It becomes apparent very quickly, actually before she even meets the guy, that Nero's dad does not need anyone looking after him. He's a fun fight, though, and losing doesn't dissuade her from trying again. If anything, she's happy to have found someone to challenge her that she has reason to believe is a good person and not an asshole.
He's not going to say that, but Nero is so adorably mushy about him, it has to be true. Plus he hadn't actually ground her into paste despite being clearly capable of it, so that's more points in that column.
Toph did, however, promise Nero she'd keep a lookout for him, and even if promises weren't binding in fairy-land, she'd still do it. She gets worrying about your family and if he's lucky enough to have a dad he cares about openly, she wants to support that -- just in her own way. So she gets into the habit of strolling past Vergil's room every so often, idly checking with her foot-senses if he's in there, and one day she stops short because there's someone else in the room. Definitely not Vergil.
Normal heartbeat, and... metal on their wrists and ankles. Huh. If they're after anything nefarious, that'll make them incredibly simple to take down, so Toph notes it.
Then she strides up to the door to the room and knocks, briskly.
Upon opening, she will be revealed as a tiny barefoot child with fuzzy moth-wings and layered Norse clothing, something Fae appropriate enough but definitely on the less formal side. There's even a fine layer of dirt dusting the fabric and her feet.
"Hey," she says as the door opens, staring sightlessly ahead. "Who're you?"
Vergil might knock to let Mizu know he's coming, but the knock sounds different. For starters, it seems to come from lower on the door. Many people are shorter than Vergil, most Mizu may safely venture a guess, but most people aren't that much shorter. It gives her pause. She means to avoid the wrong sort, and plenty of those could look for or even knock at Vergil's door. Yet she remembers what he said about a blind child tasked to look after him.
With readiness should it be some sort of trap or otherwise turn to violence, Mizu quietly makes her way to the door. Not silently, as that might be suspicious, but it's on the soft side for a person. It takes little time to ascertain it's exactly that small child. Mizu makes a small nod. Best not to make a fuss.
"Tokunobu," Mizu replies. It's the same name she initially gave Vergil, when he didn't use his own name with her. Nero may choose to trust the child. Mizu prefers to be cautious. She knows plenty well the cruelty and betrayal of children. "And you?"
While Mizu would prefer to keep things private, she waits to invite the child in. Vergil didn't give her a name, and the odds there are multitudes of blind children wandering to his door seem low, but Mizu again waits to see what child wants.
The knocking is lower, and there's some detectable attitude to it, a knock that expects an answer.
The straightforward response she does get earns a nod, Toph relaxing just a little. She's not necessarily trusting, but she assumes if he's introducing himself he must be there legitimately. The alternative is hilarious to imagine; she'd love to see what would happen to someone that stupid hiding out illicitly in Vergil's room. In the meantime, she's not trying to get invited in, just get information.
"Toph Beifong," she answers with a note of pride. She might be stuck with this stupid over-emotional court flaw, but her true name is something else, thankfully. Toph cares about her name and is glad she doesn't have to pretend otherwise.
"You know Nero's dad, huh?"
She's still not clear what his actual name is, so that's what he's stuck as. Poor losers who have to hide their names. Couldn't be her.
Mizu has no idea whether that's the child's name or not, but it's the one being used. That's good enough in the moment. Mizu can learn who people actually are should she make it to Etraya (and should they not be so distrusting they lie even there about who they are). For now, she's glad to call Toph something besides the child.
"Yes," Mizu answers, glad to confirm the connection to Nero. She's used to hearing more of Nero as Vergil's son than Vergil as Nero's dad, but they each work. "Come inside."
Mizu motions into the room and steps to the side to let Toph enter. Whatever conversation comes, even should it only be a few lines, she'd prefer to have with a lower chance of people listening in. Only once they're inside with as much safety as Mizu's ever found in this place does she opt to say any more.
"He's letting me stay with him, as I don't have quarters of my own," Mizu says. Her clothes, back to those she arrived with, are not appropriate to the fae. Plain blue with a lighter blue obi, the socks and sandals of her time. They're not even the fancy clothes of her day. However, they are comfortable and obfuscate her shape.
