Chapter 5: First Day
By the next morning Tafford had gotten his room more or less how he liked it. He had gotten his clothing, cash, extra ammo, and meager amount of other possessions filed away in the various storage spaces afforded by the dresser, closet, desk, as well as a few trunks he had chosen to leave out for quick access. The process of moving in hadn't been as quiet as he would have liked, fortunately from the way this place was built he could guess all the rooms were probably sound proofed, for obvious reasons he didn't really want to think about. By the time everything was done he stood back and took a breather as he surveyed his handiwork.
'Well, for a place I'll be living in for god knows how long I could definitely do worse'
he thought to himself.
'In a lot of ways, this place is actually better than the old camp.'
He stood there for some minutes letting his new reality sink in before pulling out his phone to look at the time. A little before 6 AM, the others should be waking soon. He quickly made a meal of one of his remaining field rations then grabbed his service record with letter of introduction, his tool roll, and headed out to the lobby to await his new leaders. Ms. Nifty was the first to enter the lobby sighting Tafford standing beside the check in desk awaiting the arrival of his two bosses. She approached and began to speak
"Good Morning Mr. Tafford! How was your first night in the hotel? Did you sleep well?"
"Good Morning Ms. Nifty, I appreciate the concern, but I didn't actually sleep last night"
Replied Tafford
"I spent the night getting my room in order, sorry if the noise disturbed you."
"Oh don't worry, I never hear anything coming from the other rooms. Did you know their all soundproofed? Probably because when this place was a normal hotel they didn't want the gamblers disturbed by the people having sex."
"I thought the rooms might have been sound proofed, didn't want to think about why, but there's one theory confirmed."
They would have talked more in this way, but a rumble from Ms. Nifty's stomach reminded her of her purpose before she spotted Tafford.
"Mhm, well Mr. Tafford it's another busy day, so I need to get breakfast before getting to work on the sixth floor. Do you want to follow to the kitchen and grab some breakfast?"
"I'm afraid not Ma'am, I need to wait here to get my orders from commander Mange or captain Vagatha."
"OK. But fair warning, they probably won't have anything for you to do until after breakfast."
"You may be right about that Ms. Nifty, but in any case, have a good day."
"Thanks Mr. Tafford, you too!"
Said Nifty before walking to the kitchen to prepare her breakfast. A few minutes later Charlie came walking out from the staff rooms on her way to the kitchen for her morning meal, a bit surprised to see the hotel's newest addition standing beside the check in desk apparently awaiting her arrival. Upon catching sight of his new commanding officer Tafford snapped to, standing at attention and presenting a crisp salute to the slender well dressed demoness.
"Good morning commander!"
Exclaimed Tafford boisterously.
"Oh, good morning Mr. Tafford! Glad to see your up bright and early! But I have to ask, why are you standing like that?"
"It's a Formal Habit ma'am. Even in hell there should still be standards. And once your a solider, your always a solider."
"Alright well, you can stop now. I'm just going to get some breakfast before we start the day."
"Yes ma'am. As long as I'm waiting, are there any orders for me right now?"
"Well there's not that much this early in the day, but you can… Oh! Stay behind the front desk until Husk wakes up!"
"Very good commander, and for future reference, when you want me to relax my posture you say 'at ease' or 'as you were'"
said Tafford assuming a normal stance.
"OK then, as you were solider."
Jested Charlie, slightly deepening her voice in a playful imitation of a drill sergeant. With that she began walking to the kitchen as Tafford got behind the front desk. He placed his tool roll and envelopes on an empty shelf as he familiarized himself with his temporary workstation. The check in desk was a basic counter with, mostly, empty drawers and shelves beneath it. Although some shelves did have a number of bottles, both empty and full, simply labeled 'cheap booze'. Behind this simple setup was a board of small plaques and hooks clearly meant for organizing keys to the various rooms. This board was very large with space for dozens, if not over a hundred, of the small numbered shards of metal. Many keys hung from these hooks, but there were a few that were missing. A few minutes after taking up his post Vagatha walked out of the staff hallway accompanied by Angel Dust, the two lightly conversing as they went. As with Charlie, Tafford stood at attention and saluted when he caught sight of one of his leaders, something that didn't go unnoticed by Vagatha.
