Sighing in good-natured annoyance as he unwrapped the present that his dear friend had given to him on this occasion for celebrating the absurdity that Dio had been known to bring into the lives of those he was particularly fond of, Enrico found himself with the familiar urge to palm his face and sigh as a nearly life-sized body pillow – with a rather sultry, silkscreened image of a nearly-unclad Dio Brando – flopped open onto his lap with a quiet sort of flump.

"Thank you, Dio," he said, turning a deadpanned expression of exasperation on the man who had been such a good – if terribly, terribly odd – friend to him for so long. "I shall treasure this, truly."

"Yare yare, daze," Jotaro muttered, clearly having caught sight of the absurd gift that he'd been given.

"Yes, quite," he said, allowing himself to sigh, at least softly.

He'd been expecting absurdity, of course – Dio Brando was a thoroughly eccentric man, and this was a holiday dedicated to celebrating absurdity in any and all forms – but seeing it set before him… Well, it was certainly absurd, one had to say. The sight of Joseph Joestar, wearing a sculpted piece of foam-rubber on his head that was made to look like a wheel of Swiss cheese, with what seemed to be some kind of either slogan or else simply another kind of saying upon the front of the headwear, nearly drove Enrico to rolling his eyes outright.

The same for Dio, who had gotten what looked like a Samba hat, piled high with what seemed to be either plastic or wax fruit.

=SC=

When he and Loreena had first been invited to the April Fools celebration that Mr. Brando, his family, and the two Pucci brothers that had come to the Desert Rose – one of them with Mr. Brando's sister, and the other who seemed to have been invited by Mr. Brando himself – Noriaki hadn't known quite what to make of everything that was going on. It seemed to be just exchanging a bunch of silly gifts, really; so finding himself with a wrapped present in his own lap was kind of surprising. He hadn't thought that anybody who lived in this place would have been the kind to invite someone they didn't know to celebrate whatever kind of holiday that April Fools was for them.

Still, finding himself with a present in his lap… well, it wasn't anything like what Noriaki had been expecting.

Opening the present that Mr. Brando had passed over to him, after he'd finished passing out the other presents to the members of his family – or the close friends that the Pucci brothers so obviously were – Noriaki found himself looking down at a pair of glasses that had a plastic nose and a mustache attached on the bottom. As well as what seemed to be a pair of bushy eyebrows, of all things, attached at the top of the glasses. Hearing Loreena's surprised sounding laugh, Noriaki looked over to see that she was holding a headband with what seemed to be a pair of alien antennae sticking up from it.

Then, after he'd only blinked what felt like once, Noriaki found that the glasses had been stuck on his face, and when he looked back over at Loreena, he saw that she was wearing the headband that she'd been given, too; the pair of them shared a long gaze, before the both of them started laughing.

=SC=

When he, Dio, had presented the last of the April Fools Day presents to his sweet family – including Little Lori and her adorable boyfriend – he grinned at the confusion he could see writ large on the faces of both of the children that he, Dio, had invited into his sweet home. Smirking softly as he, Dio, signaled to his World, he felt the gears of time halt in their tracks once more, and laughed delightedly as his World stuck the Groucho glasses and the alien antenna headband firmly back upon the faces of Little Lori and her sweet boyfriend.

The pair of them were so thoroughly amusing in their confusion.

"All right, that's enough of that," Domenico Pucci, cheeky thing that he was, said, looking over at him with the tolerant amusement that he'd seen so often on the young man's face. "I think those two have had quite enough of your teasing, Mr. Brando."

"Now, Domenico, I've told you to call me Dio," he, Dio, said as he turned to look at Enrico's rather amusing brother.

"Yes, I know," Domenico said, smiling in that insolent way of his.

"Cheeky brat," he, Dio, chuckled as his lovely family all settled back down into the chairs that he, Dio, had provided for them.

"Well, I guess he told you, Uncle Dio," his Little Jojo said, grinning widely at him as he adjusted the pair of hats – one of them the sculpted piece of foam-rubber that had been made to look like a wheel of cheese, with the words "full-blown cheese head" carved into the front, and the other the fedora that he'd taken to wearing in clear imitation of his dear Alice – he was wearing, so that he wouldn't end up knocking off the fedora with an errant motion of his head.

"Now now, let's have no more bickering," his adorable Enrico said, casting a subtly reproving glance at Domenico and his Little Jojo where they sat. "Today is a day for celebration, after all."

=SC=

Once he'd managed to get away from Uncle Dio and all his determined weirdness, Jotaro carefully made his way back to Pucci's room, if only so he'd be able to stay out of whatever it was that the Old Man and Uncle Dio were inevitably going to do. He'd seen the dress that the Old Man had gotten, and with Uncle Dio getting a Samba hat… Yeah, he didn't want to be out and about when the pair of them were in the same place.

