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Vox is Velvette's friend and business partner.
And he's really fucking old.
It's weird, but it's also not? While Val is older than her, he doesn't really act older, and they have so much in common that Velvette sees him as one of the girls, her bestie.
Her and Vox have things in common too, and have things they do together, but it's not on that same level. Sure Vox is goofier with them than he is at work or in public, but he's not getting black out drunk or wearing sequins like Val and her.
Like Vox will go to her floors for tea time, but something about him in that space makes him look like a dad sitting in a tiny pink chair, very seriously taking pretend tea in a plastic cup. It doesn't help that her cups look so tiny in his huge yaoi hands.
And Velvette isn't sure what to think about it at first. Vox is a serious person, and he's often the voice of reason. He's always the person to call to pick you up from the bars. He's trustworthy and caring, though he'll roll his eyes the whole time while holding your hair to throw up.
Velvette thinks about his age a lot. Though you can't really tell with most sinners how old they are, some have signs of their age in their new forms. Vox doesn't look like he's in his 50’s. His only telling of his age are the small wrinkles under his eyes and the problematic 1950’s language he'll let slip.
Vox is old enough to be her father and sometimes she thinks it's weird she works with him, that they're friends. It feels wrong to hang out with someone that old, nefarious almost.
But other times she thinks it's okay to have a more stable older man in her life. Velvette had a deadbeat for a dad. A man who drank and hit her mother until he just up and left one day when she was nine. He never came back, never sent child support, never even sent a fucking birthday card.
In fact Velvette couldn't remember a single good memory about the man. They went to the zoo once, but he took her chore money she was going to use on a souvenir and spent it on a frozen margarita. He picked her up from school once, but he was pulled over on the way home because he was high.
Sometimes she thought he had to be down here. A piece of shit like that couldn't change his life enough to get into Heaven. She'd thought about asking Vox to track him down so she could kill him for all the shit he put her mother through. Velvette used to think her mother was weak for letting herself get hit, but now she knows better. Her mother was taking the hits for them, her and her little brother. Money was tight, but there was always a cake for birthdays and at least one present. Her mother tried her absolute best for them. Velvette hopes she's in Heaven.
Watching Vox become a dad has shown her how terrible her own father was. Vox is patient with Vax, listens to his baby babbling seriously as if he's telling the most important story. He's cautious, making sure a space is baby proof. He's a bragger, shows anyone who asks a pic of his kid, tells them how he's crawling now, shows them videos with a big smile on his face.
Vox brags about her too. Vox respects her and Vox is proud of her - she has no doubts about that. He will not let it go that she's the youngest overlord, that she rose to power so quickly- he brings it up to potential clients semi-regularly. He always brings flowers to her fashion shows, always sits in the best seat at the front. He's always the first sale on any fashion or perfume or jewelry line she has, even though he won't wear any of it himself.
Sometimes she thinks, only to herself, that Vox would have been a good girl dad. She can see it in her mind, going to ballet recitals and tongue sticking out as he braids long hair. Intimidating boyfriends and going all out for a daddy-daughter dance.
But times are changing, and Vox is getting more “woke” as they say on Earth. Vax will grow up surrounded by Val and Vel and all their makeup and dresses and jewels and he'll probably want to be involved. And when Vax eventually wants to play dress up in pretty dresses and tiaras, or wants to try makeup, she knows that Vox will support him. He might not fully understand, but she knows he'll tell Vax he looks pretty and buy pink sneakers if he wants him.
If she needs serious advice she goes to Vox. If she needs help with money she goes to Vox. If someone breaks her heart, she tells Val and Vox, and Val will go shoot the motherfucker, but Vox will tell her she's better than that sorry loser anyway. If her stomach rumbles once Vox will order her favorite takeout or make her a snack himself. If she's overworked herself and fallen asleep at work, Vox will carry her back to her bed.
Because that's just who Vox is. He cares about people so deeply though he'll rarely say it in such direct words. He's trying to be better about that, and makes sure to tell Vax he loves him at least once a day so he'll never doubt if he does when he's older.
He's a good dad to his son and he's a good… figure in her life. A good friend. A good role model. It's weird to think of him as a father to her, because he's not. Her father was a terrible person who is hopefully already double dead. She can't get a do over, can't get another dad, another childhood.
But she can watch Vox be a good dad to his son, and she can watch him be a good older friend to her.
Because he's just a person she really needed in her life, but got in her afterlife instead.
