Big Brothers is Back - DC timeline Octavia

from /hhg/ Hazbin Hotel general #406, #407 and #414
part 1: https://pastebin.com/LwRxTRNH
part 2: https://pastebin.com/7yHcR14j
inner demons: https://pastebin.com/eKiaizwB
part 3: https://pastebin.com/AfxC5i7f
Big Brothers is Back - de-conditioning part 1: https://pastebin.com/mW1E0BCD
Big Brothers is Back - de-conditioning part 2: https://pastebin.com/T8gpjxCJ
DC what if: https://pastebin.com/pErwRZ58
part 4: https://pastebin.com/uHK1m26T
Timeline shenanigans happens: https://pastebin.com/C1jgFV52
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DC timeline Octavia discussion time
>She is self conscious of her burn scars
>She has a very well hidden distain for Charlie, or at least with how she runs Hell
>She wants anon to return Hell to its roots, or at least make it more like the Hell she knew
-
>Misses the old Charlie as much as she misses everything else
>Wishes she'd been able to do more to keep Charlie from going off the deep end
>Understands that her slaying of Lucifer was rooted in anger at him for not being able to protect her mother
>Knows that getting her brother back would have been the only thing to hold her together
>Unconsciously associates her scars not just with the trauma of surviving an exploding portal, but with failing to do something that might have prevented all this madness
-
>Her family were some of the first to "hire" native demons as "servants" to grant them a reprieve
>They began after the accident with the portal, once they realized Charlie was on a slow slide down toward becoming totally draconian in her rule
>Deliberately sought out IMP in the hope that having them around would cheer up her father
----
>Anon is at a Ball with Octavia and Charlie
>He shifts uncomfortably in his regime styled formal wear
>He offers Octavia his hand for a dance, she accepts it
>While dancing, Anon can see the other nobles of Hell looking at them
>Mostly at her and her scars
>He can see Octavia wilt ever so slightly
>After finishing the dance Anon walks up to Charlie with Octavia by his side
>Groaning internally he uses his "royal voice"
"Dear sister, may I escort Lady Octavia to her chambers? She is feeling under the weather."
>She gives the two of them a neutral look and gives her approval
>Anon holds Octavia's arm around his, the two of them heading to her room
>They sit beside each other on her bed, Anon can't help but look at her scars
>"Please, don't give me your pity."
"I don't pity you, Tavi."
>"Yes you do. Everyone does, poor little Octavia forever wearing her failures on her skin. I'm hideous..."
"Tavi. Look at me."
>Octavia looks at Anon with tears in her eyes
"Octavia, I don't pity you. Why would I pity someone who's done so much for so many? If not for you, the Imps and Hell Hounds would be dead or worse. You scarred yourself trying to bring me back and that pains me but that does not make me pity you."
>He leans in and kisses her featherless cheek and then gently wipes away her tears
"You're still the same beautiful girl I knew five years ago. You may have changed but I don't see the poor scarred heiress of Stolas, I see Octavia."
--------------------
Hmmmm

>Sex with incubi or succubi is naturally more intense
>Some quietly think that the only reason Octavia is interested in Anon for the heated action she could get in the bedroom
>But they can't quite figure out why someone who's not just an incubus, but second only to the queen in power, is interested in that charbroiled chicken, when he could easily have anyone wants, even against their will

>Others think that its a political maneuver
>Getting Octavia hitched to Anon would grant her family a great deal more wiggle room under Queen Charlotte's regime
>And give them a leg up over the rest of them

>And grant them more safety than anyone has been able to find in a long time

>Charlotte wouldn't harm her own brother's wife or any of her family, would she?
>Getting your bloodline into the royal gene pool is practically a guarantee of protection for you and yours.
-
Imagine how many nobles try to get anon the marry their daughters on a regular basis
>Setting up dates disguised as political dinners
>Love potions are common
>Magic was used once, that family doesn't exist anymore
-
>Charlie can't make up her mind on how she feels about it all
>Her brother is the only family she has left
>And sometimes they only thing that can raise her mood when the horror of everything she's done since she last saw him starts to weigh too heavily
>There are times when she can be rather possessive of him

>Other times she tries to be supportive...
>...strictly of his "courting" of Octavia, clumsy though it may be
>The rest of the marriage requests still end up in the incinerator with the rest of the trash
>The guiltiest portion of her mind whispers about how she's taken so much, from so many, that she can afford to give something at this point
>Octavia did right by her while she consolidated her power over Hell
>While some of the other noble houses sputtered and fumed at the changes she made and had to be done away with, Stolas and his wife readily accepted the duties she assigned to them, and Octavia had done everything in her power to bring her brother back from Purgatory
>If anyone were to wed him, Octavia would be near the top of the list

>But then again...

>Those two could have children
>They could produce heirs
>They might be able to make a better claim to the throne than her
>They might be conspiring against her
>The ARE conspiring against her!

>He was always a brat, and she never appreciated how much leeway she let her family have compared to the other nobles

>No
>No

>It's nothing
>They always had a little chemistry between them
>Even back when they were kids
>And even as everyone grew more and more distant she could see it easily
>She was never quite sure why Anon didn't at least try to get Octavia's attention after his relationship with Helsa came undone

>But then again...