"Good morning Captain!"
Greeted Tafford
"Why are you standing like that? And again, I'm not a captain!"
Asked, then stated Vagatha with annoyance.
"Ah, commander Mange asked the same thing. Formal habit ma'am, once a solider, always a solider."
"Well stop. I don't like being addressed by 'formal habits'."
"Apologies Captain. As I informed commander Mange the proper way to dispense with formalities is to say 'at ease' or 'as you were'"
"Ugh, never going to get used to being called captain."
"Hey hardball, what about me, I'm here too ya' know!"
Complained Angel Dust, miffed at being ignored throughout the conversation.
"Sorry Mr. Dust, good morning. Are you two on your way to breakfast?"
"In fact, we are. Can't be this fabulous on an empty stomach, now can I?"
"I suppose not."
"Damn straight hardtack, can't strut my stuff when I'm running on fumes."
"But before that"
said Vagatha refocusing the conversation on herself.
"Did Charlie give you an assignment? Are you doing anything useful right now?"
"Commander Mange has me manning the front desk until Mr. Husk arrives to take his position."
Replied Tafford
"Good. That drunkass almost never gets off his ass until noon, and we need someone on the front desk. So don't move."
ordered Vagatha
"Yes ma'am."
"See ya' later handcraft. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of each other real soon~"
"Stop."
Chided Vagatha, tiredly chastising Angel Dust as they both walked to breakfast leaving Tafford behind.
"Why did the first real employee we get have to be some lousy ex-solider? I mean, I get having someone around who knows how to fight will come in handy, but does he really have to come with that crew-cut personality?"
Asked Vagatha as they continued down the hall.
"I'll admit the whole 'Yes sir!,Yes Ma'am!' boy scout shtick is gonna get old fast, but it ain't that bad. I mean you just met the guy yesterday, how can you already hate him?"
Replied Angel Dust.
"Because, One, you can't say a gun toting stranger in a tin foil suit showing up out of the blue and offering to help isn't the least bit suspicious. And two, he had an EXTERMINATOR weapon on him that he wouldn't let go of until Charlie threatened to put him out on his ass! So no, while I don't hate him- yet- this guy is a very big X factor that I trust as far as I can throw."
"Babe, I love ya, but I gotta say you don't trust any men. Hell, I'm probably the first guy you let into your life since you came down here! Wasn't it just last week that you accused that one barista in that coffee joint of tryin' to poison ya?"
"That asshole had my cup for too long! It does not take that long to walk from the mixing station to the counter. And my point about the exterminator blade still stands, this new guy can't be trusted."
"He had a limp, you'd have to be half blind not to see his fucked up-"
Angel Dust got this far into his sentence before he realized his mistake, and the death glare Vagatha shot him plainly showed her annoyance.
"Anyway, the point is, you don't trust anyone. And as far as the e-blade goes, lots- and I mean lots, of demons have them. You could probably go knock off five random dipshits on the street and chances are at least three of them will be packin some kinda exterminator heat."
As Angel Dust finished this sentence they arrived at the kitchen.
"Angel, even if your right that doesn't change the fact that the whole point of the hotel is to stop demons form being exterminated, and that means that none of our staff can have anything that can do that. Do I really need to explain how hypocritical and counter productive letting staff have exterminator weapons would be?"
"No, I get it. Look I know how important this place is to Charlie, and how important Charlie is to you, but I think your bein too hard on the new guy. All I'm gonna say. Now can we please just get some damn breakfast, I'm starvin over here! And work starts in like, forty five minutes!"
Vagatha relented at this and prepared a quick meal for herself, with lots of help from the tall white spider. Afterword they entered the dining room to join Charlie, Nifty, Razzle and Dazzle at the tables.
"Morning Vaggie, Morning Angel!"
Greeted Charlie exuberantly, with an amount of pep that only comes after morning coffee.
"Morning Charlie."
"Hey toots."
