{the pines | application}

[malignans]

PLAYER

NAME: Crystal
CONTACT: maledictions
OTHER CHARACTERS IN THE PINES: n/a

WARNING:

THIS APP CONTAINS MENTIONS OF CHILD ABUSE (PHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL), NEGLECT (PHYSICAL & EMOTIONAL), ALCOHOLISM, AND ANIMAL CRUELTY/DEATH!

CHARACTER

NAME: Dio Brando
CANON: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
CANON-POINT: Post-Stardust Crusaders ("Long Travels, Goodbye My Friend") though also drawing upon a later part (Stone Ocean) due to flashbacks involving Dio set during Stardust Crusaders.

DOSSIER

HISTORY: Wiki

WHAT ARE YOUR CHARACTER'S STRENGTHS?:

Dio is a dangerous combination of intellect and charm. Dio's intellect allows him to perceive what others need or want, and make accurate predictions as to what they will do in response to his potential words or actions. Although these points are elaborated upon in later sections, these tactics of Dio's serve the purposes of manipulation and self-preservation. The manipulation piece is fairly straight forward in that Dio has a goal in mind, and he will use people to reach that end goal. Therefore, it pays for him to paint himself in the mind of other people to be exactly what or who it is they're looking for, and make it seem like all their dreams are within reach if they follow his lead. The self-preservation piece is easier to understand in the context of his early childhood — Dio's father was an abusive alcoholic who neglected Dio's physical and emotional needs — but is perhaps a little harder to understand in the context of his adulthood. This will be elaborated further in the next section.

The bottom line is that Dio's skills are sharpened and honed in such a way that he has the best chance of survival. (This is so much true that it's commented that his Stand, metaphysical manifestation of his soul to be explained further in the appropriate section of this application, is the manifestation of that very same will and strength to survive.) That's why although ruthlessness and determination turned in such a self-serving direction is perhaps not a desirable quality to see in someone given the way it will most assuredly negatively impact everyone around him, it's still a strength of Dio's when considering what he gains from it. Dio is ultimately not willing to settle for anything less than he perceives himself deserving of, and he believes he deserves a lot. This results in him doing egregious and horrific things like killing his adoptive brother's dog, or turning himself into a vampire. While in the end he cannot hold onto those things given that he is an antagonist, the impact his actions have rippling down all the way to 2012 — well over 100 years since he came to the Joestar mansion at the age of twelve — speaks a lot about what he's capable of just from that alone.

WHAT ARE YOUR CHARACTER'S WEAKNESSES?:

As mentioned in the previous section, Dio's strong drive for self-preservation manifests itself differently in his adulthood. While as a child he was largely concerned with meeting his physical needs, he has less of an overt fixation on that. (I say "less overt" because there is still a subtle degree of that as mentioned in the next section.) As an adult, Dio is still trying to find ways to meet his emotional needs. The only thing he really knows is the acquisition of power. In the Victorian era as a child, he was interested in socioeconomic power as that was the way of things back then. However, once he became aware of the supernatural qualities of the stone mask, he immediately started seeking greater, supernatural powers. Thus, that is what he comes to covet as an adult.

The thing about using power to supplant meeting emotional needs elsewhere means that you never really learn how to get along and be connected to other people. This is especially true for Dio, as even with his most fanatical and devoted follower, he still cannot help but test his loyalty. While Pucci, aforementioned follower, was ultimately not offended by the test, that doesn't mean others might not have reacted otherwise to his accusation that they'll likely betray him one day. While Dio is not particularly perturbed at the notion of being alone at the top — in fact, it's his very desire to rule above all — it's unlikely attaining such a goal would bring him particular happiness. After all, his previous goal was merely to best Jonathan, and given that Jonathan is both dead and now serving as Dio's body from the neck down, he still wanted more. Therefore, while Dio's drive for power both fuels and acts as parts of his will to survive, it is also self-defeating in that it's likely impossible for Dio to ever truly be satisfied with obtaining even the most ultimate of power.

