Apollo is adopted into a Huntsman family, but is more of a dragon. Snufkin is born into a family of Vampires, but prefers to be his wild self. Circumstances being what they are, they find each other, then are torn apart, and then have to solve a conspiracy before they're allowed to reconnect once more.
have you read Game Kids yet. You should read Game Kids.
Commission for @characteroulette, who wanted an illustration from their book (which can be found here (digital, for free) and here (physical)). Thank you so much for commissioning me! :^D
Indulge me a moment, to talk about my favourite Game Kid moment for Dante in Book 2 (because that is his book) --
(also this has some Game Kids spoilers, but only up to Book 2!)
Dante has played himself as the Mage of their group up to this point. All through Book 1 and half of Book 2, he stays in the back, he *never* chooses to be the frontrunner of their team. He keeps to the back of their pack and plays himself the squishy mage. He plays himself as long range only, as useless in a close combat fight. There are glimpses of something more, of course. Him making his flames into a wall to block those who do try and close range him stands out. Him being able to stop Vektoria but not one of the Bears or Petel in their Berserk also stands out. But he is fire, and fire will burn if you get close, so you think of it as just the defence he has as a squishy mage. It *aggravates* Vektor to no end, too, how he seems to be utilising himself in this way, but we just assume this is Vektor being Vektor and seeing Dante as a number rather than as a person.
And then Dante punches Damon. He punches Damon in such a calculated and intentional move. He specifically says to himself in note that he would have broken Damon's nose if Damon could be broken. He *knows* how to punch someone and make it hurt.
[As much as Dante aimed to break it, to burn him, it was impossible. That bed of roses kept the Kingpin perfectly untouchable. It was by design. // But he could hurt. Dante was very capable of dishing out pain.] -> Shadows and Inferno, Chapter 5
It takes Paige off-guard. Everyone else sort of glosses over it after the initial unsettling moment of it, prompting us to also disregard it. Dante has played himself the Mage, it doesn't seem more than a brief oddity. He's been stressed and seeing things for the whole chapter, this was just his breaking point. He goes right back to being the small and anxious Mage, so we put it out of our minds as anything to take note of.
(This, of course, plays perfectly into Dante's hands. He is, after all, meant to distract. Meant to disarm. He is written to be the alarm you grow used to and start ignoring.)
Besides that, he gets to show off his more advanced Mage capabilities as the kids continue on. He can use his flames to redirect even the charging Torpedo Sharks. He treats them like his magic lifeblood, speaks of how they're starving and his need to feed them with his breath and life. He returns to playing the Mage and so we write off his ability to punch and hurt because it's not really that weird. We ignore his momentary mention of his own Berserk when confronted by Natasha's because it's his usual too connected but too vague narration. Even when we get to see it for ourselves, it just seems like one of the monsters he would create and so it makes sense.
But then, right at the end of the book, after growing more and more confident and reckless and willing to use his flames and make himself more the monster to be feared he thinks himself as, he launches himself directly into the heat of combat. He uses his fires as if he's boxing with them, punching and fighting close combat like he's always known how to best use his power. And you realise, he has been *lying* this whole time about being the squishy mage. He has been actively pretending to be helpless and useless and uninvolved because, somehow, that was the better option to him than actively engaging in this game.
You realise Vektor has been right. Dante has *power* and he has been *refusing* to use it.
(And suddenly his Berserk being Like That makes sense. Because why turn him into a clawed monster hellbent on fighting close combat with long range options if that's *not* what his baseline is??)
Dante's Berserk was always meant to be special because of his whole connection to the game, but it is also fun to think of it as the one to shift styles completely when no it's actually in-line with what his build is meant to be. The fact that he notes specifically that it's strange for the Creators to have given his build in Berserk to Natasha as well is definitely meant as a point of interest. It's also yet another deflection, since hers seems so divorced from her usual build that of course that would make sense for Dante as well.
But no. Dante is a dps build desperately pretending to be a support build and it shows in this moment he finally dives in to make use of his abilities as he's always understood them.
Probably one of the most important connections I ended up making in Game Kids is the line between Frank and Dante.
Let me explain.
(also there will be spoilers for all of Game Kids, so. Read my books please?)
So Dante and Frank, on the surface, have not a lot in common. They're around the same age, in the same year, but taking completely different classes. Frank is boisterous and irreverent, able to play to his audience and integrate himself into the pack without much fuss. Dante is subdued and evasive, gets dragged kicking and screaming into this pack whether he wants to be there or not.
And, most importantly, Dante is a damage dealer, arguably the strongest out of all the kids, and Frank is a healer, incapable of dealing any damage on his own.
There are some more pertinent similarities connecting them, of course. Frank is incredibly lonely before befriending Paige the same as Dante is incredibly isolated before Petel attempts to connect with him. Frank worries over how others perceive him the same as Dante, only erring on the side of joking around and making light of things rather than dampening himself and pushing others away. Frank is one of the few others who can connect to odd characters like Vektor and Jonathan no questions asked, the same as Dante can speak Vektor's language and understand's Jonathan's desire for solitude. This is why they end up reconciling at the end of Book 1, they find these common grounds and decide to affirm their friendship past their hiccups and self-consciousness.
They are, however, matched in something which might be unexpected: pure power.
Dante can Create whatever he believes to be real. He can literally graft life into reality, it's why he's continually hounded by his shadows. Meanwhile, Frank can pump so much life into someone that he can raise the dead, both inside and outside the game.
They are both, in essence, different aspects of life. And both of them have another very important similarity: they're more infections than beneficial.
