By the time the train finally arrived at Imp City Station, it was around 11 AM. At that time the doors opened and an entire horde of Hellborns came shifting in and out of each car. Among those Hellborns were three particular individuals with mixed expressions on their faces. One a very satisfied looking Imp with a face flushed with ecstasy as she sucked on a cigarette, and two Sinners following close behind with faces contorted with utter terror as they rigidly staggered off the train.
"See you back at the mansion, big boy!" Jewel called out to Mick as she walked away, following that with a playful wink towards the Snake Demon standing next to him. "See ya, Johnny!"
After that, Jewel disappeared into the crowd, leaving the two Sinners to their own devices. After she was gone, Mick and Johnny remained unnervingly quiet as they both slowly walked towards a nearby bench. Taking a seat, neither one of them spoke or even looked at each other for a good few minutes, choosing only to simply sit and stare into space with traumatised stares in their eyes. After about 10 minutes of that, Johnny finally broke the silence.
"Mick?" he said, his monotone voice sounding almost dead.
"Yeah?" the Cat Demon replied, his tone equally lifeless.
"I have been seriously violated."
"Yep."
"That chick officially scares me. More than any exterminator ever could."
"Ditto… fancy a joint?"
"Oh, fuck YES!"
Only at the mention of Mick's calming substance did any ounce of life finally return to either one of the Sinners. The moment it was brought up, Johnny practically clawed at the front of Mick's hoodie to try and get it. It was only when the pair of them took a couple of drags of their respective joints that they were able to calm themselves down after that. It was one of the only things that could take the edge off in Hell, and they needed the edge off at the moment.
"Seriously, dude, you WORK with that chick!?" Johnny exclaimed, his nerves calmed a little, but were nonetheless still feeling the panic from earlier.
"Unfortunately, yes," Mick sighed. "Just be glad the train ride only lasted half an hour. Imagine what she would have been able to do if it was longer… she may not stop at the touchy stuff if it came to that."
Both Sinners couldn't help but shudder at that. This may have been Hell, but even so, such an experience was horrifying regardless. The biggest irony of it all was that back when they were alive any living man would've loved to have a crazy love time with a woman. However, if there was one thing Hell was good at was giving people too much of a good thing to the point they either weren't affected by it or wanted to stay away from it.
"Man, I don't envy you in the slightest," Johnny commented, taking another drag of his joint. "If I had to work with someone like that, I'd-"
However, at that moment, Johnny's words froze in his throat. Placing his hands in his jean pockets, he felt an unfamiliar bulge coming from his left one. With a fearful gulp, he slowly pulled out the new stowaway item, his face twisting with newfound panic as it unfolded in his hand.
"What the shit!?" he blurted out, his mind completely blank as he stared down at the black lace thong in his hand.
Did Jewel put it in there!? If she did then she would have had to have taken off her shorts to… oh sweet Lucifer, what else did she get up to in the dark!?
"Good luck trying to talk your way out of THAT one," Mick commented, knowing exactly how Johnny had such a hidden treasure on his person. His eyes may not have had much time to adjust but thanks to his night vision, he was unfortunate enough to see EVERYTHING.
…
"I am so fucked, aren't I?" Johnny asked himself.
After about another 5 minutes of whimpering, Johnny eventually calmed himself down just enough to pick himself up from the bench. Soon enough he and Mick said their goodbyes and the Snake went off down the street towards his desired destination. Mick, on the other hand, chose to stay back at the station for a bit. Having no idea where anything was in this city, the first thing he needed to do was get his bearings. The last thing he wanted to do was deliver the package to the wrong address after all.
Luckily the train station had a small shop right by the entrance, and better yet, said shop appeared to sell road maps of the area. After purchasing one of these maps, the Cat Demon wasted no time in scanning each corner, trying to find the specific street that Stolas had told him to go to.
"Okay, looks like I need to head four blocks down and nine blocks east," he muttered to himself, tracing his finger over each road to make sure he was right. "Sounds simple enough. Not that far off either."
By his reckoning, Mick figured he could walk that distance in about 30 minutes or so. Seeing no need to call for a taxi and waste any more money, Mick quickly pocketed the map, held the package tightly under his arm and proceeded to walk down the appropriate street. At first, everything seemed to be going quite smoothly, so far there hasn't been any signs of any problems. As such Mick felt no hesitation in taking a look at his surroundings as he walked on.
