Summary:Sarah Rainmaker gets an unexpected offer to manage Zatanna, with the two having a lunch meeting so Zatanna can have her answer some questions. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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zatanna has always been a do it yourself kinda gal. If you're good at what you do, she figures, then the gigs will line themselves up. To a degree, that's been truecertainly, she's about as famous as a magician can be without having an adorably silent partner or a supermodel wifebut that doesn't mean she's the best possible manager for her shows that she can be; so when Dazzler recommended Sarah, it seemed silly not to at least see what Sarah was about. So her people called Sarah's people, e-mails with too many excited exclamation points were exchanged, shmooze was shmoozed, and, a few weeks later, dinner at Tavern on the Green.
Zatanna shows up dressed casually, a black cotton top that's probably a tee-shirt slightly too short to cover her midriff over black jeans with a wide, white-buckled belt and her signature high-heeled boots, with a white, robe-like jacket over the top. A star pendant earring dangles from one ear and a moon from the right, and a dozen rings sparkle on her fingers as she waits for her prospective employee to show up.
By SArah's people, it was mostly the BAxter Building front desk, followed by being routed to her phone, followed by a slightly startled Sarah racking her brains and quickly choosing the Tavern on the Green for lunch to discuss things. Granted, butterflies and stomach in throat a bit still, but she's mostly had time to calm down a bit from the suprise and get dressed up herself. In her case, it's a pair of snug fashion jeans that compliment her legs and rear, a silvery belt made of discs set with polished turquoise, and a saffron button up blouse with short sleeves. over which she wears a fringed leather coat. Her hair is pulled back in a long French braid that falls down to the top of her but, and understated lightning bolt earrings in gold, each set with a chip of sapphire that glints in the middle. She has on matching western style fringed boots on her feet, and stands as she sees Zatanna arriving, waving her over to the table she's already reserved. "Over here!" She doesn't call out Zatanna's name in a crowded restaurant, because…well, the reasons seem kinda obvious there.
Zatanna wouldn't have caredshe adores attention, does Zatanna Zatarabut she appreciates the thoughtfulness nonetheless, so she straps on a business smile and makes her way over to Sarah's table with a confident swagger. "Hi, Sarah. It's nice to finally meet you," she greets on approach, hand coming out to shake before she's even stopped walking. Total business move. "Alison's only said good things about you." Her grip is light, almost nervously so, which is weird considering the ease of her smile and the directness of her eye contact. "So, this is a nice place. Been here often?"
Sarah's grip is firm, though she doesn't let it linger either. "Good to know. I have to admit, it was a complete suprise hearing from you the other day." She smiles. "Hmm, actually never, but it seemed like a nice comfortable outdoor setting and I figured we should enjoy the weather before it becomes freezing here." It's rather nice today, really. Unseasonably warm even! She takes a seat at the table again, motioning to the menus as a server who's been hovering nearby hurries over to take drink and food orders. "Ah, ginger chicken bites, and blackberry iced tea, please." Sarah says simply. "And the side salad, with rasberry vinagrette."
Zatanna just orders a chicken Caesar salad and water. Maybe she's not hungry, maybe she's watching her figure, or maybe she's trying to respect Sarah's wallet. Whichever it is, she invites, "So tell me about yourself, Sarah."
Sarah tilts her head a bit. "Me? Oh, well." She chews over how to answer that. "It's going to sound a bit like a sci fi series…" she warns, "But okay." She leans forwards slightly. "Did Dazzler mention I'm a metahuman? Technically a mutant, but it's complicated."
Zatanna shakes her head. "No, she didn't mention. I can see how it would be relevant to your experiences, though."
SArah's lips twitch a bit. "Oh, that hurts a bit…" she says, holding a hand over her heart and mock reeling, before resting her chin on her hand. "Mm, well, I haven't exactly been hiding it since I ended up as a Young Avenger. Though I haven't been throwing myself out there either. But, basically…ah, my dad was in the military, part of a project to jumpstart the metahuman gene. 12 generations of testing, and his was the one that worked. And he passed it on to me." She shrugs and leans back, meeting Zatanna's eyes. "Problem was part of the goverment decided they really wanted their own personal kill team of metahumans they could train from children, so they faked my mom and my deaths when I was born and kidnapped us. My dad never knew. Went off and remarried, another family. My mom got me out, and we went into hiding for…pretty much from when I was about 8 to when I was 16."
Zatanna nods, thinking for a moment about how this answers the question. After a moment, she decides there's insufficient data, and asks, "So what happened next?"
Sarah mmms. "…my mom passed when I was 16. They came to grab me, I evaded them for days, then they pulled a fast one and had me legally declared a ward of the state with them as my guardians. Stuck me in a 'school,'" she says, using air quotes. "That was mor ea training facility and research lab. Then about six months back I and some friends staged a breakout. I led off the pursuit to give everyone else time to scatter, they called in the Young Avengers to stop a 'teenage terrorist,'" There's those quotes again. "And they ended up being alright and keeping me away from them until I passed my eighteenth birthday and was legally emancipated. And since I was part of their group after that, I'm too public for them to move against." She shrugs. "So, right, joined YOung Avengers, then Dazzler was having issue with trying to do everything herself since she had an agent but no manager, so I volunteered. I'm good at organizing, both at the tower and with DAzzler's stuff." She mms. "I'm not as experienced as I'd like, admittedly, but I'm charging appropriately…well, not even that, more it's a percentage and a fairly small one, until I've proven I can get her good gigs and keep things moving smoothly."
