo like an open book' but personally that never really spoke to me?

The way I see it, it's a business casual friendship. An unlikely pair forming from having to work together due to circumstances. Natasha does care about him, but she can't trust him completely. She wants to, but Sampo isn't making it easy. She recognizes that he's not a bad person, but aside from that, everything around him is blurry. His origin, his thoughts, plans... there's no knowing unless you are Sampo Koski.

Sampo, although he's not a fan of the way she views the world, does want to help her. There have been talks about him officially joining Wildfire, but he always refused, never really explaining why. He wants to help Wildfire, and he does! It's just he always keeps his distance because he recognizes he doesn't belong there. Sampo Koski, the persona, the role, has no place with the heroes of the story, he's in it as a catalyst, not as a protagonist.

Bottomline is, the way I see it Natasha does want to be closer to Sampo to understand him better, but he's not letting her due to personal reasons. She never really persisted since she didn't have the chance to do so due to her responsibilities with the clinic and Wildfire.

And soon enough, now that the underworld and the overworld are united once more, she'll never have the chance since they'll be on different social statuses and Natasha, a hero in her own right, will stop working with Sampo, a criminal.

Serval on the other hand........

I don't have many thoughts. I kinda see them as people who got along but never were close friends. It's like a friend you see once every six months and have fun with. But not one that you go out of your way to get close with.

From Sampo's perspective the friendship had the benefit of watching Serval work and learning a few things by observing.

Now that the Overworld and the Underworld are connected I don't think Serval would ever go out of her way to find and hang out with Sampo. Like I said, it's not a friend you go out of your way to get close to.

As for relationships.... Boy do I have thoughts. It deserves its own post to be honest

[mikalame]

heyo! would you mind doing a manzini req? you can make this oneshot or hcs.. manzini is doing a music video(i've been listening 2 the balloon song), and reader is involved in it somehow? singing with him, dancing in the background, anything really!

tysm, keep up the good work! <3

My Girl

When Manzini came in to see who would be his 'love' interest and who he would be singing with, he had know idea it would be you, ___ his celebrity crush, the girl who he had been begging his manager to get on the set.

Once he relised that he was starting a bit hard he snapped out of it, shaking his head slightly and taking a few deep breaths he walked forward laying on the cool guy persona while inside his head he was freaking out.

Beofre he could even try and give himself a good first impression ___ quickly say "Oh you must be Manzini righ?, the guy whos been dieing to see me, its nice to meet you"

Manzinis face goes bright red clearly emmbarrsed that his manager would do this to him but he continues "hehe yeahh thats me Manzini" he chuckles rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"___, MANZINI, YOUR SEANCE IS COMING UP" the manager yells from across the studio.

After the sence shoot cuz i aint doing all that

The manager was droning on for what seemed like forever to Manzini, his eyes everywhere but the person he was supposed to be looking at, until his eyes caught ___ leaving the building.

Manzini got cut out of his thought when the managers voice bounced at him "Boy are you listening, did you hear what i said" the mans eyebrows furrow clearly pissed off.

"Huh yeah, um i have to go, see you later" He yelled running to the door he had seen the girl go out off moments before.

Manzini was running down the street looking for the girl he had seen, holding his pants up so they wouldnt trip him over, "where is she i just saw her" he says worry in his tone holding his hand over his eyes blocking out the sun so he could see better.

"Manzini, are you ok" a voice appears next to him, he quickly flicks his head around and low and behold its ___, her eyebrows knitted and worry etched on her face.

"___" he says breathless "thats my name dont wear it out ahahah" she laughs at her own joke, he chuckles at it as well.

"Hey um i dont know but um would you like to mabey go on a- a date sometime, you dont have to im sure your busy an all but uhm you know if your free or what ever" he stutters over his own words

"Yeah i would love to im free saterday if thats all right" she chips back excitement on her face now

"Yeah that- thats great um, could i have your number then to you know set a time and place" he says mirroring the same expression the girl has.

"Yeah, sure" she flips out her phone and dials in the number, handing the phone back to the boy before bidding her goodbye.

"Hope to see you soon" she calls out to him walking away, looking effortless and beautiful as always

"yeah you too ..." he trails off as he watches her walk away.

Hope you likeeee, balloon is ligit one of my fav songs at the moment, sorry its kinda sort as well

taglist: @violentnewmarley @saumspam

[yarrayora]

Fic author interview!

tagged by @carriagelamp and immediately interested in doing it after seeing the questions

tagging people who will be mentioned at question 12 alongside @mickeymagpie @unexbellexreverie and @booksandberries

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

112 surprisingly!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

235,399 words which is actually lower than i expected it kinda annoys me

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

if i didn't delete my rise of the brave tangled dragons and my voltron fics it would be them but i did. i deleted them. now my top 5 are all bsd fics

A Good Enough Reason to Keep Meeting Up (1,055 kudos) is part of Stray Gods series where the supernaturals are all real and Abilities came from them. This specific fic is about Chuuya and Atsushi's budding relationship. Or rather Chuuya's budding crush on Atsushi with malnourishment and chronic pain as the vessel to get there.

Money Makes the World Go Round (939 kudos) BSDxOuran crossover that is part of a collection of crossover fics about Atsushi attending high schools from different fandoms in order to attain the qualifications to enjoy the employment benefits his workplace has to offer. You can tell I'm old when that's my worldbuilding for writing high school AU

Moral Compass (923 kudos) the first installment of the Stray Gods series set post Dead Apple where unlocking his repressed memories about Shibusawa let the actual god Byakko to finally communicate with his Champion.

Delicate Job (791 kudos) A case fic written to explore Atsushi's role as a detective and how he would handle a case while prioritizing the victim's feelings unlike popular depictions of detectives where they use facts and logic to trample over people because the authors think that's what makes intelligent people cool

The God of Destruction Wished For Naught (752 kudos) the third installment of Stray Gods and a continuation of A Good Reason to Keep Meeting Up where Chuuya's body is falling apart, which could lead to Yokohama's destruction via blackhole, forcing Atsushi to make connections with the Port Mafia

I was a bit disappointed at first that my most kudos'd fic hasn't broken 2k kudos yet but seeing how my top 5 fics don't have a huge disparity between the amount of kudos makes me happy

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

yes! i don't always know how to reply but i especially makes the effort for people who leaves paragraphs on my fic. sometimes if i know the commenter i just reply on their discord lmao

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

oh that's hard. i have a lot of oneshots that are basically "and so, the cycle of suffering repeats yet again" and you'd think it would be the servampxbnha crossover where despite mahiru's best attempt to help deku get into UA even without a quirk so he will let go of his self-hatred for being born quirkless, in the end he receives One For All from All Might, undoing all the works mahiru-sensei has done to help deku but NO it's a bsd fic again that embodies this concept in the worst way possible as it's revealed that the event that happened in canon timeline was kickstarted by post-beast!atsushi who copes for his feelings for beast!dazai (both affection and hatred) by writing numerous worlds into existence to prove that dazai is a good man all along

wait. no. actually. the persona 5 fic where the phantom thieves deal with goro's sacrifice might be angstier considering this line

Akechi Goro was the only murder they ever committed, and in the years that follow never once would his name ever passed their lips. But he would always be at the edge of their vision, a ghost that they could never speak to.

or the birthday fic i wrote for the hunt twins where oz killed ewan who crawled back out of the cauldron to re-sacrifice himself so patchman won't survive???

or the big hero 6 fic where people are holding a funeral for personal health companion robots who carried a bunch of people out of a burning building??? repeating the word "Tadashi is Here" to people who never knew the man to comfort the terrified humans?

or the ben 10 fic where ben accidentally used too much force in his alien form resulting in his first murder and then repressing the memory??

it's impossible to make me choose

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

d-do i have a happy ending posted

actually im choosing the dragon age fic where cole accidentally made him saving the inquisitor from the envy demon sounds sexual which leads to hilarious results

7. Do you write crossovers?

yes and my non-crossover fics are actually stealth crossovers

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

i dont remember ever getting one

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

this is the question that actually made me want to do this interview. SO. be kiddie yarra during ff.net era. i was writing persona 4 fic where naoto says goodbye to souji. it was romantic. someone left a comment on my fic saying my writing got stolen and linked me to a naruto fic which made me go??? huh??? and turns out it was Word By Word the same fic but with souji being replaced as naruto, naoto as hinata, and the train station into konoha gate. it was insane.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

not on AO3 i think?? someone DID contact me to ask for my permission to translate my fic to russian but i don't remember the details

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

stray gods is written alongside @faerynova while @katzkinder helped with children's war. oh and also the Not Posted smtiva series written with @gothamcityneedsme

13. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

impossible to choose but i can tell you the very specific criterias that attract me to my ships if you want

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

usually when i abandon a fic i lose interest in it altogether

15. What are your writing strengths?

my bsd x ouran fic has been complimented as staying true to the characters even though im throwing ouran into a serious series like bsd and vice versa so i like to think it's my ability to keep the core of the characters true even when putting them in a different AU unrelated to canon. also writing convoluted political struggles that makes sense.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

grammar. but apparetly im also somehow better than a lot of native english speakers???

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

im writing in english, arent i? (lol)

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

persona 4. it was an talkshow styled interview fic

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet but want to?

don't have one as far as i can think of. i guess i want to write more of "how to make my notp make sense" and "characterxreader fic that doesn't sacrifice canon characterization" as a challenge for myself

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

the hope chapter of Despair (and Hope) because i had fun writing mahiru fixing mikuni through a persona 5 palace-like challenges except with zero fighting and more puzzle-solving

[kathyprior4200]

Hazbin Hotel Episode One: "Overture" Part 2 (Helluva Scribe Remake)

“Overture” Part 2

Charlie had never felt so humiliated in her life. She sat in her seat and curled into herself. Once again, her ideas were dismissed, mocked, ridiculed. No one was willing to see the good in themselves. The demons were content to wallow in suffering, violence, and cruelty until the end of their afterlives. Tears were already threatening to spill from her yellow eyes, but she held them in.

