A Narrow Escape!
Aug. 12th, 2025 03:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerMain Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/SMT Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha (Will of the Yatagarasu)
Summary: Buffy's bad night might just be turning around.
Word Count: 1226
Rating: Teen
Buffy considers and then shakes her head. Though it’s nice and validating that they’re not just shrugging it off as just another wound, because even she’d been getting into that habit, and it’s nice to have a reminder and see that yeah, she’s not overreacting. “It’s not too bad, and with Slayer healing it’ll probably be gone in no time. Though I should probably have you stitch it up just so Mom doesn’t freak.”
“I’m still learning to sew,” Willow mentions reluctantly. Given how she’s handling the sight of blood, that’s probably not the best idea.
“I can do it. I have steady hands,” Oz volunteers quietly.
Xander stares at him briefly, almost but not quite convinced. “You’ve had practice?” He does dab at the wound with the antiseptic, though, but his hands are shaking, just slightly.
“Sewing up shirts, plus some first aid,” he agrees. “I went on a couple summer camps.”“Demoted to supervisor once again.” Xander actually doesn’t sound too torn up about it, laughing, as he hands over the package with the suture and needle, though he does continue to watch. Oz really hadn’t been kidding about the steady hands, huh. Maybe it’s from working out his hands as a guitarist. Buffy doesn’t flinch, but she is definitely clenching her hands as she keeps still.
“If anything, I’m just...I’m mad!” Even gesturing with one hand is maybe a little much as Oz pauses and calmly waits until she’s still again. It’s more effective than getting lectured at by her mom, although maybe if she felt like Joyce had a better idea of what was going on, it’d maybe easier to trust that she’s saying it for a good reason. “I mean, demon assassins, yeah, whatever, it happens, but one of them was calling herself a Slayer and I feel kind of insulted.”
To her surprise, Xander doesn’t immediately agree with her. Instead, he sighs. “I was kind of hoping that wouldn’t happen.”
“You expected some demon to claim to be a Slayer?” Is there something he’d found out paying attention to all the Watcher Diaries that she’d missed? Paying attention was still a little hard for both of them, but Xander’s at least putting in a little more effort, mostly by reading them a couple times until it sinks in.
Raidou has a hand on the hilt and another on one of his Tubes, so he’s ready for a fight, even if they probably actually have to talk about what they’re going to do about her and can’t just go fighting her or killing her just because she’s hostile. “No, I think she actually is a Slayer. You died, remember? Yeah, sure, you didn’t stay dead, but I’m thinking it’s enough to call a new one, and they’re hoping she manages to take you out, whoops, sorry about the misunderstanding. They might have even told her ‘there’s a demon pretending to be a Slayer there, we have to eliminate it’.”
Buffy wants to turn to look at him, but Willow’s incredulous look as she hovers within reach pretty much does the same trick, because Xander’s rushing to clarify.
“I mean, I’m not an evil Watcher, but if I was, I’d probably be telling my Slayer something like that. They’re still upset about getting kicked out in the first place.”
Willow looks playfully skeptical. Buffy feels a slight tug as Oz starts tying the ends off. “I don’t know, Xander. Most people who aren’t evil Watchers don’t have to go around saying that they’re not evil Watchers.”
“I haven’t said it,” Oz confirms.
“You wouldn’t catch me saying something like that, either,” Cordy confirms, sweeping in and drawing Willow’s attention. She’s really getting good at walking around in those robes, huh. “I am a Herald, not some wannabe dreaming of power.”
Finally, she can turn to look, and Xander’s pouting. “I don’t think I can argue with that,” he admits after a bit.
“You can reform,” Buffy promises cheerfully.
“Great, thanks,” he grouses, but he’s smiling.
“I mean, Ethan did it,” Oz points out.
Xander shakes his head, but when he speaks next it’s pure Raidou, pure business. “I think I might be catching some of this studying with him—but on the other hand, it’s probably good in some ways, as long as I don’t catch myself falling into bad habits like actually acting like them. Knowing the enemy and their next likely move is useful, and Buffy, she definitely pinged as a demon to you?”
Buffy considers that carefully and then shrugs. “Most humans aren’t that strong and don’t fight that well. Which, honestly, is probably the same assessment she had for me. She caught me off guard so I don’t know that I could sense her.”
Raidou nods, like he’d been expecting that. “I think my demons could probably track her. We’ve known vampires at minimum can feel Slayers nearby.”
“Yeah, and she’d definitely try to kill them, Agent Mine,” Cordy counters with a very ‘dumbass’ tone of voice.
“Hence the part of the plan where we try to ask the adults in this scenario for advice and hope they’re not too busy fighting,” Raidou responds, patient tone a clear sign he’s irritated, although whether it’s from her interrupting or if he’s grudging about the whole her acting as a Herald thing is hard to tell. Xander doesn’t mind, but if he’s in Raidou mode, he gets a little frosty.
“That’s the plan,” Buffy agrees. She’d been a little nervous about telling Giles, but he’s right. This isn’t just a bad night. This is the Council, not content enough to get humiliated just once, sniffing around the edges of her territory and still trying to recover the situation, rather than just accepting the peace like they should. And she’d been teasing, but she kind of gets what Xander had been talking about, because she has to assume that if they hadn’t wanted, like, the thinnest veil of plausible deniability, they would’ve just sent their vaunted hitman squad or whatever they call it. Unless they’re really that unconfident in their own skills that they think they need a Slayer rather than a guy with a gun or something.
At least she’s not figuring this out alone, with her friends sticking close and backing her up, and that by itself is one of the nicest things about this new arrangement. Speaking of… “Oh great and powerful Herald, you really need to talk to your people and get them to step up their neighborhood watch game. It would’ve been nice to know the Council was in town.”
“On it,” Cordy agrees, smile entirely ice and doom. Yeah, having friends and allies is pretty nice after all.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/SMT Devil Summoner Raidou Kuzunoha (Will of the Yatagarasu)
Summary: Buffy's bad night might just be turning around.
Word Count: 1226
Rating: Teen
“I’m low on mag, but I can heal you if you want,” Xander offers, trying not to sound as freaked as he is. Willow bursts into tears and rushes over from where she’d been sitting reading to give Buffy a really careful hug. Even Oz at the computer looks like he’s frozen slightly. It’s been nice seeing him around more often. Xander’s brain stops working even more than usual when he’s around, which is vaguely recognizable from the time of his crush on Buffy, but if anything it’s even worse because he never seems like he’s expecting the flirting even when he has to know it’s coming.
Buffy considers and then shakes her head. Though it’s nice and validating that they’re not just shrugging it off as just another wound, because even she’d been getting into that habit, and it’s nice to have a reminder and see that yeah, she’s not overreacting. “It’s not too bad, and with Slayer healing it’ll probably be gone in no time. Though I should probably have you stitch it up just so Mom doesn’t freak.”
“I’m still learning to sew,” Willow mentions reluctantly. Given how she’s handling the sight of blood, that’s probably not the best idea.
“I can do it. I have steady hands,” Oz volunteers quietly.
Xander stares at him briefly, almost but not quite convinced. “You’ve had practice?” He does dab at the wound with the antiseptic, though, but his hands are shaking, just slightly.
“Sewing up shirts, plus some first aid,” he agrees. “I went on a couple summer camps.”“Demoted to supervisor once again.” Xander actually doesn’t sound too torn up about it, laughing, as he hands over the package with the suture and needle, though he does continue to watch. Oz really hadn’t been kidding about the steady hands, huh. Maybe it’s from working out his hands as a guitarist. Buffy doesn’t flinch, but she is definitely clenching her hands as she keeps still.
“If anything, I’m just...I’m mad!” Even gesturing with one hand is maybe a little much as Oz pauses and calmly waits until she’s still again. It’s more effective than getting lectured at by her mom, although maybe if she felt like Joyce had a better idea of what was going on, it’d maybe easier to trust that she’s saying it for a good reason. “I mean, demon assassins, yeah, whatever, it happens, but one of them was calling herself a Slayer and I feel kind of insulted.”
