itsytitsyspider: (Ample Floof)
Angel Dust ([personal profile] itsytitsyspider) wrote2021-10-14 12:15 pm
Entry tags:

Behind Closed Doors



PSLs Catch All
lonelysmiles: (If You Wish...)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-13 01:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Angel's head resting on Alastor's shoulder caused a bit of static electricity to jump between his ears. His internal receiver swung wildly between stations as he was confused as to how to react to this. It wasn't unpleasant, but did he actually like it or not?

As he struggled to come up with a response, Angel darted off into the antique shop, startling him out of his thoughts. He tilted his head to one side, the sound of the radio switching between channels accompanying it. He'd been in this little shop before for periodic trips down memory lane. However, Angel always seemed to be constantly moving forward rather than rooted in the past. Why come here?

He entered into the little shop, taking in all the various bits and bobs on display. Forgotten treasures of bygone days decorated every shelf. All covered in a fine layer of dust as few stopped in to handle them as they debated purchase. These were the old, broken things no one wanted, after all.

One of the local shadow creatures swirled about him, happy for his visit. His smile warmed a bit.

"Hello. Just browsing today," he told it. He held out his hand and offered it a marble-sized bit of power which it eagerly took, popping it into its mouth like candy.

The shop wasn't very big -- most demons in Hell simply threw away the old things -- so he found Angel with no issue.

"Something caught your eye?"
lonelysmiles: (Hmmm)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-13 02:13 pm (UTC)(link)
"Why not get another one?" Alastor asked even as he secretly rejoiced at having a solid idea for a gift. "You could have it in your room at the hotel."

Was Angel thinking of purchasing it? If so, it still gave Alastor some solid ideas. The leather case was in desperate need of some TLC. Alastor could give him the supplies to clean up the case and the record player to make it shine as it should.
lonelysmiles: Cat surrounded by knives energy engaged. (Smug Bastard)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-13 02:33 pm (UTC)(link)
The tone-arm and the needle? Easily fixed! Alastor forced his ears not to twitch with excitement.

He snapped his fingers to conjure a note, the little shadow creature from before swirling over curiously.

"Take this to the proprietor, please."

The little shadow eagerly did so, giving the decrepit-looking demon at the counter a bit of a start (Alastor wondered if the owner had died old or if it was just one of the man's punishments). Then the demon slowly put away his cellphone and got off of his stool as Alastor went to follow Angel.

By the time the duo would pass the record player again, it'd be gone. It'd be behind the desk on the "Reserved" shelf. If asked, the proprietor would say he received a request for the item but wouldn't tell who.

Alastor did a little bit of browsing himself as he meandered over to Angel. "Anything else catch your eye?"
Edited 2021-12-13 14:33 (UTC)
lonelysmiles: (Bemused)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-13 03:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Hmm...probably a gift for Angel's own assigned recipient. Asking who it might be would be pointless. After all, he'd withheld the name of the "lady" he was purchasing for. (A shame he didn't know Angel's musical tastes. He probably could've picked up a few vinyls to go with the record player. He knew some of the newer musicians had the sense to also put their music on vinyl in addition to those sanitized digital recordings.)

He waited outside as ordered, spying Angel slip something into the lingerie bag. Oh, he was certainly not going to poke his nose into that. He'd be safer sticking his head into an alligator's mouth. Particularly since he knew some of what was in that innocuous-seeming bag.

"Ready to go?" Alastor asked as Angel stepped out.
lonelysmiles: (Considering)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-13 03:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"There are other ways you could earn money. I'm not well-versed in the genre, but I caught Husker oggling a lady playing a game online for viewers," Alastor said.

Though at least the last of Valentino's filthy money was out of the hotel. Small steps.

"And your contract clearly states that only money you earn performing sex work goes to Valentino."
lonelysmiles: (After All...)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-13 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
"No, I'm quite serious."

Alastor snapped his fingers, the copy of Angel's contract hovering before them both.

"Third paragraph. It also clearly defines just what qualifies as 'sex work', referring specifically to paid physical intercourse and pornographic material."

And there it was in black and white just as Alastor said.
lonelysmiles: (Come On. You Know Why.)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-13 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
"That's not necess--!" And Angel kissed him, turning Alastor's face scarlet.

He'd had plenty of time to go over the contract over the past few weeks, reading it line by line and scrutinizing every detail. He was a Dealmaker, but that was about more than just making Deals. To make one that would properly bind another's soul, one needed to know how to search for loopholes.

He cleared his throat awkwardly as he calmed the blush. "I can't say I've found a surefire clause to break the contract immediately, but Valentino seems to have copied other contracts to build this piece of trash. He clearly expected to be able to keep you in line via his strong-arm tactics, to make it so you never bothered to question what was written here."

He tapped the lower parts.

"Because of his slapdash work, there's a lot of legal jargon here that I'm still sorting out. Some of it is outright contradictory within the same paragraph if not sentence, so I'm making sure he isn't some sort of mad genius where it all comes together at the end.

"Though if you want my opinion, the fastest way to break the contract is to put him into a situation where he violates the terms. The easiest way? Publicly making money that he can't touch. If he attempts to take what isn't his as defined in Paragraph 3, the contract will break automatically and your soul will be returned to you."
lonelysmiles: Trouble brewing (Arrival)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-14 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
Alastor watched Angel walk up the drive for a moment or two before taking a few quick steps to catch up.

"There's no immediate silver bullet so far but I'll keep looking," Alastor promised. He grinned maliciously, eyes glowing red. "Though there's always the old fallback of killing him."
lonelysmiles: (Face Half In Shadow)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-14 03:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Angel had a point, but Alastor wasn't going to attempt another full-frontal assault. He knew better. No, no, no, he'd have to expedite the process of breaking the bonds of the three V's, make it so that Velvet and Vox would very easily look the other way as he broke Valentino once and for all. The moth had pushed far too many of his boundaries. It was high time the Overlord of Lust fell.

As his dark plans swirled in his head, Angel retrieved a sprig of mistletoe from his chest fluff and kissed the tip of his nose, startling Alastor. His ears twitched as he watched Angel saunter inside, momentarily frozen to the spot.

Right. Okay. Time to set the rest of his holiday plan into motion.

He teleported back to the antique shop, retrieved the case, and then teleported to the radio tower on the edge of the Pentagram. Due to just who was known to frequent such places, there was a wide expanse of empty land surrounding it lest anyone annoy the Radio Demon whenever he was in residence. He unlocked the door with a bit of magic and entered, immediately grateful that Niffty made a habit of coming by at least once a week to keep this particular tower clean. He wasn't a messy man by nature and it took just a snap of the fingers to have the place spotless, but it was always nice to have somewhere to temporarily settle down in that wasn't overrun with dust and spiderwebs.

He moved on to one of the old conference rooms that he'd converted into a workspace for the more mechanical aspects of his work, the case still in hand. He set it down on the tabletop and opened the case, retrieving a toolkit from the cabinet.

"Now then, my friend, let's make you better than new, shall we?"

----------

It was a good thing Alastor had chosen to strike while the iron was hot and get things done sooner rather than later. It turned out that the next few weeks leading up to the Christmas party were quite busy.

There was the usual work around the hotel: repairing damages, managing expenses, etc. However, there was the added prep work of the party itself, something that took nearly twice as long after Charlie just about destroyed the kitchen while attempting to bake Christmas cookies. (Fortunately the fire hadn't spread too far beyond the oven. Poor thing really had no skill with cooking unless it came to apple pie.) Alastor had stepped up to do the baking, assigning her the job of decoration, so it came as no surprise that even the Husk-shaped gingerbread man had a big smile on its face and far more colors than were necessary.

Then of course there was the added job of fixing up the record player and finishing his own gift-gathering. He'd never put his name on the extra gifts, but he felt the people here deserved something for welcoming him into their midst. Niffty and Husk were used to such things and knew not to draw attention to it. His outing with Angel had been doubly-helpful given Angel had provided some very solid suggestions for what to get Charlie and Vaggie.

