starmark | IC Inbox | rubycity_rp

Jotaro! It's Mama. Call me back when you're not busy, okay?

Love you!

[Okay, well, the good news is that Holly sounds happy and upbeat on the call — which is to say, she sounds normal, which probably means she's not in imminent danger of being eaten by a wendigo or something.

Presumably if she were being actively eaten by a wendigo she'd have at least called more than once. So it's probably fine.

As such, when Jotaro gets this particular message on his figurative answering machine, he...proceeds to wait for about ten extra minutes longer than he really has to, for absolutely no other reason than that he doesn't want to give the impression that he's so excited to hear from his mom that he leaps to return her calls.

...Give the impression to who, it's difficult to say.

HE'S A BUSY MAN WITH BUSY BUSINESS HE CAN'T JUST BE PUTTING EVERYTHING ON HOLD FOR HIS MOM right okay it's been tennnnnnn okay it's been nine and a half minutes but that's close enough to ten minutes let's call her back.]

Yeah, what?

[WHAT A WINNER OF A SON YOU ARE, JOTARO.]

[Wow, nine and a half minutes! Her son is responding so promptly today!]

Do you have time to come over for a bit?

[There's a short pause, the only sign of any apprehension she has about making this request being the sound of her taking a deep, steeling breath.]

I'd like to meet Star Platinum.

[...Oh. Well, then, that...certainly is a request, all right, isn't it. And presumably making introductions with Star Platinum is more interesting than working on the house, which is where he's at right now putting in his idle hours.]

...Sure.

[The telltale clue here is that "sure" is a reasonably optimistic, possibly even motivated one-word response, where "...fine" conveys a lot more reluctance.

So go discussions with Jotaro, sometimes.]

So you met Kakyoin's Hierophant already.

[Fortunately, Holly is rather fluent in Jotaro-ese, and so that one word acceptance gets a happy little sound in response.]

Mmhm. He was really nice!

[Which, again, is a bit of an odd thing to say about something whose apparent inherent purpose is to fight, but she's just kind of accepted that 'odd' is her life now.]

Good.

[Because naturally if he hadn't been there would have been a Problem.]

...I'm up working on the house. It'll take me a little while to get back.

[...]

. . .

[YOU KNOW, A HELPFUL SON WOULD SAY SOMETHING ELSE HERE...]

...So if you want something while I'm still out, hurry up and say so.

[... holy mother of god has hell frozen over is the rapture upon us did papa manage to fly a plane and not crash it--]

Oh! Um, hm...

[...]

... Do you know if there's anywhere to get laundry soap here?

[She's currently sharing a general living space with Giorno and Mista.

Her train of thought is not exactly opaque.]

...Yeah. There's a place that has supplies like that. I'll be back in fifteen minutes.

[...Presumably with laundry soap. And Star Platinum!]

Thank you!

[What a good boy.

Holly's up and about - because of course she is - when Jotaro reaches the coffee shop, humming a little ditty to herself as she flits around doing this and that. Jotaro might notice a certain addition to her rather limited wardrobe when she turns: a hairclip, to which a small, but perfectly cut emerald is attached.

No points for guessing where that came from.]

[And sure enough, here he comes, Miss America, with a box of laundry soap in tow and a toolbelt still around his waist, evidently the result of what he'd said about being up putting in time on the house.

He notices the hairclip, and the emerald that goes with it kind of amuses him in a very subdued way, because obviously Kakyoin made it and it reminds him of the giant-ass one they're still turning into a vase for her and that in turn reminds him of fingers in his collar and a mouth crushed aga—

HOLY SHIT, TRAIN OF THOUGHT, TIME TO STOP and reengage infinite gruff mode, stat.]

...I'm here. Here's the soap.

[Oblivious, of course, to any particularly awkward thoughts he might be having, Holly trots up to Jotaro when he makes his entrance, taking the soap with one hand and using the other for balance as she hops up onto her tiptoes to land a peck on his cheek.]

Perfect! It'll be different without a washing machine, but I'll make this work, no problem!

[And she'll just set that off to the side for now.]

You've been working hard. Do you need some water? Something to eat?

Tch, whatever.

[AUGH, MOM KISSES, GET IT OFF GET IT OFF.]

Yeah, it's...weird around here. But I guess sometimes people get modern shit through favors or whatever, so maybe there's a way to get one if you really need one, someday. Someone can ask around. Giorno's good at talking to people, he can probably find something.

[He almost says, "Giorno's good at getting shit out of people, but catches himself just in time.]

...Don't go to all that trouble. Aren't you supposed to be resting still?

[WHAT ARE HER KISSES NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU NOW.]

Heh, Giorno's already made the offer to get 'anything I want or need.' I don't think I've never seen someone so generous at such a young age.

[Casually and unwittingly becomes mafia princess. You know. As you do.]

I won't get my strength back just lying in bed all day! The kitchen's fully stocked. It won't exhaust me to get something for you really quick.

[She may also be stalling just a wee bit. It's one thing to be brave in the sole company of mental images and hypotheticals. Being in the moment itself is quite another.]

[Speaking of stalling, he figures that's as good a cue as any to start unhooking his tool belt, because if he's going to be hanging out (WITH HIS MOM) there's really no reason to have it on and getting in the way.]

Do you like him? Giorno. I know he's nice and polite and everything, but what do you actually...think? Of him.

[She blinks.]

What do I think?

[What an odd question. But she takes it seriously, hand going to her chin in contemplation.]

I think... he doesn't act his age. He can't be older than you and Kakyoin, right? But he speaks so much like an adult, aside from... [That one moment, where Jonathan was a hurricane and Jotaro was a coastline, and a tiny voice broke the tension before the two could collide. She doesn't say this - Jotaro likely knows what she's implying.] And there are things he doesn't want to tell me; sometimes we'll talk, and he'll become quiet for a moment before picking up like nothing happened. I guess those sorts of things are to expected with a history like his, but still, it's worrying sometimes.

[Worrying, obviously, in the way that means she cares about what's troubling him, in the same way she worries about Jotaro, not that she's disturbed. With pursed lips, she thinks quietly for a moment longer before nodding with confidence.]

But yes, I do like him! He's been so good to me while I've been staying here - I hope I can make it up to him someday, even if I'm pretty sure he'd say there's no need.

[...Good. It wasn't like he'd doubted her or anything, at least not as far as her capacity to read the situation and form an opinion about Giorno is concerned. But it's reassuring to hear that she's on the same track as he is, which adds weight to his own ideas and perceptions. Giorno is...forever going to be one of those interesting topics, the ones he spends an unusually long time lost in thought considering, shelved in the same noble category as similar thoughts like what he wants to do with his life and how to care for a leviathan and whether or not Kakyoin could actually kill him dead in his tracks if he smiled just right.]

...Don't push too hard when he does that. Gets quiet on you. That's all, he'll be okay if you just give him a minute.

[One good turn deserves another, Giorno.]

...So. You're sure about meeting Star?

I won't. If he has something to tell me, he'll do it when he's ready, and not a moment before.

[But is she really talking about Giorno? That'll be her own little secret.

The shift in topic comes with a shift in disposition. Holly stands up a little straighter, brushes invisible dust off the front of her clothes. Her thoughts touch briefly on the emerald in her hair - Consider it proof that my Hierophant's as much your ally as I am, Kakyoin had said, and that's not a bad thing to think of in this moment, but unbeknownst to him, she has silently given it another meaning.

Fear can be overcome.

She nods.]

Yes, I am.

...Listen.

[To...what, exactly, he's not sure; of course he'd thought about this on the way over, and worked through five or six possible scenarios of how this could go, and weighed them on all their merits and weeded out the ones he didn't like in favor of replacing them with ones that did —

But like the first time he'd talked to Jonathan, all the forethought in the world somehow hasn't prepared him for the moment, and he feels blank and unprepared, like none of his best-laid plans will come out of the penumbras into his mind's eye properly.

In that empty space that isn't filled with a legitimate decided-upon course of action, memories begin to crop up — the jail cell, his fight with Avdol, the way she'd screamed and been clinging to Jiji while Avdol dragged him against the bars and he'd fought to stay in, snapping that he was going to hurt someone if he didn't, that he was locking himself up for everyone else's safety, and that was why he wouldn't leave.

