Scene Listing || Scene Schedule || Scene Schedule RSS
Owner Pose
Josuke Higashikata It's been a while since Josuke's checked up on Windknight's Lot. There's just been so much going on that he hasn't had much free time. But after school one Saturday, Josuke prepares to do just that. He'd heard there had been a problem there with a vampire, and he wanted to see how things were going. Hopefully it got straightened out without too much trouble.

Now, Josuke hasn't just expected to waltz back into town in modern attire and call it done. He remembers these people being skittish -- and for good reason, too. He slipped up last time, repairing the tunnel within full view of the coachman. Poor guy, he'd had a bit of a fit. So let's not do that again.

He's actually done some research here, and spent some of his carefully-saved money to get something that might look a little less anachronistic there, and might also attract less attention. Though they're just going to have to deal with his hairstyle; there are some things he won't change for anyone.

Sadly, he can't wear a lot of purple, since that's such a rare color in the time period Windknight's Lot appears to be from. Instead he's gone with navy blue, another color he wears a lot. It's a blazer and matching slacks, with a waistcoat. His usual shoes aren't too out of place here; he's worn a brown pair. But he can't get completely away from hthe purple; the waistcoat he picked out is purple.

He actually stopped off in London first, because he needed either a horse or a horse-and-carriage. He doesn't want to scare people with his car. In fact, thanks to his pirate adventures not too long ago, he might have some actual Spanish gold to pay for it with! Whichever one he managed to secure out this way, rented horse or carriage, is fine with him. Just so long as he gets there in one piece.
Jonathan Joestar The care Josuke takes to blend in as much as he could bring himself to works out well for him. Thankfully, his mildly foreign features and outlandish hairstyle don't work against him very much, most assume that he is from a noble family from the far side of the continent, one that perhaps mixed their blood with women of Oriental birth, reinforced by the unusual color of his waist-coat. The poor folk give him stink-eye, but the people he really had to interact with were incredibly pleasant to him. Such was the dichotomy of social classes.

With his recently acquired riches being more than pliable in this era, Josuke's trip in the finely furnished black carriage was certainly a smooth one. ... Well, metaphorically speaking.

It was actually very bumpy and to someone used to the modern comforts of automobiles, no doubt uncomfortable.

Setting out in the early morning, Josuke Higashikata arrives in the Lot sometime around mid-day. The town didn't seem to be quite as dire, in fact, it was practically flourishing as crops were coming back in. With the help of Jonathan and his allies, the woes of Windknight's Lot were slowly being washed away. The supposed exorcism that took place in the graveyard to make it safe again helped reconstruction and cleaning of the area get underway.

The dwindling population of the town looked to be working hard with the re-opened trade route leading into London. "Y'know," the lanky carriage driver, not a day over twenty two, began speaking. "I heard a rumor that Lord Joestar has been putting a lot of time into this town. After losing the Joestar's ancestral home a good while back, I reckon he might be lookin' to rebuild his legacy here. No one wants to go back to where the old manor was, so I can't blame 'im. Most of his land was returned to the crown, so all he's got left is that place or startin' anew. Everyone says that the ruins of the Joestar Estate're cursed, but then again, people say the same about Windknight's Lot. Well, be seein' ye' good ser. If you'd like me to come back for ye' it'll be five gold pence."
Josuke Higashikata One of the few times that being Amerasian works out for him. Particularly since his American parent had been British at one time. Or was he still? Josuke didn't really know how that worked. America was weird like that; somebody could go there (legally), proclaim himself an American, and bam. He was American. Weird. Anyway.

Ouch! Josuke hadn't quite been expecting the bumpiness of the ride in a carriage. He'd always heard they were so romantic and everything... all this bouncing and bumping around isn't very romantic! Unless one finds bodily trauma to be romantic! Hey, some people do, he's not gonna judge. But it's SO not his thing.

He listens to the carriage driver, with interest. "Well... I guess that makes sense," Josuke replies. "If this is the only place he's got, then..." A pause. "I can understand not wanting to go back to the estate... he lost his father in the fire too." Josuke nows now, from having done THAT research too, that it wasn't the fire that killed him. But let's not scare the locals, huh?

