Chapter Note: Dio pretty much reaches Peak Creepy in this chapter, and he has access to timestop.

The sound of a couple, sharp knocks at the door drew Holly up short, just as she'd been on her way to the kitchen to start dinner. And, while she did remember that Uncle Dio had… different dietary needs, and didn't really need to eat, she also knew that he enjoyed having actual meals every once in awhile; particularly when she was the one to cook them. She could remember him saying that every time that she and the rest of her family had been invited to stay with him at one of the mansions that he'd had built, and she was happy to do these little things for him. When she made her way over to the door to answer it she found a pair of strange people standing there.

"Good afternoon," she said, looking over the strange people who'd come to Uncle Dio's mansion for whatever reason.

"Hello," the tall man with a hat that kind of reminded her of Jotaro's, at least in a way, though it was a lot taller than her son's.

"Thank you for being so cordial, miss," the tall man said, as the little boy with the comic clutched in his arms looked shyly up at her. "May we come in?"

"I'll have to talk to my uncle about that," she said, knowing that while Uncle Dio did enjoy meeting new people, he didn't like having just anyone being invited into his holdings.

=SC=

Making his way to the other side of his room he, Dio, looked down at the ornate pocket watch that his sweet sister had bought for him quite a long time ago; one that he'd had repaired more than a few times as the years since his dear Alice had purchased it for him with some of the funds that their company had generated in the early days of its existence. Before it had begun to become the vast, international juggernaut that their company stood as today.

It seemed that his World's current limit for holding the gears of time stood at four seconds; he could only hope that such would be enough time for what he, Dio, had planned.

When his World was forced to release the gears of time he, Dio, heard the sounds of hurried footfalls making their way to the room that he had set up for himself when he'd first been laying down the plans for the mansion where he and his lovely family were staying. Making his way over to the door as his World followed in his footsteps he, Dio, opened it, grinning widely as he saw his sweet little baby Holly standing in that same door.

"Baby Holly," he, Dio, greeted. "Is there something you wished to talk to me about?" he asked, catching sight of the expression on her face and wondering just what it was that had drawn her to him at this time and place.

"There are people at the door," baby Holly said, the concern on her face seeming to be more that he, Dio, would not approve of those who had come to visit them than about what those same people might try to do.

And truly, with so many of his and Alice's sweet family now in possession of the glorious power that he, Dio, had been granted by the Stone Arrow that he'd allowed Enya – fool that she'd unfortunately turned out to be – to fire at him when she'd informed him of just what it could do, there was little enough that any of them would need to worry about from this day onward.

"Well then, I suppose I should go see just what it is that these newcomers want," he, Dio, said, grinning cheerfully at baby Holly as he wrapped his left arm around her shoulders and gently guided her back out of his room.

Time would tell just what these newcomers had truly come to his Cairo holdings for, but he had to confess to at least a modicum of curiosity about the matter.

=SC=

Knowing that Mr. Brando would pester him incessantly – or just flirt with him all the more outrageously, which was almost more of an annoyance than simply being pestered by the man – he'd called the three whose Stands had not yet been granted names down to the expansive living room, keeping his deck of Tarot cards close by so that he would be able to give them their proper names. Names that would allow their users to bond all the more closely with the Stands that they had been granted, as well as to make it more simple for those who would be using them in combat to call for them when they needed such aid in battle.

Once the three of them – Noriaki Kakyoin, Loreena McKennitt, and his friend's daughter Holly Kujo – had all made their way over to the table where he was sitting, Muhammad Avdol looked up at them.

"It's good to see that all of you came so promptly," he said, smiling gently as the three of them all arrayed themselves on a nearby couch, turning to look at him as they finished settling themselves down.

"You said you were going to help us find names for our Stands?" Noriaki said, and there was a definite thread of curiosity in the young man's voice.

"Yes," he said, nodding as he began shuffling the deck in his hands; he had already gotten to know the three of them well enough to determine what kind of people they were.

Now, he simply had to find out just what kind of names that the cards of fate would give to their Stands. As he shuffled the deck again, half-closing his eyes as he meditated for a long moment upon the kind of people that he had found these three to be. His gaze settling for a long moment on young Noriaki Kakyoin, Avdol drew the first of his Tarot cards.

