Work Text:
Lady finishes getting ready to check out of her hotel room right as the phone rings. She groans and drops her pack on the bed, catching it before it rolls off the edge. The phone is still ringing. It’s too loud and she is not in the mood.
“Can’t a girl do anything around here for five minutes in peace?” Lady snaps.
Oh yeah, she didn’t get a wink of decent sleep last night. Despite phoning a complaint about the room beside her blasting music no one did a damn thing from the sounds of it. So she’d tossed and turned and now the first person to give her bad news is getting shot. Nowhere fatal, but definitely shot.
She adjusts the pack so it doesn’t fall before scooping up the phone.
“If this is staff calling to follow up about my noise complaint last night you can just hang the hell up and leave me alone.” Lady snarls.
“Woah, who pissed in your coffee?” Dante sounds almost hurt on the other side of the line.
Lady tamps down the rage a little. She takes a deep breath and exhales through her nose.
“It’s a long story.” Lady rubs at her temple “Do you actually need something, or is this just a courtesy call since you knew I was leaving today?”
“Hmm-” Dante’s voice trails off “-yes and no.”
“Gonna elaborate on that for me?”
“You see, we’re getting into December, and you know how kids are super pushy about celebrating things even if the grown ups don’t really care for it.”
“Oh no. No. I am not celebrating Christmas with you.” Lady puts her foot down. It’s too many emotions. Too many memories that have been stained by her history. She’d rather drink a bottle of vinegar than unpack any of that and let Dante of all people see it.
“Nope. Trust me, wouldn’t have wanted to do that either.” Dante says. There’s a clink from the other side of the line and a muffled thank you from someone “They celebrate Winter Solstice where Nero’s from. Apparently more fancy than what we do, but Nero likes what we’ve got going. Wondering if you wanted to join us.”
Lady stays silent. She rolls the thought around in her head. Can’t recall what happens at a thing like that. It’s never really been too important for her to learn about things until it’s relevant to a job. There’s the initial thought of making some half-assed excuse.
“When, and how long?” Lady eyes her pack as she breaks the silence “I’m not always free just because you want me to be you know.”
“The twenty-first.” There’s a pause, and Lady wishes she could hear why “All night.”
“And why the hell would I volunteer to stay up all night with the three of you?” Lady’s being obstinate, yeah. She can admit to that.
There’s just something way too- personal about the invitation. Lady justifies the topic with the idea there’s ulterior motives she’s not aware of yet.
“The bonfire and amazing company, hopefully.” Dante chuckles “Maybe the free beer if you’re still not sold on it.”
“Oh, of course.” Lady raises her pitch, annoyed now “Because this definitely isn’t a ploy to get me to do guard work for free while you three have fun.”
“It’s not. I just figured you being here would be nice is all.” There’s some sort of hope in his tone and Lady fights to keep her scowl “It’s supposed to be a family thing for us.”
The words hit like a grenade going off. Lady’s throat locks up and she has to cough to clear it. No way.
“Thought Vergil and Nero were your only family you had.” Lady snipes. She’s still mad about it. The way that Dante justified Vergil’s presence with the family excuse.
“Well, I was wrong about that.” Dante confesses “At least let me make it up to you before you keep being pissed at me.”
Lady’s mind races between wanting to tell Dante to go fuck himself and wanting to give in to that little lack of a filter because of not sleeping well. She could just hang up. Call it the end of the conversation and let Dante imagine whatever answer that means while she checks out of the room to leave the city. She doesn’t, though. She sits there on the line and thinks about how Dante’s worded his intention without outright saying it.
“Would I need to bring anything?” Lady settles on to buy herself more time before she make a decision.
“Just bring yourself. No gift giving for this. At least we haven’t the past two years.” There’s words too muffled to make out before Dante speaks again “Uhhh- Vergil says bring firewood. Takes a lot to keep a bonfire till sunrise. Which I mean, he didn’t say you should more than made a pissy comment about how much the wood costs but that’s probably the best we’ll get from- hey! On the phone here! I can’t afford to replace this if you end up cutting the line.”
“Unlike you, I’m not under financial duress every moment of my life.” Vergil’s voice is clear enough that time “Tell her that it’s not required.”
There’s a click of metal, like a sword being sheathed.
“Not a danger. Right.” Lady mocks.
“Harmless. Promise. He just trimmed an inch off my bangs for calling him pissy.” Dante jokes “I know he doesn’t want to accept help from anyone, but it’s my call on this since we’re holding it at the office-“
Vergil interrupts with something again, this time too muffled to hear. Dante laughs at whatever it is. Lady feels left out all of a sudden, and she swallows down whatever jealousy seems to creep up.
“Point is, this a group thing- not a him thing. So I say if you want to help out we’d take firewood.” Dante finishes the thought.
“I guess I could spare the money for a bundle or two.” Lady drags the thought out “This time I’ll be nice and say you don’t owe me for it.”
There’s a beat of silence again. She didn’t say no. Didn’t say yes. But she did kind of say yes, didn’t she? By saying she’d get the firewood?
Goddamnit.
“Feel free to show up anytime after lunch, then.” Dante yawns “We could probably squeeze in a few games of pool before sundown. Vergil bought himself a cue because he said mine are too messed up for him.”
“After I kicked his ass I don’t think he’d play me again.”
“You’d be surprised. He likes the competition of it.” Dante sighs “Whelp, I’ll leave you be since you probably have to check out. Got a nap that’s calling my name and I’d hate to miss it.”
“Bye, Dante.”
“Stay safe.” The lines goes silent.
Lady hangs the phone up and stares at it for way too long. She half-yells in frustration before snatching up her pack and heading for the door.
“So- stupid. God.” Lady chokes out, because if she can bring herself to be angry about it then she doesn’t have to think about how Dante just indirectly called her family “Fuck you, Dante.”
She hasn’t had that in such a long time. Never thought she was meant to have it again. Doesn’t even know if she wants that at all.
In her line of work she could just as easily die as make it big. Not like she’s attempted to try to rebuild any semblance of a normal life after everything she’s seen. Mary’s been gone a long time and all Lady cares about doing is killing demons and making money out of that specialized skill set. She’s happy like this. No one can betray her or turn out to be a monster wearing human skin if she keeps everyone at arm’s length.
She closes the door behind her a bit too loud. Stomps down the hallway to the lobby because it’s almost eleven and she’s not paying for another night. Checks out and avoids any questions about her noise complaint she’d made or why her face is so red.
