Chapter Text
Three days later, Jolyne and him left Japan and went onto another airplane.
This morning when they woke up, they both smelled the amazing aroma of Grandma’s cooking, Jolyne practically running out from her futon as she slammed open Dad’s childhood wooden door, grinning brightly as she saw the way Dad rose up.
“She made us breakfast!”
“I can tell,” Dad said as he got up, fixing his messy black hair and stretching his arm out. “And I know it’s going to be a huge meal.”
“Isn’t it always?”
“This time is different,” He explained while leaving his room, Jolyne following in tow, arms behind her back. She listened intently as he looked at her from the side. “Whenever I went away to a different place, Mom always made a tremendous meal for me, just so she knew I was well fed and even could cook for myself. Now with the two of us here, it must be an entire banquet .”
Jolyne giggled as she bumped Dad’s shoulder, giving him a wide smile.
“Well, then we at least have leftovers for the plane.”
Dad just hummed in agreement before Jolyne raced him down the hall to the kitchen.
And leftovers there were .
When they were finally able to see what was on the little wooden table, Jolyne’s eyes almost bulged out of her head, not even comprehending the amount of food there was. It was almost like a Thanksgiving dinner, except all of the food was doubled. They were both stunned from seeing it alone (but very grateful, of course) they couldn’t eat it all and half of it was packed for food for the flight. As soon as they finished, they gathered their suitcases, drove off to the airport and with a tearful goodbye from Grandma, they headed inside the place, ready for their next destination of their trip, the one she was most curious about; Hong Kong.
The question of how he got into a plane crash was on the tip of her tongue the entire time they went through security and boarding (something that once again surprised them because their were no delays or anything to mess up their flight, something that left them speechless), ready to ask it but never sure when it would be an appropriate time because of how busy it was and how fast they were moving. It was killing hers inside about not asking it, just waiting for the right moment to ask, feeling the way it is boiling over the moment her foot steps onto the plane. Though, she pushes that all aside when trying to find their seats.
She quickly takes a peek at their boarding tickets, finding that they are on the right side of the plane and she occupies the seat near the window, which causes a smile to form on her face, happy that she was able to get her favorite spot on the airplane. Her eyes focus on the letter and number there, seeing that she seats in row 15D. With one last look at the ticket, she shoves it back into the pocket of her blue jeans, waiting patiently for the line to start moving again. Jolyne watches as the people stuff the cabinets above them with their suitcases, making sure they fit inside as much as she knows they probably won’t with how hard they are trying to shove it in. For what felt like hours, she sees the way they are taking their seats, making an opening on the plane that her and Dad take advantage of, speed walking as they find their seats. He puts their suitcases (much to her protest) in the overhead compartment as she sits down, waiting to put her seat belt on until Dad joins her.
As soon as she hears the metal click to tell her it is locked into place, that is when she discovers that this is the right time to ask.
But she never could.
Dad beats her to it as he chuckles softly to himself, eyes landing on the wall that the passengers are staring at when being in the middle row. She leans towards him when seeing this reaction from him. He leans back against the cushioned seat, staring at him curiously.
“What’s so funny, Dad?”
“Remember when asked how I got into a plane crash?”
Her mouth hangs open, upset that Dad was able to ask her that first, crossing her arms while getting closer to him, an amused smirk on her face.
“I do because I was just about to ask you that , Dad.”
Dad chuckles to himself again before looking back at the wall, pointing to it, her eyes following where his finger went. Jolyne’s almost laying in Dad’s leg in order to see the white thing. She turns to look at him when he starts speaking again. “See that wall there?”
“You mean the only wall on the plane?” Jolyne says teasingly, a smirk now forming on her face. Dad scoffs slightly, but it does not stop the small smile appearing on his face.
“That’s when I encountered my first stand user when coming to Egypt.”
Jolyne throws him a bewildered look, brows raised high from his answer. Out of all the places the stand user picked, they decided a flight on a plane would be good?
Why do stand users love picking the worst places to fight?
It makes her shiver slightly as she remembers how her battle with Dontalleo went. She never felt so scared of dying on a plane before and it cremented a desire to not go on one for a while, until now, knowing something like that would never happen again.
But, guess the same thing happened to Dad, huh?
