Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 291

[madimpossibledreamer]

Note: Probably next week I’ll start uploading a few other things to Ao3, maybe on the weekends. When I made the ‘I’m not going to put anything else on Ao3 until this is finished’ promise, I didn’t expect it to go quite this long. I’d estimate we still have...I dunno, 3, 4 volumes yet? This series is still a very high priority, though.
Mayan shamans tended to use stingray spines, particularly in sacrifices.  The incense is called Copal, not that Xander would know that.  And to deliver the blood, it'd usually be placed on something, like paper, and burned.

Sadly, another death in the family, but this was after a long sickness so kind of expected and she was in pain, so...it sucks, but it's not the same.

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Johan tries to plan his escape.
Word Count: 1039
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
Warning: Jojo’s/Buffy violence warning for this chapter for sure.

 

         After his speech, Wesley ignores him, turning his back on Xander, which burns. He grits his teeth. For pretty much the entirety of his existence, he’s been dismissed as nothing. The sidekick, the Zeppo, just a means to an end. If he could move, he’d clench his fists.
         Steadying his breathing doesn’t seem to be helping build up hamon, but it’ll help him keep his cool. Because he needs to stay calm if he’s going to plan something and be able to act. Because he’s not going to have much of a chance, so when comes, he’s going to have to take it as quickly as he can.
         It’s more of a pain because he can’t turn his head to look, or summon Pretender to catch a glimpse through his eyes, but he has to try.
         He’d thought previously that he couldn’t feel his fingers because of the Stand. That might still be part of it, but as he does a catalogue, it quickly becomes clear that he’s been cut while he’d still been out of it. It doesn’t sting, but then, this feeling of distance, of being unable to move his body actually might be making his extremities go to sleep and probably isn’t that great for his circulation, either.
         As Wesley turns away, he thinks he catches a glimpse of tatters in the shaman’s robes that suggest a wound. If he’s not imagining things there might even be a faint line on the man’s chest suggesting where it might have been.
         If he had to guess, Wesley wouldn’t wear this kind of thing normally at Wolfram & Hart. They seemed like a suit and tie kind of workplace. Which means that this, feathers and all, is probably just for this Ascension ritual, which means that wound is probably recent. So yeah, vampire, vampire powers and all, and probably one on the Joestar end of things. Which is unfortunate, because they’re more of a pain. Just ask...great-great-great-whatever-grandfather Jonathan. Hamon would be useful if he could use it. But—no, it’s not gone, it’s just out of reach. He might have one shot.
         He’s begun the chanting again. Which still feels familiar, like—again—something he’s seen from a dream. But those memories are hazy, like Johan’s wading through fog. Usually they’re clear, like he’s experienced them himself, but he has to guess that clarity is something Pretender allows him, and when he can’t access his Stand, he can’t remember those with the same ease, either. Though maybe that part isn’t quite as much of a limitation as it could be—even without the perfect recollection of whatever language is being used, it feels like he only recognizes which language it is, not the actual context of what is being said. If he had to bet, his money’s on Mayan.
         The stone room smells overwhelmingly of blood, but then, if that glimpse of a pool of blood on the floor was any indication, of course it would. But oddly that’s not the only smell in the room. There’s also something that reminds him vaguely of a smoky sweet pine hanging thick in the air. He’d almost gotten used to the blood—it’s practically everywhere in this place—but the more he breathes it in, the dizzier he gets. It’s helping him breathe deep and calm, keeping the initial panic at bay when he focuses on it, but he’s almost feeling a little floaty.
         Which might be the point, now that he thinks about it. Wesley could be intense, back when he was a baby Watcher, and apparently he’d hardened when he’d been working for or with Angel (and apparently for Wolfram & Hart, later), but his eyes had been bright, a little wide. Maybe he’d actually been following the general guide. Probably not candles—he doesn’t see any of them when he tries to glance around using just his eyes—but there is a glow coming from ancient-looking bowls sitting on the ground. He thinks. Bonus of working for a super-evil organization, apparently—you can just get your hands on important ritual props without having to do all the hard work yourself. That’s important, as is incense, although he doesn’t know the specifics. Yeah, he probably should’ve paid a little more attention to Willow’s magic phase, but it hadn’t seemed important then and he doesn’t know much that would be useful here.
         But that trance-state, that intense focus? That probably helps, or is even required, or he wouldn’t have done it in the first place. And it’s either not helping Johan, at all, or maybe that’s just the side effects of the probable blood loss and possibly shock. Come on, Xanman, something actually useful. What you don’t know won’t help you here, so find something you do know.
         His attention is called back to his captor as the man’s voice rises in a triumphant fervor. Back at the beginning he’d thought that, well. Maybe the man wasn’t a friend, but someone who could be counted on, anyway. Somewhere along the way, Wesley had undergone a transformation from a mild-mannered geek to someone viciously willing to hurt others in the name of power. It’s an irony he doesn’t have time to dwell on, because that kind of crescendo usually means something’s about to happen. You don’t even have to watch horror movies to confirm that when your whole life’s practically a horror movie.
         Wesley raises what looks like a serrated bone knife high, and Xander wills himself to move, but to his rising horror nothing happens.
         It looks like it’s already covered in blood. Johan catches himself thinking about how that’s probably unsanitary. He’s probably already slightly hysterical; that’s the least of his problems.
         If he could flinch, he would flinch in anticipation. And then, to his shock, he’s not the one stabbed. Wesley puts it straight through his own tongue. It must hurt, but then, at this point he probably doesn’t care, not when he’s trying to become a Pillar Man. He catches the blood in a bowl, placing it on the slippery stone next to the altar. From the smell of it, he’s set fire to something else, though from this angle Xander can’t see what that is.