darkinferno | [ic inbox]

[After his (mild) success with his experiment on Friday, Dante's more than ready to try fighting again when Luke texts him on Thursday. Even though he barely knows what he's doing, there's something that feels undeniably right about it, like it was a part of him before he was even him. So when he enters the practice room, a bag slung over his shoulder with a rapier handle sticking out of it, he grins back at Luke.]

Yeah, definitely. Thanks for agreeing to help me out here.

[He sets his bag on the ground, taking a moment to do a couple stretches of his own to loosen up.]

So how'd everything with the conspiracy chart turn out? You guys any closer to figuring out what's going on here?

Not even partially. But on the bright side I didn't have to give out a ton of free drinks on Friday either. [He doesn't mind that Dante's taking the time to stretch and he's more interested in this vein of conversation now.] I'm starting to look into something else, too. Mostly how people are regaining some of the same memories.

You've noticed that too? Me and Arlene Sinclair--blonde, sarcastic, works at that coffee shop over in Tisse--we've been remembering the same stuff.

[Stretches done, he's pulling his new rapier out of its makeshift sheath, giving it a quick once-over. It's pretty much brand new, blunted with a button on the tip, so there's little chance of anything being wrong with it.]

Who've you been sharing memories with?

Don't think I've met her yet but that sounds about right for a barista. [He looks over Dante's weapon, and he's about to make a snide remark about how he can't believe he went out and bought a sword but he gets distracted fairly easily then.]

Thalia and Annabeth, kind of. More like...Annabeth and I have parts of the same memory and Thalia and I had exactly the same one simultaneously. What do you make of that?

What do I make of it? [Dante shrugs, dropping his hands to his sides, rapier held lightly by his leg. It still doesn't feel quite right in his hands--he feels like he needs something bigger, a little more powerful--but he's definitely getting more comfortable with wielding it.]

I don't know if I believe in past lives, but it's starting to sound like the most reasonable explanation for all of this. It sounds to me like the three of you must have known each other back then.

[It's still a little hard to swallow, but there's something about flowing into an attack you've never made with a weapon you've never used that makes it a little bit tougher to pretend that nothing's going on.]

[The rapier in his hand shifts back and forth as he considers this.]

I don't know if I believe in past lives either since that's tipping a little too close to the "crazier than shit" scale. And anyway that would also mean me being lucky enough to find those two again after whatever happened to lose a first life.

[...it's not something he wants to brush on because it's uncomfortable, though he can't say why. Instead, he shakes his head.]

Anyway. C'mon, show me what you've already learned so far. We can talk about that later.

[Dante shrugs.] Weirder things have happened.

[Like a guy who has flower petals shower down around him at random moments. That one's a bit weirder than reincarnation.

But Dante's more than willing to switch their focus to the actual reason they've gotten together today, and he nods, stepping out into the center of the room.]

All right, let's give this a try. Come at me.

[Only. The stance he's stepping into isn't even close to a classical fencing stance? He's got his body twisted slightly, weight balanced between both feet almost evenly, but his left hand is forward, palm up as though to gesture at Luke to "come here," his rapier arm cocked back and up so it's above his head, tip pointed down toward his target.

Yup. He's completely ready.]

[For a brief moment he hesitates and he's staring at Dante's stance. It's not something he's never seen before, but it's also not something he's expecting. It's not a traditional stance and it's for that reason he doesn't move just yet.]

Man, what are you doing? You think you're gonna get a hit in off of that?

[Dante, though, isn't deterred.]

Why don't we try it and see?

[There's a part of him that wants to spring forward, to show Luke how quickly he can react off that stance, but he's holding steady. After all, Luke isn't actually on his guard yet!]

[He can handle that and without further word he shifts his rapier in a guard position, standard and traditional. He cocks his head to the side, a challenging look in place.]

Is this the part where we settle in a stand-off then? [After all, he assumes that Dante's the one who can't fight just yet.]

Not quite.

[He pushes off the balls of his feet, arm twisting slightly as he brings the blade down in an overhand stroke. He's expecting Luke to block it (after all, he did wait for him to be in a guard position!), so he's prepared to shift into a backhand, cutting attack before following with a third strike coming up from the bottom. He isn't moving at full speed--after all, this is supposed to be a spar and he expects that he'll take Luke off-guard just by nature of the fact that apparently he can fight--but neither is he going super-slowly. Sure, he might catch Luke off guard, but he also expects that Luke's fast enough to respond in turn, too.

Of course, he's also using his rapier as one would a full-sized sword, not the point-based offence that fencing focuses on, and in spite of the fact that he can feel his muscle memory guiding him, he's still not exactly certain of his motions. Oops?]

[It's like he'd told Dave. It's all about instinct, and the moment Dante comes at him Luke's rotating the rapier in his wrist and blocking, bouncing back and moving in for a strike. Like Dante, it's obvious suddenly he's not using his rapier in the "right way" given he's swinging in a slash-and-hack kind of way, unleashed and not as tight and controlled as fencing. He has no desires or goals to actually hurt Dante, but he's definitely not letting up either.

