riverviewlogs | [open] try to tell the difference

( that is definitely his name, but it's not a voice he recognizes. for a moment, he almost assumes it's just someone else named billy this guy is calling out for--but this wouldn't be the first, nor the last time some unknown person here in riverview has known more about him than they should.

so he twists around, moves to face cisco and--yeah, definitely not ringing any bells. it's good he's already used to this: the process of letting people know he doesn't remember anything from being here before. that two weeks ago he was busy hopping through the multiverse, not. . this. his brows furrow, but the corners of his lips do twist up into some semblance of a hesitant smile. )

I'm--sorry. I don't remember you. There. . must have been a portal glitch or something when I came through? ( or something. ) Because I know I had been here for a while before, but I don't remember any of it.

[ As soon as Billy says he doesn't remember him, Cisco's smile drops away. It takes a few moments for that information to actually sink in. Cisco's heard of this kind of thing happening before. Rey had told him about it, when it had happened with Poe. But it's never been someone he actually knew.

His first instinct - which he's not really proud of - is suspicion. This could be Billy, returned but without his memories. Or it could be a Billy from a slightly different version of reality than the one Cisco had known. But it could also be a shapeshifter, of the same sort as Hannibal Bates. Or even someone like Eobard Thawne, who had used god knows what technology to transform himself into the shape of Harrison Wells. ]

That's, uh. Wow.

[ He rubs at the back of his neck, feeling awkward and alarmed but trying to muster up a smile. After another moment's hesitation, he holds out a hand for Billy (?) to shake. ]

Cisco Ramon. I- we were, um, friends.

( alternative universes or really inconvenient memory loss are his two current best guesses; billy's traveled the multiverse enough to know there's plenty versions of him, but most of the ones he's run across were different enough that one would be able to tell the difference. loki called him a different incarnation of the one who was here before, which. seems like a good call, too.

still doesn't make this part any easier. cisco offers his hand, and billy's quick enough to shake it, the same sheepish smile never quite fading. )

Billy Kaplan, but I guess you knew that already. ( friends he said. and as far as he can tell, he's not that different from how he was before, so: ) It's nice to meet you, again.

So... this is super duper weird, right?

[ One of them might as well just come out and say it; no point in trying to deny how very strange this situation is. Still, they're both people who are accustomed to some pretty strange situations. The fact that they'd become friends in the first place, considering they were from different universes, is so unlikely that everything else feels trivial by comparison. If Cisco had gotten close to Billy once, he could do it again.

So he grins, shrugs, and declares: ]

Guess I get to reuse all my best jokes now.

[ There's a shadow of something sad, beneath that optimism and the wide smile. Billy had been the first person he told about his powers, had been the one who encouraged him to stop running away from them, to start facing the fact that he is a metahuman. He'd been someone Cisco had trusted - and now there's one less name on that already very short list. ]

How're you holding up? I mean... the whole amnesia thing's gotta be all kinds of uncomfortable. Random strangers rocking up to you, and all...

[ If nothing else, the obvious concern in Cisco's voice, and his worried expression, are evidence enough that he had been close enough to Billy to fret over how he's dealing with this situation. ]

I'd say it's considerably high on the list of weird things I've gone through. ( finding out that you've been somewhere before but can't quite remember being there, getting stuck in some weird pocket of the multiverse with no way back to his own corner of it, finding there's two different versions of a few people he's familiar with, here. the weird time differences between himself and those he knows from back home.

alternative realities are no big deal to an avenger. alternative versions are no big deal. but this is in a whole other ballgame. but from what he's learned of the billy who was here before, they're not that different, and he trusts his own taste in friends. . ish. if this guy is even telling the truth about them being friends.

but it sounds like a really silly thing to lie over. )

I'm getting used to it. ( being approached, not needing to introduce himself but definitely needing to catch up on a few names he's supposed to know but doesn't. ) Amnesia just means I get to start all over, right?

( considering he spent a good thirty minutes sitting on the stairs with his face in his hands when he first got here, he's. not doing as well as he could be, but billy's cool now and that's what matters. )

You know, sometimes I get tempted to just write down an actual list? Like can you imagine. Just a piece of paper somewhere; some new totally crazy shit happens, you deal with it, then put it on the list.

[ Cisco's trying his best to make light of the situation, to lift spirits by joking around, but his humor's a little anemic at the moment. ]

Yeah. A fresh start.

[ To him, the idea of starting all over sounds far more like a disaster than an opportunity, but perhaps that is just because he is the one who remembers. Or, perhaps, it seems just as bad to Billy, but he's making the best of a bad situation. Perhaps it's some combination of the two. ]

Listen, I don't wanna be presumptuous or anything, but... I'd really like a chance to get to be your friend, again. You don't know this right now, but... we got a lot in common.

