riverviewlogs | [ open ] where I end, we'll begin

Cisco was not the easiest man to find. Scratch that, he might be the easiest man to find but Ronan didn't know where to look. Actually calling him would have helped but that would involve too many things he just didn't want to do like picking up the damn thing.

Finally, he came across him while driving around downtown in his BMW. Ronan had been advised to take it easy on his leg. This seemed like a better option.

He hit his horn, then the brakes and rolled down his window.

"Hey, man. You busy?"

Cisco had never exactly been fond of being startled, but he hadn't always been as skittish as he had become in recent months. When Ronan blared his horn not six feet away, Cisco jumped, reeling away, thinking he was about to be hit, or that a car crash was about to happen. It didn't, of course, and he clapped a hand over his heart, sighing loudly. When he recognized Ronan in the front seat, his mouth went into a tight line. Of course, Ronan was the sort to just honk to get a guy's attention.

"Busy having a heart attack, yeah."

But despite the grumbling, he approached the car, leaning down to speak through the window. Which was when he noticed, with another little shock of surprise, that Ronan was injured. There was a knee brace on one of his legs that definitely had not been there the last time Cisco saw him. Concern quickly overtook the last remnants of annoyance in his expression and he asked:

"You okay, man?"

Edited 2018-01-03 21:05 (UTC)

Ronan showed not sympathy, remorse, or even discomfort at scaring Cisco. He just flashed him a brief but wicked smile. Before he could comment on how Cisco should really grow a thicker skin, he had to blow it by noticing his brace. Ah well, down to business then.

He shifted his knee to try and obscure it from Cisco's view. Given Cisco's position, Ronan's general size, and the conspicuousness of the brace, this proved futile.

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Want to go for a ride or should I park?"

He didn't know where he would, but he didn't think he had to worry about parking tickets anyway.

Cisco's frown deepened, but he opened the door and got into the front seat. His mind was already working overtime, proposing various explanations for what the hell was going on. The last time Ronan had been injured, it had been because of his powers. Cisco had offered at that time, to help out, if Ronan ever needed it. It would explain why Ronan wanted to talk in his car, for privacy. Also potentially why he hadn't just called or texted, first, if he was worried about leaving a record, or being spied on.

"What happened? Was it another dream?"

He figured he might as well just say it out loud and cut to the chase. Cisco fastened his seatbelt as Ronan pulled away from the curb, wondering what had driven Ronan to actually seek him out and willingly talk about this...

Ronan did his best to keep his tone casual when he replied although his feelings on the situation were anything but. "No, it was Ivar. You ever met him?"

Since he had to ask for a favor, and also Cisco's concern was annoying but also appreciated, Ronan waited until he'd buckled in before pressing down on the gas pedal. He also didn't speed right away. Besides, this was downtown. He didn't want to hit anyone. A building, maybe, but vehicular manslaughter wasn't his style.

Cisco blinked, caught completely by surprise. What could Ronan want, then, if this had nothing to do with his powers? Belatedly, he realized he hadn't answered Ronan's question yet, and he said, "Yeah, briefly. He seemed, uh. ...Interesting."

It hadn't been the best first impression, considering Ivar had been crying about his girlfriend leaving and had said he hoped she got eaten by a bear. Cisco had been able to somewhat dismiss it at the time, as grief and hyperbole, but since then he'd heard plenty of stories about Ivar from Eddie. The guy got into trouble a fair amount, it seemed.

So he didn't, as he might with someone else, assume it had been some kind of accident. Instead, he asked, "You two get in a fight or something?"

"He broke my leg with a beer bottle." Ronan would rather not go into specifics. It had been rather ugly, humiliating, and one more thing he had to downplay to Adam. Speaking of... "Don't tell Adam he did that. He doesn't need to know how bad it was." His concern wasn't primarily for himself. Adam was mad enough that he could very well scratch his original plan and start orchestrating a murder.

Ronan drove with no direction in mind. "He threatened Adam, too. So plan is to set up defenses around our home. Is that something you can do?"

Ronan might have spared him the details, but even that much is enough to make Cisco's head whip around with surprise. He'd guessed it was a fight, sure. But Ivar had broken Ronan's leg? With a beer bottle - a weapon, improvised or not? That sounded like a lot more than just a scuffle between overly macho teenage boys. It sounded very dangerous, and very serious.

"Jesus Christ."

Sometimes that was all you could say.

Cisco lifted a hand to his mouth, covering it, an unconscious gesture of distress and disbelief. Part of him wanted to ask why, but the word stuck in his throat. Ronan was trusting him enough to tell him this, after all. Something he didn't even want Adam to know the full extent of. And asking what had led up to the fight could be misconstrued as trying to find a way that Ronan had caused Ivar to hurt him, as if it were his fault. Sure, maybe Ronan had done something to antagonize the guy, but Cisco would never want to even imply that he'd deserved to have his leg broken.

