driftfleet | gettin shippy with it?

[Hold on a second. Why she shocked to see him? Joseph's already confused enough by her being here, but he's officially double confused.]

You're... [He almost doesn't ask. He knows that keeping her cool exterior is important to her and if she's upset, Joseph doesn't want to be the one to draw attention to it. That has the tendency to make it worse with his whole inability to get through most serious conversations without putting his foot in his mouth. The difference is Lisa Lisa's punishments are always, always creative. No thank you. But he lets the rest of the question fall out slowly anyway,] ...okay, right?

[ She had read some things that people had said about this situation. That all sorts of things happened here that weren't normally within the realm of possibility.

Well. Coming back from the dead wasn't impossible as far as she knew. But she had seen the undead face to face many times, and the boy before her was surely alive. Just like he was not so long ago ...

He's looking at her like something is wrong. She knows how perceptive he can be, and that means she needs to shut down all these feelings that are bubbling to the surface.

She pushes her sunglasses up to the top of her head. ]

Yes.

I wasn't expecting to see anyone I recognized, here.

Yeah, neither did I when I first got here, but I didn't have to go looking very far and there was Caesar.

[..................................Oops.]

[He probably should have... You know, not just... There are about a hundred ways that Joseph probably could have eased into that a little better than he did, but he just started talking without thinking. Or he was thinking somewhere in the back of his mind that she'd be glad to hear Caesar was here and he was alive since he was more or less like a son to Lisa Lisa. Maybe it would make things a little easier, but that's still Big News and you don't just say without some lead-up.]

[Shit.]

He's here, too. [Yes, Jojo, she got that.] He remembers everything that happened and he's... [not okay, but] ...He's doing better about it. You know I can tell him you're here?

[In case she wants some time alone with Caesar. Which she probably does. She must. Not that Joseph's about to think she doesn't want to see him, but Caesar would probably be better. He'd be able to explain things better anyway without, you know, blurting out that there are some people back from the dead around here or something equivalent.]

[ Yeah, that sort of ruins the composure again. She has to wonder: Is she dead, too? The battle with Kars was over -- she knew that much. But how was any of this ... ]

... Yes. Tell him.

[ She is still not sure what to make of all of this, but she does know that she wants to see the both of them again, together, alive. There isn't much she would want more, honestly.

She'll stare at him expectantly, then, waiting for him to take her to him, to call him, whatever he needs to do. ]

[...Yeah, okay. Joseph's got this. He'll take out his communicator and text Caesar, glancing at Lisa Lisa occasionally as he types. He looks at her again fully once he's done.]

I told him to come over as soon as he got my message. That kiss-up won't keep you waiting.

[Yes. Levity. This is...fine... Sorta.]

[ What is levity? What are jokes? She doesn't acknowledge the comment, silent as she is lost in her own thoughts. It's difficult to think of how to get the information she needs to proceed from here without alarming either of them. ]

Jojo. What is the last thing you remember?

[ If he says Caesar can remember his own death, and he clearly remrmbers it happening as well ... She at least needs to know where to start. ]

[Well, that's a weird question. Joseph blinks a few times as he tries to figure out where that's coming from. Hm. Maybe it isn't that weird of a question. Joseph did just assume Lisa Lisa knew everything he knew and that was it. But maybe she knew a little further than he did even though their circumstances weren't like what they are between Joseph and Caesar's time discrepancies. That's a possibility, right? He glances at his communicator when Caesar responds (okay, good. He's coming over.) and distractedly replies,]

You were about to kick Kars' ass. [He pockets his communicator.] You remember that, right?

[ Yes, fortunately for him, she does happen to know more in this case. Which means she'll also know exactly what to omit.

Caesar's death is an inevitability here. All three of them clearly remember it. There's no taking it back. But if she can make it sound like Jojo was victorious, that he lived on and everything was worth it -- maybe it would make things better.

She knows that Jojo was already having difficulty with what he had seen in the time he had been sucked into the world of Hamon training and the Pillar Men. Maybe, despite the situation they faced now, knowing that Kars was gone and believing he lived to tell the tale could ease that worry in some way.

She quirks her lips up in the way that she does when she's proud of him, when he's done well, though she wouldn't quite say as much.

It's not so hard to pretend, is it? ]

I remember you defeating him, as well.

[There are about a thousand and one things that start rolling around in Joseph's head at hearing that. There's disbelief at first. It's not because he doesn't trust Lisa Lisa or that he thinks she'd ever lie to him about something like that because she wouldn't. She's never been all that interested in preserving his feelings or filling his head with any sort of fanciful ideas about what's to come next. (Which has been difficult, but he's been grateful for it in the long-run without really realizing it. Keeping Joseph grounded isn't an easy job, but it's a necessary one. He had to grow up if he was ever going to come out of this the other side.) But it's still difficult to hear and readily accept that he won. That there was an end to it. That there was something more after. All those things that he had to keep telling himself over and over again would happen because if he didn't, he'd lose sight of them... They're really gonna happen?]

