Chapter Text
Inbox: New Email
From: HR
Subject: Welcome Melissa to Fashion & Branding
Please welcome Melissa as Velvette’s new Executive Assistant!
Melissa comes with experience in modelling, scheduling, and “project persuasion.” Velvette looks forward to molding her into a shining example of VoxTek excellence.
Reminder: Vox will be making an important company-wide announcement on a new initiative to improve productivity. Free your calendars for 9:30am sharp. He will not be repeating himself.
— HR (Hell Resources)
“Velvette has a new assistant again?”
“Do you think she’ll be here longer than the last one?”
“She gets one every quarter. I heard they always burn out from being overworked, physically burning too.”
—vVv—
“Excited for your new hire, babydoll?”
Velvette let out a sigh. “She better be worth my time, and hopefully dresses better than the last pathetic soul. How can a sinner own so many clothes with wrist ruffles?”
The social media overlord shook her head as she poured herself her first cup of coffee. A quick glance at her phone caused her brow to raise.
“Vox has an announcement? Did you hear about this?”
Valentino’s head suddenly perked up from the couch to match her gaze. “Oh… I didn’t hear a thing about this. Bright and early in the morning too. Must be important?”
“I don’t know why he didn’t talk to us about it first. It’s going to be a busy day today—a new clothing line, a new campaign… a new assistant.”
The moth demon stood up to stretch. “Ugh, yeah. I have a film shoot to get started on. Let me know how it goes with the new chica.”
“Will do, babes.” Velvette nodded, “She’s going to have an interesting day.”
—vVv—
A tall lion demon with a fiery mane stepped through the large doors of V Tower, met with dozens of glaring eyes. It was that same feeling when you step into a room and everyone is staring down your soul.
The group of employees quickly sighed as they recognized the man before them.
It wasn’t the new girl.
“I suppose my presence is that disappointing to you all.” He rolled his eyes, adjusting his tie. “Ethan, what’s with the crowd?”
The eel demon shrugged, “Sorry, Mister Dorian. Mister Vox told me to wait here to give Velvette’s new assistant the tour. I… I think everyone else just wants to see what she looks like.”
Turning to the crowd, Dorian cleared his throat to grab their attention. “Alright everyone, get back to work. We’ll each have our chance to meet the new hire eventually. You all know how the Vees get when someone else has our undivided attention.”
His word alone was enough to get the group to disperse. He had been around the company long enough to gain Vox’s crowd-managing skills. In exchange, Vox gained someone who keeps him grounded and can manage perfectly fine when he takes days off. It’s safe to say that Vox benefited far more.
“Phew, thanks. I’ve been trying to get them to leave for the past 20 minutes.” Ethan smiled.
"Trying?" The paper crane demon behind the front desk huffed, her long beak snapping shut with a papery crackle. "Talk about failing. For someone who works so close to Vox, you'd think you'd have at least some of his confidence."
Ethan stayed silent; all he could think about was what he was going to say to the new girl on the tour. Should he show her every floor? Maybe not the basement. He doesn’t want to scare her on her first day, but she’ll probably be fine, right?
Dorian placed his hand on Ethan’s shoulder, stopping his spiral. “Lighten up, Cori. The lobby has cleared for you to give your warmest welcome to Hell’s most unfortunate assistant.”
The lion gave her a smile and a thumbs up, but she shook her head in return.
“Whatever.”
Dorian glanced at his watch, “I have to run—I have a meeting with Vox. And you know when he says 9am, he means 8:30.”
Cori’s brow raised, “Is this the new announcement? You’re still filling me in on that, correct?”
She was suddenly much calmer. She liked being the first to know everything. It was basically the whole point of being a secretary.
“Unfortunately, I won’t have time.” The lion demon began walking to the elevator. “Ethan can fill you in instead.”
“Y-yeah, I can try. Anything specific you want to know, Miss Cordelia?”
The crane demon growled at the sound of her full name. Her perfectly folded paper wings twitched in irritation. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?! We’ve known each other for years, you slimy imbecile!”
And her mood went back to where it was before. Dorian took this chance to leave, entering the elevator—there’s only so many fires he can put out this early in the morning.
