So! I am writing this story where a 16-year-old magician, Will, transports himself into a highly Christian (mix of Evangelical and Catholic, mostly) society that HATES magic... and in transporting himself, he accidentally kills a boy about his age. This of course angers everybody! To make matters worse, the spell that he used to transport himself there in the first place has pretty much depleted his magic, which means he is stuck.
The family that has first taken him in finds out that a mob is forming to kill him, and they quickly dump him at the Catholic church for sanctuary, where the priest reluctantly accepts him into the church. One problem -- the boy is from that church and there's a funeral scheduled for tomorrow. The mobs are forming outside, Will's magic is gone for the time being, and the priest is certain that violence is inevitable and that somebody's going to die.
So! That's the point of the story where I'm at! Now... your part!
I need to hide Will someplace in the church where he'll be safe from the mob for the funeral mass. The priest wants Will to be close by where he can see him, since he fears that people will be combing around the church to look for Will in all of the hiding places and then killing him discretely -- except near the altar, which is considered a sacred space where Jesus resides, which the priest reasons that, even if Will is seen, people will hesitate to openly kill him, just because of the openness and blasphemy that would create. So, that's where the priest wants him to be.
The question is... should he hide in plain site or not?
If he hides out of site, he would probably have to crouch down and hide behind the altar, which kind of looks like a stone tomb... like this.
If he is in plain site, he can be quickly trained as an altar boy... which would mean that he would be visible, but because he's helping out... maybe the mob wouldn't kill him?
I think the plain site thing would be way more dramatic as a scene, but Matthew thinks that it sounds ridiculous and that it would be better for him to hide. His reasoning is that they would stop the funeral mass, drag out Will, and kill him. I'm... not sure? I was thinking that maybe they would try to drag him out and kill him AFTER mass. But, now I am starting to doubt about the plausibility of my idea. XD
I can write the scene both ways, but since it's first person, him hiding behind the altar would limit the description that I could use.
So! If you could put yourself in an angry mob member's shoes...
If you saw the killer of the boy at a funeral mass, and you were ready to kill him, would you wait? Or would you hesitate if you saw him at a sacred place, just because of superstition and decide to kill him later?
Also, even if you're not religious, I'm still interested in your opinion! Because everybody can be part of an angry mob, and that's the perspective I'm looking for. Still, if you have any questions regarding the scene because my descriptions are confusing and you're not quite sure of Catholic church layouts, feel free to ask!
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