[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]

[ Every single thing she is saying is making this exponentially worse. She's just so certain that she hasn't been impacted, which is awful. He almost changes his mind about disabusing her of the notion, but then lifts his chin a bit (never, of course, interrogating his own certainties about himself). ]

No, but, um. I'm pretty sure... you do.

[ Cisco says it as gently as he can. Once that hurdle is crossed, though, he speaks more quickly, wanting to get as much explanation in as he can before she starts asking questions. ]

Listen, I know how ridiculous this sounds, but you told me one of the classes you were taking at college was a class on time travel that the Doctor was teaching. I remember, because I asked if it was teaching theory or how to do it, and you said it was kind of both. And the Doctor is... well I don't know much about him, but he's this like, alien dude? And I think you two are friends? Or, um, maybe it's a mentor-mentee kind of vibe, not 100% on that. But you definitely came from the same universe and are tight.

[tutee]

[ Bill listens, but she's not sure she believes what she's being told. ]

If I had a friend who could travel through time, I wouldn't just forget that. [ Never mind that that's how amnesia works, that's what this whole thing is about. ] I don't know anyone named the Doctor, I'm not taking a class on time travel, I'm not-- This is ridiculous.

[ She's starting to feel affronted and uncomfortable, which in itself is a sign that there might be some truth to what Cisco's saying. ]

[franciscoramon]

There have been people forgetting their own names, and how to tie their shoelaces or count past 10. Like really basic stuff. I don't think anything's off the table. I mean - maybe I've forgotten that back home I was a secret agent, living a double life and spying on American scientists for the Russians, or whoever the hell. And I wouldn't even know it.

[ But of course, he offers that scenario with the absolute certainty that it is not true, and that he has been entirely unaffected. That is what makes it so easy for him to be blithe about the whole situation. ]

You told me, yourself, about that class. I asked if I could drop by 'cause it sounded awesome, and you said it would probably be cool even though I'm not an official student. And I've met the Doctor, and he talked about you, so unless he was some kind of actor and this is an elaborate hoax...

[ Cisco trails off, and shrugs. Maybe he should've just let it drop, but he has a stubborn streak, and Bill deserves the truth, even if it's a little awkward being the messenger. ]

[tutee]

[ He has a point. He has a fair and valid point about how, if she really has forgotten someone named the Doctor, she would have no way of knowing. Except... ]

If he's here, and you've met him, and-- and we're friends, why haven't I seen him? You would think, if we're friends, he would say hello to me, at least.

[ She has no friends here except the ones she's made since she arrived. Cisco, Lucretia, Alec, Taako and Lup. Where does this Doctor fit in? ]

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco shrugs; Bill has got a point, after all. It's not like this amnesia stuff is completely new: it's been happening to people for almost a week now. Shouldn't the Doctor have noticed, checked in, been the one to ask her what is going on? Surely he would have noticed when she didn't show up to his class?

His hesitation to answer is obvious. He has no good answer, and settles for a shrug. ]

Maybe he bumped into you and you didn't even recognize him, and he just... got.... offended? Or maybe he's off somewhere trying to find a cure for the amnesia. Or who even knows.

[ But even Cisco can hear how weak those excuses sound. And this is when he kind of regrets that he doesn't know the Doctor better. If he did, he could just call him, ask for an explanation, put Bill on the line and let the guy take it from there. But even though the two of them had gone out into the abandoned section of the city together, spent a few hours in each other's company talking tech and the multiverse, Cisco doesn't know his number, or even his screenname off the top of his head. ]

[tutee]

[ Bill could pull out her phone and scroll through her contacts to look for his number. If she did, she'd find it, because it's there, starred and everything. But she doesn't. She just sits, uncomfortable, her foundation wavering with the idea that there's something-- someone she's forgotten. ]

Do you... know where he lives?

[ She still doesn't quite believe Cisco that the Doctor is real, but it's worth investigating, at least. ]

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco is starting to think that maybe he should have left this job up to someone who is a closer friend to Bill and the Doctor, someone who could convince her properly because they actually know the whole story about the two of them. That feeling only increases in intensity when Bill asks where the Doctor lives, and Cisco has to shift his weight uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, and admitting: ]

...No. I don't know his number or his username, either. I pretty much just talked to him when I ran into him, and I knew he was teaching your class.

[ Even he can hear how unconvincing this is all sounding. If he were more inclined to doubt his own memory, Cisco might start to wonder. But he knows for a fact that he'd spent time with the Doctor, and that Bill had spoken about him. He just isn't thinking straight, can't figure a way to prove it definitively. He doesn't even have a picture of the Doctor on his phone... ]

Listen, don't worry about it, okay? Whatever's up with all this... memory stuff, we'll figure out a way to reverse it sooner or later, and if that happens and we realize it was just me getting confused, it'll be totally my b, alright?

[tutee]

[ She doesn't look convinced. Because honestly, everything Cisco's saying isn't very convincing.

But he's right. Someone's bound to fix this memory problem eventually, and if there really is someone she's forgotten, she'll remember him then, and there won't be any harm done. ]

Fine. Yeah, let's... Change the subject. How are your technology lessons going?

[franciscoramon]

[ Cisco still feels a little unsettled, a little like he's choosing the easy way out here by not insisting that she is wrong and figuring out some way, by science or other means, to convince her. But the truth is he doesn't know Bill all that well, and he wants to be friends with her; harassing her doesn't seem like the best way to make that happen. ]

Great! I thought maybe two or three people would show up, but there've been tons. Someone asked if I could make his phone shoot lasers which sounded wicked cool but also he seemed kinda sketchy so I said no. Almost everybody else has been chill, though. Taught a lot of people how to take selfies and make playlists and all that good stuff. I've barely had a free second to work on my actual shit.

[ And he gestures at a pile of clearly in-progress tech: on top are some armor, something that looks like it might be some sort of cattle prod, and a weird pair of goggles. ]

[tutee]

Lasers, really?

[ She supposes if you don't know anything about technology it might make sense that a cell phone could shoot lasers. But it's still ridiculous enough to make her laugh. She glances over at the pile Cisco indicated, and yeah, it looks like he does have rather a lot of work to do. ]

Well, I won't take up any more of your time, then. [ She steals one last jelly baby-esque gummy and pushes up from her chair. ] If you need a break from... all this, give me a call.

[franciscoramon]

Lasers, really. He figured I could just... [ Cisco raises his hands to sketch out air quotes as he says: ] "tweak that flashlight app and make lasers come out instead". Got pretty mad when I explained that that is definitely not how it works.

[ Cisco's face falls a little when Bill stands up; he wonders if she'd meant to stay longer, and his insistence about the Doctor had driven her away. Or maybe this is just how she is - he doesn't really know her well enough to tell, yet, which makes him fret. But there's nothing to be done. So he smiles, and raises his hand in a little wave. ]

Okay, bye! Thanks for stopping in and the candy and everything. Feel free to swing by again if you need some lasers.