"The Hierophant," he said, considering just what such a card said about the young man seated before him. "Therefore, I will give your Stand the name Hierophant Green," turning his gaze to Loreena, even as Noriaki repeated the name that he had given to his Stand in a thoughtful sort of way. "The Ace of Swords," he paused for a moment, smiling slightly as he recalled the story of the meeting that had taken place between the two young people seated before him. "I will, hence, grant your Stand the name Crimson Ace," smiling all the wider as he turned his gaze to Holly Kujo, who was beginning to lean forward with a definite air of anticipation on her face; truly, he was almost entirely certain as to what name the cards of fate would give to her Stand. "The Queen of Cups," he said.

"Oh, that's a lovely name!" Holly exclaimed, before he could think of a more proper name for the Stand that Mrs. Kujo had been granted.

"Well, I suppose we'll call your Stand Queen of Cups, then," he said, smiling back at Mrs. Kujo as the four of them all began to rise from their seats.

Noriaki Kakyoin and Loreena McKennitt both went off together, just the way he'd been expecting them to do considering how close they'd been when he'd first seen them, and Mrs. Kujo made her own way back up into the upper-storey of the mansion they were all currently staying in.

=SC=

When all of the members of their lovely family – including his sweet sister, as she'd had nothing to keep her up, no projects or the like that needed attending to for their company – had all settled down for the night, with even the guests that baby Holly had invited over and Little Lori and her adorable boyfriend finding places for themselves to stay he, Dio, knew that the best time to make his move had come. Making his way up into the rafters, where there would be even less chance of someone catching a glimpse of him when they desired a late-night snack, or else to use the facilities. At least, those who had not been granted such amenities in their own rooms.

Chuckling as he, Dio, began making his way up a nearby wall to the second-storey of the mansion that he and his were all staying in, he took a moment to regain his composure before he began moving again. There would be no point, after all, in concealing his actions from those around him if he were simply caught by the basest kind of chance. Holding himself still for a long moment, looking down at the door that stood before the room his dear Alice was staying in for the duration of the time she would be able to stay with him.

Calling his World back to his side once more he, Dio, whispered a specific instruction into his glorious Stand's hidden ears.

Once the gears of time had been stopped, held firm in their place by the mighty hands of his glorious Stand he, Dio, leaped easily down from the wall and made his way over to the door. Slipping into the room where his sweet sister was resting, untroubled by the affairs of their company or any projects that she might have started during the course of her work for the company that the pair of them had created over the course of their long lives. Making his way over to the bed she was currently laying in, wrapped in the soft cotton sheets and the down comforter that he, Dio, had provided for her, he looked down at the pocket watch that he, Dio, had brought in with him for just this sort of an occasion.

One second had passed.

Running his tongue over his top two fangs as he opened his overcoat in order to gain access to the tools that he, Dio, had brought to this place for just such an occasion as this – the plans that he, Dio, had been concocting ever since he had discovered the true power of his glorious World – he took out the needle and the vial that he had brought in with him and leaned up and over the foot of the bed that his dear Alice was laying in.

Two seconds had passed.

Flipping the coverlet away from his sweet sister's body he, Dio, crawled his way up the length of her legs to her slender waist. Chuckling softly as he leaned down to nuzzle her left hand – as that was the one closest to where he currently was – he, Dio, swept his right hand under the elastic of the cotton sleepwear his sweet sister was currently attired in, pulling both layers of clothing firmly down. Firmly resisting the urge to hum as he worked he, Dio, gently nudged his sweet sister's knees apart.

Three seconds had passed.

Setting his sweet sister's clothing back to rights again he, Dio, leaned back down to plant a gentle kiss in the palm of his dear Alice's left hand, before climbing down and wrapping her back up in the blankets and coverlets that he'd pulled off. Setting them firmly back to rights, so that his sweet sister would have no reason to suspect that anything untoward had happened he, Dio, hurried out of the room and firmly closed the door behind him.

Four seconds passed; time resumed.

Ducking once again into the recesses of the rafters, concealing himself carefully from anyone who might chance to be out and about at this late hour, and those who might chance to look up he, Dio, laid his right hand over the pocket where he had stored the vial that now held the precious samples that he had taken such care to harvest. Now, all he would need was a surrogate. And such a thing will be quite easy, considering the talents that I, Dio, possess.

=SC=

Making his way down to the main dining room, Hierophant Green testing the limits of their current range by stretching itself along the high ceilings of the wide hallway he was making his way through, Noriaki leaned gently against Loreena's right side as the pair of them continued on their way.

"This is such a strange place," he said, pausing for a moment as he caught sight of Mr. Brando waving up at him through Hierophant Green's eyes; concentrating for a moment, he made Hierophant wave back.

