[open] cancel your reservations

[franciscoramon]

who: cisco + anyone!
what: catch-all, amnesia event
when: august
where: anywhere; if you want a starter, please hit me up!
warnings: discussion of murder, use of alcohol to cope, will add more as needed

i. pre-amnesia (august 5-10)

[ Cisco knows that he is probably opening himself up to a world of headaches and unnecessary trouble, but there have been plenty of new arrivals, and more and more he is noticing that people who show up from non-technologically advanced worlds simply have no support system to really teach them all the cool things they can do even with their phones, not to mention other machines and devices. So, one day when there's a lull between projects for the RPD and other emergency services, he goes to a print shop and has flyers made:

TECHNOLOGICAL CULTURE SHOCK??? NEED LESSONS ON HOW TO USE YOUR PHONE, LAPTOP, OR OTHER ELECTRONIC GADGET??? STOP BY THE ADDRESS BELOW FOR A FREE INFORMAL LESSON!!!

Normally it's the kind of announcement he would make over the network, but what if someone is really struggling and can't even get on there? No, flyers seem like the way to go for this crowd. Cisco adds some fine print at the bottom, below the address for his workshop, but all it says is:

*NO HIDDEN AGENDA JUST A HELPFUL DUDE WANTING TO SHARE THE WONDERS OF TECHNOLOGY, LESSONS ARE FREE BUT TRIBUTE PAID IN CANDY IS ALWAYS ACCEPTED]

ii. amnesia (august 12-19)

[ The changes in Cisco are not, at first, as obvious as they may be in other people. He remembers Riverview, and everyone he has met here, and all the details of his life in this place. He remembers his name, all the movies and video games that he loves, all the technical skills and scientific know-how necessary for his job. He even remembers most stuff about his own past - that he worked at S.T.A.R. Labs, that he's a member of Team Flash and friend to Barry Allen. That he is a metahuman, with various abilities tied to manipulating multidimensional energy.

The only thing that has been carved away from his memory is, in fact, Eobard Thawne. Cisco doesn't remember his mentor's betrayal, or being murdered, or the circumstances that surrounded him discovering his powers. All of the shame and dread he's been carrying about his powers, because of Eobard and the things he'd said and done, has just vanished. In addition, Cisco's trauma over that whole experience is, for the moment, covered over. To anyone who knows him even a little he will seem inexplicably younger. Quicker to smile and laugh, volumes more trusting, and also a lot more inclined to talk about some guy named Dr. Wells in a positive, even devoted manner.

Cisco will spend this week doing what he usually does - working at his workshop (still offering those lessons), trying out new restaurants, shopping for graphic tees and games and movies, exploring the safe parts of the city a little - but with an extra spring in his step. If you've wanted your character to find out about him being a metahuman, now would be a good time for it! ]

iii. post-amnesia (august 20-31)

[ The not-remembering? Had been good. But when that's done, and all of Cisco's memories are restored to him, the transition is... rough. Putting it mildly. Back when all of it had happened, there had been so much going on - one life-or-death situation after the other - that he hadn't had time to linger too much on how he was changing, being shaped into an older, sadder, more broken version of himself.

Now, though, there is no big crisis, no distraction to divert his attention. One minute he is the old, sunny Cisco - the one he still thinks of as the person he was supposed to be - and the next, it all comes rushing back. The contrast is stark, and it's kind of fucking him up a little. Or, rather, a lot.

He goes back to having nightmares almost as often as he did in those first weeks after his death, which means he isn't getting a whole lot of sleep, and it shows in the dark circles under his eyes. Cisco withdraws somewhat - not enough to worry that he's abandoning anyone, but he takes longer to answer texts, doesn't reach out to people first, doesn't go out and about in the evenings. He is quieter, with considerably more strain behind his smiles. He throws himself into his work, staying in his workshop long hours, sometimes falling asleep there, for a few fitful hours. When he can't work any more, he spends a little more time than he should in some nearby bars, drinking a little more than he ought to, trying not to think about the person he is now compared to the person he was the week before. ]

iv. misc

[ Come plot something! ]

Comments

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco makes a loud 'pfft' sound and waves Teddy inside; his own good mood is much too radiant to notice any signs of strain or unhappiness in his friend, yet. ]

Never too busy for you, my dude, come on in.

