Authors Note:
Hello, salutations, and howdy! Another week has passed, and so another chapter of Drifters has dropped.
First I want to apologize about the update error last week. I had posted the new chapter on the app and for whatever reason it didn't seem to drop until two hours later. I'm going to post it through the website this time around so hopefully there's no time delay.
Secondly I want to thank the awesome reviews for chapter 2.
TsuChan21: Thank you for the compliment and the grammatical advice for the dialogue. And also for pointing out my excess use of ellipses XD. Definitely tried to cut down the number used in this chapter, and hopefully the story flows better because of it.
ahO4464: Definitely glad for your thoughts on Vaggie's eventful reaction to Nester. It'll be for a future chapter, but I am excited to reveal what type of specific species of avian Nester wings belong too. I also have found myself really enjoying writing Vaggie and Nester interactions, although, I really like writing all of Vaggie's interactions regardless of who they're with. But with that in mind, look forward to more development on that in the future!
I believe that's all for now, 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 Hotel Fanfic
Chapter 3:
Read Sky by Evening
"Sooooo, this will be your room." Charlie forced a chuckle.
A wrenched smile of optimism plastered her face as Nester sat down on the edge of his new bed.
Less than a week ago, the royal had gone into all the third floor suites, and imagined the guest she'd lead into them. With enthusiasm she had acted out each and every little description the accommodations held.
Explaining how the chambered beds were like resting on an ocean of clouds. How the closest were spacious enough to let pets roam free. And how each balcony offered a heavenly perspective of Hell.
It was a speech meant to cap the end of the tour Charlie would give each Sinner who sought out her pathway to redemption.
But the second it became clear she'd have to start Nester's tour locked in the safety of its finale, it was a script she kept to herself.
The moment the browned haired young man sat down on his bed, Charlie had no intention to point out the purple sea growing rough from his nervous shiver. Seeing him awkwardly dart his eyes around, unsure where to place them, she lost the urge to showcase a closet he had nothing to fill with. And when the shadows of his wings triggered his body to jump for the ceiling, the princess thought it was best she didn't emphasize the balcony… less his paranoia turn it into a runway,
"Although if you don't like the location, we can move you in a jiffy!" Charlie offered up both a question and an answer when his silence grew too long, "All the other rooms on this floor our vacant-"
"The locations f-fine!" the avian frantically whispered, "b-better than fine actually. It's great!"
'Because it's the furthest away from the stairs and elevator' Charlie hid her thoughts behind a strained grin,
"I'm happy to hear that!" and presented disguised words instead, "I know you've had an… eventful couple of days."
'And evening.' she cringed inside her mind,
"So I'll let you get some rest." she sauntered over to the drapes, and blocked both of them from the rays of the setting pentagram,
"I-I'm s-sorry I didn't let the others introduce themselves," Nester's own anxiety had forced out a fake stutter, which, despite the attempt at politeness, Charlie wished she didn't hear through, "b-but I'm exhausted."
"Don't worry about it." Charlie reassured, "Everybodies had a long day, so I don't think they are in the best mindset for a meet and greet anyway. Better to start new connections with the new day!"
Although, considering the lobby Charlie had had to carry Nester through over her head was still filled with sharpened spears and a debate on the quality of meat shields, she wondered if a goodnight sleep would change anything.
Charlie hid her sigh behind puffed cheeks. Filled with enough air to make her walk back to the door look as if it was taking place on the moon,
"Here… " the blonde deflated her face into a soft smile when she paused in front of Nester.
Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a small obsidian object, almost cartoonish in its heart shaped handle and buck toothed head,
"These are the keys to your room," she waited until the bird slowly wrapped his finger around them and gave her a nod before she proceeded to the door, "and this is the pager."
