The serpents den (Reader x Sir Pentious)

Chapter 2: Lessons from the generations.

It was almost difficult to keep up with him as he quickly slithered down the hallways, you were unsure if this was just his normal speed thanks to his snake like attributes or if he was rushing to the location of the crash. The whole place seemed to be adorned with serpents and slanted eyes all the way from the paintings that lined the walls to the design on the carpeted floors. With several of his own eyes keeping watch to make sure you were keeping up it was as if you were being stalked from all angles at all times adding yet another layer of discomfort to the situation. A large set of carved doors depicted a large mechanical serpent wrapped around an almost crystalline eye, small yells escaping from the creatures inside. Though it looked like it would be heavy Pentious seemed to have no issue flinging it open. Worn tables were lined with tools and blueprints while others held wires, scrap metal, pipes, and all sorts of other parts. On the one side a large mechanical part laid on the floor with a white and yellow puddle beneath it "I thought I told you to use the Crain tail to move that piece!" he hissed out. "It got stuck boss" the one egg replied, it took a hot second to realize it but the little outfit just barley poking out of the ooze showed that it was one of the egg creatures crushed underneath it. Three others were standing nearby doing their best to try and pick up the chunk of metal by themselves, the numbers 36 and 284 visible on the back of two of their heads. "Oh no..." you muttered, Pentious seemed to roll his eyes and slither forward wrapping his tail around the dry area of the device and picking it up as though it weighed nothing to him. "I'll do it myself, one of you clean up this mess" he ordered as he moved the large metallic piece to a tool filled workbench. All pink eyes drawn back to you as he set the device on the table. "No need to be so distressed, this is a rather common occurrence thanks to their incompetence" he assured as he slithered back over "As loyal as they are, they have a habit of accidentally breaking one another" resting a hand on your shoulder he turned you around and led you back outside of the little work area. Though you wanted to look back over your shoulder at the remains of the egg creature the now closed door took the sight away. "I know this is all new to you but try not to worry about it, these minions are a dime a dozen as they say" he finished. "But wasn't that once another human?" you asked as he started heading down a larger spiral staircase, he paused for a second looking back over at you as you carefully watched your steps. "No, they were created by none other than I! While the other demons waste their time harvesting and breaking down once living souls until they have their obedience, I have successfully managed to create my own loyal minions without such needs!" his hood seemed to stick out for a moment as he went off about his accomplishment fully revealing 4 more pink eyes hidden away underneath. It helped knowing that the eggs weren't once human but still, it was upsetting to see the one be crushed like that. Heading down the stairs you entered a large opening, more snake like decor coated the walls but the large chandelier hanging from the ceiling only dangled yellow and black crystals, each little crystal letting the walls and floor have a speckled glow to it. His home seemed so large and yet oddly empty, it felt as though there were supposed to be more people in it than just him and the few egg creatures that you had seen upstairs. It was like walking through a king's palace, as lovely as it was though it drew far more questions. "Ok, hang on a second" he stopped and turned towards you looking curious as to why you wanted to stop for a moment. "Listen I'm thankful for everything but I need to be honest here, this doesn't make any sense to me. You seem to be one of the top dogs in hell so why pick up some freshly fallen, whatever creature I happen to be, off the street?" you asked. "Well my dear the answer is relatively simple, I believe we might be able to assist each other" he replied. With how much he seemed to have there was only wild guess from a dirtied mind, you had to ask just to make sure that it wasn't the case "What could I possible do to help you? You seem to have pretty much everything in the palm of your hands?" you asked. "You see while I have been able to successfully stay on par with some of the tyrants of hell, thanks to my genius inventions, my popularity with the others has been..." he trailed off for a moment "Well, It isn't as concrete as I desire. As hip as I try to be to gain popularity with the latest generation of demons it just doesn't seem to work out as planned" he finished. Your mind shot back to the horrid explanation he tried to give when you first woke up, if that was how he tried to act like the younger crowd then boy was he screwed. "I was hoping to discuss this later when you had an adequate amount of time to adjust to these sudden changes but I suppose now is as good a time as any. Here is my proposition, you help me connect and gain popularity with these demons from the newer generations and I'll provide you with anything your pretty little heart desires, I'll be your... sugar daddy?" he didn't seem to know if he was saying the right thing but one look at your face told him that it wasn't. "Fuck me this is going to be impossible" you thought to yourself, despite knowing how badly this was going to go there really weren't any other options. He extended his hand out to you, there was a bit of hesitation at the thought of making a deal with a demon "I'm not selling my