...look, I'm not going to recount the whole thing in detail. Sorry, but I don't like thinking about it.
[Long story short, he sure as hell wouldn't be going near the boardwalk anytime soon.]
It attacked when we were sleeping; Death 13 controlled this surreal dream world where it was in control of everything--I couldn't even summon Hierophant. [He put a hand over his Stand's silver-green arm, either for comfort, emphasis, or both.]
And every time we woke up, neither of us remembered anything that had happened. You remember what I had to do to my arm to even give myself a hint; we're lucky I carried a switchblade. But when you knocked me out, I'd already called Hierophant--that was the whole trick to it, how to bring another Stand into that world. So I-
[He stopped abruptly, not sure if he'd ever told Polnareff about Hierophant's real power. Not sure if he wanted to get into it now, or let that be a secret between himself, Jotaro, and Giorno.]
...I took him out, and I'm the only one that remembers any of it.
[There's things missing here, Polnareff knows that much. And he wonders how much of that is because Kakyoin is still hurt over all that, and how much of it is because of how horrific the dream world must have been. For surely it was; they'd all seen some awful things during their journey, so for Kakyoin to not even want to think about this Stand must mean it was truly awful.]
Are you all right?
[Silly, maybe, to ask that now. But Kakyoin looks so driven to distraction that he has to ask.]
I'm okay. [He shook his head, mostly to brushoff a million unpleasant thoughts and apprehensions.] I'm...over it, mostly. I had trouble sleeping for a while, but it's gotten easier.
[Wait, seriously? This was a concern? Polnareff's frown deepens.]
I've never thought that either-- for god's sake, Kakyoin, you're the one who always has a logical way out of things. I just thought you had heatstroke that night, but I never thought you were crazy. I still don't. If you're telling me now that that baby was a Stand user, I believe you.
[A beat, and then he adds:]
I mean, we fought and killed a vampire.
[So the bar for weird shit that happens to us is pretty low. And actually, now that he's thinking about it:]
We fought a monkey who had a Stand. A baby makes more sense. I mean, at least a baby is human.
[Too enthusiastically said, perhaps, but it's just because he's excited to share this.]
He was such a shit-- he could turn people into kids. Me, specifically, but then he did it to Jotaro too and it turns out your boyfriend was a punk even when he was like ten, so he beat the shit out of him.
[He doesn't mention the Lady. He has secrets of his own, after all.]
Huh? Well..smaller, mostly. I didn't learn Emerald Splash until I was about thirteen, so up until then most of what I did was experiment with how far he could reach.
I just thought it made me special. Like someone out of a fairy tale, you know? I knew Chariot was real, and that was enough. And he was friendly, so it worked out.
[A beat, and then:]
It was good, finding out others were like me. But I never minded when I was a kid.
Well . . . like I said, I just thought it made me special. I didn't understand it, but I didn't have to, not at first. I had Chariot, and he was like an imaginary friend, only I knew he was real. And since I knew it, that's all that mattered. And-- I mean, I was lonely, sure, but that's why I worked to get so friendly. People like you when you like them, and even if they weren't like us, they weren't bad to have as friends, and that helped some, and once I hit nineteen-- well.
[Then J. Geil had happened, and he'd known he wasn't alone in his abilities.]
...I was a pretty stupid kid, I guess. [He'd almost have laughed, if it was more than darkly funny.]
I was never able to grasp that concept, I'm actually a little jealous it was so straightforward for you. When I was a kid it wasn't 'only I can see Hierophant and that's enough', it was 'so why can't anyone else?' For me, it was like...having someone look at you and knowing they weren't seeing you. There's no way to trust someone that you know right away won't be able to understand you, so I didn't bother trying. I accepted that I was different and wrote it off as a lost cause.
I like to tell myself Jojo was the first person I met that could see him, but that's a lie. The first time i met another Stand user was in Egypt months before that. [That time he laughed, a little bitterly.] Damn, I really was stupid if even you could figure something like that out before me. What a disaster.
['Don't start blaming yourself'? When had he ever stopped?]
[But damn, he'd missed Polnareff. There were just some things that Giorno and even Jotaro just couldn't really get that the two of them had in common.]
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2016-03-20 07:34 am (UTC)[Long story short, he sure as hell wouldn't be going near the boardwalk anytime soon.]
It attacked when we were sleeping; Death 13 controlled this surreal dream world where it was in control of everything--I couldn't even summon Hierophant. [He put a hand over his Stand's silver-green arm, either for comfort, emphasis, or both.]
