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Vergil     Pandaemonium has a slightly different vibe these days. A dirt road has been cut into the path to it, and a farmer in a truck gives a wave as he drives in the opposite direction from those arriving. Past the great black stone walls and wrought iron gate, there is not the burning bonfires and hanging skulls you would expect from a demon fortress. Rather, Haborym is gathering up the freshly delivered hay in his coils, braying happily at the sight of you all before slithering off to put it in a barn somewhere.

    Into the palace of black stone, and the smell of garlic and onions hits your noses. Amii is in the kitchen, fussing over a great black cauldron that smells incredible. "Oh, you're here! Good good. The Demon Arms are in the basement. They'll probably be dazed and confused. Some might try to get violent. Please try to restrain them if you can, but... safety first."


    Down some wide spiral staircases is the basement. Here, the air has an almost acrid quality. The demonic miasma is thick, intended to mimic the conditions of the demon world as closely as possible. The weapons hang on the walls of a circular chamber, glowing ominously, their materials taking on the texture of skin, scales, tooth and claw. Their... rebirth? Re-emergence? Is imminent.

    Tony and Vergil are also here, the former checking his reflection in the polished sheen of a blade, the latter leaning against the wall.
Darren      "Hey, what's up, fam?" says Darren to Amii. "Yeah," he says, on the matter of safety, "I gotchu. I'll let 'em swing a few times, hit 'em with the jukes, and they oughta put two and two together before long." In other words, he'll definitely stick to 'restraining' and 'harm reduction' as opposed to just trying to beat the Demon Arms into submission. Heading down the staircase, he sniffs, pulling his hoodie closer.

     He ends up coming in for a cool kid handshake with Tony, who can see him coming from the reflection in the blade. "On your six," he still courteously informs. Fingers bent, in from the side, hook the thumbs. "Good to see you again. You ever want a runback, hit me up, ya heard?" An amiable finger-gun his way, and then he's focusing on the glowing weapons.

     For 'harm reduction,' the best choice is going to be the little ladybug, Saucer, who comes out on his own and chirrups a bug greeting. Saucer's barriers will blunt the impacts of any wakeup swipes.
Cantio The state of Pandaemonium is rather heartening for Cantio to see. After all those efforts to get this area sorted out, after all those fights to bring peace to this region, and after a whole lot of personal stuff, it's reassuring for her to see Haborym working on something pleasant and Amii cooking up a storm.

"Hello, Amii! That smells amazing... Oh? Ah, they'll be okay once we explain things, I'm sure. Even if that explanation might involve a little violence... Er." That part is clearly reassuring and worrying to Cantio at the same time as she purses her lips, trying to come up with some kind of reassurance for a bit before bringing out one of her drones abruptly.

"Maybe some familiar sounds'll help?" She suggests upon reaching the basement and noticing the differences in the air almost immediately, tapping away at the drone's control panel a few more times before letting it park its right-angled butt on one of the walls along with releasing a few others to do the same at the other walls. They'll emit classical spooky ambience noises every now and then to help set the mood: Rattling chains, flickering flames, and the occasional rolling of bones off of other bones.

Cantio's usual white and lilac outfit might just break that mood a bit. Beyond that, she's also breaking into another pleasant smile when she spots Vergil and Tony. "Oh, hey there! Good seeing you both again, too. Are you here for business or curiosity today?"
Vergil     Tony Royal Guards the cool handshake, perfectly matching it. "Who's running back who? Sorry man, my violence goes to the highest bidder. You want it, pay me." He grins good-naturedly as Vergil rolls his eyes.

    "We're here to teach them their place," Vergil replies to Cantio coldly. "To clarify; we wished to introduce them to the sons of Sparda early. Near every demon resents him, knows his scent, and we wished to avoid misunderstandings."

    One of the weapons, a great mace, falls from the wall. It melts, bubbling into a torrid dark red substance that begins to congeal into a form. Rather small for a demon, only 6'1", with leathery bat wings, a single stubby horn jutting from their head, giant ears, a pointy beard and goat legs.

    "Welcome back, my kin. You've missed much during your long rest," Amii says as the demon finds their legs. "Ergh... oh, I recognize that voice. Amii, the crying fool. What's going on?" Amii's warm expression (maybe? Hard to tell under the mask) falls slightly. "Ah. It is you Gaap. Been a very long time."

