I got something wrong on my planning sheet and I'm rewriting this chapter.
A few days had passed. Those who found themselves in this new world worked to become accustomed to their new lives regardless of the challenges involved.
With Charlie, she and Vaggie had agreed to work under Asmodeus in exchange for a roof over their heads and food on the tables. It wasn't considered ideal and neither women were exactly excited but considering the alternative the streets, Charlie considered it the lesser evil out of the two choices.
The job wasn't all too difficult, serving drinks and giving customers what they wanted wasn't all too hard ignoring the occasional minor 'Karen' that showed up. Outside of that, it was fairly easy given they were servers/cooks, not performers.
The hardest part for the girls was actually cooking if anything. Vaggie knew how to cook and make drinks while Charlie...well let's just say that her skills could use some touching up.
The Princess of Hell, despite being rather talented and powerful lacked basic skills like cooking and cleaning, mainly because other people did it for her. The idea of brewing a drink for someone was completely out the question for her. It simply wasn't in her skill range and despite her best efforts, all the drinks Charlie made weren't up to standard.
Thankfully, Vaggie was better at preparing food and drinks and as a result, she was usually the one who was tasked with preparing beverages and supervising Charlie on the off-chance it was required for her to make one.
It was far from the life of luxury that Charlie had lived for centuries but it was better than the streets. Though the overall focus on lust and sex did make her rather uncomfortable, especially since everyone wasn't exactly...private about their lewd activities and often wore their sexual deviancy like a badge of honor.
Charlie averted her gaze as she ignored the fact the couple was partaking in sexual activities under the table, the wife going under and...putting her lips to 'good use' apparently, though it must not have been a satisfactory job given her husband's lackluster expressions. Charlie refused to make eye contact once she realized what she was witnessing and dropped the drinks off as fast as she could.
When she got up to the table she sighed as she saw Vaggie cleaning the counter. The former moth turned to her friend and wearily smiled,"How you doing Hun? You alright?"
"Could be better…" She admitted carelessly.
"Something bothering you?"
"Just the overall atmosphere of this place. I know Ozzie's is supposed to be a sex-themed restaurant but I'd really appreciate it if they toned it down a little…"
"Same," Vaggie said, wrinkling her nose at the sight of sexual acts in front of her,"Not like I haven't seen it before but good god why the fuck does it have to be right in front of us? I have no clue how people even eat seeing others do that with each other. I'd probably choke on my drink trying to look at it…"
"Right back at you," Charlie said as she cleaned one of the glasses with a cloth, still not fully used to such chores,"Honestly the only thing that makes up for it is that Asmodeus just lets us stay here for free and lets us eat the food. Not like we're performing either so this is probably the best position we could ask for…"
"That's hardly saying much…" Vaggie growled,"No matter what, I still fucking hate this place and I already have a distaste for that lustful creep. Bastard literally wouldn't stop staring at me. Fucking perverted freak…"
Vaggie remarked this, recalling the lecherous stares she had received from the Lord of Lust. It wasn't anything she wasn't used to since men usually ogled her but him being the embodiment of Lust made it far worse. She could at least brush off the normal stares of men but the Lord of Lust truly did strike fear within her.
"I don't really like him either but it's not really about how much we like him anymore. It's about keeping a roof over our heads and until we can get out of this working here is basically our best bet…"
"Doesn't mean I have to be happy about it…" She mumbled.
Just then a group of humanoids walked inside and approached the bar of the establishment. A group of people that were a mix of feminine and masculine genders entered wearing skimpy yet fashionable clothing. There were eight in total and they all seemed a bit impatient.
"Oh hello there!" Charlie piped up, putting a smile on her face as she leaned over on the desk and pushed the dishes she was doing away,"Welcome to Ozzie's where you're free to indulge yourself to the most lewd and depraved activities to your heart's content! What would you like to eat?"
"Shouldn't know what we want already?" The tall woman asked, appearing to be the leader of the group and as sassy as can be. She appeared to be some sort of dancer with skimpy clothes that exposed her stomach and shoulders with jewelry and blonde hair with several brown streaks in her hair.