In addition to that self-defeating cycle, Dio's power-hungry way of being also puts him at a disadvantage because of his ego and entitlement. While both can serve him well — his ego is not entirely undeserved and he knows how to dial it down a few notches when he needs to gain someone's obedience and his entitlement is motivation enough for him to take — it's ultimately part one of two when it comes to his undoing. Dio does not suffer from hubris, though he is incredibly arrogant. Dio's problem is that he is not satisfied with merely defeating someone, he needs to hold superiority over them in some way. For example, Dio lost the fight to Jotaro the moment he became so intensely fixated on Jotaro potentially moving in stopped time, a place where Dio felt was his and his alone. If Dio simply ignored the twitch of fingers, Dio would have achieved his main goal of annihilating the Joestar bloodline right then and there.

The part two of Dio's undoing is his temper. As much as Dio might attempt to keep himself under careful control, he has very little control for his temper. Dio possesses little tolerance for things not going the way he planned or for personal slights that challenge his power (read: worth). In addition to being a quick temper, it's a blinding one as well. As Dio grows in his frustration and anger, he loses his ability to think tactically and becomes reactive rather than proactive. His temper can only really be settled back down when he feels that things have shifted back into his favor, usually through the destruction of whoever or whatever has triggered his temper. Anything less and Dio will burn everything and everyone in his path, including himself.

WHAT EVENTS OR CIRCUMSTANCES IN YOUR CHARACTER'S PAST HAVE IMPACTED THEM THE MOST?:

It is unknown definitively when Dio discarded genuine kindness in favor of ruthlessness, but it seems likely that the process at least began with the death of his mother. Her death was not only the loss of the only person Dio ever cared about at an incredibly young age, it also left him alone with his abusive, neglectful, and alcoholic father. Naturally, Dio resented his father for the abuse and neglect, but he also blamed him for the death of his mother and their squalor living conditions. This resentment ran so deep that even after Dio slowly poisoned his father to death, Dio hated any traits within himself that he recognized to be like his father (e.g. Dio's own relationship with alcohol). Likewise, Dio learned that only he could meet his most basic needs because of his father's vascillation between long periods of neglect and bouts of explosive physical and emotional abuse. Therefore, Dio took the streets and learned how to fend for himself by being patient with delayed gratification, wit, and cunning alongside other unsavory skills.

After murdering his father, Dio's life changed upon arriving at the Joestar mansion. Dio learned quickly to hide his upbringing of abuse and poverty in order to compete with his adoptive brother, Jonathan Joestar. Dio made Jonathan's life a living hell more often than not during their years together. He stole his friends, tried to steal/ruined Jonathan's relationship with his girl, killed his dog, and even tried to kill Jonathan's father. And those are just the things canon shows, but it's pretty heavily implied that Dio did everything he could to try and steal everything from Jonathan. In making Jonathan the thing to compare himself to, Dio came to elevate Jonathan almost as much as he denigrated him. And it is "thing" rather than "person" because a lot of Dio's initial beef with Jonathan really originated from simultaneously hating and coveting what Jonathan was rather than who he was. Who Jonathan was eventually earned Dio's (twisted) respect due to his tenacious bravery in standing up and fighting against (and nearly destroying) Dio even when all hope appears to be lost. Therefore, Dio felt that he was the only person who had the right to kill Jonathan and that Jonathan had the only body that was worthy of Dio taking to replace his old one when he, Dio, was a disembodied head. (There's also the fact that Jonathan still loved and respected Dio despite all of the hell Dio put him through, but Dio never acknowledges this, and it's likely if one attempted to confront him on it, he'd dismiss it as weak human sentimentality.) But this relationship still matters even one hundred years after Jonathan's death because in some ways, Dio still hasn't let their rivalry go. He still believes that unless he defeats and eradicates the whole Joestar bloodline, he has not achieved all that he possibly can.

