entrancelogs | [closed] Eat Me (Shorts)

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[closed] Eat Me (Shorts)

Who: Leonard Snart and Ray Palmer
Where: on the floor, just after arriving
When: 6/27
Rating: Nothing raunchy, I'm guessing.
Summary: Leonard just arrived and is a little dazed, due to *spoilers for Legends of Tomorrow in here*

Ever since he could remember, Leonard had been very aware of time. His schemes tended to be thought out to the second, recognising patterns, shifts and then counting down. Just as he was always planning, time was usually a factor, down to the second. He used it as a way to know what would happen, to arrange for things to go down the way he needed them to. A way to be in control.

Then he’d found out about the Oculus and the realisation that his movements, his actions, perhaps his every thought had been manipulated by an outside force hit him like a ton of bricks, a weight that made it hard to breathe and hard to think clearly. Events had left him no choice but to play along until the very moment when suddenly there was clarity again.

It all happened quickly in the end. Telling Mick to forgive him and knocking him out. Sara-- Sara, who understood what he was doing and who didn't question him. His gun and their ring was with Mick and once they were safe, Leonard said his last words and it all exploded around him.

There were no strings on him. There was nothing on him at all any more until suddenly he was somewhere and he wasn't dead. At least he could still think and, after a moment, breathe. The gleaming light of the explosion had blinded him and while that wore off he stayed on the ground, eyes shut. Only tentatively did he feel around with his hands, feeling the wooden floor under his fingertips. All he knew for sure is that he thought he'd be dead. Expected to be gone.

Welcome to Wonderland.

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Wake up, Leonard. C'mon buddy!

There's a tiny man in a red and blue suit hovering above your chest and if Gulliver's Travels is anything to go by, that's probably not great news. Maybe the smell of coffee wafting from the cafe will help, or the hustle and bustle of people in costumes knocking on doors. Is it Halloween?

"...Snart! Wake up!" Ray's voice sounds distant, urgent. "And please tell me you're not from before the mission..."

"I'm not asleep, genius." That sounded like Palmer. How? Leonard lifted his hand to shade his eyes as he carefully blinked them open, squinting as his pupils adjusted to the different light level. Much more bearable light level.

Everything had just gone up and the only complaint he had was that his eyes hurt. Something was seriously going wrong here. He sat up slowly, one hand still steadying him against the ground, but he slowly lowered the other hand, looking up at Ray. Or that was what he planned to do. There was no Ray there and it wasn't as if Ray was easy to miss, the guy was built like a Ken doll.

He turned his head and finally he did spot him, squinting for a different reason now. "Size matters, pipsqueak, just so you know."

Ray huffs-- there's no doubt now that this is Leonard Snart, Captain Sass.

"We'll get to that in a second. Are you OK? I know the transition into Wonderland can be kind of rough but you look..." He should probably not insult a teammate right out of the gate, right? That would be rude and hey look Ray's exercising a modicum of self restraint! Someone mark a calendar!

The suit's jets make a few tiny bursts, and Ray puts some distance between them in anticipation of Snart's rise. And yes, he's waving like a jackass.

"Absolutely gorgeous. Yes, I'm aware." Mostly Leonard was rubbing his eyes and pulling his legs in so no one would stumble over them. He moved to the side until he could lean back against the wall, evidently in no hurry to get up. Ray shouldn't be too surprised, it wasn't as if standing up straight was ever high on Leonard's list of priorities, not when there was something to lean against instead.

"You said Wonderland?" None of this made any sense, so at least the name fit.

"Oh-- yeah. Think of it like a pocket dimension! The Many Worlds theory's true, isn't that awesome? But it's based on Alice in Wonderland-- or, Through the Looking Glass, I guess. Kinda freaky, right?"

Read the room, Ray. Stein's not here, but the ATOM buzzes about in his excitement, a little dragonfly moving around Snart as he checks him over as best he can. His voice, emanating from whichever pocket Snart's device is in, is nearly manic. Which rhymes with panic and that's a little bit how Ray feels right now.

