Alastor fingered the piles of papers that were heaped onto his desk. Although he was used to working long hours, working at the hotel was pulling at the last threads of patience that he stubbornly held onto. Of course, the hotel was entertaining, not at all boring. However, there were times when Alastor thought that he was slowly, gradually being pushed to the edge of his rope. There were times when Alastor thought about taking up Charlie's offer to leave when his hunger for entertainment had been properly sated.

Now that the hotel was up and running, it felt like he was no longer needed.

Had the hotel only lasted for a few months?

Did Alastor have to go out into Hell and cause more chaos and terror to relieve himself of his ever present boredom?

Behind the careful mask of a smile, Alastor felt like he was going to explode from irritation. It shouldn't have been this quick—what was he doing wrong? What more could he do to create more… more of that special something that would ease his frustration? As he thought about his conundrum and his unwillingness to face the fact that he was, yet again, bored, there were a few sharp raps on the door to his office.

Lazily, he snapped his fingers and allowed the door to swing open. It creaked a little, causing the Radio Demon to snarl a little to himself. As a prey animal demon, his hearing was highly attuned to the softest of noises; the squeal was almost too much to bear. He made a mental note to bring this oversight to Niffty later.

"Al! Guess what! I—"

At Charlie's sudden pause, Alastor finally graced his gaze upon her figure, only to come face to face with a look of such concern, he found his smile pricking with uncertainty at the edges. Why was she looking at him that way?

He straightened in his chair and interlaced his fingers together. "Charlie, dear, are you all right?"

Charlie chuckled, a sound that initially put Alastor on edge. Was she laughing at him?

"Am I all right? Am I all right?" Charlie raised both of her arms in an overly exaggerated, exasperated manner. "I think the real question is are you all right?" At Alastor's dumbfounded expression, Charlie elaborated. "Have you seen a mirror recently? You look like Hell, and let me tell you, I should know."

A small laugh left Alastor's lips. Her sense of humor was a welcome change from the monotony of doing paperwork.

"Honestly, my dear, I've been so busy—"

Charlie snapped her fingers and all of a sudden, Alastor was face to face with himself.

"Oh. Wow." Alastor ran a finger through his tangled locks of hair, watching as his doppelganger in the mirror did the same. His hair was greasy and stringy, as if it had been a while since he last took a shower. Normally, Alastor was a well groomed man, meticulous to a fault. It appeared that today was just not his day, though. With a sigh, he stiffly stood up from his desk and headed past Charlie. "Charlie, it appears that I need to take care of some matters."

Charlie laughed before catching his wrist. He turned to her, a look of confusion on his face.

"Take some time off, Al. Everyone deserves some time off!"

"I actually was planning on returning to—"

Charlie began urging him forward. "Take a break, Al! It doesn't matter if you don't finish your work today!" She gave him one final push in the direction of his room. "You can always do it tomorrow!"

For a moment, Alastor thought about giving more excuses to continue working after he freshened up, but he refrained. Perhaps…

Perhaps there was some merit to what Charlie said.

He flashed her a smile, a genuine that made his eyes twinkle and his eyes wrinkle at the corners.

"Thank you, my dear."