She hadn't seen Dio since the two of them had gone to bed last night, and she was honestly starting to worry. Yeah, she was perfectly aware that Dio could take care of himself, but she also knew that he enjoyed the meals that she and Charlena prepared, and so wasn't likely to miss out on them for as long as he was. Charlena was trying to keep a brave face on, but it was becoming more and more obvious that nothing was going to be solved if she didn't do something, so Sarah knew she was going to have to blow off some of the extraneous "responsibilities" that old George Joestar kept trying to foist off on her.
Even if she had to deal with the man's puffed-up grousing, some things needed doing; still, there was one more lead she could pursue, before she headed out to do some recon.
"Jonathan," she said, catching the attention of her and Dio's brother.
She could already tell that Jonathan was hiding something by the way he cringed away from her as she headed over to him, so that was one mystery out of the way. What Jonathan knew, however, was another matter entirely. He might have been bad at keeping secrets, but he'd clam right up if someone asked him not to talk.
"Alice," Jonathan said, seeming to try to shrink in on himself as she closed with him; it was a funny sight on someone his size, but that kind of thing wasn't why she was here. "Good morning, sister."
"Yes, good morning, Jojo," she said, calmly folding her arms over her chest. "Now then, mind telling me what you're hiding?"
"Hiding?" Jonathan echoed, his voice developing the signature squeak that it always did when he tried to lie. "Why would I be hiding something?"
"Jonathan, you couldn't lie to save your life, so do please stop trying," she said, narrowing her eyes slightly and leaning in a bit closer. "Now, where's Dio gotten himself off to?"
"Alice, I…" Jonathan squirmed a bit as she continued to stare him down, but in the end it did look like someone had told him not to say anything.
"Dio's gotten himself into something interesting again, hasn't he?" she asked, smirking slightly; it wasn't that far-fetched, really, Dio wasn't really the greatest for considering his actions before he took them.
"That is… well, I…"
"All right, all right," she said, waving Jonathan off. "I'll take care of this, myself."
Turning away from her and Dio's brother, Sarah made her way out to the carriage house. She was going to meet with Appice, so she could get out of the house for awhile. She needed Speedwagon's contacts for this; Dio had gotten kind of attached to a place called Ogre Street, and often went back there for… well, basically for shits and giggles, really. Ducking out of the way, before George could spot her and try to push something else on her, Sarah continued on her way.
Making her way into the carriage house, she spoke briefly with Appice, picked up the reversible bag that she'd stored atop one of the shelves, and climbed into one of the carriages on the far side of the large room. While Appice himself whipped up the horses, Sarah quickly changed into the outfit that she had adopted for use in her Fleetwood Mac persona. Taking out her black umbrella, she retied the laces of her bag and tucked it into the far corner of the carriage.
"Meet me back here in a couple hours, all right?" she asked, passing over a handful of bills; she and Appice had an understanding: she supplemented his income when she needed him to get her somewhere, and he didn't ask questions.
"Yes, mum."
"Thanks," she said, nodding to Appice, then making her way up the side of a nearby building.
Searching for the distinctive, bowler-hatted form of one Robert E.O. Speedwagon as she hopped from rooftop to rooftop, Sarah eventually managed to track the man and his gang down to one of the many narrow streets that made up the neighborhood known colloquially as Ogre Street. Crouching lessen the shadow she would otherwise be casting on the ground, Sarah carefully stepped over the peak of the roofline and continued down onto the downward slope. Not a one of Speedwagon's gang looked up, and with an amused shake of her head, Sarah slid down and off the edge of the rooftop to land – lightly and safely out of earshot – behind the gang.
Announcing her presence by swiping Robert's bowler hat right off the top of his head as she closed with him from behind, she grinned at him when he turned to look at her with an expression of frank incredulity on his face.
"Rob, now what've I told you?" she asked, lazily spinning the man's bowler hat on her right pointer finger.
"Fleetwood," Robert greeted, smirking as he snatched his hat back, setting it neatly back on his head. "So nice to see ya again. This a social call, or do you need us to rough someone up for ya?"
