Chapter 14:
Respectless
"Christ on a bike, Pink, I CAN'T do this!" Ashley rambled nervously as she was pacing outside of a rather large, imposing building, in front of a glass elevator. "I'm going to embarrass myself and fuck all it up! I just KNOW it"
For a whole week now, Ashley had slowly gone from feeling pretty confident with herself, to becoming more and more anxious and nervous about the overlord meeting, and now that it was here, she was practically bouncing off the walls from stress.
Pink was sitting on a nearby trashcan lid, kicking her legs playfully "Come on Ash, this is what we were planning for, what we were working towards, the major leagues" she stated, trying to support her friend.
Ashley just blurted out "I KNOW, I know, sorry…..i'm just….i'm fucking nervous ok?!" in an annoyed tone "This is it, Pink! I'm about to enter the fucking shark tank, meanwhile I still feel like I'm a feckin guppy"
Pink had now hopped off of the trashcan as she grabbed her friend by the shoulders in an attempt to ground her "Ash….stay with me now….breathe…..you got to this point by doing what you do best! You….got….this! Just relax, keep a cool head and just be yourself" she tried to encourage her.
The shark-grinned woman rubbed her temples "Yea, and where has "being myself" gotten me? Oh yea that's right, KICKED OUT OF HEAVEN!" before she took a deep breath.
"Sorry Pink….didn't mean to take this all out on you….it's just…..i'm about to head up there with some of the most powerful sinners in the pride ring" As she grabbed her friend into a tight hug "I just wish I could bring my bestie for emotional support"
The succubus like sinner sighed "I know Ash, I know, I get it, and I'm not saying you have no right to be nervous….but it's sadly not that easy, if I go with you, that'd be the equivalent of a sheep entering the lion's den…..but YOU are one of them, you are a lion too! You're the one who has to do it"
At this, the shark sinner gave her friend a sad smile before the pink woman gave her friend a playful shoulder nudge "And hey, it's not like you're not good at connecting with folks"
Ashley's smile became more sincere at this "Yea…yea you're right…..I mean, at least I'm familiar with Carmilla, and I have met Alastor before, albeit briefly"
Pink smiled as she held out her arms "EXACTLY! Just stay cool, relax and be yourself, and it'll be all fine, I'm sure of it. As long as you treat the others with respect"
Ashley would take one last look at her phone "welp, Pink, it's showtime" as she gave her friend one last, tight hug "I'm going in, wish me luck"
Pink Neon nodded with an understanding smile as her friend stepped into the glass elevator, the doors closed and she was whisked away, upwards towards the meeting room.
"Pink is right Ashley….you can do this….you ARE an overlord now…you're fucking "Miss fortune", you're the anarchy demon.…you have just as much right to be here as the others….just…..be….cool…."
The elevator came to a smooth stop as the doors slid open and Ashley stepped out "…..no way back now"
She took one last deep breath, cracked her knuckles, popped the collar of her coat up and began to walk towards the conference room with purpose.
On her way, she was met with several prominent individuals, a sinner with a skull, engulfed in blue flames, followed by a rather pleasant looking woman in old-timey clothes, who, upon Ashley giving her an awkward smile and wave, flashed her the largest, toothiest, smile she had ever seen, lined with razor sharp teeth
"Ahhh…..that must be Rosie, the cannibal overlord" she thought to herself, tho upon getting startled by this display and jolting backwards a bit, the cannibal woman's posture turned allot more welcoming "Ow don'tcha worry about a thing, darlin, I was just messing with ya, you newbloods are always so lovely to tease" she said in a charming, trans-Atlantic accent as she put a comforting hand on Ashley's shoulder.
