Author's Note: Hello and good day, morning, or evening to all of you have hopped into the fourteenth installment of Drifters.
Just a forewarning, outside of the vast use of swear words that have been commonplace throughout this fic, this chapter is why the story's rated M not T. While nothing explicit is written, and is just alluded to as something that is going to happen when the main POVs leaves the area for the sake of comedy, I'd thought I'd drop the warning just because the first two sections feature Valentino preparing his sets for a shoot and… yeah, while it does lead to some comedic moments, I also understand if people need to skip past that given the nature of Val's personality and profession.
For the TLDR of that: This chapter has a trigger warning for the same reason the fourth episode of the show did.
Alright, onto a far more uplifting section of the preface, Reviews!
Gamer of Action 44D: I can't thank you enough for that comment man. It didn't just make my day it made my week, if not my month!
Writing this fan faction has been a blast and a half for me, and has helped me as a writer immensely. It had been a while since I updated to the site, let alone published a new story, so when I got bit by the author's bug to start Drifters I decided I wouldn't post the first chapter until I've drafted at least six. That way I'd make sure I was writing a story I not only wanted to imagine, but a story I wanted to finish.
Now, I would be the biggest liar on the planet if I said I didn't mind the story's lack of popularity. And having a week with no new, or in some cases a loss in, favs or follows can cause a bit of self doubt to creep into my mind. And I'll question if my writing is too slow and poor quality, or if the story's premise is just inherently flawed. But even if my worries are true, then the only way to vanquish them is to keep writing.
And more important than the doubt, is the fun I have writing. And more important than the favorites and follows are the constructive and kind reviews I get! Which you have provided in spades! And while I in no way want you to feel pressured into having to write a comment every week or for every chapter, I would like to thank you for everyone you give. They are a big pick me up, and truly appreciated!
JCINNABAR: You, you I will absolutely pressure you into writing a review each week if it means Drifters comment section is filled with culinary metaphors XD.
Lol, jokes aside, thank you man! Your comments too have been far too kind! Although, if you ever feel a chapter wasn't a complete dish, don't hesitate to go Gordon Ramsey on it! That definitely falls in the criteria of constructive criticism!
Also, thank you for the relaxation reminder, and offer of a stew recipe. Definitely have a detox day every week so I don't burn myself out writing.
Phew, I'd apologize for the long response section this week… but honestly, the reviews were so great I'm not going too XD
So without further adieu, besides my traditional apology revolving around any grammatical mistakes that may pop up along the way, I welcome you back too….
Drifters
A Hazbin Fanfic
Chapter Fourteen:
Moth to a Flame
With the air wreaking of sweaty martinis, Charlie had to barricade her smile behind closed lips. Unfortunately, her ears and eyes lacked such a biologically ready mask. So to the trumpet of vulgar script readings, and the sight of people miming out a performance she very much didn't want to stick around to watch, reality shattered her naive view of Angel's workplace as she walked inside the studio.
The spider demon didn't, nor could he, make his profession a secret. But Charlie had always focused more on the 'actor' aspect of his title than the word that preceded it.
She envisioned the sets he performed on as grand opera house-like stages. With rows of high tailored camera men and directors silently running the operations like a well oiled machine.
Needless to say, the overabundance of lubricant being prepared for the actual process quickly executed her previous notions on the subject.
"Don't stare too long, you might catch something."
Charlie came out of her shock and looked down at her pink haired chauffeur.
In the brief amount of time the heiress had known Velvette, she'd never would have said the woman dressed provocatively. But as if in preparation for this toxic environment, the Vee wore an autumn sleeved jacket and designer jeans. Which may as well be a hazmat suit compared to her unusual tang top, skirt, and leggings combo.
Heck, the woman had even tied her hair into a single ponytail. As if to decrease the amount of handles a wayward arm could grab onto by accident.
Perhaps that was just an over analysis on Charlie's end. Though as Velvette squeezed them down the narrow path bisecting the sets, she couldn't help but feel glad she always braided her mane into a condensed pillar.
"Hopefully just your partner's free time." Charlie nearly threw up her gulp when she heard somebody mention what they were gonna have to swallow, "I didn't realize he'd be this… busy."
"Busy? Val?!" Velvette's laugh hit Charlie a snort, "I'd say you better be careful with what you say before you turn one of these films into a comedy, but half the cameras aren't even rolling."
