"Alright then," Blitzo said, sitting at his desk and shuffling some papers while wearing a pair of half-rimmed glasses in an effort to look smarter. "I see you're applying for our position of Background Checking Agent, is that correct Mrs. Coco?"
"Um," Coco sat there across from the desk looking rather confused. "I thought we were gonna talk about me sleeping on the couch tonight…?"

After an hour of Chinese takeout and cleaning up, Blitzo started setting up this improvised interview that Coco was incredibly unprepared for. Other than having no idea what was going on, she was also certain she didn't have anything to make herself look impressive for this interview. It was only confirmed when she saw in her bag all she had from the Living World were her school notebooks, a sketch book, some piano music, her mostly empty wallet and a broken I-Phone.

'I have literally nothing to offer at this table,' Coco deadpanned as she watched Blitzo shuffle more imaginary papers as if they were hers. 'You're hit-men, I'm a feminist. This isn't going to end well for me…'

"First question, Mrs. Coco," Blitzo said before looking over his glasses and giving her a grin. "Can I call you Coco?"

"You've been doing that since the beginning." Coco reminded him. "And I'm not married."

"So you're single, eh? Well that's understandable," Blitzo put away the random papers and took off his glasses, settling with holding his hands on his desk and smiling at her. "Working girl and all, the modern office life! Must keep you pretty busy."

"I'm in Grad School…." Coco said, looking away for a moment. What is it about marriage and relationships that make her feel so awkward?

"Tell me!" Blitzo changed the subject again. "Do you think you could pass a background check?"

"… I have no records here in Hell." Coco again deadpanned.

"Hmm, I see," Blitzo took out a random clip board and looked over it. It looked like something had been written on it and like he was purposely playing office with her. "No credit history here I suppose either. Do you think you could pass a drug test?"

"…." Coco stared at Blitzo wide eyed in semi-insult before turning to Milly and Moxxy who were both standing across the room against the wall next to the water cooler. "Is this really necessary?"

"Just play along," Moxxy said, looking equally as baffled but used to this crap. "It'll be more painless if you're honest."

"Kay?" Coco turned back to Blitzo and looked at him more tired. "Sure, I'll take a drug test."

"Hmmm," Blitzo said, making a mock thinking face and writing something down. "I see…"

'What!? How was that a bad answer!?' Coco mentally yelled and looked at Blitzo confused. 'Most places don't want their employees to have drugs or personal lives!'

Blitzo seemed to be making this all up as he goes.

"Now I see I don't have your resume on file," Blitzo said, looking at his clipboard again before smiling up at Coco. "Do you have any relevant work experience here Hell?"

"No." Coco said truthfully. Then she thought about it and saw if she could take her previous experiences as relevant. "Does getting kidnapped twice count?"

"Did you kill anyone there?" Blitzo asked.

"No."
"Hmm, that would have been beneficial to your skill set." Blitzo said, notting something down before looking back up at her. "Do you have any notable experience with~~ murder?"

"No." Coco said nervously.

"How about torture?"

"No?" She said confused.

"Blackmail?"

"No." She said tiredly.

"Extortion?"

"No!" She said annoyed.

"How about kidnapping?"
"I've been kidnapped before…" She said exhausted.

"Hmmm," Blitzo looked on and then switched his answers. "I see your education history hasn't been listed here. Tell me! Did you graduate from an accredited school in the last 5-6 years?"

"Accredited in the Living World or here in Hell?" Coco asked for clarification.

"In Hell~" Blitzo said cheerfully.

"No." Coco blankly stated.

"Hmm, I see. What about a high school diploma?" Blitzo asked.

"Again," Coco sought more clarification just to see if he was listening at this point. "On Earth or here in Hell….?"

"Hell."

"NO!" Coco said angrily. "I just told you! I just moved here yesterday!"

"I see," Blitzo smiled and nodded, writing something down. "And do you have a current address or P.O. Box?"

"No…" Coco said exhausted. "You're the one who told me to sleep in the back closet…"

"I see," Blitzo wrote that down and looked up at her concerned. "Now, no judgement on our part. But, uh, please be honest. Are you homeless?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm not homeless- I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED!" Coco clarified and angrily face palmed herself. "You're the one who brought me here…"

"I see," Blitzo continued to write something down like he actually knew what he was doing.

Coco sat there and stared for a minute before looking up at the ceiling fan and getting more and more stressed.

'Oh God,' the possibility that he wasn't just kidding was dawning on her. 'I'm sleeping out on the streets tonight, aren't I?"

Then Blitzo put down his clipboard and looked up at Coco with a cool, calm and collected look. And that look screamed "BAD" to Coco.

"Well! I see you have no work experience, education background, transferable skills or any useful experience related in our industry." Blitzo stated carefully before opening his eyes, grinning at her and holding out his hand to shake. "You're hired! Welcome to the team!"

Worst job interview ever.

"Uhhhhhhh," Cocos' brain shut down for a second and then processed long enough to think of the most appropriate response yet. "Thank you…?"

"What!" Moxxy walked up beside Coco, who was sitting there and staring at Blitzo's hand in confusion. He looked slightly pissed off but more baffled at Blitzo's false logic then anything else. "Sir! You can't be serious? Having a human work in our office is completely insane!"

"Now, Moxxy!" Blitzo waved off the comment and stood up from his desk, picking up the clipboard and showing it to Moxxy. "Don't be so negative! She passed the interview with flying colors and a perfect record!"

"…" Moxxy took the clipboard from him and stared at it before turning it around with a dead expression. "This is just a bunch of drawings with 'Pleeze Don't Run, KoKo' scribbled at the bottom."

"How'd he misspell her name when it's written at the top?" Milly wondered out loud.

"I'm actually quiet proud of my artistic depictions," Blitzo said, taking the clipboard back and throwing it over his shoulder. "Besides! We all knew this was a sham! Who else would be better at conducting a background check on humans then an actual human!"

"Sir! We already have a client relations person!" Moxxy gestured over to Luna, sitting over at her own desk. "Our receptionist is supposed to do a background check! Not a hired little kid who doesn't know how to-"

Moxxy was stopped by a pot of coffee being thrown at head from across the room. When everyone looked up, they saw Luna had thrown it at Moxxy and was standing up with mad red eyes.

"Hey! Don't fuck with me about a new employee, alright!" Luna shouted before holding up a landline phone over her head. She was willing to protect her ability to not have to work hard at any cost. "My job is fucking stressful enough as it is! Hire the goddamn human!"

"You don't even answer the phones!" Moxxy shouted back, ducking as Luna chucked the landline at him. "And you keep breaking everything!"

Other than seriously wondering how this office actually made any money, Coco had to think about what this would actually do for her. On the one hand, they all commit massive amounts of murder, scream at each other all the time, cause a huge mess everywhere they go and didn't look like they actually knew what they were doing. But, then again, she was stuck in Hell and had nothing better to do. Plus, this could probably lead to helping her out later by learning more about human-demon relations!

But! There was another important question that needed to be asked.

"… Do I get paid for this?" Coco asked Blitzo.

"Of course!" He assured her, smiling with a hand up. "We'll give you our standard rate along with commission!"

"… Cool," Coco turned and looked at Milly. So far she'd observed several death threats, destruction of office property and some black mail going on in this workplace. "Is this what the office is like everyday?"

"Pretty much!" She said cheerfully before pulling her up out of her chair and giving her a hug. "You're gonna love it! Welcome to the family!"

"… Didn't think my first career out of college was gonna be at a hit agency." Coco said to herself, starting to slowly wonder if this was gonna affect her moral standing in the world. How was she gonna put this on her resume? "Yay…"

It was agreed upon then that Coco would get to sleep on the couch in the lobby until they could think of a better plan.

"As a part of your employee benefits," Blitzo started, standing up straight and smiling in the middle of the lobby with everyone else from IMP. He had a blanket and pillow under his arm along with what looked like a really creepy teddy bear. "You have the privilege of using our offices' temporary lodging for all of your household needs until better shelter can be provided!"

"He means you can sleep on the couch as long as you don't wreck the place," Moxxy clarified.

Looking around the office, Coco realized how grimy this place actually was. It didn't just remind her of an old pulp-fiction novel, it actually looked like one with all of the furniture looking old and dusty, the floors burnt, dried blood stains on the walls and the blinds to the window so torn apart that you could see the dim-burnt red sky coming through.

The office itself just looked like its own kind of horror story.

"… Yeah. Employee benefits…" Coco mouthed before looking back up at them. "Are you sure it's safe in here? Do you have an alarm or anything?"

"Of course we do!" Blitzo reassured her before taking out a shot gun from behind him. "If anything happens, just shoot them with this and then we'll-"

"NO!" Coco shouted, looking up at Blitzo with mad eyes. "I'm not keeping a shot gun next to me while I sleep on the couch! That is not safe!"

"Well not if you don't have the safety on!" Blitzo complained before looking confused at the shot gun. "Where is the safety on this thing?"

"Sir," Moxxy took the gun away from him and flipping the safety on himself. "We can't let her stay here."
"Yes!" Coco said, relieved. "Thank you!"

"She'll just mess up the whole place." He continued.

"Hey!" Coco shouted.

"Why doesn't she just come and stay with us?" Milly offered, smiling at both Moxxy and Coco. "We've got room on our couch for her!"

"What?!" Moxxy looked at Milly almost outraged as if she just said she set their apartment on fire. "Milly! Are you even listening to yourself now?"

"Yeah!" Milly cheered, grabbing Coco by her shoulders and pressing her face against Coco's smiling as if they were sisters. "C'mon, Mox! It'll be fun! Just like a sleepover! We'll make popcorn, we'll match movies, will stay up real late-"

"We have work tomorrow," Moxxy reminded her.

"We'll go to bed at 10," Milly readjusted their night schedule and then smiled. "It'll be great! What do you say, Coco?"

"Well," Coco stood there and thought it over. Ignoring Moxxys' obvious ambivalence and thinking more about her possible comfort. "It'll definitely be nicer than staying in the office all night again. And you guys seem fun."

"Yeah!"

Milly again hugged Coco and Coco looked down at her moral compass. The needle just pointed up at Y and she honestly figured it just didn't matter where ever she stayed.

