A Day In The Life

by Kocainum

Drowning a hopeless social life in cheap booze, work, and empty social media. Her co-workers are beginning to make a swan dive from the roof sound like a vacation. With octavia m.i.a., finding genuine friends in a glorified nuclear dumpster fire looks bleak. Hell sucks, but what else is new? , Loona, Human oc, Octavia, 'M' scenes will be alt. mini chapters. Helluva Boss ff.

2. Any way the wind blows

-Any way the wind blows...- v1.13

A/N Updated- Made a few alterations, and added general dialogue in kitchen scene.

Location unknown Weather warm and breezy

The first thing she felt was sand, the cool night breeze. Second was the nearby crash of the ocean tide washing the shoreline every few seconds.

Once got her bearings, she was relieved that this had to be Florida, because the chances of landing on another shoreline with this warm breeze for mid october night and had the lights of a boulevard strip in the distance were plenty slim.

She realized it had to be fairly late and their were very few if any humans out on the beach. She checked her phone and her dual dimension clock read 11:38pm, overworld time. She considered using her human cover. But for reasons of it impeding her heightened sense of smell, and various other hellhound perks, opted for staying her natural self. It not like many people were out this time anyway, and with it being night time, the most anyone could make put would be a blurred silhouette of gray.

So she got to her senses and got straight to the task at hand. She looked around for the grimoire, finding it a few feet from her, half buried on the sand. Grabbing hold of it, she sniffed the air and then in a direction that mitsu had clearly traveled. Thankfully by some miracle the wind was blowing down stream of his chosen exploratory path.

In short order she was moving at a high rate of speed and gaining on him quickly. She ran past a beachfront hotel parking lot and came to what looked like a sort of apartment complex that was set back further from the beach front but had nothing impending it from he water front view.

She came to a public swimming pool where the scent trail abruptly stopped. She explored around the pool and from where water was spilled onto the concrete surface just outside the pool. She fround a water drip trail that extended in the direction of a particular house, and to a backyard of that particular house.

Gaining the hope of finding her poor mitsu, she also worried about his soaking wet state and catching a cold.

She carefully peaked through a pair of tall bushes. And while she thankfully she found her kitten, the sight baffled her.

In plain view, was her cat playing tag with another cat in this person's backyard. And what confused her further was her cat was not soaked to the bone as she had concluded from earlier. But that would not make sense for at least one good reason. Mitsu lost his scent trail. Which means he had to have been totally submerged in water.

There is no way her pet hellcat had enough magic to dry himself off that fast. He wasn't yet full grown, not yet a full year. So he hadn't developed the full extent of his hellfire ability yet.

No, she knew. Her cat had to have been dried off some other way, likely a human. It gave her mixed emotions but a majority of them negative.

She acted without thinking and walked into the backyard. As she made her presence known, mitsu meowed happily at seeing his mother figure. He ran up to her to brush tenderly against her legs as well as releasing an apologetic mewl once or twice.

Loona kneeled down to her baby cat to snuggle and comfort him.

"Mitsu, you gave mommy such a scare, what happened to you? How are you dry if you fell in the water back there? I smell the chlorine still on your fur."

Mitsu stopped brushing her legs and sat infront of her. He looked in her eyes and meowed in a more concentrated manner. Allowing loona go understand a small portion of what he was trying to describe, word by word. Yeah, you thought regular cats were smart? Hellcats had intelligence to rival most sapient beings. While they couldn't speak more than their own language, they could learn any language to communicate in a crude but effective manner.

"Mew-ew"

"Rescue?" She asked to confirm.

Mitsu nodded his head once slowly.

"By, what, a human?"

Mitsu nodded again.

Loona was about to asked another question when she heard the sliding glass door open and out walks a young man in casual dress for a warm summers night.

She reacted with immediate instinct, thinking only for her cats protection. To kill the being that could pose a threat. Her eyes flashed, glowing red in the dim moon light.

As loona lunges at the defenseless man with her singular murdurous ethought, she missed the quick relexes of her kitten, somehow knowing what his mom was planning. Mitsu jumped on loonas leg, demanding his attention, but not before she had aleady grabbed a hold of the mans neck painfully and drawing blood where her claw dug in. Hackles in full glory, and snarl just under her breath. The stranger let out a strangled yell that sounded more like gasp, as his vocal cords were constricted.

Noticing mitsu yowling at her for attention, and not the human. Her eyes lost their ethereal glow. She recognized her impulsive action on an unarmed human, before focusing on mitsu.

"What, mits. Can't it wait until I've deal with this bastard?"

"Mow-eow'w" mitsu seems to struggle on his pronunciation when attempting to add two words together. He lets loose a cute growl of frustration.

"Not- eny- what?"

"Mow- me-eeo-ooh!"

"Meowww- mew.."

Mitsu sounded exasperated and aggressively point his nose and one for paw at the human the loona is still gripping in his claws.

"Huh. Apparently my cat is demanding I not rip you to shreds and ask what happened. So, you even in any condition to speak?"

The man in question swallows subconsciously and nods his head, voice cracking a strangled breath. Still holding onto her arm that's gripping his throat. He looks from here red eyes to her offending arm and let's go, allowing his arms to fall to his sides. His eyes returning to her own, pleading for any mercy in his fear.

Loona noticed she still had a tight grip after what may as well have been nearly a minute and loosens up her hold enough to allow him breath and speech.

*cough* *cough* he cleared his throat, "Y-yea, I am now. T-thank you."

