caveat uxor

[older_and_wiser]

Tamara is beginning to be concerned.

There's a pattern here. She knows there is. But it's subtle, it's so subtle she thinks she might be imagining it. A flyer appears on the wall of the coffee shop, announcing that his band has a show there that week. There's so few details that she thinks she must be mistaken, someone else here must have decided to use that same band name, it wasn't that creative- but she goes back to look again the next day, just to see, and it's gone.

She finds a jelly doughnut left on the hood of her car while she's out shopping. They're Kevin's favorite, and she has to talk him out of eating it- they don't know where it came from, it can't be safe, just throw it out, see how someone's already cut it open? It's oozing red jelly out over the roof of the car.

Little things, one at a time. Spaced apart enough that she's never quite sure they're related to each other. A week before something new happens? Two? Once there's two incidents in three days, then nothing for almost a month. She could be imagining it.

...maybe.

She finds a stuffed dog in their front yard. It's very generic, one of those silly plush dogs you can get at any store for a few bucks, and it's arguably, plausibly, a dog toy. But the tag on the dog's collar says 'Tammy'. And it's been torn almost to shreds, viciously. And none of her neighbors have dogs.

Tamara calls the Watcher's Council. And then she calls Bella.

Comments

[keyed_up]

"Hi, Kevin. You can call me Soph for short."

[older_and_wiser]

"Hi Soph."

[keyed_up]

Soph decides he will probably get used to her. She goes in, not verbally invited, and waves Bella off. She puts down the video game stuff but doesn't start setting it up yet.

[older_and_wiser]

"Thank you, Soph. Have fun you two! I'll see you tonight. Call me if... you need me."

Tamara departs for work, and Kevin- after a panicked look at the door after her- decides to inspect these strange new electronic devices. (From a distance). He's not at an age yet where he has been to an arcade; he is not going to recognize them by himself.

[keyed_up]

"I brought some video game stuff. Do you want to see?"

[marrinikari]

"Okay." Then, after a manners-recollecting pause, "...please."

[keyed_up]

"It'll take me a bit to set up."

Soph knows what to plug in where, and there's a TV, so in a short while she has DDR up and running.

"I'll show you one and then you can try if you want."

She plays a simple song - she can do harder, but she doesn't want to intimidate the poor kid.

[marrinikari]

Kevin is eventually coaxed into trying the new game. His legs aren't really long enough for the activity, but he does fairly well considering, and ends looking rather pleased with himself.

"Thank you!" he chirps once he's done. "So... Bella said you were Glinda, right?"

[keyed_up]

"I'm a good witch, if that's what you mean. But less pink."

[marrinikari]

"That's good!" he tells her sagely. "Then the wicked witch won't know it's you. You can be all sneaky."

[keyed_up]

"Yep. I dress up just like a regular person! Am I doing it right?"

[marrinikari]

Kevin regards her consideringly. "Well. It's a lot of bracelets," he says rather plaintively. "But I guess it's okay."

[keyed_up]

"I like 'em. It's too hard to pick which ones to wear."

[marrinikari]

"Are they magic bracelets?"

[keyed_up]

"Not yet. I can't do too much magic all at once. It's not safe. So I just do it sometimes, and I haven't gotten around to magicking my bracelets yet. What do you think a magic bracelet should do?"

[marrinikari]

"Fire!" Kevin says immediately. "Shoot beams of fire at people!"

[keyed_up]

"That might be a good idea! I know how to set things on fire with magic, but I don't have a bracelet that does it."

[marrinikari]

Kevin looks at her suspiciously. "Aren't you a good witch? Why do you set things on fire?"

Five year olds are bad at logic leaps like you just suggested the good witch should have fire bracelets.

[keyed_up]

"It's in case I meet bad guys!"

[marrinikari]

"Fire is really good on bad guys!" Kevin agrees. "Like Jack-Jack!"

[keyed_up]

"The baby in the Incredibles?"

[marrinikari]

"Yep!" Kevin looks very pleased that Soph knows this. "The Incredibles was great!"

[keyed_up]

"Pixar does know how to make a movie."

[marrinikari]

Kevin, being uneducated in the ways of movie studios, just sort of looks at her blankly. "Yep," he says finally, not sounding at all confident in this answer.

[keyed_up]

"Pixar is the people who made the Incredibles."