Vox eyes Calliope and Alastor as he finishes the last of his bowl of Jambalaya, glancing down to see he's managed to scrape the bowl clean - something he's sure Alastor won't let him live down for a long while - and sees Princess Charlotte is heading over. "Aunt Calli!"
Calli turns towards her immediately, and says "Charlie, if you're going to say I need something, I need another bowl of food after the past seven hours, a long shower, and a mirror. Not necessarily in that order."
Charlie blinks, asking "A…mirror?"
Calli holds up two locks of her hair, one a very different length than the other. "Part of my hair got chopped off in the seven-hour wrestling match. Just because it grows back doesn't mean I want to go around looking like I left halfway through a haircut."
Vox says "Fair enough…" He can only imagine the reaction Velvette would have to her hair being half-chopped like that, and he's very happy to let it stay in his imagination.
After a moment, the red-headed woman sighs and adds "If you were going to say Raphael says I need to do something, tell him I've been patching myself up since I was five. And that I'm perfectly fine to have more food before heading up to my room."
Charlie blinks, asking "How…did you know he sent me with a message?"
"Because there's ten millennia of history between us, no matter the detail that we're on better terms now; because the last time he tried to insist on healing me, Alastor silently threatened him into leaving me be; and because Lucifer and yourself definitely get it from somewhere and so does Raphael apparently."
Vox doesn't quite manage to hold back the snort that comment gets, and slaps both hands over his screen - he's apparently losing his mind, it's official. This woman should not be this funny while being capable of blowing his head up.
Calli gives him a knowing glance, and says "Let me guess…what's the matter with me, I'm suddenly finding her funny, the only times we've ever interacted before she was either beating my partner to a paste or working me to the bone even with an IV in my arm…sound about right?"
Vox lowers his hand, even as a mirror appears in front of the red-headed woman, and says "Good guess…"
Calli shrugs, a small knife appearing in her hand, and says "Wasn't much of a guess. You've been running on Valentino's Venom for so long, separating what was you and what was his influence is next to impossible." Vox nods, screen glitching slightly as she floats the mirror up in front of her and starts cutting chunks of hair - hair that almost immediately catches fire before it can even hit the ground.
"How'd you know?"
Calli hums, angling the mirror to see better, and says "Because that was me. Except, for me, it was Loyalty and Obedience Potions, and more Compulsions than you can imagine to give me a very specific personality. To make me his Golden Girl, his Savior."
Vox winces at the sudden venom in Calliope's voice, even as the knife cuts too hard into her hair and slices her arm - the cut seals up almost instantly, though, and the blood vanishes even before she starts at the next piece of hair. Sore topic, though, got it. "Compulsions? Is that…?"
"Think your hypnosis, but they're permanent unless removed. And they could be anything from 'encouraging' people to do something to adding in entire personality traits to someone or forcing a view onto them."
Vox swallows, then says "That explains what you said about Warding all the televisions in Pride Ring…when did all that happen?"
"From the morning after I was orphaned at fifteen months old to me dying at nearly eighteen. Dying broke them all…and I was left trying to pick up the pieces."
Well, Vox thinks, that explains the apocalyptic reaction Alastor said she had to Eve being brainwashed… He's done a lot of shitty things during his time in Hell, many of which he's not sure he would've done or would've taken as far as he did if it weren't for Valentino's Venom - but he's never done any of it to toddlers.
Point of fact, this Hotel is the only place he's actually seen literal children that weren't Hellborn kids, and he always left the Hellborn kids be to. Running a hand along the top of his head before he remembers he doesn't have hair anymore, he mutters "Fuck, if it was that long…"
Calli shrugs, saying "I had to build an entire personality from the shattered remains of one that was forced on me? Yep. And you'd be amazed at how many things you can explain away by going through a war and literally dying to end it. Treating Slytherins differently than I used to? I grew the fuck up over a year of being on the camping trip from hell. Not interested in Quidditch anymore, but still love flying? I was Undesirable Number One for nearly a year, Quidditch wasn't particularly appealing then either. No longer trusting Dumbledick's every word, going over everything he ever told me to try and find some kind of clue that all along he knew-" Calli stops talking for a moment, closing her eyes as she slowly lets a breath out.
