Calli jumps about five feet in the air when they all hear a banging sound from the common area, and quickly opens a portal down there, only to find…a black spider demon about her height, dressed like a gangster and carrying two guns that look a lot like the ones Angel uses in a fight. At least it looks like the banging sound was just the spider kicking the door in?
Charlie walks over, trying to look like she isn't anything other than completely calm, and says "Hello! Welcome to the Hazbin Hotel!"
"Hi," the Sinner says, one gun slung over his shoulder casually, "I'm looking for my brother. Name's Anthony, might go by Tony or might have decided on some other name altogether. Pretty sure he's here, though." Mainly because the spider-demon he saw had their matched set of guns - the two of them got a matching pair of guns each, a set of four automatic handheld ones.
Which is quite a problem, honestly, because he could swear that Spider Demon looked exactly like this 'Angel Dust' he's heard far too much about and seen far too much of in advertisements and billboards - rather, the problem is Angel Dust's boss, a pimp moth-demon and a sleazebag named Valentino. He's been searching Pride Ring from one end to the other for his twin siblings. But he's had no luck until now - there was no guarantee that they'd be spiders like him, if they kept their own names or not, or they…well, if Molly was even in Hell to begin with. He and Anthony did everything so Molly wouldn't have to - they were completely unaware of Heaven and Hell being so real back then, but still.
A white spider comes running around the corner right then, skidding to a stop on the other side of the couch, and asks "Holy- is that you, Sal?!"
"Name's Arackniss, these days. Decided I'd embrace the whole spider deal."
Angel chuckles, one hand moving to rub at the back of his head, and says "Well, I still go by Anthony. My friends call me Tony, though. Gotta say, the weirdest part of waking up down here - for me, anyway - was the extra sets of arms. Had to learn to use 'em, and learned real quick. Let me give 'ya the tour, I think you'll like some people here."
Arackniss nods, then takes everybody by surprise when he suddenly yanks Angel down to face-level via one of his upper arms. Husk, Pentious, and Charlie all jerk towards him, but Arackniss very visibly presses a gun to his side saying "Try anything and I shoot. I mean it, and he knows I do."
Angel grimaces as his brother's hand grips both of his wrists, one of his upper hands tangling in his fur to hold his head still, and says "It's cool, guys, just…nobody move a moment, alright? 'Niss, what the here are you doing?"
And then the black spider frowns, his one free hand pushing Angel's upper lip up, and mutters "No gold tooth…" Angel internally swears, even as Arackniss, puts the gun away and releases him, and quietly thanks whatever there actually is to thank that he asked Calli to turn the gold tooth Val used to mark him into a regular one yesterday.
Rubbing at the back of his head theatrically, he asks "Care to explain what the fuck that was about, fratello?"
Arackniss crosses his arms and leans against the bar counter, even as Cherri adds that she'd definitely like an explanation to, and says "I've been up one end of Pride Ring and down the other, Tones, trying to find you. You have any idea how big this place is? Massive."
Calli coughs, muttering "That might've been me…"
"All the while, I've got no idea if you also ended up a spider, fi you're even here, if we'd even recognize one another if we managed to run into one another. And then, I start seeing advertisements for a certain star…Angel Dust. I keep seeing his face plastered all over the Ring, no matter where I go. Unfortunately, I don't have any fuckin' clue if he's my brother or not. Angel Dust might've been your favorite pastime, but not so much you'd make it your new name down here. But I do a little digging nonetheless, just in case. What I find, though…his boss. Valentino, he's called. A real sick freak, even by our standards - even our damn padre had a few things he could've learned from him, if what I heard was accurate."
Angel opens his mouth to respond, but Arackniss adds "And, here you are, looking like Angel Dust's twin…bar the gold tooth. Something you'd like to say, Anthony? Some sick figlio di putana that needs a pallottola in testa yanking you around?"
Angel raises an eyebrow, saying "You said it yourself, Niss, no gold tooth. And like fuck would I trust a dentist down here, capisci? Why would I name myself after a drug, anyway? That's just begging to be used, ya get me?"
Calli raises an eyebrow, asking "Hold up, Anthony…you two are Italian?" If anybody notices she's trying to take his brother's attention from the very accurate theory of him being a former porn star…they don't mention it, thankfully. "You should've said, what's your favorite dish? I can make pasta from scratch, sauce, you name it."
Arackniss says "Moved to Chicago when we were kids. You didn't tell 'em?"
Cherri Bomb laughs, saying "Oh, I know, alright. Italian gangster family, he told me ages ago."