Dante's abilities are literally as uncapped as they possibly can be without disrupting too much of his ability to live in the world. Because of this, he has a very fun aspect to them that can override everyone else. We get to see it when he goes Berserk and stops holding himself back because of it. We see it again when he starts trying to wrest control over his life by the end of Book 2. Petel has cut off their ability to feel fear, yet when Dante exerts his influence, Petel becomes afraid. Dante can force Change in everyone around him by simply believing what he wants to be real, can force everyone to overlook him and supercede their better instincts by exerting his influence. He can infect everyone around him when unchecked, hence why Vektor is so afraid of him when he's in his Berserk and unable to dampen his own warping.
In a similar manner, Frank infects those around him with life. We learn it was programmed into him, perhaps incorrectly, but he exudes so much life that he forces those around him to be choked with it if he's not careful. His father and brother were dying, but Frank prolonged their lives simply by being around them. When he forced himself past his own cap, he became powerful enough to eject every single other player from the game through how much life he choked them with. In the same way Dante's code can cause overflow in his most panicked state, Frank can pump more life into someone than they can handle.
It might make more sense for Frank in this manner. His build is that of a Necromancer, after all. He has to have power to raise the dead, even in digital form. The fact that he can pull even a body with its heart ripped out back to life outside of the game is a testament to how deeply the roots of that seed planted in him to combat his own death have spread.
But it makes perfect sense for Dante as well. Dante is Change, after all. Dante is meant to dig his hands into everything before him and steer things towards whatever direction he sees fit. A fact he makes perfectly clear that he's been capable of doing the entire time once he stops hiding and takes control of things.
Despite their vastly different power kits, they are absolutely matched in level. Dante for damage, Frank for healing.
It is why they end up as the two main players once the game has been demystified. It's why Frank is the one to prolong Dante's life, the one to refuse to let Dante escape the narrative and force these Changes to continue. It's why their understanding is the most important step to Dante deciding to take his friends' wishes for him seriously and persist despite everything attempting to rid him from the narrative.
(It's why Frank gets to be the one to not trust Dante when Dante resets everything to do it all over again. Frank is the one who can best see Dante's Change, and so he's the one who will be wary of someone as full of it as Dante.) (But that's really digging into things after the fact so we'll leave that where it is for now.)
Anyway. Giving Frank all this power was definitely one of the best decisions I got to make. My necromancer son who is the Monster and not the Doktor but was given the power of the Doktor and became an infection the Creators couldn't account for. His design has always been my favourite for how much of a contradiction it is.
(Guns take away life normally, but Frank uses one to restore it. Because despite being a healer, he is not a gentle force even slightly. He is a Deep Root Disease and he can and will make use of it the same way Dante can make use of his Change. Both of them have power they don't like using, but will when they feel their friends are threatened. Hell yeah.)
1. If the game kids count, can I see the scene of Abraham killing himself mid-game from Niku's pov? (That, or a scene of your choice from Vektor's pov)
1. Write a scene from [insert fic] in another character’s POV
This is gonna be a long one, get ready. XD (scene in question - also go read my books, there be spoilers in here)
--
Niculaie hadn't wanted to play the game again.
He hated what it made him. What it represented for them. A means in which for Damon to struggle against his own shortcomings. A vice grip on his and Abraham's own tendency to play up their heritage.
The Vampire and Huntsman circled one another, a shark for a shark. The Vampire and Huntsman were dancing this battle of death until they both succumbed. That was how their story went. Whether or not they wanted it, that was how it was written for them.
Niculaie hadn't been able to argue when his father cut him off from seeing his very dear friend. He hadn't been able to do a thing when Abraham was taken from him before they could get far enough away.
It still hurt that Damon was responsible for that one. Abraham had asked Niculaie to elope, to run away and be happy together instead of constantly fighting their parents' old feud for them. Damon was worried, he came along and ultimately helped them get found.
But seeing Abraham again here, right now, inside the game and staring shock still at him in his most stripped down core (he was the Vampire, he was the Blood, unable to escape his heritage and paying for a legacy he never wanted), was almost a fate worse than death.
Abraham, who stared back at him in just as much startled recognition as Niculaie was caught up in.
Then Dante shouted at Damon. A single, startling note. The Change they all needed to break free of this hitch in their processing. Dante was always special, always able to dig in his hands and shift the direction.
Abraham spoke. "You. Both of you. And-And me. I'm."
He pressed his hand to his chest, sparks of recognition. Niculaie desperately wanted to grab onto them, to gather them all and shove them back into his face so he could see them. (Don't you remember,) he wanted to shout. (You, who knew the bite of my fangs and the colour of my blood. You, who danced in time with me like entwined lovers, like death do us part.) Didn't he recall, right now? Couldn't he hear Niculaie's heart screaming for him to wake up, to remember, to quit acting and destroy this stage built to separate them?
Unfortunately, it was a different sort of recognition which overtook this someone Niculaie once used to know. Abraham ripped out a knife from that belt across his chest (Niculaie didn't remember that, knew he had a stake but not this rose knife) and stabbed himself in the eye.
Niculaie screamed.
It was worse than if he just attacked the Vampire, just confirmed that there was nothing left of their choreography they built together.
No one was able to stop Abraham from continuing to stab until his form fizzled out, ejected from the game.
His eyes, his eyes, why did it always have to be his eyes?
To not know, to have to watch from his seat and unable to leap onto the stage, to drag Abraham away from this role he was routinely set up for again and again and again, was maddening.
There was nothing Niculaie could do.
So long as they were forced to play their parts, so long as this system existed, there was nothing any of them could do.
