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FICTION
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Chapter 20: Best-Friendship by Therapy
Despite the promise I gave Molly that I would have held back any hints of worry as we went to the Happy Hotel, I still had a bit of unease as we parked just outside the gates that led to the main building. The spider-girl was bouncing up and down her seat at the thought of presenting me to her brother, her high-paced rant as she elaborated on this wish leaving me a bit breathless and perplexed by what I was going to face inside. While I had heard mixed tales about the guy, from his public reputation to the one his father and brother gave him and to the one Molly eagerly gave him, I really had little means to determine if he was outright an approachable fellow or not. Especially when it came to not getting molested by him since Molly confirmed he was quite the 'touchy person'. Not obsessed by it, but definitely a nuisance if not told to stop early on. Once we were done with the parking process, I stood out of the car and allowed the girl to pretty much drag me towards our destination as I really didn't know what to expect inside. The walk ended as soon as we reached the main doors and took a moment to look at each other, with Molly sporting the brightest grin possible at this pleasant visit.
I gulped nervously, kind of regretting not stopping Alastor from just going to 'work' earlier this morning so he could escort us in. I genuinely didn't know what I was going to find inside as I could already hear some awkward noises unfolding from within. And just as we entered inside, with Molly pushing the left door forward… Well, we were presented with quite the sight as a 'little bickering session' was currently unfolding before our own eyes. And by little, I meant that everyone within the reception area was coming close to some mean beating from the way things were escalating. Well, 'mostly everyone' as two individuals were keeping from jumping into the possible melee. Uncle Al was behind the counter, humming mirthfully as he saw the disaster unfold, while who I quickly recognized as Charlotte Magne (or Charlie as Molly tended to call her) was trying her best to defuse the situation. I took a moment to gauge the situation, but my attention was soon taken away by Molly as she hummed nervously at the situation. She looked back at me, shrugging sheepishly at the sight and I really didn't blame her on that reaction. I could see myself feeling a bit mortified if I presented a place as one of the 'funniest but mostly safe' settings in the whole city, but I didn't fault her for anything that was happening at the moment.
Instead of wasting time watching full madness unravel itself for unknown reasons, I calmly wrapped an arm around her shoulders and we both walked up to the counter so we could 'check in' or something like that. It wasn't like we were coming to live here, but we still had to sign some paperwork for my therapy sessions. I wasn't sure what to exactly find through those, but it was hopefully going to help me with the situation I was stuck in. Uncle Al beamed happily and nodded as we finally stopped in front of him. He didn't say anything just yet, his eyes blinked and briefly glanced down at a tiny item on the counter's surface. One of those electric ringing bells which was meant to gain the attention of the receptionist if they were busy elsewhere. It was clear that the Radio Demon wanted me to ring it and I knew why he was asking me to do that. The noise was definitely going to take the bickering sides' attention onto us, thus stopping this mess while we were around. I slowly reached for it, but, much to my surprise, it was Molly that went for it. The girl giggled briefly, her voice stopping as the bell activated and released a particularly strong ringing noise that did the job it was expected to do in this specific matter.
It didn't take long for us to realize that the plan worked… way better than expected. In fact, just as Alastor looked ready to go through some act tied to greeting us at the hotel, he was suddenly shoved away when a certain Princess of Hell rushed to his place and took his role quite rudely. I would say she did it on purpose, but the giddy wide smile and the expression that just exuded a rather innocent and naive form of eagerness seemed to point more into 'she is excited for the current circumstance and thus she was focusing on doing the finest job possible by being the one to greet us'. Plus, Uncle Al had just a disappointed look on his face that barely lasted a second at that unexpected move, with his smile proving that he didn't get hurt by that.
Charlie Magne was slightly shorter than the Radio Demon, at least 6 feet in height with unique curly long blonde hair. Her lipstick was a solid black, and she had visible red circular cheeks that were contrasts to the pale-white skin complex she had, akin to clowns' own face painting in that simple display. Her eyes were a loving shade black, and her sclera was a soft light-yellow. She wore a black bow-tie, a white shirt underneath her red tuxedo jacket, paired with dark-gray trousers, long black suspenders, and monochrome-themed spectator shoes.
