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Life in the Hotel was rarely calm. If it wasn’t Charlie getting overexcited about her newest idea to get more guests or ways to reform her people, or Niffty bursting in to clean, or Angel Dust causing or bringing in some sort or trouble, or Vaggie exploding over the Sinning going on in this place meant to discourage Sin, it was Alastor.
There always seemed to be something going on around Alastor.
If there wasn’t already some drama going on for him to sit back and watch – or sometimes make worse by adding some comment or other – he was livening things up.
He’d come in with his loud, charismatic personality and simply take over the room, with conversation or stories or food or something, or he’d come up with an idea, though whether it ending up being helpful or a disaster was often up in the air. Or he’d burst into a song and dance number dragging Charlie – willingly – and everybody else – unwillingly – into it.
But today, the usually energetic Radio Demon has been remarkably subdued.
He’d presented breakfast with a wide smile and enthusiasm in his voice, but that was it. He’d sat down quietly and eaten, and although he didn’t look upset – even though he was always smiling there were subtle ways to tell if you knew what to look for, it your were around him enough, if you knew him, and Charlie had been partners with him long enough to pick up on some of those signs – but he didn’t add to the conversation
Or take it over, and there wasn’t even an argument for him to be watching that he didn’t want to stop because he just found it so amusing. He just sat there and ate. Charlie thought she heard a faint thread of something, maybe a tune, emanating from the Radio Demon – which wasn’t unusual – but she couldn’t place it or quite heard what it was.
And no one else seemed to note Alastor’s uncommon behaviour. So Charlie dismissed it as her being overly sensitive. Maybe he just didn’t feel social this morning. Even extremely extroverted people liked their space every now and again. And the Radio Demon seemed to have traits of both an extreme extrovert and and extreme introvert.
But the day continued in this way. She didn’t really see Alastor after he left breakfast that morning, and while it was certainly not unique, it was uncommon. Alastor did have his own things and would disappear to do various activities, but he usually announced very loudly that he was going out, sometimes saying what he was doing, sometimes not, sometimes giving a look implying that they didn’t want to know, and making a big production of his return – even if that was sneaking in and popping up right behind someone. But between his lack of interaction during breakfast and his quiet departure, Charlie felt there was something.
Vaggie was just relieved that Alastor wasn’t around to cause trouble, or… lurk threateningly.
Alastor showed up again for lunch, once again sounding cheerful as people took portions of the very homey meal he had made. While Alastor tended to veer more towards the style of foods from the time and place he was alive, he did dabble in pretty much all ‘real’ food. But today, she noticed that so far the meals he presented had been very much something that she would associate with ‘comfort food’ in the part of the world he had lived in. The sort of meal he likely would have had growing up.
He was, again, quiet during the meal, and she again thought she heard the tune from that morning, but he still didn’t seem distressed, and she didn’t want to confront him in front of everybody. Not unless she thought it was dire. And she didn’t
After he was done, he disappeared again before she could catch him privately.
He was again absent for the afternoon, and still nobody else seemed to notice, but by this point, Charlie was convinced there was something. It wasn’t necessarily something bad, but Charlie was curious and just wanted to make sure that everything was okay. Alastor may not have been a patron, or an employee, may not have been under her care, but he was her friend and she did care about him. She didn’t want to pry, didn’t want to invade his privacy, and if he told her to back off she would. She just wanted to make sure he was alright. He hid a lot behind that perpetual smile of his.
Dinner came and went much the same as lunch, and Charlie was certain that there was a pattern now in the meals. More southern comfort food. In fact, the same jambalaya that he had made for them that first day.
Again he slipped out after dinner and Charlie was more determined than ever to at least talk with him and check in.
The only time he had ever been away this long had been during broadcasts – and she would have noticed that – and he was always very enthusiastic about it as soon as he returned. There was only one other time, and it had been for an errand that had taken a few days and he had told them ahead of time that he would be gone.
So when everyone dispersed and headed their separate ways for the night, Charlie went to look for the Radio Demon.
He wasn’t in his room, but eventually she heard a tune, one which she recognized as the one that had been coming from Alastor during the meals, but now she was actually able to hear it.
She followed the song to a little out of the way lounge, the door ajar, and Alastor sitting quietly inside it. There was a lit fireplace on the opposite wall, two chairs angled so the persons sitting in them could face both the fire and the other person to facilitate conversation, with a small table between them that held a cup – probably of bitter black coffee.
