Man~, haven't you ever heard of finders keepers? (Log)
Where: Supermarket
When: 25th March - Noon
Who: Gene Starwind (GeneStarwind113), Dante (StylishFlair), Vergil (Yamato_Devil) and Yuna (WonderWing)
Summary: Gene has been forced to go grocery shopping after it has come to his attention that there is no food at home, along the way he runs into Yuna. Unfortunately he doesn't get to make much of a move on her as Vergil quickly intervenes. Cue a very insightful conversation between Dante and Gene combined with cuteness from Yuna and Vergil and a couple of arguments to boot.
Notes: Comment! As your mod I command you XDD (If you comment you'll get free cookies)
Of all the things in the world to agree to, why had she agreed to this? Glancing around the supermarket and not bothering to hide the worried, gloomy expression on her face, she then glanced back to her shopping carts. Yes, carts, in the plural. You see, Yuna Meyari had done the stupidest possible thing that anyone could possibly do; she had agreed to do the shopping for all of her housemates. And when one's housemates may as well have bottomless pits for stomachs, it was less an errand and more a suicide mission. She'd gathered two carts; one filled with 'normal' food, one filled with meat purchased from the deli. How am I going to get all this home? she mused to herself gloomily. I guess I'll have to get it delivered...
Not noticing the abnormality that was two heavily laden shopping carts on the same aisle as he was, Gene continued to ponder over the two cases of beer. He had been stood like this for well over half an hour and he still could not decide which one he wanted.
He knew that this would have been a problem right from the beginning, so he had decided to grab the other things first (plus it stopped him blowing all his money on alcohol when he needed to restock his fridge with food), but now he had a major problem on his hands.
This particular aisle contained one of his vices, alcohol. There were bottles of whiskey, brandy, wine, cider and beer as well as vodka and alchopops (although the latter did not appeal to him as much, it was for kids). Letting out a groan, he glanced between two cases of beer, rubbing his forehead.
He had already narrowed it down to beer and there was already a small bottle of whiskey in his shopping basket that would no doubt end up in his flask to be used in 'emergencies or stressful situations' but now he really could not decide on what beer to buy. It was between three brands now, but originally it had been twelve "Damn it, this is why I make Jim do the grocery shopping." He grumbled to himself.
Consulting the shopping list Dante had given her (or shopping notebook, really; it had taken him two hours and three pencils just to write the thing, and it'd take a Yuna-sized inheritance to pay for it), Yuna offered a soft, "Um, excuse me," and moved beside Gene, leaning over and taking one of the cases of beer in question, consulting the list again. It all looked the same to her, really, but Dante had been very particular. Apparently, this was the only beer he'd not tried to get drunk using, and thus his only chance of success. Upon hearing this, Yuna had merely reminded herself that Dante really had said weirder things before.
"You didn't want this one, did you...?" Yuna glanced at Gene worriedly.
"Nah it's fine, take it," Gene responded, concentrating more on the two brands that were left and frowning "Hey, do me a favour, toss a ... well hello~" suddenly, his frown disappeared as he finally noticed Yuna, taking in her appearance for a moment and smiling lecherously "And who might you be?"
Yuna smiled up at him sunnily, evidently not noticing the lecherous expression on his face, or dismissing it as a more innocent expression. "I'm Yuna," she introduced herself, glancing back at her shopping carts for a moment. Oh, they were not going to be fun to stock into the shelves... "Toss a...?"
Following his gaze, he looked somewhat taken aback by the large quantity of food, gaping for a moment before offering "What does a pretty little thing like you need all this food for? You got some kinda' kinky fetish?"
Yuna blinked, a deep red blush coming over her face. She just stared at him for a moment, uncertain quite how to answer that, although she eventually mustered a, "No, no, it's not for me, it's for my housemates..." as her blush deepened. Shifting uncomfortably for another moment, she smiled rather weakly. "They eat a lot."
Running a hand through his hair and stretching, Gene let out a rather irritable sigh as he turned his attention back to the two brands of beer. He had a feeling he was going to be here for quite some time although, after a moment he remembered what he had been about to say before "Toss a coin will ya?"
"Oh!" Yuna nodded, very eager to get off any subject remotely relating to anything remotely relating to stuff like fetishes (who talked about that kind of stuff in public, anyway? How embarrassing...). Taking out her purse and finding a coin after a moment, she nodded, holding it out. "Are you trying to decide between those brands...?"
"Yeah," Gene admitted, looking rather sheepish as he ran his hand through his hair again "I've only got enough for one, but damn it ... they're all so good. I finally managed to narrow it down, but I still can't decide," he grinned a little before noticing that she'd piled several bottles of wine in the shopping carts "I see you like a drink as well." He added flirtatiously.
"I don't drink," Yuna shook her head rapidly. Well, that wasn't entirely true. "Not that much, anyway," she hastily amended, glancing at the two brands of beer and questioning innocently, "Don't they all taste the same...?"
This girl definitely doesn't drink Gene thought to himself, rolling his eyes as he folded his arms "Of course they don't! They have their own subtle differences," he commented firmly before frowning at the two cases of beer again, glancing from one to the other.
"Like what?" Yuna questioned curiously, examining the two boxes. Sure, the box colours looked different, but if you looked at just the beer itself, it was practically identical! (Dante was only insisting on that particular brand because it had a higher alcohol content...)
"Like differences in taste," Gene responded before snorting "You don't drink so you wouldn't understand, just trust me on this one, alright babe?" He winked at her and smiled.
"They look the same," Yuna mumbled, shrugging loosely. "Okay, this one can be heads, and that one can be tails," she pointed to each of the boxes of beer in turn, smiling at him. "Ready?"
Gene nodded "You bet, go ahead an' flip the coin. I still have to walk home and drink this stuff." He offered with a grin.
Yuna nodded obediently, flicking the coin up high in the air and catching it, pressing it down on the back of her hand and declaring, "It's tails!" Peering at the brand that had won the toss, she mused, "Is that a nice one...?"
"They're both nice, that was the problem," Gene responded before grinning and winking at her, putting the case in his shopping basket "Thanks babe, your a life saver."
Yuna flushed a deep red at that, anxiously kneading her skirt and offering as a soft reply, "Um, I'm glad I could help... er..." She'd never been very good in situations like this...
"Gene," the red-head responded instantly, his deep blue eyes taking in her curvaceous figure again before he offered "Gene Starwind."
Yuna smiled, bowing politely. "I'm Yuna Meyari," she introduced herself, although she realised that she'd already told him her name. "It's nice to meet you. Do you, um, shop here often...?"
"Nah, usually my co-worker does all the shopping, but I dunno where he is this morning," come to think of it, where was Jim? It wasn't like him to shirk his responsibilities like that, unless it was some new ploy to get Gene to do some work ... shaking his head after a moment, he grinned at Yuna lecherously "So do you always wear those clothes?" He questioned, realizing that they showed off her curves rather well and he instinctively reached out to grope her.
Without warning, there was a loud snap as the sheathed katana connected with Gene's skull "If you wish to keep those eyes of yours, I suggest you lay your hands off my girlfriend and treat her with respect, otherwise you will never see another woman for as long as you live." Vergil sneered coldly, moving to stand in front of Yuna.
"Bite me!" Gene snapped, abruptly removing his revolver from its holster and pointing it at Vergil's forehead "You shouldn't let your girlfriend out dressed like that if you don't want nobody looking!"
Rolling his eyes, the half-demon ran a hand through his spiky hair before he stared down the barrel of the gun "Great, another gun toting cowboy who wants to try his luck. I'll save you some time, guns don't work on me."
Yuna merely stared for a moment, not quite realising exactly what was happening around her. So... Vergil had materialised out of thin air? (Hadn't he been at another shop in the large mall...? And if so, did that mean that Dante was left unsupervised?) Why did he hit Gene...? And "What's wrong with my clothes?" Yuna blinked, glancing down at the kimono. It did show off her curves somewhat, but really, a kimono was one of the most chaste things one could wear.
Ignoring Yuna completely now, Gene focused his attention on the shorter man, gripping his side as he laughed at him, unable to help himself. The newcomer really was rather amusing "Is that so?" He questioned after a moment, finally managing to stop himself laughing long enough to speak.
"Hn," deciding that this man was not worth his time, Vergil turned his back to him, addressing Yuna "If you have everything we can go to the checkout. Had I have known creeps like this would have been here, I would have come with you."
"Oh yeah ... well ... damn it!" Firing off the gun in frustration, he aimed it at Vergil's shoulder, only to realize that the other hadn't even flinched, yet the wound was bleeding so the bullet had obviously penetrated the skin "...S-Shit! What the hell are you?"
Vergil raised an eyebrow "Do you really want me to answer that?"
“Yeah, I do.” Gene huffed.
Silently amazed at how fast the conflict had been escalated (people were shooting each other already?), Yuna took a step back, glancing from one shopping cart to the other. "Oh, um, alright," she nodded quickly, walking over and taking one shopping cart, beginning the rather tedious job of getting it moving.
