IC INBOX / BUSINESS CARD ( ARCHIVE AS OF 12/13 )

[manuscripture]

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[ Somewhere around town-- at the bookstore, the Tomoe-Kaname Bakery, attached to posts and notice boards --you find a small white notecard. On it is printed a little message and some numbers in ornate lettering. If you look closely, it reads the following: ]

Rohan Kishibe, Mangaka & Visual Artist
Owner Pro Tempore of Ebony Threads Tailor Shop
Highly Experienced.
Commissions & Advertising For Hire
Pay Negotiable.
Contact At: 512.66.730.91 for inquiries
Castle Lüvchaque - Directly North of Bavan per appointment ONLY.

(( feel free to use this as an action-based prompt too. any random interactions will MOST LIKELY take place in the form of walk-ins at the tailor shop unless it's pre-planned. just drop a starter in here! ))

Comments

[manuscripture]

Ah...

[ The only place he can think of is the back. Front of house has too many of his paintings and shit that don't need to be signed by a wing busting through them. It is clear that Rohan's mood has improved since Jotaro got here as it sometimes does. Jotaro can't fix everything-- he is no miracle worker and they both know that --but there is the slim chance that with the right amount of workaround, he can be made somewhat more tolerable to be around. Getting him invested in something he can think about is one of those lucky workaround tactics.

Oh, he can work on something else back there too... ]

There is less you could possibly destroy back here. [ Off he goes to have the gargoyle follow the trail of his tail to where he keeps himself sequestered in the back beyond the black curtain over the door. It's just a workroom. Jotaro will probably recognize a lot of the unfinished paintings near the far wall joined by an easel supporting an empty canvas. It's bigger than it looks, cluttered only by a bench with an archaic sewing machine and the shelves of fabric bolts boasting sophisticated, luxurious hues that he can't move around. Another full-length mirror sits between two of the shelves. ]

If you put a wing through something, I won't miss it too badly. [ There is nothing to worry about. Rohan tells him this while stuffing part of himself against the wall across from the mirror. ]

Stand in front of me facing the mirror and stretch out your wings as far as you can. Tell me how it feels when you give yourself the freedom to do it. Which parts of yourself do you feel working the hardest?

[starmark]

[He follows obediently, and takes particular care with his wings even despite the apparent replaceability of everything in the back. So he finds a position and checks around before rolling his shoulders and stretching his wings out in stages until they're at full extension. He's much better at it these days than he was once; they move under his intent instead of clunking around like he doesn't know what to do with them, and better suit the rest of his changes instead of seeming like a hasty add-on.

The sight of himself in the mirror seems to strike him, as it always does. He's himself but he's not; his gargoyle is echoes of his Star Platinum. And his scales are — striking, was that the word? There's beauty to this...this. Someone finds this beautiful. Striking.

Is that something he can be?

If there's something beautiful about this, then maybe the other things he sometimes considers ugly about himself don't have to be, either.]

It feels good.

[That's not helpful, but it's a start.]

It's in my shoulders. And a little lower, near the blades. It's hard to describe...like pointing my toes, sort of, except it's not arms or legs, it's wings. A different set of limbs. Down here, in the small of my back —

[He moves to reach for it, but it's gawky with his wings extended that way, so his hand recedes again.]

...Is this helping? I don't know if that's what you want...

[manuscripture]

[ Rohan is occasionally looking over Jotaro's shoulder and at the mirror. Not for long, never for long. He keeps the one in the front of the shop and often this one covered in sheets because he has a habit of just flat-out breaking them. They're an unfortunate necessity around here. He uses the same method that he does when speaking to people-- spending only a second or two looking directly before averting his eyes elsewhere.

It's been a problem. ]

Mmhm...

