Page 27 of Hellfire & Bowties
“We’ll find them and sort it all out.” He noted down forms and complaints as a separate category. “Anything else?”
“We have demon information as well,” Luc said, giving up on accosting him and sinking back into his seat with a sigh. “Personnel files, assignments, time off, transfers, and such. Just regular HR information.”
“Mhm…” Oren penned it all down. “Speaking of that, how do you handle vacations and such?”
“Vacations?”
Oren nodded. “I took the liberty of looking through some files when you left me here the first day…”
“You snooped?”
“Ilooked,” he stressed. “Not my fault your files were open on the floor for everyone to see.”
“Not everyone. Nobody spends time in my office but me and Zorun.”
“Yes, well…” Oren said, running a hand over Luc’s naked chest. “You brought me in and left me here unsupervised.”
“So you snooped,” Luc said, wrapping an arm around his waist to haul him closer.
Oren tried glaring harder at the accusation. He wasn’t sure how well that was working, though. He wasn’t the most intimidating person ever, and he doubted the devil spooked easily.
“I looked,” Oren repeated, jabbing a finger into a rock-hard pec. “That’s not the point right now, though. What I saw was that several of your demons are centuries overdue for some time off.”
Oren watched expressions flicker over Luc’s face before he settled on exhausted resignation, leaning his cheek on his free hand.
“We just don’t have enough staff to send anyone on vacation at the moment,” he said, and Oren tsked, twisting to take Luc’s face between his palms.
“We’ll have to figure out a rotation of some kind. Research shows that productivity goes drastically down when workers don’t get time off. And we want a productive Hell, now don’t we?”
“We do, yes,” Luc said, cheeks squished as he nodded.
“And we also want fewer Tana-induced mass panic outbreaks, don’t we?”
“You think that’s related?” Luc asked.
“I don’t think,” Oren said, “I know. Her file said she hasn’t had a vacation in, like, three thousand years. That’s a lot of years, Luc, isn’t it?”
“It is.” Luc nodded agreeably once again.
“Exactly.”
He clapped his hands and hopped out of Luc’s lap and onto his feet, turning in place and humming as he took in the state of the small room.
“Okay. First of all, this space is way too small to be your office and hold all the shelves and things inside. Is there anywhere else we could move one of those two?”
“Hm.” Luc frowned slightly, and Oren let him think as he walked around the room, trying to catalog what they’d need.
More shelves, or even filing cabinets. Metal ones with locks so Luc could keep the files protected and ensure data protection protocols were followed properly. Colorful binders, labels, a label maker, markers and pens, a laminating machine, and pouches. He could make laminated info cards for all the sinners and demons! That would be really useful.
He noted all of it down on his clipboard.
This was where Oren thrived. Stuff like this was what he was good at, what he enjoyed more than anything. Organization, making things tidy and neat, logical, and easy to use. He’d get the place flawlessly organized by the time he had to leave.
He ignored the tiny pang in his heart at the thought. He hadn’t thought about Heaven at all since his first few hours here. Any normal person… soul… whatever he was, would have been counting down the days until they could escape Hell for Heaven, but Oren had never claimed to be normal. He looked around at all the grotesque, evil, demonic things surrounding him and felt an inexplicable sense of belonging.
He cast a secretive glance at Luc, who was still deep in thought, and knew he was no small part of the puzzle either.
Oren liked it here. More than living.
