[Good question. He frowned, tapping a finger against the frame of his glasses in careful thought.]
If I win...
[...maybe.]
...there's something I want to talk to you about that you probably won't believe. But if I win, you have to hear me out no matter how insane I sound, no matter how unbelievable it is, or how much you don't believe me.
[He hesitates-- not because he minds agreeing, but because it's such a serious request. He'd expected something like shut up for a week, something equal parts catty and amusing.]
Deal.
[And with that agreed on, he takes a step back, feet spreading into a defensive position. This won't be the first time they've sparred, but it's been a while.]
Ready?
[But Chariot's eyes are already narrowed, his sword held in an offensive position.]
[(He might, unconsciously, at first. Too familiar with the sight of Kakyoin's dead body, too unfamiliar with Kakyoin alive and well; he might hold back. But he'll try not to).
Without warning Silver Chariot darts forward, sword slashing in an obvious gesture. It's a fake-out; he'd never be so obvious with Kakyoin's trickiness. The key with Kakyoin is to get in close; to press up against Hierophant and cut him there.]
[Sparring with Chariot was different than with Jotaro and Star Platinum. He knew Jojo's strategies backwards and forwards, could predict what he and Star were going to do an instant before they did it--and it was the same on the opposite side. Fighting with Jotaro as his opponent was a contest less of power and more of who could out-think the other first. Silver Chariot was different; he still had to be clever, but compensate for a whole other set of how his weaknesses could be exploited while carefully re-evaluating his opponent's reach and flaws. A rapier could reach twice as far as arm's length, probably further. Chariot was quick, and directed by an expert on top of all that. Theirs was an odd matchup in which either could put the other at a disadvantage in a mere matter of distance]
[Aggression and victory versus faith and knowledge.]
[That said, it was too easy. Easy enough to be an obvious feint even to someone not a strategist. Hierophant's main body split apart in an instant, dissolving into several independent coils that shot out in several directions; two aiming to tangle around Chariot's legs to trip him up or slow him down, another snaking around to disarm him, and one more vanishing into the ground between them--just in case.]
[The first three were easy, counted on; the fourth was unexpected, and something Polnareff noted and pushed away. He has a fourth one lose, but it was irrelevant with the others. Chariot didn't bother struggling with his legs; there was no point. Instead he twisted his sword, trying to twist it to cut into the tendrils wrapped around his arm.]
[Against a Stand as quick as Silver Chariot, he wasn't about to take chances.The only kind of holding back he intended to do was the kind that would stop them from outright killing each other, and laying a trap or two fell easily within that range.]
[With that level of restraint in mind, Kakyoin barely reacted as Chariot's sword cut into Hierophant and his own arm by extension; that distraction was exactly what he'd hoped for.]
Don't tell me you're going to go down that easily.
[The hidden fourth coil rose from the ground ending in Hierophant's upper body, hands held together in a gesture that should have been quite literally painfully familiar. With careful precision and holding enough back to just be a concussive blast instead of the shotgun force that broke a clocktower, Kakyoin flashed an almost vicious smirk and threw his own hand forward.]
[Fuck-- Polnareff inhales sharply, biting his bottom lip against the sudden punch of pain that hits him in the chest. Kakyoin is holding back, not wanting to kill him, and that still hurts-- he's going to have a nasty bruise come morning, he knows, and grits his teeth.
It hurts. It hurts a lot, actually-- but it's not enough to throw him out of the battle. Not yet. Hierophant is good at speed, and so he must be even faster.]
Not hardly.
[Hierophant still holds Chariot captive-- and so Chariot curls in on himself. It's the work of a few moments for him to shed his armor and then jerk upwards, darting free, rapier slashing eagerly for whatever bit of Hierophant it can reach.]
[Much better. That was enough to get Hierophant to back off, Stand and user both moving in unison to throw themselves straight backwards. Distance, it was all a matter of distance. The snakelike Stand wound itself around Kakyoin's arm to pull him out of range, a smirk still clear on the latter's face.]
