Walk to the Future
Jan. 17th, 2019 09:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamer~Dreamer~
Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Summary: Jotaro and Giorno come to an understanding.
Word Count: 1251
Spoilers for the end of Vento Aureo/Golden Wind.
“Is it true that dolphins actually sleep with one eye open?” a quiet, polite voice asks in Japanese. He blinks and looks relatively unaffected at the breeze ruffling his braid. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’ve explained the situation to Mista, but the fact of the matter is, well…he’s trigger-happy, especially when it comes to protecting me.”
Jotaro can’t help breathing heavily. He tucks his hands into his pockets, rather than allowing himself to show vulnerability in his shaking hands. “So, are you going to try to talk me into liking you, like the others?” he asks bluntly. He trusts Koichi’s judgement, but this is the son of DIO. And, standing in his presence now, he feels the same golden charismatic aura. On one hand, being here now, in the presence of someone so closely aligned with DIO, is really doing wonders for his trauma in the worst of ways, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to leave this encounter to anyone else. He’s seen the evil of DIO, so he’s more immune. He’s not going to fall for any of the tricks this kid’s going to pull.
“Well, it’s a natural habit, I suppose,” Giorno muses, crossing to the library’s couch and plopping himself onto it in a way that somehow manages to be graceful even then. So, his approach is gonna be honesty, then? Damn it. That has a possibility of working, and worse, the Passione’s Don knows that. “My mother and stepfather were abusive. I have no doubt, given Polnareff’s stories,” …oh, and yeah, mention one of the few other Stardust Crusaders that survived and also fell under this kid’s spell (though he’d also fallen under DIO’s spell to begin with, hadn’t he?), that’s another useful tactic, “…that DIO would have probably been the same, if he hadn’t killed me. My existence and abilities are useful, but he probably would have also seen me as a threat.”
Jotaro picks up the book and replaces it on the shelf using Star Platinum, not taking his eyes off the kid at all. Like he hasn’t been affected. And no doubt Giorno sees right through it, and he hates that even more.
“I’m the same way, sometimes. And sometimes, I hate it. I hate that I can look at my situation and analyze whether or not, in DIO’s position, I would’ve left myself alive. I can be downright ruthless when I want to be, and would kill, have killed, in order to achieve my ambitions. I have no doubt I will have to kill again, and no doubt I will show no hesitation or fear, for I believe in my dream.” Even posing on the couch like a model, the menace rolls off the young crime lord in waves, suffocating. Same as the feeling in DIO’s mansion.
“Polnareff has told me, point blank, that this is indeed a characteristic of DIO. You, of course, may know better. After all, you share the same power to stop time, do you not?”
Suffocating. He can’t breathe.
“But sharing the same abilities makes neither of us an ancient, immoral vampire,” he continues, voice louder, almost like a crack of thunder. And with that, the tension breaks, as if it’s going to start raining. “I have an instinctual need for others to like me. No doubt some of it is DIO’s influence in my blood, but…I was also a lonely child, unloved. I, genuinely, want others to like me, but it’s hard for me to put aside my manipulations and show my true self—vulnerability, emotion. You don’t bother, but you could, if you wanted. Your Stand reflects your lack of mercy and your temper, yet all three of us like to overthink things. Perhaps too much.” He smiles wryly. “If, say, some other Stand User had taken your mother hostage, would you have turned down DIO’s help if he had been willing to give it? Despite his cruel tendencies?”
Despite himself, Jotaro thinks back to Kakyoin.
“If he had chosen to use his powers, whatever his nature, to help others, then he should have been forgiven. It is our choices, Jotaro-san, that make us who we are. We act like we don’t care what others think, but this is not entirely true. We do care. Not about everyone. Some people are useless!” Again, stated loudly, and suddenly the bookshelf is crooked. Giorno doesn’t acknowledge it. “People like Steely Dan or Cioccolata deserve no mercy, for their existence is a blight upon mankind. I suppose it’s also useless to say that you should not fear the origin of your powers, but instead, I will say this: every time you bring out your Stand, look upon it and remember—this power helped you save your mother, who was nothing but good and kind. How can it be evil, when used with wisdom and kindness?”
Heh. Jotaro finds himself relaxing all at once, despite his own intentions. Would you look at that, DIO? Your kid won a battle of wits with me, all by not being an ass and pissing me off. The words aren’t practiced at all. He was just speaking from his heart, and half trying to convince himself, as well as Jotaro. “You’ve got Jonathan’s heart.”
The half, sheepish smile says that he only half expected that approach to work, but he’s touched by the words, too. “Well, it’s easy enough to remind myself of my true place in the world when DIO turned his back on life and I…” he reaches out and turns one of the couch’s pillows into a terrier which barks once before it turns back, “….I could not. Not when it has so much to offer.”
“I didn’t come here to talk about my work as a marine biologist,” Jotaro mutters, even if he is very tempted…
“Mista’s currently asking some questions of our attacker from this morning. Between Cioppino’s NSYNC and Mista’s inventiveness, we should have some answers very soon.” It sounds so very reasonable.
It’s not, but maybe he should encourage the son of DIO acting like a normal human being.
“They’d report to you when they were done, right?” He’s under no illusions that torture is probably being used.
Giorno grins and pats the couch next to him as he sits up, making room for two. “They would. Also, perhaps it’s a DIO type of thing to do, but somehow I enjoy the idea of his killer and his son becoming friends.”
Jotaro can’t help but smirk at that. It’s the exact sort of contrary thing he loves, too. “Yeah, it’s true, dolphins sleep with one eye open. And blue whales, Balaenoptera musculus, are the largest and loudest known animals.”
The excitement lit in the teenager’s eyes is fun to see. Much as he hates to say it, more so than a lot of his fellow students. He plucks off one of the ladybug brooches and turns it into—that’s a Asterias rubens—“I’ve been wondering how accurate my creations are, whether they’re anything like the real thing, and who better to tell me than an expert?”
His hands aren’t shaking now as he eagerly reaches out to take it. Who knew he’d be having fun on this trip?
*NSYNC is a bunch of chains that bind around a person and prevents a power from being used. Very useful for interrogations; not so useful in combat (it only works on one person at a time), and Cioppino is vulnerable during that time.
