franciscoramon | riverview ∆ ic inbox ∆ @ciscodelamancha

for you? anytime.

what's up?

This isn't like last time, where I'm downstairs. I'm at the precinct. I mean, in case you were wondering, or

I don't know.

Something really weird just happened.

[ This is a weird amount of explanation and preamble from Eddie, who is usually pretty direct in his texts, if he has something particular in mind and they aren't just chatting to pass the time. ]

okay, i'll bite. what kind of weird are we talking?

I was breaking up yet another fight between Dodger and Ivar. They set half of one of the housing hallways on fire. I had to jump in between them before Ivar killed Dodger.

And then my hands glowed and there was some kind of weird energy shield.

Edited 2017-08-13 04:52 (UTC)

[ Those thirty seconds feel awfully long, and give Cisco a chance to imagine what the weirdness will be when it comes in (the rest is dramatic but only in the day-to-day cop stuff way). ]

dude, that IS weird.

do you know what did it?

[ Cisco hasn't quite gotten yet that this wasn't something done to Eddie, but rather coming FROM him ]

Edited 2017-08-13 04:55 (UTC)

I did.

[ Oh. ]

oh.

wait.... so are you saying what i think you're saying?

I think I have powers.

Which is weird.

[The next ones all come in a quick flurry of separate texts.]

I didn't have powers before.

I didn't have powers at home.

I wasn't a meta and hiding it from you or anything.

I don't know what's going on.

Maybe I should go to the hospital and get a bioscan thing done?

[ Yes, okay, this is happening. Eddie wouldn't joke about something like this, and if he says it was him having powers, Cisco believes him. ]

you might have always been a meta and just not realized it. that was how it was, for me. it wasn't until i was in just the right circumstances that my powers got triggered. i wasn't hiding them before that, they were just dormant. maybe yours were, too. you had to be in a situation where you needed that shield, in just the way you needed it right then.

do you feel sick? or hurt? do you need me to come down there?

Edited 2017-08-13 05:13 (UTC)

Maybe. I mean, I've needed a shield before way more than this, like when Barry was getting attacked by Captain Cold and Heatwave. Though I guess I had one of your shields then. But there were a lot of times I could've used something like that.

I don't know, Cisco. I didn't realize how scary this would be. I'm sorry.

No, I'm not sick or hurt. My hands feel a little buzzy and I'm a little tired, but that's it.

Do you want to come?

i get you. at this point, who knows what the catalyst was. maybe there wasn't even a catalyst at all... maybe it was just a question of how much time had passed? i mean, there's still so much i barely understand about meta stuff.

[ Cisco is acutely aware of the impact that every word he's saying right now might have. But he doesn't have too much time to obsess, to worry about making each of them perfect. He's doing this in real time, and he'll just have to do his best. ]

i know it's scary. it's okay to be scared and confused. we'll get through this, i promise you that.

i really do. if that's okay with you.

Yeah. I guess it doesn't really matter, either, does it? It just happened.

I think it wasn't just the shield. I think I healed both of them a little. I don't know. How do I figure out how this works and what I can do now?

Okay. Yeah. It's okay with me. I just didn't want to make you come if you didn't want to.

of course i want to. i'm already on my way.

[ Cisco pulls on a jacket, grabs his keys, and he's almost out the door before he realizes he isn't even wearing shoes. It takes just a moment more to get those, and then he really is on his way, texting as he goes, because he knows the way by heart: ]

well, you've already started figuring it out all by yourself. and now you're not by yourself anymore, so if you want, you and me can figure out a way to test what you're capable of. or we can wait, if you don't feel ready.
it's your call.

and i think it kinda does matter how it happened. maybe it doesn't affect your powers but it's good to know.

i didn't realize what had started mine until i realized my vibes got triggered by fear. then it was pretty easy to put the pieces together and make a story out of it that made sense. so for you knowing how it started might help to know other stuff, too.

Okay, if you're sure.

