The Realities of Honesty

Katie Killjoy insisted they do the interview at the Hotel.

On the one hand, Charlie felt a little relieved that it would be without a studio audience staring judgingly at her. On the other hand, she was absolutely dreading doing this in her own home.

After getting off the phone, she scolded herself for agreeing to Killjoy's visit. It would be inappropriate for royals to turn down a chance to be in the spotlight, so it was involuntary for her not to say 'no' and to begrudgingly go along with it.

Charlie remembered too late that she didn't have to commit to any interview given that she was no longer a royal. But the date had been set. For the very next day. And when Charlie called again to see about cancelling, all she got was a busy tone. At that point, she didn't have any choice but to prepare.

With Husk helping, Charlie rearranged some furniture in one of the common areas. The staff members and a few of the other residents had gotten wind of Killjoy's visit, and they gladly made themselves scarce from that particular area for the next few hours. No one was thrilled about any of this and they would all be happy when she'd leave. The only other person who would be around was Husk, but that's because the bar and concierge desk were close by.

They arranged two couches to face each other, with a coffee table in the middle, all of it centered beneath a well-lit chandelier. It not only looked presentable, but it was also practical. With the way the furniture was arranged and with how bright the chandelier was, it should be the perfect area for an interview.

"Thanks, Husk," Charlie said as they finished.

"Yup, because this is what I wanna do on a Saturday," he grumbled as he went back to the bar. "Rolling out the red carpet for that bitch." He took out a rag and swiped it haphazardly over the countertop because the damned thing had gotten dusty again.

As if on cue, there was loud knock on the front doors, causing Husk to continue grumbling irately.

"Believe me," Charlie sighed as she went over there. "I'm not thrilled about it either." When she placed her hands on the door handles, she glanced back at Husk with a lame, shaky smile. "But hey! Maybe some more publicity for the Hotel will be good?…Right?"

Husk gave her the most deadpanned look he'd ever given to a person. "I haven't drank in an entire month…Don't drive me to do it again."

Charlie nodded and gripped the doors. Then, his words finally registered in her mind, and she whipped her head around to beam a smile at him. "Really?! You haven't-"

"Just open the damned door, Charlie!"

She stifled a fond chuckle, beyond excited for Husk. But he was right; they had a guest to attend to. Shoulders sagging, she finally opened the doors. She expected Killjoy's face to be wearing a look of boredom and condescension. Instead, Charlie opened the doors to see her smiling widely, as if she were on camera. However, there was something odd about it, almost strained.

"Well, thank you for finally getting off your ass to open the door," she said as she walked right passed, and Charlie noted the hint of forced cheer in her voice. "I tried opening it myself, but those shadows out there were being absolute assholes."

Charlie glanced at said shadows, two of which were lingering in the doorway and glaring harshly at the intruder. Then, they put their attention on Charlie with looks of concern and suspicion.

Charlie nodded at them. "It's okay," she said, voice neutral. "She was invited."

Reluctantly, the shadows disappeared and the doors closed on their own.

"So," Killjoy said slowly. "Those were the Radio Demon's shadows…Weren't they?"

Charlie simply nodded, and she was very surprised to see an immediate change in Killjoy's demeanor. From her smile, to her voice, to her posture, it was suddenly like she had gotten an instant boost of confidence from somewhere.

"Well, who knew that all of those rumors were true," she exclaimed. "I just couldn't believe it! So I had to come over here to see for myself. Speaking of which, where is he? I thought I might interview him as well while I'm here."

"I'm sorry to say that he probably won't be joining us," Charlie answered. "He's keeping an eye on the rest of the Hotel while we do this interview."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, I'm sure I can get a few words out of that attention-hogging show-off. And I won't leave here until I do! Now, where are we doing this at? I hope it's not-" She paused to scowl at the foyer. "-somewhere as drab as here."

Charlie shot her the most polite smile she could muster. "Uh, this way."

As she guided them to the common area, Killjoy made a few comments here and there. 'Such an interesting…setup here.' And 'Where are all the sinners at?' And 'Oh…Nice mailbox, by the way.'

Charlie frowned, mostly because Killjoy had yet to let her get a word in edgewise, but also because she didn't like how that last statement sounded for some reason.

Once they sat down, Killjoy looked critically around the common area. "Fine," she huffed. "I guess this'll have to do. So!" She got out a notepad and tapped a pen against the pages, almost impatiently. "Tell me about the Hotel. Business seems to be booming."