"Huh?" Charlie certainly wished her eyes weren't recording everything, though didn't see why the Vee wouldn't.
"Val needs the right 'white noise' to work in." Velvette air quoted, "Why it needs to be the sounds of an orgy is beyond me. But what do I know, I'm just somebody who prides myself on being a professional not a perv."
A fact Charlie was grateful for. Because she definitely wouldn't have had the courage to bulldoze her way past mouth watering Sinner's like the Vee did.
"Which is why I'll make sure we're long gone before Val turns on his background music."
It was funny, Velvette had been at odds with her not even a week prior to this, yet now the pinkette was forging her afternoon to help the heiress solve one of Angel's woe. Although the environment she had brought Charlie too was far from a kind one. And she found herself nervous to meet the kind of man who produced such a kinked filled swamp.
Eyes glued to the floor, she reminded herself with each step that no soul was beyond redemption. No matter how… passionately they were about to express a certain sin.
"Let's just hope he's not fucking the ambience already-"
When Velvette cut herself off, Charlie shut her eyes. Worried they'd reveal the very thing the Vee had hoped against.
"Fucking Hell."
A suave voice laced the air, and Charlie could only hope the words spoken weren't literal.
"Does showmanship mean nothing?! You parasites are supposed to be getting ready to drain cocks, not my time!"
"Look who's talking!" Velvette intruded on the complaint with her own.
Charlie opens her eyes, and followed the pinkette's vexed tone.
Past the remaining sea of STDs was a slim figure. Who lounged on his own stitched chair of power as if it was a beach side throne.
The demon was incredibly lanky, although unlike most of the inhabitants of the studio, he hid it behind a puffed jacket. That almost seemed to be a royal purple sheet of silk stitched upon the natural fluff that jettisoned from his chitin armored body.
It was hard to tell, since his bathrobe-like coat and feathered tipped sun hat partially obscured his body, but if she had to guess the man was some sort of butterfly esc creature. With his jacket and heart shaped shades concealing a set of wings, arms, and the compound eyes that drifted their way.
"I didn't forget, I'm just killing two birds with one stone." the moth man drawled his arm out as if it was the dragged smoke of a cigarette, "You of all people must appreciate such efficiency."
"Standing in front of the door for five minutes may be efficient for you, but not for me." the smaller Vee violently massaged her temples, "So for the next ten, we're going to have your undivided attention, or so fucking help me, all your shoots will be postponed until your actors dicks grow back."
Charlie's eyes dilated. As if to shield herself from such a sight if it did occur.
"Always a pleasure to collaborate with you Vel." the moth murmured. His hand raised to give his workers a break. Or rather, a rearmament. As a slew of make-up artists pulled out industrial grade polishers to shine the actors, "Now, who was it again you've brought along?"
Charlie heard Velvette's teeth clench. As if she had already discussed the merits of this discussion with the director, and he was blatantly asking for a summary just to waste time.
When his lazy gaze drifted over to the heiress' though, Charlie almost wished he had just remained in his bored posture.
For it vanished the minute his eyes gave her a once-over. And the blonde certainly didn't like the teeth his irises smiled, nor the shine his elongated tongue wiped on his lips.
"H-hi, thank you so much for meeting me Mister Valentino-"
"Just Valentino is fine darling~" the moth purred, and Charlie had to force the rest of her introduction past her instinct to leave.
"…R-right. Anyway, I'm Charlie Morningstar, owner of the Hazbin Hotel. And I'd very much like to-"
Valentino raised an arm to cut the blonde off. Rather than speak into the silence he had created, the moth simply let it linger for a few seconds. As if the true purpose was for him to simply continue his analysis of her in silence.
Being viewed like an art exhibit was deeply unsettling to Charlie. And, given the steam rising from the pinkette, a direct insult to Velvette's view of time management.
"Baby, baby, slow down~" Val sang, "You've got the looks, no need to pitch me your work experience. In fact…"
Charlie's eyes quite literally had nowhere to go to avoid the awkwardness of the situation, as the slender Vee kept eyeing her up in the worst way possible.
"I'd say your popularity will come from the fact you have so little. Todays for the men, but if you come by after the shoot I can show you how gender inclusive we are-"
"She's not here for a job, so if you keep hitting on her," Velvette stepped in between Charlie and Val at the same speed her fist met her open palm, "I'm going to start hitting you."
