He'd expected the aggressive response. Vox was never one to simply give into the inevitable conclusion - he was stubborn and angry. Alastor knew that much of that was his own fault. And yet what could he do to remedy it? Nothing, he thought. A bed had been made in this case too - and both of them were meant to sit with the choices they had made.
Alastor did not move as the other swore at him, but his ears did drop back the slightest bit as the other seemed to wrestle with the terms that had been laid out. Not all had been entirely truthful. Alastor was not doing this for the sake of the hotel in the least. In fact, he was certain that Charlie and her partner both would have massive objections to it. But if it was done, then it was done - and they could do little about if it they wanted Alastor to remain on their side in some capacity. Their hands would effectively be tied. He was too valuable to them. (Ideally.)
But Vox did continue, and Alastor listened in silence, his ears dropping back much more severely when the other began to use words that seemed too... strong. Loved. What did that matter? His mother had loved him too and she had simply up and left when it was convenient. Vox did not seem to have the scruples that she did. Whether or not he loved made no difference - he could just as easily have slit Alastor's throat once he made use of the radio demon's capacity and power and ascended further because of it.
At least... that had been his thinking at the time.
He felt the prod of that claw against his stomach but did not move, staring down at the other wheelchair-bound demon with scrutiny.
Didn't even want to continue the first time. Alastor knew what that meant but was having a difficult time contending with it. What, he'd wanted to kill himself then, too?
This whole ordeal and proposition was beginning to sour in his mouth and he was unsure why. This was a bundle of nerves he had not been prepared to have tugged at - and it felt just as painful, too. Vox liking him had not been the problem. In many ways, Alastor had saddled himself with the reality that the feeling had been - at least he thought - somewhat mutual.
Scorched earth was his default when he felt... unprepared for an outcome he did not want to face.
And perhaps that was why now, he opened his mouth.
"I did not leave because of you," he said directly. "What you did and what I said had nothing to do with that." But what else could he say about that...? Without giving away entirely that it had been part of his fucking deal? Frustratedly, he waved it away.
"Had I the option, I would have..."
Would have what? Apologized? Hardly. Come back around to the subject and... rephrased it? Tried to turn it around? Tried to plant better specificities and failsafes? Tried to salvage something before it had broken entirely.
"What I really want is your capabilities that I know you still possess. My work is not done. It will be easier to manage with you." And that was the long and short of it. Perhaps not the whole truth. But part of it. Vox was capable and smart. And perhaps he would hold the key to maneuvering Alastor's way out of his prior commitments. For freedom.
"My intent was not to discard you," he continued, a bit more subdued.
"Just to - dissuade you."
For long enough to determine his own next steps.
And in that, he had failed.
