riverviewlogs | [closed] There is a terrible cost to dark magic, but you know what they say

[ Cisco is still fighting off the lingering terror from that spell, and it helps for him to focus on logic, on what few things he does understand about this fucking horrorshow. First, there's what kind of vision they're in. It's not a memory, because Taako didn't react with calm recognition, the way he had the other memories of his. It's not whatever had happened with that Reverb guy, because no one is reacting to their sudden presence. It's clearly something from Taako's own life. So... the future. Only possibility left.

Those spectral forms must be Lup and Barry - easy enough to put that together, too. And the things they're fighting are the Hunger. Taako had told him about it, but seeing it is a whole other matter. Cisco hadn't realized that it was darkness, in quite such a literal sense. Awful, terrifying, but at least comprehensible.

But then Taako is explaining that that weird machine monstrosity is his world's first elevator, and that it's got a name and somehow it's a vore thing (Cisco's really not loving the fact that he knows what that means, thanks internet). And the doors open to show a guy with a beard piloting it... piloting Upsy, and the inside doesn't look like an elevator or a cockpit. It's... gooey, and that's the moment Cisco throws up his hands and says: ]

Nope. Naw, man. Just no. That is way too gross and weird. Why can't it ever just be a vision of a sweet little old lady feeding some birds or-

[ Cisco had just been ranting, hadn't even been trying. But the moment he says that, the scene around them blurs and moves to the side (just as Upsy was landing a few devastating stomps on the Hunger's forces), and sure enough, they're in a blue-tinted version of a part that Cisco recognizes from Central City, down by the water. And there, sure enough, is a little old lady, scattering oatmeal for a small crowd of eager mallards.

The scene is shockingly quiet, after the fray of the battlefield. Cisco turns to star at Taako, mouth open. He doesn't want to jinx it by saying it, but... ]

[He wants to remember as much of this as he can, since it's clearly not that long into his future, after what he saw from the canister but there's really not that much that's all that new. It does confirm his guess about what Lup wanted to do with the glass circle, but not much else.

And then they're moving again, through another vibe.]

Holy shit, you did it!

[Unlike Cisco, Taako is willing to jinx it out of sheer excitement, giving Cisco a little shove as he realises what's happened.]

[ Cisco doesn't quite flinch away from that shove, but he also doesn't not flinch, either; it's just a reflex, and he hopes Taako somehow doesn't notice. Swallowing, Cisco tamps down on the rising happiness and hopefulness in his chest. Just because he'd somehow gotten them here doesn't mean he's in control. Cautiously, he thinks Barry, show me where Barry is right now.

And it happens again. A sudden twist of movement, and they're in the forensics lab at the CCPD. Barry is there, at his desk. He peers at the door, and when he sees nobody nearby, begins doing paperwork so fast that his hands and arms are a mere blur. It surprises Cisco, just how much it hurts seeing him. He's one of the few things Cisco misses about his world.

But he doesn't have time to dwell on that now. He has to make the most of this control, while he can. Shutting his eyes, Cisco tries not to lose that feeling of control. He wants to memorize how it feels, so he can find his way back to it again. Then, deliberately, he thinks about waking up.

In that little hospital room, connected to about two dozen machines, Cisco sits bolt upright, breathing hard. He looks down to the floor, where Taako is, asks in a voice that's half-hope half-worry: ]

Taako? Taako, you there?

[He's too excited to notice, relief from the fact that a) Lup and Barry are still okay back home and b) this weird fucking experiment in combining their power has actually resulted in something productive.

When they shift to the forensics lab, he does a little fist pump in victory, but before he can say anything he's suddenly back on the floor, startled more by this change in environment than any of the other shifts, for some reason.]

Cha boy's here. [He lets out a shaky breath, not quite trusting himself to get up yet.] That was fucking wild.

[ As soon as Taako speaks, Cisco lays back down, covering his face with his hands and letting out a huge, shaky sigh of relief. They'd done it. They had both gotten out unscathed, somehow, miraculously. He takes a few seconds to just catch his breath, let his heartbeat slow a little. Even coming out of a vibe voluntarily, it would seem, kicks up a certain degree of physiological fuss. From behind his hands, slightly muffled, he says: ]

Wild don't even begin to cover it.

[ He remembers what he'd rehearsed, for this, while he was getting the room set up. He reaches for the kit that he needs to take a second blood sample, which he needs to do as soon as possible after waking up. Cisco just hadn't been planning on... everything that had happened in the interim. Getting stuck, seeing all of that shit...

As he is trying to steady his hands enough to draw blood, he asks: ]

You alright?

