Mentally Preoccupied

General Stuff

SkyStar but they're cats TFP MegaStar have a bad time in the SG universe - Includes official SG MegaStar prequel, written by @bairdcrevan Domestic G1 MegaProwl

Erotica

Series of SkyStar BDSM SkyStar but they met during the war (enemies as lovers) SkyStar but Skyfire has spines on his spike

Cowritten with @grayseeker

SkyStar being bad at humaning (holoforms) SkyStar with (Skyfire's) parents

New

G1 Prowl recovering from a head injury

Vox canonically is THE guy that's all about change and going with the times. To the point he physically alters his body by updating his heads. That's not just a random quirky thing he does because it's "cool", that's vital characterization. The idea that HE out of all characters is stuck in the past is so laughable. Mr "such a shaky sense of identity that he will fill literally every role he thinks people would like him in" is for sure unwilling and incapable of change. for sure.

It's even funnier when Alastor is right there. The guy who refuses to adapt to modern technology on principle, hasn't even updated his wardrobe since at least the 50s, and is so set on his principles that he still holds on to stuff like there not being friends in hell, despite, quite literally, having multiple people that would consider him a friend at multiple points in time (Vox, Mimzy, potentially Nifty and Charlie). That's the guy people should focus on when it comes to being stuck in the past, not Vox who bends over backwards to stay with the times

The thing that gets me about the fandom's treatment of Vox is, anyone who genuinely sees him that way is exhibiting the very same prejudices they accuse him of. They are assigning him negative traits on the basis of sex and race, assigning and withholding abilities on the basis of sex and race, and then writing metas that treat the resulting stereotype as who he really is rather than spend any time studying his character.

And then you have Alastor, who is actually much more masculine than Vox is if you judge him by anything other than stature, much more toxic in how he expresses that masculinity, and absolutely more stuck in his ways.

But because he is a Black man who gets along better with women, he gets feminine traits, and feminist perspectives, and his being stuck in the past is, quite frankly, romanticized. He's a gentleman, his aesthetic is comfortably old fashioned, he cares about manners, he never lets his emotions get the best of him.

And he's a protagonist, so his evil acts are often treated as more justified than Vox's. Even though they're both sadistic serial killers who derive entirely too much pleasure from what they do.

Ok so like, are Husk's magical girl weapons the cards or the rings? My vote goes for the rings since cards would be easier to hide and/or store in his clothes but I don't see no other reasons why he can suddently pull out giant metal rings when he needs to fight Val

I'm going to say neither!

I'mma be honest, I don't think I've ever watched a single magical girl anime outside of a few episodes of Bee and Puppycat years ago. But my assumption is that a weapon summon would be a single unique item or items: Alastor has his staff, Velvette a broom, Niffty both a knife and a needle. Angel has a gun for each hand, but still a limited number of guns. Cherri is a weird case, because she can summon as many bombs as she wants, but it seems like she has to make them by hand. So she can presumably run out.

Meanwhile, Husk can throw all the cards he wants, all the exploding dice he wants, and his rings can multiply. All of his powers are based on stage magic, and you can do tricks with cards, rings, and dice, so they all fall into the realm of things his powers can logically produce.

Has has cables because he strangles his producers with cables. He has electricity because he used lightning to kill the old network owner. He has shark like traits because he killed a guy with a shark. He can summon his weather stick like Alastor does his staff and Angel his tommy guns, suggesting it's his intended weapon by hell/magical girl standards.

So can his sinner form manifest gas and explosions to kill people as well, since that's how he killed the cooking show host? And why about the game show guy? Can he summon a wheel to crush people?

I love "magical girl standards" as an explanation for the weapons, lol.

You know what, sure. Let's break this down.

The news anchor: killed by his own hand, using his weather pointer. Reflected in his sinner form by a weapon summon.

The talk show host: killed by his own hand, using a stage light. Not technically reflected in his sinner form, though having a glowing screen for a face is functionally the same thing.

The producers: killed by his own hand, using cables. Reflected in his sinner form by cables/wires.

The animal guy: technically killed by a shark, but the shark was an animal with no say in the matter, so it counts as a murder weapon. Reflected in his sinner form by shark traits (said traits could also have been influenced by his place of death being an abandoned aquarium, and by his own love of sharks).

The cook show host: killed through sabotage by cutting a gas line. Not reflected in his sinner form, because someone else struck the match that caused the explosion.

The game show host: killed through sabotage by loosening the screw holding the wheel in place. Not reflected in his sinner form, because someone else spun the wheel.