Vox mutters "Damn. And I thought I knew about having issues…"
Calli snorts humorlessly, and says "You wouldn't believe. Believe it or not, it was my ex-rival who realized something was very wrong - Ron and Hermione were too close, thought it was just the straight year we'd spent on the run. Thought maybe it was from whatever I'd done to survive a Killing Curse yet again."
Vox glances at Alastor - who's quietly motioning for a very horrified Princess Charlotte to go - and asks "But…your rival knew something was off?" He's trying to imagine realizing something was wrong with the way Alastor was acting over the past near-year, and is coming up blank. Of course...Alastor's spent most all of that time holed up in this Hotel, where he hasn't been able to get any information on him.
Calli snorts, not looking away from the mirror, ad says "Draco had been poking and prodding at me, watching my every move for five years straight. Was about as obsessed with me as you were with Alastor. So, yeah, he knew how I'd acted before that year, and he saw I was acting different after it. And acting different than how Ron and Hermione were acting. Said he'd drop it if I let him cast a Diagnostic Charm on me, even showed me the information on it. I only agreed to get him to drop it, but…" Calli shrugs again, starting to even out the ends that got chopped off in her fight with the dragon, and says "Turned out, he wasn't wrong. It showed a list of broken Compulsions several feet long and potions that hadn't been given to me in a year that my magic was finally burning through."
Vox blinks a few times, then finally asks "Any tips? Any at all?"
Calli snorts again, and says "Not really. I spent two straight years asking myself what my relatives would do and doing the exact opposite because I didn't know who I was anymore or who I'd ever really been, but I knew who I didn't want to be. I didn't know if anything I was feeling was really mine, or if it was all just conditioned into me from a lifetime of being Compelled to feel and act a certain way. If new behaviors were because I'd gone through a literal war or if it was what I would've done if I'd been allowed to be myself…whoever that would've been. Eventually, I pieced something together with the public at large being none the wiser - with glue, Spellotape, Sticking Charms, and praying nobody looked too closely at the cracks - but that was a lot of trial and error…and a lot of uncomfortable questions from concerned friends who'd known me for seven years."
Vox flatly says "Please tell me you told someone. Please." Therapy isn't exactly an option for him, given the detail that he's an Overlord in Hell and giving up any information that could be used as a weakness is suicide at least...but an eighteen-year-old war veteran would've had something, right?
Calli glances at Vox, and asks "Who would've believed me? Believed Dumbledore did all that to the child he claimed for nearly two decades to be training? We're talking about a guy that made himself basically the pillar of the Magical Community. He was the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Head Mugwhump of the ICW, he'd been asked multiple times to run for Minister of Magic…" Seeing Vox's expression, she says "He was at the top of the court that passed or veto'd laws - think Parliament, as opposed to the main governing body. The 'Mot passed the laws and handled large trials, the Ministry took care of the day-to-day stuff - arrests, law enforcement, bureaucracy, etc. And the International Confederation of Wizards was the international version of the Ministry - think, United Nations. Supreme Mugwhump meant the leader of the ICW - basically, he had made himself and his damn reputation practically untouchable. Even after Skeeter's book revealing how he plotted world domination at eighteen with the dark lord before Voldemort, everything he said or did was taken as fucking gospel. And, given the way Magical Britain liked to turn on me at the drop of a hat, I didn't see the point in trying to get anyone to believe me when the guy was already dead for over a year. Especially when all it would do was drag me through the media to get ripped apart by those vultures yet again."
Vox slowly nods his head, saying "Makes sense…"
Calli suddenly spins around, asking "Back look even?"
Alastor nods, saying "Yes?"
Calli spins around again, mirror and knife vanishing, and says "Great! Good luck figuring yourself out and what you need to do. Please don't ever bring this conversation up with me again." She promptly flames away, leaving Vox and Alastor staring where she was just sitting.
Vox glances at Alastor, asking "You heard the same conversation I did…right?" Alastor nods silently. Vox dryly mutters "Well, I guess it's comforting to know even the people that run Hell have issues upon issues." At least now he knows where the 'I'll ward every tv' threat came from. Glancing at Alastor, he adds "Does she usually just trauma-dump like that, then suddenly clam up and vanish?"
Alastor shakes his head, saying "No, but usually she hasn't been fighting a dragon for seven straight hours. Today isn't 'usual' even by Calli's standards."
Vox nods his head slowly, and says "Good to know…I'll try to show up when there isn't a giant, fire-breathing creature straight out of myths and her past ripping its way through the sky."
