-Alastor's point of view-

"Hello?" I asked, opening the shop door. Madeline looked up, her bubbly energy gone.

"Hey...welcome back to the Tumbleweed Witch Shop. How may I assist you in your spell work?" Madeline said gloomily.

"Oh...um. Are you okay, miss...?" I asked, concerned.

"What is 'okay'?" She sighed, drooping over the counter.

"Now is not the time to be deep and philosophically edgy. Buck up, sweetheart."

"Fine. Why are you here?" Madeline asked, not altering anything.

"I'm here to speak to Rat."

"He died three months ago."

"He did?" I asked, shocked. "What happened?"

"He had a little thing in his throat that would close off his windpipe when he was no longer needed to write for the Universe." Madeline explained. "He could feel it closing up until his death, so he went up to his home in Washington state to say hello to his mom and dad's grave and stay at his home for the last week of his life. The last thing Rat did here was contact Valerie to help Bones out and say goodbye to me. Now. How can I help you."

"I just...I had a new hat for Rat, but I guess it's too late. Nice doing business with you." I sighed. "Guess I'll give it to charity."

I left the shop, heading down to the cannibal district. I had to pick up meat for dinner tonight.

-----

"Hello, Mr Aracane-Glass." The meat shop owner chuckled. "My shop truly is your favorite for meat, huh?"

"Well, you haven't tried to kill any innocents. You own a legitimate business with animals that are slaughtered. And occasionally, you take the sick bastards (human or demon)who murdered or raped kids and slaughter them. You are decidedly my favorite meat shop." I chuckled.

"I still have some morals, I just...meat." The owner said, scratching behind their large tangle of horns.

"I know, right?" I agreed. "The usual please." I pointed at the cuts of venison, sliding a fifty across the counter. They grinned, putting the money in the cash box.

"Pick which ones you want."

"I need six. None of them should have any mold on them because none of us want to throw up later. These are fresh right?" I inquired.

"Yeah, they're fresh. I have the cleanest, most well-kept business in Hell."

"Good."

"Here you go." The owner said after putting the venison in the paper and wrapping it with twine. They put it in a plastic bag, handing it off to me. "Enjoy."

"Thank you, mx. I'll be back next week, same time as always."

"I look forward to it." The owner replied with a smile.

"Oh! And, I have new meat for you. I killed it an hour ago." I said, dragging the body of the bigot out of my rip in space. I put the thing up on the counter. The owner examined it, checking for any signs of unhealthy lifestyle. When they couldn't really find any other than the stink of beer, they looked up at me.

"What did he do?" They scratched their scarlet beard.

"Be a misogynistic, racist, homophobic, transphobic hetero." I said, staring at the body with disdain.

"Ugh. I'm glad you got to it first. Nobody would've gotten around to bringing this...fat pig to my slaughterhouse. I would've tortured it. Anyways...I gotta hang this pig up and let its corpse sit there and think about what it did. I'll see you next week, sir." The owner slung the corpse over their shoulder and moved to the back.

"Have a lovely day, mx." I said, taking the meat and leaving for home again.

-----

"I'm home. Hello, Calypso." I closed the door, kicking off my shoes.

"Hello, Al." She replied, smiling.

"Where's Mercy?" I asked, glancing around. I put the meat on the counter.

"She's off at work. She should be home soon." Calypso replied. As if on cue, Mercy flung open the front door and sped over to Calypso. She started smothering Calypso in kisses before kneeling next to the chair and wrapping herself around Cal's baby bump. I closed the door.

"I missed you today." Mercy told Calypso earnestly.

"I missed you too, muffin." Calypso giggled before pausing. "I think one of the twins has hiccups." She told Mercy, slightly amused.

"Awww...which one do you think it is that has hiccups?" Mercy cooed.

"Honestly... I think it would be Ambrose. I wouldn't be surprised if he had the hiccups." Calypso replied in a loving tone.

"He did have hiccups more often between him and Eloise while we had them." Mercy agreed. I focused on Angel when he came inside. Angel was covered in sawdust and dirt and he was wiping sweat off his face with a rag.

"Hey, Al. I just cut down that dead tree and finished building the play structure thing in the backyard." Angel greeted me with a kiss.

"You smell like sawdust and sweat." I commented with a smile. "Not that I'm complaining. You know I like it when you do a bit of dirty work."

"And you smell like blood. Both of us need a shower, but you probably need it more than me." Angel playfully retorted, poking the tip of my nose. "The blood really brings out your eyes though. Come see, come see."

He dragged me to the sliding glass door to the backyard. Sure enough, the play structure stood strong in the yard. Ben was perched on top of it with a book open in his hands while Ash was on the swing.

"Impressive. Good job, darling." I kissed him on the cheek, causing him to smile.

"Thanks, plum." Angel replied. "Let's go shower before dinner."

"Sounds good." I hummed as he led me to the bathroom.