That's what I thought! [He came to an abrupt stop, shoes skidding against the ground as he established a solid stance and sent Hierophant on the attack again. Kakyoin's arm was thrown forward again, his Stand uncoiling from his arm to shoot forward in several separate coils aimed to stop Chariot from moving again. Now that his armor was off, that was the preferable strategy to meeting him in a losing contest of speed alone.]
[Chariot clad in armor would have been snared by those coils-- but without it, he's a force of pure speed, moving so quickly even Polnareff has trouble keeping track. Closer, that's his order, coupled with suggestions on how to weave and dodge-- because he's not going to simply cut his way through, not today.
He ought to. It's what he'd usually do, letting his blade work for him, weaving and ducking and dodging. But now-- now Chariot moves twice as much as he normally would, his sword held tightly at his side. It's stupid, yeah, he knows it's stupid, because Kakyoin is fine. Has been fine for months, months and months-- and yet for Polnareff, he's only been back a few days. He's only just returned to life, and how can he possibly hurt him?
So rather than sweep Chariot's sword and slash away the coils, Chariot lets himself be snagged; lets Kakyoin have the advantage.]
[Kakyoin frowned, adjusting his glasses and narrowing his eyes. That wasn't right. He'd expected Chariot to meet him head-on, had every plan to divert Hierophant into sharp turns and misdirections...but Chariot was just caught like that, the other end of his coils tangling in its user's hand.]
[He was still holding back--too much. And Kakyoin had a strong suspicion he knew why.]
I know what you're thinking. Don't.
[Deep breath. Exhale. Channel frustration and anger into something else that burned and sparked, ran through his blood and down his arm--shining sunlight that traveled from Kakyoin to his Stand, blasting Chariot with a burst of Hamon that was just enough to give his statement a note of definite finality.]
[As if it's so easy. As if this has anything to do with any weakness of Kakyoin's. The Hamon hits, just as searingly as any blast from Magician's Red-- Caesar had been right, Kakyoin is good at it. Burns appear along his arms, echoes of the ones scorched into Chariot-- and he'll give him that, he'll let him have that final statement. But enough is enough, and Polnareff calls Chariot back.
This was a bad idea, he thinks again, but when are his ideas anything but stupid?
...Yes. There's a hell of a lot of them, and if I take a hard enough hit to the back or midsection I'm pretty much out of commission for a while.
[He answered with complete honesty, matching Polnareff's stare with something calm and collected of his own.]
But that was months ago for me, Polnareff. I was in bad shape for a couple months after I first got here, sure--I got tired easily, I was in a hell of a lot of pain, but I'm still alive. I recovered and I can function perfectly well now, scars or not.
[It's impossible. It's like a dream-- just enough logic applied to make it real, to make it seem like it might actually be true. But there's an awful dread in the pit of his stomach, something that whispers that this isn't real, that it won't last-- that Kakyoin is dead, and if he pushes too hard, if he messes up, god, even if he tears his gaze away, that all this will shatter. That he'll wake up and realize that his friends are dead, that he and Jotaro are the only ones left.]
I still can't believe it, you know.
[He holds up a hand, because that's not quite what he's trying to say--]
Not-- I know you're being honest. I know you're alive, and fine, I trust you. But . . .
[It's so hard sometimes, putting his thoughts into words. Thinking, so he doesn't just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind and offends everyone.]
It seems like a dream. Or-- a wish. Something that's going to run out.
...I know. [He pushed his glasses up far enough to pinch the bridge of his nose against the oncoming headache--god, he was so tired. Tired of letting himself forget he was on the definition of borrowed time, and tired of remembering the truth.]
It takes some getting used to. But I'm not going anywhere. Even if I have to stay in this city through nothing but my own stubbornness, I'm not going back until I'm sure I can.
I wouldn't expect anything less from you of all people, Polnareff.
One of the people technically running this place--her name's Chari, she's nice--gave me these when I admitted I needed them and asked for help. [One finger was tapped against the frame of his glasses.] That's probably who he was talking about. I don't think she'd be able to do much in the way of 'hey, can you give us a way to resurrect the dead', but we're working on trying to find a solution.
