#vark (ram)

[randomly--accessed--memories]

After the other Vees get Vox back from the hotel, they give him significantly more freedom of mobility than he used to have. He’s not supposed to leave the tower unaccompanied for his own safety, but he can move around the tower itself freely and will go on outings with Val and Vel on occasion. All of Hell knows he’s alive now, and he’s stabilized significantly since his stay at the hotel, so there’s no point in keeping him locked up anymore.

Vark is a huge help whenever they go out. He keeps Vox from wandering off, helps ground him in the moment, and serves as a pretty effective deterrent to prevent anyone from approaching them uninvited. Vox might start picking up responsibilities around the tower too, eventually. Depending on how stable Vox becomes, Velvette may even find/create a show for him to host that matches his new, spontaneous, high-energy style of presenting. Having a job to do makes him happy.

[redladydeath]

Would Vox ever be like genuinely really happy with the Vees even on his less good attention/memory days? He may not know what's going on but it doesn't stop him from having fun/enjoying himself? Maybe discovering Vark over and over again, experiencing the joy of finding out you have a pet that's both of the animals you like so much. How would Vel and Val feel about that

Yes. Those are the times when all the work they put in actually feels like it matters. It’s often very bittersweet, but seeing that Vox is still capable of enjoying life sometimes means that there’s a point to this arduous, never-ending journey. Even if he’s not going to get better, he can still be happy, and that’s a goal that’s actually within their reach.

[tremendouskoalachild]

“We have you surrounded, Scarlet Skulls!” Vark bellowed, striding through the cloud. Ram suppressed a groan. This guy even had a voice amplifier built into his gas mask. “Your only hope is surrender!” Tep Tep poked her head out and said in a singsong, “Come quietly and I’ll grant you a swift and painless death!” Vark carried on. “Come quietly and I’ll—Hey!”

- Escape from Valo, chapter 30

i may have said this before but i fucking love Tep Tep.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Thinking about the times Val and Velvette voluntarily let Vox out of his rooms and take him to visit the sharks. He’s always so thrilled to “meet” them. It’s nice, sitting on the edge of the tank and watching Vox play with them, bombarding them with disconnected shark facts all the while. There’s still a bittersweet element to it all, but at least he’s happy. They’ll take content, grounded-in-the-moment Vox over terrified or violent or completely-removed-from-reality Vox any day.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Vox has a unique relationship with Vark. His perception of him is as changeable as it is with everything else in the tower, but he's only been afraid of him a handful of times. Throughout all the different delusions, Vox consistently recognizes Vark as safe and as his pet. He usually takes Vark's appearance for granted, not fully processing him as a hellbeast, but not perceiving him as a normal Earthly animal either. "Land shark" and "dog" are still potential interpretations though.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

A couple months ago, I had the idea of assigning the RAM cast Tarot cards, but never did it. @voxaholic reminded me of that idea tonight and I decided to actually go through with it this time.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Velvette starts spending more time with Vark after Vox is taken to the hotel. Vox being gone makes Vark anxious and destructive, so sometimes he needs Vel or Val to sit with him in order to calm down. Velvette used to sort of resent Vark because of how Vox and Val immediately made him tackle her when Vox first got him, but she's warmed up to him a lot over the past seven years– he does his job of helping Vox so well. Velvette's life is so stressful and noisy nowadays, it's nice to be able to just sit in silence with another being that she knows misses Vox as much as she does.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Do you think Vox lets Niffty ride Vark around like a pony?

If she ever visits the tower and wants to, sure! She's gotta be gentle though– he loves that shark more than he loved his actual son.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Vark became very accustomed to Vox’s mood swings during their years together in the tower. One minute, Vox would be totally oblivious to Vark’s presence, and the next, he would be on the ground playing with him in a more affectionate way than he’d ever done in the past. One moment, Vox would be docile and receptive to Vark’s attempts at prompting him, then suddenly he’d be swept up in a panic/rage, his distress only increasing as Vark tried to nudge him towards his coping tools. It didn’t make sense to Vark at first, why his person was suddenly so volatile, but he eventually grew accustomed to it, learning to sense when he was needed and when he had to give Vox some space.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

If Vark was able to escape V-Tower, do you think he would be able to hunt Vox down to the hotel? Would he be able to stay or would Alastor tried to get rid of him or something like that? Would Vox want him to stay?

