"I'm Noriaki Kakyoin," he forced out, even as he found himself almost falling to the ground as he sat down so fast.
"I'm Loreena McKennitt," she said, smiling as she gently squeezed the green hand of the phantom that had been with him for so long that it had begun to feel like a part of him, though until today he'd thought that it was a part that no one else would be able to share. "It's nice to meet you, Noriaki."
Her accent didn't really sound like she came from anywhere in America, but she was blonde, so Noriaki wasn't quite sure what to think. Still, it would probably be rude if he asked about something like that, even though the pair of them did seem to have more in common than he'd ever thought he'd find with anyone else. Reaching out to pet the head of the phantom companion that Loreena had been kind enough to show him. Smiling as he moved to sit closer to her, Noriaki reached out to lace his own fingers through the ones on her left hand.
He could still feel the muted sensation of Loreena's fingers on his own, and when he looked over at the strange, green humanoid figure who had been with him for as long as he could remember, he saw that her right hand was still holding its own in the same way that the pair of them were now holding hands; it was something to remember, the way he could feel something when someone touched that strange phantom of his.
=SC=
When she'd dropped Sherry and Jean Pierre Polnareff back at their small, cozy-looking home deep in the countryside, Alice had found herself swiftly invited over to dinner. Jean Pierre hadn't been about to take no for an answer, and since she didn't have any pressing reason to refuse the hospitality that the Polnareffs were offering, both she and Straizo had soon found themselves seated at the small dining room table. Alice quickly found that Jean Pierre was nearly as much of a flirt as Dio, though when lightly rebuffed he did back off without any of her twin's overblown histrionics, which was a nice change of pace.
"It was good to meet the both of you," she said, once their meal had been finished and she and Straizo could leave without being rude.
"Thank you so much for helping my sister when she ran into that horrible man," Jean Pierre said, just about bounding forward so that he could hug her. "If you ever find yourself in need of a place to stay, Miss Brando, you can feel free to call me any time at all."
"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Jean Pierre," she said, using the name that the Frenchman had been so insistent that she address him by when the pair of them had first met. "Thanks again for your hospitality."
"Of course," Jean Pierre said, smiling as he escorted her back to the door so that she and Straizo would be able to leave.
"That was rather unexpected," Straizo said, once the pair of them had taken their leave of the Polnareffs and gotten far enough away that they could speak among themselves without being rude.
"Considering Jean Pierre, I was almost expecting something like that," she said, as Straizo opened the door to her Jaguar and let Alice get herself comfortable. "He does seem like the type."
"I suppose," Straizo said, shutting his own door and settling down in the driver's seat once again.
The familiar rumble of the Jaguar's engine helped Alice to focus on the questions that she was going to ask Dio, foremost among them just what he'd gotten up to that had ended up with her gaining access to whatever kind of new power that she'd seen in action while she'd been escorting Sherry Polnareff back to her car. She'd known that he'd been making forays into Egypt, with the goal of eventually opening a resort and spa in Cairo, and so she gave instructions for Straizo to take her to the airport again. She was going to have to make a few arrangements, but she'd be able to make her own way to Cairo soon enough.
She'd get her answers, one way or another.
=SC=
As he and Loreena made their way through the city, both of them talking about the strange spirits that seemed to have been following the both of them around ever since they could remember, Noriaki found himself honestly grateful for the existence of the Brando Corporation for the first time since he'd heard of it. He'd have probably never had the chance to meet Loreena if not for her father having traveled to Cairo on business for the company. Especially since he'd never even thought to look for people like him in Cardiff.
He hadn't even known where Cardiff was, really; he'd never had any reason to think about people who lived in Wales.
"So, yours has two forms?" he asked, looking back over his right shoulder as the pair of them followed along in his and Loreena's wake.
"Yours almost seems to, too," Loreena said, smiling at him in a way that he'd started to find more and more reassuring the more he heard it. "I mean, the way it turns into all of those ropes and streamers."
"Yeah, I guess," he said, turning to look back at the pair of their phantom companions as they walked along behind the pair of them. "Still, do you think you could show me it?"
"Sure," Loreena said, turning to look back at her mechanical cat. "All right, show us what you've got!" she called, grinning widely.
