Fandom Quid pro quo, in inferno

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

He made a little chirp at the nickname and cocked his head to the side for a moment before following her. As he stepped into the room he began to mentally imagine where and what he could put into the room to make it a bit more habitable for himself. "Wasn't a very ceremonious way of having you tag along with them, was it," he asked with a smile as he looked at her over his shoulder.

He figured if she was going to pick out some, less than flattering, nicknames for him. The least he could do was jab at her unfortunate circumstances lightly.

 

[twinkie]

“I woke them up to tell them that you were here, and when I went to go back to bed, they snatched me up and dragged me along.” She offered him a half shrug, looking the other way in embarrassment. Tuette reached up and stretched the back of her neck.

“Besides, darling, I’m not even sure why they brought me with.. it’s not like I provide any particular use here, y’know?” She seemed to dash over the topic fairly quickly, avoiding eye contact.

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

The feathers on his neck ruffled and her self-dismissal. "Please, anyone who can look a goetia in the eye and treat them like normal? That's someone to keep around," he praised. Things would begin to appear on the walls and Ipos would begin to suddenly be slightly to the left or right of his original position. It was strange to see for certain. But it seemed he was using his powers to retrieve decorations and furniture to decorate the room with.

After a few moments, the room was halfway decorated to his liking and he turned to Tuette. "Besides, if you are as good at making your music as I would like to think you are, then you are a very important part of this hotel. Music just... brings life to a room or setting."

 

[twinkie]

She watched the process of his decorating with hidden interest, not allowing any awe or shock to be presently visible on her features. Tuette folded her arms over her chest, placing herself in a defensive posture, which didn’t seem to be something she did consciously.

“It’s not as important as some of the others. Angel is the celebrity resident who brings in revenue. Niffty cleans… in her own way. Husk keeps us drunkenly on our toes. Music doesn’t place even close to how crucial those things are.”

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

"Have you ever heard of the phrase, 'Music has charms to soothe the savage beast' before?" He moved to sit in one of the chairs by a chess table before continuing. "Alcohol is useful to take the edge off. Sure. But music can calm or energize. It can make you feel happy or sad. Music has an influence that nothing else comes close to. It's linked with our very emotions, so when you say that your talents don't come close to being as crucial as others? Well, I have to keep myself from laughing at such a ridiculous notion," he admitted with a smile.

 

[twinkie]

Tuette leaned against the bedpost, crossing her arms as she listened to him speak. While she did know that it was important to help people, she also knew there were better ways of doing it. Charlie was one such person who was aiming to selflessly help sinners find redemption. There was no way that she could ever measure up to that.

"I appreciate the thought, but it's nothing compared to some of the other work here." She brushed the topic off, trying to avoid it now. "Get settled in at your own pace. Everybody will be happy to meet you. Angel might be... a bit too happy, but that'll come about later." With that, she made her way to the door.

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

"Angel Dust? The pornstar? Goodness this place does bring in all sorts of people doesn't it," he said with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "I'll be out in but a moment. Wouldn't want to deny you of my company for too long," he said, poking fun at her before he stood again and peered at what empty spots remain that he could decorate. In a blink more things began to appear, but more sporadically. As if he needed to put more thought as less room became available.

After about five minutes he made an appearance from his room. And in clothing that, for him, seemed more casual. He didn't make a grand entrance but it was hard not to notice a goetia, much less one of a Phoenix variety

 

[twinkie]

She nodded and departed from the room, allowing him the time he needed to change up the scene a little bit more. In the meantime, she went around rounding up the residents of the hotel and bringing them downstairs into the main living space. This included Angel Dust, Niffty, and Alastor, who was reluctant, but appeared anyway to see what the fuss was all about. Her eyes shifted upward as Ipos came down, to which she immediately faced away, her skin beneath her fur blazing. Husker was still at the bar, which was in view, and he walked over as well to formally introduce himself.

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

He greated each of them in turn. However when it came to Alastor he opted not to shake his hand. Eyes blazing as he stared at the Radio demon as if scrutinizing every thread of magic he possessed. He was polite and respectful nonetheless. What was peculiar was that when Nifty asked for a feather, he flicked one from his head and handed it to her. To which she affexed it to her duster and scamper off giggling in delight. "I thank you all for your sincere welcome and hope to work closely with you on the path towards your redemption. Those that wish for it, of course."

With that out of the way he gravitated toward the bar for a drink. It wasn't often he had the chance to indulge, so he would do so now.

 

[twinkie]

It didn’t take long for everybody to disperse, yet when Niffty came rambling back in, Tuette managed to be her target at this particular moment. The little housekeeper grabbed onto and was aggressively hugging Tuette’s tail, to which she thrashed around in an attempt to get Niffty off. It was a struggle that was big and loud, containing the entire perimeter of the lounge.

Husker passed Ipos a whiskey. “Great to finally have a new face. Seems to me that you’re another who’ll drink me dry. Looks like you’ve taken a liking to our resident DJ.”

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

"I promise that whatever I drink, I will replace," he said accepting the drink and swiveling on the stool to look at Tuette. "A liking would be an apt description. She seems sane, compared to most around here," he said pausing and turning to look at Husk. "No offense." He turned his attention back to Tuette and her plight. "She seems almost normal in comparison to anyone else in hell, myself included. In my line of work, a bit of normalcy is welcome."

 

[twinkie]

Husk listened to the description with mild interest. “Normal? Ha! Outta this lot, she might be, but she’s a troublemaker, don’t let that fool ya.” He focused on scrubbing the glass in his hand down to clean it out. “Makes a lot of sinners seem like normal folk. Plus, she’s got a wild backstory, that’s for dang sure. Ask her about it maybe. Not my place to tell.”

