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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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Comments

[lapidarius]

Of course I do, it isn't difficult.

[Hierophant offered a small wave from behind his user, who just shrugged.]

Do you know what kind of cake he'd like?

[nextlineis]

I do actually! [It's at this point Joseph grins wide, clearly very fully of himself because he had to very careful in getting the answer without showing his hand.] Almond pound cake.

[lapidarius]

That...doesn't sound too complicated, I think. [It was Hierophant's cue to pick up a cookbook and start looking through it, at least.] I just hope we have enough here to make it without too much of a problem. The city's been kind of difficult about that lately.

[nextlineis]

[Fuck if Joseph knows how complicated it is or isn't to make, but the mention of the supply shortage makes Joseph frown a little.]

Hey c'mon! Don't add that kind of pressure onto doing this! It's gonna be tough enough without trying not to fuck it up the first time without worrying about whether or not we'll have enough to try again.

[lapidarius]

Relax, I can handle it.

[Probably.]

As long as we don't do anything stupid, it should be fine.

[nextlineis]

[See this face? It's not the face of someone who is entirely convinced. Joseph crouches down to rub at Danny's cheeks. Which is, of course, distorting and mushing the dog's face in all sorts of directions, but if his tail is any indicator, he doesn't mind.]

Maybe we should make a small one. You know, just to be sure we can actually do it. We can test it on... [Meaningful stare at Danny. No, that would be cruel if it turns out bad. Joseph perks up though and looks back up at Kakyoin and Hierophant.] Jotaro! He's around, right?

[lapidarius]

You're not dragging Jojo into this, and don't act like my cooking needs a test subject.

[scuse YOU]

I'll try it, would that make you feel better?

[nextlineis]

Hang on, hang on!

[Joseph frowns because something immediately does not add up.]

You're not willing to let Jotaro eat your cooking, but you're asking me to trust you?

[lapidarius]

I'm perfectly willing, just not in the context of 'someone doesn't think this is edible so why don't you eat it and see what happens?' Why don't you try it instead of dragging someone else into the whole thing?

[nextlineis]

Because I'm not hungry.

[A bald-faced lie. Joseph could eat a small elephant on any given day.]

[lapidarius]

Joseph Joestar, I have seen--or will, whichever--you complain at length about food from Tokyo to Cairo, do not start with me.

[he has your number in the future, dude.]

If you're afraid to try it because you think I'll make something inedible, say so.

[nextlineis]

[Joseph laughs nervously because oh whoops was he caught in a lie? Whoops whoops.]

I didn't say I think that... [He sighs heavily as he turns his attention back on Danny and his goofy jowls.] I just want it to be the best, yeah?

Food and family, those are two things that any Italian will start a fight over. And Caesar's Italian through and through. I can't give him his family. I wish I could because it doesn't really seem fair that I have so much of my family here and he has no one. But I can get him his favorite foods and good cake for his birthday. Even if it's not much, it's something he should have.

[He looks at Kakyoin again.]

So it's important we get this right.

[lapidarius]

...

[Kakyoin quickly turned around under the pretense of looking over the recipe Hierophant was holding the book open to, hiding what felt like a look of uncertainty he couldn't quite describe.]

[His own parents weren't here and probably never would be at this rate. And it wasn't as though he felt like he didn't belong with the others in this house, not anymore. But it...wasn't the same, was it? It wasn't wrong, but it didn't feel right.]

['I want to feel like I can belong somewhere more than just 'Jotaro's family is like my own'. Because no matter what, it won't be--I'm always going to be a Kakyoin, without a bloodline's legacy hanging over my head like his or like yours.']

[The only 'family' he had here was built on two sides of wishful thinking and some crossed universe Kakyoin had told as few people as possible about. So there was some odd kind of twisting sensation in his chest when Joseph said that--it was something he understood, being stuck as a peripheral to a family that was in ridiculous abundance here.]

Caesar's more significant to me than you realize. You asked for my help, and I won't disappoint-

['Family can't disappoint family.']

...Trust me. Please.

[nextlineis]

Hey, hey, this isn't about disappointing anybody, [Joseph says with a small shake of his head as he stands back up.] I trust you, okay?

[lapidarius]

...Yeah. Okay. [He looked over his shoulder with a hesitant smile.] We'll do fine, I promise.

[nextlineis]

[Joseph grins wide without any hesitation whatsoever.]

To hell with that, we're gonna do amazing!

[lapidarius]

[Breaking out into a quiet laugh, Kakyoin turned back to the kitchen counter and left Hierophant to keep the book open.]

Of course we will. Let's get started, okay?

[nextlineis]

Okay! So what's the first step?

[Eighteen? No. He is like five. Ganbatte, Kakyoin.]

[lapidarius]

Let's see...if you want to start getting the ingredients together with Hierophant, I can take care of the oven and find something to put everything in.

[...he wasn't saying he didn't trust Joseph near fire, but his Stand helpfully offered the recipe to Joseph regardless.]

[nextlineis]

[LOOK, HE ONLY SET HIMSELF ON FIRE THAT ONE TIME AND TECHNICALLY, THAT HADN'T HAPPENED YET FROM HIS PERSPECTIVE.]

[...But you know, that's probably fair and Joseph doesn't take any notice of any particular reasoning behind the assignment of tasks. He just looks at the recipe when it's offered to him.]

We got this, right, Hierophant? [Hey, he's a silent Stand, but that's not going to stop Joseph from chattering at him anyway. He motions for Hierophant to follow him.] C'mon, fridge first.