"This writing is amazing," murmurs Kakyoin, during their lunch break. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Mm?"

Kakyoin smiles widely into his glass of water. "It's… spectacular," he admits. "I've never seen a circular script. How on earth do they know the size of the sentence in advance, do you think?"

He shrugs. "Good siphon control. Personally, I'd like to know what that ink's made of."

"Oh, yes! Kakyoin's eyes light up. "That's the best part! It's beautiful, don't you think?"

"I hate to break it to you, Kakyoin, but octopodes squirt their ink from an opening which is also used for bodily waste."

Kakyoin raises an eyebrow. "So… these guys are literally talking out of their asses?"

"You could say that, yes," grins Jotaro. "It may not be the same here, of course, but based on the pods' similarity with cephalopods in general I'd say there's a pretty good chance of it."

"Oh, I love hearing little facts like that," sighs Kakyoin happily. "They just completely enrich my view of the world."

"Cephalopod asses?"

Kakyoin rolls his eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Do your chores."

"But daaaaad!"

"Chores or no dessert, your choice."

She pouts but gets up from the table and starts cleaning up the dishes. He hears a small mutter from under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Daikirai…"

"What was that, young lady?"

"You heard me," she mutters.

"Say that again to my face."

"Fine." She stomps up and places herself in front of him, folding her arms and enunciating each syllable. "Dai. Ki. Rai. Asshole."

"Don't you dare," he scowls. "Don't you dare say you hate me. I swear –"

She flips him the bird and turns on her heels. "Asshole."

"You come back here –"

In the next session, Jotaro brings his camera, as he should have done the first time. There's not much time to use it, however, as Kakyoin almost immediately gets him involved in the Heptapod education process – writing sentences while Kakyoin himself moves around a ball and a box for some reason.

"Bōru wa hako no ue ni arimasu." 'The ball is on the box.'

"Bōru wa hako no naka ni arimasu." 'The ball is in the box.'

"Bōru wa –"

"Are you just going to play around with that goddamn box and ball for the whole session?" shouts Stroheim irritably. "We don't have time for this shit!"

"Trust me, Stroheim," calls back Kakyoin irritably, "this is the best way to teach them the language and to learn theirs. We have to start small, remember? I told you about this! You approved the wordlist!"

"Because I thought you'd get through it faster!"

Kakyoin rolls his eyes and pushes up his glasses. "Please, Stroheim, it's the first day. Haven't you ever learned a language? It takes years."

Stroheim scowls. "Well, we don't have years," he grunts. "We've got to work out what the 'pods want before they kill us all."

Kakyoin sighs. "I'll do my best, sir."

(Jotaro suddenly remembers he could have been taking pictures of the creatures instead of paying attention to this little spat. But it's too late – Kakyoin is already turning back to the box and the ball and repeating the sentence that he had been about to say loudly and clearly for Jotaro to write down.

"Bōru wa hako no soto ni arimasu…"

And so begins a long, arduous process of teaching the 'pods Japanese. Sometimes, Anne is there, taking measurements for whatever it is she's trying to study; other times, people in black suits and sunglasses, watching them communicate with the creatures; occasionally, Lisa-Lisa or another military type. And always, in the back of the room, watching the monitors, Stroheim and Speedwagon, watching them in silence or occasionally whispering to each other. Stroheim in particular tends to direct a lot of sceptical looks in their direction, particularly when it seems they are repeating the same basic phrases over and over again.

But… well, he gets a good few chances to study the creatures for himself. And even when Kakyoin pulls him in for help with demonstrations – which happens more often than not – he finds himself not minding too much. It's… fun, almost, even though having to constantly switch between Japanese, English, and the 'pod language means he's usually confused in all three languages.

It's probably something to do with Kakyoin's charisma. He is… magnetic, somehow, a fascinating mystery; every now and again, he catches Jotaro's eye and smiles, and Jotaro can't help but be tempted to allow himself to smile in return. To see that smile again, to come closer, to get to know him better –

It's the charisma.

"Papa, Papa, do my hair like Sailor Moon!" she begs, clinging to his legs as tight as she can. "Pleeeeease! Pretty please!"

"All right, all right," he laughs, running a hand through his own hair. "Get the hairbrush and the ties for me and I'll see what I can do."

