Owner	Pose
Willow	For weeks now, Dark Willow had been avoiding almost everyone as she read, and reread the spell that she planned on using to open the gates of hell. Nevermind what she was going to do when she had accomplished it. For now, her focus was on opening it. She felt more and secure in what she believed she needed to do. But a tiny part of her brain kept her from going whole hog and trying it. Probably the remnants of Willow's conscience. Some which made Dark Willow hackles rise. Who was she to say what she could do?! Still.. She could do a dry run? Use the basics of the spells, without the ritual items. That should work, shouldn't it? After all, the ritual items were foci to make her magic stronger. With a toned down version she could figure out the rough edges to be prepared on the Big Night! So, she holed herself off from the worst off the Scoobies, and other sorts who would make this a different sort of a 'practice'. And paced out the summoning circle where she would open up a lesser door. A side door you could say.
Nolan Voight	Perhaps lesser door isn't the right description to be using. Changing the focus, or removing the focus alltogether, doesn't eactly mean the door is of lesser quality. It just means it's quality is different. And that difference, unknown to the caster, may have a reason or reasning of it's very own.. such as seeking out a spirit of the living trapped at the furthest reaches of the realms of the dead.
Willow	Probably Dark Willow didn't think through that thought enough. Willow would have. But Willow was slightly anal when she studied up on new spells. Dark Willow? Not quite as anal. In fact, where Willow was precise on the bits and pieces to a spell because of her lack of self confidence, Dark Willow has piles of chutzpah, enough for herself and Willow combined. She was fearless, and full of herself. And to a point Dark Willow deserved to be! Willow should be confident. Seeing in the essence they were one and the same! Still, there was a fracture between the two parts of Willow's psyche, which ultimately allowed Dark Willow to be born. Closing the circle, she called the four quadrants to protect herself, and began to open the door to elsewhere..
Nolan Voight	The portal starts as a small softball sized sphere of light, floating at near eye level. It Shimmers and glows in obscure patterns of the most arcane variety. But then without warning it suddenly loses its patterns and the white light begins to change color. It parses through the entire Spectrum of different shades until it literally inverts itself. then the black within black sphere suddenly grows, stretching itself inch by inch and foot by foot until it is a flat disc 5 feet across. The disc, the gate, ripples with ethereal energy... Something ectoplasmic. But then the gate starts to sputter and flicker, as if something went wrong with the spell. The dark ripples have no rhythm and the gate starts to suck in on itself, but just before it closes something pours out of the darkness.. a man in a crappy business suit and a black leather jacket.
Willow	"Good.. good.." Everything was working out just the way it was supposed. The portal shimmering. Then black upon black upon bla-- Wait! -THAT- shouldn't have happened! Quickly she ran through the spell piece by piece. All the while the spell had spat out Nolan and considered its job was done. The spell was finished and the after effects of magic were just remnants here and there - the kind that you could find out (if you were powerful enough) who the magic user was. Dark Willow couldn't even stop the spell. As though it has its own agenda the spell was very quick and to the point: open the door; let ,,someone.. Nolan.. out and disappear. "Well, fuck." Was her initial reaction. Then she looked at the man - for it was a man - and tried to figure out if she knew him. This was one of those points where Dark Willow wished she allowed Willow more space in her brain. Willow at least would have remembered Nolan even if only peripherally. "Who are you?" Icy tones.
Nolan Voight	Its difficult to answer when one is dead. At least the readhead seems to be dead. He lies in the circle on his side, unmoving and unbreathing... And then he suddenly starts to spasm and jerk around when she spoke to him. He reaches out with his hands, his mismatched eyes open wide in panic... And then there is the sound of him sucking in air, so very deeply...groaning the word "LUNGS!" as if he had just discovered what those were. It taks a few moments for his body to relax from the first inhalation of air he has experienced in.. ell.. however long he has been trapped in the realms of the dead. He pushes himself up to a sitting position and stares at Dark Willow.. "Who am I? Really?"
Willow	"Would I be asking you otherwise?" Dark Willow could feel behind her eyes the beginnings of a migraine. Or something akin. "Don't tell me you and the wishy-washy girl knew one another?" She says that with trickles of disdain in her voice. It is clear that Dark Willow does NOT get along with Willow in the least.
Nolan Voight	Right. Actually he was asking because he felt that she had summoned him, and that is usually a directed spell. but now that she mentions it she does look familiar. Its that Willow girl from way back in the day. at least she physically looks like Willow, with a few little cosmetic changes. But her psychic imprint, her spirit, is off kilter, almost like it is split. "Yeah... I know you period or should I say her. And where am I and how long have I been gone?" he asks looking around a bit. "It can't have been that very long because you are not graying or looking like some Sunnydale MILF."