[ The hum is a sound of approval. Jotaro is doing precisely what he asked him to. He keeps a close eye on the unnatural-looking parts pulling in Jotaro's back. The newly-routed muscles and ligaments which hold the new bone mass together and keep it from slouching or moving independently. It's incredible to watch. ]

Your body has adapted by reworking your musculature. You should feel it there in the small of your back, in your shoulders, and in the top of your chest. [ Rohan indicates this with a his fingers painting an outward straight line from his collarbones to his shoulders. ] Without your tail, you would fall right over with how your wings have developed.

[ He quietly admires the colors in the dim light. They don't glow like they do at home but the hues are savory to the eyes. Slowly, Rohan reaches behind himself to the top corner of what he is leaning on. It's another black sheet which drops when he pulls it. Another mirror he has to keep hidden from himself. ]

Do it again and watch from the reflection behind you. [ He slithers out of the way so that Jotaro can see the perfect image of himself from behind if he looks straight ahead at the mirror he is staring into. ] Carefully... Try to flap them a little if you want. Understanding how your body works is the key to figuring out what to put on you. I already have a direction that I want.

I want you to understand it the way I do.

Tell me what you see and then I will ask you the next question.

[starmark]

[His clawed fingertips come back up absentmindedly, touching lightly against his collarbones in confirmation when Rohan points them out — yes, that's right, it's there too, and moreover it's sort of charming to think that Rohan's just as capable of spotting these things as he is, with the way that Rohan is watching him as much as he's watching himself. Of course it's no surprise that he likes that. Someone looking at him and understanding how he works — that's what everyone really wants deep down, isn't it?

It's what he really wants deep down, at least. It feels good to get it.

He fixes his eyes on his reflection and starts to think about flapping his wings, but then doubles back and decides there's too good of a chance that doing so will make it come out forced and flawed, at a time in the process when accuracy seems so key. So he thinks of the same things he does when he's gathering himself up for a takeoff, instead, and trusts his wings to do the instinctive work for him.

It's much better that way, he can tell. That way it's not just seeing what his body does, but what the gargoyle knows.

He watches his wings shift and beat through a few shallow flaps, eyes fixed on the mirror at his own reflection rebounded back at himself from the other.]

They're not like bird wings. It's not just the main limb doing all the work, though it's definitely working hardest. Those other structures do the finer movements — that's why I'm so agile when I fly. I guess with the way a gargoyle hunts, that's a benefit; birds of prey hunt by swooping and diving, but they have to do it in definite arcs, if they miss on a dive then they just miss. My control is much better than that. Those substructures off the main wing are probably why.

...I see my scales. Those must be protecting the rearranged muscle, because that's where all of the movement is happening. It starts in my back and then ripples out through the wings. I guess...probably the tail will do the same thing. Like it's all one combined process, working together to make flying as precise as it can be.

[He pauses, blinking, and beats his wings again.]

Right. When I move them it moves too. Not a lot, with how short it is still, but standing still and moving the wings, my balance changes. It's already moving to help correct that. So...when it's longer it's probably going to move a lot, too, from just how it's naturally designed to work as a part of the whole.

[manuscripture]

[ Rohan isn't making a scramble to draw anything right now. Odd considering how he handles any other situation that involves serious aesthetic analysis.

Why, he's drawn Jotaro enough times to know that there isn't anything new he has to cover just yet. The tail, but that can wait. He is fixated on the whole thing right now. ]

That's exactly right. [ At a point when those wings are not flapping, Rohan moves forward to-- oh, perhaps... The left wing. One hand is placed on where the wing has sprouted from the gargoyle's back, and the other sets light fingers on the tip spanning across the other side. A little pull and he only jostles the wing enough to make it extend, and then relax. Extend... Relax. ] If these aren't moving right, nothing else can do its job. What I want to do for you is make something that allows for full range of motion for your wings and your tail. Both of which I can do fairly easily.

[ The hand at Jotaro's back presses itself flush there for a few seconds too long before drawing back. That's right... He had a question. ]

Now look at me. The most obvious thing about my change is that I lost my legs. [ Be it actually turning around or just using the mirror. He doesn't really want to back away. ] What else do you think happened biologically? Internally? What did my body do to adapt?

