your humble benefactor.

And so it was with this he found himself in these upper levels--it was a simple matter of getting on the good side of the locals. Mill around, look natural, gain intel, work accordingly. 

He’d just gotten done chatting with a worker at a laboratory seeing him out as he saw a familiar face pass around--not one from his own world, but one from here.

“Greetings! I didn’t expect to see you here; we met while the city was still...under construction, did we not?” he hailed to the man once he waved the scientist off, still as cordial as ever. “I never got a chance to thank you, I believe.”

@dalvics liked for a starter.

The presence of other… “supernatural” beings had surprised DIO at first, but it was truly nothing different from the world he had inhabited previously. Perhaps there were more ‘unique’ kinds of spirits and monsters, but certainly nothing that warranted his praise or attention. 

Once he had regained his strength, he would be able to best any of them. For now, it was best to play his cards from the shadows━ to gain strength in connections and through allies. Anybody amenable to his will would be of use, regardless of strength… but he did, naturally, seek those of more potential. 

This man before him carried himself in a way like no other. No other than himself, of course.  His stride was that of confidence and charisma━ a person who knew of their greatest strengths, and had few weaknesses. He would make for an excellent start to his circle. 

“ You there, stop for a moment. I can tell you are a person of great worth and power.  Allow me to make your acquaintance. ”

A direct approach was rather unlike him, but it was ultimately necessary. The only thing that remained was for this to bear its fruits. 

The man who stopped to get his attention was definitely someone he would’ve expected to use such an approach--he was tall, built, and certainly had a certain, ah...menacing to his posture. This man was a total stranger, but he was already someone he wanted to take seriously. He’d treat many of these sorts with a degree of caution anyway, but he’d need to even more so.

That wouldn’t be hard, the other man was already buttering him up. Ah, how long it’d been since he’d heard his praises sung since entering this city! But he mustn’t let his pride get to him, ghost or no ghost he didn’t want to underestimate this man.

Alas, his housing situation was rife with teenagers and he refused to enable any hijinks teenagers were known for when they got into booze. 

It was with this discussion and eavesdropping onto it that he was painfully aware that he couldn’t get out of here and he had no idea where she was.

cherries. just cherries.

he had seen a few refugees safe to the pillar of light – a place of safety, as he and many others had rightfully guessed. though having attained sanctuary himself, he found that he was… unwilling to remain, not while the multitudes of tiny battles raged around them. not while he could perhaps yet be of some aid.

so it was that he found himself once more beyond that boundary, canvassing rubble and ruin for survivors unable upon their own strength to find sanctuary.

survivors quite like the one he happened upon, who withdrew from him out of fear and weakness. even had he been of a mind to interrogate the intentions of such a clearly helpless person, he would not have thought such a reaction out of the realm of the believable.

“i assure you i’ve no intention of such,” he said instead, raising his hands in a peaceable gesture. “are you hurt? i would escort you to safety.”

Ah, so it was one of those goody-goody hero types. He lifted his gaze upward, allowing himself to show relief. (After all, it could’ve been someone willing to pick a fight, and while he was adept, he certainly wasn’t in the condition right now) Damn, the guy really did look knightly, if his skin didn’t rest clearly in the range feasible for a human he would’ve mistook him for a ghost he fit the image so securely. There was an excellent craftsmanship to his threads too; one that didn’t seem to fit what he knew of renaissance fairs or anime conventions; more something of film costume, of the ghosts who actually lived through the age such fashion came from.

Still, the only sorts he knew that dressed like this were ghosts themselves. It was best to tread appropriately; this man would have the upper hand if he was unable to shift. Vlad got onto his feet, dusting the legs and back off his suit. It’d already been a rough trip up, and this suit had seen better days. He’d have to buy another one when he got out of this mess. It was probably for the best though; a suit this roughed up wouldn’t arise suspicion.

He certainly was out here and facing the worst of the environment, wasn’t he?

“Good, good, there’s so many monsters running amok I was quite certain there’d be people out here taking advantage of the chaos,” He let out a small chuckle. “It’d be best for me to stick by someone, you’d be happy to oblige, yes?” 

He hung on his words a bit, he didn’t really know how to twist his condition; obviously he should milk the defenseless image, but there was only so much his ego could handle, really. Besides, he wasn’t a useful ally in this state anyway.

>manually rich from their own universe

“My good man, if I knew what the hell these things were, do you truly believe I would be wasting my damn time with this riffraff?”

Gods above. This day ha begun bad, turned sour, and had now reached completely and utterly detestable. It wasn’t like these things were hard to fight off; they were actually of middling strength. But their strength came from their numbers, and even though his trusty old weapon was at his side, it was more meant for something a little more precise than a brawl like this.