After stealing Jonathan's body for himself, another major event for Dio was being trapped at the bottom of the ocean for a century. Although canon itself does not expand much upon Dio's experiences or its impact on him due to the fact Dio's relegated to a monster lurking in the shadows while our intrepid team of heroes go on their journey to hunt him down, it is not that much of a stretch to believe that Dio's imprisonment had an impact on him. It stands to reason that Dio was left starving and in essential sensory deprivation. Therefore, for moments of consciousness down there were likely painful and even a touch maddening given that he had only himself, his hunger, and his mind to keep him company in the coffin. And when it comes to suddenly being free from his watery prison to find himself in the 1980s, there is a combination of finally being able to sate his appetite, an overwhelming amount of sensory stimulation, and cultural shock. With regard to his appetite, canon shows that Dio drinks to excess in terms of the number of bodies. Prior to being at the bottom of the ocean, this change could have been due to his proclivity for hedonism, but he does not appear to be draining the bodies completely or gorging himself on blood. Rather, these bodies are kept around for a while longer after he's fed almost in a just in case manner. As for sensory stimulation, Dio keeps his mansion in Egypt dark and quiet even at night when he is awake, which is a direct contrast to his fairly well-lit castle prior to his imprisonment at the bottom of the ocean. Dio also continues to sleep in a coffin. These behaviors can be interpreted as responses to/reenactments of his experience at the bottom of the ocean.

Finally, it would be remiss not to mention Dio's time with Enrico Pucci, who was (at the time of their meeting) studying to become a priest. Although Dio was confident in his ability to best the Joestars and obtain ultimate power and control over the whole world, he wanted a fail-safe put in place in the event of his death. To do this, he needed someone that he could trust to do certain things in order to reset/recreate the universe. Unfortunately, Dio does not trust easily or at all, so this was a little bit of a seemingly impossible task for him. But given that it was necessary, he lured a vulnerable Pucci in closer than any of his other followers. It was at that point that Dio also managed to develop somewhat of a genuine connection with Pucci, to the point that he felt calmer around Pucci than when he was without. But given his paranoia and the importance of the task he was to leave Pucci with in the event of his death, he could not stop himself from testing Pucci's loyalty and devotion, and it was during such a test that Pucci told Dio that he loves him as he loves God, and that he could never do anything that would result in direct harm for Dio.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOUR CHARACTER?:

Much of what motivates Dio has been discussed at length in the previous sections, but just to serve as a recap: Dio's very much invested in power and self-preservation. If there is an opportunity for Dio to gain power (and/or superiority) over someone else, and/or there's a benefit to him, particularly in the form of continued survival, he's immediately invested. Therefore, he only helps others (superficially) when it is to his direct benefit.

Secondary to those motivations is Dio's drive for pleasure/hedonism. Dio spent much of his early life as a have-not, and he's acquired a taste for having. Therefore, he's certainly motivated by things that bring him pleasure be it something intellectual (e.g. books, philosophical conversations, etc.) or something a little more basic and primal (e.g. feeding, sex, etc.). Like most people, he also enjoys luxury, so material goods do have some place in there as well, but nowhere near as prioritized as the other two forms.

WHAT IMPRESSION DO OTHERS TEND TO HAVE OF YOUR CHARACTER?:

The first thing that people tend to notice about Dio right away is that he has a very appealing presence. Appealing can take on different meanings to different people (with regard to sexually vs. sensually), but most would immediately notice his inhuman level of beauty. His smile is frequently described as tranquil and kind, and people will feel at ease in his presence from that alone. Dio has a way of making people feel special and important, and like everything they have ever wanted for themselves is fully within their reach if they follow him. It leaves people craving his attention and approval, which in turn causes them to give into that desire to follow him.

However, Dio's first impression is not simply sunshine and roses. There is something alarming and frightening about Dio's ability to instill that much peace in someone's heart so quickly. Individuals who choose to follow Dio may do so out of fear of losing his aforementioned attention and approval, but others may follow him to stay alive because they know without a doubt that he will kill them for disobedience or incompetence. Others might have their head firmly on their shoulders (usually due to being warned about the sort of person that Dio is), and wisely flee before he can ensnare them any further. Whatever the case, people feel a mixture of pleasure/joy and fear when they meet Dio for the first time.

Other important aspects that Dio tries to project is aristocracy and control. The former manifests itself in his displays of knowledge, frequent philosophical debates, and his semi-formal ways of speaking. This gives people the impression of his vast intelligence that comes from both natural intelligence and exceptional formal education. Likewise, Dio also lives in decadence and luxury, so he is able to give the financial impression of aristocracy in the way he chooses to dress and accessorize, and what he displays preferences with regard to material goods. In terms of control, Dio appears to be in total control of any given situation/himself through his calm demeanor and the blatant confidence with which he speaks of himself and his plans.

