│🍒│ Noriaki had found it next to impossible to sleep in such a situation with the amount of noise around them. Polnareff’s sound sleeping was almost annoying to him. ❝I wasn’t asleep. Don’t worry.❞
He spoke in a soft tone, similar to Jotaro’s. ❝Ah, so that’s it? I’m sorry to hear,❞ He brushed the tips of his fingers over Jotaro’s trembling hand in an attempt to provide comfort, exhaling softly. ❝I’m sure we’re not far from our hotel. It’s been a long week; just try and relax for now.❞ He offered a genuine smile. ❝Is it just that? Is there anything else bothering you at the moment?❞ He was rightfully worried; Jotaro had to have a lot on his mind. The situation the older boy was in wasn’t to be taken lightly, after all.
Jotaro’s first instinct is to of course say no, there’s nothing else on his mind. He usually keeps any problems and thoughts to himself since he doesn’t feel the need to bother others with it. He tells them and then what? That magically solves it? No, it doesn’t. In his mind it’d probably just make matters worse since he was looked upon as a pillar of strength of sorts due to his unwavering level-head in the face of turmoil. If he didn’t have that, he’s sure it’d be a lot harder to keep this rag-tag team from screwing up.
But that’d also be a lie. Kakyoin is a friend. They’ve only known each other for a few weeks but going through everything together makes Jotaro feel as though they’re close friends. The shorter male often confides in him, after all. Maybe Jotaro should at least attempt it.
“I’m a little worried. Our enemies keep getting stronger. Some of us could—probably will—die. Shit like that weighs on me a lot.”
“Its merely speculating for now, but its the best guess I got so far ..” humming she tapped her chin in thought before interruped her train of thoughts with his question. Snickering woman merely shook her head in dismiss. “It does say on invitation plus one, and you mr Kujo are my plus one for the evening, I can only assume there will be other bringing so called bodyguards. Not that I need one but hey…..its best cover we got ~”
Reaching for pocket of her coat she pulled out pack of cigars only to place one between her lips and soon light it,sighing a bit. “Dont worry you only need to put up with this charade for bit while”
“I can live with that,” Jotaro says, trying to think of how exactly one acts like a bodyguard. Does this mean he’ll have to remain around her the whole duration of the event? He can’t exactly go snooping around when he’s just posing as a bodyguard. He’s sure he might be able to slip away a few times on the guise of running off to the restroom (maybe), but more than twice would begin to look suspicious, especially if it’s for anything more than a couple of minutes.
“Is there a time and a place the two of us should meet?” he asks. This is sort of short notice and he still has to get that suit cleaned now that he knows he’ll actually have to wear it. The thought makes him a little uncomfortable since he’s always regarded formal wear as much too stuffy for his tastes—he’s been wearing long, flowy coats since he was 17, after all.
Small smirk danced along corner of her lips, amused to see any sort of change in his expression was priceless. “Sadly for you yes, if you not have formal wear I can aquire one on short notice “ she dded giving small shrug with her shoulders.
“But heres one funny thing about this little part….the son of old boss was missing for 5 years and just when his father vanishes he is back not even saying where he was. just few days before he shown his face the strange events started happening ….see where im going with this ?|
“I have formal wear. I’m just not fond of wearing it,” Jotaro frowns, realizing he’ll have to take those to the cleaners since they haven’t been worn in ages. He’s surprised he even brought them with him, honestly, but it was part of his personal philosophy to always be prepared should something unexpected arise. This was the exact unexpected occasion he came prepared for, it seemed.
“You saying he might be the one behind this?” Jotaro raises a brow. If that’s the case then it might be a little difficult to get to a guy like that at an event like this, but that won’t be the goal here. He figures he’ll do some snooping around to see if maybe it all is just some odd coincidence (he doubts that).
“You don’t think I’ll stick out? This isn’t some sort of exclusive party, is it?”
Jotaro blinks, his eyes groggy from having them closed in his attempt to sleep, only he couldn’t. The air was dry and cold, the rickety sound of the car driving along coupled with Polnareff’s heavy snores distracting him. He didn’t even think Kakyoin was still awake, so the sound of his voice (gentle, concerned) was a surprise.
“Sorry. Did I wake you? I guess I’m just sort of cold,” he says, voice low to not disrupt the snoring man sitting in front of him (or his grandfather who was driving, no doubt kept up by the quiet hum of the car’s radio. “And I can’t sleep.”
