That Saturday, Kylie wanted to know anything and everything about Wamuu- or, as she knew him, Jorge Miguelos.
"How come I've never seen him before?" She asked as they headed up to the bookshop for stand training.
"That's because he just got here, and he works the night shift." Roberta replied, lying through her teeth.
"What are his hobbies? What's his family like?" She continued, and Roberta silently cursed Kylie's neverending perkiness. As much as she loved her best friend, the blonde's extroverted nature could get her into trouble at times.
"He likes horses and, uh... MMA." That was technically the truth, as Wamuu was into chariot racing and fighting. Last night, as she walked him home, he'd recounted his stories of his time in the Colosseum, fighting for the freedom of others.
"And his family? They're pretty traditional and old fashioned." Roberta continued. That was technically true too- his fathers were ancient Mesoamerican gods, and they were thousands of years old.
"Woooow, you're so lucky. He's so brooding and mysterious, but he always smiles around you. And he's pretty hot..."
"Were just friends, mate!" Roberta laughed, trying to steer the subject away from Wamuu. It was far too risky, especially after being warned by Kakyoin, Jotaro and her two mentors about how dangerous the pillar men were. Roberta focused on her stand, and continued on her way to the bookshop.
"Today, I'm going to introduce you to your secondary ability. Most stands have a secondary ability to their main one. For example, Magician's Red can create flames, but it can also act as a life detector."
As usual, the four stand users were clustered in Avdol and Polnareff's living room, and the two older men were explaining the secret of their fighting spirits.
"Your secondary ability is a backup of sorts, a different way of using your main power. Can you demonstrate, Kylie?" Polnareff asked. Kylie called out Lucky/lucky/lucky, and whistled. The stand hovered above her, and she started to explain her secondary ability.
"Usually, Lucky can make me lucky. However, another of her abilities is taking luck from others and reversing it into good fortune for me and bad tidings for them. She's like a lucky charm!"
"Lucky's ability is Probability manipulation. She'd be an amazing powerful stand, if it wasn't for her 1-metre range and her low destructive power. Because of this, her ability is balanced. There is an arrow that can max out your stand and make it go Requiem- but it's hidden away in Italy. There's also rumours of an arrow that can fuse stand users to non-stand users, but I've never seen one in the flesh." Polnareff said, pulling a macaron from a plate and eating it.
"Wait, stands have stats?" Roberta asked. What was this, Dungeons and Dragons? Next thing she knew, she'd be rolling a dice for attack damage. The swordsman laughed, and continued.
"In a way. There are six components- speed, stamina, range, precision, destructive power and development potential. To give an example, Lucky/Lucky/Lucky has stats of:
Speed: C (OK)
Stamina: C (OK)
Range: E (Very Poor)
Precision: A (Excellent)
Destructive power: D (Poor)
Development potential: B (Good)"
"But she's perfect to me!" Kylie giggled, giving her stand a hug. Avdol activated Magician's Red, and turned to Roberta.
"So, shall we find out that second ability of yours?"
Roberta called out her stand, and Living Dead Girl floated overhead like a giant spider clinging to a ceiling.
"What's it today, boss? Another broken vase? Or are we gonna wake up that big s..."
Roberta mimed zipping her lips, and her stand shut up before she blabbed about Wamuu. She wasn't sure if other people could hear your stand talk to you, but thankfully Avdol appeared to pay no heed.
"Living Dead Girl, second ability!" Roberta yelled, posing like an anime hero. Nothing happened.
"Aww, Sumeria Huitzilopotchtli Indus-valley Tenochtitlan. That didn't work."
"Um... Yaaay for trying!" Kylie cheered, clapping her manicured hands. Roberta sighed, closed her eyes, and tried again. Stands were your soul, the reacted to what you felt- and she knew that she wasn't feeling good. It wasn't that she felt bad, it was just that Roberta felt... Nothing, most days. Wamuu brought a flash of life and a spark of joy with him, but she was still dogged by feelings of being not enough, of being mediocre, someone only loved out of pity. Someone who constantly made mistakes, and was never quite enough. Roberta couldn't feel how deep the insidious tentacles of Mark's beratement went, but she could feel Living Dead Girl's power flowing through her. It felt like waking up after a long sleep, like breaching the surface after being underwater, like feeling dozens of footsteps along the city streets, the buzz of car engines, and the gentle hum of stands buzzing away in a user's body, ready to-
"Roberta, look!" Kylie cried. She opened her eyes, to see Living Dead Girl floating in mid-air, her bandages unravelling and permeating into the floor. They were like roots, or the wires in seismographs, sensing the tremors of movement around her.
"That's your secondary ability! To sense movement of that which is here now, as a side-power to sense the past of what once was!" Avdol grinned, like a proud teacher seeing his former student win a Nobel prize.
"It's like strings- that's what I'll call it! Defunct strings!" Roberta had already dubbed her primary ability "cemetery things", and she liked the rhyme of it.
"I say that we celebrate with some mimosas at Tropicana!" Kylie smiled, taking Roberta's hand. But just as they were about to leave, Avdol stopped them.
"Before you go- your stats, Roberta." He said. "This is just an estimate, but I've made a calculation."
Ha passed her a piece of paper, and Roberta grinned at the sight of what was written on it.
Speed: C
Stamina: B
Destructive ability: B
Development potential: B
Range: C
Precision: A
"And then he said I had pretty good stats!" Roberta had gone back to work on Monday, and was talking to Wamuu after hours as usual. He'd assumed his human disguise, and they were sitting on the famous "Bow Bridge" in Central Park. Roberta had been filling Wamuu in on her weekend, and he listened intently. After all, it was all the entertainment he got in his life, now that his brother wouldn't talk to him.
"I'm not sure how these stands work, but I've always admired women with fighting talent. Why, my first bedtime stories were of a formidable warrior queen of ice."
"Sounds way more interesting than Cinderella and Snow White." Roberta laughed, taking a sip from the hot cup of tea she'd brought from a kiosk in the park. Christmas was creeping closer, and thus the park opened later, selling hot drinks to locals and tourists alike. Roberta was bundled up in a black coat and a pink scarf, and yet Wamuu simply braced the cold in his "human" attire.
"Doesn't the cold bother you?" She asked, clouds of cooling breath leaving her mouth.
"Hardly. I've walked across the arctic to reach Europe, this is like a cool breeze." Wamuu replied with not even a shiver. He was as cold as stone, as he was not alive in the sense that humans were, and yet Roberta was delightfully warm-looking in her coat. Maybe he could put his arm around her, to feel the presence of such heat? He didn't need it, but it would be nice. Just as he was about to ask, two voices piped up from behind them.
"Roberta? Is that you?"
The curator turned around. Behind her was her boss and his husbads, wrapped in winter coats and (In Kakyoin's case) some snuggly earmuffs.
"Who's the guy you're with?" Jotaro asked.
"I'm Jorge." Wamuu replied, effortlessly slipping into his human disguise.
"He's my fitness buddy. We met at the gym when I was training for the derby." Roberta added.
"So, you do sports? What's your favourite kind?" Jotaro asked.
"Oh, wrestling, quoits, horseback riding- that kind of thing." Wamuu hated talking like a plain, ordinary human, and yet Jotaro's eyes lit up at the mention of wrestling.
"Do you like sumo?" He asked, eager to talk about a special interest.
"I've never tried it." Wamuu answered.
"I'll get Roberta to ask you to come around next time it's on. We can have a guy's night." Jotaro grinned as him and Kakyoin headed back to their apartment.
"Now, HE is way better than Mike. There's something oddly familiar about him, though..." Kakyoin muttered.