"Okay so out with it, what's the story with my cat."

He looked down at the dark red cat that was silently waiting for him to explain his actions, then closed his eyes a moment to gather his thoughts and refocused his point of view into the distance behind them.

"I- uh, was walking back from the beach like 15 minutes ago and p-passed by the community pool, I found the him struggling in the water, reaching for the wall, with no way to get out he was going to drown if no one helped him. I reached in and grabbed him. He was soaked cold, so I wrapped him in my shirt and brought him home. Then wrapped him in a towel and tried my best to gently dry him. He was dry alot faster than I thought he would be though, it only took about a minute or two. He seems to have become friends with my own cat silvi aswell..."

She turned to mitsu "Really?"

Mitsu meowed happily and nodded vigorously. He then mewled out into the darkness of the backyard and another young cat loona remembered seeing from her spot in the bushes earlier, appeared and cautiously approached mitsu. When she got close enough to him, she nuzzled his neck and he returned it warmly. He then gave one last long winded mewl to loona which sounded an awful lot like 'pweeease?'

Struck by the strangest of circumstances, she was stuck deciding how to go about keeping her cats new friendship without having to kill the one responsible for saving her cats life. This human had apparently has also made friends with Mitsu as well.

Stunned in deep thought, she relaxed and released the young man, she subconsciously took a seat on a near by lawn chair on the patio. Mercer, after a few seconds, followed to another chair opposite from her own, figuring it best not to talk for a while after what he could gather, which wasn't much, this wolf like creatures pet cat just saved his life from his very over protective wolf mother.

She was starring off into the ocean in the distance, muttering nonsense to herself while taking a glance every so often at the man with scoff or a huff when finally she start shaking her head muttering "no" every few seconds or so.

He finally poses the question that's eating at him the most. Her repeating 'no' because it's worrying him.

"You dont still want me dead do you?

"Well your a human, and humans never do this sort of selfless heroic shit- but at the same time, mitsu has no reason to lie to me.-

-as for killing you? unless you give me a reason to, I'll have to get back to you on that."

Her head started to hurt from the drama and asks "Ugh, my head.. I could use a drink and some head ache meds about now.."

"Eh, I got ibphrophen and a drink? -Soda, oj, milk, water?"

'Not like that dumbass. strong.., liquor, beer anything?" Head ache throbbing.

"Oh, sorry, I gotcha. I'll have to look at what I've got, maybe some left over bacardi, coconut rum or jack."

"If it's over 40 proof, I don't care what."

He made for the door but stopped when she spoke in a quiet, darker tone "wait" realizing what she's asking and how he is about to leave her line of sight. A human, who as far as she knows should never be trusted.

Saving her cat doesn't automatically prevent her untimely trip back to hell by a vengeful human trickster. He could come back with a loaded gun, ready to send her painfully back to her world.

"How do I know you won't come back with a gun to my head?" Her look of malice and suspicion boring a hole through him.

"Uhm... well, no reason to hide anything. Your welcome to follow me in then. If your don't trust me, I guess I don't know how to prove it to you any other way." He gave her a slightly hurt look but passive reply, staring back at her awaiting her response.

After a few seconds thought, eyes losing malice but turning apathetic. she rose from the chair, stepping up to him. "Well go on then..." her emotionless tone lacking any believability in his intentions.

After proceeding through the sliding back door, he lead her through a small living room into the kitchen. he walked to open a medicine cabnet and got her a bottle of advil.

Then above the stove top microwave that seemed awfully dusty from being unused. He pulled out an assortment of partially filled, bottles, one nearly empty malibu cocnut rum, one half filled bacardi fruit punch mixer, and an unopened small bottle of jack daniels.

Loona appeared impassive to the whole thing, watching him as he set the painkillers and alcohol bottles on the counter. She was still somewhat spaced out. Currently having to constantly remind herself why she was not required to kill this guy even if she feels the constant impulse to shred him. because if it were not for him, her precious kitten would be forever removed from her mundane existence, and aside from mitsu she only has her phone and sports car to keep her sane enough to function. But a fact keeps plays louder as he goes about his efforts, hes done more for her in 10 minutes than almost anyone ever had in hell in all her life, aside from blitz.

He finishes arranging the bottles before her to choose from and steps aside, allowing her get a closer look. Then headed to another cabnet to grab a scotch glass and and to the freezer to grab ice but asks her if she wants any just incase. Thinking about it, he also offers her some left over pizza or some frozen dinner shit stocked in the freezer.

Loona was still staring at the bottles lost in thought when the faint noise of someones voice breaks through the fog. "huh?"

"I asked if you wanted any ice or something to eat, are you alright?" He was starting to worry about he wellbeing.

She briefly shook her head and chose the bottle of whiskey, replying out of necessity. "Just peachy. And yes to the rocks" turning around she take the glass out of his hand with no evident negative emotion. then reaches into the freezer as he steps back out of her way to give her space.

As he watched her pour the drink he gave her more focus and realized just who he let follow him into his home. This creature, was built like a toned killing machine. Though for an anthropomorphic wolf being of about 6ft she just happened to have an attractive figure. He was thinking about what was to come and if she was honestly going to keep her word about possibly not killing him, or just use him for her his household liquor. 'her personality and the way she carries herself suggests she doesn't care much of what people think about her, which usually carries the baggage of heavy anger and resentment, almost as if she was waiting for a reason to be be pissed off enough to pile drive someone through the floor just to release some stress.'

