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Alastor was a goddamn baby.
Well, a little older, a toddler to be exact.
And toddlers, you see, wanted to do exactly whatever they wanted.
He'd steal snacks and drinks just because he'd rather have them over a healthy dinner.
He'd throw tantrums over the simplest of things, accidentally breaking a vase at one point and just never owning up to it.
Horrifying enough, he'd been able to keep the secret away from everyone, despite his behaviour. Alastor had just assumed everyone brushed it off as him being a manchild or they were too lazy or busy to care what he did.
So, during a period where the hotel was packed, Alastor simply snuck out, went to an aquarium that was a 30 minute walk away, bought a ticket, rented a wheelchair [his legs were all tired!] and wheeled himself inside.
This was his favourite aquarium, being the very few ones that hadn't been bought by Voxtek...I mean...Allie knew about how much Vox liked aquariums, having to listen to his endless yabbering about it when they were friends.
—Not like Alastor was any better. He loved talking about his best friends [those being his favourite plushies] and everything about the radio [especially his favourite radio show, being a gentle lullaby station].
Now, inside the first part of the aquarium was a very dark room...obviously. But this room wasn't boring, no-no-no! It had some bright, thin cyan strips all across it. And, he was in a tube!
He heard people chattering around him and he slowly wheeled himself along the path, seeing a neon-blue dotted arrow along the floor of this pathway. Allie could also feel a slight mist being sprayed onto him, causing him to just start giggling and kicking in his seat.
Then, Alastor felt someone else push his wheelchair.
He turned around, spotting Mxster Shadow grasping the handles and gently pushing it along.
Hm...
At least someone else would be pushing him!
The both of them finally entered a new room, one which remained very dark, but he could see a tank filled with so many colourful fishies! Some were a very bright red with bulging eyeballs on each side, and others were tiny and you could see their organs!
The water was also generally clear, allowing Allie to see through and look at all the jagged rocks and various green plants. Some were tall and reached allll the way up to the top of the tank, and some were just down below and little green lines pointing in different directions, some drooping.
Alastor placed his face up to the glass, watching the fishies all swim by and sorta...live in harmony.
Could fishies live in harmony? Well, it appeared so!
Allie just giggled again and accidentally knocked his hoove against the wall.
Unsurprisingly, that hurt.
So Alastor begun to rub his eyes in an effort to not bawl his eyes out.
"Oowwie..."
He cooed out, peeking behind him as if he was asking Mxster Shadow for help.
Alastor poked his microphone staff, letting it turn on and begun to take control of it, a green glow being emitted from the eyeball;
"Hug."
In a static voice, the microphone spoke out. Despite not having Allie's voice, it was clear he was the one speaking.
A pair of hands wrapped around his waist and squeezed it, along with another hand lifting up his hoof and giving it a little kiss with the tip of its shadowy head.
Allie clapped!
Then, he was promptly pushed over to another section of the aquarium, one with multiple information boards, even more pathways, chattering people, big tanks and all in a big room!
Well, the chattering people was a nuisance.
But, at least there was more fishies!
Alastor pointed at a massive tank that had multiple Sinners [possibly Hellborns too] around it. Shadow wheeled him over and he curled up his knees to his chin.
"Do you think we'll see the shark come back over again?"
Questioned a child Sinner, who had an oddly soft spoken voice, which contrasted their appearance of appearing to be covered in blood.
A...shark...?
Allie whimpered, trying to think of anything to get him out the situation—
Wait! He could wheel himself out!
Alastor placed his hands onto the wheels and begun to push himself away—
A great, massive gray shark with black-tipped fins and streaks of gold along its body approached. It's fin almost seemed to touch the tip of the tank and it's eyes held a menacing stare, as if it planned to eat the people attending without a second thought of mercy.
The people around Allie gasped, purely in awe as if this was some God above who was promising to bless them.
"Look at her fins!"
"I wan' dhat, mammy!"
"It's sorta boring—let's move on."
Alastor, however, felt himself using the bathroom in his pants.
...
At least he was wearing a diaper.
So, all that happened was that the fabric around his pelvis puffed up slightly.
Allie had no second to spare—he immediately began wheeling himself away and over into an area populated with less people.
Tapping the cane again, said cane now whispering,
"Mxster. I peed myself."
He felt Mxster Shadow tug at the waistband of his trousers and he omitted a whine uncharacteristic of a powerful overlord.
"Nnnghhh!!! Waah!"
He kicked his hooves against the wheelchair and let his ears pin themselves downwards.
He heard a crackily chuckle and felt himself being moved somewhere else. The ground below him was very smooth and meant there was hardly any sudden jerks from the bumps.