"Yeah, uh. Yeah. I can do that. What kind of defenses were you thinking? Cameras? Alarm? Forcefield?"

Cisco was already running through options, failsafes, calculating how much power it would take, how much would be necessary to stop a human without extensive technical skills or magic or powers. He didn't want to underestimate Ivar, but there was no point in overdoing it, either.

"What about when you leave? You can't just... go hermit indefinitely. Does Adam know he is in danger?"

Ronan's grip on the steering wheel tightened. "Yeah, Ivar told him personally." Thinking about what happened filled him with the desire to drive around until he found Ivar. Forget Cisco. But his boyfriend had finally managed to drill some sense into him or else awaken a sense of self-preservation no one knew Ronan had.

"I was thinking all of the above, especially a forcefield. We've got pets and I don't want to keep them inside in case a God damn psychopath kills them or our own defense system backfires." He frowned and missed the turn he'd originally meant to take, not that it mattered. Maybe he shouldn't bother staying in the area.

"This isn't so we can hide. I just want to be able to sleep without worrying about our house burning down. You get me?"

"Fuck."

Cisco knew that different people could have different experiences of people - still, he can't imagine anyone having the heart to threat Adam Parrish to his face, no matter the reason. How could anyone stand themselves, after that? He looked over at Ronan, saw the tightness in his jaw, the anger in the way he was holding white-knuckled to the steering wheel. And Cisco got it. If anyone had threatened Eddie, he would be livid, and Eddie was older, wiser, a detective who was used to dealing with aggression and threats for his job.

"I get you."

He knew what it was like, not feeling safe in his own home. If he could do something about that, make it so Ronan and Adam at least had a place they could return to and know that nothing would harm them, then he would. There was no real way for that to backfire, as far as he was concerned. A forcefield would be a hell of a lot safer than the alternatives - Ronan feeling scared and stockpiling guns or who even knows what. No, better to set up something to keep strangers out.

"So you've got some kind of plan? For the long term?"

Cisco wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was, but it would be good to at least know Ronan had one. He wasn't paying any attention to where they were driving, either. His mind was too preoccupied with considering the best way to do this. A little distractedly, he asked, "Can you take me to your place? So I can see what I'm working with?"

Ronan nodded once and changed directions. Back home it was.

"Adam's working on a plan." Ronan knew that it was best that Adam take care of that alone. He'd answer Adam's questions, do whatever he asked, but his mind just didn't work like that. If he tried, he'd only get in the way. Plus he just didn't want to know.

"I'm going to see if I can dream up stuff but I want something solid in case that fails." There were a number of ways it could go wrong. Most of them were benign though he kept that to himself.

Imagine trying to make a stun gun and instead of zapping people it shot flowers. God. He'd never live it down if anyone found out.

Cisco listened, nodding, then realizing Ronan was looking at the road and not at him, and saying curtly:

"Good."

Perhaps, he thought, he would contact Adam later, explain that he'd heard about the situation, offer his help with whatever the plan might be, if there is need for him.

But for the time being, he could stick to technical aid. He knew, from the last incident that had landed Ronan in the hospital, that his control over his powers was far from absolute. Cisco could see how he might not want to entrust his and his boyfriend's safety to devices that he had dreamed up. Not when he had a mechanical engineer for a friend.

"What's his deal anyway? I mean... what even happened?"

If things had gotten bad enough that Ronan was fearing for his life, that Ivar had threatened Adam to his face, Cisco thought it might be important that he have at least some sense of the context.

"Some people can't handle rejection." Whether or not Ronan was comfortable sharing more than that, he didn't think he could talk about it in detail without crashing the car. And yet he couldn't stop himself from playing that question over in his mind.

He hadn't seen Ivar kiss Adam, but there were many times when a vivid imagination did not help. Now was one of them. And while he knew that wasn't the real reason this happened, it was all Ronan could focus on.

"I tried to overlook a lot of his shit, gave him a lot of chances, but he blew it. He's got some serious problems with jealousy, boundaries, and not being an enormous piece of shit." His face flushed with anger.

In a way it was almost wore, that Ronan would say something as vague as that, with his clenched jaw and his white knuckles, and then not elaborate. Cisco's brain was all too adept at assuming any number of worst case scenarios, of extrapolating, worsening, speculating, catastrophizing. Whatever the case, it at least sounded as if the origins of the feud were interpersonal - and very personal - rather than an argument about money or anything like that.

"Gotcha."

Ronan looked angry, and his driving was reflecting it. Cisco held onto the car door with one hand and the seat with the other, tense but not distressed enough to bring it up. Given Ronan's mood, it might only make things worse. He didn't pry for any more information, though. Just said, resolutely: "Well, don't you worry. He's got a problem with boundaries, I'll build you some boundaries he's gonna have a hard time arguing with. I've dealt with worse than some Lief Erikson-ass teenage punk in my time."