Charlie flinched at her tone, still attempting to maintain her composure,"I'm sorry? We've never served you before, ma'am. Are you a regular or something?"
"Do...do you not know who I am?" She asked in an offended manner.
"Uhhh….no…" Charlie replied meekly.
"Well I'll tell you since you clearly haven't been paying attention. I'm Verosika Mayday and this is my squad. We go to Ozzie's on a regular basis not only for our performances and to hang out. We're rather important and it's offensive you can't even remember the basics of an order…"
"Back off," Vaggie hissed, having enough of Verosika's attitude,"In case you haven't noticed Verosika, we just got here. We're new and we have no clue you guys were regular customers so spare us the drama…"
"Ugh, figures Asmodeus hired new meat for his establishment. Pity he couldn't have them properly educated on the importance of regular customers and their desires. Now I get why I didn't recognize you two, must've been found on the streets because you certainly smell like peasants…"
Vaggie clenched her teeth, resisting the urge to strangle the humanoid woman with her bare hands. Charlie grabbed her shoulder and quickly took over the situation,"Hey hey, no need to get hostile guys. Why don't we try putting this little disagreement behind us and prepare your order as requested?"
"Ugh,fine…" Verosika shrugged, dismissing Vaggie's death glare towards her,"Listen bitches, my time is money so I'll make this quick since you two have been nothing but wastes of space since we got here. We all want Beetlejuice's and Ozzie's feast for the whole group. I'd give a more complicated order but I don't want you two fucking it up so try not to screw up, got it?"
"Yes ma'am." Charlie mumbled as she saw the posse leave their table.
"No good bitch," Vaggie scowled,"Can't believe that woman. The nerve here to insult us like that…"
"Just brush it off. It's nothing we haven't heard before…" Charlie said,"Let's just serve them their order so we can get them off our backs…"
"Fine…"
The girls then began preparing the meal. 'Ozzie's feat' as it was labeled in the menu, was basically a large order of goods mixed with vegetables and meats. It was a huge task and probably the biggest meal they had prepared yet.
Vaggie of course dealt with most of the preparation while Charlie watched from the side. Charlie wasn't much of a cook and while she did offer to help, Vaggie insisted that she was the one who prepared the food…
Given Charlie's lack of experience, this was perfectly understandable and the Princess backed off and hung over Vaggie's shoulder.
As the meat was cooking, Charlie noticed Vaggie was pouring an awful lot of spices into the salads. Normally she wouldn't question it but some of the things Vaggie added weren't listed in the ingredients.
"Hey Vag, not to bother you but-"
"What is it, Charlie? I'm a little busy here…"
"I know but don't you think that's a bit...much? That's an awful lot of spice in there.." She mentioned, noticing that Vaggie was adding the spicier items into the food and mixing it together.
"I know…Which is why I'm using it…" She said bitterly as she stirred the soup slowly, not bothering to face her friend.
Charlie felt a bead of sweat pass as she saw Vaggie 'messing' with their food, adding ingredients that weren't supposed to be there mixed inside.
"Vag, why are you tampering with the food? You know that's bad right?"
"Relax Hon, it's nothing poisonous or anything. Just a little something to show that uptight bitch what for…"
"Vag, that's still bad...What if Asmodeus finds out? We'll get fired…"
"Don't worry, we can always just play it off as an accident if we need to. Trust me, I got this under control. Trust me on this one, Charlie…"
"OK then...If you say so…"
Charlie nervously twiddled her fingers as Vaggie finished up the drinks, adding something 'special' the alcohol and mixing it with other beverages to to make the flavor turn from appetizing to something less so.
Eventually, Charlie was told to reach into the oven and get the meat once the other food was prepared and loaded onto a cart. Getting the meal out of the oven was supposed ot be an easy task and something that Vaggie believed Charlie coudn't possibly fuck up.
Course Charlie was rushed headfirst into the task and reached her hands inside only to gasp in agony at the heat, immediately retracting her grip after forcing herself to try and bare through it and failing.
"AUGH!"
"Charlie, what the fuck? Why'd you touch it with your bare hands?" Vaggie hissed, now giving her friend a look before retrieving the meat with her mitted hands.