Zatanna nods along. "I see. I'm very sorry you went through all that. So you're telling me you've learned organizational skills under duress of combat?"
Sarah's eyes twinkle as she flashes a brilliant smile. "That's a very poetic way of putting it, but it's more than it was just my mother and me on an isolated ranch for years. You have to keep on top of things and stay organized and make sure everything is planned for and taken care of. But I have been taking courses in contract law and marketing though besides that."
Zatanna nods. "Is that a necessary part of your job? Isn't that what lawyers are for?"
Sarah shakes her head. "Oh, I'm not handing the legal side of things, DAzzler has a lawyer for that, but it behooves me to at least understand what's in the contracts and how they works, because I"m the one overseeing that everything we asked for get done and that we provide precisely what we contracted to do, not things stacked on at the last minute by the other party." she explains. "My job, as I see it, is making things run smoothly for her, so when she's at the show, she doesn't have to worry if the sound guy has her backgrounds queued up, or that the dancers got their costumes properly fitted, that the decorations for the stage are in the right places, that her food and drink requirements are set….it's why some bands do things like demand an entire bowl of only green M&Ms or something, it's because it's a way for their managers to make sure that the other party actually read the requirements and made sure they were fulfilled."
Zatanna Zatara nods at Sarah. "I've heard that story. I forget the band, but someone who uses a lot of pyrotechnics. So, what role do you imagine filling on my team, Sarah? I do most of the booking and stuff myself because I think it's my responsibility to provide for the lives of my crew. Not necessarily literally, because I don't do death-defying stunts or anything, but definitely in that if we don't succeed, we don't eat."
Sarah tilts her head. "Well, like I said, I"m there to make sure things go smoothly in the background so you can focus on the show and wowing the crowd into wanting to come back and see you again, and to go home and tell their friends so you get more bookings." she says simply. "I can understand if you'd rather keep somethings under your own control, or that you might want to see what I can do to help before you let me handle other things the way you like them."
Zatanna shakes her head. "No, it's more than that. My crew is my family. Every one of them is handpicked because I can't be the best unless they're the best. Everything I have that's more complicated than card tricks and coin matrices, I owe to them and their work. I'm the face of the show, but cut a face off from the body and the face dies." She pauses, surprised at herself, and apologizes, "Uh… sorry for that mental image right before dinner. But my point is, bringing you on isn't just about making my job easier. It's about understanding the responsibility to everyone involved."
Sarah watches thoughfully, then another smile flashes briefly. "Mmm, don't worry about it. I get your point. You're a much bigger group than Dazzler…she's mostly just herself ahd the rest are hired on per show most times, other than a small group. You've got bigger venues and bigger concerns to keep everyone employed. It's…" She smiles a little. "It's nice to see someone who's passionate about the people who help raise them up."
Zatanna nods, smiling back. "Thanks. So I guess what I'm asking is, how do you plan to be part of the family?"
Sarah pauses at that point as both food and drink arrive, the server efficiently settin geverything out on the small table before zipping away again, the scent o fthe food wafting up as Sarah considers. "I haven't been…lucky. To have friends. To have people who were that close to me, for a long, long time." the Apache woman says slowly. "It wasn't until I escaped…until friends help me escaped…that I was part of that again." She leans forward slightly in her chair. "Or until I remembered how precious it was to have a…a group. Friends, coworkers. People who depend on you to do your job, and whom you can depend on to do theirs. If I joined, I'd be there to keep everything running smoothly for everyone. To make sure there's nothing dropped, or forgotten or overlooked, that everything moves like a dance, the way it's supposed to."
Zatanna pokes at her salad withou looking at it. "So it sounds like you think your value to the family is achievement-based? Do all your relationships rely on you providing services to others?"
Sarah mmms, then says slowly. "No. But I'm doing a job in this case, one that people need me to do right. There's a difference between working and…social?" She leans back a bit, regarding Zatanna frankly now. "Accepting one into your family takes more than just hiring them to do a job, to me. There has to be more. Connections. Friendship. Passions. Whatever…and you don't know me well, and I mostly know your stage persona. It's hard to forge something like that without time?"
"You're doing a job, but one thing I don't know if you grasp yet is how insular the magic community is. Everything is based on trust that you keep the secrets we rely on to do our jobs. Without it, you're not just a pariah, you're a danger to every magician performing because you might be spoiling their secrets. That kind of secrecy makes bonds necessary, because it's a stressor. We need each other to be not just coworkers, but release valves, since a lot of what you know about me, you won't be able to share with friends, lovers, children, any of that." Zatanna looks at Sarah steadily, trying to impress the importance on her.
Sarah nods slighlty at that, taking a moment to consider it. "I'm a Young Avenger." she says simply. "I keep my friends secrets. Their identities, who they really are beyond the masks people see." Her dark eyes meet Zatanna's directly now. "I kept my friends secrets at the school. Protected them when we broke out. I know what it means to hold what belongs to someone else close and private."
Zatanna nods. "I can see that. So I'd offer you the job, at least on a trial basis."
Sarah perks. "Really?! Sure, you've got it!" she says, offering her hand.
Zatanna shakes Sarah's hand, smiling.