14 August 2013 - The Question by Laney
Title: The Question
Author: laney_1974
Crossover: BTVS/Supernatural
Challenge Contribution Date: 14 August 2013
Word Count: 985
Rating: 13
Sequel: Sequel to sugar
Timeline/Authors Notes: BTVS: Set just after Welcome to the Hellmouth. Supernatural - pre-series by about 8 years. I'm keeping to the original timelines. Also, contains mostly secondary characters.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Buffy and Angel people belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy. Supernatural belongs to whoever owns them.
Summary: She's been waiting for this question for a while now, not because it had been on the boy's mind for the last couple of days, but because it's the one question she's always asked.
"How do you do it?"
Missouri Moseley smiles at the question. She's been waiting for this question for a while now, not because it's been on the boy's mind for the last couple of days, but because it's the one question she's always asked. "Do what, sugar?"
Her smile falters momentarily as the energy from the boy warms to joy and suprise, and once again she's overwhelmed with the urge to go over and give Tony and Jessica Harris a good talking to, but she knows she can't. She's already disrupted the plans just by being here, and taking Xander under her wing, so she has to pick her battles carefully.
"The psychic thing," Xander replies. "How do you do it? How do you know so much?"
She sits down on the couch and pats the seat beside her. It doesn't take Xander any convincing to sit down next to her. Missouri knows full well that she is the only person he trusts in this house, so he has no problem doing anything she asks - so far. Missouri knows there are lines he won't cross, the big one being anything that would hurt those two girls that Xander loves so dearly, and whose destinies are so intertwined with his that it frightens Missouri.
"I can read thoughts and energies in a room." All the blood drains from Xander's face and Missouri can't help but smile at the thoughts that pop into his head. "Now, don't you go panicing. I can read thoughts, not minds. There's a difference."
"There is?"
"If I could read minds, I'd go insane," she tells him. "True telepathy is something that can't be turned off. I'd be reading every human's mind for miles and miles and wouldn't be able to make hide nor hair of any of it. I'd also have access to the conscious and subconscious mind at the same time. Thoughts, though, are different."
"How?"
"Well, for one, you have to be actively thinking about it, consciously in your mind. Almost like talking in your head. I also have to choose to focus on you in order to read your thoughts. Sometimes, if someone is shouting something, I can hear them, but most of the time I have to choose to read you," she explains. "When you walked in this house all your thoughts were on your friend Jesse and how much you hated lying to his mother. Along with all of that, you were reliving in your mind the last moment you saw Jesse, right before he was dust. You do that every time you come to this house." And she's going to have to do something about that, soon. Not only is it coming time for her to leave, but it isn't healthy for her Xander to be in so much pain all the time.
"Oh," Xander remarks. "Not sure how that's different from reading minds, though."
"If I was reading your mind, sugar, I would have access to everything, not just your thoughts, but your subconscious mind - your fears, hopes, dreams, repressed memories... do you get me?"
Xander nods. "What about the energy you mentioned?"
"Well, that's a little more complicated, but everything around us is made up of energy. Sometimes it's natural energy, sometimes it's not so natural. I can read that." She feels bad not being completely honest with the boy, but she's not sure he's ready to hear the truth. That not only everything is made up of energy, but everyone as well. He's not ready to hear that Jesse McNally hasn't left his since he was killed, and that it's Jesse telling her everything she knows.
Or that Jesse has been pleading with her to make sure some of what he's seen of Xander's life doesn't come to pass.
"So what do you read about me?" he asks.
Missouri closes her eyes and reaches out and takes his hand. "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes," he replies verbally - but his mind is screaming "no" at her.
Missouri decides to settle in the middle. "You're a hunter."
He turns to her and she opens her eyes. His expression is stunned. "I'm going to be a hunter?"
"Oh, no, sugar, you are a hunter," she tells him. "Not a very good one mind you, but you're a hunter all the same. Weren't you just telling me just last week about that witch you helped banish just before we arrived?"
"That was Buffy."
"John Winchester's boys tag along on some of his hunts now, they don't do much more than you, but they're still hunters," she argues. "You still have a lot of training ahead of you, but it's what you'll be and I'll be right there to guide you as long as you need me."
Missouri's a little surprised by the promise that she gave without really intending to. She's also a little surpised at the way the energy in the room changes, shifts. As though her promises has altered something fundemental.
"I'll probably take you up on that."
She nods and wraps her arm around the boy. Missouri decides then and there that she won't make the same mistake she made with John Winchester. She was the one who opened John's eyes to the supernatural world, and she let him go into it knowing that the grief inside him will eventually destroy him. She can't allow herself to make that mistake again.
Xander already knew about the supernatural world when the two of them met, but she opened his eyes in a different way - to the hunter's world, and she's not going to let him go without any guidence, especially since she's knows what will happen if he has no adult to guide him.
There's a reason every slayer has a watcher.
It's why Missouri has just decided that this young hunter will have a guide.
