Paperwork had been fairly easy. It had taken a few hours, though. Charlie had actually had to fill it out for him, because his massive hands were too big to properly grasp a pen/pencil without snapping it.
She had raised some concern about his background though at first.
"You associated with the cannibal cult?" John had mentioned when she asked about prior connections, and that one was a bit of a red flag.
"Hell's not exactly full of kind people. I didn't land in the Hell Hole when I first died, and they had led me to believe that cannibalism was the only source of food for beings like me." He explained, causing her to raise an eyebrow.
"Like you?" She asked. John peeled his lips back.
"Look at my teeth for a second. They are separated in rows like a shark and they are serrated." He explained as best he could with his lips pulled back, before letting go of them. "I can shred through just about anything like it's tissue paper."
Charlie nodded. "And they tricked you into joining them? For what reason?"
"Let me put it this way: counting myself, those bitches only know two men now, and their advances weren't exactly accepted if you catch my drift." John had explained. It took Charlie a moment to understand, but her eyes widened when she got the messages.
"Oh…"
"Yeah…
Other than that, the paperwork had gone smoothly. Now it was just a matter of showing John around the Hotel, letting him know what the specifics of his job were.
"I'm essentially a security guard, right?" John asked as he followed her around.
"Pretty much. You'll patrol around and make sure everyone follows the rules." Charlie answered. John nodded.
"Alright, but isn't that essentially what Alastor does?"
Charlie shook her head. "Actually, he's a business partner. He's supposed to help me manage the Hotel, along with Vaggie." She explained. "He might be good for security, but it would be great if we actually had someone for that. Besides, you're…" She trailed off not wanting to finish that sentence, but she didn't have to.
"A lot more physically intimidating than Alastor?" John finished. Charlie nodded.
"Sorry."
"Miss Magne, I'm nine feet tall, I have spikes on every articulated joint on my body, I have shark teeth, and I'm covered in scratches and scars." He said in response to her apology, smiling down at her. "First impressions are never gonna be gumdrops and rainbows. You're fine."
Charlie nodded. "Maybe, but I didn't want it to sound like I was calling you ugly."
John chuckled. "Well thank you for taking my feelings on this ugly mug into account."
"By the way, please call me Charlie. Not Charlotte, Miss Magne, Your Majesty, or any other royal term." She said in response to the way he addressed her. John gave a joking salute.
"No problem."
"Anyway, most people would definitely think twice if they realize someone like you will be the person they have to deal with when they step out of line." Charlie said, changing the topic.
"Aw come on, I'm not that scary." John said with a grin. Charlie gave him a look.
"I was more scared of you when I opened that door than I was of Al, and I know of Al's reputation." She deadpanned.
"Ouch." He muttered. "I guess I am too ugly."
"Hey, you're imposing, not ugly! You're actually kind of-" Charlie stopped herself, unsure of whether she should finish that sentence.
John simply chuckled at her sudden silence. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Princess."
"Anyway…" Charlie said in an attempt to change the subject. "How soon are you willing to start?"
"As soon as you'd like." John said, shrugging. "I don't really have anything important going on. Outside of possibly getting this place a few more tenants, I literally have fuck all to do."
Charlie nodded. "Okay, speaking of these new possible tenants, is there anything I should know?"
"About what I've told you. They ain't the same shitheads you've seen roaming around hell, and while most of them probably don't believe in redemption, they are still willing to give it a shot." John answered her.
"All of them?" Charlie asked, hopeful.
"Yeah. Most of them will give it a shot for me, but whether or not they believe it, if there is a chance, they want to take it." John explained. "They might live in a nice little community, but it's still Hell, and they are definitely not as safe as they'd like."
"I thought you said the place has its own dedicated police force though? One that actually does it's job?" Charlie questioned. John chuckled.
"Charlie, what the hell is a police force gonna do against territorial assholes and overlords? Quite frankly, I'm the only reason that place hasn't been flattened." John said.
Charlie, remembering what kinds of inventions SIr Pentious had crafted with his own hands, had to agree with John.
"Though I'm grateful to hear about the Hell Hole place, how come they weren't corrupted by Hell's society?" Charlie asked. John chuckled.
"Not to sound rude, but the same can be said of you, Charlie." He remarked. Charlie conceded that he had a point.
"Okay, I can't argue there."
"Anyway, here's your room." Charlie said as they stopped outside a room with "MS-18" on the door.
"MS-18? What's that mean?" John asked.
"Master Suite 18. All employees get the Master Suite rooms. Speaking of which, here's a master key I grabbed since you are gonna need it." Charlie said, handing John a key.
