Willow Rosenberg (btvs)

For anything and everything we can think of because I miss them tbh

Willow was pretty quiet that morning, fixing herself cereal and toast, sipping on orange juice while she watched Doyle forage for whatever struck his fancy in the morning. It was one of those lazy mornings where they both had the day off- so it was likely closer to the afternoon. Still, breakfast was breakfast so long as it was the first meal of the day, as far as she was concerned.

"I had the strangest dream last night." She said, lip twitching slightly while she looked at him. She hid the trace of a smile by picking up her glass to take another sip of juice. "About you."

[to be added to at a later date]

Out of Character Information


player name: Alli
player journal: [personal profile] cartamore
playing here: N/A
where did you find us? Through the grapevine, several of my plurk friends are in game
are you 16 years of age or older?: Yes

In Character Information


character name: Willow Rosenberg
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Timeline: post 6x10
character's age: 20ish

powers, skills, pets and equipment: Ever since high school, Willow has been working on expanding her knowledge of magic. By this point, she is fairly skilled and finding that her abilities are growing consistently. She is getting more and more comfortable with the material components for spells, as well as learning the history of magic and where it comes from. She’s shown to use telekinesis, which is amplified by aid of another with magical abilities, as well as enough ability to execute several spells of various strength, though not always correctly. The actual mechanics and limitations of her abilities seem to vary, depending on how much time she is given to familiarize herself with the components, as well as how much concentration she is granted for her spellworking.

She is also great with computers and other forms of technology, as well as the best little researcher you could ask for. She incredibly intelligent and has a memory to match.

canon history: here

personality: At first glance, Willow would appear as a shy, intelligent girl who is simply dealing with the crazy world that is adolescence and young adulthood. And to begin with, perhaps that’s all she was. Prior to understanding the darker parts of the world, Willow was just a bookwormy little thing who kept her head down and her nose clean. She didn’t have a large network of friends. In reality, she stuck mostly to the side of one childhood friend- Xander, and made passing pleasantness with anyone else who took the time to talk to her. Her social awkwardness didn’t seem to get her down as much as it might have. She understood that she wasn’t part of the popular crowd and accepted that, even enjoying that she flew under the radar for the most part. Being a nobody made life easier. She didn’t have to worry about what people thought of her because they… didn’t. Not that it never got to her. It’s human nature to want to be noticed from time to time, but for the most part, Willow attempted to find the silver lining.

School was always a place that Willow could shine, and her successes in the classroom translated into an actual joy that was soon attached to the actual act of completing the work. School was something that was completely under her control. Even as the world and her body continued to change in that awkward in between stage of her life, Willow could always make sure that her papers and assignments were done and done well. She could learn and expand her worldview beyond Sunnydale’s limits. Grades were something like a badge of merit- proving that she was good at something, to herself if no one else.

Once she met Buffy and was exposed to everything else that the world had to offer, it didn’t change much. Willow channeled her studious nature into a different set of topics, but the core of her remained true to that scholar side of her. Buffy gave Willow’s desire to learn anything and everything a greater purpose. Now she could learn about demons! And magic!

More as a side note, Willow is incredibly technologically inclined. This lends more to her intelligence and her desire to learn about any and all things, but her computer smarts stand enough on their own to be mentioned independently. She works well with computers, using them to research the supernatural events and creatures. The internet is a magical place full of people who know way more about all of this stuff than she will (at least for now), and Willow is more than willing to use that to her advantage.

More than that, she ended up learning about what it felt like to deal with the fact that a person she cared about might not come back to school the next day- and not just because they had caught the flu, but because they just might have caught the dead. As Willow learned to deal with the fact that her new friend had to put herself in danger on a regular basis (not to mention the amount of danger she found herself in- which was, suffice it to say, a great deal more than she was used to), she had to learn to cope with growing up faster than she should have ever been asked to. Life wasn’t about term papers and prom dates- or at least, it wasn’t ALL about those things. Instead, Willow had to cope with wondering what big bad would be creeping around the corner next. She had to learn to lie, which was a big step, and one she never really took fully. Willow had to learn how to accept all the gray areas of life that couldn’t be easily shifted into a black or white category.

What came with this time of growth was a self awareness that allowed her to come out of her shell, little by little. Her confidence grew in the right settings, and soon enough, Willow was able to hold her own in her little clan of misfits. She spoke up when she had something to say, gave her opinion when she was pretty sure it was worth mentioning, and even objected to things when she felt strong enough about decisions that were being made. It still takes her time to work up the nerve to push herself into the spot light, to draw attention to herself, but when it comes down to it, Willow can do what’s necessary to make sure that all the information is available to all parties. Knowledge is the best weapon, after all (and Slayer strength, but knowledge is pretty important too!).

