Emporio sits with his fishing rod for a good few moments. He doesn't answer. He's quiet, perhaps too quiet, and when he finally speaks he doesn't look at Jotaro.
Just the water.
"...I didn't know anything about it," he finally says, and his voice is barely more than a whisper. "...I met Hermana, because I knew he was focusing on her. ...and then after that, we just wanted..."
Silence again. Emporio closes his eyes, seemingly grounding himself.
".......I told her you were just going to die, and she refused to believe it...so I wanted to do everything I could to help. ...it... ...shouldn't have worked, but if things could just be different for one other person, I thought..."
It has nothing to do with Pucci, though, not in the sense that they're after. Not with...everything else.
No...
"...nothing was ever planned between us," he finally says with an almost dull tone. "...She just told me to live. ...and I did."
Jotaro is equally quiet. He looks briefly at Emporio before he stares back at the calming ocean. He watches the lapping blue, seeing the water crash against the various rocks.
"He focused on her because of me. He wanted my memories of his master's work. And that's why she got wrapped up in all of this." But Emporio knows that story better than he does. He only knows the beginning and the prelude.
"...we knew that much at least. ...We just never knew why. ...we knew he was after something...so we left the prison to stop whatever he was...'after'."
...
"...And then it happened."
His voice cracks with those words. He's still, but he trembles in place.
"...And for...just a little bit...Everyone was gone..."
Because of one man's delusions, he thinks, but doesn't say.
"Because of one man's delusions," Jotaro says out loud, not even realising what Emporio was thinking.
... He wanted to talk because he wanted to catch up on everything he missed. He didn't realise Emporio had literally told him everything in their brief interaction: saying their souls were in new people and they had new lives in a reset world.
"....I... ...I don't know," he admits. "...most of the time after you died...a...after Hermana sacrificed herself, they were the worst moments of my life. ...Worse than watching my mom..."
Emporio doesn't say it.
But he presses on. "...He replaced...your soul, Hermana's soul...he chased me, talking about his idea of heaven as this place where everyone walked through their fate even while telling me he had brought me there so that he could change his own. ...Even if I knew why he did everything... ...it still wouldn't make sense. Not with how hypocritical he was."
"Good grief... That would be something he'd say," Jotaro mutters under his breath.
"You're right. It wouldn't make sense if I told you. Pucci was following someone who was even more deluded than him, a monster I killed over twenty years ago. Someone just as sadistic as him..."
But he doesn't say more, not unless Emporio wants him to. He's not here to info dump. Now he's here to listen to Emporio talk about the fight, for both their sakes.
And after all it's as Emporio said- as Jotaro has acknowledged.
They were delusions.
The most upsetting thing about Enrico Pucci was how many times he swore by his own words, while contradicting them in the same breath.
For a few moments more, Emporio is thus silent. The fishing lines bob in the water, moving with the gentle waves, and he closes his eyes.
"...I have...two Stands now..." he says with the softest voice. Quieter than even before.
"...I think I said it before...but they're both there. ...both, at the same time..."
...
"...When Hermana and Ermes tried putting Star Platinum's disk in themselves to see what would happen, it flew out immediately. ...but when I made him install Weather Report..."
"You did," he says softly, though he lets Emporio continue to talk. He eyes something loom in the water and then disappear beneath the waves, back into the inky depths.
Thankfully, Emporio's an open book. No, not that. It's just... Jotaro can tell what he's thinking. Jotaro's lived through the same horror. The same story, in a twisted way...
"... The Speedwagon Foundation does so much research on Stands that even I can't keep up," Jotaro says finally. "But if I've learned anything, it's that souls are mysterious things. You were compatible with the stand, Weather Report. There may be a reason. There may not be and you simply were."
Fate. Chance. A blessing? Who could say?
"The point is, it did work. Sometimes, your soul just responds when you take a chance. It's how Star Platinum developed the time stop ability."
"He couldn't always do that?" Emporio finds himself asking, perhaps partly to avoid thinking too heavily about Weather Report, his capabilities, and so on.
Weather feels almost human sometimes, during those weekends. Like a person, like someone he's always known. It's uncanny...
And then of course, after two days, he's gone.
"...Did it come right away..? ...when you needed it..?"
Jotaro shakes his head. Even though the power is as ingrained to him now as is breathing, he still remembers clearly all the time when Star Platinum was just used for speed, precision and power.
"Depends what you mean. I was in a bloody battle with Pucci's... mentor. I was stabbed, beaten to a bloody pulp, and I even had to stop my own heart to get a leg up on him. But when I needed it... just as he was about to pummel me with a road roller, I got the power and I knew exactly how to use it."
Jotaro doesn't even notice his hand shaking, especially with the waves pulling on his fishing rod.
His mentor. Emporio's face twists at the thought of anyone...mentoring Pucci, not the least because of the ideals Pucci had.
"...I didn't know what was happening, when it did." Well. The rod tugs a bit, and he swallows. "...I mean...I knew scientifically what it had to be...but I didn't know what I was doing. ...I tricked him into installing the disc, and Weather did the rest it felt like. But whenever I think back..."
The air feeling...strange. Stranger, stranger, unnatural...
"...When I think back, he fought nothing like the Weather I knew."
"Makes sense. Being compatible with the disk makes Weather your stand. Part of your will. Using it is second nature." Most people intrinsically knew how to use their stands when they were hit by the arrow or they had a disc installed.
Is this something he should get into? It's the first time he really thinks that, thinks those words. Sits there with the fishing rod, wondering, isn't that...a lot?
It didn't feel like that in the moment. It felt like all or nothing. Like if he was going to go down, he was going to take them down with him.
He starts- "...Time was fastest at Pucci's center. ...The closer anything was to him, the faster it moved."
It was a risk. A gamble. Just like the thing he did to take on the disc in the first place.
All or nothing. Do, or Die.
"...If I was going to fight god, I needed him to be too weak to stand... ...so we poisoned him."
They poisoned themselves.
"We turned the air in the room into pure oxygen...and attacked."
He can still feel it now. Blood under his nails, where it wasn't there. Lost in the memory, he looks at his own hand, narrowing his eyes.
Jotaro sighs softly. It's clear no one's talked to Emporio like this... It's a miracle the kid is as stable as he is. Jotaro still had flashbacks - even in that final battle he saw the ghost of DIO in Pucci's movements and that was over 20 years ago.
"No. No it's not. Sometimes the memory won't go away, and you only realise things later. Just don't let it stop you from living your own life."
"I'm trying not to," he protests a little, but as weak as the protest is, at least Jotaro knows it to be true. He's doing very well to live a life, after all. It's simply that nothing but time can ease this kind of wound, and even that isn't a guarantee.
"Well, hopefully she'll keep going to them... and maybe us too, if she feels comfortable." He looks at Emporio.
"You have others too, you know. But you can always talk to me about everything if you just need someone who gets it. At least with Stands and Vampires."
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rosecarmine
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-02 02:51 pm (UTC)Just the water.
"...I didn't know anything about it," he finally says, and his voice is barely more than a whisper. "...I met Hermana, because I knew he was focusing on her. ...and then after that, we just wanted..."
Silence again. Emporio closes his eyes, seemingly grounding himself.
".......I told her you were just going to die, and she refused to believe it...so I wanted to do everything I could to help. ...it... ...shouldn't have worked, but if things could just be different for one other person, I thought..."
It has nothing to do with Pucci, though, not in the sense that they're after. Not with...everything else.
No...
"...nothing was ever planned between us," he finally says with an almost dull tone. "...She just told me to live. ...and I did."
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-02 03:07 pm (UTC)Jotaro is equally quiet. He looks briefly at Emporio before he stares back at the calming ocean. He watches the lapping blue, seeing the water crash against the various rocks.
"He focused on her because of me. He wanted my memories of his master's work. And that's why she got wrapped up in all of this." But Emporio knows that story better than he does. He only knows the beginning and the prelude.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-02 03:09 pm (UTC)"...we knew that much at least. ...We just never knew why. ...we knew he was after something...so we left the prison to stop whatever he was...'after'."
...
"...And then it happened."
His voice cracks with those words. He's still, but he trembles in place.
"...And for...just a little bit...Everyone was gone..."
Because of one man's delusions, he thinks, but doesn't say.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-02 03:26 pm (UTC)... He wanted to talk because he wanted to catch up on everything he missed. He didn't realise Emporio had literally told him everything in their brief interaction: saying their souls were in new people and they had new lives in a reset world.
And now he's realising how little everyone knew.
"Do you want to know why?"
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-02 03:33 pm (UTC)Emporio doesn't say it.
But he presses on. "...He replaced...your soul, Hermana's soul...he chased me, talking about his idea of heaven as this place where everyone walked through their fate even while telling me he had brought me there so that he could change his own. ...Even if I knew why he did everything... ...it still wouldn't make sense. Not with how hypocritical he was."
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-02 03:54 pm (UTC)"You're right. It wouldn't make sense if I told you. Pucci was following someone who was even more deluded than him, a monster I killed over twenty years ago. Someone just as sadistic as him..."
But he doesn't say more, not unless Emporio wants him to. He's not here to info dump. Now he's here to listen to Emporio talk about the fight, for both their sakes.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-02 04:03 pm (UTC)They were delusions.
The most upsetting thing about Enrico Pucci was how many times he swore by his own words, while contradicting them in the same breath.
For a few moments more, Emporio is thus silent. The fishing lines bob in the water, moving with the gentle waves, and he closes his eyes.
"...I have...two Stands now..." he says with the softest voice. Quieter than even before.
"...I think I said it before...but they're both there. ...both, at the same time..."
...
"...When Hermana and Ermes tried putting Star Platinum's disk in themselves to see what would happen, it flew out immediately. ...but when I made him install Weather Report..."
It shouldn't have worked, he wants to say.
