Chapter 7

Making Friends

The next day was fairly uneventful, outside of Vaggie and Charlie fussing over Eliza once she woke up. They made sure she was OK, after which Vaggie chastised her for hunting down the spears. Even with the prospect of making money, she still acted like a mother hen. Eliza's curiosity distracted her for a moment, thinking, 'If the moth acts this way with someone she barely knows, heaven knows what her lover goes through.'

Angel did not return to the hotel, but apparently that was nothing unusual. Still, Eliza was hoping to schedule his first appointment soon, but this gave her a chance to look into a room. Unfortunately, the hotel lacked an actual small space for her to work, so she decided she'd just choose the smallest guest room. Charlie gave the thumbs up, so she went searching through the hotel with the owner in tow, carrying a skeleton key for easy access.

"So, as far as I've seen," Charlie began, opening the second to last door on the second of five floors full of rooms, "this one is the smallest. It still has a bathroom and such, but I think it'd be the best for what you need." She opened it up, and Eliza agreed that it was certainly the most ideal. She nodded in satisfaction before turning to Charlie, who apparently had more to say. "The rooms on either end of all the floors tend to be the bigger suites, so if you want, we could move you into the room next to this one. It would give you plenty of space, and even has its own kitchenette!"

"That sounds wonderful!" Eliza said happily. "I'd love to be able to do my own cooking now and then. It helps me relax."

"Great! Then we'll get you moved in immediately!" Charlie twirled in place, her eyes glistening. "I love it when things come together!" With that said, Eliza got to work setting up the rooms. The workroom was gutted with Niffty's help, and the broken down furniture was removed from her new suite. They replaced the bed with the one from the room she slept in previously, leaving the rest of the room cleared out in the meantime. When Eliza wondered about furniture, Niffty cut her off.

"Master says he'll take care of it," she informed the therapist. "Once the money for the spears comes in, we'll have more than enough!"

"I wish to choose the furniture for the therapy room," she told the cyclops gently. No use shooting the messenger just because she's irritated. A therapy room has specific needs, and she didn't need someone else throwing it off.

"Um, I'd tell him that if I were you. He tends to just disappear and do things on a whim."

"Like helping a hotel for rehabilitation?"

"Yup!" With that, the cyclops dismissed herself. She had other rooms to work on.


Eliza decided to do exactly that.

"Alastor!" The Radio Demon turned on his heel to face her.

"Hello, my dear!" he greeted cheerfully. "I trust Charlie has found you a new room?"

"Yes, it'll work beautifully," she answered. "However, I wish to help with choosing the furniture."

"But of course! I always intended that to happen. In fact, I planned on joining you, but unfortunately the role of co-manager calls me to many different places, and I fear I won't have the time."

"Do you know anyone else who could help?"

"Possibly," he muttered. "I could make a social call. A friend of mine with a great sense of fashion! I need to speak with her about this new undertaking anyway. I'm sure she'd make a great sponsor, given the right… incentive."

"I look forward to meeting her," Eliza responded politely.

'I look forward to it, too,' Alastor thought gleefully. He couldn't wait to see how his friend handled the outspoken therapist. This would be just dandy.

"May I have an estimate on how long to wait before I can move forward with decorating?"

"I'm afraid the main concern, for the time being, is the state of disrepair we find ourselves in. For now, I only ask that you perhaps lend your aid to Niffty. Capable as the young lady may be, she will need some assistance."

With that, Eliza agreed to help wherever Niffty needed her. Even Husk was persuaded to assist, forced to go without his cheap booze until he had done an adequate job. The therapist was also happy to help in the kitchen. Niffty was a very bossy housekeeper, and liked to go on and on about her hopes for the guests that would eventually come in. Specifically, she hoped for many beautiful men.

"I bet gorgeous men from all over will come to us, at least for a while," she would rant, running this way and that. "We'll make this hotel spotless! Real men hate a mess."

"I think, between you and Angel, we may well scare many of the men away," Eliza teased, though she also honestly believed it.

"Angel," she seethed. "I bet he'll try to hoard all the men for himself! Hussy…"

"Jealousy is unbecoming of a lady," Eliza warned with a smile. She continued to prod the tiny woman, delighting in how fervently she talked about what she wanted in a man. Looks seemed to be a big one, which suggested just how hopeless the girl was. She doubted a man would share her affection, especially with how aggressively she would probably present it.


