Magic Box, Thursday, 3/31

[life_inshadow]

Tara might not have gotten quite enough sleep to come to work on, but she was so happy to be back to something normal that she was just going to fortify herself with tea and hope for the best.

Besides, the shop needed her. There were shipments of supplies to sort through, old periodicals to pull -- Tara was keeping the stray Modern Wicca -- and a pile of crystals to unpack. Tara put a CD of new age music on the store system and went to work, while Mr. Moxy curled up in the store window for what he no doubt saw as a well-deserved nap.

[OOC: Open shop, no OCD.]

Comments

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy had figured on the lack-of-sleep thing, thus the drink tray of mochas balanced carefully in one hand as she made her way into the store around lunchtime.

"I come with caffeine," she announced. "Also food, which, hi, given, and bonus hugs after my hands are free."

[life_inshadow]

"You're my favorite person," Tara said gracefully as she went to relieve Kennedy of the tray. "Which you knew, but you're extra my favorite person today."

[brat_inslayage]

"Go, overachieving me," Kennedy drawled, heading to the counter to unpack the grilled cheese-with-turkey sandwiches, fries, and tomato soup. "Feeling a little more like you today?"

[life_inshadow]

"Much better than I was last night," Tara confirmed. "I mean, I love helping Rinoa, you just get ... worn out, you know?"

[brat_inslayage]

"Good." Kennedy leaned in to offer one of those promised hugs. "It's a tough job we have, but luckily we're pretty awesome at it, plus you've got a long weekend to relax afterward, which I think you pretty much earned."

[life_inshadow]

"And a dance!" Tara said. "Which, possibly not as cool as prom, but I figure I can handle getting dressed up and seeing some people."

[brat_inslayage]

"It's warmup for prom," Kennedy declared. "Also, I'm down with any opportunity to see you all dressed up."

Plus the excuse to go shopping was always cool.

[life_inshadow]

Tara laughed. "You aren't exactly hard to look at yourself, you know that?"

She was Kennedy. Of course she knew that.

[brat_inslayage]

"Aware, thanks," Kennedy answered with a mischievous spark in her eyes. "And thanks. But full-time mirror-gazing not being a thing for me, I'll just leave that view for the rest of you to enjoy, preferably while I'm hanging out next to you."

[life_inshadow]

"Good," Tara nodded approvingly. "I'd think you'd gotten possessed if you suddenly started staring in the mirror all the time, and that's not fun at all."

[brat_inslayage]

"I believe you," Kennedy said, and she hadn't meant to bring that up again; it'd just slipped out the way things tended to when her mouth got going without her brain coming along for the ride. "I kinda dig doing the dance thing with you, so one more? No bad there."

[life_inshadow]

Tara hadn't actually been trying to bring anything up; she'd just phrased herself oddly.

"And you'll come back from Homecoming next year?" Tara chided. "Right? If you don't I'll end up sitting in the corner. P-probably getting drunk on punch."

[brat_inslayage]

Which was a good thing, since Kennedy hadn't meant to bring it up either.

"Duh I'll be back," Kennedy replied brashly. "Isn't it my job to keep you safe from the spiked punch?"

[life_inshadow]

"Definitely," Tara said, bobbing her head. "'Cause you know what a lush I could be if you didn't watch out."

[brat_inslayage]

"Oh, yeah. You're a real troublemaker when you get going," Kennedy teased. "Does this mean I have to keep an eye on you all the time or something?"

[life_inshadow]

"See, if I say yes you can't graduate," Tara said solemnly. "So yes."

She was joking. Mostly.

[brat_inslayage]

"Okay, then," Kennedy decided, giving her a Very Serious nod. "Repeat of senior year, here I come? Hey, you said you wouldn't let me get kicked out; you didn't say anything about flunking."

Yay, jokes in the face of daunting situations. Hey, it was practice for not that much later in life.

[life_inshadow]

"I'm totally okay with it if you flunk," Tara confirmed. "I changed my mind. Going to college right away is for suckers."

[brat_inslayage]

"I haven't even decided if I'm going yet," Kennedy pointed out. "Much less where, even if I already know I can get in a couple of places."

[life_inshadow]

"Don't you think you should at least register somewhere?" Tara nagged. "I mean, even if you're going to stay here for a second senior year, it'll be nice to have ... you know. Options."

[brat_inslayage]

"Tara, chill," Kennedy complained, almost looking annoyed; the truth was, she was putting it off, and a little annoyed with herself for the procrastination (and the stupid uncharacteristic indecisiveness behind that). "It's so no big if I don't go. I'll find something to do with myself, one way or the other."

[life_inshadow]

Tara was annoyed by the inexplicable procrastination herself, but she held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. She'd feel pretty dumb if she turned a perfectly nice conversation into an argument about how soon Kennedy should go away, which was something she didn't really want anyway.

"Okay. Chilled," she said. "Refrigerated. Icy. I trust you to do the right thing ... which is totally stay here with me anyhow, right?"

She might have picked up a bit of Kennedy's brattish streak over the last year and a half.

[brat_inslayage]

"Provided I don't end up getting a call to the big leagues sometime in there, obviously." Kennedy couldn't keep a hint of sullenness out of her voice, though. "That happens, we're gonna have to rock the long-distance, or... something."

