divinetree | Charlie & Vox

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?"

"Shok.wav is amphibious. He can go wherever he wants! It was one of my specifications during the initial planning stages of his creation."

The question just earned a mock, incredulous scoff. "How smart is Shokky... ma'am, my demon shark is the SHARPEST, biggest and most perfect baby boy in the world, and would only hurt a fly if I told him to."

He paused, scrunched his face in thought. "...Oh, but he leans... Ahh, but I'm sure nobody minds a little death by getting squashed by a big lovebug, huh?"

"Well, hopefully he can learn to be gentle! And to not eat other pets or people. We had to make sure Fat Nuggets didn't eat Keekee, that was a whole trial..."

The fauna of hell, right?

"He seems like a really good boy. He's pretty charming, with a big toothy smile!" she laughed, a little fondly. "If you get to see him again, we'll make sure he's comfortable and gets plenty of the food he needs. It'll be your responsibility to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. That's fair, right?"

"If nobody hurts me, then his defensive systems won't kick in," he noted matter-of-factly. "...I've had him since he was a pup as big as my screen. I know him best."

He turned, and hopped to get a better look at what'd been sitting on his peripherals. He quietly examined what else had been left in the basket.

"So no hypnosis, no... using their client status in the Hotel to treat any employees differently, no physical fighting... no play fighting, says the woman who assaulted me with a pillow..."

"I have to get some kind of princess privileges," she joked, looking over the list again. Hmm...

"...And I want you to try and change to be a better person."

"...Eugh." The immediate response. "It's not enough that I'm not trying to bite or shock you right now, huh? Because I still could."

He's not about to be a care bear and 'hear my hope' with you. Everything sucks. Everything is terrible. Just kill him, please.

"It's not that bad. Just... try. I'm not going to write down any goals or anything, just... try."

Yeah. She wants to put that in the agreement. If he stays here, he... should make efforts to be a better person.

"And I'll see if I can figure out how to make Alastor promise not to bully you, either."

"...You realize telling him not to do something will only make him want to do it more? The man's a fucking brat. It's a brat thing. I'll just... fucking ignore him. I'm done."

The lines grew around his eyes. "I'm so... so fucking tired."

"Ignoring him is probably a good idea..." Charlie agreed, frowning a little at Vox. He seemed so... deflated. There was almost none of that swagger and confidence that was so intimidating and compelling before... he'd stared angels in the face and threatened war.

Well... at least this was for the best.

"Say... why did you decide to work with other demons? Why'd you try to rally everyone, like... like my mom did?"

"Because it was the only way the plan would work. Everyone was pissed about waiting around just to die by bastards who thought they were untouchable until we finally got one up on them. Zestial, Carmilla and the rest were content to just count bodies and then move on. They were scared of a possible war and what devastation it would bring, when such devastation was already on our fucking doorsteps every... year, then six months."

His monitor swapped to Lute standing on the cannon.

"Adam died, but it would never end with him. This little banshee was gonna be next. And if not her, someone else. So on and so on. You had your work cut out for you if we let things rot as they were."

Lute... right. Charlie knew that - knew that things could escalate, could still go so, so badly. And she knows she hadn't proven herself to enough of Hell to convince them to trust her, yet.

"I promise we haven't been letting anything rot," the words came out in a soft tone, uneasy, but...

"...It's something that separates you and Alastor, is all - you... do team up with other people. You get that working together, being together, makes a difference."

It hit him like a ton of bricks. Fatigue, bitterness, smoldering frustration boiled in his soul, all painted with how weak he was for turning to others, how disappointing he was for reaching out; he was nothing, a leech, a virus each and every day he spent time with Valentino, days spent having tea in the occasional cackle-marked silence as Velvette brewed up another potent concoction...

Silenced.

"...What?..."

No. That's. That's not how this works.

When is the laugh coming? The punchline?

Why... was he so surprised by that? It felt obvious, but...

... "This is MY moment!"

He'd pushed away the other Vees, come to think of it... the two of them seemed so annoyed when Vox had put her next to them at the table. They'd been fighting.

But at the same time, he really had been talking about everyone in Hell uniting. He DID have the Vees. The contradictions... they seemed so obvious to Charlie, were they really not obvious to Vox?

"It always makes a difference. Mom believed in that - you kept referencing her too, so I know you know that. It... doesn't matter how strong any one person is - if we all work together, we're all stronger for it."

There wasn't a hint of judgment in her tone. A little confusion, some uncertainty, but... no judgment.

"...And while I don't think we should fight with that strength, I think we need it to make the peace that people here in Hell deserve."