[ As if on cue, a droplet of blood spatters on the back of Cisco's hand as he is collecting his blood sample, and he realizes he must have a nosebleed. Which is not all that worrying... probably. As soon as he's done with the sample and has a free hand, he snatches at a tissue to clean that up. Apart from that and a killer headache, though... ]

[There's a whole lot they both probably need to process at some point in the near future, and there are questions that Taako wants to ask Cisco, and maybe ones that Cisco wants to ask in return, but right now they can take a moment to just chill. He's very relieved they aren't stuck in some messed up dreamscape.]

All good, I think?

[With that, he gets to his feet, using the umbra staff for a little leverage but anything else he might've said is lost when he sees Cisco, and Taako frowns immediately.]

You're bleeding, my man.

Yep. Noticed that. 's not bad.

[ Which doesn't mean it isn't a little worrying, but he can cross that bridge when he comes to it. He'll look at the readings from the machines, maybe show them to someone who resembles a doctor, and go from there. He dabs the blood away, pulls off the goggles and switches off the power on them. He twists, sits sideways on the bed to make room for Taako to sit down, too. ]

So... first of all, let's never, ever do that again.

[ He says it mostly as a joke, since he doubts there was much possibility of either of them wanting to repeat that whole process. The hint was loud and clear: vibes and magic do not a good combo make. Even if Cisco had managed to wrestle some control at the end, there, if he hadn't, things might have been really bad. ]

And second of all, thank you.

[Taako sits, close enough that he can put a hand on Cisco's shoulder, both as a reassurance and to make sure he imparts the seriousness of what he says next:]

Third of all, let's never tell anyone about any of this.

[Cisco comes across as a pretty open guy, most of the time, but Taako doesn't think he'll have much of an issue with the idea of them keeping this whole mess between themselves, especially all the scary, personal shit they saw. He's sure Cisco doesn't want anyone knowing about his creepy alternate universe double, just like Taako doesn't want anyone knowing about his gross sappy emotions about Kravtiz.]

Deal. I mean, I don't care if you tell Lup, obviously, but...

[ Cisco just kind of assumes these days that Lup and Taako come as a package deal, and that if Taako says 'anyone' he isn't talking about his twin. Otherwise, he is more than happy to go along with that plan. After all, Taako is still one of only three people here who knows about his powers. Not a whole lot of folks he could tell, if he wanted to. ]

Augh, that elevator thing is gonna haunt my friggin' nightmares, dude.

[ He says it as he starts the process of removing electrodes and sensors from himself, of transmitting and saving the data. He mostly means it as a joke, though that thing had been pretty damn terrifying. In a more serious voice, he asks: ]

That... was the Hunger, wasn't it?

Eh.

[There's a shrug to go along with that; Taako tells Lup a lot, more than he tells anyone else, of course, but he doesn't need to share every single detail of his life with her. He'll probably gloss over the more private things that came up and just focus on the general "so my spell went real bad it was a nightmare for a while there", since that's something that Lup might actually want to know.]

That's the Hunger, haven't been that up close and personal with it for a while, gotta say that I did not miss it one bit.

No kidding.

[ That was the thing Taako had been dealing with, been running from, for a hundred years. The thing he'd seen destroy world after world after world. That had probably killed him at least a few times, and was now threatening him and his friends and his world. Cisco had known, but the weight of it, the immediacy and awfulness, wasn't quite real before.

Cisco lets himself lean a little to the side, bumping shoulders with Taako and sighing. He can't do anything about the situation with the Hunger, and he knows that, but he's never been good at not being able to help his friends. ]

Not like it was a total waste. Apparently, I can vibe into other universes and talk to people, so... that's new.

[ Cisco had had no clue that was even possible. Just how much more is there to his power that he has no idea about? Would it be possible to control that power, get messages to and from people's home worlds, here? But he's getting ahead of himself. Maybe that move is only possible if the person he's seeing is a doppelganger of his. Which reminds him... ]

Sorry edgelord me was a dick and threatened you.

[Sometimes he misses not remembering the Hunger, being free from the fear of it endlessly chasing them, not having the guilt about all the people lost and the world's they couldn't save, the world's they failed. When it all come rushing back it felt like a weight had been set back on him, the hopes of the whole of reality shared between seven sets of shoulders and it had never been enough. But forgetting meant forgetting Lup, so it was never really a good trade off.]

Yeah, hey, what was up with that dude? You think it was like what happened when the chalice fucked people up?

[Alternate universes stemming from alternate choices; is that a Cisco that embraced his powers sooner, or did something bigger than that happen to turn him into... whatever he was turned into. ]

Must be.

[ Cisco can't think of any other explanations, and now that Taako brought up the whole chalice thing, Cisco remembers that that had happened to a lot of folks. They suddenly became versions of themselves where one or two small changes had made them very different. And in his case, it would seem, only the smallest of nudges was all it would take to change him into someone who called himself Reverb, and threatened to break people, and talked about becoming gods or whatever. ]

He seemed kinda... unhinged.

