detective comics #833
[ID: a party for Bruce Wayne's ninth birthday! It's his first birthday after his parents were brutally murdered in front of him. For the very special day, a magician is standing on a platform stage and performing a card trick as a crowd watches him. The magician announces, “And as we see, Tommy's card has risen to the top of the deck.” Collections of red, white, and blue party balloons decorate the scene and the number nine is written on one of them. For more environmental storytelling, behind the magician, Zatara, is a vibrant yellow banner that says ‘happy birthday Bruce!’ as Bruce is no where to be seen.
Bruce, as an adult, reflects on the memory and of his relationship with the magician's daughter, Zatanna: ‘I have a checkered history with Zatanna and her family. Before we were born, our fathers worked together on many children's charities. After Zatara became a father himself, he was always willing to do benefit performances to help children in need. Any child.’
At the party, Alfred is talking to Zatara after his performance is over and as the crowd disperses. Alfred tells him, “My thanks again, Mr. Zatara, for entertaining the children.” Zatara warmly responds, “Anything for Thomas and Martha. I was so fond of them. This first year must be terrible for poor Bruce.” The butler-turnt-guardian sighs and agrees, “Indeed. I thought a party might cheer him up, but it appears he's moved beyond childhood diversions.”
He continues to express his concerns and says, “I doubt he'll ever be a child again.” But oblivious to him, a young girl attending the party has overheard him and is now walking off to go find the birthday boy! She finds Bruce sitting with his knees drawn up amongst a small strip of woods next to a river. He stares into the water remorseful before looking over his shoulder with a scowl at the approaching girl. He tells her, “The party's back there.” But she doesn't leave. Bruce starts to sharply repeat himself but she holds up a single finger to stop him. Silently, Zatanna presents a shiny quarter in her concerningly small palm.
She swipes her open hand over the coin to reveal it's disappeared! She mimes a shrug as Bruce watches with disgruntlement before he tries to swat her hands away as Zatanna reaches for his ear! “Yeah, I know. The coin is behind...” But his exasperation is replaced with a small, surprised laugh as Zatanna suddenly blows large bubbles instead! He smiles and closes his eyes as he asks her how did she do that — but when he opens his eyes, she's suddenly gone!
Bruce returns to the party, now having a small smile as he stands alone and looks at Zatanna. Behind him a bunch of kids are playing as she sits in the foreground of the panel – unaware of Bruce's enamored stare. In present time, Bruce thinks to himself, ‘Years later Zatara trained me to become an escape artist, and I came to know Zatanna better through The Justice League. There are times I think we should be closer than we are, but...’ END ID]
[ID: Zatanna, now an adult, is bleeding out after The Joker shot her in her throat. She's underwater and is staring out to a restrained Batman, who can only watch in anguish as yet another person he loves dies in front of him. In front of her, blood mixes into the water as oxygen bubbles float in front of her dying face. Bruce has a flashback to the above scene of when they were kids and how she performed the bubble magic trick to make him laugh. END ID]
193 notes
·
View notes
six-sentence sunday
hi friends, with Nano in full swing, here's a lil snippet of the next chapter of One for the Road for accountability and morale's sake 😭
---
As they pass by the welcome sign to the park, late afternoon sun brushing the sides of the mountains, Maka glances his way - likely for a reassessment of the surroundings.
“I’m impressed. It’s so diverse,” he says, voice heavily sarcastic as he steals her words from earlier in the day. “Biologically, Ecologically–”
“Wow, you can tell all of that from five seconds?” she asks.
“Ethically… Geometrically...”
“You’re really starting to piss me off,” she grits.
---
hey @chickycherrycola and @blackbloodteeth i bet y'all have been writing ;D throw some words at me!!!
14 notes
·
View notes