prismatica | anonymous text, with an 18+ filter

...What do you keep laughing about.

[HE IS AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER JUST SITTING ON THIS COUCH TRYING TO READ HIS BOOK]

What's so funny?

Edited 2020-01-01 03:09 (UTC)

[LOOK. Even with how busy this 'spending new year's' together thing has been keeping him, Avdol's still been keeping an eye on the network. Mostly to see if anyone's in trouble.

Okay look he's been worrying about Abbacchio despite himself, so this atrocious copypasta came along at just the right time. Avdol's still trying to hold his laughter back as he switches the bracelet off, distinctly unable to make eye contact with Jotaro for fear of losing it.]

Nothing! Nothing at all, heh. [L I A R. Not even good at it.] The mochi should be done soon; feel like coming over and helping me pick out some fillings? I got fresh fruit and cream, beans, quite a few things.

[And guess who has been doing a very good job at pounding mochi, and looks incredibly proud of himself for it? At least Magician's Red doesn't technically tire out unless he's in dire need of chroma, so he makes for a great mochi maker.]

Yare yare, it is a good thing you weren't the one playing poker that day. You can't keep a straight face for anything.

[Still, the promise of mochi gets him up off the couch, where he carefully sets down his book, probably adjusts at least one chicken out of the way so that she doesn't end up unfortunately underfoot, and then wanders over to see what Avdol is up to.]

Is there chocolate? Do chocolate and fruit. That'd be good...right?

[He pauses a minute, racking his brain for something he vaguely remembers Abbacchio saying about food.]

Because they...complement?

I'll wear that, certainly! Otherwise I wouldn't have made you go through that...Or put myself through watching you gamble. You have no idea how many years you shaved off my lifespan with that stunt, Jotaro. ...Still, it worked, so chocolate and fruit it is!

[Magician's Red clacks his beak in approval, before wiping his Bird Brow with one arm; whether it's actually pounded out or not, he's clearly had enough of this shit, so it's stop time. And time to disappear as a whole so that Avdol doesn't end up a useless lump; as is, he's still pumped up enough to get to prepping the mochi. A blessing!

As he dusts a chopping board with potato starch, he waggles his eyebrows at Jotaro's Sophisticated Culinary Vocabulary, clearly impressed.] You're right, after all; fruit and chocolate complement each other wonderfully, for the most part. I think there should be some cooking chocolate in the pantry, of all three kinds? Pick out your favourite, and pick one of the plates of fruit I have here; we're making this a proper team effort, young man.

[It's a serious affair, making mochi; there are indeed dishes of fruit already chopped lining the counter, as well as a bowl of creme patissiere for good measure. But hey; when it comes to Jotaro's happiness, there's no skimping out.]

[It'll occur to him, belatedly, that it's kind of nice to hear Avdol make jokes and use idioms like "shaved off my lifespan", like a normal person who isn't dead. For a few seconds, it even gives him the opportunity to forget it himself, and that's the real gift, deep down.]

Did you just go crazy buying stuff for this, or did you have it all on hand?

[Abbacchio likes to cook, after all, and presumably he spends a fair amount of time here. Maybe their kitchen is just fully stocked at all times. Who knows.

Regardless, off he goes to fetch the chocolate he wants, and he winds up retrieving two — probably because he can't make up his mind. So there's dark chocolate and milk chocolate in his hands, and he's actually at the point of reading the labels while he tries to figure out which one is "best".]

Here.

[When it comes to the fruit, however, the decision is easy; he reaches immediately for a plate of cherries. And then stops, mid-reach, like he's just realized what he's doing. And then, more hesitantly, he completes the reach and pulls it over regardless.]

...I need to tell you something.

A bit of both. A lot of it is from when Leone was Cordis, and Kakyoin before that; they required a lot of feeding. The fruit might be as a special occasion thing, however! So much fresh fruit...It's wonderful! Makes up for the lack of spice to be found everywhere bar Caihong. I love t--

[Oh.

