The Wrath ring of hell.. It was quiet for the most part. Nature being the biggest threat more than hell itself. For Toxin though, nothing could get past his rocky skin. Toxin, even though he was in hell, was a peaceful soul, just usually minding his own business. Tending to his crops and animals he had on his property. Though, he goes into the main city of hell, Pentagram City in the Pride ring every so often. He would only go into the city for supplies, and maybe a drink here and there if the fields were forgiving for that day. But, one day, he'd hear of a hotel being run by the daughter of the devil himself, Lucifer. This little story is of how one Scorpion of the old old west, was going to learn of newer ways…
Toxin was asleep in his bed peacefully, snoring lightly as he waited for daylight to finally reach his windows. Even when he was alive, he had always gotten up before everyone else. As soon as dawn had risen he was up and making something to eat for breakfast. Either that or just a plain cup of black coffee. His eyes opened slowly, the crimson-red sunlight peeking in through his windows. Sitting up he stretched, cracking his lower back as he crawled out of bed. When Toxin sleeps, he lays flat on his stomach, curling his eight legs in on himself as he lays his head on a pillow. His tail also curls up on itself and lays dormant, not making any venom for the night. Once Toxin wakes up though, it immediately starts making the three different kinds of venom that can either kill, paralyze, or torment those stung. Or if he wants he could just use his tail to stab something if he really wanted to.
Once Toxin had finished cracking his back, it was time for the rest of him to wake up. Waking up next to Toxin sounds like making popcorn, every morning he had to pop every ligament, every appendage, everything just to get him started in the morning before his coffee. Walking slowly out of his bedroom into the kitchen, he hit the button for the coffee maker, waiting for it to start brewing. While he waited, he reached into the fridge and pulled out a small paper plate with tin-foil covering whatever was on the plate. He unwrapped the foil, taking a look at the small sliver of cake that had been given to him for his birthday. (Yes, even sinners in hell have birthdays.) It was from his neighbors Lin and Joe, a few Imp farmers he's known since coming down to hell. He even worked for them before Striker, that bastard of a wrangler, came around. He was too aggressive for Toxin's taste, but he got the job done. Lin and Joe still have Toxin over for dinner here and there out of sheer kindness, which he greatly appreciated, but the fact that they laid him off from making some extra cash did piss him off a little, but he never let that show around them.
The coffee maker beeped, meaning his brew was done. He turned and grabbed a small mug from a cabinet above the machine and poured himself a cup. As he took a sip, he sighed and walked outside,looking at the bright morning. Reds, blood-oranges, yellow's, and a small, small shade of pinkish-gray filled the sky. He enjoyed these views in the early mornings where he lived. Both in life and now down in hell he loved the sight of an early morning sunrise. He finished his coffee and headed back inside. He grabbed his old jacket and filled a travel mug to go with him. He needed to go into the city and grab some supplies for the day before he started working on the fields for today. He sighed one last time before heading off to the city, following the small main road that led to it. He hummed an old song he loved back in the day. An old bar song all the other town folks would sing when they had gotten drunk. He sometimes missed trying to get their drunk ass' home, their wives sometimes literally having to carry them back to the carriage.
Pentagram City. Something not new to him but the technology sure was. Billboards showing advertisements for countless objects, neon signs with women showing off their legs seductively, food commercials, the typical ads you see in cities.
"Wonder if back on earth it's like this now hm? Back in mah day we nevah had any o' this goin 'round my town." He thought to himself. Nostalgic memories of living in Arizona. 1868 was a long time ago, but the past is the past. Now he was here, possibly living his best life if anyone asked him. Roaming around the city, he noticed something stuck to an electrical pole. A flier. He had his tail gently skewer it in the corner of the paper and bring it to him. He took hold of it and began to read. "The Happy Hotel! Come stay and be sent to heaven! :) Princess Charlie-"
"Is, this a child's drawin' at the bottom..?" Toxin mumbled to himself. Maybe some kid had lost it somewhere and they really looked up to the Princess of Hell? He's never heard of a hotel down in hell that could "Redeem Sinners" or "Send you to Heaven". He had some time before the markets opened anyway, so he could pass by real quick. He gently folded the small piece of paper and put it in his jacket pockets, walking his way to an open store.
After about four to five blocks from where he'd found the small flier, was the porn studios. Surprisingly it was open, from what it looked it was the only place open at the time. Maybe some of them knew where this hotel was? He walked towards the doors, pausing a moment to let the sliding doors fully open so he could walk in. He pulled his tail closer to his body, hoping to not get it tangled in any of the low hanging lights in the lobby. He walked to the receptionist who had her hands under the counter, doing, Lucifer only knows what. The whole main plaza reeked of lust, which was no surprise coming from the only porn studio in all of hell, other than those in the Lust ring of course. The further Toxin walked into the plaza, he could tell the smell of lust and sex and, liquids, was starting to sink into his skin.