That said, he offered the coachman one of the gold coins he'd brought with him. He'd only brought a handful, because he didn't want to get mugged. He actually has no idea how much a Spanish dubloon would be worth, but these are definitely Spanish. "Is this enough? It's all I have with me, I'm afraid..."
Jonathan Joestar The man shook his head. "Well .. I'm not s'pposed to do this, but you're only a mite short. I don't know why, but you seem like a good fellow, as far as the aristocrocy goes, y'know? Almost like an every man."

The spanish gold was worth four coins, apparently. Hopping off the carriage himself to go through the process of switching the pulley to the hind side of the cabin and tying the horse back into it, it seemed he'd be here for another good half-hour before leaving back for London proper.

As for Josuke himself, where would he go now..?

    The riverside.
    The graveyard.
    Poco & Anco's.
    The castle approach.
Josuke Higashikata Four coins -- good to know! "Thank you, your kindness is appreciated," Josuke replies, bowing to the driver politely. If he missed the driver, he'd just bug Jotaro to come here and pick him up. He could probably just avoid the city and still get here soon enough. And the idea that he'd have paid for a wasted trip wasn't a big deal -- the driver would have a bit more to feed his family. Josuke understood things were hard for those who weren't nobility in this time.

Now... as for where he should go. The first thing he wants to do is talk to a local. See if he can get their perspective on what had been going on. Hopefully he could find Jonathan along the way. So for now, going to where Poco and his sister live to ask seems like the best idea for now. To the residential areas with him!
Jonathan Joestar The residential areas themselves were, for the most part, sparse. This is understandable given the recent troubles left all the tired men to break their backs in the field with by and large, no one to tend to their homes. Anco and Poco lived alone though, and thus, were one of the only people milling about the living areas. Anco, the older sister, was doing laundry while Poco was nowhere to be seen. Given the small rack by their home lined with hooks, perhaps he'd gone off to the river to catch something to sell.

Pausing in her labors, she wiped the sweat on her face away with her forearm. "Aren't you one of those people from the Concord? I saw you here sometime last year, right? Yeah ... your hair says it all."

Could you really get steamed at that remark when it was punctuated with such a sincere smile? Ordinarily looking very stern, the way life was winding down seemed to be doing good for her.
Josuke Higashikata Josuke smiles when Anco looks in his direction. Though thee remark about his hair does kind of take him aback. But he didn't see any sort of malice there. And it was true that his hair was indeed distinctive! That's part of the reason he kept it like this. Part of the reason, a very small one. Just... some people thought that was a bad thing. Or were just trying to get on his nerves. Anco didn't seem like she was trying to get him upset.

He does need to explain to her comment about the Concord though, "I'm, uh... not actually a member of the Concord. I just work with them on occasion." Then again he worked with the Paladins and the Watch as well, but he doesn't say that. And he could hardly tell her his ancestor was in the Concord. But he does add, "I just help out wherever I can. I came by to see how things were going, since I heard there was more trouble around here recently."
Jonathan Joestar "You're not? ... a mercenary then ..?" she mutters the last part to herself, looking a little uncomfortable, before seemingly letting it go. His previous assistance and earnest attitude won him enough points for the benefit of the doubt, in her book. "Yes, jt turned out that our area got mixed up with another ... world, I think? I'm not entirely sure about the details, but the Lot was being preyed on."

Her deeply colored blue eyes narrowed hotly as she recalled the more recent troubles that befell her and her people. "Some monster went around attacking people during the night, leaving them on the brink of death. It was a little confusing .. apparently it was some other monster impersonating a vampire that the Concord worked with? Apparently, another world's forest replaced our own, one with some kind of lair ... well."

It was apparent she didn't have the whole story. "The fiend was trying to resurrect something in the Castle, but Lord Joestar and his friends put a stop to it. Ever since then, a real effort has been going on through here to get us on our feet."
Josuke Higashikata The word 'mercenary' sort of makes Josuke uncomfortable, and the slight wince says as much. "Not... as such. I'm not doing it for money. I'm helping out because I want to help." He's telling the truth about this, his tone an earnest one. "My name's Josuke." Maybe a weird name for here... and he's not about to saddle the poor girl with his surname!

