Chapter Text
They got their second guest far sooner than anyone expected.
It was early morning, and Alastor had woken before everyone else. As was normal, everyone here was awfully lazy and couldn’t tell their heel from their elbow when their alarms first went off in the mornings. Come on, folks! It was almost 6AM! It was time to face the day with a smile!
Someone had been knocking on the door for quite some time. Probably closer to ten minutes than five. Well, if no one was going to be considerate enough to answer it, then Alastor would. Did these women want guests in their hotel or did they not? Leaving a potential guest waiting was no way to achieve their admittedly already ridiculous goals!
Tapping on over, Alastor hummed a jaunty tune as he pulled open the door. “Good morning! How may I assist…” A confused radio whine buzzed in Alastor’s chest when he opened his eyes and saw no one there. How queer, perhaps they’d only just now got tired of waiting? Pivoting forward on his hips, he leaned out the door and glanced around. “Oh, there you are!” A smaller blue bird demon was pressed up against the side of the hotel, just beside the front doors.
Blue feathers stood on end, and his eyes, pure white irises on white scleras, were open wide and frightened, staring at him. Ah, it did Alastor’s heart so well to see such pathetic specimens in the morning.
“Good day, sir!” Alastor reached around the door and grabbed the bird by his fluffy chest feathers and yanked him inside. With a terrified shriek, the bird tried to resist but the shadows had him by his ankles as Alastor threw him inside. “So good of you to show up. We hadn’t even finished developing our promotional material! Well, don’t be shy. What’s your sinful misconduct, sir?”
Shaking under his feathers, the bird demon tried to slink away but was caught under Alastor’s firm grip. “Uh—uh—m-murder-suicide!?”
“Good, good! And what’s your name?”
“Spinner!?!” The blue bird, this Spinner, tried to pull himself away again, whining as Alastor heard feathers begin to rip out of his chest. “H-hey, hands off the merchandise, man!”
Finally, Alastor released the bird and took a step back, his shadows dispersing. “It’s a pleasure, Mister Spinner! The name’s Alastor, and I’m a manager at this fine establishment. I suppose you’re here for redemption.” Oh, he couldn’t wait to see how Charlie would handle this guy. Something about this pitiful poultry screamed a kind of failure that Alastor had to see with his own eyes. Was she awake yet?
Spinner smoothed out his feathers and adjusted his dress shirt and huffed in annoyance. Then he glanced up at the Radio Demon and his face contorted into nervous anxiety. “Uh, well, sorry for coming so early. I saw those ads and after that news segment, I had to see what this place was about.”
“It’s a place for heathens like you to try and fail to make better choices. That’s all! But if you want a room, I’d be more than happy to assist you.”
Again, Spinner’s face twisted up in fear. “A-actually, if it’s okay with you, I was hoping to talk with the girls? Actually, I kinda wanted to talk to that white-haired chick, specifically? She’s really pretty.”
“Oh?” Alastor hummed in confusion, the sound coming out more like a dead air on a radio. “I don’t believe her door swings that way, but…”
He had to go wake Charlie up and introduce this Spinner to her. She was the owner, after all—
A blur of red and blonde zipped by, and lo and behold there was the princess, already accosting Spinner and bouncing with glee. “Ohmigoshohmigosh!!! You’re a new patron! You are going to have so much fun here!”
With so much going on all at once, Al reveled in the chaotic confusion on Spinner’s face as the bird reached out to shake Charlie’s hand. Alastor strode forward and slung his arm around the princess’s shoulder, pressing her close and chuckling, “This fine gentlemen is Spinner, and I caught him behaving mildly interested in your hotel. So I did you both a favor and invited him in!”
Those big red eyes looked excitedly up at him and Alastor thought of a puppy dog in clown makeup, and Charlie jumped in glee and hugged his shoulders, unable to contain her squeals of excitement. Alastor managed to refrain from rolling his eyes. He shrugged her off, literally, and she went back to talking to this bird gentleman and walking him over to the front counter to get the key to his new room. Already Charlie was going on and on about their plans and activities.
Funny enough, Mister Spinner actually seemed to be interested. Perhaps he was just happy to be away from the big bad Radio Demon. It didn’t matter; the die had been cast and now this naive woman was already invested in this new guest. Good. Now, where was that little gray moth…
———
She was in the kitchen, trying to make coffee. The coffee machine in their room was woefully broken, so Vaggie had to take her snobbish ass into the eternally messy staff rooms. Whatever coffee Angel kept down here was terrible but it was fresh and warm and that’s all she needed right now.