"Well, not exactly 'booming'," Charlie modestly corrected. "But it's a start. And, yeah, it's been great! We have around twenty sinners now, and they all really seem to like it here-"

"They actually like the thought of redemption?"

Charlie paused. "Well…They're…getting a shot at a second chance-"

"You sure they're not just humoring you to get a free place to stay?"

Charlie resisted the urge to grimace at her. "Maybe they are, maybe they're not. I can't read minds. Of course they'd want a safe place to stay. Anybody would. So long as everyone is courteous and respectful to each other and the Hotel overall…"

Killjoy scrutinized her, probably irritated about not getting a rise out of her. But the ex-Princess did seem very uncomfortable by all this, so there was that. "Anyway," she continued as she began jotting things down. "I take it that means you've started implementing some sort of redemption stuff?"

Charlie nodded. "Most of it right now is just keeping sinners busy, you know? To distract them from sinning. We have a rec room that we call the living room, and people spend most of their free time in there. We hold yoga classes and meditation throughout the week, and it's to a point where we have to schedule certain people for certain days because of how full the classes have gotten. There's a greenhouse towards the back of the Hotel – We have a resident who's been here for a while who used to scam his village with herbal medicines, so he's really enjoying gardening. I think the group therapy is the most recent thing-"

Her words were cut off when Killjoy erupted into laughter, making Charlie frown. "Oh my god! I can't-" She laughed some more. "Jesus Christ, that's rich! Group therapy? In Hell?! I'm sorry, but we gotta move on to a different topic before I lose my shit."

Charlie ground her teeth together to the point of pain. Whenever she felt insulted, belittled, or attacked, she always did her best to avoid whoever was getting in her face, or at the very least stand her ground until they went away. Now, for the first time in a long time, someone was belittling her hotel right in front of her. Specifically, belittling her residents.

Charlie opened her mouth, but no words came to the surface. She needed to at least get Killjoy to stop her mockery for a second, but she had no idea how to do that. Confrontation wasn't her nature.

"Now," Killjoy thankfully – or was it unfortunately – continued. "Let's get down to a juicier topic, and that is…" She paused dramatically, leaning closer to Charlie. "The Radio Demon."

"Yeah," Charlie said slowly, unsure if she liked this change in topic knowing how Killjoy is. "Alastor has been a big help-"

"Oh, I don't care about how helpful he is. He could be running this place into the ground for all I care-" She stopped herself, a wicked smile twitching at the corners of her mouth. "Actually, we'll come back to that. But no. What our viewers really wanna know is if he truly is staying in the Hotel, which he clearly is, and...If you two are fucking each other."

Charlie didn't know it was possible to feel this tense. She shook her head stubbornly. "Look, with all due respect, it's none of your-"

"Are you two dating or not?"

Charlie exhaled harshly. Well...It wasn't as if it was that big of a secret anyway given how much the residents gossiped both inside and outside of the Hotel. "Yeah, okay. We are-"

She let out another laugh as she wrote some more things down. "God, I thought it was just another rumor from this ridiculous place. Wait 'til they get a load of this back at the station! You gotta tell me how he is. I bet he's an absolute scoundrel in the sack!"

"We don't-" Charlie began, but then shook her head. "Again, it's really none of your-"

"Good morning, ladies," Alastor exclaimed, seemingly popping up from out of nowhere. "Having a good interview, are we," he asked as he walked over to Charlie.

"Well," Killjoy bit out, her teeth clenched as she forced herself to smile wider. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

As Alastor waltzed around to the back of Charlie's couch, she realized something as she observed Killjoy. Killjoy, just like everyone else outside of the Hotel, was terrified of him. What was conflicting with that, though, was the need to get the latest scoop on something, and any gossip involving Alastor was something that all of Hell would be interested in. Charlie rubbed her arm, hoping she hadn't said anything too private about Alastor or out of line. Her hand was removed from her arm when familiar fingers laced through her own, making her finally relax a little.

Killjoy watched this little affectionate display with blatant fascination. "So, Radio Demon." She paused. "What was your name again?"

"I don't care to share it with you," he remarked cheerfully. "Is there something you need from me?"

