The way I ate this up like itās the most exquisite, most expensive food Iāve ever gotten to tasteā¦
Cardinal and Mouse ā 9: A kiss in public.
However that looks for them... ā¤ļø
Here's a little bit of Cardinal and Mouse (and Terzo) running errands down in the village on a gloomy day:
ao3 link here or continue reading below...
The wind played about our ankles as we walked together, the Cardinal in his black robes, me looking rather like a catholic school student, as usual. My clothes muted; black alice band in my hair. I tried to match his grim but sharp silhouette when we were out in town like this. A rare but necessary occurrence at times; there were errands to run, and though we didnāt go preaching on street corners, we were also not an order of anchorites. Sister Imperator wanted the abbeyās residents to be seen about from time to time, so we werenāt completely forgotten way back in the woods. I wanted to remain respectable but demure so as not to attract unwanted attention.
Our shoes clipped along the sidewalk, damp with remnants of an earlier rain, and I quietly reached out to hold his gloved hand for security. I wasnāt ashamed to be with him, but our satanic faith was rare, and though many came from far and wide to join the abbey, the local village could be unwelcoming, still, as the grey clouds above were. We shouldnāt have left our coats in the car.
Copia squeezed my hand as I skipped around a puddle. āWhy donāt you sit in the back with me on our return, dolce?ā
Smoothing my skirt down, I thought I heard the ghost of a complaint in his tone, and I smiled slyly to myself as I answered him. āOh, I couldnāt, Your Eminence,ā I said, casually, āPapa would never allow it.ā Insisting on me riding shotgun, Terzo had driven the three of us into town earlier; I think he liked to show off his driving skills, to my amusement and the Cardinalās irritation.
āWouldnāt allowā¦ Quellāidiota! I forbid you from listening to anything that deficiente says!ā Copia yanked me closer by the hand as we walked, his grip like a vice.
I only stifled a giggle, saying nothing. I could spot Terzo up ahead, exiting the local Christian bookstore as he slicked his hair back with a flourish and a frown. He looked jarring to me without his full face paint on, and he certainly didnāt blend in here, wearing his fancy and rather old-fashioned suit and gloves. He strode towards us, and we met by the steps of a little cafĆ©. āSorellina! Cardinal.ā
āDid you find what you needed, Papa?ā I teased. I knew perfectly well that Terzo liked to browse the religious shelves, attracting the shy attentions of the pretty shop girl in there. Perhaps attracting a future convert.
Perhaps not. āI need a coffee,ā Papa pouted, and he went up the steps into the charming building, holding the door open for us as we followed, tiny bell chiming above our heads.
The little cafƩ was quaint and cute inside, warm, and thankfully not too crowded. Still though, I noticed the idle chatter around us quieting as we made our way over to the counter. Papa ordered three cappuccinos in a courteous tone, which were made quicker when I pulled out the impressively matte abbey credit card to pay.
āThank you,ā I told the woman behind the counter when she put our drinks up. She looked at me with concern, and flicked her eyes in suspicion at my companions, resting her narrowing gaze on Copiaās shiny grucifix for a second. He slipped his hand around my waist as we left the counter, looking both amused and annoyed. Terzo picked an empty table in a shadowed corner.
The Cardinal pulled out a chair for me and I sat, removing the lid from my cup with cold fingertips to let the steaming foam cool. āItās nice to have something fancy now and then,ā I remarked, looking down at my drink, the top mottled with cinnamon.
āWe should get one of those espresso machines,ā said Copia, dourly, as he sat down beside me, removing his biretta.
āIāll ask Sister,ā I said, leaning forward to blow lightly on the foam.
Terzo gave me a withering look from across the table. āIf this sludge in a paper cup is fancy to you, piccolina, I donāt even know where to begin pitying your previous life.ā He looked around at the dimly lit furnishings. āFather in hell, how long did you suffer wilting in this village? I should have baptized you earlier.ā
I grinned contentedly as I took my first sip, not bothering to answer.
Copia and Terzo tried their drinks as well, and they were both oddly silent for a while, warming their gloves on their own cups. In spite of our cozy surroundings and the soft music playing, the air in here was beginning to feel further unsettled, just as it had when we had entered. Strange eyes glancing over at us, conversations halted. I almost expected an inevitable signing of the cross.
The three of us shared a sombre mood, and I sighed a little; though we were sheltered in here, this was nothing like our beloved abbey. Wrapping my hands around my cappuccino, I slid it closer, shivering slightly.
Copia moved my hair aside to put his hand on the back of my neck. āAre you cold, dolcezza?ā
āNo, Iām fine, Your Eminence,ā I reassured him. I shuffled closer to rest my head on his shoulder for a minute.
Terzo was idly sipping his coffee. āLucifero, I am boredā¦ā
āWeāre almost done here,ā I sighed, sitting back and digging the list out of my little bag, āLet me seeā¦ā Copiaās fingertips idly stroked along my shoulders as he sipped his own cappuccino beside me.
āOh si, the listā¦ We must consult the list,ā teased Terzo, rolling his eyes a little before he took another sip.
Copia glared at him and I grinned softly. āWe just need to pick up her parcel at the post, and thenā¦ā I scanned the little folded note in my hand. āSomething sweet and fresh, Sister said, from the bakeryā¦ and then Papa Nihilās prescription... Thatās all.ā
āTedioso,ā said Terzo, odd eyes glazing, āNever did I think I would rise such in my satanic station to be out in the sleepiest of hamlets running errands like a peasantā¦ā
āIām sorry Iām not better company,ā I pouted, and Terzo startled, looking a bit guilty.