“Why the fuck do stand users always chose planes to fight us?”
“Cause you can’t go anywhere. You're trapped in one area with nowhere to move. It’s a great way to get someone if you're an enemy stand user.”
Jolyne throws him a deadpanned look.
“Don’t defend them, Dad.”
Dad throws a deadpanned look of his own at her, even though she can see the confusion on his face.
“I’m not. I’m just answering your question and why it’s a smart choice for a stand user.”
“ It’s still a dumb choice to fight in ,” Jolyne grumbles to herself, Dad smirking to himself because he knows he won this argument. She throws him a heated glare, upset that he is enjoying this win, which only causes him to chuckle. She looks off to the side.
“Whatever, Dad.”
“You know I am right,” Dad tries to say as neutrally as possibly, but she can hear the teasing tone in it, which only makes her grumble more.
As much as she knows that Dad is right about the strategy of it, she is still amazed how they both had a fight on the same. It makes her get out of the grumpy mood she was in before, a wide smile now forming on her face, almost as teasing as Dad’s tone. She raises her brow as she crosses her arms, laughing slightly.
“I can’t believe you fight on an airplane, too.”
“Yep. It was extremely awful.”
“Tell me about it.”
They both laugh quietly to themselves about it, knowing just how weird the world they live in can be. Jolyne moves herself to where her head is on top of his shoulder, having a much better view of the wall of the airplane than she did before. Green and teal blue meet each other when he turns his head, curiosities gleaming in the green ones.
“Soooo,” Jolyne starts off airily, emphasizing the “o’s” heavily, turning her head slightly, eyes now focusing on the wall again. “How did the fight with the stand user go?”
“Awful, like I stated before, but also miserable,” Dad now grumbles out, crossing his arms while doing so. “The fight started when I woke up, noting that a beetle was flying way too close to me and my friends. Everyone was a little off when seeing the thing, but the thing that truly told me that everything was going to shit was how concerned Avdol was, making me take out Star Platinum instantly.”
Jolyne’s brow raises higher at that, cocking at that.
“Jiji wasn’t the one that clue you in about that?”
Dad shakes his head and gives her the bored look whenever he talks about the antics Jiji pulled him into.
“No, because Avdol was quite possibly the most leveled out and calm out of all of us. Nothing really made him concerned or mad, so seeing how he became like that, made my nerves spike a little.”
A teasing smile appears on her lips.
“A little?” Jolyne questions.
Dad sighs as he rolls his eyes.
“Alright, a lot,” Dad answers before he looks back at the wall. “But that wasn’t the thing that truly told me everything was about to go wrong.”
Jolyne’s brows furrow deeply, giving him a perplexed look.
“What was it then?”
Dad turns his head away from the wall, after staring at it for so long to suddenly look at the passengers in the middle row, pointing to one person sitting at the end seat. Jolyne focuses in on the person
“I saw the beetle go through a passenger's head and rip out their tongue, killing him instantly.”
Jolyne’s entire face drops, turning white when hearing the last part of his statement. She lifts her head off his shoulder to look at him right in the eye.
“What the fuck, Dad.”
“Oh, it gets worse,” Dad says nonchalantly as he looks directly at her, face entirely blank when saying that.
“How the fuck does it get worse than that?!”
“An old man woke up, started complaining about how loud we were all being and right on that wall,” Dad explains as his finger now pointing back to the thing, Jolyne once again looking back at it. “The words murder were spelled out in blood.”
Jolyne stares at it with widened eyes, only being able to say one thing when hearing that.
“It somehow did get worse,” Jolyne says, looking back at Dad, eyes still wide. “Sounds like something straight out of The Shining .”
The joke successfully made Dad chuckle a little.
“It felt like it, but it doesn’t end there.”
“Oh god,” Jolyne says horrified, even though she crosses her arms, getting closer to him, acting like she always did whenever a friend told her a juicy story. “What happened next?”
“The old man passed out and once the beetle saw this, he came back towards us and attacked us. We knew at that moment that this thing was the stand, which Avdol informed us was The Tower of Gray, which was infamous for killing people on an airplane.”
“Oh. My. God.”
“Starting to get the idea of how I got into a plane crash?”
