John Constantine (hell_blazer) wrote in dc_heroes,
@ 2010-11-24 07:58:00

Entry tags:

After Work Martini
John Constantine stops at the corner store near the motel he's staying in and picks up some beer and tea, just in case he has company this evening. He left Zatanna a message, inviting her to his temporary home in Coast City, even offering to buy her some of the best take-out she's ever had.

He gets home, takes over his trenchcoat, then locks the door and waits to see if she'll show. In the meantime, he goes over his wall of pictures and information, looking at photos of Ferris, Jordan and Bruce Wayne as he tries to see how it all fits together.

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	mistressofmagic 2010-11-24 05:04 pm UTC (link)
	Zatanna got John's message when she was done with her show for the day. She mulled over the invitation in her mind, debating if she should go before deciding why the hell not. She could use a little fun. Zatanna showed up at his doorstep in a puff of smoke, a bottle of wine in hand. She knocked on the door. (Reply to this)(Thread)

hell_blazer
2010-11-24 05:22 pm UTC (link)

John pauses in his musings to go and open the door, smiling as he sees Zatanna.

"Hello Annataz." John says, his British accent lingering on the vowels just a bit. He calls her something different almost everytime he sees her, though he does like calling her "Fishnets" as well.

"Come in." he says, letting her into the small motel room that.smells of cigarettes and beer, but is still immaculately clean besides.Calling the place a dive would be elevating it four notches, but there's a method to Constantine's madness.

"You look great, luv. And I see you brought party favors. How was the show?" he asks.

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mistressofmagic
2010-11-25 03:12 am UTC (link)

Zatanna grinned. "Hello John," she said, stepping into the motel room.

She surveyed the room. She's seen worse looking hotel rooms. Besides, the room doesn't really matter has much as who's currently staying in it.

"You clean up pretty nicely yourself," she said. "I only thought I'd play the role of the good guest and bring a little something for us.

The show was good. Though it lacked a certain someone in the audience."

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hell_blazer
2010-11-25 03:21 am UTC (link)

"Was someone missing her number one fan?" John asks, grinning. He pulls up a chair for the lady then sits down in a second one opposite her.

"Work ran over longer than I expected, but I got to watch a yuppie.scumbag get the taste slapped out of his mouth for tryin' to make unwanted advances on some woman while his date was watching." John chuckles.

"Better than the telly, it was. Should we start in on your drink or mine first? Lady's choice."

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	mistressofmagic 2010-11-25 03:59 am UTC (link)
	"Maybe," Zatanna said with a grin as she sat down. "I have grown used to seeing a familiar face in the crowd." "So it was overall, a decent workday, then?" She asked with a chuckle. "Hmm...how about mine? Start with something a little classy." Not that Zatanna didn't object to a beer every now and then. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hell_blazer 2010-11-25 04:15 am UTC (link)
	"I can do classy." John says. "Conjure us up a couple of glasses?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressofmagic 2010-11-25 04:19 am UTC (link)
	"Be my pleasure," Zatanna said with a smile. "Owt sessalg fo der eniw." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hell_blazer 2010-11-25 04:39 am UTC (link)
	"I will never get over how hot that is." John says, taking up his glass of wine. "So, tell me somethin' about you that your fans can't learn from Googlin' you on the net." John says. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressofmagic 2010-11-27 01:11 am UTC (link)
	"I can say all sorts of things backwards for you, if you play your cards right." She winked at him. "I'm a yoga addict," Zatanna said. "Surprisingly, few people know that about me." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	hell_blazer 2010-11-27 03:23 am UTC (link)
	"What do you know? Cards is my best game." John grins. "Well, I'm now convinced that yoga benefits the body." John says, giving Zatanna the once-over. "I'm a man of Tantra myself, as I mentioned previously. Do you enjoy yoga, Zatanna?" he asks. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	mistressofmagic 2010-11-29 03:43 am UTC (link)
	"All the better for you then." Zee grinned at him. "It does," she said. "I love yoga. It's very relaxing." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

hell_blazer
2010-11-29 04:01 am UTC (link)

"You don't look like you ever have trouble relaxing, if you don't mind my sayin' so." John says cryptically.

Just then a question comes into his head, and he's surprised he hadn't thought to ask it before now.

"Let me ask you something, Zatanna. Why do you do it? The showbiz route, I mean. You're one of the most powerful magi in the world. You could do anything you want with your power, but you spend your time doing magic shows for any sodding idiot in the world you likes to look at a woman in skimpy clothing." John says.

"What's the draw in it for you?" he asks.

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mistressofmagic
2010-11-29 04:12 am UTC (link)

"Honesly, John? You're the first person to ask me that. Seriously.

I do it because...compared to some of the other things I've done over the years, it's far less stressful. It's a nice escape, to go out there and do a show for people, and never worry about disappointing your audience or messing up.

I've done some things I'm not proud of in the past, John. But this is one I'll never have to worry about letting me down. It keeps me sane, in a way."

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hell_blazer
2010-11-29 04:20 am UTC (link)

John nods as Zatanna's explanation. Wielding mystic forces /is/ stressful and nothing like people see in the movies where you can just do something and there are no consequences attached. If it were /that/ easy, everyone would use magic.

He couldn't really imagine someone like Zatanna doing anything that wasn't upright and moral, so the idea of her doing just that intrigued him.

"Can I ask what you did that you think isn't worth bein' proud of?" he asks, sipping his wine.

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mistressofmagic
2010-11-29 04:31 am UTC (link)

Zatanna stared at her wine.

"I erased a supervillain's memory," she said. "He had done something...terrible to a friend of mine. And he said he was going to do it again, no matter where we locked him up. At the time, it seemed like the best thing to do, and I wasn't the only one on my team that suggested I do it. I didn't think there was any other choice."

She had lost a friend over that, in Bruce. It was something she knew that he'd never forgive her for.

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hell_blazer
2010-11-29 04:42 am UTC (link)

John simply stared at her.

"Okay...so what did you do wrong?" he asks. John's moral code doesn't function the way most people's does, so he sees erasing some bastard's memory for hurting a friend as just desserts.

"All you did was erase his memory. Compared to what you /could/ have done to him, he got off with a slap on the wrist. You're much nicer than I would have been." John says.

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	mistressofmagic 2010-11-29 04:52 am UTC (link)
	"You're the only person that thinks that," Zatanna said. "Even the people that backed me now think I was in the wrong. It just sucks, really. I lost a valued friend's trust that day." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

hell_blazer
2010-11-29 04:56 am UTC (link)

"Then I don't think this person was really your friend, Zatanna. You did what you had to do to help a friend. He said he was gonna do it again and again, right? That's what you call a rabid dog.

There's only one cure for rabid dogs, in truth, but you found a pretty decent stop-gap, in my estimation." John says, taking another sip of wine.

"Then again, most people who say their your friends only mean it until they get what they want. Then they don't really care what happens to you either way." John says.

"They use you up, then throw you under the bus and move on to the next mark."

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	mistressofmagic 2010-11-29 05:02 am UTC (link)
	"That is actually very enlightening, John," Zatanna said, taking a sip of her wine. "This friend of mine had very high moral standards, we'll say." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

hell_blazer
2010-11-29 05:07 am UTC (link)

"People with high morals are either really ineffective or really dirty in truth. You go around puttin' all kind of limits on what you'll do and won't do, people start figuring out how to push you. And when they know they can push you to a certain point before you back off, that's when they've got you." John says.

"So, you did what you had to do, Zatanna. You had the power to do it and it's not like you go around doin' it every day, right? So no harm, no foul." John says.

"Did you do it in fishnets?" he asks slyly.

	Later... mistressofmagic 2010-12-09 05:50 am UTC (link)
	There clothes scattered about the room. Zatanna rolled over in bed, opening her eyes. Yes, John did give her several reasons to use some backwards-speech. Several damn good reasons. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	Re: Later... mistressofmagic 2010-12-13 04:46 am UTC (link)
	Zatanna had noticed the tattoo and the scars alright. They didn't particularly bother her, but she still stared at them all the same, out of fascination than anything else. "Nothing's wrong," she said, before still noticing the rain. "Should it still be raining, John?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	Re: Later... hell_blazer 2010-12-17 01:12 am UTC (link)
	"The clouds were full. It'll be over soon enough." John says, turning over. "The view inside is better than the one outside." he smiles. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	hell_blazer 2010-12-31 01:15 am UTC (link)
	-(END)- (Reply to this)