Successor (BTVS)
- Thread starter DeAnno
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So, more strategic thoughts in hopes of provoking brainstorming, planning and ideas: Buffy's legitimacy arises from one thing and one thing only - her personal military might. We are the mayor by dint of a klingon promotion, which means that klingon promotion rules are in play, and whoever wants the job (and the power associated with it), will be gunning for us. Thus, we need to increase Buffy's personal and her groups personal combat power. I see several ways to do this:
1) Right now the "modern military equipment is effective against old powerful threats" is mentality that Buffy might be in agreement with. Rocket Launcher against Judge, explosives against an Old One. As such, guns might be introduced, perhaps with special ammunition. This does not solve the issue of humans being glass cannons, however, and this would need to be addressed separately. It would, however, allow them to attack demons, if not defend against them.
2) Continuing from the "modern military equipment" idea - supertech in Buffy, specifically Ted (and Buffybot) + Moloch's mechanical body (which seems to be different from the mechanical minotaur we destroyed last vote, as it was far more technological). Cybernetics, power armor, and robots might probably be devised from these. All would increase our firepower and, more importantly, our defensive abilities.
3) IC we know of one empowering ritual - the hyena one from the first season. And while that went wrong, there is a lot of potential there:
a) Human spirit possession. Depending on whether it's "empowered by a spirit of specific animal" or "the spirit of an archetype", we could probably find some retired honorable people who would work as patterns for empowerment
b) Using Buffy, and, thus, Slayer spirit, as a template. This might be a simpler way to do "activate potentials" magic - speaking of, we need to check if there are potentials in Sunnydale, and recruit them
c) Dog spirits. Dogs are human symbionts. Purchase some Tibetan mastiffs, and either empower people using those as templates (with a trial period, of course), or empower the dogs themselves, either, again, using dog spirit (should not cause changes in behavior), or using a human spirit (potentially resulting in an uplifting). Ideally this would result in a creation of a magically empowered superdog that would still be loyal to humans on a genetic level, and capable of taking on demons. If successful, further augmentation (such as with armor) is also possible.
In general, getting scoobies (demonic / magical) animal companions that are bound to them as protectors is not a bad idea, I feel.
c2) In fact, Oz could probably benefit from a dog spirit possession, as it might make his werewolf state much easier to control.
4) At least for Buffy, introducing actual no sh*t armor, possibly magically enchanted one, ideally one that can do "magical girl transformation". Buffy does not have to hide her activities from anyone anymore. She can do slaying pretty much in the open, the masquerade for her has been lifted by dint of her being head honcho of the town. "The mayoress isn't strange for wearing full battle armor to office, she is a little bit eccentric, and shows support for strong military tradition in the Sunnydale's population". Or something like that. Point is, Buffy now does not need to limit herself to easily concealable weapons and everyday clothes to do her slaying in, as she does not need to hide said slaying.
5) We should see if Buffy is capable of learning magic in any capacity (and consult Giles on Slayers learning magic). The sheer versatility would help her greatly, and might allow her to access Slayer spirit's higher tier abilities, such as precognition, better and with more control.
And I would be very interested in hearing some other ideas.
On another topic: We should look up and forcefully recruit Eric Gittleson and Chris Epps. In-character these two are the most succesful purely technological supergeniuses we know of, capable of reviving the dead. Let me repeat that. In middle school these two, with no magic, no support from shadowy government conspiracies, on their own, were able to f*cking revive the dead. With, honestly, only minor cosmetic issues, probably resulting from less-than-perfect equipment and set up, and correctable by a good cosmetic surgeon. This is so incredible, I don't know what to say, really. We need these two on our side, instead of wasting their talents.
1) Right now the "modern military equipment is effective against old powerful threats" is mentality that Buffy might be in agreement with. Rocket Launcher against Judge, explosives against an Old One. As such, guns might be introduced, perhaps with special ammunition. This does not solve the issue of humans being glass cannons, however, and this would need to be addressed separately. It would, however, allow them to attack demons, if not defend against them.
2) Continuing from the "modern military equipment" idea - supertech in Buffy, specifically Ted (and Buffybot) + Moloch's mechanical body (which seems to be different from the mechanical minotaur we destroyed last vote, as it was far more technological). Cybernetics, power armor, and robots might probably be devised from these. All would increase our firepower and, more importantly, our defensive abilities.
3) IC we know of one empowering ritual - the hyena one from the first season. And while that went wrong, there is a lot of potential there:
a) Human spirit possession. Depending on whether it's "empowered by a spirit of specific animal" or "the spirit of an archetype", we could probably find some retired honorable people who would work as patterns for empowerment
b) Using Buffy, and, thus, Slayer spirit, as a template. This might be a simpler way to do "activate potentials" magic - speaking of, we need to check if there are potentials in Sunnydale, and recruit them
c) Dog spirits. Dogs are human symbionts. Purchase some Tibetan mastiffs, and either empower people using those as templates (with a trial period, of course), or empower the dogs themselves, either, again, using dog spirit (should not cause changes in behavior), or using a human spirit (potentially resulting in an uplifting). Ideally this would result in a creation of a magically empowered superdog that would still be loyal to humans on a genetic level, and capable of taking on demons. If successful, further augmentation (such as with armor) is also possible.
In general, getting scoobies (demonic / magical) animal companions that are bound to them as protectors is not a bad idea, I feel.
c2) In fact, Oz could probably benefit from a dog spirit possession, as it might make his werewolf state much easier to control.
4) At least for Buffy, introducing actual no sh*t armor, possibly magically enchanted one, ideally one that can do "magical girl transformation". Buffy does not have to hide her activities from anyone anymore. She can do slaying pretty much in the open, the masquerade for her has been lifted by dint of her being head honcho of the town. "The mayoress isn't strange for wearing full battle armor to office, she is a little bit eccentric, and shows support for strong military tradition in the Sunnydale's population". Or something like that. Point is, Buffy now does not need to limit herself to easily concealable weapons and everyday clothes to do her slaying in, as she does not need to hide said slaying.
5) We should see if Buffy is capable of learning magic in any capacity (and consult Giles on Slayers learning magic). The sheer versatility would help her greatly, and might allow her to access Slayer spirit's higher tier abilities, such as precognition, better and with more control.
And I would be very interested in hearing some other ideas.
On another topic: We should look up and forcefully recruit Eric Gittleson and Chris Epps. In-character these two are the most succesful purely technological supergeniuses we know of, capable of reviving the dead. Let me repeat that. In middle school these two, with no magic, no support from shadowy government conspiracies, on their own, were able to f*cking revive the dead. With, honestly, only minor cosmetic issues, probably resulting from less-than-perfect equipment and set up, and correctable by a good cosmetic surgeon. This is so incredible, I don't know what to say, really. We need these two on our side, instead of wasting their talents.
- Location
- Tarn-Vedra
Doesn't Professor Walsh of the Initiative do the same thing except with demon corpses?
As far as I can tell she tries, but gets worse results, at least where the mind state of the resurrected person is concerned. These guys were perfectly completely successful. The resurrected guy was perfectly cognizant, retained his memory and personality.
S3.5E2: Spoils V
DeAnno
Sometimes words have two meanings
[X] Everyone should probably get food and sleep, de-rat Amy tomorrow. Sleepy casters and hungry vampires are a bad mix for spells. Amy will have to do her run on the wheel for one more night.
