Bout time we got back to doing these and we got quite a lot to talk about for the next five chapters. Quite a bit happens for our dragon hero over the course of recovering from his failure at the beach resort. Including meeting a new friend of his, so let's get started.
Running with the Wolf: It was always the plan that this series would start to bridge both halves of the Hellaverse together. And while we started early on with Striker, I knew people wouldn't be satisfied until we saw at least one person from IMP show up. Chapter 27 gave us two, Loona and her dad, Blitz. And for that big intro to them, as well as a certain seriously gross shark, I knew I needed something special. That's why I put things on hold until a special project of mine was finished. That being a brand new title card.
I went back to Ciphy_Master for this one, asking him to fulfill my little request. I was more than prepared to wait for it, as good things take time. I just didn't anticipate how much time it was going to take and honestly that was my fault, I probably should've made the request much sooner, but I wanted to finalize the chapter to get a good idea of what it would look like. Ciphy was himself preoccupied with other matters though, so it was just something I had to accept. It at least let me catch up a ton on my backlog. The reason you're getting so many chapters, including the longest one I've written to date, is thanks in part to Ciphy taking his time to get this thing right. And I was beyond pleased with the results.
As a special treat though, here's my personal concept for how the title card looked originally.
I honestly think Loona turned out better than I thought she would. The Goat Boiz... eh... yeah... no. Ciphy improved on every aspect honestly. Keeping me appraised on it all. I especially like how he ended up making Loona look way cooler. And how he positioned Razzle and Dazzle was also way more clever than my choice. I am immensely appreciative over Ciphy professionalism on this project, I cannot thank him enough for seeing it through, knowing he was going through a lot at the time.
Anyway, talking about the meat of the chapter. I wanted RJ to deal with the aftermath of falling on his face hard at the Beach Resort. That primarily meant him being forced to come to terms with his newfound doubts and concerns. One of which was if he was ever going to be good enough for Charlie and if anything he did for her was going to amount to anything more than just being a good friend. Not that he's looking for a reward or anything by being nice, that's not the point. He just wants to prove he can be more than a friend. Unfortunately, that means he has to come to terms with the fact that maybe things will not work out how he wants all the time, whether or not Charlie is his girlfriend.
I needed a way to separate RJ from Charlie though, to better emphasize the fact he felt distant from her now as he was starting to question if he was kidding himself. If going after Charlie was the right move for the right reasons. Because if all he does is screw up, what good is he to her? That's not the only problem though, but that's for the last chapter we'll be discussing in this post. Primarily, I needed to force RJ away from Charlie to emphasize his feelings that he is not succeeding in his goal and it feels further away than ever. So... I got Charlie sick and unable to complete an important errand.
Sick Charlie was fun to write, partially because she gets to be a little more goofy and silly, mostly because she's allowed to be gross and vulnerable. Nothing in canon said Charlie can't get sick, so I went with it. Drawing on all my experience of watching people and myself get sick, it's not fun, believe me. And there's probably a whole B-Plot's worth of stuff to write about how Charlie's flu wreaked havoc with the Hotel. But that's for another day.
KeeKee was placed as the chapter's primary macguffin if you will. The source of the story's overarching narrative. Although, to be fair, I doubt anything else could've filled her role. She is the only pet that Charlie has that is nearly so important, given that she is essentially the Hotel itself. I threw Raz and Daz into things for one primary reason, they had not been used in a major way yet and I needed to give them both some time with RJ. It also would present an opportunity for both of them to reveal their true natures later on and prove that they weren't just sickeningly adorable. It was a nice bait and switch for RJ to discover and provided some decent comedy in between the major vignettes.
This brings us to the real co-star of the adventure, Loona. And her and Blitz showing up now reveals ultimately when this story is taking place in parallel to Helluva Boss. I thought it would've been more than obvious by this point, especially when chapter 26 took place on Spring Break. But it seemed I didn't really do enough to make it clear. So this is the official admission, Chapter 27 takes places about a day after Episode 3 of Helluva Boss, Spring Breakers, where Charlie met and was ultimately shot down in her pursuit of Vortex.
I think the reason I chose that particular point in time is at least easy enough to ascertain. RJ and Loona both had awful Spring Break experiences. RJ tried to confess his love for a girl and he ended up ruining the vacation she planned, not on purpose, but still ruined it just by being there. Loona tried to hook up with a guy she liked and let her defenses down to do it, essentially humiliating herself in an attempt to get him to like her. And he did... but he was already taken so that was over before it started. So now both of these two characters, feeling a little lost and loveless, are forced together in a circumstance that neither could have predicted.
And it's all Blitz's fault because this is Season One Blitz, and Season One Blitz is an asshole! I'm not saying anything more about certain... actions he might have taken beforehand, but primarily he leaves the worst impression on RJ because he is, ultimately too self-centered to care about anyone else's problems besides his own. Loona needs her shots, she is uncooperative because she hates needles, and RJ is in the way of him getting one as fast as possible. So in the process he makes it harder for himself and harder for RJ. It was probably the most perfect introduction I could've given Blitz to this story, and thankfully his voice actually seemed to match Brandon Rogers' delivery and style. Although I probably should've used the F-Word more, who knows?
Naturally the most crucial step in the chapter was actually giving a believable reason why Loona would ever want to team up with some rando sinner she just met to find a cat she couldn't care less about. Making it partially her fault was a starter, having her coach it in a way to prevent RJ from developing a grudge against her and her dad, but primarily I just have her admit it's so she can get out of taking her shot. That seemed appropriate enough for Loona as a reason.
Loona is... difficult to write for some people. I find too many folks try to soften her edges. That's not Loona. Loona is sharp, you can't soften those edges for her. She needs to be willing to drop them and allow herself to be vulnerable. She won't do that for just about anyone. So she's abrasive, mean, she doesn't take RJ seriously and questions him constantly, expecting him to reveal that he's actually just a horrible person and that he doesn't actually care about the cat. That like every sinner he's out for himself in some fashion. So when RJ proves he truly does give a shit about KeeKee and is disappointed, even blaming himself, for what happened, it's pretty clear he's not like most sinners. Especially when he bothers to be nice to her without really expecting anything in return. In fact, he's kinda worried about dragging her along on something that's more trouble than is worth involving her in. Loona actually has to convince him to let her tag along.
