Fifteen Bells: [ACTION/WRITTEN]

[simplestgift]

[Archie woke up yesterday.  How is this new?  Well, after getting some fairly critical stab wounds from Grell, he was put on a ventilator and kept under sedation for a few days.  The ventilator was exchanged for a less impressive-looking concentrator yesterday and he was taken off sedation.  He spent yesterday sleeping anyway, since anesthesia doesn't generally leave you bright-eyed immediately afterward.

This morning, he is talking and eating Jell-o, which is a new experience. The most important bit comes written on the journal network in wobbly handwriting courtesy of the heart monitor clipped on his finger.]

I have been informed that I may have visitors. I'd like to know everyone is all right.

Kennedy

[Anyone who comes in will find him looking predictably weak and pale but lucid and in good spirits, or possibly catnapping after a dose of painkillers.

OOC: Purely for the sake of mercy, Archie is unaffected by the event.]

Comments

[consultmybooks]

Well, first and foremost, we are all unhurt. At least by Grell. You were the...only casualty, fortunately.

Buffy went to speak with Grell the same day.

[simplestgift]

[He uncovers his face and watches the ceiling instead, listening carefully. Two question pop up at once.] "At least by Gre--" What happened to Buffy?

[consultmybooks]

If Buffy was hurt, it was the sort of injury she could recover from in the span of two days.

But she managed to reach a...well, she calls it a "stalemate" with Grell.

[simplestgift]

[He glances away briefly.] A stalemate? Who-who was hurt?

[consultmybooks]

If you're asking about the ones connected to Jack who were occupying Grell's attention? No one that I know of.

It didn't come down to a fight.

[simplestgift]

You said no one was hurt by Grell. Has anything happened?

[consultmybooks]

I haven't been in touch with anyone besides Buffy or Jilly since you first got here.

I don't know.

[simplestgift]

[He lets out a breath.] All right. Tell me what happened with Buffy.

[consultmybooks]

She and Grell managed to reach a tenuous and, with any luck, temporary agreement.

Put very simply - Grell will leave us alone if we don't make a move against her, on top of not revealing to the village what she did to you and Jack.

[simplestgift]

Then she wins.

[consultmybooks]

For the moment.

Buffy is still hoping that the arrangement can be temporary.

[simplestgift]

It must be. Grell won't stop with us, and I won't be the reason she was free to go after someone else.

[consultmybooks]

You aren't.

If it wasn't you, it would have been someone else - Jilly or McCoy. Even me.

[simplestgift]

But it was me. It's on my head if we stop acting against her.

[consultmybooks]

We aren't going to stop.

We're just...delaying. [Possibly indefinitely.]

...Jilly gave me a bit of an earful about not putting up a warning spell around yours' and Horatio's flat. Honestly, she's right.

[simplestgift]

[He releases a breath at the word delaying. That's better than giving up.]

I doubt we'd have let you. I'm not sure how I feel about enchantments.

[consultmybooks]

[He snorts.] I'm not sure how I feel about enchantments, most days.

Living with Helios has done a lot for that, if only because I've had to depend on his magic more than once. And the spell in question is...really only good for gods, or beings that are as powerful as gods.

But Buffy and I have used to it to good effect, in the past. I do understand why she returned to it, even though it did absolutely no good in the end.

[simplestgift]

I've never used them. We hear strong words about witchcraft, if ever it's mentioned.

[consultmybooks]

Understandable, given your home world.

...I'm not a witch. I'm just...very good at "monkey see, monkey do." Willow and Tara were the only ones with power of their own.

[simplestgift]

I think I understand. There's something different between magic and witchcraft, though I can't put my finger on it.

[consultmybooks]

Yes, there is. It's a difference that's even harder to puzzle out here. But I suppose I could phrase it like this.

"Magic" is something anyone can do, with the right materials to hand and enough stubborn willpower. "Witchcraft" is something only a chosen few could manage, like Willow or Tara. Something you're born with.

[simplestgift]

I thought something more along the lines of magic being [he waves a hand] a part of the world around you, somehow.

[consultmybooks]

The energy is there for anyone to make use of, yes.

But until it is made use of, it might as well be air.

[simplestgift]

What does it do when it isn't being used?

[consultmybooks]

Nothing at all. Sometimes it reacts to other factors - the Hellmouth, or a particularly powerful demon, or a Slayer. But otherwise, nothing.