"You're no fun at all." the moth's eyes rolled him back into his laziness.
And while Charlie never was one for violence of any kind… she couldn't help but be relieved the pinkette's threat had doused the fire she had unknowingly walked into.
"B-but she is right." Charlie stuttered. Her volume increased to account for the added distance between her and the director that she wasn't going to shorten, "I'm here strictly because one of my guests works for you… and I couldn't help but notice he has been coming home later and more exhausted than usual."
The slender Vee scoffed. Luckily for Charlie his annoyance came from the topic she brought up, rather than her departure from the one he had forced upon her.
"That's the cost of fame, and a price Angel happily pays."
For all the build up, the moth flicked her quandary away as if it was trivia matter. Unworthy of being thought about, let alone spoken aloud.
"Sorry to disagree," Charlie took in a deep breath to inflate her eyebrows before they could furrow, "but leaving work barely able to walk isn't what the dictionary defines as happiness."
Val's fingers lazy flow through the air stopped.
"Did he tell you that himself?" the moth's eyes sharpened his tongue to a razor. It lashed out at Charlie, but her own eyes narrowed when it's snap clearly cracked for someone else, "Is the lost bitch whining about the hand that feeds him."
"Angel didn't tell me any of this." Charlie's ears deflated any reason in her head, and her tone grew angry. "I sought you out on my own because I believe he's working in a hostile environment."
"Here's a simple solution then," Val rose in his chair. His entire nine foot frame towered over the heiress, "Stop imprinting your beliefs onto my pet, and your problems solved."
The pressure in Charlie's head rose, and when Val rolled out his view of Angel, her skull was breached by two spears.
"You can't call him that! He's a human soul just like you! Don't you care about his well-being?"
Charlie's rage burnt away Velvette's frustration into silent shock. Unfortunately, the heiress had once again sparked an inferno around her that drew in the moth's attention.
"All I care about is how many cocks he can fit in the hole his soul left behind." Val leaned over her, not caring for the two pikes he stared down.
Charlie hands balled into fist, and the restraints she prided herself on began to crumble.
"Now if you want to talk about humanity, I'd happily discuss a lease for that bird man you've got cooped up at your hotel." Val scoffed, and turned away from the bonfire before he flew too close, "Who knows, lose the snippy attitude and give me a good deal for him, and maybe I'll even loosen the leash I've got around my pet you love so much."
Charlie's world went red… quite literally as the blood vessels in her eyes drowned her vision crimson.
"What in the Nine Rings makes you think you can get away with threatening my friends." the heiress moved forward, and the moth smirked as if he welcomed the challenge. "I won't let you harm a single soul-"
A new pressure built up within her arm. It was a foreign feeling, but not dissimilar to the one that erupted from her head. However, before whatever laid in her wrist could join its horns in the air, a clothed gripped clamped down on her forearm a cast.
"Charlie, go outside." Velvette's calm order did not match the intensity in the Vee's eyes.
"I'm not just going to let him get away with this!" the blonde's rage certainly did though.
"He's not, I'll handle it." Velvette continued, "Now head out front, and I'll meet you there in a few minutes."
Charlie stared down at the shorter doll. Her heated gaze threatened to light the stitch work ablaze, as thoughts of the Vee's open plan to sabotage the hotel and profit off its downfall filled her mind.
However, such thoughts were reflected in the pinkette's eyes as a towering demon. One whose murderous gaze sat beneath crimson horns Charlie had prided herself on hiding away.
Her pupils slowly cleared, each pant of her breath draining more blood from her eyes. She looked around, as the production staff that had worked through Val's intermission had stopped in fear of her.
Mouth agape, Charlie felt her horns holstered into their sheathes.
"I-I'm… I'm…" unable to form an apology, panic and shame coated Charlie in place of her demonic traits.
Before Velvette could offer anymore orders, before Val could hiss her into a relapse, and before the occupants of the studio could blink her outburst into their memories, the heiress turned around. And to the beat of her hooves, that she couldn't hide behind the echoes of heels, she ran out of the studio.
XxxxxxX
In the split second Charlie's arm had left her grasp, Velvette had snapped her digits a claw around Val's. And nearly as fast the heiress made her escape, the shorter Vee pushed the taller one a bulldozer through his own employee, and into a far more secluded section of the studio.