He missed Val and Vel. They were a team, but he ruined it. He ruined it, and he didn't know how he could fix it without begging-

"Seemed more like begging to me."

"You'd be nothing without those two."

"What really are YOU contributing besides... noise?"

"You really haven't changed, have you? Still so reliant on all those around you..."

It was never going to be enough, was it? He'd united Hell. He'd united Hell, just like Lilith did before she vanished. But it would never be enough. God, he was so stupid... all that he'd done, everything he tried to show that he was continuing to sail to the top, and all he got in return was another jab to doubt himself. Vox never truly was the captor. Not for a MINUTE.

...And now everything was ruined.

He should have listened to Velvette and Valentino more. Sure, he didn't credit them a whole lot, but it definitely went from a slow trickle to a drought once he had his hands on Alastor.

"I'm... pretty sure nobody wants to work with me any more, at any rate. And I don't think that's going to change," he remarked quietly.

Somehow, that... makes her think back to Sir Pentious getting caught in the Hotel on his first night. How he was defeated, sniffling, ready to accept his painful fate.

...She was still mad at Vox, but... seeing a little bit of Sir Pentious in him brought a smile to her face.

♪♫ It starts with sorry;
that's your foot in the door. ♫♪

♪♫You know, it's funny...
I've sung this to someone before.♫♪

♪♫The path to forgiveness can be painful and a fright,
but "sorry" can start things off right~♫♪

Oh no. He walked right into it, didn't he? Though he blinked his surprise to the beat, his expression soon fell flat.

Right. Daughter of an angel. Daughter of creatures that apologized for genocide with fucking gift baskets and taffies.

Okay, you know what would fix all of this? Of he could just connect to this torso and arm, and then he can put his hand over her mouth and shush her before someone hears her. If anyone hears her, they find him, and shit only gets worse.

♫♪ It's... not that simple... ♪♫

He quietly hopped to the torso, tried to navigate to the neck opening-

♫♪ I've done a lot I won't take back, ♪♫
♫♪ There is no 'sorry'... ♪♫
♫♪ But Hell's at least on the right track. ♪♫

♫♪ No longer silent, waiting to die, ♪♫
♫♪ Heaven is listening- or at least, willing to try? ♪♫

♫♪ By all accounts, I lit a flame... ♪♫

♫♪ It won't have to be the same! ♪♫

Charlie leaned over the bed, moving the torso for him so he could try and connect to it again - that's what he was doing, right? She kept singing, a little more encouragingly.

♫♪ If you say it to your friends, ♪♫
♫♪ With time, with a try, you can make amends! ♪♫
♫♪ No one is truly beyond redemption ♪♫
♫♪ and I don't think you're an exemption. ♪♫

Wait, is she... really...?? He shifted then, and wiggled his broken wires to slowly slip into the connector ports upon the neck section of the dismembered torso. After a spike of worry, that he was truly broken forever, he felt that spark of a connection. The torso twitched as the electric current went through its countless wires, starting internal fans. Tiny lights within began to glow, and Vox felt like he had a chest and shoulders again. It was faint at first, but in time, he would get full sensation in even this foreign body.

♫♪ I'm convinced, princess, ♪♫
♫♪ That you've truly gone insane. ♪♫

♫♪ Yet I feel... something... ♪♫
♫♪ Like maybe I've done insane, too? ♪♫

Redemption possibility? Fuck no. But... maybe... maybe Velvette and Valentino would hear him out if he approached them again with a level head? He'd been begging, pathetic, until he was thrown out and lost what little he had left.

...He wanted Shok.wav. He wanted his puppy so, so badly. If he asked for anything at this point, sweetened it with an apology, then maybe he could start with that.

♫♪ All that I wanted, was for all of them to see, ♪♫
♫♪ That there is so much, a world of worth there is to me... ♪♫

Next came his arms! She lined them up carefully, letting him pull himself together again. He'd been such an asshole, he'd done such horrible things, but... maybe right now, they were connecting? Maybe he could come to realize just how much he hurt people.

♫♪ I think it's natural, to want to be seen! ♪♫
♫♪ To do that you don't need to be mean... ♪♫

Legs, too...? Oh. Leg. Only one leg. Charlie pulled it out of the basket, giving it a befuddled look as she unfolded it... it was... oh! It was like one of those springy prosthetics! She set it down next to Vox on the bed, digging through the clothing in the basket to figure out if there was another one there. N...no... just the one... well... okay, she'll just have to ask her dad to help out there...

♫♪ We want to make others proud... ♪♫

Only one leg. While Vox wasn't aware, Valentino tried to find a second, but Velvette insisted the white boy was smart and he'll manage with one. And if not, "eh!"