[ And once Teddy is inside Cisco shuts the door behind him, then gestures towards a small mountain of candy that is sitting perched on one of the long tables, amidst the pliers and schematics and bits of unidentified half-built tech. ]

Help yourself, by the way. People took those flyers way too seriously.

[ He's just assuming Teddy has seen one of them around town - he had put them pretty much everywhere, after all. ]

You caught me in a really awesome mood, I finally made some progress on something that's been taking ages.

[notasaviour]

[Being welcomed so easily is enough to cheer him up a little anyway, and he's a little less hunched when he follows Cisco in. It's still pretty cool to have a friend with his own lab, even if Teddy isn't that smart himself, and he takes a little time to look around again.

He takes a chocolate bar, because he's never not a little hungry, although after that he makes himself walk away.]

...I wouldn't offer that. Billy will tell you I eat way more than I should. Tech lessons going well, then?

[Even when he can't use it, apparently being a shifter is pretty high-maintenance on the eating front. And it isn't like he's going to get fat any time soon- at least, he hopes not.]

Is it something you can explain in small words, or is it probably going to go over my head?

[franciscoramon]

Hey, man. Back home my best friend was a speedster. I've seen him eat fifty hamburgers in two hours and still want to get froyo after.

[ That usually only happened when Barry was training and needed lots of extra energy, but the point stands: there is no way Cisco is even going to bat an eye at Teddy's level of candy consumption. He sits down, spinning a little on his office chair as he does. ]

They are! It's like... I thought maybe I would get five people in here, and three of them would be my friends you know, but people are really showing up in droves, I haven't been able to spend time on my own stuff at all until today. Not that I'm complaining. It's been pretty fun, actually.

[ Cisco laughs when Teddy asks if he can explain in small words - a short, bright, startled thing. ] Wow, harsh. [ But he isn't going to get on Teddy's case about that comment - he's not wrong to make sure Cisco isn't going to just word-vomit a bunch of scientific jargon at him and then assume he's understood. Fortunately for Teddy, Cisco is pretty good at putting complex ideas into relatively simple terms. ]

Yeah, I can. On one condition. It is technically a secret project, so if I tell you, you gotta keep it to yourself. Except Billy - Billy's okay, he already knows.

[ Even with the amnesia, Cisco is aware that almost no one in this place knows about his powers, and that that is probably a good thing, and he wants to mostly keep it that way. But he's known Teddy for a while now, and promised to keep Teddy's powers a secret. Why not grant him the courtesy of knowing? What could go wrong? Why NOT trust him? ]

[notasaviour]

I guess their metabolisms must run pretty fast, too.

[That wasn't an intentional pun, but he'll just... leave it there, he guesses. Instead, given free reign, he settles for eating a chocolate bar in a couple of bites and settling down with another. He's not that greedy, and Cisco did work for it, it sounds like.]

Well, I guess it's something people needed. Do they tell you much about what kind of world they're from?

[He's already heard a little about some worlds, totally different from back home, and now he just wonders about it a little. Does he have other versions of himself in those worlds? Usually other dimensions tend to have a lot of the same people, after all, even if they're not always identical. Do the friends he makes here have versions in his world, too?

He rubs the back of his neck, looking apologetic.]

It wasn't aimed at you, just me. I'm not that good at tech. I can use most every day stuff, but I'm definitely not Tony Stark or Reed Richards...

[Or Hank Pym, or- well, anyone. He shrugs.]

But sure, I promise I won't tell anyone. Why would I? It's your project to tell people about.

[He's pretty good at secrets, he thinks, and he's well aware of what they can do in the wrong hands. Besides, if Cisco wants to be excited, it would be a bit mean to take that from him, right? And Cisco did promise to keep his powers secret, too.]

[franciscoramon]

[ Intentional or not, that pun earns first a groan and then a laugh from Cisco. He shakes his head, still grinning, like he can't believe Teddy would make the obvious joke, and like he ought to have seen it coming. ]

Yeah, a lot of 'em talk to me about where they come from. Plenty of people here are a little homesick, even the ones that don't want to go back.

[ He can see Teddy's discomfort, so he isn't going to push right now, but he thinks maybe he's going to need to talk with him sometime about not comparing himself to other people, especially when it results in him insulting his own intelligence. Cisco's seen a lot of this - that being around people who are naturally good at certain kinds of intellectual pursuits can make people uncomfortable. For some people, it turns them into bullies, which sucks. And for some people, like Teddy, it makes them feel self-conscious and insecure, which is almost worse.

