January Catch-all

[royalguard_style]

Characters: Dante and whoever crosses his path.
Date: From December 29th onwards, with some backdated exceptions.
Location: Varies.
Situation: Grumpy panhandling hobos.
Warnings/Rating: Most likely lots of swearing.


[1- Various places around Keelai]

Well, this sucked.

Fewer and fewer people trusted Dante enough to give him work, which means he was back to living in near-poverty. He was okay with that, but then a second mouth to feed came to the shell. And dammit, he was going to feed that second mouth whether it wanted to be fed or not.

So Dante got creative. He hobbled the last of his money together, bought a cheap instrument that somewhat resembled an acoustic guitar, and started playing it on the side of the road. Of course, his mind tended to wander, and people may catch him singing about decidedly personal problems. But of course, he was always upbeat and passionate; that's just good musicianship.

The odd kedan took pity on him, and a good few more were amused by the exotic music from faraway lands. And of course, since they're decidedly less poor then the foreigners right now, he's going to keep his attention on them. If a foreigner were to approach him, it would be fairly easy to get him to share what little he's managed to make, or take a request. Alternatively, someone could point out that that case seems far too thick for that instrument, and there seems to be a hidden latch.

[2- Midnight hotel-lobby]

Of course, Dante still worked here, and every three days, he can be seen back at the lobby, with an odd mix of sullenness and concern on his face. Every so often, he can be seen stopping a kedan gangster or snake at the door, once again wearing his usual nonchalant demeanor. For those used to dealing with him glaring at the door, this would seem to be almost a complete inverse of his normal behavior; he used to stare down any gangster who entered, then go back to acting like his usual goofball self. He may be evasive if asked, or he may just wave it off, depending on who asked.

[3- Midnight hotel-rooms]

And when he's not "working", he can be found sleeping. Sometimes he's sleeping in his room with the door open, sometimes he's sleeping in the hallway, and sometimes he's sleeping outside the hotel altogether, on some street. The point is, he's sleeping. A lot.

[4-Fuck that noise, let's do something else]

Comments

1!

[stubbornlittleshit]

The situation of this entire place was still baffling to Arno most of the time, but that said, methods he employed in Paris were still methods that could be used here, and it was easier to get to know his fellow captives by observing than by asking, until he knew exactly what they were about.

Today, he'd picked the guy he'd seen playing on the corners as he happened to pass by during his wanderings, found a decent vantage point,on a rooftop nearby, which seemed to work as well as anything else here, and had been watching for a while, and then alternately staring at the case. Eventually, his curiosity got the better on him, and he leapt lightly to the ground, close enough to Dante that he was almost certain to get noticed, but then he'd actually wanted to be.

"Is business any good with that?" He asked, more curious than anything else really.

Re: 1!

[royalguard_style]

Arno slipped in an out of Dante's sight; one had to be perceptive when you hunted devils, but at the same time, Arno was not his concern right now. Besides, what's a little running on rooftops? Well, except fun.

"Compared to business with anything else right now? It's not that bad." He remarked. Really, when you're part of a marginalized group, engaging in "work" that bordered on begging was actually a rather good idea. It certainly beat continuing to try and integrate with them, anyway.

Re: 1!

[stubbornlittleshit]

It could be anything, but finding someone else who understands the fun of that is actually pretty important. When there's no life or death significance attached to anything potentially dangerous, it does have the automatic benefit of becoming even more enjoyable by comparison.

" 'Not that bad' seems pretty useful so far, true. Better than I would have thought given the...everything floating around us, anyway. What did you people even DO?" he wondered, actually confused as to that point. "I thought you won a war they wanted won, or did I miss something in translation?"

[royalguard_style]

"Is that what folks are saying?" Dante had to nearly hold back a laugh. "We won a war they wanted lost."

Dante wasn't fond of politics, but he knew one thing; the kedan were the ones forming cults while the foreigners were the ones winning the war. "Near the end, a whole bunch of the locals changed sides. Sure, they pretend that nothing happened, but we didn't win their war. We killed their god."

