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ic inbox ( ruby city ) Ⅰ
buongiorno! sorry i missed you; i'll happily get back to you as soon as i'm done with whatever business i'm on. leave a message!
( text | voice | video )
⇦ ● ⇨
buongiorno! sorry i missed you; i'll happily get back to you as soon as i'm done with whatever business i'm on. leave a message!
( text | voice | video )
⇦ ● ⇨
Okay--give me your hands, I'll walk you through it once.
[And by 'me' that time, he meant Hierophant. The Stand snuck out of Kakyoin's shadow in thin ribbons and reached for Giorno's wrists delicately, with the intention of carefully guiding him through a few simple gestures to match Kakyoin's own.]
[And by 'me' that time, he meant Hierophant. The Stand snuck out of Kakyoin's shadow in thin ribbons and reached for Giorno's wrists delicately, with the intention of carefully guiding him through a few simple gestures to match Kakyoin's own.]
[Narancia. The dead one, just like Bruno and Abbacchio. The one who didn't like going to school, who fought a lot. The one who Giorno called for in that first instant when time resumed, when in the blink of an eye the world around him had changed and yet he didn't once lash out the way someone else might've.
It's a little funny, maybe. He has a feeling Giorno picked Narancia in the same way the he'd almost picked Kakyoin, himself — and the only reason why he hadn't is because "Kakyoin" would feel too much like manipulation, and "Noriaki" is too important to gamble on this, and "Tenmei" isn't his to give.]
You said his name, the first time I stopped time.
[...Which. Raises another important point, actually.]
...Something about missing time, right? That's the same reason I just moved you, instead of hitting you.
[He slides his free arm back, pushing his elbow against the sand to help prop himself back up into a sitting position — visible proof of the way the conversation and the passage of time are both acting to help pull himself together.]
It's a little funny, maybe. He has a feeling Giorno picked Narancia in the same way the he'd almost picked Kakyoin, himself — and the only reason why he hadn't is because "Kakyoin" would feel too much like manipulation, and "Noriaki" is too important to gamble on this, and "Tenmei" isn't his to give.]
You said his name, the first time I stopped time.
[...Which. Raises another important point, actually.]
...Something about missing time, right? That's the same reason I just moved you, instead of hitting you.
[He slides his free arm back, pushing his elbow against the sand to help prop himself back up into a sitting position — visible proof of the way the conversation and the passage of time are both acting to help pull himself together.]
Yes. He--
[And then he hesitates - not, ironically enough, because he doesn't want to talk about Narancia, especially to Jotaro, but because what he's about to say probably says a lot about his battle strategy, and he's still very much invested in winning this fight. Still, it's an important thing to know about Narancia, he decides after a moment, and takes a deep breath, and continues.]
His Stand. Aerosmith, it was able to detect people breathing from far away. So I thought - after a certain point I always just called for him automatically, to check and see how close an enemy was. He was always watching over us.
[But I couldn't watch over him.]
[Is that what he regrets most? Sometimes it seems like it is. Sometimes it seems like choosing one worst thing is impossible, but other times he knows in the deepest part of himself that Narancia was the one out of all of them who least deserved to die, who was least prepared for it.]
[He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose and then just - talks, lets whatever wants to come out come out.]
You could always see him learning. He acted like he hated it but he was really good at it, naturally much cleverer than he thought he was. And he was the last one to decide to come with us, to help Trish, to kill Diavolo. Maybe he shouldn't have - I don't know. I just miss him. He was in my body when he died.
So I know if you say his name I'll know to pay attention, like he always paid attention, and learn, the way he always worked hard to learn, and not do the wrong thing again.
[He takes his hands back and folds them across his knees, looking tired.]
Yeah. Yes. You were more careful than I was. I just never thought of it as time, or stopping something, it was always more adding . . . but I feel like I should have realized.
[And then he hesitates - not, ironically enough, because he doesn't want to talk about Narancia, especially to Jotaro, but because what he's about to say probably says a lot about his battle strategy, and he's still very much invested in winning this fight. Still, it's an important thing to know about Narancia, he decides after a moment, and takes a deep breath, and continues.]
His Stand. Aerosmith, it was able to detect people breathing from far away. So I thought - after a certain point I always just called for him automatically, to check and see how close an enemy was. He was always watching over us.