[Joseph quietly lets go of the breath he didn't know he was holding. Tentatively, he feels a weight lifted off his shoulders. He feels like he's about to start bordering on hysterical and has to cover his mouth for a second because he's about to either burst out laughing or maybe start crying. He's not sure which. Either way, he doesn't want to laugh or cry in front of Lisa Lisa after hearing something like that. It'd be too embarrassing. He also sorta feels like he needs to sit down, too, but he stays standing because he doesn't feel like he's totally in control of his limbs right now either. He wants to tell Caesar right now, but he wants to tell him in-person and kiss him because there's a future for both of them to go back to as far as he's concerned. He wants to see Granny Erina and Smokey and Speedwagon right now and wishes he could just find some way to make it so. Hell, he even wants to hug Lisa Lisa.]

[But none of those things happen. It feels like a small stretch of eternity before he moves his hand from his mouth again and is able to come at least halfway out of the elated (even if it's not really showing) stupor she's managed to knock him into. He's not sure what he's about to ask until he actually asks it because on top of everything he's feeling, he has a number of questions. Some of which he's not sure if he wants the answer to.]

But what about you? You were supposed to fight him.

I did.

[ Just ... not for very long. And honestly, if she's being truthful, she doesn't exactly remember Jojo defeating Kars -- she was unconscious, after all -- but she knows it happened, heard about it from Speedwagon and the rest, and that's enough. With this, at least, she can be honest. ]

You had no choice but to step in after I was unable to fight any longer.

[ The details aren't important right now. The most important thing is this: ]

That fight is over, thanks to you.

[ And now there's this one, but maybe she can take a page out of his book. Maybe she can just enjoy the fact that the two of them are alive for now, just for a few short moments. ]

[Joseph runs a hand through his hair because it's...all still...sinking in. So it's over. It really ends. Joseph gets a stupid, cocky grin on his face for at least a few seconds. After all that talk from Kars about how much more superior he was to ever human being on the planet, all that bragging that there was no way a Hamon user could defeat him, and Joseph was the one to do it. He doesn't know if it was skill or luck that got him that victory, but it doesn't matter. He won.]

[But his smile fades a little because of that simple fact that she wasn't able to fight any longer. That's why he won. That doesn't mean--]

But you were okay, right? You didn't...

[He doesn't even want to say the word.]

I've recovered since.

[ She was definitely injured, but she doesn't want to lead him to think she was killed. .... Especially since, as she's now realizing, this means ... this means she'll finally have to have the talk with him about who she really is, doesn't it?

She does have another question before Caesar arrives, though. ]

Have you spoken to Caesar about what happened up until that point?

[ After he died, that is, but she doesn't want to say it, either. ]

[Relief is an understatement, but it's the closest approximation to what Joseph feels hearing that. Just not another person throwing their life away over this crap. Not another. He nods.]

Yeah, I told him everything.

[There's no way he could keep all of that away from Caesar even if he wanted to. Joseph is oddly silent for a moment. He draws a breath.]

He knows we were close, too. When it happened. We've...talked about it a lot. [A beat.] Off and on.

[ Off and on, he says. That seems to imply that there's been a length of time for the talk to be off and on.

Either way, she's grateful that Jojo has already taken care of that much, though she's unlikely to say as much. She'd tell Caesar, if she had to -- but she imagines Jojo's recollection of events would have probably been much more personable than hers. Talking about that moment, while possible, wasn't something that she wanted to do -- not so soon, not when she's barely had time to process everything. The two of them were much more external in processing the things that had happened to them, so perhaps it was better they'd had the time to do so together.

Grateful or not, there is another question that needs to be asked here. ]

How long have you and Caesar been here for?

[ Talking about Caesar in the present tense again. She never would have thought it possible. ]

[He has to think about that because his instinct is to say "not long." That's not true anymore, however. Sure, it's not as much as some people around here, but "not long" is severely underestimating the amount of time Caesar and Joseph have been here. He starts adding it up in his head and looks a little surprised at the amount of time he arrives at.]

Almost six months.

[ Six months. That's ... a really long time. And she had just seen him a few weeks ago before the fight with Kars ...

She is really starting to wonder if this is some sort of injury-related fever dream, or something along those lines. All of this is just too unreal. Too good to be true, in some ways.

She'll think about that later, when she has some time alone to herself. In the meantime, she looks Joseph over briefly. ]

And in that time, you've not trained for a single moment, have you?

[.........................]

Uuuhhhh...well...

[mumblemumble AWKWARD CLEARING OF THE THROAT.]

[Too good to be true is a great way to put it. On the plus side, here comes Caesar to destroy this beautiful moment. There may be some outraged cries coming from the hallway right before he busts his way into the kitchen, because anybody in his way is getting shoved against the wall. When he actually gets through the kitchen door, though . . .]

