At the Church

[feck-arse-girls.livejournal.com]

The priest had been sleeping, naked, on the Altar. Early on Sunday morning, he awoke with a start.

Feck!

He stumbled out of the sacristry, through the choir, and cast his good eye round the church. He noted the small group of people asleep on the pews, the emergency provisions dotted around.

Feck!

He pushed the west door open and strode out onto the street. His foot hit something ... he bent down to pick it up. It was a severed arm. He looked around at the scenes of carnage. His eyes widened.

Zombies!

He retreated back to the church and strode through to the vestry. Minutes later he emerged clothed in his finest fighting cassock, carrying a heavy candlestick three or four feet long. He looked angry ... very angry indeed. This was a priest who'd encountered this menace before, many years ago. One of the few who'd survived the assault on the Seminary at Ballymonkey in the early fifties. He had good reason to hate the zombies. He looked -- he could still see the tiny flecks of blood and brains hiding in the ornate carving at the end of the candlestick.

Feckin' zombies. Feck.

He looked at the people sleeping in the pews. His duty was to protect his flock from the forces of evil. His grip tightened on the candlestick, and he placed himself squarely in the centre of the nave, with his good eye fixed firmly on the door.

He was ready.

Edit: Mass has started.
Edit²: Mass is ended.

Comments

[pflag-mom-deb.livejournal.com]

*Sits up from where she and Carl are sleeping in one of the side chapels, on the floor. Stretches and listens to everything snap crackle and pop. Slowly gets up. Sees the priest*

Father? Is it morning yet?

[feck-arse-girls.livejournal.com]

The priest looks up to the clock above the west door. The big hand is pointing to the right, and the little hand is pointing down and left. He furrows his brow and struggles to work it out, fighting through his alcoholic haze to assemble the words.

Seven and a qua...

He stops to think.

Quarter past seven.

He beams. He looks around at the scattered provisions, and returns to more familiar ground.

Drink?

[pflag-mom-deb.livejournal.com]

Sun's over the yardarm somewhere in the world.

*being of rather steadier hands, Deb pours two shots into paper cups*

*She sputters on hers*

After Friday, I didn't think it could get any worse. I thought my waitress was going to faint when she had to sweep an eyeball out of the diner. But, it looks like we're all alive.

Excuse me, Father. I need to go light a candle. My son was out of town, thank God.

[oldmrsdoyle.livejournal.com]

*Mrs Doyle enters the church, she's carrying a tray of tea and cake and has a baseball bat under her arm just in case the zombies come back*
Will you have a cup of tea father? *She sounds perfectly cheery*

[feck-arse-girls.livejournal.com]

He looks at her with complete astonishment.

Tea?

He throws an empty paper cup at her, and it bounces off her head.

Feck off!

[oldmrsdoyle.livejournal.com]

*Mrs Doyle sighs and leaves the tray on the floor, she adds a note next to the cake may contain jumpers*

[marieann-d.livejournal.com]

Rogue, dressed in a black skirt, red long sleeve top, and black hooded jacket, sneaks in the back of the church. She kneels, then takes a seat in the very last pew. Her head bowed, she starts to pray.

[shane-mcc.livejournal.com]

On her way out of the church after having checked on Deb and Carl and Red's cubs, Shane's steps slow as she reaches the rear of the church. A person in a black hooded jacket is seated in a pew just ahead of her and it's obvious they're trying their best to hide, but the hint of shockingly white hair is a dead giveaway.

She's out of practice, but things are starting to come back to her, now.

Shane walks right past her, without saying a word. She dips her fingers into the bowl of holy water by the door and crosses herself before quietly slipping into the pew and taking a seat beside her.

[marieann-d.livejournal.com]

Rogue doesn't notice Shane for a long time. She's so caught up in her own prayers, that nothing in the physical realm really means anything. When she does see Shane, she looks a little startled. "Hi," she whispers, trying not to disturb the other worshippers.

[[OOC: And because her player apparently cannot READ.]]

