Pentagram City
Not expecting to visit a casino of all places to confront Frederick Von Eldritch, Joshua checked his slip of paper before looking back up to see the large neon sign of the demon himself. Joshua let out a breath, barely concealing the annoyance in his eyes.
The whole area was abuzz with activity from crowds of sinners milling about within the gambling district, to pop music playing full blast from audio speakers. Joshua still didn't get what pop music was, or what the genre had anything to do with music popping, but it was…music nonetheless.
Joshua pocketed the slip of paper before turning to leave, the last thing he needed to do was go into a place where humans indulged one of their worst habits…topped off by everything else inside the casino. He was already tolerating enough as it is, but going into a place where there was, as advertised 'Gambling, hookers, and every other sin available', Joshua quite metaphorically put his foot down.
Turning around, Joshua was met with a rather annoyed Husk, "What, ol' Bible Boomstick man can't stomach going into a den of sin?" he asked with a gruff snark, his arms crossed while giving the burnt sinner a critical gaze.
Staring back at the feline demon, Joshua leveled an even stare with Husk before he spoke, "I've tolerated enough sin as it is-"
"Yeah, you can piss off with that preachy bullshit." Husk interrupted him with a sharp tone, idly tapping his finger against his arm as he stared back at Joshua, "You fucking leave the hotel with guns, and come back after what I can be call an average day in hell! Fucking going around shooting up places." he remarked and glared at Joshua, "So don't start acting like you have some moral high ground to refrain interacting with a place of sin, you're in the realm of sin!"
Silence permeated between the two old sinners, while the ongoings of the casino and crowds of sinners continued around them. After a bit of thinking on his part, Joshua spoke back to Husk with a measured tone as he stared back at the feline demon with an even look, "I will not deny the hypocrisy of my actions as of late, and it does not help matters that Hell has every sin imaginable at every corner I turn."
Husk released a gruff scoff as he continued to hold his posture with his arms crossed, "Yeah, get in fucking line, you're not the first devout follower of the bible that has found their way into hell, so don't think you're anything special."
Inwardly, Joshua did not liken himself to be special, other than a claim that he was sent to hell by the lord himself to help Charlie; was he special? Maybe, but that was a foolish thought process to believe you were special amongst others, it was better to remain humble and not claim to be better than others.
Husk was also not wrong in the fact that there were indeed some scattered religious sinners that he had crossed paths with. Some were downtrodden in the fact they were in hell, while others gave up on following the good word and simply indulged in whatever sin they desired.
Joshua spoke back to Husk as the two sinners continued to stare back at each other with leveled looks, "While I will never claim to be above others, I still refuse to enter an establishment of baser sins. It rots the mind and actions, it perverses what the holy father has taught us against."
With a roll of his eyes, Husk unfurled his arms from being crossed and put one hand against his side while pointing at Joshua with his other, "Look, boomstick, no one's forcing you to partake in whatever debauchery that entails in there. You came here to settle a matter, and that's it. In and out. Cut and fucking dry!" he exclaimed at the end.
"Hmm…I suppose there is merit…in your words…" Joshua spoke plainly while steadily glancing at the casino, before looking back at Husk with confusion in his eyes, "But that begs the question, did you come with me, knowing beforehand I would come here, just to gamble?" He asked, measuring the response of Husk as the feline demon let out a bit of a grumble before answering him.
"Fucking wish." Husk muttered with a nasty look to the side, before looking straight back at Joshua with a glowering stare, "No, I'm just checking in on a few old friends, figured I'd stop in and chat a bit while you shoot the place up." he answered with some grump in his tone.
"Shoot the place up?" Joshua asked, before quickly glancing at the casino and back at Husk, "They…do not confiscate your guns while inside the establishment?" he inquired.
With a raised eyebrow at Joshua, Husk answered the burnt sinner with a bemused look, "Boomstick, how often do you see sinners shoot each other?" he asked, earning a blank stare back at him, "Exactly, the point would be moot. Why bother confiscating guns or any manner of weapons when it takes a lot more to kill someone than it was in life? A bullet to the head wouldn't stop a gambling dispute, so why bother?" he added at the end with some measure of annoyance in his tone.
