At Destiny's End

[jo_reid]

Who: Jo, Dawn, Avery, and Wesley
Where: Wes' new house
What: Jo, Dawn, and Avery arrive at Wes' place, hoping that Wesley can help Jo with her mystical problem.
When: Evening, after talking to Buffy and Spike

Comments

[jo_reid]

Jo didn't feel herself being moved, didn't feel Wesley's hand in her own. She existed only in her mind, with this deformed man.

The man yelled above her own screaming, each one of his booming words piercing her mind. He said, "I can't leave until you tell them the truth! I can't let this haunt them their entire life! I don't want my wife, my children to think that...I'm not a killer!"

Jo's voice got softened, her body growing tired, "Just please...go. ...You're not real... ...You're not here... Go. Please, leave me alone..."

He continued to yell, "I'm not a killer! They set me up! The fire...there were 20 people in that building. I was just a victim! The person who set the whole thing up is still out there! You have to do something! Families, my family...they need to know!"

Jo suddenly sat up, screaming with everything she had, "YOU'RE NOT REAL!!!!"

The man finally disappeared, a look of disappointment on his corroded face. Jo's eyes returned to their normal color, taking in the room she had been moved to. She felt her body sink into whatever she happened to be laying on, her whole being utterly exhausted. She just lay there quietly, too tired to function. This always happened after her visions, crazy meltdowns, whatever they were. Her mind just collapsed for a few minutes, needing time to catch up. She hated it, but there was nothing she could do. So she lay there.

[avery_quinn]

Candles, candles, candles, candles... he was looking around for something to burn in proxy - who didn't have emergency candles around? They were probably hidden... He would have to think about that later. Wesley gave him his orders, though, and he obeyed. He ducked out of the room, looking for the bathroom.

It didn't take him long, though there was an audible shuffling of pills and bottles and linoleum, followed by a "Gah!". Still, as he made his way around, he poured the glass of water, opening the tap wide. All in all it took him a minute... he'd cleaned up his dropped bottle fiasco, despite the fact that it was a 'bad situation'.

Returning, he knelt down next to Wes and Jo, offering Wes the painkillers and such, guessing she probably wouldn't be up to taking them herself.

"Do you know what's going on? It looks like magic, but..."

[dawning_bright]

Dawn bit her lip, glancing down at Jo, then nodded. "Okay." She stood again, then hurried off, following the sound of a baby crying. When she finally reached the crib, she paused a moment, then stepped in tentatively, smiling a little at the infant. "..Wow, you're the smallest baby I've ever seen." Or the youngest, anyway. He was still crying, so the brunette reached in and very carefully picked him up.

"Hey now...shhh...it's okay. Auntie Dawnie's here, and she'll take care of you." She glanced around and spotted a rocking chair in the corner. Moving over she sat down with Max and began to rock him very slowly. Finally, his tears and began to fade and the baby studied her, almost expectantly, it seemed to her. "You know, this is a first for me, too. I've never held a baby before. Unless you count dem-ok probably not what you should be hearing, huh? My sister's been around infants-me, mainly....though I'm still not sure if that counts. You see, I'm not really nineteen. Up till five years ago, I was a ball of energy." She grinned a little at the absurdity of telling a baby this.

Shifting Max, she rested his head on her shoulder and her cheek lightly against her hair as she continued rocking him. Not sure what else to do, she began to hum quietly, attempting to lull him back to sleep.

[watcher_pryce]

Sitting back, Wesley let the vision run it's course. It looked very dramatic to most people he realized. But after spending years with Cordelia - who was even more dramatic if needed - this made very little impression on him. All it did was raise questions. Why this girl, what sort of visions did she have, was she a demon, how long had she been having them, why was she having them...and on and on and on.

As distractions went, it was a good one. Until he recalled that he never got a warning about Fred dying. No vision from the Powers that Bugger us all. Not the first time, and not the last time. So why had Fate brought this girl here now that Cordelia no longer had the visions? And why was Fate always to late? Letting out a small growl, he glared up at the sky (the general direction for those incapable Powers) and wished they'd just bugger off and out of their lives.

For all he knew they'd found another innocent girl to torment until she died, only to move onto the next one. Bastards. Wesley was having none of it this time. And yet, he was going to *have* to ask what this girl, Jo?, had seen in order to help the person in the vision. After all, it wasn't fair to Jo to let her suffer for nothing.

"Its not Magic," Wesley said when Avery finally rushed back into the room. He gave the boy a side long glance, noticing he looked a little spooked. So he'd been right, the boy did know about magic. Interesting, something to file away for later perhaps. "It's a vision, though I'm not sure what *kind* of vision yet." Another side long glance to see if the boy understood what that meant.

