![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerMain Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: A research meeting, just like old times.
Word Count: 1141
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
He’s irrationally touched by the homemade donuts, though. And Josie had tried to hide it, but she’d actually asked Andrew to make them, which was really sweet of her. It sucks; under literally any other circumstances they’d probably be getting to know each other through punching villains together, but they can’t. And he knows he’s overreacting. That this isn’t the end, or whatever. Hell, maybe the Speedwagon Foundation would be able to hook him up with some bionic eyes or something. But no matter what the others think, there’s something fundamentally different about having lost his sight completely, rather than just in one eye.
With one, he’d been able to adapt. He hadn’t had to change how he went about his daily routines entirely. It wasn’t ‘now I’ve gotta learn Braille and I’m now absolutely useless in reading most of these texts and I need to relearn how to fight, to eat, to simply walk’, it was ‘I gotta keep in mind I’ve got a, pun intended, blind spot and have to turn my head a little more to see’. Pitying himself and hating everything isn’t going to get him anywhere or achieve anything useful, he knows this. That’s how he’d operated his entire high school career, and it’d never done him any good then, so he has no reason to think that’s changed, at all.
It’s just that...he doesn’t see the path forward, literally and metaphorically. He’d just been given the promise that he might actually be more useful for once, in the field, only to have that snatched away. He doesn’t want to be benched, because he knows that’s what they’re going to want, no matter how much it feels like it’s killing his soul. And he’s about half-convinced that if they hadn’t somehow lost Fitz—well, maybe it’d be almost bearable if the Speedwagon heir was here.
Josie’s mourning too, though, even if she’s trying to hide it. Apparently, she’d been pretty close with Mercia. He’d ask her stories except he’s not quite the unthinking kid he’d been and he doesn’t want to just inflict pain on her to forget his own. And sure, talking about people you’ve lost can help, sometimes, but between the way she’s been trying to distract him so far and the brief glimpses he’s gotten in dreams (because, like it’s not bad enough he gets to remember what it’s like, being able to see, his Stand reminds him in his dreams because those memories involve him being able to see, too) she’s not any better about that than he is.
Still, the least he can do is listen and not be stuck in his own head for this, so he focuses on eating the donuts and listen to people shuffle in. And then as they move and fidget in their seats. It’s not like it’s louder or anything, but when you’re straining to listen, your entire focus is on hearing the slightest sound, so you’re more likely not to miss something due to inattention.
“Xander,” Giles begins, and he starts, because he hadn’t expected to be addressed first thing like this.
“Yeah?” Maybe he should say something else, show more enthusiasm, like he’s actually still useful, but he’s tired, tired of putting on this mask that he’s fine, tired of pretending.
“The Captain confirmed Courtney Love’s implication that Sarde had been working with our mysterious new enemy on more than one occasion. Is this correct?” By the sound of it, Giles has found some useful stuff, but he wants to be sure it’s useful before he goes ahead and shares any of it.
Damn, Fitz, you should be here for this. “Yeah, it is. It’s the thread we started chasing down in the first place: a receipt for one of her statues, paid for by Sarde. Fitz—” keep going stop swimming you die though that’s not true for all shark species not that that really matters at the moment Jotaro— “...thought that Sarde was the mastermind, but I think he just wanted to blame the guy, and he definitely seems more…miniony to me. Like, maybe lieutenanty, but still, not the order-giver. Still no clue what he wanted with the theatre; we kinda got interrupted by a murder attempt in the middle of trying to work that out. And the ‘guy stinking of fish’ you mentioned she’d mentioned—pretty sure I can tell you who he is too. He never gave us his name, but Dr. Ackerman’s colleague, the one that smacked me with a harpoon.” He hears Willow gasp. Apparently he hadn’t mentioned that story. Whoops. And he’d hated it at the time, but maybe the fish DNA thing wasn’t actually that bad, because it might’ve given him the few extra seconds he needed to not die, not that he’s actually adding that when she finally wrings the details out of him like a sponge. “Pretty sure he’d stolen at least some of the guy’s research on Stands, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Pink-Hair Big Bad showed up twice around Wolfram & Hart people with a connection to Stands, either.”
“He’s studying Stands and Stand-Users,” a voice he knows as well as his own rumbles. Jotaro and Kakyoin are back from Wolfram & Hart, it looks—er, sounds like. And of course the nerd would equate it to biology. Though...actually, nah, it’d be a mistake to dismiss it out of hand, because that’s actually a really good point. This approach is more scientific and methodical, and he’s shown some aptitude and knowledge of science at the Wolfram & Hart attack, too. This isn’t how you go about testing someone’s strengths and weaknesses as a fighter; to do that, you actually have to watch them fight or fight them yourself, and the guy had run the first chance he got rather than, say, throwing himself into the thick of it like Buluc Chabtan. Or Buffy, not that he wants to compare her like that. Non-nerds don’t bother looking through boring things like records. (Though yeah he’s firmly aware this definitely makes him a nerd too, or he wouldn’t have been present at all those research sessions.)
“I’ve been looking through a number of documents relating to Sarde presuming he was a potential lead,” Giles announces.
Case in point.
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: A research meeting, just like old times.