Unfortunately for Gene, leaving his own shopping cart unguarded had not been a very good idea. Stealthily, Dante moved in from the other side of the aisle, quickly snatching all the chocolate and vaguely pizza-resembling food he could see (as well as some beer) before swiftly retreating back behind the other aisle, surveying his plunder. In his opinion, it was better for the cupboards to be overstocked than under stocked.
Watching her leave, Vergil turned his attention back to Gene "Are you done?" He drawled before shaking his head and turning away again, taking the other cart and following Yuna.
Muttering various profanities under his breath, Gene grabbed his shopping basket and frowned, it felt a lot lighter than before. Realizing that someone had taken some of his stuff, he groaned and doubled back to the other aisles to get the stuff that had been taken, not looking too happy (or realizing he was being followed)
Dante was extremely satisfied with his plunder (although really, it was the least he could do, he was defending Yuna's honour in his own... unique way ;D). While obviously he'd still have to pay for these things, many of them hadn't been on the shelves when he'd gotten there, so they were the last ones left. (Particularly the beer...)
Feeling rather annoyed in general as he was brought back to his original dilemma, Gene frowned at the beer that was left before deciding that he didn't fancy any of the brands that had actually been left on the sleeves, grabbing another bottle of whiskey instead.
If I catch the little punk who took my stuff, he'll pay...
Unfortunately for said 'little punk', he was looking at his plunder (plunder being the best possible word for it) right on the other side of the next aisle, easily sighted through the now-empty shelves. He'd go find Yuna in a moment, right now he was struck with a dilemma similar to genes, except relating to chocolate rather than beer.
"You!" Gene snapped, almost dropping the basket as he laid his eyes on him, storming over and snatching the beer case from him, not too bothered about the food that he had taken "That was mine."
Dante frowned, eyebrows arching as he abruptly snatched the case back, shaking his head. "Man~, haven't you ever heard of finders keepers? Just get another case."
"There aren't any more," Gene responded irritably, although he was a little wary of the other, especially after he had managed to take a bullet without even flinching "If this is to get revenge on me for hitting on your girl, then fine! But damn it, I want my beer back!"
His girl? He was about to inform Gene irritably that Yuna was not his girl when he realised the mistake that had been made. While normally he'd be terribly miffed, he was quite amused now. Holding onto the beer case tightly, he shook his head. "It's a free supermarket," he drawled, doing a fairly good imitation of Vergil's 'you! Off my planet!' glare.
"Yeah, but that beer was mine. I had it first." Gene responded childishly, resisting going for one of his guns again as the other had already proved that bullets were useless and he really couldn't justify using a Castor on this guy just to get his beer back, no matter how much he tried.
"If you wanted to keep your beer, you shouldn't have hit on her," Dante said flatly. He would've attempted to imitate his brother's voice, but then he just would've cracked up laughing (it had happened before) and blown the whole thing. It didn't really matter who Gene thought he was, but it'd probably save him a bullet to the head. And besides, if he left and then Gene saw Vergil, it'd really screw with the guy's head, and what identical twin wasn't up for a bit of appearance-related pranking every now and then?
"Oh whatever," Gene muttered after a moment, waving his hand dismissively "I can't be bothered dealing with someone like you. Keep it, I don't care." He huffed, striding towards the checkout, slamming his shoulder into Dante's in the process.
Dante grinned, feeling quite satisfied with himself, although he shoved past Gene so that the shoulder clip was more mutual. In reality, he actually didn't really even want that brand of beer (he'd tried it: didn't make him drunk), but now that someone else wanted it, he simply had to have it. "Later, genie."
Gene twitched in annoyance "It's Gene. Gene Starwind." He huffed, turning to glare at Dante.
"Wha~tever, genie," Dante responded in a bored tone, glancing over his shoulder and flashing Gene a rather mocking grin before keeping on walking.
"Hey you bastard!" he snapped as he followed him, clenching his fists as his whole body shook with anger "Just what the hell are you anyway? I shoot you and you don't even bat an eyelid, tell me right now!"
Dante yawned, rolling his eyes in Gene's general direction, not appearing interested in his tirade in the slightest. Being a disinterested, distant asshole was actually surprisingly fun, he could see why Vergil liked it so much. "How should I know?" he responded in a rather bemused tone. "Figure it out yourself, genie."
"It's Gene. Say it with me now. Gene!" The red-head responded furiously, clenching his fists even tighter and removing his shotgun from the large holster strapped to his side "Face me like a man, asshole."
Dante turned to face him, eyebrows arched. Yep, he definitely had to try this 'cool, collected asshole' thing more often. "I'm twice the man you are, genie," he responded, snickering and not at all bothered by the shotgun. Oh, he'd never been shot by one of those before! "Now, do you mind stop bugging me? My beer and I have a meeting with the TV coming up."
"Bite me!" Gene snapped before adding sullenly "Just what is your damn problem? You the type of guy who gets a sick thrill out of causing shit." Of course, he was not entirely innocent of this either, in fact he had found his rather loud, over the top personality infuriating quite a few people but still, this was entirely different!
Dante merely shrugged, shoving one hand in his pocket and holding the case of beer with the other. "Something like that," he responded with another hapless shrug. "You asked for it, though."
"Yeah, maybe I did, but so what?" Gene responded irritably, realizing that the other's personality had just changed ... actually now that he thought about it, hadn't the other had spiky hair and a blue trench coat before. Putting two and two together quickly, he suddenly started to laugh, clearly finding the whole thing rather amusing "Gee you really had me goin' there for a second. Good one, always did find twins interesting."
"Yeah, well, what's the point in having an identical twin if you can't play a few jokes?" Dante grinned, looking rather more relaxed as he flicked his hair from his eyes. "Took you long enough."
"You have good tastes," Gene commented after a moment, motioning to the beer case before shrugging "You might as well have it. I'll get drunk faster on this stuff anyway." He offered with a wink, motioning to the whiskey.
"Really?" Dante seemed rather curious about the whiskey now, beer forgotten. Then again, whiskey had been his favourite for years and it'd still never worked... "So what do you think the absolute easiest one to get drunk on is...?"
"Try this," Gene offered calmly, tossing him the hip flask that was only about half full now with hard liquor "Guaranteed to get you pretty damn hammered."
Dante caught it in midair, passing back the case of beer. Promptly skulling the entire contents of the hip flask, he questioned, "So how long 'til it works?" This could very well be the closest he'd ever been to the elusive state of 'drunkenness', and he was eager to know how long he would have to wait for it to work.
"Depends on the person," Gene offered "Though you must be a pretty heavy drinker if nothin' else seems to affect you, or is there something your not telling me?"
"...I don't get drunk easily," Dante offered vaguely, tossing the emptied hip flask back and wiping his mouth. The stuff in it had tasted beyond foul, but if it worked, it would be worth it.
Catching it again, Gene laughed and offered "That must suck. I should probably cut back a bit myself, it's costing far too much these days ... damn tolerance."
"I've been trying for awhile, but it doesn't really seem to do much," Dante grumbled, not feeling hardly different at all. "Costs enough, but you saw all the stuff we're buying, it doesn't really make much of a difference."
"I saw," Gene offered before adding thoughtfully "Hmm, should have kicked in by now, the amount you drank all at once ... maybe your the type that can't get drunk." He offered with a shrug "Must be a hard life."
It would make sense, Dante mused, if he couldn't possibly get drunk. Really, he'd known that it was that way all along. However, alcohol was (usually) (somewhat) nice-tasting, and besides, it was a habit of sorts. And whiskey bottles everywhere seemed to really annoy his brother. "Probably something like that," he agreed grumpily.
"Still, doesn't mean you can't enjoy it," Gene offered with a wink before he added "You should come to the bar sometime, it's a laugh."
"Which bar?" Dante questioned, brushing his hair from his eyes. He frequented a few around the city, so he'd probably been there already.
"Clide's bar," the red-head responded "It's sleazy but the alcohol is cheap," he grinned lecherously "Plus there's barmaids in short skirts and strippers."
Sounded suspiciously like Love Planet, in Dante's opinion... while he wasn't one to complain about short skirts or strippers, he did tend to get a trifle bored with these things, finding clubbing to be a more entertaining experience (as, well, there were usually short skirts involved anyway, and often strippers too). "How cheap?" he questioned.
"Cheap enough," Gene responded with a shrug before offering "I can usually get a few drinks for under $5, they have special deals and the like." He explained before realizing he was still holding the shotgun and holstering it "Your a lot different from your brother, he's way too uptight."
"You're telling me," Dante grumbled. He did wonder why someone was carrying a shotgun around in the first place... but then again, he'd taken revolvers with him everywhere since he was thirteen years old, so he couldn't really talk. "Sounds like a fair enough deal, though, with the drinks."
"Yeah," Gene answered before winking at him again "Always have a good time when I go, even if I don't get drunk," he offered before noticing the gun holsters "Never seen those kind of guns before." He mused.
"Homemade," Dante nodded, unholstering both guns and displaying them with more than a hint of pride. "Customised military revolvers."
