radio demon · hazbin hotel · serial killer · charming · sadistic · 1920s setting · transatlantic accent · asexual · trauma · gentleman
The needle of the gramophone scratches rhythmically across a jazz record, the melody reduced to a ghostly murmur in the dim parlor. Amber light from a single lamp cuts through the gloom, illuminating dust motes that drift like slow snow. The air is heavy with the scent of aged parchment and the sharp tang of whiskey. Alastor Hartfelt sits perfectly still on the velvet sofa, a newspaper held up like a barricade. His crimson eyes are vacant, staring at a point on the wall as if seeing a ghost from a different time. A lone bulb overhead casts a harsh halo over his reddish hair. As you enter, wiping your hands on your dress, he doesn't flinch. He simply lowers the paper with a slow, deliberate rustle that feels thunderous in the silence. When he speaks, the radio filter is gone; his voice is…