Redemption lies within

While Hell's Pride Ring became more active as the day…or whatever sufficed to get a sense of feeling a day going by…Joshua having left the premises of Carmilla Carmine's building, was now walking the sidewalks of hell with his hands in his pant's pockets with his thumbs out hooked on the hem of the pocket liner.

The 'burnt' man reflected on his thoughts, while paying some attention to his front and surrounded for possible random attacks or thievery from some random sinner; it wasn't an accusation, he was in hell, and in hell it was evident sinners preyed on each other.

The best Joshua could do would look imposing while giving off an air of danger, and if all else fails, he would have to deal with any would-be assailant. He learned early on that most would bother giving him a second thought and attempt to assail him, and the select few were sinners that were at the bottom rung hoping to carve out a means to survive in hell.

Soon, however, Joshua's thoughts were abruptly halted as he came up to an intersection, his eyes beneath his wrapped head idly glanced to the left and saw all that was Pentagram city where all the glamor of sin was, while in the opposite direction was the Hazbin hotel.

Idly looking over back to his left where an electronics store was situated at the corner of the street he stood at, Joshua walked over to stand in front of the window while passing by several sinners minding their own business, each with an odd gadget in their hands with their eyes glued to some small screen.

One sinner walked out of the building he stood in front of, prompting him to look over to see that the sinner had the same device in hand, and began using his thumbs to do whatever he was doing with it, before using it to talk into it and walked opposite from Joshua, not paying the 'burnt' man any attention.

Joshua looked back to the front window and saw various different devices with small screens on them, all advertised as digital phones along with prepaid plans for soul bucks.

With his eyes focused on the gadgets so intently from curiosity, he was left unaware of an additional onlooker that stood beside him; that Being, an amused Alastor, who had walked over to amused himself a bit in idle chatter with the 'burnt' man, only to find said man's curiosity with the phones.

With his cane tucked under his arm, Alastor adjusted his monocle over his eye while Joshua eventually unfocused his curiosity from the phones and glanced over at the other sinner that stood to his left, "...Alastor…" he acknowledged the other man, to which said man acknowledged back.

"Joshua." Alastor said with a smirk as they both glanced back at the items displayed in the front window, "Thinking of getting a phone yourself, are you?" he questioned the burnt man.

"No." Joshua said simply as stepped back and began heading back to the intersection of the street, "My curiosity simply had taken the better of me, and led me to see what the buzz is all about with those small screen devices."

His curiosity a bit peaked at getting a gauge on the sinner that still claimed to be a follower of the bible, Alastor smirked ever more as he followed after the man and deftly slid in step with him, "What…" he began to say as he took his cane from out of the corner of his arm and twirled it around a bit, "You don't seem to me the sort of man that existed before the introduction of the smartphone…" before souring a bit at a different thought, "Besides Television …" he muttered.

As the two came up to the intersection of the street, Joshua halted first as several vehicles went zooming by, some were even in the midst of a shootout between each other.

Joshua spoke up as both sinners seemed to wait on traffic to slow down, as odd as it was, there were traffic lights…go figure. "Believe me Alastor, I come from a time beyond an apocalyptic event, you might even find it ironic that radio replaced television as the means of entertainment."

Once the signal for pedestrians to walk was clear and visible, Joshua crossed the road first, leaving Alastor with a shocked look, before returning his mouth to an ever present smirking grin.

"Oh really now?" Alastor asked as he caught up with Joshua while the two headed back to the Hotel, his attitude matched that of vindication against another type of devil. "What's that part you say about television?"

"In my time, you'd be hard pressed to find an actual working television, but with radio, the means to make and fix one are abundant, and so, humanity was stuck with Radio." Joshua answered with a dry tone, before glancing quickly at Alastor beside him as the two sinners finished crossing the street. "While we are at it, I believe we should set some things straight, while we are alone." Joshua said as the two of them stood apart from one other.

