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madimpossibledreamer) wrote2025-11-21 04:47 pm
madimpossibledreamer) wrote2025-11-21 04:47 pm
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 401
me to Beta-Senpai: Giles has several times bemoaned their destruction of the English language so I suspect Xander and Buffy specifically are honey badgers about grammar
Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: The group has a little snack and checks out the map.
Word Count: 1275
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
Kakyoin takes the jerky Jotaro shoves at him with a smile and a thanks, clambering on to perch on the hood of the car to eat and see what else Jotaro bought.
“Is that a map?” Captain Beefheart asks with curiosity, actually putting the binoculars down to come over and get an idea of the town’s layout for strategic purposes.
“We’re looking for the Ek Ahau Way Station. It’s...here, past the Ix Chel Observatory.” After he’s done speaking, Jotaro takes a long drink of water. It’s a habit he’d gotten into when crossing the desert, concerned that any sign of heatstroke would result in his grandfather taking his coat away for his own health. (The only possible time he’d come close is after they’d been attacked by the Stand User following them, but that got dealt with quickly enough.)
“It’s interesting that the center isn’t a temple, which would be the usual layout,” Willow remarks, briefly trying to peer over Josie’s shoulder before giving up and just trying to peek out from the side instead.
“‘Ceiba of the Realms’? What does that mean?” Josephine reads.
“Think all the mythological ‘World Trees’. It’d probably be that rainforest tree,” Willow explains, pointing at a tree that seems way too big—but then, maybe that’s in the name. ‘World Tree’. That, or even with a mix of rainforest trees around, they’re not quite so numerous as the actual rainforest, so it’s just out of place. It’s hard for Johan to tell, even offhandedly remembering Giorno’s memories—and that’s weird, he realizes, having sifted through memories so recent that Buffy’s in them like so many books in the library. He has to imagine it’s the equivalent of weird that the rest of them deal with when it comes to him just about all the time. What for him are memories from before he was born are moments in their lifetimes. Xander immediately decides not to go poking around in any of their memories of him. They’ll largely be positive, he knows; they’ve all demonstrated that they love him in their own way, but he’s sure there has to be times where they’re irritated or annoyed and his fragile ego couldn’t take it.
“And underneath the tree, ‘Cichen Locura’?” Darling reads slowly, then points out, “...But it’s got graffiti here, see? It’s crossed out, and someone’s written ‘Karmaslave’.”
“The Mouth of the Well of Madness, or Psychosis maybe. Karma’s your sins coming back to you from a past life, but I’m not sure what that has to do with anything…” Willow’s frowning.
“It’s the suspicion source well thing,” Buffy announces, sounding so sure this must be her Slayer instincts talking. “I guess we can be happy it’s not another Mouth of Hell though.”
Inwardly Johan shrugs. Personally, he’d think another Hellmouth would be easier to deal with. At least they’d know what to expect, and if that’s half the battle… Out loud, though, he says “So it’s a mad world on account of the World Tree drinking from the Well of Madness, huh? Suddenly a lot of things make more sense—”
He feels an elbow in his gut and turns with a pout. Not that he wasn’t half expecting it, given that he’s goofing off, but still.
“Thank you,” Captain Beefheart states clearly.
“No problem,” Robin responds, moving his arm back to his side.
Willow, meanwhile, is completely ignoring his antics, which doesn’t really surprise him. She’s used to him if anyone is, after all. “And navigating is going to be fairly easy. See the colors on the map?” She’s pointing to the roads, showing Jotaro and Buffy as the ones driving again, as they nod along. “I guess we’re coming in from the north. These few blocks near the city center are designated green, the east will be red, the west will be black, and the south will be yellow. I don’t know if they’d paint their roads or have colored signs or do something else, but I doubt they’d follow the quincunx layout if they didn’t have some kind of actual indication people walking or driving around the city would be able to see, too.”
“You know a lot about the Mayans,” Kakyoin compliments her, and she blushes—which, honestly, is interesting, considering she’s been leaning more toward the female side of attraction these days.
“I absorbed a lot of books on the Mayans to be prepared,” she explains.
