"You do realize that they're hypothetical questions, don't you?" Not being able to remember his own Sorting made it much easier for the Master to be flippant about the process. ""You're not actually going to be expected to open a bar or resolve romantic triangles. Open-ended bribes are never a good idea, though. Even if no one uses it to put you into an awkward position, you come off uncreative."
"Maybe in this universe. Different dimensions work differently. I've been tossed into different places before and asked strange questions." Sometimes that her life depended on, one way or another.
"Uncreative?" She gives a little shrug. "Fine. I'll give you--" She pulls that top hat of hers off again, rather than say it backwards, and digs around, taking out one of those little toy dogs that yip a few times, do a backflip, yip a few times, do a backflip, and so on and so forth -- and hands it to him. "This. You can name him whatever you want, but I was going with Fluffy. You look like the kinda guy that would name a dog Fluffy, by the way." Way to let your mouth run, Zee.
"I do?" Just when he thought there were no new accusations that could be leveled at him. "Never thought about it, actually. There's nothing really symbolic or evocative about 'Fluffy', though. Not even any wordplay."
"A little, yeah. Anyway, that's what makes a name like that special. No thought put into it, no meaning other than the obvious." Well, maybe if it had been a real dog and had real fur. In this case, it was just a poor imitation of the animal. A mockery, even. "It's a toy dog, not your firstborn child." She'd hope that he wouldn't want to name his firstborn Fluffy. That would just be setting up a kid for years of misery, even if it would prepare him or her for the years of the inevitable suffering that would follow into adulthood.
John just leaned in the doorway, arms crossed, and watched and listened, a slight, nostalgic smile playing about his face. All right, so this wasn't who he'd been expecting to find here when he'd arrived. But he sure as hell wasn't going to complain.
He was still covered head to toe with butter from his own recent unpopping. His hair was full of it and sticking up crazily in all directions, hell, the shit got into everything. She'd laugh at him, or maybe accuse him of taking perversion to a whole new level, but he could live with that. A shower would wait. It was a damn fine thing, seeing Zatanna again
( ... )
"Uh." She knew that voice anywhere. His voice was unmistakably him, always somewhere between amused and calm, cool, and collected. Looks like he had a good head start on what was up here, if not being the cause of it (which didn't seem likely, but considering who it was...).
"You know, you'd think you'd bother visiting -- calling, even. But no, you show up in creepy alternate dimensions where people ask a nearly-omnipotent woman about cheese rather than if she'd like to do a show for charity or, I don't know, help solve some problem that could only be done with magic." She looks him up and down. Normally now would be the time that she'd cover her face, rub her eyes, and force the kind of hug on him that somewhere, deep down, always meant more than what he was willing to see she was offering him. "And you're covered in something. That you don't seem to be in a hurry to remove. So I guess offering to remove it is... probably out of the question."
She really wasn't sure that she wanted to know what it was. Really, really. Still,
( ... )
"Well, you know me, Mr. Reliable. This place seems to pull people in willy-nilly. If there's a pattern, nobody's figured it out yet." He glanced down at himself and shrugged. "I'll get to it. Was going to, in fact. I just heard something interesting going on in here and thought I'd check it out first."
Oh, he knew. He might be a bastard of epic proportions, and a bit on the thick side when it came to women generally, maybe, but he wasn't a complete idiot and he certainly wasn't carved out of granite. There'd been more than one moment of weakness over the years when if Zee had been there at the time, making that implicit offer, he wouldn't have had the strength to turn her down
( ... )
"Wouldn't be the first time something like this happened. I go by the rule of the thumb 'if the Stranger isn't here, everything will be okay.'" Which was often right. If the Stranger showed up, it meant that definitely what was happening was going to happen (or could be averted) and that it was important. Zee was, after all, the Phantom Stranger's right-hand woman. "Always something interesting when I'm involved, I can promise that
( ... )
Ozymandias was bored and tired of waiting for the hat to show up, his own sorting was still in progress but he had found a nice loophole, he could at least wander in to other sorting rooms, just not any where else.
When he heard some one answering the same questions he had he hovered off the ground and let his wings beat a few times before he found himself in the doorway. Wings folded back behind his back as the young man put his feet on the floor, he cleared his throat to let the woman know he was there and then grinned.
"What no NC-17, that's when you get all the good, gory stuff." It was apparent by his tone the bird boy was joking.
Lucky him. Zatanna hadn't figured that out yet (which was clear by the vaguely annoyed expression she wore upon the young man's entrance, perhaps confusing him for whomever her captors might have been).
He had a sort of cute smile and he looked a little strange -- so he was up her alley in terms of friendship, so she cans the frown. "Well, I've seen enough of that -- real and otherwise -- that I'm not including it in the deal." At least he said 'NC-17' with 'gory' and not another word. "I'm Zatanna." She approaches with confidence and swagger, but still at a slow pace, despite the fact that he was the one that had come to her and not the other way around. "Nice to meet you. Or, I hope it is."
