A big prosey ramble on Terzo, Omega, and messy love, because I haven't been able to get these two out of my head recently.
WC: 1k | Suggestive themes, complicated relationships, existentialism, dysfunctional family dynamics, hurt/comfort
There's a pact one signs, once the Gate has been handed what it's due:
When the old tongue has been spoken, and the dark psalms sung; the Devil's touch fishhooked through a human eye, and its Sight wrenched to nothing, aĀ blinding everything, an All few could endure;
Once the lines of the Undead have marked them: sanctioned them as the Unholy, the Half-Living, the Above and Below: draped them in silks fit for kings and gloves for killers;
A prophecy so ancient one could choke on the dust off its words.
Their fate will devour their Will, like a shark waiting to feedāand chain any of scrap of agency left, like a dog.
Few would dare to deny it.
Terzo, though, has never been one to play by the rules.Ā
Even nowāwith the Sight of what is yet to come thorned about his mind: every rut and stone he could walk known as well as the blood-bitter sting of his own spite.
It's why he twists crowds around the points of his fingers, for those scant hours of freeness; hunts for lovers' touches in hands his rooms will rarely welcome again; wanders the paths of his own head more than the gravel beneath his feet.Ā
Why the sight of his brother's summoned Unnamedāthe First and the Last, the End All-Be All, the One (hisĀ One)āhad left him stuttering on his heels.
He could see it. Hell beneath, seeĀ this:
The two of them, trapped in the maws of a forest fire; in a promisedĀ somethingness.
A path veering off course like a runaway train.
A doomed light at the end of a self-made tunnel.
And thisā
(Demon-claws at his waist, his shirt shucked to the floor, the chain at his neck clapping to his skin like a nooseā)Ā
This is a loophole. Legalese in a contract penned in his own blood. A selfish want fueled by a hunger to be seen, to beĀ known:
To be shoved back wontedly, greedily, in a music room spidered with dying light, and feel the brand of those otherworldly hands on himāthighs and ribs and lungs, dragged through the hair that silks down his stomach, through the beat-beating valley that puffs beside his heart:
To let himself shiver and sigh and roll his head back, bite down the burr behind his teeth, begā
"Cardinalā"
A voice like Hell itself. The keyboard clanging beneath his hips.Ā
"ComeĀ here," he growls back.
They shouldn't be doing this.Ā
He knows the superstitions. Growing up in these halls had spoonfed him with it: the crumbling of the Gate that had nearly been; the fear that even lesser ghouls, under the right circumstances, could usurp the Exalted's power.
It had happened, once before. The Bloodline only had so much demon-magick in it, after all.
This one knows it, too.
"Cardinal."
He doesn't care. He's lightheaded. He's lonely.Ā
The chipped varnish of the piano's edge whines beneath his nails.
"Shhāshh. Not here, eh? Notāahānot now."Ā
He wants to peel back the point of that silvered mask; to drown in those eyes, blue as the tainted Heavens. Wants to feel his teeth on his neck.Ā
"Notā"Ā
His fingertips stipple over Omega's shirtāand tug.Ā
A switch flipped. A permission devoured.
That clawed hand plummets. Melts his breath to liquid. Sparks an addiction without a goddamned cure.
The first line crossed of countless.Ā
(Countless more, now, and countless stillāuntil Nihil Nihil alwaysĀ Nihilā
Don't think I don't know what you're doing. All the mages can damnwell smell it on you.
Terzo, fox-grinned, steel in his eyes:Ā And?)
And maybe that's all it had started as. All it had ever been.
A middle finger jabbed in the face of their All-Father's millennium-soaked paranoia.Ā
A foolish, spiteful clinging to a promise he'd already stripped from himself.
(If nothing elseāeven if the world burnsāyou can still have me. And I can still have you.
I can still have you. Can't I?)
So he'd thought.
Papa, nowāand the world's a stage, burning, purple-bleeding-black, a stranger's hands combing through sweat-dampened hair on sheets that don't smell likeĀ him, and he shouldn't want it to. Saints, he shouldn't want it to.