And Cisco had, too. Whatever Ivar's abilities - and Cisco wasn't going to underestimate them - he doubted they included anything that could come close to the Reverse Flash, or Grodd, or even someone like Peekaboo. He was pushing this to the top of his priority list. None of his ongoing designs were all that urgent, and from the sound of it, this was.

"Yeah, me too. But it doesn't take an evil genius to fuck up your life." Ronan's voice was tight. He couldn't afford to be careless with his own life and he sure as hell wouldn't be with Adam. Greenmantle hadn't been the only villain in his life. His wife, Whelk, Kavinsky, none of them were brilliant, and they'd all hurt or killed someone he cared about. He wasn't going to let it happen again, not to Adam.

Mired in his own dark thoughts, Ronan's driving did not improve although he kept it as smooth as a dream BMW allowed. Thanks to a good deal of speeding, they reached his home quickly. The house itself wasn't overly spacious, but there was plenty of land around it. That was the problem.

"This is what you're working with."

Cisco couldn't argue with that. Sure, he considered men like Eobard Thawne to be the worst possible threat, but there was no denying the dangers of the Mick Rorys of the world, and Ivar struck Cisco as perhaps a similar sort of person - vicious, sadistic, perhaps a bit unhinged. Someone like that could do plenty of damage, if you weren't careful.

He was surprised, when Ronan turned the car, headed in a direction he'd never actually been before. He'd been expecting something different - more urban, certainly, and much smaller. Cisco stared out the window, mouth open. It might be humble, compared to what Ronan was used to, but to Cisco it looked quite intimidating.

"Holy shit, dude."

When he got out of the car, Cisco took a few steps away from the house, looking at the land around it. He called over:

"It's gonna take a lot more energy if you want to keep all this shielded. Maybe we could set it up so there's motion sensors around the outer perimeter, and then keep the actual forcefield to just 100 or so feet around the house each way."

Now that he saw the space itself, Cisco knew he was going to have to come up with something that would project from the roof of the house, with at most two or three anchors along the perimeter of the forcefield. The space was too open for anything else to be practical. He wondered, for a moment, whether it ought to be spherical, rather than a dome - what was the likelihood that Ivar would try to dig his way in, anyway? He could always bury some pressure sensors in the earth around where the barrier would end...

Half a year living on a communal floor with nine other people should have expanded Ronan's perspective. But a lifetime of privilege was not so easily stamped out. He looked at Cisco in confusion only expressed in the quirk of an eyebrow.

He wondered what Cisco would have made of the Barns. He couldn't even call this a pale imitation. This was something else.

That something else wasn't too different, which was why a small herd of chickens walked around in a small pen. Their combs were more vibrant and looked almost pointed, but they clucked and acted any other chicken. One wouldn't guess they came from his dreams.

"I've got to put up a fence around here anyway." He swept his finger across one side of the 'yard.' "We won't need all this space right away. Maybe ever." He rubbed his chin, then glanced at Cisco.

"What kind of power do you need? What parts?" He had no idea if he could pull it off, but his dream objects never seemed to need any energy, except for Matthew and Opal. He knew even that was optional.

Cisco almost didn't hear the question; his brain was working quickly now, running calculations, scenarios for what could go wrong and how to prevent it. Belatedly, he realized Ronan had spoken, but he hadn't absorbed the words or answered.

"What? Oh... I'ma need a lot. I could give you my estimate on the numbers if you want but..."

He trailed off, not finishing that sentence. He didn't know how much it would actually mean to Ronan, how familiar he was with machinery or energy, in the more concrete and scientific sense. If it were Adam he were talking to, Cisco would've told him right away. But Adam was a mechanic, was interested in science. Ronan, so far as he could tell, wasn't.

"It's definitely doable. I'm gonna have to play around with the output a little but I think I've got all the materials I'd need to build it. I keep stuff on hand. For emergencies."

It went without saying, but this seemed like kind of an emergency. Cisco started towards the house.

"Have you got a ladder? I need to get up on the roof. Oh, and, something to write on. And a measurement from the center of the house to where you want to put that fence. As accurate as you can get it."

Edited 2018-01-21 14:42 (UTC)

Though not scientific minded, or particularly bright in most areas, there was something Ronan liked about watching people work. He enjoyed it most with Adam, though only when he had the finished product ready. With Cisco he thought he could see the cogs turning in his mind. If he realized how thoughtful he himself looked when envisioning a new dream-object, he might understand better. But he didn't.

"Yeah, give me a sec." He headed inside, motioning for Cisco to follow. He mulled over how exactly to phrase his request. In the end, he came to his usual conclusion of 'fuck it.'

