#sweets helluva rewrite

[sweetshelluvaau]

Finally: I finished Michael, the Paragon saint and Golden Boy himself!

The hours I spent on this I'm just glad I'm done but I'm overall proud of the results.

Like always, notes under the cut. Drawn in Clip Studio Paint and with Photoshop CS6 for final touches. Okay to reblog, Feedback is encourage.

Let's talk about Adam very quick:

Considering that Michael is to replace Adam in my rewrite/AU, I feel it's only fair that I talk about the character himself because boy howdy do I have things to say.

I have...mix feelings about Adam. I don't hate him, but I do find him to be wasted potential but that's basically all of Hellaverse at this point.

Alex Brightman, as always, brings his A Game. He sounds like he's having a blast playing the character and won't lie, Hell is Forever is a pretty solid villain song and one of the better tunes in the show imho

because I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to talk about it, I think Hazbin's musical score is a mix bag. The are some genuine bops (Hell is Forever, Respectless, Stay Gone being some of my faves) but there's duds as well (Poison is basically 'We have Addict at home' without any of the charm that made that song good and Whatever it Takes doesn't work because we barely know anything about Carmila to get invested and honestly it's basically a nothing song). Overall I think the soundtrack is fine but all blended together as part of a musical? It falls flat however I feel their are people who are better to talk about what makes a musical good in regard to how it tells it's story.

Anyways... that's all the positives I really have.

The way for me to describe how I feel about Adam is kinda the reverse effect on how I feel about Mammon being they are similar characters in a sense. Both grew on me in some ways but unlike the case of Mammon where his vulgarly and general asshole-ness is kinda endearing in a way (that and he's voiced by Michael Cusack who plays Pim on Smiling Firends so I'm kinda a bit bias), Adam on the other hand comes across as grating to me. I don't know why but he just does. That plus because Adam is suppose to be an angel/Saint given a higher propose, one who's in change of the Extermination that happen every year mind you, while also being thousands of years old and the first man only for him he acts like...

This!

idk man, I have nothing agasist him being a frat boy but I feel it would have made more sense for character like Adam to have a more Knight Templar persona. If you want to play with this a bit though, have Adam behaves differently around those in Hell/winners and angels that have no power vs Heaven's higher ranking Angels/Seraphim.

Around Sera and others with roles similar to hers he acts like the righteous, paragon saint that Heaven praises him to be but to those who's word wouldn't be taken against him and the citizens of Hell regardless of where they are on the hierarchy? He doesn't hide his true personality where he's basically a self righteous asshole who has no problem stepping on others and enjoys partaking in the Exterminations but also indulging in some other sinful behavior during that time because he gets to cut loose a bit from Heaven's strict mandates.

This would also play greatly within the trial subplot where it'd be harder for Charlie to sell her idea of Redemption when Heaven's leadership takes Adam's word over hers while also having the mask he wears slipping the longer it goes on, everyone slowly seeing a bit of his true colors.

As I said before, Adam was wasted potential and his role could have been played any character really. Honestly, I'm surprise they didn't go with the archangels being how well known they are in biblical stories.

Also his design sucks but that's not really much of a hot take, is it?

...This part was suppose to be very quick wasn't it?

Anyways, let's get into Michael now:

I don't really have much to say about his design other than the fact I wanted him to give off the appearance of being seen as 'prefect' and a 'paragon' especially compare to his brother, Lucifer who's seen as the boogieman by Heaven and history. He does have a more casual outfit on days he's not wearing armor but I haven't designed it yet. He does have a Halo but I forgot to add it XD

Gave him golden colored wings to add to his 'Golden Boy' persona Heaven has dubbed him. That and they're just pretty.

As I said above, Michael is to replace Adam in my AU/Rewrite. He's in charge of the Heavenly Host, Heaven's army along with it's the sub group who conduct the annual Exterminations as mandate by the Seraphim Council. Unlike Adam however, it's not a task he enjoys. Quite the opposite. He sees them as an necessary evil (or at the very least, that's what he tells himself) to keep Hell's numbers down but even then he's starting to question if this is the way of handling it. He's not on board with the idea of the Happy Hotel at first but eventually warms up to it and becomes one Charlie's bigger supporters.

Personality wise, he differs from Adam as well. Michael has a good heart. He's brave, kind and loyal to all of Heaven; but he isn't a pushover by any means. His honestly can sometimes get him in a bit of trouble with the Seraphim but he fights for what he believes is right.

Michael is seen in the lens by Heaven as their 'Paragon Saint' in contrast to his Fallen brother. He doesn't really like this title because he doesn't see himself as any better than any Heavenborn or Saint/Winners but it ended up sticking and Heaven needs to fuel it's propaganda machine after all. He's also referred to 'The Golden Boy' both affectionally and sarcastically.

He doesn't hate Lucifer. There are a few times that Michael, even with his brother being declared Fallen and 'The Devil', tried to reach out to Lucifer to mend their relationship because despite everything; he does care and loves him. Lucifer on the other hand doesn't have the patience to want to 'fix' things due to his own bitterness and Pride, even if he was the cause of his own downfall.

I'm sure there are other notes I could add by my brain is fizzing out and I worked long enough on this post.

Kesha!Bee (Already drew Beelzebub herself but I'm posting these two together) and Stolas are next on my redesign chopping block and I'm currently working on my Wrath Ring post as well. One of those will be next...

[campbell-rose]

Helluva Mess

Now, Sinmas was just... Something.

Alright, now for some reason Blitz and the others hesitate to kill their target? So all of the sudden because it's gay it's an issue, when they did the exact same job in the first episode with no qualms? This show is so obnoxious.

I also hate how spoiled Stolas is, because it's not really funny. I think if I didn't hate him so much, i'd actually find some of his antics humorous, but... uh, nope. I just hate his guts. I hate how he's just some woobie at this point. The narrative is acting like he's done all these things to earn all the sympathy in the world, but he hasn't. Am I supposed to like him because of Mastermind? Well, that's not happening.

Millie being pregnant is fine, I don't care. At all. Which is just more proof of how little character she has to the point that I was just meh to the reveal. Now, the reaction to this development is more interesting than the actual plot point - Why in the name of god do people think it's SALLIE'S??? It makes my brain melt out of my ears just thinking about it.

Loona's hellhound form is just a wolf with a furry face and I hate it. She should've looked actually cool, but that's more of a subjective opinion rather than an actual criticism.

Now, the main point I want to rant about: Stella and Octavia.

First off. The way Octavia is treated as some sort of villain or in the wrong for cutting Stolas out of her life after he repeatedly hurt and chose Blitzo after her, her after the many chances she gave him to do better is just terrible. She's completely within her rights to cut him out, speaking from someone with similar experience with cutting out terrible family. Stolas is in the wrong, no matter how much the narrative tries to say otherwise or tries to act like he's taking responsibility. Her rant at Stolas is one hundred percent correct, she was absolutely in the right, Stolas is a selfish asshole and he chose Blitzo over her. She doesn't need to listen to him, she doesn't owe him anything. And I know the narrative is going to make her 'come around' like Blitzo said, but I really wish she wouldn't.

Second. Stella, sweet, poor Stella god why have they done this to you? She's so one dimensional and has no relationship with Octavia. Are Viv and the crew just allergic to Stella having any potential redeeming qualities? I think if she genuinely cared about Octavia and was irritated by Andrealphus taking her divorce and using it to further his agenda, then that would instantly give her the tiniest bit of depth. But we can't have good things in the Hellaverse.

In my rewrite, Stella's scorned and just wants to take her daughter and be happy and hates Stolas and her brother in equal measure. Enjoy a drawing I did of my rewrite versions.

[timkontheunsure]

Stolas' wearing a glamour?

(Rewriting this a bit better).

He seems to have the light grey streak at 18 age. And has more grayer feathers, than he had for most of the show.

And now without his powers he looks pretty similar to this portrait.

I thought he was just 'adding' the streak by magic before, to copying his favourite character Gabriella.

'Adding' it when letting the royal persona down, for his big date & while looking for Via. Dropping it around someone he trusts, Blitz. (Like Stolas getting to be his gothy self with the clothes he chooses).

He maybe he's even a little less blue as tot too?

And his hair in Seeing Stars seems much closer to Via's colouring.

So could be his natural colouring?

Bird tend to think high contrast feathers are prettier.

Like Stella & Vassago would be considered pretty.

Making duller softer colours like grays less beautiful. Mostly theory stuff for helluva, but Stella is very disparaging against Stolas' looks.

If this is the case, he'd have been dyed himself and forced into beauty standards from a very young.

And it's very sweet he made sure Via feels she can keep her normal plumage colour. Even if Stolas felt he had to keep up a glamour himself.

[cloudysarts]

Hey, I like ur art and re-designs a-lot! I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about what happens in your re-write of helluva boss? :>

AHHH THANK YOU!!!! thats super sweet!!!! <3 and sure id love to talk a little about my redesigns!!!!

i know a lot of critics hate stolitz and believe me so do i. stolas my behated. but the real part that infuriates me about the show isnt that they tried to pull off a romance between stolas and blitz, its just that they did it so BADLY. and i felt like, at some points, they were SO CLOSE to getting it but then they just totally missed the mark. if they just shot a little to the left, they could hit it. my point being that, while most critics rewrite stolas to keep his pilot-era villainy (which i admittedly DO love) i went the opposite route with my (and my boyfriends) rewrite, and tried t make stolitz WORK. heres what we did!

to start at the beginning, its pretty similar. a young stolas is informed that he is to be married off when he reaches maturity with the intention of creating an heir. to cure his sulking, his father, king paimon, dumps him at the local circus, where he meets "blitzo" for the first time. a young "female" envy imp living in the greed ring (with a greed imp father and a half succubus, half envy-imp mother). stolas immediately takes a liking to ""her"", so paimon buys the clown with the intention of having them live at the palace as a servant/jester type for the forseeable future.

while at the palace, for the good of their family, blitzo steals whatever they can while playing with the young prince. but they actually do form a connection and blitzo does, at least a little pity the loneliness stolas feels. stolas actually DOES notice that their new friend is robbing them in broad daylight, but could not care less if it means having a friend. unfortunately, his family DOES care (once they notice the thievery) and sends blitzo back to the circus

blitzo and stolas, for a while, become pen pals, writing letters and exchanging gifts over the mail. they actually did enjoy each others company, and miss having a playmate already. eventually, with the help of their mother, blitzo is able to start regularly visiting stolas' castle! every few weeks or so, he comes over, they play, and he sneaks out again before the rest of his family notices. occasionally hell take a valuable or two with him on the way out, not that stolas cares. but the sloppier he gets, the more the goetia's and the palace guard take notice, and they start heightening the security measures. blitzo has to start finding more and more convoluted entrances and exits in the castle, where he can sneak around the guards or cameras or whatever else they have installed. as stolas learns magic, this becomes easier and easier for them to get around, especially ith the use of portals. blitzo also transitions around this era, and starts going by 'blitz', which he feels is more masculine. he starts painting his horns and dying his hair (he later gives up on dying it bc its a pain). but one day, in their teenage years, blitz's visits stop coming, the letters stop, as well, and all the letters stolas sends get returned because they can no longer find his address. he has no idea this is because blitz's home, and much of his family was taken in a fire, and he does his best to move on. he gets married, has a kid, and settles back into the lonely lifestyle. stella isnt physically abusive, but she is rather traditional, and is trying to raise octavia to be the same way. she looks down on the lower class while stolas has a much more 'humanized' view of them, with the memories of blitz fresh in his mind.

eventually, blitz tries to break in using his mental map of how to get around security. he fails, and is captured, and brought to stolas, who pulls him from the guards and brings him to his room. blitz had come here with the intention of stealing his grimoire, as he has the idea for human-killing, and simply has no means to get there. he opts for this, rather than an asmodean crystal, just because he believes itd be easier (the process for getting one if you dont work directly for a distributor is a real legal pain, and impossible if you want to do freelance). when hes 'caught' by stolas, he worries that he doesnt recognize him, only to be pleasantly surprised when he actually does! stolas is excited to see him, in fact, and they sit and talk and catch up. just like when he was younger, blitz is surprised by how easy he is to talk to, and surprised by how much they have in common. they dont sleep together, but stolas does insist that he stay the night (non-sexually), since he knows he didnt used to live nearby. on the way out the next morning, blitz steals the book, as guilty as he feels about doing so. because of this guilt, he leaves his business card behind. he plans on finding a way to copy the page with the spell, and then give the whole thing back. but, just like when they were younger, stolas DOES notice he stole something, and just...hardly cares. he does still NEED the book, though, so he calls blitz (using the number he gave him) and offers to work something out. but, rather than a sexual exchange (or, really, an exchange at all) he just suggests that they start spending time together again. hes lonely, and that small reminder of what it was like to have a friend has made it worse. he honestly just misses him. blitz has his own friends and family now, but he finds himself missing stolas too, and thinks its only fair that he keeps him company. so, once a month on the full moon, he comes over (still sneaking around, to avoid the eyes of his wife and child) to visit. eventually, predictably, this blossoms into a sexual relationship, and then a romance, even further into the future :>

this is all pre-show events so i havent even touched on anything that really happens ""on screen"" so to speak but heres some backstory on the set up in my au!!!!! since im sure some people are shocked at me opnely whining about stolitz and then drawing them all the time LMAOO. im just a friends to lovers truther what can i say

thank you so much for asking!!!!!

