Alastor barely manages to bite back a groan as consciousness crashes into him like a tidal wave, gingerly pushing himself into a sitting position - but, fuck, does his body ache. It's in every muscle and bone, like he's just fought a crowd trying to challenge him.
Memories from last night filter in as he sees his mother slumped over, fast asleep in a chair at the side of his bed, Rosie out cold in another a few feet away, and Niffty curled up next to her - right, Calli inexplicably showing up, keeping Eve distracted, his shadow freeing Lilith, Lilith- he's free!
The realization makes Alastor want to leap and shout in joy, he actually takes a deep breath to cheer…right up until his chest stabs him with a sharp aching.
Okay, so…celebrating is a bit out of reach right now…
Wincing as he rubs his chest, Alastor carefully slides off his bed and takes a few experimental steps - good, he's not completely bedridden. He aches, yes, but he can still move and can probably still fight if it comes down to it.
It'll do, it'll have to do for the moment.
After a moment, Alastor takes his coat off and drapes it over Rosie's shoulders, doing the same with the covers he somehow managed to kick away sometime last night for his mother, and puts Niffty on his pillow before heading downstairs.
Only to see one of the last thing he wanted to deal with right now.
Stolas gets into the common area, being one of the first ones up, only to find…a very tall pimp-like moth sitting on the couch, a gun in two of his four hands and he's eating a rolled-up piece of one of the pizzas Calli made for Charlie's party.
Oh, yes, and there's a hole in one of the walls - he's not surprised nobody heard it, though, since most of the hotel is soundproofed.
"Oh, fucking finally! Quick question, you seen Angel Dust? I'm gonna drag him back to the Studio and have him start working for me again, none of the other bitches are even a fraction as good or popular as him!"
"I'm sorry," Stolas asks, already getting a bad feeling about this guy, "but who are you?"
Valentino squints at him, then shrugs and says "You must be new. I'm Valentino, one of the three most powerful Overlords in the city. Looking for a white spider, mismatched eyes, almost as tall as me. Tried to look for him earlier, but I couldn't find anyone. So, maybe you can help me find him so I don't have to shoot everyone in the Hotel one by one until I do."
And now, Stolas is so very glad everyone sleeps in the far wing of the hotel - he recognizes the name, this sick creep liked one of Via's selfies and asked if she wanted a job!
Before he can go full demon on Valentino, though, a human man comes down the stairs and freezes when he sees them. Shadows surge up and wrap around Valentino at once, tying him up from neck to ankles and gagging him, and he quickly walks over to the rotary phone on the wall and enters a number. Once the line picks up, the mystery man immediately says "My next broadcast is in twenty minutes, and I guarantee you don't want to miss this one."
"Wha- Alastor?"
"Who else, Vox? You have twenty- nineteen and a half minutes now to either find a radio and tune in or try to plead your case to the King of Hell himself." And he knows Lucifer wouldn't object to Valentino being disposed of if he happened to let slip about Valentino's job offer in front of the man. Calli beating him to within an inch of his life mere minutes later not withstanding.
"Why would I- Val, seriously?! Hold up, Alastor, can we-"
"Tick tock, Vox. You might be able to make it in time if you run." He hangs up, then glances at the Alastor-shaped shadow on the wall and says "Keep an eye on our special guest, won't you? I'll go get set up." The shadow nods, then sends a grin Valentino's way that makes both him and Stolas shudder.
After a moment, Stolas asks "You saw a human to…right?"
Valentino nods, making several unintelligible noises thanks to the gag.
Vox curses when Alastor hangs up the phone, throwing his clothes on faster than he's ever done in his entire existence, and shouts "Vel! Val was an idiot, I gotta run!" And, he means that literally - he could try driving over there, but it'd honestly be faster to just use the city's power grid to avoid pedestrians, traffic, and buildings.
Only problem with that…Vee Tower is a self-contained power grid in itself. Mainly because he was rightfully paranoid that someone else would manifest with the same kind of power over electricity he has and use it to sneak inside…and the first time he accidentally entered the building's power grid and got lost inside it.
But, now, it's more of a hindrance than anything else as he has to run out the door, past the dozens of reporters that seem perpetually camped outside the building to get an interview with him, and head up into the nearest electrical cable.
Now he's got to make his way across the city to the outskirts, hope he managed to get to the right side of the Pentagram, and run up the massive hill the Hotel is sitting on.
Somehow or other, Vox manages to make it up there with literal seconds to spare, throwing the door open and doubling over to catch his breath - he just run up that monster of a hill, basically sprinted across the city's electrical grid, with barely half a minute to spare.
When he finally manages to look up, the Sins are all in the common area, Lucifer, Asmodeus, and Satan in particular looking like they're in varying stages of disgust, annoyance, and anger - oh fuck, Val, you have to be kidding.
Straightening himself up and pretending to brush some nonexistent dirt off his suit, Vox animates what he dearly hopes is his PR smile and not a 'I've just run halfway across the city to save my idiot business partner/on and off boyfriend' smile and strides over - and he sees a familiar shadow giving him the foulest look possible before vanishing.
At least Val's sitting in eyesight, tied up but conscious - looking unnaturally small compared to Asmodeus and Satan looming menacingly behind him, though, even though he's under a golden shield on another couch from the rest of them for some reason. Trying to brace himself, he says "Greetings-"
Lucifer clears his throat, cutting Vox off at once, and asks "You do remember what was said back at your Tower, right?" At Vox's fast nod, he flatly says "Then, do explain why, exactly," he points at Valentino, "he threatened to shoot everyone in the hotel until he finds who he's looking for?"
Vox feels his bluescreen activate for a moment, several subroutines failing at that question, and asks "He what now?" He…he did not just hear Lucifer right…right? He didn't just say Val threatened to shoot everyone in the Hotel…right in front of all the other Sins, right?!
Val's smarter than that...right?! RIGHT?!
"Oh yes," Lucifer nods, "told this to none other than Prince Stolas Goetia. Looking him straight in the face. You want to know who else is here?"
Vox swallows, and says "I get the feeling I need to, Your Highness…"
"You do. You really do. Aside from all of Charlie's Hellborn Aunts and Uncles you currently see, there's also Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, three powerful Archangels from Heaven on a diplomatic visit. And also my brothers, who are currently none too pleased that Valentino is here. The Von Eldritches, as well. Do I actually need to keep going down the guest list?"
Vox shakes his head, swallowing and tugging at his collar, and asks "May I speak with my associate for just a moment? It won't take long."
Lucifer raises an eyebrow, but snaps his fingers and the golden dome disappears from around Valentino - there's a barrier blocking the exit, as well as a ridiculously large hole in one of the walls, but Vox wasn't trying to grab Val and run.
There's too many Sins to outrun on his own, much less dragging Val with him as he's tied up.
Stalking over and grabbing Val by the ropes - ? - tying him up, he drags the moth up so they're screen-to-nose and screams "VAL!!" Yanking the gag down so Val can talk as he drags the moth to a wall for at least some illusion of privacy, he asks "What's the one fucking thing I've been telling you lately?! One fucking thing!"
Val pouts, saying "Voxxy-"
"DON'T VOXXY ME, VAL! WHAT DID I TELL YOU NOT TO DO?!"
"Uh…stop trying to fuck the accountants?"
Vox lets out an aggravated sigh, facepalming hard enough to put a crack in his screen right then and there, and growls out "Besides that, Val."
Val sighs, and mutters "Don't come to this hotel. You never even said why, though…"
"Why?! THIS is why!" Vox immediately plays the audio recording of Calli's voice from the phone call she made.
"If I come back from the screaming match I'm currently in and find even a single trace of Valentino's pheromones anywhere near the Hotel, I will personally raze your tower to the ground, rip his wings off and use them as a pair of tacky curtains, rip every one of his teeth out of his head one by one, skin him alive, castrate him with a blunt, rusty scalpel, put his tongue through a pencil sharpener, and dump a vial of immunizer I made that makes one utterly unaffected by his saliva down his throat before letting Hedwig have what's left of him once he stops throwing up - AM I CLEAR?"
A female voice loudly whispers "Want to take a bet which day that was?"
"Sucker's bet, Bee, she was up in Heaven."
Val blinks, tilts his head, then jerks his chin up while asking "Voxxy, does he look familiar to you?"
"And then Alastor made some 'creative additions' onto that! Why the fuck would you think coming in here of all places in Hell and threatening to shoot everyone knowing not only the Princess but the King of Hell lives here-"
"No, really, who is he?"
"Fucks sakes, Val, I swear, if you-"
"The human, Voxxy. And it's not the homicidal red-head, either."
Vox scoffs, throwing a glance behind his shoulder just to make Val drop the obvious ploy…only to do a double-take when he sees the human man leaning against the wall, arms crossed and looking like he's got all the time in the world.
And, incidentally, looking darkly amused as he stares directly at the two of them, watching Vox scream bloody murder at Val.
Vox blinks a few times, trying to figure out why the random human is so familiar - brown, fluffy-looking hair cropped above his ears, skin that's either tanned or naturally the color of milk chocolate, a white button-up shirt with black suspenders, pants, and shoes…it's the thin-lipped smile that makes it click for him, though. "Alastor?!"
Alastor's smile thins even more, and he says "No, the other Radio Host waiting for you to be flung through a wall so I can collect my special guest for today's broadcast."
Val's jaw drops, most of the Sins stare at him in shock, and Lucifer flatly says "Well, now I need a new nickname for you. Because Bambi doesn't fit anymore."
Vox incredulously adds "What happened to you?!" He's never seen Alastor in anything less than his entire outfit, red coat included, but now…now he's missing the coat, his face is bruised to crap from what he can tell even across the room, and he looks human.
Also, Lucifer calls him Bambi?! He never lets anyone call him anything!
Alastor looks between everyone, and deadpans "What are you all talking about?"
Lucifer says "Look at your hands. Or just one."
Alastor scoffs, but holds a hand up…then freezes in surprise when he sees he's got a human hand instead of his usual demonic one. Alastor blinks a few times, turning his hand - and revealing inky black shadows on the inside of his arm, ending in his palms - then says "Well, that explains a few things."
Lucifer shrugs, saying "Everyone else is on the other side of the hotel altogether, Calli's out like a light after Bel gave her some stuff to keep her that way for a few hours a while ago, and…" Lucifer trails off and facepalms, most of the other Sins' jaws dropping to the floor when Calli walks in, hair wildly messy and clothes rumpled like she just rolled out of bed - she did, they all know it in an instant.
"Alright," Asmodeus incredulously asks "how?" Bel said she'd be out until at least noon!
Bee tilts her head, asking "Also, what happened to your hair?"
Calli gives Bee a confused look, and Leviathan adds "It's glowing at the tips. You also have feathers on the backs of your hands, and highlighting your cheekbones, the bridge of your nose, and your jawline."
Calli stares at the feathers now sprouting from her hands and wrists, feeling at the ones under her eyes…then shrugs, as if suddenly sprouting feathers is a normal occurrence for her. And that's when she spots Alastor, and she stops dead in her tracks even as her face heats up. She looks away half a second later, but Bee gasps in delight and squeals "Ohmigosh, Calli, you- I mean, he's hot as hell, so go get him- ooh, this is so- you want tips? Want to hear how Vortex and I-"
Calli cuts her off, rapidly shaking her head as Parseltongue spills out of her lips.
Lucifer groans, and says "Shoot. Hey, Sis?" Ignoring the way Vox lets out a strangled sound, Lucifer says "We can't understand a word you're saying. It's all in Parseltongue."
Calli pinches the bridge of her nose, then sweeps her gaze around the room before it lands on Vox and Valentino. Walking over to Lucifer, she raises an eyebrow at him questioningly before pointing straight at the pair.
Translation: Why the here are they here?
"Ah," Lucifer says, "Stolas said he was in the building waiting for people to start trickling in when he came down. And that he's looking for an ex-employee."
Given the way Calli's gaze sharpens at once, Vox doesn't need her to speak English to know she's gonna kill Val herself.
"Excuse me," the Overlord incredulously starts, "you mean to tell me you came here…looking for Angel Dust?!" Of all the stupid things Val has done...this takes the cake!! And, yes, that includes his moronic offer to the Princess of Hell herself!
Val shrugs, saying "He was-"
"His contract was voided, you were there when she made her deal with him! And then you lost him yourself when you forgot she was enforcing that one little clause of his a lot tighter than you intended! And you're telling me you flew into the literal dragon's den to try and make him sign another one?! How did you think you were going to walk out of that one-"
Val suddenly cuts him off with a pained yelp, head jerking forward as his remaining antenna suddenly comes flying out of his head.
Vox quickly turns his head, and sees the antenna fly straight into Calli's waiting hand, Hedwig soaring through a wall to land on her shoulder and start preening her hair…and shooting the two Overlords a hostile gaze. Calli meanwhile, hisses something casually, turning the antenna over in her fingers as she looks towards Lucifer.
Lucifer puts a hand on Calli's shoulder, murmuring "Maybe you should sit down. Feel alright? Anything hurting?"
Calli shakes her head, letting him guide her to the couch…and then her gaze widens and she leaps back up, dislodging Hedwig for a moment as she snatches up a gun. One of Valentino's guns, no less.
Vox just facepalms at that, muttering "Of course he brought the guns, why did I think he made even one smart decision with this…"
Lucifer quickly intercepts Calli, even as she's priming the gun, and says "How 'bout, Sis, we handle this and you start cooking something? Anything? You've probably been itching to cook since you woke up." With anyone else, it'd sound like he was dismissing them or subtly telling them to get out - Calli loves cooking, though, and he's sincerely trying to keep her blood pressure from blowing another blood vessel somewhere in her body like when Stolas, Octavia, and I.M.P. started living at the hotel.
Calli huffs, much to Vox's utter relief, and nods - that relief gets short lived when she crumples the gun in her hands like a sheet of paper and tosses it through the large hole. If she's that strong...well, this could be why she doesn't see them as any kind of threat. And then he remembers she beat Mammon over there up, and dread pools in his stomach once more
Vox sighs in abject relief once more when she starts walking towards a nearby door, even as Alastor moves to join her - it's far from over, but at least one source of instant death for Val is leaving. Now…now he gets to try and talk his way out of trouble for the both of them in front of the Sins themselves…without dwelling too much on Alastor's sudden change in appearance.
But, why the fuck does he suddenly look human?!
Is that what he looked like when he was alive?
And since when does he share a kitchen space with anyone?!
Or-
A strangled sound mixed with a screech like radio feedback jolts Vox from his thoughts, and he sees the two of them are frozen in the doorway that's apparently the kitchen entrance.
"Um," Val whispers, "Voxxy? I may have gotten a little hungry searching for Angie, so…"
Vox's eyes go wide as Lucifer heads over to see what the problem is, and he hisses "Tell me you weren't in there, Val. There's plenty of food lying around out here for some reason, tell me you just grabbed some and sat down."
"I…may have wanted to see what else they had…"
Vox glances at the trio in the doorway, and sees Lucifer's face is firmly planted in his palms, one of Calliope's hands is buried in her hair like she's tugging at it, and Alastor seems frozen in place.
Oh, fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck…
Bee glances over at the pair, and asks "Oh, gods, what did you do? Between the two of you and them…"
"Hey," Lucifer calls over, gaze never leaving the kitchen, "Ozzie? Could you come over for a moment?"
Asmodeus walks over, only for his jaw to drop to the floor in abject horror. Glancing at Calli, the Sin mutters "Oh shit…"
Lucifer nods, then asks "Valentino's business is technically under your jurisdiction, right?"
"I mean, sorta, what with him being a Sinner and all…why?"
"Well, we're going to figure out what to do with him. Right now."
"Yeah...maybe over there, though? This is gonna be ugly, Luci."
Vox incredulously hisses "Val, what did you do?!"
Val winces, then quietly says "I may have gone looking for a snack…"
"There's food all over the room!"
"Vox." Vox turns his head immediately, nearly smacking Val with his screen, when Alastor's voice says "Get over here. Now."
Val groans in annoyance when Val immediately lets go of him to see just what they're all looking at - despite claiming to hate the Radio Demon, Vox obsesses over him. If Alastor pointed in a direction and told Vox to jump, he's fairly certain Vox would just start jumping and not stop until he hit a dead end he couldn't climb over.
Vox walks over to where Calli, Lucifer, and Alastor are, ending up right behind Alastor to look over his shoulder - his electronic jaw metaphorically drops to the ground when he sees the absolute disaster zone that is the hotel's kitchen. And, judging from everyone else's expressions, it's not usually like this.
There's dishes all over the floor, food splattered everywhere - including the ceiling, how, Val, how?! - the cupboards are all open, the fridge has food falling out of it, the microwave has a trail of black smoke coming from it…how did Val manage to do all this?!
Vox knows, without a single doubt, there's no amount of PR that will pull Val out of the grave he managed to dig himself in however long he's been here.
And then, as if to add insult to injury, three spiders come walking around the corner, one of them asking "Hey, guys? Can people start come- oh, fuck."
Vox stares at Angel Dust himself, mouth slightly open as he wonders if the universe itself is laughing at him somehow - of course, now the guy Val was looking for just walks in. Angel's gaze darts around quickly, and as soon as he sees Val standing there he lets out a second emphatic "Oh, fuck."
And then the white spider woman who looks remarkably like Angel Dust pokes him on the shoulder, saying "Tony, you might wanna look in there…"
Angel looks where the other spider is pointing, and immediately shouts "OH, FUCK!" Clapping his top pair of hands over his mouth, Angel glances towards Calli before grabbing at the other two spiders and backing away.
