the only other person from westeros to go back never came back to the clock ever again
[ She's panicking. Arya knows that she's not thinking straight, that she's conflating this with her father's execution and Jon leaving for the Wall and her brother's ill-fated wedding. But it's a distant sort of knowledge, like there are two Aryas, one who is feeling and another smaller, separate one that can still logic things out.
She calms down after a few minutes and a lot of brushing of Lady's hair. ]
I am not sure if she will come back but thank you all the same.
that doesn't mean sansa won't. i doubt our world of origin's got anything to do with it.
[ He wishes he could reassure her that Sansa will be back, but the fact is that he can't guarantee that. Neither of them have any control over it one way or another. ]
are you doing okay? do you need some company or a distraction? i've got a cool experiment i was gonna show you during our next lesson, or we could watch a movie or get ice cream?
[ Right now, Arya wants something familiar. She loves learning about science and movies and bits of earth, but right now, Arya doesn't know if she wants to handle the uncertainty that comes from something unfamiliar, even if it's a good kind. Whether or not Sansa is coming home is bad enough. But mixing ice cream with as many colors as possible sounds pretty good right now. ]
[ It takes Arya a little longer than normal to find the parlor -- the Clock keeps leading her to the beautiful, more ornate rooms. Rooms that Sansa liked. Arya wishes the place would just stop; she's checked the rose garden and the library already and found nothing.
Perhaps the Clock takes a hint, because Arya does eventually find the parlor. Arya moves straight to the counter and gets right to business, taking the biggest bowl she can find and scooping in a little of each flavor, even the ones she doesn't recognize. Once that's done, she dumps on the sprinkles. Arya doesn't care if it's excessive -- she wants excessive, all mixed up and strange and overly sweet. ]
So. [ Arya says, a little stiffly, after she's mixed up her ice cream, trying to change the subject. ] Are you still courting Eddie?
[ Cisco is already there when Arya arrives. He raises a hand in greeting, a worried smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. He doesn't interrupt or rush Arya when she makes a beeline right for the ice cream and starts taking a little bit of everything. Cisco doesn't blame her. He's worried about Sansa back in Westeros, too, and he only barely knows her. She's Arya's sister, and despite whatever differences they'd had in the past, it seems like they love each other a lot.
It's only when she's done and sitting and asking him about Eddie that Cisco gets up and starts looking at the various flavors, trying to pick what he wants. There might be some virtue in making Arya talk about how she feels, but he'll play along for the time being. ]
Hell yeah I am.
[ Cisco opts for the rainbow sherbet, covering it liberally with chocolate syrup before he comes back around to the side of the counter with the stools. He sits down next to Arya, stirs the syrup into the ice cream as he speaks: ]
Almost been three months, now. I kinda can't believe it.
[ Funny, to think how worried he'd been to tell Arya about the two of them, afraid she wouldn't understand, or that she would disapprove. ]
He's really good to me.
[ He nudges the conversation gently towards what Arya is dealing with right now: ]
I'm working really hard to find a way to bring him back with me, when I go home. I'm gonna figure out how this place does it, and when I do, I'm gonna make it so everyone can go home if they want, or... go somewhere else. Somewhere new.
[ Cisco knows better than to make promises he can't keep, but he thinks Arya could use a little hope, right now. No matter how faint. ]
If I can do that, I think you and Sansa and Jon should all come back with us to Central City. If you want. I know Westeros is your home, and it would take a long time to adjust, but I think... I think you'd like it there. Things aren't so hard.
[ Arya doesn't quite smile, but she relaxes a little when Cisco tells her that things are going well. In this moment, she can almost understand the appeal of a love story -- there's a certain kind of hope involved, but Cisco and Eddie are better, because they're real. And no one has to be locked in a tower or anything.
But why would Cisco need to work for Eddie to go back with him? Isn't Eddie from Central City too? ]
Is there a reason why Eddie cannot leave?
[ That must be it. Perhaps if she finds that out, she can keep Sansa here forever. No one has to leave, no one has to be alone or in danger anymore.
But then Cisco stops talking about Eddie, and starts talking about Arya, and her brother and sister, and Arya can't quite believe what he's saying. Is he offering Arya a place in Central City? A home?
Arya hasn't had one of those in such a long time. She's speechless, for a while, poking at her sprinkles one by one. Is he serious? At last, Arya realizes that she should say something, but she only manages to blurt out: ]
Yeah, there's a reason. But it's pretty personal and he doesn't really want a lot of people to know. I can ask him the next time I see him if he minds me telling you, how's that?
