OPEN | i wanna be where the people are

[franciscoramon]

who: cisco + anyone!
what: catch-all
when: mid-april through may
where: anywhere; if you want an individual starter lmk!
warnings: will add as necessary

fireflies

[ When Cisco had gone firefly catching, he had been intending to study them - do a few modest experiments, see if he could figure out what was making them light up in so many colors. He has a scientist's curiosity, and needed something to get his creative gears going.

The trouble was, it didn't really take the scientific method to realize pretty soon that those fireflies not only bit (which is just so rude), but that their bite had some pretty serious impact on people's moods. It reminds Cisco of Rainbow Raider, and how he'd used color to send people into paroxysms of murderous rage. At least this isn't that bad - but the effects are still profoundly inconvenient.

The trouble is, knowing they might make his emotions go haywire didn't actually make him want to study them any less. In fact, quite the opposite. He wants to know how. But there's no good way to determine that without being around the damn things, so basically, that just means getting bit. A lot. And trying his best to manage the fallout. But, there's only so much avoiding he can do - he's bound to run into some people while tweaking on firefly magic. ]

moontech lab

[ Cisco's been settling in nicely at his job since his arrival. He's gotten things set up how he likes them - or at the very least, tolerably close to it. He's talked to a few members of the perimeter guard, the police force, and the firefighters, and he has a good idea of what they need. He's working on some interesting ideas for tech to keep them safe.

But he's also not hesitating to put the word out - to his roommates, and other random people that he speaks to - that if anyone needs a tech solution to any kind of confounding problem, that they should come and see him at the lab and see what he can whip up for them. Cisco might charge a nominal fee - guy's gotta eat, after all - but is aiming to make connections rather than make a profit. He knows from experience how important it can be to make friends, to have allies, and making stuff for people has proved to be a good way to do that in the past.

He can be found at the lab, surrounded by tables covered in bits and bobs - wires and circuit boards and tools and a laptop or two buried under things. ]

misc

[ Cisco isn't someone who does well with idleness. Sure, he appreciates the necessity of goofing off, of not working nonstop, but usually his leisure is busy - he's either marathoning some sci-fi show or playing his way through the newest triple a game in a single day, or devouring the latest science journals by the dozen, or going to clubs to dance until he can barely stay on his feet.

The trouble here is that here, a lot of those options aren't really open to him. So he ends up taking over a table at a coffee house that reminds him, just a little, of Jitters. He may stay there for hours on end, watching the people go by, but he is not wasting time. Cisco's brought a journal or two that he's using to sketch out designs for tech, to write down observations and theories about this place, and take notes on the few people he has met so far. Honestly, if anyone looked in them they'd probably find it a little creepy, but everyone acclimates in different ways. This is his.

Still, he has a smile to offer anyone who looks familiar or stops by his table to check in. ]

Comments

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco just blinks at her for a few moments; he would get it if she had objections to being a lab rat. He'd understand if it was a question of mistrust, or she thought the tests would be painful or invasive. There were so many reasons why she might say no, but just asking 'why'? He doesn't get that. It's antithetical to the way he looks at the world. ]

Because I could learn a lot about how your powers work, and how this- this moon is making it so you can't planeswalk which I'm guessing means move from universe to universe. And if I can figure out the specific physiological triggers for your powers, it's possible I could synthesize something that might help you amplify them or control them more easily. Plus... plus don't you want to know? Aren't you curious? If I was a pyromancer I'd want to know everything I could about my powers, just in case.

[ Please ignore the almost desperate projecting that's going on here just because Cisco can't control his powers and doesn't understand them and is afraid of them, Chandra.

He watches the little flame butterfly as it flits around the table, moth dropping open a little in wonder. ]

That's so awesome.

[firelogic]

*What is it going to take to get people to stop using fancy words around Chandra. She doesn't get them and it causes her to fade out of the conversation.*

Um... I guess if it's that important to you, but I don't get it. Whenever I've needed to make my powers stronger I've found an artifact, or had one made. It isn't like the blind eternities is lacking in pyromancer equipment.

And I know plenty about my powers, how they feel. How not to evaporate my soup. How to make butterflies out of fire. I've never really relied on books and stuff to learn about them. That isn't me.

*Really this would be so much easier if she wasn't here and Jace was. He could enjoy all the talking and experimenting and learning stuff and she could be able to planeswalk freely.*

It's pretty sweet, but I'm better at bigger things. They just aren't good for keeping buildings, you know, not on fire.

Um, which one are universes again. I don't ever remember how people from other places measure this stuff.

[franciscoramon]

Artifact? What are those, exactly? Do you have any with you?

[ The truth is, Caitlin's the one who is the doctor - Cisco can do some basic stuff, enough to make some observations about how her powers work, but if it's possible to examine some kind of object that amplifies or impacts her magic, that will be much easier and safer, in Cisco's eyes. ]

Yeeaahhh and I imagine the owners of this place wouldn't much appreciate that.

[ He taps at his chin, thinking how best to explain universes to someone who is from a different one - where there is magic and a different vocabulary around science. A challenge, but not anything he isn't up for: ]

They're just... everything. Everything that exists within a particular version of reality. People here who came from different places? We call those places universes, where I'm from.

[firelogic]

Um, I left my gauntlet in my room. It's a bit much for meeting someone for coffee. That's the only one I had with me when I got here. They... do things, where I'm from they're mostly engineered, but on other planes they get enchanted and have magic woven into them.

