A random discussion in the Hotel

from /hhg/ Helluva Hotel general #651
-------------
A random discussion in the Hotel:

>"Can't be worse than this..." Husk burbles between two swigs
>"Oh?" asks Vaggie "You could be out on your ass in the street."
>"I'd still have my booze."
>"You could have your fluff all buffed up and dolled up under Valentino."
>"I'd still have my booze."

>incredulous, Vaggie searches for a retort
>suddenly, her single eye lights up, and she snaps her fingers

>"You could be Alastor."

>for a moment, the old cat just stares, pondering, before taking another swig from his drink
>"How's that bad?"

>"You know Alzheimer's disease?"

>Husk immediately froze
>faintly, sensations came trickling back
>memories, faded and filtered by drink and time, of a dark room
>where was he then?
>what was he doing?
>what was his name?
>wife? did he have a wife?
>kids? grandchildren?
>he... he served in the military, right?
>he had the... the medals to prove it
>he had a wife
>he MUST have had a wife!
>her name was...
>HER NAME WAS...
>his wife,WHAT his beautiful wife WHAT WAS HER they've been married since
>since
>...
>her name was
>her her name WAS

>his name
>his
>name
>is....


>"Husk?"

>Husk blinked
>Vaggie had been staring at him, looking increasingly concerned
>his front felt wet - apparently, he stopped mid-drink, and let it soak his fur
>as he set about cleaning it, grumbling to himself, the moth demoness continued:

>"So, Alastor's a cannibal, right?"

>he would neither deny or confirm that

>"Well... There's this disease called kuru..."

>he wasn't listening
>not completely

>"They discovered it among the Fore people in Papua New Guinea. Scientist speculated that it was because of their traditions of eating their own dead that the entire group developed the disease. Just one of them got the prion in his brain, and before you know it, the entire tribe has it. They had to completely abandon their practices for it to wear off, and even then, it took decades for it to completely disappear."

>really interesting
-
>Vaggie continued despite his blatant disinterest
>"Kuru means "trembling" in their language, which is precisely what the disease caused, but it had another name..."
>"I don't care."
>"Oh, but you should..."

>he looked up
>it wasn't like the moth woman to be so sinister all of a sudden

>"Why?"

>"It had another name..."

>he stopped wiping wiping himself down, and waited for the punchline

>"Yeah?"

>"It was also called the "Laughing Sickness"..."


>he froze again

>"Or, as one Czech pathologist called it: "The Smiling Death"..."

>the smirk on her face, was a mixture of pride and malice
>she watched him tremble

>"See what I'm getting at~?"


>Angel passed an unusually cheery and carefree Vaggie on his way to the lobby
>strange
>stranger was the shell-shocked looking Husk, sitting behind the counter, mechanically cleaning an empty glass, and smelling of fresh booze

>Angel frowned
>what the hell happened here?