[ Cisco thinks that even if Eddie doesn't mind Arya knowing about him being dead, he probably isn't going to want to explain it, himself. It'll take a fair bit of delicacy - because death is always a touchy topic with Arya, and because he'll have to figure out a way to explain Eddie's death that doesn't clue Arya in about Eobard. Particularly not after what she'd done to Snart. And on top of all that, he'll need to impress upon her how important it is that Eddie's death remain a secret.
He can tell that Arya doesn't believe him - or can't - and Cisco wonders if it was the right thing, making this offer, when he isn't completely sure he'll be able to do it. Moments like this grip him now and then: the blind panic that he won't be able to save any of them, Eddie or Arya or even himself. But Cisco has gotten good at squashing those doubts, when they bubble up at inopportune moments. ]
Yes. If you want one.
[ It wouldn't be the first time Central City had gotten new residents from another world, after all. If Harry and Jesse can swing it, despite the other Harrison Wells' notoriety, Cisco's sure the Starks will manage. ]
If I can just figure out how to get us there... if I can do that, everything else will be super easy. You and Jon and Sansa could stay with me, while you're getting used to Central City. My apartment's not giant or anything, but I'd be happy to share it. And you could go to school and Sansa could too if she wanted. They've got fashion schools and things like that, I know she loves making clothes, right? And Jon... we could find something for him to do to help at S.T.A.R. Labs or whatever.
[ Cisco pokes at his ice cream, even though the chocolate is completely mixed in, now, and it's all gone a rather unappealing color. ]
It would be a really big change. And it's not like Central City is 100% safe all the time. But you would be welcome.
[ Cisco doesn't have to ask Eddie to tell her if it's going to make Eddie comfortable. There's no need for that -- the fact that Eddie can't leave is probably more important than the reason why. Besides, Eddie doesn't owe her any information. She hasn't exactly told him much.
Arya looks down at her ice cream but nods, slowly, to show that she's understood Cisco's proposition. She doesn't entirely understand why he's offering -- three people is a lot to bring into your home, to take care of, even if it's just temporary. Because Arya doesn't doubt that there's a lot for her and her siblings to get used to in Central City, far more than just movies and cars. It's a completely different culture there, a different way of life. A different world.
But that doesn't bother Arya too much, all things considered. What gives her pause is that she's heard this promise before. Yoren promised to bring her to Jon; the Hound promised to bring her to her aunt. Both men failed, and both men died because of it. How could Cisco ever succeed? Arya can't hope, not after watching Yoren burn with a village and the Hound bleed out by the river.
But Cisco also has a plan, and more importantly, this is something he wants to do. Not for the money, not out of some sense of duty to Arya's dead father, but because he cares about her. That maybe, just maybe, he likes Arya for who she is and not for what she can do for him.
Her eyes are glassy, but underneath that wetness is a smile. She nudges Cisco's foot with her own. ]
Are you this nice to everybody? Is that a Central City custom?
[ When Arya goes quiet and her eyes start getting teary, Cisco worries that maybe he's made a mistake. He does his best with Arya, but he is still all too conscious of the fact that she is a deeply traumatized child and that he is vastly under-qualified to offer her the kind of support she actually needs. But then she smiles, asks if niceness is a policy, and he relaxes slightly. He nudges her foot back. ]
Not everybody.
[ He wants to help everyone in this place to get where they want to be, but Arya is the only one he would offer his own home to. ]
You're my friend, and you deserve a fresh start somewhere you have a chance to be the person you wanna be.
[ Arya has already been displaced so many times, been on the run, been without a safe place to call her own. The transition to another world would be hard, but she is used to upheaval, and she's young still. ]
Did you know my parents weren't from Central City originally? They came there from somewhere else, left everything they had behind, to start over in a place where they didn't know anyone, because they thought it would be a better life. And I'm really lucky they did. So if I can help you make a place for yourself in Central City, that feels like I'm passing it along, y'know?
[ Cisco, Arya thinks, has always had the wrong idea about what Arya deserves. Sansa and Jon deserve better, for sure. Maybe Arya did too, once, but she's so different now, done too many unforgivable things, to deserve that kind of fresh start. She'd just disappoint Cisco. Arya can easily see how much better things could be in Central City, but she can just as easily see how bringing Arya to another world would be a huge mistake. The newness of the place would be frightening, and if the situation with Snart is any indication, Arya tends to make very, very poor decisions when she's frightened.
