Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 355

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Buffy preps for another trip with Giorno.
Word Count: 1037
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

           Buffy wants to be mad as she stands in the improv sparring room. It sucks major-time, and that’s saying something, considering she’d had to make do with some improv stuff in the library (which, like, what the hell had they been thinking, and sure, they’d been teens, but what was Giles’ excuse anyway?). It’s too small in ways that are just annoying whether you happen to be attacker or attackee unless you’re just punching the air, which doesn’t really do all that much. She’s doing it anyway, because moving always helps and it’d always been easier to settle down to homework or a good research sesh after dusting a few vamps. Honestly, it’s mostly because it’s easier than getting into any of the trickier emotions, and it feels too close to home. It’s better than that stuff with the First, but that isn’t hard. There’s a good reason for that, honestly. So much of this rebuilding stuff requires paperwork and that’s so boring. Sitting down at a desk and going through a stack? Please.
           One thing it is good for? Practicing the whole breathing thing. She’s had a little more practice now that she’s reauthorized herself to go in the field and on patrol on a more regular basis, but from your average fledge she’s not going to get to really flex normally, let alone with magical glowy powers. Plus side, too—you don’t need much space for practicing breathing or trying to ensure uninterrupted glow. It’d be nice if Josie had any pointers, but she’s a lot like her own grandfather, apparently. Some instinctual knowledge, absolutely no formal training.
           But she’d been passive. Let so much of this happen, just because she didn’t want to confront Giles or Willow about the way they were leading because none of them wanted to talk about how getting shut out at the end had hurt, and then, after that, not like it was as bad, but it never quite recovered, either. They’d looked at her as the leader up until the point when they didn’t anymore and she didn’t call the shots anymore.
           And in any case she didn’t want to be thinking. Because lots of thoughts lurked there, like stuff about Angel, and Xander completely not being able to see, and the deaths of witches and Slayers and how just when they’re finally getting back to their feet, they’re getting blindsided and back on their back, dazed and not quite at the point where they can work through what happened and get right back to work. And maybe how she’d been holding Dawn back, too, because after Mom died it was her job to protect her, but maybe she’d just been smothering her instead.
           On the other hand, she’s a lot of things, but she’s not a coward and if, say, Xander can face all of this with as brave a face as he can manage, then she’s got no excuse. No good ones, anyway.
           So she actually told Dawn, right in front of Giles which she would’ve avoided earlier, that it’s on her to keep Mr. Head Librarian in line. Dawn started off with one of those villain speeches that made everybody laugh, and Giles looked embarrassed, but he nodded respectfully which Buffy hadn’t seen in forever, and had trusted her judgment to be going off with Giorno again (because if you’re hunting a Big Bad, it makes sense to do with somebody with powers that you trust to have your back). He might have his own lingering distrust for the son-of-vampire mob boss, but he’s not insisting she even think about this again. It almost makes her start crying again, though luckily she could cut that off with a quip before it went anywhere.
           And letting Spike and Faith take care of the shattered remnants of the Council feels a little too reminiscent, too, but this she’ll give Faith: she’s actually totally cool with doing all of that grunt work to keep things running because a redemption arc isn’t glamorous and she knows it. She’s sarcastic as ever, but makes it clear that she sees Buffy as being in charge, which is wild and still a little wigful. And there’s Spike, too—she never would have guessed it before, but somehow they’re actually being good influences on each other. They encourage each other and keep each other honest, or—well. No, they probably both still lie, but, uh, what was that word she’d used briefly as counselor—accountability. That was it. So far, Rush hadn’t shown any signs of going for entire organizations or he would’ve had more and probably simultaneous strikes against, say, other Council sites or Wolfram & Hart branches. More, like, targeted strikes, trying to damage organizational capability of going after him and take out stuff he thinks is actually dangerous to him, personally.
           And then she senses movement, and it’s more instinct than choice to turn and try to smack the intruder with the palm of her hand, and, score, it’s glowing. Would you look at that. Maybe she’s starting to actually master this Ripple thing. She manages to pull her arm back in the very last moment, so it stops just short of dislocating a jaw if not worse.
           Turns out, it’s Giorno, who is briefly very, very still. He’s one of those people that freezes if he’s actually scared or at least intimidated, Buffy guesses. And probably isn’t actually sure if this sun martial art thing can hurt him. Probably not, she’d think, not with his own power working off the power of life, but who knows. Powers aren’t always predictable or sensible. It’s so quick that without the whole Slayer powers she wouldn’t have even caught that. It’s simultaneously cool to have enough power to have his healthy respect and a little guilt-trippy because she doesn’t intend to go around scaring all her allies, only the ones like Wolfram & Hart because they deserve to have their days and outfits ruined. “Are you ready, Signorina Summers?”
           She pulls her arm back completely, blowing off the top of her palm like it’s a smoking gun. Just because she’s feeling in the mood to let off a little steam. “Let’s go.”