( it’s a bit of both. billy isn’t quite sure what happened when he was here before—but considering there a lot of things certain people have decided to be overly vague over, he’s not quite sure he wants to know, either. he went from being in his own dimension with people he had been very familiar with to. . somewhere with people he’s mildly familiar with, and someone he’d been around for the last god knows how long who admitted to numerous lies he really doesn’t want to stop to think about.

overwhelming is putting it lightly. ) I’d need a few notebooks to get that list written. ( not including everything strange and unusual that’s happened here—the last year back home would take pages to detail.

and he’s not particularly—difficult to befriend. it seems a little weird for someone to ask like that, but. considering he knew him but doesn’t know him. . ) Yeah, sure. Though I’m really not sure if having that much in common with me’s a good thing.

( considering, well. his life. )

I’d start talking about myself—but if we were friends, you probably’ve got all the basics down, right?

I don't doubt it.

[ He'd only heard bits and pieces about Billy's life before he arrived here, but all the stuff he had heard... well it had mostly been very strange, indeed.

When Billy makes that joke about how having things in common with him might not be a good thing, a little furrow forms between Cisco's brow. ]

Hey, c'mon, give yourself some credit, man. I meant stuff like... well, we both work with superheroes. We both come from worlds where some people have got powers - they're metahumans where I'm from, and I know they call them mutants in your universe. We both like guys. We both got bullied a lot in school.

[ Of course, there's another, much bigger thing they have that makes them similar, but Cisco's having some difficulty spitting it out. After all, what if this is an imposter? Could be dangerous. But he's really trying to make an effort to be more open about it, and Billy had been so instrumental in helping him to do that. So he sucks in a breath and just rips off the bandaid. ]

There are- um. There's some similarities. Between our, uh- powers.

[ No looking back, now. Cisco does, however, cast a bit of a glance around them, just checking that nobody looked like they were listening in. He rubs at the back of his neck, asks: ]

Look can I buy you a coffee or something? It feels weird just kinda talking and standing here in everybody's way.

( even moments before he’d ended up here, he’d been—what, pouring power into a god stuck in the body of a preteen, trying to get him to be older and stronger so he could help him save his boyfriend (who had left because he’s a reality warper, and who knows just how much billy is bending time and space around him?) from an interdimensional parasite he’d accidentally pulled into their world when trying to actually get said boyfriend’s mother from the past moments before her death by fire at the hands of a super skrull. . life’s complicated.

billy is still a little—stuck in all of that. which is one of the reasons for his lackluster responses, his negative outlook towards it. but cisco’s still talking to him, and he’s opening up to him—which is as good of a sign as any, isn’t it? he’s met a few witches here already, knowing there are more people with similar abilities is nice.

cisco’s not very subtle in his shifty looks, though. )

We can go get coffee. I was just on my way to the café, actually. ( he raises a hand, gestures behind him to one of the nearby ones before turning on his heels to start walking towards it, pace slow to wait for ‘cisco to catch up. )

Metahumans, huh? I guess it fits. . ( but cisco mentioned there were similarities, which brings him to: ) Are you also a witch?

( sure, being a mutant is rare enough as it is, especially these days—but considering how high the population of witches seems to be here, he wouldn’t be surprised. )

[ Cisco's heart is beating a touch too fast, his hands pulling nervously at the cuffs of his hoodie as he waits to see how Billy will react. Not that he's expecting anything bad, but, all the same. It's a relief when he just takes the information in stride, unfazed. That business over with, Cisco's more than happy to follow Billy's lead towards the nearest café. ]

Nope, just a meta.

[ The distinction between superpowers and magic is sometimes a blurry one, but Cisco does his best to maintain some distinctness in the categories. ]

I should explain - it's a bit different from mutants. Nobody had abilities or any of that in my world until a couple years ago. A particle accelerator exploded, ripped a hole between dimensions, released all this dark matter, and about 1% of the population got changed.

[ And then he has to pause in his explanation, because they've reached the café, and Cisco clams up the moment anyone else is nearby enough to overhear. He might not have said anything about his powers being a secret, but it wouldn't be much of a leap for Billy to figure it out, in context. ]

( superpowers versus magic, mutant versus witch--the lines blur particularly hard in billy’s case, but he understands where cisco’s going with it. and he definitely does understand when cisco stops talking about it as soon as they’re in the café.

the whole. particle accelerator bit loses him a little; billy’s not a giant science nerd, even if he can get pretty nerdy about a lot of other things. but dark matter is fairly clear without needing further explanation. the multiverse is complicated. ripping a hole between dimensions would cause complications. he doesn’t need to get how a particle accelerator would work to understand that.

billy’s quick to order his own coffee--pays for it himself, because he might be new but he still has some pocket change. he takes a step back and away from the counter, turning his head to cisco to murmur quietly under his breath, low enough to keep anyone with normal hearing from picking up on it: )

Corner table? Or do you want to go somewhere else?

