Power Swap: Just Like Magic {Willow}

[Nina Levitra]

Nina was so super happy today. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and something smelled exactly like funnel cake, which put her in an unreasonably good mood. Because if there was one thing she loved, it was funnel cake with honey and powdered sugar. She had half a mind to actually hunt down the delicious smell, but she had more important things to do. Nina needed to go surprise Willow with a super happy friendship attack - something she planned on yelling before tackling Willow full speed - and to go surprise her, she needed to find her. Now, normally tracking down Willow was as easy as blowing up pie using firecrackers, but today Nina wanted to be especially stealthy about her friend finding. So, instead of just waiting until she knew where Willow was, Nina went straight to Hammel.

It wasn't like this was the first time Nina had gone on campus without well defined permission, but she was a former student, so stuff like this had to be totally okay. Not to mention, she had gone to all of the trouble of putting on a black shirt and black pants and really cool black flats with little glittery things and a camo jacket she had gotten from a thrift store. She was in such a good disguise, it would be a shame not to jump a small fence and roll roll roll onto campus until she was lurking just behind the training field, which Nina proceeded to stroll onto quite calmly. Now that she was on campus, it was all cool. They would actually have to physically remove her, and she could always turn into a snake or a rhino and just escape. She had done it before.

Far too content with herself, Nina flopped back and rolled in the grass. Rolling in the grass was fun, and as she did, she tried to plan how exactly to find Willow. Now that she was someplace comfy, hunting down friends was not quite as important. "This is awesome grass. Of awesome." Spotting a dandelion near her head, Nina plucked it quickly, attributing one of the plant growers to weeds even though it was growing cold. "Ah, wishing time..." Scrunching her eyes closed, Nina very seriously and very intensely made her customary wish. "I wish that everything would change, just for a little while... So everyone could have a chance to be someone different." With a slightly theatrical gasp, Nina used all of her lung capacity to exhale and scatter every single seed to grow and prosper. "I love wishing."

Sitting up, Nina suddenly felt her Willow senses tingling. It was probably just the sheer intensity of friendly love that they shared, but about seventy-four percent of the time, Nina knew when Willow was near. Her Willow senses also tingled when she managed to really really annoy Willow, or when there were more than three cats within ten feet of her. At least, those felt like Willow senses. They could have been completely separate cats senses, or Willow could be part cat. Which would explain a ton. Only not really, but she was willing to roll with that. Sitting up, Nina made her decision and throwing her head back, took another theatrically deep breath.

"WILLOW!" Nina called, knowing that if Willow was anywhere nearby, she would show up if for no other reason than to shut Nina up before anyone could figure out why she knew Willow's name. That was sort of what she was counting on. However, even as she yelled, Nina felt strangely different. "COME QUICK WILLOW, OR I'LL YELL WEIRD THINGS!" She leaned back on her hands, only to fall back a bit abruptly. Which was weird, even for her. Looking back, Nina looked back at the ground for sinkholes, only to find that her left arm had sunk into the ground up to her elbow. Sitting up quickly, Nina realized that this kind of weirdness could only mean one thing.

"WILLOW, I JUST GOT MAGICAL POWERS. I CAN MAKE ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!"

[Willow Kovacs]

It was one of those days where Willow just knew something weird was going to happen. She was expecting it from the moment she turned off her alarm that morning. She pondered it as she got dressed and munched on her granola and strawberries. She thought about the possibilities on her walk up to campus. And she even hummed in thought when putting her bag away in the office, sitting down at her desk to begin paperwork. But that was the extent of her mulling over the possibility of something very strange happening that day, as she was soon distracted about being diligent and finishing her work. Which she did actually succeed in nearly finishing all she wanted to accomplish that day before her break time.

The woman sat against the counter in the staff lounge, idly stirring a cup of tea as she stared at the sunniness of the outside world, and in a completely uncharacteristic way, she decided to take a longer break and go for a walk across the campus. It wasn't often she decided to do things such as that, as the woman was very pointed when it came to her profession and being diligent and precise. But there was that feeling again, that there was something that would go wrong and she needed to be around to fix it. And alas, the reptile found herself walking across the training field, hands in the pockets of her coat, staring at the sky in the most nonwhimsical manner a person could - more of challenging the sky than enjoying the pretty blue colour it was giving off that day.

And that's when she heard it. At first, she really had to pause and listen to actually know if she had heard her name or if she had finally gone mad. But sure enough, within the next few seconds, there was another shrill scream of her name, followed by the threat of bizarre things being mentioned. That could really only mean one person - Nina. The woman resisted the urge to run her hand down her face in annoyance, and soon was jogging toward the general area that the redhead was screaming from.

Soon enough, she spotted the woman, standing in the middle of the field with a camo jacket on, yelling something else this time. And as the raven approached, an annoyed glower on her face, she did note something... off about the woman. The fact that most of her arm was disappearing into the ground was probably the difference she was seeing. "Did you dig a hole?" She asked incredulously, and then backed up once again when she screamed about magical powers. "Oh yes Nina, in a world with meta-humans, magical powers still make complete sense." Willow was hardly amused by her antics. "Get your arm out of the ground. Why are you even on campus today?" Like the neurotic redhead even needed a reason.

