If ever you are frustrated with your troubled dog for not being less troubled here’s one quick trick to fix that: get another, worser dog that torments you daily. On reappraisal you will find the first dog was actually not very troubled at all and in fact it would be great if that’s all you had to deal with.
Happy End of Season Two! I can't wait to see what these characters get up to I'm so happy the radiotrio is still all alive!
(above image, Husk asking his once per season question to Alastor)
"Shouldn't you be helping her?"
"Why don't you help them?"
Alastor and Husk barely interact and honestly, I kinda love it. We know that Husk is only around cause Alastor brings him but we will learn nothing else about their dynamic until they tell us. I brought this up when no one came to save Alastor but Husk could have come off seven years of no communication. Pair that with how he leaves the hotel while Alastor is gone and it gives the impression that they barely communicate at all. Husk doesn't know, nor does he expect to have it explained to him, where Alastor is or for how long he is gone. He doesn't even know if Alastor wants them both to stay at the hotel and he knows clearly that Alastor doesn't expect him to linger if he isn't around to enforce it because he leaves when he feels like it. If Alastor had actually been hurt or if he had needed Husk to stay at the hotel for serious reasons he would have likely assumed that unless he specially tells Husk those things it will not happen. Husk doesn't act like someone who is used to being told anything, he lives in total ambiguity. Maybe Alastor is dead, maybe he wants him to stay, maybe he has already moved on and he is laughing about Husk still sitting behind that bar. Husk knows nothing and he expects to have nothing explained to him which matches how he acts in episode one where he assists with making the commercial dysfunctional even though Alastor doesn't have to tell him to do that.
Rosie and Alastor on the other hand, work through politeness and social expectations. If Husk and Alastor have the same physical boundaries (a desire to not have people touch them; Alastor exploits him but Husk would pick this devil over another) then Alastor and Rosie have the same style of business. If anything, he has learned by watching her. He started the deal and she isn't going to give more than she offered, and pity wasn't included. His respect for her is buried in his willingness to summon her in the first place and he never disrespects her. He goes through the entire process of greeting her and changing the flowers and setting the gift. This matters to them even if it is pretense because they both care about how others perceive and interact with them.
She drinks Man-Eater Gin and tells him to fix it himself despite the fact that he plays into a different gendered stereotype. Alastor is a benevolent sexist and while that can play to a lady's benefit if you are hoping not to get murdered, since he is not pathologized to be a lady-killer either, it works against him here. He doesn't want to be rude to an older woman who's authority he respected enough to sell his own soul to. He wants to honor the deal without getting her carpets dirty as a matter of pride to himself (he should be able to, after all). However, She is an implied black widow who betrays the men who trust her the most and works in a series of deals. Despite Vox calling up all the other overlords, we never see Rosie being approached and we know she is supposed to be someone who everyone else has some kind of deal with. Despite Vox's interest in Alastor all these years, Rosie gets power from never being in the direct spot light and he never realizes who he is sitting next to. We don't get a line that she is hard to reach or even indifferent and we know Vox made it so far as to see Zestail. Rosie has already mastered the art of never having her intentions questions. She doesn't show up expect to speak with Alastor all season and she doesn't assist in the rallies. Everyone likely assumes they have the only deal with her going but these two have always had something else (at least since Alastor has been in hell).
Alastor and Rosie actually get away with it and we can argue pretty clearly that they are friendly. Rosie's words are firm, she calls Alastor a "double dealing manipulator" and he even threatened to harm her implied problem but they are both responding according to the rule book. She hasn't actually wronged Alastor, she just didn't give him a single drop of aid until she had a reason. His staff is fixed because now if she doesn't he may not help he with her curious problem or he could become a danger to her. He is doing the same thing for her he was already doing, but now she is required to give him something for it. From her perspective, he is lucky that's all he gets after making his deal with her in the first place. He is now her equal and another person doing secret deals with her just like the other overlords at the table. Comparing her sexism to his, pet is the nicest thing a man can probably be to her because they are both about using people to their gain. But no one besides Husk has ever admitted to knowing that Alastor's soul wasn't owned by him and now no one ever will. Rosie effectively trained Alastor on the art of demonic deal making, which all started when he called upon her power and got himself in a deal too difficult to escape from. If she helped him, he would belong to her forever. The only way to be free was to either fulfil her deal or out deal her, which he did. It feels like Alastor graduated from Rosie's hand and the only people who understand he isn't motivated by the same things anymore are those two. Even as she approaches him after their deal is broken, she doesn't try and rely on any expectations of kindness and instead talks to him like they are just two overlords.