A door unlocked and he was pushed into the room. The new room was extremely bright and he covered his eyes, whining softly. Some tentacles wrapped around under his knees and under his armpits, carefully lifting him onto a changing table that managed to fit his height.
"Mmh..mmhmhmmh..."
Alastor grabbed his hoof and tried to pull it into his mouth. The tentacles quickly got to work, getting his trousers down and taking off the wet diaper, cleaning him up and putting a new one on.
This time, the diaper had a cherry-red buck design on it, compared to the previous one which was a boring rainbow. Allie giggled and let himself bleat.
Now, smelling like baby powder, he was put back into his wheelchair and pushed out the bathroom, going back to exploring the aquarium.
"Alastor is all clean now."
The microphone spoke, same voice, but this time it wasn't Alastor speaking through it... Was it the shadow?
My! Shadow could speak as well!
He giggled again.
"Eeeeekk!!"
His thumb quickly shoved itself into his mouth and they were back into the area they previously were. Allie took his thumb out again and wheeled himself over another tank, one that touched the floor and you could look down into or at the sides of it. He placed his hands against the edge, looking down into it.
There was lots of...sand? Well, there was also a brilliant little shipwreck that had seaweed all around it! And multiple rocks that had holes and little pathways! It looked like a fun little adventure for the fishies!
...
Sometimes Alastor wanted to be a fish at an aquarium, just getting to swim around all day and get fed by employees and having people see you on display...having people watch you because they find you fascinating and not because they see you as undignified...people pay to see you and people pay to keep you safe from the dangers of the world.
...
A nice, warm feeling entered his chest. Perhaps being a fish would be nice...
But what type of fish would he be?
A flat, black, pancake with wings and red spots all over its back approached him. It had silly little beady eyes on the sides of its face!
"Mxster...what's that?"
Allie, holding his staff, pointed at the pancake in front of him.
He saw Mxster Shadow zip along the floor over to an information sign, look up and read it, then zip back over to him.
"It is a stingray. One of Hell's red-spotted stingrays to be specific, Alastor."
It continued,
"Do you like the stingray?"
Alastor nodded and pressed his hand against the window, wanting to give the stingray a high-five.
"Aaaaabah!"
He squeaked and wriggled his hips in his seat, watching as the stingray slowly swam away from him and went over to another group of people.
"Sss...ssssss...ssss..."
Alastor continued to hiss, growing upset over not being able to say "Stingray", and he just began to whine and hit his arms against the armrests.
Shadow held his arms and made static sounds similar to a shush.
"Sting-ray."
He looked over at his staff again, picking it up and tapping it.
"Stingray!"
"Sting-ray."
"Stingray!"
"Sting-ray."
"I want a stingray!"
Shadow paused.
"We can not buy the stingray. It belongs to the aquarium."
Alastor started tearing up and flapping his arms around, on the verge of a tantrum.
"Look at this fish, Alastor. It is green and blue."
Mxster Shadow pointed at a fish that was approaching, and it was a green fish with blue stripes. It was also very fat and short and had a silly face! Then it ate a small green bean looking...thing at the bottom of the tank.
Allie stopped flapping around and felt his eyes begin to dry up again, focusing all his attention on the fish.
"Fffff...Pfff..Ahaahaha!!"
He tilted his head back to laugh and wriggled his hips around again, gently kicking his legs back and forth and having an even wider smile than before, causing his mouth to be wide open and slightly drooling down onto his bowtie.
Mxster got a tentacle and just wiped up his face.
In his joy, he accidentally kicked the tank and the fish bolted.
"I'm sorry!"
His microphone glitched slightly, managing to just barely get out his apology.
"You must be gentle, Alastor. The fish are sensitive to kicks."
A tentacle scritched at the base of his ears and his head drooped forward slightly, letting his ears fall towards his forehead, allowing more exposure for his nerves to be scritched.
"Mmmmmmm..."
He felt his eyes begin to droop, blinking slowly and shutting for a few seconds before opening again.
"Is Alastor tired?"
Allie whined and shook his head.
"We can visit the aquarium another time, Alastor. You require your sleep."
"Mm-mm..."
The wheelchair begun to spin towards the quickest path to the exit, as they couldn't just go back to the start—that area was one way only.
"Waaahh!!"
A tentacle tickled his neck and another one pushed the microphone towards his ear.
"It is naptime for you."
He shook his head,
"Nnaaa!"
Mxster Shadow made another static noise, hushing him again,
"Perhaps the stingray is in the shop?"
The stingray!
He tapped the microphone again,
"Red-spotted stingray?"
There was a static hum of agreement. Alastor rested his head on his arm, and his arm on the armrest. The wheelchair continued to move along, going into a room filled with the sound of insects buzzing and seeing palm leaves and little tanks everywhere, most of them being for amphibians and reptiles.