"Ms. Summers, your 12'o'clock is here," Cynthia said over the phone.
"Send him in," she said, sitting at her desk. She'd dressed a little more professionally today, wearing a black suit jacket and a matching tie.
Her visitor promptly opened the door, and took a seat across from her. "Ms. Summers."
"Mr. Wilkins." Something felt a little off, but Buffy wasn't sure why. He was on her schedule and everything.
He sighed, shaking his head. "I can't say I like what you've done with the place, Buffy. Can I call you Buffy?"
"I'd rather keep it professional, thanks. And I just didn't like using the stuff you'd left lying around. I think I want to go in a new direction." Buffy picked at her tie. She didn't remember buying it.
"I can appreciate someone with vision," he said. "But are you fully committed to yours? Being a leader is all about making hard decisions, and I'm just not sure that you're ready for that kind of responsibility."
"I've been making hard decisions for years," Buffy snapped. She fingered a twisted dagger lying on her desk. "You would remember that, if you really cared!"
"Hey, I don't appreciate that tone, Missy. And I'll have you know I cared about her more than I have about anyone in decades." Wilkins paused, seemingly lost in a memory. "I sort of wanted her to have all this, you know, after I was gone. But maybe that was just me projecting."
"She was never really responsibility-girl," Buffy said, trying to smooth things over.
Wilkins just nodded. "But back to my earlier point, just take a look outside. See where the town is going."
Buffy got up from the desk and opened the shades behind it. She revealed a sunny vista on a crowded beach, filled with familiar faces. She could see her mother and Giles, Cordelia and the Cordettes, a man peddling cheese, and even the Yeti. Everyone was hanging out peacefully and enjoying the day. "Seems fine to me."
"You might want to take a look at this one though. It's a real eye-opener." Wilkins opened the shades on the other side of her corner office, and the outside through that window looked very different. He'd revealed a burning hellscape filled with demons and suffering souls, and the screams of the damned echoed loudly into the office, even though it had been silent before.
Buffy jolted up in her bed, wide awake despite the early hour. She hurriedly checked outside her window, but all she saw was early morning on Revello drive.
Willow snapped her fingers, and a cascade of red lights spiraled around Harmony before disappearing, leaving the dull basement room only lit by electric lamps. "There. Vegetarian diet for you or else it's 'ow, hiss'!"
After some driving around to get take-out and blood from the butcher's, everyone had gone home and slept, leaving the problem of Harmony locked in an office with a cot until the next day. It wasn't the most secure solution, but it didn't have to last and nobody had had the energy to do any better until morning. Morning was now, and Harmony security was being marginally improved.
"I don't feel any different," Harmony said. "Are you sure it worked?"
"In fact, my assistant has a test all set up." Willow said confidently.
At that, Andrew entered the room with a microwaved cup of blood as well as a larger one of water. "It's lucky the old mayor kept some of this on hand, for emergencies I guess. Getting decently fresh human blood can be a total pain."
Buffy almost asked why he knew that, but decided that it might be better not to know. She'd just found out about all the blood in the downstairs freezer this morning, and wasn't sure what they would even do with it all. She didn't think the hospital would want it back, if that was even where it came from in the first place.
Harmony grabbed the blood mug from Andrew cautiously, and Willow warned her "Only take a little sip, I don't know how strong the effect is."
She made a game effort at holding back for a moment, but then just vamped out and took way more than a little sip. It was practically a gulp. She swished it around for a second confused, and then got an alarmed look on her face and spit it out. "Hot hot hot! Too hot!" She grabbed the water out of Andrew's ready hand and frantically started rinsing.
Willow looked sadly at the new stain in the carpet. "And the clean room was so clean."
"Ow ow ow! Worry about my mouth being clean, what did that do to my teeth?" Harmony fished a hand mirror out of her purse and tried in vain to use it for a bit before she remembered, and chucked it away in frustration, smashing it on the wall. Her mouth had been smoking for a bit but that had stopped, and at least from what Buffy could see there wasn't any serious damage.
"So, no more human blood for Harmony?" Buffy asked. She knew that the whole event was a ruse, the 'test' blood being laced with a little holy water, but wanted to do her part to sell it.
"Not a drop!" Willow said confidently, doing a great job of keeping her poker face. "The results speak for themselves."
Harmony finally got herself back together and shook off her game face again. She didn't like being vampy much, apparently. "If this spell is so easy, why don't you just do it to every vampire you see?"
Willow's eyes went wide for a second and she was about to start stuttering, but Andrew saved the day, "It affects willing targets only. If you actively resist it at all it fizzles out."
Harmony accepted this as standard nerdy lingo and moved on. "I guess that makes sense. So, now that I'm all muzzled, you said something about a mansion?"
"Xander wants to make Crawford street into some kind of base, but it could probably use someone to keep the squatters out." Buffy paused, thinking. "Nonlethally. It has all the vampire accommodations one might desire, helpfully set up by its former occupant." Buffy took a little perverse pleasure in sicking the likes of Harmony and Xander on Angel's old abode. She thought he'd be horrified, and so she wanted to make sure he found out somehow.
"Who actually owns that place anyway?" Willow said offhandedly, as she dustbinned the remnants of Harmony's mirror.
"We do. It turns out that when you don't pay property taxes for a bajillion years, your house is not yours anymore. Old Wilkins used to pick up places like that for cents on the dollar just in case they'd come in handy, according to Ian." She'd sat through more boring lectures about things like that in a week than she'd hoped to in her life, but at least the info was coming in handy.
As Harmony headed out of the room, presumably expecting to go there now, Buffy called after her "Remember daylight. Bright, shiny, lethal."
"Duh." Harmony replied. "Cynthia wanted me to help with some filing. I do work here now." As Harmony left, Buffy wondered if filing had been a standard vampire task before, and if Harmony's 'talents' included anything to do with paperwork. She'd leave that one to Cynthia.
"Amy time?" Buffy asked, looking at her habitat over in the corner.
"Not quite yet. I need to set up the ritual pentagram and everything again, and Giles wanted to be over here to supervise this time. Not that I'm not capable of doing it myself." Willow said. "Plus with the spell gone all disrupty last time, a couple extra benedictions to Circe beforehand might be wise."
"Speaking of the detransformation ritual, I should commence with my own preparations." Andrew said dramatically, leaving as well. A second later, he poked his head back in the door much less dramatically, asking "Did we need Woodland Sage or Common? I always get them mixed up."
"Woodland, Andrew. Always Woodland for furry things," Willow answered.
As he left again, Buffy asked "Do you think we're going to need to pull out bigger guns for Harmony eventually?" She didn't actively mention that the gun they had now was totally false. Harm had good ears, even theoretically across the building.
Willow grimaced. "Messing with that ensouling curse would be really hard. It was made with a specific target in mind; changing the noun genders is the least of what I'd have to do. It's really worse than that, because when I was casting it before I was really 'recasting' it. I could sort of just go with the flow."
"Harmony isn't so flow-congruent?" Buffy said, (ab)using her hard-won SAT knowledge.
"Her gradient is all over the place," Willow replied. "I don't think the original conditions of the curse would even resolve, and who knows what I could replace them with. Plus there's the whole intent thing. This is technically a curse; if it isn't the sort of thing that would 'hurt' vampire Harmony somehow, it might backfire catastrophically. Big rituals are finicky like that. I might be able to come up with something, but I'd have to learn way more about curses and it'd be a ton of work."
