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Jun. 30th, 2007 04:32 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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still_grrrTitle: Limbo
Author: biggrstaffbunch
Rating: PG
Word Count: 999
Prompt: Make-up prompt for Bring out your dead (019): Jesse McNally
Characters/Pairing (if any): Jesse, Anya
~*~
Jesse McNally wants to meet this Anyanka chick. Not many people from Xander and Will’s circle make it up to his neck of the post-mortem woods. Up here in morally ambiguous land, where all the friendly-ish demons, good-kids-turned-vampires, and reformed serial killers go, there’s not much action from anyone he knows well, let alone from his old buddy’s new posse.
Too many white-hats, too many champions. It’ll be a while till Willow dies, and her judgment is up in the air anyway. Xander and that blond girl, Buffy, they’re off to the land of shiny halos and fluttering wings for sure. Cordelia, despite being the (still unspeakably hot) vessel of some seriously hairy evil, made the trip through the pearly gates, already. So if Jesse wants any friends here behind the slightly-rusted gates of limbo, (and boy, does he ever, limbo is boring as shit) he’s got to settle for the ex-vengeance demon slash ex-fiancee of his ex-best bud.
“Hi,” he says, once she’s stepped through the threshold. She’s attractive, in a timeless sorta way. Curly hair the color of caramels, nice arching eyebrows, pouty lips. Xander’s a luckier bastard than Jesse originally thought. ‘Course, Xand has all the luck: not getting bitten by a vampire; scoring with Cordelia (and man, that still burns); making it with Will before she turned gay; hanging out with hotties, day in and day out; getting engaged to his lady-love Anyanka.
Well, then Xander dumped her and lost his eye. So maybe Jesse will call it even, for now.
“You’re Anyanka, right?” he asks, smiling at the woman. She looks at him with suspicious eyes, passing her hand over her torso--bloody from the wound slashing her shoulder to hip. One of the perks of limbo is they let you keep your mortal body, but one of the downsides is you keep your mortal wound, too.
“It’s Anya, now,” she says. “Who are you? Or, more probably, what did I do to you, and what sort of insidious, mind-numbingly boring revenge are you itching to take on me? I‘m warning you: there was once a troll. Nothing adolescent vampire boys can very well top, that‘s for sure.”
“Uh,” Jesse says. “I’m Jesse. A friend of--”
“--Xander’s.” Anya’s voice hardens, though her eyes soften. “He told me about you once, when we were still coupling the orgasms with meaningful discussion.”
Jesse blinks. “Nice to hear,” he manages. He never pegged Xander for the post-coital chatter, but then, last he’d known his bud, they’d been high school horndogs. He’s never known Xander for the coital itself, let alone the post-coital anything.
“Are we in some sort of Hell?” she asks. “I killed a frat house once.”
“Good for you,” Jesse cheers. He hated the assholes at Sunnydale U, always driving past school and catcalling the high school girls. The high school girls he never could get with. “And no, we’re not in Hell. We’re in limbo--the stopping point between both destinations. Sometimes we get sent on ‘missions’ and if we do well, we get to cross over to whatever side is recruiting us. I was supposed to go scare Xander or something awhile back, for some oogley boogley. But hey, just ‘cause I’m a vampire doesn’t mean the prospect of eternal torment turns me on.” Much.
“Right,” Anya says slowly. “Great. I give up squishy human feelings and lots of years of lucrative prospects just to find myself stuck with an adolescent without ambition.”
Jesse winces. It’s not Hell yet, but…
“Look,” he says. “Let me show you around. You’ll find that sometimes, limbo has a lot to offer.”
~*~
“There’s not a lot of people from Sunnydale here,” Jesse says, patting the seat next to him. “It’s a bummer, ‘cause the décor is whatever you want it to be, and more often than not, I want it to be my hometown. But it gets seriously freaky when my hometown turns into my ghosttown.” He looks around where they’re sitting: a virtually abandoned Bronze. “I mean, sometimes I’ll see people I knew, kids who got turned into vamps, but were good people before the turning. Saw this total quacko, Holden, a couple weeks back. It was nice to hear news, he told me the Slayer was having a rough time of it, so I got an inkling that by extension, so were Willow and Xander.”
