starmark | IC Inbox | rubycity_rp

[People are complicated. Stands are just a reflection of that complication. There are moments, more and more lately the more capable he gets of taking off and putting on Don Giovanna, that Gold Experience expresses the things he doesn't - subtly, of course, because they are still the same, after all, but sometimes it moves almost skittishly, and sometimes it stands over him protectively, and sometimes it curves its fingers over its mouth like its shy.]

[None of these things are happening now, as Giorno murmurs something wordless and folds his handkerchief back into his pocket. Gold Experience is just staring at Jotaro with its head cocked slightly, ready to move at a moment's notice.]

I didn't realize that cleaning was the same as babying.

[No, except he is 100% babying Star right now, and he's not sorry. Resting his chin on the Stand's head, he watches Jotaro advance on Gold Experience for a moment; he gets almost close enough to take the stupid hat back before Gold Experience hops backward to the very edge of its range.]

I think our range is the same, Jotaro.

At least you didn't lick it.

[This is what his life has become. He's playing Keep-Away with a Stand that could probably turn his hat into a baby seal on an instant's notice, and that would be nothing short of horrendous because he wouldn't in good conscience be able to ask for it to be changed back so he could have his hat again.

Giorno brings up a good point, though, and a curious one; if he's on top of Star, then what they've created is a circle with a perfect radius that this game can operate in, where Star and Giorno are center point and neither Jotaro nor Gold Experience can exceed the circumference that sets.]

Gold Experience is a close-range Stand? So about two or three meters, all told.

[Shall we compare the speed of our attack rushes?

No. Let's not, and compare the speed of our footwork instead, as he darts after Gold Experience again.]

. . . Why would I lick it? I don't think Stands can lie.

[All of Giorno's maternal instincts come from Bruno Buccellati. This is good in a lot of ways, and Really Weird in others.]

[Nevertheless, this is a good game. It's especially good because he knows he couldn't keep up with Jotaro physically himself, but this is almost the same thing, except he doesn't actually have to move, he can just observe. He pets Star's hair absently as Jotaro makes a dash for it; Gold Experience can go forward or to either side, but it can't go backwards anymore, so--]

[Well, the obvious solution is to run towards Jotaro with every apparent intention of crashing into him and then, at the last moment, plant one hand on each of his shoulders and leap over his fucking head.]

[And Star's.]

[And land on the other side.]

[Giorno hums and eats another spoonful of pudding.]

...The hell does licking have to do with —

[...It's hard to say what it is that actually makes him break off this time, Gold Experience's approach or the phantom sensation he can feel on the top back of his head, stroking down the line of his scalp even though there's nothing there and that's. Kind of weird, but not weird enough to distract him once GE launches like that.]

— holy shit.

[...He's got the wrong idea with ladybugs; that thing jumped like a grasshopper. He whirls, ending up facing Giorno because he and Star are currently between him and where GE landed, and just kind of blinks.]

...You ever jump like that while you're hanging on to him?

[He laughs a little bit, his smirk mostly hidden in Star Platinum's hair. Surprising Jotaro is his idea of a hilarious time, honestly. Gold Experience comes and peers over Star's shoulder.]

No, I don't think I have. I don't know if it would work, with the extra weight.

That's how Bruno tells if you're lying.

...You're telling me he has a lie detector tongue.

[So if he French-kissed Polnareff, would he be able to tell that he was lying about the toilet —

WOW, THAT TRAIN OF THOUGHT WENT TO WEIRD PLACES, TIME TO HURRY UP AND GET BACK TO THE PRESENT MOMENT]

I bet it'd work. When you're done up there, I'll show you something, but for now — here, have him do it again while I hang on.

That's right. That's how he knew I was lying when we met.

[Secrets Revealed. Gold Experience shuffles out from behind Star, standing shoulder to shoulder for a moment before slinking forward and dropping the hat back on Jotaro's head, then backing to the edge of its range again.]

All right. Ready?

...You know, I wouldn't have been fine with letting him lick me anyway, but thanks for the heads-up that I really shouldn't be, I guess.

[He absently replaces his hat back to its usual standard, then follows Gold Experience and examines it a minute, looking for the easiest way of hanging on to it and settling for hooking an arm around its neck and forming a triangle by gripping its opposite shoulder.]

Whenever you're ready, don't do anything special. Just have him jump; I'm betting he's strong enough to tow me just like this.