Maybe her father was right. What if she really was a failure, like everyone said?

As if reading her mind, Vaggie gave her a small hug. “You’re not a failure, Charlie. It’s just…no one understands your ideas. People think they’re…I don’t know…outlandish?”

She got a sad sigh from Charlie in response. “I just wanted to make things better for my people. I know I don’t feel much like a princess, but at the same time…I feel like it’s my duty…my destiny to being some cheer to this place.”

“Heh. No one can ever top your optimism,” Vaggie mentioned, with a playful roll of her orange eye. “Your happiness can be spotted miles away.”

A small smile formed on Charlie’s face. “Well, at least I can pull myself up and keep going…”

Vaggie stared, hopeful…

“…But today isn’t one of those days.”

Vaggie slumped slightly. “I did warn you not to sing.”

“I couldn’t help it,” she countered. “How else was I supposed to get my message across?”

“Not everyone likes singing and music all the time.”

“My family does.”

“But the other demons aren’t your family.”

Charlie stared out the window at the buildings whizzing by. “Sometimes I feel like my family is bigger than just my parents.” She turned to look at her girlfriend. “You’re my best friend, sorta like my sister…and the only one who seems to get me. You’re part of my family already.”

Vaggie chuckled softly. “Without me, you wouldn’t have lasted very long out in the big world.”

“For once, I agree with you there,” Charlie replied.

During several minutes of silence, the two demon girls locked hands just out of sight. It was their habitual way of showing comfort, and it worked on the many days when Vaggie didn’t want any hugs.

“Don’t get too discouraged,” Vaggie said. “We’ll get back to the hotel and figure things out from there.”

“I kinda feel like singing another lament now.”

“Please don’t.”

“Fine.”

The limo drove past the 666 Shop, the Nightmare Night Club, and an Evil Donuts store, complete with slime and worms displayed on the donut structure. Pink eyes decorated the ceiling of the car. Charlie curled into herself again and took a puff of breath. Even the painted eyes seemed to judge her every move. She glanced over at Vaggie, whose eye was twitching in annoyance.

Angel Dust was busy playing with the button, making the car window go up and down, up and down. He froze when he saw an angry Vaggie staring at him.

“What?” Angel Dust asked with a shrug.

“What? What?!” Vaggie shouted, pulling out chunks of her long white hair. “What were you doing?!”

Angel Dust sighed. “Aw come on! I owed my girl buddy a solid! Isn’t that a ‘redeeming quality?’ Helping friends with stuff?”

“Not with turf wars that result in mass murder and destruction!” Vaggie replied.

“Eh, you win some, you lose a few hundred,” he said with a snicker. “It wasn’t that bad anyway.”

He propped up his long legs and pushed the window button again. Vaggie tossed a dagger at the button, and it fizzed out in a shower of sparks. Angel Dust stared, shocked and terrified. Vaggie growled in warning.

“Aw come on, I had to!” Angel Dust protested. “My credibility was on the line!” He sighed. “I mean what kind of reputation would I have of people found out I was trying to go clean? It just throws out my entire persona.” He lifted up his furry chest for emphasis.

“Your credibility?” Vaggie asked in anger. “What about the hotel? Your little stunt made us look like a fucking joke!”

“No, no no, babe. Jokes are funny! I made you look…uh, sad. And pathetic! Like an orphan, with no arms. Or legs. Uh…oh with progeria!” Charlie covered her face with her hair as Angel Dust blabbered on.

“Great! Now I’m bummed just thinking about it! This thing have any liquor?” He bent down to the floor and tossed a bottle aside. He then flicked a wrapper away onto a seat.

Vaggie was fuming. “Can you please just try to take this seriously?”

“Fine, I’ll try. Just don’t get your taco in a twist, baby.”

Vaggie stood up with hands on her hips. “Was that you trying to be sexist or racist?”

“Whatever pisses you off more. Is there seriously no liquor in here?”

“I’m gonna kill him,” Vaggie swore, crossing her arms and sitting back down.

“Too, late, toots. Wait, would that make me double dead?” He laughed slowly and loudly. “And where exactly do I go? To double Hell?”

He laughed again. “You’re stuck with me, bitch. Get used to it.”

Vaggie swore in Spanish. “Eat shit, bastard.”

“Listen, who cares if some jagoffs got hurt?” Angel Dust nonchalantly asked. “Most of them are ugly freaks. Look around! Got a bunch of fuckin’ harlequin babies down there.”

“You’re one to talk,” Vaggie muttered with a small smirk.

Angel Dust then yelled “Hey!” in protest. “This body is flawless! Everyone wants some of me and I’ve got the creepy fan letters to prove it!”

He pulled out a dirty piece of paper from his chest that read: “Show me your feet! Brandon. #1 fan/critic.” There was a picture of a young Angel Dust in the lap of a naked fat green man, licking Angel Dust with his green tongue. He had a tattoo of Angel Dust with a red crossed out sign.

This time, Charlie spoke up. “That was really uncool, ya know, Angel.”

Vaggie growled and turned to her friend. “Uncool?!” She mentioned to Angel Dust. “After that train-wreck, there is no way anyone is gonna wanna stay at the hotel.” She turned to the spider. “All thanks to you and your selfish bullshit!”

Angel Dust glanced at a discarded pile of ash and used cigarettes. “Does this mean I don’t get a free room anymore?”

Vaggie spread out her hands as if asking “Well, what do you think?”

He let out a mock sigh and snap. “Ah, well, shucks.”

Charlie pulled off her dark pink jacket, revealing a white shirt with a black bowtie.

“Hey, come on, we don’t know if things are over yet. Try to relax, Vaggie. It’ll be okay!”

Now it was Vaggie’s turn to let out a small smile of thanks. Charlie placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and her friend calmed down.

“What would I do without you?” Vaggie asked. She and Charlie slowly leaned into each other, their heads gently touching.

“Get a room, girls!” Angel Dust remarked, before receiving a “Shut up!” from both of them.

Finally, the crew arrived at the Happy Hotel. It was a good enough building fit for any demon who wanted to stay a few nights. Eye catching on the outside, but messy on the inside. Eye designs lined the border of a dark pink circus canopy at the front like a creepy mosaic. Branches jutted out from the roof as part of the structure. Old fashioned lanterns attached to the wall had flames flickering inside, nonstop. The double doors consisted of stained-glass windows with red apples in the center. Little stained glass snake eyes peered unblinkingly at them from around the larger window in the door.

Angel Dust, Vaggie, and Charlie got out of the car and threw open the double doors. A random black bug scurried away from the incoming light. A yellow sign read “Concierge” behind a pink “welcome” banner. The check in table was decorated with colored flags leaning toward the floor and random balloons with small star shapes on them. A vase was decorated with yellow eyes along the sides. Another flowerpot was in the shape of a human mouth…white flowers posed above. Vaggie sighed and plopped onto a red cushioned couch in the style of a monster’s mouth.

The red rug down the hallway was decorated with the same eyeball designs, apples on the end, plus shadow skulls of horned monsters in the center.

All around the room, were pictures of Charlie as a little girl with her father and mother on various trips. One picture showed her and Vaggie in front of a castle at Loo-Loo World, Hells’ version of Disney World.

Angel Dust came across a red fridge leaning low against the wall. He opened the door and pulled out a purple box labeled “Popsies.” He shrugged at the dripping ruined box and took out a popsicle. He gave it a lick.

“It’s prolly a good idea to get some actual food in this place. Y’know, to feed all the wayward souls ya got in here.” He laughed nervously, trying to cheer Charlie up. But Charlie just sat sadly on a wooden box in a darkened area of the room. Angel Dust closed the fridge door, sucked on a popsicle and reached out one of his arms to her…then hesitated. He walked away, letting Charlie have some alone time.

Charlie walked past the two posing elephant statues balancing balls on their trunks, and toward the front door. She opened the door and went outside. Holding out her purple cell phone, (or “Hell Phone, hah, get it?”) she pressed an icon with the word “Mom” decorated with horns and pointed tails on the m’s.

Charlie took a deep breath as a voicemail tone came through.

“Hey Mom. Um, I know I keep calling, and you must be busy. Really busy. But, um…the interview didn’t go well and…I don’t know if I’m going to make a difference. I don’t know what I’m doing. I could really use some advice, Mom.”

She slid down and sat on the stone ground, tears falling from her eyes. She wiped some away with her arm. “I think Dad was…right about me. A-anyway, I’ll stop talking before this gets too long. Love you! Bye.”

She ended the call with a tap and rubbed her eyes with her hand. Standing back up, she opened the door, closed it, and leaned against the stained-glass window, eyes closed.

What was she supposed to do now?

A slow ominous knocking from outside interrupted Charlie’s thoughts. She opened her eyes.

Knock. Knock, knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock.

It was a rhythmic knock, sounding like “shave and a haircut.”

 An ice cold feeling of dread spread through her veins. No other demon would ever do that kind of knock.

Unless…

She tentatively reached out her hand to the door handle, and quickly pulled it open.

Sure enough, the most feared demon in Hell was standing right outside her door, a few shadowy heads with glowing eyes peering through the doorway curiously.

