I almost drowned (and all I got was this stupid shirt) Part Open, Part Closed!

[shoplifter]

who: Laura, Stephen, Loki, and any visitors to Option B.
what: The flooding from here.
when: End of March
where: The rushin' waters outside the city, and also the hospital.
warnings: A near-drowning of a child. Maybe flashbacks or heavier material about the hospital, if it reaches that kind of point.


End of March — The Floods.

OPTION A. | Closed to Stephen and Loki

[The flooding's gotten much worse. And with the flooding comes terrible creatures outside the wall, ones she hasn't had the pleasure of running into — giant crocodiles, things with curling, wriggling tentacles, and all manner of fish and bug and frog. She has elected to at the very least kill them before they can get into the city somehow, or scare them away if it's possible. The waters are getting worse, the creatures are more plentiful, and... maybe she is getting stuck in the crossfire more than she'd like to admit.

She leaps from tree to tree as best she can, and scales along the sides of quivering buildings.

Maybe she can just hang out in the — oh, it's raining. This is just great.

How can this get any worse?]

OPTION B. | Hospital | Open to All

[Laura nearly drowns, basically. It's a good thing Stephen and Loki had been around to fish her out. And for the next day or two, Laura lays in a hospital bed looking surprisingly okay for someone who doesn't want to wake up yet; not a scratch on her, because that's just how she works. Maybe it was the rock her head hit during her rather dramatic fall into the pulsing waters below.

But eventually, she does wake up. And it, unlike the fall, is not dramatic at all.

She opens her eyes and stares at the ceiling, knowing exactly where she is. For some reason, though... the fear and panic is abated. Stephen and Beverly work here. The hospital is not bad — it's... not. And though her arms get pimpled at the memory of the sterile world she'd come from, she does not jump up or move to flee. Instead, she says, to the ceiling and whoever may be close by:]

... I am hungry.

[Nailed it.

She can be found hanging out in her room, nurses anxiously peering in (they haven't forgot her last rage, alright?). She's going to try her best to be good for any doctors or nurses this time. And hell, despite being nearly eaten by monsters and almost drowning, she looks 100% healthy.

Also, she may be half-way climbing out a window at some point, when you visit.

........... Oops?]

Comments

[shoplifter]

[Man, and here she was excited at the prospect of some new accessory that looks like a panda; it actually has a function? Doubly great. She carefully inspects the small panda face with that same odd intensity she does just about anything new to her. She's never worn a ring before. She'd be so worried to break things like this, but...

Cisco, this is... a really nice thing. To do. A nice person to be. She's not even sure how to respond to the ever-growing concept of someone coming to her aid like that. Someone who barely knows her, who might be far more weary if he'd seen how many men she's taken down. Rather violently, at that.

But she studies the ring and looks at ease.]

... Don't you need one as well?

[She would come help. She'd take down plenty more men for self-defense.

And friend-defense.]

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco grins, reaches into his pocket and pulls out something that looks, at least, like your ordinary average everyday fidget spinner. But he turns it over to reveal that, on one side, there is a small switch, the sort that would be difficult to accidentally press, but discreet enough to activate in an emergency. ]

Way ahead of ya.

[ It wouldn't contact Laura, it's true, but it would transmit a distress signal to Eddie, to Taako, to Genji, to a few of Cisco's other, grown-up friends. Much as he likes Laura, calling on a little kid to help, especially in a dangerous situation, is just crossing a line for him. Even if, rationally, he knows she's a hell of a lot more badass and tough than he could ever be. ]

And don't you worry about using that whenever you need, alright? I mean, don't twist it if you just want pizza but you can't find your phone, but if you think there's any kind of danger, even if you're not sure, you can give a call, okay?

[shoplifter]

[After a thoughtful beat, he nods. She's not sure what the heck that device is he's got but, y'know — if it keeps him safe at some point, she welcomes it's use. It puts her at ease that he's got
a system in place for himself, and so she sits back, pleased.]

Eso es bueno.

... I'm not used to asking for help, when there is danger.

It was important to know how to handle it alone... But I am trying. To learn.

[franciscoramon]

Yeah. But I bet you'll get the hang of it, kiddo. You don't gotta rush yourself.

[ His smile is a little sad, around the edges, but he tries to keep it hopeful. Laura's story, what little he's heard of it, is depressing as hell. But that just means that more than a lot of folks, she needs someone there to smile for her, to make her laugh and smile when he can. ]

Wanna know what I've been working on learning?

[ He gives a dramatic look around, to make sure there is no one else in the room, and no one just outside, who might see him. Then, making sure he positions himself so his back is blocking view of it from the door, he holds his hand out, palm up, and pulls a little multidimensional energy into his hand. Just enough to make it faintly glow with a shifting blue light.

She'd shown off her powers to him - her claws, her healing. He'd told her he was a meta, then. But he hadn't actually shown her. And he wants to remind her that he's like her. Hasn't been through the same things, no. Doesn't have the same powers. But they're both different. Besides... he thinks maybe it will interest or amuse her, distract her from her surroundings a bit. ]

[shoplifter]

[Oh, this is extremely interesting, you're right on the money. She leans in and looks with wide, curious eyes.]

It's pretty.

[Hers isn't pretty, not at all. She envies his a little on that fact alone, though she also has a love-hate relationship with hers anyway — it's caused her great pain, but also, it's a part of her father, always with her. How can she completely dislike something like that? Her voice lowers in the privacy of the moment.]

What happens if someone touches it?

[Spoken like someone who would totally touch it.]

[franciscoramon]

Your fingers will feel a little tingly. That's all.

[ He has tried this trick a few times, and Laura's not the first person who has had the urge to touch that strange, shifting glow. For Cisco, the feeling is more of a thrumming - a synchronization between his body and the vibration of the energy. It feels kind of nice, actually, but he isn't going to mention that. ]

You can, if you want.