As he was taking his own turn to be spaced out standing behind the counter he then moved to sit on the bar stool, she took 4 pills from he advil bottle and downed the glass in one go, which was roughly the equivalent of 5-6 shots, adding to his astonishment from the deadly mixture. As a hellborn the liquor kicked in faster than normal for a human. Not helped by the fact she hadn't eaten since lunch.

She lazily regarded him for a moment as one might look down at an insignificant ant on the side walk. "You know taking a picture would last longer... actually i wouldn't suggest it if you like the way your face looks..." she scowled, making a point to show her fangs, speaking with a dark cynical boredom, like it would be no great effort or remorse to put him 6 ft under at any given moment.

His eyes widened, immediately darting to anywhere but hers, a tangible and creeping feeling of fatal danger in his immediate space. as she smirk to his reaction.

"Well it's not everyday a- werewolf comes lunging at my throat so forgive me for being in some sort of shock."

She poured herself another glass and downed it again with no more effort than the first heavy shot. "heh, shock, right, you know you humans never change, so easy to scare, run and hide. Like what good do you do anyway?" within a short space of time she was feeling a lot better but also losing grasp of her reason for being here. "I dont even know why I should be giving you the fucking time of day... just why was I letting you live again...?"

He sat there looking at the counter, trying to keep his poker face flat, in growing mixed shock and terror, afraid to look at her but a seed of anger was beginning well up past his unwillingness to speak against her. He may have been scared because she was an obvious force to be reckoned with but he not would back down to her if she was going to keep up going on about how useless humanity was. Hearing her drunkenly debate on whether she should let him live had him silently in edge.

Her smirk grew slightly, stray light from the living room window caught the gleam of her fangs. "I can smell your fear, ya-know. Your sweat... hear how fast your heart is racing" After a few seconds of enjoying the feeling of causing him to feel like her prey, he interrupted her, narrowing his eyes. Speaking uneven and anxious but with a determination to will his defiance.

"So- what, you think your a superior race of beings? Well not all humans are the same. Sure alot, maybe half or more are plenty fucked up trash. But not all. If you came here just to drink my alcohol and drag me through the mud after saving your cat, then you can take him the back with you to where ever the fuck it is that's so much better than here.-

-And if your gunna kill me for being honest then fucking get it the over with. Otherwise your nothing but a bully and coward.-

-still, I'd like to believe there is more to you than cynical narcissisim."

Silence. It sobered her up in an instant, eyes wide with glowing red fire, ears pinned, tail held in attack mode, she held her hackles up and yet no snarl came.

As she threatened to break her empty glass of ice cubes, she recalled what he said about her cat and a found vague reminder of what had transpired just moments ago to land her here. In her realization, she relaxed her features and looked at the countertop, cringing, it was too easy to take advantage of him if the guy didn't put up any fight, but she really had gone off the deep end with it... over what? Him just staring at her? Was she so insecure she had to attack his ego to the point he snapped? It really was the tactic of a bully, reacting to a fairly harmless gesture.

Two cats decided to make their appearance again at that moment and run in the through the front garage door, using its small pet sized door at the bottom. They ran around the living room playing a wild game of tag with each other until settling on a tall cat tree near the living room bay window, purring tenderly.

Captivated at the sight, she sighed, looked back towards the liquor bottles. then in a spontaneous act, turned around and starting rummaging through he cabinets where she thought she remembered him finding the drinking glasses. Without wasting a moment she fished another glass and ice cubes from the freezer. Then proceeded to fill a glass with some of the rum and bacardi mix.

She pawed the glass of strong drink over the counter to the confused man. "Alright look, maybe I went a bit over board" she looked off to the side not meeting his gaze, then painfully forced herself to look at him. He was listening intently but looking doubtful.

'Well if I'm gunna do this I may as well not hold back.' she thought, mentally cringing at what she was about to say but had to at least try make it right, after considering what he did for her.

Sighing again with a growl, more toward herself, "Okay, alot overboard. I'm sorry. I guess this is just not what I expected to run into when I found my cat.. You've been- fairly chill over this whole situation, actually more than fairly.-...-How about we start over. Tell me your name."

"Mercer, or just merce is fine" He was still in somewhat of a fog but had intently listened to her apologize the best she could manage. He figured he could give her another chance if she was actually trying.

"Mercer? Dont you hu-, er, have more than one name? If you didnt want to tell me, it's whatev-"

"Thompson, and I figured you wouldn't care for the extra detail, what with me being your average human meatbag up for debate upon the chopping block."

She regarded him for a moment, considering she hadn't been all that civil from the beginning and he had gone out of his way with the drinks, meds, and her cat, credit was due. His subtle coldness having merit.

Loona breathed, "Hm-, guess I was giving off that vibe pretty bad wasn't I? Well... relax. believe me if i wanted you dead it would have happened before I let you walk into your house again. I'm actually trying real hard to not be a bitch for 5 seconds. So it would mean alot if you could forget that stupid shit I said earlier. I know you havent done anything to deserve it.. human or not" the last part she added in a quieter tone, actually sounding sincere with regret.

He thought on what she said and his fear began to subside, taking a more relaxed posture and expression and giving a soft nod he breathed more easily. He took the offered drink she poured him, taking a fair swig.

After setting the glass down he mused the next question. "Fair enough, I'll accept your apology. I guess I can understand your apprehension if your not used to humans and how you don't trust them or hate them in general."

She was listening but, staring off at the cats and through the bay window to the beach front.

