The Magic Box, Thursday

[life_inshadow]

Call it paranoia, but the shock of turning everybody invisible by accident had Tara keeping far away from anything with actual mojo today. Her time with Kennedy the night before had her less wobbly than she had been, but she still wasn't ready to jump right back on the horse.

So anyone visiting the shop would find the clerk rearranging displays and unpacking new merchandise in a manner that suggested she was handling certain objects as gently as possible. And, unlike in most weeks, she didn't open every new book and skim them for spells that might be worth trying someday.

Still, the Magic Box was open, and Tara would probably wish any magic user who came in better luck than she'd recently had.

[OOC: No OCD, open shop!]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

Yeah, like Karla wasn't going to take the opportunity to check in on Tara today. She'd stayed away yesterday, because sometimes people just needed a bit of time to themselves, but today was definitely 'Make Sure Tara's Better' day.

"Kiss kiss," she called, poking her head through the door. "Tara, do you have a sec?"

[Vanishing for a few hours, though, sorry!]

[life_inshadow]

"N-n-nothing but seconds," Tara said, albeit a bit reluctantly, as she emerged from the shelves to greet Karla with an apprehensive almost-smile. "Hi. Is everything okay?"

[glacial_queen]

"That's what I came to see," Karla said, giving Tara a smile. "Everything's pretty good on my end."

No second thoughts about yelling on Karla's behalf.

[life_inshadow]

".... really?" Tara said, not quite trusting that smile. "I'm glad and everything, but ... it was a pretty big mistake I made."

[glacial_queen]

"Really," Karla affirmed. "I'm not going to yell at you, Tara, honestly. No one was hurt, it was fixable, and there weren't even any explosions. Mistakes happen. Everyone understands that."

And if it turned out that not everybody did, Karla was hoping to get to them before they got to Tara.

[life_inshadow]

"Mistakes happen," Tara echoed, still not sounding quite like she believed it. "Do you want me to step down? 'Cause I would, if you did."

[glacial_queen]

Now Karla was looking at her as if Tara'd grown three heads. "Step down? Are you serious?! No way! That's-- That's-- " don't say stupid, Karla, do not say stupid "--sss...crazytalk."

She took a minute, pinching the bridge of her nose, "No. Absolutely not. And not just because we're friends. I have three solid reasons why I don't want you stepping down, if you'd like to hear them."

[life_inshadow]

"I d-didn't really want to!" Tara protested quickly. "Just ... seemed like I should. Offer. But, um" -- and this was even shyer than before -- "Iwouldkindofliketohearthereasonsifyoudon'tmind."

[glacial_queen]

"Okay, first of all, I don't doubt your abilities. Do I wish you hadn't made that mistake? Of course. Will it take awhile to live down? Sure. But there's no witch alive who hadn't made mistakes with Craft, myself included. That's no reason to start doubting you," Karla said, sounding authortative. Of course, her mistakes tended to end in explosions. "Second, I wasn't kidding when I said I like having you for a foil. The spells you know and what you can do with magic differs a lot from my own and I don't want to lose that needed viewpoint. I don't want to lose you, Tara. Your experience with magic is so much closer to most other people's here. It kind of hurts my pride to say it, but you're going to be a lot more helpful to most of our members than I am."

Yeah. That did hurt her pride. But she could suck it up and deal, especially for this.

"And, lastly, what kind of message will it send to the rest of our group if I did ask you to step down? It's like saying that the Reserves has no used to people who are there to learn, who aren't perfect. And that's not a message I want to send."

[life_inshadow]

Tara listened seriously, a mix of pride and surprise dancing across her face. "It probably helps to have someone in the group who learned magic, instead of being born with it," she admitted. "Maybe someday we'll get someone from back home who's just starting out, and I can help her."

She drew a breath, let it out. "I -- I'm still nervous. But I'll stay."

[glacial_queen]

"Good," Karla said, nodding. "I'd have been very disappointed if you'd left." Especially after the whole pride-deflating confession thing. "You're a good leader, Tara. And a good witch."

[life_inshadow]

"I want to be," Tara nodded. "So, uh, thank you. Not just for keeping me."

[glacial_queen]

"You're welcome," Karla replied. "Can I ask for what else, though? I mean, since losing you was never on the table in the first place."

[life_inshadow]

"Just for being really nice about this," Tara said. "That's -- a lot."

[glacial_queen]

Karla looked at Tara for a moment. "One day, I think I'd like to talk about who and what made you think you don't deserve kindness," she murmured.

[life_inshadow]

Tara's eyes got much older and sadder. "Someday maybe I'll tell you."