At first glance, Imp City wasn't that different from Pentagram City, however, the most notable difference between the two had to have been the conditions they were both in. Granted, Pentagram City was no utopia but somehow Imp City looked a lot worse. Everywhere Mick looked he saw nothing but damaged buildings, boarded up windows, and garbage littering every street corner. Granted Pentagram had all this too, but surprisingly not to this extent. It was as if Demons from Sinner dominant areas would rather maintain their own city over Hellborn ones.
Mick must have spent a good 10 minutes staring at the buildings around him, so much so that he quickly found himself feeling the edge of a heart attack when he heard an ear-piercing screech.
"YAH!"
Jumping back in shock, Mick's eyes quickly shrank in terror upon seeing how much of a blunder he had made. Had he paid attention to where he was going, he would have noticed the long, slimy tail sticking out from the alley and onto the street. Had he known about that he wouldn't have been careless enough to jump step on it… and piss off the large animal attached to it.
"Oh… hello," he gulped, backing away very slowly from the filthy Hell Beast emerging from the shadows. "Uh… nice rat?"
Sure enough, the creature Mick had unintentionally angered was indeed a rat… or rather the biggest Hellrat anyone would ever see this side of Imp City. Standing around the size of a Doberman, with patches of simply white fur moulting off its scar riddled body, the hideous-looking beast stared down Mick with a ravenous snarl.
"Oh, shit,"
That was the last thing Mick said before he quickly broke into a run, with the Hellrat soon following close behind. How pathetic was this!? A cat being chased by a rat! If anyone saw this, they would probably laugh their ass off! As the giant salivating rodent drew closer and closer, Mick actually considered dropping the package and climbing up the nearest fire escape… unfortunately he would never get the chance due to what happened when he reached the edge of the street
SCREECH!
One painful crash into his side later, Mick once again found himself knocked out. Meanwhile, seeing the scene for itself, the Hellrat gave up the pursuit and chose to scurry away into the nearest alley, not wanting to get involved with what was going on.
As it turns out, Mick's apparent saviour/assailant was actually a large, blue van with a rusty paint job. Behind the wheel of this van was a stout looking Imp with a buddy belly, a dirty orange beanie and a large, bushy moustache with matching eyebrows. As for the Imp sitting next to him in the passenger seat, he had a lankier build, wore denim overalls, along with a cap that had two gaping holes in it for his horns, and sported a large underbite. The moment the pair of them saw what had happened, the pair of them cringed in shock and horror.
"Not good," the stout Imp grimaced, quickly getting out of the van, with the lanky Imp following close behind.
The moment they stepped out, the first thing that came to either of their minds was to rush over to the front of the van… and check for any damage to the hood rather than the person they just ran over!
"Oh, thank Satan," the stout Imp declared, letting out a sigh of relief as he gave the hood a gentle pat. "Not even a dent."
"Good thing we only just paid it off, eh?" the lanky demon chuckled, causing his partner in crime to share in his laughter.
The moment was short-lived, however, due to a third voice suddenly ringing in both Imps' ears.
"Hello down there!" they heard.
Their eyes snapping wide with horror, both Imps tilted their heads up towards the balcony of the nearest building, which appeared to be some kind of small, shabby office complex. Standing on this balcony, was another Imp, a middle-aged woman with one broken horn and wearing a burgundy suit dress. The appearance of whom caused the two Imps below to drop their jaws in panic.
"Hold on!" she called down. "I saw the whole thing, I'll be right down!"
It was only when the other Imp disappeared from sight that the two on the street were able to find their voices again.
"Oh, SHIT!" the lank one squealed. "It's Gloria Bloodshed!"
For those who didn't live in Imp City, that particular name didn't mean anything. However, for the Imps who grew up in this city, it was the name of one of the most ruthless lawyers in town. If Gloria Bloodshed manages to snag the Cat Demon on the ground for a new client, then the two imps who ran him over were as good as screwed!
"Lars, grab the stiff!" the stout Imp snapped quickly, running back to the driver's side of the van.
His partner, however, looked back at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh… Harvey?" he said awkwardly. "You know, the way you said that-"
"I know what I said!" Harvey snapped, having only just caught the unintentional innuendo himself.
