riverview | voice | un: w.west

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voice | un: w.west

[ After a few hours of failing to fall asleep, Wally gets bored and decides to address the network at some point in the middle of the night. He can get oddly reflective when he's tired. ]

For curiosity's sake, what is everyone's thoughts on time travel? I suppose it's even possible some people here might have experience with it given we come from so many different worlds.

[ He stops to release a loud yawn, before continuing on. ]

I mean, if you knew something in your past was wrong, would you go back to change it and just deal with whatever the consequences are if you could do it? What if someone told you that by going back to save their son it would save thousands of lives?

[ If one was to get the feeling he has found himself in such situations in the past, then they would be correct. ]

Or, would you simply accept things for how they are and move forward no matter how hard that might be?

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Ah, so it's...a rather familiar situation. Not to get too into the weeds, but my former mentor had me assist him in finding a way to travel back in time to save his son. It nearly damned the world. You were wiser than me, but then...he was my friend. I wanted to save him, too.

[He keeps his voice even, as though commenting on the weather, though there's a tightness in his voice that suggests it's a lot more important than he's letting on.]

You'll miss what still could be if you continue fretting over what never was. Remember that.

Edited 2018-01-10 22:25 (UTC)

I wouldn't say I was wiser so much as I was already acutely aware of the possible consequences through the actions of someone else. If I wasn't, then I might have made a different choice. Maybe not in that exact situation, but there have been others.

[ He certainly understands the temptation of it all. His own life has been impacted by someone manipulating the timeline and the desire to see if he could put things back the way they were is something he pushes down every day. All he can do is go forward. ]

More than a few people have told me something to that effect. I know it's good advice, but I have found it to be easier said than done.

Ah, yes, that would do it. I can't say I haven't used the ability to travel in time to change it, but it was to set right something gone terribly wrong due to its use. It's all very complicated, really.

(He pauses for a moment, his voice turning gentle where the usual tone is slightly sarcastic. Dorian Cares, though, and he can be comforting when he really puts his mind to it.)

I understand, of course. It'll be easier once you forgive yourself for making what you was the right decision.

I can relate to things being complicated. Back home, I remember having a different life that never technically happened now because someone changed things. Some people I was close to now see me as nothing more than a stranger.

[ It feels weird to be this open with someone he doesn't know, but the person on the other end has been pretty forthcoming with their own experiences. It might also give the other guy an idea about the real source of Wally's issues. ]

It's not about forgiveness, really. I know I can't help everyone or fix everything no matter how much I may want to do it. There are just times when that fact is harder to accept than others.

I...see. My condolences.

[Dorian doesn't remember a life that never happened, as it was he who did the traveling, but he can imagine...]

And I understand. It's a burden, and those who benefit have no way of knowing what you've done for them. It's...also lonely.

Thanks. It's an experience that can give a guy a bit of an existential crisis.

[ The one benefit to being in this strange place is it has allowed him to take a step back from everything going on back home and given him a chance to figure out who he is after all the changes in his life. It's still a work in progress. ]

The truth is I don't do lonely well. I usually just throw myself into my work, but there's always the feeling there should be something more. I know my life should be something more.

Oh, quite right. I remember a future only one other in my world remembers. Happily, though. It wasn't a pretty one.

(He understands being a work in progress. Much of his young life was spent being a trainwreck. Wally would be getting no judgment from Dorian. He also understood not doing lonely well. The problem arising now was, though not handling it well, it had been the norm. Now that it wasn't, it was becoming clear he had no idea how to not be alone, either.)

And what more do you think your life should be?

(No really. Tell him, Wally. Because he feels the same way and needs an answer.)

[ Unfortunately, Wally doesn't have any definitive answers to such a question. All he has goes back to the life he had taken away from him. ]

I know what it was before... everything. I had a purpose, I had family and friends. I had a life with a woman who meant the world to me. I knew who I was and what I wanted.

[ Then when the Flashpoint came about, the world that was ceased to be and in its' place was a world that was similar but oh so different. Like everyone else, Wally wasn't aware of the changes, but after a villain tossed him into the time-stream and made everyone forget he existed, memories from the previous timeline started flooding back to him.

Not all of the memories stuck once he became anchored back to reality, but he remembered enough that he felt disconnected from the world and people around him. ]

But now? I don't really have any of those things. People keep telling me I need to rebuild my life, but I don't even know how to begin doing that whether it's back home or here. It's like I'm just standing still. [ Which is the worst when you're a speedster. ]

(In most situations, Dorian was a terrible source of advice. He usually ran from his feelings, from his memories, and pretended they didn't effect him. The wine usually helped. Here, he could see a man struggling on the edge of a precipice. It was one he'd toed himself in the past, and there was only one thing to do.

Start small.)

Well, firstly, don't think of it as rebuilding. You're not starting over, simply...starting. What sorts of things do you enjoy?

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