evil eye

"But I will. I spent less than two decades without you, and it drove me to agony," she admits, voice breaking as she remembers, tears clinging to her eyelids as she leans into his touch like a flower leans into the sun's warmth. His lips against hers are maddening, and she chases them as he moves away, a peck first and then another and another. If this is how the gods felt drinking ambrosia, she could not begrudge their desires. Not if it's the honeyed taste of his lips on hers after years without. "I can't imagine how you must have felt, but I am sorry, Alvaro. I am so sorry."

Two decades had certainly been a shorter amount of time than what he'd had to go through without her. Of course she knew that though. With every breath he took and every new contract he held, he'd only ever thought of Andruil. Every single part of his brain was always occupied with thoughts of her. More after she had died than it had been before, it felt like. Ever since he had gotten her back, it felt like she was the only thing that stayed on his mind. He'd tried so hard to focus on being their for Efigenia, but he couldn't stop thinking about the fey turned drow that he loved. That he still loved. "Do not apologize to me, Andruil. You don't need to."

"I have always been too stubborn for my own good," she admits quietly, almost as if she were afraid to break the silence if she were to speak too loudly. She had been looking for him for far too long, and she was looking at him with baited breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop and for her to be back in the future they had fought so hard to erase. Carefully, she rubbed her thumb against his cheek as she took another step closer and pressed her forehead against his, basking in the demonic warmth that he exuded. She had been cold for long, and she had finally gotten her warmth back. "I only asked for a memories back a few years after Rome fell, and by then—," she shudders, eyes closing as she keeps her forehead pressed against his. "By then it was far too late to apologize, no matter how hard I tried to summon you."

She had known, then, that he had gone where she could not follow, but she had refused to admit it out loud. Hoping that denial would bring her love back to her.

It didn't.

Alvaro could've fallen to his knees with how happy he was at this exact moment. He had been hoping her memories came back to her, hoping that there was something for them. She had shown only the slightest bit of interest without those memories, but as he had known what was underneath the surface, he'd felt like he shouldn't have stuck with that thought. At the time, she had just been a woman with the face of the one person he loved irrevocably. Now it seemed like everything was fitting back into place. He shouldn't have been so damn happy about it, but he couldn't help how his heart hammered in his chest as her forehead fell to his. Her thumb stroking his cheek felt like the most affection he'd allowed himself in quite some time. His eyes closed as she spoke, only opening to respond.

Alvaro had revealed to Nettelia that the witch he'd associated himself with was on the other side of all of this. An Asphodel, though clearly he was not Yurena's. Something to ruminate on another time, perhaps, because it didn't make much of a different to Nettelia. Alvaro was his own demon, he wasn't the witch he was attached to, and what he did he did what he had to in order to survive. She was a monster, the least she could do was refrain from passing judgement on a man for crimes that were far beneath her own. "I don't remember you being much of a fighter." Nettelia chided easily, "I think I'm developing quite the conflicting relationship with time." The thing about memories was they always came with a set of teeth, she'd long had issues settling on happy ones, but those that she did once have were now tainted in some ways. Tinged with sorrow. They would never be young again, they would never be those reckless fools again, and this ruin was just that: a ruin.

He dropped down next to her and looked up at the stars. Maybe once upon a time, that sight would have been a relief. However, now, all he could think about was how infinite the world was. Every star was just another story to be told and they were just pawns in each and every one. They were always just little puppets being controlled by the strings of fate. None more than Nettelia, it seemed. To him at least. Alvaro didn't move his eyes away from the stars for a long while until she spoke again. A hint of a smile reached his lips. "I see you have jokes to spare in such...trying times." It was honestly refreshing to hear. Neither of them were the type to just joke often. They were more serious in nature and there was always something for them to be watching out for. They didn't have time for jokes as often as others would. There was always someone to keep an eye out for. Even if it was just themselves. He turned his head to look over at her as she looked at the stars. "You're deserving of all of the time in the world. Even if you don't think yourself deserving, I'll believe it enough for you."