The network owner: killed by his own hand, again using his weather pointer (which acted as a lightning rod). Reflected in his sinner form by electricity (could also have come from his cause of death including electrocution).

because Vox sticking to his usual looks and not changing them every scene like Vel/Val is fine, makes sense since up until now he's always taken the reasonable leader role of the Vees that's the rock and voice of reason while his business partners can be pretty impulsive and if people like him and his persona why even think about changing anything. but that does always make it way more funny to me when he does an impression of someone and suddenly commits so hard to it doesn't just copy their voice but makes it really pop by also imitating their face

it's just kind of cool to me that the Vees are all inherently able to alter their appearance in really drastic ways, and it makes it even more interesting that Vox's chooses to not take advantage of it

Funnily enough, I think it's the other way around, re: not changing his persona if people like it. Because every time he's changed his outfit in the present day, it's been for an advertisement, a public appearance, a televised appearance, or matching with Velvette during Speedrun to Redemption. In private, he's never changed it beyond taking off his suit jacket. Even looking at past outfits, it's always sweater vests/sweaters paired with a shirt or jacket. So I think a lot of his sticking to one style really is because he chooses to, not because he hasn't thought about experimenting.

And I do think he's experimented, because his expression/presentation is subtly genderqueer. For one thing, plenty of characters of both sexes wear heeled shoes, and the art style usually simplifies all shoes to have sharp heels when viewed from a distance. But it does the opposite with Vox, who actually does wear pointed heels; the one time he's wearing wide heels, the art style reflects that even at a distance. So it seems like more "masculine" footwear isn't his preference.

Beyond that, while his physical appearance doesn't change much apart from head and wardrobe upgrades over the years, his mannerisms and the way he carries himself change dramatically and frequently. And he doesn't seem to have a particular preference for how he comes across to others, which is saying a lot from someone who cares about public perception as much as Vox does.

He's still very much taking part in the gender/expression fuckery, but it mostly shows up in his behavior, not his appearance. Though he doesn't seem remotely self-conscious about imitating Charlie with other people around, so I honestly don't think it would bother him to appear more feminine. He just likes dressing in a particular way that happens to come across as masculine, and he's retained some variation of that style for decades.

the killing montage in Brighter includes the cooking show lady and given that the whole crux of the montage is him killing people to take over their position, it does suggest he took her job at some point too. unless you'd want to argue that some of the kills were just people he got out of the way to get more views himself. in which case he still wraps it back around by again, showing up as a cooking show host in Stayed Gone. I personally think it's much more likely he hosted the show in life and stayed gone was an homage to it (or he just hosted another one) because a lot of the roles he takes on in stayed gone seem to mirror what he did in life

and sure, you can absolutely host a cooking show and not be a great chef, it just has to look good for the cameras and you have to vaguely sound like you know what you're talking about (especially since a lot of them use preprepared food for steps that take too long). but still, he would have picked up on Something from all of that. no way he walks out of having to seem like a semi competent cook on TV only to not know how to make at least semi decent pasta or something

really just feels like another fanon mischaracterization where Vox gets portrayed as way less competent than he actually is for whatever reason

In the case of Brighter, my interpretation is that he didn't take over the cooking show himself, but did take over as its producer after killing off the original. But he wasn't allowed to fire the existing talent to replace her with someone else, so he killed her instead. Or I guess in her case he kind of did fire her, from a certain perspective.

But he does definitely appear to have, if not an entire show, then at least a cooking segment in the present day. And while the edibility of his dish is up for debate (unless he learned how to cook venison from Alastor, who just eats it raw), I do think it proves some level of interest in at least appearing like he knows his way around a kitchen.

Also. Funny you should mention being able to host a cooking show without being a chef, because I actually don't think the woman in Brighter spent any amount of time in a kitchen when she was off set. Look at this horror show.

First, that is a gas stove, and anyone who has spent much time cooking with a gas stove is unlikely to forget that they need matches to light it. It could happen, but it's probably going to be automatic for most people. There were electric stoves back then, so you could argue she just has one of those at home. Except she goes to turn on the stove while her hand is under the pan. I do not believe she actually knows how to cook, or that she can be trusted not to burn something down.

As for the fanon portrayal of Vox, I actually saw a fic once where the author said they love Competent!Vox. But instead of expressing that by putting him in situations where he could really shine, they intentionally wrote him as less silly than he is in canon. Because I guess you can't be competent if you have a single ounce of whimsy in your soul. Or autism that includes "weird" behaviors.