Alastor is finally free and he will probably stay at the hotel, at least for a while. I still love the idea of the radiotrio mini baddies but Charlie offers a good deal. Alastor is needed and he welcomes places like the hotel for people like Niffty or sinners down on their luck even if he sees it beneath him. His praise for how Rosie ran her domain in hell was real and if he is going to be in hell forever then the hazbin hotel gives him plenty of range, power, and connections - as well as being a legitimate safe space for the rare people he does want to protect. No one can take his place as the executioner, I hear that's what they are calling baby boy now, but he also isn't replaceable as advisor. Alastor is like his mentor, Rosie, he will give you exactly what he says and he will judge you for the exact line you fail to honor of your own words. Until the Morningstar's turn their sights on Alastor specially or try to prevent him from doing what he wants they won't have direct conflict. Perhaps they will address letting Husk out of his own contract as that is the only direct point of tension we know about at the moment or maybe his own bad behaviors come back now that he is finally free.
However, it's never clear where Alastor stands because he has this implication of threatening everyone in his song with Rosie.
Shortly after calling him a manipulator he tells her that he doesn't work for free:
Alastor: "If you want help, then you know the fee" -Despite all of this, he simply asks for the exact same thing. To have his staff repaired.
Rosie: "I would not reward a snake like you" - She could have always helped. She seems to have access to power / indirect power source.
Alastor: "You'll watch them die unless you do" - but the hazbin cast is shown. Rosie's interest in Charlie or her motivations at large are still unclear. Niffty and Husk are included in this kill shot.
Rosie: "Liar! You wouldn't dare!"
And he goes on to sing that it's only fair. Alastor does threaten to kill Emily, Vaggie, Charlie, Husk, Angel, and Niffty according to these images as a motivation to make Rosie fix his staff. It might be that these are just the people near him but Emily is a strange choice. Husk and Niffty would make you question why Rosie would even care at all and is meant to make us wonder, once again, if Alastor has any ounce of care towards other people. It could imply Alastor simply ended up with Niffty and Husk because Rosie told him to or took pity on them. Or maybe Rosie has some great desire for peace and really respected Lilith, and thus Charlie. Maybe Rosie indirectly cares about the same things Charlie does and is only manipulative because it keeps her safe. Either way, this is meant to throw us off from Alastor yet again. Back in "It's a Deal" he brings up the specifics of her deal and says "Look, you can toy around with me all you want, but I've been running all over Hell on some fruitless crusade for years, playing nice at a stupid hotel because you promised me power, and now I'm lacking, so you better--" which indicates whatever Rosie is after has been hard for Alastor to find. Maybe it's an item or maybe it's got something more direct to do with the Morningstars. It is possible that Sir Pen isn't the only winner in hell who misses people deeply, I'd have to guess many do, and with Lilith's dream of helping the sinners resist there is a building idea that separating people ultimately just makes it harder on everyone. Carmine's story shows notes of loss and perhaps Rosie is seeking some reconnection with someone long gone. No matter what, it will be interesting to see what is motivating her and how that plays into everything else.
Or. This could simply be Alastor mimicking the way Rosie taught him how to make deals and he is "fixing it himself" the correct way.
