It's a solid six hours - and one more break so Calli can sit in on Charlie opening all her presents - later that the kitchen is finally deemed usable once more…after the pipes get fixed, ever single hinge gets replaced after they all break simultaneously, and the flooring gets magically ripped off the floor and then put back down after the pheromones underneath the tiles were cleaned up and Calli re-grouted the entire room.
Yes, they've discovered, Calliope Peverell is an absolute taskmaster when it comes to her kitchen and what state it's in.
Velvette collapses onto the couch as soon as she and Vox get into the shared common area the three of them usually watch TV in, fully intent on just passing out there for the remainder of the night, mumbling "Tower sweet Tower, how I missed you…V, do you smell that?"
Vox groans, rubbing at his screen - which is still pounding, by the way! - and mutters "I've got the mother of all headaches after spending the entire day vomiting my guts and Val's Venom up, Vel. Whatever it is, please just leave it 'til tomorrow."
Velvette nods, her own head aching after throwing up a few times as well - but, at least she didn't devolve into sitting in front of a bucket for hours on end in a corner, so there's that - and says "I would, V, but it smells…it's in the couch, I think." Bringing one of the pillows - Val's favorite, ironically enough, or at least the one he kept on his side - and smelling it makes her gag as more of that scent floods her nose, and she groans before throwing it away. "Oh, gods…I think we need to call up Peverell again…"
Vox groans, then mutters "Let's at least try to find a room that doesn't have this smell you're talking about first…if only to give her a few minutes without us. She already didn't like us, from what you said of that Overlord's Meeting she crashed." Plus, a glance at his phone says it's two in the fucking morning. He needs to walk around just to try and stay awake.
Velvette nods, and they start searching - unfortunately, they can't find anywhere that doesn't have at least some of the mystery-stink in it - even Velvette's bedroom, her workroom, her studio, and Vox's office have the stink pervading it.
At least Velvette's designing room isn't too bad…though, neither of them actually wants to sleep in there, since there's nowhere comfortable to even sit down.
Once Velvette's collapsed in her sewing chair and Vox is sitting on the floor with his back to the wall, he pulls out his phone and dials Calliope's number.
It takes three tries for anyone to pick up, but the voice that answers isn't hers.
Much to both Vox and Velvette's horrified, fascinated shock…it's Alastor's voice.
"If this is a scam, nobody here is buying it at this hour. Try again at a more reasonable time of day." And then the line goes dead.
It takes Vox and Velvette a solid thirty seconds to stop gaping at the phone, and then Vox is rapidly redialing - Alastor or not, they need to get somebody on the line that might be able to answer their question, after all! As soon as the line picks up, Vox immediately says "Alastor, this isn't a scam. There's something seriously wrong at the Tower."
The line is dead silent for a solid ten seconds, until a staticky sigh of irritation sounds and then Alastor's voice asks "What is it then, Vox? Some of us actually have better things to do than be on one of these things all day, you know."
Vox winces at the jab at him, but says "There's something going on over here, Al. There's some kind of weird smell all throughout the Tower, we can't find the source, none of the video footage I've been going through shows anything exploding or anything, and it's making our heads hurt as bad as when we were cleaning that kitchen over there."
"Well, unlucky you, Vox, Calli's a bit busy right now."
"So…why did you answer her phone?"
"Because it's entirely too annoying to listen to it ring at this time of night. That's why."
Vox nods his head agreeably, completely forgetting Alastor can't see him for a moment, and says "I'm sure. You wouldn't happen to know what this stink is, do you? It wasn't here when either of us left, but it's everywhere now."
There's a beat of silence, up until Alastor explodes into gales of howling laughter. Velvette's jaw crashes to the ground, and Vox groans as he puts his free hand to his screen - that is such a bad sign...
Not ten seconds later, a familiar female voice is asking "Alastor?! What in Merlin's name is going on?!" Alastor's laughter doesn't stop, but there's a rustling sound and then Calliope's voice says "I don't care who the hell you are, what you can do, or where you are. If you don't undo whatever Curse you placed on him, I'm going to come over there and shove a Blood-Boiling Curse so far down your throat it-"
"Holy- he just started laughing on his own!" Velvette stares at the phone wide-eyed, and adds "We were hoping to get you, actually, but now I'm honestly scared what your reaction will be."