Reason left him then.
He was meant to be the Blood. The Vampire. The Enemy.
He hated being cast the villain, but it was easier to grab onto that than succumb once more to despair.
"You're the one who's changed the most." He said, those embers escaping his chest. It got Frank and Paige to startle back despite knowing his core. Petel and Vektor were unbothered and Abraham's expression twisted further into bitterness. "You're more human than they could ever hope to be."
Vektor shook his head. "I may have been taught humanity, but I am in no way human. You and I and all whom we know are without that monstrous humanity they have. It's the only form of compassion we've been given for one another."
"Having a sense of decency is the reason for that." Paige said in protest.
Sighing softly, Abraham said in a grumble, "Suppose I've neither decency nor humanity, in that case."
Dante shook his head, undeterred. "He's proven already that he's willing to be petty. No one wants to admit to it, but hate is petty and love pettier."
Since Game Kids is all finished (go read it!), here's the alternate final chapter of what happened to Dante --
//
[The Wolf and the Inferno]
--
Dante Vicario was, perhaps, the weirdest roommate Petel had ever had.
The guy rolled himself up into his blanket like a sushi immediately after getting settled, only getting up for the supper bells. He seemed wary of Petel, which made sense. Petel was a whole year older than him. Petel was a wolf, someone dangerous to be alone with.
Yet two whole weeks went by without the two so much as talking with one another.
It rubbed their hackles the wrong way.
"At least he's not in your face, right?" Paige reasoned as they ate lunch together. She sat beside Dante in their English class so they hoped she'd have some better insights to share. "Don't let it bother you too much. He's just a little shy, he's still getting over his homesickness and stuff."
Frowning, Petel glanced across the cafeteria to where he saw the guy sit down. The oddball sat by himself as often as possible, seemingly content in keeping to himself. The food on his tray was a complete mess, but he swung his feet as he ate, working at some sketch in his notebook. Turning their attention back to Paige, Petel asked, "Homesick, huh?"
"Weren't you and Sonya when you first got here?" She teased, prodding at their cheek. They gave a grumble of annoyance, making her laugh. "Besides that, he is the son of the Vicarios. You did meet them when he moved into your room, didn't you?"
"Should I know who they are?" Petel asked, much to her dismay.
The rest of their friends arrived and Paige happily dropped the issue as Levy and Kalyuga eagerly related a story about Jonathan and Natasha, whom they were in line with. Petel found themself putting it out of their mind as well, content in listening to their pack have fun. Paige was good at making Kalyuga laugh, as was Levy, and Sonya was always fun to rile up.
Vicario. It should have been familiar, but Petel was never great at surnames. Dante worked fine on its own. More distinctive, too. Why complicate things needlessly?
"You think Miss Fitzgard'll dig into Ivanovich again?" Levy asked, that ever mischievous glint in his eyes. "He may be a drummer, but he's so bad at rhythm it's kinda sad."
"If she does, she's not going to do it in front of the whole Band." Sonya said.
"He's a real arse, he'd deserve it." Levy argued.
"Don't be rude." Sonya snapped.
Petel huffed out a breath, a warning for the two of them to stop before the wolf had to step in with a bite. Sensing the need in a redirection to the conversation, Paige said in a pondering sort of tone, "You know, the only one who really treats Vicario as anything besides normal is Ivanovich."
"Oh, you're right." Kalyuga said, clapping her hands together in excitement. "What was it he said? That there was something dangerous about him that could ruin us all?"
"Sheesh, he ain't even taking any of the Theatre classes here." Levy said.
Paige grinned at Petel and said, "You two might share more in common than you think, in that regard."
Petel stared at her blankly a minute. "Because I'm a wolf?"
She nodded. "Because you're a wolf."
"Wolves don't eat fire." Sonya said hesitantly.
"Why would Petel eat him?" Kalyuga asked with a gasp.
As Paige and Levy laughed at the absurdity, Petel had to give it some consideration. With that wavy golden hair and tanned skin, Dante did look rather appetising. Wrapped in a seaweed blanket, he could even be mistaken for a fancy sushi.
The end of lunch bells rang and they all had to file out to their next classes. Petel's mind turned, instead, towards the consideration of the two towers on their campus. Always locked, always impenetrable, but an enticing mystery all the same. Rumours said there was something in there that would get any normal, not privately funded school shut down at the mere mention of them. And Petel liked a good amount of danger to their adventures.
They returned to their room first once Band let out. An odd thing of note, considering Dante didn't seem to have taken on any extracurriculars. A loner through and through. Petel may have been a wolf, yet Dante could wear that moniker just as well. They cleaned their violin and just started on their schoolwork when Dante arrived.
Without missing a beat, they looked him directly in the eyes and said, "I could eat you."
A beat pause. He stared back, shocked.
Then he was doubled over in laughter.
Petel huffed, not really having meant to say that in that particular way. The way his laughter bubbled out of him, like the carbonation in a fizz drink, was sort of cute, though. It was their blunder, they couldn't fault him there.
"I'm not going to, though. Eat you, I mean." They went on.
"Sorry, sorry." He said through his laughter, making an effort to straighten himself up and wipe the tears from his eyes. "That really is the first thing you can think of to say to me, isn't it?"
He walked the rest of the way in, closing the door neatly behind him, then sat down on his bed to face Petel proper. His bright eyes and eager expression were both so open and unexpected that Petel wasn't sure how to keep this going. "Well. I am a wolf." They said at last.
"So I've heard." His smile seemed wistful a moment, then he perked up as some new thought hit him. "Oh! I like the colour of your eyes."