[ What were those choices, those small things that had made him into someone who would try to attack two strangers with so little provocation? Would Cisco know what they were, if they came along for him? Would he be able to see it coming if he started down that path?

He shuts off the last of the machines and, at the same time, cuts off that line of thought, for now. He could (and would) obsess about that later. For now, though. ]

Must be the eyeliner that did it. That's the only explanation. Note to self: never wear eyeliner or you'll turn into a total creep.

[At this point in their friendship - combined with the fact that he's generally decent at reading people - Taako thinks he's pretty good at picking up on a general overview of Cisco's moods, one of which is definitely overthinking and it's one that he suspects Cisco is having a go at right now.

He could go for the reassuring route except he has a feeling they're both kind of emotionally raw right now and maybe this is something saved for later, after they've come down from the excitement of seeing a whole lot of weird shit and having various emotions dragged up by their trip through vibe land. So he runs with the joke, instead.]

Excuse the fuck outta you, I wear eyeliner sometimes and I haven't ever been a creep.

[ Taako's gambit works; Cisco laughs, soft and surprised, and shakes his head. ]

The weird samurai hair, then? Maybe it's the weird samurai hair and the eyeliner and the leather all at the same time. Like a trifecta. [ Cisco gets to his feet, shrugs, and concludes: ] Well, at least I know what not to pick for my alias.

[ He says it as a light joke, but it's indicative of a general way of thinking that is already starting to make a tiny place for itself in a corner of his mind, saying don't be like that. do whatever it takes to not become like that. ]

Think we could maybe get some grub? I didn't eat since this morning, 'cause that's what they make you do before surgeries or whatever and it seemed like maybe a good idea.

[ All of a sudden he's feeling pretty eager to not be in this room, but he doesn't really feel like being alone, either, and he's not sure he could pull off seeming normal and unbothered to anybody else. ]

I could cook you that thank-you dinner, if you want.

Edited 2017-08-05 13:54 (UTC)

[It's unspoken, but Taako hears it anyway, knowing that Cisco is wondering what it is that made the difference between him and that asshole, if it's something he can avoid in some way or if it's fucking inevitable, and that must be a scary thought for Cisco, who's actually a decent person.

If Taako found out he was going to turn into a supervillain, that would kind of make sense, and he could maybe roll with it, but it's a bigger deal for Cisco.]

It was the hair, for sure, evil dudes always weird hair.

[Nevermind that Taako said it looked good, clearly that isn't the important point here.

He hops off the table, too, hooking the umbra staff over his arm, ready to roll the fuck out.]

Are you cooking at my house cause uh, like, you live with my ex and it's still kinda weird?

[Awkward, he means awkward.]

[ Cisco rubs a hand across the back of his neck, because yeah, yep, Taako's got a point right there. And it's not as if his own living situation has been an entirely awkwardness-free zone, either, since that blackout. The way he figures, it's about 50/50 whether Eddie would still be awake, and there's also the possibility that Yuri would be around, and that the teen would notice something was up with Cisco. He keeps to himself a lot, but he is weirdly perceptive at the worst times. And that would just be a whole mess that Cisco is too emotionally exhausted to deal with right now. ]

I mean, could I cook at your place?

[ It feels rude, to just sort of invite himself over, particularly when Taako has roommates to consider, too. Cisco knows Ellie is not great with strangers, for one thing. And sure, none of them are Cisco's ex, but there's also more of them. He really should have planned this through more. All his planning had gone into the experiment itself. For all the good that had done them. ]

Break into a restaurant kitchen?

[ He's only kidding. Well, mostly. ]

Edited 2017-08-05 14:12 (UTC)

While I would usually be chill with a little B&E, a chef's kitchen is a sacred space that I will not infringe upon.

[Especially not when that's something so personal to him after what Sazed did; he couldn't mess with someone else's kitchen without feeling horrible about it, even if there were no ill intentions aside from wanting dinner.]

There's also like-- I have magic powers. If you're worried about my roomies we can head back to mine and I'll whip us up a little magnificent manor to hang in.

[Like the first spell he showed Cisco, or like the masquerade. Either way, something private where they won't risk waking up or bothering anyone.]

[ It's hard to tell from time to time when Taako is being entirely serious and when he is joking, but Cisco thinks there might be a hint of seriousness behind the whole respect for another chef's kitchen thing. And it makes sense. If he found someone messing around in his workshop he would absolutely lose his shit.

The offer of a manor to hang out in perks Cisco up a little. ]

Can you? Didn't know how many spell slots you had left.