She dashes off like a bullet – "Use your walking feet inside the house, sweetheart" – and returns almost as quickly, dropping onto a tall stool and practically bouncing up and down with excitement. "I'm gonna look so cool! I'm gonna look like Chun-Li an' Sailor Moon an' – an' Minnie Mouse! I'm gonna save the world!"

He laughs and stations himself behind her, brushing her long green-and-blue into some semblance of tidiness. "You sure are," he tells her. "You sure are."

He finds very quickly that mealtimes, as well as being the only time when he's consistently thinking in English, are the best times to learn about his new colleagues. Not that he has much choice when both Anne and Kakyoin are a lot more talkative than he is.

(Not that that's saying much, but still.)

He doesn't intentionally overhear their conversations.

"I told you already, Anne," grumbles Kakyoin, rolling his eyes, "I'm as gay as the Fourth of fucking July. I'm not interested in your friend Suzi from work."

Anne pouts. "Come on, Kakyoin, work with me here. If you won't date Suzi, then won't you at least consider Caesar?"

"Depends… is he handsome?"

Anne nods vigorously. "He's blond, with the prettiest eyes you ever saw on a man. He's a chemist – he'll be able to cook you up a little love potion anytime." She winks.

"The prettiest eyes?" Kakyoin scoffs and takes a sip of water. "I highly doubt that. I know someone with exceptional eyes who's ten times as handsome as this Caesar guy."

"Who, who?"

Kakyoin taps his fork against the plate irritably. "Not telling," he says. "Now, go and bother someone else, will you?"

Anne pouts but turns to where Jotaro is trying to mind his own business and avoid any unnecessary conversation. No such luck; she has a look in her eye like she wants to delve into his deepest darkest secrets in the time it takes to eat lunch.

"What about you, Kujo?" she asks, playfully. "You single?"

"None of your business."

"That means yes," trills Anne teasingly. "Don't worry, Love-Professor Anne will sort you out."

"Don't you have…" he hesitates, "friends or some shit to talk to?"

"They're all in different time-zones, it's such a bore." She kicks her legs. "Are you into blonds?"

"Not really," he replies, getting up and clearing his plate away. "Excuse me."

"Aww, you're no fun!"

He ignores her and heads off to do some more research on Heptapod biology.

"Herm, this is my dad… Dad, you know Herm, right?"

He looks up from the chopping board and nods at the tall girl. "I think we've met."

"Yeah." 'Herm' tosses her dreadlocks with a smile. "I guess I'll be seein' a lot more of you guys from now on, huh?"

"If that's what you want." He puts down the knife, trying to look a little less threatening. "Are you staying for dinner, Hermes?"

His girl shakes her head. "We're going out."

"It's not illegal this time?" he asks.

"No, Dad, we're eating at a restaurant." She holds up her hand to her heart. "I promise."

"Hm." Well, she can make her own choices; she's an adult now, after all, and once she graduates will be moving on to university. If it is illegal, he can at least say with a clear conscience that he doesn't know about it. "Just make sure to pay the bill."

"I will."

Hermes nudges her. "I thought we agreed I was gonna pay this time?"

"Well, whatever." She throws her jacket over her shoulder and turns to go. "We can figure it out later. See ya, Dad."

"See you. Have fun, and don't get back too late."

"We won't, sir," smiles Hermes. "I'll bring your daughter home by midnight."

Well, at least one of them is responsible.

It doesn't take very long for Kakyoin's desk to be covered in printouts of ink circles, each paper decorated all over with Kakyoin's meticulous handwriting in both English and Japanese; by the end of the first week, he's practically drowning in them, and has started sticking them around Jotaro's desk as well. Jotaro doesn't mind; he doesn't need much space anyway.

"I was wondering about whether there's more to the pods that we haven't seen," he says, quietly. "Do you think we could ask one of them to come closer to the window for us? Maybe turn around a little bit?"

"Mm." Kakyoin flops down in the seat next to him and sighs. "I'm not sure whether we have the language for that yet. The end goal is to find out why they're here, after all, not to get them to do tricks."

"Maybe if we demonstrate what we want them to do."

"I don't know whether they'd be able to apply our demonstration to themselves in any meaningful way," mutters Kakyoin. "They could all be one giant tentacle."

