to see a world in a grain of sand

[kowase]

WHO: Dante, Vergil, Nero, and any visitors to the Auguries within the month of June.
WHERE: Auguries of Innocence
WHEN: Throughout June/July
WHAT: Different logs/stuff that happens at Vergil's apartment-slash-shop
WARNINGS: General sparda family stuff, they talk about demon stuff idk. there'll be a birthday party at the end of the month too.



[ A three-story building with a shop in the bottom-most floor, a sign that is overtly fancy and gilded with silver, Auguries of Innocence. In the window, there is now a smaller, just as fancy, but red glowing sign that says Opening Soon: Devil May Cry.

The second floor a storeroom filled with crates of items unsorted and damaged alike, things Vergil has collected for numerous years and hasn't finished restoring, or is just holding while not ready to sell. The floor also has a number of crafting tools in it for restoring broken items or refurbishing damaged ones.

The third floor is a minimalistic, mostly grey and silver apartment with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a study, a kitchen, a livingroom and a dining area in it. It's covered in antiques, with some weapons hanging on the wall. The furniture looks styled more for looking at than it is for sitting on, which is annoying, at best.


For the Montshs of June/July, Vergil and Dante have forcibly kidnapped Nero to live with them while he's dealing with some rather unfortunate memory issues -- and this post will be used for any threads involving the trio + any visitors while this mess goes on. ]

Comments

for Vergil bc ya boi is a shit

[sassery]

[Most days Nox leaves Vergil alone during his shift, trying his best to find something to do. Sometimes it's tinkering with stuff he's brought. Sometimes it's training Jet to be careful around Vergil's things (and he's surprisingly good at it). Sometimes Nox even takes out a clipboard and draws out plans for the next basketball practice. But at the end of the day, his demon is restless, a mixture of crawling up the walls and also frustratingly wanting to be violent. It's a process to balance the emotions, but for Nox, it's one that he's gotten used to over time.

Today is one of those days, however, where he's bored out of his mind, and so the obvious answer here is to bug Vergil. Which is why, during his father's shift, he's going to get his son paying him a visit from upstairs and purposely sitting on the edge of the desk that Vergil sits at.

A brow goes up at the book his father currently has, but he at least seems interested.]

So, what book is that?

[For once, he's not trying to be a shit. He still is a shit anyway.]

[kowase]

[ it's becoming oddly normal, having not one, but two family members in his home at all times. There's so much more noise--what with how dante and nero would sometimes argue in another part of the house--but it isn't an UNPLEASANT din. No, it's actually getting closer to being almost eerily uncomfortable when things start to get too quiet.

Which is why, two weeks ago, he may have gotten irritated at Nero for interrupting his reading, and would have finished the current page he was on before even bothering to entertain the boy with an answer.

his eyes flick up, though, after just a moment as he wonders if this question was in good faith, or...

He flips the book over to show Nero the cover. ]

'Things Fall Apart,' by Chinua Achebe. It's a twin-storied drama published in 1959, and was banned in quite a few places in Europe, due to its critical portrayal of European colonialism.

...

It's definitely a very harsh read, given the subject matter.

[sassery]

[It's odd, really, to actually live in the same house as his family. Even as Nero, he'd spent most of his time in the orphanage with the kids and Kyrie. There's a sort of peace in it, a way of sort of understanding, even when their demons get antsy or out of sorts. With too much quiet, it sets all of them off like a shattering of a loud noise somewhere in the house.

Still, Nox genuinely listens, curious on the answer. And he blinks as soon as he hears it.]

Wait, so. You're saying this book doesn't hold back on how bad colonization was. [A sigh, and he puts a hand to his face.] Bet Britain loved that, back in the day. Since them forcing their colonies to play sports was the best way to stop them from focusing on trying to fight back or against the empire.

[There's things he had to learn in order to be a gym teacher. History was one of them- namely in sports, in how the rules and ratings and systems of games came to be, how they worked and changed over time. Coaching required social skills, mathematics, medical knowledge, but it also needed history to show him the process and serve as a reminder of where sports came from and how they survived all these years.]

It was soccer that usually united most of them, from what I remember. Been a longass time since I took classes on it though.

[Nox it's only been FIVE YEARS......]

[kowase]

[ it is odd, but it's a comfortable odd, as the days grow long. Nero's been here about a week and a half--maybe more by now, already--and Vergil's not even trying to think about the fact that Nero has his own home, his own place to return to at some point. This was just how the house was now, and he was used to it. ]

That is exactly what I am saying. It is a rather critical view on it, to a point where it bothered quite a few nationalists who could not bear to see their precious colonizing homeland being called out for the ... ...trouble they caused back when the world was newer than it is today. [ there's an obvious pause in his speech, where Vergil CLEARLY had struggled to come up with a word to use there. if it was italian... he likely would have used a much ruder word. ]

The play of sport is in this book as well, of course. See, the easiest way for the higher-class to control the lower-class is to enact a sort of war between those under you. Not a war that's played in actual battle, but one that is distracting enough that they become completely engaged in it so those in power above them keep profiting off their suffering, or continue building a structure around them which they cannot escape.

[... never in his life did he think he'd be having THIs kind of conversation with NERO of all people.

The man, oddly, has his full attention, now. ]

We go through the same sort of struggles in this day and age, even if people are blind to it.