“Yep,” Jolyne says quietly, dreading where this story might go next.
“Tower of Grey tried to take all of our tongues out, the stand user believing that might be the quickest way to stop us from getting to Dio. The rest of our stands couldn’t go after him because of how long his stand range was. So, Kakyoin was the only one able to face him.”
Jolyne could see this is the turning point of the story, the part where his friend was able to trimpuah over the user. She gets closer to him, green eyes now twinkling with excitement, the question seen plainly in them.
Dad fondly laughs at her excitement.
“Kakyoin’s stand was very unique. His stand, just like yours, was able to coil and uncoil himself at will. Hierophant Green was able to have a humanoid form and then easily dissolve himself into tentacles, something Kakyoin used to his advantage when he fought the Tower of Gray.”
“That’s fucking sick ,” Jolyne says, amazed by Dad’s friends ability. A smirk forms on Dad’s face.
“It was, but when he first fought me, he couldn’t beat me.”
Jolyne rolls her eyes, ignoring the way his smirk grew wider.
“Wow, I get it, Dad. Star is an impressive stand,” Jolyne answers sarcastically, rolling her eyes in a dramatic fashion as she waves her hands around. She ignores the way his smirk has become a smug grin as she narrows her eyes. “Finish the story, Dad.”
“You're demanding.”
“ Finish .”
“God, alright,” Dad exasperates. “He fooled Tower of Gray first by throw several Emerald Splash’s at him—”
“Emerald. Splash’s?” Jolyne asks slowly, cocking her head to the side.
“It’s self-explanatory,” Dad answers quickly, mouth opening to continue his story, but is interrupted by Jolyne.
“So, your friend just threw emeralds at a flying bug ?”
Dad gives her a deadpanned look.
“Don’t mock Kakyoin like that.”
Jolyne shouts up, waving her hands defensively as her cheeks become a bright pink, embarrassment slowly building up inside her.
“I’m not! It’s just—why throw something as big as an emerald when the stand can easily dodge it!”
“Why do you think I used the word fool in my sentence,” Dad deadpans to her, brows furrowed slightly.
She blinks, realizing the word had completely gone over her head. She sinks into herself.
“Oh,” she whispers out, feeling dumb for not catching onto what he said, she grabs onto her biceps while looking off to the side. “Right…continue.”
“As I was saying before, Kakyoin fooled us,” Dad starts off while side eyeing her, which Jolyne grumbles to herself, ‘don’t rub it in.’ His side eyeing lasts for a few seconds before he starts again. “While using his Emerald Splash at Tower of Gray. As worried as we were about seeing how the stand kept dodging it and how he was almost close to finishing him off, that wasn’t the real reason he used that move. The Emerald Splash helped to distract the Tower of Gray from seeing the way Hierophant Green untangled himself and used his tentacles to hide underneath the seats, trapping the stand effectively. Once Kakyoin revealed this, his stand pierced through the bug.”
“Nice.”
“Even better, when Kakyoin did this, it helped reveal that the old man that fainted before was actually the stand user.”
“That’s fucking awesome .”
“But that’s also when shit hit the fan.”
Jolyne narrows her eyes at him as she gets closer to him once more, waving her hand around in circles. “What else could have possibly happened?”
Dad throws her a look that says, “you should know,” but it slowly turns to that of a steely glare. She just blinks at him, giving him a confused stare until finally it clicks in her head, remembering why this conversation started in the first place.
“Plane crash.”
“Plane crash,” Dad repeats as he sighs, crossing his eyes. “The old man killed the pilots of the airplane. So that left Jiji to land the plane, which he confidently told me he could not and survived three plane crashes. I almost killed him at that moment.”
“That’s why you don’t go on planes with Jiji!” Jolyne chuckles, glad she finally figured out why Dad got so figadity when he mentioned they should fly together. Dad scoffs loudly.
“Indeed. And that’s how I got into that plane crash.”
“Oh God,” Jolyne laughs airily as she gives him a teasing smirk. “Don’t tell me you have a track record like Jiji’s?”
Dad turns towards her, face completely horrified.
“Never say that again, Jolyne.”