I would really like that. I mean, if I can make shields and heal people, that's really useful, isn't it? So I should use it. It was just startling, I'm not really afraid of it, I don't think. I just never really thought of myself as the guy who could do that kind of thing.

I just don't want to test healing on you. That's my hard no.

That makes sense. For me, I just really didn't want anyone to die.

eddie, i'm the only other metahuman in this place. i would be sure even if you were a total stranger. and you're not. you're my best friend.

[ So, as far as Cisco's concerned, that settles that.

He doesn't know where Eddie's hesitation comes from, for that one specific scenario (one that Cisco hadn't even imagined, yet). Maybe he thinks that Cisco would be injuring himself in the name of science, and then pressuring Eddie to fix him. Or else maybe he's concerned that his healing powers might be dangerous is he doesn't know what he's doing - that's a feeling Cisco knows well, from experience. Either way... ]

that's cool. we won't do that.

and hell yeah, it's useful. if you wanna get good at using them, i think there's a whole lot of possibility. figures you'd get something that lets you help keep people safe.

i'm almost there, see you in 2.

[ Cisco is, as a matter of fact, right outside the precinct, but he stops at a little corner shop to buy a sandwich and a little to-go container of veggies. When he comes in the door, he looks around, spots Eddie, and heads over. Before he says anything else, he holds up the little bag of food. ]

I figured in the confusion you mighta missed lunch.

[ He knows, too, that despite the fact that he seems to be dealing pretty well, Eddie must be feeling pretty shocked, pretty far from being in control of his body or his life. And Cisco knows, at least when it comes to nightmares, that having a snack after helps him to regain a feeling of stability and control. That might not apply, to feelings unconnected with Eobard and his kidnapping, but.... then again, it might. ]

Okay.

[He doesn't know what else to say, because it seems to him like it might stress Cisco out or upset him to deal with someone else's emerging powers when he's still so uncertain with his own. But Cisco seems to be fine with it, and he agrees to not wanting to do healing with him - after all, Eddie doesn't want Cisco hurt just to test his powers, and he's not sure of any other way he could try them out with Cisco unless he was hurt.

He's still at his desk when Cisco comes in, and holds up a little bag with food in it, announces that he thinks Eddie might've missed lunch. And it's true, he had, so he smiles a little, gratefully, and gestures at the second seat by his desk.]

I did, actually. I guess I lost track while everything was going on. Getting Dodger healed and then arrested, getting Ivar checked on, paperwork, trying to figure myself out...

[Shaking his head a bit, he exhales a soft breath and closes his eyes for a moment.]

Thanks, Cisco. I'm sorry for dumping all this on you.

[ Cisco sits down in that second seat, glancing around. The precinct is not deserted, but there aren't a whole lot of people there. No one nearby enough to overhear them.

He feels a little rush of relief, that he'd thought to bring food, since it sounds like Eddie has been swamped and is still in a state of disbelief about the whole thing. ]

Hey, come on. None of that, okay? This is exactly what friends are for. And... like I said. I'm the only other meta here. Gotta stick together, right?

[ Cisco says it to reinforce what he'd already said in his text, but also, a little slyly, to see in person how Eddie responds to being called a meta. He isn't a detective like Eddie, but he did notice that Eddie hasn't said it about himself, yet. Sure, he hasn't objected, but when he'd spoken about what happened he'd only talked in terms of using powers he hadn't known about before, not in terms of being a part of a whole category of people. The difference is small, but essential. ]

Go on, dig in. And then... tell me what happened? I mean, in detail.

Edited 2017-08-13 19:38 (UTC)

[As Cisco sits, Eddie cautiously brings the bag of food over toward himself and pulls it open, tugging out the sandwich and veggies. Something in his shoulders relaxes, when he sees what it is - protein, vegetables, a bit of carbs - and he opens the container of veggies. Pushing the dip aside, he puts a carrot in his mouth and bites off a piece, exhaling softly as Cisco says that this is what friends are for, that he's the only other meta here and they have to stick together.