Letting out a heavy sigh, Lars rolled his eyes and proceeded to quickly lift Mick's unconscious body by his arms and drag him over towards the back of the van. Opening up the door, he then struggled to lift him up and shove him in, after which he then ran back to the front of the van before grabbing everything Mick had dropped, not wanting to leave any evidence behind. After tossing everything in, Lars quickly slammed the door and ran back to the passenger seat just as Harvey was slamming his foot on the gas. As the Van pulled away, both Imps could have sworn they heard Gloria Bloodshed's furious screams calling out after them.
When Mick finally opened his eyes again, both his head and his ribs were in a state of agonising pain. Sure enough, he was going to need a LARGE hit of weed after he figured out what was going on.
"Where am I?" he muttered under his breath.
Shifting his eyes around and feeling the floor shake under him, Mick quickly figured out that he was inside some kind of vehicle, which appeared to have a large pile of junk stashed in the backspace he now found himself in. Before he could try to piece together how he had managed to find himself in this situation, all of a sudden two strange voices caught his attention.
"What are we gonna do now, Harv?" one asked.
"I don't know yet!" the other one snapped. "Oh man, this is fucking insane, we go out to do one simple job and we STILL somehow find a way to fuck it up!"
From what Mick could understand, the two Imps sitting in the front seats of the van were the ones responsible for knocking him out. What's more, it would seem that what they did was unintentional… However, it was also obvious that neither of them were the type to admit their mistakes… but rather try to cover them up before they get into trouble.
"Ugh… the boss is gonna be so pissed!" Lars wailed, resting his head in his palms.
"The boss will never find out!" Harvey snapped back, letting out a heavy huff as his flabby hands gripped the steering wheel tight. "Not once we-"
"Once you what? Get rid of the evidence?"
The moment the two Imps heard the third voice in the van, their eyes shot wide open in horror as they snapped their heads over towards their unintentional guest.
"Oh fuck, he's awake!" Lars exclaimed.
Before the Imp had any time to react, Mick suddenly launched himself at the back of the lanky one's neck, wrapping his tail around it like a length of rope before pulling on it hard.
"Pull over right now, or I will break his neck!" he shouted, making his voice sound as threatening as possible as he tightened his grip over the Imp's throat.
Obviously, Mick had no intention of following through with his threat. However, as long as the two Imps didn't think that, there shouldn't be any problems. Thankfully, the stout Imp was unable to call Mick's bluff and quickly turned the wheel and slammed his foot on the brakes, forcing the van to park halfway onto the nearby sidewalk. At first, Mick's instinct was to just jump out and make a run for it, however, he needed to make sure that the Imps didn't get any ideas about following him first.
"Alright, you little fuckers," he growled, keeping his tail wrapped tightly around Lars's throat. "I'll have you know that you've caught me after a VERY rough morning, so I'm not really in the mood for any more bullshit. Now normally I'm a nice guy, but tick me off too much and well-"
"Look man, we're sorry alright!?" Harvey suddenly squealed, cutting Mick off mid-sentence, catching the Cat Demon by surprise. "What do you want, eh? We'll give you anything!"
Seeing his partner whimper in fear while struggling to breathe under his grasp, Mick quickly realised that these two were NOT the bravest Imps in Hell. In fact, one could say that they were little more than a pair of cowards. Taking his eyes off the two for a brief moment, Mick took a quick scan of the back of the van as he followed Harvey's thumb. At first, he thought the cluttered mess he found himself in was just random junk but now he wasn't so sure. Taking a closer look he saw laptops, Hellphones, expensive-looking clothes, even a fancy looking weapon or two. But surely these items can't be real, can they?
"You two bootleggers?" Mick asked, thinking aloud.
To his surprise, despite being put in a chokehold, Lars couldn't help but chuckle at the Cat Demon's question.
"Naw man, this is all legit stuff!" he managed to declare proudly. "Stole it all from the finest establishments last- GAH!"
Unfortunately, that answer earned him an elbow to the side, courtesy of his partner in crime.
"Shut it, Lars!" he snapped, rolling his eyes at the other Imp's stupidity. "Jeez!"
Seeing this interaction, Mick couldn't decide whether to groan with irritation or laugh in amusement. Obviously, these two Imps weren't the BRIGHTEST Demons in Hell either… Might as well take advantage of that.
"Tell you what?" he said, quickly regaining their attention. "You give me a couple of these goods you have here and we can forget all about this."
