❝hold your own, know your name❞

[guiltapalooza]

Characters Willow (guiltapalooza) and you! OPEN.
Setting: The infirmary.
Format: Action to start, but I'll match if you want prose.
Warnings: Maybe some mention of past violence.
Summary: Though she's laid up in the infirmary with some pretty debilitating wounds, Willow's feeling a lot better than she has in months, and is more her usual self. Her magic is finally back, and she's welcome to visitors.

[Willow is currently propped up in bed, a stack of pillows fluffed behind her and the layers of blankets tucked around her. There's healing, scabbed scrapes on one cheek, and her right hand is splinted; she's wearing rather boring gray thermal pajamas, but along the neckline clean white bandages can be seen wrapping across her torso. It's not a surprise that with how battered she is she's also very tired. She's rather dazedly holding a mug of tea in her hands, cradled in her lap to stabilize it while she rests and not bother her injuries.

But despite all this, when someone enters she looks up to greet them with a sleepy smile.] Hey.

Comments

[nemophila]

Oh, I know French...! Uh, not from school or going to France. I just know a bit from what I read.

[Nerd who reads Le Petit Prince in the original french yeah.] Though I've never left Japan myself.

[Unless Space counts.]

[guiltapalooza]

[Nerd solidarity going on here. She perks up with interest.] Really? Qu'est-ce que vous aimez lire? [What do you like to read? via Google translate, errors are totally not mine.]

Japan sounds exotic enough to me, so I won't dock you for it.

[nemophila]

[Well that got him to perk up!]

Mon livre préféré est Le Petit Prince! [My favorite book is The Little Prince! Yeah he probably learned French just to read that.]

[And a small laugh.] Well, America sounds equally exotic to me.

[guiltapalooza]

[Awesome, she loves when she's successful at perking people up. She smiles widely.]

J'aime ce livre! [I love that book!] Though Madeline's really my favorite. A little girl that didn't fit the mold, that was me.

So what's your town like? [she goes on, leaning forward.] Or... city, you said it was named Sumaru?

[nemophila]

I've read that too...! Don't worry... I never really fit in at my school either.

[Hey, he's even actually pulling up one of those stools to sit down now! And he nodded.] Yes, Sumaru City. It's...

[A city where rumors come true and everyone gossips and it got launched into space after being attacked by a Nazi battalion?] Interesting. There was always something happening-- it had a TV station, a record company, a casino, a shrine...

[guiltapalooza]

[Wow, she's on a roll here. She drinks some tea as she listens to this list, and nods eagerly at appropriate places.]

That's tons more than my tiny little town. We have a club, a skeezy demon bar, and the high school, but that was about it. Even the skating rink is almost out of town. [She just slides the phrase 'skeezy demon bar' in there without thinking, and goes on.] We have to make our fun in Sunnydale, [she finishes, joking.]

[nemophila]

[He was far less surprised by the mention of demons than he should have been.]

We had a few bars too, though we didn't find any of the demons there. [Surprising enough!] I'm... not sure we would call that part exciting though.

[guiltapalooza]

[Something about the way he says that makes her think there's more to it. It sounds like one of the Scoobies talking about their lives to a normie.]

... Should I take that to mean it was on the terrifying end of exciting? [she suggests.] Or just the embarrassing one? [Bars are either terrifying or embarrassing, right.]

[nemophila]

Uh... [Haha. Hah. Let's not get into the fact that he kind of helped facilitate a demon outbreak shall we--]

The terrifying part, mostly. Mostly dangerous. Plus the bar sold swords and guns.

[guiltapalooza]

[Yeahhh they don't need to go into that. She nods sympathetically at his response.]

I feel ya. Not that I've ever bought weapons before, especially not at a bar, but I could picture it. Our lives are pretty wacky, huh?

[nemophila]

[Hey, that even got a bit of a chuckle!] Definitely a little whacky. [He'd spent so much time dwelling on things, it was almost refreshing to look at the events that transpired so light-heartedly.]

Um... are you a demon summoner then? [He was preeetty sure she wasn't a persona-user, that was for sure.]

