Separate Ways/Worlds Apart (JJBA: Battle Tendency)

Chapter 4: After All These Years

After the restaurant incident, and a feast of decadent Italian cuisine, the Joestar party returned to their hotel room. The night had been full of idle chit-chat, something changed after the revelation of the mysterious Mister Speedwagon's death, and Sharena could clearly tell. As soon as they arrived back everyone went to their separate rooms to turn in for the night, and though the goose-feather mattress was expensive, the blonde girl was restless. The fading of conversation that could distract her from her problems made her worry return with full force.

Eventually exhaustion did take her, and when she woke she half-expected to be back in her work room with the crumbled statue on the floor around her. Instead of being in her own time however, she was in a four post bed with the fanciest of purple silken sheets wrapped around  her half naked body. The bright New Yorkian sun was peering through a slit in the curtains.

The girl tumbled out of her bed, groaning as she fell to the floor with a thump. She mentally discussed the plausibility of falling back to sleep, but when she thought she had come to a conclusion the door slammed open. For the second time in the past two days, Mister Joseph Joestar decided to just barge into a room she was scantily clad in.

"Granny wants you up!" he announced, his gaze fixated on the bed. He was fully dressed, but his chocolate-colored hair seemed even more wild than it usually was. He quickly realized she was in fact on the floor and not in bed, the linens she brought with her barely allowing her to retain the slightest modesty.  The young male simply froze, his eyes raking over her form as a lecherous grin formed on his face. "We can't keep running into each other like this, people will begin to talk you know." He teased, a jovial sparkle in his eyes.

She wanted nothing more than to beat the hell out of him, or at least throw something, yet part of her wanted to avoid causing his grandmother any trouble after the occurrence the night before. Also, she was worried about how Joseph was taking the news, she felt he was hiding his true feelings to spare his grandmother.  Though she supposed playing around with him would be harmless.

"Can't you just let this situation talk for itself? I'm clearly wide open." She retorted, lowering her speech to a sultry tone.

"Well, uh- um," he attempted to speak, but his mouth quickly went dry, his body freezing in place. She clearly had caught him off guard.

"What's wrong, Jojo?" she asked, putting emphasis on his given nickname. "Not good enough for you? If what I am saying bothers you, I can  always be silenced with a kiss."  Joseph was unsure how to respond, he had always been a flirt, rarely ever getting a response, yet this blonde was meeting his teasing with full force. He at least needed to get the last word in.

"Maybe after breakfast, love. I perform much better on a full stomach," the handsome brunette retorted, "There are clothes for you in the dresser, see you for tea." As soon as he finished speaking he shut the door.

The blonde girl let her face drop onto a pillow and yelled in exasperation. She now understood that Joseph Joestar was truly impossible.

She ended up raising herself from her position on the floor and approaching an oak chest of drawers adjacent to her bed. She found a white dress shirt, a purple vest with gold buttons, black dress pants, and a red cravat. Once again, the Joestar matriarch impressed her once again, providing very closely fitting clothes for her in such short notice. She decided to ask her at some point how she came about the articles. There was an ivory comb with blue flowers painted on it that lay on the nightstand. She grabbed it and stroked it through her short golden mane, parting her fringe slightly off center.

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Subsequently, breakfast was both morose and quiet. The tone was expected after the previous day's events, even suffocating those not directly affected. And as quickly as was possible for him to, Joseph stood up from his seat, grabbed Smokey by the arm, and left, slamming the door behind him. The awkward silence thickened as several hours passed. During this time Sharena couldn't bring herself to leave Erina alone with her thoughts, so she remained in the parlor,  mutely staring at her reflection within a cup of cold tea.