BOR Cofffee and Wine
By the time Holly, Jotaro, Avdol, and Joseph exited the station, it was still early in the day. Tokyo's afternoon sky is a brilliant tapestry of captivating blue. The cerulean hue stretches across the horizon, adorned with soft, wispy clouds. Sunlight filters through, lighting the bustling city below with a warm golden glow. The vividness of the sky brings a sense of tranquility, contrasting against the urban landscape. It's a serene backdrop, inviting a moment of pause and reflection amidst the vibrant energy of Tokyo. The streets were bustling with cars and people, yet BOR Coffee and Wine's atmosphere seemed to draw the noise away as if they were never there.
The four sat at a round circular table, each with their own cup of coffee. The coffee shop was cozy and full of people; in the background, a young raven-haired girl was reading a book on dreams, there was a middle-aged man on a phone call, and a group of foreigners chatting away while drinking coffee. "Oh, thank goodness! Jotaro finally came out of his cell." Holly hugged her son's arm with a motherly, closed-eye smile. "God, you're annoying, you bitch" Jotaro responded callously, though he didn't move a muscle to push her away or harm her in any way. "Okay!" Holly smiled happily and continued to hug him. Joseph immediately grunted unhappily when he heard his Grandson disrespect his daughter. "Hey! How dare you address your own mother that way? And Holly, stop grinning at the boy!" Joseph pointed his index finger at Jotaro accusingly. "Okay!" Holly replied with the same tone but continued to cling to her son's arm. "Grandpa, tell me one thing... just one thing..." Jotaro moved his arm away from Holly and held out his index finger to signify his singular question. "How do you know all of this? Why do you know about the evil spirit, I mean, Stand? I don't get it." Jotaro proceeded to ask the million-dollar question. Joseph groaned in response and nodded before answering. It was as if he was organizing his thoughts before speaking on this thorny subject. "of course, that's why I made the trip from New York after all. I need to start from the beginning. This has to do with the Joestar family." He spoke earnestly, and his voice was filled with confidence about this subject. Holly listened and observed, occasionally making noises of acknowledgment or surprise; meanwhile, Jotaro was fully engaged in the conversation. "First, take a look at these pictures." Joseph held a small photo between his index and middle finger and slid the small paper photos across the table for Jotaro to look closer. The first photo was of a boat in the water park on a dock; the second was a large dark chest covered in barnacles and sea life on the boat's deck, and the third was a photo of the chest's interior, it had velvety red silk cushions but nothing else inside. Finally, the last photo contained a tiny detail on the chest's exterior; a name was engraved in gold, spelled DIO in all capital letters. "what is this?" Jotaro asked, staring at the photos on the table. "That's a hundred-year-old coffin pulled up from the Atlantic Ocean off the African Coast 4 years ago," Joseph explained as Jotaro picked up the photographs and carefully inspected each of them. "Coffin?" Jotaro questioned as he observed the second photo. Jotaro put down the pictures carefully, leaving the fourth photo on top of the rest. "I did my research and found it was on the passenger ship where my Grandfather, Jonathan Joestar, your great-great-grandfather, was killed," Joseph recalled the past, both Holly and Jotaro hummed in response, Holly showing signs of fear. Meanwhile, Jotaro showed signs of frustration. Joseph tapped the top photo of the name 'DIO' with his middle and index finger. "apparently, it was empty when they discovered it. But I know what lay inside! Avdol and I are trying to locate him as we speak." Joseph leaned towards Avdol and put a brotherly arm around the Egyptian man. "Him? Hold on... You make it sound like a person. Why would you call it something that's been at the bottom of the sea for years a 'him'?" Jotaro asked, Holly nodded in agreement. "He's evil incarnate!" Joseph retracted his arm from Avdol; he slammed the table with his open palm and stood up swiftly. "And his name is Dio!" Joseph spoke very passionately about this subject. "Awakened after a century of sleep, and it is our destiny to fight this man!" Joseph finally seemed to finish his dramatic preaching, which caught the attention of some bystanders nearby, including the young girl reading the book.
Jotaro inhaled deeply and let out a tired sigh. He turned away from his Old Man, looking out the window to watch the cars driving through high tea rush hour. "Hey! Jotaro? What's with that face? That face you're making makes me think I'm boring you!" Joseph exclaimed, feeling disheartened after receiving his Grandson's mediocre response to his passionate rant. Jotaro looked back to Joseph and replied swiftly, "This face means that stupid story makes me speechless, Gramps." This new nickname seemed to piss off the usually comedic Joseph. "Gramps?!" Joseph repeated the overly casual nickname with an irritated look. "you're Avdol, right?" Jotaro asked, pointing at Avdol, who sat next to him. Joseph could merely raise his fist and stare at his Grandson with a disgruntled look, slightly twitching here and there from his Grandson disregarding him.
