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THIS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS.
ROUND FIVE WILL OPEN ON THURSDAY THE 24TH.
ROUND FOUR
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They took the subway to a large, pointy building called St. Patrick's Cathedral, in the heart of the good city of New York. It was as grand as a Midgardian building could be, in a somewhat muted way, Thor thought. Had it been on Asgard, it would be shining and golden, perhaps with silver inlay somewhere. Even so, it was a fine structure, though its surfaces were fading: the stone had cracked off in places and the fascinating stain-glass windows had dulled. As they walked through the heavy doors, Steve told him that they were just beginning to renovate the church and it would take some five years to complete it. Nonetheless, it appeared to Thor to be a hardy place that could withstand ever the most brutal of battles.
"Are all of your God's houses this size?" he asked Steve as they looked for a pew.
"Not really. They come in all shapes and sizes," Steve said quietly. "This is a cathedral basilica. It's a special type of church. I think you could say it's one of God's castles."
"Ah."
Steve finally stopped at a bench he called a pew in the middle of the basilica and bent down on his right knee, and touched his right hand to his forehead, his chest, his left shoulder, and his right one. He stepped into the pew and Thor supposed he should do the same, so he bent down and moved his right hand and fixed his gaze straight ahead as Steve had.
As Thor shuffled into the pew, he could not look away from the sculpture fixed above what he recognized as an altar. The man on the sculpture wore nothing but a loin cloth and some sort of thorny crown as he hanged, nailed a wooden cross. His face was depicted in an expression of extreme pain.
Thor looked down at Steve, who had knelt forward with his eyes closed and his hands folded beneath his chin. "Does your God glorify torture for its own sake?"
Steve's eyes snapped open and he looked up at Thor. "No! What are you talking about?"
"That." Thor pointed at the sculpture.
"Oh. That's...that's Jesus. God's only Son, sent to save us all from sin."
"Why?"
Steve took a deep breath. "The first two humans on Earth exposed humanity to sin by eating a forbidden apple, and Jesus's sacrifice on the cross redeemed everyone because he was born without it. Sin, I mean."
"Intriguing. You know, the legends of Ragnarok say I shall be swallowed by a giant serpent and that shall signal the end."
"That's great, Thor. Could you give me a moment?"
"Of course."
Steve returned to his previous position, so Thor sat down and began to gaze around the cathedral. The stained-glass windows were quite lovely in their faded glory, as were the statues (especially one of a slightly melancholy woman with her hair covered---she was oddly serene), but the people entering the church interested him much more. First, a dozen or so petite women in slate blue sweaters and skirts and matching head covers scuttled down the aisle. The youngest woman spotted Thor and giggled. He smiled at her in return, but one of her elders led her away, towards the front a pews away from the altar's steps. Some more women in similar black garb and head covers followed, as did a few pairs of women in normal clothing who wore small golden corsses around their necks. Something about the way they all carried themselves reminded him of the statue of the melancholy woman---they had the same detached serenity about them. Many elders came as well, both female and male, scattered throughout the pews from front to back. There were also many, many families of all shapes and sizes. A mother, her daughter, and her ginger-haired twin sons sat down beside them. The twins sat right next to Thor---they were perhaps six years old and they stared up at Thor in awe.
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"Gabriel, sssshhh," the twins' mother warned.
"But it is!" Gabriel shook his arms in excitement. "Aren't you?"
Thor grinned but shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not."
"Oh, sorry." The boy's head drooped and he turned away.
The twins' older sister (who was perhaps about thirteen or so) leaned forward and looked from Thor to Steve and back again. "They let gay couples in church now?"
"Mary Claire!" their mother hissed. "You will not talk that way in church. It is perfectly legal, no matter what any sermon says."
"He is not my lover," Thor corrected. Steve kept his eyes determinedly shut. "He is my good and dear friend, and I asked him to show me this sacred place."
Mary Claire rolled her eyes. Her mother elbowed her sharply.
Some formal-sounding music emitted from a gigantic instrument that Steve had called a pipe organ. Steve looked to the back of the church and his eyes grew wide.
"Looks like we got the Cardinal celebrating Mass today," Steve said. He sounded rather surprised.
"Cardinal? Like the baseball team?" Thor had discovered their adventures through the wonders of the YouTube, and he enjoyed them. But to his knowledge, they worshipped a squirrel and a noble man named Stan, not any gods.
"No, not them. Cardinals are the highest level of priest---only the Pope is above them---they elect him leader of the church from their own ranks." Steve sat back and handed Thor one of the books sitting in the pew's pockets. "This is a hymnal. You'll need it to follow along."
Just as Steve finished speaking, the congregation stood up and the procession began. Thor watched with great interest, as did the twins, who stood on the pew-bench to see. Everyone else opened their hymnals and sang, including Steve.
The Cardinal strode down the aisle flanked by priests of lesser rank and a few altar-boys, as Steve called them, who carried a stick bearing candles as well as another figure of this dying Jesus fellow. Thor found this obsession with one man's death to be rather morbid, even by Asgardian standards.
Finally, the processing party reached the altar and stood in front of their ornate designated seats. Steve opened Thor's hymnal to the correct page while the Cardinal recited a greeting. Then everyone made that sign again, touching hand to forehead, chest, and shoulders. Thor would have to ask Steve exactly what that meant after Mass. After a few more prayers (including some where everyone mumbled along with the Cardinal) and a rousing song called a "Gloria" (Thor could not help but sing along to that one), everyone sat down and one of the priests went up to a wooden podium and began to read.
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I just sort of had to give you all of the love ever for name-checking the rally squirrel & Stan The Man. *g*
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I'm glad you enjoyed it.
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