「*JoJo's Bizarre Roleplay: Stairway to Heaven

Griffith

Griffith

good old-fashioned loverboy
*GM POST

13 September, Wednesday, slightly cloudy. It had been raining for the most of last week, though that has already given way to the muggy heat that now hung heavy over the town. The low-hanging clouds made matters worse, and people moved slowly around the town, reluctant to hasten themselves to anything more than a snail's pace. The humidity had the residents searching out for air-conditioned venues or places to blow off heat at, and the town library and pool suddenly became the most popular almost in the span of a day.

School has already gone into session for about two weeks, and all the students in town were still in the stage of mingling around with their new classmates- making alliances, starting over, starting the rumour mill and bad blood- the usual things one would expect to find in school. All this buzz, however, halted and waited for that particular afternoon to take its toll. The usual gaggle of the middle and high school students littering the streets and convenience stores after school were almost entirely non-existent today, with only the occasional harried student passing by the street corner with nothing on their mind but the thought of home.

On days like these, the town almost seemed to be moving in slow-motion. Some people referred to these days as the calmest days of the year. On days like these, all one could do was to pray for the day to move by faster. Wilting in the unfortunate weather, all activity in this town seemed to fall into a lull, dreaming of a better day to wake up to. Nothing bad ever happened on days like these, and neither did anything good either. It was boring enough to hurt - at least, that was the general consensus of the rest of the residents. Little did anyone know that on the empty streets of the town beside Q City, on the most humid, seemingly most uneventful day of the year- that is where your story starts to unfold.


Posting Notes
  • Start your post after school, right after around dismissal time and progress from there. You don't have to actually be in school, however, since the circumstances allow you to do anything without being noticed or stopped.
  • At this point, none of the characters know each other. Your main goal IC is to seek out the rest of the characters and get acquainted. Keep in mind that stand users attract, so you'll probably feel inexplicably drawn to the other stand users.
  • Remember to coordinate your meetings so there aren't any contradictions in the posts. Skirmishes and fights are allowed, but no serious damage is to be inflicted.
 
「*Hiroi Makoto​

It was the sound of the dismissal bell that woke Makoto up.

He raised his head from the desk slowly, looking up with bleary eyes, still with the lingering fear that the teacher might have finally noticed his presence. A cursory glance soon revealed that his fear was unfounded. His classmates, now strangers, ducked their heads as they streamed around him, circumventing his table as though he wasn't there. The teacher, a Miss Aiko or Aido or something along that line, was already gone from the classroom. Within seconds of him being awake, he was cast into the darkness of the classroom, someone having already turned off the lights behind them. He was the last person still left in the class. At least, he knew he was the last. The rest didn't even seem to notice.

Makoto sat up in the stiff silence as the air stilled and the fans overhead slowed and halted. Raising his hand, he rubbed at his eyes and gathered up the jacket that was pooled over the table and had served as his pillow for the last hour. He hesitated for a second before stuffing it roughly into his schoolbag. The weather outside was absolute murder, so much so that even Makoto had noticed. He'd had to go home straight after school, he mused. Or maybe the pool, the library, anywhere. Freedom was actually pretty terrifying. His usual daily routine after having woken up in this strange reality consisted of wandering listlessly around the streets and lingering around the arcade and other places he wouldn't have been allowed to be before. Sometimes he'd go to class, just for the sake of going. The rest of the time he just stayed at home and used the computer and sometimes played catch with his stand. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds was a freaky looking little thing, all milky white eyes and uncanniness that should have been creepy, but Makoto didn't mind its presence anymore.

The strangeness of his life was slowly becoming the norm, and Makoto was starting to feel an uneasiness that he never thought he'd associate with such complete freedom. The first few days were fantastic, and everything that followed afterwards, not so much. Makoto found himself craving human interaction, something which shocked even himself. He didn't like to talk his classmates. He didn't like talking to anyone, period. This eerie void, however, was much worse. What he'd give for anyone to be able to see or talk to him, just for a bit.