But she can't tell Cisco that. She's tried already, and for some reason, he refuses to believe her.
And then he tells Arya about his parents, and she knows she can't turn him down, not even if it's for his own good. Now, the offer is more personal. It doesn't just mean something to Arya: it means something to Cisco too, and for once in her life, Arya doesn't want to be rude. Not when Cisco has given her so much already. ]
I think...I think that sounds wonderful. Like the best thing in any world. Then we can always be friends, even after we leave this place.
[ Arya nibbles on her ice cream, to buy herself some time. ]
But even if you can bring me back, it may not work. If Jon or Sansa do not wish to come -- but I think I can convince them to come -- then I cannot leave them. [ A pause. ] And even if we all go there, you should know that it likely will not be easy. I could be blind again, I may not understand your language, I may do something stupid and awful because I got. [ um. ] Confused.
Of course you'll stay with them if they don't want to come.
[ He never would have expected anything different; they're her family, and Cisco understands how much that means to Arya. He listens to her other concerns, sees her body language and hears how quiet her voice has gone. His own tone is gentle as he addresses each point. ]
I know it'll be hard. Hopefully, whatever way we find out of here won't do that, but if you are blind again, well, we've got some pretty great doctors in my world. If they can't fix it, I'll make you some tech that will. We can just communicate in emojis 'til we learn each other's languages. And... if you get confused... we'll think up ways to minimize the damage before that happens. There are people who can help, in Central City. People a lot more qualified than me.
[ Arya lets that all sink in. She's still a little apprehensive about the whole thing -- adjusting to life on a new world will likely be a lot harder than Cisco makes it sound. But once they're settled in, Central City could be really good for Arya and her family. She wishes the rest of them got this chance.
There's also the matter of unfinished business on her world. A revenge quest left incomplete. But maybe, by the time Cisco works out how to leave this place, it won't matter so much anymore. ]
We'll need to invent quite a lot of emojis.
[ Arya says, smiling, then hugs Cisco tightly. It's her way of saying yes, a million times yes, and thank you. She's not going to say it out loud: she doesn't want to jinx her chances. But hopefully, Cisco gets what she means. ]
[ Cisco definitely gets it. As far as he's concerned, a hug is worth a thousand words. He wraps his arms around Arya (he is reminded that she really is alarmingly small, in moments like this), hugging her back for as long as she likes. He wishes he could do more; bring Sansa back right now to ease her worry, give her promises that he could bring them all unharmed to Central City, undo everything bad that had ever happened to her and her family. But he doesn't have that kind of power. No one does.
So instead he hugs her, and when she finally pulls away, he goes back to eating ice cream with her, telling her stories about cool things in Central City she may get a chance to see someday - the skyscrapers, the restaurants, the ice skating rink they put in the park in the winters, the parades and all the rest of it. He keeps it all in the conditional tense, all maybes. But he wants to fill her head with thoughts of happy possibilities, to crowd out her fear for Sansa for at least a little while. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
plain wood, i think. just - very ordinary.
😰 oh no.
[ He knows how happy Arya had been to be reunited with her family. ]
maybe she'll come back after a day or two. i did. a lot of people have. it happens all the time.
no subject
[ She's panicking. Arya knows that she's not thinking straight, that she's conflating this with her father's execution and Jon leaving for the Wall and her brother's ill-fated wedding. But it's a distant sort of knowledge, like there are two Aryas, one who is feeling and another smaller, separate one that can still logic things out.
She calms down after a few minutes and a lot of brushing of Lady's hair. ]
I am not sure if she will come back but thank you all the same.
no subject
[ He wishes he could reassure her that Sansa will be back, but the fact is that he can't guarantee that. Neither of them have any control over it one way or another. ]
are you doing okay? do you need some company or a distraction? i've got a cool experiment i was gonna show you during our next lesson, or we could watch a movie or get ice cream?
no subject
[ Right now, Arya wants something familiar. She loves learning about science and movies and bits of earth, but right now, Arya doesn't know if she wants to handle the uncertainty that comes from something unfamiliar, even if it's a good kind. Whether or not Sansa is coming home is bad enough. But mixing ice cream with as many colors as possible sounds pretty good right now. ]
no subject
i'll head over to that same ice cream parlor now - text me again if you're having trouble finding it?
