tushanshu | video;

Entry tags:

video;

[Costigan is looking about as chipper as ever. Which is to say not at all.]

I was here before. I don't remember, but I know I was.

[There's a short pause before he continues.]

I have a list of names. If anyone knows them, or if you are them, contact me. I'll, uh- I'll write them in below.

Also if anyone has information on Eshai or Evandau. I think they were important.

[Another pause, then he reaches forward to click off the video and the list follows.]

Annabeth Ariadne Arthur Bruce Banner Dominick Cobb Jack Frost Abigail Hobbs Percy Jackson Hannibal Lector Lincoln Lee Kyle Rayner Spencer Reid Sabriel Catty Turner

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Costigan glanced at the girl, brows remaining furrowed. He paused before finally giving a single nod, lifting his hands to take the book from her and look at it more closely. He did remember Jack making him feel better, lifting his mood, and the anxiety that came with the kid knowing too much about him. Maybe the guy looked a little familiar too, even as the rational part of his mind argued about the ridiculousness of a spirit existing, let alone his being friends with the thing.]

Am I in this book? [He asked after a beat, curious to distract himself and give his mind time to think.]

Should be.

[She didn't sound 100% certain, indicating that if he was, she wasn't the one who wrote the entry.]

Everybody who disappeared before Jack, give or take, should be in there. He was very thorough. And insistent on giving everyone an entry, even if he knew very little about them.

[Costigan flipped through the pages apprehensively, not sure if he wanted to find his own page or not. He paused on a familiar name here and there, lingering for an extended pause on 'Abigail Hobbs', before finding his own name. His expression never changed. He was on his own page for only a second before shoving the book back to Zatanna and looking up from its contents to the girl.]

Why'd he do this? Why didn't he want anyone to forget?

[Her expression softened.]

Because he's like that.

Jack...knows what it's like to be forgotten. He spent a long time alone because of it. I guess that made him want to make sure that nobody else would ever be forgotten, either.

Being forgotten isn't always a bad thing. [He replied, his voice softening ever so slightly in an effort to match hers.]

[Costigan doesn't like the book. He doesn't like people he doesn't know remembering him when he can't even remember being here himself. He also doesn't like all these memories and the headaches the strain to remember brings. It's enough for one night. Too much, maybe. Either way, he shakes his head a little.]

And that proves he was real? [He asks finally, much less disbelieving and accusatory this time and far more accepting.]

[It can be, depending upon the person. She glanced up at him with a faint smile. Neither agreeing nor fully disagreeing with him because the sentiment was too subjective.]

Unless you think I somehow whipped all this up in the short amount of time since we last spoke--in two different handwritings, I might add.

[His entry and Jack's, for example, were clearly written by different people. Including the sentence at the bottom of Jack's written...backwards.]

[Costigan thinks about that for a moment, then shrugs, not ready to commit to believing. He isn't about to disagree with her. It's fairly obvious, from a logical standpoint, that these people all existed here. From an emotional one, loathe as he is to admit it, he knows Jack. And some of the other names he saw there. But it's a little too much too soon for the Bostonian.]

[He's torn between being suspicious of her magic and ignoring the existence of magic entirely.] I believe that those people were here, but it doesn't prove that he's some spirit.

[She resisted the urge not to sigh so very heavily.]

Why are you skeptics so stubborn?

Why would I lie about that? Really. There are far easier ways to mess with you.

If I believed every nut job on the green line about their stories, I'd be out a lot of money by now. Skepticism is natural. [Distrust is natural, when you grew up where he did. But he shrugs, because that's not the point.]

I don't think you're lying. I think you believe it. I don't know if it's true.

So you don't think I'm lying, you just think I'm a nut job.

[Though she didn't seem that offended or even surprised. Merely throwing his words back at him. See how he reacted next.]

[Costigan's lips quirked with the hint of a smile.] Maybe.

[He shrugged again, looking more serious as his gaze returned to the book.] I think it's a lot easier for people who grew up with Jesus to call a dying man being healed a miracle, than one who grew up with doctors. They call it medicine. To you, he might be a spirit. To me, I don't know.

[She pretended to think about that for a moment.]

...yeah, I guess I can live with that. For now.

[It's not like she had a choice.]

Besides, the only way you'll ever truly find out is if he ever showed up again. Which is...unlikely. [But not impossible.]

Yeah.

[He agrees, fairly convinced it's not going to happen either.]

He comes back, you call me. Until then.. Thank you, for showing me this. I know I'm not always easy, but I asked and you answered.

[Costigan drops his eyes with the sincerity of the words. It's a rare moment of truth from the former undercover, much sooner than she might have earned if not for the memories he's trying to reclaim.]

[It might not have been the way she wanted this to go...but, under the circumstances, it was probably the best she was going to get. And it could have gone worse.]

You're welcome.

That is what I'm here for. To answer.

[Costigan gave her a nod, an acknowledgement of her words and the deeper meaning they implied. His gaze wandered, drifting back to the book for a moment before returning to Zatanna.]

You mind if I look again? [He asked awkwardly. Costigan wanted time to find other names he might recognize, to try to fill in the blanks of what people he knew looked like and see if other memories could come back.] I can let myself out when I'm done.

[She nodded, and gestured towards one of the chairs by the fireplace.]

Take all the time you need. Just leave the book when you're done.

I'll be in the back if you have any more questions, alright?

I will. Thanks.

[Costigan hovered there, waiting until she was already mostly out of the room before he finally moved forward to retrieve the book and spend more time with the memories he didn't know.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

video;

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action

action