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

[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.

[Nosy if fine; oddly enough, Taako doesn't really treat his room as much of a personal space, because he's so used to having someone coming in an out, whether it's Lup on the Starblaster, or Magnus at the Bureau, so any shit lying around is shit he's fine people looking at.]

Remind me to hit you up if I need to cast a bunch of powerful shit.

[Which seems to be exactly what Taako was trying to do back in the glass of Phandalin, and he's honestly not sure if he can even do, but he's going to have to worry about that in the future.]

Maybe it's like, the way your brain interprets that energy?

[He shrugs, because this isn't his strong point, and starts casting the spell, focusing it on the wall beside his bed.]

[ Cisco shrugs, too, mouth quirked to the side in a little smile. It's not really his strong point, either. Sure, he's studied other metahumans, but they'd all be relatively easy to understand. His own powers, by some stupid twist of fate, are significantly more mysterious. ]

Who knows. Hopefully the readings I got will give me some clue.

[ He waits until Taako has cast the spell - the same as the very first one he had demonstrated to Cisco, all that time ago, in that espresso bar. Cisco follows him through and to the magical room on the other side, saying as they go: ]

I think maybe I could do it again, though. Controlling it, like I did at the end there. Now that I kind of know how that feels. It's a little bit of progress.

[There is, as always, a grand foyer upon first opening the doors, but Taako leads Cisco through that and into the kitchen he's whipped up, claiming the little bench seat for himself, because even if those couple of spells didn't seem to burn slots, he's still kind of wiped. Flopping dramatically on a comfy bench seems like a great use of his time.]

So what you're saying is that we kinda got a net win over here, despite asshole Cisco and all the other shit.

[Like the whole thing with Taako's date and that dude that Cisco was terrified off, but they can't deal with that later.]

Kitchen's all good to go, let me know if there's anything weird you want, but it should have all your basic shit.

[He can create enough food in here to feed 100 people a 9 course meal so... a handful of whatever Cisco wants will be easy.]

Yeah, something like that. Or at least we broke even.

[ Cisco looks all around the kitchen, smiling faintly; it is spacious, brightly lit, and of course, quite stylish. Taako never does anything by halves, after all. As Taako makes himself comfortable, Cisco starts looking through what is available. He quickly decides on a recipe - one of the few he'd actually picked up at home, fancy enough but not something that'll take hours. Seems pretty unlikely that Taako will have ever had tamales, either, though it's hard to say. ]

If I'm gonna make the recipe I got in mind, only thing I need you haven't got is a couple of banana leaves. Any chance you could, you know. Transmute me up some or whatever? If not I guess I can make something different...

I got you, check the fridge.

[Conjuration isn't in Taako's wheelhouse necessarily, but he got pretty good at it during the stolen century, mostly because there were more than a few times they showed up on completely empty worlds and had to rely on magic to keep them fed. After the first few cycles they started stocking up better, but sometimes there's only so much non-perishable food a group of people can eat before they start going crazy, and that's when conjured roast chicken is useful.]

You think there are more of you out there? I mean, if you've all got the same power, you might run into yourself again eventually.

[Maybe some of them are nice?]

[ Cisco looks in the fridge and makes a noise of surprised triumph, pulling out the two large banana leaves. He pauses to smile his thanks over to Taako where he is lounging, and then he starts assembling the necessary ingredients and beginning the prep work. It's a recipe he knows by heart, so there's no trouble in talking at the same time.

That being said, there is a gap of silence before he answers Taako. He is turning the encounter over again in his memory, thinking about what it was Reverb had said. ]

In theory, there are lots of different versions of everyone, in parallel universes, each one of them with slightly different lives. That Reverb guy made it sound like he's been... keeping tabs on a bunch of other versions of him. Us. Whatever.

[ That's a thought that doesn't sit very well. Nobody likes being spied on, but Cisco in particular hates even the thought of it. Finding out a supervillain has had surveillance equipment hidden in your apartment for years will do that to a guy. He starts chopping up onion and other ingredients for the quick marinade. ]

Sounds like the other me's know a lot more about controlling their powers.

[ Which in and of itself doesn't really bother Cisco, except that it makes him think about the particular circumstances that had led him to spend so long denying his powers, avoiding them, hating them. ]

Edited 2017-08-06 02:41 (UTC)

[It's pretty easy to empathise with how shitty it would feel to know someone's watching your every move, even if Taako can't directly relate.]

So, this might be kind of a long shot and considering our last fucking experiment into magic and vibes maybe a bad idea, but I got a spell that can hide people, right? Usually it's to hide 'em from divination magic, but maybe it'll keep Eyeliner from being a creep.

[He has no idea whether it'll work or not, but he doesn't think it'll hurt to try, since it's not the same as directly merging their powers together the way they did with the dreamscape.]

[ Cisco pauses, cupped hands full of rough-chopped white onion, to look over at Taako. ]

You would do that for me?

[ As far as bad ideas go, it seems to Cisco that the worst case on this one would simply be that the spell wouldn't be enough to prevent Reverb from vibing and spying on him. But still, it surprises him, that even after everything that happened tonight - the weirdness and scariness that helping him had put Taako through, he's willing to just offer his help again, like it's nothing. Cisco swallows, dumps those onions into the blender, and goes back to the cutting board to dice up some garlic. ]

Divination magic's probably about as close an equivalent as there is. I don't know if it would work, but... can't hurt, right? And I mean... I can't say I'm loving the idea of him stalking me, even if he's ten dimensions over or whatever.

Edited 2017-08-06 04:01 (UTC)

[It doesn't really occur to him that this would be any kind of big deal for whatever reason; yeah, the whole dream thing sucked a lot, but it's not as if Cisco did anything on purpose, Taako got involved of his own choice, and now he's just... continuing to help, because Cisco's his friend.]

It's a pretty easy spell, only lasts for twenty four hours so I'm gonna need to recast it but up to you how often you wanna do it.

[Not the most elegant solution, having something that needs to be recast daily, but its better than nothing.]

Oh, right.

[ It should have occurred to him, that it wouldn't be a one-and-done type situation. Cisco hesitates, torn between telling Taako to not even worry about it, because re-casting it every day would be a hassle for him, and Cisco doesn't want to be a burden. But... he remembers Reverb smiling at him and the pretty creepy way he'd looked him up and down, and for once, veers towards selfishness. ]

Uh, how 'bout we try it for a few days, if that's alright, and I'll see if I can come up with some sort of tech to take over after that.

[ He'd made tech that could prevent Grodd from taking over people's minds - if he can just isolate some kind of frequency, for vibes, maybe he can adapt the same principle, put it into some kind of totem he can just carry around with him. He digs through the spices, adding some of this and that directly into the blender, not really measuring anything. He adds some water, a few chiles, and pops the top on, blending the stuff and setting it aside. ]

Don't know what I did to make me a fucking creep magnet.

Deal.

[He decides that not making a big deal about it is the best way to handle that particular exchange, to avoid giving Cisco a chance to back out; casting a spell once a day (and a low level one at that) isn't any real strain on Taako's very super busy life, and if it helps someone who's helped him out heaps of times, it only seems fair.

Anyway, the whole creep magnet thing is more important, because if Cisco is gonna bring it up, Taako feels like he should address it.]

Hey, listen, you know like... just cause that guy was an asshole doesn't mean you're gonna end up that way, right? You're not that dude.

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

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