The tension in the air could be cut with a knife. Nobody on the whole street moved a single muscle. Wide-eyed, Vinnie looked at each of the four, one after another. They hadn't actually frozen, but they might as well have. Despite the threats and boasts thrown back and forth, and the various expressions between smirking and disdainful, nobody seemed willing to make a move. The standoffish seconds sludged by, slower than molasses out of a jar, but the angrier of the two women eventually spoke up. ”...What's the matter? Those look like close-range, power type Stands. Aren't you going to get a little closer? Surely you're not afraid of my little teapot?” From inside the spout of that oddly-shaped spirit, a tongue slid out and blew a raspberry at its user's opponents. Vinnie blinked in confusion. Stands? he wondered.

He was not afforded much time to ruminate. Across from the women, the man in sunglasses reached into his pocket. Vinnie half-expected to pull out a gun, but instead he produced a ball peen hammer. When he held it up, the ghostly gladiator plucked it out of his fingers and held it at chest-level before proceeding to tilt his head over it. From the round holes in its extravagant metal helmet came a cloud that resembled someone's breath on a frosty morning, which covered the little hammer in a swath of mist. Before Vinnie's onlooking eyes, the hammer visibly morphed, becoming longer and larger until it looked just like a medieval warhammer he might see at a renaissance fair. By the time the gladiator handed the warhammer back to its summoner, he was already walking forward. ”Guess I might as well, miss Melody. If you could have attacked me all this time, I'm sure you would have. If I'm right, though, you Solution Sisters are master assassins, not direct fighters. Since you haven't turned tail and bounced off back into your base, I bet you've got some trick up your figurative sleeves. Eh, Dwayne?”

On cue, the other man walked forward behind him, his hands in his pockets. A more nervous energy radiated from him, making it seem like he wanted to run at his enemies rather than walk slowly. Nevertheless, the freakish butcher followed behind him, floating forward and dragging its knees noisily on the ground. Adjusting his glasses, he replied, ”Don't get cocky, Wyatt. We're going to school these bimbos so bad they have to run crying back to their little hideout, but the big cheese will be disappointed if we got roughed up.” Now the two pairs stood only thirty feet apart. This entire scene took place only about the same distance from Vinnie's hiding spot. He saw Dwayne's eyes narrow. ”Enough standing around—it's battle time! I think I'll make the first move. Sky-!”

Moving suddenly, the pigtailed woman robbed him of the chance. ”Not this time. Heads up!” She seized her champagne glass and hurled it straight at the man Vinnie now knew to be Wyatt, distracting Dwayne as well. In response, his gladiator lashed out with the warhammer to destroy it, but the cup impossibly altered its trajectory in midair. It flew straight for Wyatt's face, its rims glinting like a curved knifeblade. At the last possible second, the sunglasses-wearing man reached up and grabbed it, halting it just an inch away from his skin. ”That the best you got, Harmony?”

The grin on Harmony's face looked positively venomous. ”Laugh while you still can, dickhead. How do you feel?”

In fact, Wyatt was swaying slightly. His spirit faded away as he gazed at the glass with an oddly serene expression. From his hiding spot, Vinnie could see a golden fluid inexplicably filling up the cup. He also saw silent fury engulf Dwayne's features, and only a split second later he was charging forward with his spirit flying ahead. ”Enough cheap tricks! Time to learn that victory goes to the strongest! It's humiliation time!” Lynyrd Skynyrd's razor fingers extended toward Harmony, who'd swapped her sadistically gleeful sneer for a face of sudden panic.

”You think I'm gonna let you-!” Melody's teapot smashed into the butcher's head, knocking it sideways. Dwayne's own head mimicked the motion, and his glasses nearly flew off to reveal eyes full of pain. ”Bully my little sister while she's working her magic? Bottoms Up, take it!” The stem of the nightmarish teapot split widened, showing itself to be a lamprey-like maw. Vinnie heard a sucking sound, and from Dwayne's skin all over his body a fine red mist flew out and into the teapot. Dwayne nearly toppled on the spot, just barely keeping his balance. ”Feeling woozy?” Melody taunted. ”That's a lot of blood I got. Now the only thing you're stronger than is a termite.” She sauntered over to him, her hands on her hips, delighting in his baleful expression. ”Time to say 'goodbye'...ugh!”