Husk raises an eyebrow, asking "Seriously?"
Angel just shrugs, saying "Yep. The three of us were close, mostly 'cause our Padre was…well, 'Niss here was his favorite, used that to take the heat off Molly and I. When 'Niss did well, we could relax."
Arackniss snorts, making his pistol he's made appear for show vanish, and says "And, when things were going bad…I was the one that was supposed to put things right."
Vaggie says "You were just about to shoot him."
Angel says "He knows where to shoot to make it look good. You shoot someone in the right spot, the bullet will miss all their organs. It'll hurt like fuck, but they'll be fine otherwise. Dear old padre was ruthless in his discipline. If it hadn't been 'Niss, it'd have been him. And he would've just landed a bullet in my gut and let me try to sort myself out."
Arackniss lets out a phrase in Italian nobody but Angel actually understands, but the meaning is clear enough. Their father did do that to someone, possibly one of them.
Calli claps her hands together to break up the sudden tension, and says "Well, if you want to have a look around, I'd be more than happy to give you a tour. Arackniss, right? Name's Calliope, but my friends call me Calli. My niece actually owns the hotel, wanted to find a way to stop Extermination…"
The two head off into the Hotel, and Angel waits until he can't hear their voices anymore before saying "Alright, while 'Niss is here, please nobody call me Angel, Angel Dust, or any variation. He was a hothead when we were alive, and that hasn't changed one bit down here, I can already tell. He learns I used to be Val's top moneymaker, and he's going to head up there to put Val out of everyone's misery only to end up dead a few dozen times over. Val can get inside your head with his damn Pheromones, it's how he gets people to fall for his damn charm and empty promises."
And his venom does the rest of the work in getting more souls on his chain - even if they don't sign right then and there, even if they somehow manage to get away at first…if he got enough of his poison in their system, they're screwed unless they have someone they can rely on. Otherwise, the withdrawal will have them coming right back to Valentino for another hit…and Val won't give it to them without first getting their signature on the contract.
Rosie grins in utter delight when Alastor slips past the last few customers heading out of the Emporium, but then feels her expression slip into unadulterated shock at the sight of the young woman following close behind him - not Calliope, no, but she could be their kid. Alastor's and Calliope's - after a moment, Rosie vaguely recognizes her as the Seraphim Calli brought with last week.
What happened to her?!
And why does she look so much like Alastor and Calliope?!
Alastor's smile turns slightly mischievous after a moment, and he says "You definitely recognize Emily, then."
Rosie nods, then asks "What- when- …how?!"
Emily says "Calliope made a potion from her world that made adapting to living in Hell easier…it just so happened to be something she called a 'blood adoption potion' though, so…"
Rosie gasps in utter delight, asking "You mean…I'm an aunt now?!"
Alastor's smile softens, and he says "Indeed. Twice over, given the detail that Charlotte is Emily's cousin."
Rosie practically squeals, clapping her hands together as she all but bounces over to them. "Everything," she says, taking Alastor's hands in her own, "tell me everything! When's the wedding? What's being served? I can't decide whether to be Matron of Honor or Best Woman! Has she picked out a dress yet? I'd be thrilled to order-"
"Rosie!" Alastor slips his hands out of Rosie's only to take them in his and squeeze them, saying "There's no wedding as of yet." Rosie's disappointed look turns to understanding when he adds "She's still helping me sort some things out. And, by the time she gets back, she's usually exhausted."
Rosie nods, saying "Well, then, I'd better be the first to know when you've proposed, Mister!" It's like she wasn't already one-hundred percent convinced meeting Calliope was the best thing that's happened to Alastor in the past decade alone, if not his entire life.
Alastor chuckles, saying "There's a line of people who've implied that, thought that, and outright told me that. Lucifer, Azrael, Charlie…I can promise top five, old friend. Anything closer than that is too much up to chance for me to guarantee."
Rosie sighs, one hand on her hip, and says "Fair enough. Sit down, sit down! Emily, sweetheart, what'll you have? I've got tea, coffee, cocoa…"
Emily glances where Rosie's standing, and says "Cocoa sounds good, actually. You've got a very nice store, Ma'am."
Rosie grabs a bag of coffee, a tea bag, and a box of cocoa mix, and says "Oh, just call me Auntie Rosie, I insist! And, thank you! Another one with such wonderful manners! I'd ask how you keep finding them, Alastor, but it seems more like they're finding you!"
Alastor pulls Emily's seat out for her to sit in, and says "Truthfully, Rosie, I can't take much credit."
