darkinferno | [ic inbox]

hmm, all right, i'll start thinking then

in the meantime, you want some company? i'll probably be done going through my stuff way before you, i can come over once i'm done

I'd love that!

[Noah's out working at the moment so it shouldn't be... too bad. They're usually pretty good about not fighting in front of her but she worries about them getting along anyway.]

I'll be here. You can let yourself in.

[She takes a short break from sorting clothes so that she can make more coffee. If nothing else, it always makes the apartment smell nice. It's also less dangerous than, say, boiling tea on the stove.

She's still learning... that...

While the coffee percolates, she clears some clothes off her bed into a bag, and then begins to sort the next batch. This shirt was definitely blue, or so she thought. Maybe it's a duplicate.]

[They won't tell her about Dante trying to cut Noah's arm off last month...

At any rate, Dante takes a quick look through his clothes (man, all of his blue jeans are now gray, too...!). There's not a lot he's choosing to get rid of, since A) while he cares about his appearance, he doesn't care enough to amass large amounts of clothing, and B) who knows? This could be like them all waking up six inches tall last month, where it goes away in a week. If that's the case, throwing out all his blue and green clothes is going to feel really dumb.

(It's probably not, since Retrospec bothered to "announce" it, but whatever.)

He's only got a couple grocery bags to donate when he heads over to Ari's place, leaving the clothes in the bag as he heads inside. He can smell the coffee as soon as he opens the door, taking a deep inhalation of the warm scent, but he's headed toward her room to find her first.

For a moment he'll just watch, content to just see her again, but after a moment he'll announce himself so that he doesn't seem like too much of a creeper.]

Hey.

[Better not...

Ari doesn't actually hear him come in. She has music playing softly from her laptop, something from by Sibelius, and she's just quietly listening to it while sorting her stuff. His greeting is enough to make her drop the shirt she's folding though.]

Ah!

[She laughs it off and goes to hug him, warm and tight.]

Sorry, I was kind of spacing out. How are y--

[It's been a while, but she's pretty sure Dante didn't have silver hair the last time she saw him. She stares up at him, her surprise turning to a blush, until she breathes out two words.]

... oh my.

[There's a smile on his face as he wraps his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. It's been too long since the last time they saw each other.

However, he doesn't get to hold her for long before she pulls back to look up at him, her expression giving it all away. Dante's smile fades into something a bit more neutral as he reaches up, running a hand through his hair.]

Yeah... I woke up like this this morning. Apparently Retrospec decided they needed to take away blond, too.

[Ari has to cover her mouth for a moment. She's not... terrified, or anything. But she sure is flustered.]

You're so handsome. You were before, but now you're even more striking.

[She gently twists a bit of his new silver hair around her finger. It doesn't look the same as an elderly person's white hair. It looks like someone spun clouds into silk, and she can't say she dislikes it at all.

She has to think of his comfort, of course. She isn't terribly focused on appearances, not like her mother, but she is conscious of them. She figures that a huge change like this might make him feel... alien.]

I think it suits you, Dante.

[She's amazing, in how she reads him so well. Maybe he hasn't been wearing it on his face, but Dante's definitely been feeling out of sorts when it came to his new hair color. It isn't him he sees when he looks in the mirror now; it's that other version of him, the one who messed up so badly and let the darkness into his heart, the one who was so sure he was too strong for the Heartless to swallow his heart and so obviously failed. It doesn't feel like he's him any more, as much as he's refused to admit that to anybody.

And maybe it should unnerve him that she thinks it suits him; of course it would suit him if he's destined to only fall into the same pitfalls the other him had... but for some reason, when she says it, he's comforted.

She likes it, and it doesn't change the way she sees him. She's still looking at him and seeing Dante, not some other boy with a heart full of darkness.]

I'm glad one of us likes it. I'd been thinking about seeing if I could dye it back.

But if you like it, then maybe I'll keep it this way instead.

[Even if she knew the other Dante, she knows Dante for who he is. She'd love him all the same. They all have that risk, now; Noah, who is trying so hard to distance himself from the boy in his memories, and Ari, who has only seem brief glimpses of a dashing rogue with a tendency to make her cry. She wonders who she used to be.

She won't let it control her.]

You could dye it any color you'd like. I bet the color would turn out wonderfully. I'm almost a little jealous; anything more than highlights looks terrible on me.

[She gently curls her hand against his cheek, thumb brushing over the invisible dimple of his smile. Her expression turns a touch more serious.]

... You're still you, Dante.

[For an instant, surprise flashes over his face--where did that come from? And then, as Dante is wont to do, he gives a small huff of disdain, as though he can let the words slide right off of him.]

Obviously I'm still...

[But no. This is Ari. She knows him probably better than he even knows himself, and he can't shut her out the same way he tries to shut out the rest of the world. The corner of his lips turn up in a wry smile as he shakes his head, closing his eyes and focusing on the feeling of of her hand on his cheek.]

Yeah. I know. Even if I look like him now... I won't make the same mistakes he did.

After all, I've got people important to me to make sure I don't go down that path, right?

[He's reaching out to mirror her movements, dipping his fingers into her dark hair above her ear, running them through just far enough before drawing his palm back toward her jawline.

As long as he's got people he cares about around him, he can't possibly lose himself to that other him. He won't let himself.]

[Her eyes are soft like her smile. Though Dante superficially different from the boy she grew up with, the way he looks at her is the same. The bump of his nose, the curves of his ear, the gently sloping jaw-- none of that's changed.

She doesn't know the boy in Dante's memories, and she doesn't know what he did. But she knows Dante.]

