Who: Zatanna and CLOSED What: Confusion! When: Late night Where: A sidewalk somewhere. Rating: PG-13 just to be safe (backwards swear word!).
“Ekat em emoh!”
“Ot siloportem!”
She was yelling by now, she knew that. Her face was flushed and she felt way too warm and beyond annoyed, like she’d just run a marathon only to realize that it had been all for nothing. The crowds were gathering. They were gawking at the madwoman screaming on the sidewalk in the way that they’d stare at a car that had just gone through a living room window. At first, Zatanna was very tempted not to care. She ignored them. They were flies circling around her head, she told herself. No need to worry or even acknowledge the buzzing and the little veiny wings. For all she knew, they were hallucinations. This wasn’t real. She was dreaming. A spell had gone wrong. Some ego-crushed competition had decided to play a game with her and it was a damn good game. Very, very convincing if she did say so herself.
“Ma’am do you need—” Zatanna whirled around to face the source of the voice, hands going up to rest on her hips and lips contorting into a snarl. “Kcuf ffo.” He backed up, turned his back on her and walked away, enchanted into leaving and minding his own business. She glared at them all and through her teeth, she hissed: “Og yawa.” Having no idea what the hell she was saying to them but now feeling compelled to go back to what they had been doing before she caught their attention, each and every one of them scattered. “Thank you,” she muttered under her breath, giving a sigh of relief and groaning to herself. This was ridiculous. She was in a city that she didn’t recognize, and her magic refused to whisk her away. She was stuck.
Looking down at herself and shivering invulnerably, Zatanna tapped her fingers against her thigh. “Raeppa tekcaj.” Clutching at the sleeve of the newly present garment, she lifted it up to eye level and inspecting it closely, noticed that this wasn’t her jacket. This was brand new, never before worn, still stiff. Worry and confusion twisted her stomach into tightly woven knots. Almost reluctantly, she put her arms through the sleeves and again, resorted to talking to herself.
“Well Zee, it looks like you’ve really done it this time.”