tushanshu_logs | [closed] All these places have their moments

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[closed] All these places have their moments

Characters: Zatanna Zatara & Jack Frost
Date: The weekend before ~~Valentine's Day~~ Landfall
Location: WO-3A
Situation: Zee has a special surprise for Jack....
Warnings/Rating: None that I can think of.

It was about 8 in the morning when she finished.

She wasn't tired. In fact, if anything, Zatanna had more energy coursing through her veins than usual. Or maybe that was the several ~~cups~~ pitchers of tea she'd drank during the night. Poor Baby Tooth had indulged herself in a few thimbles as well, the tiny fairae buzzing about the room like a hummingbird on a sugar high.

"Well..." She spun around in her chair, showing off the finished product. "What do you think?"

A moment's pause, as Baby Tooth flew up to her. Wing under one chin, one eye squinting. Inspecting closely. All too soon, however, she gave a huge smile and nod of approval.

"Then there's only one thing left to do."

-

To: Jack Frost From: Zatanna Zatara Message: Hey. I have something for you. Come over soon as you can, alright? Window's open.

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Jack was just coming back from the market when he got the message. The "as soon as you can" was unusual but if it were something really dire, she'd have just found him in person, right? Still, he doesn't dawdle as he makes his way across the branches to her usual window and drops down onto the sill.

"Zatanna?"

Admittedly, a bit more dramatic than intended, but she'd been eager to see his reaction.

True to her word, the window was open a crack. Just enough to leave the temperature inside the room fairly comfortable. Zatanna, herself, was still dressed in her pajamas from the previous evening. Warm, fleece bottoms and a tank top. As her head lifted at the sound of his voice, he might also catch a glimpse of a very distinctive choker around her neck.

"Hey. You got my message. Good." Her smile was bright and energy bound as she practically jumped to her feet and crossed the room to greet him. "Baby Tooth was starting to get impatient."

The aforementioned faerie gave a series of indignant chirps from her spot atop Zatanna's pillow at the accusation, but did perk up when she realized that Jack had arrived. Fluttering her wings, she took to the air to fly over to him as well.

Jack relaxed a little seeing that there appeared to be nothing amiss, catching Baby Tooth on one hand with a grin. "Impatient, huh? Didn't know I was in such high demand. Maybe I should make tour dates, like all the big rock stars."

He moved further into the room towards Zatanna, the neckwear catching his eye as much for the shape as the fact that she hardly ever wore jewelry that he'd seen.

"New fashion theme? I like it," he laughed.

One hand fell to the snowflake pendant, feeling the cool metal beneath her fingertips. And the raw power emanating from it. She wondered if Jack could sense it as well.

"The design was Baby Tooth's idea," she explained, with a knowing wink to the little faerie. Her eyes then gradually lifted the closer Jack got, accommodating for the height difference between them. "She thought your present should carry some sort of signature to it."

"My... present?" Jack echoed, glancing between Zatanna and Baby Tooth. "What exactly have you two been up to?"

She loved it when they looked so suspicious.

"See for yourself: give me your hand." Without further explanation, she held out her left hand for him to take. Her very bare left hand, without a trace of gloves or any other protection from his usual bone-chilling touch.

He raised an eyebrow and took her hand, if only because she knew how cold he was and it wasn't like the casual touch of a few minutes was really any danger. But almost immediately he noticed not only a lack of warmth emanating from her skin but a distinct chill. Jack could still discern when things were cold, it wasn't as though he were unable to feel variations in temperature and this, this was definitely not normal.

"Zatanna, you're-- freezing! You're cold as ice, what's wrong?"

The news didn't seem to startle her in the least. If anything, she looked pleased by the revelation.

"It's alright Jack. I'm fine. I promise." She gave his fingers a light squeeze in reassurance. "I'm not actually cold. You just think I am. It's the charm. It's working."

To prove that she felt no pain on her end, she manipulated their hands so that their palms were touching, fingers intertwining at the top. But the gesture was just as much for her as it was for him, and she carefully monitored her own skin for a moment before she was satisfied.

"You feel warm to me right now. As warm as any living human."