Jolyne cackles at that, laughing so hard that tears almost rolled down her eyes. She holds onto her stomach because Dad’s face is something she wishes she could hang on the wall. She laughs even more when she hears Dad say, “It’s not funny, Jolyne.” At the end, she wipes the tears away from her eyes, a smile plastered on her face as she looks at Dad’s hardened face. She leans her head on his shoulder as she dramatically puts her hand on her chest.
“Well, at least you have me this time, so there is no way you’re getting into another plane crash.”
“Oh,” Dad flatly exclaims. “I’m saved.”
“ Hey! ” Jolyne shouts as she smacks his shoulder lightly, something that makes Dad chuckle, which slowly dissolved into both of them laughing, knowing how absurd it would be for him (well, both) to get into another plane crash.
As their laughter dies off, Jolyne gently leans her head up against Dad’s shoulder, which reminds her of the first time she flew an airplane with him. She was scared for her life, trembling with fear as she had no idea what might happen when they are in the air, burying her head in his chest. As childish as she sees it now, she never felt more at ease when Dad wrapped her arms around her, grounding her as he kissed the top of her head, telling her nothing bad’s going to happen the entire flight. Even as he wiped her tears away, more came out until finally she requested, even though it sounded like a frog croaking, to hold his hand the entire fight and to never let go. Dad didn’t take long to do that and with a gentle squeeze, it helped Jolyne calm down, surviving her first flight ever.
Maybe, it’s the nostalgia that causes her to reach from Dad’s hand, clasping onto the rough skin, feeling the way new scars have left indents in it. She sinks her head further into his shoulder, not even having to look up to see Dad staring down at her. She lets out a small smile.
“Nothing bad is going to happen to us, right?” Jolyne asks quietly, quoting the same question she asked when she was little. She glances up to see Dad’s face, watching as it softens completely, almost as if it were like butter, eyes fond. He bends down to press a soft kiss to the top of her head, just like he did the first time.
“Nothing bad will happen, butterfly,” Dad whispers out, tone similar to one when he used to put her asleep when she was younger and squeezes her hand just as gently as he did the first time.
Dad never let go of her hand the entire flight.
_________________
A bright sunny day is what Jolyne is met with when she arrives at Hong Kong, the same kind of day Dad had when he first got there.
As she stretches her limbs out from the long flight, she gets a better view of the place, in awe of everything she sees. The airport buzzes around her with people walking around and suitcases rolling at every corner. It is littered with every store she can think of , somehow making a plain floor store look lavious, with its glass decorations and fancy script writing, look spotless. Every color was somehow dropped into this place, making Jolyne feel like she is at home already. It’s standing there, eyes wide with amazement, does it hit Jolyne that she’s going to explore more countries than she realizes, no longer just getting to experience Italy and Japan all the time (as much as she loves those places). When trying to find some travel guides about the place, that’s when Dad finally comes off the plane, feeling bad for leaving him behind because of how fast she ran.
Before she is able to walk back up to him, Dad’s in front of her face before she realizes it, stunned by being in her face so quickly. Jolyne shakes her head, finally understanding that he stopped time in order to get where he is now. She throws him an unamazed glance.
“You know, Dad,” Jolyne starts off as she points to the people walking by them. “You could walk like normal people instead of stopping time.”
Dad scoffs loudly.
“We need to get the fuck out of quickly if we ever want to survive the luggage area,” Dad bitterly answers, which only causes Jolyne to chuckle lightly into her hand, amazed by his bad attitude already.
Though, he’s going to be in a badder one with what she says next.
Jolyne didn’t have the need to say it until her eyes landed on the airplane again, eyes shimmering with excitement when seeing it. She leans against the handle of her suitcase as a playful smile spreads across her face as she leans closer to him, Dad staring at her curiously.
This is going to be so good.
“Well, there was no plane crash this time, Dad.”
Just like it was on the plane, his reaction was priceless .
Dad sighs heavily as he pulls his purple hat down, beginning to walk ahead of her when he starts speaking again.
“Good grief. Let’s just get a taxi.”
“But we didn’t, Dad!”
“Whatever. Let’s hope we don’t get into another one like I did in India.”
“ What!”
____________________
The drive to the restaurant where Dad had met Uncle Polnareff didn’t talk long, not believing Dad when said it would only take 10 minutes, somehow even quicker than the one to the hotel they are staying at.
