With no word nor sight of Mistress Alice during the two hours she had requested him to wait, Appice returned to his carriage and set off for the Joestar estate; he would return for the young lady of the house later, since he knew that Alice Brando was resourceful and intelligent enough to make her own way back to their appointed meeting place without undue fuss.
=PB=
He'd told Robert about Alice and her proclivities – the eccentricity that made his adopted sister so vibrant, and at the same time such a trial when she set her mind on being so – and the man had seemed to take it in stride. Robert seemed rather amused by the concept than anything, really.
"I'd thought your girl had something odd about her when the two of us met," the man, one Robert E.O. Speedwagon, said as the pair of them continued searching for Alice throughout the bustling streets of London. "Never would've suspected she was a girl."
"Alice has always been… willful," he said.
She and Dio had both been something of a concern to Father, the way they were prone to carry on at times. And, though Jonathan loved the pair of them dearly, even he found himself wishing – at times – that Dio and their sister had been more content with their lives and less inclined to cause trouble in pursuit of their own amusement.
=PB=
Stroking his dear, sweet sister's long, blonde hair as he held the pint of blood he'd purchased for her some time earlier – she'd said that such a thing hadn't been necessary in the slightest, but as he'd insisted she'd been willing to humor him – Dio smiled widely. There would be time enough for them to discuss all of the lovely ideas he'd dreamed up since gaining this new power, power that he had naturally shared with his sweet sister, but for the moment he was content to relax. Alice's head bumped against his chest, just enough to draw his attention, and Dio looked over his sister's back at the now-empty container of blood that he had been holding for her.
Smiling slightly as he set the freshly-emptied container down upon the bedside table, Dio nuzzled his sweet sister's head as she leaned back against him.
"So, I take it you have a plan for all this," his dear Alice said, and he smiled.
"I thought that the pair of us would plot our rise to the top of the world," he said, grinning in the darkness; he could see through it like daylight, nothing would be able to escape his gaze.
Nothing more would be able to escape his grasp.
"Of course," his sweet sister murmured, amusement coloring her tone.
"You can't truly deny that we deserve it," he said, knowing that his dear sister was merely teasing him as she did everyone, but still wishing to be heard on this matter.
"Well, let's call that an extreme long-term goal, then. What do you intend to do, here and now?"
"Ah, yes," he mused, wrapping his arms more securely around his dear Alice's waist. "Everything rests on a foundation of preparation."
He chuckled softly, even as Alice hummed in thought; it was a more elegant phrasing of something his sweet sister was rather fond of saying. For all that he sometimes acted without thinking, he'd never found the statement to be entirely without merit.
"I suppose we should at least pay a visit to Jonathan," he sweet sister said, her tone sounding rather reflective. "He'll worry his head off if he doesn't see us again."
"Knowing Jojo, there's no doubting it," he said, grinning softly in the darkness.
"Well, if you know that much, you should remember that once Jonathan worries his head all the way off, he's inevitably going to lose track of it," she said, and he could almost hear the sly smile on her face.
He laughed, cuddling her more tightly as he nuzzled the side of her head. "Yes; I suppose Jojo would have trouble without us." He hummed softly. "We'll have to wait until nightfall; vampires like us won't do so well in the sunlight."
Smiling slightly as Alice laughed softly, Dio relaxed into the soft bedding he laid upon. Darkness would come soon enough; truly, they had all the time in the world.
=PB=
The sun was falling steadily, and Jonathan was forced to admit that he would not be able to find Alice and Dio before night fell entirely. Robert had offered him some comfort, and promised that he would give any kind of aid that Jonathan asked of him. He'd thanked the man for his kindness, and returned home. Home, to tell Father that not only had Dio vanished after coming into close contact with that horrible stone mask, but he'd lost sight of Alice almost as quickly as he had found her out and about in the lower parts of London.
He'd known, of course, that she was willful and clever… but, seeing how far she was willing to go when those she loved were out of her sight… In a way it was something of a comfort, to know that Alice cared for all of them so much, but in another it was rather terrifying, knowing that his and Dio's sister accepted no limits save for those she had set upon herself; particularly since he'd little idea what those limits even were.
He'd been unsure of whether or not to tell Father about what he had deduced, since he didn't know just what the man's reaction would ultimately be; if Alice truly accepted no limits but her own, and then Father attempted to impose some… he did not relish the thought of what could happen.
After having made his explanations and apologies to Father, Jonathan made his way slowly back to his room. He hadn't been confined there, though Father had seemed rather disappointed in him all the same, so that was one small thing he no longer had to worry about. Still, the walk back to his room was a rather long and depressing one, all the same.
Closing the door behind him, Jonathan leaned against it for a long, long moment.