[starmark]

[That, then, presents a much more difficult question for him, and the way that he falters is apparent. It's hard to say why, precisely; maybe it's the way it's framed, the way it can't be answered without combining Rohan and the snake together into one single entity. His body shouldn't have done anything to adapt, maybe, because these changes are supposed to be something that happens to people, not a symbiosis. It's harder to separate and other the monster with a question like that, and it sets him off-balance.

But he's determined to answer it. He focuses instead on the phantom sensation of where Rohan's comparatively cool hands had rested against his wing and back, and makes himself think, trying desperately to reframe his perspective at least enough to answer it adequately.]

You got your fangs. You can spit poison. You're...always cold.

[You seek warmth, he almost says, but doesn't when it makes him abruptly aware of just how close they're standing.]

The way you digest things changed. You had to...be able to slither, instead of walking. You're not using your hips to control movement anymore, it's...lower in the tail itself? When bipedal creatures walk, a step is really just falling forward and catching themselves. You don't move like that. You...wind. And you cling. When I pick you up your whole body works to stabilize yourself.

[...]

Your tail is attracted to me.

[HE MEANS TO HIS BODY HEAT BUT THANKS FOR THAT ANYWAY JOTARO GOOD HUSTLE.]

[manuscripture]

[ One of these things is not like the others............... ]

Right. My organs have all rearranged themselves and moved to different areas to accommodate my new body. Movement is based on how my scales need to cling to the ground... [ His tail swishes across the floor as he talks about it. ] I am wired to find heat sources. I can see in the dark and my eyes posses the ability of bioluminescence. My teeth fell out and were exchanged for backwards-facing ones that air in latching on to prey instead of chewing it.

[ There's a whole laundry list that he adds to it, all the while picking a new place in the center of Jotaro's back to rest both hands. ]

It isn't my tail that is attracted to you.

[ JUST GONNA SQUINT INCREDULOUSLY AT HIS HANDS FOR A SECOND. OH LORD. ]

[starmark]

Does that factor in, to what you want to put on me?

[Honestly, it's a miracle that he manages to even get off a line like that, because as soon as it hits the air between them he goes as still as if a ray of sunlight had washed over him; in both cases, he's rendered beautiful and silent and stone.

It's not like it comes as any sort of surprise. He's known for a while that it was true. He's spent hours and hours sitting on rooftops with the faint edge of hunger grinding in his abdomen, people-watching and thinking about it to take his mind off of it.

He also knows it's not unrequited. That's the part that's a little terrifying — how easy it would be to echo the sentiment, if it weren't for the potential for it to get all tangled up in his throat on the way out. They act like a married couple, Josuke had remarked once, but the truth is it isn't a married couple that the two of him remind him of.

Rohan reminds him of car rides and bumped knees, shared hotel rooms and moments of mutual peril.

Rohan reminds him of how it felt when he was surrounded by people he cares about, and all of them were alive.

That's what he's afraid of. That it has to be too good to be true, somehow. That if he looks too hard at this, it'll shatter. That if he observes the electron, it'll jump to someplace else and be gone forever.

Heisenberg's Feelings Principle. How ridiculous.

But he's also acutely aware that he's kept Rohan waiting on him, and there's something to that, something about it, that bothers him. Stringing people along isn't something he likes to do, and sooner or later it's going to start feeling like that. His tendency to avoid is the immovable object, and his tendency to do the right thing is the immovable force. Sooner or later something will have to give.

He has to clear his throat before he can manage to answer further than that; when had it gone thick and dry? Somewhere in there, probably.

He looks at himself in the mirror, looks at Rohan with his hands on him.

Strange how it doesn't look wrong.]

I...owe you more than just a bribe, don't I.

