Owner	Pose
Sam Winchester	The Magic Box is quiet this Wednesday afternoon, a small number of patrons browsing the shelves, another couple talking to Anya, the vengance demon turned fervant capitalist who Giles left to run the shop in his absence. The bell above the door rings as a new patron steps through, tall, lanky, with an untidy mop of brown hair. He surveys the store from the door way like he's not sure if he's staying, before spotting the books and heading in that direction. He begins searching the shelves for anything Norse.
Willow Rosenberg	Willow had been having issues. Usually, her scrying had good results. She almost always found, if not what she was looking for, something that was helpful, at least. But this time? She'd come up against several dead ends. The book existed. That much Willow knew. It was most likely a gathering of several parchments. Possibly bound in the Middle Ages - which is likely where the actual title of the book had come from, the period abounding with religious fervour (though the Victorians had outdone them by far). And it was definitely being looked for - Willow could find traces that feelers had been put out. It was just that they ended in nowhere. Worse than nowhere. They ended in errors and blank webpages that had a blurred feel to them. Someone with greater skills at magic (not necessarily web-magic) was systematically erasing or hiding all references to the book. And it looked like once they'd caught the trail of the thing, they'd done a better job at hiding their own. In short, Willow needed to approach this old school: Paper. You could hide references to the thing on the net, but books were an altogether different thing. She hoped if she could find out more about the book, that she might be able to narrow down a better search, and with that, get more answers. Thus, the Magic Box - a name that never failed to make her want to giggle just a little bit like a twelve-year old boy.
Sam Winchester	Sam's quest was running into much the same snags as Willow's. He'd started his searches online and came up dry, then he called around to Bobby and all the other Hunters they knew. That had scored a little bit of information, the Hedstrom brothers up in Minnesota had known what some of the runes meant and gave Sam the name of a few books to look for but nothing concrete. That lead him to The Magic Box which according to the Hell Hound's Lair site had the best selection of magical books in the Tri-State Area. Dean, had been all geared up to go, until he heard that despite the name it wasn't a strip club, so he left the 'nerd stuff' to Sam. Sam was fine with that, not that he'd admit it to Dean, he liked this part of hunting, poking through old books and tracking leads. It was fun. He cracks one of the titles in the section, and frowns, of course this whole process was easier if the books weren't in Norwegian. Though just touching it was enough. Suddenly Sam's head feels like it's split in two as an image of the thing from the graveyard flashes across his mind, the background was blurred, but it was him, now... somewhere out there... Then it was gone leaving a dull ache and the patrons of the shop staring at Sam on his knees by the shelves.
Willow Rosenberg	Willow had been minding her own business - because books! - sitting in the aisle directly across from the one Sam has found himself in. She has several piles of books sitting around her, and truth be known, she'd gotten herself a tiny bit distracted, and forgotten that she was broke as could be and the 'to buy' pile was going to have to go back on the shelves when she was done researching. Alas, and all that. If he'd not landed on his knees, gasping, holding the shelf in front of him, Willow probably wouldn't have noticed Sam at all. First off, books! And secondly, she really wasn't the tall broody blonde sort. Still, that drop, and that he doesn't immediately get up from his hunker at the shelf has Willow frowning her concern, and contemplating if she had time enough to extricate neatly form her piles of books, or if she should just jump up and offer help. "Hey - you okay over there?" She opts for something inbetween, carefully pushing the books off her lap and getting up. Not a full on jump up, and scatter of books.
Sam Winchester	"Ow," Sam mutters. It takes him a second to notice someone is talking to him between the asiles. "Huh?" he says getting to his feet and taking the book with him. He peeks around the aisle to look who he's talking to. Wow, cute red head. If Dean was here he'd be hitting on her already, but Sam's not Dean. Instead Sam sees the books at her feet and flinches, "I didn't knock those onto you did I?" he asks, hoping the answer is no.
Willow Rosenberg	Sam gets a wide-eyed stare of confusion. "Knock huh on me?" Then she clues in and giggles girlishly at him. "Oh, gosh no. These are my own fault. I've been looking for some answers to something." Looking at the wide and messy circle about her in the small book aisle Willow winces. "I guess it does look like a bit of a hurricane hit, huh?" "You sure you're all right? I heard the clunk from here." A whole 8 feet away.
