Chapter Text
Did you hear? 666 achieved 30 million listeners this week... isn't that crazy?!"
"Yeah, I heard it's the most listened to podcast nowadays..."
"Can you believe that they don't even know who the guy running it is?"
"Doesn't he go by some weird name? Like Podcast Deer? Radio Deer?"
"No, it's Radio Demon!"
"Go back to work, you two!"
/
The Radio Demon in question was smiling at himself as he was reading the latest published article about him. He had finally achieved one of his many goals, and wasn't it time to have a nice party?
He took a glass of wine with him and set up in the studio of his cottage situated in the middle of the forest. He had paid a considerable amount of money to get the fastest internet available, but it was worth it for some peace and quiet in this overstimulating society.
He turned his mic on and tested it with a light tap on it, then he went live on all his channels. His main being station 666 on the radio, where, for the most part, jazz or classical music would play 24/7 except when he interrupted with a podcast or to interact with his listeners. He had started it nearly 8 years ago, but he also broadcasts on various streaming and music services alike.
"Salutations, my dear listeners, whether you are tuning in during a road trip or are listening to this while doing your chores, I have some good news! I am now, officially, the most listened to podcast and radio channel, and it's all thanks to you, my dear listeners." he looked at how the comments poured in, many celebrating with him.
"To commemorate this achievement, today I will invite you to ask questions and have the privilege to interview me for once and lead the conversation", he started, a knowing smile on his face.
"I'm already reading some of you wanting to know who I am and what I look like. I must admit, it's quite rude to probe into someone's privacy; however, let me introduce myself for any new listeners," he started.
"I am the Radio Demon, that is the only name you can know me by. I am the host of 666 radio station and of many homonymous channels on most platforms that your overstimulated mind might use. No, you won't find my name, the way I look or any other information that I'm not willing to disclose. After all, what fun will that be if you knew who I was? Seeing you struggle to put a face to a name and a voice is quite amusing, and I can laugh at all the fan art and head canons you make of me! It is quite the entertainment, and you never know! You could be the protagonist of my criticism, so please do continue." He scanned the comments again. Some people found him incredibly annoying and abrasive (hate listeners, actively contributing to his success), others loved the "savageness" and would call him a "King". He was not very fond of all the new internet slang, but oh well, he chose this space for himself, so he had to keep up to date with its preferred language.
"Mmh, I see some of you questioning where my name and logo come from, and you know what? I never talked about it, but because today is a special day, why not! Let's address it." he took a long sip from his glass.
"I happen to be quite fond of Jean Paul Sartre's "hell is other people" theory which could make me, and other people, a demon, more specifically it would make me a radio demon. Ah! Isn't that fun?" he took a quick look at the mirror on his wall, his own reflection smiling at him knowingly "In case you are not aware, in very simple terms so even the haters can understand, Sartre's theory suggests that humans can be the greatest threat to one being, though we must live among humans; considering how enslaving and paradoxically liberating humans relationships are," he probably would have removed the liberating and the positive sides of Sartre's theory "hell must be other people" he finished "Moreover, as you may know, if your ears are working properly, I use an old-school radio effect on my voice, for various reasons, of course, which makes me sound more hellish, part of the branding you see?" he laughed "when it comes to my logo... well, I enjoy deer hunting" he said ominously, then laughed "of course not! I just like deer, maybe"
Of course, Alastor, or the radio demon, didn't like deer hunting. There was a reason for making a deer with a microphone his logo, a reason that he was not yet ready to disclose to anyone. Alastor has always been very secretive, sometimes even to himself. Hiding everything under a mask of indifference and barely concealed sarcasm.
He had been like this for most of his life, and he wouldn't have so easily given up his shield for anyone, not even while broadcasting in the privacy of his very secluded house.
As the broadcast went on, Alastor's voice filled his otherwise silent house.
He had commissioned the building of the house to his liking around four years ago. The choice of location, in the middle of a forest, was definitely concerning to his contractors, but he paid them no mind. He knew what he was doing, and the forest was not so big to be inhabited by many, if any, dangerous or straight-up annoying creatures messing with his connection or his house. Not any more than normal rural constructions anyway.