Ozymandias for intents and purposes looked human, save for the chestnut covered wings on his back, so strange would have been considered a compliment, since most of the time he got freak or abomination, being a genetic experiment in his world was not exactly a good thing. Zatanna wouldn't have to worry about any thing other than the mention of gory, Ozymandias was not the lewd type of young man.
"I don't really know if it takes the deal seriously, I haven't met it yet. But, from what Death and that Baron guy said it's a magic school and you Ma'am have just applied." Oz laughed and did a mock type of bow "I would say I'd give you the grand tour, but apparently till this hat comes along, we just hang out in these rooms and talk to people."
When he finished his explanation Ozymandias just shrugged his shoulders as if to say what can you do.
Zatanna would have, frankly, immediately told him that it was good and called herself strange, as well. The wings obviously didn't bother her (all that time with Hawkgirl, Hawkman, and Zauriel, as well as others, had left her immune to wings).
"Mmm, well, I hope it goes well for you, at least." School. Insert the gritting of teeth. She was too old for school. Hell, she'd barely attended the first time around, opting to travel the world and perform with her father and mostly be taught by him. "Well, at least the company isn't too bad. But seriously, just 'Zatanna'. Ma'am makes me feel like I'm getting up in my years." She takes a seat and gestures for him to do the same.
Pharaun raised an eyebrow, sighing a little. "I find it's best not to pay too much attention to the questions. They have little to no actual bearing on anything, never mind the actual topic at hand. They certainly don't relate to the houses at all. Only your name and the bribe really make any difference."
He smirked slightly. "I'm afraid the author of the application is... well, let's just say he doesn't spend much time in what most people would consider a 'normal' frame of mind. Though what 'normal' is for a sentient hat I'm not quite sure."
"Hum, really? I didn't think they did, but still better to give my all rather than shrug it off." She'd been in worse situations. Situations that involved needs or the removal of her mouth via magic (let's pretend that never happened, nor the subsequent nosebleed, hm?), and a million other little intergalactic, interdimensional things that could make anyone else -- even a native of her world -- get a literal splitting headache.
"Suggesting that I spend my time in a 'normal' frame of mind then?" A... sentient hat? You know, somehow, that really seemed to make sense. "I'm Zatanna," she starts, holding out a gloved hand as she takes a few steps closer. He didn't appear to be an immediate threat, so she might as well try being her usual friendly self.
"Pharaun Mizzrym, at your service." He took her hand and bowed deeply. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Zatanna."
He brushed his hair back over his ear as he straightened up. "As for a 'normal' frame of mind, that's up to you. This place itself certainly doesn't fit any definition of normal."
"Just 'Pharaun' or 'Pharaun Mizzrym'? I'd rather adhere to your preferences." Plus, there was all of that cultural nonsense. She might offend him if she went just for what she assumed was his given name. Zee gives his hand a little shake before retracting her hand. "Likewise, either way." Or, hopefully. Most people didn't toss their true intentions into the air immediately, after all. He could be here for any number of reasons aside from just a quick hello.
"Yeah it... doesn't seem to? At least from what I've seen thus far." Which wasn't much, but still enough to get the 'magic' gist of it.
Happy to be back to his gruff old self once more, Bobby was out for a wander, looking for Kurama when he heard a voice in the sorting room. The girl was pretty, and even he could feel the magic roiling around her, making his skin itch. He walked in and glanced over her application.
"Don't worry about the application, kid. It ain't supposed to make sense and they always ask stupid questions like 'prove you ain't useless'. You're at a magic school," the hunter said by way of explanation.
"Huh..." She peers at him a little, head tilting to the side, "Magic school? That's... odd. I was under the impression that the Spectre had destroyed most of them, regardless of dimension." Still, 'school' was laughable. She was considered the strongest magic user of her world (if not one of the strongest people in her world), outside of the Spectral Force, Shazam, Zeus, and the Phantom Stranger. Essentially, the Quintessence. Of course, Zatanna wouldn't mention this, even if someone could sense it. One of the unspoken rules of magic: don't play all your cards in the first round.
"Nice of you to call me 'kid,' though. No one's called me that since I was in my teens. Makes me feel kind of nostalgic." At just under forty, she'd still lived a very world-weary life. She had seen so much and lost most of it, people and otherwise. "'m Zatanna. And evidently, I was not expecting this." She smiles widely, kindly.
Bobby shrugged. "Looks like your specter friend missed one. But it ain't much of a school when you come right down to it. Classes only seem to happen when the professors remember they oughta have em. There's a pretty impressive magical library if that sorta thing interests you."
The elder hunter smirked. "Yeah. This place'll do that to you. Bobby Singer."
"He hasn't been a friend of mine for a good, long time." Not since he was possessed by Jim Corrigan and Hal Jordan. Things got worse after that... "Well, guess it isn't all that bad. The people seem friendly enough." And a magical library. She could practically inhale books. Zatanna more often than not had a voracious appetite for knowledge, especially if it could be useful at a later point in time.
"Surprises aren't always so bad." She shifts toward him, holding out a hand. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Bobby."
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"Uncreative?" She gives a little shrug. "Fine. I'll give you--" She pulls that top hat of hers off again, rather than say it backwards, and digs around, taking out one of those little toy dogs that yip a few times, do a backflip, yip a few times, do a backflip, and so on and so forth -- and hands it to him. "This. You can name him whatever you want, but I was going with Fluffy. You look like the kinda guy that would name a dog Fluffy, by the way." Way to let your mouth run, Zee.
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He was still covered head to toe with butter from his own recent unpopping. His hair was full of it and sticking up crazily in all directions, hell, the shit got into everything. She'd laugh at him, or maybe accuse him of taking perversion to a whole new level, but he could live with that. A shower would wait. It was a damn fine thing, seeing Zatanna again ( ... )
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"You know, you'd think you'd bother visiting -- calling, even. But no, you show up in creepy alternate dimensions where people ask a nearly-omnipotent woman about cheese rather than if she'd like to do a show for charity or, I don't know, help solve some problem that could only be done with magic." She looks him up and down. Normally now would be the time that she'd cover her face, rub her eyes, and force the kind of hug on him that somewhere, deep down, always meant more than what he was willing to see she was offering him. "And you're covered in something. That you don't seem to be in a hurry to remove. So I guess offering to remove it is... probably out of the question."
She really wasn't sure that she wanted to know what it was. Really, really. Still, ( ... )
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Oh, he knew. He might be a bastard of epic proportions, and a bit on the thick side when it came to women generally, maybe, but he wasn't a complete idiot and he certainly wasn't carved out of granite. There'd been more than one moment of weakness over the years when if Zee had been there at the time, making that implicit offer, he wouldn't have had the strength to turn her down ( ... )
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When he heard some one answering the same questions he had he hovered off the ground and let his wings beat a few times before he found himself in the doorway. Wings folded back behind his back as the young man put his feet on the floor, he cleared his throat to let the woman know he was there and then grinned.
"What no NC-17, that's when you get all the good, gory stuff." It was apparent by his tone the bird boy was joking.
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He had a sort of cute smile and he looked a little strange -- so he was up her alley in terms of friendship, so she cans the frown. "Well, I've seen enough of that -- real and otherwise -- that I'm not including it in the deal." At least he said 'NC-17' with 'gory' and not another word. "I'm Zatanna." She approaches with confidence and swagger, but still at a slow pace, despite the fact that he was the one that had come to her and not the other way around. "Nice to meet you. Or, I hope it is."
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"I don't really know if it takes the deal seriously, I haven't met it yet. But, from what Death and that Baron guy said it's a magic school and you Ma'am have just applied." Oz laughed and did a mock type of bow "I would say I'd give you the grand tour, but apparently till this hat comes along, we just hang out in these rooms and talk to people."
When he finished his explanation Ozymandias just shrugged his shoulders as if to say what can you do.
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"Mmm, well, I hope it goes well for you, at least." School. Insert the gritting of teeth. She was too old for school. Hell, she'd barely attended the first time around, opting to travel the world and perform with her father and mostly be taught by him. "Well, at least the company isn't too bad. But seriously, just 'Zatanna'. Ma'am makes me feel like I'm getting up in my years." She takes a seat and gestures for him to do the same.
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He smirked slightly. "I'm afraid the author of the application is... well, let's just say he doesn't spend much time in what most people would consider a 'normal' frame of mind. Though what 'normal' is for a sentient hat I'm not quite sure."
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"Suggesting that I spend my time in a 'normal' frame of mind then?" A... sentient hat? You know, somehow, that really seemed to make sense. "I'm Zatanna," she starts, holding out a gloved hand as she takes a few steps closer. He didn't appear to be an immediate threat, so she might as well try being her usual friendly self.
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He brushed his hair back over his ear as he straightened up. "As for a 'normal' frame of mind, that's up to you. This place itself certainly doesn't fit any definition of normal."
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"Yeah it... doesn't seem to? At least from what I've seen thus far." Which wasn't much, but still enough to get the 'magic' gist of it.
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"Don't worry about the application, kid. It ain't supposed to make sense and they always ask stupid questions like 'prove you ain't useless'. You're at a magic school," the hunter said by way of explanation.
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"Nice of you to call me 'kid,' though. No one's called me that since I was in my teens. Makes me feel kind of nostalgic." At just under forty, she'd still lived a very world-weary life. She had seen so much and lost most of it, people and otherwise. "'m Zatanna. And evidently, I was not expecting this." She smiles widely, kindly.
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The elder hunter smirked. "Yeah. This place'll do that to you. Bobby Singer."
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"Surprises aren't always so bad." She shifts toward him, holding out a hand. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Bobby."
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