[ He's not taking Dante's advice. He's not. And he hasn't spent a great deal of time thinking about his words. That's absurd. His brother is a buffoon. What could he possibly know about parenthood?
Granted, it's not like Vergil has any idea, either, but the point stands.
Still. For the first time in a long time, he considers their family — and despite himself, he's begun thinking about what he would have done if he'd had another chance to speak with Sparda before his death.
The whole concept sits poorly with him. But... He supposes Nero's situation isn't dissimilar.
That means he has to talk to the boy, doesn't it? How does that even work? So he goes about it the only way he knows how. ]
[The thing about family is that Nero has had a relatively normal experience of it since his upbringing. Sure, being called the "bastard child of a prostitute" by all the children his age wasn't really a great memory to have (nor was being shunned by most of the adults), but he made his own family with the ones that adopted him, and took to them like a fish in water. Kyrie and Credo were his lifeblood during the hard times- and they stuck together through thick and thin. Even when their parents died suddenly, they still remained a family. It taught Nero that family wasn't simply by blood, it was by who you found and who you knew you could trust, regardless of what lay ahead or what happened before.
It's... really honestly hard to apply that same logic to Vergil, on the other hand. The man may be his father, but Nero knows next to nothing about him, save that he's Dante's twin. He knows they feel they have to fight each other all the time, and that one of them has to win and the other lose- it's not one he agrees with in the slightest, but V said that was how things were. More than anything else, he wants to know Vergil; but at the same time, he feels hesitant to even ask. There's no middle ground here and Nero hates it, hates how he feels like he's being tugged at times towards something that may be more familial, even if he knows it probably won't be. It's complicated.
So to receive this out of the blue, well. He has to stare at it for a long time, almost unsure if he should even reply. On the one hand, it rouses the memories of their fight here, and how Vergil was convinced Nero wasn't real. Does his father want to finish what he started, or test him further? If that's the case, then no thanks, he'll pass. He rather not have to deal with nearly killing his own family just to survive. But then again, Vergil contacted him. Vergil contacted him. Not only that, but the man who is very bad at socializing and actually talking to people without judging them contacted him first. Usually Nero has to instigate something in order to get his father to talk to him.
Huh. This is fucking weird.
Nero is typing...]
sure name the time and the place
[At the end of the day, even with a different outlook on life, Nero is still a Sparda. Fighting is in his blood, and he won't ever deny that.]
[ Regret is a feeling a man like Vergil has no time for. The same can be said of doubt, and second-guessing oneself.
That being said, there had been a moment after he'd sent the message where he'd looked for a way to remove it, erase all trace that it had ever been sent and prevent Nero from getting a notification about it. Because it can probably be traced, obviously, and if Dante were to see this and know that Vergil had done something similar to what he'd suggested, he would never live it down. That's obviously the reason why. Not because he'd ever been unsure that Nero would turn down the invitation. That would be preposterous.
It is, therefore, gratifying when Nero accepts, some strange modicum of relief running through him. Good to know that, despite his being raised human, despite the almost literal chasm between the two of them, Nero still shares the instinct that makes it impossible to turn out a good fight. At least, it seems that way; if the truth is something different, he's yet to see proof of it.
That being said, even if they're human here, he's not so foolish as to forget that they are still forces to be reckoned with. ]
Near the forest outside of the city. That should prove sufficient.
Two hours.
[ Even if he has his own petty grievances against the forest here, there won't be any aimless humans wandering around and getting in their way that far from the city. And then, just because he's an ass: ]
That should be enough time for you. If you've nothing else, I'll expect you sooner.
[ Does that mean he's headed that way right now? Yes. But also, he'll allow Nero some time to collect himself and finish his matters. It's only polite, after all. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
text.
Granted, it's not like Vergil has any idea, either, but the point stands.
Still. For the first time in a long time, he considers their family — and despite himself, he's begun thinking about what he would have done if he'd had another chance to speak with Sparda before his death.
The whole concept sits poorly with him. But... He supposes Nero's situation isn't dissimilar.
That means he has to talk to the boy, doesn't it? How does that even work? So he goes about it the only way he knows how. ]
Nero.
Let's spar.
text.
It's... really honestly hard to apply that same logic to Vergil, on the other hand. The man may be his father, but Nero knows next to nothing about him, save that he's Dante's twin. He knows they feel they have to fight each other all the time, and that one of them has to win and the other lose- it's not one he agrees with in the slightest, but V said that was how things were. More than anything else, he wants to know Vergil; but at the same time, he feels hesitant to even ask. There's no middle ground here and Nero hates it, hates how he feels like he's being tugged at times towards something that may be more familial, even if he knows it probably won't be. It's complicated.
So to receive this out of the blue, well. He has to stare at it for a long time, almost unsure if he should even reply. On the one hand, it rouses the memories of their fight here, and how Vergil was convinced Nero wasn't real. Does his father want to finish what he started, or test him further? If that's the case, then no thanks, he'll pass. He rather not have to deal with nearly killing his own family just to survive. But then again, Vergil contacted him. Vergil contacted him. Not only that, but the man who is very bad at socializing and actually talking to people without judging them contacted him first. Usually Nero has to instigate something in order to get his father to talk to him.
Huh. This is fucking weird.
Nero is typing...]
sure
name the time and the place
[At the end of the day, even with a different outlook on life, Nero is still a Sparda. Fighting is in his blood, and he won't ever deny that.]
no subject
That being said, there had been a moment after he'd sent the message where he'd looked for a way to remove it, erase all trace that it had ever been sent and prevent Nero from getting a notification about it. Because it can probably be traced, obviously, and if Dante were to see this and know that Vergil had done something similar to what he'd suggested, he would never live it down. That's obviously the reason why. Not because he'd ever been unsure that Nero would turn down the invitation. That would be preposterous.
It is, therefore, gratifying when Nero accepts, some strange modicum of relief running through him. Good to know that, despite his being raised human, despite the almost literal chasm between the two of them, Nero still shares the instinct that makes it impossible to turn out a good fight. At least, it seems that way; if the truth is something different, he's yet to see proof of it.
That being said, even if they're human here, he's not so foolish as to forget that they are still forces to be reckoned with. ]
Near the forest outside of the city. That should prove sufficient.
Two hours.
[ Even if he has his own petty grievances against the forest here, there won't be any aimless humans wandering around and getting in their way that far from the city. And then, just because he's an ass: ]
That should be enough time for you. If you've nothing else, I'll expect you sooner.
[ Does that mean he's headed that way right now? Yes. But also, he'll allow Nero some time to collect himself and finish his matters. It's only polite, after all. ]