[But I couldn't watch over him.]
[Is that what he regrets most? Sometimes it seems like it is. Sometimes it seems like choosing one worst thing is impossible, but other times he knows in the deepest part of himself that Narancia was the one out of all of them who least deserved to die, who was least prepared for it.]
[He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose and then just - talks, lets whatever wants to come out come out.]
You could always see him learning. He acted like he hated it but he was really good at it, naturally much cleverer than he thought he was. And he was the last one to decide to come with us, to help Trish, to kill Diavolo. Maybe he shouldn't have - I don't know. I just miss him. He was in my body when he died.
So I know if you say his name I'll know to pay attention, like he always paid attention, and learn, the way he always worked hard to learn, and not do the wrong thing again.
[He takes his hands back and folds them across his knees, looking tired.]
Yeah. Yes. You were more careful than I was. I just never thought of it as time, or stopping something, it was always more adding . . . but I feel like I should have realized.
[NEVER
no okay, with a triumphant laugh she breaks free once she thinks he's had enough, then throws both arms around Gold Experience's neck again and plants an exaggerated kiss on his temple. If there was any doubt Izabel only had younger siblings back home, that was probably gone, now.]
no okay, with a triumphant laugh she breaks free once she thinks he's had enough, then throws both arms around Gold Experience's neck again and plants an exaggerated kiss on his temple. If there was any doubt Izabel only had younger siblings back home, that was probably gone, now.]
...That's really something, isn't it. When you're so in sync with someone else that you just...
[...have no problem stabbing someone in the face, because you know that even from across the entire damn town, your partner has roped the asshole's Stand in his tentacles and pulled it free, covered your back without even being there.]
Mmmm.
[He's the first to get to his feet, then, and he does, shaking loose sand off his clothes before pivoting and offering his hand to Giorno, open-palmed.]
When we're done, tell me about him, okay? But for now...I've still got to figure out how to beat your vines. And I want to see if you can work out the way I've realized, how you could break my Time Stop.
...You wanted my promise, so I'll give it to you now. I'll treat his name with the worth you gave it. I won't sacrifice myself instead of using it.
[...have no problem stabbing someone in the face, because you know that even from across the entire damn town, your partner has roped the asshole's Stand in his tentacles and pulled it free, covered your back without even being there.]
Mmmm.
[He's the first to get to his feet, then, and he does, shaking loose sand off his clothes before pivoting and offering his hand to Giorno, open-palmed.]
When we're done, tell me about him, okay? But for now...I've still got to figure out how to beat your vines. And I want to see if you can work out the way I've realized, how you could break my Time Stop.
...You wanted my promise, so I'll give it to you now. I'll treat his name with the worth you gave it. I won't sacrifice myself instead of using it.
[The moment when he hooks back into the fight is visible and easy to pinpoint: it's the moment Jotaro says the way I've realized, how you could break my Time Stop. Jotaro's standing above him, towering really, and he looks up at him with eyes wide as saucers, and - really, it's shocking how unsubtle it is, how blatantly expressive, but with Jotaro it's easier, it's safer, it's better, it's fine.]
[He smiles. Grins. Smirks.]
[A challenge. He can meet a challenge.]
[He's on his feet in a second, bouncing backwards on his toes like he weighs nothing, a wisp on the wind, playful as a kitten. Gold Experience blooms beside him, and it's not in constant motion anymore, nor is it holding all the shy tension in its body that Giorno doesn't show like usual; instead it moves in perfect sync with him, only the opposite way, so that as Giorno hops backwards, Gold Experience slips forward, chin tipped up, a challenge in return.]
[What Narancia loved best of all - besides Bruno's approval, and the love of his family - was a fight.]
Stop talking! You talk too much! Come on.
[He smiles. Grins. Smirks.]
[A challenge. He can meet a challenge.]
[He's on his feet in a second, bouncing backwards on his toes like he weighs nothing, a wisp on the wind, playful as a kitten. Gold Experience blooms beside him, and it's not in constant motion anymore, nor is it holding all the shy tension in its body that Giorno doesn't show like usual; instead it moves in perfect sync with him, only the opposite way, so that as Giorno hops backwards, Gold Experience slips forward, chin tipped up, a challenge in return.]