Returned Vagatha, then Angel Dust.
"So, how did everyone sleep?"
Asked Charlie
"Like a baby!"
"Fine"
"Like a log in a sawmill"
Replied Nifty, then Vagatha, and finally Angel Dust. Razzle and Dazzle did not need to sleep, and indeed could not speak, so they just kept focus on their meals as the rest made small talk.
"That's good. Hey Vaggie, after breakfast I thought we could swing by my office and brainstorm a few more ideas for advertising, then make a list of tasks for our new maintenance man. Sound good?"
"Yeah, we did need to put out a few more ads, and I was just thinking about how we could put the new guy to work."
"Yeah. Don't get me wrong Charlie, this place is a solid roof over my head and all, but it definitely needs work. I mean the elevators are busted, the detail all over the lobby and shit is all cracked and broken, some of the light switches suck, and your always running out of hot water!"
Chimed in Angel Dust offering his two cents.
"We wouldn't keep running out of hot water if you didn't take forty five minute showers!"
Retorted Vagatha who had long been annoyed with the spiders shower habits.
"What can I say babe, it takes time to look this irresistible~"
Preened the tall sensuous spider. As he finished that sentence he pulled out his phone, remembering he only had so much time before he needed to hit the pavement again, and upon seeing the time he quietly returned to his meal.
*Sigh* "But he is right about the other issues. Well, the new guy said he's here to help, let's put that to the test."
Said Vagatha.
"Yeah."
Sighed Charlie, a bit crest fallen at hearing all the issues that were present in her hotel. Quickly moving on she addressed Nifty next
"Anyway, how's the cleaning on the guest floors going?"
"If I can borrow Razzle and Dazzle again I should be able to finish the sixth floor today, then all that's left to clean is the basement. At least until the construction workers are done with the upper floors."
"That's great Nifty! At least that's going right. Okay, I think that about wraps up most of the day's work."
Said Charlie before a stray thought crossed her mind
"By the way, has anyone seen Al?"
"I haven't seen him all day, he might've gone for a walk. Oh! But Mr. Tafford was up before me, maybe he saw Alastor before he left"
said the quick moving sprite.
"Someone was up before Nifty? I may have to give the new guy some credit after all."
Admitted Vagatha begrudgingly. After this they all finished their meals in silence, each wanting to finish before the day began. A few minutes later Charlie Vagatha and Angel Dust got up and left the table leaving the dishes to be tended to by Nifty, Razzle, and Dazzle. Charlie went towards her office right away, while Vagatha pulled Angel Dust aside to speak for a moment.
"Angel, do you have a minute?"
"Yeah babe, but make it quick, I gotta be out the door in five."
"Angel, do you really have to go out today? I know you need the money to pay Valentino but you've been working the streets every day for the past two weeks! Shouldn't that be enough? When will you have enough to shut the greedy bastard up for awhile?"
Vagatha asked with genuine concern.
"Vags, you should know by now that there is no such thing as 'enough' to him. I could drop a million in his lap today, and he'd be askin where the other million is tomorrow. And if he don't think I'm bringin in enough greenbacks, then I can kiss my sorry ass goodbye, and not in the fun way!"
Explained Angel Dust patiently
"Ugh, damn it! Will you ever get a damn break! Is he this hard on any of his other prostitutes!? One of these days he's going to push you so hard, he's going to work you to death!"
Snapped Vagatha, inflamed that he was forced to work everyday with no breaks, no days off, and no end in sight.
"Heh, don't tempt fate Vags, that exact thing has happened more times then I care to count. Occasionally Val will put a John or Jane out on the street and just work em' till they drop dead. Usually it's when he thinks they haven't been putting in enough hours to pull their weight, but sometimes he just does it when he gets real bored."
Vagatha was struck silent for a moment, she knew Valentino was brutal enough to do something like that, but she didn't think he would risk losing people when their body reformed after their death.
"Shit. I knew he was sadistic enough to do that, but isn't he worried that people would, you know, RUN AWAY after they came back from that!?"
"Nope. Lots have tried but no one's ever made it. With the amount of gangs Val's got under his belt, huntin em' down is practically child's play."
