Sanguis Daemonium

7-Purgatio et Intermissio

That morning, Marian woke up with a fire in her bones, an urge to move and do. She skipped breakfast and greeting her friends and roommate to get right into cleaning. Up the stairs from the cellar, into the main church, and around the circular staircase. Through the door into the residential area, and to the janitors closet to get some cleaning gloves, windex, and the usual cleaning things.

The clearing of the broken pots and dead plants was the first part, the second was the hardest. She has to take apart the ruined planters after removing all of the dirt. And then the mopping, cleaning the glass, making sure the ventilation is good, substantial heating, and humidity.

No time like the present.
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After several hours of clearing the dirt, scrubbing and general maintenance, it was 4pm and Mari decided it was better to finish it up tomorrow, when Swiss wandered in with a curious expression.

"Fuck!" He tripped over a bucket full of cleaning supplies and landed on the damp but warm stone floor.

"Oh! Swiss, are you alright?" Mari went to help him up, picking up the cleaning supplies and dusting him off the best she could.

"Yeah I'm fine, thanks. I just thought I'd stop by to get you to take a break. Rain's been bothering me to." He picked up the bucket of supplies and put it off to the side before looking around the mostly empty room.

"Really? Why didn't he come up here and tell me himself?" She chuckled, her laughter echoed off of the hard floors and smooth clear glass.

"He..." Swiss tried to put it in a gentle way, "Cardinal is writing a lot of new music and one of the newer ideas are bass intensive and Cardinal called for his input since he's the bass player."

"I suppose that makes sense... well, thanks for pulling me out of the cleaning, I'm starting to get nauseous from the cleaning chemicals." She took off her latex gloves and pocketed them to put them in the trash.

"Then let's go get some fresh air, don't want you getting sick." He smiled and opened the door out into the cold hallways behind the church's hall of ritual and worship. He held her hand and helped her out of the room. His charming and suave demeanor made her feel comfortable, like an old friend who you knew was too cool for you, but they keep you around because there's genuine connections between the two.

The clergy members and ritual goers watched the exit the hall, they wondered if it would be another accident. The church is known for its mishaps and accidents, like poisonings, accidental injuries, etc. But nothing of the sort would happen.

"Thanks for this, Swiss, the air is so clear and light out here." Mari took a deep breath. Swiss chuckled and smiled.

"Yeah, we always have the best weather here, with the exceptions of the occasional blizzard, but it's perfect this time of year. Unfortunately, we get a lot of pollen. Mountain is allergic to pollen." He grinned.

"Really? I didn't think ghouls could have allergies, I know I don't."

"It's different for everyone." He said absentmindedly, "I'm allergic to shell fish, Aether is allergic to cats, cirrus is allergic to hay and certain medicines."

"Really? That's interesting. Is anyone else allergic to anything?"

"No, but I don't know about the other ghouls with the other papas. Terzo has Dew's twin mist on the bass, fire, breeze, dust. Secundo has Alpha, omega, aqua, field, draft. And Primo has Fire, quintessence, water, earth, air. And us. Cirrus, cumulus and I are the closest thing to siblings, Aether is related to Breeze, Omega, draft, and Quint. Dew has his twin Mist, fire and the other fire. It's kinda confusing but it's okay. Mountain is distantly related to dust, field and earth. Rain is brothers with aqua and water."