ohhmrburnsides: <div class="ljuser" site="tumblr.com"><img src="https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico" alt="[tumblr.com profile] " style="vertical-align: bottom; border: 0; padding-right: 1px;" width="16" height="16" /><a href="http://illustratedacorns.tumblr.com">illustratedacorns</a></div> (hangin w carey)
The Hammer, in some circles ([personal profile] ohhmrburnsides) wrote in [community profile] riverviewlogs2017-08-31 05:58 pm

[closed] can i roll a friendship check?

who: magnus + others (hmu!)
what: catch-all for september (and the last few days of august)
when: post-fire event thru september
where: wherever the fun is!
warnings: will update as necessary

feel free to catch me on plurk for plotting!
franciscoramon: (:) dishonest)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-10 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ Rather than give an automatic response to that, like he might for someone else, Cisco actually pauses to think. He doesn't need all that long, though; there are a few things troubling him, of course, because when aren't there, but otherwise... ]

Things are good.

[ He smiles up at Magnus; he sounds a little surprised with the answer, himself. Things had been... not great, for a little while. It had taken him some time, bouncing back from all that amnesia nonsense. He'd had people to help him along the way, but all the same, it had cast a pall over the last few weeks that is only now starting to lift. But at some point, without realizing it, he's gotten his way back to some approximation of normal. ]

One of my contacts in the Guard stumbled across this huge stash of tungsten which I've been super needing, so that's great, and I've been helping Yuri set up his whole scavenger hunt gift thing for Otabek, and...

[ Cisco hesitates a moment, just because he hasn't really told anyone this news, yet. Well, except Taako, but that had been different. Less of an announcement and more of a nerve-wracking moment in their friendship. But why not tell Magnus? ]

And, uh. I. Got a date, actually. On Friday. With... Eddie.
Edited 2017-09-10 04:03 (UTC)
franciscoramon: (:# team science)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-10 02:49 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Cisco can tell that the news about Eddie and him surprised Magnus, and he's not sure if that's because they live together, or because of Eddie and Taako's past, or because Magnus just plain didn't know Cisco swung like that. The question Magnus asks a moment later clears that up, though. Cisco smiles softly, a little embarrassed, but answers without hesitation: ]

I worried about that, too. Like... a lot. But yeah, Taako knows. I told him right away, and he says he's okay with it, so...

[ Cisco gives a little shrug; the conversation had been awkward, but nowhere near as disastrous as he'd been fearing. He really doesn't know what he would have done, if Taako had been upset. It's all still a bit strange - having so many friends, having someone who is actually interested in him for once. He's not used to all this, yet. ]

I, uh. Should probably mention he told me about... your thing, too.

[ Which Cisco thinks is much more delicate than saying 'also Taako texted me a picture of you asleep in his bed' which is probably a detail Magnus doesn't need to know. ]
franciscoramon: (:D O M G)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-11 12:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, you better believe he told me eeeeeverything. Full play by play. All the details. I'm talkin' every last one, down to the tiniest...

[ Cisco can't keep up the pretense for long; it might be fun to tease Magnus just a little, but he can't stop himself from breaking into giggles, waving a hand through the air and saying, in a much more normal voice. ]

I'm kidding! I'm just kidding! All he said was that you hooked up sometimes while you were saving the universe, and you're not a couple exactly but it is a Thing and that I should stop being so goddamn nosy about other people's business.

[ Which isn't quite the full truth - Taako had also mentioned that Magnus had gotten a bad case of lovesickness during the IPRE years, and that Taako had not talked to him for a year, but they'd worked it out in the end. But Cisco feels like he shouldn't really bring that up just now. He follows Magnus up to the bar, grabbing the stool next to his and kicking his feet in the air happily as he waits for the bartender to get to them.

The question of how he got a date with Eddie is not unexpected, but also not terribly easy to answer. At least, not without making himself sound deeply pathetic and maybe a little slutty. Neither of which are things he really wants Magnus thinking about him. Cisco rubs a hand across the back of his neck. ]


I... told him I was into him a while back, but he and Taako had split pretty recently so he wanted to just stick to being friends for a bit, and that kinda sucked but I totally got it. And then... I guess, he'd had enough time, so. A couple of days ago he asked me out and I said yes. We haven't even been on a date, yet. Friday's gonna be the first one. Is it weird that I'm totally nervous?