“He lost his eye,” Anya says bluntly. “It was the unfortunate act of a misogynistic preacher who served as the First Evil’s vessel.” She sips her martini.
“Wow,” Jesse says, impressed. “I only got bit by a vampire slut.”
“A lackey with no eyes ran me through with a sword,” Anya says crossly. “If we’re arguing about undignified deaths, I’m the clear victor.”
Jesse smiles. Anya’s a trip, that much he can tell already. “So how’s Xander been?” he asks. “I feel like I‘ve missed out on everything. We had big plans once…though I get that time passes. You know.” His voice is wistful.
“He’s been just fine, in between being stupidly noble and ridiculously wonderful and annoyingly appealing. I miss him.” Anya looks down, disgruntled and a bit teary.
“So do I,” Jesse says, surprised to find it’s the truth. “I thought I just missed, you know, being alive. Sunnydale news. But I miss him, too.”
“He still thinks of you,” Anya says, her lips pressed in a thin line. They tremble before she presses them even tighter. “I wonder if he’ll think of me, now.”
Jesse gets up and reaches out his hand. “Somehow,” he says reassuringly, “I know he will. Now come on: we‘re dead, we‘re pretty, let‘s dance.”
Anya smiles faintly, takes his hand, follows him out onto the dance floor. As the world keeps turning down below, and Heaven stretches on, up above, Jesse McNally realizes that sometimes, limbo isn’t about missing life or wanting peace. It’s about settling scores, finishing business.
Xander got to live, and Jesse? Jesse dances with his best friend’s girl.
~*~
Author: biggrstaffbunch
Rating: PG
Word Count: 999
Prompt: Make-up prompt for Bring out your dead (019): Jesse McNally
Characters/Pairing (if any): Jesse, Anya
~*~
Jesse McNally wants to meet this Anyanka chick. Not many people from Xander and Will’s circle make it up to his neck of the post-mortem woods. Up here in morally ambiguous land, where all the friendly-ish demons, good-kids-turned-vampires, and reformed serial killers go, there’s not much action from anyone he knows well, let alone from his old buddy’s new posse.
Too many white-hats, too many champions. It’ll be a while till Willow dies, and her judgment is up in the air anyway. Xander and that blond girl, Buffy, they’re off to the land of shiny halos and fluttering wings for sure. Cordelia, despite being the (still unspeakably hot) vessel of some seriously hairy evil, made the trip through the pearly gates, already. So if Jesse wants any friends here behind the slightly-rusted gates of limbo, (and boy, does he ever, limbo is boring as shit) he’s got to settle for the ex-vengeance demon slash ex-fiancee of his ex-best bud.
“Hi,” he says, once she’s stepped through the threshold. She’s attractive, in a timeless sorta way. Curly hair the color of caramels, nice arching eyebrows, pouty lips. Xander’s a luckier bastard than Jesse originally thought. ‘Course, Xand has all the luck: not getting bitten by a vampire; scoring with Cordelia (and man, that still burns); making it with Will before she turned gay; hanging out with hotties, day in and day out; getting engaged to his lady-love Anyanka.
Well, then Xander dumped her and lost his eye. So maybe Jesse will call it even, for now.
“You’re Anyanka, right?” he asks, smiling at the woman. She looks at him with suspicious eyes, passing her hand over her torso--bloody from the wound slashing her shoulder to hip. One of the perks of limbo is they let you keep your mortal body, but one of the downsides is you keep your mortal wound, too.
“It’s Anya, now,” she says. “Who are you? Or, more probably, what did I do to you, and what sort of insidious, mind-numbingly boring revenge are you itching to take on me? I‘m warning you: there was once a troll. Nothing adolescent vampire boys can very well top, that‘s for sure.”
