Maclay Family Home, Weaverville, Friday Afternoon

[life_inshadow]

Tara hadn't had either the time or the inclination to keep in touch with her Fandom friends this summer (other than Kennedy, and look how well that turned out), but today was turning out to be a quiet day. Her father and brother were working, and her mother was in and out of appointments all day. Besides, at the supermarket that morning her checkout girl had been Weaverville's single Goth. Something about her reminded Tara intensely of Raven, and there she was, homesick for a place that wasn't really technically home.

When she got home, she talked herself into sending out a quick email. She figured people would probably appreciate knowing she was still alive, anyhow.

To: Fandom-friends
From: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
Subject: Any Interesting Invasions?

Hey guys,

Sorry for the mass email, but I just have a second and wanted to check in and let you know I'm not dead or anything. Sorry for leaving without saying goodbye; I was short of time and wouldn't have been any fun for anybody to talk to, anyhow.

So, um, hi! How are you? How weird is the island being these days? Any new magic-users I should know about?

I can't come back yet, but I'll see you guys in September. Promise.

Love,

Tara

She hoped no one would notice that she had carefully avoided talking about how she was.

[OOC: If you think you got this, you did! Open for email/phone/text responses. I just missed her.]

Comments

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

Kennedy was having a quiet night in-- under protest and under the influence of a hell of a lot of cold medicine, it had to be noted. She'd been curled up on the couch for the past few hours with the TV on and her computer open on the coffee table beside her, and she blamed the cold medicine for making her think that two-week-old article from the Sunnydale Gazette (about a musical flash mob outside the dry cleaner, and okay then) sounded like all those random times people had just busted out singing back in Fandom.

The cold medicine had her feeling pretty mellow, too, so replying to the email seemed like a good idea.

To: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
From: notthepresident@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

if there was and nobody told me about it, i'm going to find someone to frown at. i'd so take an invasion right now.

hey, btw.

- k

...NyQuil ruined her ability to use the shift key, apparently.

[life_inshadow]

It took Tara a few minutes to try to figure out how to answer. She'd been more than friends with Kennedy for so long she'd kind of forgotten how to just be friends.

To: notthepresident@gmail.com
From: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

Hey back.

Sounds like it's quiet over there from my other emails? No need to frown at anybody.

Is everything boring where you are? And are you typing on your phone?

-t

She'd noticed the lack of shift key.

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, if she weren't so zonked out right now it would have taken a lot more effort for Kennedy to go for a casual tone. She'd have to remember to thank the NyQuil for it later-- oh, like that was going to happen.

To: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
From: notthepresident@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

nah. on the computer, just lying d65241;lkjasert5u6789io

f
s
,,,,,,,,,

bailey says hi too, looks like. totally boring here, yeah, but at least i'm not missing out on any fun over there, so that's a plus. you holding up okay?

- k

She couldn't help asking; that tendency was too deep-seated to be derailed by her currently wonky state.

[life_inshadow]

To: notthepresident@gmail.com
From: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

Bailey's good at typing. Is he getting nice and fat?

And yeah, I'm fine. It's weird -- I go from being sad to being bored to back to being sad. I'm clinging to the idea of going back to school someday. Even if things won't be exactly okay.

Sorry you're bored. Stay out of trouble, okay?

It was probably too warm and friendly a message, wasn't it? She hesitated, but sent it anyhow.

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

When Kennedy got that email, she did have to take a minute, yeah-- NyQuil haze or not, the familiarity-- and the impulse to just want to hug her until she felt better-- still kind of ached.

To: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
From: notthepresident@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

he's a big ball of fluff and floppy ears now. i should send pictures. speaking of, i sent you a birthday card last week. did you get it yet? no idea if the time lag screws with mail.

i like the idea of you going back, too. bet they all miss you.

don't worry, i'll stay out of trouble as long as i'm stuck in bed sneezing my head off. that's totally reassuring, right?

oh, say hi to your mom for me, maybe, yeah?

It would have been nice to say that there had been more to that email before Kennedy thought better of it and deleted it, but more accurately she'd just sent it before it occurred to her to add the 'I miss you too' she... probably wouldn't have thought twice about adding.