Again, Petel was thrown from a horse here. "Um. Thanks?"
"Sorry if that sounds weird. It's just always the first thing I notice." He tapped at the side of his head, near his own eyes. His were a deep red, like blood. Or fire. Maybe there was a reason he was referred to as a fireball around the school. "Eyes are pretty. The colours are just so fascinating to me. And yours, they're like a wild beast of ice. I like them."
Weird was definitely the right way to describe him. "I'm a wolf." They said again, needing to reiterate their point.
He smiled at them, that wistfulness tinging it. As if he was looking at someone completely different instead of them. They glanced at the wall behind them, unsure if there was maybe something there, and he gave an awkward little, "Oh, um. You know, if you mixed our colours, you'd get purple."
They returned their gaze to him, truly perplexed. "Is that. Significant? In some way?"
"Well. Purple is my favourite colour." He laughed softly, covering his mouth in his embarrassment. "And yours - uh. What's your favourite colour, might I ask?"
"Red."
They pulled at their jacket for illustration. He nodded along, looking as if he wanted to say more but unsure of where to start. If they had known talking to this guy would raise so many more questions than answers, then they wouldn't have waited two whole weeks to do so. Even if it started regrettably.
"Hey, so. Your parents." They started.
He wilted. "Paige must have told you." He murmured. Then, in a much clearer tone, "I am Dante Vicario, son of the two heads of Vicario Tech. You could say such a status has marked me for Hell."
He giggled at the end a bit unsurely. Whatever it was, it sounded important. Unfortunately, Petel wasn't really a tech person. Ol' Bassoon hated it and Petel had sort of adopted his stance just from all the stories he told of it. Wolves and technology, the bane of the Vitayevs. "That would mean Damon's marked for hell, too." They said.
"Of course he is, he's the King of it." Dante agreed.
He didn't seem to be saying it out of malice, like Paige might. It was just a fact to him. Which made all of this even weirder. Weird, weird, *weird*. Slowly, Petel pulled their work back into their lap and said, "I've got some assignments I have to do."
"Right, of course. Sorry for distracting you."
Dante shied away, right back to being withdrawn. He shifted on his own bed to lean against the wall and pulled out his own notebook to work on something himself. Of the three classes Petel shared with him, the only one with actual work was English. Meaning they had very little in common in that sense.
The way he seemed to keep an eye on them, though. Like a predator watching his prey. Petel knew that sensation very well.
They weren't accustomed to being on the prey side of it was all.
At breakfast the next morning, they decided to take more initiative. Prove themself a predator on equal ground with him. They sat right beside him at his lonely little table and asked, "So what're you doing all the way out here, Hell boy?"
He snorted out his laughter, doing his best not to let it bubble over again. "Trying to get a good grasp of things before integrating myself." He said.
Rolling their eyes, Petel nudged his shoulder with theirs. "Not here here. I mean, this school."
"Oh. I guess I never did quite explain it." He mused suddenly. Then, growing embarrassed, he said, "Marina Royal is basically funded by my parents, so. There was little other choice for me to go."
That got Petel to reel back. "Your parents are funding this place?"
"They go way back with the Headmistress." He said, continuing to explain for them. "It's always been a private school, they just became the main contributors after she was having some troubles with another funder pulling their support. They get their pick of fresh grad students for their company and she gets to continue her school, so. Everyone wins, I guess."
Well. That was suspicious as heck, but Petel had no way of calling him out on that. Better to change the subject and keep the conversation moving. "Then. Are you going into your parents' company once you graduate, too?"
The line of succession around most of these rich kids was pretty insane. Surprisingly, Dante smiled as he joked, "I dunno, it's kinda cult-ish in there. I'd rather do something drab, like become a teacher or something."
They laughed and he joined in with that bubbly laughter. It seemed to overflow, as if stopped up inside him for far too long. Considering Kalyuga and Damon's situations, Petel wouldn't be surprised if Dante had been under similar pressure from his well-to-do parents. They managed a breathless, "Is being a teacher drab? You better not let Mr Williams hear you say that."
"Compared to being a tech giant in the industry, I'd say so." Paige said, dropping her tray of food down in the empty spot on Dante's other side. He flinched at the noise, then perked up immediately at her presence. "We share a job goal, though! I want to become a teacher as well."
"Paige!" Dante greeted her, smiling brightly. Petel smiled as well; of course he'd be friendly with her, they sat together in their English class, but it was still nice to see him treat her like a friend. The wolf could make its decision to add him to their pack with much more confidence. "Good morning. Um, Petel was just asking me what I wanted to do once we graduated."
He winked mischievously and though it didn't seem like Dante understood the joke, he gave a soft, "Oh, no. Petel said they wouldn't eat me. Not yet."
Levy reeled back in laughter and even Paige had to duck her head down as she giggled. Sonya frowned at Petel in concern, saying, "You didn't actually tell him that, did you?"
They shrugged sheepishly. "Didn't really mean to, but yeah. First thing that came out of my mouth."
"I can't believe you didn't scare him away with that." Levy said through his laughter.
"Me neither." Sonya agreed.
Dante laughed at their concern, but that raised a good point. Dante's reaction to Petel's flub was odd. Then again, as a whole he was pretty weird. As weird as most of the other students attending this place. Could be a rich kid thing.
The conversation continued as they ate, Paige and Levy dominating most of it. It was a comfortable atmosphere, Dante participating as if he always belonged to their group. The way he laughed along and was able to keep up was impressive. Being such a shy little loner, Petel really expected him to run away or something in a group this big. But he seemed relieved in a strange sense. As if the company was the balm he needed on that crushing sense loneliness could impose.
