[Kakyoin had left his own coat back in his room, sleeves of his white shirt rolled neatly past his forearms. He walked over to a chair he proceeded to sit in backwards, folding his arms to rest his head on them.]
[Confused as he looked, Kakyoin didn't question it. Hierophant's coils manifested and rose from his shadow, draping loosely around its user's shoulders.]
[He sat up slowly, first going up onto one elbow and then swinging his legs off the side of the bed to sit properly upright in a subsequent, fluid motion.]
[Raising his head enough to rest it on one hand, Kakyoin made a slight gesture with the other and sent Hierophant over to tentatively reach for Jotaro's hand. It was one thing to do this out of the necessity of a connection in tense moments, or in subconsciously reaching for some form of comfort. Being outright asked for something like this was completely different, and Kakyoin wasn't entirely sure where this was going.]
[Because you saw his soul and you believed in it and you accepted it.
That was what Giorno had said the other night, offering it as the explanation for what had led Kakyoin to his ultimate conclusions (apparently several weeks before; he'd really stewed on it like that, huh). And it was fine, really, despite his apprehensions about saying it, because nothing Giorno had said was anything that Jotaro hadn't already known; he'd only been reminded of it, and in a context where he could understand it much more thoroughly.
In some given, unchanging way, Hierophant was the most important thing in the world to Kakyoin.
And while he still hadn't quite figured out what he was going to do about the...everything, this little facet was one that he was more confident about exploring. What would come of it, if he asked permission to engage with the most significant part of Kakyoin's soul?
No time like the present to find out, frankly.]
...Hn.
[He offered his hand, palm-up, and curled his fingers around the tendril when it was close enough to hold, leaving ample invitation for it to continue coiling up his arm if Kakyoin so desired.]
[That first night they had met Giorno, Kakyoin hadn't given any thought to why Hierophant had reached for Jotaro. He knew why it had pulled him back without a direct command, but the way it had taken residence on his hand and arm like a silent reassurance for them both was something that it had never done before. Not to anyone other than Kakyoin himself.]
[Now that he watched his Stand slip through his friend's hand and wrap around his arm like a long-discarded white scarf, it started to make a little more sense. Hierophant had known what Kakyoin didn't understand and refused to acknowledge. His inner 'self' that was projected on the world knew instinctively that the place both of them belonged and were safe was at Jotaro Kujo's side.]
[...He really had been an idiot. Kakyoin would have to remember to thank Giorno once this was properly settled.]
It...went pretty well, with your mother. She was apprehensive, but I think she likes him.
[Glancing off to the side, Kakyoin heard a self-conscious laugh leave him rather than any formed response.]
Out of all of us, Hierophant's at least the most subdued one. I'm just glad I could help her with that. I was careful--she didn't see him like this.
[He looked back at Jotaro out of the corner of his eye, careful to hide the fact that something that had just been said struck a distinct chord he wasn't sure he could pinpoint.]
Hierophant. Like this, I mean. [He gestured again with his free hand, another coil wrapping around his own arm like a snake.] The rest of you all have Stands that always look a little more human--even Mista's, to a point. This doesn't seem strange in comparison?
[He faltered a second, the mention of the name originally effortless because of the way it followed his thought, with the ramifications of speaking it following only afterward.]
...Iggy's is sand. Gray Fly's was just a beetle. Yellow Temperance was a blob of goo.
Not looking human doesn't really mean anything. He wouldn't be as versatile if he were confined to that shape, anyway.
[He dropped his head onto crossed arms again, going back to watching Hierophant work its way up to Jotaro's shoulders and apparently settle there for now.]
Do you... [Kakyoin spoke slowly, trying and failing to come up with a way for his thought to sound casual rather than the vitally important matter it was to him.] ...like him?
[. . .]
Because I like Star Platinum. I think he's really fascinating to watch.
[And then, suddenly, a green and silver phantom scarf. It was interesting, though, how brave Kakyoin was being through him — maybe without even realizing it. If he never called attention to what Hierophant was doing, but just acquiesced by implication, how comfortable would the green Stand prove to be? That might be worth finding out, too.]
...Yeah. I like him a lot.
[I like this phenomenally significant part of you a lot.
Like a code, being able to read between the lines became so much easier when you knew what you were looking for, when you had the key in your hands.]
Star's kind of taking on a life of his own, lately. He's...different. And I'm trying to let him be different.
[Kakyoin hid a smile behind his arms, trying to downplay the genuine sense of pride he felt in hearing that.]
