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Harper decides to approach Angel to tell him to stop looking for her. A demon decides to attack. She bites it, and ingests some of its blood. Fortunately, Willow's there to save her life.
1/28/2017 9:00 PM
Golden Gate Park Hyperion Hotel San Francisco
Golden Gate Park[]
The western side of the park features a number of athletic fields, open meadows, and lakes. Also located here are the Golden Gate Park Stadium in the center of the area and Murphy's Windmill near the southwest corner. By contrast, the northwest corner features the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden and the Dutch Windmill. This area also features a dog training field, senior center, model yacht racing area, bison paddock, and equestrian center. For fishermen there are the fly casting pools and Anglers Lodge, and of course the park has its own golf course. Amidst the more grown-up diversions, a playground can be found along the south side of the park. The western edge of the park stands atop the cliffs of the coast, overlooking the shimmering Pacific Ocean.
The eastern entrance to the long stretch of Golden Gate Park is preceded by a block-wide strip of parkland extending eight blocks towards down. Here, a gate offers one of the many access points to the park itself. Major features in this area are the children's playgrounds and carousel, tennis courts, several sports fields, and the large Sharon Meadow. A bit farther in one can find the Conservatory of Flowers, the oldest glass-and-wood Victorian greenhouse in the Western Hemisphere and home to more than 10,000 plants from around the globe. Several buildings, such as the California Academy of Sciences and a few museums, are housed in the center beyond the Garden of Shakespeare's Flowers, and near the western edge of this area of the park is the Japanese Tea Garden.
The park is a world away from the city, with enough trees to feel like a forest broken up by cobbled paths and dirt trails in between broad lawns and playgrounds. There are several large ponds or small lakes, and even a waterfall or two. It is cool and peaceful here, and it's large enough that even though the park is very popular there always seems to be room for everyone.
The evening's stars are mostly hidden by dark clouds above. In winter, nighttime temperatures do not generally reach above 35?F. With the coming of winter, the trees are bare of leaves and there's a cold bite to the air. It's cloudy, cold, and damp.
Angel is actually on patrol this chilling winter evening. It's unusual for the vampire to be out by himself, particularly when so many of his friends are around. And his fiancee. Well, the Slayers are off doing girl things tonight, so it's up to the vampire to keep watch while the ladies are busy. The park is quiet, few people wandering around in the dark. Apparently they're getting smarter, or maybe the cold is keeping people indoors. It IS pretty chilly out.
And that is why Harper is waiting for Angel. She knew he would be here tonight. Saw it. And she knew he would be alone. If he wasn't alone, he would find the park empty. But not tonight. And so Harper waits for the vampire. Sitting in one of the empty swings. Time not being too pleasant to it. Holding a cup of coffee in a to-go container. It's dangerous for a lone female to be sitting out here. Probably dangerous for a long female Slayer who's barely seventeen to be out here. But Harper is. And she's not worried. This Oracle already knows what the night holds. And her death wasn't on the agenda. But, this crappy coffee she now sips at wasn't either.
Angel takes in the sight of the girl on the swing. Young, scarred hand, terrible cup of coffee...strong. Angel spends most of his unlife surrounded by Slayers, and he can pick them out by now. Then again, this one looks like she's Eva's age and Eva hasn't mentioned getting a new friend. Neither have Faith and Buffy mentioned getting a new trainee. Willow must not have been casting her Slayer detection spell lately. Nuts. The vampire (who registers as a vampire alright, but he has a very distinctive 'note' to it. As if he's not quite normal for a vampire), approaches. And offers her a hand. "Welcome to San Francisco. I'm Angel."
Harper stands when Angel approaches, and manages a final sip of her coffee before it's chucked into the trashbin next to her. Gloves are pulled out of her pockets and pulled over her hands which are then stuffed into her pockets. When Angel offers his hand to her and welcomes her... Harper just stares at him with that pale blue gaze of hers. A single swallow, then a few words. "Stop looking for me." A perk of her brow to Angel, "I want to be left alone." Her words /may/ be confusing to him, but she holds the tone of knowing what she says.