The cat nodded back at her, in the same way that his own green phantom would nod at him, those few times when he would ask it to do something for him. As his green phantom took a step back, the cat stood up, front and hind legs shifting and reconfiguring until it stood on two legs like a human; last was its face, which actually opened up like one of those giant robots that he'd seen in Super Sentai, making it almost look like the newly-reconfigured cat was wearing the top of its head as some strange kind of hat. Last of all was the way it pulled what seemed to be a pair of swords from its own arms, whipping them out and looking like it was some kind of dual-wielding ninja, or something.
All in all, it was a lot different than the way that his own green-man could transform into those ropes and tendrils.
"That's amazing," he said, making his way over to look closer at the transformed phantom that Loreena had showed to him. "I didn't know that they could have weapons like this," he continued, making his way over to look more closely at the swords that the transformed cat was holding.
They looked like some kind of rapiers, but they didn't seem to have any cross guard, and the blades seemed to have just the slightest curve to them. It did seem kind of strange, but since his own green-man seemed to be able to throw those strange rocks of its, Noriaki wasn't going to say anything about it. Really, maybe that was just the way these things happened; Noriaki couldn't have said that he really knew anything about what was going on.
He'd never seen anything like this before; he'd never even met another person with the kind of phantom guardian that he himself had before he'd run into Loreena McKennitt and her transforming robotic cat.
"Thanks… For showing me that," he said, smiling at her as her transformed cat stowed away its swords and transformed back into what seemed to be its normal form.
"You're welcome," Loreena said, smiling as the pair of them fell into step with each other again. "I'm really glad I could have the chance to meet you, Noriaki."
"I'm glad we had the chance to meet, too," he said, lacing his fingers together with hers as the pair of them continued on their way through the city.
"Little Lori, are you on a date?" a man's voice – one that Noriaki had never heard before, but Loreena seemed to be familiar with if the look on her face was any indication – spoke up, and Noriaki turned to see a blond in a really extravagant-looking suit grinning happily at the pair of them. "That's wonderful!"
"Mr. Brando," Loreena said, laughing softly in that way that people did when someone they knew had just done something silly, but also something that they'd learned to expect.
"Please, Little Lori, call me Dio," the man said, practically sauntering over to the pair of them, the swing of what seemed to be a folded umbrella of all things drawing all the more attention to the motion of his walk; at least it would have, if Noriaki hadn't been making a point to keep his eyes on the man's face. "After all, your father works for my sister, and that just about makes us family."
There was a cheerful smile on the man's face as he went over to hug Loreena, but there was also something about him… Noriaki couldn't quite think of the words to describe it, but Dio didn't really seem to be a normal person at all. Noriaki didn't know if that kind of thing would be good or bad, but it would clearly be something that he'd have to keep an eye out for.
"Now, where are you and your new boyfriend headed, hmm?" Dio asked, smiling invitingly at the pair of them, before he looked up and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and it seems like we have something else in common, too."
Before Noriaki could wonder if Dio really meant what he seemed to be talking about, a golden figure appeared next to him; this one was just as inhuman as the green-man and the cat who walked beside him and Loreena. The new, golden phantom reached out to pat both of their heads, before stepping behind them to make its way over to where their own phantoms were standing, looking up at the newcomer as it crouched down to scratch under the chin of Loreena's cat, before standing up and wrapping its left arm around the neck of Noriaki's own green-man.
"Wow, I never knew you had one of these, too, Mr.- I mean, Dio," Loreena said, and Noriaki could fully understand the surprise she was feeling; considering how well she'd seemed to know Dio, the fact that he'd had a phantom guardian of his own and hadn't told her…
Well, Noriaki didn't know if he'd have as easy a time forgiving the man as Loreena seemed to be having.
=SC=
Grinning as he, Dio, ushered Little Lori and her boyfriend – a rather cute little thing by the name of Noriaki Kakyoin; clearly from Japan given his name – into the custom-built limousine that he'd commissioned from his sweet sister's machine shop before he'd begun his efforts to build the resort and spa that he and his were working to establish on the outskirts of Cairo he, Dio, found himself wondering just how and when it was that Little Lori had managed to obtain her own Stand. And, while he had been planning to talk find Little Lori and invite her to come with him to the spa and resort that – even while it was still under construction – was still one of the most magnificent places in Egypt.
At least, those that had been constructed during the modern era, of course.
When he'd managed to get Little Lori and her adorable boyfriend settled down in the back of his limousine he, Dio elected to show them some of the improvements that he'd had made to the vehicle when he'd commissioned it for his own, personal use.
