594/Time in a bottle

Time in a bottle
Date of Scene:	18 March 2020
Location:	Shadowcrest Manor - Bristol Township
Synopsis:	If I could put time.. in a bottle... Zatanna gives Gwen a gift so that they'll never forget each other.
Cast of Characters:	Zatanna Zatara, Gwen Stacy

---

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
With Lara making her exit, Zatanna leans against the door. Some things she wasn't ready to tell Gwen yet -- and Lara went off and spoke up on them anyway. Reaching up to push a hand through her raven locks, the sorceress braves a smile, as if that didn't just happened. "She seems pretty cool, don't you think?" she asks her companion, looking back to Gwen.

She knows she should explain, but the words, they're on the tip of her tongue, but she can't give them voice. How do you tell someone that you're willing to put your own life on the line to make them happy?

"Hey, I saw you working on Arcade earlier, that was pretty amazing." Subject change. Subject change is good. Get it off the topic at hand. Since they didn't discuss that paticular event earlier today. "Remind me to call you up if I ever need a rogue in my tabletop." she teases.

Too soon?

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Once she's given Lara her thanks for coming and offering to help, Gwen sinks down into the chair she vacated and leans back with her head lulling over the stuffed furnishing rest behind her. Only peeking up, slightly, towards the door when Zatanna steps back in after seeing their guest out. She blinks her long lashes at her and smiles in an affectionate way, even if that smile is smaller than usual.

It isn't a loss of any emotion, it's just been a trying day.

From saving Zatanna to realizing that she actually maybe going home? That this is a genuine possibility and not a consideration? Obviously they still have to find the artifact, and Zatanna has to risk her life to power it, but...

It's real.

"Thanks." She lifts her head, "You looked really elegant. Damn shame you had to destroy that dress..." Her blue eyes fall forward, "Zee..." She opens her mouth as if there's something she needs to say, but then it doesn't get sad. Only silence exits her mouth.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna lifts herself up, sapphire eyes meeting Gwen's eyes. "It's not like I couldn't recreate it. But I think I'd like to make my own wedding dress, not have one forced on me?" she suggests, giving her hair a small and playful flip. "When I find the right one." she adds. But she's tempered by something in Gwen's voice. Could she read her mind?

Yes.

Does she?

No.

She doesn't want to violate her like that. She cares too much. She feels too many emotions when it comes to the wiry and fit woman before her. Then Gwen speaks and the sorceress lifts her brows to wait for words.

...that never come.

She stands on one side of the gulf, looking to the other side at the woman only a few feet away from her, that would be so easy to rush into her arms.

Why does it feel like she'd have to cross an ocean for that?

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen rubs her hands on her thighs, back and forth, fighting the urge to cry. It's insane, really. She's so strong, so quick, so agile.. but she can't dodge the enemy she's having to fight. Losing someone she's grown so close to before there's any chance for them to see where it could go.

And now she knows she /is/ going to lose her.

Not tonight, not tomorrow, but Lara Croft... she's heard of this woman. She's seen her movies and read the stories about her in national geographic. If the device exists, she'll find it. Her and Zatanna will find it.

And once they do, Gwen is gone.

This is gone.

So she's crying. Tears streaming down her face as she looks up at Zatanna, rubbing her hands on her thighs trying to gain control of her run away emotions and failing misarable.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Acceptance is the first step.

Zatanna had to accept that despite her heart's wish. To have Gwen as her own. To cherish her. Honor her. To spend her days with this lovely, beautiful creature for the end of her days...

She had to accept that she was going to have to let her go.

Because that's what you do when you love someone. Supposedly.

It doesn't make it hurt any the less. But that's the first step. And it's Zatanna that makes the first step her. She could walk on water if Gwen wanted her to. She'd go to hell itself to bring her back to happiness.

And she may very well do so.

But she takes that first step. One foot in front of the other. And the other steps come, swift, carried on something she's never felt in her heart before as she engulfs Gwen. She tilts the blonde's head up. The kiss she gives her is affectionate, loving, all the words she can't say to her. All the words she's not ready to say.

Because she's scared.

Accept the kiss. It's all Zatanna can hope for.

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen looks around Shadowcrest's study and she couldn't feel more out of place amongst all the magical things in this room alone. The mysterious, the arcane, and the slightly silly accoutrements of Zatanna's station as Mistress of Magic. She looks around at it all and as far fetched as she feels being here, she cannot imagine being anywhere else.