Someone had made pancakes. No one else was awake but the Radio Demon so, fat fucking chance she was going to eat that. Instead Vaggie went digging for an old slice of pizza that was somewhere in the back of the fridge. It was somewhere back there…
Goddamn it. Somewhere cleared out the fridge and that pizza was only two days old!
Suddenly she was swept up into the air, dragging several tupperware bowls out with her as someone wrapped her up in a tight grasp and spun her around. Vaggie froze, jaw clenching as she heard a cheery voice cry out, “Vaggi-i-i-i-i-i-ie~ we’re already getting more guests at the hotel! It’s happening!! Oh, shoot.”
Just as quickly Charlie set her down, and Vaggie took a second to try to still her rapid heart. Well—that wasn’t pleasant.
“I’m sorry, baby, are you okay?” Charlie patted her shoulder and dusted her off, her face pinched in genuine concern.
“I’m okay…” Vaggie stood up straight and offered her girlfriend a reassuring smile. Slowly, her heart would stop racing… “What was this about a new patron?”
The concerned frown was quickly gone, replaced by an eager green as Charlie practically started vibrating. Bouncing on her toes, she spoke so fast she almost broke the sound barrier, “His name is Spinner! He heard about us on the news and he believes in our cause!! Like, actually believes in it!”
Uh oh. Something about that didn’t sound right. Clearly it must have shown on Vaggie’s face because Charlie continued off of that— “I know! I know, but I have a feeling! I really feel it this time. This is gonna be our big break!”
“I think I should talk to him, too…” Vaggie scratched her chin. A blue bird demon. Not much could be discerned about his personality just from that but all of the birds she’d ever interacted with were all pretty boys who were entitled as fuck. Someone like that could definitely try to take advantage of Charlie’s kindness…
The staffroom door swung open and with a jovial, radio applause, Alastor politely stepped in, “That won’t be necessary, my dear!” Oh, he was so waiting to make that entrance. Vaggie could just fucking tell— “Everything’s been screened and well taken care of, your input is not necessary.”
Not necessary? “I’m the manager of this hotel. Of course my input is necessary!” Already she was up in his face, eyes glaring and smoke practically pouring out of her ears already, made worse by that smug grin that the Radio Demon wore. He was living for this.
A pair of hands gently touched her shoulders, and Vaggie flinched almost violently and spun around. Charlie took her hands away, and smiled warmly down at the moth, “Vaggie’s input is very important to the health of the hotel, just like your sponsorship. So, we’re all working together here—r-right…? We’re going to be getting along?”
Vaggie crossed her arms and glared at Alastor. Yeah, she’d be getting along if he ever decided to not be an asshole. Maybe if he’d actually keep his hands to himself she wouldn’t have to—
Once again she was swept up into a hug and her face was pressed into a big red blazer. Oh god, her eye—
“I can absolutely try, Miss Charlie,” said Alastor, nuzzling his cheek into the top of Vaggie’s head, “Who knows! Maybe I can make her smile by the end of the week.”
Vaggie wiggled and kicked her feet, even elbowed his side until finally he let her go. Ugh, that creep. She rubbed her arm and moved back to Charlie’s side, who was all smiles as she went on and added, “Could you maaaaybe also mind how you just kinda grab Vaggie? We’d really appreciate that.”
“Of course!” Alastor beamed, his throat clicking and buzzing. With a jaunty chuckle, he spun around and left the room, “Vaggie, dear, please don’t let those flapjacks get cold! I slaved over a hot stove just for you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a hotel to run.”
Oh this guy, this fucking guy…
Slowly, she felt Charlie’s arm slide over her shoulders. “Hey…” Vaggie looked up, her gaze already tired and it was only 7 in the morning… “It’s going to be okay, Vaggie.” Leaning down, Charlie pressed a short kiss to the Vaggie’s temple and gave her a firm squeeze. “Just give him a few more weeks. He’ll grow on you!”
“Yeah, whatever…” Like her opinion in this hotel mattered anymore.
“Hey Vaggie,” Another squeeze drew Vaggie much closer, and Charlie’s other arm wrapped around her shoulder. “Did you want to, I dunno, just stay here and hug it out for a little while?” It was the start of a stressful day, Charlie could just feel it, “Then we can go meet with Spinner together!”
It took a few moments. Today was definitely starting out on a sour note. A hug session with her girlfriend was just what she needed to maybe get this day back on the right track. Finally, Vaggie leaned into Charlie’s embrace and returned it, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Yeah. That sounds okay.”
Charlie giggled, “Okay!” and squeezed Vaggie tight, making the moth’s back pop! audibly, and Vaggie groaned. Even as she tried to sound annoyed but it was so difficult when she was smiling so hard now.
Yeah. It was hard to not think at least a little positively when Charlie was this happy.
“Okay, hon. I’m ready, let’s go.”