[guiltapalooza]

[She starts in surprise, an instinctive reaction to the suggestion.] No, no way, [she denies quickly.] I try to avoid demons whenever possible. Not that it is, usually, possible. But summoning them just never works out for the summoner, in my experience.

I'm a witch. I use raw power and rituals to accomplish what I want to do, personally. [Though where that power comes from is another question, and more of a lecture.]

[nemophila]

[And now it was his turn to be surprised.] A witch?

[He really shouldn't have been surprised after all of the stuff he had seen and done, buuuut.] I didn't know you could draw power like that. Do you draw it from the earth, or...?

[guiltapalooza]

It can be from the Earth, [she explains, taking a long drink of tea before continuing.]

Or from me, or a mystical object or book, or someone else. [Willing or unwilling, if you knew how.] Everything alive has some magic in it; it's life force, woven into the fabric of existence. It's just a matter of knowing how to tap into it.

... Though it's not as easy as I'm making it sound, [she finishes, a bit wry and sheepish.]

[nemophila]

[Sorry Willow, you have piqued his nerdly and/or vaguely occult interests.]

That's amazing..! I've heard about drawing energy from the stars and life energy, but no one's ever mentioned tapping into the mundane. But it sounds like a much more efficient source!

[guiltapalooza]

[That's okay, she's pretty nerdy about magic herself, beneath all of the associated issues that she's accumulated about it. But she can't help but take a serious, introspective tone as she continues.]

You can do just about anything if you know how to get the energy for it, [she agrees.] But there's consequences. That much power, it... goes to your head. And with great power comes great responsibility, and all that. You can easily kill yourself if you don't know what you're doing-- or kill someone else.

[nemophila]

[Hm. Well, he certainly wasn't a stranger to conversations taking on a bit of a downward tone.]

Have you... Has that ever happened to you...?

[guiltapalooza]

What? Oh, no. Not me. My egregious mistakes have been for other reasons. [She had killed someone by sucking the magic out of them once, but that had been intentional, and she'd been more than a little insane at the time.]

I just didn't want you to get the idea that there was some endless source of power out there, and it's all consequence free to tap into it.

[nemophila]

Oh, no...! I've... had experience power like that before. Not... exactly, but..

[Wow he's just made this all five times more awkward especially for himself um--]

Sorry, I was just asking.

[guiltapalooza]

[Well now it's awkward. But Willow's used to awkward, so she rallies.]

It's fine. I mean. Life, you know?

So do we want to keep talking about our dark pasts or should I find another topic?

[nemophila]

[He couldn't resist a bit of a chuckle there.] That's probably for the best...

[Buuut after that it was back to an awkward frown.] I'm...not very good at this. Sorry, again..

[guiltapalooza]

No, no, I got it. I have your back, no worries.

[She gives him a smile and shifts in bed to relieve the pressure on one of her injuries.] This might be another depressing topic, but do you have anyone from home here? I'm all on my lonesome.

[nemophila]

Actually, two of my friends are here. Tatsuya and Eikichi-- if you've run into them. [Not frowning surprisingly!]

...Sorry you're by yourself though... [And then he took notice of her shifting.] Uh-- are you OK? Do you need anything?

[guiltapalooza]

Nope, never heard of 'em. But I'm glad you aren't alone. [She forces a smile, not wanting to be selfish about it. She talks about her sad loneliness enough; even she gets tired of it.] I've made some friends, and I'll... get back to them someday.

[Though she's not so sure of that, anymore, Willow can't own up to that uncertainty.

She looks embarrassed at being caught out.] I'm as okay as I can be? Could you... maybe pour me some water, though? I finished my tea, and I'd do it myself, but. [She holds up the hand with the splint in explanation, and the other one, with the mug. There's a pitcher of water on the night stand that she gestures to.]

[nemophila]

Of course! [He was glad to be able to at least help a little. He took the mug from Willow when she held it up, filled it up with water from the pitcher, and held it back to her for her to take as he set the pitcher down again.]

Um... if it's any consolation... I don't really understand how this world works, but... I've lost my friends for a very long time before... but I did get them back. [Even if it sort of lead to the destruction of his world.]