Charlie motioned to the stacked rows of buttons beside the door,
"You don't have a phone yet," Charlie rubbed the back of her neck with closed eyes. Trying to make sure the grin she sent Nester's way reassured him that they'd fix that problem tomorrow, "so for tonight, just press this button to buzz my room if you need anything. I promise Vaggi-"
Charlie coughed into her hand when she saw the young man tense up. Ironically, that was the one name the young man actually learnt down stairs… considering it was the one Charlie yelled when her girlfriend threatened the new guest,
"Help will come running." she corrected, and turned to give Nester one last reassuring look from the hallway,
Nester remained fixated in the bed tapping his fingers on the sheet as if they were piano keys,
"T-thank you… for-for everything, I'll try not to be a bother" silence followed and his fingers played a quickening score, "h-have a good night Miss Morningstar…"
Despite his evident fear of, well, the downstairs and Hell in general, the manger saw for the first time Nester attempt a smile. It was small, but it made her own grow in satisfaction,
"You have a good night too, Nester. And please, just call me Charlie." she watched him nod, then turned around and shut the door,
The heiress took in a deep breath, then grinned loudly. Today has been a roller coaster filled with false peaks and endless ravines. But maybe, just maybe, she had actually made a difference in a Sinners-
The loud clunk of a lock clicking into place echoed down the halls. The screech of metal nearly snapping underneath its own acceleration sent Charlie's mood into another free fall.
For Vaggie had also made a difference in Nester life… and even if Charlie knew the sound of the key turning meant he was staying the night, she wouldn't be surprised if his newfound fear of her girlfriend transformed all the furniture in his room into barricade by the door.
XxxxxxX
The hotel lounge was a mess. Stained with the flaming debris of the TV, splinters of the shredded furniture, and the less than spotless words being sprayed in the air.
With Angel and Husk creating more of the ladder, and Alaster creating new messes to keep Niffty too busy to correct the two former, Vaggie gripped her spear with bone white knuckles. Wishing she could use it as a mop to sweep away all the filth here.
"Come on baby~ All I'm saying is that the best forms of protection are the ones you can be inside." Angel spread himself across the bar counter Husk had dove behind. The actor knocked over, remarkably, still partially filled bottles of gin, "So why don't you let me demo you out."
"Keep your dick in your pants before I cut it off!" the cat growled back,
"Why don't you keep your alcoholism off the floor! There's a fucking fire going on idiots!" Vaggie sirened,
Angel waved her away with a hand that ran the entire length of his body,
"I can't help my burning passion-" the spider's two full eyes dilated when he felt the actual heat, "oh shit… that's getting close."
"So put it out!" Vaggie grasped her hair,
Angel curled himself up on the counter. Like many demon's, he turned to the bartender to drown out his problems,
"Quick! Pour water on it!"
"Water?! You idiot! The closest thing to water I've got is vodka!" the winged cat said, back and arms pressed against the wall of the help desk,
"How can you guys be this fucking useless?!" Vaggie ripped her bangs right off,
"Us?!" Angel screeched, retreating up the bar's support beam as if it were a pole, "You're the one who was too focused on skewering the new guy to notice it spread! Hell, Charlie had to escort him away so fast she didn't even have time to notice her own hotel going up in flam-"
"It's going up in what?!" at the top of the regal staircase, Vaggie saw Charlie mirror her own expression.
Hands clamped to the side of her face. Eyes wide in horror,
"How did this happen?! Why did this happen?!" the heiress heaved out in the midst of a panic attack,
Vaggie tried to use this moment to clear everything up. Unfortunately, Husk and Angel did as well,
"Alaster wrecked the fucking TV!"
"Your girlfriends a fucking psycho!"
"Everybody here's a fucking idiot!"
Vaggie watched the jumbled mess of explanation confuse Charlie even more. The poor woman's face glitched out due to the audio overload.
Luckily, the visual of the red carpet melting into gray caused a reboot.
"Put it out! Put it out! Put it out!" Charlie rushed down the stairs. She tripped down the last half and tumbled all the way to the floor.
