Venus

Love, love, love; it was such a fickle feeling. And yet, it was one that had his mind wandering, to all the places that he would drag Giovanni to. The museum would be a start, somewhere to draw inspiration from. But eventually, they would go on to another, then perhaps another, until the expanse of the mortal realm became their playground. The brush of lips against his own drew his mind back to the present, to the vampire that pressed against him. Here, Giovanni had whispered, a spot that the avariel would happily oblige to be his. And here, fingers had danced across his chest, stomach, until they landed in such a tantalizing spot. Another that he would reserve strictly for his vampire. But as lips moved to that spot on his neck, a soft hum settled in his throat, "So I should give up my favored booth at Just A Bite?"

#caio #I need to get into the habit of doing my replies even when they only have 1 to do bc this took me too long

Adoration was one thing, worship was another; Giovanni had known for centuries that the love he felt for Caio had been initially built upon gratitude. How could he not love someone who'd laid the world at his feet? This though- this connection between them was one that Giovanni prized above anything else. "I would never tell you what to do," if Caio wanted the company of others then Giovanni's pride could handle the blow, "I just ask that if you feel so inclined, as my patron, you'd send me an invitation to share a seat at your table."

Things were turning around for both of them and there's this little voice at the back of her head, one she doesn't often listen to when it comes to matters of the heart. Because the two of them were often happy for a time and then they came back together to commiserate to one another when things went South. Both of them doing well in relationships was something that almost made her the slightest bit wary, as if it was an omen that it was going to all come crashing down. Maybe some of Caio's luck would rub off on her based on proximity to Giovanni. "I can't wait to gift you a heart shaped tub. I'll have to send the contractors." Maybe she'd find a marble one, less kitsch than red. "Love lives aside, I have a feeling more problems are going to crop up."

"I have the perfect place for it." The master bathroom, obviously. Maybe he'd put a balcony off the side; the tub could go there. He'd remained as chaste as humanly possible for a long time, at least regarding relationship status. His long-distance relationship with Caio was a thing of cemented history, but now that both Giovanni and Harlow were cemented in their statuses, it seemed natural to worry that there was another shoe waiting to drop. Hadn't that happened already though? The world had ended or something; Caio remembered it, but Giovanni was happy to forget. "Honestly? I'm not concerned. Things have a way of working out for me." Giovanni made a quick addendum. "Us."

#harlow

Playfulness had always been the very backbone of who Caio was. He did nothing if it were not some form of entertainment for him. From his inherent love of heroes to that of which he did with Giovanni. Any form of seriousness crawled across his skin like a nuisance, even when it had been necessary. Giovanni, Paloma; perhaps the only two that had ever bore witness to that. "The museum is sure to have statues of inspiration. Perhaps we will get lucky enough to have it to ourselves, to try out some of these poses for our own," along with a few other forms of entertainment for the avariel. "For you alone? Mm, and which parts might those be?"

"I'm always open to some inspiration." Caio would ensure that luck was on their side wherever they went. "Hmmm...." Giovanni hummed thoughtfully as he leaned against the avariel. He'd like to say that the entirety of Caio was just for him and him alone, but that'd defeat the nature of these statues he hoped to have made. "Here." The vampire started with a languid pass as he brushed his lips against the other's, his fingers trailing lightly down Fortuna's chest towards his midsection. "And here." Giovanni had landed just below the other's waistband. He moved his mouth to the curve of Caio's neck and attached his lips. "And here too."

There is something about all of this that almost feels too good to be true. Giovanni deserves good things, as does she. More often than not she was sending him letters, even though they could and did call each other, and lamenting over a new lover, a new infatuation. They commiserated together, they understood one another in a way Harlow feared no one else would ever quite understand her, not even Diana. She smiles at him, her platonic soulmate, the one person she knew she could count on come hell or high water. "I would like to think so. What of you and your dear Fortuna? Official?"

#harlow #such nerd sunglasses but I love them on him I do

"Very." Caio was his and Giovanni was the avariel's, "As you know, my patron has always been very generous." The entire time Giovanni had been a vampire, he'd led a very blessed life; criminal accusations never stuck, wealth came in abundance, and good fortune followed him at every turn. Giovanni could almost never lose; where others had struggled, he breezed through life as if it were nothing more than a pleasant dream. "Now he's become even more so. We're living together, I'm commissioning some sculptures of the two of us to decorate the place with."

Naked; how quick his vampire was to answer such a question. It brought a swift smile to his lips, for he enjoyed when Giovanni asked for what he wanted. Or rather, told the avariel what he wanted. That smile only grew as the vampire continued, as he explained precisely what he would like to see Caio dressed in for this sculpture of two. His gaze shifted, watched as that finger danced across his chest, "It would indeed be quite a shame to rid the world of such beauty." His gaze drifted once more to meet Giovanni's, "Which is why you will be dressed the same. Or perhaps less. Though I wonder if I wish to share you with the rest of the realm yet." There was a playful edge to his words, for Caio would have wished to show his vampire off to the realm. And then some, if only to rub it in the face of those who had not been as lucky as he.

Caio's willingness to play along never failed to feed the vampire's inherent desire to have his affections returned. People talked about love languages and where Giovanni clearly communicated his with words of affirmation or acts of service, Caio seemed to return them in kind. "Depended on our poses; we had to try out a few, I think," Giovanni said, continuously playful as he tried to envision what version of them would be best depicted in stone. Something graceful but debaucherous all at once, something that would make people raise their brows but would hold their attention just the same. "We need to save some modesty; there are parts of you that are just for me and me alone, and likewise."

Statues, paintings; art forms of every medium had been crafted over the years for Fortuna. Gifts for the blessings that he could bestow, praises in the form of how he had once appeared to them. None of them had ever quite meant anything to him, not at this particular one had. His gaze swept over the statue once more, from the point of his toe to the top of his head. Magnificent, though that may rest solely on the muse. There was a moment more of simple admiration, before Giovanni once again captured his attention. A hesitancy seemed to grow within his vampire, a nervousness he could feel so keenly. So his brow rose as the words tumbled forth. A moment of consideration, a soft smile as it fought its way upon his lips before Caio turned to the other completely. Hands reached out to curl fingers into the fabric of Giovanni's shirt, if only to use the leverage to pull him closer, "Clothed, or..."

Giovanni kept waiting for the honeymoon phase to end, it'd been seven months since Caio had come back into his orbit and day by day the vampire remained absolutely fixated on him. Fortuna seemed the same as well, when the vampire was in the demigod's orbit it was hard not to feel like he was almost lighter than air, like he could walk on water so long as they were together at the time. Maybe he could, Giovanni didn't know how far Caio's blessing could go. "Naked." Giovanni said all too quickly, "Absolutely naked." He grinned in his characteristic way as he leaned in while Caio pulled him closer. "Maybe a robe for aesthetic value, something draped." Giovanni drew a line to diagonally across Caio's chest, "Not too much coverage, I wouldn't want to cover fine art with something like clothes."

Caio did not like staying still. So to have had to do that for an entire day, he'd been a little restless. A little crabby over the matter. But he hadn't complained too much, given what - or rather, who - he had done it for. Now, all that hard work of his would be paying off in the form of the statue that would decorate Giovanni's home. Or perhaps, their home. It felt odd to say, or think, or feel given that he still felt the loss of Elysium so keenly. Like a huge part of him had been ripped out. He pushed the thought from his mind as he took in the magnificence that was his own likeness. Finally, a statue that depicted him in his true form. Well, the one that he had perfected, the one that he graced this mortal realm with. A low hum vibrated within his throat, his head canted from this way to that as he inspected himself. The consideration only lasted a few moments, before he had turned to peer over at Giovanni. "It is perfect. Just as you are perfect for giving me such a treat."

While Giovanni didn't need to breathe he did feel himself release a small breath that he'd been holding. "I'm glad, no sculptor could ever capture your likeness perfectly, but with practice they'll just get better and better." Giovanni said as he let his arm rest across the back of Fortuna's shoulders, eyes on the statue for a moment longer before they drifted to focus the entirety of his attention on Caio. There was another question that Giovanni wanted to ask but he was nervous about what the demigod would say, "What if I had one commissioned of the both of us, together?"

Ah yes, Paloma could definitely see how this was going. For some reason, Giovanni was giving her that little passive aggressive tone that she had seen from many, many men. She wasn't going to loop him in with the rest, but the thought was right there to do so. All she had to think was 'For Caio's sake, don't try to throttle the love of his life' or something to that effect. "Hm, really? You seem...not at all displeased by his sadness about losing Elysium." Not that she was all that upset about it either. Really, she didn't care what happened to that place. However, it was Caio's home so...well, that was all she really had. "Great. Do you want to do a dick measuring contest now? Mine is bigger, I promise."

"What makes you say that?" Giovanni asked, "Should I start crying in front of the person I just met: oh, poor Caio, he'll never be the same again." Not likely, still for Fortuna's sake he had to get along with this rude little ghost. Casper the very unfriendly spirit, if Caio asked he'd tell him how charming she was, even though the woman was randomly crude for no reason. "What a weird thing to say to someone you just met, why don't you not ask to look at my dick."

#paloma

@xfortunax location: mojo dojo casa house notes: I took too long on their event thread so here's something fresh

Some pressure and a lot of effort, then here it was. The first of many. "What do you think?" Giovanni asked as he welcomed the other into the entrance hall of the estate, blown up in three times perspective, the true likeness of Fortuna had been etched in beautiful marble in the pose that Caio had been made to hold for over a day. "If you don't like it we can trash it and I'll commission another one." He wanted another dozen or so to start, at least that many anyways.

#caio #caiostarter

For just a second, Harlow has the rather morbid thought that it was a shame Romulus was gone, man was apparently a talented painter. She'd never gotten to see any of his work herself, she wondered if she was missing out. Good for Giovanni though, perhaps their rather tubulous love lives were finally settling after all of this time. That'd be something, she almost couldn't bring herself to believe it. The idea seems absurd, that in some universe everything goes this smoothly. "We've spent time at my place. Or the club. Or training." Her brow furrows just slightly because it isn't something they've gotten to talk about yet and maybe they're even skirting around it. "Phase one is just realizing we want to be together."

Giovanni slid his sunglasses back on as he smiled and sunk back into his chair with a fresh glass. Harlow deserved some measure of happiness, especially given everything that they'd been through as of late. "Well, that's progress I suppose." Giovanni said with a sigh, "I guess not everyone can have the epic love story that Fortuna and I have though." Just a playful tease, he made himself more comfortable in his armchair as he held his goblet of wine gingerly in his grip. "So are you then? Together?"

#harlow

"I get it." Love was allowed to be a little selfish, it was so much more complicated than films and stories made it out to be. Granted, Giovanni in particular could have burned several houses down and she'd have covered for him in a heartbeat. "And he doesn't have nowhere to go now." Brows raising, she leans forward a little to look at him conspirationally. "The question is are you going to let him stay with you?" That was a recipe for something, probably a little trouble, but again, things were complicated.

"Oh, he's already moved in. As if I'm going to let him slum it anywhere else. The hard part is getting more statues of him made to an accurate likeness, few more tasteful renaissance-era nude portraits." Giovanni had a whole vision for how he wanted his home to look, a shrine to fair Fortuna. "I'm no artist but he's still my muse." Giovanni took his sunglasses off and tucked them into the breast pocket of his jacket as he smiled at the other, "Now my question is where is that Goddess of yours staying?"

#harlow

Time seemed to slow around them, as if this moment were to last a lifetime. As if they had been permitted into their own world, their own realm away from all that no longer mattered. A war had happened, and then it hadn't; Gods and archfiends, and so much more had come to these streets. Yet not a single portion of that mattered. Not to Caio, not right now. All that mattered to him was the continued press of those delicate lips to his exposed skin. To the thigh that would soon find the vampire's fangs buried within it, as he drank the very essence that was Caio. Every drop would be given freely to Giovanni, until the vampire had indulged him to his hearts content. A weakness would find the avariel, but he would welcome it gladly. He would take from his vampire as the other from him, and he would bask in that link that would further connect them.

The sharp prick stung as fangs sank into his flesh, as they pierced into the veins that carried divine ichor through his body. A gasp parted his lips, eyes slid closed as he basked in that first feeling of being bitten into. Maybe he himself had become an addict, to the feeling of those fangs in all of his favorite places. Over and over again, as he granted Giovanni more than just the fortune that had found him. Fingers slipped through the other's hair, pressed down ever so firmly, as he relaxed into the euphoria that was brought on by Giovanni's venom.

