Workplace politics turn some people into animals. [ even now, her response is subdued -- even though she finds herself firmly on cisco's side of the situation. ] What happened to him?
well, the very same person we all wanted to impress turned out to be a raging psychopath. So he got screwed, I got screwed, everyone got screwed.
[ cisco still thinks that dying really takes the record here but. ]
He lost his job and tried to get back at our boss but again, genius yet mostly stable person going against a genius psychopath? let's just say he's lucky to be alive. He went vigilante, he calls himself the Pied Piper.
[ peggy hesitates. look, ramon, she'll hug you if she has to. after all, you've been pretty generous with her requests. but it's clear she's not really eager to breach that personal bubble. ]
[ for all that it might at times annoy one caitlin snow, cisco ramon does have a tendency to be entirely lenient around beautiful women, even those who almost kill him. ]
I mean, just, you know, don't mix them up and make a really strong cup of coffee for your test subject, they'll need it. that stuff is strong.
well, if you ever meet a guy dressed in red who will move seriously fast, don't use it on him. he's one of the good guys and I kinda need him in shape.
[ and preferably awake. ]
I mean, he's a bit useless around girls but he means well.
Your...hero, yes? The Flash? [ best not to discuss kissing any further, really. so she leaps topics with ease even as she invites cisco deeper into the ship. the kitchen is this way. ]
I think I saw him zipping 'round the Halloween hall. [ well. a costume of him. ]
That was mine! I mean, my costume. on Winn. Who was the Flash, for the evening. His actual suit kinda looks like that but the material is different. You know, with how fast he goes, his clothes and shoes tend to catch on fire. I mean, it's kinda hilarious in an awful way.
[ he still can't forget felicity in her bra in the middle of STAR labs, ok. ]
Admittedly, I never saw the original -- but it looked like lovely work. [ the costume, she means. ] More dignified than I ever anticipated a red jumpsuit ever being.
Mechanical engineer. That's right. [ a nod of her head is as near as she gets to returning the salute. ] Would you describe yourself as something of a futurist?
[ he snorts and then realizes that it might come off as rude. ]
Sorry. I think the concept of time are just weird on my earth, I mean.
[ how does he even begin to explain all of this. ]
I'll try and make it sound as logical as I can. Remember that particle accelerator I told you about the other day? that was the biggest project I was working on, it was years ahead of what we knew about physics at the time, literally.
[ he makes a bit of a face ]
The man who came up with it was a time traveler. We didn't know it at the time but he was from way in the future - time traveling, I know.
[ nuts. ]
But the Flash did it once, too. Innocent mistake, still. It's hard to think of myself as a futurist when my biggest project was a result of time travel, you know what I mean?
[ so! the (perhaps) would-be futurist of an engineer seems to feel as though his potential had been rerouted, and preempted, by the absurdity of time travel. she offers a cluck of her tongue -- sympathy, really, for the corner into which he's been painted. ]
It's a bit bewildering, actually, to hear someone describe time travel as an innocent mistake.
Yeah, I think it must have been super weird for him, too. He just - he's fast and I don't think we ever realized he's fast enough to tear through time but hey, the more you learn.
[ and this mistake is why he's alive today, after all. even when he does something accidentally, barry seems to save others. ]
Such power must come with considerably temptation -- [ she can already feel it in her bones: an envious desire to change time, and reorient the regrets she harbours. ]
Yeah, but he knows better. I mean, time is fragile. The time traveler we met changed our entire timeline but he lost his speed in the process and was stuck in a timeline that was way, way behind his own and well, you know - you change one thing, everything else changes too, you never know what you find out after you've gone and changed it - the universe will change, too.
[ it all used to be so very theoretical and he hates the price they had to pay in order to come to all those understandings. ]
and not always for the better. the Flash understands that.
[ a little too thoughtfully: ] I suppose -- for most of us, simply being here in the Fleet is as close as we're likely to come to travelling through time.
[ apart from those among us who get frozen in ice. ]
Yeah, you can say that. Time and space, really, since we're so far away from our universes, earths, worlds - and all of this without actually endangering the original timeline. I'm still working on the physics of it.
[ the fleet, in essence, contradicts everything he learned about the multiverse. ]
You see, usually, you'd think that if you leave, people will notice that you're, well, gone and coming back will be a mess but here - I still don't get it. The closest I got to explaining it all is that the timeline carries on with a version of us which disappears when they send us back. weird, but true and it sort of follows the theory that here are infinite versions of us in any given moment. I just don't get how they do it without harming any of the timelines.