'As long as it's not on the street or near explosives,' Coco thought, looking out the window timidly. 'I've also got a feeling being around these two would be safer than being alone in here…'

But Moxxy was definitely a hard one to convince. When his privacy was being encroached, he tended to get snippy. And now, with the idea that he'd have a human free loader on his couch, he was looking for excuses for this not to happen.

"I change my mind," Moxxy said, turning to Blitzo in an almost panicked state while he attempted to count of reasons why he and Milly should be left alone. "The office is the perfect place for her! It's, um, safe? And, uh uh uh, not full of my stuff. And um has water? And uh-"

"It's settled then!" Blitzo cheered, pulling Moxxy, Milly and Coco over to him in a bear hug. He was smiling brightly and seemed to be scheming something. "Ah~! What a great work team! Looking out for one another~ Caring about one another~ Sharing space and an open environment to-"

"You're not coming over tonight." Moxxy threatened Blitzo while baring his teeth. If he was gonna have to put up with one bothersome individual, he wasn't taking on the most bothersome.

"I feel like he's not telling us something," Coco said quietly to Milly.

"Don't worry about it," Milly said, also understanding what she meant. "We've got a shot gun in the closet in case anything bad happens!"

"… That does not make me feel more safe."

- At M'n'M (yes that's now their official ship-name as according to me) apartment -

"Make yourself at home!" Milly called out opening the door to their small apartment. She threw her (rather large) bag across the room and started walking over to where Coco supposed was the kitchen, leaving Moxxy and Coco standing there at the entrance. "I'll go get your comforter and sleep stuff!"

"She's a house guest Milly, not a new roommate." Moxxy reminded her before turning to look at Coco while crossing his arms. He tried to think of a way of "laying the ground rules" as if asserting his authority would make this feel more comfortable. But the problem was, there weren't many house rules and Coco's not a child so he just felt ridiculous. "Just don't… Ruin my stereo system."

"You guys use Hi-Fi?" Coco said, ignoring Moxxys' statement and walking straight over to the Hi-Fi system. "And vinyl! Sweet~"

"What did I just-" Moxxy pinched the bridge of his nose, took in a deep breath, then followed her over. "I'll let you pick out an album. Just don't touch my system! I organized it!"

Coco took in the strange organization and decoration of Milly and Moxxy's home. They had a lot of music, movie and theater stuff laying around along with a few spots items and lots of books. Coco got the idea that they were less of the "married couple type" and lived a more "two weirdos in their 20's cohabitating" style of life.

"Your place is pretty cool," Coco said, admiring all of the odd interests while sitting down on the floor in front of Moxxys' vinyl collection. She turned and smiled at him brightly with eager interest. "Did you guys find all of this stuff here in Hell?"

"Well… only some of it." Moxxy scratched the back of his neck and turned to fiddle with the Hi-Fi system, hiding a mild blush. It was the first time he'd met someone who seemed to like the same stuff as him since Milly, and even then he was sure she sometimes was only humoring him. "A lot of the good stuff I-we, we picked up in the Living World."

"You can do that?" Coco asked, thumbing through albums before grinning at him sarcastically. "Isn't that stealing~?"

"Oh yeah. I'm a demon who commits murder for work everyday, and stealing cool stuff is my moral conundrum." Moxxy laughed out while rolling his eyes. It was actually the first time Coco made him smile. "Also, watch what you pick. I'll have you know I'm judging you by the first album you make me play."

"Well I'm depressed and sarcastic," Coco said, pulling out an album and handing it to Moxxy. "So turn on some Tom Waits."

"Nice choice~" Moxxy said approvingly, taking special care as he took out the record. "Wouldn't peg you for a blues kind of person."

"I'm from the south, hon." Coco put on her drawl and stood up, stretching her arms over her head. "Blues is in my blood."

Milly came back with more red comforters to find Moxxy and Coco in the living room, debating Beat poets and pulp fiction novels. With the sight of books in hands, Milly noted something they forgot.

"What did you do with the book, Coco?" Milly asked, plopping the bedding down on the couch and looking at the two of them. "You didn't leave it at the office did you?"

"No," Coco shook her head and handed 'On the Road' back to Moxxy. "I've got it in my bag. Me and Blitzo are pretty sure I should keep it on me as much as possible."

"Okay I- What's that sound?" Milly asked, confused by the music playing over her head.

"Junkyard blues," Coco summed up.

"Good analogy." Moxxy nodded his head and walked over to Milly. "Anyway, we need to change and get ready for work tomorrow. You think you can make up our uh- couch without ruining anything?"

"… I more competent then you give me credit for." Coco said dully.

"You just got kidnapped this morning," Moxxy reminded her, then pointed at her carefully. "Before you do anything: Don't. Call us first."

Moxxy sure was being paranoid about Coco touching his stuff for some reason. But, it made her think… That it's super fun teasing him.

"What if I wanna watch TV?" She asked, gesturing to the TV set.

"Call us," Moxxy said, him and Milly turning to go to their room. Obviously planning to… snuggle quietly.

"What if I wanna watch a movie?" Coco gestured to his collection of DVDs.

"Guh-" Moxxy stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Don't touch, just ask me to come in and I'll get it for you."

"If I'm thirsty and I want some water," Coco continued, now making plausible hypotheticals. "Can I get a glass or-"

"I'll do it!" Moxxy turned around to try and end this whole charade. "Look! Just don't do anything but sleep! I doubt you'll actually need anything so can you-"

"The record just stopped," Coco heard the sound of a needle rolling on the dead end of the record. "Should I change it or-"

"I'LL DO IT!" Moxxy said quickly, running over to the Hi-Fi set and putting everything back into place. "I've got all of my records organized! Don't screw up my system!"

Coco just rolled her eyes at that while Milly walked back up to her. She wasn't sure why Moxxy was being so anal about Coco being here, but he seemed to be making it obvious.

"Is he like this all the time or is just me?" Coco asked Milly with a slightly irritated look in her eyes. Moxxy had only known her for two days and apparently believes she's a walking disaster… and Coco has yet to prove him wrong. "Or is it because I'm a human?"

"It's not your fault, sweetie." Milly said consolingly, patting Coco on the shoulder. "Mox is just kind of protective of his stuff, and our privacy I guess. But you'll get used to it!"

"It sounds like he just doesn't trust me at all," Coco complained lightly before looking up at Milly with a skeptical glance. "I mean, he thinks I'm weak and harmless, how much of a mess does he actually believe I'll make?"

"Well, you did sort of summon a blast of fire that literally cut off a demons arm and singed the office carpets pretty badly." Milly reminded Coco about earlier today and chuckled a bit. Yeah, those were good times. "Maybe that's what he's worried about."

"… I don't even know how that works." Coco admitted, being more scared of that then anyone else.

"Even more of a reason to be afraid," Moxxy said, walking up to the two of them and crossing his arms again. "Look, it's getting late and we've all got work tomorrow since apparently you work with us too. Now, if there isn't anything serious you want from us."

He was gesturing to mean that Coco should shut up and go to sleep already, which logically is a good reason. But! Coco's brain doesn't really work on logic right. Right now, it's working on illogic and a need to keep talking to someone.

So she was looking around for an excuse to keep them here to entertain her long, but she wasn't sure what was left to talk about anymore given that Moxxy's already poured water over half of her efforts already. And the, something caught her eyes.

"Oh!" Coco said enthusiastically as she marched over to a small cabinet with colorful boxes that reminded her of her first year at college. "You've got board games!"
"We're never getting any sleep tonight…" Moxxy said, standing there and letting out an exhausted sigh.

Several hours of Cards Against Humanity later -

"Did you pick this game because you're good at it or because of the irony?" Milly asked shuffling the cards one more time. She had been grinning the entire time, but she was staring to become more and more exhausted.

"Both," Coco said with a grin. Coco had been dominating the game with an equal amount of sarcasm and structured reasons that kept giving her the most cards.

Most people would expect Cards Against Humanity to be a friendly game amongst immature people and perfectly harmless. That is, unless you have two competitive people sitting at the same table. And there was: Moxxy and Coco.

Coco kept the game going by just inciting Moxxy to keep trying in little ways: A little smirk, a sly comment, giving Milly an eye roll. And this is how Moxxy found himself sitting at the same table and playing for far longer than any mature person should.

"How can anyone be this good at Cards Against Humanity when they're sleep deprived…" Moxxy complained, resting his head on his arm and groaning. He desperately wanted to go to bed now. But he wanted to win the last hand more…

"That's the best time to play CAH!" Coco exclaimed excitedly, fiddling with her cards and smiling on good-old college days. "It makes you more creative!"
"Being mentally insane is not the same as creative!" Moxxy yelled, sitting up to show how non-sensical that was.

"Yes it is!" Coco defended herself and her lack-of mental capacity.

"Yeah! Says' who!?" Milly agreed while pouting.

"Don't defend her, Milly!" Moxxy said and then turned to debate Coco again. "And you! Stop using non-logic to support yourself and lifestyle!"

"It's worked so far in my life." Coco defended, sipping her hot-water and proving no one can debate against her without going slightly insane. "Just look how many rounds I'm winning!"

Again, Moxxy slammed his head against the table and let out a long groan. It was the third time he's done that tonight and it seemed to be a habit.

"Can't you just fall asleep now?" Moxxy complained, lifting his head up to question how Coco was maintaining relative sanity so far. "What were you doing at the office all night?"

That was a good question; one that took Coco an uncomfortably long time to answer because she had to think back on the last 24hours without screaming.

Let's take a look at Coco's first night in Hell:

9:00pm: Tried to sleep on the piano.

9:30pm: Realized it wasn't gonna happen until every gun was organized according to size, caliber and place of origin.

10:30pm: Crying.

11:00pm: Might as well organize all of the ammunition by size.

11:35pm: Crying.

11:45pm: Why stop at size? Organize ammunition by manufactures too.

12:30am: Stare at nothing.

12:45am: Realize your place in hell matters even less than your place on Earth.

1:00am: Cry because life is meaningless.

1:05am: Wonder if they keep snacks in here?

1:30am: After eating the two protein bars, stare blankly into space again.

1:45am: Wonder if they have anything to drink in here?

2:00am: Organize all of the alcohol bottles by alcohol volume.

2:30am: Debate with self about anime.

3:00am: Lay on top of piano, questioning existence and wondering if she can sleep yet.