She wonders if this is how Alvaro felt, on the years that followed her dead when she had fought Asphodel only to never return. The constant fear and desperation, the desire to look just a little longer, just a little harder, hoping that this time the answer she sought was different. The memories of the other timeline had slammed at her as she stood on the Fey's Forest, preparing for battle and not knowing that her life would change forever on the course of two weeks. Not knowing that she would soon lose a man she wouldn't be able to fully mourn until she reached out for Titania's help. She had asked Felandaris to help her summon him, asked over and over, pretending that the hope on her heart didn't flicker and waver every time the summoning failed. To lose a love that she didn't know she had, simply because she had been too stubborn about her self-assigned independence to want to remember. To lose the man that had waited her for a thousand years, and to know she could not find him again. It had been devastating, and the possibility of changing the timeline had been her biggest hope. The reason why she had kept fighting.

And now she was back. Back and unable to find the demon, unable to summon him by herself, unable to do anything but look for him and hope that it had not been too late. As much as she wanted to ask Felandaris for help once more, she doubts whatever tentative bond they had built in the future would still remain. Or if it did, it would likely manifest on violence within the streets of Rome. Neither conductive for finding the fucking familiar that she had used as her rallying call for over fifteen fucking years.

And yet, any worry and desperation and anger melt from her frame as he finally steps into her sight. She wants to run into his arms, wants to kiss him and do far more, but for now she refrains, knowing it wouldn't quite understand the meaning of her actions if she doesn't tell him.

Often, Alvaro found himself remembering even the smallest of details. He was the kind of person that wanted to know everything that had occurred within his own life because he didn't have the luxury of remembering who he was before Nettelia had summoned him from the Inferno. Before that, he was just some man that was probably nothing that had died with enough anger to warrant him falling under Sathanas' watch. He hadn't been a good person, that much was clear. However, every single person that had formed a contract with him had been someone that had been better than what he had deserved.

Andruil had never held a contract with him. She hadn't needed to for him to let her take over every part of his being. Alvaro hadn't truly known what love was until then. He knew of love though. Platonic in nature. He'd loved Nettelia. He'd loved Safiye. He'd loved Kaan, Evy, Efigenia. But they were all contract holders. They had reason to find some worth in him where Andruil had not needed to. She was some fey that had thought him worthy of her time and he had thought himself some wretched being that didn't deserve for her to even glance his way. But she had. She had looked at him and flowers grew in his chest where there had been darkness.

When he'd seen her again after her death, he'd hoped that she would remember him. It had been wishful thinking given what could be known about drow. Memories were hard to come by for them, but here she stood. He'd avoided her because, in this life, they were nothing to each other. Or he was really nothing to her. She would always be everything to him. In every life he could live, she would be everything to him. He didn't need her to have her memories for that to be true. But it seemed she did now. Just when he had thought that it would be best to accept that it wouldn't happen, here she was. Maybe she hadn't always been his Andruil, but he would always be her Alvaro.

NAME. Alvaro AGE & BIRTH DATE. Unknown GENDER & PRONOUNS. Male & He/Him SPECIES. Demon ( Familiar ) OCCUPATION. Co-Owner of Grazie a Brunch FACE CLAIM. Adan Canto

biography

Life before the Inferno always seemed to be insignificant for a familiar. Or at least it was for Alvaro. He had been within the fifth circle ruled by Sathanas forced to fight within those fiery pits with no real end in sight. Perhaps that was what his life had been before that had caused him to end up here. It would be no matter though as he had learned his place early on. A warrior was what he had been in life and it was a warrior he would be in the Inferno as well. Of course, that was until he had been summoned from those pits into the waiting arms of a druid. Nettelia had given him purpose, but it was wrath that had driven him for centuries upon centuries. He had known nothing other than it so he had been reluctant even as her hand tried to guide him elsewhere. How could he have switched his brain off of the autopilot that it had been wired for so easily? It would take years until he had been willing to accept his place in her life. She had been patient though. Or he could only assume given how she had not sent him back into Sathanas’ willing hands where he felt he belonged.

