Author's Notes (Not a proper chapter, sorry!):
I LIVE! Lol anyways, hello everyone. Yes, it is I, the author, and I have come here with something of an apology. You see, I have made absolutely no progress on this story recently, and the main reason is that my writing medium is Google Drive. Which requires internet.
I still don't have internet.
I have internet on my phone, yes, but typing stuff like this on my phone is actually not only difficult for me, but I have a hard time proof-reading it. So while this little segment is done on the phone, I simply get too stressed trying to write chapters on such a little screen. I have been thinking of this story on a daily basis and have worked out several kinks in the story, as well as some fun plot stuff, but as for writing… Yea, that hasn't happened. I may need to look into getting Microsoft Word or something, because not being able to write without internet is driving me crazy. I'll have to publish this at my Mom's house or something, when I'm over. Which is once a week.
And let's be honest, I'm usually napping while I'm there, lol. I'm in the home stretch of my pregnancy and am SO HAPPY that it's almost over! Also means I'm constantly tired as shit right now, but if T-Mobile would get their asses in gear and bring in our portable internet, I would start writing again in a heart-beat. Which is another reason I'm putting up with the tiny phone screen to write this: I swear to God I'm not done, and I wanted to let you all know that very badly.
So I decided to have a tiny bit of fun with a little Q&A because it's the most I can do on a phone without chucking it at the wall. So, since I've been stuck only reading my story over and over, I've decided to pick apart two or three little details that got lost because I either didn't explain it, changed something mid-way and forgot, or just straight up didn't think about it. Enjoy!
Q: So, if Eliza's been working for free all this time, how did she pay for food at Plaisir's Crus for Alucard? Or for that tea at the Devil's Diner?
A: Um… yea, totally forgot she was broke. Granted she strikes me as the type to walk around carrying cash and may have died with some in her pocket, as she likes being a bit old-fashioned, but not only did I not specify that, it totally slipped my mind! Although there are a couple things I could have said to fix this. A: She not only made friends with the managers, but she's a known associate of Alastor, and being friends with a celebrity does have its perks. Only applies to Plaisirs Crus, of course. B: She probably got something of a finder's fee from Alastor involving the black-market sales of the spears she collected, probably leftover money from the budgeted amount for decorating her workspace. Either would have worked, but yea, totally spaced on that one.
Q: Who the fuck is Talon? You know, the guy working at Plaisirs Crus that yelled out "Bitches love cannons!"
A: Yea, totally spaced again, but that's for a different reason. See, there are chapters that got scrapped where Talon (a young man who resembles a red raptor with a small crest of horns and a barbed tail) got a bit more screen-time interacting with Eliza. However, those chapters (20-29) got scrapped in favor of a very different set.
Q: Wait, you scrapped 10 whole chapters? Why?!
A: Basically, it involved hard interactions between characters that, by the end of it all, felt forced or went in a direction that I felt didn't fit the direction I wanted to take the characters. Husk and Angel Dust have a falling out and Husk goes full Tsundere on his ass, which while canon just didn't work in my head anymore because Angel felt like he made an emotional move too soon. Granted I liked the pole dance scene a bit better because it was sung and both Angel and Cherri were involved, but by removing Cherri and the flirty move on Husk, it felt generally better and still showcased Husk's tsundere tendencies by having him try to mentally deny that he found Angel attractive.
The other thing that happens is a falling out between Alastor and Eliza. The pheromone is showcased a bit, but it's much more subtle and doesn't actually cause the conflict, instead being something of a 'last straw'. Alastor and Angel Dust find out that Eliza's been summoning a piano in the stage room, and Alastor believes she's practicing in secret and confronts her about it. Now, the whole fight actually takes place at Alastor's home/tower, where Eliza's recovering from a dangerous encounter with one of Hell's many severe weather phenomena. Eliza confronts him about his mixed signals, saying that if he's disinterested that she'll need to set up boundaries because it's confusing as Hell, which he doesn't take well. In a panic, he intimidates her and tells her that she has nothing to offer him because he has all the power, wealth, knowledge and connections that she could ever want, and she has nothing to bring to the table for him. Now feeling like her friend views her as worthless, she goes full ice-queen and returns to the hotel, leaving Alastor to regret what he said, leading to an emotional breakdown that, while well-written in my opinion, simply no longer fits the vision I have for his character.
