some say it's a blessing

With any luck, his plan to ask out the Pluto senator on a date to Lupercalia would go off without a hitch. Venerio was kind of a huge whore, and game-recognized-game, so it only made sense that the two of them end up together. "Speak for yourself. I was too handsome to die alone the first time, I absolutely won't be dying alone a second time." Dimitri however? He had big eternal virgin energy; that was probably why Dracula had liked him so much. "Don't worry Dee, there has to be a beard out there somewhere that's willing to get into a sexless marriage with you. It's like Journey said: Don't Stop Believin'."

"Sexless?" Scoffing and looking directly at the other vampire, Dimitri blinks twice. Sure it didn't happen as much as he'd like sometimes, but that was more a personal choice than anything. Dating wasn't really something that felt right and that was probably an age thing, he thought he was too old to 'date'. To take a lover from time to time though? It happened, only when someone was particularly interesting, and if they stuck around it was usually on them, he was often indifferent. But a lot could be said that he just hadn't found the right person yet. "Is this the part I tell you I'm seeing someone? Is that what you're fishing for?"

"Toxic." Dimitri was the worst kind of flirt, he was one who didn't put out, and had no intention of ever putting out. An eternal attention whore, and they said Venerio was bad. At least this vampire could honestly say that every time he fell in love it was honest, genuine, and sincere... Whether or not he was faithful was another matter entirely. He never was, ever. Not even with his first love. "I pine every time I put out. It's a curse." And Venerio always put out anytime someone he found attractive showed even the slightest inclination towards doing the dirty.

"Probably." He can't help but chuckle at the sentiment because yeah, it wasn't the healthiest, but Dimitri had never quite thought he was well adjusted. His life had been a long and strange one after he'd left his sire and in a way, he didn't entirely think he'd ever healed from the situation beyond going 'it is what it is' and making sure the wives were alright. It was probably why none of his relationships wound up going anywhere, he was so used being some kind of caretaker, the mediator, the one who'd had to placate and soothe after a fight. They were both probably hopeless, he and the man at his side, just in different ways. "Perhaps we're both doomed then." It's said with a small smile at their own expense.

Caradoc knew a lot about lust. It didn't necessarily always mean sexual desire, but in this case, the demon was too happy to oblige with the title he'd received so long ago. The Lustful; they'd whispered. Caradoc had done many things that were shameful, and other things that he was proud of. Talking his way out of crucifixion, leading the tribes of Britain against the Romans, lying to Dimitri so he could take his place topside. Just little lustful things. "Luckily for you I don't plan on leaving." Raffaele was here, Dimitri was here, maybe they could figure out something. It wasn't like the demon was whoring out and around anyway; he loved a good pair of fangs. "You should know I have a hard time letting things go."

"We have that in common." He points out, forehead resting to the demon's and it all feels fairly like everything is just falling into place. That's kind of the thing with him and Caradoc though, he'd waltzed right into his life, caused a scene and now this was just life. And it'd be far less interesting without him. Even if he did know that the man before him seems rather unpredictable, he knows that they both have reason to stay beyond each other and he's willing to see where this goes. It's more than that, he wants to see where this goes, nobody had ever really made an impression on him like Caradoc had that day in the library. And he was centuries old, it was hard to top the one partner he'd had that'd streaked across the moors to get to him, but defiling Stephen King in a public library was far more dramatic. He liked that, the theatricality of it all, that he never quite knew what Caradoc was going to do. "Just have to see who clings to things harder, I suppose."

"I trust you." Dimitri points out plainly, eyes going from glancing around the common area. He kind of has to, he has not a damn clue what he's doing for the most part but he does know who he can't bring himself to trust. "I don't trust someone so quick to throw some baby bat under the bus to get other people to do their bidding." Or seemingly undermining Xerxes. Senators were chosen for a reason, the Original's supposedly hadn't wanted a hand in things, hell he had always thought the magisters ideally weren't even supposed to be really intervening.

"Sounds nice though, poetic." It wasn't quite Edgar and it was so far away from Robert that it might as well have been Virginia but he could relate to depressing men who were committed a particular aesthetic. "That's why you and I could never work out, I've never made anyone work for anything." A crippling trait of his was putting out long before a first date ever occurred, but how did you know you loved someone until you felt around in their guts? Otherwise, you were just wasting time with someone who could end up being heartbreakingly terrible in bed.

