Beach Day
"Wow!" Celest marvels at the sight of sand that ends at the ocean as it extends into the horizon. Her mothers walk up behind her.
Charlie smiles at her daughter. "Ready for your first day at the beach?"
"Yeah!" the child goes to run off but is stopped by Vaggie who grabbed her by the arm.
"Not so fast!" her Mama tells her. "First, you need to change into your swimsuit and then you need some sunscreen."
"Do I have to wear sunscreen?" Celest asks while being dragged to the changing rooms.
"Do you want to be red as an imp?" the Fallen Angel asks before noticing her daughter glancing at something from the corner of her eye. Facing the direction, she sees a small family of imps glaring at her. Vaggie gives a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I meant no offense," and continues their way to changing room.
It wasn't long until the rest of the Hazbins showed up.
Niffty is leading Kayla down to the beach. Both wearing matching swimwear. "Come on, Kayla. Let's have fun."
"Can we make a sandcastle?" the Childlike woman pleads.
That gets a chuckle out of the one-eyed maid. "Of course. We'll even add a torture chamber big enough for the crabs."
"Yay!"
"Now we're talking!" Angel Dust walks up with Husk, Cherri Bomb, Sir Pentious, Alastor, Emily, and the Egg Bois. To the surprise of everyone other than Cherri, the Spider Demon throws off his shirt and drops his pants to reveal some speedos.
Emily turns her head away in shock, Husk facepalms, Alastor's eyes widen, Pentious looks away in disgust, and the Egg Bois just aren't sure what's going on. Cherri just looks at the rest of the group while grinning at their discomfort.
Charlie had stood there with her mouth covered. "Angel," she walks up to him. "I know that I told you that you could wear whatever you want. But don't you think that you could be a little more modest? Celest is here after all."
Angel just shrugs. "This is me being modest. Why hide everything that I got to offer?" he gestures to himself before noticing some wondering eyes. "Hey, good looking. Know where a guy can get a drink?" he is then pulled away by a certain Cat Demon.
"Wow!" Emily starts blushing. "N-never thought I'd see such few clothing," she then looks down at the bag she's carrying containing her choice of swimwear.
Charlie notices the young seraphim's worried look. "You okay, Emmy?"
"F-fine!" Emily hides the bag behind her. "I'm just going to…" she eyes where the changing rooms are. "…change." and backs away to them.
The group just blinks at her before the rest shrug before going to get changed as well.
Charlie in a red two-piece, Husk in simple black trunks, Sir Pentious just in a t-shirt, Cherri Bomb has an over sized t-shirt as well and some shorts, Alastor has an old-style red one-piece with black stripes, and all the Egg Bois have matching trunks.
Vaggie shows up in her white one-piece while holding Celest by the hand who is wearing a red and white one-piece with a bit of a poof skirt.
Charlie smiles at them briefly before looking at her daughter in worry. "Celest, Sweetie," the Princess kneels in front of her daughter who is pouting. "What happened? You're pale!"
"Yeah," her girlfriend rubs the back of her neck. "I, uh, might have over done it with the sunscreen."
Charlie blinks at Vaggie before cracking a small grin and turns back to the child. "At least we won't have to worry about you getting so much as a tan." That didn't seem to cheer up the little girl one bit as she turned away with a huff.
.oOo.
Alastor was lying in a chair with only the shade of an umbrella to keep him company. A ball then hits him.
"Watch where you're…" he snaps and was about to pop the ball but stopped as he sees a worried Celest running up with scared Kayla and some of the Eggs behind her.
The twitch in his eye gives away the falsehood of his smile. He knows that he cannot do anything to the small child or else he'd face the wrath of her mother. The Radio Demon offers the ball back to the little girl.
Celest smiles as she accepts the ball back, "Thank you, Mr. Alastor!" the little hazbin then ran off with the others to continue playing.
Charlie and Vaggie smile at the sight of their daughter playing with Kayla and the Eggs.
"This was a great idea, Charlie," the Fallen Angel lays back on her towel. "How come we haven't done this before?"
"Well, between the Hotel and the Extermination, we just didn't have time," Charlie explains before turning back to the small child. "Then came our little surprise giving us even less time."
Celest is now comforting a crying Kayla who got hit in the face with the ball. Any demon not from the Hotel just raised a brow at the sight of a little girl treating a grown woman as a child.
"Yeah," Vaggie couldn't help but agree with a happy sigh. "It's hard balancing work life and family life despite both taking place under the same roof."
"Actually…" the Princess turns her eyes away from her girlfriend causing the former Exorcist to sit up and stare.
"What?"
"I was more referring to how overprotective you are."
"Excuse me?"
"I will admit to having my own moments of smothering her, but sometimes you take it to a whole other level."
Vaggie glares at her. "Name one moment where I was overprotective."
"Your reluctance to let Celest go to school."
The Fallen Angel blinks. "Okay. Name two."
"Vaggie," Charlie waves her hand over to where Celest is back to playing with Kayla. "Our daughter is currently paler than me."
The Fallen Angel then looks between the two before releasing a defeated sigh. "Okay! Fine! So, I guess I can be overbearing at times. And if I'm to be honest…" she turns back to her girlfriend. "…I might have been worse if I wasn't doing this with you."