"Can you explain how this works? Like the basics. Show me a sketch. No promises but I might work something out for the power."

At some point in the middle of all of that, there was the scrabbling sound of small paws on the floor and three puppies ran up to greet them.

Cisco's powers didn't make him a mind reader, but it wasn't hard to put two and two together and hazard a guess what Ronan must be talking about. Cisco had got no reason to think Ronan has black market hookups or other engineer friends, and he wasn't going to be building an energy source on his own using engineering skills he didn't possess, so it must be...

"Magic?"

It was half a statement, half a question. Cisco had never really considered the possibility of incorporated magic components (or magically created components) into his tech, but Ronan's ability is a unique one. Perhaps it would be possible for him to create a power source that would be compatible with regular tech.

"Sure, I can do that. Once I've got the schematics drawn up we can go over 'em together."

Cisco trailed off, because he hears the unmistakable clacking of puppy nails on hardwood, and in comes a minor stampede of small dogs. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the relative urgency of the work that needs to be done, Cisco's face lit up.

"Oh my god, hello there!"

"Worth a shot. Adam will want to see them too." Ronan figured he might as well try. He needed to make something other than night horrors and hand lotion.

He stopped once the small herd found them. Usually they ran to him, but they just couldn't resist a stranger. They were large for puppies but fortunately they didn't try to bowl Cisco over yet. Good. Now if only they would learn how to sit.

"Oh yeah, there are the reasons we need that huge yard. See how big Thorpedo's paws are? Monstrous, my man. He's gonna be a behemoth."

Thorpedo.

"Thorpedo?!"

It was hard to tell whether that was awe, outrage, disgust, or admiration in Cisco's voice as he repeated the name in a whisper. But he crouched down and looked - sure enough, the puppy (already not small) had huge paws.

"You sure he's not part wolf?" Cisco asked.

He let himself be minorly battered by the enthusiasm of the puppies, with all their leaps and soft whining barks of greeting, their excited determination to try to lick his hands, and face. Magnus, Cisco thought, would love this place. If he needed an extra burly pair of arms to help him install the shield, he knew who he was going to invite.

"What're the others called? Are they-" but he hesitated, not sure if the question he'd been about to ask would make Ronan mad. Too late to stop, now. "-did you get them from the shelter or are they, um, dream puppies?"

Edited 2018-01-27 01:49 (UTC)

The question didn't bother Ronan. The secret was out. As long as Cisco didn't ask something stupid like if he dreamed Adam or anything mad scientist-y, he was fine with it.

"Newton and Tesla." Needless to say, Ronan was not responsible for naming them. "I got 'em when everyone was rounding up the strays. The little fuckers needed a home." He bent over and gently guided one of the puppies away from Cisco. He scratched behind the pup's ear, which thoroughly distracted him. "The chickens are a different story."

Cisco laughed, surprised and soft, at the names. He kept holding out his hands for the puppies to lick, petting them whenever they stood still for long enough that he could manage it. They were so energetic and wiggly, so full of boundless happiness that this total stranger had come into their house, as if he were already their friend.

"Lemme guess, those ones were Adam's choices? Unless Tesla's named after the car..."

Ronan seemed like someone who would appreciate a Tesla vehicle more than he would the historical figure of Nikola Tesla.

"Oh, yeah, I remember that. I was kinda tempted to take a few of those guys home, but the apartment's not that big and we already have Shadow."

Reluctantly, Cisco stood once more, smiling down at the puppies that were still wagging their tails and sniffing at his ankles like they were the most fascinating thing ever.

"They can probably smell him on my clothes. That's right, pups, it is a cat you're smelling."

An idea strikes him, then. He'd been assuming he would scope this place out, then go back to his workshop to begin on the schematics for the protection system. But he could always start the work here. After all, that way if he needed to go out and check something, it would save him a trip. That could save a lot of time, if Ronan was willing to let him sit around for a few hours and draw up schematics.

"Do you have a computer? If you let me borrow it, I could start work on the design, here, right now, and tell you about the parameters for the power source while I do. Could save us some time. Get that barrier up as soon as possible, you know?"

Ronan resisted rolling his eyes, replacing it with a shake of his head. "Yeah, Adam insisted. Turns out some people can't handle the awesomeness of names like Thorpedo. We got a cat of our own. You know what he calls it? Schrodinger. Unbe-fucking-lievable."

He scratched the back of his head and shrugged at Cisco's question about the computer. "We don't. You can't just use your communicator thing or pen and paper? Whatever, we'll figure it out. You can just send me the stuff when you're done and I'll have a look. Just calm the dogs down so you can go."

The dogs took some time to calm down, but none of them minded that much (except for Schrodinger).

[ open ] where I end, we'll begin

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