Elevator doors shut as the two continued their argument. It was more so Cori scolding Ethan on random things that had nothing to do with their original conversation.
Her questions ran on for what felt like forever. Like, how are his glasses staying up without actual ears? Where are his ears? Why is he dressed like a waiter? Does he have to cut holes in his pants so his tail can stick out?
She wasn’t even giving the poor eel a chance to respond. The pathetic part was that he was trying to answer each question.
At this point, it wasn’t even a conversation anymore. Just two voices speaking at the same time.
Then—
SLAM.
A fist hit the front desk, snapping both their heads around.
“Finally. I’ve been trying to get your attention for the past 10 minutes.”
A female demon stood before them: violet hair, lilac skin, long black lashes, and heart-shaped red pupils. Her arms were crossed as she was rightfully not pleased with her welcome.
“I’m so sorry!” Ethan stepped closer, reaching out his hand. “I’m Ethan, Vox’s assistant. Welcome to VoxTek!”
“Melissa.” She shook his hand.
She then turned to Cori, “And you are…?”
“I’m Cordelia—lead receptionist. Apologies for the cold welcome, Ethan will promise it won’t happen again.” The crane demon’s voice was low as she sat back down in her chair.
“So you know everything about everyone then.” Melissa smiled slightly, “That must be the funnest part of the job, huh?”
Cori lit up instantly, “Oh, it definitely is, my dear. The news here spreads like wildfire. I’m always free for a lovely little chat if you need.”
“Good to know.”
“Anyways, let’s give you a quick tour of the tower.” Ethan guided Melissa to the elevator.
The pair headed inside, and Melissa glanced over all the buttons. Something looked off.
“You know, the floor numbers seem to be missing something. Like a whole section is gone—“
“Don’t worry about it.” The eel was quick to cut her off. “And refrain from mentioning that number as well, it’s for your own good.”
“Okay then…”
Ethan began touring Melissa around a few floors—taking her through some event halls and a couple of office spaces. She seemed impressed by the amenities. Ethan did feel a little guilty for not telling her that no one here ever has time to use them.
Oh well, she’ll figure it out eventually.
The two reached the creative division after Ethan quickly sped through the operations floors of the tower. Melissa suspected he was avoiding someone, but she chose to stay quiet.
“This is where Valentino runs his studio, the Red Veil. You probably won’t be here much, but you never know.”
Melissa’s brow raised, “Are they going to turn me into a porn star or something?”
“No, at least I don’t think so.” Ethan muttered, checking his watch. “Oh hey, it’s 9:30—“
A loud ringtone cut him off, coming from the speakers in the high corners of the room. It was a specific bell that pretty much signalled shut up, Vox has something to say.
“Good morning, employees of VoxTek. I hope you’re having a productive day.” Vox spoke, sounding more enthusiastic than usual. “I’m sure you all know that Velvette’s assistant, Melissa, starts today. Please give her a warm welcome.”
“As for my main announcement, I will be implementing a new initiative effective immediately. In case you didn’t already know, productivity levels have fallen 8.6% this quarter. This is the lowest we have fallen in 7 years.” Vox suddenly went silent. He took a second to clear his throat.
“Therefore, I’m implementing the first annual VoxTek Productivity Departmental Tournament. Compete for glory, bonuses, and my approval. Participation is mandatory. More info will be sent out through email.”
Silence filled the room once the announcement ended. Melissa glanced at Ethan, who seemed completely unfazed by this new tournament.
Ethan heard Vox talk about creating an event to improve teamwork before, but not one where departments competed with one another. It was certainly an interesting choice.
“So, are we going to talk about how Vox basically started a war in this tower?” Melissa scoffed, “He can’t possibly think this would help with productivity, right?”
“Mister Vox has his own way of running things. This is way better than last year’s mailroom punishment.” Ethan shrugged, “You’ll be fine. Miss Velvette loves winning more than anything.”
“He also said the special missing number on all the floors. Are the Vees the only ones allowed to say it or something?”
Ethan nodded, “See? You’re already catching on. Let’s continue the tour.”
—vVv—
Vox sat back down in his seat, propping his feet up on his desk. “I’d say that went pretty smoothly if you ask me.”