*Artificers are super cool, but this isn't Chandra's thing. She can only- oh!*

Well, I guess my clothes are kind of enchanted. I weave some specific magic into them so they don't burn. It was really awkward the first time I ended up on fire in clothes that couldn't survive fire like me. But that's a really simple thing, anyone at the monastery could do it.

*Chandra let the butterfly burn out as she tapped her fingers trying to figure out how to explain this.*

So each plane I visit is a different universe? Or at least in a universe? Why are things so stupidly complicated..?

[franciscoramon]

I'd love to see it sometime, this gauntlet. Maybe you can bring it with you to my lab sometime, once I've got the place set up properly.

[ Maybe it'll all end up being fruitless, but Cisco is not one to give up before he at least tries, and tries, and tries some more. ]

Fireproof clothes. Like it. I designed something like that for a friend. Well, redesigned it. Originally this suit was supposed to be for firefighters, but I made some adjustments so his clothes wouldn't catch on fire from friction when he's running thousands of miles an hour.

[ It's clear from the way Cisco grins a little and laughs as he says that last bit that such an incident has definitely occurred at least once before. It wasn't like Barry had started with an extensive wardrobe, either. He really can't afford to lose any more sweaters. ]

Prrrrobably? Not really sure. See THAT is exactly the type of question I can answer better if you let me study you, a little bit.

[ Everyone is curious about SOMETHING, after all. ]

[firelogic]

I guess I can bring it by, so long as you don't break it or anything. I can't really find any way to replace it here. It has work from like three different planes on it.

*The life of a planeswalker, replacement parts from all across the eternities.*

Running that fast, huh? I mean it sounds fast if it can get end up on fire. And you made that suit? And studying me could help you make more things like that?

*Maybe he could make something along the lines of what Dad could make.

[franciscoramon]

I won't break it. Cross my heart and hope to die.

[ Probably. Almost certainly. He'll be very, very careful with it, at least. There's always some possibility of damage, but he wants to see it even MORE now that he knows it has components from three different worlds or dimensions or whatever a plane is exactly. And besides, there's not really all that much more risk to it than if she left it sitting wherever she's storing it. ]

Lemme put it this way: sometimes he runs so fast he accidentally rips a hole in time and has to do a day over. So... yeah, fast enough to end up on fire, if he's in regular person clothes.

[ No harm in bringing up Barry's ability to time travel - not in this place, when he is universes away. ]

Yes! That's the idea. More things like that and stuff I've never even thought of before. Just - to learn. You never know what's possible unless you examine what's already out there. And in this case, that's you, and your powers. Plus... plus there are some metahumans where I come from who have powers they don't know how to control. Seeing what happens in your body when you're controlling yours might be useful, if I ever end up back there.

[ Certainly not referring to his own powers, nope, no way. ]

[firelogic]

*Excuse Chandra as she tries to wrap her head around that idea. Running so fast time takes you back to the start of the day. That seems a bit much, like by a lot. She thinks about it a moment, then suddenly a broad grin spreads over her face.*

Has he tried decaf?

*Yeah she's not going to try to understand it, she'll make jokes. So much easier!*

But... my powers are magic. It doesn't sound like the same thing. My powers aren't just me, they're everything. I draw power from the plane I'm on and it's as much a part of me as anything else. You really think that'd help with what you want?

[franciscoramon]

[ It's a good joke; one that Cisco laughs at heartily before shaking his head. He could explain that Barry's system metabolizes way too quickly for alcohol or caffeine or drugs of any kind to impact him, but he's just going to appreciate the humor, instead. ]

We won't know until we try, now will we?

[ There is a confidence in Cisco's voice; he doesn't know about magic, true. But it seems possible he and Chandra are just using different names for the same thing. That she somehow can manipulate the molecules of air, that she draws on energies not immediately visible (electromagnetism, maybe, who even knows) and that her 'magic' is no more than a scientifically explicable skill that hasn't been studied yet.

He tops off both their cups of tea and says: ]

That's the awesome thing about science. You never know what the answer's going to be, before you do it. You just have guesses, and then you mess around and see whether or not you were right, or if you were totally not right at all. And the more messing around you do, the more you learn, and the more you know about the world, and the better everyone's understanding is of how the universe works. You see?

[ He might not make a convert of her, but he still wants her to at least understand WHY it matters, why he wants to at least try. ]

[firelogic]

*She listens, her expression grows a little... distant. The more he talks. He really is an artificer, even if the word isn't the same. He's probably even sure what he knows will work with what she is. Maybe he can figure it out. Her dad made her vent pack, after all. So... maybe.
Eventually she comes back to where they are.*

My dad would have loved you. Well, if you're so sure it can do some good.

Sure. The worst that happens is part of your lab ends up on fire.

*What? It was a fairly obvious possibility with what she is.*

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco blinks a few times after the comment about how her dad would have liked him. There's really just... no right response to that. Or at least, not one that Cisco knows. Offering sympathy over her parents' deaths would probably only make her even more sad than she already looks. Saying 'thank you' is too smug to even consider. Denying it seems equally risky. So instead he is just quiet, looks down at his tea.

When she agrees and says the worst case scenario is burning his lab down, Cisco smiles again, reassures her: ]

I'll stock up on extra fire extinguishers.

[ And then, pleased that they are going to see each other again sometime in the future, that they'll get to talk more and also that he'll get to learn about her powers, Cisco shifts the conversation for now to Riverview - her favorite places here, adventures they've both had since they arrived - and they pass another pleasant hour or so just chatting, comfortable and friendly despite the occasional miscommunications because of their very different worlds. ]