"What I need from you now is some information, Rob," she said, as the pair of them continued on their way down the narrow street.
"What kind of information ya need, Fleetwood?"
"Have you ever heard of a man named Dio Brando?" she asked, looking back over at him as the pair of them continued on their way down the narrow street.
"Him?" Robert echoed, his expression shifting to one of disapproval. "I've seen his like before, Fleetwood. He might put on a good act, but I've seen more than my share of his type. Men like him, no matter what airs they put on, are evil to the core."
Disguising a scoff as a soft sneeze, Sarah made a show of wiping her hands, and tucked them into her pockets. "You mind putting out feelers anyway? He might not be your kind, but I'd really prefer to know where he is."
"Friends close and enemies closer, eh?" Robert asked, the smile on his face coming right back. "All right, Fleetwood; you've convinced me. You'll have all the feelers ya need, once I get done."
Oh, the many ways that could be taken out of context, she mused, amusedly thanking Robert for his assistance, just before a commotion from somewhere up ahead drew his attention.
"Looks like you came just in time for some action, Fleetwood!" Robert called, turning to grin back over his right shoulder at her. "We've got us a plump little pigeon, just waiting to be plucked!"
"I suppose I could spare some time," she said, smiling slightly at the eager expression on Robert's face.
Sure, she wasn't generally in favor of fighting when there wasn't something to be gained from it, but Robert had never really seemed the type to go around killing people, or harming them excessively for that matter. Sure, he liked to give the nobles a hard time, but considering the kind of spectacular jackasses most of them could be, she didn't really see anything wrong with having some fun at their expense. So long as no one uninvolved got caught up in it, of course.
Still, given everything she'd learned about him, Robert – she still had to stifle a chuckle when she remembered what his initials spelled out – didn't seem the kind to let that happen.
The man they were accosting was, no bones about it, built like a brick shithouse. That was sure to cause no end of problems for the more wiry members of Rob's gang, which only made Sarah all the more pleased that she wasn't going to be getting into a dust-up with ol' Shithouse there. Still, there was something kind of familiar about the big lug…
=PB=
When he was attacked out of nowhere by a gang of toughs who seemed intent on severely roughing him up for whatever reason, Jonathan found himself realizing that Ogre Street was far more aptly named than he had been led to believe. But he had a duty to search every place that Dio might have gone, and as this place was where he and Alice had been born, it was all the more important that he search it. It might very well be the one place he could hope to find a clue as to Dio's current whereabouts.
So, he would brave the dangers that had given Ogre Street its fearsome reputation, and if these men sought to stop him, they were in for quite a rude awakening.
Those in front charged in heedlessly, and he wasted no time laying them out using the skills that he had learned in the boxing ring facing Dio. Such a memory made Jonathan all the more determined to seek out his wayward brother and bring him back home; together, the pair of them might be able to determine just what it was that that ominous stone mask had done to him. And, if needs must, how they might reverse what had been done.
The sight of the pair who seemed to have instigated this mêlée that Jonathan currently found himself having to contend with filled him with a new resolve. He would have done with this absurd distraction as soon as he ever could manage, and then he would find Dio, so that the pair of them might find a way to cope with this horrid new situation they found themselves in.
Right away, he noticed that the thinner man in pale, rough-spun clothes was hiding the lower half of his face behind a rather slender hand; even the gloves the man wore did little to disguise the slimness of his hands, or… the laughter lurking in his… copper… colored… eyes…
When- when Alice removed her right hand from her face, Jonathan was at first relived to see the amused smile on his and Dio's sister's face, then he was given a harsh reminder of just why allowing himself to be distracted at this of all moments was not conductive to his continued health. Turning his attention back to the ruffians who were presently accosting him, he wasn't particularly surprised when Alice grabbed the man by the collar of his ragged jacket and hauled him back as though he were nothing more than a disobedient puppy.
She'd often done that when he and Dio had become overly boisterous for her taste, if the pair of them didn't end up provoking her into knocking their heads together.
