Chapter 8: Hora!
TheNine
I’ll compromise with the skeletons
- Location
- The good ol' US of A
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"Let's just leave this guy to his thing," you grunt at Kakyoin, having Flashdance stand down. "Who knows how many genuine enemies there are in town, we don't need to make unnecessary ones."
He huffs, but sighs. "Yes, I'd prefer not to be judge, jury, or executioner, let alone all three. Let's just go and meet up with the others."
You nod. Ouch.
As you turn away the man lets out a bitter chuckle. "Smart move, brats." Your pride chafes a bit, but not enough to make you consider changing your mind.
It's hard to appreciate when you're concussed and hyper-vigilant for enemies, but on your way back, you start to appreciate that Hong Kong really is an amazing place. It's incredibly modern, which you suppose makes sense considering it's only about 200 years old. Still, it's impressive. The sky is full of tall buildings the like of which you could never find in Italy, and new construction is everywhere.
Even though this place belongs to the British (and is one of the last major pieces of its former empire since Australia's independence became official last year), you can tell just from hearing the mutter of countless conversations around you that the place is overwhelmingly Chinese culturally- give it ten years, you bet, and the British will have to give up this place too.
Before long, you and Kakyoin have reached the restaurant you agreed to meet at beforehand, and you see your other three companions already waiting for you at a table. Joseph waves and yells for you loud enough to be embarrassing.
"Welcome back, you two! If you were any later we'd have gotten worried!"
Reasonably, Kakyoin waits until he's made it to the table to reply. "I apologize. We encountered someone I believe to be a new Stand-user, but he didn't challenge us or seem affiliated with DIO. We left without getting into any trouble."
"Oh," you interject, "but if you see the guy, just bear in mind he's potentially a danger." You describe the shady character you ran into and the others nod.
"It's said that when Stand-users congregate, fate will draw in more to meet them," Avdol says. "I suspect we will meet many enemies on our journey, though perhaps the same mechanism shall lead us to allies as well."
Joseph scoffs. "If having more Stand-users in a place increasingly brings even more there, then shouldn't all the world's Stand-users be drawn to one location like some kind of singularity? Seems like an unsustainable system from fate's perspective."
"There is such a place," replies Avdol grimly. "Cairo, Egypt."
You grimace as you realize he's right. In the course of a few weeks, you, Kakyoin, Son, Avdol, DIO, and at least two of DIO's companions were all in Cairo, and now the five of you are also heading there. That said, there's no telling how many other enemies you'll find there.
"Forget that," Jotaro grumbles. "Right now the important part is getting there."
Joseph nods and pushes an atlas he has open to the center of the table. "We can't just take another flight. We were lucky that only one civilian died last time, but if we get attacked on a plane a second time, there's a serious risk of a full-blown catastrophe!"
"Made even more serious by your track record with planes, old man."
You blink. "Track record with planes?"
Joestar blushes a bit and scratches his head. "Weeell, that crash with you and Gray Fly was actually… my third plane crash in my life."
Your eyebrows threaten to shoot off of your skull and into the sky. "Your third? I'm pretty sure the average must be way less than one, how unlucky are you?"
Kakyoin slides you a cup of tea as Joseph responds, and you nod in thanks as you begin to drink.
"Well, it's not just luck. When I was younger, one of my grandma's friends was very wealthy, so some criminals tried to hijack a flight I was on to ransom me. I punched their teeth in, but the plane wound up going down anyway."
Didn't he not have a Stand until a few weeks ago!? DIO wasn't lying about Joestar being dangerous!
"The second time is a long story, but the short version is I crashed it on purpose. Don't worry, nobody got hurt- nobody I didn't mean to, anyway."
What the fuck??? Who cares how long that story is??? Elaborate????
"And obviously you guys know about the third time."
Judging from their reactions, you can tell Jotaro and Avdol already know what he's talking about, but when you and Kakyoin make eye contact, his expression betrays that he's as flabbergasted as you are.
"W-well Mr. Joestar, we can perhaps discuss that at length later, but for now, perhaps we should consider our route. If flights aren't an option, we'll have to travel by land or sea instead. That leaves boat, car, rail, or the worst case scenario, foot. Rail is fastest, but we face the issue that if we're surrounded by civilians, enemies are hidden and protected."
"I think I'm pretty good at fighting without endangering civilians," you offer. "Flashdance doesn't do much collateral damage."
"That won't help much if we don't even know who or where our enemies are," Joestar replies. "I think our best strategy is chartering a boat. We can make sure the crew are vetted and safe, and anyone approaching from a distance would be super conspicuous."
"Plus, even today there are a lot of places that are serious trouble to pass on land even today," you add. "Taking a boat will let us dodge border crossings, which would especially be a problem in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, what with the wars going on. Plus, the last thing we want is to get attacked in some dangerous territory like the desert or Himalayas that our enemy is familiar with but we aren't."
"That settles it," Jotaro says with finality, and it does.
Kakyoin taps your arm to get your attention and gestures to the teapot on the table, the cap of which is halfway off. "In Hong Kong, this is how you let the waiter know you'd like more tea."
"Oh, uh, neat," you say.
Why did he bring that up? Why did he get my attention specifically? Is Kakyoin the type to brag? Is this flirting? I'm too concussed to unravel this social situation!
"Excuse me, good sirs," a man says as he sides up to the table, "could I request some help?"
Aha, a distraction! I owe you my life, French stranger!
"Hey, buzz off," Jotaro says, but Joseph shushes him.
"Don't mind my grandson, what do you need?"
"Well," the mohawked stranger says, "I'm trying to order, but I can't read this Chinese menu!"
Joseph laughs. "That's no problem. I don't speak Chinese, but I've been to Hong Kong enough to be able to read a menu!"
"Oh, uh, there's no need," you interrupt. Both Joestar and the stranger look to you in confusion. "English is mandatory in schools here. Not everybody's gonna be fluent, but anybody in the service industry should be able to take your order at least."
Joestar blushes again, apparently a bit embarrassed. "Er- I figured it'd be more polite to order in their native language, but… well, whatever, food's on me anyway! That's for you too, stranger, feel free to join us!"
Joseph's generous offer is an obvious diversion from his embarrassment, but it's obviously appreciated and, as you eat a hearty meal of shrimp, duck, mushrooms, and a shark fin soup, you manage to pull some nice conversation from the stranger.
He's a Frenchman, obvious from his accent. His name is Jean Pierre Polnareff, and he's not a tourist- he's here for business on behalf of a friend, but he doesn't elaborate further. You aren't paying much attention, mostly focusing on your delicious meal. Perhaps what Avdol said about spiritual healing mattering as much as physical was true, because you can feel Quattro stirring in your soul.
(Thanks to this hearty meal, the recovery of the group's injuries has progressed by 24 hours!)
As you're cleaning your plate and watching Joestar idly stir his bowl of mushroom soup he obvioisly isn't going to finish, you suddenly feel something of a chill in the air and reflexively glance over at Polnareff.
He's idly messing with a carrot sliced into a star. Was that even part of the meal you ordered? Where was there a carrot?
"Such craftsmanship," he mutters. "It's almost a shame to eat it. In fact, this star shape… it reminds me of a friend of mine… yes… a good friend of mine has a birthmark just like this on the back of his neck!"
He says it like he's saying something important and serious, but you're totally lost. What the fuck is this guy talking about?
Obviously everyone else gets it, because they all lean back in shock like he just told them he ran over their dog. "You bastard," Jotaro growls. "You're an enemy!"
Huh???? Just how much subtext is in this guy's star-shapes carrot for him to jump to that conclusion?
Moments later, though, Jotaro is proven right as Joestar's soup begins bubbling and boiling, before a sharp and shiny object bursts forth from it.
"Mr. Joestar," Kakyoin cries, "there's a sword in your soup!"
Joseph dodges backwards as that sword fully emerges, shattering the soup bowl as it's followed out by a mechanical arm clad in glittering silver armor. Polnareff looks as smug as a cat with a mouse as he takes a step back and poses with his Stand. "The card of conquest, pride, and decisive action! That's the Chariot, the card that represents my Stand, Si-"
Polnareff is cut off short by a fist to his face, sending him staggering back onto his ass, his shocked expression highlighted by a bloody nose.
"How dare you do that to my soup, you son of a bitch! Attacking me is one thing, but now I can't finish that delicious food after I kick your ass!"
"B-bastard," Polnareff says, wiping blood from his face as he gets up. "After I warned you before my attack, you won't even let me finish my introduction? Do you have no honor?"
"A bastard with no honor?" Joseph asks as he holds up his fists. "Don't worry, I'll cry lots of tears of shame after I kick your ass!"
Well damn, this escalated quickly.
[] Joseph seems to have a bone to pick with this guy (because of the soup???), so you ought to let him handle this.
[] It's Joseph's fight, but he obviously isn't too worried about keeping it fair. Run a little interference with Flashdance without getting too involved.
[] Eh? Are they really about to 1v1? Let's just jump this guy!
[] Write in…
State of affairs: You're in a room about 15 meters to a side with about 20 civilians in it, full of chairs and tables covered in food and silverware. Joseph and Polnareff are standing a few meters from the table that the rest of the group is circled about. No one's Stands are anywhere but at their sides. Polnareff looks a little rattled, but is otherwise fine.