When her eyes found the first three walled door, a loud bang and Val's shrill scream followed. Much to her personal space's relief, she had rammed them into a spacious green room rather than a broom closet.
"Ow, ow, ow!" Val grasped his wrist when the pinkette threw him inside, "What the hell are you doing?!"
"Same thing I always do." Velvette's hissed tone slammed into the moth harder than the door she shut behind them, "Saving you from your own stupidity."
"More like saving that royal bitch from hers!" Val sneered, his hand still rolled in the air.
"I'm sorry," Velvette followed his digits with her eyes, and her sarcasm glued her own hands to her hip, "but have you forgotten who her dad is? You know the devil, the devil from the Bible!"
"And your point is?" he raised an eyebrow upon a demeaning inflection.
Velvette's eyes nearly popped in her head, as her rage threatened to blow up the room.
"The point is you're a pussy who is currently nursing his hand because I grasped it too hard." Velvette outstretched her arms to point out his, "If Charlie didn't detest violence so much, she'd have ripped it off."
"As if I'd allow that," Val scoffed, although retreated his injured appendage into his winged coat, not sure if his own statement was true, "and even if I couldn't, hundreds of cameras would have caught the pacifist redeemer assaulting a national treasure on video. The film we have now will damage her, that could have ruined her."
Velvette's mouth opened up. Shocked, not at the moth's well thought out plan, but the idiocy of his improvised excuse.
"Did you hit your head on every rock on your way down here, or are you just this mentally inept?" her hands clasped the side of her hair, before one drifted inward to pinch her eyes closed, "Here's what's going to happen, you are going to order all those cameras outside to purge their film, I'm going to text Vox to 'run a maintenance' performance on the server so we can wipe the data off your employees phones, and we are going to pray that Lucifer doesn't come out of his millennial long retirement because he saw a clip of you creeping on his daughter!"
"I will not be talked down to by somebody who's already gotten into a fight with her." Val retorted, "Daddy didn't come to defend her then, why would he now?"
"Because my fight happened over the fact the camera needed to make it viral broke!" Velvette's harsh tone struck a balance between mockery, anger, and demeanor. All of which the pinkette spoke as if she was explaining this to a nine year old, "Yours was just picked up by a hundred amateur cameramen, and a dozen or so professional ones. Tell me, despite the fact we know nothing about the man in charge here, do you feel confident he won't bat an eye at you perving on Charlie?"
"…" any response Val had died in his throat.
"That's what I thought. Because of you, we've now got to be on damage control." Vel commanded, "Luckily, me chewing you out is gonna give me brownie points with Miss Sunshine and Rainbow."
The doll's mind worked faster than her mouth to formulate an actual strategy from the wreckage of Val's terrible excuse.
"But only if you start going easy on Angel."
That got the moth to cough out the lump in his throat.
"You can't be serious! I've got a schedule to keep-"
"Should have thought of that before your work ethic started fucking mine up." the shorter Vee heated gaze melted the taller one into a puddle, "So until I get this hotel to crash and burn, Angel's gonna work a normal eight hour day, he's going to be off by six o'clock, and your going to stop fucking him into a cripple."
The moth's jaw slacked so far to the ground, his frustration almost shook it off.
"You can't make a decision like that for me! Not without Vox-"
"Vox would agree with me, and you know it. If you didn't, you'd be on the phone with him right now whining about how I'm picking on you or some other bullshit."
The silence that followed was all Vel needed to hear to continue.
"And you should be grateful he's only going to see this fuck up through text. That way you can pass off my plan to ease up on Angel as your own, and save what's left of your face."
"How does being nicer to Angel benefit me?!"
The moth hitched and moaned. The offense he over acted made Velvette wish she had a leash to choke around him.
"Because you being nicer will give him less of a reason to stay at the Hotel when I start turning him and the others against Charlie."
Velvette explained, and dragged her hand across her face when it became apparent Val couldn't comprehend her point.
"… but that could take months!"
"Yeah," Velvette snapped, and in light of having the proper tools to educate her fellow Vee, opened the door to leave him with knowledge she left behind, "welcome to my Hell! But hey, you know what doesn't take months?"
