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killervibe · 6 years ago

Text

Lux et Veritas

Prologue: The Summer Before

Summary: When Caitlin's father dies right before Senior Year, Cisco doubts things could get any worse.Welcome to Central City High School.

Notes: Hi. So, welcome to my The Flash-meets-Gossip Girl-meets-Gilmore Girls-meets-Boy Meets World Killervibe fic that nobody ever asked for.

I've spent an awful long time on this, about a month and a half, a little every day, trying to world build. We're in for a ride, because this is just. The. Prologue. Anyways, that said, this story isn't finished. In fact, the next chapter isn't even finished, so I'm going to have to ask you to spare me while you wait. I hope it's worth it.

Also, I'm planning on naming every chapter after either a high school themed movie or song, so if you have any suggests, let me know!

You can also find this fic on ao3!

The dress Caitlin’s mother had laid out on her bed was black, lace and very expensive. Paired with a brand-new pearl necklace and silver shoes that matched the highlights in her hair, she was sure she’d look the most beautiful in her life.

Caitlin didn’t care.

She tore her eyes from the outfit to stare at her reflection in the vanity mirror. Her eyes, red rimmed and her lips chapped.

She sat herself down slowly in the chair as she put some lip balm on to smooth out the flaky skin.

Her finger began to tremble against her mouth.

She wasn’t ready for this. She wasn’t ready to close her father’s coffin shut permanently and dig him in dirt.

She didn’t want to bury him. She didn’t want to hear strangers offer her condolences or go to the meeting scheduled with her mother’s lawyers next week about her father’s will and the conditions of her generous trust fund.

She just wanted him back. She wanted to go back.

On the vanity rested her locket. The silver one with the picture of Dad and her in it from when Caitlin was eleven, and she picked it up delicately to put around her neck.

She checked the group chat on her phone. Nothing.

Why were they silent? Weren’t her friends going to come? She needed them there. She needed someone.

Caitlin was a smart girl. She should’ve been smart enough to realize that the girls in her group chat weren’t her real friends a long time ago. They didn’t care about her. They never had.

They liked her Ralph Lauren blazers and Jimmy Choo shoes. Her house with its indoor pool and tennis courts.

She should’ve been smart enough to see it, and yet, the harsh cold reality of abandonment still slapped hard.

Caitlin didn’t actually have any friends. Not anymore.

Images of curling brown hair, warm eyes and the high school chemistry lab flashed across her mind.

She turned away, cursing herself silently. She didn't deserve anyone.

Caitlin already had her nylons and dress on when her mother walked in.

“The limousine will be picking us up within the hour.” Her mother stopped to look her up and down. “What are you wearing?”

Caitlin looked at herself, confused. “I’m wearing the dress.”

“No, around your neck. Didn’t you seethe pearls I bought you?”

“Oh,” Caitlin said, her hand going to the locket. She looked down at it. “It’s Daddy’s locket. I thought I could wear this instead.”

“Isn’t it a little childish?” her mother replied, brisk. “You’re turning 18.”

Caitlin did not know how to respond, but the tears instantly sprung to her eyes.

Her mother noticed it and sighed, walking into her room and sitting on her bed.

She picked up the abandoned pearls. “Cait, I’m trying here. Stop the tears. Just please wear this necklace.”

“But it’s Daddy’s,” she whispered again, once her voice came back.

Her mother rolled her eyes and fixed her black veiled hat in Caitlin’s mirror.

“Fine.”

Organ music played as the guests filed in. Caitlin was sitting in the front pew of a church she’s never been to in her entire life when someone slid in beside her.

Her gaze, previously locked on her copy of the funeral’s program shifted and her mouth dropped.

“Cisco?”

“Hey,” he said in that hushed voice people only ever used in places of worship. He was wearing a really dark grey suit with his hair pulled back.

He looked—good.

It was the first time Caitlin has seen him up close in months. Definitely since before the summer. In fact, the last time they were this close, she was in his bed, laughing as he fumbled in the dark for—

“What are you doing here?”

Cisco nodded backwards to three pews behind. Barry and Iris waved solemnly.

Caitlin was shocked.

“Iris told me. We’re here for you. Of course, I’m here. Why didn’t you tell me? Caitlin I’m so sorry.” He hugged her.

Her arms layed limp at her sides, frozen numb.

He hesitated for the first time, the pained expression that tore Caitlin’s heart into a million pieces settling over his face. “Do you want me to go?”

“No!”

Cisco’s eyes softened. “You sure?”

“No—” Caitlin stammered. She blinked back to the coffin and grief hit her so hard she almost keeled over. Not just for her father, or her ex-boyfriend, but for forgetting the feeling of someone’s genuine care.

She twisted her nails into her dress, refusing to look at him. “I don’t want to be alone.”

Cisco studied her carefully, probably scrutinizing her different hair, her black painted nails, and the dark makeup on her face. All parts of her from only after.

After everything fell away.

The organ finished playing and the church filled as Caitlin’s mother came to her other side.

“Oh,” she said after a long silent moment. “Francisco. Hello.”

“Hi, Dr. T. My deepest condolences.”

She gave him a long hard glance.

“Thank you. The service is about to begin.”

Halfway through the eulogy, Caitlin’s face was streaming with tears. Cisco reached for her hand and she held it tightly. She didn’t let go.

~.~

It was only after Dad was buried did all of it sink in.

Barry and Iris didn’t come along to the cemetery, saying they’d wait at the reception taking place at her house afterwards.

Her high heels were clumped with mud and she had just thrown her rose into the grave and somehow Cisco was still here.

Somehow he was still here as if they were still together, as if things were still okay, and before she knew it, the minister wrapped up the prayers and she was sobbing into his chest.

She didn’t even remember what he said or what she said. Probably a lot of things that were embarrassing. But she did remember the searing kiss Cisco left on her forehead, how she felt it there for the rest of the day.

~.~

Cisco asked her mom if he could drive her home.

Caitlin sat stiffly in the passenger seat of Dante’s beat up toyota.

She had a migraine, and more stuffed kleenexes in her purse than she could count.

“You got Dante’s car,” she said slowly, when Cisco closed the driver’s door.

“I—Yeah. He bought a motorcycle so we share. But he loves his motorcycle so. Mostly just me driving the car now.”

“How did you let Mom allow you to drive me home?”

Cisco tapped his temple as he put the keys in the ignition, “Super powers.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes.

The rest of the ride was silent.

~.~

The moment she stepped foot into her house, her mother ushered her into the guest hall to greet people and shake hands.

It felt like a part time job at a Walmart or something, like Caitlin should have stuck on a tacky bright vest over her dress and tell people to have a nice day.

She squirmed after accepting condolences from Victor Fry, sensing eyes on her.

She refused to look over her shoulder, knowing that Cisco and Barry with Iris were hanging around the hot buffet table, trying to be discreet with their stares.

Now, as people mingled and chatted quietly as some odd violin quartet played in the corner, the opportunity for either of them to approach her and talk was a highly probable reality.

One that made her nervous. It was easier when there was a schedule and a program and a funeral. Easier when Caitlin was seated in the front row with Cisco, Barry and Iris far behind.

Someone touched her elbow, and Caitlin turned to see her mother.

“Please try to engage in conversation,” she said dully, clearly not in the mood for any of this either. “You’re being rude, daydreaming like that. Only another hour or so and then we can kick them all out, alright?”

Caitlin swallowed, her nails digging into her palms, clenched behind her back.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

Cisco approached with some food.

“Did you eat?” he asked, offering her his plate.

She took a cracker and bit into it lightly, founding it hard to swallow around her dry throat and placed it back.

Cisco’s face was unimpressed. Not because she returned a half eaten piece of food, but because she almost didn’t take it at all.

“I’m not hungry,” she said with a shrug.

Cisco distracted her, and she wanted to slap herself for not seeing Barry and Iris creep closer.

She looked at them, really studied them, taken aback at how they behaved. Natural and kind with each other, not like they were in the middle of the world’s biggest fight like they’d been the last day of school.

A part of her was very pleased (and relieved so relieved) that they were there. Barry especially. Caitlin knew she had royally screwed up there. Iris was different, somehow, because she still saw her quite often and she was in her group chat, even if they no longer ran in the same circles. Iris hung out with Linda, Kendra and Patty who were well liked girls at school, pretty, popular, but they didn’t click with Lexi so that was that.

But Barry was there and maybe that meant Caitlin hadn’t completely destroyed everything.

That maybe there’s a chance…

Caitlin cleared her head, going down rabbit holes was useless.

Her ex-best friends coming to her father’s funeral didn’t mean she was ready to face them. Or anyone.

Except maybe Cisco.

Barry nodded jerkily at Caitlin, asking her to take a walk with him.

He was wearing a black suit two sizes too big, the jacket dwarfing his lanky frame. His hair fell over his face, and he kept sweeping it out of his eyes, as he looked behind, as if he wasn’t convinced she wouldn’t make a break for it and lose him in the crowd.

He was sort of right.

She lagged behind, stopping by the curtains of the window.

Barry twiddled his thumbs awkwardly, like he was expecting her to start first.

She didn’t know what to say.

They stared at each other for a few moments. When it was apparent she wasn’t going to start spilling to Barry everything on her mind, he spoke up.

“I know what it’s like,” he started earnestly. “To lose a parent you love. If you ever want to talk…”

An olive branch. Small, but sincere. Caitlin braced herself, looking out the at the bright sunlight, her fingers pressing against the windowpane.

He put his hand on her shoulder but she flinched. She caught the look on his face: hurt, like she betrayed him. Again.

“I don’t,” she said steely, when she really wanted to just apologize and beg forgiveness from her old friend.

Barry didn’t give up.

“Caitlin, you were there for me when my mom died. I just...if we could put last year’s crap aside. It was so stupid. We can fix it. Me, you and Cisco. We can be us again.”

Barry had always tended to romanticize things. Sometimes the damage has been done. When burning bridges, you can’t expect to salvage what remains. She sighed, but not unkindly, meeting his eyes. “I don’t think so, Barry. Thank you for coming though.”

His face fell more, if possible. “Oh. Okay.”

She watched Barry walk away, knowing she just ruined any chances of ever reconciling with him. But they wouldn’t like her now anyways. She was doing them a favour.

~.~

Little by little the crowd trickled out.

Caitlin was sat in a large leather chair, her mother long disappeared, swirling her glass of water with her finger.

“Hey Caitlin, we’re going to head out now.” Detective West patted her on the shoulder.

“Do you need anything? Food? Errands?”

“We have people for that,” Caitlin replied.

Detective West tsked, rolling his eyes a little. “Yeah, but they can’t make Cecile’s home cooked meals, now can they?”

Caitlin didn’t respond, so Iris’s dad decided for her. “We’ll be back in a few days. Tell your mother to take care,” he told her before ushering Barry and Iris out to the front door.

Barry nodded over at Cisco. “You coming?”

Cisco jerked his head up from where he was taking off his suit jacket, not having paid attention. “What?”

“Do you want to leave with us?”

He stood in the middle of the empty room, a little fidgety. “Oh, I don’t know. I was thinking of staying a little longer.”

Cisco hesitated, looking back at Caitlin for silent confirmation. “If that’s okay with you.”

She stood up, placing her glass down.

Something about the fact that he seemed reluctant to leave left her with a ghost of a smile.

“You can stay,” she found herself saying, too selfish to take it back.

Cisco took that as an invitation to slip an arm around her waist and waved at his friends. “I’ll see you guys later.”

~.~

They retreated upstairs once the final guests left and the staff started hauling out industry sized vacuum cleaners.

Caitlin flicked on the light and kicked off her heels.