[manuscripture]

[ They've been in his element since Jotaro walked into the shop. Design theory, discussion about aesthetics, a biology lesson. No mind needs to be paid to the quiet moments of mutual admiration while one spoke and the other didn't. Rohan had the floor on something Jotaro knew little about but still made it full of elements he could attach himself to and try understanding at his level of interest.

No one likes to hear Rohan talk. Vietnam did. She's gone now.

He had talked to Josuke recently about how he missed being alone. Alone in Morioh, that is. Large aspects of how he lived his life have had to change to keep Jotaro in mind. Sharing a home and being in the same room as another person while he does his work that he prefers to keep private. Jotaro Kujo violates every single one of his rules.

It isn't something he minds. Not so much anymore. There was a time where they had to be cramped in a hotel room together-- one on the floor and the other in the bed. There had been Rohan going out of his way to get them a place to live after walking (and being carried) from one town to the next. He had never been more agitated about a living situation in his life. Actively sequestering himself in his room or shooing his roommate out of the living room so he could work alone. Now it was commonplace to have them in the same room while he painted near his favorite window with Jotaro on the couch playing his guitar or engaging in understandably stilted smalltalk.

Jotaro stopped being a burden a long time ago.

Rohan is stuck being unable to look up properly and acknowledge the other man through the mirror. His eyes remain fixed on the middle of his back. ]

What do you think you owe me?

[starmark]

An answer.

[He tries his best not to stare too long at Rohan in the mirror, seeing the way he's not looking back, and working out the reason why after a second of brief reflection. It's not altogether fair for him to just look and look and look, when Rohan is stuck not being able to return the favor if he likes.]

I told you not to ask me what it meant — that one time, I mean. You haven't. But that doesn't mean I haven't...kept you waiting on something you deserve, when I shouldn't have.

[He sucks in a slow breath, obviously rattled, and yet just as obviously powerfully determined in a way that has nothing to do with brute strength.]

Is there...is there something, that isn't a rejection...

[Again, he hesitates.]

But that...maybe...can't bring itself to acceptance, yet?

[manuscripture]

[ An answer.

He has to put real thought into it before he places what he's getting an answer to.

Don't ask me if that meant anything..

Right, right. ]

If you're going to speak to me about something like this, at least turn around and look at me.

[ This wasn't supposed to go here. Nothing is ever supposed to go to PLACES but these two have a flow. ]

You don't want to reject but you can't bring yourself to accept either. Do you realize how little sense that makes? Assuming we're on the same wavelength. [ A beat. ] Which, let's face it, we probably ARE... [ Because what else is new? ]

[starmark]

Hold still, then. I'm going to turn around, I don't want to hit you with my wings or something.

[He closes his eyes for a moment, sucks a breath. There's probably a wisp of smoke when he lets it back out again, but he doesn't notice it as he carefully draws in his wings and turns around until he's facing Rohan.

Before he can think better of it, he doesn't stop with just that. He brings his hand up, wavering only slightly with indecision before reaching to cup Rohan's cheek and jaw against his palm.]

And that's not what I said. I said it's not a rejection. I just don't know if it's fair to call what it is...accepting. Not yet.

I don't know if I have any right being given someone's feelings to safeguard. Does that make...more sense? I don't know if I'm...I don't know if I should be...

You make me happy. But sometimes it's like I'm still struggling to remember how to even be happy. If I can't give you better than that...

[...]

Look, I'm not...I'm not good at this, I...I don't know if I can make you happy. I don't know if what I have in me to give is enough. I've been thinking about it ever since and I can never figure out if it's enough...

