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[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]

[ Might as well: ]

Remember when I said Mitsuhide was coming to visit?

[ Annnnnd he's not going to skirt around it. ]

He crawled all the way from Vandare to get here, I gave him his picture, he kissed me, and I ripped out his tongue with my bare hands.

[ IT WAS A RIDE. ]

I would have scrubbed the doorway but I had more important things to deal with. Like not having him show up again.

[starmark]

He crawled?

[That's horrifying. It's also not even the most horrifying part.]

He kissed you?

[...oh, right, and then there's the tongue thing too, but it's better for everyone if we leave that ambiguous and he simply doesn't ask whether it's a metaphor or not.

Because he's pretty sure it's not a figure of speech.

Better to just not ask.]

[manuscripture]

[ WHAT'S THE BIGGER TRAVESTY HERE? ]

He sure did. [ He replies flatly. ] It was the gross kind too. I wanted to bleach my mouth.

I still want to bleach my mouth.

Being forced into kissing a corpse wasn't on my list of things to do this week. [ He's even gone out of his way to peel off every bit of makeup on his lips. There's no scrubbing the black away but at least there isn't anything there anymore. ]

[starmark]

I'm surprised he still has a head. Or that you didn't bite him.

[His life has gotten so fucking weird ever since he came to this weird surreal land in the middle of nowhere or whatever.]

And then he just left? Do you know where he went?

[manuscripture]

I wanted to bite him but I didn't want my mouth anywhere near him again. It was easier to do what the drug lords do and thread his tongue through his jaw so he couldn't speak anymore.

He is also a wendigo and it is impossible to kill them without special conditions. His head wasn't going to pop off so easily.

[ He puts a hand on his cheek in a lamenting way and SIGHS. ]

He might have gone back to Vandare to jerk off to his picture of Nobunaga. [ THAT WAS BASICALLY WHAT HE IMPLIED THAT HE WAS GONNA DO.

Nonetheless, Rohan pauses and opens the door a bit more. ]

I wasn't sure how to approach you on the matter so I let the door do most of the talking.

[starmark]

Why do you — "what the drug lords do"? Seriously?

[Rohan, you live on a street. That is different from BEING STREET.]

Nngh. I'm glad he didn't hurt you, at least. I can handle the door if you want me to.

[manuscripture]

[ He's done a lot of research on THINGS around the world. Don't??? ]

He was too weak from tearing himself apart crawling here to be any real danger.

He is very dedicated to masochism and he moves like a slinky on Xanax.

[ Like this guy's patterns of movement are bizarre. ]

I don't care much about the door. I do know that we are leaving the moment we are able. I don't need that happening again... [ He frowns. It's pretty embarrassing. ]

[starmark]

So the castle's gonna need a moat.

[It's humor so dry it belongs in the Sahara, but it's clear that there are two halves to this — a facetious one and a serious one, and the serious one is starting to think more and more that a castle ain't such a bad idea.]

Is there some other way we can secure it, do you think? The castle. What are wendigoes weak to? Besides being pummeled.

[manuscripture]

Wendigo are basically zombies. [ More or less. He shifts out of the way so Jotaro can come in based on his permission alone. Being in his room without permission is an offense punishable by death. He wants to go be a lump that doesn't fit on his bed again. ]

They cannot be killed through traditional means. [ HOWEVER... He holds up a finger. ] They have a weakness to silver. [ BUT HE'S NOT DONE. He points riiiight at Jotaro. ]

They are also weak to fire.

[starmark]

...Weak to fire, huh.

[THAT'S LIKE TELLING HIM SOMETHING IS WEAK TO BAD ONE-LINERS. LOOK HOW HAPPY HE IS.]

Yeah, I can probably figure out how to do something about that. I'm sitting on your bed. Spread out over me if you want, but I'm not standing up in here and risking knocking something over.

[And over he goes to do precisely that.]

Maybe there's something else I can do about that. Besides just the fire. If need be.

[manuscripture]

[ Rohan has a weakness to one-liners. It's amazing that he's still alive. ]

Remember: Pain is doing him a favor.

[ ALSO... He cocks his head, furrowing his brow and following Jotaro's movement across the room. ]

Is that an invitation for me to lay around all over you since you're inviting yourself into my bed? [ It's dry. So dry. ]

[starmark]

Onto. Not into, onto.

[THERE IS A DISTINCT DIFFERENCE. HE IS OBLIGATED TO NOTE IT.]

And it's not that. What I meant is, I might be able to do something about him with my Star Platinum. If I can find a way to get him unsealed.

[manuscripture]

[ He scoffs at the correction. HE'S BEING FACETIOUS. HE HAD A ROUGH NIGHT. ]

So you are planning on trying to unseal your Stand. [ Jotaro can go sit ON the bed all he wants. Rohan crawls up onto it himself, elbows propping him up as he reaches waaaay over to the nightstand for his nail file. It's that time.

He then curls right around the gargoyle to do just as suggested: Lay over his lap as if he is going to be picked up in a moment. Inspecting his nails... ]

Are you going to see if Mana can give it to you?

[starmark]

It might be worth a try. I've heard it can backfire, but...

[He pauses, shifting and readjusting some of Rohan's scaly butt for the sake of making himself more comfortable besides.]

...But there's something I've been thinking about. What you guys in the future know about my Star Platinum. That he can stop time for one second.

[...]

That's not what I remember him being able to do. Not what I remember doing, I mean.

