Latest Posts by justanotherblogger - Page 5

A World Without Him

Chapter 6

Tang is back in that void. Yet, it's not a void anymore. Something is different. It's more like pure, unfiltered LIGHT.

It surrounds everything, almost making him (even more) blind just by opening his eyes.

It feels no different compared to the times before, though. As if the light is just how the place was always supposed to be.

It's unnerving if he's being completely honest.

At least this is a change from the hands that used to drag him...

Tang can actually move, too! Just barely, but still! He can actually control his body in this place for once.

And now he uses that fact to his full advantage. He swims through the blinding light, now hoping his subconscious doesn't materialize something in front of him to smack into.

He swims for a while. And a while, and a while. His body never wavers, though, as he continues through the blinding shine.

After what seems like hours, Tang starts to hear something. It's nothing like the regular overlapping voices but heavy, grating metal.

The sound moves slow in his ears, like something being slowly dragged along a concrete floor.

Tang stops in his tracks, uneasiness showering him as the noise started to get louder. And louder, and louder, And louder, and Louder, And Louder, ANd LOUder, AND LOUDER-

It stops.

He doesn't know if he should even open his eyes at this point. So he stays still, not wanting to provoke whatever was stuck to those chains.

But yet, that apparently had the opposite effect he was going for, as he heard the chains suddenly grow taunt as a huge gust of wind throws him back, forcing his eyes open in surprise.

Orange.

The color burns into his vision. The blinding colors swirled in shapes he couldn't comprehend.

Tang shoved his hands in front of his face, trying to make everything stop.

Ringing filled his ears, or something like it. He could only focus on the color. The buzzing pushed to the back of his mind.

Too bright. Everything was just. Too. Bright

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*BEEP*

An alarm sounded next to Tang's head. He shoots his eyes open, laying still as a rock while looking up at the ceiling.

He hears the early rush outside his slightly open bedroom window. When did I open that.....

He uses his elbows to push himself up on the bed, now in a sitting position. He blinks slowly, remembering the dream in weirdly full detail.

Why was that time different again? He's not exactly sure himself. He wonders if this will keep escalating-

*BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Oh, right, he didn't turn it off yet. What was that for again? Something important enough for an alarm he supposes.

Tang reaches over to his vibrating phone, checking the title of the alarm as he turns the loud thing off. The title reads: "REMEMBER JOB TODAY. NO SKIPPING OR SLEEPING THROUGH 🪪 📖*

Well, now that apparently got him motivated. Oh yeah, the library job I got yesterday... how did this process go so fast anyway?

He shouldn't think too hard about it. A job is a job, and so what if it helps develop the plot as a nice bonus?

Wait what- The phone vibrates again, snapping Tang out of his thoughts. It was a second alarm he had set the night before, so he would actually get his lazy butt up if he snoozed the first one.

Groaning, he pulled himself up from the bed to actually start being productive for the day. He does his hair and puts on one of his more decent pairs of clothes to match the lanyard. A pair of stainless brown pants and a tan shirt. Today was his first day, after all. He might as well look the least bit civilized.

The sun starts to shine through his living room window as he packs a lunch and some craft supplies in his messanger bag. You never know if he might need it when doing paperwork or when bored.

He looked out the window out of habit. It was a nice bright shade of orange. Tang looked away quickly, picking up his packed bag and heading out the door.

He already knew the library route by heart, but he still recited it as he walked down the stairwell to the street anyway. It gives his mind something to focus on.

When he reaches the bottom, he relishes in the warmth of the sun before booking it towards the direction of the library.

He lets his feet and muscle memory do most of the work. His mind occupied with the colorful scenery and his own thoughts, trying not to look up at the sky.

Go left past the bent cactus sign, oooo, a new restaurant opened next to the craft store!

The store looks like a make-your-own bakery, with all the vibrant dispensers lining the walls, adding plain looking pastries, and ice cream lining the shelves.

'We never had those things when we were alive. I feel cheated.'

'Oh, stop whining so much Em.'

Tang looks back in front of him just in time to dodge another passerby. He should really pay more attention to the sidewalk.

The closer he gets to the library, the more modern everything around him seems to be. There are still trees and greenery, obviously, just now in futuristic boxes and pots littered around the streets to make them look lively.

All the neon shops and apartments lined on the street were already making it pretty lively, though. The crowds also started to increase as he went along, having passed stranger after stranger on his walk to work through the city.

When he finally reached the library, all the bright neon and metal accents softened and only covered the bottom half of the more classical looking library.

Tang was relieved at the sight of it, hurrying through the doors with his card and almost immeadietly collapsing behind the check-out desk.

He feels the cold oak wood on his forehead, hearing the printer running and the occasional whisper or rolling of a cart.

When he finally got used to his surroundings, he took a deep breath and sat up straight, ready to start his job. He turned his head to the side and was suddenly inches away from a mop of blonde hair.

"AHHH-" Tang jolted back in his chair, falling backward onto his back.

The blonde's face immeadietly dropped as he started to string out apologies. "Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I thought you were sleeping when I came to give you your clipboard and I went to check to see if you were okay then you got up and then I was just there and I am still so sorry-"

"It's okay, it's okay. I only got a bit spooked." Tang said, slowly standing up using the desk as support. "I've recovered from worse, trust me."

The blonde was giving the clipboard in hand a death grip but said nothing in return.

Tang sighed before deciding that he should probably try to make things a bit less awkward. "I'm Tang, the new librarian, but I bet you knew that already. Are you my set assistant? Erm..."

The blonde perked up at his mention. "Allan. I'm Allan. And, uh, I'm supposed to give you this."

Tang grabbed the clipboard and offered quick thanks, skimming through the contents while occasionally looking back at Allan.

Allan seemed like he was fresh out of high school, with some baby fat still on his face and messy short hair. He had casual clothes on, just some standard sneakers, jeans, and a gray hoodie.

He doesn't seem to be harboring any ill intent, so Tang focused back onto his clipboard, actually reading the text carefully.

Shelve all books on cart B by genre.... doesn't matter... set up for opening... lunch by 1:00... set up for charity event... huh?

He looks back down at the clipboard. He thought all he would have to do was meander around all day, doing paperwork and sorting books. It was his first day, after all.

But no, just throw more work at him. Tang sighed to himself before looking back at Allan. "Apparently, we have a charity event today. It's after lunch, though, and all the plans have already been set up for us, which is a relief. Don't know why they threw this at us for a first day, but let's just roll with the punches."

He gestures for Allan to follow him back into the library. He texted the group chat about the event if they wanted to come before talking about the scheduale. He then lazily explained the outline of the work they were doing today as he tried to find the carts he passed yesterday.

Allan followed behind at a steady pace as they passed bookshelf after bookshelf. Tang suddenly paused as he passed the same bookshelf twice, internally groaning before turning to Allan.

"Do you know where they keep the carts?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tang had told him to relax a bit, but Allan said he wanted to get it done as quickly as possible. Tang just grumbled as he continued his own way until the last book was put into place.

They finished up the shelving around 9:30, splitting up half and half between the two of them. Tang mostly skimmed through his interesting books before randomly putting them onto the appropriate shelves.

Allan put them all away in record time, though, pitching in to deal with some of Tang's pile as well after he spent 5 minutes watching when finishing his own half.

They opened the library doors at 10:00, and the day was slow after that. Tang took out some of his craft supplies, doodling on extra paper he got from the copier room. Of course, that was after he finished all his very important paperwork. Obviously. He also checked out the occasional book.

Allan wandered most of the time, coming back to Tang's desk to occasionally check up on any work he might need to do. Tang always gave him an option to draw with him, but he always refused awkwardly.

Lunch came far too late in Tang's opinion. He was already famished from everything he totally did today and really needed a break .

He almost sagged in relief when the clock behind him hit 1:00. He then quickly took out his lunch from his messanger bag and headed towards the break room after putting up a sign on the desk for people to come back after 1:30 if they needed him. There were self checkouts.

Allan was already there, sitting at the plastic table with a cup of what Tang assumed was coffee in hand. He was taking small quick sips as he seemed invested in reading... The Monkey Kings Bride?

He remembered the huge crowd fighting over the few newest editions and suddenly felt immense respect for the kid. That was rough, even when he didn't even try to get close to the books.

Tang didn't say anything as he sat down across from Allan and pulled up his own book, eating a haphazard sandwich with some random fruits thrown beside it.

Then he noticed how Allan only had the coffee, and suddenly he felt a bit bad. Some people actually need jobs and work hard to keep them.

And this is the reason Tang is now offering half his sandwich to the kid in front of him in silent question. Allan just looked at his hand for a good second.

But finally, he bowed his head and took the sandwich out of his hands. Allan seemed to stop reading after that, maybe savoring the sandwich. Even so, nobody would notice the few fruits that rolled across the table with Tang "unaware" after the fact.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Temporarily closing off some sections of the library took a bit more hassle than Tang thought it would. With random kids making out like in a drama, to some areas being over run with people Tang swore he never saw enter the building.

But that was neither here nor there, as he was already on a mission to set this up as fast as possible. It's probably because he forgot about it and started setting everything up 30 minutes late, but he digresses.

This charity thing was a scavenger hunt across the library, encouraging people to open different books and to solve riddles for an amazing prize of 1 free book from the pile made specifically for the event and some candy.

Allan was in charge of placing all the riddles and clues around the library and picking the best books to throw in the pile. Tang meanwhile had to decorate EVERYTHING himself, as well as set up the donation box at the front desk. This was the charity part for people to donate to the library and a reading program for special ed kids.

He also had to be the one to explain the rules and give hints in the game as he ran the front desk. Yay, public speaking.

But Tang still thought it was nice places like the library did things like this. Events for charity had decreased along the ages as everything got more and more advanced that some people started to think everything could be solved with tech and science.

'Ooooo! Riddles! Oh, I love this already! These were the things I was known for!'

'Yeah, yeah. Just keep on telling everyone the ONE TIME you got a riddle correct before a self-proclaimed master.'

'Oh come on, have some faith. You can at least respect that I proved he was a hack and helped-'

The library door opened with a small crowd rushing inside. Tang had just finished putting up the box before people were already at his side, asking him about the scavenger hunt.

He quickly told them about the clues hidden in books you have to figure out through riddles, word scrambles, and trivia about the books themselves. After the explanation, he quickly gave the first clue and made a small wave to the donation box, saying how it would help the library do more events like this.

Tang watched as the groups dispersed, sitting back into his chair waiting for newcomers or people who had finished the scavenger hunt.

People came and went, some thanking him, some wandering the shelves in confusion, some putting small donations in the box on their way out, and some who were curt and went as fast as possible.

It was interesting to Tang, seeing all these personalities with the same goal, not competitive, but reaching towards the same thing nonetheless.

A small kid with freckles, a red-head with a guide dog, a tall man with pitch black hair, and some teens who looked straight out of high school musical.

He had seen Allan, too, but only briefly as he was the one to deal with broken or missing riddles.

At the end of the day, almost all the books were gone from the pile, leaving only 3 extra to reshelf for another time. The donation box had reached halfway, which was a pretty good number for Tang, considering the box's size.

Allan had come a bit later, offering to help take down all the decoration from the shelves. Tang gratefully accepted.

They ended up walking their separate ways at the end, after dropping off the money at the manager room with a note and Tang locking the doors behind them.

Allan said one thing before he left, tapping Tang on the shoulder before he could go. "Thank you." He had said, right before turning to walk his own way home. A small smile was on his face as he faded into the background.

Tang thought about it for a moment, then smiled to himself before walking his own way home. The sunset is well off in the distance, with Tang keeping his eyes to the ground.

Today was pretty nice. He might like this job more than he thought.

Previous | Next | Start

I'm sorry the next chapter of A World Without Him will be a bit late. I do have half the chapter done already and will try my best to publish it tomorrow.

Shadow Trails ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- TW kinda detailed gore/violence and death ahead --

The being got pelted with rain as it walked along the sidewalk, trying to find some proper shelter. The rain never ended as it shivered in its torn clothing.

It briefly inspected its surroundings as it walked, seeing how the rain turns yellow and sizzles when it touches anything. Its brown clothes started to gain small burns from the downpour after a while.

The sidewalks were cracked with unknown stains, burns, and fluids stuck in the gutters. These discolored the puddles and small streams from the storm, making everything seem polluted and unsavory.

Everything else looked like your average town back in New Oreans, but something was off about this place. Everything seemed uncanny. Where small details should be, there were slights in what its memory provided.

It eventually found something when it passed a boarded up speakeasy with the name 113 Club. It had an alley with stone steps leading up to a side door, with a small awning it could probably fit under.

It immeadietly ran towards the awning before crouching down at the top of the stairs, barely staying out of the acid.

As soon as it no longer felt the burning sensation, it sagged onto the stairs slightly. It started to breathe slower and closed its eyes for a second of rest.

Then it opened its eyes again, seeing this place now with focused vision. It now realized what it had found odd about the place. The building had sharper angles and desigbs than what it had remebered, with many shades of red and black coloring the entire area.

Even the plants and sky were red from what it could see through the storm clouds. The clouds themselves seemed darker than usually possible, not even mentioning the precipitation that came from them.

It leaned back onto the locked door, feeling the rough wood and peeling paint against its back. It tilted its head up, looking towards the clouds.

'How did I wind up... here?' It thought. Closing its eyes, it tried to recall the events leading up to this, but all it turned up was blurry visions and static.

The being tilted its head down in thought, trying to think of anything from before it got stuck in this place. But its mind seemed scattered; as only bits came back to it.

It started to get irritated. 'Why can't I remember anything. What... happened to me.' The rain seemed to fall harder, hissing as it hit the ground more and more, becoming unbearable to the beings' sensitive ears.

It huffed, putting its head in its arms. Gritting its teeth, it tried to think back again. Anything to try and-

*BANG*

The being snaps its head up, ears flicking in alert. It looked to the sky.

*BANG*

Lightning strikes the open street, thunder crackling to life a second later. Its pupils turn to pinpricks, with the shadows lashing out, tearing up the wall behind it.