It was after that initial hurdle, reassuring Loona that RJ isn't just another shitty human soul, that the two are able to open up to each other. RJ because he needs to vent about his current rash of problems, and Loona is receptive to it because it reminds her of what she's going through after Vortex unknowingly shot her down. From there, I could build out the chemistry between them and actually show that RJ might have another path with someone else. Especially since it seems his tail has a clear interest in Loona, a strangely affectionate one in fact.
Those were seeds planted for later, which have just sprouted in chapter 32, but we're not there yet.
The things I wanted to avoid was making it seem like Loona was instantly crushing on RJ and vice versa. I wanted more of a bonding feel, a level of understanding and some interest between them that goes unsaid. And wanted all of that to feel natural. Earned. Having a shared experience being unlucky in love is one thing, I needed it to go deeper. Namely that both RJ and Loona feel isolated, alone, like they can't do anything right and never will be able to even if they change. That's honestly the deeper meaning behind the "Jessie's Girl" sequence, beyond just Loona seeing just how much they have in common.
That was a fun song sequence to write by the way. Especially with the duplicating Charlies. Mainly I did that to knock RJ down a peg by reminding him and the readers constantly that they were all very obvious figments of our dragon's imagination. Having them vanish, as well as showing Loona in the middle of them all, was a nice bit of greater foreshadowing suggesting RJ has other options he could pursue.
However, he's not ready for that discussion.
Another neat bit of the song? I didn't have to really change any lyrics except switch around the pronouns and the names a little. It was a near little trick honestly. I wish more songs afforded me that sort of chance to play around and not be too taxing when it comes to switching up the lines.
The Hellhound who believes cheesing is an actual thing was mostly just an excuse to have him take KeeKee into the alley so they could both get captured. Honestly though, I suspect some people would actually think you could get high on cat pee.
If you want to know where I think Loona actually started getting a bit of a crush on RJ, it was around the point where he tried to tell her to not put herself in danger for her, and she pulled her whole faux angry response to that in a bit of tough love right back at him. Which only became more pronounced when during their flight he tried to reassure her that she was both a good person, declared they were friends, and casually informed her she was attractive. Which not even Vortex said. Sure, he said she was cool, but so did RJ. Anyone can say you're cool. Someone telling you you're attractive, without it even being a flirt but just them saying it directly as a matter of fact, that's a big deal. Especially to someone like Loona, who has very obvious abandonment issues and crippling doubt about her self-worth. So if anything cemented that she was attracted to this guy, it would be that.
I mean, come on, someone flying you through the city, calling you beautiful... that's gotta be on a few trashy romance novel covers.
Alright so... Chaz... uggggghhhh. I hate Chaz. I mean, I like writing him because he is all kinds of terrible. But I really do not like Chaz. I'm amazed he has any fans, but they exist. They are defying to odds and... declaring that the most easily hateable character on the show is actually just a silly little guy. But I really didn't want another one of RJ's potential enemies to just outright hate him. I have a lot of those and more on the way, I needed to switch it up some. So here's an enemy who is takes one look at RJ and decides "Would" and who else would think that but fucking Chaz, am I right? So, hey, if you like Chaz for some reason or hate him which is more likely, good news, you now have a reason to see RJ pound his face in to ward off unwanted advances.
And it's not because RJ is straight or because he has a problem with being hit on by a man. Chaz just physically repulses him. As he should.
The real villain of the moment though was the Deacon Witchfinder, the leader of the Heavenly Eye Cult. Dressed in head to two in religious garb and standing out from his fellow Christian Cultists by wearing a hat on his head. Specifically, it is a pilgrim style Witchfinder General hat. You can probably guess when exactly he died. His first name is also important, Deacons in the Church are meant to be a voice between the higher echelons of the faith organization to those of the common folk. In this regard, the Deacon Witchfinder speaks for what he believes is the highest authority in the universe, that being the Heavenly Host or God Himself, telling him what to do. Is he lying or delusional? Who can say. But it's certainly effective given how many followers he has.
People have pointed out he feels like a great foil for RJ, a sinner who doesn't believe they belong in Hell and has let that twist him into something horrible. They're mostly right, but there is a bit more to the Deacon Witchfinder that you'll find out in time.
You found out one major thing though. The Deacon and his followers drink the blood of Hellborn, thinking it grants them supernatural power that will help them overthrow Hell. This probably does not work but they believe it does and that's what matters. Faith is a real strong motivator. Of course, the whole point of this is to show that the Heavenly Eye is a a very deranged version of Christianity. One that has taken the multiple practices of the various sects of the Faith and twisted them into something it was never meant for. They've essentially become Satanists, or really... the Christian Panic of Hell. But they refuse to acknowledge that a ton of the shit they're doing is frankly... messed up. Mainly because they do not see the Hellborn as people. And imps and Hellhounds aren't exactly seen as much better than that by the rest of Hell either, so they're easy pickings. Giving them ample opportunity to harm the lowest rung on the totem pole without anyone really giving a shit.
It's not like life matters much in Hell to begin with. People die all the time and no one bats an eye.
I suppose the song "We Drink Your Blood" was a little on the nose, but it felt appropriate. Given the song is about communion, but twisted in a way that makes it sound much more sinister, and also the song is by Powerwolf and Loona stars in this chapter... to not use it would be criminal. I brought out the less likely song "Malcolm" to sort of balance the scales and show RJ was willing to take a lesson from Loona about leaning into the skid. Something I feel she did more than once as a method of survival. If everyone thinks she's a bitch, they'll leave her alone. And if everyone thinks RJ is a fuck up, then they won't expect him to hit back. Given what happened at the Beach, it's the best advice RJ could get.
Corky's return was mostly just a way to catch up on the first pack of Hellhounds that RJ befriended. And to close off another random little link that RJ had mistakenly made with Avery as she's moved on. Which allows Loona to step in as his actual link to the lower totem of the Hell Hierarchy and his persistent friend. I feel like the moment they wrap things up, make that deal to help take down the Eyes, and share some last minute advice helps cement their growing chemistry. And I'm glad people resonated with it as well as they did. The fact they all bought that Loona could actually be a little interested in RJ was important to sell.
But more important was RJ returning back to the Hotel victorious with KeeKee safe and Vaggie appreciative. He apologized for his behavior, recognizing what he learned with Loona and was rewarded by getting to watch trashy TV with Charlie. Just to show that he still has a chance with the Princess and he was worrying himself into doubt for nothing. That chance being that Charlie needs friends to help her, and that's more important than anything. RJ can sort of accept that better now, but he needs more help later.
