nifties | You let the Devil in 😈

Her end is something firm as well, but also breathtakingly sweet. She can feel that anxiety and frustration bubbling inside of John. Zari is determined to be a rock for him the way he has been for her. It seems to do the trick when he does pull back. Those beautiful dark eyes of his are so much clearer.

With someone else, she'd point the simple truth that this is not burden. Zari is happy to do anything with John. She could live a perfect life just staying in his space. Plans can be tweaked and delayed very easily when you are willing to pay up. John is John so she tells him in a way he can accept.

Her hands trails down so she can grip his between her thumb and index finger. Her smile turns impish. "I think you're going to make this up to me with interest so I'll go through every magic macguffin you have." She rolls back a shoulder. "Maybe we can grab some from your murder house. That ought to buy me a really nice massage."

John can't help but smile along with her, letting her hold his hands as he deals her that familiar dough-eyed stare of adoration.

"With interest, eh?" He can always tell when she's humoring him, but it's obviously done from a place of caring so it's easy enough to let go. As shameful as it is, he really needs to do this... and if they're going to get to their Grecian paradise, they really ought to start now. "Let us just start with the ones all over the floor first and see what that nets you."

Reluctantly, he slips his hands from hers so he can go back to his bag and sit on the floor. His expression briefly screws up before he dumps the contents so they can start over, making a huge (but necessary, in his mind) mess.

"So much interest. I better feel like a princess 24/7." Zari warns him as she goes to take a seat across from John. She truly has no clue what any of this is. Maybe talking through this will bring him all the way down. As much as she loves her time tables, what point is there of having a vacation if one of them is a nervous wreck the whole time?

She immediately begins to sort through his junk going from smallest to largest for lack of a better system. "Let's start with our goal. What are you hoping to achieve with these? Once we establish the outcome, we can sort accordingly." She accidentally slips into her influencer voice as she does it. In her defense, she likely has a whole series on organizing.

"Are you implying I don't do that anyways? I must be sleeping on the job." He winks at her before instantly looking nervous again when she starts touching his stuff. It takes another second or two for him to talk himself down and try to process her soothing ASMR voice for what it is. "Uh."

John swallows dryly and forces himself to sit up, surveying the items before him. There's more, there are mountains of dumb crap around this ship he could bring, but he's trying to make himself focus on just this pile. It helps that Zari's hands are his point of focus, though he could easily get distracted thinking about how they feel on his body... he needs to complete the task at hand first, pun most definitely intended.

"I wanted to bring my most powerful protection totems... just in case. But I should probably leave one behind." Then he remembers Gary. "Or multiple."

She smirks at his wink. Stop being charming!! She's filming a video... Oh wait. Zari is helping John fix his life. It's close enough to the same thing. "Glasses guy did unleash a hell hound onto the Waverider so definitely more than one." She continues to sort, finding it as soothing as ever. Zari waits until she thinks all the smaller items have been sorted to speak up again. She meets John's eyes, focused and determined.

"Here's how we'll do this: you look over five at a time, pick one item that fits the goal, and explain why you need it. If you convince me, I'll move it to my side. If you don't, we move onto to your side. We can figure out what we leave with who once we're done. Ready?"

"Yeah... that happened," he acknowledges, mortified not for the first time by his "apprentice's" behavior. The way she calmly meets his eyes and lays out a really simple plan to tackle this helps immensely and slowly he works himself up to a nod, wiping his clammy hands off on hopelessly wrinkled pants. John does his best to channel her energy, she may even feel a slight pull as he starts his deep breathing exercises so he can actually focus on the items before him.

He's silent and still for a long time, dark gaze darting from one thing to the next and then the next. There are a few that jump out at him, but he grabs for a strange ball that looks to be made from some type of metal except for its striking blue color.

"I'm taking this-" he announces, then remembers the exercise and looks down at the thing in his hands. He has to convince Zari of its usefulness before he can pack it which seems a daunting task. But it also makes him feel bad for not sharing his struggles with her to begin with - this is completely within her wheelhouse, he's only remembering as this drags on. "Klerksdorp sphere. Despite the funny name, quite handy... Some say they were planted in mine-shafts millennia ago by extraterrestrials. This one came from my very own hometown of Liverpool." Now for the actual useful part because he never could be expedient with the point. "It glows when danger is near. Allegedly."

She does feel it. Zari wonders not for the first time just how much John is capable of. Maybe one day she will work up the nerve to ask. Today she lets the feeling pass without comment. They have a job to do. The influencer takes the task at hand as serious as ever.

The story is neat even if it wastes time. She puts that in her pile of John facts. It'd be easy to look into him even if she wasn't on a time ship. Every reveal he gives is better than rushing for the answers. All that said, Zari's eyes narrow at the allegedly part. She has to make this into a teaching moment so he understands who is he dealing with here. There are no limits in organizing!

"Uh-huh." Zari says flatly. There's no warning ahead of time. She picks up one of the four that didn't make John's cut and whips it at his chest. Time to see if his thing actually detects danger. :)

Of course, she would pick one of the actually dangerous items to fling his way. He doesn't have time to be mad about it, instead his eyes go gold as he chants in Latin - a pentagram appearing before him summoning hellfire and banishing the idol that looked innocuous enough... but now it's been dispatched of anyway.

"Well, that narrows things down," he has to make light because his heart is still racing but he's also still a nerd in the end. But look, his stupid thing is pulsating with a weird otherworldly glow. A smug smile stretches across his face as his eyes go dark once more and the magic drains from his fingertips. "And my thingy worked. We're taking it." And Gary has one less weird thing to ruin so he can't even get sentimental about sending whatever the fuck that thing was to Hell. It's not like he'll never see it again.

That is actually much cooler up close. Zari's eyes pop open in amazement and delight at the display. It did have the intended effect so it's Zari's turn to look smug. "Fair enough. Just remember that we are not taking it unless it proves its worth. I don't take junk with me to paradise." She announces confidently. Zari gestures to the next five with one hand as she moves the orb close to her as agreed upon. "Let's keep things moving. What's the next draft pick?"

"Stop looking at me like I'm on display, will you?" he bickers without any heat, gesturing to all the many items before them. "You should just choose for me."

Since it seems to be ultimately her decision anyway. Honestly, it would help him in the end even if he gets what she was trying to do with this whole setup. It was sort of working before she decided to throw a goddess statue at his head.

"You're the one who put on a whole light show when all you had to do was catch it." Zari banters back at him. At first, she looks at him with open suspicion. Sure, she is on Team Magic, but she doesn't know about any of this stuff. It absolutely has to do with lack of effort. This kind of magic really isn't her thing as much as she's growing to love the totem. Zari doesn't hear John taking it back so she decides to get on this before he changes his mind.

"Fine, but you have to tell me if you've actually seen this do what it claims to do. I'm serious. We're not accidentally taking a rock with because some cousin of a friend says it repels evil spirits." She points at him in case he has any doubts Zari is serious.

Brown eyes roam over the items. She counts off by fives in her head and starts selecting randomly. By the end, Zari has six items. She scans them over one last time and smiles confidently at her choices. "Okay, are these all proven to actually work? Fair warning: I will aim for your head this time and take Ava instead if I actually hit you. One way or another, I'm going on vacation with a hot blonde." She smirks playfully... except she's dead serious. :')

"That artifact is unpredictable," he defends himself vaguely, rolling his eyes at her criticism of his item which totally worked!! "It's not a rock."

John sighs, crossing his arms across his chest and looking at the items she chose. Not the worst picks, but it isn't what he would have chosen... which admittedly makes it easier to narrow it down. He reaches over to grab an old tome she likely passed over because it looks heavy. It is heavy but John can make a case for it anyway.

"Can I trade these two for the book? I'll give them to Gary to keep him out of trouble..." It's an ancient demonology text he's literally never been without. He opens up a random page to show her a particularly nasty looking creature. "If we encounter one of these, wouldn't you prefer we know how to vanquish him?"

Zari narrows her eyes at John. Why did he give her the job just to contradict her?? She can't actually refute his argument. They might need a how-to guide based on what Behrad told her. She huffs again. "You can, but I feel totally undermined for the record." She's just saying!!!

Zari puts her annoyance aside to level with him. Communication is important even when they have their clothes on. "Are we seriously expecting to get jumped by a demon in 2048? Because Behrad said I had to keep the totem because and I'm quoting him, 'You're hella stalkable.'" She does the air quotes and everything. "Shouldn't they have moved on? Other you must be hella old. How much trouble could you still be?" It'll hit her in a second how dumb a question that is.

He nods once to concede her point. Like, he gets it!! But it's necessary. Unconsciously, he hugs the book to him like she might try and take it anyway. Yeah, he has issues that he's only starting to wade through.

"...I've never been on holiday before," he reminds her, carefully sidestepping her question with narrowed eyes.

Edited (one day i'll remember britishisms before hitting the button) 2020-09-08 01:31 (UTC)

Her expression softens immediately. She wants to be mad he's dodging her. John does look a little pathetic holding that book so she consoles him first. "Relax, babe. I'm not taking away your emotional support book." It does hit her how dumb that question is. If John is still around somewhere, he's absolutely a problem. Maybe they think they'll have a better shot at his younger self.

"And whatever at the rest." Zari rolls back a shoulder. "I'm not the totem master yet, but I've been working on some moves. We'll be fine." She moves to get to her feet. "Now can you finish packing so we can go on our sexy paradise vacay? I really don't want to replace you with Ava, but I will." Yes, that is a threat!!

John notices he's clinging to the book when she reassures him and he sighs, dropping it into his now-empty bag. Picturing Ava having twelve simultaneous anxiety attacks about going on vacation actually pulls a tiny laugh from him as he looks out at the mess they've made.

"Can you fly yet?" he asks, gently poking fun as well as genuinely curious. He's grateful she's taking the totem with her even if it means he has to trust everyone on board to protect Behrad that much more. That can't be any easier for Zari, he knows. "Yeah, I can finish up here. Thanks, luv."

She looks pleased by that tiny laugh. John is a hard man to elicit that kind of reaction from often. She treasures what she gets. Zari smiles wide at the question. It's not poking fun to her since she is genuinely proud of her efforts to do just that. It leaks into her voice as she rambles about her progress. "I'm getting really close. Right now I've got hovering down. Full mobility there in every direction. It gets tricky once you get about a story up, but I'm getting it." She nods confidently, hands darting excitedly from place to place as she talks. "It'd help if Behrad would chill a little. He still thinks we can't fly high up! Like duh of course we can. We literally can control the wind! We're gonna show up that Super family and prove we're the best superhero siblings out there." She laughs, pure and innocent about her ambitions.

Zari leans down to press a kiss to his hair. "Now hurry up so we can get going! Maybe I'll make time to show you those moves." She teases with a quick wink as she turns to leave. Zari knows she's a distraction and they have to get going! Also she'll spend all day talking his ear off about what she is learning with Behrad if he'll let her.

"That's the spirit," he encourages, one eye closing automatically as he accepts the kiss. "You can show me once we get there." Since he is genuinely curious how far she's gotten with it. He thinks they're probably to the point where all he has to do is separate them and they could both learn it on their own, not that he'd say as much aloud. He knows better by now.

"Just give me ten... twenty max to say goodbye to Gary." He throws the weird metal ball into his bag as well as a deck of tarot cards, what looks like a regular deck of cards and a strange talisman before she leaves the room. He's pretty sure he only has to pack maybe some underwear and some clothing to sleep in because he knows there will likely be a shopping spree in their near future. If anyone else was coming with, he might fight the idea, but it makes Zari happy so it's hardly a chore. Unlike prying Gary's spindly hands off of him will be.

A smart move. That's exactly what they need to grow. Neither Tarazi will realize that truth considering it took them years to figure out they were stronger together to begin with. Zari is back to huffing and puffing once again. Gary!!! Ugh that guy is always ruining things. That's John's baby duck so she doesn't give him too hard of a time.

"Fine, but don't let him get too handsy. That's my job." Zari reminds before for realsie leaving. She has to go bully Nate and Behrad into loading all her bags into the jump ship anyways. Zari and her phone will be waiting for him when Gary sets him free. Gotta hype up some secret content upcoming for Z Nation.

"I'll do my best, luv." Meaning he'll fail terribly, but here goes nothing anyway. He finishes his bag almost shockingly fast now that Zari helped him think about things in a different way. He slings it over his shoulder and it isn't even that heavy though he expects that to be different on the way home. John grabs two of the items from the pile for Gary before making a mental note to get Nate to clean up this mess. He was always nervous to have anyone touch these things before, but call him crazy: he kind of trusts these people.

As expected, it takes way too long to get Gary to stop crying. John knows he needs a break because he can't even manipulate his way out of here. He just pats the man's shoulder and waits for him to calm tf down. It's a shame he's so stupid, because he actually has natural talent for the dark arts. John can worry about that when he comes back. Everyone else allows him a brief hug or wave and allows him to get the fuck gone. It's only as he's walking through the jumper bay that he realizes he always skipped goodbyes before this, maybe that's why he's so exhausted now.

John spills into the ship, smiling softly at Zari being wrapped up in her phone. He peels off his coat so he can get to his tear-soaked shirt and starts unbuttoning it while he waits for her to notice him.

It's more than enough time to film an intro to the vacation vlog she is definitely producing. Definitely enough for her to keep the teasing going with her more avid fans. Zari puts the phone down at just the right moment to both bait her most passionate fans and catch those buttons coming off. Okay, this is going to be a great day.

She smiles wickedly. "Wow, John. I appreciate the initiative, but Gidget is definitely watching and I don't do-" And then she sees the snot. Her nose crinkles. "Oh, gross. Never mind." Zari's putting away her phone so she can go fishing through her purse for the wet wipes. Gary!!! Ugh.

He chuckles at her reaction as he starts working the shirt off his shoulder, perhaps drawing it out just a little for that initial reaction alone.

"Aww, it's nothing you haven't seen before, is it, Gideon-sweetheart?" he teases, winking as though it wouldn't be completely lost on the AI and crouching to dig another shirt out of his bag.

She follows that movement because Zari is weak at the end of the day. Sure, she's mapped out that shoulder with her hands and mouth, but maybe there's something she missed. She should look just to be sure!!

"I don't think Gidget wants his germs either." Zari points out flatly as she tosses wipes at him. Mature to end.

John makes a face as he drops the dirty shirt to the ground and pulls a clean identical one over his shoulders. He rises to his feet again without buttoning it and turns to face Zari again. Just in time to be pelted by disinfecting wipes.

"Ow," he complains without any heat, catching the package out of the air as he toes off his shoes and approaches her to at least get a little affection before they reach their destination. John makes a show of wiping his hands and anywhere he thinks Gary might have clawed at him before handing her them back, impressed by the sparks he still feels when their hands brush. He leans in without any further pretense, shirt gaping open as he presses his lips to hers, infusing gratitude into the contact as well as genuine excitement for their journey ahead now that most of the fear has drained away.

She does her best to suppress a smile. It never escapes her how willing he is to play along. The wipes drop to her purse as he leans in, enjoying the feel rush that comes when their lips touch. One hand hooks behind his neck to deepen it while the other skates down the line of his chest. It's not chiseled rock like every other man she's been with, but it doesn't make her any less hungry for him.

Their entire relationship has always had her accounting for everyone else even while trying to focus on John. For once, it'll be just them. It's hard to leave her baby brother behind for even a second, terrifying even, but she needs this too. She hopes he gets that through the contact because she's loving what he's saying on his end.

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