That, ultimately, is what gives him the push toward figuring out where to begin.]

He can't...disobey me. That's how it works, for him. He can act, sometimes, without my telling him to — like when he protects me, even if I'm not the one making him do it. But he can't...

[He pauses; his next words are adamant, and steady, and strong.]

He can't do something I won't allow. So there's no way he could ever hurt you, understand?

[Jotaro's tone surprises her.

A lot about Jotaro surprises her these days, she finds. He's more quiet in some respects and less so in others, matured here and still very much seventeen there. Fundamentally, he's still her sweet boy, but the two months of something she's missing only highlights the contrast between Don't move! Just stay in bed! and Aren't you supposed to be resting still?

She's proud, but something in the back of her mind won't let her be satisfied with leaving it at that.

One thing at a time, though.]

Kakyoin did say you've learned a lot of control. He sounded impressed.

[But that's stalling again, isn't it. No more of that - she breathes in, nods again, and lets it out.]

I understand. I trust you, Jotaro.

Just...don't fall over or anything.

[The unfortunate thing is, Jotaro's not nearly as adept as controlling his Stand's entrances as Kakyoin is, and unlike Hierophant, Star Platinum isn't one to slink around favoring enclosed spaces. When he appears, it's an appearance, either from sliding easily out of Jotaro's side or bursting into view with flexed muscles and a battle cry.

But to his credit, when Star does appear, it's about as subdued as he can will an entrance to be; he simply steps out from the general vicinity of Jotaro's back, coming to rest like a silent guardian a step to the side and a step back from Jotaro himself.

He looks a little tense, Jotaro muses as he regards his Stand, and realizes a moment later that it's probably something that shouldn't surprise him in the least; Star is edgy because he's a little anxious himself, and still kind of weirdly tense around his mom, and it has all the attributes of being on the verge of battle but it's constrained by the conflicting, unshakable overlay that there will be no fighting here, and no one is in danger, and on the contrary to what instincts might indicate, he's needed to be as unthreatening as possible, instead of a force of intimidation to an impending foe.

Poor Star. He's really getting an education into these non-battle interactions, isn't he.

Okay. Calm down. Star's not going to calm down if he doesn't, so he has to calm down and settle, and just...it's going to be fine. This is going to be fine, it's fine.]

Do you want him to sit down, or...just, whatever you want, he won't move unless you want him to, so just go ahead and...and here he is.

[Holly does, in fact, manage to stay upright when Star appears, though the way her shoulders lift and her mouth clamps shut betrays her own anxiety. She said she trusts her son, and she meant it with every fiber of her being, but as it turns out, instincts are tricky things to repress on both sides of the equation.

She remains silent, still in the wake of Jotaro's awkward rambling, with how much of it she actually hears being debatable as her eyes remain locked on the Stand. One second passes, two seconds, three-- she takes in Star's appearance slowly, and everything from his wild black hair to his piercing eyes to his warrior's build is exactly as she remembers it.

Except... the body language is all wrong. This isn't the hulking berserker that broke apart iron bars as though it was nothing. This is... fear? Of her? That doesn't make any sense at all.

Her head cants to the side, shoulders lowering as confusion washes in where tension ebbs away. The agonizing silence is broken by the sound of her heel clicking on the tile floor of the cafe as she takes one hesitant step forward. Then another, and another. And she's so perplexed by this turn of events that she doesn't even make note of when she comes in range of one of those arms nearly as big as her torso, simply staring up (and up, and up) at the Stand with something that could almost be construed as concern in her eyes.]

... You're not... scaring my son anymore, right?

[At this point, it feels as though everything about the atmosphere in the room is balanced on a razor's edge; the clicking of Holly's heels seems to ring through the air like thunder, and Jotaro doesn't even notice that he's holding his breath until his chest starts to burn a little from it, like staying motionless now is just as important as it was that night, but for a completely different reason in a completely different direction.

What he doesn't realize is the same as the first time Holly had seen Star Platinum, however, is the fact that he's so hyperfixated on what he's trying to make sure Star doesn't do that he's largely left it to his Stand on its own, to choose what it does do. The influences are there, the feelings, the guidance upon which to draw. But the actions are Star's alone, not by order but by decision, in that vague and semi-autonomous way that makes him better described as mine instead of me.