"Anyways, so you know my name but I don't know yours."

"Loona" Giving him a moments glance.

He was about to ask something but she added, "Just.. loona"

"I was actually going to say it's a fitting name, what with the moon reference and you being part wol-"

"Hellhound" she lightly growled, corrected him, cutting him off. Trying to keep her bubbling anger under control. 'he didn't mean anything by it relax'

"I'm- a hellhound" She added more lightly to amend her harsher than nessecary snap. "Not a werewolf"

"Ah, sorry, hellhound gotcha. Sorry for the werewolf quip earlier. Touchy subject?"

"Not- really something i'd wanna go into."

"Oh, No problem, I didn't mean offense- or eh, assume anything, about the- em, way you looked"

She laughed with a huff, rolling eyes with a mirthful toothy smirk at his social fuck up, it was almost sort of. "You saying you have a problem with the way I look because I have 'wolflike' features?" She tried to level with him but wanted to put him on the spot to fuck with him a little, but also attempt to not be a bitch for just a while longer.

"Well, actually the opposite, its pretty badass, for the first time seeing someone like you. I'm not trying to be racist or just ignorantly misrepresent your species. I know you said you don't want to talk about it but it is hard to not be intriuged-...-I dont see any reason for it to be a bad thing, being part wolf- eh, I dont mean me liking-."

"I think I get it.-" she cut him off again. "And no, your not being racist. And a yes or no would have been enough by the way." She smugly smirked at him.

"Eh, heh, Sorry" keeping his gaze on the glass infront of him, feeling awkward for blabbing on like an idiot.

She felt slightly bad for nipping at him over a rough subject he didn't mean any harm to begin with, knowing full well he actually was just trying to give her a genuine compliment even with some extra positive feedback, but that didn't make her much less frustrated. Though his comical honesty did something make her feel something. She couldn't pin point it but she liked it a little and hated it at the same time.

She considered his words again but it hurt her head even with the mind numbing alcohol to ease it. Deciding against pursuing the topic, likely to lead her to make some violent impulses that she would end up regreting. She was possibly starting to enjoy her short moment here, no reason the ruin it.

"Just.. um, dont worry about it." She spoke in a quieter tone. "Nothing against you personally, I just..."

"Its okay, really, no need to go into details if it's uncomfortable" He tried to give a genuine understanding smile to let her know it didn't hurt him.

She nodded at him with somewhat thankful expression, glad to drop to subject.

"So- what's hell like."

Now this was something she could answer. She smirked unable to contain a huff.

"Hot" She waited to see his expression.

"Uh... heh, well I figured that, but-"

"Just fuckin with ya, but it really is a dumpster fire of non stop bullshit."

"Nice vacation spot I bet."

"Oh yeah, you would love it. Lot less boring than up here. Always something getting blown up or shot at, doesn't matter if it's the middle of the damn night."

"Damn... for real though that does sound pretty rough, how do you deal with it?"

"I guess, you just get used to it."

It was a depressing thought, having to put up with all that chaos 24/7. From the looks of it, loonas mood had dropped slightly from the reminder.

After a few moments of somewhat tense silence and had them looking out the bay window while watching the cats., merce had calmed down back to what she would consider his resting state. she could sense nothing about him that was giving off a red flag of warning. Heartbeat relaxed, breathing steady, not sweating with fear. This was all unexplored territory for her and she was starting to actually care about not fucking it up. Even in her mildly drunken state. Part of her knew she had to leave soon but another didn't want to leave the tranquil quiet of his suburban beachside lifestyle.

Finishing her third glass, the bottle was mostly empty.

Having spent more time here than nessecary she didnt think he would need her here being more of a burden than shehad already been, and she really didn't need to become buddy buddy with a human who would jeopardize her cover. There were rules about denizens of hell getting caught on earth, it wasn't pretty.

"Um, look, this has been... interesting, but I should probably head out."

"Well I don't mind the company but if your sure, dont let me keep you any longer if-"

Ofcourse mitsu had become some what attached to his new female cat friend so he had been vaguely listening to their conversation in case Loona decided to take them home early. He heard what she said and quickly intervened, jumping up on the countertop and gave her an affectionate nuzzle. Then just stared at her, hoping she would know what he wanted.

"Aw mits, come on, you know I love you but this is getting kinda fucking ridiculously." She massaged her temples to ease the incoming aggravation.

"Mewwwwwl"

"Mitsu no, we have to go..."

"Meow- meooow-"

Mitsu made his best sad puppy face which he only ever used for something of dire importance.

She narrowed her eyes at him with an aggravated sigh.

"You know that won't work for much longer so you better be thankful your so cute. Your mom could get in a lot of trouble staying here too long. Just screw the pooch and get it over with already will ya."

Mitsu made a embarrassed whining noise.

She rolled her eyes and looked at her phone 12:48am

She smirked at his embarrassment. "One hour, thats final, don't pull this stunt again or I'm gunna skip half the tuna tomorrow night"

"Meow!" Mits gave a celebratory 'yay' and went back whatever it was he was doing. Which before now was just sleeping next to silvi.

She sighed. Wondering if she should just wait outside while her player of a cat got his rocks off.

Directing her attention back to merce, she apologized for her cats silly bullshit "Sorry, hes a dweeb sometimes..."

"Its totally fine, that's actually really funny and cute at the same time. It's wild how he can seem to fully understand you, and same goes for you. How is that possible?

