[ How strange it feels, to actually type it out. ]
sometimes when i touch someone i see things that have happened to them. other times if i'm holding something or just get too close, i'll see where the person who owns it is at that moment, what they're doing.
and.... a couple times i've seen things that haven't happened yet.
plus occasionally i get these vibes of timelines that have been erased, like, with time travel. even though they technically never happened, i still remember them.
[ It all looks pretty ridiculous, written out like that. But every word is true. Cisco hesitates a long time before he hits send. ]
that sounds like an extraordinary gift. and a very useful one. thank you for telling me. are there many like you, where you are from?
[ "goodvibrations" speaks a little like the young mutants who are learning, for the first time, they aren't entirely alone in the world, describing what they can do with an overriding suspicion that they won't be believed. ]
[ It takes Cisco a few minutes to get past the reflexive wave of awfulness he feels when Charles calls his powers an 'extraordinary gift'. He's already on-edge from deciding to tell someone about his powers, and the similarity to what Eobard said to him in the pipeline is conspicuous. There was a time when that unfortunate wording would have been enough to make Cisco drop the conversation and never look back. But he has enough distance now to push back against that irrational impulse. He tells himself it is a perfectly normal and even a perfectly kind thing for someone to say. Charles means gift as in talent, and psychic or not, he can't possibly know anything about the context, given the question he asks next. So Cisco's response is somewhat delayed, but not defensive. ]
it's not actually all that useful, since i can't control what i see or when i have the visions, which can be extremely inconvenient. like, it's not so bad if i'm just in the lab or whatever, but it's happened a couple times in life and death situations. zoning out, even if it's just for a few seconds, is a really bad idea when someone's firing a gun at you y'know?
i don't know what you'd call many. we're called metahumans, where i'm from. a couple years ago a particle accelerator exploded and released a wave of dark matter energy that changed some people in the city. but i don't really have any way of knowing how many of us there are, though. at least 1% of the population, for sure. maybe a lot more. people don't go around saying they're metas much.
[ Cisco cannot help himself: he sounds a second text full of questions, earnest and a little desperate. ]
so you hear other people's thoughts? for real? do you have to be near to them or is it anyone, anywhere? like you can't read my mind right now, right? how'd you get your powers? do you know how to close off your mind? do you think you could teach me to do it?
[ Oh, that was a lot, wasn't it? ]
uh, sorry for the wall of questions. i've met plenty of metas, but never really anyone with powers like ours before. stuff involving... i guess esp or whatever you wanna call it.
[ By the time Cisco fires off a second text, Charles has barely begun responding to the first. But the novelty factor of these devices hasn't quite worn off into the slow, frustrating learning curve ahead of him, so he patiently continues on. Possibly a little slowly, in comparison.
But eventually; ]
that's quite all right. I have a similar situation myself in that I have met many mutants (what we call ourselves) but it isn't often they have abilities like the one you describe, or mine. manipulation of metals, or soundwaves, or being able to change shape. swift healing, flying, super speed. I have only met one other who is more like me.
but to answer your questions. I do for real hear other peoples thoughts. proximity is generally key although my range has broadened as I've developed it. There is something about this place however that limits me to single rooms and I can only hear the thoughts of those who share one with me. in my world mutants are born with a genetic predisposition towards manifesting ability. I developed telepathy when I was a child, which is usual. I close off my mind with a lot of practice. and yes I would be happy to try to teach you to do the same. I'm familiar with abilities being as much a burden as they can be gifts.
[ Cisco has met someone who called himself a mutant before - someone who just happened to be able to manipulate metal. The fact that Charles mentions that as an example seems like it can't be a coincidence. But he doesn't bring it up - he agreed not to say anything about Erik and that includes to people who are probably from his world, as far as Cisco's concerned. ]
wait, coming here altered your ability to access your powers? that's so weird. i know a couple people with powers, and none of us have been affected by this place. maybe your telepathy has something to do with your brain interpreting signals that are affected by the air molecules around you, and since different versions of reality vibrate at different frequencies, you're not used to it. that'd explain why you have to be so much closer...