He stood towering over her, wearing an elegant dark red dress coat that had tatters near the bottom. Light red vermilion strips were vertical along the dress coat. His bright red undershirt was decorated with a black upside down cross. His pants were burgundy in color, his shoes black with red deer tracks on the soles. A wine-colored bow tie was over his undershirt. He wore burgundy-colored gloves over his four clawed fingers, with red tips and knuckles. A fluffy red and black deer tail was hidden under the lower part of his dress coat.

It was his face that unsettled Charlie right away. His skin was ashen gray, scars across his chest concealed beneath his clothes. Small black antlers stood on his head between large red and black tuffs shaped like deer ears. The tips of his tuffs were black as where the ends of his red hair by his chin. His eyes were large and glowed red, taking up much of his face. He grinned, showing a wide set of sharp yellow teeth. A monocle rested under his right eye. A red vintage microphone staff was in his left hand. A radio buzz sounded when his demonic eyes lit up. His eyes already appeared to be teasing her, mocking her after her humiliation on the news and her sad phone call.

Charlie’s eyes turned as wide as saucers; her face full of fear.

The man began to speak in a radio-filtered voice, holding up a finger.

“Hell…”

Charlie slammed the door in his face.

She opened the door…

“looo!”

She slammed it again.

The man stood, shocked in front of the stained-glass door, smile still plastered on his face, hand and curved claw in the air.

“Hey, Vaggie?” Charlie called.

“What?” Vaggie replied in annoyance on the couch, hand on her forehead.

Charlie flashed a nervous smile. “The Radio Demon is at the door!”

“What?!” she demanded.

“Uh, who?” Angel Dust asked. He sucked erotically on his popsicle.

“What should I do?” Charlie asked, pulling at her lower eyelids.

“Well, don’t let him in!” exclaimed Vaggie.

Charlie was tempted to do just that. But she also had a duty to not leave any Sinners behind. She took a breath, eyes furrowed and opened the door again.

“May I speak now?” the red demon asked.

“You may…” Charlie replied.

The man held out his gloved hand which briefly glowed. “Alastor, pleasure to be meeting you, sweetheart, quite a pleasure!”

He eagerly grabbed her wrist and leaned his face close to hers, noses almost touching before strutting inside. Charlie stood, dumbfounded, her hand still out.

Alastor was born Creole in New Orleans around the early 1900s. He was very close to his African American mother who taught him how to cook, sew, dance, and do voodoo rituals. In contrast, his white Christian father hardly paid any attention to him. Although, his father did teach him how to hunt and do taxidermy. Alastor as a human had brown skin, short brown hair and brown eyes, glasses, a bright smile always on his face.

Alastor was different from many kids his age. He dreamed of playing in a jazz band and performing on stage... and did so for a period of time. But being a man of color, he had it difficult since the beginning. He applied for music and radio jobs, always being turned down and shooed away. Racist remarks became daily background noise, almost impossible to ignore. Alastor’s father would frequently give him black eyes and harsh beatings. Several tragic events happened, including his father raping him and beating his mother. He almost sent Alastor to rot away in an asylum. When his mother died during the Spanish Flu of 1918, he was devastated…he was even forced to bury her himself.

Alastor eventually became a radio host and serial killer. After his father threatened to divorce the family, Alastor killed him with a gun and ate his remains. Alastor mostly killed men who were racist or were criminals. Knives, axes, guns, he used them all. He made a vow to himself to not harm women or children when possible. After killing off several higher ups, he managed to form his own radio studio and became the most famous radio host in Louisiana. Jambalaya, deer meat, black coffee…and human flesh were always on his menu.

Alastor basked in his fame and wealth, even meeting blonde dapper performer Mimzy, who was head over heels for him. But Alastor didn’t want to be tied down to anyone. On the air, he would talk about the murders, play jazz music and tell dad jokes. “Your Never Fully Dress Without A Smile” was his favorite song to play. Alastor enjoyed the Stock Market Crash of 1929, but soon found himself running out of food. Thus, he resorted to cannibalism for survival. No one suspected him until 1933. He got bitten by a rabies dog and ran through the woods. Alastor soon died a brutal death after being shot in the head by a hunter and mauled by police dogs at the same time.

 “Excuse my sudden visit,” he told Charlie, “but I saw your fiasco on a picture show and I just couldn’t resist. What a performance!” Clapping sounds came from the microphone. He raised his arms before walking forward. “Why I haven’t been that entertained since the Stock Market Crash of 1929!”

He bobbed his head side to side and burst into laughter. “So many orphans!”

“Stop right there!”

Vaggie suddenly pointed a spear weapon at him, Alastor freezing like a deer in the headlights. She swore in Spanish under her breath. “Rabies son of a bitch! I know your game. And I’m not gonna let you hurt anyone else here, you pompous, cheesy, talk show bastard!”

Angel Dust peeked around the corner to see what was going on.

Alastor merely chuckled slightly and nudged the weapon away with his fingers.

“Dear, if I wanted to hurt anyone here…”

He added in a low creepy tone, his mouth not moving, “I would have done so already.”

His red eyes briefly turned to red radio dials as radio static filled the room. He tilted his head slightly, letting his chaotic magic roam. Vaggie and Charlie were frozen in fear as they caught glimpses of red Voodoo symbols, static, and warped reality.

Then just as quickly, the noise and magic ceased and Alastor shook his head, eyes back to full red. His eyes had briefly been black with red pupils.

“No, I’m here because I want to help!” He bowed.

Charlie was sure she hadn’t heard him right.

“Say what now?” she asked, eyebrows raised.

“Help!” he responded with another laugh. He held up his microphone staff.

“Hello? Is this thing on? Testing, testing…”

He tapped it and a glowing red eye appeared in the center.

“Well, I heard you loud and clear!” the microphone responded in a radio voice, eye shaking in fear.

“Um…you want to help?” Charlie asked.

Alastor appeared behind the demon girls, hands on their backs, switching from a shadow to his regular self. Both Vaggie and Charlie flinched.

“With…” he mentioned in an imitation of Charlie’s higher voice…

“…this ridiculous thing you’re trying to do!” finishing in his normal voice. “This hotel!”

Charlie could hear the call bell ding twice on the table, even though no one was there to ring it.

“I want to help you run it.”

“Uh…why?” Charlie asked, confused.

Alastor laughed again. “Why does anyone do anything? Sheer absolute boredom!”

 He curled up his fingers before dramatically putting his hands up to his cheeks. He then moved off to the side. “I’ve lacked inspiration for decades!”

He placed his elbow on an annoyed Vaggie’s head, tilting his head on hers. Then he shoved the moth demon aside.

 “My work became mundane, lacking focus…aimless! I’ve come to crave a new form of entertainment!”

He laughed again, tilting his head back.

Charlie looked downcast as Vaggie stood up with a scowl. “Does getting into a fist fight with a reporter count as entertainment?”

Alastor laughed again. “It’s the purest kind, my dear! Reality! True passion! After all, the world is a stage! And the stage is a world of entertainment!”

He smiled and titled his head, after making crawling motions with his fingers.

Charlie brightened a bit. “So, does this mean that you think it’s possible to rehabilitate a demon?”

Alastor held up a dismissive hand and laughed. “Of course not. That’s wacky nonsense! Redemption, oh the non-existent humanity! Nononono, I don’t think there’s anything left that could save such loathsome Sinners!”

He grinned at a glaring Vaggie and Angel who sat on the couch and shrugged.

 He continued. “The chance given was the life they lived before; the punishment is this!”

 He spread out his arms, Angel looking at the front. “There is no undoing what is done!”

“So then, why do you want to help me if you don’t believe in my cause?” Charlie asked.

Alastor smirked from the side and looked at Charlie over his shoulder.

“Consider it an investment in ongoing entertainment for myself!”

Briefly making a “come hither” motion, he pulled Charlie close to him with his arm and twirled her in a quick dance.“I want to watch the scum of the world struggle to climb up the hill of betterment! Only to repeatedly trip and tumble down into the fiery pit of failure.” His eyes glowed red in pleasure, voice lower.

“Right…” Charlie began, slowly removing his clawed hand from her shoulder.

Alastor took her aside for a walk. “Yes indeedy! I see big things coming your way, and who better to help than I.”

“Ah, so uh, what’s the deal with Smiles over there?” Angel Dust asked Vaggie.

“Wait, you’ve never heard of her before?” Vaggie asked, surprised. “You’ve been here longer than me!”

Angel Dust shrugged his shoulders.

“The Radio Demon, one of the most powerful beings Hell has ever seen?” Vaggie asked.

“Eh, I’m not too big on politics,” Angel Dust replied.

Vaggie let out an annoyed sigh before leaning in close to explain.

“Decades ago, Alastor manifested in Hell, seemingly overnight. He began to topple Overlords who had been dominant for centuries. That kind of raw power has never been harnessed by a mortal soul before. Then, he broadcast his carnage all throughout Hell, just so everyone could witness his ability. Sinners started calling him The Radio Demon. (As lazy as that is). Many have speculated what unimaginable force enabled him to rival our world’s most ancient and destructive evils. But one thing’s for sure: He’s an unpredictable source of danger, a wicked spirit of mystery, and a violent monster of chaos, the likes of which we cannot risk getting involved with, unless we want to end up erased.”

Flashes of Alastor in his full demon form, a giant red wendigo-like being with branching black antlers, glowing red eyes, a long lavender tongue, sharp teeth, and long dark claws, appeared on screen. He grinned as he hovered his claws over the demonic faces of voodoo imps and minions. His dress coat revealed a flaming hole where screaming demons struggled to escape.

“Ya done?” Angel Dust asked with a snicker. “He looks like a strawberry pimp!”

Alastor conjured his staff into his hand with a smug look.

“Well, I don’t trust him!” Vaggie exclaimed.

To be fair, do you trust any man? Any men? Men?” Angel Dust asked with a slight laugh.