Angel seems to get it. "Not all the girls who were given the Slayer's power want it. But two years ago, in May, the power found you and about 2000 others, and now it'll be with you for the rest of your life." He gestures once at her hand. "Slaying accident?"
Harper stares at Angel, and as he starts giving the history lesson her eyes narrow the slightest bit. But she doesn't interrupt. "I didn't come here to debate with you, vampire. I came here to tell you to stop looking for me. And if you ain't? You will be." The longer she talks to Angel, the deeper her southern accent gets. Clearly coming from the south. "I ain't ready."
"Your enemies won't wait for you to be ready. And if nobody's watching your back, they'll overwhelm you. Countless girls died that way, one at a time, till Buffy changed the rules. I'd prefer to not let you fall down that hole." Pause. "You've seen Buffy, haven't you? In your dreams? She holds the Scythe."
"A risk I'm willing to take..." come her murmured words to Angel as she starts to slowly walk backward away from him - to put distance between herself and the very.. very.. much older male in front of her. "I already left my life to get away from the life you and your people try to force on others. I would rather not leave again." A flick of her eyes to the side as if looking for something then back to Angel. "I will find you when it's time. My dreams will tell me. Not you."
That's news to him. "Who tried to force you? A Watcher? What was his name?" Pause. "What's your name?" He realized the girl hadn't given it to him. Then again...there is one more thing he can do. He pulls a card out of his pocket. "I'll give you time. But if you find you run out of it...call me. I have at my side Buffy and Faith. There's training too, if you want it."
Harper gives a slow blink at Angel and his words and the car he produces before she just holds a hand out for him to deposit it in. No other words are spoken from her to the male before her. Just waiting for the card to be deposited so she can go on her own way. At least she's taking his card.
Angel hands her the card then. He's disappointed that she's not answering the questions though. The card does call it 'Angel Investigations', which means that, as Private Investigator, Angel and his team are probably really really good at finding out information.
Just as Angel tries to give her the business card, a critter with 4 arms, 4 hands, and two tentacles jumps at Harper, with...whatever intentions it has for her being clearly not particularly good!
Harper was reaching out for the business card when a 'critter' suddenly appears and a squeal comes from her. A duck, a dodge, and then Harper is trying to run away! If Angel was hoping for a fight. There wasn't going to be one. At least if Harper has any say about it. She may be a Slayer, but even Angel should be able to tell Harper is untrained. Undisciplined. And lacking need-to-know knowledge. She must have had a shitty Watcher.
This was clearly not planned! Because Angel engages the enemy flat out...it has too many limbs, so Caladbolg comes swinging out of nowhere. He didn't have an official mission tonight, so the mighty sword doesn't have its signature rainbow arc. Moreover, he doesn't call Harper back to the fight either. Instead, like Obi Wan fighting Grievous, he plays defense and lets the enemy attack. One of the creatures arms gets severed at the elbow, and it howls in pain.
Angel can go right ahead and fight that... thing. He'll be fine. Probably. Nor does Harper have any allegiance to the vampire. Instead she runs over to a sewer grate - awkwardly hefts up the lid and tosses it to the side. She's about to jump down into the sewers below before looking back to Angel. Perhaps just making sure he's okay. Last thing a Slayer needs is Angelus dying on her watch and a furious Fiance coming after her. Women's wrath and all. "Hey. Hey vampire..." she calls out, "You uh... you good?"
Well, the enemy did have 8 limbs...and still has 7 more. The two tentacles manage to rip the sword out of his hands, and a couple fists send him flying backwards into a tree. Looking a bit the worse for wear..."What do you think?" He's not demanding help, though he clearly could use some. Interestingly, the creature cannot hold on to the sword, and it drops to the ground.
"I'm thinking you should have ran away as well!" A bit of amusement in her voice at this as Harper just watches the scene before her. "I never said /you/ didn't die tonight. Just that /I/ didn't die." And then Harper is running away from the sewer entrance, and while Angel is engaged he may not notice how she is looping a circle around to the back of the demon - coming up behind it. Weaponless. Defenseless. But coming.