It wasn't like very many others approached him all that much. Petel kept their eye on it throughout the morning. Paige chatted with him through their English class, Charon and Fiamma ganged up on him during first break, but that seemed to be it. He was quick to startle (his scream was pretty impressive), but he kept himself away from others, preferring to be approached first. As if he was holding back something truly dangerous just beneath his skin.
The hardened scrutiny he carried in his eyes was convincing enough. The wolf inside Petel recognised one of similar ilk through that look alone.
It was intriguing. Something to dig into.
"He said he'd basically been marked for Hell." Petel said to Paige before break ended.
She laughed and said, "Who here hasn't?" Which was a fair enough point.
They left Study Hall in order to practice their piece for Music, making sure to inform Mr Patillo. It seemed a little insensitive to do with a roommate around, so they were a little behind on their practice. As they let the music flow from their strings, weaving together the story of the wolf and the hunters, they didn't notice the door open, didn't see the intruder until they came face to face with that shock of wavy golden hair.
The sight of him made them flinch back and, regretfully, screech their next note. Dante, of all people, winced at the noise. Then he smiled sheepishly at them and said, "Sorry. Um, you're really good, that was really pretty."
They lowered their violin to their hip and half smiled in return. "Thanks."
Then there was silence.
What was one to do now that they had been hunted down by such an odd predator? By the looks of him (threading his fingers together, looking anywhere but directly at Petel, hesitation mixing beautifully with nervousness), he wasn't here to deliver a killing blow of any kind. The wolf inside them warned of danger, yet wasn't in full attack mode yet. That had to count for something here.
"I, uh. Didn't really mean to follow you." Dante finally admitted, quiet and near remorseful. "It's just. I was curious to see. Where you were off to."
He kept his head bowed, twiddling with his fingers on the desk. His clear guilt was easier to understand and Petel smiled easier. "I get that. So, you're from Italy, right?"
Easier to keep the conversation going if they sought information. Curiosity was an easier thing to understand, after all. Dante's head snapped up and he gave a somewhat conflicted, "Y-Yes, I. I'm from a smaller town, Bianco. It's, um. Right at the bottom of the boot, next to the Mediterranean."
The mixture of what could only be called a regretful homesickness definitely had Petel's attention. "Tell me more about it." They said.
Strangely, he deflated against the desk and said, "Sorry, but. I'd better not."
"Why not?" They asked, tilting their head to the side.
Talking things out usually helped them feel better about missing their home back in Sharypovo. Dante's tone dropped to a chilling bitterness as he said, "Nothing's left for me there. The home I had - the friends I made - I burned it all down. So it's best not to think back on any of it."
Wild. Absolutely wild thing to just say like that. "Then. Is there anything else you want to talk about?" They asked.
After a few moments of struggling to find the right words, he looked up to meet their eyes and professed, "You can go back to playing. I'd like to listen to it, if you don't mind."
Though unsure of what exactly to think of this guy (he tracked them down just for this? Was he toying with them before snapping that maw shut on them? What, what?), Petel obliged and went back to their piece. Dante did, indeed, sit and watched in a rapt interest. His steady gaze and intensity spoke of a type of studying both familiar and unfamiliar to the wolf. Familiar in the sense of mapping out a prey's movements to better ensnare them in teeth and claws. Unfamiliar in that there was no such predatorial intent behind those eyes at all.
They were being studied, but for what end? They were being mapped, but not for the sake of tearing them down.
Almost like —
"Paige said you were a special transfer, too." He said, shattering that thought and sending Petel grasping for whatever it was they'd been doing. Playing their piece, it turned out, and they had to pull their violin away and back to their hip before they hit another sour note. "Is it because you're from Russia?"
His stare never lessened. His curiosity was much more intense; almost like asking the questions just for the sake of asking them. They nodded once and said, "Yeah. I think so."
It was a little strange to be shipped out to an entirely different country just for some schooling, but Ol' Bassoon was insistent. Said they had to use their assets left to them. Sonya managed to get accepted as well after resolving to go with them, which they appreciated. They weren't completely alone while out of their element, like Dante. He next asked, "Was learning English hard? I feel I've struggled a lot with it, all the hard stops and awkward vowel sounds are so different from Italian."
They perked up a bit. As common ground as they could get, at last. "The alphabet was hardest for me. Cyrillic's way easier than all these squiggles."
His laughter bubbled once more. "Right, you had to learn a whole new writing system. That must have taken a lot more work."
They decided they liked that laugh. They liked it a lot.
"It's really too bad they don't offer many languages here for extracurriculars." He went on, training that laughter out of him. "I think learning Russian would be really interesting. Not that I'd really know what to do with it."
Seizing the opportunity, they gave a joking, "You could use it to talk to me."
He giggled. "I suppose I could."
So he was receptive to flirting. Maybe? Were they flirting here? That was sort of too big a leap, even for a reckless wolf like Petel. They cleared their throat and said, "I'm going to keep practising now."
"Okay."
He went back to watching in that intense studying manner and they just had to ignore all that fluster gathering in their chest. They managed to dampen most of it by the time the warning bell rang, then they both had to return and check in with Mr Patillo before hurrying off to their next classes. Dante waved to them cheerily and that just set off another explosion of fluster in their gut.
Was it strange to like their roommate? Was it strange to like hin as immediately as they had? He was fairly pleasant, despite his oddities and supposed burning. He seemed to work well with their wolf so far.