"What's the idea, Fleetwood?" asked the large, wiry, wild-haired man who had been standing at the back of the group, as he came to walk beside Alice while she scruffed the ruffian who'd threatened and dragged him back among the crowd of assorted ruffians.
"I know this one, Robert," Alice said, turning to flash a rather amused-looking smile at the man she was closing so swiftly with. "He's a good sort, though a bit of a lunkhead."
He was truly tempted to call out to his and Dio's sister; he'd known she'd chafed under the expectations and all of the limits pressed down upon her by Father and the society they all lived in, but he'd had no idea that she was willing to go so far as to adopt both a false name and face to escape from them. Yes, he knew that Alice and Dio both had very little care for any boundaries, but this… He'd seen men dressed up as women in the theatre, but Jonathan Joestar had never truly thought to see the reverse.
"Well, this is quite the thing, Fleetwood," Robert said, making his way through the crowd.
Given the way the whole lot of them swiftly moved back and away from him at only a single glance from Robert, that let Jonathan know that, in spite of their clear desire to do him bodily harm, those men were at least honorable enough to listen when someone they respected gave them an order.
"So, how d'ya know this one, Fleetwood?" Robert asked; then a small smile, akin to the sly smirks he'd seen Alice and Dio wear when something had happened, appeared on his face. "Or, do we have to catch you ta find out?"
"Well, if you insist," Alice said, tilting her fedora jauntily, smirking in that challenging way that he'd seen so often on his siblings' faces…
It was yet another reminder of Dio; Jonathan tried not to let it hurt so much. He would find Dio and return him home, where he belonged.
=PB=
Grinning as she heard Jonathan shouting for her to come back, and then Rob's laughter at her cheesehead of an adopted brother, Sarah dashed into a nearby alleyway and climbed straight up the nearest wall. Pausing for only a moment to catch her breath, then almost losing it at the sight of Jonathan and Rob running around at ground-level trying to look for her, she smirked and began making her way across the rooftops. It was just about time that she got back to Appice and headed for home.
She didn't have all the time in the world, after all.
=PB=
He had all the time in the world, now.
Grinning with his newly granted fangs, Dio continued on his way through the back streets of London. The only troublesome thing about his new… condition, was the fact that he was forced to completely avoid sunlight or else suffer terrible burns that urgently needed blood to repair them. He'd pickpocketed enough money that he was able to buy himself a pint of blood at a nearby butcher shop, and that had healed him up well enough. In addition, such an action had left him with no troublesome corpses that needed to be disposed of; he knew dear Alice would appreciate his caution in such matters.
His dear sister did so hate to be distracted by unnecessary trivialities.
Speaking of my dear Alice… Grinning as he caught sight of his sweet sister's blonde queue, glimmering as it caught the rays of the early afternoon sun, Dio followed along just behind and below for a few moments, seeing if he could determine where she was heading, before dashing swiftly up the side of a building that his dear Alice had just leaped onto the roof of. Dio quickly swept her up in his arms.
He hoped she would find this new life he had been granted by that fascinating stone mask to her liking, as well. They would be free from all the constraints of not only those fools who considered themselves above them for the mere circumstances of their birth, or the fact that they had been raised solely by their mother, but free of humanity itself. Of course, if any of those worthless creatures found out precisely what a wastrel their late, unlamented father was… Well, it would simply give the cretins all the more reason to look down upon them.
He knew that his sweet sister had little care for the opinions of those she met only in passing, and there were times that he rather envied her for it, but the more he was forced to listen to those chattering imbeciles, the stronger his urge to deal with them in the same manner that the pair of them hand dealt with their worthless father became.
Holding his sweet sister close, his new sense of smell picking out scents that he had never been able to discern as a mere human, Dio could not help the momentary urge to sink his newfound fangs into Alice's neck. Still, the pair of them – already far more worthy than any of the witless fools surrounding them – were the only ones truly fit to inherit the world. The pair of them stood far above the common rabble; both because Alice had introduced him to the fascinating sport of roof-running, and because the two of them were simply better than all of the petty, bleating cretins that surrounded them.