I don’t think he’d be able to get very far because he’s so obtrusive and the route through the city is so dangerous, but it’s a cute thought. Vox would be overjoyed to see him again (he’d probably recognize him; they spent every day of the past seven years together and Al wouldn’t have thought to put a mental block on Vox remembering his pet of all things). Alastor wouldn’t particularly care. It’s a weird situation and could be some kind of “trap” by the Vees, but he doesn’t see much harm in it. Vark’s a non-sentient hellbeast; it’s not like Alastor couldn’t destroy him in an instant if he wanted to. The real issue here would be that Vark’s been trained to attack people who get too close to Vox, so the hotel would be in chaos for a while as they try to decide whether they should let Vox keep his incredibly destructive pet.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Random thought: One of Vark's jobs is to break Vox's fall when he collapses from running out of battery after who-knows-how-long. Afterwards, he's supposed to howl until he gets someone's attention; they'll come in, carry Vox to his bed/charging station, and plug him in to recharge.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

Thinking about the changes Val and Vel would make to the tower over the years to keep Vox safe:

Completely clear the floor Vox lives on, along with the two adjacent floors. The tower is already sound-proofed, but it’s good to be safe. No one can access those floors without a key card.

All the windows in the tower were already shatter-proof and capable of being frosted, so that’s taken care of.

For the first couple years, completely shut off/take away all the electronics connected to the grid in Vox’s living space so he can’t zap through them and end up somewhere else. Eventually, they develop an insulation method and it becomes safe to let him around functional, non-battery operated tech again; he can go inside them, but he can’t pop out on another floor.

Figure out what type of furniture/items they can give him that will entertain him/make the room less bare, but that they won’t mind replacing constantly.

Put Vox’s important, irreplaceable personal belongings on one of the neighboring floors so they can easily get them on a good day, but he can’t accidentally destroy them on a bad one.

Teach Vark to guard the elevator whenever Vox doesn’t need him. Also, make sure that his and his siblings’ augmentations that make them resistant to electrocution are always up-to-date.

Try to figure out a way to help Vox tell that time is/days are passing. They might get too dejected to keep pursuing this one though.

Fireproof everything. Thank God the sharks are hellbeasts and can only be hurt by hellfire.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

I know we're having fun meme time rn but I cant stop thinking about service dog Vark 😭 what are his tasks?? Probably like deep pressure therapy for when Vox gets agitated and upset but what else? Do they train him on which rooms are off limits to Vox so Vark can distract him from wandering into those? Lead Vox places like the kitchen at certain times so he can have something close to a regular daily rhythm (that might help his time perception actually)?

Those are good ideas! I'm not actually familiar with the complexities of service animals, so I can't contribute a ton, but I really like the off-limits rooms and daily rhythm ones! I'd be slightly concerned about deep pressure therapy given Vox's powers, but hopefully he augmented Vark to be resistant to electric shocks even before the mindbreak happened.

[randomly--accessed--memories]

@storm-ismyusername @chorus-the-mutate

No. Vark is a native Hellbeast specially imported from the depths of the Envy/Greed Ring. Vox did not have the resources to get a pet like that before he went mad, and afterwards, it's just not something he or Alastor ever consider.

The only reason Niffty doesn't carve her way out of his stomach is because that would kill him then Vox would be upset with her.

Vox may still be "in charge" of feeding Vark while he's in confinement in the tower. If Vark has a labeled food bowl, there are probably a couple occasions when Vox is a bit perplexed: what kind of idiot would name a shark "Vark"?

When Niffty and Charlie come to visit Vox at the tower for the first time after his stay at the hotel ends, he's fucking thrilled to be able to introduce them to Vark. They both take to him well, but Niffty especially loves this big, goofy monster that could bite her in half and does whatever Vox says.

Tbh, I'd be kind of worried about Vark trying to eat Fat Nuggets, but they might already be somewhat familiar with each other since they both live (or used to live) in V Tower.

Keekee's the brains, Vark's the muscle, and Fat Nuggets is the heart of their little contingent /j

vark... vaaaarrrkk........

send me vark headcanons

[randomly--accessed--memories]

RAM Plot Summary

So, now that we're coming up on the one-year anniversary of the start of RAM, I finally decided to write up a relatively short summary of the main plot of this AU. Vox whump, Vee angst, one-sided Radiostatic await below.