Hierophant's never been very independent, even when I was a kid. There may have been occasions when I wasn't sure where he stopped and I started, but he almost never acted entirely on his own. That night, with Giovanna--that might have been the first time he moved to that extent without me realizing it. And he obviously doesn't show emotions visibly, not in a way that most people would be able to see.
[He paused for a second, wondering if maybe he was about to sound just a little obsessive about the concept. While it was something that fascinated him, Kakyoin wasn't really sure if that was something normal even for Stand users.]
...You're more like Hierophant yourself; you're quiet and it takes practice to learn to understand what your expressions mean. But Star's really something. Whether you're happy or really pissed off, that's something that'll show on his face. If he acts independently that means it's something that you wanted on some level. Like...I didn't want you to leave, so Hierophant reached out to stop you.
[Another pause, and Kakyoin's voice turned a little quieter again.]
I think that I've been really lucky to be able to watch a Stand like that develop firsthand, you know. And...I'm really interested to see where he goes from here.
You think maybe that's because you've always thought of him as a part of you? I've been wondering about that, if how you think of them has something to do with it.
[He ran his hand experimentally over the coils of Hierophant that were draped around his shoulders, with the calm ease of someone handling a very large snake instead of a Stand.]
I started out thinking Star was something I had to get rid of. Something that obeyed me and protected me, but that wasn't supposed to be there, something I hadn't asked for. I wonder if that makes him more independent, that expecting him to be that way means that's how he is.
Maybe he's like that because I expected him to be the boogeyman or something. So that made him kind of a monster.
Believe me, you don't need to remind me of that much. [He said that with an almost playful laugh, Hierophant squeezing both its user's arm and Jotaro's shoulders with all the pressure of a friendly handshake.]
I don't really know. Perspective must have something to do with it, or... [Kakyoin straightened up enough to tap a finger against his head in thought, carefully considering the situation. He didn't seriously think of himself as an expert on Stands by any means, but he could approach the idea from an angle most couldn't.]
...Did you ever think he could have been responding to your own confusion, maybe even frustration--not just at having a Stand, but at learning about Dio and everything else on top of that? I'd probably have beaten the shit out of the first person to give me a problem after that, too.
...I never really mentioned that, huh. Stuff from before you turned up.
[He hummed again under his breath, squeezing Hierophant back in reply.]
I put four guys in the hospital. Four on one, I could handle that on my own, but Star kept coming out and I had to try to control him, too, while I was at it.
Well, that's just obvious in hindsight--he was trying to protect you. But I guess it'd screw anyone up to deal with that not knowing what it was or how to control it.
[Pausing again, a small smirk crossed Kakyoin's face as he started recalling a distant memory.]
A few years ago...I think I was thirteen, and there was this aggravating kid I went to school with. Wouldn't stop annoying the hell out of me, you know the type.
One day I was just leaving the front gate to walk home, and he's getting on my case about one stupid thing or another. So I decided I'd had enough of dealing with it, and since there was no one around I decided I'd knock a couple of his teeth in to shut him up.
[As you do.]
Like I said, Hierophant doesn't really act independently. I can't say 'so I pulled my fist back but he was already on the ground', it was more a weird moment of clarity. Like 'instead of that, I could do this', but I didn't really know what 'this' was.
So I opened my hand and put it forward, because that felt like what I needed to do. That kid got shoved back a meter or so; landed flat on his back, looking like someone dumped a bucket of water on him and a mark in his forehead like he'd been hit with a rock.
[The smirk on his face widened just a little, clearly the look of someone with zero shame about the matter.]
...So did it knock out his teeth, or did you miss?
[Which wasn't to say that Jotaro wasn't absorbing everything that Kakyoin had said; just that he'd decided to comment on a completely different facet of it.]
So which way do you think it goes? Did Hierophant already know what it could do, and taught you how to activate it? Or did Hierophant answer because that's what you wanted him to do?
I've never been sure which way it goes. There have always been some things Hierophant knew that I didn't--his name, for example. But I also know that he's always found a way to answer when I needed something. For all I know, there might still be some things I haven't learned yet, whether he shows me or I figure it out myself.
['developmental potential: D' is one rank above hermit purple, folks]
Like I said, I don't always know where 'Kakyoin Noriaki' stops and 'Hierophant Green' starts. In or out of a fight, the line between Hierophant already knowing what to do and me telling him what to do isn't always clear even to me.
So I guess...I really don't know how to answer that, Jojo.
...Stands are weird like that. But I think seeing other people's — especially ones like Sex Pistols, that are so different and weird — I think that can give a lot of insight into the way ours work, too.
