009 ★ Video

[unbreaker]

[School has let out for the day by the time this broadcast goes up. You can tell because Josuke hasn't changed out of his uniform. (Never mind Heropa High doesn't require uniforms. Or the fact that Josuke wears his uniform a lot.) He's seated cross-legged on the carpeted floor of his bedroom which, for those of you who know that it's usually overrun with animals, happens to be curiously quiet today.]

So, uh...

[He raises his right hand and scratches lightly at his chin.]

I guess it's been sort of a while since I had anything to say on the Network? Sorry about that.

[It's really weird thinking he hasn't made a post for a couple of months. Not that he hasn't been around on other peoples', driving them nuts by pushing their buttons. In fact, one of those people is even responsible for Josuke feeling the need to make this post!]

Anyway, I actually got a couple of things I wanna talk about today! First up, Veterans Day just passed...we don't celebrate that back home, but we got Self-Defense Force Day and it's pretty much the same thing. You know, for remembering the people we've lost to wars. I figured since we're fightin' a war and we've had casualties, too—lost people either due to the fighting or the Porter—we deserve a way to remember 'em by. So, uh...I set up a message board for doing just that.

[Briefly, Josuke leans forward to take up his comm and tap out a LINK that soon appears onscreen for everybody to access. The comm's set back down again in front of him, then. Probably on a stack of school textbooks and homework he'll forget to do until five minutes before class Monday.]

If you got people you miss who aren't here no more, check it out. You can say something about 'em, or say what you'd have said if you'd been given a chance to say goodbye.

The other thing is, and it's pretty important, too... [Josuke's eyes narrow, his expression becoming serious.] ...even if Halloween did just pass, there's been more talk of fear lately than I think's healthy for anyone. Especially 'cause there hasn't been as much talk in circulation about how to overcome our fears.

I'm not an expert, but I do know the first step to owning your own fears is not running from 'em. It's not supposed to be easy, so don't get discouraged if at first you feel like it's gonna be impossible. I promise, it's not. Take a look around you and see how many people you got supporting you? A whole imPort community, some of 'em probably from your home. You can do this. And this is how.

[This is it, this is what this post has been building up to.

Josuke's gaze flicks to the side, towards something off screen, and while he tries to keep his expression militant, it's obvious in the arch of his brows and the faint grimace curling his lips that he doesn't want to do this. And why? Well, because he's afraid.

Afraid of the turtle he suddenly scoops up and holds out in view of the camera. Its little feet waggle nonthreatening in thin air and, as its tiny head slowly pokes around from left to right, it's clear that it's trying to make sense of what's going on.]

You just gotta...reach out and grab your fears with both hands. L-like so. And tell 'em, "You don't got me! I got you."

[Because he really looks like he's got this, right? But at least he's trying!]

A-and that's how you do it!

[Now, uh...how does he turn off the broadcast without looking like he's in too much of a hurry to set the turtle back down again? Looks like using his toes will have to suffice!]

Comments

[resipiscent]

Haha. I wouldn't believe someone if they said that either, so.

[He shrugs.]

Yeah. I guess I'm used to them, because you'd see them in the lagoons back home. But I mean, I have a pig. So I can't really judge anyone on their choice of pets.

[unbreaker]

[...does everyone have pigs?]

Oh yeah. Pigs are...cool.

[Sort of. The magic ones, anyway.]

I got a few other pets...

Actually, all of 'em except for my fish were left behind by other imPorts.

[Which really makes it all the more obvious how important it is to Josuke to remember people well.]

[resipiscent]

[It was that freaking swear-in, man.]

Really? Well, that explains why you have a pet that you're afraid of. That's... [He's impressed, actually.] Sounds like you're a good guy.

[unbreaker]

Two, honestly.

[Two pets he's afraid of, out of the many he owns. There's Polnareff, the turtle, and Albero, his snake. Granted, they don't behave like regular reptiles. Josuke attributes that to his being able to communicate with them—when in actuality it's because they were never reptiles at all to start with, not until Giorno had given them life. But he's still (and forever will be) nervous around them. Especially when it comes to their handling.]

...not doing something anybody else wouldn't have done, really.

[Hell, he'd have adopted Annie's dog if Kanaya hadn't. And he's glad Kanaya did, because can you imagine a turtle, a snake, a fish, four baby chickens, a cat and a dog all in his room? He can, and in that mental image there's no space left for him!]

[resipiscent]

Really? I guess. [He's not convinced "just anybody" would do that, though.] I was kind of thinking about it lately, because someone asked me what if I went home and my pets were still here. But I feel like... I have people I can trust to do the right thing for them.

[unbreaker]

I think about that a lot, too...but is it really a reason not to have pets at all? I mean, something could happen to us here just as easily as it could back home. There's not a whole lot of difference.