The Demon seems to have noticed though, and perhaps it's watched one anime too many, as it tries to grab Harper with its tentacles! But that leaves only its 3 remaining limbs to deal with Angel. Angel feints, like he's going to retrieve the sword, but then closes in hard, launching a punch and a kneestrike kick. The creature, with 3 limbs, is fast enough to block the punch, but not the kick, and it howls in pain.
The demon manages to grab her with a tentacle - just as Harper is jumping onto it. Probably the worst thing for her to do. But she does. The young female grapples it. Arms wrap around it. Legs wrap around it. Her whole body wraps around it as that tentacle wraps around her. Angel is forgotten as Harper just /sinks/ her teeth into the demon in an attempt to bit it. Wound it. Rip out a chunk of whatever it is. Not even thinking about what demons are made of. She probably doesn't even know.
Well, the demon tastes like...horrible terrible things no human would ever want to taste. It bleeds too, both from this wound and the sliced off limb, and the blood is some sort of terrible black ichor. Swallowing it would be a terrible idea. Even for a vampire. The non grappled tentacle reaches around to try to grab her by the neck. If it can manage it, it'll attempt to slowly strangle her that way.
Once Angel sees what it's attempting to do to Harper, he find himself clocked by the fist/severed limb combo...he hadn't been watching that side as much. But the demon, distracted, didn't notice he'd knocked him towards the sword. Angel rolls, grabs it, and comes up again, Caladbolg at the ready.
It's really hard to put into words what's happening to Harper physically (and perhaps even mentally) as her teeth are sunk into that Demon - biting down. Gnashing and sinking her human teeth into it. Black ichor seeps out from around the wound and her mouth even as her limbs wrap tight even as the terrible smell assaults her senses, and maybe even Angel's. She has no sense of what Angel is doing. Trying to distract and immobilize the demon as much as possible. But then that tentacle is around her throat. Squeezing. And she does what any thing would do when their throat is being assaulted.
She swallows.
Taking a mouthful of that black demon-ichor down inside of her.
The demons continues to constrict Harper with the tentacle around her neck, and as much as it can uses the other tentacle to immobilize her so it has an easier time of subduing its prey. It's just thinking about how yummy consuming her is going to be when...
It probably should've paid more attention to the guy with the sword. Because Angel crashes in hard with Caladbolg, The creature tries to block with its paired remaining arms. Caladbolg isn't active, so it slices through one of them, but not the second. Now sporting 2 arms of its original 4, it launches another punch at Angel with the other side, clocking him upside the head!
It happens pretty fast. Really. One minute Harper was biting deep into the Demon and grappling it. The next moment there is a heavy thud as she simply topples off of it and thumps to the ground below - it's tentacle still wrapped around her neck. Choking her. But Harper herself isn't moving. It could be from the black ichor that's seeping from her lips staining them black. Or it could be from the lack of oxygen and discoloration spreading through her otherwise pale flesh. So many choices. So many ways this night has gone horrible wrong. And yet, Angel wonders why she runs.
The Demon has subdued one opponent, and then tries to feed, bringing Harper towards its gaping mouth.
It never gets there, because Angel seems to understand HE has a life to save! And she got hurt trying to save him! Not acceptable. Caladbolg cleaves again, and this time, he lops the heads of the thing right off its shoulders. The tentacles go slack at this, but Angel doesn't stick around to do cleanup. Harper is far more important. He'll notify one of his Fae buddies to drop by and 'preserve the accords'. Then he'll pick Harper up and dash off towards the Hotel. Poison like this isn't going to be found in any hospital on earth, so it'll be up to Willow to deal with something like this...
And so Harper is carried off by Angel - but not before the Slayer's body convulses and that black ichor is vomited up - probably splashing Angel in the meantime. It's a lot. Way more than she swallowed. As if it's multiplying. Growing. It's fast acting too, as her veins are staring to take on a black hue. Spreading dark spiderwebs of poison over her pale flesh. Oh Dear.
