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madimpossibledreamerHonestly, I chose her name by looking for rumors. And then shortly thereafter there was an ad with her on youtube. I took it as a sign.
Also....no idea what's up with the narrator.
~Dreamer~
Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: The narrator introduces you to one of the new characters.
Word Count: 1219
Rating: Gen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS.
Whitney Houston, a young lady labeled ‘African American’ by most of her college peers, encountered one such destiny-defining moment.
When she was young, she encountered a fake gypsy woman in a carnival telling fortunes. She saw the makeup and fake gold flaking and knew it was all fake, but she was curious as to what a fake fortuneteller would say to her.
From everything she had seen on television, such people tended to say gentle, pretty words that would make their targets very happy and give a nice tip. Things like “you will soon meet the love of your life” or “you will come into a fortune”. For a child, she expected something like “your parents will buy you an amazing toy”. If the gypsy lady had maybe been real, she might’ve expected the change to ‘your mother’, but she wasn’t, so she didn’t expect that.
The woman ranted and raved and didn’t seem altogether sane. She ended up sneaking out of the tent and calling emergency services, suggesting that no one had gone in or come out in a while and she was concerned.
There were all sorts of insinuations—that the devil was on her heels and would eventually catch up and devour her soul because she couldn’t run forever, that she’d abandon her little brother to his death. She didn’t know about the rest of it, the religious stuff, besides the whispers against her family in the city because of the color of their skin, but she did take her big sis duties seriously. There were, of course, her stepbrothers and stepsisters, but she’d never met them, unlike her real brother, currently with her mom. She’d never abandon him.
When she found them, her mother was very worried and asked her whether the strange lady had hurt her, but all she’d done was say words, like practically everyone else did, and besides, Whitney had just felt sad for the lady. Hopefully, she’d be all right, with help. She definitely needed help, but the 911 people should be able to help her, even if they couldn’t always help everywhere.
Now, for most, that would remain an isolated incident in their youth, a strange tale with which to regale friends around that spookiest time of year. Whitney’s story, however, does not end here. (Of course it doesn’t, or it would have no reason to be included with a tale of Stands and tragedies, and you’d begin to wonder, too, if your own narrator wasn’t possibly a bit mad.)
You see, her brother became ill. Cancer, a plague far too common in these troubled times. She searched for the best treatment everywhere, took on multiple jobs in an attempt to pay the bills (and, neighbors whispered loudly, as if she wasn’t standing right there, what seemed like a concerted effort to kill herself). No matter what, though, she refused to abandon him, even when the act of merely keeping him alive was enough to nearly destroy her, and might be futile in the end. She is a woman of strong ideals, and the idea of abandoning family just as her father had, no matter how much easier the decision, is entirely foreign to her. She had subverted one of the lady’s big predictions.
But, unfortunately, only one, for the devil on her heels caught up to her at this point: three devils, in fact. The Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart. The devilish law firm owned (once traced far enough past even the board of directors, also by the aforementioned three devils had been eyeing her burgeoning cyber security career with unholy glee and an unhealthy level of interest, and had smelled a chance when she began to work seventy, eighty hour work weeks in places below her talent. And as all devils do, the smiling, besuited ghouls employed by that firm offered her a deal she simply could not refuse. They would save her brother. They said money was no object, that all she had to do was sign the contract and come work for them.
Of course, there was a catch. Whitney knew this, of course. It was a literal deal with a devil, so it would naturally be dangerous. Destructive, even, but she was desperate, and as too many who take such deals, she believed that when it went wrong she alone would pay the price. Desperation drives even love to terrible, grasping places.
When she realized the truth, it was too late. She had signed the contract in blood. They owned her brother, and they owned her soul. With one angle, they had saved her brother. With another angle, they had doomed him to a living death. They trapped him within time. He would never die, but so, too, would he never recover, and as long as they had his body, she would do everything they asked of her as one of the employees with a hostage buying her loyalty.
Most of her work hurting others was done from a distance, and she did her best to distance herself from the results, which was almost impossible given her morals and situation. Several times she considered suicide, but they owned her beyond death (she’d met some of her shambling colleagues), and she had no idea what would happen to her brother should she try. This was Wolfram & Hart, and she knew, perhaps better than anyone, what they were capable of. What lengths would they go to, to keep one of their employees with their company?
Eventually, she’d been signed up for a trial. One that possibly killed the test subject. She eagerly signed up, for it was something they’d wanted. To her dismay, she’d survived being impaled by the golden Arrow artifact, no matter how much it had felt for the longest time that she would, instead, die. She had a power, now, a Stand, and that worried her, because it usually meant that they might use her for such in-person cruelties as assassination. As with the rest, she was paired with a Stand User (that was the term used, apparently) who had passed the entry test. She didn’t know what exactly the entry test involved, only that she could guess, given the nature of the company. She was terrified she’d hate her new partner, but shockingly despite the rough appearance and the fact that the newcomer must have had to kill someone, she found she liked the new girl, but that didn’t help the apprehension about the future, and for good reason. Whitney was trapped in an awful situation she could not escape nor control.
Now, was this entire sequence of events the right thing or wrong thing, heroic or cowardly thing, selfless or selfish thing to do?
Also....no idea what's up with the narrator.
~Dreamer~
Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: The narrator introduces you to one of the new characters.
Word Count: 1219
Rating: Gen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS.