[This is sort of weird - less because he can phantom-feel Jotaro's arm around his own neck than because Gold Experience is big comparatively, but Jotaro is bulkier, and it doesn't really make physical sense that his Stand might be able to jump like this. Still, dubious as he is, trusting Jotaro is becoming almost frighteningly easy, so he just shrugs and focuses, maybe a little harder than usual.]

[So it's just a second or two before Gold Experience bends its knees slightly and leaps, and Giorno lets out a sound that's half-surprised and half-thrilled, because Jotaro was right. His Stand only moves maybe half as far, but it's still a lot more than he expected, and Gold Experience still lands light as a cat.]

[It is, admittedly, a little bit unsettling to be putting himself into the hands of Gold Experience like this, not because he distrusts Giorno at all but just because there are maybe two Stands in the multiverse that he would be completely at ease with when it comes to something like this, and Gold Experience simply isn't one of them.

But it's fun, in its own way, to go hurtling through the air in one of Gold Experience's grasshopper arcs, and he lands reasonably neatly as they come down, letting go a little bit early to drop back to his feet on his own.]

I thought so. It's a faster way of getting around, doing that kind of thing. Or if you have to get away from something in a hurry, that's a pretty good trick for a last resort.

That's so interesting . . .

[And he does legitimately sound fascinated, his voice and expression going a little distant as he considers the ways this could be useful to him. Somehow it never really came up - they were on the ground, mostly, and Aerosmith was their eyes in the sky. This, though - he could have used this.]

Can Star do that too?

...Star can go one better. No offense to Gold Experience.

[And the aforementioned giant purple punchghost takes that as his cue to tip his head way back to peer up at Giorno, a brilliant grin on his face.]

I can show you, but he'll have to put you down for a minute.

[Giorno actually pouts for a moment - not at the assertion that Star Platinum can do something that Gold Experience can't, because it would be a really boring world if everyone's Stands were exactly the same, but at the prospect of being put down. He's comfortable, and anyway - someone who's alone for so long, they stop reaching for people because they don't think they'll ever touch them. He didn't say it out of any kind of abstract wisdom.]

[It's only for a moment, though, and then he straightens up a little and stands on Star's shoulders like it's nothing, pausing to get his balance before hopping off. Gold Experience catches him around the waist and lowers him to the ground, where he dusts himself off and looks up at Jotaro expectantly.]

All right. Impress me.

I did say it's only for a minute.

[But it's easy now, simple and reflexive, to return Star inside him (and he can never seem to find the right verb for that, either — de-summoning him? putting him away? making him disappear? letting him sleep? None of them ever seem right) while he glances around at their surroundings to mark out a trajectory. There are enough vertical landings around to make a demonstration worthwhile, and once he's picked his few, he nods.]

Watch. This way's more efficient, in my opinion.

[And a moment later, the meaning behind that remark becomes clear, as the area around his legs, from his knees to the ground, shimmers translucent purple; when he kicks off, it's clearly with Star's assistance, and the fact that he's got his hands in his pockets the whole time he's rocketing skyward in an arc and coming down to land atop one of the orange-glowing lamp posts is evidence enough that he's clearly done this before.]

[It's also evidence that Jotaro is showing off. But, well, if you've got something to show off, why not? It's not as though Giorno isn't watching his every move with acquisitive curiosity, as though tracking his movements - their movements - will make him understand.]

[The same thing as with Izabel, he thinks; there are degrees to which Stands are real, and degrees to which they are part of their users. This is just another degree, one that Jotaro happens to have mastered.]

[He tips his head up at Jotaro on his perch and wonders could I . . .? Could we . . . ? and doesn't bother to hide his delight.]

Efficient and dramatic. [His two very favorite things, besides perfection on the first try.]

I got a lot of mileage out of it.

[But he's looking reasonably smug as he drops back down to the ground, that same purple glow softening his landing the way it had enhanced his takeoff, and once he's back on solid ground, Star in his more corporeal form is back at his side.]

I still do, when I need to cross the city in a hurry.

[Giorno gnaws on his lip in a delicate sort of way. Got a lot of mileage out of it; is that just a Jotaro thing to say, or does he speak in such practical, mechanical terms because he isn't used to Star Platinum as anything but a tool? It's sort of hard to say, just like it's hard to remember sometimes that they haven't known each other that long. It feels like he's known him forever.]

