Chapter Text
Adrenaline coursed through your veins as you stood under the spotlights, the blinding glare that would have once burned your eyes just made you that feel much better, like you were the only person in the entirety of hell. The sweat that stuck to your body was unbelievably uncomfortable as you came down from your high, your previously gelled down hair would have to be peeled away from your forehead later.
Your eyes and limbs felt heavy, the ringing in your ears slowly morphed into deafening cheers, the overwhelming chorus of a pleased crowd suddenly hit your eardrums like a freight train. Your arms fell to your sides, staring up at the ceiling as you bathed in the praising and probably lustful comments thrown your way. You didn’t care.
You didn’t care about the overly loud announcer screaming the scores into your ears from the massive speakers. You didn’t care about how your sweat had turned your makeup into a sort of cement that stuck to your face in all the wrong ways.
Your mouth stretched into a wide grin as the winner for this years Clown Contest was announced.
You.
It was all the crowd was cheering- it was all you could hear- your name.
You let out a sigh of relief that you didn’t know you were holding, suddenly gasping for air- like you hadn’t taken a breath during the entire final performance. You managed to catch your breath and save face, taking a painful bow. Your limbs, joints- hell- your bones hurt and your heart felt like it was beating out of your chest.
As you raised your body, the smile on your face never wavered. You felt like your organs were ripped out of your body and then rearranged like some kid to forcing a triangle into an obviously rectangular hole. But the smile never left, it wasn’t even forced, you were in so much pain but you didn’t care. This was what you had been preparing for your whole life.
Tears spiked at the corner of your eyes as you scanned the crowd; imps, hellhounds, demons of all shapes and sizes were cheering in favour of you. You felt a warmth flowing through your body, the harsh lighting seemed soft now, showing you all your supporters and fans- people you loved you- your performance. You felt so comfortable in your own skin in that moment. You were born for this, you had always dreamed of being this famous.
Your long tail swayed from side to side uncontrollably, you were glad you had caked on as much makeup as you did otherwise the crowd would definitely see you blushing.
You felt so loved in that moment, you had always hated hell- especially greed, every demon around every corner itching to scam you or loop you into a pyramid scheme. Hell wasn’t so bad. Sure people rob, murder, torture- but you were sure it would be like that in any civilisation, if you can call anything about hell civil that is. There were always good people everywhere you went- even in the deepest, darkest pits you can find in the seven rings.
You were so caught up in absorbing all of this love and praise that you didn’t even notice an explosion of green smoke and dollar signs behind you. A massive, strong arm wrapped around the front of your chest, pulling you up and against his body. You didn’t even have time to be shocked as a big, booming voice sounded above the crowd;
“SAY HELLO TA THE NEW FACE OF MAMMON!”
You were lifted up by the back of your collar, the front of your clothing pressing against your neck dangerously. You almost choked, a sudden wave of anxiety washing over you as you were stared at by everyone- every screen lit you with your face on it. You forced a grin, giving an awkward wave with one hand. You didn’t know why you were so nervous. The appreciation you felt had disappeared completely. Something about being held up like that to be inspected by a flood of demons felt so invasive and frightening. The feeling had you grinding your teeth.
The moment felt like it lasted an hour although only a few seconds before the force that was holding you up disappeared completely as you were dropped. You landed hard on your feet, a bolt of pain shooting up your legs as you fought to keep your balance. You were determined not to embarrass yourself in front of everyone- not to mention your new boss who you had momentarily tuned out. You didn’t even know how you had managed that. The big guys voice was like a fire alarm; Extremely loud and definitely not ignorable.
You turned your full attention to Mammon, the prince of greed, a big guy who was decked out in green, spiky clothes. He almost looked like a Christmas tree, which was definitely on brand for him. He was babbling on about merchandise and how “honoured” he is to have you as the new face of all his money making schemes. Well- you didn’t want to say schemes, even though you very well knew they were.
You were convinced he wasn’t that bad of a guy, he just had a reputation to uphold, at least that’s what you told yourself. He turned towards you with a toothy, yellowed smile that would make a newborn and a dentist cry simultaneously, patting you firmly on the shoulder,
“Pleasure ta be workin’ with ya.”
Those glowing green eyes stared straight into yours, you couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated. You put on a smile to reply as politely as you could muster,
“Thank you sir.”
He patted you firmly on the shoulder before turning to the crowd,
“SO- WHO WOULD LIKE TO DO A MEET AND GREET WITH- er“
He paused before turning around and checking the scoreboard before announcing your name. He didn’t even remember your name, too busy salivating over how much money he could make out of you to even care. Something about that made your posture stiffen and your fists clench, you worked so hard to get here- to put on a show nobody would forget- all for the demon that’s going to be making shit tons of money off of your face to forget your name.
You sighed, resisting the urge to visibly roll your eyes, Mammon was probably super busy- even though he was sitting above the crowd in his suspended web getting fed by Glitz and Glam’s replica sex robots. Those things were obviously custom made to fit his standards, they had his colour scheme and logos plastered onto them, you felt a little disturbed that you would be next in line for that treatment.
He must have had a lot to organise for this event, even he deserved a rest. You reluctantly decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. He had been your idol since you were old enough to have coherent thoughts after all, if you didn’t put your full trust in the guy that was going to have full control over your life for the next year or so then you would surely go insane.
Everything hurt. Your patience and tolerance to this was running out and you just wanted to pack up and go home for the night. You knew that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon but it was nice to dream.
You strode off stage before collapsing halfway down the side stairs, the overwhelming aftermath of restlessness and nerves slammed into you like a truck. Having to drag yourself back to your feet using the railing, you dreaded the guaranteed line of demons with flashing cameras and overexcited attitudes that you would absolutely not be able to keep up with in your state.
You took a deep breath, taking a moment to calm yourself down before standing up and stumbling over to the mirror. The bulbs that protruded from the frame that wrapped neatly around the reflective surface were almost comforting, they reminded you of your younger years when you had smaller gigs. Back then you were just a random clown, you had no name to the public. Just a run of the mill circus clown.
You wouldn’t have cared back then about a smudge in your makeup, the black paint across one of your eyes had been scuffed- no doubt during the final performance. But, you were fixing it with great attention to detail. These demons are paying good money to see you at your best and you’d be damned if even before your first day you got complaints.
You touched up the rest of your paint and gave yourself a big smile in the mirror before turning towards the curtain behind you. Already you could hear the excited chatter of voices.
This was going to be a long night.