So, we already know about the masquerades and speakeasies of the 1920's.
(Fun fact! The first Drag Queen, literally called The Queen of Drag, was William Dorsey Swann. He started the masquerades in the 1880's and was the first to lead a "gay resistance" in the US. Born into slavery, freed by the Civil War, he was passionate about education and he was also arrested and pleaded guilty to stealing books from the library at 24. He was given a presidential pardon. First person to be arrested for impersonating a woman on his birthday -though it's unclear if it was his 28th birthday or his 30th, as the arrest was in 1888 but the article says it was his 30th.)
Anyways, imagine Alastor was part of these masquerades when he was alive? He was definitely part of speakeasies and loved the jazz. Now I'm left imagining him also doing drag. And becoming popular in underground circles.
Alastor being around Angel and eventually grows tired of how the other behaves. So he offers a deal. Angel scoffs and asks what Alastor could possibly give him that's worth his Soul. Alastor clarified that he doesn't want Angel's Soul. He just wants Angel to stop being overly sexual towards him, specifically. Not even to stop touching. Just stop saying sex jokes at him unless he gives social cues or outright says that they are okay, and the same for being touched sexually.
He offers to teach Angel about vintage drag. And even let the other demon go through his wardrobe. Partly because he also wants the outfits to be used. Partly because he knows Vox is watching and he wants to distract and manipulate the man so that it's easier to not let on that Alastor knows about the stalking. He's organizing his cards and making sure his hand isn't lacking. He also genuinely likes sharing this knowledge. It's no skin off his nose.
Angel already feels kinda bad Alastor would ask for a deal just to have his boundaries respected. And is genuinely curious. But has to ask, how the man would know anything about drag?
"Oh, I had my own stage name. Once upon a time. Aster, though some would call me Daisy."
And now, Angel is hooked. How could he not?
So, Alastor teaches old make-up techniques. Like how to get beaded lashes with a wax crayon for those dolly looks. Or to put mint balm on either side of the nose bridge to irritate the eyes, so you can get that perfect sad and swollen look that made you look a step away from crying or like you're extra delicate. The heavy kohl, the classic smokey and halo eyes Alastor himself had and how to make it water proof along with making you lipstick transfer proof. Told him the old trick of putting a stocking over your stilettos, cutting out the heel and glueing the fabric down, taking a shoe sole cover to glue down as well. All to make completely new styles from bland basics. They also exchange patterns for outfits, which gets Angel back into sewing. (Something I think he would have been shamed out of doing by Val and Velvette.) True Burlesque classics as well. And, most importantly, how to be the sexiest thing alive without ever touching someone.
"If I take my shirt off completely, it reveals the whole game. But if my sleeves are rolled to my elbows and my shirt only has half or less of the buttons undone? It's tantalizing. Because it's the idea that is the most seductive. The 'almost there'. If I put my hand on my chest with no shirt, you get the whole view and don't even have to directly look. On the flip side of the coin, putting my hand under my shirt to touch myself seems so much more scandalous. Like I'm trying to hide. Like all someone has to do is convince me. The more you can't have the more you want to control and possess. The more you don't see, the more you imagine. And when you don't touch, when you get so close that the very air seems charged, your fingers cut through the tension like a lover petting velvet, sticky sweet and cloying and so close one could take a bite -and then you pull away. And, like a magnet, they lean in the try to follow. Temptation lies in not knowing." (I had better words, but I'm too tired rn.)
And Alastor is genuinely able to like Angel without the overly sexual demeanor. Not as a friend. Obviously not! But definitely as a confidant. Even though he knows it's all being fed back to Vox. Though, without the phone. Because no technology is allowed in his room. It's rude to take pictures of someone else's underwear and sheets, don't you know?
Angel is extactic! He's actually getting close to someone with similar interests who doesn't want him for sex or love. He even starts adding a bit more jazz to his playlists when he's not around the Vees. He's wearing clothes that seem almost chaste in some cases and a raunchy he wouldn't have expected from the deer. The guy even gave him a hair care routine!
Meanwhile, Vox is kinda losing his mind. Velvette is getting inspired by the fashion and kinda laughing that this scary dude dresses as a 1920's butch lesbian. Valentino is both, because what do you mean Alastor is the vintage Drag Queen, Aster?!?! The Star Daisy!?! Helped change modern media?!?
(Turns out, he's even more popular than he initially thought and became part of pop culture. Radio host by day, and Drag Queen by night got revealed and people went nuts. Everyone thinks he was the victim of a murderer.)
I love this! I feel for Angel realising that Alastor is literally offering a deal to get his boundaries respected - cause yeah, the constant ...sexual harassment, honestly, is a defense mechanism he does, but its HURTING someone and he didn't even realise. He'd probably agree even without a deal, but now he gets to learn all these vintage techniques - and also learn Alastor was a Drag Queen, possibly one Angel even knows the name of if he was active in those circles when he was alive!
Vox is blushing and drooling and wants desperately for Angle to send pics but the phone is banned! Val wants an autograph.
(Alastor learns he's thought to be the victim of a murderer and LAUGHS)