If he's anything like you, I'm sure he did what he thought was best at the time. You've risked yourself to help people before, haven't you?

[Isn't that what the whole jail thing was about?]

But whatever the other 'you' did, you're Dante now-- with your own feelings and your own path to walk.

[Ari turns her head slightly so that she can press a kiss into his palm.]

This life is real. You're real. [Her eyes practically sparkle from beneath her dark lashes.] Trust me.

Edited (flow + clarity) 2017-06-14 04:24 (UTC)

I know I am.

[Dante takes a half-step closer, dipping his head down so that he can rest his forehead against hers.]

If I weren't real, I wouldn't be able to hold you like this.

Whatever life he lived... it wasn't this one.

I trust you.

Dante...

[Somehow he always knows how to make her melt. To her credit, she's done a very good job of not doing just that... but... she's about as pressed up against him as she can get. Hugs are nice, okay.]

I trust you, too. We'll just have to keep reminding each other. [If that means sometimes echoing Dante's words back at him, then she'll do it as much as it takes.

She runs her hand along his cheek again, and this time she moves in for a proper peck to the lips. Yeah, yeah, they have lunch to get and clothes to sort, but she wants to kiss him first! He's right there and cute and waiting, how can she not?]

[Oh, come on, like he's going to let her go with just a simple peck! His lips curl up in a smile, and Dante wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her in tightly. True to what he's told Noah, he hasn't pushed Ari for anything further, but in a way it feels like coming home at the end of a long day, a respite from all the inanity that their lives have become in these past few months.

His other hand moves from her jaw, fingers sliding into her hair as he kisses her, silky smooth against his skin. Can she tell how he feels through his actions? Words seem too weak to express how she makes him feel, how just being in her presence can calm him and how she makes him feel like he's capable of doing anything. How can he do anything more but want to kiss her fiercely?

But Dante still wants to take things at her speed, and so after only a couple kisses he'll pull back slightly, just enough to look into Ari's eyes.]

Maybe we shouldn't. At this rate, I might forget why I came over here in the first place.

[Ari is so much more important than chores and donations.]

Edited (i have no idea how that posted?) 2017-06-18 16:05 (UTC)

[Ari makes a soft noise of contentment, leaning into the kiss. She becomes a little more pliant in his arms even though she's meeting him kiss for kiss, hands slipping beneath his hair; it's a subtle shift of control that shows how much she trusts him.

Dante has been patient and it's wonderful that way. Noah's out at work so being walked in on is... less of a concern, but she's still taken care not to push on her end, too. Sometimes Dante needs a little shove now and then, but they're both surprisingly fragile people and she doesn't want something like an overstepped boundary to become what ruins their relationship. The last thing she wants to do is assume something and hurt Dante somehow. He might laugh if he knew, though; he's the most indelicate creature she's ever met.

Makes her love him all the more.

She giggles softly as Dante pulls back and states the obvious.]

I hate to be boring but I'd like to get these clothes taken care of. [Her eyes dance, mischievous beneath dark lashes.] We could always get food to go and picnic somewhere. What do you think?

[Dante would definitely laugh if he knew. His hesitancy comes with the emotional intimacy, never with the physical. If he could have it his way, he'd be falling asleep with her in his arms every night already, whether that was in a purely innocent way or after a more... carnal evening.

But he'd promised himself and Ari both that he'd take it at her speed, and he'd meant it.

There's a sparkle in her eyes that he loves so much as she suggests a picnic, and he doesn't fight the urge to lean back in to kiss her forehead.]

Sure, that sounds good to me. Clothes first, then food?

[And, with only a little bit of regret, he'll let her go. Much as he likes to hold her, she can't get any clothes sorted from his arms!]

[She hums happily when Dante kisses her forehead. Honestly, it's the little things that she loves. Dante is Dante-- even if he should walk into her room with raven black hair and Hot Topic eyes.]

Mm-hmm. I've only got about one more bag full, and then we can go. [She gestures to the... several bags she has already. Her clothes are folded nice and neat despite being in plastic bags.] You can make yourself something to drink if you want-- there's coffee in the kitchen.

[She picks up a pair of jeans and inspects them, somewhat alarmed.]

Hold on... why aren't these blue anymore?

Edited 2017-06-21 02:48 (UTC)

[There's a blink from Dante. And then two. And then:]

Wait, that isn't why you were going through your clothes in the first place?

Ari... have you looked outside today at all?

W-what? No, I set this up months ago. I go through my closet every summer.

[She's a celebrity; she amasses a ridiculous amount of clothes. Though, as he brings it up, her eyes move to the shades. She hurriedly draws them open against the high sun. Nothing leaves her mouth but a soft gasp, and then there is silence.

Blue is gone, but so is green. It looks absolutely alien out there, like a retouched photo, and...]

No, this is all wrong... Why is it all gray? If everything blue and green is gone too, then-- [Wait.] -- but your eyes are fine!

[He's silent as he watches her go to the window, leaning back against the wall with his arms folded, knowing already what she's going to see outside. Gray, gray, and more gray, somehow dull even with the bright light shining against it all.

Dante waits through the initial shock, but once she realizes that his eyes are still blue, he nods, pushing away from the wall and unfolding his arms.]

Anything that Retrospec was responsible for--my eyes, stuff they've sent to people... all of that's still got its color. Do you remember the sword I told you about last month? It's still blue too.

[To underscore his point he holds out his hand, summoning Soul Eater to it and holding it out for her to see (and if she wants, to take it, pommel first).]

I'm guessing you haven't checked the network yet, either. Jim made a post about it taunting all of us. Like it's some sort of game...!

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