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

fireflies

[naz]

[ The firefly phenomenon is more than a little fascinating. Given her own background, she's curious how the bites actually do have the effect on people — herself included, admittedly, a time or two — that they have. When she learned that Cisco was studying them, she immediately wanted in and she still does, so she stops by to join him in the attempt to catch more of them to research.

She's thinking the more of them they can catch, the better, and not only do they have to study the fireflies themselves, but Caitlin is not opposed to using each other as test subjects, so to speak, by letting the different colored bugs bite them and then take blood and tissue samples and running brain scans to see what kind of molecular and neurological level changes are taking place in their bodies after the bites.

Leave it to Caitlin to be entirely too enthusiastic about the idea of working on her day off. With a jar in hand, she grins at her friend and holds it up, wiggling it slightly just in case he missed it. ]

Ready when you are. I was thinking we should run some tests on 'victims,' for lack of a better word, of the fireflies. How do you feel about letting them bite us, taking turns, until we've tested after all the different colors...?

[spellslots]

[It hadn't taken Taako long to figure out that Cisco was pretty hype about the whole elf thing, which is cool, whatever, but it seemed more sensible to give the rundown in person rather than over text. It takes a while to wrangle a time that works for both of them, but they get there eventually. Cisco suggests coffee, but Taako decides to one up that by texting Cisco the location to the espresso martini bar he recently discovered.

It's late enough in the afternoon that drinking is acceptable, but not so late that he felt the need to get too dressed up, which means black skinny jeans and patterned blouse, neither of which match the umbrella hooked over the back of his chair, but that doesn't bother him.

He'd gotten there a little early and has already acquired a drink (it has candy around the rim and he loves it), so now he just has to wait. Between the ears and his hair, Taako knows he's pretty hard to miss; he doubts Cisco will have much trouble finding him.]

• for peggy

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco's still got no idea how this had happened. How he got put in charge of something as huge as outfitting the perimeter guard, the firefighters, and the police. Sure, okay, he was the metahuman consultant for the CCPD. He has experience designing tech in what could be generously called high-stress situations. He's got some skills. But Cisco's never not had a boss before. He's never been the lead engineer before - the lead anything before. At S.T.A.R. Labs and on Team Flash, he'd had Dr. Wells; at the CCPD there had been Joe and Captain Singh.

It all just feels like way too much responsibility if he stops to think about it. So his solution thus far has been to prevent thinking by simply not stopping. And it shows, in the state of his lab. He'd only just gotten here a month ago, but the place is jam-packed full of stuff: schematics, laptops, tools, half-built tech, abandoned projects, jars of candy, and one very overworked coffee pot.

He's known for a few days that the police are sending over a liaison that morning to talk about what they need, so he'd meant to tidy the place up. Really, he had. But he'd completely lost track of time trying to figure out how to boost the signals on the tiny trackers he was planning on outfitting the perimeter guards with, so they could monitor one another's locations. And soon enough it's been hours, and he hears a knock at the door. ]

It's open!

moontech lab

[signifies]

[ Cisco may have been partly joking about their need to stick together but Clark agrees with him. They should stick together and not because they're from similar worlds. Cisco seems like a sensible guy with a good attitude towards what's different from him. If anyone wouldn't be upset about an alien walking on Earth, it'd be him.

Clark doesn't expect to keep his secret for very long. People figure out soon enough. Despite that, he approaches the lab as Clark Kent.

He knocks on the door and peers over the tables. ]

Hello?

• for chandra

[franciscoramon]

[ It's just a sign of how much weirder his life has gotten that Cisco's excitement right now is this manageable. If it had been the Cisco from before the particle accelerator exploded, sitting here in this café, waiting to meet a pyromancer, he's pretty sure he wouldn't be able to sit still.

But he's seen one of his best friends fuse with another guy and fly through the air while shooting fire from his hands; after that, one's perspective tends to shift. Still, he's really looking forward to meeting Chandra and talking over what she can do; Cisco showed up early and has already ordered them both a pot of (decaf!) tea, and has doctored his with enough sugar and milk that some people probably wouldn't even classify it as tea at all. But she'd said no caffeine (and that is definitely one of those stories he's hoping to hear). ]

• for yuri

[franciscoramon]

[ This is ridiculous. This is inhumane. This is not how a civilized society should be. ]

It doesn't have to be this brand. I mean... it's a super common brand and I kinda can't believe this is the third store I've asked at, but...

[ Anyone in the small shop would probably be able to hear him; Cisco isn't shouting or anything, because that's not the kind of guy he is, but he isn't trying to be quiet, either. The exasperation is clear both in the tone of his voice and the way he rubs a hand across his forehead, eyes slipping closed for a moment. ]

If you haven't got Cholula, do you have any kind of chili-lime hot sauce? Any at all?

[ He sounds like a guy at the end of his rope. Which... is about how he feels, too. ]