divinetree | Charlie & Vox

Looking up from her phone, Charlie furrowed her brows - what was Vox talking about...? "What... held him back? Huh?"

The concept that Alastor was using them... that wasn't a foreign thought. It popped up, now and then. But this was the first she'd heard of something 'holding Alastor back'...? What did that mean?

"...Used you... I guess... maybe that's why he cashed his favor in that day for that. I thought he was just being a huge jerk for some weird reason? Or-- wanted you to touch my shoulders or something, I don't know," idly, she pushed her hair out of her face. "...He always said he was here to watch people stumble and fail to redeem themselves, and it was just for fun. So we kind of already knew he was being shady and weird, but..."

Over a year of him being around, actually helping with the Hotel (even if he dragged his feet more often than not), giving passing advice, fighting by their side...

"...I'll stop him. I won't let him hurt anyone here."

"Fuck if I know! He said I helped him cut something holding him back after you booked it off stage. He wouldn't admit to anything like that unless he can fuel a good ol' gloat. Please, I've known him forever. I could write a fucking book."

But he rolled his eyes at the insistence that she'd stop him. Mmkay. Whatever. We'll see if he survives the night, let alone the week, with the creepy Prince of the Forest skulking around the building.

"Either way, if you don't want a fucking riot, maybe hold off on the whole... 'getting me to see others here on their level' thing. People are famously stupid: Even the worst news gets buried under something else that grabs the public's attention in less then three weeks tops."

"I don't think you're really ready for that either, anyway... you're still pretty hurt."

Physically and mentally. Gosh... she'll make sure Alastor doesn't mess with him. Maybe Valentino will actually come back, maybe Vox will get well enough to leave on his own, but... until anything like that, Charlie was going to make sure to treat him like he actually was going to try and redeem.

"You guys seem to have... a lot of history. He even made Vaggi make a Deal with him so he never had to do anything with television stuff again, once the commercial was made..."

"Of course he did," he hissed under his breath. "Don't know why, since the asshole purposefully scrambles up film anyway."

He huffed, and looked away. "A 'lot of history' is putting it lightly. But what does it matter...?"

Vox gave a little hop, managed to catch one of the pillows with his teeth, and wrench a little. It plopped over his face. But that's what he wanted anyway.

"What do you care?"

"Well... it... seems like something that you care a lot about," Charlie ventured, setting her phone down to pick up a couple other lighter pillows, building up a little pillow fort over him. Since... that's what he seemed like he was trying to do.

"You were really, really hurt, right...? It didn't really look like... hurt pride over losing, when you were pointing the cannon at him. At us."

"I don't," he replied quickly. But at the pillow fort grew, lit inside by what parts of his screen wasn't covered by a pillow, offering a soft blue against the drab and red, he made no effort to fight the gesture.

He'd turned his lights off, and was asleep in his office under his desk when Valentino had grabbed him, dumped him in the basket. He'd found comfort just being by the glow of his shark tank, watching them swim.

It'd been hours, but he already missed them. If Val was serious or just... forgot, the brat... he'd probably never see them again.

"I wasn't hurt." That's weak.

"...I was angry."

"But... why were you that angry? Even now, you're not even close to that angry about me, or getting kicked out by Valentino, or... anyone else. So it's different," she looked at the disparate parts, how they looked... just as discarded as the rest of Vox. Valentino had put him at her doorstep and not a dumpster, at least, but... wouldn't this have been embarrassing?

"Alastor is... not a very nice person. And he doesn't make a lot of sense. But it sounds like you were closer to him than most people."

Leave it to Valentino to be an expert on humiliation.

For a while, Vox said nothing. He was frustrated and angry with Charlie for her stupid plan working, and he was furious with Valentino for kicking him out and probably being serious about it this time. He'd never ACTED on it before.

But... this was different. This was bitterness. Hurt, wounded bitterness.

"Yeah. Well. I thought I was, too." He'd said it so quietly, it could almost be missed.

Then he sighed. Felt uncomfortable.