But he's tired. His head is spinning. He's lonely.Ā
"Papa?"
He brushes a callused thumb over their temple. "Shhāshh. Not here, mh?" His fingertips glide over the glitter at their back: splay a slow touch between their shoulders. "Not right now," he rumbles, eyes closed. Their hair tickles his mouth. "Not..."
Sometimes, these curious souls press, prod. Try to dig beneath the points of his own mask: to look for the man tucked away in the corner, that doesn't want to speak, to open his eyes from the lull they've found themselves in. Not yet.
This one doesn't.
After a long moment, Terzo sighs: a buoy their body floats on, weighs down like a blanket of sunlight, like lead. "How are you feeling, darling?" The words come lazy and low, tucked into the soft space behind their ear.
The breath he's given in response is boneless, satiated. "Good," they whisper.
He hums. "Good." His thumb skims over their temple, again. "Very good."
Another performance due, soon. Another mass; another ritual. The robes shaken off the floor, the paints reapplied, the stage a handful of moments without deafened expectation.
(Why do you care what he thinks?Ā Omega had snuffed at him once, lounged out like a god in their dressing room.
Terzo hadn't been able to say it, then. Still couldn't, now.Ā
That one day, his father's passive threat of this ghoul's banishment would come to fruitionāone day, his reign would fallāone day, the only ones left would be the rat, and Sister, that old, bullish bastard, and heā
Satan. He'd always loved him, hadn't he?
Why do you care?
The doomed light at the end of the tunnel.
He'd twitched a half-painted smile. Looked away.Ā Don't you know?)
"Terzo?"
He blinks. Dredges himself out of the paths of his own mind: focuses instead on the moon-silvered river of this priestess's fringe. Heat is still beaded between them, tacky where their hands shift. There's a trace of perfumed oil on their neck.Ā
He noses further into it, lays down a kiss. "Mnh?"
Their fingers slide unhurriedly through his hair. Weave a gentle knotāand tug.
A switch flipped. A permission devoured.
He lays down another kiss, and another. Their breath melts to liquid beneath his hands. Sparks an addiction without a cure.
"Please," they hush. "Don't leave yet, pleaseā"
His lips catch at the veins that flutter through their throat. His palms lost in the valleys of their waist. "I won't."
The touch of their mouth feels like love, almost. A flicker of soft lashes, bumped noses, lungs haggard and starved.
Their fingers scrape at his shoulders. Cling, and claw, and beg.
Against their lips, he gravels it again. "I won't."
Another line crossed of countless.Ā
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Secondo Emeritus - Naples
Primo | Secondo
Naples. My beautiful Naples. My beloved, adored Naples. It is the city where I studied and grew up in and it is also literally filled with mysteries and legends.
I thought Naples would have been the perfect formation place for a young Secondo Emeritus. Letās see what may have influenced and inspired him in his religious journey.
1 - The musical church.Ā
Ghostās music has always been heavily loaded with the Devilās Tritone: also called Diabulus in Musica or Devilās Interval, it is an unsettling dissonance produced by an unusual arrangement of notes that gives that spooky, devilish tone to music. In Infestissumam, it was featured on 9 out of 10 songs. The use of the Tritone was banned in Medieval times (In Ghost, its use dramatically dropped with Prequelle, with only 2 out of 10 songs featuring it). So what if I tell you that, in contrast, in Naples there is a church that functions as a musical score, whose music protects it from evil?
Basically, there is a church in Piazza del GesĆ¹ that has a particular pointy ashlar on the external facade. Under the side (the one facing the ground, so if you look up from the street you can see them) of each of these little pyramids are carved symbols, which turned out to be Aramaic letters that were later translated into musical notes. So, it turned out that the whole church is a big score, and itās playable. The whole melody, called Enigma, was played for the first time inside the church to celebrate the discovery. You can hear the music here (sound quality is not the best).
