driftfleet | Tourist, May I?

[She sets her drink down and leans into Winn after giving him a peck on the cheek. She didn't mean to break your face and make sad puppy eyes appear.] Wait, Cisco, you know the Flash too? [Interested, but also feeling like it's her fault he wants to leave and that it's making Winn sad and none of that is okay either.] Super speed guy?

Speedster.

[ sister, that's the term we should be using her. ]

Huh, yeah. you know. we talk. I help him, sometimes. we're. pretty familiar with each other.

[ he can't outright say, he's my best friend not when he can't really talk about Barry but just about the Flash himself so he'll stick with that, for now. ]

and I know. Kara. she told me she met him. wasn't involved in that one.

[ forever bitter about. that. ]

[ he gives kitty a curious look ] Do you know him too, or did Kara tell you about him?

[ because damn, if she knows him -- dude gets around! and should have saved her, what gives, man. ok, it's definitely not his fault but he can't help but feel glimpses of anger at everything in the universe that didn't come together to stop what happened to kitty and to her world. ]

I knew him. He was on my team in the prison. I had no idea Kara knew him. Are all of you from the same world? [Waving a hand between Winn and Cisco.]

Different Barry. Earth - 3 -4 - whichever number, Barry. Kara met Earth-1 Barry that's...my Barry, the Flash from Central City.

[ he says my with a sort of a bff pride going on but moving on ]

Earth-2 Barry isn't the Flash at all, for example. Earth-3 Barry could be - teaming up in prisons somewhere. So basically none of us are from the same world.

[ he points to himself and then to winn and then to kitty ]

Earth-1, Earth-3, Earth-4. Go multiverse.

Actually, the prison she's talking about is another pocket dimension like this one - and if people really don't remember their time in these places when they go home, she could have met your Barry.

[ cuz the multiverse wasn't complicated enough on its own, you know?

he points between himself and cisco. ]

Our Earths are pretty similar, but they're not the same. It's just that the Flash can cross the dimensional barrier - which would have really come in handy around here -

What Winn said.

But also... His name wasn't Barry. It was Wally West. He called himself the Flash though. [And then a lightbulb clicks on.] No, it was Kid Flash. We did have other speedsters through though. There was an older one in a red suit who stayed just on the overflow day. And a younger one named Bart who went by Impulse and Danica who was also the Flash. Then Tommy, but he was from a world more like mine. [Since she knew who his mom was and all.]

And why am I Earth 4? Maybe I'm 1. [Okay, she definitely knows her timeline isn't 1 since it was a corrupted version of another timeline. But still!]

....Definitely Earth-3 Wally. Mine isn't a speedster. I mean, oh my God if he'll be a speedster, Joe will freak out, it'll be so awesome though.

[ ... ]

If Earth-3 me invented the term 'Kid Flash', I am disowning Earth-3 me.

[ together along with Reverb ]

I guess for each of us, our world is Earth-1. I'm not attached to the number, just to the people. and the coffee, definitely the coffee.

Mmhm. I'm attached to my Earth's pizza. And hardware.

[ god he misses his set up. the phone is amazing to have but he'll (figuratively!!!) kill for his laptop right now. ]

You came up with 'Flash'? [ he asks the important questions! ]

[She'll just skip the things she misses from home because as it stands it's a select number of people anyway and it's kind of a downer to talk about that side of things.]

He didn't even name himself?

Nobody names themselves on my earth except for serious major jackasses who will never ever come here because nobody will give them any ratings whatsoever.

[ so so sour that hartley came up with a good one :| ]

Not me, though. Not taking the credit for that one. Green Arrow did, according to what the Flash told me.

So who's responsible for 'Green Arrow'?

[ no really the color thing. why. ]

And who did you name? [ because he made it sound like he named someone and he wants to know who, he wants it to be an awesome name, he wants one more reason to fanboy his friend.

and also, he wants to know about all of his heroes because learning about heroes is awesome. ]

Hey. I named myself. [Excuse you.]

Not from my world so you don't adhere to the self-naming rules.

[ as for your question, Winn ]

Well, I mostly get to name the bad guys, we didn't get that many metas working on our side. So we had in the non-meta area, Captain Cold and Golden Glider and there were Multiplex, Blackout - you get the drift.

And your names is great.

[ he kisses kitty's cheek ]

I sorta did too, though I've never actually used it yet and Kara doesn't even know so - I'm not sure how much that counts?

[ glitch is still waiting for a chance to shine! ok bro, you get a very impressed look there. ]

OK these are awesome -- and kinda terrifying. [ cuz they pain a verbal picture and when you imagine that picture going with a bad guy it gets pretty scary. ]

[She has less opinions on the names. They're good if they suit the person? She liked Blackout the best as long as the power was appropriate.]

Glitch is a good name. Girlfriend-approved. [She smiles at Winn.] And it's not all match-y with Shadowcat which is good. It would have been rough if you were trying to make Lightdog happen or something.