[ See, he's picked some things up! About magic! He knows some things! Maybe not enough to predict that the dream experiment was a bad idea, but enough that he at least knows Taako's spells for a day are limited. Still, he wouldn't have offered if he couldn't, so Cisco nods. ]

Let's do that. Doesn't need to be fancy, just somewhere with a stove and a little space to work.

[ Despite how long they've been friends, Cisco hasn't ever actually cooked for Taako before. In another situation he might be nervous about it (Taako's a former professional chef and all), but maybe that just means now is the perfect time. He's too busy chewing over everything that had happened in that messed up dream vibe to worry about his cooking not being good enough. ]

I'm all good on that front, I don't know if casting shit in dreams even counts, first of all, but even if it does I've got slots to burn.

[It's late enough in the evening that he isn't worried about running out of spell slots and ending up in trouble, so he can cast a few things for purely leisure related reasons.

Although now that he brought up the whole dream casting, he's curious to see if it actually counts.]

You know what, I'm gonna test that shit, since we're being scientific and all. You ready to go?

[ Now that they're out of the dream itself, Cisco can't see what harm it would actually do, for Taako to see if those spells had worked or not. In a way, it's kind of a fascinating question. ]

What all did you cast in there, anyway? There was, uh... I mean getting us out of the first vision was still the same as the initial spell, right? And then there was that telepathy thing, the... whatever the hell that fear spell was. I miss any?

[ Cisco knows that Taako can cast spells silently, and fairly discreetly, so it's possible there were others he wasn't aware of at the time. ]

Just those two. Super sorry about that fear one, bee-tee-dubs, it's the only spooky one I've got that doesn't do any psychic damage and I thought we should try to avoid that if we could.

[It was bad enough the way Cisco looked at him, never mind if he'd actually been hurt afterwards because of something Taako had done.]

[ Cisco finishes gathering up the last of his things, nodding to Taako that he's ready to go whenever, when Taako apologizes for that fear spell. ]

It's cool. Not even sure I know what psychic damage is but I super appreciate not having any. And I mean, hell, it's what got us out, anyway, and I asked you to. I told you whatever it takes, so. It's cool.

[ He means all of that, too: there's conviction in the words. But he also shifts his weight from foot to foot, hands tightening on the strap of his bag, because just thinking about it makes him feel cold and anxious and uneasy. It's that disconnect, between the rational parts of his brain that understood the situation, and can see the sincerity in Taako's apology now, as well as the preemptive one he'd given before casting it. Cisco knows all that, but it doesn't change the sliver of fear that's gotten stuck in a less rational part of his mind.

He'd never seen Taako do magic like that before. Not even in a vision. He'd made beautiful mansions, turned water into delicious rosé, had identified things, caught Cisco when he was falling, summoned dope talking unicorns. But he'd never done anything frightening. And even though he knows Taako's a powerful wizard, who could do a whole lot of harm if he wanted, it's different experiencing a tiny portion of that.

Cisco has been friends with Taako long enough now to know that he sees through half-truths pretty easily, so Cisco adds: ]

I might be a little jumpy for a bit, but I'll get over it. It was just... it was just a lot. And I mean that whole nightmare vibe situation was a roller coaster of not fun, so. Don't apologize and don't worry about it even if I'm a little weird for a little while.

[There are a few people in the Quarantine who've expressed fear over his magic and over him for being able to do it, and somehow he didn't expect to ever need to add Cisco to that list, regardless of how understandable the reaction is. It's not as though Taako cast some other spell and Cisco reacted badly, he literally used magic to put the fear of god into him and now he's reaping what he sowed, so he can't even be annoyed about it.]

I got you, don't even sweat it.

[It's a deflection as much as anything, but he casts teleport (in a higher level spell slot) as soon as he's finished talking, hoping it'll work as a distraction, especially once it's actually successful and they arrive in his bedroom.]

Well, shit, dream spells don't count.

[Weird.]

[ Being teleported is pretty cool, and on top of that it's kind of clear that neither of them want to keep talking about this right now. Cisco isn't too worried about the long term, anyway. Once he's got a little distance, he'll probably be able to file it away along with all the other nightmares about his friends turning on him, frightening or hurting him. He's getting pretty good at ignoring those, these days. ]

Maybe you were tapping into the vibe? As far as I can tell they're like, raw multidimensional energy, so maybe instead of using your reserve or whatever, you were just manipulating that?

[ Cisco sticks his hands into his pockets, glancing around Taako's room a bit but not wanting to be too nosy. He'd already kind of snooped on that date with Kravitz, tonight, after all. ]

Kinda weird... you know what my vibes look like now. Haven't really been able to figure out what's up with the blue.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject