madimpossibledreamer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
madimpossibledreamer) wrote2021-11-25 11:58 pm
madimpossibledreamer) wrote2021-11-25 11:58 pm
Forego Empty Promises
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving if you celebrate it and I hope everyone else had a fantastic day.
This one's a bit of a weird one; it's further down the timeline of Stardust Legacy (obviously, as Willow and Xander have yet to meet Jotaro and the meeting will probably go just as well as it did between him & Giles), the topic it covers is a little along the lines of the Thanksgiving Buffy episode (which was a weird one), Jotaro is still an awkward turtle (with decent advice).
Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Summary: Xander and Jotaro have an awkward conversation about genocide.
Word Count: 632
Rating: Teen
Warnings: the summary should make some of it clear. + mentions of Xander's abusive home life (verbal/emotional).
“So Thanksgiving is a messed up holiday,” Xander begins. He knows now what he didn’t when he’d first met the guy: Buffy’s dad being quiet doesn’t mean he’s angry, or disapproving, or plotting anything. It’s just kind of his natural state of existence. For a guy who has to write a lot for his job, he’s not good with words, spoken ones anyway. The rare times he does speak in multiple sentences, it’s worth paying attention, but even then he’s one of the most awkward people Xander’s ever met, and even knowing that doesn’t make him any less of an intimidating figure.
“Mmm,” he hums noncommittally.
“I, uh…sorry, am I boring you?” He’s been told to stop cowering before, that he’s not about to bite, but being told that and actually following through are two completely different things.
Dr. Kujo blinks. It looks like it takes him a few seconds to ponder the question (not that that’s a surprise; for a guy who’s quick to the punch, he does like to think through things). “I’m listening,” he rumbles eventually.
That’s another thing, he doesn’t tend to answer questions directly. It makes trying to have a conversation painful.
“Because I don’t want to be a bother,” he continues. He gets that enough at home.
“Yare yare daze.” The response is not encouraging, now that he knows what the translation means. “If you were annoying me, do you think I’d be type to just say nothing to be polite?”
It’s a rhetorical question, Xander’s fairly certain. He shakes his head anyway.
Buffy’s dad continues in the same monotone. “I’m just tired. I’m still listening.”
It’s an absolutely terrible reassurance, Xander knows that, and it’s still somehow more than he’s gotten from his own parents.
“Uh…okay. Thanks.” He continues. Mostly because he’s been scrolling through his phone since he was banned from the kitchen, and Buffy’s dad hadn’t been allowed in to start with. And the silence is getting to him. They joke that he’s never met a silence he can’t fill, but it’s only half a joke, honestly. “I mean, it’s like Columbus Day. We’ve done all sorts of terrible stuff to the Native Americans and these holidays just kind of pretend like our ancestors weren’t terrible people.”
“That’s just humans,” the marine biologist responds after a moment. “More recently, there’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japanese internment camps, but it’s not like Japan is innocent, either. Not with what was done to Korea.”
That’s…honestly kind of a bleak way of looking at it. Maybe not wrong, really, but… Xander means to wince, but he accidentally flinches instead. It’s easy enough to recognize the phantom pressure on his arm as Star Platinum awkwardly patting him, though.
“Jiji had a lot of crap to say, but now and then he said something worthwhile. ‘Practicing gratitude, eating good food, those are good things.’ We shouldn’t feel guilty about that as long as we educate people, tell them the truth. Even better if we get up and do something about it. Maybe support some charities to help the people the holiday supposedly honors. We shouldn’t feel directly guilty, because it’s bad enough trying to control people who aren’t you who are still living. Without a Stand or magic, it’s impossible to control people who’ve been dead a thousand years.” He shrugs awkwardly. “The idea of Thanksgiving is fine. Celebrating the concept that maybe once in our lives we might not be total assholes and live up to the promise of friendship between pretty different people. We just need to stop thinking that empty promises help anyone.”
