The hometown brought its hero in...

[computermagic]

There is a redhead with a bookbag full of strange herbs and relics and her arms full of strange dusty tomes standing on a street corner somewhere in Chicago. She looks more than a little confused, and a little annoyed.

"That was supposed to be a guiding spell, not a teleportation spell!" she announces to the sky, and huffs a bit, looking around

Comments

[callyourselfa]

One For Sorrow wasn't planning on helping the new and uninformed today. But when they come out and nearly trod on him while he's trying to get out a bit of dropped sandwich, well, they kinda become his problem.

"Hey!"

He jumps, then flaps heavily up to the top of a trashcan, giving the new human - Willow Rosenberg, his Riftpower fills in seamlessly - a dark look. Dark... for a bird.

"Let me guess. You've never fallen through a transdimensional rift into another universe before. Bad news, sugar, there's no going home, and if you keep talking about spells someone'll come along and try to lynch you in a bit. Welcome to Chicago. Could you hand me that crust by your feet?"

[computermagic]

Willow jumps and might gape a bit at One For Sorrow before really processing what he says. "Um. I don't like lynching. Lynching would be, um, not with the good." She crouches down and carefully shifts her books so she can pick up the crust and hold it out for him. "I guess, y'know, being a, um, bird, you don't have to worry about being lynched."

[callyourselfa]

"There's the one; thank you." One For Sorrow snaps up the crust, devouring it with gusto. "Here's the deal: you came from a different world. To this different world. Lots of people do. Lots of people don't like the people who do. Some of them are violent and may try to kill you. Hear someone got crucified the other day."

Oh look, crumbs!

...

...righto, crumbs have been taken care of. One For Sorrow looks back up at Willow, studying her. "You're taking this much better than the last few."

[computermagic]

"Well," Willow says, still looking more than a bit befuddled by all of this, "I'm still, um, with the processing. Like, my little RAM just isn't up to the amount of programs that are trying to execute. S-so I'm just sort of, um, did you say crucified?"

And now we get "aghast". She does it quite well.

[leosarecynical]

Gray has the week off- it has something to do with the fact that it's very hard to hold a scalpel with a bum arm. Yes, thank you, Chicago. You save the park from one giant scorpion and they put you on the bench... Granted, he could probably do with the vacation.

He walks by Willow without actually noticing her, at first, but when he catches the word spell and her dismay at being in Chicago, he turns, almost literally, on his heels and walks back over to her.

"Well, either you've managed abjuration to a degree I didn't think possible or you fell through the Rift," he says, completely casual as if this is the most normal thing in the world. Because, to him, it... You know, is.

[computermagic]

"What? Oh! What?" Willow is a bit baffled by all this. "Well, I... don't know what taking an oath of exile has to do with anything, but I'm... Um... sort of not from around here? And am not supposed to, um, be with the here. I'm supposed to be with the... elsewhere!"

She smiles hopefully, and then blinks. "Whaddaya mean by 'Rift'?"

[leosarecynical]

"Oath of exile, magical banishy thing," Gray shrugs, because that is entirely helpful to the situation. Clearly, he is not at all perturbed by the fact that nothing she just said really made sense.

"Rift. Swirly vortex of doom. Occasionally, people take one left turn at Albuquerque and wind up falling through it to... Here." He gestures to the sidewalk. "It's a common problem. I'm sure someone is getting on it. Maybe."

BEHOLD DR. RAINES. HE WHO GIVES REALLY BAD HELP. In his defense, he is trying to explain it in a way that invites the least panic.

[computermagic]

"What? But-- no!" Willow looks more than a bit distraught. "I wasn't doing any big magics, and Giles has to have these books, and I wasn't anywhere near Albuquerque!"

See Willow. See Willow flail.