I really enjoyed writing the Soap Opera bit for the end of this chapter and the ones in the following one too. Those were just funny as hell. And the final line where RJ happily admits he did indeed make a friend was a nice cap on everything, giving RJ a win after a major defeat from the last chapter.
In any case, let's move on to the next chapter, where I continued that little gag with the soap operas I started.
This Was An Excuse to Do the Bane Voice: I'm just going to admit that straight up. I came up with this chapter to do a lowkey Warriors riff and make up an excuse for RJ to do the Bane Voice. That's basically it. But there's certainly more to it than just that. This was also an opportunity to show RJ taking part in what is essentially someone else's episode. Yes, he learns something, but he's not really what the chapter is about. It's about Sir Pentious, Angel Dust and Cherri Bomb.
I continued the Soap Opera joke and expanded it somewhat to give us a peak into just what kind of nerd RJ is. That being, he can make anything about going over lore. Sometimes too much. It was a little harder than I thought as I didn't want to retread old ground. But thankfully, it seems sudden revelations from people who should be dead is a well-worn trope in Soap Operas. So I suppose the fact it just keeps happening is perfectly fine.
The crux of this idea was basically me thinking "What would happen if Cherri was trapped being a reality star for Vox?" I think it came from a line from the "Pop!" song honestly. As it suggested that Cherri's reasons for blowing stuff up was to please a "Greedy TV Screen." It was obviously a theory postulated by the song as it was produced before the series actually got picked up by Prime. I decided to do something with it and came up with a reason for why she would ever subject herself to being on a Reality TV Show. Luckily, the actual show provided me with the answer. Angel's been gone for a while, Cherri hasn't had her best friend backing her up in her turf wars. Surely something must've slipped for her in that time? Or, more likely, someone used it to his advantage.
If there could be any fate worse for an anarchist like Cherri other than being forced to hock crappy merch for a crappy Reality TV Show, I don't know what it is. It just felt like the absolute worse nightmare scenario for her to be trapped in and the perfect one for Sir Pentious and Angel Dust to save her from with RJ's help. But who would they be fighting to save her exactly? Simple, I came up with some rival gangs.
The inspiration for them was two fold, really. It comes partially from The Warriors, as you no doubt could tell. But a lot of it, particularly the Hockey-based gang, was largely crafted from the game "Huntdown", about a 1980s Retro-Future steeped in the sleazy B-Action flicks of the era. Where you play as three bounty hunters as they take on several gangs to free the streets from crime. Obviously RJ and friends weren't going to become bounty hunters, but they needed someone to face off against and I wanted them to at least have some personality.
The Lost Toys and Penalty Boxers were the most directly inspired from "Huntdown", the latter due to the fact that the Misconducts from that game had a similar aesthetic. I shifted them around to be more their own thing, but they have a lot of their DNA still in there. Puckmaster especially, as he's just a sinnified version of Unholy Goalie from that game. The Sawn Offs are mostly original, as I didn't want to copy the game entirely. It would've gotten boring. I stuck with making their gimmick similar to the Furies in the Warriors, in that they all use a particular weapon and base their gimmick around it. Said weapon being power tools, and saws in particular. The Leatherface motif came naturally after that.
To combat the super gimmicky gangbangers, RJ and crew needed to go way harder in response. So... I pulled from another bit of inspiration. Drawing from the fact this story was dealing with Sir Pentious forced to accept he's not the only nemesis in Cherri's life, I took some ideas from a similar episode of Duck Dodgers. In one episode, Martin the Martian abandons a fight with Dodgers in order to face off against another villain who he thinks is far more worthy of his time than Daffy's alter ego. In response, Dodgers does everything in his power to become a superior arch enemy, up unto turning into a Doctor Doom parody. I didn't go that far, but I had RJ dress up himself and Angel in ridiculous Henchmen costumes to try and bolster Sir Pentious' arch enemy status.
Angel did not really enjoy getting shoved into a bunch of costumes, but at least he wasn't being forced to perform sex acts in them. I think that's the only reason he tolerated RJ doing any of this. The juxtaposition between RJ's extreme enthusiasm for dress up and Angel being completely over it from the get go made for some fun gags in my respect. Especially with the first costumes.
You might have guessed that RJ was technically dressed up as a Big Daddy for the first go around, and Bane for the third, but I don't think nearly as many spotted that he became Waspinator for the second round with Penalty Boxers. I felt it was too good a chance to pass up. Waspinator and RJ are both sorta butt monkeys who never have anything go right for them. It was a perfect combination, especially given how I planned for the fight to end for that section.
But yeah, the meat of everything was indeed RJ pretending he was Bane, much to everyone's annoyance. I don't care what anyone says, and that includes Crow on this, sorry bud, but I fucking love Bane from the Dark Knight Rises. Don't get me wrong, he's very much... NOT a good representation of who Bane actually is in the comics. Like at all. Sure, Bane is as smart as he is ruthless, but he's not nearly so... quippy. But I think it's more than obvious that I really fucking love quippy characters and will defend them to my dying breath. RJ couldn't pass up the chance to do the Bane voice for this because it's too good persona not to try replicating once. Getting to say all those incredibly scene chewing lines is just pure RJ in my mind. The very exact thing he'd do given the chance. And honestly, I just really wanted to have some fun I have to treat myself now and then. And being presented with the chance for RJ to give the "You Think Darkness Is Your Ally" monologue just made me smile.
Alright, enough of that. This chapter also introduced something more substantial by having RJ's Tail start acting up. Namely it becoming way more violent and far less agreeable. It was the first seeds planted in what would culminate eventually in chapter 32. It certainly got people wondering and I was glad they did. It's nice to see folks picking up on foreshadowing.
Now to be clear, Cherri knew it was Angel in that costume all along. After all, Sir Pentious lives with him now in the same Hotel. She, however, does not really recognize RJ at all because she has not been introduced to him. To her, he's just some random dragon, and one she kinda enjoys... kicking in the dick. Why? Eh, he's an easy target. Her foot is just magnetized to his crotch somehow. If you're wondering what this means... it's just a funny running gag. And maybe a little payback for RJ being so overbearing with his costume idea and everything. He did make things more difficult than he needed to in his very... special way.