Cisco walked into her room, looking around. “Same pink walls. Same skeleton posters.”

“What, you think I remodelled my room just because we stopped hanging out?”

Cisco plopped on her couch, loosening his tie. “You remodelled everything else about you.”

Caitlin sat on her bed, very self conscious.

Cisco shifted, pulling something out of the couch cushions.

“Hey, is this my hoodie? That was my favourite one, I thought the dryer ate it.”

Caitlin snatched it away. “Piss off.”

“Oh, so we’re swearing now. That’s new.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes.

Cisco seemed totally unbothered. “Remember that time when we just finished midterms, and we’d just had like, the most intense makeup sex for all the times we skipped on dates to spend studying, and we were in your bed when your housekeeper Molida knocked, and you pushed me in the closet and grabbed the first thing you could find to wear to open the door and it was this sweatshirt? Oh man, she knew right away what we were up to,” he chuckled at the memory, throwing his feet up to lie down properly, sprawled against the couch.

His hair splayed messily as he tilted his head up against the leather arm to look at Caitlin, albeit upside down. “Does Molida still work here?”

Caitlin stared wide-eyed, clutching her lace dress by her sides. She nodded mutely.

Cisco seemed to realize what he said and pulled himself upright. “Uh. That probably wasn’t appropriate to rehash right now. Sorry.”

Her surprise wore off. “No, it’s fine.”

Cisco balled up his hoodie, playing with its drawstrings. “Y’know...This is pretty soft, but I bet I’m comfier.”

“Cisco…” she warned.

“Sorry. I tried.”

She huffed.

Cisco sat up more. “So. How are you doing, Caitlin? Really.”

She picked at her nails. “I can barely breathe.”

How was she supposed to feel? How do funerals even work? Yeah, you go stare at the corpse of someone you loved and depended on for the entire 17 years of your life as people who you’ve never seen before cry about why your loved one was so special.

Then you drive miles away to a cemetery to watch a big truck dig dirt in the ground for where they’re now going to go forever until they decompose into dust.

Then, you eat food. Then it’s over.

And everything resumes to normal.

They expect everything to go back to normal.

Like Caitlin could ever get things back to normal.

She blinked rapidly.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped as she began to wipe away the rush of tears again. “I just—”

Cisco was already by her side, “There’s nothing you need to be sorry for.”

—They both knew that was a lie—

“I miss him. I miss him and I don’t know what to do, how am I going to go to school and apply to college and—and turn 18 without him here.”

“I know,” Cisco soothed.

“And I feel so bad because he was in so much pain. It’s bad that I want him still here when he was suffering, but Cisco, I need my dad, things with my mom are so bad and she keeps telling me I’m being a baby about this, like I should’ve been prepared since we knew he was dying but doesn’t she know that’s easier said than done? What am I supposed to do? Erase all the memories of him from my brain? Not love him anymore?”

She looked at her hands and winced at the black smudges of her mascara.

Cisco hopped up to go to her bathroom and returned with wet towelettes, wiping the streaks on her face away.

“There,” he whispered gently. “Caitlin, you feel how you feel. Grief is real and it doesn’t go away in a day.”

She looked down at her lap. “Why are you really here? Why don’t you hate me?”

“Caitlin, you know that what had happened was a big misunderstanding. I don’t hate you. I can’t hate you. I’d never."

She felt herself slipping as she leaned forward, her fingers inching their way across her duvet cover for him.

He took her hand like he did during the funeral, and she felt her heart do that thing. That jittery fluttering thing.

They were close.

She didn’t like the way he was looking at her. She loved the way he was looking at her.

She got up to throw out the wet wipes and wash her hands.

“Soooo…” Cisco drawled, his voice carrying over the rush of water from her sink, “Senior year, huh? You ready?”

“No.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

Caitlin hedged at the edge of the bathroom door.

“Um, how’s Barry and Iris?”

She was curious, based off the short stiff conversations she had. “I didn’t really get the chance to talk with them about that.”

That was a nice way of putting it, not like she sort of turned the corner every time she found to be in the same room as them after what happened with Barry.

Caitlin was glad he didn’t say what she deserved. Why don’t you ask them yourself?

It was too much.

Cisco’s face lit up. “Ooooh, you’d never believe it. They finally did it!”

“No!” Caitlin perked up immediately, walking back and sitting at the opposite end of the couch. She drew her knees to her chest, deliberately avoiding Cisco’s legs spread out along the cushions.

“She and Eddie broke up?!?”

They fell into the easy old habits of teenage gossip. The revolving drama around Barry and his decade long pining on Iris. She was happy for them. She truly was.

The last thing Caitlin remembered was the awkward dance they were doing after Eddie found out that Barry was in love with his girlfriend.

Cisco was nice about it, like Caitlin didn’t wreck a relationship and almost ruined Barry’s most coveted friendship in the process.

It turned out Eddie broke it off the day before Iris was about to break up with him, both knowing her feelings were stronger for Barry than they were for him.

“So now they’re dating? For real?”

Cisco nodded, “Oh yeah, it’s pukey. Power couple, definitely contenders for Homecoming King and Queen. I mean, unless they’re up against us, that is.” Cisco winked.

Caitlin looked down at her lap, blushing. She forgot how much Cisco flirted. She forgot how much she liked it.

Her stomach grumbled.

“Hungry?”

She shrugged, “There’s probably leftovers from downstairs.”

“Uh, you mean those frou frou crab puffs and asparagus squares?” Cisco scoffed and got up, “Nah, we’re not doing that.”

Caitlin cocked an eyebrow, watching Cisco pace around her bedroom.

“What do you want? We’re gonna feast. I’m talking all your favourites. Let’s go, I want this entire bedroom filled with junk and I don’t wanna hear one complaint.”

Caitlin bit her lip holding in her smile. “...I wouldn’t mind a Big Belly Burger.”

“Yes!” Cisco crowed, pumping a fist. “...And?”

“Starbucks? A mocha.” Her stomach grumbled again. “I want fries.”

“You got it, babe. I’m gonna Uber Eats the shit outta them.”

The endearment slipped and Caitlin didn’t correct him.

“Hey, where’s your mom? Does she want anything?”

From Big Belly Burger? Hardly.

“She went to her study. She said she wanted to be alone.”

Caitlin watched Cisco give out his gigantic order over the phone, frowning when he batted away her mother’s credit card.

“Yeah, can I order a double—make that triple—cheeseburger with ketchup, mustard and fries. Yeah, and two California burgers with ketchup, mustard tomato and extra lettuce,” Cisco paused, putting his hand over the phone speaker, “You still like extra lettuce, right?”

She nodded. He stuck out his tongue and mouthed out ‘weirdo’.

“Right and I’ll add two large fries to that order. Thanks, yeah man, debit.”

It was night, Caitlin realized distractedly, when the doorbell rang and she looked outside to find it was dark.

The food came quickly, and Molida helped Cisco carry it all up. Caitlin avoided the sneaky looks she gave them as Cisco prattled on happily about bumping into her in the hallway.

She knew what this looked like. She shot Molida a glare.

Caitlin wasn’t going to end up in only Cisco’s hoodie tomorrow morning. She wasn’t.

Molida found a red picnic tablecloth and they spread it across the floor, then dug into the food, sitting together against the foot of her bed.

When Caitlin’s fingers were salty from fries and Cisco was lying against the tablecloth with his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling with a Twizzler hanging out of his mouth, she knew she was in big trouble.

She threw a wrapper at him, and he batted it back lazily.

“So how was your summer?”

Cisco turned to his side and squinted, “Promise not to be mad?”

She gulped. “Promise.”

“I got the summer internship at Star Labs. I’m not going to lie—It’s awesome.”

Caitlin pushed down her flair of jealousy. She’s always wanted to intern at Star Labs. They both had. It was their dream. They were going to apply together and hopefully work together and then spend all of their lunch breaks kissing. But doing that would be like the daughter of McDonalds working at Burger King. Her mom was pretty strict that all her volunteerism and job experience in research would be for Tannhauser Industries.

“I’m not mad! That’s super cool! How did you get it?”

“Professor Stein wrote me a letter of recommendation.”

“Seriously, I think that’s great.”

He gave her a side-eye. “Really?”

Caitlin swallowed down the lump in her throat. “Yes, of course. What is it you’re working on?”

Caitlin couldn’t help smiling along to Cisco’s vivid description of the particle accelerator project the lab was working on, how it will revolutionize Central City’s energy economy and possibly be the biggest metropolitan advancement in physics since the adaptation of electricity—Sounded like a stretch on Cisco’s part— but it did seem pretty cool.

“What about you? Any cool internships?”

Caitlin shook her head. “...No. I mean, does it really matter?”

Cisco frowned. “You were the one who told me it did. That it would look good on our college aps.”

She folded her hands in her lap tightly and put on a strained smile. “Well it’s not like I had the time after all, now did I?”

“What do you mean?”

Caitlin blinked. “Cisco, I watched my Dad die.”

Cisco’s smile fell off his face. “Oh Caitlin.”

“I’m sorry, that came out badly. I—It’s all I can think about today.” That and him. “I’m not fun. You should go home.”

“I didn’t come to have fun, Caitlin. Or to get back together.”

He paused, “I mean, unless you want…”

“Cisco.”

“Right, ignore me,” he sighed. “I came because you’ve been my best friend since Kindergarten and no matter what’s going on between us, I still want to be there for you.”

That meant a lot, actually. Something Caitlin couldn't put in words. She had always had Cisco, always have had him by her side, that used to be fact. These past few months have been horrible, Caitlin no longer certain that any of the things or people she believed in were true. But that, what Cisco just said, was like a soothing balm.

“Thank you.”

Cisco pushed some trash out of the way, scooting closer.

“Would you like to talk more about him? Your dad?”

Caitlin shook her head no. She’s had enough right now. Maybe later. “Distract me? Please?”

Cisco fished in his bag for one last fry. “Okay, yeah, I can do that. What else did you do then this summer? I doubt Miss I Read Tolstoy For Fun sat on her ass and did nothing since July.”

Caitlin twisted her fingers, “I hung out with Lexi.”

He groaned, flopping back onto the tablecloth, covering his eyes with the palms of his hands.

“Nooo, why?” he whined.

“She’s not that bad. She looks out for me. And she was very supportive about my dad.”

Cisco peeked from under his hands, “Yeah, uh huh, I’m listening. So, I’m just wondering, do I need glasses or something because last time I checked she was not there today.”

Caitlin opened her mouth, then closed it, thinking back to the hurt she felt when the group chat didn’t respond to her texts that morning.

If Caitlin were to be honest with herself, she didn’t expect much from Lisa and Shawna. Lisa probably forgot and she doubted Shawna even checked her phone since her boyfriend came back from college this summer.

But Lexi promised she’d be there.

“I’m sure she had a good explanation.”

Cisco’s eyes softened. “She doesn’t deserve you.”

“She protected me because she thought you hurt me. You don’t know her,” Caitlin accused.

Her phone beeped. Caitlin looked.

Omg Caitlin I’m so sorry an emergency came up. I wish I was there with you!!! Feel better lots of love, xoxoxo.

She flashed the text at Cisco. “See? She had an emergency.”

“What, did she break a nail?”

“Cisco!”

“I don’t trust her.”

“You don’t have to,” Caitlin snapped. “She’s my friend. Not yours.”

She saw the way Cisco made a funny face. His eyebrows pinched, mouth open like he wanted to argue more, but changed his mind.

They’ve argued so much this year over stupid, pathetic things.

“Okay,” he said shortly, and Caitlin knew the topic was dropped.

“So, have you, um, been seeing anyone?” Cisco asked her, trying to sound casual.

Caitlin picked at her nails. “No.”