[And he was running the backs of his fingers lengthwise along Hierophant now, not quite like petting a cat, but certainly an absentminded gesture of affection.]
Sometimes with Star it feels sort of like...having a pet, I guess. It's weird to think of him as being entirely me when sometimes he operates without me. It's not just me wanting to avoid getting hurt, and my wanting is what directs him. Sometimes it's more subconscious, it's more...I can act reckless, but he just knows to intervene.
[Kakyoin smiled, seeming completely relaxed as he thought about it. Maybe that was due to talking about a subject he enjoyed, or because of the light and caring touches to Hierophant.]
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 05:42 am (UTC)[Kakyoin had left his own coat back in his room, sleeves of his white shirt rolled neatly past his forearms. He walked over to a chair he proceeded to sit in backwards, folding his arms to rest his head on them.]
I could ask you the same thing.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 05:48 am (UTC)[He fell into a thoughtful silence for a minute, broken only by a low hum of contemplation every so often.]
...Will you bring Hierophant out?
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 05:50 am (UTC)[Confused as he looked, Kakyoin didn't question it. Hierophant's coils manifested and rose from his shadow, draping loosely around its user's shoulders.]
Like that?
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 05:53 am (UTC)[He sat up slowly, first going up onto one elbow and then swinging his legs off the side of the bed to sit properly upright in a subsequent, fluid motion.]
No. I meant by me...if that's okay.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 05:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:07 am (UTC)That was what Giorno had said the other night, offering it as the explanation for what had led Kakyoin to his ultimate conclusions (apparently several weeks before; he'd really stewed on it like that, huh). And it was fine, really, despite his apprehensions about saying it, because nothing Giorno had said was anything that Jotaro hadn't already known; he'd only been reminded of it, and in a context where he could understand it much more thoroughly.
In some given, unchanging way, Hierophant was the most important thing in the world to Kakyoin.
And while he still hadn't quite figured out what he was going to do about the...everything, this little facet was one that he was more confident about exploring. What would come of it, if he asked permission to engage with the most significant part of Kakyoin's soul?
No time like the present to find out, frankly.]
...Hn.
[He offered his hand, palm-up, and curled his fingers around the tendril when it was close enough to hold, leaving ample invitation for it to continue coiling up his arm if Kakyoin so desired.]
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:14 am (UTC)[Now that he watched his Stand slip through his friend's hand and wrap around his arm like a long-discarded white scarf, it started to make a little more sense. Hierophant had known what Kakyoin didn't understand and refused to acknowledge. His inner 'self' that was projected on the world knew instinctively that the place both of them belonged and were safe was at Jotaro Kujo's side.]
[...He really had been an idiot. Kakyoin would have to remember to thank Giorno once this was properly settled.]
It...went pretty well, with your mother. She was apprehensive, but I think she likes him.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:18 am (UTC)[...Ah, right. They were talking about his mom now, the conversation had shifted on.]
...She didn't really have the greatest introduction to Stands. After what she'd seen, your quiet Hierophant was probably...perfect.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:24 am (UTC)Out of all of us, Hierophant's at least the most subdued one. I'm just glad I could help her with that. I was careful--she didn't see him like this.
[He looked back at Jotaro out of the corner of his eye, careful to hide the fact that something that had just been said struck a distinct chord he wasn't sure he could pinpoint.]
...You don't think it's weird?
['Perfect'?]
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:28 am (UTC)[...?]
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:33 am (UTC)[A pause, and then a little more quietly:]
You just...said that you thought it was cool.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:53 am (UTC)[He faltered a second, the mention of the name originally effortless because of the way it followed his thought, with the ramifications of speaking it following only afterward.]
...Iggy's is sand. Gray Fly's was just a beetle. Yellow Temperance was a blob of goo.
Not looking human doesn't really mean anything. He wouldn't be as versatile if he were confined to that shape, anyway.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:58 am (UTC)[He dropped his head onto crossed arms again, going back to watching Hierophant work its way up to Jotaro's shoulders and apparently settle there for now.]
Do you... [Kakyoin spoke slowly, trying and failing to come up with a way for his thought to sound casual rather than the vitally important matter it was to him.] ...like him?
[. . .]
Because I like Star Platinum. I think he's really fascinating to watch.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 07:07 am (UTC)...Yeah. I like him a lot.
[I like this phenomenally significant part of you a lot.
Like a code, being able to read between the lines became so much easier when you knew what you were looking for, when you had the key in your hands.]