"Thank you," he murmured, taking the pills and the water to put then on the table nearby. He kept half an ear open to listen for Max and found he was getting a little uncomfortable not being the one to comfort his son. He wished he could just up and leave to take care of Max. He couldn't though. All he could do was sit here and wait for this girl he'd never seen before to snap out of it. Cordelia, at least, had been able to talk right after such a vision.

Another thing to file away for later inspection.

"Miss Reid," he muttered softly when the girl finally seemed to calm down some. "You need to tell me what you saw, can you do that?" Sitting up on his knees he hovered over the girl with a concerned look.

[jo_reid]

As Jo lay on what she realized was a couch, she heard Wesley say something about a vision. Is that what it was, what they were---visions? And if she was having visions, did that mean she wasn't crazy, or was she crazy just because she did have them? And if this man could categorize them as visions, if he understood what they were, did that mean he could cure her?

Her mind was overcome by such thoughts, so she simply shut them out. Her brain couldn't handle them right now. After a few more minutes of inner silence, she heard Wesley ask her what she saw. Now there was fun discussion. Show of hands, who likes to talk about corpses?

Jo turned her head, looking into Wesley's eyes for a few moments. Then she turned her head forward again, staring at the ceiling. "A man. Badly burned. His flesh was...darkened in spots...hanging off in others... I could smell the burnt flesh, the singed hair. And his eyes...they stood out, ya know? Against the color of his skin, the contrast.

There was a fire. He died in it. But he wasn't upset over that. It didn't even bother him. He was blamed for starting the fire, for other people dying in it. But he said he didn't do it, that he wasn't a killer. He kept saying he wanted his name cleared, that he didn't want his family to be blamed. He didn't want them to live like that---outcasts."

Jo looked at Wesley again, and she could feel tears creeping up into her eyes. Damn them. She wasn't a simpering little girl. She was kickass Jo, the girl who liked to tease people, like Loverboy, the girl who went out on her own to conquer the world. She wasn't a weakling. ...So why did she feel like one now?

"Can you make them go away?"

[avery_quinn]

His brows were furrowed, arms crossing over his chest. He listened intently, trying to make everything make sense through force - something that never really worked. He didn't really move - he didn't want to make Jo feel any worse about the situation than she quite obviously was. After all... she was going through something insane - seeing ghosts in such a state was bound to be terrible.

He leaned back, and started running various ideas through his head. She wanted these visions gone, and deep down, he knew that magic could touch everything, even visions that weren't made of magic. "I bet..." He mumbled, under his breath. A charm of warding, or a banishment talisman might actually work. But then again, could he formulate something in a short amount of time?

He glanced over at Wesley - he obviously knew about magic, but just how much? Could he help? Avery looked back at Jo, tapping his fingers absently on his elbows. Absently, little sparks flicked near his fingertips - not pretty, subtle things... but simple, arcing sparks of soft white. "If I..." It was a problem, and he loved this kind of thing, regardless of who was involved. He'd said this was the life he wanted, helping people with their problems.

He stopped mumbling, eyes getting a slightly far-off look. He was excited at the idea of a real, magical, project.

[dawning_bright]

Once Max had begun to drift off to sleep, Dawn gently settled him back into the crib. Tiptoeing out she glanced back once over her shoulder with a smile, then made her way downstairs.

Moving back into where the others were, sky blue eyes glanced around curiously, then centered on Jo as she moved over next to her. "Hey...are you okay?" She looked to Wes. "Have you figured out what's wrong?"

Cathing Avery muttering something, she looked towards him. "If you....what?" Was there something he could do to help her new friend? Could anyone help Jo with this? Dawn hoped so, if anything for the sake of the blonde's sanity.

[watcher_pryce]

Well, they were similar to Cordelia's visions, but not quite the same. Wesley realized that whatever Jo saw had already happened. So the victim in this vision couldn't be helped any longer. It looked as thought the victim or whomever it had been, was *asking* for help. Interesting. The watcher in Wesley was fascinated.

He pushed it aside though because he realized that while it was fascinating for him, the girl receiving the visions must be frightened. Cordelia at least had some preparations before she received the visions. Jo Reid most likely hadn't a clue let alone any preparation time.

Where was Cordelia when you needed her? No doubt she was far more suitable when it came to explaining and soothing and-- Although, tact was not a strong point when it came to his best friend. Perhaps later when Jo had more time to adjust was a better time to have a seer to seer conversation.

