via veritas et vita

[bright_and_beautiful]

Jenny loves the church. It's beautiful even for a small church, of course, but it's just... she feels peaceful here. It's relaxing. She likes it here. She doesn't go to Catechism herself any more, but her siblings are still there for the most part, and she would just have to come back for them anyway. If it was a nice day maybe she would go outside while she was waiting, enjoy the nice weather, but it is one of those cold and miserable sort of drizzle days that no one likes. Even Jenny. So, she'll be in the church, waiting for Catechism to end.

She curls up in the side of one of the pews towards the back and settles into a half doze. So peaceful and quiet. She'll just be here, feeling content, until otherwise disturbed.

Comments

[keyed_up]

"I may or may not be wearing poly blends."

[bright_and_beautiful]

"Shame on you! Three Hail Marys and a Glory Be!" She tilts her head side to side mock-consideringly. "Hey, go for broke, say the whole rosary while you're at it."

[keyed_up]

"I'm not actually Catholic, remember? I'm one of those sort of vaguely Christian maybe people."

[bright_and_beautiful]

"Then I refer you to an acceptably Vague Christian Maybe penance. Build your own!"

[keyed_up]

"How about I continue helping my sister fight the forces of darkness?"

[bright_and_beautiful]

"Yessss! Do it. Soon, my pretties, the forces of good will triumph!"

This does not come out very commandingly. It is somewhat ruined by giggles.

[keyed_up]

"Well, at least we'll try really hard. Thank you for not burning me as a witch."

Soph salutes her, and departs.




Later that evening, she calls Jenny.

[bright_and_beautiful]

"Hey Soph! What's- Patrick, I said down, buster- what's up?"

[keyed_up]

"Hey, if you don't mind risking being out after dark to get over here - which I mostly recommend only if you have a car - I'm going to do a spell, and I thiiiiink it may cause something to glow, if you want to see."

[bright_and_beautiful]

"Caaaan you wait a bit? My parents aren't back from work yet. I can probably borrow the car once they're home, but in the meantime- no car, no one else to watch the ducklings, and Patrick has decided he is a monkey and is trying to climb the side of the staircase."

[keyed_up]

"Yeah, I'm still doing prep work. I just translated the part about the glowing and thought I'd let you know."

[bright_and_beautiful]

"Yay! Okay, I'll call before I head over."

About forty five minutes later, after ducklings have been rounded up and extracted from miscellaneous climbing projects and readied for bed, Jenny makes a heads-up call to Soph. Shortly thereafter, Jenny's mom drops her off at the Swan's.

"Hiiii, I'm here!"

[keyed_up]

The porch lights come on when the car approaches. "Hi, Jenny!" says Soph, sticking her head out the door.

[bright_and_beautiful]

"Hi! I hear there is glowing to be had!"

Jenny is actually mostly expecting this to be sleight-of-hand, but she's excited regardless.

[keyed_up]

"Only if I do it right. I decline to actually explicitly invite you into the house for vampire reasons."

[bright_and_beautiful]

Jenny looks down at her neck, still displaying the cross necklace, and then back up at Soph. "Errrr..."

[keyed_up]

"Yeah, I know, it's not because I think you might be a vampire, if you were a vampire you'd be on fire, I'm just trying to cultivate the habit."

[bright_and_beautiful]

"You have the weirdest problems!"

[keyed_up]

"I kind of do."

[bright_and_beautiful]

Belatedly interpreting Soph's comment as you should come in even though I didn't say so, Jenny waves goodbye to her mother and enters the house. Behold: she is not impeded. On top of not being on fire or tearing off her necklace. She is extremely not a vampire.

[keyed_up]

Soph shows her to the kitchen table, where she's got a bunch of rather witchy stuff laid out. There are crystals and little sachets of herbs and a spiraly seashell.

"If I do this right," she says, "the seashell will be able to turn into a knife that can cut through anything, and back, when Bella wants. It'll be less obtrusive than taking a regular knife everywhere - she'll still need wood stuff for vampires, unless I manage to make the knife long enough to cut off their heads, but not everything's vampires. And if I do it right, the shell will glow when the spell's done."

[bright_and_beautiful]

"Noooot all the time, right? I mean, it's not carrying a knife everywhere, but glowing seashell!"

[keyed_up]

"No, just for like a second, or I'd just get Bella to show you her glowing seashell at school or something. Are you ready?"

[bright_and_beautiful]

"Yes ma'am witch lady ma'am!"

[keyed_up]

"Okay, here goes!"

And then Soph chants in Latin slowly and steadily for about a minute.

And the seashell glows.