"Been a while since I read that book." There are people in his life that Len would avoid admitting any book reading to, but with Ray? Throwing him off by not just being a thug was part of the fun with that nerd.

His eyes had finally managed to focus and that meant that he could move his hand, snatching Ray out of mid-air, because frankly the way he moved around was making him dizzy. He made sure not to actually squeeze him of course, just looking down at him as he turned his hand so he could stand on his palm.

Ray Palmer. "Stop making such a buzz, boyscout."

Oh wow okay. So being actually manhandled is a new and awful experience-- Ray yelps before registering Snart's comments. It's enough to make him heed his teammate's request and stop for a moment.

The jets cut and he's left standing in another person's actual hand. He'd battled a housecat and nearly drowned in a latte his first day in Wonderland, but this is definitely a new level of weird...

"Sorry! It's been a crazy weekend, with the Summerween Trickster going around. Oh-- we should probably hit a closet and get you a costume."

Leonard pulled a face at 'Trickster', although Ray's lighthearted excitement was hopefully pointing toward less lift threatening things. Maybe. Actually, with Ray, it was hard to tell. "I'm not that fond of playing dress-up."

Unless of course they had to travel through time and fit in. Mostly by looking like a GQ model in a cowboy hat, for example, but whatever. He couldn't change the face.

More important than whatever Ray was on about was something else. Leonard's eyes narrowed and he pulled his hand closer, taking a good look at tiny Ray. "What's with the suit, haircut?"

Yeaaah no. Super life threatening! But also Ray's distracted again, so the thought of getting Snart in a Queen Elsa costume is lost by the wayside...

"Oh! Uhh, it's broken, and I'm sort of stuck shrunk." He's explained it enough times though that it's starting to just sound like old hat. "That's why I'm using your device-- it's kind of hard to keep shouting at people from down here. But I've almost got the equipment built to recalibrate the ATOM. I'm planning on testing it some time this week!"

"I see. You built that all by yourself? At least the disappointment should be small in your case." Leonard still held Palmer in his palm, wondering how much stranger this day could go. He was putting together what little useful information Ray had given him so far. Ha. Little information. Anyway, he had said something about not wanting him to be from before the mission, so apparently there was something about time.

Ray Palmer was here and Len didn't know what he knew. He might have asked for more, but he had one more important issue. "Are the others here?"

Ray nods at Snart's first question, and fortunately isn't allowed to go into the excruciating details.

"No, not from the team. But Barry's here! And Caitlin Snow, Iris West-- Dr. Wells, too."

Possibly times two? Ray's not all that sure about those details, since the Flash team's been sticking together while they acclimate. But hey, whatever! The more scientists the better, right? There couldn't be anything bad about that situation, nope.

"What's the last thing you remember, by the way? Do you know who Chronos really is?" Because that might be an awkward conversation...

"Barry." Leonard just muttered the name, shaking his head slowly. It seemed forever ago now, the last time he'd met Barry. When he'd been told he did a lousy job of being a villain. Good in him. Yeah, right.

The others? He knew them all of course, some better, some not so well, but they were just an extension of Barry. How did this place choose what people to get here anyway? A bit too early to ask the really deep question, he supposed.

There were other questions that hit hard.

...no strings on me...

"I know who Chronos is, yeah."

...old friend...

"Seems like we're from about the same point. What's the last thing you remember?"

Luckily for him, Ray was possibly the dumbest genius he knew.

...And desperate for the approval and friendship of anyone not named Vandal Savage.

"We just put Mick into holding on the Waverider." Ray's voice sombers for possibly the first time since he'd arrived in Wonderland. He couldn't imagine what Snart had gone through, having to make the choice he made and then-- Ray's head bends down to regard the hand he stands on. Literally the least-subtle human on the planet.

"Leonard, I'm really sorry. We're gonna figure it out-- we'll get him back."