[themolescriticalblog]

Like I did with Hazbin on my main blog partially, I'm starting to think of ways I'd rewrite Helluva Boss and specifically focusing in Stolas and Blitz, and trying to make it an actual arc that makes sense with the character beats and development.

Something I think really hinders Stoltiz from truly being something that people could actually get there backs on is:

· The development of Stolas's feelings towards Blitz is way too fast, and out of nowhere. For example: in LooLoo land, Stolas has almost no interested in Blitz besides sexual interest (from what I remember it's been a while since I've seen it). But it's weird for me, since he's acting this way when we've seen how basically he's always had a crush on Blitz. So him purely acting this way at first and then slowly it getting basically retconed (thanks Vivzie) is really weird to me.

· Everything is about STOLAS. Tell me when we've ever gotten a genuine look, into Blitz thoughts about this agreement. Besides one off jokes, and basically Truth Seekers, Full Moon and Apology Tour (if you ignore Stolas's whining). We only get to see how Blitz feels in STOLAS'S PERSPECTIVE during major moments. We never really get to have a moment where Blitz is truly contemplating Stolas. I hope this part makes sense.

So, from these two points and a few smaller things, like Stolas being this sappy, "good" royal from the start who if ever called out for his actions, the show basically tries to frame it as non-serious as it can cause it's from "villains" or people who "misunderstood", here's kinda the basics of what I've come up with, for rewriting Stoltiz:

Stolas and Blitz don't meet when they were children, we don't have that emotional connection between them at all from the start, and the simple bases is that Blitz one night sneaks the Grimorie, and Stolas in a drunken stooper fails to catch Blitz with the book before he's run off

That doesn't mean Blitz is off the hook though, as Stolas finds him, and instead of killing him as he normally would go a "foolish imp" who tried to really steal his most prized possession. He instead offers a deal to Blitz, which he consents to begrudgingly and they seal it in a handshake, where if the dues are broken with no word as to why the full moon meeting was missed, or any other reasons from either parties side, it's broken off, with the Grimorie going back to Stolas, and Blitz to never step foot in his home again.

Reason why he even let's Blitz live? Well he sees here he has an imp he finds cute wanting to trade something for the Grimorie for a business. Perhaps he thinks he's being so generous and kind giving someone lower than him an opportunity to rise. Or perhaps it involves getting back at Stella in some way by actively cheating on her in their own bed, a horrible thing, which he has little thought of being so horrible. It really depends, it could be both.

Stolas here is explicitly morally dubious/very grey at "best" or an antagonist at worse here from the start. In this he was once a sweet child who soon was expected to fit the form of your petty, selfish, and horrid prince, who became who he was fully. Inside he knows what he is doing is horrible, that he shouldn't treat people the way he does, but doesn't properly have the facilities to change, and no active reason to change, besides for Octavia. But even he's too ignorant to really see it as more than "the common mistakes a parent makes their first time around".

While he is abused by Stella, it's not as if he's completely innocent himself, and Stella in this case isn't overly cartoonishly evil. And while he loves Octavia and tries to make their home life the best for her, he's ignorant to her needs, and not just one episode at LuLu Land is going to "fix" it all as mentioned earlier.

From this point in it's kinda difficult for me to think about how this would turn into an "actual relationship"??? I was thinking of something like this:

basically Blitz during different episodes that involve him and Stolas directly causes Stolas to began rethinking many of his actions, and his prejudice/so far as racism to the other races of hell that are deemed lower than him. These ideas, that are also perpetuated by Octavia, and in episodes such as Ozzie's, begin to change him, begin to make him realize how much of a fuck head he's been.

This is when Stolas begins to try to fix what he's done, he talks to Asmodeus about these things, he tries to have a serious chat with Stella, apologizes for his cheating but knows he's gone to far to really fix anything. They decide on divorce, and Asmodeus mentions the crystal. Not as a way out for Stolas, to excuse himself from using what's more than just an Imp, but a person. But, as a way to let Blitz have a choice, a proper choice, on what he wants to do.

Full Moon happens, but this time, Stolas doesn't beat around the bush, he tells Blitz full out in text that it's important they have a proper talk, and Stolas explains it out front without making Blitz begin to beg on his knees, saying he'll do anything before presenting the crystal (that scene makes me SEETHE). He presents the crystal, explains his reasoning, and what Blitz has helped him realize about himself. That he's an extremely flawed and horrible person, who needs time to really think about who he's become, but knows he doesn't want to keep Blitz trapped. And Blitz then takes the crystal.

Thought it doesn't stop their communication, basically you'd see any following episodes featuring Stolas slowly showing him fully developing into a better person. I feel like him and Blitz though a series of events would become more like friends if anything, they'd help each other with their own struggle. Maybe they'd never be good for each other even, but they're healing.

That's kinda all, MAYBE IT WAS, PRETTY SAPPY, you see I really just wish, this could work, that the writing was ok in some fashion. Hell maybe my version of it makes it worse, doesn't make Stolas less borderline if not rapey than he is, but if anything I wanted this version of their arc to show Stolas actually CHANGING as a person due to his ACTIONS EFFECTING OTHERS and being called out for it. If you have any thoughts feel free to reblog, comment or send an ask!!!! Main reason I started this blog besides ranting is I wanted a place to also share my ideas!!!

[mangosundae]

Hi. Little bit of backstory. About a year ago, I started writing a fic about my ni no kuni oc. 20,000 words in I decided the whole thing was dog shit and abandoned it. BUT I’m a better writer now, and I still like the story, so I’m rewriting it. Anyway, I present to you my ni no kuni oc fanfic. Title TBD because I can’t think of anything. OH ALSO I eventually plan on making an ao3 account and posting it there so I don’t clog up tumblr’s nnk tag, lol.

(Read to the end to see a silly drawing I made for this chapter!)

Chapter One: Hurry, and Flurry, and Worry (7,745 words)

Summary: Something is very wrong in the other world.

Returning to Motorville was far less relaxing than Oliver had expected it to be.

He hadn’t been expecting a cakewalk, mind. He wasn’t so naive as all that. But amidst his imaginings of learning to cook his own food (could it really be much different from alchemy?) and taking on more shifts with Miss Leila, he never accounted for the sheer amount of paperwork he’d be expected to deal with.

The day Oliver came home, he found a spotless lawn, courtesy of that sweet old woman down the block, and about a million stacks of paper shoved into his mailbox, courtesy of countless government middlemen who didn’t care a whit about an orphaned boy from Motorville. Also so much junk mail that at some point the poor mailman started folding them into origami hats.

Oliver and Mr. Drippy had had a helluva time, as Mr. Drippy would say, lugging the pounds of paper into the house. The junk mail was stowed away for kindling — save for a few hats, which Mr. Drippy insisted really showed off his figure — but they set aside the important stuff to be sorted through. Bills on the left, tax notices on the right, foreclosure warnings in the middle. Even after organizing them, the stacks reached Oliver’s knees. It was a miracle he still had the house at all.

(He would later learn that the house had, in fact, been in danger of foreclosure before his return, but the townsfolk had banded together to convince the government to ease off. When Oliver discovered this, he would go up to every person in town and give them the tightest possible hug.)

But foreclosure was the least of his worries. Tax season was right around the corner, all of his utilities had been shut off, and, lest he forget, he was only thirteen years old. Legally, he couldn’t live on his own — he certainly couldn’t pay his own taxes. He didn’t suppose they’d accept payment in guilders?

Mr. Drippy was no help, either. For all his boastings of being Lord High Lord of the Fairies, whatever that meant, the little man knew next to nothing about the legal world. He could be counted on to help with math homework, and that was about it. When asked what a W2 was, he could only reply, “Beats me, mun!” with a suggestion to check his Wizard’s Companion.

Of course, Oliver was no stupid child. He knew that if he asked one of the adults around town — Miss Leila, or Myrtle’s parents, or even Phil’s — they would help him without a second thought. He knew how lucky he was to be surrounded by such kind people. The problem was, if he asked any of them, they’d bring it up again: taking him in. Yes, after he came home and sorted through his mail, half the legal adults in Motorville stopped by, adoption papers in hand. He’d just shot them wan smiles and politely shooed them away.

Part of Oliver wanted to give in to temptation and agree, but the rest of him was too afraid. He knew what would happen to him if he said yes. He would move in with someone else, lose the house, and in so doing lose one of his last remaining connections to his mother. He couldn’t stomach the thought of another family living here, cooking on his stove, sleeping in the room where his mother passed away. How would she feel knowing her son was so weak as to abandon the home she’d given him? He doubted his neighbors understood the cruelty tucked within their good-hearted invitations, but it was there nonetheless. So Oliver spent his mornings at work, his days at school, his afternoons at work, and his nights toiling over papers, trying to see if a thirteen year old could emancipate himself.

This routine came at a price; children weren’t supposed to have adult schedules, and even most adults didn’t have schedules quite as hectic as his. So when Oliver slept, he slept hard, his best friend snuggled to his chest. His favorite days were Saturdays, where he could sleep in as long as he wanted. . .

. . . Except when Mr. Drippy slapped him in the face.

Now, it’s important to remember that this wasn’t an unusual occurrence in Oliver’s house. Drippy was a fairy with a lot of needs, and a big mouth. If Oliver was hugging him too tight, or he wanted a midnight snack, or even if his lantern needed shining, he would make his discomfort known. He did try to lay off on the weekends though, knowing his boy needed some well-deserved rest. It was for this reason that, at the feeling of a tiny hand slapping cheeks still chubby with youth, Oliver jolted straight up in bed and retrieved his wand from under his pillow.

“Fireball!” he shouted by second nature. Thankfully, in his sleep-fogged state, the spell came out as a single ember, which fizzled into his mattress and disappeared.

“Tell us how you really feel, eh?” Mr. Drippy quipped under his breath. He scooted down Oliver’s chest and landed by his feet with a plop. “You’ll need those reflexes soon, though, I’ll bet.”

Before Oliver sprang into action and sacrificed one of his few hours of rest, Oliver had to make sure this was an actual emergency. Mr. Drippy could have been annoyed by his snoring again, for all he knew. So, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he asked, “What’s the matter, Mr. Drippy?”

“Trouble! In the other world!”

Oliver jumped up so fast he knocked Mr. Drippy clear off the bed. As the fairy hopped back onto the mattress with a grumble, the comforter Oliver had sprung from fell down and covered him like a sheet ghost.