[manuscripture]

[ He leans accordingly as to not be smacked with a wing. They could easily kill someone with their bulkiness and that isn't what either of them are willing to put up with tonight. He can look up without having to worry about the mirror, ignoring it completely once Jotaro is facing him and has gone the extra mile of touching his face, which he had not expected. ]

You don't have to be good at this. You don't have to be good at anything. [ Tact is something Rohan will never have a full grasp of. That's just a universal constant. A Law. ]

You--... [ If this is an upgrade from getting feelsy after talking about setting a man on fire, he wouldn't know. ] You make me happy too. [ Ignoring how he has to keep instinctively looking away from Jotaro's eyes, it sounds sincere. He isn't tensing in his shoulders or threatening to coil back and away like he's running away from something. ]

If you're getting that much done, you're doing something right. I don't need ten thousand things to be happy, Jotaro. I'm not as unpleasable as people seem to think I am. I have my art, I have a place to live that isn't on the street. And I have--

[ Being sentimental leaves the taste in his mouth as thick and mildewy as licking a bathtub plug. It's a taste he has to goad back down and cram against his diaphragm because something tells him that Jotaro will not appreciate being puked on right now. That could happen. IT COULD... ]

I would think that me telling you that you make me happy is enough. I don't think I've ever made a single person happy either but hearing you say it is enough for me to believe it. [ He thinks.

Man. Feelings are dumb. 0/10 would not consider again. ]

I'm better at drawing feelings than I am explaining them. I don't know if you've noticed.

[starmark]

You're better at everything when it involves drawing. But you should try that sometime. Anything's easier than...this, probably.

[Speaking of being on a wavelength about things, this is assuredly one of them. What is talking about feelings. Feelings suck.]

Sometimes it feels like I'm letting people down if I'm not good at...

[He motions vaguely, and thinks about saying everything, but then amends it.]

...whatever it feels like they're counting on me for. Like I have to be better than myself. But maybe that's just...

[He stops then, seeming to think, and then unexpectedly lowers his head and buries his face in Rohan's hair, just for a second.]

...So it's okay, then? If for you I just be me, whatever I am? Fucked up or not?

[manuscripture]

[ Now his shoulders hop up to a little bit of tension. Blindsided by Jotaro's face in his hair, he feels warmer than before. It's difficult to formulate exactly what he wants to say but he realizes that his hands have been left idle at his sides since Jotaro turned around. What to do with them is the question--

He feels obligated to not just stand there and to animate himself in some way. If Jotaro's hand is still on his cheek, Rohan has his fingers curling around his wrist to hold it there. The other one isn't sure where to go. It is miles behind his tail, which has linked part of itself around Jotaro's ankle since it cannot reach his hand right now. ]

Jotaro, I wouldn't want you to be anything other than whatever you are. It's more than okay. [ He tries to look up slowly without disturbing the gargoyle, ending up just eye-level with his throat. ]

You don't have to change. At all. Ever.

[starmark]

...Do me a favor, and don't let me forget that.

[Feeling the way Rohan is tilting his head, he draws back slowly, but not far. The height difference between them is pronounced, and especially so at this distance, but Jotaro still does his best not to loom, and instead just stays close.]

Should...should we keep going on the clothes? Or would you rather I take you home...?

[manuscripture]

[ Rohan has every ability to just rise up another few inches on his tail. That would be a nice thing to do. He considers it. ]

I already know what I want to do about the clothes. [ He draws back himself but not enough to give the impression that he's about to take off toward the door. His free hand smooths its way up Jotaro's shoulder and to the side of his neck.

Cool but not cold. ]

Do you want to go home...?

[starmark]

No. I...want to stay here for a while.

[A beat.]

...Like...this, awhile. With you.

every time i think i cannot make things worse

[manuscripture]

[ There's a surprise. ]

That's fine. I have the time.

[ The time for someone for once. He taps three fingers along Jotaro's neck in a manner similar to how he had tapped on the doorframe earlier. Less click-click-clicking and more of a dull thump from each. Thoughtful... Thinking... Pondering while he tries to find Jotaro's face again with his eyes. ]

Come closer. Let me do you that favor... So you won't forget.

this thread is a ride

[starmark]

How much closer can I really get?

[But he tilts his head against the feeling of those light beats against his neck, seeming to savor it before doing as he's asked.]