"...how often-"
"More than I care to count." Husk annoyedly cut Joshua off while rubbing at a phantom pain on his forehead from memories dredged up. "You get numb to it all after a fucking binge, that's all I'm gonna say on the matter."
Joshua gave Husk a silent nod, "Very well then. Should we meet back out here after I have settled my matters?" he asked the feline sinner.
Husk, pulling out his smartphone, held it up for Joshua to see, "You got my number, right?" he asked, before forgetting that they never did exchange numbers, before retracting his question. The two traded numbers before Husk put his phone away, as he did so, an excited female voice shouted out to him in surprise.
"Husker my little party magician, you're still alive!?"
Both sinners, one with an annoyed look and on his face grumble and the other a confused but somewhat curious look in his visible eyes, turned to see a rather peculiar sight. a tall and fox-like female demon with shapely hips and insect-like features, coupled with other notable qualities of her figure that made her strike out amongst the common sinners.
While the Demon excitedly walked over to the duo, an entourage of hellhounds weren't that far away, a group she no doubt broke off from to walk over and confront Husk in particular, who in question couldn't help but slap his face and drag it down.
As the Fox-insect demon approached Husk, she smiled excitedly, "Like, I haven't seen you since, like, forever!" she exclaimed while stopping short of standing apart from the Feline Alcoholic. "And here I thought one of the yearly exterminations did you in!" she gushed in worry.
"Hurgh…" Husk grumbled as he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, well, something else almost did me in…" he answered with a sideways look to nothing in particular.
Joshua glanced between the two, before the female demon look in his direction and wrinkled her nose a bit, "Huh…I thought I taste burnt ash when I walked over here…" she mused before looking back at Husk, and wrinkled her nose some more, "Huh…been hitting the booze more often I see?" she asked in a teasing voice while gleaming a wide smirk. "Good to see you're still a party animal."
Joshua blinked at the way the demon spoke, and interacted with him and Husk, before voicing his thoughts, "Excuse me?" he asked, while making a confused look with his eyes.
"hmph…Yeah, this is-" Husk was about to introduce who the demon was, before said demon interrupted him with an excited demeanor.
"Like, oh my gosh, my bad!" the fox-insect demon exclaimed as she palmed her chest with her upper hands, while her lower hands palmed her hips, "You must be Husker's new friend! Like, that's so~ great! I'm Beezlebub!" she shined an excited smile while reaching out to shake hands with the burnt sinner.
Joshua looked down at the offered hand, then looked back up at the demon with some measure of incredulity that he tried to hold back from showing in his eyes, "Beezlebub…as in…the embodiment of gluttony?" he asked, earning an amused look from said fox-insect Demon.
"I don't usually go by that title these days, y'know, I like to have his nice figure now!" Beelzebub retracted her hand to use all her hands to gesture at her figure, then winked at the two with a bemused toothy smile, "But I do like to put away a good amount of food on a good day. Especially when I'm in the mood for a good party!" she exclaimed with an exuberant attitude.
Joshua glanced in Husk's direction, "And…you two know each other…from what circumstances?" he inquired with some curiosity in his tone. The demon of gluttony's personality was a stark contrast to Husk's demeanor, so it begged the question how the two even got to know each other.
Husk was about to open his mouth and speak, only for Beezlebub to excitedly explain with a chipper attitude, "Oh me and little Husker go way back…well not that way back…like…he died during, what the seventies?" She began to explain with a confused expression, before waving her hands a bit and gesturing with them as she spoke, "But anyway, like, Husker hosted the best magician shows after he came to hell!" Beezlebub explained excitedly.
"That wasn't even just half of what I did, Beezle" Husk gruffly remarked with some measure of annoyance in his tone, but refrained from being anymore negative to the Demon of Gluttony. He continued to talk with a nonchalant tone, "But yeah, I had to start somewhere when I dropped into hell…" he explained morosely.
Beezlebub however was having none of it as she playfully slapped over at Husk's shoulder, "Oh, don't be so modest, Husker! You were practically the life of the party with all that drinking and gambling you hosted later on when you became an overlord!" she expressed an amused look at Husk's dour but embarrassed face.
