The illusion around them - blue sky and idyllic countryside - shatters and falls like broken glass, a mirror to a more peaceful time, broken. At the center of it all, stands a lone figure: a three long coattails, white hair, and the Yamato in his hand. He slowly turns to take in his surroundings, not even focusing on them at first. A little dazed, but utterly composed.
You lower your hand from shielding your eyes and face earlier, stunned - openly confused. "What is this?
D████ spits out a single word, a name, already on guard and angry. "V████...!"
The man coolly regards you both for a moment, but the tense standoff is broken as he seemingly decides you are no longer worth his attention, and looks instead to the book lying nearby on the ground. He picks it up, silently appraising it - it's impossible for you to parse what might be going on through his head right now.
Of course it's D████ to speak first. "You got some pretty big cajones for comin' back. Just don't know when to give up, do ya!?--" He runs in, leaping at V████ with his sword and-- with only a single glance in his direction, the strike is parried. In that instant, V████ thrusts the holstered katana into D████'s midsection while he's in mid-air with such force that he's thrown back.
But not to be outdone, D████ grabs the scabbard off the blade as he's sent flying and throws it back-- right back onto the sword, but powerfully enough that in catching it, even V████ is sent skidding backwards. D████ lands at the same time, and the two seethe at each other. You-- hesitate, unsure whether to step in, or help, or...? With barely a glance in your direction, D████ snaps, "Stay outta my way, ████!"
You... weren't even really doing anything, um. Just watching, a third wheel, growing more and more confused at what's unfolding.
He rushes in again, but-- faster than a blink, V████ moves so quickly that it may as well been a teleport. Like a dark streak he slams into D████'s sword with the raw steel of his own, pushing him back easily.
Even with both hands on the hilt, D████ can't overpower even a single grip on the Yamato - but he's trying. Sparks fly from their locked blades, and V████ tells him, "Defeating you like this," smirks, "has no meaning."
Struggling, but still cocky, D████ ties to rile him on. "Come on, V████. Let's do this." --but his gaze remains cool.
"Heal your wounds, D████. Get strong. After that-- we'll settle the matter."
He knocks D████ off his feet with the scabbard in his other hand, and slams him into the ground, skidding back - past you. YOU'RE STILL NOT SURE WHAT TO DO??
Then, with the Yamato, V████ cuts through the air-- no, through the fabric of time and space itself. With two slices of the sword, an inky black hole opens up and he steps through it to leave.
But not before looking over his shoulder, at you, and saying, "Thank you, Nero."
...???
He disappears into the rift, and it seals behind him.
Transformation into a griffin form - triggered by burning rage, usually induced by feelings of helplessness - size of a dire wolf HORSE - sounds like a dog but body language of a cat - cannot fly - Nero is in control - does not retain avante powers - a separate consciousness from Griffin that exists in his dreams when inactive, will remember people from across transformations (though in the same way an animal will remember if certain people are threats, are kind, etc) - Griffin remembers what happens when transformed
Transformation steps - once pinfeathers and horns come in, it's the point of no return
- N███'s meeting Kyrie for the first time. As A████ amassed a lot of research documents, N███ must stay for a little while in Fortuna with Nero and Kyrie.
- Kyrie asks if it’s okay to call her N███. N███ immediately nods and says “You can call me whatever you want! ‘Nico’, ‘Nicoletta’, even ‘Bitch’!”. In response, Nero stomps on her foot under the table, points at her and yells “Hey! Don’t use dirty words in front of Kyrie!”.
- Nico heard that Kyrie was Nero’s girlfriend, but she couldn’t imagine just how special Kyrie was to Nero. Nico apologizes to Kyrie for her foul mouth and says that her father is to blame; Nero lets out a small sigh. Kyrie smiles at them like she’s watching two children bicker, which puts Nico at ease.
- Kyrie invites Nico to eat with them as there’s plenty to go around. Kyrie asks Nico if there’s any food that she doesn’t like and Nico responds with, “Even if you cooked a tire, I’d eat it!”, making Kyrie laugh.
- When Kyrie goes to the kitchen, Nico tries to get a rise from Nero by saying “Lovely woman, she’s too good for you”. Instead of a snarky rebuttal, Nero says “Yeah, I think so too”.
- Nico takes out a box of cigarettes which Nero promptly snatches away from her. He tells her that she can’t smoke in the house, and Nico asks if she can at least smoke in the garage as she can’t work if she doesn’t smoke. In the garage, kids won’t see her and she won’t be chased out of town for being an outsider.
- As she stands up to go smoke, she asks Nero if she wants any of her technology. He neither nodded nor objected, but Nico felt that there was an implicit acceptance of the offer. Nico says, “It’s fine, it’s give-and-take. I get to make fine art and you get to use it to kill demons. We’ll be like business partners”.
- Nero asks if this is really okay as he was an accomplice in her father’s murder. However, she concludes that she has no emotional attachment to her father. As he abandoned her when she was around two or three, she doesn’t even have memories of him.
- Nico tells him that the incident is in the past, then asks to make a phone call when she’s done smoking.
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