Battle Hymn of the Republic

Splashing water to the tempo of footsteps. Shouts. Roaring torrents of water driven by magic. Screams. Pain. A gnarled hand wrapping around her throat. Another plunging into her chest.

Willow sat up. She was panting and could feel a cold sweat at her hairline. It was that nightmare again. Looking off to her side, the young Brit squinted through the darkness to make sure she hadn’t woken Drysi in the bed opposite her own. Swinging her feet over the edge of the mattress, Willow made her way to the door and out of the room on tiptoes.

Splashing her face with cool water, Willow washed away some of the sweat from her brow before looking at herself in the mirror. Tousled hair, bags under her eyes, and a general look of malaise; she was looking properly knackered. As quietly as she had left, she returned to the room and sat on the edge of her bed as she checked her phone. It was a quarter to four, but Willow didn’t feel like going back to sleep at the moment. Rocking forward she pushed herself up again and moved to her desk. Grabbing a small glass vial, she pulled the stopper and downed the contents, pushing past the pungent fish flavor. Burning tin, Willow could see well enough in the dim light shed by the crack under the door to pull out a piece of paper and a pen.

Drysi,
Going for a late night jog. Probably gonna stop by the corner shop down the hill. Text me if you need anything. Be back shortly.

-Willow

Taping the note to the door, Willow got dressed in some sweatpants and a hoodie, and double checked to make sure her coin purse was still in the pocket. Slipping on her runners she once again slid silently out of the dorm. With no commotion this time, it was much easier for Willow to make her way down the stairs and out a back door. Breathing deep she sighed happily. The night air was the perfect temperature, and the enhanced sensations from her tin served to only make it that much more enjoyable. Making her way to the road, Willow burned pewter and began to jog down to winding road into town at a healthy clip. The sounds of nature carried well through the forest to her acute hearing, and she let her still shaken mind focus on the wind flowing past her face.

Before long, she rounded the bend that brought Osaka into view, and Willow had to pull back on her tin so she could properly appreciate the view without squinting. From here, the road wound through light foliage as the hill transitioned into residential and light commercial buildings, and a cursory burn of steel showed her a plethora of lines. Contemplating, Willow considered the possibility of zipping around the city. All the buildings likely had more than enough exposed metal for her to push and pull off of, and in the late night anyone still out and about this late after the last train likely wouldn’t be looking up; or at least be in a state of mind to believe they had just seen a teenager flying.

Shaking her head, Willow dismissed the idea. After all she was still getting used to Iron and Steel, and if she got caught she didn’t want to deal with the backlash. As much fun as it would be, Willow settled on a compromise. With coins at the ready in case she needed to break her fall or readjust, Willow focused on a couple of lines in the dim light. Climbing up onto the guard rail at the edge of the road, she jumped and she pushed. In a thrilling rush of vertigo the ground sped away from her as she arched up into the night sky. The nightmare was fading further into the back of her mind as she appreciated a view of Osaka that not many others would be able to see, but she focused again. Upping her tin, she found the next line she wanted as her arch descended. It was like a rollercoaster in a way, and she was grateful that pewter helped mitigate the sensation of free falling.

Pushing off of the next guard rail down the hill, she was startled as her angle was off and she flew off at a skewed angle. Throwing out a coin, she pushed against it and another guard rail; mentally noting to use two points of contact when possible. By the time she got to the next set of rails down the hill, Willow determined she’d probably best set down outside of town until she got more precise. With the next set of rails, she began pushing early while her angle of approach was behind them. Only she misjudged the height, and the push was arching her a bit too quickly towards the hillside. Throwing a coin out quickly, Willow pushed with a bit too much force and was once again darting forward towards town. Burning Iron, she pulled on the guardrail in front of her which brought her angle closer to the ground. Noticing faint blue lines in front of her, she pushed enough to slow her forward momentum enough to where she felt comfortable. That said, she still flared pewter to help maintain her balance as she landed and panic ran the rest of the way down the incline while trying to stop.