How's that? A little better? Or do you want me to lift you up, like usual?

when are our threads not honestly

[manuscripture]

[ The naga scoffs in hifalutin confidence. ]

You can do that, or I can do it this way.

[ This is about as smooth as Rohan gets-- gathering himself up, coiling a bit to hoist up another inch or three. Those few inches make all the difference, giving him the allowance he needs to nuzzle his lukewarm lips to Jotaro's minus the amount of hesitation he exuded the last time he made such a move.

It's gotta be one of those weird moon nights or something because SOMEHOW chemistry is Working. ]

who greenlit this

[starmark]

Oh.

[That's what he gets out, Captain Eloquence himself, in the short space between when Rohan says this way and when they're kissing for what's going to end up being the third time now, unless you toss out the Mitsuhide-involved one and just call it the second.

It's not that he's hesitant in return, exactly, but he is undoubtedly careful and reserved; it's immediately apparent that he's letting Rohan have the lead, following it without making any overt attempts to seize it away.

Maybe it's a little bit like admitting that this doesn't have to be anything. He's got no goals in mind, nothing to live up to.

For now, he's just doing exactly as he said — being himself, and nothing else.]

[manuscripture]

[ With nothing to live up to, there is not much expected of him. That in itself is fine by Rohan's standards. He keeps his bar set pretty high and it is apparent that he isn't lowering it for anyone. Jotaro skates by on merits earned purely through chance.

There is nothing greedy about what he is doing. His hands are not going anywhere they do not need to be, respecting their space without the sense of entitlement he is so known for.

Jotaro wants to be reminded that he makes Rohan happy and that he doesn't need to change anything about himself to do so? He can have that fact wrapped up in a kiss uncharacteristically affectionate and able to articulate the message without clunky, awkward words that neither of them are very good at. His fingertips slip back on Jotaro's neck to fiddle with his hairline, playing in his dark hair as another gesture meant to relax him by any stretch. His tail winds further around that ankle, squeezing as it would if he were holding his hand.

Feeling are awful and affection is gross. He lacks finesse but fakes it pretty well if it is left undetected. ]

[starmark]

[For a while, it stays as simple as that. There aren't a lot of words to exchange, not much to be concerned with save for standing and letting the tension ease in time with the slow rhythm of kisses. And indeed, there are arguably as many lapses in that rhythm as there are beats of it; some of the time Jotaro spends simply with his eyes closed, holding still and radiating warmth and trying to memorize the feeling of respite from needing to think at all.

Eventually, though, things wind down and taper off. Eventually they've been standing there together for a while, and continuing to do so for much longer starts to seem a trifle silly. Eventually he catches Rohan's shoulder with his hand and runs his thumb over the curve of it, drawing away and this time doing a little bit more to maintain a separation between them rather than staying close enough to invite it to close yet again.]

My legs are starting to get tired. Isn't your tail?

[manuscripture]

[ It is only when it is pointed out that he realizes all of the muscles in his abdomen are getting a little tight. Sitting on himself is easier than trying to keep 'standing' the way he has been for the time that has gone by. He seems comfortable with stopping there, leaning back a touch more to compensate for the budding soreness in his trunk.

Make him lean down next time. ]

Yeah. [ He casts a glance to the door. ] It's not my tail as much as it is everything that needs to work on holding me up. [ Another fun little lesson about himself. It's not all Snakebutt taking the credit. ]

You have also been standing in nothing but your underwear for well over an hour. [ NOT THAT HE MINDS. He's only pointing it out. ] Let's go back out front and I can close up again. [ He slips a hand from wherever it decided to plant itself, pausing on Jotaro's upper arm for a long enough beat to notice. He could be beckoning for him to follow or he could just be touching him for the sake of doing it. Nonetheless, it fleets away when he parts from him.

He will follow.

Space between them grows as Rohan takes his leave, slithering out from the workroom and back out to the storefront where he goes to pick up the pile of the gargoyle's clothes to hold them out when he decides to come out too.

That is quite enough excitement for one night. ]