Oh.

Honestly, that's on Avdol. He should've known this would be a possible Thing, especially with how Jotaro had mentioned wanting to go into Kakyoin's room for a little while. Maybe that's why he bought the cherries, without thinking...But still. Good job, asshole. So he grimaces apologetically, twists a gobbet of mochi off the Main Host to dust in starch, and gets to work. Better to have these conversations when his hands are busy, so that he doesn't have to worry about what to do with them.]

I'm all ears.

[It occurs to him, vaguely, that he hasn't eaten a cherry in a long time. Of course he hasn't; he always gave them to Kakyoin whenever he had them, or Kakyoin would ask. They were his favorite, and he didn't have any particular opinion on them, so of course he did. Of course he did.

He hasn't eaten a cherry in a long time.

So he picks one up out of the bowl, slowly, and turns it over in his fingers to make sure it's pitted before almost anxiously popping it into his mouth. The juice is oversweet and tangy and will probably stain his mouth red, but the crunch is satisfying and all of a sudden he's so, so glad that Avdol is here.]

I.

[It's a start, but if anybody thought this was going to be anything BUT the epitome of pulling teeth to get a whole sentence out of Jotaro, they've got another think coming.]

I miss. K— everyone. I smoke too much. Sometimes I can't sleep. I —

[He looks like there's something else he wants to say, wants desperately to voice, and he can't get it to come out of his mouth. So after a few seconds, he shakes his head and shifts tack.]

Sometimes people ask me what I want. A lot of the things I want aren't things I can have. I get that. But. [He swallows hard.] I think. I want...to know what it feels like. To...

[This is getting painful. He tries again.]

To smile like Abbacchio smiles. When he talks about you. I want that.

[...]

Do you think that's okay? To want?

[As he listens, Avdol starts neatly snapping the block of dark chocolate (dark chocolate goes better with cherries, he thinks, as long as something's there to mellow out both flavours) into yet another bowl. Crack, clink, crack, clink, maybe a bit too much cracking at that last bit about how Abbacchio smiles when he talks about him because aaah, and then he gets a small bottle of cream from the fridge. It's all giving him time to chew on his words, instead of simply rushing into empty platitudes about 'yes of course, you're wonderful Jotaro'.

Haha it's joke, that's how Avdol genuinely feels anyway!!]

I do. In fact, I'm going to be very blunt with you. I think that not being selfish here and taking what happiness you can get...Would be foolish. Lost opportunity to know more than what we could otherwise. [The cream goes into another bowl, all for Avdol to stir with his index finger as he fixes Jotaro with an incredibly warm smile.] Maybe I'm biased. But I think that you deserve to know exactly how I feel, and how Leone feels. How I hope he feels, anyway.

Of all people, you deserve to be greedy here. So we're going to eat as many chocolate-cherry mochi as we can stomach, and I want you to try and grasp onto everything that brings you joy on this planet while we're here. ...I also want you to sleep more, to be honest! But I can look into things that might help you with that later.

I didn't know it took so many bowls.

[A remark that comes a little stupidly, but briefly thinking about the mochi and the efforts Avdol's hands are making is a much-appreciated respite from facing up to the fact that he apparently has a big heart full of feelings, or something.]

...Jolyne didn't get upset when I asked her about it. If she'd...have a problem seeing her dad around somebody who wasn't her mom. She didn't get mad. Abbacchio said I shouldn't worry so much and just try it. See what happens.

[He huffs a little, sinking down a little into the collar of his coat.]

Alucard told me to put lavender on my pillow, to sleep. It helps a little. Tea, too. He checks up on me. Told me to learn how to cook so I can eat better. And sleep more.

[You know, when he says it like that, it kind of puts into perspective just how much of his personal recovery has been rooted in "people he cares about harassing him into doing it". Damn.]