“Oi!” shouted a muffled Mr. Drippy, attempting to free himself from the blanket prison.

“Sorry.” Oliver removed the comforter and laid it flat on the bed. He hurriedly threw on the adventuring outfit he’d gotten from the Hootenanny so long ago. “What kind of trouble?”

After the battle against Cassiopeia, the royals of the other world became aware of Mr. Drippy’s psychic connection with Smiley and Surly. Oliver and his friends had stressed the seriousness of such an ability, but their warnings went in one royal ear and out the other. Oliver would occasionally be summoned back to the other world for an emergency, only to discover King Tom had simply missed him, or the Cowlipha had invited him to brunch. So it was always good to check.

“The weird kind, mun,” Mr. Drippy replied, handing Oliver his shoes. “The boys at home say it’s gone proper strange, like someone’s taken it apart and put it back together wrong.”

Oliver’s heart plummeted. Another villain? Surely at some point they had to stop. And yet, as his dark-ringed eyes imagined yet another foe with a misguided passion for world domination, he found himself excited. In Motorville, he struggled. He was an ordinary boy who knew nothing about the US tax system, and could do nothing to live up to his late mother’s wishes. But in the other world, he could be strong. He could prove his independence, be the hero she wanted him to be. The thought thrilled him. Gripping Astra in his fist, he held his hand over the fluttering pages of the Wizard’s Companion.

“Gateway!”

In the light of the dying fire, Esther wiped at her latest wounds with a wet cloth. Blood, already beginning to crust over, smeared away and left pale red stains as the only proof of its existence. She wrung out the wipe and dunked it in a bowl of water. Gogo cooed gratefully beside her as his own wounds disappeared. Esther smiled and raised a finger to her lips.

“We have to keep quiet, remember?”

Her father’s heavy snores punctuated her words. Though he sat upright with a hand around his staff, he was fast asleep. Sage training, or something. He’d gone to sleep a few hours ago, leaving Esther to keep watch until the sun breached Old Smoky’s peak. Not that there were many familiars around to bother them. Most around this area ran in fear at their approach. Guiltily, Esther was proud of that.

Esther was used to familiars running in fear, of course. With a Great Sage for a father, every father-daughter outing beyond the walls of Al Mamoon involved Green Bunchers and Turbandits tripping over themselves to get away from the great Rashaad. As a little girl, Esther giggled at the way they ran — though her heart always spiked with jealousy, knowing none of them were afraid of her. But now mere eye contact with a Sunshine caused it to spin away in fright. It was difficult to remember when surrounded by such powerful friends, but her adventures with Oliver had made her stronger.

Truly, the fact she was keeping watch at all was proof of her new strength. Her father would never have trusted her younger self with such a task. Any aforementioned childhood outings through the desert required them to move fast, or for her father to stay up all night to keep them safe. Esther always hated how helpless she felt, falling asleep and knowing she couldn’t protect her father the way he protected her. She hated feeling useless. The day Oliver cured her broken heart, Esther decided she would never be useless ever again.

That was why they were in the desert now, after all. They planned to eventually enter themselves in the Solusseum as a duo, which gave Esther the excuse to drag her father into the wilderness for a few days. They had to train, of course, to be ready for the competition. But really, the Solusseum was the furthest thing from Esther’s mind. Yes, the thought of fighting alongside her father as a team thrilled her, but really, she just wanted an opportunity to prove herself to him.

Esther’s father was a Great Sage. Esther’s father fought in wars, commanded his staff like a third limb, held the respect of the cantankerous Solomon himself. People bowed to him in the streets. Esther was the daughter of a Great Sage. When strangers came to her, that was what they mentioned first — not that she’d helped save the world twice over, or played the clarion that brought peace to the land. She would always, in everyone’s eyes, be her father’s daughter first and herself second. Her father tried to remind her of her own talents, but even encouraging her he’d always say, “You are my daughter.”

Esther was more than a daughter. She knew this, and yet it was so hard to be a person around her father. Every time they traveled together, she found herself deferring to him like a much younger girl. His presence was so imposing; she couldn’t help but feel like just Esther, despite her accomplishments.

So she’d dragged them both out to the desert under the pretense of sparring, in the hopes of showing them both who Esther really was. Her father had his spells, yes, but Esther was a songstress and a familiar tamer. She wielded her harp the way he wielded his staff. She could harm or heal with the stroke of a string. And though he could control familiars, as all Great Sages were expected to do, Esther’s mastery over them was unmatched. There was a reason serenading was her task alone; she understood the hearts of creatures in a way others couldn’t. Anyone could fight with a familiar, but Esther became them, minds and goals aligning to win the fight. Esther knew she was strong beyond her father’s influence. Under the glittering stars of the desert, she would make him see.

She cast her gaze to her sleeping father. She never saw him so peaceful while awake, even after saving the world. She tried to ask him what was wrong, but he would only ever reply that he had to stay vigilant. Though, watching the way his head turned at any sound, any conflict, Esther knew he feared the rise of another Shadar. He was an old man who’d known far less peace than Esther — had seen more bloodshed, too. Perhaps that was why he was too distracted to notice Esther’s inner turmoil.

She didn’t blame her father, of course. He had his own problems to work through. But she wished she could explain her feelings to him without the words getting trapped in her throat. The one time she’d tried, he misunderstood her, and only reassured her of her strength. Her insecurity ran deeper than that; she just didn’t know how to explain it to him.

But her musings would have to wait. There was a boom that shook the sand beneath her feet, then the sky in the distance exploded with color. Plumes of purple and blue obscured the stars and blended together like the hazy aftermath of fireworks. Yet there was no need for fireworks right now, especially in the dead of night. Then the colors streamed downward and evaporated — gone, just like that.

Esther looked to her father, who was already on his feet and wearing a grave expression. “That was near Castaway Cove!” she told him.

No more words needed to be exchanged. Fire abandoned, they rushed in the direction of Castaway Cove. Thankfully, they hadn’t been too far away — nor did they need to get very close to see the extent of the destruction.

“Oh!” Esther could only gasp, hands over her mouth, at the sight. Castaway Cove had been transformed beyond recognition. A giant dome of water encapsulated what was once the fishing village, its murkiness obscuring what lay within. Closer to the edge of the dome, Esther realized that most of the houses were turned upside down or flipped inside out. Some had been rearranged entirely, and now formed walls and strange shapes wherever Esther looked. The bridge that once spanned the village swirled around the enclosure like a water slide. Monstrous shadows prowled in the depths.

Esther and her father locked eyes. Her father rushed back to Al Mamoon, while Esther summoned Tengri with a blow of his horn. She leapt onto the screeching wyvern’s back and guided him towards Hamelin, her friends’ unofficial meeting place. Hopefully Swaine and Marcassin were already there — it seemed they had to save the world once again.

Even under the thick layers of his woolen jacket, Swaine shivered. He walked with a hunch, hands pressed to his chest for warmth, eyes half-shut in the blistering wind. His crystallized breath stood out starkly against the inky black sky. The only sound for miles was his chattering teeth and the crunching of snow beneath his booted feet.

No one and nothing could ever convince Swaine to like the Winter Isles: not the beautiful, glittering caverns, nor the kind and inviting native Tomte, nor even the local cuisine. Swaine had grown up in Hamelin, where the hot steam of the buildings overhead seeped into one’s clothes and the folds of one’s skin. With no weather inside the kingdom’s armored walls, there was no fresh air to ease the heat of the ever-present steam and smoke. Citizens of Hamelin grew used to such temperatures with age; they had to to wear the sturdy and practical outfits that defined Hamelin’s fashion. When Swaine moved to the Summerlands, he had no trouble adjusting to the similarly hot weather of Al Mamoon and Castaway Cove. Others had to wear loose or revealing clothing to get by, but Swaine wore a jacket, pants, and high socks without breaking a sweat. Yet nothing in his life had prepared him for how damn cold the Winter Isles were.

If it was up to him, Swaine would have been back at the palace, tucked away in his big plush bed, drowning in feather-stuffed pillows while he sipped his hot cocoa. Fireplace ablaze, he’d listen to the sounds of popping embers and the hum of the palace walls until he drifted to sleep. He’d be able to feel his bloody toes, at least. But Swaine was a good brother. So when Marcassin burst into his bedroom a few days ago, ranting and raving about his new pet project as Hamelin’s leader, Swaine packed up his winter clothes and set a course for Yule.

Still, if Swaine had to trek through the coldest continent in their world — at midnight, of all things — he thought he was well within his rights to complain. Surely Marcassin could have made the trip himself if he wanted to talk to Purrofessor Tabitha so badly. Perhaps he forgot that only one of the brothers could teleport, and he was currently toasty warm somewhere in Perdida.

Swaine bit his cheek to stop his teeth from chattering. Complain as he might, he wasn’t out here for no reason. He hadn’t caught the whole thing (Marcassin had the remarkable ability to speak faster than the speed of sound when excited), but in summary, his brother wanted to build a museum of the magical arts. To do so, he needed the assistance of Tabitha and Queen Khulan. Marcassin had already scheduled a meeting with Khulan, which left Swaine to talk to Tabitha. And since the grimalkin had a horrendous sleep schedule, he was out here at sweet buggering midnight.

Much as he complained, though, Swaine knew he couldn’t have refused this task if he tried. That would mean saying no to Marcassin, which any more he was physically incapable of doing. He’d been this way as a kid, too. One of the first to hold his infant younger brother in his arms, the boy had him wrapped around his finger since he’d literally wrapped his pudgy baby fingers around Swaine’s thumb. As children, Marcassin need have only batted his big greens and Swaine came a running. Their father told him off for this many times, insisting the future Hamelin emperor needed to learn some independence, but how could anyone want to let the boy down? Plus, Marcassin was one of the few people in Swaine’s early days who made him feel useful.

Around the palace, Swaine didn’t have much to offer. He was a mediocre marksman surrounded by world-renowned weaponsmiths. While he tinkered with his scrappy little pistols, warheads clustered in his basement to design the next far-range cannon or armored tank. He had no magic to speak of, a black mark in a kingdom where combining the magical and mechanical was key. And no emperor in his right mind would seek the advice of a barely teenager, so it wasn’t often that his father needed him for anything at all. Even the palace staff had their routines worked out down to a science. Young Swaine would have had nothing of use to do with himself — was he not the regular babysitter of his baby brother.

In theory, the young princes were placed in the capable hands of one Miss Portia, the governess of the palace. The ruddy-skinned woman, her uniform hiding strong arms that were often used to wrangle up the brothers, was in charge of their upbringing and education when their father was unavailable. She had every minute of their daily routines scheduled, down to the allotted time they had to brush their teeth. It was through these rigorous schedules that she intended to make good men of her charges and keep them out of trouble. But Miss Portia did have off hours after all, and as Swaine grew older she didn’t see a need to micromanage so much, and so it was that Swaine came to spend his free time watching Marcassin.

Most older siblings would balk at such a task. Of course, most siblings probably had other people they cared about, and who cared about them in return. Swaine had only Marcassin. He watched his brother not with a grudge, but with a sense of pride for finally being useful. He enjoyed his role as protector, and, yes, spoiled the boy whenever possible. He wasn’t Gascon, his father’s worthless lout of a son; he was Gascon, guardian of the future emperor of Hamelin. He felt a sense of gratitude to his brother — loyalty, like a knight pledges servitude to a king — for giving him purpose.

He’d . . . Forgotten that purpose, in later years. Spurred on by the desire to prove himself to his father, his country, Swaine ignored the role he played in his brother’s life. He was too blinded by Marcassin’s power to remember he was still just a child. Swaine would always regret leaving him, especially knowing now how the rest of that night played out.

They’d spent so much time apart after that. For Swaine, his return to the present lasted mere moments, but for Marcassin it was an entire lifetime. The kid barely knew him now, and at that knew him mostly as the brother who left when things were tough and came back when it was too late. He could say he forgave Swaine, but it didn’t count, and it wouldn’t count until Swaine could prove he was a brother worth forgiving. In the grand scheme of things, wading through knee-deep snow at midnight was the least he could do.

