October-November 2024 Test Drive Meme

[folkie]

October-November 2024 Test Drive

Introduction

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This Test Drive meme is open to all.
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.

Current players are always encouraged to tag new people on the TDM!
🦊 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.

[ Prompt One ★ Prompt Two]

After the Storm . ★

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.

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.

Dream of the Blue Turtle . ★

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 to dump 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.

• 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.

Comments

[pullit]

Nero watches eagerly to see what he'll do. Look, this is such a low-stakes thing to challenge him on. Possibly the first low-stakes thing they have ever, ever had to discuss between them. It makes no difference to him if Vergil puts this or that on his fries, but watching him debate over it is absolutely priceless.

He chuckles, not remotely affronted by the reaction. "If I've got all the ingredients, sure. At a restaurant where they got all this on hand is the perfect place to make it. And honestly? If you put mayo, mustard, and ketchup on your burger, you're already eating it anyway."

With a muted smile at Vergil, he picks up his burger and somehow does not have to unhinge his jaw to take a few bites. It does involve a lot of work with angles.

Man. Here he is. Going out for burgers with his father.

[antimetabole]

And there's the nose wrinkle again. But this time it's in disagreement rather than because of the sudden assault of vinegar with that texture on his senses. Vergil shakes his head as he says, "That is not the same thing."

He has another sip of water to cleanse his palate before picking up a few of his fries and dipping them in his chosen honey mustard. He continues as he does so and before eating them, "Unless you also mean to claim if I were to eat bread, meat, and cheese separately from one another and without arranging them in layers with one another that I have eaten a sandwich. Then in that case, you're still incorrect, but at least maintaining the same logic."

[pullit]

"It's all the same after you eat it, isn't it? Even tastes the same." Nero does not feel particularly strongly about this discourse, but again... it's kind of fun to harmlessly prod at the old man.

He's not all that dedicated to it, though, not when there's a delicious burger in his hands. Vergil can at least rest assured that Nero has good table manners. That may or may not make up for the fact that he annihilates that burger within five minutes.

He swaps over to his fries then, slowing down just a bit. There's a few moments where he just looks at Vergil, looking him over the way one might examine a museum exhibit with intrigue and curiosity. Before it can become too terribly unnerving, he makes a decision and speaks.

"So." Vergil would be right to fear another incredibly blunt statement, but Nero has mercy this time. "I asked you a lot of questions. Only fair if you get to ask me some. If you want."

[antimetabole]

Nero provides his counter-argument and Vergil cannot help but shake his head a little. While he had some hope that perhaps while staying under the same roof, at least Nero could be helpful in the kitchen seeing as how his uncle is liable to be a safety hazard if an attempt is made, this more or less squashes that hope entirely. He's about to tell Nero to eat his food, but Nero already lets the matter drop and focuses his attention on his meal. The silence between them does not feel particularly uncomfortable for Vergil, although he imagines their food plays a role in that. Nero devours his sandwich at a speed as though there's a concern it might sprout legs and flee from him, but at least in a manner that doesn't make Vergil question if he had instead been raised by wolves rather than his mother. Vergil, for his part, is slower with his eating than Nero, alternating between his fries and burger.

Nero's not the least bit subtle in the way he's staring at Vergil. It would likely be off-putting were their circumstances different, but Vergil tolerates it without commenting upon it. This is the most time they have spent with one another at one time even when accounting for Vergil's time as V (and Urizen), and it is significantly different from those circumstances. There also simply must be a lot on the boy's mind that he isn't saying given that this isn't exactly the most private of settings. So, Vergil just occasionally looks at Nero in return, almost expectantly in waiting for him to say something else all the while not particularly rushing him to speak.

He pauses in his last bite of his burger when Nero finally does speak, lifting his gaze back up to Nero, and braces himself for what follows from that so given that it's often a herald of some matter that is not easily brought up in conversation. Nero does not, however, tread into such territory. Instead, he places an invitation. Vergil mulls it over as he resumes chewing and swallowing, letting that last bite provide him with a natural buffer before he can speak. There's a great deal that he wants to ask Nero about himself. Dante told Vergil how he came across Nero and generally what's transpired since then, but that's all and Vergil hadn't felt the courage at the time to ask for more than that, nor that it would have been right to ask Dante rather than Nero himself. This is, however, neither the time nor place for the majority of those questions, and so they must be set aside for now.

Vergil wipes his mouth with a napkin once he's swallowed.

"I have many questions," he acknowledges first, alluding to the fact that there are indeed some he won't ask now. At least, Vergil hopes Nero takes that from it, and that his interest in Nero is not a shallow one. "But I would like to know your interests."

He pauses before adding, "Beyond your work with Dante."