“Do you think we should have sent the emails before making the announcement?” Dorian asked, “We could be scaring them with something abrupt like this.”
“They’ll be fine. A good push is needed sometimes. Each department has time to plan before the rules are sent out.” He took a sip from his coffee, “Be sure to finalize the emails within the next hour.”
“Yes, they’ll be good to send out before noon.” Dorian stood up, walking towards the exit. “Thanks for your time, Vox.”
“No problem, Dorian. Nice work on this. You know, I have a good feeling that this year will be VoxTek’s greatest.”
“I’m sure it will.” The lion demon opened the door, “Enjoy the rest of your day.”
The door shut, and Vox finally had a moment to take a deep breath. Leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes for just a second…
“VOX WHAT THE HELL?!”
It was nice while it lasted.
“Did you seriously announce this tournament without talking to either of us?”
Both of his fellow Vees stood before him, faces frowning and arms crossed. Vox placed his feet down on the floor, sitting upright before answering them.
“I understand you’re upset, but this was a plan Dorian and I had for a while now. And besides, I know you both would have never agreed to it.”
“Dorian isn’t more important than us.” The moth pouted, “What does he do anyway? Make sure that everything in the company is running smoothly? That’s easy.”
Velvette rolled her eyes, “Besides, how do you know that Val and I wouldn’t have agreed to this?”
“Because you guys will make the false claim that I get too competitive.” Vox shook his head.
The other Vees glanced at each other for a moment.
Val chuckled, “I mean…”
“It’s just to get those suckers working, that’s all.” Vox was quick to reply, “We don’t even have to worry about it.”
Velvette scoffed, “You should be the one worrying, Vee. My department will destroy yours.”
“Right, good one Vel. We’ll see about that.”
“I’ll get going then. I have a new hire to train and a plan to make. See you losers later.” The doll demon flipped Vox off before heading out.
Val smiled at Velvette as she left Vox’s office. Turning back to the media overlord, he tilted his head.
"I know how much you love winning. You won’t get away with rigging the tournament if that’s your plan."
Vox snickered, "I may be competitive, but I'm also a man of my word, Val. You won’t get away with seducing me into letting you win if that's your plan."
“Aw, too little too late.” The moth demon leaned over, smiling as he rested his elbows on Vox’s desk. Their faces were mere inches apart.
“Oh Val, you’re going to have to try a lot harder than that to win me over.” Vox smirked, “Getting on your knees and begging might help. I can’t guarantee that though.”
“Funny you say that when you’re the one who owes me.” Val lightly poked at his screen, “You practically begged me not to tell Vel about your tournament plan. So how do you plan to win me over?”
“Fine. I had some meetings scheduled this morning, but I’ll be generous and free up my time for you.” Vox easily gave in. He couldn’t care less about those meetings anyway. “I’ll be at your room in 20.”
The moth winked, “I’ll be there.”
—vVv—
“I don’t feel like going in there…” Ethan mumbled.
“You’ve been working here for like a decade, haven’t you? You’ve probably seen the worst of the worst.” Melissa rolled her eyes. “Who are you avoiding now?”
“Travis. He’s just… Travis.”
“I’ll take your word for it then. Is there anywhere else we can go?” Melissa asked. She didn’t mind wasting half of the day walking around and pretending to listen to Ethan. Anything was better than actually doing work.
“No, that’s mostly it. Your department is just above this floor. We can head up there—“
The eel was cut off by what appeared to be a call to his headset. He answered and seemed very confused, but he continued to nod and agree with whoever was on the other line. Telling them that he’d be there in a moment.
“Change of plans. I have to cover a few meetings for Mister Vox.”
Melissa crossed her arms, “You’re ditching me on my first day? Now I know who to target for this tournament thing.”
“Sorry, I’d love to stay, but it’s urgent. I’ll be away for an hour or so, but feel free to head up to the fashion department—floor 85.” Ethan turned and began heading over to the elevator.
“You can roam around here too, but I recommend just going up to Velvette. See you at lunch!”
The elevator doors shut, leaving the new girl all on her own.
Melissa exhaled. What a first day.
She began walking around, ignoring Ethan’s advice. There wasn’t much to see around here anyway. She could peek into the different sound stages for filming, but she worried someone would force her to partake in the film.
Not that she isn’t capable of such a role, but it just wasn’t her priority at the moment.
Her priority was searching for this Travis that Ethan was avoiding. Melissa was already suspicious of Ethan when he was “touring” her around the tech and communications floors.
Which was barely even a tour—they never left the elevator, he just told her about the department and quickly skipped over the entire area.
Maybe it was a personal thing, but Melissa wanted to figure it out. After all, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
If you know everyone, you’ll know everything.
After about 20 minutes of walking, she found herself climbing a set of stairs. She stopped outside one of the louder rooms and pressed her ear against the door.
It shouldn’t have been surprising to her that all she could hear were loud moaning noises. This was a film studio for porn. They’re probably in the middle of recording something.
But the longer she listened, the less it sounded like actual acting. There weren’t any overdramatic groans or squeals that were typical in those kinds of films. The rhythm shifted, it was less performed, and too natural. It sounded like two people who were actually…
“Fuck Val, you feel so good I hate it.”
She recognized that voice.
Melissa immediately stepped away, evacuating the area as quickly and as quietly as she could.
Her heart hammered in her chest—definitely wasn’t what she expected to overhear on her first day. Her hand was covering her mouth despite her having nothing to say.
Part of her suspected that the Vees were in some form of a poly, threesome relationship. Nothing long-term, just all hooking up.
She never expected Vox to swing that way, although it does make sense. It was strange she hadn’t noticed sooner. Then again, she’d never really thought about the sexualities of the bosses she planned to work for.
It made her wonder where Velvette stood among all of this. Was she also in that room, but she couldn’t hear her? There’s no way she doesn’t know about Vox and Val hooking up. Was she hooking up with them too?
Numerous questions began to cross her mind. She turned a corner—
“There you are.”
Velvette stood directly in her path.
“Miss Velvette!” Melissa placed her hand down, forcing a smile. “Ethan was giving me the tour, but he had to go cover meetings for Mister Vox. He told me I could just walk around, and… I got kinda lost.”
That should cover it. For now.
“That’s fine, love. You’ll get used to the tower as time goes on. Let’s head up to my floor.”
“I am more than ready for that.”
—vVv—
Velvette quickly showed Melissa around her department, highlighting the key areas she’ll be working in. She seemed a little distracted though. Velvette recalled her being more enthusiastic in her interview.
The two sat down in her private office. Melissa glanced at the clock—it was nearly time for lunch.
Finally.
“There were a few delays with your paperwork, so you’ll have to get them from HR later this week. Did Ethan show you where that was?”
“Yeah, I think it was floor 50?”
“That’s correct.” Velvette nodded. She was silent for a moment before she continued.
“Did you enjoy any specific floors or departments in the tower?”
“Hm, not really.” Melissa answered, “The amenities seemed cool, but I didn’t have much time to take a closer look.”
“Fair. Did you happen to see anything interesting?”
“I’m not sure I—“
“Or better yet,” Velvette cut her off, tapping a nail on the desk, "did you hear anything interesting?”
The doll leaned closer, “Such as my two associates hooking up?”
Melissa went silent, her eyes glued to the ground. How was she supposed to respond to that? There was no point in scrambling to defend herself.
“You aren’t in trouble, you know. I just had a feeling you found out. I mean, you would have eventually, but I wasn’t expecting it to happen on your first day.”
Melissa scoffed, “Yeah, me neither. I’ve never wanted a sound erased from my afterlife so badly.”
“Good to know. This isn’t a top secret here at VoxTek, fyi. But I do need to make one thing clear—what happens in V Tower, stays in V Tower. You got that?”
“Of course.”
“Perfect.” Velvette smiled. “We can head out for lunch, on me. And don’t worry, Vox and Val won’t be there. They should still be busy.”
“Thank you, Miss Velvette.” Melissa smiled back.
It was a strange start to her first day, but maybe this wasn’t so bad. If she played her cards right, she’d know this place inside out long before it knew her.
“I know that eel forgot to say it, so I will: welcome to VoxTek, Melissa.”
There’s the warm welcome.