“Nice,” Cisco replied. Then quickly shook his head, gesturing rapidly. “No, I don’t mean, like, that’s nice. It’s not, it’s so not. Anyone would want to date you, like why aren’t guys lining up to date you.”

Cisco went beet red as he stuck his foot in his mouth. “I just meant like, nice. You know like, um...nice,” he finished lamely.

There was a pause. Caitlin’s cheeks were also aflame, paired with the burning need to ask him the same thing, but she was terribly afraid of his answer.

“Have you?” she choked out.

“No,” Cisco said quickly, averting his gaze. He laughed dryly. “I’m kind of still hung up on my ex.”

“Oh.”

“I really like her. She’s the prettiest, smartest girl in school. I’ve known her forever. Since Kindergarten.”

Caitlin bit on the nail of her thumb, trying not to smile.

Cisco caught her, and his smile widened. “She has big brown eyes and the loveliest speaking voice.”

“Cisco,” she mumbled, losing battle as she fought the dangerous effects of his playful grin.

“Her name is Melinda Torres.”

She gasped. “Oh, screw you,” Caitlin spluttered, pushing him away, pelting him with empty fry cartons.

Cisco cracked up. “We were six, Caitlin! When are you going to let it go?”

“When you stop claiming she was your first girlfriend,” she shot back, falling easily into this old silly, stupid argument.

She leaned back, supporting herself with her elbows bent behind her on the floor.

“I kissed you first.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t like it.”

“That was a mistake,” she huffed, her nose up in the air, pretending to be haughty.

“No, you’re right,” Cisco admitted. “It was. Crazy eight-year-old me.”

“Remember when we were ten and Hartley pushed you in his locker?”

Cisco propped up on his elbows too, mirroring her. “Ooh, and he denied it like the dick he is? Pretty sure that was the birth of my claustrophobia.”

“That’s how I feel,” Caitlin admitted, looking aside. “Like I’m trapped. I don’t want things to be like this.”

“Like what?”

He was going to make her say it, wasn’t he?

She hated how her voice shook.

“Like everything is broken. I miss you.”

“Caitlin, I swear all you have to do is say the words and all of this could be over. I still—”

“Stop,” she pleaded weakly. She had to shut that down, because if she let him continue, if she let him keep talking... then she might listen. “Just. Please. Not now.”

Cisco stopped talking, but came closer, sat next to her as their backs rested against the side of her bed, and now they were brushing shoulders.

Cisco reached up on the bed to find his phone that he dropped there but instead found the gift box with the pearls instead.

“Woah,” he said when he popped the lid. “Pretty sure this is worth more than my entire house.”

Caitlin rolled her eyes. “It’s from my mom. I hate it.”

Cisco was skeptical, picking it up and admiring it. “I dunno Cait...This looks fly to me.”

“She thinks she can buy my sadness away.”

He was distracted by what looked like a pearl count. “Huh?”

“Mom tried to force me to wear that with this dress instead of my locket.”

Cisco’s eyes flickered back to hers at the mention of the locket. Caitlin reached for it, gripping like it was her lifeline. “You know Daddy gave this to me. And she said I was being childish for caring about this.”

Cisco put the expensive pearls down, and placed a hand on Caitlin’s knee.

“It’s not childish. Look, Dr. T is cool and stuff, but I know she doesn’t like me all that much, and she’s whack for controlling how you choose to continue the memory of your dad.”

Caitlin leaned her back against the edge of her bed, her lips parting as she listened, her eyes attentively on his.

“That locket has sentimental value she can’t just like, turn you into her. Like an ice princess Barbie. You’re smart and special and gorgeous and you.”

“Cisco,” she breathed, her eyelids going heavy as he continued passionately. She hung onto his every word.

“And so screw her then. Whatever. She didn’t want you to wear your locket? Well you still did. You have autonomy Caitlin, you do what you want.” He reached forward, dropping his licorice and taking the locket in his hand.

He fiddled with it as he kept talking, unclasping the hook. The little pendant swung open, revealing the picture of her father wedged in the frame.

“That’s a nice photo,” he murmured.

“I switched it out.”

Cisco looked up. “Right, of course. It would be weird if you still had my face in your necklace. We’re not dating anymore. And especially wearing it today. He’s the one who gave you the locket, it makes sense you have your dad.”

He played with it some more.

Caitlin hoped he couldn’t hear the way her heart was beating out of her chest.

“I never noticed the fine details before. This has actually really nice engravings. Is it silver?”

He flipped the pendant twice. His thumb accidentally slid on the tiny glossy photograph, causing it to move out of place.

Her dad’s picture stuck to his finger, and when he pulled away he was met with the old image of himself.

He went quiet.

“Oh.”

She looked up and said, “It’s hard to get it out once its in.”

“Right.”

She leaned forward, his hand still clasped around her necklace, with hooded eyes. She hesitated, an inch from where she wanted him. Cisco’s eyes fell to her mouth, his own opening slightly.

She tilted her head and kissed him.

A warm feeling spread through her chest as she clung to him, kissing him desperately, afraid it would be the last time ever.

Cisco inhaled sharply, a surprised moan escaping him before he pressed his lips back, pulling her into his lap.

Caitlin straddled him as his hands moved to her back, holding her through the black lace of her dress. The dress hiked up against her thighs, exposing her legs in nylons.

Caitlin couldn’t stop. Her tongue was in his, fitting perfectly exactly how it used to before.

Her arms snaked around his neck, and Cisco’s head thudded back against the edge of the bed, breaking away shortly so he could catch his breath.

“Caitlin,” Cisco panted out. “Shit.”

“I need you. Please, Cisco. I missed you so much.”

He put his mouth on her neck, against the silver chain, and Caitlin’s eyes fluttered close with a soft mewl.

She gripped onto his hair as he made his way back up her throat, kissing her pulse point, her jaw, her cheek, her lips.

Her mind went fuzzy as arousal pooled dangerously below. His strong hand was on her thigh now, and all she wanted it was up, up, up. She almost wanted to laugh, how good this felt, but it wasn’t funny how much she needed him.

She didn’t know how she went this long without.

Her fingers shook when she reached behind, unzipping her dress. The top sagged forward, bunching around her chest. She pushed it down, exposing what she was wearing underneath, and Cisco’s eyes went dark.

She placed his hands over her bra, and he caressed her gently, then pulled away quickly with a groan.

“No,” he said. “We shouldn’t do this.”

Time stopped. Caitlin felt like she was stuck on fragile ice.

“You...You don’t want me?”

Cisco looked conflicted. “I want you. I want to. I want to so much, but...Baby, your dad just died. You’ve been crying off and on all day. We broke up. I don’t want to do something you’ll regret.”

She swooped in, kissing him deeply. “Then let’s not be broken up. I want this. I need you.”

She grinded into his lap, and he hissed. “I missed you. We’re so good together. You know we are.”

Cisco took a lock of her hair into his hand, marvelling at the new silver highlights. Caitlin unpinned it and it all went spilling out.

“It looks so different.”

“Bad?”

Cisco didn’t reply.

“I’m still me. I’m still your Caitlin.”

She kissed him again, over and over as long as he’d let her, which he always did.

“I don’t think you understand how much I love you.”

Caitlin’s heart stuttered, and she rolled her hips against his again, pulling his shirt out from beneath his dress pants. Her black nails against his warm skin.

“Then show me.”

He whimpered, pressing his face into her bare shoulder. Kissing her there lightly. He tried to pull her dress sleeve back up, but she stopped his hand, and slid it back down, then brought it to her bra clasp.

“Show me, Cisco.”

His fingers unhooked the clasp.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded, one tone short of begging, “Yes. Please.”

He lifted her up. Caitlin wrapped her legs around his waist as she pulled off his tie completely, dropping it on the floor.

He detoured around the bed to turn off the lights, then placed her down gently against her duvet.

She snapped his suspenders before he could unclip them.

“Hey now,” he said, and she giggled at his heated gaze. He pulled his wrinkled white button up over his head.

It went dark and she could no longer really see him. But she could feel him all around her, touching her, and she could hear him, whispering softly in her ear, and that was all that she needed.

~.~

Come morning, Cisco was sleeping soundly beside her and she had half the urge to push him away out of sheer mortification. The other half wanted to wake him up and do it all over again.

She poked at his face until he snuffled. He opened a bleary eye, his hair a birdsnest of tangles, but yawned and smiled at her.

And just like that they were okay.

~.~

Cisco had left after breakfast with a quick kiss and a promise to call her at lunch time, skedaddling to make it home to change and get to Star Labs on time. Molida let him out silently, one eyebrow arched high at Caitlin.

“It was nice seeing you again, Cisco. Hope to see you around soon.”

“You too, Molls!”

Caitlin wrapped her arms around the sleeves of Cisco’s hoodie as she stood on her front porch, watching Dante’s car pull out of their parking garage.

Cisco waved before he U-turned then drove down the road.

Caitlin found herself smiling softly, fingers curled into the fleece, unable to stop remembering last night in vivid detail.

Molida cleared her throat.

“Miss Snow?”

Caitlin snapped out of her daze.

“Yes?”

“You might want to um—“ Molida gestured to her own neck. “Let’s get you changed and dressed before your mother wakes, yeah?”

Caitlin burned furiously under the housekeeper’s gaze, slapping her hand over the hickey Cisco left on her throat and followed her back inside obediently in search for concealer.

~.~

Caitlin thought the magazines scattered on Lexi’s bed were pure trash but was somehow talked into taking the Cosmo quizzes anyway.

Lisa painted her nails a bright red as she read the next quiz title. “Are You Good In Bed?”

Shawna snorted. “Bitch, please.”

Lexi dug through her closet, pulling a blue dress out and holding it in front of herself in the mirror. “Oh my god, like we need a quiz to know.”

Lisa high fived her, nearly tipping over her paint bottle, “Preach. Caitlin, when it comes to sex positions you….A. sometimes try different things, sometimes stick to classics. B. Tend to stick to a couple favourites or what he suggests, but you’re not too keen on doing anything out there. Or C…”

Lisa gave Caitlin a feral grin and purred, “Change it up eveerrrrynight.”

Caitlin squirmed, trying to dispel the images of Cisco’s fingers and mouth. “I don’t feel comfortable answering that.”

Shawna rolled her eyes. “Why not?”

Lexi snapped her fingers. “Let’s not embarrass Caitlin.”

Caitlin smiled tightly at Lexi, “Thank you—”

“—She’s obviously a virgin, and there’s nothing wrong with that Shawna.”

Caitlin frowned. “Actually—”

“Fine,” Lisa interrupted. “You answer the question, Shawna. A, B or C?”

And there went Shawna, giving way too much information about exactly how she liked to get it with her college long distance boyfriend.

Caitlin closed her eyes, inhaling through her nose. These girls could be so much sometimes.

Why was she even trying to defend herself?

Whose matter was it whether she’s slept with someone or not other than her and well...Cisco. The only person she’s ever slept with.

She side eyed them, laughing over kinks. Sure, the conversations weren’t riveting, but it’s not like they should be. Caitlin’s been sheltered by her old friends, how they all bonded over science and school.

These girls didn’t care and that was refreshing. Besides, they knew how to be girls how to not be socially awkward. They were bold and flirty and knew what they wanted and weren’t afraid to tell you.

Caitlin admired that. Really, she did.

“So how does this skirt fit on me? I love it, it cost a lot but worth it,” Lexi asked, sucking in her stomach. “It’s Ralph Lauren.”

Lisa and Shawna oohed and ahhed.

Caitlin stopped scrolling through Instagram to look up. “Yeah, that one’s nice. I have it in green. It’s from last season.”

