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
[ 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. ]