"Hello~! And welcome to the Happy Hotel, how may we help you?" Charlie greeted me with the chirpiest tone possible, making me flinch for a moment and leaving me glad that I had a mask to cover that reaction. Molly handled it a bit better, but that's because she dabbled in that kind of giddiness before. Still, I didn't waste time answering the woman's words as I knew that at this point it was best to just get through this first step as smoothly as possible.
"Good morning… I was told by Lady Lilith that I was supposed to come here for 'therapy', I think. Not really the whole redeeming bit since well-"
"Oh, you're Alan!" There was a bit of disappointment early on about the whole redemption section being declined, but she soon realized who I was and, from the way she was smiling even eagerly, she had a stronger sense of amusement and interest in me than any usual client. "It's nice to meet you after hearing so much about you. Alastor told us a lot about you and… then mom told me about your situation, so I know what is going on and… I guess you can remove the mask if you need."
My mouth opened at that last comment, but I didn't speak immediately due to how absurd it sounded. Was that actually a good idea? I was already putting my butt in the spotlight right now, and I really doubted I needed to get any more exposed than just that. But as I thought this and planned to politely refuse that 'offer', Alastor hummed and decided to chime in on the matter.
"Now, now, Charlie Belle- it sounds quite sudden to ask someone to drop a layer of protection so suddenly. After all he is among mostly unfamiliar faces," The Radio Demon pointed out diplomatically. "Plus, I can see that the other customers are being quite… intrigued by this development. Perhaps that could be applied when you two are dealing with the therapy itself."
Her mouth opened in a surprised 'o' but swiftly closed when she realized the overreaction she got and offered an embarrassed look while glancing back at me.
"I'm so sorry, I just… Well, I didn't ask much about your situation so I didn't know how comfortable you're with that and… I thought you would have been fine with it."
"It's alright," I tried to defuse the overtly-sad situation before me. "I guess you were just excited about the whole therapy idea. Still… I guess you have to introduce me a bit, considering I will be visiting frequently, right?"
"Oh yes!" Charlie tensed up, swiftly rushing around the counter and turning me to look behind as she presented the others. "First, how about we go through some proper introductions with the others."
I didn't have much of a choice in that regard and, then again, I guess that would skip the most complicated bit of this very visit. The first one to jump to attention… I think it was Charlie's partner.
I believe her name was… Vaggie? Or something along that line. Still, she was a slim demon with tame lavender skin which one could easily mistake for a soft gray. Her long hair was white, with light pink stripes at the ends. The young woman's right eye had an ivory white iris and her sclera was quietly pink. Her left eye looked to be missing as a pink X on a slate-gray eyepatch covered that part of her face. She wore a pastel goth style outfit made by a white mini-dress with a gray X's on her bust, scalloped trim of the same shade to the bottom hem, and a matching belt to complete that combination. She had on some gray gloves and a choker of the same color. Her right stocking was a pale shade of gray and her left stocking was a mixture of gray with pink stripes down the length.
"That's Vaggie. She is my girlfriend."
She gave me a rather intense look, and I could tell that it wasn't a curious one. Rather one that didn't show any hints of restraint. I guess she had something against me… for some reasons beyond my current line of thoughts. Still, the introduction was far from over.
Next up was the one I was a bit worried about and I could tell Molly was intrigued by what was going to happen next as it was her brother.
Angel was a little taller than Uncle Al, perhaps due to the fact he was donning some heels. He had a slender build with fluffy white hair and pink details on his fur, including a pink heart on the back of his head and one by his chest with a line going that slowly went… to his lower body. Both of his irises were pink, his left eye had a dark sclera and no pupil. His prominent chest, which usually made him stand out as a rather feminine guy by many of his fans, was made entirely of fur, and the fur that Angel treated as boobs on most occasions was actually a cluster of his fur pushed up over time due to the tightness of his jacket. Angel's normal attire consisted of a white suit with pink lines, a black-&-pink bow-tie, pink gloves, a black miniskirt and long black high-heel boots.