"Perks of a hellborn and hellcat intelligence, it's not that big a deal really."

"Huh, still amazing as far as I'm concerned."

"Your probably the first to learn about this so I guess it would be for you. But it's pretty common down there."

"Guess so..."

"Yeah... anyway, I can bet you don't need me keeping you awake. I'm probably gunna go wait outside for him to finish up."

" Your not keeping me from anything, I slept in till about 12 today so it's not likely I'll head to sleep till 4 or 5am.. unless you wanted to go wait outside, something about you getting in trouble for being here too long?"

"Uh, that... it's- complicated."

"Well, no worries. Like I said, I dont mind the company but don't let me stop you from if your bored and you'd rather chill outside. I know I'm not all good of a host..."

"Its not that your... boring- I wouldn't be doing anything aside from scrolling some bullshit social media on my phone anyway- Thats pretty much all I seem to do anymore lately." She added the last part more subdued not even thinking about what she was saying. 'Ugh, that sounds so fucking pitiful and pity is the last thing I need, especially from a human.

"Been there.. I dont see why you can't hang out in here then."

"Mmm... there's few other issues..." 'Why am I saying so much, I can't trust this fucker, change the damn subject!'

"If you don't feel comfortable, I understand-"

"Look, merce, it's nothing personal but I have no way to know if I can trust you." 'stupid, just tell him everything why don't you'

"Ah, human, right- *sigh* well if it has to do with you getting in trouble somehow I understand. I didn't have any intentions of telling some one you were ever here. But I get thats just my word and I don't have a way to prove it."

"Yeah, words are cheap shit huh"

"They can be pretty often...mm"

... 'I've been here over an hour and if he was gunna do something to blow my cover it would've happened by now I guess'

"Aw fuck it, if you were gunna make a scene over this you already would have done something. I guess I'll chill in here if you really dont care..."

"I really don't have any reason to cause you problems, your more than welcome to stay how ever long you want, I still think I'll bore you to death- um."

"Yeah I can't really die so..." she smirked.

"Touche."

She thought about just going to chill on the couch but since she was here and still felt kind of awake and drunk, she was curious of what the rest this place looked like.

"So, how about show me around the place? Not often I get a chance to freely explore a weird humans apartment."

He nodded with a small smile. With a small last sip from his glass. "Mm, yeah, not much to see but i can do sure that. Oh before I forget, you never answered my question of if wanted anything to eat."

She thought about it and figured their wouldn't be any harm in his offer and she'd be lying if all the drama hadn't worked up a small appetite.

"Depends, what you got."

Merce got up from his barstool and went to the fridge to look inside, see the pizza from earlier the morning as well as some various microwave dinners.

"The pizza is from last night but should still be good. Or in the freezer i've got some microwave stuff, chili-mac, pot pies, lasagna.."

"Stuff'll kill you if thats all you eat."

"Somehow, You don't strike me as the type to care about a pro'health lifestyle."

She laughed a little, knowing he was right. "Ha, can't imagine what gave it away."

He smiled, hearing her laugh, it was relaxing to know things were moving it a more positive direction. "I dont what you like but, I dont usually keep much healthy food stocked, due to it having a short shelf life. But I've also got eggs, and bacon. Maybe the bacon isn't really-"

She got up from her place at the counter and walked over to the fridge to grab the package of meat he had just mentioned. Looking at it with slightly blurred vision yielded little result but she could tell it hadn't been opened. So making use of her index claw, she opened the package and sniffed it. Her eyes slowly widening.

"It should still be good. I got it like 2 weeks ago."

"Do you have any idea- ugh, ofcourse you wouldn't... It's been so fucking long since I've had some decent bacon. This shit is way too damn expensive back home."

"You can have all you want, might be better to cook it all anyway since I honestly forgot it was in there. Would likely go bad in another few weeks anyhow."

She slowly looked off to the side in his general direction, meeting his eyes after a few seconds. "Serious?"

Her reaction to something as simple as packaged strips of mainstream pork was made him wonder what else the hellhound was missing out on where she came from. "Sure, I don't mind in the slightest. It's all yours, although if you were wanting me to cook it, it might not turn out all that good." He smirked. "I'm guessing you know how to cook it?"

She nodded slowly, eyes still keeping contact.

He smiled, and went to a cabinet to grab nonstick frypan and set it on the stove for her, as well as a few other cooking utensils and nessecities. And she just watched him. Silently baffled by his continued generosity against her own rough persona. A part of her raged against the thoughtfulness, and another part couldnt have been more grateful. It was hurting her head again...

Shaking the thought from her mind, she went to work preparing the whole bag as he had given her allowance.

While she was busy focusing with tunnel like vision on the sizzling pan, merce went to toast some slices of bread and rummaging through his fridge, grabbed mayo and sliced cheddar. Willing to double check other areas, gained him some still good lettuce from last week and a small tomato which had been sitting in his forgotten crisper compartment. 'Huh, guess I had some healthier stuff than I thought'

He arranged everything on the counter so it made sense for when the bacon was finished.

Loona was almost on cloud 9, smelling something that caused her mouth to water this much. She was subconsciously smiling at the sight. Tunnel vision like determination on the task before her. She was just finishing up the bacon, laying it on some paper towels when she finally noticed everything else on the counter. She was again in some sort of fog that blinded her to what was happened only a few feet away. It somewhat rattled her. 'How did I miss that, must be the alcohol' she directed her attention to the one responsible. "Whats all this?"

