The last quarter of the year was coming and the groundwork for winter business was being laid down. All the cumulative efforts and trends of this year that had fallen and died or revived would finally be settled. Actually scratch that, Catheris had no idea what the hell was going on in the more artistic fashion world, just a vague impression left by his old peers. For Catheris—such things did not apply to him, he was a bespoke tailor.
Suits were a timeless style due to their simplicity. With that noted, they looked effortlessly sleek and were made out of good quality material. That was one of the many reasons Catheris treasured his line of work: finding delight in knowing people would wear his designs for years on end.
'Is it really alright to stay home…'
These days he wasn't feeling so well, but – that was the thing: staying at home was the reason he didn't feel so well.
It was a dreadful thing to even think about. Plus, Melodis did say she would be bored.
Maybe he'd be able to catch that damned demon in the act though…?
Unlikely.
Even when he was sick, he'd hole himself in a room and watch videos. Every once in a while he'd go to the kitchen for his medicine cabinet and soup. So no thank you; the demon would have plenty of chances to strike even if he was home.
When did it even find the chance to possess him? That's what he wanted to know. Perhaps when he was asleep. But why did that damned demon fiddle with his things before possessing him. Odd.
Catheris' mind was too stuck on his current situation, it irritated him a bit how much he was thinking about it, but what could he do about it.
"Ai? Whatcha doinggg?" A high-pitched female voice perked up.
A rather dapper calico cat clawed at him enthusiastically through the phone call. "Mreoww.." It pleaded for his attention with its puppy–no, cat eyes.
"Cleaning the kitchen."
"Pepper–! Oh, Catheris–about your question earlier. Nah, I don't have anything you'd need for the Solstice season."
The girl's brilliant yellow cat-like eyes came into the frame of the screen. She was of pale complexion, and had black side pigtails that ever so slightly curled at the ends. The girl swooped the plump feline down from the small round dinner table, and placed—rather, slumped him onto the white-cushioned seat next to her; afterwards she placed her messily done peanut butter and jelly sandwich down.
Solstice was the term for a winter holiday period in Virosiad. Whilst they did not have a national religion, there were a few things engraved by the island's culture. The island had always been considered abnormal in location and climate, that wasn't even tapping into the history of it which made the art of divination and belief of spirits prevalent amongst natives—of course, with the environment foreigners who'd immigrate to Virosiad were bound to have picked up a bit of the paranoia.
In general, the theme around Solstice was life. The first phase Wisteroth consisted of remembering the dead with a send off ritual every night of the week, and a final extravagant ceremony at the end. The second would be celebrating new life. And finally, the third would be the party phase to celebrate your current life.
As to why they were discussing the topic over breakfast: it was quite simple. Catheris's new project required him to research Wisteroth's tornado spirits to come up with a well executed design. Thus, the game plan was… supposed to be seeking out Reena for help.
Catheris shook his head in disbelief "Aren't you a.."
"–An exorcist, yeah, but I haven't looked up the history of Virosiad spirits. Look, my entire life I've been trained to inherit my family's business.. which is in another country... which I'll never go back to… I only know the fundamentals–you know, like how to get rid of them."
Shouldn't you at least try to adapt to your new environment–
The pair had met in college as they were both fashion majors. However after the new circumstances exorcists were in very high demand.
Oh my–it was the fancy artisan coffee he ordered a while ago, he almost forgot about it.
"PEPPER, OH MY GOD–"
The fat cat had abruptly pounced onto the screen, vying for his attention; Pepper's green eyes were all up in the lens. In fact, that was how Pepper had gotten his name, the green of his eyes and the orange blotches of his fur combined into "Pepper'' as in—bell pepper! Not the spice. But… his brother was named… Salt.
It was surprising their equally chaotic natures could even cohabitate. Catheris' expression turned into a dramatic deadpan[1] whilst watching them squabble; Reena had already gotten a claw mark scar across her left eye from when Pepper was much younger.
"Goodness gracious.." Reena finally peeled the cat off her phone, shooing him off to go bother her roommate.
Catheris rubbed his eyes as they suddenly became watery, nudging his eyelid into the side of his finger. Perhaps he just wasn't fully awake yet; he didn't really have a set alarm for his days off unless he had stuff to do.