Before Vaggie could go over to help her, the fallen manager's head swirled around looking for a solution.
Both their eyes landed on the glass panel protecting the square indent in the wall. And while Charlie picked herself up, Vaggie sprinted over, tore open the stained barrier, and grabbed the fire extinguisher,
"I've got it!" the white haired woman said, unclipping the pin she pointed the hose at the fire and squeezed the trigger… nothing came out,
"What the hell?" Vaggie questioned,
"Why didn't it work?!" Charlie rushed around in a panic, trying to find a new solution as she questioned the old one,
Angel stared down atop the bar as the blonde tried in vain to find a bottle that could be useful,
"… oh… probably shouldn't have put an empty bottle back on the shelf." Angel hissed in admittance,
Charlie opened her mouth in shock. Whatever tears of desperation she wanted to cry were being evaporated by the growing heat,
"Why… why would it be empty to begin with?" Charlie practically begged,
"Did you shitheads cause a fire before this?!" Vaggie's one eye pulsed towards the eight limbed demon,
"No, of course not!" Angel flicked a hand appalled, "It's got that nitrous shit in it. So I used it to get high."
"Are you fucking serious?!" Husk pupils dilated, the cat flattened himself against the wall as the flames flickered out towards him,
"I wish I wasn't." Angel groaned, "Thing barely made me light headed. Total waste of time."
"I'll waste your whole head!" Vaggie chucked the useless can at the first guest. He ducked before the fire extinguisher could screw him over for the third time,
"Oh my God-" Charlie hand stopped on a certain bottle. Whatever the heiress thought was inside must have been good, because she lifted it up as if it was Holy Grail, "Oh my God! Water!"
Her girlfriend rushed over to the source of the inferno. Vaggie didn't have the heart to tell her that such a small amount wouldn't stop the flames. Although the fact Husk didn't realize he had a liter full of-
"Wait! Charlie that's not-"
When her girlfriend looked back, it was already too late. The second the clear substance flowed onto the sparking TV, an explosion of spark and flames swept across the room. The air pressure burst open the far wall, and when a cool wave rushed in, the snuffed embers rained down ash on their charred forms.
Remarkably, the explosion had incinerated so much of the lounge, it created a burnt barrier the flames couldn't pass to travel further inward and higher up.
For a moment the room stood in silence, before a bubble in the middle popped. Revealing an untouched Alaster and Niffty,
"And that, my dear, is the cost of moving pictures." the radio demon sounded all too happy to pay it,
Niffty single pupil dilated as she scanned the mess before her. Luckily, the clean freak bore her teeth as if the irreversible landscape was a drug.
The cyclops darted around. Creating piles of organized soot, and dusted off the four reformed souls.
Angel Dust found himself entangled with Husk on the ground where the bar... used to be. The spider smiled down at the cat, but the ladder shoved him off.
Vaggie watched him flap up the unharmed staircase. Without a counter to pass out on, Husk grumbled his way towards the employee dormitory done for the day.
Angel flipped him off before following suit. For a moment, the spider hesitated at the bottom step, and the white haired woman had to will herself to follow his gaze.
They both landed on the unmoving form of Charlie. Arms raised, held high still pouring air into ash. From what little peripheral vision she had, Vaggie though Angel moved to offer a hand, or at least some form of sympathy, but he retracted it just as quickly.
When he started to march up the stairs, Vaggie's limbs cranked themselves into motion. She used the guilt anchoring her in place to fuel her forward,
"Charlie?! Oh my God, are you okay-"
"Tomorrow morning…" the heiress whispered, pausing both Vaggie's words and Angel's ascent upward, "I'm planning a meet and greet for all the guests… it's the very first program I had ever come up with to help Sinners redeem themselves."
The white haired woman frowned when Charlie shrugged off her jeans and began rummaging through the ash piles for picture frame.