In season one Husk does not even say Alastor's name to him. They have one scene alone. It does not go good. It's season two Husk says Alastor's name like four times Angel says it once in reference or justification for why he should do stuff, not necessarily an indication of if he feels like Alastor's a good or bad person, but just why he should or should not do something. I feel like it's pretty easy to see that Alastor's confidence plus Husk' lack of self esteem is a perfect storm. Plus Husk is already predisposed to be impressed by magic. I bring it up all the time. He loves magic, he does magic tricks. Alastor is a different type of magic, so like it's right there. He thinks Alastor is like the most powerful sinner in hell without all the bells and whistles. This is crazy because unless they reveal that these two met while alive (states away and with Husk in his twenties when Al dies) Husk has never even met Alastor while he had complete free will. If they've only met in hell which is assumed, no one actually knows what Alastor will do now. In fact, Alastor has been waiting for a day to be free since the moment he died.
I've always stood by the idea that something about Husk makes him an exception to Alastor's rule, we just don't know what it is. It could be that he simply thought it was a waste for this overlord to go down and felt pity. Alastor was chipping away at overlords but he ends up with Husk. One detail we do get about the old cat now is how he likely functioned (at least to some degree) during his overlord days. I'm sure there was violence. I'm sure there was death. I'm sure there was extortion. It's hell, but not every overlord is going to be an aggressive mean spirited. Rosie, for example, is affection and friendly to those that follow her. Husk isn't mean to people who fall to his mercy, or rather, he seemed to live in a world again, similar to Rosie, where like calls to like and where he was around like minded people just sort of chasing what they want. Husk didn't seem to have bad blood or old scores to settle at his casino so it stands to reason that he isn't the type to mistreat others when he is at the top. This matches with his usual self destructive approach to things and plays into possible theories of Husk being someone else's target.
There are a lot of reasons that could be given and lots of details we don't know yet about what went down. Husk took some kind of gamble and Alastor loves fun. At the bare minimum we can be sure Husk and Alastor knew of each other while Husk was an overlord and he "saved his power" by making a deal. Since Alastor's main reason for selling his own soul was because he wanted to "continue [his] fun" I am wondering if living for fun won't play into Husk's desires as well. Perhaps when asked why he does things and why he takes the risks he takes, the only reason Husk can give is that he likes to have fun which would be something Alastor would actually sympathize with. I think Husk honesty, like his willingness to tell Alastor how much he dislikes him to his face, is also something Alastor respects about Husk and makes his opinions on people more important. Well, respect is a funny word with Alastor but in his conflict with Vox he tends to harp on making people admit who they are to themselves. Husk likely believes the worst about himself which makes him the easiest target for someone like Alastor.
Rosie and Alastor have a lot more to their relationship than we've seen yet and I think it would take a great deal to make him stop being friends. They are too like minded! And now, Alastor has basically proven to both of them what Vox could not prove to him which was that he was strong enough on his own.
While Alastor won't actually show any real attention towards Husk and Husk's mentions of Alastor function to just explain his circumstance, Niffty and Husk are still the ones who work as extensions of Alastor any time it is needed. Vox and Charlie paralleled relationships, leadership styles, and blind spots but Alastor and Vox also share similarities such as being vicious, having a desire for power, and being willing to kill. But Vox can't figure out what makes him and Alastor different or why Alastor puts such a separation between them but in his human flashback Vox is shown to betray every single person that trusted him. He is only brought down in hell because of the last two people he emotionally betrayed finally reaching their limit. Alastor's affection towards Niffty is clear, he will treasure her gifts and stop fights for her safety, but Husk doesn't even get told to fight as opposed to being literally tossed into battle. While we aren't able to know anything about their dynamic we can guess between the lines. If just Rosie's style of dealing is to be understood then he is going to be exactly fair and nothing more or less. His comparison to Vox suggest that he is likely unable to unwilling to betray people nearest to him and he feels like he should be a protection to them as opposed to something that needs them so we can extend that to imply that he won't betray him either - although who knows what his idea of loyalty is.
Old, unfinished WIP of Crosshair and Roise (Roh-sha) since I haven't had time to make anything new for Clone x OC week
Cross' player and I decided long ago that Roise taught Cross (and the Batch) how to take care of their curls. (Give clones their Maori features!)
