[001 ★ voice]

[guiltapalooza]

So... my world's been destroyed. Yeah, not buying it. It's been tried before, by bigger and, well, probably better than whoever's behind this. In fact, I was sort of in the middle of the whole preventing the apolocypse game show right before I got zapped here, so if I could pretty please go back to that...?

Yeah, didn't think that would work. Well. Hi, everyone? I'm Willow Rosenberg, witch extraordinaire. At least they were nice enough to send me here with clothes and magic supplies. No way am I staying in the white phallus suit.

If someone could fill me in on the features that are not as advertised, I'd appreciate it. I'm sure there's all sorts of stuff to know about this place.

A tour might be nice, too. This is a lotta floors.

Comments

[wwaterboy]

[He nods. He's willing to invoke them if it's needed, but he's content not to bother if she thinks he's all right without it. His fins spread a bit, reflecting his focused attention on her.]

All right, I'm ready, then.

[guiltapalooza]

I need your hand back. [pushing herself closer through the water and holding hers out]

Oh, and the first rule of magic? You have to want it. It's about willpower; just keep that in mind.

[wwaterboy]

[Eridan nods and holds out his hand readily, gripping hers. He is starting to get it - that in order to draw his power she might need to be touching him, and that gets his heart beating a little faster, but he has to trust her. He has to, if hes' going to learn]

I understand. I havve to wwant the outcome. That makes sense.

[guiltapalooza]

[She smiles at him reassuringly, bringing her other hand up before them in the water, palm loosely cupped. It takes a bit of proverbial dancing not to drift away, but this won't take long.] You got it. Okay - here we go.

[Slowly, deftly, she draws energy out of him and out of herself, drawing it up through her raised arm. She's done this so much before with Tara, but he feels different, and she doesn't want to push anything. It feels like pressure building as she gathers it for several seconds, a faintly dizzying, metaphysical warmth running through them.

She decides to make this simple, and skip the Latin.] Light, [she declares firmly, and a small glowing sphere of white radiates into existence over her open hand. To her, the accompanying rush of expended power is normal and expected, so slight compared to her earlier spells that she barely notices it.

Willow smiles in satisfaction at the result, face lit by the clear light.] Mission accomplished.

[wwaterboy]

[Eridan makes a little, surprised noise in the back of his throat as he feels her drawing on him. It feels weird, but good, in a way. Is this how Sollux feels when he's gathering his psychic energy?

The thought that he, a sea dweller, might really be able to use his own energy to fight and defend like a highblood psychic excites him like almost nothing else.]

Wwoww. [He breaths the word, so it comes out of his mouth with a glub of air] I felt that! I really do havve powwer!

[guiltapalooza]

Of course! [Grinning at his enthusiasm.] You think I'd take on just anyone as my student? Willow Rosenberg, force of nature? Only the best for this girl.

[She lets go of his hand, saying,] Your turn. Don't be disappointed if it doesn't work-- just give it a shot.

[wwaterboy]

[Despite her caution, he is fully bound and determined to make this work. He wasn't just anyone. He was Eridan Ampora, and he could do this. If Willow had taken a year to move a pencil, well, he was going to do it in half that time.

He had to.

He drew in a breath, swallowing a mouthful of water and expelling it through his gills, centring himself. Then he closed his eyes and concentrated on how that had felt, on where the power was located in his body and tried to will it to come forth and glow.

He lifted a hand, searching within himself and trying to create that weird draining feeling.]

Light. Come on, light!

[guiltapalooza]

Calm, [she soothes, like she remembers the witches at the coven in England saying to her when she was struggling.] It'll come. You just have to believe that it will happen hard enough.

[wwaterboy]

[He isn't very calm. He is getting a little bit frantic. Why isn't it working? He can't find that place inside of him at all, and why does it have to be so hard?

He opens his eyes, scowls at the lack of progress, then frowns and closes his eyes again, an almost fierce look on his face.]

[guiltapalooza]

[Willow reaches out, takes his hand again. She's not doing anything magical, just being present and supportive.]

You can do this.

[wwaterboy]

[Oh, she's touching him again, and that centres him a bit better than his own paltry efforts can.

Suddenly he realizes - he has to let it floww.

This time, he feels a little tug, a little drain, and a tiny, weak little light flows up his arm and flowers above his palm.

