digiorno | ic inbox ( ruby city ) Ⅰ

I'm only going to fill it enough to get her feet wet. Nowhere close to over her head.

[Burn time. This is fine, isn't it?]

My bathtub is probably bigger, if you want to use it.

So long as you don't mind it, I'll take you up on that.

See you in a couple of minutes?

Of course. The door's open.

OK. We're on our way.

[And indeed, after a brief interlude, the door does in fact creak open to admit Jotaro, with a plastic bucket stuffed with a towel and some toys hanging from one wrist, and Jolie cradled along the length of the same arm while the other handles manipulating the door.

Giorno's room is nice. It looks different now that someone lives in it, as opposed to when he was building it and saw it in its torn-apart state. He'd ended up with this one because you had to get through Mista's room to reach it.

Giorno's got to be having a hard time, really, is the implication.

But his expression shows none of that as he carries her over the threshold, devoid of his jacket today in favor of a turtleneck with rolled-up sleeves and a comfortable pair of pajama pants that hang low on his hips with a drawstring.]

[He doesn't look like he's having a hard time. On the other hand . . . well, there's a level of humanity that he lost in the months after Bruno's death, a realness that he's regained in his time here. It's gone again now, his competence a porcelain mask even when he could be said to be relaxing, like now, cross-legged on the bed and reading a book, the same line over and over, absorbing nothing.]

[He offers a soft smile, mostly to Jolie, who has the benefit of not having any problems other than not being able to swim - yet - and slides his legs off the bed, dangling his bare feet over the carpet.]

Does she need hot water or cool? Does it matter?

Cool is probably fine. In the wild she'd be swimming in rivers, so a chillier temperature isn't likely to bother her.

[He brings her over, making sure the door is shut behind him so she can't make a beeline for it and escape into the house, and motions vaguely in offer to hold her if Giorno wants.]

She mastered the stacking cups a day or two ago. How to put one inside the other and make them fit.

[He'd take her, ordinarily. Now he just stands and runs his knuckles lightly over the crown of her head, down her nose; he touches her paw with the tip of his finger, then moves away. His nails are bitten.]

She's growing so fast, isn't she . . . Maybe you can show me later. Unless she can play in the bath.

Come on. I want to see . . . [He trails off a little, thoughtful.] And you're so prepared, too.

[It's hard to say which of those two is more telling — the nails or the fact that Jolie isn't in Giorno's arms right now, flipped on her back and basking in his cooing delight. There've been no mentions of how sweet her tiny paws are, no baby-voiced commentary of how brilliant she is and so praiseworthy for her accomplishments.

He files that away for later; it's not the right time for it yet. Not just yet.]

I got tired of having to catch her when she tries to sneak out the door while I'm going in or out. Not forgetting anything means shutting it once.

[...]

I don't know if she'll do it in the bath or not, but we can see. They're plastic, so they'll float. I think...probably she should go in first, and then run the water after? So I'm not putting her down into water, she can...sort of see where it's coming from.

She's got places to be, you shouldn't hold her back.

[He's trying, at least, a crooked smile ghosting along his lips before disappearing again. He turns to the bathroom, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Jotaro's following.]

I'm sure she'll be fine, if we do that. She's very brave.

[And follow he does, wriggly little otter dotter in tow.]

You should've heard Josuke, the first time he met her. She was juggling and he about had a breakdown trying to get my attention about it.

[The smile flickers again as the bathroom door swings open. It really is ridiculous in here, too big compared to the rest of the house. He didn't need it like this, it just - this is who he is.]

[He kneels by the bath, sinks down onto his heels, and turns on the cold tap. Instinctively, when Jotaro comes over, he reaches up to touch his wrist, then Jolie's front paw again.]

If he ever comes back, you can show him the way she swims.

[She's a nimble little thing, but a quick eyeball of the sides of the tub makes him decide that she probably won't be able to jump out, which is for the better; as the water starts to run, he eases her down into the tub and keeps his hands there until she can feel the fur around her toes start to go damp, petting her soothingly as she wriggles around.]

I won't let him know how she learned. I bet he won't like the thought of me dragging her through the water until she gets the hang of moving around in it.

[...]

Did they ever tell you I'm going to be a secret agent, by the time they meet me?

. . . A secret agent?

[He looks up at Jotaro, frowning a little more tightly than strictly necessary. That's a lie, isn't it? A story?]

You're going to be a scientist. [Like it's fact. He doesn't know. He just assumes.]

That's what they said. That I show up with some codename, Agent J, and we fight Stand users. Apparently I have some flashy thing that makes people forget things.

[He says this deadpan, betraying that he doesn't actually believe it, but at the same time with none of the innate humor that would suggest he actually understands that this is the plot of a movie and not just an outlandish story.]

Seemed pretty plausible in the beginning, except for maybe the flashy thing.

. . . Oh. Jotaro, I think that's a film.

[Because Giorno is totally that person who says film instead of movie. But anyway.]

Why would they say something like that?

It's a movie?

[oh my god. oh my GOD.]

...And it's not out yet in 1987, so I wouldn't — dammit. Those bastards...

It's about aliens? And the government. I've never seen it, I just know it exists.

[He drums his fingers against the edge of the tub.]

Aliens, I told them I was an alien when they first arrived. They must really like alien jokes.

Seems like it, yeah.

[He pauses, looking down at Jolie, who has begun to do slippery laps around the tub as she tries to get accustomed to the running water and filling space.]

They fed me a story to avoid telling me the real reason why we'd met. They figured out I didn't know them, and didn't want to cause trouble. So they made something up.

. . . They're good boys.

[Like they aren't his age. But it's something that Bruno said to him, something that made him happy to hear. It's something that's right to say about Star. So why not them?]

I'm sure we wouldn't have gotten along in the end. But I liked them.

Okuyasu wanted to work for a bank. I remember I asked him one time.

[...]

According to another source from that time period, I'm going to get a doctorate. So...no need to worry about that.

Good. That's something that should be.

[A bank. He could have used that. But they would have hated him eventually.]

[He rests his chin on his hands at the edge of the tub, watches Jolie shuffle around the tub.]

Did they say what you were studying?

Marine biology, after all. I'm writing my thesis on starfish.

[Jolie is splashing away now, biting at her paws out of an uncertain dislike for her wet fur.]

...Remember a couple months back, we were sitting in the cafe and you asked me that, what do I want to do from here on out...and I couldn't tell you? I couldn't see any of that. But you told me what I needed to hear, made me see that I should try.

[That hurts to hear, but in a good way, like growing pains, but in the heart instead of the shins. After a moment's pause, during which he doesn't stop watching Jolie, he leans his head on Jotaro's shoulder.]

I meant what I said in the letter at Christmas, you know. I'm proud of you.

I know.

[And this is when he falls silent, letting Giorno set the pace for the time being, staying still to let him get comfortable without being jostled as he turns words over in his head and tries to fit them into the right timing.]

...I hope I can return the favor. When you're stuck sometime, and can't see the way out yourself.

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