#inm

[mangotangerine]

thought you might appreciate what I said about your fic to a buddy lol

AHHH I love this hahahaha. INM, the skullfucking then somehow plot and romance fic.

[mangotangerine]

Will it ever get elaborated on why Husk is also scared of Alastor?

Probably not. It’s got potential for a side fic if I ever want to. I need to dial down Husk’s reaction cuz it’s a little melodramatic in the actual fic. 😭 He saw some shit, basically.

With Alastor, Husk’s both loyal to the family/Maman Marie so isn’t going to do anything about it and also scared of Alastor, so he stumbles upon some of the fucked up shit from Alastor at some point before Vox moves to New Orleans & keeps his mouth shut because he is a scaredy-cat.

With Vox, he doesn’t fully know the shit that guy is capable of and does. He just gets the creeps because he can tell something is off.

[mangotangerine]

If one more person comments and asks why INMCU Vox is blond w blue eyes & doesn’t check the published date…………….. like bro we didn’t even have a name I just went w the vibes I felt off him. 😭

[mangotangerine]

sometimes ur tryin to think of a middle name for ur characters & ur like “what would travis pick for a middle name”

well all his fucking tattoos have to do w transformation, he’s punk & goth af, his full back piece is of a phoenix

yeah

it’s phoenix

he picked phoenix as a middle name

it’s a good thing vox gave him a first name or else he’d probably be like Xavier Azazael Raven Phoenix Dragon Zelenko

[mangotangerine]

Medical play inm universe oneshot thing (non canon or canon) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. I BEG.

I fear if I try to do this I would disappoint 😭 I feel like it’d just be a repeat of the pet play bit where Alastor takes his job very seriously and doesn’t quite get it’s supposed to be erotic and just gets frustrated at Vox getting horny for him in gloves.

[mangotangerine]

I LOVED IT!!!!!!!! I'm so glad everyone either gets a happy or happy-headed ending, and the idea of Al + Vox hunting invasive species for sport instead has soothe something deep within my soul. Also, congrats on wrapping up such a huge project!!!! I've got a couple questions about these characters going forward:

Does Alastor have a Big Goal anymore? From avenging his father's death, to then killing Vox's dad, then rebuilding in the aftermath, he's been busy, but that's all slowed down eventually. He seems to twist himself around a singular focus that's accomplishable in a single (if extremely meticulously planned) fell swoop, so what's taken up that spot?

Does Vox fully realize he could've gotten Travis killed? And what does realizing he's pushed Travis away for good look like for him? (I am undone by the tragedy of Travis taking his leave once Vox gives up the murder grind since that's probably the only time in this timeline they could've made anything work, platonically or otherwise).

...And following that, are Vox + Al still actively hunting in Heterochromia?

Thank you so much!!!!!!!!

YAY, I’m glad!! Thank you so much!!!! And OOOH good questions.

Spoilers for people who haven’t yet read chapter 58!

Alastor’s Big Goal (or lack thereof):

He doesn’t have something big and singular in the way he did during the fic, something with a final achievable goal, but he does now have the time to actually throw himself into his work the way Marcus did. So essentially, more focus on his environmental goals and, something that will be touched on in the next couple of WBGU chapters, his role in his family’s spiritual practice.

Gloria moving into the position of matriarch moves Catarina from matriarch-in-training to the matriarch’s right hand, which is a specific role that also works to prepare her for her future position. It also moves Alastor into his position as the left hand. There wasn’t one for a while, but with him stepping into the role, the duties of that role (that have been somewhat neglected as Maman Marie is just one person) can now be performed.

If the matriarch is the light that warms and uplifts the community that she serves, the left hand is the shadow that light throws. They work close to the boundary between the living and the dead and concern themselves with the safety of their community, using violence if necessary. Hence what Maman Marie said, about Vox stepping in to play Alastor’s role when Alastor was the one threatened. :)

So his focus switches to those two things, which are larger, continuous, more complex tasks. It’s a different sort of work but keeps his mind busy much the same way hunting keeps Vox’s mind busy.

Does Vox fully realize he could've gotten Travis killed?

No. He has no idea. To him, Travis just disappeared. He assumes Travis is fine, just off doing whatever-it-is-that-Travis-does, because the idea of Travis (the man with the plan) not being okay doesn’t compute.

Travis used Vox’s trust in him to get him to sign that paperwork, knowing Vox wouldn’t read it, so he could martyr himself for Vox’s continuation. He got exiled instead, and technically didn’t have to cut himself off from Vox, but did so anyway because he saw it as an opportunity, and he’d lost everything anyway, basically.

