Magic Box, Thursday, 7/26

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

Every time Tara came into the shop, she expected the worst. It operated in a grey zone -- as long as almost nothing was on display except worthless plastic amulets and smelly incense, most of the time Umbridge and her goons let it be.

But that was only most of the time. There'd been a couple bad days over the last few years.

But today things were as normal as they ever were, so Tara started her day unpacking a shipment of Chinese Zodiac 2013 calendars. At lunch, she might take a risk by locking the door and letting herself into the real supplies to see what she could cobble together for Saturday, but that had to wait until she could be certain no one would wander in.

[OOC: Open shop! Any discussion of the Magic Box stocking anything with real magic is for resistance broadcast only.]

Comments

[nokitestringnow.livejournal.com]

Kennedy made a semi-regular habit of wandering in, as it happened. She was hardly an expert on how to detect magic, but she knew enough to recognize some of the basic necessities. Anyway, sometimes you just had to remind people that they weren't flying under the radar.

She pushed the door open and sauntered in like she belonged there (which was just true of wherever she chose to be at the moment, naturally). "Knock knock," she singsonged.

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

Tara hadn't even been doing anything vaguely questionable -- yet -- but she still froze in place. "Hi," she said softly. "Are you ... how do you feel?"

She kept asking, even though she could almost tell by looking that the imperio curse still held.

[nokitestringnow.livejournal.com]

"I'm fine, duh." The somewhat flat tone of voice in which Kennedy replied was also a pretty good indicator that she was still under the curse, as was the moment just before she answered, where she looked like she wanted to say something else and decided against it.

Moment over, though. She made a show of scanning the contents of the shelves for anything untoward, then moved over to lean against some shelves. "How are things?" she asked. "Pretty quiet and boring so far, I hope." The words were casually conversational. The undercurrent was not.

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

"Totally quiet and boring," Tara nodded vigorously, though she couldn't hide the concern and disappointment in her eyes. "The only new stock we got today is these Chinese zodiac calendars. I -- always wish I was something cuter than a rooster, you know?"

[nokitestringnow.livejournal.com]

Again with the pause and indecisive look before Kennedy let out a halfhearted, humorless laugh. She might have had a lighter response for that, once, but there was this pesky Imperius thing suppressing the impulse.

"Funny," she said. "All this zodiac crap doesn't make any sense anyway, but whatever. It's harmless."

She drummed her fingers against the edge of the shelf. "Can't have you messing around with anything that'll get you hurt, natch." Shame about that sounding more like a warning than a concern.

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

"I don't want to get hurt," Tara said. "Promise. But..."

She stopped there, biting her lip, before she decided she had to go on. "But, um ... seems like mostly people are getting hurt by -- by who's in charge now."

It was a huge risk, saying that, but Tara wondered if some tiny part of Kennedy would hear and understand.

[nokitestringnow.livejournal.com]

Oh, some part of Kennedy did: the part that was still trying to claw its way out of the fog and hadn't managed it yet, not quite. Stuff like that kept it going.

"Their fault for getting busted," she answered with a shrug, her voice going a touch flat again. "They should know by now what happens when they're out of line."

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

"Maybe," Tara said, and again pushed herself through another sentence. "But ... back at my old school, if you did something dumb you didn't get locked up for the rest of your life. It s-seems a little, um, excessive."

[nokitestringnow.livejournal.com]

Really, Kennedy could have reported Tara or several of her other friends weeks ago. There was a lot she knew about the resistance from her student days, but she'd managed to fight off the curse just enough to have never bothered to share that knowledge with Umbridge.

"It's Fandom. Things are different here," she said, almost uncertain before she shook her head, raised an eyebrow, and went on. "What, do you feel sorry for them?"

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

"No, no," Tara lied rapidly. "I mean, sometimes I miss people, Sookie or Bobby or whoever, but that's ... different. I was just, you know. Talking."