B-- Oh no, I'm making ganache so it's not a hard bite. More pleasant if the chocolate's soft, right? You heat the cream up so it's not quite boiling, then tip it over the chocolate to melt it, stir it together...Then once it's firmed up some, we can use it as a filling for the mochi, with the cherries.

[Speaking of which, the cream's starting to get a gentle foam on the surface; better pull that finger out and get to finishing off the ganache process!!! But he still has one cream-covered finger...

Well, that's easy to solve. Reach out and wipe it on Jotaro's nose, of course! Casual as anything too. Ass.] I'm glad that she doesn't mind. Everything considered, I think she counts as the only other party who has a say on your love life to a degree. ...And maybe she understands, like Leone does, that life's too short to worry about this sort of thing too much.

You're very close to Alucard, aren't you? You really like him, if you're letting him offer help. ...That's a relief. I was worried about you; that you wouldn't open up to anyone, and I couldn't blame you if you didn't want to, but...It's still a relief. I'm really, truly happy for you, Jotaro.

What are yo— hggggh.

[RIGHT ON HIS NOSE. WHAT THE HELL. AAAAAAAAAAAUGH SUCH BETRAYAL. And yet there is probably nobody currently in Lunatia who could get away with such an action quite the way that Avdol does, which is to say he huffs and he fumes and he wipes his face off, but in that sort of adorable sulky kind of way.]

I don't want Jolyne to think I don't want her to exist. I'm going to make sure I still have her. I won't let anything get in the way of that.

[But. Then there's that other part, I was worried about you, I'm happy for you, and he's back to awkward fidgeting again.]

He's...Alucard, he's...

[Easy to talk to. The right kind of bastard. Like Kakyoin, sometimes, and like Polnareff others. Smart. Funny. Calming. Lonely. Someone who gets it. Someone who isn't hard to talk to. Someone unexpected. Someone...]

He's okay.

[ (internal screaming) ]

[Suddenly, the pieces slot into place with a neat click, and Avdol almost drops the bowl of very tasty warm ganache in his revelation. Jotaro listens to Alucard. Jotaro is now thinking about his own happiness. Jotaro has mentioned Alucard multiple times by now, all with affection and approval. (Maybe Avdol's piggybacking off his quiet theory about Kakyoin, too, but still.)]

Oh Jotaro. ...I can't say I disapprove, not at all. And I don't think Jolyne would, either.

[Is

That's apparently all he's going to say; Jotaro's reaction will fill in the blanks for him, really, and the ganache needs to go into the fridge now that it's nice and glossy. Once that's done, Avdol's just going to smile expectantly and get to making blueberry creme mochi. Might as well make something to eat until they can get to the Good Shit, both talk-wise and food-wise.]

Disapprove of what?

[He says, intelligently, like the dumbass he is, until it starts to occur to him that Avdol isn't talking about approving of Jolyne's existence (why would he say "I don't think Jolyne would disapprove either" if he were talking about her existing? Of course she wouldn't disapprove) and therefore, logically, he must be talking about something else.

And —

It's not like he didn't know what he was getting into, deciding to talk to Avdol about it. Jolyne is his daughter, but he's still enough of an enigma to her that he's pretty sure she can't read him at a glance. Abbacchio figured him out, partway, but only in an objective sense, not in a way that he could intuit details.

Avdol knows him. Knows his tells. Knows the signs. Avdol knows where to look to find the things he wants to know.

Avdol's smiling at him like the bastard he is. Bastard.]

No. Shut up. Cut it out. Quit looking at me like that!

[SO MUCH TSUN IT'S A TSUNAMI]

He's not that okay! He makes me crazy. Shut up!

That's what this sort of thing does, though! You go a little crazy--

He's why you might be busy on Triple Moon, isn't he?! [Delicately, Avdol puts the mochi down so he can slam both hands on the counter in excitement. OHHHHH HIS SON HAS A CRUSH AND IT'S ON A VERY NICE MAN OHHHHH THIS IS THE BEST OHHHHHHHHHHHH.] Jotaro! This is exciting! I'm proud of you! He's an excellent choice, not that anyone ever has a real say in these things, but still. You've done well for yourself!