[He wants to do a hundred things at once, honestly. He wants to touch her to make sure she's real - but he won't. He wants to ask questions to see what she knows - but he won't. He wants to take Joseph's hand and squeeze it, hard, to make sure he's real and ensure he knows the same in reverse, and that he almost does, reaching out until his fingers brush Joseph's wrist and then abruptly changing his mind, his hand coming up to squeeze his shoulder instead.]

[He can't stop staring at her.]

[I thought I'd never see you again.]

. . . It's good to see you again.

[ Yes, Jojo is very lucky that Caesar is here to save him (for now) from the work that literally any answer Jojo gave her would have resulted in.

Instead, she also seems frozen for a moment, staring right back. It's a little different than Jojo's death -- she didn't see that, she wasn't moments away from being able to help. She didn't see his blood, seeping across the floor from underneath the rubble.

This other boy is not her son. But ironically, she's spent more time with him, gotten to know him and everything that makes him tick more ... he's still precious to her, in his own way.

She's had time to accept his death, to move past it, but it doesn't stop her eyes from looking (ever so briefly) wet for a moment, before she blinks it away to offer a small, genuine smile. ]

Always a pleasure, Caesar.

[ The tears she blinked away just now may well be for Joseph, too, but at least this time it's not something she has to hide. ]

Edited (HTML?!??!?!) 2015-11-29 02:43 (UTC)

[Joseph tries his very best to not let his sigh of relief that Caesar's here go too audibly. Not that he thinks Lisa Lisa will necessarily forget all about training or his non-answer, but let a guy dream, okay? The hand at his shoulder feels good though. Joseph has to fold his arms to keep from reaching for it.]

[He raises a slight eyebrow at the two of them though and almost, almost blurts out "that's it?" But he remembers not everybody necessarily is as keen to express everything they're thinking and feeling like he is, least of all Lisa Lisa or Caesar. So, he just rocks a moment lightly onto his toes a bit and settles back down. He manages to keep quiet for now and let the two of them have this moment be whatever they want it to be.]

[At some point in the space between the beginning of her sentence and the end, his grip on Joseph's shoulder, which was supposed to be fleeting, became less a touch of comfort and more one of necessity. Hearing her voice, it's obvious that it's really her, she's really here, and the way she's looking at him--]

[She knows. Of course she knows. He's not stupid, and neither is she. So what does he do with this? What does he say now?]

[He looks at Joseph in bewilderment, beseeching, confused.]

Someone should . . . probably catch me up.

[ Pretending it didn't happen would be a disservice to everything Caesar put into that fight. But he's clearly spoken to Jojo about it, and if he wants to come to her about it later, he will. It wouldn't be the first time he had told her about something that was bothering him.

In the meantime .... yes, catching up would be good. Fortunately, everything he needs to know can be summed up quite easily. Her smile fades, in order to get back to business. ]

I was just telling Jojo that all of the Pillar Men have been defeated. They are gone.

[Joseph opens his mouth at first to say something because okay, this is ridiculous. Until literally just what? Five? Ten seconds ago? Caesar hadn't seen Lisa Lisa in six months and Lisa Lisa wasn't going to see Caesar ever again as far as she knew. But he's so exasperated that he doesn't even know where to start exactly. Or how to go long enough without either one of them admonishing him for not sticking to business.]

[So, he closes his mouth and--no, you know what? This is ridiculous.]

Oh for God's sake... [Joseph rubs at his face for a second.] Who cares about that right now? There are more important things you two should be talking about than Pillar Men or stones or any of that crap.

[He shrugs Caesar off to take a step back away from the two of them.]

Can't you two just try, just try for... [He looks momentarily frustrated at trying to get the words out himself before holding up all five fingers on one hand.] Five seconds. Go five seconds without talking about Hamon or vampires and actually talk. To. Each. Other. Like normal people?

[Joseph moves away, and all of a sudden it feels like he's falling, and there's nothing to hold onto. Panic is visible on his face; he looks from Lisa Lisa to Joseph, lips tight with fear. What is that, talking like normal people, to someone you haven't seen for so long, thought you would never see again? How is he supposed to do that?]

[And in the back of his mind all he can think is he did it? It worked? He won? I can go home, like he said?]

[He's supposed to be trusting Joseph now, he knows. He does know that. So - he lets his hand fall to his side, close in a tight fist. Even if he doesn't quite look up, he does speak after a moment. Trying.]

. . . Jojo's birthday was a while ago. I made cake.

[Save him.]

[ She keeps her expression even as Jojo rants. Personally, she thinks it's rather important that Caesar know his efforts didn't go to waste ... but fine, if that's what the two of them want, she'll play along, letting her gaze slide back over to Caesar while he struggles.

But, uh ... She looks momentarily confused when Caesar finally speaks. ]

Is it winter here?

[ It's kind of hard to tell these things in space. ]

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