Damn. Vagatha knew working under Valentino was bad, but she never really knew, or took the time to think about, what all would happen if Angel didn't keep shoveling cash into Valentino's greedy hole. All of this registered on her face as she looked to the floor and her features took on an expression of sadness mixed with anger. Seeing this Angel Dust put his hand on her shoulder and gave a little squeeze.
"Hey now, it's not all that bad. Val doesn't really expect all that much at one time, the hours are just because we have to keep it comin. Constantly. And hey, every year round' Christmas time he has his own little tradition of bein too strung out or drunk to care what any of us do. So as long as we have a nice little stack waiting for him come January we basically get the last two months of the year off."
"But that's still months from now! I don't like the fact that you have to work the streets every damn day and never get any time for rest, or rehabilitation, or… other things."
Said Vagatha still looking to the floorboards.
"Hey, I don't really want to use this again, but I've been doing this shit since before you were born. How do you think I feel about it?"
Scolded the white and pink spider, his annoyance rising and making itself apparent in his voice.
"I know but… I just… I don't…"
trailed off Vagatha as she tried to fully explain her objections, but was choked by her own inhibitions. For all of her faults, Vagatha was a proud woman. One whose fiercely independent nature and strong spirit allowed her to stand toe to toe with some of the worst hell had to offer without flinching, but also held her back from expressing her true feelings. Knowing this, Angel Dust pulled her into a brief hug, the warmth and comforting closeness expressing more than words ever could.
"I know Vags, I know. Don't worry, this ain't anything I haven't done more times than I can count, I'll be fine."
Vagatha only tightened her grip on the spider's long torso for just a few more seconds before releasing, the embrace ending with a small kiss on the moth demon's forehead.
"OK, now I really do have to go babe, I'll be back. Count on it."
"Be safe"
was all Vagatha could muster before he disappeared down the hallway to the front doors. As the melancholy gray moth began her walk to Charlie's office, the sultry spider was making his way passed the front desk on his way out the doors.
"Catch ya later Hardback, I'm out."
"Have a good day sir."
Said Tafford, ignorant of the depth of Angel Dust's involvement in hell's sex industry.
'Yeah, "good." '
said Angel Dust sarcastically under his breath as he grimly prepared himself for the day to come. Back at the front desk Tafford further familiarized himself with this workstation and jotted down notes on his tablet of all the work needed in the lobby. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes then turned to hours, and by the time the furred receptionist slash barkeep got it together to show his face in the lobby, it was a little passed eleven am.
"Good morning Mr. Husk"
greeted Tafford respectfully. Upon noticing Tafford Husk brought his eternally bloodshot yellow eyes up to get a good look at him.
"Eh? So we did get an over sized tinker toy working here. I thought that was a dream."
"No sir. I'm about as real as anything else here"
Returned Tafford. Husk's pickled mind continued to process Tafford's greeting, and after a few more seconds grumpily complained
"Shit, it's morning?"
"For another, forty seven minutes."
Said Tafford glancing at his phone.
"Damn it! I wanted to be asleep for another hour, at least!"
He said annoyed by both this turn of events, and his perpetual hangover.
"Well tinker toy, as long as your gonna be bumming around this place, make yourself useful! Get the hell outta my spot and get me a damn drink."
"Yes sir"
Tafford replied simply as he gathered his gear from behind the desk and grabbed an unopened bottle to hand to Husk as he extricated himself from his position. With a small bit of surprise Husk uncapped the bottle as he said
"Well now, at least there's one guy here that does what I tell him."
He said before downing half the bottle in one gulp.
"Sir as the staff handyman I have two duties here, take orders, and get shit done."
Replied Tafford as he stood near the front desk with tool roll in hand.
"Mhm"
Grumbled Husk, who had already lost interest in whatever the new maintenance man had to say. No further attempt at conversation was made, as Husk commenced his daily routine of draining bottle after bottle, and Tafford stood beside the front desk awaiting his superiors. Fortunately this, not quite, awkward silence didn't last long as Charlie and Vagatha entered the lobby together a few minutes later. Once again Tafford stood at attention and gave a crisp salute with his right hand upon sighting his twin bosses. On seeing this Vagatha released a huff of air and gave a look of annoyance, while Charlie wore an indelible expression of eagerness on her face.
