summonere | noctium inbox

I wanted to ensure that you feel stable.

[ She'll just say that without explaining context. ]

[ Ah. ]

Not always, the gem is quite overwhelming at times. But it was much the same in the Castle, as the Hedge grew around us. Magic does not always wait patiently to be acknowledged...

You feel no hunger?

[ He may not, being a fragment of another half-blood and all. ]

Do you ever find yourself losing control?

[ A soft click of his tongue, a heavy breath of consideration. ]

No. There is certainly some demonic magic in my veins still but beyond that... my ties to the demon are memories alone.

[ Well that... is very relieving to her. It's evident in the way she sighs and how her tone lightens. ]

I'm glad.

[ And that answers her question of what possible demonic blood flows through him. ]

The same cannot be said for me... or some of the friends I know that are also like me. I wanted to know and if that was the case to look after you. Memories or not, you are still my kin.

[ In a way, that's all he's ever wanted: to belong somewhere. He had turned to the Whisper for that, the capricious flock of birds that ruled the Autumn Court. They had gotten close in the end, the spirit had promised to care for him even if... ]

...May I ask you something. What if Malachite were to summon Vergil here as well? Would that change?

I would inform him that he's a fucking idiot for doing what he did, firstly.

[ Gwenhwyfar is a blunt woman, no holds bar, and isn't so tied to the half-demon code that she wouldn't mince words. ]

Unless he's seeking to revive himself from the land of the dead or trying to justify eating humans, then there would be adjustments as it were.

He's dangerous, I wouldn't suggest beginning that way.

[ It shouldn't concern him, it's not like Vergil is here but something still makes him react. maybe that only Dante had ever really been able to do anything about Vergil. The only person Vergil would ever let do anything about him? ]

Maybe I will, but that's my business.

I'm sure he is.

[ And, she assumes, stronger than her... like most of her kind. ]

Do what you need to do, but you did ask and it doesn't mean I won't turn my back on you, not unless you do what I mentioned.

I've no inclination to either. I've had no connection to the demon realm for a long time now... human blood would serve me no purpose.

[ It's his own blood he needs to perform spells these days. ]

You've seen my forms. It is Urizen you would be concerned with... the full-blooded demon among us. He used the Qliphoth tree to suck Red Grave City dry.

Then, to answer your question, it would not change much.

I'm a half-blood, I have no interest in dealing with a pureblood, anyway. Though- ... Qliphoth. This is the second time you've mentioned it. What is it and why does it require blood?

A demonic tree, its roots can bridge the human and demon realms. And its fruit, fed on all that human blood, contains enough power to crown you king of hell.

We were headed into the roots to stop him, when I became lost. I do not remember clearly when Qliphoth roots became Hedge maze instead.

Edited 2021-10-11 02:12 (UTC)

[ She's happy he can't see the face she's making. ]

Why on earth would you summon a bridge to--

[ It clashes with her druidic principles, of course, but also the fact half-demons where she's from wanting nothing to do with demons. But this is about a man that somehow, for whatever reason! ... Decided to remove his human half. ]

Never mind.

[ This man deserves a good smack, to be honest. ]

When you describe it, it sounds like a large tree, it's only natural the roots of a plant would become a mess. At least you don't have to worry about it here.

[ He knows she said never mind, but... ]

It wasn't his first attempt to open Hell upon the human realm, merely the most recent.

[ So what he's the most worried about is how they would stop him if he tried it on Noctium. ]

[ Whatever Gwenhwyfar was holding, minus the phone in her lap, is dropped.

Followed by a very audible, dramatic groan. Gwenhwyfar draws a hand down her face and pauses. ]

Did your "brother" consider investing himself in a hobby? And here I thought, "oh, well, seeking a cauldron or grail to survive death is a terrible idea!". How embarrassing. Twice.

No, the occult and the blade have always been Vergil's hobbies.

[ And then a lower murmur, ]

And we have one. A brother, I mean. It has always been Dante who has defeated him. I had enlisted him to help with Urizen, I certainly did not have the strength to defy him.

Spears and occultic magic happen to be my specialties and my favorite practices.

[ If she's particularly salty, it's reminding her far too much of how many people had sought otherworldly treasures. ]

But I feel no need to open gates to the Otherworld.

[ JUST SAYING. ]

Well, thank the gods someone is sensible. You're fortunate, I have a younger half-sister who hasn't yet learned perhaps decapitation isn't the best form of communication.

[ That startles a laugh out of him. Someone calling Dante sensible? ]

Dante is an idiot, but... he has lived among humans and, as you say, has other hobbies. Pizza and rock music, primarily, if I'm understanding him correctly.

[ He also likes tiddy mags? ]

I have no idea what those are.

