Dante Giovanni
Weapon
Demon Rapier
Among thorns grow roses.
Posts: 122
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Post by Dante Giovanni on Aug 20, 2014 16:20:43 GMT -5
Dante had expected a lot of things once he and Tori hit One star. Tori leaving was not one of those things. He tried to tell himself that it wasn’t the worst it could have been, tried to count himself as lucky. Their parting could have been far more painful or messy. Tori had moved away for family reasons, something he could understand being so far away from a great deal of his family even if just about half of it had moved to Death City with them. Yes, it could have been much worse. They could have fought and then split up, said awful things that would have left a bad taste in his mouth. They could have split from her deciding a Demon Rapier really wasn’t for her, something Dante would have honored but also something that would have stung for a while. They could have split after a bad mission, Tori could have gotten hurt. She could have died. Dante shook his head as he sat at the edge of one of the higher buildings in Death City. Not something to think about several hundred feet in the air. Rubbing the back of his neck as he stared out at the city, at the streets and buildings and the people hurrying along like tiny dots on a map. He was lucky. So she’d had to move away. It happened. It sucked, but it happened. It wasn’t like they would never speak again or that their friendship had been ruined. They had each other’s contact information; it wouldn’t be hard to keep in touch. It would just feel…strange, not having her around. He already felt strange. Dante had always felt like a bunch of strings that tied him to people, to Tori in the form of connections. Their partnership, the way they worked so well together even in spite of their vastly different personalities. The way she knew he could trust him, and that he knew he could always trust her. The way he’d come to think of Tori as another sister and the love and concern that came with it. Now it felt like all of those strings that led to Tori had been cut and were hanging loose inside of him. There was an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach that wouldn’t go away even though he knew this wasn’t the end of the world. It was sad, it felt strange and unpleasant, but it would end. For the moment, he just felt gloomy. It felt like all he could do was sigh and stare at nothing in particular with a rather crestfallen look on his face. He didn’t have the energy for anything else, at least not yet. He felt better than he did when he first heard the news, felt better than when he’d started to cry when they said goodbye even if it wasn’t forever. Dante felt a little better, but he didn’t feel like himself. Maybe half, but not fully. Dante idly kicked his legs, heels knocking against the high bricks below the ledge. I should get up and see if I can still make an eight foot jump to the next. He didn’t move, continuing to sit with his hands gripping the ledge, loose enough to he relaxed but tight enough so he could hold on if he fell somehow. He was no less than five hundred feet above ground. If he missed he could catch himself. Or he could not and turn into a pancake when he hit the ground. Dante shut his eyes for a moment. Also not a thing to think about when several hundred feet above ground. The wind kicked up and ruffled his hair a bit out of place. Dante rolled his eyes and sighed again, moving one of his hands to fix it. As he did, he quietly spoke to nobody in particular hoping that voicing his complaints would make him feel better faster. “This sucks.”
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Post by Dion Key on Aug 27, 2014 16:21:42 GMT -5
Being a two star weapon was quite possibly one of the best things ever! Sure Dion was awesome as a one star weapon but being two star just made it all the better. Before he ascended to the coveted position of two star badass he did seem to be lacking in a fraction of his total awesomeness. In all fairness that was entirely the fault of the bird and the madness it released. That was all in the past though now that he had completed his last mission as a one star and moved on.
Now that all that was over it was about time he got back into his usual routine. It was extra important that he get back to his usual routine to keep up the pumped mood he was in. Fate had tried to ruin his mood days before with news that Bang was being taken away by her family but that only brought him back to the recently familiar feeling of anger. It wasn’t the same as the absolute rage he had felt from the madness so it passed considerably quickly in comparison. The feeling still annoyed him, not as much as the situation, so it only made sense to get rid of it by doing something enjoyable.
The only thing that made sense to keep him in good spirits was parkour. Death City was one of the better places for it as well even if he personally preferred New York and the variety of skyscrapers. Heading out from the apartment he went into the shopping district and began to size up the buildings. There was a decent variety and they won his seal of approval for height so it was only a matter of picking one to climb. Deciding on a smaller one he found a place where he wasn’t directly in people’s sight and began.
