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[From the moment the feed began, Zatanna's surroundings were a little more visible than usual. The Welcome Center, with her leaning slightly back. Clearly prepared to get comfortable if necessary. As if she planned on sitting there for a while.]

Hey, everyone.

[And to start, she waved at the camera. Master of showmanship, this one.]

Okay, so, most of you probably at least recognize my face by now. Because if not, I'm so not doing my job properly.

I'm Zatanna. I run the Welcome Center, and...well, let's just say there's a reason for that. I've kind of been here a while. Like, a really long while. Including that year we all spent in the Dreaming Realm...probably more than five years by now. Man, time sure does fly when you adjust to your kidnapping, huh?

[Jokes aside...]

A lot's happened in that time. I mean, we're talking everything from zombies to ghost possessions to baby turtles dream-hopping to people's powers getting all messed up. We used to have Emperors, you know. Like an actual monarchy. Oh, and that whole thing with the shell starting to glow? Yeah, that's definitely not new, though I haven't seen it since Ast--I mean, the Great Turtle was busy not being in a coma.

So, yeah, I guess if anybody has any questions on that sort of thing, I'm here to answer them as best as I can. I mean, I figured, share the wealth, you know? Since you all deserve to know what kind of place you were brought to, and how this whole thing all started in the first place.

((ooc: As I mentioned here, I did recently put together a basic list of plot-relevant events of the past for newcomers to check out. But here's a chance for your characters to get in on the story IC. Not ALL of it, of course, and these stories will be told from Zatanna's IC perspective, which can sometimes be a bit misleading or even missing information...but fellow Turtle Veterans are also welcome to join in on conversations. Mix and mingle and possibly threadjack at will!))

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[Her eyes steeled for a fleeing moment, before she remembered herself. Taking the time to inhale once--deep--before a slow exhale. Only then did she trust herself to speak again.]

Eshai was the first Emperor. Well, the first one I had the displeasure of meeting. I don't remember how much of this was proven true or not, but it was said that hers was the spell that first began bringing people from other worlds here. Except, even after she was killed, the spell continued on.

[Ahhhh, not well-liked. Of course.]

Hence our presence here today. It does seem to be an annoyingly autonomous piece of work, doesn't it?

[Hm.]

I wouldn't be surprised if it had a physical component somewhere in the city. How was she killed?

[Not by Zatanna. Others might have had a slightly more favorable opinion of her.]

...she was murdered.

[But for all their past animosity, Zatanna's shoulders slumped at the memory. No matter how much she used to hate Eshai, nobody deserved killing. Especially not the way she was killed.]

It was a Foreigner. A man named Hannibal. I remember, because he was caught and sentenced to exile. The only Foreigner I've ever seen forcefully sent back home again, and banned from ever returning.

That was by Evandau. Our Second Emperor--well, the second one I knew. And the last. And before you ask--he's dead too. Killed by the same bastard that killed some of the baby turtles before we took him down. Malicant.

[China arches her eyebrows in something like surprise.]

Forcibly sent home? And here we've all been laboring under the belief that was impossible.

[Ah, of course. Everyone is dead.]

I'm aware of who Malicant was. I suppose this useful knowledge died with Evandau?

[China does not seem to get lucky in Keeliai.]

[She shrugged.]

If there's anybody left in this world who knows the local magic, let alone the spell to send us home voluntarily, they're keeping it to themselves.

Of course they are.

[This makes sense to China. She would just like to be the one with that information.]

What else do you know of Evandau?

Well...I know he was our Second Emperor, and he certainly wasn't happy with the way he got the position.

[Either before or after it happened. Meaning there was no reason to suspect he'd somehow been in on the plan to kill Eshai.]

I actually hated the guy slightly less. He was still pretty stiff about a lot of things, but he wasn't so snappy whenever he held Court or spoke to us. Of course, while he was still Second-In-Command, he would relay a bunch of the former Emperor's messages to us, so maybe he was just used to it by then.

I think...he was more used to being a follower or soldier than he was a ruler.