Corner table.

[ Cisco is grateful for the discretion; after all, he'd been too caught up in checking for eavesdroppers and missed the chance to pay for Billy's drink, which he'd meant to do... oh well, maybe it's better this way. He doesn't want to come across too strong, or anything. God, this making friends all over again thing is complicated. As if Cisco didn't already overthink shit enough.

He orders himself a sugary, whipped-cream topped disaster of a coffee and follows Billy back to the corner of the restaurant, where they can speak a little more freely without concern. Getting settled, Cisco shoots Billy an apologetic smile, gesturing vaguely with his hand as he says: ]

Sorry about all the fuss. I'm still working on the whole... 'owning it' thing.

( being. closeted isn't anything billy's stranger to. being uncomfortable in one's own skin, or not feeling like they can own something is one thing he's--entirely used to. he understands cisco's discomfort; it wasn't that long ago that billy's powers were a close..ish kept secret.

so he just gives an understanding smile in response, fingers wrapped tight around the coffee cup in hand. ) Don't worry about it--I understand. Being a mu--( wait, that's not the correct word. ) metahuman's probably as hard in your world as it is in mine, so.

( that's not even bringing in the whole liking guys thing, or being bullied in school. when one of the biggest pieces of you only earns getting the shit beaten out of you by school bullies on a fairly frequent basis, you learn pretty fast that owning things just earns more bruises.

billy has never had a problem being different from others. or owning it. but he can completely understand where the hesitance comes from. )

So you work with superheroes? ( seems like a good of a place to start as any. )

Sort of. Like, mutants have been around a lot longer, in your world. It hasn't even been three years for us, so mostly people only know about the metas they've heard about on the news. The ones using their powers to rob banks and kill people and stuff. We estimated there's about 2500 metas, but it's not like there's anybody out there talking openly about being one, you know? People just... keep it to themselves.

[ Cisco has no illusions about that state of things lasting long. Already, stuff has started to shift. A metahuman task force at the CCPD. A metahuman wing at Iron Heights. He'd been able to be a part of both of those things, helped to shape them so that they were relatively humane, but it probably won't be long before things get complicated, and maybe ugly. All in all, he's glad to be here, where people with powers don't stand out all that much. ]

Yeah. I mean, I did, back in Central City. I helped some other folks now and then, but mostly the Flash. He's, like, the one good meta most people know about. He's a speedster. Um, like your brother?

[ It feels a little awkward, mentioning that, but Cisco thinks it would be weirder not to bring it up. He doesn't know a whole lot about Billy's relatives, but he knows at least that he had a brother with super speed. ]

Tommy. ( he supposes tommy would come up eventually, talking to someone else with a speedster friend. there's pietro, too, but. so their speedster kind of works as the super fast superhero of their area. always good to have one of those on your side. mutants had been all but wiped out at one point, but they've definitely been around a lot longer than just a few years.

there's a lot of speculation into when mutants started being. . born, but. it was definitely at least several hundred years ago. so it's much different than what cisco is describing. )

I can imagine that's hard--trying to be open with your powers when the most the ones people know of do. . less than pleasant things. ( there's the x-men back home, at least. and it's not just mutants--there are gods, men with extremely powerful metal suits of armor, aliens; while there are many who--use their capabilities for bad things, there are many who use them for good, too. being a mutant's still hard, but. )

The Flash sounds pretty cool though.

Yep, pretty much.

[ Cisco hesitates, looking down at his drink for some moments. There's something he wants to say, something that is true, and relevant to their current conversation - but he isn't sure if saying it is going to put Billy in an awkward position. After all, even if he is being polite, to him, Cisco is still a total stranger. He doesn't want to creepy Billy out, make him feel as if there are weird expectations.

Still, Cisco's never been very good at hiding things. So he looks up and, with a lopsided, and slightly rueful smile, he admits: ]

Actually, you were the first person I, y'know. Told. A couple of people figured it out before that, but...

[ He trails off, shrugging. Stein had figured out he had powers, and Eddie had of course realized when Cisco used them to protect him from a monster out in the forest. But Billy had been the first one Cisco had made the choice to tell.

Clearing his throat, Cisco dives into talking about the Flash, because that's way easier than talking about himself. ]

He is. You know, there's actually a Flash here. Not from my world, and not the guy I knew back home, but... if you ever see a red blur run past, well, you'll know who it is. But the one I worked with back home was- he was just the best. He made everybody around him want to be a hero too, you know?

[open] try to tell the difference

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sorry for the super long delay! i've been sick 😷

no problem ♡

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