Sad Princesses and everything else is kind of a mess

[disneyprincessofhell]

Now that it's been proven redemption is possible, more people are coming to the hotel for the right reason. A lot of guests are even former Vox supporters who'd lost respect for him after that public meltdown where he tried to kill everyone over Alastor. People are taking Charlie's cause seriously and Charlie herself is learning from her mistakes.

Except...only somewhat. She's no longer obsessed with looking good and proving herself to other people, but the memory of all she did wrong is still fresh: blowing up at her dad, not rescuing Alastor, and the less said about the way she treated Angel and Vaggi the better.

But at least she got to make up with Vaggi. She never got to clear the air with Angel after what she did to him.

And...people talk. Guests say things, not meant to hurt or criticize her, but comments about how redemption is so much more real when we hear about it from someone who knows what suffering is or hard to believe just weeks ago this place was blown up by angels or any other little observations or opinions that only remind Charlie of her failures. Her attempts to convince Heaven made them move the extermination up, getting Pentious and Dazzle killed. She tried to explain herself and Vox just dug his claws in and used it against her. She hears people wondering what happened to Angel Dust and she remembers their last conversation, how badly she failed him.

Even her new role as counselor isn't a perfect fit. She does her best, but one day a sinner tells her she feels worse after talking to Charlie, that the advice Charlie gave her would only make her issues worse. You have the luxury of apologizing to your father, but my mother went to Heaven and at this rate I'll never get up there to see her, even if Baxter and Pentious could link me up I don't even know where in Heaven she is or if she'll even talk to me.

The woman wasn't angry, but the message was loud and clear. What does a sheltered privileged Princess like her know about redemption and the suffering of sinners? All she can do is preach and sing songs.

Listen to other voices, learn, take responsibility, do better, be better. The problem is that the more voices she listens to the clearer it becomes she's unfit for this. Every day she's felt her mistakes weigh on her to the point where she feels the need to tiptoe even around Vaggi, and this...this is enough to break her.

She closes her office after that session, goes to her and Vaggi's room, and that's where she's been for the last few days.

Comments

Husk - Sudden Manager

[strutwhenyourebluffin]

Who made Husk the adult in this situation? Alastor has decided that he will be behind the bar, which leaves Husk to manage both the hotel's PR and the front desk and the guests. To be completely honest, he is about ready to go insane, but for everyone he cares about, he's holding it together. Barely.

using Angel's account for Cherri dialogue

[aschmoozerandadummy]

Cherri...is just a guest, still not even sure about how this redemption thing could work for someone like her, and she's mostly doing it so she can be with her boyfriend again. But she's still managed to bond with Husk and, well, she's worried about him.

"There's gotta be something I can help with," she offers. "Maybe I shoulda offered to take over the bar instead of Radiohead there."

[strutwhenyourebluffin]

"Eh. He knows his shit, as prickly as he is." Husk sighs, glaring at someone. "It's call a line, dumbass. Get in it."

He takes a breath, and mumbles "Angel would be better at this."

[aschmoozerandadummy]

"He would. Angie's always had a way with people, especially once he dropped the mask and started bein' real with himself." Cherri sighs. "If he were here...I dunno if he could fix everything but it wouldn't be this shitty."

She's holding Fat Nuggets in her arms, and the poor little pig looks like he's about to cry.

[strutwhenyourebluffin]

Husk reaches out and pets Fat Nuggets' head. "I know, Nuggs. I miss him as much as you do." A few people come through, and Husk barely gets through interacting with them without going crazy.

"I can't let the hotel go to pieces. Then Angel won't have anywhere to come home to. And... as much as she doesn't want to talk to people now, I do believe in Charlie. I know she can do it, she just has to find her confidence."

[aschmoozerandadummy]

"The only reason I aint punchin' those guests for makin' her feel bad and blatherin' about Angie is cause Vaggi would never allow it," Cherri mutters. "Look, maybe the Princess went about it all wrong, but at least she was trying! And the idea that only sinners know suffering is bullshit, I've talked to Lucifer a few times and the guy's a mess who copes by surrounding himself with ducks."

[strutwhenyourebluffin]

"I'm pretty sure that everyone who is any degree of alive knows suffering. It's on different levels and about different things, but it's there."

Husk sighs, leaning against the back wall for a moment. "Then again, most sinners can't see their own fucking hand in front of their face."

[aschmoozerandadummy]

"And we're in Hell, suffering is kind of a requirement down here anyway." Cherri holds Fat Nuggets closer. "And even Heaven aint devoid of it, Pen was cryin' when it was time to cut off the feed that night...they're takin' care of him up there, but he said the hotel was the first true family he'd ever had."

Maybe if he could be here, even if on a screen, things might suck less. He's a sap, but he could still lift everyone's spirits.

[strutwhenyourebluffin]

"Yeah." Husk sighs, staring out into space. "Always did kinda like that snake."

For a moment, the far-away pain is back, and he's lost in his own thoughts.

Vaggi - Charlie's Room

[hotelmanagervaggi]

"Charlie, you have to talk to me sometime. Please." Vaggi is sitting on the bed beside her girlfriend, worried beyond belief.

Re: Vaggi - Charlie's Room

[disneyprincessofhell]

She does, and she should, but how does she talk about how a bunch of people make her feel bad about herself when she should be more concerned that they've noticed her flaws and knew all along why the hotel didn't work?