[ there are so many, after all. ]
I mean, don't get me wrong, I want to shove them into a blender and hit 'top speed' but at the same time, I'd kill for an honest explanation of how they make it all work.
[ peggy mulls over the man's theory. she liked it -- but maybe she only liked it because it offered the thinnest glimmer of hope for her and her situation. a way to bypass the guilt of staying here, and fearing that the timeline back home ends up frayed because she's been here indulging herself. ]
You're saying we aren't unraveling future-history simply by being here? [ it's not hard to guess why that might be a concern of hers, given what she's revealed about her own timeline. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
action »
action »
well, the very same person we all wanted to impress turned out to be a raging psychopath. So he got screwed, I got screwed, everyone got screwed.
[ cisco still thinks that dying really takes the record here but. ]
He lost his job and tried to get back at our boss but again, genius yet mostly stable person going against a genius psychopath? let's just say he's lucky to be alive. He went vigilante, he calls himself the Pied Piper.
action »
[ she almost said something nice!! ]
action »
[ he honestly looks like he might cry :') ]
You know, I could hug you right now.
action »
[ peggy hesitates. look, ramon, she'll hug you if she has to. after all, you've been pretty generous with her requests. but it's clear she's not really eager to breach that personal bubble. ]
action »
[ alright, well, he offers a fist. ]
we'll just have to settle this with a fist bump.
[ go on. ]
action »
A fine compromise, yes. [ peggy laughs. ] Thank you, Cisco.
action »
[ for all that it might at times annoy one caitlin snow, cisco ramon does have a tendency to be entirely lenient around beautiful women, even those who almost kill him. ]
I mean, just, you know, don't mix them up and make a really strong cup of coffee for your test subject, they'll need it. that stuff is strong.
[ firm nod ]
action »
No, no. He'll be fine. He's a robust specimen. [ AHEM.
she already owes steve rogers coffee, actually. best not run the debt too high. ]
action »
[ and preferably awake. ]
I mean, he's a bit useless around girls but he means well.
action »
I think I saw him zipping 'round the Halloween hall. [ well. a costume of him. ]
action »
[ he still can't forget felicity in her bra in the middle of STAR labs, ok. ]
action »
action »
[ a brave attempt to make a dejected, pained city welcome STAR labs back after the particle accelerator disaster. ]
But it fit what he needed.
action »
[ she remembers. she only wants to swing the conversation gently back to his work. ]
action »
[ he gives her a little salute. ]
action »
action »
Sorry. I think the concept of time are just weird on my earth, I mean.
[ how does he even begin to explain all of this. ]
I'll try and make it sound as logical as I can. Remember that particle accelerator I told you about the other day? that was the biggest project I was working on, it was years ahead of what we knew about physics at the time, literally.
[ he makes a bit of a face ]
The man who came up with it was a time traveler. We didn't know it at the time but he was from way in the future - time traveling, I know.
[ nuts. ]
But the Flash did it once, too. Innocent mistake, still. It's hard to think of myself as a futurist when my biggest project was a result of time travel, you know what I mean?
action »
It's a bit bewildering, actually, to hear someone describe time travel as an innocent mistake.
action »
[ and this mistake is why he's alive today, after all. even when he does something accidentally, barry seems to save others. ]
action »
action »
[ it all used to be so very theoretical and he hates the price they had to pay in order to come to all those understandings. ]
and not always for the better. the Flash understands that.
action »
[ apart from those among us who get frozen in ice. ]
action »
[ the fleet, in essence, contradicts everything he learned about the multiverse. ]
You see, usually, you'd think that if you leave, people will notice that you're, well, gone and coming back will be a mess but here - I still don't get it. The closest I got to explaining it all is that the timeline carries on with a version of us which disappears when they send us back. weird, but true and it sort of follows the theory that here are infinite versions of us in any given moment. I just don't get how they do it without harming any of the timelines.
[ there are so many, after all. ]
I mean, don't get me wrong, I want to shove them into a blender and hit 'top speed' but at the same time, I'd kill for an honest explanation of how they make it all work.
action »
You're saying we aren't unraveling future-history simply by being here? [ it's not hard to guess why that might be a concern of hers, given what she's revealed about her own timeline. ]
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
: action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »
action »