The New Generation: Earth-53

"Fifteen minutes, that's not so bad," Neal said as he glanced out of a nearby window. He was just trying to get the last conversation that they had out of his head. He did not need to be thinking about Batman and J'onn that way. Thankfully Zatanna was quick to jump to a new subject, saying that they should play a game in order to learn more about each other. So they would keep asking each other any question, that could be interesting. After all there was still a lot about Zatanna that Neal didn't know about. "Alright, I'll start it off. Tell me, how successful was your first mission?" Neal asked curiously. His own was going to be coming up soon, so it seemed like a good idea to maybe ask how hers went.

"Oh, my first mission... well that's an interesting one," Zatanna admitted, uttering a small laugh. "The first team thing I ever really did, I suppose, was back when the Justice League first got together. I mean, before then I was just a small time stage magician with some not so small time powers. But we stopped a sentient race of artificially intelligent robots from taking over the country, so I'd call it a success. Although... I did accidentally set Power Girl's hair on fire. Fortunately, her hair is just as indestructible as the rest of her, so it didn't do anything. Well, except for make for a really hilarious photo op." She smiled a little, then leaned forward in her seat again. "Alright, now my turn. Let's see... who was your first crush?"

Neal just stared with wide eyes for several moments. THAT was her first mission? She stopped an alien invasion? How on earth was Neal supposed to live up to expectations like that!? HE was hoping she'd say something really small, or that she was nervous or something. But no, she saved the entire country with the help of the team. Great, that was just great.

As Zatanna's question came his way Neal just smiled. "Kindergarten, her name was Anna. I thought she was the prettiest girl I ever met. She was pretty, smart, and funny," he explained. "She moved before I worked up the courage to even talk to her though," he admitted before letting out a small breath. "What about you Aunt Z? How's your current love life going?"

At Neal's question, Zatanna just sort of averted her eyes and cleared her throat. "Oh, well, you know... it's, uh, *ahem* I mean, might be a little slow right now," she said, trying to figure out a way to word it. She couldn't exactly just blurt out that she'd been going on an eight month dry spell. "Not really seeing anyone right now or anything, but uh... I mean, I get around, you know. Always have. Course things haven't been the same since my college days, but... yeah, it's alright." She paused a moment, just tapping her fingers against the table. Eventually, she managed to think of another question. "So anyway, who's your current crush? Or crushes."

"Well, that's a vague enough answer to work," Neal teased as Zatanna basically didn't give any sort of details. Either she was seeing someone that she didn't want to mention to her student, or nothing had happened and she was just trying to make it seem like she did. As Zatanna brought on her next question Neal felt a small lump form in his throat. Man, he didn't think she'd actually go there. Served him right for asking about her life. "Well, there's a few girls at school and a few others," Neal said before taking a moment to take a breath. "To be honest, I've kinda had a thing for Speedy and Megan," he admitted. "They've both just been really nice to me ever since I first showed up. I honestly just feel like they have my back"

"Oh, you don't say," Zatanna said, lifting her eyebrows and smirking a little. "Interesting choices. Speedy is definitely the more outgoing of the two, but M'gann has the whole innocent girl next door thing going on. Or, girl next planet. I think that would be a bit more accurate." She laughed again, then reached for her glass of water to take a sip. "Though, I will say that I know for a fact Speedy isn't looking for a relationship any time soon. I can't say why, but you'll just have to trust me on it. And don't go asking her about it either."

"Yeah that's true, Speedy is definitely more out going. Whenever I talk to Megan she normally either falls or turns invisible or something," Neal said with a chuckle as he thought back to the night when they ran in to each other in the kitchen. At the mention of Speedy not looking for a relationship Neal began to grow curious. He knew better than to ask though, if Zatanna wasn't going to say anything than it probably really was for the best. "Yeah, I'm not sure if I should do anything about it though. I mean, she's from Mars and all and I don't know how stuff like that really affects the team ya know?" he questioned as he looked towards his mentor. "It's why I haven't said anything until now"

"Well, best I can say is to just talk to her about it," Zatanna said, with a small nod. "pecifically, ask her about her culture. She's already learning plenty of ours just by living her. I think she'd appreciate getting a chance to share where she's from with someone. And it's not like there's a rule that says dating is forbidden amongst the team or anything. This isn't a corporate office, after all. Still, though, there is always the possibility of a bad break up or something, but I mean something like that shouldn't harm the team dynamic that much. If anything we'd just keep you on separate missions or something. Uh... not that I'm saying that would happen. Just hypothetical. Um, anyway, your turn to ask a question."

