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madimpossibledreameractually beta'd
Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Jojo begins his counterattack.
Word Count: 1054
Rating: Teen (Buffy's|Jojo gore)
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
It simultaneously feels like eons and mere seconds since they talked. Captain Beefheart lost count of the number of waves of skeleton animals that have attacked, though, to be fair, she hadn’t had much of a chance to just start a tally-mark list on a wall that may or may not even exist. Not that it would matter much after the fact, since it might just disappear anyway. Without her focus on her Stand, or the occasional aid from Jojo before that, she wouldn’t have even have been able to keep an accurate count in the first place. According to Panzermensch’s internal clock, though, it’s been a total of fourteen minutes and twenty-three seconds. It’s not that they suddenly start…winning. Not necessarily. But she can feel a shift in the fight.
There’s the obvious, of course. The bits and pieces of the out-of-place architecture that feels so familiar, to her mind if not her eyes. She’s fairly sure it’s from Jojo’s mind. A tatami mat, splashing into the sea of blood to lie at her feet. One of the Mexican buildings being replaced, briefly, by a classical statue. A wall on fire that also sets some of the blood on fire, too, but fortunately that change doesn’t last. It’s also a sign that the blood is more surreal than real, too, because real human blood is mostly water and as such shouldn’t catch fire like that.
It’s pretty clear what he’s actually trying to do, though. Because the changes that stick around have to do with a koi pond. The first time one of them brushes past her ankle, she instantly shoots it. Thanks to her Stand it’s obvious enough it’s real, and so far that only involves the ‘birds of death’, so she shoots it before even realizing what it is. It dies up like any normal fish, floating upside down to the surface.
It’s absurd, but she feels bad that it died for absolutely no purpose. It’s one thing if she’d planned to eat it, but as it is she’d killed it for what, startling her? It’s not like it’s a real living animal, just a mental construct. It wasn’t technically ever alive, so it’s not like she’d, strictly speaking, killed it.
And then she realizes that no, there’s actually a point to the guilt. Jojo hadn’t said it directly, and no, constantly flagellating herself serves as no help to anyone. The thing is, guilt is a direct expression of empathy. It shows that, more than just recognizing and acknowledging that you have caused harm, you actually feel bad for causing this harm, because you acknowledge the inherent worth of someone else. Jojo had mentioned that the demon was related to vampires. It had previously been trying to induce fear—that’s clear enough from how it’s constructed its fake reality. It would make sense if it could feed on other negative emotions as well.
And true, guilt isn’t exactly positive, but it makes one more likely to care about other people. Fear, anger, and the like aren’t. She’s not sure how demons work exactly, given that she doesn’t often deal with them, but inducing others to act in a selfish, ‘evil’ manner probably falls under a demon’s purview, especially since it had made a remark about hoping they were evil.
She doesn’t shoot the next one she sees swimming through the pool of blood, and feels a little satisfaction. It may not matter in the end, but it still matters in some small way, if only to her.
The conjuration of the pond is something with several purposes, she guesses, because not only is he attempting to increase the water content to help out Fitz as he’d said he would, but no matter how much liquid water does not resemble a solid, the proximity of such things does actually make her head feel clearer, like she’s standing on solid ground again. Less foggy. It’s easier to concentrate and to tell the real from the fake. It probably also means that Panzermensch served as an inspiration to make sure Jojo didn’t have to waste his entire effort in this fight simply from rushing between them, though she has no idea how difficult it is to conjure these things comparatively.
She glimpses the others now and then, but even with Panzermensch’s machine eye she can’t work out whether they’re real or not, so doesn’t even attempt to approach them. They’re probably doing the same thing, too, avoiding the situation with the fish. It would be ideal if they really could help each other, but the risk of accidentally hurting each other in the confusion is too great. At least, at the moment. Perhaps once Jojo gives them more to work with, however imaginary.
Moreso, it’s a feeling that’s changed. Even when not much is different visually, the times when Jojo has only added more water or something, the feeling is not as oppressive. She feels lighter, with fewer gaps in her memory.
And then she sees the demon. It’s hunched over, for a moment, like it’s convinced it’s in a horror game—and maybe, given the fact that it’s pulling from their minds, perhaps that’s the point. Its ruined clothing dangles from its actually skeletal frame, and it has a wriggling koi grasped firmly in one hand and is tearing giant chunks out of the flesh of what appears to be an orca, decayed teeth flashing as it delights in the destruction, and it becomes clear that these changes have not gone unnoticed and that it is not a simple so-called winning move. Though it does seem like Jojo had expanded beyond just the pond to other sources of water, unless someone happened to be keeping an orca in a koi pond. It probably wouldn’t be called a koi pond, at that point. She’s fairly certain that this means it’s replenishing its strength, since that’s the general meaning of consuming food whether or not one is human.
“Hey, ugly!” Jojo yells, and the Captain rolls her eyes. That’s creatively bankrupt. If she were a monster, she’d only be insulted that she wasn’t considered worth more effort. Still, from here it’s clear the path he’s chosen. It feels early, but they’re starting their final attack now, which means she must be ready to assist, too.
Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Jojo begins his counterattack.
Word Count: 1054
Rating: Teen (Buffy's|Jojo gore)
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
It simultaneously feels like eons and mere seconds since they talked. Captain Beefheart lost count of the number of waves of skeleton animals that have attacked, though, to be fair, she hadn’t had much of a chance to just start a tally-mark list on a wall that may or may not even exist. Not that it would matter much after the fact, since it might just disappear anyway. Without her focus on her Stand, or the occasional aid from Jojo before that, she wouldn’t have even have been able to keep an accurate count in the first place. According to Panzermensch’s internal clock, though, it’s been a total of fourteen minutes and twenty-three seconds. It’s not that they suddenly start…winning. Not necessarily. But she can feel a shift in the fight.
There’s the obvious, of course. The bits and pieces of the out-of-place architecture that feels so familiar, to her mind if not her eyes. She’s fairly sure it’s from Jojo’s mind. A tatami mat, splashing into the sea of blood to lie at her feet. One of the Mexican buildings being replaced, briefly, by a classical statue. A wall on fire that also sets some of the blood on fire, too, but fortunately that change doesn’t last. It’s also a sign that the blood is more surreal than real, too, because real human blood is mostly water and as such shouldn’t catch fire like that.
It’s pretty clear what he’s actually trying to do, though. Because the changes that stick around have to do with a koi pond. The first time one of them brushes past her ankle, she instantly shoots it. Thanks to her Stand it’s obvious enough it’s real, and so far that only involves the ‘birds of death’, so she shoots it before even realizing what it is. It dies up like any normal fish, floating upside down to the surface.
It’s absurd, but she feels bad that it died for absolutely no purpose. It’s one thing if she’d planned to eat it, but as it is she’d killed it for what, startling her? It’s not like it’s a real living animal, just a mental construct. It wasn’t technically ever alive, so it’s not like she’d, strictly speaking, killed it.
And then she realizes that no, there’s actually a point to the guilt. Jojo hadn’t said it directly, and no, constantly flagellating herself serves as no help to anyone. The thing is, guilt is a direct expression of empathy. It shows that, more than just recognizing and acknowledging that you have caused harm, you actually feel bad for causing this harm, because you acknowledge the inherent worth of someone else. Jojo had mentioned that the demon was related to vampires. It had previously been trying to induce fear—that’s clear enough from how it’s constructed its fake reality. It would make sense if it could feed on other negative emotions as well.
And true, guilt isn’t exactly positive, but it makes one more likely to care about other people. Fear, anger, and the like aren’t. She’s not sure how demons work exactly, given that she doesn’t often deal with them, but inducing others to act in a selfish, ‘evil’ manner probably falls under a demon’s purview, especially since it had made a remark about hoping they were evil.
She doesn’t shoot the next one she sees swimming through the pool of blood, and feels a little satisfaction. It may not matter in the end, but it still matters in some small way, if only to her.
The conjuration of the pond is something with several purposes, she guesses, because not only is he attempting to increase the water content to help out Fitz as he’d said he would, but no matter how much liquid water does not resemble a solid, the proximity of such things does actually make her head feel clearer, like she’s standing on solid ground again. Less foggy. It’s easier to concentrate and to tell the real from the fake. It probably also means that Panzermensch served as an inspiration to make sure Jojo didn’t have to waste his entire effort in this fight simply from rushing between them, though she has no idea how difficult it is to conjure these things comparatively.
She glimpses the others now and then, but even with Panzermensch’s machine eye she can’t work out whether they’re real or not, so doesn’t even attempt to approach them. They’re probably doing the same thing, too, avoiding the situation with the fish. It would be ideal if they really could help each other, but the risk of accidentally hurting each other in the confusion is too great. At least, at the moment. Perhaps once Jojo gives them more to work with, however imaginary.
Moreso, it’s a feeling that’s changed. Even when not much is different visually, the times when Jojo has only added more water or something, the feeling is not as oppressive. She feels lighter, with fewer gaps in her memory.
And then she sees the demon. It’s hunched over, for a moment, like it’s convinced it’s in a horror game—and maybe, given the fact that it’s pulling from their minds, perhaps that’s the point. Its ruined clothing dangles from its actually skeletal frame, and it has a wriggling koi grasped firmly in one hand and is tearing giant chunks out of the flesh of what appears to be an orca, decayed teeth flashing as it delights in the destruction, and it becomes clear that these changes have not gone unnoticed and that it is not a simple so-called winning move. Though it does seem like Jojo had expanded beyond just the pond to other sources of water, unless someone happened to be keeping an orca in a koi pond. It probably wouldn’t be called a koi pond, at that point. She’s fairly certain that this means it’s replenishing its strength, since that’s the general meaning of consuming food whether or not one is human.
“Hey, ugly!” Jojo yells, and the Captain rolls her eyes. That’s creatively bankrupt. If she were a monster, she’d only be insulted that she wasn’t considered worth more effort. Still, from here it’s clear the path he’s chosen. It feels early, but they’re starting their final attack now, which means she must be ready to assist, too.
