JJBA: The Chain

07 - Death Cab, Part 1

It was a quarter till noon, and the sky was filled with dark clouds, as if a pool of water were going to flood the streets at any minute. Said streets were in the process of being fixed, with several signs and special vehicles surrounding the area. A familiar face was back at scribbling in his notepad. in the center of the mess; the café table he had grown used to relaxing at.

This time, Quest wouldn't be taking notes of the outfits of strangers, mainly due to the lack of anyone within a hundred yard radius. Instead, he was poorly doodling whatever he could think of, which seemed to be cats and flowers.

The pen glided on the page peacefully, eventually drawing a cat with a rather joyful expression. Its eyes were closed, and it was giving a wide grin to its creator. He stared at it after drawing its face. Its emotion caused him to give it a shy smile back - though he would quickly shift back to a bland expression.

He might've been alone, but he still didn't want to risk having a stranger ask what he's happy about. Such interactions would be strangely tiring to the man, even if the ones asking those things were his closer buddies.

A sigh escaped him before he returned to the cartoon on the page. He was bored, and he couldn't find Ellas anywhere. The clothing store was also closed until further notice, so he couldn't even wander around in a comfortably familiar area aside from the one surrounding him.

'...Hm.' He pulled himself away from the page, glancing at it from a different angle. Something about this cat gave him an odd feeling, but a nice one regardless. He suddenly felt goosebumps as he gained an idea. '...Flowers... cats...'

He flipped over the page of scribbles and started writing at a powerful speed. 'Feline outfit? Floral... outfit? I can make it work... I think...' His hand was faster than his thoughts, and the notepad couldn't hold itself in place. 'S-Something like... ah, what was that one brand with-'

He shrieked and was thrown back at a blaring noise nearly deafening him. It was a horrible, ruined alarm sound coming from the clock tower near the café. It was now noon, and he then felt adrenaline throughout his entire body. He had something to do.

He closed the notebook and took it with him as he hurried towards a nearby telephone booth. He felt slight panic trying to remember the number he suddenly needed to call, and would slowly punch it all in before shakily raising the phone up to his face.

The phone was almost instantly picked up on the other side. "...Hello?" A tired voice muttered from it. Quest sighed. He recognized the voice, though it wasn't the one he intended to speak to. "...Hello?!" The voice spoke louder, seeming frustrated at the several moments of silence.

"Manny." He finally responded. "I need to talk to dad, get him on the line." He said. The other would make an obvious growling noise. "...'Course." He mumbled before a quiet shout was heard from the phone.

Quest waited for a full minute. As he waited, he turned to look at the area surrounding him. The sky above the chaotic scenery was still dark, and he even heard a distant sound of thunder from the west. He quickly grew impatient at the noise. 'I don't want any--'

"He's not home." The voice stated. "Why'd you call? I can leave a note..." These words would only make him mad. He swiped his hair out of his face and closed his eyes. "There's a Joestar wannabe over here, Manny, just tell him there's a potentially dangerous Speedwagon guy here."

The two remained silent for another few seconds as more thunder roared across the sky. "...Sure." The voice moaned. "More stand stuff. Of course." He heard static coming from the speaker. "You know, Q.T., it's weird how yours hasn't even–"