Lucifer's voice says "While Calli's not in earshot, anyone have any idea how to break the news to her about Emily having her magic? Lils? Charlie? Anyone at all?"
Vox glances over, and there's a round of shuffling as almost everyone glances at one another nervously.
After a long minute, Adam asks "What's the big deal?" Azrael facepalms, then says "Calli's been the only person with her kind of magic in this entire world for over ten millennia. There's been nobody like her for all that time, and she knew it. That changing is going to be a big enough shock on its own…and then there's her Bloodline Curse she may or may not have passed along to Emily. Today is not the day for Calli to find out about that detail."
Lucifer groans, muttering "She's absolutely going to freak out about that…"
Raphael, meanwhile, has a look on his face Vox just knows means trouble - he wants to talk to Calliope, probably heard every single word she said. Vox may not know this woman very well, but even he can tell that'd be a terrible idea.
Lucifer pinches the bridge of his nose, then says "Know what? Let's just get everything that she'll insist on being involved with out of the way, then she can crash for the next four hours." He dematerializes, reappearing a few moments later with Calli still in her armor looking like she was two seconds from throwing herself onto a bed and falling asleep.
Calli takes a look around, gives Lucifer a flat look, and says "Nobody's dying, Luce."
"No, but I figured you'd want them out of the Hotel as fast as possible."
Calli groans, then says "Fair enough…" She stinks of dragon-sulfur breath, is very sore, and dearly wants a shower and to crash in bed before making dinner - if it weren't about getting Sera out of the Hotel, out of Hell, away from Lucifer, then she'd be leaving it to Lucifer and Lilith because it's been to damn long of a day already and it's not even eleven in the morning. After a moment, Calli runs a hand over her face and says "Give me about a week from tomorrow to get the island ready and make a courthouse there - no, it currently doesn't have a courthouse, I didn't Ward it for this specific purpose but what the heck, why not - and send me a list of everyone you're bringing with you, G. Yes, I really will need that because I'll need to know how many seats to make, how many rooms to make in the beach house that's going to get an upgrade, etc. You have my number - I genuinely don't know how you managed to call me when I found you, but still - so text me when you get it finalized. I'll open a portal up to let you and whoever else you're bringing through the Wards because only Lucifer and I have both the ability and permission to pass through them at will and bring other people through via portals - before you ask, G, yes I designed the Wards that way. You won't be able to find the island, much less open a portal there, and I really don't have any inclination to make them discoverable to Heaven considering everything they've done under Sera's command. Alright, great, I'll see you in eight days, feel free to head back, if it seems like I'm rushing you out, it's because I don't want Sociopathic-Sera in the same realm as Lucifer one second longer than absolutely necessary and I don't have it in me right now to be polite about it."
The sound that escapes Lilith at that last part would be called a snort if it were anyone else, in Vox's opinion.
Lucifer facepalms, then says "Aaand, time for you to sit down…again."
Azrael asks "Anybody else curious what her Animagus form is? Anyone at all?" If anyone notices he's trying to get her onto a topic she might find interesting - or, at least, one she won't go homicidal about - then they don't call him out on it.
Calli immediately shoots him a withering glare, and says "No, not particularly. Why do you ask?"
Azrael grins at her, sitting up as he does, and asks "You've never been curious at all?"
"Curious about which animal I'd turn into that'd inevitably break the last few laws of magic that were accepted facts of life in my old world? …not particularly, no."
Vox smirks from where he's leaning against the far wall, saying "You've gotta be exaggerating at least a little."
"I died and got told I could go back. No, I'm not."
Vox blinks a few times, then says "Ok…point." Big point…she might not be exaggerating.
Lucifer grins, saying "You just know we're not going to drop this, Calli."
Calli groans at that, even as Charlie nods her head and starts listing off potential animals. "Alright, alright…" Running a hand down her face once more, Calli stands up and says "Give me a moment, I've just gotta remember the instructions from the book…" After about a minute…she shrinks down, leaving a scattered set of armor on the floor. Almost everyone leans forward in anticipation, and after a moment Adam asks "So…she's gone, then?" A rustling sound coming from inside the armor at the sound of his voice answers that question.
Another few seconds of rustling, and…a fox head pokes out. A red fox, with the same green eyes Calli has, and a lightning-shaped mark in the fur on her forehead. She blinks a few times, likely getting used to how tall everyone is compared to her now, and takes a few steps forward until only her tail is left in the armor - she's got red fur the same color as her hair, and her legs from what looks like her knees down have black fur. She's…a red fox, apparently.