3:45am: Play 'Old Town Road' on piano.

4:00am: Is it too early to start drinking yet?

4:05am: Yes it is, Coco. You're in Hell, not in rehab.

4:06am: Play with knives.

4:20am: Clean up the mess you made playing with knives.

4:45am: Organize knives according to size.

5:15am: Sit under the piano and try to sleep again.

5:45am: This whole sleep thing isn't working out.

5:50am: Is that poison? Can poison be organize?

6:30am: Yes but only if you label everything and put it in pretty bottles.

6:35am: Let's make some coffee.

The uncomfortable silence while Coco was thinking was not questioned.

"… I was productive." Coco confirmed.

"You just sat there quiet for three minutes and then said "I was productive"," Milly said, pointing at Coco with a worried expression. "Girl, you need some sleep."

"We all do…" Moxxy complained, sinking in deeper into his arms.

The next day -

"Good morning~~!" Blitzo cheered, seeing Milly, Moxxy and Coco all walk through the door together. He was overly excited to be able to see them all together and had his camera out and ready to commemorate this moment. "And how was our first sleep over as-"

"Don't talk until I've had coffee," Moxxy said, walking in quickly away with his bag and his eyes intent on sitting at his desk.

"… Good to see you too." Blitzo responded, trying not to drop his smile and hit Moxxy with his camera.

Coco walked in and looked around, noting she had no instructions of what to do or any clue what you're actually supposed to do for work in Hell. It also didn't help that it looked like all Blitzo and Luna did in the office was sit around and do bull shit until they showed up. But she didn't want to show how unsure of herself she still is in front of Blitzo so she went ahead and made herself useful in the only way she could.

"I'll go make some," was all Coco said before walking straight over to the kitchen, flashing Blitzo a quick and amicable smile. "Good morning, Blitzo!"

Blitzo watched them disperse before he could try and play the authority card on them and felt a little abandoned. Luna walked over the same time Milly began to drag herself over to where he stood.

"Your boy-toy looks more pissy today than usual," Luna stated, turned to give Milly a slight look. "What? You didn't peg him hard enough last night?"

"No…" Milly had no extra energy to give a snide comment in return, she just rubbed her eyes and tried to encourage herself to stay polite in front of her boss. "We just didn't get much… any sleep last night. Coco kinda kept us up all night."

"Oh~" Blitzo said in a deeper tone while smirking. "Didn't think the girl had it in her! I always knew the innocent looking ones were the wild rides in the world, if you know what I mean~"

"Wha-No! No no no~ Not like that." Milly said, straightening up a little and waving off that comment. "She just kept us up playing Cards Against Humanity until the sky turned red again."

"… Nerds." Luna dismissed and took out her phone. "Why didn't you just tell her to fuck off and go to bed?"

"Or fuck her and go to bed," Blitzo said, then saw both Luna and Milly give him disgusted looks and became defensive. "What!? It's an option! Probably would have worked."

"We got really into playing the card game…" Milly said exhausted. "So… it's kind of our faults too."

"Hmmm" Blitzo pondered this for a minute, looking like he was enjoying his moment to just think deeply in a comical pose. "What's keeping her up and so cheery then? Is she criminally insane? How could I over look that? Then she'd be a really good first time hire…."

"I think she's just not used to Hell yet," Milly explained, already putting down his strange line of thought. She then sighed and just smiled, recognizing that she could probably understand this to a degree. "We can handle a couple of sleepless nights. Plus, it was kind of fun! You learn a lot about someone when spend over 8 hours playing an adult card game together."

"Like what?" Luna asked half-interested.

"She has a strange way of twisting logic to her own interests," Moxxy said, sitting over at his own desk and looking burnt out with his head on the table, looking out at the red sky. "And she knows how to make things worse for everyone…"

Both Luna and Blitzo looked confused at that for a moment before they saw Coco walked up holding two mugs of coffee. One was intentionally for her, which Luna stole and walked away with Milly. Coco momentarily felt resentful for that before holding up the other mug and giving it to Blitzo with a smile. After yesterday, she was starting to warm up to this devil.

"So what's my first assignment, Boss?" Coco asked, looking eager to start working.

Blizto stood there with an idolized look as if Coco had given him more validation than his own father ever did.

It was pretty unnerving.

Coco was already having a hard time coming to grips with the potential side-effects to her morality scale this would cause. But, she also believed in being productive. And figured just checking to see how evil someone actually is and doing paperwork wouldn't really effect anyone. After all, there are probably some Wall Street workers who make it into Heaven anyway.

"Glad to see you're ready!" Blitzo exclaimed, taking one arm around her and pulling Coco into a side hug while walking her around the office. "Welcome to IMP! I'm so excited to get you started on your first day! First! Let me give you a tour of the whole office!"

"… But I already know where you keep the guns?" Coco said more to herself than to Blitzo. What else was he gonna show her that she already didn't know how to find?

"Do you wanna know where we keep the bodies?" Blitzo asked giddily.

"…" Coco just screwed up her face in horror and shook her head quickly.

"Well it doesn't matter," Blitzo said, still pulling her around and just walking her around the same places she's already seen and cried in. "You see, for your position, we're gonna have you doin' a lot of paperwork and general research. You see! Our company strives for the best in our work. We provide our clients with quality services and fast responsive actions. And we need good data and record keeping for that!"

While she was pretty sure Blitzo was just putting on an act to play-Boss for a minute, he was somehow selling her on this job. It sounded a lot safer, casual and lot more normal than anything she'd seen in Hell so far. And that's not right. Something normal can't happen this soon.

'This is still murder we're talking about, right?' Coco wondered, feeling like the business sounded strangely normal except operated in Hell. 'It sounds no different from an insurance company speech.'

"Okay," Coco said, looking around the office to see if there's anything new or off about the same place she's been semi-trapped in. So far, everything was in place and just like a pulp-fiction detectives' office. "So… what would you need me to do exactly?"

"Glad you asked!" Blitzo cheered. Apparently this was the right thing to say because he went into an entire script-like play. "Have you ever tried killing someone before?"

'Oh yeah, I'm at the right office alright."

"No," Coco said, looking a little irritated by that question again. But at least it cleared up the confusion. Well… some of the confusion.

"Have you ever thought about it?" He asked with a grin.

"… That feels like trap question." Coco said, strategically avoiding the question so she wouldn't have to lie.

"It was," Blitzo nodded and went on. "Well! Since you've obviously thought about it, you know how hard it is to pull off a murder perfectly! You see, murder is like art. Take Picasso for instance."
"That metaphor aesthetically makes a lot of sense," Coco remembered every single Picasso she's ever seen and thought about how murder and mutilation could be interpreted in that.

"Well, you see, a good murder needs to be pulled off well enough where people will stare at it for hours and not quiet actually get it." Blitzo said, stopping at his desk and pulling out a file, He seemed to be lovingly flipping through pages and smiling at the pictures they took of that particular murder scene. "There's technique, style, design, materials and sourcing information. You see, we craft our murder in the finest fashion with the most creative ways we have available! All with our clients personal vision involved to make them feel like they had a direct hand in it~"

"… Never thought of murder so pleasantly." Coco said, blinking a few times when she realized she actually the sound of this kind of violent behavior.

'Maybe I'm not getting enough sleep,' Coco summed up. 'But is sleeping in Hell an actual good thing?'

"So what do I do?" Coco echoed. He was making this job sound both more interesting and more uncomfortable because it was related to murder.

"You're in charge of making sure we know what we're doing!" Blitzo cheered, pointing up in the air and taking a sip of coffee. "Mmm~ Good coffee. You see, we sometimes get a little lost, a little over loaded and, well, let's just say… We get one human mixed up for another."

"…" Coco interpreted this information as a bad thing. "Have you been killing a lot of random people lately?"

"Just minor mix ups," Blitzo smiled and dismissed.

"You have!" Coco pointed her finger at him and glared.

"And that's why you're here!" Blitzo opened another cabinet and pulled out a box labeled "Smart Persons' Stuff" and put it on his desk. "You're going to be in charge of location, person of interest research, medical history and insurance background, weapons and murder recommendations, and over all filling. Plus! If you see anything that could be used for extra billing information, let me know and write me up a file."

With that, Blitzo thrusted the box into Cocos' hands, which almost made her drop to the floor. Steadying herself, Coco looked down and saw it was filled with maps, geography profiles, weapons catalogues, medical books, a few psychology books and old profiles of older targets. It looked like this was all of the information they had to actually start doing background checks and record keeping, but they stopped half way through and just threw it into the box.

"You good at keeping recites?" Blitzo asked curiously.

"Uh, I can do that." Coco said, looking up confused. "I'm good at math."

"Great!" Blitzo pulled out a giant binder filled with reciets, IOUs and death threats and dumped it onto of the box and making her drop to the floor from the load. He bent over her and smiled, giving her yet another responsibility she wasn't qualified for. "You can be our book keeper too! Just keep the records in the files, keep the accounts tidy, and we should be all good!"

"Okay," Coco laid on the floor for a moment, becoming comfortable with the sense of drastic over expectations before sitting up again and putting everything back neatly into the box. "Seems straight forward enough. But what about the book? What am I gonna, I mean, am I gonna be the one opening the portal from now on or are you doing that?"

"Oh no no!" Blitzo waved that off, taking out said magic book and putting it on his desk. "You're just the books' owner, so we can only use it if you're in the same room. But! You're still too weak to be opening up a portal on your own here. So instead, you'll just hold on to it here while we're in the human world and we'll pop back, opening and closing the portal when we're done!"

"… Does that make me an accomplice to murder?" Coco asked more to herself than Blitzo.

"Who cares!" Blitzo cheered, picking her up and steadying her on her feet while he side hugged her. "Shouldn't make any difference on the morality scale either way!"

"I'm pretty sure it would," Coco said worriedly. But, even if it did effect her, she was more concerned now about the apparent office work was going to have to carry out everyday. So, changing the subject, she tried to find the best way to put down this heavy box of crap. "Can I go to my desk?"

Blitzo smiled even wider and started pulling her over back towards the main lobby.

"So glad you asked!" He cheered, dragging her behind him as she tried to make him stop but he just kept pulling her even as her shoes scrapped against the floor. "Now, we had to improvise a little to give you your own space. I figured, since you're a human and all, keeping you out of the public eye as much as possible would be a good thing and having no windows to drive you insane would also be a plus! So! I fixed a few things up, tell me if you like one or the other more."

