There's Lights in the Trees

“Alastor looks annoyed”

“Alastor doesn’t care”

That's pretty much what people are saying about the chair scene. And while I do agree somewhat with those statements, to me it seems that he is bothered. He is uncomfortable. Very much so.

He's not indifferent. Let me explain.

Alastor must have known what he was getting into when making the deal with Vox and he has a bigger plan behind it, sure, but that doesn't mean he's not seething on the inside ("Yeah, this calls for a celebration!", to which Alastor responds with "Hm, yes, not like you haven't been doing that all day...") the whole time. He's bearing it with gritted teeth.

I genuinely do believe he was annoyed in this scene, but not indifferent. Not going as far to say he was traumatized, but being made to watch Vox and Valentino go at it against his will did made him feel as disguted, vulnerable and powerless as someone in that position would have felt, asexual or not. I think him being asexual is an aggravating factor, although we can't affirm that Vox knows that.

And I'm going to say this too: this scene ends the humorous Vox publicly humiliating Alastor montage, but it didn't feel humorous to me at all? It felt like the change of tone after the comedy, as in you're actually meant to take it a bit seriously, at least.

Remember, we are seeing this overpowered character stripped of most his power and therefore vulnerable. We are seeing a side of him we haven't before.

With that in mind, dare I say that Alastor is... Scared?

Not the word I want to use per se. It feels wrong. But he's high-alert and perhaps (?) aware of the looming threat of Vox deciding to cross a line, is what I mean.

I'm going to bring this up because I haven't seen anyone mention this moment specifically, but when Vox gets up from the bed and stands naked before Alastor, his reaction is to pin his ears down, slightly widen his eyes before narrowing them, tense his body (you can see his legs shift slightly) and hiss. He hisses! Doesn't show up in the subtitles, but you can hear it and it's easy to miss. And, just for this moment, the background music turns a bit sinister before going back to calm.

I kindly ask you to rewatch this scene with this in mind.

Mind you, his ears were down the entire time since he let himself be captured, and were already down at the beginning of the scene. So we can assume the animators made it so they were back up just so Alastor could have this reaction (that, or they just shot up in alarm like they did when Valentino talked at the end of the Reprise). He is comparable to cornered prey here, and reacts like it.

And to add to it, next we see Vox about to blow smoke on Alastor's face. I don't think he was trying to drug Alastor here, it was just a small power move to humiliate him. We've seen the "blow smoke in someone's face to provoke/humiliate/disrespect them" trope before.

That's not the point, though. I want to you bring your attention as to how Alastor is averting his gaze as Vox, presumably, was putting his boxers on. It is another sign of how uncomfortable he is to be in this situation at all. He's tense, he's furious, he's on alert, he's vulnerable and hating every minute of it.

(( Finally found a good few songs to start a redesign with! Gonna use this as a little opportunity to talk abt abt where changes are gonna go and why, too --

(( biggest thing is. Gonna TRY to go with something even closer to canon -- especially now that i really Like where canon is going (Al's canon human design, his deal with Rosie, his mannerisms now that theyre more clearly laid out in lots of different contexts, etc etc), BUT i will keep a few of the stuff i invented for my old Al for differentiation purposes (heavy on the still water/swamp motif, fucked up gender shit [but with Shiny New Reasons], most of the story of how he killed his human dad, a couple other things). I'm also keeping my old upgraded/thrall!Au concepts around, but they may need to be tinkered around the new personality and design a bit, ofc ofc👍

(( Finally found a good few songs to start a redesign with! Gonna use this as a little opportunity to talk abt abt where changes are gonna go and why, too --

(( biggest thing is. Gonna TRY to go with something even closer to canon -- especially now that i really Like where canon is going (Al's canon human design, his deal with Rosie, his mannerisms now that theyre more clearly laid out in lots of different contexts, etc etc), BUT i will keep a few of the stuff i invented for my old Al for differentiation purposes (heavy on the still water/swamp motif, fucked up gender shit [but with Shiny New Reasons], most of the story of how he killed his human dad, a couple other things). I'm also keeping my old upgraded/thrall!Au concepts around, but they may need to be tinkered around the new personality and design a bit, ofc ofc👍

(( rambly thoughts bc i am still so. Incredibly Fascinated by the angle that's happening with their relationship in this episode.

(( specifically the line tradeoff at the end of their Reprise, "You still need me like you did before!" "So cute you think I care!", it very much reads to me as like. Just a shade below Vox Openly Admitting that he DOES need/want Alastor around - and he's at a point now where that doesn't bother him, bc now that they've made a deal, he HAS what he wants. He's not Ashamed of how much he wants Alastor around, he's swung around to treating it like a Challenge. He's committed to getting and Keeping Alastor on his team, whether he likes it or Not.

