Lucifer gulps when Frederick puts a hand on his shoulder and pulls him up so he's standing - he's known this was coming since he woke up, Valentino's unexpected presence just provided a convenient excuse to avoid it for a while.
He can't even go see if Calli needs another set of hands in the kitchen, Alastor can summon an army of pseudo-living puppets!
They head up to his room, and opening the door reveals Lilith sitting on the bed - she still looks like a concentration camp victim, her face gaunt from lack of food, but at least she's had a shower and gotten cleaned up. Plus, with the purple bath robe she's wearing, you can't see every rib in her chest and how her joints look so knobby and swollen.
At least the bag of fluids Calli made seems to be expanded, since even a full night later it hasn't gotten more than a third of the way down. Locking the door behind him, Frederick says "Your 'King stuff' as you put it, is finished for now, Luci. Wings. Now. All six of them." If he has to wrestle Lucifer onto the bed and hold him down while Lilith sings the limbs out, that's what he'll do in a heartbeat - his long-time friend was too twitchy over the subject for him to drop this!
Lucifer gulps, feeling more like he's being sat down for an interrogation than on his bed with his wife, and says "Really, guys, this isn't…" He trails off at seeing the look Frederick and Lilith exchange, then sighs and says "Fine, you two win. One moment." Lilith puts a hand on each of his shoulders, weakly digging her thumbs in to ease some of the tension in his shoulders - Valentino completely ruined what should've been a fan-fucking-tastic morning. He's finally got his wife back with him, and then Stolas portals in saying Valentino is sitting tied up on the couch looking for someone.
After another moment, one in which Lilith's hands on his shoulders tighten in her worry, Lucifer carefully lets his wings out so he doesn't smack either of them in the face. Two simultaneous sighs of relief later, and three hands bury themselves in his feathers while the fourth stays on his shoulder to keep him at least somewhat grounded. They push and lightly tug on his wings, poking and prodding as if to check for any injuries hidden under the bright red feathers, until Lucifer finds himself lying face-down on his bed as Lilith and Frederick keep checking over all six of his wings.
He's not sure how long it takes - at least an hour, maybe two? - but finally Frederick says "Despite all the reasons to the contrary…your wings are, miraculously, intact."
Lilith breathes out several relief-filled swears, and Lucifer glances over his shoulder to see her whole body is shaking slightly - relief or exhaustion, he's not entirely sure. Still, he sits up next to Lilith and wraps her arm around his shoulders so she can lean into him, and asks "You want to talk with Charlie? Or meet Emily? I think you'll like her."
Lilith nods, tiredly murmuring "You mentioned her last night…who's she?"
Lucifer grins, saying "You're gonna love this, Lils. She's Charlie's…well, cousin."
Lilith's eyes fly open so fast Lucifer thinks they might actually pop straight out of her head. "Charlie's cousin?! "What- How- When…Calli?"
Lucifer nods with a grin, saying "Some kinda potion from her old world, a…Blood Adoption Potion, she called it. Emily was a Seraphim up in Heaven, up until Extermination was revealed and the Winners started protesting. A lot."
Lilith grins, saying "Oh, this I need to see in person. But, Emily…?"
Lucifer runs a hand through his hair, even as Frederick says "I must admit, I'm curious as well. Calliope never struck me as the children type. Bar Charlie, of course."
Lucifer says "Well, that's the thing. When the Winners started uprising, Emily was trying to keep all-out civil war from breaking loose - not stopping the Winners from protesting, just keeping things from getting violent. Given the detail that she's only about Charlie's age, she was good at it - actually, she could do it because she was Charlie's age."
"Don't tell me," Frederick chuckles, an amused smirk on his lips, "Calli did something." She's had a long-standing grudge with Heaven, and for good fucking reason, so he can absolutely see her taking the chance to pay the place back for nearly killing Lucifer.
Lucifer nods, chuckling as well, and says "She went back up to Heaven to raid the Exorcists' Weapons Vault. To keep everyone distracted, she showed all of Heaven what happened with Eve, my Fall…"
Lilith throws her head back and laughs until tears run freely down her face, clutching at her sides and Lucifer until her hysterical laughter finally dies down. "Oh, that," she gasps out, "that is beautiful. I'll have to ask Calli to share the memory."
Lucifer grins, saying "She came back from that with…I think it was eight crate-fuls of weapons, enough to arm the small army of Rosie's Cannibals that had volunteered to help fight the Exorcists off - also, turns out their own weapons could kill them as well as Sinners."
Lilith promptly facepalms, muttering a few things under her breath.
Frederick raises an eyebrow at them, asking "Just how long has this…Extermination been happening?"
Lucifer sighs, saying "Millennia. We tried so many times to put a stop to it, but…Sera's always had the habit of walking over most people when she wants to."
Frederick flatly asks "She walked all over Calli? Calli's not the type to let someone use her as a doormat."
Lilith shakes her head, saying "The first time it happened, Calli was up on Earth - keeping Fate entertained, per her deal to keep this world going. When she came back, we didn't want her to worry about what might happen if she wasn't here - she's always been good at that, since before I even met her. She came back saying Death had gotten a sudden influx of souls to deal with, so we didn't want to add to the pile. Three months before the date, Calli would have to leave to get all the paperwork ready - how much paperwork that is, neither of us know - so she was never actually here for the annual slaughter."
Lucifer runs a hand down his face before flopping down to lie next to Lilith, saying "In hindsight, we should've told her. Calli went to Heaven for a few hours, it came out that most of Heaven was in the dark about it all…and now, somehow or other, the Winners are all on our side after everything came to light."
"Mm," Frederick hums, "when you say everything…" Call him curious, but Calli doesn't do things by halves. If she was going to show everything...she'd have shown them all down to the last detail.
Lucifer snorts in amusement, glancing up at his long-time friend, and says "I mean everything. When Calli raided their weapons vault, she made sure everyone was too distracted to notice her presence. By projecting our memories of Eve's situation, us freeing her, revealing how Adam's always been…everything."
Frederick promptly bursts out laughing, ending up sitting on the floor next to the bed. Once his sides stop aching, he gets to his knees and sees Lilith's just about drifting off once more - looks like meeting Emily will have to wait, then.
Such a shame, to, Seviathan couldn't take his eyes off her at the meeting where she was introduced to everyone, and then again at the party. He was hoping to meet the young woman personally there, but...well, Calli had to go fight Eve, save Lilith and Alastor, and then nobody was really in the mood to party after the dozens of Hellquakes.
And then, of course, all the lights suddenly flicker wildly - just what is Vox doing this time?!
Alastor sighs internally as Vox glares at him in sheer outrage - three Blood Pops was all it seems to have taken for the obnoxious box-head to lose his cool altogether. He's not complaining about them in the slightest, though - they taste great, and Calli really wasn't joking about the healing rate. His body's stopped aching, and Velvette asked him about some missing bruises on his face - he sincerely hopes Eve's body is turning in whatever grave she's in at the revelation that all the injuries she caused him over the past week are disappearing already, since Calli said the four entities she works with are trying to figure out if her soul can even be cleansed of Roo's influence of if they'll have to obliterate her soul altogether.
Something that's apparently actually possible - though, just barely. They made souls quite a bit sturdier than in Calli's original world, so the amount of power it would take to even mildly damage one is more than most in this world are capable of - maybe Lucifer or one of his brothers could do a bit of damage, along with a Seraphim, Roo basically poisoned Eve's soul so perhaps God could cleanse it or damage her, but Calli's the only one with the raw power and knowledge to completely obliterate a human soul all at once.
Though, he's sincerely wondering if they could show him how to replicate the process just once - if he fails...well, the box-headed stubborn idiot would probably still be out of commission for a long while regardless, if not permanently.