Finally, the wind and snow gave way enough that Swaine could see beyond his nose, and he found the entrance to Yule in the near distance. His shoulders sagged with relief. Beyond those icy walls was the warm bed he’d been practically salivating over since he arrived at the Winter Isles. He’d have his meeting with Tabitha — in an insulated building, no less! — and then go trotting off for a well-deserved nap at the Cat’s Cradle. And yet, without so much wind and snow in his face, he noticed something alarming about the place.

For one thing, the icy spikes that had erupted from the ground and surrounded Yule like a cage certainly weren’t there on his last visit. For another, the entire town, save for the walls of ice blocks surrounding it, seemed to have vanished.

Swaine managed to unstick his feet from the snow long enough to rush over to where the village once stood. He squeezed through the icy stalagmites to peer out into the trees beyond Yule — then down, down, down into the spiraling chasm that had formed. The buildings were frozen against the walls, forming slippery platforms of sorts. It was as though the village had collapsed on itself. Stranger yet were the creatures that roamed this new chasm: massive, white-furred monsters that prowled the perimeters and concerningly resembled Yule’s normally peaceful Tomte inhabitants.

Swaine stepped back before any of the creatures could spot him. His heart pounded. If these monsters truly were the Tomte . . . Was this another manna situation? Instinctively, he covered his nose with his sleeve. Then he thought of Marcassin, miles and miles away. If this was another manna situation, he hoped it hadn’t reached Autumnia yet. He ran faster than he’d ever done in his life and steered the Sea Cow back to Hamelin.

Outside the thin walls of the Cat’s Cradle, merchants pulled their wagons, wooden wheels going clunk-a-clunk over the aging stone paths. No doubt they were nearly empty after a hard day’s work. It was dusk now; time for the merchants to close up shop, the farmers to put their livestock to bed, and for Marcassin to get some well-earned rest.

It had been a fruitful day, all in all. He’d arrived early in the morning, greeted by Queen Khulan and a slew of villagers, who invited him to breakfast inside the meeting hall. After the war, Khulan explained over a plate of chilaquiles, she and the citizens of Perdida made great strides to rebuild the village, which had fallen into disarray during the queen’s period of brokenhearted-ness. The meeting hall, and many other rooms within what used to be Khulan’s ceremony chamber, were victims of her loss of love; now, slowly but surely, they were being restored to better serve the village and its people. Kublai helped when he could, but he and his crew were often busy with a reconstruction project of their own. They’d tasked themselves with helping people all over the land recover from Shadar’s reign and Cassiopeia’s attacks.

After a hearty and delicious breakfast of salsa and fried eggs, Marcassin and Khulan retreated to her inner chamber to discuss Marcassin’s plan. He relayed to her, with no small amount of enthusiasm and with an abundance of detail, his idea for opening a magical history museum to the public. It was a simple plan. He would build a museum in the heart of Hamelin’s entertainment district, an area that had received little attention from the Hamelin government until now. The museum would promote the preservation of all things magical: wands, spells, gems and artifacts, even weapons and armor imbued with magical properties. Marcassin would use the archives of each kingdom to craft a timeline of magic’s history in their world; its discovery, the progress it aided in, and its cultural impact all over the globe. His goal in making such a place was to give magical teachings back to the world, and to hopefully foster a renaissance of the magical arts.

Khulan hung onto his every word. She was especially enthralled by his promise to teach about the pieces of heart — their purposes, the harm missing a piece of one’s heart could cause, and how to spot brokenhearted-ness in oneself and others. Both sages agreed that neither they nor anyone else would experience the pain of a broken heart ever again. And so, Khulan required next to no convincing to aid Marcassin in his endeavors. She even had suggestions of her own, such as holding regular classes to teach spell casting and other forms of magic. Marcassin would see about enlisting Oliver and Esther’s help in these lessons.

They spent the rest of the afternoon poring over documents from Perdida’s archives, and what historical documents Khulan had managed to salvage from Xanadu. Marcassin was of course ecstatic to learn more about Xanadu, a place he’d only briefly visited with his father as a child, and was intrigued to discover that Perdida had a full history of its own. The pair sorted through each document in turn, deciding where in the museum each piece would go before setting it aside. Certain objects, like chunks of rock from the island that held Xanadu aloft, were best kept in their authentic forms, though many documents could be duplicated to better preserve the originals. By the time they’d made a decent dent in their work, the sun was setting. Khulan gave Marcassin a free room at the Cat’s Cradle, apologetically explaining that her chambers were currently unfit for hosting guests.

This returns us to the present. Marcassin twisted and turned in the plush bed so kindly given to him by the queen. After such a long but productive day, Marcassin wanted nothing more than to fall asleep, but his mind was abuzz with activity. Already he was making long-term goals for his project: improving relations with the other kingdoms, engaging his scholarly side like he hadn’t since he was a boy, encouraging even a casual interest in magic in the general public. He needed this to be a success. He, Marcassin, Prince of Hamelin, would be known for something grander than making ridiculous decrees and playing a small role in helping the Pure-Hearted One. He would finally be a ruler worthy of respect.

Gascon had always been the more capable of the brothers. More courageous, quick-witted, and independent than Marcassin could ever dream of being, his brother truly embodied the Hamelin way. As children, it was always Gascon leading the way, and Marcassin following behind. Gascon taking charge and Marcassin meekly supporting. When his brother left, and his father passing shortly thereafter, Marcassin confronted the fact that he just wasn’t meant to rule. He wasn’t meant to — nor did he have any interest in — commandeering battalions or constructing new machines meant for destruction, tasks which his brother and father would have no trouble doing. His only claim to the throne was the magical genes he had no control over. He thus found himself relieved when Gascon returned and took on the roles that Marcassin couldn’t handle.

And yet, was it not pathetic that the Prince needed his brother’s assistance for such simple duties? Shouldn’t a man of his standing be able to fulfill his role alone? Marcassin often worried that he’d lost the trust of his people, going from an emotional coward to being overly reliant on his older brother. He feared that his time with a broken heart had forever sullied his reputation; he would never be anything but the prince who shouldn’t have been. This was why his museum was so important. Finally, he had a chance to prove his worth as Prince — both to his people, and to Gascon.

It was Gascon, more than anyone, whose approval Marcassin sought. After all, Swaine was a force to be reckoned with. He’d done more good for Hamelin and the world in a year than Marcassin had done during his entire tenure as Prince. One might argue that Marcassin couldn’t hold himself to the same standard as his brother due to his broken heart, but Gascon had been brokenhearted too. Their dichotomy was the same as ever, regardless of circumstance: Gascon the do-er, and Marcassin the sniveling coward.

He thought of Gascon now, en route to Yule to recruit Purrofessor Tabitha to their cause. They were likely meeting at this very moment; the professor had a bit of a skewed sleep schedule. Staying up late helped her think, she said. Gascon, a man who hated the cold and late nights, was now enduring both for a project only Marcassin was truly invested in. Even now, his brother made sacrifices for him. He was a hero in every sense of the word, beyond Marcassin’s warped perspective of older brother idolatry. Marcassin had to prove that he was capable of those heroics, too. The museum was only the start.

If he’d been asleep, he might not have registered the rumblings beneath the floor that made his bed frame rattle. The nauseating shakes that came next would have roused him from his deepest dreams, however. He sprung from the bed with his wand in hand and ran for the door. Though natural earthquakes were not impossible in Autumnia, they were still rare; an attack was more likely. He rushed outside to help injured civilians and stop any attacks.

How fortunate that he’d chosen this moment to step outside. Had he remained in bed any longer, he would have been inside the hotel when it crumbled and collapsed. Judging by the piles of rubble littered about, it was not the only building to meet this fate, either. Civilians screamed and ran while dodging falling debris. Yet Marcassin had no time to stop and marvel at the destruction. He was more preoccupied by the ground, which writhed beneath him and threatened to push him off balance. The only way to keep his footing was too keep moving. He hurried further towards what used to be the edge of the village, only to discover the source of the supposed earthquake: the entire village had been transformed into a giant snake. Resembling the massive snake statues that once guarded Perdida, the creature had three heads, each of which snapped at the screaming villagers with gnashing fangs and lashing tongues.

Marcassin found Queen Khulan in the middle of the chaos, ushering her subjects to relative safety. They met eyes.

“Go!” she shouted, over the crunch of stone and the shrieks of terrified villagers.

Marcassin needed no further encouragement. He would aid Perdida however he could, but his people came first. The snake moved wildly and with no clear direction; how long until it crushed his kingdom beneath its stone scales? He cast Travel and returned to Hamelin in an instant. His mind raced. This was obviously an attack of some kind, but by who? And why?

Upon his arrival, he found Gascon, Esther, Oliver, and Drippy waiting for him by the palace entrance. Each wore haggard expressions that surely matched his own. It seemed their world was in danger once again.

The five heroes gathered in Marcassin’s private quarters. All of them squeezed together on the plush, velvet sofa, they’d pulled up a table and were now poring over an aged world map. It gave Oliver an odd sense of déjà vu; except now, instead of searching for Mornstar’s missing stones, they were marking the places that fell victim to whatever strange curse had afflicted their world.

Marcassin pierced pins through the map’s browning paper. “We know,” he said, “that Castaway Cove, Yule, and Perdida have all undergone this transformation. Anywhere else?”

“Al Mamoon seems fine,” said Esther.

“Hamelin too, obviously,” added Swaine.

From his spot on Oliver’s lap, Mr. Drippy chimed in. “My butties tell me the Fairyground is right as rain. ‘Course, with ouer luck, the whole world’ll be gone to pot by tomorrow.”

“That’s why we must move fast.” Marcassin put the rest of the pins away. “Only three places, then. But what is the link between them?”

Oliver hummed. “They’re all pretty small, I guess. Maybe they have less defenses?” It was a meager suggestion, even to Oliver. But he’d feel useless if he didn’t say anything.

Nodding, Swaine said, “That’s true, but who would want to target them? They’ve got nothing worth stealing, and they’re not big political players. Castaway Cove might mess with the economy, but then there’s no point attacking Yule and Perdida. Hell, sometimes I forget they exist.”

“Are we sure it was an attack?” Esther asked with furrowed brows. “My father and I didn’t see anyone before or after Castaway Cove changed.”

Marcassin tapped his pen on the table. “You’re suggesting it’s a natural phenomenon?”

“Or maybe an accident.”

“What kind of accident could do all this?” Swaine cut in. “If you ask me, whoever’s behind this is a Shadar copycat — aiming to be the next Dark Djinn.” He shuddered. “God, what a nightmare!”

A hum from Oliver’s lap caught everyone’s attention. Mr. Drippy had stood up, and was now pacing back and forth across Oliver’s thighs (ow), pinching his fingers around what might have been his chin. “Nightmare, eh? You know, Thief-Face, you might be onto something.”

“High praise coming from you,” Swaine snarked.

Mr. Drippy swatted him in reply. “No, you div, I mean it! When you all saw these places, what did you think?”

“That I’d had about enough of the whole hero schtick,” said Swaine, who had to duck to avoid another swat, this time from Esther.

“Well,” said the girl in question, “I almost thought I was dreaming.”

It was true; Marcassin had conjured up a memory of his own experience in Perdida, and the village’s transformation resembled something out of a fever dream. Everything shifted and changed in impossible ways, even in a world full of magic. It was like the big stone snake wasn’t bound by the laws of physics

“Exactly,” Mr. Drippy said, snapping his fingers. “Any of you kids ever heard of the Land of Nod?”

Oliver drew a blank. He’d pored over his map when he’d first arrived to this world, anxious to familiarize himself with so many new places, but he’d never come upon that name before. Though, if the words were too small, he might have just glazed over them; he hadn’t noticed Yule or Perdida for the same reasons.

