noitatnacni | 002 | Action + Voice

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002 | Action + Voice

So does your birthday still count if you technically skipped four months?

[This is an important question being posed over your journals, Luceti. Because if it does count, Zatanna's fifteen today. Not that she's been advertising it a lot. Holidays have been kind of hard on her since Halloween, and today really isn't an exception. It's the first birthday she's spent without her father, and in the superhero business? That's saying something.

She tries not to let it get her down, though--or at least, not to show that it is. Maybe if someone catches her when she's alone, they'll see hints of it. Staring off into space with a frown at some reminder. There's bound to be plenty, since she's raiding the library for books on magic and the item shop for more stage friendly props. The training she does daily at the battle dome (with her birthday being no exception) isn't the only thing she should keep up with.

So at some point during the afternoon, she'll try to find bored people in the plaza, cards in hand. It'll be better than just the "think of your card and I'll name it" bit, promise. Sometimes she sticks to sleight of hand, while others she may employ a backwards chant. Maybe it's not all that impressive in a place where anyone can learn magic, but she doesn't want those skills to deteriorate. It's the one connection she's got to her father, the person who taught her what she knows.

Eventually, she'll head back to Community House 5 when she starts thinking about dinner.]

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I think it's all about the application. [When they reach the front of the store, he'll step ahead to reach for the door and hold it open for her if she'll let him. Ladies first!] Sure, magic's no big deal for a lot of people here, but how many of them know anything about performing? I might be trained like an acrobat but you won't see me walking a tightrope for a crowd.

[Hey, she doesn’t mind. Zatanna slips inside, pausing long enough for Jason to follow after.] I guess that’s true. You know, I don’t think any of the other magicians I’ve met have talked about performing. [And that’s as much in Zatanna’s blood as the magic itself.]

[And follow after her he does!]

I can't say I'm surprised. This place is kind of known for its fighters. That's the only thing you ever really hear about people using their powers for.

It's a shame, if you ask me. If I had powers, I'd take every chance to show 'em off.

And you’d be breaking the first rule of performing. [Not that Zatanna has a lot of room to talk, given how she can throw magic around sometimes. But that doesn’t mean she can’t tease Jason a bit.] Plus you’d wear yourself out if you did it too much. Powers take energy, including magic.

Hey, there's a reason I never ran away to join the circus. [Well, you know, besides the fact that the thought just never occurred to him.] I guess that makes sense. But everyone always makes it look so easy.

[Not that he minded not having powers or anything. He always found them fun to watch!]

Because they expect you to show off professionally? [Which comes with all sorts of guidelines and standards, as opposed to showing off for the hell of it.]

Yeah, well in my case? That’s because of lots of practice. I mean, there are people who’d watch you doing acrobatics and think it must be no sweat for you. It’s the same thing with any sort of power. There’s as much skill involved in casting a spell as there is in doing a flip.

Yeah. Never really been much for rules, you know? And besides, they'd probably say I clown around too much. [He's so smug about everything he says, though, like usual. Once they're in the bakery, he nods, gesturing for her to go ahead.] You're probably right, though. It's not like everyone can do what we do. Even here.

I can definitely see that. [Jason strikes her as the type. Her grin widens as he makes his pun, because Zatanna can definitely get on board with that.] I could see you walking a tightrope with the bosses.

[Zatanna heads over to a display case to decide just what kind of cake to have. They've got a lot of great looking things, so it isn't exactly easy.]

Yeah. And I think the five of us will actually make a good team, if we ever get a chance to do anything heroic. [Since Luceti kind of lacks for pretty much anything of the criminal variety.]

Well, I do have pretty good balance, if I do say so myself!

[He follows her over and does the same, looking over the various desserts. He's having the same dilemma as Zatanna.]

You bet we would. [Another moment, and he finally decides on a piece of chocolate cake. Very chocolate cake. While he waits for it, he continues:] ...well. Maybe after some practice first. A team kind of needs some time to get in step with each other, right?

[He kind of idly wonders how everyone will feel about listening to their self-proclaimed "leader."]

You better. The way you talk, I could easily see you ending up without a net.

[Zatanna ends up going for a caramel number herself. After she points to her cake of choice, she glances over at Jason, thinking about what he said.]

We could always hit up the Battle Dome. If you're talking about serious practice, anyway. We might not even have to forcibly drag Robin into that one.

We probably should. But then again, he might appreciate it, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

[Nah, just kidding, Dick doesn't appreciate things— After receiving his own slice of cake, he waits around with Zatanna until she gets hers, too.]

It might not hurt, though. Most of us haven't really worked with each other before.

[Zatanna laughs a little at that, taking her cake from the employee and heading toward an empty table nearby.] Don’t worry. I’m sure he won’t ruin his dark persona by saying thanks. [Whether he appreciates it or not. Robin isn’t exactly the go to guy for polite gestures.]

Yeah, that’s true. Especially when you think about the fact that most of us are from different universes. [Which could make it harder in some cases, should it turn out the Robins here don’t fight like the Robin back in Zatanna’s world.] Maybe it’s something we should look into setting up soon. It’d probably be good before we all ended up on a mission or a draft or something.

[He follows her to the table, taking a seat across from her, and nodding at what she says.]

Yeah, no kidding. I know improv's part of the job, but even that could be hard if we don't know how everyone works. [There's a pause as he takes a bite of his cake.] Not that I'm worried. I'm pretty sure we've all got at least a little team experience.

Yeah. A lot of our practice back home was how to work together as a unit. [Thankfully Zatanna hadn’t been around for the days before the pecking order was established. Those missions were pretty wince-worthy, or at least that’s what she’d been told.] It’ll be weird actually talking out loud for it, though. Back home, Miss Martian would telepathically link us all so we could just talk by thinking about it.

Whoa. Sounds handy. [More than just handy, actually. It sounds really cool.] I don't think they had anything like that where I came from. They seemed to do alright, though.

Well, yeah. The superheroes didn't always have access to it where I'm from either. [But it's both super useful and yeah, super cool.] Let's just hope Artemis and I haven't gotten too spoiled.

Compared to what we've got here, I think we're all kind of spoiled. [He misses his everything at home, to be honest.] But I'm sure we'll manage. That's what we're supposed to do.

Yep. Triumph over adversity, or something like that.

[There’s a lot to miss—but some good things to make up for it. Like the bite of cake Zatanna takes then.]

Oh wow. This is so good.

Not bad, right? It's still pretty weird to think this stuff is free sometimes. But hey, if it always tastes this good, I'm not going to complain.

No kidding. But when you think about how many people actually work around here, you have to figure they must be pretty bored or really in love with what they do. [Zatanna really doesn’t see much reason to have a job like cooking or waiting tables otherwise.]

It's pretty impressive. I mean, even if they are just really bored, it takes a lot to stick to it, you know? There's no way I could do it.

[It wasn't that he couldn't be dedicated, because he could totally be! It's just that... well. He was too restless.]

I think we’re allowed though, since we’re teenagers. [They were dedicated to their own causes, sure. But day labor? No thank you.] Although that does bring up the whole question of school in the fall.

There's a question? [He's teasing. Kind of.] I've really been enjoying my extended summer vacation.

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002 | Action + Voice

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