#caio #mhm yup me too #sometimes a thigh part can feel so personal

As Giovanni's lips stayed firmly pressed to Caio's thigh, he felt the warm pulse of the other's blood pass his gums with every fettered rise of the avariel's pulse. The vampire was uniquely attuned to everything happening within Caio's body, to the sounds of his breath, to the way his body tensed as his fingers curled through Giovanni's hair, and to the way his heart beat came and went under the steady draw of Giovanni's hunger. Absolute fixation married with absolute desire as he drank and drank and drank. It was only when he'd taken his full that he began to feel the dribble that had fallen over his chin that the realization sunk in that if nothing else he needed to take a pause.

Giovanni nipped his own tongue as he pressed it against the wound, idly drinking what remnants continued to seep from the twin puncture wounds on Caio's thigh before they closed. When the vampire stood blood had run down his chin and had irrevocably stained his otherwise white clothes before a lustful hand wiped at his lips to reveal the macabre grin of bloodstained teeth. Giovanni's fingers brushed idly through Caio's hair as he braced his body against him in case the avariel needed the support. "Do you see what you do to me?"

Divinity was the brush of Giovanni's tongue against his mouth. The careful consideration of lips and fangs as they mapped the favorites that had littered the avariel's body. Divinity was the way that Giovanni sunk to his knees before him, devotion and praise forever upon the tongue of the vampire. Caio had been gifted with the manipulation of probability, with the chance to craft another's luck to fortune or misfortune. Yet it was he who was lucky, he who had been granted fortune from the moment that Giovanni had first uttered his request to the demigod. Upon the soft skin of his thigh, lips and tongue spoke of gratitude without a word uttered. And oh, how Caio languished under such devotion. A hand reached out, slipped fingers through soft hair. Everything, all of it, he would give again and again to Giovanni. Even now, if the vampire wished to drink until Caio was weak, he would let him. But where he expected to feel the sharp pierce of fangs, he felt only the continued brush of lips against his skin. Devouring, that was what Giovanni was doing to him, and Caio relished every moment of it. The vampire would express his worship first, but it would be the avariel who would soon show his own.

Restraint wasn't in Giovanni's wheelhouse, truth was he was over indulgent; he wouldn't have called himself an addict but the vampire had never said no to fey blood in his life. Certainly not the divine ichor that flowed through Caio's veins, it didn't help that the avariel permitted the vampire to all that he wanted, to drink his fill and then gorge himself further until there was nothing but a certain weakness to him that Giovanni couldn't ignore. That willingness to submit, it was what made the vampire love his patron all the more - because it was clear that there was truly nothing that Fortuna would not give him. His tongue lacquered the demigod's skin, lips and teeth moved against the thin stretch of soft flesh as his hand slipped higher. One to apple pressure, the other to brace the other in place before he finally bit down and into the man's warm skin.

Blood flowed fervently over his lips as Giovanni's venom dripped from his fangs; like a viper sedating his prey, hungry for the carnal and more, mouthfuls of Caio washed over his gums as his mouth filled in steady torrents. The elation was immediate, the warm hue of the demigod filled his core, set his skin ablaze as every nerve ending in his body came alive. The sweet satisfaction of the release of a prize he'd been thinking about from the moment his fangs had left Caio's skin last. Giovanni would not have called himself an addict, for no one else at least but fair Fortuna.

Perhaps if one were to look closely, to inspect what had blossomed between avariel and vampire, they may determine that Caio had become the lucky one. For who could not see such a thing, when Giovanni loved so wildly. It radiated off of him, etched itself into his features as if it were made from him. Every soul owed their great love to the vampire, or rather, that was how Caio would feel about it. Once he accepted that this was what it was, a great love. Like those ridiculous movies always spoke about. He would eventually praise every moment he spent with Giovanni, and apologize for every one he had robbed them of. "Oh, I do," words spoken with a playful smile, as fingers slipped into the other's hair. "But I want you to experience them, not just listen to me speak of them."

There was a feeling that Giovanni would never quite grow accustomed to, and that was Caio's touch in general. His fingers through Giovanni's hair were always something that raised the fine hairs on the back of his neck; like Fortuna's touch itself was some electric blessing, something to offer gratitudes for. "I really, really... really like the sound of that." Giovanni mused, he hoped the romance films that Caio had been watching were smutty pornos but he'd settle for boomboxes, heart lockets, and forever rings if that's what the avariel had in mind. Giovanni would just bite him after as a thank you.