Christmas Eve (for Henri)
Dec. 20th, 2013 01:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
For a short while Sybil had wondered if she'd even be able to leave her apartment on the Christmas Eve, the snow coming in droves the day before. But it had tapered off through the night, and on the 24th the roads and footpaths were all clear of it. She'd bundled up to meet Henri at the Soup Kitchen, their time there passing quickly. A few hours of ladeling soup, serving up rolls, and handing over baskets of canned goods and gifts for the children, and she honestly felt as if she'd done something to help those who needed it. It wasn't enough, the simple giving of food only a bandage on the wound. But it was what they could manage today, though she finds herself more determined to contribute more to Darrow in the coming year.
It's perhaps an appropriate mood for going to mass. She's never been to a Catholic Church before, and it seems rather disappointing in the end. In English just as any service she was used to, but with a dreadful number of candles it seems to her. Overall she finds lttle different, refusing communion as the entire idea of transubstantiation seems suspect, but enjoyable nontheless. It's nicer to have Henri to share it with, even if he seems somber at some points of the night.
When they leave it's nearly one in the morning, truly Christmas day. It's snowing again and as she slips her arm through his offered one, Sybil looks up to him contentedly. "Happy Christmas."
It's perhaps an appropriate mood for going to mass. She's never been to a Catholic Church before, and it seems rather disappointing in the end. In English just as any service she was used to, but with a dreadful number of candles it seems to her. Overall she finds lttle different, refusing communion as the entire idea of transubstantiation seems suspect, but enjoyable nontheless. It's nicer to have Henri to share it with, even if he seems somber at some points of the night.
When they leave it's nearly one in the morning, truly Christmas day. It's snowing again and as she slips her arm through his offered one, Sybil looks up to him contentedly. "Happy Christmas."
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Date: 2013-12-23 02:09 am (UTC)Natural, he supposed, to think about absent friends at a time like this. They had said farewell to Jehan at the church (thank goodness for Jehan - for coming along and making him feel a little less foolish about his Christmas plans, for knowing exactly the moment to turn towards home and leave them to walk together) and he, too, had fallen into a comfortable, thoughtful silence. When the snow started to fall, he tipped his head up, and then turned to her with a soft smile." Joyeux Noel,” he murmured. “Did you enjoy mass?”
The experience had been odd for him, but he kept his thoughts to himself for now.
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Date: 2013-12-23 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-24 04:02 am (UTC)He shook his head a little, reddening. "I am very sorry. I'm getting too philosophical."
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Date: 2013-12-24 06:43 am (UTC)Which was nice in its way, her latin not exactly up to snuff. "I think that my Granny would be horrified that I even stepped over the threshold, but I don't mind. It was fitting, I think, for the night."
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Date: 2013-12-25 05:03 am (UTC)He chuckled. “Oh dear. Well, I shall do my best to keep the secret, if you can do the same."
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Date: 2013-12-25 08:54 am (UTC)"Men always do awful things to one another in the name of man y things, but religion seems to be the one they choose most, isn't it? Religion and country, rather," she amends, tightening her arm through his. The snow is still falling but it's light and dry, landing on her nose and cheeks and tickling her skin. "It doesn't mean that they can't build things in the name of such as well, or that it can't mean more to us than we perhaps wish it to."
She's glad for a slight change in conversation, her smile growing. She tries to picture Henri meeting her Gran, and after the momentary horror, it pleases her. "I promise to not tell her if you don't."
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Date: 2013-12-27 04:38 am (UTC)He knew next to nothing about Sybil’s grandmother, but had no difficulty in conjuring up the image of an angry titled matriarch. “I swear it,” he chuckled. “She will not know that I have dragged you into papistry - at least not from my lips."
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Date: 2013-12-28 04:52 am (UTC)Sybil looks up to him, her teeth pulling at her lip as she considers what she wishes to ask him next. "I've a gift for you, Henri, I thought you might like to have it tonight?"
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Date: 2014-01-02 02:35 am (UTC)"Good," she says, pleased that he's agreed. Sybil hooks her arm back through his, pausing only to pull her keys from the small purse that she carries. Frankly without Henri she thinks that it would have been a lonely Christmas. Having him has changed all of that. "I'm glad."
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Date: 2014-01-02 03:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-02 03:53 am (UTC)She takes their coats and insists he sit, pouring them both a drink before retrieving his gift from beneath the tree. She sits with the box in her lap, hoping that he'll remember their visit to the hospital, otherwise the gift may just seem strange. Nervous, she holds it out to him, "Happy Christmas, Henri."
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Date: 2014-01-03 04:00 am (UTC)"You do?" Her delight is obvious, almost gleeful. Sybil touches his cheek fondly, her fingers grazing along before pulling back to clasp her hands eagerly together.
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Date: 2014-01-03 04:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-01-03 04:27 am (UTC)"Henri," she says in awe as she pulls it from the box, letting it dangle between her fingers and catch the light. It is simple, but that makes it no less beautiful, in fact she thinks it enhances the beauty of the stone. "It's wonderful."
She hold it up to her neck, twisting away so he can catch the clasp of the chain behind her neck. "Would you?"
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Date: 2014-01-03 12:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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