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dorksidefikerTitle: Vicar
Fandom: Original
Table/Prompt: Table 5/2. Rice
Rating: PG
Word Count: 364
Summary: The new vicar is in for a bit of a surprise.
The new vicar was running the broom over the stone steps of the chapel, sweeping up the rice left behind by the wedding party. Xanthe pushed off from the stone fence that circled the graveyard, picking up her shovel. She wasn’t sure how she felt about him. O’Connell had been vicar since before she was born. He’d trained under the vicar before him, learning all there was to working with the Graveyard Keepers. This one had been sent up by the Archbishop because… well, God only knew why he was there. He was young, and he had no idea what he was getting in to. Poor, dumb bastard.
He looked up, catching her with a squinty expression. The sun was in his eyes. He raised a hand in a kind of wave.
Father wouldn’t have approved. He looked soft and horribly modern. A man who didn’t believe in the things that waited in the darkness. Maybe she would send Herbert around after tea. He was safe enough, as long as he didn’t bring any of his friends around. She waved back before trudging off to check and see if Mrs. Sullivan’s headstone was being properly installed. It had taken since weeks of the old woman haunting her nephew before he’d been willing to spring for something decent. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to forget the old harridan, but you had to have some respect for the dead. Mrs. Sullivan wasn’t going to move on until she got what she wanted.
***
“Oh, that’s Xanthe, Old Gerald’s daughter,” Mrs. Whitton said. “She’s an odd one, but nice enough. Took over as caretaker after he passed, poor dear.” The old woman poured Liam Hampton-Whoolsy another cup of tea, which the young vicar dutifully drank. “A shame, really. Too young for that kind of thing, but with both of her brothers run off to the city-” She shook her head. “Very tradition minded, that family, so Xanthe had to stay.”
Liam smiled, nodded, and listened. He was rather good at listening.
Fandom: Original
Table/Prompt: Table 5/2. Rice
Rating: PG
Word Count: 364
Summary: The new vicar is in for a bit of a surprise.
The new vicar was running the broom over the stone steps of the chapel, sweeping up the rice left behind by the wedding party. Xanthe pushed off from the stone fence that circled the graveyard, picking up her shovel. She wasn’t sure how she felt about him. O’Connell had been vicar since before she was born. He’d trained under the vicar before him, learning all there was to working with the Graveyard Keepers. This one had been sent up by the Archbishop because… well, God only knew why he was there. He was young, and he had no idea what he was getting in to. Poor, dumb bastard.
He looked up, catching her with a squinty expression. The sun was in his eyes. He raised a hand in a kind of wave.
Father wouldn’t have approved. He looked soft and horribly modern. A man who didn’t believe in the things that waited in the darkness. Maybe she would send Herbert around after tea. He was safe enough, as long as he didn’t bring any of his friends around. She waved back before trudging off to check and see if Mrs. Sullivan’s headstone was being properly installed. It had taken since weeks of the old woman haunting her nephew before he’d been willing to spring for something decent. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to forget the old harridan, but you had to have some respect for the dead. Mrs. Sullivan wasn’t going to move on until she got what she wanted.
***
“Oh, that’s Xanthe, Old Gerald’s daughter,” Mrs. Whitton said. “She’s an odd one, but nice enough. Took over as caretaker after he passed, poor dear.” The old woman poured Liam Hampton-Whoolsy another cup of tea, which the young vicar dutifully drank. “A shame, really. Too young for that kind of thing, but with both of her brothers run off to the city-” She shook her head. “Very tradition minded, that family, so Xanthe had to stay.”
Liam smiled, nodded, and listened. He was rather good at listening.