Activating his partial form in both hands Dion jumped and planted the spear tips into the side of the building. Getting on the building was the easy part but climbing up was the fun section. He could use his hands to climb with his feet for support but that took away half of the fun! Instead he alternated hand and foot to keep himself stable on both sides. Accustomed to the process he fell into a rhythm of alternating hands and feet until he reached the top and flipped over onto the roof of the building.
Once he reached the top he deactivated his partial and took a moment to look around and admire the view. Not as high up as he liked but it worked well enough for what it was. Cracking his knuckles and stretching a bit he faced the closest building and backed away. Getting some distance he ran ahead and jumped off the edge only to grab the ledge of the adjacent building and pull himself up. The process repeated as Dion slowly moved upwards along the buildings.
Coming across one building that was still too high for him to just jump to Dion started like he had been before activating his partial form in the air and slamming both of his weaponized fists into the side of the building. Climbing up he stopped when he heard a voice coming from what sounded like the other side of the building. Something sucked? He was rejecting the notion of anything sucking today so he was ready to simply drop from the building but he needed to at least see who was on the top of a building. A peek up changed his mind on if he should drop or not.
It was that blond kid he ran into in the forest and during the bird thing. His name was just out of reach so Dion had to remember it before he did anything else. Demetri? No. Donatello? Not green or purple enough. Dante! That was the one. With that taken care of he should probably see what was up with him. He could just climb up and say something but he was going for extremes today so obviously he had to show off a little. Deactivating his partial he gripped the edge and prepared for his performance.
Kicking off of the building’s side with hopefully enough of a sound to get Dante’s attention Dion kept his hands planted while his legs lifted into the air. Stopping the momentum Dion remained in a handstand facing away from the building for a moment before bending his arms to sink down and then pushing off the edge of the building to complete the swing and land on his feet on the roof of the building. His arms stayed up for a moment but instead of keeping them in the air he slowly lowered them and brought them into his hoodie pockets.
Walking over to where Dante was Dion flipped his hair to the side to fix it after gravity messed with it from the handstand. Not walking to the edge completely Dion stood a few feet away from where Dante was sitting before nodding toward him.
”Sup. So what are you doing up here?”
It wasn’t that often that he ran into people casually on the top of buildings. Seeing someone that he knew in such an odd location just made the whole encounter more interesting.
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Dante Giovanni
Weapon
Demon Rapier
Among thorns grow roses.
Posts: 122
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Post by Dante Giovanni on Aug 28, 2014 13:21:47 GMT -5
Dante recognized the sound from not too far below him. Shifting his dull gaze downwards, all he really saw was movement. Impressive movement at that, there was no way he could pull off a flip like that currently. He’d gotten better, that much he knew, but he was definitely still learning. Dante recognized the green hair once he could see the person properly as they landed. It was Dion, the boy he’d met in the forest with Irene. Their little talk was still stuck in his head considering he had made One star and felt a sense of pride in have somewhat caught up to them even if he knew he was also very much far away. But his progress would potentially be delayed the way he was going.
At his greeting, Dante turned a bit so he could look at Dion over his shoulder. “Oh, hey Dion.” His voice was way too close to a monotone. He could at least sound a little more impressed since he really was. But then at least his face showed it. The rather awe-struck look on his face rather gave that away, but he tried to force some of it into his voice for the sake of being accurate. “Didn’t know you were a fan of climbing buildings too. Granted you’re definitely better than me. There’s no way I could pull off a stunt like that,” he smiled a little more, “That was amazing.”
But he’d technically been asked a question. Dante knocked one heel against the side of the building, thinking for a moment. He didn’t really want to be this gloomy around someone he just met. He hadn’t exactly been entirely himself that time in the forest either, close but still of touch off-kilter. Looking more off to the side over the city, he really didn’t know what else to say other than the truth the more he thought about it. “Moping, mostly,” Dante said rather quietly, “I’m not really the most exciting to be around right now.” He turned away slightly to look up at the sky, clear as anything. “Kinda pathetic for me to be feeling this gloomy after finally moving up a class. I should be celebrating, not hiding out up here.”