Ultimately though I really just wanted Cherri to ultimately save herself, with Sir Pentious' and Angel's intervention of course, but mostly because they would be helping her realize she didn't need VoxTek to be awesome, nor did she really need all the bombs in the world. She just needed a little help from the people who cared about her, even if she didn't really want to admit she needed it. Which was how the final fight unfolded.
Crow was the one who suggested the similarities to Mastermind with the whole plot. I was the one who told him Pentious would show up in his war blimp to save the day and he compared the scene to the one in Mastermind with the whole... presentation thing. Given that his suggestion gave me the idea to just up and use the song "Welcome to the Jungle" for the chapter's title and musical number, I decided to pay homage to it more directly. Plus Pentious got to really roll his S's. The song would be played by RJ dressed as the Doof Warrior for his final, and best costume really, because it allowed him to be himself. Same with Angel dressing himself as the Shadow. Not really a Henchman, but still effective and it feels like something he'd dress up as.
The last bit with Cherri booting the little camera drone all the way back to the production crew was a nice way in my mind to wrap things up. If you really want to tie in more background characters into the canon of this story, you can assume that the director trying to make Cherri sell all those products and show off her naughty bits was Travis. You know, the weird bird guy thing from the pilot who called Angel Dust a "Slut" after he dropped him off on the side of the road. And later appeared as the director alongside Valentino in Masquerade. I know we never technically saw him, but given he works for Valentino its believable that Vox would ask Val to let him borrow his director for this.
Speaking of Vox, if you're wondering why, given certain things we know about season 2 at this point, why Vox didn't just step in and stop all of this from going down, we can assume he was busy with other things. And just didn't bother to call in, if you will. What could he working on? Well, that's probably spoilers related so can't talk about it. But I hope that makes sense for anyone wondering.
If there's anything I hope these chapters with Cherri Bomb add it's the chance to actually develop and tease hers and Sir Pentious' relationship a bit more before it actually gets rolling on the show proper. I just know that Vivziepop had a lot more planned concerning the development of these two, but she only had eight episodes to do it in, and other characters needed their time as well. I would hate to be in her position, forced to figure out which story to tell and how to tell it. Clearly a good deal of those ideas ended up in Helluva Boss. How much and what exactly I can't say, I can't read her brain, but I like to think that in some small way I'm managing to do something that is at little in line with her vision. But I'm not as pompous as to believe its one to one. Only in spirit in that she probably wanted more time to show Pents and Cherri actually growing fond of one another.
The ending where RJ gets fed up with trying to figure out the overly complex lore of soap operas and just switch his obsession to Wrestling was a twofold joke. One, to show that the most masculine of pastimes in the form of professional wrestling is really just another version of the soap opera format but with more punching. As South Park pointed out years ago. But also, it was sort of a tribute to a dear friend of mine who is the biggest wrestling fanatic out there and I really wanted to put in something I think he'd get a laugh out of if he ever bothered to read the story. I have way too many wrestling jokes to
The other fun bit was just seeing the hotel boys all just relax and bond with one another watching crappy TV. It was really their chapter at the end of the day, their shared adventure together, and letting them sign off on it all was a joy to watch ultimately.
It also gave me a chance to have Charlie set up next time... which we will now get into.
The Gross Out Chapter: This was where I channeled my inner Ren and Stimpy writer, minus the gross creep who made that cartoon. Fuck John K. Now that the requisite reminder that some cartoonists are absolute assholes who deserve nothing but scorn, let's actually talk about this chapter. where RJ molts and hijinks ensure.
I have to give credit, once again, to Crow for this idea. As it was he who suggested that when RJ levels up as a result of his headset, he should molt and along with a power boost he should end up looking a bit more handsome and attractive to Charlie. And while I liked the idea and thought it would be a good story, I knew there would have to be a decent consequence and drawback to that in order to get a conflict out of the whole thing. And that's where the idea that the molt would be the most gross, ugly thing RJ would have to go through came from.
And then forcing him to take part in a fancy party just made it even better.
Look, sometimes sitcom shenanigans bullshit just works, okay? There's a reason that shit stayed popular throughout the 90s.
RJ's very gross look was mostly inspired by real-life lizard skin shedding. Granted, his was considerably way grosser than they ever get, but the general look was similar. Craggy skin sunken looking eyes, the greatest divergence was the gunky build-up that started leaking out. My reasoning is that the gunk is RJ's pores trying to get the skin to come off as it suffocates under all that dead skin. Combine that with the fact he's wearing heavy make up and has strapped himself into a suit, you have the perfect storm for things to start falling apart, as RJ's body tries to shake off the gross dead skin that's all over him.
I knew Bethy had to be the one that would help RJ hide his molt. It made the most sense given her fashionista nature and her love of movies means she'd be perfect to help RJ cover up his skin. However, that came with another complication, I wanted to have Bethy sing a song and it was agony trying to pick one. I can't really remember which ones I tried, all of them just did not work. None of them felt like something Bethy would sing, other just didn't feel like they fit the scene. Ultimately, I found a song about dressing people up, "Dressing Them Up." Although, it wasn't about movies and the people they were dressing up weren't people but mannequins.
The song comes from the musical "Kiss of the Spider-Woman," and admittedly I was a bit concerned picking it. The song is sung by a gay man who is very flamboyant. Now I know Bethy isn't gay and I'm very sure she's not a man, so I was honestly concerned I was appropriating the song or something away from the community it was spawned from. But I decided it was mostly okay because, for the most part, it's fine to sing any song regardless of who sung it originally. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people who are singing "Pink Pony Club" aren't Lesbian Women. More than positive it's not just girls singing K-Pop Demon Hunter songs either. And the song just fit Bethy so well, I just had to use it.
I still needed to change some lyrics of course, thank Crow again for helping with that again. I just needed the song to actually reflect Bethy's former job of dressing up starlets for Hollywood. She wasn't dressing up mannequins after all. Her lyrics had to reflect that. I did pay a little homage to the song's opening by having her lines rhyme a little before the music cut in.
Bethy's body structure also adds a great deal of versatility for these sorts of musical numbers, even with her stuck in text form with no visuals. I like to think I've done a great job of translating exactly what she's doing in any given scene, but I can only see my own mind's eye here.I just find it fun that Bethy has all these squiggly limbs that she can stretch and wrap around, and with no bones she can pretty much do whatever she wants with her tentacles. It lends itself to some great fun when she's allowed to cut loose.