RAM (Randomly Accessed Memories) is a collaborative Hazbin Hotel AU based on the theory that Niffty is a former overlord that Alastor drove insane, and asks the question: What if he did the same to Vox?

Animation commissioned from @/__shmoki__ over on Twitter

Seven years ago, Alastor and Vox had their final battle. After fifty years of rivalry, Vox finally gained the upper hand; in a moment of desperation, he used his hypnosis against Alastor… and it worked. Briefly. Terrified of what Vox might do if he managed to gain power over him, Alastor lashed out and knocked Vox unconscious. He knew he had to neutralize Vox somehow, but he found himself hesitant to finally kill his old friend. Instead, he chose a different tactic.

Alastor took Vox to the basement of V Tower and began a broadcast, torturing him live on the air for all the city to hear. Valentino and Velvette, believing that the two were most likely at Alastor’s radio tower, rushed off to rescue Vox, unknowingly leaving him to his fate. After hours of torture, once Vox’s physical and mental defenses were lowered, Alastor was finally ready to enact his true goal: using his powers to reach into Vox’s mind and remold him into something more palatable.

Once the broadcast was finished, Alastor dumped Vox’s dismembered body in the lobby of V Tower and then vanished for the next seven years. Valentino and Velvette were initially relieved when they discovered Vox was still alive, albeit comatose, but once his body was repaired and they finally turned Vox back on, they immediately knew something was wrong. Vox had no recollection of the past fifty years; his memories of his life after his falling out with Alastor were simply gone. Worse than that, he appeared to be trapped in a perpetual state of channel surfing, unable to stay focused on anything for more than a minute and forgetting new information soon after learning it. On top of it all, Alastor was now the center of his world; Vox asked for him constantly, wouldn’t hear a word against him, and his only goal seemed to be to reunite with him.

Valentino and Velvette, unwilling to kill Vox but knowing that if anyone discovered his condition, it would put a massive target on all three of their backs, confined Vox to a private suite in the tower and told the public that he had died. Vox spent seven agonizing years locked away in the tower with only Vark for company. Valentino and Velvette visited frequently, trying to coax non-existent memories out of him or at least trying to build a new relationship with him, but Vox’s memory always reset after every interaction with them. Valentino fell into a self-destructive spiral upon losing his lover, taking out his grief and frustration on everyone in the vicinity. Velvette had no choice but to take on Vox’s role as CEO of VoxTek (renamed VTek) and spent the next seven years trying to project invulnerability to the public, even as she was overwhelmed with her new responsibilities, trying to ensure Vox was safe and taken care of, and dealing with Valentino’s destructive outbursts.

After seven long, miserable years, Alastor finally returned. Eager to see if his plan worked, he slipped into V Tower and, at long last, reunited with Vox. Vox was ecstatic to see Alastor again and begged him to rescue him from his “prison,” andAlastor happily obliged. Alastor was thrilled with his handiwork; Vox was once again the man he had known all those years ago. He finally had his friend back… right?

Alastor brought Vox along with him to the hotel, ready to begin a new era of their afterlives— one where Vox would never change and always do as he was told. Charlie and Vaggie didn’t recognize Vox, so saw no issue with accepting him into the hotel. Angel Dust and Husk, on the other hand, were fully aware of who Vox used to be and what Alastor had done to him but were forced to keep quiet by their respective contracts. Alastor assigned Vox the role of hotel handyman, and he and the other staff members settled into their new lives at the hotel.

Valentino and Velvette were horrified when they discovered that Vox had gone missing; they were livid when they learned that it was Alastor who took him and brought him to the princess’ new hotel. However, fearing that if they made a move to attack Alastor/the hotel he would simply take Vox and vanish into the ether again, they were forced to bide their time, waiting for an opportunity to rescue their friend.