Caitlin went back to Instagram, bored, oblivious to the way Lexi narrowed her eyes.

“Well, whatever. Do you think Ronnie would notice my legs in it?”

“Ronnie? Ronnie Raymond?”

“Yeah, he’s so hot. Don’t you think so?”

Caitlin shrugged, “He used to have a crush on me sophomore year. He’s very intelligent.”

“Shut up!” Lexi shrilled, "No way.”

Lisa looked at Caitlin as if she had three heads, “Well why didn’t you hit that?”

Caitlin frowned. “I was with Cisco.”

“You dropped Ronnie McHottie for Mosquito?”

“Ha,” Shawna snorted. “Cisquito.”

Caitlin bit down on her inner cheek, temper flaring.

“Don’t call him that!”

“Why the hell not?” Lexi demanded, throwing the skirt on the bed. “He fucking cheated!”

“He did not,” Caitlin snapped.

Lexi’s gaze softened. “He did, Caity. He really threw you in for a number if you believe otherwise. Twisted bastard. What’s rule one, ladies?”

Lisa rose her hand like this was a pop quiz. “No talking about our exes unless it’s talking shit.”

Shawna nodded sagely. “Amen.”

Caitlin swallowed, staring down at her phone.

“Caitlin, can you go get my black belt?”

She was glad for the excuse to leave, grumbling under her breath as she walked over to Lexi’s walk in closet.

The black belt was beneath a pile of other clothes, and when she grabbed it, a heap fell to the floor. Caitlin crouched down, picking up the items from where the half fell into an empty Ralph Lauren bag.

She mindlessly pushed three camisoles back into the shelf, when her fingers brushed against something crinkly.

She pulled away the receipt from the bag.

Caitlin couldn’t help but peruse it, curious to see how much Lexi paid for the skirt, even though she knew it was really none of her business.

She stopped short at the date.

Lexi bought the skirt yesterday. At eleven thirty, to be precise. It said so on the timestamp. The exact same time Caitlin was sitting in a church staring at her father’s coffin.

Lexi’s ‘emergency’ was a fashion one.

Caitlin wanted to scream.

She crumpled the paper in her hand and dropped it on the floor, leaving the rest of the fallen items there too.

She grabbed the belt and threw it at Lexi.

“Woah,” Lexi scolded, trying to catch it before the buckle hit the ground. “Aggressive much?”

“Shut up,” Caitlin bit out, gathering her stuff.

“What did I do?” Lexi asked, and Caitlin scoffed, fighting back tears. Lisa and Shawna watched Caitlin with identical judgey faces.

She almost told her off. She should have. Like, how the hell was that okay? Caitlin told Lexi how important it was to her that she’d come, and she promised she would and Caitlin was stupid enough to believe her.

But it didn’t make sense. Lexi was so kind to her, so compassionate and, yes, shallow maybe but supportive.

They’d text until midnight, and eat brownies in Caitlin’s kitchen. She picked her up and helped her out when she had nobody. Why would she do that, if not for she cared?

If she let Lexi go then she’d have nobody.

And yes. She had Cisco, Cisco today, by some twisted miracle of fate, she had him again, but what about tomorrow?

How long before Cisco realizes Caitlin’s not the same girl anymore and leaves her behind.

She wasn’t holding her breath.

Caitlin slowed, putting her Coach purse back down. Maybe she was acting too hasty. Lexi did invite her over today after all. This whole afternoon was dedicated to cheer Caitlin up.

Maybe Lexi’s mother bought the skirt. Or her grandmother. Maybe the store’s printer had the wrong date.

“Nothing,” Caitlin eventually replied. She pulled her hair in a ponytail and adjusted her tank top.

“Sorry, I—” Her eyes wandered up the walls of Lexi’s room, passing along the posters of Shawn Mendes and Cardi B when she spotted a creepy crawly.

“A spider!”

The girls jumped up and screamed as Caitlin sat there on Lexi’s bed, thighs pressing against glossy pages of trashy magazines, her hair blowing every so often with the change of direction of Lexi’s fan.

Caitlin clutched her purse to her chest as Lisa sprayed perfume at the bug per Lexi’s commands and Shawna screamed bloody murder, wondering what the hell was wrong with her, if she could really be this pathetic.

~.~

The last two weeks of summer vacation consisted of Caitlin texting Lexi Laroche during the day as Cisco interned at Star Labs, waiting for three-thirty, when he’d drive over and spend the rest of the evening with her.

They’d swim in her pool, watch movies, and go to the science museum. Sharing ice creams, sharing kisses, sharing sunsets.

It wasn’t their dream of working together at Star Labs like they hoped eight months ago, but it was still good.

~.~

Caitlin wasn’t good.

Cisco eyed her a lot when he thought she wasn’t looking.

Like the time she was hungover from Lexi’s party the night before, when Cisco hadn’t even known that she’d ever gotten drunk.

Like when he suggested meeting up with Barry or double dating with him and Iris and she clammed up and went no, no, no.

Like every time he said he loved her and she’d only kiss the words out of his mouth.

And he’d ask her a lot, if they were good.

And she’d always say they were with a reassuring tug on his hand while hiking along the trail near her estate, or when they had lunches by the streaming brook.

They were good, she’d say as sticky August turned into breezy September, and the first week of classes loomed right around the corner.

“We’re good,” she promised, twisting her silvery hair into a bun before they crossed the street to avoid Lexi’s home.

So they were good.

#killervibe #cisco x caitlin #the flash fic #the flash #Caitlin snow #lux et veritas #tkv fic #Cisco Ramon

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thecsientist · 7 years ago

Note

Oooooh ummm how about Olivarry and College AU. Maybe Oliver's a TA and Barry's an undergrad Junior or Senior? High School is cool too haha. Maybe Oliver's a jock if you go the high school route

alrighty so before i give this a go, i have a high school texting au for arrowverse (includes mcu and spn as well) called dramaverse on ao3 (my user is castielfalls) if ur interestedanyway i’ll get on w it

it’s probably not good it feels kinda rushed but i tried sjsgksbsja—

“Don’t freak out.”

“I’m not freaking out,” Barry whispers back, smacking Cisco’s arm. He laughs and leans away from the blushing brunet, teasing, “Sure you aren’t. His arms are twice the size of yours.” Barry rolls his eyes, frowning at his friend, “No, they’re not.” Iris makes a ‘yikes’ face to them as she looks pointedly at the man of their conversation, “Uh, yeah. They are.”

“Allen, Ramon, West. You have something to share with the rest of the class?” Dr Wells asks. The trio immediately quiet down bashfully, Cisco gesturing to him to continue with the lesson. The blonde seated next to Dr Wells watches them strangely but doesn’t say anything.

“He’s looking over. Do something!” Cisco whispers and Barry ignores him, writing notes into his notebook. Caitlin turns to face them from her seat in the row in front of their and asks, “Are you talking about the new TA?” Iris nods, grinning, “Isn’t he a living God?” Caitlin shrugs, glancing at him, “Hm. Not my type. Maybe he’s Barry’s type, though.”

“Shut up,” Barry hisses at the three of them, causing them to laugh quietly, shutting up when Dr Wells shoots them another look. The teacher sighs dramatically, capping his marker shut as he leans against the table, “You too, Snow? Really, you four are seniors now. You would think you’d know when to talk.” Barry glares towards Cisco who’s laughing, “Sorry, Dr Wells. They’re just bothering me.”

Dr Wells stares up at the quartet before sighing again, gesturing to the teaching assistant, “If they’re bothering you so much, you’re welcome to sit here, with Mr Queen.” Cisco full-on bursts out laughing and Iris starts giggling, both of which sends Barry into a frenzy of annoyance, making him impulsively grab his things and move to the desk next to Dr Wells’, where the teaching assistant sat.

Now that Barry is next to him, the blonde’s features are more defined and clear, which isn’t making his new seat any less distracting from his former one with Cisco and Iris.

“I’m Oliver. Wells said you’re Allen, but what’s your first name?” Oliver asks smoothly for the formality of introduction and Barry barely breathes, “I’m Barry.” Oliver nods, sending Barry a strange smile as he asks, “So what were you guys talking about?”

“Oh. Um, Dr Wells has never had an attractive TA before and you’re… the first one. He had one before you called Eobard, who’s a distant relative of Eddie, but he’s horrible,” Barry rambles. Oliver watches him with an endearing smile, “Hm. Well, I’ve never been a TA to a teacher with such attractive students either, so I guess we’re in the same boat.”

Damn him and his good looks, Barry thinks to himself. He’ll never make it through the lesson at this rate.

“My sister’s in this class, I’m sure you already know based on our last names,” Oliver says, pretending to work on Barry’s homework with him so Dr Wells doesn’t come at them for talking. Barry starts glancing around the lecture hall, “Thea? She said you’re like two years older than us but you look our age. Your family has great genes.” Oliver shrugs, placing the cap of the pen against his lips thoughtfully, “Two years isn’t that far, Barry. So what, you have a thing for my sister?”

“No! No,” Barry quickly denies. “I just know you’re both good-looking, that’s all. We don’t even talk that much, I only know her through Roy.”

“Thea tells me about her friends sometimes. She told me about you,” Oliver says, smiling. His smile is actually really gentle, Barry finds. Oliver continues, “She told me you’re a nerd, you’re cute, funny, intelligent and incredibly bi. Which is something she shouldn’t be telling me because she didn’t have your permission to. But. Just slipping it in that I’m bi too.”

“Oh,” Barry can only say as he processes what Oliver just said. “I, uh… Remember I said we rarely have any hot TAs? I don’t know if you knew, but I’ve been kinda staring at you since you walked in. That’s why Iris and Cisco kept teasing me. But we can shut up about that now.”

“You think I’m hot.”

“Right. Yeah, I mean… How could we not?” Barry laughs quietly. Dr Wells is talking about quantum physics and Cisco and Iris are whispering amongst themselves. Cisco lifts his phone and makes a show of taking a photo of Barry and Oliver. Barry rolls his eyes.

“Listen, Barry. We just met. It’s a long shot, but ever since my father died, I believe in there’s no better time than the present. I haven’t had this easy a conversation with anyone for some time now, and these past fifteen minutes with you have been great,” Oliver says. Barry has an odd feeling about what’s coming next and he’s sure it’s obvious he can barely contain himself because he hears Iris cough in an attempt to disguise her laugh.

“Yeah?”

“So, Barry Allen. Are you free this Friday? I want to see where this can go,” Oliver asks, smiling.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am,” Barry stutters which Oliver grins at, “Great. Our class is the last one for the day so we can leave together.”

“And that’s it for today’s class! Remember to do your homework and submit it next week Wednesday,” Dr Wells announces. The class begins to disperse and Thea comes bounding down the steps towards Barry and Oliver. She’s beaming, the little shit.

“See? Told you you both had a thing for each other,” she winks, laughing. Barry stares at her, bewildered, “You… You set this up?” Thea nods, mischief on her face, “I told Ollie about you and he was interested so I made him become a TA for Dr Wells so he could meet you. And you!” — she pokes Barry’s arm teasingly — “When you saw that photo of my brother, I could tell you were all over him! Well, have fun on your little date!” She laughs as she leaves the classroom, linking arms with Roy, satisfied with her work.

Iris and Cisco come up behind her, Caitlin frowning as she passes a 20 dollar bill to Cisco who asks Barry, “He asked you on a date, didn’t he?”

“… Yes.”

“Bingo! Your turn, West,” Cisco cheers as Iris passes him a 5.

“I can’t believe your friends bet on us.”

“Yeah? Can’t believe your sister successfully set us up.”

“Touché.”