For a moment, Eddie's quiet, chewing and swallowing his carrot, and then looking up at Cisco. Catching his eyes with his own a little wide.]

Oh wow. I am a meta, aren't I? Wow...that's... [He swallows again, glances down and then back up at Cisco's face, smiling.] That's kind of amazing. You know...I always had kind of a daydream I was actually a meta, that I could fight crime like the Flash did, you know?

[Licking his lips, he exhales, slips a snap pea into his mouth and gathers his thoughts while he's chewing.]

Dodger's robot dog contacted me with a glitchy message and a recording of a fight between Dodger and Ivar starting. So of course I ran there to break it up before anyone could get killed. They've almost killed each other before. So I found them, they were both really, really messed up. It was awful, and Ivar was still standing, he threw an ax at Dodger and even though Dodger got out of the way in time, I lunged forward, held my hands out, and there was a blue glowing sort of shape in the air between them, coming from my hands. Like a shield, you know how you have to hold them? But just. Coming from my hands.

[A pause, and he pulls a piece of raw cauliflower from the cup, is about to put it aside when he realizes the white flesh and florets are marbled with bright red, and that it's some sort of alien vegetable after all. Taking a curious bite, he chews a few times, and then finishes it, trying to gather his thoughts.]

After that, I turned to check up on Dodger, who looked a bit worse than Ivar, and my hands were glowing again. It didn't do a lot, but some of the bleeding stopped.

Yeah. Yeah, I think you are.

[ Cisco is smiling softly as he says it, because he can see it in Eddie's body language, hear it in his voice, that he is not recoiling from the thought, the same way he had done himself. But that, Cisco understands now, had been a very specific set of circumstances. It doesn't have to be like that for Eddie. He won't let it be like that for Eddie. As Cisco rolls his chair a little closer and sets his hand against Eddie's forearm, he feels a fierce protectiveness rising up in him. ]

Don't look now, but it seems like that daydream might be coming true.

[ And there are things he could do, to help usher that dream into reality, if Eddie is still interested. He had helped shape Barry into the Flash, after all. The superspeed helped, of course, but there had also been a process behind it. A costume, a name, a foundation of support. He could be that, for Eddie. Here, in this place.

But he's getting ahead of himself. He listens to Eddie's story, reaching out at one point to steal just one of the tiny carrots, absent-minded. It gives him something to fiddle with and nibble on, while Eddie talks. When there's a pause, Cisco observes: ]

Sounds like maybe you were feeling like... it was almost inevitable, one of them killing the other, and you were feeling like you wanted to stop that. Get in the way of sort of- the inexorable?

[ It's a stab in the dark, just a guess at what might have been the particular emotional trigger, if there were one at all. But Cisco doesn't want to linger too long, there. Instead, he prompts gently: ]

What did it feel like? Could you feel - was it more like pulling energy out from your body, or maybe gathering something together out of the air and changing it into something solid? Or maybe it happened too fast to tell - that's okay, too.

[When Cisco rolls a bit closer on his chair and puts his hand on Eddie's forearm, something inside him tightens, goes warm and bright, and he smiles suddenly. Because Cisco is telling him that his dumb daydream about being a meta-human hero is coming true, and sure, it doesn't mean as much here as it had at home because every second person has powers here, but it still sends a little thrill through him. That Cisco is calling him a meta-human and holding his arm and saying that he'll help him train.

It's a little thrilling. He remembers, after all, in that last day before his death, how useless and helpless he'd felt, without powers, without scientific genius, unable to do anything. Like he was just taking up space, getting in everyone's way. STAR Labs and everything to do with Team Flash had always made him feel just a little bit helpless and meaningless, and what Eobard had told him in that dark little room definitely hadn't helped with that feeling. But now...this is something different, this is the start of something new, he has meta-human powers now, he can do something, he's not the guy who has nothing going for him but his gun and his insider cop knowledge.]