Taking the half-gone Blood Pop out of his mouth, sorely tempted to just stick it straight to Vox's screen, Alastor asks "What is it this time, Vox?"The lights flicker with Vox's disbelief, right before he lunges forward and grabs Alastor by the wrist. Not a single heartbeat later, though, Vox suddenly starts spasming, his screen glitching and erroring like mad as he stumbles away from Alastor while clutching at it as it jerks around and eventually crashes to the ground after hitting the far counter. Noises that sound only vaguely like words keep coming from his speakers, distorted via audio filters and completely unintelligible, but Alastor, Velvette, and Calli can all guess the context - what the fuck is happening, somebody make it stop.
After another minute of watching Vox's entire body jerk and spasm as he clutches at his malfunctioning head, she slides off the counter she was on, walks over, and pulls the tiny spark of her magic from inside his head.
It takes Vox two and a half minutes to recover enough to sit up, but once he does Calli wastes no time in grabbing the corner of his screen to make him look her in the eye. Once she has his attention, she calmly says "That was the result of the tiniest possible spark of my magic interacting with your circuitry, Vox. The smallest amount of magic I can actively use is enough to put you completely out of commission instantly. You realize that?" Not nearly enough to kill him, but more than enough to make him think twice about ever trying to pull anything with Alastor ever again. If he's got any brains at all, that is.
Vox can only groan as a reply, his entire body aches like it was just trampled by Satan himself - and, yes, he means Satan himself, given the detail that he's now met the guy and he's massive.
"Now, just imagine what an entire Ward inside your tv head would do to you. To be clear, I can't even walk into an electronics store these days without half my attention being focused on keeping my magic inside me so nothing blows up. Get the picture?" At Vox's weak nod, she says "Good."
Expression going unnervingly stony, Calli adds "You ever lay a hand on Alastor ever again, and I'll make that look like kiddie time on the playground. I'll coat every single circuit, spark plug, transistor, and anything else you have in that electronic head of yours with so much magic you'll be ground zero for a thermonuclear-level detonation. Am I clear?"
Vox nods carefully, wincing when it makes his head throb at the slightest movement - and he's still not up for speaking, as evidenced by the garbled jumble of noises that comes out of his speakers.
Lucifer and Frederick come out of a portal the next moment, Lucifer asking "What's going on? The lights all throughout the Hotel were going wild."
Calli says "Setting some boundaries with Vox."
Velvette immediately says "You could've killed him!"
"Oh please," Calli casually says "he'd regenerate from that. Not that the one single little bit of my magic was enough to do that much damage to him. 'Sides, how's he supposed to learn if he keeps getting away with this shit?"
Lucifer just facepalms, and mutters "Painkillers definitely wore off…" Calli doesn't usually resort to painful lessons for people...but, given the detail that Vox has been stalking Alastor for years now, perhaps she would've taught him that painful a lesson anyway.
"Painkillers?" Velvette blinks, asking "For what?!"
Everyone bar Vox simultaneously says "None of your business."
Vox tries to get to his feet, but his body gives out halfway there and he ends up draped over his own bucket while sucking in deep, heaving breaths so he doesn't pass out altogether.
Calli glances at Alastor, who's watching the whole thing with eyes wide as saucers, and asks "Hey, Alastor? Can you go check on everyone else? Make sure nothing happened with any of the lights?" Yes, she's blatantly taking the obvious excuse to get Alastor away from Vox, but at least he can't argue about it too much since he's the Hotel Host and all.
Alastor's cane lets out a recorded sigh, but he rolls his eyes and says "I know exactly what you're doing, Ma Chere…but, fine, fine, I'll head up. I should check in with Emily and Charlie anyway."
He shadows away, and Lucifer watches him go before glancing at Calli and asking "Any bets on how many ribs are gonna be broken?" He knows Charlie was worried about him...and if Charlie was worried, then Emily was probably caught in a feedback loop of it all - being an Empath can't be fun some of the time.