And to match her manic energy, I used Niffty as a means of her closing out her participation in the story. It just clicked for me that Bethy and Niffty had a lot in common, save for their particular hyper-fixations and their view of the world. The two instantly hitting off with one another just made me smile, Bethy obsessing over decor aesthetic, Niffty obliviously suggesting horrifying torture opportunities and Bethy just absorbing them as part of her design brainstorm.
I'll have more to talk about concerning Bethy next chapter, so let's go over the real fun part of this whole chapter, the Goetias, and one family specifically in that regard.
Paimon has never been stated to be dead by Vivziepop. And I doubt he is. The Goetia are essentially immortal and there's no way he died in the last couple of years out of the blue. The only reason he hasn't shown up again is the same reason Blitz's dad hasn't popped up again. The voice actor is super expensive. I don't have that problem, so I can actually have Paimon around and comment on what's happening concerning his son and his unhappy marriage.
Stolas being here was inevitable. If I was throwing a Goetia party, of course Stolas would be there. There's no way he wouldn't be. He's a prince within the royal hierarchy after all. And his dad is throwing it. So this was a good point to introduce him into things. Thankfully not while he's being excessively horny. I'm not sure that would've gone over well with RJ, who already has conflicting feelings about the fact he cheated on his wife.
The conflicting feelings being that said wife is an absolute bitch. And look, I know a lot of folks try to defend Stella. I've given her leeway myself given she clearly didn't want this marriage either. But come on, it's obvious enough that she was a horrible emotionally abusive person. Again, she's not mad that Stolas cheated on her, she never loved him, why would she care? Maybe she's pissed off that he's acting like she's the bad guy even though she stayed loyal. But all the same, there's no love lost here. She's really only pissed off Stolas slept with an imp. You can argue about her not wanting this life, never asking to have a child with Stolas, and how she's been forced into this and all, but she's still a horrible person who played her role in this tragedy. None of that is an excuse for treating Stolas with the contempt she does. It's one thing to not love a person you're stuck in a marriage with. But Stella goes out of her way to antagonize him, secure in the knowledge it seems that he will never talk back to her.
So yeah, she was the focus of a lot of the unfortunate consequences of RJ's gross molting session. All in the slow build up to her discovering she drank dead skin gunk. I suspect a few of the readers were looking at Alastor oddly, with how he was so quick to accommodate and buddy up to Stella. But try to remember, Al does not actually care. He uses people. And if he could use Stella to make RJ's life miserable for his amusement, why not do so? And Stella of course buys it despite hating Sinners because it's a chance to piss off Stolas more. Seriously, writing her comeuppance was well overdue.
Octavia was the one Goetia who wasn't stuck up her own ass. If I have any true sympathy for what's going on in the Goetia family, it's for Octavia. Who is dealing with the fact her parents never loved each other and asking herself what that means for her. I don't blame her for being confused about it. And I don't really blame Stolas either, although he seriously should've tried to keep her in the loop and try to explain it.
I was happy to write Octavia as RJ's ally in this mess of his own making. And I'm glad that folks saw it as a brother and sister deal personally. The last thing I needed was people thinking Octavia was joining the polycule. Believe me, she is not, nor ever will be. Mostly because she's underage, generally because she's Ace and that's just never going to be in the cards for her. I like to think Octavia does have a friend now that she can talk, what little good it does. RJ can't exactly solve this problem for her, but it's nice to know someone out there is going through some shit just like you are.
Paimon and Stolas' running argument that's occurring throughout the chapter was fun to write for how utterly terrible the former is as a father. If you can blame anything for Stolas' imperfect parenting, it lies with Paimon who was only hands on at any point when it mattered to their reputation. I really like the joke about how it actually took him way less time to pick Stella as his arranged wife than it takes most of us to finish a grocery trip. That was my favorite joke to write, right along with him saying being rich means they can afford to lie. It also gave me the chance to have RJ offer Stolas some advice. Even if he isn't ready to act on it, Stolas is at least trying to listen.
The waltz sequence was mostly just me getting the chance to have various Ars Goetia talk about their very weird personal lives, as well as have a creative way for RJ to navigate the dance floor. I'm actually sorta proud that I didn't make any stupid crack about RJ having a problem with dancing with another man. These sorts of functions are so formal I honestly don't think it would even be an issue. Plus, I honestly wonder at this point if ANY of the Goetia males are straight. I really do. All three of the most prominent ones we know of are beyond queer. So I doubt they'd care about dancing with the same sex all that much. They have clearly way weirder fetishes than their sexual orientation alone in any case. If anything, that's probably the most normal thing about them.
Either way, it meant RJ was allowed to have this fun little sequence and not make a big deal about who he was dancing with. He made a big deal about what the guys and gals he runs into begin talking to him about, all of it very bizarre rich people kinks, but it's there. I will admit, none of them were particularly rude to him. Although I think the woman asking him to get in a fight with her boyfriend and die was a little much on her part.
Of course, all of this inevitably leads to RJ on the roof with Charlie, talking about his insecurities with his looks. Culminating in our wyvern letting himself accept change and allowing the level up to complete. Where, once the dust settles, we reveal he's now considerably more handsome, muscled, and now possessed a nose horn. Part of me honestly wishes I had a proper picture of what RJ now looks like as a result of this change. It's nothing too drastic, his Demon Form is honestly the biggest alteration. But he's changed enough that, while he still looks a bit goofy, he's now just a little more cooler looking as a dragon.
This sparks something in Charlie, allowing her to getting just a little interested in our Wyvern, specifically because he now looks... kinda hot to her. We'll actually have a greater discussion about RJ's level up and how it affected Charlie's view of him at another time. But for now, let's just say I think Charlie has some very particular types. That being reasonably short people, like Vaggie, and reasonably tall people. She was a bit flustered by that super tall furry porn star after all.
I'll use this time to address something else. A lot of people seemed to think that Stolas was going to invite Blitz to the show as a result of him getting Charlie her venue. However, my understanding was that Stolas had learned by now not to mix his daughter-daddy time with his... well, dates if you will. I didn't want Stolas to be repeating the mistake he made in Loo Loo Land. Honestly, it probably wasn't the fact Blitz wasn't ultimately in the next chapter, so much as Moxxie and Millie weren't. Because... I guess Blitz would've had them tag along? Eh. Truth be told that felt like a weak justification to have them there just because. Moxxie and Millie will appear in the story in due time. Don't worry, they aren't forgotten.