Tuette managed to grab Niffty by the neck and chucked their chaotic maid at the wall. She dusted her hands off and hopped upstairs, finding herself exhausted and in dire need of some rest.

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

"I'll make it a point to try and bring  that up in casual conversation," Ipos said with a chuckle. Although he couldn't shake the feeling of desire of Tuette's company. Known only a few hours and he already wished to speak to her again. Perhaps he could ask her to show him around the Pride Ring? It wasn't a place he visited often and it must be hell, pun intended, to stay cooped up in the hotel all hours of the day.

He made himself busy with helping in managing the hotel. As good as Alastor did, the hotel was in dire need of a helping hand. After a few hours going over the costs and scheduling his eyes felt like they wanted to pop out of his head and roll off to who knows where. He let out a groan and let his forehead fall onto the desk. "Where's a musically inclined Hellhound to break up the monotony of this nightmare of paperwork?"

 

[twinkie]

Tuette managed to find herself waking up much later in the day, to where she sat up in bed and yawned wide, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She imagined that this was nothing a nice glass of scotch or whiskey wouldn't fix... well, no, either would make it worse, but there wasn't much that could make anything better. This was Hell, after all. She sighed and got up, trudging down the hall towards the bar. She was too tired to even realize that she was going the wrong way, and was going by all of the other resident's rooms.

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

Ipos all but burst from his room in frustration, embers trailing in his wake. He was barely able to dodge a very tired looking Tuette. "Oh, goodness. My apologies. I hadn't seen you," he apologized as he made an attempt at smoothing down the feathers on his head. "You seem like you just rolled out of bed."

 

[twinkie]

Out of a tendency to become crabby after first waking up, she wanted to say something snarky in response, but her energy levels were at an all-time low. She wasn't used to so much interaction within one day, so it was enough stress as-is. Tuette's eyelids were drooping and she felt like she could just go to sleep anywhere. She mumbled something under her breath and tilted forward a little, almost dozing off.

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

Her tilting forward sent her right into his arms which he'd wrapped around her to keep her from falling. His embrace, as you'd expect, was very comfortably warm. "Woah there. I don't think you should be moving around if you're still that exhausted," he said softly with a smile as he looked down at her. She was... cute when tired like this. Something he'd keep to himself for now. Her fur was soft against his feathers and he felt like he'd let this go on as long as she'd allow.

 

[twinkie]

As she was enveloped in his warm embrace, she felt herself drawing closer to more sleep. She unconsciously let out a soft whine and nuzzled her face into his chest, falling right back asleep. Her tail was waving back and forth and her large ears had flattened back comfortably. She looked peaceful for once and not driven completely mad by everything in the hotel. This little piece of quiet was a gift.

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

He resisted the urge to scratch behind her ears. But only barely as he stood there with her. "Tuette? You there," he asked softly with a smile. As adorable as this was, them both standing in the hallway were bound to be discovered at some point. He himself wouldn't mind but he wasn't sure about Tuette herself. Not to mention that if she was wanting a warm place to sleep, there were far comfier places that standing in a hallway

 

[twinkie]

While this would have normally been embarrassing as all get out, she was too damn tired to even notice how strange it might appear to a passerby. Either way, at his stirring words, she did not move a muscle, and was contentedly asleep against his warm and soft feathers. If he possessed more catlike attributes, this would be about the time where a sort of purring would start, but she was a hellhound. Not some filthy hellcat.

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

"Well, if you may be content to stay standing here. But I would prefer to sit if you wish to snuggle," he teased but all the same, scooped her up with ease as returned to his room. She was far lighter, to him anyways, than all her fur made her look. He settled onto the couch with a light sigh and couldn't resist the urge to pet between her ears. If she was going to use hum as some sort of heated pillow, then it was the least she could allow.

 

[twinkie]

Not much reaction came from her when spoken to or lifted up, other than a few odd grumbles and soft whimpers, yet nevertheless, it was easy to move her. As he settled himself down onto the couch, she snuggled up closer, nuzzling her face into him. The gentle strokes between her ears only caused her to fall into a deeper sleep, yet that had no effect on stopping her tail from wagging back and forth.

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

He figured she needed a bit of sleep, so he used his powers to stop time. Leaving just them to continue as normal so that she could rest a bit longer. Eventually he wound up falling asleep himself, the rythmic thumping of her tail and her soft fur lulling him to sleep. His chin resting against his chest as his feathers pulsed in time with his breathing

 

[twinkie]

A short while passed and, after sleeping away the morning exhaustion, Tuette's eyes fluttered open. To her surprise, she was not laying in her bed, but rather, was laying on top of the goetia she had just met hours prior. She immediately scrambled up and backed into the corner of the room, not sure what happened or if anything weird may have gone on. Either way, she didn't trust it in the slightest. Her bright red eyes fixated on Ipos and didn't move.

 

[Lucifer Mourningwood]

The incessant scrabbling easily aroused him from his sleep. A little disoriented his head shot up with a snort. "Huh? Wha?" He took a moment to get his bearings. Attempting to remember what had led up to now. His frustration with the paperwork, leaving his room and almost running over a seemingly exhausted Tuette. Her trying to all but cuddle into his feathers in the hallway then the move to the couch. He looked over to Tuette and offered a sincere smile. "Not sleepwalking anymore I see? I hope I provided the service of a pillow well enough?"