Ballet Shoes and Radios

Angel's New Roommate

-Massive Timeskip of a Year-

It had almost been a year since the last cleanse. It was only two days away. Which meant you should probably start fortifying the hotel. Then exterminators didn't really care who they killed, as longs they killed someone. You sometimes wondered if they really deserved to be there in Heaven, they massacred the denizens of Hell with no apparent remorse. You had learnt not to expect too much from people, living in Hell, but you had expected a little more from those from Heaven.

In that year span, there was also quite a bit of improvement to the hotel. Alastor's touch had transformed the once dreary place quite significantly, and Niffty cleaned so thoroughly that one would be hard pressed to try and find even a single speck of dust in the entire building. That was how impressive the little one eyed demon was. As for patients, Angel Dust had not gotten much closer to rehabilitation, but a few curious people showed up. Often scared people that were new to Hell. They mostly came and went, giving up the attempt as hopeless. However, there was something interesting due to happen. Lucifer Magne and the three V overlords would be coming to the hotel just before the cleanse until the end of it. The king was just trying to do his duties as a father, and you had the suspicion that Valentino was coming to torment Angel on a no work day, whilst Vox to pick a fight with Alastor. Velvette was most likely just tagging along. You had no idea, because that girl had never spoken to you before, she was mostly on her phone, unaware of most things going on around her, following Valentino and Vox. But you still knew that she was not to be underestimated. Nobody became an overlord on accident. Still, despite your assumptions, you wondered why, of all the ten overlords besides you and Alastor, they were the ones coming. Lucifer had to be insane. Vox and Alastor had that seemingly never ending grudge, and you were fairly certain that he knew Valentino did not treat Angel dust well. Although you hated the spider, you still cared about all the inhabitants of the hotel, albeit mostly only to satisfy Charlie.

Pacing the perimeter of the hotel building, you used a trick that had learnt during your first cleanse. You could summon more "strings" like the ones attached to your wrists, using them to form a sort of barrier. It came on by pure instinct at first, but you had gotten a lot better at controlling it.  You set up a tightly woven mass of the strands of purple all around the hotel and above it as well. But you left a small opening for people to get through that you would close up during the actual purge. Humming to yourself, you headed closer towards the front door, and heard Vaggie screaming down the building. 'The spider probably did something stupid again,' you sighed internally. Perhaps you could stay outside the building just a little longer. You fortified the barriers, making a second, inner lair. The strings had worked for over a hundred cleanses, but you never knew when the exterminators would evolve and gain enough intelligence to get past them. Somehow. Rather safe than sorry. Also, as per Charlie's request you were trying to be a better person as well, and you had the feeling shouting at Angel Dust for whatever foolish thing he had done would not help your track record. 

Your main issue was probably wrath, judging from your short temper. You had stolen, fought and killed during 1929, and you had a bit of a hard time figuring out which deadly sin that linked back to. Probably pride, seeing yourself above struggling with starvation like others, choosing morally questionable methods to get what you needed. You were behind a bit over half of all the arson and theft cases in New Orleans during the stock market crash. A bit over twenty five percent of the murders. From what you heard, Alastor was responsible for most of those. Both of you had lived there during your life. The two of you seemed to have more in common than you originally expected. Speaking of you and Alastor, you two had continued cooking for everyone, and Angel would not stop bothering you about it. He wouldn't drop the "Cooking With Strings and Smiles" joke, which was one of the reasons you avoided him at all costs. You were trying really hard not to let Charlie down, and it would definitely be a start to avoid things that triggered your anger. You firmly believed you had no chance at redemption, though. You had a slight conscience when you were alive, but in Hell, even that had been removed from you during your time in eternal damnation.

You circled back to the front door, and it seemed that Vaggie had calmed down. You walked into the lounge cautiously to see Vaggie fuming on one of the couches, Angel Dust sitting on the bar counter, actually looking quite shaken. "What did you do again? It's the cleanse tomorrow, there'll be more people, and we're all going to be cooped up here for twenty four hours," you sighed through your teeth. Vaggie let out a heavy breath through her nose and turned to Angel. With one last death glare, she got up, whipped around, and left. You smiled, relieved. But the pink spider still looked shaken. "What," you snapped, more venomously than you intended.

He flinched, "Ah, yeah. About that. In case you haven't noticed, the cleanse is held right during boxing day. Which makes today Christmas Eve, and my girl buddy Cherri Bomb got me a little gift. Uhh..." he lifted his arm from his stomach, revealing a small piglet. You choked on air, "Okay first. You're still friends with the turf war queen. Second. A PIG OF ALL THINGS?! Third. I believe one of the rules were no pets unless they served a purpose." Angel held the small, spotted pink pig up to your face, and you backed away, "But can you really say no to this adorable thing? Besides, he could help me get through with the whole "redemption" thing. Emotional support, right?" You looked to Charlie, who smiled weakly and nodded. Then to Alastor, who shrugged. Niffty hesitantly nodded. Husk was passed out so you couldn't ask for his opinion. "Fine. You get to keep the pig. But only under the condition it sleeps and for most the part, stays, in your room."

"Yes yes yes THANK YOU! Oh, thank you so much Strings you have no idea how much it means to me!" plonking the pig on the bar counter, he wrapped all four of his main arms around you. You cringed, face scrunched up, "You can thank me by getting your hands off me." Angel grinned, cradling the pig in his top pair of arms, he skipped off to the elevators. You felt a slight twinge of regret at letting him off so easily I'll regret that. You thought, foreshadowing. You could already hear Vaggie screaming in anger.

At least Angels antics kept the hotel lively.