IN WHAT WAYS DOES THAT IMPRESSION DIFFER FROM WHO YOUR CHARACTER REALLY IS?:

The truth of the matter is that Dio does not invest in nor completely trust anyone who is not himself. Dio views people as means to ends, and nothing else. For some, those ends are acting as buffer between himself and his enemies, or furthering his plans for his grabs for power, but their lives are no more meaningful to Dio than those who fulfill Dio's desires for sexual pleasure or sustenance. Part of this is due to Dio's arrogance (read: he somewhat buys into the cliché of "if you want something done right, do it yourself"), but some of it is also rooted in his paranoia and mistrust of others that was expanded upon earlier. Therefore, there is legitimately good reason(s) behind the fear that he inspires in others, and he will make good on the worst of their fears should they disappoint, betray, or otherwise anger him.

That being said, to some extent, there is a sliver of genuineness in the feelings that he can make anything happen. Dio's ego needs feeding, and the only way to be wanted is if he's capable of delivering on his promises. So, it is important to Dio that he is not just giving the illusion of capability, but that he actually possesses it. Therefore, if his followers could uphold their end of the deal, he can improve their lives on those fronts even if he needs to utilize mind control to gain their complete obedience.

With regard to his presentation as an aristocrat and in control, he is genuine as an aristocrat at this point. Dio is well-read and even after a century-long sleep at the bottom of the ocean, he adapted quickly to the culture/technology of the era he awoke in. He's also genuinely affluent and has legitimate preferences for hedonism. But there is also a savagery to Dio that lingers just beneath the surface. It's easier to see when his temper has been triggered as all of his strategies go out the window to make way for the singular desire to destroy/crush whatever has offended him. Which ties neatly into how Dio is quick to actually lose control over a situation and himself under the right circumstances, such as his temper being triggered. However, in the absence of that, he is often controlling every aspect of a social interaction because he is so quick to pick up on peoples' cues to determine their needs/desires, and then meet those in some capacity. Nearly every move Dio makes in a social interaction is carefully calculated from start to finish.

HOW DOES YOUR CHARACTER HANDLE CRISIS OR ADVERSITY?:

In a word? Poorly.

As mentioned before, Dio has a nasty temper. The second things start to not go his way, he becomes furious. As that anger escalates, he loses his ability to focus on predicting what the other person will do and takes a far less sophisticated approach by just simply trying to beat down or otherwise destroy his obstacles.

That being said, overall, Dio is actually quite resilient. This most obviously applies to physical resiliency given his snap decision to become a vampire and his continued survival from that point forward, but it also applies to his mental resiliency as well. While Dio certainly has his challenges as a result of his childhood and the century he spent at the bottom of the ocean, he still has the capacity to do all of the things that he does, and to quickly adapt to new environments, situations, and cultures. So, while he may succumb to his temper and lose sight of his plans in that way, he has the ability to keep his eyes forward enough to stay focused on his future rather than surrendering the very notion of a future to despair.

WHICH 5 THINGS WILL YOUR CHARACTER REMEMBER UPON ARRIVAL, AND WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THEM?:

→ Arriving at the Joestar mansion. This was the big game changer for Dio, hence why it's being selected. With his father no longer holding him back and no longer making his life a living hell, he was not just making his plans for stealing Jonathan's inheritance, he was already beginning to enact his plans to strip him of everything that might make his life enjoyable or even tolerable.

→ Becoming a vampire. In an act of desperation to avoid death (either while being arrested or wasting away in jail), Dio slaps the stone mask on and becomes a vampire. Dio's transition into a vampire wasn't filled with the usual angst or drama as it is for most. He immediately embraces what he's become and finds it a thrill/high like no other. This is when Dio's focus point on power shifted toward the supernatural. (And on a pragmatic level would honestly be helpful in making sure he doesn't, you know, walk into the sun not realizing that'll suck. Heh. Suck.)