John studied the key for a moment, before nodding. "Thank you."
Charlie smiled. "No problem. If you need anything, feel free to feel free to decorate however you like." Charlie looked at her watch. "Alastor's making Jambalaya for dinner, and he said it would be ready at around 8."
John rolled his eyes. "Him and his jambalaya." He chuckled. "I'll be down there, Charlie."
Charlie smiled. "See you then."
"So Alastor, how did you end up friends with Spiky?" Angel Dust asked, bored out of his mind as he sat at the dinner table, watching Alastor cook dinner.
"Spiky?" Alastor asked, confused.
"He means John, Al." Husk deadpanned.
Alastor nodded. "Ah. I would say around a year now. Me and Johnathan met in the Hell Hole, as you already know." He said, glancing at Angel. "He is the only one who I allow to ever put his hands on me without losing them."
"Because you actually respect him?" Angel asked.
Husk scoffed. "More like he can't do nothing to stop him." He said under his breath, though Husk's version of under his breath apparently wasn't quiet enough for Alastor.
"Husk!"
"You know it's true, you jackass!"
"I don't need this perverse fellow knowing that!"
"Uh… did I miss something here?" Angel asked, getting in between the back and forth banter between Husk and Alastor.
"Alastor doesn't like to admit it, but he can't beat John in a fight."
"Husker!"
Angel's eyes widened. "Woah, seriously?"
Alastor sighed. "Yes, it's true. Young Johnathan is much more powerful than I am." He begrudgingly admitted. "The man has so much power not even he knows truly what he's capable of." He explained.
"He is tough enough to defend The Hell Hole all year round, though." Husker added as he took a sip of booze.
"Except Extermination Day, right?" Angel asked.
Alastor nodded. "That's right."
Both Husk and Alastor knew a little more than they let on, but they weren't going to let Angel know that.
The conversation was interrupted when Charlie and Vaggie walked in.
"Come on Vaggie, it's not that bad." Charlie said, trying to soothe Vaggie over something.
"Hun, no one in hell is that optimistic about something good!" Vaggie exclaimed. "Except you."
"Maybe they're just hard to find." Charlie remarked. "Of all the people down here, do you really think no one is that good?"
Vaggie sighed. "I get your point Charlie, but outside of you, I can't see anyone being that good hearted."
Charlie was a little disappointed at the answer, but she wasn't going to push Vaggie. She knew of Vaggie's past, and she knew it was hard for her to really trust anybody outside of her close ones.
"Look, at least give him a chance."
Vaggie was silent for a moment, before sighing. "Fine."
"So, might I ask, what makes you so grumpy, Vagatha?" Alastor asked with his signature smile.
"None of you business, Shitlord." Vaggie said, glaring at Alastor, who sighed with a roll of his eyes.
"My my, touchy, this one." He said under his breath as the two took a seat at the table.
Charlie looked around the table. "Where's Niffty?"
"She's probably cleaning." Husk answered. "The little wacko refuses to eat till she has whatever assignment Alastor has given her done."
"But doesn't she need to eat?" Charlie asked. Husk chuckled.
"Not that one, no. She runs off pure insanity."
"Now, now, Husk."
"I'm joking, Al."
Almost everyone's attention turned to the Kitchen entrance, where John's voice spoke up.
"So, we're having Jambalaya, I'm told." He said as he walked into the kitchen, crouching down so as to not hit his head and break the frame. "I'm assuming you're cooking Al?"
"As always, dear boy!" He answered as John sat down. "Unless you want to try your hand."
John chuckled. "Another night, maybe. I'll let you grace us with your wonderful cooking tonight.
"Oh, you flatter me, Johnathan." Alastor said with a chuckle of his own.
"So, John." Angel said, catching John's attention.
"What's up?"
"I'm told that you can beat Alastor in a fight." He remarked, causing John to roll his eyes.
"Yeah right." Vaggie said under her breath.
"So I'm told. Though I still don't think Al gave his all in that fight." John said, giving a critical eye to the man in question, who scoffed.
"Believe what you want, dear boy. I don't hold back because I want my enemies to know exactly what awaits them. If you truly believe I held back on you when we first met, you are sorely mistaken."
"What happened when you first met?" Vaggie asked. John looked at Vaggie.
"You really think me and him just hit it off, like that?" He asked her. "I stopped Alastor from slaughtering a good friend of mine. He didn't take to kindly to it."
"That insolent fellow was going to be my dinner!" Alastor said, as if that were completely normal.