#olivarry #olivarry fic

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austencello · 7 years ago

Text

Crisis on Earth X - Crossover Music Notes (Arrow 6x08, etc)

This year’s crossover was truly a four-hour event blending all four shows. Unlike last year, I have to include all four shows instead of just focusing on the Arrow episode. In doing so, I will focus on several main characters or duos: Oliver and Felicity, Firestorm (Martin Stein and Jax), Barry and Iris, and a few notable appearances.

Olicity

Oliver and Felicity (along with guests from the other shows) arrive in Central City to be a part of Barry and Iris’ wedding. Barry gives Oliver encouragement to marry Felicity in a very sweet scene accompanied by strings and oboe (used in special scenes for Olicity).

Oliver is emboldened by this and Joe’s touching toast to propose to Felicity at the rehearsal dinner. As he stumbles into the proposal and becomes clearer in his asking, the Olicity theme (”The One I Love” - 2x23, more commonly known from 3x20 “Convince Him”) plays in the piano and strings, the original instrumentation for their theme. This is the theme of declarations of love and firsts stemming from 2x23 “I love you.” The music changes to Felicity’s humorous strings (”Fearsome Five” S4 - often played in awkward situations starting in 3x03) as Felicity responds no in a very confusing way and then to sadder/minor strings, piano, and clarinet (used a lot more for the two of them this season) as she responds loudly that she does not want to marry him and walks away.

In the second episode, Oliver brings up the proposal and is confused why Felicity would say no when she accepted his proposal back in season 4. As he tries to communicate his confusion and Felicity asks him to respect that she doesn’t want to be married, “Someone You Love” (3x12) plays. This theme is used for Oliver and Felicity when they are going through hard times in their relationship despite their love for each other whether it is Felicity telling him that she doesn’t want to be a woman he loves when he returned from the dead teaming up with Malcolm Merlyn, responsible for Sara’s death and Thea’s manipulation (3x12), “My whole world exploded” 4x08 (crossover) when Felicity finds out that Oliver lied about William, 4x09 - as they discuss marriage in the cages of Damien Darhk and she tells him that she would have said yes, or “Let each other go” at the end of their vows at their fake wedding, 4x16 - “you are my always.” This echoes Felicity’s declaration here that she will always love Oliver. There was never a doubt that Felicity and Oliver deeply love each other. Half of these instances include declarations of love and marriage. This theme is hitting barriers when they are not on the same page on how to move forward.

Felicity and Oliver literally go through hell on both earths until they are reunited in the Legends episode. Evil Oliver threatens Felicity’s life to a darker (low trombones and orchestra chimes) variation of Oliver’s Arrow hero theme. Oliver is a twisted evil version while Felicity is a hero standing up for herself, Kara, and the world. Our Oliver comes in time, threatening evil Kara’s life and then the Nazi versions are whisked away just in time. Both Oliver and Felicity are shaken especially on how they left things unresolved and shaky between them. As Felicity runs into Oliver’s arms, a shortened version of “The one I love” Olicity theme plays in the strings, harp (Felicity’s instrument) and added flute (used in their scenes together in Season 1 and 2) as Oliver declares he just wants to be with her. The music swells as the melody goes up plus new harp arpeggios and they kiss. They realize their hurt feelings and opinions earlier were small compared to not being together.

After the Nazis are defeated and all the teams go home, Barry and Iris mention that they will just get married with a justice of the peace. Felicity mentions that Diggle is ordained and Barry runs him over. After Barry and Iris say their vows, Felicity interjects asking Diggle to marry her and Oliver and then proposes to him. The music keeps the piano and strings from the WestAllen theme and seamlessly moves into the Olicity theme (”The one I love”). The cellos (yay!) and piano play the theme over harp as Felicity proposes, sharing that she believes in Oliver to get through anything and Oliver says yes. His arrow hero theme plays in the horn as they ask John to marry them, then the violins play the Olicity melody (in a similar way to 5x20) as the horn plays a counter-melody giving it a heroic and epic nature as Oliver echoes some of his vows from 4x16: “I am a better human being for having loved you.” As the two couples kiss, all four show themes play in a similar fashion to the opening credits beginning with the Flash running theme over Arrow strings since their wedding did bookend the crossover and ending with the Arrow gliss, ending the crossover in a theme of love and triumph.

Martin Stein/Firestorm

On the other side of the emotional spectrum, this crossover served as a goodbye to Martin Stein, providing several scenes with Jefferson Jax, his other partner in Firestorm as well as Caitlin Snow (bonded by the late Ronnie Raymond, Caitlin’s husband and Martin’s first partner). Full disclosure: I have pages of notes on Arrow’s music but I do not know the other shows to the minute level thereby probably missing a few key moments.

Caitlin and Martin share a lovely moment as they reminisce about Ronnie thanks to the upcoming wedding and Martin’s dreams for his future retirement over piano and harp. His piano/electronic bells theme (”Martin Stein and Firestorm” The Flash S1, “Stein has a secret” - Legends S2, the secret being his daughter) plays at the end as he stays in the lab to create a serum to give Jax superpowers after they will separate.

Despite the fact that separating was Jax’s idea, he is now faced with the reality that he is losing his father figure and person closest to him. After having a little attitude towards Martin about this, they finally confront these feeling while at the Freedom Fighters bunker on Earth X. Stein tells Jefferson that he is like a son to him and that no distance or time will change that. During this talk, Stein/s instrument piano/bells return and then Firestorm’s horn returns as they hug.

As the team fights to get back home, Firestorm splits up to get the portal working. Martin gets shot on the way to pull the lever that activates it. As everything goes into slow motion and he falls, the Legends theme in horn and choir over piano plays as the episode ends, reminding that Stein is a Legend and is dying a hero.

Martin wakes up and manages to pull the lever but is shot one more time. He merges with Jax to survive accompanied by the Firestorm theme in soprano voices, a foreshadowing for later. Unfortunately, it means that Jax is slowly dying as well which they discover as he collapses to the Legends theme.

Martin realizes (after Caitlin tells Ray) that Jefferson will die too and asks him to take the cure to separate them in order that Jefferson may live. It is a beautiful and tragic full circle since Jefferson became Firestorm to save Stein’s life and now they must separate to save Jefferson. The music is at its best of the entire crossover in the scene, both subtle and yet filled with quiet remembrances. Minor strings play as Martin asks Jefferson to give him the vial and Jefferson fights him on this. Voices and violin play the Firestorm theme as Martin says that Jefferson is his son: “how could a father do anything less?” Harp and piano take over as Jefferson gives him the vial and then the horn plays their Firestorm theme as Martin thanks him for an adventure of a lifetime and then again as he dies. Soprano voices take over the theme as the scene pulls away. (I cry every time I watch this scene)

Stein’s electronic instrument plays as Sara enters the room to discover Stein dead, cello and voices play the Firestorm theme as Iris tells Barry, and Caitlin and Cisco are sad together, and harp is added while Ray looks at a picture of the professor and the rest of the team grieve. Flute then oboe plays the Firestorm theme as Jax tells Stein’s family. These instruments and melodies (strings, electronic, harp, cello and choir) return for the funeral as they say goodbye.

The West-Allen wedding

The event that brought the shows/friends together was Iris and Barry’s wedding. As everyone (or almost everyone) celebrates at the rehearsal dinner, the song “I will always come back” plays as everyone gathers. Kudos to @olicityaddicted for noticing that this song played for Oliver and Felicity in 4x01 right before Oliver was going to propose with the souffles. It could be foreshadowing for Olicity or Barry trying to convince Kara that love is important or a theme for Barry and Iris and their relationship but it’s fun to hear again.

Joe gives a beautiful toast about how proud he is to be their dad and watching them grow together. As he thanks Barry and Iris in teaching him how to love again, Barry’s theme plays in the strings. It’s the first interval heard in the Flash (usually in choir and brass) but also integrated into the WestAllen “Best Friends Since Childhood” theme since the pilot when Barry tell Iris that she is his best friend (while clearly having a crush on her). Iris is as much a part of Barry as the Speed Force and to have this theme return as Joe thanks them for reminding him how important love is a beautiful moment.

As a musician who has played at many weddings in a string quartet, I was very pleased with their choice of Haydn’s string quartet No. 62 (”Emperor quartet”, mvt 2) for the prelude as everyone was being seated (also the musicians looked like they were actually playing!) What was even more beautiful was the choice of “Running to You” the song Barry proposed to Iris in 3x17. A beautiful wedding and very unique for them.

Of course, like everything in the Arrowverse, nothing goes to plan and Nazis from Earth X invade. Barry almost gets killed on Earth X and Iris tries to free Supergirl with Felicity. At the end of it all, they decide to get married by a Justice of the Peace and Barry grabs Diggle at Felicity’s suggestion. Diggle is happy to do that and they begin with their vows. As Barry starts with how much changes in his life, the previous Barry theme begins in strings. He then goes on to say that one thing that has always stayed the same is Iris being there for him as the oboe beings their theme “I will wait for you” (2x23). The piano takes that theme over as Iris begins her vows. The Barry/Flash theme returns in the strings: “the Flash may be the city’s hero but Barry Allen, you are mine.” The violins and flute take over the “wait for you” theme as they finish happy and tears in their eyes. All the waiting and planning has finally culminated in this moment.

Returning characters and themes

One of the fun parts of a crossover is having old characters return and different heroes (or villains) interact and this episode was no exception.

The most significant return was Tommy aka Earth X’s Prometheus. In fact, when he is fighting as Prometheus in the church, that is the musical theme that is played “Prometheus.” However, once he is revealed as Tommy Merlyn to Oliver, Felicity and the team, “Sacrifice” (1x23) begins to play. This is the theme that accompanied Tommy’s death as Oliver tried to save him and cried that it should have been him. Of all the deaths, this one greatly affected him to the point of going back to the Island for months. To see a reincarnated version or doppelgänger of his Tommy and talk about his death deeply upsets Oliver. He offers to help this Tommy and give him a second chance. Tommy seems to go along with it (the horn theme sacrifice returns) and then changes on a dime with a chilling performance over electronics and wavering string tremolo. As Tommy kills himself with cyanide, a minor string theme plays which is used for dramatic and tragic moments involving Earth X throughout the crossover: Prometheus taken to the cell, Tommy dying, the team being sent into a firing line and then waiting for the shooting, and Oliver being tested to kill earth X Felicity.

The other memorable return is Citizen Cold who has the same theme “Captain Cold” as his doppelgänger. It provided a great dramatic entrance as he saves the team on Earth X and the theme was used several times throughout when Leo used his cold gun.

His partner Ray was introduced in the same episode with a triumphant trumpet theme. I have not seen his new series on CW seed yet but I am assuming it is the same theme created by Daniel James Chan, who is the composer for that series and co-composer on Supergirl and Legends. For those of you may not know, Blake Neely is co-writing most of his shows this year (except Arrow) and his team all participated in this cross-over: Nathaniel Blume (The Flash) and Sherri Chung (Blindspot and Riverdale).

One subtle but powerful moment was the haunting soprano singing Edelweiss over unsettling electronics and minor strings as Sara and the team are in the camps meeting evil Quentin Lance. Edelweiss is probably one of the most famous songs thanks to the musical The Sound of Music and how Captain van Trapp uses the national song of loving his homeland as a rebellion to the Germans to escape with his family is iconic. Every member of the team stuck there is a violation according to the Nazis in who they are or who they love. Sara doesn’t even know this perverse version of her father and yet represents the team in standing for her beliefs without flinching and in the face of impending death.

The Reverse Flash theme was also back “Catch Me if you can” (S1) with the low electronic pulse and vibrating sound especially when threatening Felicity to give up the code for Star Labs and the last fight with Barry when he was let go.

