c a r d i n a l

for we receive the due rewards of our deeds

[wae-teeth]

"I'm sure it does." Jamie can't help but offer a playful scoff as fingers undo the the buttons of Adrian's pants almost casually. He knows the other man enough to know that when the banter falters, he's out of his element, to take things slow. It's not quite something he ever expected upon first meeting the senator, that he'd be anything but confident in this department, but he has no problem taking the lead. It feels second nature to run his fingers over a half hard cock and yet completely new at the same time. Because this is Adrian and any act that felt borderline repetitive still somehow managed to be exciting on account of the fact that he never quite knew what to expect. Which was exactly why he looked up at the Cardinal from under his lashes before glancing to a hand resting on the chair's arm and taking an index and middle finger into his mouth.

[adriannicodemus]

Jamie's past being completely flippant, casually flicking open Adrian's pants as though what he's about to do isn't genuinely what he's about to do. Adrian's eyes flick down to Jamie's, the Rebel has always been compelling to a degree that incenses the Cardinal, perhaps it was once why Jamie so heavily pushed to aggravate him when once they were at odds. It'd been this slip of misunderstanding, a blip where, through everything, Jamie truly believed Adrian encompassed everything which the Rebel despised. A God-fearing man to the point of blind servitude when that had never really been the case. Blind to his own horrors and tribulations, sure, but never blind to the hack of what was before him. Jamie, however, was the one sliver of credibility in a world that had long lost its luster; the Rebel peers up at him through a den of dense lashes and that alone has Adrian completely tense.

Jamie is Jamie, however, and if the Rebel was to do one thing it was to defy any alluding limitations set before him and so the Rebel slips Adrian's fingers into his mouth and something of a surprised sigh manages to leave the Cardinal. It resounds in surprise but settles into that low element where he's not really sure if this is all reality but he's damned pleased it is, sitting up within the chair as though it would offer him even a modicum of control that has slipped so easily into the Rebel's hands (or mouth). "Better," the Cardinal teased, knowing how ridiculous his former extempore still sounded and attempting to shake it off.

[warborniphigenia]

"Considering I am to stay in Rome to monitor the Senate due to Romulus' death it might be just a bit," Iphigenia laughs, altogether not bothered for Jamie's reaction to her presence. After the Originals, Magisters tend to be mystified the most and as such she is not surprised that after figuring out that she was the Iphigenia he had to take some time for himself. It's not even that surprising that he had allowed her to stay, perhaps fearing retaliation, and she will have to ensure that she further reassures him that she is not as volatile as Pluto is rumored to be. Him and Romulus were always dirtying their reputation and that was a bore. "But you are right, I shall endeavor to make up for my rudeness today. What is his favorite type of blood? Wine? I know of an excellent sommelier on the area."

[adriannicodemus]

"So, basically, you're to be his replacement?" Adrian grinned, a strange expression for the man who was typically so void of anything humorous or inspired, arms crossed as though this had to be some bit. Through all his priestly formation, he'd read over each scripture and verse many times until words seemed seared unto his mind; as such the Cardinal often had something petulant to say at the ready, armed with words of the false God. "Pay what you vow," perhaps an omen to what they were tied to as sire and progeny, but perhaps something more chilling considering the man she was thus replacing.

[feelsforsterek]

✦ prince hair hoechlin appreciation post

[thatdandyboy]

365 Days of Men // Day 320 // Tyler Hoechlin

[adriannicodemus]

i took him into me as if he were a god, in passion -

@wae-teeth

[wae-teeth]

"I could try." Jamie offers a shrug of his right shoulder, even manages some feigned innocence, but he slides off of Adrian's lap with the grace of a cat. It's all still seemingly innocent as he situates himself on his knees on the hardwood floor, practically tucks under the desk. It's only when he's properly kneeling between spread thighs that cotton is practically clinging to that the familiarity sinks in and he chooses to repress it. Fingers splayed out against thighs that could have been literally sculpted, he looks up at Adrian from under his lashes. They're at home, no one is going to come barging in on them, but there's a bit of excitement to the positioning anyways. Today the home office, tomorrow the Palace of Mars, the next day perhaps the while they're at the Forum and Adrian's physically unable to unclench his jaw due to overthinking, he had plans. "Nae sure how good at it I'll be."

[adriannicodemus]

Jamie is aggravatingly (affectionately) good at playing the coy, innocent card, so much so that the priest is already fidgeting as the Rebel makes the slow descent to his knees. Jamie's hands slip upon cotton clad thighs next, fingers splayed as though committing each dip and tense of Adrian's muscles to memory, this act of holy recollection; it bordered shared worship that swelled between them akin to the belted notes of a choir reaching the chasmic ceilings of a church. There's been a multitude of times where Adrian is merely grateful that as a vampire he literally cannot be caught blushing, but each minuscule clench of his jaw and shift of his body within the seat is indication enough. "It... looks good from where I'm sitting," Adrian's not smooth, actually quite the opposite and it's a god given miracle that Jamie is able to deal with his inability to flirt, or talk, or be relatively close to a normal human. Perhaps it was the intention of it all, throughout everything Jamie had seen through the mask Adrian wore as though it were transparent, and trusted the Cardinal the entire way.

