teenwonder | appointments post

["Boyfriend" is such a weird word. Robin doesn't like to use it. It sounds like commitment and putting down roots. Why would anyone want to do something like that?

He's not in any condition to argue with her presently. His desk is overcome with journal pages, all the written discussions dealing with the new discovery in the tunnels. They're heavily annotated in marker, notes scribbled in every available margin. If Zatanna cares to comb through them, the word "Slade" appears several dozen times on the first page alone. They'd been given a wealth of new information, but how much of it could be trusted? Could any of it? Was it just a distraction to keep them busy while the hydra grew its head back?

Even now, he's still got a pen in his hand, though the other is curled under his cheek in the form of a makeshift pillow. And though he's a light enough sleeper that the sound of her voice makes him stir, he could easily sink back into unconsciousness if she didn't make another attempt to get him up.]

[Clearly it's because Zatanna's a silly girl who lets her feelings get in the way.

She's debating whether she should try to wake him up or just pull a blanket over him as she walks over to the desk. If he's that tired, then lunch is definitely out. But waking him up even to get him to go into the bed might mean he refuses to go back to sleep. For a kid, Robin's a pretty bad workaholic; Zatanna's known that for awhile, and she shakes her head as she starts trying to clean up around him a little.

But even obsession has its grades, and as she shuffles the papers together she can't help but see the same name written over and over again. "Slade," scrawled out countless times, and her focus shifts from cleaning to reading as she looks over Robin's notes. Accusations and questions cover the entries, all of it pointing to this single person. And that's just on what's been revealed over the past few days. Just how far back does this all go?

One way to find out. Leaving Robin to sleep for a bit longer, Zatanna starts to dig a little deeper into his research. She tries to be quiet about it, given how light a sleeper Robin is, but she's not exactly a master of stealth. Between the shuffling papers and the opening of drawers as she keeps looking, she could very well wake him up that way.

Or maybe it's the way she starts muttering in disbelief, even going so far as to read some of the more outlandish queries under her breath.]

[The ideas get quite outlandish indeed. The neighboring room is a gallery of clippings he thought came closer to "the big picture," which varies quite a bit from the idea of Luceti as it's understood by most people in the enclosure. Signs lead to "the Malnosso" organization as a group of hired thugs who pull heroes from their worlds on a paid basis. They're left like lab rats for examination and experimentation and spoonfed a crime drama to keep their attention occupied away from finding the truth and using it to return home. Villains are invited to watch their intergalactic zoo and laugh as the heroes fall over themselves to solve solutionless problems.

Then there's the VR theory. What if none of this is even real? What if after the Terra incident (there's no notes about who-or-what "Terra" is), he was rendered severely wounded and brought back to Slade? What if he was lying on a slate somewhere while his subconscious was kept busy with this vision? Or even worse, what if his body was being manipulated while his mind was locked here? It wouldn't be the first time.

The comic book issue is huge as well. What do the comic books signify? Why do people keep implying he's fictional on their worlds? What does that mean? Why do so many aspects of Luceti want to convince him that his fate isn't his own to control? Everything here is trying to force him into calming down, accepting things as they are. It's malicious. He won't submit.

Sometime around the period where Zatanna shuffles through some pages detailing the arrival of Cyborg, a friend from home who's an obvious plant designed to gain information from him, Robin rests a hand on her shoulder, giving her an accusatory stare even without allowing her to see his eyes.]

What are you doing?

[She almost stops reading at a few points, when the ideas keep getting more and more nuts, but she can't quite make herself quit for the same reason. Is this really what Robin thinks about the world they're in? And worse, about the people in it. She's just started on the part where he talks about someone who should be a dear friend to him when she feels the heavy weight of his hand on her shoulder, making her gasp in shock as she turns around.]

Oh my god, you scared me! [Which is problematic all on it's own; Zatanna knows the score. Letting people sneak up on her because she's gotten so engrossed in something? Not good. But the question he's asked sinks in, and she glances down at the papers still in her hand.]

Trying to figure out what's going on inside your head. [She holds the stack out to him, leveling him with a look of her own.] You really don't think any of this is real?

[There's nothing nuts about healthy suspicion. It's the only way to find a solution that nobody's tried yet.]

It's a possibility. There's lots of possibilities that could explain what's happening here. Why are you upset?

[She's not the one having her privacy violated.]

Probably because I just got to the part where you thought one of your best friends was a plant.

[Although that just scratches the surface; Zatanna's not just upset. She's worried about Robin, all the effort he's putting into this only to end up with some insane results.]

Is this really what you spend all your time doing?

Then you missed the part where I was right. [Cyborg "went home" shortly after his attempts to connect with Robin failed. Couldn't have been a coincidence.] What are you doing reading those notes, anyway? They're old. [The ones in her hand date back a year, and there are some that are from over a year before that. People born in Luceti who grow giant wings aren't the only ones who lose it after a while.]

Edited 2013-09-08 02:01 (UTC)

What? How can you be so sure? [Which is really what it boils down to, in the end. He seems so certain that everything must be more, must have something to do with what or whoever Slade is. Sure, it'd be dumb to just trust everything they're told, but there's a limit.

And the news that what she's found is old doesn't make her feel any better.]

How old? [She glances at them again before looking back to Robin, worry evident in her eyes.] How long have you been doing this?

If he was himself then he would've stayed to help me. [Aang and Katara are still here. Jason stayed.] He was only here long enough to try getting under my skin. It's the first and last time something like that's been tried.

[He's sure because it has to be Slade's fault. Everything is.Even if he's the only one who's still thinking to look in Slade's direction.]