This pleasantly surprised the shark-toothed lady, who felt weirdly at ease with the cannibal overlord "Eh, it's…..quite alright miss, just a harmless joke between colleagues, right?" Ashley joked, trying to hide her awkwardness and extended her hand in greeting "Name's Ashley, or "Miss Fortune" as some call me"
The cannibal woman gave another smile, tho this one allot more genuine and less intimidating, she was actually quite attractive, tho Ashley JUST about managed to keep herself from panicking and blurting out something embarrassing, as the woman accepted and shook her hand "Rosie, it's a pleasure to finally put a face to the name"
The cannibal overlord then smiled and handed her a card "Now if ya ever need advice, OOOOOR you're craving something a tad more…."exotic" then venison, you just come and see Aunty Rosie, alright sweetness? Or if you just want to hop by for a cup of tea and a chat, I'm always up for hearing the latest gossip" before she gave her a polite wave as she walked off into the direction of the large boardroom.
Ashley smiled as she watched Rosie walk off, finding the cannibal overlord to actually be downright pleasant company, when she suddenly heard radio static behind her, followed by a familiar voice "My oh my, I was expecting to see you here eventually, but not this soon, my dear. Tho I never had any doubts you'd make it far"
As Ashley turned around, she met the source of the sound as she was greeted with the all too familiar face of Alastor, the radio demon, who, upon seeing the pistols at Ashley's hip, widened his smile as he added " hmmm….and it seems I wasn't the only one who thought so"
Despite the radio demon's infamous reputation, Ashley couldn't help but relax in the presence of a semi-familiar face, even if they had spoken only a hand full of times.
"Hehe, hey Al, long time no see, how's bizz?" She asked, attempting to make smalltalk.
Alastor would twirl around his cane before shrugging and resting his hands behind his back "Oh you know, the usual, blood and guts galore"
Ashley awkwardly smiled as she was reminded why exactly her and Alastor barely spoke "Yea…right…"lovely"….well great talk" as she gave him the fingerguns, which the radio demon took as the conversation being over as he nonchalantly shrugged, gave her a nod, which she respectfully returned and he wandered off into the same direction the others were going.
The shark-grinned girl would take this as her cue to also make her way towards the large boardroom, but just before she was about to enter, something behind her made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
Ashley had a feeling she knew who this was, as she steeled her nerves and whispered to herself "Be respectful, stay cool….and don't let them see you sweat" as she turned around.
Her eyes fell on the tall, lean, imposing figure of the oldest of the overlords, cloaked in black.
Ashley gave the ancient overlord a respectful, yes subtle bow "Zestial, Sir, it's an honor to meet you"
The older overlord crooked an eyebrow, not one out of annoyance, but out of curiosity as he smiled "Ahh, it is good to see the youth hast not lost thine respect" as he returned a civil bow "With thine small gesture, thou hast already earned my respect, we art looking forward to seeing more of thee" To this, Ashley smiled "Well thank you sir, I'm glad to hear that"
Zestial would chuckle "I have to admit, thou hast impressed me, and we art looking forward to thine…..progress" as the older overlord gave a cortial bow and gestured for the shark-grinned lady to let him pass.
Ashley would politely step aside and returned the gesture to let the older overlord through as she followed suit, tho her eyes would widen in awe as she saw the towering form of Missy Zilla lumbering in.
Once inside, the other overlords would take up their seat around the long boardroom table as Ashley looked over the scene before her.
She took a deep breath, trying to let all her worries roll off of her as she relaxed her shoulders, put on a confident smile and strutted inside….
….and promptly tripped over her own feet, as with a loud yelp, she disappeared behind the edge of the table with a loud clattering noise, catching everyone's attention as they rubbernecked their gazes into Ashley's direction.
The other overlords watched the scene in silence as first, a shaking hand appeared over the table as Ashley hoisted herself up.
Now leaning on the table's surface with one arm, she looked over at the other overlords, who all stared at her without saying a word.
Quickly, Ashley scampered to get to her feet as she awkwardly stared at the other overlords before nervously blurting out "i….i-I MEANT TO DO THAT" before bolting to her seat, her face bright red in embarrassment.
She had decided to sit on a vacant chair on the right, being able to see both Alastor and Rosie across from her, tho more towards the far end of the table.
