divinetree | It's not that complicated, no matter what they say

"I mean like... can't he just go do the hotel work and then come here after for the bebé? You don't gotta be over there that long, right--"

"Ah, fair point. He'll still have to take his time regenerating, but if the Deal is just because he can't be seen like that then a switch-back should be easy. That is, if Vox wants to play stay-at-home-dad."

"Or we can take turns, Kitty'd be real good at the cleaning parts. Then the rest is making sure they're not crying! They're gonna be like... our step-kid, too, right?"

"Fair points. We can hash those details out further later after winding down from... all of this."

He needed to think: A proposal for the princess and finding the means to swerve her stupid deadbeat dad, making that solid first impression, and then the real scheming could begin. Having the Morningstars truly in his pocket could be a benefit... then, with increased attention and viewership numbers, he could build his power.

...Enough to challenge Rosie herself for Alastor's soul.

And if, should he be free, he decides to simply disappear...?

The doubt set a little ice in his belly.

He needed to think about that possibility, too. He'd been told he chose him, but they just had to see how that held up in the coming weeks. One wrong move with any deer, and they scatter off into the woods.

Just like 70 years ago.

"I wouldn't dream of pushing any of those responsibilities on either of you- you didn't cause this." He needed to handle this. He HAD to prove he didn't need help.

"BUT, if maybe you had a little free time and decided you wanted to spend some of it with an anklebiter that's got my charm, then, weeeell..."

"Only 'cause it'll be your baby, Cariño. They'll be a Vee, right~? Vees looking out for Vees~"

"This whole thing is making you weird, Val. But-- he's not wrong. If I catch anyone fuckin' with the kid, I'm going to boil them until their flesh melts off the bone. Now shoo, both of you-- if I'm starting to get hungry, I bet the one carrying is going to get downright hangry."

"Okaaay~. I'm in the studio for the rest of the night anyway."

Val's got some stuff to unpack, but Vox supports him, really. But as they talked, he needed to suppress a snicker as he looked between the two screens. He really did love--

Vox startled.

"Right! Putting in the order. I'll send an ETA when it comes along. If I'm missing a limb or two later, we can say Velvette was right." He sent that along, and ended the call.

He took a breath, hand to chest. Then he turned to go and see to a hoofied one.

Said deer was out of the bathroom and standing by the tank to watch the water and creatures within - no slippers, but certainly the bathrobe still over him. Gradually, meticulously and carefully he was using a white comb (was that made of bone...?) to detangle his hair, ruffling and brushing at it again. If he didn't, it'd definitely end up matting. What a headache.

One of the fuzzy ears turned around towards Vox, hearing him approach. "I can see the appeal of having this much blue in one room."

Aw. Slippers ain't doin' it for ya? Fine. Not everyone respects his vision. But he strode in quietly, the smile quick to grow.

"It helps that it's my favorite color. But it loans to an 'inner sanctum' sort of... vibe. I think you've been the first guest I've had in here," he noted in wonder.

"Also, just giving you advance notice: Velvette wants to do something with your hair. But, I can attest to her being a miracle worker, so take that as you will."

"She can wait," Alastor huffed a chuckle through his nose, turning to look at Vox as he kept at his hair. "After I feed you all tomorrow I'll take full advantage of having my own space. It's been a noisy, busy few days."

After a hum and finally tucking the comb in the breast pocket of the robe, Alastor roamed a bit more. He'd spotted that wall containing the old TVs... and he wanted to see them again before he sat down to eat.

With a chuckle, he pointed at the plasma screen - "I remember that one. That display was especially gaudy... terrible refresh rate when being filmed."

Vox curiously peered, then made a face. "...Huge power hogs, too. Good riddance. Found myself out of juice a lot for those years. S'why I turned down more of our fights during that particular era. I think my switch out to what I have now was just before you had that seven-year hiatus."

His gaze trailed, lingered on the CRT.

"...Might have hit the ceiling, though. I can't think of any way the technology can be improved from now."

"The attempts at 3D were truly nauseating," Alastor concurred. And chuckled, a bit. "And the home viewer ones are just in a race to get thinner and thinner - as if you needed your head to be even more easy to fold and shatter, ahaha!"

He loathed the way television in hell soaked up attention, the invasiveness of it, the constant push to buy, buy, buy-- but that didn't mean he didn't pay attention to what his rival was up to.

"No, I think this current model works as well as it could. About as heavy as a human head," Alastor chuckled, pinching the corner and giving it a wiggle. "Laying on your side must be vexing."

He rolled his eyes with the pinch and wiggle. "Beats the alternative neck strain and migraines I was having all the time, that's for fuckin' sure. I'm a back sleeper, anyway."

But with a short chuff of amusement, he eased away, just to step behind him. "Besides, we could all use a little..."

He'd seen this online and got curious. His hands settled beneath Alastor's bump, and he gave a gentle lift. "...Break... from all the aches and pains if we can help it, hm?"

