Davie and Mal - Washington Parks
Who: Davie and Mal
When: after this.
Where: The Grounds
Rating & Warnings: G
It was slowly starting to get easier to get into the swing of things at the Citadel after two years away, although Mallory had to admit to himself that it was probably a lot more to do with the changes in the Citadel than in his ability to do what he spent his lifetime doing. Two years was not enough to throw him off of those rhythms.
He had been told to go with asked nicely to accompany some fellow Priests as they went to the grounds to hand out blankets and warm clothing to those who would be in need of them for the winter. The reason of them asking him was obvious about five minutes in, as he was in charge of the bulk of the blankets and the little wagon/cart thing was the second most ornery thing he'd ever had to deal with - second only to Pearle.
They were sitting and resting after two hours of dragging that thing around, and only because he threatened to make them pull it if they didn't. It was amazing how fast they agreed to sit down after that, he thought to himself as they rested.
Davie had luckily made enough to be able to stock up on warm clothing herself this year and she was thankful for it as she trudged through the snow, wrapped up to her ears. It'd meant she'd need to tighten her belt, but she'd rather be hungry and not frozen than full and dead.
She stopped at the sight of members of the Citadel in the Grounds. A charity mission? It seemed that way. Filled with the awe she normally felt when she spotted the holy men of the Citadel, she approached them slowly.
"Helping out?" She asked, then immediately felt stupid. Of course they were helping out.
Mallory had moved to seeing if he could figure out why this cart was so ornery when Davie walked up, and any excuse to not thinking about it drew his attention away from the cart immediately. "One does what one can," he said, as cheerfully as he could manage in the situation and as he paged through the names of people he vaguely recognized. After a few moments and praying to Cita he was right, he added a "Davie!" to the end of it.
Her name was unique and male enough for a girl that he figured he was right; it was a fairly memorable name.
Davie smiled widely at his remembrance of her name. "Brother Mallory, isn't it?"
She gestured at their cart. "Need any help?"
Yes, he got it right! That was a good sign for the day, even if he was still stuck dragging the evil cart around once the others got bored of sitting in the cold.
"No, we are just on a break. Lovely day, isn't it? You look nice and warm."
"It's nice enough, if you ignore the snow," she rewound her scarf tighter about her face, folding her arms across her chest to warm her hands. "How's things at the Citadel?"
"Even the snow isn't so bad, right now. It's making things pretty again." The snow on the ground had already been stamped into oblivion, but the snow in the trees and the bushes gave the dead branches a festive air. "Things are good! Peaceful." There were less haunted looks, and things were slowly becoming normal again. Or they were becoming a new normal, which was really all they needed.
"That's a nice way of looking at things," Davie's voice was wistful. It would be nice to be able to look at snow as simply pretty rather than a harbinger of discomfort and illness. "It's good things have calmed down."
She shifted from foot to foot, uneasy. "I saw your mass got...invaded the other day."
Mallory winced a bit at that recollection. It was true, although it was a surprisingly peaceful invasion. He had been on guard for ... anything, really, although he wasn't sure if he was more afraid of a physical confrontation, which he could handle, or a theological or verbal confrontation, which he he couldn't handle half as well.
Neither happened, and the tentative peace of the two worlds remained intact. He decided that it was a good sign, personally. Sister Isvelle had been an Other, he found out fairly soon after coming back, but the False Cita had killed her for it.
Cita was Good. Others were Bad. Others that followed Cita were ... confusing.
"It was quite a peaceful invasion," he said, after some contemplation on the idea of Others that followed Cita. Confusing. "I was surprised. Were you there?"
"Briefly," she'd left once she'd seen the more obvious Others. Everyone knew about the bodies that turned up in the Grounds, sometimes, the people who went missing, the bones and human remains. The Cita Other had been horrifying, that was certain, but if the Cancellari had driven out some of the more dangerous Others, was that so bad? It was true that some were harmless and in that case they should be left to their own devices, but vampires, werewolves, things that broke into your houses and feasted on your flesh- Davie was certain that the humans who'd condemned the hunting of all Others just didn't know what it was like to be on the bottom of the food chain.
"I thought it might be a good idea to leave, just in case," she gave him a small smile, but her eyes continued to look worried.