So instead of Alastor's actions being an instinct-driven mistake (which I feel fits him better), it was a panic-fueled insult that resulted in driving off Eliza. While I will have him panicking in the future over things, it will be much more deserved and showcase less of an emotional overload (as I view him as not really feeling the full range of emotions most do, or at least certainly not in the same way) and more of a psychosis-driven rage.
There are other things that are vastly different in those chapters: A subplot involving Fizz's programming, Vox being told by Eliza to stop manipulating her and seeing him for a therapy session rather than the whole sell-out-the-hotel meeting, an actual fight between Eliza and Alastor where she tries to kill him as a dragon, Alastor finally tells Mimzy once and for all that he can't be more than friends with her… Lots of differences, and frankly I enjoy the published version a lot more, but I still like what happened in the alternate chapters too. In fact, I still have them saved, so maybe I'll post them sometime as an alternate universe type story (obviously not continued past what's already written because it's discontinued). Still, there were enjoyable parts that I might like to keep for future reference.
Q: What parts did you want to keep?
A: The weather phenomenon led to a crisis of purpose for Charlie, which was resolved with a powerful conversation with Husk that I love and may find a way to reintegrate at a later date. Another is an interaction between Valentino and Angel that displays the pimp's domineering tendencies a little better than the one I have currently. Then there's the sub-plot with Fizz, where his programming bothers Eliza to the point where she tries to free him from it, because it doesn't fit with her strong belief in the freedom to choose what to do for yourself. Finally there's the conversation that Alastor has with Mimzy, which I don't really like how I wrote it, but the idea of him suddenly understanding how she feels because he fucked up and put himself through it is a fascinating concept, even if it no longer fully fits the direction I'm taking him.
Q: So, if you're keeping Alastor ace, why did he react to a pheromone when you said that they never worked on him before?
A: That will actually get explained fairly soon, but Eliza's pheromone works differently from most. It's not just capable of attracting potential mates, but also able to repulse unwanted ones, based on her own psychological needs. But in reference specifically to Alastor, that's actually going to dive into a bit of serial killer psychology that I think gets a bit overlooked, especially when a serial killer is labeled Ace.
Q: Why not just use him being Ace? What's the link between being a serial killer and an Aesexual?
A: Actually, nothing. See, being a serial killer and being Ace are, obviously, mutually exclusive. That's why what I'm going to bring up may get overlooked. Basically, his specific reaction to the pheromone is what makes the difference between a serial killer and a murderer. If he were JUST Ace, his reaction would have actually been very, VERY different, but no less potent.
Q: We're over 30 chapters in now, and we haven't heard a peep out of Alastor's microphone. Reason?
A: Because until I recently rewatched the pilot episode of Hazbin Hotel, I completely forgot that the microphone could talk, lol. So… yea, he's not really gonna get much attention. Maybe as something of a secretary-type thing when Alastor's too busy to deal with someone, but that's about it. Sorry Alastor's sentient mic, I completely forgot you were a thing.
Q: Again, 30+ chapters in and no one's getting any sex or anything! What's taking so long?
A: We're dealing with a sex-repulsed Ace with psycho-sociopathic tendencies and an aversion to touch in general, a virgin therapist who's curious about sex but has her own issues with it, and a horny spider who's falling in love with a tsundere cat. He may be labeled pansexual in canon, but let's be honest here: it's hard to get tsundere characters to put out. Poor Angel's gotta work his way through a lotta shit to get some.
Q: So, the only reason you're not updating is lack of internet, right?
A: Yup. Unfortunately due to financial issues it may be a VERY long time until we get internet, which means I'll need to get creative. Sorry guys, but for what it's worth, I am looking into solutions. I want to work on this story so bad!
Q: What becomes of this Q&A after you publish a new chapter?
A: I'll just replace this with a real chapter. Maybe I'll put the questions and answers at the bottom of chapters one at a time just to keep them, since they're kind of fun to do, but I won't do much more than that.
Alright, ladies and gents, I think that about wraps this up for now. Again, I feel really bad about the lack of updates, so I wanted to at least do SOMETHING in the mean-time. Thanks for all the faves and follows, and your reviews make my day! Ya'll are awesome!