He opens his eyes and gasps a bit, and it winks out]

I did it! I did it, right? Wwas that right? I did magic!

[guiltapalooza]

[Her own ball of light leaves her hand and bobs excitedly in the water behind her. She beams at him.]

That was fantastic! Look at you, all magicking it up already. Keep practicing and you'll get it to stick around in no time.

[wwaterboy]

[He wiggles his fingers a bit, registering beneath his excitement that he feels a bit tired. But he did it. He did magic, and already he feels a bit more powerful, like he has some control over his life. Fuck the highbloods and their restrictions and their drugs. He, Eridan Ampora, is going to be a great wizard.

And then they'll pay.

He beams back at her]

Come on, I wwant to showw you something.

[And he tugs her upwards, towards the ceiling of the tunnel, where there's a hole, and beyond, a cave hung with stalactites. The walls glitter in Willow's light, with shards of crystal.]

[guiltapalooza]

[Thoughts like those are why she's not showing you any combat magic for a good while, Eridan... With great power comes great responsibility.

At the moment, though, she's swimming along with him, squeezing carefully through the hole so she doesn't scrape her skin along the rocks. When she looks up again, there's crystal everywhere; her light zips up close to an exposed portion, and the refraction dances along the cave walls.]

Oh, wow, [she breathes, reaching her free hand out to lightly brush along the stalactites.]

[wwaterboy]

[He kneels on the floor of the cave, drawing her up after him. Without her light it wouldn't look like much, but this is beautiful. He watches her wonder, and realizes that this place is even more beautiful than he thought.]

I thought you might like it.

[guiltapalooza]

I do, [she says earnestly, turning back to face him.] I feel like I'm not going to explode from worrying about my friends anymore.

You're pretty good at this.

[wwaterboy]

Wwell, I do havve some experience wwith this sort a thing. [He smiles sadly and reaches out, brushing fingers through her hair a little, feeling the texture of it. It's softer than troll hair, which is thicker and more wiry in texture]

[guiltapalooza]

[Hair-touching was a little quick this early into their friendship, but the way he was smiling-- as if she was reminding him of something sad... Willow couldn't find it in herself to feel put off by it.

Once again, her tendency toward empathy overrode all her other instincts.] With who? [she asks, a bit hesitant. This seems like it might be a delicate topic, but she does want to know.]

[wwaterboy]

[He draws his hand away, flushing a bit. It is a bit too soon, but it was flying out from her head and he hoped she might not even notice]

My moirail... She gets real crazy in a wway, all isolated and wworryin' about me wwhen I havve to go in to shore.

[guiltapalooza]

[She doesn't want to make him feel embarrassed. Willow scoots over closer to him, awkward in the water still, but she's slowly getting the hang of this "being where you want to be and not floating around aimlessly" thing. Soon they're almost knee to knee, hands still entwined. The current is almost nonexistent here in the caves.]

That sounds hard on her. I'm not surprised she goes a little crazy if she has to be alone all the time - I would, too.

[wwaterboy]

[Wow, this is sort of...intimate. Eridan gives her a slightly nervous look, then drops his gaze, squeezing her fingers]

Yeah, but it's necessary for her safety. That's wwhy it's killin' me bein' here, and knowin' that she's stuck there and all alone an' I'm not evver going to come back to take care a her.

[guiltapalooza]

[This is perfectly acceptable friend behavior in Willow country. She doesn't think a thing of it, just wonders why he looks nervous.]

Don't say that. I know you'll get back to her some day, and she'll be fine until then. You said moirails are like... soulmate friends, right? You'll make it happen.

[wwaterboy]

[He shakes his head, swallowing, his fins flat against the sides of his head]

She'll die wwithout me. And there's nothin' I can do but hope they bring her here.

[guiltapalooza]

You can't know that. She might be fine-- have some faith in her.

[She wants to say it'll be okay, but that seems like such a lie at this point in her life. She can't promise that.] If you care about her that much, she wouldn't just give up.

[wwaterboy]

[He looks up, smiling in a hopeless sort of way. She hasn't seen the way Feferi gets, how she goes swimming for hours and comes back strange from annoxia and the pollutants in the water. How she barely sleeps at all, and how the dreams send her half out of her mind. How she runs to him when he returns and covers him in frantic kisses, and says how she worried he wouldn't return this time. How he makes her promise to care for herself, but she doesn't really know how]

You're right. I havve to believve that.