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'Never hurts to check first.' He chuckles, a little half-heartedly. He'd had to fight so hard for even a shred of it, to have it given so freely, and so quickly, was... gratifying. Still new, in a way, especially from someone who wasn't from the Corps.

"Well, why shouldn't I?" That was the difference; she trusted him because he had yet to give her a reason not to. It had been earned, sure, but no harder than the Team. Or other members of the League here. "You've been more honest with me than almost anyone. Not to mention, you even talked me out of wanting to turn Ollie into a toad for what he did to Jack."

A playful exaggeration, of course. She didn't do toads. Too cliche.

At this, his smile was shy, grateful. This is was why he's taken to her almost immediately. She didn't force any expectations on him, and she'd taken him into her confidence as well without him feeling like he had to prove himself. That was something the League itself hasn't even done.

'Thought you'd do something less cliche than toads?' he teases, although his stomach had twisted at mention of Jack.

Edited 2013-03-18 20:56 (UTC)

"That's true. I must be slipping." She teased right back. "Any suggestions? I'm flexible."

'Hmmm... call me old school, but I've always wanted to see him as a rabbit. And then you can pull a hat out of him.'

It was almost impossible not to laugh at the mental image of a blonde rabbit wearing a green hood and carrying a tiny bow and arrow set. Glaring at everything and everyone.

"So much for avoiding the cliche. Though, isn't it usually the other way around?"

'And that, young lady, is why it's an excellent idea,' he laughs finally, and then munches some popcorn, feeling cheered even if he's talking about using magic on someone like this - what the hell was he doing?

'On second thought, ixnay on the turning him into anything-ay. Don't think he'd appreciate it very much.'

"That's kind of the point." She countered lightly, reaching for another handful. A moment passed in which she chewed before adding: "But you're right. Not unless he does something to actually deserve it." Again.

'Even then.' Kyle's reply is terse again, and sudden, and he knows she's going to notice and ask. He's always been an open book like that. Sometimes he wishes he wasn't. 'Okay, I have a confession. I... met. Jack. Before coming here, and I found out there's some kind of magic in the snow that made everyone... want to play in it.' He bites his lip.

She had noticed, in fact. What had meant to be an obvious light-hearted jab at a mutual acquaintance had turned...actually, she wasn't sure exactly what had Kyle so tense until he mentioned Jack. Jack and magic.

Even then, she was still partially in the dark.

"What are you talking about?" Her expression was genuine; thinking back, there had been nothing out of the ordinary about that day. Well, aside from the sudden appearance of snow. Oh, and the Easter Bunny showing up. "I thought it was obvious Jack was behind the snow. I mean, since when has it even felt like Winter around here?"

'I haven't been here as long as you have, I'm not exactly familiar with weather patterns,' he protested, a little feebly. 'I mean -- there was something in the snow, that affected how people were acting. It gave them... a little push.'

From the way he said it, a little push was clearly going too far.

It took her a longer time than usual to respond back. In the past, Zatanna probably wouldn't've even thought much of it. She knew Jack, and knew what he was like. 'A little push' sounded relatively harmless, if that's all it was, in the Spirit of Fun (pun intended).

...but...the way Kyle was reacting to it...combined with what she had already learned of events from his world...

"He never did anything to me." She started off cautiously, going with what she did know for certain. "We were ice skating together, and...I mean, yeah, sometimes I feel a bit happier around him, but that's because he's Jack, not because of any magic. I would know."

'I would know too,' he said quietly. 'I've been exposed to almost everything that could alter my mind or emotions, including the Anti-Life Equation. It's too risky for any external force to have that kind of an effect on me, however small.' All it took was one moment of reconsideration, one moment of self-doubt and--

'I don't think I spent enough time outside, but others did. I heard the kedan talking about it. And when I asked Jack...' he trailed off. 'You don't use your powers like that. I don't care if you thought it was harmless, it wasn't. The fact is that people didn't know he was even capable of affecting them in that way.'

"I did. And so did the others." Meaning the boys from her world. "Robin and Kid Flash and Aqualad. We had a snowball fight--which, in case any of them bring up, Aqualad and I definitely won." The details of said victory were still up for debate, but she considered that a mere technicality.

It was meant to be a joke, but she felt the mood taper off even before she'd finished her sentence. And she was torn. On the one hand, she did think whatever Kyle was accusing Jack of had been harmless. No one had gotten hurt. The entire day had been filled with nothing but laughter and fun. On the other hand, he was going on about mind control and Anti-Life Equations and she could tell that this was seriously bothering him. Batman-getting-mind-wiped bothering.

"What did Jack say when you told him all this?" She assumed he had.

Kyle's expression turns as black as thunder. 'He said that it just gave people a little help, when they might not realise they can have some fun. Makes it that way.' His voice grows steadily colder and flatter. 'And he said that if people here weren't so secretive and controlling, we wouldn't have needed it.'

He looks at her. 'I cannot let something like this just slide.'

A chill went down her spine when he gave her that look, and she visibly flinched.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Magic without permission, bad." It took a deep breath to steady her revolve. To say she had a deep, unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach would be an understatement. "Kyle, Jack's the Spirit of Winter. Fun is his center, and it's been a long time since people have been able to even see him. He probably just didn't realize what he was doing was so wrong."

She wasn't even going to touch the 'secretive and controlling' part.

Edited 2013-03-18 22:23 (UTC)

'That's no excuse.' He folded his arms. 'I told him I wasn't comfortable with that.' (Kyle had yelled it, actually.) 'And I told you people like us have a lot of power, and it's on us to use it properly. Most of the time it doesn't take an overpowering amount of energy, it just takes a little push, and next thing you know you're doing something you can't even fathom, let alone stop.'

In other words, Kyle thought the snow glitter was too close to mind-control, and he'd been through that too many times.

'Why does it feel like I'm getting yelled at, too?'

"You know...Batman said something very similar to me not too long ago." She tried not to sound too accusing, but the parallels were too strong not to feel the slightest bit annoyed. "He used it as justification as to why I needed to be watched. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm not saying he's wrong. I'm just saying that being told something like that to your face...it kind of hurts."

Your feelings aren't a factor. That's what she'd been told. She still disagreed.

'Having magic used on you like that kind of hurts too.' He was furious, and for the nth time he felt like he needed to talk to Damian, who understood so much better than most. 'It did affect people's emotions - they're all feeling bummed and they don't even consciously know why. Maybe you're not used to this, but I do not like the idea of anyone's free will being compromised in any way. Either you do it because you've been given a choice, or not at all.'

"Why are you yelling at me? I already know all this. I haven't done anything because I promised I wouldn't." Not in this world, at least--mentioning that one criminal she'd used a Truth Spell on didn't seem appropriate. Not in this context, and not when Kyle was two seconds away from bursting a forehead vein. She groaned softly, a hand rising to her head. "I'm just trying to say that if you tell Jack what you've told me in the past, he might understand."

He had to. Otherwise, they would have a serious problem on their hands.

'I - sorry.' He fell quiet and looked at the bowl of popcorn sitting there, almost mournfully. 'And what exactly do I tell him? Sorry the way you use that particular power is too close to mind control?'

It's bitter, and petty, but he was still angry.

Edited 2013-03-18 22:58 (UTC)

The apology helped. A little.

"Yes. If that's how you really feel. Only a little less accusing and a little more storytelling." She looked away as the second-hand guilt resurfaced. "You can tell him about what the Zatanna you know did. That sort of thing still bothers me, and 'I' was the one who did it."

'That's a League issue, and that's not for me to discuss.' He can't look at her. 'I wasn't even planning on telling you until B did, because while you have similarities with our Zee there's also differences.'

"I know that, Kyle. That's not my point." Although, the subtle reminder helped more than she let on. "You don't have to go into any details. You don't even have to say that it was me. Just tell him something so he knows why you're so mad at him."

...and that's when it hit her.

Kyle was mad at Jack. Because of something Jack did, intentional or otherwise.

That unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach? It just got worse.

"Kyle...what did Jack look like after you two had it out?"

He considers. Well, he had explained to the spirit that the counter argument was the same one he'd encountered from people who had him before. Just like Oliver used fear and that was something the Lantern could never accept, not completely.

When she asked, however, he looked at her, confused. 'The same as always, there was ice all over the floor. My ring went into automatic defensive mode.' He narrowed his eyes. 'Why?'

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