It was early in the morning, and Aria had already woken up to a fresh start. Sort of.
With the Extermination happening in a mere 6 months, everyone in Pentagram City was panicking, all in a state of anarchy and apocalyptic dread. Her ears perked up as she heard Charlie rambling about what they could do to stop this in the parlor. Aria herself knew how lethal it was, but nevertheless she was eerily calm. As if she had a hunch that everything might work out, despite the chances being slim.
With her tail flicking up behind her, she caught the smell of coffee coming from a balcony nearby, and some distant, familiar humming of a baritone voice filled with static.
As she walked towards the balcony, Aria found the Radio Demon enjoying his morning coffee by himself. The mug he was using made her giggle, for it had the phrase "Oh Deer" on it.
"Good morning, Alastor!" She greeted him warmly, causing Alastor to turn his head towards her. "How was your sleep?"
His ears perked up with interest when he saw his ward, and his smile softened up just the tiniest bit. "And a good morning to you, my dear Aria! I slept fairly well, and how about you?"
"Like a cub, as usual." She replied, summoning a mug of coffee of her own and sitting in front of Alastor. Her mug had the phrase, "I'm not lion" on it, which caused a chuckle to rumble out of Alastor's chest again. "Ah, nothing beats a good morning chat, right?"
Alastor nodded in agreement. "You are absolutely correct, my fuzzy friend. Especially when I'm chatting with someone as similar to I as you." He responded. "Niffty has been rambling non-stop about crocheting and how good of a friend you are."
Aria's eyes shot up in surprise and delight. "Oh, really now? I'll be damned twice, then." She chuckled, taking a sip of her cappuccino while Alastor sipped on his espresso. "Give my regards to her. She's been nothing but a delight to talk to as well."
Alastor found her fondness for Niffty to be endearing, for he himself was also quite fond of the little cyclops. She was like a daughter to him, albeit her insanity and demented state. But he didn't mind one bit, and nor did Aria. In fact, the young lioness seemed to enjoy it, just like he did. It made his respect for her blossom.
The two continued on their conversation smoothly, with Aria getting to know a bit more about Alastor, and Alastor doing the same. They were so different from each other, yet somehow so similar too. It intrigued Alastor to no end, and brought him an immense amount of entertainment, and for some reason, a bit of relaxation too.
This little lady was like sugar and spice- she could be dangerous and held powerful magic in her hands. But on the other hand, she could be a total sweetheart if she chose, and quite frankly the brightest thing Alastor had ever seen in his dark, hellish life.
In Aria's perspective, Alastor was still a mystery, but one that could be trusted when it comes to friendly chatter or gossiping. She found him to be a bit fruity too, but who cares? This man was the definition of entertainment, and he never failed to make her crack a smile. It was similar to a fun teacher amusing his student with puns and dad jokes.
Yet as they were getting to some juicy parts of gossiping, all of it had to end because of a certain zeppelin flying their direction. Aria looked up and noticed the familiar ship hovering in the sky. Groaning, the young demoness rolled her eyes as her tail flicked about in agitation. "Oh, look who it is. Sir Penis."
"Ho!" Alastor scoffed, laughing at Aria's quip. "My my, poetry! In the best way of course, my dear."
In the distance, Sir Pentious hissed and blasted a hole through the Hotel's wall, expecting Alastor to show up. "Show yoursssself, Alassstor!! Come and face-"
He paused for a moment when he realized Alastor was absent from the fresh hole on the wall. Looking upward, he then spotted Alastor sipping coffee on the balcony on the second floor, with Aria by his side. "Oh, there you are. And with the little missy too?? Face. My. Wrath!!" He yelled, his hood flaring up as his eyes glowed in anger at the sight of the two demons.
"Who are you again?" Alastor asked mockingly, causing Aria to let out a "snrk" sound from holding in her laughter
"Yeah, I don't remember seeing a slimy, talking banana around here." Aria added.
The serpent was angered further. "Who am I?" He repeated. "Who am I???? I am the great Sir Pentiousss! Inventor, architect of destruction, villain extraordinaire!"
As he continued his "evil speech", Alastor dissolved into a fog and descended down to the ground, materializing beside Angel, Vaggie and Charlie as they watched Sir Pentious's zeppelin. Aria followed right behind him and jumped down to the ground with ease. Niffty appeared on Alastor's shoulder, starstruck. "Oooh, he's a bad boy~" she purred.
Chuckling, Alastor gently scooped up the little demon and dropped her to the ground. "Well, if all that was true, you'd think I'd have heard of you." He taunted, shrugging.
"I attacked you literally last week."
Alastor cocked his head to the side, imitating confusion.
"We've done battle for..." Sir Pentious furrowed his eyebrows. "like, 20 times in 80 something years?"
Alastor held back a chuckle and fake pouted with his smile still intact. "Well, you must've been really bad at this "villain extraordinaire" thing."
"SILENCE!" Sir Pentious hissed, getting ready to blast his death ray. "Now cower! For when I have slain you, the almighty Vees will finally acknowledge me as their equal!!"