"I know," Loreena said, smiling gently at him as the pair of them continued on their way down the stairs and then through the rest of the hall to the dining room. "I mean, I knew that Mr. Brando was eccentric, but I didn't really expect him to be so," Loreena said, laughing softly as she called out Crimson Ace and let it scamper down the stairs in front of them. "Determined."

"I guess that's one word for it," he said, smirking as he thought back on the way that Mr. Brando had been flirting with Mr. Avdol for the entire day, even trying to sit in the man's lap and kiss him while he and Loreena were still in the same room.

Mr. Avdol had pushed him off, with the sort of long-suffering expression on his face that said almost more clearly than words that he'd dealt with that same kind of thing more than a few times in the past. It was kind of funny, though he'd tried not to laugh while he'd actually been watching it happen, since that would have been rude and he didn't want to offend the man who'd invited them into his home and allowed them to stay with what seemed to be his family.

"Oi, hat thieves," a familiar, gruff voice echoed down to them, and Noriaki looked back to see Jotaro Kujo himself making his way down the stairs. "You're not planning to try again, are you?"

"I certainly wasn't," Loreena said, laughing as Jotaro turned an annoyed glance on her, then turned the full force of his attention to Noriaki himself.

It was almost like being interrogated in complete silence; Noriaki folded his arms, smirking back at Jotaro as the other teen stared at him.

"I'll think about it," he said, as Hierophant Green curled around his shoulders, forming itself briefly into the tendrils that he had strung all over the ceiling in that unfurnished room that the three of them had first truly met in.

He could almost feel Jotaro's glare boring into his back, but he of course reserved his attention for Loreena, even as she briefly palmed her face, muffling chuckles even as she did so. Leaning in close to Loreena again, Noriaki smiled softly as she wrapped her right arm around his neck.

=SC=

Grumbling softly as that annoying bishonen hat thief continued on his way down the stairs, cuddling with what was probably his girlfriend as the pair of them continued on their way to the main dining room, Jotaro narrowed his eyes as he turned over just how to get back at him for not only stealing his hat but also being so stuck up about it. The girl wasn't so bad, since it seemed like she'd just gotten carried away when Uncle Dio had put her up to that damned prank. He knew that Uncle Dio was annoyingly good at getting people to do stupid stuff when he wanted them to.

It was annoying as all hell, but it was also the same kind of thing that Aunt Alice could do; still, it wasn't like she would go out of her way to piss him off for no reason.

Breathing slowly and deeply, bringing up the flowing Hamon that Uncle Caesar had taught him, Mom, and most of the other members of their family to use, he summoned Star again. The Stand was grinning at him, and Jotaro smirked back. There were other ways of dealing with someone than just beating them up, after all.

After breakfast, which had been fixed by both Mom and that pantsless weirdo Vanilla Ice – one of Uncle Dio's other hangers-on, and one who actually did act like those annoying girls back at school – Jotaro made his way back out of the kitchen after the annoying bishonen who had been acting so high-and-mighty since the pair of them had first met. Sending out Star to help him look, Jotaro found himself being led out to the back of the house to the garden that Uncle Dio and whoever he'd had working on the place had set up.

"Good morning, Jotaro," the bishonen's girlfriend – who was nice enough that Jotaro had made up his mind that he was going to try as hard as he could to remember her name – said, smiling brightly at him for a moment before she turned back to that painting she was working on. "It's nice to see you again."

"Yeah," he said, nodding briefly to her as he made his way over to that annoying bishonen; the bishonen who had turned to smirk at him even as he'd made his way over to where he was standing.

Or really, leaning against the railing that ran along the edge of the covered balcony that overlooked the still-unfinished garden.

"Well, good morning to you, Jotaro," the annoying bishonen said, smirk widening just enough that Jotaro wanted to put both his and Star's fists through it.

Not to mention the fact that he hadn't even bothered using any kind of honorific when he talked; it wasn't like they were speaking in English at the moment, or anything.

"Are you guys fighting, or something?" the girl asked, and Jotaro tried to remember just what her name was, since she was easy-going enough not to be annoying.

"You don't have to worry," he said, switching back to English so he could reassure her; he still wondered just what in the hell her name was.

"Yeah, Loreena," the annoying bishonen said, starting to grin again; that was at least one thing he could be grateful to the guy for, though. "We're just having a nice talk."

"As long as you don't break anything," Loreena said, with the same kind of look on her face that Aunt Alice would give Uncle Dio when he did something dumb. "I'm pretty sure Mr. Brando would kick both your arses, family or not."