“Uh,” Jesse says. “I’m Jesse. A friend of--”
“--Xander’s.” Anya’s voice hardens, though her eyes soften. “He told me about you once, when we were still coupling the orgasms with meaningful discussion.”
Jesse blinks. “Nice to hear,” he manages. He never pegged Xander for the post-coital chatter, but then, last he’d known his bud, they’d been high school horndogs. He’s never known Xander for the coital itself, let alone the post-coital anything.
“Are we in some sort of Hell?” she asks. “I killed a frat house once.”
“Good for you,” Jesse cheers. He hated the assholes at Sunnydale U, always driving past school and catcalling the high school girls. The high school girls he never could get with. “And no, we’re not in Hell. We’re in limbo--the stopping point between both destinations. Sometimes we get sent on ‘missions’ and if we do well, we get to cross over to whatever side is recruiting us. I was supposed to go scare Xander or something awhile back, for some oogley boogley. But hey, just ‘cause I’m a vampire doesn’t mean the prospect of eternal torment turns me on.” Much.
“Right,” Anya says slowly. “Great. I give up squishy human feelings and lots of years of lucrative prospects just to find myself stuck with an adolescent without ambition.”
Jesse winces. It’s not Hell yet, but…
“Look,” he says. “Let me show you around. You’ll find that sometimes, limbo has a lot to offer.”
~*~
“There’s not a lot of people from Sunnydale here,” Jesse says, patting the seat next to him. “It’s a bummer, ‘cause the décor is whatever you want it to be, and more often than not, I want it to be my hometown. But it gets seriously freaky when my hometown turns into my ghosttown.” He looks around where they’re sitting: a virtually abandoned Bronze. “I mean, sometimes I’ll see people I knew, kids who got turned into vamps, but were good people before the turning. Saw this total quacko, Holden, a couple weeks back. It was nice to hear news, he told me the Slayer was having a rough time of it, so I got an inkling that by extension, so were Willow and Xander.”
“He lost his eye,” Anya says bluntly. “It was the unfortunate act of a misogynistic preacher who served as the First Evil’s vessel.” She sips her martini.
“Wow,” Jesse says, impressed. “I only got bit by a vampire slut.”
“A lackey with no eyes ran me through with a sword,” Anya says crossly. “If we’re arguing about undignified deaths, I’m the clear victor.”
Jesse smiles. Anya’s a trip, that much he can tell already. “So how’s Xander been?” he asks. “I feel like I‘ve missed out on everything. We had big plans once…though I get that time passes. You know.” His voice is wistful.
“He’s been just fine, in between being stupidly noble and ridiculously wonderful and annoyingly appealing. I miss him.” Anya looks down, disgruntled and a bit teary.
“So do I,” Jesse says, surprised to find it’s the truth. “I thought I just missed, you know, being alive. Sunnydale news. But I miss him, too.”
“He still thinks of you,” Anya says, her lips pressed in a thin line. They tremble before she presses them even tighter. “I wonder if he’ll think of me, now.”
Jesse gets up and reaches out his hand. “Somehow,” he says reassuringly, “I know he will. Now come on: we‘re dead, we‘re pretty, let‘s dance.”
Anya smiles faintly, takes his hand, follows him out onto the dance floor. As the world keeps turning down below, and Heaven stretches on, up above, Jesse McNally realizes that sometimes, limbo isn’t about missing life or wanting peace. It’s about settling scores, finishing business.
Xander got to live, and Jesse? Jesse dances with his best friend’s girl.
~*~
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Date: 2007-06-30 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-30 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-30 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-30 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-30 11:07 pm (UTC)I love the line, "we‘re dead, we‘re pretty, let‘s dance."
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Date: 2007-06-30 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-01 10:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 05:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-02 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 05:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-03 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-07-05 07:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-19 10:54 am (UTC)Loved this line, actually loved the whole thing