Summary:In which Zatanna's show has a special celebrity cameo. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
Related LogsTheme SongNone |
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It's been a good show for Zatanna, but the physicality of performing for an hour is taxing even when you're a trained professional. It's time to wrap this baby up with a little bit of close-up magic, something intimate but fast-paced to keep the crowd on their toes the entire time.
Her staff informed her through her earpiece/ear plugs that there was a celebrity in the crowd, which is an opportunity Zatanna can't pass up. Ankles crossed, she bows through the applause of her penultimate trick. When the crowd is quiet, she straightens up and declares, "Friends, there's a special guest in the audience tonight who I hope will join me on stage tonight. She's kind of a hero of mine. You know her for her musical work that defies genres even as it redefines them for a new generation; I know her for a poster I once had on my bedroom wall. Alison Blair, would you please assist me?" she asks, hand extended toward the singer as if for her to take it despite the dozens of feet between them while the audience lights go up subtly in Alison's section, not putting a direct spotlight on her but definitely letting people know.
Alison looks stunned. There are posters of her out there? And Zatanna, a superstar, had one on her bedroom wall? There is a momentary question in Alison's mind of 'why isn't it still there' before she gets to her feet and offers a wave to the crowd. Getting Sarah as her manager has really worked out! Dressed for a night out - boots, good jeans, sweater against the cold - she makes her way towards the stage as briskly as she dares. Alison is certainly not a shy one, so there is no reticence in joining the lovely magician on stage.
"Who knew I had such a famous fan" Alison giggles to Zatanna while taking the offered hand. Her expression goes playfully serious. "Are you going to saw me in half?"
Zatanna does come to the edge of the stage and drop to a knee (without letting the knee actually touch the stage; no point risking tearing the signature garment covering it) with her hand extended to her Alison up, smiling widely. As Alison mount the stage, the audience applauds, and Zatanna joins them, looking around and nodding to encourage everyone to join in, before a slight expression of annoyance crosses her face as she realizes her white gloves are muffling the sound of her own clapping. "Alison Blair, everyone!" she announces, then says to Dazzler herself, "Well, I was going to start by giving you a proper round of applause, but…" She raises her hands to eye level, displaying her gloves. "Here, I think I can do better."
Zatanna takes off her gloves one at a time. Her fingers absolutely sparkle with rings; she has nine on, including two on her right forefinger, all in different shapes and styles. A few members of the audience cheer knowingly to the apparent confusion of most of the crowd, but Zatanna ignores that except for a small, secret smile while her face is turned down to look at her gloves as she offers them to Alison. "I'm sorry, would you mind holding these, please?" she asks, holding them out to Alison. This close, Alison can see her nails are quite short, painted glossy black with tiny white stars speckling the obsidian background.
Alison delicately takes the gloves, worried she will damage them, though she also finds time to be dazzled by the rings. "Wow, I didn't even notice them under the gloves" she snorts in amusement. "You really like the bling, Miss Zatara" she giggles before her eyes narrow a touch. "Is that a ring on your wedding finger? Been keeping that quiet." A glance at the gloves in her hand as she wonders where she should put them, but then the nails are now bewitching her.
Zatanna smiles at Alison and cups the singer's hands to fold them over the gloves tightly, curling Alison's fingers into her palms. There are a few laughs from the audience which, again, Zatanna ignores. "Oh, no, they mean, uh, something else. It sounds like some of the audience gets it." A few women whistle and cheer, to which Zatanna says, "Okay, I think the audience is getting tired of the inside joke. Let me just get rid of these and we'll…" She peels off the first ring with her thumb and forefinger, then waves her wrist and it vanishes. Applause. The second ring comes off the same way; she holds it up to her eye, then pinches thumb and forefinger together. The ring vanishes as if dissolved into her very flesh. More applause. The third ring walks across the backs of her knuckles and disappears over the edge of her hand; the fourth falls into her fist and is no longer there when the hand opens; the fifth vanishes as Zatanna seems to throw it into the air; the sixth spirals around Zatanna's finger but simply ceases to be as it would have fallen off the tip. With her right hand now naked, she passes it above the back of her left hand, and though anyone would swear her hand never came within an inch of the other, somehow the last three rings are gone. Applause each time. "Whew, that's always a production. Don't even get me started on my piercings."
Roaring laughter and wolf whistles from the crowd. Zatanna grins at this and asks Alison, "Do you still have my gloves?"
Alison stares as the rings do things that they shouldn't do. But it's all illusion, right? Zatanna is just very good at what she does. There's no such thing as real magic. Well…there's Doctor Strange, but why would a real magician take to the stage when they could be saving the world? She laughs as all the rings disappear. "Okay, maybe you don't like bling." An even louder laugh about the piercings before she nods to the questions.
