Magic Box, Thursday, 12/16

[life_inshadow]

Depending on how her plans for the next two weeks turned out, Tara figured this had a good chance of being her last shift at the shop in 2010. Too bad -- it had been a good year for her.

She spent it checking through the stock of herbs and animal parts, tossing anything that looked or smelled even vaguely past its sell-by date, or was coming so close that it wouldn't be sold by the end of the year even at a deep discount. It turned out lark tongues did not like being stored in the sun.

"Poor birdies," Tara murmured, as she went to dispose of the contents of that jar.

[OOC: Post of being too lazy for OCD, the second. Open shop, anyhow.]

Comments

[brat_inslayage]

Lunch came with cake today-- celebratory cake, given that the girl bringing it felt like celebrating. "Finals? Totally in the bag," Kennedy exulted, bouncing in with the food and dessert and an excess of tinsel in her hair. "Looks like Fandom felt like that called for a sparkly party."

Yes, Kennedy, the weather was all about you. Really.

[life_inshadow]

"All for us," Tara laughed, going over to pluck tinsel out of Kennedy's hair. "... I shouldn't be surprised, but is that really an entire cake?"

[brat_inslayage]

"Yes, but it's not the jumbo sized one," Kennedy answered. "Hey, I was craving cake all last week and couldn't get any, so I had to get extra."

The logic worked for her!

"And yes, it's for both of us."

[life_inshadow]

"Oh, well, if it's for both of us ..." Tara said. "But I know what you mean. It's felt really good to be able to do normal stuff all week. Even finals."

She trotted off to find plates and forks.

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy unpacked the food and set it out with the alacrity of the hungry and overly impatient, then perched herself cheerfully on the edge of the counter.

"Kinda feels good, huh? The normal of it?"

Why did that sound like a weird thing to say?

[life_inshadow]

"It does," Tara said, with a quick smile as she set out the utensils. "Though ... kind of weird to hear you say it. Are you sure you're my girlfriend and not her evil twin?"

[brat_inslayage]

"Couldn't you just check my aura for that?" Kennedy asked idly. "And I mean, hey, normal is boring when it lasts too long, but after the last few weeks? It's kinda nice right now."

[life_inshadow]

"Well, if you really were your own evil twin you wouldn't tell me, so ...yeah" Tara shrugged. "And I'm not arguing with you. Think the peace will hold for the rest of the year?"

[brat_inslayage]

"There's only a few weeks of it yet. I think we deserve that much," Kennedy said, the look on her face implying she'd call someone and yell about it if that would ensure said peace. "That is, if we don't count Christmas shopping as breaking the peace, 'cause that can get kinda vicious plus I've gotta get something for Raven, and... wow. Busy time of year."

She picked a piece of tinsel out of her jacket collar and playfully flicked it at Tara, grinning.

"Also, I come with an evil-twin-free guarantee."

[life_inshadow]

"Is it lame to give Raven a scarf?" Tara wondered. "I'm never sure what she'd want. And I am so not going anywhere near a mall. That's why they made internet shopping, right?"

[brat_inslayage]

"It's like you read my mind," Kennedy said offhandedly. "I was totally lost on what to get her too. She's so... Raven, y'know? I can never quite figure her out. I was thinking, maybe a gift card? But where to?"

[life_inshadow]

"I don't like gift cards," Tara said, wrinkling her nose. "They're okay, but ... it can be like here, have money. I'm doing the scarf thing. I dunno, doesn't she like Rumor Gal? There have to be posters or something."

[brat_inslayage]

"Slightly better than an envelope of cash?" Kennedy tried, unwrapping sandwiches and dishing out potato salad. Not that she had much of a problem with that as a concept, it was just kind of tacky. "I could probably find her a poster. Don't need to know the show for that, right?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara shook her head. "I don't know it, anyhow. I dunno. What are you getting Sookie? I'm thinking something yummy."

[brat_inslayage]

"There's never anything bad about food," Kennedy declared as if this was a surprise. "Especially if she doesn't have to make it for once."

[life_inshadow]

"I know, but she's so good at making it," Tara said. "And I don't think she minds."

A pause.

"So you think she minds?"

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy raised an eyebrow, then gestured pointedly at the food. "Do you mind when I bring you food? On a freakishly regular basis, even?"

[life_inshadow]

"Uh, no, but I kind of figured this was what we did instead of date night ..." Tara said. "Which we should also do while we have time off."

[brat_inslayage]

"We totally should," agreed Kennedy, who didn't think of these lunches so much as dates; they'd been just for fun at first, then her way of showing that she cared, and now almost a kind of duty. (But a fun one.) "How wild and crazy do we wanna get? Although I'm drawing the line at anything that involves arrest for public nudity."

No, she'd never get out of the habit of thinking it was fun to try and make Tara blush.

[life_inshadow]

Tara laughed, possibly disappointing Kennedy. "Me too. We have to save that for when it's not freezing cold. I don't want to get pneumonia. I was thinking a movie or a concert or something."

[brat_inslayage]

She wasn't entirely disappointed; she could take some satisfaction in the knowledge that Tara put up with her shameless tendencies, right?

"I could probably score us tickets to a Broadway show," she suggested.

Small-scale was for other people, okay?

[life_inshadow]

"Are you going to laugh if I say I've never been to one?" Tara asked. "Cause I really want to ... but not the Oz one. It'd make me too sad."

[brat_inslayage]

"Would I laugh at you for that?" Kennedy seemed honestly surprised that was even a question; it never occurred to her that she came off like someone who would. "It's not like you could've just gotten on the subway to Times Square from home. We can totally go and, like, see one of those musicals based on someone's complete discography."

[life_inshadow]

"No, I just don't want to go and -- I don't know, eat the program or something," Tara said, trying to coax a laugh. "Something awful that would make us both look like hicks. But I'd like that."

She smiled, a little. "I always get to try new things with you."

[brat_inslayage]

"See, now I almost want to go and eat the program just to see what people do, but it's New York." Kennedy grinned playfully. "Like they haven't seen weirder?"

She fell silent for a few moments to eat, and then added, "The new things? That's mutual."