Tu Shanshu

[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.

[Greetings and Salutations, fellow turtle-dwellers! Some may have noticed Zatanna's silence until now regarding certain events, but today, she greets the open console network with an unusually contemplative look. Eyes still slightly turned upward, arms folded over her chest, she leans back into her chair and allows herself a deep breath before sitting up and forcing the best attempt at a diplomatic smile she could muster.]

I had a very interesting conversation recently with Odyni.

This isn't really something we bring up much...mostly because there's no reason to...but the Welcome Center? Jokes aside, it hasn't just been running on my charm and magic all these years. Once upon a time, we were funded by the Emperor.  After they both died, we struck up a deal with Aroyan, who was cool enough to vouch for us on behalf of the Merchant's Guild and help keep us going. Then after he was gone, Odyni made the choice to keep that relationship open.  Which she really didn't have to do, so I've always been pretty grateful to her for that.

[Little backstory for everyone. The more you know ==✰]

There's been some ongoing talk about these new Guilds forming, which makes sense, but for a while, I wasn't exactly sure what that meant for us.  I mean, our job is mainly to help newcomers adjust to life in Keelai.  Help out with any questions people might have about things.  Give directions.  Provide resources.  That sort of thing.  So it made sense that a bunch of people have already assumed we'd just sign up for the Foreigners' Guild.  Except if we did that, I wasn't sure how it would affect our funding.

But here's the thing: Odyni is still willing to help, even if we did.  Which I think is great news on a bunch of levels, because it means we can all keep playing nice with one another even if we're in different Guilds.   I mean--and these are her words, not mine--she did mention something about liking us to have a "preferential relationship" between the two Guilds, keep communications open, that sort of thing.   Which I don't think sounds too unreasonable, considering.  That was the only string attached.

What do you guys think?

[Seasons Greetings, residents of Keelai!]

[Quite the jolly sight will greet you today: a smiling Zatanna, dressed in an elf costume, waving at the camera as if this whole thing was a very normal occurrence for her.]

I'll keep this short and sweet.  

[Just like me, was the unspoken implication.  If only because she was reluctant to admit that, after all these years, she was still pretty short.]

I want to do a Secret Santa.  It'll be fun!  Just stop by anytime in the next couple weeks and drop off your name into this hat here...

[She held up the hat in question for all to see]

...and I'll distribute the names about a week before Christmas.  To give you enough time for shopping.

So who's in?



((ooc: Information and signsups can be found here))

[A small groan could be heard as the video feed initially turned on.  Zatanna looked...slightly frazzled, but otherwise unhurt.  If you didn't count the part where she was holding one side of her head in slight pain, as if dealing with a headache or migraine.]

Okay.  Three things.  Three...I think.  Probably.

[Her stage presence had seen better days.  She didn't seem to care right then.]

One.  I want to go on record as stating this was definitely not me this time.  Just so everyone's clear on that much.

Two.  I did find the bottles responsible.  Hopefully.  Four total.  Unstable.  Long story.  But I have them, and they shouldn't be causing any more trouble.

[She hesitated before the next one, giving a slight wince.]

Two--no, wait, I did two already.  How many does that make it?  Right.  Three: ...the effects should wear off soon enough, but if you're still having some trouble come find me.

...preferably in a day or so.  I'm going back to bed to sleep this off.

 [Today, Zatanna greets the public from her usual seat at the Welcome Center console, chin in hand and with a look of contemplation on her face.]

This has been...okay, not bothering me for a while now, but I've definitely been wondering more and more.

How many of us are still left from the pre-Malicant days? And, I mean, I'm not just talking about people who were around for that big battle in Dreaming.  I mean way back before we even knew Malicant was a thing.  You know, with the treehouses and the zombies and the curfews?

[Among other years and years' worth of shenanigans.  Feel free to ask her about those, sometime, maybe.]

And, yeah, I guess if you were around for a time, and went away and missed all the excitement but then came back again...that sort of counts.

[The welcome center was back to normal, and so was Zatanna.]

[Well...mostly.]

[Neither her voice nor expression carried the weight of sadness any longer, but there was definitely something off.  Different.  It was subtle, but if one paid close enough attention to the video feed, they might start to pick up on a few things.  Such as the six different pasta necklaces hanging from her neck...the pasta crown atop her head...the pasta bracelet dangling from her wrist...and a very interesting pair of sunglasses.]

So, I don't know about you all, but this weather has given new definition to the meaning of the word suck.

[In that, whenever she went out, it started to suck some of her magical energy from her.  Get it?]

For those of you that agree, but still need to go out for one reason or another, I just wanted to give a heads up that the Welcome Center is always open if you need a room to crash in for a few hours at a time.  There's no fog in here, and I've been looking into getting some new games in order to pass the time.

Any requests in particular?

[Zatanna appears with a smile on her face and a...rabbit on her head.   No, not the same one that seems to have been going around from person to person.  This one was actually stuffed.  Cute in its own right, but very much nonliving.  Still, she didn't want to feel left out in the festivities.  Plus, she had her own reasons for donning it.  One that, believe it or not, involved neither tophats not magic tricks.]

Funny story.

I checked the calendar, and it looks like national all-you-can-eat day is coming up   [Translation: Thanksgiving.]  It's a great opportunity for me to flex my amazing cooking skills...but I'm almost starting to run out of ideas.  Want to keep things fresh each year, you know?

Anybody here got any favorite recipes that might offer a fun challenge?  I'm open.  I'll even cook meat.

[She won't eat it, of course, but she'll cook it.]

[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.

[She wasn't paranoid.]

[...but she was interested. Also experiencing a strange sense of not-quite deja vu. It had been a while--more than a year, including time spent Dreaming--but she still remembered the days when she would have received telepathic visitors into her mind. First, Asti. Then the babies. Granted, the latest mystery message had been a text. But that just made things even stranger: no voice to tie the source back to.]

[She definitely wan't paranoid. Yet. Which was why she made the decision to go public, putting on a smile for her first Network appearance in some time. Like this was meant to be nothing more than a game.]

For the record? The person who sent me that cute little Scavenger Hunt message--

[And it had taken a long, hard period of consideration before opting for that particular phrase. On the off chance anybody else had received a similar message recently, they might see through it. On the slightly more probable chance one of the locals was listening in, they'd think this was nothing more than some Foreign custom.]

--you get points for creativity. And vocabulary.

But if I'm going to be color-hopping my way through the sectors, there better be a nice reward at the end. Maybe not diamonds, but...something to make all that effort worth it, you know?

Also, next time? Try signing it so I know who to thank personally.