"I don't know who you think you are, but I can tell you are a pompous prick." Jotaro continued with his comments on Avdol. Avdol merely closed his eyes and remained unaffected by Jotaro's words. Jotaro then looked to his Grandpa and finally tended to Joseph's irritation. "And Old Man, you expect me to listen to that crazy story and accept it?" Jotaro then pointed across the circular table towards Joseph, still standing. Avdol scoffed and had a slight smile painted across his calm face. "is it any less believable than the evil spirits you and I have?" Avdol asked, causing Jotaro to pause and glare with slanted eyebrows. Joseph let out a huff of annoyance and sat back down, noticing the commotion he had caused, "Fair enough, you'll have to believe us soon enough. Once you understand how I know Dio... and why I must pursue him." Joseph smiled. Avdol handed him a small old-fashioned camera, which Joseph held in his mechanical hand. Jotaro and his mother watched with bated breath to see what Joseph had to unravel. "Allow me to demonstrate. It turns out that I, too, gained my own 'evil spirit' or Stand about a year ago." Joseph wore the same proud, charming smile he had in his prime as he pointed to himself. "What?" Holly had wide eyes and waited for her father to go on with his explanation. Holly knew Joseph had special powers, but she didn't think he also had a Stand. "What, Old Man?" Jotaro seemed more irritated than shocked. Joseph placed the camera on the table, but his hand never let go. "let me show you! This is my Stand!" He spoke dramatically as he stood up, raised one arm, and karate-chopped the camera.
Joseph's Stand manifests as multiple purple, thorn-covered vines spawn from Joseph's hands. The vines looked strong enough to support his weight and long enough to bind someone completely. The camera is brutally smashed but still prints a photograph for Joseph. Joseph takes the picture out of it and shows it to Jotaro. "Did you see it? The thorns on my hand? That is my Stand!" Joseph asks his Grandson while showing Jotaro the undeveloped film produced by the camera. "It can reveal far-away visions and print them on film! Unfortunately, I've gotta bust a 30,000 yen camera every time I use it!" Joseph explains why he brutally smashed the Polaroid camera to produce a type of fortune-telling that could be simplified as spirit photography.
"Sir, is something wrong?" Finally, a waiter came to ask if there were any issues since Joseph continued to make a ruckus. "We're fine. Go away." Avdol pointed for the waiter to leave with a stern, unkind look on his face. "Right..." The water nods and goes to attend to the girl who was reading a book earlier. "The image that's about to appear in this photo, Jotaro... will define your destiny!" Joseph continues to preach to Jotaro, who is finally seemingly surprised with wide eyes for once. "what?" Jotaro mutters as his eyes watch the undeveloped polaroid held in Joseph's hand. "Jotaro, Holly, have you two ever taken a closer look at the back of your necks?" Joseph sits down to ask the mother and son pair. "What are you talking about?" Jotaro asks in a cold tone. "You've probably never noticed. On the back of my neck, there is a star-like mark." Joseph reveals the birthmark as he pulls his collar to do so. Holly proceeds to move her hair out of the way and coincidentally also bears the same mark. Jotaro looks in the same spot and notices the same mark. Although shocked, he remains realistic and unwilling to follow his Grandfather's wild story. "what the hell does all this mean?" Jotaro remains suspicious and points at Joseph. "According to my mother, my father had it too. He died when I was young. Seems all with Joestar blood have this mark." Joseph explained what his mother, Lisa Lisa, had told him many years ago. "So, Old Man, what's gonna show up on that photo?" Jotaro was getting pushy since the evidence wasn't coming up fast enough. "The star that escaped your notice is our destiny!" Joseph lectures Jotaro dramatically. "Dad!" Holly explains worriedly, "Don't mess with me!" Jotaro growls, still discontent with Joseph's yapping. "Show me the damn photo!" Jotaro leans over the table to snatch the photo from Joseph's hands. Jotaro looks at the photo and notices a man who doesn't have a visible face, which is an effect of the shadowy darkness of the environment. The only visible facial feature is his defined tiger(yellow/orange) colored sharp eyes. He has shoulder-length blond hair and is often topless, exposing a muscular back. "Dio! My Spirit Photography produces this image every time. Take a look at the back of his neck! Below this bastard scum's neck is the body of my Grandfather, Jonathan Joestar!" Joseph yells, leaving both Jotaro and Holly stunned. "One hundred years ago, a mysterious incident unfolded on the Atlantic. From what Grandma Erina told me about my Grandfather's death, Dio must have survived by taking his body! But one thing's for certain, he's hiding somewhere, plotting something! It's been four years since he was revived. My Spirit Photography, your evil spirit, has all appeared this past year. It has to be Dio!" Joseph explained the brief history of Dio and how it related to Jotaro's Stand. "Normal people would deem our abilities as supernatural. I've had my Stand since birth, but you and your Grandfather's abilities share an invisible link with Dio, Jonathan's body. Undoubtedly, Dio has awakened your dormant abilities." Avdol explained and added more details to Joseph's claim. "Avdol, where is he? Can you tell from the photo?" Joseph handed Avdol the photo. "I cannot. The background is barely visible." Avdol took one glance at the photo and shook his head. "As I thought," Joseph sighed in defeat. "I will examine this." Avdol placed the photo securely in his pocket. "Please." Joseph nodded and placed his wide-brimmed cafe latte-colored fedora back on his head. Joseph looked down to see Holly staring at him with fearful, concerned eyes. "Oh, Holly, forgive me for all the scary talk. Now let's go home." Joseph apologized to his soft-spoken, easily scared daughter. "yes..." Holly nods and tries to appear not brave. her father's words eased some of her anxiety. "We'll be staying in Japan for a while. Thank you for putting up with us." Joseph smiled and thanked his daughter, leaving the restaurant with Avdol following behind. "Of course, Dad. Let's go, Jotaro." Holly followed the two men. Jotaro looked to the side briefly, staring at the young woman who had now fallen asleep at the desk where she was studying. He moved his hand to touch his neck, where the star-like birthmark had stained his skin. "I'll stay back. I have a classmate around here. I'd rather smoke before returning home after hearing all that." Jotaro sighed. "All right, don't come home too late." Holly smiled, and the three left the restaurant. Jotaro walked towards the girl who fell asleep on her desk and loudly slammed his palm on the desk near her ear. The girl groaned, she had no energy to put up with anyone.
