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And what, pray tell, would happen to you if you were to "rejoin" that other half?

[ Because... Because Gwenhwyfar would be saddened if it were to happen. Vergil, wherever he is, sounds awful like someone she used to know. ]

Would you still tolerate me...?

[ Not a lot of other half-demons see her as a very strong individual because she clings to her humanity and refuses to learn her demonic powers.

It's an easier thought to stomach than Melwas, the Siege Perilous, and the Cauldron of Rebirth. All of those things that she tries to forget. Thankfully, she's not aware of him writing about any of this. While the details of Melwas and the cauldron are well known, there is one thing that not many people know.

Gwenhwyfar knows who is destined to take Siege Perilous and that part she will not tell a soul, not even the child's father. ]

They were once held or belonged to the gods -- they all have similar attributes. Holy objects, they bring fortune to those that hold them, usually. But they also bring misfortune in the hands of their mortal owners if they are misused and not respected. If you're the descendant of the god who held it? Then the misfortunate is negated, somewhat. They're stronger than mortal weapons, of course, they can take down a host or a god. Ultimately, they belong in the Otherworld, not in the realm of the living.

[ He doesn't know. He doesn't know what Vergil would do with the knowledge that V has gained so hard fought. Would he write off V's memories as not being his own, just as V sometimes does with his? Or will he be strong enough to fight back against the half-demon's attempts to push him down again. He should be. He should be more than strong enough. ]

I have to think he would be a better man, that I would demand it. But I can only speculate.

[ He reflects on these things that should be in the realm of the living. It does still sound so much like the demonic artifacts that still circulate his version of the Human Realm. How people there call Sparda a god, a saint. He wonders about the real origin of what she calls gods, about that distinction and it's real meaning.

The Gentry had been godlike in their powers, their control over the castle and the time and seasons within it, but certainly no one gave them such credence. ]

In the realm I come from, powerful individuals can create weapons and artifacts from their will. Parts of themselves that can be wielded and handed down... It's a very specific kind of demonic magic.

[ A pause. ]

What kind of artifact would you leave to posterity, Gwenhwyfar?

Cute. Well, I won't be losing sleep over it.

[ Maybe. Sort of. She grows attached to people fairly quickly and V is becoming one of those people. ]

It would not be out of the realm of possibility for the fair folk to create weapons out of their own will. I am not sure how familiar you are with magic principles, but the oldest form of magic in my world is built on intent and will. Perhaps it's not so different?

[ It's a fascinating concept to her, really, the ability to forge a strong weapon that could only be held by certain hands. Gwenhwyfar hums in thought, finding herself in a debate of how much she wants to share with V again. So far, he seems trustworthy and doesn't seem to know too much about the important treasures in her world. ]

I only know of two, personally. Caledfwlch, it was once Gwyn ap Nudd's sword -- my betrothed is his descendant and that sword is his. And, uh, my spear... it's called "Rhongomyniad".

[ He laughs softly as she references the fair folk. It only speaks further to his question about the true line between demon and fairy and gods. Maybe there isn't one, merely gradiations of one another each fed by a different strain of magic available in each different world. Does that then make the truest gods those strains of magic themselves? The most unknowable of wills? ]

I'm quite familiar, although my knowledge has a bent towards the demonic. Vergil spent his youth buried in the occult, looking for some way to connect with his father's legacy.

[ Perpetually a lost little boy wondering how his father might lift him up. It was certainly a choice to make. ]

When a demon is defeated, it sometimes chooses to compress itself and its will into a weapon. Rather than crystallize. Crystallized demon blood is a currency of offering to the goddess of time for various boons. I've been quite curious to study how this might overlap with the crystals of Noctium, if at all.

[ Fucking nerd. He knows many things and has encountered many myths, especially in the Castle's great library where books from many worlds could sometimes be found in the shifting stacks. He knows about the story Gwen is citing, he doesn't know the words in her language. If she presented them to him in writing... that would change. So instead he focuses upon the obvious, ]

A betrothed, how formal.

Edited 2021-11-03 05:40 (UTC)

Hm.

[ There's that Geralt impression, again. Anyway. ]

They do grant boons, here, whether it be objects or more abilities. I cannot tell you which -- I frankly don't give a damn. Everything comes with a cost. You would have to seek more individuals to find out. Noctium has its fair share of agreeable folk, I'm sure you can find some sort of study or findings fairly easily. So, if crystallized demon blood exists... what about those who are half-blooded? What about them?

[ Being raised as a druid, she listens politely and makes her own notes, although, they're mentally recorded in her mind, not on paper.

