[open] it's time to tip it off

[franciscoramon]

who: cisco + anyone!
what: catch-all
when: july
where: anywhere; if you want a starter, please hit me up!
warnings: discussion of sex & drinking

i. tech testing

[ Most of Cisco's work is done within the privacy of his workshop, but there comes a time when he has to leave and find a nice quiet place to actually test some of the tech that he's made. The one time he'd done so outside the wall, things had gone very very badly. So he makes a compromise, finds an alleyway that is within the city but deserted. Sure, he might blow up a dumpster or two and make quite a racket, but he is less likely to get attacked by monsters here, and if anyone disturbs him he can just tell them to clear out.

That's the theory, anyway. But some of the stuff he brought with him might be a bit more powerful than he'd intended... ]

ii. nesting

[ Cisco had been very tentative about his new living situation, at first. He didn't want to get too comfortable, in case Yuri changed his mind, or Eddie got sick of him. But after a few weeks, with no signs that they want him to leave, Cisco starts to think about maybe settling in to his new room. It's fairly stark, still - just a bed, some sheets, and an old couch. All his clothes are still in bags, but the first thing on his list is some dark curtains for the windows. He was never meant to be a morning person.

He can be seen in various shops in the quarantine, looking at furniture, rugs, curtains, etcetera. Cisco's not above asking random strangers for their opinion, either. ]

What do you think, this one or this one?

iii. misc

[ Come plot something! ]

Comments

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco nods, wondering how long it will take him to get to the "I guess it sort of worked out" stage. If he ever does. He's curious about this guy who had trained Billy to become a superhero, but he figures he can ask about him a little later on. If he lets himself get too distracted talking to Billy about his own origin story, he knows he'll end up using that as an excuse to put off actually doing any work to control his own powers. Cisco understands that temptation, and so he bites back his curiosity for the time being.

It's... strange, thinking about his powers as a safeguard. Zoning out for half a minute at a time isn't exactly a great way of keeping himself safe from immediate danger. But when he thinks of them as a reflex, that's somewhat more fitting. Reflexes aren't always useful, or logical. They just... are. ]

Yeah. Yeah... you're right. Probably not.

[ Cisco doesn't really remotely convinced or comforted, but he does seem eager not to talk or think about it for now. There's a heavy, sour feeling of dread in his stomach that he'd managed to avoid up until that point. Billy doesn't actually have a clue one way or another if Cisco could warp reality, and neither does Cisco. Who knows what kind of awful things he might be capable of? What that power that he feels in himself sometimes could do, if he let himself use it?

Billy was right before. Denial isn't enough; he has to acknowledge his potential just enough to prevent himself from ever ever finding out the answer to that question. ]

I get why you'd ask that, but there's never been anyone in my world who had powers naturally, the way you said mutants do. I know I said 'everybody else', but there've been a few other cases of powers manifesting for the first time after a few months, or even a year. I think... [ Cisco trails off, folding his arms tightly over his chest, chewing at his bottom lip. ] ...its not so much about the timeline itself changing. From my understanding of time travel, anyway. It was only a day and a half that got changed. Plus... if you're right about feeling trapped and desperate sometimes kickstarting powers that were latent before...

[ Cisco breaks off with a short sigh, frustrated with himself. Hadn't he promised himself he wasn't going to hold anything back? And yet here he is, talking circles around something that could actually be fairly important to figuring out his powers, just because talking honestly is unpleasant. He closes his eyes and explains quickly: ]

I died. In the other timeline. That guy I couldn't decide if I wanted to make a lantern for or not? He murdered me. Which, like, sucked, obviously. And luckily the dying part didn't happen the second time around, but feeling that uh, that scared and helpless must've jumpstarted my powers and I didn't even realize it for a while.

[ He's looking everywhere but at Billy right now, tense all over, arms crossed protectively in front of him. He can keep his words casual and his voice in some rough approximation of normal, but the body language is speaking volumes. ]

The first few months I pretty much only ever had visions of that, over and over, but I don't really know if that's a powers thing or a trauma thing. Kinda not great at telling the difference sometimes.

[ Cisco shrugs, as if that'll somehow magically convince Billy that this is all no big deal. ]