"I guess I never thought about doing that," Neal admitted. M'gann was trying so hard to learn about Earth that Neal had never even considered that she might want to share what Mars is like to anyone. Other than her uncle she was completely alone on this planet. "Alright, I'll have to try doing that the next time that I see her. Thanks for the advice," Neal said as he smiled. "Oh right my turn, forgot," he said before taking a moment to think about what he wanted to ask. He wasn't sure if this was going to backfire or not, but he felt like he needed to hear the answer.

"I know that we've trained together for the past six months, but do you really think that I'm ready skill wise to help the team?" Neal asked as he looked towards Zatanna.

"Hmm... interesting question," Zatanna said, holding a hand to her chin and thinking deeply. "Well, I do have to answer this honestly, so... of course I think you're ready. Duh." She let out a small laugh and then leaned forward with a grin. "I'm the one that trained you after all! And you're showing some major progress, too. That power of yours is pretty good, and with a little more practice there won't be anything you can't do. Well, okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. even I have my limits, but yeah. besides, we won't be sending up against anything like super dangerous. Mostly the smaller stuff. Recon, local disturbances, that sort of thing. You won't have to worry about stopping a full scale invasion or anything, that's what the Justice league is for, after all." She gave him a wink, then sat up straight and took in a small breath. "Alright, so my turn... oh, I know. Where'd you get that scar on your upper thigh?"

Neal allowed his smile to grow as Zatanna voiced her honest opinion that she believed that Neal was ready for what they were going to send him against. He should have realized that she was going to believe in him, after all like she said they weren't going to be fighting for the sake of the world yet. They were still just kids after all. Neal felt a weight being lifted from his shoulders. To hear the sincerity in Zatanna's voice just made Neal feel a thousand times stronger. "The scar happened when I was really young actually," he admitted as he thought back on it. "I got in to a fight at school over something really dumb. I ended up getting shoved and my leg hit a nail that was sticking out of some wood, cut me up pretty badly and I had to get a bunch of shots," he admitted as he thought back on it. "Man I almost forgot I had that thing"

"My turn.....hmmm," Neal said as he thought about what he could possibly ask Zatanna. "Let's go for a classic. What's the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you?"

"Ouch, that had to hurt," Zatanna said with a small laugh. She couldn't say she knew what it felt like to rip your leg open on a nail, and she was certainly glad for that. She didn't really like pain all that much. When Neal asked his question, though, she instantly went red and buried her face in her hands. "Oh god, and I have to be honest, right? Rules of the game an all. Okay, alright... hoo boy. So, I was around your age, maybe a couple years younger, and I was... well, just starting to discover myself, if you know what I mean. Yeah, the whole... discovery thing was a fun time. But of course I was new at it, and I didn't really know the concept of being, uh... what's the word? Subtle? Yeah that's it. Subtle. Was home from school one day, just finished my homework, and I decided to go ahead and... do some exploring. So I was, you know... on my bed. Discovering. And then my mom walked in. And then we stared at each other. And then she walked out in complete silence and left me alone. Yeah. Worst moment ever."

Neal couldn't help it. Once the story ended he just laughed, and he laughed hard. He lifted a finger and wiped the tears that were coming from his face. "Oh my god, is it bad that I could totally see that happening to you?" he asked as he tried to catch some air. He was starting to feel faint he was laughing so hard. "Oh god I can only imagine how you must have felt like for the next day. Knowing you I bet you didn't let that stop you," Neal added as he was finally starting to calm down. "Bet it wasn't another day till you were back at it again," he added with a grin as he leaned back in his chair.

