Altered States application

[vowelsounds]

Character Information
Character Name: Willow Rosenberg.
Canon: Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Canon Point: Post 3x22, Graduation Day, Part Two.
Character Journal: vowelsounds.

Appearance: Willow Rosenberg as played by Alyson Hannigan (Denisof).

Willow is 5'5" and has red hair. She's mostly content to stay in the background, working behind the scenes on research or anything that will help out her best friend Buffy, and in part, the way she dresses and carries herself reflects that. Her preferred style of dress is rather plain and initially very girlish, but as time goes by, some very subtle changes start occurring, namely that she starts choosing her own clothes, whereas before, her mother did that for her. Most of the time, though, she can be seen wearing either a dress or a short skirt and a colored sweater, which seemingly reflects a preference for comfort rather than style or following the trends.

At first glance, there's nothing really all that eye-catching about Willow. She's not built like a model, and she's more girl-next-door attractive than drop-dead gorgeous, and in fact, "cute" is a better word to describe her. Willow's eyes are a combination of hazel and brown, and her hair is a brownish-red. Most of the time, she wears her hair down, although occasionally, she'll pull it up with hair clips or other accessories. Sometimes, she wears necklaces with some sort of pendant or shaped object, and occasionally, she'll wear earrings that also vary from small in size to dangling earrings or hoops.

Bottom line is that at the canon point I'm pulling her from, her focus isn't so much as standing out as it is remaining in the background where she's most comfortable and can be of the most help to her friends, which like I said, is mostly reflected in her wardrobe choices. As time goes on and she becomes more confident in herself and her abilities, her clothing style changes and becomes more bold and even trendy.

Age: 18

History: Willow at the BtVS wiki.

Personality: Willow's always been a little shy, and when she's not, it's usually in moments of high stress that are also basically life and death to her. Most of the time, though, she's quite content to just fade into the background unless there's something her friends need. Then, she'll do whatever she can to help them, especially if the means of helping them involves looking up things on the internet.
Speaking of her friends, Willow is loyal to them almost to a fault. Of course, she has her moments in which that loyalty is tested, but still, once you're Willow's friend, you're her friend for life, unless zombies or vampires or other uglies brought about by the Hellmouth get in the way.

Willow also has a really determined and stubborn streak that shows up when she's upset or stressed. In the show's third season, a lot happened, and the most significant occurrence was that Buffy left town without giving any warning. No one knew where she was, and no one could reach her, and while all of Buffy's friends and family were worried, Buffy's disappearance really hit Willow hard. She was going through a lot of changes at the time, including having her first mature relationship with someone, but also there was the fact that she was starting her first forays into using magic and spells. And with her mom being distant, Willow didn't have anyone to talk to.

So when Buffy came back and then almost immediately prepared to leave again, when Willow caught her, she became furious, venting her hurt to the person who was supposed to be her best friend. I think this is significant because most of the time, we see Willow as being calm, level-headed, and even placid, but when someone's hurt her or she's talking about an issue she feels very passionately about, there's almost no limit to the depth of her emotions.

It's not always a good thing, because without that filter, Willow can come across pretty strong and say some things she might not necessarily mean. It's not a sort of impulsiveness that's always there, but when it shows up, all restraint goes out the window.

Going back to that bit about Willow being stubborn, there's an aspect of her personality that manifests itself in what Willow calls her "resolve face". When she's determined to do something that she knows is important and needs to be done, no amount of cajoling or trying to reason with her will work. Often, this upsets her friends, but they've come to recognize Willow's resolve face and just go along with things when she's in that mood. The most notable example of this is when Willow was in the hospital after an attack at Giles' library. She was determined to go through with casting the spell that would restore Angel's soul, but Xander and Oz were firmly against it. Cue her resolve face, and eventually, they agreed, thus proving that Willow's resolve face is very successful.

But then again, I do have to point out that even with Willow's resolve face, stubbornness, and very strong emotions about things that are important to her, one of the traits that most defines her is her ability to forgive. In the grand scheme of things, Willow hasn't been wronged as many times as Buffy has, but let's face it, she's had some encounters with people who did some terrible things.

When Angel lost his soul, he murdered Jenny Calendar, and that was obviously a blow to Willow, but she still managed to forgive him, and more importantly, put aside her feelings regarding him so she could perform the spell that would restore his soul again. Of course, that was mostly out of loyalty for Buffy, but still, it's not insignificant. And even when she was upset with Buffy for leaving and not letting any of them be there for her, nor letting them be there for her, she was quick to forgive her and put the whole
thing behind them, which I think really says a lot about Willow's character.

Powers/Special Abilities: At first, Willow's main ability is based on her affinity and interest in computers. She's a whiz when it comes to researching information, whether that's using legitimate, approved of means, or ways that are more under the table and questionable in terms of legality. But if it helps Buffy out with her work as the Slayer, Willow almost never hesitates to dive in. Speaking of Buffy being the Slayer, Willow's other skill comes in the form of being able to sneak around and carry out reconnaissance for Buffy, usually by asking the right questions of the right people and occasionally (and definitely illegally) breaking into houses or other locations. It's obviously a little sketchy, and probably not a skill anyone would boast about, but Willow's shown a slight aptitude for getting into places and getting information. Granted, she's not as skilled at it as Buffy is, but she's not completely useless either.

So, in the end, if anyone needs any information about a person or thing, just give Willow a computer or a book and a little bit of time, and soon enough, she'll be a real fount of knowledge. In fact, she'll probably know far more than anyone ever wanted to know or asked for.

Also worth noting is at the time I'm pulling her from, Willow's just begun dabbling in magic and spells, and while her experience is limited, she successfully managed to cast two spells: one being a ritual to keep the newly turned hostile Angel from coming into Buffy's house, and the other being a restoration ritual to restore Angel's soul, which although it was technically a curse meant to punish, it was done to return him to his former "good" state of being.

In any case, Willow's experience with magic is limited to a rudimentary level, but with time and practice, it could theoretically become stronger, as it does in the show.

River Power: Telekinesis.