Turning as Star heard someone making their way into the room, Jotaro sighed as he realized that it was just Pucci coming back to the room they were currently sharing.

"Hey," he greeted, as Uncle Dio's weird – though, it had to be said, more tolerable than the Old Man – friend made his way into the closet where Jotaro had set himself up while the Old Man and Mom were both close enough to bug him if he'd stayed in the room that Uncle Dio had pointed out for him.

"A rather interesting celebration," Pucci said, settling down next to him on the chair that he'd brought in for himself once the pair of them had realized that the date of that kid of Uncle Dio's being born.

Or, more to the point, when Uncle Dio was going to go from just being weird, to being aggressively weird and happy, too.

"Yeah," he said, leaning back in the beanbag chair where he'd set himself up after making his way into Pucci's room. "I heard it was after Old Man Jonathan got sick of Uncle Dio pranking him all the time, back when April Fools would come around, all those years before."

"Yes, I'd supposed things came about in such a way," Pucci said, still seeming more than a little weirded out by everything that had gone on; part and parcel of dealing with Uncle Dio.

"That's Uncle Dio for you," he said, shrugging as he took the manga that Star handed him, turning back as Pucci chuckled, shaking his head softly.

"Yes, I suppose I should have become used to this kind of thing, considering how we met, so long ago."

He scoffed, finding himself laughing, just a bit. "Uncle Dio takes a lot of getting used to."

The pair of them looked back at each other, sharing another chuckle for a long moment.

=SC=

When he'd refreshed and steadied himself with his conversation with young Jotaro, Enrico made his way back down through the halls of the Desert Rose. Dio had put a temporary halt to the construction of the hotel, resort, and spa that he'd planned to open within the outskirts of Cairo while he was awaiting the birth of his son, and he had also invited the pair of men – brothers, even as he and Domenico were, though Enrico found that he couldn't quite approve of either of the Darby brothers – who seemed to have attached themselves to the man. The sounds of a rather aggressive-sounding discussion, distinct from an argument because he wasn't currently hearing any blows being exchanged, drew Enrico down to the large main game room that had been set up for the enjoyment of those who would inevitably make their way to the Desert Rose in order that they might enjoy themselves all the more while they stayed in Egypt.

Raising an eyebrow as he found Joseph Joestar lounging with complete insouciance before the elder Darby brother, Enrico turned at the sound of someone making their way over to him.

"Oi, 'Rico!" the younger of the pair of them said, making his way over to where Enrico was currently standing. "Come to watch the show?"

"Joseph and your brother are going to have another of their competitions, I take it," he said, turning a brief glance on Telence, before returning his gaze to where the elder Darby and Joseph were clearly getting set for another game of cards.

"Well, my brother does have his pride as a gambler to defend," Telence said, grinning in amusement, though there was a certain hint of arrogance to his manner.

It was part of why he'd never truly approved of the pair of them; both Darby brothers seemed to possess that same arrogance, which he thought was a great deal of the reason that the elder of the two continued to persist in his efforts to defeat Joseph Joestar at the card games that Joseph could easily be said to be an undisputed master of. Enrico personally thought that such a thing was nearly the height of foolishness, but it was not his own time that was being wasted, Enrico was not particularly interested in intervening that something Joseph seemed to enjoy so much.

Even as he departed from the room, Enrico could see the goading grin on Joseph's face; there was little doubt in his mind that Joseph would be claiming another victory – or several, depending on the hard-headed obstinence of the elder Darby brother – this day.

The sound of Dio humming drew his attention, and Enrico happily followed it to the room where his old friend had made himself quite at home ever since the livable portions of the Desert Rose had been completed. Chuckling softly as he heard the strains of The Bee Gees' "More Than A Woman" through the door that he then proceeded to knock upon. Receiving the expected invitation to enter, Enrico made his way over to the table that his old friend was seated before, shirtless as he'd come to expect from the man.

These were, after all, Dio's private quarters; it was to be expected that the man would make himself comfortable when he was most at home.

"Did you invite the Darby brothers?" he asked, glancing down at the project that Dio seemed to have in the process of assembly before him; it seemed to be a pile of cloth pieces.

Or else it was merely in the very early stages of assembly.

"They seem, rather, to have invited themselves," Dio said, chuckling softly as he returned to setting out the fabrics he was clearly going to be working with. "As they are wont to do, when Daniel finds that my Little Jojo is going to be in a certain place at a certain time."

Enrico chuckled softly, seeing the amused expression that Dio had turned on him, clearly inviting him to share in what was clearly a private joke among the members of the family that he, his brother, and their dear sister had been invited to become a part of not so very long ago.

"I suppose that makes sense," he said, reflecting upon the little he'd seen of the pair of brothers who had seemingly invited themselves – though it was clear that they'd had permission from Dio himself – to the Desert Rose. "Daniel does seem to be rather competitive."

Dio laughed aloud, a sound that served to bring joy to Enrico's heart; at least when such a sound was genuine. "Yes; he's never actually managed to defeat my Little Jojo, mind you, but I think that even that serves to motivate him."

"Yes, it seems as though such a thing would serve that kind of purpose, for a man such as him," he said, smiling slightly, even as he looked down at the project that Dio seemed to have finished assembling the parts for; it seemed, in fact, that he intended to sew something together from the fabric he'd gathered.

The spool of white thread that he'd set down upon the table next to him was simply more proof of what he'd been musing upon.

=SC=

When he'd caught his first glimpse of that new guy who'd come to the Desert Rose, Telence something, Noriaki hadn't quite known what to make of him. He and Lori had talked about it, and they'd both decided to wait and see. And sure, while it was pretty funny to go down to the game room and watch Mr. Joestar beating the older Mr. Darby at any kind of card game Mr. Darby could think up, Noriaki still didn't know what to make of the younger of the two brothers.

"Hey, I've been looking for you two!"

Turning at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, Noriaki found himself facing the younger of the pair of brothers; he was a bit stranger looking up close, with the facial-tattoos that he had on his nose, his chin, and also his forehead. He'd never seen someone who did something like that, and Noriaki found himself wondering just what kind of a person he was. He almost looked like a delinquent, really, given everything he'd done to himself.

"Really?" Loreena asked, a her usual kind expression on her face, though she was clearly just as curious as Noriaki was, too.

"Yeah, I finally got settled in my room, and I was wondering if you guys wanted to come play some video games with me," the other guy said, his expression becoming inviting.

Noriaki found himself almost involuntarily raising his eyebrows. "You have a room here, too? Then, you're one of Mr. Brando's other friends."

"Dio's got a lot of friends," the tattooed man said, grinning widely. "And, he likes it much better when people actually call him Dio, you should know."

"Yes," he said, sighing. "I just- I can't get used to that."

"Ahh," the tattooed man said, rubbing his chin in thought, the grin on his face still firmly in place. "Well, going by your accent, I'd say you're Japanese," he gave Noriaki another, rather amused-seeming, once over. "And, given that outfit of yours, it's pretty plain that you're a student. So, if you're having trouble with informality, you must be new to all this."

"Fairly so," Loreena said, laughing softly in that way she had of doing when she thought he was being silly but was trying to be kind about it. "My father works for Mr. Brando's sister, so this is really the most interaction I've had with him, myself. Noriaki and I met up in Cairo, so he actually has even less experience with this kind of thing than I did. I at least knew that Mr. Brando was an unashamed eccentric before all of this."

"Well, Dio certainly is certainly an eccentric," the man, clearly another of Mr. Brando's friends, given the way he was talking and the fact that he had a room of his own within the Desert Rose. "And anyone can see he's completely unashamed about it," he laughed, looking over the pair of them with an expression that Noriaki could only really describe as cheerfully calculating. "Anyway, before we get into all of that, my name is Telence T. D'arby. The 'D' has an apostrophe, as my brother is so fond of pointing out," he said, grinning at them in that way that people did when they were inviting someone else to share in a private joke. "What are your names, then?"

"I'm Loreena McKennitt," Loreena said, and Noriaki stepped forward, his left hand on her right hip, smiling slightly as she turned to nod subtly at him.

"I'm Noriaki Kakyoin," he said, smiling just that much wider as he remembered how she'd ended up having to introduce him, back when he'd still been trying to find his feet in the Desert Rose; and around Mr. Brando in particular.

"Ahh," Telence said, looking over the pair of them with a knowing sort of expression. "You two are a couple, aren't you?"

"I think we might be moving that way," Loreena said, as she leaned in closer to him, and Noriaki wrapped his arms the rest of the way around her waist.

"Yeah," he said, leaning his chin on her right shoulder, as the pair of them stood together for a long moment. "I think we are."

"Well then, what's say the two of you come up to my room, and have some fun as a couple?" Telence offered grandly, making his way over to the pair of them so he could clap them both on the shoulder. "You know, make it official and everything?"

"I guess we could do that," Loreena said, after the pair of them had shared a speaking glance.

"Well, come on, then," Telence said, turning and beginning to make his way toward the room that was obviously his, if the way he was smiling was any indication. "Like I said, I managed to get everything the way I like it. So, it's only right that I get to show it off to someone."

"And we're the lucky two?" Loreena asked, a sardonically-amused expression on her face, as the pair of them fell into step behind Telence as he made his way to the room that Mr. Brando had given to him when he and his brother had first showed up at the Desert Rose to make themselves at him.

"That's right," Telence said, grinning back at them as he and Loreena continued following in his wake.

=SC=

"And that's the game," he said, not even bothering to hide his grin, as a certain Daniel J. D'arby screamed like a little baby and threw his hand of cards down on the chips they'd been betting for. "And, next you'll say: 'hand me the cards, Joestar! My pride as a gambler won't be trampled so easily!' right?"

"Hand me the cards, Joestar! My pride as a gambler won't be trampled so easily!"

Grinning all the wider as he handed over his own cards, just as Daniel seemed to realize just what it was that he'd said, Joseph laughed aloud at the expression of impotent rage on his face.

"Are you having fun, my Little Jojo?"

"Hey, Uncle Dio," he said, leaning back in his seat as his grand-uncle reached down to cuddle him, chuckling as the vampire kissed him firmly on the cheek. "Well, I'm having fun," he said, grinning in response to the amused smirk that he could see emerging on the vampire's face. "Though I don't think you can really say the same for him," he said, pointing with his newly-dealt hand to where Daniel was sitting, plainly starting to grind his teeth.

"Yes," Uncle Dio said, chuckling again as he straightened back up. "Well I, Dio, hardly think that dear Daniel engages in these little matches of his for fun, you understand."

He laughed outright, once Uncle Dio turned that fanged grin of his back on him. "Yeah, I'm getting that."

Waving to Uncle Dio as he walked off, laughing at their antics the way he always did when he and a certain Daniel J. D'arby would find themselves in close company again, Joseph turned his attention back to Daniel just as the inveterate little cheater finished setting himself up for one more loss in a long line of them.

"Oi, you finished cheating there, Darby?" he asked, deliberately running the man's name together, just to needle him that much more. "Can we finally get started?"

Grinning all the wider at the man as he actually growled in response to that one, Joseph settled back into his seat, deliberately laconic once more; Daniel was so easy to rile.

=SC=

Making his way back to the room that he and young Jotaro were currently staying in, Enrico found himself thinking about the two brothers who had seemingly invited themselves into the Desert Rose; with Dio's tacit permission, of course, since he would have struck them down in half an instant if he hadn't been kindly disposed toward their presence in one of his homes. Or in the life that he had built for himself over the many years that he and Alice had spent in the world that the pair of them all but owned. Enrico still found that he still didn't know quite what to make of the pair of them.

Yes, the pair of them were clearly friends of Dio's, but Enrico couldn't quite say that he approved of them.

Smiling slightly as he found his closet door opened for him by Jotaro's Star Platinum, Enrico made his way forward to see just how the boy was doing; and to tell him of the latest happenings in the place where they had all gathered together.

"Good afternoon, Jotaro," he said, making his way over to the boy who had made himself so at home in such a small place.

"Hey," he said, looking up from the comic that he'd settled himself in to read. "They're putting in a pool, and some kind of a fountain that Uncle Dio says people are going to be able to play in."

"Ah," he said, nodding as he settled himself down next to Joseph so that the pair of them would be able to speak in a more comfortable manner than they otherwise would have. "It seems as though we're playing host to more of Dio's friends."

"Which ones are they this time?" Jotaro asked, a laconic sort of apprehension – contradictory as such a description might have sounded if spoken aloud, or if applied to someone who was not Jotaro Joestar – on his face as he looked up once more from the comic that he was reading.

"A pair of brothers with the surname Darby," he said, understanding better than most the reason for young Jotaro's reaction to such news as he was receiving; truly, there was no shortage of eccentrics who had been attracted by the charisma that Dio Brando exuded as a matter of course, and if there was anything that Jotaro had proven himself to have a low tolerance for, it was eccentricity.

Truly, Enrico could sometimes find himself being overwhelmed by the sheer exuberance with which Dio Brando embraced those around him.

Jotaro scoffed, seeming rather unimpressed with the information he'd been given. "Telence isn't so bad, if you can deal with being challenged to a match every now and then; he's really into those video games of his. But his brother… He's got this stupid idea that he can put one over on the Old Man, not that the Old Man really helps or anything, and so every time the Old Man kicks his ass at another of those games of his, he'll go off on another of those damned tirades of his, and then challenge someone else."

"Sounds rather troublesome."

"Yeah, he is," Jotaro said, an unimpressed expression passing over his face, even as he returned his attention to his comic.