When looking out the window, Jolyne saw how it was similar to Japan in one aspect, but she could see the architecture, fashion and how vibrant each color was, making it very easy to spot each thing out. It felt like she was 7 again, getting to experience Morioh for the first time, wanting to explore every one of it as she wants to do right now in Hong Kong. By the time she was going to ask Dad what else he saw in Hong Kong, they were out the door, standing on a street where they were overlooking the water.
Jolyne’s head spins as she takes in all the signs around her, trying to figure out what each one means as much as she knows she can not figure it out. As she squints at the huge red sign in front of her, she feels a tap on her shoulder, jumping slightly when feeling it.
“The restaurant right there, Jojo,” Dad says as he points in its direction, Jolyne eyes instantly landing on it.
She gasps as she shakes with excitement, grabbing onto his hand as he starts dragging him to it, hearing the way he grumbles to her to slow down. They stop at the brown front doors, letting Dad open it as she follows in. Just like it was outside, it was vibrant and full of a wide variety of colors. The walls were painted with a bright yellow, one similar to a sunflower as it is wrapped around with a pattern that consists of a blue stripe with an orange circles alll on it and underneath it is a dark orange, complmentaing the blue stripe and it is all finished with that yellow again. On the walls, there are windows that are wrapped around a brown frame with a crisscross pattern all in the middle, making it look like the glass is all little diamonds. Finally, the center is filled with oval tables with a plain white cloth on top of them, each having a variety of number of seats, but all of them having red cushions that is adorned with a golden enteiror, making them really stand out.
Jolyne turns back towards Dad, an evil smirk on her face.
“Even with everything happening with Dio, you still were able to get top-dining, huh?” Jolyne teases him, causing Dad to flick her forehead, squealing when he does so. She throws him a heated glare, one Dad challenges with a steely glare.
“Do you want to eat in the restaurant or not?”
“I was just teasing ,” she mumbles out as she crosses her arms, lips pouting out a little. Dad snorts a little at this as he walks up to the hostess standing there, not noticing the way she gave him another heated glare.
The woman laughs at their interactions, already grabbing menus for them to look at, waving for them to come over with her. They both follow the hostess, them being seated right by one of the windows, gently placing the menus in front of the seats. They both give their thank you’s to the lady as they sit down. She nods her head in gratitude before she walks away, telling them that their waiter might be there soon.
Jolyne snatches onto the black thing instantly, eyes quickly scanning at every thing on the menu, trying her best to figure out what each food item is from the pictures on the menu. After realizing that she probably doesn’t know what any of this means, she lifts her head up to look at Dad, stopping to give him a curious look when she sees that he hasn’t even touched it, her brow raises up.
“You know what you want?”
Dad nods, leaning closer onto the table, arms right on top of each other.
“Yeah,” Dad answers quickly. “Do you?”
“ How? ” Jolyne exclaims as closes the menu rather forcefully. Her confusion only grows when she sees Dad smirk.
“I was rather pissed with Jiji because he didn’t know jackshit on the menu. So, thanks to Star’s eyesight, I was able to figure out where his finger pointed when he ordered.”
A wide smile forms on her face, even though it looked like a shocked expression on her face.
“No way.”
“Yes way and that’s what I will order right now.”
“20 bucks, you're wrong.”
“You better not cry when you give me that 20 bucks,” Dad answers confidently, a smile just as wide as hers. Jolyne gasps loudly.
“ You're on, old man! ”
“You’ll be surprised how much this old man actually remembers,” Dad fires back, completely destroying her insult. Now, mer mouth looks like a huge “o,” upset by how easily he deflected the jab.
“ That was an insult! ”
“Too bad it sucks,” Dad responds, now having an interest in the menu as he grabs onto it, using it as a way to hold back the laugh that is about to spill out of his mouth.
Jolyne’s only rebut is sticking her tongue out, something which Dad quickly says “very mature.”
