Ass Clown Motel

30, any pronouns

[hismercytomyjustice]

[lilietsblog]

The fandom take of "Alastor will eventually learn his lesson and be nicer and more open" annoys me A LOT because quite frankly what canon shows us is "Alastor is too nice for his own good".

Yes, really. I don't think there's really a different reading possible of the Mimzy sequence. And that comes after Scrambled Eggs, where Alastor straight up takes abuse from the eggs until Zestial shows up, at which point he shushes them real fast. And that comes after his deal with Vaggi that she NEVER ASK HIM to do anything tv-related ever again in episode one. And then there's Alastor's patience with Charlie's romantic drama monologue on the way to Cannibal Town in Hello Rosie, and then there's his little monologue to Niffty about how the hotel makes him "almost sentimental" at the start of s1 finale and there's his visible (but not audible lol) freakout at "great alastor altruist died for his friends" at the end of the finale.

(And there's his patience and lack of hostility towards both Rosie and Vox in s2 finale even though he quite frankly deserves to go apeshit on both of them there lol)

Alastor will be able to have healthier relationships WHEN HE GETS BETTER AT SAYING NO TO PEOPLE. Which might or might not happen in the show, but it's quite perpendicular to its main Power Of Friendship theme and thus might well just not.

Alastor doesn't need to fucking. Get MORE willing to do things for other people. He's already at unhealthy levels of that, and the rest of his prickly persona is his attempt at self-defense from that!!! Which he's perfectly well entitled to and not wrong about!!!

Yall wanting him to be Charlie II really need to pay more attention to how Very Not Well Charlie is lol

[solcaeruleus]

I'd say what he needs more than to 'learn to be there for others' is to learn to let people in. To accept that maybe sometimes people will do stuff for him, will want to help him, with no strings attached. That not everything is transactional or conditional and that he doesn't always need to plot and scheme and strike deals in order to benefit from what other people can offer him.

And maybe part of that will be to learn that he, too, can offer people the same thing, but it is faaaaaar from the main lesson for this man.

Learning to say no to people is important for him, I agree (and in some cases he's actually showing that he is capable of this, like when he refuses to actually work at the hotel in the beginning of S2, but it's definitely something that he needs to learn in regards to specific people and situations). But I think another thing that he would really benefit from, as a next step after learning to say no, is to learn to ask for things. Ask for help, ask for the things he needs, hell, maybe even ask for the things he wants if he really wants to take this to the next level. And most importantly, to see that he can ask for these things and not be expected to offer something in return.

But that's the difficult part, because before that can happen, first people will need to show him that this is possible, to give proof that he can ask for things without requiring a transaction or a deal. And that's not within his control.

Both in saying no and in asking for things, Alastor essentially needs to learn to trust people and trust that he can safely do these things. And for that to happen, other people will first need to prove to him that he is safe if he says no or asks for help.

And, well, so far that hasn't really happened yet...

[lilietsblog]

Yup. We literally see Alastor attempt to ask for help with Rosie, and the kind of rejection he receives... let's just say if he were nicer in asking and received the same response it would have 100% felt worse to him.

(Now, there's a hypothetical scenario where he asks more nicely and receives a more favorable response, but you cannot fucking count on this shit with abusers, which Rosie towards him absolutely is, and it's fully reasonable on his part to not be ultimately willing to go through with that, even though it was clearly the original plan with the dressing up and the flowers.)

Alastor keeps learning to NOT ask for things, and instead force or manipulate people into giving them to him. It's kind of funny how even with his favor with Charlie, he starts out just asking her verbally without pulling on the favor. She balks, which is honestly very reasonable of her given the context, but it's still another data point for Alastor that he HAS to exert force on the world around him, you know? He asks Mimzy to leave the hotel as to not get it in further trouble, and has to get through a like 5 minute long unskippable cutscene of her insisting that he cannot possibly mean it. When Husk accosts him about Mimzy and Alastor tells him to not worry about it, Husk manages to precisely zero in on the exact trauma he was already unknowingly evoking with Alastor's 7 year absence, ignoring Alastor's request to fuck off in the process. Like, do I think Alastor was in the right in that situation to react as he did, decidedly not. But again, data points!

And on the other hand, Alastor DOES receive help unprompted! Niffty rushes in to help him, even though it hurts more than it helps lol. Charlie's scream attracts Emily's attention to save his life. (We don't really have information on what Alastor thinks of this, but I don't think it's something he would have asked for if given the choice, he's too proud for that lol)

I think what Alastor needs is more of this wordless, unrequested support, but also like, in forms that actually do help. I don't think he'd hestitate to ask Niffty to do something for him, because he knows she WOULD help, but he generally doesn't because Niffty is difficult to get to do exactly what you need her to do beyond her normal hobbies of cleaning and stabbing people. (Which I assume she does the former unprompted and Alastor prefers to do the stabbing himself, you know?). The hotel needs to get to the level where he's comfortable in the knowledge that he won't get a Rosie-type response if he asks for something.

