video;

[dragonswag]

[ the video feed shows Lina looking right back at the screen with a dubious expression on her face, as though she’s unconvinced that this terminal thing actually works. ]

Well, this thing doesn’t look like it’s powered by magic, but it’s definitely not like any machine I’ve ever seen. Where’s Zel when you need him? I guess I’ll just have to trust that it works.

[ And then her disposition shifts a little. Lina draws herself up, smiling winsomely at the screen, hands clasped in front of her. ]

Well! Who cares about that anyway, right? Since I’m in a totally new world and none of you have probably heard of me, I guess it’s up to me to enlighten you all! Standing here before you is none other than the world’s most beautiful, intelligent, magnificent sorcery genius extraordinaire, Lina Inverse, at your service!

Comments

[cowled]

Which discipline did you specialize in, if I may ask?

[dragonswag]

If you mean what kind of magic, mmm...it doesn't really work that way. I mean, I guess my area of especial expertise is black magic, but I'm really an expert on all of this stuff!

[cowled]

Hm. Black magic tends to have negative connotations on my world. Of course, magic isn't real there, either, but-- in stories and lore and the like, it's generally associated with negativity.

[dragonswag]

Well, using black magic doesn't make you evil, if that's what you're saying! Come on, do you think I could be evil with a face like this?

[ She sticks her tongue out a little, playing up the cute factor a little. It's bad enough that the common word on her back in her world is that she's a village-destroying monster. Nobody here needs to know about that reputation! ]

Anyway, black magic does tend to be more on the destructive side of things. All magic has a source, and the power for black magic does come from what you might call demons, but that doesn't make anyone who uses it bad. It's pretty common.

[cowled]

No, I didn't mean to imply that at all. You seem quite lovely, pardon my saying so.

[he is a totally harmless and innocent professor gosh he'd never think badly of anyone.]

These 'Mazoku', correct? And you've retained access to their powers here?

[dragonswag]

[ All right, Lina's mollified. Honestly, it catches her off guard a little. So few people are willing to indulge her narcissism, like...ever.

She gives an emphatic nod, though, beaming. ]

Mmhmm! Couldn't tell you exactly why, though. My best guess is that this world is in some intermediate plane, you know, a sort of half-world stuck between worlds? They do call this place the In Between. And I guess it's not so far away that I can't still access my sources of magic! But honestly, this is the first time I've been tossed into another world, although I knew they existed. I haven't ever exactly tested the limits before.

[cowled]

[Interesting. She's the first person he's met here whose powers aren't strictly internal - such as Namorita's or Clark's.]

Could you, theoretically, have travelled to another world by using your magic? Or is there more to it than that alone?

[dragonswag]

Mmm...that one, I don't know. I have met people from another world before, but they kind of came down to us. They used something to open up a path between our worlds, but it wasn't easy, and...their technology, their magic, it's not anything like how it is in my world. And honestly, I've never tried to open a doorway to another world myself. It'd take enormous power, that's for sure. And I don't know that any one human has that kind of power.

[cowled]

[... if Bruce didn't know any better he'd say that vague description sounded like Boom Tube technology.

That's interesting.]

That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. Those with power often misuse it.

[dragonswag]

[ Misusing power?? If Lina looks guilty, it's only a trick of the light. Because misusing power and Lina Inverse would definitely never go in a sentence together. Nope. ]

Yeah, well...I wouldn't know anything about that! But...you're probably right. Trust me, it was a huge pain in our butts when those Overworlders decided to bring their fight to our backyard.

[cowled]

Ah... 'fight'?

[dragonswag]

Well...remember those mazoku I mentioned? They don't just exist in my world. Dark Star was a big shot mazoku in the Overworld -- the plane above ours -- and servants of his opponent thought that if they brought him down to our world, they'd have an easier time destroying him. It was kind of complicated. And needless to say, my friends and I got dragged into it.

[cowled]

[Bruce doesn't reply right away. Instead, he's too busy fighting down a rather uncharacteristic urge to laugh.

Well, maybe not laugh. But crack an amused expression, at least.

Because that sounds so much like some of the many (many, many) things that he and Clark and Diana have been through - individually and as a team - that it's almost uncanny.]

I'm sorry to hear that.

[dragonswag]

[ Lina is a little bit less amused. ]

Yeah, well...that kind of thing happens to me all the time, believe it or not. I'm just minding my own business, trying to make a living, and then before you know it, some mazoku is trying to kill me or get me to destroy the world! Can't a girl just live her life in peace?

[cowled]

Are there, um, peaceful areas you might consider moving to...?

[dragonswag]

Moving? Are you kidding me? I'm a traveling sorceress, buster! I don't really stay put for that long. And yet this stuff always manages to get in my way!

[cowled]

[that's like being a vigilante and complaining about living in crime alley...]

That's unfortunate. Have you considered travelling in disguise or somesuch?

[dragonswag]

Disguises only get you so far, and they don't always work on mazoku. Ah, but that's just the life I'm cursed to live! That's the price you pay for being famous, you know!

[cowled]

[... so she likes the attention. Or is it the conflict that she enjoys? Hm.]

I guess as long as you're happy with your life, that's what matters.