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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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[whatitis]

[He clumsily hops down off the table--well. "Hops" is a generous word; it's more like he gingerly steps down onto a chair before hopping to the floor. Semantics.]

Well, um, I figured I'd modify the usual introductory interview process I do for new arrivals sometimes, so we can start there!

[He taps a homemade-looking binder on top of the table he was, until a moment ago, standing on. It says "INTERLOPERS" in bright red handwriting, and there's a few tidy folders inside.]

Could you...um, could you bring your friend out, if they want?

[lapidarius]

[CARLOS PLEASE SLOW YOUR ROLL JUST SLIGHTLY, THAT BINDER IS ALARMING.]

Sure, but I'm not sure how well any kind of interview will really work. Hierophant's not independent like Star Platinum or most of the others, and he doesn't talk.

[But he showed up all the same, arms draped over Kakyoin's shoulders and body ending in a thin tail somewhere around his shadow.]

[whatitis]

Well, just so he's here! I mean, he's technically the subject, and all. And, I must say, he's looking lovelier than ever!

[Hurriedly, he shuffles an empty folder from the rest of the bunch, neatly writing down a title: "H. GREEN". Only a few other folders are visible underneath the cover of the binder: "JON. JOESTAR", "E. JOESTAR", and one labelled only "♥C. G. PALMER♥". Strange.]

So, um, just to start: name and...well, age? Here, I'll put it this way: how long have you two been acquainted?

[lapidarius]

[Kakyoin was, for a moment, genuinely unsure if this might come back to factor in an elaborate plot to kill him someday.]

[...Oh, well. If it was, that wasn't really anything new.]

Hierophant Green and Noriaki Kakyoin--we've been together as long as I can remember, so roughly eighteen years. If you want a specific date, July twenty-sixth, 1970.

[whatitis]

That's..interesting. Were either of your parents users?

[He's penciling this one in, it seems--he didn't count on this kind of thing. In the very leastc though, he looks excited as all heck.]

I'll remember your birthday, though. Know that.

[lapidarius]

They aren't, no. Because of the way Stands work back home, they can't even see him.

[He laughed a little awkwardly, knowing he'd just accidentally invited trouble with that.]

Just try not to make a big deal out of it or anything.

[whatitis]

Yes, so I've heard! Anyways, though--next question.

[He finally sits down, though he doesn't offer either of his supposedly esteemed guests a chair.]

So, um, this one is a bit more general: are his powers any different here than they were at home?

[lapidarius]

Well...his powers, no. Everything's exactly the same in regards to that.

[Just as well; Kakyoin seemed fine with standing for now, crossing his own arms like Hierophant's weren't around his neck as though he were a particularly humanoid scarf.]

But like you've just said--Stands are normally only visible to other Stand users. I'm not really sure what's different here, but the fact that you can see him at all proves that something is.

[whatitis]

He hasn't changed physically at all, besides this? He's usually this noodly?

[Carlos nods, as if he expected all this. All in the day of being a scientist: being right about things and saying "hm" a lot.]

I have some working theories as to why that is.

[lapidarius]

He's always been able to change from one form to another, yeah. I haven't seen very many other Stands that could. [Demonstrating the point, Hierophant briefly raised one arm; it unraveled into a coil before reforming and settling back on its user's shoulders.]

Do you? What do you think about it?

[whatitis]

[Carlos...actually claps, though not in any kind of condescension at all. He just looks very genuinely excited about the noodle Stand.]

Well, um...just a theory, but nearly every person in this town is in some way...special.

[There's air quotes around that last word.]

I don't like using that word, but it does fit. Unusual. Supernatural, in most cases. I think that everyone here has the inherent ability to see a Stand, but out of the manifestation of some other ability or trait. A special kind of sight.

[His eyes trail back down to "C. G. PALMER".]

[lapidarius]

That's actually a reasonable-sounding theory. I had always assumed it was something to do with the city itself, but...

[Kakyoin frowned, drumming his fingers against Hierophant's arm.]

So what you mean amounts to the idea that some facet of a Stand user's ability manifests in a different way for different people, roughly speaking?

[whatitis]

Almost the reverse, actually. I'm saying that a Stand is a manifestation of some other kind of power, and that those powers are all kind of...compatible, if that makes sense? It's like wavelengths, or whatever. Everyone here is on the same wavelength of existence.

[There's something akin to a lecture in his tone--you can't ever really outgrow being a teacher.]

What I don't understand is why people come and go. That's the strange part.

[lapidarius]

I think I understand that. It does make sense; Stands are effectively made of life energy, and everyone must have that in some shape or form no matter the world or universe.

[Some people never stopped being students, either.]

A friend and I have been thinking of following the train tracks--I don't expect we'll find much in the way of answers, but if there is an end point to them surely there would be something to find if we can reach it.

[whatitis]

Stands are--very interesting, I think! They're just a physical manifestation of what everyone has, but not everyone possesses the ability to manifest. Or, as I've come to thing, not everybody possesses the ability to manifest in that specific manner. I certainly don't, as far as I know, but I do have my abilities and disabilities.

[Will he elaborate? Nah.]

I don't think you'll find much. Maybe they'll put you back here in the city--I knew a place like this, once. It ends where it begins.

[lapidarius]

Hm...yeah, I think that you're right. Being a Stand user or not...doesn't really make people that different at all, does it? [That sounded pretty significant for a basic observation, and Kakyoin punctuated it by laughing under his breath.] I never really understood that myself until I got here.

[He shrugged, hands dropped to his sides as Hierophant curled in closer to its user.]

I don't think it will end in any worthwhile results, but I have to try regardless. Just on the thin chance that we'll find something.

[whatitis]

It's all just a matter of expression of traits, like anything else. I think so, anyways--maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right. Either way, the differences are only superficial at best.

[He clears his throat, flipping the folder back open.]

Speaking of: did he arrive exactly when you did? Could you ever be separated in any way?

[lapidarius]

No-

[His sudden tone sounded offended, but from the look on his face it was more of a kneejerk expression of genuine horror.]

No. A Stand and its user can't be separated. [He reached up to Hierophant's arms again, curling his fingers loosely around the Stand's wrist. Was that accurate?]

[No. He knew from what Giorno had said--about Silver Chariot and what had happened to him--that it wasn't impossible, and that scared him more than a city full of clock towers.]

That's like arriving without a sense of your own self or personality. Without Hierophant, I'm not 'Noriaki Kakyoin'.

[whatitis]

[Reflexively, he moves back a couple inches, raising up a hand in a placating gesture.]

It's...I'm sorry. My fault, I just had to clarify. In the same vein, though...

[He's just looking down, now, not meeting Kakyoin's eye.]

...How far is his range, if we use you as a centerpoint? Does it favor directions?

[lapidarius]

No, it's okay. Sorry, I...[he shrugged, trying to shake off the lingering unease.] It's fine. Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you.

As for your question, my Hierophant has a range of exactly fifty meters in any given direction. If I try to reach in as many directions as possible, I have to cut that down to somewhere around twenty; it's difficult to manage more than that, because it's splitting my own senses between myself and wherever Hierophant is. It's easiest to just send him off in a single direction; that way it's only divided by half.

[whatitis]

[...He leans back in, tucking the pen behind his ear. There's something unsettlingly earnest in his expression.]

Now, can you tell me--as exactly as you can--what this split consciousness feels like?

[lapidarius]

Well...I'll try, sure. If he's in his main body like this, I can see pretty clearly through his eyes and even project my voice through him. Basically, it's like standing in two places at the same time; I can see either what I'm looking at in one spot, or what Hierophant is looking at in another.

[If he did find the earnest questions unsettling, Kakyoin didn't point it out--actually, this was his favorite subject. Seeing someone else that interested was actually pretty nice.]

If he's split apart, it's a little more difficult. Since he doesn't really have eyes in that form the best I've ever been able to manage is detecting unclear shapes, sounds, and motion. Hierophant is a Stand best utilized for scouting, and he has a longer reach than nearly any other I can think of.

[whatitis]

Have you tried fooling around with how many parts he can be split into? Like, could you have...eight bits of him going in different directions, like an octopus? Or is it really limited to four?

[He mimes the common gesture for "invertebrate tendrils". You know, just the usual.]

Honestly, I don't know how you do it! That's a lot of focus.

[lapidarius]

It's not limited to just cardinal directions or anything like that at all. [Hierophant's entire body unraveled into at least half a dozen coils of varying sizes, like a group of snakes curling loosely around Kakyoin's arms and shoulders.] I've never really counted a specific upper limit to how many parts he can split into, but we can lay down a net of tripwires and be completely aware of any sound or motion within it. Kind of like a spiderweb, but not quite as neatly organized.

[He shrugged, one coil wrapping around his right hand and lacing between his fingers.]

We've had a long time to practice.

[whatitis]

Okay, can you--can you elaborate on that last bit? How long have you been able to use his abilities to the fullest? Did they develop alongside the rest of your natural talents?

...Also, at some point--not now, of course--I'd appreciate a demonstration. If that's okay?