The soft sounds of someone muttering drew his attention to his bed, and Jonathan hurried over to it once he realized that the curtains had been drawn. For a moment, Jonathan was fair certain that he'd heard snickering, but… then…
"Dio? Alice?"
For indeed, his dear brother and sister were standing right there before him. Throwing himself into the welcoming circle of his dear siblings' arms, Jonathan wept openly for the safe return of the remaining members of his family.
=PB=
Once they'd managed to pry Jonathan loose – Dio'd suggested a crowbar, but he'd clearly spoken too softly for anyone but another vampire to hear him – their brother insisted on showing them off to that stuffed-shirt adopted father of theirs. She and Dio shared a Look behind Jonathan's back; it was a good thing that they'd been forced to return under the cover of darkness, since George would have otherwise had the curtains open, and Dio'd told her in fairly vivid detail about just what happened to a vampire unlucky enough to find themselves exposed to sunlight. She'd wondered, for a long few moments, just how he'd managed to find something like that out; but in the end she hadn't been curious enough to ask.
She was almost tempted to laugh at the kicked-puppy look on Jonathan's face as George lectured him, but considering how much of an ass George was currently being, the temptation was a rather easy one to ignore. Stepping in just as Jonathan had started attempting to stammer out some sort of explanation for the happenings of the previous day, she sighed.
"Right, that's enough," she said, rising back to her feet and folding her arms; she thought for a moment that she might have actually been taller than her previous life's 6'1", but that was entirely beside the point.
"Alice, this is hardly your business," George said, turning to her with that same, stuffy expression that never seemed to really leave his face.
"I'm making it my business," she said, narrowing her eyes slightly. "It's hardly Jonathan's fault that he lost track of me. He may be a boxer, but that hardly makes him suited for roof-running."
She'd almost called it Parkour, but the word itself was both French and she didn't know if it had been invented yet, she didn't want to confuse the issue by bringing in words that may or may not have been invented. Still, she wasn't about to let George go blaming Jonathan for not being able to do something he'd never trained for in the first place.
"Roof-running is not a suitable activity for a young girl, Alice," George said, seeming to latch onto that for whatever reason; like hell was she going to waste valuable brainspace trying to comprehend the motives of someone whose opinion meant less than nothing to her.
"Of course not," she said, smiling blandly. "Why else do you think I enjoy it so much?"
George sighed, Jonathan gawped, and Dio… well, Dio burst out laughing.
She and her brother were dismissed back to their respective rooms not soon after that, but Dio – just as she'd been expecting him to, really – insisted on coming with her to her room. The pair of them settled themselves down on her bed, with Dio lifting her up onto his lap with what seemed to be the barest of effort.
"Well, Jojo's back to himself," Dio said, chuckling deep in his throat as he curled his arms around her waist. "I don't suppose you'd want to start making plans for our glorious rise to power now?"
She laughed softly, though it came out sounding a bit like a sigh. "Dio, do you even have the slightest idea where we should start?"
Her twin's only response was a laugh, as he nuzzled the right side of her head, kissing her temple before settling back onto her bed.
=PB=
The next several days represented pretty much a complete break from their normal routine, which made sense once you considered just how much the pair of them being vampires altered their whole family dynamic. Charlena fussed over the pair of them even more than she had when they were kids, which was both kind of funny and a bit sad at the same time. Jonathan seemed even more determined to do everything he could for them; tagging along with them when he wasn't going out for lessons – she'd managed to convince George that she and Dio could find pretty much anything they would need to learn about in the Joestar Estate's vast library – and hurrying to check up on them when he came home.
"Alice! Dio! You'll never believe what I managed to find!" he shouted, bursting into the kitchen with them.
"Jojo, I'm shocked at you," Dio said, clearly forcing himself not to smile. "You're agitating the strawberries."
"What?" their brother asked, looking like someone had taken the wind out of his sails while juggling freshly-shined bowling balls.
"Jonathan," she admonished, taking up the thread of the conversation. "You should know by now that you can't make good jam with agitated strawberries. Now, I really think you should apologize."
"Right," Jonathan said, looking a tad confused, though still gamely resolute. "I'm terribly sorry for agitating your strawberries."
"Jojo," Dio said, tutting as he made his way over to where their brother was still standing, holding out the bowl of strawberries. "You can do better than that."
Jonathan looked from Dio's small, supremely amused grin, to the deep bowl of fruit their brother was holding out to him.
Jonathan sighed, though she could see that he was struggling not to laugh, and reached up to gently pat the large, plump berries. "You've found delicious-looking berries, and I'm certain they'll make wonderful jam. Now, can you leave your work for a few moments? Or, should I bring the man I've met to meet you here?"
