Deciding she had enough social media for one morning, Carrot Cake decided to go see what Charlie was up to, and found her, accompanied by Vaggie and two small, dragon-goat creatures, hammering in nails to hold up a colorful banner that read “HAPPY FIRST WEEK, SIR PENTIOUS!"

“That looks perfect!" Charlie said ecstatically. “Aagh! I am so excited that Sir Pentious is staying at the hotel!"

“Hey, if you're still throwing a party, I got snacks," Carrot Cake said, holding up the small box of cookies. “Well, enough for Pentious, at least."

“Um, Pentious was just trying to take over the city with his weird steampunk bullshit a few days ago," Vaggie pointed out.

“Well, I haven't seen him try to pull any of that here," Charlie replied optimistically, only for them to see Sir Pentious roll in a weapon that resembled a cannon with his Egg Boiz sitting on top.

“How about now?" Carrot Cake asked, rubbing salt in Charlie's wound.

“What the hell is that?!" Vaggie exclaimed.

“Oh, hello, purple female," Pentious greeted maliciously. “It's my new invention, the Sssssssskin Flayer 11,000! I'm really looking forward to shooting the other residentssssss!"

“What?! Why?!" Charlie asked in shock.

“Everyone is being too nice," Pentious answered. “Obviously, it must be a lie. I can sense they are planning to kill me, but when? How?! I must be prepared! Ooh! The new parts of my machine are here!"

“This thing needs more parts?" Carrot Cake muttered as two horned women entered the hotel. One of them, with curly hair and knee-high stockings, rolled in some crates labeled “Carmine," while her fair-haired sister, donning red-tinted glasses and a lab coat, held up a pen and clipboard.

“Sign, please," the blonde one said. Pentious excitedly signed the form on the clipboard and took the crates for himself as the sisters left. “Thank you for your business. Enjoy your Carmine purchase."

“Carmine? As in, Carmilla Carmine?" Vaggie said angrily. “You are buying parts from an Overlord?"

“Err, of course," Pentious replied as if it were obvious. “She's the top weapons dealer in Hell."

“Okay, well, that stops right now!" Vaggie said, wheeling the crates away to Sir Pentious's chagrin. “You absolutely cannot build weapons in this hotel! No one is trying to kill you. People are being nice because they want you to feel welcome."

Unsure about Vaggie's reassurances, Pentious peeked from behind his weapon and gave a distrusting scowl to the others by the bar. Husk grouchily flipped him off as he chugged a bottle of booze. Angel flipped him off as well, but with a suggestive smirk. As for Niffty, who was dusting the place, smiled creepily at him with a sinister giggle.

Of course, Pentious was unconvinced. “Hmm, I have my doubtsssss."

“Well, it's true," Vaggie confirmed. “You have to trust us."

“But I don't," Pentious argued.

Then, Charlie had an idea. “Weellllll, why don't we focus on that for today's activities?"

“That could help," Carrot Cake agreed. “What do you think, Miss Vaggie?"

“Not before we lay some ground rules," she replied, then returned focus to Pentious. “No more building weapons, no more plotting against other guests, and you need to get rid of these things!"

As Vaggie gestured to the Egg Boiz, who were playing in the Carmine crates, one of them accidentally set off a laser, blowing a hole through the roof.

Vaggie groaned in frustration. “Ugh! What did I just say? What did I just say?!"

“To get rid of the—" Carrot Cake started to say, only for Charlie to cover her mouth.

“Don't finish that sentence," she warned her. “Just don't."

“What?!" Pentious exclaimed, hugging the eggs. “Not my little Egg Boiz! They do my evil bidding for me!"

“Do you want to stay here and redeem yourself?" Vaggie asked sternly.

“Yessssss?"

“Then no more eggs," she confirmed.

“Alright, eggies," Pentious said to his Egg Boiz with tears in his red eyes. “You've got to go. I... can't keep you anymore!"

“Okay, boss!" one of them replied obediently, and they began following Vaggie as she wheeled the crates away.

“No, don't resist," Pentious continued melodramatically. “This is how it has to be!"

After the last one ran off to join the others, Pentious sobbed in grievance over them while Charlie awkwardly patted his shoulder. Carrot Cake decided to follow Vaggie.

“Y'know, I can't help but feel kinda bad for him," she admitted.

“Why?" Vaggie asked, quite annoyed.

“Well, these eggs are almost like his babies," Carrot Cake pointed out as she scooped one up in her arms. “Now, he has to let them go because it's better for both of them. I think. Wait, we're not gonna kill them, are we?"

“Well, I wasn't gonna go that far," Vaggie said. “But we can't just keep them here, they could tempt Pentious."

“Never heard a snake being the temptee," Carrot Cake muttered. “Why don't we just ask Alastor? He seems like a smart guy... if not potentially insane."

Though she felt uncertain, Vaggie decided to go with the centaur's idea, and they headed to Alastor's room, where he was dining on a deer carcass while listening to 1920's jazz music.

“Alastor!" Vaggie hollered, causing him to look over at her in surprise.

“Do you mind? I'm in the middle of breakfast," he said with a piece of rotten deer meat on his fork.

“Pentious's eggs are all over the place, and we need you to get rid of them," Vaggie told him.

“Oh! Well, in that case, I'd be delighted to!" he said cheerfully, getting up from the breakfast table as he conjured up his staff.

“Humanely," Vaggie clarified with a glare.