"Oh, wait, don't tell me… at ease?"
Spoke Charlie with some uncertainty in her voice as she questioned weather she was remembering the dismissal phrase correctly.
"Right you are commander"
spoke Tafford as he resumed his normal stance. With a simple
"Here"
Vagatha shoved a sheaf of papers into Tafford's hands that could easily qualify as a small book in it's own right.
"Vaggie, that was rude!"
Lightly chastised Charlie, who hated rudeness towards anyone, much less a new employee. Ignoring Charlie's admonishment Vagatha spoke to Tafford as he began to look over the papers in his hand.
"This packet contains your orders, every issue we've found with the hotel so far. Every cracked window, broken banister, leaky pipe, and blown socket that we know about is in there. So if it's broken, you fix it. If you have any more questions you want to ask, do it now, otherwise you can find Charlie and Myself in her office, understand?"
Concluded Vagatha's stern address to the new maintenance man.
"Is there any particular place you want me to focus on first ma'am-s?"
Charlie and Vagatha then turned to consult with each other on Tafford's request.
"Hmm, well if he got to work on the detailing in the lobby it would make for a better first impression on future guests"
Opined Charlie.
"But, in the immediate, I think guests would care more about working elevators then the finer details of the lobby"
Replied Vagatha.
"That's true, but now that we actually took the time to make a list of all the issues we could find I can see how much TLC this place really needs. The elevators are definitely important but I think, maybe the rest of the hotel could use his attention first."
Said Charlie. Before Vagatha could object further, she elaborated
"I mean, what's the point of having working elevators if everything around them is broken?"
Vagatha considered her words for a few seconds before relenting,
"Okay, I see your point. But now we need to figure out where we want him to focus his attention first."
"Maybe we let him decide? Most of that list is just small fixes that we're too busy to do ourselves, and he is an engineer, he can probably tell what needs to be fixed first and what can wait."
…
"Okay I can see that.
Said the short gray demoness before turning to address Tafford
"Alright Hardcase listen up, we've decided to let you pick your first job yourself from the list we gave you. But do not think for a second this means you have free reign here, myself or Charlie will be checking in with you throughout the day. So you'd better be staying on point and not slacking off, get it?"
"Yes ma'am!"
was the boisterous reply.
"Good, now we're heading back to Charlie's office. Find us there if you run into any problems."
said Vagatha as she began to walk away.
"Yes captain."
"Ugh, never getting used to that."
"You go on ahead, I have something to take care of first"
said Charlie. She then turned to Tafford and said
"Hey before you start do you have a minute?"
"Yes ma'am"
Said Tafford giving her his full attention.
"Sorry that Vaggie was so rude when she gave you your job list. She takes time to get used to people, it's just how she is. I know not everyone here has given you the warmest welcome, but I know you'll do great here!"
"Thank you commander. Oh, and before I forget, I wanted to give you these"
Tafford said handing over the large manila and normally sized white envelopes.
"This is my complete service record, every job I've ever had, every battle I've ever fought in, and the smaller envelope is a letter of introduction from my previous boss, he thought it might help."
"Oh, thanks Mr. Tafford, I guess it is good to have information on my employees."
Said Charlie who never thought to ask for a resume from her staff. Then again, she didn't have many employees yet.
"Think nothing of it commander, if anything I'm surprised you didn't ask for it sometime last night."
"Yeah, well, I've never been in charge of something like this before. Anyway, we've both got work to get to. Let me know if you need anything."
"Thanks again commander, good luck."
