darkinferno | [ic inbox]

hey aria, finally got this

we made it back mostly intact

how were things here?

oh god you're here. Are you... mostly intact? [What the hell does that mean!!]

Things are okay. Still a mess everywhere. Going to be a mess for a while, but nothing terrible. Don't feel like you need to text back. I've heard how exhausting it is. Take your time.

[She'll get another response the following morning. Thanks for being cool, Aria.]

it's... a long story [There's no denying that every member of their team left a little piece of their souls behind when they got back into town. One of your teammates dying will do that to you.]

there were a bunch of us that wound up in the same place, we all teamed up to try and make it back to the city together

one of them died

[...sorry to bring the mood down, Aria.]

[She tries. Over the past few weeks, she's seen how exhausted Minako and some of the others are. Since he vanished completely, she can only assume he's been through worse.]

omg I'm so sorry, dante. It's good that you came back, but that isn't easy to deal with. Are you going to be okay?

[Maybe. Not really. Right now he feels like he's been split open in all the chaos, and he doesn't know how to fix things. He's never known how to fix things, not really. Relationships, items, ideas... he's always just thrown them away when they fell apart. He's the only thing he's never been able to get rid of, and even in the past he's only thrown up walls against everything.

Is this too much to wall off, to refuse to unpack? Maybe... but then again, maybe it's not.]

yeah

i'll be okay

i just need it to stop feeling like everyone's holding their breath, it's like everyone's just waiting for what september's gonna bring

[She might not know him all that well, or the details of what him and his group have been through. But Aria knows enough about tragedy and denial and that tine tends to help.]

It will get better. It will stop feeling like that with time. Everything still feels too fresh, right? I won't promise that that feeling will go away completely, but it will get better. We have to hope that September isn't like what some of us had to through this month. You can talk to me about stuff if you want. Sometimes that helps too.

[It's true, time usually does help. But in this case it almost makes it worse; it's been a couple years since his grandmother passed away and Dante first made the decision not to care about anybody. Those walls were starting to break down a bit, but now, here, again--letting himself care about his team just led to hurting like this.]

yeah i know

[Does he mean about it getting better or talking to her? Dante doesn't specify.]

why does everyone want me to talk to them, it's not going to change anything

he'll still be dead

[It'll be a bit before she responds back. Something like this needs to be handled carefully and appropriately.]

No. It won't. Nothing will bring them back. But sometimes when you lose someone, you feel like you loose a bit of yourself. Even if you don't know them really well, it's hard not to be affected in some way. It might change how you feel though. And that can be something important. It's up to you. Your choice, Dante. There are different ways of dealing with it. This can be one.

Edited 2017-08-31 00:36 (UTC)

[Unfortunately, there are only a couple of people Dante might confide in after this. It's too uncomfortably akin to admitting weakness, admitting failure to talk about why Ryoji's death eats at him so much. And while a couple people have managed to worm their way past his defenses, have proven that they'll stand beside him no matter what happens... he's still got an irrational distrust and fear to talk about it with most people.]

what, talking about my feelings like i actually give a shit about them? next it'll be sewing felt hearts from calico scraps and hiding wishes inside

i think i'll pass

[Sorry, Aria.]

[Hmm, he's probably still tired from everything and might not need a lecture. But still, she can't quite let one thing go.]

I refuse to believe that you don't.

[If he's mourn from a loss, for whatever reason, then of course he cares. But she won't go any further than that.

For now...]

But you do you, Dante. I'm just leaving an offer open is all. I don't mind if the only thing you want to let me know in the future is if the fight club's still on or whatever. I just hope you get some rest.

[He's going to ignore all of that except for one key part.]

fight club's still on for sure

after this month, i think we've proved we need it more than ever

Good to know.

[Yup. That's all she's sending him now.]

[ic inbox]

8/27 when he finally responds

Re: 8/27 when he finally responds

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