In the sequel that follows, the third burning, at some point way later on, Vox and Alastor run into Travis by complete chance in Travis’s new city, and Travis lets slip what he did. Vox is very, very upset by this news, and extra upset to realize Travis got married and never told him. But that’s like 4–5 years after Travis tries to throw himself under the bus and disappears.

Are Vox + Al still actively hunting in Heterochromia?

Yes. They each get one murder a year for their birthday on even years and one murder a year for their half-birthday on odd years. Leap years they get two each. Travis has veto power over days and victims. There are black-out days where no murder is allowed, and they have to schedule their murders with Travis in advance. He is a very generous handler boyfriend. 😌

Here, a little snippet I have written, below the cut!

Alastor finds them like that. Travis has switched to glasses too—that’s two of his partners wearing glasses, and it’s almost too much. He wants to interrupt, to take them off and kiss down Travis’s body, or Vox’s, but his boys look like they’re doing very serious smart boy stuff. “What’s going on in here?” Alastor asks. “Science,” Vox says. “Blackmail,” Travis says. “In service of science, I guess,” he adds. “Evil science?” Alastor asks, amused. Vox turns to look at him, expression fond, and Alastor feels arousal stir in his gut. He hasn’t seen this side of Vox in a while. “Yeah,” Vox says. “Evil science. Well, the evil science has already been done. I’m trying to figure out how to anonymize Dessert’s brain scans so I can use this in actual research and start doing real stuff because I’m bored as fuck, since Travis doesn’t let us do fun murder things anymore.” “You get two murders a year,” Travis says without looking up. “I feel like that’s pretty fucking generous. One for each birthday.” “What about Christmas, Travis?” Vox asks. “Yeah,” Alastor says, “What about Christmas?” Travis pauses what he’s doing to give both men his full attention. “You want permission to commit high-profile murder on one of the most sacred American holidays?” he asks. “On Christmas? I know you two are fucking stupid, but let’s keep it to mundane fucking days so I don’t have to deal with a PR crisis and murder coverup, please and fucking thank you. Also, it’s an off year, so you get half-birthday kills. Figure out which months you want.” He turns back to his laptop, ignoring any further questioning from Alastor or Vox.

[mangotangerine]

It’s Not Murder Chapter 58: Epilogue is OUT! The fic is COMPLETE!

I posted the first chapter exactly two years ago, and 340,000 words later, we’re here. Seeing that green ‘complete’ checkmark next to the fic is surreal.

Chapter Summary:

The end, the wrap-up, and the peek into the future.

Fic Summary:

Vox relocates from New Orleans and finds himself a new home, new hunting grounds, and most importantly: Alastor, the biggest crush of his life. Unfortunately, the man fucking hates him. His attempts to turn Alastor’s simmering hatred to begrudging affection fail entirely, until a nighttime middle-of-the-swamp meet-weird (and some erotic knifeplay) over two corpses. Follow two serial killers figuring out what kind of life they can build together. They meet each other's families, navigate the question of how Vox has evaded consequences for so long, and settle into something real. Underneath the domesticity, Alastor carries a 20-year-old score to settle, and when he finally gets the info he's been waiting for, he drags Vox into it with him. A story of revenge, family drama, a soul-binding, uncovering each other’s closely-held pasts, through the slow and painful work of two people learning to be known, and eventually toward the question neither of them thought they'd answer: what does a future look like for people who never planned to have one? OR: Two serial killers fall in love and fuck and it’s really deep, actually, somehow. (You can easily skip the weird shit, it’s tagged and indicated in-chapter)

Tags & Rating

Rating: E Archive Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence Fandom: Hazbin Hotel Relationship: Alastor/Vox Tags: Listen there’s some DD:DNE shit in here but you CAN avoid it, the chapters containing weird stuff have warnings at the beginning where stuff starts/ends so you can avoid. That said, here are the important ones: Human AU, Top Alastor/Bottom Vox, Serial Killer Vox & Alastor, Murder Husbands, Knifeplay, Breathplay, Fluff & Humor, Violent Sex, Masochism, Unsafe Sex, Face Slapping, Subspace, Sadism, Cannibalism, Worldbuilding, Exhibitionism, Degradation, Skull Fucking, Wound Fucking, Brain Fucking, Torture, Pseudo-Incest, Cock & Ball Torture, Watersports, Scarification/Branding, Dom Alastor

First time seeing this fic? Start from chapter one.

[mangotangerine]

i'll post the whole "chapter 58 is up/INM is complete" thing later today but it's up. :)