Calli just shakes her head, saying "Nope. Can you get the door, Luci? I gotta take the fridge out, gonna make a new one…or, at least, a magic version of one."
To Velvette and Vox's unbridled shock - and horror, in Vox's case - Calli chains up the fridge and then just hefts it onto one shoulder like it's a sack of flour or something.
Calli glances back just before she's out of the door, and sternly says "Keep. Cleaning."
Velvette quickly dunks her rag in her bucket, but when Vox tries to stand up…a wave of nausea hits him like a wrecking ball. He's lucky he makes it to the sink before his stomach brings up…is that blood? No, it's not the right color…Val's venom, then? That's what it tastes like, at least.
Velvette immediately drops the rag into the bucket, clambering up onto the stool she found to see just what's going on. "What in…that's not blood, Vox."
"Val's…venom…think. Pretty sure…not from…"
Calli and Lucifer get back inside, and Calli sees the two Overlords at the sink at once. "Well," she casually says, "'bout time you breathed in enough of the Immunizer for it to start working." Velvette shouldn't be very far behind, honestly.
Velvette snaps her head around to stare at Calli in outrage, asking "You knew this would happen?!" Vox brings up another glob of red, body shaking like he's seizing once more, and lets out another garbled series of sounds. "What's happening to him?!"
Calli hums, then says "He's breathed in enough of the immunizer's vapors that it's bonded to Valentino's venom in his body, the combination of which he's purging."
"Well, how long's it gonna take?" Calli shrugs, saying "Depends. How long's he been letting Valentino drug him?"
Vox just groans, right before bringing up even more red gunk. Velvette facepalms, muttering "Longer than I've been in Hell."
"Well, Anthony was vomiting for six hours, and then out of it on an IV for fluids for another ten. Make a guess-timate from there."
Frederick suddenly yelps, and looks around before noticing the extra shadow next to his. The Alastor-shaped shadow next to his. It points up towards the ceiling before heading towards the door and glancing back to see if he's following. Frederick turns towards Lucifer and Calli, asking "Why do I have a very bad feeling about this?"
Calli casually asks "Because Alastor's reputation is well-earned, specifically crafted to keep pretty much anyone from thinking screwing with him is a good idea?" It's not all there is to him, but he uses it to keep most anyone and everyone in Hell from thinking he's an easy target.
Lucifer says "Or it could have something to do with Emily." As much as Alastor got on his nerves when they first met...he can't deny the guy does the best he can at being a father. No experience with it, no idea of what to do...but, still, he gets it right at least most of the time.
"Right," Frederick says uneasily, "any specific reason why he specified checking in on her and Charlotte?"
Calli pushes herself back up onto the counter, saying "Alastor and I Blood-Adopted her via a potion." And, apparently, one of the unknown side-effects is that the potion creates an emotional bond between the parents and child - she hadn't known that, since it wasn't in any of the research she'd done in her old world. Of course, that could be because nobody knew - if someone wanted to Blood Adopt a child into their family, they were usually pretty attached already or well on their way.
She only figured the emotional bond because they did it so Emily wouldn't be in complete agony for however long it took for her to adjust to being in Hell - no emotional attachment involved for any of them at first. Yet now...she can't stop thinking of Emily as her daughter no matter the detail that it wasn't their actual intention with the potion. It just...crept up on all three of them.
Frederick's jaw drops, right along with Velvette's and her phone, and then Frederick runs up the stairs while swearing profusely.
Alastor gets into the room most everyone is gathered in, thankful they thought to have common areas in all of the floors of the hotel now, and almost immediately hears two familiar gasps.
"Alastor!"
"Dad!"
Charlie comes barreling into him first, nearly cracking something in his torso her arms are so tight around him. Emily quite literally flying tackles him not a moment later, knocking him a few paces backwards as Vaggie, Helsa, Anthony, his siblings, Husk, and Seviathan come over with Asmodeus and Bee.