[What Narancia loved best of all - besides Bruno's approval, and the love of his family - was a fight.]
Stop talking! You talk too much! Come on.
...That might be the first time in my life anybody's ever said I talk too much.
[And — he can feel himself getting more and more exhausted from the repeated use of The World, it's settling in now in a way he hadn't precisely expected but that still makes sense, but this time it's important and effective so he uses it just long enough to accomplish two things. One is to retreat back across the sand to a proper fighting distance, a moment of journey that to the naked eye would look like he'd moved in no time at all, but the other comes before that; he scoops up a handful of sand and tosses it into the air over their heads before he vacates, leaving it where it'll shower down over Giorno and Gold Experience in the instant when time resumes.
Narancia.
He'll try to take good care of your boss for you, kid. And...
And Grandma, that boss thinks your grandson is amazing, and he should try to remember that, shouldn't he.
Time resumes.]
Let's go, Giorno!
[And — he can feel himself getting more and more exhausted from the repeated use of The World, it's settling in now in a way he hadn't precisely expected but that still makes sense, but this time it's important and effective so he uses it just long enough to accomplish two things. One is to retreat back across the sand to a proper fighting distance, a moment of journey that to the naked eye would look like he'd moved in no time at all, but the other comes before that; he scoops up a handful of sand and tosses it into the air over their heads before he vacates, leaving it where it'll shower down over Giorno and Gold Experience in the instant when time resumes.
Narancia.
He'll try to take good care of your boss for you, kid. And...
And Grandma, that boss thinks your grandson is amazing, and he should try to remember that, shouldn't he.
Time resumes.]
Let's go, Giorno!
[Time resumes - and sand falls into Giorno's hair, dusts across his shoulders, across Gold Experience's too. His Stand twitches, startled, and he shakes his head like a dog to get clean.]
That's a dirty trick, Jotaro!
[But he's laughing all the same - how could he not? - laughing even as Gold Experience shifts forward and vines twine up from the ground to twist around his ankles and lift him bodily off the ground. It'll take him more than the five seconds of Time Stop to get free, that's for sure, and in the meantime Giorno's advancing, grinning wide with his hair blown away from his face, giddy and excited.]
But you're not the only one who can play dirty.
That's a dirty trick, Jotaro!
[But he's laughing all the same - how could he not? - laughing even as Gold Experience shifts forward and vines twine up from the ground to twist around his ankles and lift him bodily off the ground. It'll take him more than the five seconds of Time Stop to get free, that's for sure, and in the meantime Giorno's advancing, grinning wide with his hair blown away from his face, giddy and excited.]
But you're not the only one who can play dirty.
[And of all things — implausibly, unexpectedly, impossibly — the vines ensnare him and lift him off the ground, and it's not even that it's unexpected; it's the familiarity that makes him laugh right back, quieter and far more subdued than Giorno's, but there just the same.]
Hierophant does this trick better.
[Okay. When he'd hit the vines the last time, he'd been blown back — so, attacking them at all poses a problem. He'll have to take damage in order to free himself from them, unless...
Briskly, he gauges the distance he has left between Giorno and himself — enough? He'll have to stop time at the last possible instant — and draws Star Platinum back inside him in a rush, urging his Stand to manifest around his limbs like ghostly armor, and trying to force the grip of the vines to expand in compensation, to keep their tight grip even around Star's naturally larger frame.
It's the same way, he thinks, that escape artists free themselves from bonds — by tensing up while the knots are tied and then relaxing when it's time to escape, a minuscule amount of room to wriggle is created.
The question is, will it be enough, when added to stopped time for the sake of getting loose?
There's only one way to find out, so it's worth a try.]
Hierophant does this trick better.
[Okay. When he'd hit the vines the last time, he'd been blown back — so, attacking them at all poses a problem. He'll have to take damage in order to free himself from them, unless...
Briskly, he gauges the distance he has left between Giorno and himself — enough? He'll have to stop time at the last possible instant — and draws Star Platinum back inside him in a rush, urging his Stand to manifest around his limbs like ghostly armor, and trying to force the grip of the vines to expand in compensation, to keep their tight grip even around Star's naturally larger frame.
