"I'm so excited to start this exercise that I'm sure won't be a waste of time." Angel Dust said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Everyone was gathered in the parlor to start a new trust exercise that Charlie had come up with.
Well, everyone but Alastor and Vaggie.
Charlie felt a pain in her gut, realizing that this would be the first exercise without Vaggie. Charlie and her had a very painful and in depth conversation about their relationship and realized that even though they both loved each other deeply, Vaggie would be of better use in heaven being the middle man between the two realms. Since Adam died, Charlie figured that the worst person to try and convince was long gone other than Lute, so now would be the best time to try and get in Heavens good graces again. They both agreed that a long distance relationship would be too difficult for them, so they separated. Angel Dust's voice brought Charlie back to the present.
"And why does Smiles not have to be here?" Charlie bit the inside of her cheek, refraining from talking ill of her business partner. It had been a week since she had her talk with Alastor and if it wasn't for the lights coming from his tower, she would've thought he had abandoned them.
"Alastor is uh... working on something right now. But I'm sure we'll see him soon enough!" Charlie tried to sound optimistic, but it was getting harder and harder. She never truly realized how much Alastor helped her until she didn't have him by her side anymore. Sure he could be difficult and frustrating, but he was truly useful in keeping the hotel afloat.
"Uh huh, sure." Angel Dust mumbled as he played on his phone.
"Hey I won't complain that he isn't here. Let's just get this over with." Husk commented as he took a seat next to Angel Dust. Nifty was bouncing excitedly by the coffee table and Charlie was facing her three hotel members. She realized she was still missing one other person.
"Hey Angel, where's Cherry Bomb?" Cherry Bomb started making her appearances more and more frequent since the battle and Charlie was actually enjoying her being here. She didn't want to have a room here, but she still visited periodically. Since she was already down two members, she was hoping that Cherry would be here.
"Fuck if I know. Probably hooking up with someone if I had to take a guess." He smoothly commented, never looking up from his phone. Charlie felt her forehead crease in frustration. Well, you can't win it all.
"Ooookay then! We can go ahead and get started then! This exercise is about trusting your fellow teammates! We are going to each go around the room and say something about themselves that no one else knows about! Everything that will be said in this room will stay in this room! Trust is the key to any successful friendship and it's also a fun way of getting to know each other more!"
"This is very similar to the trust fall you had us do, Missy." Angel Dust finally put down his phone and crossed his arms. Husk dropping him wasn't one of his best memories, Charlie was sure.
"Kiiinda but this time no one will be dropped! No physical violence." Nifty sniffled, clearly not happy about that choice.
"Alright but if anyone blabs, I'm gonna-"
"Thank you, Angel Dust! But no one will blab."
"How can you be so sure?" Husk asked. Charlie paused and thought about it. There really wasn't a sure fire way of absolutely knowing for sure that no one would spread any gossip.
"Well Husk, that's where the trust comes in!" Charlie swung her fist up in a positive way. Husk clearly wasn't buying it.
"Trust is so over rated, my dear. It can easily be broken, and very difficult to repair. Fragile, really." Charlie whipped her head around to find Alastor standing right behind her. He had to of appeared as smoke through the floor.
"That makes it all the more precious." Charlie said in a serious tone. She couldn't lie, she was secretly very happy that Alastor decided to join them. She wasn't going to let him shit all over her exercise though. He let out a static 'hmm'.
"Agree to disagree then. But," Alastor tapped his Microphone on the ground once and everyone felt electricity flow through them, through the floor and up the walls. It felt like they were in the middle of an electric box. Charlie's arm hair was standing straight up. "I prefer the guarantee that everyone will keep quiet. If anyone says anything that is mentioned in this room to any outsiders, they will receive quite a shock." His grin seemed wider than usual as he played his fingers in the air, sparks flying from them.
"Alastor, no! It defeats the whole point of the exercise!" Charlie turned around completely and faced him. Alastor took a deep breath and got closer to Charlie's face. She wanted to take a step back from him, but for some reason couldn't.
"Nonsense! They are still able to spread the gossip as they please, but now there will be a guaranteed punishment if they decide to do so. Consider it insurance!" Charlie pursed her lips in thought. He did have a point, she supposed.
"Fine. Is everyone ok with this?" Charlie turned toward the rest of the group for clarification. Angel and Husk shrugged and Nifty looked even more excited.
"Ah ah ah. For you my Nifty, if you spread anything about what's going to be said, I won't allow you to clean for a whole month." Alastor cocked his eyebrow that basically said 'Checkmate'. Nifty stopped wiggling and her smile dropped. Charlie leaned in toward Alastor and she could've swore that he sucked in some air through his teeth.
"Um, who would clean then?" She whispered.
"Don't worry, Princess. I won't let our hotel go to ruins. Wouldn't want any more late night scolding conversations, would we?" Alastor snidely replied. It's good to know he was able to somewhat joke about their 'heart to heart'.
