[closed] jukebox hero

[subhuman]

Who: Dante & Others
When: February
Where: Horizon & Nocwich
What: Closed prompts and headaches (caused by Dante)
Warnings: Will add as needed!

Comments

holy shit now *I* thought I replied to this forever ago

[subhuman]

[ He can absolutely be serious. But Nero won't like him when he's actually serious, Dante's pretty sure. So he tells himself. (Not that Nero likes him when he's like this normally.)

But the way Nero looks at him with that level of intent combined with abject disappointment is all Dante needs to see to know that his nephew is on a mission. Enough that he's decided braving the embarrassment that is the Devil May Cry is worth it.

Dante takes a sip of his shake. ]

Well, you found me, kid. What's bothering you?

we're so good at this

[ofthesword]

[And now that he's faced with the purpose, and it isn't as simple as beating the pulp out of whatever's in front of him, he feels a bit like -- it's not faltering, all right? It's. He's not built for this.

His arms cross over his chest. Decidedly, he does not make his own dessert, even though he considers knocking Dante's off the table to help him focus.

He hasn't lost his own focus. It's more like, when Wanda was talking him into this, it all sort of fit together. He didn't need to have a plan, he just needed to. Do it. Have A Talk. Get through it. Maybe things would change on the other side.

Nero's hands are fists against his side, but he does his best to look relaxed. (It doesn't work.) But in true Nero fashion, there is no calm ease into what he came here for (which, as the seconds tick by, he feels less like he has a grip on). He barrels straight into it, thoughtlessly, anyway.]

I get why you did what you did. What you kept from me. For years. [He can't stop the tone of anger there. It eases, a little, when he continues. Nero really is trying to make an effort. Make an effort to get through this before he gets pissed off and leaves again.

Because that's what it comes to. Dante's a slippery eel, but he's just as likely to be the first to leave. It's a race to see who cringes first.] I never got the chance to say this, so listen: it wasn't your choice to make. Protecting me or not, you -- [And here, he pauses. Tightens his whole body. He fucking sucks at this.] You don't get what you took from me, Dante. You never apologized. And I wouldn't forgive you if you did.

[But. It hangs in the air.]

Look, I don't know what I want out of this. It just needed to be said. [Wait. He does want one thing.] I don't want us acting like fuckin' strangers. It's weird.

[There. Kyrie'd be proud, even if he would rather have his teeth pulled than be here right now.]

SURE ARE

[subhuman]

[ The energy radiating off Nero is palpable as it always is--the guy's an open book as far as his feelings, in stark contrast to the ilk he came from. But unlike Vergil, Dante's learned patience, even if it's masked in what may look like as childish indifference.

But what Nero has to say isn't exactly what Dante's expecting. It's enough to get him to pause mid-sip and slowly move the straw from his chapped lips. A part of him wishes he'd been more prepared for this conversation but, one that he wasn't sure he'd ever have. Nero's not a dumb guy and while Dante feels if Nero truly felt it was a horrible breach of trust--this secret--he wouldn't even be bothering to talk to Dante in the first place.

But...still.

Still.

Nero's got every right to be angry. Dante made the choice rather than leaving it up to Nero. Even if it was for Nero's sake, he's right--it wasn't Dante's choice to make.

But it's too late for that. Burying old family hurts, pains, and secrets is a way of life now. Hopefully one that Nero will never learn.

Dante's lips form a thin line as he let's it all settle in. Really, if he wanted to he could just come to in the real world and end it here. But Nero's got a right to say what he has to say, feel what he has to feel. It's a silent moment before Dante sets his milkshake on the edge of the stage. ]

What would you have done?

[ He doesn't look up at his nephew. ]

If you were in my position.

[ofthesword]

[At least he makes it through the whole tirade -- and he's totally blaming this all on Wanda, later, at least in his own mind -- before his arms finally cross over his chest to hold everything else in. That was sort of. It. He'd say it, and it'd be sort of. Done.

He was honest. He doesn't know what he wanted out of it, and he didn't plan on any response coming out of Dante that he particularly wanted to hear. It sort of just cut off in his head where he'd said his piece.

Maybe a part of Nero was expecting just that. For it to end. If this is the only way they're gonna be talkin', either of them could cut it off. But then again, that's the one thing Nero doesn't think will happen.

