Politely, Maxwell knocks on the front door, but then realizes this is a hotel and not a house so that was kind of silly. Resisting the urge to facepalm, he opens the door and peers inside. "Please don't shoot, I'm just hoping to ask for some help." He says out loud in hopes that anyone hiding waiting to ambush him would step down, though it was paranoid to assume that he was seconds away from being killed, can you blame him considering he's in hell?
"Damn it all, is nobody here? I didn't see an open or closed sign but…" He trails off as he walks forward, looking at the many portraits adorning the walls and the strangely freshly cleaned look and smell of the area, along with a hint of the smell of alcohol in the air. Before he could finally begin to calm down, his body stiffens as the sound of a loud animalistic squeal, a shudder running through him as his paranoid imagination conjures up images of hellish pig headed monstrosities just waiting around the corner to butcher him and hang him by his entrails before letting their spawn feast on his flesh for sustenance.
"Wow, my brain loves jumping to the worst conclusions." He comments before he hears something clatter into the dark, abnormal sounding footsteps approaching him rapidly, still too far away in the hotel for him to see, but closing in quickly.
The sane thing to do would be to run away as quickly as possible out the door and never look back, but the human knew if he ran, he'd have nowhere else to go. Besides, he can't just run from every noise. No, he needs to stand his ground, be ready for whatever heaven and hell decides to throw his way.
"Fine then, you wanna go? Let's fucking go!" He raises his fists and widens his stance, ready to punch, kick, grapple, headbutt, bite, scratch, whatever he needs to do to not just fight, but survive. The footsteps come closer, another squeal resonates through the hotel. "Come at me beast!" Maxwell yells out as he prepares to strike.
Snort
"..." Max remained silent, trying to piece together what he just heard until finally, a little pink hoof stepped out, revealing a little spotted and horned pig. It's little legs carry its rotund form as it lets out tiny squeals that sound much less threatening up close. The little animal keeps on trotting until it's right in front of Max, looking up at the human with its little round eyes and a tilt of its head. Max just blinks twice, his stance still stiff as he looks around, making sure there is nothing else or anyone about to attack...and finally relaxes.
"Well...can't say I expected to see a little guy like you in hell, maybe you're one of those pigs infested with an evil spirit like in the Bible?" The pig only just stares before letting out a small oink. "Yeah, I didn't think so." Slightly embarrassed over his reaction, he just sighs and slowly sits down on the floor, observing the little being, taking note of its strange spines that decorate its form. The pig just lightly sniffs the human, feeling curious as it opens its mouth, revealing some sharp teeth that immediately raised concern in Max...only for the pig to just start nibbling on his sandal.
"Wha- hey don't eat those, that's my only footwear!" He half heartedly complains, not really trying to scold the little animal as it seems to be no threat. Plus he'll take a slightly chewed sandal over a heavily chewed body any day. He lightly pets the silly pig as his body relaxes, barely noticing the shadow that was slowly looming over his body. And now the shadow has opened its crimson eyes and is staring at him. The tiny mammal lets out a tiny shriek and hops into Maxwell's arms, both warm blooded beings staring into the cold shadow's eyes as it points, as if demanding they look behind. They both turn their heads slowly and find the source of the shadow.
A row of sharp teeth turned upward into a wide smile that held no real joy but the sinister promise of what hell really entails for all sinners who end up here. Soulless scarlet eyes looking down at the two of them as if the man and pig were both excellent meals ready to be prepared in many ways for dinner. Then just when Max was sure he couldn't be any more terrified, the demon's distorted voice left its mouth and made him hug the pig closer in fear. "Why hello there! It seems you have my bacon." The electronic yet demonic voice nearly made his heart stop, but as the little pig clung to Max, he could only gulp, feeling his dry mouth do nothing to help with his unease, and prepared to speak.
"Nuggets? Nuggets! Come out honey, Daddy's here!" That was certainly not Maxwell's voice, the accent wasn't even close. The demon above just tilted its head, eyes lidded, finally not looming over him and instead standing straight and allowing the human to take in his full appearance, the small deer like horns, the dapper 20th century clothing in an admittedly lovely mix of red and black in many shades, a monocle, a speaker that has an eye that he swears moved a little, and that damn smile that makes him feel ready to break out in cold sweat. The little pig meanwhile perks up and jumps out of his arms toward the voice.
"Wait no, don't leave me with him!" Max whispers before seeing the pig nuzzle the leg of a new demon that bends down to pick it up.
"Oh my sweet little Fat Nuggets, you scared me so much I thought I'd die again." The owner of the now named pig was a very tall, possibly two to three feet taller than him, effeminate male demon, white fur coating his body and had four arms. That little fact reminded him of the overlord he recently bashed, but seeing the spider-like demon cuddle and pet the little pig with his gloved hands with love and relief immediately made him discard the previous thought. Max felt a little quick to claim gender considering the pronounced bosom-like shape on the demon's chest, but considering it looks like just his fluffy fur, he'll just stick with his current assumption until corrected otherwise.
"Well I guess bacon is off the menu tonight." Max immediately stiffens and looks back at the strange deer horned demon, it'a eyes looking over Max curiously before speaking again. "I wonder though, maybe you'll make a fine substitute instead." He suggests, his last words seeming to further distort as he looms over Maxwell once again.
"Uh, would you believe me if I said I was too salty?" Max weakly tries to persuade with his own smile and a shrug of his shoulders. Thankfully he seemed to be saved by some new voices.
"Oh Angel! You got your pet back! Perfect, now we can get back to business!" A cheery voice called out, followed by several more.
"Last time I checked, this was supposed to be a hotel, not a zoo."
"Well it would be nice to have a mascot, but I'd prefer if it was an animal a little cleaner."
"No! Any more animals and I'm gonna test and see if I can drink myself to death!."
From behind the demon curiously named Angel, four more have appeared. First being a rather peachy demon...though the word demon for some reason didn't feel right in describing her. Her blond hair looked nicely familiar, and more normal considering the other hairstyles he's witnessed today, and her more average height helped too. She has a more comforting smile that shines with actual joy in knowing Angel has reunited with Fat Nuggets, the ends of her mouth reaching up to her red cheeks, that while looking a tad clownish, Maxwell felt she was the friendliest looking one in existence. "I will admit, the idea of a mascot could be good in getting our hotel more publicity."
The second one was a demon with grayish skin with lots of white hair on her head. He notices her seeming to be missing an eye, the left one to be precise, now replaced with a pink X. She seemed to be a little sour over the apparent pig hunt, but seemed a little happy at the blond demon's cheer. "Hun, I love you, but I think we should focus a lot more on getting more clientele before worrying about a mascot."
Third was another friendly looking demon, quite short in stature but the more alarming trait was her singular eye. No, not missing an eye like the previous demon, but full on monoscopic like a cyclops. However he refused to let such a detail deter him from hopefully getting on her good side, he could use all the friends he can get when in hell. "Hmm, I guess it would be difficult...oh what about him!" Then she points to Maxwell without any hesitance, finally bringing everyone's attention to the human in the room.
Lastly was the now bewildered, as everyone else, demon, adorned with black and white fur and a feline appearance, yet with large red wings on his back. Before noticing him he seemed quite grumpy and disinterested in the current happenings, now he's slack jawed at the new elephant in the room before slowly shaking his head. "Okay, I'm not the only one seeing a human am I?" Every demon in the room nods. "Oh thank fuck, I thought I finally drank too much and was hallucinating."
"No Husker my boy, I believe we have ourselves a new visitor on our hands!" The staticky voice of the most dangerous looking demon in the room confirms. Maxwell finally gets up off the floor and takes another look at the smiling demon, his own body stiffened like an animal backed in a corner, yet the demon seems to grin as if he was doing nothing more than listening to the radio while out on a Sunday drive.
"Alrighty um, sorry for not speaking up earlier. I was just a little stunned. I walk into this hotel hoping to follow someone's advice and get some help, next thing I know I found a strange but admittedly adorable pig," Oink "This guy and his animated shadow greet me and nearly give me a heart attack," He points to Alastor who just nonchalantly tilts his head to the side a little. "And suddenly the room is filled with five more demons and I have to once again accept that I'm no longer at home ready to eat some Eggo waffles and enjoy a day of doing absolutely nothing, and instead have given a supposed overlord of hell mild to severe cranial damage, stole his limousine with a pretty cat demon, and now I'm on the precipice of a panic attack in front of several different demons who may or may not wish to kill me when all I wanna do is find the supposed princess of hell in hopes she can take me home!" He pants heavily as he finally gets his panic induced rant out of him, the whole room staring at him with wide eyes. "...sorry, it's been a long day." He apologizes with an awkward smile.
The staff of the hotel continue to stare at Maxwell with various different thoughts in mind as the human nervously stands still. "Okay um...sorry again for talking so much but uh, to prove I'm not an enemy, when I found your little pig, I had no nefarious deeds in mind whatsoever. Heck I even let him chew on one of my sandals." He points to said sandal that was marked with little bite marks, still getting no reactions. "...look please, I just wanna go home."