The next day, Alastor made the first of many business calls for his part in the hotel's future.

"Rosie's Emporium, what can I-" The demoness cut off as soon as she heard the static on the other end of the line. "Alastor, you sly devil! I was beginning to think you had forgotten me!"

"Perish the thought, mon cher!" he greeted excitedly. "I was calling to speak about a new business venture. Could I bother you for a get-together? Catch up, maybe share a bite to eat?"

"Oh, I'd adore an outing, dear!" she replied. "The hum-drum day-to-day can become such a dull affair! How long has it been since we shared a song-and-dance? I know Mimzy certainly misses your dominating presence on the dance floor."

"Ha! That woman misses me for far more than that, unfortunately. It makes it so difficult to visit. If it were just about the singing and dancing, I would stop by far more often."

"I can't help but feel that if she became disinterested in you, you'd take offense!"

"Not at all, my dear," he denied happily. "I would celebrate the occasion."

"Oh, you are a terrible man!" Rosie giggled gleefully. "Where would you like to meet? Hopefully somewhere with outside seating; I do love watching the peasants struggle. It really whets the appetite."

"We can look for new establishments!" he suggested. "Give the locals a couple more days to settle in after the Cleanse, and new maggots crawl out of the corpse of this delightful wasteland."

"So very true," she agreed. "Why don't we walk through the Cannibal Colony? The streets have been cleared of all the filth, and since we're looking for somewhere new, I have heard that there's a lovely new restaurant opening."

"Wonderful! When can you fit me into your very busy schedule, I wonder?"

"The restaurant is run by four lovely young ladies of my acquaintance. They were arguing with the building's former owner, trying to buy him out. Apparently he met with an 'unfortunate end' this extermination."

"Unfortunate indeed," Alastor chuckled.

"With a little financial nudge from me, it will be open by the end of the week. Is that reasonable?"

"Very! It's a date, my friend!"

"Wonderful!" And with that, the beginnings of financing the hotel were under way.


After a couple more days the dining room was cleared out and cleaned, and Niffty moved over to the stage room on the opposite side of the building. Eliza was late to get to helping, however, because Angel finally returned to the hotel.

"There you are!" she greeted. "I was beginning to worry about you!"

"Eh, had ta make up for lost time," he shrugged. "Hotel's lookin' betta. What've you been up to?"

"Helping Niffty."

"Been that boring, eh?"

"Well, you are my only patient at the moment. The room is still empty, but Alastor told me I should have the money for furniture this weekend. We really need to put you on the schedule, Angel."

"Riiiiight, gotta get in there." Angel rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Ya know, not really one to talk about shit like this, so…"

"That's no excuse to put it off," Eliza stated. "Now, I'm thinking early next week, after more of the rooms have been cleared. If you could help a bit…"

"Not into cleaning…"

"You're here for redemption, right? Helping others is along that path, yes?"

Angel grimaced. "Don't push yer luck, toots."

"Eliza," she corrected. "In a professional relationship, nicknames are generally inappropriate."

"Are we in therapy right now?" Angel gave her an 'I'm so clever' smirk.

Eliza gave him an 'I see what you did there' look in return. "Now that I'm employed and your sessions are required, patient-therapy boundaries apply. No nicknames."

"Fine. Eliza sounds weird, though. Wait, isn't that a nickname, too?"

"It's what I choose to be called. As such, it is the only name allowed.

"Damn, you're strict," he whined. "Whateva. Eliza it is. Though does that mean I can choose what you call me?" Angel's face broke out into a wide, mischievous grin.

"You are Angel Dust. As such, I will call you Angel."

"No fun." He walked away in a slump. "At least let me rest a bit. Didn't get much of a chance to sleep at work."

"Fair enough," Eliza agreed. As he walked toward the back, she called over to him: "Next week Tuesday, 10am. No rescheduling."

"You suck, 'Eliza,'" he shot back, saying her name as though he was gagging. She smirked at his back as he flipped her off. Sarcasm really was her favorite defense mechanism to work with. So entertaining.

She mentally chastised herself. 'This job is not for my entertainment.' Shaking the thought out of her head, she went to join Niffty in the stage room to help with the cleaning once more.