"What do you want?" She groaned unhappily, glaring at Jotaro with tired eyes as if she hadn't been asleep just now. She wore a light grey crop top jacket with dark blue short cargo shorts. She had kept her jacket unzipped but had a small chain connecting the two sides. The chain had a small pendant that resembled a cute black cat's head. Her hair was black and mostly straight with occasional waves. She kept her hair untied and loosely behind her ears. The most distinct part of her hair were the two chin length bangs framing the sides of her face and cat ear like stray hairs above her ears. "How much of that Old Man's conversation did you hear?" Jotaro growled and insisted on answers. Jotaro knew Maomao had coincidentally been in the same restaurant as them, but he wanted to double-check just in case. She stretched her arms and back, letting out a soft sigh.
"To be honest, close to none. It looked like you had a very... in-depth conversation, to say the least," She looked up at Jotaro with keen, cat-like, curious eyes. Jotaro stared back at her suspiciously; from this point on, anyone could be an enemy Stand user. He knew she was lying through her teeth; the way she replied immediately told Jotaro all he needed to know. This girl wasn't the type of underclassman anyone wanted to play coy with. As a matter of fact, Jotaro didn't need to ask. He knew she probably listened to it because Maomao and studying never add up. The fact she was holding a book was already quite the sight. Listening to and watching people around her was one of her favorite pastimes. If she was any more annoying, Jotaro wouldn't hesitate to punch her to silence her; luckily for Jotaro, this girl usually kept her findings to herself. Jotaro held onto his cold, stern glare, watching her; the two rarely talked despite being classmates; they often caught each other sneaking around to skip class or smoke joints. They had what many could call a 'mutual respect' for each other. Jotaro stared at the girl with furrowed brows for a bit longer, his mind thinking through the possibilities of her being an enemy stand user; after a while, he merely looked away unamused and walked out of the restaurant with too many things going on. He couldn't be bothered with entertaining another 'annoying bitch' as he would call them. Jotaro touched the star on the back of his neck again, thoughts running through his mind. "Yare yare daze." He sighed and took out a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it as he walked back home.
Maomao watched as the upperclassmen left. She had heard and understood it all. Her eyes suddenly drooped down, finally expressing how tired she was. "What a pain... maybe his situation aligns with mine..." She sighed and put a hand to her forehead, shaking her head in discontent with needing to talk to Jotaro more. "Just who in the world are you, Dio?" She mumbled to herself as she flipped back her book about Dreams; there was a sketch of the photo of Dio, passed around earlier between the three with Jotaro. Her sketch needed to be more detailed, but it had enough key features for anyone who knew Dio to stare at it and immediately know who it was. Maomao groaned and closed her eyes, exhaling loudly as she did. Brief flickers of a young boy with a blue coat, white dress shirt, a tie, suspenders, breeches, and a pair of striped socks. He had blond hair and three moles on the lobe of his left ear. "Just get out of my head," she mumbles and opens her melancholy-filled eyes, her voice full of desperation that pleads or something she couldn't even fathom herself.
In a dark mansion lay a large luxurious bed with a purple bed canopy; it had one long large pillow and no blankets. A large buff man with baggy yellow pants, shoulder length blonde hair and shiny yellow arm cuffs lay on his side. He groaned in annoyance in the darkness of his chambers. "Again... Just now, I felt as though someone was watching me. It felt more substantial than before. It has to be Jonathan's descendants... this body is sending some kind of signal to his offspring. Very well, it must be fate. A fate that must be annihilated, a destiny that must be eradicated. And the other half of this disgusting feeling must be her. Our connection since four years ago has been getting more and more frequent. Another fate must be bringing us together. My intervention against the Joestar's and my quest to reunite with her begins now. " The man got off his bed, talking to himself as he walked past a woman's dead body as if he no longer had interest. The woman had deep brown hair and a curvy body. She had three holes in her neck, each spilling out with blood; her thick pink lipstick had a dark brick-red blood drip trickling down. The man slowly disappeared down the hallway into the unknown darkness of his compound.