[Well, you never know. True, glasses are one thing and resurrection another, but-- well, there had to be a reason Kakyoin was brought here, right? There had to be some way to figure it all out.
He sighs and comes forward, gripping Kakyoin's arm firmly.]
I'll still listen to you, you know. If you'd like to hold on to that part of the bet.
...It was a draw. You can hold me to my half of it, too.
[He hesitated, looking away. It wasn't that he doubted his friends, or that there was a lack of trust there--Jotaro had believed him easily enough the second time around.]
[But he'd spent a little too long as a kid being told something he knew was real--his Hierophant--was obviously just a delusion. Kakyoin was not exactly looking forward to putting himself in that position again.]
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2016-03-19 05:07 am (UTC)[Chariot gives Hierophant a friendly nudge-- hello, you, I missed you-- before flying back over to his owner.]
Something simple, to start-- I win and you tell me whatever information I ask for about you and Jotaro!
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Date: 2016-03-19 05:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-19 05:10 am (UTC)What do you want, mon ami?
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Date: 2016-03-19 05:15 am (UTC)If I win...
[...maybe.]
...there's something I want to talk to you about that you probably won't believe. But if I win, you have to hear me out no matter how insane I sound, no matter how unbelievable it is, or how much you don't believe me.
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Date: 2016-03-19 05:17 am (UTC)Deal.
[And with that agreed on, he takes a step back, feet spreading into a defensive position. This won't be the first time they've sparred, but it's been a while.]
Ready?
[But Chariot's eyes are already narrowed, his sword held in an offensive position.]
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Date: 2016-03-19 05:22 am (UTC)[Kakyoin smirked, his own hands raised as he shifted into a fighting stance with Hierophant moving in front of him.]
You had better not hold back.
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Date: 2016-03-19 05:27 am (UTC)[(He might, unconsciously, at first. Too familiar with the sight of Kakyoin's dead body, too unfamiliar with Kakyoin alive and well; he might hold back. But he'll try not to).
Without warning Silver Chariot darts forward, sword slashing in an obvious gesture. It's a fake-out; he'd never be so obvious with Kakyoin's trickiness. The key with Kakyoin is to get in close; to press up against Hierophant and cut him there.]
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Date: 2016-03-19 05:40 am (UTC)[Aggression and victory versus faith and knowledge.]
[That said, it was too easy. Easy enough to be an obvious feint even to someone not a strategist. Hierophant's main body split apart in an instant, dissolving into several independent coils that shot out in several directions; two aiming to tangle around Chariot's legs to trip him up or slow him down, another snaking around to disarm him, and one more vanishing into the ground between them--just in case.]
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Date: 2016-03-19 05:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-19 05:54 am (UTC)[With that level of restraint in mind, Kakyoin barely reacted as Chariot's sword cut into Hierophant and his own arm by extension; that distraction was exactly what he'd hoped for.]
Don't tell me you're going to go down that easily.
[The hidden fourth coil rose from the ground ending in Hierophant's upper body, hands held together in a gesture that should have been quite literally painfully familiar. With careful precision and holding enough back to just be a concussive blast instead of the shotgun force that broke a clocktower, Kakyoin flashed an almost vicious smirk and threw his own hand forward.]
Emerald Splash!
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Date: 2016-03-20 12:51 am (UTC)It hurts. It hurts a lot, actually-- but it's not enough to throw him out of the battle. Not yet. Hierophant is good at speed, and so he must be even faster.]
Not hardly.
[Hierophant still holds Chariot captive-- and so Chariot curls in on himself. It's the work of a few moments for him to shed his armor and then jerk upwards, darting free, rapier slashing eagerly for whatever bit of Hierophant it can reach.]
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Date: 2016-03-20 01:04 am (UTC)That's what I thought! [He came to an abrupt stop, shoes skidding against the ground as he established a solid stance and sent Hierophant on the attack again. Kakyoin's arm was thrown forward again, his Stand uncoiling from his arm to shoot forward in several separate coils aimed to stop Chariot from moving again. Now that his armor was off, that was the preferable strategy to meeting him in a losing contest of speed alone.]