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

CJ looks at you, smiles, and begins her own prayers. (http://www.livejournal.com/community/fandomtownies/100584.html?thread=2820328#t2820328)

[mannybianco.livejournal.com]

After clearing up at the shop (http://www.livejournal.com/community/fandomtownies/100763.html), Manny comes round to the church. He knows it's time for Mass, but somehow events seem to have overtaken the normal church schedule.

He comes into the church, and spots a tray of cake. He takes a piece and stands there eating it, steering well clear of the priest.

[mannybianco.livejournal.com]

Shortly after Mass begins, Manny reaches into his mouth and pulls out a piece of wool. It's about eighteen inches long.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

CJ walks in, rushed. She's breathing hard from walking fast. At the door she covers her head. At the basin she crosses herself, and walks forward through the pews. There are more people here than last week, she notices. She takes a pew ahead of the girl with the white hair who was in the library fight. She looks back at her, smiles, and kneels to pray.

[marieann-d.livejournal.com]

Rogue gives CJ a brief, sad smile and nod. She recognizes her from the night before, but doesn't remember her name.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

*CJ looks back at the girl, now talking to another...probably student...

but after Mass begins she puts her head down on her hands and begins to cry. (http://www.livejournal.com/community/fandomtownies/100584.html?thread=2824424#t2824424)*

Mass is started

[feck-arse-girls.livejournal.com]

The priest looks up at the clock. It is time. He uses the candlestick like a gavel, striking the floor three times, and shouts at the assembled faithful.

Sit!

He proceeds to conduct Mass, keeping the candlestick tucked under one arm. The text for his sermon is taken from the 37th chapter of the prophecy of Ezekiel.

Re: Mass is started

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

*Her hands resting on the pew in front of her, she lays her head on her clasped hand. The words of the power of the Lord bringing the dry bones back to life is fitting, but gives her no comfort. No Lord she believes in would release such a horror into the world.

Her thoughts flow along a river of horrors she has seen, though. The women stoned to death in Arabia. The women and children slaughtered by the thousands in Africa. Communities burned to the ground. Statistics of rape and violence and murder flood her brain. She begins to weep, questioning whether it really is the quality of free will that causes people to be so horrible to one another...or if it's God*



((ooc:Great choice of Ch/V...waaaay fitting!))

Re: Mass is started

[feck-arse-girls.livejournal.com]

[OOC - I'm trying to do that each week. Last week was Exodus 22:18]

Re: Mass is started

[teenaged-twin.livejournal.com]

The twins are startled awake by the candlestick strikes.

They move a bit apart, rosaries no longer hidden under their shirts.

It's quite possible that they're praying more intently that ever before.

Re: Mass is started

[bloodyrockgod]

This is more people at Mass than Charlie has seen yet.

It's very weird.

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

Just as mass is finishing, Aziraphale walks in and quietly takes a seat at the end of a rear pew. He smiles at each of the congregation as they leave.

[prof-cregg.livejournal.com]

*When the Mass is finished, she takes a moment to compose herself. She dries her eys and cheeks.

A man in the back smiles at her and it's...comforting. Smiling back, feebly, she walks over to him*

Hello.

[a-phale.livejournal.com]

*The man nods and smiles again.*

Hello, Miss Cregg. I'm very glad to see that you're...well, in one piece, as it were. How is The Doctor?

[feck-arse-girls.livejournal.com]

[OOC -- Mun has been looking forward to this conversation. In game time, this is after you're done with Prof. Cregg above. In real life, I'm on UK time, so I'm off to bed shortly, and can continue here tomorrow as necessary.]

Missa est.

The priest doesn't know how to handle the figure in white. He knows he'll have to speak to him, and apart from the old familiar liturgies, he finds speaking difficult. He suspects he'll have to think too -- hard thinking, at that -- and that's not something he's familiar with.

He sits down, one row in front. He fights down his natural language, hunts desperately for unfamiliar words. he finds one.

Hello.

He wishes he had a drink.