But the being didn't notice, as that strike finally jogged its memory.

A gunshot. It remembered a gunshot.

It... He was running. From who, he didn't know. He could only feel his shoes imprinting onto the soil as he fled.

He remembers hunting dogs barking in the background as he tried to escape; bullets flying past his head as he weaved through the dense forest.

His pursuer was never far behind, though, as the noise of the dogs seemed to only get closer and closer at every second.

He ran and lightly jumped over the protruding roots and shrubs that covered the familiar forest floor, some lowering or diverting their branches to make an easier path.

But the pursuer was never slowed down, it seemed, as the weighted steps of the hunter were still heard behind him.

Even when he was weaving between thick trunks and sheltered by the shadows cast by the moon, the hunter never let up. He supposed he could respect the tenacity.

Bullets often shot into nearby trees, throwing debris in every direction. He occasionally got nicked in the neck, arms, and torso, but nothing was too severe; he had to keep running anyway.

Yelling could suddenly be heard, curses of every scale being spat out in anger alongside the furious howels of those beasts the sloppy hunter had brought with him.

A certain click from reloading was all he got before he had to dodge again, bullets whistling by as he laughed at the absurdity, the noise echoing through the trees.

His grin grew as the soil turned to mud: signifying that the bayou was getting close. The smell of musk and stale water filled his nose as a strong breeze blew throughout.

His dress shoes were probably completely ruined by now: the mud sticking to his soles. The ground is now filled with small, muddy puddles as he kept going deeper and deeper into his bayou.

He could feel his power slowly growing; shadows flickering at the edges of his vision. Water splashed up to his pant cuff as he crashed through progressively bigger puddles.

Almost there. Another bullet whistled by his head, lodging into a tree a couple of inches away from his head. Just a bit more.

The footsteps behind him suddenly became silent. A sense of unease filled him as he continued his pace. He wasn't going to stop just because some Joe decided to-

*BANG*

White hot pain suddenly shot up from his left calf, causing his leg to collapse at the shock. He quickly had a face full of dirt, his brown framed glasses shattered on the ground.

What just happened.

He felt blood slowly run down his leg and onto the ground. He tried to stand up, but shots of pain from his leg quickly threw him back down again. Ha! It'll take more than that to keep me-

The world started to spin around him, the shadows from the trees growing in size as he failed to pull himself forward.

Then thosewretched dogs found him; they rushed at him with immense speed.

He felt the teeth sinking into his flesh, tearing out the muscles with ease, taking chunks out at a time. The pain flashed up in waves as he felt more and more blood flow down his limbs and soak into the mud.

He clenched his jaw, throwing his body, trying to get the dogs off of him. With the little strength he had, he was able to pull out a knife from his belt and slash one of the beasts across the stomach.

It fell back, and he focused his slashes onto the second dog. He was able to strike two of its legs before it finally staggered away. He took a quick breath, the comforting smell of murky water and moss helping clear his head slightly.

The mud stuck to his skin as he crawled forward. He was so close now. He just needed a bit further. He needed to get to the water.

He dug his hands deep into the earth, pulling himself forward again. But the pain from everything became too much; his vision becoming cloudy from the blood loss.

The blood created a dark trail as it colored the soil he was laying on, the deeper slashes on his left arm giving most of the scarlet liquid away. The scratches and bites on his body became almost unnoticeable.

He could barely see the swamp up ahead. The still water brought back some determination as he tried to crawl through the pain.

But he was never that lucky.

He remembers the boots stepping in the mud behind him, leisurely walking up behind, the hunter taking his precious time, as to drag on this entire dabacol.

He couldn't see the pursuer clearly, as his glasses werent for nothing and the blood loss obviously did some things to his vision. The hunter had pulled him to lay on his back, staring him down.

The hunter suddenly stepped onto his right leg, using his full weight until the bone snapped. He never screamed, though. Only an annoying grin plastered on his face with bloody teeth.

He cackled once again. That was a good show. A daring chase throughout his home territory, real riveting! He saw how the shadows crept in on the man, who stared at his face unknowingly.

His grin stretched farther. Oh, he had the urge to laugh right again! But, he couldn't without it becoming repetitive-

*Snap!*

A branch cracked in the forest. The shadows scurried away as the hunter jerked violently, seemingly out of whatever trance he was in.

The grinning man quickly looked to the sound. A deer stood tall bathed in moonlight. Staring at the duo with blackened eyes. His eyes widened.

The man had barely any time to react before cold metal collided with his temple, pushing his head back into the cold, smooth mud.

*BANG*

Another strike of lightning, the thunder echoing through the alleyway. It was farther away this time. The rain had let up a bit since he had been, well, reminiscing.

His breathing was heavy, body now rigid from the rain, mostly. He stared at the downpore; wondering. 'I... died.'

He closed his eyes once again, the notion absurd enough to be featured on one of those radionovelas he'd heard about.

'Beloved radio host, actually the Bayou Butcher of New Orleans, killed in bayou where he buried his victims!' He could imagine. He huffed out a shallow laugh.

The acid rain had let up almost entirely, leaving the slight smell in the air after a downpour. He looked out to the street again, seeing all the boarded up doors and windows and cracks on the buildings. His stomach twisted.

He huffed before standing up once again and walking back out onto the street. He smoothly jumped over any overturned concrete or piece of rubbish in his way, as he went in a random direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hotel had been going a bit slower than Charlie would have liked. A week after that incident on 666 News and not even one sinner had come asking for more details!

She even got Husk to help remodel the hotel a bit. Even if there was more green and purple than she would've liked in certain rooms.

Angel complained about the noise, saying he needed his beauty rest in order to keep the bucks flowing in. That caused Husk to mutter something she couldn't hear, and all of a sudden, she had to tear the two away from each other before furniture went flying.

They stayed away from each other the rest of the remodeling process.

Nifty also helped in the past week! Just, eh, in her own way. She was always skittering around the halls, stabbing the carpet after any remaining bugs. There was never any lasting damage to the floor, though, and all the dust and cobwebs were gone!

Now, besides remodeling, Charlie made many different posters for the hotel down in the lobby, just to stick all around Pentagram City and get the word out.

She obviously gave her drawing expertise to the design, but she almost always forgot to put the actual contact information, focused on the happy picture. So, she asked for help from Alastor, and he agreed! He never left the front desk, though; drawing and sketching on the bar counter.

However, he always forgot to put her phone number on there and kept writing 'Hazbin Hotel' instead of Happy Hotel. Whenever she asked, he just said, "I would never endorse those frivilous, jumbled picture cards! Anywho, the name is for your branding! No sinner with self-respect would go to any establishment called the 'Happy Hotel'. The other name fits the image of this city much better!"

She never really got what he meant by that. This was a place to help sinners gain happiness and reform from their sins to stop the extermination! But, she didn't change any posters out of politeness.

Vaggie was annoyed at her decision and started to grimace at the front desk whenever she passed through the lobby. She told Charlie that he was mocking them, but Charlie saw the effort Alastor put in to color and draw each poster for her.

So, when all of them were done, she called everyone to come to the lobby lounge for an important discussion.

"Ok! So, the hotel has been up for a bit, and no one seems to have noticed our hotel yet." Charlie starts, matter-of-factly to the group of people in the lobby.

Angel snickered at his perch on the love seat, with Husk giving a skeptical expression towards Charlie on the armchair.

Vaggie clenched her fists, narrowing her eyes beside Charlie, who seemed undisturbed by the feedback. "Now, I have made pairs to go out and put up posters up in the streets for the hotel. I will also be counting this as a bonding activity!"

Charlie poofed up some flashcards from a wave of her hand. "I'll list the pairs, and then each pair can go grab a stack to stick onto windows, walls, or electric poles." Charlie stated. "And only those things." Vaggie then emphasized.

A scoff from Angel is all they got in response.

"Ok, so the pairs start with me and Nifty, Husk and Vaggie, and lastly, Angel and Alastor." She read flipping through the index cards.

No groans sounded, so Charlie took that as a win, but Alastor did speak up. "Charlie dear, I'm afraid that at least one of us should stay at the hotel. To make sure no sinner tries anything while we're away."

"Oh, uh, that's a good point..." Charlie seems to think it over. Vaggie started to open her mouth, but Alastor cut her off.

"Well my dear, I think the best course for us is to leave the staff out of this little excursion." He casually suggested, eyes intently focusing on the glass he was cleaning.

"That does make sense... ok, that means that only two pairs will go out to put up fliers today. Vaggie and Husk can go to the west side, and I am now with Angel in the east side since Al and Nifty will stay at the hotel. Any objections?" Charlie asks.

No one put up any major fuss about the pairings, mainly waiting for Charlie to continue. Charlie seemed pleased with the results.

"Ok then! Let's go out and put up some posters, people!"

Previous II Next II Start

A World Without Him

Chapter 5

Light shines onto Tangs' face after a couple of hours; he had shut his eyes and tried to rest at least a bit before going out. But that didn't really work, as he felt like he was a living zombie.

He sighed to himself before rolling onto his side, looking out the uncovered window. The sun was shining directly onto his face through it, making the window almost impossible to see.

Finally, he clumsily reached over to the bedside table to grab his glasses, grabbing at air a few times before standing and walking over to the bathroom.

In the mirror, his hair stuck up in every direction, having a soft halo of orange, probably from the overwhelming sunlight. He went through the motions of brushing and putting his medium-length hair up into a low ponytail.

Tang eventually walked back out freshened up and went straight to the "groceries" he got last night from the convenience store.

He looked at all the things that were just sitting in plastic bags all night before groaning and actually putting everything away. Y'know, like a respectable adult. Shut up already.

He took a little longer than usual, accidently putting the milk in the cabinets and the ramen boxes in the freezer in his drowsiness.

When he was finally done, he took a random box of off-brand cereal and started to eat the small things of carbs like chips out of the box. Just to get some food in him before lunch.

He sat onto his couch, snuggling up with two different blankets. He seemed colder than usual, feeling like he wasn't producing heat at all, like he was basically hollow. He didn't like the feeling.

Tang didn't want to move at all, but sitting in one place wasn't doing much help. So after he munched a bit more on the cereal, he violently threw the blanket onto the floor and set the box back on the counter.

He walked to the entrance of his apartment and put his shoes on before opening the door. The silence was deafening as he walked down the stairwell.

When he reached the door to the outside, he slumped in relief; hearing muffled voices and speeding cars, as well as feeling the beaming sun on his face.

He felt like just staring at the sun until the rays blinded him even more. But he knew that would be counterproductive to his singular hobby of reading, so he quickly looked away.

He ended up looking in front of him to the street. He saw a few teens walk along the sidewalks, store owners opening up shops, and fliers flying in the breeze that always went through this part of town.

He found the fliers particularly interesting as there was something new on top of the missing cat posters and cleaning service ads.

It was colorful, with no water damage, and seemingly stapled on just this morning. It showed a cartoon library with the title of "NOW HIRING FULL-TIME LIBRARIANS AND ASSISTANTS - No experience required!" shown at the top for the metrapolis library, then the phone number at the bottom in slips.

Tang stopped for a moment, considering the job. He hasn't had a job in over 3 years. He's mostly just relied on the previous funds while wallowing in whatever mood he felt each day in the past years.

He looks back to the colorful paper, knowing how the colors will eventually dull and rot after a single storm. He doesn't know how to feel. So, he tears a slip from the bottom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Getting the job was... easier, than expected. He walked into the building after calling for an interview at about 2:00 PM, and went to the front desk, asking the person running it about the flier.

The guy looked up at him with tired eyes under a ball cap, seemingly just there for standby, and pointed at the neon arrow poster on one of the bookcases. "Just follow the random arrow posters." He said before laying his head into his arms on the desk.

Tang huffed before following the arrows, leading him into the back of the library, and through a staff only door. He walked past two other doors, then just stared at one door with at least 10 signs pointing at it.

He shook his head before knocking on the door, waiting a moment, and being let inside. What a waste of paper.

The older women interviewing him barely asked any questions, just some "How old are you?" and "Do you have anything we need to accommodate for?" types of questions.

She seemed satisfied with his answers before giving him a lanyard to fill his name into. Tang was set to start tomorrow as a full-time librarian with another guy named Allan as his assistant. The work was supposedly simple, just stuff like rearranging and shelving books while scanning them in and out for the public.

Even though he wouldn't get much out of this job, just $10 an hour, it's nice to have something going on other than staring up at his ceiling every day.

After saying his thanks and goodbyes, he walked home in silence, passing all the lights, getting back, and locking the door at 5:08.

He felt a bit lighter today as he threw his shoes next to the doorway. He sat down on his couch before taking out his phone and seeing it had been blowing up.

The thing blowing up was the group chat with him, Pisgy, Sandy, Mk, and Mei, which was flooding with pictures from Mei during another demon attack, with Mk either in the air or in the mid fighting pose with a giant bug demon.

The final two posted were one with the bug demon face down in the cracked concrete, with Mk smiling up to the camera with a couple of bruises lining his face and arms.

The other was Mk, seemingly unharmed with one thin layer of bandage around his forearm, back at his apartment holding some brown sugar bubble tea, with Mei holding up her matcha bubble tea, taking a selfie together.

Tang sent a thing of congrats along with all the others from Sandy and the one from Pisgy. Everyone then went on about their days, how Sandy had apparently dropped lots of his tea into the water under boat from trying to avoid a cat on deck.

Pisgy barely said anything, but told everyone he was completely swamped at the restaurant with all the new customers, slightly giving Mk the hint that his help in being the delivery boy would be much appreciated by now and something he should've been doing all day.

Tang gave his few cents here and there, asking if Sandy had been trying to recreate the Boston tea party, which no one but him got, and laughing at Pisgy's misfortune, saying things like: "Well, if you have all those undelivered orders, you might aswell give them to me!" and "Don't be 2 hard on Mk he literally just defeated another demon! Let him have at least 10 mins or rest for rn."

Tang then told them about his new job, slipping it in after Pisgy finished his rant about work ethic. Sandy replied excitedly, giving him a smile emoji after some more congrats. Pisgy stated he could finally work to pay his overflowing tab, digging into him that he couldn't stay a freeloader forever. But, he also gave his congrats after another rant of text.