"Not bad," Gene responded, admiring them although he knew better than to try and take them from him "I got a few special guns myself." He added proudly, with a slight grin of course.
"Customised guns always work better," Dante mused, holstering the girls again, just in case there happened to be any security cameras (or shoppers) lurking in this area. He didn't want anyone to think they were planning a robbery or anything, it was a miracle they'd gotten away with before when Gene had actually shot Vergil.
Looking rather impressed, Gene produced his Castor Gun from beneath his duster, smiling as he gazed at it for a moment "You seen one of these before?"
"Nah," Dante shook his head, gazing at the gun. While he knew most types of standard mortal weaponry (let alone guns) by sight, that was a rather unique-looking gun. "Modified?"
"Nah, just really old. It's a Castor gun, according to legend it was made by spell casters to harness the power of mana." Gene offered "I'd show ya' how it works ... but the shells don't come cheap, I can't waste 'em."
"Fair enough," Dante shrugged, nodding. Power of mana...? Didn't sound like anything he'd learnt about, then again, supernaturally-enhanced weapons were nothing new to him (it solved that pesky 'ammunition' problem, at least), so this Castor gun was probably some variety of one of those. "Sounds pretty cool. Mine just don't run out of ammo."
"Niice," Gene responded "Wish mine didn't run out of ammo, it's too damn expensive to keep buying more Castor shells." He grumbled, mainly to himself before shrugging and offering "Maybe i'll see you at the bar sometime."
"Yeah, probably," Dante nodded in agreement, grinning. He preferred the club scene, but he was always up for a bit of bar time. "I should go find my brother, make sure he hasn't killed anyone for looking at his girlfriend wrong," he rolled his eyes.
Gene laughed a little at that "Maybe if she didn't wear such cute kimonos, guys like me wouldn't look." Okay that was a lie, he'd have looked anyway, but that was beside the point.
Dante rolled his eyes, pointing out, "You can't get much more covering than a kimono like that." (It was probably fortunate for all that he'd never looked at Yuna in that way, given the way that things had ended up.) "Look again and he'll probably cut your eyes out or something." Honestly, Vergil could be so immature at times!
"It's a compliment!" Gene protested "Damn it, I thought women liked attention."
"Most women don't like that kind of attention," Dante pointed out. If 196 years of life had taught him one thing, it was to at least be subtle when checking women out. Well, at least somewhat subtle... "Girls like being complimented and all, but it kind of varies from one to the other."
"I'll stick to my way thanks," Gene responded before laughing "So why are you here anyway, certainly not to tail your brother and his girl, unless you've got your eye on her too."
An expression somewhere between confusion and revolt came over his face. "Her? No way," he shook his head. Yuna was pretty, he'd acknowledge that, but she definitely wasn't his type. Way too shy and quiet, and she had no idea how to have fun. "I want to make sure they get everything on the list, that's all. It's my food too."
"Oh so your one of the housemates i've been hearing about," Gene responded "Heh, you sure do eat a lot of food. A man after my own heart."
"She lives with our family, so it's pretty much that appetite times three plus another girl and a dog," Dante answered, mildly amused. It wasn't really that much food, when compared with the amount of takeout they bought.
"Well, i'll catch 'ya later. I've gotta get this stuff home," he turned to leave towards the checkouts before stopping "Say, I never did get your name."
Turning away, he nodded, calling over his shoulder, "It's Dante," before sauntering away; he did still have a brother and possible-future-sister-in-law to find, after all.
Grinning to himself, Gene turned away, beginning to load the food onto the checkout. Dante eh? ... at least this guy knows how to have fun.
****
Meanwhile, oblivious to Dante and Gene's little conflict (and eventual reconciliation), Yuna was still quite tiredly pushing the shopping cart along. While Yuna was no weakling, together, the shopping carts were probably about equal to her body weight, filled to the brim with (for the most part, very heavy) food. It was... exhausting. Yuna reminded herself never to volunteer to do the shopping alone ever again. It was good that Vergil had shown up when he did (although the confrontation between he and Gene had been rather... worrying). Glancing to him, she offered a soft, "I'm sorry about before..."
Nudging her out of the way gently, Vergil began pushing both shopping carts rather easily as he offered "You have nothing to be sorry for. Men like that are disgusting, they have no honour and no decency."
Yuna blinked, watching him (well, she supposed that considering how strong he was, a couple of shopping carts would be nothing) and nodding rather uncertainly after a moment. "I didn't really realise what kind of person he was at first," she blushed lightly at that, although she went on to explain, "I thought it might have just come out the wrong way. But... thanks for showing up then."
"Anytime," Vergil answered calmly, looking rather thoughtful for a moment before beginning to unload the contents of both carts onto the checkout conveyer belt "Although I doubt he'll have learnt his lesson."
"I guess people like that are kind of unavoidable," Yuna mused softly, beginning to help him with the unloading. "I didn't get too much food, did I...? I got everything on the list..."
"It's fine," Vergil offered emotionlessly as he pulled out his wallet to pay for the food, vaguely wondering just how they were going to get this home. Even in his demon form he only had two hands.
"I'll pay," Yuna cut in quickly, taking out her credit card and adding to the cashier, "Can we get this food home-delivered, please...? I don't think we'd be able to carry it all," she smiled sheepishly. At least we know that we won't run out of food any time soon...
Realizing that it was probably the best option, Vergil stood aside and waited for Yuna to pay with her credit card before gazing at the plastic object, looking rather confused "...There's plastic money?" He questioned dumbly, blinking a few times and generally looking confused.
Ah, right, she never had gotten around to explaining credit to Vergil. "Well... it's sort of like you have a special account... and you spend money, and then pay it back, only you've got to be careful not to spend more than you have, because then you'll get into debt." After a few moments silence, Yuna offered a rather sheepish smile. "It's not really important. Credit cards are usually more trouble than they're worth..."
"...seems rather convenient to me," Vergil responded "Although if it's easy to get into debt on one, I suppose I should make sure Dante never gets his hand on one." Dismissing the strange bit of plastic after a moment, he frowned. Speaking of Dante, where is he?
"They're convenient, but a lot of people get into debt by accident." Yuna decided not to mention the credit card application she'd seen Dante sending off a few days ago. He had his own business, so he had to know at least a bit about handling money, right...? ...right?
Vergil let out a rather irritable sigh as he glanced around, still unable to spot Dante. Eventually, he decided to leave Dante to whatever he was doing and took Yuna's hand gently "Come on, lets go. Dante will be back eventually."
"Alright," Yuna agreed, smiling at him and, after nodding her thanks to the cashier (and giving them the address to deliver all the food to), leading Vergil outside. "So... how long do you think all this food will last us?" Probably about six months...
Looking rather thoughtful as he walked beside Yuna, the half-demon eventually offered "About a week, two weeks tops." He did not seem to think that there was anything abnormal about that, although then again he was used to it being that way since he'd never lived with a human before ... well, not counting his mother of course.
"...oh." Yuna blinked, looking rather baffled. She knew that they all ate a lot, but... how had they survived for so long? "At least a lot of it's healthy, though," she beamed.
"Mm," Vergil offered absently before adding "Our metabolisms are too fast, hence the white hair and what our metabolism doesn't burn off, training and fighting does instead."
"That makes sense," Yuna mused, nodding after a moment. It did make an awful amount of sense... it was just too bad food cost so much these days. Struck by a rather random curiosity, she tilted her head to the side, questioning, "What colour would your hair have been...? I mean, if it wasn't white because of the metabolism..."
"I don't know," Vergil admitted after a moment, running a hand through his spiky hair "I've always had white hair, so has Dante and father. Mother had blond hair but I have no way of knowing what colour father's hair should be but I suppose the most likely colours would be blond or black."
"...I can't imagine you with blond hair," Yuna mused after a moment, gazing up at him and attempting to envision a blond Vergil. Strangely, she could imagine Dante blond (although it would probably end up making him look like a surfie), but Vergil... no. After all, the only boy with spiky blond hair she could think of was Cloud, and Vergil with Cloud's hair just didn't bear thinking about. As for black hair... Mr Zack? O_O "...I like your hair the way it is, anyway," she beamed. White hair was best, anyway, and it suited Vergil.
Vergil shrugged "I don't mind it. Tried dying it a while back but the following morning it had all grown out anyway, so it was pointless."
"It looks cool," Yuna assured him, smiling. She didn't really pay much attention to her own hair, but reddish brown was really nothing special, not that she minded. Her eyes were rather unique, after all, and she wasn't really bothered with the idea of blending in anyway.
"Mm, i've learned to adjust," Vergil offered after a moment, looking rather thoughtful "Dante... he was a different story. He tried everything to slow his metabolism down so the dye wouldn't just grow out overnight, he tried every dye product in existence and I think even now, offer him a full proof way of changing his hair colour and he'd take it," he paused and ran a hand through his spiky hair again, adding rather immaturely "I think it looks cooler white."