"I'm gonna need 'bout five showers by time Ah get home." He thought to himself, wanting this to be over with as soon as possible. "Howdy thare missy. Was wonderin', where this?' ' he took out the slip of paper he had in his pockets, reading off the name to her. "Uh, 'Happy Hotel' happened to be. You, uh.. H-Hello?" The woman finally brought her eyes up to Toxin. She was sweaty and out of breath being obvious what she was doing down there, though Toxin didn't want to think about what or who she had down there to get her to this state.
"Oh, my bad sugar~ What was your question again?~" She gave him a look that screamed lust, a look that would turn most sinners head-over-heels horny. Toxin on the other hand, was not the kind of sinner to be as open, as most others would be.
"I happen tah be lookin for this 'Happy Hotel' I saw on this here flyer. Ya's happen tah know where it is I should be 'eadin to?" He asked her again, hoping she would just give him his answer and he could leave. He noticed movement at the corner of his smaller eyes. Three, maybe four different people all started piling out of one of the rooms to his left. Even from the front desk, maybe Thirty-Thirty Five yards, he could smell them like they were right underneath him. This place was covered head to toe of pure lust. One of those who had left the room caught Toxin in his sights, smirked, and blew him a kiss, as well as winking at Toxin. His spine shivered as if Hell itself froze over. Putting his attention back towards the receptionist.
"Hmmm, Oooh yes, I've heard of this place. Yeah it's on the top of the hill north of here sweety." She had told him, handing back the piece of paper to Toxin, folding it in its small square and placing it back in his pocket.
"Thank you, it's greatly appreciated ma'am. You 'ave a good day 'ere?" He turned to leave as the receptionist smiled and waved at him, blowing him a kiss while his back was turned.
"Fuck I want him to pound me…~" She whispered to herself, going back to what she was doing before he had come in. A small thunk could be heard from under the counter, before a small whine came out from whoever was under the desk.
Toxin had started moving north like what the receptionist had said. Walking for another fifteen,maybe twenty minutes north of the porn studios. Reaching the foot of a hill, maybe no bigger than some of the sand dunes back near his house, was The Happy Hotel. It was massive. Toxin had never seen any kind of building such as this before. An old rusted out ship lay on the side of the building, looking as if it would collapse with just the slightest gust of wind. A Balcony sat dead-center of the front of the building, facing out towards Pentagram city. Under the bright neon sign that read 'HAPPY HOTEL' was a pale-orange eye,sybalizing that maybe it see's all of the Pride ring.
"Damn, we had this kinda buildins back in the day we'd be un-robbable! Or we'd have a one-maned power like the Nazi's did. Yeah, probably a bad idea." He thought to himself, letting one of his mandibles scratch an itch on his cheek before walking towards the building. He straightened out his jacket as he walked, slicking back his hair and letting it pop back into its place. Stopping at the massive doors, he noticed the stained glass apple in the center of the double doors themselves. Obviously pointing at Lucifer's design. Slowly he pushed the front doors open, slowly walking inside.
"'Ello? Anybody 'ere today?" He shouted out loud, wondering if he'd ever get an answer. It was pretty early in the morning, so he wasn't expecting anyone to be up at this time. The more he wandered around the main lobby, at the front desk was a small silver bell, one you would see in a stereotypical hotel in a film. Leaning down, he gently rang the bell, letting the small Ding ring out through the lobby. Nothing for what felt like ten, maybe fifteen minutes you could hear a pin drop from a mile away. Then,footsteps, small, but quick. Very quick. They were approaching rapidly too. It had been coming from a hallway to his left.
Moving to his right about a foot or so, he braced for whoever,or whatever was coming his way. A blur jumped into the air and landed in front of Toxin before he even had time to think of what it could even be. What it was was a purely white face, with a smile from ear-to-ear,small rosy cheeks on each side of her face. To top it all off, she had a small black puppy-dog-like nose. Her hair was a cream color mixed in with some touches of blonde, reaching just above her hips. She reached maybe 6', maybe 6'1 at most compared to Toxin.
"WELCOME TO THE HAPPY HOTEL!" She yelled, getting as close to him as she possibly could. "ItsSoGoodToFINALLYHaveSomeoneJoinUsInThisWONDERFULWayOfRedemtionI'mSoHappyYouCouldJoinUsMr..?"
"Uh.. Names Toxin, nice to meetcha's Mrs..?" This girl had more energy than he had ever had with the last 148 years of his second life. She Grabbed a hold of his hand and shook it violently,squealing in sheer enjoyment of having someone be on the hotel grounds.
"Oooooh that's such a cool name! My name is Charlie Morningstar! Princess of Hell and daughter of Lord Lucifer! Can I get you anything? FoodWaterWhatdoyouneed?!" She was in nose-touching distance from Toxin's face, which is hard to do being he's 7'9 she even standing on anything? He looked down to realize that she wasn't standing on anything. How exactly was she doing that?