"A bit of flirting, a bit of banter, a bit of wondering if they actually hate you or not, it's fun." It's mildly toxic and he's fully aware of that and yet he knows he stayed with Dracula for the longest time because every so often, the chase was rather fun. It's all somewhat masochistic, but Dimitri had never quite thought himself to be some kind of upstanding romantic partner, he was far from perfect in a lot of aspects. Hell, he was in town in the first place to see all the trouble the senate was having, he hadn't shown up to help, he'd come to see the circus up close. "You've never put out with a stranger and spent time pining?" He looks over to the other vampire, eyes bright with amusement because it feels rhetorical.

"I don't either." He didn't have any intention of telling Hakan unless he absolutely had to. It'd been a problem he'd dealt with on his own when it'd been presented to him. Every so often, there's still guilt that sits there heavy in his chest. The idea that maybe Zeke would still be here had he been a marshal instead, taken a different path does cross his mind from time to time. And yet he knows that's not the case, that the progeny would have chosen to sacrifice himself regardless. "It's less that and more the fact that someone was so quick to run to manipulation that gets me." It's deadpan as he looks to his fellow marshal. "They can do whatever they want, ultimately." The originals, and yet the point had been that they'd sort of stepped back. "But if an original wants to get hands in the senate, it doesn't bode well."

"That's just the problem, Dimitri, all the people that find me just end up leaving me." Venerio was purposefully wistful and completely delusional; for the most part, his bad luck was his own doing, but he was resolved to play the victim. How could Venerio be blamed for his infidelity when he fell in love with someone in the time it took to carry out a single conversation? Sure, his choice of people could have been better; he didn't need to be someone's mistress, and nobody had forced him to sleep with someone's mother, but Venerio had needs, and he was terrible with temptation. "Maybe you're right," the sigh was pulled from the dead air in his lungs as Venerio let it fall between them. "maybe I should be more like you. I just don't understand how you do it." Dimitri's pay-per-view bill had to be insane.

Dimitri doesn't entirely think he is polite. More often than not he speaks his mind, sometimes bluntly so. But he does think Venerio's feelings are a bit delicate and he is a friend and therefore he tries to dial it back a bit. "I spend most of my time wandering around a big castle and lounging in bars just listening to people's stories, I am hardly having romantic success." He points out playfully, a joke at his own expense. He and Hakan weren't so different, though the Count certainly always seemed a bit luckier in the romance department. "I like the uncertainty and I appreciate someone who makes me work for their affection." He shrugs and it's not the most stable thing to admit out loud, the trait can dip into toxicity. Whatever game he and Caradoc were playing was interesting though, the demon was more than a little unpredictable.

"Plan B?" Brow raised, Dimitri's arms cross over his chest and he glances to the side before he leans just a bit to keep things hushed. His lips purse and maybe he doesn't know how all of this really works on the inside. Pluto's request of him was one thing, understandable, but on principle, he stayed suspicious of men who seemed quick to manipulate others. "A practical child soldier is not a plan b." It's practically a hiss but the frustration isn't put on Salvador, it's not his fault. "I took it because if anything happened to him, I couldn't do that to Hakan." And they'd all paid the price anyways, the count had suffered one of the greatest tragedies imaginable for a sire. "He doesn't know. I wanted him to have time to grieve."

"Right." The vampire was closer now, and Caradoc sighed as all sorts of naughty thoughts ran through his head. He was happy for Dimitri to take a bit, thought about it often, but there was a lot hanging on this for Caradoc. The demon was a filthy liar, and someone who betrayed people easily. Dimitri would be a fool to let that happen twice – even if he didn't know about it the first time. He wasn't going to grow a conscience, now. "I'd never say no to someone like that." He sighed as the vampire was closer, and the demon stepped in to end whatever was left of a distance. "C'mon then. Don't keep me waiting."

"I'm finding myself a little too interested to just say no to them." And it's with a sigh that's practically wistful that he reaches out and cups the side of the demon's face before bringing their lips together. Dimitri had thought this was just something fun, he was not above a fling here and there. After Dracula he'd sworn off men but he'd still found his way into a relationship or two and they hadn't all ended terribly. Hell, most of them were just other vampires, also centuries old and seemingly aware that there was no point in really settling down, they were immortal. But there'd been heartbreak too and this was...Caradoc was a bit of a flight risk but he kisses him anyways, fingers curling around his jaw as their mouths move together.

"Bored?" Now that was just offensive, "Please Dimitri, don't mistake me for some lothario type, it's not my fault that the people I fall for always end up leaving me." Or they turn out to be married, or he gives them crabs, or they're a secret serial killer, or they're a golddigger, or he cheats on them, or he suggests they get penis enhancement pills, or he gets caught sending unsolicited nudes to strangers, or he turned them into a vampire without their consent, or- "Someday I'm going to find someone that truly loves me for me."

"I am simply trying to understand." Dimitri puts his hands up in playful defense because it's all in good fun. He has spent ample time chuckling to himself over Venerio's many endeavors. "I'm sure you will find someone who can appreciate all of the affection you have to offer." They said there was someone out there for everyone and that meant Venerio, too, surely. "You ever think about letting somebody just come to you?" How many times had he sworn off men after Dracula? And any woman he was with was really just the wives whenever they all got together and that was more for old times sake than anything, there wasn't anything romantic about it but they were fond of each other.

"So this is about to get very interesting is what you're telling me." Maybe neither of them will have to really do much after all. They're just there to help out the senator of their bloodline, that's technically the job description on paper. Sure they serve the rest of the Pluto vampires, but that part feels easy. Make sure nobody is leaving bodies everywhere, keep each other from feeding on each other, easy enough.

Paraphrasing Cummings, Venerio began, "I liked my body when it was with her body, it felt like such a new thing. My muscles felt better, she made me feel like I had more nerves. Her body and what it did, how her spine felt under my hand. How it trembled; slowly kissing this and that of her, slowly stroking shocking fuzz of her electric fur." Venerio let out a dreamy sigh as he looked off into the distant, her pussy was like rosewater. "What was to come over parting flesh, her eyes big love-crumbs; possibly, I liked the thrill." He smiled at Dimitri, "Under me she was quite new." Venerio loved to love and he loved everything that had to do with love, though he was painfully unlucky in it. "Plus she had a mouth like a wet vacuum cleaner."

Sometimes he wanted to lean way down, press his lips to the center of Venerio's forehead, and call him a delightful little freak. All affection, all amusement, because who said 'electric fur' out loud? "You my friend, are actually incorrigible." A good time regardless, Dimitri reached over to clap the other vampire lightly on the shoulder. "Is that what it is, the newness?" He's got interests there in Rome now, he could use getting philosophical on the aspects of attraction. "You get bored and find a spark in someone new?"

"Do you think that's going to be a problem?" Because Dimitri hadn't quite signed up for problems. Actually. Pluto had signed him up for problems and he couldn't still grasp that he'd just gone along with it. However it'd felt like.... Dimitri pauses and looks to Salvador and then to everyone lounging around the lobby of the palace and something sticks out in his head now. "The day Pluto talked to me about becoming a marshal, he seemed to imply if I didn't take it, he'd ask someone else." The implication had been Zeke and he doesn't think he could say such a thing out loud, not here of all places. It was something that felt like he should tell Hakan, but he'd left the Count alone to grieve.

"As riveting as this conversation about your originals is, I think I want another drink. Are you going to join me?" It was Christmas, he was feeling extra festive. Mariah Carey had been on all day in the Narcissus Coven home, he wasn't going to stop now. "Or do you have somewhere else to be with your not hot original?"

"No, not at all. I actually have this thing later with this guy who I can't decide if he likes me or not quite yet." As if contemplating the mystery further, he strides towards the demon the few steps between them, his hands folded behind his back. "Very pretty, tastes great even, seems to have a problem with horror literature, but I think they are very passionate." It's all very nonchalant and Dimitri's never going to ask anyone for a title, he's too old for all of that. But he is curious where they stand at even a base level moreso for his own peace of mind than anything. He'll let the demon keep most of his mystery.