"You even had a karaoke machine installed?" Noriaki asked, seeming rather confused.
"Yes," he, Dio, said, smiling at the adorable little human still looking around in confusion at the opulence that he and Little Lori had been surrounded by, just as soon as they'd taken his invitation and elected to come with him. "Now, have some sodas and relax. Unless either of you want to sing, of course," he continued, grinning.
Little Lori laughed softly. "I don't suppose you have cherry soda, do you?"
"Would you like black cherry, or normal cherry, my dear Little Lori?" he, Dio, asked as he reached over to open the small refrigerator that he'd had installed, alongside all of his other improvements.
Watching as his Little Lori and her boyfriend Noriaki settled themselves down together he, Dio, chuckled softly enough that their human senses wouldn't be able to detect it. It was a rather amusing thing; Enya had told him that fate drew Stand users together, but he'd never had concrete proof of such a thing before this day. However, seeing that Little Lori and Noriaki had been able to meet up in such a way as they had… Well, something like that was all the proof that he, Dio, truly needed.
=SC=
In the end, he and Loreena had ended up singing a few songs before they'd gotten to the new resort and spa that Dio and the people who worked for him were setting up on the outskirts of Cairo. Dio had joined in with them, and even sang a few songs on his own; it'd been kind of funny, seeing an important businessman like Dio Brando seemed to be singing karaoke in the back of his own limousine, since that was only something he'd heard of Japanese businessmen doing.
And, well… it was obvious that Dio Brando was just about as far from being Japanese as you could get.
When the three of them – four, if you counted Dio's really eccentric personal assistant, Vanilla Ice – arrived at the half-built form of the Desert Rose Spa and Resort, he and Loreena made their way into one of the finished rooms of the resort. It just the kind of place that he'd been thinking of, when Dio had first told him the name of the place where they were all going to be staying in: done in soft shades of golden yellows, soft reds, and even the occasional deep purple, with large windows that looked out on the landscaped grounds, and were even positioned so that whoever was staying in this room would be able to watch the sun as it rose into the sky.
All in all, it was a place that Noriaki could easily find himself becoming comfortable in.
"So, your father works for his sister?" he asked, once he and Loreena had managed to settle themselves into the room that Dio had given them for as long as they were going to be staying at his resort.
"Yeah," Loreena said, smiling as she settled back onto the large, plush chair that was just opposite the one that Noriaki himself had sat down in. "Dad works for one of Alice Brando's Quality Assurance teams, so we move around a fair bit."
"That sounds lonely," he said, thinking back on his own, solitary existence; even though he had been the only one to know about the phantom green-man that followed him, he hadn't been forced to move from place to place in the wake of his father's job.
Noriaki honestly didn't know if he could have survived something like that, much less come out as well as Loreena seemed to have done.
=SC=
When Lord Dio informed her that they were going to be playing host to someone important to him – more important, even, than the little girl and her boyfriend that had paid them a visit when Lord Dio had brought them to the Desert Rose – Enya had quickly set about making preparations to welcome her. Lord Dio had at least told her that it was another woman that they would be welcoming into their midst, though he'd clearly had his own preparations in mind while he was talking, since he hadn't told her just who it was that would be bringing into their home. Still, those kinds of things were at Lord Dio's discretion.
When she made her way to the foyer, the sound of three, sharp knocks on the door drew Enya's attention. Well, Lord Dio seems-
The sight of that hateful woman, the one who had abused her poor son and then thrown him out as though he were nothing more than trash…! Still, knowing that the hateful creature had been such a fool as to come to this place; oh, Lord Dio would- kiss his way up the column of her neck, softly nuzzle her right ear, and gather her into his arms-! Forcing herself to loosen her clenched fists before Lord Dio could turn around and see her, Enya quickly put her hands behind her back.
"Enya, my dear, I don't suppose I've ever introduced you to my sister," Lord Dio said, and Enya nearly swallowed her own tongue; the thought that the hateful woman who had attacked her poor, dear son could have been related in any way to Lord Dio… "Her name is Alice, but she really doesn't get to visit much."
"While it is nice to be able to meet one of your retainers, brother dear, but I can walk on my own," that hateful woman said, and Enya shuddered at the sound of her voice.
There was the same, unmistakably regal aura of command that had drawn her to Lord Dio when she'd been a younger woman, and there was no question in Enya's mind that – if she so much as glanced into that hateful woman's eyes – she'd fall under the same kind of spell that Lord Dio's gaze had put her into when she'd first looked into his eyes.
