riverview | || text | @ciscodelamancha ||

[ Ok, this guy?

He likes this guy already. ]

especially some of those old ones with the special effects in clay or felt puppets.
some real masters had a hand in those cult classics.
let's skip the fantasy ones, though.
they're kinda ogre-rated.

[ Cisco laughs, of course, at the puns. Then, because that's just the life he lives nowadays, he has a brief moment of worry that this guy must be some kind of villain who has puns as his gimmick, the way the Trickster was with 'pranks' or Brie Larvan with her bee obsession. It'd be nice not to have that be his first thought, but Cisco is learning to be wary in his old age. But for now he's going to choose to ignore that little twinge of paranoia. No need to make assumptions before even meeting the guy. ]

ogre-rated is a new one, you come up with that on the fly?

so, lay it out for me: what's your dream sci-fi movie night roster look like?

yeah, even old comics like me need new material.

we didn't get too much in the underground, but i thought the day the world stood still,
space epic 201X and the sixth element were all pretty cool.

[ Wait.

Does he mean The Day the Earth Stood Still, Space Odyssey, and The Fifth Element?

Alternate universes are weird. ]

.... don't you mean the fifth element?

[ The others are wrong, too, but if Cisco pointed out all three he's pretty sure he would look like a douche, so he's playing this strategically - or so he thinks. ]

the underground? is that, like, a euphemism?

fifth?
this must be one of those alternative universe things.
yeah, sure, pal.

[ Of course, alternative universes are confirmed just on fact of them being here, but he's more interested in how readily this guy accepts that answer. ]

i call it truth in advertising.
but yeah, it's where me and the rest of my kind's been livin' since, well, for ages.

huh. must be. does your universe have bruce willis?

[ So, pretty readily, it seems. ]

i'm trying to figure out if there's a not totally rude way to ask "what kind is that" and i'm coming up empty

sure. who else would play corbin dallas?

[ What would the world be like, if all but a few things were nearly the same? Sans has been seeing a few interesting answers to that question around Riverview, day by day. ]

heh heh, that's ok.
that was a clever expository hook - it's meant for follow-up questions.
that'd be monsterkind, pal.

and what does 'monster' mean where you're from?
it's not exactly the nicest thing to call someone in my world.

eh, depends on who you ask.
it's what i am. y'know, my species.
to you, it's not exactly the nicest thing.

Edited 2017-04-30 13:38 (UTC)

okay. lil more cryptic than i was expecting, not gonna lie, but okay.

well, i don't know about you, but i'm not the kind of guy who makes generalizations about an entire group of people, especially when i don't know shit about them.

name's cisco by the way.

[ Good to know. Course, talk is cheap, but if he appreciates sci fi as much as he does, maybe he ain't that bad. Only one way to be sure, so... yeah, why not switch to video.

It's. A skeleton..? Okay, so not the type you'd see in science classrooms, he's a little more like the caricature of a human-ish skeleton, a mite too expressive for a guy who is perpetually grinning.

For example, there are pinpoints of light in his dark eye sockets to stand in for the eyes he doesn't have, and... apparently his sockets can close, since he's winking. ]

Nice t'meetcha, Cisco. I'm Sans.

Edited 2017-05-06 21:39 (UTC)

[ Cisco doesn't scream, or recoil, or swear, or cut the connection. But when Sans switches over to a video chat, Cisco is a little surprised - and then the video feed actually comes through, and he's a lot surprised. For about half a minute (which is practically an eternity, when passed in complete silence) he stares, open-mouthed and utterly dumbfounded.

He has never seen anything like Sans; most metas still look perfectly human, after all. It looks like a very, very skilled cosplay of a human skeleton, except wrong in certain ways and too real somehow. Cisco immediately thinks he can see where the 'monster' thing comes from.

Eventually he remembers to close his mouth, and even stops himself from staring without blinking a moment after that.]

You're... [ Cisco searches for the right words, eventually settles on: ] ...definitely not what I expected.

[ Why lie, after all? Sans had seen his reaction. Cisco's not going to insult him by pretending it was anything other than what it was - a total shock. ]

Nice to meet you.

[ A few seconds into Cisco's surprised staring, and Sans's shoulders begin to shake with mirth.

'You're...' he says, and Sans wiggles phalanges at the screen, like the laziest jazz-hands, droning a low 'ta-dah' as Cisco continues his admission. ]

That never gets old.

[ He chuckles low; from the sound of his accent, the guy could be some two-pack-a-day blue collar worker from Brooklyn. But then, none of them look like him. ]

And you didn't even freak out. Thanks, pal. You really know how to flatter a monster.

