Chapter Text
Three rapid knocks on the door and the ringing of the bell attracted Vaggi's attention from behind the receptionist's desk. As Charlie was busy in the basement, Vaggi decided to cautiously approach the entrance: it had been so long since anyone had tried to enter politely through the door, she almost forgot that was the intended way.
A creak and a metallic squeak after...
She saw a little girl clad in a yellow fisherman's raincoat and green muddy boots looking up at her. The girl's eyes were a light shade of blue, one only marginally darker than the lapislazuli-colored square hair bangs framing the smooth little face; her skin was pale pink, as if she was still alive; and her green backpack held a two-pronged walking stick on precarious balance on top.
Something was not quite adding up. But she had only one way to find out.
"Oh hi there little girl, can I help you?" Vaggie asked, attempting to mellow out her expression, if nothing else to not scare the girl away... though she understood that was a uphill battle, given the dour resting face.
"Hello madam, is this the forestery?" she asked, her voice shrill yet not annoying, using a tone of very rehearsed (but not well-practiced) politeness that Vaggi had to admit was kind of adorable "I've been looking around town, but nobody seems to want to help me, and this place seems like somewhere I can sleep for the night at least."
Vaggi cocked her head. If this was really a little girl and not some sort of strange (but clever) disguise by some vandal or other heckler, how did she manage to get there so clean and calm?
"Hmmm... well, this isn't a forestery, but it is a place you could rest, perhaps. I need to know your name and why you're here for, though." Vaggie said while crossing her arms, still putting
the effort to keep (no small feat, given how difficult that was) an expression that could charitably called "friendliness".
"Sure!" the girl exclaimed "My name is Luce, and on a pilgrimage going to Rome through the Via Francigena! I got kinda lost as I entered town, and the directions on the map seem all wrong. I'm kinda tired and the night is falling, so I need a place to stay. I'll be gone tomorrow to go to Camaiore."
Vaggi froze.
She would've liked to go "What what what WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAAAA–", but also knew that panicking would have been the second worst response in that moment. Stating bluntly that the Happy Hotel was FAR below Massa would've been the worst.
So, straining her face muscles to the limit in order to keep up a grin and nearly sweating, she said: "Oh. Well, Luce, it might take a while for you to reach Camaiore from here. I can let you spend the night here free of charge."
"Thank you, you're very charitable Miss..." Luce paused, and Vaggi could almost feel her eyes glance at the nametag pinned to her left breast "Vaggi? Uhuh. Tuscan names are weird..."
Vaggie awkwardly chuckled, to which Luce blushed and bowed her head away.
"No offense! Just, very unusual."
"None taken." Vaggi almost hissed, as she looked around her for a place to keep her waiting in safety. The lobby itself, ample and with its red couches, seemed the better bet, than shoving her to Husk's bar and hope for the best... had it not been for Cherri being blackout drunk and asleep on one of those couches, dressed in only her shorts, drooling and heavily breaking: hardly the spectacle a pious little girl should have been subjected to.
"So, where do I check in? Or stuff."
Vaggie had an idea.
"This hotel is built a bit oddly," she said in the understatment of the decade "we have the reception up the stairs. If you'd follow me, I'll show you."
Luce's face beamed and nodded.
"Sure! Thank you again, may the Lord take it into account on you." She said, adjusting the backpack on her little shoulders.
÷×÷
Vaggi left Luce in front of the reception desk and told her to wait there, offering her a book to read as she waited. Though clearly curious and eager to explore, the girl was thankfully obedient enough to sit on the stool and read in silence.
As she knocked on the door, Vaggi tried to think of the best way to broach the topic to Charlie... and make her instructions stick to her little overexcited princess mind.
"Hi! Who's there?"
She had had barely five seconds to think, before Charlie opened the door with great happy violence in a cacophony of wood and metal.
At least she was in a good mood... like usual.
"Oooh! Babe, what's up? Is the new guest asking for memorabilia from last week or something?" Charlie asked, toning her cheer down just a little bit. Which was good, given the news Vaggi was about to drop.
"No. I don't know how to tell you this, but..." she hesitated, trying to find the best wording for a few excruciating seconds "There's a pilgrim at a reception's desk."
"A pilgrim? Why would anyone pilgrimage here? I thought dad's palace was the pilgrimage site." Charlie raised an eyebrow in confusion, before shrugging "Well, I'll meet them, surely not ALL new guests are here to break shit... right?"
"Nonono, it's not's not a Hellborn pilgrim it's..." Vaggi sighed, ready for the moment of truth and to avoid her panic "It's a little, living, human girl who's very pious and..."
Vaggi couldn't go any further, her own words drowned out by Charlie's loud excited squealing.
"EEEEEE YAY THERE'S A LIVING HUMAN HERE!" Her face, lit up like a lamp fixtures shop window, her pupils as wide as her fanged smile, was all the warning Vaggi got before getting bowled over by her overexcited girlfriend.
She, brought flat on her ass and dazzled, could only watch helplessly as Charlie ran squealing down the corridor and to the stairs.
"Charlie! Wait! You need to know something!" she cried out, struggling to scramble to get up and give chase.
But excitement speed far outclassed worry speed: Charlie had managed to reach Luce, only stopping for a few seconds to put hands on her mouth in awe.
"OOOH AND SHE'S ADORABLE TOO THIS IS GREAT!" she yelled excitedly, to the point of sounding like rubber shoes on wood flooring, then dived on a bewildered Luce to give her a bear hug.
"Charlie! No! Don't do that!"
"HIIAMCHARLIEMORNINGSTARWHATSYOURNAME?" she said in a single breath before undoing the hug just long enough to let Luce take a breath.
"Uh... hi, I'm Luce!" She saidm dazzled at first, but she seemed to adjust to Charlie's puppy energy fairly well, at least for the moment, even matching it when she said: "I'm here on a pilgrimage to Rome, are you this place's owner?"
Vaggi's butt clenched as she rushed forward and stop what she was sure was coming.
"Yeah, kinda! I own this place, but because Lucifer's my dad, I'm also Hell's princess too!"
To no avail.