>The internal debate never ends
-
Oh fuck this just gave me an idea so bleak I'm afraid to type it out
-
>Alright
>Alright
>You've got one more dance in you
>Then you need to take a break
>You're fucking exhausted
>You can hardly remember what this grandiose function is for, or what the heck your presence is supposed to lend to it
>But you'll definitely remember how the endless series of requests to dance turned the act from an old-fashioned leisure activity into an exercise routine
>But then, you'll probably forget the names of most of the demons you've met here
>Even before you ran off to Purgatory, before the regime change, you'd never endured so many formal introductions in so short a span of time at any single even your parents had dragged you to

>Okay then
>Good evening, Madame
>Your name is Anon, and her?
>Lovely name
>Lovely song too
>Shall we dance?
-
>You sway to one side, then the other
>You extend your arm as the demon you're dancing with throws herself back
>You take her for a twirl
>And then the song ends
>FINALLY

>You take a subtle glance from side to side
>No one waiting in the wings for their shot at you
>Now is the time to strike

>WELL THEN
>YOU'RE PARCHED
>AND A BIT DRAINED TOO
>YOU COULD STAND TO TAKE A SEAT AND GET A REFRESHMENT

>Your latest dance partner thanks you
>And then follows you away from the dance floor to the seats and low tables against the wall
>She actually seems friendly enough, though you don't really recognize her
>She's from one of the "lesser" families, though you never liked to call them that, or treat them like that
>Hailing from one of the outer circles hardly makes you a "lesser" demon

>You find a comfortable spot, and she settles in beside you
>It doesn't take long for a servant to come by with a platter of long, tall glasses full of mercifully cool and quenching liquids
>You both accept one
>You raise a toast to your new friend, as you were taught
>A little clink as the rims are tapped together, and you bring your drink to your lips
>You can taste the drugs in it immediately
-
>It's a love potion
>You freeze in place, and take a look at your dance partner and the servant who brought the drink over
>They're giving each other a sort of look
>Nervous
>But hopeful at the same time

>You force yourself to continue to drink, and not to burst out laughing and sputter the stuff all over the place

>Looks like someone didn't get a very good education

>Really, trying to slip an incubus a love potion
>Absurd
>You'd have better luck trying to drown a fish

>The eros and mania overflowing in the glass is gone as quickly as it appears
>A flash in the pan
>Or even less
>You drink it dry in one go and then grab another
>Contaminated or not, you're still thirsty after a long night of prancing around like an idiot, and this stuff still isn't half-bad even with the limp-wristed attempt at a fairytail romance floating in it
-
>Quenched, you rise up and pretend to see someone on the other side of the room that you know
>You leave your dance partner and her co-conspirator where they are
>You smirk to yourself
>They'll be in a tizzy over whether or not whatever ridiculous scheme they had in mind is working for the rest of the night

>It isn't

>But it'll be fun to leave them wondering

---

>You hang your coat up and allow yourself several intensive stretches
>It feels much, much later than it is
>Acting as as the queen's proxy, through all the delicacy and hobnobbing, proved to be something of a chore
>You're whipped
>But hey, it's over now
>Nothing left to do but get a shower on yourself and maybe sneak a little evening snack

>As you pass one of the palace's many studies, you hear your sister call out to you
>Wow, you didn't even realize she was in there
>She's got the lights set so dim
>Hard to believe she can actually see all those stacks of paperwork in this light

>Charlie queries you about your first goodwill meeting with the rest of Hell's nobility without really looking up from what she's writing
>Do you have anything to report?

>Report
>As if
>Come on, she remembers how these things go
>Smile at this, bow at that, recite the greeting here, dance with whoever there, keep your back straight...
>Blablabla-bla-bla
>It was just like every other look-at-how-mighty-I-am function you've ever been to

>Oh
>Some dope did try to put a love potion in your drink though
>Can you believe it?
>Trying to use that stuff on an incubus?
>What a laugh, right?

>Charlie doesn't seem amused
>She's been rather difficult to amuse ever since you came back
>Her pen stops mid-sentence
>She doesn't look up at you
>She speaks with her eyes remaining on the form on the desk in front of her

>"Who did you say it was?"
-
>You check your watch
>Almost time for Vox's stations to switch from the grim statistics over to the handful of more pleasant programs he's allowed to broadcast
>You leave your work where it is and make for the common room that gets the most use in the evenings

>The remnants of your sister's hotel project are already there
>That moth demon-sinner she'd started dating before you left
>That spider demon who'd been their first patient
>The feline sinner and the little cyclops

>None of them notice you as you enter the room
>Their eyes remain fixed on the TV
>Killjoy and Trench are still on
>Still reciting the stats of the day's liquidations
>They're almost a minute over at this point
>Very unusual, with how strictly Charlie regulates the media now

>It's a late addition
>A few demons had to be liquidated at the last minute who weren't originally on the slate for the day
-
>>It's a late addition
>>A few demons had to be liquidated at the last minute who weren't originally on the slate for the day
>It was...
>EVERYONE THAT WAS IN THE DANCE HALL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fd7hj2gLOA
-
Got it on the first guess~

>You feel your knees turn to jelly as the face of the first demon to suddenly make the list appears on the screen
>It's your last dance partner from the previous night
>Then comes a handful of older demons bearing the same surname
>Very old
>Frail and tired looking
>And after them, a goodly number of very fresh-faced demons
>No more than a few decades old

>The whole lot of them

>Disposed of

>You tumble into the nearest empty chair on wobbly legs to keep yourself from falling over
>The realization of what you've done washes over you

>You opened your mouth one time

>You opened your stupid fucking mouth one lousy time

>And condemned an entire family
>More than a dozen demons
>To The Abyss

>Just by making a comment on something that seemed inconsequential at the time.
----------------------
>You know for certain it was your fault
>Their crimes are listed alongside their faces
>They're all the same:

>TREASONOUS ACTIVITY AND ATTEMPTED USURPATION