Every night had been the same for Eliza: The monochrome room, arguing with Id, and wondering what game Superego was playing. To her surprise, her notes from previous nights continued over, and she never lost track of where they left off. Unfortunately, they really didn't seem to be making any progress. Id would try to tear Ego down, Ego would chastise Id for her impulsively destructive nature, and no one would budge on why they were right and the other was wrong.

Still, arguing with Id did bring a few things to Ego's attention. Id's dark, almost violent crush on the Radio Demon has not diminished in his absence, her excitement to start counselling sinners was based off of an almost arousing level of excitement to see what they would choose, and she was impatient to go looking for another fight in town. Id had been so exhilarated by being in danger that she desperately wanted to go for another stroll just to see what would happen. Not to mention that Ego had to admit that she wanted to see more of Hell. It seemed to be such a fascinating place, and she'd only seen a tiny fraction of it a few days ago. Was there anything else this land had to offer?

When Eliza woke up, her wanderlust was so strong that she simply couldn't stick around the hotel and help. However, she needed a sure defense, and the broken spear was a bit of a hazard by itself, so she went to the hotel's closet to see what kind of tools were available. When she noticed a hand-saw, she smiled and got to work.

Sawing off the broken end so that it was less likely to harm her when she grabbed it. Satisfied until she could give it a better grip, she realized that she still needed a way to carry it around without it being seen. She doubted any local stores would appreciate a person walking in with a permadeath weapon. Then she remembered something: Alastor doesn't always have his microphone staff, but he can summon it at will. Could she do the same with the makeshift dagger?

She decided to ask either Vaggie or Charlie, as she didn't see much of Alastor for the last few days. Luckily, Vaggie and Charlie were both sitting in the dining room that morning, eating bacon and eggs.

"Excuse me," she said, sitting with them. Niffty hurried into the kitchen for a plate. "I have a question, if you have a moment."

"Sure!" Charlie smiled. "What's up?"

"How do you hide things like weapons? You know, like what Alastor does with his staff. I'd like to walk around today and-"

"Ooooh no," Vaggie interrupted. "You're not walking by yourself again! Remember last time?"

"-and I'd like to conceal my spear," she continued, setting the spear-head on the table. "More of a dagger now, but you know what I mean. It'd be easier to carry it if I could just summon it."

"Well, Vaggie could help," Charlie said, slowly. Vaggie shot her a glance, and Charlie motioned for her to say something. When the moth remained suspiciously silent, she continued. "Vaggie actually has a spear, too. She could show you how it works."

Eliza raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Vaggie sighed. "Yea, alright," she begrudgingly agreed. "I'll show you. It's actually really simple. But you can't do it with too many things. If you decide to get a full spear, I'd just abandon the broken one, OK?"

"Alastor seems to summon anything with a snap," Eliza contested.

"Alastor doesn't care where things come from," Vaggie countered. "He basically steals shit whenever he wants to. We're talking, like, a storage space you can use any time. It takes energy to keep, which is why you gotta know your limit."

"Ah, I see." Eliza listened a little more before Vaggie finally started her explanation. She was right, it was very simple. A person just needs to know that it's there. After a bit more description, Eliza could summon and un-summon the dagger fairly easily.

"Also, if you get familiar enough with your powers, you can summon things like Alastor does," Vaggie continues. "But that takes a lot more power, and power is hard to come by."

"Can I simply become more powerful with time?"

"Well, yea, but time's not the fastest way," Vaggie replied, carefully. "Alastor's power manifested very quickly, but other than speculation, no one's really sure how. Killing is one way, but it's slow. Cannibalism is faster buuuut…" Vaggie trailed off a bit, not sure how to convey the sheer amount of repulsion the idea brought to her. She decided to leave the sentence hanging and move on. "Deal-making's the most effective, and Alastor's big on making deals. Tried to make one with Charlie."

"I turned it down," Charlie added with a meek 'it was really uncomfortable' kind of smile.

"Thankfully," Vaggie sighed, smiling at her girlfriend. "Anyways, that's how it works."

"So… just any kind of deal? Technically we made a deal, did we not?"

"Yea, but it was fair," Vaggie pointed out. "Deal-making in Hell tends to have lopsided results. Those get you lots of power. You're the first person I've met down here to make an honest contract."