Regardless of his success and immense fame, Alastor was quite a loner and a work-haloic, one feeding the other: the more time Alastor spent alone and the more time he preferred to spend just broadcasting and talking to people on the internet, and the more time he spent broadcasting and the less time he had to actually dedicate to the miniscule amount of people that would care to check on him.
Basically, at this point, it was only one: old dear Niffty.
Niffty was a sweetheart of a girl who became his pen pal a few years ago. She didn't know his famous alter-ego but genuinely cared for him as a person. When their friendship grew, they decided to switch to phone communication, to Alastor's dismay, because Niffty wanted to be able to check up on Alastor at the very least weekly instead of having to wait for months to get letters across the country.
Again, to his dismay, there were two other people that he had to communicate with every week, at a minimum: Rosie, a fairly sweet yet demanding woman and the CEO of his talent agency, as well as a model for some high-fashion magazines. She was always pushing new deals and opportunities his way, which sure were useful and gave him a head start, but now... it was starting to get a bit annoying; and then there was Husk or Husker, how he liked to call him, he was a grumpy guy that he had employed to handle his emails, messages and schedule in exchange of occasional promotion and support of his business adventures with different degrees of success.
As the broadcast came to an end, Alastor retreated to his room. He took out his old school flip phone and turned it on. Of course, he wouldn't have let the phone fry his mind, not when he already had to use his PC for work and research. Per usual, he was greeted with messages from all three aforementioned.
Niffty was checking up on him and ranting about her job, something to do with her Airbnb guest being filthy. Meanwhile, in the group chat between him, Rosie and Husk, there were some back and forth regarding some deals and potential work arrangements, which Alastor pointedly ignored: Husk would send him confirmation via email whenever; lastly, Rosie was sending him private invites to see her, which, for the second week, Alastor was ignoring. He was just too focused on his work currently; after his achievement, he couldn't let the momentum fizzle out.
He quickly answered Niffty, actually taking his time to read, process and write some paragraphs about his opinions and suggestions with proper English and grammar, of course. Then he turned the cursed object off and put it back in the drawer "See ya next week".
Alastor was fairly happy with his current life arrangement; he had all he wanted, and his plans were slowly moving into place. He just needed to find someone to carry out a small piece of his overarching plan.
/
"Oh damn, he is so hot!"
"I know, right? And his performance was just so impeccable!"
"Do you know his name? or his number?"
"Uh... I think it was something close to... Victor?"
"It's actually Vincent, ladies" A man interrupted the conversation between them. He was the Vincent person that they were talking about. The two women looked at him, stunned and flustered for a second, before the first one smiled sweetly at him and brought her hand towards Vincent, who promptly took it and kissed the back of it.
"It's a pleasure to know such lovely ladies are talking about me. I also go by Vox, if you prefer" he introduced himself.
"Such a charmer, I'm Tina, and she is Maria, enchanted" she said easily, offering Vox a seat at her table, who accepted it.
"I heard you talk about my performance" he started, stopping to drink a glass of champagne "I'm glad you enjoyed it, it's my first protagonist role" he said.
In fact, Vincent had recently performed as the main lead of a very cliché romantic movie of which today was the premier, he was going around the room listening to people talk (praise him) trying to scout who would be the best people to connect to in order to finally get a movie deal with more budget, even if starting as a non-leading character. Interestingly, he actually had seen these two women: Tina Esmat was a fairly famous actress in the industry, mostly known for her action movies; while Maria Andringa was a screenwriter for various TV series of various degrees of popularity. Either of them could be a good starting point to move from the nearly Rosamunde Pilcher-esque movies he had been stuck with for nearly 5 years.
It was hard to make it big in the film industry from the ground up especially if your ultimate goal was to become a director for an in-house film production and fighting against the titans of the industry, Vox liked to think his dreams were not THAT insane, he was much more forward thinking that any of these privileged snobs and he was much smarter and sharper than them.
