✨Stand Bullshit✨

I found this old snippet 90% finished in my drafts so W O E, 2k words of Tonio being my favorite character and Mr.Giovanna slowly understanding that he is not in fact Giogio's father anymore <333

(also tw for implied/referenced child abuse since Giorno)

-------------

Tonio noticed the second the man approached Giorno’s table.

His customers knew better than to do so. They knew the boy was under his personal protection and it was best to steer clear. A greeting hello when the boy arrived, a brief exchange of conversation, an offered treat or trinket was of course allowed, but approaching his booth while Tonio was not present?

That was not common.

In fact, by the time Tonio made it out of the kitchen and to the dining area, the man had gathered quite a bit of attention from the other customers if the glances being cast his way were anything to go by.

The man was practically looming over Giorno’s booth, all but boxing the boy into his seat and talking in a low voice so as to not be overheard. Tonio couldn’t even see Giorno from his spot.

Tonio did not like this.

He did not like this one bit.

So plastering on his best Customer Service Smile, he approached.

GHDBFHDJFJJDHFHEHFH W H E E Z E -

oh my god you’re right that idea is P E R F E C T

Jotaro tells the kids he's going on a trip to find another brother of theirs and won't be back for a while, but obviously they follow because duh, that's their brother, they wanna meet him >:T so they still manage to sneak their way over

and while on one hand I think Jotaro would've noticed them much earlier........ I think it would be REALLY funny if the kids manage to stay hidden until they reveal themselves after the Bucci Gang pisses off the Boss like in the regular version. Sure Jotaro had his suspicions they were being trailed, especially after Mista's weird experience on the train, but he never actually had proof to back it up. Plus, the kids are very, very familiar with how Star Platinum and even Jotaro himself work and think, so who knows maybe they could realistically pull it off

and just. When they finally reveal themselves.

Jotaro is absolutely exhausted. He's just resting inside the turtle because of his whole Died For A Few Seconds incident when suddenly the Bucci Gang explain that Hey The People Who've Been Following Us Want To Meet Up And Help

Giorno's actually the one who connects the dots first, on account of the whole "got the Joestar Lineage thing explained" and actually knows what's up with the matching star birthmarks. Who knows, maybe Jotaro even explained to him that he has siblings

He's still completely baffled though because. W h a t. How are you here? Why are you here???

And Jotaro just skips the Shocked phase and sinks into Tired Acceptance since...... well they're Joestars. Insanity either finds them, or they find it

SEHFGJDBVJHSEDBVJABVEACc o h m y g o d-

anon this is fucking perfect, this is 100% something they would do

for further shits and giggles, Broochless Percent is one of the hardest percents they have because not only does it require keeping Giorno very safe but it also forces him to not fall back on habits he's been cultivating for hundreds of loops

you can't tell me there hasn't been at least one failed run where partway through Giorno accidentally used a brooch. They have a whole itemized list about what Does and Doesn't count as "using" the brooches, and he gets bullied relentlessly every time he forgets

ailing you managed to rummage around my brain and pull out an idea I thought I'd forgotten about

so doing the math, Jotaro would be around 31 in Canon Part 5, and he was 6 in Early Bird Part 3. Giorno was born about 3 years before Canon Part 3, which if we have that be the same here leads to a....... shockingly only 3 year age gap

now, of course there's also room to mess around with when Part 5 happens since if you wanna get really technical, Dio wouldn't have been able to be given the arrows by Enyaba since she wouldn't have been able to buy them off Doppio at this time, but that's a little too gritty for me so let's just shuffle things around instead and just say it all works out by shoving Doppio's trip back a few years

anyways back with Giorno, an old idea I had more or less has Giorno...... with the kiddos as well. I KNOW, THIS IS TECHNICALLY A PRETTY LATE ADDITION TO THE AU BUT HEAR ME OUT:

Dio of course has Jotaro already planned out to be his successor. There's a whole multilayered scheme going on here with loads of irony and revenge and what not, and he doesn't want to give that up. It's just too perfect.

