museboxingring | DARIA OPEN POST 2016

Neither am I, so we're even.

[He shrugs.]

Heh! True. I'm not going to thank the man who chopped it off or anything, but you got a good point.

Maybe you could be like Iron Man, have a blaster or something attached to it. Then you could thank him. He'd be grateful, I'm sure.

[She was just going to finish up here. She wasn't serious, by the way.]

Nah. Iron Man would be pretty good, but the man's not worth thanking.

[Anyway. Joseph flexes his other fingers as he sets the detached one on the table.]

Not bad.

Not what I'm saying. You seem like a scratch my back, I scratch yours kind of guy.

I know if I had a limb missing, I'd think smacking a sadist with my new one specifically might be good enough thanks.

Or getting those Iron Man blasters.

[She let out a shrug. Though she thought in her head a bit, about what she said and what she just saw. This...couldn't have been easy. But pity fifty years down the road seemed in bad taste. Joseph was used to it after all. It would, uh, be pretty disrespectful. She didn't want to be disrespectful.]

Nothing slipping is there?

Edited 2016-02-01 00:09 (UTC)

[Joseph goes quiet for a moment at that. Then, suddenly, he shrugs. His face stays neutral. It's a long story, and he doesn't feel like telling it yet.]

Something like that.

[Anyway. Now that everything seems right, he looks into the wiring where his detached finger should go. Nothing seems out of place... he supposed it was just loose. He shakes his head, takes his finger back to start screwing it back in place.]

Doesn't seem like it now. Suppose it was just loose.

[Pause.]

So. You're out pretty late.

[That was fine. Whenever Daria didn't make for good small talk, which was almost always, she tended to just crack her own weird sense of humor.

But she didn't expect anything in return for it, which was why she didn't ask for specifics.

So when Joseph asked, it made her lock up a little. Figured he would ask. It was in his nature, she was sure. To be curious why young folk were out unsupervised in a rather detestable setting.]

I'm in my teens, we adapt to having garbage sleeping schedules.

[Which was...true for her actually. While there was truth, there was a clear avoidance of really anything he could imply.]

Oh, I may be an old man, but I remember what being a teenager is like.

[He says, not quite looking at her. Eventually, Daria might realize that Joseph is more observant than he lets on. Not that he doesn't brag about himself all the time.]

Any other reason?

[He was prodding her, and she didn't know if she was willing to let go. Her problems were hers and hers alone. She didn't feel comfortable talking yet, she honestly didn't.

But she didn't want to lie to him.

And she didn't want to shut him down completely either.

What a dilemma.

Daria looked at her feet for a moment before talking. She had to remember how helping Joseph was so far, and he wasn't the person she wanted to turn away for it. She could seriously trust no one else yet. In a way, she wanted him to know that it was difficult. Joseph seemed smart, so she could maybe give him the benefit of the doubt.]

Look, I'm not good at talking about these things. I'm not going to say I'm not upset, that would make me a liar. But not many people have given me reason to trust them, moreso than normal for me.

[Joseph, for once, was patient, listening to her quietly as he finally screws his finger back on.]

Do you want to talk about it?

[His expression, still not looking at her, looks casual and matter-of-fact, but his tone is gently. Not pushing it. He's trying not to prod too hard.]

I don't know.

[She could only answer a seemingly genuine question with a genuine answer. As uncertain as it was, it was really knocking Daria back a bunch of pegs.

She felt kind of awful, but he wasn't forcing anything.

Any allies, especially here, she had to be choosy. She didn't want to get hurt, and that risk was around every corner. Almost literally. Which really begged the question why she was out, wasn't it. She either didn't want to talk to people and felt like she could be mostly alone out here when supposedly any normal person was asleep. Or she was...secretly hoping to bump into someone to help her out. Maybe just a little bit.

There had to be someone out here she could believe wouldn't kill her...right?

Daria bit her lip.]

I already feel like a hypocrite for being out in the first place.

A hypocrite for being outside?

[Joseph keeps it casual, but he gives Daria a glance.]

Why's that?

[Maybe then...it will be good like this. Maybe then Joseph could at least understand why it was hard. Then maybe, they can go from there? Joseph listened so far and seemed rather curious. Daria just wanted to make sure. She wanted him to know the stakes she was placing on this and to trust him at all.]

You might've noticed this but I'm not a people person. At all. I avoid people, purposefully. I'm fine with that lifestyle. It worked for me.

So my brain goes to a certain place when I'm upset, stay in my room and wait for anything to blow over before I even seek help.

But here it's a different story. That's not what I'm doing.

No place to wait 'til it blows over, I'm guessing.

At least no where safe.

[Joseph seemed to get it. Piece by piece, then. Piece by piece...]