The question got a surprised look out of her, at any rate; she wasn't used to hearing that sort of thing from Tara. From herself, sure, but...

Well, it was kind of cute.

[life_inshadow]

Tara went quiet for a moment, realizing she had a question it would be better to ask Wesley. Asking Kennedy what the chances were of being called would be ... well. Would be counter to them enjoying a nice lunch.

She picked up a sandwich and unwrapped it with a determined air.

"We'd make it work," she said, trying to sound unconcerned. "No huge pressure or anything, but ... I think we can do it."

[brat_inslayage]

The thing was, Kennedy wasn't so sure. She was hanging onto the idea that they could with all the stubborn overconfidence of her typical approach, but there was that tiny little part of the back of her brain that tried to voice an incoherent objection.

"We totally can," she said, and popped a tater tot into her mouth with a touch too much emphasis; math wasn't her forte, but she'd already worked out the statistical probability of getting that callup to something like one in eleventy billion, which was close enough. "Give it a shot at least, yeah?"

[life_inshadow]

"I want to," Tara said, a bit uneasy. She was grateful to have her sandwich; it kept her hands busy. "I mean, we decided to try for a while, right? So we should."

[brat_inslayage]

"So we will," Kennedy said through a mouthful of potato, then took a bite of her sandwich before peering at Tara. "Okay... something wrong? 'cause you're not looking so enthused here."

To be fair, if she'd thought about it, she was a little reserved herself.

[life_inshadow]

"You say that like I don't know you well enough to tell when you aren't sure," Tara said, after some more fidgeting with her sandwich. "No offense. It's -- we're totally borrowing trouble, aren't we?"

[brat_inslayage]

Tara had her there, Kennedy had to concede.

"I think you just described, like, three-quarters of our everyday lives," she argued, though. "And, I mean-- it's more like... trying to work around a possibly-lots-of-miles-apart problem, right? I want to stay together, you know that."

But yes, she looked less than a hundred percent assertive here.

[life_inshadow]

"I know," Tara said, not sounding as if she knew it at all. "But ... no matter what we do, it's all going to be different, isn't it?"

And not the good kind of different, her tone made clear.

"Unless we go with the awesome plan where you don't graduate," she added, trying to salvage their earlier teasing tone.

[brat_inslayage]

"It's gonna be different. We can't really help that," Kennedy said softly, reaching for her hand to counteract the uneasy feeling twisting her stomach. "But we can try anyway. Besides, that's still weeks and weeks away."

Ugh, depressing.

"Which is plenty of time to figure out how to work the not-graduating plan."

[life_inshadow]

"Totally," Tara agreed, and tucked some hair behind her ear as she tried to shake off the slight melancholy. "Which is why we should maybe stop talking about it and I should ask what you did while I was running around in other worlds."

[brat_inslayage]

"Nothing super-exciting, unless we count watching weird movies with Bobby," answered Kennedy, biting back a comment about continuing the fine tradition of not talking about it. (She didn't want to; she also didn't love the tradition that much.) "Oh-- you're a bad influence, you know? We had to watch this movie in Paranormal Activity about evil witches, and I totally went crankyface on your behalf."

[life_inshadow]

Tara would be willing to talk about it if she felt like there was anything to say.

Or like it wasn't likely to end in one of them crying, probably her.

"Why is he showing you movies like that?" she wondered indignantly. "It's a class! He shouldn't spread stereotypes."

[brat_inslayage]

...if they talked about it, Kennedy might cry, and that wouldn't help matters much.

"Hell if I know," she grumbled. "I mean, when it first came out I wouldn't have thought it was a big deal? Now it's all... wow, not cool, making witches look like evil invisible killers who stalk people in the woods, and I could so see the look on your face if you'd been there."

[life_inshadow]

"That movie?" Tara was indignant. "With the shaky camera and the girl who sobbed through the whole thing? It's not even about real magic!"

[brat_inslayage]

"Uh huh." Bitchface mode was on now, oh, yes. "Motion-sickness central, right? That is so more of a demon thing to do. I mean, come on..."

[life_inshadow]

"The thing in the basement at the end?" Tara shuddered. "Totally a demon. Just because people are ignorant..."

She sighed. "What did the teacher say when you asked him about it?"

[brat_inslayage]

"I didn't," Kennedy admitted because someone forgot to hit post on that comment, sigh. "I sorta kept the cranky to myself? I'm not sure anyone was taking it all that seriously anyway."

She wasn't that much better about these things that she was ready to step up and go all crusadey about it.

[life_inshadow]

"I know," Tara had to admit, reminding herself to relax. "I just ... always worry about that one person who's from a world without magic, you know?"

[brat_inslayage]

"Not just the ones from worlds without it," Kennedy pointed out lightly. "I'd worry about that more if you guys didn't have the Magic Reserves thing going."

A beat, a bite of her sandwich, then:

"Sure as hell taught me a lot."

[life_inshadow]

"Yeah, I'm really proud of that," Tara said honestly. "I think the people who could use it most don't bother coming, but ... it's great for the people who do."

[brat_inslayage]

"Hell of a lot better than no presence at all," Kennedy answered practically. "Really proud of you guys for it."