"You've met someone you think we'd be interested in meeting?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she turned to look back at her and Dio's brother from her place at the stove, stirring the boiling mixture as it slowly thickened. "Is he involved with your archeology studies?"
"Well, no," Jonathan said, a slightly uncertain expression passing over his face; it seemed like he hadn't been thinking of anything like that before, but she'd given him something more to consider. "His name is William Zeppeli. He says that he can cure you!"
"I'd hardly call us ill, Jojo," Dio scoffed good-naturedly.
=PB=
"You know what I mean, Dio," he said plaintively, wishing for a long moment that he could have properly explained his position to his and Alice's brother.
However, Dio seemed to be oddly content with his new state of being; always seeming to have to stop himself from boasting of his new abilities and the strengths he had discovered over the five weeks he had spent in this unnatural condition. And Alice… while their sister was not at all the type to boast, she still seemed to be as oddly content as Dio. He didn't know how to respond to such strange developments, but he hoped that Mr. Zeppeli would be able to convince them to allow him to cure them the way he'd all but said that he could.
"I suppose it wouldn't do any real harm just to hear the man out," Alice said; she'd always been the more sensible one, easily balancing Dio's brash impulsivity. "Though I do reserve the right to mock him if he says something foolish."
"I suppose that would be fair," he said, watching as Alice turned her attention back to the boiling pot of strawberries. "Do you think it would be best if I brought Mr. Zeppeli in here to meet you, or would you be able to speak with him in the salon?"
"At this stage, the jam needs to be stirred almost constantly, so it thickens properly and doesn't burn," Alice said. "If you're sure this Zeppeli of yours can't wait, you should bring him in." A slyly amused smile slowly overtook her expression of concentration. "Just make sure he doesn't agitate the strawberries, either."
He laughed softly; Alice was such a wit. "Have no fear; I'll ensure he understands the gravity of the situation."
Still smiling softly, Jonathan made his way back out to the salon. He'd soon spotted the tall, white-suited form of William A. Zeppeli. Breathing more easily as he caught sight of the calm expression on the man's face, Jonathan took the last few steps over to the man's side.
"How did they react?" Mr. Zeppeli asked.
"They both seem willing to listen, though they're making jam at the moment, so I think the both of them would prefer to have a civil discussion," he said, gesturing for Mr. Zeppeli to follow his lead as he made his way back to the kitchen.
Mr. Zeppeli scoffed. "Why would vampires even bother making jam in the first place?"
"Well, we were beginning to run out, and the pair of them do rather enjoy the activity," he said, confused as to just why Mr. Zeppeli would be so surprised about such a thing; surly there were other vampires he had cured who had maintained their passions from when they were human.
Mr. Zeppeli didn't say anything else, so Jonathan was left to wonder about his strange words as he finally made it back to the kitchen. The smell of fresh strawberry jam wafted out to greet him, and Jonathan smiled as he pushed open the door and stepped inside again.
"I've brought Mr. Zeppeli," he said, pausing for a moment to watch as Dio put the second pot of strawberries on to boil, and Alice scooped out the cooling jam into a bowl.
"All right," Alice said, turning to briefly sweep her bloody crimson eyes – yet another reminder of just what the stone mask had done to his dear siblings – over the pair of them where they stood; he smiled to reassure her. "Well, I suppose, since this batch needs to cool off and the next batch needs to boil before anything can be done with it, we can at least hear what this acquaintance of yours has to say. Right, Dio?"
Dio scoffed, folding his arms and making a petulant expression as he looked Mr. Zeppeli up and down. "I suppose. Though I, Dio, still don't see any reason for your foolish talk of cures, Jojo."
"Thank you; both of you," he said, as the pair of them fell into step with him, and the three of them made their way back into the salon to sit down.
Dio and Alice settled themselves down together on the same divan where he was sitting, but Dio naturally chose to settle himself far closer to their sister, wrapping his arms around her shoulders as he leaned his head against hers. Father had never truly approved of such a thing when he chanced to see it, but Jonathan thought it rather pleasant to see. It was only natural, after all, that as twins Dio and Alice would be rather close.
"Mr. Zeppeli, would you tell them about your cure?" he asked, turning to smile encouragingly at the Italian.
"Jonathan Joestar," Mr. Zeppeli said, rising back to his feet in a way that Jonathan couldn't help but find distinctly menacing. "I said that I would end their existence as vampires," Jonathan shuddered slightly, as Mr. Zeppeli breathed in deeply-
Then he blinked as one of the pillows from the divan flew at him, exploding into a rain of falling feathers as Mr. Zeppeli's right fist slammed into it. Feeling himself sliding down to the floor, Jonathan felt his jaw drop as Alice quite literally picked up the very divan they had all been sitting on and swung it at Mr. Zeppeli! More surprising than that, however, was the fact that even that seemed to be merely a distraction from whatever it was that she intended to do next.