He listens to Anco's account of the situation, his brow furrowing at the words 'resurrect something'. He assumes Anco doesn't know what it was, or she'd have said. Instead of asking about it, he addresses the latter point. "I've noticed," he agrees. "It looks a lot better than the last time I was here. Do you still need people to help with stuff around here?"

He may be dressed like the upper class, but he has a very informal way of speaking. It would be unbecoming of a noble, wouldn't it?
Jonathan Joestar "It wouldn't really be proper for a nobleman to get his hands dirty with commoner's work, but .. " Anco's smile widens. There's something decisively..off, about it. Actually, it reminds him a little bit of his own Mother. "You could start by stringing up the clothes I'd washed on the tether over there. Make sure you pin them right, you hear? And after that, I could really use some help cleaning all the homes around the Lot. You see, since I'm the only able bodied woman up and about right now, that means I'm the only one keeping things around here relatively clean. Another set of hands would be a real benefit .. "

Ah. So that's why. It seems both of them had a good idea on how to put a strapping young man to work.
Josuke Higashikata Josuke looks at the laundry, at the pins, with a thoughtful pout. He's not about to complain, no. But there is one problem. The clothespins he's used to dealing with have springs on them, so they close easier. These probably don't; they're probably the kind of clothespins meant to be slid down over the clothes and the line. Not only that, but he's more used to a washer and dryer, so he's not absolutely sure how this works to begin with.

Better to ask than to mess it up, right? So, he inquires, "My world actually has machines that dry clothes, so I've never hung clothes out to dry. Can you show me, so I don't mess it up?" He doesn't look or sound like he's kidding, either. He can start there.
Jonathan Joestar She looks somewhere between confounded and skeptical, but, given his earnest disposition thus far ...

"I wish we had one of those ... alright, watch carefully, okay? If you don't do this right, it won't dry correctly."

And so, she showed him how to string up a pair of cover-alls, a somewhat difficult task given that trying to pinch the wooden snips open too far could break them, and not applying enough pressure would get you nowhere.

Of course, he could sneak off sometime after the first basket, or keep working with her on the chores until sundown. What will Josuke do?
Josuke Higashikata Yeah, Josuke's going to break a few of those. Or... is he? The first one that breaks, he quickly summons his Stand and fixes it, before Anco can scold him about breaking it. They're probably not cheap to buy, and take some time to make. Though he should get the hang of this quickly enough, no pun intended.

In fact... he pauses, thinks a moment. Anco knows about the existence of other worlds. And she knows there are weird things in it. So...

Josuke looks to Anco. "Don't freak out, okay?" Why does he warn her about freaking out? Because he's going to have Crazy Diamond help with the clothes-hanging. Anco probably won't be able to see the Stand. So... it'll look like the clothes are hanging themselves on the line to dry!

Also... "Er... I was also looking for Lord Joestar," Josuke notes. "Do you know where he is?"
Jonathan Joestar It's pretty hard to freak Anco out, given all the supernatural going ons that afflicted Windknight's Lot. That said, her eyes nearly bug out as she drops the garments she was washing into the washbin entirely, blinking slowly. "I-is this magic? Oh, you must be one of the people he wanted to talk to about renovating the Castle .... I'm not entirely sure. But if he returned already from the forest. then he must be up there."

After regaining her bearings, she points upwards. To the misty, haunted looking Castle that looked just as ominous as Josuke remembered it being.
Josuke Higashikata "Not exactly magic," Josuke replies. "It's hard to explain, though. That's how the tunnel to here got fixed." To demonstrate, he picks up a clothespin, and purposely breaks it. And then he uses Crazy Diamond to fix it again. This time he does it in full view of Anco, so she can clearly see it.

He looks up at the ruined castle, with a frown/pout. Oh yeah, he most definitely remembers that place. "Thank you," he notes. "I will come back to help," he promises. "But I do want to help him fix the castle, and... well, I think I'm probably a pretty good choice for the job, yeah."
Jonathan Joestar The act of reconstruction blows her mind. So much so that she can barely register what he said about fixing the tunnel from the Lot to London. "R-right ... yeah, you know the way to the Castle, from last time? Not much has changed, just follow the path."