Although Vergil imagines that the work Nero does for Devil May Cry takes up a significant chunk of his time, Vergil assumes Nero must have other things. At least, that's what he hopes for Nero. Regardless of his skill or whatever calling he feels to that particular work, Vergil knows he would not want for it to consume Nero's life. And neither does Dante from what he told Vergil. So, he would like to believe that there's other things that Nero fills his life with. Things that make the work he does feel more meaningful and worth it when the choice isn't there.

[pullit]

He didn't figure Vergil would consider this place private enough to get into all the questions. But it's reassuring that he claims to have many. And the question he does ask makes Nero crack a brief, muted smile, particularly when he emphasizes his interests separate from devil hunting. He would have answered anything Vergil asked, and was half-expecting something else about his Devil Trigger or his fighting style or something. But he's both surprised and pleased that it's not.

It's still hard to summarize yourself to explain to someone who knows barely anything about you, but Nero makes a crack at it anyway.

"Well... I do a lot of recovery stuff in Fortuna right now. Kyrie and I run a soup kitchen. And we took in a few kids from the orphanage, after it got trashed by the Order. So that keeps me pretty busy when I'm home."

He taps his fingers idly on the tabletop, trying to figure out what else to say. "I... like music. Movies. And fixing things. Cars and gadgets and stuff." There's a pause, where he really wishes he could say something like reading thick novels or slam poetry or something. Instead, he adds, "... and wrestling."

[antimetabole]

There's little that Nero lists out that takes Vergil by any sort of surprise. As Dante has put it, he is a "good kid." As Vergil thinks of it, he has his mother's heart. It was, after all, her kindness that had ultimately caught Vergil's attention in the first place. It would only make sense that Nero would come to bear it as well. Firm and certainly not one to be pushed around, but kind all the same. Vergil assumes she must be proud of Nero and the young man he's become that he is willing to help those who have little to nothing just as instinctively as he draws breath. It makes more sense then, that day in the garage, he'd offered Vergil food without a second thought. Not even a wary glance at the direction of a stranger barely standing upright who hid their face.

Vergil glances down at his fries that are going untouched at present, briefly pushing aside the thought of how quickly he'd spurned that kindness even if there was really no alternative to Vergil at the time. He was dying, and while the time he had left was indeterminate, it was still barreling towards him faster than anyone could do anything about. There was no part of him that could suffer the weakness of humanity and live. That much was certain to him then.

But not now. Now isn't the time for that. He lifts his gaze again.

Music and movies don't particularly stand out to Vergil—Nero is young after all, and it'd be a rare sort of twenty-something that doesn't have a fondness for those things—but the tinkering and futzing around with gadgets and the like stand out a little more. Vergil's immediately curious then what sparked the interest and just how far he's pursued it, but he hasn't the time to ask before Nero adds wrestling to his list of interests.

"Wrestling...?"

[pullit]

Nero smirks a little at the very prospect of having to explain this, but already knows he'll have to. He still doesn't know the whole story of what happened to Vergil and where he's been, but he's been gone a good 20 years, from what he's put together via Trish and osmosis.

"Yeah. Pro wrestling. Like on TV?" No need to guess whether Vergil has any familiarity with it at all. He almost certainly doesn't. "It's really theatrical and there's lots of stunts... the storylines get pretty goofy but I've been watching since I was a kid. It's fun. And taught me a bunch of moves to use on demons, as a bonus." And on you, Vergil, the once.

"I'd be surprised if they have it here but... maybe."

[antimetabole]

From the way Nero is describing it, Vergil is meeting the concept of this being entertaining with a high degree of skepticism. But perhaps Nero is just describing it poorly. Especially if it apparently has given him some ideas in managing demons.

...It does not occur to Vergil that any of it was applied in their bout. Something else occurs to him, instead.

"You could always check on the Relic," he says. Vergil never uses the thing himself, but that doesn't mean he's ignored everything about it. "It is my understanding some use it to watch television and movies on it. Perhaps there is wrestling there, too."

[pullit]

"Oh yeah. This thing?" He reaches into the pocket of his jacket with his less fry-grease-dirtied hand and pulls out the device in question. Gives it a quick look-over and flips the screen open with his thumb. "I'll have to check it out later, see if I can find anything. Then hey, maybe if you get bored..."

There's a brief glance at Vergil when he says that, as though gauging his reaction to the idea. Of watching wrestling with Nero, or perhaps just the idea of seeking him out later for any reason at all. Beyond the fact he'll be staying at his apartment, anyway.

"You, um... you want to know anything else? Casual icebreaker buddy-buddy small talk, I mean."

[antimetabole]

Nero doesn't finish his sentence, subsequently leaving the invitation more to implication than anything else. While Vergil's expression does not change all that much to grant Nero much insight into his feelings about the matter, he nods his agreement. There's the chance, of course, Vergil won't care for it in the end, and they both likely know that. But there is no harm in watching it if it's of interest to Nero, and it is something he wants to try to share with Vergil. Whatever Vergil can get, he will accept without any sort of complaint.

"I am not one for small talk," he says, more as acknowledgment that conversation is far from his forte, and to perhaps temper some of Nero's expectations. In other words, Vergil's lack of pelting him with questions as Nero had to Vergil on the way over to this place was not a reflection of a lack of interest. And indeed, there is a small pause before he tentatively asks, "Kyrie? She is your...?"

Far be it from Vergil to be interested in the gory details of his son's love life, but he would like to know the important people in his life all the same.

[pullit]

"No kidding?" Nero muses, before feeling a little bad about jabbing the poor guy's conversational skills. He's quick to offer a muted smirk, a sign he was just joking. He's pretty used to Dante's sense of humor and social acuity by now. Vergil... not so much.

Vergil does give him the favor of a much, much easier topic to talk about.

"Kyrie." There's very obvious reverence in the way he says her name, if the suddenly soft look in his eyes and dust of pink across his nose don't give it away. "She's my... my girlfriend, yeah." As though his claim to the title is brand new and not almost five years running now. As though he's even worthy of it.

"We grew up together in the Order. She was my best friend as long as I can remember and." Oh, boy. He really gets all kinds of gooey just talking about her. "We have an apartment together in Fortuna. She holds down the fort and I go work outside the city. And she's... so amazing. Like an angel on earth. I'm really lucky to have her."

[antimetabole]

Some affection for the girl was to be expected, but Vergil did not anticipate this much of it. At least, not so openly. Vergil is polite at least, and both offers no interruption as well as tempers the urge to raise his eyebrows at just how effusively affectionate Nero is about Kyrie. It really is saccharine to a nearly nauseating degree though, and that is coming from someone who enjoys poetry that constantly espouses upon the merits of such love or extols upon the virtues of their beloved.

"I'm..." he starts, fishing for the right thing to say that might not come across as patronizing or, worse, as though he were poking fun at Nero for his feelings for this girl. "I'm glad you have someone who makes you so happy. In my experience, that is a rare thing, and it is good you cherish it as much as you do."

cw: blood/injury mention

[pullit]

The restraint is appreciated. Nero is a little caught up in his thoughts about Kyrie to notice anything he might interpret as disapproval or disdain. There would be no quicker way to make him get defensive on Vergil.

As it is, he smiles as though genuinely pleased by the response. "I don't deserve her," he says, very honestly. "She's so patient and has the kindest heart you'll ever meet. If you..."

He drifts off abruptly. If Vergil should ever meet her, that is. There are a few little obstacles standing in the way of that, at the moment, even without the two of them being here in another world and Kyrie back in theirs. There is also the fact that Vergil very nearly met her that day in the garage. If he'd stuck around long enough after leaving Nero screaming with most of his blood gushing out of his body. He can't imagine Kyrie is going to be thrilled to know just who that hooded stranger was.

"Anyway," he says. "I hope she's okay. They said she wouldn't be missing me while I'm here, but... I've not been away from her this long in a while."

[antimetabole]

Vergil understands what Nero almost says and why he does not say it. He does not press upon the matter, looking at the food in front of him for a moment as though contemplating whether or not to have more rather than becoming sullen over the matter. He opts not to have more, putting the cup of what's left of the honey mustard atop his remaining fries and sitting back a little more in his seat. Vergil knows he is not entitled to anything when it comes to Nero's life, but he can understand an extra degree of protectiveness surrounding Kyrie. Not that it does not perhaps sting a little in the end that he knows there is a degree to which there likely is mistrust, but he knows it's not unearned either. Nero will protect those precious to him one way or another.

It is what it is.

"If what the Fox says is true, she will be none the wiser to your leaving," Vergil says with a slight nod. He remains uncertain on that front in all honesty. There is some evidence suggest she's telling the truth, but then again, it could just be a matter of time moving differently in Folkmore compared to other realms. That is not entirely out of the question given that time in the Underworld moves at a different rate than the human world. But that sits somewhat uneasily for Vergil. It implies a failure in finding a way from this place back to the human world, which has been his entire reason for being here. Vergil chooses not to dwell in it. "Regardless, I'm sure even if your leaving has upset her, she will ultimately forgive you and understand your reasons for being here. She must to some extent in remaining home while you work."

Because regardless of how strong or talented Nero is, his line of work is still dangerous. There is still that possibility, that chance that he might not make it home. That is a reality that Kyrie must have come to terms with a long time ago to be at peace in a relationship with him now. To that end, he thinks, Nero really is fortunate to have her. Not many could tolerate that regardless of how much they might love him. Vergil's gaze drifts aside from Nero out the window, but he's quick to put an end to his thoughts. They're senseless and pointless given that it was such a long, long time ago now.

"Are you finished?" he asks, looking to Nero, and referring to his meal and not in his conversation on Kyrie. Nero is free to speak on her as little or as much as he likes.

[pullit]

"Yeah," he says, gesturing to the paper cup his milkshake is in. "I can take it with me."

It makes perfect sense for things to feel this awkward, Nero keeps reminding himself. He is entirely valid in his mistrust and wariness around Vergil... and vice-versa, probably.

Still, he appreciates what appears to be genuine, sincere effort here for Vergil in wanting to talk to him. In some of his imaginings of this scenario, he received nothing but scorn from his estranged father. Seething dismissal for being weak, or mostly human, or nothing but a goading challenge into another brutal fight. Instead, they're eating burgers. Awkwardly, like a divorced dad hanging out with his non-custodial kid in a movie. But it's something normal, at least.

"Thank you," he says abruptly. "For the food. And for- you know. All this."

[antimetabole]

Vergil rises from his seat, pausing in gathering up his tray when Nero thanks him. He looks at Nero perhaps a second too long before he blinks and looks down at his tray.

"You're welcome," he says as he picks it up. With his free hand, Vergil gathers up the Yamato again. He debates saying anything else before deciding that it can't exactly hurt. Vergil clears his throat a little before adding, "This... This has been...nice."

He steps away to throw away the remnants of his meal and place the tray on the shelf above the trashcan. It's not exactly the most eloquent, and it is probably doing absolutely no favors on the awkward, stilted manner in which they are interacting with one another off-and-on. Even Vergil has to privately acknowledge he could have done better than nice and he probably should have been looking at Nero when he said it, but it is not a thoughtless remark. He still means it sincerely. They both know this could have been far more unpleasant in its nature, and while it's true there's still a great deal for them to talk about... It's a start.

Vergil waits by the exit for Nero before stepping outside the restaurant again and walking down the stairs to the street.

"Will you be heading back to work, or would you prefer to see where the apartment is?"

He leaves it up to Nero. Verbal instructions on how to make it to the apartment should be something he can follow if he'd rather have some time on his own. Vergil is far from looking to push beyond what Nero might be willing to give him or needs right now.

[pullit]

Stilted or not, Nero's not expecting the addition. By the time Vergil returns from the trash can, he's found the words to agree. "Yeah. It has."

He follows Vergil out. It's early afternoon and there's still plenty of work to be done. Part of him wonders if he shouldn't be shown the apartment, but another part of him wants to go get back to helping the cleanup work. It also, he thinks, might be a good idea for both of them to take a bit to let this all sink in. So far so good and all, but the longer he and Vergil are awkwardly forced into one anothers' company, the more opportunity is for things to go wrong.

That'll be a risk he's willing to take, though.

"If you point me there, I think I can find it later," he says. "I won't be out too late. Maybe around sunset." He certainly doesn't owe Vergil a timetable or even his whereabouts, but something tells him he should give the guy a sign of his intentions, so he can expect him. And possibly go looking if Nero should get hopelessly lost on the way.

"You said it was by that tower, right?"

[antimetabole]

Vergil nods before providing Nero with the most direct route from where they stand to the apartment building and providing him with the apartment number. He lets him know if he gets lost, any of the locals will likely be happy to point him in the right direction. The apartments are a relatively central location in the area, after all. Or he's able to call Dante on the Relic, that is another option afforded to him. Vergil holds up a hand before Nero can say anything, however, about just calling him directly. It is not some passing of responsibility or implication that Nero would not feel comfortable asking Vergil to guide him to the apartment.

"My Relic was lost when all this occurred," he says as clarification. Anxious as Vergil may be for things to go well, that is not a particular concern. "Assuming your uncle does not eat it all by himself, I imagine there will be pizza waiting for you when you get home."

Vergil intends on enforcing a limit to how much pizza is consumed or makes its way into the apartment for the sake of his own sanity, but he knows he's not winning the battle of pizza for dinner tonight with Dante. They've been stuck out in the woods for a little over a month with no means of food beyond what they managed to hunt, forage, or grow in that time. It's a wonder Dante hasn't developed some form of shakes or seizures by now with how long he's gone with out a single slice of pizza in that time. Vergil can at least compromise and concede tonight.

"But if he doesn't leave you anything, or you'd rather something else, there will be other options."

[pullit]

Vergil is a planner, isn't he? Or at least the type of person who thinks very thoroughly about things. Nero wasn't really doubting there would be food available to him later, but he does appreciate the foresight in thinking of him.

"Okay. Thanks. I'm not too picky." Can't afford to be with an appetite like his. "Pizza's great though..." (Oh no. Another one.)

He hesitates a moment, not wanting to depart too abruptly, but also not sure what else he should say. With an exhale, he lifts his shoulders and seems to find it.

"I'll see you at home later, then. Thanks again."