The record player turned out to be in worse shape than previously-expected. Alastor had disassembled and reassembled the entire thing, carefully fixing and cleaning or replacing each part. The worn leather case had been polished to a healthy shine and the wooden handle had been replaced with one intricately-carved with a little spider weaving a web, the center of the web being a heart. (The new handle had been handcrafted by an imp he'd made a deal -- little D -- with. The imp had risked coming to him for a bit of rootwork to help a sick friend. A simple enough remedy that Alastor decided to trade for something more interesting than money upon learning the imp did woodworking for a living.) He decided against gift-wrapping it, instead putting a tag on it and teleporting it into place just before the start of the party.

As if that wasn't enough, he'd scrutinized Angel's contract with a fine-tooth comb. There was no silver bullet to instantly annul the contract, sadly, but there was enough there to build a strong case that the contract was too much of a mess to properly bind either party to it so it should be annulled. It'd take ages for Angel to get his day in court and they'd only get one shot at it, but it wasn't outside the realm of possibility. Despite Lucifer's dislike of Alastor, the King of Hell took soul contracts very seriously and would listen in this case.

Sitting down in a chair with a mug of mulled wine, Alastor was grateful to finally be off his feet. He'd been cooking the meal and snacks all day in addition to putting the finishing touches on wrapping the extra gifts and hiding them behind the others. The "briefcase" sat to one side of the presents, the tag labeled "To Angel Dust" facing the rest of the room.

"Okay, everyone!" Charlie called, clapping her hands. "Who's ready to party?!"

Alastor took another sip of his wine, closing his eyes. He would be leaving after the gift exchange later on. Once he'd left, things would be in full swing. The least he could do for these people.

And he'd stocked up for a few days of basically granting himself oblivion. He didn't really care either way for Christmas but the knowledge that he was alone on a day for friends and family, that he wouldn't be granted even that small mercy? Well, forgive him if he decided to give himself a brief respite from his punishments as a Christmas present to himself. If anything, the hangover at the end of it would more than make up for it.
Edited 2021-12-15 00:32 (UTC)
lonelysmiles: (Eyeroll)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-19 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
Alastor gave a somewhat exasperated eyeroll, his smile never faltering. If Angel thought he was the first to make the "Rudolph" comment, he was sorely mistaken: Husk had him beat by three hours.

"I believe I'll pass on the offer. Though I see you brought your own fur lining to your ensemble."

Honestly it was good to do a little bit of bantering. It'd been a while since he'd been able to do so. He'd enjoyed their outing together, but he'd gotten the message during those weeks Angel had been avoiding him. At least all of the work had given him something else to focus on.

He took another sip of his drink, hoping to get a little buzz going so he could hold off on the bitterness until he'd retreated back to the radio tower.

"I take it you have plans for later this evening?"
lonelysmiles: (After All...)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-19 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
Alastor's eyes narrowed in annoyance but he didn't shove the spider off. Very likely that would start a fight which would upset Charlie. Besides, to be perfectly honest, he wasn't in the mood to fight. He just wanted to soak up what little good will there was to be found before he left.

"Not curious, just making an observation." He then cast a wry glance towards Husk. "That and dear Husker started off this evening soaked in cologne."

It had been amusing to say the least. And it wasn't hard to figure out that Husk and Angel's plans likely coincided with each other.

"I'm afraid that you all will be deprived of my company for the next several days! Try not to burn down the hotel while I'm gone, won't you? It's been such a chore to make this place presentable."
lonelysmiles: (No No No No)

[personal profile] lonelysmiles 2021-12-19 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
Alastor casually waved a hand. "Just need a little time for myself is all. I stay in one place for too long and I start getting itchy! Ha!"

That wasn't entirely untrue. One of his many, many punishments for his many misdeeds in life was he had to wander the Pride Ring. He had "bolt holes" all over -- largely abandoned radio towers nobody would dare set foot in lest they find the Radio Demon himself lurking inside -- but he was never to have a proper home. It was one reason for the posters bearing warnings of him: Not everyone recognized him on sight without them. However, everyone in Hell started looking for places to hide when the sound of static hissing through antique speakers approached.

"No no no no no, if I'm going to spend more time observing the menagerie, I need to step away from time to time lest my feet for me farther afield than I'd like!"

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