"-and here we are!" Charlie waved a hand at the small decrepit office by the Heaven Embassy. The sign, hanging on by a single chain, said 'Interiors 4 U!'. It was the only interior decorating business that Charlie could find on such short notice and that was willing to go with her plan to 'trick' Alastor.
Alastor and Vaggie stared at the sign. It decided to completely fall off then, hitting the pavement with a hard 'bam!'. Alastor quipped, "Classy!"
"Charlie, please tell me you vetted this person before you made this appointment?" Vaggie begged.
"I mean, she said she'd be willing to do what we needed!" Charlie replied with a smile. "That's all that counts!"
Vaggie began rubbing her head as Alastor stood with his normal smile. Charlie almost let out an eeeeevil giggle. Instead, she twirled towards the entrance and exclaimed, "Let's go! TO THE INTERIOR DECORATOR!"
"To the interior decorator," Vaggie repeated with no enthusiasm.
"I suppose this is where I exit stage left!" Alastor said.
Before he could vanish into shadow or walk off, Charlie and Vaggie both yelled, "WAIT!"
That made him pause. Even he couldn't hide his confusion behind his smile. "Yes?"
"You can't expect us to know what to do with all the furniture!" Charlie complained.
"Yeah! You know what you're doing better than us. What if they try to cheat us?" Vaggie suggested. Charlie couldn't help but to beam at her.
Alastor looked between them, suspicious. "Why, pray tell, do you need my help specifically ? Couldn't you get…" He seemed to struggle with people they could ask. Shaking his head, he grumbled, "Perhaps you have a point. Very well then!" He began walking for the door to the business. He opened the door and waved them in. "Go on in, my precious brides!"
"Eeeeeeee~" Charlie squeed quietly as they all entered the business.
The interior was a lot brighter and cleaner than outside. It was all pastel, with little unicorns and cloud plushies hanging from the ceiling. Everything brought together made Charlie feel like they were trying to emulate Heaven! …how did they know what Heaven looked like?
"Ah! There are my clients!" Charlie turned and suddenly understood.
The creature before her was one that she only saw at her father's palace, decades before the hotel came into existence. Once the Exterminations started, most of them purposely let the Angels kill them. They hated having Fallen. Charlie never got a straight answer on what made them Fall.
This one she didn't know. It - she - had large, fleshy finger-wings sticking out her back. She looked to have been a sheep Cherub, recognizable even with the wrinkled fur-less skin and the stretched-out flesh. The halo that she'd once had was gone, replaced with short curved horns with a small fireball hanging in-between them.
Only having paused for a second, Charlie said, "Yes! It's us!"
"So, you're the Princess of Hell, Charlotte." The Cherub pointed to Vaggie and growled. "An Unfallen Angel. " Then her voice was sugary-sweet again as she finished, "And the Radio Demon."
"Charmed, I'm sure, to be serving them!" Alastor said with a grin.
"Yes. 'Them'." She gave Charlie and Vaggie a very obvious wink. Then she gasped, "Oh goodness, I never introduced myself!" She did a curtsy with the scrap of a dress she was wearing around the loose flesh. "I'm Keenie."
"I'm quite keen to meet you," Alastor chuckled.
"Don't go and make me keen !" warned Keenie. Then, seriously, she said, "I mean it."
"Okay, chum!" he replied. Alastor didn't step back or anything. He simply resumed watching quietly.
"Now then, Charlotte," Keenie began guiding her towards the back where three seats were situated in front of a large table. "Where is your furniture list?"
"Right here," Vaggie replied, holding it out. Keenie's ears flattened as she snatched the papers out of her hands.
She looked over the list. "Mm-hm. Yes, I think I understand. Now!" She leaned in to Charlie. "I need to look in your mind."
"Eh?" They hadn't discussed that! "What for?"
"What, you think I know what all this looks like? I need to see it in your head!" the Fallen Cherub defended. "I'm only interested in the furniture. I promise!"
"Well…" Charlie eventually said, "Okay. As long as you only look at the furniture."
"Of course!" Keenie bumped her head into Charlie's. It took everything in Charlie not to gag at the stench of old, unwashed, and somewhat rotten flesh. Keenie hadn't noticed, clearly looking at the pictures in her head. "Ah yes. I see what you meant! Okay, I know what to do." A ball of light came out of her head. "I do request you not look. Most don't react well to my magic."
Charlie was confused until she heard a grunt of pain. Surprised, she looked behind her to find Alastor was giving them a grimacing smile. Trying not to show himself vulnerable…
"Here!" Charlie blocked some of the light from reaching Alastor. Vaggie joined in, using her wings to finish blocking it out. Alastor, against his wishes, let out a relieved gasp.
"It'll just be a minute…" Keenie assured them as smaller balls of light started breaking off. The light formed into different pieces of furniture and the renovations that Charlie and Vaggie had agreed on. Once the light had vanished into her magical diorama, she said, "There! It's safe for him now."
Vaggie and Charlie tried not to make a show of it. They simply went and sat back down. After a moment, Alastor sat down with them. Charlie could feel the wave of exhaustion from him. Keenie still had some Heavenly powers it seemed like.
Vaggie and Charlie looked at the designed room. Vaggie grinned while Charlie cheered, "That's exactly what we were hoping for!" She waved at Alastor who was doing his best to look fine. "Alastor! Alastor! Look!"
"It's quite a pleasant room!" Alastor said, clearly not having looked at it.
"Alastor, would you just look?" Vaggie grumbled.
"If you need me to tell you that pink is a bad color for walls, then you'll-" He cut himself off as he took in the penthouse design.
The penthouse bedroom was similar to their old penthouse. Their closets, dressers, and shoe racks were there, magically decorated with various items. There were still some steps leading up to the main area, and the same glass design patterned the doors to the balcony.
That was where it stopped being the same penthouse. Instead of deep purples, it was now a mix of blue and red. Black accented here and there, especially at the wall that opened into a swamp. There was Alastor's piano in the corner, as well as a new room atop the penthouse that was equipped with a radio station. The bed was recognizably the one that Alastor had been letting them use, the one big enough for all three of them. And there was a third closet set apart from the others.
The mix between Alastor and their design taste came through loud and clear. All three were represented with no one overtaking the other.
"What do you think?!" Charlie exclaimed, watching Alastor's reaction. Her excitement began to ebb, her smile falling as he took it in.
He was staring at it hard. His body was frozen stiff, his mouth in a crooked rictus smile. His eyes were the only things moving, shifting back and forth across the diorama. Then his body began shaking as if he was holding himself back. Charlie caught his eyes and nearly gasped.
There was a sheen of tears . She barely got that glimpse before his eyes widened in what she would've guessed was fear before he slipped into the shadows.
"Vaggie!" They nodded at each other before they raced to go to where they were pretty sure he would escape to. This was a possibility they'd considered and were fully prepared to tackle it head-on. They had to strike while the iron was hot, before he could talk himself out of why they designed the penthouse like that. Before he could convince himself that they were trying to take advantage of him, of tricking him into caring for them. Charlie remembered to yell at Keenie, "We love it we'll pay later bye!"
"Bye~" Keenie called back. She had a hand raised to wave them off.
Once they were gone, she looked back into her mind. "Lilith, huh?"
