tushanshu_logs | [OPEN] Only know you've been high when you're feeling low

Characters: Zatanna & Jack
Date: Approximately a week-ish into March
Location: Park, Wood Sector
Situation: After basically avoiding each other due to Bottled-Up Awkward and Guilt, best friends reunite and make all the apologies.
Warnings/Rating: Possible discussions of Manipulation, Sex, Mind-control, and/or Death.

It was the sound of kedan children that stopped her in her tracks.

Specifically, the laughter and joy in their voices as they played some cross between frozen water tag and Red Rover. A game she had certainly never played before, and was suddenly questioning why. It looked fun. Fun enough for even a casual onlooker--particularly one who continually protested against any knowledge of how to approach or interact with anyone under the age of ten--to find themselves having fun just watching.

Before she realized it, she was even smiling.

The weeks had been long for Zatanna. After all the excitement of the Bottle, the subsequent calm proceeding it had been...eery. Considering everything. She had expected more. More outrage. More frustration. More blame. But what she found was almost none of those things, save for the continued internal battle waging within. A battle that talks with many of her friends, lunch with Kyle, and even a visit to Superman had yet to assuage. Especially the battle with Superman, whose continued presence in jail only further fueled her deepest fear that maybe...just maybe...it hadn't all been mind control.

She shook her head almost immediately, pushing those thoughts from her mind. No, this wasn't the time to dwell. This was the time to try and clear her head. That's why she'd gone for a walk in the Wood sector, after all. Enjoying the brisk fresh air and trying to get in some social interaction while, metaphorically and literally, putting one step in front of the other...

...except, when she turned to continue doing just that, she completely missed the small patch of ice on the sidewalk. Or, rather, her eyes did, but her foot slid almost immediately, throwing her balance and causing her to head towards solid ground at an alarming rate.

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He stepped back almost before she finished speaking as soon as he felt the shiver, crossing his arms in front of him. "Right, yeah. My bad."

Jack cast around awkwardly for something else to say, having almost forgotten what situation had prompted this meeting.

Not really what she was going for, but hey. At least he wasn't trying to take off again. Or lapsing into another series of apologies. Because if he did, she would...

...

...well, it's a good thing he didn't.

The sound of laughter drew her attention once more, and she glanced over her shoulder to find the same group of kids still playing. The very reason why she had stopped in the first place. Which ultimately led to her crossing paths with Jack. Because of course. In hindsight? Not the best place to go when trying to avoid him.

She thought about making a mental note of that for next time, except for the part where she didn't want there to be a next time.

"So..." The silence was just as awkward for her, but she didn't want to part just yet. Hands coming up to absently rub at her forearms. "This is probably going to end up being obvious...but how come you were in the park?" In the right place at the right time?

Jack lifted a hand in the vague direction of the business quarter. "I was talking to some of the shopkeepers, about people who've... left," he said slowly. "Making sure that they're still willing to take on new arrivals. They want to know why people just stop coming to work and I... can't tell them."

She glanced that way, knowing fully well what he was talking about. It wasn't a secret. More and more disappearances. Sometimes, it seemed like there were announcements being made nearly every week. Multiple names at a time.

"Why not? They must know what's been going on."

"Because they want to know why, just like we do. They're worried, what if it stops being limited to the Foreigners? The kedan aren't originally from here either."

He sighed, frustration at the situation audible. "Nobody has any answers to that."

The part about the kedan not being from here...actually, that wasn't even new. Eva had mentioned it to her, a long time ago. She'd simply forgotten until Jack brought it up again.

"What do you think is happening?" She didn't expect him to have the answer any more than she did. But that wouldn't stop either of them from theorizing. "Do you think...with the last Emperor gone...we're all just going home, one at a time?"

"No," Jack answered with a surprisingly firm tone. "If Eshai was the only one who could have kept us here, there's no reason to have not sent us all back as a fail safe when she died. From a practical standpoint, there's nothing to be gained by us leaving one by one as opposed to all at once."

The abrupt resolution in his voice brought a smile to her face. He sounded...assertive. Confident.

"So who do you think we have to bribe around here to get an extension?" Because she didn't want to leave. Not yet.

It was easy -- almost too easy -- to fall back into their usual banter, driving home just how forced the distance they'd both been keeping from each other really had been. The divide wasn't entirely erased; there was a physical distance there yet, both of their postures closed.

"Still working on it," he said.

A distance she felt the moment she realized she was holding back from lightly bumping shoulders in retaliation.

"Well, work faster. Or I start breaking out the glacier jokes."

"Right. I'll bump it to the top of my schedule."

He wavered for a moment, then gestured in the general direction of their treehouse. "I'll... see you around."

A moment to realize what he was gesturing to, before she nodded with a faint smile. Of course she would move back in. Later that day.

"Unless...you want some company?" The offer was tentative. Unsure if he was trying to get away from her after the emotional roller coaster they'd just gone through. Or if he thought the same of her. "I don't have any major plans right now."

"... Maybe later," he replied. Despite the not-horrible way this conversation had gone, Jack still felt like he needed some more time to process everything.

That...actually hurt more than she thought it would. Considering the lingering tension between them. A slight, but noticeable pang in the pit of her stomach she tried to hide behind a mask of casualty.

"Alright." Glancing down at her feet for a moment, she shifted in place before looking back at him. "I'll be home later. If you need me for anything."

With that, she turned to head off. Making a mental note to let Korra know she'd be (finally) getting out of her hair as soon as possible.

If he realized her reaction, he gave no outward sign of it... but then, he'd been getting better at taming some of his more easily readable aspects. He only nodded to what she'd said.

"Okay. I'll be home after the fish shop closes for the night," he said, giving her an approximate time.

She nodded in acknowledgement of his words, but neither turned back nor said anything further.

Right then, she didn't trust herself enough to do either.

[OPEN] Only know you've been high when you're feeling low

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