The Hyperion Hotel[]
The lights are on, illuminating the area.
The California-Spanish building known as the Hyperion Hotel was built in the 20s. Through the cast iron gates from the sidewalk is a small front courtyard with a rectangular fountain and a mythological figure holding a bowl from which water flows. Greenery frames the walls and a large set of glass double doors open into a high ceilinged lobby. Dark red carpet descends the four steps to the lobby floor and climb the two sets of stairways that lead to the second floor. The green marble floors are accented with wavy red inserts, as are the walls have a complimentary red border running their length. A set of doors identical to those of the entrance lead to a small enclosed garden.
Cream-colored pillars line two sides of the room, holding up the second-floor balconies that look out onto the lobby and creating arches. Underneath one of them is a large plate glass window that looks into the hotel office - now used as the office and nerve center of Angel Investigations. Nearby, there's a wraparound counter with dark wood paneling and a top the same color as the floor. Behind it are filing cabinets and a pair of desks pushed together. A navy blue circular couch harkening back to a 50s design sits near the back of the lobby. A large wooden, glass-doored cabinet pushed up against the wall holds a large assortment of weapons.
Outside, it's cloudy, cold, and damp.
Angel dashes in the front door, carrying a Harper who looks VERY MUCH the worse for wear. The condition was getting worse by the second when he bursts in the door. Thankfully, the Wards seem to slow the infection process down notably. Slow, mind, not stop. Whatever this girl ingested must be direly potent stuff if the wards aren't blocking it outright. The first thing Angel does is, setting Harper down on a couch in the lobby, and then he dashes upstairs to knock on Willow's door, with a certain 'emergency' level insistence.
As Angel runs up the stairs, Faith flattens herself against the wall so he can get past, then moves over to...she doesn't know the girl on the couch, but she knows the signs of supernatural poisoning when she sees them. Ow. Just...ow.
Indeed the young woman he lays on the couch looks bad. And smells bad. The smell comes from the black ichor that has pretty much coated Harper's mouth. Chin. Neck. And clothes. How it has coated her is evident as her body convulses suddenly as another mouthful of black demon ichor is vomited up onto herself. The couch. And the floor. That blackness is spreading through her veins. Making black spiderweb patterns that are growing darker as time passes.
Willow is, however, not in her room, but rather in the hotel kitchen which she converted into a sterile science lab. Yes, she still loves the science and is currently looking at a sample of dirt from the Deadite fight in the park. She did, however, cast a spell on her door that acts as a doorbell for her when she is in the building, and so even though she is no where near her room, she is aware that she is needed.
With some concentration and a softly muttered incantation, she is able to teleport herself into her room. Teleportation isn't her best skill, so the three floor blip is reaching her limits. She opens the door to her room, seeing the very frantic Angel. "What's wrong?"
Angel waves Willow to follow him, and then shows her to Harper. "She's a new Slayer. Ingested some demon blood trying to help me fight. I don't recognize the demon, 4 arms, 2 tentacles, two legs, and apparently highly poisonous blood. She swallowed it when she bit one of the tentacles. She hasn't been trained much, if at all. Also has an old wound on her hand."
Faith Lehane is already over by Harper. "Hang on in there. Angel's getting help." She knows who, without needing to ask, without needing to be told. What did the kid do...oh. Bit the demon she was fighting. Bad idea, that, but the kind of thing an untrained person would do.
Harper is unresponsive to Faith, and she looks young. Er. Younger. Later teens. Really, a tragic thing that someone so young was in a position to be around a demon to bite. It was probably Angel's fault. At least she doesn't vomit on Faith. Yet.