[ He knows the rooms can be difficult to navigate when you're distracted, and Arya is definitely that. ]
no subject
Perhaps the Clock takes a hint, because Arya does eventually find the parlor. Arya moves straight to the counter and gets right to business, taking the biggest bowl she can find and scooping in a little of each flavor, even the ones she doesn't recognize. Once that's done, she dumps on the sprinkles. Arya doesn't care if it's excessive -- she wants excessive, all mixed up and strange and overly sweet. ]
So. [ Arya says, a little stiffly, after she's mixed up her ice cream, trying to change the subject. ] Are you still courting Eddie?
no subject
It's only when she's done and sitting and asking him about Eddie that Cisco gets up and starts looking at the various flavors, trying to pick what he wants. There might be some virtue in making Arya talk about how she feels, but he'll play along for the time being. ]
Hell yeah I am.
[ Cisco opts for the rainbow sherbet, covering it liberally with chocolate syrup before he comes back around to the side of the counter with the stools. He sits down next to Arya, stirs the syrup into the ice cream as he speaks: ]
Almost been three months, now. I kinda can't believe it.
[ Funny, to think how worried he'd been to tell Arya about the two of them, afraid she wouldn't understand, or that she would disapprove. ]
He's really good to me.
[ He nudges the conversation gently towards what Arya is dealing with right now: ]
I'm working really hard to find a way to bring him back with me, when I go home. I'm gonna figure out how this place does it, and when I do, I'm gonna make it so everyone can go home if they want, or... go somewhere else. Somewhere new.
[ Cisco knows better than to make promises he can't keep, but he thinks Arya could use a little hope, right now. No matter how faint. ]
If I can do that, I think you and Sansa and Jon should all come back with us to Central City. If you want. I know Westeros is your home, and it would take a long time to adjust, but I think... I think you'd like it there. Things aren't so hard.
no subject
[ Arya doesn't quite smile, but she relaxes a little when Cisco tells her that things are going well. In this moment, she can almost understand the appeal of a love story -- there's a certain kind of hope involved, but Cisco and Eddie are better, because they're real. And no one has to be locked in a tower or anything.
But why would Cisco need to work for Eddie to go back with him? Isn't Eddie from Central City too? ]
Is there a reason why Eddie cannot leave?
[ That must be it. Perhaps if she finds that out, she can keep Sansa here forever. No one has to leave, no one has to be alone or in danger anymore.
But then Cisco stops talking about Eddie, and starts talking about Arya, and her brother and sister, and Arya can't quite believe what he's saying. Is he offering Arya a place in Central City? A home?
Arya hasn't had one of those in such a long time. She's speechless, for a while, poking at her sprinkles one by one. Is he serious? At last, Arya realizes that she should say something, but she only manages to blurt out: ]
Are you saying that we would have a home there?
[ Suddenly, like she can't believe it. ]
no subject
[ Cisco thinks that even if Eddie doesn't mind Arya knowing about him being dead, he probably isn't going to want to explain it, himself. It'll take a fair bit of delicacy - because death is always a touchy topic with Arya, and because he'll have to figure out a way to explain Eddie's death that doesn't clue Arya in about Eobard. Particularly not after what she'd done to Snart. And on top of all that, he'll need to impress upon her how important it is that Eddie's death remain a secret.
He can tell that Arya doesn't believe him - or can't - and Cisco wonders if it was the right thing, making this offer, when he isn't completely sure he'll be able to do it. Moments like this grip him now and then: the blind panic that he won't be able to save any of them, Eddie or Arya or even himself. But Cisco has gotten good at squashing those doubts, when they bubble up at inopportune moments. ]
Yes. If you want one.
[ It wouldn't be the first time Central City had gotten new residents from another world, after all. If Harry and Jesse can swing it, despite the other Harrison Wells' notoriety, Cisco's sure the Starks will manage. ]
If I can just figure out how to get us there... if I can do that, everything else will be super easy. You and Jon and Sansa could stay with me, while you're getting used to Central City. My apartment's not giant or anything, but I'd be happy to share it. And you could go to school and Sansa could too if she wanted. They've got fashion schools and things like that, I know she loves making clothes, right? And Jon... we could find something for him to do to help at S.T.A.R. Labs or whatever.
