Alastor was the manager of the hotel.
Fucking Alastor.
The god damn radio demon.
Was the MANAGER, of the REDEMPTION hotel.
Yeah, sure what could go wrong?
Safe to say Vaggie was not happy about this. She didn't like talking to the guy when he was simply sponsoring the hotel, now she had to WORK with HIM!?
Maldita sea!
Honestly, Vaggie was a bit annoyed with Charlie as well, honestly not only would it give off some mixed signals that the radio demon was working for them, but they couldn't trust the guy and honestly, Vaggie was a bit insulted she didn't ask what she thought about it before making a pretty big decision.
Didn't matter now though, because he was the manager.
She supposed it wasn't all bad, she did enjoy the title of executive more than manager and Alastor did have to take orders from her. She could also fire him anytime if she wanted, I mean the owner wouldn't approve but, she could do it!
But, she decided to take Charlie's advice about it and, 'give him a chance' which she would. For now.
Judging from what she saw he did have enough charisma for the job and knew how to handle the paperwork. It was just his...everything else.
But, as soon as she spotted one mistake from the fucker, he was out.
That wouldn't be today though and knowing her luck, it wouldn't be for several months.
She at least didn't have to interact with him for the rest of the day, because Charlie wanted to 'show him the ropes before having him officially start work as a manager.
Honestly, Vaggie was grateful but she hated the idea of Alastor spending any more time with her. It was so frustrating for this dirtbag to be bothering her and still flirt with her ex-girlfriend.
Man, she hated him.
Either way, her day of peace had come to an end. As Charlie called today's first official management staff meeting.
Which was basically Vaggie, Charlie, and now Alastor.
Charlie called them to what was now the meeting room, which use to be one of the hotel's many unused rooms. Though despite that it was nice looking and Alastor made cupcakes for them to enjoy.
Which Vaggie, of course, didn't eat.
Oh. How she enjoyed the annoyed glare she got from him.
It went unnoticed by Charlie who sat down at her chair, right at the head of the table. "Alright! So first official management staff meeting! Now, I believe everyone is here."
Charlie looked between her only two management staff.
"So no need for roll call," Charlie said seeming a bit disappointed.
It got a chuckle out of Vaggie, honestly, she was so cute sometimes.
"So! Onto the topic of today's meeting!" Charlie said excitedly, clapping her hands together. "Now, I believe it's clear that we don't really have many residents here. I know we have Angel Dust, but it would be in our best interest to have more demons here, especially less, uh...problematic ones."
"Understatement of the year," Vaggie muttered, not really meant for anyone to hear but Alastor picked up on it and chuckled.
Charlie either didn't notice or chose not to say anything about it, "So I thought with our new manager and executive we could all brainstorm together!" She giggled summoning a textbook and placing it on the table, "Now. I have a few ideas." She chuckled, "But I would like for you guys to go first!"
Alastor was the first to speak, "I could advertise on my radio show! For no cost of course!"
"Uh," Vaggie spoke up, "You mean the same radio show you MURDER people on?" She asked with a bit of a huff, "It might set people off from the hotel than welcome it."
"Any publicity is good publicity." Alastor retorted.
"No, Vaggie does have a point." Charlie chuckled, "But it was a good idea though!" She giggled
Vaggie opened her mouth about to give her thoughts on the matter, but Charlie opened her notebook and continued.
"Now. I thought since both of you are so good at cooking, maybe we could do a bake sale! Or a big dinner party with lots of food!" She explained excitedly, though it felt like it was more toward Alastor than her.
Oh. Right. Guess she forgot. No one wanted to listen to her thoughts, especially compared to the new exciting overlord.
Right. Why focus on her?
Vaggie resisted the urge to sigh and focused on Charlie. She needed to learn to get over things.
She really was pathetic.
"Buuuuut, we could also do a-"
"Charlie." Alastor interrupted, raising his hand slightly.
Charlie blinked, surprised at the sudden interruption.