Generally, they cruised through it till they reached a tank with a snake inside it and he stopped Shadow in order to look inside the tank at a python wrapping around a branch.
"Aa..apaa..."
Alastor made a high-pitched squeak and his tail began to wag viciously.
The microphone spoke again,
"Papa?"
Allie nodded.
"Who is papa?"
Alastor touched the microphone cane again, taking control.
"Snake reminds me of Papa."
Mxster Shadow made another static laugh.
"We have to get a plushie of Papa and Mx Stingray."
Allie clapped and nodded very aggressively.
The wheelchair got back to moving and they soon found themselves at the reception and near the gift shop.
"Let's put this wheelchair away."
A tentacle lifted Alastor out the chair and onto his hooves, assisting him with standing before letting him push the wheelchair back to reception.
At the desk was a woman with a deep, navy blue hair that constantly moving, almost like water, and she had deep blue skin with a white glow on the edge of it, plus just an employee uniform.
She had been scrolling on her phone and snapped her neck backwards to look at him, leaning on the chair.
"Are you here to return the wheelchair?"
He nodded.
"Just leave it. I'll get it in."
Alastor left the wheelchair there and went back to the giftshop, holding his cane towards him and looking nervously at the interior of it.
There was children everywhere, a mess of plushies on the ground, an exhausted worker stocking shelves, parents on their phones with their tantrum-throwing toddlers and the odd random person who was actually sensible; that being this fawn.
He felt his tummy twist together into a knot and shook his head.
The cane blinked,
"You do not want your plushies?"
Alastor shook his head,
"You do?"
He nodded,
"We must go through this mess in order to collect them unfortunately."
A shadowy hand carassed his shoulder.
"Take a deep breath, we can traverse this slowly. Unfortunately, I will not be able to pick you up when everything gets too messy, but I can help you as long as you keep this cane on."
A nice, slow flow of air entered his lungs through his nose, letting his chest naturally expand and his belly push out. He held his breath for a mere two seconds, then took a slow exhale out, letting out carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere, his lungs and tummy sinking back into the correct places.
Alastor stepped inside.
The microphone cane crackled again,
"I see where the plushies are, just over at the end of the plushie section, but you will have to get over this...shark pile mountain."
He fully leapt over the pile instead of...going around it, completely lost in giggles as he did it.
Then, he walked to the end of the aisle and squeezed his hand beside somebody's leg and went to reach for the red-spotted stingray, feeling the soft fabric in-between his fingers.
"Good job!"
Mxster Shadow's hand patted his head,
"Let's get the snake plushie now."
He stood back up straight again and scanned the shop, eventually spotting it just across from him at a different plushie bucket. Alastor walked over, picked up a green python snake and started walking over to the cash register.
But, then came a smash of a mug and the sound of a screaming child.
"I WANT SNAKEY!"
Allie watched the child stomp and their parents try to pick them up and take them out, threatening them with no toys. Though, the kid ended up falling over and falling into the pottery.
Promptly, the tot cried out in pain and Alastor giggled, imagining how much pain they were in and imagining how much blood was coming out.
He snuck by and got past multiple groups of strangers, going to the till and paying for the plushies. Finally, he got to step outside the aquarium and feel a gentle pitter patter on him.
Alastor looked up, seeing storm clouds brewing and slowly inching their way over to him, ready to force their watery might upon him!
"It is raining."
Crackled his cane.
"Mmmhm!"
He begun to coo and stomp with vigorous energy, running down the sidewalk, much to the confusion of multiple Sinners.
At a crosswalk, with multiple people, he stopped and looked around the area,
"Dada. I'm hungry."
"Perhaps we'll get you a snack then have food at the Hotel."
He giggled and nodded, waiting at the crosswalk until the pedestrian light turned green.
---------------------------------------------------
Alastor was back in his bedroom, laying next to his fireplace, cuddling his plushies close and babbling to Mxster Shadow, listening to the creature crackle along in agreement and make the occasional comment through the microphone.
"Daadaa!"
"Da-da. I am Da-da?"
"Dada!"
Alastor kicked his hooves against the ground and giggled, reaching for Shadow.
"Mxster Shadow, Shadow and now Da-da. Brilliant names, I say!"
He stretched out his legs and let out a roarous laughter.
But not a second later, he froze up and tensed the muscles in his legs, looking nervous.
Shadow popped out from below him and inspected his position for a few seconds, taking a good look in before going back to being a reflection of light.
"Is it potty time?"
'Suppose chugging an entire 500ml bottle of apple juice in one go DID have consequences.
Allie nodded and sat up, waddling over to his bathroom.
"Good job."
The microphone spoke, but he as too far away to hear it.
"Ah, I shall tell you once you return."