Calli looks around at her new body, twisting her head to look at her sides before suddenly collapsing in obvious relief and putting her paws over her eyes.
Adam raises an eyebrow, asking "That's it? All that hype…and she's a regular old fox?"
Calli turns around at that, gesturing with one paw and growling at him…and pulling the giant mass of fluffy fur attached to her back that's way too much for one tail out from inside her chestpiece.
No, no she apparently is not a regular old fox.
Lilith promptly claps one hand over her own mouth and the other over Lucifer's, Charlie claps both hands to her own mouth, and Alastor's shadow quickly covers Emily's mouth before she can make a sound while Michael does the same with Gabriel and Raphael.
Sera, Adam, Lute, and even God all stare at her as she growls, snaps, and gestures at Adam, all four of them getting more and more incredulous as it goes on. Adam glances at Lute, and mutters "I'm getting lectured by a bad-tempered fox…"
Azrael flatly asks "You just had to open your big mouth, didn't you?" Glancing around, he asks "Who's feeling brave enough to pick her up and risk getting a tail in their face?"
Alastor leans forward, crossing his arms on the back of the couch as fox-Calli gives Azrael another look, and says "Don't interrupt now! I'm currently having the best few hours of the entire week."
Calli finally stops her rant, turning around and rolling her eyes at Alastor's comment with what sounds like a huff, and closes her eyes…except she doesn't grow bigger.
She grows smaller.
She stops at…a bird. A small one, no less, with bright red feathers and black wings.
A Scarlet Tanager, if Lucifer remembers which birds were which feather-colors right.
Azrael's quiet 'oh fuck' is a pretty safe signal that this isn't supposed to happen.
Calli opens her eyes, blinks a few times while shifting around like she's got no idea how a bird-body is supposed to move…then cranes her head up to look at everyone on the couch and promptly lets out a screech of alarm.
Vox raises an eyebrow as tiny little bird-Calli hops around unsteadily on bird-legs, screeches, and flaps her wings in alarm before pulling them back and continuing to freak out even more - he's never seen a bird have a panic attack, and he's never seen Calliope Peverell lose her shit in a non-violent way, but he's just witnessed both at the same time…and he can't help but find it hilarious. He's a demon in Hell, taking amusement out of other people's misfortune is par for the course.
Eventually, she calms down some when Hedwig lands on the floor in front of her…and bird-Calli puts her entire body in Hedwig's chest-feathers while letting out a muffled series of chirps that Hedwig responds to.
"Uh," Vox asks, "are they…having a conversation?"
Lilith waves a hand, saying "They do that a lot, probably more than anyone else knows. You get used to it after a while."
"Right," Adam says, looking very weirded out, "she's weird, her bird's weird, this entire Hotel is weird…" At everyone's looks, he defensively says "I got lectured by a fox that used to be a person. And the Seraphim-Angel of Joy got a makeover, is no longer so joyful, and now has a cuddle-dragon. This entire deal is just weird as fuck."
Lucifer just laughs derisively, and says "Welcome to Calli's existence. She's been dealing with this Curse of hers since literally the day she was born. Hey, Sis? You still having that mental breakdown?"
Calli doesn't answer, rocking her little bird-body back and forth in what's likely her repeatedly smacking her head into Hedwig's feathers.
"Uh…you want to change back? So you can at least rant about how you knew it when we can understand what you're saying?"
Calli takes her head out of Hedwig's feathers to give Lucifer a very tired glare, but starts growing…and stops at her new fox form. When she sees she's still in her Animagus form, she tries again…and turns back into a bird.
And then into a fox once more - at that point, she flops onto the floor and covers her eyes with her paws while letting out a whine.
That would be the point when Vox hastily mutes himself, right before he bursts out laughing - of course Alastor managed to find someone every bit as dramatic as him, he didn't even think that was possible.
Azrael quickly starts silently counting out her tails as she lies there, then nearly facepalms but switches at the last minute to pinching the bridge of his nose - he counted nine tails all total. And even he and Leonardo, busy as they are, have heard about the myths of nine-tailed foxes - plus all the stories about them from Calli's old world from Calli herself!! She's going to flip out all over again upon realizing she's a magical fox.
