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Tweak says, "Stop Stockwell!"

Dick Grayson has too many siblings (onatightrope) wrote in wariscoming,
@ 2012-05-07 12:12:00

Entry tags:

dick grayson/nightwing, zatanna zatara

Who:Zatanna and Dick
What: Coffee and a chat of unpleasant ideas.
When: Today
Where:Some random coffee shop.
Warnings:I don't see any?

Dick didn't appreciate being Lucifer's pawn. He was ready to find a way to fight back. He didn't have super powers of his own, but that didn't mean he wasn't a force to be reckoned with. His thoughts and emotions were his and he wanted to make that clear to Lucifer. No more screwing with his life. It was already screwed enough. He knew Clark wasn't a fan of the idea, and he wasn't even about to try to get Bruce's green light. It was just something he would have to take care of on his own. No matter how much it squicked him out. Clark knew what he was up to, and knew Dick was a stubborn guy. He'd told Clark incase something went wrong, but he really wasn't looking to be talked out of it. His mind was set.

There was no stopping it now. Unless Zatanna didn't like the idea, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it. No use driving himself insane on what if scenarios. He would have invited Zatanna to his apartment, but everyone knew Dick Grayson was paranoid. He didn't invite anyone to his apartment unless apparently he was holding them hostage and under a crazy spell. He liked his privacy. Possibly to an abnormal amount. It was bad enough his identity was no longer secret, at least his apartment could remain his own.

Waiting for Zatanna at the coffee shop he'd described to her earlier, he ordered two coffees and slid into a booth. Sipping at one of them and looking out the window, he wondered what it was like to be ignorant. People went about their days not knowing the apocalypse was breathing down their neck. He knew it wasn't his place to tell them, but he wondered what it would be like all the same.Would it be better not knowing? Being able to live a semi normal life? Dick had no idea. The last time his life was considered normal was eight years old under the big top. Most people didn't exactly consider circus life normal.

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zee_magician
2012-05-07 07:53 pm UTC (link)

Zatanna was still trying to adjust to this new world, and to the idea of a Biblical apocalypse. It wasn't that she hadn't considered such things in the past, it was just that she usually kept so busy between touring and trying to stop various super-villains that she didn't have time to dwell on the possibility.

Lawrence, Kansas, definitely wasn't a town she would have guessed as a main battleground for said apocalypse, either, but stranger things had happened. And she specialized in stranger things.

Part of what was strange about Dick asking her for coffee was she'd always been under the impression that she wasn't really his favorite person. Then again, she wasn't even sure if this was the same Dick Grayson she knew back home. She supposed she was about to find out. Smiling faintly at a waitress she passed, she made her way over to the booth he'd picked and sat down across from him.

"Thanks for the coffee," she said sincerely.

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onatightrope
2012-05-07 08:04 pm UTC (link)

He didn't even have to look up to know that she was there. It was just one of the skills that Bruce had taught him to be hyper aware of his surroundings at all times. He was always focused. It's what kept him alive this long. Technically he should have died twice now, but thanks to circumstances and training he was still alive today.

The fact that Kansas was literally almost hell on Earth hadn't surprised him much. Then again after all his time as Robin and then Nightwing very little did. He'd seen stranger things in his time. "Sure." He passed it over to her and drank his own. It was straight black. Any less than that would have gotten him mocking from most of his peers. That was the trouble with being a super hero. All the other super heros had super jokes that occasionally were less than hilarious.

"How are you doing? It's been a while." He offered her a small smile. He wasn't that fond of magic, but still Zatanna intrigued him. He couldn't just ignore the possibilities speaking to her could bring because of some stubborn idea that magic was bad or scary. She hadn't turned him into a rabbit or a toad yet so he supposed he was at least on her good side most of the time.

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zee_magician
2012-05-07 08:10 pm UTC (link)

She offered him a small smile in return and picked up the cup of coffee, sipping it slowly before cradling it in her hands. She studied him, but much like Bruce, she had a hard time reading his expression.

"So what are the chances that we're the only two people in this coffee shop aware of the pending apocalypse?" Her voice was hushed, not wanting to draw attention to them. Nothing like a mention of end times to break the ice between super-heroes.

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onatightrope
2012-05-07 08:21 pm UTC (link)

It was obvious in some ways that he had been raised by the bat. Though ones who really knew him knew it was mostly Alfred where Dick's personality came from. Alfred had taken the time to get to know him as Dick Grayson and not just Robin or a tool for Batman to use. Now where had he heard that before? Jason was rubbing off on him a little, he needed to stop letting it happen. Jason wasn't the best influence, but Dick still considered him a brother. If only in arms.

