tushanshu | ✦ 012 ✦ [VIDEO] ✦ Network Cafe ✦ (Encrypted from Jack)

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✦ 012 ✦ [VIDEO] ✦ Network Cafe ✦ (Encrypted from Jack)

[For once, Zatanna isn't broadcasting from her room. She doesn't even bother trying to hide the Guilt on her face as she appears on screen, the clear signs of a random cafe in the background. It would have been a stretch to say she hadn't really slept much since returning from the bottle, but she's certainly not taking any joy from the memories playing over and over in her mind.]

[Memories she needed to get away from, if only for a little while. And there was really only one way to do that:]

Does anybody have a place I can stay for a few days?

[By not being in her suite.]

PRIVATE - Korra

Hey.

Thanks for the chocolates. I really appreciate it.

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[Man, talk about your magic tricks. Mera could've been a great illusionist if she wanted to be.]

That seems like more than just a coincidence, but whatever. If she's happy, and he's happy--[And he's finally shaved that beard of his]--then that's all that matters.

...do you think she would mind anyone staying there? I mean, married or no, it must be nice knowing she still has a place to go on her own if she really needs. In case she and Aquaman ever get into a fight or something?

If there was a disagreement between them, it would not be Mera who would be needing somewhere to go. [Anyone who has spent anytime with them can tell Mera is the one with the real control in their relationship.]

She rarely ventured into the suite when she was here before, so I do not think it would be an issue.

[She smiled at the not-so-subtle implication. Right. No surprise who wore the pants in that relationship.]

The quiet might be nice. Maybe.

[By the time Kaldur contacted her, she already had options. And the problem with having options was that she actually had to make a decision, something she wasn't fully capable of at the moment.]

Korra already offered to let me go crash with her for a bit. But if that doesn't work out...how long is the offer open?

[There is a smile, but it is somewhat...off. If only because the answer of that question is "as long as Mera and Arthur are both here." Should either leave...it is not something he wants to think about so soon after what happened.]

If you need it, it should be available. I will speak of it with her so that she is aware. [There is a pause there because he does not know what else he can do, they are not that close, acquaintances that could become friends, but not there yet.] Should you need an ear, that offer will also always be available.

[A nod, followed by a sign. Instinctively, she checked the connection. It wasn't encrypted, but then, there was only one person she wanted to avoid seeing all of this, and he didn't know how to hack.]

The bottle.

Do you remember what happened when we went inside?

[At least he was not wrong in believing what this had to do with what transpired in Kithika.]

We were sent to get rid of the darkness infecting the dragon there, but it was not all that...occurred. The darkness influenced us as well. [He does not want to push her so he waits to see what she will say.]

[Vague, but enough for her to make an educated assumption.]

So it happened to you too, then? With the statues?

The statues? [He had seen them but not touched them himself. He had kept his distance while searching with Mera and Arthur.] No. But I am not surprised to know there was an object causing the changes in others that I encountered. There were those of us who were altered so much as to be nothing like themselves.

...Was that your experience?

[Okay, so maybe her assumption was wrong. She made a mental note to ask Kaldur precisely what 'darkness' he had been referring to once she was done telling him about what had happened to her.]

That about sums it up pretty well.

The moment I touched one of those things...it was like I was there, but I wasn't. Watching and knowing exactly what I was doing, except I didn't care who I was hurting or how wrong it all was. I think I even liked it.

[The look on her face said it all.]

Even my magic...it wasn't my father's style. It was...I don't know what it was, but it wasn't my magic.

[So her change was like that of Superman. Being so drastically different from who he was. He feels for her, because to have yourself warped and altered that way will affect you more deeply than can be see physically.]

They manipulated your mind. Made you think and act in a way that is not true to yourself. It may have felt like it was you but Zatanna, if you could hurt someone and not care, it could never truly be you. We are not as close and you and Robin are, but that is still far from the you I have come to know.

[Exactly like that of Superman, in almost every way.]

I know, Kaldur. I know it's stupid to feel this way when it wasn't just me, and people would know...but...