"This is Angel and-"
"So, you're the one that managed to nail my sister?" The guy interrupted, a mixture of annoyance and amusement flashing in one of those rare emotional paradoxes. "Are ya treating nice?"
"I am," I replied curtly, feeling somewhat brought back to when I was dealing with Henroin and Arackniss due to how tense the interaction was.
"He sure does, bro," Molly quipped happily. "In fact, once we're done with the visit, we were planning to go and eat at some restaurant for lunch."
"Oh? And he doesn't… push you around or something?"
"I would say that the expectation is a bit reversed here," I admitted flatly, getting Molly to pout at my comment.
"I'm not that bad," The young woman huffed cheekily, tensing up when I looked at her and saw her pout turning into an amused grin. "Maybe I'm a bit bad… but only because I love you lots."
"Love you lots too," I replied softly and I heard a few giggles from the girls there, with Angel snorting in amusement at the sight.
"I guess you're really tight on this. I guess Molly really has a gift for finding good ones."
I was a bit off-put by the last bit of the comment and the strange look the male prostitute gave me, but Charlie decided to regain control of the situation and shift the introduction to the next sinner standing within that group. Husk was sparing me quite the strong glare, perhaps tying it up with my relationship to his debt-collector when it came to his gamble-driven economic holes.
He was an anthropomorphic avian cat demon. His fur was a really dark-shade of gray that came close to appearing as black, except some hints of pure black proving this was the case. In fact, the fur was overlaid with white fur on his face, torso, feet, and upper arm. He had long red eyebrows, and a tiny black heart above each eyebrow. His eyes were brown with yellow-orange irises. His long tail was the same shade of most of his fur, ending with a large 'spread' of fur or feathers, which were red with black and white stripes. His red wings were fairly large, with black stripes and cards' suits markings. Husk wore a simple black top hat with a red hatband, and a red bow-tie.
I decided to keep the greeting curt, noticing the stronger glare he gave me for at least trying, and making me regret even trying to do something out of it.
Next up was someone that the owner of the Hotel introduced as Crymini and there was a lot to say about her. While one could easily mistake her for a hellhound, I could tell on the spot that the girl was not close to Loona or Tex when it came to appearance. In fact, I could tell she was a sinner that just resembled a hyena based on her spotted fur and mane. In the general sense of her fur, it was white with countless red spots set in a rather irregular pattern. Her right leg, nose, ears and left forearm were black with the inner parts of her ear a bright red. Crymini had fluffy cheeks that looked to puff out more from the way she nervously nodded at the upcoming introduction, and freckles spread right under the eyes. Her sclera was soft orange and iris was an intense pink. Her white hair was dyed by the ends in bright red and was very thick, which matched in terms of size with her tail. The same color-theme was applied on the tail, except it was the upper part that was dyed that strong color. She wore a black collar with spikes, a bright red tunic with a printed skull and a brown unbuttoned sweatshirt with torn sleeves.
"Sup?" She asked with a punkish, kind of delinquent-
"Not much. But I saw you all were having an 'intense' moment before we came."
The hyena-like demon groaned at my remark. "Not my fault someone got antsy about me eating a peanut-"
"A peanut that was mine to begin with and that fell on the ground. What you did was outrageous and filthy!" The shorter sinner beside her shrieked with a strong voice. And this guy was the next on the list of customers.
Baxter was a scientist and he was quite the clean freak that really didn't like being close to so many people at once. Touching another individual without him being consenting felt 'atrocious and dreadful, worth of murder even' as he described it to be. His skin was a gray-blue tone, with fish fins that resemble ears that share the same color. Three cyan freckles dotted on each side of his face, located under his eyes, prominently stood out and drew attention to it. His dark-blue hair was short and swept back, having gray streaks and cyan dots running through it. He had pointed teeth that had the same cyan-like shade as other details, with his mouth curling at the ends when he grinned wildly at a possible successful experiment or fond memory of victory through his scientific method. He also had light-blue sclera and light-red irises. Baxter wore a gray laboratory suit with yellow buttons. He donned a tiny gray hat with an anglerfish-attracting esca attached to it. The esca was a yellow gradient, and there are two cyan stripes above the light. He also had dark gray gloves and boots. The frame of his goggles were also light-red like his eyes and the lenses were a pastel shade of yellow.
He didn't bother speaking much, clearly unamused by the new entry within the hotel as he bothered more the previous reason why a melee was close to start. A simple and stupid reason at that. Still, Charlie managed to introduce me to the last two customers at once.
Mimzy was a short and curvy woman with thick thighs, wide hips, and a plump chest. Her eyes were pitch black and the pupils were a hot shade of pink. Her teeth were quite and she was wearing a modest amount of makeup, while her hair was short and blonde. The mostly normal-looking sinner wore a typical 1920s flapper-like pink dazzling dress and a pink headband with pink feathers.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Alan."
"Likewise, Mimzy." She sounded quite polite and kind, genuinely so from the way she was behaving at the moment. Kind of like a doting mother… with some good restraint. Too much and it would have been way too weird.
"Oh oh! Now it's my turn and… that mask is so clean! Which products did you use to get it to that perfect state?"
...And then there was Niffty.
The small one-eyed demon had a hot pink and orange sclera with a light yellow iris. She also has short and scruffy red-pink hair with a yellow undertone that just added a degree of vibrancy to her outlook altogether. Her teeth are sharp and light yellow, and she has pink dots at each end of her mouth. Her attire is themed after the 50s; she wears a dark pink scarf, a white shirt with pink dots (which appear to have a slight dripping design) along with a pink skirt with a 50's-fashionable dark-pink poodle design with yellow dots. She also has small, pointed limbs of dark pink coloration.
Once the introductions were done and the entire situation before we came in the hotel had mostly stabilized (with just Crymini and Baxter keeping on bickering about it on their own), Charlie offered to start the therapy session early on so that we could both have back our free time as quickly as possible later than when she needed to be around to do her job at the hotel. I nodded slowly at that idea, with Molly taking this chance to speak some more with her brother while I took care of this entire situation at once. I couldn't help but feel a bit concerned about being left around the daughter of Lucifer herself, but I didn't have much of a choice… and she didn't sound that dangerous until provoked from the looks of it.
And as I followed her to the 'therapy room', I was soon going to face a most unexpected but definitely amusing situation with the girl herself.
"We're going to start with something simple today since it's the first session."
I blinked at Charlie's words, having just finished setting myself on the reclining chair that she offered me to take. I could still remember how the mind-doctors generally worked, so I was familiar with what I had to say or do while I was stuck in this session. The girl's words just reminded me of how I first went to my early therapy sessions, and it was definitely different now that my perspective and state of mind were different than back then.
"Sure?" I muttered before carefully removing my mask. Since it was just the two of us, I didn't hesitate to comply with the earliest request, allowing the Hotel owner to get a clear sight of my face and… she gasped.
"You really look similar to Alastor," Charlie pointed out and I nodded.
"Well, I'm one of his descendants," I reminded, getting a sheepish look from her.
"Y-Yeah, sorry for that outburst and… the ones before this one. I think I was a bit too… well, excited about it," The girl actually apologized. "I mean, you're a human and it's quite… rare to find someone like you in hell."
I nodded. "I noticed as much."
"S-Still, I'm really sorry if it was too off-putting. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable with that."
"It's alright… I guess. At least you're aware of that and know that too much is-"
"Too much?" She offered and I nodded.
"Yep."