Yeah, it was sort of like that. Like it was coming and I needed to do something to stop it. Like I had to get between the violence and the person it was aimed at. Sort of a protective instinct I guess. And...

[A little pause, while he considers how it had felt physically, tries to remember all the details of it, the things he had picked out.]

It was coming from me, out of my body, but it wasn't my energy, if that makes sense.

[ Cisco listens, eyes narrowing ever so slightly, dividing his attention between what Eddie is saying and his own speculation. From the sound of it, protectiveness is a component, and maybe a certain degree of tension or urgency, but not (hopefully) terror. Not the same way it was, for Cisco. Which would make replicating the scenario in a lab setting less unpleasant - hopefully. Cisco's already half concocting ideas, about machines launching water balloons of ice-cold water, Eddie halfway between him and the impending frigid unpleasantness, not dangerous, but worth protecting from.

But those specifics can wait. For now, he just wants to be sure of a few things. ]

I know this is gonna sound weird, but try to hold onto that and remember what it felt like. That way, in theory anyway, it'll be easier the second time. Still might take a bit of work, but I've already got some ideas.

[ And gently, Cisco coaxes Eddie's free hand (that he's not eating with) away from the chair arm, turning it over between his hands, looking closely for any sign that anything had changed. While he's looking so intently, he says: ]

It makes sense. I know, I know, I'm gonna sound like the world's weirdest yoga instructor or whatever right now but can you... try feeling that feeling again, right now? Like you're pulling that other energy out of your body?

[While Cisco is parsing what Eddie's told him, working through the explanation so he can put things together, Eddie continues nibbling at the vegetables, sharing them openly with Cisco as he does, before picking up the sandwich and taking a look at what's on it. He's halfway through taking a bite when Cisco says to hold onto the memory of how that felt, to make it easier to do a second time.

Swallowing hastily, with a little gulp, he licks his lips and nods as Cisco takes his hand and turns it over in his own. Glancing down, Eddie admires the way his hand looks in Cisco's for just a moment before turning back to that moment. Wanting to put himself between someone else and death. It's a simple enough feeling. Eddie's felt it hundreds of times, in the line of duty and with his work with the flash. Personally, too, with Cisco and some other people.]

Okay.

[It's soft, and he focuses, his breathing a bit even as Cisco asks him to try feeling that feeling again, like he's pulling the alien energy out of himself again. Furrowing his brows, he holds onto that slightly urgent feeling of wanting to take a blow for someone else, and trying to push the energy and emotion into his hand. It doesn't work, not at first, but when he imagines it's Cisco on the floor instead of Dodger, he sees his hand glowing faintly blue.

Jerking his head up, he looks at Cisco, eyes wide.]

Oh my god. Did you see that?

[ Cisco sees it before Eddie does; Eddie is focused internally, on the process of calling forth that energy, going through whatever mental or emotional hoops he has to, to coax it out. But Cisco sees the moment there's a faint shift, and Eddie's skin seems to pale. He realizes a moment later that it's because a faint blue light is coming from it, washing his hand out before blurring and obscuring it.

The smile that spreads across Cisco's face is soft with delight and wonder. He looks up at the same moment that Eddie does, and for just a moment that smile falters. Cisco just stares, because Eddie's eyes have gone white - entirely, but enough to make it very eerie. There's a glow, that same color of blue as had been coming from his hands, surrounding them. ]

Eddie... your eyes...

[ It's instinct that has Cisco reaching a hand into his pocket, pulling up his phone quickly to switch on the camera, so Eddie can use it as a mirror to see himself, see the change that has come over his face. Cisco laughs, not even quite knowing what to say. It is just... bizarre, seeing Eddie's face like that. ]

It happened with Firestorm, too. Not quite the same, but almost. When Ronnie and Stein were combined, their eyes would go all white.

riverview ∆ ic inbox ∆ @ciscodelamancha

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2

2/2 about 30 seconds later after many rewrites

no subject

no subject

no subject

1/2

2/2

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)