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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]

[ 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. ]

[starmark]

[Well, that certainly gets a half-stunned look to flicker across his expression as he processes its ramifications, boy howdy.]

...Me? I taught him something?

[It almost sounds like he's saying, "I taught him anything", with that inflection.]

...Hn. I guess a lot changes in eleven years. Guess I'm used to being the one who needs to be taught, not the other way around.

[manuscripture]

[ Why does he sound so surprised...? ]

You don't get to teach things until you learn.

It's simple, Jotaro. A decade is a long time to be futzing around with a Stand. You learned enough over that period of time to pop up in Morioh and show him the ropes. [ Gross, we don't talk about Josuke in this house.

He splays out his hand in the air to find the next claw to work on. ]

You are highly admired.

[starmark]

By you?

[That wasn't originally what he'd planned to say. Probably, he was going to say something like, I don't feel like somebody to be admired. But that's a song and a dance that he's delivered a lot before, and the fact that even he's realizing it by now is all the more reason to do something about it if he can.]

Do you admire me, Rohan?

[It's not really even about the answer, so much. It's just seeing what he says — and more importantly, how he reacts.]

[manuscripture]

By a few people.

[ He INFORMS him.

Today went from happily discussing setting a wendigo on fire to pushing buttons. That's just the natural progression here on a daily basis. ]

Do I admire you? Back home? [ He squints. Those are two very different answers, maybe. ]

I do. You are a scientist and a capable Stand user. I admire the legitimately intelligent and not the ones who put on airs. [ 'Admire' is a strong word to use on ANYONE with a slew of different meanings. Rohan finds it hard to determine whether he's being teased or if Jotaro is fishing. He'll be bland about it, prompting the yellow in his eye to flicker-- ] Intelligent, mature, and highly-skilled. That's what I admire.

[starmark]

That's interesting. If I didn't know better I'd think you were describing yourself.

[Fact: Jotaro Kujo is entitled to one (1) moment of uncanny smoothness per decade. This is clearly his one moment.]

...Well. At least two of the three, anyway.

[AND THERE IT GOES, NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN.]

[manuscripture]

[ HELLO, JOTARO BEING SMOOTH.

GOODBYE, JOTARO BEING SMOOTH.

It is enough to have Rohan looking impressed and feeling flattered. Wowzers. ]

Which two? [ It is not difficult to buff his claws and keep his eyes on Jotaro's face. The automatic ticking of his gaze to somewhere over his shoulder or at his ear prevents the prolonged eye-contact that might become a problem. It still has an overall target.

His tail on the very other side of the bed on the floor gives an impatient thump which may or may not be voluntary. Precariously balanced where is, Rohan can't be moving around too much. He has a history of falling over. ]

[starmark]

I think "mature" is debatable. But that's just my opinion.

[Let us not forget that this conversation started out with "and then I threaded a guy's tongue out through his throat."]

Intelligent and skilled, though, there's no debating that.

[manuscripture]

You don't think I'm mature?

[ That's the rudest thing. IT IS CORRECT. Rude though. ]

That cuts deep, Jotaro. You've wounded me. [ The lament is clearly sarcastic, pulling up his shoulders and wrinkling his nose. ]

[starmark]

What a mature response.

[YOU ARE LITERALLY PROVING HIS POINT, SNAKEBOI.

Still, he closes his eyes for a moment, focusing carefully, and the heat radiating off of his body increases slowly and very slightly. Evidently someone's been working on his control of his abilities, and learning to do them on a small scale instead of zero to inferno in .002 seconds.]

I'm sure you'll manage to cope somehow.

[manuscripture]

[ For as great as gargoyles are, inferno is not good and he doesn't want to melt. That would be one Hell of a buzzkill. It's almost like they are trying to RELAX. ]

I have been through enough today that I am already half-placated. [ Only half. ] This helps. [ He taps at Jotaro's shoulder with the file. ] You have been practicing controlling your temperature. I won't burn myself again.