It was almost like fate because just as Jolyne is about to bring the bet up again, the waiter comes, asking them how they are and what they would like to drink. They answer with just wanting water and before he walks away, Dad pipes up about them being ready to order, Jolyne gleefully smiling as awaits to prove him wrong. She watches as he opens the menu, pointing to several items on there as the waiter quickly writes it down. Dad closes the menu after pointing to the fourth item and giving it back to the man, him taking her menu as well. They say their thank you’s one more time as he walks away, hurrying back into the kitchen. Jolyne gives him a perplexed look as their eyes meet again.
“That’s a lot of food, Dad.”
“Well, there were four of us the last time I was here,” Dad explained logically as he sighs. “And Jiji jus got whatever he felt like, no matter how much there was.”
Jolyne giggles at that, knowing how Jiji will spend whatever he want just to make something memorable for either her or Dad, just happy to see their smiles at the end of the day.
“Sounds like Jiji.”
Dad sighs again as she laughs softly to herself, grabbing her napkin to unfold it, placing it on top of her lap, now both patiently waiting for the food to come.
To pass the time, they play some tic-tac-toe, doing this on some paper and pen she had in the bag hanging on her chair. It was aggravating the amount of times he won, knowing he outright cheated once with stopping time when suddenly there were her two X’ and Dad’s on O’s, to suddenly there being 4 O’s with a line across them, showing how he won. It made her lose her mind and flip the table over when she heard Dad start laughing, tears actually streaming down his eyes when seeing her outrage about his blatant cheating.
By the time they started their 9th game, that is when the food had arrived. Jolyne shoves the two things away, clearing the table so they had room to put the plates of food on top of it.
What Jolyne saw in front of her quite surprised her.
The most startling thing she saw was the golden roasted frog, three of them laid out beautifully on top of some fresh lettuce with the legs being surrounded by carrots that were shaped like stars (which made her smile when seeing them). It creeped her out slightly when seeing them, but a little curious about what they might taste like. Right across from the frog was the rice porridge, which she knows is bound to be good from how soft the rice looked and the smell was to die for. The calms remind her of an Italian dish Grandma made for them, linguine with clams. They are all opened, each of the clams steaming as they are all inside a thick and creamy light yellow sauce, which smells delicious and is topped with some green herbs. The final dish was a whole stewed fish, probably one of the biggest she has ever seen. The skin was crispy, having a nice light brown on it as it is underneath a dark red sauce, opted with some green herbs as it. She can’t help herself as her eyes keep going back to the frogs, staring at them blankly until she looks back up at Dad, poking at them with her set of chopsticks.
“Frogs?” Jolyne asks, cocking her head to the side.
Dad huffs when hearing her question, grabbing the chopsticks so he can be prepared to grab the food. A small smile plays on his lips.
“Yep. They were my favorite part of the meal.”
“Really?” She asks, intrigued by his answers as she puts her arms on the table, leaning closer.
“Yeah. Try it.”
When he says that, Dad reaches over as his black chopsticks and pulls out a leg, bringing it back to himself. He grabs a plate and places it on top of it. He grabs onto the frog leg with the utensils and places the food into his mouth, hearing the way it crunches inside it. He lets out a little hm when he finishes chewing and stares up at her, a look that tells her “what are you waiting for?” Jolyne hesitates before she picks apart the leg, slowly placing it in her mouth, putting her hand underneath it in case anything comes out. Her teeth crushes against the food, feeling the way it falls onto her tongue, eyes widening when she gets the taste of it.
It’s fucking incredible.
“Holy shit!” Jolyne muffles out, mouth still full of food. Dad throws her a glare.
“Don’t speak with your mouth full, Jolyne.”
Jolyne quickly chews and swallows down her food, as much as she knows she is going to pay the consequences for burning her tongue while doing so. It is as if there were stars in her eyes as she stares down at the frog, amazed by something that can taste so delicious as that . She gives Dad a wide grin.
“That’s fucking amazing!”
“Why do you think I considered it my favorite?”
Even though she chuckles, she rolls her eyes when hearing Dad say that, knowing he was proven right yet again.
Though, she does hope she can prove him one more thing wrong today.
“So, this is really all you got when you last went here, huh?”
“Yep,” Dad says, strangely flat for the smirk forming on his face, seeing the way his arm goes underneath the table cloth. “I can even ask Uncle Polnareff if you want.”
“ Yes .”