There comes a point in each of our lives where we are tested and must find where we fall, selfless or selfish. We can talk all we want about where we’d fall theoretically, be absolutely certain until we find that moment, but when push comes to shove, our true nature is revealed—are we selfish? Are we cowards? Are we glory hounds? Or, rather, are we the type who would never call ourselves a hero at all, say that we’re just doing what others would do, yet act in selfless, courageous ways that others label ‘heroic’?
Whitney Houston, a young lady labeled ‘African American’ by most of her college peers, encountered one such destiny-defining moment.
When she was young, she encountered a fake gypsy woman in a carnival telling fortunes. She saw the makeup and fake gold flaking and knew it was all fake, but she was curious as to what a fake fortuneteller would say to her.
From everything she had seen on television, such people tended to say gentle, pretty words that would make their targets very happy and give a nice tip. Things like “you will soon meet the love of your life” or “you will come into a fortune”. For a child, she expected something like “your parents will buy you an amazing toy”. If the gypsy lady had maybe been real, she might’ve expected the change to ‘your mother’, but she wasn’t, so she didn’t expect that.
The woman ranted and raved and didn’t seem altogether sane. She ended up sneaking out of the tent and calling emergency services, suggesting that no one had gone in or come out in a while and she was concerned.
There were all sorts of insinuations—that the devil was on her heels and would eventually catch up and devour her soul because she couldn’t run forever, that she’d abandon her little brother to his death. She didn’t know about the rest of it, the religious stuff, besides the whispers against her family in the city because of the color of their skin, but she did take her big sis duties seriously. There were, of course, her stepbrothers and stepsisters, but she’d never met them, unlike her real brother, currently with her mom. She’d never abandon him.
When she found them, her mother was very worried and asked her whether the strange lady had hurt her, but all she’d done was say words, like practically everyone else did, and besides, Whitney had just felt sad for the lady. Hopefully, she’d be all right, with help. She definitely needed help, but the 911 people should be able to help her, even if they couldn’t always help everywhere.
Now, for most, that would remain an isolated incident in their youth, a strange tale with which to regale friends around that spookiest time of year. Whitney’s story, however, does not end here. (Of course it doesn’t, or it would have no reason to be included with a tale of Stands and tragedies, and you’d begin to wonder, too, if your own narrator wasn’t possibly a bit mad.)
You see, her brother became ill. Cancer, a plague far too common in these troubled times. She searched for the best treatment everywhere, took on multiple jobs in an attempt to pay the bills (and, neighbors whispered loudly, as if she wasn’t standing right there, what seemed like a concerted effort to kill herself). No matter what, though, she refused to abandon him, even when the act of merely keeping him alive was enough to nearly destroy her, and might be futile in the end. She is a woman of strong ideals, and the idea of abandoning family just as her father had, no matter how much easier the decision, is entirely foreign to her. She had subverted one of the lady’s big predictions.
But, unfortunately, only one, for the devil on her heels caught up to her at this point: three devils, in fact. The Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart. The devilish law firm owned (once traced far enough past even the board of directors, also by the aforementioned three devils had been eyeing her burgeoning cyber security career with unholy glee and an unhealthy level of interest, and had smelled a chance when she began to work seventy, eighty hour work weeks in places below her talent. And as all devils do, the smiling, besuited ghouls employed by that firm offered her a deal she simply could not refuse. They would save her brother. They said money was no object, that all she had to do was sign the contract and come work for them.
Of course, there was a catch. Whitney knew this, of course. It was a literal deal with a devil, so it would naturally be dangerous. Destructive, even, but she was desperate, and as too many who take such deals, she believed that when it went wrong she alone would pay the price. Desperation drives even love to terrible, grasping places.
When she realized the truth, it was too late. She had signed the contract in blood. They owned her brother, and they owned her soul. With one angle, they had saved her brother. With another angle, they had doomed him to a living death. They trapped him within time. He would never die, but so, too, would he never recover, and as long as they had his body, she would do everything they asked of her as one of the employees with a hostage buying her loyalty.
Most of her work hurting others was done from a distance, and she did her best to distance herself from the results, which was almost impossible given her morals and situation. Several times she considered suicide, but they owned her beyond death (she’d met some of her shambling colleagues), and she had no idea what would happen to her brother should she try. This was Wolfram & Hart, and she knew, perhaps better than anyone, what they were capable of. What lengths would they go to, to keep one of their employees with their company?
Eventually, she’d been signed up for a trial. One that possibly killed the test subject. She eagerly signed up, for it was something they’d wanted. To her dismay, she’d survived being impaled by the golden Arrow artifact, no matter how much it had felt for the longest time that she would, instead, die. She had a power, now, a Stand, and that worried her, because it usually meant that they might use her for such in-person cruelties as assassination. As with the rest, she was paired with a Stand User (that was the term used, apparently) who had passed the entry test. She didn’t know what exactly the entry test involved, only that she could guess, given the nature of the company. She was terrified she’d hate her new partner, but shockingly despite the rough appearance and the fact that the newcomer must have had to kill someone, she found she liked the new girl, but that didn’t help the apprehension about the future, and for good reason. Whitney was trapped in an awful situation she could not escape nor control.
Now, was this entire sequence of events the right thing or wrong thing, heroic or cowardly thing, selfless or selfish thing to do?