Reappearing on Alastor's shoulder, Niffty narrowed her one eye and pondered. "Wait, who are the Vees?"
"Nobody important, my dear." Alastor replied, looking back up at Sir Pentious and his zeppelin. "They are a group of 3 sinners, in which 2 of them are cowardly brutes, and the other one is this young woman..." He explained, trying to think about the words to describe her.
"Who is an egotistical, pompous, entitled little shit." Aria finished for Alastor, growling in contempt as she put a hand on her hip. Raising an eyebrow, the stag grew curious about her distaste in the Vees. Particularly, one person.
Turning his attention back to Sir Pentious, Alastor laughed wickedly and summoned his inky, black tentacles to start his attack on the zeppelin. Aria, Charlie, Vaggie and Angel watched on with shocked faces, although Aria was the only one who was awestruck at how much control Alastor had of his power.
"Damn. That's what I call control." The lioness demon murmured, summoning a bag of popcorn and sharing it with Angel Dust. "Angie, take some and enjoy the show. It's about time someone taught the slippery slob some manners."
With a cackle, Angel laughed and popped one into his mouth, placing a brotherly arm around Aria's shoulder. "Are ya' shittin' me? This is almost as good as BDSM!" He responded, causing Aria to snicker and nudge him playfully.
After a while of taunting and playing around with Sir Pentious and his precious zeppelin, Alastor used one of his tentacles to punch a hole through the glass windows as seemingly payback for making a hole on the Hotel's wall. "Aargh- Oh! Please, stop this!! Have mercy!!" Sir Pentious screamed, earning a snicker from Alastor.
"Uh, Alastor?" Charlie strained her smile. "I think he's had enough!"
Angel smirked. "Nah, he's got a few more hits in him." He replied, devouring the bag of popcorn while watching the scene unfold. Aria watched as Alastor started laughing so hard that his eyes went sideways, like that of a pigeon. She giggled at the sight before roaring with laughter as well. "Look at him go!"
Sir Pentious tried feebly to hang on to his precious ship, only to fall face first right in front of Alastor with a thud.
"Thanks for another forgettable experience, my good man!" Alastor derided, twirling his staff around before leaning on it and gloating over the snake. An egg boi fell to the ground and broke into pieces.
"Thank y-you..." Sir Pentious groaned, lifting his arm up weakly before grinning evilly at Alastor. Using his tail, he made the stupid decision to rip off a bit of Alastor's coat. "For letting your guard down- haha! Yah!"
Aria's eyes widened as Alastor growled and made an elk call, his antlers enlarged as he glared down at the serpent.
"Oh shit."
Sir Pentious was blasted away by a powerful, massive green explosion. He screamed as he was sent flying to the city, disappearing from sight. "WUUAUAAAHHHHH!!!"
After making sure Sir Pentious was gone, the Radio Demon then turned towards the group with his signature smile on. "Well," he said, looking down at his coat and turning away from them again. "it looks like I need a visit to the tailor. Best of luck for the day, chums!"
"Wait, you're leaving?" Vaggie interrupted, shaking her head. "Alastor! We need your help. We need you to do your job here."
Angel nodded and gestured to the giant hole on the wall. "We need a new wall, Smiles."
"Of course. Can't let my new project fall into disrepair already, can we? What will the papers say?" Alastor replied before snapping his fingers, summoning black ink demons ready to help reconstruct the wall.
Aria smirked and shrugged. "Obviously something very insulting to your image. We can't have that!" In response, Alastor grinned and gently patted her head.
"Aria, would you be a dear and prepare my radio tower for a broadcast? I'm expecting everything to be ready when I return." He instructed. Aria nodded and playfully saluted him before heading up to his tower. "Yes sir, Mr. Radio Demon sir!" She replied, earning a chuckle from him as he went on his way.
Glancing at one of the ink demons Alastor summoned, Angel Dust took an interest and smirked, shoving Vaggie away and gigging. "Heya, sweet cheeks. Whatcha doin' later? I love me a man with a giant... tool."
_________________________________________________
As Aria made her way up to Alastor's radio tower, she wondered why he instructed her specifically to make the preparations for his broadcast soon after. It was as if he knew she was familiar with all the old-fashioned traits of radio, but how?
Nevertheless, she climbed up the stairs with little effort due to her agility as a lioness, then entered the room.
It was a bit dilapidated, with some blades of plants sticking out from the cracks in the floor. A purple, unused coat draped over a hanger shaped like deer antlers, and on the main table were buttons and cables for maintaining Alastor's broadcasts. An unfinished cup of coffee, an antique microphone and a few papers were on the table too.
"Guess I'll start with these." Aria said to herself, tidying the papers up and re-heating the cup of espresso with her pyromancy. A few moments later, she had tidied up most of the room and was ready to tinker with the broadcasting tools.
Looking around the table to find other things to clean, Aria spotted a framed, black and white photo of a middle-aged, dark skinned, beautiful woman. Looking at it closely, she noticed that the features of the woman looked similar to Alastor's. Could it be that this was his mother?
A soft smile crept up Aria's lips as she blew the dust away from the frame. "How sweet." She murmured to herself, the realization that Alastor might've been a mama's boy dawning on her. Carefully, she put the framed picture back where she found it.
