video;

[yer_pretty_good]

[The video turns on and it shows a whole lotta nothing. Just an empty rec room. And then:]

DD!

[When Ocelot’s voice shouts the name, a large dog that appears to be a wolf-mix with thick grey fur and an eyepatch over one eye comes into view of the camera and stands there wagging its tail eagerly.

Ocelot’s gloved red hand comes into view of the camera and points to the room.]

Search!

[The dog barks twice and turns around to quickly move about the room. It sticks its head behind a couch and pulls out a red ball, then drops it and follows its nose to another spot, inside a potted plant, where another red ball is retrieved. The dog moves expertly around obstacles, retrieving red balls that were hidden all over the room. When the last one is found, DD walks back to Ocelot and stares up at the camera with the final red ball in its mouth.]

Good boy, DD.

[DD barks again, dropping the ball and turning happily in a circle with his tail wagging. The camera then turns to show Ocelot’s face.]

You see that? Expertly trained. I’m willing to bet DD here is worth more in the field than half of you, so maybe you should get some lessons from our defense personnel.

[That’ll give Miller and Snake something to do.]

If you think you might need DD for some field work, you can ask his handler, ‘Venom’ Snake.

Comments

video > action

[noitatnacni]

[He'll get it eventually. Although the walk to the rec room is enough time to make Zatanna wonder if this might not be a bad idea; after all, it's not exactly like the version of the spell she's done before.

But way too late to take it back now. She's got her pride as a teenaged superhero to think about, right?

So she shows up in short order, recognizing Ocelot from the video.]

Hey. Everything set up?

Re: video > action

[yer_pretty_good]

[Ocelot is reclining on a couch when Zatanna arrives. DD is curled up at his feet, but lifts his head to look at her when she comes in.]

Yup. The balls are hidden.

[He waits to see what she intends to do.]

Re: video > action

[noitatnacni]

[The dog at least gets a smile; he's definitely a cutie.]

Okay then. [Now, how to approach this. Zatanna's got two different spells she can try, but both have potential flaws. Just flat out trying to levitate the balls might not work because she can't see them when she looks into the room, and locating them is tricky because there's no magic to trace. Still, she got a good look at them when Ocelet put on his demonstration. And if Robin were here, he'd definitely be saying she could handle something like this.

So she takes a breath, then lifts her hands out in front of her to physically direct the mystical energy of the spell, and closes her eyes.]

Etacol dna etativel, rebbur sllab! [Tying the spells together, searching for what she can see in her mind and making the things float once they've been found. It's a gamble, but one that pays off when one of the balls floats up out of its hiding place a few seconds after she speaks the spell, then another, and another still. Zatanna repeats the words, strengthens the effort, until by her count she's found just as many as Ocelot had hidden before.]

There. [And there's no hiding her pleased grin as she turns to face the man, a hand on her hip.] How's that going to let you sleep at night?

Re: video > action

[yer_pretty_good]

[Ocelot waits to see what will happen. When she starts chanting some gibberish, it's clear there's some sort of magic at work here. The four red balls that were hiding are pulled from their spots just as she had planned.

DD looks really confused by the display and gets up to start barking at the floating objects. There's some crazy witchery happening to his chew toys and he's not sure how to feel about that!

As for Ocelot, when it's all done, he lifts his gloved hands and claps a few times.]

I'll sleep secure knowing that if I lose my keys, I know who to ask for help.

[That's a joke. He didn't bring his keys through the Ingress with him.]

But that was pretty good. You should put on a show. Talk to that morale officer on board.

action

[noitatnacni]

[Yeah, joke or not? Still kind of a jerk.]

You know that's not all magic can do, right? [With a wave of her hand she ends the spell, letting the balls fall where they may.] Real magic, not just the stage stuff. And when I say that I can help protect people? I mean it. I've done it before.

Besides, my dad's the performer, not me. [The Amazing Zatara, who isn't on board the ship, or giving shows in Zatanna's world anymore.]

Re: action

[yer_pretty_good]

[When the balls drop DD immediately goes racing after one that rolls across the floor.]

I believe you can help protect people. But do you know how many people are on board this ship? And new ones are arriving every month.

Can your magic keep them all safe? All the time?

[Even if she said it could, he wouldn't believe it.]

As a soldier, I've walked into too many villages full of innocent people, all dead. Slaughtered. Their army couldn't protect them in time, and they had no knowledge of how to protect themselves. You start thinking every life is yours to protect, you're gonna be pretty crushed when you find out you can't protect 'em all.