Willow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
frogfear) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
deercountry2021-09-06 12:14 pm
frogfear) wrote in deercountry2021-09-06 12:14 pm
(no subject)
Who: Willow and You
What: Acclimating and exploring Gaze
When: Early September
Where: Around Gaze
1. First Night - For Clockhouse Residents
To say it's been a long day is something of an understatement. Has it really all just happened in one day? From turning back into a human, and nearly drowning, to necromancers and pirate ships, and crabs, and reunions with old friends, and scattered memories. It's hardly a surprise that by the time Willow finds her way home, she's exhausted, and quickly retires to her room for some much needed sleep.
The dream is strange; she would have expected nightmares about being back in the ocean, or about tentacled pirates, or reanimated dead. Instead, it's a strange, disjointed dream of a dark forest, a full, pale red moon, and distant howling.
She wakes with a start, and jumps out of bed. The first thing that hits her when she opens her eyes is that she's lower to the ground than she's used to, and the world around her has a strange quality to it - it's dark, but everything is sharp and clear, bathed in a mix of blues, greys and yellows. It's not until she looks down and sees paws where her hands ought to be that outright panic hits.
No, no, no. This can't be happening - she's already been a squid today, and a human, and now, what's this? She dashes to the bathroom, sliding when she hits the tile floor, and puts her hands - no, paws - on the sink to look in the mirror. A wolf! She's a wolf. Not like the werewolves from home, but an actual regular wolf. She looks grey to her own eyes, but her coat is a soft red interspersed with dark guard hairs.
She pushes off the sink and paces in circles. It's a full moon, sure, but she hasn't been bitten by anything, she doesn't think. A spell, maybe? She's sure she didn't cast anything, although she's been vaguely aware that her magic feels different here than it did in Deerington, or Sunnydale. Suddenly, she remembers Amy, trapped as a rat for three years - does she ever not want to be stuck like this long term.
Ozpin - Ozpin is experienced with magic, he'll know what to do. She just has to go find him, and surely he'll be able to help her find a way to turn back into herself again. It's not until she leaves the bathroom to go sound the alarm that she notices the figure still asleep in her bed.
What.
It's a strange sensation to watch yourself sleeping in bed from another form, and Willow isn't quite sure how to parse it. It has to be some kind of spell, or curse. Something to do with Trench, maybe, she's not sure. She thinks back to the nights in December, she shared her dream guide's form, but this doesn't feel the same somehow. This isn't sharing another form, this is becoming something else entirely while her regular physical self appears to be comfortably asleep.
Hey! Hey! Wake up!
It comes out as three short yips, but the figure in bed doesn't wake, and instead just rolls over and pulls the blankets in closer around herself with a sigh. It hits her that this might be some kind of Freaky Friday thing, and maybe if her human form wakes up, it will be the wolf's consciousness in her body. Maybe that's not such a smart idea after all.
She runs to the door and jumps up to turn the handle, except - oh. Right. No thumbs with which to grip the knob. Well, that's just great. She sits back on her haunches with a sigh of exasperation. All she can do is call for help and hope someone wakes up. She tries for her words, but instead gets a frantic yodeling howl.
Hey! Someone? Anyone? I need some help in here!
2. Around Gaze (School of Mutter and Archives) - Open
Willow had been trying to find her way to the Archives in Gaze anyway, so when one of Never Mind's ravens seem to be offering to show her the way to the School of Mutter, she accepts gratefully. Finding answers is a priority - both regarding the things she's seen and experienced since arriving, this new form of magic that feels so unlike her own, and she's also taken an interest in the history of Trench itself. It seems like as good a place as any to start, at least.
She spends most of her day checking out the lectures and classes offered by the school, chatting with the Scholars when they can spare a moment, and exploring options for attending regularly. She still intends to go find the Archives as well and launch into her own research, but it seems like a good idea to get information from others as well. An offhanded mention that she has a couple people looking to learn magic from her once she's more comfortable herself results in the suggestion that she look at running her own class as well when the time comes, and the idea does spark her interest.
At the school, she can be mostly found exploring the halls, or waiting for a lecture to start, or hanging back to try to catch up with one of the Scholars afterwards.