    "Not long enough. Who are these..." He stares at Cantio for a moment, as if trying to figure her out. "Humans? Are you in league with them? Or are you offering me a snack?" He leers at Darren, making threatening wiggling fingers.
Darren      "Me," says Darren, owning it good-naturedly. "But I'll keep that in mind, homie."

     Addressed by the demon with the endearingly grating voice, Darren chuckles. "It's not that vibe," he assuages. "Things are different since you been gone, my man. You might say we're in league."

     "But it's more accurate to say we're in a league of our own, you feel me?" Saucer's barrier gleams subtly, a prismatic sheen over the group. "Amii here's not the same dude you used to know."

     "He's got mad ambition, and he's workin' on something that's gonna be good for humans and demons alike. When that tide goes up, *all* the boats rise."

     His body language speaks where his words don't--he is not 'prey,' 'an offering,' or a 'patsy.' Rather, he is an equal--even if he does have to look up to see him, Darren's posture conveys nothing but the utmost confidence.

     "He also said you might not buy that idea in the first quarter. So me and the homies are here to show you what the vibe is, by force, if we gotta."
Cantio "I might have to take you two up on that at some point." Cantio replies to Tony even though he's addressing Darren, although she doesn't outright say 'yeah I'll pay you' despite otherwise implying it. "Seeing you two fight... I'd much rather have you fighting for us rather than against us if the opportunity ever comes up."

Vergil's answer, meanwhile, actually has Cantio nodding slowly with an approving noise coming out after a while. "That's... Yeah, that's actually really forward thinking of you. Good idea! It should be easier with me and Darren around, too, what with his Pokemon and my..."

Actually, she's not sure what she brings to the table here. She just trails off after that, instead turning her attention to the mace as it falls. She steps back to give it some space, and she cranks up the ambient hell-ish noises a bit more on her speaker drones right until Amii and the mace demon start to speak.  When the mace demon makes barely veiled threats at herself and Darren, she smiles pleasantly and shakes her head.

"Oh, we're not snacks. I mean, you can try, but it's going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts us." She actually sounds confident for once, and she maintains that pleasant idol-esque smile despite the very unveiled threat right there. She probably still remembers what she's been told before about demon-human dynamics. "Actually, we're allies. As Amii said, it's been a long time since you were last awake, and things are really different now. I'm not human, and he's-"

Wait. Is Darren a human? Cantio glances over at Darren, then opts not to address his humanity and moves right on. "We're working together for a mutual benefit, yes. There's a lot more to be gained between demons and humans working together rather than fighting, so... Here we are!"
Vergil     "Amii? Ambition?" Gaap laughs, an unpleasant cackle. "This guy? I dunno what scheme he has you on, but he could never pull off anything big. There's a reason he'd use humans, he's too weak for any demon to take notice." As Darren stances up against Gaap, he frowns and lowered his hands. For all his bluster, he's not much of a fighter either.

    "Good for us both? What, some kind of farming scheme? Are you raising them like livestock Amii?" "No, Gaap," Amii says with a hint of exhaustion. "We will collaborate with humans to build a demon empire here in the world of humans. Unification has occurred. There are more worlds than you know of. There's room for us, without violence." He nods to Cantio for backing that point up.

    "Okay, so who's the king of these human-loving demons? You? Don't make me laugh." He shakes his head, and looks to Tony and Vergil. "Wait... I know that smell... SPARDA? Are these Sparda's bastards?! You have HIM on the throne?!"

    "No, Gaap," Amii says, sounding like he's on the verge of rupturing a blood vessel. "Our Father is not in the picture," Vergil says. "Yeah, he's a real deadbeat dad," Tony concurs bitterly. "Oh. I was excited for a second. Sparda would make sense at least. Demons look to the strongest, and he's the strongest of all. I instead resume my disappointment at it being Amii."

    The demon sighs again. He probably needs backup here.
Darren      "Okay," says Darren to Gaap. "Either you're strong, or you're not. Sure. But it's different kinds of strength. Try to build an society on just one kind and ish gets lopsided inside of a few generations. You prolly seen it yourself," he admits.

     Darren does not indulge in any discussion of whether he himself is human--not because he isn't sure, but because that's a whole-ass conundrance of philosophy which, despite being mad interesting, ain't really germane to our conversation at the moment. Some other time, blood!

     "My man Amii here's got strength of personality and strength of will, which is great for a leader. But leaders don't do what they do alone, my G. They're helped, every day, by people who share that vision, each of 'em with their own kind of strength. I never went toe to toe with Amii. But it don't matter," Darren says firmly.

     "Even if I fought him, even if I whupped his ass, it still wouldn't matter. Because his vision does. The blood, sweat and tears, those matter. They matter enough to drag me into this neck of the woods from a whole-ass other world!" He points, with a thumb, at his little ladybug friend, who waves a clawed hand at Gaap.

     "That's how impressed I was. Amii wants something -new-. And no matter what kinda strength you can call on, it's never served by burying ya head in the sand and clinging to how things used to be."
Cantio Cantio sighs softly as Gaap laughs, putting on a slightly annoyed look while weighing the risks and benefits of trying to ramp up the hardass on this Devil Arm. "Maybe he couldn't back in your day, but things are much more different now. Our worlds are connected, and humans capable of a lot more than we'd expect just from looking at what the average one can do. Underestimating what they can do when they're motivated enough is..."

She pauses, then shrugs with a bit of exaggerated flair before taking a bit of a risk in practically insulting him next. "Well, I'm sure they'll take good care of you afterwards. Humans can get attached to all sorts of things that can't even talk to them, so I'm sure you wouldn't even be bored."

Turning to Tony and Vergil, she listens closely to that exchange regarding Sparda and that disbelief in Amii being the leader of the demons in this region. She raises an eyebrow at Gaap's continued skepticism, and then she approaches the demon to maintain eye contact.

"If Sparda was the strongest of your time, then it's pretty easy to guess these two should be even stronger by now. I mean, they're still here, and he isn't." Cantio turns back to Vergil and Tony, mouthing a silent 'sorry' at bringing up their dead dad before turning a more stern look at Gaap. "Even if they're only half as strong as Sparda was and no more, they're still the strongest demons around working together on this." She nods towards Darren as he brings up VISION and PERSONALITY and WILL. "Precisely. If they're working with Amii instead of taking the throne themselves..."

Cantio leaves that hanging for a moment, then goes right back to smiling pleasantly. "You understand, don't you? I'm not a human or a demon, but I see enough promise in Amii's plan to ally my own empire with his. If he wasn't strong enough, I'd have taken the crown myself."

She's lying through her teeth here, but at least Gaap is a stranger. She doesn't have to be entirely truthful about that part.
Vergil     Amii has only grateful smiles for Darren, but Gaap seems sceptical. "All of that doesn't matter much if he gets killed though. And a lot of demons could. A leader should be untouchable, immovable, unstoppable like Sparda was. Maybe he attracts all of you to his side, but if someone got a mind to it, the scariest person you know, do you think you could protect him?"

    The sons of Sparda both shoot Cantio an annoyed look for very different reasons. Tony at least is mollified by the mouthed apology, but Vergil still seems annoyed. "Hey, let's get one thing straight, I'm here for the pay. Kinda iffy on the whole 'empire' thing, "Tony says. "One as strong as this runt describes shouldn't waste time on kingdom building anyway," Vergil concurs.

    Gaap is quiet now. Thinking, stroking his beard. "All right. Willing to concede I might be behind on the times. But I stand by that most demons won't follow Amii. If you want to keep him in that position, you need to prove yourselves. So we're gonna play a game."

    He raises a hand, and it disappears, vanishing from the realm of sight. "You know rock paper scissors? We're gonna play. But I'm gonna keep my hand hidden until you throw yours. If you can beat me, I'll fall in line."

    It's ridiculous, and he knows it is. It's how you handle it that he's looking for. "Rock, paper, scissors, SHOOT!" He throws out his invisible hand!
Darren      "'Protecting him' as distinct from 'defeating her,' hell yeah, I could," states Darren confidently. "She's a bad matchup for me, but I could run prevent D on her and chew clock." He places his hands in his pockets, glancing over to Tony.

     "I respect that, T," says Darren. "You're gonna get that money no matter what. But I'mma be surprised if you're still iffy at the end. For real," he says firmly.

     Rock, paper, scissors--

     All five of Darren's other Pokemon emerge. Saucer makes the 'scissors' gesture with his claw, Slabb bundles up into a pile of constituent rocks, Nessie holds a fin out in a representation of paper, Harry raises two hands, fists clenched for 'rock,' Roswell manifests two psychic swords and bids them make a scissoring motion, and finally, Ramesses extends all four hands in a spread of different symbols.

     Darren himself makes the 'paper' gesture, grinning wide.
Cantio "Yes." That's the entire answer Cantio gives at Gaap's question of protection, and she doesn't elaborate further. The tone in her voice suggests that she's either that confident in her abilities, or really  good at sounding like she is.

"I don't expect all of them to want to follow him. It's a big ask." Cantio concedes that point, but still manages to sound fairly unconcerned despite that. "We've already proven ourselves against the fae and their games before, though, and we're still here while they've..."

A beat. "I don't know what they went, actually, but it doesn't really matter."

And so, the challenge is rock paper scissors! It's a simple probability game, but the odds are stacked against them when Gaap gives his conditions for following them. "So we can't lose, and we can't draw... Alright. That's perfectly fine." Still sounding as cheery as her white and lilac sailor-ish outfit suggests, Cantio turns to give Amii a thumbs-up before turning to Darren with a nod.

It's time to cheat, and to cheat hard. It seems she and Darren have the same idea, too, as Cantio's clones appear to join Darren's Pokemon swarm. One has a closed fist, one has her fingers in a V shape, another has her fingers splayed out, and Cantio herself has her hand in the scissor shape.
Vergil     Gaap is... outnumbered. He laughs as his hand comes back into sight, scissors. "Ah, that's how it is then. I suppose an army of fleas could fell an elephant. Fine, I'll come along for the ride for now. But I maintain; demons won't follow the likes of Amii. And even if you find someone stronger, they'll want to contest them. You need someone unquestionably the strongest. You need Sparda. If there's even a possibility he's around, find him."

    One by one, the other Arms pop. Thankfully, these ones seem a bit more brutish than Gaap, and it's easy to convince them. And once they've all popped, it's mealtime.

    The stew is good, and comes with creamy mash and bread. A lot of the more reticent demons immediately come around once they get to eat food that isn't ripped from a corpse. But Amii seems... off. He spends a lot of the time interrogating Tony and Vergil. Asking them about Sparda. Both seem annoyed, but they don't reveal much more. He left one day when they were children and never came back.
Cantio "You started it." Cantio laughs with Gaap as she dismisses all but one of the clone, sending that one out just to chill outside and keep watch in case there's any weirdos snooping around. Sadly, that does mean that clone misses out on the food, but it's okay. She'll cease to exist eventually!

"Truthfully, I don't expect everyone to. I just think Amii's goal is worthy enough to be worth trying to help at all, since it's..." She pauses, weighing her words carefully. "... It's not too different from what I'm trying to do myself, and allies like Amii are few and far between."

She's pretty sure she used that phrase correctly. "Finding Sparda, though... It couldn't hurt, if not for the..." That, Cantio's not sure how to address politely. She's trying not to make eye contact with Vergil and Tony, but it's very obvious she's shifting her eyes in their direction to signal towards them.

Convincing the more brutish Devil Arms is something of a relief for Cantio (sort of). Whether by force or by bribery, she puts her all into it, even putting long-term gains into into terms such brutes can understand in terms of being able to revel more later if they only control themselves a little now! She probably won't do so well trying to keep them from making a mess when it comes to eating, though.

Amii's questions to the brothers, meanwhile, catches Cantio's attention as well. She probably interjects with a few questions of her own (mostly things like 'could he still be alive' and 'was he ever buried'), but she largely leaves that line of questioning to Amii. If nothing else, she won't be the one to start a fight at the dinner table!

She also gets some music playing. She'll be taking requests, if these demons have any!
Darren      Darren nods assuredly. All around him, his Pokemon are enveloped in light, one by one, until only Roswell, the little alien, remains. "He's as good as found. Lucky for y'all, I happen to be a connoisseur of forgotten knowledge."

     He and Roswell make up the 'force' of the team, and with the lingering barriers from Saucer, the two of them are more than confident in asserting it. "Matter of fact, while y'all work these two for details," he says, gesturing towards Tony and Vergil, "I'mma do some legwork." He's accordingly not present for meal time, instead taking to the dark corners of the internet, the forgotten halls of the nearest public library and the deepest nooks of the crank community.

     Where do you look for a deadbeat demon dad?