“Well, are you just going to stand there doing noth–”

He narrowed his eyes when the other man vanished and reappeared. Had that been a warp? But no, a warp, even a weak one, would have left some sort of afterimage or magical residue. This hadn’t been anything like that, so the possibility that this was one distant relative he did not remember was already out of the picture. This place was certainly odd. But Ardyn only shook his head.

“I suppose you can grow roots here.” With that, he rushed forwards, a strike sending several of these creatures flying. “Because as fun as this might grow to be, I’m not quite trying to die here. So keep up, or get lost.”

He dashed down the street with that.

Well, this guy certainly knew what he was doing. He’d follow him anyway as it wasn’t in his nature to just storm off on a stranger after all--but the conviction behind it was curious. Vlad took the guy to be some sort of street rat with his attire, or at least some savant that fancied himself good with a scythe.

But there wasn’t the sort of bravado he could usually sense out of someone pulling off an act to be edgy. And, also, not a full-blooded ghost. “My apologies, I’m new here--and sadly I am here without a paddle, as it seems.” He quickly skirted out of the way of a monster that careened into his pathway, not even bothering to move his arms. “You’re in the same boat as I am, though, hm?”

He had no good reason to make this man accept his company without showing his hand. He was here without technology, and while he as far as he could tell had his funds still money meant nothing in these apocalyptic blazes. Unfortunate. He’d have to show his wits, maybe...

Vlad couldn’t really finish that thought,a chill ran up his spine and he whipped his head around to see something familiar and green floating behind him; it didn’t look hostile QUITE yet but it was also very much lurking.

I have been putting this off admittedly, oops! Anyway here’s a plotter call; go ahead and like and/or reply to this with a number, and crawl into my ims or i crawl into yours to yell out ideas into the void. (It may take a while if you don’t im me first just because i only have two brain cells) priority will be taken to people who have numbers at the ready because again, i only have two brain cells. for if you think this’d help any check out the places of interest post thingy

1.friendship: true cameraderie with Vlad is very hard to come by, however I wouldn’t consider it impossible if things line up properly. But do know if he’s being cordial, he’s probably got ulterior motives, either to make himself look good, or to maintain a social contract that may be beneficial to him in the end. He does sort of feel himself above others because of his powers.

2.Allies/frenemies: this is MUCH more likely; if you think your muse and mine are both gonna be on good terms but not necessarily close, or maybe being literal partners in crime, then hey, this is what you want! If you have resources that might prove useful he’ll try to stay on your good side. 

3.mentorship: teens may get on his nerves a lot but he is willing to take younger people under his wing if they have supernatural powers, tech knowhow or buisness savvy they want to further their skills in. (standard combat training not so much, as most of his fighting is very dependent on his powers) Do not expect him to be your new dad, or even a GOOD replacement dad, in the end he still uses people. But if that doesn’t deter you or your gremlin is equally devilish, then hey! 

4.enemies: its simultaneously easy and hard to be his enemy; repeatedly stand in his way and he’ll become more and more disdainful of you but at the same time, he’ll likely still be two-timing you if there’s something he can gain from it yet. Also if you’re supportive of the church in Archimedes ward and those who’d potentially try and usurp his wealth your on his shit-list too.

5.ghost hunters and paranormal researchers: this goes in tandem with #2 kind of; over the course of his canon he’s employed many ghost hunters, human and ghost alike, to track down Danny specifically. Though he doesn’t really know Danny’s here yet, but having that network is extremely helpful for him, you know. And well, if he does find out, he might feel compelled to set the plans he had in motion in his world back into motion. Not to mention he’s educated in this field as well, and being around others in his discipline is nice, to the extent that Vlad can enjoy things.

6. Romance: you sure about that buddy?? Anyone who’s not Maddie Fenton don’t interact. Or maybe you do want to for some odd reason; you do you. He likely won’t mooch off anyone that does make moves--he’s easily deceived himself in these matters. If you want your muse to get betrayed though that’s also a possibility too, it honestly depends on where he goes. And hell if you wanna sike him like Maddie manages to do half the time frankly, it’s what he deserves.

where is the v-man anyway? time to find out. He likely has a whole bunch of assets in dust yet, absolutely loaded mfer, and will still be behaving accordingly. 

In general if there’s paranormal activity he may find his way to an area somehow through word of mouth, as this is what he’s spent much of his life studying. And besides, making alliances with ghosts may prove handy if he can find some others...

FIBONACCI: he’s absolutely gonna be milling about the upper levels, though he may end up in the mid-levels due to interest in the illegal markets and whatnot. Despite rich people being rich people stuff, he’s likely going to be interested in the technology even if he’s only used to engineering things for paranormal research purposes. 

COTES: the supernatural stuff may be of interest to him and as a result he might be found here on occasion? it’s possible.

GOLDEN: There’s a chance he might do a bit of his clothes shopping here if he’s not doing it in archimedes or fibonacci already. The crimson lane’s underground seems to be of particular interest, and he might be seen frequenting venues there though not really doing much...or so it would seem to the outsider.