She tapped the pen against the notepad again. "If you could share a few words-"

He laughed as if she'd just told a funny joke. "Oh, I've no time to waste on something like that. If I want to spread my own publicity, I'm more than capable of doing so." He raised up his microphone stand for emphasis. Then, he smiled sinisterly at her, his eyes narrowing. "But I don't have to tell you what an exceptional broadcaster I am, now do I," he added, his voice ever so slightly distorted by radio static.

Killjoy was having more and more trouble maintaining her composure, but she couldn't lose face, even if it was one of the most horrific beings in Hell. "Well," Killjoy tried, hoping to see at least some of his arrogant demeanor falter. "You should hear the things we've talked about you-"

"And I'm sure Charlie has been nothing but respectful in regards to me," he interrupted. "And respectful to you, which I feel is a waste of her breath, but it is her hotel at the end of the day. But no, I'm not interested in any interview." As he spoke, he released Charlie's fingers and placed his hands comfortingly on her upper arms. "I only wanted to stop by and see if you ladies needed anything before I resume my work."

"Well," Killjoy muttered, almost petulantly. "If I'm not gonna get anything interesting from you…I suppose not."

He only hummed at that. He brought his face closer to Charlie's, almost touching his chin to her shoulder, but his gaze didn't waver as he bored his eyes into Killjoy's. "Charlie," he asked.

Charlie didn't miss the low tone in his voice, or the way he stared down Killjoy, or the way his hands protectively stroked up and down her arms. "It's fine," she said to him automatically, but then she knew she needed to correct herself. "Actually, no it's…" She took her attention off Alastor to look at Killjoy with a sigh. "It's all going as…expected."

After a moment of contemplation, he finally looked at Charlie, nodded, and stepped away, his touch leaving her.

"I shall leave you both to it, then! This hotel doesn't run itself, you know" he crowed, ever exuberant, as if he hadn't just been silently threatening Killjoy. As he spoke, he paid that woman no mind, only keeping his gaze on Charlie. "Do let me know if you need any assistance," he said as he walked away.

"So," Charlie eventually huffed tiredly. "Anything else you wanted to cover?"

When Killjoy was done glaring in the direction Alastor disappeared to, she put her attention back on Charlie. After a few purposeful seconds, she donned another wicked smile. "I gotta say, he seems to take his role pretty seriously. I…don't even know what would compel you to make him a co-owner in the first place."

Charlie chuckled dryly. "Well, he…kinda gave himself the title."

"Oh, I can imagine with a pushover like you. It's just, I can't imagine how disappointed he must be."

Charlie's brows knitted together. "What do you mean?"

"All of those wasted months? All that work? Down the drain because he suddenly decided to care about this place?"

She stared at her. "I don't know what you mean."

Killjoy rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. You can't tell me he didn't have ulterior motives. Why else would someone like him wanna join a place like this?" Idly, almost casually, she wrote down a few other things as she reclined a little. "I wonder what he wanted. Maybe the throne? Ha! It's such a cliché to use you and your hotel for that. But then you got disowned and made his plan backfire. Maybe that's why he seems to care about this place. Nothing else to invest his time in. God knows why he seems to care about you."

As Killjoy rambled on with the insults, Charlie had to refrain herself from clutching her own arms again. She didn't like how comfortable Killjoy now seemed in her hotel, so she hoped that if she just let Killjoy get every little word out of her system that she would finally end the interview.

Charlie gave herself a mental pat on the back when it did indeed end. She wasn't good at confrontation, but she could at least read a conversation, no matter how one-sided it could be.

"Well," Killjoy sighed, standing up and dusting her dress off, as if just having done a hard day's work. "I better get back to the station. Tom is currently running things while I'm away, and knowing his incompetence he'd probably set himself and the place on fire." She smirked at Charlie. "Unless you wanna help him with that again."

Charlie ignored the jab, just like she'd ignored all the other ones today, and stood up as well. "I'll walk you to the door."

When they got back to the foyer, Husk was still at his bar. He was leaning over it, almost falling asleep out of boredom. When he noticed they'd returned, he glared at Killjoy. "You good, Charlie?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "Just showing Katie Killjoy out."

"Finally," he hollered, tipping his head rapturously towards the ceiling. "The Wicked Bitch of the West is leaving!"

Killjoy sneered at him, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "You want me to interview you, too?"

"Rather gouge my own eardrums out," he grumbled as he started walking away.