Sam Winchester	"The books-" Sam begins before Willow catches on and he breathes a sigh of relief as she giggles. "Oh good, thought that was my fault," he says glancing down at the books. Some of the titles catch his eye and his interest. "Wow, this is some pretty deep stuff, what are you looking for?" he asks. "And hm? Oh, I'm fine. No worries." What's a little pounding headache when nerd mode has been engaged?
Willow Rosenberg	Willow blinks owlishly at Sam, until he asks about what she's looking for. "Oh, just looking for a book on a book, actually. I've been having troubles tracking it down the usual way, which is funny, because I'm really good at tracking things down that way." Preternaturallly so. Mystically so, even. "Things just keep ending up in a dead end. I thought, hey, you can erase web pages and block people from seeing what is actually there" - she had no doubt the pages still existed, there was just a heavy glamour in place keeping them from being 'seen' - "But you can't hunt down every copy of a book that exists." She looks thoughtful. "Well, not anymore at least. I mean, when they burnt the library at Alexandria down, there really only were single copies of those books most of the time, so it really did work that way." Which gets her sidetracked into thinking, what if /here/ burnt down, and what would Giles do then? And.. Focus, Willow. Focus. the girl flushes. "Uh sorry. Lost my train of thought. But yeah. I'm looking for a book. You?"
Sam Winchester	"A book on a book?" Sam repeats blinking himself. "That's new what's the book you hope to find a book on?" He nods about the website thing, it was an interesting thought. What if monsters started blocking pages about them. Thankfully some of them were super old-school but it was something he hadn't considered before. "Who do you think is blocking the pages?" he asks hoping the answer isn't 'the man' or 'the government' he had too much of a headache for the tin foil hat stuff. "Yeah, shame the Library of Alexandria didn't have digital back ups," Sam says with a nod. "Apparently I am a true book nerd, that whole thing still ticks me off," he says of the burning. "And me? Oh, I'm looking up some Norweigian folklore... Just running into a small problem. I don't read Norwegian," he opens his book to show her the text.
Willow Rosenberg	"I know, right?!?" Willow totally sympathizes on the lack of diggital copies back in Alexandria's day. "If it weren't for the whole 12 monkeys thing, I would so go back there with a digital scan camera and download everything." Noooot that she has a digital scan camera, or could afford one. Ahem. "And oh, what? Uh.. this book on angels. Actually, it's not about angels at all, but I guess someone thought it clever or something. Or maybe just a way to hide it. I don't really know. I wasn't given a whole lot of information." And that's when it hits her, and her cheeks flush a pretty little pink, and she thrusts her hand out, "Oh, Willow Rosenberg, by the way. I just realized how rude it was to be sitting here gabbing at you like a geek without you knowing who I was. My friends just call me Willow." She says that like there's some obvious nickname for Willow (though one supposes Wills might fit?)
Sam Winchester	"Or give the guys keeping it safe some shotguns," Sam adds about how to change history. "Though I guess your way is easier on the timeline," you know what with his way meaning people who were supposed to die live, and people supposed to live die. "Anyhow, guess it's a good thing time travel really isn't a thing, even if I'd kill to see the Library at its peak." When the name of the book came up, Sam suddenly wondered if his vision was really about the book at all but the company. "It's not the History of Angels is it? From the Library of Alexandria?" The hand thrust at him takes him by surprise but he recovers quickly, shifting his book to another hand, so he can shake. "Oh hey, Sam Winchester, you can call me Sam."
Willow Rosenberg	Willow perks up almost immediately as Sam asks about the book. Then gives him a sidelong and suspicious look. "Hey, how do you know about that?" Never minding that she's just confirmed for this otherwise stranger, named Sam Winchester, that he's right about the title. "Sam, huh? Do you have girlfriend?" A totally off the wall question, but hey, a girl has to look out for her friends, and Buffy and Faith might find him attractive. Even Willow didn't think he was too bad in that trying almost too hard puppy dog way.
