animus_network | 1 ✘ voice

Something tells me that my world’s not actually been destroyed. Because my world? It’s pretty destructo-proof. We’ve proven that. A couple times, actually. We’re like cockroaches, cut off our heads and we come right back. And some letter saying that you saved me from the big bad--

[ a beat ] Hold on. Who are you supposed to be, anyway? You and your little letter with your little words. Because if you’re not Buffy then i’ve gotta wonder if you’re trying to be her and i’m not sure she’s ever been too big on imitation or flattery being the highest art of anything.

And anyway, if my world had been destroyed, you would’ve saved Buffy, not me. Probably Will, too. I’m not usually the guy that gets picked for these sort of things -- it’s like how I always picked last for dodgeball and put on the bench. I’d probably get picked last for who gets to live in the brand new world order, too.

So, uh, you maybe wanna tell me what’s actually going on? ‘Cause the fake letter really isn’t gonna cut it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It'll be a couple flights before they get to the cafeteria, so they have some time to chatter.]

They can't help the culture they were born into! [she protests.] And it's kind of a hot button for most of them, so I would avoid it altogether if I were you. [If I were as prone to foot-in-the-mouth as you, is what she means.]

[ Look, it's a syndrome that Xander can't help okay. It's not his fault that's where his foot is perpetually stuck. ]

Fine, i'll be sure to leave all the fascist dictators out of every day conversation from now on. So I don't make the trolls mad. [ He... sounds kind of skeptical. ]

Some of them are all about the fascist dictators, and some of them are very, very not. It's like anyone else stuck in that kind of situation.

Just think of them like people. Some of them are-- are murderous and awful, and some of them are really friendly and cute and look like a little thirteen-year-old fairy troll. It's all kinds.

Right, got it. It takes all kinds to make a fascist-run troll country. [ Nodding along very seriously, of course. But since he's already anticipating the look Will's about to give him, he holds up his hands in peace. ]

I'll be nice, I promise.

[She bumps into him with her shoulder intentionally, playful.]

Don't be silly, Xander. You're always nice, you're just sometimes also a doofus.

[ He just bumps right back into her, because he can. ]

I think you're confusing me with some other doofus.

No, I am a connoisseur of doofuses, and you are definitely the prime doofus in my life. I know nice when I see it.

... After you eat, there is something I want to tell you, [she goes on, making that subtle shift to serious. Willow looks straight ahead as she speaks, voice quiet.] It's been worrying me, and... no one else here is you.

[ Oh, he knows that look. And it gets a slight tilt of his head while he tries to get Willow's attention. ]

I'd hope nobody else here was me, we've already been through that once before and it caused way too many problems. So spill, before any other me's show up and ruin the party.

I do prefer my Xander in the singular.

... [She takes a silent breath.] It's just that I have to do a lot of magic here. And I've-- I've come kind of close. I haven't done anything that wasn't in defense, so it's not... I mean, it's not like it was, b-but I just... No one else gets why it's so scary.

[ Okay that's more concerning sounding than he was expecting.

Have some worried-Xander-faces. ]

What kind of magic? And what do you mean you have to do a lot of it here? What's going on that's making you get that close?

[This is why she'd really wanted to talk to Xander. Everyone else was just so impressed with her, like it was a good thing. Or worse... they were scared. Willow didn't know how to prove that they shouldn't be afraid of her when she was busy being afraid of herself.]

Combat magic, [she admits.] It's dangerous here, Xander, and not just from demons. People attack each other all the time, and I can't just-- stand there while they're getting hurt. So I end up... with the magic.

But it freaks me out that I have to do it.

[ Oh, Xander was impressed with her. Just like he was impressed with Buffy -- they were both kind of hard not to be impressed by. He just wasn't so impressed it left him starry-eyed, at least not any more. They were still just Willow. Just Buffy. Just them. ]

It's a better reason than just... I don't know, waving a wand around willy-nilly, but still doesn't really take care of the actual problem. What're people doing fighting all the time?

Are we talking high school brawls over the hot chick here, or something worse?

[And she never thought any less of him for being just Xander, that was for sure.]

No, it's... something worse. [She swallows, looks down.] Some serious baddies came here, not just the good guys. People that have a legal right to kill whoever they wanted at home, or were just-- undisputed champ, you know? I try to warn them beforehand, I don't want to get into fights, but... Buffy's not here.

Don't I have to do this when she isn't around? [she asks helplessly, staring at him. Because Willow really has felt that she's had to keep fighting the good fight, even alone.]

1 ✘ voice

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