Asmodeus takes one look at the scene, glances at Bee, and murmurs "Playing house with the Radio Demon…" Fuck! Most of Hell knows about him, and knows his reputation isn't just for show!
"Mm-hm…well, at least he seems to like her well enough?" Alastor has his reputation, sure, but that's not all there is to the guy, she's sure. Calli wouldn't let him within twenty feet of Charlie or Lucifer if that were the case!
Vaggie's pulling Charlie off Alastor, saying "Babe, let the man breathe, yeah? See, though? Told you he'd be fine."
Alastor waves his hand, saying "Eve got a little erratic at the end, is all. I've had worse, I assure you."
Husk rolls his eyes, saying "I know, trust me I know. What was with the lights earlier, boss?"
"Vox being his usual obnoxious blockheaded self. Right up until Calli intervened, at least. Calli actually sent me up here to make sure nothing had happened because of him. Any lights blow out or anything?" He's very certain she actually sent him up here to get him away from Vox before the other overlord can try anything else, but he'll play along with the excuse she gave. Besides, if Vox did blow a lightbulb or two, he'd be the one to replace it eventually.
Vaggie shakes her head, saying "No, but it looked dicey for a moment. Angel told us about the kitchen. How's that coming along?"
Alastor's smile turns decidedly irritated, and he says "We're deep-cleaning the entire room and all its contents, thanks to Valentino. Calli's going to make a new refrigerator, but I wouldn't be surprised if it takes most of the day. And we're unclear about the bar as of yet, there's every chance he could've looked through the alcohol."
There's a collective groan of disappointment from the whole room, and some discontent muttering about leftovers.
"Yes, well, Valentino contaminated everything when he went on either a rampage or a tantrum in the kitchen. Got his pheromones all over everything. As much as I don't believe anyone here wants to indirectly drug themselves, Calli was even less pleased about the state of things."
Molly crosses her top two arms, Anthony keeping a firm grip on both her and Arackniss so they don't go charging after Valentino, and says "That's one way to put it…"
Seviathan swallows nervously, asking "Did…did Emily call you 'Dad' just now…?"
Alastor manages to shake off the static that fills his brain for just a moment at the question, narrowing his eyes and asking "You're asking because…?"
Seviathan actually squeaks, quickly pulling Charlie between the two of them.
Emily frowns, asking "Why so terrified, all of a sudden? It's not like I don't look like him these days."
Alastor says "Charlotte, Emily, I think I need to have a chat with your friend. I don't think I've even been introduced." Oh, he's got a very good idea why this boy, no older than Charlie and Emily, suddenly looks so worried about him being Emily's father. And he really doesn't like it - at least she's not in that dress she wore for the meeting!
No, this one is one Rosie made for her, black and light purple with matching heels and gloves.
Charlie says "Well, Alastor, this is Seviathan Von Eldritch! Uncle Frederick's heir, my ex, and a really good friend of mine!" As soon as Alastor's smile turns decidedly predatory, she quickly adds "We just decided we were better off as friends, is all! Really!"
Alastor doesn't look particularly convinced, his shadow darting towards the door for some reason, and Emily decides now's the time to project some calm - Seviathan is freaking out, Alastor feels like he wants to rip him to pieces, Charlie's panicking…pretty much the only other calm person here is Vaggie. So, when everyone suddenly gets a blanket of near-suffocating calm draped over them, she just gives them all a blank stare and says "Empath. Remember?"
Seviathan blinks, a spark of surprise managing to escape her forced calm for a moment, and asks "Really? That's…amazing."
"Hey, Em?" Charlie asks, "Can you lighten up on the calm just a little?"
"Nope," Emily shakes her head, "you were panicking, and Seviathan was about to have a panic attack, and most of the others were worried and Dad was feeling semi-homicidal - probably thanks to Vox - so everyone is going to be nice and calm for a minute. Alright?"