"I'll trust you to know what you're doing, Will." Buffy said, then frowned. "I've been monopolizing a ton of your special orientation time with the big recruitment drive and everything, are the parental units OK?"
"It's alright for now, but I am still kind of swamped," she replied. "It's really interesting though! I was looking into the computer science program this week, and they have a huge processor farm and their own heavy-duty internet connection. It made me think of some of the stuff Ms. Calendar used to show me, I could really make some of those spells whiz on that setup!"
"Looking to follow in her witchy footsteps?" Buffy asked. "You were in fine form with the pencils yesterday."
"I dunno. They're a little disappointing against non-vampires." Willow sat down by Amy's cage and popped it open, putting in her finger. Amy gave it a little nuzzle. "There's just so much to do, and so much I want to look at. There are all these new magical texts, and even though they're a little dark, they're also mondo informative and useful. I learned more about invocation cramming to help Amy in the last couple days than I have in months. Wilkins even left all these magical items around, and it feels crazy to just ignore them."
"Or leave them to someone else?" Buffy said mischievously.
Willow pouted. "I guess Andrew's OK, and Jonathan expressed an interest in magic too. Plus there's a few other people we reached out to, and Amy will hopefully be girl-shaped and witchy again." Amy let out a squeak at that, making both of them stop and look. Maybe she really was more conscious as a rat than Buffy had been. "But it's not the same as doing it myself. I kind of wish I could major in magic at UC Sunnydale, but obviously that's a bit of a non-starter."
"Just do what your heart says. I'm sure you'll be successful Willow whatever you try." Buffy said.
"And what about your heart?" Willow said wisely. "It wasn't so long ago you wanted to be all normal-girl, but you've kind of gotten into the wrong kind of summer job for that."
"Trying to be normal girl didn't get me what I really wanted." Maybe if all this had happened a month ago, Angel wouldn't have left. Not that she wasn't totally done with him now. But still. Being mayor of Sunnydale was apparently a pretty vampire-inclusive future, if the events of the past 24 hours had shown her anything. "I mean, there's no guarantee this whole thing will last. By fall there'll probably be a big election and I'll be off to be college student Buffy, with optional slay accessories and write-in major course of study."
Willow just gave her a skeptical look, and Buffy had to admit her prediction was seeming increasingly unlikely. Even her slayer dreams seemed to want her to take this seriously. "If not me, then who, huh?"
"Pretty much." Willow took her hand comfortingly.
"Squeak."
Next time, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy still has a lot to do to get City Hall shipshape and the town going in the right direction, even if she isn't totally sure what that is yet. The voters should pick what ground they want her to cover next episode. Additionally, Willow's going to take a long-term focus for her magical research this summer, and because the pacing was a little weird this time you'll be deciding that simultaneously. Vote by Task, using the notation I use, and don't forget that approval voting is allowed. The two votes are independent, and don't have to be combined into plans.
What does Buffy do next episode?
[][Buffy] The denizens of Sunnydale have been quiet in response to the change in leadership so far, but Buffy doesn't expect that to last. Digby's probably stirring things up, and various other groups the old mayor kept in check might start looking for a piece of the pie themselves. Buffy's going to make an effort to lay claim to whatever parts of the underworld are worth salvaging, and the rest are on notice for a slaying.
[][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
[][Buffy] City Hall is just getting back to a stable state with the infusion of '99ers, but Buffy is worried that not everyone there is completely on her side. She'll look into the backgrounds and motivations of some of the old staff and even the new hires, as well as look into some of the more mysterious budget items and loose ends she can find. She isn't sure if whatever problems left hiding at City Hall are worth ignoring more obvious issues, but there might still be some corruption, or even holdouts loyal to Wilkins' agenda.
What does Willow focus on? She doesn't have enough time for more than one.
[][Willow] Artifact Magic, starting with figuring out the workings of Wilkins' hoarded supply of esoteric items
[][Willow] Ritual Magic, hopefully including the Ensoulment Curse, using Wilkins' Library of spellbooks
[][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
[][Willow] Battle Magic, participating with some of the '99ers in training exercises
"Ms. Summers, your 12'o'clock is here," Cynthia said over the phone.
"Send him in," she said, sitting at her desk. She'd dressed a little more professionally today, wearing a black suit jacket and a matching tie.
Her visitor promptly opened the door, and took a seat across from her. "Ms. Summers."
"Mr. Wilkins." Something felt a little off, but Buffy wasn't sure why. He was on her schedule and everything.
He sighed, shaking his head. "I can't say I like what you've done with the place, Buffy. Can I call you Buffy?"
"I'd rather keep it professional, thanks. And I just didn't like using the stuff you'd left lying around. I think I want to go in a new direction." Buffy picked at her tie. She didn't remember buying it.
"I can appreciate someone with vision," he said. "But are you fully committed to yours? Being a leader is all about making hard decisions, and I'm just not sure that you're ready for that kind of responsibility."
"I've been making hard decisions for years," Buffy snapped. She fingered a twisted dagger lying on her desk. "You would remember that, if you really cared!"
"Hey, I don't appreciate that tone, Missy. And I'll have you know I cared about her more than I have about anyone in decades." Wilkins paused, seemingly lost in a memory. "I sort of wanted her to have all this, you know, after I was gone. But maybe that was just me projecting."
"She was never really responsibility-girl," Buffy said, trying to smooth things over.
Wilkins just nodded. "But back to my earlier point, just take a look outside. See where the town is going."
Buffy got up from the desk and opened the shades behind it. She revealed a sunny vista on a crowded beach, filled with familiar faces. She could see her mother and Giles, Cordelia and the Cordettes, a man peddling cheese, and even the Yeti. Everyone was hanging out peacefully and enjoying the day. "Seems fine to me."
"You might want to take a look at this one though. It's a real eye-opener." Wilkins opened the shades on the other side of her corner office, and the outside through that window looked very different. He'd revealed a burning hellscape filled with demons and suffering souls, and the screams of the damned echoed loudly into the office, even though it had been silent before.
Buffy jolted up in her bed, wide awake despite the early hour. She hurriedly checked outside her window, but all she saw was early morning on Revello drive.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Willow snapped her fingers, and a cascade of red lights spiraled around Harmony before disappearing, leaving the dull basement room only lit by electric lamps. "There. Vegetarian diet for you or else it's 'ow, hiss'!"
After some driving around to get take-out and blood from the butcher's, everyone had gone home and slept, leaving the problem of Harmony locked in an office with a cot until the next day. It wasn't the most secure solution, but it didn't have to last and nobody had had the energy to do any better until morning. Morning was now, and Harmony security was being marginally improved.
"I don't feel any different," Harmony said. "Are you sure it worked?"
"In fact, my assistant has a test all set up." Willow said confidently.
At that, Andrew entered the room with a microwaved cup of blood as well as a larger one of water. "It's lucky the old mayor kept some of this on hand, for emergencies I guess. Getting decently fresh human blood can be a total pain."
Buffy almost asked why he knew that, but decided that it might be better not to know. She'd just found out about all the blood in the downstairs freezer this morning, and wasn't sure what they would even do with it all. She didn't think the hospital would want it back, if that was even where it came from in the first place.
Harmony grabbed the blood mug from Andrew cautiously, and Willow warned her "Only take a little sip, I don't know how strong the effect is."