But... formal? Gwenhwyfar winces, trying to pass it off as normal. ]

Not really.

[ She is always reluctant to share her royal lineage, out of fear of finding someone that has a grudge against Arthur to take it out on her. Again. ]

It's what my people do, make arrangements with other families. My mother was betrothed and so were many others in my family. It happened before I was born, it was done by my grandfather and Arthur's father. Nothing special.

An interesting question, I've never successfully killed a half-blood. The twins certainly made their attempts, but they never succeeded in killing one another.

[ And he's certainly not going to try to kill Gwen to find out. ]

The cost of boons in the Castle was always our memories and our sense of self. It turned us into all manner of chimera creatures and we were able to be granted new magic. But it also made us pliant, made us forget why we might want to leave. We were also punished severely for trying. My court Gentry turned me into a book and left me lost in the library after I helped someone else foment an escape plan.

[ Really. Noctium doesn't seem so bad, but only under the assumption that Malachite isn't taking something from them they can't replace. V is not entirely certain yet if that's the case, or if what they're losing is something indefinable they don't yet understand. ]

Do you like him, this betrothed?

[ Okay, but hold up. ]

You know, it is considered to be a cardinal sin to kill another half-blood where I come from. It's avoided at all costs, not unless it's the only option to stop them. Why would they do that? What would be the point to kill each other? The most I would do to my half-sister is toss her in a lake or smack her head to knock sense into her. I hope that son is doing better than these two.

[ Hell, she hasn't met Nero and she would buy him a drink. ]

Edited 2021-11-05 00:39 (UTC)

You're in luck, then, no such ground rules or absurd punishments exist here. If only escaping was possible, or knowing what is happening at home would make it bearable.

[ She hopes not; she's already lost too much, not just her right eye. The only sense of security she had was back in Briton. ]

Of course I do. [ It's a little curious that people always seem to ask her that. Gwenhwyfar's voice softens as she continues. ] He is kind to me... he accepts me for what I am. I love him very much.

Vergil has wanted to prove he could survive without the love of his family since our mother died. Besting Dante was merely an extension of that bitterness.

[ This Vergil guy. He sure has some issues. And for all the V differentiates himself from that man, he still calls Eva his mother. Although he no longer remembers the sound of her voice. It was traded away for magic, and perhaps that lifts some of his bitterness as well. The softening of old wounds is a necessary part of healing. ]

Nero does not realize where he comes from. The rest of us know because we know the Yamato, the sword that Vergil's father left him. Nero would never have been able to absorb its power the way that he did if he was not of Sparda's blood. Even I wonder if Dante has told him yet, did they carry on to defeat Urizen without me?

[ Wistful curiosity, but it's been years since he was taken from that place. Either it waits frozen in time, or it has moved on. There are no other options. ]

I'm sorry you're parted from him then, but I'm told love can withstand such trials.

[ For once, in all of her social ineptitude, Gwenhwyfar knows better to make assumptions about whether or not a mother loves her children. ]

Does he know that won't solve anything? No good mother would favor one child over the other and she does not sound like a terrible mother. She loved you all unconditionally.

[ Talking to V gives her hope that somehow, in some way, maybe he does. ]

In that case, I would say have faith. From what you've told me about your brothers, it sounds as if he has a good head on his shoulders. I'm sure he'll find a way to stop it from becoming worse.

[ But it's hard to know for sure, of course, without seeing it for one's self. In this case, V's words are just as viable.

She says it to reassure him. ]

I've been parted from him for three years and my feelings have never changed for him. Humans accepting as he is are hard to come by.

Did she?

[ A contemplative tone. He remembers the taste of the bitterness. How long he held on to the simple reality that he had been alone. But it's a question that can't be answered here and there's no use in arguing with Gwen about it. ]

Well. It's done now. I rather like Nero. He has a girl that he loves. They take in orphaned children and he cares for them so they won't be alone like he was.

[ He had protected the memories of Nero and Nico. Even now he holds their faces in his mind and still sometimes thinks about what life would have been like if he could have simply been another devil hunter to join their crew. ]

You would like him too, I would wager. Kyrie is a human woman, and no matter how long he is parted from her his feelings never seem to change.

Edited 2021-11-05 01:49 (UTC)

If she didn't, I wouldn't be speaking to a man so impassioned by the loss of his mother.

[ To her, she thinks so, much like her own mother, also human and how much of a reflection children are of their mother. ]

Who would have thought humans had that sort of effect on us. Not too many half-bloods feel the same way. Your Nero sounds like the only sensible one aside from you, I like people with common sense, so you're correct.

