riverviewlogs | [closed] can i roll a friendship check?

To friendship!

[Sappy is exactly the kind of toast that Magnus is into. He's made this exact toast at least 70 times on the Starblaster.

After clinking bottles and taking a swig, he puts a hand on Cisco's shoulder.]

Listen, there's no such thing as messing it up. Either it works, or it doesn't and you keep trying 'til you find the one that works. If it doesn't work it doesn't mean you did anything wrong, y'know?

[Magnus doesn't wanna be too obvious about it, but Cisco's dropping some pretty heavy self esteem issue vibes. He's doing his best to boost Cisco up without coming across the wrong way.]

[ 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.

[He grins.] That's a first, actually. I'm not the smartest. [Theres no hint of self-pity when he says this; it's just kind of a reality for him.

When Cisco brings up his point, he nods thoughtfully.]

I didn't think about that... You're right. Let me reintroduce myself.

[He extends a hand for a handshake.] Nice to meet you! I'm Magnus. Ask me anything, no holds barred.

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.

[Magnus takes all of Cisco's words to heart. Seems Magnus isn't the only one here to offer up some of his wisdom. The Power Bear would've liked Cisco, he thinks.]

Clearly I am lacking in the running-up-buildings-calculating department.

[Remember when he tried to climb himself out of the bear enclosure? Nice.

He laughs at the idea of being a druid.]

Nooope. I don't have even an inkling of magical talent in me, dude. I have... I guess, a history with bears? I couldn't remember it at the time, but on our mission there was this—Power Bear? He, uh, taught me a lot of cool stuff about strength. Maybe I have a bear connection because of that. Oh, yeah, and he talked. He was a talking bear. As in he spoke words. In Common.

[He glances off to the side in thought for just a moment.] Now that I think of it, that whole thing at the zoo was really weird. Like, really weird.

Edited (sometimes the post is just ugly and u just gotta) 2017-09-17 18:30 (UTC)

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.

[Magnus is DEFINITELY that kind of person, and giving him permission to wake you up at 3 in the morning would DEFINITELY be a mistake.

Although the larger part of his past could be called Uncool, Magnus is horribly optimistic, so he is much quicker to call it Cool and refer to the positives than he would be to bring up any of the negatives.]

Hell yeah it is! I've got that sweet sweet bear connection. [He's so smug about this.] I'll add 'bear whisperer' to my business card.

Okay, your turn. I know you do science n' shit. How'd you get into that?

[Magnus knows he should probably tread lightly. While Cisco knows about Magnus's tragic backstory through Taako, Cisco's tragic backstory is kinda written all over his sleeve.]

[ 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.

You were born to do science, dude! That's awesome!

[Cisco's enthusiasm is catching. As a passionate person, Magnus always enjoys seeing that same passion in others. Even though he doesn't know anything about science or machines, he does know about building things, so this story in particular is relatable.]

I did that with furniture as a kid. Fixed a lot of wobbly chairs and creaky doors. Clocks were out of my range of specialty, though. Too many gears and moving parts.

[Mental note made: don't ask Cisco about his family. He steers the conversation back around to positives. Gotta stay posi.]

Good on ya for doing good in school! I, uh, gave up on that. See, I kind of had the opposite problem when it came to people—I can't keep my damn mouth shut. I kept getting into fights with people who thought they were better than everyone else. Nobody wants a rowdy kid to come to their school… So I turned it around and made a career out of being a tough guy! I got hired as a security guard for a spaceship. And I think you know how that went down. [Cisco knows that part of the story already.] During the mission I did kinda learn how to chill out, though. There was this super cool university where I learned how to carve little figurines out of wood n' stuff.

Of course, after the, uh... voidfishing, [he says, in the lightest tone he can, which isn't very,] I was back to square one. But this guy, Steven—he actually wanted to teach me his carpentry skills. He took me in as an apprentice, welcomed me into his family. He taught me I could actually make, like, nice things with my hands.

[He glances at his bottle, swirling it in his hand, but not taking a drink.] I guess I have Lucretia to thank for that.

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?

[Cisco may shrug it off, but Magnus sure doesn't. The phrase "I got my ass kicked constantly" strikes a particularly ugly chord with him. Cisco is exactly the person Magnus would've stood by to defend had they known each other when they were younger. It's actually pretty upsetting to think that he wasn't there to kick those bullies right back—

—but that's in the past. Remembering Taako's entirely-plagiarised book brings him back to the present, and he laughs.]

Yep, that's the one. And I can't even fault him for that. The best scam I've ever seen pulled off.

[He's unsure how to proceed regarding Lucretia. He doesn't know what the relationship is between her and Cisco, but he does know that Cisco is likely to side with Taako on issues regarding her, so he responds carefully.]

Yeah, I stopped by. Asked some questions, got some answers. [He shrugs, but it's clear through his stiff movement that he still doesn't know quite how to feel about everything.]

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)

Heh. Wood. [Magnus is laughing for a different reason. He's a 120 year old child.

It's a good thing that they drop the Lucretia conversation. All that would've done is make people uncomfortable. He's very happy to talk about Steven instead.]

Steven Waxmen. What a dude. He ran this place called the Hammer and Tongs and he was maybe the best carpenter I've ever met—even after getting my hundred years of memories back. So that's, like, something.

And he was a great person, too. He was kind of a community leader. There was this, uh... I guess battle? It destroyed a bunch of people's homes, so after the battle Steven and I were right there helping rebuild the town. And he wouldn't let anybody pay him for it. That's the kind of guy I wanna be like, you know? I wanna help the little guys. I wanna be a community leader.

[ 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.

I mean, I don't know that I am a leader, but... [He did kind of lead the ambush against Kalen... Okay, so he mostly led the entire revolt. But he doesn't think he could ever do that outside of a fight.

Magnus sees so much good intent in Cisco, and he admires it.]

I mean, you don't have to be the guy in charge to good, y'know? You just gotta lend a hand when you know you can. That's the important part.

[Magnus is pretty far through his drink too, but isn't quite as aware of his own intoxication level. But he never really is.]

I mean, if he's anything like me, he's gotta be super cool, right? [He chuckles.] Was he buff? [He takes an opportunity to flex his guns. He's gotta have his silly moments.]

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.

[Now Magnus starts to get the idea that Cisco isn't using past tense just because he knew Ronnie before Riverview. His demeanor softens a little.]

Sounds like a really cool dude. I wish I coulda met him.

[He figures it's probably to Cisco's benefit to not keep talking about his dead friend.]

I can relate to that. I kinda felt that way on the Starblaster for a little while. Everybody else on the ship was just so... Y'know... smart. And I'm not. [He shrugs.] But you already know I got over that.

[He takes a drink, and this drink actually finishes off his beer.] Okay, so I noticed this on the way in and now that I have a full beer in me I gotta bring it up—people on the other side of the bar are playing a sing-along game? [He points to a couple of drunks singing into a karaoke microphone.] I wanna do that.

[ 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.

[closed] can i roll a friendship check?

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