[Nina Levitra]

Oh yay oh yay. The screaming had worked and now here came Willow running up, looking slightly unhappy. Willow normally looked unhappy, because that was the way her face was, but this one of the special looks that only Nina ever got. Well, Nina and that one parrot that everyone hated because it yelled in Swedish and bit everyone. This particular look was basically translated to Nina-why-must-you-be-such-an-embarrassment-to-the-general-public, which was the look that Willow normally had around her. Nina couldn't wait to see what Willow's face would switch to when she discovered that Nina had somehow gotten the power to make wishes come true. She was like a genie or something. Or even better, now Nina was a wishing well. Wells got paid for their services.

"No I didn't dig a hole, silly." Nina said, as if that was the most ridiculous idea ever. If she had dug a hole, it would have been massive and really really cool and she would have worn gloves. Because those were proper hole digging attire. "Its the magical powers. And that makes total sense! If there are meta-humans, that means that magical powers become even more likely. Statistically." The fact that she had referenced math should have clued Willow in to the fact that she was absolutely not kidding. "Like Scarlet Witch, or Nightcrawler, or that one awkward gothic girl that gets blown up on the island that one time? They were all mutants with magic powers and Marvel would never, never lie in a million years. Comics books are completely honest." All of this was said very solemnly and with a very serious slow nod.

Just as Nina made to pull her arm out of the ground, something changed, and Nina found that her arm really was stuck in the ground now. With a relatively hard tug, she managed to yank her arm out of the dirt, letting clumps of grass and soil fly everywhere. Disappointingly enough, her arm seemed solid again. Maybe she would have to try at this new differentness.

"Well, I came to surprise you with the intensity of my love and to remind you of the the strength of our unquestionable friendship." Nina said distractedly, staring at her hand. "But while I was deciding how best to find and surprise you, I found a dandelion, and I made a wish that everybody could see what it was like to be different. And then, I discovered that I had new powers because look!" Concentrating very hard on her hand, like she was trying to transform into something, Nina tried to grab Willow's leg. As she had hoped, her hand slipped through her friend's skin and continued up to the wrist, Nina pulling her hand back out very quickly. As much as she liked Willow, it would be weird if they got stuck together, especially in awkward places.

"Wow! Did you see that Willow, I put my hand through you that was cool wasn't that cool?" Nina was actually quite excited about this, and she stood up, staring at her relatively normal looking hand. "My new different power is ghostly intangibility!" Too bad it didn't shimmer or something, because that would be so awesome. "Oh oh, wait wait!" Taking two steps back, Nina got a small running start and while thinking very solid human thoughts, tackled Willow. "Super happy friendship attack! This is why I came to see you!"

[Willow Kovacs]

Why was it that every time the redhead showed up, Willow got an excruciating headache? Perhaps it was simply the fact they were in all seriousness, exact opposites. Nina was the embodiment of a child - energetic, illogical, and generally, just plain annoying. Willow was proud, and mature, and serious at all times. They should clash, but Nina always found a way to make Willow keep coming back to her - probably because Willow had only one other person she could consider her companion, and that woman was not only in Australia, but was also slightly terrified of her.

Staring at the woman with an unamused expression, she only half listened to what she was saying about magical powers - which were completely illogical, meta-humans or not. The woman pulled her arm out of the ground, dirt and clay spewing from the hole that she supposedly did not dig. Because that was absurd. Even for her. When the shapeshifting began to spew out comicbook names from the infamous X-Men comic that had plagued the metaphors of the school, her headache increased. "Yes, because X-Men is so accurate." Her muttered was dripping with sarcasm, and yet she listened to her continue on about wishing.

"... Unquestionable friendship... Quite." A twitch of her eyebrow, the steady glare settled on the evidently unphased woman. She was about to make a snarky comment in response to her bizarre claims that her wish came true, but then something... weird happened. Nina reached forward, and phased her hand directly through her leg. A strange wishy-washy feeling lead to the taller woman to take a long stride backward and disconnect the not-touching. "Nina." She said slowly, staring at her leg, then back at the woman. "What have you done?" The redhead was a shapeshifter, with a chicken being her most favoured form. She did not have the ability to phase through solid objects - though there were multiple students there who did. Something was very, very wrong here.

When Nina stood, Willow took another step backward - she knew that look. Hoping with this newfound power, Nina would simply phase through her and not actually shove onto the cold ground- nope. No such luck. The reptile was sprawled out onto the grass, the redhead writhing on top of her, spouting out words of joy. "...Thank you Nina." She said in a monotone, obviously not happy with the sudden human contact. "Now if you would just kindly get off of me, we could go speak with someone who might have an idea of what's going on with you." She said, attempting to wiggle her way out from underneath the woman. "And no, before you say it, it's not magic." Preposterous.