After wishing his boss luck Tafford took a good look at the laundry list of repairs he had been handed, and discerned which tasks required the most immediate attention. There were several repair orders that were centered in the basement, so that seemed as good a place as any to start. The door to the basement was not far from where he stood, and was clearly marked with a generic 'Employees Only' sign. Upon descending to the dimly lit space under the hotel he was greeted by soft hissing and a great many slow leaks contained by a hodge-podge of pails, buckets, even pots and pans. He unfurled his tool roll on a nearby table and selected his adjustable wrench & flashlight, then got to work. One may think that stopping a few leaks would be a job that would only take a few minutes, but then you had to consider the building this handyman was working in. The rather 'unique' architecture of the happy hotel meant there was a maze of pipes running overhead of all different diameters with some pipes being blocked by others. This, accompanied by the building's sheer size, meant that this task took a good two hours to complete. Finally all the leaks had been patched and the slow hiss of water stopped, leaving Tafford free to pursue his other jobs. Next he opened up the large fuse box bolted in the south wall, using his fuse tester to check each one. Some time later all of the fuses had been tested, with the many blown out ones replaced from a box of loose spares found on a nearby shelf. Before leaving the basement he gave the old industrial water heater a once over, it's age readily apparent, but not in such bad condition for that age. Several issues could be seen in the unit, but none that would cause problems in the immediate future. His work in the sub level of the building finished he gathered his tools and climbed the stairs to be greeted by a sight that caused his guard to go up immediately. The radio demon had returned, with the crimson clad master of the airwaves currently antagonizing the dark furred receptionist, who responded with a mix of profanity and insults. Upon hearing the door open both Husk and Alastor turned to see who was coming in.
"Well, look who decided to show up"
Said Husk dryly, but was silently grateful to have the radio demon's attention diverted away from him.
"Ah, our newest employee, I had herd that you would be about. And I must say, your display yesterday was positively hilarious, why I haven't seen a spectacle so entertaining in days!"
Chortled Alastor as he walked over to examine the hotel's newest hire. Tafford never allowed his eyes to stray from the scarlet deer as the radio demon stepped closer to examine him, saying nothing as Alastor slowly circled around him to take in every detail of Tafford's appearance.
"Hmm armor, an unusual choice of common attire, but perfectly legitimate nonetheless."
Remarked Alastor, first taking note of the new handyman's choice of apparel.
"Strong, capable, resilient, with all the little imperfections that only come with years of hard work. The princess certainly did snap up a good addition to the hotel's roster. But then, a hard worker such as yourself could certainly find fortune much faster at just about any of hell's ventures where profit is the primary goal. That begs the question, out of all of hell's multitude of enterprises, why choose this one?"
Inquired Alastor, ending his examination with a question.
"Well sir, let's just say that some things are more important than money. Now I've answered a question of yours, I have one of mine. Even I know of the radio demon, but what's he doing in a hotel designed to rehab sinners? This place can't hold all that much strategic value, and as far as I can tell there's nothing else here that would peek the interest of someone of your power and resources."
"A legitimate question dear boy, deserving of a legitimate answer. You see, I have come here to cultivate for myself an entire new avenue of entertainment, from the sheer novelty of this venture, and the naivete of it's proprietor!"
"Hmm, alright, now that we've established the general idea WHY your here what's your, role, in the operation of the hotel?"
"Well my steel plated fellow, I have the distinguished role of an investor, as well as providing advertisement over the airwaves and input into the various adverts concocted by Charlie. If memory serves, your some kind of knob polisher correct?"
"Maintenance and security, just finished my first job of stopping the basement pipes from doing their best impression of the bellagio fountains."
"Being proactive already, good for you! Well I won't keep you up any longer, there are a lot of knobs to polish in this old hotel, I dread to think how you will ever get to them all!"
Chided Alastor mockingly as he walked deeper into the hotel, perhaps to find one of the girls to antagonize.
"One job at a time sir, one job at a time."
Replied Tafford, ignoring the tone his new leader used in addressing him. The handyman then walked over to the front desk to study his list of jobs and noticed a task related to the one he had just completed. Because of the sheer size of the happy hotel there were a number of "sub boxes" connected to the main fuse box that helped regulate power to the myriad of floors, all of which needed to be checked now that the main fuse box had been squared away. Marshaling his determination and getting a firm grip on his tool roll, Tafford set off on what was sure to be the largest job off the day.
