Chapter Text
“Hey, uh, guys” Ray said, entering the galley. Nate looked up from the papers he was looking at, detailing his late father’s plans for Heyworld!. Sara, who had been checking for the upteenth time that quarter hour to see if Ava had responded to her text, set her phone down and gave Ray her attention. Zari and Charlie set down their donuts. Mick kept drinking his beer. Mona set down her book. Constantine continued watching a game of ‘football’. Nate frowned as he spotted Nora walking behind his friend.
“What’s she doing here?” He shouted. He got uo and marched over.
“Nate, I didn’t kill your dad.” Nora stated.
“It was a demon.” Ray explained.
“I broke out to try to save him.” Nora added.
“It’s true. His name is Neron. I’ve delt with him before.” Constantine confirmed without looking up. Nate calmed down a bit.
“So what is it?” Sara asked, looking at Ray.
“I figured that since there doesn’t seem to be any active fugitives right now, we might want to use this break as a way to grow as a team. Especially since we need to welcome Nora and Mona into our group dynamic.” Ray suggested. Mick took another drink of his beer.
“No” he grunted.
“I’m not taking part in any of your teambuilding exercises.” Constantine declared.
“Didn’t we already do this in Mexico?” Charlie asked. She glanced from Ray to Mona and back again. Mona nodded in agreement.
“Please... no” groaned Zari, shaking her head.
“Oh, nonono.” Ray quickly corrected. “I’m not talking about trust falls or anything like that. I was just thinking we could play a friendly game of Beasts/Slayers ”
“What’s with that title? Is it a monster killing game? I thought we were past that.” Charlie commented. She looked at Zari for clarification. Zari gave a shrug.
“It’s like the game Mafia,” Nate answered. “It’s not about monsters per se , but one person is chosen to be the beast and its their job to ‘kill’ the others.” Nate made quotation marks with his fingers as he spoke. The team looked collectively less annoyed upon hearing this.
“Alright, lets do it.” Charlie agreed.
“Yeah” said Mona, moving to sit at the table at the center, where Mick, Charlie, and Zari were already gathered. Sara, Nate, Nora and Constantine joined as well. Ray gathered the box and took out the cards.
“There is a board for it, but I think it will be more practical with just the cards.” He stated. He sat next to Nora and shuffled the character cards before passing them out.
“Do we have to keep these secret?” Sara asked.
“No, you can show people if you want to.” Ray answered.
“Well, I am the eccentric detective ” Sara read aloud. She turned her card around to show the others. “You know, it kind of fits in line with what I do in this team. We have to figure out what it messing up the time line and then stop it.” Ray grinned.
“I’m kind of like my card too.” Nora observed. She turned her’s around, revealing the label ‘reluctant soothesayer’ to the group.
“Big game hunter” Mick read allowed.
“That fits.” Zari noted.
“He did want to shoot that unicorn before we even knew it was evil.” Nate agreed.
“Although, it would fit pretty much any of you guys if we were still in one of the timelines Charlie and Constantine made” Zari added.
“Wait, what do you mean?” Mona asked.
“There were a few timeline mishaps when Constantine tried to save Des and I tried to get my powers back.” Charlie explained.
“The Custodians of the Chronology; The Sirens of Spece Time…” Zari listed.
“At least The Puppets of Tomorrow weren’t monster killing wankers.” Charlie commented, grinning.
“I refuse to be made of fabric.” Zari stated, she had to try not to laugh at Charlie’s enthusiasm.
“I think all that means my card fits.” Constantine reported. “Black Widow… everyone who loves me winds up damned.” Zari and Charlie’s faces dropped. Mick took another drink of his beer. The team studied their cards, unsure of what to say to Constantine’s comment.
“Well, I’m a starving artist” Mona reported.
“Wait, Z, what did you get?” Charlie asked.
“Prima donna” Zari read aloud. She turned her card around so the others could see the little illustration.
“That fits!” Mona said, a bit louder than was necessary. Zari furrowed her brow.
“No, it doesn’t” she replied. Her voice indicated wonder at how Mona came to that conclusion.
“Oh come on, Z” Charlie spoke. Holding her card as though it were a microphone, she sang
“Fixed the timeline as a cat
Saved a cowboy - kept his hat
Took Salem’s breath away!
Got stuck reliving the same day!”
The team grinned as they watched. Zari used a hand to hide her face in embarrassment. Nate, Constantine, and Mick watched, rather confused.
“Although the next lyric was ‘Through it all, I kept my cool’ I have to say that in three out of four of those events, Ms. Tomaz most certainly did not keep calm.” The AI spoke through the ship’s speakers.
“Thanks for that, Gideon” Zari replied sarcastically. Charlie laughed.
“Wait, what was that about?” Nate asked.
“Don’t ask. Please don’t ask” “Zari had an incident with a fugitive” Zari and Sara spoke at the same time.
“We had to stop her from marrying him” Mona explained.
“What?” Nate remarked. Zari’s face grew redder by the minute. She nabbed Charlie’s card.
“Consumptive doctor” she read aloud. “Well, um, you did say you were dying because you couldn’t transform” Zari spoke quiuckly, hoping to change the subject.
“Well, I’m a wealthy foreigner” Nate revealed. “Is that everyone?” The group glanced at eachother and nodded.
“Great!” reported Ray. He passed each of them another card. “Keep these cards secret. They either say human or they say beast .” The team members each took their cards and looked at them.
Charlie set her card down and rubbed her hads together in anticipation. Sara smirked as she looked across the rest of the group. Mona nodded upon reading her card and set it down, clearly happy with the result. Nora, Nate, Constantine and Zari each maintained a straight face. Mick took another drink of his beer.