Oh boy, the last couple days had been chaotic.
I had been running around helping Yasaka prepare for the festival, along with everyone else. Scáthach found a Fae Hideout in the middle of Kyoto, that was…..fun to hear the details about. She's been sweeping the city every day since and hadn't found much else. Thankfully, iron bars were the perfect cages for them.
Sairaorg also suddenly barged into my life….which was unexpected. I gave him my number and I guessed I accepted something akin to friendship from him, or atleast a beginning. I didn't want to get further involved with devil nonsense beyond what I already had, but that guy had some crazy charisma. And It didn't help that he came off as a genuinely good guy and that made it hard to continue being standoffish.
Well, he didn't seem at all like a bad guy so I wasn't too worried. He seemed genuine enough in just wanting to meet and such. I figured I'd just wait and see, give him the benefit of the doubt till after talking to him for a little bit.
I tapped the table I was sitting out, two coffees sitting infront of me. I reached out, taking the one closest and took a sip.
I peered out the window and saw a person walking into the coffee shop, the person I had been waiting for.
She smiled upon seeing me, walking over and taking a seat across at our small table.
"I got what you asked." I pushed her cup forward.
"Thank you." Venelana took it happily, immediately taking a sip. "Mmm, just how I like it."
"So…" I fingered the rim of my coffee cup. "How have you been?"
"A little sore." She gave a mischievous grin.
I did not blush.
"But otherwise, I've been well." She giggled at my reaction. "Millicas seems to be doing well also, and that's been my main concern. I've been through many battles and have almost died more times than I can count, I was always worried much more about him."
"Can Devils even get…." I paused for a moment, trying to word this correctly. "Mental issues?"
"Oh yes, though it's not as common I believe. Something about us just makes it more difficult than humans, however it's something that does happen from time to time. Devils simply have a higher threshold before such things can affect us." She took another sip.
"Maybe our longer lifespan offsets it? A divergence in mentality brought about due to our different perspectives on what we consider 'life'." I mused aloud.
"That's an interesting thought." She perked up. "I admit it wasn't something I've truly considered before. But my first guess would be the presence of our demonic energy and our inherent nature to be sinful, to a much greater extent than normal humans. The idea that something is 'bad' and we can't mentally handle something is offset due to us being preconditioned to sinful behavior."
"Sinful nature, yeah." I tapped my chin. "The Demonic Energy is an intriguing avenue, though. A subconscious use of it to acclimatize us to suffering and or negative behaviors whereas humans wouldn't have that sort of 'automatic defense'?"
"It would make sense with how we were created. I doubted that Lucifer and Lilith wanted their little soldiers to break when things got a little…rough."
A morbid, but accurate assessment.
"It must have been difficult back then."
"Yes." There was a melancholic look on her face. "I lost many friends and family. And back then the idea of mourning wasn't something we did in public. We weren't supposed to care about others, we were 'evil', only meant to wage war and bring chaos to the human world. One of the happiest days of my life was when I learned that Lucifer had died. Another was when my….son.." She paused.
"You don't have to freeze up whenever he's a subject of conversation." I let out a sigh. "I'm not going to get upset or whatever at his mere mention. If I can't handle the idea that he's your son, then I have no business being in a relationship with you."
She reached over, taking my hand in hers, a bright smile on her face. "Another was when my son took up his name and turned it into something good. I'm sure the old Lucifer is rolling in whatever ditch he was thrown into at the thought of what we had become and it's wonderful."
I couldn't imagine growing up and living during that era.
I rubbed her hand and looked down at it in realization. "You took your ring off?"
"I thought it was appropriate, considering." She giggled rather cutely. "I didn't want you to think you're just a replacement for Zeo."
"I never thought that." I replied. "I can understand the relationship you have with him is deep beyond just a husband. I can't fathom the bond that's been forged through centuries of being together, nor would I ever try to come between that." At this point, she was my woman but her friendship with my….grandfather was unbreakable and I was completely okay with that.
Scáthach often talked about Setanta, a former lover of hers. I never once was overly jealous. I thought it's simple nature to be on some level jealous when someone you care about speaks about a former love, but it's not something that weighed on me in any meaningful way. Just as Venelana was close to Zeo after 'breaking up', I knew that Setanta was someone irreplaceable in Scáthach's heart and I would never dream of trying to change that for either. However, I knew for a fact that they're both my women, and their former loves couldn't change that.
Artoria talked about her previous wife, and I'd done my best to support her emotionally. Yasaka brought up her former husband as well, Kunou's father. Again, I've never tried to replace what that was in her heart. Hell, even Raikou's talked about Kintoki before on quite a few occasions, and that relationship was just as platonic as ours is.
"It makes me very happy to hear you say that." Her gaze softened, her smile brightened. "He did mention wanting to meet you at some point if you're up to it. I know we agreed to keeping family matters separated, but I just wanted to ask and nothing more."
It was a little awkward to keep these things separated when we're involved, but we'd see how it went.
"You're allowed to ask me anything. We can't have a relationship if we don't properly communicate." I've said it before, and I'd say it again, proper communication was the cornerstone of every relationship. "I'm…hesitant to reach out to him. At the moment, I would prefer if we worked on ourselves before branching out."
"I believe that's a reasonable course of action." She nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. "And I also told my children that we're together."
I spat out the coffee I had in my mouth, staring at her in shock. She looked utterly amused with herself. "You were waiting until I was drinking something, weren't you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." She giggled.
"How'd that go?"
"About as you would expect." She shrugged. "I deflected by bringing up some other embarrassing stuff for them to worry about so they didn't react too strongly or irrationally. Should make them more acceptable when they're too concerned about learning each other's naughty secrets."
"Do I want to know?"
"Maybe~"
I just shook my head. I did enjoy how mischievous Venelana could get.
"You know, I was happy when you reached out." She propped her head up with her arm. "I was a little unsure of if I should have or not. I'm not up to date with how people in this era go about these sort of things."
"Well….i'm not exactly knowledgeable in that either. I never dated in school and all my girls are older than me. I've just been winging it and trying my best." I couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it now that it was spoke aloud. "And I did wait longer than I perhaps should have to reach out again. I admit that there was a little….tension in the harem due to how I handled things."
"Oh dear, I hope I didn't upset anyone."
"No, the fault is laid solely at my feet." I quickly disabused her of that thought. "I handled things poorly and their concerns were completely understandable. We had a talk and set boundaries, and how to go about such things in the future."
"The more you talk about them, the more I can't wait to meet them." She looked relieved that nothing negative happened. "But for now, you haven't told me how you've been doing. How's my Grandson been since I've ridden him all night?"
Atleast this time she didn't wait until I was drinking again.
"You make it hard to not want to immediately go for round two." I grumbled.
"You wanted to take things slow." She giggled. "But I'll take pity and send you some pictures if you want~ That's what they do these days, right? Send nudes?" She clearly knew what she was talking about, but was playing coy just for a laugh.
"What a horny woman."
"Oh dear, you discovered that well enough already." She smirked. "But in seriousness, I want to hear about your time thus far. Anything interesting happen?"
"I met Sairaorg the other day." I leaned back in my chair, crossing my legs. "I'd say that was pretty interesting."
"Really?" She blinked in surprise. "I could have sworn devils were…..not allowed in Kyoto at the moment. Atleast, I heard that they were being turned away right now."
"Mmm, that's accurate. Yasaka's still unhappy with Okita and what he did."
Venelana sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "If it makes you feel better, I was also upset and made him very uncomfortable when he was bedridden. I believe I spoke about all sorts of things he didn't want to hear."
"That does in fact make me better." And now I knew she'd get along well with many people I know. "I think it says something about me that I find that part of you attractive."
"The part of me that likes to – how do they say it – take the piss out of people?" She smirked.
I snorted, holding back a laugh. "Yes, just like that."
"Can I guess the other parts of me you like?" She very blatantly bounced her chest infront of me.
"Well, I'm pretty sure that's obvious from the other night." I pointed out.
"Oh, believe me, it was." She giggled again. "So what's this about Sairaorg? That boy is such a sweetheart, I hope nothing happened."
"God, he really is. I admittedly was a little standoffish when he came, but by the end….I gave him my number and sorta accepted a friendship with him."
"Yup, that sounds exactly like him." Venelana let out an exasperated breath. "And did you just invoke his name with no recoil?" She looked surprised.
"Oh?" I blinked in realization. "I suppose I did, I guess I'm not too concerned about it anymore." I followed with a shrug.
"I know my Son and Ajuka can do the same but even I can't do that. I'm fairly sure the Old Lucifer also couldn't do that either. My, it makes me wonder just how strong you really are~" And she sounded very aroused by the idea.
Devils and their strength fetish.
"Wanna hear about Sairaorg or flirt some more?" I asked.
"Mmm, if we flirt any more I don't think I'll be able to hold back myself. But I'm also really interested in Sairaorg, no one really knows what he gets up to. You know, he's the rising star amongst the younger Generation, undefeated in all his rating games thus far. Outside of those events he just….disappears when he isn't at home."
"I don't really think it's a secret, and I doubt the higher ups in your government don't know." I ran a hand through my hair, admiring those beautiful purple eyes of hers. "But he's well known around Nurarihyon and his Youkai. I went there the other day and met the Old Man and spoke a little bit. After that, Nurarihyon basically asked Yasaka not to kick Sairaorg out and let him stay for the Festival."
"That explains where he learned Touki, or got so good at it I suppose. It wasn't really a secret that he had been training his body so hard beforehand." Venelana had an 'ah hah' moment. "And I forgot that they have that celebration every year. I've actually been to one in the past when Yasaka's mother was still in charge."
"Yup, it's a bit more hectic since the attack not that long ago. I've been running around helping her set things up to take off some of the pressure."
"Oh, I could imagine. At the risk of putting myself where I'm not yet wanted, anything I could do to help?"
"The offer is genuinely appreciated, and I'll pass it on to Yasaka." How sweet it was for her to offer. "However, I think we have everything sorted at this point." I wouldn't have taken this break and had this little date if we were still rushing.
Jumping over to China to pick up the fireworks, then going over to New York to meet with one of her old friends who was helping cater food for some of the stalls. Lots of errands that had me going all over the world.
She smiled at that. "And going back to Sairaorg, how'd it go in total? You said you left on good terms, and I know that boy is such a kind hearted one."
"Jeez, he came over and just asked me to join his peerage, like the first words out of his mouth."
"Oh my, I'm sure that didn't go over well." She chuckled.
"I was admittedly offended, you know. I confess that I dislike the Evil Pieces so I don't want anything to do with them. I shot him down immediately of course, only to find out, his peerage is full." I finished with a dry look.
Venelana had to cover her mouth as her giggles picked up. "That silly boy, I could completely picture him doing something like that. He's one to jump before looking, but his heart is usually in the right place."
"Yeah…" I let out a small sigh with a smile. "He explained himself properly, and I know it was coming from a different place. He felt concerned for me when he found out I existed, basically wanted to make sure I was doing fine and all that."
"I'll never forgive my brother for kicking him out like that." Venelana scowled in a surprising display. She usually didn't emote so blatantly beyond smiles or laughs. "So what if he doesn't have the Power of Destruction, those old bastards! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to adopt him into our family due to political reasons."
"He did mention how your family was there for him, treating him well and stuff. I think your intent was enough for someone who was in such a bad place at the time." I offered her a consolation.
"While it makes me extremely happy to hear that, I'm also still pissed that the Bael House stopped me from doing anything significant in help."
"Ugh, politics. Count me out."
"Believe me, I've been over it for the past 500 years and I'm still stuck participating." She groaned out. "Speaking of Power of Destruction, I've heard some interesting rumors. Not to mention saw something quite peculiar in your fight against Susanoo. Care to share anything~"
"Well, I suppose it's not much of a secret." I shrugged, holding my finger up. I channeled a little bit of my bloodline, letting it crackle out from above.
"So it's true." She looked on in awe. "And its'…..different? A type of mutation?" She examined.
"Actually, I think that was my own fault. I performed a sort of…Ritual on myself that I learned somewhere. It added something to my essence and intertwined with my bloodline ability." I flexed my fingers, dismissing it.
"That sounds extremely dangerous."
"I took precautions and had someone helping me in case of emergency." I waived it off. It was painful as hell, but I had been confident in it working out.
"But that just brings up the question, if it altered your Power of Destruction, that means you had to have had it at that point. And I don't mean to dredge up old wounds, but we did check you for those things."
"There seems to be a mistake. Basically, I was barely different from a normal human, right?"
"That's…not inaccurate."
"Even now, my Demonic Power is miniscule. But the thing is, my Power of Destruction wasn't completely absent like Sairaorg from what I've heard. It was a very tiny seed that wouldn't actualize based on my state. I guess it was no different than not having the bloodline inherited so it didn't matter. Except, I found a way to nurture it."
"So the tiny seed bloomed then?"
"More or less." I smiled smugly. "It's not…perfected yet. I'm using a Catalyst to bring out the effects better than if I used it on its own."
"It's impressive that you were able to accomplish this much." Venelana replied in all sincerity. "And I can say that Zekram and the rest are going to be very upset that someone with the Power of Destruction is beyond their reach."
"Eh, fuck'em."
"I'll drink to that." She grinned taking a sip of her coffee. "Not to mention any children you have in the future. I wouldn't be surprised if they reach out and try to bring you into the fold just to avoid that. And If you want, I could give you a tip or two."
Ah, was she giving me a warning then? "I'll be on the look out." I replied with a nod of thanks. "And I would love to have some advice regarding it."
"Mm, just tell me when you want some training~ But otherwise I don't want to talk about that stuffy old man anymore." She fingered the handle of her cup. "We're supposed to be getting to know each other better. Well, beyond the physically that is. I think you know my body very well at this point." That little smirk of hers was very cute.
"Alright, but before that I wanted to say something." I raised my hand up. "So, this goes back to issues with the festival and all that. Basically…..you know about the Fae?"
"I am aware of their existence. I admit to never meeting any before, but from what I understand, that's a blessing."
"You have no idea." I sighed. "So, they've apparently become very active lately. I talked to Nurarihyon who said that some of his men had been replaced and he was cleaning house so to speak. And we even had some infiltrate Kyoto."
"I give my condolences, but I don't understand –"
"Kuoh." I said pointedly.
Her eyes widened. "You don't think…?"
"I don't, but…..I figured you would want to take the precautions." I didn't have any love for Rias, but she's Venelana's daughter. If Venelana was to be my woman, that meant I had to take responsibility and protect her interests as well.
"Thank you, truly." She said quietly. "I'll be sure to have Kuoh checked by Ajuka. I don't believe they can escape his meticulousness."
"I erm….have one more thing. This is just something that I had on hand and modified based on others I've given." I withdrew a bracelet from my Ring, not dissimilar to the ones that I gave my other girls. Perhaps it's a bit early for this, but she had been kidnapped once and I wanted to feel more at ease. "This is for you….if you want."
She took it silently, inspecting it. "You made this for me?"
"Yes?"
"It's beautiful, thank you." She said softly.
I tried to make it fit her….style more.
"It's not a normal bracelet, is it?"
"I have space folded and anchored onto it. Basically, it has its own 'room' connected to it that you can take stuff in and out of if you channel some Magical Power into it."
"Oh my how wonderful." She experimented, taking in her empty coffee cup, and setting it back out. "How convenient."
"Also, you see that little orb on the bottom." I pointed to her hand where she immediately put it on. "Shatter that orb if you're ever in trouble. No matter where you are, I'll come."
"Oh Wilhelm." She looked at me strangely. "This is a wonderful gift and I'll cherish it." She stood up from her seat and walked around the table to me. She leaned in before I could utter a word, placing a kiss on my cheek.
And strangely, despite the fact that we had done much more than that, it felt…warm.
"You're so cute~" She giggled sitting back down. "Getting all flustered from a kiss on the cheek."
"Yeah, yeah." I grumbled looking away. "So…all that is out of the way. Do we just start asking questions?"
"That's fine by me, do you want to take turns?" She offered.
"Sure, you start." I gestured to her.
Felt similar to Salem, but I couldn't deny it's a good way to go about this. On a random note, I wondered who had the better butt. Honestly, I believed Salem still beat her out in that department.
"Hmm, what about hobbies? What do you like to do in your free time?" She asked.
"Oh, that's an interesting one right off the bat." I tapped my chin, thinking it over. "To be honest, I've been running around so much since I…left" I thought she knew what I meant by that. "I haven't had much time to develop many hobbies. I can't deny my love for the theatre, but I haven't gone to see anything in so long. And If I had to point at something and call it my 'favorite thing to do', well, I think I enjoy magical research the most."
"Really? That's surprising." She responded. "Then again, I have heard that you're quite skilled in Magic, among other things. What's your specialty?"
"You skipped my turn, that's two questions." I chuckled. "But if I chose a specialty, I suppose it's lightning, and Runes." I let some of my lightning dance between my fingers for added effect.
"Should have guessed based on what you said before and what I had seen when you rescued me." She smiled. "Alright, ask your question."
"Music, what's your preference?"
"Oh, now it's my turn to be interested by the question." Venelana let out that adorable giggle. "I love music in almost all shapes and forms. Modern Rock to classical, I think it's all a tale of beautiful evolution through history. But if you forced me to choose a specific genre, probably Classical, even if that's a very large umbrella we're talking about."
"I just realized, you lived through all the greats, huh?"
"Oh yes, those were wonderful years." She cupped her cheek, a nostalgic look on her face.
I even had some vague memories from Zelretch of him seeing some of those musicians.
"Hmm, I do have one question that's been eating at me ever since you rescued me." She finally snapped out of it.
"Oh?" I wonder what she was going to ask about My Swords? Maybe my Magic? I wasn't entirely sure yet what I wast comfortable with sharing if I were to be honest. I had a strange relationship between trust and attachment.
"That cute little rabbit familiar you had." She smiled brightly.
"Oh? Oh!" I quickly brought out the most magnificent rabbit ever to exist. I held him high up into the air. "Behold! Sir Wigglesbottom Fluffytail Octavius Benedict III, Crown Prince of Emerald Kingdom. Duke of Carrot Island, General of the Northern Armies, Lightning Born, The Devil Slayer!"
I would attest that he deserves the title of Devil Slayer after his wonderful performance before.
Venelana blinked, gazing upon brilliance.
"Or just Sir Wiggles." I set him down on the table. He hopped over to Venelana, cutely twitching his nose.
"Did you really name him that?" She giggled, picking him up.
"Yup, and I add something new every time I introduce him to someone of significance."
She was immediately taken with him, as was tradition.
"My turn is it?"
"Sure, go ahead." She started playing with her new favorite rabbit.
"So, this is more of a random shot in the dark kind of thing based on what you told me before. But….do you have any experience making wines?"
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