Iris West doesn't have a death wish, okay? (tellsyourstory) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-08-25 19:26:00 |
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Iris was already familiar with the fact that the Dreams could end up mirroring real life. Some things were different, obviously. But other things? Not so much. So when she had Dreamt about the fact her dad had lied to her about her mom being alive in the Dreams? It wasn’t so shocking, even as her dad’s reasoning was essentially the same between Dream and reality.. Then there had been a break between that Dream and the latest one and Iris had mostly focused on other things. Like her career and then the whole getting shot at thing while on a story. But hey, it had made the front page and above the fold. So it was fine.
But then Iris had another Dream. One where it felt like she was watching things play out that already had played out. At least the first conversation with the woman who was her mother. Sure, her dad hadn’t been there when it happened in Orange County, but the words said? They were essentially the same. But then there was more in another conversation. Francine being sick. And that was something Iris could have moved on from. It was a lot, but she could accept that wasn’t something that someone might want to drop on a first conversation. But it was the fact that she was still lying. That she had kept the existence of a son secret. Her brother.
When Iris had woken up from that Dream, there had been a lot of emotions. She wondered if Francine was sick here as well, and if she should reach out to her. But more than that? She was wondering about the brother she had learned about. Was that yet another similarity between Dreams and real life? Or was it only the Dreams? Because like in them, her father would be heartbroken if he learned he had a son that he never had gotten to raise.
So Iris did what she did best. Investigate. And if she were being honest with herself, she didn’t know what she wanted to find. Did she want to find out that she had a younger brother here as well, one she might never even meet? Or did she not want to learn about a brother because that meant she wouldn’t have to struggle with whether or not to tell her dad about him. But in the end, there hadn’t been any real question to it. Wallace West, or Wally, was indeed a real person and now Iris had to live with that.
Which was why she was at one of the local bars that night. She knew he was real, now she had to decide what to do with that information. Did she spare her dead the heartbreak and be a hypocrite? Or did she tell him and watch as he learned he had a son, one he never got to raise, and be heartbroken all over again? So for now, it was drinking as she mulled over the options because there really was no good one.
As usual Michael headed to a bar after work. Best way to end the day if you asked him. Of course he could always drink at home too, but that got to be a bit too lonely, even for him. At least when he did it every night. He usually went to either The Double Tap or The Wild Pony but decided to skip both those bars tonight. He didn’t need the bartenders thinking he was a complete drunk, though they probably already did and it didn’t seem to bother them much. Still Michael went to one of the other bars he frequented.
As he walked inside he spotted someone familiar. Michael slowly made his way over sliding onto the stool next to her. He signaled the bartender before turning his attention to Iris. “Wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
It probably wasn’t all that shocking when Iris ended up running into someone she knew - or well, that someone she knew saw her and came over. Orange County had a strange ability to be both large and small in that regard. So instead she just gave a small smile, even if it wasn’t much of a real one given what she was trying to work out.
“Hey. And yeah, just working some things out. How’re you?” Would it be a good idea to try and talk it out? Probably. But Iris usually tried to deal with things on her own, especially without Barry around to bounce ideas off of, so old habits and all.
“Same as always,” Michael replied with a shrug. But it did seem like something was up with Iris. Not that Michael knew her all that well, though they had been getting closer the past few months. She was still someone he went to high school with briefly and found again later. Because Michael didn’t really have friends. At least he didn’t think so.
The bartender came over, Michael opted to go for a beer instead of whiskey for now. Once that was ordered he turned his attention back to Iris. “How are you? Everything okay?”
That was good to hear. Sure it was nice when there was good news, but it also meant that nothing was wrong and that was the important thing. The whole adage of no news is good news and all of that. And being in the news business? Iris definitely understood what that meant. There was always something going on and some sort of normalcy was a good thing.
Nodding, Iris took a sip of her drink before the question was turned back on her. Which, okay. That was fair, even if she would have preferred it going unnoticed.
“Yeah. Just...trying to figure out how to handle something I just found out and what to do with the information.”