At least his iPod still worked, which was a relief. Tugging his headphones over his ears, Makoto leaned back in his chair and let the familiar croon of one of the Western singers in his song collection wash over him. He didn't really understand what it was that she sang, but it was soothing and that was all that mattered. Makoto never cared much for the technicalities, anyway. He let the music play and sat still for a moment more, before getting to his feet and pulling his schoolbag along. Something fell out of one of the compartments, and Makoto pretended not to notice. He'd get it tomorrow.

The school square was empty, the brutal midday sun beating down from above, greedily eating into what little shade there was. Pinpricks of sweat were already starting to form on Makoto's skin in the muggy heat as he made his way across the square to the school gate. He'd go to the mall, he decided. He's got all the time in the world to kill.
 
Akira was waiting. Waiting for what exactly, he wasn't quite sure. He just knew that he was waiting. He had been ever since he'd woken up and vanished. For some people, vanishing might have been a more surreal experience, a small step into anonymity from their shy lives, but for Akira, it was drastic. He had only come to this school a year ago, but he was class rep, top of the class, had a beautiful girlfriend, and captain of the soccer team. He did all he could to keep in people's sights. Suddenly dropping out of them was rough.
It had taken him some days to get used to this new world, but as the days stretched into weeks, he had grown sure he was waiting for something. Ever practical, he'd spent his precious time finding things. He'd found himself enough money to live off for as long as he needed. He'd found secrets that would make him richer than any money ever could. He'd found new belongings. He tried to pay for most things, but the occasional theft didn't bother him too much. If he ever did get back to the real world to use all these things, he didn't just want to get thrown in prison. They'd probably actually do it this time.
All in all, his distracting practicality had only taken him a couple of weeks. But just when he was growing bored of spending all day reading in an empty classroom-better to be there than at home, invisible to his godawful parents-entertainment had come along in a very strange form. White Winter Hymnal was its name. Akira's Stand was a welcome comfort, a distraction even, from the nothingness of his days. He could blanket the world in a snow and make it as clean and empty as his days. It hadn't taken him long to figure out that other people could feel his snow, so after a while, he'd stopped doing it near him. It had been funny, for a while, to see them stare about with wide eyes at the snow, especially once the weather started growing warm. But eventually that novelty wore off and he was more focused on playing with this new toy.
He'd spent night and day learning how to use White Winter Hymnal. They didn't have a shape. Occasionally, when he needed it, a vaguely human head or a body would be outlined in the snow, like the snow landed on someone invisible in its midst, but Akira couldn't ever be sure he'd seen it. They didn't talk. But Akira didn't really mind. He spoke to White Winter Hymnal, sometimes, and he got the feeling they understood. They certainly understood what he meant when he asked for a snowstorm.
It had been a while since he'd found out just how sharp snow could get. His mind shied away from that. He perhaps wasn't the picture of wholesomeness, but even he didn't want to re-visit that. Needless to say, he'd practised non-stop to keep it from happening again. However, the sight of bloodstains on the snow had assured him of one thing: he was waiting.
There had to be some reason he was here, armed to the teeth. He'd been given a weapon. That meant that somewhere, some day, there would be an enemy.
Akira had taken the day off school. He tried to go most days-nothing better to do with his free time than learn-but he took a lot of time off. Today, it was hot, and he had the perfect cooling mechanism, but it was best for the outdoors. He was sitting in the park, making it snow around his bench. White Winter Hymnal felt a bit put out by the weather. Sure, they didn't speak, but Akira could always feel when they were a bit out of sorts. Maybe he was making that up along with the phantom faces, but there was precious little else to do these days, so he may as well pay attention to his delusions. He could see why the Stand was so put out. The snow barely stuck before melting, so he was having to make it go over and over. Sure, Akira himself wasn't overly concerned by the heat. Just being around White Winter Hymnal seemed to bring the temperature down a little, but the act of making it snow only to have it melt into slush so quickly would be frustrating.
Rolling his eyes, Akira got to his feet, leather shoes splashing in the snow puddle. "Alright then, let's go find some air conditioning." The snow ahead of him puffed and swirled in excitement. A small smile crept over Akira's face. "The mall it is then."
 
Miyako never understood why she went to the school in the last couple of weeks. The Library at school was fairly large, having so much that other local libraries would be put to shame. It was a top of the line High School after all, very prestigious as the adults used to call it if she remembered correctly. Other than that she rarely went back to her classes, becoming more meaningless each day after that first day. Instead spending most of her days in the first week almost exclusively in the School Library, going through book after book, trying to find any answer that she could with little success. Going through all the books she could there Miyako went to look for other sources of knowledge she could.

The only Library bigger that Miyako would find was the Inner City Library(ICL), a monstrous several stories tall structure. She would often get lost for days there, there was was even a food court on one of the floors. That's when she first started noticing the other side effects of being Forgotten. No one paid attention when she would take food. No one noticed her when she got hungry and asked, so she would just take what she wanted, and would begin doing so next with books. Slowly amassing piles and stacks of numerous books that she liked and found important. She would slowly start focusing more on the science and physics books, trying to find something in those realms that could explain this phenomenon. Instead in her frustrations she would notice more of the side effects, the brown outs, electrical power outages that would last for moments at a time.

Miyako quickly noticed the electronics around her were acting strangely, starting with her cell phone, which seemed to distort and twist on the display as soon as it turned on. Then one day while she was playing a Boss level on a video game and died, Miyako lost her temper short circuiting the console. Her hair could never be tamed anymore, there was just too much static around her and her waist length hair. Getting tired of the fruitless efforts Miyako took a pair of scissors and cut most of it off, her fathers electric razor would go haywire in her hands. Ending up with a short Pixie cut that she had seen in a magazine, just not nearly as professionally done as the girl in the photo.

In the days to come she would start noticing her stand, more and more as it slowly took shape with each surge of electricity, each electrical outage, growing more visible depending on how much energy was zapped. Then one night as she was on her way home from the ICL, a transformer exploded near her. The vibrant color of the Being was unmistakable in its brilliance, shining in the darkness shielding her from the blast. It took the majority of the blast, absorbing everything that did. Bright Blue she would come to name it, and she would dye her hair to match the color the best she could. Her savior.

The days to follow after Bright Blue's full appeared to her, Miyako began focusing on books that had anything at all to do with electricity. Also trying to absorb more electricity for her Stand to appear again, she would go to cars and electrical meters of buildings. Collecting what she could handle till BB appeared again, this time much more Vibrant than before. Now that she Willed it to appear, not as just a shield to protect her. It was hers, and hers alone. Testing the boundaries of its powers she would get into constant troubling situations, Stealing a police car by hot wiring the engine, Blacking the school for entire day after playing with the Generators. Miyako began to understand more and more of what she could do, through scientific principles of electricity, and other texts.

No longer caring for school she would end up wandering the city when she wasn't at the library, finding things for herself to do. Today was no different. The Arcade was fun now that she knew how to not short circuit the games on accident. The pool was always a fun option, and the air was Muggy, the heavy hot feeling that washed over everything, dragging it down while blanketing it in a unbearable warmth. Cutting her hair had seemed to be the right move on days like today. Walking down the city sidewalks Miyako would decide to enjoy some delicious treats at the mall, the weather straining her focus for reading. Besides, sweet pastries were always the option on days like today.
 
Half-lidded eyes watched the television screen jumped from channel to channel. Nothing good was on. Nothing good was ever on. Kurosawa Moriko slumped into the couch. She missed her friends. She missed her classmates. Hell, anymore of this and she was going to start missing the overly nitpicky teachers and the PE coach who'd pick on her just because she was on the plump side. But now, nobody noticed her. The girl had initially thought it was all some elaborate prank, an unfunny joke. That was, until it continued into the next five days with no signs of stopping. After countless attempts of making her presence known, Moriko had given up. She stopped going to school. She stopped going outside at all unless it's to the local convenience store and even then she didn't look at anyone in the eye.

Lethargy had been weighing her down ever since she had lost her existence. Or rather, the proof of her existence. She was till there. Just never noticed. Like a ghost. And at this point, she really was starting to feel like a ghost - cold, dead and- no! Enough of this! Moriko wasn't going to keep on like this.

She felt that at this rate she would just start growing roots into the livingroom couch, just like all the plant life spilling out of the pots on the window sills. If a stand was a reflection of one's soul, Grow For Me certainly showed that. Unruly patches of moss smothered the wooden table and chairs. The tree by her bedroom window had twisted itself against the outside of the house. Large waxy leaves extended from their pots only to wither away from neglect and lack of sunlight. But it wasn't like Moriko hadn't taken her time to get accustomed to her stand. Most of the pot around the house were new and held plants Moriko had never bought. Back before she had lost the motivation to do anything at all, the girl had even attempted manipulating the plants into pretty little arrangements.

She took in a deep breathe and forced herself up. She wanted her old life back. No, any life at all would do. She scoured her mind for something to do, something normal that didn't involve being in the increasing suffocation of her own home. A walk would be good. It sounded...healthy. Oh, and the mall! Nothing really says normal like window-shopping at the mall. Sure, it would be lonely but it was still better than becoming one with the furniture.

She cleaned herself up and changed into the first set of clothes she grabbed from her closet - her school uniform and her favourite cardigan. Then taking an umbrella and some cash (just in case, really) she was off to the mall.
 
The mall was wonderful. Kayo practically lived there now, her Stand trailing behind her at every step and her steps echoing out into the cacophonic halls of the mall. Going to the supermarket was great now that she didn't have to fork over jack shit for her comfort food and/or addiction. A pack of dried mangoes supposedly imported from the Philippines drenched in extra sugar was currently in her hands, and she popped one of the fruit chips into her mouth. Not having to pay for this was wonderful. The mall was absolutely wonderful.

That was probably not a good thing. Still, she got over the whole "being unnoticed" thing pretty quickly with this bonus. Free mango chips were always a welcome distraction. That easily explained the backpack slung over her chest, the largest compartment unzipped for easier access to the sugary food.

It had been a stressful few weeks trying to figure out what happened and why she was so nondescript now. Eventually, she'd chucked the subject into the mental "screw this" bin and let herself enjoy the fruits of this curse. That was evidently a very good thing, as it marked the arrival of the creature that saw fit to follow her around. The Great Pretender, as she'd called it, made others quite the opposite. She'd let it run on and on for as long as it wanted, and it led to some very easy entertainment within crowded establishments. A foreign man had proposed to his very male companion yesterday, and to her surprise and amusement, he'd accepted with joyful tears. They didn't have rings, which led to a quick raid of a child's area of the department store and two proudly displayed metal rings sporting a design of moose antlers. She didn't even know if you were allowed to use those. She liked her Stand.

A laugh tore its way from Kayo's throat at the memory. The Stand in question sent her a questioning feeling, and she responded with a dismissive wave of a hand. "Never mind that, Pretender! It's just a memory." She pulled her right appendage back and took a second to inspect the gold ring on her middle finger, identical to the ones the men had worn the day before. It really was pretty for a moose ring. She might just keep it. "You want me to get you something? There are these really pretty necklaces back in the kid's section and I want an excuse to see if you can wear one." If it couldn't, her subconscious added for both of them, she could take it, so win-win.

There was a silent feeling of disapproval. "Okay," Kayo acquiesed. "I'll just go and get some more mangoes, then. Or maybe some of the waffle sandwiches they were displaying! The workers are on break by now!" She abruptly changed direction. "To the food court!"
 
「* Hiroi Makoto​

The mall was unusually full of people today, probably owing to the number of people seeking refuge from the unrelenting weather outside. The one good thing that came with Makoto's new non-existence was that the stream of people naturally parted for him as he strolled aimlessly and stared at the window fronts of department stores and outlets. It was amusing at first, and Makoto entertained himself by making some references to Moses parting the Red Sea, but those jokes wore off after a while and the lack of human touch that lingered merely increased. It was weird, what with there being an invisible bubble around him that separated him from everyone else. Like he's on an extra photoshop layer that's on top of the real world.

Even after realising that there were no consequences of him doing just about anything, Makoto was still uncomfortable with the idea of stealing from the stores, despite having done it a couple of times already over the past few weeks out of necessity. He didn't have anymore pocket money to give to the cashiers and he couldn't for the life of him remember what his bank account password was. On quite a few occasions he'd tried to approach his parents for help before remembering the situation he was quite literally stuck in.

Entering the pastry shop, Makoto kept his head down as he grabbed several loafs of bread and a box of mini-doughnuts, stuffing them into his bed and trying not to feel guilty as he exited the shop. He supposed that a normal person would've adapted to total liberation like a fish took to water, but then again he's always been kind of slow on the uptake. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds floated beside him, watching silently behind him as he exited the pastry shop, and he felt a trill of disapproval spike in the back of his mind. Lucy seemed to have some sort of rudimentary sentience, which started out as somewhat disquieting, but had mostly faded into background noise in Makoto's head as time passed.

Now that his 'normal' life had screeched to a halt, Makoto found his days becoming increasingly empty. Time and commitment were relative here, and the days slowed and tumbled into each other so much that Makoto wasn't sure which day of the week or what the exact date was anymore. He stayed inside his house with his stand as his only companion, outside of occasionally going to school and drifting outside, sometimes for days on end because he could. When he once fantasised about being left alone, he never envisioned to receive that wish in such a way that made him want to return to where he was before.

This particular day, Makoto felt a sudden compulsion towards the small, rundown bookshop on the fifth level of the mall. He's never been there before, because that particular bookshop was always out of stock of something or another he wanted, and there was nothing he couldn't find at the school bookshop. But oh, what the hell. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. Makoto made for the lifts and only felt slightly guilty as he squeezed past a dozen other passengers into the lift first, Lucy still tittering after him.
 
Akira leant against the railing, looking down into the rest of the people in the mall. He was on the highest level. He had come for the aircon, but he stayed for the people. White Winter Hymnal was swirling gently around him, just cool air stirring his hair, the barest hints of snowflakes falling on his eyelashes. There was no need for them in this cold, but White Winter seemed to like it. It had to be nice not to have everything melt.
He had thought about eating, but the food court was a depressing place when you couldn't order anything. He could steal someone else's order, but his vague boredom disguised as hunger wasn’t enough to face burgers where he couldn't ask them for no cheese or pickles.
Instead, he people watched. He'd gone into the old bookshop, his bag now vaguely square shaped with his new acquisitions, not just books, but cds too. He was teaching himself piano and violin, seeing as he couldn’t have lessons with his teacher anymore. The cds were good help. He was listening to some Chopin etudes now while he watched the people down below.
It was then that, for the first time in such a long while, he noticed someoe watching him back.

(Don’t mind who it is! Enjoy!)
 
By the time Miyako made it to the Mall her body was drenched in sweat, She felt gross as her clothes seemed ten pounds heavier. She wasn't one to sweat a lot, but the heightened humidity had bombarded her. Thank the heavens the Malls air conditioning was on full blast, almost icy as it hit her. Usually the Mall packed with people would be a problem, the giant crowds trying to push past each other to get to various stores. However, as the events of the past weeks unfolded, Miyako would notice no one ever got in her way. No one bumped into her where she walked, even if they never noticed her. It was strange, but pleasant when people would just part in front of her. At first the lack of contact concerned her, but as the days passed she grew to enjoy the busy walks, never to be pushed or shoved again.

Walking into the center courtyard, where the kids play around the big fountain that decorated it, She would look at the registry, trying to remember which floor the Sweets Shop was. She remembered where the food court was by heart, however the specific shop had a separate location in the mall.
Something about zoning and not enough space in the Court, so she would always have to relocate the small kiosk. Upon finding it she would have to then go to the stairs, as it seemed to be on the second to highest level. With a sigh she would begin her way up the building, however she would need a change of cloths first. After the previous weeks, she had gotten used to just taking cloths that she liked. Not really being one to do her own laundry she would just end up getting new ones each day.

As Miyako walked through the crowds of people minding her own business, she couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. Which was unusual given her circumstances, sure she wasn't hard to miss with her vibrant blue hair, but no one paid attention to her. So why was she feeling watched? It made her uneasy. Quickly she would look around to see if she could make out anyone in particular. The sea of people vast around her made it hard to look, and she wasn't the tallest person so trying to look over everyone's shoulder wasn't helping. Looking up she would barely make out someone on the very top railing, staring down at her. As she tried to make out the details she stood still, from what she could see it looked to be a boy. Something was floating above his head, and the distance between them prevented her from totally making out what it was. It was hazy slightly above him, she wasn't sure what it could be exactly. As she stared back, she had the sinking feeling that they could actually See her. Not used to the feeling of being looked at anymore, she would quickly make her way to the stairs.
 
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