I've been keeping notes since I got here. Some of them have been lost during experiments, but most of them survived. [So why are you looking at him like that, Zatanna?]

But we don't have a choice in when we stay or go. [That Zatanna is sure of. Otherwise? She and Artemis would've both been back home ages ago.] And some people aren't here for that long at all. You see it all the time on the journals. Besides, maybe he was a different Cyborg than yours. Maybe he was like me--from a universe that's got a lot in common, but that isn't actually the same. Or he was from a time when you two weren't all that friendly. I mean, there's a bunch of possibilities.

[Maybe it's because of how Robin had changed.]

Since you've been here... [Zatanna shakes her head slowly, thinking that over. Robin's been here a lot longer than her, but still.] So what's Slade supposed to mean?

He tried to tell me he was from our future. Told me a bunch of things that didn't make sense. But none of it matters because it's over now.

[It's also how he chooses to remember the experience because it's a lot easier than admitting that he misses his friends. That's personal. It's kept close to his heart and never expressed. As far as he knows, his teammates all died the day he came to Luceti.]

I've been here a while. [He finishes the sentence for her, and then grows stiff and tense as she keeps prying.]

Don't say that name.

Except it does matter, because you're using it to justify this. [Her grip tightens on the paper.] How do you know he wasn't from your future? I'm from Artemis's future. It's completely possible.

[Even if it is only a day--but then again, Zatanna knows just how much they learned in that time.

He grows cold when she asks about Slade, but maybe that isn't surprising.]

Why not? You do. Or at least you write it down a lot. [She doesn't like to pry. Zatanna tries to let people open up about things on their own, but this is Robin. He just doesn't do that.] What does it mean?

Because I know, Zatanna. [This is quickly barreling towards being a fight. He pulls his cape over his shoulders and lets it drop into a shroud, as though he might disappear into it.]

He's the key to this. Figuring out how he's connected to everything here is how we're going to get everyone home.

But you don't work like that. [Intuition plays a part, but she knows better. Robin's a detective.] Where's your proof? Your evidence. And I don't mean theories.

[Which is a pretty nice way of putting it, in her mind.]

The key? But what about the Malnosso? [She's never heard anything about Slade from anyone, which seems pretty unusual if he really is that important.] What does Sl--what does he have to do with them?

I saw him die. That's enough evidence.

[And that is, as far as he's concerned, all that needs to be discussed about Cyborg.]

He has something to do with everything. It's all a test. He's trying to see how far he can push me before I snap.

[That isn't what she's expecting at all, and Zatanna's eyes go wide with horror as Robin reveals why he's so sure Cyborg can't be from his future. It's really hard to keep arguing after he says that, and she's silent for a long moment after before she manages to get out anything at all.]

I'm sorry.

[For everything, really. For what he saw, what he believes--and the way she's still silently questioning his certainty.]

But--wait. [Something isn't really meshing for her as he goes on, and Zatanna frowns as she puzzles it out. The ego-centric view is what tips her off, makes her finally start understanding what he's saying, at least a little.] Is Slade someone from your world?

[Or maybe worse. For Robin to be so focused on him--]

[He's quiet after she expresses her condolences. It's not going to change anything. There's no sense in going on about it.]

Of course he is. He probably exists on yours too. And once you meet him, know that nothing is safe. Don't trust anyone, no matter how well you think you know them.

Robin...

[She doesn't want to do this. To pick apart his notions and his ideas. But Zatanna has to. The feeling of the paper in her hand, the countless times she's read that name over the past little while--she has to.]

You're saying that everything about Luceti--about this entire world--is all focused on you.

[He tilts his head, because that's not it at all. Hasn't she been listening?]

Of course it's not! It's about him and people like him. Don't you have someone where you're from that would want to see you put away indefinitely? Don't you think that your enemies would jump at the chance to send you off if there was some dimension that could hold you?

If I can find a way to trace this to Slade, then I'll know how it happened for everyone else. There's a keystone piece that connects worlds. Slade's going to lead me to it.

[She doesn't know whether to feel better or worse about how deeply his ideas run, or how widely he applies them. There's a single thin line of sense to it, because they do fight evil and people with superpowers, sure.

But specific application kind of makes the whole thing fall apart, and Zatanna shakes her head.]

It still doesn't make sense. Not in my world, anyway. The Light already had control of the Justice League. They wouldn't need something like this.

[Even if they had been so close to losing, thanks to the Team.]

But what if you're wrong? I mean, the one thing we know for sure is that impossible things happen here. Like being possessed, or having our entire lives rewritten. If Slade's responsible, then you can do something about it--but what if he isn't?

[What if you can't?]

I'm not wrong. [Full stop. Brick wall. They could entertain "what if?" scenarios for hours, but he refuses to lose sight of the bigger picture.]

I'm going to put it all together and prove it to everyone.

Edited 2013-09-14 12:46 (UTC)

Or you're going to be so focused on this one thing, you miss something important because you refuse to believe it.

It's like stage magic. People don't see the trick because they don't want to believe there is a trick, so they get fooled. And you don't want to see anything else but Slade.

Then you can focus on the other things. I'm going to keep letting the evidence lead me to the right place. [and that right place is SLADE.]

You mean keep making it fit into what you want to believe. [Robin could be right. Maybe someone named Slade is playing a part in this. But she thinks he isn't being objective, and there's a pretty obvious reason for it.]

Is he the one who killed your friends?

[WELP. If they weren't fighting before, they certainly are now. It's as though she's reared back and slapped him. He turns away from her completely then, voice dropping to a soft, smoldering whisper.]

Get out.

appointments post

Re: Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8

Action, September 8

Re: Action, September 8