The cannibal overlord gave her an encouraging smile as she whispered to her "Relax deary, you're doing great" as Ashley caught herself thinking "How is the overlord of cannibals so absolutely delightful? Heck, if she'd ever convince me to eat people, I wouldn't even question it"
The murmuring around the table was quickly overshadowed by a small chuckle at Ashley's fall, followed by the metallic clanking of angelic steel ballerina shoes as in stepped the angelic arms dealer, Carmilla Carmine and her daughters, Odette and Clara, as they made their way towards the head of the table.
Upon reaching her destination, her gaze fixed onto Ashley at the table, after which she gave her a smile as she spoke "Miss Fortune, so glad you could join us"
Ashley smiled at the familiar face "Thanks Carmilla, glad to be here" It still felt strange to the shark-toothed girl, being at the table with all these powerful people, and being considered to be an equal, but there was no denying itanymore now.
She fought hard to be in this position, and she sure as hell wasn't gonna complain as, for the first time, she actually truly felt like a proper overlord.
Carmilla would raise a single hand as she welcomed the attendees "Sovern overlords, I thank you all for attending this meeting" as she then gestured towards the new face at the table, Ashley "As you may have already become aware of, we are joined here today by a new face, a new "player in the game" as the younger sinners so aptly put it"
She would gesture towards Ashley "Miss Fortune, would you like to say anything?"
Ashley smiled as she pushed her chair back a bit and got up "I just want to say I'm honored to be here, and that I'm looking forward to working together with y' all" to which some of the overlords nodded in approval, while others gave a smile.
Just as Ashley was about to sit back down and Rosie gave her a thumbs up, which almost reminded the shark sinner of a proud mother, the door was rudely and forcefully kicked open as there in the doorway, stood a rather short, feminine doll demoness, phone in hand and an annoyed, uninterested expression on her face.
Ashley could hear a sigh of annoyance behind her, clearly coming from Carmilla as behind the doll demoness, 2 other demons smugly strutted into the room, one of which being a tall moth demon and the other a suit wearing demon with a flatscreen TV for a head.
Ashley grumbled under her breath as the media trio walked in and sat down at the table and the atmosphere immediately became tense.
The shark-grinned sinner honestly didn't care how powerful these 3 overlords were, all she knew was they were THE WORST.
The doll demoness, known as Velvette sat directly across from Ashley as she just absentmindedly began to tap away on her phone, unable to care any less about the meeting as the Tv headed demon, known as Vox just gave Ashley a smirk, tho she could almost FEEL the malice behind it, while the moth known as Vallentino just was not paying attention at all, just polishing his pistol.
Carmilla cleared her throat as she began "Now that everyone is here…."
Almost right away, Ashley KNEW this was not going to be a smooth meeting as Vox constantly bickered with Alastor, not wanting to let him get a single word in, tho the radio demon being completely unfazed, Which just pissed off Vox even more and causing him to double down.
Vallentino just couldn't care less and was just mostly making inappropriate comments and innuendos, Ashley could handle that…..
But what REALLY pissed her off, was Velvette's constant interrupting others just because she felt like it, the complete lack of respect, and the clear goal to get on Carmilla's nerves any chance she got, clearly making it a sport to getting the older overlord to snap just to get a reaction.
Ashley slowly felt her blood boil more and more as her gaze fixed on the entitled social media overlord.
Just as Carmilla was about to finally speak up and raise her voice to The fashionista, something within Ashley snapped
She bolted upright, knocking her chair back and embedded her angelic axe into the table as she shouted across it towards Velvette.
"Oh my god, we get it, you think you're hot shit,YOU ARE NOT! SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU DISCOUNT BEANY BABY! Either you zip your howling screamer OOOOOR ima shove my foot so far up your ass THAT YOUR VERTIBRE WILL POP OUT OF YOUR MOUTH LIKE A FUCKING PEZ DISPENSER!
The entire table fell silent; the only 2 sounds that could be heard were the wind whipping around Ashley as her demon form was now on full display, and the subtle sound of slurping as Zestial was casually sipping his tea.
Velvette was just staring at the angelic axe that was only 10 cm away from her, the axe head deeply embedded into the wooden table.
