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October-November 2024 Test Drive Meme
October-November 2024 Test Drive
Introduction
Welcome to Folkmore's monthly Test Drive Meme! Please feel free to test drive any and all characters regardless of your intent to apply or whether you have an invite or not. All TDMs are game canon and work like "mini-events". For new players and characters, you can choose to have your TDM thread be your introduction thread upon acceptance or start fresh. Current players are also allowed to have in-game characters post to the TDM so long as they mark their top levels ‘Current Character.’
TDM threads can be used for spoon spending at any time by characters accepted into the game.
Playing and interacting with the TDMs will allow characters to immediately obtain canon items from homes especially weapons or other things they may have had on their person when they were pulled from their worlds! There will always be a prompt that provides some sort of "reward" to characters who complete certain tasks.
🦊 New Star Children meet the Fox still in their worlds, and she brings them into the new realm of Folkmore. As you follow her, your body begins to change and new characteristics emerge. These may stay for a while, or perhaps they will hide away after. And during all of this, the Fox explains to you where you will be going: to Folkmore. Then you fall like a shooting star, falling to the land in a burst of starlight.
🦊 Experienced Star Children are already familiar with this time of the month. There are shooting stars all across the sky, and some fall to the land, which means the Fox has brought new arrivals. These newly arrived Star Children will face some tests, but Thirteen wants the more seasoned residents to participate as well.
Content Warnings: Natural Disaster/Natural Disaster Relief
It seems as if the Star Children will be restricted to Amrita Academy forever, when nothing changes at the one month mark. Yet, after another week has stretched endlessly past, a morning dawns to show that the moat of Lorasses has vanished. The way is clear to discover what the chaotic storms have left behind.
Most of Folkmore's resident spirits return. Good thing Catbus is among them because the train is not operating. Debris litters the tracks throughout the land. Someone's going to have to work to clean all of that up before normal schedules can resume... within the first week or so, everyone fervently hopes.
That is far from the only wreckage from those storms. As Star Children have seen, even Amrita Academy hasn't really been spared; between the Lorasses moat and the various structures built to weather the storms, the past weeks have left a mark on the school.
The rest of Willow shows signs of extreme growth and age, as if decades, not weeks, have passed. Epiphany and Tides suffer major flood damage, and Exile is entirely soggy and saturated with a sense of sorrow. Avalanche debris covers Wintermute, and the mountains aren't in the same place. Cruel Summer is even dryer, cracked, and in part of it littered with exploded, partially melted robot parts. Never Fade may be the best off; the ground has leveled off, and only the unsecured outdoor items have crashed around or dropped off the island. In general, all regions show signs of warping.
Talaria has been outright knocked down (once again) and will need to be rebuilt (once again). The contents of Talarian homes have been thriftily saved by Thirteen (yet again). They'll be back as soon as the homes are ready to be redecorated! There's also a new elevator connecting Tides to a platform in the ocean at surface level, making it a little bit easier to get in or out of the neighborhood. Fly, swim, or use a boat from Nereid marina to reach it.
Many of the buildings throughout Folkmore, businesses and residences alike, have been damaged, some past the point of habitability. For better or worse, some residences will wait unclaimed, as their resident spirits have not returned from wherever they went while gone from Folkmore. Newly arriving Star Children (or those interested in relocating) just might find those residences awfully appealing. As with all unoccupied homes in Folkmore, they're free real estate.
Each neighborhood has a new (and structurally-sound) building near its center: a hospitality station of sorts, stocked with basic foods (to suit a variety of dietary needs, relevant to the known local residents), clean water, personal protective equipment, basic tool kits, fresh clothing, and clean linens. For those ill equipped to cook for themselves for whatever reason, there's also a canteen/soup kitchen area. The canteen tends to collect idle spirits and Star Children who might be willing to assist with any cleanup tasks too big or too complex for one person to tackle on their own.