“This is going to be the best 20 bucks of my life,” he says confidently once again, wiping his iPod out of his pocket, turning it sideways to take a picture of it.
Jolyne waits patiently with a smug expression on her face for Dad to send the picture, watching how fast his thumb taps on the screen. By the time he puts the device on the table, it dings, telling them both that he has answered.
Dad looks down at the screen, observing very closely to see any reaction on his face.
It’s perfectly stoic.
Her smile becomes bigger; she’s won the bet.
Dad's eyes look up at her green ones as she hands the iPod to her, gently placing it in her hands. She stares down at the screen, stomach twisting into knots as she reads the message.
Polnareff
HOLY SHIT, YOU REMEMBERED WHAT WE ORDERED?
Damn, you must have been really PISSED at your grandfather!
Jotaro
I was.
Polnareff
HA!
But for how obvious it was that he did not understand the language, your grandfather still got good food.
Jotaro
He did.
Polnareff
Enjoy 20 bucks!
And tell Jolyne I say hi!! I miss my niece!!
Jotaro
Thank you.
I will.
Dad has the biggest smirk she has ever seen on his face as his hand is opened, waiting for the money he knew he was going to win from the start as much as she hates to admit it. She gives him a glare as she places his device off to the side of her.
“I’m waiting.”
Jolyne grumbles to herself as she fishes out a 20 in her bag, slowly handing him the money as he takes it, making his wallet 20 bucks richer.
“You don’t even need that money,” Jolyne bitterly mumbles out before shoving another piece of frog in her mouth, hoping the food might make her feel better. Dad snorted, clear that he heard what she said.
“Sore loser.”
She sticks her tongue at him the second time that day, Dad rolling his eyes as soon as she does this, which quickly dissolves into them chuckling, amused by each other's antics.
As Jolyne finishes swallowing the second piece of food, she reaches forward to grab onto the star shaped carrot, raising it high in the air, just above her eye. She laughs when doing this.
“I can’t believe this is the way you meet Uncle Polnareff.”
“I still don’t,” Dad replies to her comment, which only serves to make her laugh more. “Would you even be surprised to say that my friend Avdo got into a fight with him afterwards?”
“Nope. Not with the speech he gave you.”
They both laugh at that, Jolyne now finally taking a bit of the carrot, squealing happily with how good it was. Dad follows in her lead as he too grabs onto one of them as well, chewing on the thing slowly. He leans back into his chair, looking out the window. Jolyne gives him a curious look. Dad just responds with a small smile.
“Want to know about the fight?”
“Absolutely!”
Dad chuckles softly at her enthusiasm, leaning back onto the table, crossing his arms slightly.
“Avdol’ s stand, Magician’s Red, immediately attacked him after revealing he was our enemy.”
“ Cool name ,” Jolyne comments, voice laced with awe.
Dad smiles fondly at that, seeing how soft his eyes got.
“It was. I thought it was pretty unique too, but,” Dad says as he gets back on track to the story he was telling. “Your uncle summoned Silver Chariot to deflect the attack and caused the table to become a clock, turning the flames from Avdol’s stand to become a clock and saying what time he will die on it and challenged him to a fight at the Tiger Balm Garden.”
“Very dramatic.”
“It’s Polnareff. It’s always going to be dramatic.”
Jolyne snorts loudly at that, having to cover her nose because of it. With the wave of her left hand, she signals him to continue, which he does.
“The battle started immediately when we got there, Polnareff predicting that Avdol might die by his own flames. The entire battle consisted of a flurry of fire and sword attacks, where every moment we had to move in order to not get hurt. Things really got interesting when Avdol used his special technique.”
“Special technique?” Jolyne questions with a raised brow.
“Just like Kakyoin’s Emerald Splash, Avdol’s Crossfire Hurricane, which could turn his stands flames into, well, one big hurricane,” Dad explains, even though the name of the technique can give the hint of what it could do. “Polnareff dodge it the first time thanks to his stand’s armor, but the second time Avdol used it, got him good.”
“How?”
“Avdol had made a variation of this technique to be buried underground, which was able to shoot several of them by coming straight out of the well, almost burning him alive.”
“So, Uncle Polnareff had become a burnt chicken,” Jolyne jokes, laughing at the end of it, pleased with herself when she sees how Dad laughs along with her.
