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Sitting on a couch of that massive hall of red wallpaper that seemed to suffocate her, Amulya scanned carefully all the members of the hotel that surrounded her.
Standing at her left, the silver haired girl who had opened the door for her when she got there a few minutes ago was staring at her frowning, gripping lightly the shoulder of the princess of Hell herself, who unable to mask her own excitement, was smiling brightly showing her pointy fangs that reminded of knifes. For someone who was supposedly the devil's daughter, she seemed quite friendly.
But it was neither the sunny princess nor her threatening girlfriend who had Amulya standing straight as a tree with her fists clenched tightly on her lap. No, the root of that unpleasant sensation she was feeling in the pit of her stomach was the presence of men in the room; three men, to be precise, to whom she couldn't help casting furtive glances of mistrust, while the princess chattered away about the hotel, or so Amulya assumed. She was too nervous to even pay attention, even though her interlocutor's melodious voice inspired goodwill with every syllable.
The first of them didn’t need a presentation card. Anyone who had been living in that side of the afterlife for an enough amount of time could recognize him even just by glance: on another of the couches, lying on his back, his legs up and a bored expression, Angel Dust, likely the most recognized actor in the entire Pride ring.
The second man, who looked like a snake with an extravagant hat and questionable fashion sense, was curled up in the armchair opposite the porn actor, smiling uncomfortably.
The third and last of them seemed to Amulya like some sort of feline, who with his wings folded and his head resting on one hand, watched the scene disinterestedly from behind a bar.
None of them seemed dangerous. None of them was doing anything at all. Yet, still, the only thing Amulya wanted to do at that moment was to run out the door she was already regretting having even walked through. None of them seemed dangerous, but they were men.
The princess interrupted her own speech with a deep breath, which cut as well the thread of overthinking that Amulya was knitting in her head.
“And that would be the basics you should know about the hotel!” she extended her hand in front of Amulya, who looked at it a few seconds before taking it and shaking it. Now she was regretting not having listened to her explanation. The sheep tried to smile at the princess to let her know that she definitely understood everything, but it must have turned out to be an awkward one, because before even she had the capacity to react, the princess had already trapped her hand (the one she was already shaking) with the both of hers.
“I know this must be so overwhelming right now.” Amulya had to make an effort not to make a little surprised sound. “But you have already taken the first step to become a better person! We are sooo glad to have you here with us today.” she continued rambling, unaware of the pressure she was putting on the grip on the other girl’s hand, or how her girlfriend's mouth twisted when she saw the contact. Amulya avoided all visual contact with the moth. “Isn't it right, guys?”
Barely a general mumble of approval was heard.
“And, well…” she finally let go of her hand. The sheep was able to loosen her shoulders a little bit again and massaged her hand with the other to relieve the slight pain. Amulya did not miss how the princess's smile faltered momentarily in one of its corners before quickly recovering. “We are so happy to see someone else take the initiative to redeem herself!”
Amulya felt a small apprehension in her heart before answering with a hum. The spider already had his phone between his fingers, and the cat was pouring himself what was very likely not his first drink of the night. The only ones who seemed moderately interested in the conversation were the girl with the spear and the snake.The princess looked like a genuinely good person, something unusual down in Hell, and her intentions seemed selfless. The fact that no one wanted to take her project seriously almost made her feel bad for her.
“We are here to help you and make you feel welcome.” She continued, standing up and grabbing her girlfriend's hand. “Now, what’s your name?”
She hesitated before speaking. She had been listening to her speech for so long that she was almost surprised to have to use her own voice.
“My name is Amulya.” the princess gave her a thumbs up with her free hand to encourage her to keep talking. “And.. Uh… I’m glad to meet all of you.” She didn’t add anything else, she was feeling ridiculous. ‘Come on, Lya, you are making a fool out of yourself!’ She guessed some bad habits from when she was alive still followed her even years after joining the afterlife.
“So nice to meet you!” the princess said “My name is Charlie.” She placed her hand on her chest to point at herself. Then, she pointed at the silver haired girl next to her. “This is my girlfriend, Vaggie, who you already know.” The lamb tried to give her a polite smile, but was only answered with a deeper frown, if it was even possible, from the other girl. Ouch. “This is Angel Dust. He is… Uh…” Her smile crooked when addressing the actor.
The alluded raised one of his arms to get the attention of everyone in the room, without looking up from his phone.
“I don’t think presentations are needed here, toots.” He finally sat up, stretching his legs in the process, ending up sitting facing the three girls. “I’m quite the known face around here, if you know what I mean.” And finished embellishing his comment with a wink directed at the sheep.