Who? The Dark Knight Sparda defied the kings of Hell to marry a human woman. He sealed the gates and protected the Human Realm from destruction. Human love is incredibly powerful.

[ As much as he would certainly still bicker with Dante if he was around to bicker with, this V--the one who spent time in a fairy castle with humans and immortals alike--understands rather profoundly why Dante's choices have made him so much stronger than his twin. ]

And I suppose that must have made Eva an incredible woman as well. Truth be told, I don't remember her face or her voice.

[ Only her touch now, the warmth of that window seat where he and his twin brother would sit curled against her on either side. ]

Then she was very fortunate.

[ V cannot see the way she grimaces, how she pushes her lips into a thin line that would make that comment unintentionally offensive.

She at least knows it's not right to lash out. ]

Not many human women are as fortunate... my mother, for one. Grigori are not exactly kind.

[ She sighs, thoughtfully, running a hand through her long hair. ]

Even if you can't remember her face or voice, take joy in the fact you are a piece of your mother, all of her goodwill and love. A part of her will continues to live through you.

I seem to recall I looked like her once. Green eyes, maybe.

[ Gwen is right, that Eva's love lives in him and that is precisely what Vergil hoped most desperately to be rid of. ]

Is your mother well?

A bright green?

[ As for her mother- ]

Mama? She's a strong woman, she has overcome so many hardships and came out stronger for it. She proved many wrong, even members of our family. She is happily married to her husband and is doing far better to how I was as a child.

Edited 2021-11-05 02:23 (UTC)

I suppose they must have been.

[ Green like the perfect amulet, another trinket out of his memories traded for magic. He might not have traded anything, at first. He knew better but the Castle suppresses will and anger. He had learned to love that place and the little birds he called master. ]

You sound proud of her. Isn't it the mother who should be proud?

[ A pleasant, teasing tone. He's honestly quite happy that not every mother of a half-demon must end up dead. ]

Is that all you can recall? What about a scent?

[ Scent is an important factor in Gwenhwyfar's memory. It can either soothe or rile her, depending on who it's attached to. Still, she feels awful for him, not being able to recall more of his mother. There is a small hope she can jog his memory.

A rarity -- Gwenhwyfar actually can tell that he's teasing her.]

I don't know, you would have to ask her... but I hope I do. I still can be proud of my mother, she's a strong woman with a loving heart. She'd be overjoyed I am making a friend, actually.

[ A friend, as in V himself. ]

[ A small pause, there is some reluctance to actually dig. Vergil had divested himself of sadness and hurt, V is all but a chest of unwanted memories. He himself an unwanted trinket, tossed aside in favor of his father's sword. ]

She had long blonde hair. There's a window seat I dream about sometimes, with the sun behind her. I think her perfume was just the roses from her garden.

[ A beautiful blonde woman, clear green eyes, a red dress, and a perfume like a rose. Her face plucked out of his memories with a surgical precision while leaving all the other pieces intact. He knows for a fact that she was the most beautiful woman in the world even without that. ]

Eva. I suppose she would also be pleased... if I wasn't alone.

[ He won't be able to see her big, beaming smile -- maybe he'll hear it in her voice. She's happy for him to have that memory. ]

That sounds like a lovely memory. Hold onto it as much as you can.

[ She leans her head on her knees, pulled close to her chest. Fair is fair, she recounts her own mother. ]

Enfys -- that's my mother's name. It means "rainbow" in our tongue. I've always been envious of her auburn hair and her warm brown eyes. She would sit me on her lap and work on her loom and I would watch her work on cloaks and blankets. She used to be very ill... she couldn't go outside when I was small, so the loom and her chambers were the only refuge she had.

[ Her pleasure on his behalf is surprising. Talking about his mother has always been a fraught topic. Those embroiled in the demonic saw her as a weakness and enforced that in Vergil. Talking to Dante about their mother had always ended with the twins at each other's throats. Nero never knew his mother. Nico was bitter about her mother's early death and Agnus's mistreat of them both. He's never talked to someone with such a fondness. ]

The twins have done nothing but mourn and fight one another for a long time. It is strange to hear about a family in such a light.

Well, not all of it is light. I'm sure if my half-sister could speak, she would be able to voice her displeasure with me. I was... enraged when I found out that thing sired another girl. I haven't been exactly kind to her. It has been my mother's wish that I would be raised like any other little girl. But--

[ She feels awful for him. Possibly for this other brother of his.

That whole entire family, really, as it really does show those with demon blood are somehow predestined to suffer. ]

I think any mother would want their child to think of the happy times and not to be miserable. They want us to think of them in the sunlight and remember them that way.

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