Vaggie ignored him and walked up in front of her friend.

“Charlie, listen to me. You can’t believe this creep! He isn’t just a happy face! He’s a dealmaker, pure evil! He can’t be redeemed! And is most likely looking for a way to destroy everything we’re trying to do.”

“I…” Charlie began. “…we don’t know that. Look…I know he’s bad, and I know he probably doesn’t wanna change, but the whole point of this is to give people a chance! To have faith things will be better! How can I turn someone away? I can’t. It goes against everything I’m trying to do. Everything I believe in.”

Alastor stared in fascination at a family picture on the wall. It showed Lucifer dressed in a white suit, Lilith in a dark purple dress, and Charlie as a little girl wearing a brown and white dress in the middle. The picture border consisted of branches and yellow eyeballs and a dried rose in the upper right-hand corner.

“Just trust me,” Charlie added, placing comforting hands on her girlfriend’s shoulders, “I can take care of myself.”

Charlie,” warned Vaggie, “Whatever you do, do not make a deal with him!”

From a distance, Alastor opened up the palm of one hand, claws curled. Both girls glanced in his direction, worry on their faces.

“I’ll have these two in the palm of my hand…” thought Alastor.

“Don’t worry,” Charlie replied to Vaggie with a chuckle. “I picked up one thing from my Dad…”

She spoke in a manly voice as she walked away, “’Ya don’t take shit from other demons!’”

Gathering her courage, Charlie marched over to the Radio Demon.

“Ok, so…Al. You’re sketchy as hell, and you clearly see what I’m trying to do here is a joke. But I don’t.”

Red Voodoo symbols to bind the prepared deal appeared around a grinning Alastor, then vanished. Charlie glanced back at him with narrowed eyes.

Charlie continued. “I think everyone deserves a chance to prove they can be better. So, I’m taking your offer to help. On the condition that there be no tricks or voodoo strings attached.” She emphasized with a brief wiggling of her fingers.

Alastor twirled his cane and held out his right hand. “So, it’s a deal then?”

Flashes of eerie green light surrounded the two, electricity snaking up the walls. Shadows swirled around the room, and everyone covered their faces at the force of the wind.

“Nope!” Charlie yelled, holding out her hands. The energy stopped and light returned to the room. “No shaking! No deals! I…hmm…”

Charlie decided to try another approach.

“As princess of Hell, and heir to the throne, I uh, hereby order that you help with this hotel, for a long as you desire.”

A moment of pause…

“Sound fair?” she asked.

“Hmm…Fair enough.” Alastor shrugged before he strolled away, his cane vanishing. Charlie's verbal agreement had allowed him instant freedom to pursue his mischievous schemes. It would be a treat to eventually break Charlie down...then she'd have to accept his deal.

 “Cool beans.” Charlie breathed a sigh of relief and even did a thumbs up.

Alastor stopped and spotted Vaggie off to the side. He smirked in a way outside observers would describe as lecherous. He tickled her under her chin with a finger.

“Smile, my dear! You know you’re never fully dressed without one!”

Alastor hummed happily on his way, while Vaggie growled in disgust and rage.

“So…where is your hotel staff?” Alastor asked Charlie, leaning in.

“Uh, well…” Charlie began. Alastor peered at a glaring Vaggie through his monocle. “Oh ho ho ho, you’re going to need more than that.”

He strode over towards Angel Dust.

“And what can you do, my effeminate fellow?”

Angel Dust grinned. “I can suck your dick!”

A screech was heard as Alastor stared in shock and revulsion.

“Ha! No.” Alastor deadpanned.

“Your loss,” Angel Dust said with a grin. Alastor summoned his staff again.

“Well, this just won’t do!” Alastor exclaimed. “I suppose I can cash in a few favors to liven things up!”

Alastor snapped his fingers and a fire sparked to life in a small circular fireplace. Animal skeletons decorated either side of the wall, fully repaired.

A dark figure plopped down onto the chimney floor.

Alastor walked over and picked up the ashen creature with his hand. A large single yellow eye was revealed. Angel Dust, Vaggie, and Charlie peered at the creature. In a puff of smoke and a squeak, the creature revealed herself. A cute cyclops girl was wearing a dark pink skirt with a poodle on the front, and a white shirt with pink paint stains. Her hair was magenta and short with a streak of yellow. White spots were on the left side of her skirt. Her single yellow eye took up most of her face.

“This little darling is Niffty!” Alastor introduced with a smile, before dropping her. The girl landed on her feet.

“Hi! I’m Niffty!” she greeted with a wave. “It’s nice to meet you! It’s been a while since I’ve made new friends!” She laughed slightly as her pupil grew smaller, darting in circles.

“Why are you all women?” she asked. She darted over and lifted Charlie up before putting her down. Vaggie growled, aiming her spear at the newcomer.

“Are there any men here?! I’m sorry, that’s rude.” She missed the fact that Alastor and Angel Dust were male, for obvious reasons.

 “Oh man, this place is filthy!” she exclaimed, running around and lifting up couch cushions. “It really needs a ladies’ touch, which is weird, because you’re all women, no offence.” She chewed on a black spider she found, then rushed toward some stained-glass windows.

She darted around, using a dust ruffle to clean them, removing spider webs. “Oh my gosh, this is awful! No, no, no…Nope!”

Niffty raced around, removing cobwebs, then poked at a piece of a voodoo doll. Well, it was actually a blue beetle doll that Alastor had stabbed with a clothing pin for her to play with. Niffty turned and exclaimed, “Oh my goodness, a dirty rat!” She dashed over, scooped up the dark grey creature and popped it into her mouth rapidly. Rows of her sharp teeth were visible. Strained squeaks mingled with rapid chewing sounds. “I bet there’s tons of them under this place, I’ll be sure to get more! I can kill dozens of them in a day!”

Alastor looked amused, while the others stared in disbelief. Niffty had been a Japanese chimney sweeper woman who died in a fireplace in the 1950s.

Meanwhile, at a casino, a cat demon placed a joker, an ace, a 2, and a fourth card down on the table. He had black and white fur, a fluffy chest, wore a black top hat and had red wings with card suits decorated on them. He also had long red eyebrows and wore a large red bow tie.

“Ha!” he declared in triumph. “Read ‘em and weep, boys!”

He suddenly felt himself being forcefully pulled out of the room through space and time.

 “Full…whoa!”

He ducked as a curtain of red energy surrounded the existing space. Voodoo symbols flashed in the background along with eight yellow eyes, a creepy voodoo skull and a purple skeleton of a worm-like creature. Another voodoo skull with horns appeared for a moment not too far from tan ghost-like spirits with creepy faces and a row of jagged teeth.

The cat demon figured he must have had too much booze to drink.

“…the hell?”

As the images faded, he soon found himself at the hotel bar, not in the previous room at the casino. A large “Come and Play Blackjack” sign took up much of the wall behind him. Most peculiar, the gray wood walls were missing halfway up, replaced by the red themed décor of the hotel. He was sitting in a portion of the casino he was in. It felt like he was in a house with no roof, surrounded by the outside world.

“What the fuck is this?”

He glared at the group and then saw Alastor, pointing an accusing claw.

“You!”

“Ah, Husker, my good friend!” Alastor cheerfully greeted as audience claps came from the microphone. “Glad you could make it!”

Alastor’s head briefly had the appearance of large antlers sticking out from either side. When he moved it, it was revealed to be an antler skull with glowing green eyes hanging in the background. Snakes were wrapped around one of the pillars supporting a bar stand. “Big Booze,” “Welcome” and “Big Soul” signs were placed overhead on the stand. Neon green card suits consisted of the designs at the bottom of the stand.

Husk had been born in Nevada and grew up in a casino. He enjoyed gambling, drinking, money, and magic shows. He had died at age 75 in the 1970s via drinking overdose.

“Don’t you “Husker” me, you son of a bitch!” Husk spat, swiping Alastor’s hand away from his shoulder. “I was about to win the whole damn pot!”

Husk stared in anger as the stacks of money and chips on the table vanished in static.

“Good to see you too!” added Alastor.

Husk face palmed. “What the fuck do you want with me this time?”

Alastor grabbed hold of him in a side hug, startling him so much that cards fell from his hands.

“My friend, I am doing some charity work, so I took it upon myself to volunteer your services! I hope that’s okay.”

Husk was taken aback. “Are you shittin’ me?!”

“Hmm. No, I don’t think so!” Alastor replied.

Husk shoved the Radio Demon off him, the latter casually dusting off his red sleeves. He puffed up his black and white fur in anger, his cat ears twitching. “You thought it would be some kind of big fuckin’ riot just to pull me outta nowhere? You think I’m some kinda fuckin’ clown?”

“Maybe,” Alastor grinned.

Audience laughter emitted from the microphone.

“I ain’t doin’ no fuckin’ charity job,” Husk protested.

Alastor appeared next to him, startling the cat. “Well, I figured you would be the perfect face to man the front desk of this fine establishment.”

He pointed toward the bar stand with the staff as clapping was heard again.

“With your charming smile and welcoming energy…”

Alastor spread the corners of Husk’s mouth upward into a demonic smile of yellow teeth. Husk frowned seconds after Alastor let go of his mouth.

“…this job was made for you!”

Alastor strutted over toward the bar stand, the soles of his black shoes revealing red hoof prints as he walked.

“Don’t worry, my friend,” Alastor continued, “I can make this more welcoming…if you wish.”

With a curve of his fingers, a green bottle of cheap booze appeared on the counter.

Husk stared with wide eyes, suddenly very thirsty. He swore he could hear the sound of a slot machine.

“What, you think you can buy me with a wink and some cheap booze?!” He took the bottle in anger. “Well you can!”