Later in the day, she does make her way to the Archane Archives. It's a both fascinating and horrifying place all at the same time, museum and library all rolled into one and more than once she startles at a monster specimen she comes across unexpectedly while perusing the shelves of books.
It doesn't take her long to settle in and become distracted, losing herself in the stacks. It's difficult to find what she's looking for, though, and frustratingly, the organizational system seems to be - well. Non-existent. Some of the books, too, seem distorted in ways that remind her far too much of the time spent trying to look into the history of Deerington, only to realize there was nothing she could possibly do to force the books to become readable. She quickly reshelves those ones after thumbing through a couple pages, and puts her focus instead into finding ones on blood magic, blood types, and the history of the area. She's happy to be interrupted by someone willing to help in her search, or looking for help with their own, or even someone just looking for the chance to talk to for a bit.
3. Wolfwalking (Archives and around Gaze) - Open
It quickly becomes clear that what triggers the change in Willow, and she hates it. Much of her time is spent in the Archives looking for a solution to either stop or at least control it, but even information on werewolves that change when sleeping seems to be rather lacking, let alone a way to stop it from happening.
It's hard to fall asleep knowing what sleep will bring, but she won't complain about the insomnia that keeps her in her proper body, in spite of the exhaustion she feels.
She's sitting cross legged among the stacks with a book in her lap when it happens. She only gives in and closes her eyes for a moment, but it's enough. She's back to a body that doesn't feel anything at all like her own, and once again unable to see colours properly, but at least she can hear and smell everything around her, and her eyesight overall is sharper. She's already figured out she can't wake herself up immediately - she needs at least some sleep to return, so instead she lets out a huff and flops down on the ground. She stays for awhile, in case anyone comes by - she's not sure what would happen if someone disturbed her sleeping form, so it seems important to stick close.
She gets antsy after awhile, though, and decides to roam the maze of shelves, eventually moving further and further afield the more comfortable she gets that she will remain undisturbed until she leaves the Archives altogether to explore Gaze. The world feels far different lower to the ground, and with keener senses in spite of her perception of colour being weaker. She's cautious and a little nervous as she makes her way through the district - she's not confident in how she moves in this shape, and it feels a little harder to recognize people she's already met sometimes, but if someone's in trouble, she will still stop to try to help, and she will not immediately bolt if someone stops to try to make a new friend.
4 - Wildcard!
[Want something different? Feel free!]
What: Acclimating and exploring Gaze
When: Early September
Where: Around Gaze
1. First Night - For Clockhouse Residents
To say it's been a long day is something of an understatement. Has it really all just happened in one day? From turning back into a human, and nearly drowning, to necromancers and pirate ships, and crabs, and reunions with old friends, and scattered memories. It's hardly a surprise that by the time Willow finds her way home, she's exhausted, and quickly retires to her room for some much needed sleep.
The dream is strange; she would have expected nightmares about being back in the ocean, or about tentacled pirates, or reanimated dead. Instead, it's a strange, disjointed dream of a dark forest, a full, pale red moon, and distant howling.
She wakes with a start, and jumps out of bed. The first thing that hits her when she opens her eyes is that she's lower to the ground than she's used to, and the world around her has a strange quality to it - it's dark, but everything is sharp and clear, bathed in a mix of blues, greys and yellows. It's not until she looks down and sees paws where her hands ought to be that outright panic hits.
No, no, no. This can't be happening - she's already been a squid today, and a human, and now, what's this? She dashes to the bathroom, sliding when she hits the tile floor, and puts her hands - no, paws - on the sink to look in the mirror. A wolf! She's a wolf. Not like the werewolves from home, but an actual regular wolf. She looks grey to her own eyes, but her coat is a soft red interspersed with dark guard hairs.
She pushes off the sink and paces in circles. It's a full moon, sure, but she hasn't been bitten by anything, she doesn't think. A spell, maybe? She's sure she didn't cast anything, although she's been vaguely aware that her magic feels different here than it did in Deerington, or Sunnydale. Suddenly, she remembers Amy, trapped as a rat for three years - does she ever not want to be stuck like this long term.