→ Taking Jonathan's body. At this point, Dio has decided that Jonathan is so great that only Dio can kill him, and Jonathan's the only one special enough to serve as his new body. The important piece of this memory is this is supposed to be Dio's moment of triumph, and yet it rings hollow and a little bit confusing (because, sure, Jonathan didn't verbally articulate his feelings of kindness towards Dio, but he wasn't just holding on to him purely for the sake of holding his head still). Dio's rival is gone, and victory is hollow.

→ The World stops time for the first time. Just what it sounds like on the tin. This is the moment where Dio realized he truly had the capability to take the world for his own (especially if he does as Enyaba advised and continued to practice/extend the time in which he stopped time) as he thought that there were no possible equivalent Stands.

→ "I love you as I love God." Words spoken to Dio by Pucci after Dio challenged and tested his loyalty. Words that Dio does not understand fully and struggles to trust, but cannot doubt the sincerity of. Words that were likely the final push Dio needed to place his fate into Pucci's hands should the Joestars get the better of him despite his lack of comprehension.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE YOU FEEL WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER?:

Not necessarily about my character, but I do want to put a note that I leave a section on Dio's permissions with regard to his mind control abilities and time stopping abilities for folks to opt out. (The same goes with mentions of triggering material from his history.) Prior to using mind control or time stop, however, I always ask permission even if folks don't opt out given the OP nature of his abilities.

SKILLS, ABILITIES, & PHYSICAL WEAKNESSES:

Dio is a vampire. Exposure to the vampire toxin in Dio's blood will either create a zombie or other vampires based upon what he desires to create. This is accomplished regardless of species or if the creature in question is living. There is no limit on the age of the corpse in the case of the dead. Dio can also fuse different species together to create unnatural creatures. Dio is also able to hypnotize humans. When that's not enough, he uses what are known as flesh buds. Flesh buds implant vampire cells into a human brain to give him total control. If someone tries to remove the flesh bud and does not do so with the precision of a skilled neurosurgeon, it will kill the host immediately. If Dio dies before the removal of the flesh bud, it can have horrific effects on the host. Dio is also able to pressurize intraocular fluid and shoot this from his eyes strong enough to cut through stone in ability that's known as Space Ripper Stingy Eyes. (You have no idea how hard it is to type that with a straight face.)

In addition to these abilities, Dio also has enhanced senses, superhuman strength and agility, and regeneration. The latter makes Dio next to impossible to kill with the exception of exposure to sunlight or sunlight/life-based energies, such as hamon. Dio possesses a countermeasure to hamon, however. He has the ability to freeze his body and transfer that via touch. This prevents the transference of hamon from the hamon user's body to his own while also making the hamon user's body brittle/easy to break. For some reason, Dio's body does not appear to adopt the same brittleness even when frozen.

Finally, as being a vampire would suggest, Dio sleeps during the day to avoid the sun, and drinks blood to survive. Drinking blood also kicks his regeneration up a notch, allowing him to heal from injuries faster. Dio ingests blood through his fingers or orally.

Dio is also what's known as a Stand user. Stands can be thought of as metaphysical manifestations of someone's soul. Each Stand is therefore unique to its user in terms of both appearance and abilities. Normally it is a 1:1 ratio in terms of Stands to user, but because Dio stole Jonathan's body, he actually has two stands.

Dio's primary Stand is The World, and it possesses super strength, speed, and senses. The World has a 2m range in terms of its ability to do physical damage. It also has a Time Stop ability, whereupon everything and everyone freezes (because time is literally stopped) with the exception of Dio. This ability has a 10m range and can currently last for 9 seconds, but with more use, Dio will continue to extend this time. It's implied that due to being a vampire, he has the ability to extend it forever.

Dio's secondary Stand is Hermit Purple #2/The Passion aka Jonathan's Stand. It possesses semi-precognitive abilities and is able to produce psychic photographs or images in someone's heart. The former means that Dio is able to think of someone and produce a photograph of that person where they are currently regardless of distance, and the latter means he can produce an image of someone's desires.

INVENTORY:

→ One (1) disaster of an outfit
→ Three (3) knives (not on his person)

SAMPLES

PROSE-HEAVY: Speedwagon Has A No Good Very Bad Day
DIALOGUE-HEAVY: Ask a simple question, get a pretentious answer.