[The ticking comes quiet, and yet somehow it echoes off the mirrors in the funhouse.
"Funhouse." It's a cruel joke to call it that, given what's being shown for anyone to see.]
< ...It's different, seeing it from a distance like this. Seeing how I look when I turn the clock. Seeing how far away I am while they do the fighting. >
[He can wager his guesses, just from how himself would feel.]
You wish you could join them, but couldn't for some reason, yeah?
[Yuri himself is a man of impatience and action. He wouldn't be able to take something like this, having to watch being able not to do anything.]
From what I could see though, you've been sharing part of the burden yourself. That just means they can do something you can't, and you can do something they can't.
< Still... I can't help but feel as if I should be doing something more. >
[They rely on the Sinners so, so much. What if the day comes that they're the one that needs to be relied upon? What if the day comes that no one knows what to do? What if--
The image shifts. To a tattoed man in a garish, leopard-print cape, golden chains wrapped around him. To Dante's twelve companions dead or dying, and Dante themselves fallen, back pressed against a shipping container covered in a pale, membrane-like substance. Alone. Facing death.]
< ...... >
[They look away from the mirror and back towards Yuri, blocking out their vision. No eyes to close, no one to see that they're not looking.]
< I can't do that trick for you guys, just so you know. If you die, you're dead. >
Someone has to make sure to be around to take them home.
[Yuri's own party has everyone fighting in the forefront. Him, Flynn and Karol charging ahead. Judith taking them down from the skies. Raven and Rita providing attacks from the rear. Estelle and Repede dealing damage and healing both. And then there's Patty, who pretty much just does what she wants. They don't really have someone like Dante, who has to stay out of battle no matter the circumstances.
He may not be unfamiliar with death, but the visions reflected from Dante are very hard to watch. He's familiar with getting stabbed or falling from a cliff, or drowning in quicksand, but all of that feels like a blessing compared to the consistent monstrosities in Dante's past.
Yuri doesn't push for the details. He figures they would be as grim as he can imagine.]
And don't worry about me. [He responds by tapping his sword's sheath over his shoulder.] I don't try to make a habit of dying.
[Dante should probably be more sympathetic. Unfortunately, as Yuri has seen, death and its undoing has become too common a sight for them for that.]
< Huh. That's... I don't know if that's good or bad, actually. >
[They're not about to take any unnecessary risks with this knowledge in hand, but knowing there's a backup just in case...
Is this the kind of relief the Sinners felt when they went into battle?]
< There's got to be a catch. > [Even their own power relied on them feeling the exact same pain the Sinners felt when they died in order to revive them] < Was anything different when you woke up? Anyone acting strange? Strange beyond that virus, I mean. >
Not that I know of. It didn't even hurt, unlike how you seem to suffer everytime you rewind that clock.
[Trust him, that's one of the first things he checked - made sure his memories were intact, did a couple of Artes while sparring, tried his other motor skills - but as far as he knows, he came out of it just fine.]
But knowing this place? I'm sure there's consequences eventually.
[That being said, he does try to judge Dante's reaction to all of that. Sure, the lack of a face makes it hard to see what they feel, but there's other places to look out for: body language and the like.]
That doesn't mean there's nothing you could actually do here, boss. So don't get yourself so down on that too, alright?
[No consequences at first, but with the possibility of consequences in the future. They still don't know how to feel. They can't turn the clock for the others, but it might not be necessary. They're still just left with whatever skills they have as Manager, but that's all they had to begin with, right?]
< It's kind of a relief, actually. Not that I plan to test how that works anytime soon. >
[And they know it's selfish of them to think this way, but the fact that they wouldn't have to go through all that pain even if something did happen...]
< But now I know that if I screw up, I won't be taking you guys down with me. I just... gotta make sure not to do it again if it happens. And make sure nothing happened to you guys as a result. And... Uh... >
[Okay, so there's still a significant amount of pressure there.]
Yeah, I don't recommend it. It's not instantaneous either - apparently I was dead for a few days.
[Yuri shrugs - honestly? It felt like he got it off easy this time. He's so used to his terrible luck that he was expecting something like a lost limb after it.]
C'mon Boss, you gotta hype yourself up better than that. [Maybe a playful nudge against their waist would lift their spirits up?] I hate paperwork, for one. Can't have you dying on me if nobody else is there to do it.
[That's definitely a no-go then. Even if they did have any plans to end up dead (which they don't), leaving a corpse is a very, very bad idea.
The last thing anyone needs is for someone to get their hands on their head.
They let out a couple ticks in approximation of an "oof" when nudged and rub the back of their neck.]
< R-Right. That's definitely going to be a pain if it piles up. > [They're only mostly kidding.] < So I'll try and stay out of you guys's way when things get dangerous. >
< Oh, and... Could you maybe not tell anyone else what you saw? I just don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. You know, thinking that I can do that for anyone. >
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[The ticking comes quiet, and yet somehow it echoes off the mirrors in the funhouse.
"Funhouse." It's a cruel joke to call it that, given what's being shown for anyone to see.]
