A place for remembering...
OOC: This was suggested to me as something for the City comm, and for Kaycee and Darius to do. Darius!mun and I decided to, and hope any pups who feel they would like to come to Darius' church either just for a chance to remember, light a candle, speak to someone else etc, will drop in and do just that. Unfortunately Darius!mun's net connection went AWOL and we didn't get this finished, so it will be expanded on when she can get back online, but we just wanted to get this up for others to participate in on the actual day.
~~**@**~~
The whirlwind trip to Scotland for Wes and Aidan's commitment ceremony was over, and Kaycee had not been able to settle back into any sort of rhythm when she returned to the City. There was an energy about the place that was growing sadder and reminders of the events that rocked the world five years earlier were everywhere.
As she walked along the street early on the Monday morning she didn't know where she was going, allowing her feet to just follow whatever path they took. The bells from churches all over the City had rung out that morning, at 8.46am. She'd been drawn out of her apartment by them, the sound of the peels taking on a life of its own. And so she'd started walking.
From time to time someone's eyes would meet hers and she could see things they probably didn't realise she could, a different story in each face, but all with the same hues. Whether it was sadness, loss, confusion, anger or simply a desperate need to find a reason for it all there was a thread that seemed to tie it all together. Determination to go on. A small nod of the head and strangers would recognise each other's stories without a word being spoken.
Each building she passed had some sign of remembering, and each step she took seemed to draw her on until finally she looked up at an old stone church and paused in her stride. Casting a more careful look around she saw a street sign and started to realise where her feet had taken her, crossing the road to stand for a moment outside the old building. She wondered at what she saw as while it didn't look out of place, it did seem to have been built in a different time and place.
After a few minutes she approached the old heavy door. A woman came out, head bowed as she searched in her handbag for something, pulling sunglasses out at last and looking up. The tear-stained cheeks told of her pain just as much as the red-rimmed eyes which were soon hidden behind the dark glasses. Kaycee gave the woman a small smile and nod, stepping aside to make way for her as she left the church. She wondered how many others were inside, and whether the priest, Father Darius who she'd met at Aidan and Wes's ceremony was going to be holding a service that day. As she stepped into the softly lit interior she felt the strange energy she had come to recognise from being around immortals and waited till her eyes adjusted.
St. Julien's seemed a bit worse for the wear for those who knew where to look. The altar was cracked along on corner, and many of the religious artifacts that had once graced its walls and nooks had disappeared. Perhaps the most telling sign that there had been some kind of trouble was the fact that the wooden confessional booth had simply vanished, the alcove where it had once stood now curtained off instead. However none of that had changed the fact that the doors were open to those who needed some sense of solace.
The church itself seemed to have an air of sadness about it on this day, as evident perhaps by the people who were sitting in the chairs, and kneeling before the altar to light candles in remembrance of those that had been lost. Darius himself was standing near the front of the church, talking quietly with a young woman who was slowly nodding. After a moment, Darius took her hands and held them for a moment before letting them go, and she smiled softly as she went to the altar to add another candle to those already there. After a few moments of talking to some others who were nearby, Darius looked up and saw the new arrival, and he smiled softly as he made his way towards her.
Kaycee had watched the priest with the people, noticing how each person seemed to leave him with a little less turmoil and a greater sense of peace, or understanding. As he turned and walked towards her she smiled and stepped forward to meet him. "Father Darius," she said softly in greeting, holding out both her hands to him.
He smiled warmly as he took her hands, squeezing them for a moment before he released her. "This is a pleasant surprise, as I had not thought to see you again so soon."
"I hadn't planned on coming either, to be honest," she told him. She looked around at the people scattered through the building, some on their own, some sitting silently with others, holding hands. A young man with two young children seated either side of him was trying to quiet one, the child, about eight or nine looking unhappy and fidgety. "I just felt a need to walk, and follow where my feet led me," she explained softly, looking back to Darius. "There's so much sadness and confusion still," she added, "and I found the energies in the City were so different, in some way, after returning from Scotland." She looked at him a little more closely, there being something in him that wasn't quite the same either. "Even in you, there's a shift," she told him quietly....