"Hmm." Joshua noted with a thoughtful hum, before speaking up, "As, interesting as this conversation is…You'll have to excuse me, miss…Beelzebub, but I have matters to deal with." he said while shifting some of the weight on his shoulder a bit, as he was still carrying a duffle bag of ammo.
Husk was about to reach for Joshua to not leave him alone, only for Beezlebub to gasp in excitement as she reached over to palmed Husk on the shoulder as she stood behind him while Joshua walked off, "Does that mean we can catch up!? It's been so long since I've seen you perform any of your good magic tricks!" She asked and exclaimed.
While Joshua disappeared into the crowd of sinners towards the casino, Husk refrained from shoving the hand off from his shoulder to turn to face Beezlebub with a dour look on his face, "Look, Beezle…I…It's been a rough decade for me…maybe more than that…. So I think it's best you don't stick around me so I don't mess with the "Vibe" you always enjoy when around others." Husk warned the demon of gluttony.
Beelzebub frown for a second, her ears folded back a bit to reflect her feeling of rejection, before smiling exuberantly once more was she bent at her knees a bit to be at eye level with Husk while palming his shoulders, "Like, you're just in a bit of a funk, Husker! You just need to party a bit like you used to! Like that time you hosted that party between you and…who was it again?" she asked at the end with a quizzical look on her face.
With a tired sigh, Husk gently reached up and removed Beezlebub's hands from his shoulders and backed off from her, "Look, I get what you're trying to do, Ba'al, but I'm nothing but a washed up has-been these days. It's more complicated than getting me out of some funk…" He warned her once more, before leaving her to disappear into the crowd towards the casino, but not before speaking once more, "But thanks for the offer." he offered as parting words, leaving Beezlebub to herself before her entourage of hellhounds rejoined her.
As Beezlebub straightened her legs back from getting herself to eye level with Husk, one of the Hellhounds spoke up with a curious tone, "That the guy you said did great party tricks?" the Hellhound with a scar running down through his eye asked.
Beezlebub let out a huff of hair, before she turned to speak with her boyfriend, "Like, he used to be all fun and energy. Kinda of a bummer he became a downer…" she complained with her nose wrinkled in distaste. "I wonder what chewed him up in Pride Ring…I mean, I didn't think Husker would turn out like that." she remarked with a confused look while placing her hands on her hips.
Vortex, her boyfriend, shrugged once before speaking his mind on the matter, "Well, in any case…do you still wanna go in?" he asked her.
Crossing her four arms, Beezlebub clicked her teeth in thought before smiling once more, "Yeah! Like, enough of all this downer energy, like, I came here to part~ay~" she raised her arms up in jubilation, earning shouts of agreement from her entourage, prompting her to motion for everyone to follow her, "Come one everybody, they got a Karaoke Bar in there with my name on it!" she cheered, and led the way into the casino.
The Italian district, Little Italy
"Is that Giuseppe… singing Rigoletto…as a matter of fact, since when did Big Giuseppe start singing at all!" Angel asked with a bewildered look on his face as he gestured at the small stage inside the family's restaurant, and singing atop the stage was a rotund Arachnid sinner that sang for the restaurant.
Having been led to their current table by a female hostess arachnid sinner, Charlie, Vaggie, Angel and Arackniss all sat at a table with menus in front of them as they sat at a square table covered by a cloth.
Arackniss spared Angel a look as he sat to the left of him, "He actually goes by Goliath now…" he corrected Angel, while earning a deadpan in response from his brother, to which he shrugged at his brother's reaction, "Yeah, the irony isn't lost on any of us, but it's what he chose."
"Hm…" Angel mused with a hum as he sat back in his chair, and glanced once more where Goliath was still singing, "So when'd he start singing, or how'd he learn to sing after all these years?" he asked.
"He probably learned later in life or while in hell." Vaggie added in her own two cents into the conversion, "I mean, that's my guest at least." she followed up with saying offhandley as she looked up from her menu.
"He actually learned from one of the Italian sinners that used to sing opera." Arackniss turned his head, and looked at Vaggie, "By the way, you two having trouble reading the menus?" he asked briskly.
Vaggie however, glowered a bit at Arackniss, "Look, pal, we didn't come here to eat, I thought you led us into this joint to see your dad, not gorge ourselves on italian dining."
