My mom always said to me: "Charlie, you are special and meant for great things." You know what? I want to be normal like the rest.
"Welcome to the mall!" I enthusiastically cheer. "A great place to replenish our supplies and very amazing hangout for dates and such."
"We already know that." Everyone drily answer. I laugh nervously.
"Of course you all do." Shit. We're already at a bad start.
"Actually, it's good that we're here. I need to meet my dealer so they can repair my establishment." Lilian says and starts walking away.
"Wait! We're supposed to stick together!" I yell back at her.
"Don't you worry your sweet little heart. I'll watch over the rest." Alastor assures me. I doubt for a moment, but if he really wanted to do something sketchy, he would've done so awhile ago. I nod and chase after her.
"What an honor to have the princess accompanying me." Lilian teases.
"I can't exactly leave you unattended. Not since the last time."
"Oh my. You shouldn't worry about it anymore. I know you and Cherry Boy will drag me back if I tried again." Cherry Boy? "We're here." I look up to the sign which reads "Tinkering Pussy"...Interesting choice of name. We head inside and the place is littered with screws and bolts. The demon on the counter is messing with some sort of microwave.
He's a dog demon, which is fairly common nowadays. His golden fur is slightly dirty with car oil and other indescribable patches. His overalls are dirty as well. He stops and takes off his goggles, revealing his dark brown eyes.
"Lil'Mama? Is that you?" He says with a thick southern accent. "I was worried you were swept away from us after what happened to your fine home!"
"I'm doing very well, thanks to our lovely princess and her valiant knights." He turns to me and wags his tail.
"Thank you so much for looking after her!"
"It's not a problem! It's my job to take care of her, after all." That's one part anyways.
"Hey, love. Do you think you and the boys can fix up my place while I'm staying at the hotel? Everyone needs a job and a place to fuck."
"Anything for you, ma'am! I'll call them and get on fixin' it right now."
"Thank you very much, my good boy~!" She scratches his neck and he starts panting excitedly. I'm standing here feeling out of place. She kisses him goodbye and we start walking back to meet up with the rest. "Sorry about the wait, hon. He may be very simple minded, but his loyalty makes up for it."
"I still don't get why you want to fix the place, when you're going to ascend one day."
"And how long will that take? It has already been two weeks and there is yet any visible progress."
"That's not true! Have you seen Shirley? She's becoming better every day. Sure, whenever she looks at me, I get the feeling she wants to eat me whole, but that just means it's working!"
"Honey, she is just a ticking time bomb waiting to explode at any moment." She's right. Vaggie did tell me about the withdrawals. But that's why I left her to keep Shirley in check. We find Alastor standing alone in front of a clothing store.
"Where's everyone?" I ask.
"Husk went to haggle the store owner about the outrageous cost of the items. As for the wolf and duck, they're right over there." He points across and right at the middle of the food court is Bob and Qwais with the snake guy with a top hat and I believe her name is Cherri. Bob jumps at Cherri and with finesse shreds her shirt off with his mouth! Luckily, Qwais pulls him off of her and puts a leash on him and slams the rapist across one of the columns. "Hahahaha! Truly wonderful! That snake fellow and the cyclops lady were fighting each other and as you just witnessed, Bob trying to take advantage of the situation and tried sodomizing her."
"I'm glad Qwais stopped him in time." I sigh with relief. I know Bob is a guest, but someone needs to teach him a lesson or two.
"Hey old man!" Cherri yells at the snake. "How 'bout we call it a truce and make these bastards pay!" She pulls out more bombs.
"Hmmm. I accept this truce. I don't want any more competition than there already is. But please cover yourself. It's very distracting." He takes off his vest and gives it to her.
"It's only a distraction if you make it that way." She grins as she puts on the vest. He blushes.
"A-Anyways! I have a very special weapon that I was planning on using it for you, but I can use it on them instead!" He pulls out a revolver cannon and fires at Qwais! He jumps to his right, but the bullet explodes. Knocking him against the wall and sends Bob flying towards us. We sidestep and he faceplants on the floor.
"Daaaaamn! That's not bad. But I can make a bigger bang." She throws six bombs at him and they go off right at his face. There's a huge explosion and everyone running out.
"Qwais!" I try running for him, but Alastor holds me back.
"Now now. It isn't over yet." I'm confused and notice in the smoke an outline of someone standing up.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders OST - Stardust Crusaders
"I say, why does it sound like a song that is accompanied by someone from a higher power and position?" The snake questions. The smoke disperses and it reveals Qwais with an intense glare. His flames have grown bigger and wilder. "So you want more? I will gladly comply!" He shoots again. Qwais catches the bullet and it explodes inside the fist. He doesn't flinch and lets the smoke escape in between his fingers. They look visibly distressed. I would too! He grabs a column and rips it off. Then slams it towards them. Cherri pushes the snake off and she jumps out of the way. The impact and the missing foundation is causing the ceiling to fall!
"Dammit!" I run up to him and he looks at me. "Qwais, please calm down. Take deep breaths like so." I take deep breaths and he slams his fists to the ground, which cracks and begins to breath.
"I'm fine." He says calmly.
"Good. Now let's get the fuck out of here!" He nods and we all run to the exit. Qwais drags Bob along and we finally make it outside. "Is everyone all right?" I check everyone." Wait, where's Husk?"
"Over here." We see him inside the limo. "I won a bet against the owner and got a shit ton of supplies and alcohol that'll last us years." He points at the trunk.
"That's not exactly good, but it's better than nothing." I say and we all get in to drive back home.
I sigh. Nothing seems to be going right. We've tried everything within our knowledge and power, but we're barely making any progress. I thought once we had all these guests, it would've been much easier to find a way to redeem them. Is it simply impossible? I must've looked very miserable, cause Qwais taps on my shoulder.
"You okay?" He asks.
"Y-Yea. Just thinking." He doesn't press any further, possibly understanding I need space. As we get closer to the hotel, the colder it got. We can see some parts of the building with frostbite and ice. We rushed inside to see a horrific scene of Shirley's chest being open and Daniel covered in black blood and gagging. "What the fuck happened!?" He turns and I can see his mouth covered in black blood. Vaggie, Nifty and Angel come out of the ballroom and are stunned as well.
"Wait I can ex-!" Daniel covers his mouth.
"What's happening to her?" Angel points at Shirley, who is shrinking back to normal and is turning back human! She celebrates and hugs Daniel.
"Can someone explain to me what happened while we were gone?" I'm very lost right now! They explain to us their side of the story and it sounds very wild and intense. But I'm just very excited that one of the guests has finally been redeemed! "This is very exciting!" I give Vaggie the biggest bear hug ever.
"Ouch! I know, but can you please be gentle." She groans. I let go of her and run up to Shirley with the biggest grin on my face.
"I can't believe this is actually happening! You're going to be the first ever guest to ascend to Heaven!" I just couldn't resist and jump up and down with excitement.
"Oh definitely, cute girl! But I have to get ready before I go. Don't wanna look like a fecking homeless." She laughs.
"Of course! Let's all get ready for the occasion! Husk, Razzle and Dazzle will help you with the supplies." I run up to my room and take a shower as I'm filthy from all the sweat and smoke. Drying myself, I step out and put on my fresh set of clothes. I look over my desk and see the files of the guests. I open Shirley's and read up on her information. Seems to check out like the rest. The only one that is the exception is Daniel. I open his file. "Sins of the Father." I already called Dad about it and he told me he's basically SOL. How can we redeem him over a sin that's not his? We'll figure something out when we get there.
Hm? It sounds like there's a musical number at the rooftop. Without me! Not on my watch. I leave the room and run up to the roof.