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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]

You mean what it looks like?

[If he sounds a bit perplexed, that's because he is. What is there to describe about Soul Eater? Its appearance seems too simple for all the other questions she's been asking him.]

[originallutece]

[JESUS THAT ICON]

Yes, what it looks like. There's a great many swords in the world, and I'd appreciate the elaboration.

[darkinferno]

[I LOVE IT SO MUCH LMAO]

All right. [Still, there's a slight hesitation to what he says next, because god damn has he taken some shit from people about his sword!]

It's shaped like a bat's wing. The spines are dark blue, and what's the membrane part is red. It's pretty wide at the spine, but it goes to a sharp edge at the bottom of the wing. No sort of guard on it, a black-wrapped handle, and there's this... it almost looks like an eye set into it. It's almost the same color as mine are, but if there was a cat-shaped pupil instead.

[originallutece]

. . . goodness.

[Well. That's certainly . . . Hot Topic . . . but no, she won't give him shit for it. She is taking notes, though, and so there's a few seconds' pause.]

Does any of that have any meaningful significance to you?

[darkinferno]

Not really.

The only thing I know is that it's mine. It just feels right somehow, like I was always meant to have it. And in my memories, the other me had it too.

[originallutece]

What did he-- you-- fight with it?

[darkinferno]

Monsters.

So far I've remembered two different types: the Heartless and Dream Eaters.

[Very descriptive names, aren't they, Rosalind?]

[originallutece]

[Good grief, what is this, a session of Bunkers and Badasses?]

And do those creatures have descriptions to go along with those names?

[darkinferno]

[At least he hasn't got any spells yet?]

Yeah, but there are a whole bunch of different types of each. Like how there are multiple types of bears or monkeys. Which one do you want first?

[originallutece]

Let's begin with Heartless.

[darkinferno]

All right. [He takes a moment, mentally cataloging the information he's got so far.]

They come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. The ones I remember the most of are these little bulbous shadows with glowing yellow eyes and sharp claws. They're about knee height and have these antenna sticking out of their head. [Even though he knows she can't see him on the phone, Dante gestures, drawing the antennae out for her.] But there are these other ones called Behemoths, which are gigantic and mainly use the horn on their head to attack, or Darksides, which are like the shadows if they ever grew up. I don't know if I've remembered everything yet, but I know that they're supposedly "born of the darkness in people's hearts," whatever that's supposed to mean.

[originallutece]

[Behemoths? That's not the first time she's heard that word, and she frowns as she makes note of it.]

You haven't seen anyone else you recognize here in your memories, have you?

[darkinferno]

[WHY THIS ROSALIND LET HIM LIVE???? Dante scowls.]

Yeah, I have. And I don't really feel like talking about him. I'm trying to forget he exists.

Anything not involving him you wanna know?

[originallutece]

[WOW oh someday they are definitely coming back to that.]

You have yet to tell me about Dream Eaters.

[darkinferno]

[Uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh nooooooo because then people think that they're going to be able to fix it and he doesn't want to deal with people trying to fix it when he'd rather just avoid the idea altogether why can't they just forget about Sora entirely..........]

More monsters. These ones are different from the Heartless, though. They're more like animals that you'd recognize from real life, just... different. There's one called a Necho Cat; it looks like a cat, but it's got three sets of legs, bells at the tips of its ears, and its tail is shaped like an eighth note.

[originallutece]

Does it attack? Or does it simply look strange?

[darkinferno]

It attacks. [Beat.] I think. That part's a little muddy. I remember fighting against them, but I also remember fighting with them too. I could use their power to augment my own.

[Of course, bat wings and darkness don't exactly make that any easier to parse whether the Dream Eaters were good or bad...]

[originallutece]

. . . how, precisely? Do you recall?

[What the hell is his world . . .]

[darkinferno]

Probably not well enough to satisfy you. [Dante frowns, trying to recall the memory of them. How had it worked...?] The Dream Eaters... I don't know for sure, but they might have been something more... metaphysical. When I was fighting them, they didn't leave corpses behind. They'd just burst into nothingness.

So when I needed to, I could absorb their power into myself that way.

[It all makes sense until you have to explain it, really.]

[originallutece]

[Does it really? Rosalind listens closely to that explanation, but though she can make sense of some of it, some of it simply sounds nonsensical. Which doesn't mean Dante is lying, of course; it's just difficult to provide a rational explanation when one only has scraps of memories.]

And when you absorbed their power . . . I know you can summon a sword. Was it part of that, or some other power?

[darkinferno]

[He shakes his head, unseen--this much is obvious to him.]

It's different. I already told you I can usually sense it in my heart. But the power of the Dream Eaters... I can feel it running through my entire body. In the memory I got, I had wings; I'm pretty sure those were related to the power I took from the Dream Eaters.

[originallutece]

Good god.

[She murmurs it.]

Functional ones?

[darkinferno]

A little smaller than they should've been, but functional enough. I couldn't fly upward with them, but they worked well enough to glide above the ground.

[And besides, he's got his fancy parkour for going up.]

[originallutece]

Well. Perhaps you'll regain those soon.

[She exhales slowly. This is a lot to consider.]

All right. I'll spare you more questions for the moment, though I'll be following up soon enough.

[darkinferno]

[A snort.]

I doubt it. Not unless we get the Dream Eaters to go along with it, and I don't know about you but I don't want to see monsters in the streets any time soon.

That's fine with me, I don't mind answering questions. Let me know when you want to talk again.