Magic Box, Thursday, 1/19

[life_inshadow]

Tara had gotten Kennedy's text a few days before -- not that her response was doing anything besides sitting in her out box with a error message. Still, any week she heard anything from Sunnydale was a good one, even if she really wished her ex wasn't still prepping for an apocalypse. Thinking about what that could mean tended to give Tara a stomach ache.

But that was a worry she couldn't do anything about, so Tara set it to the side. The shop was quiet so far, and there wasn't any new merchandise she had to deal with. Tara put a Sarah MacLachlan CD on the store stereo and made herself a pot of peppermint tea, prepared for what she hoped would be another low-key day.

[OOC: Open shop, no OCD.]

Comments

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

Surreal had a list, and some of her carefully-saved allowance from Sadi, as she ducked through the door of the store. They weren't going to have witchblood, she assumed, but maybe some of the other things she needed to practice her poisons.

"Hey," she said, spotting Tara. "Where do you keep your herbs and other plant products?"

[life_inshadow]

"Third aisle back and to the left," Tara said automatically, blinking up from her tea. "Let me know if you need anything in particular. We keep some of the stuff high up."

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

Surreal gave her a crooked grin and walked up three steps in the air. "High, I can manage," she replied dryly. "Need anything while I'm up here?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara's distracted look turned into a grin. "Not really, but I am jealous of you now," she informed Surreal. "I'm always dragging a step stool around."

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"A stool or ladder is more practical," Surreal pointed out, hopping down to the ground and wandering in the direction that Tara had indicated. "Craft may be the easy way to do things, sometimes, but it isn't always the right way. Too much reliance on it is a handicap."

[life_inshadow]

"I was raised to believe that," Tara said, abandoning the counter to trail behind Surreal. who knew, maybe she could be useful -- and anyhow, talking was more interesting than her tea.

"That if you got used to, like, conjuring things for no reason it was a first step to dark magic. Usually people think I'm weird about it."

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

"I don't know anything about dark magic," Surreal confessed. "Craft is Craft. You can use it in twisted ways, but the Craft itself just is."

"But we - and our jewels - are vessels for the Craft. There's only so much we can hold at a time, so it isn't wise to just use it randomly. I'm stronger than many, but not as strong as some, and if I spend all my energy lighting lamps or raising up six inches to get something, then I'm out of luck if something happens that requires a large push of power," she said simply. "Besides, it's nice, doing something on my own without resorting to Craft. Why put all your eggs in one basket?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara nodded. "Right. I feel stronger when I do things without going all magic girl," she said. "... not that I mind getting stronger."

[harpy-daughter.livejournal.com]

Surreal turned down the aisle, running her fingers over the various unfamiliar names and packages as she browsed. "It's a worthy goal," she said, glancing at Tara over her shoulder. "To be reliant on nothing and no one, not even your own powers. Besides, people underestimate those of us who don't go in for 'flashy,' and it's to our advantage in the long-run."

Her eyes lit up as they fell on some tightly-packed fresh sambucus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elderberry#Medicine), and she picked up a jar of berries, as well as a packet of dried leaves, seeds, and roots. Then there was camomile, valerian and white willow. "There's more here than I expected," Surreal confessed, picking up another jar. "Is it your shop?"

[abitlowkey]

Low key, eh?

"Hello, Tara!" Loki said, keeping the door open long enough to allow Ikol in with him.

[life_inshadow]

"Hey, Loki," Tara greeted, then glanced up. ".. and hi, Ikol. How's it going?"

[OOC: I did not see that pun until just now. *groans*]

[abitlowkey]

Bad puns for life, yo!

"I have not yet braved the special collections, but I have found a number of books on the subject of teleportatio," Loki said cheerfully. Ikol responded to the greeting by landing on the counter and grooming his feathers in her general direction. So polite, our Ikol. "By chance, are you squeamish?"

[life_inshadow]

Tara blinked. ".... um. Not. ... especially. Why?"

Did she want to know?

[abitlowkey]

Not in the slightest. "Excellent! We shall keep blood rituals on the table."

He was just so cheerful about it.

[life_inshadow]

Tara held up her hands in protest. "Wait, what? I didn't say anything about using blood."

Then, because she was curious even if the chipper was unnerving: "Do those even work?"

[abitlowkey]

"If done properly yes!" Odds on that happening... slim. "And you said you weren't squeamish!"

Yes, Tara. You were getting puppy eyes for not wanting to use blood magic. Only in Fandom.

[life_inshadow]

"I'm not, but..." Tara said defensively, though she couldn't finish the sentence. "Are you seriously giving me that look for getting kind of weird about blood magic?"

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

In between a walk through town that was totally not aimed at picking up flowers or anything (except that he had flowers, but hush), Wesley remembered that he'd been meaning to stop by the store. So.

"Hello, Tara," he greeted her as he entered, heading toward the table of newly-arrived books. "How have you been?"

[life_inshadow]

"It's been an interesting day," Tara settled on. "Hey, Wesley. Are those for me?"

She was a girl. He had flowers. It had to be asked.

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

"What? Oh!" Aaaand now there was blushing. "Oh. No. Katniss, actually. We're, ah. Going to an, ah, anniversary dinner tonight, so I thought I'd..."

Wesley, be more awkward. Just try.

"Interesting how?"

[life_inshadow]

"Awwww," Tara said, hiding her smile behind her hand. "Lucky her. That's adorable. Congratulations"

She shrugged and tucked her hair back before answering the question. "Busier than normal. Loki and Surreal were both in."

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Right. About Loki.

"Right," Wesley said. "Loki. He's, ah, working here now, isn't he?"

Wesley was not buying spell ingredients here ever again.

[life_inshadow]

"Yeah," Tara said, half apologetically. "He was breaking in to read spellbooks. I figured he could use ... you know. An outlet."

Because that wasn't the worst idea ever, or anything.

"He's not a bad guy."

[wesleynotponcy.livejournal.com]

Wesley tried to come up with a way of phrasing this delicately.

"Well," he said after a moment. "He's... er. Loki."

Delicate and accurate!

[life_inshadow]

Tara nodded. "He's reincarnated," she said, still not precisely seeing the big deal. "But aren't we supposed to be all tolerant? Raven's dad is a demon, and he's way worse than Loki in the myths."

This was a matter of opinion.