Vox needed a moment to try and extend his reach to the shoulder joints, making that connection. The arms gave a hard twitch in the wake of the electric current running through the fine wires, his brain fighting to parse having limbs again after going so long without them. That weird phantom limb feeling he'd felt in the initial days of being dismembered was... eerie, to say the least. It was a feeling he hadn't had since his first head replacement.

...Make others proud. No, that... that wasn't it. Sure, he'd wanted to make his dad proud when he was young, be the man of the house when he went off to fight in the war. But as he grew up, he saw so much more in himself that he wanted to show others. He was already prideful, and wanted others to acknowledge his greatness. He was so much brighter than everyone else made him out to be.

He wasn't a weatherman. He was someone who was funny, talented, could give the people what they wanted in the wake of so much sanitized entertainment.

He wasn't a man. He was a god, and others should have been grateful that he'd opened so many doors.

The leg was next. One leg. One fucking leg... har har, guys. He was sure he could find something he could use as a crutch, something to balance until either his cords grew in again or until he could manage a second leg.

But he felt so... exposed, like this. His arm was shaky and unsteady, but he managed to grab the blanket beneath and behind him to pull it up and over him. Cocooning would just be the ticket. The pillow fort had been comfy.

"...Says you," he finally muttered.

"I had to claw my way up from the bottom. You can't be soft... at all. You have to be mean." He looked over.

"I remember when you told Velvette and I to leave. Though I blew you off back then, I have to admit: That took some pretty big balls. You need to start using them more."

"Mmm... it's never helped," Charlie admitted, finding a loose screw in the basket and finding where in the knee joint it was supposed to go, twisting it back in place.

"You, hah, said it yourself - I kinda... fuck up everything I try to do. I'm lucky I have so many good friends willing to help me even when I fuck up and make things worse."

The things she did to Angel... the things she said to everyone when she was angry... the failed pitch that just accelerated the genocide...

"I didn't have to scramble to survive, but even if I did, it wouldn't be a good excuse for how often things turn out worse instead of better when I try to handle them myself."

He only offered a minute nod when the screw was twisted into place. He gradually gave a small swing of the ankle a try, and couldn't help sending a grouchy look the limb's way. It wasn't his...

He missed his body, but who fucking knows what happened to it...? It's been so long, the rats probably got to it or something. He'd worked so hard on it, too... sigh.

"Well... I mean, get realistic for a second: You're Hell's biggest nepo baby. Things are going to suck for you for a while, and that label's gonna be stuck to your ass pretty much forever. ...I'm just stating facts," he added, and raised a hand in defense.

"Having friends to help is nice, I guess, but then you run into the age-old-" His eyes swapped to radio dials. "You can't do ANYTHING on your own, can you??"

When they switched back, he rolled them. "Y'know. Peanut gallery shit."

"...At any rate... you wanna beat yourself up over the times you fucked up, that's your prerogative, princess. But even though I had seventy years to bring VoxTek to where it is... was... you think I was perfect about it? That it was swiftly successful? I mean, I was amazing on many occasions, but... I fucked up sometimes, too. But each fuck-up had me learn something. Failures turned into opportunities."

"You know, the whole 'nepo baby' or 'privileged' thing never bothered me. It's true!" Charlie huffed, a little chuffed. "I know I have a lot of privilege and advantages that my people don't. I don't mind that people are sometimes bitter about that - it doesn't seem fair. But... I care a lot if people think I hate them, or that I'm mean or nasty or any of that," she admitted, letting out a frustrated sound.

The whole 'Charlie Morningstar: DICTATOR??' rhetoric bugged the SHIT out of her.

"But! Vaggi was right - I shouldn't have paid you or Katie Killjoy or whatever ANY attention, I just made things way way WAY worse. I should've listened to her from the start! ...I made her the hotel manager. She's got a much more level head about making decisions for the hotel itself."

After a beat, she gave Vox's newly attached chest a poke.

"I bet you already had that plenty with your friends in the Vees. And you know what? I think that's a good thing!"

Look, Alastor was a manipulator! For all HE knew, his old pal was screwing around with you, and using your power! Y'know, for all that he talks about others using others, he sure was a fuckin' hypocrite--

The poke had him blink. But he pulled the blanket in tighter around him and rolled his eyes.

"...Fat lot a good it's done now. They still threw me out." But he flattened his mouth, narrowed his eyes to the floor briefly, and-

"But they'll learn they can't do SHIT without me and come craaaawling back!" There, that's better. Maybe if he said it enough, it'd come true.

Maybe if he said it enough, it'd manifest and he wouldn't have truly lost everything.

Charlie & Vox

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