And a Vision Gone Mad ((69))

[Meadowlark]

Coricopat entered the house, shrugging out of his coat and hanging his hat on the rack by the door, flipping through the mail, "Electricity...gas...mortgage...what on earth?" He entered the kitchen as he murmured under his breath about the mail. He dropped the bills on the table, he'd look them over later. He hooked his claw under the flap of the envelope still in his paws. The address was written neatly in a masculine script. Strange, he never saw actual correspondence.

[victoriousscarf]

Misto turned around when he heard the door open. "Hey," he said. "Anything interesting in the mail?"

[Meadowlark]

"Hm? Oh, mostly the usual." The lawyer frowned as he slit the envelope open carefully, not entirely sure he wanted to see what was in it. Withdrawing the letter inside he rubbed the paper between his fingers, good quality... Unfolding it he narrowly avoided dropping the newspaper clipping that fluttered out. His grey eyes scanned the short note once, twice, thrice before he actually looked at the clipping.

The mottled cat paled noticeably, tossing the papers onto the table as though they'd burned him and turned, exiting the kitchen and entering the living room, moving over to the bookshelf, scanning the titles without seeing them, trying to calm his nerves and emotions. Everlasting Cat.

[victoriousscarf]

Misto blinked after him for a moment, leaning over the table to look at what the other had dropped. He frowned, seeing what looked like an obit. He scanned it quickly and could see nothing in it that could have made Coricopat react like that. Who the hell...? Quietly, he padded over to the living room, looking inside.

[Meadowlark]

Cori stood, his back still to the doorway, his eyes closed as he took deep breaths, his tail was twining and untwining from around his leg, one paw resting against the spine of one of his books, his ears laying back. He couldn't do this. He had to get out of the house...

[victoriousscarf]

Holy hell. He had never seen Coricopat react to anything nearly like that. "Coricopat?" he asked very quietly.

[Meadowlark]

The older tom startled, turning enough to glance at Mistoffelees from the corner of his eye, "Yes?"

[victoriousscarf]

"You... are you..." No, the other was not okay, it would be a stupid question. "What happened?"

[Meadowlark]

The only reply he received was a glare as Cori grabbed a book from the shelf, not even caring which one it was at the moment.

[victoriousscarf]

Misto watched him, a little wary. "Do you want anything?" he asked finally, retreating back to what was slightly more solid ground. Though... Coricopat had just picked up on of his books and it made him frown all the harder.

[Meadowlark]

"I'm fine." He replied, albeit a bit sharply. He glanced at the book in his paw grimacing before replacing it and reaching for a collection of Hawthorne's short stories, pulling his paw away from it sharply at the last moment--not that one, any other one--and grabbing the book beside it.

[victoriousscarf]

Misto blinked in confusion at that particular display. "Alright…"

[Meadowlark]

Coricopat finally turned from the bookshelf settling into his chair, opening the book to a point that was marked, he usually had two or three he was reading at any time. Cat, this was ridiculous.

[victoriousscarf]

Misto stared at him for another moment before turning and going back to the kitchen, putting the kettle on for tea, more for himself at that point than the other. His eyes strayed back to the abandoned letter on the table. Glancing back toward the living room, he picked it up, actually reading it through. It did not give him much of an insight.

[Meadowlark]

The moment Misto was out of the room, Coricopat allowed his shoulders to slump, running a shaky paw over his face before trying to concentrate on his reading. He knew what the words were but somehow they weren't processing. Not after...no, it didn't matter. That was years ago, and had been a mistake then.