Charlie was pretty surprised when Alon kind of up and disappeared randomly. He didn't even last a full day! Alastor probably scared him off, she thought. She seriously needed to have a conversation with Alastor about dialing back the intensity with new arrivals. She would have a conversation with him, if she could actually find him. Ever since this morning when she found Alon and Alastor in the kitchen, Alastor had been weirdly absent. He said something about needing to prep for one of his broadcasts, and no one had seen him since.
Charlie looked around the parlor and still saw no sign of Alastor. She noticed Husk at the bar and wondered if he had seen where he went. She skipped to the bar, trying to seem like she wasn't as curious as she actually was.
"Hey-o! Um, question! Have you seen Alastor?" Trying to sound nonchalant wasn't one of Charlie's talents, and Husker knew it. He gave a slight shrug.
"Nope. I'm not his keeper anyway." he grumbled as he started to restock the Scotch section that Angel Dust without a doubt caused. Charlie kept her smile up, but let out a sigh.
"Ok. He just seemed kind of off this morning and our newest member kind of went AWOL today. Alastor might've scared him away." Husk let out a quick bit of air that one might call a short laugh.
"Can you blame the dude? He's probably the reason why we don't have more members here at all. Who would want to stay at a hotel where they know that the infamous Radio Demon is 2 floors above them?"
Charlie couldn't help but let her smile drop. Husker had a point. No one would exactly be doing cartwheels out of excitement from knowing that a powerful Overlord would be living in the same building as them. She knew that he wouldn't do anything to them, without a justified cause, but having to convince her tenants that? She wasn't sure that anyone had that kind of manipulation power.
"So you didn't notice him leave?" She tried to dig for more information. Husk shook his head.
"If you're feeling brave, go to his Radio Tower. If he's still on the Hotel grounds, I'm sure he's there." Charlie for some reason didn't even really consider going to his domain to try to find him. His area seemed so off limits that any knowledge of it seemed to have nearly vanished from her mind.
"Then I will look there! Thank you, Husk!"
"Best of luck."
Charlie approached Alastor's door and stopped just short of knocking. If he was actively avoiding everyone, maybe he had a good reason and she shouldn't bother him? She rubbed her knuckles nervously, contemplating what to do. Sure, she needed to talk to him but was it worth bothering him and maybe even pissing him off? She thought about it and realized that if she was going to run this Hotel successfully, she couldn't tip toe around Alastor. He wanted to help her run this Hotel, so he basically signed up for her bothering him about Hotel business whenever she needed to. With this new found bravery, she gave a quick rap on his door. She didn't wait but maybe 5 seconds when the door flung open, making her give out a squeak of a surprise. Alastor stood in the doorway, clearly looking distressed.
"Ms. Morningstar! To what do I owe the pleasure?" If it was anyone else, Alastor seemed like his normal self. Charlie saw through him though. She didn't work with him daily without learning about his tell tales about when he was on edge and boy was he on edge today. His grin seemed to be more tight than usual, his teeth borderline grinding. His hands behind his back, but she could tell that his whole body was stiff like concrete. She had never seen him so uncomfortable.
"Um, is everything ok Alastor? I saw you in the kitchen and then you just vanished. Alon ended up leaving." Alastor gave out a tsk tsk and shook his head.
"Ah, that might have been caused by me. Apologies, but he seemed to have thought he could tell me what to do and I didn't much care for it." Charlie cocked an eyebrow.
"Really? What did he say?"
"He told me to not drink his coffee creamer. So I did." Charlie pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to stop the migraine that was threatening to pop up.
"Alastor, I don't think he meant anything by it. He probably was just informing you that he had brought his own creamer and was trying to ask for no one to touch it. I mean Angel Dust has his own popsicles that he has that no one else touches!" Charlie felt like she was arguing with a statue. While she was talking with her hands and her arms as she usually did, Alastor stood deathly still. Almost as if he couldn't move at all.
"That's because no one else wants to put their mouth where his mouth has been, my dear. Quite a poor comparison." Charlie sighed impatiently. They were going in circles and she was growing tired of this.
"Alastor, the point is that you scared off another tenant. Again." She crossed her arms to let Alastor know that she was actually upset. He didn't seem to care. Satan damnit was the guy even blinking?
"If you're asking that I change my behavior to accommodate some weak minded demons, then I'm afraid the answer is no. Everyone knows about me and my reputation and I refuse to change that for a silly reason like babying these delusional sinners." Charlie felt her neck get hot, which was a clear indicator that her temper was getting bad. Charlie typically was able to keep her emotions in check, but when it came to the hotel and it's success that was her Achilles heel.
"All I am asking is that you don't scare everyone shitless where they run away before they can even give redemption a shot. If you sincerely want to help me make this Hotel successful, then not only will you understand my request, but you'll fulfill it." Charlie wasn't sure when she walked closer to him and had her face so close to his, but when she could see Alastor's eye twitch, she realized how much in his bubble she was in. She took a step back.
"Dinner is in an hour." With that, Charlie turned around and borderline stomped down the corridor. She felt the floor shake with the slam of Alastor's door. Well, she spoke with him and she also managed to piss him off. What else was new.
Alastor slammed the door and felt his body relax for the first time since he opened it to begin with. He walked back over to his VooDoo Grimoire and continued to read it. Ever since breakfast, he has had an odd feeling in his stomach every time he looked at Charlie or even thought about her. He had never felt this before so he clearly didn't know where else to turn to for information other than his VooDoo Grimoire book that he collected many years ago. Surely there was something in here that could help him.
He thought about what Charlie had told him. He didn't think that anything he did or said to Alon should've warranted him to abandon the Hotel in such short time. He had threatened other demons in much worse ways that battled with him much longer than Alon had stayed. It didn't make sense, but he didn't have time to ponder on that right now. He had to figure out what was happening with him because if his stomach was going to toss and turn every time he saw Charlie, this was going to be quite miserable for him.
