IC Inbox | ryslig

[starmark]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, THIS IS JOTARO. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 019.20.118.16 *** THIS IS JOTARO has joined 019.20.118.16 <THIS IS JOTARO> okay i'm typing now what <THIS IS JOTARO> delete what i just said <THIS IS JOTARO> delete what i just said <THIS IS JOTARO> delete everything i just said <THIS IS JOTARO> make this an automated messa <AUTOMATED REPLY, DO NOT RETURN> This is Jotaro. Whatever you want, hurry up and tell me already.

Comments

[manuscripture]

[ His eyes are drawn back down to follow the line of Jotaro's arm to where his hand is settled against any part of his tail. They are more suited for direct contact with heat than his own hands and therefore just sort of relax and become a little more willowy. ]

That depends on who you ask.

[ Really, it does. ]

Heaven's Door allowed me to read people from start to finish. To know everything about them at my will. It allowed me to give them new memories or take away old ones.

Do you think that says something about me?

[starmark]

..."Read" people. Like they're a book? That's not bad, for a manga artist.

[He hums a little in the back of his throat, hand skimming absently over a small patch of Rohan's scales.]

You're someone intensely interested in experiences. Stories. People. Your Stand lets you read them like a book. But there's a separation, too. It lets you find out about someone without having to ask them. You get to skip the social part and just...read.

I don't know. I think it sounds like you. Or something that's helpful to you, anyway.

[manuscripture]

Literally books, yes.

[ He hits the nail on the head, of course. Rohan left out some other... Details about his Stand but Jotaro has the idea well enough. ]

It's very helpful. It keeps me from having to get too close to people to get the information that I need.

If you haven't noticed: I'm not a social butterfly. I can get my work done without the bullshit that comes from interpersonal connections. It keeps a nice wall between myself and the people around me. There are days I miss having that.

[starmark]

Mine says I'm similar to a monster. So I think what you said, about me being my own worst enemy...

[He pauses, just for a moment, and regards Rohan with a slow look.]

...I don't know a lot about who I'm trying to be. But I always know who I'm trying not to be. That's why I can't just accept this without fighting it, even if it would be the reasonable thing to do. What other people do isn't any of my business. But I have to know that I tried as hard as I could to not be him.

[manuscripture]

[ The tip of Rohan's tail twitches and thumps thoughtfully against the ground. On the one hand, he is thinking. On the other, it's reminding him that he is supposed to be eating and not engaging in mid-dinner conversation. Part of him does want to ease Jotaro's mind over the whole situation.

Nooooot something he's very good at. ]

That person is not here. Any relevancy to him is null and void. I said the only enemy here is yourself. I know that isn't what you want to hear. [ He's never been known for sugarcoating. ] The intricacies of thoughts and feelings through association of one's self to another person is not something I can fix.

If I had my Stand, I would. [ He sure did just say he'd get rid of that if he could. But uh-- ] The only person who can take that page out and make the omission is you. If I know you the way I think I do, it is not a feat that is insurmountable.

[starmark]

If you had Heaven's Door, you'd want to read me?

[He shifts his hand, aiming to lightly catch the thumping part of Rohan's tail and close his fingers around it, the way one might try to catch the flicking tail of a cat. It's idle and stupid and makes no sense, but it's a distraction, anyway.]

...And not just that. You'd take away the things that bother me?

[manuscripture]

[ His tail makes a half-assed attempt at wiggling away out of reflex. It relaxes and forgets that it's even being handled, sway-swaying every now and then. ]

I want to read everyone who sounds like they have things worth reading.

[ Sighing, he runs the least messy of his hands through his hair. ] I don't like seeing people suffer when they don't deserve it and they have done nothing wrong. [ Sounding sentimental leaves a bad taste in his mouth which toes an uncomfortable line for him. He will deal. ] I would take those things away if I had the chance. The ability.

[starmark]

[How odd. That sounds weirdly like affection; certainly it's sentimental, but even moreso it's the fact that it's sentimentality coming from Rohan, who's trying to make him feel better, trying to spare him grief if he could.

Maybe he can't, but the fact that he would if he could is soothing in itself.]