“I’ve read mentions of it in history books, but only mentions.” Marcassin rested his chin on his hands. He peered at Mr. Drippy. “Why do you ask?”

With the spotlight now fully on him, Mr. Drippy hopped from Oliver’s lap and landed on the table. “Well, it’s an old story, see? A hundred years ago, give or take, Nod was the place to be. A real goldmine for creativity, like. ‘Course, then Shadar had to go and put a spell on it.”

“Why’s that?” said Oliver.

Mr. Drippy snatched up a pad of paper and a pen. He sketched out a (very) crude version of Nod, represented by a castle and some z’s. “So, what you need to know about Nod,” he began, “is that the people there, the Nodlanders, could bring their dreams to life. Anything they dreamt up, they could make it real. Dream Weavers, they were called — Weavers for short.” He drew some sleeping stick figures, with thought bubbles above their heads holding different items. “As you can guess, that’s a lot of power for one kingdom to have. They could’ve had Shadar with his tail between his legs in a day!” He drew a stick figure version of Shadar looking angry. “But he couldn’t have that, could he? So he put them all to sleep, cursed to have nightmares forever.” The final drawing depicted the Nodlanders frowning while they slept, with Shadar cackling madly in the background. Mr. Drippy may not have had a future career in the classic arts, but his cartoonism was nothing to scoff at.

“Alright,” said Swaine, crossing his arms, “so some poor saps have been having bad dreams for a while. Why does that matter to us?”

Mr. Drippy closed his eyes. “Give me strength, mun,” he muttered. “Well, say you’ve got magic dream powers. Then say you’ve been asleep for a long time, and all those dreams have been building up behind youer eyeballs. What d’you think happens when you wake up?”

“Their heads were probably fit to burst! When they woke up, the dreams had nowhere to go but out!” Esther pounded her hand with her fist, eyes bright.

Mr. Drippy nodded. “I can’t say for sure if ouer wonky villages by here are connected to the Nodlanders by there, but it’s worth checking out, en’t it?”

The group got ready to go, but before they could get up, Marcassin intervened. “Hold on a moment. If it was Shadar’s curse that caused this, wouldn’t the spell have been lifted when he was defeated? In that case, the transformations would have happened earlier.”

“Unless,” said Swaine, “Cassiopeia upheld the spell. She might not have even known she was doing it. We defeat her, she starts undoing all the spells she’s cast in however many years, and suddenly Castaway Cove looks like a fishbowl.”

Oliver shimmied himself off the couch, grabbed his wand, and headed for the door. That was enough of an argument for him. “Alright! Let’s go to the Land of Nod!”

Everyone else followed suit, but Marcassin lagged behind. Oliver hung back just in time to see Swaine ask, “Coming with?”

Marcassin shook his head and began putting away the map, pens, and papers they’d pulled out in their planning session. “I shall remain here. Perdida will need a place of refuge until this problem is resolved, and I want to be here if something happens to Hamelin as well.” He smiled at his brother. “Be safe out there, won’t you?”

Smirking, Swaine replied, “You can count on me.”

He left the room, and Oliver followed after him, feeling too much like he was intruding. But as he left down the hall, he heard Marcassin sigh and say, “I know you will.”

Oliver shut the door and caught up with his friends.

As it turned out, the journey to Nod was a short one. The city, situated in the heart of the Spindle, was only a brief Sea Cow’s ride away from Hamelin. The four of them arrived with plenty of time to spare, and now trudged up towards the signs of civilization in the distance.

The Spindle was just as rough and craggy as the rest of Autumnia. The smog wasn’t quite as bad here as it was closer to Hamelin, but everything had that usual Autumnia dimness. Grayish grass, grayish rocks, and minimal grayish shrubbery made up the less than welcoming landscape.

“Hard to believe there’s a whole kingdom here,” commented Swaine, forcing himself up a steep hill. “Hard to believe anyone lives here at all.”

Mr. Drippy clambered up Swaine’s shoulder and refused the man’s attempts to get him down. “Ah, you should’ve seen her in her prime. Beautiful, she was. You could see the lights for miles.” He trailed off, gaze far away.

“Um,” said Esther, “you’ve been here before, then? Only, I thought you said Nod had been cursed for hundreds of years . . .”

Drippy waggled his finger at her. “Ah, now. It’s impolite to ask a fairy’s age, you know.”

Oliver and Esther exchanged glances. Maybe they’d never know how old their fairy friend was.

Beside them, Swaine was waving his arm about madly, trying to unstick Mr. Drippy from his shoulder. Mr. Drippy, for his part, appeared unbothered; he just held on tighter. Between desperate waves, Swaine said, “Wait a minute. Why have I never noticed this place? I grew up here — I used to come to the Spindle as a kid. I think I’d notice a whole kingdom sitting around.”

When Swaine gave another frantic shake, Mr. Drippy smacked his stubbly cheek and moved to the other shoulder. “Shadar put a flippin’ disillusionment spell on it, didn’t he? Didn’t want anyone stopping by and waking them up. You could’ve walked all the way though and never noticed.”

“Why didn’t you mention any of this before?” Oliver asked. Mr. Drippy wasn’t exactly the humble type. If he knew something that the rest of them didn’t, he was pretty open about showing it. Not that Oliver would ever call his best friend a bragger.

“Well, it was a pretty handy disillusionment, wasn’t it? Couldn’t remember a flippin’ thing about the place before Cassiopeia took the spell away.” He pointed off in the distance, where the shapes of buildings rose above the cliff tops. “Land ho, littlies! Nod en’t much further now!” He took this moment to disembark from Swaine’s shoulders. The man in question heaved a sigh of relief.

Despite his tiny legs, Mr. Drippy wasted no time in rushing up the hill and to the gate mostly obscured by overgrown vines. He yanked the vines away with minimal effort; they crumbled in his grip. When they were all gone, Oliver could just make out the words engraved in the rusty metal. They read, “The Land of Nod: Where Dreaming is Doing.”

Swaine squinted to read the engraving. “They certainly had a brand.”

“Had to, mun!” Mr. Drippy agreed. He strained to open the gate, but it wouldn’t budge. Oliver and Esther joined him in pulling it open. Between labored breaths, he wheezed, “Nod was a real tourist trap, it was. They had to be in your face with the advertising to get people to visit.” The door swung open — and whacked an unfortunate Mr. Drippy in the face. He fell back with an “Oof!”

Oliver helped Mr. Drippy up while Swaine waltzed through the gate. “More of a performance than a kingdom, eh?” the tall man said, kicking up loose chunks of pavement.

When Mr. Drippy was back on his feet, he hurried forward like he hadn’t lost a fight with a door moments prior. Fairies were a hardy people, he liked to say.

Finally, Oliver had his first real look at the kingdom of Nod. It reminded him of a theme park his mother took him too when he was younger; candy-colored buildings, signs everywhere begging you to stop by, sprawling walkways crammed with storefronts. Yet the park he’d gone to as a kid wasn’t nearly so dilapidated. Here, all the colors had faded, windows smeared with dirt, mold and fungus taking root in wooden paneling and whatever food had been left out. Oliver peered through an open window with interest, only to flinch away at the sight of a massive spider taking residence in the room within. He hurried to catch up with the rest of the group.

“Hey, Mr. Drippy?” he said. If he stuck closer to his friends in this eerie place, that was no one’s business. “Didn’t you say the people here would be awake?” The place was practically empty, and the few citizens Oliver did spy were slumped over, fast asleep.

Mr. Drippy raised a brow. “That I did, Ollie-boy. Let’s take a look-see — could be some folks woke up faster than others.”

They wandered deeper into the city, but everyone they saw was passed out. Some were just visible inside their houses, while others appeared to have made it to their doorframes and collapsed. Those that were awake moaned and groaned, eyes squeezed shut, hands resting over their foreheads. Oliver couldn’t help but notice their outlandish clothes; most looked more like costumes than everyday outfits.

Oliver spied one man propped against the side of a building. His entire outfit was somehow made of yarn balls. His eyes were cracked open and lined with dark circles. Yet despite his obvious exhaustion, he was the most conscious person the group had seen yet.

“Excuse me?” Esther said. “Do you know what happened here?”

With some effort, the man forced his eyelids open just enough to stare at Esther. He blinked, frog-like, before closing his eyes with a mumble. His breath deepened; he was asleep like everyone else.

“You’re sure these people caused those weird transformations?” Swaine asked Mr. Drippy. “They can barely move.”

“Haven’t I done enough to make you trust me?” Mr. Drippy groused. “Some patience’ll do you wonders!”

Swaine grumbled but kept quiet. Maybe he was afraid Mr. Drippy would jump on him again.

They rounded a corner. This street was just as empty as the rest of the city — until a young woman emerged from a building with the door left ajar. She looked dazed and unfocused; she didn’t even notice the group’s arrival. Why, Oliver wondered, was she the only one awake?

One thing was for sure though: this girl was from Nod. Her outfit confirmed that. Her getup consisted of a starry purple nightcap with a yellow star on the top, a purple vest with a star on the chest, loose pants that matched her hat tucked into black leather boots, and, oddest of all, a lab coat that looked almost like a bathrobe. Or a bathrobe that looked almost like a lab coat? Like everyone else here, she dressed like she was trying to sell them something.

Mr. Drippy pointed. “Oi, look! A live ‘un!”

* * *

Congrats! You made it to the end! Penelope shows up in the next chapter, I promise. Also, fun fact: the title of each chapter is taken from Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poem, “The Beautiful Land of Nod.” Anyway here’s the drawing I made. I just thought Drippy “helping” Oliver with his homework was a really funny idea.

[helluvapurf]

Hmm, this came as a curious question but with some of your other rewrite ideas for the Hazbin-Helluva verse, do you have any new/current ideas for your old OC, Lady Ratington?

Hmmm, honestly I haven't really thought about it now that you mention my gal Ratington 🤔As much fun as I had initially designing/drawing her... I feel like she'd most definitely be due for some backstory-tweaks ngl ('cause around that time of her introduction, HB came & introduced Mrs. Mayberry with a similar story premise (sweet & friendly teacher in-life, husband cheated, she kills him/herself & lands in Hell for vengeance)😅).

SO lets see... hmmm, I can possibly see a case for Ratington instead possibly being like, a disgruntled nurse in-life (in the 1910s)? Never treated with much respect even for all her hard work cleaning/tending to patients (instead having daydreams of "moving up" rubbing elbows with high society-).

Then of course, after awhile she snaps & takes her vengeance out on the world (via-rat poison), eventually meeting her own end & landing in Hell with hopes of joining the Overlords (+fighting off those trying to "snag her spot", to varying comedic degrees lol).

[his-red-right-hand]

Chapter 4

An excerpt from notes found written on a yellow legal pad:

I should be mad. I should be furious. Had to rewrite my fucking article.

I never have to change my articles.

Girl came in and fucked up my design, should’ve slit her throat the moment I saw her. Dumb bitch didn’t even have the sense to run. But she sounded so fucking pretty begging for me to kill her though. Looked pretty with her blood all over her too. And when she started crying, fuck.

Had half a mind to shove her down onto her knees and make her beg for my cock, choke her on it until she passed out. Fuck her throat until I finish.

Might do it later, when there’s no risk of being caught. Hell, she wants to die so bad, might as well make herself useful beforehand. Don’t know if I want to gut her or fuck her. Maybe both. Either way, I’ll be rearranging her guts.

--

She met Jed at the hospital today, she lied to him as well as the cops. Cute she’s already willing to lie for me. And her advice for people to run from me? Is she trying to get on my good side?

Oh, and that little “off the record” confession? Too sweet. Idiot never noticed I didn’t turn off the tape recorder, so I can listen to her say it over and over. Oh, and I intend to.

Meant what I told her though, going to have a long game with her. Even if I did want to fuck her on that hospital bed after she admitted her death wish so nicely. Gonna masturbate to her picture again, maybe as I watch her sleep. Got to keep in control, no matter how tempting it is to just take what I want now. Gotta enjoy the chase first.