She opened the door, the glare of the set hit Val like a ray of light through a magnifying glass. Velvette followed it out. Her phone in hand, and a text prepped for Val beneath her fingers.
"Uploading a video, so let's get on stopping that you fucking moron!"
XxxxxxX
When Velvette walked out the hanger door, Charlie sprung to her feet. The water works in her eyes had not gotten to the point of leaking onto her cheeks, but her vision was still blurry enough to make the pinkette spiraled mane seem like a kaleidoscope.
"I-I am so… I can't…" the heiress' apology cut itself off with each step she took towards the shortest Vee, "You helped get me this meeting for Angel… and I screwed it up for both of you."
When the blonde finished her walk up to Velvette, she lost the courage to lock eyes with her destination. Instead she drifted her sight below Vel's raised brow.
"I'm… I'm sorry." she finally managed to squeak out.
She felt Velvette's vision bore into the crown of her bowed head. But it wasn't until the influencer broke the silence with a cackle that she realized it had been in confusion not annoyance.
"Bi polar much." the Vee snicker, "Come on princess, depression doesn't look good on anyone, so cut yourself some slack."
"You're not… mad?" Charlie cautiously brought her head up.
"Oh I'm furious." Velvette confirmed, "Furious you didn't impale Val through the chest when he started throwing himself at you. I mean for fuck sake, I would have ripped his wings off and jammed them up his arse if he spoke to me that way."
That certainly… wouldn't be the route Charlie would've taken.
"… b-but isn't he your co-worker?"
"Doesn't mean he can treat you like that…" the Vee paused, before her smirk increased, "or Angel. Which is why I made sure he knew it was in our business best interest to ease up on the Spider's hours."
Charlie's head expanded to fit her widened eyes.
"D-does that mean…"
"Yep, you just made Angel's days a lot less hellish." Vel nodded her grin, before she shrugged it away, "Albeit, I had to convince Val to do it for financial reasons. So don't go thinking your 'good in all souls' gospel crap struck a chord with him-"
Charlie cut the pinkette's own song off by when she hugged it into a rest.
"Thank you. Thank you so much Velvette." The blonde squeezed her gratitude into the Vee.
Charlie was certain the inclucer's face must have frozen in shock and, or, disgust. But she couldn't help but display affection, especially since her technical 'competitor' had just gone out of her way to help an innocent third party. No matter what the pinkette just said about the mute chords in the Vees, Charlie believed she could hear the one in Vel silently ping.
"Uh…" Velvette droned, her arms twitched up to push Charlie away. But the heiress leaned back into her smile when they moved apart, "Don't mention it, and I'm serious about that! When you break the news to Angel, you tell him this was your doing."
"Of course." Charlie nodded, although she hoped one day Velvette would feel comfortable enough around the white furred Sinner to tell him the truth, "He's going to be so thrilled!"
She turned away from the studio, and despite the inability to see the hotel, already pictured the happy faces it would soon contain.
"He better be." Velvette sighed, and when Charlie turned her smile towards the Vee, the pinkette rolled her eyes and walked away from it to start their journey home.
All though maybe, just maybe, as the heiress trailed behind the suddenly silent influencer, Charlie believed Velvette wasn't just walking home, but trying to walk away from her own kindness. Which, while not a healthy trait, increased the amount of hope the blonde had for the Doll.
Because even if the pinkette currently outpaced her own goodness, the mere fact she had to accelerate past it, proved it was there.
XxxxxxX
Tuesday evening had arrived before Charlie and Velvette had returned from whatever errand they had run. Outside of the company she brought along, the heiress spending her day tackling an external checklist wasn't too abnormal. However, such a task bleeding over into her valuable lesson time was noteworthy. Especially when the blonde liked to start them right after everybody got off work.
Hell, Nester technically was off right now, but when he had come down to an ownerless lobby, he decided to lounge on his work stool waiting for the moment Charlie returned.
What he thought would be ten minutes of overtime, quickly elongated into an hour of extra work. With Sir Pentious, Angel, Fat Nugget, and Vaggie all having made their way down to the atrium to join the two first floor employees waiting for their boss.
Husk seemed indifferent over Charlie's absence. And the little emotion he spared for it had been the scoffs he sent the foolish avian manning the door like a dog waiting for their owner to return.