Afterwards, she used her intellect to quickly get familiar with most of the functions of all the buttons in the station, making sure everything was set to make sure Alastor's broadcast would be perfect. Though, she felt like something was missing. "Hmm..." She pondered before an idea struck her hard like a Category 4 typhoon. A genius idea that made her go, "Eureka!"
Placing her hands on the table, she channeled her powers to every wire and cable. Since she was able to enhance her voice and manipulate/hypnotize people to listen to her voice only, why not assist the Radio Demon by using the same method? Only this time, she will enhance his voice. She wasn't sure if it would work, but it was worth a try.
A few seconds passed, and a neon pink aura emanated from Aria's hands to the table. It was working! The power of Alastor's radio station had been enhanced, and all that was left was to wait for Alastor to return and tinker with his microphone staff as well.
"Greetings, my dear! I've returned, and I'm sure you've done your part, hm?" The voice of the gentlemanly radio host rang through the atmosphere as he manifested into the room. Looking around to see the tidy radio station and a happy ward, Alastor's ruby red eyes glimmered with contentment. "Excellent work! Now, the show will begin~ You may stay here if you wish, my dear, you have earned it."
"Awh, thank you, Alastor!" Aria responded with a delighted gleam in her eyes.
Sitting down on his couch, Alastor smirked as Aria sat down beside him eagerly, waiting like a curious little kitten. Her ears flicked about as her tail waggled with anticipation. Endearingly adorable.
Tapping his microphone staff, he cleared his throat and started to speak. "Salutations! Good to be back on the air." He said. A shiver of shock ran up his spine as he felt his voice being broadcast to not only Pentagram City, but the entire Pride Ring! That was a first. He gave Aria a knowing smirk while the young lioness winked, returning that smirk. She had done her part well.
"Yes, I know it's been a while that someone with style treated Hell to a broadcast- sinners rejoice!" He announced arrogantly. With a flick of her ear, Aria could hear an unfamiliar, angry voice blaring through all the TVs of the city.
Ah, that voice. It was Vox, the Overlord of Television and the CEO of Voxtek. He and his close colleagues, Valentino and Velvette, basically ran the entire entertainment industry of Pentagram City. And it seemed like Alastor had beef with them, especially with the TV head.
Aria watched on as the two men started to argue through music. "This is gonna be so fucking good," she thought to herself.
"What a dated voice!" Vox scoffed through the countless screens. Alastor smirked and replied with the most snarky comment Aria heard coming from his mouth, yet.
"Instead of a clout-chasing mediocre video podcast, hah! Is Vox insecure, pursuing allure? Fitting between this fad and that, is nothing working?"
"Ignore his chirping!"
"Everyday he's got a new format!"
"You're looking at the future- he's the SHIT that comes before that!"
Aria looked on as Alastor dueled with Vox through their different mediums, silently rooting for her guardian and grinning as he finally got the upper hand. Suddenly, Vox got so pissed that he glitched out, causing the entire city to fall into a blackout. The only buildings that were still working perfectly were the Clock Tower and the Hazbin Hotel. Looking out the window at the sight of the dimmed streets, a soft, breathy laugh left Aria's lungs.
"Let's begin," Alastor sang into his microphone staff, his voice reaching to the ends of the Pride Ring with the help of Aria's powers channeling his radio station. "I'm gonna make you wish that I stayed gone! Tune on in..."
Aria's ears perked up in confusion. "Stayed gone?" She thought to herself, cocking her head to the side. "Was he absent for some time or what?" Her thoughts were then interrupted with a gasp at Alastor's true form.
The sea of red in his sclera turned pitch black, and his antlers started to grow larger. His entire body enlarged to a terrifying height, and his neck elongated, bending in an unnatural way as he looked over the dark city. "When I'm done, your status quo will know its race is run, oh, this will be fun!" He sang ominously, ending with a menacing cackle.
Aria's eyes were as wide as plates, her jaw slack and her body frozen with intimidation. For the first time, she finally felt a twinge of fear of the Radio Demon. But it dissolved just as quickly as it came when Alastor morphed back to his usual appearance.
"Oh, how I missed having a good stretch! These old bones needed that, haha!" He grinned, stretching his limbs and cracking his neck. Turning his head to see an awestruck Aria, Alastor chuckled lowly and reached out to pat her head. "Fear not, my dear. I won't lay a hand on you unless I have good reason to."
With a nod, Aria got back to her feet and managed to return his smile. "Understood." She replied, her voice a tad softer than usual, which Alastor noticed and narrowed his eyes at.
"Excellent." He nodded in approval and opened the door for them to climb down the stairs to the Hotel. "Come along, then. Shall we head downstairs, sweetheart?" Alastor asked, offering his hand for Aria to take.
Looking at his gloved hand, Aria nodded and took it without hesitation. Instead of the coldness she felt when she first shook his hand to make the deal of being his ward, the young lioness' tail jerked at the feeling of surprising warmth.
"We shall." She said, to which Alastor grinned proudly at.