The first place he pulled her was inside the kitchen. He had definitely improvised… something.

"What do you think!"

Blitzo posed in front of two trashcans holding up a piece of wood with a small sign that said "KoKo" written on it. It was right next to the coffee machine and had a bathroom organizer beside it to look like a filing cabinet.

Definitely points for creativity.

"…" Coco stared it the ensemble for a moment, trying not to feel insulted, before looking up at Blitzo with honest contempt. "Can I… have an actual desk?"

'My life may be trash but work space will not be,' was her solemn self promise.

Blitzo sort of stared at her, then looked back at the obviously ill advised desk space, then shrugged his shoulders. Even he knew his art project was crap.

"Eh," Blitzo said, knocking the thing to pieces with a flick of his tail then promptly forgetting about it. "Worth a try! I've got another place for you in the lobby next to Luna. At least the wifi works better there."

"Shouldn't we-" Coco pointed down at the mess Blitzo just made.

He only looked down at the mess for a moment, before taking Coco by the shoulder again and starting to walk and take care of it at the same time.

"Moxxy!" Blitzo called out, pulling him and Coco away. "Clean up the kitchen!"

"What did you do!" Moxxy yelled from his desk, obviously already getting up and getting ready to panic. "I'm not in charge of your mess in this-"

"It's in your job description~" Blitzo sang, walking him and Coco away from the area. "Thank you~"

They took the the four steps from the kitchen up to Lunas' desk and stood there in front of her for a moment. Luna was just sitting there reading another back issue of whatever they publish here, and Coco was concerned how Blitzo wasn't just butting into her personal space and time like he does with everyone else. Now that she thought about it, Coco noticed that Blitzo definitely acted differently around Luna than anyone else, more doting and lenient wise. It felt like he was everyone else's boss but she was his boss at the end of the day.

"Lunie~" Blitzo started in softly leaning in carefully to avoid making it seem like he was towering over her. More like he was asking her for permission then telling her what to do. "Our new background checker needs some office space, can she take the desk across the room from you?"

"Whatever," Luna said, looking up at Coco and giving her a half-glance. "You gonna stink up the office with your human smell or put any of those retarded inspirational posters up?"

"Uh, no." Coco said, looking a bit confused.

"Fine." Luna pulled up her magazine and went back to ignoring everyone. "Just don't bother me or ask me to help or anything."

"Great!" Blitzo cheered, pulling Coco next to him and turning them around to walk over to the empty desk next to the window. "I know you two will get along just fine! Just think of Luna as your office mentor, she's one of our best admins here!"

"I noticed you also only have one admin here." Coco said, following him and knowing Blitzo didn't hear a word of what Luna just said.

Coco immediately saw why Blitzo wanted her in the kitchen in the beginning. This desk was the opposite of privacy and safety. From here, Coco would see every demon walk through and have access to the window view all during work.

'But,' Coco at least managed to find the bright side as she put the box down next to the old desktop computer they had plugged in on the desk. 'At least it's an actual desk.'

And she found a new place to curl up and cry under!

"Just put everything together and get settled," Blitzo started, whipping off some dust off the top. "It's a little old, hasn't been used in awhile. But! It's got everything you'll need to-"

They both heard the computer start buzzing loudly for some reason and turned to see it flash code for a few seconds before shutting off and then smoking. Blitzo and Coco stared at it, then turned and stared at each other before Blitzo just smiled.

"Okay!" Blitzo shouted, already starting to turn away and leave. "Just settled down at your desk! And remember! Everything there is company property! Don't break it!"
"You can't just leave me with a broken computer and blame it on me!" Coco shouted at him before he walked off. "Goddamnit…"

"And read the Employee Handbook!" Blitzo shouted out from his office.

"Where's the-"

Coco didn't finish that question because a random book was chucked at her and landed inside the waste basket. Taking a second to over having something thrown at her and narrowly miss, Coco picked out the book and saw that it was indeed the handbook.

"…" She stared at it for a moment and turned to Luna. "What page tells me I'm not allowed to kill our boss?"

"Page 78," Luna stated from memory. "Hardest rule to follow."

Putting the book down, Coco looked over her desk and knew she needed to give it a good scrub down. It was covered in dust, including the old desktop and keyboard. But she was also surprised to see a nice vase with dried flowers on it sitting on the end of it. A welcome present!

She stared at the dark red vase with an apple pattern motif on it for a minute and then noticed it had a small note attached to it that read "Welcome to your new home! Love, IMP family". She picked it up and stared at it, wavering between emotions of happiness and uneasy resentment.

'.. I seriously hope they don't expect me to start living in this office," Coco thought, putting it down and sighing a little as she reminded herself that this sort of was the safest place for her now. 'Then again. I don't think I'm ever gonna want to leave this office and walk around Hell willingly…'

This seemed to be an overly depressing first day. Or maybe she was just overly depressed. So, to try and distract herself, Coco looked around at her new desk and tried to find some bright sides.

Beside her desk were old posters that looked like circus promotionals. They were interesting designed like the old school black and white prints with red to add intensity. As she got to study them, she noticed that they all advertised "The Amazing Blitzo!" Or "Blitzo Siblings" as headliners.

'Maybe Blitzo used to be in the circus?' Coco wondered, looking back at Blitzos' office and trying to put two and two together. He definitely had a performers' kind of personality and way walking. Maybe he started this business to act as his own kind of ringleader? "Makes sense, this place is kind of like a three ring circus. I guess he tries distancing himself from his old life by making the 'O' silent now.'

"So!" Milly appeared out of nowhere, scaring the Hell out of Coco, and leaned against her new desk with a smile. "How do you like the office so far! Got your own desk and everything!"

"Please don't give me a heart attack…" Coco said quietly before turning around and putting on as sincere of a smile as she could manage. "It's good. I… got a desk!"

"More than what we got on our first day here," Moxxy said, walking up from the kitchen and standing next to Milly. "Well, we're supposed to give you a contract, but we kind of don't want to start making deals with humans in Hell. So this whole thing's gonna be kind of improvised."

"Oh that makes so much more sense now!" Coco said, incredibly relieved! "I was almost afraid this was the best you could do."

"It is," Milly said, still smiling. Not getting that was a terrifying fact.

Moxxy saw that now Coco looked like she was mentally screaming and decided to cut in with non-office related matters.

"Well, since you're gonna be working out in the open like this," Moxxy started, digging into his pocket and pulling out two sticks of eyeliner and some red blush. "You should at least wear this."

"Makeup?" Coco said, looking confused at Moxxy. "Uh, I'm sort of allergic to a lot of that stuff. And I figured since I'm still wearing you and Blitzo's clothes that the dress code was-"

"It's not about that," Milly said, waving that idea off before pointing at her face. "You should try and look a little less human-y if you're gonna work around here! A good way to do that is by wearing some thick eye liner."

"You know how to put makeup on," Moxxy started, handing over the make up. "Right?"

"I've never put on this stuff before," Coco said, looking down at the make up and then up at them. Clarifying her statement. "By myself."

"Uh," Moxxy complained, pulling out Cocos' desk chair and gesturing for her to sit down. "Here. Let me do something simple then."

Coco wanted to say 'no' but then Milly took her by the shoulders and forced her down. She looked really excited about whatever Moxxy was going to do to her face.

"You're gonna love this!" She cheered, standing behind Moxxy with an excited pose.

"That's a good expression," Moxxy commented on Cocos' completely terrified look. "You should try and hold it like that forever."

"No problem." Coco commented. There would be no problem with staying completely terrified in Hell.

Moxxy only had to double outline her eyes and add red blush as eye makeup before it looked a little different. The bigger, more exaggerated eyes definitely added a dramatic quality, and as long as she kept the fake horns on and Milly suicide wrist bands on her arms, she'd be a lot less noticeable.

"Done," Moxxy said, stepping back and studying his work. "Not bad. I wish you didn't look so… innocent."

"Yeah," Milly said, turning her head to the side to look at Coco as well. "It makes me want to push her down and laugh."

"Makes me want to push her out the window," Luna chimed in.

"I feel so safe now." Coco said sarcastically, sitting there and just assuming she doesn't look any worse than she possibly could.

And the next moment, Blitzo came bustling in to see the whole office together. He apparently looked incredibly happy to see everyone some-what getting along and made a heartfelt smile.

"Now this is the office family portrait I've always wanted!" He cheered, and in the next moment pulled Milly, Moxxy and Coco over beside Lunas' desk and held out the camera with his tail. "Okay, everyone! Gather 'round! Group picture! Let's see those smiles!"

"Don't touch me," Moxxy hissed as Blitzo had him pressed directly against his side.

"My face and hair and body aren't emotionally ready for this," Coco said over dramatically but completely honest.

Blitzo took several photos where Coco was sure she looked hideous and let them go. Everyone grumbled for a moment and Blitzo pulled Coco back over to him for more examination. He tilted her head up to have a look and smiled in appreciation.

"I love this look on you, Coco!" Blitzo said delightfully then turned his head and gave Moxxy a smirk. "Have some skills with drag I see, Mox."

Luna chuckled under her breath and Moxxy just growled, walking out of the room. Milly followed him and left the three of them alone. Coco was about to ask what that was all about until Blitzo dropped a single random file in her hands.

"I got a little first job for ya," Blitzo said cheerfully. "I want you to look up every detail we have on a case we got yesterday while we were out. The clients' gonna come here after lunch to pay and we'll need to show him why we're overcharging. Remember! Be creative!"

And then he left her there standing and wondering what to do next.

"… Well, better make sure only one person dies today," was all Coco said before going back to clean her desk and get started.

All in all, it's actually quiet easy to do this job. Once Coco fixed the problem with the computers' hard drive, she was able to log on to the internet and actually work pretty quickly. With social media, public records and basic common sense, you can find anybody in the world and know how to kill them in about 20 minutes.

So far, the only difficult part with working here was working so close to Luna.

Working next to Luna is like living next to a military base. There's always noise, something being cursed at, and the ever impending threat of potential violence. Worse than all of that are the actual moments when Luna is quiet. Then, in that unsteady calm, you kind of wonder if she's just too distracted to be pissed off or plotting your impending doom.

