you get what you need.

– Vox  liked  Anomaly.  A  lot,  actually.  There  was  something  about  their  flat  disposition  that  just  turned  him  into  a  menace  sometimes.  He  liked  to  piss  them  off  and  he  had  the  power  to  do  it  when  he  wanted  without  the  fear  of  it  blowing  back  on  him.  That  was  a  dangerous  thing  that  looked  playful,  like  a  video  where  a  lion  and  a  dog  were  supposedly  friends.  Onlookers  might  say  "how  cute".  But  anyone  who  knew  anything  about  lions  or  dogs  knew  one  was  bound  to  kill  the  other  at  some  point.

When  they  flash  their  teeth  at  him,  Vox  only  grins  back  wider.

"Or  you'll  what,"  Vox  says,  eyes  narrowed,  grit  filtering  its  way  into  his  tone.  Then  it  dips  lower,  mirthful.  "If  you  wanna  try  something  when  I've  got  you  under  my  thumb  then  go  for  it.  We  both  know  who's  going  to  win.  You're  a  small  fry  compared  to  me  in  literally  every  way  possible."

Time  would  only  make  that  worse.  But  the  Box  Headed  Vox  of  current  decides  to  slow  toss  his  employee  and  owned  soul  a  couple  of  feet  away  with  a  manic  grin,  blood  dripping  down  the  side  of  his  mouth.

"Come  on,  you  wet  rag!  Show  me  what  you've  got.  If  you  beat  me  then  you  can  make  any  request  you  want  and  I'll  make  it  happen." 

Anomaly? They regarded Vox in both hot and cold light. They could respect he power he had, the power he gave them. They could respect his determination. But goddamn did he get on their nerves sometimes. Often times. More often than not, maybe?

It didn't matter. He owned their soul. Their hands were metaphorically tied and literally chained. He throws them and they hit the ground, teeth still bared, ears still flattened back into their messy curls.

This is so obviously bait and they should so obviously put an end to it before it begins but fucking goddamnit let them get one fucking hit in.

He pushes himself forward by his toes, holding himself there for a split moment. “If I’d died just a few years earlier, there would have been hundreds at mine. One of those tragic high school deaths, you know. Instead, my classmates moved on, and my fans… well it’s not like any of them would have,”

They get it! They get it. Some wounds cut deep, don't heal, blah blah blah. They think that's all bullshit. Get on with your fucking afterlife, y'know?

Eventually, Jayden thinks he’ll get used to the fact that one of the most popular exports for Voxtek is VBS Kids. Because sure, there aren’t many kids in Pride, but that’s not unilaterally true for all of Hell.

It means that one of the floors for the Tower just has a playground on it though, and so with the party raging around them, he’s snuck away to catch his breath. He stretches out his legs, pushing the seat back, and letting himself fall forward. What goes down, or whatever his old teachers said. Something about pendulums.

His sneakers scrape against the floor, and he takes a sip from his can with only a small grimace. It’s a peach flavoured drink of some ilk, the carbonation makes it bearable. The alcohol content itself is just… fumes. He doesn’t look over when the swing beside him moves.

They somehow find themself in some kind of a party and they grit their teeth and try to move through it. Parties aren't their scene. They don't love crowds and this is too loud and too... Drunk for their taste. They find themself sitting at a swingset, face expressionless and hidden by pixelation. They don't want to engage in conversation with the sad looking sack of shit they vaguely recognize (some internal thought tells them Velvette), they want to get their bearings and then get the hell out of here when he poses a question.

When  Anomaly  came  into  the  office  of  Voxtek  on  their  birthday  (which  was  clear  was  made  mandatory,  or  else  )  the  entire  building  was  dark.  When  they  switched  the  lights  on,  they  were  greeted  with  a  cacophony  of  shouts  from  their  fellow  employees.

"Surprise!!!  Happy  Birthday!!"

At  the  forefront  was  Vox...  In  a  shark  print  shirt,  white  shorts,  sandles  and.  Oh  Christ.  The  theme  was  Beach?  Or  tropical?  There  were  fake  tropical  plants  everywhere,  blow  up  toys  (  a  few  were  clearly  meant  for  sex  acts  but  dressed  up  to  be  decent  ),   and  an  inflatable  pool  with  an  ungodly  amount  of  apples.  A  few  party  games  seemed  to  be  set  up,  though  the  pizza  seemed  to  be  partially  gnawed  on  already  by  hungry  staffers.  The  cake,  however,  remained  untouched.