"Unlikely," he replies. "With an organism that big, there's probably some sort of central nervous system, or maybe two if they're structured like octopodes."

"Hmm…" Kakyoin leans his head on his hand and groans. "I'm just… not getting anywhere with this. Do you think they're too different from us? So alien that we'll never be able to get on the same plane as them?"

He shrugs. "They're physical creatures. That means they have some sort of similarity with us. We just have to figure out the big stuff."

Kakyoin sighs. "There's just… no logical order to any of these circles," he admits. "You can read them: there's no semblance of syntax, barely any similarity between each shape, and the same shape never appears in the same place in the circle. They don't understand 'yesterday' and 'tomorrow', and they don't seem to have tenses at all… It's almost as if…"

"As if?" Jotaro looks at Kakyoin, whose face has suddenly gone blank. "As if what?"

"I…" Kakyoin blinks. "Oh. I get it. I've been thinking too linearly." He grabs a pencil and points to the nearest circle: Jotaro recognises the sentence 'Noriaki gives Jotaro the ball'. "What's the one thing that all these circles have in common?"

He frowns. "Uhh… they're circular?"

"They were all made immediately, with no time elapsing between the formation of the beginning and the end."

"What?"

Kakyoin makes a gesture with his hand: closing his fist, and then opening it like one of the Heptapod's arms. "The sentence or phrase is constructed beforehand, and then it all comes out at once, don't you see?"

"…No." Jotaro stares at the circle. "So, the 'pods write their sentences all at once. So what?"

"Time, Jotaro!" Kakyoin grins at him jubilantly. "The key is time!"

He folds his arms. "I'm not following."

"Language can change our perception of the world, Jotaro. You know Japanese: there are puns you can make with the kanji system that would be completely incomprehensible in English. If I call you a 'horse-deer' in English, that doesn't have the same impact as calling you an ass, but in Japanese, it's perfectly normal to call someone a 'baka'." Kakyoin waves his hands around in excitement. "Well, the same thing is happening here."

"…calling me an ass and an idiot?"

"Not that." Kakyoin hits the piece of paper firmly. "This. The pod's language changes their perception of time. They don't have today and tomorrow in their language, because to them, everything happens at once. Their writing has made them that way, don't you see?"

He tips his head to stare at the circle. "So… they have no concept of time because their writing made their brains different."

Kakyoin grins. "Exactly, Jotaro. With this, I can finally make some headway in these translations – I can come up with a different approach. We might even be able to make some progress finally."

"…Oh." It's brilliant and confusing and unbelievable, and he's amazed that Kakyoin managed to figure that out from some blobby clouds of ink. "Kakyoin, you're a genius."

Kakyoin smirks. "Well, I try."

"Pops…" She sits down. "I'm kind of, uh…"

For the love of god, it better not be a teen pregnancy. She's only just fifteen, for goodness' sake. He shifts forward in his chair, closer to her.

"I'm kind of a lesbian," she mutters.

"Oh," he says. "All right. Thanks for letting me know."

She rubs the back of her neck. "Yeah, sure, whatever. It's just that… you know… I don't want you to be surprised if I bring a girl home or somethin'."

He shrugs. "I don't think either of us would have been. Speaking of which, have you told –"

"I… kind of wanted to tell you first." A duck of her head. "I need to work myself up to facing…"

"Sweetheart, why would either of us judge you?" He reaches forward and takes her hands. "You know we both love and support you."

"It's just…" She frowns. "You know. The… intimidation factor."

"I know," he admits. "It's hard to talk about this kind of stuff with your parents, isn't it? But you know, as long as you're happy, we're happy. Honestly, we're a lot more worried about the crowd you've got yourself into. Some of them seem a little… dangerous."

"Come on, Pops, Narcy's not that bad…" She sighs and takes her hands away from his. "Well, anyway. That's not the issue here."

"It'll be fine," he reassures her. "I'm on your side, you know."

"All right," she nods. "Can you… help me?"

"Sure, sweetheart," he smiles. "We can go together."

"Thanks, Pops."

(He'll do anything for his little girl. For their little girl. Ever since she came into their lives, he can't help but do everything he can for her. It's a weakness he's not afraid to admit, now that he's older and wiser; he wouldn't change her for the world.)