"I'm not sure," he replied to Jo's question. After all, years of research and he had found little means to get rid of Cordy's visions, or even ease them. It took her turning into a half demon-- and lets not even talk about the consequences of that move.

"I'm going to have to do some research. I'm afraid though, young lady, you're going to have to learn how to deal with them. How to interpret them, how to 'see' them as it were. They're vision of a kind. You have them for a reason. There's someone who needs your help and doesn't know any other way then to ask for your help then this. You're like some sort of-- "

Thinking frantically, Wesley tried to come up with a good example. "Sort of like a ghost whisperer," he said, looking a bit sheepish. It had been Cordelia's fault for forcing him to watch that show with her! "At any rate, there are some techniques which might help you that I know of. To ease them, not to get rid of them. There is no cure, or magical spell or potent to drink to 'get rid' of them I'm afraid."

Wesley glanced away from her and over to Avery, who was looking far to thoughtful. And muttering to himself, which was something Wesley recognized. After all, he did it himself when thinking quite a lot. Thinking, however, wasn't always good. A lot of times it wasn't good actually.

"Whatever you're thinking about, young man, I wouldn't," Wesley said, giving the boy a stern look. One that turned into a worried look when Dawn entered the room.

"Is Max alright?" Wesley wanted to know, ever the worried father, his son pushing away any other concerns, worries or even research as per usual.

[jo_reid]

Jo didn't heart Loverboy's ramblings. She forced herself to sit up, hating how tiny and weak she felt laying there, and waited for an answer from Wesley.

"...Sort of like a ghost whisperer."

Part of her felt so relieved when Wesley said that. She wasn't crazy. Smart British Book Guy saw her at her worst, and said she wasn't crazy. She was seeing ghosts, but she wasn't crazy. And, hey, she'd rather be Jennifer Love Hewitt than crazy any day...

And then she realized what he was saying. He wanted her to take these visions, and make them a part of herself, a part of her life. She couldn't do that. She spoke softly, quite a rarity for her, "I can't be...that. I'm...a waitress. I sing in smokey bars at night. That's...that's who I am."

"At any rate, there are some techniques which might help you that I know of. To ease them, not to get rid of them. There is no cure, or magical spell or potent to drink to 'get rid' of them I'm afraid."

This time, Jo didn't even bother to try to stop the slight trickle of tears falling down her cheeks. She didn't say anything as Dawn entered the room. She just stood up, gripping onto the back of the couch to steady herself. Her world had just been turned on its head. It was like all of the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. There had to be another answer, there had to be a way out of this. She couldn't be like this forever.

[avery_quinn]

It did more than catch him off guard when Wes jolted him back to reality. He was, of course, the only young man, and he was thinking rather hard. Of course, Wes was smart, and Avery couldn't deny that at all. But still. If Jo wanted help, he was certainly not going to give up just because Wesley thought it was a bad idea. It might, however, slow down his train of thought, for a second. He peered over to Jo, trying to figure out how she was playing into this. She was talking to ghosts, that was easy enough to see. It obviously wasn't a pleasant experience, which was wrong, in his opinion.

However... his gaze turned to Dawn, and then back to Wesley. His fingers stopped sparking, now that he was wholly cognitive... it had merely been a side effect of thinking magical thoughts without an appropriate counterbalance. He felt bad for Jo, and yeah, he was kind of irked that Wesley would assume that there was nothing that could be done. Hell, hadn't Willow mentioned something about bringing back the dead?

For now, he would push his thoughts to the side.

"Hey, Jo... are you okay?" He asked, his voice gentle. He'd let Dawn and Wes obsess over the baby, and for now, he'd at least look like he'd given up on the ideas bouncing around in his head.

[dawning_bright]

(ooc-sorry this took so long. Been sick this week. Still sick, really.)

Dawn moved forward in time to help Jo stand, slipping one arm around her waist and helping her around to the front of the couch. She then looked over at Wes as he questioned her. "He's fine-I just...um, rocked him, for a while." She was too embarrassed to mention she'd sang-besides, her singing voice wasn't that great!

"He fell asleep again and I put him back in the crib." She then smiled at him. "He's beautiful, Wes. If you ever need a babysitter, let me know." It was the first nearly-normal thing she'd said or done since escaping the hospital.

Sitting beside her friend again on the couch, she absently pulled out her bottle again, thumbed it open, and slipped a couple pills into her mouth. Chasing it down with her tea, she slipped the medicine back into her pocket and refocused on the others.

A smile was offered to Jo. "See, I told you Wes could help." She had caught what he said about techniques and other things that might help out her new friend.