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Date: 2016-03-20 05:34 am (UTC)He ought to. It's what he'd usually do, letting his blade work for him, weaving and ducking and dodging. But now-- now Chariot moves twice as much as he normally would, his sword held tightly at his side. It's stupid, yeah, he knows it's stupid, because Kakyoin is fine. Has been fine for months, months and months-- and yet for Polnareff, he's only been back a few days. He's only just returned to life, and how can he possibly hurt him?
So rather than sweep Chariot's sword and slash away the coils, Chariot lets himself be snagged; lets Kakyoin have the advantage.]
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Date: 2016-03-20 05:44 am (UTC)[Kakyoin frowned, adjusting his glasses and narrowing his eyes. That wasn't right. He'd expected Chariot to meet him head-on, had every plan to divert Hierophant into sharp turns and misdirections...but Chariot was just caught like that, the other end of his coils tangling in its user's hand.]
[He was still holding back--too much. And Kakyoin had a strong suspicion he knew why.]
I know what you're thinking. Don't.
[Deep breath. Exhale. Channel frustration and anger into something else that burned and sparked, ran through his blood and down his arm--shining sunlight that traveled from Kakyoin to his Stand, blasting Chariot with a burst of Hamon that was just enough to give his statement a note of definite finality.]
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:01 am (UTC)This was a bad idea, he thinks again, but when are his ideas anything but stupid?
He knows enough, at least, not to make a joke.]
You win.
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:03 am (UTC)[...]
I'm fine, Polnareff. I know it's hard to believe and I won't claim to be in perfect condition. But I'm fine.
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:07 am (UTC)[He asks directly, his gaze hard. This isn't one of his normal invasive questions, stupid and blurted out; this is something different.]
Is there anything left? You say you're fine, but I saw you nearly cut in half not a week ago, Kakyoin, I can't just--
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:13 am (UTC)[He answered with complete honesty, matching Polnareff's stare with something calm and collected of his own.]
But that was months ago for me, Polnareff. I was in bad shape for a couple months after I first got here, sure--I got tired easily, I was in a hell of a lot of pain, but I'm still alive. I recovered and I can function perfectly well now, scars or not.
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:21 am (UTC)I still can't believe it, you know.
[He holds up a hand, because that's not quite what he's trying to say--]
Not-- I know you're being honest. I know you're alive, and fine, I trust you. But . . .
[It's so hard sometimes, putting his thoughts into words. Thinking, so he doesn't just blurt out the first thing that comes to mind and offends everyone.]
It seems like a dream. Or-- a wish. Something that's going to run out.
[Like Judgement, all over again.]
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:28 am (UTC)It takes some getting used to. But I'm not going anywhere. Even if I have to stay in this city through nothing but my own stubbornness, I'm not going back until I'm sure I can.
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:33 am (UTC)[He knows he's not much good for research, but by god, he'd pitch in if he was needed. Anything, if it meant Kakyoin coming home.]
Have you . . . Jotaro told me there was someone who gave you things, if you asked, if you didn't mind the price.
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:38 am (UTC)One of the people technically running this place--her name's Chari, she's nice--gave me these when I admitted I needed them and asked for help. [One finger was tapped against the frame of his glasses.] That's probably who he was talking about. I don't think she'd be able to do much in the way of 'hey, can you give us a way to resurrect the dead', but we're working on trying to find a solution.
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:51 am (UTC)He sighs and comes forward, gripping Kakyoin's arm firmly.]
I'll still listen to you, you know. If you'd like to hold on to that part of the bet.
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:55 am (UTC)[He hesitated, looking away. It wasn't that he doubted his friends, or that there was a lack of trust there--Jotaro had believed him easily enough the second time around.]
[But he'd spent a little too long as a kid being told something he knew was real--his Hierophant--was obviously just a delusion. Kakyoin was not exactly looking forward to putting himself in that position again.]
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Date: 2016-03-20 06:58 am (UTC)You don't have to look like that, I'm not going to ask you anything bad.
[And though that pit of dread still weighs heavily in the pit of his stomach, this, at least, is normal. He offers a grin.]
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