The Perk, early Tuesday Morning

[brambless.livejournal.com]

The sun hasn't yet taken the night's chill out of the air when Tara pads into town, leaving Shane asleep in bed at Amber House. She stops at the Perk for a Bitter Pill and a somewhat sweeter hot chocolate, debating the selection of bagels and danishes before remembering that Shane hardly ever eats breakfast.

[ooc: This is part of the Crowley/Tara culmination. Feel free to skip it and set up another Perk post if you're avoiding, although references are oblique.]

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[flash-serpent.livejournal.com]

[A woman who was in Deb's last night sits drinking a cup of tea and looking through a Sharper Image catalog. Her hair is pulled back in a severe bun, and she has a croceted shawl around her shoulders. Noticing Tara, she looks up at her and smiles. The smile cuts through Tara's mind...deep into where she keeps the horrors locked away. The voices start and don't stop talking...]

Worthless witch, do what your mother can't anymore. I'll use your body now that her's is in the ground, and you'll do what I tell you. Mind your father now like a good girl. Shut up...no crying. I'll slap you again...

Daddy's little girl...take that and clean up now. You're fine, stop that crying. I swear...[a leather belt snaps]...shut it now.

Hey girlie, looking for a party...I got it right here.

Be quiet, little mouse, it only hurts for a minute.

used. broken. dirty. worthless. stupid. thankless. whore.

SMACK!

[brambless.livejournal.com]

The hot chocolate drops to the floor, droplets of boiling liquid scalding her legs, brutal fingers against her skin again. A warm brown puddle spreads around her feet and she panics. Daddy hates it when she makes a mess. Dropping to her knees she uses her own skirt to mop up the spill, her sodden skirt searing heat into her thighs.

It takes only seven seconds for the server to come around the counter, words unheard past the voices in Tara's mind. He reaches for her shoulder, touches her, and she breaks, scrambling to her feet and running out the door, skirt tangling around her ankles, threatening to trip her at any moment, searing warmth turning icy in in the cool air.