[ He can't help being curious, wondering if he could come up with something like his own goggles that might help this guy to use his powers like normal. Then again... he might not actually want that. Not being able to hear anything unless the other person is in the room with him and wants him to hear it might be an unlooked-for blessing. ]
since you were a kid... damn. so you've had a while to get used to it.
[ In some ways that seems preferable to his own situation. But on second thought, Cisco isn't so sure. He can't imagine what it would have been like if he'd had to grow up dealing with having a power, keeping it hidden, learning to control it while he was learning who he was and what his place was in the world. ]
really? you mean it? i mean maybe it won't work - i'm not really sure it's possible for me to block out the visions entirely - but if i could do it even a third of the time.... my life would be a lot easier.
there's no telling what's possible until it is tried. the mutants I've met in my world often find themselves at the mercy of their own ability to begin with, rather than the other way around. uncontrolled. not always to their detriment if their power is passive, but not using it to its potential. then there are those like you and I who need to train in management and containment to live normally. in my experience, there is normally a way. of course, if we exist in different worlds with different internal logics, it may not be the same, but I would like to try to help.
as for the rest, I am more interested in what my ability's new limitations imply about our environment rather than attempting to get rid of them. for now, anyway. but it sounds like you have some experience in this area?
[ Cisco doesn't know what to feel; he reads the first portion of the response over and over but cannot reconcile his ambivalent reactions. It's so nice, to talk to someone who knows without needing to be told over and over, that it's necessary to manage his power, for him to be able to live his life. There's a confidence and authority in the way he offers to help that Cisco desperately wants to believe in. But... historically, trusting exactly that kind of person has led to some very bad things. Except, what else did he want? He was the one who had asked for help in the first place?
What a tangle his mind is, these days. ]
even if it doesn't work... i would be super grateful for any help you can give.
[ The next inquiry is much easier to answer. Straightforward - not personal, just science. ]
a little bit of experience. where i come from, a bunch of breaches opened up leading to another universe - a parallel world where things were slightly different. when i crossed over there, i had difficulty using my powers.
the way the multiverse works, basically, is that there are infinite different versions of reality, all occupying the same space, but since they vibrate at different frequencies, they never interact with one another. except all of us have been brought to this place from separate worlds. so it's possible that... coming from your specific world to this place has interfered with you powers, but not anyone else's.
if you were willing to come by the lab sometime i could try to run some tests, see if we can figure out why it's happening.
well, it's a room that looks like the lab where i work back home. it's just a copy but it has all the same equipment. the door says star labs, drop by any time.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
un: goodvibrations
i can't read people's thoughts or feelings or anything like that but there are other things i can do.
which i don't really wanna tell you more about unless you're willing to keep this a secret. i really really don't want people knowing.
no subject
I can keep a secret.
no subject
i have visions.
[ How strange it feels, to actually type it out. ]
sometimes when i touch someone i see things that have happened to them. other times if i'm holding something or just get too close, i'll see where the person who owns it is at that moment, what they're doing.
and.... a couple times i've seen things that haven't happened yet.
plus occasionally i get these vibes of timelines that have been erased, like, with time travel. even though they technically never happened, i still remember them.
[ It all looks pretty ridiculous, written out like that. But every word is true. Cisco hesitates a long time before he hits send. ]
no subject
are there many like you, where you are from?
[ "goodvibrations" speaks a little like the young mutants who are learning, for the first time, they aren't entirely alone in the world, describing what they can do with an overriding suspicion that they won't be believed. ]
no subject
it's not actually all that useful, since i can't control what i see or when i have the visions, which can be extremely inconvenient. like, it's not so bad if i'm just in the lab or whatever, but it's happened a couple times in life and death situations. zoning out, even if it's just for a few seconds, is a really bad idea when someone's firing a gun at you y'know?
i don't know what you'd call many. we're called metahumans, where i'm from. a couple years ago a particle accelerator exploded and released a wave of dark matter energy that changed some people in the city. but i don't really have any way of knowing how many of us there are, though. at least 1% of the population, for sure. maybe a lot more. people don't go around saying they're metas much.