"Speaking of which…" Charlie nudged the moth, who rolled her eye and sighed. It seemed to Eliza that they had spoken of something on this subject; something that made the moth uncomfortable.

"Thank you for being up front with us," Vaggie said, grudgingly. "I know I wasn't really… welcoming, when you showed up. So… seriously, thanks."

Eliza felt a pleasant little flutter in her chest. She had never been thanked like this before, grudgingly or otherwise. "Of course! I aim for absolute professionalism when it's needed."

"Yea, and it's appreciated. Look, you said you want to look around. Want to ride in the limo? We can take you wherever you want to go."

Eliza's polite smile spread into a more genuine, happy grin. "I would love to, thank you!"


A hung-over Husk walked into work, only just missing the three women as they drove away in the limo. He held his head and grunted, barely able to focus as the pounding in his temples tormented him. He sauntered into the kitchen and scrounged up a plate, practically inhaling the food as his stomach growled insatiably. Then he took a large glass of water and drained it, slamming the cup back on the table. He would have just had booze if he weren't forced to do some cleaning first.

More capable of functioning, he switched over to the stage room with a grunt. Then he noticed Angel, and immediately regretted entering the room.

"Hey there, Kitty," the spider greeted with a wink and a sly smile.

'Nope.' Husk turned to leave. He'd clean somewhere else. Before he could leave the way he came, however, Niffty set upon him.

"Morning!" she greeted with a squeak. "OK, so I need you to take these-" she ran back and forth, dropping bags and broken furniture parts into his arms, "-to the curb, then I need you to come back and help life the broken piano because Angel's strong but he's just not-"

"Nift, hang on a sec-" Husk tried to interrupt.

"-Strong enough to lift it by himself and I'm not much help because I'm too short. We'll have to see if master would be able to get a new one soon as even some of the strings are pulled apart inside. Oh, and before I forget…"

Husk realized with a grumpy sigh that he wasn't about to get a word in with the busy little housekeeper, so he stood there and listened. Angel, with six arms full of boxes, ambled over to the gambling cat with a smile.

"Looks like you've had a rough mornin'" Angel commented, looking down at Husk as he walked by. "I can make that betta."

"Fuck off," Husk warned, though his last few encounters with the persistent porn-star told him how fruitless any warnings truly were.

"Can't, Kitty, my hands are full."

Husk would have face-palmed if his own hands were any better. The spider waited for the cat to walk out the door, because he wanted to walk with the vet out to the curb. Husk sighed and left, the annoying white and pink demon in tow. Apparently Angel was particularly chatty today, as he talked the old cat's ear off as they worked. Then, when Husk finally felt that he had done enough to earn a nice, cheap drink, Angel decided to take his break at the same time. Fucking figures.

"Where's the therapy chick?" He asked, praying to whatever divine being would listen that the change of topic would drive the spider away. He succeeded in getting an exasperated sigh, at the very least.

"'Eliza,'" he said the name so sarcastically that Husk wondered for a moment if he hated the lady. "The lady sweet-talks me inta helpin' out, then bails to go adventuring with Bubbles and Bitch-Face. They betta come back soon, damn it."

"She's been helping a lot more than you," Husk pointed out.

"Yea, yea, whateva." Angel took a swig of booze. "She's a bit of an uppity bitch, but at least she's chill."

"A bit?" Angel smiled as Husk agreed with his sentiment.

"Loves showin' off her psyche skills," Angel went on. "I knew shrinks could be blunt, but she really thinks she knows everythin'!"

Husk grunted, but he couldn't help but feel that, in spite of everything, she has been right most of the time. Maybe a few correct guesses can give a person an ego, but when you get it right most of the time, it makes you insufferable.

"I just hope Boss doesn't need me on Tuesday," he moped. "She's got me in the books. Says I can't skip."

"Probably can't wait to fuckin' crack ya," Husk said, gruffly.

"Yea, yea. Still fuckin' sucks."

Husk couldn't argue with that. He took another swig, and the two men returned to work before Niffty hunted them down. She was getting more excitable because the stage room was almost finished. Whatever Charlie was planning to do in there, Husk really wasn't looking forward to it. Singing and dancing weren't really his thing, but the interview on 666 News showed that it was Charlie's bread and butter for dealing with things.