They say that people who don't want power make better leaders, but really, they have no idea what to do with it.

[China shakes her head. Honestly.]

He ascended simply because he was the only one who could, then. Did he have any comprehension of the magic Eshai left?

[From her limited experience with the notion...Zatanna was inclined to agree.]

I'm sure he did. If he was able to reverse the spell on command to send that Hannibal guy home.

And there were another. She's gone too now--[Because of course]--but she knew all kinds of world-crossing magic. She was able to show me...my future back home.

[Her shoulders slumped. Both at the memory of what she had seen, and also the memory of Eva. Their long, complicated relationship filled with secrets and trust.]

[Naturally. Eshai herself could not have done it, being dead.]

The mage Eva, correct?

[A guess, but not so much of a reach.]

Any of their personal effects would be long since gone, I suppose. If they were not too paranoid to leave physical notes in any case.

[Dead end after dead end.]

...your future, hm? Do you think there any relationship to the letters we received?

[Not so much at all, and Zatanna nodded in confirmation.]

I can't say for certain, but...I have a feeling it wasn't the same thing. What she showed me was more like a vision. There was no interaction with those events.

[Disappointing, but not surprising.]

The letters we got hardly had return addresses.

Tell me this, then: do you think there are multiple possibilities?

Multiple possibilities...for what, exactly?

The future.

You say she showed you your future, but as a vision. Usually that which a Sensitive sees can be changed, but this world is... something different.

[Which isn't to say China doesn't like the future she was told of -- it has a great deal of promise for her, actually -- but she's wondering.]

[It was a good question. A very good question. One that she not only had to pause to think about, but even then...didn't have a solid answer.]

I don't know.

[A few years back, someone had asked her the same thing. And she'd been a lot more certain then.]

The way things work here...the people who've all come from my time...

Even when our memories were all mismatched, there were always certain things that lined up. Meaning that, even though we came from different points in time, they were those same points in time that everyone else from that world agreed with.

But then...I've also met people from a parallel world. Same people, but different things happening at different points in time. I wouldn't even be the same age as most of my friends in these other worlds.

So...I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not.

[China waits patiently, giving Zatanna the time to think through it. It's a philosophical question, after all.]

Knowledge of the future typically changes what will happen, after all. But we forget.

[It's effectively the same thing Zatanna just said: maybe, maybe not.]

And it's a different problem entirely from parallel worlds. Judging by our own.

[Forward, not sideways.]

I've taken us somewhat afield, haven't I? Hm.

[She doesn't sound particularly concerned, just noting it.]

[In response, Zatanna shugged. She, too, didn't seem overly concerned by the deviation.]

Hey, I said I would answer questions, didn't I?

And this was...sort of relevant. In a way. Since it involves a type of magic that someone from this world could once do.

So you did.

[A pause for consideration.]

There truly aren't very many mages here, are there.

There've been a handful, here and there, over the last couple of years.

And I know Raine's been trying her best to get the magic word out more.

[So they weren't the only ones.]

[Ah, yes, the Sage woman.]

Clearly magic and the capability for it does exist here. It simply... isn't used, in many instances.

Theories?

[A couple, actually.]

Well, either this world is like back home, where only those with the proper bloodline can perform true magic...or else everyone who knew of the traditions and the like died out.

Maybe both.

A little of both does look more likely; don't those bloodlines still exist, after all?

And this world is hard on mages, by what you yourself have told me.

[She sighed.]

You have no idea how badly I wish I could say that's not true, but...yeah, it seems that way.

What a pity.

[Spite it by teaching sigils to as many kedan as she can, or keep her secrets? Decisions, decisions.]

One last thing, for now. Do you have any idea why it might be that you've stayed so long, where others have not?

[Again, not so simple a question. She couldn't even give a solid no.]

Could be any number of reasons.

Either because of my magic, or the fact that I deliberately chose to stay after the Malicant fight. Maybe they're having a harder time sending me back, considering where I was at the time. Or it could be dumb luck.

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