Time. They needed more time here. It was far too soon to know whether teeth and hunger might drive him off. It was too soon to know whether they truly wished to devour that flesh, as they had to accidentally professed.
It occupied their mind even as it reached lunch time. As they headed for the cafeteria, they were blocked off by who else besides Yasha and Vladimir.
"What makes you think a wolf like you gets to eat inside with civilised folk like us, eh?" Yasha sneered as he clamped a hand around one of Petel's arms. His grip was tight as a bear trap and no amount of snarling or thrashing could get him to release them. "Untamed, unruly beasts such as yourself should root around in the trash for your meals."
He dragged them off towards the back of the building, where the dumpster was kept. They snapped their jaws at him, a warning that they wouldn't follow through on (they never needed to taste blood again), but to no avail. Vladimir followed along, hands in his pockets and more nonchalant than he was entitled to be in a situation like this. "Why do you insist on taking the time to do this?" He asked.
Aiming an incredulous glare up at him (he was so much taller, nearly reaching the heights of giants like Niculaie or Gaëlle), Yasha said, "Are you saying that we, as good students of Marina Royal, shouldn't weed out the feral riff-raff like this wolf here?"
"I'm just saying. As an observation." Vladimir said with a disapproving shake of his head. "You're a little too hung up on them for it to be considered normal."
"Well, it's either take care of it myself or let the Huntsman take all the glory. Lord knows that Kingpin ain't doing anything about this."
"I don't think they're the Fourth's type to hunt."
"And you'd be spot on there." Abraham said, breaking in and making both of them jump in surprise.
He had Vektor with him, who chimed in with a helpful, "Bullying is a rather petty crime. Can't well call yourselves fellow Huntsman with that sort of resume."
Vladimir sighed, relaxing all that tension out of him. "Almost had it, Ketziah."
"This is our game." Yasha said in a grumble, yanking Petel closer to him. "Find someone else to bother, Fourth. And take the robot with you."
"They always resort to that particular one." Vektor said in a confused sort of musing.
Abraham clapped his shoulder in reassurance, then stepped towards Yasha and said with an appropriate amount of menace for a Huntsman, "Let's not escalate this situation, Ivanovich. You see, I simply cannot allow you to bully a perfectly fine and upstanding person such as Vitayev while I'm around to do something about it."
His ability to stay polite even while utilising an underlying threat was pretty admirable. Colour Petel impressed. Yasha's grip on them tightened, making them wince. "Don't push your luck with me, Fourth." He warned.
"You're the one pushing his luck here." Abraham returned, smiling to enhance that menace.
Yasha glanced to Vladimir, who frowned in annoyance at the clear direction he was being given. Vektor, who seemed about ready to step in himself, switched his focus to something else beyond all of them and gave a delighted, "Ah, Dante."
That got Yasha to whip his head around at a painful looking speed. Sure enough, Dante was headed right for their group, equal parts concerned and furious.
It was heat pressed onto them. An unnatural heat that bit against Petel's skin harder than Yasha's grip on them.
They yanked away from Yasha at the same time as he stumbled away a few steps. "Stay — Stay back!" He shouted.
His fear was disgustingly thick. Petel had to step closer to Abraham and Vektor just to get away from it. Vladimir faced Dante in an oddly confrontational move for the usually disaffected guy and said, "You ain't getting at my friend here again, Fireball."
"Then maybe keep him from taking out his frustrations on my roommate." Dante said in return.
Even his tone was heat. His sudden confidence and danger made it clear with a crystal clarity to Petel then and there: Dante was, indeed, another predator. Perhaps one far more deadly than even the wolf which had killed their parents and whose skin they wore now. Confused, Abraham asked a quiet, "Again?"
"Dante nearly dislocated Drummer's shoulder the last they interacted." Vektor related, as helpful as ever when an explanation was needed. "It was quite the spectacle. I'm surprised you didn't hear of it, Professor."
It was news to Petel as well. Dante said, "Do this again and I won't hold back the Hellfire calling for your damnation."
The absurdity of his threat didn't even register in Petel's mind. He spoke it with such confidence that they were sort of surprised he didn't immediately pull flames from his skin to make good on that threat. Yasha yanked Vladimir away from him and gave a stuttering, "Whatever. It's not like — You couldn't even — Let's just get our food and go, Vlad."
Vladimir tossed a last disdainful look at Dante, then went along with his friend inside the cafeteria. Dante snorted after them, then turned sheepish as he faced Petel and them. "Um. Sorry about that." He said. "They just make me upset."
"That was a jolly good show, Vicario." Abraham said with a jovial laugh.
Vektor, too, grinned as he said, "It still fascinates me to no end how you needn't even use your Inferno to chase those two off."
Deciding to join their praise, Petel smiled and said, "Thanks for that. Guess you've really earned that Fireball title."
Dante deflated with a sigh. "It's honestly more a hassle than anything. They think I'm going to burn the whole school down just because they can't help but be such jerks."
"Well. Are you going to burn the school down?" Vektor asked.
Dante met his eyes a minute, then shook his head. "I'm doing my best not to let that happen this time."
"This time?" Abraham asked, his grin taking on a teasing sort of edge. "Am I to understand that you make a habit of burning your schools down, then?"
"Only when I've been backed into a corner by my own shadows." Dante said in return with a bitter sort of joking air.
"Ah. Then we'll be safe yet." Abraham returned readily.
"I certainly have no plans to back you into any corners." Vektor said. "Neither should Vektoria. So, yes, I do believe we can consider ourselves safe for the time being."
Enough time had passed, so the four of them entered the cafeteria and stepped into line to gather their own food. Unable to bite back that burning curiosity, Petel said, "You all know each other, then?"
