Terror of the Sky-Seas

[madimpossibledreamer]

Chapter still isn't done, so have Dani's proper introduction.  (She previously showed up in Shoulda Seen It and To Be Prepared...as well as her non-genderbent counterpart in Bloody Petals.)  (I also realized I done goofed cause I should've posted this earlier to squeak in during Pride month.  Oh well.  Let's just count this as a 'don't need a holiday to have a celebration' post and leave it at that.)

Main Points:
Buffy/Yakuza AU, follow-up to Finding Their Feet (because really, the order after the introduction doesn't matter as much)
Chapter Summary: Dani's different, and this is Of The Good.
Word Count: 775
Rating: Teen
Warning: Not made explicit, but there's reference to a hate crime that Xander interrupts with a bat, Majima style.  Also some Buffy and Yakuza violence aftermath.

 

            “I’m Dani.”  It’s said warily, like now that he knows why five scumbags were jumping a person in a dark alley Xander’s just going to turn on her.
            “Bastards probably couldn’t wrap their puny shriveled brains around a girl who’s different,” Xander decides, grinning through the blood trickling down his forehead.  He’s leaning heavily on the blood-soaked metal bat.  Handy thing, doubles as a jerk deterrent and a walking stick.  Willow was really onto something with the all-purpose tools thing.  “That, or the fact that they found you pretty made ‘em all insecure.  Like, ‘oh no, I might turn out to be a decent human being who actually cares about another for anything other than exploitative sex or the ability to furnish beer, whatever will I do with my life’.  I’m Xander, but sometimes I’m Ria-chan and I wear a skirt.”
            “…You’re making fun of me,” Dani decides, and it’s then that Xander decides to just…take a nap.  The concrete’s lookin’ pretty comfortable, there…

            He wakes up to a girl solemnly staring at his face like he’s never going to wake up.  He’s in the hospital.  Giles will probably be mad that he didn’t call.  Again.  To be fair, it was usually Angel calling once he’d had enough.  There will be lectures.  It is the worst kind of fate.
            “You were serious?”  It doesn’t come off like a question but it probably is one.  That’s a kind of cool, smoky voice.  Hopefully not gained from actually smoking, but it’s probably a vain hope.
            “Havin’ trouble ‘memberin’ what happened.  Think I hit m’head,” Xander explains, yawning at the end.
            “Ria-chan?” the girl whispers, like it’s a big secret.
            “Oh.  Huh.”  Xander glances down, but of course his outfit’s not there, he’s in a hospital gown.  “If you got dragged inta my shit, I’m sorry.”
            The girl blinks, then frowns with determination.  “You’re awesome.”
            Xander winks, forgetting for a moment he’s only got the one eye and it’s going to look weird again.  Somehow, that’s the easiest thing to forget.  “Oh, darlin’, ya say that like everybody doesn’t know that.”
            The brunette bites her lip.  “They said you might have a bit of amnesia along with that concussion.  Hi, I’m Dani, I was born a boy, and if you ever need help hiding a body just call.”
            Xander throws back his head and laughs like a maniac, long and happy.  “I like ya, girlie,” he manages eventually.

            Later, Dani just appears silently during the thing with the First, and Xander’s grateful for it, even if Faith does seem to keep trying to light Dani’s frankly short fuse.  Between her and Buffy it’s like he’s got two full-time terrifying girl bodyguards and it’s amazing.  After that, Dani just…sort of forgets to leave.
            She’d been going to school for photography, she tells him, proudly showing him her degree.  She was good, too.  Could catch pictures of people without them even knowing.  She’s always had a bit of a temper.  Got that from her dad.  Her mom, she found out after the fact, didn’t agree with kicking her out, but couldn’t go against the overbearing father.  Got in touch after the fact, though, and sent her the new camera.  (She’d had her name changed to her mother’s maiden name, Oliver.)  She also really likes llamas, which is a bit weird but who cares if it makes her happy, right?  She doesn’t listen to rap music, but is amazing at rap battles, which she demonstrates later on, and absolutely loves Miss Marple and other older detectives (“I hope I’m half as cool as them when I get older,” she says).  She also loves the idea of pirates, though obviously the best ones are space pirates.  They argue about which of the Pirates movies were awful (she says all of them but the first, which has to be wrong, but her assertion that Jack Sparrow shouldn’t be the main character as he’s not the type is a respectable one, and they both agree that Muppet Treasure Island is probably the best pirate movie that exists).
            Dani-chan’s one of their better hostesses, and it’s good training for her not losing her temper sometimes, too.

            By this point, Xander’s actually expecting the tattoo.  He bursts out laughing when she takes off her shirt and it’s a fearsome kraken with a spaceship breaking in its tentacles, though.  The water bleeds into the starscape, and he’s almost more of a fan of the background than the main design.  He doesn’t stop laughing for a while, but he does spot the slight pleased grin on Dani’s face when he finally wipes away the tears from his eye.