I finished with my shower before Amiee, as expected, and ran to the changing room to put on anything that could go under the corset. Once Amiee entered, she helped lace me into the corset and I helped zip her into hers. We both looked around the room while the other was messing with zippers or ribbons. We found two vanity mirrors. One was mine, one was hers. She never wore a lot of makeup where I wore a lot, so it was easy to tell which vanity was for who. Plus, Alabaster was, in her words, "So not (her) shade!" She was a solid Sandy Beige. We did our makeup and then our hair. She put hers in a bun and had me tie a ribbon around it. I kept my hair half down in the front, then tied into a pony in the back. I had Amiee braid it and wrap that into a bun. We opted to put a bow on the top of my head.
We still had a solid 23 minutes before Lucifer would be back. So Amiee and I returned to our room to find Relly in a black tux with a dark red velvet vest. We assumed we were supposed to match. He stood as soon as we opened the door. There was a window above my dresser that we could see through. At least I wouldn't have to worry about sunlight.
"So let's come up with theories, shall we?" Amiee suggested.
"Theories for what?" Relly mumbled, obviously irritated with something.
"Um, for our current situation. Everyone else has barracks. We have a motel room. And we were brought here by Lucifer himself. So there's a reason for it. Let's try to figure it out." She replied.
"Why don't you ask Aeris. Seems she's all buddy buddy with Lucy."
"Okay, first off, Relly, I don't know what's going on. I don't know why he's favoring us. I-"
"He's not favoring us. He's favoring you. Amiee and I are only getting special treatment because you're here with us. I promise you, he's not being nice to us because he's favoring the three of us. He's being nice because he's favoring you. And I want to know why."
"Then let's come up with theories for that." Amiee responded.
I crossed my arms over my chest, both angry and upset. I pulled up my sleeve on my left arm to reveal a scar from 4 years before, a scar on my wrist that said Relly's name. I rubbed it, and looked out the window while Amiee and Relly went at it. Relly must have noticed because he sat next to me, hand on my shoulder.
"Aeris, I'm-"
"I know. You're angry. But not really at me. And you want to know the funny thing? You're right."
"Wait, what?" Amiee sat behind me, hand on my other shoulder.
"He knew about Amanda Stabbs. That character I was writing in Middle School. The one with the demonic bunny, Brandon. And her friend, Angela, with the demonic dog, J."
"What do you mean he knew about them? You lost the story and the drawings years ago."
"I know I did. But, Relly.. He called me Little Lotty. Brandon calls Amanda that. Unless it was a reference to Phantom Of The Opera..." I trailed off, standing. I began pacing the room, my low heeled boots clicking with every step.
"What do you mean?" Amiee tilted her head.
"Christine. Roul called her Little Lotty, too. That's where I got the idea from."
"You're in deeper than you think, if that's what he was referring to." Amiee stated.
"I'll be damned if I'm losing you to Lucifer." Relly chimed in, sounding angrier than before.
"Relly, we're not talking about it right now." I said sharply.
"Why not? I mean, as a team, we shouldn't keep any thoughts or feelings from each other." Relly said, Amiee standing behind him in agreement.
"Because we're out of time for now." I stated as there was a knock on the door. I knew it was Lucifer before the door was even opened. He had two demons with him. One dressed to match Relly, one dressed to match Amiee, and Lucifer matched me. Amiee had opened the door as they paraded in.
Without a word, Lucifer motioned for me to take his arm and motioned for the demons to take Relly and Amiee by their arms. Relly followed Lucifer and I, Amiee following Relly. I could feel Relly's glare as we were led down the hall again, and down to the dinning hall. We apparently were the last to enter the hall. As everyone else was already seated and waiting with anticipation and anxiety for dinner. I noted that everyone else was dressed in whatever they might normally wear, except my team. Everyone else was in sweats, or sun dresses, or jeans with a tank or t-shirt.
I began to feel over dressed until I realized we weren't sitting with everyone else. Lucifer was having us sit at his private dinning table. And I could tell how angry this made Relly and the others. We weren't being treated as equals to everyone else. And we were being shown absolute favoritism. He had us sit in assigned seating. Lucifer on one end, Myself on the other, and Relly to my right with Amiee on my left. We sat in silence as we waited for plates were to be set in front of us.
This wasn't your typical dinner. I don't mean that is was weird food. I mean we had tacos for starts, and then steak. With cake for desert. But when the food was set in front of it, Amiee and Relly looked at it like it was an illusion. Everyone had the same thing. Chicken or tofu tacos (for the vegans) and Steak or some weird looking soy thing. I looked down at the plates set in front of me and then to Relly, and then Amiee. They were looking around the room at everyone else. Seems we're the only three that thought it was an odd pairing.
"What were you expecting? Eye Ball Soup and Bat Wing Salad?" Lucifer laughed.
"No," I mumbled as a playful grin grew on my black lips. "I was half expecting something more, dare I say, hellish."
He choked, trying not to laugh. Relly stared me down as Amiee shrugged it off and dug in. I smirked at Relly, trying to signal that I'm just poking fun. He wasn't buying it. I let out a soft sigh with a glance at Relly, again, before I consumed the tacos and steak as daintily as I could manage. This was going to be a long night, and I knew that not every dinner was going to be this way. So why not try to savor a meal without too much violent tension?