Found out from her nurse that she’s getting discharged tomorrow, so I’ll look around her house tonight, see what I can find. Then do a check in with the next name on the list to make sure nothing’s changed, going to be abandoning them for a bit. This new design is going to take some time to plan, but the execution is going to be a helluva good time.

--

Lives in a fairly shitty one bedroom house, but the backyard’s big and backs onto the woods. Plenty of nice spots to keep watch from, a good view into her bedroom and living room. A little sad there’s nowhere to get a good view into her bathroom, but you can’t have everything.

Backdoor key is hidden under a painted rock next to a chair and a little table: roach in an ashtray. Might be an option to fuck with her there - depends on what her consumption is like.

Inside is cheap everything, a lot of mismatched flea market furniture, except the stereo. And she has a lot of vinyl. Rearranged a few just to fuck with her a little. A pile of mix tapes in a box, all labelled in the same handwriting, so either she makes them or knows one person who does.

Kitchen cupboards were mostly empty, a bunch of instant ramen and some jiffy pop. Fridge was mostly take away containers. She had left milk out on the side that had gone bad. Disposed of it for her, I’m not a complete monster.

Bedroom had some nice discoveries, a bullet vibe in a drawer next to some Clive Barker novel with a few bookmarks. My girl is a freak. Knew I had good taste.

Thought about stealing some of her panties, but I think I’ll wait until she’s back and I can take the pair she was wearing when we met. I’m a romantic like that.

She’s got lots of books, but the dust on the bookcase shows she wasn’t lying about not reading much lately. What the fuck else was she doing?

Whole place has the vibe of a shut-in. The couch looks like she sleeps on it most nights, pizza boxes all around it. Sleeping pills on the coffee table, some heavy duty stuff. Definitely something to mess with in future.

Found her Blockbuster rentals, The Evil Dead and Silence of the Lambs. Hid that one, she should only be thinking about one killer. Maybe I’ll return it for her, it’ll spare her a late fee as well as fuck with her head a bit. Still a bit of a monster.

--

I was watching when she came home. She checked the front blinds, but didn’t bother with the back windows. Then again I’m the only one here watching. Gave me a nice show, walking around naked for me except for the bandage. Want to see her without it, want to see her with my marks on her. Want to give her so many more.

Watched her get stoned in her backyard wearing just a t-shirt. A guy would normally have to pay for the shows she keeps giving me, can’t wait until she does it knowing I’m watching her. Took some pictures, a few in her natural environment to go with that cute little polaroid I got of her all bloody when we first met.

Hasn’t seemed to notice anything I moved yet, or if she has she’s explaining it away to herself. Gonna have to amp that up over time, until she knows it’s me. Not sure about her taste in music, a bit maudlin for my tastes, but it was kinda catchy in a sad way.

She called a few people, her boss and a couple of friends, they were the only ones who had left her messages. Glad I got the tap set up, gotta keep track of my favourite girl’s social life, doesn’t she know there’s a killer loose? Don’t think she calls the friends often though, which is good for me. They won’t miss her so much once I start taking up her time. And if they do, I can always get rid of the answer machine tapes.

She ended up falling asleep on the couch to The Evil Dead, looking all cute and pouty lying there. Wanted to go in and take those panties, but decided not to risk it just yet. Don’t know how deeply she sleeps. She’s going to work tomorrow, I can come back on Jed’s lunch break and get them then. Maybe do a little more rearranging, maybe leave a present or two. After all, I gotta treat my girl right, don’t I?

Maybe she’d like the pictures I just took of her sleeping, nice and close up through the unlocked backdoor, her shirt riding up enough that you can see where those legs end, and it is quite the view. Such a little exhibitionist for me.

Oh, we’re going to have so much fun together.

[sweetshelluvaau]

Taking a break from doing Helluva Boss redesigns to do some Hazbin Hotel ones because my brain was screaming inside telling me to draw Lilith which ended up be deciding to drawing Lucifer as well! I Also finished up my redesign of Charlie but I'm gonna give them their own dedicated post

Like always, notes under the cut. Drawn in Clip Studio Paint and with Photoshop CS6 for final touches. Okay to reblog, Feedback is encourage.

About the canon designs and personalities:

Lucifer: Honestly, I don't mind Lucifer's design too much outside of the fact it falls under the typical Viziziepop's Twink she likes to draw. I do think overall, the Ringleader idea she was going for is there, sorta. That being said: I have it out for that top hat. Not necessarily the fact he's wearing one he's one of the few characters I don't mind wearing one more than the accessories with it. Between the stupid crown, snake and apple it just...doesn't work for me.

As for his portrayal in the show: I happen to like Lucifer in Hazbin I think he's a fun character even though I do have problems as I'm about to address. Jeremy Jordan seemed like one of the few voice actors that sounded like he was having fun playing his character suppose to just being there for a paycheck (I mean, he was there for that but still). I know people complain that he sounds too young which I do agree I do think Jordan could have gave him a slightly deeper voice along with his design looking as if he was a bit older; but considering that he's over, what? Eons years old with an angelic background, I'll give it a pass.

I'm iffy on his backstory, or at least how it's handled in the show. Lucifer being an 'innocent' dreamer with good intentions doesn't necessarily bother me too much and his punishment for giving humanity freewill has an irony to it so no problems there. However I do have problems with how as the character that's suppose to be the cause of all sin, the fucking Devil himself and the ruler of Hell; isn't treated like such. Yeah I know he misses his wife Tails, he misses her a lot but c'mon man, you're the King of Hell and The Sin of Pride! In the pilot he seemed to have a more sinister, or at the least threating presence from the little we saw of him.

Also, you took the Pride out of the Sin of Pride? Where's his bite? What are you doin' Viv!?

This is a problem I have with Helluva as well where the Sins, or at least the case for Bee and Ozzie season two onward is that the show is too afraid to make even the more lax, 'nicer' of the Sins not being threating or a bit of dicks sometimes Mammon withstanding because Vivienne is worried that she'll risk them coming across as unlikeable which is bullshit considering how people love asshole characters when they're written right or are fun. Helluva's Mammon is proof right there the fandom love him and Ozzie, as brief as it was in Season One had a banger of a 'villain' song where he and Fizz drag three of the main cast member's sex lives just because he fucking can and says he dislikes 'lovely dovey' crap which is a bit hypocritical considering how much he smitten with his Jester Boyfriend (You two were all touchy and that nuzzle at the end they aren't fooling anyone lol) why did you take away their bite and turned Fizz into such a wimp I miss my little chaotic gay gremlin man... but I'm getting a head of myself.

I don't mind Lucifer and by extension the Sins themselves NOT being evil; in fact I like the idea of them being morality dubious/having questionable morality along with them having a bit of 'humanity' to them, makes them more interesting as characters, but to take away their bite or having 'good' sins and 'bad' sins (ranted about that here) just sounds like a cheap copout and takes away any nuance to the whole idea of sin to begin with being how Hazbin is suppose to be a story about redemption and if a sinner CAN be redeemed. Granted a poorly constructed story that misses the mark horribly, but I digest.

Overall, I do like Lucifer as a character but I wouldn't have 'woobified' him if that makes sense.

Lilith: Her design is...meh. Her dress is pretty, sure; but it's like a normal ballgown. I like the idea of the horns.

...That's all I got to say honestly.

Since we don't know much about her personality in the show yet outside of hints that she 'thrived' in Hell and her and Lucifer were separated by the time the story happened, there's not much for me to say on this front. Prior to the show dropping (or maybe just the pilot), Vivienne hinted that they were gonna have a Gomez and Morticia dynamic going on so consider me disappointed that this ended up not being the case. Damn, would I have killed to have them be this happily married power couple because let's be real: You can't be a powerful badass King without your equality powerful badass Queen, am I right? XD I'd eat that shit up!

I honestly fear Lilith in the show is going to end up being Stella 2.0 which I hope isn't the case but considering Vivienne's writing I don't have much faith she'll be anything but. Maybe not as bad, but yeah...

Anyways, on to the redesigns and character changes:

Lucifer: I said before that I'm not really going with the circus theme in my rewrite/au. I do think on paper the "Hell is a circus' is interesting, fun concept but that's been barely, if at all utilized in Hellaverse outside of a poorly done aesthetic, but it's not the direction I personality want to go with. I may still play with the whole circus thing with the Happy Hotel itself, but otherwise...yeah, right, redesign.

I knew from the beginning I wanted to give him a more darker color scheme along with adding purple into his outfit because purple = Pride so I settled on a dark purple, red and gold/bronze combo. I was debating if I should have scraped his top hat or not being how Hellaverse made me me have it out agasist tops hats like almost every other male character has a fucking top hat there's other kinds of hats but at the end of the day I decided to keep it though he doesn't always wear it. I did draw him without the hat as well which you can view towards the end of the post. I kept the apple motif he has going and while I didn't do much with his cane, I did add a snake which yes, is alive. That's his pet Temptation and he loves her very much.

Outfit inspiration:

Personality wise it's very similar to what it is in the show but taken in a bit more darker direction. Think overdramatic theater kid meet rebellious somewhat edgy adult who hasn't grown out of his teenage years (that's not saying he doesn't act like an adult he does but he has that 'whimsical' nature to him where he sometimes won't take things seriously or refuses to take responsibility though there are moments where he does have to 'Swallow his Pride' so to speak).

I also made him much more Prideful because he's the Sin of Pride, duh. This man will fight tooth and nail to prove that he's in the right (a trait that Charlie also shares) because his ego and pride won't let him rest and he's not going to back down DAMN IT!!. Lilith and/or a few of the Sins (Satan, Beelzebub and Ozzie respectfully) have to reel him in so he doesn't do anything stupid and make an ass out of himself more than he already has.

However, just because he is a prideful prick a good portion of the time doesn't mean he doesn't have his moments of genuine compassion and love for those who are important in his life. He loves his family, daughter included despite how unsupportive and very passive aggressive in regard to believing that her plan is dead in the water and has no problem addressing those thoughts in a 'tough love' kind of way (or what he believes is tough love when it's reality he's coming across as him just beating her down and making them drift even father apart as if they already slowly weren't. As I said, he's very prideful when he believes he's right) and views most of the other Sins minus Leviathan as his firends/true companions though some are much closer to him than others.

I kept most of his backstory in the show the same where he had some good intentions of gifting humanity freewill but also at the same time did it out of rebellion towards his father (God) after falling for Lilith and believing that everything that made her...well her (her freewill, sprit, strength) should be given to every human only for it to backfire and bring evil and sin in the world annnnd we know how this story goes. (otr I have both Eve AND Adam eat from the apple and Lilith had nothing to do with the whole thing but was punished regardless for 'influencing' Samael regardless if she pushed him or not) There was still a Heaven and Hell war but that doesn't happen until much later in the timeline once Hell gains the power and means to declare such on Heaven, only for them to lose in the end. The Exterminations has something to play with the outcome of the war but that's a discussion for another time.

Lilith:

Putting aside I didn't want both Lilith and Lucifer to have the same hair color (one of the reasons why I didn't also make Luci's hair red after he fell, even if that was more canon biblically correct), I wanted Lilith to be a red head like she is in biblical stories. I also made her skin a bit darker. I was aiming for an olive skin tone but not sure if I successfully succeeded in that.

Lilith still has her horns but I made them much smaller. They expand/grow bigger when she's enraged or goes into her full demon form where her eyes also glow and her nails turn into long, sharp blade like talons. I plan on drawing her demon form along with the rest of the Morningstars later down the line. I also gave her animal ears which I may revisit later being that was a last second addition. I wanted to give Luci or Lilith hooves as well but I didn't think about it after the drawings were done. (likely will give Luci them)

Dress inspiration:

As for personality and overall character changes go: Well for starters, Both Lilith and Lucifer are a happily married power couple like we were lead on to believe and I WILL NOT TAKE NO FOR AN AWSNER!!