[She took a deep breath. This was basically the core of the matter.]

...Jack was the first one to find me. He'd been affected too.

[Ah. This is likely going in a direction Kaldur had not expected, but he should have known that Jack was likely involved considering how close they are.]

I take it this was not a simple meeting.

No. It wasn't.

[How to explain this, exactly?]

Have you ever...stopped and realized just how much power we have? I mean, really stopped to think. You know Atlantean sorcery, right?

[He wonders what she means at first. Does she mean about the power of his sorcery? Or the power that they are heroes carry in general. Their skills and their abilities and the power we have with the people they protect.

He thinks of Superman and Jor-El. How it felt to die by that power.]

...Yes, I have. The power we carry is not something to be taken upon or used lightly. Some of us have more potential than others to do harm, but we make the choice to use what we have for the benefit of others instead.

[In a way, it was a mixture of both.]

I never did. Not really.

I mean, some part of me always knew. But I never realized that I could hurt people...nearly kill somebody if I just stopped caring.

[And this realization does not seem to have helped her in the least.]

You are young, and were still new to what we do before you came here. It was less necessary for you to understand. I am sorry that it had to come to you this way. [Being manipulated and turned against your own nature.]

Do you wish you did not know, now that you do?

[Too little, too late]

I wish I knew before I nearly killed my best friend. For what good that would have done me, the way we were acting at the time.

[This is a delicate situation and Kaldur does not want to say anything to further upset her. He cannot imagine truthfully what it would be like to be in her position.]

As you said yourself, even had you know, it would not have changed what happened. Superman knows his own power more than well and yet he still...was changed by those statues. [And killed many.] You cannot blame yourself for something you never would have done willingly in any other situation.

I'm pretty sure I can, since that's more or less what I've been doing every since I got back.

...Then perhaps you should ask yourself if blaming yourself for what happened is helping you or him. Will it change what occurred? Does it negate that you were manipulated?

[He understands blame and guilt very well--and is hypocrite about it--but Zatanna is not at fault.]

You were a victim in this, Zatanna. The darkness in that world used you to further its goals.

[To her credit, she does listen. Quietly. Intently.]

No. Yes. I don't know. But it doesn't negate the fact that it happened. Our personalities were twisted, and I can't stop wondering if just enough of ourselves were still there that we could have still done the things we did.

Besides...what possible goals could that have furthered? I screwed up one friendship, allied myself with the first person who promised me fun and power, and got into it with another magic user. Whom I also could have killed.

Many things happen that we wish did not. Many things that we want to believe we could have stopped if we had just known. It happened and living in the what ifs will only drive you to doubt yourself when you need to believe in yourself the most.

[That may be more about himself than to her. Or maybe it's something they both need to know.]

If a friendship is a true one, this would not be enough to harm it. You only need time.

[If a friendship is a true one]

[That...kind of boils down to belief, doesn't it? And Jack was all about the belief. She'd told him time and time again how much she believed in him, because it was the entire basis of why she had been able to even see him from day one. And he...had always returned the sentiment in kind. Before.]

Maybe.

No. There are things that can break a bond if it is already weak or fractured, but if your friendship has never wavered in the trials before now, this will not be what ruins it.

[Even his broken heart could not make him give up his friendships to Tula and Garth. They have been too important to him for too long. It is something he lives with even now and he would never choose to lose them for it. This is not the same, but no matter of the heart is the same.]

Even if what happened makes you doubt yourself, you can only have faith in what you do know. That you care for each other.

[It was easy to see why Kaldur had been chosen as Leader of the Team. He was impossible to argue with. His words...the doubt in her mind and heart still lingered, but the hold was nowhere near as strong as before. Maybe in a few days, once she'd thought things through (or not thought about things), she might be able to face this. Maybe.]

Of course we do.

Would I bother beating myself up over somebody I barely even knew? [...no offense, Sabriel.]

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✦ 012 ✦ [VIDEO] ✦ Network Cafe ✦ (Encrypted from Jack)

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