Willow	Dark Willow pinched her nose between the eyes. Of course. That girl knew *everyone*. And worse, quite often made friends of them. "Yada-yada. So you know Willow." Mentally rolling her eyes. "And how should I know how long you've been gone? What use do I have for you?" Willow can remember his name: Nolan. He was a private eye - similar to Harry. Though, while Harry could not use technology, Nolan talks to ghosts, and some had attached themselves to him. He went missing around the time she began to study for her Master's. So by that timing.. ~Two years.~ Somehow Willow manages to filter that knowledge to Dark Willow. Dark Willow pauses. Stops. Makes a considered 'hrm', and offers Nolan, "Apparently somewhere around two years. Give or take." She shrugs.
Nolan Voight	-Two Years- Nolan heard that.. Not just Dark Wiloow but also Old Willow. Yes, as she remembers, he hears and sees ghosts. But that is only a little bit of his abilities. It is more accurate to say he can hear /spirits/, as well as most other 'ethereal' beings. And Willow is just that to him. A spirit somewhat seperated from Dark Willow. Of course, he doesn't know HOW this new Willow came into being. Shakily, he pushes himself up to his feet, his left leg still clasped by the metal legbrace, and wobbles a bit. "Two years... Feels longer.." he murmurs.. and it is, by almost another year, but that is fine. He'll find that out eventually. "Look... Thanks for freeing me and everything but what the HELL is going on? Why are you so... well.. you?"
Willow	"Ha! First you insult me by comparing me to a MILF." Willow would never admit that she knew what a MIFL was. This one? She knows. "I believe the phrasing you are looking for is sexy. And why shouldn't I be? Really. I'm powerful. I command a room. Power is utterly sexy. It bleeds from my pores." The way Dark Willow says it, is is so simple that she considers Nolan less than she thought of him five minutes ago. "As for Willow? I know you want to ask this - I was tired of waiting for her to wake up and realize how powerful she was. If anything she was backsliding. Before the Scoobies relegated her to even more mundane chores than she already was doing, I took over." And the book helped. But she wasn't going to admit that.. yet.
Nolan Voight	Nolan is silent for a moment, staring at Willow.. But at which one? He finally sighs and draws his hands down his face. "Sexy? Powerful? oh my fucking god, Stab me in the heart right now.." he groans and then drops his hands to his sides. " are you implying she had a mental break because you, some subconscious whatchamacallit, got bored?" Nolan asks. "Because you felt that she wasn't, what, running around and wasting her power on senseless things that don't do anything but enhance your imaginary self worth?"
Willow	Dark Willow smiles a bitter smile. "Watch what you wish for. I could stab you in the heart. Really, without a second thought." This really isn't the Willow he knows. "As for what? For years she was unhappy, and didn't do anything about the cause. Did I get bored? Yes. Yes i did. She had so much power at her fingertips if she only reached out and grabbed it. But, no! It wouldn't be polite. Or the power was on the edge of not being so goody good. As though you can use anything without knowledge of its power and how to pervert that." She laughs, then. "Did you know, her brainspace was taken up with mundane skills? She actually thought of doing her Doctorate rather than build up her magic. What a waste."
Nolan Voight	Well now, no one sure does not look impressed by her little rant. It is almost as if he has heard something like it before. Oh no not the exact same words or even the same reasoning but something that was at least of a similar gist. "Wow, I must admit that is perhaps the least inspiring speech I've ever heard from somebody's twisted broken mind double. I mean really, did you stand in front of a mirror and practice that? Because I can only give that two out of five stars. And only because I actually somewhat liked the person on which your off-key psyche is based on." he tells her, and then sighs. "I guess we have to do something about this. And no, stabbing me in the heart will not be involved period."
Willow	Dark Willow laughs. "Even you have to admit Willow is a wuss. While I? I really don't need your approval. You should take some note, thought, after all, the only thing that is going to get -you- laid is flaunting your power." She laughs acerbically, taking a long look at him and finding him wanting. ~I would have.~ Willow echoes from where she is held. ~Of -course- you would have.~ As though that was not in question, and put Willow even lower in Dark Willow estimation.~Now shush.~ She shares that tidbit though - whether to laugh at both of them, or perhaps she presumes that even he wouldn't have wanted her, to make her quasi life even more sad. "So. What are you suggesting? I'm curious. You can't be saying you will fight me. After all, it wouldn't be very polite to attack your saviour. And besides, the protection circle is still up. I could just disappear and you would have to stay until the powers that hold it dissipate. A couple of hours. Days. weeks.. Who knows?" She shrugs, and examines a fingernail. (Feigning) boredom.
Nolan Voight	It is quite obvious that dark Willow still doesn't quite get that he can hear the original Willow. And he is quite sure that dark Willow doesn't quite share all the memories of the original Willow either since she doesn't recognize him or realize what his power is. "You know... I don't know whether to laugh at you or to cry for you. I mean look at you, acting like you are the big shit just because, what, you were able to force yourself over the /real/ Willow? And I do mean the real Willow. because you aren't real. You're just a fragment of her. A twisted, broken, and rather useless fragment." "And I don't need to fight you, because you are nothing. you aren't even a soul. You are just a crappy partial piece of a spirit.. And I eat things like you for lunch.."