Several Hours Later
After many hours of box hunting Tafford could finally say with certainty that all of the fuses in the happy hotel worked perfectly. In the previous hours he had gone on an excursion that had taken him to all corners of the building. Up and down stairs, in closets and crevices, underneath and overhead, all on a quest for a set of frustrating little boxes that were never in the same place twice.
'I was right'
Thought Tafford wearily as he finally arrived back in the lobby
'It was definitely a retard who designed this place.'
This first days work had put his considerable stamina to the test and taxed his patience, but in the end it had been worth it. It was now early evening and Tafford was just in time to catch Charlie on her way to the dining room for dinner.
"Oh hi Mr. Tafford, nice to see you again!"
greeted Charlie, still with her sunny deportment.
"Likewise commander. If you've got a minute I'd like to go over the jobs I completed today."
"Oh yeah let's walk and talk"
Approved Charlie as they made their way to the kitchen.
"After Mr. Husk took his position I made my way down to the basement and patched the pipes so the water pressure should be better now."
"Great! I was wondering when the kitchen would be getting those pots back."
said Charlie with a hint of embarrassment I her voice.
"While I was down there I also took a look at the fuse box and took care of all the burnt out ones, there were enough spares this time but we'll need to buy more in the near future. I also gave the water heater a once over and didn't find any major issues. Looks like the captain was right, it is Mr. Dust's long showers taking up all the hot water."
"OK good. That's one less thing to worry about"
breathed Charlie slight relief apparent in her voice.
"Finally I went around and checked on all of the sub boxes on the various floors, as you can imagine, this ate most of the day, I actually just got back to the lobby shortly before you walked by."
"Wait, you got all of them done in one day? I would have expected that would take anyone two or three days at least, especially working alone!"
Gawked the red cheeked demoness
"I wasn't going to stop until I got it done, and it's a good thing I did. There was one box I found that I estimate was minutes away from overloading. If that had happened, you would've had to replace the panel and may have caused a potentially disastrous fire."
"What!? you did fix it, didn't you?!"
Charlie started with alarm.
"Don't worry commander, I did. Had to shut down the panel and run to the basement for parts, but to prevent a fire it was worth it."
"Absolutely! This hotel is my dream, and I can't stand to think of anything happening to it, especially after we just got it off the ground!"
Exclaimed Charlie as they reached the kitchen.
"I understand completely ma'am, rest assured the problem has been rectified, and I've eliminated even the slightest chance of an overload from any of the other fuse boxes."
"Good, good. Well, it's pretty late in the day, you can take the rest of the night off. Do you want to join me for dinner?"
Asked Charlie gesturing to the door
"Afraid not commander, I never eat in public, it's one of my rules."
"Oh, OK then. Well, have a good evening"
said Charlie as she entered the kitchen.
Elsewhere, southwest side of Pentagram City
Angel Dust walked down the filthy sidewalk hoping to find a better area then he'd been working before.
'Come on, damn it. Need one more john to make my night, don't go holdin' out on me now.'
Thought the lanky spider as he trudged along through filth and decay. After a few more minutes of his walk he herd the sound of a car pull up behind him. He perked up and prepared himself to make the last bit of money he needed before he could head back to the hotel, to be frozen in place as a very familiar limo drove into view. Unease overtook him as the deep pink stretched limousine pulled up right beside him and opened the rear door. He entered the limo obediently, having done this so many times it's as if he were programmed to. He sat down in his usual spot across from his employer, his body assuming the position almost robotically as the doors locked behind him. Angel Dust had been in this position more times than he could count, but to say it got easier with time would be a lie, in truth he just wanted this to be over as fast as possible. He looked up into the venomous smile of his pimp Valentino, clothed in the same red full body jacket with white fur lining and black heart details he always wore, complete with cane and accompanying hat. The purple skinned moth demon easily dwarfed Angel Dust in height, not an easy feat even with the myriad of forms found in hell. Crimson eyes, four arms, and a gold tooth completed his look. His mouth broke into an evil grin as he began to speak,
"Angel cakes, I've been looking for you. Here I've been going up and down these long dangerous streets for hours, and you haven't been answering your phone, now why might that be?~"
Spoke Valentino in a voice dripping with poison.