Reena sighed, exhausted, 'Oh, yeah–any plans for this Solstice? Aiden and I are already planning a cat party~"
"Apparently my grandma's a chronic car crasher. She was supposed to show me her sewing setup this year."
"Sooo, you're free? Anyways no need to fret and meet up with some random specialist. Of course I have connections in this industry." She flashed a cocky grin and a peace sign, her eyes seemingly twinkled as she declared "I can refer you to one of my clients. He pays my whole part of the rent sometimes ya know–the suit guy. He specializes in a multitude of subjects–and he probably has the best information considering he's willing to shell out a ridiculous amount of money for my findings."
"Mn, would it bother him? He seems like quite a busy man." Catheris crossed his arms and heaved a deep sigh after a brief, yet excruciating period of silence.
"Well, we are pretty good acquaintances. And I have nothing to lose from asking him right now, he seems pretty laid back. He's kinda shady–but it's whatever for my Catheris. "
It was ironic, Joshua thought she was akin to some dubious essential oil seller.
Speaking of him, Catheris hadn't seen him in a while. Perhaps he'd run into him at the church, perhaps he didn't even want to meet him at all. The most memorable moment from their friendship was when he got stabbed by one of his admirers.
"–Sorry, something urgent came up." Catheris mumbled.
"Eh? Okay, text me later!!!"
A sense of urgency immediately rushed to his head the moment the call had ended; a bead of cold sweat began to form at the top of his forehead.
Catheris bit down hard on his quivering lower lip. An unbearable feverish heat which felt so hot that it felt too cold broke out. It felt like a thousand needles were piercing his eyeballs. From his eyes, he felt drops forming: a thin ink which coated his eyesight into near complete opaqueness, with the black of his iris barely visible. Streams of thick excess ink webbed onto his cheeks, creating a watercolor layer effect with every new drop piling onto the mess.
His host symptoms were flaring up in a way that was drastically more severe. The blood in his veins spiked up erratically leaving a tinge of numbness–the ink had turned his veins a dreadful black. As Catheris' consciousness grew faint, nausea overrode his senses, urging him to puke at any second as he gagged on the overbearing sweet metallic scent alone.
A sharp sting pierced through his gut, waves of pain radiated from the area like glass cracked from a bullet barely holding onto its form. It elicited a low, forced cry through his barely parted lips, dragging on from restrained sheer agony.
His pupils dilated for a split second before exponentially shrinking. Catheris hunched over where he felt it, clenching the side of his stomach as his other hand was gripping at his eye socket, somewhat trying to ease the pain.
"....Heuk." He choked on the sharp breath.
Fuck fuck fuck fuck. He knew that being possessed was damaging, but only mentally. What the hell, this wasn't on the news–
Whilst Catheris did not believe things were going to stay the same today after yesterday, he…
Nevermind that, he didn't have the energy to think about that mess anymore.
Dreadfully, with precision in every move he crawled his way to the bathroom, his nails dug into the floor so hard the sealant almost scratched. If he were to even breathe without the right rhythm his ribs would creak. It felt like he was on the verge of passing out at any minute, the more he moved, the more the air sounded like fizzed up static.
When he finally got there, his shaky hand tapped the door open with minimal force. Inside, he blindly felt across the tiles to figure out the layout before he tapped onto the surface of his toilet's lid. He dragged himself onto it in an aching slump, slouching himself over the side of his sink before smacking the faucet to let water rain down on the back of his sullen head.
He instantly became infatuated with the sweet scent of petrichor. Catheris began reveling in the refreshing cool sensation, his dilated eyes stared blankly into the inky mess below as it washed away into the transparent currents, murkiness swirling into the abyss of the drain. The ink had disgustingly caked up between his long eyelashes; coagulated ink bits loosened off easily as he palmed water into his eyes.
Finally having the strength to get up, Catheris scraped the excess dripping flow off and raised his head up to stare at himself with a tearied view: the slightly wavy tips of his hair had gotten wet and dried crunchy, and a slight layer of ink stained his cheeks. The color of his already dark-red tinted lips became more vibrant, contrasting harshly with his ghastly pale skin.
Catheris sighed in relief. He clutched at his tightened chest still beating rapidly, and his crazed eyes were just settling down.
"Pleuh—pleuh." he spit ink into his hand.
Damn it. He knew exactly why this was happening.
Author's Note:
[1] I imagine his deadpan to be like Rosa's from Tears of Themis.