( Chapter 173: Behind the Veil )
( Omake 5 )
Josuke can’t help the pleased grin as hands cover his eyes playfully. He doesn’t even have to look to guess who it is. After all, it brings back memories of barefoot breakfasts in the kitchen.
“Next time you flee into another dimension, could you warn me first?” he asks, and his daughter shakes her head gently.
“Hey Jojo-chan! You’re okay!” Okuyasu exclaims, grinning widely.
Jojo spares a smile for her uncle. “So are you,” she responds softly before putting a little more of her usual energy in her tone—even if it’s rare for her to show her anger like this. “I didn’t have enough time. I don’t remember what was chasing us, and it wasn’t just Sarde.” She spits the name out like it’s poison, and Josuke retrieves the comb from his jacket to ensure his hair remains presentable. True, he’d barely met the man, as he wasn’t as involved in Speedwagon Foundation affairs as his daughter or Koichi, but Josephine had, on multiple occasions, indicated how creepy she’d found the guy, which always has his hackles up.
“And you don’t remember after I undid Enigma,” Josuke clarifies hopefully and gets a shake of the head in return. Of course not; that would be too easy.
“I went to look for food and my son and only found one of those things, but I’ve been thinking,” Josephine explains. “Johan in the hands of a Speedwagon should be okay, and while I’d really like to have our little reunion sooner rather than later, I really want to deal with the ‘Sarde is a bastard’ problem sooner rather than later.” She sighs and plops herself down on the bench next to them. “We have a few big problems. The first is that several of the Standsassins Sarde was supposed to have dealt with are still alive. I got attacked by that fractal guy with all the eyes…”
“The User of Lateralus?” Josuke frowns.
“That’s the one.” She perks up before simmering back down again. “If that guy’s still around then Sarde didn’t betray us recently. He’d been planning that for a while.”
“I’m not sure how he could have managed fooling them all, unless…” There’s a thought. An unwelcome one, to be sure, but it’s better to know than be in the ignorant dark. “Enigma probably has powers we don’t know.”
“If he was planning on betraying us all, why should he tell us everything he was capable of?” Josephine grumbles. She kicks her feet childishly, ignoring the stares from passersby. “Second, with guys of that caliber around I really don’t want our little hunt to include Johan, a guy not born with a Stand. According to that story Uncle Kakyoin tells, it took Cous fifty days for him to even figure out he could stop time. I’m not waiting that long, and I’m not possibly putting my little boy against assassins who’ve been doing this fifty years, even if he is strong and a Joestar. That being said, Cous needs to hurry up and find them because I don’t like the sound of this Stand User murderer either.”
Josuke sighs. “I get your point, but Stand Users attract other Stand Users. I’m not sure we’ll be that lucky.”
“Well, we gotta hope that attraction includes my nephew.” No matter how often he says that he’ll still feel weird saying it. “And probably Hol Horse and Koichi.”
Okuyasu finally speaks up again. He’s been thinking. “Sarde was also following you, right?” He doesn’t wait for a response but keeps talking slowly. “That means that he shoulda seen whatever else was following you, so all we gotta do is find and beat the shit outta Sarde until he talks.”
“That’s the plan,” Josephine agrees cheerfully.
( Interlude: Devil Deeds )
Notes: Thanks to everyone who’s read this far (hey, this isn’t Babylon 5; I appreciate all you lurkers too!), left a comment (CoreData, If they Cutie, Touch the Bootie), bookmarked (Yoshichao), or gave kudos (Onio, kickassanakin, CoreData, aja100, DaytimeChaos, Mahaiwe, Thrawn), and anyone else I might have missed! Thanks also to the Sunnydale Herald for reccing! And, of course, my gratitude in the form of ice cream to Beta Senpai, without whom I would have floundered a lot more in writing this (and also what I did have would be a lot more flawed). Continue to shine on all you crazy diamonds, and look forward to what is to come!!
I’d love to hear your favorite Stand (I really like Backstreet Boy’s design; Beta-Senpai prefers Back in Time) and fight (mine is probably Stereo Love; Beta-Senpai likes Back in Time as well). I can’t make a poll in Dreamwidth because I’m not premium but I’m still interested.
( Interlude: The Tangled Web We Weave )
( Chapter 57: A Star's Destiny )
( Chapter 44: War Council )
Agents have been unable to find important manuscripts that have been shelved not more than ten minutes earlier. Nobody’s died in the field yet, but the number of mishaps are alarming. Trains are being missed. Lunches (and coffee) have been spilled. Miscommunication abounds. Technology has ceased to function for no clear reason. Snowstorms have appeared out of nowhere in London, trapping agents indoors. A note about this has already been mislaid. No one panic, but on the other hand, don’t think you’re invincible either. Something’s going on. It’s entirely possible that it’s a Stand. Fortunately, Koichi and his partner are arriving to take a look, so until then, hang tight and do not let your emotions get the better of you. That’s already resulted in a broken hand, and really, we don’t want a repeat of that incident.
Bye Bye Beautiful (B3)
Stand User: Josephine Joestar
Power: A | Speed: B | Range: D |
Durability: B | Precision: B | Potential: C
|
Bye Bye Beautiful, or B3, taps deep into ancient stories of Sidhe (which Buffy has met and assures me are not nice). Beautiful, but deadly, and able to trod the faery paths (which were not meant for mortals).
Bye Bye Beautiful allows its user to pass through different ‘portals’/doorways and walk through a different one, effectively teleporting in combat. This isn’t a power of B3, but Josephine also knows Hamon, though she didn’t get the cheat sheet like her son.
Dark Chest of Wonders— The opening of the connection between the ‘doorways’. (These doorways don’t even really have to work or open, just be, symbolically, a doorway.) To pass through and fall into the trap, the target has to be the same size as the doorway they’re going to pass through. B3 doesn’t allow only one doorway to open, so a passage must be created (and escape must be possible), but Josephine can manipulate the length of the hallway to make it more difficult to reach the end goal or to disorient. Alternatively (though this is risky), B3 can open two doors and close the first once all have passed through the opening. This is inherently unstable and could collapse at any time.
We’ll Be Waiting – What lays in the passageway between doorways is a dangerous and Lovecraftian world. Josephine, Kakyoin, and Jotaro seem unworried about these things being set loose on the world, potentially because the doorways don’t tend to be open for long. Exposure to this world might explain Josephine’s mental state. The Joestars are our patrons. Do not write things like this in official documents. Thanks for the vote of confidence, boys! I really am a wonder, aren’t I?
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