[starmark]

I'm sorry you burned yourself the last time. Your hand, right?

[Again, he flicks at the file with the backs of his fingers as if to bat it away — this is almost turning into a game by now, really.]

If it's going to be a part of me, I'm going to have to be able to use it. That's the philosophy I'm trying to go with.

[He pauses.]

Though you'll still have to be careful, probably, around things that nobody could control themselves about. Because I probably won't be able to, either.

[manuscripture]

It isn't your fault. It's not like it was bad. If I didn't have the scales, it would have been a problem. [ If he didn't have scales, he would be cooked more than skin-deep. ]

I'm not reckless, Jotaro. [ His chuff is cold. ] I like to get close to things that are unusual, but I would never do something flat-out dangerous.

Are you worried about me? [ Rohan is taking a tiny break from being uptight to poke and prod at the gargoyle's hands while he teases him halfheartedly. ]

[starmark]

["I would never do something flat-out dangerous", he says, after yanking Mitsuhide's tongue out through his throat. Okay. Yes. That is a statement that was just made, definitely.

Okay, fair enough, that wasn't what he was getting at, technically. But it's still just incongruous enough to be kind of funny.]

Maybe. It might be something like that, sure. Who knows?

[manuscripture]

[ To be fair, Mitsuhide wasn't a real threat and he knew it before he went through with it. He could have gotten away with doing anything. ]

Oh, please. [ A flippant roll of his eyes and he starts filing his other hand's claws. ] Why be so dodgy? I'd rather you be direct if I ask you something.

[ Says someone who gets SO CHILDISH and does his best to find outs if put-on over anything.

[starmark]

Maybe that's why I'm being dodgy. So you'll have to keep asking.

[Says the resident bastion of maturity himself.]

...Is there a difference between "am I worried", like right now at this minute, and "do I worry", like is that a thing I'd do ever, under the right circumstances?

[manuscripture]

[ The two most mature creatures this side of Bavan, ladies and gentlemen. ]

Let's go with the latter as the definition. [ That sounds like a safe one. Just cover the whooooole thing. And since he suggested it: ] Do you worry about me, Jotaro?

[starmark]

Yeah. When you're having a hard time or it seems like you're miserable, I worry. When you first changed and slept all that time, I worried. I don't know how much you remember about that, you were pretty out of it.

When people fuck with you, I worry about you. It doesn't matter that I don't need to, or that you don't need it. When something bothers you, I worry about you. It makes me want to fix it. But you knew all of that already.

[He skims his warm hand along Rohan's scales, eyes locked on the pattern beneath his fingers.]

...How long things will stay okay, in the times when they're actually okay. I guess I worry about that, too. Whether they'll last. When I wish they would last.

[manuscripture]

[ Something tickles at the back of Rohan's brain. Something that is way too bold. He thinks it is. No one has ever told him that they worry about him. He has stopped filing his nails with the distinct sawing noise of the brick on his claws falling silent. ]

It's still something I've never heard before if that counts for any of the expended effort. [ He sounds flippant about it but after a couple of beats and reluctant flexes of his fingers-- and squinting since Jotaro is NOT looking at him to see the indecision --he settles that hand over the one running along his scales.

THERE. HE DID IT. ]

Things don't last when you are-- Like... [ shIT... ] Glass half-empty about them.

[ pot, meet kettle on the glass half-empty front. good god. ]

[starmark]

[Oh. That's a hand on top of his own. Is this one of those things that ought to last? Is that a hint, is he supposed to try to be something other than glass-half-empty about it? What even would be glass-half-empty about this moment, anyway?

...Well, focusing on Mitsuhide, probably. That's one way to half-empty anything in a heartbeat.

Okay, so. So. He should...keep his hand still, let it be covered. He should maybe not look up, not just yet. He should just hold still, while he tries to figure out what he's supposed to do next, if anything at all.]

So. Focus on...enjoying things while you have them, instead of fixating on when and how they might end up gone...?

