taxonomites | [Location: Taxon Streets, the Wilde/Central-ish Portion]/[Voice] Turn Left

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[Location: Taxon Streets, the Wilde/Central-ish Portion]/[Voice] Turn Left

Tara's had her first full day back at work. It was quiet, and calming, and she feels a little better for having something to do. She's been working on herbs, magical and mundane, principally for Morgana, who she genuinely hopes is healing herself. She hasn't looked up Morgana (or Cordelia or Rose) yet, giving them a bit of space and taking some for herself. Still, she's getting the shop back in order, expanding the inventory, and trying not to think about the fact she hasn't felt her magic since Sam had told her she could let go. It would come back - she just had to wait and trust it.

And if it didn't... she'd survive. Maybe a little broken, but she'd hang in there. There was a lot a person could learn to live with, if they have to.

She locks up and starts to head for home. She feels like walking; there's a small current of fear that doesn't leave her these days, but being around Extras is worse than walking by herself. It's a nice enough evening, a little cloudy and not too hot, and she could use the exercise, now that she feels stronger.

Of course, this is all lovely until the glitch hits.

Suddenly, Tara looks terrified. She doesn't know where she is, or how she got here, but she knows she is not where she is supposed to be. This is so very, very bad.

She fumbles through her pockets and finds a thing that looks sort of like a phone. She presses "talk," and says, "H-hello? Is a-anyone t-there?" Her stutter is thick, and her voice is quiet despite the panic; if she were less panicked, she would never dare to just talk on a strange phone, but when her family notices her gone, bad things will happen. And if anyone here finds out what she is -

- she needs to go home. Right away.

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"C-coffee would be fine. I d-don't have any pocket money, though."

"I've got plenty," said DG, glancing down the street in search of the nearest coffee shop. "Besides, Taxon doesn't use money. It uses credits."

Tara probably had plenty of credits, given the she ran her own business, but DG was taking things one step at a time at the moment.

"O-okay. As long as it's no t-trouble." Tara was sticking close; she doesn't know DG, but the girl doesn't seem threatening either, and Tara does no one any good by standing in the middle of the street.

"It's no trouble," DG promised, leading the way into the coffee shop. There was an Extra behind the counter, but, on the whole, it was quiet enough to suit the conversation they needed to have. "What would you like?"

"Just some t-tea, maybe?" The Extra looks wrong, in a deep and unsettling way, but she ignores it as she tries to ignore everything she notices with senses that aren't human.

"One tea and one coffee," she said. The credits on her bracelet were adjusted accordingly, but DG had already turned her attention back to Tara.

"Pick a table," she offered. The Extras were unsettling, but DG had, in a way, grown used to them. They were simply there now.

"Um. Okay." She moves to sit. "So w-where did you come from then?"

"Kansas."

It was strange, really. Although she wanted to get back to the O.Z more than anything, and although she'd started to think of the O.Z as home, she hadn't had time to put her life in Kansas behind her. She still thought of her robotic parents as her parents, for a start.

"There are people here from all over the world. And from ... different worlds."

"Oh. I k-know Kansas, but I haven't b-been there. It's mostly f-farms, isn't it?"

This is weird and surreal, but at least it's giving her something to think about besides her own panic.

"Yeah," DG confirmed, happy to continue the small talk and - hopefully - put Tara at ease before they turned to the important topics. As she spoke, one of the Extras brought their drinks to the table they'd chosen.

Surreal was definitely a good word to describe life in Taxon. Particularly when glitches were underway.

"I grew up on a farm," she added, "But I spent most of my time working as a waitress."

"Oh. That's g-good. I thought I might have to for a b-bit, to help out, but it was b-better for me to do for my family at h-home." She runs a finger around the edge of the mug.

Now she thought about it, DG realised that she didn't know much about Tara's family. She'd lost her mother and had some very close friends, but she'd never mentioned anyone else. Why not?

"I know this is confusing, Tara," she said, coffee untouched, "But can you tell me exactly what you were doing when you came here?"

She wanted to know what the glitch had changed. It wouldn't alter anything, but the knowledge might make it easier to deal with the aftermath.

"Um. I was w-walking to the s-store. To get b-beer, and bread and m-milk." She says it like she's ticking things off a mental list. "They're g-gonna be so angry w-when I don't come b-back."

"Tara, this wasn't your fault!" DG exclaimed, "They can't blame you for getting kidnapped."

Tara flinches a little. "I s-should be able to get b-back, if I s-stumbled here. It's not like s-some grabbed me a t-truck or anything." She can almost quote what her father will say.

"No, it's a lot worse than a truck or some guy in a balaclava," said DG, genuinely horrified. She couldn't believe that Tara blamed herself - and that Tara's family would blame her - for what happened in Taxon. It was so unfair that she struggled to offer what comfort she could.

"Tara, you were brought here by aliens. They're clever and they're powerful and we're still looking for a way to fight them. There's nothing you could have done." In any world.

"I... I s-suppose," she manages to get out.

Part of her knows that the woman is right, but that doesn't help with the sinking feeling that she's done something wrong. That somehow she should have been smarter or more careful or something.

"I know so, Tara," she promised, struggling to resist the urge to give her friend - a friend who didn't remember that she was a friend - a hug. DG settled for reaching for her hand instead.

She involuntarily flinches, not even a split second, but then lets DG take her hand. It wasn't DG's fault that she was here, that was certain, and she'd been trying to help. "T-thank you."

The flinch was almost physically painful. DG's voice and expression softened, but she could no longer stop herself from asking a question that had been on her lips since she'd encountered Tara's glitched for.

"What did they do to you?"

"D-do? I d-don't know what you mean." Tara's talked more about herself today than she has in years. She's probably talked more than she has in years. She feels like she's upset DG, but she's not sure how.

"Tara, you panicked when I touched your hand. You're convinced your family will blame you for something you couldn't control. I know some thing's wrong, I just can't work out what."

Tara has upset her, but not in the way she thinks. She is simply upset to see her friend so shaken.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't mean to act badly. I j-just... it's a l-little upsetting, is all." She's not sure what she's done wrong, but she'd correct it if she could.

"No, that's what I mean, Tara! You haven't acted badly. You haven't done anything wrong."

But she kept attempting to shoulder the blame.

DG realised, reluctantly, that she was only making things worse. As difficult as it was, she managed to stop herself from pressing further.

"I'm sorry. This isn't helping."

"No, you're - you're just t-trying to h-help me." Tara is rather miserable, but this isn't DG's fault.

[Location: Taxon Streets, the Wilde/Central-ish Portion]/[Voice] Turn Left

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