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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Hope they turned out good. [Her first home made chocolates and Rapunzel was there, so they're daaaamn good.]

Sure, you can stay with me if you don't mind having a polar bear dog wanting to your attention every now and then. Or my previous incarnation, he's staying here too.

Where are you?

[Because that's no suite behind her.]

Edited 2014-02-26 21:51 (UTC)

[Sabriel's expression is a little sympathetic- but mostly a just tired.]

I'm sorry. I know you weren't in your right mind.

[He answers somewhat later than when the post first put up, if only because Kaldur has had to do some thinking of his own. Dying was not the most pleasant of experiences. It wasn't the first time he had experienced it, but it was the first time that he had felt the pain of it as he had.

To die was not as easy and some would say.

But Zatanna asking for help is enough to pull him out of his thoughts. He doesn't know what happened to her during the battle against the dragon--he had not seen her to know if she had been all right. That she is seeking a place to get away means something went wrong.]

If you would like a place to think alone, I know of an unused suite that you could stay in. [Queen Mera stays with Arthur, so he believes she would not mind allowing someone else to use it for a few days.]

I have extra room, should you need it. ( three floors, too, so she'd have space to herself. )

But do not think that anyone blames you.

Internet Cafe.

The chocolates were delicious.

[She not-so-subtly indicated to the open box on the table beside her. The very empty, open box.]

Like heaven melting in my mouth. I may have to hound you for info on where you managed to find them. Especially the really really fudge pieces.

You know I love Naga, Korra. [In fact, a giant polar bear dog smothering her with love seemed like a great idea.] And so long as your...uh..."previous incarnation" doesn't mine me being around, I don't mind at all.

[Okay, that was a face that Zatanna hadn't been expecting to respond, and definitely not so soon. The majority of her guilt wasn't exactly directed at the battle with Sabriel--she hardly knew the other magic user, after all--but she did still feel pretty bad about the whole thing.]

You have no idea.

Sorry, by the way. About the...you know...fire and everything. I still have no idea what it was that happened to me.

[She tried to force a smile for her former teammate and leader, not having seen him almost since the ritual. And, once again, it was more to request a favor on her behalf.]

You're not using your suite? [Her first assumption. She didn't really know where Kaldur slept or what his living conditions were precisely. She'd never even been to his place.] Why not?

[She will always be a member of his Team to him, and so Kaldur will do whatever he can for her. They do not have a deep relationship, but she is still important.]

Ah, no, it is not my own, although it is in the same area. Queen Mera has returned, but as before her suite is left unused for she stays with Arthur. Aquaman. [He's come to think of him more as the former rather than the latter.]

[There's a strange mixture of shame and relief when Diana appears on-screen. A familiar face. A friendly face, and one whom she had previously shared both a good time with and trudged along the swamp as allies. But this was still Wonder Woman, and she was a bit hesitant to have to admit how badly she'd screwed up in the bottle.]

I'm keeping my options open for the moment.

You don't know that for certain. This was worse than the whole accidental spell thing. I knew what I was doing. I just...didn't care.

...she's back?

[Oh. Wow. She'd missed that. When did that happen?]

[The slip of the tongue when it came to Aquaman's name barely registered in her mind; she, too, often found herself thinking of those she had come to know far more personally than when they first met. Worlds didn't even matter anymore.]

I guess that makes sense, since they're married and all.

Kind of makes you wonder why the kedan don't bother to check that sort of thing before assigning rooms.

Yes, she returned some weeks ago. It has not been that long, considering all that has happened in that time. [It is easy to miss when people are jumping into a bottle to stop an evil shadow from taking over a dragon.]

The kedan do not know us very well. They simply assign us where they believe we fit best, I assume. But as she returned, they also returned her to the same apartment, which made it easier for them and that it enough to be thankful for.

[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.

Found somewhere yet?

[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.

I think so. Korra offered. So did Diana. Kaldur offered Aquaman's wife's suite, too. So I have options.

Glad to hear it.

You're always welcome at my place. I miss your pasta.

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

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