"I thought my resistance to fire was still intact," She admitted,"Guess that's not a thing anymore because I can barely stand the heat without getting burned.
The princess then eyed the burn she had received and winched. It was a lot worse than she thought and the worst part was that her sleeves were up so the fire managed to get to her arms. There were several blisters and her skin was charred.
"Shit…Vag, how bad is it?" She asked worriedly, now concerned for her health.
Vaggie examined the wound, doing her best to avoid causing harm to Charlie any further,"It's third degree.."
"What does that mean?"
"It's an ugly burn, Charlie. It's the worst one you could get and shit like this tends to heal poorly."
"How do you know?"
"Did some research for my highschool class about burns. It was for a project and I needed all the good grades I could get. I aced it but the research was grueling and I went through sleepless nights just to get it done ahead of time. From what I can recall, third degree burns heal like shit. The skin on the area has been destroyed and without proper medical attention...the damage is permanent."
"Aw fuck me…" Charlie hissed, cursing her luck,"What should I do now?"
Vaggie tensed, normally they would just find medical attention but given the era they appeared to be in, it was doubtful that any hospital provided the kind of care Charlie required. For the burns Charlie had, it would need surgery just to heal and repair her obliterated skin.
Unfortunately, they had no access to this type of medical care and even if there was some sort of hospital they didn't have the money to afford any kind of doctor, let alone any medications that might help ease the pain.
"Best thing we can do right now is try and patch up the wound by ourselves…" Vaggie lead Charlie over to the sink and gently began to clean off the dead skin to prevent any infection from spreading.
Since the kitchen didn't supply much supplies, the most Vaggie could do was apply a bit of lotion and bandage the burn up. The burn was up to Charlie's mid-arm and so she had to roll down her sleeves just to hide most of it.
"Feeling better?"
"A little...Still hurts like a bitch," The Princess replied, still eyeing her scarred hands.
"Do you need to rest?"
"I'll be fine," She assured,"Let's just get the plate of food out before we worry about anything else. No doubt Verosika is gonna be a bit mad over her order being late so we should try getting it over with…"
"Fair enough…"
Vaggie put the meat on the platter and rolled out the prepared meals with Charlie following after. By the time they got to Verosika's table, it was apparent they were quite impatient.
"Well well well, look who FINALLY decided to show up," Verosika stated flatly,"About time you arrived. Been wondering what took so long to get such a simple meal prepared. Mind explaining what the hell you two have been doing this entire time? Goofing off I suppose? Or were you two fooling around in the kitchen?"
Vaggie resisted the urge to scowl,"No. We just had…difficulties with the stove…" She said this while eyeing Charlie, who hid her hands behind her back to avoid letting her scars be seen.
"Well if you two are done dealing with your so called crisis, can you please hand us our food?"
"Take it, we sure don't want it…" Vaggie replied lowly as she pushed the food onto the table.
The posse quickly began to dig into their food and drinks. Charlie was sweating bullets while Vaggie had a smug smile on her face when it sunk in, the posse quickly choking and gagging. Several members of Veroiska's posse ended up gagging and spat out the food while Verosika spat out her drink.
"Blegh!" She hissed,"What the fuck is your problem!? Your food tastes awful! Are you trying to kill us!?"
"Of course not," Vaggie said, feigning an apologetic tone, smile still visible on her face.
"You're lying! You tampered without food!"
"You have no evidence!"Vaggie hissed.
The arguing began to increase and Charlie tensed as she saw Verosika and her posse becoming aggressive. Charlie quickly attempted to intervene and ease tensions, putting her hands up,"Guys, please settle down. Let's not get violent, there's no need to start a fight. We can resolve this peacefully."
"Oh my god, shut up, loser. Nobody cares what you think,"Verosika dismissed, pushing the disguised woman aside roughly, Charlie gasping as she hit the floor, landing on her side.
Had she not burnt her arms, it wouldn't have been so bad but when Charlie's sore arms made contact with the ground it was like the burning sensation had increased ten-fold. She bit her lip and held back the urge to make any whimpering noises.