Rosie hums, asking "Anything new been happening since, then? Has your shadow started moving on its own like Alastor's? Made anything appear out of thin air like Calliope?"
Emily shakes her head, saying "Not yet. I was an Empath before, back in Heaven. It's why I was so good at bringing joy to everyone, I can amplify and project my own emotions if I want to." One of the reasons she couldn't after learning about Extermination Day, she couldn't feel any joy herself knowing Sera had given the go-ahead for Adam and his friends to slaughter thousands of human souls. "That hasn't changed, but Da- I mean, Alastor's been teaching me some basic defense skills, to."
Alastor adds "Perhaps teaching you how to make someone feel apathetic would be a good idea." He's not about to unpack Emily almost calling him dad, he's not - his own father was an absolute piece of shit, a violent drunk that would go off if he thought someone had looked at him wrong and a mean-spirited asshole who treated his mom like a servant more often than not. Why she got with him, Alastor never knew - he never questioned why she stayed with him, though, since he'd have likely tracked them down and killed them both if she tried to run.
Magic or no magic, no less - his mother was a firm believer of not using her powers to harm others. He's a firm believer of defending himself, though - luckily for him, his mother understood. He's not sure what his eleven-year-old self would've done if she hadn't.
The power suddenly going out and all the lightbulbs exploding in a burst of electricity so strong it leaps along the ceiling from all the broken lights is more than enough to pull Alastor out of his darkening thoughts.
Dropping the shield he instinctively threw up once he's sure all the glass has slid off it, he glances outside Rosie's window only to see the entire city seems to be in another blackout. A particularly big one, at that - most of the time, Vox doesn't blow lightbulbs in his fits.
Narrowing his eyes when he sees something sitting on Rosie's bushes, Alastor says "Stay here, Emily. I've got a little errand that's just come up. I shouldn't be long. Rosie?"
Rosie nods, saying "Don't worry about us, Alastor. I'll take her in back and we can talk."
Emily sits down on the couch Rosie indicates, and asks "Is Alastor alright? When I nearly- well, he seemed kinda…"
Rosie nods, saying "Alastor never really saw himself as father material, but that's because of his own. That man…I'd say he shouldn't have been allowed to have kids, but then Alastor wouldn't have been born. Still, he absolutely shouldn't have been allowed to be in Alastor's life. I won't say much more without him present, have said this much because your Alastor's daughter now, but…he did everything he shouldn't have, in regards to raising Alastor."
Emily's expression turns to horror, and she murmurs "And, when I nearly called him dad…" She just...never had one of those before, it just slipped out! She doesn't know what a Dad is supposed to to...but Alastor hasn't done anything that makes her want him to not be her dad, at least!
Rosie chuckles, saying "I doubt he was ready for that, truthfully. But, still, I've never known Alastor to make a clearheaded decision he came to regret. And you're no exception, sweetheart."
Emily frowns now, asking "Then…"
Rosie chuckles slightly, asking "Where do you think he's heading right now, then? Alastor may be bad at showing feelings, but he has his own ways of showing he cares about something or someone. I'd bet the Emporium he's on his way to V-Tower right now, Valentino or no Valentino, to have a little chat with Vox."
Emily blinks, asking "The guy with the tv for a head, right? Why would he be heading there?"
"He's the reason for the blackout. Vox has power over electricity, but that occasionally - or, not-so-occasionally when Alastor is involved - means he takes the city's power grid out in the middle of a fit."
Vox groans when he comes to, putting one hand to his head as he's forced to restart in Safe Mode - great, just great. He fried so many components he has to limit his functionality just to function at all. Sitting up, he glances around only to see he's surrounded in pitch-black darkness - looks like he fried a lot more than just his internal components, more like the entire building's circuitry.
From how drained he's feeling, he gets the distinct impression he may have taken down the city's power once more - Carmilla's going to have his head one of these times, if Velvette or Val doesn't come marching down the stairway in a fit. Gods forbid Velvette have a bad hair day, after all, or Valentino's porn be interrupted.
"Well, it's about time you woke up, old pal."
Vox looks around, having just about jumped out of his skin at the staticky voice, and asks "Alastor?" The shadows suddenly swarm him, lifting him up off the ground altogether, and then Alastor comes into the dim light his screen is giving off. And, oh, he looks pissed off. "Al-" Vox cuts off as the shadows around his neck tighten, but forces out "What're you doing here?"
"You and I both know exactly why I'm here. Don't even try to play dumb." Alastor holds up a drone, before tossing it to a wall hard enough to break the machine.
