About

TITLE: The Late Night Devil, The Dealmaker, The Backdoor Man

HALO: Barbed Wire

Literally just. The Worst. He's charismatic, suave, and would shake your hand and stab you in the back at the same time. His goals revolve around one thing: the pursuit of power. For some godforsaken reason, Alistair aspires to become a demon prince. He wants to exert his influence in the world not through little acts, but in sweeping gestures. He craves the notoriety that comes with being a demon lord. And he'll do whatever it takes to get to that level. He'll step over a thousand corpses of friends, family, employers, patrons, to get to where he wants to go. He has very little loyalty; even his patron, Witherbrand, isn't someone he'd bend a knee to. He wants to put on this façade, this persona of a man who can get you what you want when you want, for one hell of a price. He wants to be a dealmaker. He wants his name to carry weight. He wants people to know who he is as he carves his influence into the flesh of the world. He knows exactly what to say when it comes to getting what he wants or getting out of trouble. He’s also found that pandering to people gets you much farther along than bullying them. Hence the nonstop politeness. He panders. So much. To so many people. But it's gotten him to where he wants to be so far, so why would he stop? 

There's basically two faces to this dude. There's the face he wears when he's dealing with people he cares about, and the face he wears when he's dealing with people that he has no interest in beyond using them. Essentially, whatever bs polite face he puts on to the public becomes legitimate. He recognizes the value of having friends and is quite keen  on keeping them around. He reserves genuine care for people like his family, his partner, and the very few true friends he has. Courteous and friendly, to a point. He's a man of many faces, and sometimes it's hard to tell which are genuine and which are facetious. He also tends to act on whims a lot. Sometimes he'll just do things because he's bored, and he wants to see how people react. Externally, it usually seems like he doesn't give a flying fuck about what's  happening. Internally, he has issues with anger, and can hold a grudge  like nobody's business. The second that somebody becomes useless to him, they are discarded. Not necessarily through murder, but he will up and leave them without so much as a goodbye. He has little interest in  getting involved with affairs beyond his immediate circle and boy does it show. Has told hell to suck his ass on multiple occasions and refuses to answer to any higher demons. As far as he's concerned, he's a completely separate entity from the rest of the infernal lot.

The boon of associating with him comes with his contacts. As a bartender, especially a bartender in somewhere like the Side Eye, comes with some benefits. Some of the worst criminals are comfortable with his presence, trust him enough to let him serve them drinks. His colleagues are seedy, yes, but he can hook you up with just about anything you need. Alistair also trades in information; if you need dirt on a person, he can certainly provide. The amount of gossip and secrets he picks up at work borders on absurd at times. It's great!

BIO

Alistair grew up in a relatively large family. He has two mothers, two fathers, and two siblings. His mothers, Geraldine and Glides Through Snow, run a bakery in his hometown, and his fathers, Vittori and Townsend, run the confectionery shop next door. Sugar has been all but infused in his blood. His younger brother, Kason, is enchanter/alchemist, and his older sister Amaranth is a blacksmith. Unlike Kason, Alistair didn’t join the family business when we came of age. Instead, he moved to the bustling city of Shadeband to pursue a career in bounty hunting. A life of baking or crafting had little appeal to him, so he went out and forged his own way. His parents supported the decision, but had no idea what he’s actually getting himself into. He’s not a bounty hunter that works for the side of good by tracking down criminals; he’s more on the side of ‘if you pay me enough coin, I’ll track down anyone.’ A large part of his clientele are higher-end criminals/mob people that are looking for other higher-end criminals/mob people who have gone into hiding. Sometime during the course of his early career, he comes into contact with a peculiar rapier, forged with an unknown black metal that seems to absorb the light around it. This rapier is Witherbrand. Witherbrand promises Alistair power in exchange for… something. Something that hasn’t been revealed yet. When Alistair is between jobs, he runs a little place called the Side Eye, a surprisingly fancy nightclub where shady people gather to organize shady things. He’s far from the nastiest dude there in terms of reputation, but he’s no outsider either. People respect him for two reasons primarily: his reputation precedes him, and they’re aware of the fact that any one of them could end up on his hit-list at any time, and he keeps the booze flowing. He bears no ill will towards his primary patrons. He’s also aware that they are all potential targets, but there’s no need to jump the gun. Until their name appears on a contract, he considers them allies. When Alistair needs to leave the Side Eye to take care of business, he leaves Malthallow, a halfling-tiefling, and a pair of imps in charge of the place. 

He achieves demonhood with the help of his patron. And what does he do with this newfound power? He shoves off, lifts his bar out of the mortal plane and onto a demiplane, and continues business as usual. The bar appears to those who need it, whatever their reason may be. One might find the Side Eye through a door in an alley that wasn't there before, or maybe led to a different place entirely before. A lot of his power as The Dealmaker relies on consent; people willingly entering his debt. Which happens kind of a lot! He's one of the more reliable demons out there; if you contract him to do something for you, he'll follow through 100%. It's the part that comes after that gets people. He always asks for a favor in return. Vaguely outlined favors; but always favors, to be called in at a later date. It could be as simple as repairing a carpet, or as complex as an assassination. It's almost impossible to know what he'll ask someone for, but once he does, they're on the hook for it, with no chance for escape. One either follows through with their part of the deal, or they forfeit their soul to The Dealmaker. It's fucked up, but they literally asked for it.

Because of the otherworldliness of his bar, part of his power has been extended to his staff: Malthallow, Mortal, Peril, and Basil to some extent.