Star's kind of taking on a life of his own, lately. He's...different. And I'm trying to let him be different.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 12:49 pm (UTC)Hierophant's never been very independent, even when I was a kid. There may have been occasions when I wasn't sure where he stopped and I started, but he almost never acted entirely on his own. That night, with Giovanna--that might have been the first time he moved to that extent without me realizing it. And he obviously doesn't show emotions visibly, not in a way that most people would be able to see.
[He paused for a second, wondering if maybe he was about to sound just a little obsessive about the concept. While it was something that fascinated him, Kakyoin wasn't really sure if that was something normal even for Stand users.]
...You're more like Hierophant yourself; you're quiet and it takes practice to learn to understand what your expressions mean. But Star's really something. Whether you're happy or really pissed off, that's something that'll show on his face. If he acts independently that means it's something that you wanted on some level. Like...I didn't want you to leave, so Hierophant reached out to stop you.
[Another pause, and Kakyoin's voice turned a little quieter again.]
I think that I've been really lucky to be able to watch a Stand like that develop firsthand, you know. And...I'm really interested to see where he goes from here.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 03:39 pm (UTC)[He ran his hand experimentally over the coils of Hierophant that were draped around his shoulders, with the calm ease of someone handling a very large snake instead of a Stand.]
I started out thinking Star was something I had to get rid of. Something that obeyed me and protected me, but that wasn't supposed to be there, something I hadn't asked for. I wonder if that makes him more independent, that expecting him to be that way means that's how he is.
Maybe he's like that because I expected him to be the boogeyman or something. So that made him kind of a monster.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 03:51 pm (UTC)I don't really know. Perspective must have something to do with it, or... [Kakyoin straightened up enough to tap a finger against his head in thought, carefully considering the situation. He didn't seriously think of himself as an expert on Stands by any means, but he could approach the idea from an angle most couldn't.]
...Did you ever think he could have been responding to your own confusion, maybe even frustration--not just at having a Stand, but at learning about Dio and everything else on top of that? I'd probably have beaten the shit out of the first person to give me a problem after that, too.
[At least he's got a sense of humor about it.]
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 04:05 pm (UTC)[He hummed again under his breath, squeezing Hierophant back in reply.]
I put four guys in the hospital. Four on one, I could handle that on my own, but Star kept coming out and I had to try to control him, too, while I was at it.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 04:30 pm (UTC)[Pausing again, a small smirk crossed Kakyoin's face as he started recalling a distant memory.]
A few years ago...I think I was thirteen, and there was this aggravating kid I went to school with. Wouldn't stop annoying the hell out of me, you know the type.
One day I was just leaving the front gate to walk home, and he's getting on my case about one stupid thing or another. So I decided I'd had enough of dealing with it, and since there was no one around I decided I'd knock a couple of his teeth in to shut him up.
[As you do.]
Like I said, Hierophant doesn't really act independently. I can't say 'so I pulled my fist back but he was already on the ground', it was more a weird moment of clarity. Like 'instead of that, I could do this', but I didn't really know what 'this' was.
So I opened my hand and put it forward, because that felt like what I needed to do. That kid got shoved back a meter or so; landed flat on his back, looking like someone dumped a bucket of water on him and a mark in his forehead like he'd been hit with a rock.
[The smirk on his face widened just a little, clearly the look of someone with zero shame about the matter.]
And that's how I learned Emerald Splash.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:01 pm (UTC)[Which wasn't to say that Jotaro wasn't absorbing everything that Kakyoin had said; just that he'd decided to comment on a completely different facet of it.]
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:27 pm (UTC)[And still, this was the face of no regrets.]
But my aim's gotten a little better since then.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 06:55 pm (UTC)['developmental potential: D' is one rank above hermit purple, folks]
Like I said, I don't always know where 'Kakyoin Noriaki' stops and 'Hierophant Green' starts. In or out of a fight, the line between Hierophant already knowing what to do and me telling him what to do isn't always clear even to me.
So I guess...I really don't know how to answer that, Jojo.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 11:13 pm (UTC)[And he was running the backs of his fingers lengthwise along Hierophant now, not quite like petting a cat, but certainly an absentminded gesture of affection.]
Sometimes with Star it feels sort of like...having a pet, I guess. It's weird to think of him as being entirely me when sometimes he operates without me. It's not just me wanting to avoid getting hurt, and my wanting is what directs him. Sometimes it's more subconscious, it's more...I can act reckless, but he just knows to intervene.
no subject
Date: 2015-10-07 11:18 pm (UTC)[Kakyoin smiled, seeming completely relaxed as he thought about it. Maybe that was due to talking about a subject he enjoyed, or because of the light and caring touches to Hierophant.]
I think that makes sense, yeah.
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From: