[open] try to tell the difference

[franciscoramon]

who: cisco + anyone!
what: catch-all post
when: the rest of november through december
where: various places
warnings: will add as needed

[use a prompt from the tdm or come plot with me @ platoapproved. ]

Comments

[franciscoramon]

[ 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. ]

[wiccant]

( 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?

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

[franciscoramon]

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.

no problem ♡

[wiccant]

( 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. )

[franciscoramon]

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. ]

[wiccant]

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.

[franciscoramon]

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?