"...Look, thanks for being a bleeding heart and not putting me in a fuckin' dumpster or something, but... ...that's enough. Leave me alone."

...Thanks?

That surprised her almost as much as the muffled, nearly-inaudible comment about being close that she nearly missed. He thanked her?

...

"Well... sorry, but I need to make sure you promise. And make that Deal. You... hurt a lot of people, really badly. So I need to make sure."

So for now, she's going to make a writeup. That ought to work well enough... he can verbally consent, and that ought to be just fine.

"Then I'll go talk to Alastor and make sure he knows that I won't stand for him hurting you while you're a guest."

The sigh was long and loud.

"...What do you want me to even do? You either fondle me or, what, make me super duper promise not to nuke the place or something? Lady-- LOOK AT ME. What the fuck can I even DO right now??"

Edited 2026-02-01 22:02 (UTC)

"Hold your hellhorses...!" Charlie chided, giving the top pillow a THWAP.

But it was still a pillow, so it didn't do anything to him.

"I'm coming up with a written agreement you can verbally consent to and... I dunno, I'll have you hold a pen in your mouth or something. And I didn't fondle you, eww, don't say it like that! I thought I was shaking a bunny ear or something..."

The thwap earned a sputter as he got a mouthful of pillow. When your face was 80% mouth, there wasn't much else of a place for it to go, you know...?

He spat. ...Well, damn it, he COULD hold a pen in his mouth. Really, he'd prefer just having hands again, you stingy ASS--

"A bunny ear. I've got my whole shark thing going, and your first thought is 'rabbit'? That's defamation! And you DID fondle!"

He wiggled out from under the pillow and made his smarmiest little grin. Fine. He can just be a weaponized annoyance. She doesn't do well under pressure, but what of teasing?? "You... man-handled me, Princess. Dear god- Was it the black suit...?"

"Wha-- hey! No, no-- you are not gonna paint me as some kind of creep, okay?? I didn't bring up any of your weird things you did!" Charlie insisted, picking up one of the tiny pillows and playfully swatting at the screen, no force whatsoever behind it. "I don't appreciate that, mister!! And they aren't really that sharky, in my defense, they're all... bouncy and springy and they have the cute little baubles on the ends, so something cute like a bunny or a ladybug was what I thought!!"

The swat netted a brief tone of the Emergency Broadcast System, but he was back to laughing. Now THAT was interesting, like her flare-up on the roof when her little Danny Do-Bad (seriously, the fuck??) skit went awry.

"My cute little baubles help me navigate the airwaves with a fierce and powerful efficiency! ...And my body is sharkier: I have- well, had- gills and I was working on a tail with fins!"

A sigh, and his eyes closed. "...It would have been amazing."

...You know, despite herself, she gives him a little laugh as she returned to typing up bullet points.

"Sharks are your favorite animal, huh... were they your favorite on Earth, too?" she asked, kind of amused. "I think they can be pretty neat, I gotta admit! I got to pet a nurse shark when I visited Heaven. She was really cute."

"Hah! Bullshit! Those fuddy-duddies up top would sooner shit themselves than go anywhere NEAR a shark. ...But I guess if they were to pick a particular type, nurse sharks aren't the worst ones to pick. Cat sharks, definitely."

He stuck out his tongue in focus, moved an antennae, and created a small hologram before flicking it out to grow into a sizable screen. Upon it was some sort of television montage of swimming beasties.

"And uh, yeah?? I'm the reason Shark Week exists! Sure, I died about eighty years ago, but they finally realized the idea just works and throw it on TV every summer for almost 40 years now! Some treat it like a religious event, and to that I say you're welcome."

"They did!! She was in the tank with the horseshoe crabs, a few rays, one of the octopuses... octopi... octo... uh. Yeah!" Charlie laughed. "That zoo was incredible!! I got to see all the fuzzy and cool earth animals - even the ones that were predators on earth were cozy and happy and safe. The courtroom sucked, but the petting zoo? Ah. mazing."

Charlie laughed in delight at the memory. Heaven was a lot, but who could really be angry at animals?