She hated herself for saying it, but she'd gone as far out on thin ice as she cared to tread.

[nokitestringnow.livejournal.com]

Kennedy just looked at her for a long few seconds. "You always were kind of a softie, huh?" That was a question that could've been affectionate or scornful, but in this world it definitely did not swing toward the former.

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

"Total bleeding heart," Tara agreed, with a quirk of a smile. "You know me. And you ... never had much trouble that way."

Kennedy was sympathetic, sure, but she believed what she believed down to her core.

[nokitestringnow.livejournal.com]

"Some of us do what we have to do, and screw the side effects." Even if she wanted to smile back, she didn't. "Guess that's why it was never gonna work, huh?"

[regretiz4u.livejournal.com]

Kenzi wandered in. Grinning. The kind of grin that anyone who had encountered her before might fear.

"Tara! How is your day going how is business can we talk ordering things maybe?"

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

"I can't believe you even remember that," Tara said, legitimately surprised and saddened. "But ... yes. Among other things."

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

"Hi!" Tara looked appropriately wary. "It's fine. And -- I guess? What kind of totally legal and not actually magical at all things did you have in mind?"

[regretiz4u.livejournal.com]

"Which I'm sure are only for use in ambiance and in case of power outages," Kenzi agreed, then slid a piece of paper with a drawing and a word across the counter to Tara: Koushang. "I do not want this for reason of, um. Anything that might neutralize anyone. Nope."

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

Tara raised her eyebrows as she looked it over. The sketch wasn't ringing any bells. "Uh-huh," she said. "And, um, just for the record -- who in particular would it ... totally not have any effect on?"

[nokitestringnow.livejournal.com]

"Why wouldn't I?" Kennedy tried to ignore the distant twinge of guilt at Tara's reaction. "You and me never really saw eye to eye. I remember all of that." She'd made some pretty contentious arguments, more than once.

There was definitely an unspoken implication that could be tacked on to the end of the sentence: And I never turned you in.

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

"I just wasn't sure how much your mind had changed lately," Tara said, with a little shrug.

You never knew what had been changed, what had been taken away or twisted when someone got caught.

Tara swallowed her nerves. "But ... you were always a good friend, in the end. I remember that, too."

Unspoken: Please don't turn me in.

[nokitestringnow.livejournal.com]

Kennedy fell silent for a few moments and looked away, clenching her jaw. When she turned back, she looked a little strained.

"Why past tense?" She almost sounded like her old self there, complete with a hint of a grin, maybe a desperate one. "Pretty sure you just said I might be crazy, and the only people who get away with calling me that are..."

She trailed off and took a breath; when she spoke again her voice had flattened out a bit. "Doesn't mean you can get away with pushing it, though."

[regretiz4u.livejournal.com]

Kenzi paused, and said carefully, "Hypothetically, succubi. According to that Portalocity guy who was here for a while. It might make it so they can't suck the breath and life out of you. If that person was right."

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't trying to," Tara said, in a tight little voice. "You are a good friend. Just -- we missed you after you graduated. That's all. Y-you aren't ... crazy."

Mindwiped, sure, but not insane.

[world-enchanted.livejournal.com]

"Interesting, if we can trust that person." Tara had to bite back a smile as she examined the drawing again. If they could get Bo out of the way, Saturday would be a lot easier. "Well -- I was going to order some fake rune amulets. This ... looks a lot like them, if it's for sale anyplace."

[nokitestringnow.livejournal.com]

It was really too bad that after she'd left, her whole grand plan of and leading a heroic cavalry charge (metaphorically speaking) back to Fandom, now that she could seriously kick some ass, had spectacularly imploded.

"Missed me, huh? Really?" Whatever trace of warmth had been in Kennedy's eyes before was just gone now, as if someone had slammed the door on it. In a lower, warning voice she drawled, "'cause I gotta say, the hanging out isn't what it used to be. Hate to think there's reasons for that and I don't know about 'em, you know?"