call it like you see it

[bossymarmalade]

[Ring Txt] will you always love meeeeee?

[Txt] IIIIIIIIIiiiiiiIIIIII wiiiiill alwaaaaasys looooove yoooooou!
[Txt] I’m glad Mar’i helped though, don’t worry so much Kyle.
[Txt] so, Belgian waffle to make Steph jealous y/y?

[Ring Txt] yes ma’am <3
[Ring Txt] make sure to get photos with you rolling in Belgian waffles and send it to Steph!
[Ring Txt] & send the nekkid version to me!
[Ring Txt] I PROMISE I won’t look at it in a public area this time

[Txt] Can do!
[Txt] No. Too sticky :P

Waiting on her breakfast order to be delivered to the room, Zee calls up Kyle, “I know I said I’d call after breakfast, and I’m waiting on breakfast now…I wanted to say hi.” she grins, sprawling back on her bed where she’d been sitting, “I’m supposed to be having a meeting with my manager, but I don’t think he’ll mind if we take a quick break. Say hi, William.”

Zee turns, holding out the phone to her manager for him to say hello. He sits across the room from Zatanna, with a sizable stack of papers piled high for him to review with her. When her phone is held out William stands, and moves to take Zee’s phone from her, asking gently, “May I speak with Kyle?”

"No, just say hi." Zee frowns, turning back her phone and pressing it firmly to her ear, "William says ‘hi’, Kyle." she waves a hand at William to shoo him away but he does not move from her side.

Kyle is sprawled out on the couch, feeling a bit tired but in that good way where the day was productive. For all the awful, out-of-control things happening around him, Kyle was actually feeling pretty…grounded. He looks over at Ramsey, who’s on assignment - a scavenger hunt that Kyle set up around Zee’s apartment. Clemente is the ClueMaster. Thor is the Helper. Kyle is the lazy dragon atop Mount Sofa. The prize is a new set of gel pens, for Ramsey to use with his autograph book.

Kyle smiles at the boy rummaging in the hamper of clean towels, knowing in his heart (if not consciously) where his feeling of groundedness was coming from.

( butter and syrup )

charm school

[bossymarmalade]

[Ring Txt] Hi Zach it's me Kyle
[Ring Txt] Zee's boyfriend
[Ring Txt] I gotta favor to ask?

[TXT] Why?

Kyle blinks in surprise at Zach’s quick albeit ornery reply. If the situation was less serious, he’d be kind of amused. As it stands, he texts back without any of his usual humor.

[Ring Txt] I need your help protecting a little boy
[Ring Txt] Manhunter’s child
[Ring Txt] will you help me?

[TXT] I guess that depends on what you’re expecting me to do.

[Ring Txt] wanna stop by? I can explain in person?
[Ring Txt] Zee’s gone, Zach. she went on tour and she’s
[Ring Txt] and I need your expertise
[Ring Txt] I’m in her apartment in San Fran
[Ring Txt] por favor, Zatara

[TXT] Expertise. Don’t patronize me.

Zach rolled his eyes and let out something like a sigh mixed with a scoff, but pulled himself off the couch anyway. “Manhunter’s child” meant Mia’s family and it wasn’t like he could say no — unless he wanted to get in trouble that was…

[TXT] Yeah, fine. I’ll be there in a bit.

( dropouts )

a both arms outreacher

[bossymarmalade]

Mari sneezes violently on the ground floor of the Queen Tower, almost shooting the bag of wasp jelly out of her mouth where she’s currently taking down her second bag as she hauls three thick sacks of assorted groceries and another two of napa cabbage inside. Sick people should not be required to grocery shop, Mar’i thinks grumpily, before she remembers she actually snuck away from bedrest and illegally committed this act.

The woman watches Mar’i’, carefully, from where she is standing, across the street of the Tower. She’d attempted to speak to the guards on the bottom floor, but heightened security and her garb and.. well, the fact that she had absolutely nothing to prove who she was, it left her the night before on the bench outside of the tower. Now, it was daytime, nearly evening again, and the sandwich was mostly gone, and still, she hadn’t seen him.

Mari makes a hissing noise around her drink when Security Guard Sasha (Farland, not Fierce, alas) offers to take a bag or two and continues carefully loading them onto her good hand. One trip or bust. Granted, the weight was no problem at all, but maneuvering all this cabbage with all that fish sauce and Pororo crackers. Maybe a few boxes of milk cakes. Mar’i doesn’t really care, until she happens to glance behind her to make sure no one else has entered the building behind her and sees…a woman far across the street. Really intensely watching. Mar’i blinks, then makes her way to the elevator, glancing back every few steps.

