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rubycity_rp | I
. . . Yare yare. What is it? Hurry up and say something already.
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[OOC: Contact through any format is fine, including action as you see fit!]
IC Inbox |
. . . Yare yare. What is it? Hurry up and say something already.
⇦ ● ⇨
[OOC: Contact through any format is fine, including action as you see fit!]
no subject
[And indeed, after a given period of time, a figure wrapped up in jeans, scarf, and heavy coat emerges from the boundary line of the park and returns to the open area within the city limits proper, distinguishable by the fact that Star Platinum is clearly outlined in the air at his shoulder.]
no subject
However, he doesn't have long to dwell on that because Josuke sees that movement from the corner of his eye and straightens up to wave. He stops himself from just walking out there, though, it'd be silly to have a conversation in the middle of a grassy field in November, and sticks to his bench plus streetlamp camp.
That doesn't stop him from talking the second Jotaro is within earshot though.]
Hey. There's one thing I need to clear up.
[That's all the preamble. He's going right into this.]
You came to Morioh to find me. You had to clear something up with Joseph's Will which turned out to be my mom and me. You know, existing. [Was that clear enough? Was that hammered in enough? No?] I'm his son.
[Congratulations, Jotaro. He's given up worrying about how to share this information and decided to go with the over the top bluntness he had to deal with from Jotaro before. He's returning it right back because it worked that time so it has to work this time.
There's no one real reason it had to be shared right now or in this way. It just didn't seem right or fair to keep it locked up. It was weird, Jotaro being young like this when he was used to him as a responsible adult, but he was still a good guy just like he remembered him and, well, he trusted him before and he wants to trust him again. What he had told him before hadn't been so much of a lie as a twisting of the truth to make everything smoother. And funnier. But he couldn't swallowing leaving everything like that. It was going to hurt but he deserved to hear it now before too much time built up behind him obscuring this.
In short, Jotaro you unlocked his social link with otters and beers and now you have to deal with this. Sorry about your uncle's timing.]
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O...kay, hello to you too, Josuke.
The thing is, he hears all of the words being said, but it feels like they're glancing off and reflecting back, never quite making it to the point where they actually register. There are phrases like Joseph's will and my mom and me and son, and he hears them all but it's like they don't mean anything, they're just there and he doesn't know what he's expected to do with them.
But Josuke's right there and he's rambling all these words out and one by one they start to sink in, Joseph first and foremost and then his son and then something goes mom and Higashikata and that's not right because his mom is an only child, the Joestars are a long line of only children but —
...
Uh.]
You're Jiji's son.
[...What the absolute ever-loving —]
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He's ready for anything or at least hopes he is. Anger would have been the hardest but he can work with confusion. He can build off of that and maybe explain the situation a little bit better. It was all on the table now and that is all that mattered. He couldn't back out of this now. As long as Jotaro was willing to talk about it he could make this work.
With the initial hurdle cleared the nervous energy swarms him anew. It's not a conscious action but his hands are moving as he talks. Gesturing larger than he normally would like a waved hand can get his point across clearer. Could make this conversation easier.]
Yeah. He was so old and apparently stuff got crazy on your side so you came to visit in his stead and get it all settled. It wasn't your problem at all but you had to deal with it, I'm really sorry about that. Especially because then all the Stand stuff started happening on top of that and you had to keep postponing going back since you had to deal with that too and then the old man showed up anyway. [Ugh... That wasn't as on point as he hoped it would be. Deep breath, long sigh.]
The stuff I told you before weren't complete lies, you know? The whole related bit became the least of our issues really quickly so I just... didn't tell you.
[Please, Jotaro give him some sort of response so he stops rambling into the silence hanging between them. Ask him a question. Give him some guidance. This conversation is going off the rails and he wishes he could be half as stoic about this as his nephew was before.]
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(The other thing he almost blurts out is does my mom know, but no, that's not a good place to put roots down in anything, either.)
So he largely just says quiet, expression a little blank as he tries to come up with words in general for all of this...everything, and he's vaguely aware that Josuke is talking again and he should probably focus on that too but he only gets about half of it all told.]
...So you're family.
[There. Much better place to start.]
Do you have the birthmark? On your shoulder. ...When did you develop your Stand?
no subject
Josuke lifts a hand to his shoulder, pulling the collar of his (normal this time, I swear) sweater down while turning so Jotaro could see clearly. There it is in all it's inexplicable glory, the Joestar birthmark. Once he's sure the other saw it he lets go of the fabric and shrugs his shoulder. He can handle questions like that.]
I've had one for as long as I can remember. [But he does understand enough of the Dio story he heard to guess what Jotaro actually means to ask.] I got really sick when I was four. That would have been the year you went to Egypt.
