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

[artofrevenge]

Good for her? It's strange to hear, and the uncertainty in Nero's tone isn't one that promises anger under the surface. She too doesn't know what else she wants Nero to say about it. It's good to know he's not angry with her, but it's all anticlimactic.

"I expected more fists," Mizu says, "It seemed a worse offense than insulting your grammar and spelling."

What would she know.

[pullit]

That remark gets her a withering, unimpressed look. Boy, he'd better not start picking on Nero's grammatical skills. Before he can say anything the microwave beeps, signalling Nero's second Hot Pocket is ready. He turns around to swap it out with the third one.

"What, do you want me to kick your ass or something?" He shrugs as he exchanges the plates. "You guys made up. I don't think Dad'd be cool if I whooped you for a fight you had a month ago. Even if I wanted to. Which I don't."

[artofrevenge]

Mizu simply pulls the communications device out of her clothes and points to it. "I can read. You fought a kid about it."

She gives no insult to his grammar and spelling, though Nero certainly couldn't get away with that if he'd been raised by swordfather. Master Eiji is blind but no fool. Mizu has excellent penmanship and language skills because of it. She certainly didn't come to him with them. Her only issue with how Nero speaks is that it's sometimes difficult to understand—as this conversation demonstrates.

"I half-expected you to show up at my door the whole time Vergil and I weren't speaking," Mizu says, but she shrugs, unsure herself what she wants with Nero. "Now... I wanted to be sure where we stood."

[pullit]

"'Cuz it's rude to pick on people for shit they're bad at," he says flatly, and pushes the buttons to fire up the microwave for round three.

His explanation at least makes a bit more sense than the rest of this does. He's been on tenterhooks this whole time waiting for Nero to come bite his head off. Props for confronting the issue, he supposes, though Nero is now certain that this was a much, much bigger deal to Mizu than it was to him.

Nero turns around to lean against the counter with his arms folded. "Dad was moping around and miserable. I asked him what happened. He said you'd had a spat, but that he was taking care of it. So I let him," he says simply. "Now, if I ever ask and he tells me you crushed his heart in your fist and broke his spirit and he never wants to speak to you again, then you can expect me on your doorstep. I dunno if that clears it up for you at all, but hey. There you go."

[artofrevenge]

Noted, though Mizu is never going to use that knowledge to get Nero to spar with her for real. She's spent enough time thinking Nero hates her. There's no need to make it happen for real, not for a single sparring session. Unfortunately.

Mizu's eyebrow raises at the idea Vergil would ever describe something in such terms, no matter if someone did hurt him so badly. She's fairly certain that even under the worst of circumstances between her and Vergil, that will never be the case. At the same time, she cannot help but think of Mikio, however, because as much as the words are not the ones she'd choose, she cannot deny he crushed her heart in his fist, broke her spirit, and she never wanted to speak with him again. Admittedly, even had she anyone in her life who felt toward her the way Nero does Vergil, he wouldn't have had the chance to show up on Mikio's doorstep. Then again, maybe she wouldn't have been so crushed, after her mother's and Mikio's betrayals, if there'd been someone in her life who hadn't. Someone she thought still in her life.

"Vergil is fortunate to have you in his life," Mizu says softly. He may never need such protection, but to be loved in that way... it's never to be taken for granted. Vergil, like her, knows that. Nero probably knows that too.

"I guess I'll stop waiting for you to hate me. I'm not that large an idiot to hurt Vergil that way."