Chapter Text
Things went back to normal for the most part, after the whole revelation. Tim still patrolled, he still had annoying siblings that stole his cereal and hid his laptop, still had a socially awkward dad who tried his best, and still had the voice of an entire city inside his head.
The thing that really changed was that Tim directed the others to more dire areas when he needed to, he and Babs worked together solo more, his thieving siblings asked him and Gotham more questions about how they worked and said siblings were able to team up with Gotham to make him stop working (even if they were unaware of it).
Things were (once again) relatively peaceful.
Which meant Tim just had to stir up chaos.
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}
“Red Robin.”
“Hey Z.”
“As much as I love having Batlings stop by for a visit,” Zatanna set the duffle bag she was carrying on the hotel bed, “I do like warnings.”
“Sorry, I would have called but I want to surprise the others,” Tim steps inside through the balcony doors and sits in an armchair. He had tracked Zatanna to Paris for her next big show and had snuck into her hotel suite while she was out. It was a nice open floor plan that looked more like an apartment than anything. The bedroom and living space were attached with a current hanging in the large doorway between the two rooms. Glass doors opened up to a balcony in the living room.
“I doubt Barbra monitors every call you make,” Zatanna walks away from the bedroom and makes her way to the living room, and sits on the couch near Tim.
“No, but we do keep records of what phone numbers come through, and yours is flagged as important,” Tim shrugs, “I just didn’t want to risk it.”
“Understandable,” Zatanna grabs one of the coffee mugs filled with tea on the table between them and sips, “Oh, Alfred's good blend, are you trying to bribe me, Tim?”
“Maybe a bit,” Tim smiles.
“Well?”
“I wanted to ask if you knew anything about City Visitants.”
Zatanna quickly set down her mug and faced Tim with an earnest look, “Tim.” She starts heavily, “how do you know about City Visitants?”
“You know the ‘spirit’ in my head?”
Zatanna gasps and grins, “No. Way.”
“Yes way.” Tim grins back.
“So Gotham has taken a liking to you huh?”
“About seven years ago, yeah.”
Zatanna whistles and leans back on the couch, “Damn, no wonder Bruce was impressed with you. If Gotham likes you, everyone’s gotta.”
Gotham sniffs primly, they oughta.
“I think she agrees,” Tim snorts.
Zatanna laughs, “you know why I was concerned about you knowing about CVs right?”
“Because my knowledge would be invaluable to anyone who was looking to take over the city that had chosen me as its vessel? Not to mention Visitant Holders are used in ancient and powerful spells and are therefore a closely guarded secret within the proper magic community?” Tim laughs ruefully, “trust me. I know.”
“Yeah,” Zatanna picks her mug back up, “I guess she would have warned you about that huh?” she takes a sip, “So what did you want to contact me for?”
Covers all her bases and gets to the point without being rude, I knew I liked her.
“G and I wanted to see if there was a way for her to talk to the others,” Tim says, drinking some of his tea, “Nothing powerful or permanent, just the ability to have a nice conversation with everyone without being on a time crunch.”
Zatanna thinks for a moment, “I would suggest mind bonding, but there are too many things that could go wrong with that. I assume you want this to be a strictly private conversation?”
I’d like it to be.
“Preferably.”
She hums, “There’s probably a pendant or something out there somewhere. But as you know, City Visitants are well guarded, very few people in the magic community have important information on them. The only reason I know they exist is because of my lineage. You probably know more than I do at this point.”
Tim nods, “Could you just talk to someone or ask around? I can meet with them if necessary.”
“If it comes down to that, I can get a magic graft from you, then I shouldn’t need you.” Zatanna pauses for a moment, “I think there’s a fae group in the Falkland Islands I can ask about this, but they’ll definitely want confirmation. If all else fails you can just go to Fate and ask him, he’ll know everything.”
Yuck.
“Yeah, but do I really want Fate knowing that I’m a Visitant Holder?”
Zatanna snorts, “that’s fair.” she sets her mug down and goes over to the bed area, closing the curtain as she passes through, “Since you’re asking I guess you told them. So, how’d they take it?”
Tim groans, “Oh my god, they won’t stop asking me who her favorite is-"