His chin comes down, his hair waving gently in an unseen wind as his blue-green eyes search out Holly's face before finally meeting her gaze properly. Then, with deliberate care and painstaking motions, he begins to lower himself down to the floor at a steady, careful pace, going from standing at his full height to a crouched posture like a loyal knight's, one knee bent and his torso folded over it in submission.

And then, unexpectedly, Star does something even Jotaro couldn't have anticipated — and pushes his lowered head a little insistently toward Holly's hand, almost catlike in its silent implication.

Sometimes, when Star is gentle, Jotaro looks at him and thinks, good boy. He understands, somehow, that that's what's needed of him right now, and accedes to it.]

[It's slow, and quiet, and careful, but she still glances to Jotaro when Star begins to move, looking for... perhaps not assurance, as the fear of being hurt diminishes into nothingness, but a sign, something to inform her of what's happening, what she should do. That demarcation of me and mine is even less clear from the outside looking in, and it's not as though her own experience with being a Stand user lends her much in the way of assistance in figuring it out.

The nudge at her hand helps a little bit, in that regard. Her first instinct is to pull back and out of the way, but she manages to stop herself before her hand can do more than flick up, away from Star's forehead but still hovering in his hair. It's a strange sensation, just as the cool smoothness of Hierophant's hand had been strange, though in a different way. She watches it for a moment, the way the Stand's hair dances around her fingers as her mind tries to reconcile how incorporeal it looks with how very tangible it feels, before finally lowering her hand.

The rest of her body follows suit, falling into a kneel as she gently pets Star's hair. Her other hand cups his chin, a request for him to lift his head, because she knows she'd never have the strength to force him. If he does, she meets his eyes with an intent gaze, but not a severe one.]

... You're going to keep him safe for me, right?

[It's strange. It's really, really strange, watching his mom interact with his Stand like this, because Star is a part of him but he's not and it's like he's on the other side of aquarium glass, peering in and observing this interaction like a third party with no role in it. But that's not quite true, either, because the phantom sensations still make it through to him, too; the whisper of fingers running through his hair, the pressure of a hand beneath his chin — it's there but it's not and it's strange because he thinks he'd probably hate it if he were Star right now, if that were him, but when it's filtered through his Stand it's...

...It's.

It's like...a soda bottle shaken up, and he's the thin plastic walls keeping it in, he's not sure if he likes it because it's weird and intense and a little bit wrong except that wrong isn't synonymous with bad and his throat feels weirdly thick, for someone who hasn't done anything but stand there at all.]

He...doesn't talk...

[Which is irrelevant, because that's not what Holly is asking, but it's something to say and he's hoping if he does, some of that odd champagne pressure will release. It doesn't, not in the slightest, but Star lifts his head where Holly guides it and smiles at her with an expression that's soft rather than manic, and without a hint of malice.

Their features aren't much alike, but it's an expression that might resonate with her, anyway. It's one her son sometimes wore for her, years ago, when he still beamed in photographs and held his chin up with boyish pride instead of defiance.]

[Kakyoin had said the same thing when she introduced herself to Hierophant, but she asks her questions anyway, because these things are far too important to leave in any kind of doubt, because she knows very well spoken words are not the only way to communicate. Papa had taught her about reading faces, how a small twitch here or a glance there could betray a person's thoughts, and it's a skill she's gotten quite a bit of mileage out of since Jotaro hit adolescence.

And she's watching so carefully, needing to know the answer to this question so desperately, that when the Stand that had scared her so much answers with that familiar smile, she's blindsided. She gasps, openly, and her heart aches in the same way it aches for Sadao, for Papa and Mama, for family that always seems to be thousands of miles out of her reach. Her eyes glisten, and she closes them before they can do more than that.]

Okay.

[She nods - to herself or to Star, who knows - forcing her breathing to even out again. And then, with a smile, she pushes herself up again, brushing back the wild mane of hair to place a kiss on the crown of Star's head.]

Okay. You're forgiven, then.

IC Inbox | rubycity_rp | I

audio; a few days after punchghost lecture

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