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A week after the hotel had been rebuilt, the hotel had finally fallen into a smooth rhythm, with plenty of new guests arriving since it it had been announced that Pentious was rehabilitated. Well, mostly smooth. It only seemed to happen when it was just the two of them, and they stopped as soon as anyone came within reach. Now, you may be wondering what I'm talking about, and it's sort of hard to explain. Charlie and Lucifer were... I'll just uhh... Show? Tell? You.
"Dad, it's just- I know you're trying to help, but you're just... Hovering and getting in the way." Charlie said. They had been at this for a while, and the tension was high. Lucifer looked like he was exasperated at best, whilst Charlie seemed genuinely upset.
It was then that Vaggie decided she needed to step in.
"Hey, babe! Alastor wanted your help with something." Vaggie interjected, physically putting herself in the small gap between the father-daughter duo. "Downstairs. In the kitchen. Far away from here." Maybe she was being too obvious, but Charlie sometimes had trouble picking up what she was putting down. This time though, she seemed eager to have an excuse to leave, and hurried out eagerly.
"Maybe I can help you with-" Vaggie cut Lucifer off. "Actually, I need to talk to you." He looked confused; Vaggie was starting to see where Charlie got her cluelessness from. "Can't it wait?" He asked blankly, still looking past her to where Charlie had long since disappeared. "No, it can't. We need to talk now." Lucifer's eyes flicked back to her, as if finally sensing her urgency. "Uhh... Okay, what's... What's wrong?"
"You." He blinked at her. "You're always just standing around, not doing anything, making comments that no one wants to hear. I-" his already small frame had shrunk underneath the one-eyed womans' glare. "-no one in this fucking hotel has the time for bullshit, so at least just stop, following around Charlie, so we have to see less of your annoying face." Lucifer's eyes looked glassy, but Vaggie didn't see. She just saw how pissed off she was at him for ruining Charlie's kindness and optimism because he couldn't fucking-"I'm- I'm just trying to be a better da-"
What!?!
"Oh, yeah? Wanna be a better dad? Well I'm afraid it's a bit too late for that." Her fiery expression was inches away from Lucifer's heartbroken one. "She doesn't need your help. No one does. She built everything from the ground up all by herself while her family took care of things they deemed more important. What could be more important Charlie? Those stupid ducks you have?" He ducked as she angrily swiped her hand, knocking one of said duck off of the brim of his comically large hat. The duck hit the floor with a broken squeak as Vaggie continued. "I- I don't know, the satisfaction of seeing that poor, bleeding heart reduced to nothing but an open shell because no one, not even her own father could-"
What cut Vaggie off was the broken sob that Lucifer had been trying so hard to keep in. Had she gone too far? Sure his hovering was annoying at best, but Vaggie didn't want to make him cry. She glanced at his face, truly looked at it, and saw the look of hurt, and something else... Guilt. Fuck. "Lucifer, I didn't-" he cut her off. "N- no," he said, wiping his tears off with the sleeve of his coat "you- you're right." Before Vaggie could respond, he disappeared into a swirl of red glitter.
"...fuck."
~
Over the next few days, Vaggie tried to apologize to Lucifer, but whenever he saw her, he would pelt out of the room. Vaggie felt guilty, of course, but she was also kind of glad she yelled at Lucifer. Charlie was a lot less tense now, and she could put talking to him off as long as she needed.
"Babe, thanks for talking to Dad." Vaggie froze. "Ever since you talked to him the other day, he's really been making an effort to be better, and I just- I really appreciate it! "... Charlie was happy, Lucifer was being a better dad, and everything was good. So... Why did she feel so guilty? Vaggie's eye flicked up to Charlie. Of course. She'd ask her. Her girlfriend was great with feelings and ...stuff...
"Babe, I have a question." How could she shape this so Charlie wouldn't worry or try to investigate? "One of the hotel residents, one of the newer ones, is having a bit of a... Problem, and I'm not really good at the whole... " She made some odd jazz hands movement. "Emotional, feelings type stuff. That's more your forte."Charlie nodded.
"So, basically, there is this problematic demon-" Vaggie's girlfriend raised her eyebrows, already concerned. "At her work." Charlie exhaled, but she still seemed worried about the story. "This demon kept hurting the feelings of someone that she cares about, and instead of dealing with the problem maturely," Fuck, it pained her to say that, but it was the truth. "She blew that demon off, yelled him, and hit a sensitive spot for him. It..." She hesitated. Was she pushing it with the insults? "It wasn't pretty."
Charlie frowned considering the information first before responding. "Well, did yelling at him fix the problem?"
"Yeah."
The princess blinked. That hadn't been the response she had expected. Usually, that stuff didn't work. "So then... What's her problem?"
"Guilt."
"Oh?"
"I feel like the guilt is eating me up from the inside, and I know I should apologize, but I was right. Technically, I did nothing wrong, but I still feel bad." Charlie frowned at her. "That's- that's what she uhh... That's what she said to me."
"Did nothing wrong?"
"Yeah. She told me what she said, and technically, she was right on every account. Her... Angry speech her more of of beration of hurtful truths."
"But she feels bad about it."
"Yeah."
"Then she should apologize."
Vaggie's eye flicked to a bug crawling on the wallpaper. Alastor kept releasing hoards of them around the hotel, half so Niffty would have something to do other than freak out people and cook food, and half to spite Lucifer, who doing everything to keep the hotel clean. Speaking of Lucifer...
"Technically, both demons are at fault here. The problematic one for being problematic, and the resident for being a bit of a bitch." Vaggie raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry, but it's true." Charlie started walking down the hallway, and Vaggie joined her, mostly subconsciously. "She was being a bitch, and she should apologize. Based on how the other demon reacted, he feels guilty too."
They had reached the top of the staircase down to the foyer, and there were two more bugs... Getting it on, as Angel would put it on the second stair down. Charlie hopped over them and turned back to Vaggie, holding her hand out for her girlfriend to use to hop over the bugs.
"He'll probably apologize too," Charlie continued when Vaggie landed next to her. "And then, who knows? It could be the start of a beautiful friendship!" She stopped in the middle of the staircase, smiling down at the residents.
Seven of them were in the foyer, adding more touches to their paintings from last night's "Paint Your Feelings" activity. Alastor and Niffty were also down there. The Overlord was on an armchair, reading a book. That particular morning, his ever-present smile seemed genuine. His tiny minion had a creepily identical smile and she chased a bug across the floor.
She took a deep breath, probably about to start singing about friendship, knowing her, when she was cut off by a heart-shaped hole being blown into the wall. "Wuddap, ya bloody cunts?" A voice with a distinct Australian accent yelled. Everyone in the foyer, save for the two staff members, who were used to it by now, jumped at the explosion.
"Cherri, you're disturbing the peace!" Charlie yelled, rushing down the stairs as fast as one could whilst still going down one stair at a time. "Uhm, Babe, just find the demon you were talking about and tell her what you told me! Love you, byee!"
Vaggie stood there for minute, watching Charlie calm down a demon who had freaked out when a piece of debris from Cherri's explosion had knocked over her easel, ruining the painting.
"Right," she said to herself, dusting off her skirt. "I have to go apologize to Lucifer."