Willow runs after Angel when he beckons her to follow. If he is this panicked, then there is something bad happening. And there is. A new Slayer, possibly dying. She rushes over and listens to Angel's description as she spreads open Harper's eyes to look for dilation. She frowns and runs for the kitchen, the irony of her returning to where she was originally not lost on her. She heads to the shelves of her science lab that have a mixture of science and magic ingredients. "Bezoar, bezoar, bezoar.... " she mutters to herself. She finds a bottle of the small stones and snatches it, running back to Harper.
Shaking out one of the rare and pricey ingredients, she pops it into the mouth of Harper. A powerful antidote to any poison, they are hard to come by, but without knowing more about the demon, Willow doesn't want to take the chance on a wrong cure.
The good news is, the antidote given seems to be slowing things down, a lot. The bad news is, it doesn't shut it all down completely. It's like killing 95 percent of something quite capable of multiplying from the remaining 5. However, under the wards, the growth is greatly slowed. "We're going to have to find out what it was, and probably mix that with a couple other things."
Harper's eyes are a solid black when Willow opens them. That can't be good. As if the young female was filling up with the black icor. Seeping into all of her being. When Willow puts that into her body Harper barely manages to swallow it as if her body was threatening to vomit up another mouthful of ichor. But it doesn't. And if her eyes were checked again the whites would start showing through. Not all of it. But slivers here and there.
Willow is holding Harper's jaw closed so she can't spit it out. The gallstones from the stomach of a Bezoar are hard to come by. Luckily, Giles was able to get a couple from the time there was a Bezoar found under Sunnydale high. Still, that leaves only two left and who knows when another Bezoar will be found. The fact that the powerful antidote isn't working worries the witch. Perhaps harvesting them after the Bezoar was dead made them less efficacious.
Still holding Harper's mouth closed, the copper haired witch looks to Angel. "Did you kill the demon? What happened to it's body? I need to know more."
"Body should still be at the park. Want Faith and I get to it?" Angel didn't have time to clean up properly, he just had time to have somebody put an Accords Preserving Fae Glamour over it till he could get back there and clean it up.
That's...something Faith can do. Research, she's bad at. Lugging demon bodies around, that she can do. A bezoar not working on its own means this is seriously potent stuff. Tentacles. The description isn't ringing any bells...
Harper needs to expel the black ichor inside of her body. Poison has to be expelled for her to get better. And so as Willow holds her jaw shut, her throat works to vomit up the demon poison and fails. And so it finds an alternate path. Up through her windpipe and out her nostril canal. A jerking of her form. A choking sound, and then a massive nose bleed in the form of black icor occurs. Getting all over Willow's hand no doubt.
Nodding her head frantically to Angel, Willow finally lets her hand free from Harper's mouth now that she has swallowed the bezoar stone. But not before the ichor finds a new exit to exit. Willow makes a face, but doesn't shy away. The smell is terrible. She runs her fingers through Harper's hair, worried about the new Slayer. "Stay with us. Angel, stay with her, I need to get this stuff under a microscope. Faith, get me that body." She then rises, her dress covered in black, as she heads back for her lab, scrapping the ichor off her hand.
Angel nods, and holds the girl's hand. "Damn it, she got hurt trying to help me." Yes, there's Angel's guilt. The man never has any lack of it. And there's the brooding, not a quarter step behind. "She told me she wasn't ready, but she jumped in anyway..."
"I'll get the body. Park, right? Under glamor as what?" Faith inquires of Angel even as she moves to the door. Hopefully the cops didn't pick it up for some reason.
Harper's gloved hand is taken, but she doesn't move other than that. She seems to be getting better? Kinda? At least her breathing is becoming more steady, and the vomiting has ceased. But it could just be a calm before the storm.
Angel replies with, "Green bush. Has a couple newish looking leaves on it." Because the Spring Court Fae tend to have Springlike things, even in the dead of winter. And then lets Faith to go grab it.
In her kitchen lab, Willow looks at the ichor under the microscope. She frowns and scrapes the last of it into a beaker. More ingredients are grabbed from the shelves. A sprinkling of powder. Nothing. The addition of a liquid. Again nothing. Willow stomps a foot angrily. "What is this stuff?!" she complains. More vials taken off the shelf. More experiments, both magical and scientific. "Okay, acid works better then base. Well, that's a start." At least she figured something out.
