tushanshu | [CONSOLE]: VIDEO

[A lot of time had passed since Zatanna's last appearance over the public Network. Over a year, in fact, if one took into account the time spent in the Dreaming Realm. Although, even by Foreign time standards, it would have still been several months.]

[The reason for mentioning such a thing would be, to any familiar with the now seventeen-year-old mistress of magic, she looked...different. Taller. Her facial features were sharper now, tendrils of hair around her face significantly wavier. And she had filled out significantly. Almost reminiscent of a certain image that had graced the screen once before. Only now, it wasn't magic that had done this to her. It was Time.]

Has anyone else noticed the air around Keelai feels...I don't know...lighter, somehow?

[She wasn't just referring to the air, either. Eyes closed, hands placed at either side of her temple, the lightness she described was a sense only those with an affinity for the Mystical Forces around them would take note of.]

Maybe it's just me, but I can't help thinking that there's something different about this place now. You know, aside from the obvious.

--oh! [Her eyes snapped open as a last-minute thought occurred to her. Only vaguely relevant to her main point, but still important.] That reminds me. Speaking of, I don't suppose anybody around here is familiar with bartering?

I might have a slight issue. ["slight"]

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What do you need to barter for?

A box.

[She tried to make it sound so casual. Nonchalant, even. Though, after a moment's pause, she realized a bit more elaboration might be necessary.]

...a magic box.

[Okay, so the box itself wasn't magic. Just the Wards still surrounding it.]

Does the person who have it know it's magical?

I'm actually...not sure.

All I know is that they know it's mine. And that they haven't been able to figure out how to open it. Yet.

[She hoped they wouldn't, otherwise the items inside were at risk or being lost yet again.]

It'd be easier if they hadn't. They have an advantage now. Even if it's only of sentimental value, they know you'll pay for it.

[Zelgadis considered; it's a tricky problem]

Believe it or not, that much, I kind of already figured out.

It's been put up for sale; anybody who came their way and took interest would be willing to pay for it.

Is it obviously valuable? Besides 'belonged to a Foreigner'.

I don't think so?

It's a box. Shaped like an old-school wooden chest. It's made of wood and metal and I'm the one that put the magic there in the first place. Even the stuff inside...

[Okay, the locket Jack had given her might have some intrinsic value to it, but the majority of it was paintings and puzzles and stuffed animals and personal journals.]

Hmm...

Wonder if you can convince them it's cursed. Or at least booby-trapped. Not much value in a box no one else wants to open.

[It probably said a lot that she was seriously considering the possibility.]

Do you think that would really work?

[She wasn't above...maybe not lying, but a necessary stretch of the truth. It sort of was both those things. The difference came in that it was booby-trapped/cursed to simply not open for anybody but her.]

It might. I'm not sure people want to deal with the fallout, but it might. Enough of the kedan believe those of us with magic are wild cards anyway.

[A few years ago, Zatanna might have countered with the implication that she didn't care about any "fallout". But she was older and more mature now, with enough experience to know better.]

Tell me about it.

I thought it was just me, but they definitely look at me differently than even a lot of the other Foreigners. Some of them almost seem afraid, even.

The kedan don't have much in the way of magic. Especially the showy stuff. I've been in parts of my world like that.

[And this time, since he can't leave if he starts shit, Zel's been making an effort to limit the massive destruction.]

They have some. I think.

Maybe not individually, but the whole of the Turtle runs on magic. I've always been able to sense it ever since I first arrived here a few years ago.

Well, we -- most of us -- can't shapeshift like the kedan can. It's not that they don't have magic, but they don't have it the way we do.

You say it like 'magic' is meant to be a universal constant normally.

It's not. Trust me on this. No two magic users ever seem to use it the same way unless they're from the same family or coven. And even then.

That's very different than where I'm from.

It seems like it's different here, too.

Go figure.

[nods]

It probably has something to do with how magic interacts with the human -- or otherwise -- brain.

[CONSOLE]: VIDEO

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