Being There
Waiting outside the Wedding Planner's office, Vaggie paces back and forth. Waiting for her partner.
"Where is she?" she takes out her phone and dials. "Come on, come on, come on," after a couple rings, someone answers.
"Vaggie?" Charlie's voice leaves the device.
"Where are you, Charlie? I thought we were meeting with the Wedding Planer today!"
"What!?" the Princess shouts. "We were supposed to reschedule that appointment!"
The Fallen Angel raises brow at that. "Uh, why?"
.oOo.
Charlie is standing backstage and watches as her daughter twirls in her costume. "The Recital is going to start soon."
"What!?" It was Vaggie's turn to shout. "That's tonight!?"
"Look!" she glances back to Celest who was looking at her with a smile but soon drops seeing the worry in her mother's eyes. "I get it. Things have been busy for us lately. Between our Hotel having more guests recently and trying to get ready for the wedding. We both made sacrifices. That's why we've split things up for our daughter's events. I missed attending the Family Brunch with you and Celest and I dealt with the Parent Teacher meetings alone. But we agreed that both of us will be here tonight for Celest."
"I'll, I'll get there as fast as I can."
With a sigh, Charlie then says, "Don't worry, Vaggie. This Wedding Planner wasn't easy to book for a meeting. You go ahead and take care of it. I'll explain everything to Celest. I'm sure she'll understand. Love you!" with that, she hangs up.
"She's not coming, is she?" Celest asks, now standing next to her mother.
"I'm sorry, Sweetie," Charlie kneels in front of her. "She has something important to do."
The little hazbin looks down, "You and Mama always have something important. If one of you isn't too busy then both of you are. Since there are more people coming to the Hotel, I hardly see you both at the same time anymore."
The Princess kisses her daughter's forehead. "I'm sorry, Celest. We're trying. We'll try harder. Maybe not today but soon, we'll both be there for you. I promise."
Celest closes her eyes. "Okay, Mom."
.oOo.
Vaggie stands there, staring at her phone, trying to figure out whether or not to call back.
The door to the office opens and a Sinner steps out. "Are you my next client? The Morningstars?"
The Fallen Angel barely glances at them before running away from the building and soon sprouts her wings to take off.
.oOo.
Celest peeks out from behind the curtains. She's happy to see her grandparents there next to her mom. Her mom can be seen asking grandpa for something and a video camera magically appears in his hand before passing it over and her mom immediately points it at the stage. But that same happiness soon vanishes once her eyes lands on the empty seat next to her mom.
"You seem distracted," whiny voice says behind her.
"Please, Sinthia," Celest turns to the pink demon her size wearing a tree costume. "Not today. Everyone worked so hard for this."
Sinthia smirks as she pushes her classmate out of the way to look at the audience as well. "Maybe not everyone. Both of my parents came, but only one of yours even bothered to showing up."
True to Sinthia's words, her mom and dad are present but neither of them are paying any attention as their faces are covered by phones.
"Perhaps if someone tried a little harder then your other mommy would be here?" she then boasts. "Since I'm so much better than you I should have the lead role so that I can impress both of my parents. But I'm stuck as this bush with a single line."
Celest wanted to say something, but their teacher called out.
"Places, everybody!" Mayberry claps her hands together. "The show's about to start!" she then starts ushering Celest to a certain spot on the stage. "It's time for the star to shine."
Sinthia sneers at that. "I should be the star," he eyes then wonders over where a metal box on the wall is and an idea came to her.
.oOo.
The curtains part to reveal Celest as the spotlight shines down on her. Mayberry then plays the first set of notes on the piano, and just as the little hazbin opened her mouth to start, the lights go out and murmuring starts among the audience.
A couple of imps were at the power box and found a problem. "The main cord for the lighting is missing."
"We can't get them back on without it."
Hearing this, Mayberry became upset. All of her students worked so hard for this night and their parents took time off so that they could attend.
Suddenly, a light started shining. Looking over at the source, the teacher is amazed to see Celest conjuring several small orbs of light, letting them spread across the room and up to the ceiling, giving it the appearance of a starry night.
Charlie smiles, seeing the capability of her daughter's magic and points the camera at her.
A voice comes from her side. "Beautiful!"
Turning, she finds her fiancé sitting next to her. "Vaggie! You made it!" and hugs her.
"Ow!" the Fallen Angel winces.
"Oh! I'm so sorry," that's when the Princess takes notice of Vaggie's state. "You're bleeding!?" blood was indeed trickling down the side of her head and Charlie was quick to dig out her first aid and start tending to the wound. Other than that, Vaggie's clothes were torn, and there was some grime across her face as well.
