Helluva Boss - After the Party

A fair deal

Verosika sat alone in the dim light of her home Her once predictable life felt like an ever shifting bundle of chaos and she was having a hard time just keeping up. The glass of cheap wine in her hand did little to soothe the constant hum of frustration and unease swirling inside her. She swirled the wine lazily, the reds catching in the pale glow of her phone screen, casting a shadow that stretched across her cluttered coffee table.

As she regarded the wine-glass in her hand she was relieved that for once, it wasn't Beelzejuice and instead something far, far milder. She couldn't afford to be sloshed over the next couple of days, that was for sure.

Things had gotten kind of serious fast.

Restoring Blitz's memories—if that was even possible—was now something left to Stolas, whose arcane knowledge and access to tome after tome of who knew what could maybe offer a solution. That left her feeling out of place and useless. The only thing she could do was act on her burning desire for vengeance against the barkeep who served Blitz that cursed drink.

That plan was now on pause as she still needed an angelic weapon, and those were apparently rare and expensive.

She hated the way everything had spiraled. Blitz wasn't supposed to be her responsibility anymore. She'd wanted closure, maybe something more, some sliver of reconciliation. Maybe a foolish hope of rekindling something. But now? Now it all seemed like a distant dream, buried beneath layers of complications. Especially the more she thought about how

Blitz had looked at Stolas that night.

There was the look of love if ever she'd seen it and it wasn't meant for her. It belonged to the owl.

Things had become so damn messy, and the more she thought about it, the more she began to admit that her original goal felt almost irrelevant now.
Verosika bit her lip, hesitating as her thumb hovered over her contacts. She needed a distraction, something—anything—to keep her from spiraling any further into her own head. With a sigh, she tapped the name she'd been eyeing for the last few minutes.

Loona.

The phone rang twice before Loona picked up, her voice slightly muffled, like she was in the middle of something.

"Yeah, hello?"

Verosika hesitated for a second, then forced a smile into her tone. "Hey, uh, girl. Just thought I'd... check in. See how you're doing. How's Blitz?"

There was a pause on the other end, and Verosika could almost imagine the look on Loona's face. It had been pretty awkward when Loona woke up from her little trauma-nap a few days before at the hospital with her head resting on Verosika's lap, who'd been minding her, almost protectively as she rested.

"Oh, uh... Hi, m-, Ver- uh- osika. Hey. Fuck. Sorry. " Her voice was a little bashful, like she didn't know where exactly they stood. She quickly found her courage though and became almost ... warm?

"He's... well, he's been fine, I guess. Sort of."

Verosika shifted in her seat, straightening a bit as she listened. Fine? That didn't sound right.

"I mean, he was kind of happy, weirdly enough. The first few days after the bar... thing, he was walking around like nothing was wrong. But, uh..." There was a short pause. "He's been , not fully ok. I was keeping an eye on him yesterday when he had some sort of panic attack while talking to some lady imp in the street. It was bad."

Verosika's heart sank at that. "Shit. What did he do?"

"Huddled into a ball. Like... full meltdown. I didn't even know what to do except bring him to a doctor. But he's been kind of weird ever since. Kind of paranoid. He can barely talk to people without freezing up now. I'm supposed to pick up some meds for him from the hospital pharmacy today. Doctors say it'll keep him calm, but..."