And every time we woke up, neither of us remembered anything that had happened. You remember what I had to do to my arm to even give myself a hint; we're lucky I carried a switchblade. But when you knocked me out, I'd already called Hierophant--that was the whole trick to it, how to bring another Stand into that world. So I-
[He stopped abruptly, not sure if he'd ever told Polnareff about Hierophant's real power. Not sure if he wanted to get into it now, or let that be a secret between himself, Jotaro, and Giorno.]
...I took him out, and I'm the only one that remembers any of it.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 02:31 am (UTC)Are you all right?
[Silly, maybe, to ask that now. But Kakyoin looks so driven to distraction that he has to ask.]
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 02:42 am (UTC)[He shrugged and crossed his arms.]
So, now what? Do you still think I'm delusional?
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 02:50 am (UTC)[He tips his head, regarding him with a slight frown.]
I didn't ever think you were delusional, you know. Just . . . too much sun. But I believe you.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 02:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 02:59 am (UTC)I've never thought that either-- for god's sake, Kakyoin, you're the one who always has a logical way out of things. I just thought you had heatstroke that night, but I never thought you were crazy. I still don't. If you're telling me now that that baby was a Stand user, I believe you.
[A beat, and then he adds:]
I mean, we fought and killed a vampire.
[So the bar for weird shit that happens to us is pretty low. And actually, now that he's thinking about it:]
We fought a monkey who had a Stand. A baby makes more sense. I mean, at least a baby is human.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:13 am (UTC)[So it was just baseless paranoia after all. That was...actually, he felt better about the whole thing knowing that.]
Thanks.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:15 am (UTC)[He ducks his head, trying to catch his eye.]
Anything else you want to tell me? Any other weird Stands I don't remember or whatever?
[It's kind of a joke, but it kind of isn't.]
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:25 am (UTC)[That's settled, then, and he throws his arm over Kakyoin's shoulder, tugging him into a (gentle!) one-armed hug.]
Oye, speaking of shitty Stands-- did Jotaro ever tell you about Alessi?
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:31 am (UTC)[Too enthusiastically said, perhaps, but it's just because he's excited to share this.]
He was such a shit-- he could turn people into kids. Me, specifically, but then he did it to Jotaro too and it turns out your boyfriend was a punk even when he was like ten, so he beat the shit out of him.
[He doesn't mention the Lady. He has secrets of his own, after all.]
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:42 am (UTC)[Cheerfully said-- but, with more interest:]
What was it like when you were a kid?
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:47 am (UTC)[After all, he can think of several ways one could use that.]
I mean, I'd've used Chariot in school all the time if I could have gotten away with it.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:54 am (UTC)Didn't it ever bother you, being able to see something nobody else could?
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:59 am (UTC)I just thought it made me special. Like someone out of a fairy tale, you know? I knew Chariot was real, and that was enough. And he was friendly, so it worked out.
[A beat, and then:]
It was good, finding out others were like me. But I never minded when I was a kid.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:00 pm (UTC)[Wow. Nothing like realizing you'd been even more dense than Polnareff about something for most of your life.]
...Being different from everyone else never bothered you at all?
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:07 pm (UTC)Polnareff shrugs again, offering a slight smile.]
Well . . . like I said, I just thought it made me special. I didn't understand it, but I didn't have to, not at first. I had Chariot, and he was like an imaginary friend, only I knew he was real. And since I knew it, that's all that mattered. And-- I mean, I was lonely, sure, but that's why I worked to get so friendly. People like you when you like them, and even if they weren't like us, they weren't bad to have as friends, and that helped some, and once I hit nineteen-- well.
[Then J. Geil had happened, and he'd known he wasn't alone in his abilities.]
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:19 pm (UTC)I was never able to grasp that concept, I'm actually a little jealous it was so straightforward for you. When I was a kid it wasn't 'only I can see Hierophant and that's enough', it was 'so why can't anyone else?' For me, it was like...having someone look at you and knowing they weren't seeing you. There's no way to trust someone that you know right away won't be able to understand you, so I didn't bother trying. I accepted that I was different and wrote it off as a lost cause.
I like to tell myself Jojo was the first person I met that could see him, but that's a lie. The first time i met another Stand user was in Egypt months before that. [That time he laughed, a little bitterly.] Damn, I really was stupid if even you could figure something like that out before me. What a disaster.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:25 pm (UTC)[Chiding, and he reaches over, punching his arm lightly.]
Don't start blaming yourself for what he did to us. And you're not wrong, about understanding.
[After all, his childhood was far less lonely than Kakyoin's sounded-- but that didn't mean he had trusted someone.]
But you've got friends now. You've even got a boyfriend now. And that son of a bitch is dead, and we're all okay.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-21 03:55 pm (UTC)[But damn, he'd missed Polnareff. There were just some things that Giorno and even Jotaro just couldn't really get that the two of them had in common.]
...yeah. Right, we're fine.
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