TBC
~~**@**~~
The whirlwind trip to Scotland for Wes and Aidan's commitment ceremony was over, and Kaycee had not been able to settle back into any sort of rhythm when she returned to the City. There was an energy about the place that was growing sadder and reminders of the events that rocked the world five years earlier were everywhere.
As she walked along the street early on the Monday morning she didn't know where she was going, allowing her feet to just follow whatever path they took. The bells from churches all over the City had rung out that morning, at 8.46am. She'd been drawn out of her apartment by them, the sound of the peels taking on a life of its own. And so she'd started walking.
From time to time someone's eyes would meet hers and she could see things they probably didn't realise she could, a different story in each face, but all with the same hues. Whether it was sadness, loss, confusion, anger or simply a desperate need to find a reason for it all there was a thread that seemed to tie it all together. Determination to go on. A small nod of the head and strangers would recognise each other's stories without a word being spoken.
Each building she passed had some sign of remembering, and each step she took seemed to draw her on until finally she looked up at an old stone church and paused in her stride. Casting a more careful look around she saw a street sign and started to realise where her feet had taken her, crossing the road to stand for a moment outside the old building. She wondered at what she saw as while it didn't look out of place, it did seem to have been built in a different time and place.
After a few minutes she approached the old heavy door. A woman came out, head bowed as she searched in her handbag for something, pulling sunglasses out at last and looking up. The tear-stained cheeks told of her pain just as much as the red-rimmed eyes which were soon hidden behind the dark glasses. Kaycee gave the woman a small smile and nod, stepping aside to make way for her as she left the church. She wondered how many others were inside, and whether the priest, Father Darius who she'd met at Aidan and Wes's ceremony was going to be holding a service that day. As she stepped into the softly lit interior she felt the strange energy she had come to recognise from being around immortals and waited till her eyes adjusted.
St. Julien's seemed a bit worse for the wear for those who knew where to look. The altar was cracked along on corner, and many of the religious artifacts that had once graced its walls and nooks had disappeared. Perhaps the most telling sign that there had been some kind of trouble was the fact that the wooden confessional booth had simply vanished, the alcove where it had once stood now curtained off instead. However none of that had changed the fact that the doors were open to those who needed some sense of solace.
The church itself seemed to have an air of sadness about it on this day, as evident perhaps by the people who were sitting in the chairs, and kneeling before the altar to light candles in remembrance of those that had been lost. Darius himself was standing near the front of the church, talking quietly with a young woman who was slowly nodding. After a moment, Darius took her hands and held them for a moment before letting them go, and she smiled softly as she went to the altar to add another candle to those already there. After a few moments of talking to some others who were nearby, Darius looked up and saw the new arrival, and he smiled softly as he made his way towards her.
Kaycee had watched the priest with the people, noticing how each person seemed to leave him with a little less turmoil and a greater sense of peace, or understanding. As he turned and walked towards her she smiled and stepped forward to meet him. "Father Darius," she said softly in greeting, holding out both her hands to him.
He smiled warmly as he took her hands, squeezing them for a moment before he released her. "This is a pleasant surprise, as I had not thought to see you again so soon."
"I hadn't planned on coming either, to be honest," she told him. She looked around at the people scattered through the building, some on their own, some sitting silently with others, holding hands. A young man with two young children seated either side of him was trying to quiet one, the child, about eight or nine looking unhappy and fidgety. "I just felt a need to walk, and follow where my feet led me," she explained softly, looking back to Darius. "There's so much sadness and confusion still," she added, "and I found the energies in the City were so different, in some way, after returning from Scotland." She looked at him a little more closely, there being something in him that wasn't quite the same either. "Even in you, there's a shift," she told him quietly....
TBC