One last bit before we head to the next chapter ourselves, it took a bit of time to pick out what song to use for the closing dance party. I had a few possible song choices, but a lot of them I wanted to save for another time and another musical moment that felt more earned for those songs. My eventually choice came down to it sounding enough like my other choice that I found it acceptable. Little Richard is always a great go to for classic rock dance music.
I also like the image of Stolas dancing with Octavia, a nice daddy-daughter moment honestly. I wish we had more of those on the show.
Beware the Phantom Stock Plot: It seems anything involving performance art of any kind will inevitably involve a saboteur plot with someone trying to ruin the show. And that usually takes the form of a Phantom character. One of the most often used plot lines in fiction, it seems everyone wants to do their take on the Phantom, and I'm no different.
But at least for me, I was able to use it to tell a fun story that focused on RJ managing a mission with two of his wacky Sinner pals outside of the Hotel. Bethy and Ikebert were just the perfect co-stars for this adventure. And when I decided they'd be in the chapter together, I hit upon a perfect idea. That being Bethy would be absolutely smitten by Ike, the most unlikely person anyone with any sense would have a crush on. And that Ike would be completely oblivious to this, because... well he's not the smartest guy and the turtle is way too focused on hunting down communists to truly notice that sort of thing.
It posed way too many opportunities for awesome gags, both in this chapter and beyond, to pass up. So I went all in on it, and for the most part a lot of people seemed to enjoy it. I think this is partly because a lot of folks really like Ikebert and his ridiculous hyper-militaristic Cold Warrior persona that is incredibly out of date with modern times. It's almost quaint how insanely Anti-Communist he is. And a lot of folks really like Bethy, although their autocorrects continue to write her name as Becky for whatever reason. Mainly because, even though she is an admitted former studio fixer who blackmailed, cheated, lied, brutalized, and covered up secrets to get to the top in Hollywood, she's actually quite nice.
A lot of people have compared her to Susan from the Ted TV Series. Mostly because she is Bostonian and I have described her as having a fairly thick Boston accent. And Susan is probably one of the most prominent Boston Women in fiction right now, so everyone is picking up on that and the similarities to Bethy that I admit Susan has. These are completely coincidental by the way, as I have never watched Ted's TV Show and only now know of Susan because I've watched clips of the show as a result of the comparisons.
In general, I actually sort of came to really like the two as a couple as I wrote the chapter. Not just because they were funny together or even because they had good chemistry. It just felt like their particular quirks complemented on another. Bethy is an obvious drama geek and theater kid, she lives for the show and the performance more than anything. And with Ike, what you see is honestly what you get, regardless of anything else we may find out about him. He's incredibly earnest and blunt about who he is. Bethy puts her ego forth quite a bit though, as she has a rather high opinion of herself. So when Ike doesn't seem to get what she's putting down, it's hard for her to adjust because in her mind this should really easy. She's highly talented and amazing, surely Ike should be able to see that and her actions should convey her interest well enough.
But she doesn't seem to realize that Ike is incredibly stupid, so it's not really through any fault of her own that he's not understanding any of this. He really is that thick.
The other half of this chapter though was the play itself. While it's mostly there as something for RJ to save, I did actually have to put thought into how it would be performed. And what it would look like. Charlie ultimately is a bit of a big optimistic and joyful person. She's also, very clearly, her own sort of drama geek. I couldn't really see her making a big action spectacle, that's just not really her. So "The Stray Soul" is very esoteric, heavy on metaphor and, admittedly, purposely corny. Charlie would not write a play that was just a little overly expressive and clearly preachy. And it doesn't escape me either that she cast herself in the role of the character who helps the lost people in the wood find redemption.
Essentially this is just a very obvious, not entirely subtle, very insistent play that is trying to convince you, a Sinner, to give redemption a chance. So, as Ike put it, the script is intentionally hokey. I wouldn't say stylistic suck, but more appropriately in-character concerning the person who stayed up two nights writing it.
Sir Pentious being in the lead role is intentional forward shadowing. I think Charlie picked him because by now she sees him as potentially the most innocent of the group. Not fully, I mean, he wants to be an evil genius, but he's probably got the most optimism out of everyone at the Hotel. He'd be best suited for the role of the Stray Soul in her mind. Plus, it gives Pents the chance to take center stage during a story that isn't really about him and doesn't strictly tie his story to RJ's. Sure, RJ plays the villain in the final scene, so to speak, but that's him taking part in the play, distracted from his plot stopping the phantom.
Speaking of, the Phantom honestly took a bit more inspiration from a source that was derivative of the original material. That being a version of the Phantom that plays an antagonist role within a level of Psychonauts, Gloria's Theater. He hides up in the catwalks, his general mode of attack is making things fall from above, yes he borrows primarily from every other Phantom in existence, but his base form, for me is the Catwalks section in Gloria's Theater from Psychonauts.
I think the reason people keep coming back to the Phantom concept, myself included it seems, is that its theatricality within a story about performance art. The idea of a suffering artist who lurks around a house of art, trying to live through someone's else work, in a way shape them to be exactly like them. There's obviously so much more to the Phantom than that, but speaking from a purely artistic lens, I feel a lot of writers get a lot out of that. There's also the whole idea of some creep in the background, constantly trying to sabotage a performance because he wants to force everyone to conform to his artistic demands... yeah, I imagine a few people can relate to being stuck in that situation.
For me I guess I've just absorbed a lot about the Phantom from two sources. The first being the Universal Monsters and the Phantom's role within that franchise. The second is from all the times Lindsay Ellis has bothered to discuss the IP to death in every aspect. I personally really liked how she talked about the Persian and how he keeps getting removed from pretty much every adaptation. A little of Ellis' fan-girling attitude towards the property translated over to Bethy, obviously. Although I doubt Ellis hates Love Never Dies enough to kill someone over it.
Coming up with this Phantoms numerous methods of sabotaging the play was a neat exercise in thinking of how he could try to destroy the performance. And how RJ and the others could fix it. RJ using his tail to prevent Charlie from falling was a good one as it introduced a pretty neat complication with the dragon being stuck flying in mid-air in a particular place, leaving him somewhat vulnerable, relying on Bethy and Ike to help him out. The stage being set on fire was tricky, Crow pointed out that kerosene would have been very easy to smell, so I had to come up with something flammable that couldn't be sniffed out. Ike getting launched out of the cannon was purely inspired from the Muppets, particularly the Muppets in 3D which is sadly no longer operating in Disney World... because we have to have a Monsters Inc Land I guess.