Those were the only responses before they moved onto other topics, like Mk talking excitedly about his new Monkey King video game that he got for a discount after defeating the bug guy for saving a Play Go shop.

Tang didn't really have the energy to reply to everything going on in the chat after a while, with him not being directly called to for over 30 messages. So, he decided to turn notifications off, and finally get some rest.

He sat up as he turned the notifications off, and walked to his bedroom. He threw himself onto the mattress after putting his phone and glasses on his bedside table.

The window in his bedroom was bright with neon lights and the barest hint of moonlight. It comforted him in a way; the natural lighting of the city drowning out any dark corners and such.

He rolled onto his back, pulling up the covers to get into a proper sleeping position. He does have his first day of work since 3 years tomorrow. He might as well have a bit of motivation to get some rest for the first time in a month.

Previous || Next

Shadow Trails ~~~~~~~~~~

Charlie looks up at the demon. He's taller than her, with card symbols all over his wings and outfit. He wears a black bowler hat and a white dress shirt with a red and black blazer, one that has the sleeves rolled up and two white J's standing back to back on the left chest pocket.

His gray pants are baggy, but dont bunch around his ankles while having diamonds, spades, hearts, and clubs going down in lines. He looks down at her with almost glowing yellow eyes.

Charlie rubs her eyes, blinks twice, and then gives a big smile. "Hello there! How can I help you? Are you here to stay at the Happy Hotel?"

The sinner tips his hat to her politely. "Heya. And, ah, no, I'm not exactly looking to stay here." The cat sinner ruffles his wings. "The name's Husk, gambling overlord, y'know. I own the casino "Chips and Trades" down on Betters Way. I was wondering if..." Husk had started.

But Charlie stopped listening when he said the casino name. This is the King of Cards. The King of Cards. Outside her door. Seemingly looking for her specifically for whatever reason. She should've noticed sooner with his souls being heavier than a normal sinners. Oh shit.

Husk coughs into his clawed hand before speaking again. "What do ya-" She closes the door in his face. Oh crap she closed the door in his face!

She quickly opens it again. Husk stares back, confused. "Uh, hello-" he tries to speak, but she closes it again. Aw crap. Crap crap crap crap crap crap crap crap-

"Uh, Vaggie?" Charlie yells into the lobby, voice a bit wobbly.

"What is it?"

"The King of Cards is at the door..."

"Wait, what!?!" Vaggie yells, sitting up from the couch.

"What should I do!?" Charlie pulls on her hair, pacing in front of the doorway.

"Well, don't talk to him!"

"Who?" Angel pipes up, seemingly done with his popsicle as he waves the stick around for emphasis.

Charlie bites her nail before looking back at the door. Maybe he wasn't here for any bad reasons? He did seem like he was trying to talk to her civilly. But what if hes trying to ruin or take the hotel? Ugh! This is going nowhere!

'Y'know what? Im gonna do it. This hotel can't have it that much worse anyway.'

She finally takes a deep breath before opening the door again, looking Husk straight in the eyes. Sorry, Vaggie.

He looked down unimpressed. "Can I continue?" He asked in a bored tone. "You can." Charlie responds, trying to remain a bit confident.

Husk just shrugs in response before ducking through the door, almost knocking Charlie over with his wings. "The name's Husk, but I already told you that. I'm here to make a proposal for you and your... lively hotel." He looks around the battered entrance and cringes. "To give a good fix-up in return for something I suddenly need."

"Wait, really!?!" Charlie stopped herself before continuing. "Uh, *ahem* so, what do you need exactly?" She quickly saves, following him to the lobby.

But before Husk can respond, an angelic spear is aimed straight at his throat. "Stop. Right there." Vaggie suddenly snaps. Husk snarls down at the weapon.

Charlie quickly steps between the two. "Vaggie, stop! We don't need violence right now. He's here to make a proposal for the hotel!"

Vaggie huffed before rebuffing her statement. "What would a gambling overlord have to gain from our hotel? One that's also specifically known for trickery and manipulation?" She gives a harder glare towards the overlord.

Husk swats the tip away from his neck before speaking. "Just so you know, I only do that to lower level assholes I don't like. I can be civil when I have to, and with the right people." He adds the second bit like an afterthought.

"And what business do you have at our hotel? Do you even believe in our hotel's cause?" Vaggie asks skeptically.

Husk suddenly laughs. " Oh! Yeah, no. I don't really think your whole 'redemption' thing is going to work out in what I think you're hoping for. I'm just here to see if this could be something interesting enough to invest in."

If looks could kill, Husk would be dead where he stood as Vaggie glared holes into the back of the overlords head.

However, Charlie suddenly grabs Husk's arm and leads him towards the staircase, trying to deescalate the situation. "Well then, I think a tour is in order for our future investor!" She laughs nervously before shooting a begging look to Vaggie.

Vaggie stands still for a second. Finally, she glares at Husk's back before lowering her weapon, groaning, and shooing them off. Charlie gives a happy squeak and starts dragging Husk off around the top of the staircase.

Vaggie throws herself back onto the couch and sets her spear within arms reach. She starts to rub her temple violently. This isn't going to end well.

"So, what's with whisker?" Angel suddenly asks, sitting down on the arm of the couch and staring at the pair walking all over the hotel. "Y'know, the big fluff-ball ya got Charlie dragging everywhere?"

Vaggie pipes up, exasperated. "Wait, you don't know the King of Cards? Husk? Husker?"

"I've heard the name 'Husker' used around the studio sometimes, usually in passing." Angel stands up and sits in the armchair across from the couch. "Huh, woulda thought he'd be a bit less, y'know, cuddly. Don't know much 'bout him otherwise."

Vaggie looks even more exasperated than before. "You don't know about his deals with The Legends?" Angel shrugs. "His rise up in ranks over a couple of days? The one who tore down all existing systems and pioneered his own on a straight up gamble?"

Angel gives another shrug before crossing his arms. "I don't really follow politics. I might start if he's front and center, though." He gives a smirk in the overlords direction.

"Ugh, Angel Dust..." Vaggie sighs before continuing. "The King of Cards arrived in hell just before the Overlord Slaughter."

Angel Dust sags. "Oh here we go."

"Shut up. Anyways, he had never shown his face before the overlords started to go missing. People say he organized the whole thing to take advantage of the other overlords, who were called The Legends for surviving the massacre. He preyed on their fear of death from whatever being killed the others, and gave them protection in exchange for parts of their domain, their power, and some even gave away their souls to avoid the next slaughter.

"This sudden surge in power gave him the ability to do almost anything he wanted. He started to tear down the previous influences of the other overlords, things like brands, buildings, and even whole districts, as he rebuilt things to his liking.

"This is how Betters Way was created, with Chips and Trades as the star of the alley. You couldn't walk two feet without seeing an ad for whatever the King of Cards had going at the time. And he never stopped growing.

"He'd take sinners and demons alike to his table, letting them think they even had a chance in besting the head of the gambling district. They would all fail, as the house always wins and have everything taken from them. Their possessions, their achievements, and their own souls would be ripped from them to be added to the ever growing mound.

"This is why we can't get involved in something that runs around him. He lies, he cheats, and he always finds some way to have his interests win over all or tear you down to bits until you can't be anything without what the King of Cards holds in his hands." Vaggie takes a deep breath.

Silence is the only thing between them before Angel speaks up again. " Hah! Well, to me, he looks like an oversized build-a-bear accident."

Vaggie grumbles before glaring back at the Overlord, who was with Charlie and starting to walk back down the stairs. "Well, I don't trust his intentions."

Angel Dust raises a brow but says nothing, looking at the pair now standing at the bottom of the stairs.

Vaggie seemingly has enough as she gets up and drags Charlie away, leaving Husk to his own devices in the lobby.

Only when they're far enough away does Vaggie speak again. "You can't seriously be thinking about trusting that guy, right? He literally gambles peoples souls away for a living. He doesn't believe in what we're trying to do here, and he might even try to take one of our souls or tear down all of our work! "

Charlie glances at Husk before grabbing one of Vaggie's shoulders. "I know, Vaggie. He's definitely not here to be redeemed or to help with the idea of redemption in mind,"

Husk is now looking at the paintings on the walls, walking in front of them all with little to no interest for what's depicted on them.

"But this is what our hotel is about. To give sinners a chance and to have faith that they can be better! Turning someone away isn't something I can do. Just trust me this once, ok? Also, I'll give you full reign to do whatever if he tries anything."

Vaggie seems to think it over before answering. "Ok, just be sure not to make any exchanges, deals, or anything like that with him, got it?"

Charlie giggles before letting go of Vaggie. "Don't worry so much, Vaggie. If there's one thing I learned from my dad, it's that you dont take shit from other demons!"

Vaggie watches as Charlie confidently walks back up to Husk. "So, uh, Husk. I know you probably don't believe in what I'm doing and are just here for personal gain, but I do believe in what we're trying to do here." She says with a serious tone.

"This hotel is about taking chances and having the idea that sinners can be better in the first place, so I accept your offer to help out in our hotel. No strings attached or whatever you do with bets in your casino."

Husk squinted down at Charlie. "Hey now, I never made an offer like that. I made a proposal to help fix up this hotel in exchange for getting my name back into the game. I can give you more in exchange if you desire."

Husk suddenly holds out his hand as their surroundings turn a warm orange hue; soft voices echoed throughout the air.

Charlie immediately backs up from Husk. "Yeah, uh, no. No deals, no hand shaking, no exchanges, ok? Uhm, what about this instead."

Husk pulls his hand back and looks at Charlie expectantly. She coughs into her hand, then looks to Vaggie giving her an approving expression before speaking again.

"I, Princess of Hell, hereby declare that Husk, the gambling overlord, is to help out and fix the hotel to his best abilities for however long he desires in exchange for Husk's, uh, publicity." She finishes before looking back up at Husk.

He squinted down at her, seemingly thinking about her choice of words, then nods. "Good enough for me." Charlie let a breath she didn't know she was holding out in relief.

Husk suddenly walked around the lobby, starting to pick apart all the things that needed fixing. "Where is the rest of your staff anyways?"

Charlie tilts ger head to one side. "Staff?"

"Yeah, staff. Y'know, to help keep this hotel running? Things like maids, customer service people, the front desk runners?"

Charlie shrinks slightly before pointing to Vaggie. She in response just glared back into the overlords eyes.

Husk flinches back a bit. "Ho, yeah. You're going to need more than that to keep this hotel from running into disrepair."

He scans the room before finally acknowledging the resident spider sitting on the arm chair.

"And what exactly can you do?"

Angel Dust smirks before answering. "I can suck your dick!"

Silence falls in the lobby with Husk just staring for a second. Then he sighs, and grumbles something akin to "I'm too sober for this."

Angel laughs in his seat as Husk walks back to the center of the room. "Well, this certainly won't do if you're going to keep this project running. I might as well use a couple of tricks up my sleeve to at least give it a chance."

He then takes a jack of hearts from his sleeve and throws it into the parlor fireplace. It suddenly lights up as the entire parlor becomes free of dust and debris, with a little figure blackened by char stuck in the fireplace.

Everyone just stares as Husk goes up, picks the figure up by the scruff, and shakes the ash right off it. A single eye looks back up at them as he drops her back to the ground.

She's smaller than everyone there, about 3 feet tall if someone were to guess. She has a red poodle skirt on, with a poofy white shirt with three red spots on the chest and a white J surrounded by a red heart embroidered on top of where a human heart would be. There's a small red scarf around her neck, and her hair is short with red and orange highlights. She looks around the room erratically with her yellow eye.

"This little thing is Nifty. She'll make this hotel the cleanest it can be and keep everything in order. Just don't get too close: she can and will stab you." Husk warns before stepping back.

"Hi! I'm Nifty! It's been a while since I've seen other sinners in person." She rambles before looking around the lobby. Her face immediately drops.

"Oh my gosh! This place is filthy! It needs a lady's touch, which is weird because all of you are ladies, no offense." She speaks quickly as she takes a duster from... somewhere, and starts to clean every inch of the place, sometimes stabbing roaches with a sewing needle.

Angel scoffs at her comment but says nothing more. After she's apparently done, she skitters back to Husk's side and looks up at him with a begging look.

"So when are you bringing Al?" She asks a bit jittery, but with certainty. Husk rubs his temple. "I just brought you here, Nif. Summoning you guys takes a lot outa' me, believe it or not."

"Who's Al?" Charlie pipes up.

"Ooh, he's the best!" Nifty speaks up before Husk can answer. "He let's me climb all over him and put on roach puppet shows at his poker table without shooing me away!"

Husk speaks up before she can continue rambling. "*ahem* He's my top dealer. Got his soul a couple of years back, and now he works the poker tables and on my schedule. Brings in more souls than the rest per week on floor 13."

Vaggie squinted in suspension. "And what can he do for the hotel?"

Husk shrugs. "You'll see." He grumbles the next part mostly to himself. "I need to get him anyway. He holds all my liquor."

He then takes a deep breath before pulling out an ace of spades card from his left chest pocket. He flicks it onto the open floor as it grows and levitates upright

As if thrown, a figure stumbles from the cards picture, making the card blank for the time being. It shrinks and starts to float down before the figure snatches it and puts it back into his right chest pocket.

A soft hum of static could be heard after his arrival. He's taller than Husk, but not by much. He wears brown dress shoes, black slacks, a long-sleeved white undershirt, a dark red vest, and a black bow tie with a red jewel in the middle. On his right chest is a pocket with an embroidered A on top of a black spade.

He has striking, wavy red hair, with deer ears that stick up on either side of his head and a small tail. The tips of his ears, tail, and hair look like they were dipped in black, with the hair framing yellow eyes with red irises. The only thing blocking them were gold framed glasses that had a beaded chain to hang them around his neck while not in use.

When the figure finally steadied himself, he began to speak to the Overlord. "What fantastical event do you need me for now Husker-" he finally looked to the group as he turned around, eyes widening slightly as he set them on Charlie.