Right before Killjoy left, she stopped in the doorway. "Oh, like I said," she added, pointing to something outside on the wall beside the doors. "I really do like your mailbox, but you'll probably need a bigger one to hold all of those overdo bills. Nice interview. Our viewers will go nuts over it!"

She slammed the doors behind her, leaving Charlie to stand in the foyer with her stomach twisted in knots.

"How did it go," Alastor asked as Charlie entered his study for their break. "It seemed…interesting."

"'Interesting' is a good word for it," she remarked humorlessly as she sat beside him on the sofa. She was thankful when he opened up his arms so she could lean into his chest. "Me and my big mouth for accepting to it," she mumbled.

He rested his chin on top of her head. "Don't be so hard on yourself, dearest. You were a royal for many centuries. You had many things expected of you during that time. I can imagine habits like that would be hard to kick."

"I guess," she muttered.

"I hope I didn't overstep this morning, by the way," he said. "Not only did I want to check in on you." He paused. "But this is my home, as well, just as much as it is yours."

"Of course it is," she said, a slight smile in her voice. "And you didn't overstep. If it was you in that interview, I would've done the same thing."

They sat in silence for a while. As lively as they both were, neither of them minded silence ironically, especially when it was just the two of them. It was as if things in Hell could just be peaceful for the moment. However, Alastor wasn't a fan of this particular silence.

"Charlie," he murmured. "Is everything alright?"

"Not really. She said a few things that left a really bad taste in my mouth."

"Such as…?"

She exhaled shortly, and she had to leave the warmth of his arms in order to straighten herself up to look at him. "Mostly about the Hotel and our residents. I expected her to be as condescending as she usually is, but it felt…excessive this time. Probably because of the lack of cameras. Less of an image to uphold? I don't know, maybe I'm just imagining things. But I couldn't stand how…"

She shook her head slowly, not wanting to get into that with how outraged it made her feel. "Anyway. She also wanted to know if we really were in a relationship, and I said yes, but I really tried to keep things discreet." He silently placed an appreciative kiss to her cheek as she spoke. "God, and the way she wanted to talk about you, like she was determined to dig up something personal about you." She then chewed on her bottom lip contemplatively.

After a few moments, she once again found herself in Alastor's arms. "What else," he murmured against her hair.

"It's nothing."

"Clearly it isn't just nothing."

She tried to shrug his arms off to look at his face again, but they wouldn't budge, keeping a snug, comforting hold around her. She sighed, giving in all too easily and finally relaxing some more. "It's just…She kept thinking you had ulterior motives when you first joined the Hotel."

She felt Alastor nod. "Vaggie thought that as well."

"She definitely did, yeah," Charlie agreed.

There was another silence, but shorter.

"Do you think I did?"

Decidedly, Charlie pried his arms off of her to sit up again. She had yet to release one of his hands, though. "I thought that…might've been a possibility at first, given your reputation." She clutched his hand. "But then I got to know you more, and I noticed the rare occasions you'd been bored, and I came to the conclusion that you really were here just for entertainment." She paused. "That…was the case, right? N-not that I'm doubting you now or anything! I have no reason to-"

"I appreciate your honesty," he interrupted calmly, almost politely if that were even possible. "I would be concerned if you didn't at least have an inkling." He tucked some hair behind her ear. "I told you at the time that I was craving a new form of entertainment, and after seeing your performance on the news, I had a decent feeling I would get it if I joined your hotel. You know I don't think you'll succeed, and it'll be quite hilarious to see these sinners fail along their path to redemption.

"However, I'm not here to purposefully make them fail. I have a feeling they'll do that on their own. No, it is my job to help keep this place afloat as my title originally and still implies. And the amount of entertainment I've gotten this year has been nothing short of interesting!"

He took her face in his hands so they wouldn't lose eye contact with each other. "I was honest with you about everything from the beginning, my dearest."

Charlie smiled at him. She reached up to stroke her fingers over his hands, wanting them to stay against her face. "Can I also be honest about something else," she requested, going over the words he just spoke, even the unsavory ones.

His eyes lit up. "I'd be insulted if you didn't!"

"I always appreciate your honesty," she chuckled a little. "Even the honesty that kind of annoys me."

He laughed a little. Then, he brought her face close to steal a kiss to her lips. She chuckled again, a little giddy now that the tense atmosphere leftover from this morning had finally faded, and she responded to his kisses with fervor. It couldn't last forever, though, as her brain reminded her of one last thing she needed to bring up.