Looking around quickly, she made sure nobody had seen her, although she didn’t know what to do even if someone had beyond asking nicely to not say anything. Catching her breath, she looked around and saw she was outside a line of backyards. Bringing pewter down to a modest level, Willow jogged the rest of the way at a normal pace.

Ding dong

The door chimes of the corner store sounded as she exited. Spending a bit of her ammo, Willow leaned against a short wall outside the store to eat a rice ball and drink some tea as she basked in the quiet night air.

Crushing the empty can of convenience store tea in her hand, Willow lobbed it into a trash can as she finished off the last of the rice ball. Giving a contented sigh, the young girl flared her tin as she listened to the night. The ambience around her multiplied; from the sounds of animals in the dark, the music from inside the store behind her, and even the stars above became brilliant pin points of light within the morning-esque light of the larger city off in the distance. So where as street or so over the sound of two alley cats fighting caught her ear. Smirking, Willow was just about to pull back on the tin burn when a different commotion caught her ear; a young woman shouting at someone to leave her alone.

Willow froze. The sense of distance was heavily skewed because of the burning tin, and she had not yet become accustomed to judging it. Even so, it was at least a few streets away, where the area began to blend from housing into apartments and other low rise buildings; she thought she recalled a karaoke parlor and a few bar down that way, and she had been amazed that such establishments in Japan were able to stay open effectively as long as they liked. So perhaps someone from the bars was being harassed? Perhaps she should go into the store and notify the clerk.

"No," Willow surprised herself by speaking out loud, the sudden sound hurting her own ears. "See... or hear... something, do something. What's the point in having power if I don't use it for something good?"

Reigniting the burn on her pewter, Willow began to run towards the commotion.

Willow found the run was easy enough even without pewter, and burnt it low mainly for some added balance while running in the dark. Winding through a couple of alleys, it wasn't long before the sounds drew close enough for Willow to reduce the tin to a marginal level. As streets had past, the buildings were transitioning to brick, and finally after darting down a narrow connection road she rounded a corner onto a wider street. Likely lined with small business fronts, now the street sat in dim light while further down Willow could see the glow of places offering late night entertainment of many forms. Just the same, Willow could also see the trouble she had been following. A clearly inebriated man was following behind a young woman who looked to be a few years older than Willow.

"I said I wasn't interested!" the woman shouted as she stormed away from the man and towards Willow, Willow processing that it was all in Japanese. Grimacing slightly, the Brit found she mostly understood how much she'd been slacking on learning Japanese. Regardless, the woman appeared unhappy, and the man appeared to be harassing her.

"C'moooon, it'll be fun," the man slurred a bit, Willow felt like she could smell the booze on his breath from where she stood up the street from the two.

Now that she was there, Willow froze again as she wasn't sure what to do next. She could understand some Japanese, but could barely speak it; so diplomacy was out. The man didn't seem to be laying a hand on the woman, so she wasn't sure how justified she would be launching a coin at him or straight up pewter punching him. Then the idea sparked. Feelings are universal. Moving quickly towards the distressed woman, Willow kept put her hood up and kept her face shadowed.

"Hey!" Willow called, getting the attention of the two. "When a lady's not interested, BUGGER OFF." As she shouted in her native tongue, she flared zinc a pulled on the man's emotions. Specifically in this case some emotions she'd thought would get him to leave even if he couldn't understand her; doubt and regret. The man immediately stopped in his tracks and looked as though he'd been smacked. Looking as though he were going to say something more, he turned a began to stumble back towards the lights of entertainment down the road.

The woman watched him leave with a look of surprise on her face. Turning back towards Willow, she seemed equally hesitant to approach the new hooded figure. Taking a few tentative steps, the woman drew closer.

"American?" she asked.

"English... Uh, England," Willow responded.

"Arigato, Igirisu-chan," she offered as she quickly past by on her way towards the residential neighborhoods. Willow was confused by the name, but didn't press the matter. Instead, within the shadow of her jacket's hood, Willow beamed as she moved back into the shadows of the alley. She had just used her abilities to help someone in need. It had been low intensity, but after the fight with the hag that's probably just what she needed