Everyone but Alastor nods their head in agreement, and Alastor chuckles before saying "Excellent work."
Frederick comes running in about two minutes later, shoulders heaving as he locks eyes on the entire group while leaning against the doorframe to catch his breath. Seviathan murmurs a 'Thank Satan' under his breath as Frederick straightens himself out, and Helsa leans over and quietly says "Geez, he's even taller than Father." This close, it's pretty hard to miss that Alastor's ears give him about an inch over Frederick.
Frederick walks over, saying "You must be Alastor." How he didn't see the resemblance between Emily and this man, he's not entirely sure - Alastor was only in the room for about a minute and a half before disappearing last night, but still. The similarities are impossible to miss!
Alastor nods, forcing some cheer into his tone past Emily's iron-clad blanket of calm, and says "And you must be Frederick Von Eldritch! A pleasure to meet you, quite a pleasure! Calli's spoken highly of you."
"And of you…might I ask why my son is hiding behind Charlotte?"
Alastor shrugs, glancing at his nails in a show of casualness, and says "You'd have to ask him, seeing as I've yet to so much as poke at him."
"He wants to talk, I haven't done anything, though!" Helsa waves a hand to get her father's attention, then points at Seviathan…then Emily before fake gagging.
Frederick glances at his son for a moment, getting all the confirmation he needs right then and there, then groans and says "You've got overprotective-itis, don't you? That's what my lovely wife calls it, anyway. I used to catch it quite often where Helsa and Seviathan were concerned. And I have it on good authority Lucifer, Lilith, and Calliope are much the same regarding Charlotte."
Alastor's smile turns slightly predatory, even with the wave of calm Emily practically crashes over him, and says "I don't do things halfway. You've already heard from Calli-"
"About the potion? Yes I did, and your choice to help with it." Alastor nods, and Frederick feels the power running through the other man for just a moment - a warning, he's sure. Or, much like Calli, perhaps - her magic finds an outlet unless she's very intentionally keeping a tight grasp on it all. After a moment spent acknowledging that the Radio Demon is not someone he wants to make an enemy of if he can help it, Frederick says "As for this talk, perhaps I could be an acceptable substitute for my son? Father to father?"
Alastor nods, saying "Very well. My office?"
That, Frederick is well aware, is only slightly less dangerous than his broadcasting tower. Still, it's likely to be empty, quiet, and a more appropriate setting than a crowded, noisy room with sixteen children going stir crazy as Beelzebub and Fizzarolli try to keep them entertained.
"Also, Charlotte, Calli said to tell you her present is in your pocket in case she misses presents."
Charlie fishes out the keychain Calli handed her to start her old motorcycle yesterday, with the menagerie of animal charms on the rings, and says "This...is Aunt Calli's gift?"
Vaggie quickly pulls Charlie into a hug as she tries to fight the tears rolling down her face, running her fingers through Charlie's hair. "Easy, hun, you and I both-"
Raphael, Gabriel, and Michael walk over right then, Gabriel asking "Everything alright?"
Charlie breaks down in tears, and they manage to decipher 'It was her Godfather's bike, he and her dad made it before she was even born!' from her choked-up sobbing.
Angel says "And that's why she showed you how to use it yesterday..."
Raphael gently takes the keychain from Charlie's hand to keep her from accidentally stabbing either herself or Vaggie with it, and eyes the many, many cutsey little animal charms on it - there have to be at least thirty of them, some of which he can vaguely guess the meanings of and others he's just at a loss for. There was that magical stained-glass image with a wolf, a black dog, and a Stag and a Doe, so that must be what - or who - the matching charms are referring to. The owl...well, Calli had said Hermione had loved knowledge.
He's just going to take a guess and say all those animal charms - including the duck, swan and baby goat, along with the red deer and the smaller version - are all people she's considered her family. And...wow, there are a lot of animal charms there.
She...may want those back, eventually. If only because he really doesn't want to see her go into another meltdown.