"I... what?" The confusion was plain on his face as he tried to grasp what she was saying before falling silent as their hands pressed against each other. Normal body heat had never been a problem for him, not warm enough to affect him-- the issue had always been his touch to others. But now Zatanna's hand seemed a comfortably neutral temperature, as though it were perfectly matched with his own.

"The charm... I feel warm? But I don't feel different..."

"You're not supposed to. I don't suppose you know what a glamour is?"

Baby Tooth had required an in-depth explanation when Zatanna first suggested the idea to her, but she was young. There was always a chance Jack had heard the expression before, if only in passing. Zatanna might have even used the expression herself on occasion, though she couldn't immediately recall them ever having a conversation about the subject before.

"A glamour is when... someone looks different than they actually do," Jack said slowly, looking at Zatanna for confirmation. He's heard the term before and there were some spirits, all of them quite a bit older than he, who used it from time to time. He'd never had experience with it personally.

She nodded, even a little proud at the fact that he knew.

"That's what a glamour does. It fools the senses into thinking something else is happening. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, it's the eyes that are fooled. After all, if sight wasn't so easy to play tricks on, half the magicians in my world would be out of a job." A pause to let that sink in before she continued. "This one, though, took a lot more effort and focus. And it's why I needed Baby Tooth's help. You and she come from the same world, and run on similar enough rules of magic. Instead of fooling our eyes, it's fooling our sense of touch."

Incredibly complicated magic, to be sure, and something that had required more than a few sleepless nights and deviations to the Advanced sections of her work library selection. Particularly as Jack'a nature itself was magical, and needed to be taken into account when she fine tuned the ritual.

"In short...as long as I'm wearing the charm, your cold can't hurt me. I won't even register it."

As Zatanna explained the charm's magic and how it functioned, Jack's expression evolved from curiosity to astonishment to something far more vulnerable and disbelieving... though not in the way that he doubted her words so much as he hardly dared believe them true. He looked at the way their hands were pressed together, how she was smiling and how she didn't flinch in the slightest from his touch. His eyes strayed to Baby Tooth and the faerie nodded, her amethyst eyes conveying that this was real and she was happy for him.

"Zatanna, this is..."

She watched his reactions, so clear and vivid in expression it was impossible not to know what he was thinking. Amazement and wonder, but also more than a hint of wary. Maybe even fear. Like he was afraid to accept it was true. That this was a thing that was really happening. Touch was such a basic need, and his condition had deprived him of it for so long....

No words were needed. Just further proof, which explanation alone couldn't provide. So instead, Zatanna reached up with their clasped hands, guiding his palm to lightly cup her cheek. He would be able to feel the sensation of her smooth skin beneath his fingers. Warm to her. Chilling to him.

Between the two? Just right.

Jack's fingers curled instinctively away from her skin at first, but when he felt her as cool to the touch he let them rest more fully on her cheek and enjoyed the sensation of just being able to let it rest there. Zatanna was right in that no words could have been adequate to explain how this felt... just as there weren't any good enough to explain the incredible well of appreciation and gratitude that he felt right now.

The pads of his finger tips were...a bit on the rough side. Dry. Like...well, like somebody who had been spending a lot of time outside in the cold, dry air. They didn't hurt. Far from it. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, leaning into his touch and letting him take the lead. This was for him, after all.

(Okay, if she stopped long enough to admit it, it was a little for her, too. But mostly for him.)

Her lips parted and, unseen to her in that particular moment, a faint cloud of smoke escaped her lips as she exhaled softly. A small side effect to the magical decrease of temperature. Her temperature was the one catering to his, since she wore the pendant; to any third party, she would feel just as cold as he did in that moment.

Jack drew the edge of his thumb over the gentle line of her cheekbone before his brain seemed to catch up with what he was doing and he pulled his hand back, looking sheepish, his other coming to settle on the back of his neck.

"This is... really Zatanna, thank you. I didn't figure I'd ever be able..."

Her lids slowly fluttered open when he pulled away, skin still tingling from the contact. It wasn't just the magic allowing for it, either.

"I'm sure you'll be able to come up with something." It was partially a tease, and partially true. Her eyes lowered once more, and she briefly touched the pendant again with her fingertips. There was no change; its charge was holding. Good. "I'm just sorry I couldn't figure out one for you to wear. So you could be around other people, too. It was just too much of a risk, mixing my magic with the magic that keeps you...you."

Given the affects it had on her body (though it didn't harm her), there was no telling what the tactile glamour would have done had it magically increased his body temperature. Maybe nothing. Or maybe it could accelerate the effects she'd been unfortunate enough to witness the precious summer. Mixing magics was still a realm she wasn't ready to revisit, either, after what happened before. Especially not when it was more than just her well-being at stake.

He shook his head almost as soon as she started to apologize. "Hey, no, come on. This is like winning the lottery for me, okay? Don't be sorry. You don't ever have to be sorry."

It was the ever part that took a moment to sink in, before she chuckled. Low and ironically.

"You must be the only person on the entire Turtle who feels that way. With most people, I spend half my time screwing up, and the other half apologizing." A slight exaggeration, but not entirely false. Especially when it came to the people who were otherwise closest to her. Korra. Kyle. Even Dick. "But you? It's like there's this strange magic keeping you from noticing everything I do wrong."

"Is that what you think?" he asked, brows lifting in genuine surprise. When he saw that despite her exaggeration that she was serious, took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"No Zatanna, it's not-- seeing the mistakes has nothing to do with it. I'm not a total idiot. It's just that you're worth each new chance to do better."

Edited 2014-02-15 00:00 (UTC)

Well, when you phrase it like that? Kind of, yeah.

Her expression softened at his statement, and she couldn't help herself; closing the space between them, hands still clasped, she reached up and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks." You have no idea how badly I need to hear that sometimes. "Really."

Jack smiled but stayed oddly still when she kissed him and when Zatanna pulled back, he sought somewhere else to look. It was then that he noticed Baby Tooth had at some point vacated the room, likely to give them some privacy and his mind flashed back to Kaldur's reaction during the cleansing ritual.

Clearing his throat a little, he affected a wry grin. "If I'd have known we were exchanging gifts, I'd have had mine ready..."

Curious as to what had drawn his attention away from her, Zatanna followed his wandering gaze when she came upon the same realization.

"Wasn't there a little tooth faerie hovering over us just a moment ago?" Hmm. Where could she have gone off to? Oh, well; shrugging, she turned back to Jack. "Well, we did just give you yours a few days earlier. You have time."

Not that she had expected a gift in return. But, hey, if he was offering....

She should really have known that he'd taken any reason to surprise her, but especially for such instances where gift giving was part of the tradition.

"I'll be sure to make good use of that time," he answered.

"No pressure, of course." She teased. Now that she knew a present of some kind was (maybe) coming. Still no clue as to the how, what, or exactly when, so there was still some element of surprise. But until then... "Did you have any plans for the rest of the day?"

Jack shook his head. "Nothing really," he answered. When he didn't have work or the Center, he would sometimes do deliveries just for something to do. He hadn't slept much in recent months, the combination of not needing to and the chill weather keeping him energized.

"Yeah. Me, neither. I don't have work until later this evening. Want to go get some breakfast?"

Said the girl...still in her pajamas from the previous night.

He grinned, nodding. "Yeah, that sounds really good," he answered. "Let's do that."

Perfect. She was in the mood for pancakes, but she wasn't in the mood for cooking. Not after the near all-nighter she'd pulled--

--which would explain the faint yawn she tried to hide as she got up--

--and all the work she'd done on Jack's necklace. Which was technically her necklace to be worn around Jack. Because only Zatanna could ultimately come up with a gift for herself and state it was for someone else. There's your magic trick.

"I know this place not too far from here. Blueberry syrup. That's all I have to say about that." Her jacket was hanging on a hook along the wall. Her pajama pants were dark and neutral enough that they would be...decent enough for public. Which was a good thing, since she didn't seem to have any notions of changing her clothing.

She did, however, take a moment to reach for his hand once more, hers still very noticeably bare.

"Read to go?"

"Definitely ready," Jack said, taking the offered hand. "We'll bring some back for Baby Tooth."

"Assuming we can find her again," she laughed in agreement, before leading him out the door and into the morning sun.

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[closed] All these places have their moments

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