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Vox waded through the water, kicking his feet at random little fish who gathered at them.
He turned his flatscreen towards the beach in which the other Vee’s sat. Velvette made her position on her towel and tanned, her assistant (we all know she ain’t no assistant) sat next to her on another towel, and they chattered. Velvette put her braids into a bun and she wore a black and white bikini.
Vox kept looking for Val, but couldn’t spot him. Val had said something about his “wings getting sandy” and mumbled that he’d rather wait on the porch. Whatever.
Vox had forced them all to go… well not Velvette’s assistant- Malory… or Mellisa was it? He threatened them with something that he had made up on the spot and the two other Vee’s just shrugged and agreed. Easier then he made it, but at least it worked, he supposed.
The water tugged at his knees as it tried to yank him back to the shore, he had to force back a smile at it. Depressed water, didn’t it know he was bigger than it?
Vox’s fingertips grazed across the water purposefully, it was a strange sensation, but it felt very meaningful. It felt like the water was reaching for him, calling to his sensors, begging him to fall flat into it. While, seaweed licked at his feet, trying to make him fall into its depths and consume him. Perhaps he wouldn’t mind, though. Maybe the chill of the salty sea was opening its arms to him, making him the ruler of its frigid dunes and waves. A genuine smile spread from corner to corner of his screen, his shark-sharp teeth shining yellow by the sunset.
He was rather good at being fake. Smile for the camera, then turn and remember how much everything sucked. Remember where he was, what happened to him, and the dumb tacky radio prick. Who, by the way, decided it would be ruin his first vacation in years to bring the whole fucking happy-go-lucky hotel of wannabe redeemers (okay no, Vox had went because Alastor went, not the other way around… but he can dream, okay?). Lucifer’s little brat brought her father with her, who was eventually going to figure out that Vox was here… just amazing.
Vox heaved a sigh, his shoulders arched forward as he let out the cold breath. He continued to push into the water, his steps becoming more of a prowl as he braced for the water that hit his abs. He shivered but pressed further, eventually becoming shoulder height. His ventilation system was equipped for this, he did this often, hung out in his chilled aquarium instead of working… forcing his assistant to get work done, what did Vox pay him for anyway?
His ventilation system reminded him of gills, the way they fluttered and flitted through the water, taking in it at face value. They always quickly adjusted to water, without Vox ever putting thought into it.
His mind flicked back to a drone he had forced to hover over the Hazbin bitches’ vacation home they had rented. He saw Charlie sitting on a lawn bed, a virgin pina colada in her grubby fingers, while her exorcist of a girl-toy sat at the edge of the lawn chair. Charlie talked, while angel blood listened, like usual. That's how it always was when he checked… which he did a lot. His mind fitted itself in the drone and it zoned into Hell’s Daddy, Lucifer Morningshit.
The Devil was sitting by himself with a piece of driftwood in his black hands (Vox did not know why they were black, it always made his eyes narrow), carving it with a talon into the shape of… you guessed it, a duck. Vox got shoved out of his drone and fell face first into the water, a wave shoving him out of his floating piece of metal. He stayed underneath the waves, looking around, his antenna twitched as they shrunk after being exposed to water. He eventually resurfaced and wiped his screen, blinking a few times.
Hmm… this looks…
“Bad,” The Morningstar whispered, turning the driftwood in his hands and squinting at it. The palm tree behind him scratched at his scared back, but he didn’t even blink at it.
Look, the driftwood was supposed to be a six-winged duck, he had remade it about a thousand times, so now it was small and puny in his hands. He sighed at it, putting it next to him on the sand, sinking his claws into the grains.
Lucifer almost yelled out for Charlie, who was yapping off Vanessa— Valla…. Vanni.. whatever… anyway, she was yapping off the girl's ear, but the woman didn’t seem to notice. Seeing them talk happily, made him hesitate.
She wouldn’t want me interrupting her, right? Wasn’t she still upset at me, failing her and her project? She had to be upset… mad, furious. Lucifer thought to himself, digging himself into the white sand… metaphorically. He tapped his finger against the root of the coconut tree, his lips straightened into a thin line.
His head began to hurt and film over, but he shook his head vigorously… which didn’t exactly help. He turned his gaze over to Charlie instead. After what seemed like an hour of deciding and mentally beating himself up about this, he swallowed up his nerve and walked over to her.
His charred feet sunk into the dune as he awkwardly approached. He sat down on a chair near them and almost didn’t say anything when Charlie noticed him and did one of those “oh, hi, didn’t see you” smiles she did a lot to people, “Hi, Dad, need something?”
“No,” He blinked at her and stayed silent until he remembered what he was going to speak about, the driftwood he was carving shot up out of the sand and sprinted toward him (almost smacking him in the face), “Do you like it? It looks kind of awful, and it looks like someone bit it.. haha!”
“Yeah, it’s cute, small though,” Charlie took it in her hands and inspected it, smiling again, her girlfriend next to her squinted at it and then looked somewhere else, like she normally did. Lucifer didn’t actually understand why she did that, was it because he’s Charlie’s dad and the king of Hell? And she was an… ex-exorsist angel? Probably..? He could feel the angelic warmth of Heaven coming from her, when he hugged her a few months back (he remembered it because of what he felt). He normally would’ve mentioned it, but since she was so avoidant of him, he brushed it off.
But, when he felt the hot and angelic heat of Vanessa, he realized something Charlie couldn’t. What happened between him and that girl, he was pretty sure she felt the spark of two angels interacting. Charlie would’ve never felt it, she had never experienced heaven's warmth. Sure, she’s felt his, many times, but his could be summed up to other Sins, like Bee’s (whose warmth felt like hot honey).
Lucifer’s eyes drifted to the tall glass in Charlie’s hand, yellow, the smell of coconut and pineapple hit his nose and he gave a small pout of his lip (subconsciously), “Whatcha got there, Char?”
“Virgin pina colada,” Charlie looked up at him, once he spoke, she stopped her continued yap-session to Vag(ehh), “Do you want one, Husk made me one.”
“Oh definitely,” Lucifer replied quickly, standing up from the chair, he stepped over Keekee and left his stupid driftwood he was carving. Keekee let out a quiet meow at that and jumped up and nuzzled against his foot. He leaned down and picked her up, she climbed up to his shoulders and wrapped around him- her tail draped off him. Her claws dug into his shoulder.
Charlie grinned at him, gave Keekee a pet and walked into the house. He had this weird, weird sinking feeling. It was one he felt a lot, sometimes for different reasons. But this one was the weird one, where he shivered and crossed his arms to stop himself.
He felt someone watching him. Sure, he was the king, everyone was always watching him. Everyone, all the time. This time felt so uncomfortable, uncontrollable. He could usually just hide away from it all, but he couldn’t do that here, it was watching.
Whatever.