QT-579

"...Well that seems wildly unhelpful."

"She is not the one who performs those tasks. I am."

Unfortunately. Niffty's expertise tends to be more... cleaning. And less... maintenance. Which drain cleaning, unfortunately, falls under.

He spares them another dull stare.

"If you say ice, medicine, or a heating pad, I am throwing you out the window."

Drains fall under cleaning to QT, but- yeah, alright. Damn.

Set that aside for a moment though. For the comedic timing of what they're about to say; no hesitation.

Big shrug.

"What a shame," he comments as to their apparent predicament. But eventually he rolls over to try and push himself up to sit, at the very least.

"My legs are not broken. I am sore. If you want a chore to do, you can grab one of the large pipe snakes from one of the closets and use it to clear out some of the drains in the bathrooms."

Well, they were kind of making shit up as a social lubricant. Like oh hey, you seem to maybe need help with something, well I am a pathetic loser who needs work to do, soooo..... Like they did want to be paid, but for something Alastor ACTUALLY needed done.

But that didn't seem to land the way they wanted it to. Hmph. "You'd take work away from Niffty? You know how she loves clearing drains."

That was just a guess on their part. Seems like it'd track.

"No."

A simple response as he levels a brief stare up at them. It's been some time since he's seen the striped cat wandering around - but this seems to be very inopportune.

"Are you?"

"....I'm sorry to hear that?" Guess they can't really FORCE him to elaborate.

But they could try, sort of.

"All ten of my get-rich-quick schemes fell through. Thought I'd check if you have any chump-change-chores I could do for you. Are your legs broken?"

He is giving up.

He is laying on the floor until his joints stop aching.

QT will neither step over nor around, but rather crouch over. Hello, are you dying?

"...doing alright there, sir?"

Alright, the swat was fair. They took their hand away, contented that everyone is now keeping their hands to themselves!

Had a new appreciation for Alastor's ears tho. Probably best not to declare them cute aloud.

Alastor also going as a hellhound had QT humming, a little less worried now. We'll do the hellhound thing TOGETHER, nice. Makes it a bit easier if QT can follow Alastor's lead.

On type, they looked away, downplaying instantly. Not enthused by this decision or nothin.

"A wolf would be a classic choice, probably."

"A wolf is not a dog."

But, it hardly mattered if he was using his magic to make it happen. With an exhale that spoke of how tired he was of this matter already, Alastor brought a hand up to snap fingers which worked to knit together a guise for QT to take, a swirl of green energy enveloping them until the reveal on the other end was the form they had requested.

A wolf-ish hellhound, shorter than they actually were and with all of the necessary hellborn traits to ensure that it was believable.

And, perhaps, Alastor made a point of making sure their ears were just as big as he envisioned them.

"Agree to disagree." A wolf is TOTALLY a dog. A very cool, big, feral dog.

QT jumped a little at the magic, although this time they actually did somewhat expect it. How else would they be disguised? Had to be magic. Still, they were impressed by how believable it was. Thought Alastor could only do clothes/costume, not a full on illusion like this. QT took their phone out to look at themself in selfie mode. YOOOO werewolf time wtf.

Tail may have started wagging a bit. Cool.

The touch to his own ears earned a small smack to the back of their hand. As if to stay 'stop that'. Could have been worse - but he needed to keep them feeling relatively safe if he were going to rely on them to guide him to where Niffty was.

"I was planning on being the very same," he said, rolling his eyes and not thrilled at the prospect. But he was far too recognizable, even outside of pride. Imps that ventured back and forth would have heard of him - sent warnings to avoid him. Though he was never very keen on stirring up trouble with hellborn, so long as they gave him a wide berth.

"Select a breed and we'll get on with this."

Alright, the swat was fair. They took their hand away, contented that everyone is now keeping their hands to themselves!

Had a new appreciation for Alastor's ears tho. Probably best not to declare them cute aloud.

Alastor also going as a hellhound had QT humming, a little less worried now. We'll do the hellhound thing TOGETHER, nice. Makes it a bit easier if QT can follow Alastor's lead.

On type, they looked away, downplaying instantly. Not enthused by this decision or nothin.

"A wolf would be a classic choice, probably."

"Yes. A hellhound. I was hoping that would have been obvious."

