[ σиє ]

[unflagging]

[Voice Post;]
Hel--

[Can you get feedback on the Network? Yes? No? Well, there's a burst of static anyway. I mean, there's a reason he has been known to keep mostly away from PA systems and microphones.

The screeching static clears.

A cheery-sounding voice emerges--cheery, friendly, jovial, maybe even disarming. Friendly, friendly guy here. Clearly.]

Wow, wonder what that was.

[No, he doesn't wonder at all. Not that anyone else needs to know.]

Hello? Hello? Okay, okay. Sounds all right to me.

Snappy little phone here, I gotta say. I kinda like it. Top of the line, right?

Hey, but, I think I saw someone with one of those headsets in earlier too. There was a time when those things were quite the rage. I do recall it. You know, they called them "Jawbones" at the time.

[And he laughs, bright and dark at once, but he won't say what's so damn funny. Jawbones, though. It's funny. If you have to ask, you'll never know.]

Anyway, everyone--well, everyone who thought it was...cool, or who wanted to prove a thing or two about their money and their importance and ended up proving quite the opposite--wandered around with these things plugged in their ears looking a little like, well, like robots [more brightly dark laughter] and like they were shouting at thin air or phantom hallucinations like some kind of deranged madman when they were really just calling out long distance out over the airwaves. And nobody could tell the difference between galloping insanity and telephone calls. But how much difference is there, really?

That was the Zeitgeist then: everyone was always talking to someone who wasn't there.

[The slightest of intentional pauses. Can you feel him grinning on the other end?]

Are you out there?

Hi!
[//voice post ends]

[ooc: Oh snap! A godmod-h4x trans-dimensional inter-temporal semi-immortal wizard troll asshole all up in your City! A few notes: permissions post is here, first of all, for all permission, question, and 4th-wally (likely him 4th-walling your character, if you want that) needs. And second, he is at present operating under a new face and an assumed identity, as is common with him (hence the PB and stuff), so expect fakery and fake names for a while!]

Comments

[unflagging]

But we've only just met. I don't even know your name.

[hexappeal]

Zatanna.

[unflagging]

Pretty. Exotic. I like it.

Rory Fletcher. It's good to meet you...Zatanna.

[hexappeal]

A man with good taste! I'm always okay with that!

Rory Fletcher. It rolls off the tongue nicely. [Heh.] Likewise, of course.

[unflagging]

Oh, good. We've only just met. I'd hate to be off to a bad start.

I guess my mother had good taste too.

[hexappeal]

There's always a way to turn that around, genuinely or with a falsehood. Not that I mind either, so long as the flattery keeps being dished out.

There are certainly worse names out there.

[unflagging]

I think I can keep the kitchen open for that.

That's for sure!

[hexappeal]

What are you serving? I might swing on by. [She thinks she is so charming and hilarious!!]

I know a guy named Buddy Baker -- although that's actually sort of cute. Dorky, but cute.

[unflagging]

Flattery, of course. Hot and fresh.

His real name wasn't Buddy, was it? I mean, that's got to be a nickname.

[hexappeal]

Then I'm buying.

It is, yeah. Sounds like a '50s sitcom name, doesn't it?

[unflagging]

Don't forget to tip your waiter.

Yeah, it does! Buddy Baker--sounds he's like one of "The Beaver's" pals, sitting around reading comic books and messin' around.

[hexappeal]

I'm always generous to my servers.

I can see that being him as a kid. He's even got that dork haircut -- you know, a bit heavier on the top, with a wave. [Ugh, she misses her bros. Even if they don't see one another all that frequently.]

[unflagging]

He's a good kid, but he gets himself in trouble more than he should--probably because he's always listening to bad advice. But he means well.

[hexappeal]

If I watched television, I might watch that. There's just something about a middle-aged man with animal-based powers that gets me going.

[unflagging]

Well... That's a rare and unusual fetish, I have to say.

[hexappeal]

Hrm, really? I guess animal-based abilities aren't all that big. I'll take a man proficient and magic over that any day, though. Plus a hundred points if they look good in a suit and with a fedora.

[unflagging]

But, okay, let me ask you this, since you seem to be a lady in the know: how often have you found a magic man like that?

Outside of a Heart song, I mean.

[hexappeal]

Then, as a lady in the know, I'll have to answer honestly: not nearly as often as I'd like.

[unflagging]

Too bad.

[hexappeal]

You're telling me.

[unflagging]

Well, who knows. It seems like that could be just the kind of guy you'd find in a city like this.

[hexappeal]

Oh, with my luck I'll sleep with him and kick him to the curb only to find he's completely and totally my type.

[unflagging]

Now that's tough luck.

[hexappeal]

Just how magic works. I've mostly come to terms with it.

[unflagging]

What, inside-out and backwards? I guess I never would've thought it.

[Pants now fully engulfed in flames...]