“Something I’ve heard.” She simply said, remembering all the suggestive posters that could be seen all around Pentagram City.
“Wonderful!” Suddenly exclaimed Charlie, clapping slightly. Her girlfriend couldn’t help but facepalm.
Amulya shifted uncomfortably in her seat as the princess turned around and approached the snake man. Even though the couch was fairly comfortable, her ass was dangerously at the edge of going numb.
“This one over here is Sir Pentious.” The snake man upon hearing his name, tensed up completely, even more than Amulya herself, and without erasing that awkward smile from his face, did what she thought was a slight bow.
“The pleasure is mine, miss Amulya.” He added to his gesture, hissing at every ‘s’. Quite fitting for a snake.
He stayed like that, like a half-opened ironing board and avoiding any eye contact. She didn’t even bother to answer.
“And this one behind the bar… Oh, never mind…”
The winged feline had come out from behind the bar and, with a whole bottle in his lips (it seemed like a glass wasn’t enough for him, now), was heading towards the hotel stairs, muttering something in the lines on: ‘I don't have time for this bullshit’.
“Husk!” Vaggie yelled at the grumpy bartender, placing her closed fists on her hips.
“What?” He yelled back, shrugging.
“We are supposed to make new guests feel welcome,” she shouted through clenched teeth “remember?”
He let out a big, deep sigh.
“And what does that have to do with me? I’m the fuckin’ bartender!” Vaggie let out a growl while pinching the bridge of her nose. Charlie placed a hand on her arm and said a few words to calm her “Besides, isn’t that Alastor's job anyway? Where the fuck is him?”
That changed something in the princess expression, who opened her eyes as if remembering something.
“Yeah, where is he, though? He hasn’t greeted our new guest yet!”
“Uh…” Amulya finally dared to interrupt. She swallowed hard when all heads turned toward her “Who is Alastor?”
Some exchanged glances filled with something the ewe couldn't recognize; discomfort, perhaps?
“He is supposed to be the ‘host’ of the hotel, but never actually does his fucking job.” Vaggie said, sighing.
“Whatever, I’m outta here.” And with that, the cat left the room up stairs. Amulya frowned. Rude.
She shifted her position in the armchair, trying to find a more comfortable one. She didn't think anyone would say anything if she decided to stand up, but she didn't want to risk it either. She focused her gaze on the princess instead, who was walking in circles with her hand on her chin, deep in thought.
“Now, where could this radio demon have gone?” She was mumbling under her breath. The spider rolled his eyes and shifted his gaze back in his phone.
Wait, radio demon? THE radio demon? It couldn’t be, right? That place looked like a madhouse, but they couldn’t possibly be that mad… Right?
She opened her mouth to ask, but before she could do so, the sound of little steps approaching interrupted her.
“Oh, Niffty!” Charlie stopped her wondering and kneeled “Come on, let’s greet the new guest!” She grabbed what seemed to be a tiny bug demon, carrying her like a child.
“Ohhh, a new guest?” The bug chuckled while looking around with her big and only eye “Is it a baaad boy?” And she giggled.
“Niffty, say hello to our newest guest: Amulya!” and then she brought the little demon close to her face. The thing blinked one.
“Uh, hi.” Amulya tried to grin friendly.
Her smile dropped abruptly.
“You are not a bad boy.” Then, she crossed her arms. “Charlie, why can we never have bad boys in here? A lady needs a little fun!”
“What?”
“Excuse her!” Charlie hid the little demon behind her back “She is our maid, she is… Don't mind her!” She added, chuckling awkwardly.
“I clean!” She yelled from behind her hiding spot.
“Yes, you do…” And she dropped her, who fell flat in the face and shouted ‘yay, pain!’ “Whoops!”
The princess closed her eyes and breathed deeply. And extending her arm at her, grabbing her globbed hand once again, said:
“Let’s show you your room, shall we?”
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Her room turned out to be… Surprisingly pretty, actually. Comfortable enough, not as small as expected, and it smelled way better than the average room in any hotel down in Hell.
Right after Vaggie had helped her to carry her stuff to her room, with whom she felt way too overwhelmed to even try to start a polite conversation with, she had fallen right on top the warm sheets. She mentally scolded herself; not even a polite conversation with the person helping her carry her heavy suitcases? Where were her manners? Her mother would be so disappointed if she could see her at the moment.
She sighed, standing up and heading to the bathroom, ready to take a hot bath. It wasn’t the right moment to torment herself with those matters.