Reaching out, he poked and prodded at their ears; at their nose with no regard for whether or not it was uncomfortable for them.

"Dogs exist too." Barely defensive on that. Who knows, he may have wanted QT to get on all fours and bark.

"Hellhounds are fine, I guess."

They totally didn't have a werewolf phase as a teen. Definitely not actually secretly a bit into living out their teenage dreams of being a bipedal wolf.

Ears being prodded was just, EXCUSe. Those are SENSITIVE. QT reached up on impulse and patted one of Alastor's ears. Oh- fluffy.

"You'd be as good a hellhound as me." Got them fluffy upright ears. Probably pass for canine slightly better than QT's even without tweaks.

"Good. We will need disguises."

No, Alastor was not about to give them much of an option. So it was likely just easier to go right along without protest, otherwise the radio demon might have simply dragged them off into another ring without regard for whether or not they would be bounced back by some invisible ward.

QT blinked slowly, and looked at themself. Well. Fucking. Sure, they're fuzzy, but they're a FELINE.

Why yes, he had forgotten. There were too many things to keep track of in a typical day, let alone having to recall every single conversation he's had that could have possibly been overheard.

He was not concerned - QT knew better than to go blabbing unnecessarily. And this seemed a rare occasion when giant ears (which were not actually all that giant) came in handy.

"Of course," Alastor muttered, though there was some relief in his tone. But focus soon turned over to the other, his grin forming into something wider; off-kilter.

"How would you feel about visiting Wrath with me?"

"Well, that sounds incredibly dangerous, illegal, and impossible." Not that they'd fully believed Alastor when he said that. QT heard about the parties sinners were invited to in the other rings, so if the laws could be broken sometimes, had to be able to hack it.

Hm. What he could attribute to maliciousness on QT's part was just as easily chalked up to ignorance. He had not exactly shared that Niffty had gone missing, after all. Just that she was skittering around somewhere, always, apparently, out of sight. Hoping that he could pinpoint her somehow before too long.

That QT was bringing it up now seemed genuinely accidental.

Have you forgotten that QT gets Alastor's voice pumped into their head every moment they're in range? Which, while in the hotel, is most of the time. They'd caught part of the Falcata conflict, though had decided to keep firmly out of it. Not their problem.

But still. If they heard Niffty, they weren't going to keep it a secret. Maybe they could score points with the radio demon.

"And you are informing me of this be-"

Oh. He did not need to be an exceptional genius to understand what was being implied. QT would soon have a looming radio demon extending hands to grip at their shoulders.

"...Maybe? I mean, it sure sounded like her for a minute, in the background of somebody's phonecall. It could be a coincidence, but I've heard her say stab stab stab enough times to be suspicious, at least."

@qt-579 ⧐ "Quick question; what happens if a sinner is found in the wrong ring?" UNPROMPTED ASKS.

"Not possible," he answers simply.

"There are barriers; wards. Things of that nature that keep Sinners firmly in pride. To circumvent them would take royal power that Sinners simply do not have."

Aside from he himself. And perhaps there may be more. But if there are, he certainly is not aware of them.

QT would maintain that they are smart, but as long as they were in agreement on the terms, Alastor can think whatever he wants.

"I don't warn. I do."

It was a lie, but a convenient one.

"And no, it's not an all Sinners sort of thing. Some Sinners arrive with some innate power or ability, but rarely are they capable of outright manifestation." Not to be confused with creation, really. It was different - used souls and energy and all that sort of thing that he'd not bothered to figure out.

"And the souls thing...that's from deals...?" Puzzling this out. Felt forbidden to even ask. Day one, asking how to get souls. A little gross, but it's the way of this world, should know eventually, right?

The continued sass earned a roll of Alastor's eyes, but otherwise, he contained his griping. Maybe there was something about cat-like Sinners that made them ornery and annoying to work with.

As far as a dress-code went, Alastor nodded.

"You'll need to dress the part of a hotel staff member," he lied. No one else in the building seemed to. But if he could convince QT to dress themselves more in alignment with his own tastes, then that was just as well.

With a snap of fingers, QT's outfit would change. To something just a touch more formal, though not excessively so.

Capped with, yes, a little bow-tie to match the vibe.

QT would maintain that they are smart, but as long as they were in agreement on the terms, Alastor can think whatever he wants.