There was perhaps some truth to that, but the majority of Nester's reason actually came down to the guilt he still felt over not getting the door for Angel Yesterday. Deep down, he hoped the furred spider demon would notice his newfound sense of duty… but without Charlie's lessons to rope in his focus, the actor had merely taken her absence as a chance to stare down the lens of a shot glass rather than the door.
Sir Pentious had actually joined the actor at the bar's counter. Although it soon became apparent the snake simply needed a surface to work on his machinations. Evidently, the serpent wasn't one to waste his time, and the more it passed without Charlie showing up, the more shelled Henchmen descended the stair with more elaborate gears and tools for the machinist to use.
If nothing else, the sight of Sir Pentious dropping down a Da Vinci esc flying machine at the counter ensured nobody grew bored. Although Nester had some fear over what Hell would break loose if the nail gun the eggs handed the inventor upgraded themselves into blowtorches.
Normally the bird would just assume Vaggie would handle that problem before it got out of hand. But given her vision was being hammered down into her text messages, Nester feared it'd be up to the indifferent Husk to reign in any potential fire hazard. Although, even if the cat didn't care enough to enforce the rules, the avian had spotted a fire extinguisher on the wall nearby. So on the off chance the snake's workshop went up in flames, he could take comfort in knowing they had a way to put it out.
Outside of Sir Pentious' mechanics melody, the rest of the lobby was silent. Not in an awkward way, at least not completely, but more so a tried one.
Husk was always one to go about his business unenthusiastically, so him filling up Angel's emptied glass without much as a word wasn't too surprising. The lack of flirts being shot his way though proved last night's anomaly still lingered in the air.
Angel's body usually arrived back to the hotel deflated, but Monday's outburst appeared to have popped his emotional strength as well.
Nester didn't have the bravery to head to the bar and check in on the man. So he'd have to wait until the spider's face climbed out from his drink to see whether it was filled with continued frustration or left over guilt. Somehow, the sight of Angel's pork belly emotional support animal lapping at the actor's cowlick didn't make the guess between the two states any easier.
"Tu es muy loco." Vaggie muttered. Her eyes flickered continuously to and from her door in a controlled panic.
Nester didn't think it was his place to ask her what she was worried about, since the obvious answer had to be Charlie. For now he was contempt to just be left in the dark so his stress could worry about the wrong things. Luckily, Vaggie's clear whispers entered his ear a foreign language, so he didn't have to worry about over hearing-
"Wait?" Nester curiosity perked his head up, "Hell has Spanish?"
His perplexed words didn't have the energy to leave his own personal bubble, let alone enter another person's. Still, as he mused his outspoken confusion into an internal duplicate, he couldn't help but be perplexed by the sudden introduction of a language barrier.
Up until this point he hadn't even considered that everybody had been speaking English. Nor how weird that kind of was.
Maybe most of the inhabitants of the hotel speaking it made sense, since they all seemed to be from the same set of countries… and it wouldn't be impossible for Charlie to have picked it up to connect to more newcomers, but it did make him curious as to why it wasn't the reverse. With the new citizen who fell down here being the ones who had to learn some ancient tongue already spoken.
Nester mused it over his mind. It wouldn't be impossible for there to be some sort of magical translation thing going on… although if that was the case, wouldn't he have been able to tell what Vaggie just said.
He turned his head to the white haired woman. For a moment he debated whether he should ask her about it. Although when her face paled before the door, he decided against it. After all, it could be a personal matter, and who was he to-
"Hey Vaggie is Angel-" Charlie flung the door open, and Nester's face broke apart faster than her question when he realized he had just over thought his way out of his one job, "Oh good, everybody's already here!"
The princess followed her grin into the lobby, while the neutral expression of Velvette drafted behind her.
Who upon closing the door behind them, revealed the bird who hadn't.
"Wow… you're really not good at this, are you?" The Vee deadpanned.
Nester felt her brutal honesty strike his face an actual kitchen pan.
"Niffty's still busy!" Vaggie quickly answered Charlie question, "So while we wait for her, let's go someplace private to talk about your announcement-"
"No need! All of it's for Angel anyway! While he celebrates, we'll go get her for the activity!"
"And what am I going to be celebrating?" The furred Sinner dragged his head into a tilt, and directed his confused exhaustion at the overjoyed owner.
"Your newfound freedom!" Charlie shot her hands upwards as if a bomb had rocketed them to Heaven.
