Author's note: The following story, the characters and the congregation presented in it are entirely fictional, and it is written with no intention of disrespecting or insulting anyone's beliefs.
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Jason had sunk in his thoughts again. Not at the most opportune time either. The youth of twenty years was several months in of his acolyte period within the Church of Magnus in Rothbury of England's Northumberland. Jason was a somewhat short young man with a light-brown hair, a relatively handsome face and eyeglasses with lenses of elliptic shape.
Having been raised in a particularly pious catholic household, priesthood had been Jason's dream since childhood. The clergy had gathered in the conference room of the church to discuss plans for the upcoming Yule mass that was due in less than a month. Jason had always loved Christmas, and it was unlike him to be so little invested in the meeting, but his thoughts raced constantly to something, that he couldn't decide if it was the best thing that ever happened to him, or his worst nightmare and the end of his childhood dreams.
Her name was Sally Ravenholm. She was the daughter of Kevin Ravenholm, an owner of a local nightclub, the Second Circle. The club was - depending on perspective - either renowned or infamous for being the most shameless pit of debauchery and sin in the parish. Not only did strippers dance there regularly, but the club plainly enabled and endorsed openly sexual behaviour and carnal indulgence regardless of orientation within its walls. Jason had not dared to set foot in that place, but he had heard they went as far as demonstrating live pornography during some events. The establishment had faced lawsuits before, with Ravenholm being accused of pimping as well as holding an underground brothel. However, those acts were either effectively disguised to fit legal boundaries or they were not going at all, for Ravenholm had so far managed to - dramatically speaking - downright destroy all such lawsuits made against him. That did not erase the fact that the lecherous practices still encouraged and performed in the Circle far from matched Magnus' official views and values. Some of the clergy expressed clear disgust on Ravenholm and the club, many declaring what transpired there atrocious and even Satanic. Jason had never been quite that judgemental. While he did not support the work of the establishment at the slightest, he always greeted the Ravenholms politely if he happened to run into them and included them in his prayers every day.
However, part of Jason had come to regret his universal politeness and goodwill, for a day came when he also met Ravenholm's two daughters. Nellie was about his age and was considered by many, a responsible and mature young woman for her age. She would never get herself in trouble or express animosity on anyone publicly. Not even those whose views conflicted with her own. A quiet and good-natured girl in Jason's eyes, even though he knew her to detest the Christian faith much like her father did, and saw whatever transpired in the Circle as harmless.
Sally was another story.
Much unlike Nellie, Sally - her little sister - took much more after her late mother. She was 18 years of age, sometimes brash and all-time outspoken extrovert who did not shy away from expressing her thoughts in public, regardless whether it was asked or not. This girl did get into trouble with authorities every now and then, much to her father's dismay. As much as mister Ravenholm loved her daughters equally, Sally had been said to test his patience quite often.
The Ravenholms were all quite into the gothic aesthetic and subculture. Though while Kevin and Nellie were more subtle and classy about their attires, Sally's was all out there. She would always wear combat boots, or even high-heeled leather boots regardless of the weather and temperature. Most days she'd have a dark red skirt with black frilled edges, along with a black pvc corset that deceptively enhanced her - in reality - rather modest bust. She would often wear a shirt with a rather revealing neck, leaving more conservative folks disgruntled, though you could argue this was one of the reasons she did it.
Her blueish-black hair was always on a fringe and often came with hair extensions of any unnatural colour such as bright green, deep blue or even pink. Her eyes were always treated with a strong amount of eyeliner and eyeshadow. Her lips were always of either dark red or black in colour.
Normally Jason paid no mind way or another to such alternative styles, but there was something about Sally's youthful energy and outspokenness that somehow hit home with Jason. Beliefs and lifestyle aside, it was something Jason could not help but admire. Whenever he saw her in public, Jason would often find himself hopelessly looking at the girl, only realizing it when she would notice and smirk at him deviously.
One day those glances had brought about Jason either the most delightful or the most devastating day of his life. It was less than two months ago when Sally had appeared at the church during the evening in a long coat which would have been quite characteristic for Nellie, but not for Sally, at a time when Jason had been left taking care of the place by himself. He had taken the responsibility eagerly, seeing it as a chance to prove himself further in the eyes of the clergy. Seeing Sally there had been odd, for he knew Sally was not pious in any sense of the word. At the time he had figured... Perhaps she had had cathartic experience, Jason had thought. He had heard of diehard atheists going through a life-changing experience and coming out as devout believers. Whatever the reason was, Sally only appeared distressed and said she desperately needed help. He had not been a graduated priest yet, but he could still listen and give counsel. Jason had welcomed Sally to sit by him.
How he now wished that he hadn't.
Sally's distress soon turned out to be very explicit in nature. She had told the acolyte about inexplicably sudden and strong waves of carnal urges. Jason knew these to be completely natural within a youth this age, but wondered if her father employing her on bar duty in the Second Circle had anything to do with how dire these needs actually were. On his part, the problem was now this funny, and admittedly pretty girl opening up to him about her sexual desires. As an aspiring catholic priest he was supposed to fight back such thoughts himself, but being the age that he was, it was a real challenge. His colleagues were ever-encouraging, telling him to trust in The Lord and that they understood the struggle, having once gone through that themselves.