And Faith runs out the door at a good lick. Not so fast as to risk looking like an "On Your Left" but she's not holding back either. Besides, she needs this thing identified...and that girl ain't dying 'cause nobody found her to train her or whatever happened. Not on her watch.
Harper just continues to lie there. While she hasn't 'vomited' exactly, the black icor is seeping out from her mouth and nostrils. While it looks utterly horrible. And smells even worse. It's probably a good sign. Or, maybe there's just no room for it to go anymore except out. Hard to tell really.
Willow looks to see what diluting the poison will do. After the beaker she was using overflows and cracks almost explosively, Willow's eyes go wide. "Okay, water is *not* good. Oh my!" Willow grabs a couple more beakers and comes to get more samples of the ichor. "Whatever you do, don't give her water. It .... just don't." Willow really doesn't want Harper knowing that her stomach might very well explode. Might make the new Slayer more worried then she already is.
Still, it looks like the wards won't slow things down forever. Because the ichor is starting to multiply again. If the bezoar antidote took it down to 5 percent, it's managed to crawl back to 10. That black veinyness is starting to come back. "Uh, Willow, it's spreading again. Slowly, but..." And all Angel can do is hold her hand, and..."...Wait, the Scythe. Buffy went to visit her mom. Try letting her hold the Scythe. It might help her fight it off."
The Demon poison really doesn't like to be messed with - as if it was alive. Coming back with a vengeance. Good thing Harper's wearing gloves or there may be more alarm to be had as her fingernails are starting to turn black as if drops of black dye has managed to seep into the hardness. She is Harper ever tries to help a vampire again. Yeesh.
Willow smacks her forehead. Of course! The Scythe!. It might not help, but it certainly won't hurt. Willow rushes up the stairs and towards Buffy's room, her eyes wide with worry. She flips open the weapon chest, looking for the legendary Scythe, knowing it has to be here somewhere. But it's not in the chest! Where could it be?! In a panic, Willow grabs at her hair and spins around the room. Oh look, it's been on the wall behind her all this time.
Snatching the weapon from the wall and berating herself as she runs back to the vampire and Slayer, Willow is thinking in her head what to try next that isn't going to kill the girl.
The Scythe is decidedly 'inert' for Willow, but springs to life once it's placed in one of Harper's gloved hands. Created by Slayers for Slayers, and once used to Empower every Slayer, it also empowers Harper's natural strength, and more importantly, Slayer healing notably. The infection seems to be mostly contained. It might've gotten to 12 percent at best. "It's helping, but we'll still need an antidote."
Harper is oblivious to all, and anything that's going on around her. A quasi-coma-like state she's in from the poison. Even if she's healed, it may be a good full day before she wakes. Weak. Even by Slayer standards.
"I'm working on it. Whatever this is, it really doesn't like to be messed with." Taking on a different line of approach, Willow heads into the office, looking for a book that might help her discover the type of demon it was. For all she knows, the cure might be there. This is what she gets for thinking magic first. Again.
Harper, holding the Scythe, is now doing a much better job of fighting the infection. The infection grows slowly, perhaps to 15 by now. Even if it's also clear this won't last forever. Angel, looking down says, "Maybe. You've got some time, but not forever. She's holding for now..." But there keeps appearing black veins. A new one here, a new one there. Oh so slowly...
And...Faith comes back in with the demon slung over one shoulder. "This guy's *heavy*," the Slayer mock complains. And they probably want to...hrm. Burn it? With everyone wearing masks? "...come up with a really secure means of disposal."
Harper is probably going to get /something/ from all of this. No way can a human (Slayer or not) walk away from this severe demonic poisoning without a memento. Angel will feel it, even through her gloved hand. Her temperature is spiking. An onset of a fever. But she holds the scythe. Barely.