He sheepishly grinned at her. "I found some extra things to throw together and figured it would just make sense to go the rest of the way since you decided to cook the whole package. You don't have to have any if you didn't want it."

Seeing merce smile at her, made her feel... odd. Like new foreign emotions were warring against all the old and she didn't like it. She wasnt sure if the new emotions were safe because the old had kept her protected since she was fairly young.

She forced it back again and continued on answering his statement. "Uh, yeah, that's- not a bad idea. A b.l.t. sounds pretty bomb right about now."

"I'll let you fix yours, bacon smells good by the way. I'll be right back- gunna take a piss. There um, butter or anyghelsr in the fridge if you wanted something else as well"

She watched him go with out any real worry of him becoming a threat. He just didn't give away anything to set her alarms off. He was just treating her as a guest, a trusted one at that, having left her to her own devices, she could do anything she wanted with him off guard. But she didn't have any motive or willing intent to do something harmful or fatal, aside from a niggling impulse that kept trying to make itself known. Its screamed at her that he couldn't be trusted but she fought it.

Drunk or not, she knew, the human was a problem. But it was a problem that didn't have a justifiable solution in sight. It's not that he was being 'too' nice or a pushover, as per the little retaliation he had displayed over her antagonizing him. He was just being a normal guy, letting her share his house with no foreseeable reasoning other than... wanting to be friendly.

'Really? Is that it?-'

She looked back at the food prepared on the counter and decided not to let it go to waste any longer, quickly putting her sandwich together and walking over to the couch opposite the backyard window. She watched the cats and distant dark shoreline with some curiosity as to how it had come to this.

Once merce got back he made his sandwich and joined her in the living room, sitting on an adjacent recliner.

"Any good?"

She looked over at him, face blank, tone cynical "it wasn't the worst I've had... I doubt I'll get sick but, meh."

Merce's face shifted to one slight dejection. "Sorry, I guess the bread was older than I thought.. you can have anything els-"

He noticed her growing smirk and realized she was probably fucking with him again.

Her smirk told the story. "Heh, It was pretty damn good,"

He rolled his eyes and shook his head at her antics.

He turned the TV on to one of the news channels and it was showing a scene of a interstate with a car crash. The reporter was explaining a 10 car pile up with a flipped tractor trailer caused by high winds. There were 3 fatalities, and many multiple injured.

It then turned to talk about two stories about how gang violence resulted in 2 deaths from a few counties over, and an upcoming story of a local murder that was gruesome and violent beyond recognition.

Loonas attention was immediately brought to the TV full focus.

'Oh shit...' Loona blanched.

The reporter went in to few details about the event and gave some grainy black and white camera footage of the assault.

The scene showed one red blur flying out of the corner of the camera and running the bystander through with some short weapon that may have been a dagger, then darting out of sight fast than it could seen on camera. The victim was shot multiple times and then hacked up multiple times by the red blur.

The news footage of the massacre was censored but you could still see sprays of blood going every which way.

'Fuck! Millie, you stupid shit head! If that camera wasn't a damn potato we would be so fucked!'

She looked at merce and cringed from his reaction to the gruesome scene. She tried to play off her distress with a quick comment on the news channel.

"Damn, it uh, looks like this side has its own shit show."

"Yeah, this stuff is pretty much an everyday thing, most people have been desensitized to it. Although that last one was a bit more violent than what usually happens around here. It's mostly gang violence in the shadier parts of town.

"Hmm.." she pulled out her phone to check if anything new had come up.

"Say loona, I meant to ask earlier but do you anything for work?"

She froze looking at nothing in particular in the phones screen but slowly relaxed as she thought up small lie.

"Uh, yeah, I'm a receptionist for a small, er, arms dealer company. We supply a bunch of different weapons to the local districts."

"Oh that sounds like a cushy job. Bet you get to slack off on your phone whenever you want."

"Ha, you don't know the half of it. Though, ya, I guess you could say it is'nt all that hard, unless the clients are raging dick heads.-"

She lazily rolled her eyes as Merce scoffed.

"- but the worst part is that my co-workers have like no common sense and- eh, well let's just say it would be nice to get vacation from them."

"That bad huh? Sorry, I can imagine they don't listen to your input very often."

"No, they dont. But I really can't go into much detail about my work place- sort of undercover and all."

"Its cool, no problem- maybe you'll be able find a new place to work soon, that's not so full of drama."

'I wish, no one wants to hire a hellhound with little to no credibility on there hunting and target killing ability.'

"Hm, unlikely. Couple reasons I can't go into would prevent me from relocating. And finding new work is harder down there than up here."

"Ah, shit, sorry for killing the mood."

"Meh, it's whatever. I just don't think about it. So what about you, you must do something to make enough to live in high place like this."

"Huh, oh I work for a paint contractor company. Like painting exteriors of houses- or apartment complexs. The pay for multistory buildings increase with the complexity or height of the building. Nothing special but it's relaxing enough for me to stay in it. And i guess you could say I'm a part time mechanic at my uncles shop. I'm not that skilled or experienced but I know few things and help out when they get slammed."

"Hey I won't judge, if you don't hate it why leave with decent payroll. And mechanic? What kind of cars you work on?"

"They work on just about anything customers bring in, but I'm more specialized in dated Japan imports."

Her eyesbrows raised at that. 'No way.'

"Any particular reason for that car selection?"

"I just have an interest in the simplicity and design of the engineering. But I guess one other reason would be I like their style."