That, on the other hand…is really, really unexpected. “I can’t tell if you’re an optimist or a pessimist.”
Dr. Kujo smirks at that. “When you figure it out, kid, let me know.”
This one's a bit of a weird one; it's further down the timeline of Stardust Legacy (obviously, as Willow and Xander have yet to meet Jotaro and the meeting will probably go just as well as it did between him & Giles), the topic it covers is a little along the lines of the Thanksgiving Buffy episode (which was a weird one), Jotaro is still an awkward turtle (with decent advice).
Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Summary: Xander and Jotaro have an awkward conversation about genocide.
Word Count: 632
Rating: Teen
Warnings: the summary should make some of it clear. + mentions of Xander's abusive home life (verbal/emotional).
“So Thanksgiving is a messed up holiday,” Xander begins. He knows now what he didn’t when he’d first met the guy: Buffy’s dad being quiet doesn’t mean he’s angry, or disapproving, or plotting anything. It’s just kind of his natural state of existence. For a guy who has to write a lot for his job, he’s not good with words, spoken ones anyway. The rare times he does speak in multiple sentences, it’s worth paying attention, but even then he’s one of the most awkward people Xander’s ever met, and even knowing that doesn’t make him any less of an intimidating figure.
“Mmm,” he hums noncommittally.
“I, uh…sorry, am I boring you?” He’s been told to stop cowering before, that he’s not about to bite, but being told that and actually following through are two completely different things.
Dr. Kujo blinks. It looks like it takes him a few seconds to ponder the question (not that that’s a surprise; for a guy who’s quick to the punch, he does like to think through things). “I’m listening,” he rumbles eventually.
That’s another thing, he doesn’t tend to answer questions directly. It makes trying to have a conversation painful.
“Because I don’t want to be a bother,” he continues. He gets that enough at home.
“Yare yare daze.” The response is not encouraging, now that he knows what the translation means. “If you were annoying me, do you think I’d be type to just say nothing to be polite?”
It’s a rhetorical question, Xander’s fairly certain. He shakes his head anyway.
Buffy’s dad continues in the same monotone. “I’m just tired. I’m still listening.”
It’s an absolutely terrible reassurance, Xander knows that, and it’s still somehow more than he’s gotten from his own parents.
“Uh…okay. Thanks.” He continues. Mostly because he’s been scrolling through his phone since he was banned from the kitchen, and Buffy’s dad hadn’t been allowed in to start with. And the silence is getting to him. They joke that he’s never met a silence he can’t fill, but it’s only half a joke, honestly. “I mean, it’s like Columbus Day. We’ve done all sorts of terrible stuff to the Native Americans and these holidays just kind of pretend like our ancestors weren’t terrible people.”
“That’s just humans,” the marine biologist responds after a moment. “More recently, there’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japanese internment camps, but it’s not like Japan is innocent, either. Not with what was done to Korea.”
That’s…honestly kind of a bleak way of looking at it. Maybe not wrong, really, but… Xander means to wince, but he accidentally flinches instead. It’s easy enough to recognize the phantom pressure on his arm as Star Platinum awkwardly patting him, though.
“Jiji had a lot of crap to say, but now and then he said something worthwhile. ‘Practicing gratitude, eating good food, those are good things.’ We shouldn’t feel guilty about that as long as we educate people, tell them the truth. Even better if we get up and do something about it. Maybe support some charities to help the people the holiday supposedly honors. We shouldn’t feel directly guilty, because it’s bad enough trying to control people who aren’t you who are still living. Without a Stand or magic, it’s impossible to control people who’ve been dead a thousand years.” He shrugs awkwardly. “The idea of Thanksgiving is fine. Celebrating the concept that maybe once in our lives we might not be total assholes and live up to the promise of friendship between pretty different people. We just need to stop thinking that empty promises help anyone.”
That, on the other hand…is really, really unexpected. “I can’t tell if you’re an optimist or a pessimist.”
Dr. Kujo smirks at that. “When you figure it out, kid, let me know.”