[thepraetor]

"I lost my faith when I cradled my mother's cooling corpse." There is a cool undertone of her words as she keeps her chin up, brown eyes focused intently on the stained glass. The joke the universe has placed at her feet: her mom's death hurts a great deal less after fifteen years, but the gaping chasm of torture has replaced the ache. "That loss of faith was reaffirmed when I discovered Mars, Venus, Juno and Pluto were the Original Vampires and not gods. Hearing the rumors about Zeus and One True God being the same person certainly didn't help. The cherry on top? Finding out how deeply embedded Mars vampires are to the Vatican."

Without looking at Adrian, she counts off the building blocks of her disillusionment one by one, until there is only one finger left. If she were a tad more irreverent, it would be her middle finger that remained up, but out of respect for the Mars Senator's work it is only her thumb that remains up in a mockery of a thumbs up.

"Being made the Great Old Ones' plaything for fifteen years as the world ended and the One True God did nothing? Well, that only added to the growing pile of evidence." She doesn't even know why she sought out this conversation, but she is already here, has already spoken. "And Adrian? My generosity has never been for Him, my kindness is not born from a desire of a peaceful afterlife or anything of the sort. My sacrifices are not for naught, but not because He approves, I don't care about his judgment. All I care is about making it easier for my successors to do better."

[adriannicodemus]

Adrian understands the cool indifference projecting off of Cloe, it's one he cradles well and has crafted a perfectly knit and woven mask from. He cannot admit to relating to her, to understanding her so completely, for it would strip away the mask he'd come to nurture and cement upon his visage; this glued carapace that had become cracked and fissured from years under the religious thumb of the Mars line's influence. How he wished he had the capacity to claim any stem of irreverence but he was a cog perpetually stuck in the machine, the cage, that had been crafted from gilded lies and silk, crafted from his pain and torment really, until Adrian was too far swept into the grand scheme of it all to turn back.

Adrian had no snarky comment to push upon Cloe, the Cardinal normally packed with empty scriptures and flippant sermons was silent, until he plucked a quote that felt far more devastating. She was a woman crafting a legacy that was not even for the sake of herself, only for those who would come next; the Praetor was selfless to a fault and he felt deep sorrow for her in a way the Cardinal could not explain. "From my rotting body, flowers shall grow and I am in them, and that is eternity." The Cardinal paused again, he once thought Cloe was not of the few who could peek beneath his carefully woven mask; she was a non believer of this religion he was meant to falsely uphold, and an eladrin, but that hadn't changed within this current decision he felt swayed by. "Your cause goes farther than your belief in any god, Cloe. That is something of vast importance, something greater than I have ever been able to achieve and I've been alive a long time."

Adrian smiled; it was empty, something of poignant sorrow as he reflected on his own life and how empty and fruitless it'd been up until he had recently decided to start living for himself, the Cardinal silently releasing himself from the manacles the Mars magistrates had crafted for him.

[wae-teeth]

Valentine's Day Scrapbook: Adrian & Jamie

"You should stay that close to Jesus Keep that bottle at your hand, my man Find your way back to my bed again Sing me like a Bible hymn" - "Tulsa Jesus Freak", Lana Del Rey @adriannicodemus

[wae-teeth]

There's this thing the eyebrows do where they raise just the slightest in shock while Adrian's eyes avert and something about it is downright adorable. It's a goal half the time, to get some sort of reaction, to catch him off guard. Jamie can't do anything but grin at the light chastising, fingers smoothing from shoulders to rest at the Cardinal's chest. It's just for a second before he's almost idly undoing the top button of Adrian's shirt, teeth caught by his lower lip. "Then ye could let me do the 'on yer knees' bit." It's practically flippant, punctuated by a slight roll of his hips. "Besides, I think it's fine in the eyes of the Lord as long as we keep our socks on." Forehead pressed to the other man's he can't help but chuckle at his own banter.

[adriannicodemus]

Jamie's hands wander and considering the raise of Adrian's eyebrows, something tauntingly condemning, such wandering shouldn't have been so comforting. It shouldn't have elicited the Cardinal leaning into the very touch but it does and he'd fall into temptation and damnation a dozen times over, through the gelid muck of such prophesied hell if it meant he could merely sit, struck within this simple moment. "It doesn't really even sound like you're trying to deliver us from evil," okay, that was a bad joke and not even when it came to mocking religion as a whole. Religion had become his entire construct, seeped into the very core of his personality and Jamie, the Rebel of all people, had been the one to slowly inch and ease it's insidious hooks from the Cardinal; to the point where he was mindlessly joking about it. To the point where it comes full circle and any sinful temptation is suddenly the very allure of it all, eyes meeting Jamie's, "Why don't you try it out then? This repenting bit," saying the on your knees bit was pushing it for the Cardinal, but masking it as some lewd form of repent translated just fine for the priest, Adrian's hand comfortable placed over the hip that rolled into him.

