[M] Stone and Steel [IC - kittydivine & cwlee]

[kittydivine]

Charlotte sat across from the man, Dante. She got a coffee and looked through the menu. "What are you hungry for?" she asked. Was he embarrassed by accepting help from her? Whatever his problem was, it felt as if he hadn't interacted with someone for a long while. It was fortunate that she had some time to kill, she was going to have to wait until nightfall either way.

When the waitress came back, Charlotte order some breakfast. She looked toward Dante for his order. She took time to look at his tattoos and features. After the waitress left, she asked, "What happened?" She suspected he might lie or deflect.

[cwlee]

Dante sat in silence as he mulled over the menu, unsure of what to order. He knew how to read, but modern food was rather unappetizing for Dante. He required living flesh, but seemingly everyone in this day in age did not prefer such. Dante looked over at his options before eventually settling for the same breakfast Charlotte ordered before he put his head down again, letting the woman inspect his tattoos. Upon closer inspection, the tattoos were not ink but rather etched into his skin like carvings on a stone with extreme precision and detail.

Dante's sinewy arms bore the marks of a living timeline, each tattoo a resemblance to historical moments embodied by well known figures. Despite his youthful appearance, likely in his late twenties or early thirties, his profound fascination with history was unmistakable, as if the man had witnessed the history himself. Among the familiar faces Charlotte could recognize was Plato, his visage weathered by time and overlapped by others that came after. Another figure donned the regalia of a Crusader, and even a depiction of a young female knight, undoubtedly Joan of Arc. Plenty more Charlotte could likely recognize, and apparently, his story did not end with his arms as they seemed to trail deeper into his body.

"I fell," Dante answered her once she broke the silence before it was followed by another silence as the two knowingly wondered if that answer was an honest one. "Fire escape," Dante added dishonestly.

[kittydivine]

This wasn't the first time Charlotte had seen a living canvas, though it was interesting that it was only historical events and people. She sipped her coffee as she mulled over his answer. "Really?" she couldn't help but mutter. What a coincidence, she thought. Her ribs were still aching from their abrupt meeting with a metal handrail from the last night. Tapping her finger on the table, she focused her senses on Dante. Something about him was familiar, yet she didn't know him.

"Where are you from, Dante?" She posed the question innocently. He didn't seem to be aware of her strategy.

[cwlee]

Dante gazed at Charlotte with daggers per her last question and shifted in his seat uncomfortably as he sipped on the glass of water, or rather downing it. “Here. Where else?” the man replied once his glass was emptied, tapping it on the edge of the table to alert the waitress for a refill. “Born and raised.”

As they conversed, Dante took the opportunity to get a better look at Charlotte’s features. As calm and depleted the man appeared on the outside, there was a monster clawing away inside his consciousness, begging to be freed so it may lunge at the woman and devour her. Dante held the monster back, for now. “Can’t tell if you’re from around here,” Dante added, diverting the attention to her, feeling uncomfortable with the attention.

As the pair gazed into each other’s eyes, Charlotte would be able to see that this man has seen too much, too many loved ones lost. And before their conversation could continue, their meals had arrived and silence had filled the air around them as Dante dug in like a hungry beast… with manners as he seemed to be rather proficient with the silverware.

[kittydivine]

"Oh really? You're accent is kind of different," Charlotte replied, ignoring his last comment. She was well-trained in looking harmless. When breakfast arrived, she dug in. It'd been some time since she sat across another person at a table. She tended to keep isolated from others. She had held Dante's gaze firmly, never flinching away.

This wasn't an ordinary man. Was he like her? Or something else? Charlotte would have to ask more questions, but she'd need to do so carefully. "What do you do for work?" She posed the question lightly, as if she was entering banal conversation. Her eyes remained on her breakfast, making it seem innocent.

[cwlee]

“My accent?” Dante cleared his throat of the food he failed to swallow properly. “My family’s German, if that means anything to you,” he quickly responded, catching wind of something amiss with the woman across from him. He could not remember the last time he was accompanied by anyone. “My work?” Charlotte seemed to continue bombarding him with questions that seemed none of her business, but Dante decided to play along.

“What does it look like I do, Miss Charlotte?” the man inquired as he looked up from his meal and leaned back on his seat, unsatisfied with their choice of food. He finished the rest of his water before requesting for another. At this point, the man had already downed three glasses of water in the span of ten to fifteen minutes. The waitress returned with two glasses, and Dante looked up at her auspiciously. “Bless you, ma’am.”

[kittydivine]

He was dodging the question. Charlotte shrugged in response and continued to eat her breakfast. There was a tension in there, barely perceptible. While she looked comfortable and carefree, her body was ready to react at any moment. "German, huh? Yeah that makes sense," she said. She took another sip of coffee.

His mannerisms and speech weren't like that of someone from the city. They seemed a bit more rural. Maybe he got robbed and was too embarrassed to admit it. He was very thirsty though. "You sure you're okay? Don't need to go to the hospital?"

[cwlee]

Truthfully, Dante couldn't say for certain if he was actually form Germany. His earliest memory, which he had always assumed marked his birthplace, took place over a hundred years ago. People in his life had come and gone, yet Dante never seemed to age. Whether it was a curse or a gift, he often pondered, but lately, Dante's longevity felt more like a curse than a blessing.

Dante winced a couple of times as he finished his breakfast, the conversation having taken him away from the pain momentarily, but still, he told Charlotte the the hospital was not necessary. Though he did not say, the man seemed entirely bothered to visit a hospital (almost as if there was no official record of his existence). However, as the excruciating and numbing pain coiled every nerve in his body, Dante cried out as it engulfed his body like flames. Within a moment, the man's head fell limp onto the table, crashing onto his empty plate with a disrupting clatter.

"Uh... Should I call nine-one-one...?" the waitress asked, distress and confused.

[kittydivine]

Charlotte quickly jumped up from the table. "No! No, can't afford it," she said. "I'll take him out of here." She gave the waitress a fifty dollar bill and hoisted Dante up slightly. Dialing a number on her phone, she dragged the unconscious man out of the diner. The phone rang once before it picked up. "Hello?" A low voice responded.

"I need a car. Near Lexie's Diner under the overpass." Charlotte continued to drag Dante to a parking lot.

"Got it," the voice said. A car nearby honked twice, unlocking. Then the phone went dead. She set Dante down near it and opened the back door. It took her a couple minutes to get his large frame inside. After he was settled, Charlotte got in the driver's seat and flipped the sun visor down, dropping a key. She started the car and headed toward one of her safe-houses.

[cwlee]

He dreamed of lilacs. Lilacs were her favorite flower, but the more Dante pondered, the less he could recall who adored them. The face he tried to remember was a vague blur attached to a body he no longer recognized. Then the lilacs morphed into a deep crimson as blood began to drip, saturating and drowning every petal. "Dante," a voice called out, and he jolted awake. The sea of purple and red vanished as a blinding light welcomed him back to life.

The man took a deep gasp of air as his consciousness returned to reality. He looked around, unable to remember what had happened, his head throbbing with a pulsating migraine. Turning his head, he spotted Charlotte, who seemed to have been waiting for him to wake up. "W-What happened?" Dante asked weakly before laying his head back down, hoping to ease the dull pain.