[resipiscent]

Yeah, you're right. So... I figured it doesn't matter. One of my roommates [he sounds a little more pleased to use the plural form of that word than one would normally be] would be able to take care of them. Or, in Kang's case, find someone to take them.

[unbreaker]

Heh, go figure...the government did right by us for once in giving us roommates.

[...]

But hey, you said 'them.' You got more than just a pig? Or more than one pig...?

[resipiscent]

I have more than just the pig. He lives outside in the yard, but I have a cat, too.

[unbreaker]

[Hm...what's that say about them, Josuke wonders? The imPorts who've take on pets, that is. He likes to think it means they're all trying their best to make a home here, that it's not so much a sign of resignation as it is moving forward, making a life for themselves.

It's a good thing.]

I got a cat, too. Hope yours hasn't made a war zone out of your sock drawer the way mine has, though.

[resipiscent]

[Well, he figures... he doesn't know how long he's going to be here for, but it's been almost a year now. So going back isn't exactly in the forseeable future, though he could just disappear tomorrow and be none the wiser.]

Hah. No, but she's made a nest under my bed. If I reach under there for anything she always tries to grab my hand.

[unbreaker]

[Josuke chuckles.]

That's cute. Betcha she knows it, too.

[Cats, man. With a look they could get away with murder.]

Never had any pets back home, myself. What about you?

[resipiscent]

She's a brat sometimes, but she's a good girl.

[He shakes his head. Not really, unless you count fish they caught in jars in the ocean and silly stuff like that.]

No. I wouldn't have had a chance to recently anyway, but my parents weren't really... the type.

[unbreaker]

Hm? Strict folks, I take it?

[Josuke's mom and grandfather might've let him have a pet if he'd asked, but he never had. It's not like he was every lonely, not with his Stand around and all of his friends, and when he was bored he just played video games...]

[resipiscent]

Not exactly. They just weren't much of the type for anything.

[Not strict, but distant. Riku doesn't really consider himself as having a relationship with them at all.]

[unbreaker]

Ah, I gotcha. That kinda sucks, though.

[Whether Riku's okay with it having been that way or not, Josuke thinks everyone deserves someone in their life who'll support them as they grow up. Usually, it's nicest if that person can be family, but having friends that do the same...that's nothing to frown at.

Riku's probably got good friends. He seems the type, at least. Nice, easy to talk with, the sort of person worth getting to know. Kind of shame to think they haven't got to talking much to each other before now, actually.]

[resipiscent]

Mm. It wasn't that bad. I just didn't hang around there all that much.

[And the fact that he was totally cool with destroying their world because he wouldn't have anything to lose anyway. There was that, too. He's not going to bring that one up, though.]

[unbreaker]

Yeah, well, what good's staying at home all the time anyway?

[resipiscent]

Hah. Yeah, exactly. Not a whole lot.

You didn't have any either, though?

[unbreaker]

What, pets? Nah...was just me, my mom and my grandpa.

[And then just him and his mom when his grandfather died. He'd meant the message board to be for the use of paying respects to imPorts that've come and gone, but since Max asked about posting things about other lost loved ones, Josuke's wondering if maybe he should say a few words for the people back home.

For his grandfather, for Shigechi, and maybe for Hayato's old man, too.]

[resipiscent]

Mm. Sounds quiet.

[He's curious about the board, himself -- he hasn't decided whether he's going to post something or not yet, but he has a couple of people in mind, even so.]

It's weird to... think about back home. I feel like I've been here long enough that I'm starting to get used to it.

[unbreaker]

[With a laugh, Josuke shakes his head no.]

I think 'quiet' is the last word I'd use to describe my house. My grandfather was the really lively sort, and my mom took after him in a lot of ways.

[He'd say that's where he gets it from himself, but the truth is, his personality comes as much from his mother as it does his real dad and his great grandfather. Makes him quite the diamond in the rough.]

I've been here almost a year, myself...gotten pretty used to it, too. But I don't feel like it's weird thinking about where I came from. Actually, feels pretty normal to reflect.

[But he's a sentimental kind of guy...in case it wasn't already obvious.]

[resipiscent]

Really? That's kinda nice, then. I think it's... better that way, sort of.

[He nods, considering this.] Yeah, I guess. For me, though, I hadn't been home all that long before I came here. It had been a year and a half or so. So... it was weird.

[unbreaker]

That makes more sense, I can see how that might be a bit strange.

What were you away from home for?

can you delete that misfire lol

[resipiscent]

It's kind of a long story. Um. [He doesn't want to sound like he's blowing him off but at the same time it's hard to explain without letting on how much of an asshole he is.] My two friends and I were able to leave our world, but we weren't able to return right away.