At that moment, something in Vaggie snapped as she saw her friend lying on the floor. As far as she was concerned, Charlie had no powers to defend herself and wasn't in any condition to fight back while Verosika's gang laughed in mockery and contempt from their positions. The injustice before her was enough to cause her to lose it.
Without thinking, Vaggie's first inclination was to utterly demolish the group. She threw fists, grabbed hair and whenever they tried attacking her, she summoned fire to even the odds. Even with all of them ganged up on her, Vaggie's elemental powers managed to invoke fear within their hearts and after a nasty cat-fight between had Verosika, it ended with Verosika condescending once having a portion of her hair lit on fire and running out to try and extinguish the flame, screaming in the process..
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! THAT BITCH LIT MY HAIR ON FIRE! RUN!"
The posse ran away, much to Vaggie's relief. She quickly rushed to Charlie's aid and helped her friend up to her feet,"You OK, hun?"
"I'll live. It'd be nothing if my arms weren't burnt," She admitted,"Though I think we've got bigger problems on our hands…"
"What do you mean?"
Charlie pointed to the people eyeing them in Ozzie's, most visibly terrified of Vaggie and her sudden display of powers. Whispers began surging and people began becoming panicked.
Before anything could happen, Asmodeus appeared, noticing the carnage around the area. Annoyed, the taller male approached the girls and declared to the audience,"Hold on folks, sorry for the issue. I assure you that this little disruption will have no effect on your evening. Please give me a moment and let me talk to my employees for a second…"
Asmodeus then pulled them over to the side and pinched the bridge of his nose,"Charles, Vaggie, my sweet darlings...please explain to me what in the absolute holy hell happened back there?"
"That blonde bitch and her crew were being jackasses over their food. They made some unfounded accusations about us tampering with it and that Verosika bitch laid her hands on Charlie and I attacked them in response."
Asmodeus rolled his eyes,"Figures. Not even a week and you two somehow found yourselves into trouble. Whatever, not the first time something like this happened, Verosika is always a moody patron, it's just a shame we were expecting her and her crew to perform. Now i"ll have to find new entertainment…"
"Are you mad about that?" Charlie piqued up.
"Course I am, I specifically paid Verosika and her crew to be here and now that they ran off I'm going to have to find someone else until she's willing to come back here. Normally I'd reprimand you but since you two are new here I see little point in punishing you. Though in your case, Vaggie, you need to tone it down on the firepower. This establishment is a restaurant and any fire that ain't related to the performance is not allowed. Got it?" He asked, putting his hand under her chin.
Vaggie scowled, the way Asmodeus was saying it made it clear it was a demand and she could tell the lecherous bastard had...other reasons for being merciful with them, eyeing his wandering eyes hatefully as his hand rested on her waist.
Still, considering who they were dealing with, perhaps it was best to just feign appreciation with his mercy and pretend this had never happened.
"Fine," She sighed in defeat,"I won't use fire anymore in your establishment…"
"Good girl. Glad we've come to a common agreement. Now, please do me a favor and clean up the mess you made. You've made quite the mess out there and it'll distract the customers if it's left unattended to."
"We'll be on it," Charlie said,"But Lord Asmodeus, can I make a small request?"
"What is it Charles?"
"Do you have any spare gloves I could use?" She then held up her bloodied hands,"I burned myself pretty bad handling the food…"
Her hands must've looked downright grotesque to Asmodeus because he didn't even bother questioning Charlie and handed her a pair of black gloves.
"Thanks."
"There. Now clean up the mess your friend made…"
"On it sir…" Charlie said before dismissing herself with Vaggie who was all too eager to leave Asmodeus behind.
As the Princess cleaned up the mess, she couldn't help but feel...helpless. It was a strange feeling but now that her powers were gone, it dawned on her just how weak she was. Vaggie of all people had more power than her and had to actually protect her from harm…
The feeling of relying on others for protection was so strange and she hated every second of it…
'Where are my powers?' She thought bitterly, eyeing her gloved hands that hid her wounds,'Are they truly gone? Do I really have nothing?'
