dǫçţǫŗ şɭęęƥ (shone) wrote in valloic, @ 2020-03-17 12:29:00 |
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Entry tags: | !: action/thread/log, ₴ inactive: dan torrance |
Who: Dan & Cisco
What: Cisco wanted to meet Azzie, and Dan feeds him because his diet sucks
When: Backdated to last Wednesday
Where: Mortuary in the Woods (the Danbrina Residence)
Rating: Very PG
Status: Complete
The last thing Cisco had thought to prepare for was a snow storm in the middle of the woods on his way to Dan’s. His clothing probably gave that away, he was only wearing pants and a short sleeve shirt, so when the chill struck he visibly shivered and folded his arms as he kept walking in the direction of that house. Why did it have to be snow? Cisco was not a fan. The forest was freaky enough without the icy chill coming into play. “Screw this.” He opened a portal of his own in the middle of the woods, nobody was watching. Putting the dark shades on his face to find the coordinates to Dan’s house, he stepped through. His entire body was freezing, he wouldn’t have lasted the rest of the way. Even as he stepped out on the other side of the portal he hadn’t quite thawed yet. But it hopefully wouldn’t matter soon as his destination was in front of his nose now. He knocked at the door with a stiff hand. -- Could everyone teleport around here? Dan felt like he was severely missing out but in this case, when the cold was enough to make it feel like your blood had turned to icy sludge, he was glad that others had the means to avoid the sudden switch in weather patterns. The Shining extended like a mushroom cloud, ballooning out, feelers attuned to Cisco and when he’d arrive - the last thing Dan wanted was for him to get stuck out there. But then he sensed something at the front stoop, and heard a knock, so he was at the door and opening it literally a millisecond later. “Hey, come on in,” he greeted, letting Cisco inside. “There’s a fire going, if you want to warm up. I have extra blankets too.” Basically, the fireplace was cozy, it was like the house’s personal sun - so he led Cisco that way, for the purposes of thawing out. “It’s nasty outside, isn’t it? Wasn’t expecting it to get this cold.” --- It semed like he barely even had to knock, the door was open. Must have been his new friends powers? Whatever it was he was glad. “Hey. I hate snow.” He was not a fan of this sudden cold front. It showed in his annoyed expression as he brushed some of the white substance off his long, dark hair. Everything bad seemed to happen in the snow. It brought back a few unwanted memories for him, so he was glad to see the other man in front of him. “That sounds great. Neither was I.” He rubbed his arms a bit once he stepped inside and tapped a little snow off his sneakers before coming fully in “I don’t even have winter stuff here. It was summer when I left home..At least I think it was. We were in space so cold yes, this cold no.” Unless one took a walk out into space itself outside the time ship then it was freezing. He shivered so much he felt it at the core. It was uncomfortable. He couldn’t use his portals very much in Vallo yet, he didn’t have a proper lay of the land-but he’d been given directions. Cisco pulled off the dark sunglasses he wore and gingerly pushed off a bit of snow from the lenses with his thumb. They were futuristic in design and had shark gill designs on each side varying in wideness to skinny. They let off a soft green glow against the black chrome. --- Dan also hated the cold, the snow - the landscape of his mind was a hedge maze, though he wouldn’t necessarily have chosen that as a place to store his thoughts, his memories, and to host the lockboxes on their dusty shelves. It was just something that stuck with him, after the Overlook, after those bleeding ghosts and the garish carpet and walls closing in, after running from his father in the dark of night - the look in Jack’s eyes the same pitch as bottomless pits and gargoyles. “I’m thinking it was just some kind of last hurrah before spring. Or hoping so, anyway,” he said, folding up a blanket on the sofa. A white fluffy cat had been perched on the very top of her scratching post, the one he’d picked out at the store with Allison, and she daintily hopped down onto her feet to trot over and weave in and out by Cisco’s ankles. “Oh, this is Azzie,” Dan introduced her. “She’s friendly.” And not heralding death either. She just wanted to say hello. --- “I duno, I doubt anything here just happens without reason anymore.” Just based upon what he’d seen anyway thus far. “I mean magic exists. And in more than just Constantine.” As far as Cisco knew, John was the only one who could use magic that way from their place in the multiverse. He could be wrong, but here? It seemed like everyone could, the time for Cisco to doubt magic’s existence was over. The time to doubt anything was really. Something small pressed against his ankle and he looked down. “Hey you. Aren’t you pretty?” Cisco asked as if he expected her to respond and stepped back just slightly to kneel down and offer her a hand to sniff at. “Starting to think maybe I should get my own one day. Are they much work? Never owned a pet.” He liked animals, sure but he was never home to have one back in Central City. --- “Not much work at all, really. Cats are pretty independent,” Dan chuckled, a warm and rich sound as he observed Azzie’s antics. “I think she especially is, since she lived in the hospice for awhile.” Now, it was the first time she was in a home with Dan - since she’d arrived here in Vallo, and he had to figure out what to do with her. Obviously it was an adjustment for the both of them. She must have decided she liked Cisco, because she head-butted his hand, clearly demanding more pets. Of course. “But I’d definitely recommend one. They make for good company. It’s