"Yeah, not happening." John said, looking at Al, before turning back to Vaggie. "Anyway, A fight broke out, and I essentially barreled through anything Alastor threw at me. He left, came back a week later to check out the butcher I was working at, next thing I know, I'm watching him wretch a potential rapists hand off while saying, and I quote-" John's voice suddenly changed as he spoke, becoming a perfect recreation of Alastor's. "I don't take kindly to many bullies, but rapists like you are a special kind of vermin whom not even I will stomach. I hope you enjoy eternal torment." John's voice shifted back as he chuckled. "Motherfucker got his entire crotch ripped out before Al pulled him into some shadow dimension or whatever with those tendrils of his."
Charlie smiled at Alastor. "It sound like you have a bigger heart than you want to admit."
Vaggie scoffed at that while Alastor chuckled. "Doubtful, dear."
"Anyway, me and him got to talking after that, and I ended up pulling him to the back to show him some homemade, and modern, recipes." John said, smiling at the memory. Husker chuckled.
"Another visit later, he's dragging me n' Niffty along to meet him. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it wasn't to actually meet a good kid." He remarked, looking at John. "I still have that blackjack set. Could never find anyone who'd play with me."
"Maybe, we could do some kind of game night, some time." John proposed, before giving Husk a look. "No betting though."
Husk chuckled. "No problem, kid."
"So what about you?" Vaggie asked, catching John's attention. "How'd you die?"
When asking someone that, your chances of them not caring were just as high as them trying to rip your head off.
John shrugged. "Poisoned."
Looks like John was in the first category.
"How about you?" He asked back, and Vaggie froze.
"I… uh…"
"It was traumatic." Charlie spoke up. "She doesn't like to talk about it."
John's eyes widened, before he looked at her with sympathetic eyes. "Sorry for asking."
Vaggie didn't say anything, but glared at him. John simply looked away, deciding to try and change subjects.
"So, Charlie, I gotta ask, how is it the child of Lucifer and Lilith, the rulers of hell, end up with a dream like this?" John asked, gesturing around him to the hotel.
Charlie tilted her head. "What do you mean?" She asked curiously.
"Well, no offense meant, but the Princess of Hell isn't who people would at first expect to have a dream of redemption. There's a reason Lucifer and Lilith ended up here down here so long ago." John explained.
"He's got a point, Princess." Angel said, catching Charlie's attention. "Your old man may be an angel, but he was banished from 'Paradise' for a reason." He said, making air quotes as he said Paradise.
Charlie looked down in thought for a moment. "Honestly, I'm not sure how I turned out this way." She admitted. "I was always pampered and spoiled as a child, admittedly, but eventually, it was like they were always busy to do anything with me. After about a hundred years, I thought that they just thought of me as a failure. It didn't exactly help when I proposed this idea to my parents."
"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?" John asked. At this point, Alastor had finished the Jambalaya, and now everyone was paying full attention to the Princess' story.
"Well, I showed it to my parents, and my dad just flat out said it was stupid. Said I was stupid for even trying. His exact words were 'You can't seriously be stupid enough to think this will work, Charlotte, right?'"
Tears began prickling at her eyes as she recounted the story, but she refused to cry. Not right now.
Vaggie placed her hand on Charlie's shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, and no one called on the tears that Charlie failed to hide.
"Thanks Vaggie. Anyway, My mom immediately defended my plan, or, defended me really. But even though she never actually said it, I don't think she has faith in my plan at all. And still, it seems like my mom is always too busy to even answer a phone call. It really just hits me every once in a while, makes me really feel like a failure." She admitted.
At first, no one said anything, until John spoke up.
"I won't speak ill of your mom, but being brutally honest, your Dad's reputation does paint him as a piece of shit, and that story doesn't exactly make it any better." He said, to everyone's surprise.
"Do you realize what He'd do if he heard you, Kid?" Husk asked in surprise. John shrugged.
"Don't care. I'm already dead, the only thing that could await after this is never ending peace in the Void." John responded.
"True, but there's a reason he's also got a reputation for being the most powerful Demon in Hell, John. There's a reason even I don't speak ill of him."
John thought for a moment. "Maybe." Then he looked up at them all. "But I've felt plenty of pain. I really doubt he can do anything worse."
The way he said it, it was almost like he knew that for sure. No one was really certain if he was right or not.
Deciding to change subject, John looked at Alastor.
"So, is dinner done yet? I'm starving!" He said with a grin, destroying the tense atmosphere.
"Yeah, c'mon Smiles, pass some over."
"I would like some too."
"Why the hell not?"
"It's not poisoned, is it?"
For the rest of the night, the group, sans Niffty, continued to get to know each other as they feasted upon Alastor's admittedly good cooking.