starmark | IC Inbox | rubycity_rp

...Oh.

[AHA, HE SEES IT NOW]

You want Star to make Christmas cards for you...?

If you would be willing, I would be more than grateful! I have a fairly large number of recipients in mind, however, so we can make duplicates every once in a while if it suits you best.

[Look at him, Jotaro. How can you deny that face.]

...Star can fully render a picture in like...ten seconds. Unless you're talking hundreds of thousands of cards, I'm pretty sure he can handle it.

[Jonathan, oh my god.]

I don't even have to watch, you just have to show it to him and tell him to reproduce it.

[...Although. Actually...]

...But. I — want you to ask him. I'm not...I want to see what happens. If I don't order him, what happens if you just...ask.

That is part of the reason I called you here. I wanted to give you a way out if this wasn't something you wanted, is all. If you're happy to do it, then I think 20 cards is perfectly manageable.

[Jonathan blinks, a little perplexed. It's a strange request, but he'll honor it just the same.]

Of course. Whenever you're ready, call your Stand out and I will request this of him myself.

Edited 2015-12-16 02:24 (UTC)

Twenty is fine. He can do twenty in...minutes, probably. Hang on just a second.

[And, with one silent and effortless command, Star appears at Jotaro's side, eyes already glued on the cards in inherent curiosity.]

...Okay. Now let me just...

[And, closing his eyes, he half-turns away and tries to make his thoughts into a blank slate, unsure of how to will Star into the freedom to make this kind of decision on his own, but figuring that a reasonable place to start is by trying to free him of any possible influence that might bias him.]

...Okay. Go.

[Jonathan watches intently as Jotaro summons his Stand. This is still a wonderful curiosity to him, and he'd like to learn as much as possible with the time he has, but he won't stall Jotaro for too long.]

Star Platinum! It's wonderful to see you again.

[That won't stop him from acting like a complete fucking dork and embarrassing everyone in the vicinity.]

I want to ask a favor of you, if that is alright. Do you see the Christmas cards on these pages?

[Jonathan holds up the book and flips through a few selections for Star to get an idea.]

[Star seems, admittedly, a little perplexed initially by what all is going on; this is far from the first time he's been given the leeway to interact with other people on his own, to be sure, but generally speaking when he's attending to someone Jotaro is also doing it. This is a new wrinkle in an old familiar set of circumstances, the fact that his user isn't present and watching to direct him.

But Jonathan is talking to him, and Star knows that when he's talked to, he's supposed to pay attention to that, so he seems to absorb what Jonathan is saying without protest, and looks carefully at the book when it's displayed for him.

One massive purple finger reaches out gingerly, and touches lightly against the page.]

...Ora.

[Given the tone, that's...probably affirmative.]

[Jonathan is delighted by Star's response, brief as it may be - it's a deeper insight into the mysterious nature of stands. Star can perceive images and interpret speech, but the most mysterious aspect of all of this is that these traits may be exclusive to only Jotaro's Stand.]

I've seen that you have a talent for copying pictures. Could you do that for several of the cards in this book? I'll show you what pages to start and stop on.

[Elsewhere, Jotaro can feel a phantom twinge of uncertainty wash over him, channeled through his connection to Star; it takes everything he has to hold back from automatically clarifying Jonathan's question for his Stand, and it ends up surprising him how natural it actually is, to simply supply context to Star for things like that — and how difficult to actively attempt not to, in order to let him figure it out on his own.

Star, for his part, does take on an expression of mild confusion. It takes him a few seconds to sift through Jonathan's questions in search of the underlying request in them; normally his directions are delivered straightforward and simply. The formality of manners is newer, and leaves him puzzled until he can sort through it.

But eventually, he reaches over and retrieves a pencil from among Jonathan's work things, holding it up between two giant purple fingers with childlike uncertainty.]

Ora?

[Pictures. Copying? That involves pencils, right...so picking up a pencil is a step toward accomplishing this...right?]

Yes, that's right!

[Jonathan picks up on a subtle shift in Jotaro's expression when the command goes through and promptly realizes he's made a mistake. He puzzles his over his next move as if he's playing a game of chess, thinking several steps ahead in this conversation to determine how to develop it expediently.]

Here is some paper. [He sets a pile of it next to Star Platinum.] I'm going to flip to a new page in this book in a few moments, and when I do, I want you to draw the card shown on the page. Is that alright?

[Again, a wave of uncertainty comes down their connection, but this time the flavor is different — an easier question this time, unconcerned with clarifications and wholly anchored in a request for permission. Do I do this?, Star asks in search of confirmation, and again, Jotaro holds back, trying to structure an answer that still leaves Star the freedom he wants him to have.

Do what you want, he tries to answer back, and unlike most of the times he utilizes that particular combination of words, for once it's gently encouraging instead of dismissive. I want what you want.

What follows, then, is unusual. For a long moment, Star seems to gaze intently at Jonathan, ignoring the paper and pencil in favor of regarding his face. He looks carefully, for what seems like a long time, until at last —

The surprise almost knocks Jotaro off his feet, but he manages to remain steady; his only outward sign of disbelief is the way one hand comes up to cover over his mouth, hiding his expression.

Kakyoin. Mom. Pudding. Giorno. Fish. ...Grandpa.