nice not to come home to an empty place.” He was well accustomed to that. However, here he had Sabrina and Salem, in addition to Azzie, so he was glad not to be alone. “Do you have any allergies, by the way?” he asked. “I’ve got soup going, so I want to make sure. I think I promised you dinner.” --- His hand gently scritched behind her ears as she did so. He was clearly happy to give her all the pets she wanted. It was beneficial to him too, the last couple weeks of transitioning had been pretty stressful. Diagnosing John and being unable to cure him afterward had taken a bit of a toll on Cisco. He was finding cats to be pretty relaxing company. Captain hadn’t been overly demanding or anything. Now there was Azzie who he couldn’t stop smiling at. “Did you work at a hospice or something? That how you met her?” He held out his hand so the cat could rub on him as much as she wanted. “I was never home before, thought it’d be unfair to an animal. Pretty much lived at Star Labs leading up to Crisis.” e admitted with a little smile as he stroked her fur again before looking up at Dan. “Nope. No allergies. Home made? I can’t even remember the last time I’ve had something that wasn’t delivered.” His diet wasn’t great. He wasn’t fat, but probably only by the saving grace of being a meta-human. -- Dan was a big fan of soup season, which this officially was - or, well, the last hurrah of winter definitely qualified for something hearty, served in a bowl. There was just something so comforting about bowl food too. “Yeah, it’s homemade,” he assured. “Lots of chicken and beans. And potatoes.” Other veggies tossed in there as well, in order to make it colorful. “The bread is homemade too.” The scent of that may also be able to be detected from the living room. It was just your basic homemade bread, but damn, it was good. Sometimes the simple things were best. “Do I have to make you meals sometimes too? You and Sabrina?” he asked, teasing, though honestly. It was better now because he lived with Sabrina and they took turns cooking (though she was mostly a PB&J type of chef, and Dan handled actual meals - if it made her feel better to contribute PB&J sometimes though, he wasn’t about to stop her). “And yeah, I used to work at a hospice,” he said, bending to give Azzie a scritch of his own. She was thrilled with the attention. “She latched on to me right away. We ended up becoming a pretty good team, helping the patients there.” --- Cisco looked over at him with amused disbelief as he continued to entertain the cat who seemed to be soaking in the attention. “You’re something else. I can cook your basics, but bread? Way out of my comfort zone. I can make pretty good tacos though.” Home made ones usually, with his grandmothers recipe. But those took a lot of work, lately he didn’t have time for more than burgers and fries. “I wouldn’t complain if you did.” Cisco sank down the ground so he could get a little closer to Azzie’s level. “I considered becoming a surgeon, but there was so much innovation with science going on in my city it was hard to pass up…” Central City was a hub of new invention. As much as he hated what his mentor had done, nobody could deny that. He couldn’t help but to smile. She was so damn affectionate. “I can’t keep a pet at the lab, but it’s an idea anyway.” He paused as he stroked her again. “Do you trust this city?” Cisco wasn’t sure he did yet. He was still fairly secretive in spite of the fact that everyone else seemed to be out about their abilities, he wasn’t and he had no plans to be yet if he could avoid it. They way they’d acted upon arrival really threw him off. That registration worried him still. --- Bread wasn’t that impressive. Especially if it was soda bread or something - no yeast required. But sure, Dan would take the compliment (it was a compliment, right?). He smiled wryly, leaning against the armrest of the sofa, arms folded over his chest while he observed Azzie bonding with a newcomer. “Surprisingly, I do,” he said. “Trust the city, I mean. From what we’ve been able to glean, either by studying the magic around the waypoints or from talking with the locals - “ Or other means, like Adam’s session with the tarot cards, “...the vibes aren’t malevolent. It’s like - another step or something. One little place in the multiverse, a stop to build a life in. Or at least try.” He couldn’t say if it was permanent or not, considering other people disappeared the same way they’d arrived, but he did think that there was a lack of energy wanting to hurt or cause harm. Which was definitely a positive. “You’re feeling apprehensive about things?” --- It seemed Cisco was doing pretty well, she’d chosen to crawl into his lap and explore him a bit. Cisco wasn’t against this at all. He was enjoying her company. He had a natural ability to bond with cats, Captain had also taken to him pretty easily. Maybe it was a sign and he needed his own. He frowned at that response. “I know it isn’t malevolent, but it changes too quickly for me to get a footing in.” He admitted as his brows furrowed a bit in confusion. “I can barely get a lock on things. I can tell you Earth exists on this plane, but even it’s axis changes. It’s...like a constant scraping against my nerves and I can’t settle.” His abilities were tied to the multiverse itself, so he struggled with something constantly changing. Everything had a signature, and Cisco normally gained his bearings by tracking them but he was barely able to. “Even the other Earths I’ve visited weren’t quite as...alive as this one. They were stagnant in their planes.” --- It must be a lot, to constantly have to deal with the feel of a barrage, a whiplash of sensation against scalded nerves. Maybe Dan didn’t know what that was like exactly, because his abilities weren’t the same either, but it was possible he still had some