daybreakacademy | A new wind blows [OTA]

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A new wind blows [OTA]

Who: Giorno and you
What: New student arrival, in person or over the net
When: Starting December 30th
Where: Daybreak Academy
Warnings: None at present

UN: GioGio

Greetings to everyone, I am a new student here and wanted to introduce myself. I am Giorno Giovanna.
I have recently joined this school, coming from my home of Napoli, Italia. If we meet in person please pardon me if I fall into a familiar tongue for some words, with French and Italian being so close it happens to me a bit. I will strive to be at least understandable.
I am pleased to meet everyone and look forward to studying here and getting to know the people I am now living with.
Thank you.

~Giorno

[Around Campus]

Giorno can be found about campus, leisurely strolling or sitting and people watching. Be it in the quad or the shared dormitory space in Aube, floor 4, or even at the library, he keeps his eyes on people, what they are doing and who they are talking to, with a curiosity.

Wherever he is he does his best to exude a sense of belonging, his posture intentionally graceful and artfully relaxed. At five foot eight inches he's not towering, but tall enough to look at least a little older than he is, especially since he is athletically trim, rather than lanky. His blond hair is always neat and cared for, three distinct rings of hair are secured to his hairline in a style reminiscent of victory curls, while the remainder is kept back in a clean short braid, with the very end curled up in a loop to keep the ends from tangling. He has turquoise eyes that seem to study the world around him as he watches, and generous lips that seem quick to smile, even seeming to naturally sit in a happy expression.

His outfit, often in a shade of pink or deep blue, is quite distinctive. The top has a heart shaped cut out which reveals a good portion of his chest, and is decorated with three fist sized pins that are modeled after ladybugs, to attached at the sides of the heart, while the third is set on the center line at his waist. His pants are always matching and cleanly tailored, while his shoes are well kept, with small, matching ladybug decor. All told he has the appearance of a young man who is well put together.

As he people watches he can be seen playing with small objects, like pens or even one of his own pins, and with a shimmer of gold around his hand, they change shape into animals, varying from small snakes and geckos to even kittens, depending on the size of the item he's playing with. The actions seem almost subconscious yet he is always careful about any animal he is holding.

[Wildcard]
(Feel free to put other things as well. Thank you.)

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"A year older? How... how old are you?" Giorno asks, the wonder of just how old, or rather how young, was the man who's body fathered him.

That brought another thought to mind and, he found himself hesitating to as, his stomach turning sour, like he would vomit. How would Jonathan want him to call him? Would he want to be called 'father'? That word alone... "I am your Father now." The man said, hiding his true nature behind a sickly sweet smile. Calling out for his father, and no one answering, as he learned how painful a belt across his back was. He shook harder, and Gold Experience shift again, still present, though silent and mostly still, now holding him more completely.

"H-how... I..." His voice was shaking, and he didn't like that, a breath... even himself out, and try again. "What would you like me to call you? Calling you by name feels rude, but you are... you aren't my uncle or grandfather... so... do... you want to be called... dad or..." He hoped father wasn't what the other picked, it would sour in his mouth and he knew it would come out unkind any time he used it, even if he didn't mean it to.

He hated how unsure he sounded, on top of everything, he sounded like a scared child and that rankled him as well. He'd stopped being terrified years ago, so why was he now, with these people, feeling so uncertain and timid. If he messed up what would he really lose? He didn't know them, it wasn't like losing actual family, right?

Except it would be losing the potential for real family, and that managed to drop a led weight on his heart.

... "A what joke?" Wow

"Oh-" Oh nooooo- "Well...technically speaking, I suppose...just about 130? The trouble is, I haven't been conscious for all of that; I died not long before I could reach 21 I'm afraid..." It's a rather awkward confession, but one he feels is important nonetheless. "I did 'wake up' a few years ago, but I wasn't especially coherent...there was...something of a period of time where I still had to remember myself, if it makes sense. I was more 'bat' than 'me'. Truthfully I had only recently sorted myself out by the time I was found by the Speedwagon Foundation...oddly, that was in Northern Italy!" he laughs, as if the location could somehow be a joke in itself.

It fades however- tiny ears sensitive enough for those catches in breath, and nervous pauses. Cautiously, the bat reaches out with a wing- hoping to perhaps catch an edge of the boy's hand, or similar. "...To tell the truth, I don't really know myself. At the very least, 'father' feels rather impersonal now that I'm more familiar with today's version of the language!" he laughs, "And while I am indeed over a century in age, it makes me feel quite a lot older than I actually am as well! I suppose... ...if you feel my name is rude, what do you think would be comfortable for you? The least I can do is give you that choice- I'm certain that whatever sounds best to you will sound quite fine to me!" ~~even jojo would be fine, though that could get odd, GioGio.~~

Goddammit, Jonathan.