He immediately guzzled it down and walked away.

“Too easy,” thought Alastor.

By this time, Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel Dust had arrived to see what the commotion was about. Vaggie rushed toward the bar, furious.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey!” yelled the moth demon. “No, no bar, no alcohol. This is supposed to be a place that discourages sin! Not some kind of…brothel, man-cave!”

Angel Dust lunged himself into her, knocking her to the floor.

“Shut up! Shut! Up! We are keeping this.” He pointed at Husk with multiple gloved fingers.

He slid up to Husk. “Hey,” he said in a flirtatious voice.

“Go fuck yourself,” Husk deadpanned, drinking his booze.

“Only if you watch me,” Angel Dust retorted, with a sway of his butt and hips.

To make matters worse for Husk, Charlie leaned in close to him, excitement and red stars in her eyes.

“Oh my gosh! Welcome to the Happy Hotel! You are going to love it here!”

“I lost the ability to love years ago,” Husk replied, gulping down more booze.

Alastor walked in, an ever-present grin on his face.

“So, what do you think?”

Charlie ran over to him. “This is amazing!” she beamed, rubbing her cheeks. Alastor blinked rapidly in appreciation.

“It’s okay,” Vaggie grumbled from nearby, arms crossed.

Alastor laughed and pulled the two girls close to him. “This is going to be very entertaining!” His laughter was mixed with old radio sounds and static.

Alastor conjured fire in his hand…Charlie stared in wonder at the flames and the voodoo symbols. He pushed Vaggie aside and changed his attire.

He soon wore a fancy red suit with a white undershirt and a black bow tie. A red top hat appeared on his head, complete with small spikes along the black band and two needles sticking out from the top. He twirled Charlie around in a dance, the princess looking stunned. Pointing his finger over her head, he transformed Charlie’s outfit. Her blonde hair was now short and wavy. She wore an elegant black and pink dress, black gloves, a pink hat with a small black bow and black heels. She looked like a dapper lady from the early 20th century. The bottom half of her dress was pink, while her round hat was mostly the same color.

Charlie stared at her conjured clothing in amazement.

Vaggie was on the floor, fuming.

Alastor picked Charlie up and threw her into the air. She yelped in delight and landed gracefully next to him. Two glowing apples and a skull with deer horns flashed in the background.

Reality had been altered to the Radio Demon’s liking. The entire room was lit in psychedelic colors. Voodoo symbols and shapes were etched in every nook and cranny, including a pair of pink claws reaching for the door. Alastor and Charlie waltzed in the spotlight as electro swing music began to play in the distance. The all-encompassing noise, though, was the signature radio-static sound.

Alastor sang his reprise to Charlie:

“You have a dream You wish to tell And it’s so laughable But hey kid, what the hell!”

Charlie found herself sliding down what was the staircase moments ago. Alastor led the way as they held hands. They landed on the lower floor as Alastor continued his reprise. Deer statues and painted antlers were everywhere.

Back at the bar stand, Husk sat looking bored. Vaggie hissed at Angel Dust grabbing onto her shoulder, while Niffty stared in wonder. Alastor snapped his fingers and their outfits changed as well.

Angel was wearing a neon pink suit, Husk a pink bow tie, Vaggie a dark dress, with her hair now smooth and long, and finally Niffty, with a dress and a cute top hat with small flowers.

“‘Cause you’re one of a kind A charming demon belle! Now let’s give these burning fools a place to dwell (Take it, boys!)”

Alastor snapped his fingers once more and shadowy imps rose to life from a hole in the ground. The happy spirits played a trumpet, a tuba, and a drum set. Charlie snapped her fingers to the beat, while Vaggie watched with worry. She reached out to her friend but was pulled away by Alastor. He enveloped the group into a tight hug, followed by glowing images of dark spirits staring at them. While Husk, Vaggie and Angel Dust looked on in terror, Niffty watched in amazement, like she had seen it all before.

Alastor pulled Husk and Angel Dust close again. He rubbed Angel Dust’s head with a white hat and went on his merry way. He pulled a strand from one of Husk’s red eyebrows. Husk flipped him the bird as he left.

Vaggie stood, annoyed in the spotlight. Using his cane, Alastor added a feathered peacock hat and a white fox fur scarf to her outfit. Then out of nowhere, he slapped her butt.

“Pompous pervert!” Vaggie thought in rage as he wandered away with a smirk, throwing down her hat. Alastor danced some more, kicking a horned skull to the side. In the background, Niffy happily swept up the bits of bone.

“Inside of every demon is a lost cause But we’ll dress ‘em up now with just a smile! (With a smile!) And we’ll chlorinate this cesspool With some old redemption flair And show these simpletons some proper class and style! (What’s in style? Oh!)”

He made his way to the circular fireplace, where he waved his staff. Shadows arrived to join the party, including a shadowy version of himself, with large antlers and fangs: Rotsala. The shadow grinned a blue grin at him, before making it disappear in a poof. He then led Charlie in an upbeat dance, spinning her around, helping her match her steps to his. Their noses almost touched. Charlie blushed when he toyed with her cheeks. As Charlie was led away, Vaggie stood in the background, horrified and disgusted. What was happening to her friend?

Charlie and Alastor laughed as they danced, the princess locked in a happy trance. She could almost see the sparkling romantic themed bubbles in the background.

“Here below the ground I’m sure your plan is sound! They’ll spend a little time Down at this Hazbin Ho…”

Alastor was about to finish his song, when an explosion burst apart a window behind him. The force caused the door to blow off and fly straight into little Niffty’s face, sending her flying back. “Ow! I’m okay!” she called from a distance.

Soon the colors were back to normal and so were everyone’s outfits. The group peered out from the hole, Alastor craning his neck. The group went out onto the path and spotted a flying blimp. Sir Pentious poked his head out from an opening in the ship, fangs bared.

“Ha!” the snake inventor laughed. “Well, well, well, look who it is harboring the striped freak!” he called, mentioning to the white spider demon. “We meet again, Alastor!”

Alastor merely asked with a smug look, “Do I know you?”

Sir Pentious’ face fell before he grew angry. “Oh yes you do!” He slithered back into his seat. “And this time I have the element of…surprise!”

He pulled a lever and a cannon lowered to the ground.

“I’m so evil!” he declared with maniacal laughter as the cannon fired up.

Alastor snapped his fingers, red tendrils of smoke rising from his hand. The weapon froze in mid fire and a fiery portal opened up below the blimp. Pink smoke filled the air.

A horde of black tendrils rose from the hole, latching onto the ship. One tentacle ripped off the cannon and threw it into another smaller portal, causing it to explode in pink smoke. One of the tentacles had already smashed a hole in the large round window.

Sir Pentious looked on in shock as his Egg Boiz slammed against the wall (one of them read #Ouch.) One of the eggs cracked open, spilling out yellowish brains and small organs among the stains of yolk. Sir Pentious and another minion were thrown against the wall.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” he screamed before he was slammed against the ceiling by a black limb.

“Ow, that hurt!” he cried.

Sir Pentious screamed as he was forcefully dragged along the floor and lifted up slightly. He was held in place, surrounded by the wrapped up tendril. At once, the tendril shrunk and squeezed the helpless snake. The Egg Boiz ran around frantically.

From the outside, more black tendrils were closing in. Red voodoo symbols appeared around the blimp.

Four horned shadowy spirits with red auras floated around, wearing toothy grins.

The tendrils were now wrapped around the entire blimp, holding it in place like thick black vines.

Red radio waves filled Alastor’s eyes as he curled his fingers inward. The sky vanished, replaced with red. Hovering red voodoo symbols appeared all around him as he altered the state of reality. Radio static consumed the air.

The vines thickened and completely enclosed the blimp. The spirits swooped around it in excitement, with echoing shrieks. The aura around the tendrils glowed a fiery yellow, the same color as the portal rim.

Alastor closed his four-fingered hand which began to glow. A red drop of blood fell from his glowing hand. The tendrils proceeded to crush the blimp. Pink rays of light shot from the center and the blimp exploded in a loud BOOM!

Pink smoke spread everywhere as the spirits sped away. The tendrils broke into severed bloody pieces that rained down to the ground. Alastor smiled victoriously, while behind them, the group of five stared in utter terror and shock. (Save for Niffty who had a small smile on her face).

“Well, I’m starved!” Alastor exclaimed, turning around to face the group. Who wants some jambalaya?” He spread his arms out before leading the way back to the hotel. “My mother once showed me a wonderful recipe for jambalaya! In fact, it nearly killed her!”

He laughed. “You could say the kick was straight out of Hell!” he added while laughing at his own joke. “Oh, I’m on a roll!”

The others followed him back.

Charlie and Niffty smiled while Husk, Angel Dust, and Vaggie looked on with concern. Niffty scurried around Alastor with a look of admiration. Angel Dust blew Husk a kiss, which earned the druggie demon a glare from the gambler. Charlie turned to Vaggie excitedly. Vaggie reluctantly went along with Charlie’s idea, even giving her a small supporting smile. As long as Charlie was happy, then Vaggie was alright, too.

From up above, the hotel looked like a mashed-up haunted house. An old dark train was perched on a balcony, with some monstrous faces carved in. A ship, reminiscent of the Titanic, was leaning upwards against the building as part of the structure. An old carousel served as part of the upper balcony and windows. Skull designs decorated the small windows in a row. Finally, on top of a giant yellow eye, was the sign “Happy Hotel” supported by pillars of worn wood. 

Alastor continued, “Yes sir! This is the start of some real changes down here! The game is set! Now…”

He glanced up and pointed his finger toward the sign. Pink electricity shot out and made contact with the sign.

The sign now read “Hazbin Hotel.”