Transitioning from high school to college allowed Willow the chance to realize her place in the more mundane world. She had been waiting for the chance to walk the University green since she was a kid, and to finally make it to a venue where intellect was not only encouraged but expected of her? She felt at home. Willow was able to shed more of her high school shell because of this comfort. She began to right in her own skin. She also began to change, slowly but surely.

Some changes were not self-developed, however, but rather thrust upon her. When her first relationship ended dramatically and abruptly, Willow was shaken to her core. Heartbreak is something that everyone experiences in varying degrees at some point in their life, but Willow wasn’t prepared for it at all. She was better for the experience, though, even if it did force her to be more careful with her heart for some time. Growth can come from pain, and in this case, Willow learned that there is always the chance that a person can surprise you, can hurt you. It’s deciding if this fact is worth braving for the sake of love that we have to figure out.

Willow always seems to manage to open her heart eventually, though. Her initial friendship with Tara soon develops into a much deeper connection that she doesn’t deny, despite not being completely sure what it means to suddenly have feelings for another woman. Despite the fact that it wasn’t something she had previously considered, Willow sees people as more than a series of facts. Tara was never a girl. Tara was Tara, and Willow was able to see past the stigma of what it might mean to care for her, and slowly allowed herself to open her heart to another person. Her capability to love again, despite the pain still lingering from her broken heart further shows the extent to which Willow will allow herself the opportunity to heal. She is constantly moving forward, constantly growing and change, and never allowing herself to linger too long in the hardships of the past. This is also illustrated in her choice to continue exploring what it is that she has with Tara, rather than doubling back to attempt to mend her relationship with Oz.

When it comes to her friends, Willow still remains fiercely loyal, not she could be anything but. It’s them against the world- usually literally. Whatever they need, she’d drop just about anything to be there and lend a hand, a brain, a shoulder to cry on- anything! She’d prefer to keep herself safe and sound, but even the threat of her own demise won’t stop her from being right behind Buffy- or any of them, really. Willow would stick her neck out for anyone, given the chance that her presence might save their lives.

Her heart is incredibly large, causing her to worry and fret about the fate of her friends, herself, the world… It’s a lot to think about, but somehow Willow manages to keep all the thoughts straight in her head, even if they don’t always come out so organized when they reach her mouth. She tends to babble, opening her mouth and just letting the words fall out, just to be deciphered later on. It’s in her rambling that some of Willow’s purest moments can be seen. She cannot censor herself once she starts going. All the fear, the worry, the heart of her comes out in those drawn out sentences that never seem to end. She gets flustered and stammers, tripping over her own emotions and striving to regain control, but somewhere between start and finish, you can see exactly what she really thinks about a particular situation or person.

Death is something that Willow will never get used to, which is strange, since she seems to do better with dealing with the chance of it on a regular basis. Experiencing true death, though, manages to rattle her, even when she knows that she has to be strong. Buffy’s mother’s death came on suddenly, highlighting the frailty of human life for Willow. It could all disappear in a moment. More than that, Willow realized in this instance that nothing that she said or did could do anything to truly comfort Buffy or Dawn. She was helpless and that feeling was something Willow thought she was so long past. But it isn’t something that you can ever fully shake- that helpless feeling, not completely. This comes into play with the AU of Willow being native. With the flu taking so many people, and with the uncertainty of if Tara and the others fell victim to it, Willow is forced to deal with a near constant verge of loss. This has a serious effect on her behavior, pushing her into extremes of herself in order to cope.

At her current canon point, Willow is in the throes of falling prey to an addiction to using magic. She believes that magic makes her special, and that without it, she’s not really worth much at all. So when she loses the woman she loves, she turns to the thing that makes her feel close to whole- magic. The fallacy here lies in the fact that Tara left largely due to the heavy use of magic that Willow was exhibiting, but that’s the thing with addiction… you don’t always see the logical progression of things, only the quick fix. With the help of a bad influence, she starts to play more with giving herself to power, which only makes her need for it grow. Life is easier with magic- or at least, she pretends it is. She’s not aware that she has a problem, or that the fact that she thinks to go to magic first before trying to do things the mundane way is remotely an issue.

why do you feel this character would be appropriate to the setting? Ever since Buffy arrived in Sunnydale, Willow’s been dealing with survival on a daily basis. Her own supernatural aspects also lend to her meshing with the world fairly easily.


Writing Samples


Network Post Sample:

[The face on the screen looks tired. Or like being alive is painful. It takes a few moments to even realize that she’s turned the forge on.]