He barked a chuckle, turning to smirk back at Loreena where she was sitting. "I'm pretty sure Uncle Dio knew what he was getting into when he put you and your boyfriend up to this, Loreena-chan."

Loreena shook her head, palming her face as she turned back to her painting in a resigned sort of way. "All right, just don't drag too many people into this little spat of yours."

"No worries, Loreena-chan," the annoying bishonen said, grinning briefly back at her, before his grin melted back into the smirk he'd been wearing when Jotaro had gone to confront him. "Me and Jotaro are getting along just fine."

"Sure you are," Loreena said, in that same way that Aunt Alice would have said that kind of thing; hell, the look on her face was a lot like the ones that Aunt Alice would wear when she would berate Uncle Dio for doing something dumb.

Hell, it was pretty weird.

=SC=

When he and Jotaro Kujo, the weird kid who he and Loreena had met up with a few days ago, made their way back to the unfurnished room where the three of them had met in the first place, Noriaki looked back at the Stand that Jotaro had called out. It looked like some kind of ancient-style, loincloth-wearing barbarian man with no ears. One that also happened to be purple, of all colors.

It was about the strangest thing that he'd seen; well, at least as far as Stands went.

"So, you're the one who wanted this fight, Jotaro," he said, smirking as he called out Hierophant Green, the Stand hovering around his shoulders as he and Jotaro faced off with each other.

"Shut up," the other boy grumbled, sending out that Stand of his. "Star Platinum!"

Glancing for a moment at Hierophant Green, Noriaki smirked as his Stand darted up to the ceiling, yanking him up and out of the way of the punch from Jotaro's Stand that would have otherwise flattened him where he was standing. Chuckling as he and Hierophant Green positioned themselves: on the other side of Jotaro, and up near the ceiling, respectively, Noriaki signaled to his Stand in that way that the pair of them had been able to do since he'd first become truly aware of each other.

"Emerald Splash!"

Narrowing his eyes, even as he felt his habitual smirk widening into a grin as he and Jotaro turned their Stands to face each other more squarely, Noriaki found himself chuckling almost against his will as Jotaro's Stand blocked the Emerald Splash with its crossed arms.

"Your Stand is very powerful," he said, grinning as he folded his own arms, calling back Hierophant so that he wouldn't be caught off-guard by anything that Jotaro might send his Stand out to do. "I don't know of anyone else who could block the Emerald Splash."

"Yare yare. I didn't know Stands could even do that," Jotaro said, cocking his head in an interested sort of way.

"Well, I don't know if any others can," he said, smirking as the pair of them circled each other briefly. "But, that's one of the things that my Hierophant can do."

Jotaro scoffed, though it didn't really seem like he was trying to make fun of Noriaki or dismiss his Hierophant or anything; really, it just seemed to be the kind of person he was. "Right; whatever that means."

It was Noriaki's turn to scoff, then, feeling more than a bit amused by the whole thing. "I guess you haven't seen many Stands, then."

=SC=

Humming as he, Dio, made his way back down the grand halls of his mansion, he reflected back upon the fruits of his day's labors. He had indeed managed to find a surrogate to host the sample that he had collected from his sweet sister only just last night, someone by the name of Shiobana, who had fortuitously been vacationing in Cairo and had even more fortuitously been perfectly amenable to acting as the surrogate that he, Dio, had been in need of. All she had wanted in return was something of a stipend, in order to continue the life that she had become accustomed to.

It was, of course, nothing that he, Dio, couldn't manage.

Having asked Vanilla Ice to keep an eye on her, and to make sure that she got everything she needed in order to care for the child that she would soon be the mother of, at least, so far as anyone else would know, he felt a great deal more content about matters. Folding his arms behind his back as he, Dio, began to hear the sounds of what seemed to be some kind of Stand battle. Turning his path to where it was that he could hear those distinct sounds coming from he, Dio, smirked as he caught sight of his Littlest Jojo and Little Lori's adorable boyfriend.

It seemed as though this was more of a sparring match than an actual fight, considering the amusement lurking in both of their expressions as they faced off with each other; it was rather interesting, all told.

His thoughts naturally drifted back to Little Lori herself, and how slowly the pair of them seemed to be moving with their relationship. And yes, he was perfectly aware that his sweet sister would have advised him not to meddle in such a matter, citing the dislike that most people possessed for those who would attempt to play matchmaker in such things, but watching the pair of them moving at a veritable snail's pace was rather troublesome. He would have to do something about that.