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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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Comments

[mincingminuet]

No...I was in a submarine. Some people got turned into animals but that was in the lab, not space.

[Out of context? Yes that is fucking weird. Also Emil also turned into cheese.]

[darkinferno]

[Is this what it sounds like when he explains their adventures to other people...?]

So you wound up in a submarine... in space. Do I have that right?

[mincingminuet]

Yeah. You do.

[She just sounds so bored with it too.]

I have it on camera. I'll show you sometime.

[darkinferno]

[Dante shakes his head]

At least ours made some sort of sense.

[He pauses for another bite, thinking it over before he gives Pen a sideways glance.]

Was that all this was about, our crazy adventures through the unknown? Or did you have something else you wanted to talk about?

[mincingminuet]

Well I wanted to check on you, after Ryoji.

[A breath.]

And thank you. For helping bring Freya back to me.

[darkinferno]

For what?

[Excuse him a moment, Pen, he wasn't expecting that. But after a moment he's giving a quiet snort of bemusement, glancing back out to sea.]

I didn't do that much. Freya's plenty capable on her own, you know. She would've made it back with or without the rest of us.

[He doesn't doubt that in the slightest.]

[mincingminuet]

Look, I know that. She's tougher than you and me combined.

[She shoots him a somewhat annoyed, if not outright angry look.]

But Christ, when I saw that photo of the two of you fighting a fucking yeti? I freaked out a little. But I knew that she had someone reliable with her through that. It helped.

[darkinferno]

[Ohhh. Okay, he sees where this is coming from now. Dante swallows his first instinct, looking for a response that won't make her feel like he's belittling her worries.]

I can't say I'm glad that any of us wound up stranded like that... but if it had to happen, I'm glad the both of us wound up in the same place. I've got her back, she's got mine, and between the two of us we... could usually keep everyone safe.

[With two notable exceptions.]

[mincingminuet]

Yeah.  I know you guys did your best.

[She trusted Dante to stubbornly stick up for the people that he knew.  He was just that way.]

Have some...mixed news, too.  I know you have your run-ins with the cops sometimes.  Did you know Noah Gabranth?

[darkinferno]

[That's the problem. He's not sure if he did.

But Dante shoves the thought away for now. It's not important right now.]

Yeah. No sense of humor, expected the world to stop for him, thought he'd get information just by demanding it?

What about him?

[mincingminuet]

He's off the network now.

[Pen frowns.]

I remembered him in my hallucinomemories. I'm not sure if that's good or bad based on those, but he's not aware anymore.

[darkinferno]

What sort of stuff did you remember about him?

[mincingminuet]

He...is a Judge. Capital J, some sort of soldier and lawman or something.

[She shoves the last of that slice in her mouth and chews before adding:]

And I remembered him trying to kill the other me.

[darkinferno]

Oh. That's all?

[Dante's finishing his piece as well, leaning back onto his hands. The corner of his mouth turns up in a faint, halfhearted smirk, just enough to let her know he's joking as he chews.]

Just because you remember that doesn't mean he'd do the same thing now.

I've... got a couple memories of fighting someone else that's on the network here. Really fighting, not just sparring like we do Sundays. I don't like this version of him either, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna try to kill him. That's not the type of person I am.

[mincingminuet]

I know that. I grew up with him around. Gabranth has been as much a part of my life as my brothers.

[More than, really.]

We talked about it though. And...not talked about it. I don't think he'd try and kill me obviously. But maybe it's better this way, avoiding any chance.

Anyway, I just thought you should know he was off.

[darkinferno]

Yeah, I'll make sure I don't accidentally drunk-text him again. He'll probably be less likely to let it go if I do.

[Is he joking? Who knows.]

It'll be weird, not seeing his grumpy ass around.

[mincingminuet]

Yeah. And as weird as it sounds, it'll be easier to talk to him again, with him not remembering. But...safer.

[Back to stodgy cop.]

Pass that Fireball?

[darkinferno]

Nah, I get it.

[He reaches down, grabbing the bottle and passing it over.]

There are a couple people in this city I'd get along with a lot better if they didn't remember any of this stuff, too.

[mincingminuet]

[Taking it, she unscrews the top and takes a sip. Straight cinnamon whiskey. Yum.]

Sora?

[darkinferno]

[Oops, someone's taking a loooooooong drink instead of replying right away.]

That obvious, huh? Or did you hear it from someone else?

[mincingminuet]

Just from him.

[Penelope shrugs, taking another drink.]

He seemed like a nice kid, but I don't actually know him.

[darkinferno]

[That's a snort.]

I couldn't tell you. If it weren't for both of us remembering all this Retrospec shit, I'd make sure I never had to see his face around this city.

[Definitely bad memories here.]

[mincingminuet]

As bad as Gabranth and I?

[She's curious now, mostly because Sora seems like...a really sweet if really naive kid.]

[darkinferno]

[A pause... and then he nods.]

I've got at least one memory of the two of us fighting. When he won I... [Dante lifts his free hand, looking at it as though he might fade away just by talking about it.] I was fading away.

I don't know what happened after that.

[mincingminuet]

Fading away...?

[That's an oddly specific way to phrase that.]

Think it could have something to do with whatever powers you have? I assume he's similar, jumping around like that.