With a heavy sigh and a slight frown, she said, "We need to have a meeting with everyone."

Later that evening, Charlie and Alastor had tracked down all of the employees and had everyone gather in the main common area.

Charlie exhaled. "Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to come to this. There's something I want – need to talk to you all about. Since we are the original six people who've been here since the beginning-"

"Five."

Everyone looked at Angel Dust, who was sitting in a nearby swivel chair. His arms were crossed as he stared at Charlie with a frown.

"What," Charlie asked.

"Five," Angel repeated, his tone slightly clipped.

Charlie's brows scrunched together, unsure for a few seconds what he meant. And then the realization crashed into her.

N…

No Vaggie.

Right.

Obviously.

Charlie cringed, not only because she didn't mean to upset Angel, but also because she briefly wondered just how Vaggie was doing.

"S-Sorry, Angel," she told him after a few seconds of awkward silence.

He only waved dismissively at her. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," he muttered, now more neutral than upset. "Does this meeting have a point, or can I go?"

"Yes. It does," she continued, clearing her throat. "What I was trying to say was that I trust you guys with this kind of thing."

She took a breath. "There's no more money. The remainder of it ran out not too long ago."

Immediately, they all exchanged worried glances.

"So," Niffty said. "No more money for cleaning supplies?"

"No more money for the alcohol Husk ain't gonna drink," Angel snickered.

"Man, shut up," Husk snapped. "I'd counter that with something drug related, but knowing you you'd just snort something outa spite."

"Yes," Charlie interrupted the bickering. "No more money for…any of that stuff." She sighed. "And I thought I had everything under control. The money had dwindled quite a bit a few months back, and I thought I'd have enough time to think of something. But then we did more renovations, got more residents in, things got a little chaotic as a result, and suddenly…Nothing left."

She glanced around at her employees. "I should've brought this up sooner. And I…don't know what to do. I don't know where we're supposed to get more money from. I'm asking you guys for help. I want us to bounce ideas off each other."

There was a silence, followed by the room filling with contemplative mumbles, none of them sounding particularly enthusiastic or hopeful. It made Charlie sink further into her chair.

And then Husk spoke up.

"Eh, fuck it, everybody's right," he grumbled, staring down at the table he was sitting at. "Do what you want with the booze. We could, I don't know, sell it or some shit. And Alastor can always conjure more to sell. Ain't like it's being used anyway. Hell, even most of the residents don't ask for drinks much anymore. Except for wimpy shit like mocktails and wine coolers."

"Speaking of Alastor," Niffty mused as she looked at said demon, who was sitting next to Charlie on the couch, having yet to say a word. "Couldn't you just make things or money appear out of thin air?"

"This is Charlie's preference," Alastor responded. "And I think selling the alcohol is practical, but not enough." In one of his usual showy gesture, he twirled his microphone stand and made it disappear. "What we need is a sponsor for the Hotel. And who better to do that than my esteemed comrade, Rosie?"

Charlie immediately perked up, a smile stretching her face. "You mean the Emporium owner? The one Vaggie's staying with?"

"The very one," he exclaimed with his usual exuberant grin. "She has plenty of money. Mind, she's a tough one. She can be very greedy, so it'd be wise to mention my name to her. I'm sure you'll have no problem then."

"That sounds great," Charlie said. "I'll visit her in a few days and hopefully all goes well. Thanks, Al!" She turned to Husk. "And thanks to you, too, Husk."

He merely mumbled something incoherent as he continued to stare contemplatively at the table.

For the next half hour, they tried coming up with a few more ideas, but unfortunately got nowhere with them. At least they had Husk and Alastor's suggestions. Then, unexpectedly, Charlie found themselves talking about the Hotel in general. Niffty informed Alastor of things that needed renovating that were beyond her skills, to which he agreed to with a single nod. Husk said they'd eventually need more room keys. Angel mentioned they were running low on coffee. Oh, and that he would need Charlie to babysit Fat Nuggets for a few nights soon.

As they talked, Charlie got out a pen and a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket. She hadn't anticipated needing it because she was sure they wouldn't come up with any concrete ideas tonight, or anything extra for that matter. This was a pleasant surprise not only because of the further progress currently being made, but also because of how happy she felt in general. It had been quite some time since she'd spoken to all of her friends and fellow employees for this length of time.

Listening to the bickering, joking, and how well everyone was working together, it didn't even feel like work.