Willow	In truth, Dark Willow was always there. Always. But there were times when she was kept under wraps a little bit more than others. As for Nolan's powers, it is just as likely she couldn't give a crap what they were - Dark Willow probably believes she is more powerful than he. Which might be true..Unless Willow was on his side. And there is the crux: Willow and Dark Willow will fight for supremacy ad nauseum until one of them is declared the winner. And that would mean for both of them that that would ultimately be a loser. For the only way to have the actual power, both of them need to be one. Otherwise each one would be missing what the other one provides. Dark Willow ran her thumb and second right, playing an imaginary violin. "Oh please. So, you like Willow. I should have known. Tell me, do you like that she bows under your presence? That she bows to your expertise? Does she make you feel better about yourself? Really? As it is, she has reached all that she can. Poor baby. She's afraid of.. everything. Especially the thought of being bold. Forceful. Fearless. Adventurous. She would rather stay the way she is, then to make anyone unhappy - even if it mean she's unhappy.: "And she's been unhappy for a long time."
Nolan Voight	Nolan Voight roles his mismatched eyes as DW tries to goad him AND insult him at the same time, then shakes his head once more. "Why the fuck would she ever 'bow' to my presence? You're part of her so you /should/ have all of her memories. And knowing willow even as little as I do, I know she would have looked me up after we met the first few times. so she would know that I am nothing to bow down to. I am an ex-con, an orphan. I grew up on the streets of fucking Gotham and I may have survived but I'm probably three times as broken as she is. A Loser. And I can admit that." :sighs and closes his eyes. "And if she wanted to stay the way she is, you would still be there in the background. You want to know why you are here? I think it is because she knows that if she was in control she /would/ be too powerful. I think that's why she let you out, let you in control. You may be a dark echo, but that is all you are. An echo. And thats all the power you will ever have without her. An echo. Weak."
Willow	"Shows you what you don't know. None of those things matter to Willow. The poor dear has befriended much, much worse than you." Dark Willow shrugs. "So you say. Or maybe I took over in a dark moment. You don't know her the way I do. Willow is afraid. Afraid of what it means to be me. If she weren't afraid, do you actually think I would be here? All of Willow's nasty and dark thoughts she squirrelled away and did not deal with them. It would have meant standing up for herself. Saying what she didn't like. Taking charge. Being selfish." "Even now, she could be in charge if she wanted. But.." And here Dark Willow laughs bitterly. "She doesn't want to be forceful against me. Me! Can you imagine the conundrum?"
Nolan Voight	Nolan Voight grimaces and closes his eyes. "God, you /are/ stupid. Can't you get it /child/. She /did/ stand up to you. She still /is/ standing up to you, whether you understand it or not. Hell, whether /she/ understands it or not. She /let/ you out. Because you can only cause a wee little bit of damage. /You/ are the weakness."
Willow	Dark Willow starts. And stops. "Go on?" Even while the book begins to whisper in her brain.. ~He wants me. But you won't give me up. Will you? Oh! What power we shall have. Me and you.~ Always the book before Dark Willow. Never the other way around. Curious..
Nolan Voight	And there it is... Another ethereal voice whispering through the ether. Like so many other voices, it has that tone of seduction.. Temptation.. Of Need. And nolan can hear it. He diesn't know what it is, but he doesn't care. He makes a few hand gestures, growling in some strange and arcane language. Beams of anti-light, darker than black, erupt from a matrice of eldritch power that surround his hands and shoot out.. Hunting the source of the voice.. And when it find it, the beams bend and wrap around the book.. closing it.. LOCKING the book in bands of ecto-plasmic energy as hard as cold steel. It's a temporary measure, of course. It will last a week, at most. "I don't /need/ to go on."
Willow	Silence. Sure if she reaches out Dark Willow can reach the Book. It isn't destroyed. That much was certain. And for a single moment she panicked. Even.. she still had the bonds of it. But not.. the voice? For the first time in weeks the nattering of the book wasn't there. Dark Willow was confused as to what she felt. Yes, yes. She still loved being in charge. To make the decisions for her and Willow. To be free from Willow's prissy choices.. Lord and Lady those prissy choices. Dark Willow rolled her eyes mentally as she thought it. But other than Willow sitting in the deepest corner of her mind.. sulking.. Dark Willow was all alone. Of course she doesn't have to tell him what he has done. She snorts. "Figures. I find myself getting bored. You will have to excuse me.." She doesn't sound a wee bit sorry at all. "But I am tired of you nattering away. The circle will fade away.. soon. Enjoy the time waiting." And she teleports out. Leaving him in the circle.