{I don't really know if I can live like nothing's wrong

[thisismadfreaky]

Who: Cisco & Caitlin; Cisco & YOU; Physics Lab peeps
Where: Team Flash lab; various; Physics Lab
When: Early May
Rating: PG-13ish {language, possible vague hints at dark themes, will update as necessary}
Summary: Cisco has squinty suspicions in Caitlin's direction; he also works too much and probably should be made to breathe sometime maybe.
The Story:

[Caitlin - 5/3/17]
Cisco has had a week to sit on the information his new mirror pal had dropped on him about Caitlin and he still isn't sure how to feel about it. A part of him is naturally suspicious, because what if it was just a lie, some rouse to cause tension and dissent? Didn't that line up with everything he's heard about the mirrors? But....

But it just made logical sense to him. If the mirrors are reflections of who they could be, which is basically the feeling he always got about them from anything he's been told before, then it made sense for her to be a meta. To be this ice queen that would suit the Queen's agenda.

He hasn't said anything, not to Caitlin, or Barry, or anyone else. He's just taken closer looks at little things, tried to spot any differences in her demeanor, her voice, her mannerisms. Nobody could play pretend that perfectly forever and she would have to do or say something that would be enough to confirm his beliefs eventually. A reason to properly confront her.

But so far, there's nothing all that strikingly different. Besides the fact that now he knows what she's hiding. He's kept his suspicions quiet, has done everything he can to not give away clues that there's anything wrong at all. But there's a tension in the silence that falls over the lab as they're working in their own spaces, subtle but very much there. Cisco is studying the changes that his mirror buddy suggested to his and Fitz's equation, but can't help surreptitiously sliding his gaze in Caitlin's direction.

[OTA - 5/3-9/17]
In the early days of May, Cisco can be found in various places, scribbling in notebooks with vague diagrams sketched to one side and equations that look far more theoretical than scientifically sound at all.

Sometimes he's in a tea room with the notebook against his knees, squinting in something that's either annoyance or concentration, or at a table in the dining room for a bite between work--the notebook is never far from him these days though. More than once, he can be found in the library, flipping through books about an Einstein–Rosen Bridge or M-Theory. Don't get him started or he probably won't stop, be warned.

He could easily be caught just about anywhere as he throws himself into this project completely, but insists on changes of scenery to force himself out of his usual box. Change breeds creativity and will hopefully lead to some kind of breakthrough.

[Physics Lab - 5/10/17]
Toward the middle of the second week in May, he's on edge. They're close. So close. He could feel it, almost literally, in his fingertips. A breakthrough is coming, maybe not the one they want, but it's coming. He's not seen as much at this point, unless a person frequents the physics lab, all his waking hours are being spent here.

The now too familiar blue glow that accompanies every attempt at breaking the barriers in Wonderland disappears with a soft 'pop' as Cisco steps through it.

....Only to be thrown through the breach across the room, rather unceremoniously, tumbling backwards into a table. Luckily, nopthing falls or breaks, the table just wobbles a little at the sudden force. "Dammit." He mutters, an annoyed huff escaping him as he pushes himself to his feet.

Comments

dining room

[cranston]

There are two people in the dining room with notebooks close at hand. Cisco, with his, and Billy, struggling to carry a plate loaded with tuna fish sandwiches in one hand and his notebook and pencil case in the other. The dining room is empty save for the two of them, and yet Billy chooses to sit down at the same table as Cisco, directly across from him. Either he hasn't noticed that he picked the only occupied table in the room, or he doesn't care.

tea room

[catchacold]

"Usually I only catch Iris like this." With a notebook, he mans, although he assumes that it's for different reasons. Either way, Leonard sits down - on the table, not on a chair - and traps the notebook under two fingers, flips it around and pulls it closer in one swift move, just to take an unbidden peek at whatever has Cisco so fascinated. "Doing homework? Right. I forgot it's a school night."

library

[onetruemorty]

Morty isn't the smartest guy around, he knows this much. Terminology? Complex equations? Nah, no thanks, he's cool with comic books. But there are a few things a person picks up when their main old pre-Wonderland hobby was tooling around the multiverse with their grandpa.

You hear a thing or two about science. And while Morty may not necessarily be the most book-smart person, he's at least curious and passably friendly.

"Boy, that-- that M-theory, huh? That's the one that gets into some, some pretty wild dimensions stuff, right? Other worlds and all that?"

[trigeminalheadache]

Things have felt different to Caitlin ever since her trip home. She couldn't put her finger on it exactly, but there's something pervasive in her interactions with her friends. Maybe it's just her; since her powers emerged, she's been more short-tempered, more anxious, more... everything. She feels different, even if that's more psychological than actual change. But maybe it's them, too. Cisco and Barry both interacted with Earth-2's Killer Frost. Both had tried to keep the nature of her doppelganger from her. And she knew why, once Jay had dragged her through the breach and left her alone with, well, herself.

Sometimes, she just feels lucky that they talk to her at all, knowing what they know.

But today, things feel even more off. Cisco's stayed on his side of the room. He's stayed quiet. It's shades of what she remembers from after Dante's death. Did he find out? Did he know that she knew and that she kept it from him? It isn't as if she's kept it from him for bad reasons. It's dangerous to tell people about the future. Too much of a risk of changing something and upsetting the timeline.

When he glances over at her for what feels like the fifth time this hour, she sighs. "Cisco, what's going on?"

liberry

[bravejemma]

The library of Wonderland is truly a wonder, with tall shelves and books covering every surface. She checked the lab already and had found a Fitz, but no Cisco -- and it was Cisco she was looking to speak with.

Coming around a corner, she found him with a very large tome open on the table in front of him. She sat down across the table, unobtrusively as possible. "Hello, Cisco," she said, to gently bring his attention out of the book.

library

[justmakeroom]

It's been nice being able to read books again, which is something she rarely ever had time for before the world ended. Her job kept her so busy that coming home usually just meant heating up a quick meal or ordering takeout, taking a quick shower, and crashing.

For nostalgia's sake, she's been picking up some old books, things she read as a kid and passed off to her sister. The memories feel good; with a twinge of sadness, but still...good. She's holding The Great Gatsby in her hand when she notices him reading...well, books she would never read. Certainly not in her leisure time. She's curious, smiling a little.

"So, what do you read for fun, then?"

tea room? (lemme know if this is okay)

[quickgenius]

Jesse’s been puttering around the kitchen again. She does it a lot, sometimes. It gets her out of her lab, away from her projects and science but still keeps her busy. And eating is kind of important, even if she forgets to actually DO IT, sometimes. She knows Cisco has his own projects he’s working on, and she has a lot of leftovers... so she packs some of it up (some of her mom’s lasagne, slices of all the pies she’s made, and some strawberry hazelnut pavlova), and goes out in search of him.

When she finds him, sitting in a tea room with his notebook in hand, she grins a little and moves to join him. “Brought you something.”