(( but the caveat that he Indeed WOULDNT admit, is that what he *really* really wants is for Alastor to finally want him back. Vox views this deal as a Free stepping stone + opportunity [hence his Elation at the low stakes of the deal - it probably sounds like, to him, Alastor is "giving in" without embarrassing himself by actually saying he regrets turning Vox down], to finally Force all his success in Alastor's face!! to try to get him to admit he was Wrong for rejecting him back in the flashback moment. Thats Why he makes Al watch him fuck Val instead of going full rapist -- Vox that gag im taking as a character defining detail now ABSOLUTELY reads to me like hes Only interested in fucking Al if he seems to *want* it. Vox wants Alastor to beg for him before doing anything like that, subconsciously or otherwise.

(( and I think Alastor is Fully Fucking Aware of all this and he's going to drive Vox insane over the next few episodes with it -- like by riling him up to get him to do More showboating [bc i absolutely subscribe to the theory that Alastor made the deal to get Vox to become the most powerful sinner, just to break Rosie's deal and also he chose Vox specifically bc he Does and Always Has seen potential in him, the past rejection was pretty strictly him trying not to get caught Vulnerable with someone bc he's, clinically, a pretty stereotypical control freak lol]

Oh, no, look at me. I'm just a kicked around little prey creature. You did such a good job attacking me I could hardly go on.

Look! I'm so harmless I'm even shorter than Velvette. I know you've always been self conscious about our height difference so I'll bow to you for that. And those delightful bunny ears that neglect my antlers are sooo cute!

My eyes are so big and this shirt I definitely didn't pop open in that alley over there when you thought I was hiding from you is showing this scar that proves I'm really no challenge for you.

But don't forget I'm still schemey! If this is too easy you'll catch on this is a trick!

Oh but my eyes are so BIG you see! Im a little prey animal and you're so big and scary and remember how I'm smaller than you? Just these two itty bitty things for me you big strong TV man. They barely even matter!

Look how expressive I can be! I can be so cute for you!!! And this deal really isn't that bad at all!

Remember when my smile was soft like this for you, Vox? I'm holding out my hand because I'm so weak and fragile that it would be so hard to stand up on my own.

And wouldn't it all be so nice and easy to go back to the way things were? Look at how big this wound is. I'm not a threat to you at all! You could do anything you want to me with this deal! I'm not worried, why should you be?

(An angle NOT explicitly from Vox's perspective that just shows Alastor just being normal and waiting for Vox to walk into his trap.)

so that episode 4 huh..... that sure was.... that was an episode 😃

Look here: when Vaggie points her spear at Vox, he is unfazed. But, the moment Vaggie does the same with Velvette, he immediately rushes to get her to safety:

Similarly, during the fight with Alastor, when he tries to hit Valentino and Velvette, Vox steps in to protect them:

And when does Alastor stop the fight? The moment he sees Niffty in danger:

I appreciate that Charlie truly, deeply, with no exceptions, believes that it's never too late to stop digging and be better than you used to be.

You could almost say

that it's like he was displaying

Like, someone insults you and in the span of five seconds you decide to dedicate your whole life to murdering him!??! That's so sad and so pathetic; grow some self-esteem and LEAVE?!?! Lmao, bro didn't even give Alastor time to reflect on the absolute bullshit he said or a chance to potentially apologize (never gonna happen). He got called pathetic and weak and decided that's all it takes for him to want his former best friend to be tortured and killed.

Also, the entire flashback is from Vox's perspective so of course he would view himself as the victim. Alastor never intiated violence until Vox apparently attacked him.

We knew Alastor was doing more than just taunting here - we thought it might be a warning, but no, he's baiting him. He needs Vox to prove that he's the strongest Sinner if he's going to get out of his deal. That's the whole reason Alastor is doing any of this.

Alastor said that Vox was as close to his equal as he'd imagined in Hell. If anyone is going to surpass him as the strongest Sinner, it's going to be him. But for it to count, Vox has to be the strongest on his own, not in conjunction with the other Vees.

"You'd be nothing without those two."

"Still so reliant on all those around you."

"And now you finally have me, but you still rely on others for your power, like always."

At first I thought Alastor was trying to destabilize the Vees, but that's not it at all. He needs Vox to prove himself on his own. He's not trying to weaken Vox, he's trying to get him to show that he doesn't need anyone. (Which means that Alastor really does believe Vox is that powerful on his own, which is kind of sweet.)

Also, that first comment Alastor made came out of nowhere. He's just like 'okay, Vox is finally done parading me around, time to finally get on with why I'm here.' The whole reason he made a deal with Vox was to become the inside man within the Vees, not to stop Vox, but to ensure he succeeds on his own (not necessarily in the whole becoming a god thing - hence the whole 'prove yourself in Hell first' bit from the trailer).

Once Vox does that, Alastor's deal with Rosie will be voided. And then, per the terms of his deal with Vox, all he needs is Vox to lay a hand on Charlie to get out of that one, too. That would be super easy to arrange through something as simple as a handshake, which is why Alastor worded the deal the way he did - 'lay a hand on' rather than 'harm'.