Magic Box | Thursday | 10.08

[life_inshadow]

Tara was still cheerful when she got to work Thursday. She'd spent most of the week processing that so much of what she'd grown up with was wrong; there was anger under there somewhere, but mostly she was relieved.

She spent her shift looking through the crystal balls. It was cheesy, but she still almost hoped someone would give her one for her birthday.

[OOC: OCD got caught in traffic, but the shop is open!]

Comments

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Diana had no cat, but she did have a good mood. "Hey. Parent's Weekend is over!" She cheerfully informed Tara as she came in.

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"And I'm not a demon!" Tara informed Diana right back, equally happy. "Hi."

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Diana blinked. "Uh, d'uh?" She blinked again.

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"M-my dad," Tara explained with a grimace. "He -- all my life, my family told me I had demon blood from my mother. That that w-was why I could do magic." A pause. "It's not true. Which, uh, you sound like you knew, so I sound crazy, huh?"

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Diana blinked one more time and thought some very un-Keeper like thoughts about Tara's dad. "Tara? I can spot demons - it's part of my job description. I never even though that you might be a demon." She paused and considered her options. "Your dad is gone, right?" Because she had some very creative ways of making people regret ever meeting her.

[life_inshadow]

Tara nodded. "Yeah. Illyria and Tahiri kind of ... convinced him to move on. They're probably home by now." A frown flickered over her face; the whole thing had been weird.

"So if I'd asked about it two months ago, you would have laughed?"

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Diana considered the question carefully. "Nah, I just would have given you the look I was giving you a few minutes ago and wondered what erm, very dumb individual told you otherwise. Any other concerns I can lay to rest? You're not a vampire either, if you were wondering. Or a werewolf. Or a mummy, but I hope that one was obvious."

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"... can I be a fairy?" Tara asked, after some careful consideration. "Pixies are pretty cool."

She knew it wasn't really funny, but bad jokes were about the best coping mechanism she had as she tried to work through it.

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Diana nodded solemnly. "You can totally be a fairy. You might be a touch too large for a pixie. Extra large pixie?"

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"Supersized," Tara decided, then played with her hair thoughtfully. "It's weird. I w-was too a-ashamed to talk about it and it's not even true."

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Diana frowned. "Well, depending on who you ask, I'm not even 100% human. I bet at least half this school can claim that statement as true. You're you. And you dad - " Diana tried to find a way of saying things without causing permanent damage to Mr. Maclay. "Your dad had no idea what he was talking about."

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"He did it on purpose." And there, at last, was anger in Tara's tone. "H-he wasn't just confused. He -- he did it so my mom and I would do whatever they said."

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Diana frowned and bit back her first response. "Is he ever going to be back on this island?"

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"P-probably not," Tara said. "Home's a really long way and it's not like he'd get anything out of it, right?"

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Diana nodded. "Right." And if he ever did show up, well, Diana would figure out a way to explain things to her mother. "Hey, are you going on the school trip thing?"

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Tara nodded. "I've never been on vacation like that -- um, ever," she said. "It should be fun. Are you?"