Author note: Welcome back my wonderful readers! As I wrote this, I couldn't help but feel like Pentious when he hugged his Egg Boiz, but for my followers, favorites, readers, and reviewers. You all give me the drive to keep this story running. Anyway, here's hoping you are all well. Enjoy!
Chapter 21: Trust issues at the Hazbin
For the next few days, Taylor was put on supervised house arrest until their back healed. Vaggie had forbidden them from leaving the hotel unaccompanied, which seemed excessive to them. So, every day or so, Angel or Husk would escort them to work and back, meaning that Taylor had to go in undisguised. They feared that they were potentially exposing their secret endeavors, but luckily neither Husk nor Angel seemed interested in Taylor's work.
Charlie made the group do various redemption exercises, like a skit where Taylor played a hatchet-wielding lunatic who would have a change of heart from a cupcake presented by Angel. Needless to say, Angel didn't take it seriously and instead flirted hard over Taylor's mask and overall costume, who tried valiantly to stifle their laughter. In the end, the two dissolved into a fit of giggles at the absurdity. While Vaggie chided the two demons, Charlie smiled awkwardly and took it as a victory anyway.
Another day they had a creativity exercise where the group would be paired off and draw portraits of their partners. Charlie and Vaggie were together, Husk and Niffty got paired up, Angel and Sir Pentious begrudgingly worked on each other's portraits, while Taylor got stuck with Alastor. For a while the room was silent with furious scribbling and glances up at subjects. Taylor wasn't the most artistic person, but they managed to capture Alastor's likeness reasonably well. When everyone was instructed to present their portraits, Husk was unsure what Niffty had even drawn, Niffty giggled maniacally while clutching her paper, Sir Pentious looked disgusted at Angel's lewd doodle of him, and Angel was both surprised that Sir Pentious drew a convincingly good drawing of him and guilty that they didn't put more effort into theirs. Charlie and Vaggie hugged while and then kissed sweetly.
When Taylor passed their portrait over to Alastor, he smugly examined it and started pointing out all the inaccuracies and flaws. Taylor wanted to call him out on his rudeness, but their mark started to burn, so they gritted their teeth and stayed mum. At the end of his catalog of errors, Alastor then admitted that "it was an admirable effort and clearly done with care." Taylor was taken aback, not sure of the sincerity, but opted to take the compliment. Their own portrait looked impressive, with realistic shading and a fantastic rendering of their flaming hair and eyes. Taylor could only sputter a thanks, with Alastor replying with a self-satisfied hum.
At the end of the day, Taylor removed their bandage after getting the all clear from Vaggie to resume normal unsupervised activities. With a sigh, they regarded the sigil in the mirror. Just looking at the inky-black mark made them become heated and shake with anger and frustration.
'What kind of monster would do this to someone and be so gleeful about it?' They ruminated. Shoving on their pajamas in a huff, they got into bed and gave a discontented sigh before sleep overtook them.
Taylor awoke in another unfamiliar room. In contrast to the hotel's dark red decor they were accustomed to, this room was very blue, with striped, teal wallpaper and a plush looking cerulean carpet. They sat around a golden round table with two wide armchairs on each side. Illuminating the room was a pink and gold floor-to-ceiling window in the shape of a sunrise that overlooked an orange expanse of clouds outside. A soft light shone in, giving the room an early evening vibe.
Across from them sat the handsome six-winged angel from before, lounging back, hand on his chin while he gazed gloomily out the window. They glanced down at the scattered stack of papers on the table, all with a red stamped "reject" emblazoned on the top right corner and red writing in the margins.
'Were those the proposals from last time? All of them got rejected. No way!' Taylor was bewildered, as they believed some of the ideas had real merit.
They looked back up from the papers and watched the blonde angel heave a sigh. Their stomach clenched at the sight of the downtrodden angel. They got up and moved to a golden side table lined with decanters with various colored liquids. They popped the stopper and poured a pink drink into two glasses. Depositing one glass before the despondent angel, they sat down again and cleared their throat as a euphonious voice rang out.
"My Phim, it'll be alright. We got plenty of suggestions this time. All we must do is make the adjustments to the proposals and we surely will get the Council's approval in the next round."
The angel took the drink and sipped it with a grimace. Still gazing out the window, he gave a huff and grumbled in a skeptical tone.
