Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 346

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Josie and Johan find something to occupy their time.
Word Count: 1151

Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

         “Look, I know you’re doing your best, but I’m not handling the sitting around too well either.” That’s how it starts, with Josie talked into doing more than just trying to let her son rest and entertaining him.
         “I don’t want to make you worse,” she tells him, but he’s not wrong. Usually, Stand or no, she’d be gone by now, on the move to find something else to do because she doesn’t sit still too well.
         “I’m not, but I’m not improving either,” Johan tells her, waving his hand in front of his eye without so much as blinking. “I think whatever happened to me, it pretty much stabilized. I know I probably shouldn’t be in the field, not until we figure out what happened, but I don’t want to just sit here and waste away, either.”
         And there it is, that spark of hope that can’t quite die. “Wait, do you actually remember what happened to you?”
         She’s seen that smile before a million times, in the mirror, on Dad’s face when he’s finally able to bring down another Stand User breaking Morioh’s peace, on Mercia’s face on occasion when she’d finally managed to get her ‘keeper’ on board with another scheme. The mischievous one that says they’re one step ahead.
         “Nope,” he says cheerfully, completely incongruously, and yeah, that’s familiar too. “I mostly just remember getting separated from the others. It’s pretty fuzzy after that, even with the help of Pretender or the Ripple. But it’s pretty obvious that it’s some sort of effect. Nothing should be stopping me from healing between Willow, Crazy Diamond, Gold Experience, and multiple Hamon wielders. Something’s blocking it. And if there’s an effect, that effect can be removed.” That’s...not always the case, but whatever, hope for the best, right?
         It’s difficult at best to find a moment when they’re least likely to be interrupted. It generally wouldn’t be a problem for her, but they’re not fighting in the eldritch corridors when he can’t even see to stay away from the sides and without that he can’t follow as she jumps around from doorway to doorway, so while it’s a trick she can use to show off and to test how he’s doing, it can’t save them from getting caught if someone comes investigating. The new HQ is a little cramped, with only a single kitchen for the ‘hostage’s’ cooking (it’s a little odd he keeps calling himself that, but whatever, it’s not like she’s never encountered an eccentricity or two) and Slayers and Witches coming and going or at least delivering updates at all hours. It’s not like they have the same nice facilities, either, with pads and exercise equipment and a lot of Buffy’s really nice weapons collection got lost with the old location, too. But they’re not going too hard, either, and they make it work.
         It turns out that her son’s been sneakily practicing his Hamon sensing, because while it’s not perfect and he’s clearly only getting, like, the equivalent of lightning flashes on a stormy dark night, coupled with a rudimentary attempt at using hearing and the pressure of air movement it’s not actually too bad. Nowhere near his usual, she’d guess, but it’s the kind of improvement that has them both beaming. The biggest issue is that he can’t actually see inanimate or non-moving objects, but he’s adapted to that, too, easily enough that it’s clear he’d either considered all of this when he’d lost the first eye or that he’s been thinking about this even when he’d been pretending to relax, lying there in the bed. Honestly...maybe it’s a combination of both. She wishes he’d actually have focused on healing more, but it’s not like she can scold him even if she is his mum. Because she’d absolutely be no better. Pretender had apparently grabbed a bottle of oil when they’d been passing by the kitchen, and it turns out if he tosses it over a surface, he can actually vaguely sense it. That probably has something about the fact that oil conducts Hamon, though she never paid enough attention to know the exact mechanics, there.
         And then he’s also improvised a new move. Not only can he channel the Ripple through his Stand in something called a Sunlight Hamon Field, but after a couple tries (which has got to be exhausting and they’re definitely going to need a good spot of tea after this) it becomes clear he’s trying to modify it in some way. It’s not until he finally manages it and she doesn’t have to use her own admittedly amateur knowledge of the technique to save herself from the jolt down her spine, electrifying every nerve, that she realizes what he was trying to do. Bats with their echolocation are pretty cool to begin with, but she doesn’t get to see the sound rippling right back, and his actually happy grin shortly before Pretender’s fist smashes into B3’s nose as he ducks under the piece of paper Josie’d thrown at him (did she mention the room is super improvised and they forgot an entire desk in here? Because they absolutely did and it’s a pain to work around; she’s gotta assume that heavy cabinet-turned-bookshelf was too heavy to move) is bloody worth the bloody nose. At least it’s not broken this time.
         And then there’s a semi-sarcastic clapping from on top of the cabinet as Josephine attempts to stem the bleeding and Johan looks a little guilty like the good boy he is. It turns out to be that cat-demon-god lady, crouched on top like she’s just a normal cat and isn’t at all basically curled up in a ball to even fit up there.
         “You’re, uh. Awilix, aren’t you? What do you want?” He’s not particularly polite or reverent, and while she had absolutely nothing to do with it, Josie’s still extremely proud. Because that is absolutely the correct response to being creeped on by a goddess, particularly a not-necessarily friendly goddess of death.
         “I’m always looking for new companions,” is her extremely vague answer, because it means absolutely nothing.
         Johan crosses his arms and stares vaguely in the cat-goddess’s direction, and Josie adds herself and B3 to the pairs of disapproving eyes. Which, in turn, seems to be an idea that her son liked, too, because he summons Pretender, too.
         “I won’t tell anyone about your unauthorized trip if I can accompany you,” Awilix explains more plainly, the white fanged grin and gleaming eyes the most visible things in the shadows. (And also she’s probably got some sort of shadow magic thing, huh.)
         Which, she didn’t even know they were going anywhere, but then, it makes sense. And at least he’d approached her, rather than just running off on his own.
         “You just want to be on hand if we croak,” Johan accuses, voice even less impressed. The cat’s grin grows.