“Stay tuned,” he finished with a low sinister laugh.

Back at the crater, smoke took the faces of demons and rose into the air. Broken egg minions littered the ground. One minion rubbed his head. With a shaking arm, Sir Pentious lifted himself up from the gaping hole, fangs shattered, eye swollen.

“Now will you shoot me with your ray gun?” asked the minion.

Sir Pentious face-planted on the ground in response.

0 0 0

One week later, Charlie sat solemnly on a long red couch in the Hazbin Hotel, gazing out the window. There were a few pillows next to her, one with a gold eye design. Her suit and pants matched the red color of the couch, though her undershirt was white, her high heels were white and black, and her bowtie was black. Contrasting the red color of her clothing was her white face with red spots on her cheeks and her long blonde hair in a thick braid. Behind Charlie was a small striped circus tent decorated with strings of lights. A white plant pot had a snake design curled around it. A round sign outside read “Welcome to Hell” and the sky was its usual crimson red. A glowing red pentagram hovered over the city, hence its name Pentagram City. Charlie stared sadly at the nearby city buildings; many of them were on fire, smoke rising through the air. The streets were littered with broken glass, burned debris…and a few leftover mangled demon corpses in puddles of blood.

Charlie was feeling more lonely than usual. Not too long ago, her father Lucifer had considered her Happy Hotel project a failure. He had somberly suppressed his former dreams for so long, he had closed himself off from his daughter’s own dreams. Charlie had further been mocked on live TV after presenting her hotel idea, and her mother Lilith had not been answering her calls. In fact, she had been missing from her life for quite some time. Where had she gone?

“Charlie,” called a familiar voice from behind her.

Charlie turned around with a gasp, dropping the black Sinner’s Key on the couch. In a puff of red smoke, the key morphed into a small black and white cyclops cat named KeeKee, who meowed and scampered off. Over the double doors was a glowing chandelier and glass decorated with a large eye and two small apples.

“Oh shit, were you here the whole time?”

A woman stepped into the light. “Uh, yeah. I was right there,” Vaggie said, mentioning her thumb to the double doors behind her. Vaggie the moth demon, was Charlie’s girlfriend and manager of the hotel. This time, she wore a short black skirt, gray fingerless gloves, and a short red shirt with a black collar and black buttons. She wore a small black collar around her neck and a slightly worn large red bow tie in her hair. Her skin was light gray, and her white hair spread down past her waist, ending in gray stripes resembling moth wings. Her right eye was yellow with light orange sclera and her left eye was covered by her hair, a patch, and a glaring red X over it. She also wore gray leggings over her legs.

Charlie was thankful to have her faithful companion with her, for Vaggie served not only as her girlfriend, but a protector and a grounding contrast to Charlie’s exuberant nature.

“Sorry,” Charlie said. “I get pre-tty worked up after an Extermination happens.” She glanced back toward the window. “Staring helps.”

Vaggie briefly blinked and gave a chuckle. “I know. Don’t worry, I enjoy your moments of quiet. And your moments of theatrics. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Charlie replied, as Vaggie sat down next to her. “Just…thinking, ya’ know? Family stuff.”

Vaggie frowned, glancing to the side. “Did you…hear from your mom yet?”

Charlie shook her head sadly.

“Oof,” Vaggie replied, blowing a bang of her white hair and a sigh. “How long has it been now?”

“Not that long. Only…seven…years…” Charlie exaggerated with a strained smile. She stood up, hands together, moving toward the giant eye-shaped window. “Off doing something important, I’m sure! But this kingdom was something she really cared about. Something I care about.”

Vaggie took Charlie’s hands in hers. “Well, at least you aren’t alone.”

Charlie smiled. “I just hope what I’m trying to do here will work.”

The two women sat down. Vaggie tenderly touched Charlie’s cheek with her hand. “It will. I have faith in you.”

Charlie smiled as KeeKee the cat hopped into her lap. Keekee’s ears had black tips and a white heart in the center.

Vaggie stood up. “All right, come on. Alastor says he has something to show us.”

Charlie froze in place as she heard the ominous tolling of the golden angel clock tower outside. It had a glowing halo on top, eye designs on the tower and clock faces with pentagrams on them. Under that was a giant glowing hourglass and a counter that showed the number of days until the next extermination. Four imposing black Exorcist statues were posed like gargoyles around the four corners under the clocks. Charlie shuddered before following Vaggie.

0 0 0

An old-fashioned TV buzzed with spiky static before showing a red shirtless demon with a spiked collar and bat wings stabbing a red imp with a dagger.

“Well, hello there you wayward Sinner!” came the radio voice of Alastor. The camera showed his hand pointing at the demons.  “Do you like blood, violence, and depravity of a sexual nature?” The demons looked at Alastor, the tall red demon posed with his head in thought. “Of course you do! That’s why you’re in Hell!”

The camera panned back to show buildings torn, on fire, and in pieces on the ground near a barbed wire fence. An overturned purple arrow sign with faded round lights read “NO TURNING BACK.” One building part had several purple eyes on it.

Alastor waved his hand and more demons popped up: a female cyclops wearing black BDSM clothing, a demon with horns, four eyes and dragon features, a red horned demon with two eyes, a small, one-eyed brown cat and an upside-down demon shaped like a grenade.

“But what would you say if I told you there was a place to stay that had none of that?”

The screen buzzed and switched to the Hazbin Hotel building. Arrows pointed to Alastor’s glowing red radio tower off to the side. There was a carousel, a Titanic-shaped boat and a “NO VACANCY” sign as part of the decorative structures. A retro theater sign above the front doors read “NOW PLAYING.” The doors were decorated with designs of circus tents on the glass.

“Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel! A misguided path to redemption! Founded five days ago by Lucifer’s delusional daughter, Charlotte Morningstar!”

The screen showed Charlie nervously smiling and waving at the camera. Angel Dust posed next to her with a grin, making his pink gloved fingers into horns around her head and his two other white hands into peace signs. The clip shifted to Charlie showing a dismissive Katie Killjoy a drawing of the hotel, a rainbow on the top and stick figure demons smiling on the bottom. Charlie pointed to the sky, while Katie Killjoy narrowed her eyes, a cigarette between her fingers.

“Come place your fate in her inexperienced hands as she tries to work through her daddy issues by fixing you!”

Several pictures, one on top of the other showed Charlie posing in front of a crime board with a drawing of a demon with puppies, a rainbow with hearts and an “evidence index” card on the board. The next showed Charlie with tears in her eyes as Lucifer posed under a red spotlight, apple cane raised. Charlie was then shown posing with an instructional stick in her hand next to a white board that read “1. SORRY, 2. A red heart, yellow stars, pink hearts, and a rainbow, 3. PLEASE, 4. THANK YOU.”

The hotel doors opened and showed Charlie’s flying goat bodyguards Razzle and Dazzle sweeping and dusting the lobby.

“FUN THINGS” spiraled onto the screen in yellow. “Here we offer fun things, such as…”

The camera zoomed in to show the grumpy cat Husk with black eyes and small yellow iris slouched at his bar. He had a black top hat with red trim, a large red bowtie, black and dark red wings with a red outline and dots decorating them. His eyebrows were long and red with black stripes on the ends. His pointed cat ears had a small red heart design inside each. A black bug crawled on the table. “CONCIERGE” was shown on the top of the bar stand and the highest part was decorated with large deer skulls with rows of long sharp teeth among melted white candles. “Beelyjuice” and a beer mug and wine glass glowed in neon colors on the wall near a pool table. There were three red bar stools and the bottom of the stand showed two green 7s and a red apple in a slot machine style.

“…somewhat functional staff!”

Husk crashed his head on the table in a drunken stupor. Niffty glanced at the black bug crawling over Husk, a sewing needle in her hand as a weapon. The cyclops had white skin, short red-pink hair with a yellow streak in it, and a 1950’s maid pink dress with a white lacy center and a black poodle design on her dress. Pink stains were at the top near her chest. Her large eye was dark orange with a black pupil.

Niffty jabbed at the bug with her sewing needle.

“…and twenty-four-hour pest control!”

“PEST CONTROL” blinked in yellow.

“Custom rooms…”

“CUSTOM ROOMS” blinked in yellow after appearing on a dismal bathroom stall, showing a white toilet and red eyes on the red walls.

“And just look at this tacky parlor!”

The main room had a fireplace and mantle. The fireplace was round, with two skeletons curled on either side. A large eye design was in the center of the mantle. Over the mantle were two crossed canes and golden curved snakes below them, making Lucifer’s sigil. Two elephant lights were on either side. The red wallpaper was decorated with Lucifer’s sigil surrounded by six angel wings. The wall borders showed eyes with gold wings on either side. KeeKee was posed on a table near an old-fashioned radio of Alastor’s near plant vines. An old boxy TV stood off to the side, complete with knobs. Angel Dust lounged on a nearby couch, wearing his usual white and pink suit with a black bowtie and high black boots. He had white fur, spider-like limbs, pink dots under his eyes and a sharp golden fang among his teeth. A wooden plank collapsed to the floor, making the cat hiss and scamper off the table in fright. The red wallpaper had several tears in it.

Alastor spoke sarcastically. “Enjoy riveting conversation with our singular resident!”

Angel Dust noticed Alastor and glared, flipping him the bird.

“WOW!” spun onto the screen in bold red with a yellow spiky background. “Wow!” Alastor added.

A drawing appeared, showing the hotel and various signs made by Alastor: “Ship I guess,” “$1,” “DANGER HOTEL!” “SALE” “Best part” (pointing to the radio tower), “HAHA I NAMED IT!” “50% OFF,” “neat.” “NO TACKY CIRCUS DÉCOR! PROMISE!” Several signs showed Alastor’s creepy grin drawings.