This is all weird given she wasn't quiet sure what Luna was supposed to do exactly. Other than answer phones and yell at people, it didn't really look like Luna actually did any work most of the time. So… why is she getting paid to be here?

"Blitzo! I'm going on lunch!" Luna shouted, getting up and walking away while pulling out the phone chord.

"But it's 10am," Coco said, realizing Luna wasn't listening to her.

"Okay, sweetie!" Blitzo said, leaning out the door after she left and looking over at Coco. "You finish that file for me?"

"I think so?" Coco said, holding it up with all the information she could find plus some extra things she made. "I wrote up a report on it too, found some gun law restrictions in the area and he's got a history of heart attacks in his family. So uh… please try not to make this painful for him."

"How sweet," Blitzo said taking the file and flipping through it. He nodded like he approved and then put it under his shoulder. "Nice first work. Now, if you could organize everything in here."

Blitzo gestured to the box on your desk and then put another one on top of it.

"And in here."

He then took out a binder and put it on top of them.

"And organize all these recites."

Put another set of files next to the boxes.

"Organize our cases chronologically in the database."

And finally put another set of case files down on top of those.

"And just check our Billings to make sure I haven't forgotten to pressure money out of someone and we'll be all set!"

Before Coco could voice her concerns or ask him to write all of that down, Blitzo turned away and left her with a mountain of paperwork to be digitally archived. On her first day.

"…" Coco stared at the pile of work in front of her and felt like she was having hot flashes.

Who else comes in other than Milly and Moxxy to see Coco staring at paperwork in front of her like a zombie. Both of them sympathized because both of them have been there.

"Yeah," Moxxy said, waking up to Cocos' desk and giving her a sympathetic look. "He did that to me my first day too."

"You need some help, sweetie?" Milly asked, tapping her shoulder and giving a small smile.

"… no," Coco shook her head. Already feeling tired but feeling more responsible then overwhelmed about this. "No. I should do it. It's my job. Plus, now I'll know where everything is."

"At least stop for lunch in an hour," Moxxy advised. "We've got some food left over in the kitchen."

"Let's eat together later," Milly said, patting her shoulder and walking away.

It was a long morning…

By the time Luna got back, she saw Coco had sprawled out every file around her desk, on the floor, on the walls, and even hanging from the ceiling. This sort of decorative filing system was both a fire hazard and an eye sore. So Luna obviously knew who to direct her frustrations at.

"Hey!" Luna barked in the general direction of Cocos' desk. "Keep your fucking mess to yourself! You think I've got time to step all over your-"

"SHHHHH!" Coco said, crouching on top of her desk as she stared at the circle of paperwork and numbers that were now speaking to her. "I have a system! It all makes sense now! Death and money all make sense now…."

"…" Luna stared at the crazy person on her desk before getting irritated again and trying to fix it. "Blitzo! Fix your new employee! She's going crazy!"

"This soon?" Blitzo said, sticking his head out of his office. "I thought it would at least take a week!"

At that, all three imps popped out and saw the giant hanging system of math and accounts that was their front lobby and how Coco was definitely doing a Terry Davis on them.

"… Okay." Moxxy said, looking tired just trying to gleam how Cocos' crazy mind was working. "That settles it. She needs to sleep."

"Maybe it's time to take a break, honey," Milly said to Coco across the room, sort of afraid of stepping over the crazy amount of work around the place. Emphasis on crazy.

"…" While the super powerful agent of id and Coco's own illogical spiral into genius-madness wanted to take over. Her own natural inclination to not care too much took over at the fact it should be lunch time. "… I could eat."

The psychotic genius mess was left alone while Milly and Moxxy walked into the kitchen with Coco. They were attempting to both feed her and figure out how to slip her a sleeping pill.

"Do you want any yams?" Milly asked.

"YUCHH!" Coco made the most disgusted face she could muster. "No!"

"What's wrong with yams?" Moxxy asked, confused by the sudden revulsion he's never seen Coco present.

"They exist." Coco clarified, laying her head on the table while expressing her unreasonable hate for a specific vegetable. "They taste like whatever syphilis is like."

"Luna could confirm that," Moxxy said, spilling literal and figurative salt.

"HEY!" Luna yelled, overhearing all of that.

Moxxy and Milly had a little chuckle over that while still raiding the pantry.

"You gotta eventually go to sleep, hon," Milly said, reaching towards the top pantry to try and grab a box of something she hadn't seen before. "You can't just stay up all night and go to work without going crazy once!"
"Or at least save the psychotic breaks until after lunch." Moxxy cleared up while taking the box from Milly and studying it, then looking up at her confused. "Honey, this is cereal."

"Oh!" Milly took the box and then recognized it. "I forgot we left this here!"

"Hasn't that been here for months?" Moxxy asked. "Why do we still have that?"

"Somebody's gotta eat it eventually~" Milly waved her hand and sat it down. "Coco? You okay with cereal for lunch? I think we ran out of-"

They both turned around to see Coco had in fact fallen asleep on the table and was completely unaware of whatever they were saying. Milly and Moxxy looked at each other and nodded, then carefully crept out and started thinking of fast food places to go to.

"Well," Moxxy said after carefully closing the door and turning to look at Luna and Blitzo. "The human's asleep. We should let her stay that way for awhile if we want her brain to be functioning."

"Good plan," Blitzo said, turning to gesture over to Coco's desk. "Even better timing because we have a client coming in a little while and I didn't want her to be traumatized too early in the work cycle! So, about this office mess…"

"… You seriously want me to clean it?" Moxxy asked, looking dejected and crushed.

"Well I certainly don't want ME to clean it!" Blitzo said, flicking his hands in the air then smiling. "Besides! I've got a very important meeting come up and have to practice my smooth talking routine! So just put all this stuff in a bunch of boxes and hope she doesn't have a melt down when she wakes up!"

"If she even remembers doing this when she wakes up…" Moxxy grumbled, looking at the butt load of work the human he didn't want left him to clean up.

"I'll help, sweetie," Milly said consolingly, touching his shoulder and smiling. "We'll go out to lunch after."

Coco didn't wake up until 4pm, and that was only because Luna kicked in the kitchen door and started rifling through the refrigerator.

"Huh!?" Cocos' head popped up off of the table and looked around the kitchen. She momentarily forgot where she was and wondered what was happening. "Oh god… Please tell me it was all a dream. Hell. IMP. Murder. Please please please tell me it was just one giant nightmare…"

"As much of a nightmare as we all have to after-life in," Luna bitterly stated. Not caring to give Coco a calm, easy way to revert back to reality.

"HOLY FUCK IT'S LUNA I WASN'T DREAMING!"

Coco sort of just sat there and stared at Luna who glared right back at her. Luna was not any more pissy than regular, but Coco sort of was too extra for her own good.

"You could stop fucking doing that sometime." Luna barked out, shutting the refrigerator door with her foot. "Screaming every time you see a demon in Hell is starting to get real old."

"I just woke up," Coco tried defending herself and then was surprised when she realized she actually fell asleep. "Oh woah, I actually fell asleep here. Hey, where is everybody? How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours," Luna said boredly. She sat down some milk on the table and went to grab a bowl from the cabinets. "They went off on a job. Took your file. Should be back in like ten minutes."

"Oh, okay." Coco realized this meant she was actually alone with Luna. And… had absolutely nothing in common with her. "So, ah, why do you work here again…?"
"Adoption agreement," Luna grumbled, setting down a bowl on the table and taking a box of cereal that had been lying around. "Blitzo set the whole thing up. This ain't my scene, but it's not a bad gig. As long as nobody mess' with me, I get a paycheck, I'm good."
"Okay," Coco sat up and decided to get some of the same thing that Luna was getting. She figured talking to Luna wasn't that bad, and she should probably make an effort to understand her… and this office a little more. "So, you're the receptionist right?"

"What? Me answerin' phones wasn't makin' that obvious enough?" Luna said, starting to get defensive.

"Just wondering," Coco sat down a bowl and poured herself some cereal. Luna was strangely defensive and territorial for some reason. "So, are you and Blitzo friends or-"

"Look!" Luna slammed a hand down to get Coco to stop talking. Apparently, she needed to lay down some ground rules. "Just because you and I have to work together doesn't make us friends! I don't want know shit about you, because I don't care. So don't go expectin' to get friendly with me all because we work across from each other."

"…" Coco stared in absolute horror-mixed-confusion at Luna for a second before answering again. "Okay? I just thought that… I was being nice…"

"Yeah, assaulting me with questions and boring small talk. Real nice." Luna rolled her eyes and looked back at her meal. "Next time you want to bother me, try to make it something that's not about how fucking clueless you are about demons."

With that, Luna made her drop the entire conversation and go back to her bowl. And weirdly enough, that hurt more than Coco was expecting it to. She didn't desperately want to be friends with Luna, she just wanted to be friendly with the person she works with!

But was Luna right? Was Coco inadvertidly being… invasive? Pestering? Or is Luna just a huge bitch? Either way, Coco's conversation skills were now limited.

"…" But that didn't mean Coco was gonna stop trying. "Does this cereal taste old?"

"Yeah," Luna confirmed, still eating it along with Coco. "It does."

- At M'n'Ms . -

"Please go to bed tonight," Moxxy bitched at Coco as they all walked through the door again. "Some of us need to actually be fully functioning for work tomorrow."

Moxxy, Milly and Coco walked into the apartment all carrying groceries together. Work actually ended on time for once and let them all do errands that needed to be run. Moxxy and Mill needed to go grocery shopping and Coco needed to learn how to cross the street without holding one of their hands.

"Hey, I fell asleep earlier today." Coco reminded him while walking into the kitchen behind Moxxy.

"Passing out on the kitchen table doesn't count," Moxxy ruled over Cocos' definition of sleep. "And could you even really call that sleep?"
"I wasn't awake, was I?" Coco said sarcastically before looking confused. "Oh wait, I was asleep then right?"

"Did you have any dreams?" Milly asked, interested perked.

"Not that I could remember," Coco said with a shrug.

"You're exhausted," Moxxy said while putting things away and rolling his eyes. "Like all of us. So get some sleep tonight and don't have a psychotic break tomorrow."

"No promises on that one," Coco said before looking back at their groceries. "Hey, did we get everything?"