To her surprise, Xander doesn’t immediately agree with her. Instead, he sighs. “I was kind of hoping that wouldn’t happen.”
“You expected some demon to claim to be a Slayer?” Is there something he’d found out paying attention to all the Watcher Diaries that she’d missed? Paying attention was still a little hard for both of them, but Xander’s at least putting in a little more effort, mostly by reading them a couple times until it sinks in.
Raidou has a hand on the hilt and another on one of his Tubes, so he’s ready for a fight, even if they probably actually have to talk about what they’re going to do about her and can’t just go fighting her or killing her just because she’s hostile. “No, I think she actually is a Slayer. You died, remember? Yeah, sure, you didn’t stay dead, but I’m thinking it’s enough to call a new one, and they’re hoping she manages to take you out, whoops, sorry about the misunderstanding. They might have even told her ‘there’s a demon pretending to be a Slayer there, we have to eliminate it’.”
Buffy wants to turn to look at him, but Willow’s incredulous look as she hovers within reach pretty much does the same trick, because Xander’s rushing to clarify.
“I mean, I’m not an evil Watcher, but if I was, I’d probably be telling my Slayer something like that. They’re still upset about getting kicked out in the first place.”
Willow looks playfully skeptical. Buffy feels a slight tug as Oz starts tying the ends off. “I don’t know, Xander. Most people who aren’t evil Watchers don’t have to go around saying that they’re not evil Watchers.”
“I haven’t said it,” Oz confirms.
“You wouldn’t catch me saying something like that, either,” Cordy confirms, sweeping in and drawing Willow’s attention. She’s really getting good at walking around in those robes, huh. “I am a Herald, not some wannabe dreaming of power.”
Finally, she can turn to look, and Xander’s pouting. “I don’t think I can argue with that,” he admits after a bit.
“You can reform,” Buffy promises cheerfully.
“Great, thanks,” he grouses, but he’s smiling.
“I mean, Ethan did it,” Oz points out.
Xander shakes his head, but when he speaks next it’s pure Raidou, pure business. “I think I might be catching some of this studying with him—but on the other hand, it’s probably good in some ways, as long as I don’t catch myself falling into bad habits like actually acting like them. Knowing the enemy and their next likely move is useful, and Buffy, she definitely pinged as a demon to you?”
Buffy considers that carefully and then shrugs. “Most humans aren’t that strong and don’t fight that well. Which, honestly, is probably the same assessment she had for me. She caught me off guard so I don’t know that I could sense her.”
Raidou nods, like he’d been expecting that. “I think my demons could probably track her. We’ve known vampires at minimum can feel Slayers nearby.”
“Yeah, and she’d definitely try to kill them, Agent Mine,” Cordy counters with a very ‘dumbass’ tone of voice.
“Hence the part of the plan where we try to ask the adults in this scenario for advice and hope they’re not too busy fighting,” Raidou responds, patient tone a clear sign he’s irritated, although whether it’s from her interrupting or if he’s grudging about the whole her acting as a Herald thing is hard to tell. Xander doesn’t mind, but if he’s in Raidou mode, he gets a little frosty.
“That’s the plan,” Buffy agrees. She’d been a little nervous about telling Giles, but he’s right. This isn’t just a bad night. This is the Council, not content enough to get humiliated just once, sniffing around the edges of her territory and still trying to recover the situation, rather than just accepting the peace like they should. And she’d been teasing, but she kind of gets what Xander had been talking about, because she has to assume that if they hadn’t wanted, like, the thinnest veil of plausible deniability, they would’ve just sent their vaunted hitman squad or whatever they call it. Unless they’re really that unconfident in their own skills that they think they need a Slayer rather than a guy with a gun or something.
At least she’s not figuring this out alone, with her friends sticking close and backing her up, and that by itself is one of the nicest things about this new arrangement. Speaking of… “Oh great and powerful Herald, you really need to talk to your people and get them to step up their neighborhood watch game. It would’ve been nice to know the Council was in town.”
“On it,” Cordy agrees, smile entirely ice and doom. Yeah, having friends and allies is pretty nice after all.