“Hm. Well, that's a lot less hot," Alastor said, disappointed, “but I suppose I can take care of that on my outing today."

“Great," Vaggie said, giving him a thumbs up, then glared back at his roadkill meal. “That looks disgusting."

“Bye, Egg Boiz!" Carrot Cake said, waving them goodbye.

“Bye, pretty pony!"

★

“Hi, guys! Thanks for coming!" Charlie cheerfully greeted the hotel guests and crew as they all sat together in the lobby. “It's been brought to our attention that there may be a little... tension in the hotel."

Sitting on the floor, Carrot Cake briefly noticed the negative energy in the room. Especially when Pentious picked up Niffty with his tail coils and aimed a ray gun at her head.

“Tension that can be counterproductive to what we're trying to do here," Vaggie added as she snatched the ray gun. Pentious glared at her as he dropped Niffty.

Charlie nodded. “We think that this group could really benefit from... Trust exercises!"

“Trust exercises!" Vaggie joined in, attempting to sound enthusiastic as she and Charlie jumped up. But while Charlie landed on her feet, Vaggie failed to stick it gracefully. “Aw, shit."

“Vaggie, we rehearsed this," Charlie reminded her as she helped her girlfriend back up. “We're doing trust exercises!"

“So, what's with the whole, uh... this?" Husk wondered, gesturing to the makeshift stage with a TRUSTING 101 banner. “I'm not about to put on some show for these fucking chumps."

Angel Dust smirked. “Oh, I will, but it's cash up front, and I know that one..." he pointed at Sir Pentious, “... can't afford me."

“Grossssss!" Pentious hissed in disgust. “I'd never think of it, ssspider!"

“Right," Vaggie said. “Well, let's get started. Charlie?"

“Actually, I thought maybe you could take the lead on this one!" Charlie said, much to Vaggie's surprise. “I trust everyone, so maybe you know better about how to build it properly!"

“What?" Vaggie stammered. “Uh, I don't know if I'm qualified, uh—"

“Oh, come on. It'll be easy!" Charlie insisted. “I'm sure you can handle this."

“Yeah, um... sure, I can handle this. No problem," Vaggie nervously agreed, not wanting to disappoint Charlie. After recomposing herself, she marched in a line in front of the six demons staring at her. “All right! So, we are starting with trust falls! Each of you are going to share something vulnerable with the group about yourself and then fall backwards, while the rest of the group catches you! Got it?!"

“Um, boss?" Carrot Cake interrupted, briefly taken aback by Vaggie's drill sergeant attitude. “I'll still try to catch people, but since I weigh about seven hundred pounds, I think I'll have to skip on the falling part."

“Ya sure you're only seven hundred?" Angel Dust asked smugly. Carrot Cake just grumbled in annoyance.

“Miss Cake, you are excused!" Vaggie announced. “Anyone else? No?! Who wants to go first?!"

“Ooh! Ooh! Me, me, me!" Charlie peeped up, raising her hand. “Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me!"

“Alright, get on up here," Vaggie replied with a smile, and Charlie got up on the stage.

“I... I love you guys," Charlie tearfully confessed, except it wasn't much of a confession. “Like really, really love you."

“Whoa, you're gonna have to take me to dinner first," Carrot Cake warned, backing away as Charlie fell with her back towards them.

“Gotcha," Vaggie said softly as she caught the princess.

“That... felt... good!" Charlie exclaimed joyfully. “Angel, why don't you go next?!"

“Fine," he groaned, and headed up the stage.

Vaggie glared at him before turning to the others with her spear in her hand. “This time, everyone needs to catch him, okay? Unless you want me to hurt you."

“Somethin' about myself, huh?" Angel Dust pondered. “How about this? I love to suck..."

“I SWEAR TO FUCK, IF YOU SAY DICKS!" Husk shouted threateningly.

“Popsicles, ya sicko!" Angel Dust finished with a laugh. “Get your mind out of the gutta."

With that, Angel fell back and was caught by an annoyed Husk.

“But, you know, dicks too!" he added, making Husk drop him. Angel Dust groaned in pain and looked up at Sir Pentious. “All right, new guy. You're up!"

Pentious slithered onto the stage, a spotlight shone on him, and he dramatically confessed, “I... don't want to live without my minions. Nobody catch me!"

Sir Pentious practically jumped off the stage, only for nearly everyone to catch him.

“Damn it."

“That's great," Vaggie huffed, putting him down. “Wow, you are slimy. Okay, good job. Uh, Niffty?"

Without hesitation, Niffty scurried onstage and giggled manically, “Sometime, I kill mother bugs in front of their children as a warning to others!"

Shocked by her sadism, everyone backed away as Niffty leaped off the stage, causing her to land flat on her face.

“Yay! Pain!" she laughed, and went back up to do it again. Charlie just pulled Vaggie aside so they could talk in private. Carrot Cake just glanced at her phone to look at more comments on her Sinsatgram post. Suddenly, they seemed much more mellow in comparison to Niffty.

“omfd 🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵💦💦💦💦"

“You should've got one of his feet! 😔"

“I make $5k a day thanks to Dr. Litmeyup! Link in bio!"

Never mind.

“Maybe I should turn off comments," she said to herself, then looked over at Angel Dust, who had cut himself into Charlie and Vaggie's conversation. Carrot Cake couldn't help but wonder how he so easily seemed to put up with this sort of weirdness.