Vox tries to at least touch his feet to the ground, dearly regretting having made his underground office/surveillance room have a twenty-foot drop beneath the desk. Along with having such a tiny walkway between it and the door - one Alastor, despite his thin frame, is blocking with ease.
And the hidden stairway is pretty out of the way - he wanted to discourage his 'partners' from coming down here if at-all possible. Valentino loves to leave ashes from his cigarettes everywhere, after all, and all the products Velvette puts in her hair would likely screw with the electronics. Plus...he's a baby, she's a teenage brat, and he needs his sanity intact as the only responsible one of the three of them most of the time.
Vox tries to swallow, but whatever shadow or tentacle is wrapped around his throat doesn't loosen for even that, so he rasps out "She looks like you…"
"Know who else she looks like?" At Vox's nod, Alastor adds "Calliope told me about her call to you while she was in Heaven. I'll have you know I made some creative additions to her own threat on Valentino's life."
"How much more creative could you possibly get…?"
"Valentino so much as looks at her, and he'll be the background noise to every single broadcast I make for the next ten thousand years. I'll hunt him down again and again until he's terrified of the moment he wakes back up down here, to say nothing of when I find him again. And I've got it on good authority that Hedwig would be thrilled to help. Am I clear enough for you?"
Instead of answering, Vox's expression turns to sheer mortification for a moment when his fans suddenly switch onto their top speed…and then his face turns to a solid blue screen. It's when Alastor tightens that shadow around his neck a little more that Vox manages to get his screen working again, nodding his head and gasping out "Understood!"
Vox suddenly finds himself dropped like a puppet with its strings cut, landing hard on his hands and knees on the floor, and breathes out "Understood, Alastor…" Clutching at his neck, he quickly loosens his bowtie to try and get some more air down his throat.
"Excellent. Glad we could come to an understanding." Vox glances up at Alastor, who's sitting casually on his desk like he doesn't have a care in the world. Far, far too casually for the situation, that's for sure. "You keep that sadistic, drug-spitting sex-fiend of a sentient violation disguised as a Sinner away from the Hotel, and everyone living in it, or I'll destroy the Vees and your entire power-base before turning Valentino's very existence into something that makes Extermination Day look like a picnic."
After a moment, Vox asks "Why her? Out of everyone…why her?! Is it because she's got magic? Her connections to the royal family?"
Alastor narrows his eyes at Vox, ever-present smile going so wide he looks like he wants to bite Vox in half right then and there, and eventually asks "Why Calliope? Well, maybe the fact that she's never asked me to change anything about myself? How she just accepts me for who and what I am? No, wait, perhaps it's because I know for certain she'll never cross any of my boundaries. Perhaps it's because I know I can trust her to have my back, rather than letting herself be swayed by someone else's opinion."
Vox starts at that, sitting up and going to protest - he knows a dig at the past when he hears one, and that was not what happened! - but Alastor says "Or, possibly it's because she's been helping try to undo a fuck-up you got me into."
Vox blinks, asking "What? When did…?" The only thing he can think of is the fight between the two of them Val helped him with…and then he vanished for seven years? What else could he mean, though? And why would he look so incredibly pissed off about it?
"Take your pick, any of those options will suffice. The lack of any sadistic rapists in her life is certainly a plus, I'll admit." Seizing Vox by the throat suddenly and yanking him forward so they're literally nose-to-screen, Alastor growls out "Leave Calliope and Emily be, Vox, or you'll be background noise to every single broadcast I make afterwards for the rest of eternity. AM I CLEAR?"
Vox nods his head silently, and then watches as Alastor melts into the shadows and vanishes after dropping him to the floor once more.
FUUUUCK...
And then he crashes once more, Safe Mode doing its job and preventing him from overheating or frying any other components.
When Alastor gets back to Rosie's Emporium and headed to the back, helped along by a Cannibal who pointed him that way, Emily's just called Calliope. "Hey, Rosie, it's Calli. Quick question, you want about fifty Hellborn Demon corpses? I'm down in Ransom, a town in Greed Ring, and these morons decided it'd be a good idea to try and kidnap me. So, even if who I'm looking for was here, they're long gone. I might as well come back now, but I really don't like leaving evidence behind…and they'll rot and bring scavengers, to."
"Excuse me," Alastor deadpans, "but say that again?"
"Some crime ring, they must remember me from when I was dealing with Mammon again. I took care of all of them in about half a second each…but that still leaves the problem of fifty corpses. So, Rosie, you want 'em? If so, I'm heading over now. If not...I'll be another few minutes Transfiguring bodies into...I dunno, boxes, maybe. Make this place look like a warehouse, perhaps."