[ Cisco can't help thinking of home, then. There were benefits, to metas living hidden amongst everyone else. They couldn't be rounded up and experimented on, like Laura had been. But then... metas in Central City didn't get moments like this. Sharing their powers together. Asking questions. Feeling not-alone. ]

Somebody told me once that if I focus hard enough, I could use this to open a breach between two different worlds. Like the portal that brought us here.

[ Cisco draws just a tiny bit more energy in, so the glow brightens, little wisps of the energy radiating out and evaporating in the air. ]

I haven't tried yet. I'm kinda scared to.

[shoplifter]

[In that case, with only the slightest flinch, she reaches out to put her fingers in the bright color. It does just feel a little tingly, but it's not a bad sensation. She glances from it to him, the light reflecting in her dark eyes.]

Are you scared it will hurt you? Or the people who go through it?

[franciscoramon]

Not exactly. I know it isn't gonna hurt me. And I don't think it would be dangerous for anybody who went through, either.

[ Those are, of course, the logical and obvious reasons to be afraid of a power like his. It'd probably be easier, in a way, if his reservations were for simple mechanical reasons like that. Cisco sighs, the light in his hand dimming as he grows distracted, trying to think whether he should tell her the truth, and if he does, how to phrase it. ]

I'm... scared that if I have too much power, it's gonna go to my head, and make me go bad. People... who have too much power, sometimes it messes with them, and makes them think they're better than other people, and then they start to think other people are disposable, or that it's okay to hurt them. I don't wanna think like that. Not ever.

[ It's more complicated than that, of course. There are particular reasons why he is afraid this particular kind of power will make him evil. Eobard, evilest of evil douchebags, saying Cisco's powers were a gift from him. The glimpse he'd gotten of Reverb, his doppelganger, who seemed to have no qualms about hurting people, even killing them. But he really doesn't want to get into any of that, so he just laughs softly, admits: ]

I guess that sounds kinda silly when I say it out loud, but...

[ He shrugs. ]

[shoplifter]

[He cocks her head to the side, listening.]

I don't think someone like you could ever become evil.

[And she seems to have more to say — after a moment, it almost feels she's given up expanding on it, but she pushes forward anyway, because it seems important.]

We watched many videos on how to kill people in secret; babies were the easiest lesson, because they were so small and already had so many weak spots, you could do it and make it look like an accident. But I — [She swallows hard, looking aside and fidgeting with the Rubix Cube.] I thought they were cute... I did not want to hurt them.

A lot of us didn't want to.

[She's not very good at this, she knows. There are people way better at peptalks.

But... She tries anyway.]

I think... it is harder to make someone evil when their heart is good.

Yours is very good.

[franciscoramon]

[ He lets the shifting energy slip away from his hand, dissipating into the air. Cisco thinks, but does not say aloud, that Laura might not be the best judge of goodness in people. After all, she had been exposed to such intensely evil people, from such a young age. Her standards for unbreakable moral strength are probably a little low. Which is to say: definitely extremely low. And he had wanted her to trust him, hadn't let her see a glimpse of any of the cracks and flaws in him that evil could worm its way through.

But before he can get too lost in these thoughts, she's speaking again, struggling with the words a bit. Cisco listens, expression going from quietly curious to horrified. He knows that Laura is telling the truth. Even if she were the type to lie, it's written all over her body language, in her tone of voice.

And maybe it's just a combination of the setting, and the vulnerability from using his powers, and how small Laura looks in her hospital bed, but Cisco can't help it. His eyes go hot and suddenly his vision is swimming, his throat closing up as he tries - unsuccessfully - to hold back tears. ]

I- I- I guess you're right.

[ Cisco swipes at his cheek impatiently as a tear spills down it, inhaling shakily. ]

I'm sorry they tried to make you- make you hurt people. None of you... should've had to go through that...

[shoplifter]

[Ah. She flusters, eyes widening before she looks away and hides behind a curtain of brown hair.]

Lo siento. I was trying to make you feel better.

... But I am not very good at that.

[She's sure that's pretty obvious, at this point, that she is just awful at making anyone properly inspired; Transigen did not offer etiquette classes, which is just a shame, isn't it? But now she feels a little bad, to have upset him.]

[franciscoramon]

No, hey, c'mon-

[ Cisco wipes at his face with his sleeve, forcing a smile that's tremulous - not that Laura is likely to see it through her hair. He reaches out, cautiously, touching Laura's wrist, just for a moment, to get her attention. ]

Don't apologize. I'm- you're not bad at it, okay? I'm just- I just cry real easy, alright.

[ He tries to put as much brightness in his voice as he can, even though it's still tight with emotion. The last thing he wants to do is make Laura feel like there's something wrong with her. None of this was her fault, after all. ]

I mean, everything makes me cry. Dogs in the park playing fetch. Music I've heard a hundred times before. A soap commercial, once, which Eddie won't let me hear the end of. Alright?

[ Cisco is, of course, exaggerating, and there's a pretty big difference between welling up a little at a happy dachshund running on absurdly small legs and crying because people put children in a program where they were tortured and taught to kill. But if it's a white lie, it's only half of one, and he thinks, forgivable. ]

And you're right. I'm gonna remember that, next time I'm feeling scared to try.

[shoplifter]

[She studies his expression for a long moment — eyes always reading, the gears of her mind always turning despite her usual silence. Despite her uncertainty, she's swayed by the explanation, and some of the niggling guilt eases.]

... Alright.

[She smiles, just faintly, and carefully turns the panda-themed ring on her finger.]

Good.

[It's not so bad, being an easy crier.

She envies that a little, but it surely seems more human.]