[ Sans is... laughing? So at least that's probably a good thing, right? Cisco supposes that yeah, if you had a great big skeleton face, you'd had to approach this sort of situation with humor, otherwise it'd probably just be too painful, seeing shock or revulsion on people's faces the first time they laid eyes on you. ]

I'll bet...

[ Cisco's not really sure he's not freaking out. It's just that freaking out for him looks a little different than on some other people. Sure, when it's something not too serious he'll scream, and flail, and make a big fuss. And when it's really, really serious, he pretty much just starts to cry. But there's a comfortable, goldilocks-ish middle ground where he gets a bit uncharacteristically quiet and just tries to process whatever the hell is happening. And he's in that zone right about now. ]

I wouldn't thank me too soon, 'cause I've got about a million questions now and one of 'em is bound to be offensive sooner or later. Are you, um. Alive, or undead?

[ Either one seems equally possible - Cisco's heard from a few folks that there are aliens here, and maybe Sans looks this way because that's just how his people look. Or, well, Cisco's heard of people coming from worlds with magic, too. Maybe necromancy is part of that, and he's some kind of spirit inhabiting a human skeleton, animating it and changing it a little to suit its needs. ]

Edited 2017-05-08 13:27 (UTC)

[ Oof.

Too real, buddy, too real.

But, uh... that goldilocks 'just right' middle where nothing much happens? Sans lives in that zone, pal. Enjoy it, kick back and stay a while. It's pretty much the best way to be when life throws you curveball after curveball. ]

I'm as alive as you are. [ Unbothered, Sans shrugs. ]

Don't sweat it -- I get that one a lot. There ain't too many monsters that look like this, either.

My turn..?

[ Because hey, Sans has questions, too. ]

[ That... isn't really an answer, and also, well. Cisco's not really one for talking about it but the window is just too good, and it's not really a secret anymore. ]

You sure 'bout that? 'Cause depending how you look at it, I've died before. Twice, maybe. So...

[ That's sure the kind of statement there isn't any way to end but by trailing off and shrugging. He wonders what the others monsters look like, if not like Sans, but before he can ask that Sans is turning the tables, and Cisco blinks in surprise. He recovers quickly, though, and offers: ]

Yeah, sure, of course. Quid pro quo me, Clarice.

[ ................................yikes. ]

Wow, buddy.

[ There's a pause, while Sans seems to consider this. And... rolls with it, like he does everything else. Like maybe he knows better, even though he's just floating along, here for the ride. ]

Dunno what's worse. The fact you kicked it or the fact you know you kicked it, more'n once.

Guess I gotta change mine. What happened?

[ With that whole dying thing..? ]

[ That's a pretty drastic non-reaction, there. Cisco's seen a variety of responses - horror, shock, confusion, disbelief. A lot of disbelief, in fact. But Sans, after a moment of surprise, just kind of accepts it. Which is... actually pretty great. ]

Dying is worse, no contest. I mean, knowing sucks but dying definitely sucks way harder.

[ Cisco's answer is a little delayed by the fact that he takes a moment to put on the privacy settings, and then double check them. As much as he'd really like to just blow off the question entirely, he HAD offered. And it's not exactly a secret, just. Not the sort of thing you discuss openly on space facebook, either. ]

Well, the time that only sort of counts, I got stung by a robotic bee, trying to save someone. I was dead for like, a minute and a half before my friend restarted my heart. So that's kind of... near-death more than actually dying.

[ Can't he just leave it at that? He probably could, but he's got a feeling not answering the rest now would only make it seem worse than it was. So Cisco sighs, stalls by pushing his hair back and checking the privacy settings again. What? He's thorough. It's not a big deal. ]

And, uh. The time I... actually died, a guy shoved his hand in my chest and ripped my heart to shreds. Which I do not recommend. It's no fun.

[ He doesn't even know if... Sans has a heart, but he must have some equivalent, some organ that keeps him alive, that he wouldn't want torn to bits. ]

[ Cisco didn't correct Sans on the 'more than once', so had he tried to leave it at that, Sans might have called him out on only meeting him halfway to honesty. That he explains even though it seems to make him uncomfortable -- for, uh, y'know, really legit reasons -- means his respect for this guy just ticked up a little.

Right choice. Even if he sorta feels like scum for asking, now.

He only knows a little about how these humans tick, that they've got all sorts of squishy parts inside of them, pushing a variety of fluids all through their body. He knows a lot about human food, too, so the only thing he can equate that to is if someone, somehow, took hold of a monster's SOUL and dashed it to pieces.

This time, he says exactly what he's thinking out loud: ]

I'll be honest. I wouldn't have any idea what that's like, but I'm real sorry. That sucks.

[ And, as he eyes him off: ]

And I guess the doctors here are better than I thought..? Holy moly.