Crying out in alarm, Melody slumped down and fell into a sitting position. Behind her, the spirit called Lynyrd Skynyrd looked down at her quizzically. Around its fingers were strips of blue peelings. Dwayne chuckled darkly. ”I hate it when people get cocky...I'll deal with you in a minute.” He turned around just in time to see Harmony barreling toward him with fists raised. She threw a series of wild slugs at him, but the arms of his Stand materialized around him to fend off each one. ”What! Did you! Do!”

In response, Dwayne threw his hand out, grabbing onto Harmony's face and pushing her away. Surprised, she stumbled backward, barely keeping her feet. ”Simple,” her attacker told her, his words slightly muddled due to the loss of blood. ”I skinned her of her sense of balance. She's really disoriented. Man, casting a spell on Wyatt makes me mad. What am I gonna do with you...?” An idea dawned on him. ”Oh, oh! Those are good. Skynyrd, skin her bowel control away.”

Harmony's eyes widened. ”You wouldn't...!”

Lynyrd Skynyrd lunged forward and swiped at her with its arm. Its razorlike fingers passed straight through her head without harming her, though when they exited, they carried a peeling with them. Instantly Harmony shrieked, her face flushed with rage and shame. A foul smell wafted on the breeze, and Vinnie blanched. Had that really just happened? Streaming tears and curses, the woman bolted back toward the building from which she came and disappeared inside.

Another chuckle came from Dwayne as he turned back to Melody, who appeared very dazed. ”There's nothing quite like taking something beautiful and vain, and ruining it. I thought of something for you, too. Skynyrd, it's go time!” Obligingly, the Stand swiped at the sitting woman, removing a long yellow peeling from her. Instantly she began to change. Her corset bulged before popping, and out spilled a fat gut that grew larger by the second. It surged over her hips, turning into massive love handles and a doughy paunch that hung down over the front of her pants. Roll after roll piled up on her sides. Meanwhile, her legs grew thicker and thicker until the cloth of her pants began to pull apart. Her rear grew exponentially, and her already impressive bust doubled in size. Extra chins formed beneath her first, and while her face grew round her arms turned sausage-like. In a span of seconds, she'd gone from slender to massively obese—over 400 pounds. Vinnie looked in fear and disgust at the man who'd caused this, who now laughed madly. ”Ahahahaa...the perfect beauty turned perfect whale!” Melody, meanwhile, seemed to be in shock.

Wiping away a tear, he turned to look back at Wyatt, who'd nearly drained the glass of champagne. ”Looks like he's still under. Should have gotten rid of your sister when I had the chance.” He strolled back to his companion. ”Hey! If you can hear me, I'm gonna break that glass.”

Surprise came over him when Wyatt, who he did not expect to be able to answer, said, ”Intense...”

Vinnie didn't understand. Had he misheard? Maybe Wyatt, who definitely seemed to be in some sort of trance, was merely describing the drink. However, Dwayne had frozen as well. After a few seconds, he held up his hand, and Vinnie was shocked to see that his flesh appeared to be bubbling. Dwayne cried it in pain as steam rose from his pores. In seconds the steam turned to jets of red flame, and from the screaming man's eyes, mouth and ears a brilliant, harsh light shone. Then, to Vinnie's horror, he exploded in a ball of fire. In one extravagant flash the man was gone. And all the time, Wyatt looked on with a smile on his face.

Seeing that, Vinnie decided definitely that he couldn't take it anymore. He didn't understand anything about what was happening other than that he was afraid—deathly afraid. Turning tail, he began to run, only to smack right into an invisible wall. The impact sent him backward, and he fell against a garbage can, knocking it over. When he turned around, he found Wyatt looking right at him. Fear rendered Vinnie totally frozen until Wyatt moved his hand to take another drink.

In that moment Vinnie's adrenaline kicked in. Without a second thought he ran, rounding the corner and sprinting into the open door of a closed drycleaner's. This route meant getting closer to Wyatt, but he did it anyway, and was relieved to discover he could get inside with no issue. However, his hope died when he smacked into the invisible barrier yet again only a handful of feet inside the building. Terrified out of his wits, he turned around just in time to hear the man say, ”Floral..”