3

[onethirdthesoul]

Somewhere in the distance there was a piercing, high-pitched scream, but it wasn't a damsel in distress; it was just Ryou when he saw what he thought was Dante's dead body.

He rushed over and crouched down beside him, his own voice in his head shouting at him to check his pulse, Ryou! So he tried...but he didn't know first aid or how to do it, so he just kind of awkwardly touched Dante's neck.

[royalguard_style]

Dante's response to being touched wasn't to bolt up in alarm, or even get up. Instead, Dante unconsciously pushes Ryou's hand off, and grumbles in his sleep. "Ten more minutes."

[onethirdthesoul]

Ryou let out the biggest sigh of relief seeing that. He didn't actually get to test Dante's pulse, but he's pretty sure talking and moving is enough of a good sign that he didn't have to.

"No way, you need to wake up! You can't just sleep in the street!"

[royalguard_style]

"Huh?" Dante finally started stirring. Thankfully, he's a light sleeper, or else he wouldn't have lived past the age of eleven. "Wasn't it morning ten minutes ago?"

1

[highprofilerichkid]

On his way back to the hotel after running some errands, Tony passes by Dante sitting on a street corner singing and playing guitar, and then he stops and does a double-take, because Dante is sitting on a street corner singing and playing guitar.

He does a triple-take when he realizes that Dante isn't actually half-bad. Gosh, Dante, he didn't know you were a sensitive artsy type.

Tony's not sure Dante's noticed him yet, so he hangs back for a while until the crowd has cleared a little.

"Hey, how about Wonderwall?"

[royalguard_style]

This only comes as a surprise because Tony has never seen the inside of Dante's mancave posing as an office. No seriously, this is a man who keeps thousands of dollars of music equipment there, even when he's broker then broke. True, he's more "rocker" than sensitive type, but sensitivity sells. Plus, he's going through something of a rough spot, and this is a socially acceptable outlet for a grown man.

"You mean that weird as hell movie that George Harrison wrote the soundtrack for?" He gave Tony a puzzled look. Sorry, but he's from a few years before that song came out. "I didn't figure you for the sitar type. Or the drugs type, either one."

ANYWAY, HERE'S WONDERWALL

[highprofilerichkid]

"...No? It's a joke, you're supposed to—" Sigh. "Never mind." You ruined it, Dante. And what the fuck's a sitar?

"I didn't figure you for the street musician type. Is this what you're doing to pay the bills?"

[royalguard_style]

"Huh? Must be a thing from your world, kid." Try going a few decades back, then he'll bite.

"I'm not. I kept some music equipment in my office back home, but that was mostly a front." Ahh, those were the days. He misses his jukebox, even if it only sort of works. "But, this pays the bills, so I am now."

1

[starbinder]

The somewhat familiar music drew Lucina to the corner where the strange man was playing his guitar. There wasn't a crowd as most of the locals seemed to be trying very hard to ignore his presence, but it wasn't as if it sounded bad. The man could hold a tune, certainly, but his music probably wasn't to their tastes.

You call that holding a tune? Regulus scoffed, but Lucina ignored her spirit guide.

"Hello," She said, when the man took a pause between songs.

[royalguard_style]

Dante was no prodigy, but he wasn't bad, either. His guitar playing was almost certainly better than his singing. He was most certainly a skilled amateur who was trying to make a living with what had been only a hobby. In other words, another sign that the foreigners were pretty much a bunch of broke bastards.

"Hey there. I haven't seen you around, and you're not telling me to cut it out." He was having success, that doesn't mean the kedan like what he's doing. "You must be new here."

[starbinder]

I think he should cut it out, Regulus growled, And shave that ridiculous beard.

I'm ignoring you, Lucina told the lioness, managing to keep the annoyance from her face, "Is it that obvious?" She asked the man, a small smile lighting up her eyes.