"I left a bag at the door," Milly said, starting to put stuff away into the fridge. "Could you get it for me, Hon?"

"Sure!" Coco called out, walking over to the door and starting to talk to herself. "Maybe I should start asking what I can help out with here. Don't wanna become a couch bum for them."

As she opened the door, debating her own conditions for staying in Hell, Coco looked up and saw Blitzo towering above her and holding a bag of groceries.

"Hello, sweetie~" Blitzo played, having fun with this improvised routine and shoving the bag into Cocos' hands while he walked through the door. "Busy day at the office! Man I am glad to be home!"

"…" Coco stood there for a moment holding both the groceries and her sanity together, before beginning the questions. "Why are you here?"

"Well don't just stand there with the door wide open! You could catch death!" Blitzo bickered before shutting the door and wrapping an arm around Cocos' shoulders, pulling her inside the house and continuing the play. "Aw~ You silly thing~ Is it so awful that your loving, caring boss decided to pop on in and check on his favorite new employee?"

"Yes," Coco answered while being dragged against her will the the kitchen. This all seemed like more work then necessary just to bother her. "Again with the taking me places I don't want to go to."

"You wound me, my dear~" Blitzo taunted before appearing before the kitchen with Coco and surprising M'n'M. "Good evening my work-life imbalance!"

Mill and Moxx stood there and stared for a moment, both having just been cleaning and getting ready to cook. Moxxy was the first to act, narrowing his eyes at Blitzo and taking care of this as soon as he could.

"Get out," Moxxy said to Blitzo.

"Love the warm welcome, Moxx," Blitzo ignored the obvious demand and turned to look at Coco. "So what are we having for dinner tonight, Honey?"

"Why is he asking me?" Coco asked Milly with a pleading look, who just gave her a shrug.

"We are having nothing!" Moxxy yelled, gesturing to the kitchen. "Us! Are having dinner. You! Are leaving!"

"Well that was stupid." Blitzo teased.

"His grammar was only…. Slightly terrible." Coco tried to defend while still being put in the crossfire.

"Get out of my house!" Moxxy again demanded.

"Sweetie, I think you have to be more specific," Milly said, pointing at Coco to gesture they only wanted one of them to leave.

"Oh, right," Moxxy nodded before picking up a knife and pointing directly at the door. "Get the FUCK out of my house!"

"I think that wasn't what she meant…" Coco said, starting to peal herself away from Blitzo.

"Alright fine!" Blitzo said, holding up his hands in the air in a form of mock-surrender. "I know when I'm not wanted!"

"No you don't." Moxxy stated.

After the knife threat, it looked and sounded like Blitzo left and they all let out a sigh of relief.

"What's wrong with having Blitzo here?" Coco asked, setting down the groceries and taking everything out. "I mean, he seems like a nice guy when he's not actively trying to murder anyone. And even then he's kind of charming!"

"That's his problem," Moxxy said, turning to start chopping vegetables as he complained. "He thinks he can charm his way into and out of everything! It gets pretty annoying dealing with someone as immature as him as our boss, and he keeps trying to insert himself into our lives even when we're done with work!"
"Moxx just means we try to keep our privacy. And Blitzo be… a little… Weeeeeeell he really likes being a part of everything." Milly explained, laughing it off a little while taking out a pot. "Can you put that stuff away for us, Sweetie?"

"Sure thing."

Coco took the milk and butter and walked over to the fridge, only to have it open and… it looked like Blitzo was sitting in there and reorganizing everything for them.

"I see you ran out of soy milk," Blitzo said, setting the carton of milk down next to the eggs and smiling up at Coco. "Are you lactose intolerant? You didn't tell me that!"

"…" Coco stared in horror for a moment before processing the next question. "Why are you in the fridge?"

"Stop setting up a portal into my house!" Moxxy yelled at Blitzo while standing behind Coco. "And don't crush my tomatoes!"

"Well excuse me for worrying about the health of one of my precious employees!" Blitzo bickered, standing up then again holding Cocos' head in a small hug against his chest. "I mean, just what have you been feeding her these last few days? Pizza? Chinese food? Cereal!"

"That's all stuff you gave her," Milly pointed out.

"This is a growing human child!" Blitzo brushed it aside and decided to act like a protective parental figure now. "Who we must feed and cherish until her untimely demise here in Hell!"

"… I'm 27." Coco reminded, now getting irritated. "And I can take care of my own health, Blitzo. Please stop saying I'm gonna die."

"I only do this because I love you." Blitzo said, ending it with a pat on her head.

"OUT!" Moxxy demanded, pointing at the door.

"Alright!" Blitzo complained, now leaving while giving a scathing remark. "And your pantry sucks by the way! Nobody eats gluten free anymore!"
"Stop judging my kitchen!" Moxxy yelled while throwing a knife at the wall.

They hoped that would be the last of him for the night and got on with cooking.

"Does Blitzo do this a lot, or is it just 'cause of me?" Coco asked, helping Milly set the table.

"Oh~ It actually happens all the time," Milly dismissed, waving her hand and chuckling. "You actually get pretty used to it! Kind of like having a nosey neighbor. Moxx just doesn't like it."

"Because I don't need to see him in our private lives," Moxxy said, taking out a pot roast and a plate of corn bread from the kitchen. "He already miss-manages our time, squanders our money and sends on ridiculous assignments. Not to mention now we have to take care of a human! I don't want that seeping into the only time I have for myself."

"And you micro manage everything in the office," Blitzo said pleasantly, sitting at the head of the table and folding a napkin neatly into his lap. "But! You do make a mean low sodium pot roast!"

It took a moment of everyone blinking to process Blitzo was back.

"How does he keep doing that?" Coco asked Milly carefully.

"I don't know…" Milly said.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Dinner." Moxxy said, carefully putting down the pot roast and glaring over at Blitzo. He was mentally counting down from 100 and trying not to scream again.

"oh, relax!" Blitzo said, holding out his jacket and taking out the book (which really needs its own name) and tossing it over to Coco. "I just came here to make sure Coco had her book with her. Gotta keep that little cursed-possession deal together. Now! Why don't we talk about our little "Back to the Living World" project and-"

"Get out!" Moxxy shouted.

"I actually would like to have that conversation though," Coco pointed out.

"How about tomorrow?" Milly said, looking over at Blitzo. "Over coffee?"

"FINE!" Blitzo made an exaggerated show of getting up and looking offended. "But I'm taking this corn bread!"

"You will leave my corn bread right there!" Moxxy threatened.

"Taking it for emotional abuse!" Blitzo shouted as he walked out and slammed the door.

"UGH!" Moxxy sat down and slammed his head on the table. "The only ones being emotionally abused are us…"

Dinner was, thank God, more pleasant after that. And when everything was cleaned up, everyone kind of hung out in the living room and did nearly nothing. Coco browsed through their books, Milly played on her phone, Moxxy looked like he was writing something in a music score.

"You wanna have the first bath, Coco?" Milly asked, looking over her phone at her. "We can wait if you wanna wash up!"

"Can I?" Coco asked excited. "It's been awhile. I feel really sweaty…"

"You also smell pretty bad," Moxxy called out, chuckling a little. "Maybe think about investing in some deodorant?"

"Hardy har har," Coco false mocked. "I don't see a perfume of trash laying around the office."

"But it's helped her pass as a demon!" Milly said, noting how most demons sort of nothing her.

"That's not a good thing," Coco said, looking really uneasy about that. "And I don't like looking and smelling like trash all the time…"

"Well, the makeup is a good basic cover," Moxxy said, looking over his music score. "We'll work on getting rid of that human smell some other time."

"Go ahead!" Milly stood up and pushed Coco towards the bathroom. "Get washed up! Take your time! We can talk later!"

'They wanna be alone,' Coco caught the hint quick and grinned. 'Well, I can take a pretty good long shower now.'

Coco walked in and turned on the lights, taking in M'n'Ms small bathroom. Everything was checkered black and white with splashes of red here and there. But it had everything you need, including towels, soaps and hair stuffs.

So Coco just started by taking off the horns headband and taking of the jacket she borrowed from Moxxy. She pulled up the sleeve of her shirt and checked the curse mark. Nothing seemed to change drastically, it was still there and still demonic.

"Wish you would wash away," she complained while walking over to the shower. "I wonder if the water here can be hot and cold or if it's always just hot as-"

Before the pun could be finished, Coco saw behind the curtain Blitzo was sitting in the bathtub. He was, THANK THE LORD, fully clothed, smiling and holding a rubber ducky.

"Lookin' for a bath friend?" Blitzo asked, squeaking the duck.

Milly and Moxxy's make-out session was interrupted by sudden violent screaming coming from the bathroom.

"Did you remember to flush the toilet?" Milly asked Moxxy.

"Yes," Moxxy said, also thinking. "Did we leave our, uh, Honeymoon presents in there?"

"Hmmm?"

They then got their answer with Coco throwing open the door and kicking Blitzo out of the bathroom.

"GET OUT!" Coco shouted after Blitzo, throwing a shoe at him as left. "I need one place! ONE PLACE! For some goddamned privacy!"
"Now now! There's no need to so violent!" Blitzo got hit in the face with a shoe. "OW! Okay! I get it! You're sensitive about your body! I can-"

"THERE ARE BOUNDARIES!" Coco shouted, hiding behind the door and then looking over at Milly and Moxxy. "Oh, Blitzo is back."

"Get out of my bathroom!" Moxxy said, then stopped. "Oh wait, you're already out…. Just leave!"

"I'm going!" Blitzo said, starting to quickly lean out. "Geez! Didn't know you guys were so body negative!"

He finally left and everyone was finally able to get on with their nights. Milly and Moxxy helped Coco set up the couch to sleep on and started to get ready for bed.

"Just call us if you need anything," Milly said nicely while walking to the bedroom.

"Go to sleep," was Moxxy's only comment.

"No problem~" Coco yawned, feeling pretty tired from Blitzo's constant intrusions. "Good night~"

With the lights all turned out and the sky actually dark, it was easy for the living room to seem pretty creepy. So Coco kept the binds up and slept on the outer side of the couch so she was facing the window, the faint red highlights being more comforting than absolute darkness like the "unSpace". She kept the book next to her on the floor and laid back, getting comfortable and trying to forget she's in Hell.