“All this, and more at the Hazbin Hotel, your last desperate attempt at salvation starts here!”

The screen showed the building sign up on the roof and with yellow words: “CALL NOW! OR DON’T, I DON’T CARE! WE STILL DON’T HAVE A WORKING PHONE!”

The screen clicked off as Alastor tuned the knob.

Alastor with a large smug grin turned around. “So, what do you think?”

Vaggie and Charlie sat dumbfounded on the red couch. The couch had three eyes designs on the top golden frame, the armrests and outside structure curved like horns. Alastor wore his 1920’s red torn tailcoat with vertical pink stripes, a black bowtie with a red center and a red undershirt with an upside down black cross design. He had red long sleeves, black gloves with red tips, and a red monocle near his right eye. His hair was red and black, with thick deer ears pointing up. Small black deer horns curved upwards from the center of his head.  His black shoes had red deer tracks on the bottom. In his left hand was his magic red old-fashioned radio microphone with a red eye in the center. His eyes were many shades of crimson.

“I’m sorry, what the fuck was that?!” Vaggie fumed.

Charlie did a strained grin, and held up a finger, trying not to upset anyone. “Uh yeah, one note, Alastor. I mean, first off, thank you so much for making this…seriously amazing…but um…” she moved her hands. “But maybe the tone is a bit…off.” Alastor narrowed his eyes and tilted his head, a wide grin of yellow sharp teeth plastered on his face.

Charlie continued, “We want people to come here. This makes it look…um…”

“Bad,” Vaggie deadpanned, folding her arms. She turned to Charlie. “The word you’re looking for is ‘bad.’”

“Funny. I was going for hilarious!” Alastor exclaimed, craning his neck.

“It didn’t explain anything about how we’re trying to save demons from extermination, which is the whole fucking point!” Vaggie chided.

“Vaggie is right, Alastor,” said Charlie. “The commercial was to let Sinners know we are trying to help them.”

“Well, my dear, I haven’t been active in Hell for some time,” said Alastor, moving his fingers along his microphone staff. He paced and tilted his head. “…and everyone remembers me from my radio show, the proper medium to express oneself.”

Alastor paced back again and pointed at the TV with his staff, a glare in his eyes. “But you insisted on this noisy picture box of advertisement…” He tapped the TV twice with his staff, “…so I had a little fun with it.”

“Oh fun? You had a little fun with it?” Vaggie angrily stood up, hands on her hips.  “Well, this not what we want to represent us! When you showed up here a week ago, you told us you would help run this hotel. Instead, you’re mocking us.” She spread out her arms. “Nobody’s gonna wanna come to a place that a powerful Overlord like you thinks is a waste of time!”

Angel Dust casually raised one of his pink gloved hands.

“What?” Vaggie asked with a glare, facing Angel Dust, and sitting on the armrest.

Angel Dust posed with his long legs in the air before sitting up. “If you’re filming a commercial, can I suggest you take better advantage of the talented celebrity you have right here?”

Angel Dust grinned, pointing at himself with three hands, holding a beer bottle in his fourth and moving one leg on top of his other one.

Vaggie was not amused. “Angel, you’re a porn star.”

“A famous porn star! I’ll have the horniest Sinners knocking these walls down to get in!” He pointed to his lower regions.

“We are not filming a porn as a commercial!”

“Why not? Sex sells, don’t it?” Angel Dust made a money gesture with his hand. Alastor materialized near the couch from shadow. Angel Dust continued. “I swear, if you film me going at it with Mr. fancy talk creepy voice here, you’d be rolling in participants willing to stay at this tacky hotel.”

Alastor laughed forcefully and then deadpanned to Angel Dust, “Never going to happen.”

Charlie added, “Angel, I appreciate you wanting to use your ‘special skills’ to, um, attract folks to the hotel, but, I really don’t want to exploit you…in that way.”

Angel Dust grinned. “Oh please, baby. This body was made to be exploited.” He waved a dismissive hand and posed. “I got the arms, I got the stamina, I got the legs, I got the lung capacity.” He laughed, legs in the air. “Oh, I got the legs! The gag reflex, the holes, the chest fluff everyone thinks are tits.”

Angel Dust leaned against the armrest. “I could keep going all night, baby!”

“Hey, I have a question,” Angel Dust said to Vaggie. He mentioned to Alastor. “If freaky face over there is so powerful, then why can’t he just make people stay here?”

Alastor chuckled, “Oh trust me…” He spoke in a low voice, his eyes glowing red, black antlers branching out, his face darkening, “…I can.”

“Why do you think I’m here?” Husk scoffed from the bar. “You actually think I’d be cleaning bottles and listening to you fucks bitch and moan all the time if he wasn’t forcing me?”

“I like being forced!” exclaimed a smiling Niffty, raising her hand from beside Husk.

“Keep that to yourself, Nif,” Husk glared.

Angel Dust smirked. “What? You don’t love being here with me, Whiskers?”

Husk pointed an accusing finger. “Call me Whiskers again and I’ll jam that bottle down your throat.”

Angel Dust grinned, beckoning a pink finger. “Kinky. Come on, keep talking dirty.”

Vaggie sighed. “Angel, let Husk do his job. And no, we can’t force Sinners to stay here. They need to choose to.”

Angel Dust scowled. “I’m choosing to be here, and I think it’s all stupid. We’re in Hell, toots. That’s kind of the end of the road, ain’t it?”

“Well maybe it doesn’t have to be,” Vaggie countered. “Just because nobody has made it out before, doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”

Angel Dust put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, whatever means I can keep crashing here, rent-free. Crack is expensive.” Vaggie glared.

0 0 0

Later, Vaggie, Husk, Niffty, and Angel Dust sat together on the red couch, while Alastor sat in a nearby red chair. Angel Dust’s long legs hung over the armrest. Husk’s eye twitched in anger as he glared at Angel Dust’s sultry expression.

Charlie paced in front of the group. “Yes, okay, so, Vaggie and I were talking about ways to promote the hotel, so we decided we are making a new commercial that represents our vision and what we’re doing here.”

 “So, we need a camera.” Vaggie held out a hand. “Alastor?”

Alastor smiled and snapped his fingers. In a flash of green light, a red and black 1930’s folding camera with no film appeared in her hands. It was decorated with golden antlers.

“A video camera,” Vaggie glared.

“Hmm.” Alastor snapped his fingers again, and in green light, an old video camera with an eye lens appeared in her hands, with tape and a Band-Aid stuck to it.

“Alright! Let’s do this!” Vaggie said with excitement. Soon, she had positioned the camera to show Angel Dust and Husk sitting at the bar.

“And…Action!” Vaggie called, pointing a finger forward as Charlie watched next to Vaggie.

Husk stared in annoyance at the script papers in his hand while Angel Dust rested his head in one pink gloved hand, elbow on the counter.

Husk pressed the script to his face as he read in monotone: “’Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel. Can I help you with anything?’”

Angel Dust put a finger to his chin and smirked playfully as he leaned toward Husk. He cupped Husk’s chin.

“’I’ve been a bad boy and I need a big strong daddy to put me in my place…on the path to redemption!’” He pointed upwards.

Husk rolled his eyes as he read the next line.

“’Well, you come…’”

Angel Dust leaned back and let out a sultry moan… “Oh yes!”

Husk glared at Angel Dust. “’…to the right place.’”

“Cut!” Vaggie called. She slouched and groaned. “Okay, Angel, I need you to be less horny if possible, and Husk, can you maybe not have a script in front of your face?”

Husk wasn’t happy. “I ain’t no actor! I can’t memorize this shit!”

“Well, we can improv this shit, baby cakes.” Angel Dust mused, putting a hand on Husk’s cheek. “Rawwr.”

Husk shoved Angel Dust hard with his paw off the bar counter. He shrugged. “Whoops.”

“Husk, come on,” chided Vaggie as Husk guzzled down his alcohol in a bottle.

0 0 0

Sometime later, Niffty was gleefully trying to stab at a four red-eyed black bug with her sewing needle. “Stab, stab, stab, stab!” she breathed. Vaggie went on her knees down to Niffty’s level.

“Um, alright, Niffty, Niffty,” Vaggie held her arm to stop her from stabbing. She placed her hands on her shoulders.

“Niffty. Your line is ‘we have the cleanest rooms?’ okay?”

Niffty stood up and smiled. “Okay, got it! I’m ready!”

Vaggie stood up and turned the camera on, pointing it at Niffty.

“Action!”

Niffty’s smile fell, and she stared blankly into the camera with her large red-orange eye. Her arms went limp at her sides. Vaggie, Charlie, and Angel Dust stared in confusion as Nifty’s iris grew smaller and smaller.

“Uh…cut,” Vaggie said.

Niffty then shook her head and smiled again, spreading out her black arms. “How was that?!”

“Well, Niffty, you actually have to say the line, so let’s roll again.”

Niffty nodded rapidly and made two fists. “Okay.”

“Action!”

Niffty stared blankly again.

“You’re doing great, Vagina!” Angel Dust whispered to Vaggie with a smug expression.

“Cut!” Vaggie yelled, standing next to a red bed. “Alright, uh, maybe we can try to fix it in post.” She folded her arms.

Angel Dust asked, “Do you even know what that means?”

“I’ll figure it out!” Vaggie bellowed. Angel Dust held up his hands. Charlie comforted Vaggie as she left the room.

Later that night, Vaggie slouched in a red chair in the dark, watching static from the old-fashioned box TV.

“Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel…” came Husk’s monotone voice from the TV.