The hateful woman's soft, amused chuckle nearly caused Enya to break that vow just a handful of moments after she'd had the chance to make it. "A woman her age, and she's shy. Now there's something you don't see every day."
"Welcome to our resort, miss," she forced out, trying not to choke on the words as they threatened to stick in her throat.
"Really now, Enya, you call me Lord Dio, and all you can think of to call my sweet sister is miss?" Lord Dio said, cold hand under her chin as he forced her to look directly at him; Enya felt chilled, seeing the coldly amused annoyance in her Lord's beautiful crimson eyes. "You'll have to do better than that."
"My apologies, Lady Alice," she said, once Lord Dio had been kind enough to let her go.
"Much better," Lord Dio said, in that tone of his that let those beneath him that they had been granted the only reprieve he was going to allow them, and so had better count themselves fortunate; Enya had never before thought that she would ever end up hearing that tone from her Lord for any reason.
Of course, she'd also never thought that the hateful woman who had attacked her poor son to actually be related to Lord Dio; much less that he would care about her so much as he clearly did.
=SC=
Once the pair of them had left Enya – Alice had had to almost literally bite her tongue to keep from laughing at that one; almost like she'd had to when she'd met up with Loreena McKennitt, but to a somewhat lesser extent, since she hadn't been quite as much of a fan of Enya's music as she had been of Loreena McKennitt's – behind, Alice turned her attention to her brother.
"Another of your underlings?" she asked, though she suspected the answer.
"Yes, though she's never reacted so unhelpfully to someone before," Dio said, a contemplative expression flitting over his face as he glanced back the way the pair of them had come.
"Might want to look into that," she suggested, as the pair of them continued on their way to the living room of the mansion that'd been the first thing her brother had had the construction crew that he was still periodically hiring from one of her firms work on for him.
"Yes, I suppose I should," her brother said, nodding to himself as they made their way into the living room at last.
And, incidentally, caught sight of a rather familiar person seated at one of the game tables at the far left side of the room.
"N'Doul, hanging around here again, are you?" she asked, chuckling softly as she settled herself down at the same table that the agent of one of her Execution Squads had seated himself at.
"Yes," the blind psychic said, smiling in that contented way he always seemed to do when he was staying Cairo; or, to be more precise, when he was around Dio.
Still, a lot of people seemed to have a crush on her brother; she'd gotten used to it, though it was still funny from time to time.
"I expect you have a reason for calling upon me, sister dear," Dio said, grinning at her in that way he had of doing that said he was just as aware of what someone wanted to talk about as they were.
"Indeed," she said, smirking slightly as she summoned Stardust.
Given this world's predilection toward "all music references, all the time" – as well as the fact that what had to be her new Stand looked like it was wearing Ziggy Stardust's outfit, with Indiana Jones' hat pulled down far enough that no one would be able to see its eyes, if it even had any in the first place – she'd named her Stand accordingly. She'd also chosen the name of the other Stand that she possessed, the one that could all-too easily be mistaken for a simple, unadorned bracelet around Stardust's right arm, with an eye to the theme that she'd established for her own Stand. It was thin and white, after all.
After she'd spent some time contemplating the two Stands that she'd been granted when Dio had presumably either stabbed himself or had someone shoot him with the Stone Arrow, Alice had realized that her having ended up with two distinct Stands made perfect sense. After all, even though she hadn't used the name in basically a century, she still had the memories and life experiences of Sarah Williams; it was only natural. Well, insomuch as having superpowers grafted onto her soul by a non-firearm projectile weapon could be considered natural, of course.
"A rather interesting Stand you've been granted, sister dear," Dio said, smiling widely as he leaned his chin on his right fist, studying the interplay of both external and internal light across Stardust's casually standing form; interestingly enough, depending on how the light caught her Stand, one would be able to catch glimpses of what looked like a view of deep space as seen from very far away, another reason why she'd given her Stand its name. "Still, it is rather poor manners to wear a hat not only indoors, but at the table, as well."
When her brother reached out, obviously intending to remove the hat that was probably just as much a part of Stardust's head as the Egyptian-style crown that The World – or whatever name Dio's Stand had been given here and now – was wearing, her own Stand smirked as her brother's reaching fingers passed clean through the brim of the fedora-portion of her Stand's head.