[ The room at the Joestar motel has been quiet, although not silent. His new companions mutter to one another about Josuke's current predicament – an antidote, a cure, an operation, something that might save Josuke from the seemingly inevitable fate of parasitism. He can't die. Josuke said it once with such firmness in his voice, he needn't repeat himself again. Still, that made things... difficult, and the doubtfully exchanged glances go unmissed by Josuke.
Josuke sits on a bed with his head in his hands for most of it. It didn't matter who Josuke was as a person, nothing could have prepared him for the series of events that had taken course over the last week. A death, a dream, the new voice in his head that seemed never to relent. He could feel a certain pressure in his muscles that begged him to move. A strange cocktail of emotions swirls in his stomach as he tries not to think about the worst of his situation.
If he could fix himself, Josuke is sure that he could figure out a way to pluck the voice from his head.
'All this talk about cures and forcible eviction! Why don't you just tell them that I've gone quiet, Joey? That would be loads easier! And then once you stop traumatizing your friends, I could hang back and tell you things, you know, keep you on the straight and narrow. Like the guardian angel I am.'
Josuke's head lifts only slightly. Jack, that weirdo, who talked so much about death, and free will, and mind control – it seemed almost like he could do anything if he wanted to, and... Without immediately sharing his thoughts aloud, Josuke flicks his phone out, starting with a text, and then turns to his companions. ]
To: Alisaie Leveilleur :) Hey, you mind telling me where Jack works? Need to ask him for a favor...
Hey, Giorno, Bucciarati... I actually think I have an idea about how I can get this guy taken care of, but I'll need help to pull it off. [ He stands up, quickly moving into the kitchen to grab something – a few bouillon cubes should work, right? He presses them into Giorno's hand. ] Giorno, can you make this into an animal? Something easy to handle. And, Bucciarati, if you put a zipper in the back of my head, would I be able to take it with me for a bit? I might know a guy who can get in there.
[ 'You sure you're not having a stroke right now? Hey, if you want, I could check for you! Probe a couple of those neural pathways, make sure everything's on the up and up.'
Josuke sneers, a dark chuckle on his voice as he pours over a piece of paper. Rodent chatters start to kick up in the pensive air. ] I figure, we get you inside something that's not me, then I can put you damn near anywhere I please. Wonder what I'll pick?
[ Josuke's mood swings fast, a nervous lilt on his voice: ] W-Wait a minute! You don't mean you're actually gonna -- Think about what you're doing here, Joey! You're gonna get me killed!
[ And quickly, he's back to himself, although the smile on his face is decidedly more irritable. ] Relax, Clarence... I already have something in mind. Here, [ he slides the paper toward Bruno—it's a map out into the Fringes, circling a location pretty confidently. ] I need the two of you to head out here and get Clarence's crap. Grab the car too if it's still there, but you need to find the pager that's on the body. After that, meet me at this address. It's a shitty dive bar. We'll meet up there later, but keep me posted on text.
With any luck, I'll be free of this headache in just a few hours. Meanwhile, Clarence... if you want this to work out, I'm going to need you to give me a lot more details about these guys we're about to go after. Otherwise, the rat state of this whole plan might not play out so favorably for you.
[ The bowling alley, huh? Josuke double-checks the address on his phone before looking back up the business. It's a shot in the dark that Jack is here, but at least it's a place to start. There's chatter in his head, but after this many days Josuke has started to get a little more used to ignoring. Strangely enough, there's also chatter in the helmet that hangs off his hip, a rodent clamoring inside a layer of two pillow cases and hidden in the darkness of a mysterious hammer space. Though it didn't take Josuke too long to figure out the trick to his bizarre find of his, he hadn't quite had enough time with it to discover the damage it could do long term.
That doesn't matter. What matters is getting the whirlwind of his overthinking down to just the once voice – his own.
Josuke heads in, immediately met with the sonorous clatter of plastic-coated maple wood struck by bowling balls. Silence holds him as his indigo eyes scan the lanes, thinking it could be alright to come here some time for some normal fun and not this living nightmare. Maybe Giorno would want to join some time – he's not sure that they'd gotten to do much casual hanging out since finally meeting, aside from Josuke's passion for reality TV. If he thinks about it, bowling might be one of the few sports neither of them could use their Stands to cheat at... could be interesting.
He doesn't spot Jack immediately, so Josuke slides up to the shoe counter, staring at Jack's co-worker. ] Hey, uh... You know if a guy by the name of Jack works here? Been trying to get ahold of him.
[ Silence. Bubble gum pops at her lips. Her hand goes out and she wags fingers at Josuke like she expects something. Josuke knows that look. Josuke has made that look. If this isn't just the exact kind of karma he deserves. ]
Are you freaking serious?? Ugh, fine.
[ He doesn't have time for this shit. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, no doubt there is ceaseless laughter as Josuke pulls out his wallet, his lips and eye twitching with rage. Slapping a fiver into the woman's, hand, she jerks her thumb in the right direction. Looks like Josuke got lucky after all. ]
[ Jack is in the back area where they set up pins for the games, and he's fixing one of the machines. He's not as good at it as his fathers would be, but he knows enough to get these back and running. It's actually the perfect area for Josuke to come back to if he wants to have a more private conversation since it's just Jack back there. He locks the pins into place, and the machine moves, putting them out like it's supposed to.