She made a game effort at holding back for a moment, but then just vamped out and took way more than a little sip. It was practically a gulp. She swished it around for a second confused, and then got an alarmed look on her face and spit it out. "Hot hot hot! Too hot!" She grabbed the water out of Andrew's ready hand and frantically started rinsing.
Willow looked sadly at the new stain in the carpet. "And the clean room was so clean."
"Ow ow ow! Worry about my mouth being clean, what did that do to my teeth?" Harmony fished a hand mirror out of her purse and tried in vain to use it for a bit before she remembered, and chucked it away in frustration, smashing it on the wall. Her mouth had been smoking for a bit but that had stopped, and at least from what Buffy could see there wasn't any serious damage.
"So, no more human blood for Harmony?" Buffy asked. She knew that the whole event was a ruse, the 'test' blood being laced with a little holy water, but wanted to do her part to sell it.
"Not a drop!" Willow said confidently, doing a great job of keeping her poker face. "The results speak for themselves."
Harmony finally got herself back together and shook off her game face again. She didn't like being vampy much, apparently. "If this spell is so easy, why don't you just do it to every vampire you see?"
Willow's eyes went wide for a second and she was about to start stuttering, but Andrew saved the day, "It affects willing targets only. If you actively resist it at all it fizzles out."
Harmony accepted this as standard nerdy lingo and moved on. "I guess that makes sense. So, now that I'm all muzzled, you said something about a mansion?"
"Xander wants to make Crawford street into some kind of base, but it could probably use someone to keep the squatters out." Buffy paused, thinking. "Nonlethally. It has all the vampire accommodations one might desire, helpfully set up by its former occupant." Buffy took a little perverse pleasure in sicking the likes of Harmony and Xander on Angel's old abode. She thought he'd be horrified, and so she wanted to make sure he found out somehow.
"Who actually owns that place anyway?" Willow said offhandedly, as she dustbinned the remnants of Harmony's mirror.
"We do. It turns out that when you don't pay property taxes for a bajillion years, your house is not yours anymore. Old Wilkins used to pick up places like that for cents on the dollar just in case they'd come in handy, according to Ian." She'd sat through more boring lectures about things like that in a week than she'd hoped to in her life, but at least the info was coming in handy.
As Harmony headed out of the room, presumably expecting to go there now, Buffy called after her "Remember daylight. Bright, shiny, lethal."
"Duh." Harmony replied. "Cynthia wanted me to help with some filing. I do work here now." As Harmony left, Buffy wondered if filing had been a standard vampire task before, and if Harmony's 'talents' included anything to do with paperwork. She'd leave that one to Cynthia.
"Amy time?" Buffy asked, looking at her habitat over in the corner.
"Not quite yet. I need to set up the ritual pentagram and everything again, and Giles wanted to be over here to supervise this time. Not that I'm not capable of doing it myself." Willow said. "Plus with the spell gone all disrupty last time, a couple extra benedictions to Circe beforehand might be wise."
"Speaking of the detransformation ritual, I should commence with my own preparations." Andrew said dramatically, leaving as well. A second later, he poked his head back in the door much less dramatically, asking "Did we need Woodland Sage or Common? I always get them mixed up."
"Woodland, Andrew. Always Woodland for furry things," Willow answered.
As he left again, Buffy asked "Do you think we're going to need to pull out bigger guns for Harmony eventually?" She didn't actively mention that the gun they had now was totally false. Harm had good ears, even theoretically across the building.
Willow grimaced. "Messing with that ensouling curse would be really hard. It was made with a specific target in mind; changing the noun genders is the least of what I'd have to do. It's really worse than that, because when I was casting it before I was really 'recasting' it. I could sort of just go with the flow."
"Harmony isn't so flow-congruent?" Buffy said, (ab)using her hard-won SAT knowledge.
"Her gradient is all over the place," Willow replied. "I don't think the original conditions of the curse would even resolve, and who knows what I could replace them with. Plus there's the whole intent thing. This is technically a curse; if it isn't the sort of thing that would 'hurt' vampire Harmony somehow, it might backfire catastrophically. Big rituals are finicky like that. I might be able to come up with something, but I'd have to learn way more about curses and it'd be a ton of work."
"I'll trust you to know what you're doing, Will." Buffy said, then frowned. "I've been monopolizing a ton of your special orientation time with the big recruitment drive and everything, are the parental units OK?"
"It's alright for now, but I am still kind of swamped," she replied. "It's really interesting though! I was looking into the computer science program this week, and they have a huge processor farm and their own heavy-duty internet connection. It made me think of some of the stuff Ms. Calendar used to show me, I could really make some of those spells whiz on that setup!"
"Looking to follow in her witchy footsteps?" Buffy asked. "You were in fine form with the pencils yesterday."
"I dunno. They're a little disappointing against non-vampires." Willow sat down by Amy's cage and popped it open, putting in her finger. Amy gave it a little nuzzle. "There's just so much to do, and so much I want to look at. There are all these new magical texts, and even though they're a little dark, they're also mondo informative and useful. I learned more about invocation cramming to help Amy in the last couple days than I have in months. Wilkins even left all these magical items around, and it feels crazy to just ignore them."
"Or leave them to someone else?" Buffy said mischievously.
Willow pouted. "I guess Andrew's OK, and Jonathan expressed an interest in magic too. Plus there's a few other people we reached out to, and Amy will hopefully be girl-shaped and witchy again." Amy let out a squeak at that, making both of them stop and look. Maybe she really was more conscious as a rat than Buffy had been. "But it's not the same as doing it myself. I kind of wish I could major in magic at UC Sunnydale, but obviously that's a bit of a non-starter."
"Just do what your heart says. I'm sure you'll be successful Willow whatever you try." Buffy said.
"And what about your heart?" Willow said wisely. "It wasn't so long ago you wanted to be all normal-girl, but you've kind of gotten into the wrong kind of summer job for that."
"Trying to be normal girl didn't get me what I really wanted." Maybe if all this had happened a month ago, Angel wouldn't have left. Not that she wasn't totally done with him now. But still. Being mayor of Sunnydale was apparently a pretty vampire-inclusive future, if the events of the past 24 hours had shown her anything. "I mean, there's no guarantee this whole thing will last. By fall there'll probably be a big election and I'll be off to be college student Buffy, with optional slay accessories and write-in major course of study."
Willow just gave her a skeptical look, and Buffy had to admit her prediction was seeming increasingly unlikely. Even her slayer dreams seemed to want her to take this seriously. "If not me, then who, huh?"
"Pretty much." Willow took her hand comfortingly.
"Squeak."
------------------------------------------------------------------
Next time, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy still has a lot to do to get City Hall shipshape and the town going in the right direction, even if she isn't totally sure what that is yet. The voters should pick what ground they want her to cover next episode. Additionally, Willow's going to take a long-term focus for her magical research this summer, and because the pacing was a little weird this time you'll be deciding that simultaneously. Vote by Task, using the notation I use, and don't forget that approval voting is allowed. The two votes are independent, and don't have to be combined into plans.
What does Buffy do next episode?
[][Buffy] The denizens of Sunnydale have been quiet in response to the change in leadership so far, but Buffy doesn't expect that to last. Digby's probably stirring things up, and various other groups the old mayor kept in check might start looking for a piece of the pie themselves. Buffy's going to make an effort to lay claim to whatever parts of the underworld are worth salvaging, and the rest are on notice for a slaying.