"What's the point, Nim? They're not going to listen. They think my proposals are too 'reckless' and 'idealistic.'" he emphasized with air quotes as he slumped further back in his chair dramatically.
The room was silent before they spoke again.
"Maybe they are reckless and idealistic. But they are also amazing and beautiful. They deserve to be heard. We just keep trying until they listen." They took a deep breath and clenched their fist before continuing. "I won't give up."
The angel stared back at them with an impish smile.
"What did I do to deserve such a loyal Nim?"
Taylor felt warmth spread across their face and their stomach did somersaults. The angel suddenly got up with a spring in their step and started adjusting their bow tie and hair.
"Well, you seem to have this handled. We can reconvene later and make a new plan." He said quickly, as if in a rush.
They felt their body tense up and a huff escaped their throat.
"You're off the see her again, aren't you?"
His roguish smile turned flustered as he began to blush.
A twinge of heat came to their cheeks as their stomach clenched.
"Why her though?" They said with an imperceptible edge.
"She's like nothing I've ever experienced before." He spoke softly, as if intoxicated. "She's beautiful, her voice is sweeter than honey, and her strong will adds to her charm. I can't get her off my mind." He sighed contentedly. He donned his top hat and adjusted it slightly as he spoke determinedly. "She's all alone in the Garden, and I think she deserves some company; maybe even a friend."
The angel made his way to the door before turning back to them with a fond smile. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Nim. It means a lot." The angel left with a soft flutter of wings and closed the door behind him with a soft click.
Their hands clenched around the glass as the mellifluous voice spoke anxiously.
"It's only a pha- "
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Taylor jumped and fell out of bed at the reverberating noise next door. Groaning, they were thankful that Angel had moved the nightstand over, or they would have hit their head on the way down.
"Shaddup, ya slithery freak! It's like eight am! People are trynna sleep!" Screamed an irate Angel from the hallway. The clanging stopped, which earned a sigh from Taylor. From the door they heard Angel call out. "Fuoco, ya there?"
"Door's unlocked!" They answered. They sat up as Angel walked in draped in a pink robe.
"Shit, Fuoco, ya fell again? Do I gotta start tying ya to the bed?"
Taylor chuckled as they stood up.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Hey, I like bondage as much as the next guy, but it's too damn early for this shit."
The metallic clanging resumed next door, making both demons groan in frustration. Taylor stretched their limbs and yawned.
"Guess I'm up now." They looked at Angel. "Breakfast?"
He shrugged nonchalantly.
"Sure, not like we can go back to sleep with all this racket. See ya downstairs."
Once Angel had left, the memory of their dream came crashing back, along with a multitude of questions.
'He said Garden, right? Like the Garden of Eden Garden? Does that mean I'm experiencing the past? Crap, I keep forgetting to ask Charlie what the six-winged angels are called! That one looks familiar, but from where? And who is this Nim I'm seeing things through?'
They kept pondering as they donned some black slacks, a yellow button up, black sneakers, and their blue blazer-vest before rushing downstairs.
Everyone but Alastor was in the lobby. Husk was at the bar getting the day started with a drink while Niffty was in the corner dusting furiously. Angel had just walked out of the kitchen and offered a plate with some breakfast burritos on it to Taylor, who took one with a word of thanks. The two ventured over to where Vaggie and Charlie stood over Razzle and Dazzle scribbling something on the floor. The two realized that it was a banner commemorating Sir Pentious's first week at the hotel, and Taylor had an idea. They nudged Angel to get their attention before they turned to Charlie.
"Why does Pentious get a banner? I've been here over two weeks, and no one's given me any celebration over it." Taylor whined in mock disbelief. Angel sniggered at the dramatics.
"Oh! Sure! We can do that too!" She said all flustered. Vaggie glared daggers at Taylor, making them straightened up and drop the joking tone.
"I'm kidding, Charlie. It's great." They clarified as they patted Charlie's shoulder and smiled, making her laugh softly. The two goat-dragons took flight to pin the banner up over the staircase. Angel observed for a moment more before shrugging and moving to the bar to check their messages and ruffle Husk's feathers.
"That looks perfect!" Charlie waved her arms excitedly. "Aah! I'm so excited that Sir Pentious is staying at the hotel!"
"Babe, Pentious was just trying to take over the city with his weird steampunk bullshit a few days ago." Vaggie reminded.
"Don't remind me. Only good thing from that whole disaster was meeting Cherri." Taylor commented as they leaned on the staircase, munching away on their breakfast.