Sam Winchester	Sam frowns, when she confirms it's the same book. "Damn, what's the odds?" he mutters to himself before answering her question. "A friend of mine is looking for it," he answers vaguely. "You?" Willow didn't give off 'bad guy' vibes, quite the opposite in fact, but he'd been around long enough to be cautious.. The follow up question has him blinking. "What? No, I mean, not for awhile," Now it's Sam's turn to blush. Willow was cute and all, but she came off sort of young. "Why, are you asking me out?"
Willow Rosenberg	"Oh, actually, the odds are always high on things like this. It's really the cosmic strings of the universe pulling together.." And this is where people's eyes usually gloss over. "What, me? Oh, no. You're not really my type. No offense, but I prefer my dates a little more.. not male. I was just thinking I had a couple friends.. and you know what, nevermind. They'd kill me."
Sam Winchester	"Actually there might be more to that than you think," Sam says of the threads of the universe coming together, thinking of the vision. What if it wasn't triggered by the book but by Willow? They were both on the same trail after all. "I mean we're both here, right now, looking for the same book." Willow's admission has Sam blushing a little bit more, you can take the boy out of the Midwest but you couldn't take the Midwest out of the boy. "Oh! Wow, that's uh, great," he sputters before he latches onto the friends bit and chuckles. "Kill you? I am really not that bad, honest." Though with Sam's history, he was leary about dating, the last two women he'd been with ended up dead. It wasn't a track record that left him with many happy associations.
Willow Rosenberg	"Shut up!" Willow gasps. "You can't really be looking for the same book. Did John send you?" Like she wasnt' the one just saying the threads of the universe all pull together when need be. She smirks, "You'd have to meet my roommate to understand. She's kinda special. I think most guys are intimidated by her, but she's really nice, and really pretty. She's just.. different, you know?"
Sam Winchester	"John, who's John?" Sam asks. "He doesn't go by the name the Librarian does he?" he asks, not giving up that Castiel had sent him, not quite yet. Sam nods as Willow describes her roommate. "So, special and different huh? Intimidates guys?" Yeah not the best salesmanship Willow. Though nice and pretty, Sam definitely hears those too. "Well, not sure if I'm looking to date, but she sounds interesting, maybe we can all do coffee sometime?" he asks, keeping it friendly.
Willow Rosenberg	"Sure, coffee would be great. We have this great apartment in Gotham. Really cheap rent. Some social initiative. We just squeaked in under the qualifications. And it was a good thing, too, because otherwise we'd have had to spend our first year living at home. Ugh." Willow shakes her head. Sentence worse than death. Even if she loves her parents dearly. "No, John isn't the Librarian. The Librarian is who is trying to get his hands on the book. You know, A History of Angels? John didn't say a whole lot other than it's for summoning demons." She makes another of those faces. "We hate them."
Sam Winchester	"Gotham huh?" Sam says. "I'm just across the Hudson in Hell's Kitchen," he says reaching into his pocket and producing a business card and a pen he flips the card over and writes his number on the back. "Here," he says when he's done, handing it over. The card itself is for some lawfirm in his neighbourhood, Nelson and Murdock. "Text me when you've got a sec, and we'll have each other's number." "Demons? Yeah, my brother Dean and I aren't fans." As for John and the Librarian. "That's what I heard too, that the Librarian wants the book for some ritual. He needs more than just the book though he also needs ritual items, me and a friend of mine went looking for one, we got it, but there was a thing guarding it, been trying to figure out what it was."
Willow Rosenberg	Willow flips the card over, reading it. "You aren't these lawyers, are you?" No, that wouldn't be it, given their names. Sam and Dean Winchester. Which leaves, really, only one interpretation. "Uh.. actually, I guess I should be asking if you're in trouble?" He did just hand her a lawyer's business card and all. "Clinton is just over the river from us. Well, a bus ride and a trip over the river. We're not exactly right up against Hell's Kitchen. More in one of the poorer neighbourhoods in Gotham, but it's a brand new building. Super nice. And I bet it would be awesome fun to have you and your brother over for pizza or something." She can't help but nod about not being fans of demons. "We really don't like them. Though Buffy is really the one who puts them down. I'm kind of support staff." Her brow furrows at mention of *items* - John mentioned book. Singular. Not in tandem with a laundry list of other things. Though she supposed that was pretty typcial of the man. "A whole list, huh? You don't happen to have that list, do you? I'm pretty good with Google." She says Google, even though she does not mean Google in the slightest, but it's kind of hard to explain what she actually does, and she doens't know Sam well enough to spill all her secrets.
Sam Winchester	"Nah, they just have their cards everywhere in our part of town, apparently they're a big deal," Sam says with a shrug. He's new to the Kitchen after all. An outsider, he's not in the know on their local heroes yet. Sam nods, "Poorer neighbourhood in Gotham, huh? Isn't that dangerous?" he asks. Everyone hears stories about how dangerous Gotham is. Not that Hell's Kitchen didn't have it's trouble. He follows it up with the other question, most Gothamites get. "Seen the Bat?" he asks. Then he circles back to the matter at hand. "And pizza sounds good, though I totally apologize in advance for my brother, he was raised in a barn." Or well in the back of an Impala. Sam nods about the list, "I do, but I need to check with the guy who gave it to me, let me give him a call. And wait, your roommate kills demons? Is she a hunter?" he asks, holding his phone but without dailing yet.
Willow Rosenberg	Absolultely guilelessly, Willow peers at Sam, "Is that like a Slayer?"
Sam Winchester	"Sure, I guess, but hunters are real," Sam says. He'd heard the stories the one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number... he figured it was a Hunter's bedtime story. Something to make it seem like they had a chance against the darkness they faced.
Willow Rosenberg	"Oh, you better not say that to her face. Actually, I think you should. And I want to be there." Because Buffy would blow as gasket. And then show him how very wrong he was about her being a figment of imagination.
Sam Winchester	Sam quirks his head. "You're not saying your roommate is the Slayer, are you?" he asks, in a tone saved for children and crazy people. "Because trust me, as much as I'd like her to be real, I am pretty sure the Slayer's a myth." "But give me a sec and let me make this call," he says. Even if Willow was crazy, that didn't disqualify her from helping. Hunting was one of those beggers choosers sort of things.
Willow Rosenberg	Willow just shakes her head. "She is going to eat you for lunch." A giggle escapes Willow. "Yes, I'm saying that. You don't think we were asked to look for the book because we're a couple of college girls who like to hang out in a magic shop, do you?" Okay, Willow liked to hang out in the magic shop. "I'm not sure where you got your lore from, but you're wrong. Slayer is a myth. Pffft. You're funny. And you call yourself one of these... what? Hunters?"
Sam Winchester	Sam lowers his phone. "You should be really glad my brother wasn't hear for that 'eat you for lunch line'," Sam remarks with a bit of a smile on his lips. The rest has him thinking, it was a good point, whoever this John was, he wasn't likely to grab some random co-eds to help him find this book. Still didn't mean Willow's roommate was the Slayer, that was too weird, but people had all sorts of powers these days. Hell, even he had his share, even if he wished he didn't. "Did this John guy say where he heard about the book from?" "And yeah, my brother and I are hunters," he confirms.
Willow Rosenberg	Sam gets a disbelieving shake of head. "If you're a Hunter, you're not a very good one. Thinks The Slayer isn't real." Willow thinks back. "Kinda? Just that he'd been asked by a friend to look into it. John has all sorts of.. well, I guess unsavoury is the best word, but he's supposed to be behaving right now, so we'll go with weird?" She nods to herself. "John has a lot of weird friends. John might have said something about being an angel, but I don't know. I didn't meet him. They don't really interfere in our affairs, though. That's kind of a demon sort of thing to do."
Sam Winchester	Sam snorts. "I'd say that makes me a good hunter, actually, don't spend time looking for Slayers, the Tooth Fairy, or Santa Claus, just the things that are out there." At this point he's mostly teasing even if he still didn't believe in the Slayer. Sam lowers the phone, "An angel huh, sounds like we're working for the same person, being, whatever... ," he says. "H "And you're more right than you know, angels get cast out if they mess with mortal affairs, but demons, not a problem for them. So much for the grand design huh?"