Quite some time ago. Mick was still Chronos, was not Chronos, would always be Mick. Was alive, which mattered most of all. Leonard wasn't planning on giving anything about the future away to Ray. Didn't seem as if much could be gained from that. Of course Ray hadn't noticed that he'd dodged the question, so he has nothing to lose.

He remembered that moment, what now made Ray look like a kicked puppy. Like a kicked flea. Something along those lines.

"Get a grip, Thumbelina. We'll get back at the bastards. That's what Mick would want."

That makes Ray smile as wickedly as he can manage (spoiler alert it's negative wicked). As usual, the new nickname doesn't even make Ray blink.

"Yes. He'd definitely want that. And just so you know, we'll go back right where we came from in the time line." Isn't that great news and not at all concerning, Len? "So we'll get right back to work once we're out of here."

"Excellent." Luckily he just about always sounds sarcastic, so it wasn't as if that was particularly note-worthy. "I can't wait."

A roll of his eyes and Leonard finally looked around, piecing together what Ray had mentioned about this place. "Where're you staying? Sharing with a nice mouse, I'm guessing."

Didn't seem like too much of a jump in conclusion, feathers, fur, really in the same family where weirdness was concerned.

Not to mention Ray generally finds it easy to ignore the sarcasm until he's been worn down long enough. Which-- it seems he's getting there if his flat look is any indication.

"I have my own room! I haven't been able to spare much time to study how it works, but there's some sort of psychic element to Wonderland -- combined with some serious matter-transducing capabilities, which means that it will provide what a person needs, when they need it. Usually."

Phew. We almost got through a conversation with a dry nerd speech!

"Sounds more like magic than science." At least he knew enough scientists to also know how to set them off on a rant when he felt like it. It was a talent he extended to most occupations, really. Leonard finally got to his feet, careful to keep his hand perfectly balanced so Ray wouldn't be disrupted. "Now, what's with Halloween in June? You mentioned a Trickster."

Ha! The mention of magic just makes Ray smile again as he nods his agreement.

"Well, that's part of the central conceit of Wonderland. The psychic link also extends to our memories. The entire dimension can shift to replicate a place or event from another residents past and considering many version of many people exist across countless universes they can get pretty weird. Like the fact that if you don't trick or treat and offer the candy to this Trickster, he'll come after and murder you."

Ray's tiny hands move in the air as he talks, and once he realizes they're going to be on the move, the suit powers up again and he's in the air to free up Snart's hand for him.

"Places or events from our past," Leonard repeated and his voice really didn't give much away, even if that thought alone was enough to make his skin crawl. He had tried to change his past to the whopping success of absolutely nothing and the only thing he needed less than a reminder of that was anyone else seeing his memories.

"Seems pointless, if you can just get candy for free all over the place. But that means we're going trick or treating? Not really my style. Tricking I can do."

He looked at Ray, raising his eyebrows. "Lead the way to your room. I need a feel of the place."

"It's just upstairs, actually. Uhh, this way--" Ray buzzes off, a straight line for a staircase that-- oh yay it's actually still here. Awesome.

He hovers for a moment to make sure Snart's keeping up, but happily chatters away considering his voice is already stuck to his teammate.

"The windows are magic, too-- it's a view of the grounds but from the outside you're unlikely to actually see into the mansion. There are ten floors, and endless rooms. Oh--" Ray stops again once they emerge onto the second floor. "Cover all of your mirrors. If you need to talk about anything kind of sensitive, you probably want to break them."

"I'll have to figure out how to kill the volume on this thing." It's muttered to himself, but loudly enough. A way to turn Ray's voice off? That seemed pretty ideal. Still, for now his information is relevant, Leonard absorbed it as he was told, looking around while following him.

"Breaking mirrors, got it. I've got enough bad luck accumulated that it doesn't matter now. You'll just have to tell me I still look pretty. Are you going to tell me what's the issue with mirrors?"