-End-
Author: laney_1974
Crossover: BTVS/Supernatural
Challenge Contribution Date: 14 August 2013
Word Count: 985
Rating: 13
Sequel: Sequel to sugar
Timeline/Authors Notes: BTVS: Set just after Welcome to the Hellmouth. Supernatural - pre-series by about 8 years. I'm keeping to the original timelines. Also, contains mostly secondary characters.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Buffy and Angel people belong to Joss and Mutant Enemy. Supernatural belongs to whoever owns them.
Summary: She's been waiting for this question for a while now, not because it had been on the boy's mind for the last couple of days, but because it's the one question she's always asked.
"How do you do it?"
Missouri Moseley smiles at the question. She's been waiting for this question for a while now, not because it's been on the boy's mind for the last couple of days, but because it's the one question she's always asked. "Do what, sugar?"
Her smile falters momentarily as the energy from the boy warms to joy and suprise, and once again she's overwhelmed with the urge to go over and give Tony and Jessica Harris a good talking to, but she knows she can't. She's already disrupted the plans just by being here, and taking Xander under her wing, so she has to pick her battles carefully.
"The psychic thing," Xander replies. "How do you do it? How do you know so much?"
She sits down on the couch and pats the seat beside her. It doesn't take Xander any convincing to sit down next to her. Missouri knows full well that she is the only person he trusts in this house, so he has no problem doing anything she asks - so far. Missouri knows there are lines he won't cross, the big one being anything that would hurt those two girls that Xander loves so dearly, and whose destinies are so intertwined with his that it frightens Missouri.
"I can read thoughts and energies in a room." All the blood drains from Xander's face and Missouri can't help but smile at the thoughts that pop into his head. "Now, don't you go panicing. I can read thoughts, not minds. There's a difference."
"There is?"
"If I could read minds, I'd go insane," she tells him. "True telepathy is something that can't be turned off. I'd be reading every human's mind for miles and miles and wouldn't be able to make hide nor hair of any of it. I'd also have access to the conscious and subconscious mind at the same time. Thoughts, though, are different."
"How?"
"Well, for one, you have to be actively thinking about it, consciously in your mind. Almost like talking in your head. I also have to choose to focus on you in order to read your thoughts. Sometimes, if someone is shouting something, I can hear them, but most of the time I have to choose to read you," she explains. "When you walked in this house all your thoughts were on your friend Jesse and how much you hated lying to his mother. Along with all of that, you were reliving in your mind the last moment you saw Jesse, right before he was dust. You do that every time you come to this house." And she's going to have to do something about that, soon. Not only is it coming time for her to leave, but it isn't healthy for her Xander to be in so much pain all the time.
"Oh," Xander remarks. "Not sure how that's different from reading minds, though."
"If I was reading your mind, sugar, I would have access to everything, not just your thoughts, but your subconscious mind - your fears, hopes, dreams, repressed memories... do you get me?"
Xander nods. "What about the energy you mentioned?"
"Well, that's a little more complicated, but everything around us is made up of energy. Sometimes it's natural energy, sometimes it's not so natural. I can read that." She feels bad not being completely honest with the boy, but she's not sure he's ready to hear the truth. That not only everything is made up of energy, but everyone as well. He's not ready to hear that Jesse McNally hasn't left his since he was killed, and that it's Jesse telling her everything she knows.
Or that Jesse has been pleading with her to make sure some of what he's seen of Xander's life doesn't come to pass.
"So what do you read about me?" he asks.
Missouri closes her eyes and reaches out and takes his hand. "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes," he replies verbally - but his mind is screaming "no" at her.
Missouri decides to settle in the middle. "You're a hunter."
He turns to her and she opens her eyes. His expression is stunned. "I'm going to be a hunter?"
"Oh, no, sugar, you are a hunter," she tells him. "Not a very good one mind you, but you're a hunter all the same. Weren't you just telling me just last week about that witch you helped banish just before we arrived?"
"That was Buffy."
"John Winchester's boys tag along on some of his hunts now, they don't do much more than you, but they're still hunters," she argues. "You still have a lot of training ahead of you, but it's what you'll be and I'll be right there to guide you as long as you need me."
Missouri's a little surprised by the promise that she gave without really intending to. She's also a little surpised at the way the energy in the room changes, shifts. As though her promises has altered something fundemental.
"I'll probably take you up on that."
She nods and wraps her arm around the boy. Missouri decides then and there that she won't make the same mistake she made with John Winchester. She was the one who opened John's eyes to the supernatural world, and she let him go into it knowing that the grief inside him will eventually destroy him. She can't allow herself to make that mistake again.
Xander already knew about the supernatural world when the two of them met, but she opened his eyes in a different way - to the hunter's world, and she's not going to let him go without any guidence, especially since she's knows what will happen if he has no adult to guide him.
There's a reason every slayer has a watcher.
It's why Missouri has just decided that this young hunter will have a guide.
-End-