"It does," Yuna agreed cheerfully, although she was mildly curious about Dante's evident dislike of it. (After all, Dante had never showed any great sign of being dissatisfied with his appearance... quite the opposite, really.) "Why doesn't he like it...?"
"We were teased a lot as kids," Vergil offered absently "It affected him a lot more than it did me. I was content to sit and watch Dante play soccer or join him, but Dante always wanted to be a part of the soccer team and have more friends, he tried to hide it, but I know it always hurt him."
Yuna looked genuinely surprised at this (she wasn't quite sure why, but she'd always imagined the twins to have been rather popular as children), but also rather sympathetic, abruptly hugging him gently. "I understand," she offered softly. She'd never been teased that badly as a child (most likely due to her rather introverted tendency to just avoid any social contact altogether and stay at home at all times), but it did make sense. "...still, they were probably just jealous. It looks really cool," she smiled, tone sincere.
"It was the 1900s. A time where religion was still running through many families and everyone looked the same," Vergil offered "In those times, having white hair wasn't normal and it meant one of two things, either you'd had an incredible fright brought on by some kind of 'vision' or you were a devil worshipper."
"People were really closed-minded back then," Yuna murmured, twisting her hair around her fingertips lightly, looking rather thoughtful. "...equal rights for women and all races were still a long way off... and technology was really underdeveloped, too. It was a really different time..."
"It was," Vergil agreed "But we didn't live in a giant bubble back then." He added thoughtfully "This is nothing like the world outside, people who were born into this wont know any different, but I know it's fake and it feels very different to me."
"...I guess maybe that's one good thing about this place, though," Yuna mused. "...people have been pretty much forced to accept one another. At least back in the early days of New Sanctum, before the level of technology was so high, everyone really needed each other." Glancing at Vergil, she questioned curiously, "What's different between here and the old world?"
"There was more space in the old world," Vergil offered "It's difficult to explain the differences to someone who has never seen or felt it, but the air was fresher, it felt real. In here it feels so artificial," he trailed off after a moment and frowned thoughtfully "I suppose, what I really liked about the real world is the fact that I could fly as high as I wanted and know i'd never reach the top, I could go anywhere I wanted without any walls or boundaries getting in the way. You can't clone that kind of freedom."
"...I think I understand," Yuna mused uncertainly. "...here, if you wanted to go to the boundaries of the 'world', you could do it in just a day or two, it wouldn't take very long at all to go to the different sides of the dome. But in that world, there was so much more space everywhere. It sounds like it must've been a really nice place," she glanced up at the sky. "...you know, there are people who say that the world outside is already restored... and that it's just the government keeping people in here to control them."
"I've heard this as well," Vergil admitted "But I doubt even I could survive in such a toxic environment if that information was wrong, I don't like following rumours, especially rumours that could cost me my life."
"Good point," Yuna nodded, still looking quite thoughtful. "I guess there's no way to tell for sure without risking lives. I guess life here isn't... too unbearable, though, is it...?"
"Currently, no." Vergil responded, looking rather thoughtful as he brushed several stray strands of hair out of his eyes "Although if the government are hiding the fact that the world is perfectly fine on the outside, then i'll have to intervene. I'd favour the real world over this artificial place any day."
"You mean... you'd fight the government?" Yuna questioned, eyes widening slightly. She herself had considered joining a rebel group a number of times, but her more recent energies had been more dedicated towards trying to fight evil demons rather than oppressive governments.
"If it came to that, yes," Vergil answered "Currently, I haven't targeted the government because they haven't done anything that would impose on human life. However if this rumour is true then I would have to fight the government out of principal, honour and the fact that I want to be out in the real world."
"...the government kill people secretly all the time," Yuna pointed out thoughtfully, shaking her head. It was a somewhat sensitive subject with her, really. "...they use political pressure and blackmail to silence people, and if anyone does resist, or if they... find something out that the government don't want them to, then the government silence them permanently."
"I see," Vergil responded thoughtfully "Then perhaps I need to pay the government a little visit. They are only humans, they wont be a threat to me anyway."
"...they're dangerous." Yuna mumbled uncertainly, glancing at him in concern. "...they won't hesitate to send people after you if they think you're a threat. And... if they found out about the demonic connection, who knows what they'd do...?" She was clearly extremely reluctant about him having anything to do with the government.
"Yuna, they're humans," Vergil answered calmly "They have mortality against them."
"...I know, but..." Yuna shook her head, staring at the ground. "...angering the government and drawing attention to yourself, it... it just seems like more trouble than it's worth." Knowing that he'd probably want at least a bit more of an explanation, she added, "It's advice I wish I could've given someone else..."
Vergil hesitated upon hearing that. Usually he paid no heed to warnings where humans were concerned, after all they weren't particularly difficult to kill even without entering his Devil Trigger but after hearing Yuna and realizing she was upset, he pulled her closer gently and ran a hand through her hair "Alright, I wont interfere for the moment."
"I'm glad," she said softly, a rather weak smile coming over her face and quickly vanishing as she explained, "It's just that... my father, he was doing some research, into aeons and other things that I'm not sure of," she trailed off, an unreadable expression crossing her face before she continued, "They warned him once to stop his research, but he didn't," she paused again, staring at the ground, her voice low and sombre. "So they had him killed."
"That wont happened to me," Vergil offered gently as he rubbed her back, looking rather thoughtful "Besides, I don't have time to take on the government right now, I have to deal with Mundus and the demons that are attacking the city," he offered before gently forcing her to lift her head with his fingers, leaning over a little and kissing her on the lips gently.
Yuna blushed faintly, kissing him back, silently relieved and grateful for the reassurance. It was true, too; the government could be dealt with at any time, but the demonic problem was kind of pressing. When they broke apart for the mandatory air, she smiled breathlessly. "I guess it's a case of choosing your battles," she mused. Strange how she was more comfortable with the idea of fighting the lord of hell rather than the government. "...thank you."
Vergil took her hand delicately and kissed the back of it several times before looping an arm around her waist, beginning to walk with her again.
For her part, Yuna blushed, but smiled, looking quite happy as she wrapped one arm around his waist.
One person who did not look quite so happy, however, was Dante. He'd been observing the (painfully mushy!) scene for a few minutes now, and decided that he simply had to intervene with his most burning question about the entire discussion. "What did you do with all the food?!"
Vergil rolled his eyes "They'll be delivering it to our place tonight. I'm sure you can wait that long." Although now that he thought about it, he was beginning to get rather hungry, hopefully there was still something left in the fridge.
"What if I can't?" Dante grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets sulkily. Dammit, why hadn't he been consulted about this? >.<
"Then we can order out pizza?" Yuna offered reassuringly.
Vergil sighed "Don't humour him Yuna," he commented emotionlessly before striding ahead, spiking his hair agan absently.
Dante rolled his eyes, not looking very pleased at that remark, although he said nothing, evidently more interested in entertaining thoughts of pizza.
Yuna shrugged, glancing at Vergil and offering, "We could order some Chinese for you...?"
"Alright," Vergil answered in the same monotone, not really caring. Really, food was not on his list of priorities even though it probably should have been.
Yuna smiled, deciding that keeping Vergil fed was definitely quite high on her list of priorities (she didn't think her wallet could handle a hungry Vergil...) and looping her arm around his waist again. "So, um, whose turn is it to go shopping next week?"
"Mine," Dante volunteered immediately. The shopping carts he'd seen before had been satisfactory, but there was not enough chocolate or microwaveable pizza there!
Vergil shot him a look "I'll go. If we let Dante he'll come home with nothing but beer and pizza." He stated emotionlessly. Maybe food was higher on his priorities than he'd thought...
"And chocolate!" Dante added defensively, although he didn't dispute that he'd not be bringing anything else back. "Besides, you'll just buy crappy food, I saw your list."
"...maybe we should just all go again," Yuna mumbled, glancing from one twin to the other.
Vergil rolled his eyes "Just because I actually have class." He scoffed.
"If 'class' means 'complete lack of taste in food', then you can keep it," Dante grumbled, rolling his eyes.
Vergil shot him a look "Whatever. Just make sure that you get things that aren't pizza or look like pizza in shape or form. And get my wine too."
"I'll get some cheese for your whine too," Dante muttered, vaguely entertaining the notion of slipping rat poison in Vergil's food. It wouldn't kill him, of course, but it sure would be amusing to watch.
Vergil rolled his eyes "Just let me do the shopping Dante, it'd be easier."
"But wouldn't it take time out of your busy training schedule?" Dante questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not trusting you with my food, brother. No way."
"I'll do the shopping next time," Yuna cut in firmly, tugging on both of their sleeves to get attention.
Vergil glanced at her for a moment before gazing ahead "Agreed."
"...fine," Dante muttered, although he intended to write a more detailed list, and perhaps double the requested portions.
"Good," Yuna smiled in satisfaction, nodding. "It's definitely easier that way."
As they approached the Devil May Cry building, Vergil looped an arm around Yuna's waist gently.
Yuna smiled at him, keeping close, although she did question, "...you don't think that it'll take too long for the food to get here, do you...?"
Well, mortal summoners got hungry too!
When: 25th March - Noon
Who: Gene Starwind (GeneStarwind113), Dante (StylishFlair), Vergil (Yamato_Devil) and Yuna (WonderWing)
Summary: Gene has been forced to go grocery shopping after it has come to his attention that there is no food at home, along the way he runs into Yuna. Unfortunately he doesn't get to make much of a move on her as Vergil quickly intervenes. Cue a very insightful conversation between Dante and Gene combined with cuteness from Yuna and Vergil and a couple of arguments to boot.
Notes: Comment! As your mod I command you XDD (If you comment you'll get free cookies)
Of all the things in the world to agree to, why had she agreed to this? Glancing around the supermarket and not bothering to hide the worried, gloomy expression on her face, she then glanced back to her shopping carts. Yes, carts, in the plural. You see, Yuna Meyari had done the stupidest possible thing that anyone could possibly do; she had agreed to do the shopping for all of her housemates. And when one's housemates may as well have bottomless pits for stomachs, it was less an errand and more a suicide mission. She'd gathered two carts; one filled with 'normal' food, one filled with meat purchased from the deli. How am I going to get all this home? she mused to herself gloomily. I guess I'll have to get it delivered...
Not noticing the abnormality that was two heavily laden shopping carts on the same aisle as he was, Gene continued to ponder over the two cases of beer. He had been stood like this for well over half an hour and he still could not decide which one he wanted.
He knew that this would have been a problem right from the beginning, so he had decided to grab the other things first (plus it stopped him blowing all his money on alcohol when he needed to restock his fridge with food), but now he had a major problem on his hands.
This particular aisle contained one of his vices, alcohol. There were bottles of whiskey, brandy, wine, cider and beer as well as vodka and alchopops (although the latter did not appeal to him as much, it was for kids). Letting out a groan, he glanced between two cases of beer, rubbing his forehead.
He had already narrowed it down to beer and there was already a small bottle of whiskey in his shopping basket that would no doubt end up in his flask to be used in 'emergencies or stressful situations' but now he really could not decide on what beer to buy. It was between three brands now, but originally it had been twelve "Damn it, this is why I make Jim do the grocery shopping." He grumbled to himself.
Consulting the shopping list Dante had given her (or shopping notebook, really; it had taken him two hours and three pencils just to write the thing, and it'd take a Yuna-sized inheritance to pay for it), Yuna offered a soft, "Um, excuse me," and moved beside Gene, leaning over and taking one of the cases of beer in question, consulting the list again. It all looked the same to her, really, but Dante had been very particular. Apparently, this was the only beer he'd not tried to get drunk using, and thus his only chance of success. Upon hearing this, Yuna had merely reminded herself that Dante really had said weirder things before.
"You didn't want this one, did you...?" Yuna glanced at Gene worriedly.
"Nah it's fine, take it," Gene responded, concentrating more on the two brands that were left and frowning "Hey, do me a favour, toss a ... well hello~" suddenly, his frown disappeared as he finally noticed Yuna, taking in her appearance for a moment and smiling lecherously "And who might you be?"
Yuna smiled up at him sunnily, evidently not noticing the lecherous expression on his face, or dismissing it as a more innocent expression. "I'm Yuna," she introduced herself, glancing back at her shopping carts for a moment. Oh, they were not going to be fun to stock into the shelves... "Toss a...?"
Following his gaze, he looked somewhat taken aback by the large quantity of food, gaping for a moment before offering "What does a pretty little thing like you need all this food for? You got some kinda' kinky fetish?"
Yuna blinked, a deep red blush coming over her face. She just stared at him for a moment, uncertain quite how to answer that, although she eventually mustered a, "No, no, it's not for me, it's for my housemates..." as her blush deepened. Shifting uncomfortably for another moment, she smiled rather weakly. "They eat a lot."
Running a hand through his hair and stretching, Gene let out a rather irritable sigh as he turned his attention back to the two brands of beer. He had a feeling he was going to be here for quite some time although, after a moment he remembered what he had been about to say before "Toss a coin will ya?"
"Oh!" Yuna nodded, very eager to get off any subject remotely relating to anything remotely relating to stuff like fetishes (who talked about that kind of stuff in public, anyway? How embarrassing...). Taking out her purse and finding a coin after a moment, she nodded, holding it out. "Are you trying to decide between those brands...?"
"Yeah," Gene admitted, looking rather sheepish as he ran his hand through his hair again "I've only got enough for one, but damn it ... they're all so good. I finally managed to narrow it down, but I still can't decide," he grinned a little before noticing that she'd piled several bottles of wine in the shopping carts "I see you like a drink as well." He added flirtatiously.
"I don't drink," Yuna shook her head rapidly. Well, that wasn't entirely true. "Not that much, anyway," she hastily amended, glancing at the two brands of beer and questioning innocently, "Don't they all taste the same...?"
This girl definitely doesn't drink Gene thought to himself, rolling his eyes as he folded his arms "Of course they don't! They have their own subtle differences," he commented firmly before frowning at the two cases of beer again, glancing from one to the other.
"Like what?" Yuna questioned curiously, examining the two boxes. Sure, the box colours looked different, but if you looked at just the beer itself, it was practically identical! (Dante was only insisting on that particular brand because it had a higher alcohol content...)
"Like differences in taste," Gene responded before snorting "You don't drink so you wouldn't understand, just trust me on this one, alright babe?" He winked at her and smiled.
"They look the same," Yuna mumbled, shrugging loosely. "Okay, this one can be heads, and that one can be tails," she pointed to each of the boxes of beer in turn, smiling at him. "Ready?"
Gene nodded "You bet, go ahead an' flip the coin. I still have to walk home and drink this stuff." He offered with a grin.
Yuna nodded obediently, flicking the coin up high in the air and catching it, pressing it down on the back of her hand and declaring, "It's tails!" Peering at the brand that had won the toss, she mused, "Is that a nice one...?"
"They're both nice, that was the problem," Gene responded before grinning and winking at her, putting the case in his shopping basket "Thanks babe, your a life saver."
Yuna flushed a deep red at that, anxiously kneading her skirt and offering as a soft reply, "Um, I'm glad I could help... er..." She'd never been very good in situations like this...
"Gene," the red-head responded instantly, his deep blue eyes taking in her curvaceous figure again before he offered "Gene Starwind."
Yuna smiled, bowing politely. "I'm Yuna Meyari," she introduced herself, although she realised that she'd already told him her name. "It's nice to meet you. Do you, um, shop here often...?"
"Nah, usually my co-worker does all the shopping, but I dunno where he is this morning," come to think of it, where was Jim? It wasn't like him to shirk his responsibilities like that, unless it was some new ploy to get Gene to do some work ... shaking his head after a moment, he grinned at Yuna lecherously "So do you always wear those clothes?" He questioned, realizing that they showed off her curves rather well and he instinctively reached out to grope her.
Without warning, there was a loud snap as the sheathed katana connected with Gene's skull "If you wish to keep those eyes of yours, I suggest you lay your hands off my girlfriend and treat her with respect, otherwise you will never see another woman for as long as you live." Vergil sneered coldly, moving to stand in front of Yuna.
"Bite me!" Gene snapped, abruptly removing his revolver from its holster and pointing it at Vergil's forehead "You shouldn't let your girlfriend out dressed like that if you don't want nobody looking!"
Rolling his eyes, the half-demon ran a hand through his spiky hair before he stared down the barrel of the gun "Great, another gun toting cowboy who wants to try his luck. I'll save you some time, guns don't work on me."
Yuna merely stared for a moment, not quite realising exactly what was happening around her. So... Vergil had materialised out of thin air? (Hadn't he been at another shop in the large mall...? And if so, did that mean that Dante was left unsupervised?) Why did he hit Gene...? And "What's wrong with my clothes?" Yuna blinked, glancing down at the kimono. It did show off her curves somewhat, but really, a kimono was one of the most chaste things one could wear.
Ignoring Yuna completely now, Gene focused his attention on the shorter man, gripping his side as he laughed at him, unable to help himself. The newcomer really was rather amusing "Is that so?" He questioned after a moment, finally managing to stop himself laughing long enough to speak.
"Hn," deciding that this man was not worth his time, Vergil turned his back to him, addressing Yuna "If you have everything we can go to the checkout. Had I have known creeps like this would have been here, I would have come with you."
"Oh yeah ... well ... damn it!" Firing off the gun in frustration, he aimed it at Vergil's shoulder, only to realize that the other hadn't even flinched, yet the wound was bleeding so the bullet had obviously penetrated the skin "...S-Shit! What the hell are you?"
Vergil raised an eyebrow "Do you really want me to answer that?"
“Yeah, I do.” Gene huffed.
Silently amazed at how fast the conflict had been escalated (people were shooting each other already?), Yuna took a step back, glancing from one shopping cart to the other. "Oh, um, alright," she nodded quickly, walking over and taking one shopping cart, beginning the rather tedious job of getting it moving.
Unfortunately for Gene, leaving his own shopping cart unguarded had not been a very good idea. Stealthily, Dante moved in from the other side of the aisle, quickly snatching all the chocolate and vaguely pizza-resembling food he could see (as well as some beer) before swiftly retreating back behind the other aisle, surveying his plunder. In his opinion, it was better for the cupboards to be overstocked than under stocked.
Watching her leave, Vergil turned his attention back to Gene "Are you done?" He drawled before shaking his head and turning away again, taking the other cart and following Yuna.
Muttering various profanities under his breath, Gene grabbed his shopping basket and frowned, it felt a lot lighter than before. Realizing that someone had taken some of his stuff, he groaned and doubled back to the other aisles to get the stuff that had been taken, not looking too happy (or realizing he was being followed)
Dante was extremely satisfied with his plunder (although really, it was the least he could do, he was defending Yuna's honour in his own... unique way ;D). While obviously he'd still have to pay for these things, many of them hadn't been on the shelves when he'd gotten there, so they were the last ones left. (Particularly the beer...)
Feeling rather annoyed in general as he was brought back to his original dilemma, Gene frowned at the beer that was left before deciding that he didn't fancy any of the brands that had actually been left on the sleeves, grabbing another bottle of whiskey instead.
If I catch the little punk who took my stuff, he'll pay...
Unfortunately for said 'little punk', he was looking at his plunder (plunder being the best possible word for it) right on the other side of the next aisle, easily sighted through the now-empty shelves. He'd go find Yuna in a moment, right now he was struck with a dilemma similar to genes, except relating to chocolate rather than beer.
"You!" Gene snapped, almost dropping the basket as he laid his eyes on him, storming over and snatching the beer case from him, not too bothered about the food that he had taken "That was mine."
Dante frowned, eyebrows arching as he abruptly snatched the case back, shaking his head. "Man~, haven't you ever heard of finders keepers? Just get another case."
"There aren't any more," Gene responded irritably, although he was a little wary of the other, especially after he had managed to take a bullet without even flinching "If this is to get revenge on me for hitting on your girl, then fine! But damn it, I want my beer back!"
His girl? He was about to inform Gene irritably that Yuna was not his girl when he realised the mistake that had been made. While normally he'd be terribly miffed, he was quite amused now. Holding onto the beer case tightly, he shook his head. "It's a free supermarket," he drawled, doing a fairly good imitation of Vergil's 'you! Off my planet!' glare.
"Yeah, but that beer was mine. I had it first." Gene responded childishly, resisting going for one of his guns again as the other had already proved that bullets were useless and he really couldn't justify using a Castor on this guy just to get his beer back, no matter how much he tried.
"If you wanted to keep your beer, you shouldn't have hit on her," Dante said flatly. He would've attempted to imitate his brother's voice, but then he just would've cracked up laughing (it had happened before) and blown the whole thing. It didn't really matter who Gene thought he was, but it'd probably save him a bullet to the head. And besides, if he left and then Gene saw Vergil, it'd really screw with the guy's head, and what identical twin wasn't up for a bit of appearance-related pranking every now and then?
"Oh whatever," Gene muttered after a moment, waving his hand dismissively "I can't be bothered dealing with someone like you. Keep it, I don't care." He huffed, striding towards the checkout, slamming his shoulder into Dante's in the process.
Dante grinned, feeling quite satisfied with himself, although he shoved past Gene so that the shoulder clip was more mutual. In reality, he actually didn't really even want that brand of beer (he'd tried it: didn't make him drunk), but now that someone else wanted it, he simply had to have it. "Later, genie."
Gene twitched in annoyance "It's Gene. Gene Starwind." He huffed, turning to glare at Dante.
"Wha~tever, genie," Dante responded in a bored tone, glancing over his shoulder and flashing Gene a rather mocking grin before keeping on walking.
"Hey you bastard!" he snapped as he followed him, clenching his fists as his whole body shook with anger "Just what the hell are you anyway? I shoot you and you don't even bat an eyelid, tell me right now!"
Dante yawned, rolling his eyes in Gene's general direction, not appearing interested in his tirade in the slightest. Being a disinterested, distant asshole was actually surprisingly fun, he could see why Vergil liked it so much. "How should I know?" he responded in a rather bemused tone. "Figure it out yourself, genie."
"It's Gene. Say it with me now. Gene!" The red-head responded furiously, clenching his fists even tighter and removing his shotgun from the large holster strapped to his side "Face me like a man, asshole."
Dante turned to face him, eyebrows arched. Yep, he definitely had to try this 'cool, collected asshole' thing more often. "I'm twice the man you are, genie," he responded, snickering and not at all bothered by the shotgun. Oh, he'd never been shot by one of those before! "Now, do you mind stop bugging me? My beer and I have a meeting with the TV coming up."
"Bite me!" Gene snapped before adding sullenly "Just what is your damn problem? You the type of guy who gets a sick thrill out of causing shit." Of course, he was not entirely innocent of this either, in fact he had found his rather loud, over the top personality infuriating quite a few people but still, this was entirely different!
Dante merely shrugged, shoving one hand in his pocket and holding the case of beer with the other. "Something like that," he responded with another hapless shrug. "You asked for it, though."
"Yeah, maybe I did, but so what?" Gene responded irritably, realizing that the other's personality had just changed ... actually now that he thought about it, hadn't the other had spiky hair and a blue trench coat before. Putting two and two together quickly, he suddenly started to laugh, clearly finding the whole thing rather amusing "Gee you really had me goin' there for a second. Good one, always did find twins interesting."
"Yeah, well, what's the point in having an identical twin if you can't play a few jokes?" Dante grinned, looking rather more relaxed as he flicked his hair from his eyes. "Took you long enough."
"You have good tastes," Gene commented after a moment, motioning to the beer case before shrugging "You might as well have it. I'll get drunk faster on this stuff anyway." He offered with a wink, motioning to the whiskey.
"Really?" Dante seemed rather curious about the whiskey now, beer forgotten. Then again, whiskey had been his favourite for years and it'd still never worked... "So what do you think the absolute easiest one to get drunk on is...?"
"Try this," Gene offered calmly, tossing him the hip flask that was only about half full now with hard liquor "Guaranteed to get you pretty damn hammered."
Dante caught it in midair, passing back the case of beer. Promptly skulling the entire contents of the hip flask, he questioned, "So how long 'til it works?" This could very well be the closest he'd ever been to the elusive state of 'drunkenness', and he was eager to know how long he would have to wait for it to work.
"Depends on the person," Gene offered "Though you must be a pretty heavy drinker if nothin' else seems to affect you, or is there something your not telling me?"
"...I don't get drunk easily," Dante offered vaguely, tossing the emptied hip flask back and wiping his mouth. The stuff in it had tasted beyond foul, but if it worked, it would be worth it.
Catching it again, Gene laughed and offered "That must suck. I should probably cut back a bit myself, it's costing far too much these days ... damn tolerance."
"I've been trying for awhile, but it doesn't really seem to do much," Dante grumbled, not feeling hardly different at all. "Costs enough, but you saw all the stuff we're buying, it doesn't really make much of a difference."
"I saw," Gene offered before adding thoughtfully "Hmm, should have kicked in by now, the amount you drank all at once ... maybe your the type that can't get drunk." He offered with a shrug "Must be a hard life."
It would make sense, Dante mused, if he couldn't possibly get drunk. Really, he'd known that it was that way all along. However, alcohol was (usually) (somewhat) nice-tasting, and besides, it was a habit of sorts. And whiskey bottles everywhere seemed to really annoy his brother. "Probably something like that," he agreed grumpily.
"Still, doesn't mean you can't enjoy it," Gene offered with a wink before he added "You should come to the bar sometime, it's a laugh."
"Which bar?" Dante questioned, brushing his hair from his eyes. He frequented a few around the city, so he'd probably been there already.
"Clide's bar," the red-head responded "It's sleazy but the alcohol is cheap," he grinned lecherously "Plus there's barmaids in short skirts and strippers."
Sounded suspiciously like Love Planet, in Dante's opinion... while he wasn't one to complain about short skirts or strippers, he did tend to get a trifle bored with these things, finding clubbing to be a more entertaining experience (as, well, there were usually short skirts involved anyway, and often strippers too). "How cheap?" he questioned.
"Cheap enough," Gene responded with a shrug before offering "I can usually get a few drinks for under $5, they have special deals and the like." He explained before realizing he was still holding the shotgun and holstering it "Your a lot different from your brother, he's way too uptight."
"You're telling me," Dante grumbled. He did wonder why someone was carrying a shotgun around in the first place... but then again, he'd taken revolvers with him everywhere since he was thirteen years old, so he couldn't really talk. "Sounds like a fair enough deal, though, with the drinks."
"Yeah," Gene answered before winking at him again "Always have a good time when I go, even if I don't get drunk," he offered before noticing the gun holsters "Never seen those kind of guns before." He mused.
"Homemade," Dante nodded, unholstering both guns and displaying them with more than a hint of pride. "Customised military revolvers."
"Not bad," Gene responded, admiring them although he knew better than to try and take them from him "I got a few special guns myself." He added proudly, with a slight grin of course.
"Customised guns always work better," Dante mused, holstering the girls again, just in case there happened to be any security cameras (or shoppers) lurking in this area. He didn't want anyone to think they were planning a robbery or anything, it was a miracle they'd gotten away with before when Gene had actually shot Vergil.
Looking rather impressed, Gene produced his Castor Gun from beneath his duster, smiling as he gazed at it for a moment "You seen one of these before?"
"Nah," Dante shook his head, gazing at the gun. While he knew most types of standard mortal weaponry (let alone guns) by sight, that was a rather unique-looking gun. "Modified?"
"Nah, just really old. It's a Castor gun, according to legend it was made by spell casters to harness the power of mana." Gene offered "I'd show ya' how it works ... but the shells don't come cheap, I can't waste 'em."
"Fair enough," Dante shrugged, nodding. Power of mana...? Didn't sound like anything he'd learnt about, then again, supernaturally-enhanced weapons were nothing new to him (it solved that pesky 'ammunition' problem, at least), so this Castor gun was probably some variety of one of those. "Sounds pretty cool. Mine just don't run out of ammo."
"Niice," Gene responded "Wish mine didn't run out of ammo, it's too damn expensive to keep buying more Castor shells." He grumbled, mainly to himself before shrugging and offering "Maybe i'll see you at the bar sometime."
"Yeah, probably," Dante nodded in agreement, grinning. He preferred the club scene, but he was always up for a bit of bar time. "I should go find my brother, make sure he hasn't killed anyone for looking at his girlfriend wrong," he rolled his eyes.
Gene laughed a little at that "Maybe if she didn't wear such cute kimonos, guys like me wouldn't look." Okay that was a lie, he'd have looked anyway, but that was beside the point.
Dante rolled his eyes, pointing out, "You can't get much more covering than a kimono like that." (It was probably fortunate for all that he'd never looked at Yuna in that way, given the way that things had ended up.) "Look again and he'll probably cut your eyes out or something." Honestly, Vergil could be so immature at times!
"It's a compliment!" Gene protested "Damn it, I thought women liked attention."
"Most women don't like that kind of attention," Dante pointed out. If 196 years of life had taught him one thing, it was to at least be subtle when checking women out. Well, at least somewhat subtle... "Girls like being complimented and all, but it kind of varies from one to the other."
"I'll stick to my way thanks," Gene responded before laughing "So why are you here anyway, certainly not to tail your brother and his girl, unless you've got your eye on her too."
An expression somewhere between confusion and revolt came over his face. "Her? No way," he shook his head. Yuna was pretty, he'd acknowledge that, but she definitely wasn't his type. Way too shy and quiet, and she had no idea how to have fun. "I want to make sure they get everything on the list, that's all. It's my food too."
"Oh so your one of the housemates i've been hearing about," Gene responded "Heh, you sure do eat a lot of food. A man after my own heart."
"She lives with our family, so it's pretty much that appetite times three plus another girl and a dog," Dante answered, mildly amused. It wasn't really that much food, when compared with the amount of takeout they bought.
"Well, i'll catch 'ya later. I've gotta get this stuff home," he turned to leave towards the checkouts before stopping "Say, I never did get your name."
Turning away, he nodded, calling over his shoulder, "It's Dante," before sauntering away; he did still have a brother and possible-future-sister-in-law to find, after all.
Grinning to himself, Gene turned away, beginning to load the food onto the checkout. Dante eh? ... at least this guy knows how to have fun.
****
Meanwhile, oblivious to Dante and Gene's little conflict (and eventual reconciliation), Yuna was still quite tiredly pushing the shopping cart along. While Yuna was no weakling, together, the shopping carts were probably about equal to her body weight, filled to the brim with (for the most part, very heavy) food. It was... exhausting. Yuna reminded herself never to volunteer to do the shopping alone ever again. It was good that Vergil had shown up when he did (although the confrontation between he and Gene had been rather... worrying). Glancing to him, she offered a soft, "I'm sorry about before..."
Nudging her out of the way gently, Vergil began pushing both shopping carts rather easily as he offered "You have nothing to be sorry for. Men like that are disgusting, they have no honour and no decency."
Yuna blinked, watching him (well, she supposed that considering how strong he was, a couple of shopping carts would be nothing) and nodding rather uncertainly after a moment. "I didn't really realise what kind of person he was at first," she blushed lightly at that, although she went on to explain, "I thought it might have just come out the wrong way. But... thanks for showing up then."
"Anytime," Vergil answered calmly, looking rather thoughtful for a moment before beginning to unload the contents of both carts onto the checkout conveyer belt "Although I doubt he'll have learnt his lesson."
"I guess people like that are kind of unavoidable," Yuna mused softly, beginning to help him with the unloading. "I didn't get too much food, did I...? I got everything on the list..."
"It's fine," Vergil offered emotionlessly as he pulled out his wallet to pay for the food, vaguely wondering just how they were going to get this home. Even in his demon form he only had two hands.
"I'll pay," Yuna cut in quickly, taking out her credit card and adding to the cashier, "Can we get this food home-delivered, please...? I don't think we'd be able to carry it all," she smiled sheepishly. At least we know that we won't run out of food any time soon...
Realizing that it was probably the best option, Vergil stood aside and waited for Yuna to pay with her credit card before gazing at the plastic object, looking rather confused "...There's plastic money?" He questioned dumbly, blinking a few times and generally looking confused.
Ah, right, she never had gotten around to explaining credit to Vergil. "Well... it's sort of like you have a special account... and you spend money, and then pay it back, only you've got to be careful not to spend more than you have, because then you'll get into debt." After a few moments silence, Yuna offered a rather sheepish smile. "It's not really important. Credit cards are usually more trouble than they're worth..."
"...seems rather convenient to me," Vergil responded "Although if it's easy to get into debt on one, I suppose I should make sure Dante never gets his hand on one." Dismissing the strange bit of plastic after a moment, he frowned. Speaking of Dante, where is he?
"They're convenient, but a lot of people get into debt by accident." Yuna decided not to mention the credit card application she'd seen Dante sending off a few days ago. He had his own business, so he had to know at least a bit about handling money, right...? ...right?
Vergil let out a rather irritable sigh as he glanced around, still unable to spot Dante. Eventually, he decided to leave Dante to whatever he was doing and took Yuna's hand gently "Come on, lets go. Dante will be back eventually."
"Alright," Yuna agreed, smiling at him and, after nodding her thanks to the cashier (and giving them the address to deliver all the food to), leading Vergil outside. "So... how long do you think all this food will last us?" Probably about six months...
Looking rather thoughtful as he walked beside Yuna, the half-demon eventually offered "About a week, two weeks tops." He did not seem to think that there was anything abnormal about that, although then again he was used to it being that way since he'd never lived with a human before ... well, not counting his mother of course.
"...oh." Yuna blinked, looking rather baffled. She knew that they all ate a lot, but... how had they survived for so long? "At least a lot of it's healthy, though," she beamed.
"Mm," Vergil offered absently before adding "Our metabolisms are too fast, hence the white hair and what our metabolism doesn't burn off, training and fighting does instead."
"That makes sense," Yuna mused, nodding after a moment. It did make an awful amount of sense... it was just too bad food cost so much these days. Struck by a rather random curiosity, she tilted her head to the side, questioning, "What colour would your hair have been...? I mean, if it wasn't white because of the metabolism..."
"I don't know," Vergil admitted after a moment, running a hand through his spiky hair "I've always had white hair, so has Dante and father. Mother had blond hair but I have no way of knowing what colour father's hair should be but I suppose the most likely colours would be blond or black."
"...I can't imagine you with blond hair," Yuna mused after a moment, gazing up at him and attempting to envision a blond Vergil. Strangely, she could imagine Dante blond (although it would probably end up making him look like a surfie), but Vergil... no. After all, the only boy with spiky blond hair she could think of was Cloud, and Vergil with Cloud's hair just didn't bear thinking about. As for black hair... Mr Zack? O_O "...I like your hair the way it is, anyway," she beamed. White hair was best, anyway, and it suited Vergil.
Vergil shrugged "I don't mind it. Tried dying it a while back but the following morning it had all grown out anyway, so it was pointless."
"It looks cool," Yuna assured him, smiling. She didn't really pay much attention to her own hair, but reddish brown was really nothing special, not that she minded. Her eyes were rather unique, after all, and she wasn't really bothered with the idea of blending in anyway.
"Mm, i've learned to adjust," Vergil offered after a moment, looking rather thoughtful "Dante... he was a different story. He tried everything to slow his metabolism down so the dye wouldn't just grow out overnight, he tried every dye product in existence and I think even now, offer him a full proof way of changing his hair colour and he'd take it," he paused and ran a hand through his spiky hair again, adding rather immaturely "I think it looks cooler white."
"It does," Yuna agreed cheerfully, although she was mildly curious about Dante's evident dislike of it. (After all, Dante had never showed any great sign of being dissatisfied with his appearance... quite the opposite, really.) "Why doesn't he like it...?"
"We were teased a lot as kids," Vergil offered absently "It affected him a lot more than it did me. I was content to sit and watch Dante play soccer or join him, but Dante always wanted to be a part of the soccer team and have more friends, he tried to hide it, but I know it always hurt him."
Yuna looked genuinely surprised at this (she wasn't quite sure why, but she'd always imagined the twins to have been rather popular as children), but also rather sympathetic, abruptly hugging him gently. "I understand," she offered softly. She'd never been teased that badly as a child (most likely due to her rather introverted tendency to just avoid any social contact altogether and stay at home at all times), but it did make sense. "...still, they were probably just jealous. It looks really cool," she smiled, tone sincere.
"It was the 1900s. A time where religion was still running through many families and everyone looked the same," Vergil offered "In those times, having white hair wasn't normal and it meant one of two things, either you'd had an incredible fright brought on by some kind of 'vision' or you were a devil worshipper."
"People were really closed-minded back then," Yuna murmured, twisting her hair around her fingertips lightly, looking rather thoughtful. "...equal rights for women and all races were still a long way off... and technology was really underdeveloped, too. It was a really different time..."
"It was," Vergil agreed "But we didn't live in a giant bubble back then." He added thoughtfully "This is nothing like the world outside, people who were born into this wont know any different, but I know it's fake and it feels very different to me."
"...I guess maybe that's one good thing about this place, though," Yuna mused. "...people have been pretty much forced to accept one another. At least back in the early days of New Sanctum, before the level of technology was so high, everyone really needed each other." Glancing at Vergil, she questioned curiously, "What's different between here and the old world?"
"There was more space in the old world," Vergil offered "It's difficult to explain the differences to someone who has never seen or felt it, but the air was fresher, it felt real. In here it feels so artificial," he trailed off after a moment and frowned thoughtfully "I suppose, what I really liked about the real world is the fact that I could fly as high as I wanted and know i'd never reach the top, I could go anywhere I wanted without any walls or boundaries getting in the way. You can't clone that kind of freedom."
"...I think I understand," Yuna mused uncertainly. "...here, if you wanted to go to the boundaries of the 'world', you could do it in just a day or two, it wouldn't take very long at all to go to the different sides of the dome. But in that world, there was so much more space everywhere. It sounds like it must've been a really nice place," she glanced up at the sky. "...you know, there are people who say that the world outside is already restored... and that it's just the government keeping people in here to control them."
"I've heard this as well," Vergil admitted "But I doubt even I could survive in such a toxic environment if that information was wrong, I don't like following rumours, especially rumours that could cost me my life."
"Good point," Yuna nodded, still looking quite thoughtful. "I guess there's no way to tell for sure without risking lives. I guess life here isn't... too unbearable, though, is it...?"
"Currently, no." Vergil responded, looking rather thoughtful as he brushed several stray strands of hair out of his eyes "Although if the government are hiding the fact that the world is perfectly fine on the outside, then i'll have to intervene. I'd favour the real world over this artificial place any day."
"You mean... you'd fight the government?" Yuna questioned, eyes widening slightly. She herself had considered joining a rebel group a number of times, but her more recent energies had been more dedicated towards trying to fight evil demons rather than oppressive governments.
"If it came to that, yes," Vergil answered "Currently, I haven't targeted the government because they haven't done anything that would impose on human life. However if this rumour is true then I would have to fight the government out of principal, honour and the fact that I want to be out in the real world."
"...the government kill people secretly all the time," Yuna pointed out thoughtfully, shaking her head. It was a somewhat sensitive subject with her, really. "...they use political pressure and blackmail to silence people, and if anyone does resist, or if they... find something out that the government don't want them to, then the government silence them permanently."
"I see," Vergil responded thoughtfully "Then perhaps I need to pay the government a little visit. They are only humans, they wont be a threat to me anyway."
"...they're dangerous." Yuna mumbled uncertainly, glancing at him in concern. "...they won't hesitate to send people after you if they think you're a threat. And... if they found out about the demonic connection, who knows what they'd do...?" She was clearly extremely reluctant about him having anything to do with the government.
"Yuna, they're humans," Vergil answered calmly "They have mortality against them."
"...I know, but..." Yuna shook her head, staring at the ground. "...angering the government and drawing attention to yourself, it... it just seems like more trouble than it's worth." Knowing that he'd probably want at least a bit more of an explanation, she added, "It's advice I wish I could've given someone else..."
Vergil hesitated upon hearing that. Usually he paid no heed to warnings where humans were concerned, after all they weren't particularly difficult to kill even without entering his Devil Trigger but after hearing Yuna and realizing she was upset, he pulled her closer gently and ran a hand through her hair "Alright, I wont interfere for the moment."
"I'm glad," she said softly, a rather weak smile coming over her face and quickly vanishing as she explained, "It's just that... my father, he was doing some research, into aeons and other things that I'm not sure of," she trailed off, an unreadable expression crossing her face before she continued, "They warned him once to stop his research, but he didn't," she paused again, staring at the ground, her voice low and sombre. "So they had him killed."
"That wont happened to me," Vergil offered gently as he rubbed her back, looking rather thoughtful "Besides, I don't have time to take on the government right now, I have to deal with Mundus and the demons that are attacking the city," he offered before gently forcing her to lift her head with his fingers, leaning over a little and kissing her on the lips gently.
Yuna blushed faintly, kissing him back, silently relieved and grateful for the reassurance. It was true, too; the government could be dealt with at any time, but the demonic problem was kind of pressing. When they broke apart for the mandatory air, she smiled breathlessly. "I guess it's a case of choosing your battles," she mused. Strange how she was more comfortable with the idea of fighting the lord of hell rather than the government. "...thank you."
Vergil took her hand delicately and kissed the back of it several times before looping an arm around her waist, beginning to walk with her again.
For her part, Yuna blushed, but smiled, looking quite happy as she wrapped one arm around his waist.
One person who did not look quite so happy, however, was Dante. He'd been observing the (painfully mushy!) scene for a few minutes now, and decided that he simply had to intervene with his most burning question about the entire discussion. "What did you do with all the food?!"
Vergil rolled his eyes "They'll be delivering it to our place tonight. I'm sure you can wait that long." Although now that he thought about it, he was beginning to get rather hungry, hopefully there was still something left in the fridge.
"What if I can't?" Dante grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets sulkily. Dammit, why hadn't he been consulted about this? >.<
"Then we can order out pizza?" Yuna offered reassuringly.
Vergil sighed "Don't humour him Yuna," he commented emotionlessly before striding ahead, spiking his hair agan absently.
Dante rolled his eyes, not looking very pleased at that remark, although he said nothing, evidently more interested in entertaining thoughts of pizza.
Yuna shrugged, glancing at Vergil and offering, "We could order some Chinese for you...?"
"Alright," Vergil answered in the same monotone, not really caring. Really, food was not on his list of priorities even though it probably should have been.
Yuna smiled, deciding that keeping Vergil fed was definitely quite high on her list of priorities (she didn't think her wallet could handle a hungry Vergil...) and looping her arm around his waist again. "So, um, whose turn is it to go shopping next week?"
"Mine," Dante volunteered immediately. The shopping carts he'd seen before had been satisfactory, but there was not enough chocolate or microwaveable pizza there!
Vergil shot him a look "I'll go. If we let Dante he'll come home with nothing but beer and pizza." He stated emotionlessly. Maybe food was higher on his priorities than he'd thought...
"And chocolate!" Dante added defensively, although he didn't dispute that he'd not be bringing anything else back. "Besides, you'll just buy crappy food, I saw your list."
"...maybe we should just all go again," Yuna mumbled, glancing from one twin to the other.
Vergil rolled his eyes "Just because I actually have class." He scoffed.
"If 'class' means 'complete lack of taste in food', then you can keep it," Dante grumbled, rolling his eyes.
Vergil shot him a look "Whatever. Just make sure that you get things that aren't pizza or look like pizza in shape or form. And get my wine too."
"I'll get some cheese for your whine too," Dante muttered, vaguely entertaining the notion of slipping rat poison in Vergil's food. It wouldn't kill him, of course, but it sure would be amusing to watch.
Vergil rolled his eyes "Just let me do the shopping Dante, it'd be easier."
"But wouldn't it take time out of your busy training schedule?" Dante questioned, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not trusting you with my food, brother. No way."
"I'll do the shopping next time," Yuna cut in firmly, tugging on both of their sleeves to get attention.
Vergil glanced at her for a moment before gazing ahead "Agreed."
"...fine," Dante muttered, although he intended to write a more detailed list, and perhaps double the requested portions.
"Good," Yuna smiled in satisfaction, nodding. "It's definitely easier that way."
As they approached the Devil May Cry building, Vergil looped an arm around Yuna's waist gently.
Yuna smiled at him, keeping close, although she did question, "...you don't think that it'll take too long for the food to get here, do you...?"
Well, mortal summoners got hungry too!