Ozpin - Ozpin is experienced with magic, he'll know what to do. She just has to go find him, and surely he'll be able to help her find a way to turn back into herself again. It's not until she leaves the bathroom to go sound the alarm that she notices the figure still asleep in her bed.
What.
It's a strange sensation to watch yourself sleeping in bed from another form, and Willow isn't quite sure how to parse it. It has to be some kind of spell, or curse. Something to do with Trench, maybe, she's not sure. She thinks back to the nights in December, she shared her dream guide's form, but this doesn't feel the same somehow. This isn't sharing another form, this is becoming something else entirely while her regular physical self appears to be comfortably asleep.
Hey! Hey! Wake up!
It comes out as three short yips, but the figure in bed doesn't wake, and instead just rolls over and pulls the blankets in closer around herself with a sigh. It hits her that this might be some kind of Freaky Friday thing, and maybe if her human form wakes up, it will be the wolf's consciousness in her body. Maybe that's not such a smart idea after all.
She runs to the door and jumps up to turn the handle, except - oh. Right. No thumbs with which to grip the knob. Well, that's just great. She sits back on her haunches with a sigh of exasperation. All she can do is call for help and hope someone wakes up. She tries for her words, but instead gets a frantic yodeling howl.
Hey! Someone? Anyone? I need some help in here!
2. Around Gaze (School of Mutter and Archives) - Open
Willow had been trying to find her way to the Archives in Gaze anyway, so when one of Never Mind's ravens seem to be offering to show her the way to the School of Mutter, she accepts gratefully. Finding answers is a priority - both regarding the things she's seen and experienced since arriving, this new form of magic that feels so unlike her own, and she's also taken an interest in the history of Trench itself. It seems like as good a place as any to start, at least.
She spends most of her day checking out the lectures and classes offered by the school, chatting with the Scholars when they can spare a moment, and exploring options for attending regularly. She still intends to go find the Archives as well and launch into her own research, but it seems like a good idea to get information from others as well. An offhanded mention that she has a couple people looking to learn magic from her once she's more comfortable herself results in the suggestion that she look at running her own class as well when the time comes, and the idea does spark her interest.
At the school, she can be mostly found exploring the halls, or waiting for a lecture to start, or hanging back to try to catch up with one of the Scholars afterwards.
Later in the day, she does make her way to the Archane Archives. It's a both fascinating and horrifying place all at the same time, museum and library all rolled into one and more than once she startles at a monster specimen she comes across unexpectedly while perusing the shelves of books.
It doesn't take her long to settle in and become distracted, losing herself in the stacks. It's difficult to find what she's looking for, though, and frustratingly, the organizational system seems to be - well. Non-existent. Some of the books, too, seem distorted in ways that remind her far too much of the time spent trying to look into the history of Deerington, only to realize there was nothing she could possibly do to force the books to become readable. She quickly reshelves those ones after thumbing through a couple pages, and puts her focus instead into finding ones on blood magic, blood types, and the history of the area. She's happy to be interrupted by someone willing to help in her search, or looking for help with their own, or even someone just looking for the chance to talk to for a bit.
3. Wolfwalking (Archives and around Gaze) - Open
It quickly becomes clear that what triggers the change in Willow, and she hates it. Much of her time is spent in the Archives looking for a solution to either stop or at least control it, but even information on werewolves that change when sleeping seems to be rather lacking, let alone a way to stop it from happening.
It's hard to fall asleep knowing what sleep will bring, but she won't complain about the insomnia that keeps her in her proper body, in spite of the exhaustion she feels.
She's sitting cross legged among the stacks with a book in her lap when it happens. She only gives in and closes her eyes for a moment, but it's enough. She's back to a body that doesn't feel anything at all like her own, and once again unable to see colours properly, but at least she can hear and smell everything around her, and her eyesight overall is sharper. She's already figured out she can't wake herself up immediately - she needs at least some sleep to return, so instead she lets out a huff and flops down on the ground. She stays for awhile, in case anyone comes by - she's not sure what would happen if someone disturbed her sleeping form, so it seems important to stick close.
