[radio]

[backwordscompatible]

[A few days after this conversation took place, Zatanna chose to make a rare public appearance on the radio network.  She would have used the public consoles, if the subject wasn't too delicate for certain ears:]

Okay, so...I have an idea.

[Fair warning, at this moment, it was a fairly terrible plan.  And almost certainly won't work.  Unless it does.]

Remember that Vision we all had a couple of days ago?  [Rhetorical question.  Of course they did.]  Well, it got me thinking.  What if Tu Vishan really is still alive, only...trapped?  Buried within his own mind so deep that he wasn't able to reach out to us until we went looking for him.

So let's look.  Magically, I mean.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is that...if you have any magical abilities whatsoever, would you be down to try something with me?  It's not too dangerous.  Probably.

Comments

[peacefullywreathed]

Yes, it's possible. As a matter of fact, necromancy as I know it is usually best with a channelling item.

[Primarily to filter the addictive qualities, but even so.]

And I happen to know that one of the soul-gem muggers was the subject of an experiment for immortality using pseudo-necromantic reanimation methods. So the precedent is there.

[backwordscompatible]

[He would know better than her. She'd never learned. As if her father would have ever willingly taught her.]

Should I bother asking how you happen to know about that?

[peacefullywreathed]

It might be worth the effort.

[backwordscompatible]

Alright, then.

[Calling his bluff? Calling...something.]

How do you know?

[peacefullywreathed]

The person attacked brought the corpse to me after it fell down dead. The reanimation didn't take properly. But apparently there were two attackers, and the second did walk away.

[backwordscompatible]

[How positively...unnerving. Corpse, meaning that somebody had actually died. Like, all dead, not just mostly. And an attempt at revival was made but failed.]

Why do you think you couldn't reanimate him?

[peacefullywreathed]

Oh, I haven't tried to reanimate her. Yet. I'm just studying the after-effects of the experimental attempts to ensure she didn't die.

What I find more interesting is how those after-effects react to my magic. They're not incompatible; they just don't like each other very much.

[backwordscompatible]

[She shook her head]

No, I mean--

You said "the reanimation didn't take properly". What did happen?

[peacefullywreathed]

I haven't the faintest.

[He sounds cheerful about it. It's a challenge. This is the sort of research he hasn't done in months.]

I probably won't, until I can find a way to give my magic an edge in.

[backwordscompatible]

[Kind of creepy. Being so happy at this kind of failure.]

What about finding someone else who knows necromancy, or something similar?

The way things are looking, there'll be a decent number of us at the Turtle's head. Somebody might have an idea.

[peacefullywreathed]

Perhaps. The point I was leading to was that we might be able to use the body as a ... so to speak ... scent-trail for similar magic during your little escapade.

[backwordscompatible]

Let me see if I got this straight.

You want to...bring a dead body...to the ritual?

[peacefullywreathed]

Why not? Rituals aren't rituals without being macabre.

[Trolling? Maybe a little. He's not joking, though.]

Besides, you already have a skeleton. What's a little extra body?

[backwordscompatible]

[A skeleton and...technically, she supposed, Jack was dead too. Not that he looked it (so long as he remained frozen). Still...]

We're not talking about hair care here. We're talking about a dead--as in really, completely dead--corpse hanging around.

That doesn't even sound sanitary.

[peacefullywreathed]

I've been keeping it from getting squishy, if that's what you're worrying about.

[It's about the only thing he has been able to do. Truth to tell, he's not even sure it's necessary. Something he intends to investigate.]

[backwordscompatible]

[So not helping your case there.]

Ew?

I think I might have just thrown up in my mouth a little.

[peacefullywreathed]

Well, if you're going to be squeamish about it ...

[Dryly. Yeah, there's a reason people don't talk to him much.]

[backwordscompatible]

[Squeamish, he says.]

[...okay, yeah, she was being squeamish. But you know what? That didn't mean it was any less gross.]

New rule. No corpses unless they can walk around under their own power.

[peacefullywreathed]

Noted.

[He sounds too innocent to be true.]