I'm only a little bitter.
It was a neat way for Ike to end up flying into Stolas and Octavia's booth and just casually greet them. I don't even think he knows who they are, he's just being his usual hospitable self. The only thing from Phantom lore I did not do was the chandelier falling. Mainly because it was so obvious that the Phantom would go after it, that if Bethy did not suggest they find a way to keep it defended she wouldn't be half the fan girl she claims to be. And with this Phantom playing it way too close to the original script for his own good, it was a neat way to fast forward ourselves to the climax.
I don't think it was that much of a surprise to have the Phantom revealed to be a Heavenly Eye cultist. Nor was it too much of a surprise for the Scooby Doo reveal to show that he was the missing special effects director. But the core of that sequence wasn't about either of those things, it was about Bethy's song. I was honestly worried people would be upset about Bethy having two songs in a row. It's probably why I added in Charlie singing the Play Rehearsal song from "Be More Chill" at the start. That song is just too perfectly Charlie not to include, and it showed that she was starting to realize she had some feelings for RJ besides friendship.
But Bethy was a lot more difficult. I wanted to give a song that emphasized her love of showbiz, and it's so hard to find one that fit the scenario. I finally landed on "That's Entertainment", both for its roots to old Hollywood, which Bethy hails from, and because it was very specifically about stage shows. It's nice that for once someone else besides RJ got to be front and center in resolving the problem. Yes, he helped using his tail in the end, but it's still good to show someone else saving the say besides him. While he is the hero, he's only one character in a group of many.
I think the gag where Bethy kills the Cultist because he claimed Love Never Dies was the best story in the entirety of the Phantiom mythos was me reminding folks that she is still a sinner. She's in Hell for a reason and that she has a limit. Crow kept joking that he thinks this moment was when Ike actually started returning a crush on Bethy, but personally I just think the turtle admires her for being so effective in executing a "Communist" like she did. However, I did want to reward Bethy despite her fruitless pursuit, because I think she deserves something outside of her work to take joy in. And RJ, being himself a hopeless romantic, playing wingman for her was just a sweet little moment to cap this chapter off. You can expect more from Bethy and Ike of course, together and apart. Especially Ike, but that's for another time.
For now, let's head to the last chapter we'll be talking about today.
Calling Out Mayday!: This was where we finally revealed RJ's new room decor. And it having a bit of a Skyrim Lodge look was intentional. RJ is clearly big on massive RPGs with epic quests and awesome loot. Bethy would've picked up on that and quickly done her best to transform his room in a space fit for a dragon. Given how people like the look, I think it's a success.
But that's really not why we're here. The whole point of this chapter was to bring certain things to a head that have been bubbling for a while. RJ's argument with Vaggie was long in development, and while I wanted people to understand both sides, I wanted it to be clear that RJ, mostly through his own dissatisfaction with how things are going and his growing frustration with his many failures, is being a paranoid jerk. He can't get this one thing he really wants to work and its relatable that he's struggling with it, but he needed to understand that he wasn't the only one feeling that. Vaggie is in this too, and I think he kinda forgot that while he was in the middle of feeling sorry for himself.
When I started writing the argument, it really made itself clear in the first few sentences what I was doing. This was seriously some of the most raw, emotional anger I've had RJ express out loud. So much so that I was kinda caught off guard by it and translated that back into Vaggie herself. A lot of this came out of my conversations with Crow about what this scene would represent. That being that RJ needs to understand that relationship is a lot of work, and even more so in a polyamorous one where everyone is required to have a degree of trust with one another. It requires a lot of that and RJ and Vaggie both have trouble with that, so of course it's going slower than he would like.
There's also so clear issues on Vaggie's side, but it's RJ who is making the biggest row about it right this moment. I think the most human moment out of the whole sequence is Vaggie asking RJ to stop thinking about the worst possible scenario every time and just let her talk. It was a real eye opener, one that forced RJ to shut up for a second, recognizing that she had rightly called him out on it.
I knew it would ultimately be hard to write RJ and Vaggie fighting. They are good friends and their chemistry has worked wonderfully in past chapters. But true friendship is always tested best when they're forced to acknowledge their issues with one another. It was right for the story, especially in this chapter given what's about to happen that will change a lot between everyone in the cast and then some.
I think having RJ talk things out with Emberlynn, allowing him to cool down and get the perspective of someone outside of the situation, helped ease things a little. Ember really works in these sorts of scenes, when she's playing the weird little advisor on RJ's shoulder, who surprisingly knows a good deal about how he's managing this. Probably because she sees a lot of herself in RJ's clear thirst for monster girls. And she's expending all her knowledge on him in the hopes of getting him to act out the story the way she wants him to. So, in a way, it's like a fanfic writers talking to their creation. That's probably not the best way for Emberlynn to view things, but it is helpful in this regard.
I suppose we should talk about the obvious little canon thing I set up here with this chapter. The idea that Charlie is a fan of Verosika Mayday. Now grated, Charlie has never mentioned she likes Verosika, nor have we seen any indication she does. But Charlie's musical sensibilities clearly lean towards pop more than most, save for musical theater. And Verosika being the most popular singer in all of Hell, well, honestly, it would be the most obvious fandom for her to be a part of. It's not like Verosika has done anything that would upset Charlie. And I doubt Viv intends to make her enemies. If that somehow changes, eh, I can always just pretend this is a canon alteration, a retcon before I needed to retcon it. But I seriously doubt that Charlie would hate Verosika. She's not against sex after all, nor is she really against promiscuous behavior. She just thinks Heaven is against it and is trying to appeal to them.
Besides, it's kinda fun to see Charlie geeking out over something she loves.
In all honesty, I was concerned that this chapter and the last would be too similar, as they involve a stage and performance. Yeah, they're different in a lot aspects, but it was still something I was worried. I was mostly hoping that Verosika's songs and RJ and Charlie being spectators mostly would fix that problem. Course, I needed songs for Verosika to sing. And it was good to find a bunch that were canon and that would work with the chapter. But I needed more. So I went fishing for Verosika sounding songs. I found more than a few, two in particular that worked really well. "If I had a Tail" and "Drown Inside It" were very Verosika in tone, sexy, bombastic but very sensual. I had to change some of the lyrics for the first one though, because... well, Verosika... has a tail. She very much has a tail.