“Urgh!” Vaggie groaned, hands covering her face, camera in her lap. Wanting some peace and quiet, she had turned out the lights, but the glare from the TV wasn’t helping. Her heart sank; Charlie would surely be disappointed at this half-assed commercial. She was the hotel manager, and she felt a great responsibility to help make her girlfriend’s dreams come true.

“If only I wasn’t surrounded by a bunch of asshole self-absorbed idiots,” she thought.

“Seems like you’re having a bit of a trouble there, hmm?”

Vaggie glared at the smirking Radio Demon, who had popped out of nowhere. He looked at her and moved to either side of the chair.

“Ugh, este pendejo (ugh, this asshole). Why are you even here?” she asked in annoyance.

Alastor settled down onto the couch, one leg over the other.

“For the entertainment. I came here because I love seeing wasteful souls struggle to accomplish something meaningful and fail spectacularly, like you are doing now!” Alastor’s shadow crouched menacingly behind the couch with glowing red eyes, extended antlers, and a wide grin as Alastor talked. “Good job!” Alastor added with a mocking wave of his fisted hand and arm.

Vaggie stood up, aiming her camera at him. “And here is Alastor, the egocentric piece of shit that…ugh!”

Vaggie gasped in fright as Alastor glitched on the screen. The screen flashed red, and the camera fizzled out and sparked with green electric magic. Vaggie let go and it toppled to the ground, smoke curling from it.

“I wouldn’t try that, my dear,” Alastor warned in a low radio voice. Vaggie froze, terrified. Alastor’s shadow grinned behind him. “This face was made for radio.” He tilted his head and neck and his eyes turned black with red radio dials moving where his pupils were. Brief static and red voodoo symbols flashed across reality.

Vaggie recovered and stood up again. “That’s it.” She made a swiping motion with her hand, then pointing a finger at Alastor. “I don’t care who or what you are. If you’re staying here, you’re going to make this work, because it won’t be so ‘entertaining,’ (she waved her fingers) to watch over an empty hotel, will it, shitass!” Vaggie stomped away, but Alastor just stood there, hands folded behind him. A plan was conjuring in his mind.

“Fair enough,” he shrugged. He strolled over to her. “I’ll tell you what. Let’s make a deal.”

Vaggie turned around and sat down.

“Pfft, you think I’m that stupid making a deal with a demon like you?”

Alastor rolled his red eyes and waved a dismissive hand.

“Not for your soul, just a simple deal. I do this for you…” He leaned in toward Vaggie, “…and you never ask me to engage with this frivolous television technology ever again.” He turned around and grinned.  “Or Charlie will get to see absolutely nothing.” He turned his head around to smirk at Vaggie, his grin glowing. “Your choice.”

‘Just this once,’ thought Vaggie, pushing down her fear. This commercial was important, and Charlie needed her help.

Vaggie sighed, closed her eyes, and held out a hand. “Fine.” She picked up the camera and placed it in Alastor’s hands. The camera glowed an eerie green as green skulls of magic swirled around it.

“Now then,” Alastor said, clamping his hands together. The camera disappeared and he snapped his fingers. The lights flicked back on. Angel Dust, Husk, and Niffty materialized into the room in green light, with a new video camera with two eyes on top, a round green stage light and a director’s chair. Alastor now had a worn red top hat on his head and a red tuxedo suit, much shorter than his usual one, one red part hanging tail-like behind his back. Vaggie gasped as Alastor’s voodoo shadow minions appeared around her. One wore headphones and held an attached remote. A thin one held a hanging microphone with its pointed tail and a small camera. The third sat in a small wooden director’s chair while holding a white megaphone. The fourth had Xs over its eyes, carrying another hanging microphone and wearing headphones and a worn baseball cap.

Angel Dust, Charlie, and Niffty looked on in amazement as their clothing changed in green swirling light. Niffty now wore a flapper style dress, light red on top, dark red in the middle and light red and straight on the bottom. She wore a big dark orange ladies’ hat with an orange rim and a small yellow flower decorating the top. Angel Dust admired his pink 1920’s suit with a dark pink necktie, buttons on the front, a white hat with a black rim and long white pants. Husk slouched as black and red sleeves and pants appeared on him. Charlie had on a flapper red dress and a red hat decorated with flowers.

Vaggie smiled, standing proud. She soon wore a gray wavy flapper dress, mostly dark gray but with light gray at the bottom. The top had a pink wavy rim. She wore a large black ladies’ hat with a red rim, red flower, a red foxtail, and two red feathers sticking up from the middle. She also wore white gloves. “Alright, everyone, let’s make a fucking commercial!”

For once, Vaggie was pleased with Alastor’s created outfit for her.

After many hours of practicing, pain, and process, they were finally successful.

“Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel,” Vaggie began as the group stood in front of the hotel with their 1920’s outfits. 1920’s jazz music played.

“Founded by Lucifer’s daughter Charlie, the princess of Hell.”

Charlie waved and posed.

The double doors opened, and Charlie spread out her arms. “Come check in here and see our new cozy parlor room.” KeeKee was sleeping on a table next to a radio.

“Meet our first resident, Angel Dust,” said Charlie.Angel Dust posed.  “He’s staying here in the hopes of getting clean and becoming a better person.”

“Still just stayin’ here rent-free,” Angel Dust whispered, earning a glare from Vaggie.

The scene shifted to Angel Dust and Husk at the bar. Husk managed to say his lines without holding the scripts, though he was still grumpy.

“Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel. Can I help you with anything?’”

“I’ve been a bad boy and I need a strong daddy to put me in my place…on the path to redemption!” He pointed upwards.

Husk rolled his eyes.

“’Well, you come…’”

“Oh yes!” Angel Dust moaned.

Husk glared at Angel Dust again. “’…to the right place.’”

“In that case, I’ll just check in to one of these fabulous rooms…I could always go for private time in bed.”

Husk looked at the camera. “Have a drink. It’s on the house. Or come over to play cards or whatever. Um…I do magic shows too.”

Niffty appeared in the bedrooms. “We have the cleanest rooms! No trace of bedbugs, dirt, or any kind of mess!” Niffty stabbed at a black bug with her sewing needle and popped it gleefully into her mouth. “Just ring the bell and you’ll have instant fast room service!” Niffty darted around as she cleaned the rest of the room.

Vaggie moved the camera over to Alastor, who just glitched. “Erm, we also have a boat, a kitchen, and a radio tower for anyone interested in listening to music or shows.”

Charlie and Vaggie appeared by a portrait of the royal family. Charlie began.

“With rumors about Exterminations getting worse, the Hazbin Hotel is a safe place where you can stay with your friends and family. Best of all, it’s at no cost! If you’re a Sinner, we can make you a Winner! And with my special self-help program, you’ll be able to pack your bags to Heaven before you can say…”

“Oh, fuck me!” Angel Dust moaned in the background.Vaggie rolled her eyes.

“Charlie Morningstar’s Happy/Hazbin Hotel! Your path to redemption starts here!” Vaggie finished. A number appeared next to “Call Now!” 1-800 – 666 – 6666 or 1-666 – RAINBOW. (Yes, our phone actually works, ignore that other commercial!)

It was as good as it was going to get.

A few hours later, Vaggie grabbed Charlie’s hand and smiled. “Come here, we have something exciting to show you!”

Vaggie led Charlie over to the red couch where the group sat. Niffty sat on the couch armchair. Angel Dust lounged on the floor. Husk slouched in his spot, his chin under his large paw hand. Alastor sat up straight in a nearby red chair, one leg over the other.

“Alastor pulled some strings and it’s about to air,” Vaggie mentioned. She and Charlie sat down.

“I pulled a few limbs, too, hahaha,” Alastor added, hand over his chest.

“Our commercial’s about to be on TV?” Charlie asked, surprised.

Angel Dust grinned. “Yeah, it’s one of my better performances if I do say so myself.”

Charlie beamed, tears in her eyes, hands over her heart. “That’s…that’s amazing.”

Angel Dust put a pink finger to Charlie’s lips. “Shh! It’s startin’.”

The TV screen showed the group standing at the front of the hotel with their 1920’s outfits on. They stood under the “NOW PLAYING” theater sign and the “WELCOME TO THE HAZBIN HOTEL” logo. Niffty stared blankly at the camera, Angel Dust posed with his arms out, wiggling his eyebrows, Husk chugged his bottle of booze, and Alastor glitched in and out next to him.

“Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel…” Vaggie began, off to the side.

Static buzzed across the screen. Niffty clapped her hands, and Alastor sat in amusement as everyone else groaned out loud in anger and disbelief. Charlie’s horns briefly stuck out of her head, and she hissed.

The blue 666 News logo and “BREAKING NEWS” appeared on the screen. Katie Killjoy soon appeared at a desk on TV, with Tom Trench next to her with a gray gas mask for his face. Katie Killjoy was blonde and pencil-thin, wearing a red dress and a necklace. Tom Trench wore his light gray suit with a red necktie.

Katie Killjoy began: “Breaking news in Hell today! We have just received word from the Heaven Embassy that the next Extermination is happening sooner than ever before!”

Three black menacing Exorcists appeared on an image on the screen with “EXTERMINATION” under it in red.

The words scrolled along the bottom of the screen:“HOLY SHIT! THE EXTERMINATION IS HAPPENING IN SIX MONTHS! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! CONFIRMED! LEGIT! FUCK! WE ALL DEAD SOON! WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO ME?!”

“Do you know what that means, Tom?” Katie Killjoy asked, turning to him.

“No, what does that mean, Katie?” Tom Trench asked.

Katie Killjoy’s eye twitched, her smile strained. “It means we are all royally fucked!”

The screen then showed the large glowing hourglass. The Sinners screamed as the counter reduced to 176 days. Back in Heaven, Adam’s glowing evil smile flashed in the darkness.