soul to you with this deal, am I?" he seemed to roll his eyes at the question "What? No. Demons can't do soul deals with one another less a proper soul contract has been written up and has been overseen by a third party. What, do they think we can do verbal contracts up there?" he asked. "Look I've heard a lot of different things over the years and I just got here so I have no idea what the fuck is true or not about hell and demons" you explained. A small sigh escaped him "Fair enough" he replied. "One last question, is there internet down here?" you asked "Why yes, there is" he replied, a small sigh escaped you as you extended your hand out to him "Alright, I'll do it" he seemed to beam in delight. "Excellent! We'll start immediately! You can tell me everything that was in right before you passed, we'll jump right onto the latest trends and memes" there was almost immediate regret but the deal was made and all in all it was a pretty damn good offer. "Ok, calm down. First things first, I gotta get a feel for what hell is like and what I'm working with. I could probably understand it faster through whatever social media exists down here, is there a computer anywhere?" you asked "Why yes, there are several in the room down the hall. Right this way madame" a flick of his tail motioned for you to follow him. "Great, in the meantime let's keep the conversations going. I'll give you pointers on what lingo to use and you can listen to how I normally speak and use that for ideas" it was an invitation for pain but something that had to be done if you wanted to keep up your end of the deal. "I got you, so if it's not too soon how did you end up getting yeeted into hell? It must have been awfully gnarly since you didn't wake up in the middle of your fall" he said. A small sigh escaped you "Don't use yeet, Yeet is mostly used for when you're throwing something across the room in a comical fashion. Gnarly is outdated and means cool so wrong context as well. As for the question..." You trailed off for a moment to try and remember all that had happened that night, the mess of blood and gunshots were still fuzzy but it wasn't too hard to piece together what could have happened. "I think there was a bar shooting, I just remember hearing a gun and looking down to see blood" you replied, doubts of this being a sick dream started arising. "Do you know who did it?" he asked, you shook your head "No, they shot me from behind so I didn't get to see their face" the memory of that horrid feeling enough to earn a small shiver. It wasn't too hard to hide the movement with a false yawn "What about you? If it's not too personal" he seemed to pause for a moment taking a second to think "It's been a long while, I can hardly remember what happened. Something about a rival inventor and a horse and carriage, it's all a blur to me now" he replied. "Wait a horse and carriage?" you questioned "Yes, I'm not sure if he beat me and dragged me out to it or if he just had his horses trample me as I left my house. I just remember intense pain and looking up at a wheel" he replied. "Man, when did you die? The 1800s?" it was supposed to be a joke, you preyed that it would stay a joke "I believe it was 1888, just a few days after my birthday" he replied. It was not a joke. "Wait, are you serious?" he nodded "I'm dead serious" You weren't entirely sure if that last part was supposed to be a joke or not but it could pass. "So, you've been in hell for over a century?" you asked as he stopped in front of a door and opened it up "Yes, it was a hassle the first few decades but now I've gotten everything on fleek" he replied. "While fleek isn't entirely out of style few people use it. You get a pass on that one. Just try not to put so much emphasis on it" you replied. peering inside the room your jaw couldn't help but drop, the room looked like a computer lab from a high school, line after line of computers. Each one having a similar outward design but with slightly different markings, they didn't look like any computer you had seen before. Stepping inside you walked over to the nearest computer and powered it up "Are these all custom built?" You asked "Why yes, while I may be out of time, I took great care in trying to adapt to the latest tech" he replied. The home screen seemed similar to what you would normally see on a fresh computer, no folders, Microsoft edge, and the basic background. Clicking to open up Microsoft edge you couldn't help but grin as fingers went away ripping open up tabs left and right, pulling up familiar sites, and scrolling through the pages "I take it that it's to your liking" a small purr practically left you as the device effortlessly kept up with your shenanigans "Oh ya, since you have all these computers I'm assuming you and your little eggs have some social media accounts." Turning back, he smiled and slithered closer "Why yes, they've all been following me on snapchat" you couldn't help but shake your head "We'll fix that later, how often are you online?" you asked. "Not often, I'm far too busy to get mixed up with the trolls and the drama. I just leave the eggs to keep leading others to my account and hype up the fans" a small sigh left you "And how has that worked out?" you asked. "Shush" he hissed "This is why I've brought you along" he seemed to grow annoyed "Whatever, we can work on that later once I've gotten a good grasp on everything" you replied as you turned back to the bloodied screen. "But if you wanna know the latest trends and lingo you're going to need to spend more time online" you said as you started browsing. From the faint reflection in the screen you could see as he smiled and slithered out of the room leaving you to surf the underweb on your own.