He huffs, but sighs. "Yes, I'd prefer not to be judge, jury, or executioner, let alone all three. Let's just go and meet up with the others."
You nod. Ouch.
As you turn away the man lets out a bitter chuckle. "Smart move, brats." Your pride chafes a bit, but not enough to make you consider changing your mind.
It's hard to appreciate when you're concussed and hyper-vigilant for enemies, but on your way back, you start to appreciate that Hong Kong really is an amazing place. It's incredibly modern, which you suppose makes sense considering it's only about 200 years old. Still, it's impressive. The sky is full of tall buildings the like of which you could never find in Italy, and new construction is everywhere.
Even though this place belongs to the British (and is one of the last major pieces of its former empire since Australia's independence became official last year), you can tell just from hearing the mutter of countless conversations around you that the place is overwhelmingly Chinese culturally- give it ten years, you bet, and the British will have to give up this place too.
Before long, you and Kakyoin have reached the restaurant you agreed to meet at beforehand, and you see your other three companions already waiting for you at a table. Joseph waves and yells for you loud enough to be embarrassing.
"Welcome back, you two! If you were any later we'd have gotten worried!"
Reasonably, Kakyoin waits until he's made it to the table to reply. "I apologize. We encountered someone I believe to be a new Stand-user, but he didn't challenge us or seem affiliated with DIO. We left without getting into any trouble."
"Oh," you interject, "but if you see the guy, just bear in mind he's potentially a danger." You describe the shady character you ran into and the others nod.
"It's said that when Stand-users congregate, fate will draw in more to meet them," Avdol says. "I suspect we will meet many enemies on our journey, though perhaps the same mechanism shall lead us to allies as well."
Joseph scoffs. "If having more Stand-users in a place increasingly brings even more there, then shouldn't all the world's Stand-users be drawn to one location like some kind of singularity? Seems like an unsustainable system from fate's perspective."
"There is such a place," replies Avdol grimly. "Cairo, Egypt."
You grimace as you realize he's right. In the course of a few weeks, you, Kakyoin, Son, Avdol, DIO, and at least two of DIO's companions were all in Cairo, and now the five of you are also heading there. That said, there's no telling how many other enemies you'll find there.
"Forget that," Jotaro grumbles. "Right now the important part is getting there."
Joseph nods and pushes an atlas he has open to the center of the table. "We can't just take another flight. We were lucky that only one civilian died last time, but if we get attacked on a plane a second time, there's a serious risk of a full-blown catastrophe!"
"Made even more serious by your track record with planes, old man."
You blink. "Track record with planes?"
Joestar blushes a bit and scratches his head. "Weeell, that crash with you and Gray Fly was actually… my third plane crash in my life."
Your eyebrows threaten to shoot off of your skull and into the sky. "Your third? I'm pretty sure the average must be way less than one, how unlucky are you?"
Kakyoin slides you a cup of tea as Joseph responds, and you nod in thanks as you begin to drink.
"Well, it's not just luck. When I was younger, one of my grandma's friends was very wealthy, so some criminals tried to hijack a flight I was on to ransom me. I punched their teeth in, but the plane wound up going down anyway."
Didn't he not have a Stand until a few weeks ago!? DIO wasn't lying about Joestar being dangerous!
"The second time is a long story, but the short version is I crashed it on purpose. Don't worry, nobody got hurt- nobody I didn't mean to, anyway."
What the fuck??? Who cares how long that story is??? Elaborate????
"And obviously you guys know about the third time."
Judging from their reactions, you can tell Jotaro and Avdol already know what he's talking about, but when you and Kakyoin make eye contact, his expression betrays that he's as flabbergasted as you are.
"W-well Mr. Joestar, we can perhaps discuss that at length later, but for now, perhaps we should consider our route. If flights aren't an option, we'll have to travel by land or sea instead. That leaves boat, car, rail, or the worst case scenario, foot. Rail is fastest, but we face the issue that if we're surrounded by civilians, enemies are hidden and protected."
"I think I'm pretty good at fighting without endangering civilians," you offer. "Flashdance doesn't do much collateral damage."
"That won't help much if we don't even know who or where our enemies are," Joestar replies. "I think our best strategy is chartering a boat. We can make sure the crew are vetted and safe, and anyone approaching from a distance would be super conspicuous."
"Plus, even today there are a lot of places that are serious trouble to pass on land even today," you add. "Taking a boat will let us dodge border crossings, which would especially be a problem in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan, what with the wars going on. Plus, the last thing we want is to get attacked in some dangerous territory like the desert or Himalayas that our enemy is familiar with but we aren't."
"That settles it," Jotaro says with finality, and it does.
Kakyoin taps your arm to get your attention and gestures to the teapot on the table, the cap of which is halfway off. "In Hong Kong, this is how you let the waiter know you'd like more tea."
"Oh, uh, neat," you say.
Why did he bring that up? Why did he get my attention specifically? Is Kakyoin the type to brag? Is this flirting? I'm too concussed to unravel this social situation!
"Excuse me, good sirs," a man says as he sides up to the table, "could I request some help?"
Aha, a distraction! I owe you my life, French stranger!
"Hey, buzz off," Jotaro says, but Joseph shushes him.
"Don't mind my grandson, what do you need?"
"Well," the mohawked stranger says, "I'm trying to order, but I can't read this Chinese menu!"
Joseph laughs. "That's no problem. I don't speak Chinese, but I've been to Hong Kong enough to be able to read a menu!"
"Oh, uh, there's no need," you interrupt. Both Joestar and the stranger look to you in confusion. "English is mandatory in schools here. Not everybody's gonna be fluent, but anybody in the service industry should be able to take your order at least."
Joestar blushes again, apparently a bit embarrassed. "Er- I figured it'd be more polite to order in their native language, but… well, whatever, food's on me anyway! That's for you too, stranger, feel free to join us!"
Joseph's generous offer is an obvious diversion from his embarrassment, but it's obviously appreciated and, as you eat a hearty meal of shrimp, duck, mushrooms, and a shark fin soup, you manage to pull some nice conversation from the stranger.
He's a Frenchman, obvious from his accent. His name is Jean Pierre Polnareff, and he's not a tourist- he's here for business on behalf of a friend, but he doesn't elaborate further. You aren't paying much attention, mostly focusing on your delicious meal. Perhaps what Avdol said about spiritual healing mattering as much as physical was true, because you can feel Quattro stirring in your soul.
(Thanks to this hearty meal, the recovery of the group's injuries has progressed by 24 hours!)
As you're cleaning your plate and watching Joestar idly stir his bowl of mushroom soup he obvioisly isn't going to finish, you suddenly feel something of a chill in the air and reflexively glance over at Polnareff.
He's idly messing with a carrot sliced into a star. Was that even part of the meal you ordered? Where was there a carrot?
"Such craftsmanship," he mutters. "It's almost a shame to eat it. In fact, this star shape… it reminds me of a friend of mine… yes… a good friend of mine has a birthmark just like this on the back of his neck!"
He says it like he's saying something important and serious, but you're totally lost. What the fuck is this guy talking about?
Obviously everyone else gets it, because they all lean back in shock like he just told them he ran over their dog. "You bastard," Jotaro growls. "You're an enemy!"
Huh???? Just how much subtext is in this guy's star-shapes carrot for him to jump to that conclusion?
Moments later, though, Jotaro is proven right as Joestar's soup begins bubbling and boiling, before a sharp and shiny object bursts forth from it.
"Mr. Joestar," Kakyoin cries, "there's a sword in your soup!"
Joseph dodges backwards as that sword fully emerges, shattering the soup bowl as it's followed out by a mechanical arm clad in glittering silver armor. Polnareff looks as smug as a cat with a mouse as he takes a step back and poses with his Stand. "The card of conquest, pride, and decisive action! That's the Chariot, the card that represents my Stand, Si-"
Polnareff is cut off short by a fist to his face, sending him staggering back onto his ass, his shocked expression highlighted by a bloody nose.
"How dare you do that to my soup, you son of a bitch! Attacking me is one thing, but now I can't finish that delicious food after I kick your ass!"
"B-bastard," Polnareff says, wiping blood from his face as he gets up. "After I warned you before my attack, you won't even let me finish my introduction? Do you have no honor?"
"A bastard with no honor?" Joseph asks as he holds up his fists. "Don't worry, I'll cry lots of tears of shame after I kick your ass!"
Well damn, this escalated quickly.
[] Joseph seems to have a bone to pick with this guy (because of the soup???), so you ought to let him handle this.
[] It's Joseph's fight, but he obviously isn't too worried about keeping it fair. Run a little interference with Flashdance without getting too involved.
[] Eh? Are they really about to 1v1? Let's just jump this guy!
[] Write in…
State of affairs: You're in a room about 15 meters to a side with about 20 civilians in it, full of chairs and tables covered in food and silverware. Joseph and Polnareff are standing a few meters from the table that the rest of the group is circled about. No one's Stands are anywhere but at their sides. Polnareff looks a little rattled, but is otherwise fine.
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