“Hopefully not physically,” Johan teases, ignoring Buffy’s glare or the way Giorno, having caught the reaction, stares speculatively. None of that matters when it makes Willow relax, because even trying to end the world can’t be that bad if he’s willing to joke about it finally.
“Um, no. Evil Bookworm Willow has left the building,” she responds, to Buffy’s surprise. They might be closer in a lot of ways, but he’s still known Willow a lot longer than Buffy has.
“I’m not even going to try to pronounce the name of the hospital,” Josuke mumbles to himself. Given that there’s actually two buildings with their own name, one on either side of the road, that’s fair enough. Actually, given that Xander’s still banned from reading in front of the books, and that was vaguely correct pronunciation, he’s been exactly there. “And a sports center, not a ball court, and a library—there’s no palace at the administration center—”
“Despite all the names of landmarks, we have yet to see a deity or any sign of one. I was under the impression that there would be many, which is why Awilix refused to accompany us?” Giorno interrupts.
“Well...yeah, Paxil is supposed to be the opposite of Xibalba, a growing paradise outdoors with a lot of light, the origin of all crops, with a benevolent deity that ensures and protects the prosperity of its citizens…” Willow’s gaze is a little distant as she’s remembering some of the texts she’d crammed last minute. “I guess most of the sources only mention ‘deity’, not ‘deities’, so maybe it’s not as crowded as Xibalba.”
“We should get going,” Jotaro interrupts gruffly, matching a curious stare of one of the citizens across the road.
“I suppose we probably should speculate somewhere we’re not blocking the gas station’s business,” Kakyoin agrees, jumping down elegantly. He usually only shows off like that—Johan cuts himself off, because that thought is inaccurate. Kakyoin is a flashy kind of guy and always shows off, but he just gets more so when he’s uneasy, and something about Jotaro’s concern is making him uneasy. He finds Jotaro’s caught the same thing, but they look away and begin piling back into their vehicles, because figuring out the exact specifics is a problem for somewhere else.
Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: The group has a little snack and checks out the map.
Word Count: 1275
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
Buffy definitely looks a little judgmental when they return with a bunch of food they can barely carry, but that doesn’t stop her from having some. It’s the kind of thing Johan would point out if he wasn’t just happy she isn’t holding back anymore. For a while, she’d been following the cheerleader mindset of taking in far less calories to lose weight, forgetting somehow that Slayers have an even better metabolism. She did also manage to haul Giorno back before he got too far into the weeds (literally), and it seems that one of the cake packages ended up being a corn and honey one. Giorno is too classy to scarf it, staying polite as he thanks them and eating as carefully, fastidiously even, as he normally would, but Johan can still instinctively identify that he’s enjoying it, even if he is entirely unable to put his finger consciously on how he can tell.
Kakyoin takes the jerky Jotaro shoves at him with a smile and a thanks, clambering on to perch on the hood of the car to eat and see what else Jotaro bought.
“Is that a map?” Captain Beefheart asks with curiosity, actually putting the binoculars down to come over and get an idea of the town’s layout for strategic purposes.
“We’re looking for the Ek Ahau Way Station. It’s...here, past the Ix Chel Observatory.” After he’s done speaking, Jotaro takes a long drink of water. It’s a habit he’d gotten into when crossing the desert, concerned that any sign of heatstroke would result in his grandfather taking his coat away for his own health. (The only possible time he’d come close is after they’d been attacked by the Stand User following them, but that got dealt with quickly enough.)
“It’s interesting that the center isn’t a temple, which would be the usual layout,” Willow remarks, briefly trying to peer over Josie’s shoulder before giving up and just trying to peek out from the side instead.
“‘Ceiba of the Realms’? What does that mean?” Josephine reads.
“Think all the mythological ‘World Trees’. It’d probably be that rainforest tree,” Willow explains, pointing at a tree that seems way too big—but then, maybe that’s in the name. ‘World Tree’. That, or even with a mix of rainforest trees around, they’re not quite so numerous as the actual rainforest, so it’s just out of place. It’s hard for Johan to tell, even offhandedly remembering Giorno’s memories—and that’s weird, he realizes, having sifted through memories so recent that Buffy’s in them like so many books in the library. He has to imagine it’s the equivalent of weird that the rest of them deal with when it comes to him just about all the time. What for him are memories from before he was born are moments in their lifetimes. Xander immediately decides not to go poking around in any of their memories of him. They’ll largely be positive, he knows; they’ve all demonstrated that they love him in their own way, but he’s sure there has to be times where they’re irritated or annoyed and his fragile ego couldn’t take it.
