Disclaimer: Not sure if I have to keep mentioning this but the Hazbin Hotel concept ain't mine. Duh.
"We own you now!" The cackling sound stated.
A man, slim and donned with sideburns, watched as his chips were dragged away into the darkness that shrouded the other side of the table. He was helpless to prevent it.
"Don't worry though," The voice came again, reverberating from the black void. "We'll let you know soon how you can repay your debt."
Backing away from the table of sin, the man contemplated on fleeing, leaving all this behind. Turning towards the entrance, he only managed a couple steps before collapsing onto his knees, unable to move. He felt a quickly increasing panic but couldn't bring himself to rise back up.
Shaking his head, trying to hold himself together, the man gazed upwards, again towards the entrance. Just in time to see it open.
An unknown person entered. He was tall, boney, and favored the color red in his attire.
Strolling deeper with an impeccable posture, this individual surveyed the establishment. While there wasn't much beside the shadows, the stranger found it of plenty interest. Coming across the man on the ground, the newcomer stopped. Their eyes met.
Bending down, a hand and a smile was offered.
"My good man," said the sinner cheerfully. "The floor is not an equitable position for someone like you. Allow me to help you with that."
After a few seconds of hesitancy, the man took the hand that had stood still for him. As he was being lifted, a green light flashed in the surrounding darkness, briefly revealing what lay behind.
The man only recognized a few moving shapes before the smiling demon blocked his view.
"Why?" The man asked after being helped. "What do you want?"
When the demon spoke, his voice was enhanced by static. "Well, for now…" With an open palm, he indicated the now open entrance. "Go out there and let everyone know what happened." Dropping his arm, the demon then walked past the man, saundering deeper into the darkness. "I have some business to conduct."
Perplexed, the man stood there and followed the demon's journey into the shadows. Eventually, he disappeared into it.
Looking back at the exit, the man dithered to move. However, a sound from the blackness made him turn again.
It was a scream, loud but far away. Then, the clattering began. It sounded as if tables were turned or tools were wielded. It was mixing with a rising volume of voices, some pleading, some bellowing.
The man listened, frightened. After having reached an unbearable level of volume, the noises came to an abrupt halt. In the silence, the man held his breath. He could feel it coming. And it did.
The fire started like lighting, flashing and flinging around unnaturally, spreading. It dispersed the void along its path, setting objects hidden by it on fire. Screams ensued and the sound of a stampeding crowd was coming towards him.
Startled, the man pried his gaze out of the pandemonium that was the quickly clearing darkness. Willing his body to take a flight, he fled from the incoming mob towards the still exposed exit.
While running, the man could barely acknowledge the noises behind him. Amidst the shrieking, there were sounds of meat being ripped off the bone, of giant footsteps following in the wake of the running crowd and gaining. There was also a faint but ever present tone of static.
About to jump through the door, the last thing the man heard was a delighted laughter somewhere high above, echoing down on them.
Through the door, silence came. What followed was a moment of complete blackness, confusion and an annoying but persistent damp feeling on his nose.
The confusion lasted for a while, even as he unconsciously attempted to open his eyes. Eventually though, he started to recognize his surroundings. And what he saw was a small, round pig, licking his nose.
"Whaaack?" The cat exclaimed. His voice was coarse, even more so than usual. Lifting his arm along the low heights of the floor, he slowly tried to swat the pig away.
"Finally awake, sexy"
Hearing that smooth voice, Husk felt a slight jolt go down his lethargic system. Feeling vulnerable and therefore annoyed, he started to drag his head around, ignoring the pig and trying to locate the cause of his puffed tail.
"Over here" Angel sultry guided.
Realizing Angel was behind him, Husk slackly made a topsy-turvy with his upper torso. Thereby, his head landed upside down, facing Angel.
In this position, the spider wasn't too far off from spooning the cat. He was lying on his side on the floor, hand supporting his head which had a seductive expression plastered on it. An expression that was met with Husk's glowering but upside down gaze.
A moment of tension passed. After which came the gruff: "Were you watching me sleep?"
Angel's response being nothing but a widening smile, Husk followed with: "Could you fucking not?"
Lowering his head so it was a hair away from Husker's face, Angel passionately said "You know, I didn't think your voice could get even huskier." He started to go lower but was shoved back by the increasingly mobile cat.
Pulling himself into a sitting position and facing away from Angel, Husk sighted. His head was throbbing.
"Fine," Angel said affrontingly. "Don't let me kiss you and make it all better."
The cat turned his head to glare at the spider. Angel was just sitting there, arms crossed (all of them) and staring at the ceiling looking violated.
Looking away, Husk sighted again and began to climb onto his feet. "What is it with you and being an idiot?" The cat murmured, though loud enough to be heard by the intended party.
Standing, Husk felt the aftermath of both the floor and the alcohol. Tottering a little, he took support from the bar desk. When the world stopped spinning, the cat identified the exact location of his drunken landing pad.
Taking a couple more seconds to gather himself, the ex-drunk started to rootle around the cabinets. About a minute of searching and he found his objective: Milk.
The cat poured it into a glass. Then he took it into his paw. After that he took a whiff to check it and stopped everything alltogether because of the fucker that had gotten up and walked in front of him.
Angel, who still had his arms in akimbo and a hurt facade on, was standing on the other side of the desk. He wasn't even looking at Husker but was clearly trying to gain his attention.
"Fuck. Off."
Husk thought he had expressed himself quite clearly. The spider obviously wasn't one for subtle hints.
After judgingly staring at Angel's veneer for a good moment, Husk again started feeling tired of it all. Rubbing his eyes and slouching on the counter, the cat exclaimed "Just go bother someone else, okay?"