"It's stupid. I've been stupid, I...I don't even have the right to be this upset." To her this is like crying over not having enough honey for her tea when some people are lucky they even have water for tea.

Re: Vaggi - Charlie's Room

[hotelmanagervaggi]

"You have every right to be upset, Charlie. You care about the sinners, and it's like someone slapped you in the face and said you didn't really care." Vaggi sighs. "People are always going to be shitty. I don't know where you're getting the idea that you don't have a right to be upset when you are."

Re: Vaggi - Charlie's Room

[disneyprincessofhell]

"She has a point, though. I don't understand what sinners have been through, I'm a Hellborn and the Princess. I can apologize to Dad any time, but this woman believe she drove her mother to an early grave with all her sins and cutting her out of her life." Charlie curls further into her blanket burrito. "It's not even like they're being mean on purpose. I know I've got a lot to answer for."

[hotelmanagervaggi]

"You don't know, but you could ask." A pause. "You shouldn't take their sins and their mistakes on you. All you're offering is a place to work those things out. If you're worried about not knowing things... ask."

[disneyprincessofhell]

"I'm just afraid of stepping on their toes or being too invasive," Charlie murmurs. "Not everyone wants their biggest sins out in the open even with one person. Everyone already knows what happened with Angel, half the guests can't stop talking about it." Again, not blaming her directly, but piling pity on him behind his back and reminding her that she failed him.

[hotelmanagervaggi]

"Nobody's perfect, Charlie. Angel's situation... is what it is." Vaggi sighs, burying her face in her hands. "You can't take this all on yourself It's not your fault. Talk to people. Try to understand what they're going through."

Vaggi sighs. "Sometimes all people need is someone to listen. I've learned that lately. Tell people you don't know, but you want to understand so you can help."

[disneyprincessofhell]

"I thought I was doing just that with my counseling. The first sinner took to it so well, he even hugged me and thanked me." It was...weird, being hugged by a man who'd admitted to killing his wife on live TV, but he'd spilled his guts during that session. Murder was horrible, but so was the mental illness he'd lived with and never really felt allowed to be treated for. "But people are so different. And I guess even now I'm still trying to fix everything and offer advice."

She uncurls a little, tugging down the blanket. "I'm still not good at just listening, I guess. Like when you told me I was the one messing things up and I yelled at you."

Molly - The worst time to visit

[aschmoozerandadummy]

While all this is going on, there's an unexpected guest in Hell.

Molly doesn't know everything that's happened to her brother since his death. Outliving him by several decades, she died of old age and went to Heaven and obviously she wouldn't see him up there. Even as he died in her arms he knew where he was going and all Molly could do is wonder and worry.

But recently, she's befriended a certain snake who it turns out Anthony befriended in Hell. Sir Pentious doesn't know all the details either, but he told her that her beloved twin was "not in a good way" and that was all Molly needed to ask Sera for a day pass.

Hell is...every bit as unnerving and unpleasant as she always assumed it was, and she's not entirely comfortable. Even hiding her halo and her wings, she tries to avoid contact with any demons on her way to a certain hotel.

[strutwhenyourebluffin]

When she's halfway there, a couple thugs accost her, drooling over her and making very dirty implications about what they want to take her off and do to her.

Before any of them can touch her, playing cards fly through the air, cutting each of them on the cheek. "Back off, fuckfaces. Can't you see she's just trying to get somewhere? Go pick on someone your own size. "Prick and Hatchet are only a couple blocks that way."

Translations: "dirty pigs" and "go drink nail polish remover"

[aschmoozerandadummy]

Molly may be a sweet and bubbly girl who made it to Heaven, but she didn't grow up in a mafia family without learning to take care of herself. Still, she's grateful for the assist, and while the thugs are distracted by the pain she brings her knee up and slams each of them in the groin.

"You maiali sporchi are even worse than Adam when it comes to respecting ladies! Vai a bere il solvente per unghie!"

She turns to the stranger, going back to her usual smiley face. "Thanks for the help, sir!"

[strutwhenyourebluffin]

Husk can't help a laugh at that. "You tell them." And then she turns her smile on him, and his eyes go wide. He knows that smile, he knows those eyes.

"um. Not a problem. New around here?" Didn't Angel say he had a sister in Heaven? What's she doing in this pit?

[aschmoozerandadummy]

"No, I'm here visiting. I have a brother down here and Sir Pentious...said he wasn't doing so well. I got worried."

[strutwhenyourebluffin]

"You're Molly." Husk blinks a few times, eyes widening. "Oh, fuck. We should get out of the street." He takes a breath, pulling a well-loved picture out of his pocket, Angel and him talking at the bar in a candid moment. "Hang on to that for me. It's my promise that you'll be safe."

[aschmoozerandadummy]

Molly takes the picture with careful hands, examining it. That's her brother, all right, but there's a look on his face she's never seen in life. Even when he was telling her about Clive and later Dorian, his eyes never shone quite like that.

[strutwhenyourebluffin]

"Come on," He takes her hand, pulling her through the streets to the Hotel's land. "Alright. We'll be safe here. No one'll bother us while we talk."

He pauses, letting her keep the photo for now. "So... you're on a field trip? To Hell?"