Whatever sonic boom had taken place fell on deaf ears. Velvette's eyes rolled, and Vaggie's dilation seemed to indicate they had some idea of what was going on. Though the men of the lobby joined Nester in popping their personal bubbles with raised eyebrows.
"I know how much you've been struggling at work, so I had Velvette pull a few strings and was able to talk to your boss about it!" Charlie struck a pose of triumph, and her closed eyes stared upward.
Making her blind to the explosion she hit Angel with.
"You… did… what?"
The raised tone the spider had sent Nester yesterday had nothing on the whispered disbelief he echoed to Charlie.
"I… talked to your boss," Charlie's voice dipped with her muscles' ability to keep her arms aloft, "a-and he agreed to lower your workload, so there's no need to worry. I handled the problem-"
"But I didn't ask you to!" the whisper before had been nothing more than the clicks of the rocket Angel had loaded in his shout, "For fuck sake, it's bad enough you pry into my personal shit here, now you've got to fuck your way into my job too!"
"E-every night you seemed so exhausted-" Charlie's excitement faltered beneath the onslaught.
"Because every once in a while I have a hard day at work!" Angel killed whatever strength Charlie had left her cheeks, "And when that happens I grab a drink and bitch about it! Shitty days happen in the real world princess, only a privileged control freak would think me being peeved after one is an emotional fucking crisis!"
Charlie's mouth hung open, yet offered up no words in her defense. Nester himself could barely put two words together in his mind, and the verbal strikes weren't even aimed at him.
"But hey, maybe you already knew that," the spider's yell shattered itself into a buckshot of scoffs, "and your little intrusion into my work life was just your way to trigger an actual disaster for me."
"I-I would never-" Charlie coughed up, and she stuttered a step forward.
From his side, Nester saw a flash of gray grasp the heiress. As Vaggie's hand kept her girlfriend in place, and her militaristic expression bore into Angel the warning of the head security officer.
"Well you just did!" Angel crossed two arms. The deliberate choice to use the bare minimum amount made the demon appear more human, which made the action all the more hurtful, "So thanks Charlie, thanks for reminding all of us you're the devil's daughter."
Nester had muttered a similar statement weeks ago. And what had followed was a period of awkwardness that sparked vexed girlfriend's, embarrassed host, and a plethora of jests from the peanut gallery.
Angel's words did not conjure up the same encore. For he had used the ignorance of the avian's remark, to sharpen his own with harm. And when they thrust out, the first to be struck by them was the wielder.
Nester saw Angel's mouth droop, before the words finished leaving his mouth. And each heave of the furred demon's breath seemed less to do with the exhaustion of his own outburst, and more his desire to suck his finishing statement back in.
It was too late, as the words rang in everyone's ears. Nester processed them slower than most, but when he grasped the full gravity of the statement, he understood something.
He had seen demons angry before.
When he first arrived in Hell, he saw Sinners tear each other limb from limb for fallen scraps. When he first met another soul down here, it was done so under threat of violent evictions. When he first came to the hotel, he was met with the point of a spear.
During his first day on the job Pentious had nearly blown him up. During Velvette's debut activity he witnessed her assault Charlie. And during the last twenty four hours he had witnessed Angel snap at people annoyed.
But this… this was different. For the first time since Earth, Nester witnessed someone being cruel.
Angel was caught beneath the eyes of a swine that stared at him with the same disbelief as the snake next to him. The eyes of a protector stared at him with the same disgust as the influencer trying to destroy her. And the eyes of a chicken that stared at him with the same disappointment as the callous cat behind the bar.
All of which paled in comparison to the set of eyes that reflected his back through growing tears.
"… Charlie-" it was Angel's turn to be cut off by the consequences of his own actions.
"I-I'm just trying to do the right thing." Charlie hiccuped.
Nester had never heard her a quiet whimper echo so loudly until he was in a room truly void of silence.
"I-I-I'm sorry!"
Nor had he seen a cry so quiet until he saw it literally trampled beneath the loud hooves of a fleeing herd.
If Nester had blinked, Charlie would have disappeared from view. Too bewildered to do so though, he saw her frantic dash up the stairs all too slowly.
And by the time she was gone, his vision joined the others in an even slower drift onto Angel. Only to lock onto an empty space, when the door slammed into the wall next to him, and proved the actor had also vanished in the space between seconds.
