Snow Angel (Alastor x OC)

•{Chapter 9}•

Lowlives

"That's it! An opening dance!"

For what felt like hours, Charlie had been pacing up and down the reception room, massaging the sides of her head with her fingers as she fought to come up with ideas to encourage more demons to join the hotel. At last, Charlie had come up with an idea that brightened her eyes with hope.

It had already been a week, and the only demon they'd managed to have join the Happy Hotel was Harlene, who had been more than willing as she was desperate to reunite with her son in Heaven after inadvertently killing them both all those years ago. No other citizens of Hell had bothered to even knock.
Over the past week however, Harlene had begun to feel at home in the hotel alongside the demons she now considered her first ever friends in Hell.

Hanging out with Charlie was always a delight. She was immensely positive and uplifting, and she constantly talked about her passion to redeem demons whilst finding ways to better Hell for everyone. It had also become clear that Charlie was obsessed with musicals and music, usually singing whatever tune was flowing through her mind. Similarly, Vaggie liked music too - especially punk rock, Latino and 80's music.
Also, Harlene had become even closer friends with Vaggie. As a matter of fact, the morning after she'd managed to pay Alastor back, Vaggie had invited Harlene to join her and Charlie on what would've been one of their dates. They'd gone shopping, and Charlie and Vaggie had gone halves on buying Harlene a party outfit and some pyjamas. Afterwards, they had gone to a cafe and eaten some baked goods, returning to the hotel in time for dinner.

Just like Harlene had predicted, she and Angel Dust had become great friends. Other than Alastor, she had become closest to him than anyone else. Even though she never took drugs or got drunk, Angel Dust had grown to respect her for it and never pressured her into trying it. Meanwhile, although Harlene hadn't found Angel Dust's sexual remarks tasteful at first, she'd ended up finding them absolutely hilarious and adored his humour. He'd even invited her to go to an aquarium with him once, introducing Angel Dust's wonder towards sealife to Harlene, which she found cute. In fact, Angel Dust liked animals in general. He and Harlene had also started cooking together quite often for their friends in the hotel.
Yet, Harlene had a feeling that there was still more to know about the spider-like demon, but she never pestered him about it as she really valued their friendship.

On the other hand, Husk was always grumpy. Although he never seemed drunk, he was never sober. He had also turned out to be an impulsive gambler, this having been displayed to Harlene when he and Alastor played cards in the reception most evenings. Nevertheless, even though Husk hadn't been that kind to Harlene in the beginning, hence why she'd tended to avoid him, even though she'd figured that wouldn't help any future friendship she may have hoped for with him, the two had begun getting along as she began doodling him often while sat at the bar. He'd even stopped insulting her.

Meanwhile, Niffty was neutral when it came to Harlene. She would still analyse Harlene creepily from afar because of her sweet nature, yet whenever they spoke, Niffty was excitable and nice. Plus, Niffty considered Harlene her friend, so Harlene did too, no matter how discomforting Niffty's staring would become sometimes.

Following the night when Harlene had paid Alastor back for the dresses, her relationship with him had blossomed, even though they hadn't made any sort of physical contact. Like with Angel Dust, she'd begun cooking with him too. Alastor also acted as her own personal schedule, consistently reminding her of things he believed she had to do in order to take care of herself, such as: eating on time; napping rather than sleeping in order to coax her into eventually having a full night's rest; and getting out of bed earlier than noon. Although some would find his constant patronising annoying, Harlene found it incredibly endearing as she'd never been cared for like that before.
However, Alastor had been frustrated by the fact that Harlene wouldn't take back the money she'd given him. He'd sometimes leave it on the end of her bed, but she'd always return it to his office. After six days of the seven which had passed, Alastor had given up on trying to get her to take it back and find a way to use it for herself.
Also, Harlene had a feeling Alastor knew that she'd wrapped the blanket around him all those nights ago, but he never said a word of it. In turn, Harlene chose not to bring it up.