"I imagine you're going to ask something pretty good after what I just put you through. Hit me" Neal said with a smile.

Zatanna just sat there calmly, allowing Neal to get out his laughter. Yeah, she kind of figured her story would garner a response like that. Serves her right for forgetting to lock her door that day. When he finally calmed down again, she just smirked a little and took another long sip of her water, while leaning back casually in her seat. At his following remarks, she could only shrug. "Well yeah, of course I finished up. I mean hell, I'd already been close by the time she walked in... wasn't going to let that go to waste. Of course, I couldn't look my mother in the eye for almost a week... but you're right, it didn't slow me down much." Clearing her throat, she then thought for a moment while tapping her fingers against the table and staring at Neal. "Alright, hmm... what's your most embarrassing moment. Actually, what are your top three?"

"Oh top three, way to up the stakes," Neal said in a jokingly mocking voice. Zatanna did basically just take his question and amplify it by three. It was a good strategy though, as it would triple Neal's humiliation with what he was going to say. "Well, once I was riding a horse at my uncle's ranch. As we went though the horse got freaked out and threw me off, my face directly landed in a pile of horse poop" Neal admitted as he thought back to that day. "I haven't ridden one since. Secondly, I once walked directly in to the girl's bathroom without noticing. I sat in a stall and did my business and didn't realize where I was till I went to wash my hands and the girl next to me freaked out. I nearly got suspended because the principal thought that I did it on purpose," he admitted. "And the last thing just happened last week actually, due to one of your spells. I used it to check out this woman walking by................yeah she was a dude apparently," Neal said as he shut his eyes and just shook his head. That was one image he really wished that he could get out of his mind forever.

And now it's Zatanna's turn to laugh. The first two hadn't really been that bad, certainly nothing when compared to her most embarrassing moment. But she had to admit that his third one was quite bad. Maybe not for anyone else, since it was more of his own personal embarrassment, but oh boy was it hilarious. She tried to stifle her laughter, holding a hand over her mouth, bt eventually broke down into a full blown fit, arms held over her sides. Quite a few other people looked over at her in the process, but she didn't really care. "Oh my... oh man. Haha... yeah you really need to be careful with that. You'll end up with some surprises!" After several minutes, she finally started to calm down a little, wiping her watering eyes dry. "But I suppose at least you found out the easy way. Better than finding out in the bedroom."

Neal was just glad that Zatanna was laughing rather than openly mocking him. Of course in a way it was partially her fault for teaching him the spell, but clearly Neal should have double checked before trying to see through someone's clothes. "Yeah well, definitely wasn't going to invite him back to my place after that," Neal said as he released his own laugh. More than anything about the team he loved his bonding time with Zatanna. She truly believed in him and did everything she could to make sure that he could succeed. More than for himself, Neal was going to stick with the team to make her proud. He wanted to show her that her student was going to be a great addition to their team. He couldn't let fear get the best of him.

"You mentioned that dating within the team wasn't forbidden. Have you ever gone after one of your teammates in the League?" Neal asked curiously.

"Have I gone after anyone?" Zatanna said, repeating the question. "Oh sure. Have I succeeded? Nooope. Batman is one tough cookie to crack, and I've known him since forever, even before he started putting on the cape. Red Arrow and I dated, though. Very briefly. Apparently his idea of a relationship is sleeping with Huntress on the side. Who's Huntress you might ask? It's best that you don't." Then, leaning in she added, in a whisper, "I turned her into a guy for a whole week. It was hilarious. Oh, and then I gave Red Arrow hives for a month. That was even funnier." Leaning back in her seat again, she laughed under her breath and let out an amused sigh. "So, you ever had a girlfriend before?"

"Yeah he definitely looks like he'd be hard to convince. Just having him glare at me freaks me out," Neal admitted as they discussed Batman. He couldn't help but wonder if Zatanna was still going to try or if she was going to let it go. He'd be interested to see what she was going to do next. Perhaps he'd use that in another question. "Oh my god, you turned her in to a man?" Neal asked as he was about to ask if that was possible. He stopped himself of course, almost anything was possible for Zatanna. "You're going to have to teach me that one if someone ever cheats on me," Neal added jokingly before taking a sip of his water that was in front of him.