"What are you talking about, Vaggie!" Charlie spoke up with a smile as she put her menu down and looked over at her partner, "I mean, Angel's cooking was great that one night-"
"Princess, my cooking was better than great." Angel cut in with a proud look on his face while leaning back on his chair a bit, "I learned from the best, so expect the best!" he boasted.
With a cheeky but sly look, Arackniss looked at Angel with a smirk, "Says the guy that wanted to try and break his spaghetti in half to see why the Americans did it."
"One time, ONE TIME!" Angel rounded on his brother with an incredulous look, before correcting his brother, "And last I checked, we were born in America, so that made us Americans by default!" he exclaimed with a huff.
"Yeah, by one generation!" Arackniss argued back at Angel, "It was still funny to see Ma rip your ass a new one when she saw you commit the deed." he pointed out with a rather bemused smirk.
"Anyways!-" Charlie cut her way back into the conversation, and leaned forward to speak clearly to the brothers, "Arackniss, when do you think I could have a word with your father?" she asked kindly.
While Angel remained a bit silent at the mention of his father, Arackness thumbed lamely towards the corner of the restaurant where a large round table was situated, "He's been here the whole time, princess." Arackniss answered.
And indeed, sitting with his back against the corner underneath the cover of darkness, an Arachnid sinner sat with gleaming yellow eyes with hairs all over his body that had the same marks as a wolf spider. A few burly arachnid men stood at attention not far from the table while still giving the man a clear line of sight to the whole restaurant, while a small looking arachnid sinner stood right next to him as he sat while holding up a wine and cloth awaiting further orders.
"Oh…." Charlie remarked with a bit of a surprised look on her face, before making a nervous smile at the father of the two brothers she's come to know.
In reaction to the four of them now giving the Don their attention, the Arachnid Wolf Spider's yellow eyes shone a bit more in the darkness before he gesture one of his men to come over.
"Um-What's he doing?" Charlie whispered a bit loudly over to Angel, who in turn let out an annoyed breath.
"Probably doing his usual shtick of a fucking power play, never fucking deigning himself to talk with strangers from the start." Angel snarky answered while glaring off and away from the table.
"Oh, um…is that normal?" Charlie asked from either of the brothers, and while Angel refused to elaborate further, Arackniss chose to inform the princess of hell. "Depends on what you mean by normal, princess." He answered for her, while the henchman that the Don gestured for to speak to, eventually made his way over to the table with a steady gait in his steps.
"Arackniss." The burly arachnid sinner spoke with a deep baritone to his voice, "Don Henroin would like a few words with you, before addressing other matters." he spoke to the eldest of the brothers, but refrained from acknowledging Angel's presence before finally looking in Angel's direction with a steady look, "...That you, Anthony?" he asked shortly after.
Angel, with a quick look back at the henchman, sized him up before speaking, "...huh, I'd ask the same for you. Roberto?" he asked, and in response, the sinner nodded.
"The one and the same." The arachnid henchman answered, before excusing himself.
As Roberto left, Angel leaned back in his chair to watch the sinner leave, before sitting back to the table with an unimpressed look, "Damn, he lost that ass of his." he offhandedly commented.
Arackniss on the other hand was unimused, "Is that all that you care about in another man's looks?" he asked incredulously.
"What!?" Angel Dust asked with an unashamed smirk, "Guy used to have a toned ass, now it looks concave." he snarked in jest.
Arackniss shook his head before removing himself from the table to speak with the Don, "Tell that to his gay lover." he snidely remarked before he headed over.
Angel blinked a few times, before exclaiming in disbelief, "Wait, Roberto was…is gay!?" he asked in shock. Before quickly looking where the sinner walked off to, where off in distance the man was calmly talking to another arachnid sinner. "Huh…you'd think you'd know a guy…" he mused. "And Damn…that Adriano too?" he mused with a listless expression.
"Pretty sure they just knew how to hide it better than you did." Vaggie remarked with some measure of amusement towards Angel's surprise at finding out some of the mafia members were gay.
"Oh shut it." Angel snapped back with a scoff and sat back into his chair to wait for his brother to come back, or whatever came out from his brother discussing important matters with his father.