Though somewhat surprised, Lars and Harvey were at the very least glad that Mick appeared to be reasonable. However, that didn't mean that they weren't still nervous.
"W-what do you want?"
When the van finally came to a stop just outside a tatty looking office building with literal horns sticking out from either side of it, the back doors were suddenly kicked open from the inside, allowing Mick to jump out.
"Thanks for the ride, fellas!" he called out, slamming the doors shut behind him.
"Thanks for the weed!" Harvey chuckled as he leaned out the driver's side window. "You're alright, kid!"
After selecting the items he wanted from the back of the van in exchange for his silence, Mick was able to sweeten the deal by offering the two Imps a handful of joints in exchange for a quick ride to the address Stolas provided him. On the way over, Mick allowed himself to calm down just enough to show both the Imps his more casual side, starting with unwrapping his tail from Lars's neck. Seeing that the Cat Demon no longer meant any harm, even Lars and Harvey allowed themselves to let their guards down. Normally doing so in this part of Hell would surely get you killed, but in this case, Mick proved that he was trustworthy enough to indulge in his request. In fact, the three of them got so chummy in the span of a few minutes that Mick even recommended a shop for the Imps to sell their stolen goods, namely the same store in Pentagram city where he sold the dagger he got from the Golgothan.
"See ya!"
Giving a small wave as he watched the van drive off, cringing a little as it accidentally knocked over some scaffolding on the other side of the street, Mick couldn't help but sigh with relief as he looked back between the building and the new items in his hand. Of all the junk in the van, he eventually settled on an expensive-looking Hellphone and a small pocket knife.
The knife, of course, was something he figured would be a good backup in case his multi-tool ended up getting lost. As for the Hellphone, he figured that it was simply high time he got a replacement after going without one for so long. Pulling out his wallet, he quickly pulled out his old SIM card, the only part of his old phone that managed to survive. After switching out the SIM card and replacing it with his, Mick's new Hellphone was quickly up and running. In fact, the more he looked at it, the more he noticed how much better quality it was compared to his last one. Undoubtedly the Demons those two Imps robbed must have been pretty wealthy compared to most… oh well! Tough break!
Feeling no guilt whatsoever in keeping the phone, Mick pocketed his new device, held the package tight to his side and proceeded to walk inside the building, a wave of relief continuing to wash over him like a tsunami.
"Finally!" he sighed.
Meanwhile, back in the van, Lars couldn't help but scratch his head in confusion as he continued to look in the rearview mirror, seeing Mick walk into the building with his package.
"Hey, Harv?" he said.
"Yeah?" the other Imp replied, still a little shaken from knocking over the scaffolding a moment ago.
"Did… that guy remind you of anyone?"
The moment those words left Lars's mouth, Harvey suddenly found himself scratching his own head in thought.
"Huh… Now that you mention it, he DID look familiar," he admitted. "Can't put my finger on it though."
Once inside the building, the next thing on Mick's mind was to find the right office to make his delivery. Unfortunately, while Stolas did provide the name of the company he was supposed to go to, the one thing that wasn't on the listed address was the floor number. Luckily the metal plaque placed on the wall next to a nearby elevator provided him with all the info he needed:
8F - Roof Access
7F - S.L.U.T.S. - Super Loose Uber Tight Succubae
6F - I.M.P. - Immediate Murder Professionals
5F - Litteral Loan Sharks
4F - Leni's Loony Bin
3F - Hellhound Monthly
2F - Sue 4 U
1F - H.R.
GF - Lobby
BF - Storage
"Alright, let's see…" Mick muttered as he scrolled his finger over the words crudely scratched into the plaque. "Which floor am I… aha! 6th floor!"
Though confused as to why that particular company name was written on a piece of notepaper taped to the plaque, instead of engraved like the others, Mick was nonetheless happy to see he was indeed in the right place. So, opening up the elevator and pressing the appropriate button, the Cat Demon felt himself relaxing more and more with each passing second. It wouldn't be long until this nightmare was finally over.
With a small ding, the elevator doors finally opened again, allowing Mick to step out into a long hallway with a grey checkered floor and dark red walls with numerous visible cracks all over them. Scanning his surroundings, he saw four sets of doors, one of which had to be his destination. Soon enough, he stepped in front of the door on the far right, smiling beneath his mask as he saw the letters IMP scrawled on the glass in red spray paint. This was it. No turning back now.