< ...It's different, seeing it from a distance like this. Seeing how I look when I turn the clock. Seeing how far away I am while they do the fighting. >
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You wish you could join them, but couldn't for some reason, yeah?
[Yuri himself is a man of impatience and action. He wouldn't be able to take something like this, having to watch being able not to do anything.]
From what I could see though, you've been sharing part of the burden yourself. That just means they can do something you can't, and you can do something they can't.
no subject
[They rely on the Sinners so, so much. What if the day comes that they're the one that needs to be relied upon? What if the day comes that no one knows what to do? What if--
The image shifts. To a tattoed man in a garish, leopard-print cape, golden chains wrapped around him. To Dante's twelve companions dead or dying, and Dante themselves fallen, back pressed against a shipping container covered in a pale, membrane-like substance. Alone. Facing death.]
< ...... >
[They look away from the mirror and back towards Yuri, blocking out their vision. No eyes to close, no one to see that they're not looking.]
< I can't do that trick for you guys, just so you know. If you die, you're dead. >
1/2
[Yuri's own party has everyone fighting in the forefront. Him, Flynn and Karol charging ahead. Judith taking them down from the skies. Raven and Rita providing attacks from the rear. Estelle and Repede dealing damage and healing both. And then there's Patty, who pretty much just does what she wants. They don't really have someone like Dante, who has to stay out of battle no matter the circumstances.
He may not be unfamiliar with death, but the visions reflected from Dante are very hard to watch. He's familiar with getting stabbed or falling from a cliff, or drowning in quicksand, but all of that feels like a blessing compared to the consistent monstrosities in Dante's past.
Yuri doesn't push for the details. He figures they would be as grim as he can imagine.]
And don't worry about me. [He responds by tapping his sword's sheath over his shoulder.] I don't try to make a habit of dying.
2/2
Besides, you actually do come back to life on your own in here. I might have, uh, died once already.
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< What. >
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Yeah, I got stabbed a few months back. There was this virus that drove some people crazy and caused them to kill indiscrimminately.
[Yuri leaves out the detail that the person who stabbed him also kissed him because they don't need to know that!!]
I was there bleeding out on the floor, but next thing I knew I was on a hospital bed, good as new.
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< Huh. That's... I don't know if that's good or bad, actually. >
[They're not about to take any unnecessary risks with this knowledge in hand, but knowing there's a backup just in case...
Is this the kind of relief the Sinners felt when they went into battle?]
< There's got to be a catch. > [Even their own power relied on them feeling the exact same pain the Sinners felt when they died in order to revive them] < Was anything different when you woke up? Anyone acting strange? Strange beyond that virus, I mean. >
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[Trust him, that's one of the first things he checked - made sure his memories were intact, did a couple of Artes while sparring, tried his other motor skills - but as far as he knows, he came out of it just fine.]
But knowing this place? I'm sure there's consequences eventually.
[That being said, he does try to judge Dante's reaction to all of that. Sure, the lack of a face makes it hard to see what they feel, but there's other places to look out for: body language and the like.]
That doesn't mean there's nothing you could actually do here, boss. So don't get yourself so down on that too, alright?
no subject
< It's kind of a relief, actually. Not that I plan to test how that works anytime soon. >
[And they know it's selfish of them to think this way, but the fact that they wouldn't have to go through all that pain even if something did happen...]
< But now I know that if I screw up, I won't be taking you guys down with me. I just... gotta make sure not to do it again if it happens. And make sure nothing happened to you guys as a result. And... Uh... >
[Okay, so there's still a significant amount of pressure there.]
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[Yuri shrugs - honestly? It felt like he got it off easy this time. He's so used to his terrible luck that he was expecting something like a lost limb after it.]
C'mon Boss, you gotta hype yourself up better than that. [Maybe a playful nudge against their waist would lift their spirits up?] I hate paperwork, for one. Can't have you dying on me if nobody else is there to do it.
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The last thing anyone needs is for someone to get their hands on their head.
They let out a couple ticks in approximation of an "oof" when nudged and rub the back of their neck.]
< R-Right. That's definitely going to be a pain if it piles up. > [They're only mostly kidding.] < So I'll try and stay out of you guys's way when things get dangerous. >
< Oh, and... Could you maybe not tell anyone else what you saw? I just don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. You know, thinking that I can do that for anyone. >
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No worries, I don't think this is something I can just tell anybody, anyway. Bloody deaths aside, this looks...personal.
[There's also the growing concern that, well, at this rate his own demons would start haunting him in these mirrors.]
Besides, I might ask you for the same favor if we don't get out of this hellhole in time.
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[Or so they assume. And anyway, they were meant to be navigating some sort of maze to get through here, right?]
< You wouldn't happen to know where the exit is...? >
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[Don't say that like you're so proud of it, Yuri.]
That being said, it's supposed to be a maze. I'm sure we'd find the exit eventually as long as we keep walking.
[And they better. There's a voice nearby that sounds suspiciously like him and he'd rather not have Dante see him at his worst moments.]