"Aw!" Charlie pecks her on the cheek causing the grey woman to smile.
"Chances are I would have locked up the Hotel to prevent Celest from leaving."
The Princess of Hell nods. "Yeah. I totally see you doing that." That causes Vaggie to glare at her girlfriend but soon starts laughing with Charlie joining in.
.oOo.
Emily just stood there in the changing room with a towel wrapped around her. She's not entirely sure what to do.
When the topic of a beach day came up, the young seraphim had said she would love to join. Even though she had no idea what a beach day was.
Emily lets out a yelp at the sound of banging at the door.
"Open up, Lady!" a gruff voice shouts. "Other people need to use this!"
"I'm, I'm sorry!" Emily shouts back. "I'll be out in a minute!"
"You said that five minutes ago! If you're not out by the count of three, I'm going to break this door down! One! Two!—Ah!" the voice lets out a scream followed by the sound of splatter.
"Three," a familiar voice laughs. "Hey, Em!" a knock comes. "You okay in there?"
"Cherri?" Emily response. "I'm, I'm fine."
The Explosive Expert's voice that is usually laced with some form of mischief that the seraphim is used to now has a layer of concern. "If you don't like the swimsuit you have now we could always get you a different one?" there was silence. "Or we could just go back to the Hotel? Just me and you. We can watch a movie that doesn't star Angel."
"I haven't really watched any of his movies. I was told that they are not very pure. So, I'm okay with the ones set to the side for Celest. And Kayla, I guess," this conversation had surprised Emily. "What about you? Don't you want to enjoy this beach day?"
"The beach is fun and all, but it'll be here tomorrow if I really want to come." There's more silence. "I hated myself when I got to Hell."
"Huh?"
"It's not because I believed I didn't deserve to be here. Trust me! I definitely deserve to be here. it was because I saw myself in a mirror."
Emily looks over in the corner to see her own reflection. "Why would you hate yourself for that? You look lovely."
Cherri lets out a laugh. "Thanks for the compliment. Too bad I don't swing your way."
"My way?"
"Nothing," the Sinner chuckles. "Back when I was alive I did not have a giant single eye taking up a third of my face. For most human standards, that's considered ugly. I then met a guy that turned into a big mess. Met a friend which neither of us were the best influence on one another. And eventually, I learned that I shouldn't give a f(bleep) what everyone else thinks! All that matters is that I like myself for who I am no matter what I look like," even more silence. "If it's truly the fact that you're uncomfortable with whatever you got on? Then that's fine! We'll ditch everyone here and just head home. But if it's because you're afraid that everyone will stare at you due to you being slightly different from them? Then just like I said. You shouldn't give a f(bleep) what they think. If that's the case?" there was one last pause. "We can still leave. Have some fun that doesn't involve going out."
Emily takes deep breath opens the door to see the Sinner there seemingly surprised. The seraphim then removed the towel to reveal a modest white one-piece with shorts. "I'm fine staying," she tells the Demon despite the fact she's grabbing her own shoulders showing some insecurity. This is the most skin the angel has ever shown after all.
Cherri blinks but then smiles. "Only if you're sure," she lays an arm over Emily's shoulder and starts leading her down to the beach. "Do me a favor. Don't tell the other's I was soft on you."
The seraphim smiles. "Do you really think they'd believe me?"
"Probably not," Cherri shrugs before noticing her friend eyeing the demons around her in worry. "How about I treat you to your first drink, Em?" she says that more to distract the angel rather than to tempt her.
"Can we hold off on that?" Emily looks up at her. "I know that it's not the same thing, but I already feel naked, and I don't want to push myself further than I already have."
"Whatever you say."
.oOo.
After lunch, Celest finds herself burying her feet in the sand.
"Celest, Honey," Vaggie walks up to her daughter along with Charlie. "What are you doing?"
The child looks up at her mothers. "I'm playing in the sand, Mama. I like how it tickles my toes."
The Fallen Angel smiles as she sits next to the little girl and buries her own feet in the sand. "It does tickle a little bit."
The Little Hazbin smiles at her Mama before turning to her other mom. "Join us, Mom! It feels great."
Charlie gives a broken smile. "I really wouldn't have the same experience as the two of you." the Princess sits on the other side of her daughter but does not bury her feet. "I don't have toes," she points at her cloven hooves. "When sand gets between them they tend to get stuck and after a while it becomes very uncomfortable if I don't properly clean it out."
Celest looks back down at her feet and pulls them out of the sand. "I don't want toes anymore."
"Don't say that, Sweetie," Charlie wraps an arm around the little girl. "We gave you toes because I wanted you to be able to experience something that I can't," she looks up at her girlfriend with a smile.
"She's right, Celest," Vaggie returns the smile before looking back at their daughter. "You're Mom loves her feet and neither of us would have minded you having them. When we were dreaming about you, we put thoughts as to what we thought was best for you. If you're unhappy with the way you look, then we're sorry. Just know that you should love yourself and everything about you."
The child looks back down at her feet and starts burying them back into the sand. "I do love me," she smiles back at her moms. "Because it's how you made me."
The two women return the smile and share a hug with their daughter as they watch the sun setting over the horizon.
End