"Hello?" he called out, giving the door a loud knock. "Delivery!"
However, the Cat Demon received no answer, much to his confusion. Giving the door another knock, and calling out again after waiting a minute, he hoped he'd have a better result, alas, once again he was met with silence. At that moment, he couldn't help but let out an annoyed huff.
"Alright, fine!" he muttered. "If THAT'S how you want it…"
After suffering through the morning he had, there was no damn way that he was going to just let his efforts go in vain. Had he been any other Demon, he probably would have just dumped the package in the nearest potted plant and told his boss the job was done. However, unlike most Demons, Mick had his morals AND his sense of work ethic, and there was no way he was going to lie to Prince Stolas's face after he put so much trust in him for this task. With a heavy sigh, he then placed his hand on the door handle and gave it a good push. As he had hoped, the door was open.
Cautiously stepping into the room, Mick found himself in a decently furnished receptionist's office. With a desk sitting on one side of the room, and a small sofa on the other. Not only that but there appeared to also be an empty fish tank, which Mick could only assume had been full recently due to the mouldy smell coming off it. Along the walls were three doors, one which, according to the letters scribbled on the glass, apparently led to the break room, another to a meeting room, and the third led to…
"The Boss's office!"
Smiling beneath his mask, Mick hurried over towards the door and readied himself to knock it… that was until he heard shouting coming from the other side of it as it slowly swung open when his foot brushed up against it.
"No, you listen to me!" he heard. "I want that report on my desk by tonight or you're fired!"
When the door was fully opened, Mick found himself looking at a middle-aged Imp with long curved horns shouting into a telephone before slamming it down and looking up at his new visitor, revealing the deranged look in his eyes.
"Who the hell are you!?" He snapped, causing the Cat Demon to jump back a bit.
"I'm, uh… here delivering a package?" Mick replied with uncertainty.
However, the Imp didn't seem to calm down after hearing that, in fact, somehow, it only made him even angrier.
"Package?!" he snarled. "I didn't send for any package! How dare you come in here and try to pawn off your garbage on me!"
Before Mick could say another word, however, something suddenly pulled him away from the door, allowing a large, burly Hellhound with numerous burns over his face to barge into the office and pick the Imp up by the back of his shirt. While this was going on the Imp himself just continued to rant on… then it got a little weird.
"Don't you know who I am?! I'm the Editor in Chief! I know the Mayor of Venus! Pineapples can see the future! Michael Crawford is actually a Badger who has-!"
Mick didn't really hear anything else after that, merely just the muffled screams of the Imp as he was carried out of the office with the Hellhound shutting the door behind him. Needless to say, Mick was DEFINITELY confused after seeing that.
"Sorry about that, dude," he suddenly heard. "We share the building with a mental ward two floors down."
Snapping his head around, Mick's attention quickly returned to the one who pulled him out of the way of the door. There he saw another Hellhound, only this one was female and was actually quite the looker. She was a tall, wolf-like Hellhound with white fur that had grey patches on her shoulders, a big bushy tail and voluminous grey hair swept to the side to reveal her torn ear. If her looks weren't pleasant enough, her outfit certainly didn't try to hide anything that wasn't attractive, which consisted of a black spiked choker, a dark grey crop top that had strings shaped like an inverted pentagram to hold it up, and a pair of shorts with a crescent moon cut on the right side.
While Mick couldn't take his eyes off her, the Hellhound walked across the room, not once taking her eyes off the Hellphone in her hand, before finally taking a seat behind the receptionist's desk. Quickly putting 2 and 2 together, Mick realised that she must have only stepped out to sort out the issue with the lunatic who snuck in. Given how nonchalant she was about the whole thing, it must have been a regular occurrence here. Looking down at the nameplate on the desk, he saw the word "Loona" etched into the wood; what a lovely name.
"Oh, believe me, it's no problem," Mick replied. "Believe it or not I've dealt with people crazier than that only an hour ago. Hell, one of them practically had me by the balls."
To her own surprise, Loona snorted at the Cat Demon's display of unease, trying desperately to stifle her laughter. However, that moment quickly faded and her stoic expression returned almost instantly.
"So what do you want?" she asked bluntly and somewhat rudely. "If you're a new client, you'll have to come back later. The boss is out and I don't take appointments."
