darkinferno | [narrations + overflow]

[ Dante is quiet for several minutes as he mulls the words over. For Kiyomitsu, it might be out of the ordinary from the way Dante usually presents himself--where he's usually cocksure and reckless, he's giving this serious thought.

"It's not like we're totally different people..." No. It's not. And that's part of what has him so worried, the feeling that he might become the boy he's having memories of. The boy who had friends, and lost them, who died and wandered alone in this afterworld where it was only him and this witch.

The boy who ended up alone because his heart was empty, suffocated by darkness. ]

Yeah, I guess so. We aren't totally different.

I don't know about you, but I still don't want to be him instead of me, though.

[Yeah, Dante's side-eyeing Ardyn.]

You're being driven in an RC jeep looking like a kid playing dress-up in his father's bathrobe with a bad hat. Is this a trick question?

[It is a little unusual to see this kind of somberness, but it's not too surprising. In the face of so many changes - and who even knows what kind Dante himself is facing? - he's sure most people would prefer to distance themselves, pretend it isn't happening.]

Nah, I agree.

[He doesn't particularly feel inclined to continue remembering the things he's remembering, when so much of it revolves around battle and bloodshed.]

...But there's not much we can do right now. Guess that's why we're gonna have to keep checking back to see what we missed, yeah? They're gonna slip up eventually, those guys. There's no way they won't.

Yeah.

[He nods.]

That's why we can't let up, no matter how much they try to prevent us from checking up on them.

Let's go. We'll see what they've slipped up on today.

Of course I can drive-

[What oh hello there remote. Arlene can drive a car, but she hasn't touched an RC vehicle of any kind since she was little; the whole thing jerks to the side as she pushes on the wrong stick, and she swears loudly. But okay, now she knows which one is forward. She glances at Dante, just to check he's still hanging on.]

The hell? [This time, she swears out of surprise.] How come you can do that?

[He has to check his balance when the jeep jerks to the side, but aside from that Dante's doing fine! He's eyeing the cicadas flying toward them, judging the distance and wondering if he dares to try this yet again.]

Why they didn't give me a boomerang...

[For how he's been using it...!]

Don't ask me! I had to fight a spider off and suddenly I had a sword!

[Aaaaand... now! Dante hurls Soul Eater toward the closer of the two cicadas, sending the blade spinning end-over-end toward the bug. It's not his best shot, considering the movement of the jeep and his inability to set up properly, but he does still manage to slice through its wing, sending it veering off-course.

Of course, his sword's gone now too, but he'll summon it back in a second. He's taking a moment now to glance down toward Arlene, calling over the whine of the car.]

You doing all right down there?

[Wow rude?]

And what does that say about you?

That I'm a reckless young man having a bit of fun in a shitty situation?

[Come on, you didn't expect him to admit to anything, did you?]

What? You're not seriously gonna-

[He's seriously gonna throw it.

And it worked. That shouldn't have been allowed to work, does this look like a video game or something]

Fine! I've got this, you deal with the other one!

[At least, she's kind of got this? Oh shit there's another puddle she doesn't got this. Caught off guard, she can't slow down or steer around before they barrel into it, kicking up an even higher splash than before. Arlene splutters, wiping at her face as they come out the other side. Please tell her it at least drove off the other bug.]

All right!

[Look, he knows this shouldn't work the way it does. But for some reason, it does, a fact he won't question for superstitious worry that maybe it won't any more if he does.

Soul Eater begins to appear in his hand again, but Dante's facing their rear and so he doesn't see the giant puddle before they splash into it. For a moment he's knocked off balance, sword disappearing before it's fully-summoned, swearing up a storm as the muddy water splashes all over him while he tries to regain his balance.

It doesn't seem to have had any effect on the other cicada, though; the bug zips up and over the puddle, coming back toward them.

A glance toward their front shows Dante that they're headed toward uneven ground; he'll never have a clean shot toward the bug if they hit that, and it'll probably slow them down enough that the cicada will catch up to them.]

...I'm gonna do something stupid. Arlene--keep driving!

[He's not taking the time to explain. Instead, Dante swings himself over the top of the driver's seat into the back, summoning Soul Eater once he's gotten himself ready. He studies the cicada for as long as he dares, something within him able to calculate their speeds in a way he can barely begin to understand... and then Dante lets go of the top bar, stepping once up onto the backseat, twice onto the back of the jeep, and leaping out into space, sword arcing overhead toward the oncoming bug.

It shouldn't work. It's impossible. And yet it does--the sword strikes true, slicing clean through the cicada, its two halves dropping out of the air as Dante dismisses the sword just in time to drop knee-deep into the mud, momentum carrying him forward so that he winds up catching himself with his hands, which will be similarly muddy when he straightens up.

Honestly, he's just lucky he didn't faceplant, all things considered.]

Overall, correct. Though a bit more simplistic than what I would have said.

[And before you can ask what he was going to say!]

You're a reckless young man who had better learn -- someday soon, hopefully -- that danger and fun can be mutually exclusive.

[Arlene actually has her eyes on the road like the sensible person she... well, isn't, but that's not the point. Like a sensible person, but she can guess what happened from the swearing. She snickers without making the slightest attempt to avoid being heard.]

Stupider than what you just did?

[And then he answers that question by jumping out of the goddamn moving vehicle. Arlene swears, yanking on the control sticks to pull the jeep into a tight turn that throws even more mud about, and jerks it to a stop.]

Seriously. Seriously?

[It's a good thing Ardyn continued, because that absolutely would have been Dante's next question!]

I already know that they can be.

But the things that are the most fun always have a little bit of risk to them too.

[Adrenaline is a powerful rush...]