Charlie shrugged optimistically.
"Well, I haven't seen him try to pull any of that here."
Sir Pentious arrived rolling in a contraption that looked like a circus cannon with a few of the Egg Boiz riding along on a leather saddle.
"What the hell is that?" Vaggie asked suspiciously.
Sir Pentious looked over at Vaggie and greeted her warmly.
"Oh, hello, purple female. It's my new invention, the Skin Flayer 11,000! I'm really looking forward to shooting the other residents."
"What? Why?" Charlie asked.
Sir Pentious tensed and surveyed the area.
"Everyone is being too nice. Obviously, it must be a lie. I can sense that they are planning to kill me, but when? How? I must be ready!" Noise at the door caught his attention and he beamed. "Ooh, the new parts of my machine are here!" Sir Pentious slithered over to the delivery demons.
A blonde demoness in a lab coat and glasses and a puce skinned demoness with curly white hair and a crop-top turtleneck, jean-shorts, and stockings wheeled in some crates. Intrigued, Taylor walked over to examine the boxes as the Egg Boiz start climbing over and opening the items.
The blonde demoness held out a clipboard and asked Sir Pentious to sign for the delivery, who did so happily. The puce demoness thanked Sir Pentious for their patronage and to enjoy their Carmine purchases and the two promptly leave.
Taylor's ears perk at the name, recalling that some of their clients formerly worked for the Overlord.
"Wait, does she mean Carmilla Carmine? You buy parts from an overlord?"
Sir Pentious sneered at them like they were asking something obvious.
"Uh, of course. She's the top weapons dealer in Hell."
Sir Pentious slithered over and hissed at Taylor to get them away from the delivery. They rolled their eyes but made way as the serpent started to wheel their purchases away. Vaggie rushed over and took the cart from Sir Pentious, moving it back beside Taylor.
"Okay, well that stops right now." When he protested, she sternly responded. "You absolutely cannot build weapons in this hotel. No one is trying to kill you. People are being nice because they want you to feel welcome."
The cobra demon scoffed at Vaggie before scanning the room. Husk and Angel flipped him off while chugging a bottle and texting on their phone, respectively. Niffty looked up from her dusting and giggled frenziedly at him. Taylor glared back, still miffed about being awoken and hissed at earlier. They look away to observing the Egg Boiz taking out the crate's contents. Two started squabbling over a baton.
"Hmmm, I have my doubts." Sir Pentious says, not convinced.
Vaggie sighed in frustration.
"Well, it's true. You have to trust us."
"But I don't."
Charlie chimed in with an idea.
"Well, why don't we focus on that for today's activities?
Vaggie cut in before Charlie can get into it.
"Not before we lay some ground rules. One, no more building weapons. Two, no more plotting against other guests! Three, you got to get rid of these things." indicating to the Egg Boiz.
At that moment, two Egg Boiz accidentally pressed a button on the baton, and it started to power up. Without thinking, Taylor grabbed the end of the baton as it fired a blaring laser blast into their palm. Vaggie and Charlie gasped, but Taylor just removed their hand with a bewildered look and held it up, a bit of steam billowing out but undamaged, at the others.
"Huh. Didn't even hurt." They commented quietly as they removed the baton from the Egg Boiz possession carefully. Vaggie pointed at them and the Egg Boiz angrily.
"Oh! What did I just say? What did I just say?"
Sir Pentious gasped at the idea and dove down to hug the eggs.
"Not my little Egg Boiz! They do my evil bidding for me!"
"Do you want to stay here and redeem yourself?" Vaggie asked with a glare.
"Yes?" Sir Pentious responded, unsure.
"Then no more eggs."
Sir Pentious started to tear up as he dismissed his minions.
"All right, eggies. You've got to go!" He began sobbing. "I can't keep you anymore!"
The Egg Boiz seemed unfazed as they acknowledged the order and began following Vaggie away as she carted the delivery away.
"No, don't resist! This is how it has to be!"
He dramatically threw himself on the ground and wailed pitifully. Taylor, feeling bad, crouched down and patted his head comfortingly. The cobra demon wrapped around them as they sobbed, and Taylor sighed sadly.
"It's going to be alright, Pentious. I'm sure it's not for forever." They said soothingly.
"D-do you think so?" He said hopefully.