But - another day. For now he merely smiles and gently diverts the conversation: ]

Hey, I know Tony! Well, I know one of them, apparently there's a whole gaggle running around, which is pretty weird to wrap my head around. Like, sure, I know all about multiverse theory and doppelgangers but actually having a bunch of them all in one place is just so Star Trek.

[ As soon as Teddy makes that promise, Cisco spins in his chair, scooping up the goggles and holding them out on his open palms. They don't look like much, just sitting there, not even switched on, and with a few wires spilling out. He is still working on them, after all. There's a brightness to his eyes as Cisco leans in, voice lowering for dramatic effect: ]

They need a few more adjustments, but hopefully soon these goggles should help me to channel my powers.

[notasaviour]

[He offers a brighter smile at the groan, glad to at least make someone a little happier. He knows some people think he doesn't have a sense of humour, but it's just quieter than most.]

It must be interesting. I mean, so many worlds, so many different ways everything could have gone.

[Not that he'd ever pry about it, unless someone wanted to talk. He just thinks it's kind of cool, that's all.

He knows of Tony, well enough to impersonate him once or twice, anyway, which is about as close as he ever expects to get to him, honestly. Avengers are busy people.]

Really? There's a couple of superheroes back home who are supposed to be from alternate dimensions, so I guess it's maybe less weird for us. Three of them is quite a lot of them, though. And two Caps, and a couple other people, too.

[He's... actually a little surprised by the goggles, given that Cisco never even hinted at powers, but chooses to keep it to himself as much as possible. If Cisco didn't talk about his powers last time, he probably had a reason; it's not like Teddy has been hugely forthcoming about his, either, with most people. Maybe he just forgot he hadn't mentioned it to Teddy last time, in which case it's probably nicer to just try and work around it, somehow.]

Really? That's pretty amazing. What are they supposed to do?

[franciscoramon]

I gotta say, from what I hear the superhero scene is a hell of a lot more lit in your world than in mine. Like, don't get me wrong, we've got some awesome people on our squad, but there's only about a handful of them, and definitely not any from other dimensions. Yet.

[ Cisco knows that, in the grand scheme of things, he'd been living in Central City at the start of a new era, most likely. After some time there would be more heroes, and institutions around them, and travelers from other worlds and other planets and all that.

He's a little surprised by Teddy's total lack of reaction, but he rolls with it - he is someone with powers, from a universe where powers are more common. Maybe it just doesn't even faze him anymore.]

See, what they do is they emit these waves that stimulate the fear receptors in my brain to trigger my visions.

[ He announces that almost without thinking; it certainly doesn't seem to register for Cisco that the thing he's describing actually sounds pretty awful. Something about that aspect of the whole thing - the association between his powers and sheer panic - just kind of slides from his thoughts, like he can't quite grasp it. ]

They still need a bit of work. I'm trying to add a wavelength in there that'll basically simulate stage four sleep, to make it easier to go in and out of the vibe. I just... need to get it at the right strength so I'm still conscious enough to control what I'm seeing. And when.

[notasaviour]

They've just been around for longer. I mean, modern mutants only started showing up at the start of the twentieth century, but they've been around longer than that, I think. The non-mutant boom probably started with Cap, during World War Two, and then with the Avengers in the early 'sixties... sorry, I'm getting carried away again.

[Most of his superhero history is really focussed on the Avengers, but he has done a little reading around too. It's just hard to find much that isn't basically rumours, propaganda, or really exaggerated- and as much as he hates to admit it, he has to count a lot of his Captain America comics in that, too. But either way, if heroes have just started showing up in Cisco's world- home has at least a fifty year head start.

He listens to the explanation quietly, although he's definitely developing a slight frown, as much as he's trying not to. It really does sound like a pretty nasty way to have to trigger an ability, if Cisco has to make himself afraid- but if Cisco thinks it's worth it, Teddy can't really argue that.]

...What kind of visions?

[If it's the future- that's really not a very common power, as far as Teddy knows. And it would explain why Cisco's been so quiet about it, he thinks; it seems like the kind of power that could be really easily abused, if the wrong person found out.]

Sounds like you put a lot of work in, though. Think you're almost there?

[franciscoramon]

Dude. What'd I tell you? You never gotta apologize for telling me cool shit about superhero history. Or just cool shit in general. This is a pro getting carried away zone right here.