[He doesn't look the faintest bit sorry as he starts back toward her, wading out of the mud and grimacing down at his jeans.

(Those, he's a little bit sorry about.)]

Seriously what? Did you see that?

[That was awesome!]

You got lucky.

[She huffs, folding her arms. That was incredibly stupid and badass, there's no way it should have worked, and somebody's jealous.]

And you're going to get mud all over the car.

[Tossing the remote back into the driver's seat as she says that. Hint, hint.]

So what? It's just a toy. [Yeah, you're not harshing his joy, Arlene. Dante wipes his hands on his jeans as best he can, but there are still smears of mud up his arms as he climbs back up into the cab.]

You're just jealous because I pulled that off.

[He grins, pulling the controller into his hands again, and starts to work on getting them back in the right direction.]

But hey. We share a lot of the same memories, right? Maybe you could do something like that too.

[Overflow for bingo event logs!]

[[continued from here!]]

[A shrug.] That's okay. I don't know if anyone will take me up on that or not, anyways. But I figured if anyone out there's as fed up as I am with all of this...

Besides, you look like you actually put effort into yours. [Or at least into what's filling it out; damn, girl, what arms!] I would've gone the Sharpie route and then burned it afterward.

[Anyways, though... excuse him as he gives his phone a glance.] You know Dirk Strider? Apparently he's got my eye color now. I don't know who else it's happened to, if anyone.

Edited 2017-07-18 14:37 (UTC)

[[continued from here!]]

Togusa might not be willing to touch anything, but Dante has no such qualms. He's wearing his customary half-gloves, presents from Retrospec that for some reason he can't let go, particularly when they come in handy for things like not leaving fingerprints on anything he might want to rummage through. "Looks like monster madness to me," he says, putting a hand down on top of a pile of papers so that it won't move as he ruffles through the pages. Even without being able to read over the pages in their entirety, he can get enough of an idea. "There are a bunch of notes about them here. All sorts of stuff about how different species evolved and--hang on."

Dante bends closer, squinting at the paper. He doesn't have his reading glasses on him, but... "No, I read that right. It looks like they're doing research on hybrids. You know, like mules or ligers."

Something else catches his eye, and he leans over to read the note that's been left on the desk.

Maurice?

"Togusa. You've gotta come over here for a moment. Look at this."

Edited 2017-07-13 19:22 (UTC)

[[continued from here!]]

What makes you so sure you'll ever get that opportunity? Your handler seemed like he was ready to make sure you didn't get too far out of line last time, didn't he?

Better be careful. He might decide to get you a leash next.

[Why so smug, Juzo? Dante lifts one shoulder in a wide shrug, watching Juzo take the cup.]

That all depends on if they can prove it's related to the lemonade, doesn't it?

Edited 2017-07-13 19:52 (UTC)

[[continued from here]]

[He really needs to stop speaking before he thinks about what he's saying. Dante's smirk shifts, almost a little bit sheepish as he turns his right hand palm up, where Ardyn might be able out a faint line tracking across it, nearly healed.]

It was Prompto's idea.

Anyways, you don't have to explain it to me. I'd been giving him crap about accidentally calling you "dad" earlier anyways. [Wait, hold on, that probably needs an explanation--] And before you start, he didn't say it; we were playing a game and the question came up that way.

Edited 2017-07-13 20:06 (UTC)

[[continued from here!]]

[That's a suggestion that will get an appreciative nod out of Dante.]

That's actually not a bad idea. We could just go around to each other's places instead of having to actually "carol" to strangers.

When do you wanna do this?

Edited 2017-07-13 20:11 (UTC)

[[continued from here!]]

[The closeness doesn't bother him in the least--Dante's used people's concepts of personal space against them many, many times. No, the rolling was just for Retrospec.]

Believe me, I know. Orange didn't look good on me before this, and it definitely doesn't now.

[Poor Aria. She just keeps hitting on sore spots! Her other question just receives a scowl in response.]

Not quite. Watch this. [He holds out his hand, a gesture that should be very familiar to Aria after having seen him summon his sword a few times... but nothing. He flexes his hand, frowning at it, but no sword appears.]

Apparently they gave him my sword, too.

Edited 2017-07-14 01:43 (UTC)

[[continued from here!]]

[IT'S A CROWN HE WEARS PROUDLY.]

I'm not the only one that's broken in, though. I'm just the only one that's advertising it so far.

[After all, there are a ton of Retrospeccers by this point! If everybody has it on their bingo card, they won't all turn to him to fill it... Dante shakes his head at Kiyo's other question, though.]

We're still about where we were when we first discovered them. They still don't have any information when you scan them.

Does your card have one of the codes in the middle of it? I'm wondering if we might finally get something out of them this month.

Edited 2017-07-14 03:48 (UTC)

[[continued from here!]]

[From the little bit of feedback he's gotten, wimpy slaps seem to count, but it's not like Dante didn't know what he was in for when he got the idea for this in the first place. He can take it!

But now they're up to the question of some sort of breakdance move... okay, he's got one.]

I've gotta teach a stranger a dance move. It doesn't matter if you're good at it or not. So here's what we'll do:

[He takes a couple steps further away from the stand and their towels toward open sand. Then, starting with both feet together, Dante tucks his right leg back and behind his left, resting his foot on the ball of it. He turns over his right shoulder, sinking slowly down to the sand as he spins, then looks back toward Shuji once he's sitting.]

That's the first part of it. Think you can do it?

Edited 2017-07-14 04:20 (UTC)

[narrations + overflow]

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July 2017

Alison

Togusa

Juzo

Ardyn

Tatsuo

Aria

Kiyomitsu

Shuji