"I do believe Vaggie was about to say something, my dear." He was motioning toward the moth girl.
"Oh." She turned to Vaggie with a sheepish smile, "Sorry. I just, uh, got excited. Tell me your ideas for the hotel."
Vaggie shifted at all the attention suddenly be turned toward her. She never was the best with that. And it was a little weird for Alastor of all people to be the one to make her tell her thoughts on the matter.
"Uh," Vaggie let out.
"Go on darling." Alastor said, "I'm very intrigued by what you have to say."
Vaggie felt like she should have been annoyed by him, but honestly, she wasn't, weird.
She took a breath before speaking, "Well, honestly, I think we need an entirely different approach." She started, "I mean the interview failed, and honestly even if we had the money for a billboard or a tv commercial, it wouldn't make much of a difference. Because, well, redemption isn't really a thing you can advertise like that. It would be like a billboard for treating alcoholism, it might draw attention to it but it fails to do anything about it. People, especially demons in hell, tend to tune out shit like that. Our approach needs to really stick to them, ya know? We need to be more personal."
Alastors eyes hadn't left her the entire time she talked, and it gave Vaggie a sense of unease. Honestly, those eyes felt like they could burn holes through her.
"Go on.." Alastors said, his tone taking that unusually serious and less staticky sounding tone.
Charlie nodded encouragingly.
"So, what's a more personal approach? We could try a party or maybe even a bake sale but they wouldn't quite have the impact we're looking for." Vaggie explained, "So I thought about, maybe doing a play."
"A play!?" Charlie asked excitedly, "Ooo! I like it! Tell me more!"
"Well I mean," Vaggie chuckled, "It is the best way to get demons interested. I mean hell has misconstrued a lot of things, if we threw a party then they would expect some rave with sex and drugs. Which isn't really what we're going for. But the theater was remained the same, so demons won't expect anything other than a play. And it gives us a way to reach out to them emotionally," Vaggie cleared her throat before continuing, "Now let's say we do a play that tells of a story about redemption, one that's about a criminal learning the error of their ways. But we keep the redemption a surprise, a plot twist, so no one expects it. Demons will see it and won't feel like it's an agenda being crammed down their throats and..." she trailed off, honestly despite being a writer when it came to her own ideas and feelings and not her characters, she struggled to word things correctly, "You get what I'm trying to say right?"
"Definitely!" Charlie giggled, "And it's a good idea! Man, I bet I could even get my dad to get involved! He's a sucker for the theater."
Alastor spoke, "Indeed. It does seem like the correct approach, but I wonder, do you know of such a play that exists?"
Vaggie shifted again, not really from the attention anymore but because of what she was about to suggest. She had considered it for a while but never brought it up to Charlie. She was beyond worried it would change how she viewed her and she really didn't want to risk that.
The play she had written gotten pretty dark in some places, some scenes mirroring her life nearly perfectly, and though it wasn't an exact retelling, Charlie would pick up that it was heavily based on her own life.
Granted, maybe that didn't matter quite as much now that they were broken up, but Vaggie still loved her, and even if it was pathetic Vaggie still felt like there was still a chance they could get back together.
However, she turned her attention to Alastor.
She did not care at all about what this shitlord thought about her.
Whether he was interested, hated, liked, or even loved her, she wouldn't care. And she didn't care if he knew about her past or if it would change his perspective of her.
If she focused on him and ignored Charlie, suddenly the idea didn't feel so hard to present.
"Well, I do know one play that fits the requirements." She began, keeping her gaze on Alastor, scared that looking at Charlie would instantly make her lose her courage. "It happens to be one that I wrote."
Before either Alastor could respond or even react to this Charlie let out a very dramatic and very loud gasp.
"Vaggie!" Charlie exclaimed, "You want the hotel to perform one of YOUR works!?" She was practically bouncing in her seat, "That's amazing!"
Welp, Vaggies courage pretty much went straight down the drain.
