Magic Box, Thursday, 11/11

[life_inshadow]

Tara hadn't wanted to come to work yesterday. Work meant leaving bed, and leaving bed meant leaving Kennedy, and both of those things got harder every day this week. Plus, she'd had a bad case of the babbles yesterday; she wasn't entirely sure it had cleared up.

But she dragged herself into the shop anyhow, rewarding herself by pulling out a spellbook she'd been slowly reading her way through. She meant to just spend some time studying ways to improve her telekinesis, but when the book opened to a section on telepathic broadcasting instead, she read that. She could see so many situations where being able to talk into someone's head would be useful.

[OOC: Open shop; OCD is off mixing up love potion #9.]

Comments

[brat_inslayage]

So as it turned out, it was really difficult to get the front door of the shop open when you were balancing the by-now-traditional weekly lunch (BLTs and minestrone, and chocolate cake) and a slightly cranky droid baby at the same time; it took Kennedy a minute to manage it.

By the time she got inside, she looked fairly miserable.

"This is the worst timing ever."

[life_inshadow]

Tara cooed and reached out for the baby. The truth was, she would have done that even without the rampaging hormones.

"Your turn for the fake babies?" she asked sympathetically, as she made funny faces at the droid. "Who did you get for the other parent?"

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy was happy to hand the baby over to Tara, who was way better at these things than she was (now was so not an appropriate time to think your girlfriend looked adorable in caretaker mode, Kennedy).

"This girl, Kitty? She said she'd make me pay child support if I left the kid with her." That wasn't a complaint; Kennedy would totally do it. What was a complaint, on the other hand, was her annoyed sigh and, as she started to unpack lunch, "Really, he had to go and do this assignment this week?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara bounced the baby easily against her shoulder. She loved caretaker mode.

"Sorry," she said. "I mean, it's not like you would have had fun with it any week, but ... yeah. I can take him while you patrol if you want."

[brat_inslayage]

The droid baby looked less cranky already, and Kennedy grinned resignedly; caretaker mode really did look good on Tara. "And I'm already pretty sure he likes you more than me, which doesn't surprise me at all," she noted. "I don't know, is it cheating if you watch him while I'm on patrol?"

That had her frowning again. "I never had to worry about this being a family-friendly job before."

[life_inshadow]

"You're being really hard on yourself," Tara pointed out. "He's just ... confused. Plus, I did the baby thing before."

She thought he totally liked her better.

She kept rubbing the baby's back as she continued, "I don't think it's cheating. It's just keeping him safe, right? Master Skywalker wouldn't want the babies to get hurt."

[brat_inslayage]

"No, I think he's just sick of me complaining," Kennedy said thoughtfully. "Like I know how to do this kid thing? I never had to take care of Jañe."

...it unexpectedly hit her that her kid sister's name was a little freakishly close to Karla's best friend's, but she wasn't going to think about that.

"On the other hand," she mused, "you are really good at this."

The baby definitely liked Tara better.

[life_inshadow]

"I like babies," Tara answered, unashamed. "Even when they're just dolls... and what have you been doing to get him sick of you?"

[brat_inslayage]

"Nothing!" Kennedy tried to defend herself. "...just being really not happy about having to do this. Oh, God. He can tell, huh?"

This was so not one of her shining moments.

[life_inshadow]

"I'm pretty sure he's an empath or something," Tara said.

That would be yes, Kennedy.

[brat_inslayage]

"Oh, god." Kennedy almost flailed her hands for a helpless, desperate moment as she addressed the droid baby. Hello, instant parenting fail. "Um, sorry? It's so not your fault I wasn't planning on, um... you. If I buy you something cool, will you maybe not hold it against me?"

[life_inshadow]

"Oh!" Tara shook her head."Other him. I thought you were asking if Professor Skywalker could tell. B-but I wouldn't out him past it to put some freaky circuits in the baby, too."

[brat_inslayage]

"Yeah, that him, I'm pretty sure he's already failing me on this," Kennedy decided. Pronoun confusion was fun.

She leaned against the counter and pulled her phone out of her pocket, flicking through to the camera. "Gotta say this is kind of a really cute sight, even if it might mean my plans for the day took a hard detour."

[sweet-balls.livejournal.com]

Shelley had walked past the Magic Box a few times, but never gone in, figuring it was like one of those hippie shops that sold mostly incense and billowing skirts in various shades of earth. She had some specific needs though, and maybe they had something that could be helpful.

Where to look first?

[life_inshadow]

They definitely had the island's billowing skirt and incense needs covered, it was true. Tara leaned over the counter to get a better look at her customer.

"Let me know if I can help you find anything," she said.

If it was yesterday, that would have been followed by wow, you're really pretty.

[sweet-balls.livejournal.com]

Shelley was relieved for the offer. "Um, do you have any, like, you know, creams?" Way to be vague. "For, like, problems?" Yep, that clarified it.

She forced a smile onto her face to cover up potential embarrassment.

[life_inshadow]

Clear as mud, yep.

"We have some herbal moisturizers and stuff?" Tara said tentatively. "Not a lo, but what we have is in the last aisle over. What -- k-kind of problems?"

[sweet-balls.livejournal.com]

"Well, you see, it's been a long week and, um, I'm not really currently dating anyone, so for the most part I've been flying solo, you know? And, well, I've used a lot of batteries, and I'm pretty sure Mr. Shakey is shaken out at the moment, but things have gotten a little sore and swollen, um, down there," she whispered, "and the last time I went to the clinic it was for tense nipples and the doctor was really hot and I just don't think I can do that again..."

She rambles when nervous.

[life_inshadow]

"Oh my god," Tara said, blinking. She wasn't turned on; she was just concerned. "Uh ... we have some nice cucumber cream that might help. Or maybe aloe? Or Dandelion. Dandelion tea is good for swelling."

She was crimson when she added, "Um, y-you could sit on an ice pack, too..."

Better not to ask how she knew that one would help.

[sweet-balls.livejournal.com]

"Oh my god, cucumbers! I have some of those! Why didn't I think..." She shook her head and forced the smile back.

"Yes, I'll take those, all of those, and the ice-pack is actually a really good idea. Probably better than the cold shower, right?"

[life_inshadow]

"Cold shower's good too this week," Tara said, as she hurried to get the things she'd mentioned off the shelves. She held up the cucumber lotion. "Use this, okay? Or slices. A whole cucumber would p-probably just make things worse."

Blush, blush, blush, but it seemed important to mention...

[sweet-balls.livejournal.com]

"If I wore a skirt, like something loose and billowing, I could probably strap an ice-pack on down there and no one would notice, right? Well, unless it starts running or pops - then it would look like I peed myself." This was going to require some thought.

"Do you have any skirts in pink?" she inquired.

[life_inshadow]

"Maybe you could put something over it that would absorb the water..."

See, now Tara was giving this way too much serious thought.

"We probably do?" she added. "One of the clothing stores would have more, though. We only have one rack."

[sweet-balls.livejournal.com]

"I probably have something suitable at home," she lied, eying the available skirts.

"So this cucumber lotion stuff, do I just smear it around the outside or do I need to, you know, really get it up in there?" she asked, completely serious.

[life_inshadow]

"The outside," Tara said quickly. "I mean, I'm not sure, but ... if it's already sore you probably don't want to, uh, you know. Play with it too much."