Still under the impression that he was someone that Jonathan was inviting to the spooky old palace to assist with something, she needs to sit down for a little while. While she was used to outlandish things happening, 'magic' was definitley new to her.

The Castle in question hovered ominously over the Lot, as it always does.
Josuke Higashikata Josuke actually seems upset that he's startled her so badly. Regardless, he does need to find Jonathan. And he's got a feeling that leaving Anco to her thoughts is probably a good idea right now. "Thank you!" he offers brightly. He wants her to see that he's not a bad person, despite having 'magic'.

So he'll start down the path to the castle. He's keeping a brisk pace, since he doesn't want it to get dark before he gets there. He did promise to come back and help Anco, after all. Even if he can't today, he'll come back another day; tomorrow maybe, since he'll be able to devote all day to helping.
Jonathan Joestar By the time Josuke arrives at the front, he notices some of the more immediate changes from the last time he was there. The main hall had occasional bouts of inhuman blood spatter, and a colossal suit of armor easily the size of four men, collapsed and defeated in some sort of battle. The fine coating of dust over everything, bar some footprints leading upstairs, show that not much has been touched here for several months.

Most of the previous bone-dry corpses left behind seemed to have been repurposed for something, or put to rest, as they were all conspicuously absent, replaced by the occasional scorch mark.

Following the foot tracks eventually leads him to the height of the Castle, where that overlooking balcony was. It was already looking much tidier, with a giant of a man spying at the other towers of the Castle via a set of modern binoculars. " ... Hm?"

Jonathan Joestar turns around, a look of mild surprise on his face. Dressed in fine black slacks and a white shirt, sleeved rolled up to his elbows, what distinguished him from the every-man in terms of fashion had to be the star-shaped buckles adorning his outfit, and the miniature bow-tie strapped around his collar. "You're looking well cut, Josuke."

There was a prevailing awkwardness in the air. He hadn't had much interaction with his descendant, after all, as odd as it was to think of him that way.
Josuke Higashikata Josuke takes note of the changes as he enters the castle. Maybe fix a pillar or two that looks like it could support the structure a little better. He follows the footprints up, and finds Jonathan there. He's reminded again how much bigger than himself Jonathan is; Josuke had never seen his father Joseph during his prime, and Jotaro may be tall and well-built, but he's still reasonably proportioned. Seeing Jonathan Joestar, Josuke can understand where he got his own size from.

The greeting gets a smile. "Thank you -- I didn't want to scare the people too much, so I tried to fit in as well as I could." Oh Josuke can definitely feel the awkwardness. He figures that he must represent something Jonathan would rather not have in his family, an illegitimate child. That's why he hasn't told anyone else in the town about his relation to Jonathan Joestar. Also why he was very careful to make sure his outfit hid the back of his neck!

"S-so... how have things been?" Josuke asks, making a visible effort to relax. "I came by to help if you needed it. I actually got here a while back, but I was helping Miss Anco with hanging clothes up to dry," he admits, with no shame in his voice for having done 'woman's work'.
Jonathan Joestar Jonathan's large hand rubs the back of his neck. "Ah, I see. It's good of you to help her like that, sometimes I wonder if she's going to run herself ragged trying to care for the whole town."

He'd spent long enough in the greater multiverse to become more, how should one say, open-minded about gender roles. Even so, he himself would be too embarassed to ever admit doing 'woman's work' so brazenly. "Ever since the incident several months ago, I've been wanting to turn this Castle to better days. It seems to attract evil like a magnet, so fixing it up to defend the town sounded sensible enough in my head. It's proving more difficult than I imagined, however."

Josuke's thoughts weren't far off the bat. While Jonathan thought he was a wonderful young man, it was none the less uncomfortable to know that his great grandson was a bastard. To begin with, being a great grandfather before even marrying his fiance proper was a strange feeling.
Josuke Higashikata Josuke nods, a worried pout forming on his face. "I've offered to come back and help when I can," he replies. "Even if it's just sweeping up, it's stuff that has to be done. And if I do that, she can focus on bigger things," he reasons.

