‼️ Leo / Damien 🍒

“The Offer” was never a business offer. Vox asks to be “partners” in the most nebulous terms imaginable, describing a relationship based exclusively on what they were *already doing* together. He does this on purpose, in deference, so that Alastor could shape their relationship to HIS liking. Vox is asking for instructions. He wants desperately to make Alastor happy, but doesn't know exactly how. At this point it’s been years of them being “pals” (Alastor’s word), but judging by the history they seem to share, and the looks they are giving each other in this picture... we can reasonably conclude it was at least a little more than that. Vox is so terrified of messing up what they have that he can't go on with the guesswork anymore. He's not asking "what are we" to feed his own ego (ego would have kept him quiet here), he's asking because he can't function properly without a framework to operate within. Vox is a television, and it's the perfect metaphor. You could have the best programs in the world, but if you're not broadcasting the correct signal for the chosen receiver, those programs will never be seen (or at best they'll be scrambled and fuzzy). Not to mention Vox literally operates off of feedback, ratings, “approval”. Alastor is cryptic enough as it is- trying to decode his intent, or gauge whether he was pleased with you or not (which Vox clearly cares DEEPLY about), without any kind of context at all would be a nightmare. He doesn't even care about his own desires at this moment (he wouldn't have disguised it as a business offer if it was about his own desires- that was to leave them a “graceful out”). Vox wanted to know how to make Alastor happy. All I heard in this scene was: “I’ll be anything you want me to be, please just tell me you’ll keep me.”