[manuscripture]

[ Well, now he's in Too Deep in uncharted territory that was probably better left untouched. Buuuut here we are. He's going to hold still too, trying his best to not be stiff as a board.

It's fine. Rohan Kishibe fears nothing.

Nothing but actual affection. ]

That's right. [ A little nod of his head confirms that. ] I live in the moment, Jotaro. I don't like to blink and miss things. It's why they all end up on paper-- good or bad.

[ He's bring awfully profound for someone who doesn't know how to hold hands. He's waiting on something. ]

I quickly grew tired of What-If's and all that crap when I was younger. It's a hindrance.

[starmark]

[This is the epitome of QUICK NOBODY CALL ATTENTION TO THE THING LEST WE HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT AND THEREBY MAKE THINGS WEIRD.]

...Is he going to end up on paper, too? Mitsuhide.

[Wait for it.]

What he pulled on you, I mean.

[manuscripture]

[ Which part of what he pulled on him???

Oh. Right. ]

No. [ By way of his thought process, that should be on paper. ] That doesn't need to go there. [ He tore a hole in his sketchbook by accident and everything. ]

There are occasionally things I do not want to see again. Not too many. [ Rohan can feel his mouth running dry just thinking about it. IT WAS NOT FUN. There is a little curl in his fingers around Jotaro's hand. ]

I would like it erased. If I am honest.

[starmark]

I can't erase the past.

[And for a second then, he stills, like he's surprised by the words that have come out of his own mouth. He'd meant it as a reference to Rohan's Heaven's Door — what he'd said about taking away memories for the sake of making it easier on him, how they'd talked about whether or not he'd want those memories taken away in the first place. He'd meant that he doesn't have a Heaven's Door to reach into the book of whatever it is that makes Rohan who he is, and start making edits to the words there with a pen or eraser in hand.

But there's something that happens when you say words that mean more than you mean them to, and all of a sudden they're out there and in the air and become something that everyone heard, something concrete and real. All of a sudden they're out there, I can't erase the past, and he'd meant them as an excuse to Rohan but it strikes him significantly at how easy it is to say a sentence like that when he's saying it to someone other than himself.

It's never that easy when he's saying it about himself. So why is it so fine in one context and not the other? That's food for thought, isn't it.

I can't erase the past. The dead aren't coming back, are they.

He turns then, bringing his gaze up from Rohan's scales to look him in the eyes directly. His gargoyle changes have altered a lot of him thus far, but they've left his eyes alone, already so odd in his face — light-colored eyes on a Japanese boy, jewel tones instead of a dark rich brown like his father's.]

Neither can you, anymore. So maybe the best you can do is...

[An instant of hesitation.]

...change the future. You can't take it back. And if he was your first — what I mean is, maybe all you can do is at least make it so that he's not your last.

[manuscripture]

I don't usually say that I want to erase the past. I don't like erasing anything unless I absolutely have to. [ OR if he wants to take them from someone else. That's also fine, if not ambiguously rude in every way seeing as he doesn't always ask. Good or bad memories. ]

Heaven's Door does not work on myself. [ Except for that one time in France??? ] On a permanent level. [ Jotaro is right on the money in any case. He can't, he won't, and futures are what keep ending up altered here.

Jotaro's instant of hesitation pardons Rohan's own as an excuse to admire the gargoyle's eyes. His too have never been the typical color one would see on a Japanese man. No, the clear green is anything but fake or a trick through false, colored contact lenses which would have otherwise been a good guess. Uh, Mitsuhide had used the word 'emeralds' specifically. He also wanted to pluck them out, making that null and void. He is thinking. He is thinking hard. Too hard on one thing... ]

You're right. [ He never stares into Jotaro's eyes for too long. He interrupts it with a forced blink and a brief side glance before they end up back to where they have been focused again. It is another excuse for hesitation. ] I can make sure he isn't the last, Jotaro...