taxonomites | [Location | Tamper and Trick, Central Taxon] Opening Day

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[Location | Tamper and Trick, Central Taxon] Opening Day

As may have been evidenced by her frequent trips in and around the center of Taxon, Tara has been quite busy recently. And though it’s served the secondary purpose of distracting her from the unwelcome news she received from Kyra, she’s found a great deal of satisfaction in slowly transforming the empty shop into something to be proud of.

The shelves are now full of various hatched items, ingredients and books, including a few items enchanted by Tara and Ethan themselves. Most tend toward healing and protection, though there are no guarantees that one couldn’t find other things as well (especially if one asked Ethan very nicely). There’s a decent book selection, and dried herbs from the window garden Tara’s growing in the back. Behind the counter, there are gift wrapping supplies, along with some of the more powerful items.

Though she’s not much for tooting her own horn, Sam and Buffy at least know what she’s been working on. And Tara feels that they should do something to celebrate opening, even if it’s something quiet. Balloons and cake, perhaps, like it’s the shop’s birthday. Even if no one comes, though, it will do little to dampen her mood; it feels like one of the first things she’s done in Taxon, maybe in her life, that’s really come together.

She has enough things to worry about, but for this afternoon, she’s taking a break.

Also taking a break - from worrying about when this will end, from thinking about the other world that really sounds terrible, from wondering what Anya would think of the new shop - is Ethan, who discreetly added 'marijuana' to the, er, herbs on offer at Tamper and Trick. He's making tea in the backroom, presently, but he even put on a nice silk shirt (dark purple) for the occasion and he is taking it appropriately seriously-

"It's just not as satisfying when you can't play with the money," he says, bringing two cups out to Tara.

(Sort of seriously.)

The shop is open, so drop by. Curious strangers are also fine.

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"Oh." She thinks about this a moment. "This way." She leads Morgana over to another case of jewelery. Near the center, there are a set of rings; they're rather plain, if elegant, and set with two complimentary (rather than matching) cat's eye stones.

"I actually wasn't sure this would work, but I tested it out. They're tied to each other. The wearer can always find whoever is wearing the other one, wherever they go."

"Those are a brilliant idea." Morgana's quite sure those will be something in which she invests in the future.

"How do they work?"

"They're designed the same way - it's what's called sympathetic magic. Like things want to match with like, generally speaking." She's simplifying, but only because there's no need to go into the specific detail. "It's why if I was trying to find you, for example, it would be much easier if I had something that belonged to you, and even easier still if I had some of your hair, for example. With the rings, they're bound together really tightly with magic. Tight enough that even someone without magical talent can feel them."

Tara pauses, then asks, "Do you want to try it, just within the shop?" There's no pressure, but the offer is there.

While Morgana has been asking questions, and generally trying to be so accepting in the presence of magic, she's yet to actually touch anything within the shop, so her answer, which is spontaneous, and filled with cautious enthusiasm is as much a surprise to her as it would be anyone who knew her.

"I think I would." That's more her faith in Tara would not trick her, than her trusting magic -- but the idea sounded so, interesting.

Tara smiles. "Okay." She gets them out of the case, and hands one of the rings to Morgana, slipping the other one on her finger.

"We've got a few empty rooms upstairs. I'll go up, pick one at random, and wait there. When you're ready, try to clear your mind a little, then touch the stone with one of the fingers of your other hand. It should help you focus. Okay?"

If the ring works like Tara intends, it will give Morgana a small visual flash of Tara's surroundings initially, and then a more visceral "tug" in the right direction, almost like a dowsing rod, stronger when she moves in the right direction.

Morgana takes the ring, tentatively, but does not put it on, at first. Instead, she holds it between her fingers like she is examining the stone. She's still looking at it when she says, "I understand."

Morgana waits until Tara's left the room before she works up the nerve to put on the ring.

Putting on the ring, by itself, does little, though it might feel a bit warmer than she'd expect, as if someone else had already been wearing it.

Tara, for her part, goes up and picks a practice room at random, shutting herself inside. She hopes this works, actually; she's not tried it out on very many people who weren't magic users.

Morgana does not notice the heat, as the ring would be warm from her fingers.

Patiently, she waits for what she presumes is few minutes, giving Tara time to properly hide. There's both excitement and a bit of trepidation when she touches the ring.

There is slightly more than a flash; Morgana sees the room, and Tara standing behind the door, just out of reach of the door's swing. It feels much like a flash from her nightmares, a clear image, but this time there is context behind it, and a completely lack of fear.

Though there is no one to see her, she smiles when she feels compelled towards Tara's location. She climbs the stairs faster than her usual pace, and ignores all the doors, save the right one, swinging it wide.

"Found you," she grins.

Edited 2010-05-08 17:29 (UTC)

Tara answers it with a sunny smile of her own, standing as Morgana comes in. "It worked for you, then?" She really is proud of this enchantment, and is delighted to see if function like it should.

"It did, very well." Morgana assures her. "I did not feel any need to check the other rooms, and was directed immediately here. I could even see how far away from the door you were standing."

Morgana's uncertain if that is exactly how the rings are supposed to work, but that is how they worked for her.

This gives her an idea. "Would it be possible to use such a," she avoids the word enchantment, "useful trait to keep track of another object, as opposed to a person?"

Tara thinks, but nods. "It should work on the same principle really - the rings are really finding each other, after all. You'd need to suit whatever the finder object was to the object to be found, somehow."

Morgana considers, and subconsciously put her hand in her cloak pocket. She's still carrying the tie and the key, but they make her anxious; the fear of losing the one making her carry both with her wherever she goes.

She cannot leave them at home, not after her chambers were searched.

"If I had two objects, that were connected in such a way, even if the connection may not be clear," the connection would be clear only to two people in all of Taxon, "you could make sure one could find the other?"

She almost pulls the objects from her pocket but hesitates. "Would such a thing take a long time to do?" As much as she likes Tara, she's not willing to leave the things with her, as of yet.

"If I had all the materials at hand, not long. Maybe an hour or a little less. The connection..." She tries to think of how to express this. "They need to be connected in a way that's clear to the magic, even if it's not clear to an observer. So if you had, say, a book and a desk where the paper and the wood had come from the same tree, they'd be really easy to link. Emotional connections can work, but they're trickier than having something actually in common. Does that make sense?"

"That makes perfect sense." Morgana goes to pull the key and the tie out of her pocket, but pauses. Tara is a friend of the Doctor's and might recognize them, so she stalls.

"I had an unfortunate problem last month," Morgana's yet to tell anyone, other than Arthur about it, so it's sounds both awkward and forced. "Someone went through my chambers. I do not know what they were looking for, and nothing was taken, but I am concerned about losing certain items."

She's glad this conversation is happening upstairs, in case there are any shop patrons to overhear.

"Oh! Oh, of course - though a simple security charm on your room would also be possible, if you were worried about it happening again." Tara frowns. "I wonder if it's happened to anyone else." If she recognizes the key, it isn't at all apparent.

The idea, in theory, is appealing, but Morgana is nowhere near ready to have a charm performed on her chambers. Give her time.

"As far as I have heard," which doesn't say as much as it sounds like it should, "I am the only one. The culprit did not go anywhere near Arthur's chambers." Oddly, that that concept would be far more disconcerting, because Morgana is contradictory like that.

She's slipped the key out of the tie, and shows it to Tara. It's plain, with the word 'Yale' written across it. It is clearly not from Morgana's era.

"So it would be simple enough to make sure this could always be found?"

Tara nods, taking it with care. "Did you have something in mind to tie it to? If not, I could hatch something. A lock would be easy, or another sort of key."

Inadvertently, Tara has come up with an interesting solution. "Do you think we could hatch a lock and tie it to this key?" Morgana does not care if the key opens the lock, the plan is to use it to lock the key up safely at night, and, if someone were to steal the key, well, people only break locks, they never think to steal them.

Tara nods. "I don't see why not. So far working with hatched materials hasn't proved to be a real problem, at least not that I've noticed. Do you want to leave it here, or bring the key back by tomorrow afternoon? I'd do it now, but I should probably be around for opening day stuff."

It is nothing Tara did to elicit the reaction she gets, more a realization, a stepping back from the situation, that Morgana realizes what she was about to do.

"Of course, you have duties to attend to," the formality with which she entered the shop is back, as is the slight wariness of being surrounded by magic, despite none of that wariness being turned on Tara.

She puts the key back in her pocket. She has no intention of leaving it today. "With the opening, I am sure you will be extraordinarily busy, so do not be concerned about getting this task done. So if you will excuse me, I will take my leave of you, and let you get back to the shop." Hastily, she takes off the ring and holds it out to the other woman.

Tara looks just a little sadder, but says, "Of course. If you decide you want it done later, it won't be any trouble. Part of the business will be commissions and things."

"I will take that into consideration," Morgana tries to smile in reassurance, but it is a bit weak.

"Now, if you will excuse me, I have taken up enough of your time already."

To make up for what she is about to do, Morgana gives the briefest of curtsies, a show of respect, before she turns and heads down the stairs, out the door, and out onto the street.

Once in the street, she pulls the key and the tie out of her pocket and hastily wraps the former, in the latter, and secures it firmly.

Whether or not this is witnessed, Morgana would be wholly unaware.

It may be witnessed, but not by Tara. She takes a moment to think in the room where Morgana left her, before heading back down to Ethan and the other customers.

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[Location | Tamper and Trick, Central Taxon] Opening Day

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