"Oh! I bet you were excited to run the special on Greed and Envy's sharks too. And the shark hellborn!"

"'Octopuses'. The linguists bitched and we lost 'pi'," he noted before he could stop himself, but rolled his eyes nevertheless. Heaven has petting zoos, because of course they did. He remembered seeing a fucking ball pit in one of the video feeds. They really do just treat them like children up there, huh...?

But she seemed to be thrilled about it. Guess it was nice to get out of Hell for a while for her. Must be nice.

"Three specials originally. Three hours in length each. Got some complaints, so I had to whittle it down for runtime... fucking killjoys."

After a little laugh, Charlie looked at him. He really still had to make compromises, make things work, and all that... normal business stuff. Vox always made it seem like he got exactly what he wanted, so hearing the casual gripe was kind of... funny? Refreshing?? Something, at least.

"Well, I dunno, maybe having a focused special once a year would make sense?" Charlie shrugged. "I can tell uncle Mammon and aunt-cle Levi that you really like the sharks in hell, too. From what I remember, the non-sapient ones are really, really old for the seas."

"It's not that big of a deal. Pretty sure the Sins have better things to do than give a shit about a Sinner. Your dad's been proof positive about that for ages." He hopped to reposition himself, and thanks to the springiness of the bed, it loaned to the ease of his movement.

"We got sharks on earth that are over 500 years old. I can imagine hellsharks being significantly older. The study of hell's wildlife was... lacking when I fell down here, and that's half of why I started my biological R&D department, got guys like Baxter on the case."

"Well... a lot of research and libraries and stuff like that isn't in Pride, that's true. And probably hasn't been put online."

He really, really liked sharks...

"But the Ars Goetia are a lot of our lore and knowledge keepers, and I'm sure there's research in Envy itself. Maybe if you're here for a while, and you get along alright... I can see if I can bring some of those books up to our library in here for you."

His donut house, Charlie. No- This is his donut castle.

But right, the birds. They tended to keep to themselves and the rest of native society as a rung above Sinners and just below the Sins. He can't say he really tried to speak with them outside of business matters if he perked any of their ears, but he'd imagine they wouldn't be too keen on coughing up any of their knowledge. He didn't see any competition from them, anyway, save for the occasional unit during Hell's Fair.

"Hmm." Just an acknowledgement. For all he knew, Valentino would get lonely and come get him. Or Alastor would decide, nah, and come and kill him. There's a whole lot of 'ifs' out there.

He sighed quietly. "...Alright. Let's see what you've got for whatever you're writing so far."

"Right - so long as you're a guest here in the Hotel, you'll get treated and protected like one. No physical fights are allowed in the Hotel - not even play-fights, we learned that one the hard way..."

She turned her phone so he could read along, scrolling through her general notes app.

"You will not be allowed to hypnotize anyone. You won't be allowed to talk about anyone's position at work, especially if they worked for you or still do or... however that works."

Is... he... still in control of his things...? ...Well, just in case, she didn't want him using that leverage over the other guests.

"Actually, I'll make sure that's clearer... no... using... anything that happens in the Hotel... to treat people in your employment differently...!"

He quirked a brow. The hypnotism made sense, but he couldn't help himself with the little smirk.

"...Oof, not even to treat them better after the Hotel brings me a level of enlightenment...? Weeell, if you say so...!" He did have to wonder if any of his (old) employees were here. Honestly? He didn't care, but let's call it curiosity.

"Okay- what about pets? There's no way in Hell I'd let Val keep my baby- he always feeds Shokky trash and he feels so SLUGGISH afterward..."

"Pets are fine! Let's see... Shokky was the big flying shark you had, right? The one Alastor was fighting... well, he's a little big to fit inside anywhere but the lobby, but maybe I can get my dad to help make a space outside for him to be cozy in. Does he still swim in water most of the time...?"

Wait-- don't get distracted by that yet.

"And obviously we make sure that our pets don't bite other guests! How smart is Shokky? Do you think he's well trained enough to know not to bite anyone?"

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject