[01st December 2010]

[Wizards Sanctum, Off the Quays, Dublin, Republic of Ireland]

'Well, great, trouble just wasn't my imagination' I thought to myself with a yawn as I glanced at the sleeping forms resting against my shoulder, and snoring on the chair with the pop out leg rest respectively. The television was on, and the morning show on it plus the daylight coming in through the warded, but open due to the curtains been drawn, windows into the living room of my apartment sanctum. It was a mistake perhaps to have given Artemis directions to the door, and mentioning I was free, because now I had to very carefully, and gently so as not to wake the sleeping form of Zatanna as I lowered her down to the cushions.

'Oh just be glad Constantine didn't join the party, and Gemma and Cassie were off with their parents by the time they turned up'

It was important to remember the likely very angry Justice League member, who was hopefully right now still asleep and believing his daughter was...not here basically. A glance at the clock on the television, and one on the wall to be sure with my sleepy head, had it pegged at just after nine o'clock; so around four in the morning if dear old over protective magical daddy was where he was supposed to be. With another yawn I padded forward silently, bare feet over the tiles of the kitchen towards the bathroom, and hopefully a shower before these two woke up. Oh, and shake the unhappy warning dreams I'd been 'gifted' of something bad coming down the line, probably in Gotham though I'd have to communicate with my patron properly later.

"Lock" I muttered after closing the bathroom door and shedding my clothes to get under harsh cold water streaming out of it that cleared away the cobwebs in my head effortlessly. Because really my guests were not beyond such things, and right now I was rather distracted by turning the tap on the shower to bring up the heat to stop the momentary shivering from the cold. Stop the cold, and look at the mystic tattoos emblazoned into my arms now that my illusions and polymorph was down for the moment and I push power through them; excellent craftsmanship, certainly better than I could manage or others on this plane probably, from that wayward and fallen Dabus.

Especially when having to do so under a complex illusion, largely so the extent of the protections wouldn't be apparent to the rest of my allies. I let the magic wane allowing the protections and storage sigils and runes vanish to leave again unblemished flesh as I gave my head one lash shake after feeling appropriately awake and clean. Everything seemed to be working fine in relation to this particular trade, though this had been the first piece of true privacy to check them and it would be a time before they fixed into place. I sighed in relief as I dried myself off and through my towel around my waist after another quick inspection of those on my back, and then off to my room to get dressed...

Polymorph. Disguise Self.

...even the faint noise of shower, doors opening and closing, and me re-entering the kitchen shoes tapping softly off the floor didn't serve to wake the two sleeping beauties. That apparently came from the smell of coffee being brewed reaching their noses, after a bit of a snort Artemis was blinking awake and looking about in confusion, before turning around to blink tiredly at me. I gave a wave from behind the kitchen counter.

"Morning sleepy head, though I figured it'd be the mage who didn't travel with us who'd wake first"

"Ccccofffffeeeeeeee"

I pulled out another mug and began to place the desired sustenance within it for the zombie like girl giving a yawn and moving to get out of her chair "Your wish is my command it seems, make it strong I'm guessing?"

The grunt I took for a sign of the affirmative, filling up the mug with instant coffee and boiling water to hand over to my blonde hair teammate as she silently padded over countertop divider "Ughh... thanks Skulls, probably not best idea after a long tiring mission"

"Well, maybe, but the company was certainly good to relax with after a long stressful mission..." I mused back with a smile at her half-asleep posture as she slouched against the counter and began to sip at the proffered mug of the steaming hot coffee. Truth be told it had been nice to unwind, Zatanna's constant shop-talk and questions on the Outer Realms aside, and at least I could go home later today after a quick break from all the issues of work and whatnot "...and now how do you feel like getting something to eat?"

"Ohhhh that'd be nice, did I ever say you're my awesome best friend Skulls?"

"Flattery will get you nowhere..." I chuckled back enjoying the taste of my own mug of morning wakefulness "...largely because I don't have any food in the house..." beyond emergency rations but I wanted something more tasty "...due to being away on missions, so we can head into the city and get a bite to eat? I'll buy...so maybe flattery will get you somewhere"

A tired grin, then a yawn as she rubbed at her face, blonde hair sprawling down messily around it "Do you have a shower, can I use your shower, do you want to j...eh do you have a shower?"

I jerked my thumb behind me and down the hallway "First door to the right, if you want a change of clothes second room on the left has stuff in the drawers...something might fit"

She yawned again, punching my shoulder as she padded around the counter, mug in one hand and the other trailing along the counter"Oh going all out to impress aren't you Skulls, I should stay in this hotel more often..."

"wat hotel...dad?" came sleepily from the couch...followed by a minor, and stoic, apparent freak out as Zatanna snapped up to sit at attention after catching sight of me and Artemis across from her, Oh, and seemingly realise that this was not her home, and her brain likely attempt to try figure out what was going on. I shouldn't laugh, though I did smile at her and give a friendly wave to her frozen form.

"Hey there sleepyhead! Fancy a coffee? Artemis is about to use the shower and then we were debating getting breakfast. Oh, and to answer your questions; my apartment, Ireland, and the reason your attempt to teleport or whatever you just muttered isn't working is due my wards resisting them as foreign magic"

"Oh..." she blushed, going a deep crimson before standing up and waving hands about in what was probably some sort of apology judging from the words coming alongside them "...oh, my deepest apologies, I didn't mean to start casting within your sanctum without permission and I'm..."