Mick couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at that.
"Aren't you the receptionist?" he asked, earning himself an annoyed glare from the Hellhound.
"Yeah, and?" she retorted.
From that response alone, Mick knew in an instant that Loona was the type of person who rarely gave a rat's ass about anything. Furthermore, it was obvious that he wouldn't get far arguing with her. So for now, he had no choice but to rise above it. He had a job to do and it was for the best that he didn't try to overcomplicate things.
"Okay, whatever," he replied with a heavy sigh. "Look, I'm not a client or anything like that. I'm just here to make a delivery."
"If it's a subscription for a new sex shop, I'm not interested." Loona retorted, looking up from her phone for a brief moment to give Mick a quick look over. "Then again, you don't look half bad. If you're down for it, I might be game for a little bit of fun in a few minutes."
What the shit!? The moment those words left Loona's mouth, Mick's face turned so red that even his mask was blushing! In fact, he was so taken aback that he didn't know whether to be flattered or downright terrified! After taking a moment to calm himself down, Mick quickly tried to nip this situation in the bud immediately. At the very least, Loona wasn't being as aggressive as Jewel usually was.
"Uh… thanks for the offer, but no," he said awkwardly, earning himself an indifferent shrug from the Hellhound. "And I'm sorry to say the package isn't for you. Not unless your name is Mr… Blitzy?".
Once again Mick found himself raising an eyebrow as he read off the odd name Stolas wrote on the package's wrapping. Loona, on the other hand, let out an annoyed groan as soon as she heard the name spoken aloud.
"Ugh… the clingy rich asshole sent you, didn't he?" she asked, her voice practically oozing with irritation.
"If you mean Prince Stolas, then yes," Mick replied, earning another groan.
Judging by the way the Hellhound reacted, Mick could only assume that this too had to be a regular occurrence, one which Loona was not the slightest bit pleased with. Now that Mick thought of it, the way that his employer wrote the name sounded a little on the odd side. In fact, "Blitzy" sounded more like a pet name than anything else. Wait, was THIS the Imp that was the cause of the argument between Stolas and Stella this morning!?
"Alright, just dump it on his desk," Loona eventually sighed. "Biltz'll get it as soon as he gets back."
"Thank you," Mick replied with a small nod, earning himself a small eye roll as Loona placed her attention back onto her Hellphone.
"Whatever man," she muttered.
Rudeness aside, Mick was nonetheless grateful that he was finally able to finish his job. With another sigh of relief, he then followed the Hellhound's instructions and left the package on the boss's desk before closing the door behind him. With his task finally done, Mick leaned up against the nearest wall by the water cooler, his ability to care about other people's opinion fading into obscurity as he removed the mouthpiece of his mask, lit up a joint and enjoyed a much-needed calming buzz.
After a few puffs, Mick looked back towards the Hellhound behind the receptionist's desk. Clearly unfazed by the drug smoke, Loona didn't even bother looking up from her Hellphone as she continued to look through random websites or update her Voxtigram, which was surprising considering how powerful a Hellhound's nose was compared to most demons. Soon enough, however, Mick couldn't help but notice her letting out a small yawn. Between that along with the small bags under her eyes and the obvious migraine she was having given how constantly she keeps putting her hand to her head, Mick could only assume that Loona must have been either really tired, bored… or most likely severely hungover.
"Rough morning?" he suddenly asked, speaking up before even realizing it himself.
Loona merely glared at him upon hearing that.
"What's it to you?" she snapped, feeling that the question was a little too personal.
"Hey, I'm just asking!" Mick retorted. "No need to bite my head off."
"Yeah, well unless you want that to happen LITERALLY, I suggest you back off," Loona growled, clearly not backing down.
Yep. She was DEFINITELY hungover. Okay unless that was her usual personality, there was no way anyone could be that cranky otherwise. Luckily, Mick knew exactly what to do for something like that. Walking back up to the desk, he opened up his canister and offered a joint to the Hellhound.
"Here," he said. "Looks like you need one."
An unconventional method for a hangover, obviously, but an effective one nonetheless given Mick's past experiences with physical pain. After all, weed WAS technically a natural painkiller. Though she raised an eyebrow of suspicion at first, thinking that the Cat Demon was trying to pull something, Loona eventually let out a small sigh of her own and accepted the joint. Allowing Mick to light it for her, the Hellhound breathed in the smoke before letting out a sigh of relief as she felt the pain in her head slowly fade away.