The desire to have her father where she can visit him exists, of course. That there were some way she could have her cake and eat it too, she'd do anything for that. So it is only that she can watch Zee walk over to her, one foot in front of the other, and tilt her head back to stare upwards at the dark haired, wonderful, and beautiful creature that's opened her heart and home to her.

Who is risking everything to get her home despite all the pain that it will cause.

She reaches up for her hands and holds them tight together, and returns that kiss without even having to think about it.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Their fingers twist and tie together, and Zatanna presses against her. She lost her father. She'll never see him again. To give Gwen the chance to see hers? What wouldn't she do? She can't be selfish. She's only known Gwen a week. She can't set aside a lifetime with her father for the moments, stolen from a woman misplaced from her home, cloud her.

Gwen would eventual sour of her. Resent her. She would blame her for not doing all she can to get her home. And that would be worse than twisting a dagger in her own heart.

Breaking the kiss, she releases one hand, holding the other. "I have something for you." she whispers. "Will you come with me?"

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen releases one of Zee's hands so she can move her own up to lay it lightly along the side of the tanned magicians cheek. Following her backwards as the kiss ends and the question is raised. She nods slowly and wipes at her eyes to clear some of the running tears with the thumb of her right hand.

She stands from that chair and holds out her hand, just wanting to walk with Zatanna, fingers together, pretend that tomorrow doesn't spell the end of everything a week has told her could be forever. "So long as it's not a stuffed raccoon.." An attempt at a joke, but she's not feeling very humorous right now.

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
"No. No stuffed raccoons. I may send the owl home with you." Zatanna counters weakly as they climb the stairs and walk the halls to Zatanna's bedchamers. She watches Gwen for the longest of moments and closes her eyes. Turning to her dresser, she opens her jewelry box, and cradling it in her hands, she walks over to Gwen.

"This is for you." she manages, setting the box in her lover's hands. And then she moves to open it. Inside is a necklace. A pendant on a chain. A small vial. And within are the pieces of a watch. The hands, the numbers. The springs. She closes her hands over it, and she murmurs.

"Ruo tsrif ssik."

And inside the vial is a memory, the memory of the first kiss that Zatanna and Gwen shared. When they first realized the attraction for each other. "...it's time in a bottle. It should survive the trip." she whispers. "I've warded it in every way I can. I don't ever want you to forget me."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
"You can keep that bastard." Gwen says just as weakly because this feels like a really long goodbye and it's starting to make her chest hurt with that aching sensation like she's going to lose her breath. A tightening of her throat as they near the bedchamber and Zatanna seperates from her to go over to the jewelry box and return with a gift for her.

Both hands craddle the container, staring down into it once she's opened it and begun to explain what's inside.. and what it means ... and why. She takes a shake breath and blows it out just as unsteadily. If she'd hoped it would settle her nerves, she was wrong. Reaching in with one hand to take the pendent between her fingers and gently stroke it with the pad of her thumb.

"There is no way I'll ever forget you Zatanna." Tears are running down her cheeks again, not in a soul crushing sob, but far worse. It's becoming real. "You're the most important thing that's happened to me in years and you'll always be wherever I am." Clutching the pendent to her chest, "I ..."

Zatanna Zatara has posed:
Zatanna presses a finger to Gwen's lips. "Don't. Don't say it. If you say it, I'll change my mind, and I'll call Lara, call this whole thing off, and I'll never forgive myself for being that selfish." she admits, curling her fingers against the other woman's lips before lowering it.

"I can't forget you, Gwen. I won't." She may be the last thing on the woman's mind, after all, if things go terribly wrong. Her thumb pads Gwen's cheek to push away the tears and she looks up from the pendant to the blonde.

Reaching into the box, she withdraws it, and her arms move around Gwen's shoulders, securing the chain around her neck, and letting the pendant hang loosely against her bosom.

"Don't say it. Just... take me to bed."

Gwen Stacy has posed:
Gwen takes a deep breath of that all too familiar scent she'll always associate with her time at Shadowcrest and nods slowly with her eyes dropping down to the bottle laid in her palm when Zatanna tells her not to say it. It's burning a whole in her heart.. but she understands. If that dam breaks and those emotions spill out, there's no way she could possibly go through with this. She'd never go home, she'd stay.. unsure of what the future held or how she'd regret that decision when the realities of never seeing her father again sank in.

With Zee taking the necklace, Gwen lifts her hair with the motion of her hand running up the back of her neck, moving it out of the way to easily get it clasped.. Shutting the box and leaning forward into Zatanna with it being the only real object seperating them.

"To our bed." For a little while longer.