"See!  I  told  you  that  you  had  to  be  here.  Come  on!!  Now  that  you're  here  we  can  get  this  party  started!"

He  whipped  a  party  popper  from  damn  near  nowhere,  popping  it  directly  over  their  head.  Get  confetti'd,  fucko.  This  is  your  afterlife.  This  is  what  hell  is  made  of.  The  reason  he  had  you  include  your  birthday  in  your  soul  contract  has  made  its  way  home  to  roost.   

This man wants them to kill themself. That's the only logical conclusion they can come to as a crowded room of people they mostly don't even like shout at them. Oh, god. Oh, dear god this is some kind of nightmare. Their expression of flat boredom doesn't change, but their ears do pin back for half a second before they force them to raise up again.

Slowly, Anomaly's gaze trails around the room. Everything is awful. They stare at the pool full of apples. If he makes them bob for fucking apples they will find a gun and blow their fucking brains out. All over the damn apples, too. In the fucking pool, maybe. Who knows!

Oh dear fucking Christ. The confetti. They almost jump but manage to keep to only tensing up and finally turn slightly to stare at Vox with slightly narrowed eyes. They don't smile, they don't express in any way aside from tugging at one of their two braids.

"wow. you really went all out." Monotone. "the cake looks great. i bet it's even my favorite."

They have never once specified what kind of cake they like. They don't tend to eat much of anything around Vox. It's a joke, what they say, though it's difficult to discern without the inflection of tone.

a mix of arguments, tension, manipulation, gossiping, fighting, & general emotional messiness!

you  weren't  supposed  to  hear  that.

don't  look  at  me  like  i'm  the  only  one  lying.

want  to  tell  them,  or  should  i?

you  think  i  don't  know  what  you  did?

i've  hit  people  for  less.

oh,  i  thought  you  already  knew.

that's  funny,  you  didn't  say  that  last  night.

say  that  again.  i  dare  you.

you  wanna  talk  about  loyalty?

no  offense,  but  if  you're  the  last  to  know,  that's  on  you.

go  ahead  -  pretend  like  it  wasn't  your  idea!

they  deserve  to  know  the  truth.

you  didn't  hear  this  from  me,  but  -

oh,  so  now  you  care?

don't  flatter  yourself.  you  were  just  convenient.

you  crossed  a  line.

we  had  bets  on  how  long  it  would  last.

it's  not  even  a  secret  anymore.

you  don't  get  to  cry  about  it  now.

touch  me  again  and  see  what  happens.

say  it  again.  louder  this  time.

you  really  thought  nobody  would  find  out?

don't  act  so  innocent.

okay,  but  am  i  the  villain  for  laughing?

tell  me  who  else  knows.  right  now.

this  whole  time,  and  you  didn't  say  a  word?

don't  act  brave  now.

you're  really  gonna  do  this  here?

it  wasn't  supposed  to  get  this  far!

you  can't  rewrite  history.

oh,  i'd  never  say  it  to  their  faces.

it  was  supposed  to  stay  between  us.

we're  all  thinking  it,  i  just  said  it.

you're  not  as  untouchable  as  you  act.

do  you  even  feel  guilty?

they  warned  me  about  you.

go  ahead,  make  it  worse.

if  you  repeat  this,  i'll  deny  everything.

the  next  thing  out  of  your  mouth  better  be  an  apology.

you're  about  three  seconds  away  from  regretting  this.

you  keep  pushing,  and  i'll  push  you  back.

they're  going  to  find  out.

one  more  lie,  and  i  walk.

they're  lying  to  you.

you  need  to  back  off.  now.

you're  defending  them?  after  everything?

don't  try  to  hide  it.

tell  me,  was  i  just  a  placeholder?

you  really  think  sorry  fixes  this?

there's  nothing  left  to  say.

don't  act  like  you're  the  one  hurting.

i  don't  owe  you  any  explanation.

whatever  helps  you  sleep  at  night.

you  should've  seen  this  coming.

i  hope  it  was  worth  it.

i  told  the  truth.  just  not  all  of  it.

you'll  miss  me  before  i  miss  you.

smile.  you're  ruining  the  mood.

i'd  watch  that  tone  if  i  were  you.

it's  not  my  fault  you  believed  me.

you  have  such  a  talent  for  pretending  you're  innocent.

we  both  know  this  is  over.

i  never  said  i  was  a  good  person.