"...you're still in human form?" Finally the first one to speak up was the blonde peppy demon, though peppy wouldn't describe her now, in a large state of disbelief would be more appropriate as she steps forward toward him.
"Charlie, wait!" The grey skinned demon tries to advise only to stop short as she sees the blond one apparently named Charlie step closer with determination. Maxwell just stays still, wondering if he's gonna die, he just hopes it's as quick and painless as possible, and that whatever body he gets in the afterlife he hopes doesn't look too dumb. Charlie raises one hand forward, her black sharp nails seeming to gleam ominously and make his heart race in fear. He braces himself, eyes shut while imagining the ways her claws will tear him apart...only to feel her surprising soft hands gently hold his face. He opens his eyes up and stares into her own black yet light yellow sclera eyes, feeling a little heat rush to his face as he can't help but notice she's quite pretty, her black lips looking quite appealing too. Thankfully those thoughts come to halt as she experimentally squishes and lightly stretches his face and cheeks.
"Gah! What are you doing?"
"It looks real, feels real. Is it really not some elaborate mask?" She questions while inspecting him further.
"Yes I'm human! Please stop, pretty demon, I'd like to keep my face intact." She realizes that he indeed is 100% real and his face is not a mask before finally letting go.
"Oh my gosh! A real human! This is amazing, no it's terrible, but so new and exciting, but could cause so many new problems. Wait, you attacked an overlord?"
He looks at Charlie sheepishly, "Well he was being rude and smacked this feline woman, and he looked ready to do more harm. Regular humans can do enough harm with two hands, but that heart adorned four armed weirdo seemed to have a lot planned to hurt her. So I may have...instinctively grabbed a loose brick and hit him in the back of the head and knocked him out….twice."
"Then you stole his car?" The one named Angel piped up, stepping closer.
"Technically a limousine, but yes I committed grand theft auto and gave the keys to the woman so she can hide while I came here looking for help." Suddenly the white furred spider demon began laughing happily before wrapping two of his four arms around Maxwell, the other two still cradling Fat Nuggets, the human muffled as he got a faceful of luxuriously soft fluff.
"HAHAHA! Oh there is a god out there! I don't know shit about how a human keeps his body and ends up in hell but buddy, you're my new best friend. Consider any blowjobs from me free from now on. The least I can do for anyone looking out for good ole working girls, and fucking over Valentino and leaving him sore in the morning."
"What!?" Maxwell blushes and pushes himself out of the joyful spider's grasp. Before he could say anything else, his arm is suddenly grabbed and he looks down to see the short mono eyed demon.
"Hi there! I'm Niffty, never thought I'd see a boy like you ever again. I kinda missed old fashioned humans!"
"Old? I'm barely in my 20s, I mean sure I get the occasional white hair, but it's hereditary and I got stress and trauma from my old school life!" He shudders a little, remembering all the stressful exams, talk of college, bullies, the whole class being punished because one dipshit decided to break the rules, and the homework homework homework!
"I don't mean that kinda old silly, I just mean it's nice to see plain hair on your head, squishy regular flesh," She curiously pokes his stomach, making him involuntarily giggle from the slight tickle. "And no horns or tails or any bells and whistles to speak of, it's actually quite refreshing! Would you like to be friends?!" She asks while staring right up at him.
"Refreshing? Well that's certainly a better description." He looks down at her, a part of him worried that she may be too friendly too easily and is just asking to get him stabbed in the back, but the rest of him sees her as just someone actually looking for a friend, and he can sort of relate to that. "You know what, sure, I'd love to be friends." He nods his head, Niffty letting out a happy squee before practically latching onto his arm for a hug.
"This is so weird, and definitely suspicious. A human in hell, and without any demonic change whatsoever? Something is definitely fishy. Don't you think so?" The grey skinned demon asked the winged feline.
"Hell if I know, all I know is I now have another person to deal with, as if the five of you weren't bad enough."
"Now don't be that way you two!" The two look behind themselves to see the threatening smiling demon. "This is no way to treat our newest guest, it'd reflect very poorly on the hotel if we didn't all greet him!" He then unceremoniously shoves the two demons forward, making them stumble and nearly collide with Maxwell.
"Gah! Oh uh hello." Max waves with one arm, only to notice Niffty still on said arm and slowly puts it back down, letting the short demon let go, a little dizzy from being shook. "I hope I'm not intruding, I'm just really confused and lost."
