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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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"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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