But he quickly took the situation in stride, patting down his uniform and speaking in his radio-like voice. "Why, hello there! My name is Alastor. It is a pleasure to be meeting you." He gives a nod, then a small smile, revealing sharp teeth through the gap.

Vaggie's eyes widen in turn, but she doesn't say anything back. "What exactly am I doing this time?" Alastor asks, now aimed back at Husker.

He huffed before answering. "You're gonna man the front desk at this "Happy Hotel". Making sure people check in, get the right keys and shit. Maybe a card game or two while they're here."

Charlie speaks up. "Wait what-"

Husk is already throwing the cards before she can finish. The cards surround the beaten up front desk, swirling around it and blocking the set up from view before throwing themselves back into Husk's deck, with a brand new poker table in place of the previous desk. The entire thing looks brand new, with fixed key holders to one side and a stock of liquor in the other.

Vaggie seethes. "What is this!? This is a place that discourages sin! We can't have a literal bar as our check-in desk!"

Husk raises a brow. "But it's not a bar. It's a poker table." He gestures to the surprisingly smooth poker table currently displayed as a desk. Angel Dust snorts before adding on. "Yeah, toots. That's obviously a poker table."

"Ugh! I can't with you two." Vaggie walks back over to the couch and flops down. Alastor grins at the scene before heading behind the desk.

Charlie takes this opportunity to go up and lean against the desk to talk to Alastor. "Hi! Welcome to the Happy Hotel! YOU'RE GOING TO LOVE IT HERE!!!!"

Alastor gives a small chuckle in response. "I think I might find this at least a bit entertaining. Haven't been summoned like this since 1997! It does get boring after shuffling so many cards and sitting around the same establishment all day, you know. I'm excited to see where this project will take us, my dear!"

Charlie gives a big smile to him as she turns back to Husk, waiting for him to say something.

He ruffles his wings again before speaking. "So, uh, what do ya' think?" He asks with a lazy tone.

Charlie literally squeals in delight. "This is amazing! Thank you so much, Husk!" Vaggie sits up just to mumble out a quick."I guess I can tolerate it."

"Good, cause I wasn't gonna change nothing anyways." Husk slinks to the front desk and just asks Alastor for the usual thing of alcohol.

Alastor just nods as he wrangles an energetic Nifty from his shoulder and sits her down across from Husk. "Try to stay still for once, Nifty."

Nifty is now bouncing in her seat as Alastor pours out Husk's drink. Setting it in front of him, Alastor exits the desk and picks up a now very jittery Nifty, making sure she doesn't go out on a stabbing rampage again.

Vaggie had already sat up, with Charlie now sitting next her her. They just watch the scene unfold, with Angel surprisingly quiet in the armchair.

The nice silence was suddenly broken as one of the hotels' walls crashed down, causing everything to be covered in a layer of dust, again.

The force caused the pair of girls to fall sideways on the couch, knocked Angel completely off the chair, and hit Husk's drink out of his hands before he could take a second sip. Alastor and Nifty are relatively unphased.

Manic laughter could be heard from outside as the group went and looked out of the crash site.

"It isss I! Sir Pentiousss! I know you're in there, Angel Dussst! Prepare for a rematch and to face my wrath!" The snake sinner declared as he shot up the surrounding area.

Husk stepped outside first, observing the threat level, and then deeply groaned. Alastor came right up to his side. "Want me to take care of it?"

Husk shook his head and started to ready his wings. "Nah, he spilled my drink. Also, I should show these guys what I'm actually made of."

With that, he took off right in front of the blimp. He punched the front, causing glass to shatter everywhere outside and inside the blimp.

Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel just stared as Husk went ham on the poor sinner. He threw cards that cut through the steel like butter, never-ending ribbons that restricted all of the blimps movement, and the bomb that was about to release got poofed into pigeons with a single touch after being completely covered up by the ribbon.

One card finally hit the engine, causing the entire thing to explode, sending the snake flying in the opposite direction.

Husk landed right in front of the group, all of them just staring at the explosion site. "Ugh... I need another drink." Husk finally spoke as he started to head back to the hotel through the smashed wall.

Charlie guided Vaggie back to the hole with a hand on her shoulder. Angel followed right after them, with Nifty skipping close behind. Then finally, Alastor came from the back.

He stopped right inside of the hole, snapped, and watched as the entire wall started to piece itself together again out of everyone else's view.

Once the wall looked good as new, Alastor went back to the front desk/poker table. He huffed to himself as he saw everyone crowded around Husk. The dust was still layered on everything, though. But that could be left to Nifty.

Previous || Next

YES! Someone else finally says it!

I’m tired of some people spitting shit about the Adam v. Alastor fight

Yes, Alastor got cocky and had his ass handed to him.

HOWEVER: WE REALIZE HE TOOK AN ANGELIC WEAPON TO THE CHEST AND SURVIVED????

Demons die to Vaggie’s SPEAR, simply because of the nature of the weapon. We see angels and demons dying throughout episode 8 to these badass weapons.

And Alastor TOOK it. He got nailed directly in the chest, and yeah, suffered at very least a punctured lung or something (he was bleeding a LOT), and while he couldn’t physically get up, he got away.

Like, I’m sorry he wasn’t perfect in that battle??? It was super satisfying at first to see him go to town on Adam, but after the fuck up, he LIVED. He got AWAY.

I don’t know a single demon else that was hit by the axe that episode that lived. Alastor is not infallible, yes, I know this, but Jesus Christ y’all, give him credit for probably being the first demon EVER to survive that.

A World Without Him

Chapter 4

*2 week time-skip*

Tang was here again. This pitch black void that he can't move, see, or hear anything in.

He knows what's going to happen and that he can't do anything about it.

He can't stop anything that happens here.

He was always stuck.

So he just waits. He waits for it to start, waits for it to drag him down, waits for it to be over.

It doesn't take that long for it to begin like it usually does.

Voices suddenly flood his ears, but it sounds like there's more of them than before. It keeps getting louder and louder until something floods his vision.

The silhouettes that swirl around him seem familiar. He just doesn't know why. They talk and move and prod at him as he stays still: unable to do anything about it.

Then everything returns to void. Silence is all that he can hear.

Here it comes, he thinks.

He can feel the hands before they even touch him. Rushing from the depths as they grab at his ankles, pulling him deeper and deeper again.

Even though Tang knows he can't do anything against it, he flails anyway. Fighting the hands as they slowly overcome him. He still thrashes and kicks anyway.

He can't just do nothing over and over again.

But it's all fruitless as he gets dragged farther and farther down.

Then everything becomes bright.

Too bright.

The hands become more violent, dragging him down faster to escape the bright orange encompassing his vision.

The light is faster, however, as it catches up in a matter of seconds, covering everything.

Some hands let go immediately, while some still holding on seem to almost... disintegrate?

The light is almost unbearable as it keeps getting brighter and brighter.

Then Tang wakes up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He shoots up in bed with a cold sweat. He looks outside and sees it's still dark in the sky.

Tang takes a deep breath, then sighs before trying to think too much. It's a dream. Just a dream. Nothing is wrong with him. He's ok.

He reaches for his glasses on the nightstand before slipping on some slippers near the foot of the bed.

He's been having this dream more often lately: every night for the past week, to be exact. Nothing's ever different no matter what he tries.

He does nothing: he gets dragged.

He tries to move away: he gets dragged.

He fights the hands: he gets dragged.

But that's why he's confused. What was different about this time? Why was he "saved" from those hands this dream?

Stop, he tells himself. Nothing's going to come from thinking about it too much.

'This is bad. We can't let this happen again.'

Oh, great, another voice. Lovely. He thinks before pulling himself to a standing position.

He slowly walks to the kitchen to get some caffeine in him. Tang needs to wake himself up. He finds some coffee tabs lying on the counter from running straight to Pisgy's yesterday.

Huffing a small laugh at his own negligence, he picks one up as he changes the water in the coffee maker, and puts the tab in with a mug underneath that reads "I like my coffee black, like my SOUL" printed on it.

As he waits, he looks out the nearby window across the living room with a small crack between the curtains.

The city seems to be glowing with all the neon signs and lights from the lively cityscape below. He can hear faint voices of people out partying in the club two buildings down and can faintly see some people walk down the streets in front of his apartment.

Tang unconsciously walks toward the lights, finding comfort in them. Everything has basically come back to normal after LBD's reign, and people seem ok walking the roads at night again.

But still, he can't help but look in the shadows of his apartment, seeing if anything will jump out at him.

"Ah!" He screams when the beeping of the coffee machine reaches his ears, dragging him out of his thoughts.

Tang sags in relief as he goes to get his fresh coffee. After having that happen all week, you'd think he'd get used to the beeping after a while.

After grabbing the mug, he goes over to the living room couch. He looks back out the window and pulls the curtains back a bit more, letting more of the fluorescent light inside.

He picks up one of the discarded books on the coffee table, takes a sip of his coffee, and then starts to read again.

It's not like he had anywhere to be. Pisgy's night quickly got canceled after it was clear the kids wouldn't show due to training, work, or demon attacks, and Pisgy started to get an influx of business again from people feeling safer to go out after, well, everything.

Tang wasn't social to begin with, so everything just blurred after that. He never went out for fun, just necessities, and wasn't invited to things that often, either.

Money also wasn't really an issue for him, as he had some savings from his archeology days and some money from the military fund for day to day things.

So what should Tang do with all this new free time? Read, of course! As that was the only thing he could think of enjoying at the moment.

But, as fate allows it, Tang actually had something to do today. Grocerie shopping! Woooooo...

He groans as he leans back into the couch. He pulls himself up and decides to go out and get them now. Why? Because he doesn't want to be stuck with his thoughts: at least this early, anyway.

He chugs his coffee, throws the mug in the sink, and just slips his coat with some shoes over his pajamas. He's going out at this hour: he doubts people would care about him wearing some sweatpants and a band shirt with some sneakers out.

He feels the breeze when he walks out the front door of his building. He immediately starts to walk towards the 24/7 convenience store down the road.

The door rings as he pushes it open, and Tang beelines to the veggie and soup section.

He grabs a bit of everything, a few extra potato chips because why not, and heads towards the counter, barely holding onto everything.

'We need to tell ______ now. This has ____ on long ______.'

He quickly dumps everything on the counter. The teen working the counter looks unimpressed. "Do you have a rewards card?" She asked in a bored tone.

"Yup." Tang replies, popping the p before scanning the rewards card.

He looks outside as he waits. Seeing everyone walk in the streets, watching if anyone looks suspicious. He looks around the corners of the shop, too.

'Nothing' Next corner. 'Just some dust.' Next corner. 'Nothing.' Far end of window. 'Movement, but it's just some-'

"Your total is $134 and nine cents."

He jumps to face the cashier. "Oh. Yeah, uh, give me a sec." He fumbles his wallet for a minute, then swipes the card a bit clumsily.

"Have a nice night, morning? Eh, whatever." The teen grumbles before looking back on her phone.

Tang just grabs his stuff and leaves as fast as he can. He walks briskly along the sidewalk, occasionally glancing over his shoulder.

He finally takes a breath when he's back at his apartment. He takes off his shoes before going inside and just throwing the bags onto the counter.

He checks his phone before sitting down: no new messages. He sighs before putting it down to charge.

Then he just sits on the couch for a second. He doesn't want to eat, doesn't want to sleep, doesn't want to do anything right now.

So that's what he does. He just does nothing, staring at the ceiling, unmoving until he can see the daylight flowing from the window.

Previous || Next

I like to think that Alastor survived Adams strike purely off of spite to not die to the f-boy of all people.

Shadow Trails ~~~~~~~~~~

The limo was silent with the swish of a window divider opening and closing in the background.

The Princess of Hell and a very pissed off lady can be seen sitting next to each other. Across from them is a famous porn star as he keeps flipping the divider switch over and over.

*swish* Up it goes. *swosh* Down it goes. *swish* Up it goes. *swosh* Down it-

"Do you even know what your little stunt did to us?" The lady growled, seemingly getting even more peeved than before.

The star stopped and rolled his eyes as he sat back into his seat. "Calm down toots, it was just a small turf war -"

The lady stood up to look him in the eyes. "Your small turf war goes against everything our hotel is about, Angel Dust! And you just had to go and do this during Charlie's interview as well! You made us look like a joke!" She spout with venom.

A hand interlocks with hers as she looks down to see Charlie holding her hand. She says, "It's okay, Vaggie." In a quiet voice. Vaggie sighed as Angel Dust started to talk again.

"Ah, no. I didn't make you look like a joke. Jokes are funny!" Angel Dust starts to wave his top pair of hands. "I made you look, eh, pathetic! Like an orphan, with no arms, who was pushed into a river or something. Damn, now you've got me bummed out."

Charlie seemed to shrink into herself as she pushed her body against the window. Vaggie sits violently back down, still holding Charlie's hand. "I'm gonna kill him." She spats.

Angel Dust giggles in his seat. "Hah! And what'll that do?" He jests, laying down even more. "Make me double dead? Send me to double hell? Sorry, but you're stuck with me, bitch. Get used to it."

Vaggie is restless in her seat, making hand motions of choking and other gestures. Charlie pulls herself from the window to pat her on the back before turning to Angel Dust. "That was really uncool back there, Angel."

"Uncool?!" Vaggie interrupts, glaring back at Angel Dust. "After an incident like that, we'll be lucky if anyone's still interested in the hotel! And that's all because of YOU and all your impulsive bullshit!"

Angel Dust suddenly sits up, seemingly more serious than he had been the entire conversation. "Wait, does that mean I can't keep crashing here?" He says while looking at the two directly.

Vaggie is about to speak before Charlie pipes up, preventing another yelling match. "Hey Vaggie, I bet we'll still have some people visit the hotel! I mean, it's not like all of hell has seen the interview, and some might still want to give it a try anyway!" She gives a reassuring smile.

Vaggie sags in her seat for a moment, then looks to Charlie, who's staring at her hopefully. She sighs as she smiles a bit back. "You're right, Charlie."

The limo arrives at the hotel a few moments later. Angel jumps out of the car first, leaving the other two a step behind.

The hotel is the same as ever when the stained glass doors open. Cobwebs in the corners, jumbled furniture all over the place, bugs running amok, and beams laying in crooked ways near the top and bottom of the floors.

Angel immediately goes for the fridge as Vaggie violently throws herself onto a nearby couch. Charlie sits down on a cloth-covered piece of furniture(?) as she thinks about what happened.

Her interview ended up in disaster, with a fight against that vile news reporter no less. Then there was Angel's fight, which destroyed a lot of the downtrodden area. Charlie's frustrated just thinking about it.

Angel, now with a popsicle in hand, starts to walk over to her. "Hey, you may need to stock up the food a bit more. Y'know, for all these wayward souls you got here!" He says while gesturing to the empty lobby with a smirk.

Charlie just sighs before rebutting Angel Dust. "I don't really need jests right now, Angel. I need to think of how people will take us seriously again after... everything, today."

Angel Dust seemed a bit shocked at that. After a couple of seconds, he frowned and started to reach out a bit. He stops right over her shoulder before pulling back and walking towards Vaggie's couch.

Charlie grumbled in frustration before getting up off the cloth. Moping won't do anything to get the hotel back up and running.

She walks back out the two entrance doors as she dials her mom's number. It rings twice before immediately going to voice-mail.

Charlie sighs before starting her message. "Hey, mom. I know you've been busy, and I keep calling, but, uh, the interview didn't go well, and I don't really know what to do now."

She takes a deep breath before continuing. "I really need some guidance, maybe some advice, or really anything just to know you're at least listening to these messages."

The line is silent before Charlie gives another huff. "Maybe dad was right. Maybe all this can't happen. Maybe I'm just chasing a crazy dream." She sniffs before continuing. "I just don't know what I can do anymore."

Charlie rubs her temple before finishing weakly. "I love you, mom." She ends the voice-mail. She walks back inside and dejectedly plops herself down in front of the doors.

She sits there for a moment.

Then, a knock sounds behind her. She gets up quickly and waits to see if she was imagining it. Another knock sounds throughout the lobby, quick and polite.

Charlie opens the door, suddenly face to face with a tall, cat-like demon with wings. He looks down, then gives her a friendly smirk.

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I love his wavy hair and freckles!! Looks great!

shes his little buddy

REBLOGS APPRECIATED!!!

IF YOU TAG AS SHIP I WILL BLOCK YOU

My theory is that Mimzy was once Alastor’s best friend, he maybe even thought he might have been in love with her at one point, in that manner aroace people who don’t know they’re aroace often do, that she was then sacrificed by this cult, and that Alastor had them infiltrated and taken down every member of that cult over decades, losing more and more of himself each time as those he killed grew less and less directly connected to the crime, “sorry you just got in my way, maybe I enjoy it just a little bit does that make me insane”, but that in the act of doing so, that contradiction of righteous intent and pure depravity, along with whatever ritual for power the cult had initially started upon, let’s say in honour of Roo (the root of all evil in the Hellaverse, a character yet to be introduced), and that on Alastor’s eventual death, he then found himself in Hell all-powerful, and set about bringing down those Overlords beneath his power continuing this moral code, until he hit a wall, finding himself having ended all Overlords less powerful than him / otherwise came to his senses on meeting Mimzy again and finding her to have gone to hell, recognising that “weren’t you an old pal of mine” and really nothing more and deciding mere power, entertainment is all he now desires. But that still, out of obligation, that he must kill Lucifer, the Devil, for a sense of completion, while still being allowed to exist himself afterward. Which leads to whatever deal he ended up trapped in seven years before the events of the series, and him getting Charlie to make a deal with him to “harm no one” at a certain point in the future: to ensure that when the time comes that he will be able to kill Lucifer, and the one person able to stop him won’t be able to. To really make Alastor a true Exterminator, more measured, the embodiment of how the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

Huh, interesting take! I didn't think the Insane song was canon, but maybe I was just misinformed. I've never really thought of Alastor having his path of vengence and righteousness leading him towards hell, but I can see a lot of potential with it!

How Alastor had been barely keeping it together in his life already, and the one person he really cares about gets killed by a freaky cult? Yeah, I'd understand his murder spree now.

Maybe the cult ate Mimzy's body for the ritual, and Alastor returned the favor, starting his cannibalistic tendencies. But I'm not sure because Mimzy didn't have any indication of that on her sinner form from what we've seen.

I also saw a similar theory with the exterminator Alastor part, where he might've originally been in heaven, but when forced through the exterminator program, let his violent tendencies take over.

I do like the cult part. Maybe this caused what Alastor was referring to when he had his interlude in the finale song, with red eyes (that I just noticed after a rewatch) following him from his crash sight to the radio tower.

Those eyes look very similar to Roo's concept art. Maybe Roo found him because he killed a lot of her followers and made a contract with him to keep him under her thumb in the long run, making sure he doesn't interrupt her plans again.

Shadow Trails

This is just a random fic idea where just Alastor and Husk switch roles in Hazbin Hotel. It's taken over half of my brain. (I'm still gonna update A World Without Him). (Also, it's almost all Alastor centric)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*Before the hotel*

The dark red surface of the Pride Ring is almost completely silent, which isn't unusual this time of year. Only the occasional demons' screams and feet splashing against puddles could be heard through the vacant roads.

Yellow acid rain relentlessly pangs down onto the pavement that travels through the city. Roaring thunder can occasionally be heard through the pounding rain.

All shops are closed, with no light or movement coming from inside. Even the brothels are shut down for the night in preparation for what the morning after tomorrow will bring.

An out-of-place golden clock tower is right in the middle of this city. Second by second, the clock counts down. Just as the 24-hour mark hits, the clock lets out 4 clangs from the bell nestled at the top.

The acid rain seems to fall harder and faster after the bell chimes finished. It seems to never end as it incinerates any small vermin still running around the drunken streets.

The stacked and bunched-together buildings stand tall, though, seeming undisturbed by the new onslaught of downpour.

This is probably why no one noticed the clouds that started to unnaturally swirl. When they darkened into voids that sucked in the redish lights from below.

When the acid turned a toxic green from those transformed clouds, that acid which could easily eat through sinners bone.

The wind picked up, swirling the green into a funnel-like shape, with the clouds of void following suit quickly.

A bolt of black lightning suddenly struck through all the drops of colored acid at once through the center, evaporating the perfect shape and the void fell down in drops from the clouds.

A big swarm of green is all that was left of the incident, slowly dissapating until all that was left was the blob of void and a crumpled body at the middle of the strike site.

The void slinked into the beings shadow before anything else. Then the body writhed in pain as it stumbled to its feet. Black soot covered its clothes and head, as it coughed up more black, then took a breathe, before finally standing straight.

"Where-" The being stopped talking as it's voice came out with major feedback. It tried to cover its ears, but realized they were... further up than they were supposed to be?

It suddenly looked at what it was wearing. Black dress shoes, brown slacks, a black belt, dark brown undershirt, some black framed glasses, and a brown overcoat to match the slacks. Yet everything seemed worse for wear.

The left sleeve of the coat was completely torn off, seemingly in a violent fashion, with the right shoulder having been torn through both layers. The slacks were no better. The right had a torn patch near his lower thigh, and the right had a big hole on the outside of his calf. His glasses were shattered in both lenses.

It huffed in annoyance. Couldn't this place have transported it into something at least a little more decent?

It finally looked at the shining clock tower in the distance, seeing it slowly counting down to... something it didn't know.

It had a bad feeling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The neon lights were blinding to anyone who stared for too long, with many arrows and signs pointing to store entrances.

These small establishments are trying to get the demons attention among all the other bright and colorful lights on Betters Way.

At the end of the road lies the biggest of all the buildings. At least 13 stories high, with all the lights shining even brighter than the others before it.

Cards symbols and gambling chips mark the exterior design, with some being part of the neon light all over the front of the building.

At the top is where the owner stays and works. Who is now currently on some of the lower floors because of his secretary's whining.

He'd been doing a routine check of the tables, seeing if any souls wanted to gamble with the King of Cards himself, when he saw sinners betting around a lobby TV.

He went to check and make sure people weren't loitering when he saw what was on. The Princess of Hell fighting Katie Killjoy, the reporter, on 666 News. Which was weird because all his TVs were supposed to play in the lobby were ads.

The demons in front of the TV had started to make bets on who would win the scuffle, yelling at the TV and starting to make a ruckus.

He sighed before intervening. "Well what do we have here, gents?" He spoke behind them, spooking some to turn away from the frankly loud fight.

Some started to berate him for interrupting while others ignored his presence completely. Damn, had it really been that long since he'd been out in public that no one recognized him? He needed to up his game.

In the end, he riled the sinners up a bit, let them dig their own graves before offering a 'simple' bet, while after he got a few more extra souls to his overlord name.

Not that he would force them to do anything. That privilege was for special cases. He can only hold so many cards in one deck at a time.

But that fight on the TV did intrigue him. What happened for the "sprinkles and rainbows" Princess to go ham on that she-devil? He remembers some subtitles about a hotel. Did the princess start one?

He decided to leave those thoughts for later as he went back up to his office. He did need to get his name out again. Maybe he could pay a visit to that hotel sometime, see if it's a good investment.

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GET READY FOR MORE ALASTOR THEORIES PEOPLE!!!

I am still reeling from the final episode, and I am currently just thinking about Alastor and all his little ticks and phrases that could mean so much more.

So let's get started on some of my favorites!

Obvious spoilers ahead

Alastors fight with Adam. The biggest thing in the episode for Alastor. He seemed to be cocky and treat it as one of his regular murders during the day, not taking him that seriously.

He seemed to have overestimated himself in his abilities against the angelic army leader, and in consequence had his staff broken in half and in his shock at that, left himself wide open for another attack.

Why was he so cocky? He seemed to be so sure of himself against Adam, and so sure he could at least get a few good hits in.

I think this was because he used to something more powerful before his deal with whoever owns his soul now. He just fell back into muscle memory from before he lost most of his strength, thinking he could beat Adam without an angelic weapon, and was surprised that he couldn't hold up to levels of power he could've dealt with before he lost his own.

Like when he was shocked his staff got snapped in half by Adams shockwave. Could it take hits like that before? Has he fought Adam like that before? Is the reason he fell back into muscle memory because he hasn't had this level of threat since his fall/maybe the start of his 7 year absence or because this is how their fights used to go?

He also talked about how powerful a mortal soul could get if it took control of its own fate. This could be a reference to Charlie and the others fighting the extermination, or it could be about himself. If so, what did he choose to get this way? Was this a reference to his deal? Or maybe about his origins to get to where he is now?

Then when he did get hurt in the fight, he looked panicked and fled the scene. He didn't expect to get seriously hurt, at least that quickly from Adam, for whatever reason. Like he didn't expect something like this to happen, or he's just realizing how weak he's gotten since his last major scuffle.

Now, in the radio tower scene. He's seen having a sort of mental breakdown. How he almost died a 'pathetic' death defending the hotel and everyone in it. He seems very distraught at how he almost died.

I did see someone analyze this as Alastors fear of death, and I agree partially with that. Alastor did seem to be caught up in almost dieing to Adam. But I don't think it was because he was about to die in general, but because he would die like that.

We saw how he mocked it in the "Alastor Altruist died for his friends." in his snipbit. I think it was about how he's realizing his situation in full now. What he's been forced into is taking more of an effect than he thought it would at the hotel, as he ranted about a possible back door in the deal that tied him to the hotel and took his power.

This makes me think that Alastors true power has been (hazbin, hehe) taken or suppressed by the deal maker, with them owning his soul, and he's not used to being this weak against slightly stronger opponents, as he definitely has battle experience based on his fighting style with Adam.

Now, for who owns Alastors soul, there are 3 that I've been interested in from different posts on here and actual show hints.

Additionally, his mouth was totally stitched up in his demonic form when making the deal with Charlie. Maybe this was so he is forced to keep his smiling persona up at all times, and maybe to keep him from spilling anything about the deal or where he was for the last 7 years.

Anyways, first off is obviously Lilith. As I have explained in my previous ramble, Lilith probably took Alastor in from a lethal experience, either manipulating or threatening him to join her deal.

I think a plausible reason for this now is to look after Charlie and her hotel. She's currently in heaven, and had a deal with Lute or the angel army about the extermination. She most likely can't leave, which is why she's been gone for the past 7 years with no contact in hell.

She probably chose Alastor because of his reputation and power, but limited it so he couldn't do any lasting damage to the hotel or daughter just in case, since he can theoretically hurt angels.

The second popular option is Eve, or Roo, as everyone's calling her. She was the root of all evil and was a big villain in Vivs' previous work that Hazbin Hotel was based on.

We haven't seen her yet, other than the storybook appearance in the first episode. We don't have much info about her, so I can't really draw any parallels just yet between her and Alastor.

The last one is a bit of a stretch, and I didn't think of this until I saw another post about him: Lucifer

I could see where this would go, to be honest. We see his beef with Lucifer immediately during episode 5, and how Alastor takes any opportunity ro rile him up.

Lucifer could've made a deal with Alastor during his depression funk, causing him to not exactly remember Alastor in good detail with all the other deals he probably made during that time.

Alastor most likely resents him for what his deal did to him if Lucifer was the deal maker, trapping Alastor at the hotel to protect Charlie, and Lucifer just doesn't remember crap from that time and is very confused.

This one is the least likely out of the rest and kind of crack-ish, but was kinda fun to entertain and make a bit of sense on.

These are the theories I have so far on Alastor in Hazbin Hotel from the final episodes. I love this guy's lore, and I am desperate for more about his origins and powers.

JUST WATCHED EPISODES 7 AND 8 AND UNHOLY SH-

Look at all that Alastor LORE!!!!!

I AM SO EXCITED YOU DONT EVEN KNOW PEOPLE. WE HAVE BEEN FED WELL.