It had seemed to be ironic when she had created the Necronomicon. Alvaro had not known what the thought process had been, but he had been willing to be by her side through it all. Of course, it would not be so easy. Where there was Nettelia, there were other druids that she had given her gift to. And with that came the severing of their contract. The familiar had expected that he would go back to the Inferno then, but he had been handed over to another. Safiye had not been the Archdruid, but she had been willing to accept the temperance that came with having him as a familiar. Alvaro simply had no choice. As much as he would have been accepting of that hell under the watchful eye of Sathanas, he had not wanted to go back. So he would accept any safe haven he was given from those fiery pits until his druid met her end. He would not let it happen until the very end of that lifespan she had. But it would eventually come and he wasn’t sure that there would be anyone she could transfer that contract to until she came back. And, just as he had expected, there hadn’t been. So there Alvaro went back to the Inferno again, forced to fight with, once again, no real end in sight.

Alvaro had expected to stay within the Inferno for the rest of his life again, but there had been a thought in his head that he could escape if he really wanted to. An abomination was what he would become if he did, but he didn’t mind the hellfire. He had become used to it. Luckily for him, he had been summoned again. It had been a witch this time. Kaan. Anger had taken over Alvaro again and, just like with Nettelia, it had taken years before he had been accepting of the one that he had become a familiar to. Again, he had gotten used to their presence. This life with the witch would be the one he would remember the most though. Alvaro had never known love. When one was stuck within the Inferno, why would anyone have ever known such a thing? There was no such place for it there. However, in this mortal realm, he had found it with a fey.

Andruil had been nothing but light and goodness in his life. She had been the one thing, with the exception being his witch, that had made him want to stay. In the two lives he had before this one, he had always known the Inferno was in his future again. He had been accepting of the fact. This time would be different though. He wouldn’t let himself be sent back no matter what it took. Fey could live forever and he expected that his witch would do the same given the extended life he had given himself. What he had not expected to happen was that she would be taken from him as well. Nettelia, Safiye, his love Andruil. All of them had been taken from him and it had made that wrath he had placed deep within himself rear its ugly head.

Another severed contract would come then. It was of mutual agreement that he would go back to the Inferno again. The two of them had been accepting of it and, with a goodbye that held no tears, he was back under Sathanas’ watchful eyes. There had been anger within them simply due to the fact that Alvaro had found himself leaving that circle far too much for his liking. It mattered little to Alvaro what the greater demon thought though. If it were up to him, he would have stayed here forever and not suffered the loss that came with every druid or witch that could summon him. However, yet again, he had been plucked from the pits and given purpose yet again. It had felt like years upon years since, but one named Guinevere had grasped him from his place and made him her own. She was a druid, too. Her lifespan would come to an end just as the others and he had hoped to not get attached again. Then again, wasn’t it a familiar’s lot in life to be that which one could depend on?

As he had expected though, he had become attached and, just like with all the rest, he had been given right back to Sathanas. The greater demon had become to expect it at this point, but Alvaro was a fighter. And a good one at that. If there was one thing to look forward to when he got back to the Inferno, it was that he was to give the rest of them a show. Perhaps it was easier for him to have stayed there, but another had called upon him. Efigenia. She had only been fourteen when she had gained him as a familiar. Alvaro had known that his usual pattern of acceptance with those that called upon him would not work this time. However, he felt like he wouldn’t have done so regardless. Somehow, some way, he felt like she had been a missing piece for him. Where she had needed him, he felt like he needed her. So he treated her as if she was a daughter he had never had. Through every bad thing that could have happened to her, he knew he would be there.

As she grew up, it had become obvious to Alvaro where her path would go. He had seen it with Nettelia and he had been accepting of it just as he had back then. It was his job as a familiar, not to be a guiding hand, but to be there when it could feel like nobody else would be. Death had come in her wake and, in turn, he would clean up any mess that came with it. Whatever kept her alive was what mattered to him at the end. It was her interest in the Necronomicon that actually made him worry. Yet, he would still be by her side. If the book consumed her, then the worst that could happen would be the same thing that always happened to Alvaro. The Inferno.

personality

+ patient, selfless, loyal - judgmental, apathetic, blunt

Strip club aside, Flirt was the only decent place for demons to hangout. Aside from the bathhouse of course but the last thing Arturo ever wanted to see was Alvaro in a towel. He had big "call me beer can" energy. Ending the world had been a bust, but Arturo was looking forward to what was coming next. He could feel it, the air was charged like in those sweet moments before lightning struck. For a few, glorious days the Inferno had been ripped open and he'd been free from the thought that someday he might be yanked back into the domain of Violence. Things hadn't ended up great for everyone else, but any demon knew there were things far worse than death out there. "How many years does have left now?" Alvaro asked, Efigenia's beauty regimen was brought to a screeching halt, "Thought I saw crow's feet the other day. Better start shopping around now before the old lady croaks."

Love didn't die quietly. Maybe it didn't die at all, but it burned when it was tossed into the flames, and it screamed; oh, how it screamed. She'd said many times that monsters didn't get happy endings, more than anything Nettelia wished that it wasn't true. She wished that just once the Fates would look upon her and bless her with some measure of happiness that extended beyond the realm of duty. Even that was running short, the war was over, the city and the realm had been saved. What remained but to toil over the centuries and what for some other threat to rear its hideous head?

Nettelia could no longer create druids, she could break curses and men broken bones but so could any accomplished coven. Or better yet, any marvel of modern medicine would serve the same purpose; Nettelia was not just a monster, but even worse, she was an obsolete one. One who could not look at her ex-husband without seeing all the pain she'd caused reflected back at her. Over the last few months Nettelia had walked the city several times, bits and pieces of the past came back to her as she pieced together the landmarks she'd known four-thousand years ago with the ruins that rose from the streets now.

The world she knew was beneath her feet, bones built upon bones. She was older than these ruins, older than these stones, and just as weathered. Yet, she remained.

"Do you remember what this place was before these Romans built their colosseum?

Nettelia was still here though, heart still beating within her chest amongst the stairs of a Colosseum that had not been there so long ago when they had last seen each other. Before, it had just been nothing but a plot of land, but it had been something. They visited this place often, just the two of them. He looked around at the pieces of Rome that were embedded within the stone and then back towards Nettelia. She was still here. Alvaro couldn't really believe it still. Not from this war, but in general. He didn't think he would ever see her again so often that it always felt relieving when he did.

"A pile of fucking rubble." He let the tip of his boot play with a rock as his brows furrowed. "We used to do a lot here in this pile of rubble though. Talking. Fighting. We always had nothing but time. Now it feels like neither of us have any of it."

Alvaro leaned forward, her familiar's forehead touching against hers to show the rarest stretch of familial affection and loyalty they held for one another. Alvaro had been there from the beginning, when she'd been a lost little girl with no coven to claim as her own. Power had come naturally to her but family was a warped concept. Her parents were pitiful, her once coven had turned her out, but when she conjured Alvaro he was the one missing piece within her orbit. She'd met Jianyu before being introduced to Kaan and it was as though that fickle bitch named Fate had warranted this for Alvaro had once been Kaan's familiar hundreds of years, thousands, prior. Alvaro was saddled to her choices and though she could be sorry about it, Efigenia had a job to do. The Advocate pulled back sharply, her face stitched back to this unreadable resolve as Avery entered the tomb of the lower level. Efigenia knew Alvaro would skirt back towards the shadows, a watchful eye and her faithful guardian to the very end; the once Narcissus Watcher turned on her heel to greet the other Asphodel member and begin.