[visionsinprada]

What a long day! Shopping for food could be tiring when you had to read through the seventeen thousand steps to a baby's diet. For little Max, Cordelia was willing to go through the hassle of figuring out which disgusting puree was best fort his development. However this was some complicated stuff!

"I would have much preferred shopping for the occult items," the brunette mumbled to herself.

And how long ago those days were. Back when Angel Investigations had their little office, chock full of demon combating goodies per Wes. The days where all she worried about was stocking her own fridge, not taking care of a baby and Wes to boot. And yes, he did need taking care of. If Cordelia left that man to his own devices he was sure to take care of Max, but likely neglect his own nutrition. Well, no fear when Cordelia Chase was on the hunt! Her trunk was full of delicious foods and long receipts.

Stopping only briefly to get some coffee from one of those cute little drive through cafes, soon she was on her way home. She'd been out longer than intended not because she got caught up in shopping, but because she got caught up behind some very slow woman who had far too many coupons and not enough money not in coins to take less than twenty minutes checking out. When she finally pulled down the lovely long drive, a wave of relief washed over her. Cordelia found that as time wore on, she had less and less patience with mundane life and ordinary people who were completely clueless. Life for her, for Wes, for all their friends...? It was forever a different reality.

There was a car near the house. Unusual but not completely unexpected. Ex-Sunnydale folk were always stopping by to see Max these days. Cordelia pulled up nice and close to the front door and parked. She grabbed her keys, purse, and coffee, and headed inside. She did the tedious work, Wes could carry in the groceries, right?

"Wesleeeyyyy!" she chirped soft and cheerily as she entered. If Max was asleep, she didn't want to risk waking him.

[watcher_pryce]

Oh. Bugger. This really wasn't Wesley's territory. Yes, alright, he'd been good at calming down clients. But they'd already come to them because they knew they had a supernatural problem or assurance. He'd never really dealt with someone who he'd just had to tell that she was a visionary of some sort.

Glancing around, he nodded at Dawn when she assured him Max was alright. "Thank you, Dawn."

He'd check in on his boy soon enough. There was just something about this all that made Wesley a bit spooky. Then again, anything even remotely coming close to threatening his son made him on edge. The dreams, the nightmares he'd been having since Fred died weren't helping at all.

Ah! There they were. Wesley grabbed a box of tissues (curtsey of living with Cordelia no doubt) and handed them over to Jo. "I know it's a lot to take," he murmured quietly. "And you're still a waitress," he frowned at those words. Alright, that came out wrong. He really wasn't good with this!

Sighing, he looked from Avery to Dawn, wishing they would stop looking at him as though he has all the answers. He hated that look, especially since it had become painfully clear in his past that he *hadn't* all the answers. Cordelia would be so much better when it came to dealing with this.

Bluntness and tactless aside, she knew what Jo must be experiencing somewhat. Which was why it was a relief to hear the familiar overly cheerful voice of his best friend echoing through the house. Cordelia's idea of 'quietly' probably involved shoes and a lot of sneaking to get the best sale.

"We're in the library, Cordy," he called out, giving Jo a reassuring smile. "And your timing, as per usual, is impeccable. And there wasn't even a Neimans sale."

He turned to Jo and nodded his head to the door when Cordy appeared. "Cordelia Chase, this is Avery Quinn," Wesley introduced the boy, "of course you already know Dawn, and this is Jo Reid. I think you should talk to her. She's a visionary."

[jo_reid]

"Hey, Jo... are you okay?"

"Yeah. Great," she whispered, her eyes glazed over. She allowed Dawn to lead her to the front of the couch where she sat down.

The entire world had just changed. Suddenly, things that weren't supposed to be real were a part of her life. Were a part of who she was.

Ugh. Not had all of the oxygen been sucked out of the room, but the walls were starting to close in on her, too. This information was too much. Her brain couldn't handle it. It was going to explode, and leave little brainy parts all over the pretty library walls...

Suddenly a tissue box was in her hands, and Wesley was trying to comfort her...kind of. Before she could respond to him, a voice rang throughout the house. Within moments, she was being introduced to a woman. A visionary.

Jo found herself standing on her wobbly-Bambi-legs again. This was becoming all too real. And talking to this woman, it would make it that much more real. And she couldn't handle that. She couldn't deal with any of this. Why had she come here? Before she had hoped that these visions were a result of some supernatural occurence, because then she wasn't crazy. But she had never really realized what that meant, what it would mean for her life. How it would change how she saw everything (no pun intended).

She couldn't handle this.

She spoke softly still, "You know what? I shouldn't be here anymore. I need to go...clear my head. I appreciate all of your help. I just...can't do this."