One of the best parts of the crossovers each year is hearing the hero themes from different shows work together. The opening credits was really cool with the memorable sound of each show. Especially Supergirl’s theme as it has been very scarce from the show the season (and not at all present with the opening Supergirl shield) which made it even more refreshing to hear it. Understandably, the most frequent were Arrow, Supergirl and The Flash themes (one of the best musical moments of the team themes was when those three saved the building in the second episode). The Legends theme “Set a Course” got several moments in the final episode as the team arrives at Star Labs and The ATOM “Atom Flies” gets his moment too as he saves Kara and later rides the T-sphere. The waverider theme “Boarding the Waverider” also plays as everyone arrives on the waverider, as it attacks the Nazi version, and when they leave at the end.

Final Notes

- Blake Neely and his team did a great job creating new themes for the new earth, highlighting hero moments while not cramming hero themes in every single time, and focusing on the emotional and relational moments. My apologies if I skipped over any of your favorite parts. It’s a lot of music (which may be released soon!)

- One of the perks of more money on the crossover is that we got real instruments instead of from a recording program. It sounds so much better!

-Thanks for everyone’s patience and understanding. My wrist is finally out of a splint/brace! I’m still limited in what I can do but things are improving. I’m hoping to fill in the Arrow episodes I missed during the hiatus. Any preference if I start from 6x05 or backwards from 6x09? I keep changing my mind...

- Enjoy the hiatus and the holidays!

@academyofshipping @herskirtsarentthatshort @smoakmonster @ah-maa-zing @almondblossomme @pulpklatura @mel-loves-all @thethornyrant @lovejesusarrowavengersblog @latinasmoak

#crisis on earth x #dctv crossover #arrow music notes #olicity #martin stein #firestorm #westallen #tommy merlyn #captain cold #blake neely

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shrinkthisviolet · 2 years ago

Note

ship game: A, F, M

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

Ships: Narumitsu/Wrightworth, Franmaya, Trupearl, Klapollo, Junithena, Percabeth, Jily, Romione, Hinny, Westallen, Westhallen, Snowest, Thallen, Harritess, Wallinda, Stoncy (up to s2 mostly), Ronance, Jancy, Lumax, Elumax, Juke, Willex, Bumizumi, Kataang, Maiko, Sukka, Samguel (with caveats), Torisha, Jali, Carmanda, Amaniel, Silverparry, Hanleia, Finnpoe, Reyrose, Spideychelle/PeterMJ, Petergwen/Gweter (TASM), Karmala, Tyesha x Aamir

Friendships: So many father-daughter duos (Daniel & Sam, Juli & her dad from Flipped, El & Hopper in s2, Zuko & Izumi, Harry & Jesse, Iris & Joe, Lee & Lyra, Bail & Leia, Phoenix & Trucy), Mai & Zuko & Izumi, Amanda & Sam, Johnny & Sam, Sam & Robby, Tory & Miguel, Miguel & Aisha, the Gaang, Sunset Curve + Julie, Julie & Flynn, Tina & Harrison & Tess, Team Flash (Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Jesse, Wally, Harry, HR, Joe, Cecile), Obi-Wan & Anakin, Obi-Wan & Leia, the Star Wars Trios (Quartet, in the Prequels’ case, since Padmé and Ahsoka both count imo), Anakin & Ahsoka, Plo Koon & Ahsoka, Peter & MJ & Ned, Peter & May, Kamala & Nakia, the Khan family, Kamala & Kamran, Phoenix & Maya, Edgeworth & Maya, Maya & Mia, Maya & Pearl, Apollo & Trucy, Edgeworth & Trucy, Ema & Kay, Ema & Klavier

(There’s also a bunch I love with my OCs but that’s most of the ones I love with canon characters!)

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

I think Star Wars fits the bill, it’s been about 7 years 😂 no plans on leaving soon either! I guess you could count Harry Potter (since 2008), but I’m not really in that fandom like I used to be, so I half-count it.

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

There’s a bunch!! I think…hmm maybe Iris West or Robin Buckley, if I had to choose. Or Sam LaRusso!

ask game!

#ship ask game #fandom ask game #character ask game #not tagging stuff because…way too much to tag 😅

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lechatnoirsalis · 4 years ago

Text

In Times of Covid

In The Cellar. Live !!

Cisco Dimas Quartet

Tonight Fri.1/22/21 @ 8 to 12am

Featuring:

Cisco Dimas -trumpet

Derek Fairholm- piano

Brian Tate- bass

Aaron Glueckauf- drums

Rules: No exceptions

Limited sitting 30 downstairs

must be masked to enter

Must keep a distance of 6'

don't miss

No Cover

0 notes

cisco-fics-4-all · 7 years ago

Text

Sleeping All The Time

Hey everybody. It’s RJ. I’d like to say I’m back, but I’m not sure if that’s true, so I’ll settle with I’m here for now. It’s been a wacky ride, getting on my new meds, taking on more shifts at work, trying to get through the day with bitchy customers and a head full of psych meds. It’s honestly been exhausting, and I’ve been doing all I can to muster up the energy to come back, but it’s frustratingly harder than I anticipated. This little piece is a product of a long nap, and a few FOB songs to get me in the spirit. I know there are still a butt ton of requests waiting to be filled, and some asks waiting to be answered, and I’m not gonna ignore them forever. But for right now, I’m taking it one step at a time. So as a sort of...apology for all that, heres a small Cisco fic, hope you all like it.

“Cisco!” Pablo called as he bounded up the stairs, brandishing a very confused cat in his arms, “Cisco check it out, I taught Iggy a new trick! Cisco!”

“Shhhh!!!” Pablo froze, met with a scowling Francisco, the confused Iggy cat scrambling from Pablo’s arms. “Do you have no concept of an inside voice?!” Francisco demanded, gripping the tops of the banister so tightly, his knuckles were white.

Pablo eyed his doppelganger’s grip on the wood, and imagined Francisco would rather it be his neck, but was restraining himself. “S-sorry,” Pablo mumbled meekly, “I was just...I didn’t mean to-”

“Lay off him Francisco,” Cisco instructed firmly, “she’s still asleep.” Francisco did as he was told, but shot a lasting, smoldering look of warning in Pablo’s direction before turning and dropping dejectedly on the couch. Cisco managed a small smile at his more chipper doppelganger, “what is it you wanted to show me buddy?” he asked politely, calmly, but Pablo knew Cisco, and even if he didn’t, he knew himself. All of the Cisco’s had similar nervous tells.

First was the hair tucking, whenever something was going a little sideways, you could find any Cisco with his hair down tucking it behind his ears carefully. Next was a common one, lip biting, nervous Cisco’s tended to nibble on their bottom lips, sometimes without noticing, which Cisco prime was doing right now as he looked down at Pablo. Third, and possibly less common among the four of them, but still obvious, was the pocketing. The two of them that were career engineers tended to be animated with their hands when speaking, but when they were nervous, those animated hands got tucked securely in pants pockets, probably Pablo guessed, to avoid worse habits like nail biting, or knuckle cracking. Cisco was displaying all three indicators, hair tucked, lip in his teeth, and hands snug in his jeans, and Pablo knew that a nervous Cisco was never a good sign.

“What’s wrong?” Pablo aked, ignoring the question about what he’d wanted to show his doppelganger.

Cisco seemed surprised at Pablo’s intuition at first, but then shook his head realizing it probably wasn’t too hard to piece together from his perspective. “Nothing,” he lied, shrugging his shoulders, “Francisco and I were just worried you might wake RJ.”

“Wake RJ?” Pablo repeated with a frown, “I thought she was awake, I just saw her eating cereal an hour ago.”

Cisco nodded and began to open his mouth to explain something, but Francisco butt in. “She went back to bed idiot, I didn’t realize that was such a hard concept to grasp.”

“Hey, thats enough!” Cisco snapped back, “you don’t get to treat him like garbage just because you’re worried. You know he’s not like us.”

‘Not like us’ stood out to Pablo, making his stomach turn with his own nervousness, his lip finding it’s way between his teeth. “Did you guys vibe something about RJ?” he asked softly, “something bad?”

Francisco made an exasperated noise, but kept his mouth shut. Cisco let out a weary sigh, giving his doppelganger another small smile as he shook his head, “No Pablo, we didn’t vibe something bad about RJ.” He glanced back down the hall towards RJ’s room, a place where all four of them used to congregate quite regularly, but now hardly ever saw. The twisting in Pablo’s stomach got worse, and Cisco seemed to sense it. “Come on, lets go outside for some fresh air ok?” Cisco suggested, nodding towards the back deck door, “I’ll explain it to you out there, alright?”

Pablo nodded hesitantly, climbing the last few steps he’d been stopped on, and following his doppelganger out onto the deck. The sun was bright and warm, and the sky a pretty shade of blue, with massive fluffy white clouds drifting lazily by. Normally a view like that could brighten Pablo’s day in a snap, but with all this strange secrecy about a problem Pablo had yet to know about, the view was unimportant to him. “Is RJ gonna die?” Pablo blurted out the question before he had time to stop himself, the worry in him bubbling to the surface like mentos in coke.

“What? No!” Cisco assured him quickly, “Jesus no...it’s nothing that serious,” he said the word ‘serious’, then seemed to back track and added, “ok well...it’s nothing that detrimental, I should say.”

“Cisco...” Pablo whined, tears brimming in his eyes, “I don’t want RJ to die, I don’t want her to be in pain at all, I just want her to be happy and healthy like always, I don’t want-”

“Slow down buddy,” Cisco quickly intervened, putting a hand on each of Pablo’s shoulders to steady him. “I just said she’s not gonna die, so take a breath and let that sink in before we continue, ok?”

Pablo nodded, doing as instructed while Cisco did the same. He held his breath for a count of ten, then let it out slowly, the twisting in his stomach eased only a little. “Ok tell me,” Pablo said swiftly, squeezing his eyes shut, “what’s wrong with RJ?”

He heard Cisco sigh again, felt his hands fall from his shoulders, then heard “There’s nothing wrong with her,” his eyes snapping open in a confused and accusing look at his doppelganger. “Ok well there is something wrong, but not like wrong wrong...it’s more mentally wrong than physically?” Cisco tried to explain it better, but knew he was failing, after all it was difficult to talk about someone elses’s struggle, you weren’t in their place, you didn’t know the extent of it. Cisco took in another breath, “Ok look, you know what depression is, right?” he asked, hoping Pablo wasn’t as much of a Disney prince as he seemed, and was familiar with the concept of such all consuming negative feelings.

Pablo frowned as if trying to do a particularly hard math problem in his head, “Yes…?” he replied slowly, “I mean...sort of...that’s the thing that you have because...well because of...umm,” He glanced sideways nervously, then whispered the name he wasn’t sure Cisco wanted to hear, “Dante.”

To Pablo’s surprise, Cisco smiled, even while nodding in the affirmative that Pablo was right. “Yeah ok, I do have it, and some of it is from losing Dante, but there’s other parts to it as well,” he nodded to the chairs positioned around the deck table, taking a seat himself.“The important part is that you know what it is,” Cisco continued, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees as he explained, “depression is a mental illness, it’s sort of like...you remember when we had that Harry Potter marathon?” Pablo nodded, not sure how Harry Potter was involved, but listening intently to what Cisco had to say. “Ok, well it’s like being attacked by a Dementor,” Cisco went on, “all the happiness is just sorta...sucked out of you, and you just feel like nothing is worth while, and nothing is good, and nothing makes you happy, and everything makes you tired, and just-” he paused realizing he was rambling, then shook his head, “basically it sucks, and there’s no cure for it, but you can sort of wrangle it into remission with medication and stuff.”