THEY need to support HIM, you're exactly right.

(Alastor already knows he can offer people that!!! Mimzy counts on him to bail her out of trouble every time, and notably he handled that for her this time too before kicking her out!!! There are absolutely 0 negotiations on his part in Scrambled Eggs!!! His deal with Charlie in s1e7 does not include him hearing out her entire monologue about Vaggi!!! He just does things for people habitually!!!)

(WRT saying no at the start of s2, notably that's HUSK telling Alastor that he should maybe help Vaggi and Charlie, not the two of them asking him to help them. It's much easier to say no to a third person than to the face of the one who needs the help. I bet if Vaggi and Charlie asked him, he would have done something that went against the presumed spirit of the request, like Lucifer's solution of teleporting Charlie away, perhaps terrifying everyone present into leaving the hotel or something, but he would not have outright said no. Not his style)

(Much like how with the commercial in s1e1, he makes a shitty one rather than refuse to make one at all, even though his explicitly stated objection is that he doesn't want to engage with the video format. Absolutely incredible work there, brilliant and unimitable) (I love this disaster of a demon so much)

[wazzi2ya]

Saving these before the antis start foaming at the mouth and force HT to change it lmao

[hismercytomyjustice]

[heykayhayes]

Thought of these two the instant I heard this TikTok audio...

[starryeyeddreamer21]

I want Vaggi to realize that she's the only person in the hotel that Lucifer could kill and I mean obviously he wouldn't kill her and she knows that so it's something like her in the middle of the night going "huh Lucifer could kill me" and Charlie shooting up in the bed like WHAT

[celtrist]

you tell him Vox

Based on this legendary quote by Mr. Iron Lung himself

[makfisher]

Has anyone ever seen this guy without a smile?

[hijinxx]

Too close, Vince

Comms open!

[porcelain-and-nightbird]

This part of the Helluva Short screamed Murdermedia and I'm so glad someone who knows how to animate made this!!!

[bambitek]

him and that damn hat

[kongg1885]

[pankiimz]

Okay, here's my Official Pride 2026 art. 😂🏳️‍🌈

[sakuradancer3]

ITS HERE!!!!!

[eggcats]

Also I just. Genuinely how am I supposed to take "Alastor was tasked with legitimately killing all the egg boys and instead he took them on a walk, warned them off from pissing off a powerful overlord, used one as a spy, and then returned them all home safely to the excitement of Sir Pentious (while never being aware that Pentious had changed Vaggi's mind about his keeping them)."

Like, sir. You just babysat that man's kids. And this was your OWN decision. No one asked you to do this. In fact they asked the opposite.

What am I supposed to think here, Alastor?

You let this man fight you regularly. Barely injure him every time so he comes back. Ragebait him into keeping at it by pretending you don't remember him. And then, when you're told to kill his weird little egg minions you take them on a field trip.

...are YOU the father of those eggs???

[allastoredeer]

Sir Pentious and the bad bitch he (accidentally) pulled by being silly.

[l-egionaire]

I have to say, I REALLY feel like this scene where Charlie implies that her mother made her feel like she was "a meaningless person" absolutely deserves more discussion by the Fandom. Both because it explains SO much about Charlie as a character and her motivations and insecurities, but also because...it is just so fucking SAD.

Like, the WAY Charlie says this is just so painful. Its not in a "Oh I just realized this way" it's more in a way that implies she ALWAYS felt this way with mom. That she ignored her, made her feel meaningless. That she hurt her in this way. And I think something that sticks out to me is how Charlie DOESN'T sound angry. She doesnt say it in a mad way. Its just sad acceptance. Like "yeah. Mom was just....like that...."

And I know some might question why it is Charlie doesnt HATE Liliith or at least resent her the same way she does Lucifer. And I think it comes down to Charlie...AGREEING with that idea of her being meaningless in comparison to Lilith's responsibilities. I mentioned this in previous post, but Charlie and Lilith's situation is basically that of a parent who had a really important job that ate up a lot of their time and a child who saw how important that job was and thus devalued herself because of it. Charlie says it herself, Lilith was the voice of the people. She was the queen of Hell. And that meant more then Charlie. Compared to all of Hell, Charlie probably figured she WAS meaningless. SHE wasn't as important as their kingdom. In Charlie's eyes, whereas Lucifers neglect felt like it was due to him just not wanting to see her, Lilith's neglect was just a byproduct of her important duties. That being the ruler of Hell meant more than spending time with Charlie.

And again, this DESERVES more attention. Because, to me at least, its right up there with Steven Universes "I didn't even know my mom" in terms of how ir presents a new side to the protagonist.