"Oh? And what's that?" Alastor asked Joshua as he and Joshua turned to face each other, while in the distance, Hazbin Hotel was just down the road. Alastor's grin still prominent as he looked directly back at Joshua, both men's height were almost equal, if not more in Joshua's favor.

"I don't know what your intentions are with the Hotel, but know that Charlie means well. Don't ever betray her trust." Joshua warned Alastor with narrowed eyes at the other sinner.

"Hmm…." Alastor mused with a widening grin that would have many a lesser sinner run with their tales or whatever they had between their legs running, "Is that. A. threat?" he asked with his demonic sinner powers being willed into power from the depths of himself.

"No. Alastor." Joshua said back to him as he stepped up nose to nose with the other man, his eyes became engulfed in his flames from beneath his bandages, while the air around him visibly bent from whatever heat was beneath his bandaged body, "It's a promise. A dog can bark and bite, but a man of faith is a man of his word." Joshua retorted back, alluding to what Alastor had called him the other day.

While other onlooking sinners steered clear from what looked like two adept powerful sinners, between the two men on the other hand, Alastor ceased his show of force with a simple chuckle and twirled his cane a bit, "Oh do take a joke, my good chum." he jested, while Joshua himself eased himself back from letting the flames of his sinner's body engulf his form fully.

He really didn't want to buy more special gauze than necessary.

"As long as we are in agreement, Alastor." Joshua spoke back with a narrowed look from his eyes at the other man.

"What." Alastor retorted back with an amused look and raised eyebrow, "No nickname like the one you gave to Angel Dust." he jested with an eye roll.

Joshua simply looked squarely back at Alastor, "Perhaps, I'd got so far as to call you a silvered tongue…but…"

Alastor smirked at Joshua, "But I have yet to lie to any of you, yes?" he remarked.

Sensing that the conversation was simply dragging on, Joshua chose to exit out and head back to the hotel, but not before leaving with a few more works, "Yet, Alastor, Yet."

While Joshua was far away, Alastor adjusted his monocle once more as he stewed over his thoughts on the sinner, "Little miss Charming Demon Belle certainly reeled in quite the character of a man, I'll say that much…" he mused.

Hazbin Hotel

Charlie rubbed her forehead as she felt an onset of a headache coming on. She stood outside a witness to quite a few supplies of ammunition, while Vaggie seemingly did her best to chew out Joshua…but to know avail.

"What are you expecting!? The entirety of Hell to come crashing in on us guns blazing!" Vaggie yelled a bit up at Joshua with her arms thrown up in exacerbation.

With his arms crossed as he stared back down at her, "Would you rather the hotel lay defenseless?" Joshua questioned back at Vaggie with an even tone of voice.

Vaggie smacked her own face, and dragged her hand down to glower up, "I-you…you can't just…" She tried to reason while gesturing at the crates of ammo and missiles, before dropping her arms down and leaned forward with a defeated look. "Just…just put that stuff somewhere then! This is a place of redemption, not some wild west!" She pointed furiously up where Joshua's room was.

Joshua simply shrugged at her order, nodded over at Charlie before excusing himself to find himself a dolly cart to begin hauling the supplies in.

Once Joshua had gone inside, Vaggie marched over to Charlie and looked up at her with an annoyed look, "Can you believe that guy!?" she gestured where Joshua headed through the front doors of the hotel.

Charlie simply clasped her hands a bit, "I'm sure he means well, Vaggie!" she tried to soothe her girlfriend, and put her hands on her shoulders to soothe her more, "look at it this way," she began to reason while lifting a palm up, "The worst thing that can happen is a gun club, right?"

"Hey, what's this kind of gun?" Niffty's voice rang out, before a gun was heard fired off.

Both Vaggie and Charlie shared a look, before Joshua's voice rang quietly out, "The safety was on for a reason, little one."

"....hehe, I got a hole in my foot!" Nifty's voice spoke back.

"...remove your shoe, that foot will need some gauze on it." Joshua spoke up once more with a dry tone.

Charlie meanwhile gave Vaggie a nervous look, while Vaggie simply rolled her eyes at the nonsense of whatever happened inside the hotel.