I don't know if I would want you to. To just...take away a part of me, I mean. Even a bad part of me. Even a part of me that hurts. I think you're right...it's not just that I'm the only one who can do that. Maybe it's that I'm the only one who should.

[A pause.]

...But. If you ever do unseal your Heaven's Door, from the way they're suppressing it here...I'll let you read me sometime. I think I could — maybe that'd be good for both of us. I don't know.

[manuscripture]

Heaven's Door is, surprisingly, not high on my list of priorities to get back. I have gotten on fine without it before I had it and I'm doing the same as I was now. [ Rohan has never needed his Stand as a crutch. It just made things easier in a pinch. ]

If that happens, I'll keep it in mind. [ His tail has since wriggled out of Jotaro's hand to lazily drape itself over his wrist in a way that is similar to what it does when he carries him. A little reminder that he has his back and the smallest semblance of affection that he can muster. ] Don't worry about that right now.

Put all of it out of your mind and focus on something else. It's the best strategy you have, Jotaro. Am I wrong? [ He blinks once and then twice, keeping his line of sight trained on Jotaro but flicking away now and then because... Well, it would sure suck if he ended up doing The Direct Eye-Contact Paralysis Thing right now. Does that even work on other monsters? ]

Hm...?

[starmark]

[There's eye contact, and suddenly he finds himself feeling Strange. It's an inexplicable kind of Strange, and a fleeting one: a Strange that has nothing to do with the situation or the change in Rohan's eyes or the grotesque alterations to his own form. It's Strange, and it's the kind of Strange he's going to have to think about a lot, but it sure is something because it's a Strange he hasn't felt in a while now, a Strange that reminds him of something he can't quite place.

A dark moment, impending peril, and then suddenly reason and competence, someone on the same wavelength, a spot of unexpected mirth amid the shitshow —

Hey. Do you like sumo?

It's been a long time since he felt like that.

Strange.]

The only thing worth focusing on around here is you.

[oh]

Is that okay with you?

[well]

[manuscripture]

[ Oh. ]

Oh--

[ Dead guy between them notwithstanding, Rohan can't help but feel pretty damn Strange himself. It's not for the same reason as Jotaro but it has its own awkward set of implications. An awkward set of implications that has been politely ignored and deflected up until this very second. ]

Yeah. [ He replies after a pregnant pause with a nod. There is no one else around to see how disarmed Rohan Kishibe of all people is. His upper lip twitches in the way it does when he isn't sure what to say, catching his fang briefly on the lower one before receding back into his mouth. ] That's okay with me. It's the same, really.

[ WELL. ]

[starmark]

...Okay.

[Well. Isn't this...something. All right. Yes it sure is, boy howdy.]

I'll...I'll see if I can warm up the house for you. For the time being. So if nothing else, maybe it won't be quite so...cold. For you.

[manuscripture]

[ That sure was a thing. Not a bad thing. If at all, it's getting a point across that doesn't need to be expressly phrased as anything but The only thing worth focusing on around here is you and it being reciprocated.

It works for now. It's an intricate little dance they're doing. ]

I'd like that. [ His lips hop up in little pulls of a fleeting smile or something like it. ] Should I take this to my room so you don't have to stare at it?

[ Ya know. The guy who is kind of melting into the floor and probably won't MAKE IT to the room. ]

[starmark]

It's far from the first dead guy I've seen. Do whatever's easiest on you.

[A beat.]

...Really. That much is okay. I just...I'm going to try to hold out a little longer. As long as I can.

[But believe it or not, Rohan ends up getting a fraction of a smile right back. Who'd have thought.]

[manuscripture]

I don't think he'll make it very far down the hall. This shouldn't take long since dinner conversation gave him a little time.

[ More than a little. Rohan picks up his jar again and the end of his tail about Jotaro's wrist gives one light squeeze before going limp and falling away. ]

Do what you feel you have to.

[ He will get back to stripping and putting drops of his venom into each jar until the poor soul is skeletonized and nothing but wet bones and connective tissue he will do something with in the morning. Before he gets to that and eventually takes his break to work on adding a little more color to the pink-haired gargoyle girl's eyes sitting on his easel and then leave to take a nap, he watches Jotaro... His final note is-- ]

That would be enough.