All Soul's Day- November 2nd, 1888

[valdemars]

Date: November 2nd, 1888
Time: 10:00am - 10:30 am (service- characters may stay for longer, though)
Location: The chapel
Characters: Everyone [OPEN/CLOSED]

Summary: The household gathers together in the chapel for a short All Soul's Day service.
Warnings: None.


The Valdemar family are not, by and large, particularly religious. "My faith," proclaimed Lady Valdemar once, to the horror of her husband's parents, "lies while science and science alone. If God should have a hand in that, so be it. I couldn't care less either way."

Yet here they were, gathered together in silent prayer before the altar and the glassy purview of King Solomon and a host of angels, huddled in the dark pews at the front as if in collective repentance- not that Her Ladyship seems particularly repentant. From the slant of her shoulders to her poker-straight back to the upward jut of her chin, all of her bearing is far too proud for a humble servant; she watches her husband take to the lectern with an almost feline boredom, thin lips pursed. Even a servant watching from a second floor balcony might note the smear of carmine on them, as if brushed on for the sole purpose of better expressing her disdain.

"The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil." Lord Valdemar seems uncomfortable with so many eyes upon him, and he studiously avoids his wife's stare. He dabs at his brow with a handkerchief before continuing. "Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death."

His voice, though low and quiet, echoes throughout the space with a new importance that could only have been built into place by a canny architect with an ear for dramatics. A Madonna relief rolls her eyes piously to the ceiling; a spider inches its way down her shoulder and drops onto the organ, silent for years now.

The final stretch now. "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite," he finishes- and, the bible closes in a dusty thump. With another mop of the brow, he murmurs something pleading about feeling faint before bolting for the hallway wearing a martyred look.

Lady Valdemar sniffs. "A migraine," she informs no one in particular, rising from the pew. She makes it sound like an accusation. "His health is so tenuous these days."

But for all of her snide comments, that she is the one left rather than her husband does allow for a little breathing room. If anyone should want to light a candle or speak a silent prayer of their own, now is the time.


[This is an open post for all of the household. Threads may either take place during, before or after the service. Lady Valdemar will also be available to speak with, assuming your character is either of the right station or has an excuse to do so- say so in your post's subject line if that would interest you.]

Comments

[ryuuzaki]

L is used to the feeling that someone is watching him. Through the course of his life, servants have often been silently omnipresent, and there's also the matter of being sure that he has the attention of the research assistants. Still, sometimes he feels a prickle at the back of his neck, and he's always in the habit of scanning the room to catch anything he's missed.

The small boy doesn't interrupt him, but does catch L's gaze with his own, and it's hard to miss. L pauses, then bends to look at the child, not quite looming over him.

"And who do you belong to?"

It's not hard to guess. Violet eyes are extremely rare.

[muscovy]

Those violet eyes stay on L as he moves over and down to him, though it's not clear if the looming over him made him freeze on the spot or if he simply doesn't deem it necessary to move - it's a mix of both, really. L makes him nervous, but it also would make no difference if he leaned away, right? Not like he can actually get away.

Plus he's trying to make a good impression. To get a good start in this house. "I'm Timo Väinämoinen's son, sir." It's understandable, though the accent is heavy, and Ivan raises an arm to point over at the man who is standing a few feet away, chatting eagerly with another adult. It takes a few moments before he has successfully strung another sentence together, but then he adds: "I come yesterday night." A pause, and then he adds by way of explanation, meaning to make the time clearer: "It rain, yes?" Past tense is something that he cannot form yet, the man who brought him to Britain considered it not as important as a solid basic vocabulary and things like genitive and word order.

[ryuuzaki]

"Yes." It's not clear what he's saying yes to, when in fact, it's everything. Yes, of course you belong to Timo; yes, you arrived last night; yes, it rained.

"It's always raining... it's England. You've settled in well, I see." Maybe, maybe not, but the beginnings are there. "What's your name?"

Small boys like sweets. He isn't in the habit of charming small boys, but a relatively appeased child will probably be a quiet and well-behaved one. As he waits for an answer, he produces a small tin from the pocket of his morning coat, opens it, and removes two small hard lemon sugar pastilles. One is held out, by his fingertips, to the child; the other is popped into his own mouth.

[muscovy]

The reply unsettles Ivan. What is he replying 'yes' to? Is he even replying it to anything, and if he does, was what he said good? He doesn't know how his father's standing is in this house - Timo said that he 'got on well with everyone here' but that could mean a lot of things. And even if he really is on good terms with everyone - especially if he is: Ivan doesn't want to shake that situation.

But he doesn't know the man well enough to really make heads or tails of this, and so he just tries to answer to the question to the best of his abilities. Or was going to, but then the pastilles are heald out for him and yet again he is not sure what to make of it. Usually people who offer children sweets want to get something with that, or reward something that they did. Sometimes they get candy for no reason, too, but that is usually from parents who are their relatives or something similar, and it's never applied to Ivan before.

But would it be rude to not take it? What if he is being tested, what would be the right reaction - he still hesitates to take the candy as he answers. "Ivan." He has a proper father's name now, one that actually notes his father, but sinc ehe already said who his father is, he'll leave that out of the introduction. "I have not seen the house." Yet, anyway. Not much of it, anyway. Only the kitchen and night entrance, and Timo's room and the way from there to the chapel. He'll see more later. Then he'll be able to comment on it, say that it is nice or whatever.

[ryuuzaki]

"It's quite all right if your father shows you around the public areas of the house." This will be understood, he thinks, to mean that other people's bedrooms are off-limits, along with locked areas. "However, you shouldn't wander unaccompanied. Your father, or Miss Saint Croix, or Mr. Lyall must be with you at all times, or Lord and Lady Valdemar will be displeased." More to the point, it seems more than plausible that a child, particularly one of an age to still be in the nursery, would be capable of unintentionally disrupting any number of experiments, destroying valuable books, and so on.

He offers the lemon drop again. "Take it." His attempt at a small, encouraging smile doesn't quite make it to his eyes... but then, it rarely does. He's rarely an indulgent man.