Pablo nodded, absorbing all of this information, and applying it to RJ. “So...RJ has depression?” he asked, wanting to clarify, “that’s whats wrong with her?”

Cisco nodded, “Yup,” he replied, then sighed as he sat back, “and right now, she’s having a hard time wrangling it, so she went back to bed because...well because it seemed like the best thing to do.”

Pablo nodded, then nodded some more, looking almost like a life size bobble head until he asked, “Isn’t she on medication?”

Cisco sighed again, nodding as his eyebrows drew together. “Yeah, she’s on new medication though, and it sometimes takes a while for depression meds to work, if they work at all.” He drew his lip up between his teeth again, gazing thoughtfully into space, “That’s why Francisco is so grouchy, he wants the meds to work for RJ, but theres nothing he can do to make sure they work, and you know him, hes always got a back up plan, only theres no way to have a back up plan in this scenario, so he’s stuck waiting it out and it’s driving him up a wall...it’s driving me up a wall too.”

Pablo frowned at Cisco, watching a sadness come over Cisco’s eyes as he continued to gaze at nothing in particular. He leaned forward, placing a hand on Cisco’s knee. “She’ll be alright though,” Pablo said rather than asked, “she’s always alright in the end, so she’ll be alright this time too.”

Cisco’s eyes focused on Pablo’s face, taking in the determinedly confident little smile Pablo had. “You think so?” Cisco asked, a small smile of his own quirking his lips.

Pablo nodded, “I know so,” he assured Cisco gently, “I mean, she’s got us, so we can make sure she is.”

Cisco’s smile fell slightly, “Pablo, theres no way we can make sure she’s -” but Pablo cut him off.

“Sure there is!” Pablo declared with a wider smile, “I mean no, we can’t do anything about her medicine, but we can do it in other ways,” he was practically grinning now, “we can keep her company, make sure she eats, make sure she sleeps well, make sure she smiles every so often,” he shrugged as if he were listing the simplest tasks in the world, “she’ll be right as rain in no time!”

Cisco let out a soft chuckle at Pablo’s enthusiasm. “You really think we can help her that much?” he asked.

Pablo nodded, “Absolutely,” he replied, “it worked for you didn’t it?”

Cisco smiled at that, “Yeah...yeah I guess it did.”

Pablo smiled back, “See, we can do it, one step at a time.”

“What are you guys so smiley about?” Cisco and Pablo turned towards the door, a groggy RJ gazing down at them.

“I’m sorry darling, I told Pablo to be quieter, but you know how he is-” Francisco was apologizing behind her, but Pablo had jumped to his feet.

“RJ, you’re up!” he rushed her with a hug, “I’m sorry if I woke you, I didn’t realize you needed more rest,” he took a step back, smiling at her the whole time, “do you need anything, water, a snack? Oh, did you wanna see the new trick I taught Iggy?”

RJ blinked at him, the sun and his chipper attitude almost blinding her. “Um...I am thirsty...” she admit, managing a small little smile.

“Ok, I’ll get you some water, or did you want something else? Tea? Coffee?”

RJ smiled a little more, “Tea sounds lovely actually,” she decided, “Earl Grey with milk and honey?”

Pablo nodded, “Coming right up,” he declared. He moved past her carefully, shooting a smile at Francisco as he glared suspiciously at him.

RJ squinted out at Cisco, “Were you two talking about me?” she asked running a hand through he sleep mussed hair.

Cisco nodded, “Yes,” he told her honestly.

RJ frowned, “Nothing bad I hope?”

Cisco shook his head and smiled., “No, nothing bad.”

RJ nodded, “Ok...good.” She scratched her head again and yawned, “Sorry I’ve been sleeping so much lately, I just -”

At that Cisco stood, shaking his head, and taking her face in his hands. “You have nothing to apologize for,” he assured her earnestly, “you get all the rest you need, we’ll be here when you come back.”

RJ gave him a pouty little smile, batting her sleepy lashes at him. “You promise?”

Cisco nodded, “Promise.”

#Cisco Ramon #the Cisco quartet #cisco-fics-4-all #depression #medication #one day at a time #sorry not sorry #fall out boy rox

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ancientbrit · 4 years ago

Text

Natter #21 09/26/2016

Subject: MI MG Natter #21 Date: September 26, 2016 at 9:27:58 PM PDT Wow, where the heck did the year go? It is almost time for the Plant Amnesty's Tree Hugger Bingo with Ciscoe again!! It seems like we only did this just a few weeks back and here it is again on October 6th. If anybody would like to attend again, individual tickets are $35 or if we can come up with a cast of thousands - well six, then we can get a deal again. A table of six @$175 = $29.16 each! If anybody really wishes to attend this really fun event (I will wear one of my hats again) then let me know ASAP - we only have a couple of weeks to get our money down. Now of course, our Hot Topics & Cool Plants event is in the past, but what a blast!!! The day was perfect so we didn't need to erect the canopies. This was Horst's suggestion. "You will be grateful at the end of the day" he said - and we were! The volunteer crews were there in spades just looking for direction and the tables, plants etc were soon up and ready for the day. The string quartet played around the middle of the day and the music was just right - gentle and inviting and all so familiar. I loved it. The classes went off very well and were appreciated. The vendors cleared all their expenses and made a profit and seemed to enjoy their day. There were quite a few MG plants remaining at day's end and overall, sales did taper off after the second class. Parking was a constant problem and I had to position myself at the entrance to inform newcomers that the place was full and they should drive down the hill to park at Wilburton. Some people did do this and saved time. Others drove around me as I was talking and one lady drove around against the traffic flow in a Fiat 500. Another gentleman drove in and said that his son had parked there earlier in his truck and Dad was going to take the truck out and replace it with the car he was driving - so I waved him through. He backed the truck out and then walked back to his car to park it - and saw somebody else taking his spot. He was not best pleased and rushed over to the offender raised his voice a tad. I didn't want to get between them so I left them to it! Around 4:00pm we started to break down - although as we had not erected the canopies it was more a case of helping the vendors to take out their plants and then clean and fold the tables. Everything was completed around 5:00pm and we went home very satisfied with the day. We were tired and I should have had an early night as I had to get up early again on Sunday for the Farmers market clinic. 'Didn't happen of course. This coming week we are probably going to hold a post mortem on 'The Day' to discuss what went well and what didn't. What we should change and what was great. One thing that seems to be ever present in all the sales we have, is a lack of direction in which plants to propagate, but it is an almost impossible shot to call with fashions changing from year to year. This results frequently in the usual suspects being dug, apparently at the last minute with little thought given to presentation or appeal to prospective purchasers. So what to do? One thing that hasn't been tried so far (to my knowledge) is to ask you what you all look for at these sales? I don't mean plants like veggies - everybody has a number of those in mind and they are bought - right? What I have in mind are rather perennials. What do you look for when you attend a sale or go to a nursery? Do you have something definite in mind or do you go for something that appeals to you off the cuff. If you could give a little thought to this and let me know ASAP ( I hope to get some feedback before Saturday when we will hold the PM) I am going to leave you now - I MUST get an early night and catch up on sleep. I have fallen asleep at dinner every evening since Saturday. At least it wasn't whilst I was holding a mug full of hot tea - this time! That was back earlier in the year and I have to say it woke me a lot faster than my alarm clock! You fearless and tired, leader. Gordon

0 notes

agentmarymargaretskitz · 5 years ago

Note

Parkwest for 59 for the dialogue prompts?

(Finally found the notebook I wrote this in when I was overseas. Enjoy a little KF Barry AU)

Linda being back in Central City breathed life back into the team. She hadn’t felt the pressure of being the city’s signature hero like Barry had as she came to terms with her new light-based powers. While on her travel assignment, Linda got to have some time to learn how to wield them. The more she understood them and learned to control them, the less she feared of becoming like Doctor Light.

When she returned home, the STAR Labs team was not the one she left. Apparently time has been changed by Wally, although it was a while before he admitted it to everyone. Zoom was gone, killed by Barry’s ice powers. Linda attributed that to why he was quieter and more withdrawn. Cisco and Wally weren’t speaking after Wally’s confession. Caitlin had been working with Sara Lance or something. And Iris....Iris was happy, but distracted.

On the plus side, being back with them did help stitch some things back together. Frost, Flash, and Vibe were now joined by Firefly to combat the metahumans created by Flashbpoint and the mysterious Alchemy. Her powers came in handy when they dealt with Dillion and Scudder. Blinding flashes of light made it hard to use your powers to target someone. It ended up helping Jesse Wells from getting her world turned upside down by the Top.

“Why couldn’t the Linda Park of my Earth be this cool?” Jesse whined once they had all returned to STAR Labs. “If she hadn’t teamed up with Zoom, she would have an amazing hero like you are!”

Linda blushed, pleased with the compliment.

“Yeah, but I’d rather have our Linda,” Cisco chimed in. “Right, Barry?”

Barry didn’t answer. Linda turned to see him standing still, eyes shut and fists clenched. His hair was still white and his skin remained pale like it did when he used his powers. When he exhaled, his skin started to get color back into it. His hair faded back to brown slowly.

“Fight wore me out,” he sighed, reopening his eyes that were still glowing blue a little. “But yeah, I agree with Cisco. I’d rather our Linda over Earth-2. Sorry, Jesse.”

“Agree with Cisco about what?” Caitlin asked as the quartet entered the cortex. “And what’s that?”

Caitlin was looking right at her. Linda looked down and noticed a glow emitting from a tear on the arm of her Firefly suit.

“Scudder got me with a knife,” she explained. “It’s nothing deep. I’ll be okay.”

“Is that blood?” Iris stepped forward, tilting her head to look. “Should it be...glowing?”

Linda nodded. “Yeah, it does that now. Sorry, I forgot to say something.”

“Your blood glows and you didn’t tell us?” Cisco gaped. “Dude!”

“It’s not like you can see it inside of me. If something breaks my skin, my blood just..glows.”

“Well, I can clean that up,” Iris promised as Caitlin’s shoulders sank. “Although...Cait is going to want a sample.”

“I can wait until later,” the scientist protested.

“Another day,” Linda offered. “I’m about ready to fall asleep on my feet. Besides, Cisco’s wrist could use some attention.”

Caitlin looked over to see Cisco holding the injured hand and went to go fuss over him. Iris pulled her over to the medical room and got out the supplies she needed. She cleaned up the blood and bandaged the wound. The only lasting damage was going to be her jacket. Nothing a needle and thread couldn’t fix.

“It’s really good to have you back,” Iris told her once everything was done.

Linda smiled over at her. “It’s a lot better working with you and the others than just myself. It got pretty lonely in Coast City.”

“And you’re back now? For good?”

“Definitely for good,” Linda nodded, sitting up. “After all, you’re here.”

The other woman blushed. “Well, I like talking to you in person instead of calling over Skype. Caitlin does too.”

“Oh, absolutely!”

Iris opened her mouth to respond, but stopped and rubbed her temples. “Ooh.”

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Iris muttered, shaking her head. “Just a headache. I’ve been having those lately.”

“Well, we have been working a lot harder at finding Alchemy, and you do have that deadline tomorrow,” Linda smiled. “Head home and get some sleep. Unless you want to go and get some takeout?”

“I would, but I think I’ll try that sleep thing first. See you tomorrow, Linda.”

Linda raised her hand in farewell as Iris left the room. She watched the other woman walk over to Barry and take his hand. He seemed startled for a moment, like breaking out of a trance. But then Iris smiled at him, and he grinned right back at her as Linda’s heart sank.

If only she’d come back a little sooner.