Even Jojo, for all his endearing qualities, was really more on the level of a pet than anything.
Making his way back to the empty mansion that he had prepared for the pair of them, once he had fully determined the extent of the changes that the stone mask had made to his once-human body, Dio grinned as he scaled the nearest wall and let himself in through one of the large windows. Pushing aside the heavy, light-blocking curtains as he continued on his way deeper into the halls of what would soon be their home, Dio tossed off the cloak he'd been wearing.
He'd taken the precaution of knocking Alice unconscious, and could only hope that his sweet sister would not be too cross with him for using a tactic that she herself had demonstrated before him so many times to render her so for ease of transport.
Perhaps she'll forgive me after she realizes just how powerful this stone mask will make us, he grinned. As immortal, powerful, unstoppable vampires, we'll be the twin rulers of humanity! he mused with pleasure, continuing on his way to the large bedroom that he had cleared out for his sweet sister's use. It was directly across the hall from his own, rather than in an entirely separate wing as had been the case when the pair of them had stayed in the Joestar estate. He was far more pleased with this particular arrangement, of course.
Gently laying his sweet sister down upon the bed, Dio gathered the stone mask from the nightstand and made his way back over to where his dear Alice slept.
"Good night my angel, time to close your eyes," he sang softly, the strains of the lullaby coming easily to him; the very one she'd first sang to him on that dark night, only a scant three days before she had finally had enough of their wastrel father and his foolishness. "And save these questions for another day. I think I know what you've been asking me." Turning the stone mask so that it lay neatly upon his sweet sister's face, Dio settled himself down next to her head. "I think you know what I've been trying to say. I promised I would never leave you, and you should always know: wherever you may go, no matter where you are, I never will be far away."
Her voice, never truly soft unless there was a particular need for it, had drowned out their horrid father's for the first and last time in his memory; a memory he would treasure, as there had been no other but his dear Alice to watch over him that lonely night.
"Good night my angel, now it's time to sleep. And still so many things I want to say." She'd helped him to barricade the door with their old bed frame and threadbare mattress, keeping Dario from one of his all-too-frequent drunken rampages against the pair of them while they slept. "Remember all the songs you sang for me, when we went sailing on an emerald bay. And like a boat out on the ocean, I'm rocking you to sleep. The water's dark and deep, inside this ancient heart. You'll always be a part of me." Sinking his newly-granted fangs into his lower lip, Dio tasted his own blood for the first time since he'd become a vampire.
Since he'd utterly transcended the limits of feeble humanity.
Leaning down, acting quickly before one of the droplets gathering on his lips could spoil this perfect moment that he'd spent so long crafting, Dio kissed the stone mask's forehead with his bloodied lips and watched in wonderful anticipation as the eyes of the stone mask lit up with brilliant crimson radiance.
=PB=
The first thing Sarah became aware of was a shooting pain in her head; pain that spread quickly to the rest of her body seemingly between the space of one breath and the next. She flailed almost instinctively, but just as quickly found that there was someone restraining her. Her arms, at least; but when she tried to kick her way free, that same someone's feet came down heavily on her calves.
"Rest easy now, sister," Dio's familiar voice said, echoing slightly inside what sounded like an empty room. "Easy. You'll feel so much better when this is over."
That wasn't the strange part; sure, Jonathan had said that Dio'd gone off somewhere, and it wasn't that surprising that the first person he'd end up making contact with when he'd finally decided to make his way back. No, what Sarah couldn't quite explain were the scents and sounds surrounding her. She could hear the creaking of wood; the sound of a large house settling, and something about the quality of the sound told her that the place was empty except for the two of them.
The smells… the smells were the strangest part. She'd never had what anyone would call a strong sense of smell, not unless they were being uncommonly charitable, but now… The room she was currently in was musty, even smelling disused to the point where she could tell that she and Dio were the only ones who'd set foot in here for who knew how long.
"Dio, you've got some explaining to do."