I also want to say that I was so freaking right in my first ramble about Alastor. Almost everything but his human life was freaking given to me in these episodes! I am very happy. Previous Ramble

*Ahem* Now, this is just a small analysis of Alastor scenes from both episodes, and I'll probably post my theories and stuff about it in a seperate post! I am currently frothing at the mouth. Obvious spoilers ahead!

Ok, so the first thing I saw was how Alastor jumped at the opportunity to go up to talk personally with Charlie.

Episode 7 thoughts:

I tried to steer away from sneak peak and spoilers, but I did get bombarded with little gifs of Alastor kicking his feet on Charlie's bed. Ruined the freaking surprise.

Anyways, Alastor obviously seemed to coerce Charlie into feeling rushed to a decision, which was obviously a deal with him.

I didn't expect him not to go for Charlie's soul. I saw so many people theorizing that was why he was at the hotel in the first place, and everything that lead up to Alistor finally making a deal throughout the other episodes, was a favor. A favor that didn't involve harm, no less.

This is still something very big, especially a favor from a princess of hell. I think the favor he needs eventually might be to help him break free of his leash, or to help protect him when he finally does in case things go south afterwards. Or maybe it could be a favor to somehow see how his mother is doing, the first much more dramatic, but I'd be happy with either.

Now there's Alastors demon form during the deal. Unholy cow, there's a lot to unpack. The first thing I noticed was Alastors FULLY STICTED smile. Like, entirely across. This could just be his true demonic from, or someone else did this to him to keep him smiling. From slipping up in his forced persona.

We also see how he can't stop smiling, even when by himself, drained of power, and hurt in his destroyed radio tower after the sngel attack. He rants and seemingly has a breakdown, but keeps smiling.

This could be how, like I said in my previous ramble, he uses his smile as a shield and as a defense for himself, like he stated to Charlie during the deal scene. Or, it's permanently there because it's just what he got stuck with in hell, or someone wanted to keep him smiling.

Speaking of which, the color is what's bothering me. There isn't much green in the pride ring other than Alastor himself. Almost every attack he's thrown has had green in it, with the crazy floating symbols, his explosions, and his void he controls has a bit of green. He can also invert colors. Why is that, when everything about him is red and black, matching the pride ring, his stitches and powers are green, like someone else's power.

There's also stitching all over his clothing, maybe as symbolism to keeping the persona up that the person who has his leash has made for him to play at the hotel.

Moving on to cannibal town, I adore Alastor and Rosie together. They bounce off each other well and just seem like real good friends. Love their dynamic! (Also, WOOOOOH! Canon Ace Alastor! Well, from Rosie. STILL THO! I am so happy, from a fellow asexual)

I was kind of sad when I realized Alastor could speak without his radio in hand when Charlie went singing with it as Alastor advertised the Executioner meat awaiting all the cannibals, with Charlie still holding the microphone. Would've been some entertaining stuff if he couldn't talk without it.

I don't really have much else to say about cannibal town, other than the Alastor comment near the end where it seems he's considering manipulating her to keep her on his side, to keep him on the winning one.

Now, episode 8.

This episode was a lot. In a good way, but still a lot.

Before the exterminators, everyone in the main cast was drinking, relaxing, and saying possible final goodbyes. Not Alastor. He was up on the balcony, watching the scene unfold.

They talk about how they enjoy the main casts company, and Alastor feels a bit sentimental as he admits he could get accustomed. Focus on the could part of that. He seems to imply he can't stay or things can't stay this way for long. Is it because of the reason he's at the hotel?

I do love Nifty and Alastor interactions. I wonder why they're so close compared to everyone else's relationship with Alastor in the main cast. Could they both be under the same leash, leaving some sympathy forbthe other? Or maybe Alastor just likes to see that gremlins shenanigans.

Now to the actual battle, Alstor was freaking peak at the beginning! His shield literally blocked off all angel interactions from the outside to keep the troops away, and it didn't even seem to tire out Alastor in the slightest!

The thing with him controlling those void tentacles to hold angelic weapons to kill the outsiders trying to break through is also just so cool to see because of Alastors ingenuity.

It took a strike from Adam just to break it, and I feel that's an accomplishment. For Adam to do something himself that all the other angels can't I feel is impressive, because he's not the head of the angelic army for no reason. I doubt heaven is that stupid to give a f-boy full control over the troops with no talent or experience to plan or lead them, at least.

Now for the Adam vs Alastor battle.

This had me at the edge of my seat, begging for Alastor not to be the one to be killed off this season.

I knew Alastor wasn't going to win, but he did have a good start. It seemed like he was toying and not taking this seriously, with full confidence in his abilities.

But that was until Adam finally got serious again, and broke his radio staff. His metaphorical (maybe literal based on his reaction) wall of defense.

This had me shook, as I saw my boy get beat in a couple of seconds. The radio staff was probably the source of at least a bit of his power from this person holding his leash, as he was worried enough about it to curse with no static in his voice during mid battle, leaving himself wide open. Or maybe this was just one of the times Alastor slipped up. It could also be the reason why he only used shadows, one of his only not-green abilities.

He still could move and talk, and I doubt he could attack or summon anything after being DIRECTLY HIT, POINT BLANK, WITH AN ANGELIC WEAPON, FROM PROBABLY ONE OF THE STRONGEST ANGELS IN THAT FREAKING EXTERMINATION, WHILE FREAKING SURVIVING AND GETTING BETTER THROUGHOUT JUST A COUPLE OF HOURS AT MOST.

(Also, shut up Vox. I know you freaking have the hate/obsession going on with the guy, but he probably lasted better than you could have, especially since you would've most likely been wire spaghetti after that hit from Adam)

I just realized that when rewatching, as before, I was just focusing on hoping he wouldn't be the one to die. But how did he survive that, and get pretty much better as soon as he got back to the radio tower? Maybe radio waves heal him, or he just has crazy recovery speed.

Now to the long awaited radio tower scene. I was hoping he would've gotten his own song by now, but maybe that shows how he needs someone else's push to be able to push on his own, like both his duets in the previous episodes.

Maybe we'll get an emotional song from him in the future. Crossing my fingers for that and a S2 as soon as possible!

Now the actual scene got me thinking. How Alastor is DEFINITELY under someone's control, as he also explicitly states it was a deal. Most likely for his soul, considering his want for freedom and to be able to do his own thing again.

I did see how Alastor was so desperate in his song snip about how he needs to find a way out of this deal he has made, with some of the most raw expressions we've seen of him to date.

But something did strike me. That on line from his song.

That's a bit of weird wording there Viv. Like, I know this is like an implication for his freedom, but imagine Alastor was a fallen angle or heavenly deity of some kind, like how the Cherubs got banished from heaven in Helluva Boss. Might explain how he didn't immediately die from Adams attack. (As you can see, I'm a bit delusional. But imagine if I was right tho)

But do imagine though, what this might imply for Alastor. How maybe the leash is holding something more than just his freedom, maybe how Alastor might've been even more powerful than he is right now, with the holder keeping some of his original raw power from his grasp, making him rely on their green power to survive and stay at the top.

The green light surrounding him with the line about him pulling the strings might also be how Alastor might want to take his holder's place, how when he's finally free from them he'll finally be able to take over that green with his own power, with his shadow.

I'm still wondering if Alastor is hiding side affects or pain from getting a beat down courtesy of Adam at the end there, as he seemed to take the most damage out of everyone while staying 'alive'.

Anyways, I need to wake up early tomorrow, and writing this in the middle of the night as it struck won't be pleasant for future me, but at least I could get all my thoughts together.

I am still obsessed with this deer man, if you couldn't tell already. I am so tired. If you saw any typos, no, you actually didn't.

Just some Tang doodles for my au from class today.

Btw, there's some blood and dead bodies and spoilers for a future scene after the cut.

These are just some practice expressions for Tang to get the eye shape with the glasses right.

This is what's underneath the jacket he usually wears out in New Town TM.

This is when Tang snaps on the battlefield after the Medic Tent gets attacked a 3rd time with no reinforcements to help.

Random Rambles And Theories About Alastor Go!

Ok, so right now I am on a high with all the recent Alastor lore we've been blessed with in Hazbin Hotel, and this little murderer has been occupying my mind 24/7. I really need to get all my theories and rambles out that I don't see a lot of people talking about.

(BTW, before my ramble, I have seen many places say he was mixed race as a human, but if I am wrong, please let me know, because this delves deep into that with his human life.)

(Also be warned for a bit of gore/violence and that this thing is kind of long)

Now let's begin!

I'll start with the most talked about theory with Alastor: his connections with Lilith and why he reacted the way he did with Lucifer

The show has given us what many people think are hints to this with both of them gone for 7 years, the slight eye twitch in the pilot when he looked at liliths portrait, Alastor showing up right after Charlie finished voicmailing her mom also in the pilot, how he knew about Charlie's Daddy Issues before she seemed to have told anyone, the leash comment from Husker, and how Alastor reacted to Lucifer.

Now, all of these could be chalked up to Alastor having some sort of nice relations to Lilith, but some of these are a bit too far stretched to just be because he has interacted nicely with Lilith in my eyes.

I have seen many people talk about how Alastor must have gotten a bad impression of Lucifer because either him and Lilith are besties and talk crap about him after the split, or he listened to her complaints about him and got an impression off of that to dislike him this much right off the bat in episode 5.

But I don't think that's it. We see how badly Alastor reacted to the leash comment by Husker, which definitely isn't a good sign that he would even trust the words of whoever is holding that 'leash' against him. He seemed pushed over the edge, vulnerable enough to lash out, which is unlike himself. Whatever deal he made for his soul, was most likely under threat, a life or death choice.

This is why I think he despises (most likely) Lilith or whoever has that 'leash' on him. He lashes out, sensitive about the subject. After gaining so much power over the overlords, he suddenly gets toppled over again by someone of (most likely) higher status, being forced into an unwilling contract, now just another pawn that this demon(?) can use for their own desires, and he doesn't want to be that, he needs to make his own decisions. But he doesn't have any say in the matter.

So I think why he was mocking and teasing Lucifer so much was because of his connection with Lilith. Everyone knew how deeply in love they were (before they split) and how they are both the most powerful demons in hell. I think Alastor took a chance to use his pent up anger on Lucifer, trying to get him to hurt as much as he can because of what Lilith did, all the while Lucifer cant do anything too serious leat he upset Charlie. We know he is extremely petty, after all. (we can also see him (most likely) letting off some steam when devouring the loan sharks, with him getting unnecessarily big and just letting loose on a couple of low-tier goons)

I saw another person talk about how Alastor has no power over Lucifer/Lilith, no political power, and he can't beat them in games of wits either. But the one thing that he does have the upper hand on, is their daughter, and I completely agree with that.

Alastor has been there since the beginning, has helped Charlie out and talked with her more than her own Parents had in the last couple of years probably. He's seen how attached the parents are to Charlie, and decided to use that info in full force. Just look at the Lucifer/Alastor duet.

Now that we have my theories of the life and death contract with Lilith, let's go deep into what I think is Alastors character right now:

Alastor, a mixed child in the early 1900's most likely had it really rough. With being treated as less than from both sides for being to dark/light to the violence that he most likely had to endure during his childhood.

This could have been where his anger/obsessive resentment started to simmer up in sporadic bursts over the years and years of belittlement, abuse, and racism.

Like I said before, he was probably treated as less than human for his mixed skin, and Alastor most likely started to hate it. His skin, the people, everything seemed so wrong. Why should the people who beat him and his mother see them so vulnerable and weak. He decided he didn't like that anymore.

So the radio show started. I got this idea from when he said his face was only made for radio. Over the radio, no one ever knew what you looked like. Just your voice would be broadcasted, and no one would ever see who was really behind the microphone unless they stepped out. This seemed like a barrier to Alastor. Letting himself go with no worries about letting people see him vulnerable behind his broadcast. (Maybe that's why he hates TV and modern tech so much; people can see everything about you)

And when his radio show became a hit and people wanted pictures and news? What would protect him then? Simple: his unwavering smile. Reactions are what people want when they crush others. They want to see them wallow and beg cry from what they have done. But Alastor won't let anyone do that to him ever again.

He stands his guard, not letting any comments get to him, keeping charming smile and unwavering voice all throughout his career as a radio host. Keep the smile up, dont have your voice crack, never show weakness. If you stop, those that wait will sink their teeth in and never let go of you. That's what I think a part of his mentality is and is maybe a part of why his smile is stitched on in his demonic form.

Now onto why I think he's a serial killer/cannibal. Remember when I said he had lots of unchecked anger and obsessive resentment? All this now simmering even more while being pushed down by his persona?

This is when he'll break loose.

He usually goes for the ones with the least amount of defense: drunkards/ bar frequenters. I though of this when Mimzy said he used to always come to the bar she was performing at and how he could drink like a sailor.

He might've drank with people to let their guard down in addition to his non-threatening charm, and he probably built a tolerance to be at least a bit sober when the others are full out drunk so he can easily transport and kill them.

He probably enjoys killing/eating his victims because a) it shows how he has power now. How he isn't a helpless victim anymore and he's finally in control of his life or b) where he likes seeing privileged people beaten and bruised for once, the gratification of seeing someone taste their own medicine by his own hand, like revenge, even if that person hadn't been necessarily bad towards him.

His death ro me is the same that everyone else thinks, where he's burying some victims body and gets mistaken for a deer, then shot straight between the eyes. What I do think a bit differently is that he was chased by hunting dogs first, which alerted the hunter for him to get shot, which then led to his fear of dogs.

Then he was finally free to do anything. Hell had no limits, he didn't have to hide his carnage anymore. But now that smile he wore was engraved into his face, almost making it impossible to frown. But that didn't matter. Not right now. Alastor has so many emotions bubbling up that he just wanted blood to be on his hands.

And then he slaughtered the overlords and took their souls within weeks ( maybe months, idk how quick he killed them, but ima go with weeks), broadcasting it over the radio to show everyone what he's been up to.

Alastor had kept this routine for a couple of decades, occasionally getting a guest star on his broadcast by those who he seems fit.

