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Mending the Broken

Chapter Nine

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

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Going to the stables and riding Stormblaze had been relaxing for Blitz, taking the edge off his nerves, though he had not left there in as good a mood as he usually did. He knew what was coming and, even though he was keen to put yet another barely formed plan into action, the silence of his phone weighed heavily on him.

No messages. No calls. Of course, he had tried again, but not gotten through to Stolas, the phone giving him a dial tone, the messages not even read. That was weird, though there was nothing still on the news about anything dramatic happening and he'd subtly checked in with a few of the imps that he was in touch with at the palace (he had started getting them coffees when he came over for the full moon meetings). No one said anything was up with Stolas, though they weren't at liberty to disclose much detail. He respected that. It would have been the same for him if he was working there as a bodyguard or something, bound by loyalty.

But that was just a side track that his mind was going off on as he bumped the van through yet another pothole, heading straight to the shopping district of the Pride ring. It was not an imp-centric one, which was just as well because hardly any imp-sized clothes would have fit Loona, but they were in the ring of the sinners, which meant there was plenty of variety. There were also plenty of_fucking numbskulls_ on the road too, which Blitz made sure to scream at them as he roared by, the flintlock stuck out the window.

If a shot or two went into the tyres or the side panels or through the windscreen of the cars that were getting in his way... Well, that meant there were fewer Sinners around. It wasn't bad and killing was his daily shit anyway.

It soothed him a little, jumping from the van in the dingy car park near Stylish Occult with his usual shit-eating grin plastered all over his face.

"Now, Loonie, you can have anything you want there," he cooed, though the Hellhound strode ahead of him as if they were not even together. "But one outfit, okay? There's a big kill on the docket for next week that would have gotten more, but we've got to keep the lights and heat on too, hm?"

"Yeah, whatever."

Loona flicked her ear, affecting her usual bored demeanour, though she had a reason, that time, to be focused on her phone, staring down at it as she texted the owl. It would be a close run, being so near, but between her and Octavia, she was sure that they could put just a little bit of their plan into action.

For what Blitz would not see, as she dragged him in her wake, ignoring his chatter, into Stylish Occult, was the portal opening up in front of Stylish Occult a few minutes after they had passed, two long-legged owls stepping through.

"Octavia, dear, it would have been no trouble to call the driver..."

"But dad!" She implored, casting her pink eyes up at him in a way she had not done in quite a while - but she hadn't wanted something from him back then. "It would have taken so long! A portal is so much quicker and I need lots of time back home to do my makeup. I can't just go to the gig looking like this!"

Stolas didn't quite know what his daughter could possibly do to make herself even more beautiful than she already was.

Thankfully, the thing that she wanted from Stolas was something that might just help him - so turning "the eyes" on him was hardly a power that she used lightly. When others said that she had stars in her eyes, they meant it literally.

Inside the shop, she had to be stealthy, dragging her father to the back where the clothes were on racks all pushed tightly together, rows of shelves displaying weird taxidermy and curiosities rising high above. It was the only place where she could adequately hide him, though it helped that it was down near the changing rooms too, for he would be the one there trying on lots of clothes, as far as she was concerned.

How else was she supposed to get him in something to either get that stupid imp to see the error of his ways or realise that her father was way out of his league? Either way, her father was going to look right at home at the gig one way or the other. Finally, he'd be out of her hair and what had had him moping around the house for weeks on end since the divorce, for she sure as Hell knew it had nothing to do with her mother. That only left one culprit, since she had at least been making an effort to talk to him more lately.

She didn't much know what to make of the imp, but she had seen the way her father smiled when he texted him, when he was around him. Sure, they'd been to Loo Loo Land together and that had been nuts, but there had still been something lighter about her father there. That was why she had been so worried he'd been about to leave her. After that, there had been some parties where Blitz had been present, the celebration at IMP HQ for their first one-hundred kills in the living world, even though Octavia had not been around them. The simple fact of the events happening, even stumbling in on her father with Blitz' head resting on his thighs, fast asleep, a horse movie playing on the big screen TV, had given her pause.