This finally caught the attention of the moth demon, Vallentino, as he angrily got up and glowered at Ashley "Oh look who thinks they're the hot new kid on the block. Listen here perra, we've been doing this long before you were even just an itch in your papito's ballsack, coprende?!
The TV demon would raise his voice "VAL, SIT YOUR ASS DOWN" to which the moth demon begrudgingly obliged.
Vox put on his trademark charm as he got up, extended his hands outwards as he spoke "Look, I'm sure the 4 of us can all shake hands and forget about this little debacle like grown up demons here, am I right?"
"Fuck. You. " Ashley just growled at him.
Vox just slowly sat back down and glared at the shark-grinned sinner "Fucking christ, you think you're some kinda bigshot hu?"
"Not as big as your big-ass forehead" Ashley quickly quipped back as she took a casual sip of coffee, trying to calm down, which caused the other overlord to chuckle, Zestiel to do a spit-take with his tea and carmilla to almost break out into a very unflattering chortle, barely able to maintain composure.
Vox narrowed his eyes " Jezus fuck, what crawled up your ass this morning?" to which Ashley just responded "Hu funny, I was about to ask you the same damn thing" before letting her gaze very obviously fall on Vallentino next to him, before adding "…never mind, I think I know the answer"
This caused even Zestial to snort as he was trying not to spit out his tea AGAIN.
Ashley ended her rant with "Ok either you 3 are going to get the fuck out….or SHUT UP and let people finish and politely AWAIT your turn" before gesturing to Carmilla Carmine and politely adding "Now, Carmilla, I believe you were speaking?"
"Hu….a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one" She muttered under breath, before continuing "my Yes. Thank you, Miss Fortune….."
The rest of the meeting went off without much fuss from the Vee's, and as the media trio walked out, Missy Zilla spoke up "Holy shit new gall! You got BALLS, I think I'm gonna like you!"
Ashley just shrugged "Look, if there's one thing I can't STAND, it is disrespect, and those 3? Yea, they made my blood boil…" as she gritted her teeth together "…..ESPECIALLY Velvette…can't stand the bitch" before she turned towards the 2 oldest overlords as she spoke "Sir Zestial, Carmilla, my deepest apologies for disrupting the meeting like that, but I just couldn't let their behavior slide"
Carmille just gestured towards Ashley with her hand "To be very honest, after seeing you in action, I had a feeling this was going to happen, but not to this extend, it was a pleasant surprise" with a smile "And don't apologies, you have just singlehandedly earned the other overlords's respect AND showed the Vee's you are by no means a pushover"
Ashley breathed a sigh of relief as the large dinosaur overlord spoke "Say, Ashley was it, right? You owned this club, correct?"
The new overlord smiled and got up "Oh yes, "the aftertaste" I'd love showing ya around sometimes, I'm sure you're gonna fucking LOVE it"
Missy Zilla smirked "I was more thinking in the lines of becoming business partners, I run a fair deal of clubs myself and I think the 2 of us can work something out. What'd ya say of opening a few sister locations? Maybe a few divebars here and there as well?"
The shark-toothed sinner smiled widely "Oh hell yea, now you're speaking my language, girl!"
Carmilla and Zestiel exchanged glances as the ladder spoke to his old friend "Thou were'd right Carmilla, she has't potential"
Carmilla just smiled at the scene "She sure has, old friend….she sure has…"
Author's note: Ima be real with Y'all, as much fun as i'm having with writing this, i'm getting to a point where i don't really know where to take this story from here.
Like, do i give Ashley a love interest? do i focus more on the other Cannon characters? Do i give one of the meaner characters a redemption story?
It's doesn't make it easire that i am torn between going absolute balls-to-the-walls with the story and keeping it within scenarios and interactions that would amke sense for the show?
I have a few ideas floating around in my head but until i settle on one and work it out, that's all those will be; ideas
Any way, if you have ideas and sugestions, i'd love to hear, maybe i can get some inspiration from it, who knows.
Also, i just love to hear what you all think of it in general, i really did my best to make the OC's feel natural in the hazbin universe and make them likeable.
But, for now, hope y'all enjoy.