Layla & Stairway to Heaven

Layla Basics:

• User Name: Layla
• Profession:  She is a dog.  Companion Animal

Layla Profile:

Layla formerly belonged to the Gyoh family, living with the recently deceased Benedict Gyoh.  Shortly after his death, she came into possession of (read: ate) the artifact-based Stand Stairway to Heaven.  Benedict does not seem to have used this Stand while he was alive and was not a natural Stand User.

Layla is an elderly Sheltie and her vision isn’t quite what it used to be.  Be that as it may, she can, like many companion animals, see spirits.  S2H’s Piper’s Calling ability allows Layla to summon up ghostly playmates that she can actually see.  This is a great comfort to her and seemingly pleasant for the spirits too. (Unless she was the cause of their body’s demise, which is known to happen. She can “accidentally” create new playmates.)  Since becoming a Stand User, she can also see Stands and gets very excited to play with new Stands . . . regardless of what their Users might have had in mind.  

Layla’s currently travelling with a small band of Stand Users (Squirrel and Marillion) questing to find a way to bring a wayward Stand (Everything Dies) back under control.  Her Piper’s Calling ability allows her to summon that Stand’s User (Flower Power).  In return, the crew of Stand Users protect her from DIO and Speedwagon goons who seek to take the S2H artifact for themselves.

(While one could kill Layla and take the ring (and S2H) for themselves, it turns out that just holding Layla works well enough if S2H is willing to cooperate.  Squirrel and Marillion are both pretty damn sure that no one but them is going to use that technique when guns are so much simpler.)

Stairway to Heaven Basics:

Stand Name: Stairway to Heaven (S2H)
Stand Type: Artifact-based

Stand Abilities:

The Piper’s Calling: S2H can summon the spirits of the dead, provided that his User knew that person in life.  The better his User knew that person, the stronger the summoning is and the more that person can affect the physical world.  If the summoned spirit was a Stand User in life, they will have the ability to call their Stand out in turn or, should their Stand have survived them, to control their still-living Stand.  A “spirit Stand” will appear as partially transparent but will still be able to fight as a normal Stand.  The summon will return to the afterlife if S2H is recalled or if Layla is rendered unconscious.  

Our Shadows Taller: S2H can force a Stand User to reveal their Stand against their will and prevent them from recalling it.  This ability takes a great deal of focus from the User, so with Layla it rarely lasts long unless she wants to play with the summoned Stand.

Stairway to Heaven Profile:

S2H is tied to a small ring that was passed down through Layla’s owners’ family.  It previously belonged to her human, Benedict.  After his death, Layla ate this ring (no one is quite sure how it ended up in her food bowl) and has since been able to use S2H’s abilities.  Unlike the artifact-based Stand Anubis, S2H is choosy about who he reveals himself to and will opt to remain dormant if he does not wish to show himself to his artifact’s owner.  (This works fairly well in general, but should his owner be a natural Stand User or unusually determined, they will be able to call him out.)

S2H’s appearance varies slightly depending on who is using him.  He will always have a stairstep motif somewhere on his person and a rainbow scheme, but the rest of his appearance changes to fit his User’s psyche.  In his current incarnation, he resembles Hermanubis and has a jackal-like face.

Note: He sometimes has to use his staff as a fetching stick. This is undignified but who can resist that cute Sheltie face?  He seems to have a sense of humor about this whole “having a dog as his master” thing.  He has probably had far worse.

Inspiration:  Psychopomps, rainbow bridge, “Stairway to Heaven,” making Tuthiuly cry ugly tears  
Runs Around with These Assholes: Marillion and Chalk Hearts, Jojosona - Flower Power and Everything Dies, and Squirrel Nut Zippers and Memphis Exorcism