A tingling sensation ran all over Vinnie's body. The skin on his arms began to itch, and in blind panic he tore open his sleeve. His veins had transformed partially into vines, becoming thick and green. He watched as a flowerbud sprouted from the vein and felt it sucking the vitality from his body. More flowers were appearing—on his limbs, on his body, on his face. Even his vision was turning green, and he sputtered, strangled. Through clouded eyes he watched Wyatt approach the building, only to pause suddenly. Behind the door a being had manifested, one even scarier than he. A conflicted expression came over him; the cup compelled him to go forward, but this new presence compelled him to go back. After a very long, very painful second, Wyatt stepped forward, and the wheezing Back Door Man screamed.

…

When Vinnie woke up, he found no trace of plant matter on him, or of the spirit glass that brought on this awfulness. He was sprawled over a defunct washing machine, and Wyatt was on the ground in front of the building, unconscious. Blearily he beheld the Back Door Man, and as his vision cleared he watched it bow to him before vanishing. “Ohhhhh....” Vinnie moaned, closing his eyes as if to shut out the images. “What the hell...what the hell...”

Let Them Sing

Kijo Kokorensin

@Lugubrious

No small amount of dread resided within the engorged body of Melody. To her, this defeat, though inglorious, was only the beginning of her suffering. Threats and promises swirled through her head, and a chill coursed through her veins. Of all the Stand Users whose arrival she feared, though, Kijo wasn't one of them. She did not at all recognize the woman in white who appeared on the desolate sidestreet, but the instant Kijo's companion followed behind, Melody sank even deeper into despair. The floating, spotless form of the Outsider made her bare flesh shiver in muted terror. In this state, she could not defend herself, and only an idiot or a truly powerful Stand User would walk around with their Stands out. Was this newcomer part of the group of Wyatt and Dwayne, come as backup to finish what they'd started? Melody couldn't be sure, particularly since she heard some time ago that her opponents' team was pretty much all male, just as hers was almost entirely female, but Kijo and the Outsider made for a supremely threatening visage. Crushed by embarrassment and fear, Melody couldn't form a single word as Kijo stared at her. Then came a question that confounded Melody's expectations: you look like you are in a rut, anyway I could help?

Could it be that this woman -no, this Stand User- not only held no animosity toward her, but knew nothing about the circumstances only recently transpired. Melody was dumbstruck. She knew her fair share of fake smiles, but this newcomer's didn't strike her at all as disingenuous. ”Uh...” she was surprised to hear how much huskier her voice sounded, no doubt thanks to her new physique. Wryly she realized that her confidence had effectively been shattered by this sudden change. ”Um...just, give me a moment here.”

Obligingly, Kijo moved toward the laundromat. After stepping over the man in front of the place, whose sunglasses were now pretty mangled, she approached Vinnie, who'd been half-conscious and watching her approach. What he thought had been a dream, or a hallucination resulting from stress, resolved itself to be the very woman he saw about an hour earlier near the Golden Peking. Startled, Vinnie lifted his head up. “It's you!” The next second he realized how strange that must sound. “I mean, you're the person I saw by that restaurant no long ago. And that...” He stared, wide-eyed, at the Outsider. “That's the spirit I saw! The whole reason I left work today to try and find some answers. I...whoa. It's pretty intimidating, I guess, but not as scary as my spirit. And yours isn't hostile? What the hell...” Shakily he rose to his feet. Behind Kijo, a noise announced that Wyatt had come to as well. ”What...oh, God. God, I killed Dwayne...no, no” Frowning deeply, Vinnie watched him hold his head in his hands. The burnt spot on the sidewalk caught his eye, and Vinnie realized that he was shaking, as well. At the same time, though, adrenaline set his nerves on fire; maybe that was all that was keeping him standing. After glancing at Kijo and the Outsider, Vinnie skirted around them toward Wyatt. “Hey...” He offered a hand. “It's not your fault, alright? Whatever that other woman did to you with that glass made it happen. It wasn't you.”

”How can you say that?” Tears were streaming from Wyatt's eyes. They seemed highly uncharacteristic for such an ordinary-looking man. ”I can remember the whole thing! Whatever was in that cup was really good...and when that awful stuff started happening to Dwayne -and you, I guess- I...I think I actually enjoyed it. But now...God, I'm so sorry. Dwayne wasn't a great guy, but we were still friends, and I'd never want to...to kill him.”