[octoberinspo]

[flawlessgentlemen]

Tyler Hoechlin photographed by Doug Inglish for Reflect It Back (2013)

[dianaofthemyscira]

Tyler Hoechlin photographed by Tony Duran (2011)

[zoeysalisu]

“Oh, oops, I guess I was wrong huh.” At times like this, she thinks being younger is a disadvantage. There is a lot of information that the older vampires don’t share, a lot of unwritten rules and facts that they are supposed to know but no one has ever told them about. After Pluto’s return, she had thought that the Originals showing up wasn’t that odd. “But what if I am? Pluto is around and after the first party, everyone basically treated that as normal, so I was wondering if we were going to get one of those for Mars.”

[adriannicodemus]

"He's.... my grandfather, if you want to look at it that way," Adrian understood that, though Mars was manufactured as a god of War, he was actually far more approachable than the other Original archfiends. Adrian snorted, it's a strange inflection of emotion, considering he's normally an unreadable impasse, but the Cardinal even offers her a scornful roll of his eyes, "That's because Pluto wants to pretend he's something he's not; a normal vampire, not something leeched from the Abyss." Deadpanned, but hardly serious, Adrian volleyed, "Mars isn't really a party fanatic."

[sumeyyezorlu]

"I mean, you don't really need to. Hot people call me and I come running obviously." Sumeyye couldn't really say that she hated anyone. Well, actually, she hated Theo pretty damn much and he was now the king. Was nobody else aware of how fucking horrible he was? She still felt like her fangs were growing back from his absolutely unhinged behavior at that wedding. Whatever, he was out of her hair now and she didn't have to deal with him unless he went out of his way to talk to her. She was sure that he had much more important things to worry about than what she was doing with her time. "Are we really bringing up faith now? Should we ask the church to throw a pride celebration this June in honor of our dear Cardinal?"

[adriannicodemus]

"Is it so hard to believe a priest was joking about faith?" teasing, being sarcastic, it's the same premise, but a few months prior and the Cardinal wouldn't have dared to step past such threshold; it's likely a drop in the water to many people, but everything Adrian had done within the past few months was daunting for a Senator Priest who was more or less betraying all he knew. "Everyone believes I'm blind and hinging on one True God in the sky," he shook his head, canting his head to look over at Sumeyye, "I don't know if you're just so against religion or that you actually see right through me." He also had to wonder how often Jamie and her had once gossiped about him, it'd change a lot in lieu of her perspective of the stoic Mars priest.

[wae-teeth]

There's always something about this. Neither of them are particularly good at talking, but there's still talk of boundaries in every touch. They wade into everything together, it's not something he's used to, feeling so weirdly in tune with another person. A hand slides from his shoulder to cup the side of his neck as Jamie offers a light scoff at the comment, smiling against Adrian's mouth. "Din think it really has a place here. Unless mibbe ye count the whole 'on yer knees' bit." There's the feigned innocence again as he cocks his hip enough to arch into Adrian's touch, a clear indicator said touch is more than welcome.

[adriannicodemus]

Adrian finds a comfortable niche in this cold and jaded exterior but whenever the Rebel speaks, obvious cracks in this facade become more prominent; indicative now by the way the Cardinal made a face that spoke of how internally he was blushing. It's a sordid rendition of something sacred, something that the Cardinal is far over representing, but a teasingly stern word falls from his lips regardless, "Jamie." It's a toying reprimand not steeped in anything serious as his lips curl into a small grin, hovering above Jamie's own. They're... exploring, it may be coyly suggestive, but there's a silent appreciation to the boundaries they both navigate; the Rebel shifts his hip upward into Adrian's touch and it's all the Cardinal needs to offer a firmer squeeze, "I'm not going to play into your blasphemy and sacrilege," now it was his turn to feign mild innocence and offense.

[adriannicodemus]

Breathless lungs needed no oxygen to keep him kicking, but the pain closed in and the Cardinal actually gasped in pain for the first time in ages. He'd numbed everything in life, ignored the worst of it; but this was a different category of agony entirely. Immeasurable and unnerving, he choked and spluttered as though his crushed lungs really were doing him a disservice as this Great Old One laughed and mocked him. Adrian's final years as a mortal were spent as a baneful man, recklessly wielding a sword on a battlefield; that alone married with his born arrogance, melded into an ego that was untamed even still. The Cardinal spat his ichor at the possessed girl, the only and final middle finger to a monster he had no chance of escaping from.

[lunanightshadex]

A vampire had no need for breath or oxygen, most vampires of old forgot the characteristics that was needed for humanity -- it was why they were such eerie creatures, gone was the action of blinking and the rise and fall of the oxygen that travelled within. Beheading their head however would still put an end to their deadly existence and so the Serpent coiled tighter, sinister pressure was applied and a splatter of blood from the priest's mouth fell across her face from where he spat. Licking the blood of her lips, the Great Old One that possessed her grinned. "Kinky." The final moment had come and his head had popped, splattering viscera on the walls around them.

( The End )

[scerek]