The moth-like demon looks him up and down slowly, scanning him for any signs of him being a threat. However, while she didn't necessarily like the 'pretty' comment about Charlie, she can't really say he's wrong. Hell, she was lucky enough to get to date her so she knows all about how beautiful she is. So while she can't see any sign of him being a threat, she'll still be cautious but at least courteous. "...it's fine, I remember being pretty lost myself when I first ended up in hell...my name is Vagatha, but Vaggie works too."
Surprised but delighted by the most polite and calm greeting so far, Max smiles happily at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you Vaggie, I hope to be as little trouble as possible and be out of your hair soon."
"I hope so too." She gives a neutral nod before allowing the other demon to introduce himself.
"...the name's Husk. Don't bug me and we won't have any problems. Are we clear?"
"Uh yes, completely clear. But if I may, you seem a little exhausted, maybe a nap could help?" Maxwell suggests, hoping he wasn't stepping over any boundaries.
"WELL YOU KNOW WHAT!?" Husk starts, much to Max's fear, only to see the demon actually take a sec to ponder on it. "...Actually that sounds pretty good right about now." He concludes before moving to the nearest chair and laying across it, shutting his eyes to try and rest.
"Huh, maybe my experience with cats may keep me living longer." Maxwell comments quietly before looking to the last to properly greet him, a greeting he was dreading.
"Why hello young man, my name is Alastor. I hope I didn't scare you away or give you the wrong impression earlier, I was just worried you were an unwelcome intruder, but now I know it was just a simple misunderstanding, and I'm sure you wouldn't mind letting bygones be bygones." That ever present smile of his seems to widen a little as he puts out one hand for Max to shake, every cell in Max's body telling him not to shake it yet his arm moved on its own and slowly went to grasp his hand, his surroundings darkening and growing silent, small whispers in his head growing louder with every second until one clear voice suggests something that makes his arm stop. Alastor only had the slightest rise of an eyebrow as Max's other hand clenched into a fist, his teeth grit, an almost feral look to the once innocent and meek human, now shifting a face of rage mixed with the clear intent to fight back against whatever force Alastor was. His blood boiling as he seemed near the tipping point, one little push needed to make him finally strike the damn grinning demon that seemed to now be taking a bigger interest in him. Before his wrathful mindset could finally make a decision, he feels a familiar hand clasp his still open hand, breaking him out of his strange anger and making him shake his head. He looks to Alastor and sees him just smiling again as if nothing happened, his hands behind his back. He looks down and sees Charlie once again in front of him, her hand shaking his.
"Oh I'm so sorry about earlier, I was just a little confused and shocked. It's nice to meet you um, oh I don't think I got your name."
Max's eyebrows raise as he resists facepalming for not introducing himself. "Darn it, my bad. My name is Maxwell, you can call me Max if you'd like. I hope we can continue to be on friendly terms and possibly become good friends."
Charlie just gives that big happy smile of hers, the complete shift from Alastor's smile to hers was almost disorienting but he manages to just smile back at her. "I'm Charlotte Magne, yes I am the princess you are looking for, but please call me Charlie, none of that your highness stuff."
"Wait, you're the princess of hell? Wow, I imagine you're great at diplomacy." He comments before remembering what he needs to do and let's go of her hand. "Back on topic, it's great to meet you but I really need your help. If you think me coming to hell with a human body is weird, get this. I don't believe I died." That certainly shocked Charlie and the other inhabitants of the hotel. "All I remember is waking up, getting dressed for a lazy day, stepping outside my house to check the mail, and ending up finding myself in an alley here in hell."
"Hmm, you definitely don't seem to be lying. I'm sorry but I have no idea what happened to you. I'd reason that maybe you were assassinated or died while you were walking and just don't realize it, but that wouldn't explain your lack of a demon form. You literally looked like you walked from Earth one second, and entered hell the next one." Charlie was certainly puzzled, but looking at Max's concerned face, made a decision. "Don't worry Max, one way or another we'll find a way to help you get back home."
Tears nearly spilling out of his eyes, he smiles gratefully at the princess. "Thank you Charlie, that means a lot to me. I'm so happy I could hug you, but I don't know if that'd break any laws concerning royalty."
"Now now, none of that! I said to not treat me like royalty. C'mere!" She happily opens up her arms. Max just gives a slight shake of his head, amused but agrees and opens up his arms before closing the distance and hugging her close. Finally Maxwell felt like he was one step closer to getting home.