[sassery]

[In a lot of ways, Nox doesn't feel out of place. Normally, he'd consider that weird, but with Vergil and Dante, he doesn't. He doesn't think about how his condo is currently empty, or how his car is pretty much sitting in its parking spot unused. The thoughts don't even cross his mind. Here, in a word, a sentence, a feeling- here feels like a sense of home.]

Yeah, I can see that. [Boy oh boy, politics were definitely not the way he was expecting this conversation to go, but he doesn't mind it. He notices the hold-up in Vergil's conversation, and makes a note to ask later what he wanted to actually say.] No one likes being called out when they're causing problems, and willingly doing it, at that.

[Still, he clicks his tongue, brow raising at his father's observation.] The more you pull the wool over their eyes, so to speak, the less they pay attention to you and how you're stealing from them. Honestly, you're making their lives worse while making yours better. [A beat, but he grins.] Yeah. Just don't go accusing any billionaires of this shit, Vergil, I may not be able to actually pull you out of trouble for that.

[kowase]

[ it was a good home. Vergil wasn't sure about this whole move-to-america thing at first, and part of him wondered how quickly he'd tire of it and move somewhere else, but. As it stands, much to his father's disgust, he's pretty much settled here.

This is home. ]

Of course noone wants to be called out. If magic were available to everyone at all times, huge companies would be shelling out millions for spells that hid their sketchy practices and cooked the numbers for them where noone can see it or catch on. That is simply how the rich work.

[ Says Vergil, a rich person.

And then he grins.
Have you ever seen something like that? It's... god, it almost doesn't suit his face, what with how it comes across as downright sinister--the expression fading a moment later. ]

I spent a majority of my young adult years accusing many billionaires of 'that shit', Nero.
It is why I do not have a close relationship with much of my family--my father Aldo, included. While I most certainly benefitted from being born into wealth, I can see the inherit problems with being rich.

[ ...he's not going to admit how much money he donates to charity, nero. he can't be seen as a good person. ]

[sassery]

[For Nox, Kaisou has always been home. Even as a single child, he came back after his time in New York City- despite loving the city life, something just felt right to go back. Even now, living with two others? It's... comfy. Familiar in a way he can't really put a finger on.]

Don't even make me think about that, shit is corrupted enough as it is. Magic mixed with politics? Gross.

[HAH, WELCOME TO SHIT IN THE UNDERWORLD.

It takes Nox a split moment, blinking at that grin, before he decides to not say anything at it. His father is definitely not a social sort of person, that's a smile that would fit a serial killer.]

So your dad's name is Aldo? [And a snobby asshole, sounds like.] At least you've got that. Can't say the same about a lot of other rich people, you know?

[Uh-huh. Big ol' softie.]

[kowase]

I find politics to be boorish and circular. I could never get into that sort of life, either, even if it was one of the things my father wished I would get into.

[ he tips his head back to look at Nero

then he looks away again. Fingers moving to push and fix his hair up on his head a little, idly. ]

Yes. Aldo Vittore. I'm sure you will find him on all sorts of social media easily--he is an attention snob, and is quite proud of his achievements. [ nero got it right in one. ] I have far more interest in pursuing things that interest me, instead of things that just make me richer.

...I live comfortably, and that's all that matters.

[sassery]

Mood as fuck.

[H a h, Nox did not expect this sort of thing in a conversation, but here it is anyway.

Still, he can't help but let out some sort of amused exhale at the description of Aldo. What a fucking prick.]

Man, imagine actually having a mindset of only caring about making more money. [A beat, and he moves to sit further on the desk.] Couldn't be me.

[kowase]

[ this sure is a conversation. And here goes Vergil, not even trying to change it. ]

I like money. I like having enough to be comfortable. But I do not play the same games my father and other relatives do.

It is part of why I felt comfortable moving here.
Aldo is a fool if he expects me to want to inherit his car empire.

Cars are boring.

[sassery]

I mean, tell me someone who doesn't like money, Vergil. Everyone wants to be comfortable at some point in their lives.

[Most don't get that, and Nox is well aware of it.]

I think there's a difference between wanting money for the sake of a lifestyle you want, where you don't really bother everyone, versus wanting money for the sake of being a rich asshole looking to get richer, and bothering people with it.

[A brow raises at that, but Nox is pretty sure he's nailed how Vergil's father is.

He can't help but laugh a little at the last statement, honestly.]

Cars are boring for a bunch of people, yeah. And they're also interesting to others. Still don't get the feeling your dad's the type to appreciate the actual interior of one and how she works, though. Could be wrong, but I can't imagine a rich guy being elbow-deep in an engine and trying to fix the cylinder head or the exhaust.

[kowase]

Money makes the world turn. The only people who do not like money are people who do not have it.

[ he shrugs. capitalism sucks but you make do. ]

And are you fooling yourself? Someone like Aldo, getting his hands dirty with his own cars? No, his mechanics take care of that. all he cares about is how it looks and how it drives.
In my opinion, a person truly only needs one car, to get from point A to point B.

Having the sixteen my father has is gross excess.

[sassery]

Yeah, money becomes a problem for a lot of people wanting basic needs.

[He knows how it is, it's the pits.

Still, the description of Vergil's father actually has Nox cackle, one hand quickly trying to cover his mouth afterwards. Should he be laughing at this? Probably not, but it's too late now.]

Man, I'd love to grill his ass on how a car works, considering I know that shit now. And yeah, no point in getting more than-

[That number makes his jaw slack as he stares back at his father in disbelief.]

Sixteen? What the fuck does he do with them, let them sit in a fucking showroom?