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[lapidarius]

"This is Kakyoin Noriaki. Please leave a message, I'll contact you as soon as I can."

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[lapidarius]

I like it, once in a while. Much as Hierophant hates the open space, I feel a little better standing at a good vantage point.

[Kakyoin, meanwhile, seemed to gravitate to a particular spot: facing just slightly southwest. It was the clearest view of the city possible while keeping the clock tower just out of his peripheral vision. That might have been a conscious choice and it might not have been, but the former was definitely the more likely option.]

[starmark]

[...Hmmm. That was interesting. Not so telling that he could immediately pick out why Kakyoin was adjusting to that particular view, but at least evident that he had a preferred one.]

...

[He watched a moment, quietly.]

What're you looking at?

[lapidarius]

...?

[Even if it was a conscious choice, the question itself looked like it just left him confused.]

Nothing in particular, why?

[starmark]

...If there was something, I want to see it too. That's all.

[lapidarius]

I'm not looking at anything. It's not like we need to keep an eye out in case an enemy attacks us.

[...]

It still seems a little weird, having something like that be unlikely.

[starmark]

...I didn't mean an attack.

[Shrugging slightly, he walked over and stepped deliberately behind Kakyoin, his vantage point made possible by the difference in their respective heights. With a glance to his shoulders, he adjusted himself to be standing at the same angle, and looked out over the view in an attempt to see the same thing Kakyoin was.

And maybe, why he'd gravitated to this view in particular.]

[lapidarius]

What-

[Unexpected as that was, Kakyoin found he wasn't all that surprised. After the mess tonight had been maybe he'd just run out of the ability to be surprised at all.]

[...It was kind of reassuring, if he was being honest. This whole thing had just reinforced the idea that having Jotaro nearby was one of the few things that could keep Kakyoin completely grounded and miles away from his own uncertainty.]

...So what're you looking at?

[starmark]

...The shadows.

[He shifted his hands to Kakyoin's shoulders, angling him slightly — and admittedly, a little more in the direction of the clocktower, but only because that was also the direction of the city's skyline as well.]

Look. It's dark all the way out at the horizon, but you can still see the shapes of the buildings even though the light isn't outlining them. It's not just nothingness, you can still see the things that are there.

You can see where the river is because of the way the light is refracting off of it.

...It's not like the desert was. There, the darkness kind of...came all the way down to the sand and filled up all the air around you. Like this you can see the shapes holding it back from doing that.

[lapidarius]

It's...different, there's no doubt about that.

[This place was a different world in all possible ways, both literal and otherwise. A world where it wasn't just a group of six risking their lives against impossible odds, one where others existed that they could rely on and fight with.]

[The kind of impossible world where he wasn't alone.]

...I have to admit, I've grown to like it just a little.

[starmark]

...What do you like about it? Tell me.

I want to hear what there is for me to like, too.

[lapidarius]

I...I don't really know specifically. It's peaceful, I guess--when something crazy isn't happening.

And I...as weird as it's been to get used to, I like that people can see Hierophant.

[starmark]

...

All the other stuff aside, you were kind of an okay kid. Just as sneaky as you are now.

[lapidarius]

I'm not sneaky-

[. . .]

I mean, not unless I need to be. What are you even talking about?

[starmark]

I was watching you, and you decided to scope me out with Hierophant. You don't remember that?

[lapidarius]

Yeah, I remember. That's not sneaky, that's 'why is this enormous guy in black hovering around me.' I'm pretty sure that's common sense, right?

[starmark]

I'm pretty sure most little kids would go find an adult or something.

Not decide to investigate the guy themselves.

[lapidarius]

...

I trusted Hierophant more than I did other people, when I was that age.

[starmark]

...There are a lot of things I don't like, about how things turned out. With...everything.

[He went quiet a minute.]

But I'm glad we met.

[lapidarius]

...It was worth it.

[Kakyoin said that quietly, eyes downcast.]

Those months before all of this, stuck as his mindless puppet--if that's what had to happen in order to meet you and the others, then it was worth it.

[starmark]

[Unconsciously, his hands tightened slightly on Kakyoin's shoulders, not so much out of tension as just for the security of it — knowing where they both were, for that single moment in time.]

I broke his skull open. I don't think I told you that part.

[lapidarius]

Yeah? Good--he deserved that much and a hell of a lot more.

[Looking for that same sense of security Kakyoin moved his hand to rest over one of Jotaro's.]

I...I probably should have told you how long it had been. I didn't want you to find out like this. [A pause.] I would have told any of you if you had asked, but...I was kind of grateful none of you ever did.

[starmark]

Tell me at your own pace. That's the same thing I asked from you, isn't it?

So that's what you ought to have in return.

[lapidarius]

...okay. You're right, that's only fair.

There really isn't much more to tell than what I've already said, anyway--I was being honest when I said I don't remember much of it.

[starmark]

...Let's just stay like this a while, then. We don't have to talk or anything, if you don't want.

The quiet isn't so annoying when you're right there, too.

[lapidarius]

...

[Kakyoin couldn't stop time and had no desire to have the ability, but if he did...for a fleeting second he caught himself thinking he'd want to do it right now. So this moment, with his best friend at his back and their hands touching in a silent mutual reassurance, would last just a few seconds longer.]

[Without a word, he looked off to the side--unwilling to move but wanting to get the clock tower back out of his line of sight. This was something he wanted to be able to focus on, and he didn't need that thing at the back of his mind ruining it with an irrational annoyance.]