The princess knocked against the door, and Alastor turned. “Ah, good evening miss Charlie, is there something you need?”
“Um, I was just wondering how you were doing. You’ve been unusually quiet today.”
“I thought you would enjoy me staying out of trouble, hahaha!”
“Not if something’s wrong.”
The little bit of front that he had added faded at her assertion and he replied, “Nothing wrong. I just heard this song this morning. It reminds me of my mother and I’ve been reminiscing today.”
“Oh, okay, I’m sorry if I was being intrusive, I can go–”
“It’s fine, Charlie,” he reassured her, waving off the concern and then gesturing for her to join him.
She did, and after a moments hesitation, she closed the door before sitting in the other chair. Once she had settled, Alastor said, “Sometimes on quiet evenings, my mother would sing, and I’d sit there listening to her as she brushed my hair. Whenever I hear his song I remember that, because this was one of her favourite songs the sing me to sleep.”
“It sounds like it’s been a while since you spoke to her,” Charlie said cautiously. Family could be a fraught topic for some Sinners. Especially if they’d had a good relationship. They could be in heaven and the Sinner might get upset for bringing up that separation, and asking if they were in Hell could be seen as an insult – even if it was true – or, worst of all, if they had been in Hell and were… no longer.
“Oh, a century at least,” Alastor replied, sounding nonchalant. “She was an angel in life, so it was Heaven for her. She’d have been absolutely horrified at what I had become, wholly through my own fault. My more positive traits are entirely her doing.”
“I’m sorry–”
“Don’t be,” Alastor interrupted. “If I didn’t want to talk, I wouldn’t. You aren’t prying.”
Feeling the need to share something of hers in exchange for what he had told her, Charlie said, “My mom used to do that too, sing to me while she’d brush my hair before bed. And she’s always been a role model for being a strong, self-sufficient woman. I miss her too, sometimes.” At Alastor’s curious head tilt, she explained, “my mom’s… very busy.”
His reply was a succinct, “Ah.”
They shared a moment of quiet for a while before Charlie couldn’t help asking, “if your mother is in Heaven, why wouldn’t you want to be patron? Wouldn’t you like to see her again?”
Alastor gave her a look, one that felt a little chastising, that said, ‘if I didn’t know and didn’t know you meant well, I’d eviscerate you for that question.’ Then he looked at the cup of coffee that had appeared in his hand and said, “If such a thing as redemption was possible there are a few reasons why I would still not sign up. For starters, I know who and what I am. I enjoy killing, I don’t regret my decisions in life, or death. That alone would make me ineligible I think. Why I’d be bored to death up there! And as for my mother… as I said, she’d be mortified, though she holds no blame, and if not for her, I’m sure I’d have turned out much worse. But up there, she would have to confront exactly what I had done. As I said before, there is no undoing what is done. (Even though I’d have been ‘redeemed’ I’d still have done all the things that sent me down her in the first place. And all that I have done since. Down here, she wouldn’t have to. There are a great many demons who are in Hell for relatively petty sins. People who made one mistake that damned those who were otherwise good people in life.”
Charlie just sat there, taking it in, and feeling miserable at being unable to help.
“Smile, my dear!” Alastor said, no longer sounding so grave, back to his usual exuberance. “I’ve said before that I am quite content here. I miss my mother from time to time, but I’m satisfied to know she’s well and safe, while I am free to be myself. Your concern is admirable and appreciated, but I am fine. Besides, if I left, who in Hell would actually help you little establishment here? If redeeming Sinners is possible, think of all the poor souls in contract that would scramble here trying to be free of their own poor Deals! And all the powerful holders of said contracts would be out to destroy you to prevent it!”
Charlie made a face at that. “Wouldn’t you fall under that category?”
Alastor laughed. “All this is theoretical, but I am powerful enough on my own, and the entertainment provided by the scrabbling would be worth the poor few who might be able to make the arduous climb towards betterment. And I’d have enough foreknowledge to make plans to take advantage of the destruction of the status quo.”
Charlie wasn’t completely happy with that answer, but it was enough to get her to drop the matter. At least it didn’t look like he’d immediately turn on her should – when her Hotel succeeded.
They stayed up the rest of the night reminiscing as that song from Alastor’s childhood played.