She had no answers for her questions and as of now, she doubted she'd get a response for a very long time…
'Definitely in for the long haul…' Charlie thought to herself before continuing to clean, ignoring the pain her burns gave her for the time being.
Being 'powerless' sure did suck...
Vox and Velvet were still coming to terms with the new lives they had been shoved into, the roles that they now had. Val apparently was under the impression they were his 'Vincent and Vanessa' and treated them as such.
It was fairly awkward and even after a few days, they were still far from used to it. It was like they were living someone else's life. And to be honest...they were.
Val had wasted no time making them take up their 'former' occupations. Apparently they were all business partners and sold entertainment to the masses.
Of course, Vox and Velvet's fields of entertainment weren't avoidable in this timeline. The TV and social media as they knew wouldn't be invented yet and most of the technology they were familiar with was in it's early infant stages at best or not even thought of at worst.
Course that meant inventions like social media in its current form and the Television didn't exist and were thrusted into a more...old fashioned industry that made Alastor's 30's lifestyle look like a futuristic paradise.
Vox sighed as he looked up at the portraits on the wall. Most of them were by Valentino(no surprise there). Fucker was as egotistical as could be so it didn't surprise Vox one bit when he saw the bastard's portraits plastered every which way. You couldn't go down the hallway without seeing Val in at least five of the photos.
'Damn narcissist,' He thought to himself,'Course he would have this many portraits of himself hanging everywhere…Guess no matter the version, Val is always an egotist.'
The former TV Demon rolled his eyes at the display as he continued to walk down the corridor.. He had low expectations yet still found himself disappointed.
Eventually he found himself in a more...neglected part of the mansion. The part where it hadn't been touched in years from the looks of it.
'Damn, Val hasn't been keeping up on this part. Looks like it hasn't been inhabited for a century…'
Vox flinched when someone grabbed his shoulder.. He growled and snapped,"What do you want this time, Val?" He froze when he saw Velvet standing behind him,"Oh...it's you, Vel…Didn't expect you here…"
"Neither did I honestly…"
"So...why are you here exactly?"
"Same reason you are, curiosity and boredom," She shrugged,"Ain't like we got modern tech to distract us anymore…"
Vox nodded, the shift from having tech at their fingertips to none at all was taking some getting used to. It was one thing to be 'alive' again but having no modern conveniences was definitely a downgrade, especially since their respective entertainment fields didn't exist as they did in their original time period.
Without their modern distractions, Vox and Velvet found themselves stuck in an time period that was not only archaic by their standards but completely foreign as well.
"Yeah, can't say I'm a fan of this arrangement. This place is far too..old for my standards. Doesn't help that another version of Val fucking exists and pesters the hell out of me." Vox said this while referencing Val trying to 'get him back in the game' so to speak.
Val had been trying to get Vox and Velvet to catch up on their businesses and get known again since the 'Three V's had been...inactive for quite some time and that it was time to popularize their brand.
It wouldn't have been an issue had Vox and Velvet not been completely clueless about what they were selling.
Most of the entertainment was what they considered outdated and their knowledge on the subject was limited.
"Doesn't help that he thinks we're the originals…" Velvet mumbled,"Wonder what happened to those guys…"
"Hell if I know, all I know is they haven't been here in years. Perhaps there's something left of them in this mansion. This part seems relatively untouched, either Val forgot it was here or simply cared enough to change it. Maybe they left something behind for us…"
Curious, the two overlords decided to investigate further into the old house. Vox had to carry a candle just to have a secure light source.
'Candle light sucks ass,' Vox thought to himself as he and Velvet traversed around the house. Vox carried the light until it's gaze flickered upon a large dusty portrait.
"Woah..what is that?"
"A portrait…" He said before lifting up the candle light and clearing off the dust to get a clearer view. Vox blinked when he saw all three of them together in the photo, or at least, what appeared to be them.
The photo was what you expected of their personalities, Val appearing dominating and cocky, Vanessa being overly excited and crazy while Vincent remained serious and stone-faced in comparison.
Guess something never changed dynamic wise.
"Damn, Vox, your other self ain't much of a smiler, is he?"