Vektor was another special transfer, but reportedly from Israel, not Italy. The upperclassman hung out mostly with Abraham, who was someone Petel never thought to acquaint themselves with out of courtesy to Damon. The Kingpin always considered the Huntsman to be a thorn in his side, though Abraham seemed perfectly polite any time he was out of Niculaie's vicinity. Vektor brightened with that eagerness to explain and said, "Dante helped both Vektoria and I into this Realm."
"We've known each other long enough to practically be considered siblings." Dante said.
"You do understand how to speak his language better than I can." Abraham said.
A sort of haunted look came over Vektor for a moment, but he quickly brushed it off and went on. "I wouldn't call Vektoria my sibling by any stretch of the meaning, but I suppose your appraisal of our standing with you is accurate."
His usual verbosity made Petel wrinkle their nose. Always a ten rubel usage of vocabulary with this guy. Glancing off towards the girl in question, who sat with Damon and his gang as she argued heatedly with Charon and Diane, Dante frowned in some sort of agreement. "She's always been less willing to form actual connections. Less willing to admit to them, too."
Abraham gripped his hand into his jacket sleeves at even the suggestion of his arch nemeses, but gave a very diplomatic, "There are worse things to be besides stubborn. Now, the line's moving."
Vektor perked right back up with that eagerness he always had for every meal time. "Yes, let us collect our things and find somewhere to sit."
Smiling, Petel said, "You're all sitting with my pack today. Obviously."
"Ah." Though confused, Dante giggled softly. "So you've always called them your pack, huh?"
"I am a wolf." They reiterated, showing off more of their teeth.
It was a strange way to phrase it, but they would let that slide. They were all entitled to a little strange that went unexplained. Once the four of them had their trays of food, they joined Paige, Sonya, Kalyuga, and Levy at a table. Paige was in a heated discussion with a curly black-haired boy whom Petel vaguely recognised as a first year they shared Phys-Ed with. Levy grinned over at Petel, his green eyes sparkling with his usual mischief. "Gathering some new mates? We'll need 'em if we ever wanna rival the Kingpin's bunch."
Petel laughed at how ridiculous it sounded. Dante said, "Not sure there's anyone with an ego big enough to rival his."
"You can say that again." Paige agreed, momentarily halting her conversation with the unknown boy.
"Perhaps if we combined all our egos, we could get close?" Kalyuga suggested, having to hold back her own giggles.
"You lot do seem to have a few real good ones to combine." The unknown boy commented.
Petel frowned at him and asked bluntly, "Who're you?"
"Frank Ernest, glad to make your acquaintance." The boy — Frank, apparently — offered his hand out to Petel to shake. Obviously, it was meant to shake. That was the human gesture for greeting. Carefully, Petel accepted it as he went on. "Heard a lot about you from Philips here, she's been my study mate for the past week or so."
"And I've heard a lot about you." Abraham broke in, thankfully distracting Frank before Petel could figure out whether or not this was a good thing. "Perci's always talking about his friend Ernest whom he shares his Study Hall with. Glad to finally have a face to put to that name."
"Aww, shucks."
Frank pressed his hands to his face in a shy sort of delight. There was something about Dante's expression as he watched them all interact; something incredibly soft and familiar. Different from earlier at breakfast and different from that confrontation with Yasha and Vladimir, but very familiar. Something Petel nearly recognised.
"Oh, speaking of the Kingpin, though." Levy spoke up, breaking Petel out of those thoughts. "Did'ja hear? He's planning to crack the mystery of our school's towers."
Vektor scrunched up his nose in distaste. "Mystery?" He asked.
"It's no real big mystery." Dante said, waving his hand dismissively. Then, as the thought struck him, he stood. "Actually, if you want, I can show you what's in there. Settle it right now for all of you."
Petel stood eagerly, their interest piqued. Paige gave an incredulous, "Right now?"
"Should only take a minute or two." Dante said, shrugging.
He motioned for them to follow, then walked out. Petel was the first to go along, right with Vektor, then the rest of their group filed after. Maybe it was a bit risky to leave their food, but the idea of adventure was too enticing to pass up.
The trek to one of the towers was quick. Dante reached the doors and paused a moment, then stepped aside to allow Vektor through first. "Sorry." He said in a quiet voice.
"I'm more fascinated that they locked it back up." Vektor said, not bothering to lower his voice at all.
He opened the doors and showed their group inside. It was fairly empty, actually, just a tall room with a computer near its centre and four orange tube-like things around the perimeter. A white tube sat in the centre. All of them were open, but held nothing exciting inside.
As Paige and Abraham examined the computer (which was powered off), Dante said, "It's just a prototype of some model my parents developed years ago. They asked Headmistress Ghepetto to keep it here in case they ever wanted to get back to it."
"Why not keep it at home? Or at work?" Kalyuga asked.
"No place to put it. The setup's sorta awful."
He gestured around at the tubes, implying they were meant to be a part of the computer. Petel may not have understood a lot about technology, but they could understand how that would make things difficult. Paige managed to boot the computer, catching Vektor's attention. "Don't bother, Navigator. There's nothing left to search for."
He seemed rather sour about it, a bitterly melancholic tone to his words. Abraham, Frank, and Kalyuga crowded around behind her to watch the screen as it lit up, only to display nothing. Literally nothing. Deflating, Paige said, "Must've been wiped before getting moved out here."
"No sneak peeks, huh?" Kalyuga joined in with a sigh.
Paige turned the thing off again, then they all left the tower and went back to their table in the cafeteria. Their food was left unbothered, thankfully, and they all easily resumed their meals. "Well. That's one mystery solved." Levy said.
"Sorry it was so disappointing." Dante said.
Sounded like he genuinely meant it, too. Frank gave a beleaguered, "Of course it was gonna be boring. No way it really would'a been anything big enough to get this place shut down. That'd be crazy."
"So they're just two setups that are both outmoded and too big to keep at home." Kalyuga said, musing to herself. "Vicario Tech does tend to focus on power first and slim the design down after the fact."
"Any ideas on what it would've done?" Paige asked.
She pointed it mostly at Dante, but it was Vektor who replied, "Nothing of great consequence. Just a timer that's been diffused."
"Can't be anything better than what they've developed after it." Dante said after their bemused silence.
They all let the silence stretch another minute, then Sonya said to Frank, "You said Paige helped you study? Does that mean the two of you share some of your classes?"
"Yeah. We're both in Miss Cha's Chemistry." Frank said eagerly.
The conversation shifted back to casual and comfort. Abraham, Vektor, and Frank all seemed such a natural fit for the pack that Petel eased their hackles by the time lunch ended. They all had to part ways, but it was a promise of friendship which sparked between them. It was an acceptance of seeing one another the next they were available.
Sure enough, once classes ended, they all sat together again for supper. Vektor and Frank seemed to click together as instantly as Sonya and Levy had, and even though Abraham lived off campus and couldn't join them, he did sit with them at lunch the next day.
It was a nice balm against the disappointment of that dashed adventure. Having new pack members kept Petel from going stir crazy last year. It'd have to do this year as well.
Dante seemed more relaxed now, too. Having a few good friends no doubt helped to stave off his homesickness. The way he watched all of them stopped being so intense as well. There was that something about it that Petel could finally place; the tenderness in his eyes, the overflowing warmth radiating from him —
It was affection. They were sure of it.
A bittersweet and melancholic sort, but affection nonetheless. It rolled off him like the waves of heat he radiated.
All of it, all of it, directed solely at their pack.
Looking at this undeniable fondness, they decided that it was fine there was nothing interesting inside those towers. They had a whole adventure right here in front of them.
That fire could prove to be more danger than anything and they'd still probably run straight into the heart of it without a second thought.
You'd think that Petel would be the foil to Dante. They're, at first glance, opposites. Dante is afraid of everything, Petel is unable to feel fear. Dante is endlessly secretive, Petel is very open about their truths. Petel gives off the energy of a lone wolf but is very pack oriented, Dante is the actual lone wolf.
But they're actually too similar to be foils. Predator for predator. The desire to destroy and the desire to consume. This similarity is the whole reason they're able to understand one another and become partners.
They still have similarities, of course. Artificially raised kids who aren't very good at interacting with the world or blending into society. Kids with status that doesn't actually matter. They have to be similar in some ways, being raised in very similarly sheltered manners.
But this similarity marks their starting points. Their foil nature towards one another develops as they take this start and run in completely different directions.
Dante is tired of being human. Petel encourages him to let down his walls, to accept friendship, and then to acknowledge that his innate danger is a part of him. Dante grabs his humanity and, after everything, RUNS in the farthest direction from it as possible. He is fire and flames and the root of everything wrong for his friends. He has power, he is Change, and he burns what he touches. It's just the nature of his being.
Vektor is drawn to being human. He's a learning program, so his actions and behaviours change over time the more he interacts with the core cast. His understanding of his own programming evolved the more he learns, the more he is loved by his friends. Their love is strange, as none of them can call themselves normal, but it is undeniably love. Being shown all this love, is it any wonder that he would grab onto their humanity and sprint towards what they represent instead of away from it? They call themselves humans mostly, and so of course he would want to join them in their humanity.
Dante's arc is one of descending into his monstrous nature. Vektor's, in perfect contrast, is one of crashing through his artificial nature. By the end, Dante is more free of the shackles humanity chained onto him and Vektor is less the program he was written to be. It's why the only way it could ever end was with Dante and Vektor switching places. It's why they both had to sacrifice themselves for these friends who have helped them become their true selves.
Anyway Vektoria is a parallel to Azula if she won and then found herself trapped in helping out the heroes thanks for coming to my ramble about my kids.
Anyway let me elabourate on my last point because it's less of a joke than you'd think --
So imagine this type of scenario in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Zuko is successfully killed through self-sacrificing for the Gaang. Azula had no hand in this. She's won their battle by default and it would piss her off. Then in her attempts to finish off Aang, he also chooses to sacrifice himself and it somehow brings Zuko back. Aang has died, the Avatar cycle is broken, but Azula was not the one who chose this. Again, she's won by default.
Worse still, she's now trapped with the rest of the Gaang in taking down her father due to the circumstances surrounding this sacrifice.
She'd be infuriated. She'd want to murder all of them. But she can't, because they're her only hope of a victory by her own hand. She's not happy about it, but she has to work together with them in order to fulfil this goal for her own victory. So she can say that she won something by her own damn hand for once instead of being handed unearned victories. Because yes, by technicality she came out of those battles as the victor, but she would never be able to spin the story in her favour. It's too obvious that she had nothing to do with those wins and so she has to succeed on her own merits or go insane knowing she is inferior to two people who couldn't even best her.
So yeah. That's how Vektoria's story goes. I didn't really set out to write it like that, but it sure did turn out that way. XD fun exercise in having an antagonist / villain become part of the main gang and refusing this change thrust upon her while still being changed in the end. She gets to kill her target in the end so all worth it <3
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