red grave city au with alastor

[carvemyname]

 

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[superstylishsquid]

[He frowns slightly and shakes his head.]

Can't imagine why she would, aside from maybe a bit of fussing about your bad habits.

[carvemyname]

Yeah?

[ Dante sighs. ]

I've always got it on the edge of my mind. Am I doing something they'd approve of... is it right by them...

[superstylishsquid]

I can't imagine them not being proud of you stopping Mundus' return before it even really started. Even Sparda didn't take a stand until Mundus had already changed the face of both the human and demon worlds.

[carvemyname]

Wait, really?

[ Dante is confused and surprised by this. ]

[superstylishsquid]

Yeah...back before Mundus, things were way different. Demons preferred more sustainable interactions with humans, for one...even the nastier customers would make demands of blood sacrifice to convince them to go away, instead of just eating everyone they could. Think like the protection rackets greedy humans get up to today.

Demons being inclined to depopulate entire cites if they're not stopped is thanks to Mundus' influence. I suspect he was trying to prevent rivals from taking advantage of the Qlipoth themselves by destroying its food source, and he did a good job of convincing younger demons that humans are just pests. Came close to succeeding, too. He even had the Umbra and Lumen on the defensive by the time he locked me up.

[carvemyname]

And Father didn't try to stop that?

[ He'd had an entirely different image, okay? He sits up a little, giving Alastor an incredulous look. ]

[superstylishsquid]

He was actually part of it at first...one of Mundus' best generals. I even expected to be fighting him for my right to tell Mundus where he could shove his draft.

I'm not sure if there was a specific event or if seeing how much suffering he was causing helpless innocents just weighed on his conscience until he couldn't ignore it anymore, but it took him a while to accept that he hated what was happening. At a guess...I'd speculate that he probably had the same problem I did. He'd just been so conditioned to think of compassion as a weakness, he found it easier to bear the guilt at first than to admit he cared about people other than himself.

[carvemyname]

Huh.

[ Well, that's... eye opening. Dante settles back into a laying position, thinking. ]

I wonder if maybe Mom helped him turn it around.

[superstylishsquid]

Might be. I'm sure he would've been a target for witches and sages both, and your mother definitely had it in her to confront him directly. For his sake, though, I hope he was less stubborn than I was. A heavy conscience is a miserable thing to carry around.

[carvemyname]

[ Dante's quiet for a long moment. ]


Do you still suffer?

[superstylishsquid]

Hmm...

[He closes his eyes and sighs.]

I'm lucky enough that nothing I've done since you freed me has done permanent damage. But I do sometimes regret not taking a more active stand against Mundus. I kept up my contracts with witches, and some of them did summon me against Mundus' forces, but I'd definitely feel better if I hadn't needed that kind of excuse to protect people.

[carvemyname]

You weren't just fighting Mundus. You were going against what everyone told you that you should be.

I don't blame you for taking awhile.

[superstylishsquid]

Yeah...even before the shift Mundus caused, it was just assumed a devil was going to be out for himself first. And if you weren't...you could count on someone exploiting that.

Just feel like a bit of a coward, letting that stop me.

[carvemyname]

I don't see you as a coward.

I never will.

[superstylishsquid]

Heh...

[He cracks an eye open with a faint chuckle and a kiss on the cheek.]

And I don't think your mother has anything to be seriously disappointed about.

[carvemyname]

Only a few bones to pick about how I take care of myself, huh.

[ He presses a kiss to the corner of Alastor's lips. ]

[superstylishsquid]

Yep. And even then, you're getting better about it. Eating food that isn't made with cheese that's more grease than dairy, for one.

[carvemyname]

I still miss pizza...

[ He sounds forelorn. ]

[superstylishsquid]

Well, how about I teach you how to make it with actually good ingredients? It's all that cheap junk takeout places like to use that's the biggest problem.

[carvemyname]

Wait, really?

[ Dante is excited, now. ]

I'd love that.

[superstylishsquid]

Sure. Takes patience, though. The dough needs to rest a good while after you make it before you can actually use it.

[carvemyname]

Pizza's worth patience.

I've waited on pizza from hours away before!

[ Wait, is that what he spends his money on? ]

[superstylishsquid]

And that is one of the reasons you haven't been able to pay off your debts. The delivery fees for that must be insane.

[carvemyname]

I mean... come on... the pizza box was another pizza...

[ No, he sees it. ]

I'm not doing that anymore, anyway! And I'm causing less property damage!

[ Except today. ]

[superstylishsquid]

[Side effect of him having gone without his shades today? That flat stare is very obvious.]

I'm not sure I see how that's a plus...