[Vergil knows Mizu does not celebrate the holiday, but it may as well serve as an excuse for a gift all the same. By a courier companion bot on Christmas Day, Vergil has delivered to Mizu a bouquet made up of primarily red and white carnations with sprigs of Forget-Me-Nots and a singular blue rose at its center. Attached to the bouquet is a note where Vergil has copied down Lord Byron's She Walks in Beauty.]
[The flowers and the poem are not all that he gifts to her. The note attached to the larger parcel is much simpler:]
I thought these may be of some use to you eventually.
[He signs it with a simple Yours, Vergil with no mention of the holiday. Inside the packaging, Vergil has sent her a set of tools for her work at a forge. As his note would imply, he knows she does not yet have access to a forge. But in the likelihood that she will eventually, Vergil knows she will need a set of tools to do her work.]
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(action - mission 12)
He's not going to say that, but Nero is so adorably mushy about him, it has to be true. Plus he hadn't actually ground her into paste despite being clearly capable of it, so that's more points in that column.
Toph did, however, promise Nero she'd keep a lookout for him, and even if promises weren't binding in fairy-land, she'd still do it. She gets worrying about your family and if he's lucky enough to have a dad he cares about openly, she wants to support that -- just in her own way. So she gets into the habit of strolling past Vergil's room every so often, idly checking with her foot-senses if he's in there, and one day she stops short because there's someone else in the room. Definitely not Vergil.
Normal heartbeat, and... metal on their wrists and ankles. Huh. If they're after anything nefarious, that'll make them incredibly simple to take down, so Toph notes it.
Then she strides up to the door to the room and knocks, briskly.
Upon opening, she will be revealed as a tiny barefoot child with fuzzy moth-wings and layered Norse clothing, something Fae appropriate enough but definitely on the less formal side. There's even a fine layer of dirt dusting the fabric and her feet.
"Hey," she says as the door opens, staring sightlessly ahead. "Who're you?"
no subject
With readiness should it be some sort of trap or otherwise turn to violence, Mizu quietly makes her way to the door. Not silently, as that might be suspicious, but it's on the soft side for a person. It takes little time to ascertain it's exactly that small child. Mizu makes a small nod. Best not to make a fuss.
"Tokunobu," Mizu replies. It's the same name she initially gave Vergil, when he didn't use his own name with her. Nero may choose to trust the child. Mizu prefers to be cautious. She knows plenty well the cruelty and betrayal of children. "And you?"
While Mizu would prefer to keep things private, she waits to invite the child in. Vergil didn't give her a name, and the odds there are multitudes of blind children wandering to his door seem low, but Mizu again waits to see what child wants.
no subject
The straightforward response she does get earns a nod, Toph relaxing just a little. She's not necessarily trusting, but she assumes if he's introducing himself he must be there legitimately. The alternative is hilarious to imagine; she'd love to see what would happen to someone that stupid hiding out illicitly in Vergil's room. In the meantime, she's not trying to get invited in, just get information.
"Toph Beifong," she answers with a note of pride. She might be stuck with this stupid over-emotional court flaw, but her true name is something else, thankfully. Toph cares about her name and is glad she doesn't have to pretend otherwise.
"You know Nero's dad, huh?"
She's still not clear what his actual name is, so that's what he's stuck as. Poor losers who have to hide their names. Couldn't be her.
no subject
"Yes," Mizu answers, glad to confirm the connection to Nero. She's used to hearing more of Nero as Vergil's son than Vergil as Nero's dad, but they each work. "Come inside."
Mizu motions into the room and steps to the side to let Toph enter. Whatever conversation comes, even should it only be a few lines, she'd prefer to have with a lower chance of people listening in. Only once they're inside with as much safety as Mizu's ever found in this place does she opt to say any more.
"He's letting me stay with him, as I don't have quarters of my own," Mizu says. Her clothes, back to those she arrived with, are not appropriate to the fae. Plain blue with a lighter blue obi, the socks and sandals of her time. They're not even the fancy clothes of her day. However, they are comfortable and obfuscate her shape.
christmas gift
[The flowers and the poem are not all that he gifts to her. The note attached to the larger parcel is much simpler:]
I thought these may be of some use to you eventually.
[He signs it with a simple Yours, Vergil with no mention of the holiday. Inside the packaging, Vergil has sent her a set of tools for her work at a forge. As his note would imply, he knows she does not yet have access to a forge. But in the likelihood that she will eventually, Vergil knows she will need a set of tools to do her work.]