When she found one she hung it upon the wall… and impossibly wiped the destruction away from it. The magic was time consuming, impractical, and straining, but with literal elbow grease, the heiress placed the silky haired portrait of her mother back against the singed wallpaper,
"It starts at ten o'clock. I'd really appreciate it if you guys showed up." Vaggie's frown intensified and Charlie slugged her way over to the next frame,
"I…" Angel broke the silence first, his voice hesitant before he huffed out a response, "I've got nothing better to do before work, might as well."
The demon strolled his way up the stairs, and despite the attitude, Charlie's lips flicked ever so slightly upward,
"If simply passing through caused such fireworks," Alaster crackled, managing an even static of both joy and sadistic ness, "then you know I will be losing sleep anticipating what the stage performance will offer!"
The Radio demon winked. Vaggie rolled her one eye. Lucky Charlie saw neither, and he too departed for, if not bed, then whatever nightmarish world he took part in at this hour. Although when he disappeared through the second floor, waves of shadows took his place. They began plastering wall into back into form, and soaked color and structure back into furniture,
Vaggie sighed, wishing he had used his power to put out the fire when it started. She moved back over to Charlie, and began helping her pick out the old paintings,
"And you know I wouldn't miss it for the world, right?" the white haired woman offered, doing her best to put on a smile like Charlie would a show,
"I know…" the heiress sighed out, before meeting Vaggie gaze and warmed in them immediately.
The gray faced woman felt a hand on her, and Charlie leaned into give a quick kiss to her forehead,
"And I really do love how protective you are," Charlie caused Vaggie's heart to flutter. Although the sucked in breath of a 'but' caused her cheeks to preemptively flare up, "but I don't know if… showcasing your weapon skills to our guest when they arrive is the… best way to present our security benefits."
Vaggie blinked her one eye, then felt her face cool as quickly as it heated. A wave of relief washed over her. Only Charlie, in her infinite kindness, could address somebody else's mistakes as a compliment.
Sighing beneath a small grin, Vaggie nodded. She handed a large painting to Charlie… and as if proving a point to her, the universe revealed the Morningstar family and a school of dressed to impress fish,
"Guess the News made me a bit jumpy." Vaggie admitted, and silently chuckled when Charlie didn't hear the obvious, "I'm sorry… I just take my role as head security very seriously. Sometimes I forget that not every demon is as powerful as Alaster."
"Nester might be his complete opposite actually… believe it or not, he's new to Hell"
Charlie chuckled, and went to hang up the artwork. Vaggie stood and crossed her arms with a smirk,
"You don't say." that made a lot of sense given his bewilderment at seeing the others, "Well, I'll be sure to go easy on him in the future. Hope he's not too… uh… traumatized by my hello."
Charlie accidentally yanked the painting crooked. Before turning with a smile and tone Vaggie knows all too well as her girlfriends gentle attempt at a lie,
"Oh he's fine. He only…" and she heard it trail off into her slow truthful admittance, "looked ready to barricade himself in his room when I mentioned your name. I think he believes you're more terrifying than Alaster right now."
"Umph." Vaggie actually felt bad for the young man when he'd find out the truth, "Good thing the fire didn't spread. I'm surprise he stayed quiet during the whole ordeal."
"He doesn't have a phone yet" Charlie puffed through the rubble, "so right now I told him to buzz our room if he needs assistance."
"I hope modern people know to operate-" Vaggie one eye and patch suddenly narrowed, "wait… you mean you only told him to contact our room… our top floor room… our vacant top floor room?"
"Yeah-" Charlie's mouth suckered closed, "Oh crap!"
Vaggie and her shared a look… before they darted for the staircase.
XxxxxxX
Thanks to all who have read through the third chapter. I will try my best to upload one every Friday (and luckily the next couple chapters have already been drafted because the live action Avatar the Last Airbender came out, and not a lot of writing will be done this weekend because of it XD). But until next week, please feel free to leave a comment! Criticism is always welcomed, so long as there's an attempt for it to be constructive.