They're both cool. Hey, I guess it makes it official.

[ he smiles ]

and that must mean it totally counts.

[ he was never involved in the name-picking back home, but come on everybody knows it's a cool and necessary aspect of super-anything! ]

Lightdog sounds like a sad last ditch effort on Disney afternoons -

[ scrunching his nose. he may not be cool, but that doesn't mean his codename shouldn't be! he lives his life with winn schott, give him a break, he's suffered enough.

smiling back at cisco. ]

All that's left's telling Kara! So what about you? [ you can't give the bad guys badass names and neglect yourself, come on. ]

And I'm pretty sure you'd have to be Apollo's sidekick and everyone would be expecting an actual dog. And they'd pretend not to be disappointed, but... [Little wink.]

Do you have powers, Cisco? [Not that Winn does, but she still teased a name out of him. There's more she doesn't know about Cisco than she does.]

[ the combination of the questions, the codename and the powers cause something, almost like a vision but not quite. for a moment he is in STAR labs and behind him, a terribly familiar voice ( some would say I'm the reverse ), suddenly, it's almost if he's in the room between the both of them and cisco, familiar and almost comforting but mostly chilling, a terrible, terrible fear that feels like a heartbreak, like a fist closing around his heart, stopping it.

( a great and honorable destiny awaits you know - remember who gave you that life - it was given out of love ) ]

No.

[ it's muttered to himself, he blinks and he's gone. there isn't a trace of eobard thawne here, just them and himself and a question he can't answer without admitting to something terrible all over again. ]

I have to go.

[ he's not supposed to relive any of this, not now. not far away from central city but there is always a terrible fear, one that comes up now.

a pocket dimension can one day pull him, too. and how terrible his wrath will be at being held again, how terrible it would be to see him again and how, worse of all, how a part of cisco misses a part of him. ]

I'll - be back. later.

[ and then he runs, runs as fast as his legs can carry him. ]

[ his quip about being better than a dog dies on his lips the second he sees the look on his friend's face. ]

Cisco?

[ he starts off frowning in concern - that turns into mild panic in the face of his reaction. cisco looks like winn feels when he thinks about his dad -- if they really are each other's alternates --

he'll try to follow. ]

Cisco - wait up! [ dammit he really has to start working out with jim doesn't he. ]

[Kitty decides to follow too, but she doesn't do it by going the same way Cisco heads out. He's bound by the flow of the ship, obeying doors and corridors. All she has to do is make sure not to phase through anything essential and short it out. She actually can't even do that because of the augment, but she doesn't realize that yet. So instead of chasing from behind like Winn, Kitty will step out in front of him.]

I'd ask if you're okay, but the answer seems obvious. [Jealousy or not she just looks concerned right now.]

[ they're memories, not visions. it's becoming clear as he runs. he always misses them but there is a terrible ping of longing for barry and caitlin, for people who understand, for people who have lost something to eobard thawne, barry's mother and ronnie and cisco's life but most of all, their hearts. they are the only ones who know the traces the man left on their hearts, the man who was their mentor, who was - almost like cisco's father.

( in many ways, you have shown me what it's like to have a son. )

he's not nearly fast enough. he's not barry, of course. and his breathing is labored when he stops in front of her. ]

I need to go. I'll talk to you later. I can't - right now.

[ it's too close to the surface and he thought he could keep this - whatever it is, this version of thawne in the back of his mind.

he's never gone and never will be gone, not even here and realizing that is both terrifying and confusing.

does he truly want him to be gone? ]

I have to get back to my ship.

[ said to her as he turns back to him. they're friends, he knows and at the same time, he feels trapped ]

later. ok?

[ the hurt on winn's face is involuntary. their connection has been so quick and easy, it's been easy to forget that they aren't of the same world, that they don't really know each other, that there is a gap between them that can't be breached.

he thinks back of when he was alone in his room, crying, heartbroken at kitty's story. of how kara came in then, convinced him to open the door, to open up. she helped him, because she knows him, because she knows how to talk to him. but more than that - because she's kara. she puts people at ease, she helps. he...makes a mess. it's hard not to feel bitterness about it, hard not to hate himself, a little bit more.

he wants to say something that'll make cisco stay, that'll make him talk, that'll make him smile. but he can't think of a single thing that would. so he nods. ]

Later. [ it's a promise. ] Just - whatever's wrong - we're your friends, ok?

[ into his words he tries to pour in all the sentiments he isn't really sure how to express - that he won't judge him, he won't hate him, he won't leave him to deal with it alone. whatever's happened - he knows that cisco is a good man, and he'll stand by his side. ]

Cisco, let me fly you back. You don't seem like you're in a good headspace for space flight. [If he were a pilot augment maybe or from a world full of flying space ships, maybe? As it is, she's a little worried about him getting behind the "wheel."] We can get your shuttle back to your ship later. I won't say a word if you don't want me to.

[Not that she really wants to leave Winn alone when he's looking like that either, but she'll be back for him soon enough.]

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