'Okay, so we're consciously trying to fall asleep now.' Coco tried relaxing, but realized she couldn't figure out how to relax her brain enough to sleep yet. 'So what? Should I… count sheep? Hmm, how about I count everything that's freaked me out today? There's more of those.'

She counted off every creepy demon she saw, every threat hurled at her by either Luna or some other demon, a bunch of smells that were generally disturbing. And you know what? It was working! She was lulling herself by listing off things that terrified her!

It was just as she was starting to feel herself dip into sleep that her eyes jolted open and focused out of the window. From where she was laying, she saw… Blitzo. Only, his outline and not any details of his face which was even creepier.

His eyes were glowing red, and when he saw Coco recognized he was there, he smiled and waved. But his teeth were also bright red and it was definitely the most traumatizing thing to see before bed.

"Moxx!" Coco yelled, still staring at the Blitzo outline and starting to hide under the covers. "I can't sleep."

"Why not now!?" Moxxy groaned, opening the door in anguish and looking over at Coco.

"Blitzo is at the window again…" Coco slightly whimpered and pointed over at him.

Moxxy looked over at the window and then just let out a long, anguished groan. Why was this still happening? Can't their night just be over?

He walked over to the window, took over both hands on the curtains and glared at Blitzo through the window.

"GO HOME!" Moxxy yelled as he shut the curtains, then gave a smile at Coco and tried to tell himself it was all over. "Good night!"

It took a really, really long time for Coco to fall asleep that night.

The next day, at IMP -

The biggest thing Coco couldn't seem to stop doing was looking over at the scale of sin. She kept catching herself in the mirror and looking over, wondering if anything has changed or if she could actually figure out how to measure and weigh her soul. It was becoming a bit of a problem because she would stop for a good five minutes just to stare at herself in the mirror while doing work.

"If you're not fixing that shitty job of an eyeliner work then quit staring at yourself," Luna said, rolling her eyes. This was just annoying her since Coco kept stopping and starting things to look at the mirror. It was like she was rebooting her brain every 20 minutes. "You're cutting traffic."

"Oh!" Coco blushed and chuckled embarrassedly for a bit before walking back to her desk. "Yeah, uh, aren't you ever curious about that? I mean, it's kind of-"

"No." Luna stopped her right there, pulling out her phone and scrolling through something while not taking Coco seriously. "I don't care. Only people with no lives actually care about shit like that. Stop fucking worrying about how a stupid scale ranks you and get on with your life."

"… But, it's kind of…" Coco tried to defend herself for no reason. "I mean, I guess it doesn't make sense here in Hell but… On Earth, it would be interesting to-"

"And what would humans do even they had it?" Luna questioned while giving rolling her hand, still not interested. "They'd just fuck around about how they should be the "most holiest" spend fuck all time doing shit that wasn't important, act like they're "saved" or "saviors" and then kill each other over nothing. It's stupid and useless unless you like thinking about yourself for too long."

"… That… makes a lot of sense." Coco started feeling way too self conscious after that.

'Am I really that self-absorbed…?'

Milly and Moxxy were doing something while Blitzo was out of the office, so Luna and Coco had a lot uncomfortable silence going on. The telephone rang, freaking Coco out, and Luna answered it calmly like she didn't care.

"Hello. IMP. This Luna. Who do you need dead now?" Luna said in a blatant monotone.

"Is that how we answer the phones?" Coco asked, peeping out from under her desk where she hid.

"It's just Stollas," Luna said irritated, it obviously didn't seem like she liked the guy. "He wants Blitzo, but he's not in his office."

"Stollas?" Coco said, getting up a little and looking up, trying to remember where she's heard that before. "Where've I heard that? Stollas? Stollas…"

"Remember when you got kidnapped? The turf war shit?" Luna started, about to hang up the phone. "He's just some big asshole who-"

'The book!" Coco remembered at the back of the book, someone named Stollas used to own it! 'His name's in the book! He must know something about it!'

The same quick psychotic energy that gives her terribly good ideas came over and Coco decided to act as quickly as possible for her own motives.

"I'll take the call!" Coco shouted, standing up and starting to run over to the office excitedly. "Send it over! I'll leave Blitzo a message!"

Luna sat there for a second and contemplated this. While she didn't really care, she knew that after talking to Stollas, Blitzo is… Oh well. It should be interesting.

"Call for you!" Luna called over, pressing a button and transferring the call over to Blitzos' office.

A light came up on Blitzos' desk phone and Coco lunged for it. It was a little awkward at first to try and sit at Blitzo's desk since it was so big and tall, covered with colorful papers and toys, but she felt comfortable enough and took the phone call.

"Hello!" Coco started, trying to calm down her excitement as she sat up and awkwardly tried to make the same both threatening and professional answer Luna gave. "This uh! I'm with, we are IMP! We we we uh, kill people with smiles! How are you today?"

'Totally nailed it,' Coco tried to keep calm. 'Did I say we kill while smiling or kill people who smile? I don't know. Stop sweating so much.'

"Hello~~?" A strangely royal-is sounding voice that reminded her of South London accent said from he other side. "I'm trying to speak with Blitzo, the owner of this establishment."

"Uh, yes!" Coco called out, standing up now. It felt like she had to pretend to be more respectful while talking to him. "He uh, is out. Working! Working with… business stuff. I'm uh, his assistant. Can I take a message?"

"Oh really~? Blitzo has an assistant. Very well, I guess I can leave a notice with you. Can you keep everything confidential?"
"Yes sir!" Coco picked up a random pen and flipped a piece of paper over to write down his requests. "I'll make sure he gets it!"

'Let's see if this guy might have anything on this book,' Coco thought, getting ready to jot everything down. 'And later I can look up and see what info we have on this guy! If I can figure out more on this book, then I can figure out how to get back home and lift this crazy curse!'

Coco began by listening carefully, writing everything down calmly. But, the more she listened, the more…. Graphic it became. Soon, Coco wasn't sure if she was writing down notes, a bad BDSM novel or a long death threat with how scary it was becoming. After about five minutes (oh God, how long is this going to go?) Coco just stopped writing and started feeling her mind and soul collapse into a kind of scared and timid state. He kept on like this and she was starting feel very scared for Blitzo for how much… creative content this man was speaking of.

"Do you have everything, dear?" Stollas checked.

"… Uh huh." Coco managed to say. She had a long, vacant look in her eyes as she looked out into nothing but felt a sort of hollow scream in the back of her head.

"Very good! Make sure he had the message by the end of the day!" Stollas said, about to hang up now. "Ta ta! I'll be sure to drop by sometime."

"… Please never do." Coco said after he hung up.

She kept staring vacantly for a minute as her psych had absorbed Stollas' words. Blitzo walked in a minute later to see Coco standing there and gave her a quizzical look.

"Why aren't you at your desk?" Blitzo asked, noticing the phone in her hand. "Huh? Did you answer the phone? Who was-"

Blitzo was stopped by Coco quickly walking over and just hugging him. Just strongly clinging to him like she was trying to keep him from learning about what she had just had go through her head. It was a strange mix of protective feelings along with fear and 'oh God what did I just hear?'.

"Please don't leave and do the things I wrote down on your desk," Coco said quietly, now squeezing tighter for fear of everything she heard. "Please don't even read it…"
"Aw~~~~!" Blitzo adored this look and hugged his tail around her, finding it pathetically cute. "Did you get traumatized after listening to Stollas on the phone?"

"…" Coco only nodded, knowing it was probably already bad enough she answered it without his permission.

"Yeah. That was too soon for you." Blitzo patted her head and smiled, actually kind of glad someone cared enough to be scared for him. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Was that sex stuff or death stuff?" Coco asked, really needing that cleared up.

"There isn't a difference here."

"…" She just hugged tighter. "Please don't do sex stuff with him…"

"Not planning to, Sweetie~" He patted her head again, kind of enjoying this attention.

"Please don't let him in the office…"

"Not while you're around." Blitzo absolutely promised.

- Later that night -

Coco went over to M'n'Ms later that night because she and Blitzo were working on files of other cases. Blitzo dropped her off later at the doorstep and Coco walked in, happy to see the door was unlocked.

'Hmm,' Coco walked in humming, noticing the lights were on so they were home but it didn't look like they were around. 'It's quiet. Maybe they're napping?'

She noticed that there was a record on the HiFi system but it was not playing and a few books were on the floor. But she also saw they had some laundry laid out on the floor like it was all being folded. It was still a little warm, so it meant they had only stopped maybe 10 or 15 minutes ago. So, as a nice thing, Coco finished folding it all for them and put it in the basket to take it to their bedroom.

She started by knocking on the door but then began to open it too soon.

"Mill! Moxx!" Coco called out smiling, opening the door. "I'm home! I finished folding your laundry for y- OH MY SWEET CHARIOT!"

-20 minutes later-

It's really hard to explain the images Coco just saw, and easier to explain that she was quietly sitting in the bathroom and trying to forget what she just saw.

"Sweetie you should really wait till after you knock to open the door," Milly said, patting Cocos' back as she was sitting on the toilet.

"We only have so much privacy," Moxxy said, he was turned away from Coco because he was too embarrassed to look her in the eyes for awhile. "Can you not understand the idea of a shut door?"

"How was I supposed to know!" Coco cried, hiding her head in her hands. "You could have put a sock on the door…"

The images she saw in that room were on the level of the sounds Stollas made over the phone. Ones that made her kind of question how old she was and her sexual maturity at this point.

Yeah. Coco couldn't live there anymore…

-The next night-

"Are you sure you're okay sleepin' here tonight?" Milly asked Coco worried. "I mean, we did this whole thing 'cause you didn't think the office was safe enough to sleep at."

Coco sat on the office couch in the back office with a bag of sleeping supplies, toiletries and some clothes from Moxxy. After last night, in order to pacify her remaining relationship with Moxxy and her own sanity, Coco decided to try sleeping at the office for one night.

"It's cool!" Coco said cheerfully, actually kind of excited about this. "It'll be like camping!"

"How is spending the night at the place you work all day at camping?" Moxxy asked, confused by this allusion.

"Mmmm, you're right." Coco nodded, amending her statement. "It'll be like overtime!"
"You're not getting paid extra!" Moxxy said, still pretty sure she didn't understand any of this. "Are you sure you're an adult?"