[ And Cisco gestures around the workshop, before smiling a slightly lopsided smile at Teddy. He is much to used to being the one who is told he's gotten carried away. That he talks to much, cares too much, is too much. Cisco doesn't want anybody feeling that way around hm - not if he has anything to say about it.

He doesn't think much of Teddy's frown. Cisco knows that this probably sounds like faux science nonsense to anybody else. He hadn't even considered that a particular emotion might be the trigger until he'd talked with Billy. ]

Oh, lots. Usually it's-

[ But then Cisco stops, a little furrow forming between his brows. For just a fleeting moment he has a sense of something missing. A gap. He doesn't connect it at all with the amnesia that's been going around - it feels more like forgetting that last thing that you need at the store, or the name of a song you'd loved years ago. Frustrating, but not scary. He shakes his head and moves on: ] -well I've had visions of the future, but not a whole lot of them. More often it's other universes or other timelines. A couple times, I've done it where I'm touching something that belongs to somebody and I see where they are, right at that moment, and what they're doing. Used that to help the Flash figure out where Sand Demon was keeping a hostage, once. I mean, I just told him it as a hunch, but it worked.

[ Cisco is revealing a bit more than he meant to, there - mainly, the fact that he had been hiding his powers even from the Flash, back home. ]

Oh yeah. Just a couple more tweaks and I'll be good to go to switch over to the gauntlets. [ His smile widens a bit, just a little tiny bit cocky. ] I can also shoot these energy blasts outta my hands. Haven't really experimented with that a whole lot, yet. But I did it once, so I bet I can do it again.

[ He would never speak so positively about this, if his memory were intact. But since it isn't, of course Cisco thinks the fact that he can shoot energy out of his hands is completely cool. ]

[notasaviour]

I know. Just- usually I'm either talking to people who already know, or who don't really care. It's rare to find someone who'll listen.

[Not everyone finds superhero history cool, for some weird reason. It's only one of the most interesting things ever... at least, Teddy thinks so, and it makes him a little happier to maybe not be alone in that. Obviously Cisco doesn't have much context, but at least he seems willing to listen, even if Teddy's not the best at explaining.

He smiles back, at least until Cisco hesitates so weirdly. It's definitely something that concerns him, although he's not sure how to approach it just yet. Maybe if he keeps prompting, he can find out a little more...]

Do you get to pick which it is, or does it just happen? Can you tell if you're seeing the future or a different timeline? And do you usually tell people?

[If he disguises his questions with asking about the actual power, maybe that will help? He isn't sure. He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, coming up with an excuse for what might be considered prying.]

...Now I'm doing what I did with Billy when we tried to get his powers working. I mean, he had the lightning down, mostly, but some of the rest of them needed a little help. But energy blasts are always handy, honestly, especially if you're in a team. I've always wanted them.

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco, for his part, dismisses that weird gap in his memory almost at once, and is blissfully unaware of both the fact that Teddy notices it and is troubled by it. He answers all of Teddy's questions happily, picking up a tiny screwdriver from the cluttered desk and making tiny adjustments to some of the screws on the vibe goggles as he does ]

Oh, no, I got almost no control over it. I managed to deliberately trigger a useful vision, like, once. Most of the time what happens is I'll be scared out of my mind and then just see random awful stuff from my life or someone else's. That's why I'm making the goggles. So I can control when it happens, and what I see. As for the future... other timeline... other universe... what the hell am I even seeing thing, I just go based on context clues, and intuition.

[ This is the problem with talking about his powers; so much of how they work feels so deeply unscientific. Cisco doesn't even have the vocabulary to describe the weird emotional bleed over from the things he sees, or the strange distorted ways he sees the world, warped and blue-tinted and so overwhelming. ]

It's still too erratic for me to have much of a 'usually', but you're, like... the fourth person I ever told. I guess maybe the second, since two of them guessed on their own so that wasn't really... anyway, it's not something I'm exactly posting about on facebook, you know?

[ He grins, hoping that Teddy understands what he's saying: that by telling him, he is trusting him, is inviting him into a pretty tiny, select group of people who he had disclosed this information to. ]

That's kinda funny. I mean, the reason I told Billy about my powers was because his sounded so similar, I thought he could help me. And he did. He's the one who figured out it was fear triggering my visions. That was a huge deal...