Working with the neighbors has an additional benefit, of course: sooner or later, whether while helping clear the train tracks or fixing up someone's home or business (including a Star Child's own), shifting the debris will reveal a weathered container of some sort, locked up tight, that will only fall open at a touch if and when the right Star Child finds it. There is only one chest per Star Child. Inside, is an item from home, either that of the resident whose house/business it's found in or the one keyed to the lock. It may even be a magical item or weapon.
There's some good news as well, in the midst of all the chaos: most Star Children will find that their homes are wholly unharmed; their pets, companions, Pokémon, etc. are all hale and hearty, having spent the entire time cozily asleep in their boxfoxes — which can be reused if kept, and just as easily abandoned now that they've released their occupants.
It seems as if the Star Children will be restricted to Amrita Academy forever, when nothing changes at the one month mark. Yet, after another week has stretched endlessly past, a morning dawns to show that the moat of Lorasses has vanished. The way is clear to discover what the chaotic storms have left behind.
Most of Folkmore's resident spirits return. Good thing Catbus is among them because the train is not operating. Debris litters the tracks throughout the land. Someone's going to have to work to clean all of that up before normal schedules can resume... within the first week or so, everyone fervently hopes.
That is far from the only wreckage from those storms. As Star Children have seen, even Amrita Academy hasn't really been spared; between the Lorasses moat and the various structures built to weather the storms, the past weeks have left a mark on the school.
Other regions show clear signs of the warping they have endured similarly.
- Wintermute alternated between blinding light and pitch blackness, with mountains growing and crumbling away alike. Cabins were transformed into igloos.
- Willow experienced all the seasons in a matter of days multiple times, growing crops and new trees, losing old ones, and its buildings weathered as though through decades.
- In Epiphany, the streets ran with water so high it was difficult to walk, and the buildings shifted to reflect related settings.
- Cruel Summer grew hotter and more oppressive, so that survival away from the Selkie River was impossible. On the 13th, there was an explosion, and it rained robot parts.
- Exile was swallowed entirely by the Swamp of Sorrows, leaving no dry land.
- Tides filled with water, dark deep water that could not readily be seen through.
- Never Fade became even more purple, with a thick haze that erased visibilty of borders. It also became steeper, so there was no flat ground.
The rest of Willow shows signs of extreme growth and age, as if decades, not weeks, have passed. Epiphany and Tides suffer major flood damage, and Exile is entirely soggy and saturated with a sense of sorrow. Avalanche debris covers Wintermute, and the mountains aren't in the same place. Cruel Summer is even dryer, cracked, and in part of it littered with exploded, partially melted robot parts. Never Fade may be the best off; the ground has leveled off, and only the unsecured outdoor items have crashed around or dropped off the island. In general, all regions show signs of warping.
Talaria has been outright knocked down (once again) and will need to be rebuilt (once again). The contents of Talarian homes have been thriftily saved by Thirteen (yet again). They'll be back as soon as the homes are ready to be redecorated! There's also a new elevator connecting Tides to a platform in the ocean at surface level, making it a little bit easier to get in or out of the neighborhood. Fly, swim, or use a boat from Nereid marina to reach it.
Many of the buildings throughout Folkmore, businesses and residences alike, have been damaged, some past the point of habitability. For better or worse, some residences will wait unclaimed, as their resident spirits have not returned from wherever they went while gone from Folkmore. Newly arriving Star Children (or those interested in relocating) just might find those residences awfully appealing. As with all unoccupied homes in Folkmore, they're free real estate.
Each neighborhood has a new (and structurally-sound) building near its center: a hospitality station of sorts, stocked with basic foods (to suit a variety of dietary needs, relevant to the known local residents), clean water, personal protective equipment, basic tool kits, fresh clothing, and clean linens. For those ill equipped to cook for themselves for whatever reason, there's also a canteen/soup kitchen area. The canteen tends to collect idle spirits and Star Children who might be willing to assist with any cleanup tasks too big or too complex for one person to tackle on their own.
