darkinferno | [narrations + overflow]

[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?

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.]

[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?

[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.

[narrations + overflow]

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