Word Count: 1141
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS
It’s actually kind of annoying, being invited to the whole research session. It feels like it’s only because he’s being pitied, and he hates it, but he can’t show it, not even with his Stand, because half the people in the room can see him venting if he uses Pretender to do it. Maybe this is what it feels like, being one of the creatures in a tank that Jotaro’s studying. But it’s not like he can say ‘no’, and not going would be more conspicuous than not going, so he’s here.
He’s irrationally touched by the homemade donuts, though. And Josie had tried to hide it, but she’d actually asked Andrew to make them, which was really sweet of her. It sucks; under literally any other circumstances they’d probably be getting to know each other through punching villains together, but they can’t. And he knows he’s overreacting. That this isn’t the end, or whatever. Hell, maybe the Speedwagon Foundation would be able to hook him up with some bionic eyes or something. But no matter what the others think, there’s something fundamentally different about having lost his sight completely, rather than just in one eye.
With one, he’d been able to adapt. He hadn’t had to change how he went about his daily routines entirely. It wasn’t ‘now I’ve gotta learn Braille and I’m now absolutely useless in reading most of these texts and I need to relearn how to fight, to eat, to simply walk’, it was ‘I gotta keep in mind I’ve got a, pun intended, blind spot and have to turn my head a little more to see’. Pitying himself and hating everything isn’t going to get him anywhere or achieve anything useful, he knows this. That’s how he’d operated his entire high school career, and it’d never done him any good then, so he has no reason to think that’s changed, at all.
It’s just that...he doesn’t see the path forward, literally and metaphorically. He’d just been given the promise that he might actually be more useful for once, in the field, only to have that snatched away. He doesn’t want to be benched, because he knows that’s what they’re going to want, no matter how much it feels like it’s killing his soul. And he’s about half-convinced that if they hadn’t somehow lost Fitz—well, maybe it’d be almost bearable if the Speedwagon heir was here.
Josie’s mourning too, though, even if she’s trying to hide it. Apparently, she’d been pretty close with Mercia. He’d ask her stories except he’s not quite the unthinking kid he’d been and he doesn’t want to just inflict pain on her to forget his own. And sure, talking about people you’ve lost can help, sometimes, but between the way she’s been trying to distract him so far and the brief glimpses he’s gotten in dreams (because, like it’s not bad enough he gets to remember what it’s like, being able to see, his Stand reminds him in his dreams because those memories involve him being able to see, too) she’s not any better about that than he is.
Still, the least he can do is listen and not be stuck in his own head for this, so he focuses on eating the donuts and listen to people shuffle in. And then as they move and fidget in their seats. It’s not like it’s louder or anything, but when you’re straining to listen, your entire focus is on hearing the slightest sound, so you’re more likely not to miss something due to inattention.
“Xander,” Giles begins, and he starts, because he hadn’t expected to be addressed first thing like this.
“Yeah?” Maybe he should say something else, show more enthusiasm, like he’s actually still useful, but he’s tired, tired of putting on this mask that he’s fine, tired of pretending.
“The Captain confirmed Courtney Love’s implication that Sarde had been working with our mysterious new enemy on more than one occasion. Is this correct?” By the sound of it, Giles has found some useful stuff, but he wants to be sure it’s useful before he goes ahead and shares any of it.
Damn, Fitz, you should be here for this. “Yeah, it is. It’s the thread we started chasing down in the first place: a receipt for one of her statues, paid for by Sarde. Fitz—” keep going stop swimming you die though that’s not true for all shark species not that that really matters at the moment Jotaro— “...thought that Sarde was the mastermind, but I think he just wanted to blame the guy, and he definitely seems more…miniony to me. Like, maybe lieutenanty, but still, not the order-giver. Still no clue what he wanted with the theatre; we kinda got interrupted by a murder attempt in the middle of trying to work that out. And the ‘guy stinking of fish’ you mentioned she’d mentioned—pretty sure I can tell you who he is too. He never gave us his name, but Dr. Ackerman’s colleague, the one that smacked me with a harpoon.” He hears Willow gasp. Apparently he hadn’t mentioned that story. Whoops. And he’d hated it at the time, but maybe the fish DNA thing wasn’t actually that bad, because it might’ve given him the few extra seconds he needed to not die, not that he’s actually adding that when she finally wrings the details out of him like a sponge. “Pretty sure he’d stolen at least some of the guy’s research on Stands, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Pink-Hair Big Bad showed up twice around Wolfram & Hart people with a connection to Stands, either.”
“He’s studying Stands and Stand-Users,” a voice he knows as well as his own rumbles. Jotaro and Kakyoin are back from Wolfram & Hart, it looks—er, sounds like. And of course the nerd would equate it to biology. Though...actually, nah, it’d be a mistake to dismiss it out of hand, because that’s actually a really good point. This approach is more scientific and methodical, and he’s shown some aptitude and knowledge of science at the Wolfram & Hart attack, too. This isn’t how you go about testing someone’s strengths and weaknesses as a fighter; to do that, you actually have to watch them fight or fight them yourself, and the guy had run the first chance he got rather than, say, throwing himself into the thick of it like Buluc Chabtan. Or Buffy, not that he wants to compare her like that. Non-nerds don’t bother looking through boring things like records. (Though yeah he’s firmly aware this definitely makes him a nerd too, or he wouldn’t have been present at all those research sessions.)
“I’ve been looking through a number of documents relating to Sarde presuming he was a potential lead,” Giles announces.
Case in point.