Will it protect the church from Ghostās music?
2 - The skull cult.
Naples has very intricate underground galleries, almost all visitable. One of these is Cimitero delle Fontanelle, a famous catacomb where the remains of about 40.000 people who died from plagues are stored. It is said the āanime pezzentelleā cult was born here: it is a particular relationship each Neapolitan establishes with a chosen skull. You literally adopt an abandoned skull, which according to our tradition is the seat of the soul, and your duty is to care for it, protect it and also create a special niche for it. In exchange, the soul of that skull will protect you.
A nice place for a Bone Daddy.
3 - Pretty and Evil like Mergellinaās devil.
Knowing the passion our Secondo has for women, here is a story about a very devilish one.
In Santa Maria del Prato church, in the Mergellina area, there is the only representation of the devil as a woman in a painting.
The legend has it that said woman was the beautiful Vittoria DāAvalos, who seduced the Bishop Diomede Carafa, who commissioned the painting in 1542 to represent his victory against the womanās lust (we're all believing him, right? š).
Now that story has a way of saying that refers to femmes fatales as āPretty and Evil like Mergellinaās devilā.
Iād say she may be considered among the first-ever Sisters of Sin.Ā
4 - Who gives life can also take it.
Infestissumam is filled with references to birth and Jesus, turning it into the birth of the antichrist and creating a narrative that is completely opposite to the birth of the Son of Man. Now, in Naples, there is a statue that embodies both concepts.
Back to Piazza del GesĆ¹: On a very high pedestal in the center of the square stands a statue of the Virgin Mary, the Mother. That's all... until you position yourself at a specific point in the square and look up to see the statue transformed into the Reaper. His face is hidden by the cowl, staring straight at you, with a sickle at its feet and a snake crawling on it.
Depending on your point of view, the giver of life becomes the taker of it.
5 - Body and Bloodā¦ but especially blood.
What never stops to fascinate me about the relationship of Neapolitans with religion is the very thin line between devotion and pure blasphemy. It is the case of the āmiracleā of San Gennaroās blood. It happens twice a year and it consists in bringing the Saintās blood in a liquid state again (after centuries it is obviously solidified). The particular thing is that during this ritual, the worshippers (and the priests too) literally insult the saint to convince him to make the miracle happen, because if it doesnāt work, it means that something terrible is about to happen.
(Last time it didnāt work was right before the Covid pandemic š)
Iād say this could have been a great inspiration for Body and Blood and Idolatrine.
Honorable mention to the fact that I have lived 32 years now on this Earth and I never attended this event even though I would like to.
Bonus: Now, I said that Dante would come back in the chapters, and he is. In fact, not only Virgilio died in Naples (and he is the protector of the city) but, apparently, the gates of Hell Dante mentioned in his comedy were located on the Averno lake, near Pozzuoli, not far from Naples.
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Oms I completely overlooked this tag! Tonight is a good night to finish this reading š
Since I posted it for @osirisiii-bc, Iāll stick it here too:
Summary: Omega is slowly being drawn away from Secondo and towards Terzo, the next successor to the dark Papal throne. He will stop at nothing to claim Terzo as his own. But will their forbidden romance cause a rift in the Ministry? Will Omega be banished back to Hell for daring to go against his current Papa? Will he be forced to give up everything he has for the one he loves?
Tags: Mutual Pining, Requited Unrequited Love, Slow Burn, Teasing, Sibling Rivalry,longing looks, Accidental Voyeurism, Intentional exhibitionism, Masturbation, Hand & Finger Kink, Anal Fingering, smutty fantasies, Inhuman ghouls, Sloppy Makeouts, Olfactophilia, Boys Kissing, First Kiss, clandestine coupling, midnight tryst, Anal Sex, prejack as lube, self-lubricating Ghouls, handjobs, Creampie, Messy, Love Notes, True Love, Morning Sex, Lazy makeouts, Grinding, Cowgirl Position, Arguments, Drama & Romance, Coming Untouched, Biting.
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