Quarrels
BEEP! Red light blinking, audio recording.
6 PM tuned radio, a public debate about redemption and the Hazbin Hotel. Distorted voices, then static.
"Alastor, will you kindly turn that vapid shit off?" Vaggie grumbled with her hands pressed up on each side of her temples, Charlie was beside her tapping her in the back but also frowning. "That blasted thing's been hissing for hours!" The angel cried out. Alastor twitched his ear in reluctance and turned the switch knob to off, positioning himself in the wall he leaned against with a leg slightly bent up. Dealing with sinners was a thing, but dealing with angels... was another.
He posed and watched from behind the loveseat at the troubled ladies. One of them, at least. "But of course, my dear! Your request at variance with your verbal expression is quite uplifting!" Alastor's grin widened. Vaggie tried to ignore the poking, until he deliberately jabbed into her skin much deeper. "Such a pity that your belittling perspective clouded your interest in your lover's guesthouse turnabouts. It's enough to break one's heart, is it not?"
Vaggie's sole eye widened like a saucer, frozen in place by a revelation of panic and frenzy madness before jolting up her seat, only to be pushed back down by her dearest. The things she'd do if he was a common demon... "Calm down, Vaggie." Spoke Charlie, softly, as not to rile her up even more. A broken angel and a mighty demon just clashed a few looks of spite against one another, she knew best. "It's the water, I hope." She chortled. "We're just a little strained, wondering where he's stormed off to, but... he'll turn up, you'll see."
"It's not Angel I'm worried about, Charlie, or the rain for that matter. It's you."
"What do you mean, me?" Her smile faltered in the blow of a candle, apparently looking pained. As if spectral whispers emanating from her mate repressed her hopes and crushed her dreams. Alastor squinched his eyes quietly in the back by her reaction with close attention. "Vaggie, please, don't let it make you lose the spirit." She balled a fist. "Don't lose faith in me! Sure, our chances to better someone can't always be anticipated as we'd want, but we must take a step that's entirely built up in trust... How are we supposed to achieve it otherwise?"
"Charlie..." Vaggie's voice quavered over her anguish and kissed her hand. "I do trust you, I have faith in your vision." She paused. "Just try to understand, this isn't a matter of infallibility. Angel seems somewhat... inadequate for this project. I'm afraid he can't be prone to make some serious mistakes without smearing others."
"Don't say that!" Charlie groaned in exasperation, then drew in a breath. "The way you put it... makes it sound like he's a horrible person! You said it yourself, making mistakes it's part of our life. Sure, it sucks, but think about it. The other great step in order to redeem oneself relies on ambition and goodwill." She simpered weakly. "There's good in him, I know there is."
Vaggie listened to her blankly and exhaled. "Charlie, that's not what I m—"
"Bullshit!" Both girls turned their heads when Husk pounded the end of his bottle against the wooden pub. Alastor hardly moved an inch and caught a glimpse to the side instead but remained silent. "Yours Truly's little test subject can't rectify itself if it's already damaged." He pointed at Charlie with his claws. "You bitches are so in over your heads you think you can fix a complete trainwreck with smooches and corny talk? Cut me a fuckin' break."
Vaggie hissed with gnashed teeth, but Charlie refrained her strong impulses by squeezing her hand. "Guys, let's not make assumptions at the starting line." She stammered. "A-and most importantly, you can't just sit there and find fault with someone beforehand! I know we can't change a world crammed with cruelty, but we sure can help someone change their world."
"Real touchin'." Husk scoffed. "But you also forget that your corrupted bloodline conceived all this cruelty to begin with. Isn't that why we're here?"
Vaggie's entire blood boiled. "Engreído hijo de..."
"Fuck you, asshole!" Charlie sat bolt upright, her voice ragged from the fit. Her slit pupils flittered in the midst of bright yellow irises and red-hot scleras. Alastor smirked from behind, amused. "You're sure one to spit shit in your comfort zone after chugging an entire bottle, you tell me if you've resort to corruption in your entire life."
Husk growled softly in response, devoid of anything but difficulty against the tremor he strove to control. He needed to speak, wanted to, but his lips were sealed. "You have no idea..."
Vaggie cut in mid sentence. "Why don't you enlighten us then?"
Husk snarled. "Ain't nobody asked ya'!"
Charlie's horns sprout. "Don't you talk to her like that!"
In the distance, Niffty clung to Alastor's neck as she watched the others bicker and yell at each other. "They look like they're gonna get physical." She deadpanned.
Alastor let out a chuckle. "Cover your ears." He whispered and turned the radio back on at max volume to emanate shrill static, thus ceasing the tedious squabbles. The princess, broken angel and former Overlord glanced over their shoulders at the radio demon to shoot him individual glares of confused anger after shielding their ears.
"Well, look at that!" Al shouted in impish joy after a tense pause with his arms held up in the air. "These countenances finally reunited by their liaisons of shared odium! Ironic, aye, Niffty?" He gazed down, looking like a parent holding a fussy child to the hip. Niffty nodded and tee-heed raucously, like a cawing crow. The three spectators stared at them in awkward horror as Alastor's shadow began to detach itself swiftly from his feet on the spur of the moment.
"My dear audience, I really hate to break in family time, but it appears that your long-awaited guest star just popped in." With this announcement, all eyes focused on the main entry where Angel strangely stood, hunched over in sopping clothes and slicked back hair, enwrapped tightly in himself. People clammed up as he traipsed forwards, visibly weighed down by the water. Once Charlie called his name, he quickly averted his eyes from the rest to plod up to his chambers, leaving a trail of droplets behind him on the polished floors.
By then, the hotel seemed to give off a bereaved atmosphere, and even though Husk, Charlie and Vaggie were dicretely contrite, the tension between them was still palpable. Husk shuddered angrily and flounced out. Charlie and Vaggie shared the same bed but lay apart and fully awake with their backs turned, so close and yet so far from each other.
Dusk has fallen onto Pride Ring. Alastor's silhouette ushered Niffty to follow downstairs, to which she scampered away from the lobby she was previously enjoined to keep her eye on. Sprinting down, she tailed close behind the animistic shadow as it morphed back to a regular shadow.
"Slumbering yet, are they?" Alastor asked, cloaked in darkness.
"Like gravestones!" Niffty screamed quietly.
"Very well, my dear." He concluded. "Don't let the bedbugs bite, now."
She recoiled in disgust, "In their dreams," and scooted off. Alastor took a time to lounge back in his seat cushion with the radio on once more.
"...now we're gonna sing for the bold and brokenhearted as we bid adieu for tonight with Doris Day and the Page Cavanaugh Trio classic, Put 'Em in a Box, Tie 'Em with a Ribbon and... well, crank it up, folks!"
You know what to do with good ol' tea for two
and the girl for you, the boy for me
Put 'em in a box, tie 'em with a ribbon
and throw 'em in the deep, blue sea
"Aw, yes..." Alastor sighed in reminiscence, resting his chin on his hand. "Such simpler times."