#mumin writes

and then he left for vatican, the only indication of him going away being him giving the kids the heads up that he might not be able to host their dance get-togethers for quite some time.

i think of him waking up on the second day of his pontiff and realising, that he will never be allowed to dance with them again, not at least for a foreseeable future.

i think of children realising the kind priest who danced with them every wednesday got elected as a pope and i think of the parents having to explain to them, that there will be some changes now. i think about the teens trying to come up with ways to keep their community strong, even without their leader. i think of them taking over the organising, trying to stay strong, as he always taught them.

i think of them taking a photo together sometime later and sending it to him, without a return adress, for they didnt expect a reply.

i think of ray going through the pope's mail and almost casting it aside, but something in the vagueness of the letter, combined with the post stamps indicating it was sent from baghdad, make him open it. he doesn't even have to read the letter - those faces are familiar to him, he sees them every day on the pope's desk, the worn photo of vincent surrounded by the group framed and positioned right beside his monitor.

i think of ray asking lawrence to clear out the evening and the following morning for him, before he hands him the letter - he guesses the older might need that.

i think of him sending sister agnes to him, knowing that only her could probably understand him, as the one who also got plucked out of her home to serve in vatican.

i think of vincent being so bold with everything else, with breaking all the other rules, but the lack of community to dance with is what is slowly killing him inside despite all the other efforts to make him comfortable. i think of all his friends wondering what is wrong, what they could do, but there is nothing - they couldn't just fly him out back home, after all and they couldn't make him feel at home fully either.

Anyway Vincent giving his welcoming homily as Innocentius XIV and trying to incorporate a message to his congregation only to realise, that of all the languages on earth, they share knowledge of only two of them, and saying anything in English would feel insulting, in his opinion, considering what he wanted to say the most was an apology, a plea for forgiveness.

Anyway imagine the new pope finishing the speech with a mention of his congregation as a premise, before clasping his hands in prayer and speaking in tongue that hasnt been spoken there in ages – his arabic very formal with a hint of a lisp, yet his message clear as day.

The problem is: nobody important on that square knows what the fuck he had just said, even among the clergy its maybe one or two cardinals, the newly appointed patriarchs from the South.

Yeah