However, Dio has also learned from his mistakes and knows he shouldn't put all his eggs in one basket. After all, given the fact he doesn't have Pucci this time, he is currently without a back up plan

enter: one Haruno Shiobana

this is also where Dio's interactions with the kids get more....... complicated. Because Haruno is the spare so to speak........ but at the same time he's pretty well cared for. Arguably better than the other kids, simply because of the fact he's new. Unlike the other kids, he doesn't need to be convinced of anything. This life and Dio is all he's known, he doesn't need to worry about Haruno trying to escape since....... well, why would he try

not to mention, Haruno's too young to participate in any kind of training, and again he's the spare. He shouldn't have to be trained since if everything goes to plan, he won't be needed as a successor. Maybe he could be a powerful underling one day if his Stand is strong enough, but Jotaro is supposed to be the future leader.

so honestly....... Jotaro's the only one who ever actually interacted with Giorno. He's kept separate from most of the other kids, but of course Dio wanted his heir to meet his possible second. And their interactions were about as interesting as a 3 year old and an ill 6 year old could be.

(who knows, maybe Haruno's mother is here as well? Of course, this does raise the question of whether or not she'd take Haruno with her when she inevitably flees the mansion, but for the sake of the AU let's say she does)

but when they're free.......... this is when things get a bit fun :)

because well....... given their ages, the two honestly don't remember each other super well. Haruno hardly remembers any of his time in the mansion at all, and Jotaro's memories are foggy from time and sickness. Kakyoin might know of Haruno's existence from their talks, but admittedly the toddler's importance wasn't NEARLY as much in his mind as compared to being rescued and getting Jotaro to a hospital

by the time Kakyoin's able to tell Holly and Joseph, Haruno's long gone

Italy I'd imagine isn't too different. Sure there's of course the differing dynamics between Giorno and the team given the fact he's 28 (and now the oldest member of the team by a landslide, Abbacchio being the closest at 21) but plot wise? There's definitely the question of do we play it straight or get creative with it which........ okay let's be real we're most likely gonna go the creative route jrdbvjdrbvs

I'm definitely very interested in how Koichi little quest goes down and how Giorno will deal with his chasing, and ofc how Jotaro will fall into things here

Polnareff definitely will make things interesting, since he's of course very related to Events All Those Years Ago and would likely be aware of the fact that Dio son who went missing that fateful night

there's a lot of room to Get Funky With It :)

also I'm just. Rotating Jotaro and Giorno's childhoods. How the mansion was the best and safest Giorno had ever been, and had he grown up there he honestly probably wouldn't have had that bad of a life, at least in comparison to his mother's neglect and step-father's abuse.

but that being in stark contrast to Jotaro's own experience. How the mansion was literal hell. How he was stolen away from his life and family and very nearly died, scared and alone.

how Dio managed to be Giorno's savior and Jotaro's nightmare

how Holly's rescue was Jotaro's saving grace and the thing that shattered any hope of Giorno's good future

how these two are family, both by blood and by the man who attempted to raise and shape them

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

tbh, this AU is rotating really hard in my head and this is P E R F E C T

for the first part, I had an idea to both make it better and worse :>

so as I mentioned before, humans and most Earth Creatures in this are naturally born as beings of Light. However, what if while they can be corrupted by outside sources of Darkness, it's also somewhat..... natural, so to speak. Pain, fear, anger, even apathy, those feelings all make it a bit easier for Darkness to be inside them, but in healthy small amounts. Light meanwhile has more to do with emotions like happiness, determination, justice and can drive it back.........

so what if before his memories were taken, Weather completely gave into his newly unlocked Light. His Light that was once righteous and warm because burning and scalding, driving away the Darkness that would've been the balm to soothe his grief

Pucci (albeit accidentally and unintentionally) giving him this all powerful Light in the middle of his grief took away his ability to process his feelings and what had happened with Perla. These feelings toward tragedy are natural, healthy even, and necessary for the healing process. Instead, Weather got a bright, powerful but uncontrollable Light forced upon him that he didn't know how to use. He was a Magical Girl yes, and he wasn't necessarily a corrupted one, but that's simply because the Light burned too strong and bright to let it