[][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
[][Buffy] City Hall is just getting back to a stable state with the infusion of '99ers, but Buffy is worried that not everyone there is completely on her side. She'll look into the backgrounds and motivations of some of the old staff and even the new hires, as well as look into some of the more mysterious budget items and loose ends she can find. She isn't sure if whatever problems left hiding at City Hall are worth ignoring more obvious issues, but there might still be some corruption, or even holdouts loyal to Wilkins' agenda.
What does Willow focus on? She doesn't have enough time for more than one.
[][Willow] Artifact Magic, starting with figuring out the workings of Wilkins' hoarded supply of esoteric items
[][Willow] Ritual Magic, hopefully including the Ensoulment Curse, using Wilkins' Library of spellbooks
[][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
[][Willow] Battle Magic, participating with some of the '99ers in training exercises
Last edited:
- Location
- Germany
[X][Buffy] The denizens of Sunnydale have been quiet in response to the change in leadership so far, but Buffy doesn't expect that to last. Digby's probably stirring things up, and various other groups the old mayor kept in check might start looking for a piece of the pie themselves. Buffy's going to make an effort to lay claim to whatever parts of the underworld are worth salvaging, and the rest are on notice for a slaying.
[X][Willow] Battle Magic, participating in some of the '99ers in training exercises
Making Willow capable of dealing with mistakes that happen with rituals and questionable artifacts should come before playing around with those.
Better to be able to put down a demon before you accidentally summon one.
[X][Willow] Battle Magic, participating in some of the '99ers in training exercises
Making Willow capable of dealing with mistakes that happen with rituals and questionable artifacts should come before playing around with those.
Better to be able to put down a demon before you accidentally summon one.
- Location
- usa
[X][Buffy] The denizens of Sunnydale have been quiet in response to the change in leadership so far, but Buffy doesn't expect that to last. Digby's probably stirring things up, and various other groups the old mayor kept in check might start looking for a piece of the pie themselves. Buffy's going to make an effort to lay claim to whatever parts of the underworld are worth salvaging, and the rest are on notice for a slaying.
[X][Willow] Battle Magic, participating in some of the '99ers in training exercises
[X][Willow] Battle Magic, participating in some of the '99ers in training exercises
[X][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
[X][Willow] Artifact Magic, starting with figuring out the workings of Wilkins' hoarded supply of esoteric items
The police have completely stopped responding or helping people. This has to be dealt with asap. People are complaining about it more than they do the constant attrition to vampires and demons. If we can't handle this why even be mayor?
I prefer the artifacts to be done soon in case any are cursed or need to be sold to pay for the changes we want. A pencil to the heart isn't a perfect attack, but it is a good enough one for now.
[X][Willow] Artifact Magic, starting with figuring out the workings of Wilkins' hoarded supply of esoteric items
The police have completely stopped responding or helping people. This has to be dealt with asap. People are complaining about it more than they do the constant attrition to vampires and demons. If we can't handle this why even be mayor?
I prefer the artifacts to be done soon in case any are cursed or need to be sold to pay for the changes we want. A pencil to the heart isn't a perfect attack, but it is a good enough one for now.
- Location
- Following The Apocalypse
[X][Buffy] The denizens of Sunnydale have been quiet in response to the change in leadership so far, but Buffy doesn't expect that to last. Digby's probably stirring things up, and various other groups the old mayor kept in check might start looking for a piece of the pie themselves. Buffy's going to make an effort to lay claim to whatever parts of the underworld are worth salvaging, and the rest are on notice for a slaying.
[X][Willow] Battle Magic, participating in some of the '99ers in training exercises
[X][Willow] Battle Magic, participating in some of the '99ers in training exercises
Edifier
Trusted within thoughts.
- Location
- Court of Moon Wizards
[x][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
[x][Willow] Ritual Magic, hopefully including the Ensoulment Curse, using Wilkins' Library of spellbooks
[x][Willow] Ritual Magic, hopefully including the Ensoulment Curse, using Wilkins' Library of spellbooks
[X][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
[X][Willow] Ritual Magic, hopefully including the Ensoulment Curse, using Wilkins' Library of spellbooks
[X][Willow] Ritual Magic, hopefully including the Ensoulment Curse, using Wilkins' Library of spellbooks
[X][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
[x][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
[x][Willow] Ritual Magic, hopefully including the Ensoulment Curse, using Wilkins' Library of spellbooks
[x][Willow] Ritual Magic, hopefully including the Ensoulment Curse, using Wilkins' Library of spellbooks
- Location
- Tarn-Vedra
[X][Buffy] The denizens of Sunnydale have been quiet in response to the change in leadership so far, but Buffy doesn't expect that to last. Digby's probably stirring things up, and various other groups the old mayor kept in check might start looking for a piece of the pie themselves. Buffy's going to make an effort to lay claim to whatever parts of the underworld are worth salvaging, and the rest are on notice for a slaying.
[X][Willow] Battle Magic, participating in some of the '99ers in training exercises
[X][Willow] Battle Magic, participating in some of the '99ers in training exercises
avatar11792
Et Sic Incipit
- Location
- Planet Earth, North America
[X][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
-[X] Willow's hacking and cybermancy abilities might be helpful to scout police computers, so Buffy doesn't have to go in blind.
-[X] The other institution that Buffy hasn't heard anything about, and one of the most critical to running Sunnydale, is hospital. They are the second most likely institution to be in the know of supernatural, especially given blood trade, and various potential demonic afflictions. Contacting them and getting their support would definitely be useful
--[X] The experiment with holy water in blood worked. See if it can be safely added to blood bags without contaminating them from the medical perspective
---[X] Using medically spoiled blood for trade is acceptable, and might even be encouraged, as long as they pay taxes
---[X] See about blessing saline solutions that are using for intravenous injections. Maybe it'll make people holy over time?
--[X] Your Slayer Dream was definitely about Faith. Check up on her. Make sure she is both treated well, and cannot escape if and when she unexpectedly regains consciousness.
[X][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
-[X] The idea of majoring in magic is very appealing. Willow should see who she could talk to in the UC Sunnydale about that. Probably someone from physics department.
--[X] Scout the university for talent. Teaching is part of learning, and Willow could probably teach people about cybermancy already.
-[X] In the last three years scoobies encountered a number of technological or technomagical things. Salvaging those and putting them to good use, as well as developing them further is definitely a good idea.
--[X] Going through Moloch's old robotic body would be cathartic for Willow. And maybe it could be turned into power armor? That would be cool.
--[X] Ted's android body was good enough to pass for human for decades. If even parts of that technology, such as natural looking skin with touch sensors, or artificial limbs that look and behave realistically, can be reproduced, it would both bring a tremendous amount of good, and make everyone involved billionaires several times over.
--[X] Eric Gittleson and Chris Epps were able to resurrect the dead with minimal side effects and, as far as scoobies know, no magic involved. They are also humans, and of scoobies' age. Those two, and their results, should definitely be coopted. And if boosted with magic, it might lead to something even more miraculous.
---[X] Their procedure, while not without kinks, is still revolutionary, and someone in the hospital and in UC Sunnydale would probably appreciate knowing about it, allowing scoobies to bring more people into the fold
-[X] Anyanka has a lot of history with curses and magic, and Giles did ritual magic in his youth and knows a lot of languages. They should work on ritual magic, and on the ensouling curse in particular
--[X] Andrew's ass-covering remark on Harmony's "binding" being voluntary made Willow think - an actual voluntary sacrifice of vampire's ability to drink human blood, and maybe some other things, like ability to spawn new vampires, should be mystically potent, and there are probably entities out there that would accept such sacrifice / sacred vow, and maybe even give a reward in exchange. That should be investigated.