As I said earlier, we still don't know much about Lilith as a character in the show outside of the fact she thrived in Hell and influenced demonkind but never said of what that entailed. I'm still keep those elements of course, having her be a beacon for the Hellborn and establishing connections and business with a good share of the Overlords in Pride, especially with the more 'lesser evil' Sinner ones. Lilith is the one who normally engages with Sinners on large where Lucifer rather avoid them as much as possible with a few exceptions being how he blames them for why he ended up down in Hell to begin with considering he did believe they'd do good with the 'gift' he gave them, only to be proven wrong and him having to suffer seeing the worst of humanity as punishment.

Personality wise, Lilith is a strong willed, go getter who wants nothing but the best for her family, firends and citizens. She involves herself heavily in the politics of Hell while also hoping to inspire her people, Hellborn and Sinners alike. Soft but strong, caring but stern; playful but serious when she has to be, Lilith wears her title on her sleeve as the Queen of Hell and a mother and friend to those who look up to her.

Like Charlie and unlike her husband, Lilith sees the good in humanity. She was human herself after all, deemed the first Sinner but she's more indirect and hands off with her methods where Charlie wants to be more hands on and direct with her hotel idea. Lilith tries to guild her daughter the best she can but tries to persuade her that her plans for the Happy Hotel may not have the effect she hopes, even as supportive she is of her daughters' ideals.

Lilith has succubus like powers but isn't one herself; however she does work with Asmodeus to train those who do go up topside to spread sin.

Charlie may be the Hellish couple's first child but it wasn't the first time Lilith tried conceive; Charlie was the only one who made it fully to term.

Lilith is much taller than Lucifer, while Charlie is only slightly taller than her father.

I'm going to likely revisit their redesigns in the future because there are a few things I would like to change/add on to but overall this is the direction I plan on going for them. I know this post was long and if you happened to read though all of this: Thank you for reading~

Charlie's redesign will be next being I finished her for a while now I just need to write out my notes. Hopefully this weekend it'll be up.

Bonus, Lucifer without his hat:

[jeschalynn]

for the ask game-- 🍓🍑🍇?

Daisy my beloved! Thank you for the tasty fruits~

🍓 What’s a fic you’ve written you feel is underrated?

I mentioned some fics in a previous ask, but another that comes to mind might be my fluffy Beel fics? I'm thinking of this sickfic specifically. Sometimes the game does his character so dirty. We have great little moments with him but the rest of the time it's oh look, Beel's eating/hungry or he's thinking/talking about food again. It gets SO OLD. Yes, it doesn't escape me that the sickfic involves cooking for him but food can be such a sweet, impactful way of connecting to someone if it's written well. There's a difference between Beel liking food, and Beel liking food because you made it specially for him and every time he eats that food, it reminds him of you and he appreciates you for it. That's the element of Beel's gluttonous nature I like most.

🍑 If you could make a connection between your favorite character and another work you care about (whether a crossover/fusion or a wonderfully “pretentious” literary reference) what would it be? How would it work?

I tend to think about crossover potential with the Obey Me universe as a whole and other fandoms I'm interested in. There are the obvious candidates - Twisted Wonderland, Arcana Twilight, What in Hell is Bad, Helluva Boss/Hazbin Hotel - but my lowkey favourite is Demon Slayer.

How it works is some vague explanation of Devildom/hell power dynamics and their multiple systems of checks and balances where Muzan and the Twelve Kizuki are basically like their own sect of high-ranking demons. Due to their bloodthirsty nature, they probably spend most of their time in the human world gaining pacts with humans so they can collect their souls (and consume them in the process). Maybe some of the demon lords look down on them because of their unrepentant fondness for murder and mayhem (since the demon lords that also engage in those activities do so more discreetly).

When Lucifer and his brothers fall, the balance of power in the Devildom shifts. The demon rulers of the past had to carefully navigate and appease the various sects of demon lords of considerable influence to minimize violence and chaos within the realm. Due to their unique circumstances, the Avatars of Sin are not only given considerable rank and prestige upon arriving in the Devildom, but they're firmly in Diavolo's camp which gives the royal family considerable strength that maybe they were lacking before. This shakes up things for the rest of the nobility and everyone else gets bumped down a peg or two in the hierarchy to make way for Lucifer and his siblings who now sit very close to the top.

By the time the exchange program commences, Muzan is on par with the higher ranking demon lords of the Ars Goetia with the Twelve Kizuki ranked by power level below him. As far as demons go, they're still strong and have powerful reputations and connections within the Devildom, but there might be some lingering bitterness that they were so easily shoved aside for the demon brothers. They spend a lot of time in the human world to avoid interacting with them, although their behaviour is more closely scrutinized by Diavolo in order to prevent aggression or hostility with the Sorcerer's Society or Celestial Realm.

(My very self-indulgent selfship lore with Gyutaro/Daki involves this premise where my MC has a pact with them before entering the exchange program.)

🍇 Is there a particular scene/episode/book/etc that you want to just write a million fics about, over and over? Which one?

There are specific OM story lines for certain characters that I could write about over and over again.

Lucifer - making his pact with MC in S1

Belphie - the aftermath of Lesson 16 (good and bad)

Solomon - rewriting his relationship with MC in S1, the apprenticeship trials in S3

Barbatos - continuing the romantic buildup of S4 and the hypothetical S5 we never got

Michael - his first meeting with MC (what I think would've happened in OG S5)

[tarsusfeathers]

Verse: Hazbin // Helluva

In the beginning, there were many Gods. Some lived peacefully together, while others held themselves above the separate religions. When the world began there was discontent on how to handle the dead. While some believed in unity, no matter the religion, there were a few who demanded their own religion stand above the others. In an attempt to ease the feud, the Gods decided to separate the souls not based on their good intentions and worship, but on what God they deemed ‘true’. And so different afterlife’s were made. Some were reborn in Reincarnation, some travelling the Hall of Two Truths, or perhaps the River of Styx. And of course, others joined the party in Valhalla. But there was one God who took this as blasphemy, rewriting its own religion and how Man came to be. This God created Heaven, for those who were devoted to their word, and Hell for those who lived in what the book deemed ‘sin’. —

“Yikes! This guy really had what the kids today call, the big mad~.”

While some religions were torn apart by this new Christianity, others thrived as the people rebelled against a God who demanded so much. And in turn, all religion continued to function under the rule of their respectful divinity.

“Mm.. I’d say different. But hey, who am I to argue with the scrolls, huh? — I’m just Hermes. Haha. That’s right, baby. The one and only~ The God Hermes. I’ve had so many names across sooo many more religions; The Grim reaper, The Angel of Death, Yama, Yanluo.. It’s exhausting being a conductor of souls, the one who leads your dead little corpse to.. weeeell whatever afterlife you’ve been signed up for. And I hear you, ‘but Hermes, all these death bringers look different in photos! How can they all be the same person?’ — Listen, sweet-cakes. Do you really think they’d appoint a whole different being for every religion? You people make them up all the time, we’re not looking at resumes. And don’t get me started on Pastafarianism.. Hilarious! We leave you alone for one decade and it’s a Flying Spaghetti Monster you come up with? Brilliant, truly! —

But that’s enough lecture.. the boring stuff, YAAAWN. You, my dear little mortal, are about to venture into your very own afterlife! Is that not exciting? Haha.. I hope you lived your life to the fullest. Indulged in all sorts of.. mischief~ Now.. what religion did you say you practiced..?”

[countessdragon]

Last Song: "Belle's Villain Song" by Lydia the Bard

Favorite Color: P U R P L E

Currently Watching: A mix of Hazbin Hotel, Wednesday (ok yes I know i'm late to the party but i was busy), and Dirty Money

Last Movie: The Haunted Mansion

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: *visible confusion*

Relationship Status: lol no

Current Obsessions: Winterbones (as is quickly becoming usual), Wyler, Harry Potter in general (as usual), Science in general (as usual), Miraculous Ladybug (as usual), Danny Phantom (as usual), Damian Wayne, Tim Drake, Batfamily, Fantasy writing, Vampire Diaries fandom rewrites, Helluva Boss, and a fuck ton of indie horror games

Last Thing I Googled: What does sweet/spicy/savory mean for people?

Tags: @cowarddragon We dragons must stick together!

PEOPLE I WANNA KNOW BETTER

Tagged by @lilstvr thank you babes 🫶

LAST SONG? Jungle- Good Times

FAVORITE COLOR? GREEN GREEN GREEN 🙃

CURRENTLY WATCHING? Nothing really cause everything on Netflix, disney+, & Soap2day is pissing me off, Hollywood needs to stop being bitches and pay their writers what they deserve 😭

LAST MOVIE? Bottoms

SWEET/SPICY/SAVORY? Mmm idk 😭 specific wise, candy sour, dinner spicy, and everything else savory.

RELATIONSHIP STATUS? Single but delusional and taken by fictional men

CURRENT OBSESSIONS? The Do-Over and Better The movies by Lynn painter, ACOTAR (I love Azriel so much😭) I’ve been reading a lot of books lately lol

LAST THING YOU GOOGLED? ‘How does one cope after their dog dies’ my dogs not dead I just get sad and I cried earlier because I know that it will happen some day.

tagging: @lovebugcody @raggedyoldwitch @vnusology @theold-ultraviolence @ghostlyloversworld @aislinrayne @biqherosix @certifiedlovergirlsstuff @thelov3lybookworm @auras-moonstone @ang3lik

[weekdaysend]

Hello! A lot of you had positive responses to my last post, so here I’ll be writing my personal rewrites of the I.M.P. Crew (Sorry this took so long, I got side-tracked this weekend <:]). For a reminder of what my redesigns looked like, you can find them Here. I’m gonna go from left to right and start with the first crew member:

Mildred (or Millie)

I did a lot of reworking around Mildred since a majority of her characterization is basically nonexistent, so I gave her a personality with a lot of potential and complexity that’s on par with her male crew members.

Mildred comes from a very low-income, Southern family in the Wrath Ring. She grew up on a barn with her parents and several other siblings, making her essentially a middle child. She worked on their farm for most of her life as a hand and delivery girl to send fresh produce to buyers and the local market. It was like this for some time until the family business had gone dry due to some messy ties with the upper-class that resulted in them going into poverty. Wanting to help her family and support them financially Mildred left to go find work elsewhere, in which she meets Blitzo and is hired onto the I.M.P. team.

She’s very hard-working, a bit brutish but has a heart of gold, and is blunt and out-spoken. She’s not very sophisticated but has a lot of Wisdom to her and gives some great advice to Loona as the only other woman in the workplace, and someone for Loona to look up to in times of need. She gets along great with everyone except Moxxie, who she butts heads with constantly due to their conflicting personalities and backgrounds. Speaking of Moxxie, he’s next on the list.

Moxandicus (Moxxie)

Moxxie was an Imp born into the wealthier part of Imp society, basically making him the equivalent of your typical “uptight, sophisticated rich boy”. His family comes from a line of competitive businessmen, none of that mafia mumbo-jumbo, though they probably do have some loose ties to them in some way. Moxxie is the odd-one-out of his family, rather than taking an interest in the family business, instead finds his passion in Mortals History (this man is so infatuated with Humans culture its crazy). Because of this, his family looked at him more as a nuisance “wasting his time on silly hobbies”, and basically cut him off from his wealth until he “proved himself worthy” of being welcomed back into the family. Now broke and nowhere to go, Moxxie finds himself looking for work, where he meets Blitzo and joins I.M.P.

I imagine my Moxxie has a very similar personality to the one if the show, except he’s more educated, calculating, snooty and uptight, and less of.. I don’t know how to put this— coward? Butt of the joke? You get what I mean. He’s essentially the straight man and voice of reason for the group, and is the one who usually has to get them out of their pickles when working. He doesn’t have a lot of street smarts and is less willing to get his hands dirty compared to everyone else. Like I said earlier he clashes a lot with Millie and frequently questions Blitzo’s authority, but most of the time doesn’t argue back on the count of that’s his boss. He’s indifferent towards Loona, though questions why a teenager is working for them in the first place.