[life_inshadow]

To: notthepresident@gmail.com
From: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

No birthday card yet :-(. I'll ask at the post office if I don't have it by next Friday. So I'm 18 in your world? That's kind of cool.

Poor sneezy Kennedy. (I'm still allowed to worry about you, right?) Hope you're feeling better and kicking evil's butt again very soon.

I'll pass the message along to my mom, sure. She likes hearing from people.

- Tara

There would have been a lame joke in there about buying a lotto ticket if she ever went to visit Kennedy, but the whole topic struck her as very risky. As did the "I miss you" she desperately wanted to add.

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

There were a lot of things Kennedy really wanted to say, and might have if she had the mental wherewithal to formulate proper sentences. It was just as well she didn't; this was a little harder than she'd expected.

To: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
From: notthepresident@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

you're allowed cause i say so and i worry right back. and it's just a cold, no big. i'll get over it.

and yeah, happy early birthday! i owe you a present but in case there were going to be explanations i thought i'd hold off for now.

give moxy a pat for me, too. hope he's behaving himself.

- k

That time, she really did stop herself from adding the "I miss you."

[life_inshadow]

To: notthepresident@gmail.com
From: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

Can I order you to get over the cold? If I can, I am. So there.

Thanks for the early birthday wishes! I still have four months to go on this end. Maybe I should start celebrating early?

And Moxy says hi too. (I asked him and he pricked his ears up, so that totally counts.) He's all confused he's not in the dorms anymore, it's sort of funny. Mostly he hangs out in my room.

Tell Constance I said hi, btw.

- tara

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

Kennedy's next reply took twenty minutes or so to come up with, then send; it was too easy to picture Tara saying all of this, and even if it had been almost two months on her end there were somethings that were really hard to forget.

To: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
From: notthepresident@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

oh. well then. yes ma'am. picture me saluting and everything and pretend it makes me look badass to be holding a kleenex.

i'm always in favor of celebrating early. that way you can spread it out. get a little in every day. it'll be fun.

poor moxy. i'd offer to send bailey to keep him company for a little bit but i get the feeling that wouldn't so much end well.

and hi will be said, promise.

to constance. not bailey. i already took the liberty of saying hi to him for you. by which i mean patting him on the head. he twitched his nose.

i think the nyquil's making me really loopy now, huh?

- kennedy

[life_inshadow]

It was too damn easy to fall into this -- this banter thing, and Tara knew if they kept going with it she'd be asking to come visit in about two more emails. (Or, worse, asking for Kennedy to visit her.) She swallowed hard, throat suddenly sore, and very very carefully composed a much shorter reply than what she wanted to send.

To: notthepresident@gmail.com
From: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

Just a little loopy, yeah. Maybe a nap could be a thing? I bet Bailey would agree. (The Moxster is already asleep anyhow.)

-Tara

[brat-intraining.livejournal.com]

Kennedy was... feeling kind of dangerously wistful herself, but drowsy and unfocused enough that she couldn't put together the words to tease Tara about how a nap would be better if she had someone to snuggle with.

In light of that, and the fact that she wouldn't have turned down either of those requests if Tara had made them, it was probably a good thing her reply was so short.

To: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
From: notthepresident@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

kennedy sleepy. nap good. talk to you later?

l- k

[life_inshadow]

Short messages made everything easier. If Kennedy had made a joke about snuggling Tara would have spent the rest of the day thinking about the way Kennedy's hair smelled, the warmth of her skin. And that would have definitely lead to a relapse on the whole breaking up thing.

From: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
To: notthepresident@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

Naps awesome. Later good. Bye.

-Tara

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

Sookie was getting really good at emailing! Most people wouldn't view this as an accomplishment, but most people weren't...special like Sookie.

To: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
From: rhymeswithcookie@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

TARA!!!

Hi, sweetie! How are things? We miss you a ton out this way.

If there're new magic kids, I haven't been told, but there's definitely some fuzzy brains around so...you know, usual crop, I just haven't interrogated them about why they sound funny yet. I spent last week as a kangaroo, though, and the island's been moving all over the place. We're in Atlantis now!

So yeah. Nothing too thrilling or out of the ordinary, Fandom-wise. It's sad that that's barely a blip on the weird meter, huh?

- Sookie

P.S. Kennedy told me about why you had to split, honey, and if you need to talk, let me know. I've always got an ear for you.

[life_inshadow]

Tara was grateful to hear from Sookie; not just because Sookie herself was so deeply kind, but because she'd feared all of the graduates would vanish into the ether.

To: rhymeswithcookie@gmail.com
From: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

SOOKIE!

It's great to hear from you! I'm getting by. The really exciting days are when my brother goes out and there's a good movie on TV, so, you know, nothing like Fandom levels of drama. Or of trauma. Mostly I've just been hanging around the house, being with my mom, stuff like that.

Anyhow. How was being a kangaroo? I was a guinea pig, but that's probably less Australian and hoppy. And Atlantis? Wow. I wish I could see it.

Take care of Bobby.

- Tara

P.S. Thank you for the offer. I know it isn't really my place to ask and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but -- your parents are gone, right? Is there anything I should know that will ... kind of help me get ready? I'm trying to just enjoy what I have while I have it and not think about the future.

[justwantsquiet.livejournal.com]

To: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
From: rhymeswithcookie@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

The important bit is that you're getting to spend time with your mom. Fandom drama can wait indefinitely -- Atlantis doesn't have a thing on being able to be there for her, I bet.

Kangarooing was...hoppy. Bobby takes alarmingly good care of marsupials, it turns out. August is already too soon for my taste, though.

- Sookie

PS -- My parents drowned when I was seven, yeah, and there was Gran last year. I don't know if there's anything that would help to prepare, really. It was very sudden, with me. I'd have given anything to know that there was limited time, so I could enjoy it while I had it. It sounds like you're already there, though, honey. I'm so sorry, though. I'm always around if you need to talk about it, though.

[life_inshadow]

To: rhymeswithcookie@gmail.com
From: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

Aww, I bet Bobby and marsupial-Sookie were just adorable! The summer already feels really long to me, but I'm in way different circumstances. It'll still be weird to get back to the island and find everybody gone. Do you know where you'll be next year yet?

On the rest of it -- it's appreciated, and thank you. I don't have more to say about all of it right now, but I'm glad to know people will be there when I do.

Tell Bobby I said hi.

-Tara

[trigons_child]

To: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
From: raven@fandomhigh.edu
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

Tara,

It is very pleasant to hear from you!

Fandom has been much the same in its chaos. Earlier this month many of us were transformed into different people or taken to the worlds where our alternate selves came from, and that of course had the traditional uncomfortable aftermath.

The island has been moving again. We were in ancient Egypt for a time, which I found very interesting, and then Tokyo, Japan, some time in the future, which was very wet and dreary. This was followed by moving to the Old West of the United States, though there was technology there that was not part of the history that I have studied. The island was even invaded by mechanical spiders of various sizes before it took us to our current location, in the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Atlantis.

I am uncertain of new users of magic here, but my assigned little sibling is from Karla's world. She seems to be from an earlier time than Karla, however, so I have tried to be careful with what I have said to her, particularly because she does not think Kaeleer exists. She also shares a surname with Karla's Uncle Saetan, though I do not know if they are truly related.

I hope that you are doing well, and I look forward to your return to the island. If there is anything I can do for you in the meantime, please, do not hesitate to ask.

Raven

[life_inshadow]

Raven's writing was so exactly like a conversation with Raven that it made Tara feel a deep stab of missing her friend. She was smiling as she typed her response.

To: raven@fandomhigh.edu
From: wiccan.tara@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Any Interesting Invasions?

Hi Raven!

You guys did the turning into other people thing again? Ugh. I stayed out of it last year, but I doubt my luck would have held if I'd been on the island this time. Hope none of the fallout is too bad.

A new girl from Karla's world ... is she as powerful as Karla, or is it a totally different thing? Don't tell Karla I said this, but I'm a little afraid of what might happen to the island if it has two Karlas on it.

Thank you for the offer, but I don't think there's much of anything anybody can do right now. It's just ... a lot of waiting, awful as that is to say. I'm trying to enjoy the time I have.

- Tara