Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 281

[madimpossibledreamer]

Honestly this probably works like Zoom Punch, where Robin actually is getting burned; he’s just healing it back and apparently neither Jacawitz nor Darling noticed. Admittedly, visibility is not high around this fire.
Did not think I’d be writing about lack of ADA accommodations by Mayan deities, but apparently that’s a thing that’s happening.

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: They face the last of the Lords of Death.
Word Count: 1064
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

 

         It quickly becomes clear that either Darling had been worrying for nothing or she’d grown enough when it came to a fight. It works out the same either way, really.
         For being a wasp-like creature, Jacawitz has no conception of just...flying out of reach, like Whisper does. He shrieks and blusters and flutters when she just barely grazes one of his wings. He doesn’t even bother to try to avoid arrows or bullets at first, and yells about that, too, when it turns out that he isn’t immune to those.
         He’s not incapable of learning. After the first time, he melts the bullets when they get too close and sets the arrows on fire, burning them to ash. He’s immune to the fires themselves, given the lack of screaming or pain when he flies through, and while he still isn’t flying out of reach, he’s clearly learned that they have ranged attacks and staying within that range is a bad idea.
         He’s resorted to hovering—badly, his wings don’t look like they’re optimized for that in comparison to, say, Whisper’s—and yelling vague threats. He’s also using the only ranged attack he seems to have, a column of fire that appears beneath their feet. He’d probably prefer to try to use the huge stinger on his tail, which would be a bit of a problem as Darling’s allergic, although it might not matter so much when Mr. Brown can use hamon to just heal her. It’s not particularly a dangerous allergy, like she’ll stop breathing quickly, just a rash and itching, but that still might be a problem when they still have to get through a ball-game and deal with Mr. Wyndam-Price once they’re done. It might have worked if not for the fact that they’d already been conditioned to act on the move from trying to avoid the blades from the floor in the other room and the fact that a slight glowing ring will appear beneath their feet before the skill is actually used. Even slightly winded from the previous House, Darling isn’t finding it particularly difficult to avoid. Every burnt arrow increases the smoke and makes it harder for them to see him, but then, apparently it’s making it harder for him to see them, too.
         The thing is, she recognizes the behaviour, because until recently she hadn’t exactly been involved in too many fights, either. And sure, she’d talked a big game too, when she had to say something, when she couldn’t just go unnoticed, because you just learned to do that when you were on the streets for a while. She hadn’t managed to do that very well with Mr. Speedwagon or Jojo, but she wasn’t usually so panicked about the consequences and a confrontation usually didn’t go that long, anyway. If you didn’t at least make people think you weren’t a target, you’d get picked on.
         And he was absolutely a target. Maybe he’d do well in, she doesn’t know, setting off volcanoes or administrative-like tasks, like collecting the Mayan equivalent of taxes for deities, which is something she really doesn’t want to think about. But he’s obviously really inexperienced at combat, which is probably exactly why the Lords with seniority over him ordered him to take part, as kind of some warped hazing sort of thing. Going by how they’d reacted to someone asking for a favor they’d actually kind of want to grant, she wouldn’t put it past any of them. It might not help that he’s the only non-humanoid deity in the group, given that it doesn’t look like those bench-thrones were designed for anything other than humanoids, no matter the size. She’d point out that he doesn’t really need any of them to tell him he’s doing a good job or even really that he matters, that she’d learned she didn’t really need other people to say those things for them to be true, but she’s pretty sure he wouldn’t take that well, from how hard he was trying to impress them before. He’d probably take it as pity rather than understanding, or something.
         If his eyes could widen any in fear, they would, because apparently Ripple breathing lets someone go through fire without getting burned, too. It looks really cool and is probably the next step after learning to walk on coals. Understandably, that’s not how Jacawitz takes it. If she was somewhere she thought was safe, like a hidey-hole that required a lot of climbing, and someone just walked in, she’d probably feel threatened, too.
         He gets desperate and dives at her. Darling has never heard a wasp scream before, and she never wants to again. Though she does feel thankful to the Captain for a save, and it’s clear von Stroheim’s patience has yet to return, because that’s a really intimidating expression on her face as Jacawitz wriggles and wails, skewered on her sword. “I’ll sting her! I’ll do it!” he screams. He’s not using the fancy language anymore, though that could have to do with the pain.
         “I’ve learned how to make you feel anything you do to me. Are you immune to your own sting?” she asks, trying to aim for ‘warning’ rather than ‘menacing’. She’s not sure if she failed or if it’s the arrow held to what passes for a wasp throat, but either way the Lord of Death pretty much goes limp, almost falling out of the air.
         “I wouldn’t try it,” Mr. Brown notes almost kindly. Perhaps he’d noticed the same thing.
         “Will getting yourself killed here achieve anything?” The Captain is not so kind, just brusque, but it’s hard to tell if that’s just because she’s tired of this or because she’s less likely to give as much slack to people.
         “As a Lord of Death, I cannot die,” he hisses, resentful but resigned.
         “Think you could show us to the exit?” Mr. Brown asks, and he chirps but nods.
         They’re nearly out when Captain Beefheart is stabbing over Darling’s shoulder, with no hesitation, no thought of the idea that she might miss or anything. That kind of confidence is a little intimidating even for Darling.
         Jacawitz doesn’t take that easily, either. “You have earned eternal enmity this day!”
         “If we hadn’t, we’d be dead. I’ll take this outcome,” Mr. Brown states reasonably. The angry buzzing isn’t lost until they close the door, though.