Still, he accepted Vinnie's hand and the besuited man pulled him to his feet. After straightening his brutalized sunglasses, Wyatt spotted Melody, and treated her to a wrathful glare. ”You! It's because of your sister that happened. I get our teams aren't exactly playing nice, but I'm not about to forgive you!” His eyes moved toward the fallen warhammer on the ground, but when they glanced back at Melody, he noticed something else. ”Why are you crying?”

Melody sobbed, causing her entire flabby body to jiggle despondently. ”Isn't it obvious, idiot? Your friend made me into this f***ing butterball, but at least I won't have it for long, because I'm dead. My boss doesn't tolerate failure like this. I already failed once, making my sister hate me, and this was supposed to be my redemption. If the boss doesn't get me, Harmony will.” She shook again, wiping tears from her eyes.

Shaking his head, Vinnie closed the distance between himself and her, taking off his suit jacket as he did so. He moved around the sitting woman and held it up. At first Melody didn't know what to make of it, but after a few moments she shrugged and held her arms out, accepting his help. One after another she put her arms into the sleeves, tearing them as she did, and with a very discerning hand Vinnie helped pull the jacket around her front, stretching the cloth. The proximity made both her and Vinnie blush, but with a manner of professionalism he ignored it. In the end one button was done, the one right beneath the chest and above the belly, and he laboriously helped Melody to her feet. A handful of seconds passed before Melody got used to her new center of gravity. On her, the singly-buttoned suit jacket looked hilarious, but it was better than nothing, and she clearly appreciated the gesture. ”...Thanks, I guess. Who are you?”

Looking around at everyone in turn, her helper replied, “My name is Vinnie Pantera. A few years ago I found out that I was being haunted by a spirit.” He decided to go ahead and explain. “It would terrorize people that threatened me, but it scared me, too. This morning I saw that woman's spirit,” he said as he gestured toward Kijo, “And I thought I might be able to learn something. I never expected any of this. It honestly boggles my mind. There are no words.”

The sound of a siren cut him off. Melody flinched before saying, “How about 'run'? Someone must have heard the explosion and called the cops. Look, I don't know any of you.” She glared balefully at Wyatt. “And you're basically my nemesis, glasses man. But none of us can stick around. The police are gonna be here any minute, and as far as I'm concerned, my team is an even bigger threat. I'm surprised the boss hasn't sent someone else out to kill us already.”

”Well, don't be.”

Wyatt, Melody, and Vinnie spun at the same time to face the source of the voice. A blonde woman with a drink in hand and a pearly white smile and emerald-green eyes leaned casually against a streetlight. She gave a short giggle. ”Ahaha, wasn't that perfect timing?

A scowl settled on the face of the only Stand User present that recognized her. ”Abbey Road. Of course.”

The seconds ticked by before Abbey took a sip from her drink with her eyes closed. She took her time before responding. ”You really shouldn't try and look cool, Mel. It doesn't suit a bloated sack of blubber like you. Why, a couple more pounds and your gut would be touching your knees! Anyway, you probably know why I'm here.”

Though Melody quivered with anger, Vinnie didn't dare move. He didn't feel like fighting at all; plus, he really didn't have any idea how to control his spirit. Very much he wished that Kijo would have had time to explain before this happened. The hairs on the back of his neck bristled in response to a pressure radiating from this Abbey Road. Every aspect of her appearance and manner suggested complete confidence and capability. If these spirits could have any kind of power, which seemed to be the case by what he'd seen alone, he shuddered to think that this woman might be able to do. He glanced at Kijo. “Psst...what do we do? Run for it?”

Milo announced his surprise at the two's failure openly, somewhere between a gasp and a growl escaping from his mouth. On one hand, Milo was disappointed in Nick, who was unable to harm the punk even with Pink running in as a distraction. Even if Nick knew nothing of Stands, it was still a prime opportunity wasted. On the other hand, the punk, as unruly as he was, had a good stand. It was much faster than the tiki stand. It also seemed immune to the UV lightning, it fizzling out upon contact through the bat.

Milo stood, on guard, ready to incapacitate the enemy stand user if needed. But the man began talking to Nick, and Milo was fairly interested in why someone would stop mid-battle to talk to their opponent. Apparently, the man wanted to talk to Nick from the beginning just like Milo. Nick seemed to finally get the concept of Stands too, and his was named Ripple.