Alastor had no idea what Vox was about to do, just bracing to be touched again-- but the lift made him jump in some surprise.

The weight, the pressure... for a moment, Alastor laughed out of surprise at just how relieved his hips felt. He'd walked so far with that growing weight, and he only had more to go-- but it felt. Nice.

Bewildered, Alastor looked down at Vox's hands on him - the bump almost entirely was cradled only in one of the man's hands, the touch so low on his body that the little rush of... something???... in the contact made Alastor shudder a little.

After the initial surprise, Alastor leaned back against Vox's chest, basking in the feeling for the moment.

"...Oh. I'm going to make you do that many, many times the bigger I get."

Vox was surprised with the weight of it already- this was what he was dealing with, so far?? What the fuck?- but it put a few more things into perspective. There was a laugh and a small tremor, and he was prepared for the ram of the back of his head into his screen. Perhaps it would be a mercy that he didn't have prongs to contend with...

But when Alastor leaned instead, Vox momentarily stiffened in surprise. His fate was sealed. He felt something in his heart melt. The laugh spluttered out of him. "Ohmygod- that works?? It's- it seriously helps??"

He'd needed perhaps one hand now, but who knows how long it'd be before he needed both?

"O- okay, sure...! Just... tell me you 'need a lift', or something...!"

Gaining so much weight to go from rail thin to actually healthy, the weight of the little one, of everything his body was doing to protect them... Alastor knew it'd only get worse as the baby themselves got bigger.

"Look at you, already eager to hold your daughter in your arms."

He had no reason to assume the sex of the baby, just a Feeling.

"Wh-" He turned a bright cyan.

"You're screwing with me, right? There's no way you know yet!" But he paused as the gears were turning.

"Weee... didn't talk about if we wanted to know via ultrasound or be surprised yet, have we...?"

"I don't mind either way," Alastor shrugged, contentedly resting his hands over Vox's. "But I have a hunch!"

Or he just liked the idea of a girl more - he did have that predisposition to favor them.

"Perhaps it's a son. But I imagine it's a daughter."

"A hunch, huh...?" He chuckled. A warmth crept up the back of his neck, sent a spark between his diodes with the touch against his hands diligently cradling.

His arm was already getting a little sore.

He didn't care. In fact, his freer hand would make a small, subtle stroke over that bump.

"Yeah... I'm alright either way, too. Kinda wonder if there's a chance they'll look anything like I did when I was alive... I practically had to beat fans away with a stick back in my prime."

"I always pictured you as that standard white man. Light brown hair, moderately tall. Heheheh," Alastor admitted with a chuckle. "...They aren't being punished with their form the way we are. I wonder how it'll affect their appearance. If anything, I hope they have Maman's curls."

"I hope they do, too! You've mentioned these legendary curls before and you've got me curious," he chuckled.

"And I was far from standard. This head of mine was meant to protect the rest of you from my true form. If you saw it, you'd get nothing done... ever." He sagely nodded.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure you were simply swarmed with salacious attention!" Alastor rolled his eyes, drumming his fingers over the back of Vox's hand where it held him. "I like the novelty of the television head, for all its foibles. Can you imagine what sort of jokes I could make if my head were quite literally a cathedral radio? Phenomenal!"

He burst out laughing. "Wait wait wait-- I've actually got something for this!"

Vox raised a hand- don't worry, he won't let you go just yet- and gestured open a hologram screen. He swept to scroll through a few things, all terrible scribblings of this and that to occupy his mind during boring meetings, until he stopped on an image.

Oh, that immediately got a massive laugh from Alastor - he started guffawing, having to lean back just to not double over.

"HAHahah! Oh, imagine! From a face made for radio to a face made INTO radio! Hahahahaha!"

He beamed. "You joked about it before, way back when. I've got tons of doodles like these from all the bullshit stockholder conference calls...!"

He received a ping, dancing between his antennae. After a brief thought, he passed it along to the other Vees. Had a dinner ETA.

"...We're ten minutes out from grub, by the way. You feel up for it...?"

"Even after tea from Rosie, I am famished. And I've got to see whether your regular fare is acceptable or not!"

Heheheh. Scrutinizing will always be a little funny.

"Ten is plenty to slip a little dance in, too~"

"Burgers are perfectly acceptable! Nobody sees my vision, I swear-"

He perked.

"Oh yeah...? You up for it?" He wiggled his eyebrows. They could take it easy.

"It's meant to be a relaxing evening," Alastor hummed, settling his weight on his feet and turning around. It felt a bit silly, only dressed in a bathrobe, but Vox had seen far more than this already.

...And he didn't mind, since the sight of him seemed to send his old pal into a twitterpated state.

"Aside from having to skulk in the middle of the night through Pentagram City, Rosie had me absolutely at her mercy - nothing but gossip and relentless measurements and lectures. Oh, the lectures, just like Velvette did for you. I was a bit miffed she could tell immediately that you had fathered them - I'd hoped I could be at least a bit more mysterious and suspect."

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