Finally breaking character, Angel said: "I am."
Husk stopped his rubbing and instead pinched his nose. He felt a new wave of rage starting but held back. After a moment of hurtful pressure on his nose, the cat sighted, let his paw drop and opened his eyes again to frown at Angel.
Another couple seconds passed, this time with eye contact. "Well?" Husk asked, giving in. "Are you going to explain 'the fuck you mean?"
Face lightening up, Angel promptly took a seat on one of the barstools. "So, you'll accept my company then?"
"Right," The cat answered, who this time had his paws in akimbo. "As if I had a choice."
While glaring at his intruding companion, Husk slowly realized that there was something different. The hangover though made it hard to perceive.
"Am I still drunk…" pointing at Angel, Husker inquired uncertainly. "Or is there something different?"
Now even happier, Angel exclaimed. "Oh so you noticed" He then proceeded to puff out his chest and showcase himself. "It's the new outfit for the Grand opening. As you can see I got two longer gloves instead of four short ones. Of course you'd notice anything new about me-"
"No, the…" Pausing to rub his forehead in effort to not worsen the headache and yell, Husk then specified. "Didn't you only have one black eye?" He asked, his voice having lowered in the 'huskiness'."
This took Angel aback and Husk saw it. Previous bubbliness gone, the spider slowly felt his right eye and immediately withdrew because of the tenderness.
After a moment of the bartender's questioning gaze, Angel conceded. "Well… you might have not been the only one to wake up to my presence." The cat gave the hand motion of 'go on' and so Angel did. "I also miiiight have snuck into the bedroom of our very 'deerest'."
The face of absolute disbelief was staring at Angel. "WHA-" stopping to mollify his aching head, Husk proceeded with lowered volume. "Why.. the fuck?!" he complimented. "Seriously, what is with you and being an idiot?"
"I guess it just looks good on me."
This statement was followed by silence. Then a shrug by the spider as the cat's unrelenting bewilderment was asking for some elaboration. Which it never got.
Eventually Husk fell back to his standard self. Picking up the milk glass again while Angel took a seat, the cat continued "I'd guess a black eye is lucky though, considering him." Looking at the hallway leading to the entrance, Husker couldn't help but to think back on his dream.
"Maybe…" Angel agreed, following Husk's line of sight and thinking of an entirely different incident. "Although I doubt he'd have the heart actually to kill me."
Not hearing a response, Angel turned back to look at Husker. The cat, while wearing a majestic milky mustache, just stared at the spider with an expression that screamed 'done'.
"So," After wiping his mouth into his forearm, Husk spoke. "I am still drunk since there's no way you keep saying these fucking things."
"You better believe it!" This was said with more proudness that would have been appropriate. Appropriate being none.
After the strenuous conversation, a surprisingly comfortable silence fell between the two. Husk finished his milk the way a cat would while Angel observed, discreetly this time.
While refilling his glass, Husk picked up the convo again. It wasn't like he had any plans he needed to attend to. "So, what was it that you meant when you said I was the 'someone else you were bothering'?"
Sorting through everything that was said in the last half an hour, Angel eventually recalled the event. "Oh right." Leaning back, which is unusual on a stool, Angel explained. "Mommy and daddy are fighting."
The appearance of Vaggie saved the two from another silent and confused pause. As she was descending the stairs, the duo saw that she was also wearing new clothing. Instead of a plain white dress, she had a red blouse and a black skirt. As she reached the end of the stairway though, it became apparent that she wasn't in her usual state of mind. That being, she seemed exhausted.
With a mildly slouched posture, she neared the bar. Before she could sit, Angel already spoke up. "Threw you out too, huh?" The sass was attenuated however.
Sitting down and basically melting on the chair, Vaggie confirmed the question with a hum.
Husk, feeling a little out of the loop, looked back and forth between the two. "Charlie and Al?" This time receiving a pair of hums, the cat's face turned critical. "Why?"
It took a second but both Angel and Vaggie were sitting a little straighter. If they weren't so dumbfounded, someone would have definitely joked about it.
Vaggie figured it out first. "You had already passed out, wasn't that so?" Realizing how stupid of a question it was, Vaggie cut straight to the point. "Alastor shot our new guest."
While this wasn't a complete surprise to the cat, the hangover did help give away some initial reaction. After the 'oh', he lifted his head to gaze at the ceiling as if his eyes could see through it.
Still staring upwards, Husk eventually spoke. "Hope they don't get divorced."
This got a chuckle out of the spider as well as the cat himself. Vaggie though didn't even smile.
"It's not just the argument," She stated. "Charlie has been avoiding him the entire weekend. She blames herself for what happened, for the murder and for not making ground rules for Alastor to prevent such events."
With a sigh, Vaggie let her head fall into her hands. "I'm worried they're going to make an actual deal this time."
The chuckle had died away. With an air of anxiety everyone turned to look at the ceiling, wondering what might be occurring behind the blanks of wood.
The moment was broken though as something occurred to Husk. "Wait," he said, his face becoming confused. "All that… drama happened on friday, right?" After receiving nods, his voice became grumpier. "So, how long was I out?!"
Author's notes: Yep, just another spiel of info here.
So, I am doing somewhat of a story instead of just episodic drama. That's why this chapter is shorter. Also, probably a lot easier to read this way too. Still, it's not too far from what I was talking about in the previous A/N. Doing it for the funzies, like I said (I think, didn't check though).
Again, do feel free to let me know whatcha think. Not just the story, about anything. I hear human contact is a nice experience…
Edit: …Oh, sorry, I was just facepalming at that… last… -ANyway, i'm from the future. Just cleaning up some dummy acts. Involving character names… You'll hear more of this in the future A/N's, so… eah.
