radiostatic but make it lovesick, nervous crying screaming throwing up. crank up the anxious attachment avoidance suffocating under a veneer of misunderstandings and glimpses of dreams that seem too good to be true. give me butterflies that feel like panic attacks and blushes so hot and cruel it feels like bleeding. radiostatic but make it a coin toss between the terror of vulnerability and the fear of abandonment. a red string of fate that becomes a fragile line they walk side by side on, because everyone knows all your greatest enemies start out as friends.
i was just thinking about how helpful an emotional support animal would be in Vee Tower because no one in that damn building knows how to calm the fuck down, and then I realized that vox does have an emotional support animal!!
it's alastor.
he is unlicensed and not at all qualified if you see this man please report him to the proper authorities.
headcannons of why Vox has Vark as a service doggo (as beautiful illustrated here x by @hypervoxel) in my radiostatic AU im workin on:
Vox can easily overheat which leads to him having slurred/glitchy speech, a rapid pulse and confusion, his screen freezing, or shutting down completely (as his system will try to protect itself and it's core componets)
but Vark is almost constantly a few degrees cooler than his surroundings and can be a nice big cool pack (while giving DPT!!!) and Vark loves this because hammerhead sharks are cold blooded! easy to train him to give his dad cuddles when he senses his heartrate increases because he'll get warm cuddles!!
low battery. we all know this man is a workaholic and would literally burn himself down to the digital wick. and when it reaches critical, he'll faint from his systems shutting down. This can lead to temporary short-term memory loss (unable to save current data) and obviously injuries from falling.
And you'd think he'd be able to monitor this interal battery so it doesn't get to critical, right? NOPE! onces it's below 50% he doesn't know what it's at, he could have days or hours or even seconds that's life in hell baby.
but!! thankfully we have a service dog shark because sharks can sense electrical fields! so if dad's electrical waves get too weak, he's trained to assist in helping Vox sit/lay down safely. that big flat wide head is perfect for leaning against and if for some reason Vox falls before Vark can catch him or hits his head (which can often cause seizures if the wrong circuits are damaged), Vark is trained to rest his head under Vox's to prevent further damage.
and because Vark is able to sense these small electrical changes, many of his commands from Vox are eletric wave patterns!!
ANNNDDD because hammerheadsharks have excellent depth perception, Vark is precise enough in his movements that he can plug in a battery pack or something into Vox to help him recharge (and by plug in, I mean stick in the end of an electric cable into his arm (simliar to getting a shot)).
Vark can teleport through electrical wires just like Vox! but it takes massive amounts of energy for Vox to do it and can be physically taxing, so Vark assists with his "walking" by using forward momentum to pull Vox along or pull him out if he senses something is off, trained to find the closest safe place before zapping them back into their physical forms.
because if Vox travels large distances or spends extended time in his electric form, he'll have flare ups of pain and fatigue, the electricity in him unstable as it tries to be flesh and bone again, resulting in sudden bursts of lightining that can short out his screen/systems failures or even force him into a reboot. sometimes, he even shocks himself (not that he would ever tell anyone that.)
obviously vark can retrieve dropped objects, it's his favorite game, and get tools and parts to help Vox when he's doing maintenance/upgrades. he also knows how to bring water and snacks as apart of his alert to Vox for high blood pressure.
he can also bring muscle relaxers/pain medication if he senses the electrical contractions of muscle spasms
and last but not least, DEEP PRESSURE THERAPY!!!!! this what finally gets Alastor to succumb to his deathly cute puppy dog eyes. not even the radio demon is safe from shark cuddles.
And speaking of Alastor (who was insanely jealous of the attention Vark got from Vox on day fucking one and would not let it go for YEARS) his shadow is Vark's favorite playmate in the whole wide world! they always play the best games like:
Run Away aka Shark Hunting
Chase aka Leave Me Alone
Find aka Rare Peace and Quiet
Tug of War aka Give Me Back My Fucking Staff You Piece of Shit-
and of course
The Classic Fetch aka Try To Throw This Ball Into The Sun
Church Bells Ring (carry me home) - Act 1 : Part 1
*****
The truth was on the tip of his digital tongue, but despite what Velvette said, he was capable of thinking before he spoke. But lately, the lies just slid like silk from his mouth. He tries not to think about why too much as he stutters, “He's just—he's my dog! Y'know, like a companion, a pet? Do I really need to explain what a pet is to you?”
Alastor’s eyes turn absolutely murderous. “Trust me, I know what a pet is.” He points his staff at Vox and at Vark, whose tail is still wagging. “And this is not normal pet owner behavior.”
or
ServiceShark!Vark AU featuring Vox who's hiding that he's having a major surgery to upgrade his CRT head from his best friend, the trials and tribulations of puppyhood, and said best friend Alastor who's in the process of discovering he is demiromantic and very much does not like it.
*****
@hypervoxel I made a thing for our boy Vark 👉👈
first scene is below so y'all can see if you like it before clicking off the hellsite - enjoy!
“U-um, sir?”
Vox feels a migraine creeping up his circuits. His assistant’s nasally voice just has that wonderful effect on him.
He doesn't bother turning around because he hears Ethan talking but he isn't really listening, eyes busy scrolling from screen to screen at his desk. The recent upgrades to his system enable him to access more on his internal display, almost cutting edge, but still not enough to keep up with the raw data output of the tower’s mainframe. At least not yet.
I really need to add more cameras to Studio 5, there are a couple blindspots and I got a ransom letter over email, but if we just add one in that corner–
Wait, what?!
Vox blinks back into focus and spins his chair. “What ransom letter?” He sees his own puzzled expression reflected in Ethan's glasses.
As the idiot keeps talking, Vox watches his face flicker with horror…then bright, hot rage.
“What do you mean you don't know where Vark is?!”
Vox grabs the floating projected image above his assistant’s clipboard. The hologram is strangely familiar at first glance, despite having no match in his memory banks. It almost looks like…
You’ve got to be fucking joking.
Glued together in clunky letters, like they'd been snipped out of a million different magazines, like some shitty 80’s flick, was an ominous message:
‘Met ASAP at Return to Sender.
Come alone or the dog dies.’
“When did this come in?” he snaps, Vox’s eyes soaking in every pixel over and over again.
It has to be a joke. A shitty, stupid joke because Vee Tower has the best security system in Hell because he made it and Vark is safe and sound in his–
Every single camera on Vox’s floor is dead.
Not a single alarm tripped.
Which means he was hacked. And that didn't trigger a single alarm either. Worst of all, the email was sent to his personal inbox almost five hours ago.