"Jojo!"
Finding himself suddenly hoisted off his feet, facing the solidly enraged face of his adopted brother, Jonathan felt horrible. For all the hope he'd had, it had nearly been the end of his dear siblings.
=PB=
"Dio, think," his sweet sister's voice broke through the haze of crimson rage that had settled over his vision when that… that human had dared to attack him and his dear Alice in their very home. "You and I both know that Jonathan is congenitally incapable of malice. You really think he'd be able to recognize it when he saw it?"
Sighing deeply, Dio conceded the point; truly, it was hardly Jojo's fault that he was such an adorable fool. Though it was still entirely too troublesome at times. "Jojo, when are you going to realize that, honest-to-a-fault though you are, most people don't tend to say what they truly mean?" Jojo didn't seem to be in any fit state to speak, with fat tears gathering in his eyes and spilling down his cheeks; Dio sighed again, chuckling softly as he swiped them away with his left thumb. "Ah, Jojo. You truly are a hopeless case." Smirking as he used his extendable veins to snatch an intact pillow from the floor, Dio gripped the cushion firmly by a corner. "Still, don't think you're going to escape without punishment." Firmly swatting Jojo across the face with the pillow, Dio composed himself, biting back his grin at the expression on Jojo's face. "That was for not finding out what your Mr. Zeppeli meant before all of this nonsense," another firm swat. "That was for nearly getting us killed," a third, just to finish things off. "And that was for generally being – oh, what was my sister's elegant phrasing? Ah, yes – a porridge-head."
"If you're quite finished," his sweet sister prompted, drawing his attention firmly back to the worthless creature who had so brazenly attacked them in their own home.
"Of course," he said, gently tossing Jojo so that he landed neatly on one of the cushions that had fallen from the divan when his dear Alice had slammed it into the worthless man who had dared to invade their home. "Do you think we'd be well served letting him up?"
"Well, given how he always took a deep breath just before punchsploding something, I really don't think letting him breathe properly is in any way a good idea," his sweet sister said, continuing to restrain the worthless human; arms wrapped tightly about his neck as she kept him still and docile.
"Yes, I remember that," he said, narrowing his eyes and glaring at the bastard struggling in his sweet sister's grip. "I'd wanted to question him, perhaps find out if there were any others of his ilk who would dare show their faces in our city, but now-"
"Dio, wait!"
"Jojo, I certainly hope you're not sincerely going to suggest I allow this bastard to go free. Not after everything he did," he turned a stern glare on their foolish brother, even as he glimpsed his dear Alice slamming her right heel into the gut of that insufferable human to drive what remaining breath he had right out of him again.
"Please, Dio," Jojo implored, face falling into an expression that was almost painfully contrite. "I was the one who brought this man into our home, not suspecting how dangerous he would prove to the pair of you," the fat tears that had been gathering in Jojo's blue eyes once again spilled over; Dio didn't bother wiping them away this time.
Truly, such would only prove to be a useless effort at a time like this.
"Jojo, even you can't be unaware of just what kind of a risk we'd be taking if we allowed this man to go free," he said, setting their adorable fool of a brother back on his feet.
"I know, but please, just let me speak to him."
He sighed, rolling his eyes briefly, before turning his attention to his sweet sister. "Well, Alice? You're the one who'll be in the most danger if… that man is to be allowed free."
"Oh, I'm always in favor of second chances," his sweet sister said lightly, then her expression shifted, becoming the half-lidded, almost lazy-looking expression that had even deceived him Dio, once upon a time. No question: his sweet sister would be more than ready to fight if such a situation was in the offing. "Still, that is something to remember about second chances: you only get one."
=PB=
When Alice unwrapped her arms from Mr. Zeppeli's neck, Jonathan gathered himself and stepped closer to the man, even as his and Dio's sister dashed back with the unnatural speed that the stone mask had granted to her and Dio both.
"Jonathan Joestar," Mr. Zeppeli said, gathering himself in a manner that Jonathan would have found almost admirable, if the man had not been such a clear and present danger to his dear siblings. "I had originally come here to dispose of a pair of dangerous vampires, and to see that you were trained in using Hamon. Now, I see that I will have to undo this mind-control of theirs before we will be able to move any farther."
Jonathan was just about to ask what in the world Mr. Zeppeli meant by that, when he felt the man's right fist driven into his gut with all the force of a sledgehammer. Even the sound of Dio and Alice both shouting the names that they most commonly used for him could not distract him from such a feeling. It was not as though the sensation was at all painful, but having all the breath smashed out of his lungs was not in any way a pleasant one.