Dante didn’t state why. To be honest he felt like he may have said a little too much with his answer. Not because he didn’t want to talk or anything. He just wondered whether or not that was really an appropriate response as to why he was up here. Maybe he was just trying to see if Dion would go away, not that he really minded that he’d found him. Or maybe he was hoping Dion would stay and listen to his whining on the off-chance it would make him feel better. Dante couldn’t tell. Everything seemed a little sideways at the moment.
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Post by Dion Key on Oct 15, 2014 23:08:35 GMT -5
Something was wrong. Dante didn’t sound impressed by his entrance and if their meeting in the forest was anything to go off of he certainly couldn’t do something like that. Applause would have been acceptable, so would vocal excitement. Monotonous casual greeting was not one of the acceptable responses. Sure he looked impressed but without the same tone in his voice it seemed less than genuine. Either way it was far from close to the standing ovation he was looking forward to. At least he acknowledged that he was amazing in some way so the effort wasn’t completely wasted.
”Yeah, it’s kinda my thing. Plus Death City ain’t got nothing on New York so I’ve had more than enough practice to do something like that.”
Once Dante began talking again the reason he wasn’t as impressed as he should be became clear. So the question then became what did Dante have to mope about? It wasn’t like he had gotten back form a mission and something bad had happened. Plus there hadn’t been any bird things around or Dion would have known. He did apparently reach one star but the mission idea didn’t seem right.
”Dealing with my meister is exciting enough, I think I can spare some time away from excitement.”
Keeping his hands in his pockets Dion walked over and jumped onto the edge of the building before turning on his heel to face Dante. Bending forward a bit to keep his balance he looked at Dante before speaking again.
”You should celebrate, if not now than later. Congrats on the advancement by the way. So, what’s up with the moping?”
The least he could do was hear what was up with Dante, now that he was a two star it seemed like a part up his job. Plus he wanted to have a great day and knowing someone he knew was moping on a building would ruin that. If is efforts failed Dion would just have to come back with water balloons and raise Dante’s spirits by watery force. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that but it always paid to have a backup plan.
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Dante Giovanni
Weapon
Demon Rapier
Among thorns grow roses.
Posts: 122
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Post by Dante Giovanni on Nov 22, 2014 17:51:05 GMT -5
Ah, that would make a bit of sense. New York was doubtlessly full to bursting with tall buildings and perfect places to practice. Palermo, not so much. It wasn’t a small city, but it also wasn’t a tall one. Dante had climbed his way all over town but he had never gone too high, mostly at his mother’s behest and also out of the fear his younger self had possessed of falling to his death. Understandable for a twelve year old, but something he’d grown out of for the most part. Of course he was more careful and more skilled five years later as would be expected, but he nowhere near where he assumed Dion was.
From what he’d seen of Dion, Dante couldn’t help but wonder just what his Meister was like. It was difficult to picture someone anything less than lively, but then sometimes opposites worked. He would know, after all, and he would be lying if he pretended to not be a little jealous. But Dante shoved it down. There was no place for it in his mind, and it wasn’t right. It didn’t make the situation any better, there was no use allowing it time to fester and become worse. Instead Dante tilted his head slightly and managed to appear inquisitive. “I take it you’ve been busy, then?”
An obvious question with a likely obvious answer, but he asked anyway. Dion was a Two star, of course he had to be busy kicking ass and taking names. Like you should be doing. Again, Dante tried pushing the bitterness away even if the overall gloom still clouded his mind. Having something else to focus on was helping, though, and talking was also. Dante hadn’t really brought it up at home, and neither had anybody else. If he wanted to say something, he would. Even his sisters were kind enough to stop being wretches for at least a little while.