[manuscripture]

[ He would cross his ankles if he still had them. So elegant. ]

Hm...? [ He is about to take the file to one of the first unruly claws on his ring finger. ] I think it is possible to advance the abilities of your stand throughout the time you have had it.

You possessed your Star Platinum for a long time. If you had it before you came here, by the time you rolled around to Morioh in my time you had been using it presumably for years.

Like any skill... It must take practice. [ The Hell if he knows why it suddenly stops time. The file begins scratching away casually at the claw. ] That is what I believe.

[starmark]

...That's what I think, too. That's also why I think you have it backwards.

[Sort of absently, he finds a place for one of his clawed hands on Rohan's scales, ignoring his nail-filing in favor of looking at the black and white pattern beneath his own talonlike fingers.]

Star Platinum doesn't stop time for one second. I'm sure I remember stopping it for at least two or three.

I didn't say anything, but I was surprised when you first told me about that in those specifics. You remember it being weaker than it should've been, not stronger.

[manuscripture]

Oh--

I see. [ He shrugs. ] I didn't have that much experience with it. Whatever it could or could not do in comparison to... Whenever is not something I can gauge. [ It's true. He doesn't quite remember. ]

What could it do the last time you used it? Just its... General abilities. [ Jotaro might have noticed that in light of his most recent shed a couple of weeks ago, his scales are sporting a new pattern. More black than white but still peppered with either color on his sides. ] I'm sorry for getting it backward. What I wonder is if it will be able to do anything if it comes back.

[starmark]

It's not something to be sorry about. I let you believe that because it was safer to. Now...things are different.

[What doesn't get said, but is probably there to be read in the implication, is that in the early days, for all his willingness to stick together and work together, trust had been a rare commodity in Jotaro's world even among apparent allies. Star Platinum is his best-kept secret; even to allies he hadn't wanted to give away more than he'd needed to.

Lately he's trying to be okay. Not just surviving. And to remember that he has no greater enemy at this point than himself.]

He's extremely fast, extremely precise. He can copy things he sees into accurate sketch depictions at a high rate of speed. He has enhanced senses — he can see and hear better than an average person. His fists can shatter diamonds. And he's...he protects me. He does what I ask him to do. He caught a bullet I fired point-blank at my temple. He stopped my heart when I needed him to. He's a loyal, versatile Stand.

[...]

But it scares me that he's that similar to the one that was used against me. I know I keep saying that. Maybe if I keep saying it, it'll get easier to deal with.

The last thing I ever would've wanted is to be like him. But maybe that's what I had to be, to stay alive. If it had come down to that...then that's what my Star Platinum would've done. He'd do anything to keep me alive, I'm sure of it. Even that.

[manuscripture]

[ Wooooow... It takes Rohan a few seconds to register and put the information away. That's a whole lot of things for one Stand. It sounds too good to be true but he has seen parts of what it can do. ]

It's a legitimate fear to have. I never said that it wasn't. [ He notes and the over and over filing of his claws starts up again. ] The possibility of it-- [ Er... Jotaro has been using pronouns for it that he doesn't use for his own. Um... ] The possibility of him not having any abilities at all is highly probable. You know that, right?

[ It's only mildly off-topic because if Jotaro gets back on the 'Guy Who Wanted To Kill Him' again, they'll be going in circles. ]

The security of having him around might make you feel better, if nothing else.

[starmark]

There's someone else here who has a Stand and can use it. I got tipped off to it a while back. So there's got to be a way to make it happen. I just have to figure out how.

[He pauses.]

A few seconds would be enough time to get someone out of danger. Harm's way. This gargoyle is already attack-capable enough. But Star...

[And now his gaze flicks away, and he swallows.]

Good, bad, or whatever else, he's mine. So I want him. Maybe that's enough.

[manuscripture]

I haven't had Heaven's Door for long enough to say that I am so attached to it.

[ He has never really considered his Stand to be a sentimental thing. Hm. ]

I don't want to compare it to having a pet if you get him unsealed. But. Who else has a Stand here? [ That's the real question. ]

[starmark]

That guy who goes around signing everything with hearts and calling himself "Michel, baby~!"

[WHAT A HIDEOUS IMPRESSION. NEVER DO THAT AGAIN, JOTARO, THAT WAS HORRIFYING.]

Someone I know was looking into it, but I haven't heard anything else recently.

[manuscripture]

[ OH WHAT THE HELL. The file hops in Rohan's hand, nearly fumbled. ]

HIM?

He was the one who challenged me to a contest of who is the better artist and never pulled through. [ He POINTS AT JOTARO WITH IT AND SHAKES IT. ] He's a coward. I wouldn't believe anything he says.

[starmark]

I don't think he's just full of talk on this one. He described a Stand on his own, without prompting. That's a hell of a thing to just make up — especially if you're not aware you're talking to another Stand user when you're doing it.

[Don't shake that at him. He tips it down with the flat of his fingers, lowering the point by a few inches.]

I'm willing to suspend disbelief. Better to err on the side of caution.

[manuscripture]

[ That file isn't something to be pointing at people, man. It's a no fucking around one made of like actual brick or whatever to keep these stupid overgrown claws at bay. ]

Well, you'll find out when you try. [ Hmph...! ] I do hope you are able to get him back. Star Platinum is more versatile than I thought. Not that I ever doubted it. You're a very capable Stand user where Josuke and I are from.

If I'm recalling correctly, it is you who taught him everything he knows about Crazy Diamond. [ He flicks his wrist to shoo Jotaro's fingers away from the file. He threatens to buff his nails down. ]