"Maybe? I'll bet if you're good, she'll let you have them back." They said encouragingly. 'I wonder what she's going to do with them?'
Taylor stood by Pentious as he laid on the ground grieving the departure of his Egg Boiz. While he wailed, Taylor held up their hand and regarded it. It still felt warm from the blast, but otherwise it felt normal.
'It's like I absorbed the energy. I only felt some heat and some pressure from the impact. Strange.' They twitched slightly, causing a laser to suddenly burst from their palm upwards, blowing a hole into the ceiling above them. They startled at the damage.
'Crap! Vaggie's gonna skewer me for sure!' they panicked. When the others looked back at the noise and the snake and fire demon nearby, Taylor pointed to Pentious to cast the blame. They then realized Vaggie wasn't back yet and quickly disengaged from the distraught cobra demon before sitting in the parlor to feign ignorance of the damaged ceiling.
A few minutes later, Alastor came down the stairs and left the hotel with the eggs in tow without a word. Vaggie came down shortly thereafter and noticed the hole in the ceiling immediately. She saw Pentious pouting nearby and erupted in anger.
"Puta mierda! Pentious, what did you do now?"
Taylor felt a little guilty at the verbal lashing Pentious received but felt like it was ample payback for being woken up so rudely.
With a poof, a wooden stage appeared in the middle of the lobby that had a banner saying, "Trusting 101." 'Trust exercises, is it? This could be useful. Can't be worse than the skits.' Taylor speculated.
Vaggie and Charlie directed everyone to the parlor for the activity. Taylor sat on the couch in between Angel and a surly-looking Husk. Nifty blithely hummed near an aggrieved Sir Pentious.
Charlie and stood before the stage and addressed the group. She brought up the tension among the residents. At that moment, Pentious snatched up Niffty and aimed a ray gun at her. Vaggie took the gun and explained that tension is counterproductive to their mission. The two together tried to jump at once to announce the trust exercise, but the timing was slightly off. Taylor chuckled a little bit, adoring that they tried to synchronize the announcement.
Husk gestured to the stage irritably.
"So what's all this for? I'm not putting on some show for these fucking chumps."
"Oh, I will." Angel chimed in as he put his feet across Husk and Taylor suggestively. "But it's cash up front." He pointed at Pentious. "And I know that one can't afford me."
Pentious looked disgusted at the suggestion.
Charlie decided to have Vaggie lead the exercise, as she trusted everyone and Vaggie might know how to build it properly. Charlie walked to the group as she cheered on her unsure girlfriend.
After taking a deep breath, Vaggie channeled her inner drill sergeant and instructed the group to share something vulnerable with everyone, wherein the rest would catch them as they fell backwards.
Charlie insisted on going first, where she shared that she really loved everyone before falling back. Taylor ran forward but Vaggie caught her first. Charlie reveled in the feeling as she picked Angel to go next. As he went up, Vaggie menaced the whole group to participate in catching this time. Angel started teasing the group that he loved to suck on something, to which Husk threatened that if he dared to say dicks as Angel finished with saying he liked sucking popsicles. Admonishing Husk for having a dirty mind, he fell back and aimed for the cat demon to catch him. As he was in his arms, Angel added that dicks would also qualify, to which Husk dropped him in disgust. Angel then chose Pentious to go next.
Pentious slithered up and dramatically disclosed that he didn't want to live without his Egg Boiz. Before he fell, he quickly asked no one to catch him. Taylor, Charlie, and Vaggie caught him anyway, much to his dismay. Vaggie commended him before telling Taylor to go next.
Taylor got up on the stage and took a breath.
"I'm grateful that you all kept an eye on me during my last night terror despite freaking you all out. Thanks." They quickly fell backwards before they could see their responses. They felt a bunch of hands and arms catch them. Taylor noticed that the group was quiet, so to dispel the awkwardness they picked Niffty to go next. She scampered up and told the group proudly that she liked to kill mother bugs in front of their children as a warning before laughing maniacally.
All were disturbed by the revelation, and when Niffty flung herself off the stage, all took a step back and she fell on her face. She enjoyed the feeling and kept running onto the stage and throwing herself to the floor repeatedly as everyone watched. Vaggie and Charlie moved aside to talk privately, with Angel moving to join them.
"If you're in the market for ideas, someone gave me an idea for some "trust buildin'."
Vaggie sighed in resignation.
"What do you have in mind?"