So yeah. Pretty sure a lot of people just don't take him seriously, and that paired with the 50s White Man stereotype has people convinced that he's useless at anything that isn't stereotypically masculine.

she talks to him like he's a child ("ooh, baxter! that's a fun name!" "aww, look at your little lab coat, it's very cute"). bear in mind, she's just met this very clearly adult man, and he wants to stay at her establishment. putting on a professional front might be hard for her given her current mental state, but i still don't understand why she would take this tone with a guest.

idk, i guess i was just wondering what your thoughts were on it? like i cannot figure out why she would talk to him like this. is it just because he's a short (a possibility, since she takes a similar tone with niffty a few episodes later--"tell the big roach how much you love the hotel!"--though this seemed to be more trying to get niffty out of her dissociative state so i don't think it's quite the same thing)?

sorry this ended up so long btw i didn't realise i had this much to say on it :,)

Oh yeah, no. She's uh. She's like that a lot with sinners. Especially when she's first meeting them. It's dialed up to eleven with Baxter because she's trying to act like nothing's wrong and overcompensating, but treating sinners like they're children is normal for her.

The way I see it, Charlie has the same problem with sinners that Sera did, but in the opposite direction: Sera believed they were inherently power-hungry and violent, while Charlie acts like they just never learned how to be good. Basically Nature vs Nurture taken to the extremes. But neither of them actually understands humans or what could drive them to hurt each other, so while Charlie is more sympathetic to them, she doesn't actually know how to help.

Also, no one talks about this, but a lot of Charlie's upbeat enthusiasm and tearful vulnerability ranges from exaggerated to outright faked. I think it's a mix of trying to model desired behaviors and earn people's trust so they'll open up to her, and the fact that she really does not want to open up about her struggles, actually. Almost every time she's been genuinely vulnerable, it's been because someone else encouraged her to talk about it.

Like. When she volunteers vulnerability, it's stuff like tearfully declaring that she loves her friends during trust falls, or crying over a koala falling over at the zoo during a venting circle. When Alastor pushes her about the upcoming extermination targeting the hotel, when Rosie gets her talking about Vaggi being an angel, and in most conversations about hard topics with Vaggi, she actually expresses anger, hurt, and genuine sadness. But she rarely brings any of it up of her own accord.

She is a naturally positive and happy person, but I think she also uses it as a front to hide a lot of negative emotions. Probably in part because she doesn't see the value of them ("I wish I could just stop the feelings and do what I need to do!"), but maybe also because she was one of those kids who'd see her parents fighting and try to combat the anger and hurt with extra positivity. Because if the negative emotions aren't being expressed, you can pretend they don't exist.

I think it is far more likely that he knows how to cook at least basic meals than it is that he can't cook at all.

Personally, I'm of the opinion he was never married, which means he was probably living alone and preparing his own meals for most of his adult life. I am also of the opinion that he probably started out lower middle class or even working class, so I rather doubt he was eating out often enough to avoid ever touching a stove.

But even if you take the stance that he probably was married and never had to cook in his life, his afterlife still threw him straight into an environment where he was probably fending for himself for a notable amount of time, which would include figuring out how to feed himself. So, once again, he was probably living alone and preparing his own meals for at least the first few years.

Wow. Almost every single one of these characters would be in a constant state of high-level anxiety, perpetually grumpy because of all the things they can't/aren't allowed to do while pregnant, actually doing things they shouldn't do while pregnant, or saying, "Oh fuck this" and seeking an abortion.

Bold of you to assume I am less biased, lol.

That said, I think the answer is yes, and I think I can offer reasonably unbiased evidence to support this. Because if Alastor wanted Vox dead, or was even just apathetic to his survival, he would have gotten rid of him himself decades ago. If his death would make him happy, he would have gotten rid of him decades ago.

Alastor cares very much about his reputation, and the reputation he wants is to be feared. And every possible argument for why he keeps Vox around can be countered with, "Nothing says no one is safe like the ruthless elimination of someone you used to be publicly close with". There is no scenario in which the benefits of removing him don't greatly outweigh the benefits of keeping him around. Which means the only thing keeping Vox safe is Alastor's own desire to have him in his life.

Even in the S2 finale, after weeks of captivity and extensive public humiliation, when Alastor has every reason to decide Vox has outlived his usefulness and is actively threatening to put him on his broadcast, he is... not putting a whole lot of effort into hurting him. He forces him back into a more manageable form, definitively gets the upper hand, even gets physically on top of him while Vox makes exactly no effort to fight back for a full fifteen seconds.

And he uses this massive window of time to tear wires apart and smack Vox in the face with so little force that it doesn't even hurt him. And Vox only responds by flipping him off.

Alastor does seem like he's about to do some real damage just before Shok.wav arrives, but he only goes for it after Vox is properly reacting to him again. Almost like he was giving him a chance to recover. And when Shok.wav does appear, the very first thing he does, before any other reaction, is let go of Vox.