But maybe he had become too cocky with this power high, as he had been attacked by holy weaponry right before the extermination he dealth with most of them, but a shot did make it into his shoulder, causing him to collapse in pain, unable to move. (a bit simple, but I imagine him getting badly hurt by angels/angelic weaponry to lethal levels and Lilith decides to save him)

He fought hard when the angels arrived, of course, but he could only go so far in being this injured. So when he was about to get stabbed in the chest by a holy spear, he was already tired and almost accepted his fate, before being pulled somewhere by Lilith herself.

This is where Lilith offers a beat and broken Alastor a one time deal: become her servant or she'll throw him back to the exterminators herself. And in a situation like this, there's usually only one option you can really take.

And so he was a ghost, leaving everything he had behind. His power, his respect, his freedom...

Now Alastor had become a pawn again. A tool useful for the right situations, and just a toy to be played with by Lilith. This is exactly what he didn't want from his human life. The humility, the disregard, treating him as some sort of street animal, no matter what he did.

And now she orders him to guard her daughters hotel, giving him back a piece of his power to protect the hotel.

Alastor had hated Charlie for how she misused her amazing power for something like redemption.

Alastor hated Lucifer, for having all that power, being the strongest demon in hell, yet taking it for granted while mocking him about his choices.

And Alastor hated Lilith, for trapping him again, and renewing his endless cycle of suffering.

So those are my thoughts about Alastor. I think you can tell he's my favorite. I just love his powers and lore.

A World Without Him

Chapter 3

Tang waits a moment in front of the boat door, hearing a faint commotion coming from the other side.

Then the door swings open, with a cheery blue giant standing inside. "Tang! It's good to see you, my friend! Come inside, I'll be with you in a moment." He walks away from the door to make space.

"Ok, thank you, Sandy." Tang replies as he enters, closing the door behind him.

Sandy's boat always had a calming feeling to it. Maybe it was the color scheme, with shades of blue for the walls and soft browns, yellows, and oranges used for decor and furniture

Or maybe it was the atmosphere, with the copious amounts of friendly therapy cats, the lingering smell of tea, and maybe even the occasional rock of the boat from the waves.

Whatever it was, Tang was glad as it gradually calmed his nerves.

He had sat down on a plush couch with a coffee table in front with sandy in the side kitchen, most likely brewing tea.

Almost as soon as he relaxed into the cushions, a calico cat with bright amber eyes pounced onto his lap.

"Oof- heh. Hey there, Stella." Tang greeted the rambunctious cat. Stella had been bothering Tang ever since the gang came back to Metrapolis with things like small pounces or bites on his fingers.

He thought it was a bit annoying, but he did still keep extra cat treats in his messenger bag whenever he's planning on visiting Sandy.

Speaking of, Sandy had seemingly finished whatever tea he had been making as he came back to the sitting area, tray in hand.

He put the tray down on the coffee table and carefully handed Tang a steaming cup of tea. Sandy took one for himself as he sat to Tang's left, and Tang noticed the cat paw pattern that adorned the cup. He smiled to himself.

"So Tang, how was that book you mentioned? I remember you saying how the images were grainy and underdeveloped. Mytho... eh..."

"Mythos. The Mythos Sites: Professional Study. I finished reading it last night. I don't know why I did, though, because it felt like reading a last-minute book report done by a five year old!" He exlaimed loudly, waving his free hand in the air before taking a sip of his tea. Ooo, lavender.

"Haha! I can see why you didn't like it that much. I thought it might've been good since it's about Journey to the West and had a good summary." Sandy says, swirling his tea before taking another drink.

"It's not your fault, Sandy. It did look promising on the cover and in the intro," Tang comforted before grumbling into his cup. "...but it just devolved into ramblings about how these Mythos Sites "prove that the world was controlled by aliens" and "how the earth is hollow with otherworldly beings living inside" blah blah blah." Tang mocked as he moved his hands sporadically, almost spilling his tea on Stella, who just jumped and ran away.

"I still feel a bit bad, though. Hmmm... oh! Tang!" He suddenly says, leaning over to look at Tang. "Did you bring your sketch book?"

He reaches into his messanger bag and pulls out a small leather-bound notebook. "Yeah? I take it with me everywhere."

Sandy just smiles as he offers Tang a hand. "Then let's go and find some inspiration!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the end, Sandy had taken an entire canvas with him, paint pallette and all, while him and Tang wandered around Metrapolis looking for things to draw and paint.

They went to Pigsy's first, Tang with the excuse of getting "everyday life" sketches. They ended up talking with Pigsy most of the time, barely doing anything, but Tang did get some quick sketches of Pisgy's cooking process.

When they left, they had found a flower shop with sunflowers on the logo. Tang sat down next to Sandy as he started to sketch, sometimes looking at the painting next to him.

The next spot was the main square, full of advertisements and skyscrapers. This is where the weather station is, broadcasting new weather updates and changes.

The final stop was the library, in the back with the lamp and city records. The atmosphere was nice. Sandy had pulled out a third canvas from... somewhere, and is now skimming through random books off the shelves.

Tang was just reading a new edition of Monkey Cop: Back in the Streets, as he had also finished his sketches, when he suddenly heard rounds of footsteps entering the library.

This is when he suddenly remembered what he set that alarm for yesterday, and why he had set it up in the first place.

It was the day where the new book of "The Monkie Kings Bride" had been set to be shelved (one adaptation he personally doesn't like, too many cliches and it has a weird artstyle to him)

And he knew exactly what fans were coming... the chaos that would ensue. He needed to get Sandy and him out of there before they were suffocated by the crowd.

"Hey, uh, Sandy? We need to leave. Like, now." He stated as he quickly stuffed his sketch book, pencils, and erasers back into the messanger bag.

"What's wrong Tang? Why do we have to leave now?" Sandy asked as he started to follow Tang through the bookcases. "Why are we- oh. Oh, now I understand."

"Aw, CRAP." Why do I always get stuck with the annoying side plots?

The entrance is no longer visible, as hordes of people come in and group around the doors, waiting for that stupid book.

"Ughh..." Tang groaned as he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes.

Great. Just great. Now he had to either a) push through the GIANT crowd to get through the overflowing entrance, b) wait for an opening to get through, or c) find out some other way out-

"Hey Tang?" Sandy speaks, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, uh, yeah, Sandy?" He says nervously. He has never liked crowds, and he doesn't want to stay here more than he has to.

"Can we go out through there?" Sandy points to a... fire escape door. Wow, how convenient!

*phew* "Thanks, Sandy." Tang says as he dodges a few stragglers on his way to the door, waving Sandy to come with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They both walk out of the side alley that the library was connected to, swerving through the smaller outside crowd.

"Oh dang, I totally forgot about that! *huff* Sorry, Sandy." Tang says as he leans against a store wall.

"It's alright Tang. In any case, I really enjoyed today! I really liked getting out of the boat for a bit, and I'm very excited to hang up our paintings!" Sandy reassures.

"Heh, thanks, Sandy. I hope we can do something like this again!" He smiles. He then starts to wave Sandy goodbye.

Tang gets home without any issues. No annoying voices, loud music, or big fights. Just pure white noise in the bustling city, and the breeze.

He's glad for that. Everything is ok, and will be ok. He wants everything to stay like this.

Previous || Next

Hello! I just wanted to clarify some things and give some warnings about my A World Without Him au.

1. My update schedule isn't concrete, but I'll try to update every 1-2 weeks, usually on Thursdays or Fridays

2. This au will get pretty dark. I just wanted to warn people reading about future topics after Tang leaves Metrapolis. There's character death (no major character death, im not that evil), lots of graphic violence/gore, and immense self hatred from certain characters. So be a bit wary if you are sensitive to any of those topics.

3. The first couple of chapters will be pretty tame compared to the later chapters. The first couple of chapters are meant to set things into perspective of how my au's Tang had it before the things that added up to him leaving started. Though, you can definitely spot where some of those things started to develop.

4. THERE WILL BE A HAPPY ENDING. I don't just want my story to just be pain and suffering, so there will definitely be some calm alongside the numerous amounts of angst. I already have an ending planned out! (Even tho lots of arcs still aren't fully developed...)

5. I also just wanted to say that there's a lot of canon divergence going into S4 of monkie kid. I will also be including lots of headcanons regarding all major characters. Also, OC's will be important in this fic, mostly because I have to come up with an entire new town with lots of new people to name... (says the person who hasn't even named the town yet)

(Also, my Tang Drabbles have major spoilers for this au, so if you don't want to see those yet, then I would steer clear of them for now. They also contain some events I've put later in the story or scrapped all together, so take all the information in them considering my actual writing with a grain of salt.)

Anyways, these are just points I wanted to get clear before people read this and suddenly get bombarded with things they didn't expect because of earlier chapters or tags.

Start

A World Without Him

Chapter 2

Tang stopped mid-step, shoulders tense, looking around himself for any source of that voice.

He waited a couple of moments, then sighed "Of course..." as he continued his walk to his apartment. He's had moments like this before, where he would think he heard some random voice speak in his ear, then hear nothing afterwards.

Tang just thought it was because of his recent bouts of sleep deprivation or maybe it was just his normal amount of exhaustion from the whole LBD situation.

So, he usually just ignored those little hallucinations for his own sanity.

Yet, no one would notice if he started to walk a bit faster down the sidewalk.

After a couple of seconds, Tang started to pass the familiar yellow streetlights of his road, including all the lights from the different storefront signs in the area.

He finally started to relax as his shoulders lowered. The familiar sights helped calm his mind. Yeah, this happens all the time, don't freak out, I don't know what I was-

'I don't even know where to begin with... all of that'

He stopped again; it was a different voice,a bit lower. And two in a row? Seemingly in, well, a conversation? Heh, that's... weird. Weirder than usual.

Just keep going, it's fine. Maybe some sleep will fix whatever's going on with me.

Tang starts to walk again; a bit faster in pace

'Why are we even bothering with keeping him alive again?'

He's now speed walking, and starting to breath a bit heavier.

'You know we shouldn't say that about him. Even if he would be better to us dead'

Just a bit more, and he'll be back at his apartment. Just ignore them like always.

'I know that, we can't even touch him anyways, I just-'

'OH SH-'

Tang startles from the sudden volume of the voice, jumping back a bit.

Just a second after, a car swerves right where he was just standing, whipping Tang' small braid, messanger bag, and clothes from its speed.

Tang' ears were ringing as he takes a few deep breathes, one hand on his chest and the other gripping his bag strap, just standing on the crosswalk, with the sudden realization that he was jailwalking while stuck in his thoughts.

With one final breath and a grimace, he starts to walk again.

Silence followed his final steps to his apartment. With just a small breeze flowing through the alleys, and the occasional flicker and crackle of the streelights.

There weren't any more voices after that.

After a few more minutes, Tang finally reaches the steps towards his door, too tired for any more "excitement" this night.

He pulls his ring up, fumbling through the different keys, looking behind him a few times, as he finally let's his shoulders fall, and unlocks the door.

He closes the door as soon as he's inside and sets down his messenger bag next to a small table close to the door.

Tang' place is a small studio apartment, with only a couch and coffee table in the main space, a small kitchen in the corner, and a twin bed with a lamp and bedside table.

There's not much furniture, and everything seems a bit bare even with almost every inch of his apartment being covered in books.

But this doesn't really matter to Tang right now.

He just goes through the motions after that, put the keys on the tray, hang up the coat, take shoes off, throw them next to the small table, walk to bed, put phone and glasses on bedside table, take out hair, and then he blacks out as soon as his head hits the pillow.

Tang dreams of nothing that night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Why did he jump?'

'Stop thinking about it.'

'He couldn't have heard us right? I mean if he were to find out-'

'Hey. Let's just... forget it. Don't say anything.'

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tang awakes groggy and restless, feeling tired as though he hadn't slept all night.

He never was a morning person anyway, but while he did sleep through his alarm, he still has plans for today: ones that he couldn't really cancel at the last minute.

So with a groan, Tang sat up out of bed, put his glasses on, and started to get ready for the day.

"Of course I have to have some manic episode before sleeping through an alarm today. I really don't know what I did to deserve this." He grumbled as he kept messing up his hair, uncoordinated hands still wrapped in sleep pulling on the knots, so he just did a short, messy low bun.

Good enough for me.

Tang then does his teeth, clothes, and heats up a small thing of Eggos he found laying next the the toaster.

When he finally checks his phone, he finds out it's 10:32 AM. Which is better than expected, but still a bit too late to make it to Sandy's on time.

Tang curses as he sends Sandy a text that he's going to be a bit late. He then grabs the freshly heated Eggos, his coat, keys, and bag as he walks through his apartment door, shutting and locking it behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tang walked as fast as he could towards the docks where Sandy and his boat were hanging out for the day.

It was decently far from his apartment, and since he didn't have any mode of transportation, he had to trek it himself.

He often took shortcuts through alleys and between market stalls. He's gotten attuned on how to smoothly move between crowds, which is basically just trying not to bump into things. Better than before, at least.

Today he went through the Market Street on his way to Sandy's, passing by many stalls selling different types of food, clothing, and trinkets.

There was one that piqued Tang' interest, a stall centered around Journey to the West, but all it had was knock-off plushes and poorly made hoodies for tourists.

After that, he tried not to lose too much of his focus through all the noise and people.

He swerved behind and in front of stalls, trying to find the alley behind a certain ceramics stall that leads close to the docks.

Tang continued to walk through the stalls for a good while, which wasn't that pleasant considering yesterday nights events.

But someone must have given him a break as he finally spotted the alley behind the ceramics stall, with an orange mark on the visible side of the dumpster helping him to remember.

"Oh thank goodness." Tang huffed as he slowly moved through the alleyway.

"Take a left, then right, then straight forward, then down the black steps..." he mumbles as he navigates the alleys of Metrapolis, having walked through them several times before.

When he finally emerges at the docks, he sees the blue of Sandy's boat right away. Tang takes a small breather before pacing up to Sandy's boat, hopping over the small space between the boat and dock, and lightly knocking on the door.

Previous || Next

Hello! Guess who finally got motivation to write? I'll be posting chapters on Tumblr for now until i can FINALLY get an ao3 account.