Nester spared no thoughts on having failed his job for a second time this evening. If only because like all the other inhabitants left in the fallout of the lobby, his neurons simply didn't have the time to fire enough signals to form one. And they wouldn't, not until a pink football blurred itself past the closing barrier, and the doorknob clicked itself back into place.
At first, everyone simply turned their heads towards one another. As if to confirm what had just transpired wasn't a stroke induced hallucination. The more unreadable faces Nester saw, the more the truth sank in for everyone.
"… you guys track down Angel." Vaggie ordered robotically, her cold march towards the stairs as emotionless as her command.
"Why don't you?" Velvette asked.
Regardless of whether she simply didn't want to go fetch the actor, or deemed doing so laid more within Vaggie' job description, the influencer got no response from the security guard except her ascent to the first floor.
"Because if she finds him," which left Husk having to translate the silent answer, "he's going to die."
The bartender's response came out vexed. Yet the fact he walked out of the bar to complete the task spoke volumes of how rotten the situation had become.
"Maybe he should." Velvette sneered, "I just wasted my day doing him a solid he pissed on, why should I throw away my evening dragging him out of his tantrum?"
"Because Vaggie's will be a lot messier," Husk grumbled, before his furrowed eyebrow raised a hook, "but then again, your fuck up caused this, so maybe you should stay back. Since you're clearly not up to the task."
The Vee's eyes blinked twice at the shiny lure. Very much seeing the barb at its end.
"… fuck you." she sighed, and angrily trailed after Husk towards the door. Rather than fall for the bait, she had evidently decided to jump into the fishermen's boat on her own accord.
"Don't bother getting the door Feather's." Husk said as his claws turned the knob… and Nester realized he just shot a turkey in terms of job performance this afternoon, "As of now you're off duty and coming with us."
"I-I don't… I mean…" Nester fumbled, if Charlie couldn't have solved Angel's problem, then he was certain he'd fail in a worse way, "You guys know your way around Hell better than me, I'd only get in the way. B-besides, somebody should be here if he comes back."
Velvette shot him a deadpan expression. Which left only when his panicked face shivered her lips into an exhausted sigh.
"You are the idiot who struggles to find the handle next to him." she mumbled, and pushed herself past Husk.
Nester felt more relief at the insult's acceptance of his limitations than offense. And he was glad he could just worry about Angel and the others alone in the silence of the lobby.
"You're right," Husk hissed, and Nester stared at the cat, confused why the feline's words parked next to him rather than drive by.
The bartender's eyes bored into the birds. His whiskers twitched as if shocked by static. And the cat's body shook as if fighting off an invisible cold only he could feel.
Before Nester could even grow concerned over the behavior, the gambler's hand snapped around the avian's in a far more fluid motion.
"Pentious, give us a shout if Angel drags his ass back here." Husk ordered, while Nester's face paled, and Sir Pentious' grew confused.
"I'll try, but I don't think my voice isss loud enough-"
"I meant with your phone idiot." Husk used his free claw to pinch his eyes shut.
"…oh… of course." the snake replied, before Nester lost sight of him when he was dragged outside.
"W-wait, I still don't know my way around the city. I'd just be following one of you guys and that be-"
"Useless, I agree." Husk threw Nester forward, causing the bird to stumble onto the cat's point, "Which is why you're going to find that pig."
"B-but I wouldn't even know where to start-", Nester tried to reason. Velvette mumbled something under her breath that may have amounted to some form of annoyed agreement.
Husk however merely took a step away, set to start his own vexed night.
"With its tracks," the bartender words pointed Nester face towards the indented dirt that ran down the hill, and would paint hooves marks onto the concrete at its base, "Pig's gonna be a lot easier to catch, is not going to bitch when he's found, and is giving you a free tour of Hell in the process."
Nester pupils dilated. But Velvette followed Husk grunt down the hill before the avian could stutter his way back up it.
"Lucky you."
XxxxxxX
Thanks to all who have read through the fourteenth chapter of Drifters. I will try my best to upload a chapter every Friday. But until next week's reverse truffle hunt, please feel free to leave a comment! Criticism is always welcomed, so long as there's an attempt for it to be constructive.
As of this moment I am still looking for a beta reader, so to anyone interested please feel free to shoot me a PM.