Magic Box, Thursday, 8/2

[life_inshadow]

Tara was cheerful and relaxed at the shop today, and she kept cuddling the spellbooks that were back on the shelves where they belonged. She steeped a pot of spiced tea and put Eliza Carthy softly on the store stereo. She had even brought Moxy to the store, where he promptly took a nap in the window.

It felt very much like home.

[OOC: Open shop.]

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[snarkyhealer]

Shira was still in a thinky kind of mood, so instead of going back to her room she found herself wandering in town.

And wandering right into the Magic Box. It made sense, really. Magic was comforting to her.

She gave Tara a smile and a little wave. "Hey."

[life_inshadow]

"Hi," Tara said, with a little smile for Shira. "How are you doing today? Do you want some tea?"

[snarkyhealer]

"I'm... kinda thinky," Shira said with a shrug. "But tea would be wonderful, thank you."

[life_inshadow]

"Give me a second and I'll get a cup," Tara told her, then added -- over her shoulder as she prepared the tea -- "So ... thinky about what?"

[snarkyhealer]

"The whole alternate universe thing," Shira said. "What my friends were doing as opposed to what I was doing."

[life_inshadow]

Tara nodded silently as she finished putting together a little tray with two cups of tea and little packets of milk and sugar.

"I was more busy hiding than I would have liked," she said, still ashamed. One thumb went over a spot on her arm where the mark from a scar had been the week before, as if she could still feel something. "I ... don't remember where you were."

[snarkyhealer]

"I was in the Resistance, so I was hiding in random buildings in town," Shira said. "Out of my best friends... Alice wasn't here, Cassidy was in Detention, and Elle was... well... crazy."

[life_inshadow]

Tara nodded, trying for sympathy but not exactly sure what she was being sympathetic for. "Oh," she said. "Are you ... upset you couldn't protect them, or are things strange with you and Elle now, or....?"

She trailed off there, letting Shira fill in the blank.

[snarkyhealer]

"I'm upset I couldn't protect them, yeah, but... things are weird between Elle and me, and Elle and Cassidy," Shira said with a sigh. "Well, more like neither of us has talked to Elle since... well, since everything happened."

[life_inshadow]

"I don't know her," Tara admitted. She was watching Shira's reactions closely. "Is she the type who needs other people to come find her when she's upset, or do you think you should give her some space until she's ... I, um, can't think of a better way to say it than 'processed it'?"

[snarkyhealer]

"She probably needs us to come find her, because I'm pretty sure she thinks we hate her," Shira said thoughtfully. "It's just... how do you talk to someone who tortured another of your best friends? I don't want to ignore her, I just can't figure out what to say to her."

[life_inshadow]

"Well, it's not like she did it because she wanted to," Tara said reasonably. "Right? So just ... remember that."

She sighed. "But I know what you mean. From what I heard Raven was awful, and I'm ... not sure what I have to say to her right now. I'm just giving it time."

[snarkyhealer]

"You have a point," Shira said. "Because I know Elle and she'd never want to become that kind of monster. But at the same time, she was very much a monster from what I heard. So it's... I guess complicated is the best way to put it."

Maybe not the best, just the one that gave her the least amount of headache.

[life_inshadow]

Tara shrugged. "Sounds it," she said, and sipped at her tea thoughtfully. "Sometimes things just ... have to be, right?"

[snarkyhealer]

"Guess so," Shira said thoughtfully, taking a sip of her own tea. "I needed that reminder, though. That Elle didn't do it because she wanted to. Well, more like I needed to hear it from someone who isn't a part of the situation. Outside perspective is a good thing sometimes."

[life_inshadow]

"I'm glad I helped a little. Seriously, I'm here anytime you need to talk," Tara said. "For the rest of the month, anyhow, and then -- it's not like I'm falling off the world when I go to college."