"…Velvette? Vox, why the here are you calling me at this time of night? Not only did I figure you'd want to avoid anything and everything to do with me for the next five decades or so…look at the time on your phone, dammit. It's two in the morning, you know."
That just seems to make Alastor laugh even harder.
Vox groans, then says "I would, but we can't. Here's what's going on, we're hoping you have any idea about it whatsoever. Even just a guess off the top of your head."
Calli's silent when he finally finishes explaining everything, until they hear a sound very much like a repressed snort from her end of the line.
"Oh, not you to! This is serious, we could have some kind of gas leak in here or something, but my scanners can't detect any gas! And nobody else we've asked can smell it either!"
There's a long moment of silence - from Calliope, anyway, Alastor just laughs even harder somehow - and then she finally says "I know exactly which smell you're talking about, Vox. It's not new, I could smell it the instant Charlie and I walked into the Tower months ago. It's Valentino's Pheromones."
Vox and Velvette trade horrified looks, and Velvette says "You can't be- Val didn't stink this bad or anything!"
Vox adds "We'd have noticed-"
"You got used to it ages ago, I'm sure. I wouldn't be surprised if he could control how much of his shit he could produce at any given time, ease you two into it so you wouldn't notice. And, before you say you could smell his Pheromones and they didn't smell like this, that was when you hadn't been made immune to them. First shift after he took a dose of it, Anthony came back saying he was getting a migraine and the entire studio reeked like someone spilled some kinda chemical in there. And, me? I'd never been exposed to it before, so of course it was giving me a migraine."
Alastor's laughter finally dies down, and he delightedly says "Enjoy deep-cleaning your entire Tower top to bottom for the next few months, Vox!" The line goes dead at that, leaving Velvette and Vox staring at his phone in silence.
Velvette groans, and mutters "Only one way to find out if they're right or not…"
Vox groans, asking "What's that, Vel?"
"Val's bedroom. If it reeks of this stuff…then they're right. Why was the Radio Fossil laughing his ass off, though?"
Vox sighs, running a hand over his screen again, and says "Because he'd once told me that going into business with Valentino would be nothing but trouble. That Val was too stupid and sex-obsessed to actually make a decent business partner…and that his Venom made him unpredictable at best."
Velvette hums, propping her chin up in the palm of her hand, and asks "You knew the Fossil before starting the Vees, then? Was it your rivalry? Guessing it started off with you trying to hypnotize him like he mentioned?"
Vox shakes his head, saying "We…believe it or not, Vel, Alastor and I were friends, once. Good ones, to. He was charming and funny, and strong enough that people scattered as soon as seeing him - reveled in that, to. And, honestly, he seemed more amused than anything else that I'd tried to hypnotize him - didn't even know who he was at first. Then, one day I met Val, and…"
Vox shrugs, letting out a staticky sigh, and says "Everything just seems like it slowly fell apart after that. Alastor would pull away whenever Val was mentioned, my guess is that he already knew about Val." Needless to say, Alastor doesn't like Val, never has and never will. "Anyway, I went into business with Val, eventually invited Alastor over to ask him to join us…I'd say Val ruined that idea, but he may have never intended to say yes in the first place. Val basically embodied-" Both Overlords wince at the reminder that Val's never coming back, and Vox says "-embodies everything Alastor can't stand. He told me once he was down here for hunting down and killing murderers, rapists, abusers, etc."
Velvette nods, then gives Vox a strange look, and asks "So…you asked him to work alongside a murdering, abusive rapist who throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way, has broken your screen more times than I can count, and who Alastor always looked at like he was imagining pinning to a wall somewhere in every single Overlord's meeting the two of them were attending together as long as I can remember?"
Vox coughs into his fist, saying "It made sense at the time. Alastor and I weren't- well, I hadn't…" At Velvette's raised eyebrow, he sighs and says "Alastor showed up to that dinner I invited him to. Unfortunately, Val got to him before I could intercept him, and…licked his arm." Nodding at Velvette's horrified look, he adds "Yeah, I don't know why Alastor didn't rip his tongue straight out of his mouth either, but he didn't. I could tell he almost certainly wasn't going to accept my business proposal right then and there, but he heard me out for whatever reason…old times sake, maybe. At least, until I got to the part about updating himself, anyway - that would be the point he cut me off, told me in no uncertain terms that he wouldn't be joining me or changing a damn thing about himself. We got into a big argument that tore apart the building we had at that point…and that was the end of our friendship. It…may not have been the first time I mentioned the idea since meeting Val, but it was certainly the last."