Vox would be so very insulted that everyone seems to think the destroyed kitchen is the biggest issue, but…he's seen the red-headed woman just a few inches away get angry. Val finally notices the two bright white spiders, and smirks before adopting an attempt at a seductive tone of voice, saying "Angel Cakes, amorcito-"
The shorter black spider incredulously asks "Angel ca…Angel. Like, say, Angel Dust?"
Angel lets out a very quiet 'oh, fuck' before saying "I've heard his eyesight is total shit, 'Niss-"
"Of course, Angel Dust! Who the hell else would I be talking about?! He worked for me for years, up until that red-head bitch-"
"Antonio Giovanni Mancini!"
Angel visibly gulps, even as Vox's brain short circuits yet again, and dives for the black spider's arms while saying "Sal, listen, you- shit, would you stop-"
Vox incredulously asks "Antonio Mancini?! As in, one of the famous missing kids?!" Which makes the black spider Salvatore Mancini, the older brother - who, far as anyone could guess, killed their mafia father right before the three of them just vanished. Glancing at Valentino - over the bodies of two wrestling spider demons and several discarded guns - he incredulously asks "You had Antonio Mancini working for you all this time?! As a porn star?!" The Mancinis were famous for being ruthless, they basically ran New York…right up until the head of the entire organization, Lorenzo Mancini, wound up dead, that is. And his three children, Salvatore, Molly, and Antonio Mancini, all just vanished into the wind.
And Val just...just happened to have one of the deadly Mancini children - supposedly trained to shoot any kind of gun, use any kind of weapon, trained to be absolutely ruthless, stone-cold killers - working for him as a fucking porn star. Not even security, or a 'problem solver' as it were...a porn star. Fuck, he could've poisoned the lot of them at any damn time if he really wanted to! It couldn't have been that hard for a trained mafia child!
Valentino crosses his arms, and says "He introduced himself as Anthony Di'Angelo! How the fuck was I supposed to know it wasn't his actual name?!"
Salvatore snorts derisively from where Angel has him pinned, and deadpans "Anthony the Angel? Really?"
Angel shrugs, and says "It was the first thing I thought of, alright?" He carefully gets to his feet, one set of arms pinning Arackniss to him and the other holding his hands behind his back so he can't try to shoot Valentino.
Molly frowns, asking "What's going on, exactly? Who's he, and why is he calling you Angel Dust, 'Tony?"
That would be when Vox notices the Halo floating above her head - how did a Mancini end up going to Heaven?!
Arackniss spits out a line in Italian, which seems to spark a whole debate in the language, all three siblings arguing back and forth in Italian with lots of pointing at Val and Angel Dust using his body to block Molly's way towards the moth. "Oh no," Angel suddenly says, clapping a hand over his brother's mouth, "you two are going nowhere near Val. He'll get inside your heads in seconds with his shit, and if he gets his tongue down your throat then you'll be high for days. And, if you two kill him," he jerks a thumb at Vox, "he'll organize a manhunt for you."
And then Arackniss bites Angel's hand, making him hiss and shake it out, and then spits out a phrase in Italian - Vox isn't sure just what it said, but he makes out the word 'Veleno' plenty clearly. A quick Voogle search shows it means…poison.
Why would…was he just talking about Angel's hit song?
"Mols, no, don't search up- dammit, 'Niss!" Angel lunges for the phone, but he's got two out of six limbs available and Molly has all four of hers to pass the phone between.
Calli, having turned away from the disaster area that is the kitchen at some point, quickly pulls Lucifer and Alastor away from the ensuing drama even as Asmodeus heads back to the couch to watch with the other Sins.
Leaving Vox to fend for himself, unfortunately for the Overlord. And now he remembers this song, dammit - he'd thought there were a few red flags in the lyrics, but then when he went to confront the porn star about it he was high as a kite, getting fucked by Val in his dressing room, and in no position to be telling him anything. He figured the drugs had pickled his brains and let Velvette run wild on the marketing campaign - and the song became a hit single in under three days. He can think of a few lines, though, that Angel is rather desperate to keep his sister from hearing.
What's the worst part of this Hell? I can only blame myself…
Angel lunges for the phone in Molly's outstretched hand, spinning to make her let go of his wrists, so she tosses the phone high in the air and then puts him in a headlock before sweeping his legs out from under him. Angel just freezes when the line 'My story's gonna end with me dead from your poison' plays, and slowly turns his head to meet Molly's gaze.