Oh. Guess you’re working now. Okay… can anyone hear me? I’m not really sure how I got here… or where here is. Pretty sure there’s potential breaking and entering going on, since I’ve never seen this apartment before, but… [She moves to the nearest window and takes a quick look outside and winces against the light.]

Definitely not Sunnydale. So if you can hear me, and you’ve got some information, I’d really appreciate it. Just… not too loud, okay?

[Hangovers are a bitch]

Third Person Sample: There was a door.

She just sort of stared at it curiously at first. There was so much to look at. All the magic swirling around between her and Amy, all the ways Rack made them feel… powerful. It was distracting, or at least more interesting than a door. But she kept finding herself drawn to the door. She couldn’t make out what was on the other side. What did it matter? She could make a thousand doors, magical doors. She could make doors inside doors. She could make doors to nowhere. She could make doors to everywhere.

But there was just the one door. And she hadn’t made it, so why was it there? Without her moving, the door drew closer. None of the others seemed to see it. It was a door meant for her. She stepped forward, walking on the upturned faces of flowers and breathing in clouds. The stars parted for her, gathering together into neon letters that spelled WELCOME. She enjoyed the feeling of being welcomed. Her pace quickened and within seconds she was standing inches from it. The others were miles away, or might as well have been. She could hear them, but it was like listening to an echo, all distorted and hard to make out.

The door had no handle.

And yet when she approached, she could hear the click of the latch and felt it exhale to yield to her. She still couldn’t see beyond the door frame, but she wanted whatever was behind it. With one last look over her shoulder, she stepped forward. The silence roared around her, making her wince and choke on second guesses and regret. But there was no time to change her mind. A city awaited her. She barely made it through before it all went black.

---
Alternatively, you can find an example of prose where Willow is NOT on drugs here

Anything else? I don’t think so!

name } Alli
personal journal } cartamore
other characters currently played } N/A
e-mail } asgriner6587[@]gmail[dot]com
other contact } plurk @ airchildstrega

character name } Willow Rosenberg
age } 19
species } Human
canon } Buffy the Vampire Slayer
canon point } 5x20
time & choice } Willow will be a native of this world. Explanation below quoted from the lovely Tifa and her Buffy app:

“buffy took dawn and the others on the run from glory in 5.20 spiral after glory learned that dawn was the key. they hopped in a big ol' trailer and drove off, away from sunnydale. however, as glory turned back into ben and went into the hospital to deal with his own business instead of glory's, he contracted the flu and died, taking care of the glory problem (for the most part), because glory couldn't live without the human body her essence was tied to.

buffy & the gang, not knowing this, continued to flee, getting attacked by the knights of byzantium. this resulted in giles getting a potentially fatal stab wound, they holed up in a gas station. tara (whose mind was gone, courtesy of glory), xander, anya, spike, dawn, giles and buffy were trying to manage in an old abandoned gas station, surrounded by knights who wanted to kill dawn to thwart the beast's plans.

the knights, cornering buffy and the others in the gas station, were killed by the flupocalypse as well. their clerics survived to tell willow and buffy that glory's essence was still alive and needed to be contained lest it caused even greater destruction. the two girls entrusted xander and spike with the care of their loved ones (dawn, crazy!tara and wounded giles), and those two and anya took the group with them, away from the conflict in hopes of keeping them far, far away from danger (with the assumption that now that ben was dead, anya and giles might be able to find a way to restore tara's mind as glory's essence continued to lose grip on the brains she'd sucked).

tara's mind began to slowly come back to her as glory's essence lost strength and its ability to hold onto the energy it had sucked from human minds, but she, dawn, xander, anya, giles and spike were already separated from buffy and willow, who actively sought out the essence of the god to destroy it. cell phone reception and electricity were lost before they were able to get back in contact with the rest of the scooby gang, leaving neither group with any idea where the others are, or even if they had survived the epidemic.”
history } here
personality } At first glance, Willow would appear as a shy, intelligent girl who is simply dealing with the crazy world that is adolescence and young adulthood. And to begin with, perhaps that’s all she was. Prior to understanding the darker parts of the world, Willow was just a bookwormy little thing who kept her head down and her nose clean. She didn’t have a large network of friends. In reality, she stuck mostly to the side of one childhood friend- Xander, and made passing pleasantness with anyone else who took the time to talk to her. Her social awkwardness didn’t seem to get her down as much as it might have. She understood that she wasn’t part of the popular crowd and accepted that, even enjoying that she flew under the radar for the most part. Being a nobody made life easier. She didn’t have to worry about what people thought of her because they… didn’t. Not that it never got to her. It’s human nature to want to be noticed from time to time, but for the most part, Willow attempted to find the silver lining.