Hedwig flies up, circles around, snatches Calli up from the floor, and drops her straight onto Lucifer's lap before landing on Lilith's shoulder - and Lilith somehow manages to look every bit as imposing as Calliope herself does with that bird on her shoulder, did Calliope coach the two of them? She must have done something, Vox quickly decides, because even Lucifer manages to look composed with a fox sitting on his lap.
Adam swallows, then asks "Could you just….keep her there? I'd like to not get throttled or electrocuted again, if it's all the same to you."
Calli lifts one paw from her face, letting out a low growl that, even from Lucifer's lap, sounds like she's saying she can kill him a second time right then and there.
Lucifer rolls his eyes, but starts rubbing behind Calli's ears nonetheless. "I don't know when or why she would've throttled you, but I'm sure it wasn't just because she hated the sound of your voice, Adam."
Azrael snorts derisively, and says "Oh, no it wasn't. Adam asked what the big deal was about Eve's situation."
Lucifer stares at Adam like he's just grown a second head, and Lilith nods slowly before saying "Yeah…that'll do it. Anything to do with mind-control is basically her nuclear-level 'do not press' button."
Lucifer pinches the bridge of his nose with his free hand, then says "Alright…Em? Calli's got a book on her bookshelf, third shelf from the top and eighth from the left unless she reorganized it. Says 'Omnia de Transformatione Animago' on the spine and cover."
Emily nods, saying "On it!"
Sera watches as Emily flies up to the banister overlooking the common area, and murmurs "That's really Emily…" She'd believed it, of course, but still...that doesn't make it any easier.
"Yep," Azrael says from where he's sitting, "that's really the kid you were gonna Fall because she wouldn't nod along to what you were demanding. Yeah, I heard that story, by the way. Smooth."
Sera shrinks into herself as God turns to give her an icy stare, asking "What. Does. He. Mean. Sera?"
There's a very pregnant silence for a few seconds as Sera swallows - even Vox and Adam look at her, genuinely curious about how the Seraphim ended up down in Hell.
After a moment, Sera says "The Winners were uprising, I had gone to find Emily to speak with her, and as we were speaking the pendant Calliope had given Emily activated and Calliope came through a portal and took her to Hell."
Azrael snorts, and says "The only reason that pendant would've activated was someone with the power and authority to have her Fallen consciously deciding to do so, Sera. And, if I were you? Stripped of all my powers, currently in a realm with all of zero people able and willing to help you, and sitting maybe five feet away from the parents, two uncles, aunt, and cousin of the girl I tried to kill? Especially when it's this set of parents, uncles, aunt, and cousin? I'd be keeping my mouth shut whenever possible and hoping to have the ground swallow me up, because I'm physically incapable of not pissing off said parents, uncles, aunt, and cousin after everything that's gone down in the past ten millennia."
Calliope growls, upper lip lifting to bare small but very sharp white teeth like she's agreeing with Azrael. The way she flexes her clawed paws certainly suggests as much.
"Found it!" Emily comes flying down the stairs holding a book as thick as her hands are wide, and adds "Um, the page I landed on says…a person can only have one Animagus form, it'll be a nonmagical creature, and which creature your form takes is determined by…what suits them best. Well, I guess that makes sense…sort of."
Azrael chuckles, saying "Lot of things are like that when it comes to Calli's magic. Here," he scoops Calli up off Lucifer's lap, "you take her and head upstairs, see if that book has any recommendations on how to get unstuck."
Calli growls and whines, shaking her head with a glare. Azrael rolls his eyes, saying "Calli, you're currently about seven hours ahead of the rest of us, fought a dragon and won, and are running on fumes. Something tells me some sleep will go a long way in getting you unstuck." Or, at the very least, keeping her from having another breakdown if she somehow has a third animal form she hasn't found yet. "If Sera tries anything, I'll take her head off with my scythe. Same with Lute and Adam." At Adam's protesting sound, he promptly gets his scythe out and points it so the blade is resting just under his chin.
Calli lets out a sound similar to a sigh, but then nods her head...and she and Emily get consumed by flames and vanish once more.
Lilith clears her throat, and says "I've known Calli for my entire existence. She'll leave for the island as soon as she's able to. Time for you to leave before someone makes one stupid comment or decision too many and my in-law over there decides you're far more trouble than you're worth, Sera."
Vox is pretty sure that's Queen Lilith's barely-polite way of saying 'get the fuck out of my realm, bitch.'