"Mmm, good shit," she muttered, causing Mick to smirk a little.
"I know, right?" he replied.
At those words, Loona looked back at Mick with an expression filled with intrigue, her glare slowly softening as a small genuine smile finally made its way across her muzzle.
"Thanks, man," she said. "I actually needed this."
"Again, it's no problem," Mick replied with a small chuckle. "Nothing like a little weed to help take the edge off, eh?"
And with that, the ice was broken, as evident by Loona's inability to stifle a small chuckle of her own after hearing such a remark.
"Yeah, can't argue with that," she admitted, her eyebrow suddenly raising once more as she took another hard look at the Cat Demon in front of her. There was just something about him that she seemed to recall, but can't quite place. "You know, you look kinda familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"
Mick couldn't help but scratch the back of his head upon hearing that.
"I don't see how," he answered honestly. "This is the first time I've been to- OW! Motherfucker!"
It was at that moment Mick was so distracted, he accidentally grabbed his joint by the smoking tip by mistake, causing him to yelp in pain as he burnt the tip on his fingers. The moment the Cat Demon let out his cry of pain, Loona's eyes suddenly snapped wide open.
"Holy fuck," she uttered, a large toothy grin spreading across her face as a wave of realisation washed over her. "No way!"
Soon enough the Hellhound broke into a loud fit of laughter, a reaction that Mick found to be completely baffling.
"Uh… what's so funny?" he asked, clearly missing the joke here.
"You're Crazy Cat!" Loona suddenly blurted, further confusing the poor Cat Demon. "Holy shit, talk about a small underworld!"
However, once again Mick had absolutely NO idea what Loona was talking about.
"Wait… I'm who now?" he asked, growing more irritated by every minute no answer was given.
Now it was Loona's turn to be confused.
"Uh… Crazy Cat?" she repeated as if the answer was the most obvious thing in Hell. "The biggest video on… holy shit you have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"
"Not a clue," Mick confirmed. "WHAT video?"
At those words, Loona had to stifle another small fit of laughter as she looked through her phone. A few moments later, she then handed it over to the Cat Demon, turning it over so that the screen was in full view.
"Check it," she said, hitting the play button before she let go.
The moment he saw what was playing on-screen, only four particular words seemed appropriate for what he felt.
"What. the actual. FUCK!?"
Under the title: Crazy Cat vs Demon Dolly, the video showed none other than Mick himself, specifically during his fight with the possessed toy before he first got employed. Watching in horror as highlights of the fight flashed through the video, all the while the song, Eye of the Tiger was played in the background, silenced only by his own screams and mad cackling before resuming, Mick's mind instantly began to fill with questions that NEEDED to be answered. Who posted this!? How did they even get this footage!? Were they employed by the Goetias too!? Were they stalkers!? What the hell was going on here!? Seeing the Cat Demon's jaw practically hit the floor, Loona once again tried to stifle her laughter as she spoke once more.
"It's become quite the popular vid over the last month," she explained, suddenly appearing over Mick's shoulder. "Ooh, here comes the best part!"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"
Upon seeing the toy biting down on his balls all over again on the scream, a horrible series of flashbacks began to flood Mick's head, grimacing as he instinctively placed a hand over his crotch. However, that was nothing compared to what he felt when he saw how many Demons saw the video.
"5 MILLION HITS!?" he blurted out, his left eye twitching with borderline madness at seeing how many Demons were wallowing in his humiliation.
At that moment, Mick just wanted to crawl into the deepest hole he could find and then dig even deeper before spending the rest of his afterlife in it! Alas due to the lack of holes nearby, he merely settled for bashing his forehead against the nearest wall in a small fit of anxiety. Witnessing this display of embarrassment, Loona couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Granted, she may have only just MET this guy, and most of the time she would rather not show her softer side, but regardless, seeing him like this didn't really sit well with her. After all, he did make the effort to try and shed off some of her pain, so it only makes sense that she returned the favour, right?
"Hey," she said, grabbing Mick's attention once more as she walked back to her desk and pulled a bottle of bourbon from the top drawer. "Wanna get drunk?"
Given everything he's seen and been through, only one answer came to mind.
"Fuck yes."