[glacial_queen]

Karla reached across the counter for Tara's hands. "I'm always willing to listen." She glanced down. "And there's nothing you can say that will shock me."

[life_inshadow]

"I know," Tara said, squeezing Karla's hands as she leaned across the counter. "Later, okay? It's seriously not that dramatic."

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy had an inbox full of emails from Constance (and a handful from her dad, and one belated birthday message from her little sister) to go through, plus a couple of weeks' worth of newspapers to skim for any possible Hellmouth-related news. That would probably be a futile search again, because it always was these days, but it was habit.

She didn't want to be that girl who was all crazy with the hovering, but she had too much of a stupid protective instinct to really want to leave Tara alone all day either, so it seemed like a good compromise to come in with her laptop and work on that inbox-clearing thing in the space between her workout and class. She'd be content to hang out quietly (being tired from working with the bat'leth and her new sword helped with that) for the most part and give Tara her space, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to give her a smile, too, when she came in.

[life_inshadow]

Tara wasn't in an incredibly talky mood either, but she was glad to have Kennedy there. A couple hours into the day, she paused, glancing over at Kennedy's screen.

"It's my lunch break," she said. "I was going to walk over to the Perk -- want me to bring something back for you?"

[brat_inslayage]

Most of the emails from Constance had been pretty dry, but the latest missive on her screen, the one that started out Haven't you collected enough weaponry as it is without acquiring a sword that's almost as tall as you are? made Kennedy laugh before she looked up.

"I wouldn't say no to a frozen caramel thing," she agreed then, taking a cue from her suddenly growling stomach, "and maybe a sandwich?"

[life_inshadow]

"Mmmm, that sounds yummy," Tara nodded. "And I think the fresh air will feel good."

She went over to find her purse. "Don't work too hard, 'kay?"

[brat_inslayage]

"When do I ever?" asked the girl who'd spent a good hour in the weight room this morning, as she hit Reply and began typing up an explanation of how she'd gotten the sword. "Go on, enjoy your break. I'll hold down the fort for you."

[life_inshadow]

Tara's expression suggested she knew perfectly well when Kennedy ever'ed, and that was part of why she was going on this little errand and not sending anybody else out.

"I won't be gone forever or anything," she promised, slipping toward the door.

[brat_inslayage]

She suspected as much about the errand, and it was sweet, so there would be no arguments from this corner, amazingly.

"Wouldn't let you be. I'd come find you," Kennedy called after her as she went. "It's part of what I do."

Email typed up, she hit send and waited for a reply. Constance's reaction to her getting asked to head the reserves ought to be a good one.

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana was more than a bit worried about Tara this morning, so she showed up to the Magic Box with a muffins as well as a cat.

[life_inshadow]

"Is someone there?" Tara called, from back in the shelves of teas.

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana considered making an invisibility joke but then decided that would be tactless. "A cat with some muffins." Diana called out.

[life_inshadow]

"Wow, a talking cat?" Tara said, trying for humor and falling a bit flat. She seemed reserved, even sheepish, as she came out to see Diana. "Hi. Um ... thanks for coming by."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"We aren't that common." Samuel complained. Diana bopped him on the nose with a finger and he batted at it. "Just wanted to make sure you were okay. Hence the baked goods." She offered up the muffin.

[life_inshadow]

Tara took the muffin and went over to lean on the counter to eat it, making it clear Diana and Samuel could follow if they wanted. "Okay enough?" Tara said. "Kennedy helped a lot. I just ... feel really dumb. And I k-kind of keep waiting for people to yell at me."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana and Samuel did follow, with the human of the pair blinking. "Why would they yell at you? Magic users screw things up - it happens."

[life_inshadow]

"Mmmm," Tara said, picking at her muffin. "That's what everybody says. I guess I kind of got used to being yelled at, growing up."

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

Diana frowned and reminded herself that just because she could use her powers it didn't mean she should use them. "Yeah, well, you're not there any more." She bit down on her lip. "You know those kids rhymes and stuff? Like the old lady who lived in a shoe and the birds in a pie and stuff?"

[life_inshadow]

"Nursery rhymes?" Tara asked, squinting. "Yeah. What about them?"

[oops-mbad.livejournal.com]

"I used to accidentally make them come true." Diana said casually. "Blew out half the back wall of my parents house more than once. And there was the time I walked into a church and angels began to sing." Samuel's ears perked up. "Stuff happens when you're using magic. As long as you learn, other practitioners aren't going to yell. Or well, they'll stop as soon as they're not on fire any more." She paused. "I don't know if that helped."

[life_inshadow]

"...tell me about the time you set people on fire and it might," Tara said, with a slightly morbid interest. "Wait, you blew out your parent's house wall? They weren't mad or anything?"