idea regardless. “The Shining can be like that too,” he replied. “Well, it can feel like a summer storm of bees in your head when it’s too many voices - but I trained myself to block most of it out, and you can too. Train yourself, that is. To find your footing.” Though now he understood why everything was on edge for Cisco. The least Dan could do was provide a little cat therapy and a home-cooked meal on occasion, Jesus. --- “That’s an apt description of how my brain feels almost constantly right now. I can find distractions but it always creeps back.” All the various cats he’d been meeting lately had helped though. They were grounding in an uncertain place. “I don’t know how to train to do that. I’ve never had to. All the frequencies of this planet are so far off I’m not even sure how to start.” He shrugged as Azzie seemed comfortable enough with him to drift off to sleep while a pair of fingers toyed with her fur. “I trained once before, but the frequency read was stable.” It was different. “If I had my lab I could probably adjust the glasses to get a better read, but I don’t.” Things were frustrating. He was trying not to let the place be overwhelming, but it was difficult. At least he wasn’t freezing anymore. It was a start to things normalizing. --- “Well - “ Dan was about to slip into ‘dad’ mode again, so bear with him. But he just couldn’t help it - he’d gone so long being alone, the kind of sadness and despair that was like looking into a peerless void, and then Abra came along and she became his family and he’d died to save her; even in the beyond, he would always look out for her. Here, too. There were certain people who could slip past his carefully constructed walls and he’d himself looking after them too. So, right. Dad mode. His fingers tapped along the edge of his arm, near his elbow. “Maybe the first step is taking care of yourself - the best care? Eating actual meals and sleeping and not pushing yourself too hard?” he suggested, lifting an eyebrow. “Then that’s when you can start acclimating to this world. You’d be amazed at what you can train the mind to do.” Though he probably knew. The brain was a fantastical thing. --- Cisco listened while he stroked the cat idly, she contently slept away in his lap. It was nice. Comforting really and he could see why they were such popular companions. Unintrusive animals that seemed to produce a sense of calm even on his nerve fried brain. “Since being here it feels like every single nerve is on fire.” He admitted, with the way the frequencies jumped around he was surprised he hadn’t had a seizure yet. He was prone to them when that happened. When Barry had messed with the timelines on their Earth, he’d experienced that unpleasantness too. It was the same kind of feeling, on the cusp but not quite there yet. He hoped it would never get there. “Did you just tell me basically to eat my vegetables?” He asked with a hint of amusement, he teased but he understood the intention behind it in reality. “Did you have a yoda?..like someone to train you I mean?” --- “And drink your milk,” Dan smirked. “And stay in school.” Don’t worry, Cisco, he was guilty of saying similar things to Sabrina - but it was just because he cared, and she knew that. To be a teenager here, alone, that had to be daunting even if the most stubborn of teenagers tended to try to cover up how scared they could sometimes be. He’d done it too, once upon a time. The question about the Yoda made him pause, and he rubbed the back of his neck, fingers coming around to scratch at his cheek. “I did, once,” he nodded. “When I was younger. He was the only adult who believed me about the Shining, but he taught me a lot of what I know now. Why, do you need a Yoda?” Admittedly, it was a lot better with someone there to help in that regard. --- Cisco gave him an amused roll of his eyes as he finished that statement. “I've graduated already, don’t worry about that.” He looked and was still pretty young, but he had a couple degrees to his name. He’d gone to a gifted college program and had enjoyed nearly every minute. Or course there were some individuals that he didn’t enjoy, but the work? He loved it. “I think at this point I’m pretty established with my powers…saying that word is still weird. Abilities? Yeah. Better word. But it seems like everyone here is so..confident I thought most people might have had one.” He trailed off for a minute thoughtfully as he looked down at the cat in his lap fondly. “I had one once, told me they were a curse. Kinda stuck.” Wells had gotten to him, his confidence when it came to his own abilities was a little shook. “Everyone’s so open. I can’t seem to be.” Having a real one might have been nice. Instead he got stuck with Wells. --- “It’s been a long road - I wasn’t always so confident,” Dan shrugged. “I used to blot out my Shine by drinking because I didn’t want to deal with it. But then I got my act together and started helping people with it instead.” And Abra had needed him, so he’d stuck his neck out for her - for her and all the other kids the True Knot would potentially make victims of. He glanced at Cisco, fondly. “Maybe you’ve got your abilities set, but I’ll be here when you need someone to encourage you to find your footing. And for what we like to call real food, so come on - “ Azzie jumped off his lap, as if beckoning, and Dan slung his chin toward the kitchen too, “...come eat something.” And not get scurvy. See, he was helping. --- Cisco was only a few years into having powers. He'd only known one other person whose powers matched his own. He wasn't ready to bring her up, but maybe some day. "I tried to give mine up." he hadn't wanted to keep them, but he was stuck now. When Azzie got up, he gave her another quick scritch before standing himself. "Okay." And he let Dan lead the way. He was pretty hungry. |