"Well Val, I been all tied up workin' the blocks, can't be getting your money if I'm answerin the phone every five minutes now can I?
" "I guess not, which reminds me, you got something for daddy?"
At this Angel Dust reached into his fur and pulled out a stack of bills, which he handed to the overlord without another word. The sleazy moth quickly flipped through the stack of cash and the fact that his smile did not falter or fade told the spider that he was satisfied, at least for now. Angel Dust didn't know it, but he was lucky, as that stack of money was just barely enough to satisfy the greed filled pimp.
"Now that's more like it Angel cakes, this is a real good stack you brought me."
Purred Valentino, reddish pink smoke beginning to leak out from his maw.
"Glad to hear it boss, now if there ain't nothin else I should really-"
"Not so fast angel cakes, we got one more thing to get straight."
"What Val, you gonna make me start fuckin girls now?"
"Not like that! wise ass bitch, I'm talking about you not coming in to work"
"Hey now, Val, I'm still bringin in the greenbacks ain't I?"
Stammered Angel Dust, hints of nervousness beginning to show in his voice.
"Yeah, but you seem to be forgetting all the cash we rake in doing all those slam pieces. With you in the spotlight, one gang bang is worth a month of working the streets easy. And it's been at least two since you've been in for a shoot, and when my number one money maker stops comin in, I start to get displeased!"
The purple moth said in a deepening, dangerous tone as the smile on his face was replaced by a jeopardous scowl.
"Val, don't worry I got you, you know my legendary skills, I can bring in more mazumas off those streets than you ever thought possible! You'll be swimming in so much scratch you'll think your coated in itch powder!"
Countered Angel Dust trying to mask his insecurity with confidence.
"You could do it in half the time if you come into the studio"
Valentino said unmoved. Nevertheless, the doors unlocked and Valentino spoke again
"Still, today you done good, so I'll let you run on back to the little princess's flophouse."
Angel Dust didn't need to be told twice, as he reached for the handle and was out in less than a second. He was about to make himself scarce when he was held in place by the sound of a window rolling down.
"But angel cakes~"
Said Valentino, once again in that viperous tone.
"I expect to see you back in my studio, soon. And until you do your gonna be bringin in twice what you are now! Put those money makin skills to the test. Are we clear?"
"Yes daddy"
sighed Angel Dust, defeated, as Valentino's malicious grin returned.
"Good~ Your on thin ice angel cakes, I don't need to tell you what happens to bitches who fall through."
After this the window pulled up and the limo drove away, leaving a tired Angel Dust to drag himself back to the hotel.
"Ugh! Why did I say that, why?! Now I'm gonna be runnin myself ragged just to get it together to pay that goddamn, mother fucking, lazy ass, son of a bitch!"
He fumed, raging to himself there on the sidewalk for a few minutes until his anger finally died out and he decided to head back to the hotel.
*Sigh* 'What's Vags gonna say when she finds out about this?'
thought the exasperated and somber spider, as he dreaded to see her reaction when she eventually found out about this. So began his long walk back to the hotel, and the even longer discussion that awaited when he arrived.
Author's Note: And there they are, chapters 1-5 of Book one. I know I didn't do everything right with these, the dialogue between Valentino and Angel Dust as well as Tafford and Alastor being two examples, but I like to think they were counter balanced by the things I did right. Before work begins on the next set of chapters I would like some feedback in the following areas. I know this is a novel, but are some sections of my writing "too wordy"? Is there too much or not enough description in some areas? Is any of what I've written going against the character personalities in ways I haven't enumerated in chapter 0? Is the plot happening too fast or too slowly? For instance, in the scenes where my character resolves to go to pentagram to help the princess, I could've stretched out that portion of the narrative into the next chapter and potentially had the plot points of chapter five carry over into the next chapter bloc. Should I have played a longer "Will he or won't he" game? Criticisms are always accepted but please make them constructive, if I don't know what I did wrong how am I ever to improve.