[royalguard_style]

"Yeah. It's pretty easy to tell a human apart from a kedan, if you know what you're looking for." He explained. "There's not a lot of us, either, so it's easy to tell who's new and who's not."

3

[redlightgreenlight]

After her somewhat confusing conversation with the man she believed to be Dante's brothers, she had returned to the Midnight Hotel to hunt down the confused half-demon's new 'master'. She knew that the man had been very confused, and she also knew that Dante wouldn't use the power he currently had over his brother, but there was far too much she didn't know and the curiosity was killing her.

She leaned in the doorway of his room, amused by the sight of him sleeping. Dante was apparently far from paranoid if he could sleep so soundly with his door wide open. "Dante," She said, crossing her arms, "We need to talk."

Re: 3

[royalguard_style]

Dante was far from paranoid, but he was also a light sleeper. You kind of had to be, in Dante's line of work. He started stirring the moment he heard Valdis's voice, though he took a second to gather himself before answering. Getting caught sleeping in the middle of the day by a woman you were sweet on was embarrassing, even by his standards.

"Ah, just who I wanted to see." He sat up. "I was hoping to get your opinion on something."

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis was slighty taken aback by his words, surprised that he had wanted to see her, that he actually wanted her opinion on something. He seemed to be off somehow, his usual carefree demeanor was nowhere to be seen.

"Are you ok?" She asked, trying to put a sarcastic edge on her tone, but she mostly just sounded confused and concerned.

[royalguard_style]

Dante was still trying to speak casually, but it's not hard to see that he's down, even without soul-sensing powers.

"You mean apart from the fact that I have to watch someone I care about act like some hollow, emotionless shell of themselves? Great." Valdis's trickery worked, mainly because he expected sarcasm. But Dante trusted her, and wanted to get to the crux of what he wants from her. "Yeah, I'm great."

No one's picked 2 yet.

[theideaguy]

Sokka's been in and out of the Midnight Hotel for some time now, and for the past week or more he's been mostly in than out as an employee, doing tasks that he would rather not be in charge of, but it's better than being homeless or spending needless juulan that he really didn't have.

Sokka is out in the lobby dusting and doing his own set of chores when he sees Dante just glowering at everything with two legs... and then also parts of the surroundings without two legs. He's not exactly familiar with Dante's usual behaviour, but he is familiar with people who wear far too serious of an expression all the time.

Sokka slips over briefly and raises an eyebrow.

"I know things aren't exactly the best right now," he says to Dante, "but are things really that bad that you can't spare at least a smile every now and again?"

[royalguard_style]

Dante's behavior before was always a bit erratic at work, putting on whatever face he needed to to create a convincing act, then switching back to his nonchalant self in a heartbeat. But now? The most convincing thing he could do was wear his sheer rage on his sleeve, and his job as security gave him a good excuse to act like a child.

"I'm having a hard time being both intimidating and cheery nowadays." He explained, temporarily putting away his glare of death. "I figure since I'm supposed to be watching the place, I might as well go with a look that says 'I could tear your arms off, so don't piss me off'."

1/2

[theideaguy]

Well at least he's willing to put off the glare of death for a brief moment whilst talking to Sokka. It at least makes it seem like he's at least open to some sort of conversation.

"Hey, I totally get and respect that," Sokka says as he places a palm upon his chest to represent empathy. "That's why I'm glad you're in charge of security around here and otherwise ensuring that at least this place is fairly peaceful. I mean, could you imagine me trying to pull off the 'I could tear your arms off' look?"

2/2

[theideaguy]

[As if to illustrate just how ridiculous Sokka would look, he attempts (as best as he actually can) to give that same sort of glower.]

[royalguard_style]

Wow Sokka, just wow. Now he really can't keep up the 'glare of death' look, because that's just too funny.

"Anyway, I'm guessing by the fact that you're working here, you haven't had much luck with the whole 'the locals now hate us' business." He remarked to the near total stranger. Really, he's seen Sokka around, so this isn't totally out of the blue?