"Huh, that's pretty cool..."

'No sense in getting attached, it would only hurt worse after I'm gone.' She bit back her wish to divulge her own equal interest in the subject, believing it wouldn't help anything.

When he finished the sandwich, he took both his and her plate to the kitchen and asked if she was still interested in taking a look around.

"Huh? Um, just a sec." She had to reply to a post octavia sent her. She was updating her time at the college campus. It looked like she was almost as happy as when the two of them used to hang out..

The knew she should be happy for her old friend but a small piece of jealousy and depression was making itself known. Though she tired to ignored it. She sent her a believable response and put her phone in a her pocket.

She made to follow him down the hall but stopped when she took in one detail of the kitchen she missed earlier. He turned around to see why she stopped to see her looking at the cats food bowl and could imagine what she might be thinking.

"Its not the cheap shit, unless I'm broke" He walked over to a lower cabnet near the sink and pulled out a medium sized bag, holding it for her to see."

She walked over to look at it, and it surprisingly wasn't as bad as she assumed, while it wasn't something she was familiar with, it looked like a higher end dry food in a bright electric blue bag with all the special quality listed how it was sourced with care.

"I see, carry on" satisfied with his choice of feline nourishment.

After he stored the bag back in the cabnet. He proceded to walk through the small apartments few rooms. the kitchen, living room, she knew of. The bathroom, his own room, and the garage, were all that was left.

His own room was fairly sparten, clean, and having a few odd trinkets spaced out upon the furniture. A few of which caught her attention. She walked over to his night stand and picked up a small hotwheels die-cast car. It was a nissan silvia s13. She breathed softly, marveling at the small gem ad she turned it this way and that. briefly considering how it would have lost value being removed from its packaging. It made her consider asking him if he had a deeper interest in the older car scene.

"I've got a duplicate just like it still in the package, um- your not into cars, are you?"

So he asked for her, awesome. She was hesitant to set it back down but ultimately did. "Yeah, actually I am" continuing to eye the model.

He was surprised to find one more thing they might have in common. Excitment getting the better of him, Before he could stop himself he pushed for more. "Really? What all are you interested in?"

She decided to continue exploring his room as she replied with a mirthful grin still avoiding his gaze, "Its nothing too exciting, a few years back I started to have a thing for the 80s and 90s drift scene and tuner cars of that Era.

"Wha- No way, thats badass. Actually-"

She huffed, interrupting him before he could explain. "Gran turismo?" She saw he had an older generation ps2 console next to his laptop and a few games nearly stacked next to it. Some horror and fighting genre and a few racing.

He smiled at her interest. "Yeah, did you want to play?"

Biting her lip, she was seriously considering taking him up on the offer but thought about how little time she could spend here. "Tempting, but I don't have the time. Any where else to wanted to show me?"

'this should be interesting'

Uh, heh, something is telling me you'll this last place especially.

She put the video game case down with a small frown, wondering what he meant by that and followed him the garage door. As he opened it and flipped the lights on her jaw, dropped.

Sitting in the center of a single car garage was a lowered s13 nissan silvia with a body kit. Almost exactly like the model.

The paint, a gunmetal grey, looked immaculate like it was recently painted or just babies to stay mint. It was no stretch of imagination that it had some decent money put into it, it had to be modded.

Wordlessly, she stepped past him, drawn to the bullet car like a moth to flame. It was taking alot of effort not to gush over it. Her tail was having mind of its own, pride be damned.

Mercer had a hunch she would react this way from her previous behavior towards his smaller scale model, as well as his particular game console genre. He couldnt help but genuinely smile at her stifled, out of character behavior.

"1989 s13. But I'm getting the idea you've figured that out already."

She was speechless.

He basically had one of her dream cars sitting in his garage.

And it was in perfect condition.

She looked through the tinted driver window to try and get a better view of the dash before merce stepped up beside her. Figuring he was going to tell her not to tough it, she casually stepped back.

"Here" He opened the door with a key from his pocket and motioned for her to have a seat.

She looked at him with such an incredulous slack Jawed expression and then back at the driver seat but eyes returned right back to his. "Your joking", she scoffed, "this is a joke right?" A light scowl of her disbelief forming.

"Your not gunna hurt anything just sitting in it. And its not like im giving you the keys yet."

Her face fell into a more aggressive look of disbelief, eyes narrowed, to the point she almost looked pissed.

He was out of his mind, he wasn't mentally all there, he had to be a recently released mental patient.

"'yet?'- Are you sane? You would actually consider trusting me with this at somepoint to drive this 'sex machine'? Just how fucked in the head are you?"

He really was not expecting her to become offended and her new nick name for his ride got a chuckle out of him, but he figured just roll with it. He cleared his throat some before replying in a more serious demeanor.

"Assuming you have some driving experience, yeah, maybe I would allow you to drive it sometime, but you would have to prove it to me first-" He rolled his eyes at her antics, and smirked again. "so go on and sit in the damn thing already, not hurtin' nothin'."

She softened her expression and huffed. Bringing a paw to comb through her hair subconsciously out of a nervous tick. Looking at the empty seat she was still on the edge debating on reasons why she shouldn't allow herself to indulge in something that feels forbidden.

"I- might get fur in your car..." she was talking a whole lot quieter than just before. She cringed at how much insecurity she was putting on display and it irked her to no end. This was not her first rodeo, so why would she be so nervous? Sure his car was fire, but she has seen cars of this magnitude before. She just hadn't been given the opportunity to sit in another aside from her own.