[ Cisco cannot help himself: he sounds a second text full of questions, earnest and a little desperate. ]
so you hear other people's thoughts? for real? do you have to be near to them or is it anyone, anywhere? like you can't read my mind right now, right? how'd you get your powers? do you know how to close off your mind? do you think you could teach me to do it?
[ Oh, that was a lot, wasn't it? ]
uh, sorry for the wall of questions. i've met plenty of metas, but never really anyone with powers like ours before. stuff involving... i guess esp or whatever you wanna call it.
no subject
But eventually; ]
that's quite all right.
I have a similar situation myself in that I have met many mutants (what we call ourselves) but it isn't often they have abilities like the one you describe, or mine. manipulation of metals, or soundwaves, or being able to change shape. swift healing, flying, super speed. I have only met one other who is more like me.
but to answer your questions. I do for real hear other peoples thoughts. proximity is generally key although my range has broadened as I've developed it. There is something about this place however that limits me to single rooms and I can only hear the thoughts of those who share one with me.
in my world mutants are born with a genetic predisposition towards manifesting ability. I developed telepathy when I was a child, which is usual.
I close off my mind with a lot of practice. and yes I would be happy to try to teach you to do the same.
I'm familiar with abilities being as much a burden as they can be gifts.
no subject
wait, coming here altered your ability to access your powers? that's so weird. i know a couple people with powers, and none of us have been affected by this place. maybe your telepathy has something to do with your brain interpreting signals that are affected by the air molecules around you, and since different versions of reality vibrate at different frequencies, you're not used to it. that'd explain why you have to be so much closer...
[ He can't help being curious, wondering if he could come up with something like his own goggles that might help this guy to use his powers like normal. Then again... he might not actually want that. Not being able to hear anything unless the other person is in the room with him and wants him to hear it might be an unlooked-for blessing. ]
since you were a kid... damn. so you've had a while to get used to it.
[ In some ways that seems preferable to his own situation. But on second thought, Cisco isn't so sure. He can't imagine what it would have been like if he'd had to grow up dealing with having a power, keeping it hidden, learning to control it while he was learning who he was and what his place was in the world. ]
really? you mean it? i mean maybe it won't work - i'm not really sure it's possible for me to block out the visions entirely - but if i could do it even a third of the time.... my life would be a lot easier.
no subject
the mutants I've met in my world often find themselves at the mercy of their own ability to begin with, rather than the other way around. uncontrolled. not always to their detriment if their power is passive, but not using it to its potential. then there are those like you and I who need to train in management and containment to live normally. in my experience, there is normally a way.
of course, if we exist in different worlds with different internal logics, it may not be the same, but I would like to try to help.
as for the rest, I am more interested in what my ability's new limitations imply about our environment rather than attempting to get rid of them. for now, anyway.
but it sounds like you have some experience in this area?
no subject
What a tangle his mind is, these days. ]
even if it doesn't work... i would be super grateful for any help you can give.
[ The next inquiry is much easier to answer. Straightforward - not personal, just science. ]
a little bit of experience. where i come from, a bunch of breaches opened up leading to another universe - a parallel world where things were slightly different. when i crossed over there, i had difficulty using my powers.
the way the multiverse works, basically, is that there are infinite different versions of reality, all occupying the same space, but since they vibrate at different frequencies, they never interact with one another. except all of us have been brought to this place from separate worlds. so it's possible that... coming from your specific world to this place has interfered with you powers, but not anyone else's.
if you were willing to come by the lab sometime i could try to run some tests, see if we can figure out why it's happening.
no subject
I'm willing. you have a laboratory?
no subject