As for the castle itself? That gets a bright look. "That's a good idea. Light the place up, tighten the security, and evil things just might think twice before using this place as a nest," he agrees. "I fixed a couple of pillars on the way in, that should help a little." Which of course is why he offered to help. He can't 'just fix' the whole castle, particularly not in one go, but he can get a lot of it done.
Jonathan Joestar The larger man nods, a small smile appearing on his face. "If you have the time to pitch in, I'd really be in your debt. There's been so much fighting here, I'm worried it'll all fall down, soon. As well, I need to contact some other people to make changes to the place. Maybe something for Alchemy and Astronomy."

Despite being a man of science, Jonathan very much turned to the occult as a solution when faced with an issue. Josuke might be reminded of some of the rumors passed around about the Joestars and their misfortune, how it all began with Mary Joestar's 'obsession' with such things. There'd even been suspicion that the family had been pagans behind closed doors.

But, rumors will be rumors. The bad luck of the Joestar family began long before the Joestar matriarch found that stone mask. It was not a cause, but rather, a symptom.
Josuke Higashikata Considering Josuke's hardly 'Christian' himself, he doesn't really think anything of those rumors. Well, not as much as others would. Some people are just attracted to weird things. Though, he once thought his weird luck was because of his Stand... but now he's not so sure. Maybe the Stand was due to the family's luck overall? Hard to say.

He nods to the mention of helping. "Sure!" he agrees. "I won't be able to fix everything all at once -- this place is WAY too big for that. I know my limits pretty well; I fixed a Spanish galleon, I think it was, and that HURT."

As for the astrology and alchemy? "That I don't know anything about," he admits. "The things I do aren't magical. I'll keep a look out for anyone I might be able to send this way, though."
Jonathan Joestar "Then you have my gratitude. I'd offer tea, but ... " Jonathan trails off, motioning to their surroundings. It was highly doubtful that there'd be anything here that a human being could consume, that much was apparent. " ... if you don't mind me asking something personal, Josuke?"

Pausing momentarily to gather his words, Jonathan irons out his gaze to look the shorter Joestar in the eye. "How do you feel about your Father?"
Josuke Higashikata "That's okay," Josuke replies. Then he gets a sudden idea. "Oh, but I did get an idea... maybe you could put up some solar panels for a little bit of electricity? It wouldn't give much, but you could have a few appliances in here, like a refrigerator."

The question for permission strikes him a little oddly, and he blinks. "Huh? Oh, sure. I don't mind." He pauses then, at the question... and he looks away. "...I've never met him. But I... I don't think I like him very much. Jotaro told me he was already married when he was with my mother. But my mother loved him... still loves him. She doesn't know he was married. I haven't told her, and I made Jotaro swear not to say anything to her about it. It'd break her heart if she knew..."
Jonathan Joestar "I see..." was all Jonathan said. It's not as if he couldn't understand why someone would cheat, he'd been tempted several times in his adventures across the multiverse to date, but even still, he'd always made an effort to refuse such advances. He loved Erina, after all, they were engaged. Did that mean Josuke's Father didn't love his wife? Or had he just indulged in baser needs?

In other words, he couldn't comprehend Joseph Joestar's mindset.

" .. I think this is about all I can do on my own, for now. Why don't we go see Anco? If we jog, we should get there before the sun goes down."
Josuke Higashikata Josuke didn't really try to understand Joseph Joestar's mindset. Maybe it was because he hadn't met him... but he just couldn't understand how someone could love someone, then cheat on them. He actually felt just as bad for Suzie Q as he did for his own mother. It couldn't have been easy on her to find out.

But hey! Jonathan's got a good idea there. And he did promise to come back and help Anco. So he looks back to Jonathan, with a nod, a smile starting to form. "Good idea. I can probably get us there pretty fast, if you don't mind getting picked up." Crazy Diamond can dent steel with its punches, picking up even someone Jonathan's size shouldn't be too terribly difficult.

...Mind, the 'fast travel' option is a 'fastball special'...