"You should always do what you're most comfortable with, though it is a pity that their appearance drove out some of the faithful, much as I'm pained to understand why. If they had tried anything, you can be sure that we would have not allowed any of them to hurt any of you." Mallory wanted to pat her head fondly, but had learned that it was not appropriate and he would rather not risk offending someone else and be yelled at again. "If they come back ... well. I don't think that they will, to be honest."
Then he wouldn't have to worry about what Others that follow Cita were, if they didn't.
"I should hope they don't reappear at mass." Davie had to keep from shivering. Why did they even want to go?
"How are," she nodded at the cart, "preparations for winter coming along?" there were so many holes in the Citadel still - would they have to move out when the real snows came in?
Honestly, neither did Mallory, but the Occia wanted peace. That was one method ... if they were true. Which was questionable, because Others were bad.
"Slow but steady! I think we've managed to block the most sensitive areas so that the most important areas are protected as much as they could be. We have the people to manage that, which is more than what people here have at their disposal." Mallory frowned, remembering how the windows at the orphanage were rarely any good at keeping the wind out. He hadn't even realized that wasn't supposed to happen until his first winter at the Citadel.
Davie pursed her lips grimly and nodded. "Those who can try to help those who can't, but..." there were people who refused to help. People who refused help. "It's tough," she finished quietly, with a small smile.
"All that is asked of us is to do what we can, not more than we are able to handle." Mallory grinned at her, the bad memories pushed to the back of his memory again. "Are you sure you do not need a blanket? I would hate to think that you were freezing because you did not take one."
Davie went slightly red and pulled her coat up past her chin to try and hide it. "I'm alright," she mumbled, then beamed awkwardly at him. "Better get home..." Before she got awkwarder in front of the good looking priest. Crushing on a priest had to be sacrilegious...
"If you say so." Did she really? Mallory glanced at the other priests, who were making the obvious We Need To Go signals and were waiting for him. He sighed. "If you need a blanket, stop by the Citadel! We can give you one there."
"Thank you, brother."
Davie smiled at him and saluted slightly before walking on, looking over her shoulder briefly to shoot another smile at him before moving on.
When: after this.
Where: The Grounds
Rating & Warnings: G
It was slowly starting to get easier to get into the swing of things at the Citadel after two years away, although Mallory had to admit to himself that it was probably a lot more to do with the changes in the Citadel than in his ability to do what he spent his lifetime doing. Two years was not enough to throw him off of those rhythms.
He had been told to go with asked nicely to accompany some fellow Priests as they went to the grounds to hand out blankets and warm clothing to those who would be in need of them for the winter. The reason of them asking him was obvious about five minutes in, as he was in charge of the bulk of the blankets and the little wagon/cart thing was the second most ornery thing he'd ever had to deal with - second only to Pearle.
They were sitting and resting after two hours of dragging that thing around, and only because he threatened to make them pull it if they didn't. It was amazing how fast they agreed to sit down after that, he thought to himself as they rested.
Davie had luckily made enough to be able to stock up on warm clothing herself this year and she was thankful for it as she trudged through the snow, wrapped up to her ears. It'd meant she'd need to tighten her belt, but she'd rather be hungry and not frozen than full and dead.
She stopped at the sight of members of the Citadel in the Grounds. A charity mission? It seemed that way. Filled with the awe she normally felt when she spotted the holy men of the Citadel, she approached them slowly.
"Helping out?" She asked, then immediately felt stupid. Of course they were helping out.
Mallory had moved to seeing if he could figure out why this cart was so ornery when Davie walked up, and any excuse to not thinking about it drew his attention away from the cart immediately. "One does what one can," he said, as cheerfully as he could manage in the situation and as he paged through the names of people he vaguely recognized. After a few moments and praying to Cita he was right, he added a "Davie!" to the end of it.
Her name was unique and male enough for a girl that he figured he was right; it was a fairly memorable name.
Davie smiled widely at his remembrance of her name. "Brother Mallory, isn't it?"
She gestured at their cart. "Need any help?"
Yes, he got it right! That was a good sign for the day, even if he was still stuck dragging the evil cart around once the others got bored of sitting in the cold.
"No, we are just on a break. Lovely day, isn't it? You look nice and warm."
"It's nice enough, if you ignore the snow," she rewound her scarf tighter about her face, folding her arms across her chest to warm her hands. "How's things at the Citadel?"
"Even the snow isn't so bad, right now. It's making things pretty again." The snow on the ground had already been stamped into oblivion, but the snow in the trees and the bushes gave the dead branches a festive air. "Things are good! Peaceful." There were less haunted looks, and things were slowly becoming normal again. Or they were becoming a new normal, which was really all they needed.
"That's a nice way of looking at things," Davie's voice was wistful. It would be nice to be able to look at snow as simply pretty rather than a harbinger of discomfort and illness. "It's good things have calmed down."
She shifted from foot to foot, uneasy. "I saw your mass got...invaded the other day."
Mallory winced a bit at that recollection. It was true, although it was a surprisingly peaceful invasion. He had been on guard for ... anything, really, although he wasn't sure if he was more afraid of a physical confrontation, which he could handle, or a theological or verbal confrontation, which he he couldn't handle half as well.
Neither happened, and the tentative peace of the two worlds remained intact. He decided that it was a good sign, personally. Sister Isvelle had been an Other, he found out fairly soon after coming back, but the False Cita had killed her for it.
Cita was Good. Others were Bad. Others that followed Cita were ... confusing.
"It was quite a peaceful invasion," he said, after some contemplation on the idea of Others that followed Cita. Confusing. "I was surprised. Were you there?"
"Briefly," she'd left once she'd seen the more obvious Others. Everyone knew about the bodies that turned up in the Grounds, sometimes, the people who went missing, the bones and human remains. The Cita Other had been horrifying, that was certain, but if the Cancellari had driven out some of the more dangerous Others, was that so bad? It was true that some were harmless and in that case they should be left to their own devices, but vampires, werewolves, things that broke into your houses and feasted on your flesh- Davie was certain that the humans who'd condemned the hunting of all Others just didn't know what it was like to be on the bottom of the food chain.
"I thought it might be a good idea to leave, just in case," she gave him a small smile, but her eyes continued to look worried.
"You should always do what you're most comfortable with, though it is a pity that their appearance drove out some of the faithful, much as I'm pained to understand why. If they had tried anything, you can be sure that we would have not allowed any of them to hurt any of you." Mallory wanted to pat her head fondly, but had learned that it was not appropriate and he would rather not risk offending someone else and be yelled at again. "If they come back ... well. I don't think that they will, to be honest."
Then he wouldn't have to worry about what Others that follow Cita were, if they didn't.
"I should hope they don't reappear at mass." Davie had to keep from shivering. Why did they even want to go?
"How are," she nodded at the cart, "preparations for winter coming along?" there were so many holes in the Citadel still - would they have to move out when the real snows came in?
Honestly, neither did Mallory, but the Occia wanted peace. That was one method ... if they were true. Which was questionable, because Others were bad.
"Slow but steady! I think we've managed to block the most sensitive areas so that the most important areas are protected as much as they could be. We have the people to manage that, which is more than what people here have at their disposal." Mallory frowned, remembering how the windows at the orphanage were rarely any good at keeping the wind out. He hadn't even realized that wasn't supposed to happen until his first winter at the Citadel.
Davie pursed her lips grimly and nodded. "Those who can try to help those who can't, but..." there were people who refused to help. People who refused help. "It's tough," she finished quietly, with a small smile.
"All that is asked of us is to do what we can, not more than we are able to handle." Mallory grinned at her, the bad memories pushed to the back of his memory again. "Are you sure you do not need a blanket? I would hate to think that you were freezing because you did not take one."
Davie went slightly red and pulled her coat up past her chin to try and hide it. "I'm alright," she mumbled, then beamed awkwardly at him. "Better get home..." Before she got awkwarder in front of the good looking priest. Crushing on a priest had to be sacrilegious...
"If you say so." Did she really? Mallory glanced at the other priests, who were making the obvious We Need To Go signals and were waiting for him. He sighed. "If you need a blanket, stop by the Citadel! We can give you one there."
"Thank you, brother."
Davie smiled at him and saluted slightly before walking on, looking over her shoulder briefly to shoot another smile at him before moving on.