Dion approached him properly and Dante finally turned fully towards him. It was polite, and he was standing beside him anyway. Or maybe leaning was a better way of describing it. But it wasn’t like Dante could exactly judge, turning on the ledge to sit cross-legged and reluctantly manage to meet Dion’s gaze. “Thanks,” he said with a bit more of a smile, trying to make it clear that he was still glad to have made the advancement, even if for now he was walking into the next class alone. “I technically celebrated. My family got together and threw a party for my Meister and I before she left.” Dante smiled a little more at the memory, laughing lightly. “Get a bunch of Sicilians and a handful of Brits together and it makes for a surprising amount of chaos, but it was a fun time.”
And the smile faded again, growing smaller with his eyes wandering off to the side to the alley below and then to the other buildings over the horizon. Dante held his tongue for a moment. He had an answer to the question; he was going to say it, but hearing it out loud in his own voice already felt heavy and would put more weight on his chest than he already felt. He let out a short sigh and shut his eyes for a minute before opening them again. The gloomy look was back to have him appearing as pitiful as he sounded.
“My Meister and I had to split up not too long after we moved up to One Star,” he said glumly. He wanted to know why he was so mopey, and there it was. Tori moved away, he was partnerless again; he was in a new class on his own for the time being. The situation was less than desirable even if he knew it would end. What Dante didn’t like was that he didn’t know when it would end. Usually that wouldn’t have bothered him either. What bothered him was that Tori was involved, and he still wasn’t used to the fact that he she wasn’t going to be around like she used to be. He wasn’t even close getting used to it yet.
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Post by Dion Key on Jan 14, 2015 2:39:51 GMT -5
Hearing Dante’s question Dion had to think about how to answer. Had he been busy? He did just kill a flaming horse thing and become a two star but that was pretty much par for the course. Plus he hadn’t really done anything since becoming a two star aside from not wallow in his thoughts. He had planned to do training things with Misaki for their resonance but did just planning the thing count as being busy? It seemed like he wasn’t really busy until he actually did the thing instead of just planning it. Giving Dante a shrug he replied the best way he could.
”Kinda, nothing too exciting has happened yet.”
So he had celebrated? That was good to hear but didn’t help to explain the moping. On the end of Dante’s words there was a hint at what may be the cause of the one star’s current state of emotions. The shift after he finished speaking about the party was a bad sign in itself, it must have been pretty bad to cause that sort of reaction. Waiting to hear the cause Dion kept his attention mostly on Dante and the rest on seeing how close he could get to standing on the edge without losing balance.
And there it was. Dion wasn’t sure what to expect but that would certainly cause Dante’s state. From what he said before it seemed like his meister just had to leave instead of something worse happening. It was unfortunate that his meister had to leave but at least he didn’t get super unlucky on a mission and end up minus one meister the hard way. Even so it had to be hard to lose a meister in any way. Dion hadn’t thought about that possibility since his first mission ended.
He didn’t know what he would do if separated from Misaki as his meister. The idea of trying to find anyone else to team up with just didn’t seem to work. Hopefully Dante would figure something out so he wasn’t stuck unpartnered in one star for too long. The only real thing he could do was wait and see what happened and if he found someone else that worked as a meister.
”That’s rough, even worse with the timing. But hey, try to think of the positives.”
Balancing on the edge Dion leaned back and looked up so his focus wasn’t directly at Dante.
”You’re a one star now, it’s like a fresh start. Take some time to get adjusted before worrying about stuff. No need to rush into missions or anything like that. The only thing you have to worry about is me and Irene getting farther ahead of you.”
Returning to looking at Dante he continued.
”Yeah what happened sucks and obviously isn’t going to just stop sucking but eventually you need to keep going on. Dwelling on shitty stuff for too long will consume you and just make everything worse.”
That was motivational enough wasn’t it? Maybe he should have thrown in that with great power came great responsibility, that seemed to work most of the time. Hopefully it helped enough to get Dante moving out of his moping. He didn’t know if it would work for him in that situation but it was worth trying.
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