Working with the neighbors has an additional benefit, of course: sooner or later, whether while helping clear the train tracks or fixing up someone's home or business (including a Star Child's own), shifting the debris will reveal a weathered container of some sort, locked up tight, that will only fall open at a touch if and when the right Star Child finds it. There is only one chest per Star Child. Inside, is an item from home, either that of the resident whose house/business it's found in or the one keyed to the lock. It may even be a magical item or weapon.
There's some good news as well, in the midst of all the chaos: most Star Children will find that their homes are wholly unharmed; their pets, companions, Pokémon, etc. are all hale and hearty, having spent the entire time cozily asleep in their boxfoxes — which can be reused if kept, and just as easily abandoned now that they've released their occupants.
- The moat is gone! Freeeeeedom!
- The train is not operating for one week until October 27th due to debris over the tracks.
- Every region of Folkmore shows scars from the past month's extreme disturbances. Things have not reverted to before.
- Most spirits have returned; some remain absent. Claim the free real estate, if quick or bold enough.
- Hospitality stations have appeared in each neighborhood stocked with food, water, clothing, and linens.
- The canteens serve as a social hub and place to ask for/volunteer assistance.
- One time only, cleaning up or moving debris will reveal a container holding an item from home: yours or the person's you're helping.
- Most Star Children's homes will be unharmed; any damage should match the region's damage flavor. The level of destruction is up to you.
- Creatures in boxfoxes are out, fine and dandy! Boxfoxes can be kept/used again.
Offshore near Agrona Academy, there's something new. Something bewildering, maybe. Something growing. There's also something swimming up to any Star Children near the coast: a very large sea turtle, not willing to come far ashore. She's singing and chirping to get attention, in case being big enough to have a six-foot-long shell isn't quite good enough for some reason. (Or the way she has a blue-green bioluminescent glow when underwater, as becomes quite visible around dusk.)
She's happy to explain that she needs a place to lay her eggs. She doesn't have eggs to lay, just yet, but she wants to have her place all ready anyway. To that end she's busily building a brand-new island not very far from shore. It's just over there, visible once she indicates it with a flipper, barely any higher than the waves cresting around it. Here's the sad part: while she's used a great deal of cleverness in building it, from rocks and sand and bits of broken reef, she's all out of construction materials that she can reach! So she needs help: more construction material for the island.
It seems she's got a very loose definition, though, so pretty much anything that can later be covered in sand or dirt is fair game. Lucky that she wants it now. There's a perfect place todump all that debris in the ocean recycle all the debris, anything not structurally sound enough for a repair-in-place job. Bigger is probably better, too. Work together with other Star Children to haul up the big stuff. It brings more and more joy to her songs as she finds the exact place for each and every item, making her island grow bigger and bigger.
Anyone who actively participates will be rewarded five (5) spoons by the turtle directly, as a thank you for helping her to keep her eggs safe. (If anyone asks, she'll explain that it's the number of limbs she has, so she thought it was perfect!) In addition, she gives each person a smooth and shiny sea rock that fits in their palm perfectly! If the island gets big enough to be more than a sandbar, anyone who helped with the construction will find it far more welcoming than those who didn't. She isn't expecting to use anything but the beach.
She's happy to explain that she needs a place to lay her eggs. She doesn't have eggs to lay, just yet, but she wants to have her place all ready anyway. To that end she's busily building a brand-new island not very far from shore. It's just over there, visible once she indicates it with a flipper, barely any higher than the waves cresting around it. Here's the sad part: while she's used a great deal of cleverness in building it, from rocks and sand and bits of broken reef, she's all out of construction materials that she can reach! So she needs help: more construction material for the island.
It seems she's got a very loose definition, though, so pretty much anything that can later be covered in sand or dirt is fair game. Lucky that she wants it now. There's a perfect place to
Anyone who actively participates will be rewarded five (5) spoons by the turtle directly, as a thank you for helping her to keep her eggs safe. (If anyone asks, she'll explain that it's the number of limbs she has, so she thought it was perfect!) In addition, she gives each person a smooth and shiny sea rock that fits in their palm perfectly! If the island gets big enough to be more than a sandbar, anyone who helped with the construction will find it far more welcoming than those who didn't. She isn't expecting to use anything but the beach.
