divinetree | Charlie & Vox

"I'm not lying! It reminds me of some of the pets from our family friends' house - like the jumbo eel! Here, here--"

Charlie balanced the breakfast plate on one hand, pulling out her phone to start flipping through her photo gallery. After a bit of scrolling to find all of the scans of portraits that she downloaded, stepping out of the elevator before holding it out in front of Vox for him to see. There was an old, only somewhat grainy photo of a much younger Charlie cuddling a creature with far too many teeth and eyes.

"This was the eel that the von Eldritch family had - his name was Winzig! Shokky reminds me of him a lot!"

Edited 2026-03-03 18:28 (UTC)

He peered at the photo and his eyebrows shot up. That's... a big fuckin' eel.

"The von Eldritches?? How the fuck do you know-- wait, no, stupid question."

Oof, nope, out of steam. He stopped to catch his breath.

"...God, this- fucking useless body--"

Gah... Charlie winced at him getting frustrated with his infirmity. Yeah... waiting until he had proper legs seemed like the right thing to do... please finish those soon, dad....

To lighten the mood, Charlie leaned in and whispered, "Don't tell anyone else I said this, but Hellsa von Eldricht? HYUUUUUUGE bitch! She's been a bitch even since we were kids!!"

Dad's working on it!! It's- it's two legs, right?

As Vox was rallying himself, he found himself... surprised. After coming to the defense of Angel Dust and her little 'guess what fuckerrrr', Blondie here seemed to be losing her candy coating a little bit. He thought facing off against Adam was the one-and-done thing.

Good.

But to call someone an outright bitch? O-ho.

"Pft... yeah, she gives brat energy. The articles about her bent over backwards to cover that up, huh...?" Distraction. Good. ...And okayokayFINE he also enjoys some hot tea, alright?

Yeah!!! She can tell, she picked up on that real quick-- so she leaned in conspiratorily, whisper-shouting.

"You know how there's always that one mean girl bully in school? Like, any level of school - Hellsa has always been that bitch. Like!! I know that bullies are usually overcompensating for their own feelings of inferiority or loneliness but come ooooon, do you have to like making people feel like shit that much?? And so WHAT if I'm nice to your brother, what's your PROBLEM?? Just!!! Unfuck your mean head and stop being the WORST!"

He had to bite his lip a bit to suppress SO much.

"...You... you feel better?" Did he had a bully in school? Man, who didn't? But he could scarcely remember their face or name. There were bigger fish to fry for him, and there were skinnier, weaker-looking kids to pick on over the Whittman boy.

"I dunno, it just feels like that was building for a while."

"Ugggh... I don't really think about her that much, but remembering Winzig and all the time I spent at their place, ugh... neither of my parents really took anything I said that serious, we all graduated high school and didn't really see each other past college, so..."

Vague so-so gesture!! "I don't know why she got even more bitchy when I was dating Sev, that was the worst part..."

Sev... Sev, Sev... Seviathan, right? The son.

"More fuel for the fire, I guess? Maybe--" He paused to give a short wheeze of a laugh, then nudged her with an elbow.

"--Maybe she was into you...!"

"...Eww."

"NOT! Like she's ugly or whatever-- just!! You ever know someone whose whole personality is just?? Gross?? Like???"

"LIKE-- if you like someone then why would you be a huge asshole to them and the other people they care about????? That doesn't??? Make any sense??? I don't like mean people romantically!! That's just!! Something that makes people actually ugly, not any way they look!"

"UGH!!! I feel SO SORRY for any girlfriend she gets!!! Especially if she's a super bitch at them, too!! Fuck!"

"But WHATEVER-- fine, whatever!! Maybe someone's into that?? It's not MY problem anymore, I'm not on the market! She can go be a huge mean loser with someone else!!"

GUH.

"ANYWAY... uh. That ick aside."

Vox was completely slain. He gradually slid to his one knee onto the floor in his belly laugh, leaning on the rack for any sort of stability, tears streaming down his face.

The drama! The rationalization! The attempt to change topics...!

Oh god... oh god, he felt dizzy... fuck, he hadn't had a laugh this hard in fucking WEEKS...!

"I-... I get-... I get it...!!" Oh god, air. Hold on, air-

"Katie... Katie Killjoy, she...! Fuck, she's wanted my dicks for YEARS...! And you've- you've met her! She's the fucking WORST...!"

"Katie Kill-- UCK! Fuck, nooooo!" Charlie flinched, practically gagging at the thought.

But that was short-lived - with Vox laughing that hard, it was hard for Charlie to resist the infectious laughter, too - even if she was red-faced and embarrassed about having SUCH a dramatic reaction.

"Then-- yeah! Yeah, haha, you get it! Like-- miss Killjoy might be kinda pretty if she wasn't... like that! Hahaha!"

"Oh my GOD, if I sent you the creepy emails she's sent me, you'd fucking die...!! I have- I have a spam folder specifically to filter it all! And- and-"

He sucked in a deep breath. "And I'm INTO mean personalities! I mean, sort of?? They call it- they call it brat taming, right? When someone's just a stubborn little shit... but Katie's got no fucking shot! And she keeps trying!! It's almost sad! And I like women! I love women!! Just not- not--"

He gestured vaguely, then reached up to wipe off his face. Ohh, god...

Brat taming, ooooh gosh, she only knows that because of Angel's... helpful... informative... oversharing about his work. G o s h.

.......How... many of those movies were made by Valentino for Vox's taste--?

Nope, Charlie Morningstar, don't go down that train of thought, there's no going back.

...Though that does raise a different question. She opens her mouth, thinking to ask that one instead...

..........Noooo, maybe let's nooooot...

"That. Makes sense about you," is what ends up tumbling out after several layers of self-filtering.

Whew... alright. Let's climb back up, get on our foot here. The remark had him snort, and rather than dismiss it completely:

"Okay. Humor me: What about that makes sense?"

Edited 2026-03-03 23:50 (UTC)

HOW... DOES SHE SAY THIS WITHOUT BEING MEAN...

"Just... uhm... you seem..."

...............

"...Competitive!"

"Competitive." Girl, what--

"Sure, I like a challenge. That's how Al-- enTINO got- got my attention...! As a business partner!!"

Al... entino. Y...yeah... as a business partner.

Charlie can't really stop the sympathetic look she gives him. All of that is just...

"As long as I wipe that SMILE off of Alastor's face... I don't care WHAT happens."

...

"...Maybe you can sort of... come to learn that someone that challenges you doesn't have to be really mean to you to do it."

The lines deepened beneath his eyes as he fell quiet.

"I know that. ...I'm just not the one that needs to learn that."

He adjusted his grip on the rack, and pushed on.

Does he know that...? Charlie frowned, sadly, following along and only taking a few extra strides ahead so she could open the door for him. He's cruel, he's horrible, he's done awful things to Angel and so many people, but...

If he can feel how bad it feels, why can't he apply that thought to others? Maybe he can. Hopefully he can.

"I don't know what history you and Alastor have, but... someday, if you want to talk through your thoughts and feelings on it, I'll listen. Okay?"

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/done

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