towerofanimus | ❝hold your own, know your name❞

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I prefer to learn things without getting anyone killed because of it, or losing my friends.

It's just... not who I am.

...

And I prefer to learn things without being left to my own devices for years on end. But we don't always get the option to choose.

[A sigh, as she stares down at her tea.] Yeah. We don't.

... So, um, on a non-depressing side, thanks for checking up on me? It gets really boring in here.

[Chuckle]

Hospitals are the worst. I was shoved into a few because of... [She gestures vaguely up at her face] My more interesting self-inflicted wounds. If not for my friends coming to see me, I doubt I would have done much other than just sleep for my entire stay. Someone to talk to always helps with the healing process.

You'd know, [she agrees.] I've landed in here a few times, and sometimes my friends do so I come to visit, but usually we can't stick around because we're still in the middle of whatever's going on.

Nothing like re-ensouling a vampire from your hospital bed.

Sounds like you've had some interesting hospital visits yourself. I imagine you must be quite the troublemaker back at home. [She's grinning.]

How does one re-ensoul a vampire in the first place? I'm guessing it must not require too much physical exertion considering you could do it from bed.

Oh no, [she says quickly.] Me, a troublemaker? I like rules. I get all nervous and antsy when I break them. The trouble very definitely finds me. [Most of the time, this is actually true. Willow will finish things, but she rarely starts them.]

It's a spell, so no physical exertion at all. First you need an Orb of Thessulah, and then you need an ancient Romani curse translated into English, and also some friends to do the backup chanting for you. I actually have that spell memorized. Just in case.

Are vampires a problem on your world then? We don't have very many of them, unless you want to count monsters eating souls as vampiric. The one we have that I know of isn't technically a bat either; he's a mosquito demon so he still drinks blood, but it's not quite the same I don't think.

We have tons. And not the bat kind, either, that's just Dracula. We have sunlight allergic, soulless, people-eating vampires all over the place. My town is a haven for them.

My best friend, Buffy? She's the Vampire Slayer, AKA that Chosen One. It's a whole mystical thing.

I'd love to get a look at her soul. I bet she has an anti-demon wavelength. Or at least she would if she were from my universe; considering you have a human soul, I'm guessing the rules are a little different.

[She wondered if she would have even been able to resonate if Willow was a real witch. That certainly would have been a disappointment.]

You ever get jealous of being friends with "The Chosen One"?

Well, I'm sure she'd... hypothetically hold still, if you asked very nicely? [Buffy wasn't generally a fan of being examined and treated differently from a normal human, but she wasn't mean, either.]

Huh? Oh, no. Never. Destiny is-- it's not fun. You might think you want to be a superhero, but it's that whole Spider-Man thing. With great power comes great responsibility. Once you can do the incredible, there's a lot more blame for when you don't.

No, you're right, it's rough having that sort of responsibility... Even without all my fighting abilities, even just as a doctor, people seem to think you're capable of much more than you are. ...Though I suppose at this point, I'm really not allowed to say that anymore considering I brought my friend back from the dead once.

It's nice that you realize it's about more than the fame and the title.

Bringing people back from the dead isn't all it's cracked up to be, either, [she says glumly.] Being the Slayer doesn't really get any fame with it, anyway. Not good fame. All the people that would appreciate you saving them don't even really believe in what you're saving them from, most of the time.

It's all a big underground secret. It's just the demons that have heard of the Slayer's reputation, and mostly then it's like, oh, wouldn't killing one make for a nice trophy on my wall? Not so fun.

If there's ever a way to get us all back home, and if she finds her way here before then, maybe you and your Slayer should come back with me. I'm sure your skill set would be better appreciated if you were meisters.

I don't know, [she says, a little doubtful.] I appreciate the offer, but we've stuck with Sunnydale for so long. We've saved that world so many times, darn it. Unless it blows up under our feet, we're too close to it to abandon it now.

Well if you ever need a change of scenery, the offer's there.

❝hold your own, know your name❞

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