She gets antsy after awhile, though, and decides to roam the maze of shelves, eventually moving further and further afield the more comfortable she gets that she will remain undisturbed until she leaves the Archives altogether to explore Gaze. The world feels far different lower to the ground, and with keener senses in spite of her perception of colour being weaker. She's cautious and a little nervous as she makes her way through the district - she's not confident in how she moves in this shape, and it feels a little harder to recognize people she's already met sometimes, but if someone's in trouble, she will still stop to try to help, and she will not immediately bolt if someone stops to try to make a new friend.
4 - Wildcard!
[Want something different? Feel free!]
no subject
Willow doesn't hear the approach, but she doesn't startle at Ange's voice either. "Huh?" She looks over and grins as she sets the book down. "Oh, hey. Yeah. Looking into where we landed and stuff seemed like a good place to start. You're planning on the same thing, huh?"
no subject
"I mean, this place already seems.. strange." With extra emphasis on that word, because whew boy, 'strange' doesn't even seem to cover it. Somewhere between their new squidforms and their weird blood, and that's even discounting everything around them in this place.
She moves to sit down at the same table as Willow is reading at - though across from the table, so she can look at the other.
"Maybe it was a little too optimistic on my part, but I sure thought we were going to be in a more normal place than this after leaving Deerington."
no subject
"It doesn't seem like everything's such a big secret, though? I mean, at least the books about Trench are... you know... readable." She is not at all bitter about glitched books at the Deerington library. "It is still really a lot with everything."
no subject
Even if everything about them as people has become a little wilder.
It's something to just contemplate though, rather than talk about, so Ange shakes her head and asks: "What are you reading about right now?"
no subject
So basically, a little of everything, as she wasn't entirely sure where she wanted to start.
no subject
Because that sure hasn't gone unnoticed to Ange - nor has it to most other people in the city, apparently. Not that it's very surprising to her. There's only so many times you can hear someone talk about the weird blood they have before looking to see if your own blood is still normal, after all.
Though there's a slight hint of relief at the thought that they actually have books here about it. It means that it's at least something normal in this place. Something that's known, rather than something they have to figure out entirely by themselves.
"So the people here knew about that already."
no subject
She glances to the rest of the pile. Hopefully the rest of her selections are just as helpful, then back to Ange.
"So, have you done any browsing yourself yet? Kinda messed up - nothing doesn't seem to be in any particular order, so it's hard to find anything. You just kind of have to look around and hope you manage to pick up what you're looking for."
no subject
"I just walked in." And considering she spotted a familiar face she sure doesn't mind talking to, she figured she could talk for a bit first before going to look around here herself..
.. though what Willow is saying is slightly discouraging. Not majorly so, but it sure is a pain in the ass.
"But.. really? Why is there no order? I mean, it's a library." You'd think someone was being paid to keep the books here in some sort of order! Some sort of organisation!
no subject
"This whole place is kind of strange - it's like a museum and library all rolled into one. You gotta be careful when you're looking through the stacks because sometimes you'll just come across some kind of crazy monster specimen - some of them are kind of startling if you don't know to expect them."
It certainly is an interesting library.
no subject
Maybe it's the fact that she expected so much better of this place. That'll teach her to get her hopes up for absolutely once in her entire life.
"I wonder if we have someone with librarian ambitions among us. Maybe they could rearrange this place. I doubt the people who already live here are going to care much, considering the order is now just totally random."
no subject
She grins at the idea of someone with librarian ambitions completely overhauling the way the library is organized - or, you know, not. "I think that might take some time, but it'd be a good project for someone. I wonder if the Scholars would be okay with that, or if it would just be like fighting a never ending battle against chaos."
no subject
What a pain that would be.
But it's not that part that she says out loud. Instead Ange focuses on the first part of what Willow says. The part that makes her groan and rub her eyes, looking tired.
"I don't know. Ruby keeps suddenly bursting into flames ever since arriving here, I think that's what's keeping me from liking this place." It's a lot of stress to have to deal with right away.
no subject
She takes a deep breath. "Has Ruby had any luck at all trying to get her fires under control?"
no subject
"It seems pretty random," Ange answers. Then again, it's not like she knows that Willow is going through a certain lack of control struggle as well, which means Ange's mind is entirely turned towards Ruby as she says that. "Sometimes it doesn't happen for a little while, but then it'll randomly happen again.."