He chuckled, "Loona thats-, thats silly, I'm not worried about that or anything else you could come up with. I'm not gunna force you, so if you don't want to-"

"Oh fuck it then" She rolled her eyes and got in the driver seat, getting comfortable, her tail hanging out of the door. She instantly marveled at all the dash all the additional gauges and the feel of the wheel. It was nice, clean and well kept. Her tail was fighting her for dominance over the emotions she was feeling.

He smirked at her antics.

Merce walked around to the passenger door and got in.

"So, not too bad huh, sorry if the seats kinda stiff-"

"Its- nice, what all have you got done to it."

"Heh, good question, where to begin..."

He delved in to a long list of parts and upgrades. Taking a few minutes to remember everything. Including rough dyno horse power numbers. By the time he was done, loona was off in dream land.

"I think that's about everything. It's not that far in honestly, it could handle more, but I daily it so.. 380 horsepower for such a light car was enough for me. You have a car of your own? Loona?"

She was brought out of her haze with a start as she heard her name.

"Huh? Oh um, yea- i drive 1985 z31. I had it restored with a few upgrades. The paint and accents are all blacked out." She had a thought that made her grow toothy smirk.

'Would be kinda badass if we could race..'

"A 300zx huh? I always liked the look of them with a body kit. I'm assuming it's the turboed varient"

"Yeah, she's got the turbo. And a higher psi tune. Her cold start roar puts a smile on my face every morning."

"Would be nice to see it sometime."

His words made her seriously consider that. But he was human, and of course there were so many reasons why asking something of that caliber would be not only be difficult but dangerous.

She just replied with an "mhm" looking to be in deep thought so continued.

"They're a good engine platform. Always heard good things about them but alot people say the later 300zx- er, z31 is kinda heavy."

"Heavy?" Intriuged by his supposed knowledge of her vehicle.

"I could be wrong but I thought they were a bit over 3000 lbs. That's nothing bad but I'm curious if its ever gotten you in to trouble in corners."

"If it's ever been an issue I haven't noticed or I've adjusted to it. Its probably even a bit heavier than that actually, because I've had an uh, weapons based insurance policy installed on it."

Now merce was really intrigued. Did she mean like mounted guns?

"Wait a minute, back up. You mean like something out mad max?"

"Uh, if you mean 40 cal turrets, yeah."

"No way, thats crazy shit. It must really be a constant war zone down there like your said for something of that nature to be nessecary."

"Hehe, again, you have no idea..." she was kind of enjoying the praise of her vehicle and armament system. But again, the thought of how chaotic her home was made her realize how peaceful it was here in comparison. It was nice to go a few hours without having to worry about a stray bullet flying through her apartment window or a bomb shaking her ceiling apart.

Feeling more comfortable with the conversion, she decided to open the small middle console with out thinking about it, and noticed he had a pack of menthol cigarettes.

"You smoke?"

"Eh, heh, its not often but when I go for a longer drive, or stressed out-"

"You smoke- in your car-, this car?"

"Its not that big a deal with the windows rolled down, did you want one? It's cool with me"

She was about to pick up the pack, but was then brought back to a previous issue rearing its head. It was so easy, too easy. To talk to him, and forget about all the problems of home. The walls would come down and she wouldn't realize it, making herself vulnerable, and she didn't like it. This weakness is how you get killed or worse, betrayed. She immediately became defensive.

She retracted her hand from the pack of cigarettes like it burned her and had a far away look in eyes the slowly morphed into a scowl.

Merce was about to question her but just then her phone went off and she grabbed it out of frustration. "Oh fuck, now what." She looked as the screen and saw it was from blitz wondering if she could bring the grimoire back to the I.m.p. office building because stolas wanted it back just for tonight, why, no clue. But her stated it as being urgent.

"Shit..." she closed her eyes just now realizing how much time she spent here without a care in world.

"Trouble?"

"My fucking dumbass- da-, grr- boss, blitz wants his damn book back."

"A book? What's the big deal, can't you give it back to him a little later?"

"No... I can't. It's the book I used to fucking get here..." her voice seethed hostility that felt awfully directed towards him.

"Oh. Sorry." He answered in a smaller voice, apparently hurt.

She looked up from her phone at merce who had a solemn forlorn expression. And it made her cringe, she felt like shit for going off on him again, this wasn't good, she was actually feeling bad for him again and now it was easier than before. The pain of having two opposing forces waring in her head was making everything fucked.

She sighed heavily relieving some pent tension but still went on interigate him.

"Dont worry about it. Therea something that's been bugging me though, I need to know before I go-"

"-Why are you doing this" her eyes became narrowed with suspicion.

"Hmm? Doing what? I dont follow."

"Everything, just sitting here, in your car talking to me, letting me in your home, letting me do whatever?"

"Uh, well, guess I figured since your cat wanted to chill here a while to play with silvi- that um, you wanted to hang out here too. And that maybe we could hang out as friends too I figure"

"Friend." She repeated hollowly, not so much questioning as confirming his word choice.

"Yeah. Is that- a bad thing?" He scratches his head, a frown forming and was worried he over did something now to make her doubt him again.

"I- I dont know" she clutched her head it pain. Wishing the damn thoughts would fuck off.

"You okay, loona? I'm sorry if I said something or over did-."

It was getting too much. This, she needed a break from it. It was confusing and didnt make sense even though she knew the answer, she didn't want to accept it. She was actually to afraid to.