{Losing memories begins and ends with the senses

[myheadisaprison]

Eway/Wonderland-verse PSL with hypoxic
{The Beginning}

Comments

{W-2!Cisco & W-1!Fitz

[thisismadfreaky]

[He and Fitz had been working for....a really, really long time to do this. To actually go....somewhere. Wherever it was they were going. Did it matter any more as long as it wasn't there? That, he thinks, is the important part. Anywhere was fine, as long as it was elsewhere.

And he thinks maybe he found it.

Cisco stands in the middle of the lab, certainly in different clothes than Fitz saw him in seconds ago, spinning in a half-circle before his gaze lands on his friend.] Why'd you move everything?

[hypoxic]

To make room for the portal. [It's an absent murmur; Fitz is too busy watching the data compile upon Cisco's return.] I told you that cramping it any further would cause items to travel with you.

You took longer than we'd intended. Did you find anything interesting?

[thisismadfreaky]

Right... [He tips his head slightly, but he decides it makes enough sense, so he doesn't press it much. Instead, he goes to look over Fitz's shoulder. None of it really makes much sense, does it? But that's the way of things. No sense makes sense in Wonderland.] How much longer

Hmm... I don't know... [He pulls away from hovering over Fitz's shoulder and stares at him, squinting. Something was different. Or maybe Cisco was different. He had traveled somewhere else, after all.] I'm not sure I remember what I was looking for.

[hypoxic]

Nearly a minute longer. We'd discussed minimizing risk by being spatially aware.

[But he trails off as he gets a better glimpse of the dazed look on Cisco's face.]

....Your pupils are dilated. Did you hit your head? There could be a concussion.

[thisismadfreaky]

[There's a word in there he isn't catching, and he's squinting, trying to figure it out when he notices Fitz looking at him.]

What? [Absently, he reaches up to touch the back of his head. Ah, the power of suggestion.] No, I don't think so.

[hypoxic]

We should probably check you out nonetheless. Here, sit down.

[He pushes a chair closer to Cisco and urges him into it.]

You remember what month it is, yeah?

[thisismadfreaky]

[He feels fine, but if it will make Fitz feel better, he'll let him do his little checks. He can be fussy about things like that sometimes.]

Well, no... we stopped counting awhile ago. Are you sure you didn't hit your head?

[hypoxic]

That's... Not true.

[And it's worrisome that Cisco would say that.]

What about other recent events? You know where you are, what's been going on?

[thisismadfreaky]

Yeah it is. Has been for...a really long time now.

[Cisco frowns a little and shrugs.] There was something with rabbits recently. One of those holiday ones. Everyone woke up with a plastic egg with something inside of it. I got this. [He holds up the necklace he's wearing, which has a cross on it. It didn't mean much to him, but he wore it simply because...it was his.] Not sure why, though.

W-1!Cisco in W-2

[hypoxic]

[Events are going to happen, and hard. But this one has rendered the landscape positively Victorian. It's a pastoral landscape, mostly, with mushroom fields to the east and a cartoonishly long tea table to the west, where the tea serves itself. Most residents find themselves either dressed in a decidedly Alice-ish manner, with powder blue suits and dresses forced upon them. Some seem affected in a deeper way, fitting other Wonderland tropes more completely. Ray, for example, couldn't seem to find a reason to be full sized, preferring to lie among the mushrooms and smoke heavily. Caitlin had woken with the head of a rabbit, and couldn't sit still for very long without fretting about how late it was getting. And Barry had been stiff, repeating to Cisco that he had to paint roses no matter what questions were asked. Other human-animal hybrids went about their days as if they'd stepped out of a storybook.

Fitz approaches Cisco outside the checkerboard fields, nodding his head in greeting.]

It's this one again. Seems like we've been getting this one a lot lately. Maybe the queen's putting finishing touches on people who don't have any non-Wonderland memories to chew up.

[thisismadfreaky]

This.... has happened before? [Cisco asks, tone confused at that implication because he definitely didn't have any memory of anything like this happening since he's been in Wonderland. He's also deeply concerned about how casual he's being about the idea of the Queen doing anything.] Why are you so okay with this?

[hypoxic]

It's just an event, Cisco. [It's not even a bad one.] They happen sometimes. Maybe they're happening all the time and we just don't always know it. Oh, there's tea!

[He'll breeze past Cisco and move toward the tea tables, thoroughly unconcerned about the setting.]

