Our Lady of Fandom, Tuesday all day

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

He now had cleaning products enough to get this place tidied up, but no one would stop by to do it. Gabriel threw glares around the church, then decided he could just as well take a nap on one of the pews. It wasn't as if he was going to miss anything.

[The church is open]

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[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

It was a very contrite Karal who came hurrying into the church early Tuesday morning. "Gabriel, I am so sorry. There was a wedding and we had to go away, and then I taught class yesterday, and I am truly sorry I wasn't here on Sunday."

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

Gabriel sat up. "Oh?" he replied cooly, clearly not finding these excuses important enough. "Well, Mary stopped by on Sunday with some cleaning products." And no, he hadn't tried using them himself.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"The wedding invitation was such a surprise, it drove everything else out of my head." Dealing with a moody Firecat hadn't helped matters, either. Speaking of which....Karal sighed when Altra came sauntering in behind him. "I am sorry," he repeated, clasping his hands together. "But I'm here now?"

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

Gabriel threw a glare at Altra, but then rose from the pew. "You're here now." He gestured at the bags of cleaning products. "You're familiar with these?"

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Honestly, he wasn't, but it couldn't be that difficult. "I suspect by the end of the day I will be," he said, surveying the church. "I think the first thing to do is to get rid of the garbage." Karal poked through the bags until he found some garbage bags and, thankfully, some gloves.

Altra returned Gabriel's glare with a sardonic stare and made himself comfortable in one of the pews.

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

When Karal was looking in another direction, Gabriel took the opportunity to hiss at Altra. Then he resumed his seat, perched on a backrest of one of the pews, content to observe Karal work.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Altra just yawned at Gabriel, then ignored him, also watching Karal. :You're going to catch something nasty if you're not careful.:

Karal rolled his eyes at the 'cat, then started picking up various food boxes and folding them small before placing them in the garbage bags. "Are you doing well, Gabriel?"

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

"No," Gabriel replied. "I'm stuck here. No replies to my letter, apart from that cowbell." He looked grumpier than usual.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal kept methodically picking up boxes and putting them in bags, scooping up any random wrappers or empty cups that were around. This is certainly a lesson in humility. He had a feeling the Cloister-master would have approved.

"I'm sorry, Gabriel," he said, feeling even worse that he'd not been here on Sunday, determined to make it up to him. Even if it meant cleaning the whole church. "I know family can be difficult."

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

"They're the worst," Gabriel muttered, half to himself. His eyes kept following Karal around the church, watching him pick up all the rubbish that had gathered there. His gaze was still, unmoving and strangely bird-like.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable under Gabriel's unmoving stare, but he just nodded in response. He'd had people angry with him before, but hopefully Gabriel would forgive him. "Is there anywhere else that has rubbish which needs to be picked up?" he asked. "Or is it all in here."

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

Gabriel pointed at the confession box in the corner. "Stowed some donut boxes in there," he said. In fact it was so full of boxes that they would fall out on anyone opening the door.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal nodded, quickly tying knots in the two bags he'd filled, setting them aside to fetch another. It was a real shame he couldn't read minds, because he had no idea what was going to happen when he opened the door to the confessional.

Donut boxes tumbled out and crashed over him, bouncing off his head and shoulders and piling up around his feet. "Oh dear." There was an empty donut box on his head.

Altra started to snicker.

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

Gabriel just sniffed. "Those boxes really do start to smell after a while," he said, not looking either sorry or amused.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

"I can tell." He pulled the box off his head with a sigh and shoved it into a bag, then started on the rest. This was no way for a church to be treated, it really wasn't.

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

Gabriel was beginning to cheer up a little. "This is looking better," he said, then picked up a bottle of bleach. "'kills all germs'," he read on the label. "Sounds useful."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Which sounded like a good thing. Karal was wondering if he could bathe in it after this. "Sweeping. The place needs to be swept first. Otherwise the dust will become mud," he said, looking around. "Do you have a broom?"

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

"I might have seen one in the cupboard over there." He had never paid much attention to it. "This thing smells... strong." He sniffed the bleach.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Already turning to get the broom, Karal stopped and hurried over to Gabriel. "Maybe you should let me have that," he said cautiously, holding out his hands. He honestly didn't trust Gabriel not to do something very foolish with it. Like drink it. "I suspect it needs to be diluted."

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

"Oh?" Gabriel handed Karal the bottle without objection however, oblivious to his fears. Then he looked up. "Do you think you could get the windows cleaner? Might get some more sunlight in here."

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal smiled, thinking of the sun-filled Temples of home. "That I will try my best to do," he promised, setting the bleach down and going to retrieve the broom. "Sunlight would make it much more pleasant in here."

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

Without even noticing it, Gabriel found himself returning Karal's smile. Had he noticed, he would probably had been seriously concerned. "Good plan," he said.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal's nodded, still smiling, and began to methodically sweep, beginning around the Altra and slowly working his way up and down the rows of pews. He felt like a child again, sweeping out the stables.

Except that stables had been cleaner.

"Once I've swept, then I can mop the floor. I may have to see if I can borrow a ladder and return tomorrow to clean the windows, though."

[no-archangel.livejournal.com]

"Good idea," Gabriel repeated, resuming obeserving Karal working with his unmoving stare. The smile hadn't completely disappeared, however.

[vkandis-son.livejournal.com]

Karal didn't mind the stare so much, now. The smile made it lot less worrying and sweeping was relaxing, the slow repetitive movements almost soothing. "There is certainly a lot of dust," he said absently as he finished another row, adding to the rather large pile of dust and dirt and assorted detritus in the middle of the aisle.