[ Cisco does what he's used to doing; when Sans says that it sucks, he just shrugs. His facial expression is a little too casual to actually be casual, but this is his strategy. He can just about manage to say what had happened, the actual facts of it. But any sort of discussion about the aftermath, or how it had been, in any more detail? No thanks. Not today. Not ever. ]

Yep.

[ And as far as he's concerned, that is that.

Sans' confusion about the doctors is what unsticks Cisco's tongue and gets him talking again; he waves a hand in the direction of the camera, shaking his head and explaining: ]

No, no, it didn't happen here, this was months ago. Trust me, no doctor's that good. It was- [ He stops, hesitates a moment, then just shakes his head. It wouldn't have been possible. Even knowing that they'd managed to somehow bring back Eddie... Cisco just knows in his gut it wouldn't have worked for him. ]

The only reason we're having this conversation is it got erased. That timeline was reset, and things happened differently, so I didn't die. Which is why I said 'depending how you look at it'. 'Cause... it happened, but then it didn't.

[ And this is why he had set the conversation to private - not hard to make the connection that Cisco shouldn't be able to remember something that was erased. But it's clear from his demeanor, the discomfort and awkward pauses and way he is speaking, that he's not talking about a story he just heard. This is something he'd lived through - or rather, didn't live through. ]

[ Cisco shrugs. Just shrugs that off, and the gesture's so familiar that Sans knows immediately that the best thing he can do is lay off. So far, this guy isn't even the first he's encountered who seems to have come outta a bad situation or two.

Makes a monster like him glad to have dodged that bullet.

He's staring, eye sockets somehow sleepy for the dim lights occupying them, grinning -- because that's just how skulls work, y'know -- until something happens. Those lights wink out for a few pointed seconds, a little like a surprised 'blink', though his sockets show every ability to open and close like the eyelids he doesn't have.

Though Sans passes it off with a shrug of his own, what Cisco said had a notable impact. Using words like 'erased' and 'reset', describing things that did and didn't happen. That's a lot to take. ]

... Don'tcha think that sounds far-fetched?

How'd you even know something like that happened?

[ Cisco feels some mild alarm when the light in Sans' eyes goes out for a moment, and he's internally wondering if that's a good sign or a bad sign, or maybe it's actually totally normal and not a sign at all. He's just wondering if he should ask about it, if that would be rude and ignorant and too-human of him. Then it becomes a moot point; Sans' eyes go back to normal. Cisco feels unnerved still, but he tries not to acknowledge it.

And, of course, just as he'd dreaded and half-predicted, Sans cuts right to the heart of the matter. When Sans asks if Cisco thinks it sounds far-fetched, Cisco raises his eyebrows ruefully: ]

I think it sounds so completely freaking far-fetched that there's no way I'd invent something that bonkers.

[ It had been that sense of how utterly improbably and weird it all was that had kept him silent for so long, after the vibes first started. He hadn't told anyone because he hadn't even had the words for what was happening to him. It was easier to just pretend it all wasn't real. That uncertainty had gone away - after the lucid dreaming, after the trap, after Dr. Wells had told him he must be a metahuman.

Cisco is wary of telling anyone any details about his powers, but he's already come this far. Might as well reveal just a little more - enough to satisfy Sans' curiosity. ]

I know 'cause I remember it. I shouldn't. But I do.

[ A skeleton's unsettling to most people to start with -- what little effort Sans actually puts into socializing also means he takes pains to minimize his more, uh, 'monstrous' features. Humans tend to attack when they're threatened, or so the old bias goes, and Sans prefers to appear as unthreatening as possible.

Heck, he doesn't even need to breathe, and pretends to for the subtle reassurance it offers his other, respiratory-system-having folk. Sans is typically more careful about 'tics' like that one, but hey, can't be helped. Cisco really surprised him with that one.

Too crazy for fiction. ]

Point.

[ Ok, he can't argue that. ]

Man, heh heh. How d'ya keep that from messin' you up? Sounds rough.

[ Wow, Sans, way to absolutely go for the jugular there. The simple and honest answer, of course, is to say I don't. But right at that very moment, Cisco realizes he's reached his absolute maximum quota for emotional honesty for the day. Maybe the week. Time to shut this shit down. In a friendly way, of course. So he shrugs and says: ]

You do what you gotta do.

[ Which is about as vague and abstract a non-answer as he could come up with, on the spot. And the fact that it's not really an answer is only underscored by the fact that he follows it with: ]

Look, um, I only just got here so I better gooooo, actually. I gotta get my lab set up. And, y'know, find where my lab is in the first place! But seriously, you ever wanna watch some sci-fi, I'm your guy. Nice talking to ya!

[ Yeah, that's way too cheerful way too suddenly for it not to be obvious that Cisco's covering up, but it'll have to do, because this conversation got too real. ]

|| text | @ciscodelamancha ||

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