“And underneath the tree, ‘Cichen Locura’?” Darling reads slowly, then points out, “...But it’s got graffiti here, see? It’s crossed out, and someone’s written ‘Karmaslave’.”
“The Mouth of the Well of Madness, or Psychosis maybe. Karma’s your sins coming back to you from a past life, but I’m not sure what that has to do with anything…” Willow’s frowning.
“It’s the suspicion source well thing,” Buffy announces, sounding so sure this must be her Slayer instincts talking. “I guess we can be happy it’s not another Mouth of Hell though.”
Inwardly Johan shrugs. Personally, he’d think another Hellmouth would be easier to deal with. At least they’d know what to expect, and if that’s half the battle… Out loud, though, he says “So it’s a mad world on account of the World Tree drinking from the Well of Madness, huh? Suddenly a lot of things make more sense—”
He feels an elbow in his gut and turns with a pout. Not that he wasn’t half expecting it, given that he’s goofing off, but still.
“Thank you,” Captain Beefheart states clearly.
“No problem,” Robin responds, moving his arm back to his side.
Willow, meanwhile, is completely ignoring his antics, which doesn’t really surprise him. She’s used to him if anyone is, after all. “And navigating is going to be fairly easy. See the colors on the map?” She’s pointing to the roads, showing Jotaro and Buffy as the ones driving again, as they nod along. “I guess we’re coming in from the north. These few blocks near the city center are designated green, the east will be red, the west will be black, and the south will be yellow. I don’t know if they’d paint their roads or have colored signs or do something else, but I doubt they’d follow the quincunx layout if they didn’t have some kind of actual indication people walking or driving around the city would be able to see, too.”
“You know a lot about the Mayans,” Kakyoin compliments her, and she blushes—which, honestly, is interesting, considering she’s been leaning more toward the female side of attraction these days.
“I absorbed a lot of books on the Mayans to be prepared,” she explains.
“Hopefully not physically,” Johan teases, ignoring Buffy’s glare or the way Giorno, having caught the reaction, stares speculatively. None of that matters when it makes Willow relax, because even trying to end the world can’t be that bad if he’s willing to joke about it finally.
“Um, no. Evil Bookworm Willow has left the building,” she responds, to Buffy’s surprise. They might be closer in a lot of ways, but he’s still known Willow a lot longer than Buffy has.
“I’m not even going to try to pronounce the name of the hospital,” Josuke mumbles to himself. Given that there’s actually two buildings with their own name, one on either side of the road, that’s fair enough. Actually, given that Xander’s still banned from reading in front of the books, and that was vaguely correct pronunciation, he’s been exactly there. “And a sports center, not a ball court, and a library—there’s no palace at the administration center—”
“Despite all the names of landmarks, we have yet to see a deity or any sign of one. I was under the impression that there would be many, which is why Awilix refused to accompany us?” Giorno interrupts.
“Well...yeah, Paxil is supposed to be the opposite of Xibalba, a growing paradise outdoors with a lot of light, the origin of all crops, with a benevolent deity that ensures and protects the prosperity of its citizens…” Willow’s gaze is a little distant as she’s remembering some of the texts she’d crammed last minute. “I guess most of the sources only mention ‘deity’, not ‘deities’, so maybe it’s not as crowded as Xibalba.”
“We should get going,” Jotaro interrupts gruffly, matching a curious stare of one of the citizens across the road.
“I suppose we probably should speculate somewhere we’re not blocking the gas station’s business,” Kakyoin agrees, jumping down elegantly. He usually only shows off like that—Johan cuts himself off, because that thought is inaccurate. Kakyoin is a flashy kind of guy and always shows off, but he just gets more so when he’s uneasy, and something about Jotaro’s concern is making him uneasy. He finds Jotaro’s caught the same thing, but they look away and begin piling back into their vehicles, because figuring out the exact specifics is a problem for somewhere else.