The apology doesn’t fall on deaf ears. No, instead it makes her stomach turn and leaves a bittersweet taste in her mouth. She really feels like an ass. "Don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong.“ The reply comes quickly in hopes that it’ll stop the guilt from bubbling up. It’s odd really. Jolyne had always thought that hearing any sort of apology from him would be a lot more satisfying, in this moment it’s not.
That’s not to say her anger and bitterness had just vanished- more like put on hold. Afterall, she figured he’d just up and leave in no time (everything involving him always seemed so TEMPORARY), so why not make the best of it for now. Once he was gone, things would go back to normal.Her expression softens, even with the mention of school.
“School’s fine. I’ve managed to bring my grades up…I won’t be graduating for another year or two…I’ve got a few friends…not many.” she responds with a slight shrug. “Mom’s good. Mostly just been working. But we did go down to Miami last weekend. One of the things we did was go dress shopping. A guy a few grades ahead of me asked me to go to prom with him. She was real excited about it.”
There’s a brief pause to let what she’s already said sink in, along with a chance to consider what else she could say. “I’ve got a picture of me in the one we picked out on my phone if you wanna dig it out of my purse and look at it…It’s a halter top, mermaid style in Tiffany blue with crystal embellishments…”
Jolyne’s words are quick and the topic of the conversation quickly shifts, but he can’t help the lingering guilt because she’s wrong and he’s done so much wrong in “raising” her. He did exactly what his own father did. For different reasons, of course, but it seemed Jotaro couldn’t make it right with his own daughter. He wants to, truly, because she deserves better. Both her and her mother do, but…
Maybe somehow, someway, it’ll all work out. This is the most time he’s spent with Jolyne in the past few years, after all. It’s a definite improvement, if he is walking on eggshells.
“I’m glad to hear that. And uh, stay safe. It sounds like fun,” Jotaro offers, even if something like a high school prom isn’t his kind of thing. There was no such thing at the school he went to so he wasn’t sure of all the mechanics, but through watching American movies since living there he understands the gist of it.
Jotaro does take out her phone and look at the picture. It’s nice, he supposes, but he’s not sure since he isn’t any sort of fashionista. He just sees something he likes and wears it, usually keeping to subtle, plain colors. Though he did see some snakeskin pants the other day that he really liked… Maybe he’d buy those.
“Jolyne,” he suddenly says, his voice stern as he intends to express that it’s something a little more serious. “Are you free tomorrow? There are some things I need to tell you about since you’re old enough and I want you to understand.”
she’d began to suck away at the bottle. she was indeed, hungry. but only because you reminded her she was! –nah she knew she was too half the reason why she came to you. she’d pulled the bottle away to look at him again and give a smile. she’s very thankful of you, nephew.
Jotaro isn’t particularly good with children despite having one of his own. He was pretty active in raising Jolyne for the first few years of her life, but it was more often than not her mother that took care of diaper changes and feeding and burping the baby girl. It’d been so long since then, too, that Jotaro was very worried about messing this up.
His aunt, he realizes (this family tree is so fucked up), is smiling at him. Jotaro might often be stony-faced, but he isn’t entirely void of emotion. He returns a small smile of his own, reaching over to cradle the baby in his arms. This is nice. Stress relieving, even, at a time in his life when there’s constant stress around every corner.
“That’s not what I meant…” Jotaro stays, remaining where he stands leaning against the wall as he clears his throat, ignoring some of the other shoppers that glared at him for saying something so apparently rude.
“The dress is fine, I guess. I meant that you look like you haven’t been sleeping well recently. Are you sick?”
“Now now mr Kujo if I were to flaunt my real proffesion openly it would be bad for buisness “ she added with playful giggle escaping her lips. “But in public im just a rich heiress of wine company in France…speaking of which…” humming she offers a neatly warped envelope to him.
“Remember the old boss we spoke of ? Turns out his son is holding a party tonight , care to join and have a look around ?”
“Figures. I can accept that,” Jotaro offers a shrug. He didn’t care too much since it didn’t matter too much to his job. It was more of a slight curiosity. Regardless, he’s sure he’ll end up finding out eventually (whether she tells him or not). Jotaro doesn’t mind sharing what he does, but since she doesn’t ask he doesn’t bother sharing.
“That’s a bit short notice. I won’t mind since it could be beneficial to my investigation into this town’s strange occurrences, but…” Jotaro pauses, his brows furrowing. He looks genuinely a little concerned with the question he’s about to pose.
