Extermination Day
Extermination Day -
It had been almost five years since Vaggie had died. She considered herself lucky to not have died only days after a one called Extermination Day. That one time of year when the angels from heaven descend down and permanently kill off as many sinners as they can get during the span of 24 hours. It definitely sounded scary and nightmarish when Charlie was telling her about it.
Of course, today is extermination day. The moth demoness has gotta admit, one of the things she did love and appreciate when it came to dating the princess of Hell was guaranteed safety during the most deadly time of the year. Getting to spend that much time with said princess of Hell is another thing to enjoy just as much. In fact, the pink x-eyed girl was currently curled up against said princess in the Morningstar’s castle, this place being one where the exterminator angels aren’t allowed even anywhere near, let alone inside of.
Well, despite the limitations put on the exterminators, it didn’t mean that Vaggie really wanted to brave it out and test her survival. As a result, she was making sure to avoid any windows and doors leading to the outside. Every single one of them.
The moth demoness did find it a little trying to entertain herself indoors in the entirety of 24 hours. It’s nothing she can’t do, given it’s only 24 hours, but apparently it’s a harder thing for her extroverted girlfriend. In fact, the pink x-eyed girl could see said girlfriend being antsy, indicated by the foot jumping and constant head turning to the window.
“Hon, relax, you at least got me here with you. Let’s do something together to take your mind off of you-know-what.”
Charlie jumped, likely taken by surprise. She had a tendency to be taken by surprise when deep, deep, deep in thought about something.
Still, the hellborn princess exclaimed, “Right! Right!” Then after a pause, “so what are we doing?”
“Well, there’s the tic-tac-toe game we were playing. I just drew in my X.”
“Oh, right!”
The red-eyed blonde quickly nabbed her pencil and looked at the sheet. It took some minutes before she finally put down an ‘O’ somewhere. However, when her girlfriend took only a few seconds to put down another ‘X’, she asked a question.
“Hey, we got other things we can try. You remember we took a lot of games and other stuff with us when we came here, don't you?"
“Yeah but... I don’t know… we got board games like Hellish Chutes and Heavenly Ladders. It’s probably not the best thing to play today. In fact, why is it that you win by going down chutes? Didn't you say that the version when you were alive had going up ladders as a good thing?”
"Because this game is made in Hell, Charlie. And you know how everyone else feels about heaven."
“Oh… right…”
"Look, I promise, whatever you want to do, we'll do it. I just want you to have peace of mind while we're here."
"Yeah, you're right... well, let's finish our tic-tac-toe. It would be embarrassing if we left such a simple thing not done."
"Good idea. And it's your turn to put an 'O'."
At first, it seemed to be working. The rosy-cheeked blonde was giving it her all in concentrating. Obviously, one would think it wouldn’t be that hard to just put down an ‘O’ or an ‘X’ in tic-tac-toe but something was different here. Obviously.
The sinner of the two knows that her normally optimistic lover is having something weigh heavily on her mind. Something that’s putting her in a glum mood. And when Charlie’s hit by bummed-out feelings, she gets hit by them pretty damn hard. Of course, she has a pretty damn good idea and Vaggie herself is getting bummed out about that.
“Charlie, I think you need to tell me what’s on your mind. I can tell that something’s bothering you and you know I can’t ignore something like that when it’s you.”
There was a stretch of silence that went on for a while. Then a sigh was let out, conveying clearly enough for the dejectedness to be heard. “I’m sorry I haven’t been in a very chipper mood, Vaggie…”
“Hey.” Vaggie instantly clasped her hands around Charlie’s. “You shouldn’t apologize for things like that. Ever.”
Charlie put on a smile, considerably cheered up with this.
Then the moth demoness insisted, “Now come on, tell me. What’s bothering you?”
The hellborn princess took a second to gather herself. Then, “Well, it’s just… this extermination. Every year that this happens, the citizens here suffer. They meet such horrifying, tragic ends when I know they can be better. It's just that no one's ever given them a chance! It’s always been on my mind but now… it looks like it’s taking up more and more space in my mind as time goes on…”
The pink x-eyed girl put on a slightly strained smile. On one hand, she loves that her girlfriend is so compassionate and caring about people. On the other, it’s for the horrid people-turned-demons that the red-eyed girl is being compassionate and caring towards.
“Hon, it’s admirable and sweet that you’re feeling. Really, it is. But what can we do? I don't think we know some other way to help the people. Besides, even if we could find another way-"
The rosy-cheeked blonde now put on a face of determination, that much showing in her eyes. “Maybe we can brainstorm! We still have so much time before the extermination is over anyway so how about it?”
Vaggie’s skepticism was very much present within her. While there may be people who aren’t as bad as others, the sad truth of it is even the ones not so bad has to be jerkasses. Just like Vaggie herself, they have to be tough and hostile to repel any actual bad people from screwing them over. Even if they just help the ones just putting on an act, the female sinner doesn't like the idea of that kind of treatment towards her lover.
That’s not even getting into the fact that there’s no telling which ones are like that and which ones truly deserve their fates. Combine that with the pink x-eyed girl's difficulties to trust, it makes it hard for her to accept anyone for some kind of candidate to help in their shitty situation that they probably deserve in the first place.
However, looking into Charlie’s eyes, the moth demoness couldn’t help but relent. “Yeah, okay. I guess what we can do first is picking up all the pieces together. When you’re doing a puzzle, it’s best if you can categorize them as much as possible.”
Charlie brightened up to a large degree, like how she normally does. Vaggie felt her spirits lifting up, too, and started wracking her brain. It was a lengthy conversation that followed, though. Really, it was probably good to talk. Otherwise, they would have arranged it to have all that time.
By the end of it, Charlie had plenty of papers with drawings depicting her goals. Of course, Vaggie her her own drawings, too, in order to, well, better illustrate those end goals. Although the latter also has her reservations about the final conclusion that her girlfriend has come to.
“Charlie, I know I said I would help find a solution but I think it’s important that I get this out of the way. I don’t know about this.”
The hellborn princess now clasped her hands over her girlfriend’s. “But Vaggie, I think this is the best way. I’m really having a good feeling about it. And we’ll be able to help those poor people who suffer these exterminations year by year!”
“Well, as noble as it is you want to help your people… these people are citizens of Hell. It’s where all the corrupt humans go when they die. We’ll be welcoming some truly dangerous hijos de puta to our door.”
The red eyed girl made firm eye contact with pink x-eyed one, their faces being inches away from each other. “Vaggie, it’ll be okay. And you want to know why?” There was only a little shrug from the latter, prompting the former to declare, “Because I’ll have the most intelligent, level-headed, fiercest woman looking out for me. You know I have the utmost confidence in your capabilities.”
Well, if that didn’t get the moth demoness in her heart, she didn’t know what would. So she did the only thing she could do. Smile and agree.
“Fine. But you do know that it’ll take us at least a year to work things out, right? Preparing anything and trying to carry out the plan can't possibly be done before the next extermination.”
The rosy-cheeked blonde had a moment of being bummed out before putting on a smile herself. “Well… it’s better late than never. And now that we got a possible solution for all the, we gotta put some work on the details. I’ll get the crayons!”