With that minor interlude, we soon started the whole question-answer interaction that I had expected… except it was particularly light and not as one-sided as I had expected it to be. I was soon giving her my favorite color, songs, or anything that generally allowed one to understand the tastes and the mindset of determined individuals, and at the same time she returned the favor by delivering quite the list about her favorite things. It was pretty tame and any worry of this being undercover flirting died away when she soon brought up how much some of those things were what Vaggie liked too and that she acquired those tastes by being around her for so long. I nodded at this, making sure to not give any particular mistaken hint that I was trying to 'flirt back' since I genuinely didn't need that kind of pressure right now. Instead, one element seemed to stand out and made the conversation less of a professional therapeutic session and more of a heartfelt conversation between equals.
"That sounds rough. I mean, centuries of being away from seeing the real bits of hell? I guess it was quite the shock when you had the chance of breaking free from that."
"It was a loud wake up call," She admitted with a small smile, trying to hide away some nervousness tied to the topic. "Let's just say that I changed my perspective a lot and lost many of… those I believed were my friends."
"They didn't accept that you changed your mind on some stuff?" I guessed and the blonde hummed with a sad tone.
"Something like that. They tried to 'fix' me for a time but… Well, you can't fix what isn't broken. And I wasn't broken."
"You are not broken," I agreed with a nod. "Just because you have the power to change your mind for your own good reasons, that makes you a clever individual."
She raised a curious look at that. "Speaking from experience?"
"A bit. I had my own cage to snap out from when I was young regarding being 'a good son' to those that didn't even see me as that. Just an extension of their pride and greed."
"You're not an extension of anything bad, but a good person," Charlie replied kindly, almost mimicking what I told her in that regard.
Smiling at that response, I shook my head. "So, how is this working for you? The hotel and the whole redemption situation?"
The young woman took a moment to study my question and… try to appear as serious but hopeful as possible. "I think it's going quite well with the customers. Sure, I have yet to think of the best way to redeem them but… they are still progressing into becoming better than they were before joining us."
"I suppose that would be a priority," I confessed with an equally serious voice. "But still, do you really think it's… right to go for redemption?"
Charlie frowned at the question. It definitely wasn't the usual 'can it work' or 'can you make it happen?' kind of query, and it reached for something she hadn't exactly expanded on. Is it convenient for a sinner to pursue a place in heaven? When one thinks of heaven… Well, there is very little that one knows about it. Saints are there, same for angels, seraphims and other crap of that kind. Like, hell was always painted as a place where you can't rest a moment that you are punished for your sins from the previous life and… it's not there."
"You mean that… it would be worse somehow to go to heaven?" She summarized with a perplexed look on her face. "That sounds… silly, but a legitimate worry. It would make sense that… God's followers would try to dissuade anyone from just sinning so intensely."
"Let me paint you this simple situation. All those that currently live, regardless of which religion they follow in most circumstances, they know that heaven is good and hell is the worst. Right now, we both know that half of that is wrong and it has been told out of propaganda."
"So heaven couldn't be that pleasant?"
"Maybe it still is pleasant, but that doesn't mean it is as perfect as they make it sound to be."
…
"And what do you think could be made to fix that?"
That was a question I really didn't know how to answer. We were still tip-toeing on some hypothetical crap that I was just thinking and not knowing about. So I just shrugged at her question but remained quiet about it.
Just as Charlie looked ready to press more on it, she ended up glancing at her watch and… froze. "O-Oh dear. We've been at this for four hours now."
My eyes widened in surprise at that comment, realizing how much we wasted in that semi-professional session. "Well… I guess this conversation is over for now."
I stood up from the reclining chair, stretched up a little bit and glanced at her as she moved up from her chair too, coming up to me with a bright smile on her face.
"We're definitely expanding on that, but I think we really made an exceptional session out of this."
"If this was a session and not more of a philosophical take on life and post-mortal realms."
"Aw, just admit that it was the nicest session you've been to. I doubt you had anyone like me before."
"I admit that my previous therapist was cheaper and less passionate than you are. But I don't think the expectations were that high to begin with."