School was always a place that Willow could shine, and her successes in the classroom translated into an actual joy that was soon attached to the actual act of completing the work. School was something that was completely under her control. Even as the world and her body continued to change in that awkward in between stage of her life, Willow could always make sure that her papers and assignments were done and done well. She could learn and expand her worldview beyond Sunnydale’s limits. Grades were something like a badge of merit- proving that she was good at something, to herself if no one else.

Once she met Buffy and was exposed to everything else that the world had to offer, it didn’t change much. Willow channeled her studious nature into a different set of topics, but the core of her remained true to that scholar side of her. Buffy gave Willow’s desire to learn anything and everything a greater purpose. Now she could learn about demons! And magic!

More as a side note, Willow is incredibly technologically inclined. This lends more to her intelligence and her desire to learn about any and all things, but her computer smarts stand enough on their own to be mentioned independently. She works well with computers, using them to research the supernatural events and creatures. The internet is a magical place full of people who know way more about all of this stuff than she will (at least for now), and Willow is more than willing to use that to her advantage.

More than that, she ended up learning about what it felt like to deal with the fact that a person she cared about might not come back to school the next day- and not just because they had caught the flu, but because they just might have caught the dead. As Willow learned to deal with the fact that her new friend had to put herself in danger on a regular basis (not to mention the amount of danger she found herself in- which was, suffice it to say, a great deal more than she was used to), she had to learn to cope with growing up faster than she should have ever been asked to. Life wasn’t about term papers and prom dates- or at least, it wasn’t ALL about those things. Instead, Willow had to cope with wondering what big bad would be creeping around the corner next. She had to learn to lie, which was a big step, and one she never really took fully. Willow had to learn how to accept all the gray areas of life that couldn’t be easily shifted into a black or white category.

What came with this time of growth was a self awareness that allowed her to come out of her shell, little by little. Her confidence grew in the right settings, and soon enough, Willow was able to hold her own in her little clan of misfits. She spoke up when she had something to say, gave her opinion when she was pretty sure it was worth mentioning, and even objected to things when she felt strong enough about decisions that were being made. It still takes her time to work up the nerve to push herself into the spot light, to draw attention to herself, but when it comes down to it, Willow can do what’s necessary to make sure that all the information is available to all parties. Knowledge is the best weapon, after all (and Slayer strength, but knowledge is pretty important too!).

Transitioning from high school to college allowed Willow the chance to realize her place in the more mundane world. She had been waiting for the chance to walk the University green since she was a kid, and to finally make it to a venue where intellect was not only encouraged but expected of her? She felt at home. Willow was able to shed more of her high school shell because of this comfort. She began to right in her own skin. She also began to change, slowly but surely.

Some changes were not self-developed, however, but rather thrust upon her. When her first relationship ended dramatically and abruptly, Willow was shaken to her core. Heartbreak is something that everyone experiences in varying degrees at some point in their life, but Willow wasn’t prepared for it at all. She was better for the experience, though, even if it did force her to be more careful with her heart for some time. Growth can come from pain, and in this case, Willow learned that there is always the chance that a person can surprise you, can hurt you. It’s deciding if this fact is worth braving for the sake of love that we have to figure out.

Willow always seems to manage to open her heart eventually, though. Her initial friendship with Tara soon develops into a much deeper connection that she doesn’t deny, despite not being completely sure what it means to suddenly have feelings for another woman. Despite the fact that it wasn’t something she had previously considered, Willow sees people as more than a series of facts. Tara was never a girl. Tara was Tara, and Willow was able to see past the stigma of what it might mean to care for her, and slowly allowed herself to open her heart to another person. Her capability to love again, despite the pain still lingering from her broken heart further shows the extent to which Willow will allow herself the opportunity to heal. She is constantly moving forward, constantly growing and change, and never allowing herself to linger too long in the hardships of the past. This is also illustrated in her choice to continue exploring what it is that she has with Tara, rather than doubling back to attempt to mend her relationship with Oz.

When it comes to her friends, Willow still remains fiercely loyal, not she could be anything but. It’s them against the world- usually literally. Whatever they need, she’d drop just about anything to be there and lend a hand, a brain, a shoulder to cry on- anything! She’d prefer to keep herself safe and sound, but even the threat of her own demise won’t stop her from being right behind Buffy- or any of them, really. Willow would stick her neck out for anyone, given the chance that her presence might save their lives.

