[Closed]

[backwordscompatible]

Characters: Zatanna & Batman || Zatanna & Robin
Date: Following the events of this, this, and this.
Location: Wood Sector
Situation: Zatanna has a little birdie to talk to about everything going on...but first, there's a bat to glare at.
Warnings/Rating: potential discussions of trauma, violence, burn victims, and all that other post-Zombie Apocalypse fun stuff.


She was going to go gray before she turned 15.

Zatanna barely had time to recover from the news Annabeth gave her, before some red-haired idiot decided to plaster her smug face all over the Network, along with the Helmet of Fate.  Which meant the Emperor would know it had been stolen.  And that Zatanna wanted it back.  Then, to make matters worse, some anonymous bringer of joy announced they'd been carrying a potential second Zombie Epidemic in the making.  And that they could have already infected others.  Because yeah, sure, why not?

Her head was aching and her stomach churned and she needed to talk to Robin.  He needed to know about Eva, and she needed to know he hadn't holed up again after reading that text.  She'd left her window open all day in hopes that he might show up.  No luck.

What she hadn't expected was the person who did; the swish of the cape alerted her to his presence, eyes widening when she recognized its source.  Then, Zatanna Zatara did what any sane teenager would do when coming face-to-face with Batman himself.

She glared.

Comments

[cowled]

[He says nothing, tacit permission that she can ask whatever it is she wants to know.]

[backwordscompatible]

[Oh, that list was endless. But for right now, stick with the one thing still partially relevant to this conversation.]

Does Robin know?

[She knew the two of them were pretty close. Robin obviously trusted enough to be willing to share just about everything on their end. And since this was about her, she needed to know if he'd ever made any attempts at 'warning' him. However discreetly.]

[cowled]

No. It's none of his business.

[The answer is without hesitation.]

[backwordscompatible]

It kind of is a little, actually.

[Though no small part of her is inwardly sighing in relief.]

[cowled]

If you want him to know, tell him yourself. But it isn't any more relevant to him than it is to you. The actions of the Zatanna I know have nothing to do with who you are as a person, or who you might choose to be.

[... trying. to be comforting.

not particularly succeeding.

but trying anyway.]

[backwordscompatible]

Except for the part where they made you forever suspicious of any me you ever meet again.

[Trying. To not still be bratty about this.]

[But she does have a point.]

[cowled]

I'm no more suspicious of you than I am of anyone else.

[You an be a brat all you like, you really can't fight him on that point.]

[backwordscompatible]

Well, now I feel less special.

[She will, actually. And thank you for the permission.]

[...except, no, she wouldn't fight him on it.]

I don't know. I have to think.

This...isn't exactly something you hear every day, you know?

[cowled]

No.

[He raises an eyebrow. It's not quite obvious beneath the cowl, but there is a general sense of 'are we done here'? in his overall posture. He came to check up on her, and has accomplished that goal. If she has nothing further to say, he's going to leave.]

[backwordscompatible]

[It takes her a moment. She hasn't become fluent in bat-speak yet, and the translation has to filter through before she realizes what he's nonverbally asking her.]

...hey, you're the one who showed up here in the first place.

Come to think of it, why did you show up here? [She highly doubted it was so he could explain himself.]

[cowled]

I heard what happened during the Jiangshi invasion.

[unspoken: 'I wanted to make sure you were all right. Belatedly'.]

[backwordscompatible]

[...oh. That.]

[Well, since they were already taking the honest route:]

Which part? The part where your son pulled me out of the water, half-dead, or the part where he then blew up someone close to both of us right in front of me?

[cowled]

Both.

[... Hey, he's Batman.]

[backwordscompatible]

[Yes, he is.]

[So she shrugs in response, out of a lack of anything else to do. Just because she wasn't as repressed as he was didn't mean she was about to go spilling all her most inner thoughts on the matter.]

What do you want me to say about it? It sucked, and I'd just as soon never have to witnesses something like that again...but I also have this nagging feeling it won't be the last thing that happens to us here.

[Translation: she's about as okay as she's ever going to be]

[cowled]

Hn.

[Well, there isn't much he can say to that, is there? She may not have made her peace with it, but he knows personal avoidance when he sees it, and there's no reason for him to push the issue.]

Next time you're in trouble, contact me. I'll come if I can.

[... and with that he's just going to. Pull one of his Patented Batman Disappearing Acts.]

[backwordscompatible]

...why does he always have to have the last word?

[Despite everything, she manages an eye roll as she gets up. Well, that was fun.]

[Still...as if one heavy conversation hadn't been enough for the day, there was still one more she needed to have....]