Why did it work? he still asks, sometimes.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-02 04:12 pm (UTC)"You did," he says softly, though he lets Emporio continue to talk. He eyes something loom in the water and then disappear beneath the waves, back into the inky depths.
Thankfully, Emporio's an open book. No, not that. It's just... Jotaro can tell what he's thinking. Jotaro's lived through the same horror. The same story, in a twisted way...
"... The Speedwagon Foundation does so much research on Stands that even I can't keep up," Jotaro says finally. "But if I've learned anything, it's that souls are mysterious things. You were compatible with the stand, Weather Report. There may be a reason. There may not be and you simply were."
Fate. Chance. A blessing? Who could say?
"The point is, it did work. Sometimes, your soul just responds when you take a chance. It's how Star Platinum developed the time stop ability."
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-03 02:34 pm (UTC)Weather feels almost human sometimes, during those weekends. Like a person, like someone he's always known. It's uncanny...
And then of course, after two days, he's gone.
"...Did it come right away..? ...when you needed it..?"
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-04 10:59 am (UTC)"Depends what you mean. I was in a bloody battle with Pucci's... mentor. I was stabbed, beaten to a bloody pulp, and I even had to stop my own heart to get a leg up on him. But when I needed it... just as he was about to pummel me with a road roller, I got the power and I knew exactly how to use it."
Jotaro doesn't even notice his hand shaking, especially with the waves pulling on his fishing rod.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-06 03:36 pm (UTC)"...I didn't know what was happening, when it did." Well. The rod tugs a bit, and he swallows. "...I mean...I knew scientifically what it had to be...but I didn't know what I was doing. ...I tricked him into installing the disc, and Weather did the rest it felt like. But whenever I think back..."
The air feeling...strange. Stranger, stranger, unnatural...
"...When I think back, he fought nothing like the Weather I knew."
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-07 06:10 am (UTC)"Makes sense. Being compatible with the disk makes Weather your stand. Part of your will. Using it is second nature." Most people intrinsically knew how to use their stands when they were hit by the arrow or they had a disc installed.
"What did you do?"
CW: Description of death by suffocation/poisoning, associated self-harm/child endangement
Date: 2024-01-09 02:09 pm (UTC)Is this something he should get into? It's the first time he really thinks that, thinks those words. Sits there with the fishing rod, wondering, isn't that...a lot?
It didn't feel like that in the moment. It felt like all or nothing. Like if he was going to go down, he was going to take them down with him.
He starts- "...Time was fastest at Pucci's center. ...The closer anything was to him, the faster it moved."
It was a risk. A gamble. Just like the thing he did to take on the disc in the first place.
All or nothing. Do, or Die.
"...If I was going to fight god, I needed him to be too weak to stand... ...so we poisoned him."
They poisoned themselves.
"We turned the air in the room into pure oxygen...and attacked."
He can still feel it now. Blood under his nails, where it wasn't there. Lost in the memory, he looks at his own hand, narrowing his eyes.
"...Until there was nothing left of his face."
Just JoJo things
Date: 2024-01-09 03:20 pm (UTC)"... I see. Well, a deserving end, considering what Pucci did."
He looks at Emporio though. He can see how... lost he looks. "You did what you had to do. But I'm sorry you had to resort to that. And do it alone."
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-11 02:23 pm (UTC)"...Is it...dumb, not being over it?"
It's unclear what 'it' is- but perhaps Jotaro has an idea.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-12 08:45 am (UTC)"No. No it's not. Sometimes the memory won't go away, and you only realise things later. Just don't let it stop you from living your own life."
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-16 04:22 pm (UTC)"...do you think...hermana is ok?"
They haven't talked to her either, after all.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-17 09:46 am (UTC)Jotaro pauses. How is Jolyne?
"I think she's okay. But maybe you should talk to her at some point. She's close to you..."
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-18 01:40 pm (UTC)"...but not to you?"
It's said questioningly. Does he really think he can't be someone Jolyne can talk to, then?
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-19 01:41 pm (UTC)"No. Not to me. Not yet. I have to earn her trust back before I think she'll be willing to talk to me."
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-19 02:58 pm (UTC)Maybe not about the serious things but... "...At least a little I think."
These two aren't going to resolve anything until something weird happens in this place, he can Feel it.
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-20 03:51 am (UTC)"I know... I will. Not about this but... I'll talk to her."
Jotaro gives a small sigh and shakes his head, a half smile on his face.
"I wouldn't be surprised we are worrying about nothing. Jolyne may have figured all this out well before us."
me batting the eels away with a bat,
Date: 2024-01-23 06:46 am (UTC)"...Maybe? She does have Carly to talk to...And there's probably others, from there."
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-23 07:04 am (UTC)"You have others too, you know. But you can always talk to me about everything if you just need someone who gets it. At least with Stands and Vampires."
(no subject)
Date: 2024-01-24 02:34 pm (UTC)..................................................................wait
"Vampires!?"
The pause before he turns is comical, really.
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From:ties off this thread like 'god i love vr it lets me backtag so long'
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