"I Uh, I ate before walkin'ere from the Wrath ring, but thank ya's anyway Ms. Magne, But I'm uh.." He stopped midway to take the flier out of his jacket pocket, unfolding it to show her what he was talking about. "I'm 'ere for the whole redemption, thang, you're holdin' here." Before Charlie or Toxin could mutter anything else,a yawn could be heard coming from behind Toxin. A slim person, maybe around 8' or so, wore a wife-beater tank top as well as a pair of bright pink booty-shorts that barely reached down his thigh. Although he had comfy clothing on, he still wore boots that went up to around his mid thigh. Midnight black with heels that were at least three to four inches thick. He was covered in a snow-white fur with pink stripes going all across his body. One other thing about this sinner was from what it looked like, he had breasts. But his tank top was pulled so tight around his chest it pushed his extra fur up, making it seem as though he did in fact, have breasts.
"Charlie… what the fuck is all the damn cammotion down'ere? Trying ta wake all of fucking hell or what?" The fuzzy newcomer hadn't taken in the fact that Charlie was talking to someone and hadn't paid any attention to him yet. As this new stranger finally opened his eyes, something caught his attention. He quickly raced over to Toxin, accidentally knocking Charlie out of his way. He grabbed onto Toxin's cheeks, getting face-to-face with the scorpion demon. Toxin could see, like himself, was an arachnid as well. Two dominant eyes, one with a pink iris and all black sclera, the other a white with a black iris. This newcomer's smaller eyes were bright pink, three just below each dominant eye, coming out to eight in total. Toxin on the other hand, had twelve. His two dominant eyes, one black, the other a milky white. The other ten smaller eyes(three below each eye, two above) were like looking into obsidian. Pitch-Black with barely noticeable white Iris'.
"Well well well.~ Another multi-eyed freak hm? I thought only me'n mah famigila were the only ones like this~." He stepped back from Toxin, holding out a hand signifying a handshake. "Name's Angel Dust, but I'm sure you knew that already aye sandy?~"
Toxin reached out and shook the lanky spider-demon's hand, shaking firmly."I have to apologize, I aint never heard of ya there Angel Dust. Been here a long time, but you're a fresh face tah me." The spider's face was one of complete shock, surely everyone's heard of him before right?
"What!? I'm Hells biggest porn star for fucks sake! Ya's tellin' me that you've nevah heard of me before!?" Angel was thrown back, people flocked over him like hungry ducks towards bread. How could someone not recognize him!?
"Nope, can't say I have there. Been livin out in the Wrath ring for the past 148 years now I wanna say. 1879 was my death year." He pulled out an old photo of him when he was still alive, standing next to the old sheriff office he was in charge of back then. In the photo he was taking a sip out of an old canteen of water.
"Huh, so ya's an older guy yeah? 1947 was the year me'n my famiglia landed down here. We's was the Mafia back then, practically ran the streets of New York. Then, deal went wrong'n my ass ended up 'ere. But, I'm sure you wont make it all to bad hm?~" Angel was still trying to flirt with Toxin at this point, which was all for nothing towards the stubborn old westerner. Toxin barely moved when Angel tried advancing on him, before gently pushing him off.
"I, 'preciate the offer, but I have some thangs I got tah do back'n the Wrath ring. Hell-Hogs are a mess tryin ta wrangle early in the mornin." Angel shrugged,standing upright again before turning back to the hallway he had come from.
"Your loss bud. Evah change ya's mind just call me~" He blew him a kiss as he headed back up to his room, most likely going back to sleep,hopefully. Charlie had been silent through all of what had just happened, watching as Angel tried to "work his magic" on Toxin, who handled it better than anyone she has ever seen. Charlie, laughing nervously, stood back in front of Toxin to tell him how the hotel ran.
"S-So! How we work is uhm, w-we let you stay rent free as long as you do NO sinning. Drinking, killing, uhm, going to, t-the porn studios.. To do.. Business.. Eh heh heh.. N-no smoking, n-" She was cut off by Toxin raising his hand, having her make a small 'eep' when he did. A slight blush spread across her face like the Black Plague along all of Europe.
"Trust me there little missy, I aint done none of that in a LONG time if ya's worried. I only drink once, maybe twice a week at most down at a bar ova by the city edges. Plus I already have a place to stay, so I'll be fine on needin' somewhere ta stay. 'Preciate it there Ms. Magne." He headed back towards the door, turning back towards Charlie. "I'll be back by the weekend to stay'n help out. See ya'll in a few days." He left back out the door he came in from, walking back into the city to go to the store he originally came to the city for.
Charlie on the other hand, just stood in the hotel lobby, shocked at how quickly it took him to see her side. She smiled lightly as a small tear formed at the edge of her eye. Quickly wiping it away, she went back to her room in the hotel, desperately needing to go back to bed. It was going to be a busy day.