#callonielb #ask box #legends of tomorrow #parkwest #ship prompt #sentence prompt #kf barry au

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workingclassdan · 7 years ago

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All albums I listened to in 2017

1. David Bowie - No Plan (ep) 2. Ryan Adams - Prisoner 3. Gone is Gone - Echolocation * 4. The xx - I See You 5. The Flaming Lips - Oczy Mldy 6. Cloud Nothings - Life Without Sound 7. Japandroids - Near to the Wild Heart of Life 8. Foxygen - Hang 9. Ty Segall - Ty Segall 10. Camp Cope / Cayetana - Split EP 11. Cuddle Magic - Ashes/Axis 12. Hand Habits - Wildly Idle 13. Son Volt - Notes of Blue 14. Sun Kil Moon - Common as Light… (notable for shitness) 15. PVT - New Spirit 16. Steve Vai - Modern Primitive 17. Dirty Projectors - ST (little bubble) 18. Middle Kids - EP 19. Father John Misty - Pure Comedy 20. The Waifs - Ironbark 21. Bruce Springsteen - (Odds & Rarities) 22. Thundercat - Drunk 23. Animal Collective - The Painters EP (kinda bonkers) 24. Los Campesinos - Sick Scenes 25. Grandaddy - Last Place (lost machine) 26. Methyl Ethel - Everything is Forgotten 27. Kingswood - After Hours, Close to Dawn 28. Holy Holy - Paint 29. Vagabon - Infinite Worlds 30. Spoon - Hot Thoughts (do i have to talk you into it 31. Brian Eno - Reflection 32. The Shins - Heartworms 33. Laura Marling - Semper Femina * 34. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - The French Press EP * 35. Temples - Volcano 36. Roy Buchanan - Telemaster Live in 75 37. Real Estate - In Mind 38. Depeche Mode - Spirit * 39. Mastodon - Emperor of Sand * 40. Drake - More Life (Passionfruit) 41. Ben Wright Smith - The Great Divorce 42. Sleepmakeswaves- Made of Breath Only - (hailstones) 43. Aimee Mann - Mental Illness 44. Jesus and Mary Chain - Damage and Joy 45. Steel Panther - Lower the Bar 46. Evyltyde - Rising 47. Spiral Stairs - Doris and the Daggers 48. Julia Holter - In the Same Room * 49. Boss Hog - Brood X 50. British Sea Power - Let the Dancers Inherit the Party 51. Anjou - Epithymia 52. The Melker Project Remix 53. New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions 54. Future Islands - The Far Field 55. Craig Finn - We All Want the Same Thing 56. Smith Street Band - More Scared of You Than You Are of Me 57. Cold War Kids - La Divine 58. Clark - Death Peak 59. The Black Angels - Death Song 60. Arca - Arca 61. Luke Howard - ? 62. Kendrick Lamar - DAMN. 63. Prince - ep 64. Incubus - 8 65. Amy Shark - Night Thinker ep 66. Mew - Visuals 67. Gorillaz - Humanz 68. Ryan Adams (b-sides) - 69. Tim Rogers - An Actor Repairs * 70. Feist - Pleasure 71. Bill Baird - Easy Machines 72. Bill Baird - Baby Blue Abyss 73. Thurston Moore - Rock n Roll Conciousness 74. Colin Stetson - All This I Do For Glory 75. Bob Dylan - Triplicate 76. Pond - The Weather 77. Alice Coltrane - The Ecstatic Music of Alice Coltrane 78. San Cisco - The Water 79. Doug Tuttle - Peace Potato 80. Big Walnuts Yonder 81. Perfume Genius - No Shape 82. Penguin Cafe - 83. Mac Demarco 84. Afghan Whigs - In Spades 85. At the Drive-In - interalia 86. Slowdive - Slowdive - falling ashes 87. Dead Letter Circus - The Endless Mile - Lines 88. Nick Murphy - Missing Link ep 89. Bob’s Burgers - s/t 90. Fleet Foxes - The Crack-Up 91. BNQT - Volume 1 92. Do Make Say Think - Stubborn Persistent Illusions 93. The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's 94. Dan Auerbach - Waiting on a Song 95. Ben Ottewell - A Man Apart 96. Bernard Fanning - Brutal Dawn 97. Roger Waters - Is This the Life We Really Want 98. Underground Lovers - Staring at You Staring At Me 99. Elder - Reflections of a Floating World 100. Half Waif - form/a ep 101. The Kills - Echo Home non-electric ep 102. Bleachers - Gone Now 103. Amber Coffman - City of No Reply 104. Marika Hackman - I’m Not Your Man * 105. Husky - Punchbuzz 106. U2 - (some bootleg of latest tour) 107. Alt-J - Relaxer (3WW) 108. Beach Fossils - Somersault 109. Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked at Me 110. London Grammar - Truth is a Beautiful Thing 111. Lindsay Buckingham/Christine McVie - 112. Phoenix - Ti Amo 113. Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, James McAlister - Planetarium 114. Big Thief - Capacity Mythological Beauty 115. Kirin J Callinan - Bravado 116. The Magpie Salute - The Magpie Salute (Live) 117. Portugal. The Man - Woodstock 118. Lorde - Melodrama * 119. Royal Blood - How Did We Get So Dark? 120. Ride - Weather Diaries 121. Cigarettes After Sex - s/t 122. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana 123. Jeff Tweedy - Together at Last 124. Tara Jane O’Neil - s/t 125. Baby Driver soundtrack 126. UNKLE - The Road pt1 127. Silicon Valley soundtrack 128. Haim - Something to Tell You 129. Broken Social Scene - Hug of Thunder 130. Jay-Z - 4:44 131. Tex, Don & Charlie - You Don’t Know Lonely 132. Oh Wonder - Ultralife 133. Radiohead - OKNOTOK 134. Waxahatchee - Out in the Storm 135. U2 (live Vancouver) 136. Japanese Breakfast - Soft Sounds from Another Planet 137. DJ Shadow - The Mountain Will Fall 138. Vera Blue - Perennial 139. Lana Del Rey - Lust for Life 140. Nine Inch Nails - Add Violence ep * 141. Singles soundtrack deluxe 142. Arcade Fire - Everything Now 143. Boris - Dear 144. Perera Elsewhere - All of This 145. Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile to the Surface 146. The Murlocs - Old Locomotive 147. Dan Sultan - Killer (fire under foot, kingdom) 148. Fountaineer - Greater City, Greater Love 149. Benjamin Gibbard - Bandwagonesque 150. Juanita Stein - America 151. Saskwatch - Manual Override 152. Kid Koala with Emiliana Torrini - Music to Draw To: Satellite 153. David Rawlings - Poor David’s Almanac 154. Damian Cowell's Disco Machine - Get Yer Dag On! 155. Jen cloher - s/t 156. Queens of the Stone Age - Villains * 157. Paul Kelly - Life is Fine I smell trouble 158. Davey Lane - I’m Gonna Burn Out Bright 159. Mogwai - Every Country’s Sun 160. Alvvays - Antisocialites 161. Ben Frost - The Centre Cannot Hold 162. Grizzly Bear - Painted Ruins 163. Iron and Wine - Beast Epic call it dreaming 164. Gang of Youths - Go Farther in Lightness 165. Gold Class - Drum 166. King Gizzard and Mild High Club - Sketches of Brunswick East 167. Steven Wilson - To the Bone 168. The Preatures - Girlhood 169. Filthy Friends - Invitation 170. The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding 171. Chris Forsyth and the Solar Motel - Dreaming in the Non-Dream 172. LCD Soundsystem - American Dream 173. Cloud Control - Zone rainbow city 174. Liars - TFCF 175. Neil Finn - Out of Silence 176. Deerhoof - Mountain Moves 177. Jake Bugg - hearts That Strain 178. Gordi - Reservoir 179. Meg Mac - Low Blows 180. The National - Sleep Well Beast 181. Beaches - Second of Spring 182. Chad Vangaalen - Light Information 183. Nothing But Thieves - 184. Foo Fighters - Concrete and Gold 185. Tori Amos - Native Invader 186. The Belligerents - Science Fiction (Sorry to Say) 187. Rostam - Half-Light 188. Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions - Until the Hunter 189. Ariel Pink - Dedicated to Bobby Jameson 190. Davey Lane - Back/Here/Forward 191. Lisa Mitchell - When they Play That Song ep 192. Tired Lion - Dumb Days 193. Mastodon - Cold Dark Place ep 194. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Luciferian Towers 195. Lee Ronaldo - Electric Trim 196. Neil Young - Hitchhiker 197. The Killers - Wonderful Wonderful 198. Hyla - Osaka 199. Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Vietnam War 200. Moses Sumney - Aromanticism 201. British India - Forgetting the Future 202. Matt Cameron - Cavedweller 203. Hammock - Mysterium 204. Ben Frost - Threshold of Faith 205. Philip Selway - Let Me Go 206. Prophets of Rage - s/t 207. Phoebe Bridgers - Starnger in the Alps 208. Pearl Jam - Let’s Play Two 209. Wolf Alice - Visions of a Life 210. Torres - Three Futures 211. Ibeyi - Ash 212. Wolf Parade - Cry Cry Cry 213. Liam Gallagher - As You Were 214. Andrew Bird - Echolocations: River 215. Bladerunner 2049 soundtrack 216. The Horrors - V 217. St Vincent - Masseduction 218. Kurt Vile & Courtney Barnett - A Lotta Sea Lice 219. Beck - Colors 220. Robert Plant - Carry Fire 221. Alex Lahey - I Love You Like a Brother 222. Destroyer - Ken. 223. William Patrick Corgan - wpc 224. Custard - The Common Touch 225. Love Migrate - Somewhere, Over the Mangroves 226. Protomartyr - Relatives in Descent 227. Polish Club - Alright Already 228. Ecca Vandal - s/t 229. Grooms - Infinity Caller 230. Lean Year - s/t 231. Kevin Devine - Instigator 232. King Krule - The Ooz 233. Portico Quartet - Art in the Age of Automation 234. Weezer - Pacific Daydream 235. Hans Zimmer et al (Blue Planet ll soundtrack) 236. Fever Ray - Plunge 237. Julien Baker - Turn Out the Lights 238. Jim Lawrie - Slacker of the Year 239. REM - Automatic for the People (25th Anniversary) 240. Angel Olsen - Phases 241. Stranger Things 2 (Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein) 242. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - Live at Red Rocks 243. Tame Impala - Currents (deluxe) 244. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Polygondwanaland 245. Sharon Jones - Soul of a Woman 246. Bjork - Utopia * 247. Aldous Harding - Party 248. David Gilmour - Live at Pompeii 249. Queen - News of the World (deluxe) 250. Stella Donnelly - Thrush Metal ep 251. U2 - Songs of Experience 252. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds - Who Built the Moon? 253. Taylor Swift - Reputation 254. Kamasi Washington - Harmony of Difference 255. Wand - Plum 256. Weaves - Wide Open 257. Mavis Staples - If All I Was Was Black 258. Neil Young and Promise of the Real - The Visitor 259. Pony Face - Deja Vu 260. The Orbweavers - Deep Leads

Stray tracks: Hans Zimmer & Radiohead Lisa Hannigan - Oh! You Pretty Things Jarvis Cocker & Chilli Gonzalez Jack Whiter Glen Hansard (2) John Butler Trio Ryan Adams - back in your head Brian Eno & Kevin Shields Tropical Fuck Storm (2)

2016 catchups:

Ryley Walker & Charles Rumback Alex Isenberg Lisa Hannigan Margaret Glaspy Catfish and the Bottlemen Badbadnotgood 1 Mile North Chris Forsyth Peep Tempel Tash Sultana Rogue Wave Damien Jurado Love Migrate - Luke Howard Kaleo

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