I'm okay! I just showed up again here not too long ago, but it's been a few months for me back home. [he is so far from ok but he's not going to start with that!]
Yeah, just about. It's been...a lot, back home. Since I was here last. I mean it's always a lot, but you know. I haven't really talked to anybody about it.
Yup! I have special energy bars back home that keep me going but I haven't been able to exactly replicate the recipe here.
---
Barry shows up a few minutes late, giving Caleb a sheepish smile when he sees him. "Hi, sorry - one thing you should know about me is that despite having super-speed I also have super-tardiness." He is in fact wearing a watch, but it doesn't seem to help ever. He is also dressed in a cozy cardigan though, along with jeans and a t-shirt under it.
Barry just laughs at the comment. "Well I'll take that over 'grandpa' which is what I usually get with this look. I just think it's comfy, okay?"
Then he shakes his head. "I haven't, actually, but I probably should. Caitlin can probably help, too. Is it silly that I don't even want to ask anyone because it was a Cisco thing and I miss him?"
"I know. I've mostly been fine, just been eating enough to stay on top of it and not pass out but not too much to inconvenience anybody. Cisco left our team a couple of years ago, back home, but he was my best friend." And he misses him now more than he ever has, with losing Caitlin and Frost. But he's trying not to go on too much about it.
Leaving the team wouldn't necessarily mean he'd stop being friends, unless they had a fight, or Cisco died. Which, well, it sounds likely given how shitty Barry's life at home seems to be.
"Is. He still is," Barry corrects himself, sighing. "We just really don't see him that much anymore, and I'm sort of afraid to just...invite myself over, you know? And I know he wanted some separation from the stress of all of what we do, so I don't want to pile that on him either."
"That's definitely not what was on my mind, but a mutual friend. Do you remember that chart I made you? Well, my friend Caitlin...the one who also has an alter ego named Frost...Frost had died already, but Caitlin was trying to bring her back.
But in the process of trying to bring Frost back out in her body, it went wrong and created a third person...one who replaced them both instead of sharing a mind with them. There's no more Caitlin or Frost, only Khione."
There's a lot of far out science involved with all this that he's glossing over, but he hopes he's explaining this well enough.
"It's okay, even I had trouble following," he admits, shrugging. "But from what I can understand they didn't merge so much as...their personalities were both wiped. Killed. With no chance of bringing them back. And Khione wanted to stay anyway, to figure out who she is...she came to us as a blank slate, basically, but she's learning to be a person."
He takes a seat somewhere because it's just a lot, and he needs a minute. "My last interaction with Caitlin was pretty terrible, too, and it's been hard to deal with the fact that we never reconciled."
Caleb still doesn't follow. If both were wiped then where did the new person come from? That's not how DID works. But that's fine, he doesn't have to get it.
"I'm sorry for your loss." He is very genuinely sorry, regardless of how it works, Barry lost a friend. "It's good that you're taking time to process, before deciding what to do."
He knows there's a Caitlin in Duplicity, and he figures she does not know about this third person. So Barry has to deal with that loss and also decide what to tell her.
Barry nods, appreciating the sympathy. "I've had a lot of it in my life, and it almost just feels like...one loss too many. I barely know what to tell myself, much less what to tell Caitlin. If anything. I don't want her to feel like she has nothing to look forward to back home."
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Preferably in person tho, I don't trust this place not to leak text conversations.
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text -> action
---
Barry shows up a few minutes late, giving Caleb a sheepish smile when he sees him. "Hi, sorry - one thing you should know about me is that despite having super-speed I also have super-tardiness." He is in fact wearing a watch, but it doesn't seem to help ever. He is also dressed in a cozy cardigan though, along with jeans and a t-shirt under it.
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It's not meant as a dunk, Caleb just can't help himself. He did set up energy bars and drinks.
"Have you tried asking the other science-people for help? With the energy bars, I mean."
Tony Stark could probably figure it out in like, ten minutes.
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Then he shakes his head. "I haven't, actually, but I probably should. Caitlin can probably help, too. Is it silly that I don't even want to ask anyone because it was a Cisco thing and I miss him?"
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If Barry doesn't consume enough calories he'd like, die, wouldn't he?
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Leaving the team wouldn't necessarily mean he'd stop being friends, unless they had a fight, or Cisco died. Which, well, it sounds likely given how shitty Barry's life at home seems to be.
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"Did you wanna talk about Cisco?"
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But in the process of trying to bring Frost back out in her body, it went wrong and created a third person...one who replaced them both instead of sharing a mind with them. There's no more Caitlin or Frost, only Khione."
There's a lot of far out science involved with all this that he's glossing over, but he hopes he's explaining this well enough.
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He was never that much into comic books. This is definitely way beyond his scope.
"I'm sorry, I'm having trouble following."
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He takes a seat somewhere because it's just a lot, and he needs a minute. "My last interaction with Caitlin was pretty terrible, too, and it's been hard to deal with the fact that we never reconciled."
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"I'm sorry for your loss." He is very genuinely sorry, regardless of how it works, Barry lost a friend. "It's good that you're taking time to process, before deciding what to do."
He knows there's a Caitlin in Duplicity, and he figures she does not know about this third person. So Barry has to deal with that loss and also decide what to tell her.
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