Strangely, they both seem to be a little uncertain and yet skilled enough to put up a good fight.]

Now who the hell trained you before this? [Luke, stop talking.]

[He lets his body take over, his instincts and his memories guiding his movements. There's something that feels more right about fighting with Luke, much more natural than when he and Sorey had sparred, or when Vera had tried to teach him the basics of fencing. Luke's using a style that's more similar to his own, and Dante can't help but grin in elation as they continue.]

Nobody trained me.

[But at the end of the day, even uncertain as they both are, Luke's still got experience on his side. Dante springs backwards to get out of reach of one particularly good attack, his blade coming up in his own guard position now as he explains.]

Once people started experiencing things like their eye colors or hair color changing, it got me thinking. If Anya suddenly learned how to speak Russian overnight, maybe we can learn the skills the people in our memories are using. The other me was able to fight, so...

[He shrugs, even though his expression still shows how pleased he is. He figures Luke can connect the dots from there!]

[Even when Dante guards, it's natural for Luke to follow, the blade in hand slicing through the air with a strange sort of ease. He has experience backing him, but also practice with this new style he's obtained recently. He's been training someone here, so it's also natural for him to keep going and goad Dante into striking back.]

Don't go around calling it another you, all right? That just makes us sound like dopplegangers. [But he definitely gets it.] ...whoever that fake was used to train kids and teach them how to fight. Guess those skills got passed to me, too.

[It'll work--Dante will take the bait, following Luke's lead and shifting into another combination strike. But his expression is one of mixed concentration and bemusement at Luke's words, and his attention is split.]

A fake me...?

[Except that's not right, is it? Ever since talking with Ardyn about these memories, he's been holding on to that idea of reincarnation, of an explanation for why this is all going on. It makes more sense than anything else, right?]

Why are you calling them fakes?

[If one of them is a fake, he's not so sure it wouldn't be the copy that came afterward. It's this thought, more than anything else, that throws him off his guard, taking a bad swing that leaves his side exposed.]

[And with that there's a point to Luke as he sticks the tipped rapier to Dante's side. Thankfully there's a stopper at least so nobody gets stabbed, thanks guys. With that said though, he doesn't quite understand why Dante seems so surprised by everything he's just said.]

Because I don't believe it's real. I hate the idea that my memories aren't mine and I'm not the type to believe in reincarnation. If we were really reincarnated, why would we all be gaining new memories and stuff at the same time? Doesn't explain the stuff people've been getting in the mail either. [He pulls back, prepping himself for a second round.] Fakes seems more likely and we're just the audience of a bad reality show.

[Dante curses when he feels the rapier's tip, shooting Luke a wry look as he acknowledges the point. You got him there. He follows Luke's lead, prepping for the next pass, but Luke's words are still more of a distraction than anything else.]

I'd say it's pretty obvious this all has something to do with Retrospec. Only the people who have the app have been remembering stuff, right? [He's testing Luke's guard this time, playing it a bit more defensive than he did in the first round. Maybe he can get him to commit to an attack and use that against him...] Or who knows? Maybe it is all at random? We've just gotta get out there and find out.

[But there's a part of him that's really uncomfortable with the idea of it being a random thing, and he doesn't quite know why.]

[His guard's good, but Dante's not wrong that he'll move into an attack soon enough, monitoring all of the boy's movements closely. It's only after he lunges again that he speaks up.]

I'm not entirely sure this isn't just a coincidence either. A cover, you know? Maybe Retrospec is somebody else's fall guy and we just don't know it yet. [He tries to disarm Dante this time.] If you have any ideas where to stop looking, I'm listening.

[Fighting against Luke is like fighting a whole 'nother caliber of fighter, after sparring with Sorey and Vera. Sorey might give him a run for his money once the two of them remember more, but he'd been too shaken by his own memory of fighting to go all out, and Vera is a fencer. Luke, though... Luke's fighting style is similar to his in a way, a slashing, cutting style that seems to translate easier to fighting in a crowd and guarding one's own back than fencing or kendo. And so as the two of them continue to fight, Dante finds his own responses getting better.

He jumps back from Luke's attempt to disarm him, holding his sword overhead, taking a moment to consider the question.]

You've got a point. I've been blaming it on Retrospec because it's the obvious answer, but there could be something lurking in the shadows.

[But that leaves them wide open as to where they might start searching for an answer. He'd much prefer to have some sort of idea of where to begin...]

Whatever the case, it all started when Retrospec entered the picture. So my guess is we keep searching there for now. We're bound to find something eventually, either something that proves they're unrelated... or something that links them back to the puppetmaster.

Either way, we can't do anything useful while we're fighting. How about you show me that disarming trick and we can go another few rounds before calling it a day?

[It's with the same sort of ease that he recovers from the miss and he stops all movements after their fight, sword twirling in his fingers before he drops his guard enough. Dante has a point, as much as he hates to think that's a point. He kind of refuses to think of it as a point and instead...yeah. Yeah, fighting sounds good and there's a nod.]

Best plan I've heard today. See if you can keep up. [And from here they sparred for a bit longer and this thread wrapped up!]

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