The most important thing, though, was that this prick called Milo a prick, and was trying to get a date with Nick before him. That was inexcusable, unfathomable. He must not have been aware of Milo's reservation, and his heritage. Nick seemed to side with Milo for once, or at least not actively disagree with him, instead insisting that both he and Pink were free men, able to do what they chose. Milo echoed the sentiment.

"Exactly, you don't control me, prick." Milo restated, a particular kind of anger and venom on his tongue. "Besides, I seeked out the Kaiser first, and if you don't want to become a corpse, I suggest you wait your turn. Punk."

With that, the vampire child removed one of his gloves and stuck it in his pocket, luckily still just barely covered by both his sleeve and his hat together. If this fight was to happen, Milo needed to think of a plan on how to get back into the shady warehouse. If he couldn't, he would be suverely limited in both position and attacks, unless the Kaiser or the (now green) Pink felt like assisting. Pink seemed in no fighting condition, either the stand affecting his disposition like it did the trash or the pain messing with his brain. Nick probably wouldn't help either, with his hatred of the undead. But this dick had to pay for messing with THE Milo Ferreira!

During the few seconds that passed following Vinnie's question before it received an answer, the jacket-deprived man briefly wondered whether or not she would say anything. After all, he'd been the only one talking during this alleged interaction even after she approached him, and despite his attempts to lift the spirits of the obviously woebegone Stand Users Wyatt and Melody, she didn't react much to them, either. Only a mere moment later, though, Kijo dashed this worry of his, telling him and the others to leave. Evidently she would take care of it. Did she not feel the ominous pressure emanating from the woman Melody called Abbey? Apparently she knew her former compatriot, and Vinnie was by now acutely aware of the consequences of not understanding how one of these spirits worked. Plus, Vinnie didn't necessarily think that Wyatt and Melody cooperating might work out, and even then, he had so many questions he wanted to ask her. Still, if she felt like she could take this opponent on, Vinnie would leave her to it. “Fine,” he told her. After glancing at the others, he added on, “When you're done, meet back at the Golden Peking. Follow me, guys?” Seeing no better alternative, Melody shrugged and fell into line behind him, while Wyatt decided on a whim to stick with this group for now.

As the trio fled, Abbey pushed off from the streetlight and knelt, gingerly placing her glass on the ground. ”I think I'll stick around. If the boss wants me to take out the trash, the trash gets taken out. Who knows if the police are even coming for us? We occupy this street because nobody ever comes here. That's why it's called Holloway Boulevard.” The idle chitchat filled time while she scrutinized Kijo with eyes like shards of jade. Kijo's brand of self-assuredness, Abbey concluded, wasn't the ego of the professional athlete, but of the high school jock thinking that all his time spent training meant he couldn't possibly lose. In a word, it was 'overconfidence'. When she first became a Stand User, Abbey learned very quickly that one should never, ever get cocky in this business.

The little trick with the scythe intrigued her intensely. ”What was that just now? Was it a boast? I sincerely hope that turning your stand into a weapon isn't all it can do. With a lot of Stands, the instant you understand them is the instant you beat them. That's basic, basic stuff, hun.” A hand snaked up and began to tug on her hair. ”Still, rules are meant to be broken. So, why are we fighting? A Stand-using girl like you could make it big in the team I'm a part of. It's called Bad Romance, and we're all about getting rich and famous. If you're not into crime, we've got a whole division in Stand-assisted legitimate business. Think it over, will you?”

A look at Kijo's eyes, however, caused her to sigh. She put one hand on her hip, giving a wry smile. ”But I can tell you're the big hero type, somehow. You know how much self-righteousness is worth nowadays, hun? Not a whole lot. It might even get you killed.” A split second's lingering on that word gave it an ominous tinge. A beat later Abbey continued. ”For instance, that waddling whale you're standing up for? She's an assassin. I'm a little bit of a leg-breaker, I admit, but it's actually her and her sister's jobs to kill people. You know how she does it? Her Stand can appear as any kind of cup, and the instant someone grabs it, it sticks permanently to their skin. Then it drains fluids from their body -any fluids- and fills itself with them. The real kicker is that the stuff in the cup is the only drink that will satiate the poor sucker's thirst. Most people will off themselves before they live the rest of their lives like that, and those that try anyway usually die of poisoning or something. Blech!” Abbey blanched. ”Point is, you're super misguided. You'd be way better off working with us. That said, d'you still wanna fight?”

