taxonomites | [Location: Where the Bronze used to be/Accidental visual] You can sit beside me when the world comes

In the days after Willow had found out that Xander had been taken from the city of Taxon, she had gone through a myriad of emotions. None of them positive. Anger, fear, depression, all that angsty goodness. She took no comfort in the memories she had of him, knowing that he was gone. There was the off-chance that he'd return, like Dean's mother and Sam, but if he did, would he remember being here? Would he be from a world that didn't have her? This questioned weighed heavily on Willow's mind, which sent her spiraling downward. Deeper into her depression.

Finally, after two days of milling about in her pajamas, not caring, not turning on her tablet, Willow sprung into action. She didn't bother dressing, staying in her purple bunny pajamas, her feet bare. She made her way downstairs to the library, grabbing one of the more advanced witchcraft books, and a satchel full of ingredients. Several of them were intended to help with the restoring of Xander's eye, but they wouldn't be much use now, would they?

Willow made her way through the streets to where the Bronze used to be, looking at the empty, nondescript building that had taken its place. Willow's chin trembled and she grit her teeth. She hated this place. It was all a lie. Xander had his mind, Tara was alive. It was all just temporary. Entering the building, Willow crossed the floor to the middle of the large, open space, dropping the satchel. Within a few minutes, she had a large, archaic symbol drawn on the floor. Stepping into the center, several small candles placed at key points, Willow closed her eyes, summoning up the energy swirling inside her, begging to be freed.

Opening her eyes, her pupils seemed to expand, covering most of her eye, leaving a little white at the edges.

"Götter der Dunkelheit
Dreher der Wirklichkeit
Ich flehe Sie an

Schaffen Sie für mich, ein Loch
Dringen Sie durch den Raum ein
Hören Sie Zeit auf

Bringen Sie mir, worum ich bitte.
Ich flehe Sie an."

Purple-blue lights began to swirl around the witch as she began the incantation, spinning and dipping faster as her voice rose. "Ich flehe Sie an!" She cried and the lights seemed to freeze in the air in front of her, before shattering outwards, breaking the windows in the room.

Willow had winced a little, closing her eyes when the lights exploded. After a few moments, she opened them, to find nothing but broken windows and blown out, knocked over candles. And the satchel had scooted a few feet away in the small explosion.

But there was no Xander. Willow's eyes flooded once more with tears and her chin trembled. "Shit...."

((ooc: Crappy German translation for crappy fake!spell: "Gods of the dark
Turners of reality
I implore you
Create for me, a hole
Pierce through space
Stop time
Bring me what I request.
I implore you.
I implore you."))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Well," Petra amends, wryly, "I could have said 'honesty is most often the better way, with assorted exceptions', but I would've sounded dithering and you wouldn't have let yourself be distracted correcting me."

"At least that would have been reasonable," Willow sighed, wiping at her cheeks once more, no longer sobbing quietly.

Petra was becoming a surprisingly welcome distraction. Willow was still upset, there was no doubt about that. But she could breathe, for the most part.

"Let's say instead that truth and deceptions each have a place, and we should think very carefully on the consequences of either." If she can't do anything else, Petra is at least very good at providing steadiness and something else to think about.

"Well, that's just common knowledge. Despite most people not knowing it," Willow commented.

This is good. Distracted Willow thinking on things other than her missing best friend and her failed incantation is good. Petra, you are doing an awesome job and you may or may not know it yet.

"I was once told that common sense is among the very worst of misnomers. Don't you think that's so?"

Well, she's certainly trying.

"You're not wrong. For it to be common, it should be well known. With how people are these days, we know it's the opposite," Willow says with a sigh.

She has no idea how far off Petra's 'these days' differ from her own.

Luckily (...) a total lack of common sense abounds in almost any era of any world - 'what fools these mortals be' is usually a safe topic. Petra's certainly relieved to have found something she doesn't have to sound completely bewildered by.

"More often than not," she agrees, resting her chin in her hands. "I find so often that men will twist what they witness to suit what they already believe."

"Men do seem to do the worst of the not having sense that is common," Willow nodded, looking down at her hands for a moment. "They do have a way of taking what really happened and twisting around to their liking."

Willow added, "Or just being straight up jerks. Using girls and tossing them away." That was aimed at you, Parker.

Having some experience with being thoughtlessly discarded, Petra winces appropriately. "They can be unconscionably callous," she agrees.

"And they intend to be callous other times. People, as a whole, are sadistic and sometimes want to do things to purposefully hurt others. Just to see them upset," Willow rambled off quietly, her brow furrowed.

Petra briefly considers explaining the difference between unconscious and unconscionable, but either way the two of them agree on this and it's needless. "To see them affected," she murmurs, not unkind. "Twisting a person just to see them twisted at their hands. It's power, they think."

"When it's really just cruelty," Willow nodded slowly, looking off to the side. She was distracted, but she was gradually returning to her 'oh god everything sucks' mindset and the tears steadily fell, the collar of her pjs a darker purple from the crying.

[Location: Where the Bronze used to be/Accidental visual] You can sit beside me when the world comes

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