"I know, but... oh.." The small joy inside of him wilted up like a dead flower and he gave up the hunt for the shirt. He buried himself under the blankets, not even showing his face. It was sweltering hot underneath now but he didn't take them off. "You were planning soup for dinner already.." It had been a nice idea that he'd had it commissioned for the sick man, but clearly that wasn't the case. It was just a left over for him, it was still a sweet effort. He seemed to have, once again, thought too much about a small and simple act of kindness. He buried his face into his pillow wanting to pretend he wasn't being an idiot.

Awkward. Gabriel bit his lip as he took the girl's soup of the stove - he did hope they could make sure it wouldn't be wasted and put his own on. Then he stepped back into the room. "Are you alright..." Did it bother the man so much that the soup had not been made especially for him. And why did he have such mixed feelings about that? Gabriel swallowed. He shouldn't have come.

"Yes. I am alright. I guess I had let curiosity get to me on what sort of soup a priest suggests for the sick." He lied and it was clearly a bad lie. He moved the blanket enough to let his head out to breathe as it was difficult under all of the heavy layers. "Are you sure I can't get you something? Since you've been so kind to check up on me twice today. Oh.." He sat up though it was still not pleasant for his stiff muscles and he started to reach into the drawer of his side table to dig around while trying to keep a blanket over himself somewhat. "I should pay you for this Sunday.. even if I wasn't in church... What was it about?" He asked softer before breaking into a small coughing fit.

"Pay me?" he said, confused, as he sat down.

"Well, yes. Some of it is for the collection. And some of it is to show my appreciation for you coming to see me. I admit I do not know how priests are paid through the church for their hard work. But you are taking your own time out and I feel.. kindness should be rewarded." He managed to find some money. Easily triple what he would normally put in the collection plate and handed it to him. "I know you probably help everyone in need, but I know many can not truly show their gratitude even in church. That is the problem with living in a poor town, I'm afraid. " He smiled sadly as he wouldn't let the man refuse. "You can put it all into the plate if that is how you prefer to go about it."

Gabriel sighed and finally took the money. "We are being looked after. It's not about money... it shouldn't be. We're brothers and sisters, like a family. So we should all look after each other... There's so many suffering people in this town though. So much work to be done, it's hard to decide where to start..."

"All the more reason you and the church need the money. So you can use it to help others, like you are helping me today. It is about showing kindness and bringing it forward, correct?" He smiled weakly and sat up slightly though he kept the blanket pulled up high. "If I can ever help, don't refrain from asking... I have work but I am a dull man. You can see I have little outside of work."

Gabriel nodded. "You could try and send children back to school when you see them on the streets. It's a law they ought to be in school, but some parents care more about the immediate gain of their labour..."

Elijah nodded. "I do agree. I try to do that already.' He had very clear memories of just weeks ago chasing Edward through the street to try to get him to stop pelting people with stones and to go to school. Of course, for someone like Edward it was usually more of the stopping them from committing petty crimes than the school itself but it was part of it.

[content warning: mention of child prostitution]

Gabriel frowned. "There's people saying they hear stories of children... doing things they shouldn't be doing, for money. Nobody knows exactly who or where it's happening or who is exploiting them, but we need to find a way to end that."