Two Times That Rosie Took Care Of Alastor and Niffty

Niffty's First Day In Hell

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon in Pride, and rainy days were the perfect days for Alastor and Rosie's weekly tea parties. Alastor wasn't fond of tea, and preferred coffee, but he very much enjoyed tea of another kind, and he and Rosie loved sharing gossip about what was going on in Hell. It was 1952, and Hell, and the living world were seeing a lot of changes. TV was growing on both living people and sinners, and there was a brand-new overlord in town named Vox who was quick to capitalise on the trend. Circle skirts, especially poodle skirts, were becoming fashionable with the younger sinners, and trendy new soda fountains and ice cream parlors were popping up all over Pride, even in the Cannibal Town, whose residents seemed dead set on holding on to the fashions of the 1910s.

As soon as Rosie was finished laying out some finger sandwiches on the table, there was a knock at the door. Alastor was there, along with a cyclops demon in a white shirt and a red poodle skirt.

"Lovely to see you, as always, Alastor!" Rosie said as she she let them in, "Who's this little one you've brought with you?"

"I'm Winifred!" the tiny demon responded, clutching Alastor's pant leg.

"I found her near a bakery by Vox's tower. Some unfortunate sinners had just been ripped to shreds by Vox, and she was cleaning up the blood and the body parts strewn across the street," Alastor responded, "The little darling appears quite lost, so I thought I should bring her here so she can get her bearings."

"The street was dirty! I had to make it clean!" Winifred chirped.

Rosie's nose wrinkled up at the scent of the tiny demon. "She smells like the living world. Did she just die?"

"It would appear so, my dear Rosie," Alastor responded, glancing down at Winifred.

Winifred's eye started to well up. "I'm...I'm dead?"

Rosie breathed a heavy sigh. "I think we'd better get her sat down before we explain what's happened to her," she said, "Black coffee for you, Alastor?"

"Yes, as always, thank you, my dear," he responded.

Rosie bent down to the tiny demon's level. "And what about you, Winifred? I have tea, coffee, hot cocoa, or I could even get you some hot milk if you'd like."

Her eye lit up at the offer of drinks. "Cocoa please!"

Alastor and Niffty sat down at the table while Rosie took care of the drinks. She set everyone's drinks down on the table before sitting next to Alastor with her tea, as she always did.

"As I was saying before, little one," she said softly as Winifred gulped down some of her cocoa, "I'm sorry to say this, but you're dead, and now you're in Hell."

"Oh," she said quietly, looking down at her cup, "Well, I think I must have ended up here because of what I did to my parents."

Alastor's ears twitched, eager to hear what sounded like it was going to be a murder story. "What did you do to them, my dear?"

"I stabbed them," the tiny demon responded, tracing her finger around the rim of her cup.

Alastor's eyes flashed a wicked red. "And why did you do that?"

"My dad got me a job at the bakery that his friend owned, but I got fired because I got distracted while I was cleaning the floor, and all of the bread in the oven got burned," she said, "So then I came home, and my mom and dad were mad because I got fired. And then they said that they wanted to have me lobotomised."

Rosie stirred some sugar into her tea. "And then what happened?"

"I got a knife, and I stabbed my dad 37 times in the chest," she continued, "Mom tried to get away, but I ran after her, and then I stabbed her too! There was blood everywhere!"