"There's a mirror-verse here. For every resident on this side, their opposite is on the other side, and instead of mirrors they have windows over here they watch us all through. Oh, and you can't get candy from the closets right now, actually..."

Why would you want to turn him down when he's being so helpful and useful? Also Ray's attempt at changing the subject back to the event of the weekend is probably not as smooth and convincing as he'd like...

"Do you ever listen to yourself?" Len's question was rhetoric more than anything. He had definitely spent more than enough time with Ray by now to know all about it. "What's your opposite like? Bearable?"

That'd be a shocker. But in spite of his words, of course Leonard was taking this information a lot more seriously in his mind. Yes, looked as if he was definitely going to be smashing some mirrors. He didn't like surprises. "How long have you been here?"

"Almost two months, and yes I do listen to myself, especially when I'm sharing important information about an impossible magical world with evil doppelgangers skulking around." Huff!

Ray finally slows down, and lowers himself to the floor in front of what Snart will notice is a little door about his height. Home sweet home! "And mine's-- well, just don't talk to him, OK? He's bad news."

"I'll hold myself back somehow." Leonard crouched down by the door and looked down at it for a while, trying to fight the urge to react by actually honestly awing, because this looked like the entry to a dollhouse and it was weird and unsettling, but also-- "Adorable."

Looking up he pointed to either side of them. "Any neighbouring rooms free, Thumbelina?"

There was just something inside him that didn't like the thought of staying too far away from Ray, never mind how annoying he was. All he had left of his team.

It's the first time Ray really pauses to consider the way Snart's treating him -- and he probably thinks he's smooth about it. Oh, Raymond.

"The room next door's actually still vacant." But his voice is careful, unsure. He doesn't respond to the nickname, or react to being called adorable -- not a frown or a huff, nothing. It's got to be slap-in-the-face obvious to someone like Snart that Ray's finally fully caught off-guard.

"Twenty-seven?" The room in question.

"Good." A real room for grown-ups. But one didn't have to be as observant as Leonard actually was to notice that Ray was suddenly acting as if he'd grown another head. "What's up? Don't think too hard outside your speciality, I've yet to see that end well."

With the onslaught of new information he'd just been exposed to, Leonard looked at the door, but was slightly hesitant to just head right in. The part about places and scenes from the past was holding him back, not that he showed that and not that it'd stop him.

Instead of huffing, Ray lets out a nervous laugh. The propulsion system fires back up and he buzzes to hover in front of the door in question, gesticulating away.

"Nothing!" Buzz, buzz. Hey this doorknob's pretty comfy. "Well-- it's just I guess I figured you'd want to be as far away from me as you could get. Which I understand, you know, after being cooped up on the Waverider..."

Leonard would have opened the door, but there was someone standing on it, so he kept his hands to himself and looked at Ray, shrugging his shoulders. "Normally? Yeah. But I know now that I can--"

As he trailed off he took out the communicator and, being a smart person, quickly figured out the volume control. He turned it all the way down and then he lifted his hand quickly, literally - if very lightly - slapping Ray off the doorknob, careful to only hit the suit.

He opened the door with one hand and caught Ray in the other, looking around the room. Looked harmless enough. Kicking the door shut behind him, he looked for mirrors and had an easy time of ignoring Ray.

There's a light smacking sound despite the propulsion system coming to life again as Ray struggles to right himself in the air. His tiny voice complains, but it's not loud enough for Snart to have to hear.

It takes a moment before he realizes that Snart muted him (ACTUALLY LITERALLY MUTED HIS TEAMMATE DO YOU PEOPLE SEE WHAT HE HAS TO PUT UP WITH????) and he starts blowing up Snart's device:

Seriously, Leonard????
I mean, I'm just trying to help you get settled in Wonderland and I just meant that I wouldn't be mad if you wanted to explore and pick a different place!
Come on, open the door.
I get it, OK? I'm not even taking over the voice output on your device this time.
Fine. You want your space, I get it. Have fun with your room, and be really specific when you ask for stuff from the closets.
And cover the mirrors!!!!