Once again, Willow turns to magic for the answer. Perhaps not as directly as she had tried earlier, but Willow has always been the sort to try using magick as her first resort. She casts a spell to cause the book she needs to glow. And there it is! Ha! The book laying open flat in both hands, she heads back into the lobby, the pages of the book flipping of their own accord to where she needs to be. She looks at the demon that Faith brings in, wrinkling her nose. "I'd say it was ugly, but it's not like I've met a lot of pretty demons."
And then there's the research! ...Good lord, it's even worse. The reason the demonic blood poison is so virulent isn't that it's trying to kill her. It's trying to turn Harper into another demon of the same type! This has to be stopped, immediately! The text is unclear whether a demon of the same type is trying to use her as an incubator or if it's actually trying to metamorph her into a demon of the same type, but either way, the consequences would be very fatal!
The only good news is, with the Scythe in her hand, all her dreams are Slayer related instead of the horrific nightmares common sense says they'd be.
With this new information, book in hand, Willow heads back to her lab. Time being of the essence, she uses her magic to flash herself into the kitchen. She starts going through her shelves again, starting on a potion that at least will stop the demon conversion where it is. It won't help cure Harper, but it will stop her from getting any worse.
Well. Shit. That is what Harper would say were she conscious. This is going to leave a mark. That is all.
Angel finds even more excuses to brood upon hearing with the black ichor actually does. Actually IS. Sir BroodALot truly living up to that not so noble title. "...She's suffering cause she tried to help me. Damn thing got a couple shots in and..."
"Okay. Is there anything I can do or should I just stay out of the way?" Hrm. How do you drive an infection like this out of a Slayer?
Willow grinds ingredients for the potion in the mortar, the pestle making a soft, almost comforting grinding sound. Needing more ingredients, Willow lets her magic continue with the grinding while she works. "Gonna need more newt eyes," she mutters to herself. Giles tells her that salamander eyes are just as effective, but she still stands by the newt name. It means something. Once the potion is complete, a quick spell is cast upon it and she returns. "The good news is this will help. The bad news is, it will stop the progress, but that's all."
Harper is going to be one sexy beast. Black veins spiderwebbing everywhere. Eyes more black than white... and who know what else has really happened INSIDE of her, let alone underneath her clothing. Good thing she lives in the sewers...
Angel frowns, but nods. "A bandaid's better than nothing. And we're not sure how long it'll last. All the measures we have in place now are being augmented by the wards. She probably won't like it if she's trapped here for her own safety." Probably? That could be an understatement, Angel!
"Is there any way we could kick start her immune system into being able to kick this thing's butt." Faith glares at the dead demon.
Looking to Faith, Willow winces. "Well, theoretically, I could just push out all foreign matter from her using magic, but that would take a lot of juice." If it were Buffy, Willow would do it in a moment, but Harper doesn't quite warrant the exhausted for days treatment. "I have time now to see if there is something that I can do without going all black eyes."
Faith Lehane nods. "Let me know if there's anything I can do for the kid." She doesn't like seeing one of the other girls like this, even if she's not one Faith *knows*
The good news is, the band-aid potion works! And Harper will start to wake...where she's holding the fabled Scythe in one hand, and Angel's hand in the other. In a very concerned voice, "Hey. You awake?" Sadly, he never got her name, so he doesn't even know what to call her!
Harper parts her eyes and they aren't fully human. While the black has stopped the spreading, they are splotchy. As if black ink was eyedropped onto her white. That splotchy gaze shift first to Willow. Faith. Then to Angel who she stares at before narrowing her eyes at him. "Vampire." That scythe is purposefully dropped from her hand to clatter to the ground. "You live." Hard to tell if she's glad for that, or sad... probably the latter as more black ichor seeps to the corner of her mouth. Leftovers from her vomit perhaps.
Angel winces at that tone of voice. "Thank you for helping. The demon is dead." And then, he pauses a moment, for introductions. "Faith, there, is a Senior Slayer and does most of the training. Willow, here, is the Wicca that healed you, and empowered you as a Slayer in the first place." By way of introductions. Hopefully she'll introduce herself now.