[ It's pretty clear from the lack of details and specifics that Cisco is glossing over things, that there is more story there he isn't sharing. But it's a rough outline, at least. ]
franciscoramon: (:) dishonest)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-12 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ Cisco nods, inexpressibly glad that Magnus's answer matches Taako's, and that nothing he had said had surprised Magnus or upset him. The absolute nightmare scenario here would have been Cisco saying "he told me you weren't a couple" only to realize that Magnus had had some hopes that they were, or something like that. But it seems like the two of them are on the same page, so that's a huge relief.

The bartender comes by before he can respond to Magnus, and Cisco waits while Magnus orders for them before he says, tucking his hair back out of his face and smiling a touch nervously: ]


Thanks. I... really really really hope I don't mess it up.

[ The way he inflects it definitely makes it sound like Cisco thinks of 'messing it up' as the default, and that he is hoping for good luck in order to avoid that almost inevitable outcome. ]

I'll get the next round.

[ Their beers arrive and Cisco lifts his for a toast. A very sappy toast, because that's just the sort of person he is. ]

To friendship?
Edited 2017-09-12 00:05 (UTC)
franciscoramon: (:# friends)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-14 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's odd, how Cisco can agree easily and wholeheartedly with a sentiment like the one Magnus just laid out... for everybody in the whole multiverse but himself. What Magnus had said is, in fact, the exact sort of thing that Ciscou would say to friends after their breakups, or if they were feeling generally low about their love lives. But when it comes to himself, suddenly there is no mercy, no understanding, not acceptance that sometimes things go wrong and no one is at fault.

He wonders when it had entered into his mind - this certainty, rarely voiced but underlying so much of his life. The conviction that something in him is fundamentally flawed, and any time things don't go as he wanted, that it is because of him, and that flaw. ]


You are a very wise dude, Magnus Burnsides. Anybody ever tell you that?

[ Cisco takes a long drink of his beer, then stares for a few seconds at the bubbles sliding up the inside of the glass, wondering how he should say what he's going to say next. ]

It's weird, I feel like... we're friends, but I don't know if now I gotta get to know you a whole second time. Now that you've got your memories back and all.
franciscoramon: (:# hello)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-16 01:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Wise is different than smart, dude. Smart is like... inventing machines or solving problems by doing a bunch of equations about what velocity someone has to running to go up the side of a building.

[ He laughs, softly - it's all too clear that he is drawing on examples from his own life, there. And Cisco does value smarts; his intelligence has gotten him everything that he loves in his life. It is his main asset, and one of the very few that he doesn't underestimate. ]

But wise is, like, knowing what's the best call. Understanding right and wrong. Accepting the way things are and figuring out how to have a good life, and be a good person.

[ As far as Cisco's concerned, Magnus seems like he has wisdom in spades. Sure, sometimes his decision making is a little unconventional (Cisco hasn't forgotten Magnus jumping down after him into that bear enclosure), but overall he seems to have a good handle on things.

Cisco reaches out and takes Magnus's hand, shaking it and saying: ]


Hey, Magnus. Cisco Ramon. Same deal, with the asking anything, since I don't have to worry about saying too much now or whatever.

[ Well, there's maybe just one or two things Taako didn't want him to mention, but that is different. Not revealing other people's information before they get the chance to isn't the same as keeping secrets. Not exactly... ]

So are you seriously not a druid or whatever because that shit with the bear at the zoo was totally wild and you acted like it was completely normal.
franciscoramon: (:v talking)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-17 08:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, that's what you got me for.

[ Cisco says it so plainly, so matter-of-factly. That he is available for any calculations that Magnus might need, a friend and a resource for him. As far as he's concerned, Magnus is already in that category of people who could call him at 3 AM and ask him to figure out the trajectory needed to slingshot something out of orbit, and Cisco would turn on a light and get to work, explanation or no. ]

Man... you were friends with a talking bear? Who taught you stuff? Your life is so cool...

[ He knows, of course he knows, that there were many things about Magnus's life that were very far from cool. Dying a whole bunch of times, being on the run for a century, fighting a battle against the apocalypse that felt never-ending, seeing whole worlds destroyed, having his memories erased...

But the bad doesn't erase the good, and Cisco wants to celebrate that good. ]


Super weird. But hey, it worked! So I guess you're just the bear whisperer, now.
franciscoramon: (:? looking up)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-19 02:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Cisco laughs, but also makes a mental note to maybe get Taako to explain to Magnus that, for people from certain Earth cultures that he might run into here on this moon, the word bear can have a variety of meanings. If Taako even knows that. He might end up having to explain to Taako, first. He really hopes that he doesn't. Maybe he will just say nothing and hope for the best.

The question surprises a small laugh from him, but it is an easy one to answer. Cisco hums as he thinks where to begin, tucking his hair back behind his ears and considering the beer sitting in front of him. He decides he might as well start from the beginning. ]


Well, I mean, I was always super curious. I wanted to understand stuff, and I liked taking things apart and seeing how they worked, and then putting them back together again. And at some point that became seeing if I could change a part here or there and make stuff work better, or fix things that had gotten broken. So I did a lot of that, as a kid. I had a lotta free time and not a whole lotta supervision, so I just tinkered around, fixing alarm clocks, trying to build stuff outta junk. Plus school was always pretty easy, for me. Especially the math and science stuff. Numbers just kinda made sense, and science is just... a way of understanding how weird and crazy and awesome the world is.

[ Cisco starts off relatively neutral, but as he speaks he gradually is smiling more and more, face growing animated and voice passionate. It's clear in every inflection, and the way his eyes shine as he talks and the way he starts gesturing with his hands, that he just loves everything about the stuff he's talking about. ]

People were always way harder for me. I didn't really have a lot of friends. Or like... any friends. Especially after I skipped a couple grades and was, like, four or five years younger than everybody around me. And my family... [ But whatever it is Cisco had been about to say about his family, he clearly changes his mind, trailing off and just giving a shrug, instead. That's a whole other conversation. ] ...but anyway, doing really well in school and getting a good scholarship was pretty much the best way I could think of to leave home, so that's what I did. I busted my ass all through college and boom! Science and shit.
franciscoramon: (:c gentle)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-20 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
See, gears and moving parts were my shit.

[ Cisco finds it delightful, the similarities between himself and Magnus. Sure, there are differences, but also similarities - not fitting in well, loving hands-on tactile pursuits, etcetera. And Cisco is reminded, not for the first time, of Ronnie. The resemblance between Magnus and Ronnie isn't anything specific, just a general straightforwardness, and good-nature, and way of talking about himself. It makes Cisco miss Ronnie terribly for a moment, and wish he could introduce Magnus to him. They probably would've gotten along like a house on fire. ]

Never really been the tough guy, myself. I know, you must be shocked. [ Cisco gives a small, self-deprecating laugh. He knows he is hardly the most intimidating or macho guy, and he's fine with it. That's just who he is. ] Anyway, I got my ass kicked pretty much constantly, but I got pretty good at running away and just, like, hiding. Avoiding the bullies. That kind of thing.

[ Cisco says it all with a shrug, as if that will in some way make it all seem more trivial. High school had pretty much been hell, but it's been almost a decade since he got out. College hadn't been perfect, but at the very least, no one had been beating him up, so that was a big improvement.

He hadn't actually put it together, before, what Magnus's official job on the Starblaster must have been, when they first started out. They had all had to become fighters, because of the apocalypse and everything, but it made sense that they wouldn't have started that way. It was supposed to be a scientific exploration mission, or something like that, before everything went wrong. Cisco had at least picked up that much. ]


That the same university where Taako scammed a bunch of folks into thinking he was a philosopher or whatever?

[ Cisco's attention sharpens on Magnus when he brings up the voidfish, watching him carefully while trying to appear casual. Which is just fine, since Magnus seems like he's doing his best to seem casual about it all, too. It's fascinating to him, that Magnus had still cared about the same things, still sought out carpentry as a pursuit.

At the mention of Lucretia, and the hand she might have had in... arranging Magnus's new life for him (and that all just... still creepy Cisco out, a lot. So much so that he needs to not think about it for a bit), he asks, tentatively: ]


How are you and Lucretia, um... I mean, I know it's not my business, but have you... talked to her? Since you drank the stuff?
franciscoramon: (:# friends)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-21 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
But that's when you started doing... would that be sculpture? [ Hearing his own question, Cisco pauses to laugh at the unintentional pun. ] Ha, would. Anyway I guess wood carving is sort of its own separate thing?

[ It's not hard to tell, with a guy like Magnus, when he starts considering his words really carefully. And honestly, Cisco is glad for the brevity of his answer. He wouldn't have known what to do, if Magnus started talking in great detail about that conversation, or telling Cisco how complicated, or good, or bad stuff is between himself and Lucretia right now. Cisco's pretty sure it would end up being uncomfortable for him, no matter where Magnus is at. All he'd wanted to know is whether he should avoid the mention of Lucretia altogether. The answer to that is, apparently, no. ]

Cool.

[ There's a moment of awkward silence, where Cisco considers saying something about the Lucretia situation, and decides that would absolutely be a bad idea. If Magnus needs to talk to someone about all that, he can talk to Taako or Lup, or one of his other new friends who isn't involved and won't be bringing in quite as much baggage as Cisco. Right now Cisco just... wants to stay out of it. For everybody's sake.

He takes a long drink of his beer and abruptly, brightly, decisively changes the subject. ]


So, um... tell me about this Steven dude. He sounds like a great guy.
Edited 2017-09-21 23:21 (UTC)
franciscoramon: (:? well if you say so)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-23 11:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Cisco snorts another laugh - he definitely likes Magnus and Magnus's somewhat puerile sense of humor. He needs a friend he can make truly stupid jokes to, and who will make them to him.

He listens to Magnus talking about Steven, smiling faintly. It's clear just from the way Magnus speaks how much he admires the man - it shines through. And Cisco thinks that anyone who could inspire that feeling, in a guy like Magnus, must be pretty great. When Magnus recalls rebuilding that town, thinks about the way that Barry had helped to rebuild Central City after the singularity. But, well. That had been a bit different, hadn't it? He'd done it in secret, had refused assistance from anyone. Cisco had tried to help, more than once, but it hadn't been about mending the city, not really. It had been about his own guilt, that he wasn't the big hero in the end. That it had been Eddie, and Ronnie, who had saved everyone.

None of that matters, though. Barry is back in Central City, and Magnus is right here. ]


That's a really good kind of person to want to be, if you ask me. I wanna help people, too. Not as a leader, I'm not really good at that, but... as a part of the team. The one who's cheering everybody on and cheering them up and making them laugh even when stuff looks pretty hopeless.

[ Cisco looks down at his beer, half empty, now. He can feel just a hint of oncoming tipsiness - a warmth and relaxation that loosens his inhibitions just enough for him to say: ]

I hope this isn't a super weird thing to say but you kinda remind me of a guy I used to know. Ronnie. He liked helping people, too. And building stuff. He was a structural engineer, not a carpenter, but... it's sorta similar.
franciscoramon: (:? forgiveness can you imagine)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-24 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. That's one of the reasons I like it here, you know? I feel like... I can help. Like people need me, actually need me, and I can really make a difference in this world.

[ It had taken a while to sink in for him, all that stuff they had told him when he first arrived. About why they brought people through the portals, and what everybody was doing here. For a lot of folks it seems like it's an escape or a reprieve, but for Cisco, it turned out to be a solution. Back in Central City he had wanted to help. He had done his best. But in the end... his ability to do good was in a lot of ways hampered by whether or not Barry was feeling in the mood to be a hero. Here... that doesn't matter so much.

Cisco laughs when Magnus asks that question and flexes, delighted and mildly embarrassed by it. What is Magnus talking about, Cisco never notices how buff any dude is ever, they'll never prove it. ]


Yeah, he was. Not quite as buff as you, but pretty close.

[ He rotates his glass between his palms for a moment, wondering how he can possibly summarize Ronnie to someone who had never met him. And to someone who he has just compared to him, without sounding like he's projecting anything weird onto Magnus about his dead friend. ]

He was super cool. The coolest. I was only, like... I was barely nineteen when I got hired at S.T.A.R. Labs and everybody there had a lot more experience than me, and they were all at least four or five years older than me. I was like, so scared everybody was gonna realize I didn't belong there and I was just this total imposter. So I was super nervous and whatever, but Ronnie just... acted like we were already best friends, and then. We were.

[ Cisco's smile goes a bit sad around the edges, then, and he drinks a little more of his beer. ]

He was like that. Being around him just made you feel like... things were okay. Like he had your back and it was okay to just... be you.
franciscoramon: (:) i'll believe it when i see it)

[personal profile] franciscoramon 2017-09-29 11:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Cisco is glad, when Magnus gently shifts the subject away; Cisco had said what he wanted to say, and he feels a bit better now. He hadn't been hiding it, exactly, the fact that Magnus reminds him of Ronnie. All the same, good to get it off his chest. Still, he has been doing way too much wallowing in the last little while since that temporary amnesia ended, and he's ready to have a break from it.

So when Magnus asks about the karaoke, the joy and bubbliness come back to Cisco quickly and he asks, delighted: ]


A sing-along game?!

[ If he doesn't even know the word karaoke, that means he's probably never done it before, and Cisco absolutely is not going to let that stand. ]

I guess karaoke wouldn't be high on the list of things Taako had to tell you about, huh? Yeah, we can totally do that. I'm gonna need a couple shots, first, though.