"Uh...yeah." She chuckled, "I have a few copies that you guys can read."
Yeah, she instantly regretted this.
"Oh! I already know it's amazing!" Charlie exclaimed, "Oooo! This will be so good! We can even have Angel Dust perform!"
"Charlie, darling, I don't think Antony will be interested in performing in anything that involves him keeping his clothes on." Alastor chuckled, "Though, I would be happy to lend my talents."
"Angel Dust has talent, with or without his clothes Al," Charlie giggled.
"Oh? And you would know about his talent when he isn't dressed?" Alastor teased.
"Oh." Charlie immediately started blushing, "That's not what I-, I mean-" she began stuttering
Vaggie laughed, she was always so cute when flustered, "Okay, but while I can see you, Charlie, Angel, and maybe Niffty getting involved we'll need a few more people to complete the cast."
"Oh no! You'll be in it as well!" Alastor excitedly declared.
Vaggie blinked, "Wat-"
"That's a great idea!" Charlie nearly squealed, "You be great Vags! You would be the star of the show!"
"Hold on now.." Vaggie said a bit frantic, "I'm not performing! You guys haven't even read the script but I wrote it and I don't fit any of the characters. Besides, it makes more sense for me to direct it! Not be in it."
"Oh my dear," Alastor chuckled, "You can do both, and besides I'm sure we'll need someone to fill in for the minor roles."
Vaggie rolled her eyes, "Okay, maybe..." she sighed, "But we'll need a few other things aside from cast members. We'll need a stage, props, costumes, and someone to help transition scenes, lights, and effects, as well as a few other things."
"I can get a stage!" Charlie said, "Even if my dad refuses enough to help out, I have a few people in show business who would be willing to help us out."
Alastor nodded, "Same here! I know this lovely couple that would be happy to let us borrow props and costumes. And Husker would be excellent on stage crew!"
"Uh, the entire stage crew?" Vaggie raised an eyebrow, "That's a lot of work. And Husk already doesn't seem to like working here, are we really gonna make him the entire stage crew?"
Alastor chuckled, "You underestimate him, and if need be, Niffty would be happy to act as well as work on the stage crew."
Vaggie raised an eyebrow at him.
Alastor sighed, "And we can get more volunteers if need be."
"And we ask him first." Vaggie and Charlie said at the same time, the two looked at each other and giggled.
Alastor rolled his eyes, still keeping his smile.
It was hard to tell if he was annoyed or simply amused, personally, Vaggie hoped for the former rather than the latter.
"So it's a plan then?" Alastor asked.
"Definitely." Charlie quickly responded, "I'll still have to work out some things. Especially a budget, but we can so do this!"
Vaggie chuckled, "I'll email you guys the script and-"
Alastor raised his hand,
"What now shitlord?" Vaggie asked, annoyed.
"What's an email?" He asked.
Vaggie blinked, oh right, he probably didn't even have a computer let alone an email account, "Uh, alright then. I'll give Alastor a hard copy and send Charlie an email."
"Sounds good!" Charlie then stood up, "This concludes our meeting! Vaggie, you get us those scripts! Me and Al will get the stage ready! Talk with you later!"
Before Vaggie could even get to respond, Charlie got up and rushed out the door grabbing Alastors hand and forcing him to follow along.
Vaggie chuckled, especially at seeing Alastors slightly panicked expression as he was forcefully dragged away.
After a few moments of her just sitting there, she finally stood up and sighed.
Those two were kind of perfect for each other, weren't they?
Her play had a love interest. Alastor would be perfect for that role, and Charlie was perfect for the main protagonist.
They be the ultimate power couple, the radio demon and the princess of hell.
Alastor knew how to enchant and woo her. Charlie knew how to make anyone happy.
And Vaggie wasn't meant to be there. She wasn't meant to be by her side. Wasn't meant to be there for her. Wasn't meant to love her.
She sighed, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.
It was time to move on.