- A large sea turtle—with a 6 foot in diameter shell and about 3 feet tall at the shoulder—starts building an island off Cruel Summer.
- She needs help getting more building supplies. Bring your debris, bigger the better, here!
- All Star Children who help will be rewarded five (5) spoons and a shiny and smooth rock from underwater that fits in their recipients' palms just so.
- Star Children who help find the island more welcoming than those who didn't.
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Now he feels stupid about it. Whether or not this place has that kind of power, it's dumb that he should run into Vergil working in the opposite direction. But... it doesn't matter now, does it?
"If we're both here and not in hell, then I guess it worked out anyway." He folds his arms a little tighter. "So... good."
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Good, to some extent, feels like a bit of a stretch all on its own in describing their current circumstances. Despite how he feels, Vergil isn't likely to ever change his mind that Nero should be in the human realm. Duty or not, it's simply where he belongs. But things are arguably good enough. For now. And so, Vergil offers no argument.
"Have you found some place to stay yet?"
He hopes Nero isn't as foolish as his uncle when it comes to that. While Vergil can admit he likely contributed to Dante temporarily leading a Tarzan-esque lifestyle, Dante still had other options available to him.
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His hands slowly find their ways into the pockets of his jacket. That confident stance is looking a lot more awkward now, though he's not quite dropped it yet.
Nero gives him a slow, somewhat uneasy once-over before he answers. "No. Are you offering?"
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Rather than clarifying his own assumption, Vergil says, "You would need to either sleep on the other half of my bed, or share the pull-out with Dante until something else can be arranged."
Whether that something else is that Dante and Nero find their own place individually or together, or the three of them decide to remain together and find someplace else to live. Either way, Vergil doesn't envision this being a long-term solution. His studio apartment wasn't meant to house this many people. Hell, Vergil doesn't even have enough chairs for them to all sit at the table for a meal presently. It also wasn't even until just a handful of hours ago he even had someplace for Dante to sleep that wasn't the other half of his bed. (Which was, frankly, not something Vergil was going to allow. Between Dante's snoring and his tendency to sprawl... Absolutely not. Bad enough to have to listen to him snore in the same room, but he did not need to wake up every few hours because of Dante kicking, elbowing, or otherwise smacking him awake.) But it could work long enough for them to decide what they wanted to do, especially while so much of Folkmore was in need of repairs and cleaning.
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However, that dread comes secondary to a strange, pleasant, prickly little feeling in his chest. Poor co-sleeping and getting on each others' nerves, and Dante and Vergil under the same roof. The very concept of staying with family. His family, that he has now. What a novel concept. What an unimaginable luxury for the lonely orphan kid who never had one until he made his own as a grown man. It's not his cozy apartment with Kyrie, Nico, and the boys, but it's a far sight better than bumming around alone.
Still. He doesn't want to impose.
"Can I stay until I can find somewhere close by?"
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"The apartment is in Satori Hills," he says, turning slightly to nod in the direction of the apartment buildings. They are not the tallest in Epiphany, but they do still stand taller than most and remain an obvious central hub for the area. Vergil doesn't imagine that Dante will stray too far once things really return to normal and the absurd amount of food trucks start occupying the front once again. He hasn't a clue if Nero will prefer to find something else in another part of Folkmore or not, however. "The building is worse for wear currently, but the apartment itself was relatively untouched by what happened."
Vergil doesn't know for certain why, but his best guess is that it's because reality warped and that section of the building simply ceased to be before the floodwaters could properly reach his apartment. Can't very well damage something that technically didn't exist for the moment. He turns back to look at Nero again.
"It will likely be some time before travel between other regions is more reliable, so you may take all the time you need to determine where suits you best."