"Sure do" Alison grins about the gloves, opening up her hands to find…one glove. She looks shocked, surprised, and amazed, before looking around at her feet to find it. "Sorry, I must have dropped it" she apologises before noticing it on Zatanna's hand. "Huh? How? What?" A look at the audience for help but they're too busy applauding. Alison holds up the glove she still has to show people there is only one.
Zatanna grimaces in polite, apologetic consternation. "Wow, I am so sorry, Alison. Here you came up on the stage and I'm making you look like a fool. I should have warned you my gloves do that sometimes, and…" She pulls the glove off her right hand to reveal the six rings are back in place. "…yeah, so do they," she says over the crowd's applause. "Here, let's try this again. Maybe this time the silly things will behave."
An impish sparkle is in Zatanna'a baby blues as she passes the glove back to Alison. "Maybe hold them in separate hands so they can't do that again," she suggests, once again taking Alison's hand in both of hers and folding her fingers over it. "But maybe they will anyway. After all, magic is mostly about what you can do with your hands…" She holds her hands up to the audience, fingers splayed, knuckles facing out. "…so you can imagine how my gloves would pick up a lot of magical energy." She crosses her hands in front of her face as if to begin a dance move, a blur of motion lasting half a second but, when her hands return to position, the right hand is bare and the left hand is bejeweled again. Another quick cross and both her hands are bare.
"Not the first time I've looked like a fool on stage" Alison smirks before taking the gloves once more. Oh, yes, she will make sure they don't escape this time! "Separate hands. Got it. And I'm sure you're very good with your hands."
Alison squeezes tightly on the gloves in her hands as she watches the ring tricks. The expression on her face is very much of the 'how are you doing that' variety; an expression shared with many of the audience. She is definitely stumped. Could this be real magic? Is that a contradiction in terms?
The crowd applauds and Zatanna accepts it, absorbs it, breathes it in, smiling widely. "Ladies, gentlemen, and beyond," (that's something she says several times per show, and boy does it get some hate from the fundies) "most of you came here knowing that all these illusions, all these sleights of hand, are all just tricks. You paid me to lie to all of you for a solid hour." The audience laughs. "Which is why I have to apologize, because I want to close my show tonight with just one piece of honesty. Alison, I'm in the presence of a hero of mine. When I was a teenager and going through some, well, heavy times, your music reminded me that we aren't alone in this world, and that joy is possible even in the dark moments. Having you on my stage tonight is a real treat, and that's why I'd like to give you a small gift to thank you for everything you did for me before you ever knew me." She reaches toward Alison's right hand with both of hersthe left is gloved again!and cups her hands under the singer's. "Would you let that fall into my hands, please?"
Because it's not a glove in Alison's hand. It's a handkerchief as white as Zatanna's glove, made of the same linen, and as Alison opens her hand nine rings tumble out of its edge now that she's no longer holding it in a bag formation into Zatanna's waiting palms. With a grin, she offers the jewelry to Alison. "I'm not proposing or anything, but please, take one of these as my way of saying thanks."
"Wow, that's…wow." Alison finds Zatanna's confession rather moving and surprising. "I had no idea." A shake of her head. "The treat is all mine" she replies before adding, with a grin, "You're the trick part." She follows the instructions, staring once more as all the rings spill out into Zatanna's hand…from a handkerchief. "Those gloves rang off again" she jokes before there is an offer of a ring. "I think, after all this, if you did propose, it would be a 'yes'." Alison takes one of the rings with an 'are you sure' look before holding it up to the crowd.
Zatanna laughs at Alison's joke. "Calm down, girl! I know women like to move fast, but—" The crowd laughs before Zatanna can make a U-Haul joke, which is probably just as well. She raises her eyebrows and smiles at Alison's questioning expression; the facial equivalent of 'go ahead.' The crowd applauds as Zatanna takes Alison's hand in hers, turns to face the audience, crosses her ankles, and bows low. The curtains begin their drop and the audience picks up the volume. "Alison Blair, everyone! Such a good sport!" Zatanna cries, squeezing Alison's hand as she bows again one last time before the curtain's fall makes further bows unnecessary.
Alison also feels the need to bow to the audience, lifting her hand (and Zatanna's) up in a triumphal way. Though she is thankful when the curtain drops and she can turn to the sorceress again. "How did you do all that? No, don't tell me. You'd have to shoot me if you told me, right?" A wink before she offers the ring back. "You need this for your show" she assumes. "I have to sneak off but thanks for all the lovely words. Maybe we can catch up for a meal sometime?"
Zatanna shakes her head. "No, magicians don't shoot people, we plant car bombs." She grins. "But yes, absolutely, I'd love that. Should I have my manager call yours, or do you want to keep it private…?"