"That's impressive" Maria commented, "you surely have a natural talent if that's your first lead role" She adjusted her glasses and stared at him. Bingo thought Vox, he knew what that look meant and smirked when Maria took a business card, sliding it towards him, "I wouldn't mind chatting more about what you can do"
Vox put his grateful and almost pitiful look on "Oh, that would be amazing!" he beamed, taking the business card and securely positioning it in his front pocket.
The conversation moved on, though Vox was mostly over it. He had already achieved his goal and was just now actively listening and answering questions while thinking about any other interesting names that might be attending this premiere. His interest was piqued when he noticed, among the crowd, a woman whom he frequently saw in magazines; he also knew she was a talent agent. Perfect! She was even a bigger fish than the two women in front of him.
He swiftly got up, excusing himself and walking towards Rosie. She was quite beautiful. She had this long purple gown, and her hair was in a nice, sleek bun. She looked business despite her overly sweet smile. Moreover, she seemed to immediately notice him, as if she was expecting him "Well, hello there, dear", she started squaring him up. He, very modestly, thought he also looked handsome with his dark blue suit and slicked back hair; he even wore an actual bow tie instead of the string one that he would usually prefer since he didn't have the patience to tie them up (what was the point of struggling with a piece of fabric and risking crookedness when there are ones already made for you!).
"It's a pleasure to meet you", he greeted, and Rosie immediately put her hands forward to stop him from bowing "What nice manners", she commented "I know someone who would benefit from following your example"
"It's just the bare minimum", Vox commented. After a quick introduction, (though, both of them already knew each other's names) they were ready to actually talk business. Rosie had an eye for emergent talent and frequently attended events full of amateurs or emergent, and this guy was exactly what she was looking for; however, she had a feeling Vox would never join a talent agency.
And she was right, Vox preferred to find opportunities for himself by networking and charming the most influential people, and Rosie was perfect, she knew various celebrities and especially had the elusive Radio Demon in her pool. He wanted to meet the guy; if he could befriend him and learn his identity, he had a foolproof plan to relevancy. Best case scenario, they can be "friends" and he can ride off his popularity, and if the guy ever wanted to stab him in the back, Vox had his identity in his back pocket; worst case, he would learn his identity and blackmail him or use the information to feed to some journalist for a big fee.
After a couple of pleasantries between the two, they both decided to cut to the chase "I assume if I proposed to meet again formally over a cup of tea for you to join my talent pool, you would refuse, am I right?" asked Rosie, her black eyes bearing holes in Vox's eyes.
"I wouldn't say no to meeting you again, but... I would rather learn how to get an interview with the famous Radio Demon" retorted Vox, and Rosie looked interested for a quick second. She hadn't expected that to be the goal; in fact, most people knew that the Radio Demon was the one to choose who he would interview and would often snob anyone coming to him first. "Oh! That's new," she smiled "However, my dear Radio Demon is quite hard to reach and I don't think he would accept an interview with an emerging actor"
Vox's eye twitched slightly. She made him seem so insignificant, which, sure, compared to her or the high and mighty Radio Demon, he was, but he didn't appreciate the reminder "I like to try my luck; moreover, I must be special if you are trying to recruit me, no?"
Rosie smiled sharply, "special for me, maybe, for him, no" she said easily, "but look, I will be nice. Come to visit me, let's discuss this over some tea, and I will see what I can do for you" It was not a request but more of a demand and an end to their current conversation. Vox smiled, though his annoyance was reaching a limit "of course"
After Rosie shared his business contacts with Vox, she left the party and texted the group chat with Husk and Alastor.
>I met Vincent Whittman, a charming young man. Reminds me of you, Alastor.
>He wants an interview with you. I think this could be a nice opportunity and I think he will achieve big things soon.
>Husk, could you put this on his list of priorities, please? I have a meeting with him next week. It would be nice if our prince in distress would also agree to a meeting with me sometime in the coming weeks, since he is ignoring me, so please put that on his calendar.
Husk saw the messages quite quickly and reacted with a thumbs up. Rosie sighed. Talking to these two was no better than talking to a wall. Most of the chat was just her talking with Husk reacting or answering in "yes" or "no" while Alastor was usually MIA, even after his proverbial weekly check-up. What a team!