The Light wanted justice, and in this case it was very close to vengeance. Perla was innocent and kind, and these people were hardly good. Perhaps they themselves were corrupted with Darkness, and Weather's own Light reacted to fight back, to protect, to try so desperately to keep him and what little he had left safe. The Light made him tunnel vision so much he didn't notice those getting caught in the crossfire nor the way his own body was slowly burning inside out. Didn't notice how his grief and anger and sadness where suddenly nonexistent beyond the desire to Do Good And Help By Getting Rid Of The Threat

Pucci awakening his power nearly spelt the end for Weather's life, had it gone for a few more hours

maybe that's also why Pucci brought him to Green Dolphin, hoping that the oppressive and constant Darkness will keep the seals firmly shut

this also raises the fun possibility of Jolyne And Co healing him not with Light like they usually have but with Darkness. Maybe Emporio could help here since he's been exposed to so much that it's basically a permanent part of him now, and in the process it helps balance himself out. They almost swap the excess power they have and finally get to be at peace

(also, I think for this bit I had a fun idea for the rain imagery. This whole time Weather is practically glowing, radiating Light constantly and the longer it goes one the more he begins to burn. His skin begins to crack in places, his eyes lighten to white, his hair begins to grow black at the tips and curl like it's been set on fire

((Actually hey what if Weather's hair is white because the overwhelming light from that one time basically bleached his hair))

but then....... when it's finally over. When they manage to douse the flames the overwhelming Light has brought, to give him Darkness to let him finally feel........ it gets cloudy and rains and finally Weather gets the chance to cry)

And shifting gears for the second idea, OF COURSE

Limbs and nails and teeth that are a bit too long or numerous, eyes that are a bit too vivid or have colored sclera, patches of skin that don't look quite right like instead they're scaled or leathery or just the completely wrong color, hair that seems to defy physics or sway in a nonexistent wind or not be completely made of hair at all, voices that have strange qualities and echoes to them, etc etc :)

Giorno and Emporio both grow up surrounded by those traits 24/7 and kinda got desensitized to it all. If anything, this is how people look and are supposed to be. To them, if someone looks normal they're an even bigger threat because that means either a) they're a trap and trying to get you to lower your guard and/or b) they're powerful enough to hide

HESBVHAEBVHEBDVS B E T

oh my god that's hysterical tho. Like, Giorno is just Randomly Approached By This Big Fucking Dog Carrying This TINY Grey Cat And They're Both Weirdly Smart And Also Magic Apparently. He at first doesn't think too much about it, but is happy to have this new random companionship.......

and then he turns into a snake. And suddenly he thinks his new buddies are ALSO humans turned animals. He doesn't know why they sought him out, but he figures they probably couldn't deal with the guy who changed them and were trying to get more help

(he is a little upset he can't understand them as a snake, but then he thinks about it for a second and realizes Wait They're Mammals And I'm A Reptile, We Have Completely Different Ways Of Communicating and........ I guess he's not wrong?)

but also this is so funny, this whole adventure we have Giorno acting like "these idiots don't understand all the hints we're trying to drop, can you believe this guys >:/" and meanwhile Jotaro and Koichi are just......... Vibing Almost Entirely Unbothered. Sure Giorno being an animal is a little weird, but they doubt it's permanent and if they really need help they can always call the Foundation later to help them find the User

the Bucci Gang are honestly fascinated by these weird animals Bucciarati managed to find that wouldn't leave him alone. They think they're kinda weird, but they have Stands and they're also super useful in fights so....... they can't really complain. Plus, the big dog is super good at emotional comfort

also, Jotaro 100% carries around all the animals just because he can. Koichi rides on his head, Giorno is wrapped around his neck and he's gently carrying Coco in his mouth :>

also also, Polnareff is in for one HELL of a surprise when they reach him

this pose was technically an accidentaly one where I saved the wrong image but I decided to run with it-

W H I M W H A T T H E F U C K /lh

the server really decided Jotaro was The Most Speacialist Little Guy didn't you

which I mean. I completely agree with that assessment, but also I feel like I've looked at something forbidden and can now never return to the world I once knew