Except…Molly's gaze isn't on him, much to Angel's obvious worry. Her gaze is locked onto Valentino, who's currently smirking with his top set of arms crossed and his left bottom arm settled on his hip arrogantly.
And then, to most everyone's surprise, Molly lets out a near-feral screech and sprints straight for Valentino with a knife suddenly in her hands.
In hindsight, Vox things, it shouldn't be that surprising that an Angel, any Angel, is capable of sudden, ruthless violence. Especially when that Angel was the daughter of a Mafia crime lord.
What is surprising is that Angel Dust tackles Molly to the ground, forces her to drop the knife - all still holding onto Arackniss for dear life - and then shouts "I said no!" To most everyone's surprise, all three siblings suddenly vanish with a cracking sound like a gunshot.
Vox stares at the spot they three spiders just vanished from, Val stares at the spot the three spiders just vanished from…honestly, the only one who doesn't look surprised is Calli. Shrugging, she says "Least they didn't get Splinched." Stalking over to Valentino, she yanks him down by the upper arm and unceremoniously rips one of his wings off, saying "I'll turn this into a new bed for Fat Nuggets. Maybe a pillow for the lower part. Fucking idiot, what did you think coming here was going to do? Godsdamn moron, I don't know how you managed to make it as an Overlord whatsoever, I swear."
Lucifer snorts, and says "Hey, Calli?" When she looks over, already poised to rip off Valentino's other limb despite how he's squirming, he asks "You know you're speaking English again, right?"
Calli blinks, then shrugs and says "It all sounds like English to me. Thanks for the update, Luci. You think Niffty would like a new throw blanket?"
Before Vox can ask what she means by that, Calli rips Val's other wing off his back.
Mammon crosses his arms, muttering "See, this is what I was talking about yesterday. This, right here." He's still just a little miffed that the three 'visiting Archangels' didn't get any kind of physical repercussions from coming down here, honestly. He always does when she gets called up to put an end to whatever he's really into!
Val finds himself tossed in front of all the Sins like a piece of meat thrown to the wolves, and Calli says "Hey, Ozzie? What if all the earnings from any movie he had a hand in went to all his contract-victims? Say…up to how much the movies they starred in or helped produce made? Each? Forever?"
Vox's metaphorical jaw drops once more as he quickly calculates how much that would be - that's more than VoxTek has made all total! When he goes to object, though, Calli glances over and adds "Unless, of course, VoxTek has enough money to not only pay all that but stay in business?"
Vox shakes his head, asking "You're not going to just kill him? Permanently?"
Calli snorts derisively, and says "No. For a reason I'm not going to get into with you. Suffice it to say, though, that it won't do any good. Valentino, here, being forced to not only free all his contracted souls but reimburse them for all the money he's used them to get, though…" She gives him a smile that sends shivers down his spine, even as Alastor's cane lets out some of his canned laughter, and says "That sounds like something he might actually learn from."
Running a hand through her messy hair - something that makes Vox wince on reflex, if Velvette's hair looked like that she'd be having a meltdown - she adds "Vox, get your other business partner over here. Now."
Vox blinks, asking "Velvette?"
"You two decided to go into business with this idiot of a moth, now you get to help clean up the mess he made."
Another bout of canned laughter from Alastor, who looks like he's trying not to burst out in laughter himself, and Vox groans before pulling up his internal contact list. Pulling up Velvette's contact, he quickly dials her - thankfully, she picks up on the first ring.
"Vox? The fuck are you, people are saying you just sprinted out the door!"
Vox groans, then says "Yeah, 'bout that…get over to the Hotel."
"Val?"
"Val."
There's an irritated sigh from Velvette's end of the call, and she asks "What'd the piss-baby do this time?"
"It's honestly easier if you just see it for yourself, Velvette. But…to put it simply, the biggest damn mess I've ever seen anyone make, figuratively and literally." "I'll be there in, like, thirty minutes. Honestly, that idiotic piss-baby, I swear…"
Vox swallows as Calli makes a large basin appear, and murmurs "Something tells me you want to get here ASAP, Vel. It's looking bleaker by the moment."
"Just don't start obsessing over the fossil until we're leaving, Vox. I mean it."
Vox reflexively glances in Alastor's direction - who's currently talking with Lucifer of all people, and looking way too content doing as much, guessing what Calli's going to do with the antenna she ripped off Val's head - and says "I'll have to get back to you on that one."
Velvette just groans, disconnecting the call.