“He did and when we saw he wouldn’t admit defeat, we let him live and our group, and that’s how I met Uncle Polnareff.”
“And that’s how your friendship started!”
“One of the biggest regrets of my entire life.”
“ Dad!”
Jolyne couldn’t help but burst into laughter after hearing that, Dad just laughing softly along with her.
Though, there was one thing that caught her interest.
Dad has mentioned before the Tiger Balm Garden being a very interesting place, something right up her alley, already picking her interest of wanting to go. But, now hearing that this is the place where Uncle Polnareff joined him on his trip to Egypt, only made the want to go unbearable. So, as she leans closer to the table again, eyes twinkling with excitement, she asks.
“Can we go to the Tiger Balm Garden! It would be so awesome if we did!”
It’s after she says this that Dad’s face falls, a sad expression on his face as he presses his hand into his cheek.
“It was actually demolished a little while ago. I had a feeling you might want to go, so I looked it up and saw it was no longer there,” Dad explains as she defleats like a balloon, sinking deeply into her seat. Though, she sits up with what he says next. “But, it is next to the Haw Par Mansion, where they used to be next to each other. So, want to go there?”
“ Hell yeah! ”
As quickly as they could, they finished their meal and left to walk to their next destination.
___________________
The Haw Par Mansion was only a few blocks away from the resultant, an absolutely breathtaking sight when they finally arrived.
The size of the mansion was massive, almost looking as big as when Jolyne first saw Cinderella’s castle in DisneyWorld. The architecture was as if it was part of a layer of a cake, the tower at the rope being the highest, some of the walls of the mansions being decorated with a diamond pattern. Each layer had a going back and forth pattern of a cream white and brown, something very pleasing to look at. The roofs were similar to the ones she had seen on traditional Japanese buildings, them curling in slightly at the edge, being painted a beautiful teal color. Underneath each roof were blood red pillars, helping to make the mansion only pop out more. Each wall seemed to have a window in them, an emerald like pattern inside of them that only highlighted the beauty of the place. Everything about it was majesty, only making Jolyne feel more in awe when seeing it.
But Jolyne had another idea when seeing this mansion.
“Dad, lower yourself!” Jolyne shouts at him, trying to make sure her iPod is able to get him in the picture.
He grumbles to himself as he bends his knees more, head right near her shoulders now. He gives her a steely glare, eyes narrowed slightly.
“Better?”
“Better! Now smile!”
Dad tugs at the end of his mouth, looking like he is being held at gunpoint to smile.
It will do.
Jolyne smiled brightly into the camera as she pressed the button on the iPod, capturing the moment between the two of them. She hums happily, glad that is able to keep this moment forever before she opens up her messaging app, going directly to Uncle Polnareff’s contact. She clicks on it and sends the photos, but not without a caption.
Favorite Niece
Is this the place in Hong Kong where you got your ass kicked, Uncle Polnareff?
(“Nice,” Dad snorts out, pleased with her work, as much as he will never admit it. Jolyne beams when hearing this.)
It wasn’t even a second later before she saw a call coming from him, laughing as she pressed to accept the call, putting him on speaker.
“Hi, Uncle Polnareff!” She says innocently, trying to hold back more laughter coming out of her mouth.
“I DID NOT GET MY ASS KICKED THERE!”
“You did,” Dad supplies helpfully, which only serves to make Jolyne cackle more. She hears him gasp loudly.
“JOJO!”
“Jean, you were going to die if we did not take you to the hospital. So, Avdol kicked your ass pretty bad.”
Uncle Polnareff whines, his only sign that he gives when he knows someone is right, almost making tears come out of her eyes when this happens.
“ But I got him in his arms! ”
“Jean, he burnt you alive. ”
“ Stop bullying me! ”
Jolyne couldn’t hold it back anymore and just bursts out laughing, not even caring how loud she was being as she watches this little fight unfold between the two of them, enjoying the way Uncle Polnareff sounds more and more distressed by the second. As she stands there, wiping away her tears, a wide smile forms on her face, just as a small one did on Dad’s face when they caught each other’s eyes, allowing herself to soak in every moment.
Hong Kong might be beating Japan for being the best part of this trip.