Velvette facepalms, and mutters "Geez, Vox…you think Val was really using his Venom on you, then? On both of us?"
Vox shrugs, saying "I honestly don't know, Vel. You threw up some as well, though it could've just been his Pheromones in your system. But, me…"
"You two have been on and off longer than I've known you, V. But…I do know Love Potion. And the side-effects. Too much of it at once, and someone is fucked for weeks, maybe months. And even if Val wasn't actively trying to use it on you…his pheromones could still have affected you. You say your friendship with the fossil started turning sour when Val showed up? That may be more accurate than you think." She's just now realized that, when Alastor said 'I said no and now he's pissy,' he damn well meant it literally. Because that's exactly what it sounds like, knowing everything - the Radio Fossil rejected a business proposal that would've had him working with someone he truly couldn't stand, likely would've killed within the first week, and Vox couldn't handle it.
She's also realized something much more serious...Alastor is now fucking untouchable. She's not sure just how he managed that, but he did - which means she needs to get through Vox's inch-thick head now, before he does something stupid like Val did.
Vox just groans, thumping his head against the wall in defeat. When she says it like that, asking Alastor to join him and Val sounds like the stupidest thing he could've possibly done. Alastor could've just made Val disappear, then leave saying the business venture wasn't going to last.
After a moment spent trying to get her head on at least semi-straight with the migraine she's fighting off, Velvette says "Vox, look at me. We need to have one ridiculously serious talk here. And, yes, it's about the Fossil. You need to drop your obsession with him. And that isn't me saying it out of sheer aggravation because you've got shit piling up to the ceiling while you hole up in your spy-cave, that's me saying it because he was joking with Lucifer fucking Morningstar. Because that girl that's got his hair color called the King of Hell 'Uncle Lucifer' in my earshot, and the Princess called her cousin. Because whatever it is he and Peverell have isn't going anywhere, and Lucifer Morningstar called her 'Sis' in front of everyone - and nobody batted a fucking eye. You read all those legends about her, how she came down here with the King and Queen themselves. Also, she nearly made you have a fucking seizure with what she claimed was a tiny little spark of magic in your circuits, then the single oldest television I've ever seen went nuclear because of her magic and your electricity after it came to life. She's not someone I want to fuck with, she's definitely not someone you want to fuck with, and fucking with him will apparently qualify as fucking with the entire Royal Family. She'll rip you apart without ever laying a finger on you, and she'll have zero trouble doing so. Get me? We've already lost Val because he tried to do as much, don't follow his lead."
Vox nods, then tiredly murmurs "You want to just stay in here for the night, Vel? Sleep in here and start dealing with everything tomorrow?" Call him crazy or a coward, but he really can't head into Val's room right now. Not knowing he'll never walk back into it.
Maybe Val was using his Pheromones and Venom to manipulate him…but, honestly, he doesn't know and doubts he'll ever be able to find out. Even if the idea he heard them talking about for a studio dedicated to paying back all of Val's workers happened, he doubts Val would ever be let outside where he could run into him. Not only would the public in general be out for his head on a platter as soon as he stepped into sight of anyone, well, it's supposed to be a punishment. Maybe they won't treat him the way he treated his workers, but there's plenty of other, less-sadistic ways to punish someone and make them utterly miserable besides beating the crap out of them. And he wouldn't be surprised if Peverell didn't know each and every one of them - if she can come up with a fucked-up backstory for a lollipop, of all things, much less as fucked-up a backstory as she spit out without a second's hesitation, then she likely knows how to make someone's entire existence fucking miserable.
Val may be alive, but he'll never be an Overlord ever again. That almost seems crueler than just killing him and being done with it.
Alright, Vox tells himself after another minute of mourning Val's absence, that's enough. You've got your own contracts to worry about, your own employees, your own business. Val's not here, but he's alive. It's Hell, that's better than can be said most of the time. And, given how much damn trouble he always managed to find himself in, how many times you pulled his ass out of the fires he always managed to start, it was almost inevitable that he'd bite off more than he could chew one day.
It doesn't make him feel any better, but listing off the very factual reasons why Val was facing actual consequences this time at least gives his brain something to do that isn't hyper-fixate on the lack of one Moth Demon with red wings and white fluff.