Verosika seems to be a polarizing figure among a few select Hellaverse fans on the internet. They view her as a vindictive Ex of Blitz who should really just get over him already. Honestly, Blitz clearly burned the bridge with her so badly that I don't really judge her for having beef with him. I'm sorry, but I don't think she was the bad one in the relationship. All indications suggest everything was just fine until Verosika said she loved him and he quickly did everything in his power to scorch the fucking Earth. Blitz is an asshole and I'm not going to baby him because his life sucks or because he's unintentionally defying convention by running his own business. Something imps don't tend to do as they are the servant class.
Well that's nice and all, but that doesn't give you a pass to steal someone's credit card and spend it all on horse riding lessons. It really does not.
I like Verosika, she very fun, she's shown some considerable depth post her debut episode, and I do like the whole femme fatale angle she's got going. I will say she does need to move on from Blitz of course, but that doesn't mean forgiving him. Not in the slightest. Just that she probably should get that tattoo of hers removed entirely or something.
Anyway, let's talk about Lezter and Zester. Yes, I wanted their names to rhyme, sue me. This was another first for me. I've never written a gay couple before. But I felt it was necessary to include some proper representation, especially given the nature of this show. The two imps are technically the cause of RJ's main problem for this chapter, but they are also kinda the prelude to him learning a lesson. As he's able to actually reflect a little on his current relationship woes through their constant bickering. I know, I know, I'm sure some people are probably annoyed that my first gay relationship of my own making is a dysfunctional one. But I think that's the fun of it. I don't like the idea of leaving out people of the chance to be involved in some funny hijinks just because they need to be a good role model. No, I feel it's better if characters are allowed to be real. Or at least not completely blissfully happy.
Lez and Zes do love each other, but they have fairly different personalities. Zes is short-tempered and likes to plan, Lez prefers to act and is extremely sensitive. Throw them together, you're going to get two people who butt heads often. But because they care about one another they'll do anything to really make it up to one another somehow. I honestly grew really attached to these two very fast once I started writing them. And I'm glad folks seemed to enjoy them because they'll certainly be back.
But they're also why Charlie ends up... drunk. Very drunk. Meaning the idea of RJ making any move now is really out of the question and he's stuck in a super awkward position. That being the girl he loves is all over him and acting loopy, and he can't return it because that would be taking advantage of someone not in their right mind. I'm glad some folks applauded RJ for doing his best to set boundaries in this situation all in the name of keeping her safe. But it was still a trying scenario. I thought the whole thing was really funny though. Charlie being drunk was such a funny idea to me and it kinda brought back memories. I was typecast, all the time, back in drama to play the drunk. And I did a really good drunk despite never drinking in my life. So this was my chance to relive that a little.
It wasn't meant, as one suggested, as a way for Charlie to blurt out things and do things she wouldn't normally do. It was primarily to give RJ another complication to deal with and force him to accept that Vaggie had a point. That this was something that was going to prove she could actually trust him, as well as trust himself. It was also supposed to set up the reveal that Charlie isn't being forced to do anything she doesn't secretly want to do. Confirming to RJ that Charlie does actually sometimes think of him that way. A means of showing him that the succubus magic wasn't forcing her to be another person entirely. Another hint in the direction that Charlie does feel something for him.
But the true test came with RJ confronting a dark reflection of his personal desires in the form of the stalker. His design was actually based on a parasite if you must know. It seemed fitting. He was also the reason I needed to add a disclaimer to the top of the chapter. Sure, he's not a nice person, but the subject of suicide is still touchy. I'm just glad I didn't linger on it longer than needed. What was important was showing RJ an extreme version of a dangerous mindset he was slipping into. That love is supposed to be easy and not work. That you are just owed affection because you do some baseline things right. And realizing that, RJ cools off on his angry rhetoric and tries to be more empathetic. It doesn't work, but he tries.
Which cues our big musical number where Charlie and RJ fight the stalker while Signals plays. I chose this song as the title track because it honestly felt the best one out of all the songs to use. It's not an official Verosika song, but it's a good one and it matched the tone and the lesson this chapter was about. Cutting between both Verosika's performance and the fight highlights the need to properly choreograph both character movements and fight scenes. Otherwise, it would have been boring to just recount one but not the other.
The fun bit came at the end though when after the Stalker was taken down, RJ and Charlie got to dance with Verosika on stage. That felt like a good ending cap to some very serious, heavy sequences.
I also gave Verosika the chance to confront her stalker and call him out directly. As well as reveal that he hadn't even picked the right house for his final attempt at making her notice him in the mortal world. I got this idea from an episode of "Law & Order: SVU", where a very similarly minded stalker discovers that all his text messages and letters and all that he was sending to the girl he liked back in high school, trying to get her to notice him... yeah, he got the wrong address. Not that he would've been obligated to any affection if he got it right, but he was upset she just ignored him. When in reality, she didn't even know he existed.
The scene in the limo was largely something Crow and I talked about concerning the crux of this chapter, that love is work. He got it from an episode of Steven Universe, I felt the sentiment was appropriate given everything. I mostly had to add a bunch of stuff concerning Vaggie having as much work to do in the background. There's a whole messy B-Plot in there where Vaggie was chasing the various guests around the hotel trying to get her phone back. It's hilarious, but currently outside our scope. For the most part, this story remains in RJ's perspective. But I really liked the idea of Charlie cozying up to RJ and him reaffirming his friendship with Vaggie as he finally acknowledges that he can accept that relationships take time and that it's better to wait and work on things than speed them along.
However, that also leads into the next scene, the surprise cliffhanger. Where RJ's Tail throws a tantrum, refusing to let Charlie go until its forced to. This scene was Crows' idea, yet again, he's very involved in a lot of this more so than most of my stories he edits. But when he has a good idea, I can't help but use it and I have to give him credit for it. I really felt that this would be the perfect way to ring in the introduction of our next complication. I came up with the "It has no mouth, but yet it screams" line though. I thought that was seriously good and I couldn't not use it.
Now, while I would usually break into the next section and talk about this new complication, we're kinda out of time. Five chapters seems plenty for the moment. So, come back next time for a special blog where we look at two chapters, both of which will change the status quo considerably. There is a lot to talk about with them so it's going to be a pretty hefty Behind the Scenes. And it's going to be all about our newest addition to the cast, as we finally talk about RJ's Tail.
See ya then.
No comments:
Post a Comment