There's definitely a hint of concern in her tone that Ange can't quite shove all the way down enough to hide it.
"I've asked Mako to help her. He's always had some form of fire magic, so I'm hoping he can do something about it."
no subject
"I hope Mako can help too," she answers. "I mean, there's got to be some way to get it under control. Hey - it might be a good thing to look into while we're here. Maybe we can find something to help?"
no subject
That's a considering 'oh'. A slightly surprised 'oh', since Ange hadn't quite thought of that idea herself yet, but it's a good one. The weird fire powers are something that only started after they arrived here, so there's got to be some information on it somewhere out here, right?
.. the only problem being, of course, the lack of any organisation in this library that Willow has pointed out. Ange leans back, staring at all the shelves with books around them.
"You're right. I guess that means I'm going to spend the rest of the day looking for any book on fire in this place." That's sure going to be a Task.
no subject
"We can work together on it. It sounds pretty magical to me, so it's probably a blood magic thing. I've already pulled some books on that subject, but I'm sure we can find more, if we need to. Especially if we do it together."
no subject
"Really?"
Granted, it's only a small favour the other is offering her here. Relatively speaking. And even moreso when you take into account the fact that it's not like Ruby is the only person in this entire city having had trouble with her powers..
But look, Ange is still really getting used to this concept of people helping her out this easily, even though she's already taking the book.
"You don't mind helping?"
no subject
"Of course I'll help. I mean, I'm here. You're here. You're my friend, and so is Ruby. Ruby was the one who told me about the Summoning Stones back in Deerington too, so it's not like you guys have never helped me out too," she answers.
She's reminded a little of high school back in Sunnydale; late nights spend in the library with Buffy, Xander and Giles, researching the latest threat to the town, or the world. She can't help grinning, with all the upheaval lately, it's nice to have something that feels familiar.
"Besides, it's kind of like old times. I used to do this kind of thing all the time, and it's kind of nice to have some company here."
no subject
".. okay then," Ange slowly says, her hand tracing the outlines of the letters on the cover of the book Willow handed to her - like an idle gesture while she's thinking. The whole supernatural study group thing is a little more new to her, but not necessarily in an unpleasant way, she thinks.
"Let's see what we can find out together. We can't let this library's dumb lack of an organisational system stop us." And they can first start off with the books Willow has already found to begin with.
no subject
She holds her place in her book with one hand, and flips back to the front to look over the table of contents to see if maybe there's anything that jumps out as potentially relevant to Ruby's fire problem.
"There's gotta be something somewhere here that will tell us how to help her, right?"
no subject
Because Ange doesn't know what other solution to find for this problem. If it's not something she can stop by herself, and if it's something even Ruby can only marginally gain control over without information, then their only hope is finding something in here that might explain it.
"I'm not sure if it has anything to do with our weird blood here, but if it does, then those books about blood magic might help.." She's opening the book, starting to browse through it. Still talking to Willow, but looking down at the pages as she speaks. "Although it's not like she had any blood out when the fire showed up, from what I remember."
no subject
"I mean, maybe you don't always have to be bleeding to use blood magic? It's in us anyway, right?" She looks up from the book, blinking. "Huh. You haven't noticed any pattern to Ruby catching fire or anything, have you?"
no subject
Though she's snapped out of that thought when Willow asks that question. Ange glances up from her book, over at the other.
"Other than my blood pressure going way up whenever it happens?" Yes, that's an unhelpful joke, and she's well aware of it. But this is the one way she can cope with this problem without going crazy. "I'm not sure if I noticed a pattern of when it happens, but I do know that every single time she tried to put the fire out, it somehow flips over to some other extreme, and she ends up encasing herself in ice instead."
no subject
Her eyebrows raise, she didn't realize that on top of the fire, Ruby was also somehow managing to completely encase herself in ice as well. "She really never does anything halfway, huh? But maybe there is some connection to something she's doing, or some way she's feeling or something. If we start keeping track, maybe we can figure out some kind of pattern?"
(no subject)
(no subject)
we can probably wrap it here, right? c: