4

[soldierly]

THIS ROUND IS NOW CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS.
ROUND FIVE WILL OPEN ON THURSDAY THE 24TH.
ROUND FOUR
closing at 5000 comments
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PSA 1: Please remember to correctly format subject lines. Prompts with subject lines that are not formatted properly will be deleted! Also, please AVOID ERASING SUBJECT LINES

Comments

Fill: A God in the Pew (4a/4)

[hermione_vader]

Once the lower-ranked priests completed the petitions, music emanated from the pipe organ again and the congregation's voices swelled over the organ's odd tones in a rather pleasing manner. Thor supposed that the good voices drowned out the bad: the elderly woman sitting behind him was impossibly tone deaf, but Mary Claire and her mother sang very sweetly, and even the twins' small voices were rather pleasant. The other people around carried the tune fairly well, too.

While Thor listened to the music, a small group of middle-aged and elderly men and one elderly woman walked up the aisle from the front holding out baskets attached to poles into the pews. People dropped dollar bills and envelopes into the baskets.

Such an act in this place confused Thor. "They allow begging in here

Fill: A God in the Pew (4b/4)

[hermione_vader]

"Do you engage in cannibalism at these ceremonies?" Thor blurted out. The old lady told him to "sssshhh" again

Fill: A God in the Pew (4c/4)

[hermione_vader]

Then they had to sing about the Lamb of God (Thor guessed this meant Jesus, an innocent man) and the Cardinal and the priests prepared the wine and hosts (Thor refused to think "body and blood"---why did this Catholic Church insist on being morbid?). They had to kneel yet again, recite a very short prayer, and then wait for the Communion line to get as far back as their pew. After several minutes, it did, and Thor filed into the line

Fill: A God in the Pew (4d/4)

[hermione_vader]

Just when Thor completed his request, everyone sat back on the benches and put the kneelers up with a thunderous THWUMP. Then they stood up (for the last time, Thor supposed), and the Cardinal said the closing prayer, followed by a few announcements (something about a 'concert series', among other things). The pipe organ played a most rousing hymn as the Cardinal and the priests and altar-boys processed back out. Thor read and sang along with this one, but he was slightly disappointed that they did not sing all of the verses, just the first two.

As the congregation flooded towards the main aisle, people crowded around Thor and Steve.

"Captain America! I LOVE YOU!" "Captain! Over here, Captain!" "What happened to you, Captain America? Is that iceberg story true

Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[hermione_vader]

Thor then wandered over towards the Cardinal and waited until he had finished speaking to an elderly couple before approaching him

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[queenofspades89]

So this is the most amazing thing ever! Thank you for writing it!!!

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[hermione_vader]

Thank you! And you're welcome---it was so much fun to write.

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[downbythebay_4]

Pretty awesome!

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[hermione_vader]

Thank you!

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[bookwrm17]

Excellent all the way through. You captured Cardinal Dolan perfectly, and Thor's prayer for Loki was beautiful.

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[hermione_vader]

You're welcome again. This was so much fun. I'm glad it was all IC for you.

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[my_dear_watson7]

I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic schools from the time I was 1 until I graduated in high school, and, though I don't consider myself a Catholic person anymore, this story made me want to go to Mass this Sunday and relive it through Thor's eyes.

I don't know if that makes sense, but reading this kind of gave me another insight on how to approach going to Mass and appreciating it as an outsider. Maybe if I'd had Steve and Thor with me all of those years to keep me interested, I would have enjoyed it more XD

Thank you for this wonderful fic, you wrote it wonderfully.

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[hermione_vader]

Wow. Thank you. I'm so glad (and amazed) that this fic affected you that way.

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[hermione_vader]

That was wonderful. Thor's prayer was so in-character! I haven't been Catholic for many years but I appreciated this fic so very much. :)

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[hermione_vader]

Thank you so much! It's cool that you appreciate it; in all honesty, I think this fic is me making sense of my Catholic upbringing.

Re: Fill: A God in the Pew (4e/4)

[hazel_belle]

THIS ENTIRE SERIES MADE ME FUCKING HAPPY!!

Like series, you took such care with the story and tried to answer the questions on how steve would answer them, and the adding in the Cardinal... love i!