He ducks his head so that the brim of his hat will hide the wide whites of his eyes as Star leans over the table, taking a piece of paper from the stack and poising himself with his pencil ready to draw.]

[Jonathan looks back at Star Platinum with that same sense of curiosity, wondering just what could be going through his mind - if his conscience could even be called separate from Jotaro's - but whatever reaction his great-great-grandson is having is not the one he expected. He almost seems flustered, like his Stand passed a secret between them that he couldn't dare to repeat, but Jonathan manages to keep most of his composure, a quiet smile aside.]

Let's get started!

[He flips back to the first page of the book, showing a card that depicts ...something, and gazes down at it nostalgically.]

It really does look a little like Danny...

Edited (the correct pic is no less terrible) 2015-12-21 08:41 (UTC)

[As Star leaps to action, faithfully reproducing what appears to be an orangutan (???? WHY IS IT ALWAYS ORANGUTANS??????) painting a portrait of a posing dog on the paper for Jonathan as indicated, Jotaro comes wandering back over to peer at the proceedings.

As predicted, it's not going to take long; by the time he's there, Star's already more than halfway done, his pencil flying across the page with unsettling precision as the reproduction begins to appear on the page.]

...Which one, the dog or the monkey?

[...trying to hold in laughter. Trying to hold in laughter.

Nnnoope, he's lost it.]

T-The dog, the dog! Goodness, I would hope so!

[He's so amused by this that he doesn't know what to do with himself, but he manages to pull some parts of him together, speaking in a higher-pitched voice than usual and wiping at his eyes.]

Sorry, I should explain. Danny was a Great Dane I had as a child, and he was one of the best chaps a boy could ever ask for.

We had a dog that traveled with us for a while. Iggy. He was an asshole, though.

[Can he say "asshole" in front of his double grandfather? Well, if he gets more soap for Christmas, then so be it.

Meanwhile, Star finishes his drawing and holds it up with a hopeful expression, poised and waiting for feedback.]

What was Danny like?

[Jonathan does seem to look up at him with something resembling disapproval - but only for a moment. He and Jotaro have been through enough together that he's started to care about his language less and less. In all honesty, so long as he chooses who he uses it towards carefully, he isn't going to go into a fit over it.

Is he happy that he's using it towards a dog? Not really, but. Well. Let that look be a warning.]

Danny was a splendid animal. Before he died, we did everything together! He was quite the playful one. I taught him to catch my shoe in mid-air if I kicked it off my stockings.

[His smile is a sad one more than anything, and it takes him a moment of hesitation before he turns the page to the next drawing.]

I would have drowned well before my time if it weren't for him.

...You taught him to catch your shoe.

[That is quite possibly the world's nerdiest trick, and this is coming from a guy who flips cigarettes into his mouth. Does dorkiness just run the bloodline, or...]

He was that kind of dog, huh. Sometimes...

[...]

I don't know. They're two different things. But I think I know the feeling you mean; it's like that for me, for Star Platinum.

I think I can understand what you mean. Star Platinum has been there for you through difficult times, right? It may not be exactly the same, but I think it's similar enough.

It's a little funny, actually. Danny and I were wary of each other at first, but it was only after he saved me that we began to value each other at our best.

[Hardship builds the greatest friendships. He thinks that Jotaro knows that just as well as he does, if not more.]

...Oh. You meant —

[JESUS, HE DIDN'T THINK THAT WAS LITERAL, HE THOUGHT IT WAS A FIGURE OF SPEECH

HOLY SHIT JONATHAN DON'T JUST CASUALLY SAY THIS ENTIRE BLOODLINE MIGHT NOT EXIST RIGHT NOW WERE IT NOT FOR THE INTERVENTION OF A DOG JESUS CHRIST]

...Well. Good. That's really good.

O-Oh! You thought I was using a metaphor?!

[Well, now he's thoroughly embarrassed. That is, uh. Yeah, now that he thinks about it, that's not a thing you tell to your kids.

Now that it's out of the bag.]

When I was five years old, I fell into a river without knowing how to swim. Danny leapt into action and pulled me out in the nick of time. Hence, er-- hence the "drowning before my time" bit of that speech.

[...welp.]

Sorry. That was an inappropriate thing to tell you without any preparation.

...It's fine. I've told you worse with no warning.

[Or with inadequate warning, at the very least. Still, this is...something. It's something he finds himself weirdly glad to know about? It's not exactly good, but at the same time, it's one of those boring normal things that helps to render Jonathan human and not simply a legend from the past.

That's important. Seeing people as they are and not the way it's easy to assume they are...that's important, and it's a skill he's having to cultivate a little bit at a time.]

He sounds like a really good dog. No wonder you were such good companions.

Even so...I suppose there is no harm in it.

[Jonathan's tried his hardest to see the good in everyone, even when it's caused him physical harm. He made one of his best friends with a bone-deep cut in his arm. His hands shook over the trigger when his brother's bloodlust finally rose to the surface. Even if others have seen him as a god among men, a person who has risen above tragedy with unnatural strength, a hero, Jonathan's never seen himself as anything but human. It's what kept him going when it was more than likely that he would die on his quest to save the world from evil itself. Humans evolve. Humans had their flaws, but Jonathan wanted to leave the world better than he found it.

He turns the page for Star Platinum.]

I have to cherish the time we had together.

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