There were so many complicated emotions involved, for her and her dad. Nevermind Francine and Wally himself, even if she didn’t know him and didn’t even know what his thoughts were on the matter or if he knew about them.
Michael respected other people’s privacy. He would never force someone to talk if they didn’t want to. Or pry into their life. But it seemed like Iris maybe needed to talk about it. Sort out whatever the hell it was that she was trying to figure out.
“I’ve been told,” Michael began but paused when his beer was brought over to take a sip. “That talking about it can help.” He really hadn’t been told that per se. But he was pretty damn sure it was a thing people said. “If you want,” he added. “If not we can just sit here and drink till you forget about it.” Michael would be fine either way. But the point remained - he was there for whatever she needed.
“Well, just because I forget about it doesn’t mean it will go away.”
Which meant there was really only one option. Sighing, Iris took another sip of her drink as she figured out where to start. Probably the whole running into her supposed to be dead mother thing.
“A couple months ago, I ran into my mother who I’ve thought was dead for over twenty years. It was something my dad told me to protect me so I wouldn’t feel like I’d been abandoned….”
And that had been that. But then she realized that if Michael didn’t have the Dreams, the next part would sound crazy, even if he was on the network.
“Have you had any dreams?” No need to specify. There was only one type of dream people asked about to those on the network.
Talking about things it was then. Michael wasn’t expecting it to be something like that though. Running into supposed dead mother? He couldn’t even imagine the shock that would cause. Not to mention hurt and even betrayal - even if her dad had just been trying to protect her.
“Shit,” Michael replied taking a long swallow of his beer. Maybe he would need whiskey for this conversation. “That’s… a lot.” Because what else could he really say to that. Michael wasn’t good at this sort of thing.
And then she was asking about dreams. Seemed kind of off topic from the mom conversation but he knew she was going somewhere with this. Probably had dreams about her mom or something. “About another life?” Where he was apparently an alien. But now was not the time to bring that up to Iris. “Yeah.”
“Yeah.” Because just as there wasn’t much for Michael to say about the start of it all, there wasn’t much she could say in response to it being a lot. Because it was a lot and trying to downplay it wouldn’t do any good. Especially since that was only the beginning. She just needed to know if he would understand the rest and how a Dream had triggered her investigating.
Which he would. So after a long swallow of her own drink, Iris gave a nod.
“Well. I had a Dream where that happened again. Only my dad gave me a bit of warning, explained his reasoning which was the same here. So we talk once, same conversation. Only then she tells my dad she’s dying which he tells me. So I looked into her, I wanted to see if she was lying and I find out that she gave birth to a son eight months after she disappeared.”
And that was just the Dream.
“Which I looked into here and yeah. Apparently that’s the same here as well.”
Michael didn’t dwell much on the first fact that Iris told him. Mostly because Iris had said that happened awhile back and it seemed like there was a new problem she needed to talk about now. He just let her go on and listened.
“So you’re saying you have a brother you didn’t know about?” Michael asked making sure he was getting the story correct. Because shit that was intense.
Yeah, there wasn’t too much to think about the first part, it had been dealt with two months ago more or less. It was everything that came after. It would be nice if things didn’t keep popping up like that, but what could she do? It wasn’t like she couldn’t leave that information just sitting there as a possibility.
“Yeah. And now I have to figure out if I tell my dad or not. I keep it to myself and protect him as he did with me and become a hypocrite, or I tell him and break his heart because there’s a son he never knew about that he never got to be a part of his life.”
Michael wasn’t sure if she was just talking through her problem out loud or actually wanted some advice. Not that he was known for giving great advice or anything. In fact outside of cars he was pretty sure no one had ever come to him for advice before.
“If I had a kid out there-” he paused as that statement really hit him. Because with the amount of one night stands Michael had? It was entirely possible he had a kid out there. Shit - he really was going to need that whiskey. He motioned for the bartender to come over before continuing. “I’d want to know about it.”
Iris wasn’t really sure what she wanted either. Honestly, it was all a mess. So talking it through to process, or advice? She would take whatever. The pause was noticed but not commented on. There were plenty of reasons that could happen and she mostly was just curious to see what Michael finished with.