Which is Vergil's very roundabout way of saying that Nero is welcome to stay as long as he likes. He doesn't need to feel pressured to find his own place as quickly as possible unless that's what he would prefer. After all, estranged from one another or not, Nero is still his son. And even if Nero is more than capable of managing things on his own, or if he'd rather Vergil not be all that involved in the first place, that will not prevent Vergil from looking out for Nero in whatever ways he possibly can.
Offering him a safe, stable place to sleep is the least Vergil can do.
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"Thanks." His hands fiddle a little nervously in his jacket pockets. "Appreciate it."
Now he doesn't have the first clue what to say. 'It's good to see you again?' 'You've put on some weight there, V?' 'Glad you and Dante didn't kill each other?' 'Does Yamato still turn into my arm, and have you ever given that a second thought?'
"So... there a place to get a burger around here?"
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"There are a few," he says, but after a glance at their current situation, he amends his statement. "Well, normally there are."
He isn't sure how many of the local businesses are operational at present if any at all. Not all the native spirits have returned from wherever it is they went, and the damages likewise may prove a hindrance even if they have returned. But Nero is in the right part of Folkmore for burger joints if any are open in the aftermath.
"If you are done here for the moment, we could go look."
He leaves it up to Nero. He may very well wish to continue helping with clearing out the debris, or want some time on his own.
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Nero's ready to hear that the places are all closed, under the circumstances. It's not like he has any money or... spoons or whatever anyway, but he figures he can offer to wash some dishes or do some cleanup in exchange for a meal. He's been working all morning and he's starved.
But oh, there's a very significant "we" in that sentence. He looks a little surprised about it, but doesn't shut it down.
"You want to come too?"
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He speaks nothing of this to Nero though. Setting aside that it is already done, it is not the boy's problem to begin with. Vergil also has not even spoken of it to Dante. As far as his brother knows, Vergil was never left behind and was always kept safely among the others in Amrita, and he would prefer to keep it that way.
Instead, he says, "If you're intent on staying, you should be saving as much of your Lore as you can for your weapons. You cannot rely upon the fox to return them to you in one of the chests she sometimes offers as a reward."
With Yamato back, he has no need for anything else. It had taken Vergil a considerable amount of time to generate enough Lore to do so given his preference not to suffer inane conversation with others, but he's generated a significant amount as of late because...
...Well. That is another thing that the boy does not need to know, and would likely prefer Vergil never tell him. Vergil would certainly prefer not to tell him even the general idea that more intimate interactions often lend themselves to more Lore in their aftermath. That is information someone else can provide, or Nero can discover for himself. And anything more personal than that for Vergil as far as the existence of anyone as more than just a friend? They'll cross those bridges when they are pertinent to cross. Not a moment sooner.
The point ultimately is that Vergil now has more Lore than he could possibly spend. He does not mind providing Nero with something to eat. Even if nothing is open today, Vergil can still use his Lore to that end. He has a functioning kitchen and even if he lacks a wide variety in his culinary skills, Vergil has had enough time in this place to develop possesses enough to serve up a decent burger.
wow dad, get it, good for you >:]
But Vergil's right. He feels naked and vulnerable without his trusty Red Queen and Blue Rose at his side, and getting them back will be a priority. On principle, if nothing else. Nero is more equipped to handle a hand-to-hand fight than he was a few days ago, thanks to his brand new Devil Trigger and the Devil Bringer's final form. And it's not like he's seen anything truly dangerous or threatening here.
Hell. The most dangerous thing he's seen is the man standing across from him, his own father.
"So that's an offer to buy me lunch, then." He smirks, just a bit teasing. "Okay. I'll follow you if you know where you're going."
dad still has game after all!!
It's not such a stretch for him to understand Dante when he's expressed a similar feeling, and it still is not when Nero expresses it now even if each of them have vastly different experiences.