[ And how the hell do rocks make music? ]

Idiot, yet, the only smart one, someone who understands that humanity is just as important to our existence and not opening up portals. Actually... I would ask who the real idiot is.

Oh... It's him.

[ A weary tone. He will never be convinced that the wacky wahoo pizza man is the smart twin. ]

But he's kind and he loves Vergil, which is really the only hope my original self has for coming back from the brink. That and his son, if Nero is feeling forgiving about having his arm ripped off...

[ Ah, the Sparda family. ]

You're not helping your argument when you mentioned he ripped his child's arm off, annwyl.

[ Should she really be surprised? Something about demonic blood seems to warrant that type of behavior. Gwenhwyfar heaves a loud sigh, again, sinking back against a tree's trunk. ]

I'm glad that the rest of your family is... relatively normal. And mine for that matter, despite my half-sister.

He's still a hateful man, he's just read a book in his life.

[ Unlike Dante. ]

What is her name?

Oh, her?

[ her tone is noncommittal as is the relationship between both of them is complicated. ]

We don't know what her true name is; she can only speak a few phrases and doesn't write. She was given the name "Anima".

[ She follows that with a forced laugh. ]

It was given to her by a little girl to remind her that she still has a soul. She's a revenant, you see. Sacrificed by a sorcerer who wants a mortal body, tossed into the black waters of the Otherworld. Those who are revived by those waters lose the ability to speak. It corrupts them... Strips them of any sense of personhood and leaves them hollow.

It's a miracle she can speak, at all. And while she grates my nerves, I would never lay a hand on them and neither would she rip off anyone's arm unwarranted like your brother.

It wasn't the arm he was after, it was the sword inside of it.

[ An idle correction. ]

I understand her position well. We were such a creature, for a time, under the thrall of the demon king. You saw him, the living armor. Hollow and corrupted, with no sense of self.

[ His tone remains just as idle, almost musical in its story telling. ]

It's an unenviable fate, how did she end up in such a position?

Still, a boy had his own father rip off his own. I'm fairly certain fathers are supposed to prevent that from happening.

[ That's... a new place to find a sword. Then again, there are also strange women in strange lakes distributing swords--

But here her tone changes. Thinking about the very man that hurt her half-sister is a deluge of painful memories. "We". She keeps having to remember that V is some sort of fragment of another person, even if she sees him as his own person.

It's a difficult thought, and she makes that known through the way she breathes in a tense breath. And there is only so much she can tell him, an absolute stranger. Even half-demons sought out this path. ]

He regained it, didn't he.

[ This man who would go as far to open up the gateway to demons, their forefathers, and rip off the arm of his own flesh and blood. ]

I suppose you ought to consider yourself lucky that you're not like her. Maybe.

[ Well, he can talk, he has a concept of self she would argue. ]

He was King Melwas, a man that died centuries ago and was a man that obsessed over the Old Magic. He had a fortress called the "Isle of Glass" in the Otherworld where he was shunned after death. He took bodies of mortal men as his, relied on them for as long as he could before decay and rot sat in... of course he'd rot, he was dead and corrupted. My teacher told me it was some sort of curse... for what, I don't know. Fucking with the gods will do that but that's besides the point.

There is an object in the Otherworld known as the Cauldron of Rebirth. Christians like to call it the "Holy Grail" or some such. It brings the dead back to life, though, hollow and corrupted. Like the lot of you... like her. The reason why he sought it was to restore himself to his former body and power. Why did he involve Anima? Well, according to legend, the one who can obtain the cauldron is the one that sits on the Siege Perilous, made from the stone of the first child killed by the cauldron's kindling fires. A child that could survive death.

It's no ordinary seat, of course, the only one who can sit on it and bring the cauldron is of "pure of heart"-- others had been convinced it would be a knight before him. Oh, no, not to Melwas, he never thought so linearly and he abhorred knights and their kings. He saw no one purer of the heart than children... just like the first boy. So he took dozens of children... each time, he would make them sit on the sister stone of which the Siege Perilous was made, always looking for a child that could survive death uncorrupted. And those the stone would cry out as soon as they were placed on it? He killed them. Like her. Hundreds of children... if he wasn't killing and beheading men bold enough to come to find him.

He there Anima's body in the black waters that once sat in the cauldron when it was whole. That is what corrupted him... and that, in turn, corrupted her. No demon kings, only the Winter King. A man who lost every sense of what makes a mortal -- not just a human -- cruel, selfish, and delusional.

[ Tch. ]

He didn't kill me, though, because he "loved" me. But every night, I would listen to the sounds of all of them dying when he didn't get what he want. Now there is a little girl who has to learn what it's like to be alive, again. I would say I pray that your brother was spared the same fate... but something tells me that's highly unlikely.

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