It's the same way, he thinks, that escape artists free themselves from bonds — by tensing up while the knots are tied and then relaxing when it's time to escape, a minuscule amount of room to wriggle is created.
The question is, will it be enough, when added to stopped time for the sake of getting loose?
There's only one way to find out, so it's worth a try.]
[Okay first of all: ahhhh??? Hierophant is touching him? He goes wide-eyed and follows along obediently, a little clumsy with the movements at first because what the actually fuck is this.]
I can't imagine Polnareff doing this . . .
I can't imagine Polnareff doing this . . .
Really? He was pretty enthusiastic about it at the time.
[gio you small adorable child you]
[gio you small adorable child you]
If he shows up here, I'll have to give him hell for that.
[oh hello there indeed. Hierophant wiggled slightly in what might have been appreciation, Kakyoin apparently realizing for the first time that he'd kind of been all in Giorno's personal space with it.]
Ah--sorry about that. I wasn't really thinking. [Hierophant pulled back, wrapping around Kakyoin's arms instead.] That wasn't too weird, was it?
[oh hello there indeed. Hierophant wiggled slightly in what might have been appreciation, Kakyoin apparently realizing for the first time that he'd kind of been all in Giorno's personal space with it.]
Ah--sorry about that. I wasn't really thinking. [Hierophant pulled back, wrapping around Kakyoin's arms instead.] That wasn't too weird, was it?
Oh--really?
[A little hesitantly, Hierophant snuck back out like a snake moving along the table.]
I just thought it was probably weird; I didn't want to assume either of us could just come right into your personal space like that. I'm just used to using him as a second set of hands.
[A little hesitantly, Hierophant snuck back out like a snake moving along the table.]
I just thought it was probably weird; I didn't want to assume either of us could just come right into your personal space like that. I'm just used to using him as a second set of hands.
It's fine. It's just--
[Well. He snuck his fingers across the table right back, stopping precisely at the halfway mark.]
I'm used to Pistols? And they don't ask before they climb all over you. So I think sometimes I sort of expect it from other people without thinking.
[Well. He snuck his fingers across the table right back, stopping precisely at the halfway mark.]
I'm used to Pistols? And they don't ask before they climb all over you. So I think sometimes I sort of expect it from other people without thinking.
[...handholding is go, because hierophant does not mind being a sneaky snake around people's hands thank you very much.]
Mista's is really a remarkable one, isn't it? I don't think I've seen a Stand with that level of independence, and I've definitely never heard one actually talk before.
[oh jesus christ you got him started.]
Mista's is really a remarkable one, isn't it? I don't think I've seen a Stand with that level of independence, and I've definitely never heard one actually talk before.
[oh jesus christ you got him started.]
[Oh no oh no oh no this is cute. He's just going to hold very still and maybe squeeze a little. And double oh no, these are his two of his three favorite topics, Mista and Stands (the third one is Passione, obviously).]
I've never seen one anything like them, either. I don't know if you've ever seen him in action, but they work together really strategically. It's surprising at first, given the way he talks, but they work together seamlessly, even though the Pistols operate on a separate conscious level.
I've never seen one anything like them, either. I don't know if you've ever seen him in action, but they work together really strategically. It's surprising at first, given the way he talks, but they work together seamlessly, even though the Pistols operate on a separate conscious level.
I haven't seen them work yet, but I'm really interested to see what they can do together. I mean...okay, I've seen some unusual Stands, but I'm pretty sure Pistols has to be the most fascinating one I've come across so far.
[shame he's constantly on the verge of beating the shit out of its user, man.]
I got to see Buccellati's Sticky Fingers a while ago, as well. He's really impressive, too.
[shame he's constantly on the verge of beating the shit out of its user, man.]
I got to see Buccellati's Sticky Fingers a while ago, as well. He's really impressive, too.
[He opens his mouth to say they're my favorite, but no, that's rude. Oh but Bruno now. Ahhhhhh.]
Did you fight him or just see him? I fought him once, when we first met. He was really clever.
[okay but giorno he tortured you are we just not going to mention that?? oh okay]
Did you fight him or just see him? I fought him once, when we first met. He was really clever.
[okay but giorno he tortured you are we just not going to mention that?? oh okay]
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