His dark eyes landed on Zatanna's own as he offered her a smirk. "Do you really want to know? The answer is a little depressing." Dick didn't like being in Kansas, he wanted nothing more than to go back to their reality. Though he wasn't so sure that one was going to be much better either considering what was in store for his future. Pointy ears and a cowl which he wasn't ready for.

"Settling in all right? It's not the easiest place to be." He asked over his coffee cup, trying to make nice with the magician. "At least you had it better than I did on arrival. Joker was here."

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zee_magician
2012-05-07 08:39 pm UTC (link)

Zatanna didn't know Dick as well as some people did. But she'd always believed that there was a lot more to him than she knew, simply because that was true of most people. Few people knew her very well, either. She wasn't an easy person to get close to.

"It usually is, isn't it?" She arched an eyebrow and took another sip of the coffee, crossing her legs under the table. So far Kansas hadn't impressed her very much, but she was trying to keep an open mind.

"So far, yes," she told him, nodding a little as she watched him. "I heard about that. I also heard Harley Quinn killed him." She cocked her head to the side. "Still surprised by that, really."

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onatightrope
2012-05-07 09:22 pm UTC (link)

"Ain't that the truth." He said as he leaned onto the table and put down his coffee. It wasn't exactly a wonderful thing but he was starting to accept the city as his own. That meant he would do what it took to protect it. He'd lost Bludhaven already, he'd be damned if he lost another city even in the face of the apocalypse. He'd been known to face impossible odds before. It was all part of the job and he took pride in it.

He'd brought together teams that would have otherwise been at eachothers throats and beat the odds. He was hoping to do it again here. There was no room for failure. "Good." Dick looked out the window at the city as it passed them by then back at Zatanna. "So was I. I try to look for the good in everyone, I didn't think she had it in her after all our years facing off.." His voice trailed off as he furrowed his brows.

"I don't have a great segway into this so here it is." Pausing with a moment of hesitance. "I refuse to be Lucifer's play thing anymore. Do you have any magical mojo to protect someone's mind from attack?"

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zee_magician
2012-05-07 10:27 pm UTC (link)

She could tell that something was bothering him; likely the reason behind him asking her there for coffee. She had good intuition and her intuition was telling her that he hadn't suggested they meet just to catch up. His posture was tense, like he had something to say that he didn't really want to. Part of her wanted to reach across the table and lay a hand on his arm, but she didn't know if that would make things worse or better, so she simply nodded a little when he spoke again.

At the mention of being Lucifer's play thing, however, she cocked her head to the side, looking at him with worry in her eyes. "I think I'm going to need you to be a little more specific," she told him quietly. "Can you tell me what happened?"

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onatightrope
2012-05-10 08:22 am UTC (link)

Just because Dick was the better one when it came to being social didn't mean he knew how to handle small talk when something huge weighed down on his mind. Right now that was exactly what was going through his head. He was anxious, and for a bat whether former or otherwise to do so was not a good sign. He was known for his control and his leadership, and to just allow it to show like he was meant something had rattled his cage recently. Toying with the label of his coffee cup, he nodded at her go ahead to continue.

"I don't know if you've heard of the Legend of Lucifer's Horsemen but it's true. War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. We were visited by Pestilence just before you arrived. Pestilence has the ability to overrun the city with sickness spanning from physical to mental. Mine was mental. Literally drove me out of my mind to the point of a babbling and useless idiot." He paused and looked at her. "I took the people I care about hostage. I didn't hurt them this time, but you and I both know that was probably just lucky." He chewed at his lip anxiously. "If they'd given me any excuse to harm them I could have, or worse. I can't allow it to happen again."

Dick looked up at her. "I don't know if there is a ready magic for that kind of defense, but I'd be willing to play guinea pig. With Death on it's way I see little choice in the matter otherwise if we want to avoid another disaster." Dick sighed as he sipped at his cup and then rested it down on the table. "I can't watch anyone of them die. We need to find something. Anything to defend ourselves with."

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zee_magician
2012-05-10 04:17 pm UTC (link)

She listened intently, cradling her mug of coffee in her hands and leaning back against the booth, eyebrows furrowed with worry. She chewed on her lower lip, sipping the warm liquid a moment later as she tried to discern where he was going with all of this. And when he told her about Pestilence, she suddenly understood.

But understanding didn't make it any less troubling.

"Bruce told me about Pestilence," she admitted, drawing in a breath. She wasn't sure if she would have been any real assistance in the fight against the horseman or not, even if she had been there. But Bruce hadn't filled her in on what Dick had gone through, or what he'd done.

"I'll do some research." She paused, realizing she didn't have her library of books to consult in this dimension. "Which might be tricky." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before leaning forward again. "Has there been any kind of consistent time frame between the horsemen?" she questioned.

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