The woman moves across the street, not looking at the traffic around her—luckily, it’s Star City, and they swerve around her—moving towards the building when she sees that the young woman is entering the one elevator that hasn’t been used. All day.

Mari is definitely getting followed by the woman now, and as she approaches, Mar’i nods her head for Sasha to lock the doors. But nearly immediately she belays that order, dropping the wasp jelly from her mouth to yell ‘WAIT’ at the guard. Mar’i squints, as the woman comes closer, because she is certain she’s never seen her before, but she looks incredibly familiar.

( from here everafter )

life or something resembling it

[bossymarmalade]

[ENCRYPTED TEXT] Ollie said you needed to talk.

[text]: yeah but i meant actually talk
[text]: i just
[text]: this is going to sound stupid
[text]: i need to hear your voice okay

Bruce doesn’t respond to the messages.

Instead, he picks up his cellphone and presses the single button that dials Jason, holding the phone up to his ear as he walks to the window of his bedroom looking out at Gotham.

Jason presses the answer button on the first ring and presses the phone to his ear. “Look, Bruce, I know you don’t like talking and you probably don’t wanna talk to me, but—I just need you to say something, anything.”

His words come out in a panicked rush as he grips at his phone so hard his knuckles go white.

The pain in Jason’s voice makes Bruce’s lashes lower, until his eyes are shut, his breath filling in a slow hitch of his chest as he siphons out every droplet of thought and feeling from the words the younger man proffers. It makes his heart wrench in his chest under an invisible force, his stomach turning hard and cold.

"Jason, are you alright?"

( sliding back time )

daughter of time/truth was the only

[bossymarmalade]

A luminous body will appear more brilliant in proportion as it is surrounded by deeper shadow.

It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

Kyle wrote the two messages on the tiled wall of the shower, staring at the bright green lettering as he slowly soaped up under the hot water. Ramsey and Thor had long since been put to bed: they had a boisterous re-enactment of their favorite scenes from the first Harry Potter book, where Ramsey was Harry and sometimes Hermione, and Kyle was mostly Ron, but he also did a great impression of Quirrel. The apartment was quiet; and although Kyle liked to think he could imagine a hummmmmm of magic from the spells Zach recently installed around all the rooms, the Lantern was in effect, alone with his thoughts.

"It’s fortune cookie shit," Kyle said out loud and then felt a little sheepish. He was living in the city that invented fortune cookies after all. No need to be derisive about San Fran’s heritage. And besides, it wasn’t just fortune cookie. There was something…specific about these quotes. With nothing else to distract him - no strange Zee to rend his emotions into pieces - no distress and fears over recent events - no deep, painful worrying over his friends - he couldn’t help but turn these familiar sayings over and over in his mind, trying to ootch some sort of insight out of them.

No. ’Familiar’ wasn’t the right word. More like ‘memorized’ or ‘saw once on a slide or in a book’.

( chiaroscuro )

hunting grounds

[bossymarmalade]

Kyle arrived with Roy in the city of Istanbul, opting for zeta tubes by way of the Watchtower. They followed the coordinates - thank goodness Roy knew how to use GPS to track what Zee had given Kyle, and it led them to a park in the old city of Sultanahmet. A beautiful park, and if Kyle was paying attention he would’ve noticed it; it resided near something that looked like an old palace, and one side littered with cafes. Parks and cafes, Zee’s favorite things. Kyle spent two hours searching each cafe until Roy finally convinced him how fruitless the hunt was, suggested they find a place to stay, regroup and create a plan of action.

Roy was right - Zee wasn’t here. They were wasting time. Istanbul was large, loud and busy, full of tourists and residents. People everywhere, the energy was high and constant and overwhelming. Kyle felt his eyes straining, trying to seek out one blonde, scarved head among a sea of scarves.

In the morning, Kyle left Roy at the hotel to investigate the old fashioned way - using his old government contacts, looking through the news for any strange (magical) incidents. Suiting up as Green Lantern, Kyle returned to Gülhane Park. He hovered above the park grounds. His ring glinted dully in the morning sun, the air filled with the sounds of morning prayers.

[Ring Txt to Zee] I’m here, honey

Zatanna sits in Gülhane Park, on a warm bench in the sunlight. She fiddles with the silk scarf draped over her hair to pass the time. It never sat right to her liking. She is alone, aside from the familiar book and a small brown bag.

Her eyes glancing upwards, following the lighted green glow of the Lantern in the sky. As she quietly watches him, she opens her brown bag to eats her slice of bread smeared with honey and jam. A makeshift breakfast from the hotel she’d been hiding in, under her estranged Aunt’s first name. Her typical playful names (Nancy) just wouldn’t do for a booking with Kyle poking around.

As she watched Kyle looking for her, she could feel her anticipation building. The way he scanned over the park, like a lost puppy trying to find his home. It was almost pitiable. She enjoys this cat and mouse with him, particularly being the one in control of the conversation. By the time his text reaches her, she’s already halfway through writing out her reply:

[Txt to Kyle] I can see that.

It’s a wonder he hasn’t spotted her by now. But that was just how she wanted this. Hiding in plain sight.

( whose face you wear )

the great wide open

[bossymarmalade]

ENC TXT: Hey, you got some time to check out an incident that’s in your neck of the woods? It looks to have some meta involvement, so I can send a Leaguer to accompany

[text] Meta involvement? Think it’s Hatter related? Send me the coordinates and I’ll meet whoever you got in mind there.

Ollie calls up the exact coordinates and sends them blipping over to Tim, following it up with a message.

TXT: Just outside of a town called Independence. It’s got the earmarks of Double Smile, although it seems more extreme than it used to be. That’s in line with the second generation Hatter drugs, worse than the first round.
TXT: Head over ASAP; the partner I’m sending you can get there much faster. Don’t have to tell you to take care.
TXT: But take care, Tim.

The cowl is barely in place when the coordinates arrive. Tim opens the message, reads it over twice and memorizes them as he memorized the different drugs Mad Hatter distributed so far. He is familiar with their names and appearance, but not their influence on people. Double Smile, the white powder, he won’t even know the difference between the first and second generation effects. “I hate surprises,” he mutters.

[text] Independence. Double Smile. Got it. On my way.

"Stay. Don’t eat anything." He points a finger at the ferret gazing his way.

[text] Don’t worry, Ollie.

Is all he sends before rushing out of the barn.

Ollie read Kyle’s texts, slowly turning beet red in the face. He managed to answer immediately, if tersely:

ENC TXT: FINE. Lian’s there too so I might as well be. Send me the address, I’m sending you the coordinates.
ENC TXT: Don’t drag your heels.

[Ring Txt to Queen] I KNOW

Kyle fumes, but the minute he explains to the kids that Uncle/Grandpa/Dad/family relation Ollie is coming to hang out with them, he is all smiles and cheer. Lian of course is ecstatic and Helen is pleased and Ramsey keeps talking to Thor. All is well in the Green Street Daycare run by Green Lantern. It’s got a fun sorta ring to it (no pun intended).

When Queen arrives, Kyle gives him a good glare - particularly when the older man boasts on and on about how him and Zee spent oh-so much time in this apartment when they were young and wild - and heads out, following the coordinates.

( the metal man )

do it for the vine

[bossymarmalade]

Tim is determined to find them, or one of them. He doesn’t need both to find out what they forced on Cass. It’s Mad Hatter related, he knows that much. It’s not enough to sate his curiosity however. And so he spent the last few days tracking down Poison Ivy and Inque, trying to crash their party but somehow always missing them by the minute. Not tonight though. He sees her, Ivy, and once he’s certain her inky companion isn’t in sight, Tim sneaks closer to catch her off guard.

Poison Ivy has been a little frustrated the last several days. The drug is coming along, but not nearly as quickly as she wants it too, and Inque’s disappearance is a little unnerving. Just when she was really starting to like her new partner in crime too. Well, she knows Inque can take care of herself, so she’s not overly worried. Still, she’s never completely off her guard, her vines everywhere in her new, less obvious hideout, working as security. As soon as Tim gets a bit too close for their liking, the vines shift, looping around his feet, trying to trip him up.

Fudge. The greenery at his feet has spotted him and if it has, so has Ivy. He should really work on his stealth, this is getting quite embarrassing. Tim reaches for one of his discs and cuts the vines, using his bo staff as an aid to jump over a pile of squirming greens. “Alone tonight, Ivy?” he asks landing on a fair distance to her right, eyes darting between her and her precious flora.

To be fair, Ivy’s only noticed him because the vines did first. They’re very helpful that way. She turns to face him almost lazily. “I’m never alone,” she says with a little, devious smile, her vines again creeping forward, more slowly this time, careful to sneak up on Tim from behind, the ones before him simply twitching menacingly. “Though I do believe that my business partner has gone missing. You wouldn’t be interested in telling me where you Bats have put her, now would you?”

( not for the branches )