Onward to better times: Chapter 2: Additional seasoning required.
#2 of Onward to better times
Chapter 2: Additional seasoning required.
Waking up. The smell of fresh toast filled the lungs of the young collie, Alistair, as he got out of bed. It was one of those Sundays. The whole family being together, a collaborative breakfast was a must on the last weekend day.
Alistair went to the bathroom, took a piss, washed his face, brushed his teeth and headed do the dining-room, barefooted, topless and wearing nothing but pants. The thing was, neither his father, nor his sister were wearing anything more than their underwear. They never did; it was their home.
Sitting at the table, Mr. Waite had been reading the paper for at least half an hour. Marie, his younger child, making toast and setting the table, three big glasses of milk laying on top.
"Would you be so kind as to greet your son, Daniel", Alistair asked, never caring to be formal with his father. Not calling him by his name meant either a request or an argument was at hand.
"Oh yes, didn't see you coming there, lad. Do tell me how things went yesterday. Did Evan look after you? Were you too much of a problem for him? He told me--"
"Yes, Daniel, things went well. He took great care of me...again. Don't worry about it", the child finished as the toast was on its way to the table. Marie gave a sweet hug to her brother. She was an oddly-coloured collie, one wouldn't believe the two children were siblings, the father having a pure black tone.
"Morning, love", the sister always called her brother in a lovely manner, albeit he disliked it; her, for that matter.
"Morning, sis. How was yesterday?"
"Ah, the usual, a boy mocked my outfit. Joe, I believe. That guy deserver to be destroyed. I swear I shall kill him one day, in Satan's name."
***
Stop. Well, his family was interesting. Alistair being a part of the sacred planning his parents had. His younger sister was a sum of 'bad karma'. See, their mother was unhappy with the way the boy turned out, thus having an affair with another member of the cult, Gideon Levey. Being polluted by the latter's seed, Daniel could not retain his relationship with the woman, thus withdrawing to the suburbs, taking the children with him. Alistair was the most precious thing in the world for him, both the perfect (in his opinion) result of his rituals, and his firstborn. What were the rituals all about, the child could not find out 'till he was old enough to.
Back to Alistair's room - black paint all over the walls, the ceiling. A nice decoration, albeit making the room an execration to live in throughout the Summer months. An AC was working non-stop and still couldn't cool the room enough for Alistair's preference. Turning on his PC, the collie pulled a chair over to his desk. He turned up the IM service, noticing a sly notification on the screen reading, "HAI! U FEELIN ANY BETTER? Mind if I com tourplace an have a talk? Great! Call me! -Ev4n".
Problematic were the previous visits from other friends. None of them seemed to understand the ... atmosphere of Alistair's house, often catching Mr. Waite in his praying robes, unaware of the fact that his son wasn't too interested in Satanism; he just grew up and was raised up that way.
"Aturown risk", the collie texted. "Silly. Comin in 10 mins. :)". Alistair was getting a bit nervous. Unaware of his father's plans for the day, Daniel could even summon his priests in the praying hall. Being a High Priest of Satan, the eldest collie had obligations to his followers. Daniel loved everything about the religion, the income, too.
The estate being a "church" as well, it was quite spacious and luxurious. Satanist priests apparently earned a lot of cash, legally or otherwise. Nonetheless, Alistair loved every bit of it, too. There was nothing to complain about; just the fact he was bound to be alone. Yes, he could marry the daughter of some priest, have kids and live under Satan's blessing...but he wanted more.
Walking into the dining-room again, his father still reading the damned newspaper, quite literally.
"Father...", the collie started, immediately resulting in his father sighing, "...you have any plans for, you know, the afternoon?"
"No, Alistair, I do not. Reckon you do though?"
"I do. Evan's coming for a tea ceremony of sorts, would it be a problem if he did?"
"None at all, son, I'd be very pleased if--"
"Would you kindly dress up though, Daniel. You're gonna scare the shit out of him", Alistair cut his father, the latter grinning widely at the thought. They both knew Evan was quite labile, the thing Daniel loved about the skunk. Not that the collie was a sadist or anything, he just loved to pull pranks on Alistair's friends.
"Super then. We'll be in my room, send Marie if you need me. Oh, and where is she?"
The younger collie had cleaned the dishes, and had disappeared.
"She's probably in the great hall. Don't bother her, Alistair."
***
The doorbell rang to the Big Ben tune. Alistair was already waiting in the dining-room. Jumping out of his chair, the collie jigged to the main gate of the manor, smiling as he opened it.
"Hi, lad!" The skunk joyfully smiled. Too cute for Alistair, he grabbed the skunk and gave him a tight hug, a thing he did rather occasionally.
"I am SO glad you came!" Inviting Evan in, the collie closed the door. Wearing a sleeveless black shirt and baggy black pants, the one word that came to mind at the sight was goth. But in this case, it wasn't just a style of clothing...
Passing through the spacious dining-room, Evan waved at Alistair's dad, who was working on a miniature pocket watch, wearing a weird magnifying contraption. The eldest collie turned his gaze to the exuberant skunk, one eye appearing twice as big as the other, because of the gadget, giving him a shady grin. Daniel had dressed up, wearing a long-sleeved black Victorian shirt and various silver jewelry, compensating his fur delightfully. Both kids paced to Alistair's room, Evan bumping in Marie, who came out of nowhere in a long leather trenchcoat and black makeup. Slightly repelled, the skunk tried to give a formal smile, but got pulled by his arm into the huge black bedroom.
Both boys sitting on Alistair's bed, looking at each other smiling. The awkward silence was broken by the skunky boy:
"So...family Sunday...", Alistair nodding slyly, "...doing their...uh...routines..."
"Go on", the collie incited.
"...praying or whatever...Never mind. You don't..."
"No, no, I don't..."
"Yeah...you don't...umm...black...So, where's you mum?"