"You got everything you need?" Milly asked. "You want us to bring you anything?"

"If you can bring me a book tomorrow, that'd be nice!" Coco said cheerfully. "But I'll be fine! Blitzo said he'll lock the door and nobody will come in here."

"You've got the shot gun still, right?" Moxxy checked.

"Oh yeah." Coco nodded, now feeling very happy to have a loaded gun in the closet. "I've got stuff. If the Hell Burn doesn't kill them, the buckshot will."

"That's the spirit!" Milly cheered.

Moxxy was a little worried how Coco was now suddenly okay with murder after seeing two people in the middle of sex. Either her morality was breaking down slowly, or her sanity. It didn't matter too much to him, but it was starting to weigh on his own psyche.

"Are you sure you're really okay with this?" Moxxy asked, showing some humanity. "I mean, you were really opposed to self protection a few days ago. And the office isn't… well, there's lots of obvious murder weapons around. Can you really sleep here like that?"

"Well," Coco looked away, also showing how nervous this made her. But she shook her head and tried to act mature. "It is a little… a lot terrifying actually. But, if I'm gonna be here in Hell… for a while. I-I should learn how to live a little independently from you guys. I mean, Luna's right! I can't act like I don't know anything and then expect people to take care of me!"

"Luna said that?" Milly looked surprised.

"That's surprisingly mature and well thought out for her," Moxxy looked just as confused.

"Well, she didn't say it exactly like that," Coco was obviously giving Luna the benefit of the doubt. "But it's true, I'm kind of relying on you all too much. I'm a grown woman! I've lived away from my family for over 5 years now already, so I should be able to handle some forced relocation on my own! I've got friends, a roof over my head and I've got an actual job! I paid most of my own bills in Edinburgh and I can live in a closet here in Hell!"

"That's a good way of putting it," Moxxy grinned sarcastically. "Set a really low bar for yourself there. Our standards for humans will be a lot more manageable that way."

Coco just glared at Moxxy for a minute before Blitzo came inside. Blitzo had been taking care of a few things to make Coco more comfortable; namely setting up a serious of booby traps around the building to catch anyone who might even attempt to walk down the street near IMP. He also made sure the fire alarm, sprinklers and everything electrical was working and set it up so no one would guess a human was sleeping here tonight.

"Alright," Blitzo said, looking very cautious as he dropped a bag full of food on the floor and looked around carefully. "I made sure you have enough supplies to last a week, JUST IN CASE! We don't want you feeling unprepared! I have our emergency phone here, a list of emergency numbers and an emergency baseball bat right next to the door here."

"Why would she need an emergency baseball bat?" Moxxy asked.

"You never know when you'll need an emergency baseball bat," Blitzo reasoned.

"I actually agree with that," Coco said while looking at Milly who nodded.

"You know the rules?" Blitzo asked, pointing at Coco.

"Don't set the office on fire?" Coco guessed because what rules?

"I think he means what's in the employee handbook," Milly offered.

"Oh," Coco remembered she hasn't read a word of that thing because who actually reads office guides? "… Yes?"

"Good!" Blitzo said cheerfully, patting Coco on the head and starting to head out. "Well! I'm gonna call it a night! Don't do anything I wouldn't do in here!"

"That doesn't really restrict a lot," Moxxy said, starting to walk out and glaring over at Blitzo. "And don't come over to our house tonight!"
"Bye, Honey!" Milly sang, waving as she left. "See you first thing in the morning!"
"Bye guys!" Coco said cheerfully.

When Coco heard the front door lock and shut, she listened to the sound of nothing inside the office and found slightly… more disturbing.

"This was a terrible idea, wasn't it?" She asked her moral compass which seemed to stay seated at Y. "I am such an idiot…"

Trying to avoid the same pattern that happened the first night, Coco got over her intimidation first by cleaning the entire office. Then, because she felt it was weird, she moved the piano out of the weapons room and into the employee living space where she was sleeping. She made a snack, played a couple of songs, only cried a little bit, and finally figured it was time to sleep on the pull out bunk.

She laid the bunk out inside the room, barricaded the door with a table and chairs, set a shoelace booby trap down, and then made her bed. To make the dark room seem less imposing, she took out a flashlight and put it inside a vase to make a big, glowing blue nightlight. Setting the book down beside the bed, Coco laid back and again, tried to consciously fall asleep by counting backwards from 100.

Okay, this wasn't so bad…. She actually might… fall…. asleep….

She had fallen asleep, had been dreaming about a library, but then was rudely woken up by the sound of… purring?

"?Quien dejó entrar al gato en mi cuarto?" Coco started, sitting up a little and ready to bitch at her roommates in either English or Spanish while rubbing her eyes. "!Vete! I love you but…"

When she opened her eyes, the blue haze of nightlight highlighted how Blitzo was sitting over her, one the bunk, and smiling and purring…. Actually purring.

"What'cha dreamin' about?" He asked, cheekily like a child and like this wasn't an invasion of both privacy and security.

"…" Coco just continued to stare at him, knowing she will be able to sleep tonight or probably any other night in this office ever again.

'I need my own space…'

The next day -

Coco was determined to find an apartment now. Or a housing complex. Or a motel. Or an abandoned building she could squat at. Literally, anywhere she could have enough privacy and space from IMP, specifically from Blitzo.

So other than old recites she was filing, Coco had piles of apartment adds, housing classified and a map of Hells' bus routes. She was pretty surprised to see how well planned out the commuter and residence areas all of Hell is, but it's super convenient she knows how to look for this stuff!

"Hon," Milly said, looking at Coco who was studiously searching for an affordable place to live and not get murdered in. "This is a bad idea."
"This is a great idea," Coco corrected, starting to look more and more intense as she cross referenced housing options with articles of murder, drug lords, turf wars and proximity to a school. "I'm doing a great job! I know how to research, I will be out of here by the end of the week!"
"Yeah, we meant the idea of living on your own is a terrible idea," Moxxy interrupted her crazy by pulling a newspaper out of her hands. "Have you lost your mind! You can't live on your own! You'll be found out as a human in under an hour and then kidnapped in the next twenty minutes."

"Oh ye of little faith," Coco mocked, now sorting through other documents and articles. "Well, if I don't get some personal space here, I'm just going to drive myself crazy and I'd like to have some of my sanity left to bring back to Earth."

"Why?" Blitzo asked, leaning against the door of his office and drinking his second cup of coffee Coco made. "Who needs the stuff! Sanity just holds you back from expressing yourself in the most original way possible!"
"Blitzo, I already saw the pictures of your last murder and trust me." Coco looked over at Blitzo with very little patience. He kept her up all night by appearing randomly throughout the office just "to check in" and made it so she couldn't sleep at all again. "I don't need your expressions in my living area…"

"And now you see why I hate it when he bothers us at home," Moxxy commiserated.

Coco only hummed in agreement as she went back to looking for livable space. It was just too bad that… Well, Hell is unlivable. For humans at least. If the basics of crime, food desserts, turf wars and drugs weren't enough; the only "safe" enclosed communities were way out of her price range! She doesn't even have a bank account, let alone enough for a security deposit!

'Is a place that isn't surrounded by polluted water and murderous assholes too much to ask for?!' Coco mentally screamed, finally putting down the papers and banging her head against the desk. 'That's it. I'm just gonna be homeless bum…'

"Hey, tiny freak." Luna called, experimenting with a few new pet names for Coco. "Come over here."
"Why?" Coco asked, pulling her head up and giving Luna a timid expression. "Are you gonna make me do your work again for you?"
"No," Luna growled out under her breath before turning her computer monitor for Coco to look at. "I found this going around the past few days, figured it looked like something you wouldn't screw up."

"Huh?"

Coco stood up and walked over to Lunas' desk. There, Luna played a video of a young… girl.

"Another human!" Coco said excited. "In Hell!"

"Look close," Luna said boredly. "She's actually just a fancy demon."

"But she looks so cute," Coco said under her breath, entranced by the blond haired girl with roses cheeks and dark eyes.

"What? I'm not cute enough for you?"

"…" Coco stayed silent and watched this strange interview with an ultra skinny demon who looked like a woman from the 50s. "Why did you wanna show me this?"

"Keep watching," Luna instructed, also setting down the topic but planning on making her pay for it later.

And they did. It looked like she was talking about some kind of social benefits project, but then it became a musical. A really really really good and entertaining musical. About… A hotel for redemption! A place actually called the Happy Hotel!

"Is this for real?" Coco asked, leaning in closer and becoming more and more excited. "Is she really serious?"

"Don't lean in so close the the monitor, Honey," Blitzo said, pulling Coco away from the screen. "It'll burn out your eyes and make you retarded."

"Is she really doing this!" Coco asked, looking more and more excited. "This is an actual thing!"

"Well," Luna said, turning the monitor back and looking back. "They said they already have a building and some people already living there. So I guess so."

"Can you search it?" Coco asked, looking at Luna excitedly. "The Happy Hotel! See how much it costs and everything!"

Everyone in the office seemed to stop for a minute and look at Coco. They were all a little too nervous about how excited Coco was getting. Nervous about an emotional let down and.. a little nervous about her trying to live on her own.

"Now hold on a minute!" Blitzo was the first one to react and be over protective. "We don't know the first thing about this place!"
"Which is why we're trying to find out," Coco said cheerfully, taking the keyboard and searching on her own.

"You don't know if it's actually real," Moxxy reasoned, walking up to Coco and looking over at the monitor. "It could just be a giant scam! You don't know if you can trust this yet!"
"That's why we're looking." Coco continued to search.

"What if it's full of murders!" Milly objected.

"This office is full of murders." Coco pointed out.

"…" All three of them couldn't really argue with that.

While the Happy Hotel didn't seem to have a website, the more Coco looked the more information she found. Other than pages listing its address to have it bombed or shot up, it seemed to have more and more security than any place else. It was right outside of IMP City in the center of the Pentagram. It was near a stretch of actual forest and garden land, along with a river! There were sidewalks, a street, a bus line nearby, a small downtown area.

And there was a picture of the owner. Of a girl with, who it didn't seem to have much information on her, was just named as… Charlie.

"… That looks actually quiet pleasant," Coco said, staring at Charlies' picture and smiling.

Who knew being a homeless bum could lead you towards a path of redemption?