[Does he know anyone else like that? He has to think about it, and maybe while he's thinking about it he's quiet for too long. The answer he comes up with in the end is Trish, which, all things considered, makes a lot of sense; there are commonalities of family and legacy there between all three of them, and confusion and fear and strength of character, and he misses her so much but he doesn't fear for her safety or her ability to continue on without him. He trusts her, the same way he trusts Jotaro.]

[Eventually he manages to refocus, to smile at Star as Gold Experience shifts restlessly at his side.]

It's interesting. I learned a lot about Gold Experience in moments of crisis, but I think I'm learning just as much here.

[It's tempting to elaborate on what else Star can do in a similar vein, to agree that moments of crisis are sometimes the moments when Stands surprise you most because there's no time to wonder, you simply need them to act and sometimes they do, and there's no time to thank them because you're too busy using it to ensure that you survive.

There've been a lot of times, since Cairo, that he's looked back and thought, I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for, and finished it with one person or another. Kakyoin. Jiji. Polnareff.

It strikes him, as he watches Giorno smile at his Stand — at Star, his evil spirit, his fighting spirit, his perpetual companion — that he could add another name to that list if he wanted, because there isn't a shadow of a doubt left that he wouldn't be alive right now if it wasn't for Star Platinum.

He thinks, good boy, and whether it's that or just the rising tide of his silent pride that makes Star light up with apparent delight, it's hard to say.

But it makes Star grin, which is all right, because sometimes Jotaro is a minimalist that way, and only one of them needs to be.]

It's weird to use them for something that isn't fighting. Or to figure out where they fit into a life that doesn't revolve around fighting, I guess.

It's very weird.

[But it's nice, too. He can't be too unsettled by anything that makes Star Platinum smile like that. It's not exactly the same as Jotaro smiling himself, but it feels the same on some level, the same way that the cacophonous yelling of Sex Pistols is inherently Mista, or the soft presence of Sticky Fingers is as comforting as Bruno is.]

[He doesn't decide to cross over and link arms with Star again; it's just the natural thing to do, so he does it, looking thoughtful all the way.]

You might think . . . my life is still about fighting. At home, I mean. But it isn't, really. It's mostly politics. I'm in danger often, but not in the same way, and anyway, it's not supposed to be my responsibility to keep myself safe. But I'm so used to having him out, it felt strange to not, so - he comes to meetings with me. Things like that. It's a little silly.

[And thank goodness for Star's unsettling precision, because among his many talents that utilize that particular skill, patting Giorno on the head without mussing his donuts is apparently one of them.]

...That's Mista's specialty, right? Keeping you safe.

[He shifts his weight slightly, his hands finding their way a little deeper into his pockets.]

Hey. About your life at home. ...Can I ask you something?

[Oh. That's. He is beaming. It would feel patronizing ordinarily, but from Jotaro it just doesn't. It's just - nice.]

That's right. One of his specialties, anyway.

[He cocks his head curiously, not sure whether to read Jotaro's body language as nervous or just shy.]

You can ask me anything.

...So if I came to Italy sometime. That'd throw your operation off?

[There's too much of a question built into that latter bit for it to be anything but; though he words it like an assumption, the tone keeps it from being such, pulls it back into a tentative if badly-phrased question rather than an assertion to be proved right or wrong.]

[Oh. Oh again.]

[Would it? It's a decent question, despite his kneejerk instinct to say no. It would be a distraction, that much is absolutely true. But he thinks maybe he's functioning better with distractions here. Would that carry over back home, with Bruno and Abbacchio and Narancia gone, would it still feel safe to do things like this, to lean into Star Platinum's touch and give in to not being don for five minutes? Would he be able to take that luxury?]

[After a moment, he . . . shakes his head.]

I don't think so. Not at all. I can multitask.

[Which maybe is true or maybe is wishful thinking, but - he can have more than one dream.]

You're not going to stick me with some capo you like and have him show me around like a tourist while you run the country?

[And now, at last, Star isn't the only one with a facial expression that resembles a smile, though with Star there's no doubt in the least, and on Jotaro it's as subtle as always, and partially concealed in the dim visibility.]

Of course not. That would be delegating, not multitasking. Besides, family doesn't get shunted off to the side.

[. . . he says like he has any fucking clue what he's talking about, but whatever.]

No, you'd be with me. If you could handle it, anyway.

IC Inbox | rubycity_rp | I

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;

action;