Her heart is incredibly large, causing her to worry and fret about the fate of her friends, herself, the world… It’s a lot to think about, but somehow Willow manages to keep all the thoughts straight in her head, even if they don’t always come out so organized when they reach her mouth. She tends to babble, opening her mouth and just letting the words fall out, just to be deciphered later on. It’s in her rambling that some of Willow’s purest moments can be seen. She cannot censor herself once she starts going. All the fear, the worry, the heart of her comes out in those drawn out sentences that never seem to end. She gets flustered and stammers, tripping over her own emotions and striving to regain control, but somewhere between start and finish, you can see exactly what she really thinks about a particular situation or person.

Death is something that Willow will never get used to, which is strange, since she seems to do better with dealing with the chance of it on a regular basis. Experiencing true death, though, manages to rattle her, even when she knows that she has to be strong. Buffy’s mother’s death came on suddenly, highlighting the frailty of human life for Willow. It could all disappear in a moment. More than that, Willow realized in this instance that nothing that she said or did could do anything to truly comfort Buffy or Dawn. She was helpless and that feeling was something Willow thought she was so long past. But it isn’t something that you can ever fully shake- that helpless feeling, not completely. This comes into play with the AU of Willow being native. With the flu taking so many people, and with the uncertainty of if Tara and the others fell victim to it, Willow is forced to deal with a near constant verge of loss. This has a serious effect on her behavior, pushing her into extremes of herself in order to cope.
abilities } Ever since high school, Willow has been working on expanding her knowledge of magic. By this point, she is fairly skilled and finding that her abilities are growing consistently. She is getting more and more comfortable with the material components for spells, as well as learning the history of magic and where it comes from. She’s shown to use telekinesis, which is amplified by aid of another with magical abilities, as well as enough ability to execute several spells of various strength, though not always correctly. The actual mechanics and limitations of her abilities seem to vary, depending on how much time she is given to familiarize herself with the components, as well as how much concentration she is granted for her spellworking.

She is also great with computers and other forms of technology, as well as the best little researcher you could ask for. She incredibly intelligent and has a memory to match.
appearance } Willow stands at roughly 5’6” with pale, fair skin and vivid red hair. With features like these, one might think that she’d be envied for her rare and delicate attributes. This was not really the case, however, as Willow played down her appearance during high school and through graduation. She would be more often described as “cute” or perhaps “adorable” by the more pleasant passerby, and something like “geeky” and “lame” by those who were less than. She doesn’t seem too bothered by fashion trends (and those she does adhere to were such awkward choices of a misguided decade), and more concerned with comfort than style. Function over form would be a pretty good way to describe Willow’s appearance overall, actually.
inventory }

(this inventory is loosely based on what Willow had on her at her canon point and them some common sense of things she has acquired since the epidemic swept through)
- green turtleneck
- green plaid button down
- brown corduroy pants
- boots
- pocket knife
- messenger bag
o various small spell components (whatever she can find and gather compulsively)
o one stake (just in case)
o small notebook
o 2 pens

third person sample } Finding the car hadn’t been the hard part. Even hotwiring it had been an easy enough task once Willow had some time to sort out the wires. No, the hardest part was trying to figure out how to best broach the delicate topic of who should be behind the wheel. Because let’s face it- Buffy may be the star of the show, but she shouldn’t drive the tour bus. And even though it usually wasn’t an issue, and even though by now, it seemed pretty much assumed that someone else should drive- it was still awkward.

It had been just the two of them for a few days now, combing the city, looking for a sign of where the others went. The chance that some or all of them could have been taken by the flu was something that was left unsaid, though Willow was pretty sure Buffy had been having the same nightmares as she was- which explained why neither of them had been sleeping much. Instead, they focused on the positives. They’d keep an eye out for supplies, focus on how far it was to the next town, or hold their breath for a sign of their loved ones.

There was a lot of silence. Not always, but there were long stretches of time where Willow was painfully aware of the lack of conversation. Sometimes, there just wasn’t anything left to say. There was only so much to talk about without feeling the weight of the situation pressing in against them. It was easier to keep moving if they were quiet. Despite being a capable person, Willow didn’t have Slayer endurance on her side, so walking and searching took its toll on her body.

But the car would help. The car would let them cover more ground. The car would hopefully have a working CD player and the ability to take them to Best Buy where they could… borrow… a few essentials to fill the silence. It wasn’t just a means of transportation; it was like some chariot of hope, a means to do more, to do better than they had.

The car revved to life and Willow wiped her hands off on her pants as she stepped back.

“Okay! One working vehicle – check.” She gave a nervous half smile in no direction in particular, then shifted nervously before placing a hand on the car and leaning against it. “So I was thinking… maybe I should drive?”