She's just rubbing at her face with one hand as she lets him explain this whole mess, though she's biting back a small bit of a laugh as she realizes something. "This whole family tree is fucked the hell up. If his body technically made you then that'd make you... technically my fucking great great granduncle or some fuckin' shit. And, without accounting for the age after death thing with him, he's only a year older than me. I'm... nineteen, I guess." Twenty in not that far off of a time, huh.

"Also I just call him by his name, but I'm further out on the family tree from him than you are..." And great great great grandfather is a hell of a mouthful and she's an absolutely lazy bitch.

~~Only Jonathan responds to JoJo, Jolyne will deck a bitch who isn't her mom if it's said to her. Oops.~~

Giorno nods at Jonathan's explanation of his age, both old and young at the same time, and he could see some of that youth, in the way he talked, and his constant pep. It was odd to really consider just how young, at least at heart, the person who was technically his actual biological father was. He should find the picture that was mentioned, and see if he could make a copy... it could go in his wallet too. "I mean, I'm fifteen, so it's not like I need someone to raise me, or some such. And really, we could just leave it at cousin for you and I Jolyne, explaining to anyone why I would call you my niece, much less adding all the levels to it could get tiresome, and I really hate having to repeat useless stuff." He offers. Here he was, joining another common trend of the family, being an uncle to someone older than him.

He considers what she's saying about the name but, she didn't get much of it, of course she probably had different feelings about the idea of 'dad' as a person in their lives. No he needed to know if this was somewhere he could actually put his trust, if he could actually open up, when he was ready. Being able to call Jonathan something so close, so related would tell him if he was really welcome. He'd test other waters later too, but this was a first step for him. Jonathan was leaving it up to him to suggest, though it eased the twisting in his stomach, both the light touch of the bat wing on his hand, and the way he seems to not desire to be called father.

Giorno's hand turns over to let the wing rest against his palm, mimicking holding the hand offered to him here. He kept telling himself he was testing them, seeing how far they'd let him go without demanding in return, but a part of him that had gone quiet as a small toddler was also behind this, wanting to trust without waiting, wanting something beyond the void, punctuated with pain, that had been the idea of family so far. He wanted to find some preable to the term that rose in his mind and throat but he was speaking before he could work it out, urged by that long quiet child. "Babbo, if it's okay?" He asked, trying not to let his voice waver, trying to let on that now that he'd spoken he was full of fear it would be taken away from him suddenly.

"Babbo..." He repeats it slowly- getting used to the word, and of course he needs to, he's never heard it before. But after considering it only briefly, he beams impossibly- "That...that's Italian then? A similar term, but from your main language? It sounds rather nice, if it is alright to say so. I apologize preemptively if I happen to take time to adjust, but at the very least I can say without hesitation that 'Babbo' is fine with me!" he confirms, wing resting on that hand.

It'll all be fine, or that's what she keeps telling herself. Extended family is fine, they're different from what she knows, and it's nice to know... something about that side of the family without having to pry or figure out things on her own. Which might be why she's carefully watching the two and casually evaluating the situation.

But that one word gets a brow raise from her, knowing full well what it means even if she's not entirely fluent in it. She's heard that one before at the very least.

"Yeah, it's Italian." She's responding simply and leaning back in her seat once again, stance... a little more guarded than she'd meant for it to be. She'd never called anyone that, but the idea of such familiarity is a little jarring despite it all.

Not that she'd expected him to be distant, he seemed keen on this mess just as much as they were. Huh.

It's said that people can become so touch starved they can die from it, that if they are deprived of contact or affection long enough, they will accept anything that comes their way in a similar form, even direct abuse. It's hard to deny when all of your mind is screaming for what seemed to be just offered, even if it was a screwy family with the worlds weirdest family tree, and your new biological dad is currently a bat.

He nods a bit in response. "Yes, it works a lot like 'dad'." He said in agreement, so that Jonathan could know what, approximately, he was calling him. Not that he would have picked a rude term, but rather he wanted to prove his worth to be trusted, even if it was just in small ways.

"If you want... I could teach you some." He offered, since it very much seemed like Italian thrilled Jonathan.

He did glance to Jolyne, noting how guarded she seemed but he couldn't really do much for it at the moment. If she didn't trust if hew as being genuine, he would just have to wait it out, or wait until something came along that he could prove his trust with. Sure, he could tell them both his childhood, it might put his willingness to hold onto this so fast into perspective, but he wasn't about to just share that. Not yet.

Jolyne sounds a little stiff somehow, but he doesn't make a comment on it- Giorno has perhaps cleared up why after all.

He doesn't know if he was ready to be a father, back when he left on his honeymoon. Would he have been ready when the time came, for that matter? He can't possibly know, and that is undoubtedly the side of him that still pauses at the idea of 'dad', or 'father'.

It is perhaps cowardly, but the unfamiliarity created by it being a different language helps to ease into it, because ultimately while this is a 'child' they are not a young child. Giorno is perhaps as old as a number of his classmates (math has, sadly, changed A Lot in 100 years, so he's rather behind there). There's a lot of thinking and overthinking potential to be had.

But that aside- there is no hesitation (at least not like that) when Giorno asks the question. "Oh-" He looks from Giorno to Jolyne. "I would love to learn some more of your language, certainly..! I do admit that I had been considering after Christmas, but now more than ever it seems very appropriate!" He's rather curious, on that note- "Are there many differences between how the both of you speak the language?" he wonders. Jolyne having learned...'American Italian' and Giorno being from Naples and all that...

She may be stiff, but she at least isn't leaving the situation, which is a little bit of a good sign that she'll loosen up in due time. But she remains silent for the longest while as she looks between the two of them, turning words and ideas and theories over in her mind until she's being addressed once again.

Ah, right.

"Dunno, might be. I'm not fluent in the language or anything, just enough to hold a conversation in it if I have to. Much more comfortable with English still." Some words still remain in Italian, some English sneaks into the bits of Italian. But it all comes down to being... basically the same thing, she's fairly certain.

"Well, it's not exactly the same, but I didn't really struggle to understand you Jolyne." He says, shrugging lightly. "Considering growing up in Napoli, my Italian is a bit... I suppose flavored is a good way to put it, by the Napolitian that also is there. It was insisted that I learn Italian first and foremost though, so the other is just what I've picked up here and there." He admits.

"The biggest things are probably colloquialisms, or slang. But we didn't talk in Italian long, so it's a little hard to say." He shrugs, as if to imply that could be addressed later. "Jolyne, if you want, you can practice with me. If you want to work on it, of course." He offers to her.

Jonathan is silent enough as the others speak, waiting and gauging what may be best from there. He probably should have guessed that Jolyne's Italian wasn't fluent, admittedly, but this certainly does work rather well. Cheerfully, he nods.

"It would certainly be a wonderful thing to do as a group I feel- I can't imagine our hamon practice would make it difficult to make time either!"

It seemed like a simple enough offer, she'd been meaning to try and learn a bit more of the language to at least be able to hold good conversations with it. Other than speaking it at her mom while being an absolute dick to those around them that didn't know the language. That'd... always sort of been the goal of the whole thing.

And she'd been rather on board with it until Jonathan's mentioning hamon practice and her expression falls just a bit.

"Please tell me you aren't thinking of teaching him that, too. It's already enough of a struggle with just me, isn't it?" Oh, that's how it's going down.

Giorno blinks at the mention of Hamon, unsure of what exactly that was, but Jolyne's reaction has him responding before he can think better of it. "Oh, I wouldn't want to get in the middle of something that you two are doing!" He didn't want to get in the middle of their time together, especially. Jolyne was unhappy with her real father, and he... well he couldn't blame her to want time with Jonathan, and to guard at least some of it jealously. "That said, Italian all together would be nice." He offers.

It wasn't that he had no interest in Hamon, at least to learn more about his Babbo, but he didn't want to risk alienating Jolyne by being pushed into too many things and making her feel pushed out.

"Oh-" What- "Oh dear! I actually hadn't considered that...should I offer that though, oh dear..." At the very least, as naive as Jonathan can be, he doesn't seem entirely oblivious to the fact that Jolyne is upset about the idea of still more learning.

Well anyway- "But really, it hasn't been nearly as much of a struggle as you fear Jolyne. I was merely making a comment on where our schedule currently stands; it would be rather difficult to study italian as a group, if you could not make it yourself after all."

And like Giorno said, it sounds Nice.

She wants to get up and pace so badly but knows that doing so would give away a lot of how she's feeling and she's not too keen on giving them any of that. For all she's progressed, sometimes she still has those moments and situations where she reverts to how she used to be. Not the best of times.

"It's not as if I don't have all the free time in the world outside of classes. I literally only deal with the self-defense club and the damn mechanics club." Which, really, is fight club and excuses for her to work on her bike. That's it. That's all.

"I'd rather it not get in the way and having to work on two things at once, that seems like a piss poor idea to learn either."

Giorno shifted slight, careful not to dislodge Jonathan or where they were touching hand to wing. He got the feeling that Jolyne didn't like him much at this point, and while that stung, he couldn't blame her if that was the truth. He clearly needed to find the action that would earn her trust still.

"I am not against the idea of us working on things together, but I also understand if you feel it's more than you have time for. I just want you to know I'm open to discussing things in Italian with you, to help." He said, hoping he was taking a properly neutral tone, and not sounding like he was trying to call her out or anything of the sort.

Hmmmm....well, if it's hamon with one and italian with the other...

"I myself am quite alright with it if you choose to sit out," he assures the woman, nodding. "And I am certain that should things change, we'll be happy to study with you." Ah- "Ah- I should get my schedule however, so that we can find a proper time then...as you may have guessed, I meet with Jolyne quite regularly, so I cannot imagine that there will be trouble balancing one matter with the other."

If something about him bothers her, she's doing a fairly good job of hiding it. But in reality it's mostly the idea of someone coming in and taking attention away from her from someone that actually gives a shit about her that rubs her the wrong way. Is it petty? Absolutely. Does she care that it is? Nope.

But she's quiet as she listens to the both of them before finally deciding to stand and pace. Just let her get the energy out, it'll be better in the long run for everyone right now. "Right. I... just need to get into the swing of things first before I even know what the fuck free time I even have this time around." Answer is, still, a lot. But this is an easier lie.

Jonathan's welcome acceptance is nice, and he certainly feels something that hurt long ago ease, deep inside his soul, but he wasn't about to hunt it down, scared of what he'd find along the way. It's Jolyne that has him worried still. She is the more guarded of the two, though he wondered if that wasn't just who she was, from what she had experienced. Even if he can consider it that way, a part of him wants to make sure that things go as smoothly as possible, no one liked the addition of a person who ruined their family after all.

"It's nothing that needs to be sorted right now, really. I, at least, don't plan to leave any time soon, perhaps it would be good to let classes begin, and get used to schedules?" He offers, smiling a bit. "Besides, I'm still adjusting to being here myself. It's not something I can say I know exactly how it will be yet. I am used to boarding schools, but with the kind of classes that are here? That is very new to me." He points out, hoping to make it seem less like it's her responsibility to find a reason.

"Right." Understood, of course. Honest answers or otherwise.

"That would be a wise decision, yes- while things may seem simple on the outset after all, once classes begin there's no telling how busy each of us shall be. We'll simply need to keep the other abreast of whether or not a window of time that can be utilized for any meetings closes or opens." Now. As for the classes...

"I will confess, many of my classes are a simple matter of catching up with what's changed over the years," Jonathan laughs. "Though I have been doing my best to try and take lessons relevant to the matter of 'candles', due to the connections to hamon! There seems to be a class for just about anything imaginable, I feel."

Unfortunately, it's something that tends to happen with her when something gives her any reason to be guarded again. But she doesn't seem hostile even if she's absolutely keeping up that wall once more. The little mercies and it's certainly a place to start.

"Yeah, well, that tends to happen when you've been gone as long as you have." No shit, Jolyne. "Most of my shit's pretty... normal, I guess? I dunno. Kinda catching up with some stuff due to not great circumstances of the last bits of high school, but it's not a huge deal." Hilariously she's not too far behind since some subjects come a lot easier than someone would guess from her.

He can do this new subject, talking about school, that was a good, neutral. "I ended up starting a year late, so you could say I'm a year behind." he says with a slight shrug, as if this was just a normal thing that happened. Then it occurs to him that he didn't have a reason to be delayed, except the truth, and 'my parents forgot' seemed like it would unlock a host of questions he really didn't want to answer.

He is quiet and mostly subtle in his panic, eyes going wide briefly as the realization hits before he's doing everything he can to calm himself down, heart still pounding hard from the physical jerk that realization had put him through.

Fortunately, Jonathan quite misses how Giorno fears the statement to sound. So instead he just laughs. "Well, it seems that of all of us, I have quite a lot of catching up to do then! I'll have to work hard to get there, won't I?"

That, or he's deliberately not drawing attention to it. It's a mystery really.

Jonathan, you probably tried to cover that up. But Jolyne's honing in on it instead, because of course she is. She's used to people trying to cover shit up and she's stopped her pacing to face Giorno and try to stare him down as much as she can. She's not the most intimidating person without knowing what she can do, but she certainly tries.

"How'd you end up starting a year late?" And completely ignoring grandbat.

Of course she not only caught onto that, but asked. He wanted to avoid the deeper things connected to it, but he had a gut feeling that if he tried to back out of answering this he'd effect how Jolyne interacted with him from here on out. And not in a positive way.

"Oh, it was just... forgotten about." He explained with a small shrug, as if it was the most simple thing, common to anyone. If he played it off as minor, maybe that would be the end of it. It was tempting to pray that would be the end of it.

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