-[X] Joyce, Giles and Anyanka could work on cataloging various artifacts the late mayor left behind. Giles could write saffety instructions, Joyce has a lot of experience handling various pieces of art, which is somewhat similar to ancient magical artifacts of (potential) doom, and Anyanka has experience with artifact magic.
-[X] Willow's hacking and cybermancy abilities might be helpful to scout police computers, so Buffy doesn't have to go in blind.
-[X] The other institution that Buffy hasn't heard anything about, and one of the most critical to running Sunnydale, is hospital. They are the second most likely institution to be in the know of supernatural, especially given blood trade, and various potential demonic afflictions. Contacting them and getting their support would definitely be useful
--[X] The experiment with holy water in blood worked. See if it can be safely added to blood bags without contaminating them from the medical perspective
---[X] Using medically spoiled blood for trade is acceptable, and might even be encouraged, as long as they pay taxes
---[X] See about blessing saline solutions that are using for intravenous injections. Maybe it'll make people holy over time?
--[X] Your Slayer Dream was definitely about Faith. Check up on her. Make sure she is both treated well, and cannot escape if and when she unexpectedly regains consciousness.
[X][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
-[X] The idea of majoring in magic is very appealing. Willow should see who she could talk to in the UC Sunnydale about that. Probably someone from physics department.
--[X] Scout the university for talent. Teaching is part of learning, and Willow could probably teach people about cybermancy already.
-[X] In the last three years scoobies encountered a number of technological or technomagical things. Salvaging those and putting them to good use, as well as developing them further is definitely a good idea.
--[X] Going through Moloch's old robotic body would be cathartic for Willow. And maybe it could be turned into power armor? That would be cool.
--[X] Ted's android body was good enough to pass for human for decades. If even parts of that technology, such as natural looking skin with touch sensors, or artificial limbs that look and behave realistically, can be reproduced, it would both bring a tremendous amount of good, and make everyone involved billionaires several times over.
--[X] Eric Gittleson and Chris Epps were able to resurrect the dead with minimal side effects and, as far as scoobies know, no magic involved. They are also humans, and of scoobies' age. Those two, and their results, should definitely be coopted. And if boosted with magic, it might lead to something even more miraculous.
---[X] Their procedure, while not without kinks, is still revolutionary, and someone in the hospital and in UC Sunnydale would probably appreciate knowing about it, allowing scoobies to bring more people into the fold
-[X] Anyanka has a lot of history with curses and magic, and Giles did ritual magic in his youth and knows a lot of languages. They should work on ritual magic, and on the ensouling curse in particular
--[X] Andrew's ass-covering remark on Harmony's "binding" being voluntary made Willow think - an actual voluntary sacrifice of vampire's ability to drink human blood, and maybe some other things, like ability to spawn new vampires, should be mystically potent, and there are probably entities out there that would accept such sacrifice / sacred vow, and maybe even give a reward in exchange. That should be investigated.
-[X] Joyce, Giles and Anyanka could work on cataloging various artifacts the late mayor left behind. Giles could write saffety instructions, Joyce has a lot of experience handling various pieces of art, which is somewhat similar to ancient magical artifacts of (potential) doom, and Anyanka has experience with artifact magic.
Last edited:
Ok, the choices are very interesting. I am going to vote for police and cybermancy, for a number of reasons. Let me explain them, and then I'll give the vote itself, including many, many subparts that I think would help us:
1) Police.
Buffy has supernatural mandate of"I am the Slayer, and I killed the previous boss. Listen to me, or I will kill you". She doesn't have legal / human side legitimacy. Not really, at least. That needs to be corrected soon, or we might lose reelection. Police represents the greatest danger for us. We can fight demonic challengers for the position in a purely martial way. Fighting the police acting against us, especially if they play dirty and bring in outside help, is far harder. Buffy can be on the hook for murder, and can be framed for much more. If police chief makes a bid for mayorship, it'd be hard to counter.
Police is also one of our greatest untapped resources. They are the human-side service most in the know of supernatural, and ones that, with proper equipment and augmentations, might be of actual use in policing the city. Same as we recruited people to exert control over the town hall, we need to recruit police in order to start exerting control over the population. Including supernatural population. Basically, I am advocating gradual expansion town hall -> human society -> supernatural society.
2) Cybermancy.
All options are good and potentially useful, however cybermancy suits Willow's unique skill set the most, and is the most efficient use of her as a human resource. Anyanka and Giles can and should do ritual magic. Jonathan, Andrew, Giles and Joyce can do artifact cataloging. Only Willow (and maybe Jonathan and Andrew) can do cybermancy. It is also the branch with the most potential for OCP and with the least amount of tapped potential, likely meaning a lot of low hanging fruits.
Thus, cybermancy over other options.
[X][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
-[X] Willow's hacking and cybermancy abilities might be helpful to scout police computers, so Buffy doesn't have to go in blind.
-[X] The other institution that Buffy hasn't heard anything about, and one of the most critical to running Sunnydale, is hospital. They are the second most likely institution to be in the know of supernatural, especially given blood trade, and various potential demonic afflictions. Contacting them and getting their support would definitely be useful
--[X] The experiment with holy water in blood worked. See if it can be safely added to blood bags without contaminating them from the medical perspective
---[X] Using medically spoiled blood for trade is acceptable, and might even be encouraged, as long as they pay taxes
---[X] See about blessing saline solutions that are using for intravenous injections. Maybe it'll make people holy over time?
--[X] Your Slayer Dream was definitely about Faith. Check up on her. Make sure she is both treated well, and cannot escape if and when she unexpectedly regains consciousness.
[X][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
-[X] The idea of majoring in magic is very appealing. Willow should see who she could talk to in the UC Sunnydale about that. Probably someone from physics department.
--[X] Scout the university for talent. Teaching is part of learning, and Willow could probably teach people about cybermancy already.
-[X] In the last three years scoobies encountered a number of technological or technomagical things. Salvaging those and putting them to good use, as well as developing them further is definitely a good idea.
--[X] Going through Moloch's old robotic body would be cathartic for Willow. And maybe it could be turned into power armor? That would be cool.
--[X] Ted's android body was good enough to pass for human for decades. If even parts of that technology, such as natural looking skin with touch sensors, or artificial limbs that look and behave realistically, can be reproduced, it would both bring a tremendous amount of good, and make everyone involved billionaires several times over.
--[X] Eric Gittleson and Chris Epps were able to resurrect the dead with minimal side effects and, as far as scoobies know, no magic involved. They are also humans, and of scoobies' age. Those two, and their results, should definitely be coopted. And if boosted with magic, it might lead to something even more miraculous.
---[X] Their procedure, while not without kinks, is still revolutionary, and someone in the hospital and in UC Sunnydale would probably appreciate knowing about it, allowing scoobies to bring more people into the fold
-[X] Anyanka has a lot of history with curses and magic, and Giles did ritual magic in his youth and knows a lot of languages. They should work on ritual magic, and on the ensouling curse in particular
--[X] Andrew's ass-covering remark on Harmony's "binding" being voluntary made Willow think - an actual voluntary sacrifice of vampire's ability to drink human blood, and maybe some other things, like ability to spawn new vampires, should be mystically potent, and there are probably entities out there that would accept such sacrifice / sacred vow, and maybe even give a reward in exchange. That should be investigated.
