02-11-2016, 10:56 AM
Quote:Before the Face to Face, several hours earlier...By the time he'd nearly pinned down the box thief, the devil hunter had been led well outside of the city and up to a major crossroads. And here Dante had been concerned over the decision to pursue possible power or not- now chance had gone and made a choice for him, it seemed.
The Son of Sparda considered the worst part of this all as he flattened himself against an errant tree several meters away from the road: the justification for it all, or an apparent lack thereof. Had he, a Nephilim infected with an embodiment of chaos, really gotten so attached to this box within the last 14 hours that several miles of following some squirt in the dark was absolutely worth getting it back? To most people with a general grasp of how sanity worked, Dante quite resoundingly appeared as someone who didn't have all his screws tightened, in a manner of speaking.
Those hypothetical people probably had a point. Only in this moment, as Dante squinted through the star-lit cover of night to survey his box-napper convening with some other muddily-looking silhouette, did he consider that he might be losing it. "It" being his sanity, or his box?
...Case in point. No wonder the Hollow was getting frustrated- it had to embody the darkness of potentially the strongest genetic hybrid to ever exist, only for him to get vengeful over a cardboard container.
Fuck it. Let's play along, then...
Oh, no you don't-!
---
"Excuse me."
Ninja and Final Boss looked up in unison, following the sound of the strangely suave voice. A figure, tall and dark (by virtue of the night obscuring him), stepped forward to make his presence fully known. The man's hands were empty and unfurled at his sides, and a slender yet strong frame carried him sharp as a spire; while his silhouette carried no essence of a weapon, this newcomer held his form with such pride and security that it was nigh-impossible to assume he couldn't have some trick up his sleeve.
"I think you have something of mine-"
"Are you kidding me?" Ururu bleated out loud, about up to her neck in exasperation over what she was hearing from the dark shadow. "What could I have taken that was so important to you? I bet it isn't even yours in the first place, smart-ass!"
A second passed where no one spoke. Desco, unsure of the stranger's intentions, steeled herself and Yogsothoth regardless, looking to her friend for a judgement call.
"What was that?" The silhouette replied after this moment, playing exactly the smart-ass that the young ninja made of him. A shining bead of red gleamed to life where his uncovered eye would be, and his voice dropped one note darker as he spoke, "It sounds like that attitude of yours needs a shallow burial."
A crack of lighting sparked off in the distance, revealing for a brief instant the features of each present. The half-blood mercenary, from his white streams of hair to the tattered tails of his devastated blood-red coat. The artificial demon, clad in a scaly purple with yellow globes of eyes and a Lovecraftian implement at her back. The desperate and ragged-looking young ninja, dirty beige hair drooping over her emerald irises and lightly-tanned skin. All at once, they began to recognize each other.
"Desco won't let you hurt Ururu-!"
"No, hang on- I recognize this guy. We've seen him before!"
"Oh, have you now?"
"You know this mystery guy? Is he a ninja, too?"
"Well, I don't exactly know him- but we saw each other at the fair! In that incident with the Grumpy Green Giant, remember?"
The hell is up with these babies...!?
For god's sake, they're just children, cut it out!
"Oh, Desco remembers! You helped us, guy!"
"Yeah... so just what the hell is your problem? You protect us one moment, but try to fight us the next? Just what's happened to you, huh?"
"Ururu is right! Friends don't hurt each other!"
We are not friends! I am going to fucking kill you all-
GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
---
"So... you never did answer my question," Ururu mentioned vaguely to Dante. The macabre trio, having made up and introduced each other to some degree, now all sat under the canopy of a tree for a moment's reprieve from the world.
Dante remained silent for a moment, then replied, "Which one?" The girl wasn't entirely sure whether or not she had intended to guilt-trip the mercenary into helping them, but he seemed to temporarily accompany them nonetheless. And, thankfully, the tall man seemed to have forgotten about whatever item he had lost to the ninja.
"What happened to you?" Ururu spoke, as more of an intended question than a rhetorical one. "I mean, you seem a lot different than when I saw you in Camelot." The Son of Sparda sighed, and the shinobi found it difficult to distinguish why exactly. Maybe dread over having to explain, solemnness regarding whatever it was, or maybe some relief over the opportunity to vent his mind.
"Where do I even start?"