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[Jesus. Josuke — Josuke was alive then. Josuke was alive and somewhere in Japan and Jiji showed up and doted on his mom and didn't call Grandma Suzie and oh god he didn't call Grandma Suzie he fucking cheated on Grandma Suzie and Josuke was already alive when his mom got sick and they all got on the plane and all that time Josuke existed and none of them knew and
what the fuck
...
WHAT THE ABSOLUTE FUCK.
God help Joseph Joestar if he ever shows up, he's going to die two feet off the train platform. He's going to punch his head off and regret nothing about it.]
. . .
[AND HOW THE HELL DOES HE KEEP RUNNING INTO THE RANDOM-ASS TEENAGE CHILDREN OF PEOPLE WHO ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE THEM AS CHILDREN FOR GOD'S SAKE IF MEETING GIORNO HADN'T PREPARED HIM FOR THIS ONCE ALREADY WHERE WOULD HE EVEN BE RIGHT NOW.]
I'm not going to make excuses for Jiji. I'm definitely not going to pretend like I know what the hell he was thinking.
...What's your mom like? Is she doing okay?
no subject
Yeah, there was no way in hell that would have happened anyway.
Josuke shrugs again and rubs the back of his neck. It's not like he was mad at Joseph like Jotaro must be. It was awkward enough to hear him called Jiji as it was, hammering in the fact that he's somehow an uncle. Ever a fount of restless energy he goes back to leaning against the back of the bench, legs crossed in front of him. He'll stop shifting around one day.]
No, you don't have to worry about anything like that. My mom was the one who decided not to contact him and all. She's tough, you know, didn't want any help with it. [So, it's not like Joseph knew and hid it. But asking about his mom... It's probably best not to share the fact that she was still hung up on him too bluntly.] She's fine. I made sure Joseph didn't meet her after he showed up.
[And yet that was probably blunt enough for Jotaro to figure out the separation was for his mom's benefit and not the old man's.]
no subject
And here's Josuke, a kid doing his best with a tough mom and an absent dad and all of a sudden one day the Joestar bullshit sweeps in and turns everything upside-down and he never asked for any of it, either, but here he is.
...That's pretty much enough to settle a lot of things, as far as Jotaro's feelings on the subject go.]
Good. If she'd needed help and hadn't gotten it — I might've actually killed that damn old man for that.
[In his pockets, his hands tighten into fists, but then gradually his fingers loosen and he draws one of those hands out entirely, extending it to Josuke for a shake (or a clasp) instead.]
You're family. No matter what. It means something, so...I'm glad you told me.
no subject
Simply hearing him take his side in this nonexistent issue takes him by surprise. The last thing he wanted to do was create a rift - unavoidable he just shared that Joseph cheated on his grandma of all things - and having blame land anywhere left a bad taste in his mouth. But it also stupidly reassuring that Jotaro had his back instead of it falling the other way. That was probably selfish. Still.
You're family. No matter what.
Josuke looks away, dipping his head to peer at the toe of his shoe instead. It was so simple. Maybe a bit too simple for how crazy their family really is but that doesn't mean he won't appreciate it. The worst case hadn't happened and that was enough to celebrate. When he looks back up he is smiling and even though it's delayed (oops) he reaches out to clasp hands.]
You wouldn't have gotten to him first. But, honestly, he isn't so bad. [A slightly awkward chuckle. It feels weird to be the one defending Joseph but, well, he can't throw him completely under the bus either. His smile settles onto something bittersweet as he lets his retracts his hand to shove into a pocket.] Thanks. For taking this so well.
[Or for at least keeping a semblance of calm for this conversation.]
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[Someone's got to say it, and usually in situations where a Guy To Say The Thing That Needs To Be Said is required, it ends up falling to him to be the one to do it, so he does.
It'll get weirder when he thinks about it at length later, probably. He'll start thinking about Josuke and Giorno both, and how they exist in a world in tandem with him — all of about the same age now because of the temporal shenanigans that have brought them together, yet the two of them look up to him in some capacity despite all these backwards fucked-up family ties that leave Giorno his...great-grand-uncle? And Josuke his...uncle...
...If there were ever a revelation that warranted a yare yare daze. For fuck's sake, his uncles are younger than him. How. Only in a Joestar family, probably.
But that's for much later. Because there are some situations that don't call for the kind of deep and all-encompassing thought he sometimes falls prey to; some situations demand instinct first, just going with the actions that feel right, and dwelling on all the nuances later on.
Thanks for taking this so well.
He wonders if that means in the future, there'll be people who don't, and show it to Josuke's face.]
I'll tell you stories sometime about how bad he gets. But not right now.
[Or, in his sort of backwards Jotaro-ish way: good on you for sticking up for him that little bit. Loyalty is a good trait to find in a person; it looks good on Josuke, particularly.]
Who else have you told? Am I the first?