CHAPTER 1

-About 2 months after LBD defeat-

Nothing.

Everything around him was just void. No color, no feeling, just, nothing.

He couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't see, couldn't hear, anything.

He was stuck.

So he waited. Waited for something to happen. Something to change the endless black around him, so he could feel anything again.

Then everything became too much.

Overwhelming colors and sounds suddenly filled the area. Voices overlapped, and silhouettes blended together.

He could hear people speaking, to him or to someone else he didn't know.

They suddenly got louder, and the colors got brighter as they burned into his vision.

He could suddenly feel hands grabbing his ankles, trying to pull him down to somewhere.

The voices didn't stop, they only got louder as more and more hands tried to pull him down.

He started to thrash and pull away, but he couldn't escape. Every hand that let go, two more would start to drag him down in their place.

He felt hopeless. He felt useless. He felt weak.

He was stuck.

But still, he continued to thrash, kick, bite, anything just to slow down his fate.

Maybe his efforts would amount to something, maybe all the work he's put in will let him feel anything, or at least get away from them.

He was scared. Scared of what would happen if they dragged him down far enough, scared of what he would become after.

He. Was. Stuck.

Now all he felt was anger. At this stupid situation, at them, and at himself. He couldn't do anything at the end of it all.

So he became engrossed in his thoughts, as the hands reached his head, and his vision turned black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tang shot up from his desk. He looked franticly around where he woke up.

He realised he was at The Metrapolis Library. The section near the back, where most of the architecture and city records were located, with only a small lamp for light among the shelves.

"Dang, not again..." Tang groaned as he started to look through the scattered papers and opened books laid on his desk.

That dream... wasn't an uncommon occurrence for Tang. He seemed to always have it when he fell asleep at the library, or when he passed out after reading too many articles before bed.

It was never a pleasant experience, so he usually didn't try to think about that dream after waking up.

Tang finally decided to check his phone when an alarm went off while he was putting away The Mythos Sites: Professional Study.

He set that alarm for an event at the library tomorrow so he could leave 5 minutes early to avoid the crowds. Apparently he set it a day early. Just great.

He groaned in annoyance, but when he went to turn it off, he saw the time, and then started to panic.

"Aw crap! Nonononono-" Tang then started to clean up faster as he was apparently late for the weekly noodle night at Pigsy's.

This was a night every Friday that Sandy, Mei, Mk, Pigsy, Tang, sometimes including Red Son or Wukong, where they would all come to Pigsy's at a set time and then just hang out and talk for an entire evening.

This wasn't high scale or anything like that, but it was important to Tang. This was the one day of the week he would finally see everyone for once.

Mk seemed to almost always be either hanging out with Mei and/or Red Son, training, fighting demons, or delivering orders for Pigsy. He barely got to talk to Mk even when he was 'Freeloading' (as Pigsy would call it) at Pigsy's.

Everyone else also seems have their own things going on. Pigsy obviously has the shop, and now he seems to have more customers than ever after the whole LBD situation, so he usually has less time to talk, inside and outside of his restaurant.

Mei is usually just hanging out and having fun, but will almost never answer texts when she's 'in the zone' with video games, streaming, or anything else, which has been almost her entire mood lately.

The only one he really does talk to more than once a week is Sandy. But Tang does stay at home most of the time while Sandy also barely leaves his boat as is.

So you can understand why Tang is speeding towards Pigsy's with apologies and excuses about to tumble out as he crashes through the doors.

"Phew... Hey *huff* sorry I'm... *huff* late again!" Tang yells as he lays his messenger bag down and sits on one of Pigsy's stools.

Tang starts to stretch as he looks around Pigsy's. He then notices that the only other people in the restaurant are Pigsy and Sandy.

"Hey Sandy, where's everyone else?" Tang asks as he goes to sit down with Sandy at one of Pigsy's tables.

"Oh, hello Tang! We were worried you wouldn't show up!" Sandy exclaimed as Pigsy came out from the kitchen, noodles in hand.

"Hey Tang. Yeah, the kids left after Mk got a demon attack notification, and Mei followed after him. So it's just been me and Sandy for a bit." Pigsy said as he sat down with them.

"I missed them?! Aw, I haven't seen them all week! I at least wanted to see how they were doing." Tang then grabbed his own bowl of noodles, eating with a sour look on his face.

"It's ok, Tang! Maybe you can join them in something else? We all know you've been pretty couped up recently." Sandy said as he started to brew his own tea to go with the noodles.

"Maybe, but I'm not sure there's anything we can do together, especially with all of Mk and Mei's new responsibilities and my own... uh, research I've been engrossed in." Tang sighs as he pushes away the now empty bowl.

"That's why I'm always excited for this hangout every week. It's some of my only time to see you guys and for all of us to have a break from everything. And who can say no to free noodles from Pisgy's?" Tang smirks as Pisgy chuckled a little and murmured something along the lines of "freeloader. "

"I guess I can't argue with that. But don't worry, Tang, I bet that those kids will be here next time." Pisgy says as he puts an arm around Tangs shoulders.

Tang smiles softly at Pigsy, "Yeah, I hope so."

After that exchange, they trio hung around a little longer, talking about their days and interesting things that happened in their own time.

But of course, these things eventually come to an end, so Sandy and Tang eventually left to let Pisgy close up shop.

Sandy and Tang then have their goodbyes outside of Pisgy's and went their own ways.

Tang walked along cracked sidewalks on his way home. Streetlights lighting almost every section.

It was an oddly quiet night. No music, no yelling from demon fights or otherwise, and no bright lights shining in his face.

It was calm. It was nice.

'What are we going to do about him?'

It was too nice to last, apparently.

Previous || Next

Tang AU update!

Here's some low quality Tang AU art to make up for not posting lately

I just and idea of what he would wear and since I was using dry erase marker, the idea for the floral designs on the bottom and sleeves of the jacket just came to me. I also tried to incorporate that sash he has in the series on his waist to get some of the original design in there.

This jacket he probably wears whenever he goes out in the New Town (STILL haven't come up with a name) or originally with the gang whenever he had to go to something like a fancy dinner or business meeting.

He looks like the fun uncle that is just the tiniest bit insane... I love him and his desgin!

Human Golden Cicada

Sorry for being gone on and off- I'm working my way back here- I think I'm struggling with tagging stuff here which makes it harder for me post :((

This is soooo good! I LOVE IT! I, too, can't wait for Season 5

journey to the west is an underated gem (and i need lmk s5)

IM SO PROUD OF THIS PIECE AND LIKE GROWLSSS the lighting was so scary to face but i did it. yipee!1! :DDD

Tang Drabbles 3

Hello! Here are some random cool things/events I want to add in A World Without Him

I want Tang to have this really traumatic event happen to him that basically "awakens" his monk powers.

This happens at his old Town (aka the one he's gonna pull over into after the wind demon attacks, aka the one I still haven't named yet ;-;) when he sees his only friend die in front of him during a demon attack. This causes multiple emotional break downs at once and he just goes full on God Mode in unleashing all the built up emotions and power until this moment.

He doesn't fight the demon lord in combat, but restrains him with glowing strings, rips out his heart, and has him disintegrate into orange dust.

After this enormous display of power, Wukong senses his masters "magic" and rushes towards the town, not really knowing what he's doing. He starts to have a flurry of thoughts as he rushes from where he was towards that town. When he gets there all he sees is a majorly damaged town, orange dust floating away, and a really beat up teen on the ground in front of him. He starts to unravel, thinking things like, "Where is he!?", "I sensed him!", What happened here?", and "I have to find him!" He uses golden vision to no avail, and leaves as quickly as he entered.

And Tang, in his basically almost unconscious state, and who doesn't remember anything from his power up, thinks that this super powerful looking monkey that just landed in front of him saved the village, which kick starts his obsession with the Monkey King and all those old legends.

More on Tangs transformation: His glasses now enlarge and now have a golden tint to cover his eyes, while his eyes glow bright white, he has big cicada wings, 4 arms now decorated in glowing orange symbols, and orang and white strings/ribbons circling around him as if in a tornado.

Tang does see the ghosts of Tripitaka and Golden cicada, as long as some other incarnations that didn't last as long over the years. He starts to see faint silhouettes after this power up, but always thinks he's either not getting enough sleep or just seeing things. The ghosts get very annoyed until he uses his powers in season 3 to fully make them at least visible to Tang (I know I said he still doesn't know he's magic before, but I'm moving it up to a bit after S3 finale so he can at least know about Tripitaka's existence. He can't hear him though, and he got really freaked out when he first saw him a day after the S3 finale.) (also, I'm making it so the gang still doesn't really know about how they're connected to the original JTTW gang, because plot)

Btw, after Tang at least somewhat comes into his powers at The Town, demons do come and try to eat him / marry him for immortality. It just always has to happen with unlocked Monk magic, unfortunately for Tang.

THIS IS SO COOL!!!!! I LOVE THIS!

IM TRYING GUYS HELP

nevertheless neverteles LOOK ITS TANGYYY these are two "failed-ish" watercolors i made with the 2 out of 12 artstyles i have omg

IM TRYING GUYS HELP

nevertheless neverteles LOOK ITS TANGYYY these are two "failed-ish" watercolors i made with the 2 out of 12 artstyles i have omg

So cool to see you responded to my ask! Your idea is super good, and I can see Wally having a crisis over it. I really like this au so far, and can't wait to see where you take it!

Hello! I really love your designs and idea for Nightstuck AU so much! I feel so sad for wally tho.

Anyway, I was wondering if Wally would try to go into the forest surrounding the neighborhood? Or go down the road that we can see on the website go offscreen? I wonder if, when he keeps walking for a while, he can either see the trees start to lose shape and color, or start to see the road become crumbly, with the area in front of it getting blurrier.

I actually have an idea for this exact thing, soo glad you ask!!!

Realizing that Wally can't wake his neighbors up by himself, he decides to look for help outside of home.

Home is surrounded by a deep yet colorful forest and he heads into that (equipped with a flashlight of course!). After walking in a straight line for what felt like hours he finally notices something in the distance. Picking up speed this 'something' seems to be a couple of houses!

Totally out of breath he reaches this place, still in hopes to find at least a single person who could help-

Only to realize he's back home.

(This definitely makes him question his reality-)

Yeah I thought of making an animation or little comic out of this, that's why is more of a story ^^' But I like your ideas aswell!!!

I also thought of designing the place around home a little bit. You know, give them a little lake, some fields or something :)

Life ramble

So, I'm at my dance class right? And I have a 1 hour break between classes, so I can just hang out. I'm in a certain seat for a while, and then get thirsty, so I get up to go to the water fountain for a few seconds. And when I try to go back to my seat, an old lady is sitting in it, while watching the class, which a bit understandable. I was just gonna blow it off when she STARTED TO PLAY CANDY CRUSH. IN MY SEAT. NOT EVEN WATCHING THE CLASS. AND SHE JUST SAT THERE THE ENTIRE REST OF THE BREAK. PLAYING CANDY CRUSH.

Good Omens Season 2 Ending Drabbles

Spoilers ahead for Good Omens Seaon 2

I have just watched the entirety of Good Omens season 2 and what I want to say is... am I the only one that thinks Aziriphale went with the Head of Heaven guy (forgot his name/title/whatever) to easily?

Like I know that he had those longing glances and the whole talk and the KISS, but, it just seems a bit... off, to me.

Like, I think Aziraphale is so much smarter than that, even with his naivety towards heaven, because of all his growth from seasons 1 AND 2. He got to see a bit of the underbelly of heaven and obviously didn't like what they were doing.

Also, I initially though Aziraphale was gonna legit be kidnapped again or something when he went with the heaven official (still can remember that dudes name/title/whatever). He had sinister music coming off him when they went out the door, and had hateful glances towards Aziraphale and Crowley, like twice! That guy is so shady and since we didn't see the full conversation between him and Aziraphale, i think he did SOMETHING to Azi.

Aziraphale seemed to uptight, or maybe anxious, after his 'high of being back in heaven'. He seemed to want to say something, ANYTHING that would at least agree with Crowley, but he couldn't even nod or hum in agreement. Even when Crowley said something he should obviously agree on.

Their nightingale song also started to play after the argument and Crowleys line, maybe to signify that Aziraphale does REALLY want to go with him, playing their song saying that he agrees, even if he can't show it.

He seemed to be holding back tears, maybe trying to convey his true emotions with his eyes, but just couldn't for whatever reason. (My bets on Heaven Official guy)

And my final point, at the end where Aziraphale is about to go down the elevator. My initial thought, like everyone else's, was that he was doing his final decision of Crowley or Heaven, and chose to have his 'life' back.

But, maybe it was something more. The direct, long glance towards Crowley mightive been one last call for help, hoping Corwley could steal him away again. When it was clear Crowley was only their to see Aziraphale go and uproot the life they made together on earth, to see if he would really 'choose his old life than their life', he sighed and reluctantly got into the elevator.

Also, a little thing, the Heaven Official guy seemed a bit pushy. Taking Aziraphale away from his companions as soon as possible, saying he's the only right fit for the place of Archangel, and then saying so many nice things about the job, mostly things about getting to stay with Crowley that we don't even know are true. I just get a bad feeling from him.

Anyway, I loved this season we all have been waiting patiently for, for FOREVER, and I can't wait to see what happens in the Totally Coming Out season 3 that's coming up. I was already squealing when Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy played on Corwley's radio while going to save Aziraphale, so you bet I did the whole screaming and kicking when they FREAKING KISSED. I never in my life thought it would be cannon but IT IS, and I LOVE IT! I obviously was heartbroken at the end and was emotionally numb for a few moments, but that's what everyone probably experienced at that ending. I'll be patiently waiting for season 3.

TL;DR: I don't think this is something Aziraphale would do so quickly, like in just an afternoon and one meeting with little to no questions asked nor answered. I think something must've gone on in the conversation bits we didn't see and any alone time between Aziraphale and the Heaven Official guy.

ao3 is back up!

yay! It's back up and running now. Good.