"Come along then," he says, setting off in the direction of Luan Street. Even if none of the food stalls are open, it will be good for Nero to familiarize himself with the local hubs. Vergil does not push for conversation as they walk even if the silence could be categorized as awkward. It does not bother him whether they speak or not.
pretty blue eyes, cut figure, feral swagless charm, can't lose
Now that the shock of running into him has worn off, Nero's left with the realization that he has no idea what to say. In the wake of the twins leaving for the underworld, he came up with all kinds of things he wanted to tell them and wished he could say. How they were both assholes who lied to him in different ways, and how dare they leave him behind so quickly, and how Vergil in particular was a prick and no, he was not over the time he ripped off his arm and left him to bleed and die. But thinking those things and actually saying them are two different prospects. Especially when they're far from home in a strange place, and Vergil's being... neutral, at least. Compared to last time when they were beating each others' asses and Vergil accidentally brought about the apocalypse.
Or when Vergil was an entirely different person, a shade of himself, slowly dying and spilling his regrets as Nero helped carry him along.
All of that seems harsh to bring up now. But what the hell else do they even talk about? He knows nothing of Vergil. Not what he's like (except casually violent), not where he was all this time, not even how it is that he ended up Nero's father.
It's daunting. Even moreso when he isn't sure how Vergil will react or what he even thinks of all this. Where does he even begin?
"So." He wets his lips. "You're my father, huh."
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"It would seem so," he says, providing a bit further mercy to Nero for his clumsy attempt at conversation. It's not as though Vergil knows how exactly to have this conversation either in all fairness to Nero, and he certainly was not looking to broach the subject here and now. After all, what could Vergil possibly say? Apologize for not being there? Ask him what his mother has told him of Vergil, of her relationship with him? Tell him that he holds no expectations for Nero treat him as a father considering their circumstances? Say that he hopes he grew up well with his mother and the both of them have been well in his absence? Ridiculous and foolish, all of it. But they are together, and silence is apparently too much to ask for Nero in light of that. Which is perhaps fair. Putting himself somewhat in Nero's shoes, if Sparda were to suddenly return, Vergil would have more than a few questions for his father even if he does not hold the devil in nearly as much contempt as Dante does. "I don't know that I have answers that will satisfy your questions, but it is within your right to ask what you will."
He doesn't say this haughtily as though he were deigning to provide Nero with something by his grace and generosity. Vergil also isn't speaking as though Nero isn't aware that he's entitled to ask questions and have some answers. Rather instead it is a signaling of his own understanding—to the best of his ability to understand—that the revelation of their relationship has likely left Nero with far too many questions. Especially when considering there had been no real time for any of it to be properly addressed. (Yet another reason to leave his poems behind. They could not provide concrete answers for Nero, but they were at least something, some way to understand Vergil perhaps better than he could articulate to Nero himself.) And that in that understanding, Vergil provides his consent to the questions with the caveat that his answers may not be what Nero wants to hear or may be lacking.
no subject
Fortunately, Nero has some sense of discretion. "We don't have to get into it right here, right now." Because boy does he ever have questions, better discussed in private than public. "I just... didn't know. Dante never told me."
Which leads to one very pivotal question that he can't save for later. The one that's been eating away at him ever since he found out.
"Did you know?"
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"No," he says, once he's certain he has Nero's eyes. "I didn't know."
Vergil doesn't know if Nero's mother knew when he left and simply didn't have a chance to tell him before he was beyond her reach, or if her pregnancy was something she discovered afterward. Regardless of which it was though, Vergil hadn't known of Nero's existence until Dante made it a point to tell him. And although he does not say it, there is so much Vergil wishes he could do differently with that knowledge. Even if he still bears his doubts that he could have or ever will be the father Nero needed, at the very least, he could have been there. He should have been there. It's a regret and guilt and shame that Vergil doesn't believe any amount of time will ever alleviate, but it's not wanting to be rid of them that makes Vergil wish things had been different.
It's the young man beside him that does.
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Nodding solemnly, he murmurs, "okay." Putting the puzzle pieces together when you don't even know the shape of the board is difficult. Now he at least has a place to start.