At Zatanna's question Neal gave a quick nod. "Yeah, a little bit before I met you I was dating someone. It didn't really work out though, not that it was her fault," Neal quickly added before thoughts of revenge went through Zatanna's mind. "We really liked each other but due to my need to watch Jordan while my dad's gone I couldn't really see her outside of school that much. So we decided that it was best to call it off, at least until I ended up having more free time"

"Ah, the triviality of high school dating," Zatanna mused, with a small chuckle. "It gets better, trust me. Like in college. Not that you'd qualify that as dating. But anyway..." She took another sip of water, then set her glass down with a long breath. "Oh and I'll definitely teach you that spell. Hey, maybe even tonight! Could keep that in your back pocket if Rose ever gives you any flak. Though personally I thin I'd just go with the looking through the wall idea. I mean, if I were age. That would just be creepy if I did it at my age."

"You really had a lot of fun in college didn't you?" Neal asked rhetorically. Zatanna made it very clear that college was one of her favorite times. She was always talking about her experimenting times after all, and every time she added more detail Neal was able to learn a little bit more about his mentor. "If I actually turned Rose in to a man I'm pretty sure she'd use her bare hands to remove my jugular," Neal admitted as he could picture Rose laying her wrath down upon him. "Yeah, the looking through walls is probably a better plan. She won't know what I'm up to after all," he admitted as he thought about how else he might go about unleashing his revenge upon Rose.

"What would you say is the most impressive spell you've ever cast?"

"Just be careful about who else is around when you do," Zatanna said, giving him advise from her years of experience. "And make sure to lock your door." She took another long sip of water, gulping it down as she listened to Neal's next question. Well that was an easy one, for sure. "My most impressive spell, huh? Well, I once made it rain fire from the skies, and I even flooded a valley to stop rampaging, mutant wildebeests. But now, the most impressive thing I ever did was defeat the entire Justice League with two words." Leaning in closer, she whispered those words to him, though she made sure not to put her magic into it, otherwise Neal would have a fourth embarrassing moment to add to his list. "Msagro won." He could figure it out if he thought about it for a minute. He did know how her spells worked, after all.

"I'll make sure to definitely remember that," Neal said as took Zatanna's advice to heart. After all, being caught by anyone would definitely be quite a problem. Neal had a feeling that Batman would do more than just glare if he learned what Neal was doing. As she went on to describe that she made fire come from the skies and even flooded a valley Neal could only stare in amazement. He knew that Zatanna was powerful, but that just sounded amazing. He couldn't help but wonder if she really did have a limit. Making it rain fire couldn't be that easy.

As the words were uttered, Neal just looked at her in surprise. "Oh my god......you seriously did that? Only you would actually use that kind of a thing as a legitimate strategy to fight someone"

"Of course I did, this is me you're talking about here," Zatanna said, with a small laugh. "And hey, it might be an extremely dumb and juvenile strategy, but it's also an extremely effective one. I'll have to teach that one to you too. Always helps to have as many weapons in your pocket as possible. Aaaanyway, so how about a more tame question this time around? What's your favorite food? Oh and don't think you need to keep your questions tame, too. I'm just mixing it up."

"Believe me, you teach me that one and I'll owe you for life," Neal said with own laugh as he and Zatanna shared the moment together. He cleared his breath as Zatanna asked him about his favorite food. He pondered it for a moment as he knew that he liked quite a bit of foods. "To be honest, my dad makes a mean macaroni and cheese. It's one of the few things that he can cook really well. He always makes it if Jordan or I have a bad day," he added as he thought back to it. "I'll need to save you some the next time he makes it"

For Neal's question he thought about it for some time. "Alright, how about you tell me what the Justice League really think about myself and Rose. Surely you guys talked about us while we weren't around. What do they think of us?"