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[backwordscompatible]

[Zatanna appears on screen looking...well, definitely better than the last time she had to make this announcement, that was for certain.  It would have been a stretch to call her 'happy' by any definition, but not only did she not show any signs of having been crying...she was even smiling.  Weakly.  Very weakly.]

[Her eyes also didn't seem to quite look at the camera as she spoke.]

Typical.  Showed up just long enough to suffer through summer, and then leaves before we get to have any more fun this winter.

[She knew Jack would appreciate her trying to make a joke out of things.  No matter how much she really didn't feel like joking.]

Hopefully, we won't get a rush of new faces anytime soon, because it'll just be me running things around here again for a while.  I might be magical, but even I'm not that good.

Comments

[lasergrenades]

I did suggest that to him, actually, but Tony said there were enough people making desserts and something about being too busy with labwork. I get why Gene built him a lab in the basement, but sometimes getting him to leave is like pullinig teeth, I swear. Back home he'd sometimes spend days in his lab without leaving.

[And in typical teen fashion, ended up smelling gross and leaving food wrappers all over the place. Pepper's disdain for him ending up in this condition was clear, even as she was starting to dig into her own pint.]

[backwordscompatible]

Did you ever try cutting the power on him?

[She offered the suggestion so casually while taking another bite. As if that's what she would have done. Because it was exactly what she would have done. In addition to keeping a bucket of ice water on hand.]

[lasergrenades]

[That drew another bright laugh from Pepper.]

That's not a bad idea, but I think he's probably got, like, precautions against that kind of thing. I could probably figure out how to turn it off as long as I wasn't interrupting something where cutting the power would wreck a project. Either that or convince Gene to withhold something from him.

[backwordscompatible]

I mean, if you ever need a hand with that...I do keep a few tricks up my sleeve.

[Spoken not only as a magician, but as the exgirlfriend of a very playful Spirit of Fun]

[lasergrenades]

I will definitely take you up on that the next time he holes up down there. He does at least come home most of the time, since he won't get fed late at night at the College.

Man, I'm just imagining the prank war. He got into one back home with Happy Hogan and it was hilarious.

[backwordscompatible]

...I remember those days.

[She smirked fondly, eyes drifting upward as she paused for another bite of gelato.]

Tim and Bart definitely started it, but Jack and I finished. Dick was involved somehow too, because of course he was, but I can't remember whose side he was on at the time.

[lasergrenades]

Maybe he was on both, depending on the prank and how interesting he thought they were.

[This was said wryly, although the impish expression was diminished slightly by the spoon in her mouth.]

Tony really didn't want to give it up, but we had more important things to do, so Rhodey and me eventually got him to drop it.

[backwordscompatible]

[There was every chance Pepper was right. Probably; to be completely honest, some of those early days kind of blended into one another in a rubber band ball of nostalgia. Details were lost in favor of snarky grins and PG-13 rated innuendos.]

I hope that's not a lack of confidence in our pranking abilities.

I mean, I had to go up against someone who actually found a loophole through one of my protective wards once. Lucky for him, I actually liked him too. You know, when he wasn't messing with my stuff.

[lasergrenades]

It's the exact opposite of a lack of confidence. If you're getting devious about it, he'd probably have a hard time choosing who to go along with.

[She raised her eyebrows at the second remark, spoon in her mouth still.]

Wow, someone actually found a way through? That's... well, devious. Very clever. [Reminded her of a certain thief she knew.] I bet you closed that loophole quickly.

[backwordscompatible]

[She sighed heavily, sinking further into her chair as a sign of retroactive defeat.]

Unfortunately, it was a little more complicated than that.

He turned out to be a previous incarnation of one of my closest friends at the time. Long story. Short version is that sharing a soul, so to speak, meant the wards had a hard time distinguishing between the two. So if I were to immediately block him out, I'd have blocked her out too.