With that, he lets the silence take over again. The rest of his questions are better saved for another time.
no subject
But he doesn't push for more than that quiet okay from Nero. Instead, without moving his head, Vergil's gaze drifts down before he resumes their walk and lets the matter and the subsequent silence come to rest.
He only breaks the silence after a time as they round a corner on one of the streets.
"Epiphany possesses two train stations: Jami and Luan. Luan is closer and where we are headed. That's normally where the vast majority of food vendors are."
It's small talk, and perhaps not the most relevant given that the train itself isn't functioning right now. But it's information Nero will likely need at some point, and it doesn't leave Nero spiraling on whatever he might think with knowing his father didn't know of his existence until it was revealed to him near to the same time Nero learned the truth.
"Although there is also a convenience store that also just...appears."
no subject
Right. Better keep dreaming, there.
He zones back into the moment when Vergil starts talking again, pointing out the train stations. Food vendors at Luan. Magical convenience store.
"I crashlanded out in the desert and it was a long damn walk. This is more my style of civilization," he remarks. "Especially if they sell coffee and beer." He almost asks about pizza, but he concludes that Dante wouldn't be anywhere near this place if pizza wasn't at least sometimes available here.
no subject
Vergil spent a length of time living in a burrow. Or, well, he was assigned to be in the burrow. Vergil spent most of his time outside to avoid the low ceilings while the roommate foisted upon him enjoyed the interior most of the time. He's found himself suddenly no longer in his apartment, but out in the snows of Wintermute with the task of bringing new Star Children to warmth and safety.
"It sounds she afforded you the opportunity to familiarize yourself with Cruel Summer."
It may fly clean over Nero's head as most don't have the tendency to pick up on it given Vergil's typical delivery, but Vergil is, indeed, teasing him a little.
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"Yeah, I familiarized my face right into a dune." He smirks, glancing at Vergil sidelong. "Then got even more familiar with the sand in my pants."
He's reminded abruptly of V, the quips they'd occasionally trade, and his constant interjections of poetry. Really, he supposes, he's still right here trading lines with him. That's a strangely comforting thought.
"It's not like there's been anything dangerous I can't handle anyway, but I feel naked without my sword. Part of me was worried I dropped it on impact."
no subject
He's fairly certain back then he would have taken the sand dune, but his perspective has changed a bit since then.
"I'm sure it will take you little time to reclaim it."
Even with as little as Vergil knows of Nero, he knows his temperament ultimately differs from Vergil's by a large margin. He sees far more of Nero's mother reflected in him than himself in that regard even if he's arguably a little rougher around the edges than she was. Particularly with that foul mouth of his. Regardless, he isn't nearly as reserved or disinclined to conversation as Vergil. He will generate Lore far more quickly than Vergil who really has only kept consistently company with two people at the most. The rest tend to be happenstance that he never follows up on, and they often do not go looking for him afterward. Which normally would have been just as well for him, but with the Yamato not yet returned to him... It was frustrating at times.
And normally, Vergil would be a touch bitter over his brother and son acquiring their weapons so quickly, but he would ultimately much rather than they are armed once more. Whatever sense of wounded pride he feels over it is something he can set aside for neither Dante nor Nero feeling that sense of unease and vulnerability that comes in being without their weapons for longer than is strictly necessary.
"But you are right that there's generally little that can stand to cause you harm here natively. There are beasts out in the desert and I believe Exile has its fair share as well, but they are only mindless beasts. Even if you were to instigate something with them, you would make quick work of them."
One of the reasons why the fighting pits in Cruel Summer have never held Vergil's interest. An animal is strong, but it does not possess the cunning of another warrior. And most here are content not to fight even for sport. Needless to say, Vergil has been a bit restless here on his own. Sparring with Mizu has been exhilarating in its own right, of course, and he would never detract from it. A certain degree of strategy is still required for Vergil to hold back appropriately, and she still occasionally manages to surprise him with her tactics even if he shall always best her in speed and strength. But it's not quite the same as fighting someone who can meet Vergil at his level, and he's almost as eager for his kin to acquire their weapons for the sake of a real challenge to present itself again finally as he is for them to not feel the discomfort of being without.