[thisismadfreaky]

I know, that's not.... this one, though? This Event in particular has happened before? [But it doesn't seem like Fitz is very interested in answering his questions and now he's on a quest for tea. Great. Okay, then. He's following after him.] Fitz. Focus. Something about all of this isn't right. You know that, don't you?

[hypoxic]

We have this event all the time. It's one of the nicer ones, really. [But it's curious that Cisco seems so unsettled by it.] Just put some extra sugar in your tea and you'll calm right down.

[thisismadfreaky]

I don't want tea. I want to know what's going on. [He huffs, slightly annoyed because he doesn't really see a way to get through to him. Maybe someone else... But a glance around at the people in the immediate vicinity shows they wouldn't be much better help themselves, most likely.]

[hypoxic]

You could always just check the network if you're concerned. [But there's nothing to be concerned about. He settles down at the edge of the table, swapping a full cup for an empty one to keep spillage to a minimum.] This is a fun event. It's a normal one. We stay here instead of going to one of those places that keep trying to kill us.

[He frowns thoughtfully.]

But usually someone stops fighting after we see this one. I wonder who's turn it is.

[thisismadfreaky]

Yeah... [He squints a little, but he isn't sure that will help much.] The fun ones don't ever seem to last like the others, though.

What do you mean...? [Stops fighting? ???? Fitz, what the hell?!]

I told you this was coming

[lowerlipthing]

[Even here, broken and robbed of most of the memories that inform her personality, Caitlin reads. The books are thinner, and tend to have larger print and the occasional picture here and there, but she still tries.

She'll look up at him though, head tilting lightly.]

You're staring. Do you want to talk about why you're staring?

482930483 years late

[thisismadfreaky]

[Cisco is still trying to adjust to the differences in this version of Wonderland. He needs to figure out how to get back to the proper one, but it's hard when he only barely knows how he managed this, and the person that originally helped him with all this has forgotten almost everything.

Still. He has his friends, even if they're a little lacking in the parts of their personalities that he's used to, so he's managing. But he's also a bit of a sore thumb, here. He remembers things and that's weird and in some people's cases suspicious. So that's been a fun thing to navigate.

Caitlin is still Caitlin, even when she isn't. It's strange the pieces of a person that stick around, no matter what they do or don't remember.]

Oh, sorry. [He mutters, tucking his hair behind his ear.] What are you reading? [Not actually why he was staring, but it seemed like a good excuse.]

oh hey there stranger

[lowerlipthing]

[Luckily, he's landed on a question she's eager to answer. She sits up in her chair, swiveling to face him.]

Did you know someone wrote a book about Wonderland? I only just found it. It's not very accurate, but it's so interesting to think we'd be that important.

[This might not be the first time she's discovered the book, but it's always new to her.]

been a million years since I've been in your inbox, I hope you haven't forgotten me~

[thisismadfreaky]

[He smiles a little at the sudden eagerness. Caitlin has always been a little adorable when she gets excited about something.]

Yeah... I've read it. [Everyone had. And seen the movie. Multiple versions, even. But...they were definitely not in that version of it.] It's weird, right?

I could never

[lowerlipthing]

It's such a beautiful story about a girl from the mirror side crossing over to meet us! Such a shame the Queen pulls her home in the end, though. I wonder if someone over there wrote it and left it. I'll have to ask the next time they're allowed out.

[But she's beaming still, thrilled that he's acting a little bit more right today. It's felt a little weird that he's been so distant for the last few weeks.]

I'm sure all the Wonderland residents thought that once, too :P

[thisismadfreaky]

[Cisco's pretty certain he's never heard the words 'beautiful' and 'mirror side' uttered in the same breath before and he's not sure he likes the way it feels.]

So you-- like the mirrors? [It may be the sort of question that just reminds her that he's wrong and weird compared to the other him she's used to, but it's worth the ask. Because...he's lowkey terrified of them all.]

]

[lowerlipthing]

[ "wrong and weird" doesn't really begin to describe it. He's shaped like her Cisco, but all the pieces are terribly, horribly off. She hopes it won't be much longer before the boys' experiment passes and he returns to himself. ]

I don't like all of them, no. But they can't help being who they are. There are some really nice mirrors who I wouldn't hate swapping out for their reals. I dated one for a while. Until he tried to stab me -- that. Was kind of a relationship killer.

[thisismadfreaky]

[He isn't sure if he completely buys the idea of "They can't help it". There's always a choice, right?

But it's good to know that even when she doesn't remember herself, Caitlin's taste in men holds true. Someone help her.]

Uhh, yeah. That would kind of be the end of that, real quick.