"Works for me. Alright let's get started! Who wants to go first?" Charlie clasped her hands together and glanced around the room. Naturally, no one wanted to go first.
"Alright, seems like I'll break the ice." Charlie cleared her throat before continuing.
"A few weeks ago during breakfast, I snuck an extra muffin from the spread." Charlie let out a sigh like she had been holding that in for a while. Everyone blinked at the same time, staring at her.
"Oh come on, Toots! You don't have anything dirtier in the arsenal? I bet you have a wild sex story!" Angel Dust leaned forward, attentively listening now. Charlie felt her face get hot, pulling on her pantsuit collar to try and cool down.
"Oh um I don't know about that-" She suddenly felt hands grasp both of her shoulders.
"Oh come on, Charlie! Sneaking an extra pastry hardly qualifies as something dramatic enough for this." Alastor commented, seemingly right in her ear. His voice reverberated through her eardrum, which resulted in a weird tingle to go through her spine. She shook the feeling and Alastor's hands off.
"Ok fine! Um.." Charlie contemplated what she could say. She didn't want her friends to look at her any different. What would be a nice in between?
"Ok ok! The upstairs broom closet is where me and Vaggie had our first kiss together." Charlie rushed it all out, squeezing her eyes shut, not wanting to see their faces.
"OOooohhh a broom closet! I bet kissing isn't all that happened, but it's better than the mystery of the missing muffin." Angel settled on the tiny crumb that Charlie gave. She opened her eyes and saw that everyone seemed satisfied with that fun fact about her. She glanced over at Alastor. He seemingly didn't change his expression, but she noticed yet again that his grip on his microphone was more tight than usual.
"Indeed. Who's next?" Alastor questioned. Angel Dust raised his hand immediately.
"Oh I've got a doozy for ya! So one time, I was fucking these three loan sharks-"
Charlie was sure her whole face was blistered red after that Angel Dust story. Husk hid his face in his hand, Nifty was sitting on the ground facing Angel Dust listening to him like he was reading a bedtime story. Alastor looked like he was either going to vomit or slither back to his tower.
"-and it took weeks to get those stains off of me, but eventually I did!" He proudly stated as he puffed out his chest further.
"Um. Thank you, Angel Dust for that...colorful story. Perhaps next time though, just a small fun fact?" Charlie measured a small space with two fingers. Angel Dust rolled his eyes.
"Ha, your loss! I got plenty more stories where that came from!" Nifty looked like she was about to ask for another one when Husk chimed in.
"I died at a Poker game. Drank myself into a coma and collapsed." Everyone looked at him with wide eyes, not expecting anything so dark. "Shame too. I had a royal flush." Husk grumbled as he played with a frayed piece of the couch.
"Can't say that I'm shocked, Husker! Drinking has always been a talent of yours. I would say gambling is too," Alastor waved his hand and a very slight neon green mist circled Husks neck. Husk's face fell. "but we should probably stick with facts today." Alastor let out a rough chuckle as Husk tried to compose himself. Charlie became irritated that Alastor made this game more uncomfortable.
"Well then let's hear something about you, then!" Charlie put her hands on her hips, waiting on Alastor's response. Everyone cut their eyes nervously to him, wondering how he was going to respond to such a command. He cocked his head curiously and waved his hand again, making the green mist dissipate from Husks neck. He visibly relaxed.
"Very well." Alastor strolled in front of Charlie, facing the other three members. That's odd, Charlie thought. It was almost as if he didn't want her to see his face.
"I was the unfortunate recipient of an Angelic wound from the classless Adam, and I'm working on finding a way to heal." Silence settled on the room and Charlie swear she could hear her blood rushing in her ears. Alastor did in fact get injured! She rushed around him and faced him, looking over his whole body to try and see where it was.
"Are you serious?! Why didn't you say anything? Where is it? How bad is it-" Alastor in one quick motion grabbed Charlie's lower jaw to make her stop talking. He angled her toward his face, much like he did in her room when he was talking about his reasoning behind always smiling.
"It's nothing for you to worry about, I assure you. That is why I've been quite absent recently so I apologize for any hinderance I caused on the hotel." If it wasn't for the grip Alastor had on her jaw, she would've went slack jawed. He actually seemed genuine in his confession.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Charlie asked in a small voice. Angelic wounds are practically impossible to fully heal if they didn't kill you. Depending on where the injury was, Alastor might be suffering more than he was letting on. Alastor's eyes got the tiniest bit soft as he looked back into Charlie's.
"I would cross my heart, but since I don't have one you'll just have to take my word for it, my dear. I'm right as rain." He replied matter of factly. Charlie gave a slight nod and Alastor let her face go.
"Nifty , I do believe it is your turn." Alastor stated, his eyes still never leaving Charlie's.