It's actually through the hole where the pins are that he spots Josuke and looks surprised. The last time they saw one another was tense, so he didn't expect the other man to go looking for him, but maybe it was better than he remembered. Josuke can walk right down a lane toward where he is and step through to the other side where all the machines are working.
He looks like his normal self now, not the person on the edge that Josuke met. There's no glow to him, no shaking or clenched tight hands, and at first glance he would seem perfectly average. That's the thing about some apex predators. They don't always have to be obvious. His smile is pleased and shy, glad to see him, and he lifts a hand in a wave. ]
Hi! Welcome to the back end of the place.
[ It's dark back there, but the light of the alley itself cascades in enough to see one another.]
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The Plan—
Josuke sits on a bed with his head in his hands for most of it. It didn't matter who Josuke was as a person, nothing could have prepared him for the series of events that had taken course over the last week. A death, a dream, the new voice in his head that seemed never to relent. He could feel a certain pressure in his muscles that begged him to move. A strange cocktail of emotions swirls in his stomach as he tries not to think about the worst of his situation.
If he could fix himself, Josuke is sure that he could figure out a way to pluck the voice from his head.
'All this talk about cures and forcible eviction! Why don't you just tell them that I've gone quiet, Joey? That would be loads easier! And then once you stop traumatizing your friends, I could hang back and tell you things, you know, keep you on the straight and narrow. Like the guardian angel I am.'
Josuke's head lifts only slightly. Jack, that weirdo, who talked so much about death, and free will, and mind control – it seemed almost like he could do anything if he wanted to, and... Without immediately sharing his thoughts aloud, Josuke flicks his phone out, starting with a text, and then turns to his companions. ]
Hey, you mind telling me where Jack works? Need to ask him for a favor...
Hey, Giorno, Bucciarati... I actually think I have an idea about how I can get this guy taken care of, but I'll need help to pull it off. [ He stands up, quickly moving into the kitchen to grab something – a few bouillon cubes should work, right? He presses them into Giorno's hand. ] Giorno, can you make this into an animal? Something easy to handle. And, Bucciarati, if you put a zipper in the back of my head, would I be able to take it with me for a bit? I might know a guy who can get in there.
[ 'You sure you're not having a stroke right now? Hey, if you want, I could check for you! Probe a couple of those neural pathways, make sure everything's on the up and up.'
Josuke sneers, a dark chuckle on his voice as he pours over a piece of paper. Rodent chatters start to kick up in the pensive air. ] I figure, we get you inside something that's not me, then I can put you damn near anywhere I please. Wonder what I'll pick?
[ Josuke's mood swings fast, a nervous lilt on his voice: ] W-Wait a minute! You don't mean you're actually gonna -- Think about what you're doing here, Joey! You're gonna get me killed!
[ And quickly, he's back to himself, although the smile on his face is decidedly more irritable. ] Relax, Clarence... I already have something in mind. Here, [ he slides the paper toward Bruno—it's a map out into the Fringes, circling a location pretty confidently. ] I need the two of you to head out here and get Clarence's crap. Grab the car too if it's still there, but you need to find the pager that's on the body. After that, meet me at this address. It's a shitty dive bar. We'll meet up there later, but keep me posted on text.
With any luck, I'll be free of this headache in just a few hours. Meanwhile, Clarence... if you want this to work out, I'm going to need you to give me a lot more details about these guys we're about to go after. Otherwise, the rat state of this whole plan might not play out so favorably for you.
[ '...Bollocks.' ]
Jack—
That doesn't matter. What matters is getting the whirlwind of his overthinking down to just the once voice – his own.
Josuke heads in, immediately met with the sonorous clatter of plastic-coated maple wood struck by bowling balls. Silence holds him as his indigo eyes scan the lanes, thinking it could be alright to come here some time for some normal fun and not this living nightmare. Maybe Giorno would want to join some time – he's not sure that they'd gotten to do much casual hanging out since finally meeting, aside from Josuke's passion for reality TV. If he thinks about it, bowling might be one of the few sports neither of them could use their Stands to cheat at... could be interesting.
He doesn't spot Jack immediately, so Josuke slides up to the shoe counter, staring at Jack's co-worker. ] Hey, uh... You know if a guy by the name of Jack works here? Been trying to get ahold of him.
[ Silence. Bubble gum pops at her lips. Her hand goes out and she wags fingers at Josuke like she expects something. Josuke knows that look. Josuke has made that look. If this isn't just the exact kind of karma he deserves. ]
Are you freaking serious?? Ugh, fine.
[ He doesn't have time for this shit. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, no doubt there is ceaseless laughter as Josuke pulls out his wallet, his lips and eye twitching with rage. Slapping a fiver into the woman's, hand, she jerks her thumb in the right direction. Looks like Josuke got lucky after all. ]
no subject
It's actually through the hole where the pins are that he spots Josuke and looks surprised. The last time they saw one another was tense, so he didn't expect the other man to go looking for him, but maybe it was better than he remembered. Josuke can walk right down a lane toward where he is and step through to the other side where all the machines are working.
He looks like his normal self now, not the person on the edge that Josuke met. There's no glow to him, no shaking or clenched tight hands, and at first glance he would seem perfectly average. That's the thing about some apex predators. They don't always have to be obvious. His smile is pleased and shy, glad to see him, and he lifts a hand in a wave. ]
Hi! Welcome to the back end of the place.
[ It's dark back there, but the light of the alley itself cascades in enough to see one another.]
What's going on?