I guess now I have to send him a message saying that if he hurts your feelings, I'm going to burn him to a crisp...He'll understand, though. Have you been on a date yet, or does he not know how you feel?

[what if he just stops time and runs. he could do that. what a great use of his stand ability that would be. screw ruling over the world, stopping time to escape from embarrassing situations is the REAL SHIT.

Except he's not going to do that, because this is Avdol, no matter how much he's CARRYING ON LIKE HIS MOM WOULD IF HIS MOM WERE HERE and there is not enough yare yare in the world right now.

Although — the mention of triple moon has an odd effect on him, because while he still looks as mortified as one might expect from an Area Thug Forced To Undergo This, his mood sobers slightly when Avdol brings that particular aspect up.]

It's not like that. Listen —

[He sinks down further in his collar, like he's trying to let it swallow him up.]

He's. ...He reminds me of Kakyoin.

[He hesitates.]

Remember how Kakyoin was so...glad, about meeting us? He was so glad we could see Hierophant. He was so glad we were like him.

Kakyoin never wanted to ask for help because he didn't want us to think he was weak. Alucard doesn't ask for help, either, but — I think it's because he thinks there isn't anybody he can ask.

[And what goes unspoken between those two things hangs heavy in the air. Jotaro wasn't there to help Kakyoin when he needed it the most, and he's never forgiven himself for that. This time, he's here, and he can. No wonder he feels so compelled.]

[GOD JOTARO WAY TO KILL THE MOOD?

But Avdol gets it a little more. Has a little more of his theories confirmed, certainly, but it's also not as simple as 'oh wowie Jotaro has a crush har har har'. That's not how it starts, he's starting to understand.

Jotaro wants to help, of course. Jotaro's far too good, and he wants to help someone he cares about. His feelings are almost an afterthought in the equation, and suddenly, Avdol feels a sharp pang of misplaced paternal pride; at least he shuts up and makes to hand over the blueberry creme mochi, instead of prattling on too much.]

I'm glad that you're there for him. It's-- It's very hard to ask for help at the best of times, but when it comes to this sort of thing...I didn't ask for help, either. Not even when I promised Polnareff that I would. So if you're there for him, and he's able to take you up on your offers to help...Then I know he'll appreciate it as much as Kakyoin did.

[WHO DO YOU THINK HE IS IF NOT THE WORLD'S GREATEST BUZZKILL.

He's shuffling his weight from foot to foot, not fast enough to really make it obvious, but there's some definite fidgeting there.]

Idon'twanthimtobealone.

[Thank you, Captain Mumbles.]

It...is it weird? That I just...

[...]

Even when it's not Sanguis, I still kind of feel like it is. But only about him.

[A BABY BOY THAT IS WHO. Which is why Avdol, despite having most of his buzz definitely killed, allows just a little of it to show through.

He understands, after all. Thinks he does, anyway.] ...Not at all. I believe arrangements like this are common in Lunatia, at least, so there's nothing weird about it here. Or to me; you care about him, you sense that he's lonely, and you don't want him to be hurt. No matter what these feelings are called, they're good ones, and ones that you're allowed to have.

Just so you know, that's also how I felt about Leone when we first met. And I was sure that, after I assisted him with moonlacing, we'd just remain friends.

Just so you know what you risk. [Watch out Jotaro, you might....Fall in love with a hot sad goth!!!] But I'm not going to tell you what your feelings are! The point is that both you and Alucard deserve happiness, and it's clear that he brings it to you. I have no doubt you bring him the same happiness. So it could never be a bad thing.

anonymous text, with an 18+ filter | Happy New Year, Prismatica!

action with explicit permission;

i would like to apologise to jotaro forever and ever.

HE DESERVES IT AFTER THIS

he absolutely does. a saint. a paragon in his sexile.

saint jotaro, patron saint of yare yare

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