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It's good and bad news that there's nothing much in the way of threats here. Good, because that means people won't get hurt while Nero is comparatively less ready to protect and fight for them. Bad, in that he's going to get rusty. Though something tells him Vergil wouldn't turn down another duel at some point. A friendlier one, he's hoping. Not exactly the sort of bonding he has in mind, but maybe it would take the sting off their last violent confrontation to make it a more regular thing. Less impaling this time, though.
"Thanks," he says, with regard to making quick work of the beasts. Vergil has certainly seen him fight. "I've barely got the chance to try out... you know. The new stuff." He was about to say "arms" but decided at the last second that was loaded. "Shame there isn't something a little more challenging to practice on."
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Vergil keeps his eyes trained firmly ahead as he half-expects some snarky comment to be made. Dante certainly hadn't hesitated with his laughter at the notion Vergil could not obtain the Yamato without doing something he generally tried to avoid. Which should not come as any surprise to Nero even with as little as he knows of Vergil. He was perhaps a touch more talkative at times as V, but he could still not be mistaken as someone particularly well-versed in conversation or social graces.
"The spoon the fox gave you," he say, "that is your way of tracking how much you've generated. You should notice that it's already changed since you first acquired it."
Regardless if Nero chooses to fiddle with his spoon now or later, he will notice that true to Vergil's word, the energy within it has indeed grown both from his helping others with cleaning away the debris and this conversation with Vergil.
Vergil glances at Nero when he mentions the lack of anything worthwhile to practice on. He feels a small amount of warmth that he immediately recognizes to be pride. If there could have possibly been any doubt that Nero is his son, that right there would have been more than enough to eliminate it. His reasons for doing as much likely differ vastly from the reasons Vergil ever possessed, but unlike Dante, he does not reject the demonic blood flowing through his veins. Instead, he wishes to embrace his power. Master and understand it as an intrinsic part of himself so that when he needs to call upon it, he's ready.
"If Dante can manage not to whinge over a single strike again, you might perhaps convince him to spar with you," he says both as a mild dig at Dante for how quickly he yielded to Nero, and subtle reminder that Nero doesn't need to figure this out on his own. Although he does not give in to the temptation to offer himself directly.
Despite being quite confident he could train Nero more efficiently than Dante given that he's never taken half-measures with his own demonic powers, Vergil doubts Nero would be open to it. He's had time to build a relationship with Dante over the course of...however long it was exactly. Dante hadn't said, but regardless, he brought Nero into his devil hunting business a while ago. That was something. Certainly far more than Vergil could claim to have with Nero.
So, frankly, he'd rather feel that sting that his brother is able to claim yet another thing that should be rightfully Vergil's, but isn't because of Vergil's failure in being what he ought to be than feel that crushing feeling of rejection when Nero inevitably rebuffs the offer. They're both unpleasant in their own ways, but one is familiar. The other... Vergil knows it will likely come in its own time, but he need not invite it now.
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He scoffs at the dig on Dante. Frankly, Dante's lucky he only got decked once given how pissed off Nero was at him, in between being worried sick about him. It's never just one feeling about Dante, is it? It's mild annoyance and amusement, or major annoyance and fury, or relief combined with the desire to feed him his own teeth. That's not changed at all in five years. (Come to think of it, Dante's been performing the uncle role to a perfect T all this time.)
Weird that he only offered Dante though. Perhaps not that weird... maybe it's touchy to bring it up, but there's no point pretending they didn't kick the shit out of each other last time they spoke.
"What, not you?" He glances back at Vergil with a very subtle rise of an eyebrow. "I wouldn't mind another go sometime. A friendlier one. Less impaling. Unless you ate enough dirt last time..."
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cw: blood/injury mention
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