If that had been a mutual threat, Alastor would have been essentially giving him a chance to escape while making no immediate attempt to get to safety himself. His pause is meant to be a humorous "it's right behind me" moment, but it's also a moment that could have been accomplished without him releasing Vox. In-universe, releasing him is his instinctive reaction.

If Alastor is putting this little effort into getting rid of him, when it would do wonders to restore his reputation and he has more reason than ever to want him gone, he does not want him gone.

So yes, I think Alastor would care if Vox died. He would not be happy about it. He would not think it's about time. He would not shrug and move on with his life.

For better or worse, Vox has been a constant presence during most of Alastor's time in Hell, and more than half of his total existence, and he's been a constant because Alastor allowed him to be. Having him gone for good would be more than just losing him; it would be losing control over this element of his life he's kept around entirely of his own volition for decades. It would be a moment of abject helplessness, and I don't think Alastor would handle helplessness very well.

So I do have an answer, but it's going to take some explaining.

I think it would depend on whether he was anticipating it or not.

If it was something like Alastor vs Adam or Vox's own attempts to kill him, I think he'd initially be pretty excited, especially if it was his own victory. Maybe with some relief that it's all finally over. But once it started to sink in that Alastor was actually gone, and not coming back, the excitement would wear off fast. I imagine it as a very emotionally confused sort of, "laughing himself to tears, except as the laughter dies down the tears keep coming. And he doesn't know why because he's supposed to be happy. He wanted this."

Because if Alastor is dead, every possibility dies with him. No more chance of fixing things, or earning back his respect, or even getting some form of closure. None of which I think Vox even knew he wanted until S2, and still might not be fully aware of wanting, so that would make it even more confusing if Alastor's death didn't feel as good as he thought it would.

If he wasn't anticipating it, I think he'd skip over the excitement entirely and go straight to shock. Then once that wore off, he'd be angry, because however it happened, it wasn't supposed to happen like this. Alastor wasn't supposed to just die on him. I think he would have a much harder time processing it, both because it came out of nowhere and because it would feel like Alastor got the last laugh in a way. Like he died on purpose to spite him. But I also think he wouldn't want to process it, because it's easier to be angry than to confront his other feelings about it. So he'd just kind of get stuck there for a while.

Amidst Vox's excited ramblings is the line, "And before you hit me with, 'well, you're pretty new yourself,' I know, okay?"

The fact that he anticipated this comment implies that Alastor did, in fact, regularly remind him that he was a new Overlord, probably whenever he was getting too excited about it. And the fact that Vox didn't seem bothered by it suggests that it was generally more along the lines of good-natured teasing than deliberate attempts to bring him down.

Like, he physically protects them, warns them off from messing with more powerful people, makes sure Valentino eats and gives him things to occupy himself with during meetings. Val and Velvette both know he'll come deal with the former's tantrums if called, and not only does he do so, he clears his schedule, makes sure Velvette can handle things on her end before he leaves her studio, and goes the extra mile to help Val actually feel better instead of just calming him down. Vox is clearly committed to their physical and emotional well-being.

But it's like he just. Doesn't think it's enough. Or doesn't think any of it is noteworthy. Because Alastor tells him they're the ones supporting him (while implying that they would rather not), and within a few weeks he's gone from calmly (trying to) shut it down without engaging to not-so-calmly trying to defend his own contributions. And even then, he's only trying to defend his role in the Attack Heaven plan, not his place in the Vees as a whole. He knows he needs them, but doesn't seem to realize they need him too.

Coincidentally or not, his messaging starts changing at around the same time. Bad With Us is very much about his success, and calling on the other Overlords to join the Vees' crusade against Heaven. But at the rally, he starts presenting it as picking up where Lilith left off, and leans more and more heavily on her reputation as time goes on. Like he's lost all confidence that anyone would follow him, but he knows they'd follow her.

Even the way he's always copying other people, it's like he doesn't think he has any value of his own. He has to be someone else, because no one would want him.

And while I don't think the other Vees are even aware that he thinks that way about himself, they do unintentionally reinforce it. Because again, Vox does a lot for them, so being accused of only making time for them when he needed something had to have hurt. Even if (especially if) it was technically true at the time, it could have felt like confirmation that nothing he'd done for them balanced out how much he needed from them. I'd imagine it triggered his fear of abandonment, too, to see them getting mad at him and pulling away when everything had been going so well.

All of this is probably a big part of why he broke down the specific way he did. Because if nothing he does is ever going to be good enough, for anyone, why should he care what happens? If no one he'd ever cared about had ever done more than tolerate him in return, and they all turned on him the moment he asked a little too much, why not let the world burn?