For a while there was nothing, other than the sound of a mirror being crashed. Covering was for amateurs. This was therapeutic.

Then, a few seconds later, Leonard did push the door open, leaning against the frame to let Ray fly inside while reading through what he's sent him. "You sound like a girlfriend Mick had back in the day. Flawless needy teenager impression."

What a compliment. Leonard pointed at the mirror or, well, at what used to be a mirror. "How's that?" As a show of goodwill, he held the device up and demonstrated turning the volume back on.

Ray's inside and landing on something about Len's shoulder-height, crossing his tiny arms and giving his best tiny scowl. He's learned by now that it's more amusing than intimidating, but he can't help but be cranky. It's not anger, not really-- Ray wants to help Leonard, but he knows he's in need of help, too. They've never been close, never been besties. But he knows what it's like to be stranded somewhere.

And he's not used to being stranded alone.

"Good, for if you want to have a confidential conversation." Ray's temper tantrum starts to dissipate; he's never been the type to stay upset, especially not when his curiosity is starting to pique again. He's in Captain Cold's room! He'd be crazy not to take a look around. "But you'll want to get some sheets to cover it up when it reforms in an hour."

What does Captain Cold's room look like? How could the room of someone who hardly seems at ease with himself look?

The bed is big enough for two. The walls are barren, safe for some burn marks. It's really nothing special, because Leonard has never needed anything special, other than sometimes the people getting through to him. So the room is very empty now and very cold.

He looks at the mirror and then back at Ray, arching his eyebrows. "It reforms in an hour? Never mind the reforming, why an hour?" What was up with that, who timed it? With a shake of his head he finally looks around himself, stepping up to the wall and reaching out to trace one of the burn marks. It looks like nothing much, but apparently Leonard recognises it.

"So. The rooms do it too?" Just like the closets.

There's a lot of shrugging but Ray being tiny means these are very tiny shrugs, so instead Ray sighs.

"Magic. Or, if you prefer, extremely advanced science that looks like magic. I've been a little distracted from trying to figure Wonderland out, sorry." As the resident science nerd in this room, Ray's defensiveness is definitely borne out of some guilt.

"You know, memories get eaten and the place turns upside-down every couple of weeks but your every need is cared-for." Was that too bitter? Normally, Ray tries to exemplify optimism-- but Snart isn't a normal resident. He's ... a Legend.

That is enough to make Leonard frown and look at Ray, because while the words themselves might not exactly be extra-ordinary or worth noting, that bitterness in combination very much is, especially given the source. He supposes with Ray brought down to size and this place being as randomly taxing as one would expect, it's not too surprising that even the eternal Ray of sunshine is just a little dimmed these days.

"Any of your memories gotten eaten yet?" That's something Ray hasn't mentioned before, so he has to ask. And also, quieter: "You're getting out of here."

Maybe a promise, maybe a way to reassure him. There's a future waiting. For one of them.

"Not yet. Then again I haven't tried to deal with the vendors out back, either. I mean, I won't lie, I thought about trying to get the Waverider, because-- if anything could get out of here, it might do the trick but..."

For all the things Ray's willing to ramble on about, and all the acquaintances he's made in Wonderland, he still can be a very private person. His hands work around each other in front of him as he mechanically works backward to redirect the tone he's taken this conversation into.

"Well, I figure something that big would take a lot of memories, and it's not going to help if I have the Waverider but forget who I am and what I should be doing with it, right?" Back into logic, now, Ray puts a smile on his face and laughs off the stupid wayward plan. The plan he didn't follow through with for more than the reasons he just stated.

"But once I get back to normal it'll be easier for me to start trying to get out." Because he's the scientist. This is a problem he can handle. Maybe.

"If you ever need something like that, you ought to let me take care of it. I figure I have more memories I'd not mind losing than you." But Ray is transparent, especially for someone who's known him for a while and especially for someone who is as good at reading people as Len is.

He nods though, letting the fake smile pass and accepting it. For now. "Tiny Ray not so good with the big problems, eh?"

Now he wonders, thinking about everything he does know about Ray and the conclusions that brings him to. He wonders indeed. "Shame. It's a good look on you."

Something about Snart's offer to sell his own memories wriggles itself into Ray's brain, but it doesn't find its way back out just yet. Not with the way he's choosing to focus on the superficial, to get through this whole awkward new situation between the two of them.

Even the focus shifting to his own shortcomings should rile Ray's ego, but it only serves to help him feel a modicum of control. It's a subject he can choose to get upset over, or to examine and use to push through, to lean in.

"Haha, I definitely prefer more manageable pieces. And plenty of better people have failed to get out over the years, it seems." It doesn't hurt that Kendra isn't here for Ray to show off to, and Dr. Stein's absence creates a vacuum where Ray's need to impress gains no momentum. He's been starved for familiarity; despite the arrival of people from Central City, Ray's needed this. He might not be prepared to handle brutal truth yet, but this is a step in the right direction.

The direction being away from denial.

"So what do you do here, when you're just preparing for failure? Because that really shouldn't take so long." Especially not for someone with that much experience with it. Not that Leonard hasn't accumulated quite a lot himself, a lot of it admittedly together on a team with Ray. But he keeps that teasing to himself, because the team works that way. It's part of it all and he knows by now that there was a lot more behind that than anyone's incompetence. Ray had been the one that was meant to die.

Leonard wonders if he had done the same for Ray, would it have come down to that instead of Mick. He's not sure, but he almost thinks that, yes, he would have. It's a strange realisation and he puts the thought back. "Doesn't seem like it's my kind of place."

"Yeah, not exactly any reason to steal stuff in this place." Ray can't help himself, but he moves on after what he thinks was a pretty good jab.

"Well, honestly most of my time has been working on the suit, getting this quantum manifold built and calibrated, and monitoring for arrivals from our world." So, yeah-- super scintillating stuff, Len!

"Precisely." Maybe Ray thinks it's a jab, but that's no joke to Len. He really does hate that there isn't anything to steal. At least not just yet, he's sure he'll find a way to work around that eventually.

He doesn't bother asking about the quantum manifold, since he doubts it's of much interest to him, so instead he focuses on something else. "So who else is here, from our world?"

"A bunch of your hometown heroes, actually. Barry Allen, Iris West, Dr. Caitlin Snow, Dr. Harrison Wells, and apparently another Dr. Wells from a different dimension's earth. I'm still curious about how that mirror situation works, actually..." And completely oblivious to the whole not-actually-Wells flavor of Dr. Wells.

And to how grumpy they both are.

"So a bunch of people that are none too fond of me." Leonard thought about that statement for a second, then added. "And Barry."

Because he could say about the Flash what he wanted - and he did, although frequently that just amounted to 'cute' and other variants of the word - but he would have to lie if he denied that the hero had some sort of inexplicable fondness for him.

He liked him too.

Edited 2016-08-06 23:19 (UTC)

"They'll come around! Do you want me to talk to them?" It's true Ray isn't Len's biggest fan, but he believes in second chances, and he's seen Snart do things that heroes do yet.

He may not be redeemed yet (somebody tell Ray the issues with thinking this way someday?) but he's doing good work. That's worth something.

"That's fine, Raymond. I'll survive even if the popular kids don't like me. You'll still play with me, won't you?" With a roll of his eyes, Len looks at the mirror again, ever so suspicious of it. He already knows that he'll smash it again if it really fixes itself the way Ray has said.

There's something to be said for the way Ray just resigns himself to a chuckle and a mumbled "yeah" in response to Snart's sarcasm. Having been in Wonderland alone for so long really has done a number on him.

"Besides, maybe we can figure out a plan to break outta here."

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[closed] Eat Me (Shorts)

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