-[X] Joyce, Giles and Anyanka could work on cataloging various artifacts the late mayor left behind. Giles could write saffety instructions, Joyce has a lot of experience handling various pieces of art, which is somewhat similar to ancient magical artifacts of (potential) doom, and Anyanka has experience with artifact magic.
As I said, I have lots of ideas.
TL;DR:
1) Also contact hospital - it's almost as important as police, as far as human society goes, is likely as connected to the supernatural as police, if not more (are demonic children and half-demons a thing? Their medical issues should be strange to say the least). They are also important from PR standpoint.
2) Synergy of WIllow's cybermancy + Buffy investigating police.
3) Willow is not the only person doing magic. She is unique in her capability of developing cybermancy. Thus, she does cybermancy, other people are directed to do and develop other kinds of magic.
4) Ritually giving up ability to drink human blood and procreate might be mystically powerful enough to be used as a bargaining chip, with, say, Hecate or Kali in order to grant vampires some other boons. Like immunity to the sun. Or ability to see oneself in the mirror. Or no threshold rule. Harmony can be a trial case for that.
5) Joyce can potentially learn magic, and is a shoe-in for artifact magic department.
1) Police.
Buffy has supernatural mandate of"I am the Slayer, and I killed the previous boss. Listen to me, or I will kill you". She doesn't have legal / human side legitimacy. Not really, at least. That needs to be corrected soon, or we might lose reelection. Police represents the greatest danger for us. We can fight demonic challengers for the position in a purely martial way. Fighting the police acting against us, especially if they play dirty and bring in outside help, is far harder. Buffy can be on the hook for murder, and can be framed for much more. If police chief makes a bid for mayorship, it'd be hard to counter.
Police is also one of our greatest untapped resources. They are the human-side service most in the know of supernatural, and ones that, with proper equipment and augmentations, might be of actual use in policing the city. Same as we recruited people to exert control over the town hall, we need to recruit police in order to start exerting control over the population. Including supernatural population. Basically, I am advocating gradual expansion town hall -> human society -> supernatural society.
2) Cybermancy.
All options are good and potentially useful, however cybermancy suits Willow's unique skill set the most, and is the most efficient use of her as a human resource. Anyanka and Giles can and should do ritual magic. Jonathan, Andrew, Giles and Joyce can do artifact cataloging. Only Willow (and maybe Jonathan and Andrew) can do cybermancy. It is also the branch with the most potential for OCP and with the least amount of tapped potential, likely meaning a lot of low hanging fruits.
Thus, cybermancy over other options.
[X][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
-[X] Willow's hacking and cybermancy abilities might be helpful to scout police computers, so Buffy doesn't have to go in blind.
-[X] The other institution that Buffy hasn't heard anything about, and one of the most critical to running Sunnydale, is hospital. They are the second most likely institution to be in the know of supernatural, especially given blood trade, and various potential demonic afflictions. Contacting them and getting their support would definitely be useful
--[X] The experiment with holy water in blood worked. See if it can be safely added to blood bags without contaminating them from the medical perspective
---[X] Using medically spoiled blood for trade is acceptable, and might even be encouraged, as long as they pay taxes
---[X] See about blessing saline solutions that are using for intravenous injections. Maybe it'll make people holy over time?
--[X] Your Slayer Dream was definitely about Faith. Check up on her. Make sure she is both treated well, and cannot escape if and when she unexpectedly regains consciousness.
[X][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
-[X] The idea of majoring in magic is very appealing. Willow should see who she could talk to in the UC Sunnydale about that. Probably someone from physics department.
--[X] Scout the university for talent. Teaching is part of learning, and Willow could probably teach people about cybermancy already.
-[X] In the last three years scoobies encountered a number of technological or technomagical things. Salvaging those and putting them to good use, as well as developing them further is definitely a good idea.
--[X] Going through Moloch's old robotic body would be cathartic for Willow. And maybe it could be turned into power armor? That would be cool.
--[X] Ted's android body was good enough to pass for human for decades. If even parts of that technology, such as natural looking skin with touch sensors, or artificial limbs that look and behave realistically, can be reproduced, it would both bring a tremendous amount of good, and make everyone involved billionaires several times over.
--[X] Eric Gittleson and Chris Epps were able to resurrect the dead with minimal side effects and, as far as scoobies know, no magic involved. They are also humans, and of scoobies' age. Those two, and their results, should definitely be coopted. And if boosted with magic, it might lead to something even more miraculous.
---[X] Their procedure, while not without kinks, is still revolutionary, and someone in the hospital and in UC Sunnydale would probably appreciate knowing about it, allowing scoobies to bring more people into the fold
-[X] Anyanka has a lot of history with curses and magic, and Giles did ritual magic in his youth and knows a lot of languages. They should work on ritual magic, and on the ensouling curse in particular
--[X] Andrew's ass-covering remark on Harmony's "binding" being voluntary made Willow think - an actual voluntary sacrifice of vampire's ability to drink human blood, and maybe some other things, like ability to spawn new vampires, should be mystically potent, and there are probably entities out there that would accept such sacrifice / sacred vow, and maybe even give a reward in exchange. That should be investigated.
-[X] Joyce, Giles and Anyanka could work on cataloging various artifacts the late mayor left behind. Giles could write saffety instructions, Joyce has a lot of experience handling various pieces of art, which is somewhat similar to ancient magical artifacts of (potential) doom, and Anyanka has experience with artifact magic.
As I said, I have lots of ideas.
TL;DR:
1) Also contact hospital - it's almost as important as police, as far as human society goes, is likely as connected to the supernatural as police, if not more (are demonic children and half-demons a thing? Their medical issues should be strange to say the least). They are also important from PR standpoint.
2) Synergy of WIllow's cybermancy + Buffy investigating police.
3) Willow is not the only person doing magic. She is unique in her capability of developing cybermancy. Thus, she does cybermancy, other people are directed to do and develop other kinds of magic.
4) Ritually giving up ability to drink human blood and procreate might be mystically powerful enough to be used as a bargaining chip, with, say, Hecate or Kali in order to grant vampires some other boons. Like immunity to the sun. Or ability to see oneself in the mirror. Or no threshold rule. Harmony can be a trial case for that.
5) Joyce can potentially learn magic, and is a shoe-in for artifact magic department.
- Location
- Tarn-Vedra
Changing my vote to:
[X][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
-[X] Willow's hacking and cybermancy abilities might be helpful to scout police computers, so Buffy doesn't have to go in blind.
-[X] The other institution that Buffy hasn't heard anything about, and one of the most critical to running Sunnydale, is hospital. They are the second most likely institution to be in the know of supernatural, especially given blood trade, and various potential demonic afflictions. Contacting them and getting their support would definitely be useful
--[X] The experiment with holy water in blood worked. See if it can be safely added to blood bags without contaminating them from the medical perspective
---[X] Using medically spoiled blood for trade is acceptable, and might even be encouraged, as long as they pay taxes
---[X] See about blessing saline solutions that are using for intravenous injections. Maybe it'll make people holy over time?
