taxonomites | [Location: Castle Summers]/[Accidental Visual]

It's safe to say that no one who hasn't made a concerted effort has seen Tara since her rescue from the Master. Tamper and Trick has been closed, and she hasn't been much leaving her room. At first, this was due to physical healing; she'd gotten off lighter than some, but she'd still hurt all over, and hadn't wanted to move for awhile. There'd been a lot of sleep.

Now, the bruises are still present, but fading, and the smaller cuts are almost healed. She could go back to work, but she can't quite seem to find the will to do so. And as for lessons with Piper and DG... that brings up another problem.

Tara looks at herself in the mirror. She's still pale. She could do something to cover up the bruises; she knows how. But she'd rather just stay in. The idea of talking to much of anyone is a little overwhelming. She should check on the others, Rose and Morgana and their fellow captives.

Tara puts her head down on the desk, for just a moment.

There are a lot of things she feels like she should be doing. But she hasn't done any of them. She doesn't feel like she knows how to even move anymore.

Of course, she can't control the fact that her table decided to turn itself on, in the meantime.

[I am also still willing to backtag with her on older, more immediate aftermath threads, so feel free if you prefer more immediate post-rescue.]

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"Um." She exhales. "Better. A little better." Which is not saying a lot, but it is something.

"I guess that's better than nothing," said DG, wondering whether sitting down on the edge of the bed would have been out of order. She was still hovering around the doorway as if she was tempted to bolt. Which she wasn't.

"I'm sorry I didn't help you in the warehouse," she said, too quickly. "I was on the roof with Glitch."

"It's okay - Sam got me." She manages a shaky smile once more. "I didn't get the worst of it."

"You shouldn't have got any of it," said DG fiercely, unable to keep her anger - anger that was directed wholly at the Master - entirely in check. She looked sheepish a moment later, ducking her head. "Sorry."

They were all upset and frustrated. They couldn't help the victims if they gave in to that.

"It's okay. No one should have. But... we all made it through." Alive, anyway, and she hopes the rest will come with time.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked. She'd made it through - they'd all made it through - somehow, but the recovery process would be slow and difficult. They'd need every friend they could get. "My Mom always used to bake cookies when I was upset. Or pancakes? I ate a lot of pancakes back in Kansas."

"If... if you want, some cookies would be okay. But don't go to any trouble. Really."

"It's fine," she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed at last. "It'll be good to do something."

She paused, giving Tara a slight smile.

"Chocolate chip or peanut butter?"

"Um. Chocolate chip?"

When she smiles, it's clear she's still in very a rough place, but behind that, the Tara DG knows is mostly intact. It may take awhile, but she'll heal this.

"Good choice," she said, smiling at the smile as much as the answer.

(In a few days - after DG had worked her way through several attempts to make passable cookies - Tara will find a large batch delivered to the castle. If asked, DG will say that it was no trouble at all. The state of the kitchen in the Northern Island would suggest otherwise.)

(Tara, when she receives them, is as grateful for the cookies themselves as the thought behind them.)