As she kicks up the stand for her motorcycle, she thinks that she’ll have to take a pack of beer too. The good stuff. Not the discount junk Dante buys that would be better off poured down the sink. Vergil didn’t drink the last time she saw him, so she’s not going to plan on him having one.
Two weeks till then. She’ll worry about it as it gets closer.
-
Honestly two weeks felt like nothing when Lady got hired for a job that took almost that long to travel and hunt the target down. She spends the morning of the twenty-first scouring stores for even one bundle of firewood. It’s freezing. Snow’s been falling non-stop it feels like. Not even heavy snowfall. Just enough to make traveling a pain in the ass and bring about paranoia for any sidewalk that seems clear of snow. Bundled up with fleece lined leggings and some of her thermal wear under her clothes is enough to hold off the cold for a bit, with the added bonus of her windbreaker keeping the chill off. The almost restrictive movement of the outfit makes her miss the warmer weather.
No wonder she avoids Capulet as much as she can once snowfall starts. This sucks.
She hopes the twins are smart enough to not tease her about showing up at four-something p.m when the sun’s about to set. They’re lucky that she won’t shoot them around Nero if they do.
The front doors are locked when she tries to push them open. Weird. Her arms are full so she can’t get a good knock. She does what anyone else with common sense would do- she kicks the door with her foot hard enough to jostle it.
“Open up, Dante.” Lady barks “I know I’m late but that doesn’t mean you get to lock the-“
The door clicks and eases open. Vergil towers over her in the doorway and she frowns.
“About time.” Lady skips any formalities, not even bothering to say hello.
“We’re closed for the next two days on holiday observance.” Vergil says, expression neutral but a glimmer of something in his eyes “If you have business you’ll have to return the day after tomorrow.”
Lady grimaces before she finds the words to respond.
“Is- was that some sort of a joke? I’m not here on business, jackass. Your stupid brother invited me, in case you forgot.”
Vergil rolls his eyes. Without even asking, he lifts the firewood and beer balancing on it without issue. He holds the door further open with his boot.
“Here, since you’re so impatient.” Vergil mutters.
“Yeah well you’d be too if you could feel how cold it is out there.” Lady walks in and notices it’s definitely warmer inside than outside. Even with how large the front windows are.
Nero’s sitting on the couch, bundled up in a thick blanket with his hood pulled over his hair. His face is scrunched up and pressed against the face of a stuffed animal bundled up in the same blanket. His cheeks and nose are pink. Lady notices a small space heater by the couch pointing in his direction.
“Why’s she here?” Nero asks, turning his nose away “I thought you guys only had her over for work.”
“Dante invited her.”
“She won’t try to shoot you again?” Nero scowls, eyes darting between Lady and Vergil.
“Not this time, tiny.” Lady finds herself laughing at the bite the little guy has.
Cute while he’s small, but there’s some warning in her head that he could grow up to be just like Vergil unless he spends more time around people other than his father. She’s heard of the phrase “monsters beget monsters” before. While she knows she never turned out like Arkham it was also true that she’d never acted like him to begin with. Not even the mask that he’d worn to keep her trust. This little walking Vergil imitation however-
-well, Lady wants to be proven wrong about her worry.
“She’s joining us for the bonfire. You’ll treat her with courtesy. You should know best that there won’t be any fighting tonight.” Vergil insists.
Nero mutters a confirmation, tucking his head down and pulling the blanket tighter against himself.
“No fighting? That’s rare for you guys.” Lady snorts while she unzips her windbreaker and tosses it on the pool table. Her gloves follow after it.
Vergil’s gaze snaps to Lady and he tips his head in his son’s direction. He locks the door and shuffles the pack of beer into the fridge.
Nero. It’s still so weird to think about Vergil as an actually caring parent. She nods at the realization that they’re holding back for the kid’s sake. Though the office is devoid of-
“Where’s Dante, anyway?” Lady crosses her arms “Don’t tell me he chickened out or something after he went to the trouble to ask me to come.”
“He’s outside. The fire needs to be lit soon for it to be stable by sundown.” Vergil changes his grip on the bundle of wood.
“I wanna be out there now! You guys keep me inside all day and it sucks.” Nero complains, bunching his fingers into the edges of the blanket at his chest.
“You’re freezing in here and you still want to go outside?” Lady motions up and down at Nero with her hand.
“I already read my book, did my homework for winter break, and that sudo-whatever book thing that dad gave me is boring. Its too cold to sit on the floor with anything, too. I wanna learn how to make the fire.” Nero pouts. He tilts his head to watch Vergil.
“Lady’s- right.” Vergil’s almost pained tone when he agrees with her is so obvious “Until the fire is ready it’s too cold outside for you. Not unless you want to wear your coat.”
“It’s stupid. I don’t need it.” Nero says “She’s not wearing one.”
Vergil pinches the bridge of his nose.
“I’m neck to toe in fleece with layers underneath.” Lady says, pinching her leggings to show how thick the material is “legs included. I just pay extra to look fashionable while staying warm.”
“Yeah well you’re human and I’m a half demon.” Nero brags, reaching a hand out enough to point at himself “If dad and uncle Dante don’t need them than neither do I.”
“Nero-“ Vergil starts, eyes narrowing.
Lady holds up her hand. He stops mid-sentence and exhales hard through his nose. The response surprises her for a moment and she clears her throat to recollect her thoughts.
“So you notice how they still have coats? Your dad’s wearing one right now. Might not be the nicest coat out there but he still wears it.”
“Mine makes me look like a marshmallow.” Nero laments.
“Tough luck. You’re going to have to wait till you’re older to get your big boy coat.” Lady says.
That seems to get some gears turning in Nero’s head. He squints and focuses on the floor.
“You promise I won’t have that ugly marshmallow coat forever?”
“No, Nero.” Vergil confirms “One day you’ll outgrow it, and we’ll get you a new one. If you promise to wear it tonight until the bonfire’s ready then you can help Dante. Don’t lie to him and go outside without it, or you’ll be in trouble.”
Nero’s eyes go wide and he pushes the blanket away while he hops off the couch holding onto the stuffed animal- now more noticeable as some black big cat. He runs for the hallway door without another word.
“And leave Dusk inside-“ Vergil winces when the door slams shut because Nero doesn’t slow down.
Vergil and Lady stay in silence for what feels like minutes. She sidles up to the pool table. Drops her jacket and gloves off to the side so she can set up for a game.
“What are you doing?” Vergil stares.
Lady hates that he has the creepiest habit of just not moving while he watches. Like a predator that’s waiting to ambush. Or a socially awkward idiot that never learned how to act normal.
The longer he watches the more Lady’s coming to realize that Vergil might not be smarter than Dante like he seems to imply whenever he opens his mouth.
“Pool. Are you going to get your cue or not?” Lady digs the balls out of the cups that had been left from a prior game, rolling them to the center of the table as she walks around it.
“I never said I’d play a round.” And yet, without missing a beat Vergil retrieves his personal cue from the stand. It’s a darker stained wood in good condition. No noticeable customization, but way better off than Dante’s cues.
Lady rolls her eyes.
They play in silence for a while. No commentary needed. No banter. It’s a little unnerving. At least last time they played there was some semblance of discussion regarding Mundus.
Though the longer it goes, Lady notices that the neutral expression Vergil keeps on his face is softer. As she watches him take his turn she could swear she sees him even smirk a little. Just the same as before. Though this time Dante’s not present, so Lady can’t understand why Vergil’s getting comfortable.
“So, Dante told me you travel a lot?” Lady says.
“I’ve seen my fair share of countries by this point. Most were related to my research.”
“And the others?”
Vergil is quiet, eyes focused in the distance as he takes a deep inhale. He doesn’t answer.
“I get it. Sometimes we just want to see what’s out there.” Lady picks up on his hesitation. She’s not too fond of sharing her personal life as it is, and definitely not with someone like Vergil.
“There was a lake in Italy. A small town right on the shore.” Vergil offers, expression softening further “It was- peaceful. We’ve been there a few times. Since we can’t return to-“
Vergil clams up without warning, a scowl flitting across his features. He focuses before making his move. In one careful strike his final ball and the eight ball are sunk and he’s won.
“Enough of this.” Vergil’s posture is stiff. He stores his cue and snaps up the extra firewood “I need to make sure Nero didn’t forego his coat.”
Vergil disappears behind the door before Lady even thinks to react. Then she flips him off with both hands. She tugs on her windbreaker and stuffs her gloves into her pocket, cursing the whole time. It’s not like he owes her anything- but she didn’t even ask for more info! She was just sick of the silence. When it’s Dante it means something’s bothering him but when it’s Vergil it’s just downright creepy because she can’t tell what’s going on in his head if anything goes on at all.
Lady grabs the pack of beer from the fridge. She enters the hallway right as the back door closes. Undeterred, she follows and presses her ear to the door before even thinking of opening it.
“Just in time. Nero and I were going to get this shindig started without you two if you kept hiding inside.” Dante’s voice is loud and easy to make out even with the distance and door between them.
There’s a small cheer from Nero.
The conversation settles down to a volume that Lady can’t make out. She zips her windbreaker up all the way and braves going outside again. The cold air against her cheeks makes her want to turn back around and stay in front of the space heater.
Lady looks at the makeshift pit with a small fire started in the center, at the mismatched camping chairs, and the rickety little folding table that has smores materials on it nearby. It screams too familial for her. Like it’s something that’s been done for decades and not just twice.
“Ah, there she is. Glad you didn’t end up chasing her off.” Dante’s squatting near the edge of the fire ring. He uses a stick to prod at one of the logs and open the fire up more.
Vergil’s taking a seat while Nero drags a smaller kid-sized one to sit beside him. Sure enough, Nero’s wearing a puffy black and blue coat that zips up to under his chin. It’s far from as bad as Nero had made it sound- more standard winter gear than excessive caution. Then again with Disaster One and Disaster Two being the only adults in Nero’s life before Lady met him it’s to be expected that he’d have a horrible perspective about weather appropriate clothing.
“You know I never run from a challenge.” Lady brags “If anyone’s got a habit of running-“
“Cease that line of thought.” Vergil seethes “Before I lose my temper.”
“You said we had to be nice!” Nero smacks the arm of Vergil’s chair, not even faltering when Vergil flinches to glare at him instead. He points in Vergil’s face “If I can’t be mean to her then you can’t either.”
Vergil’s eyebrows push together and he turns his attention to the fire. He doesn’t say anything else.
“Well- he wasn’t starting something over nothing at least.” Lady takes the seat furthest from Vergil, making sure there’s an empty spot between her and him “Lighten up though. You’ve got a mean enough face going on that you could scare the dead.”
Nero hops down from his chair and wanders to the piles of snow at the edge of the cleared off foundation. He sits down and digs his fingers in. Vergil’s eyes drift to watch him.
“He’ll loosen up as the night goes.” Dante’s already digging into the marshmallows, of course. He looks to Vergil “So about dinner-“
“We just ate-“ Vergil raises an eyebrow. He sighs the longer Dante watches him and reaches into his pocket, fishing out a few bills and passing them to Dante “-I assumed this was going to happen. Order what you want.”
Dante plucks the bills from Vergil’s hand and strolls to the door.
“You’re really going to let him mooch off of you?” Lady asks.
Nero wanders over with something tucked in his hands, he slinks around behind Vergil’s chair and peers over it. His hands are still hidden from view.
“He’s ordering for all of us.” Vergil reaches back, and Lady notices his gaze dart to Dante. Nero whispers in his ear and points behind them “I’d hardly call it mooching.”
Vergil shifts in his chair and Lady sees a small snowball curled in his fingers courtesy of Nero. He squints, some unknown calculation in his mind before rising enough to throw it at Dante with inhuman speed. Just before the projectile reaches Dante he whips around and pulls his hands in front in a defensive stance. A red aura ripples in front of him and stops the snowball in its tracks, scattering the snow to the ground. Dante laughs.
Nero stomps his foot.
“No fair! How’d you know?” Nero huffs, shoving his hands into his pockets.
“You really thought that would be enough to get me?” Dante waves his hand as he turns around, tucking the bills in his pocket “Maybe give it a few more years and you might catch me off guard. I’m not that old yet.”
Vergil doesn’t move, watching as Dante gets closer to the door. He tenses as Dante scoops up snow that’s piled by the steps. He packs it a few times.
“Don’t you dare-“ Vergil snipes.
“Ah-ah-ah, brother.” Dante tosses up his fresh snowball and catches it in his hands again, packing it tight “One for one. I’m not letting that go unanswered!”
He turns, steps into the motion, and returns fire. At least he seems to. Vergil shifts to the side, goes to make some remark before realizing the first toss was a feint, and ducks as the snowball zips over where his head had been. It lands on the ground a few yards away.
“Still got those catlike reflexes.” Dante teases “I’ll be right back. Try not to have too much fun without me.”
The door closes, and Vergil checks the fire over. Lady watches his shoulders relax. He glances back to the door, squinting as something seems to run through his head.
“You think we can get him when he comes back?” Nero tugs on Vergil’s sleeve as he sits in his own chair.
“We’d have to be very careful if we’re going to catch him off-guard.” Vergil picks up the poker and prods at the wood a bit. He eases another log into the fire.
“What if she helped?” Nero points at Lady “He wouldn’t expect it from her.”
“He-“ Vergil stops and closes his mouth. He looks over and Lady doesn’t know if it’s a good thing “-this could be perfect, actually. If his focus is on us then he can be caught unaware.”
“What am I getting pulled into?” Lady squints. She pulls a beer from the pack and opens it with the keychain stashed in her pocket “I never said I’d help. Besides, don’t you guys have a no fighting rule tonight?”
Vergil scoffs.
“As if you think I’m incapable of having fun.” He taps the stick on the wall of the fire pit to brush off the ashes then sets it aside.
Lady leans back, sipping her beer and watching Vergil to drag out the silence. Let him simmer in the accusation for a little. Nero looks between the two of them.
“So? Are we getting him or not?” Nero questions “He could be back any minute!”
“It depends on Lady’s answer.” Vergil motions to her.
Nero leans forward more in his chair, bringing out the saddest pleading pathetic kid face she’s ever seen in her life. Lady tries to look away. She does her best to drink her beer in peace but keeps looking back. It reminds her why she doesn’t deal with kids. All emotion and no rational thought behind their actions while filled with a stupid amount of trust.
Maybe Nero isn’t that bad. She won’t admit it to him even if he asks.
“Okay! Fine! Geez.” Lady throws a hand up in defeat “Stop giving me that look and I’ll help. The goal’s to hit him with a snowball, right?”
Nero nods fast, frown disappearing as he smiles wide.
“I suppose we can call it a victory if you could do the honors.” Vergil looks to the door “Though we should act fast.”
Vergil and Nero are quick to gather snow first. Lady scopes the area after making hers. She chooses to stay seated in her chair to not draw suspicion. Nero makes a few snowballs, crouched over at the earlier pile he’s been digging into. Vergil busies himself at the folding table and conceals his snowball amongst all the food. At one point he stops and tilts towards the door with his head. Lady nods.
Nero gathers his snowballs in his arms and ducks out of view beside the steps. At least it looks like he thinks it’s out of view, but it’s on the side the door opens at which will leave him visible if Dante thinks to look down.
“I’m willing to bet that Dante ordered pizza.” Vergil opens up the box of graham crackers, glancing over then back at what he’s doing.
“When doesn’t he? Let’s be real here.” Lady sips at her beer with her free hand.
Her fingers are cold and the snowball’s freezing her hand, but something about one-upping Dante in a childish game is more than enough incentive for her. Serves him right for thinking that he can just invite her to their little family function and not get payback for the emotional bomb that he dropped on her. She hears the door open and doesn’t look back yet.
Dante whistles.
“Well color me surprised.” Dante says “No fighting, and no ambush laid out for me- huh?”
Lady glances back in time to see Dante take the first steps, then lunge down and scoop Nero up over his shoulder before the first snowball’s even tossed. Nero yelps and struggles in his grasp.
“No fair! Put me down or I’ll bite you-“
Dante waggles his finger.
“Biting would go past the fun and games, kiddo. First lesson in snow warfare. Always check the hinges to know which way a door opens. You wanna be behind the door when it opens so your target doesn’t see you the moment they walk out.” Dante holds up two fingers, even though Nero can’t see them from how he’s being held “Second lesson. Black and blue- in the snow? You stand out like a sore thumb.”
Dante’s distracted enough with Nero that Vergil readies his snowball.
“Dad-“ Nero whines, unable to pry his way off Dante’s shoulder “-help me!”
“What’s your old man gonna do?” Dante taunts “Sounds like he might need to get you tested for rabies if you’re trying to bite people. Even at your size you could probably cause some decent damage with chompers like those. They’re not as noticeable as ours but you’ve still got fangs.”
Vergil throws his snowball, choosing a moment when Dante’s gaze is focused on Nero. Dante leans to the side just in time for the snowball to miss by an inch at most. He grins. Then Lady’s snowball smacks him in the skull right as he opens his smug mouth to brag. He sets Nero down and shakes his head to get the snow out of his hair.
Nero retreats back to Vergil, hiding behind him while giggling. He glances back up to Lady and it’s infectious enough to get her to return the smile.
“Getting hit by a snowball?” Lady takes another swig of her beer and motions towards him with her bottle “Couldn’t be me.”
“Alright. You won. I do the cleanup this year.” Dante brushes the rest of the snow from his coat “I had no chance since you roped Lady into your team before I could.”
Nero snatches a marshmallow from the table, looking between them as they talk. Vergil holds his hand out and Nero tucks away to shove it in his mouth before it can be taken from him. He grins.
“Wait, you guys were actually betting something on this?” Lady looks at Vergil, who refuses to make eye contact.
“Started last year. Which I won that one.” Dante drops into his camping chair between Vergil’s and Lady’s. He has such an easy smile on his face as he leans back in it.
“Only because you didn’t state the wager until after the trial started.” Vergil points at Dante “You’re lucky I let that one go.”
“So you’ll be oh so grateful when you learn that I won’t count Lady’s help as you cheating.” Dante crosses his arms, raising an eyebrow.
“Very well, then.” Vergil takes his own seat, leaning back more when Nero climbs up into his lap rather than the smaller chair. He rests a hand on Nero’s back “I guess we’re even now. You’re still cleaning up this year.”
“Sure thing. Oh, dinner should be here in like half an hour at most, by the way. Told them to honk when they get here so we don’t miss ‘em.” Dante chuckles. He holds his hand out at Lady “Spare a poor, defeated man a bottle in the meantime?”
Lady opens up another beer and passes it to Dante. Her own bottle’s almost empty, but she figures there’s no point in opening any more until later as it is. It’s not super strong but the flavor’s good to work for a casual drink. Not like she has any interest in letting Dante drink himself under the table for the night. Just in case something happens that none of them accounted for. After all, she didn’t bring much besides her pistol that she has concealed.
“So, is your name really Lady?” Nero asks. His prickly demeanor towards her seems to have melted away with the excitement. Now he’s wide-eyed and curious.
“Yep. I hunt demons too, just like Dante.” Lady sets her bottle down.
“How’d you meet him?”
Vergil visibly tenses and glances to Lady. There’s worry in his eyes.
Not like she’s going to say it out loud anyway. Not much of a good conversation starter as she lets it rest in her head.
“Well- let’s just say we ended up on the same job on accident.” Lady answers without really explaining anything.
“Woah.” Nero’s eyes widen and he leans forward “So did you two have like a big team-up against the demon at the end? Like a movie?”
“It wasn’t that glamorous. Believe me.” Lady laughs at the thought.
If things had been like that, then Lady figures none of them would be as fucked up as they are. Not like anyone there would open their mouth to be honest about it. Not like she tells them that she’s good at reading people like a book. At least, good at reading people like Dante who hide most of their hurt in their eyes and the words they don’t say. It’s starting to become more obvious that Vergil’s just the same though.
“So, where’d Vergil find you at, anyway?” Lady asks, ignoring the way that Vergil glares when she finishes.
“The orphanage.” Nero picks at his coat “I really hated being there, but I still miss my friends. Dad said we can go back someday to them! We can’t right now though. It’s not safe.”
If there was any suspicion about Vergil having kidnapped Nero left- then it falls apart. Not the way that Vergil’s expression turns down as he seems to tune out of the conversation to look at the fire. There’s regret there.
“Oh.” Lady breathes, not sure where else to take the topic. There’s some discomfort settling in her gut now that her focus isn’t on getting payback at Dante. She doesn’t really know what to pin it on and it makes the sensation more noticeable the longer she sits.
“Can we talk about something else?” Vergil’s request is quiet. The guilt in his eyes is obvious, and not something that Lady wants to have to see more of.
“Oh! Uncle Dante says you have a motorcycle-“ Nero brightens up, saving them from the awkward struggle of picking something to talk about “-how big is it?”
“Bigger than you.”
“Do they work like cars?”
“In what way?”
“Please, don’t humor him on this.” Vergil warns before Nero clarifies “He’ll go all night.”
“I think twenty question-ing Lady’s going to just upset her, buddy. This isn’t an interrogation.” Dante ruffles Nero’s hair with his free hand and laughs when he’s swatted at.
“Can I ask her later at least?”
“Sure thing. For now- I think we should get started on some storytelling.” Dante pushes to his feet and stretches, grunting as something audibly pops “Did I ever tell you about the hunt I did last year? I was tipped off by Morrison, the same friend I told you about before, about a string of weird disappearances that were happening at a ski resort up North that was closed for the summer-“
Dante leads off into some no doubt over-exaggerated tale of an extermination job, describing the location as he picks marshmallows out of the bag and sticks them in a row onto a roasting stick. He ignores Vergil’s reminder that dinner would be on the way. Waves it around in a wide arc for emphasis as he talks.
Lady pays attention for all of five minutes before she can tell from the foreshadowing the sort of demon that Dante hunted down even with it being made a little less graphic. Nero’s engrossed in the story, having returned to his seat so Vergil could stand and work on the fire.
A restlessness stirs in Lady’s nerves and she leaves her chair to head for the office. She doesn’t know where she needs to be but she sure as hell feels like it shouldn’t be here.
“So then I- woah- where’re you going?” Dante asks, pausing his story and focusing on her. There’s hurt settling in his gaze.
Lady crunches her shoulders closer as a breeze rolls though. She hadn’t realized how warm it had gotten by the fire. Or how cold it was away from it.
“Just- going to go clear my head. I’ll be back.” Lady says.
There’s silence and the feeling of being watched while she makes her way inside. She pauses once out of the hallway and in the middle of the office itself, wondering if she should go for a quick ride or just leave entirely. The indecision claws at her and she tightens her hands into fists.
Not long ago she was told that Mundus is after them and it’s gotten dangerous, which no duh with who they are, but now they’re all gathered by a fire joking around and telling stories like- like-
-like some sort of normal family.
While she’s stuck in between her possible choices the hallway door opens up. She looks back to see Vergil.
Figures.
“What do you want?” Lady crosses her arms and looks away.
“For someone who bragged about not running, you certainly found the chance to as soon as you could.” Vergil comments.
“Fuck off.” Lady snaps “I don’t need to take anything from a jerk like you.”
She hears the steps get closer and turns around, pulling her pistol from her concealed holster and reaching up to press it under Vergil’s jaw.
Vergil makes no move to fight. His expression is more guarded than earlier.
“You wouldn’t dare.” Vergil looks down at her and Lady wishes she could wipe that half-assed neutral expression from his face.
“Wanna try me?”
“I didn’t come here for you.” Vergil says “If you’re content to loiter in the office then at least have the decency to sit on the couch and not be in the way.”
It dawns on her that yes, she is standing in the middle of the room, and the angle of Vergil’s stance tells her that he wasn’t approaching her directly as it was.
Lady steps to the side and puts her gun away without apologizing, watching as Vergil goes to the shelf to pull out a well-kept plastic and metal kettle. He unwinds the cord and makes no other effort to regard her presence. She lowers herself onto the couch after pushing Nero’s blanket aside. Now that Vergil’s there, she knows that if she skips out then she’d have a witness. It flips the indecision over and it feels wrong. She pulls her gloves out of her pocket, tosses them onto the coffee table in frustration, and watches as one of them slides too far to fall onto the floor.
A bit of time passes before the quiet becomes uncomfortable.
“I shouldn’t be here.” Lady says, not sure why she lets the words escape and certain that Vergil wouldn’t care to hear them in the first place.
Her statement is met with silence except for the clinking of a spoon in a mug. The quick tap of metal on ceramic. For some reason, the rhythm of it is soothing to her. She leans forward to stare at her boots. Then she’s started out of her own focus by footsteps approaching her and this time she’s certain she’s the target. Lady tenses to retaliate if there’s payback for pointing a gun on him again, but instead a warm mug is slid into her grip before she speaks. Steam wafts from it carrying the heavy smell of apple and spices.
“Cider?” Lady asks.
“It’s from powder, so it could be better.” Vergil says. He stands there, awkwardly watching as if expecting something profound from her.
Of course the heat from the mug says it’s way too hot for her to take a sip, so she just stares back.
“My brother might be an idiot sometimes-” Vergil begins.
“Sometimes?” Lady interrupts and chuckles “Let’s try all the time.”
“Not as much as he wants you to think.” Vergil says “As I was saying- he might be an idiot sometimes, but when he extends a hand there’s no mistake in it.”
Lady takes a closer sniff of the cider, not smelling anything off about it. She doubts he would go to the lengths to poison her as it is- but there’s never any harm in her taking precautions.
“Meaning?”
Vergil’s words seem to fail him. He closes his mouth and looks away while something runs through his eyes. It’s not until Lady goes to speak that he continues.
“You’re important to him, for some reason I can’t fathom.” Vergil pauses “Rather than reliving the past you could benefit from trying to keep in the moment. Stay in here to your heart’s content, but there is a seat out there for you when you have the will to join us.”
Vergil retrieves a second mug from Dante’s desk and heads for the hallway door. He hesitates before grabbing the doorknob.
“I said I don’t hate you-” Lady starts “-but you seem to like to find every way to piss me off.”
“Why so?”
“You’re the last person I’d ever want a pep talk from.” Lady mutters.
“And?” Vergil stops with the door ajar, staring at the frame with that damn unreadable expression again “If I hadn’t, you would have just ridden off without something to think about besides your own bitterness.”
The door closes, and Lady’s left alone with a mug of cider that she didn’t ask for but was handed anyway.
She grasps the mug tight with both hands. The warmth from it seeps into her palms and she leans over for the steam to keep her face warmer than what the little struggling space heater in the office can manage. At first she thinks to just dump the cider in the bathroom sink and actually leave. The more she sits there and stews with what Vergil said the more it settles in her chest that she doesn’t want to.
Vergil made a point, and it ticks her off to know that he wasn’t wrong. She hasn’t sat at a campfire for reasons other than work in such a long time that she can’t recall when that last was. If she closes her eyes she can imagine the hazy sight of camping chairs, a few stolen beers, hot dogs haphazardly shoved onto sticks to roast over the fire. Then her bitterness falls into something unnamable as she remembers it had been with some of her academy friends before a summer break.
Lady sighs. She sets the mug down on the table long enough to return her gloves to her pocket and turn the space heater off so it won’t start a fire inside worst case. As she goes to pick up the mug again she hears a car pull to a stop outside. Then a very loud, very long honk.
Dinner. Great.
She decides to sit back down with her cider that she still hasn’t even tried. Before long Dante strides into the office, checking over the money that Vergil had given him earlier. He stalls when he sees Lady in his peripheral.
“Thought you’d left.” Dante says.
“Yeah, well, I almost did.” Lady admits “Still can, if that’s what you were hoping on.”
“No! No.” Dante’s initial shock falls away as he tries to act casual and fails to convince her “Let me get the pizza first-“
Lady smiles and shakes her head. There’s something so comfortable in the predictability of who Dante is that it unwinds the tension coiling in her gut. She doesn’t even notice when Dante steps outside until he’s returning with a large pizza box and a smaller box on top of it balanced on one hand. He rests his free hand on his hip after closing the front door.
“If you’re still thinking about leaving, would you join us for pizza before you go?” Dante asks “Got garlic rolls too for once. Nero would’ve pitched a fit if I hadn’t.”
There’s words hidden between the request, as Lady sits and thinks on it. Something between not wanting to make demands of her but not wanting her to go either. Not anything she thinks either of them could say.
So, rather than point it out and make Dante speak what’s going through his head, she tilts her head back and sighs.
“I guess I could stay for a slice or two.” Lady stands “Someone should open the doors for your sorry ass anyway or the floor’s going to eat the pizza before we do.”
Dante’s dumb grin he answers her with makes her roll her eyes. She makes sure she has a good grip on her mug as she stands and heads for the hallway.
“Hey, mind throwing the paper plates from the shelf up on the box? I don’t really care if we have ‘em or not- but Nero needs one and Vergil hates spilling food on his clothes.” Dante’s already adjusting the pizza so he’s not balancing it on just one hand.
Which the action is pointless since his arm won’t get tired from the short walk and he’s good at not dropping stuff if he can help it. Lady separates out two plates and drops them on top of the box for the garlic rolls. They don’t say anything else on the walk back to the bonfire, though Lady does fake out Dante at one point by making it look like she’s going to close the door in his face. She wasn’t. She wouldn’t have dared, but the way Dante stops the door with his foot and pouts makes her want to laugh at him.
The fire is a nice size, and must be warm enough from how Nero’s coat is draped over the back of his camping chair rather than on him. Nero turns to look, and Vergil snatches a hand out to steady his mug that comes so close to tipping over. Vergil warns something that’s too soft to pick up.
“Yeah but they’re back-“
“That’s not the point. You know better.” It's not until they get close to the fire that Vergil looks and Lady sees the moment he spots the pizza because his mouth tips up in a quick smile “I hope you know where you’re going to set that down at, because there’s no room on the table.”
“Sure do. Right on my lap.” Dante says, sitting down in his chair. The pizza box is too wide though and rests on the arms of the chair more than his lap itself. He passes the two plates over then picks up the smaller box and holds it out to the side “Nero gets to hold the garlic rolls.”
“Do I get to decide who can have any?” Nero asks, taking a sip of his cider before dragging out his next word “Because-“
“No. They’re for everyone.” Vergil stops the thoughts there. He plucks the box of them from Dante’s hands before Nero gets hold of it with his free hand “And be careful with your drink.”
“I know! I’m not stupid.” Nero mumbles into his cup, scowling.
“You’re not, but you get distracted and I don’t want you burning your hands.” Vergil warns.
Lady sits back and watches the family bicker over first slices, who gets the first roll, who got something else first another time so they don’t get to compete, and Nero does spill his drink a little in the heated debate. In his defense it misses his hand and hits the floor so no harm’s done. The incident is forgotten fast in the questionably friendly competition of it all.
Watching them argue like they’re all Nero’s age is probably the funniest thing for Lady to witness. Even with Vergil’s more stern demeanor he still manages to sound petty while trying to pull the fact that he paid for it as the reason to get first. Dante of course, is Dante. Baiting up pointless debates while he tries to come out winning is what he does best in all the years Lady’s known him. It works too well with Vergil, who falls for it and smacks Dante’s hand away from the pizza, demanding they resolve the garlic rolls first.
Dante beats Nero in rock, paper, scissors for the first roll and the kid looks like he’s going to cry before Dante gives in and hands it over. While they’re distracted Vergil manages to snatch the first slice of pizza. It’s on his plate before Dante can stop him and the impromptu entertainment comes to a close. Nero manages to get three more rolls besides the one he’s chewing on his plate before he’s given a slice of pizza.
She raises her mug to her lips and takes the first sip. As mentioned, it’s not the best cider she’s ever had. She’s tasted homemade plenty of times before and has no clue how Vergil even knew she liked it. Though in the moment she doesn’t really care. It’s good. Not watered down or too concentrated which is usual for instant drinks without careful measurement.
“Are you getting one?” Dante picks up a slice for himself “I know it’s just a margherita but Nero’s a picky eater.”
“I’m not picky. You just like weird pizza.” Nero argues.
“Just waiting to see what happened before I tried sticking my hand anywhere near there.” Lady reaches over and plucks a slice up, folding it so she has a better grip “Is dinner always like this with you three?”
“No, but pizza just brings out the worst in us.” Dante chuckles.
“Uncle Dante eats all the garlic rolls.” Nero complains “Though he never ordered them until I asked first.”
Dante feigns hurt at the accusation, gasping.
Lady watches the fire while she eats through two slices and her fair share of garlic rolls. Without the focus on her it’s easy to sink a little bit into the background and take in the sights. Within city limits there isn’t much to see in the way of stars, and the area’s still in the process of rebuilding. She wonders how long the vacant lot will be vacant for at this rate. What the twins will do if they have to find a different location to celebrate Winter Solstice or if they’ll stop entirely. With how messed up the lot is and the fact that it’s behind the Devil May Cry of all places she’s sure there’s not much value to the property at all. At least not property value. Sentimental value however- she can see well enough that it’s got plenty of that.
To Lady’s surprise, Vergil accepts a beer when Dante gets a second bottle and waggles it at him. She opens herself another one and stops over-analyzing long enough to join in on picking on Dante over his living habits. Though it’s much tamer than what Lady would have said before. At least the place looks lived in now.
They exchange some stories, though less dramatized than earlier. Lady talks about a time that she took Dante with her on a job just to get him out of the office and how it went tits-up because they were using her to lure him into a trap. Nero talks about a trip he and Vergil took on a boat that had a clear bottom so they could watch the fish that swam beneath his feet. Though some details are blown out of proportion, from how Vergil corrects things if they’re too far from reality. Nothing too exciting in Lady’s opinion but it seems to make Nero happy that she listens.
As Nero takes it on himself to force skewers onto everyone to roast marshmallows, he pesters Vergil by tugging on his sleeve.
“Tell us a story.” Nero begs.
“Yeah, go on. I’d love to hear what you have to share.” Lady leans forward, eyebrow raised. She’s slow-roasting her marshmallow. Going for it to get crispy on the outside but not scorched.
“I suppose I could share one.” Vergil relents. He finishes his beer and sets the empty bottle under his chair “Only if you don’t ask me for more.”
“Just this one. Please?” Nero tugs on Vergil’s coat.
Vergil chuckles.
“I almost got arrested in Paris once. For breaking into the catacombs.” Vergil opens the story with a straight face.
Dante shoots forward in his chair, struggling to not drop his skewer in surprise. Lady actually gets excited to hear this. Vergil? Arrested for breaking and entering?
“What? As if you two haven’t done things equally as reckless. I wasn’t there for my own amusement, if you think I was committing crimes for the fun of it.” Vergil lifts his marshmallow away from the fire, inspects it, and sticks it right over the lower coals “Past all the bones and deeper in the mine systems themselves there were remains of a shrine that I was seeking out. It was to a higher demon, I don’t remember who and I didn’t care enough to commit it to memory.”
“You went down there, why exactly?” Dante asks.
“A very specific mural that an- informant- had documented the existence of. One of the only noted instances of phonetically transcribed demonic language that’s in any way legible.”
“Right. You speak that?” Lady can’t picture it. Not like she even knew demons had languages. Isn’t a lot of demon stuff in Latin anyway?
“I never had the chance to learn properly.” Vergil says “That’s not relevant to this. After I had located the shrine and taken note of what I needed to for translating in a safer location- I had the misfortune of realizing that some fool had snuck in at some point long before and botched a summoning.”
“So there was a demon?”
“Yes. Though not anything I’d be willing to describe in front of you.” Vergil notes, and Lady thinks she’d love to hear what’s so bad that can’t even be toned down to describe to a child Nero’s age “I had assumed that what I’d been sensing there was residual energy but I’d been mistaken. It attempted to follow me but didn’t get far before I noticed and engaged. While it went down without issue, the fight was loud enough that it caught the attention of guards who had noticed that the entrance I’d taken wasn’t locked.”
Nero gasps, covering his mouth.
“Did they find you?”
“I had nowhere to go but in that direction from where I was. When they spotted me I had to choose my next actions carefully-“
Vergil’s story continues on, detailing how he first attempted to intimidate the guards with the little French he knew and it backfiring, learned what getting shot with a taser felt like, and the subsequent escape he made while they thought he was down. Once the story is over Dante sits back laughing. Nero hops from his chair to put together a s’mores, tossing over another marshmallow when Dante reaches out a hand and points to his empty skewer.
“Nice story, but did it actually happen?” Lady raises an eyebrow.
“You let Dante practically get away with murder when he tells his stories, and when I tell one you put it under the microscope?” Vergil scoffs “If I didn’t heal so well then I’d have scars from the taser as proof.”
“Where’s the fancy writing that you were after, then? Lose that too?”
“No. Dante’s seen it, but I’m not showing it to you.” Vergil puts his foot down.
Dante looks to Vergil and Lady can’t see what his expression is but wants to so bad from the way that Vergil holds eye contact. Nero breaks them out of it when he stands in front of Vergil and puts a fresh-made s’mores in his hands. Vergil looks down and sighs, a soft smile finding its way onto his face.
“Just the way you like it.” Nero brags.
“Thank you.” Vergil uses his free hand to pat Nero’s head “I think you should’ve made your own first.”
“I think you needed it more.” Nero’s gaze trails over from Vergil “You want one, too?”
Lady realizes that he’s asking her.
“I think she can make her own if she wants it.” Dante prods at Nero’s side “She’s a big girl.”
“Yeah but she’s the furthest from the table.”
“I’ll take one if you want to make it.” Lady smacks Dante in the shoulder “Don’t listen to the big idiot.”
Nero’s smile widens and he nods. He hurries to working on roasting more marshmallows. Once Nero’s happy that everyone’s has a s’mores he lights his own marshmallows on fire until they’re entirely black before blowing them out.
The gathering eases into a lower but still easy energy. Small anecdotes are passed around. Lady finds a moment to make up a ghost story. She’s not very good at improvising, but the little gasp from Nero as she narrates a jumpscare tells her she’s doing well enough to entertain him.
Somewhere before midnight Nero drifts in and out of being awake, leaned over in his chair scooted close enough to Vergil’s that he can use his father’s arm as a headrest. Vergil reaches over to brush his bangs out of his eyes. Nero stirs just enough to push harder against Vergil before he settles.
“Hair’s getting long again.” Dante’s foregone making any more s’mores and has been picking at a bar of chocolate by itself. His fingertips are covered in melted chocolate as he motions to Nero.
“It’s due for a trim. Though I think at his age he gets a say in it.” Vergil sighs. He stands up, doing his best not to jostle Nero but waking him anyway.
“Whuh?” Nero mumbles, rubbing at his eyes.
“Let’s get you to bed.”
“’m not tired. I can stay up all night like you can.”
“I know you can, but you’re falling asleep.”
Nero mumbles something that isn’t in any way understandable.
“I’ll carry you piggyback, if you’d like.”
Nero nods. He climbs onto Vergil’s back once Vergil kneels down, resting his head and closing his eyes again as Vergil stands.
“I’ll be back.” Vergil slides Nero’s coat off the chair and heads inside, not bothering to wait for an answer from the other two.
Lady picks at Dante’s chocolate bar as well. He doesn’t stop her. She’s not sure what to say or even point out this late into the night. The feeling of not belonging is still there but so muted she’s doing her best to ignore it for the time being.
“You’re welcome again next year, if you want. I won’t force you if this was too much.” Dante breaks the silence with something honest for once. He picks at another piece of chocolate that Lady snatches from his grip “Seriously?”
Lady laughs, waving the stolen piece of chocolate in Dante’s face. He reaches out to grab it back and she leans away to hold it out of range.
“Just don’t expect me to bring more firewood next time.”
“Oh, is that what you’re worried about? Thought Vergil chased you off with his prickly attitude.”
“Opposite, actually.” Lady bites into the chocolate “He’s definitely more honest than you are.”
“Him? Really? You’re kidding.” Dante looks to the back door. He goes to cross his arms and stops before his chocolate coated fingers come in contact with his shirt, swearing under his breath.
“There’s a great invention for dirty hands, you know. I heard they’re called napkins.” Lady mocks.
Dante chuckles and sticks his fingertips in his mouth one by one to clean them off. They lull back into a quiet that leaves Lady wondering what’s on his mind. The fire crackles and pops as a log breaks in two from burning through. It topples the structure and sends glowing embers into the air. Vergil still hasn’t returned yet, and the best guess is that the space heater is being moved into the room Nero sleeps in. When Dante doesn’t make a move to put a new log on the fire Lady does it instead.
The silence drags on for some time. There’s some comfort in it- sitting at the fire without needing to worry about where she’ll need to be tomorrow. No hotel room to pay for since she wouldn’t be sleeping in it anyway. She knows if she crashes in the office in the morning that Dante won’t make any complaint because he sleeps in, too.
“I’m- glad you actually came today.” Dante’s voice is soft, eyebrows pulled together as he leans forward and entwines his fingers. He taps his foot “Just because Vergil’s back in my life again, and brought Nero with him- doesn’t mean I want you out of it.”
Lady struggles between wanting to break the gentleness with a snarky remark or reciprocating. It’s not the normal for their interactions. She can count on one hand the amount of times she hasn’t tried to kick metaphorical sand into a moment of genuine connection between them.
Maybe she can add one more to that number.
“I guess I am, too. Glad that I didn’t run. Would have been easy for me to, you know.”
“I know.” Dante’s tone falls from nervous into the ballpark of sad of all possible emotions. She’s heard that tone before. Though more often when he’s a few drinks into a bad night.
Lady reaches over and pushes at Dante’s shoulder, jarring him out of his thoughts so he looks at her. She smiles and he does the same.
Before Lady can think of anything else to say, the back door opens and the moment’s gone. Vergil returns to the campfire.
“He was unconscious before I even set up the heater.” Vergil comments.
“Figured with how he was grumbling when you took him inside.” Dante checks the chocolate wrapper and frowns when he realizes there isn’t any left. He turns it upside-down and sighs.
“We have more.” Vergil looks to the table “Don’t act like it’s the end of the world.”
“Could actually do with a drink. That cider you made Nero earlier smelled good.”
“You couldn’t have asked for it earlier when I was heading inside?”
“Just now crossed my mind.”
Vergil rolls his eyes. He turns on his heels to go back inside.
“Get me a refill while you’re at it.” Lady holds up her mug. Vergil motions to her to toss it and when she does he catches it without issue. She can’t help but have a little fun mocking him though “Thanks, dad.”
Vergil grimaces in the most visceral display of disgust that Lady bites the inside of her cheek to not laugh at him.
By the time Vergil returns, Dante’s starting up a less kid-friendly story. Lady finds more entertainment in this one. She sips at her cider and heckles when the story seems too far-fetched. At one point Vergil joins her on poking holes in it until Dante reveals a much more believable story that’s full of combat, fuck-ups, and far more fun to listen to.
The evening continues on until dawn. Vergil leaves Dante to cleanup, as per their deal. He yawns and carries in the dishes on his way inside at least.
Lady stays to help put out the fire and pack the supplies up. She’s covering up yawns the whole way and she has a headache because there’s not a drop of coffee in sight for her to drink. It doesn’t take as long as it looks at least. Soon enough the food and furniture’s inside while the coals have all been put out. Dante offers his bed for her, but she’d rather sleep on the floor than take him up on that offer. So the couch it is. She collapses onto it while Dante finishes up. Just before her awareness leaves her completely she feels the weight of a blanket settle on her and the extra warmth it brings knocks her right out for most of the day.
Later, after she’s left the Devil May Cry behind and finds herself with free time, she decides to dig into public records to figure out who or what company once owned the lot behind the office.
If she does some background sleuthing when no one’s looking to keep a little unwanted lot vacant or not- she’ll never admit it out loud. She can just tack it onto Dante’s debt to her. It’s not like he keeps track of the number he owes her as it is so if she fudges numbers he’ll be none-the-wiser.
It’s just a small reassurance that there will even be a next time for her to be invited to.