Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced.

[artofrevenge]

WHO: Mizu & Others
WHEN: January, pre-mission
WHERE: Around Etraya
WHAT: Communication, miscommunication, and looking ahead
NOTES\WARNINGS: If you're interested in a thread or personalized prompt, let me know! At this time, not expecting much heavy for warnings. There may be some references to past trauma/poor coping mechanisms. Will warn in threads and try to remember to add if they come up.

Comments

For Nero:

[artofrevenge]

With the arrival of Devil May Cry in Etraya, Vergil is farther away. Halfway across the city may still be closer than they were in Folkmore, given the train, but it's much farther away. As a consequence, when Mizu comes over, she spends a longer time. She stays, sometimes, when Vergil is out to wait rather than leave and come back, as she would in the apartments. The fact a mission is coming only makes her want to spend more time with him and thus more time there.

Vergil isn't there, so Mizu settles into a corner where she won't bother anyone and meditates. She crosses her legs, rests her hands on her knees, and closes her eyes. Her breathing settles, and time passes. It's calming because it's an old habit and waiting is comfortable. Even inside and without incense, she feels the passage of time. A door opens, and Mizu listens to the footsteps. They aren't Vergil's, she can tell immediately. It takes longer to tell whether they belong to Dante or Nero.

Her posture stiffens slightly, but Mizu opens her eyes and brings her hands into her lap. No longer in form for meditation, it's a clear sign—for some people—to talk. Not that Mizu expects Nero to need an invitation. It's been a long time coming, so she expects him to initiate the conversation. She'll be relieved, more than anything, because it will be over.

[pullit]

Nero is wearing a tanktop and sweats, coming in from the back of the shop through the garage door. He's got his headphones on and appeals lightly sweaty; whatever he's working on out there seems to be physically vigorous. His attention seems to be somewhere else as he grabs a towel from a random hamper sitting on the office desk, but then he spots Mizu seated over in the corner.

"Oh, hey Mizu," he says, as he turns around and heads back into the kitchen without another word.

[artofrevenge]

"Hello Nero," Mizu greets Nero. She takes off her tinted glasses, her blue eyes shining without them. It's a serious conversation, and she will meet it accordingly, appropriately.

He— He walks away. Mizu stares after him without moving for a few moments. Is she supposed to follow him? She cannot help the slight frown that comes over her face, but Mizu stays seated. It is probably nothing more than commitment to completing what he came into the office to do before handling something new. That's fine. She can wait. She already was waiting.

[pullit]

Unfortunately for Mizu, Nero does not return from the back. He's in the kitchen digging through the freezer, pulling out four pepperoni pizza Hot Pockets, and trying to figure out how exactly to heat them up in this volume. The oven's gonna take too goddamn long.

He resorts, instead, to putting them through the microwave one at a time. The timer beeps loudly and he pulls out the first, adding in the second behind it, then wrapping the first in a paper towel and tearing off a corner so it will cool.

[artofrevenge]

Her frown deepens when nothing happens. As far as she's aware, Nero isn't much of a cook. Vergil and Kyrie cooked in Folkmore. It seems unlikely he's making a meal more complicated than a sandwich for himself. Nothing that takes long. So that means she ought to follow him. He can get food and chew her out at the same time. Vergil has a tail. He probably has something to help him out with that.

Mizu stands, takes a deep breath, and crosses the room to enter the kitchen. Nero uses the heating box. It's convenient, certainly, but Mizu's always preferred using a source of heat she can see. A stove with small flames is easier to judge the food she makes. The heating box is supposed to be faster, but Nero only puts one pastry in it at a time. The box is large enough to fix many of them, and if it were too small, there's the oven.

She cannot help but ask after it. "Is the heating box damaged?"

[pullit]

With his headphones on and his music blasting, Nero doesn't notice for a moment that Mizu has followed him in. Not until he sees the reflection of his face gleam in the microwave glass. Then he turns around and takes off his headphones, letting them rest around his neck. The loud, thudding rhythm of the music is audible all the way across the room.

"Huh?" He at least catches the tail end of the question. "Oh. Nah, you can't do this many at one time or they won't heat up right. End up burned in some spots and frozen inside, or worse."

[artofrevenge]

The explanation makes sense in so much as it justifies Nero's behavior. However, it gives Mizu a worse impression of the device he's using. To only heat so small an amount of food at a time, it's inefficient, something that hardly seems worthwhile for a full meal. She looks at the hand-sized pastry cooling on the kitchen counter.

"By the time you have cooked them all, the first one might get cold," Mizu says. She shakes her head a little. This is why the box is not like an oven. It does not work the same as the hot space around a fire or in a furnace. It may be an unusual trick but hardly worthwhile. "Perhaps you should give the box a talk."