"What did you expect again?" He remarked sarcastically,"Who do I look like, Bambi?"
"No."
"Exactly…"
They then began to examine the other photos and they all seemed to be similar in nature. One thing Velvet noticed was that no matter if he was by himself or with others, Vincent NEVER smiled in his portraits. If you were lucky you might catch a neutral expression and if you were unlucky you got a cold glare and a scowl.
Not that Velvet was too surprised, Vox never really liked smiling. Unless he was advertising products, the chance of Vox smiling on his own was rare.
"Good lord, Vox. I get you don't like to express yourself but sheesh, would it kill you to smile? Not even for a portrait?"
"You know I don't like my picture being taken, Vel. My other self probably felt the same way when he was around…"
"When he was around?"
He tensed,"Vel, it's fairly likely that...our counterparts aren't here anymore. It's been over a century," He said, motioning to the date of the photo which had been painted in the year 1667." In all honesty, our counterparts probably met their ends long before we even got here. Because while we don't age like normal humans, we can still get hurt and it's likely they met a gruesome fate years ago."
"You don't have to be so negative, Vox…"
"I'm being realistic, Vel. Even if they aren't dead, the chance they will ever come back is low. Whether we like it or not...we're taking their places and this world has already proven to have it's own diverse history. Who knows what else lies in this place…"
Velvet nodded before noticing a door that had been left slightly ajar. Curious, she decided to step step inside, Vox following after.
Inside was….a girl's room. A room that had been left untouched for years and was surrounded with lavish dolls, plush pillows and covers and a tea-set that a little girl would have. Velvet seemed intrigued,"Wowie...look at this place, Vox...It's...it's my room…" It was just like the one she had back in the Studio...less modern of course but with just as many plush toys and lavish things.
"Your other self's room," He corrected.
"Eh, hardly matters," She shrugged,"Ain't this place neat. Looks pretty cool doesn't it?" She asked as she picked up a doll.
"It's...kind of creepy…" He admitted,"No offense to you Vel, but I find rooms surrounded with dolls and eerie tea-sets that haven't been touched in over a century creepy as fuck…"
"Aw, but they're so cute!" She squealed,"I mean, look how precious this doll is! You know what? I'm gonna name him Mr. Cuddles! Say hi to Vox, Mr. Cuddles!" Velvet held out the stuffed bear.
"Hi." A ghostly voice replied.
Vox nearly had a heart attack when the bear spoke,"Holy shit, it can speak!"
"Woah...did...did I do that?" Velvet asked, looking back at the bear as she felt a sudden pull between her and the doll. The creature had a soul woven into it and in all honesty, the other dolls likely did as well."How is that possible?"
Velvet looked for answers before searching around the bed and picking up a book. It was a classic hiding spot for when Velvet hid her things so it appeared her other self had similar ideas with this book.
When Vel opened it, it became clear that the book was written by her counterpart, like a personal journal.
Long story short, she had...used her research to create souls and place them into vessels(aka stuffed animals) in order to control them. There were ghosts and were made to be loyal towards Vanessa and serve her.
"Holy shit, Vox...My other self made an army of stuffed animals filled with souls…"
"Sounds a bit...immature honestly…"
"Hey, quit being mean," She pouted,"Besides, given these writings...I think she was planning on evolving to other more...intimidating subjects but never got around to doing that…"
"Regardless,are you certain teddy bears are going to be that useful? They're just stuffed toys. They're nothing more than little creepy dolls, nothing more."
Velvet narrowed her eyes before coming up with an idea. She used the dolls and made them...manipulate their faces into much more horrifying expressions and change their size to resemble evil spirits. Vox was horrified as he heard them making ghastly noises at him, cowering in fear.
"Holy shit, they're alive! EEEEEEK!" Vox immediately ran for it, Velvet giggling in response.
"Heh...so much for them not being intimidating…" She remarked with pride,"Nice job cuties. I think you deserve a reward for proving your worth. How about a tea party?"
They all nodded before obediently assisting in playing 'tea' with Velvet, much to her delight. It felt like she was a little girl again with her stuffed animals, only this time...they were real and able to move on their own...
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