[ Cisco pokes at his ice cream, even though the chocolate is completely mixed in, now, and it's all gone a rather unappealing color. ]
It would be a really big change. And it's not like Central City is 100% safe all the time. But you would be welcome.
no subject
[ Cisco doesn't have to ask Eddie to tell her if it's going to make Eddie comfortable. There's no need for that -- the fact that Eddie can't leave is probably more important than the reason why. Besides, Eddie doesn't owe her any information. She hasn't exactly told him much.
Arya looks down at her ice cream but nods, slowly, to show that she's understood Cisco's proposition. She doesn't entirely understand why he's offering -- three people is a lot to bring into your home, to take care of, even if it's just temporary. Because Arya doesn't doubt that there's a lot for her and her siblings to get used to in Central City, far more than just movies and cars. It's a completely different culture there, a different way of life. A different world.
But that doesn't bother Arya too much, all things considered. What gives her pause is that she's heard this promise before. Yoren promised to bring her to Jon; the Hound promised to bring her to her aunt. Both men failed, and both men died because of it. How could Cisco ever succeed? Arya can't hope, not after watching Yoren burn with a village and the Hound bleed out by the river.
But Cisco also has a plan, and more importantly, this is something he wants to do. Not for the money, not out of some sense of duty to Arya's dead father, but because he cares about her. That maybe, just maybe, he likes Arya for who she is and not for what she can do for him.
Her eyes are glassy, but underneath that wetness is a smile. She nudges Cisco's foot with her own. ]
Are you this nice to everybody? Is that a Central City custom?
no subject
Not everybody.
[ He wants to help everyone in this place to get where they want to be, but Arya is the only one he would offer his own home to. ]
You're my friend, and you deserve a fresh start somewhere you have a chance to be the person you wanna be.
[ Arya has already been displaced so many times, been on the run, been without a safe place to call her own. The transition to another world would be hard, but she is used to upheaval, and she's young still. ]
Did you know my parents weren't from Central City originally? They came there from somewhere else, left everything they had behind, to start over in a place where they didn't know anyone, because they thought it would be a better life. And I'm really lucky they did. So if I can help you make a place for yourself in Central City, that feels like I'm passing it along, y'know?
no subject
But she can't tell Cisco that. She's tried already, and for some reason, he refuses to believe her.
And then he tells Arya about his parents, and she knows she can't turn him down, not even if it's for his own good. Now, the offer is more personal. It doesn't just mean something to Arya: it means something to Cisco too, and for once in her life, Arya doesn't want to be rude. Not when Cisco has given her so much already. ]
I think...I think that sounds wonderful. Like the best thing in any world. Then we can always be friends, even after we leave this place.
[ Arya nibbles on her ice cream, to buy herself some time. ]
But even if you can bring me back, it may not work. If Jon or Sansa do not wish to come -- but I think I can convince them to come -- then I cannot leave them. [ A pause. ] And even if we all go there, you should know that it likely will not be easy. I could be blind again, I may not understand your language, I may do something stupid and awful because I got. [ um. ] Confused.
no subject
[ He never would have expected anything different; they're her family, and Cisco understands how much that means to Arya. He listens to her other concerns, sees her body language and hears how quiet her voice has gone. His own tone is gentle as he addresses each point. ]
I know it'll be hard. Hopefully, whatever way we find out of here won't do that, but if you are blind again, well, we've got some pretty great doctors in my world. If they can't fix it, I'll make you some tech that will. We can just communicate in emojis 'til we learn each other's languages. And... if you get confused... we'll think up ways to minimize the damage before that happens. There are people who can help, in Central City. People a lot more qualified than me.
no subject
There's also the matter of unfinished business on her world. A revenge quest left incomplete. But maybe, by the time Cisco works out how to leave this place, it won't matter so much anymore. ]
We'll need to invent quite a lot of emojis.
[ Arya says, smiling, then hugs Cisco tightly. It's her way of saying yes, a million times yes, and thank you. She's not going to say it out loud: she doesn't want to jinx her chances. But hopefully, Cisco gets what she means. ]
no subject
So instead he hugs her, and when she finally pulls away, he goes back to eating ice cream with her, telling her stories about cool things in Central City she may get a chance to see someday - the skyscrapers, the restaurants, the ice skating rink they put in the park in the winters, the parades and all the rest of it. He keeps it all in the conditional tense, all maybes. But he wants to fill her head with thoughts of happy possibilities, to crowd out her fear for Sansa for at least a little while. ]