She'd never seen her parents do that together. And the screaming had stopped, once her mother had moved out, found her own space, the room to live a life where she was not attached to Stolas anymore. It was better for both, yet that softness between her father and the imp, Blitz...

...Well, it was the kind of thing Octavia wanted for herself one day too.

That was why she was willing to walk a knife-edge, just to see if there was a little something she could do to get them at least to sit down and talk, maybe have a movie night again.

It would be a start.

But her father couldn't catch the imp's attention again if he didn't have an outfit to turn heads, surely - and he definitely needed something suitable for going to a gig. If he turned up in a crown and an ermine-trimmed cape, she'd be the laughing stock of the place. For something like that, however, her father probably wouldn't even notice all the looks he'd be getting. He was strange like that.

It didn't take her long to find the Hellhound on the ground floor, skulking around a rack of small skulls, fitted onto choker necklaces and other kinds of jewellery. They had probably been a part of something or someone living, once, but that didn't matter too much after they were dead. That kind of accessory was commonplace in Hell, only weird to the Sinners that didn't know what to expect down there.

Besides, Octavia kind of liked the macabre too.

The Hellhound checked to make sure Blitz was out of sight, though hiding things from her adopted father wasn't exactly new for her. Doing it with someone else, well...that gave things just a little bit of spice. She smirked.

"Hey, princess. Didn't think you'd get him out of the house in time, with that shit you said about him moping around, all mangy."

Octavia shrugged.

"He usually gets it together if it's something for me. If this is how I have to twist things so that he actually does something for himself...well, that's the way it has to be."

In a way, it was what they both were doing, though they didn't have much time to pull it off.

"So, how're we going to do this?" Octavia asked, glancing back to where her father was around the corner, looking hopelessly lost as he looked through a rack of clothes. "We can't exactly parade him in front of Blitz to see what works..."

Loona's ear twitched.

"I know what Blitz likes on a guy, all you got to do is take what I give you and make sure they fit. And keep them away from each other. On Blitz... You'll have to show Stolas some things. I dunno what would even go on freaky long legs like that. Seriously."

"Should be easy enough - the height difference kind of makes it so they need to shop in different rooms anyway. Did they expand up again to a third floor?"

Not easy, but doable. It was a fine detail, considering they only wanted to get the two of them in a position where they would see each other, look hot (to each other) and talk, but they didn't have much to work with. A small thing, a little thing - but it was the smallest things of all, even down there in Hell, that could make a world of difference: at least one thing that Octavia had picked up from her father, rather than her mother. That putting the idiots together would mean that they got some time to themselves, a little time to talk without the "old men" hanging over them (or fawning, in Blitz' case) was all part of it, of course.

They only hoped that it would work. Neither thought to ask if Octavia could have just gone to the gig with Loona (Loona didn't need permission), too caught up in their little scheme to see beyond it.

Taking her father up to the third floor, Octavia thankfully found more clothes that would fit longer legs, though she wanted something more than what she'd wear. There was precious little for guys there, though a lot when it came to unisex clothing, which was something at least.

"Here, dad..." She flustered, grabbing a few things off the rack, including a leather jacket (best to grab some of the basics too, she thought) that she thought would be his size. "Try these ones. It'll be a start!"

Stolas blinked owlishly, but didn't get the chance to object as his daughter shoved him into the changing room.

She paced anxiously, casting her eye about for a belt that would fit the bill, though she was torn as to whether she wanted to spend more time looking for just the right one or to help her father out. It was a hard decision - she was only eighteen, after all. It could not be helped that she was tugged this way and that way, though her mind eventually settled on the right course of action.

She was still going to get that belt though...

The curtain to the dressing room swept back with a rattle of hooks upon the rail, her father stepping out uncertainly.

"Uh..." He tugged at a sleeve, clearly uncomfortable. "How do I look, Via? There's still the jacket in there..."