Vox spent the next six months at the hotel, participating in the canonical plot of the show. His frantic, high-energy behavior, volatile memory, and habit of frying the electronics he was meant to be fixing often made things difficult, but hesoon found his place among the Hazbins. He became very close with Niffty due to their shared decade of death and the fact that they were the only people who understood how the other’s mind worked. Vox also ended up forming a friendship with Sir Pentious, who had been sent by the Vees to keep an eye on Vox and spy on the hotel. However, as time went on, things between Vox and Alastor became more strained. Alastor gradually came to realize that his plan hadn’t worked quite as well as he’d hoped. Vox was stuck in the past and saw him as his closest friend, but he wasn’t the person Alastor had once known. Vox’s erratic behavior began to grate on him, and Alastor eventually realized that he had liked the way Vox used to challenge him— now, he was little more than a sycophant or a needy pet. However, Alastor could not admit he had made a mistake; he was in too deep now, and there was no undoing what had been done.

This AU has multiple endings, but the one I consider “canon” consists of Vox participating in the hotel’s battle with Heaven and getting noticed by some reporters once the dust has settled. All of Hell now knows that Vox, the former Television Overlord, is alive and at the Hazbin Hotel. Charlie, horrified to learn what Alastor did to Vox and Niffty, kicks him out of the hotel. She contacts the Vees and starts trying to negotiate with them for Vox’s return on the condition that Valentino break his contract with Angel Dust. The details about what happens next are a bit murky, but in the end, Alastor disappears once again, and Charlie’s deal with the Vees goes through. Vox is returned to V Tower, although with far more freedom than he had before— all of Hell knows he’s alive, so why bother keeping him locked up? The mental block Vox has regarding retaining information about Val and Velvette lifts in Alastor’s absence, and the Vees are finally able to start rebuilding their relationship. It's different from how it was before– always will be– but that doesn't make it any less valuable. Change is inevitable, after all.

[redladydeath]

Thinking about one of the times in the RAM verse when Vox accidentally electrocutes Ondine to temporary death.

Usually, Vox is able to recognize her and Fineas. His memories of Val and Velvette reset after every interaction, but he’s able to retain the knowledge that Ondine and Fineas are Sarah and Thomas but older, similar to how he’s eventually able to consistently recall who the hotel gang are. However, there are times— usually on bad days— when he forgets.

Ondine visits her father almost every day. She knows what works with him and what doesn’t— or at least, she thinks she does. Vox is volatile and unpredictable, and sometimes he works himself into such a frenzy that all her usual strategies fail. She’s thankful that he recognizes her/accepts that she’s his daughter 75% of the time, but it’s like a knife through the heart whenever he doesn’t know who she is, especially if he gets aggressive.

The first time it happened, she wasn’t as experienced as she is now. She didn’t know that it’s best not to follow him around pressing the matter when he’s distressed. It was a fruitless back-and-forth, with Vox frantically pacing through his quarters, belligerently insisting that Ondine wasn’t his daughter: his daughter was only seven years old. Sarah followed after, trying to calm him down. It really shouldn’t’ve been a surprise when he suddenly wheeled around and roughly shoved her away.

Being electrocuted didn't hurt as much as Ondine thought it would. Neither did dying. Time seemed to slow as she fell back, her body tingling as all her muscles spasmed at once. As the darkness of death rapidly swallowed her up, a thought passed through her mind: this must have been what her father felt when he was shocked by that microphone sixty years prior.

Vox hardly noticed or cared when the woman who'd been following him around collapsed to the ground and didn't get back up. He left the room to continue his wandering without a second thought. It was Vark who eventually approached Ondine's lifeless body and began howling, trying to alert security. The noise attracted Vox's attention and he reentered the room, totally clueless as to why there was a dead/unconscious person lying in his living room. It was alarming to him, but he wasn't sure what to do and was relieved when a group of "paramedics" soon entered, lifting her body onto a stretcher. He didn't even try to escape or antagonize them, just watching, repeating that he had just found her like this, and expressing to the nervous medics that he hoped she'd be okay.

Fineas felt as though he'd received an electric shock when his phone suddenly went off and he was told to there had been an accident and to come up to the upper floors. Seeing his sister laid out, cold and lifeless, on an exam table... it didn't matter that everyone was reassuring him that she'd be fine in a couple of hours, it felt as though one of his limbs had been chopped off. Fineas was furious at Vox and almost went up to confront him face-to-face, but... when he looked at the security feed and saw Vox leaning up against a wall, bouncing against it rhythmically as his screen flicked though channels, the white-hot rage flaring within him seemed to sputter and die. Antagonizing his father would accomplish nothing; he needed to focus on Sarah.