“Yeah….” She could see that, “And it would probably be better to tell him on the off chance Wally shows up unannounced.”
She had dealt with the no warning run in with Francine. It was not fun. It was just way too much and there were so many complicated emotions involved which was why Iris had no idea what to do.
The bartender came over and Michael ordered himself a whiskey. He didn’t dwell on the thought of his own possible kids for too long because he figured (hoped) it was highly unlikely. Besides this was about Iris and her issue.
“Yeah,” Michael agreed taking another swallow of beer. “You wouldn’t want him to feel how you felt about your mom either.” Even if her dad thought it was for her own good or whatever.
Seeing at how Iris had finished her own drink, she put in another order when the bartender returned with Michael’s whiskey. The question of course was, would Wally even show up? But there was always that risk, especially based on what she knew about Orange County.
“Yeah….” It was… well, perhaps Iris had always known that she would end up telling Joe, but she had definitely needed to talk it out to get there. And she definitely understood why he did it, how it might have impacted her if she just thought that Francine had abandoned her. Still, warning would have been nice.
“So. How about you. Everything going okay?” Because really, that was enough about her issues.
“And now I’m invested,” Michael said lightly trying to keep the mood from getting too serious. Though it was true, he did want to know how it all turned out. “So you better tell me what you decide and how it goes.” And you know, he’d be there for support too if she needed it. Though Michael’s form of support was usually drinking.
“As okay as they can be with having dreams,” he replied with a shrug taking a sip of his whiskey. He hadn’t had any dreams in awhile but his last one had sure as hell thrown him for a loop. Helping Max cover up and murder. Even if it had been to defend Isobel. “What are yours like?” As long as they were on the topic. “Minus the whole family drama part.”
The attempt to keep the mood from getting too serious was appreciated. Yes, it was a serious conversation but not dwelling or getting lost in it was probably a good idea. “I will definitely let you know how it goes.”
Whatever it might end up being, even though it was undoubtedly going to be Iris telling Joe what she had learned.
“Fair enough.” Because yeah, the Dreams were definitely something. Now that she was in the know about Barry being the Flash, it seemed she was involved more. But even then, she had felt the grief over Eddie’s death even if she hadn’t had her feelings for him cross over. The betrayal of the secret from those she trusted most. They could be a lot. “There was a particle accelerator that exploded and so people got hit with dark matter and some developed abilities. So there are bad guys with powers as well as those who use their powers to help and stop them. I’m mostly on the sidelines though, writing and investigating while dealing with typical life drama. Yours?”
It seemed like Iris was done talking about the issue. At least with the way the subject changed he assumed she was, Which was fine with Michael. He didn’t have much advice left to give. Not that he was even sure if it was his place.
Being interested in science, Michael was instantly fascinated by Iris’s dreams. “How does that even happen?” A particle accelerator giving people abilities? That sounded pretty awesome. “No powers for yourself?” Given her whole being on the sidelines comment.
“Mine take place in Roswell, New Mexico.” Well also Santa Fe and Albuquerque briefly with the foster homes he was in. But for the most part it was Roswell. “And yes, the conspiracy theories are true.”
It wasn’t as if there really was all that much more to the issue as it were, at least that wouldn’t be just repeating what was already said. So moving on to something else seemed a good idea.
“I’m not entirely sure. The whole point was to provide Central City with clean energy, however when it exploded, it created a huge shock wave and also hit people with dark matter that altered their DNA.” At least that was what Iris had picked up from it. She hadn’t been involved in the science of it all, or even in the know until fairly recently in Dream terms so she could really only answer what she was able to make sense of.
“Huh. Well, I guess that’s not surprising with the Dreams. If it can be possible, it probably is.” Like dark matter altering a person’s genetic code, or aliens being real.
Michael didn’t think that was entirely possible. But then he didn’t think aliens were either. At least not walking around on Earth. “Yeah,” Michael agreed to Iris’s last statement. “If anything is proof of that I’d say it’s your dreams.”
With the bartender returning with her second drink, Iris lifted it up in mock salute and cheers.
“I’ll drink to that.”