[Giorno's reaction isn't unexpected. Circumstances and what Dio assumed was his mother's decision to put as much physical distance between herself and Dio while she was pregnant never afforded Dio the opportunity to prove much of anything to Giorno as far as his competency as a father. And now here he, Dio, is, trying to not only fill the void, but also smooth over the cracks left behind by other men. It's somewhat of an impossible task, if one were to define it. Giorno is anticipating Dio to fail, to walk in the same steps as the other man, as the human refuse that begat Dio.]
[In some ways, that pricks at Dio's irritation even more. He's never been one to tolerate doubt well, but he's always had a method to removing all doubt in another. That's not the case with Giorno. The boy is too clever and too much like his father to be easily won over by charm alone. It seems to leave Dio only with the other extreme and to put it simply: Dio does not ask. Does not and will not because there would be little point in it. And yet... Although it is something Giorno may give, that is all it is; this is not something he can simply take either.]
No, I would anticipate that you gave up on that fantasy years ago, [he replies, with a small degree of tension resulting from the impossibilities of Giorno giving, or Dio asking or even taking. He may not find it within himself to ask and he cannot take, but he will lay out his argument. There is no impediment to that.] But that's all you've known of me, isn't it? Your fantasies, and whatever your mother claimed to know and bothered to tell you, and maybe whatever little has survived since my birth.
[Birth. Not death. Giorno isn't ignorant to the fact that Dio is dead, of course, but that doesn't mean that Dio is willing to acknowledge it even as a sound argument.]
You can make your arguments about never knowing the whole of any other person all you like, but that doesn't change the fact what you have is scraps at best and outright misinformation at worst. So what is it that you're really using to reach your conclusions in your judgments about me? Hm?
What other men have done to you and to other sons? The opinions of others? The ways in which I failed to live up to your once naive expectations that perhaps I had found a way to defy the odds one last time to save my son?
It's not that I'm unsympathetic to your apprehension or your mistrust. As much time as you may have spent wondering and hoping what it would have been like had I ever come for you or stopped you mother from hiding your existence from me, you can't ever know for certain how well that matches to reality, can you? There's no guarantees that I would have treated you any better than they did.
But I would like to think you're more reasonable than that, Giorno, and whatever judgments you pass over me are grounded in what you know of me for yourself directly. Not what you've dreamed of in the past or had to rely on others to discover, and certainly not on the sins of others.
But if you wish to squander this opportunity to know anything for certain then there's little I can do to stop you, isn't there?
[Unlike most people, when Dio says there's little he can do, that isn't a euphemism for there being nothing he can do. That much is likely clear in his tone and demeanor as nothing shifts to soften him or make him seem helpless in the wake of whatever Giorno may decide. What is additionally and most importantly clear is that it would not be Dio's preference to force it. Whether it is his insatiable ego that wants nothing more than to be desired by someone, or a genuine desire for a fresh start is likely anyone's guess. But it would still be within his preference that Giorno not submit, nor do so much as meet Dio halfway.]
[Instead, Dio would prefer it Giorno right the wrong of his mother and other circumstances, and to provide him with a chance. However small it may be. Because Giorno stands to gain from this just as much as Dio does, or so Dio is willing to convince Giorno to believe by appealing to the part of him that has and likely always will wonder about his true father.]
no subject
[In some ways, that pricks at Dio's irritation even more. He's never been one to tolerate doubt well, but he's always had a method to removing all doubt in another. That's not the case with Giorno. The boy is too clever and too much like his father to be easily won over by charm alone. It seems to leave Dio only with the other extreme and to put it simply: Dio does not ask. Does not and will not because there would be little point in it. And yet... Although it is something Giorno may give, that is all it is; this is not something he can simply take either.]
No, I would anticipate that you gave up on that fantasy years ago, [he replies, with a small degree of tension resulting from the impossibilities of Giorno giving, or Dio asking or even taking. He may not find it within himself to ask and he cannot take, but he will lay out his argument. There is no impediment to that.] But that's all you've known of me, isn't it? Your fantasies, and whatever your mother claimed to know and bothered to tell you, and maybe whatever little has survived since my birth.
[Birth. Not death. Giorno isn't ignorant to the fact that Dio is dead, of course, but that doesn't mean that Dio is willing to acknowledge it even as a sound argument.]
You can make your arguments about never knowing the whole of any other person all you like, but that doesn't change the fact what you have is scraps at best and outright misinformation at worst. So what is it that you're really using to reach your conclusions in your judgments about me? Hm?
What other men have done to you and to other sons? The opinions of others? The ways in which I failed to live up to your once naive expectations that perhaps I had found a way to defy the odds one last time to save my son?
It's not that I'm unsympathetic to your apprehension or your mistrust. As much time as you may have spent wondering and hoping what it would have been like had I ever come for you or stopped you mother from hiding your existence from me, you can't ever know for certain how well that matches to reality, can you? There's no guarantees that I would have treated you any better than they did.
But I would like to think you're more reasonable than that, Giorno, and whatever judgments you pass over me are grounded in what you know of me for yourself directly. Not what you've dreamed of in the past or had to rely on others to discover, and certainly not on the sins of others.
But if you wish to squander this opportunity to know anything for certain then there's little I can do to stop you, isn't there?
[Unlike most people, when Dio says there's little he can do, that isn't a euphemism for there being nothing he can do. That much is likely clear in his tone and demeanor as nothing shifts to soften him or make him seem helpless in the wake of whatever Giorno may decide. What is additionally and most importantly clear is that it would not be Dio's preference to force it. Whether it is his insatiable ego that wants nothing more than to be desired by someone, or a genuine desire for a fresh start is likely anyone's guess. But it would still be within his preference that Giorno not submit, nor do so much as meet Dio halfway.]
[Instead, Dio would prefer it Giorno right the wrong of his mother and other circumstances, and to provide him with a chance. However small it may be. Because Giorno stands to gain from this just as much as Dio does, or so Dio is willing to convince Giorno to believe by appealing to the part of him that has and likely always will wonder about his true father.]