'Ho-ho-hoooo,' the punk laughed with a smirk, pushing past Nick to move toward Milo, 'pale-ale over there's got a mouth on him! Well, not a mouth really, more like a lil' tame beak. Not good with words and all, yeah?'

'Er, what was that about talking to me?' Nick pointed out, to which the punk merely waved his hand lazily. 'Yeah, yeah, I'll get back to you. The old man over there seems to be having fun, go chat with him for a bit. I have to deal with the shitstain first.' At this, Nick made as though to point out that the "shitstain" was an abomination against life itself, but paused. On the one hand, he didn't exactly want to let an easily-avoided fight go down just like that, and on the other hand, he had no reason to want either of them alive, never mind stopping them from killing each other. One was a freak: a creature with superhuman abilities the likes of which mankind did not deserve to be subjected to, that the vast majority of people would not, could not, ever know existed for fear of how they'd overreact...

Okay, well, that applied to both of them, but the point stood. For once, it was better if Nick stepped back and let things play out. Whistling with hands in pockets, he sidled over to the green-skinned man, who aside from a fit of coughing seemed... rather pleased. He wondered if that had anything to do with being rather badly injured by an invisible ghost of some sort.

'So... sir,' Nick started somewhat awkwardly, 'you seem to be slightly injured. I'll just go ahead and help fix that, and maybe you can talk to me about what brings you here, the sort of thing you do for a living and all that.' Nick had no illusions about being able to cure whatever that green stuff was with the Ripple, but physical injury was well within his means: placing both hands on the man's chest, he began to breathe steadily, sending the energy through the man's body to knit together flesh and bone. He wondered, as he glanced back at the soon-to-be melee, which out of the punk and the vampire would die first.

---

'Well, now, you short fuckin' bitch,' the punk lambasted whilst licking his teeth, 'sounds like you've got some beef. Or maybe not, I dunno, maybe you had some awful accident and cut off your junk as a kid. Heh. Wouldn't surprise me, if you're tryin' to make up for that with yer personality.' Leeroy spat to one side, 「Courtesy Call」 coming forth once again and punching one fist into the other hand a few times before cracking its knuckles. 'But that's beside the point. My need to chat with Nicky over there is based on a more important discussion than yours, whatever it is, and if you're gonna fight to get a spot, you're gonna end up pretty sore. Nah, I'm lyin'... you're gonna end up a lot sore.' Inexplicably, Jenkins' tone had gone from semi-jovial to deadly serious in a heartbeat halfway through his previous sentence; his grin had been replaced with a rather grim expression. 'Now, I don't know if you can see my 「Courtesy Call」, but even if you can, the fact you haven't shown your Stand off yet kind of says it's not very good in combat. Like your dick in bed, heh... 'hem. So, either you jog on out of here, or I hurt you, real bad. What's it gonna be, shithead?'

@Gentlemanvaultboy@Kafka Komedy

Rodger heaved in air as the good boy placed his hands on his chest and quite literally breathed some life back into him. "Whoooo, that feels better." He said, laughing. The man went on, a blissfully proud smile on his face that would be out of place on a drunkard."I'm Rodger, local handyman. You've been round Pine Street. You know that weird one where everyone sets their electronics outside everyday? You guys chased off that hood that was stalking Amy Puller. I live there. That was really cool of you. Anyway, I was on my way home and that dude," he said, pointing a finger at the punk, "Set a man on fire, so I was going to give him a talking too seeing as I'm the only guy that can see how he did it. He's got this awesome thing called a Stand, it gives you special powers and you can use it to punch stuff. Only people that have them can see them. They're pretty cool dudes, check this out!"

Vitalogys arm snaked its way up around Rodger's shoulder and set its stony fist down on the Kaiser Chiefs head, where it began ruffling his hair like a grandparent. "That's my buddy Vitalogy doing that. Cool, right? You know he can do what you just did, but he needs these to pull it off?" Rodger reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small, half empty packet of white flower seeds. "You ever got anything you need fixed just come find me and I'll fix it up pro-bono. Least I could do for you boys."