She pouted a bit, shaking her head. "Jerk."
"Guilty as charged."
…
…
"So-" I muttered with a hint of awkwardness as there was a strange pause where we should have just gone through the doors and resumed our own daily things away from each other. "Are we going now?"
Charlie nodded a bit swifter than before, her smile twitching with some nervousness. "I suppose."
After that weird moment, we walked up to the door and as we gave out the last words before going through those, we went for a 'warmer' action to conclude this pleasant and friendly action. There was a hug. It wasn't asked by any of us, it felt just natural. Nothing strange came out of this beyond the fact it felt nice pulling her in an embrace. And then… something peculiar unfolded much to our immense surprise.
"Pat pat." "Pat pat."
We went for the same reference.
We both froze at that, pulling away at the same time and staring at each other with surprised looks.
"Gravity Falls?"
Our eyes widened even more at this and we rushed up to try and avoid repeating the same sentences again.
"Your favorite character?"
My tongue twitched at that absurd circumstance, but I doubted she had the same as mine.
"Dipper," I replied, followed by her saying "Mabel."
…
There was silence, nothing in the world mattered as something powerful happened. Nothing lewd, nothing romantic… this was- this was!
"Does that make us best friends?" Charlie asked the monumental question.
"I-I think that is a solid basis to cement that," I admitted with a genuine tone. "It was like fate."
"Or destiny," The blonde guessed with a mirthful tone.
"Or friendship itself manifesting!"
She giggled at the way I used the over-exaggerated tone to say this last sentence. Still, the 'damage' was done as, though that bizarre occurrence struck us more as a silly banter than a legitimate explanation, it did fit into concluding this entire conversation for good and for the two of us to get back to handle our day individually. It was a bit difficult to explain to Molly what I meant when I answered her questions with just 'Charlie and I became best friends'. Mostly because she was quick to start laughing to the point of drawing tears of amusement at my flat answer.
Still, there was no denying that something platonic was born from that simple session and that the nature of such a bond was going to grow clearer the more I engaged in this therapy.
AN
Best-friendship is but just the first step to glory, for the ultimate goal is something that ascends that title for the bestest! Stay tuned for more episodes of Hellish Sibli- I mean, Hellish Best Friends.
Also, the interaction with the Hotel's characters will be expanded by the next two chapters. I realized that considering the big cast, it would be best to deal with them in specific groups without lumping all of them in a massive and quite confusing chapter. I hope this reason isn't misunderstood since there will be interactions between Alan and the hotel's characters.
REVIEW Q&A!
Coldblue2015:
1) Next chapter will expand on that possibility;
2) They are aware that he is his nephew, but they don't know he is still a human, beyond Charlie;
3) No, Vox wouldn't want to broadcast that humiliation online. In fact, Valentino's current 'predisposition' and reaction on the matter will be asserted either the chapter next to the next one or the one after that. Velvet? She will soon make a cameo;
4) Right now only a few know of this and it will be soon explained why Valentino is holding onto that info;
5) Maybe, but for now they will be two nutty MCs buddying up;
6) Dunno;
Guest 1 (Chapter 22): Dante? Vergil? Anyone from DMC or that knows how to fight demons? I doubt I can say Igawa Asagi (don't search it) without pointing out why not. So many choices, good and bad ones…
JustAFan123:
1) Potentially yes;
2) Niffty is older than Alan, but something fun and fluff can still worked out. Sadly, siblinghood seems to be at reach for Charlie than for anyone else;
3) There is something that already ties Alan to Vaggie, but I can't say anything about it beyond that.
Alastor:
1) Maybe;
2) Yes. At least of those that haven't been expanded on already;
3) Dunno if within the story but maybe in an epilogue;
4) Right now the news hasn't been aired, but it will once a certain news anchor get a mysterious package with an edited footage of what happened;
5) Yes, with the fluff and the hints of jealousy from poor Vaggie trying to protect her waifu (and future wife);