"Yeah, I had some incidents on the way here," Vaggie confesses. "But it's all worth it to be here for our daughter," she faces the front. "I also botched the meeting. So, we'll need to find someone else to plan our wedding."
"That's alright, Vaggie," Charlie pats her fiancé's hand. "We'll figure it out in the end."
"Ew!" the succubus woman next to them contorts her face. "What's that smell?" then turns to the Fallen Angel. "What in the Hell happened to you?"
Vaggie sneers in return. "None of your business, Enid!" she then leaned in so only Charlie could hear. "I flew into a powerline and fell into a vegetable stand about a block away."
"Oh? Is that why I'm suddenly craving chicken pot pie?"
The former Exorcist just deadpans. "Not funny."
Once Celest was done spreading the lights, her eyes open and the first thing she sees is her Mama in her seat applauding.
The little girl smiles before turning to her teacher nodding. Understanding, Ms. Mayberry returns the nod and starts the music back up.
.oOo.
"Mama!" as soon as the show ended, Celest ran up to Vaggie into a hug. "You came!?"
"Of course, Honey," Vaggie tightens her hug. "When I promised to be here for you, I mean it. I would never miss this for the world. Heaven or Hell."
"Thank you, Mama."
"This isn't fair!" there's a shout and not far from them, Sinthia is throwing a tantrum. "I should've been the star here! Not that half-breed!"
"Don't worry, My Precious Sinthia!" Enid coos at her daughter. "We'll make sure the school pays for undermining your talent. Right, Dear?"
The man next to her never looked up from his phone and says, "Yeah, uh-huh," then walks away.
Mayberry walks up to Enid and Sinthia while carrying a tablet. "We need to discuss something about your daughter."
"You bet we do!" the succubus woman snaps. "You'll barely be able to afford pencils when my husband gets through with you. You're lucky to even have my precious daughter here at your shabby little school."
"Actually. Sinthia has used up her last warning," the teacher turns the tablet around to show a video of the child pulling away a wire from the power box. "After so many chances, I'm afraid that I have no other choice but to expel her from my shabby little school. If you have any complaints, please take it up with the Head of the Schoolboard."
Enid challenges, "And who might that be?"
"That would be me," Lilith walks up to them. "It sounds like your daughter was excused and pardoned from many incidents before. Even if my granddaughter wasn't performing tonight, ruining the hard work of all these children cannot possibly be forgiven," the Queen gestures to where all the other students were gathering along with their parents. "If you would like to plea for your daughter's continued attendance here, you are welcome to do so."
"Oh, sure!" the sarcasm oozes out of the succubus' mouth. "Why wouldn't the Queen herself abuse her power to put ensure her granddaughter gets the leading role and to kick out my darling, sweet, girl just because that half-breed doesn't like her?"
Charlie, Vaggie, and Lucifer were about to step in, but Lilith's outstretched arm halted them.
"At this moment, I am here as a member of the Schoolboard. Not as Celest's grandmother nor the Queen of Hell. I had no participation in the choosing of the roles that these children were given. I trusted Ms. Mayberry to be fair with her judgement," Lilith gestures to the teacher. "Where I do want to be there for my granddaughter for her to have the best education that can be given. That's why I joined the Schoolboard. To ensure that. However! I did not want to undermine the parentings of her mothers." Charlie and Vaggie smiled hearing that. "I also feared that any direct interference I made could end up stumping Celest's growth as a student and a person. Furthermore! After becoming Head of the Schoolboard, I requested that they forgive any previous infractions committed by Sinthia as a show of good faith. Children will be children and they always will be. Even then, I allowed the excuses as I hoped as a mother, you would educate your daughter properly as a person. But no more. With that being said," the Queen's eyes narrow as she steps up to Enid to stare her down. "The next time I see you, it will be as Celest's grandmother and will not forget that you called my granddaughter a half-breed. If I were you, I'd best be on my good side."
After hearing that, Enid just took her daughter by the hand and ran off. She has been publicly humiliated by the Queen of Hell herself and now lost face with all the other parents in her area.
The family smiled at the retreating mother and daughter.
Charlie turns to her mother. "You're Head of the Schoolboard?"
Lilith shrugs. "Your father has his hobbies and I have mine. Aside from the ones we share at night," that comment made Lucifer grin.
The Princess covers Celest's ears. "Mom!? Not in front of Celest, please!" wishing that she could cover her own ears. "It's bad enough that I have to hear about it," Charlie then picks up her daughter, "Hey, Sweetie. How about we head home for dinner?"
"I'd like that," Celest smiles. "I must be hungry. All I can smell are chicken wings and vegetable stew."
Charlie does her best to hold in a laugh while glancing at her fiancé who crosses her arms.
Vaggie just mumbles. "Still not funny!"