So yeah, I'm not quite in my element anymore. People I was around are still home. My old life as I knew it no longer exists. Now I'm made to live here.

I don't trust anyone.

... Ah.

[Ah. Finger properly back in place, Joseph flexes his hand a few times before he sets it down and gives Daria his full attention. Not that he wasn't listening before -- now it just looked like it.]

It's not easy, being in a place like this against your will. [He starts gathering all his tiny tools, sorting them through a small box nearby.] ... Hmh. Did I ever tell you about the time I had poison in my heart?

Not yet. But then again, we've only been here a few days.

[Meaning that time wasn't so graceful for Daria to even think about wedging in and getting to know someone.

But, again, she got this far and Joseph was...kinda helping her so far. Still yet, how much excitement does a man have to go through.

She was rather curious, and seemed to pay him fullest attention.]

It was fifty years ago, back when I still had my real hand. My uncle, Speedwagon, had been kidnapped by Nazis and taken to a base in Mexico.

[...

...

...

For the record, he says this all with a straight face.

If you wanted some comic relief, here u go.]

[Not a single. Solitary. Sound. Came from Daria's mouth. The blind Japanese racism made sense now, considering the time period.

Can she refute anything he was saying? No, she had no right. This wasn't her place to question whether he was telling the truth or not. He'd have to have a good reason to lie to her about it, and if he were, then she would have probably picked up a sign or two by now. Nothing yet, and Joseph would be the biggest dick in the world if he were lying to her.

Then again, Joseph was smart too, and wouldn't make a lie so transparent.

Daria had been kidnapped on a base and now had super powers, no one would believe her. She truly wasn't sure if she could judge yet, hrm.

Might as well hear it out, see where it went.]

Nazis, huh? Well now, your feelings on the Japanese makes a lot more sense.

[Her face was completely blank, what was she feeling?]

[Breaking News: Old men can be racist. Speaking of that, he waves the remark off.]

Different story. [You sure are casual about this, Joseph.] Anyway. They were doing these sort of... experiments, trying to revive ancient vampires embedded in stone. I didn't have a Stand back then, but vampires were a pretty... common problem with us Joestars, I suppose. Anyway, after I rescued my uncle, I met them. We fought, and I managed to talk my way out of being killed, but... well. I got a "parting" gift out of it.

[He taps his chest and his neck.]

Two poison "wedding" rings in my heart and my neck.

[How did the rings gets there? Why rings? Why any of this? Why in the hell? HOW in the hell?

About two million questions were surely swirling in her mind, and she still continued to look at Joseph seriously. Attentively.

When on any normal day, she would've gotten up and walked away. Feel insulted and humiliated for having someone spew such a story when she was having a hard time confiding with someone. But this wasn't a normal day, wasn't it? She got abducted by aliens and is living here now. This man had his Stand since BEFORE coming here?

Was this the life of a normal Stand user?]

Obviously this ended happily enough to have two divorces.

[She was paying full total attention.]

[Technically the life of a Joestar, technically the life of a Stand user. It's both.]

You'd think so! What did I look like to them, a polygamist?!

[50 YEARS LATER AND HE'S STILL BUTTHURT. He huffs to himself and shakes his head.]

Anyway, point being... it's not the same as what you're going through, but it felt like I was thrown into an entirely different world. I had a month to challenge them, or the rings would dissolve in my body and I would die.

[She went too silent. Sure, she could've made some other snarky remark in response but she soon became too lost in what he said.

Maybe she did have a ring or two inside of her and she didn't know it? Maybe she was already moments away from death in other ways?

What did this all mean then? Obviously, this didn't mean he was belittling her experience. That didn't seem like the mood here. But there was still that feeling of loneliness, and fear.

She looked like she was buried in thought, maybe a bit troubled.]

You lived. You get to tell the tale.

And so will you.

[Joseph tilts his head, his expression suddenly spreading into a wry grin.]

Hate to break it to you, child, but just you wait. Give it time and you'll be old and wrinkled and telling your own crazy survival stories to the next couple generations.

[Translation: You're going to be just fine.]

Maybe I'll grow old and optimistic too.

[She...smiled a little though. That was a really sweet thing to say. Daria was going to have to survive. She had to and she wasn't going to let people feel like they needed to PROTECT.

Maybe you'll grow sappy, Daria..]

You can survive two forced marriages and divorces, I can survive a mass abduction I guess.

[Heheheh.]

I have to say, I'm a little jealous. I've had some pretty bizarre adventures [HAH] but I can't say I've ever been on the moon before. You're going to have to one-up me on that one.

Plus... well. It never hurts to have other people help you get through it. And if anyone... I'll be here for you, alright?

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