wintershepherd | [TUSHANSHU] IC Inbox

Yeah, of course. I'll be right here.

I won't be long.

[She knew his place as well as he knew hers, as evident by the cocoa, and it took almost no thought to navigate her way back up the stairs to his console. Placing the order wasn't difficult. They recognized her, and even knew roughly where the treehouse was located.]

[Payment was on her, she insisted, and if a white-haired boy happens to open the door, tell him that it's on her tab.]

[Once everything was set up, and the estimated time of delivery given, she headed back downstairs to find Jack.]

Twenty minutes, they said.

That's pretty good.

[ The response is automatic more than approval of the time frame. ]

I should check on Tony, too. They were friends, this Tony... well, the last one too.

[She nodded absently, and moved to reclaim her tea.]

Is there anything you need me to do?

[He'd gone along with her temporary break. There was no point in arguing any further about things. Right then, all she could do was play the role of Supportive Friend as best as she could.]

[ She'll get a faintly depreciated smile in return, though it's not because of her. ]

There's nothing you can do.

[It wasn't Jack's fault, but she felt a small pang of sadness when he told her that. Feeling utterly useless, she simply lowered her gaze and nodded in understanding.]

[There was one last thing, though. It wasn't much, but with things still awkward between them, and Jack still in such an obvious funk over yet another loss...it was the only thing she could offer him besides her company and a free dinner:[

When you come back...do you think...you could show me what you've written? In the book.

[She could only hope he wouldn't get mad for her intruding on something he might have considered private. Still, she had to offer. Truth be told, she really was curious.]

You don't have to if you want to. I was just thinking...you've worked so hard on it, somebody else should see it. Remember with you.

[ Jack seems surprised by the request, but he nods. ]

Yeah... sure.

[The relief in her eyes was visible.]

Great.

You go check in. I'll wait for the food and set everything up in the meantime

Oh... I didn't mean right now. He may not want company but if he does, I'll want to be able to stay.

[...oh! It just went to show how out of it she still was, that she misinterpreted. Since he had abruptly brought Tony up the way he had, she'd assumed...]

[But no, this was good. He was still thinking of others, but he very much wasn't avoiding her attention, either. Her expression softened, and to her faint surprise, she realized she had to resist the urge to kiss his cheek for being such a wonderful person as always.]

Who wouldn't want your company? You are the coolest kid on the block, you know.

And speaking of...want to head into the living room? We can sit on the couch, and you can read to me.

I'm pretty sure Tony is used to being the coolest.

[ While Jack had never gotten the same sort of connection with this Tony, some things were constants. He headed into the living room and waited, though there was still a little more distance to his posture than normal. ]

It's not written in... you know, paragraphs or anything.

[Baby steps. So long as those steps led her over to the couch, where she made herself comfortable on one side of the cushions, she could accept their unusually slow pace.]

As long as it's not written in Russian, I think I'll be fine.

[ Jack opened the large book and flipped through it, settling on a page for Kara; a mutual friend to both of them. Rather than reading it, he just moved the book so that it was sitting across both of their laps and let her peruse the page.

There were notes of her residence at FI-1B, and dates of arrival and departure... but there were also quotes, a little swatch of colours (red, yellow, blue, white). It was more like a scrapbook than a logbook, Jack's halfway decent sketch of the Super symbol she had worn. There were quotes of things she'd said to him ("You'll just have to trust me. My father was a devoted scientist. It was a miracle we ever got him away from the lab.") and things that had stuck in Jack's mind. ]

[She recognized the name the moment her eyes fell upon it, and smiled in nostalgia as she initially scanned over the page. It was all there. Her symbols. Her speech patterns. Even some of her habits.]

I never realized you two were so well acquainted. [She shifted slightly in her seat to get a better vantage point of the shared page. Along the way, her arms lightly brushed against Jack's, but with the pendant secured on her neck, she barely felt it.] If I'd've known, we could have hung out more together.

She and I used to go on girldates all the time. It was fun.

Well...

[ He hedges slightly, looking at the page. ]

We were friends, I wouldn't call us close.

I'm pretty sure you could make friends with almost anybody, Jack.

[Give or take.]

[...it was one of the reasons why all these disappearances were hitting him so hard, she figured. He had so many more faces to lose.]

Just making up for lost time, that's all.

[ He turned the page to Finnick's entry, running his hands over the sketches of the first lures they'd made together, unfolded the small certificate that showed them joint owners of the fishing shop. ]

[She fell silent at that, particular as the next page came upon a name that...well, she hadn't known Finnick. Not personally. But she knew what the guy had meant to Jack, if his continued loyalty to the fish shop were any indication.]

[For once, she had no comments to make. It wasn't her place right then. Sure, she had helped Jack out at the shop once or twice...but this memory was all his. He could choose to say something, or remain quiet until he turned to the next name.]

[ Jack flips a few more pages: Victoria's, Bryn's, Raylan's, Victor's and settles on Cassandra's. He hadn't known the quiet girl very well but the spirit had always felt that she understood some aspects of him that he hadn't expected anyone else to share. ]

I haven't decided if doing this makes sense or not.

It's important to you. That's what matters.

[Her eyes flickered over the page for a moment before recognition set in.]

...I remember her. We danced together at one of the first formal balls I went to here. She was...sweet.

[Translation: they may have play flirted a little]

Maybe. I don't know.

[ He doesn't know if it helps him at all, the weight of doing it is heavy. But now that he's started, it feels wrong to stop. ]

Yeah, she was.

You want to look through the rest of the book?

Edited 2014-03-30 04:36 (UTC)

[A similar thought was running through her mind. Zatanna tended to prefer living in the present, not the past. But what Jack was doing...taking the time to remember...she was starting to understand.]

Sure.

Only if you want to, of course, but...I kind of like this.

[ Jack passed over the book to her lap, just as a knock sounded and he stood. ]

That's the sandwiches, I'll go get them.

Alright.

[It was a good thing she had previously made the deal with the store regarding payment, because right then, she'd forgotten completely that she wanted the meal to be on her. Her eyes remained focused on the book, even as Jack got up and headed for the door. continuing to absently scroll through the pages while taking in each and every name. Some, she recognized. Some were so foreign to her she had to wonder if their paths had ever crossed.]

[By the time he returned, however, he would find her staring down at a page she had only just turned to, and a name there was no way she would be able to forget.]

[Dick Grayson]

[ In retrospect he should have realized that she was likely to come across that page, or maybe even seek it out, but then hindsight was nearly always perfect. Setting the wrapped sandwiches down on the table, Jack sat beside her and reached out to touch her arm... but stopped before making contact, instead pulling his hands back into his hoodie pocket. ]

Zatanna...

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