"Skulls stop bullying Z, and Z no magic without Skulls permission" I was told by the blonde standing beside me, earning me another punch in the shoulder "...no freaky magic stuff till I get my shower you two!"

"This is my sanctum ya know, I'm the boss here...so off with you archer girl"

"Yeah, yeah, going, going" she muttered back with a pout "...and no peaking of this beautiful, soon to be naked, archer girl by the way"

"I can behave myself Artemis, now git!"

"Only cuz you don't know what you're missing!" echoed out as I sat on the chair before me and resisted face-palming at the uncomfortable course the conversation took at the end. The last thing I needed was such comments from my younger teammate, and in the time it took me to fell annoyed an embarrassed looking Zatanna had crept over towards me to sit on the other side of the counter. No, more apologetic now she was up close, and I waved it off.

"Hey relax, I understand the confusion and we're friends so accidently casting isn't a problem, and Artemis is just being Artemis so ignore her. Oh the bright side; we'll go for breakfast in a bit, but for now...Coffee?"

"Please..." she replied as I leaned over and grabbed anther mug and repeated the process after levitating the kettle into my hand too lazy to get up for it "...I hope...sorry...I wasn't too bothersome last night? And...sorry for imposing on your hospitality"

"Well unlike some you apologised, but you're welcome here don't worry so I'm glad to have had the company after everything. It's more your father I'm worried about honestly?"

That earned a glum look as her gaze locked firmly on the cup I was offering her "Ohh...Dad's going to kill me..."

"No, ground you forever maybe while being very tempted to deal with me I imagine. The bad evil mage tempting his poor innocent baby girl towards the dark side..." that jerked her wide eyes up to look into mine in a 'oh yeah, Dad might be mad at all of us' look I guessed "...so I'm all behind him not finding out and grounding you after setting the Justice League on me"

"He...he should think I'm staying back in the Mountain..." she admitted biting her lip a moment "...I, uh, cast a spell that makes my presence seem to be there along with an illusion of me being asleep"

"Yeah...unless he checks the records of the Zeta Tube that brought you here of course;- but let's hope for the best on that happy little fact. We'll claim you stayed in a SHIELD approved B , as technically you did a bed of sorts, and you are getting a breakfast in a bit, as the backup plan. Sound good?"

Rapid nodding of her head that caused her black hair to bounce about before she gave a sigh of relief "It does sound good to me yes"

"And we even have a, true, cover story with you promising to help me write up a few notes for children on how not to accidently kill themselves with idiot attempts at magic. Well that and the little enchanting project we were talking about last night, still think you want to help out with that?"

Enchanting, or at least the imbuing of magical energies into tools for people that wasn't always going to be the creator, wasn't something Zatanna and her father did much of. Or at all once you got outside of minor protective charms at least, while I wanted to create items on the level of what I wore myself for the rest of the team; but not something I had a huge amount of time to put towards. Not with everything else from training, to sorting out my actual relationship with the Team and League, teaching my apprentices, and, oh, working upon my own magical gear here and down in Tropico.

...and that seemingly brightened someone's day at least "Of course! It was really fascinating to talk about it all last night, and Dad never really taught about that, and I'd be great to be able to help the others while learning as well"

I smiled at that, the enthusiasm was infectious it seemed "Glad you think it's a good idea in the light of day as well as when been hopped up on soder and other sugary treats. And really, thanks, if you can convince your Da to help with the information booklets it'd save me so much time you know. Doctor Fate's great for detail, but not for beginners and those we want discourage, and John's...well mystic arts do not a skilled writer make when one's a sorcerer seems like"

'Plus the whole being put in the mental for a while generally isn't the best recommendations for an official document despite his advice being very good' I thought but not saying it, largely because I wasn't sure how much she'd been told of Constantine. Beyond 'stay the fuck away from him' anyway, because apparently that had been made very clear to her...and had incited her to rebel against it to team up with the lunatic's slightly mad, and potentially villainous, apprentice. Aka me, John Fortune, known as Tim the Enchanter, Magical Tentacle Justice-chan in parts of Asia apparently, and That Skull Faced Lunatic Who Turns Hot Evil Chicks Into Cats on two forums I'd seen. People annoyed me sometimes.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" Artemis asked wondering out, drying her hair with a towel and wearing casual clothes she'd obviously raided from the guest room wardrobes as I'd suggested. Nothing too fancy, but the tracksuit top and bottoms seemed to suit her somehow. I nodded at Zatanna who was just finishing off her coffee, and clearly debating to follow our teammate's idea of getting a shower and changing clothes. Maybe cleaning them if she stepped outside and felt like wasting her magic to do that instead of more mundane things like I had.

"About writing up pages for work, and more importantly from your point of view I imagine, working to magically empower one of your bows like we said last night...maybe that armour too"

"Oh cool, will you do it for everyone on the team?"

"You and Connor first probably, Robin doesn't want anything not approved by Batman, Aqualad has Atlantis, M'gann...well Martian and don't want to give anything till she knows better, and Kid Flash..." I sighed "...is still trying to classify magic in his head so does not want. So you oh glorious Pink Arrow..." I grinned alongside Zatanna at her huff and pouting at the name "...get to be our little test subject for the magical gear!"

--