Waggling her fingers at the new Slayer, Willow looks apologetically. "Hi. So, sorry I couldn't get it all out. I'll be working on it though for the next couple of days. We have the demon, so I can do tests on it directly. We'll figure this out. Really!"
"Just don't wander off. Call it observation." Faith hates the idea of having to hold her if she doesn't want to stay, but... "We don't want you turning into a demon."
"Yeah. I know who you are." A slow blinking of her gaze to Angel, before she looks around to Faith and Willow then back to Angel. "You..." but she trails off, perhaps to save the berating for private. An attempted shifting of her form to prop herself up with her elbow though at Willow's words she pauses. Looks at her, "What do you mean, couldn't get it all out?" Then a shifting of her eyes to Faith, "Right. I would like to go somewhere private now. With a shower."
"What we did is kind of like a bandaid. So it's not all gone yet. It's a stopgap measure till we find a more permanent solution. Speaking of which, you should hang on to the Scythe. It strengthens you, and any other Slayer who holds it. You might need the extra strength till we finish helping you beat this." And then, to clarify Faith, "Also, the wards are helping fight the infection. We're not sure if it turns you into a demon, or a small demon is going to burst out of your body, but we're not keen on letting either one happen. So it wouldn't be a good idea to step outside till we're done."
Willow looks apologetically, biting her lower lip. "Well, it's a particularly difficult demon to deal with. I mean, even a bezoar stone didn't work and that works on pretty much anything. I will be doing more research though and I will find a cure. I just need a bit more time. Luckily, with the potion I gave you, the poison is sort of ... well... in limbo. Not getting worse, but not getting better either."
"There's rooms upstairs, all of which have their own showers," Faith promises. "Let me grab the list of the ones that are in use for you." She wanders over to the office desk. Letting Willow explain the rest.
Harper moves very, very slowly. Either she can only move slowly, or she's taking it slow. Who knows. But she starts to push herself up - getting into the seated position. An black ichor covered hand moves to her bottle-blonde hair - pushing it out of her face and just smearing the demon blood all over her hair and face. Without help, she tries to stand. Wobbly. But she manages. Not a single word to Angel. Or Willow. She just oh so carefully stands and waits for Faith. A hand gives an imperceptible brush down her jean pocket. As if feeling for something.
Faith Lehane hands Harper the list. "Any room is free except these." She doesn't say it's Harper's for as long as she needs it. She has a feeling...honestly? She's seeing a reflection in a mirror here.
Angel looks decidedly broody. And guilty. He hasn't forgotten how she ended up like this. And while he heard what Willow said about exhausting herself, that was the most dangerous cure...for Willow. Harper'd probably be fine though.
Willow may not be brooding, but she is definitely feeling the cold shoulder from Harper. She glances over to Faith, glad that there is someone that the new Slayer seems to trust. "So... ummm... I guess I should get back to the research. Oh... no drinking water. Not till this stuff is out of you. It reacts badly." Her smile is a weak attempt at trying to show she's feeling positive.
Harper frowns a bit to Willow's words about the water reacting poorly. Which will make bathing an interesting feat to be sure. The list is taken from Faith as her eyes drift down it and find a room. Right next to Willow. The list is handed back to Faith before she murmurs out, "I'll be in ten." A turning of her head to Angel. "I have a friend. Can he come see me?"
"Does he know about stuff?" Faith asks. "Doesn't affect the answer, just whether we'll need some warning to hide things." Her tone is sympathetic.
"We won't keep your friends out. The wards will keep hostiles out, but unless they come here with hostile intent, they'll be able to enter fine." In short, it's all fine. And Angel, with a hotel, clearly has space for Harper, well, indefinitely.
Harper gives a small nodding of her head to all the words they say and Harper just replies with, "Okay. You'll know him if you see him. And he knows." That's all Harper says before she turns from the people assembled and starts to slowly make her way to her room. If walking without the scythe pains her, she says not a word about it. Stubborn.