--[X] Your Slayer Dream was definitely about Faith. Check up on her. Make sure she is both treated well, and cannot escape if and when she unexpectedly regains consciousness.
[X][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
-[X] The idea of majoring in magic is very appealing. Willow should see who she could talk to in the UC Sunnydale about that. Probably someone from physics department.
--[X] Scout the university for talent. Teaching is part of learning, and Willow could probably teach people about cybermancy already.
-[X] In the last three years scoobies encountered a number of technological or technomagical things. Salvaging those and putting them to good use, as well as developing them further is definitely a good idea.
--[X] Going through Moloch's old robotic body would be cathartic for Willow. And maybe it could be turned into power armor? That would be cool.
--[X] Ted's android body was good enough to pass for human for decades. If even parts of that technology, such as natural looking skin with touch sensors, or artificial limbs that look and behave realistically, can be reproduced, it would both bring a tremendous amount of good, and make everyone involved billionaires several times over.
--[X] Eric Gittleson and Chris Epps were able to resurrect the dead with minimal side effects and, as far as scoobies know, no magic involved. They are also humans, and of scoobies' age. Those two, and their results, should definitely be coopted. And if boosted with magic, it might lead to something even more miraculous.
---[X] Their procedure, while not without kinks, is still revolutionary, and someone in the hospital and in UC Sunnydale would probably appreciate knowing about it, allowing scoobies to bring more people into the fold
-[X] Anyanka has a lot of history with curses and magic, and Giles did ritual magic in his youth and knows a lot of languages. They should work on ritual magic, and on the ensouling curse in particular
--[X] Andrew's ass-covering remark on Harmony's "binding" being voluntary made Willow think - an actual voluntary sacrifice of vampire's ability to drink human blood, and maybe some other things, like ability to spawn new vampires, should be mystically potent, and there are probably entities out there that would accept such sacrifice / sacred vow, and maybe even give a reward in exchange. That should be investigated.
-[X] Joyce, Giles and Anyanka could work on cataloging various artifacts the late mayor left behind. Giles could write saffety instructions, Joyce has a lot of experience handling various pieces of art, which is somewhat similar to ancient magical artifacts of (potential) doom, and Anyanka has experience with artifact magic.
[X][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
-[X] Willow's hacking and cybermancy abilities might be helpful to scout police computers, so Buffy doesn't have to go in blind.
-[X] The other institution that Buffy hasn't heard anything about, and one of the most critical to running Sunnydale, is hospital. They are the second most likely institution to be in the know of supernatural, especially given blood trade, and various potential demonic afflictions. Contacting them and getting their support would definitely be useful
--[X] The experiment with holy water in blood worked. See if it can be safely added to blood bags without contaminating them from the medical perspective
---[X] Using medically spoiled blood for trade is acceptable, and might even be encouraged, as long as they pay taxes
---[X] See about blessing saline solutions that are using for intravenous injections. Maybe it'll make people holy over time?
--[X] Your Slayer Dream was definitely about Faith. Check up on her. Make sure she is both treated well, and cannot escape if and when she unexpectedly regains consciousness.
[X][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
-[X] The idea of majoring in magic is very appealing. Willow should see who she could talk to in the UC Sunnydale about that. Probably someone from physics department.
--[X] Scout the university for talent. Teaching is part of learning, and Willow could probably teach people about cybermancy already.
-[X] In the last three years scoobies encountered a number of technological or technomagical things. Salvaging those and putting them to good use, as well as developing them further is definitely a good idea.
--[X] Going through Moloch's old robotic body would be cathartic for Willow. And maybe it could be turned into power armor? That would be cool.
--[X] Ted's android body was good enough to pass for human for decades. If even parts of that technology, such as natural looking skin with touch sensors, or artificial limbs that look and behave realistically, can be reproduced, it would both bring a tremendous amount of good, and make everyone involved billionaires several times over.
--[X] Eric Gittleson and Chris Epps were able to resurrect the dead with minimal side effects and, as far as scoobies know, no magic involved. They are also humans, and of scoobies' age. Those two, and their results, should definitely be coopted. And if boosted with magic, it might lead to something even more miraculous.
---[X] Their procedure, while not without kinks, is still revolutionary, and someone in the hospital and in UC Sunnydale would probably appreciate knowing about it, allowing scoobies to bring more people into the fold
-[X] Anyanka has a lot of history with curses and magic, and Giles did ritual magic in his youth and knows a lot of languages. They should work on ritual magic, and on the ensouling curse in particular
--[X] Andrew's ass-covering remark on Harmony's "binding" being voluntary made Willow think - an actual voluntary sacrifice of vampire's ability to drink human blood, and maybe some other things, like ability to spawn new vampires, should be mystically potent, and there are probably entities out there that would accept such sacrifice / sacred vow, and maybe even give a reward in exchange. That should be investigated.
-[X] Joyce, Giles and Anyanka could work on cataloging various artifacts the late mayor left behind. Giles could write saffety instructions, Joyce has a lot of experience handling various pieces of art, which is somewhat similar to ancient magical artifacts of (potential) doom, and Anyanka has experience with artifact magic.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
[x][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
[x][Willow] Artifact Magic, starting with figuring out the workings of Wilkins' hoarded supply of esoteric items
[x][Willow] Artifact Magic, starting with figuring out the workings of Wilkins' hoarded supply of esoteric items
- Location
- Germany
Willow is the Witch with the most potential power of any we can ever get.
Having her focus on a side of magic that does not demand much in raw power seems suboptimal.
- Location
- Texas
[X][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
[X][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
[X][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
[X][Buffy] The information black hole at the police station has gone on long enough. They aren't even making the token effort they used to, much less giving any help with actually dangerous problems, and City Hall has received a number of actual complaints. Buffy's more-or-less official now, and she's going to figure out just what kind of skullduggery is going on there and how to improve the sorry state of the town's patrolmen. Hopefully whatever they're doing instead of working, it isn't too bad.
[X][Willow] Ritual Magic, hopefully including the Ensoulment Curse, using Wilkins' Library of spellbooks
[X][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
[X][Willow] Ritual Magic, hopefully including the Ensoulment Curse, using Wilkins' Library of spellbooks
[X][Willow] Cybermancy, using computer equipment at UC Sunnydale
We don't know anything about cybermancy at all. We don't kniw how the effects scale with power used. We don't know what it actually does. We don't know how it works.
At the moment all we know is that Willow is in the best position to start developing it. And that she can do more than she can now with access to supercomputers.
- Location
- Germany
I thought Calendar was working things like that?
She did help Giles cast a demon-binding through the internet, if that counts.
And that's where I got my guess that it doesn't take much juice, since Jenny Calender had no active magical power.
Willow doesn't have much internal magic power either. As I understand it (BTVS magic is ill defined) most of her casting is invocation of various beings.
Plus, again, we don't know, at all, how effects of cybermancybscale with the personal power of the user. For all we know, Willow is one summer of practice away from being Nanoha. Or creating her own personal Lisa. Or developing Scorpion Stare software. Or computing all the names of God.
We know high tier showings of all other disciplines. Ritual magic allows empowerment of all Slayer potential across the world. Battle magic gives Willow ability to injure a goddess. Artifact magic would probably be creation of Scythe grade weapons, or tools to drstroy the world. I have faith that cybermancy is not a trap option and has equal potential. Going from there, it is my belief that Willow has most potential in it and will be able to achieve most with it, given the current starting point.