JJBA: Glass Heart

Chapter 9: Gel

"Hi!"

Pain washed over my eyes as I fought against the light of the morning. I wasn't nearly ready to wake up.

"...hello?"

Who was that?

I forced my eyes open, a humanoid figure looking down at me curiously.

"Hey, you're awake!"

I squeaked as I tumbled backwards. That was a Stand. I summoned my Stand in preparation for whatever it was going to do.

"Hey, calm down!" it berated, putting its four-fingered hands on its hips.

Its head was a large mushroom shape with two tentacle-like tendrils coming from the front. The small round head shape underneath all of that just had a small mouth— despite having no eyes, it didn't have any problems figuring out where I was. It was wearing a dark leotard underneath a small poncho-like clothing item that covered its shoulders. It had a dark blue color scheme and was a little over half my height.

"Marrone!" I hissed.

He was curled up near the tree he had been sitting under, still fast asleep.

"MARRONE!"

He twitched in his sleep, groggily wiping at his eyes.

I stumbled upwards, staring at the small Stand. It was hard to tell from its lack of facial features, but it looked annoyed.

My own Stand looked huge in comparison to the one in front of me; it didn't feel right to hurt it unless it struck first.

I let Glass Heart fade away as I caught my breath. I couldn't see a user around, but they might just be farther in the forest.

The Stand huffed, crossing its arms. "Okay, have you calmed down? Great, I—"

"AY! STAND!" Marrone yelled, bolting upright.

"Ugh," it groaned, standing straighter after a moment of frustration. "My name is Gel. And yeah, I'm a Stand."

Marrone looked just as confused as I was.

"Where's your user? What are you doing here?" I asked accusingly.

It giggled, its voice reminiscent of a bird's squawk. "Well, my host is too shy to introduce me, so I figured I would take the liberty of doing it myself." It waved a hand in front of its body as if presenting itself. "I can replicate materials using gel; pretty useful, huh?"

I was dumbfounded. Why was it telling us this?

"I just figured I would let you guys know in case he clams up like last night!" it shouted as it turned around towards our car.

Arin was staring out the window but quickly ducked back down as we made eye contact.

My jaw nearly dropped. "Y-you're Arin's Stand?!"

Gel looked up at me with a smug smile. "Exactly," it crossed its arms, leaning back. "Arin is a bit on the quiet side, so sometimes I have to step up. No biggie."

Never before had I seen a Stand so independent of its user. Unless this was some kind of out of character prank from Arin, Gel was like an entirely different person.

"What the hell is up with his Stand?" Marrone rose to his feet, fixing his beanie. "I've seen one other Stand like it, but that one wasn't nearly as independent as this one is."