Blitz(o)

A lot of Blitz’s backstory and personality is mostly the same: Grew up in the circus in the Pride Ring, left after wanting to seek more in life prove to everyone someone from his social class can make it big in the world, yadayadayada. However I did rewrite some things that I believed wold make his character a lot better/more tolerable:

He’s still on good terms with his sister, they’re just really busy all the time so they don’t have a lot of time to talk or see each other (I’m so sick of this dude not having at LEAST one good relationship).

He and Verosika are still on bad terms due to their messy break-up, though I want to believe Blitzo regrets and sometimes even misses her and the actions that led to their falling out, though due to his pride refuses to admit it out loud.

None of that weird “sexually harassing my coworkers” shit. That was weird and gross.

I gave him a personality that’s more attuned to “if Weird Al was a bounty hunter who grew up in the circus”. He was always some silly little guy to me. The man grew up in a circus, I’d expect him to be a little clowned down if you get what I’m sayin’.

His relationship with Loona is typically the same. He adopted her when she was around 13-14 and has been raising her ever since as his teenage daughter (None of that weird “treating hellhounds like literal peta thing that was weird and confusing). He makes her work as their secretary and “social media manager” as a way to earn a weekly allowance and also “the kids are hip with it she’ll do wonders for us promotionally”. She does not, he just refuses to admit it.

Leona (Loona)

I’ve done a lot of reworking for Loona as well, same reasons as Millie. Istg they do not know how to wrote female characters.

Loona is a hellhound born from the Sloth Ring. She doesn’t know a lot of her background, but was raised in foster care for a small portion of her life until Blitzo took her in when she hit her teenage years. Before that however she took a liking towards astrology and magic and would constantly read about it in her formative years. When she began living with Blitz she began attending schooling to further learn about magic and how to translate older works, which is how she’s able to use Stolas’ book for the IMP team to use. She get’s teased on a lot in school for being one of the only Hellhounds there, which causes her to feel insecure about herself and shut in from people including Blitz.

Loona’s a very quiet, closed-off teenager (16-17), who’s very much in that “going through a phase” part of growing up. She’s very insecure about herself and is easily-impressionable, which is why she looks up to Millie so much, since she’s cool and is the only other girl in the office space to talk to. Loona’s relationship with Blitz is the same, except she actually acts like a teenager and not an abusive asshole. She wants to prove to herself that she’s not some “loser nobody” and can actually do magic and make friends with other teens her age.

And that’s it. Sorry it was so long I had a lot to say lol. If you have further questions, direct them to my ask box.

[fatratbabyy]

hi! i really love your designs, the colours are always really well done anf the characters are full of life.. and i love how your rewrites give the characters complexity and make them really interesting to me, much more so than canon(though i am a fan of some ideas introduced there, they don’t quite turn out in ways that make sense to me)! i’ve been wondering a few things about helluva troupe for a while however and hopefully the answers aren’t spoilers, lol.. in HT, what is Fizz’s involvement with the ‘troupe’ and what is stolas’s involvement too.? i wish you much luck on your work as it is lovely to see! (also apologies for my silly username)

Thank You!

Thank you so much that means a lot!! waaAahee! It makes me happy to see people interested 🥺👉👈

With Fizz it's,,, a bit Fuzzy, because hilariously he's the whole reason I made this AU among other things But I ended up makinh him a sorta side character antag again because while originally he was going to be part of the main crew from the start of HT's storyline, as I went along in trying to write I saw some cool hcs about his star clown days and so I thought to use the more canonized view- mostly in that he's a star clown during the events of HT instead of dropping the show life to join Blitz in I.M.P. That previous version is why you see him in the I.M.P references- and hinty hoo that ol version isnt completely null and voice to the current HT

ANYWAY so yeah- While Fizz isn't as much a main character as he was he still has a great deal of importance to the story and themes I want to express in HT. When it comes to him and the Troupe itself, I could best describe him as one of the biggest foils or parallels to the main cast. Just,, he's this golden image that represents their every want fulfilled. For Blitz especially given their thick history heehooo. (That's not to say this 'golden image' is entirely as it seems btw...)

Now it sounds much like canon I know but I like to think I'm taking a different direction with it- It's not really just the "haha you suck with relationships, fuck, shit, pénis im doing better look at my good relationship" nonsense cuz for 1. Fizzarozzie does nOT exist anymore- its Mamzie now 😊 (Mammon + Ozzie) and 2. The themes with Fizz and really most of HT has less to do with the melodramatic romance "will they wont they" of Stolitz (which isnt really a thing either) and more the struggle impoverished and oppressed peoples experience with success, failure, identity, community, family, status, history, trauma, etccc. Specifically, because I am an indigenous person from Canada, a lot of the themes are drawn from my own experiences, knowledge and history as an indigenous person. Though with execution, creative liberties were taken to make the fact they're in Hell clear btww-

That very likely did nOT answer jour question but i amn,,,stoopi 😭😭😭 simpler answer i suppose maybe by chance would be Fizz is an eventual antagonist to I.M.P. Specifics and how it happens and wheNNN?? Im still not sure yet if im honest- been really busy the last year or so and so Ive hadnt had any time or energy to work as much on writing all the things! ;u; thats probs disappointing to hear cuz plaNNing and all is important if you're gonna post story stuff at all,,, but !! I do hope to work more on the story this year so i can wrap up all these floating ideas into a Concrete line of stuff cuz truly all im missing is the middle pieces. Maybe an HT comic will be real this/or next year! 👀🏃

ANYHOOT ONTO STOLAS! i rambled a bit too much about Fizz cuz im still figuring him out- Stolas might be a bit shorter cuz his role is sweet and simplisticerr.

So, Stolas is an antagonist. He and Blitz still have an exchange sort of deal, but the deal is Blitz gets to keep the grimoire for I.M.P if he handles Stolas' "errands" and gives it back on the full moon with ofc none of the uh,,hawny stuff, obv. Blitz kinda keeps this deal under wraps from the rest of I.M.P because for him, it hurts his pride to admit he's in need of some big guy's help. And Stolas is somewhat aware of this. And so, Stolas is this looming, cruel threat that Blitz carries the burden of cuz he's stubborn as fuck whilst the rest of I.M.P remain ignorant.

Some bonus notes that dont really have to do with Stolas involvement with imp but jus how stuff ive changed with his canon influence the story diff than canon; so, Stella isnt a thing anymore. In general the Goetia work much differently- majority of the Goetia being the children of Ozzie instead of Paimon (who is Stolas' sibling now btw too) and the Goetia being thousands of years old instead of fucking 30- Also! While Via is existant she is but a baby instead of a moody teen,, ties heavily with Stolas' motives and how he operates as a character, royal, and Goetian and felt it would work better with how HT Stolas is as a character than it would otherwise.

Also no worries about the username! I dont like canon stolas much either lol,,;

I apologize if this didnt answer much 😭 feel free to let me know if you wanna hear about somn else gwahgh 🏃

[sweetshelluvaau]

Like promised in my Lucifer and Lilith post: here's my redesign and character changes for Charlie

Like always, notes under the cut. Drawn in Clip Studio Paint and with Photoshop CS6 for final touches. Okay to reblog, Feedback is encourage.

Charlie's character in the Pilot/canon:

Honestly, I really don't have any complaints about Charlie's design in the pilot. I think it's cute. I can't say the same for for the show itself though. Her hair is fine, but I don't like the outfit at all. Too much red and within a show that already has too much red, it all blends together and honestly isn't pleasant on the eyes. Honestly, I can't imagine what it'd be like for color blinded people heesh.

However, her design is the least of the problems I have with Show!Charlie. My major grip with Charlie in the show is how she's written.

There's a lot of things you can say about Charlie in the Pilot but what you can't say about her that she was unrealistic. She had good intentions and while she did come across as naïve, she wasn't stupid. She knew that her idea for the Happy Hotel could end up in disaster and maybe was dead in the water from day one; but she liked to believe that there's good in everyone and people deserve a second chance, or at least a chance to change for the better.

She also didn't come across as sheltered or a pushover like she did in the show neither. Charlie knew why people are sent to Hell and some are truly horrible people; some that she may have found out aren't worthy of redemption, let alone want to be redeemed. Also she knew when to put her foot down and not take shit unlike in the show where she just doesn't want to use her power as Princess of Hell because 'that's too mean' like giiiiiirl...

A part of me likes to believe that Pliot!Charlie would have no problem standing up to Valentino and get Angel Dusk out of his clutches if it meant not just for a chance Angel becoming a better person, but because he is her friend and believes no one should be abused like Val does to Angel.

(She also wouldn't call Angel Dusk a loser for being SA'd and R*ped like the show did with Husk. I know what Loser Baby was trying to do with it's message but it comes across as tone death being you can't really compare Husk's problems to what Angel is going though but I digest. There's better people to speak about this topic than me, honestly. I highly recommend Limus' video in regard to how Angel Dusk is written if you want to hear from an SA survivor's PoV)

About the redesign and character changes:

Honestly? I didn't change much from her pilot design because there really wasn't much to change in my book. Why fix perfection after all? If anything I just added onto what was already established plus added features from her redesigned parents. I gave them more golden hair with red hues along with Lilith's little horns that also grow when angry or in full demon form. I've seen a lot of people drawing Charlie with goat like features and couldn't help but not find that adorable so I ended up going down that route as well. (my Lilith also had animal ears but my Lucifer has more goat features in his demon form) They do still have there red suit jacket which they likely wears most of the time but I just really like her suspenders I want to show them off. Look I just think they're neat.

Her personality is closer to the pilot than it is the show, with her world view slowly changing as the story goes on. They also grow closer to the tenants of the hotel so that she can help them better suppose to doing day camp activities and thinking that's enough to get someone redeemed. I mean there are a few things from the show like trust excuses that I can see her putting the cast in being trust can be a virtue, but otherwise her methods become slowly just...talking and listening and finding the root of why they are the way they are with some of them perhaps tried to do good when still alive but always gotten dragged back into whatever sin or horrible thing they got themselves for what ever reason it may be. The only expectation of this is Alastor who doesn't really change much outside of growing fond of Charlie and some of their better qualities possibility rubbing off on him but considering he was a serial killer and cannibal when alive, I don't think there's anyway he's getting anywhere close to Heaven. XD

Her and Vaggie (who I will be renaming to Agatha, or Aggie for short in my AU) aren't a couple. At least at the very beginning of the story as I plan on going a more slow burn approach with their relationship suppose to them being a couple from the get go. I like the idea of Chaggie but found their relationship in the show was kinda wasted potential and (that seems to be the underlining theme of Hellaverse at this point) boring honestly. They had some chemistry and cute moments but I feel like the writers had really little interest in their relationship to begin with outside of wanting a wlw romance and from my understanding the reason why Chaggie is a thing is because a few people on Viv's team shipped it while none of the writers really cared much idk? It being slow burn in this case is more of a personal preference than it is to fix the problems with the pairing as a whole. Honestly for a show who claims to be 'female focused' it sure doesn't seem like it cares about it's woman characters at all? It's like the showrunners wanted to pull an excuse out of their ass to avoid taking accountability for poor writing in Helluva Boss' female leads...

They're non binary and go by she/them pronouns. Why? Well, Why not?

Honestly I don't have much more to say about Charlie being I'm basically taking what was given in the pilot and working with that as a base. Maybe I'll talk more in depth about her relationship with the tenants later but as of now I think I may have said everything I needed.

Next on my design agenda will be Archangel Michael (replaces Adam), following redesigns for Kesha!Bee and Stolas. I also need to finish up my second part of my Pride Ring post. It's about done but I need to clean it up a bit...

[sweetshelluvaau]

I'm currently coloring Stolas' redesign and while I do plan on doing some revisits along and in between, I thought we'd have another vote on who my next redesign should be being I got ideas for them but not sure what to do first: