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[darkinferno]

Dante Rantanen

"Hey, you've reached Dante. I'm not in right now--you know what to do."

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

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[darkinferno]

[what the hell prof]

what are you telling me this for

are you hoping i'll use your teaching to take your cats to court for murder

because that's not happening

[daemonized]

[what the hell retrospec

The message is the tiniest bit delayed, because he's trying to figure out just how this text managed to miss its mark so wildly.]

And why wouldn't you? It'd be a landmark case. Please don't tell me you're more of a /dog/ person.

[obviously the best way to deal with this is to roll with it.]

[darkinferno]

obviously i am do i seem like the kind of guy that likes cats to you

[Spoilers: he actually does like cats, even though he likes dogs better. But the workers at the animal shelter always like telling him how catlike he is, so... like hell. Like hell!]

[daemonized]

Goodness, don't ever tell my nephews that. What do you possibly have against cats? You're a bit like one yourself.

[CALLING HIM OUT ON IT]

[darkinferno]

what are you talking about

i am not

[8T!!!!! RUDE AF AND AFTER HE DEFENDED HIM TO ARLENE TOO]

besides i think they have enough of an obsession with cats to cover for the rest of us

[daemonized]

[WOW U GUYS BEEN TALKING ABOUT HIM BEHIND HIS BACK??]

You are too. Independent, aloof, easily irritated. If you had a tail, I would imagine it flicking back and forth right this very moment.

It's a healthy appreciation, not an obsession. [It's totally an obsession.]

[darkinferno]

[OF COURSE HE WAS WHAT DOES ARDYN THINK HE DOES WITH HIS LIFE

Also, he's entirely correct. That tail would 100% be flicking if he had one.]

you don't know what you're talking about

anyways, souji tried to get me to shove a cat through a phone screen. i'd call it an obsession

[daemonized]

You don't appear to be denying these traits.

Surely you realize that he was joking with you?

[darkinferno]

well if i do you're just going to try and insist it's more proof of your point anyways

this is entrapment

when it comes to souji and cats i never take anything at less than face value. i'm pretty sure if i'd been willing to go and find a stray cat he would have wanted me to try it

if you're talking about him supposedly being sucked into the network, i called him out on his bullshit right then and there

[daemonized]

It is no such thing! I'm merely getting you to see the truth regarding your own personality traits. 😸

[Yes, he just used a cat emoji to throw him off. You can blame Souji for all of this.]

Maybe he was trapped in the network. Some help you were, aiding my poor nephew then.

1/2 WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO HIM ARDYN

[darkinferno]

[is that...

a god-damned cat emote.........]

[darkinferno]

this is not a conversation we're having right now

you're not seriously using cat emotes at me

what the hell has this app led to

and come on, we both know he wasn't actually trapped in the network. some weird shit's gone down but still, people don't get pulled into their phone screens

[daemonized]

What's wrong with the cat emote? I thought it was appropriate, given our conversation that we definitely are entertaining.

Perhaps not /yet/. Horses have been replaced by giant yellow birds. Is being pulled into one's phone really all that strange in comparison?

[darkinferno]

[You know what? No. He's not even going to respond to that first part. This is stupid. Ardyn's stupid. He is not a cat. A law professor shouldn't be using cat emotes. What the hell has this stupid app even led to.]

i apparently just have some really dumb hope that all of this is going to turn out to have been one giant mass nightmare we're all having and that we'll wake up to find everything's normal and things make sense again

besides. people can't be converted into data. that's impossible.

[daemonized]

Maybe not. Do you think, though, that cats can be? Perhaps there's a dark truth hidden behind these seemingly harmless emotes.

🙀🙀🙀


[Souji and Ardyn really are related... He's just messing with you now, Dante.]

[darkinferno]

well thanks to you and souji i now know that they CAN be so

thanks for that

[Guess who got a regain right after telling Ardyn it was impossible for people to be converted into data...]

[daemonized]

[Well. Record scratch sfx goes here.]

Meaning?

[darkinferno]

meaning i just got another of those flashes

i can't remember all the details, but there was this town somewhere out there. a REAL town. and someone managed to clone it into some sort of data world. the people too. they were turned into data and had lives of their own inside the town--they weren't programs that could be controlled. somehow they were converted into data and sent into this digital world

[daemonized]

[He really needs to stop talking to people. This is the, what? Eighth memory he's triggered in someone else? He's not sure if he should feel bad, or intrigued.]

Is this a town that you... visited yourself, or do you even remember?

[darkinferno]

i don't know for sure

i think i might have? i remember the place clearly enough that it's like i went there

but i don't know if that was because i was there or looking at it on a screen. no matter how much i try to figure it out i just keep coming up blank

[daemonized]

Needless to say, a stark difference compared to what your previous memories have been, according to what you've described to me in the past.

We're still lacking vital connective tissue in your case, however. The whole picture isn't becoming clearer, it's merely becoming more obfuscated. Have you remembered anything else before now?

[darkinferno]

yeah, normally it's been pretty definitive, i'm not sure why this one feels so murky

i mean it's still vivid enough that i know it's one of these memories and not something else but it feels like i just got a glimpse of it, not the whole thing

i... yeah. i think i'm up to about seven of them now

four types of monsters: invisibles, darkballs, darksides, and now these giant monsters called behemoths

then i've remembered being on that island i told you about, this... and i remembered something else during the blackout, too. i think i've been wandering in the darkness before

i was having a conversation with someone but i couldn't hear anything they were saying. but i said some things that made me think

[Man. This is hard to admit to.]

i said stuff about not being ready until i'd seen them one last time

and about it being the afterworld

i think i might've died

[daemonized]

[He wants to comment about how darkness seems to be an ongoing motif with Dante. But then, i think i might've died.

Ardyn is frowning at his screen. He's trying to think of the implications of someone remembering their own death, not to mention how to approach it in conversation with someone else.]

Died?

[Suddenly calling them "memories" feel all the more apt. He had mentioned the idea of reincarnation and past lives with others before (Dante included), but he hadn't thought too much of it. Now, though...]

You didn't feel pain did you?

[He hopes that wasn't something particularly traumatizing to remember.]

[darkinferno]

no, not really

[He felt something, but it wasn't pain... Dante takes a moment to think about it before continuing.]

i felt weak

i walked forward a few steps and almost collapsed, and then there was this... it's stupid but i guess it was almost like an aura glowing around me

and when that happened i could FEEL myself getting weaker. i was going to fade away, and nothing would be left

[daemonized]

That must have been a terrifying feeling.

[He's sent the message before thinking to re-word it, but perhaps being sympathetic wasn't something he should hesitate feeling in a situation like this.]

Maybe this business of "past lives" isn't so far-fetched. I suppose you can take comfort in the fact that you're very much solid and alive right now. I do wonder what happened, however.

And I don't think you need me to point out that there is an on-going theme of "darkness" with your experiences.