It wasn't a bad start and might have been okay on someone more comfortable with the clothes: black jeans with loops hanging from the hips, a punk style, and a T-shirt that was too large on him, purple with green alien heads. It was fashionable, yes, but her father just looked awkward in it, the shirt hanging off him while the jeans left too much material around his calves. She had the same problem with her long, lean form. Of course, the sizing was something that Octavia knew that she was going to have to guess at until she had a baseline to go from - and now she had that.

"I dunno..." She screwed up her face, inspecting him, covertly snapping a photo and sending it to Loona in a tap of her fingers. "Next size down, definitely. Have you tried the jacket on?"

Her father obligingly slipped into it before her and Octavia smiled. Black on owl feathers just worked and a leather jacket was a classic piece. Ah, that was better!

"That looks nice, dad, you should keep that one." It was a pretty plain leather jacket, great for a lot of things, and she made a mental note of the size. "Put it over there, I can take the other clothes back."

She could have asked someone working at the store to take them back for her, but she'd rather have the chance to see what was happening with Blitz and Loona. Her phone buzzed with a message from the Hellhound as her father ducked back in to try another ensemble, rubbing his arm unconsciously as he shrugged the jacket from his shoulders.

Loona: What's with the shirt? Hot on me, not for him, ew. Jacket can stay though, Blitz likes leather.

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Leather... Okay, duly noted, Octavia thought. Her father came back out with a pair of grey trousers, better fitting that time, with an acid wash splash of red down the front. They still looked too neatly styled and put together with the white band shirt, though it helped a little that it was a shirt for Fuck You Dad. Perhaps not the best one to dress her father in though...

"Via?" He questioned, turning back and forth in front of the mirror. "I'm afraid I don't know anything about these clothes at all... How do they look? Via?"

Her mind was elsewhere, shaking her head.

"Not that set, dad, I'll get something else. Hang on here and swap for another outfit in there, 'kay? I got this."

He smiled, at least relieved that his daughter had something more in mind with him, though everything would take some fine-tuning. It was no different to Stolas than standing for the tailor, except he had some say in the clothes he wore. One thing he did turn down and set in the pile to go back on the racks was some weird chain shirt that rattled just with him moving it from one side of the changing room to the other. Very much not his style, thank you, regardless of what Octavia thought about that.

With a bundle of clothes to go back, Octavia clicked her beak, hunting for something more suitable, better sizes for her father's lanky yet elegant frame.

"Pssst!"

Octavia hustled to the stairs, shoving clothes haphazardly back onto the racks with a silent apology to the staff working there as she went. Loona peeked up to the top floor, hunkering down so that she would not be seen by Stolas, though she stepped up a little more when she realised that the demon was in the dressing room.

Holding up a couple of articles of clothing, she paired the top over the bottoms as if they were on a certain imp.

"Hey, princess. What about a mesh shirt for Blitz? Not as if the fucker is modest at all about himself anyway."

Octavia screwed up her face, beak twisting.

"Eh... I never really thought about what my dad likes...like that. I'm sure he's sick to Hell of all the royal crap, so nothing too fancy like that. He likes stars though, obviously. Loved the hoodie I got him with red stars on it, but he can't wear that out."

She glanced back at the dressing room, tail feathers twitching. It wouldn't be long before her father was out and he would surely recognise Loona.

"Hm..." The Hellhound considered that for a moment. "Think I got something. Blitz isn't too difficult, but if it's stars that the bird-brain likes... Yeah, I got that. How's it going with him? That jacket was cool."

Octavia sighed.

"I didn't think it would be this hard to find something for him, but it's harder when I'm trying to think of someone other than him too, what they might like. Not like I've even dressed a friend from here anyway."

Loona snorted.

"Yeah, same, I don't count actually making sure Blitz is presentable if he insists on being around me. I think he's good, but if you get feathers over there in something fitted, maybe torn up for the bottoms... Something the jacket goes nicely over the top."

She smirked, shrinking back as the curtain shifted, the owl finishing up with another outfit on the other side.

"Remember - Blitz likes horses!"

Octavia's beak parted, about to ask her how that was supposed to help her, but Loona was gone, hustling off down the stairs.

Horses... What the Hell was going to be in Stylish Occult with horses on it, of all things? Maybe skeletons?

That was all she had to go on as her father poked his head back out of the dressing room with

While Octavia was looking through the racks, Stolas picked up a long, flowing dress that looked as if it was inspired by the Victorian era, a rich purple with black embellishments all over the skirt and bodice that reminded one of vines and flowers, the crawling ones that rose higher than ever in his private garden. It was not something suitable for going out, of course, not where he was going, but the demon set it aside for later perusal. It reminded him a little of a white and gold, poofy dress that he had worn once for a roleplay with his sweet imp.

That made him a little sad, his expression falling, though Stolas tried to keep his focus on his daughter as she brought out another outfit, shooing him back into the changing rooms.

"This might be the one, dad, just put it on, okay? It's your size now..."

She fished about for a suitable belt, her eyes lighting up when they finally landed on it, though it might need to be trimmed down to size to fit her dad's slim hips.

"All that, with the leather jacket over the top... Dad, you've got boots, right?"

"Probably not the kind you want me to wear, dear."

Okay, so she'd need boots too.

But she knew when he came out, uncertainly, in his outfit, the leather jacket on over, a small smile appearing on his beak that looked genuine for the first time since she'd come home, that it was the one. Octavia clasped her hands together, the belt between them, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with glee.

"That's it!"

Whether or not Blitz thought the same, her father was going to make a splash at the gig. The imp would either be head over heels or in the perfect position for her father to show him exactly what a catch he had missed out on. That was entirely up to her dad and Octavia sure as Hell wasn't going to get involved in that. She was just there for costume design and maybe a bit of moral support too.

Octavia grinned, passing him the belt while Stolas fiddled with the fine details of his outfit.

It was going to be a night to remember.

Loona, however, had better luck downstairs with Blitz, the imp settling easily on a pair of torn-up black trousers. Black was the main theme of Stylish Occult, of course, but it set off his red skin nicely, even where the white scars lay. On his top half, however, he donned a half-shirt that barely came down below his pectoral muscles, the red almost the same hue as his skin so that he could have been nude, at first glance.

But the part of the outfit that tied it all together was the mesh shirt that went _over_the top of everything: something that was more Blitz' usual style when going out, but toned down by the undershirt. The black mesh came down to his midriff, but was speckled with black stars finely woven into the mesh, a touch of shine to them that would catch the light when they were at the gig. A chain belt and some extra chains to hang down in a couple of loops on either side of his hips completed the ensemble, though he already had a pair of boots at home that would work. That was one thing that Loon was rarely able to convince him to buy elsewhere than his usual haunts, buying good quality and refusing anything less.

"I guess it's okay, Loonie, but what's with the stars? That a new trend or something?"

She grinned.

"Trust me, Blitz, you look great. Now... Isn't it about time you dished up the cash for me to get my own outfit?"

Blitz groaned, checking his wallet, though his lips quirked in a grin, teasing her.

"You're going to bankrupt me, Loonie... Go wild, sweetie, get whatever you want."

Oh, she intended to! But the night was drawing closer and their next stop would be the gig, though Loona was going to make sure that all the eyes that mattered were on her. And Octavia, of course, though she'd most likely have to keep the younger owl close to her, if only for her lack of experience in such venues. In a way, it would be nice to take someone else under her wing, rather than Loona always being looked after by Tex and a couple of the other friendlier Hellhounds in his friend circle.

The Hellhound grinned, red eyes intent on finding the perfect outfit. When Octavia texted her a photo of what she had her father in, the full ensemble, complete with tall boots, she grinned and sent a quick "thumbs up" emoticon right back at her.

It was perfect. And so was Blitz, each of them dressed as if they had planned to go out only with the other in mind.

When they next met up at the gig, everything would be on the line...