āSorellina! I didnāt meanāā
āWhy donāt you just shut up,ā Copia told him, and I smiled down into my cup. āGasbag,ā I heard the Cardinal mutter into his own drink. We all drank deeply for a moment, and I felt a little merrier.
āMmm, that is nice,ā I murmured, ābut not as nice as a real Italian coffee, Iām guessing?ā
Both Copia and Terzo perked up a little bit, telling me in impatient turns how nothing here could compare to the caffƩ of their youth, the richness, the quality. The strict attention to detail. Dreamily, I listened, warmed by my own coffee and their impassioned tones. Though Copia feigned to be less caught in the trappings of luxury that Terzo delighted in, I knew he was nevertheless attracted to excellence. His wine, literature, and the fabrics of life that he surrounded himself in reflected that. Sometimes I still wondered what he found worthy in me; I came from nothing.
āOne day I will bring you to the Riviera ligure, dolce, and you can see for yourself how you are deprived here,ā said the Cardinal, low into my ear. I thought of sunny coastlines, and tangled sheets, and smiled, my gloom lifting a bit.
Terzo drained his cup and relaxed back in his chair for a moment. āI need to go christen this place,ā he stated, pulling his gloves off and standing up to go and head towards the washroom, āanother unholy errandā¦ā
āSacred duties call,ā said the Cardinal, and I grinned as I finished my own coffee. He took a final sip of his own, and I reached up to swipe some foam away from his moustache with my thumb. Copia leaned into my hand, and our faces came close.
I could feel hostile eyes upon us, like a sprinkling of holy water. Leaning back over the table, I looked down at the remnants of foam in my cup, shy and quiet. Copia sighed a little beside me, and when I glanced back up at him he moved to catch my chin gently. Lifting my eyes up to his pooling ones, I barely shook my head, and he watched me bite my lip. He looked weary, but slightly amused. If he had kissed me anyway, I would have melted into his warmth, but instead, he brushed his thumb underneath my pout, sighed again, and let me go, tilting his head to watch me squirm.
āI canāt wait to go home,ā I whispered to him, out of the corner of my mouth.
āStraight upstairs, I am thinkingā¦ā he whispered back with a sly smile, āor downstairs, perhaps. My paperwork can wait.ā
I thought of the sweet torture that awaited me, after the agony of deprivation I was currently surrounded in, and blushed. My knee nudged the Cardinalās underneath the table, and I couldnāt even look at him. I felt my heartbeat rising.
Finally Terzo came back to the table, and we left, feeling like the cafƩ had spit us out onto the pavement. Blinking in the light out here, I looked about us to see where we should head to next.
āLetās split up,ā yawned Terzo, āIāll take the bakery, you two do the post.ā
āSi, si, vai ad attaccati al tuo cazzo,ā said Copia, impatient. Grabbing me by the hand again, he began to march us away from Papa down the sidewalk.
Terzo turned away as well, but I heard him call over his shoulder, āOh, and by Satanās asshole, I am NOT picking up the old fartās meds! Not again.ā
I just laughed out loud so Papa knew I heard him, struggling to keep up with the Cardinalās stride. āOh, oh, Copiaā¦ wait for me!ā
Slowing down, he let me catch my breath, wrapping his arm around me for a moment. Grateful for his warmth, and for the comforting whiff of his cologne, I snaked my own arm around the back of his waist, and leant my head against him again. I could see we were approaching the local Catholic chapel up ahead.
As sleepy as this village was, there was yet some bustling going on here. Parishioners milled about the grounds as they exited the little church; it must have been the end of the daily mass or the weekly adoration, I couldnāt tell.
Copia watched me looking over. āDo you miss it, dolce?ā
I shook my head a little. āThe only things I would have missed would have been the ceremony of it all. The ritual; the devotion.ā I stopped walking and turned to run my fingertips along his cape. āAnd Iām not deprived of any of that, Your Eminence.ā Just thinking about my situation spread a shy but sincere smile across my face. āI am utterly devoted to you, Copia.ā He brought one hand up to caress my cheek lovingly, to brush my windswept hair away.
It would have been sweeter if we were alone, but we werenāt, and I couldnāt help but notice some people staring. We were standing close, in a very romantic fashion beside the church lot, and Iām sure some were wondering at the apparent Father holding a member of his congregation so intimately.
Some seemed taken aback, until they recognized the Cardinalās satanic persuasion, in which case they either turned away or continued to look upon us in distaste. Past caring now, I raised my face up to Copiaās in a little defiance.
We were just as free as they were in our chosen devotion, and Copia was tired of holding back in his revelling of it. Pulling me in even closer to him, he bent his dark head and kissed me full on the mouth, and I freely kissed him back, sighing in pleasure against his lips as I heard some faint gasps of disapproval beyond.
Our tongues had only begun to meet when the Cardinal broke away, heated and breathless. āLetās go to the car.ā
āAbsolutely not,ā I told him, pulling out my skewed hairband. Our surroundings might be forgotten to me, but not our purpose. āThe list, Your Eminence.ā
āSi, si, the cursed listā¦ā He rolled his eyes at me now, in frustration and amusement, and, turning to walk me away very close on his arm, we continued in our now less leisurely strolling, to I knew not exactly where.
Some tasks were more urgent than others.
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