[001 ☿] Normal Human Dreams
It's a lovely day at the local park. People are nibbling at ice cream, children are running and laughing, it could be any park anywhere though the people, the kana on a few signs, and the cityscape suggest Japan; specifically, Tokyo
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Willow peaked around the rock just in time to see Mercury take out a group with what looked like a water spell. It sparked an idea in her, and she took a deep, steadying breath. Alright, she would try this once more. She wasn't going to sit here, helpless. She had to take care of things now that Buffy was dead, take care of everyone; she couldn't back down.
Her fingers threaded through the grass as she remained hidden and concentrated. Very faintly, her eyes started to glow. "Jupiter," she whispered, "king of gods, you know these dead are from your realm and a blight upon it..." Willow's chant continued, still quiet but gaining momentum.
When in doubt, call upon the thing that hated your enemy the most, and let it do the work for you.
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For a moment she half expected the skies to darken, as they would have before Jupiter's Supreme Thunder attack.
But she fights. This isn't time to be distracted or let her guard down. She can demand her answers after the battle. If it takes out some of the enemy... all the better.
Some have gotten too close to her now, and Mercury cuts these with her sword.
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"Juppiter Tonans," she calls, louder, "bringer of cosmic justice, right the wrongs here, purge this plane of the pollution of the dead!" It was Jupiter she'd called on after all, though in the aspect of the deity and not the planet, so Mercury wasn't wrong in expecting lightning. It cracked down from the sky and took out a good portion of the attacking shades, flickering across the lake and the flattened grass in stark contrast of white and black. Not the total destruction she was going for, but it would work. It was a lot to expect from an unpracticed spell when her magic was already funked.
Which, why had this spell even worked, exactly? The others hadn't. Willow let that thought drift to the back of her mind to be worked at later and climbed to her feet, one hand on the rock for balance. "I don't think I can do anything else," she called to her impromptu ally. "Can you get the rest or are we running?"
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"I never run!" Mercury calls out to Willow, deciding to forget the ever-increasing number of questions for now. "Let's take them out."
She crossed her hands in front of herself, and suddenly ice and hail filled the skies along with Jupiter's lightning, forcing Mercury to confess to herself that the combined attacks had always been much more powerful, more even than the sum of their parts.
Well, better Willow than Jupiter, at least.
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Ongoing internal monologue aside, it wasn't too much longer before the rest of them were disposed of. Willow peeked around her hiding place to check, wary from experience of surprise last minute attacks, and eventually came out into the open. She shook the dirt and grass off her skirt and did a double take now that she had a better, less crazily-dodging-behind-a-boulder glance at Mercury.
"Not that I mean to sound ungrateful or anything, but you... don't look like--" or rather, dress like-- "anyone I've ever seen in Sunnydale. Who are you, exactly?" Did she miss a convention somewhere? A convention of... cosplaying, demon-fighting magic-users? Scarily enough, it was looking likely.
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Short skirted sailor-type uniform.
Yeah, definitely convention type.
However, the girl tossed her head proudly and gave what apparently passed for a formal introduction. "The soldier of Water and Knowledge, Mercury."
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"You said those things were lemures, like from Roman myth?" she went on, clarifying the particulars. She pushed some hair over her shoulder and took a few steps, trying to get a better view around and see if there were any remains left behind. It was strictly from a threat assessment standpoint and not an academic one. "I figured Jupiter would be the god of choice, since his priests ritually cleansed lemures from their temples, so it'd follow that he'd be kinda testy with them." Yes, this is the sort of thing she just happens to know. Long sleepless nights spend researching myriad demonic problems left her with a strange knowledge base.
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And, to be honest, a part of the Soldier of Knowledge appreciated Willow's quick thinking. No wonder the spells had been so effective. Versatile, too.
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The fact that this wasn't true didn't matter: she didn't know that, after all. She forcibly discarded the thought and made herself focus. "Anyway, I'm not a huge Jupiter fan, it was just convenient. I call on whoever I need for the task. It's weird, though. My magic is being funny."
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This world, after all, was very different. There were only a handful of people with power. Adding more power to the mix, so to speak, perhaps that had simply unbalanced things for Willow.
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Willow adjusts fast to new rules, particularly since other dimensions are documented fact where she comes from. Not well known documented fact, but known to her, and something she has some small experience with. The concept itself isn't about to phase her, she's just... not quite there yet. Right now, it all seems slightly weird.
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It's rote by now to gather as much info as she can about anything mystical that she comes across. Willow can't help but try to anticipate when the random things she runs across end up being hugely important.
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"Okay, but a reincarnation of what, exactly? I'm trying to... understand."
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"I'm the reincarnation of Mercury, an immortal being who lived watching over Earth a long time ago." She neatly cuts out the Moon Kingdom from her story; she refuses to acknowledge any tie to them now. "That planet was also my home."
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