They're bonded now. Maybe always have been, in that loose, familial way. But it's different now they went through... well. Even more shit.]

You think it's fair to ask? I was never in your position. [And he could end it there. It's not Nero's way, though. He just sighs, and he finally takes a seat beside Dante on the stage.] I couldn't keep this in. I'm being real. You know me. [And know he doesn't exactly hold anything back.] Keeping things hidden isn't my thing. I'm not good at it. It'd slip, no matter what. And I'm not sayin' it's bad if you are -- some people gotta be good at it. You got your reasons. You got a whole history I don't know about, because you don't tell anyone about it. [His arms have already unfurled, moving through the air as he talks 'cause now that energy needs somewhere to go with him sitting.] So maybe somewhere in all the smoke and mirrors of it, I'd get it. And it'd make sense. Maybe I'd do the same if it happened to me. But seriously, we're different people. We're formed by our... our personal shit. [He glances at Dante, then away, then back, like he's starting to realize he's preachy and maybe not making sense.] You know? Does it really seem worth thinkin' about?

[subhuman]

[ Fair to ask. Nah, but there's not a lot about this situation that is fair. Maybe it came off wrong--wouldn't surprise Dante. It wasn't so much a judgment of "could you have done better", since he figures that's kind of a given, but "what should I have done?"

What he did wasn't the right answer. But was there one? It feels like no matter what someone's gonna get the shit end and it's going to be Nero no matter what.

Even if there wasn't a whole mess of Vergil being his father just because of Vergil being the man that he is--that he's become--but putting the big red sign on Nero as "Spawn of Sparda" in Fortuna was practically a death sentence. Granted that ended up being a mess either way.

See? No winners. Life's just like that sometimes.

Of course it's much easier for Dante to think that way about his own situation. He struggles a lot more when he feels like there's something he should be doing for someone else's situation. For Nero's.

Nero would have handled it differently just because they're different people. He's right--there's no way it would have been a secret for long. Do you hold all your cards close to your chest in the hopes you can gauge your opponents' hand? Or do you lay them all out knowing you can only go in swinging with what you've already got?

Dante leans a little further back into his seat. He's quiet, but he's listening. ]

It matters to you, doesn't it?

[ He speaks in a flat but serious tone.It's bothered Nero this entire time. And he really can't pretend that it's not a decision he's weathered easily either.

Dante exhales loudly, trying to loosen up a bit. ]

I'm not going to apologize...'cause once you start in this family then there's no end in sight. You'll be playing catch up for the rest of our life and no one's got time for that.

[ Too many demons, literally and figuratively. Transgressions that should rightfully tear any bonds apart. And yet...fragile, frayed, weakened as they are--

--sometimes they're all each other has got.

But not Nero--no, that's the main difference. Nero has got more. He's got a lady, a family, a place he loves and wants to protect. ]

But if you've got questions, I'll do my best to answer them. Scout's honor.

[ It's the least he can do, put some sunlight to the pages of Nero's family history that have been kept in the dark for so long. ]

[ofthesword]

[It's not a big surprise to find he totally didn't get why Dante was asking the question. All this time he's known him since Fortuna, he still doesn't feel like he knows much of him. And Trish and Lady sort of cemented that -- like they're together with him, and they get him on the surface.

Kind of reminds him of V. But V was even more open than the two of them. Which -- you know, fucked up, considering.

Nero rubs his arm. The question's annoying, 'cause the answer's obvious to both of them.]

I don't care about gettin' an apology. [It was more like, this confrontation. If he didn't have it, it was gonna keep pissing him off. To not get it all out there. Especially why he's so shit at keeping stuff to himself.]

Look, it doesn't have to be now. But I wanna... know. About him. [About both of them, really. About the family. He had Kyrie and he had Credo, and for a while, he had his adoptive parents. But even Nero knows the way he was picked up wasn't exactly normal. And his family was in a cult. He doesn't know what the fuck a blood family is supposed to be like.

Not that he thinks they're about to be normal, either.] I found you guys are blood relatives, then you both leave before I get a single damn question out. [He holds out a hand, and V's book appears there, heavy with its poetry.

Not V's. Vergil's. Whatever.

The big V on the cover still has the slightest shimmer of gold, worn as it is.] This is all I ever got.

[Maybe it says enough it's appeared here, where it doesn't even exist. And every page is as filled, as far as Nero can remember it.]