[Video]

[kid_flash_found]

[A teenager with long, reddish hair and amber-colored eyes considers the camera, adjusting a few note-cards he made as he thought things through]

Hi, everyone. Wonderlanders or whatever you call yourselves, Obviously this is my first time doing this kind of thing. Hell, the last time I was talking to a camera, it was to record my own eulogy after I’d been shot.

In the knee, it wasn’t really that serious or anything. But that kind of thing does make you wonder. Maybe this is the place for that. Wondering.

[A small, awkward chuckle.]

I’m just hoping someone out there sees this, and can lend the poor noob a hand. Because, prison or nexus dimension or whatever, this place sure seems strange, even by my standards. And, um, yeah, I spent my childhood in a VR chamber because I wasn’t able to interact with the rest of the world very well.

Oh, oops, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Bart. Bart Allen. It’s short for Bartholomew, and I wanted to be different. It’s not the worst nickname in the world. I have a friend who has to go by ‘Gates’ because his name’s pretty much impossible to pronounce without insectoid mandibles.

Comments

[sweartoyou]

You recorded your own eulogy? What was it like?

[SORRY ABOUT THIS YOUNG TEEN JUST FOCUSING ON THAT PARTICULAR BIT]

[kid_flash_found]

Well, mostly it was about the things I really enjoy, the things that tend to get overlooked at a funeral. I wanted my friends to remember how I lived, not how I died. The stupid things like how many slices of pizza I could eat at a single meal or my favorite author being Mark Twain.

I didn't want people to be sad because I was gone. And there was this website gave me the idea and, well, it seemed like a good idea. Even if a lot of people thought it was morbid or creepy.

[Bart pauses for a bit.]

To be honest, it was probably one of my better ideas. Which might tell you how good those ideas are.

[sweartoyou]

Oh... Well I think it's kind of nice...

[Buuut she's also been called creepy plenty of times. Hmn.]

I wouldn't know what to even say in mine. Did you have a long time to think about your death?

[kid_flash_found]

I'd been to enough funerals at that point to have a good idea how it was going to go. The rest is, well, complicated.

[He considers, studying his hands, rotating the lightning-bolt ring he still wears even though he doesn't really need it.]

Pretty sure nobody gets enough time for that. I certainly never planned anything.

[Video]

[cisskabob]

[Cissie almost scrolled past this video, because she hasn't been feeling very social and being the Welcome Wagon isn't on the list of things she's wanting to do this week. But the hair and eyes stop her, and she sits in her room watching it over a few times before she attempts to respond.

And even then, the best she can manage is to look stunned and sound even more incredulous.]

Bart?! You're here?

[Video]

[kid_flash_found]

[Bart's own expression is almost as startled, because, yeah, he'd seen that face a few times since they'd last hung out. No gold medal olympian found it easy to fade into the background, and she and Cassie went to the same school.

But seeing her, hearing her voice, well, it brings back all those times when things weren't so messed up and they could just laugh.

So all that flashes across his face in the moments between when he sees the return reply and starts his own recording and when he actually speaks.]

Cissie?

[Video]

[cisskabob]

[Cissie's smile is sincere, if a little strained. She's happy to see him, but after what she's just been through with the last event... She's having a hard time being happy that another one of her best friends is stuck here with them.]

Hi. When did you get here? Have you had the run-down?

video;

[mr_englishguy]

Good evening, Bart. I'm Newt, short for Newton, so I understand how that goes. I admit, I'm not entirely familiar with the species of noob, but I'm more than willing to help.

I came here from decades behind the technology here and have held my own, so I'm sure you'll catch on in no time.

video;

[kid_flash_found]

It's more of a class than a species. Um, a social class, not biological one. Short for newbie, most often the victims of pwning on video games.

[Because one really should clear up misunderstandings unless you want to make someone look foolish.]

I'm actually fairly familiar with 20th and 21st century Earth. I just wasn't born yet. Time travel. Someday the Science Police may arrest me for it, but I doubt it.

video;

[mr_englishguy]

Oh. Well, my mistake then. Thank you for that explanation.

[And he truly meant it. Every day he was learning so many new things he hasn't imagined before.]

So glad to hear that. I suspect that might make things easier for you in Wonderland. Now when you say Science Police, is that a thing in your world, or a term? I've learned many mean such things in other ways.

Time travel intrigues me so much.

[Video]

[mrsarcastic003]

[Like Cissie, Tim isn't much in the mood to play Welcoming Committee--it's been kind of a trying week, what with zombies, mercy killings, and a birthday, and it's not like he's ever been a bit part of that anyway. But he recognizes Bart, even if he looks a little different than Tim's last memory of him.]

...I don't even know where to start with this. Where are you, noob?

[Video]

[kid_flash_found]

Checking out a few old friends in the library. Doesn't mean I can't still pwn you any day of the week, Timbo.

[He holds up a hardcover copy of Mark Twain's Crossing the Equator to the camera, trying to make sure the words are in focus.]

I think I also saw a copy of "Fart Proudly" by Ben Franklin. Well, I know I did. You ever consider his ideas?

[Video]

[mrsarcastic003]

I feel like that would be counterproductive to the whole stealthy "all-concealing shadows" thing I have going.

[He is totally on his way right now.]

video

[cloned]

[Well, this is a nice breath of fresh air after the shitstorm that was the last event. As much as it kind of sucks to have more people he cares about stuck here, Bart's a good friend and good company. Kon grins.]

Dude, you recorded your own eulogy? That's messed up.

[He doesn't ask where Bart is. He's already using his superhearing to try and zero in on his voice. It's still not easy for him, but he's been practicing. He thinks he can get it.]

video

[kid_flash_found]

How else am I supposed to make sure you guys mention the unimportant but fun things? Like my loathing of chives, for example. There's got to be something you want to be remembered for that wasn't on your official fan page.

[Bart is actually a little relieved to have seen some familiar faces, and who really could complain about one of his best friends. Even if he was going to give him hell along the way.]

video

[cloned]

[Bart does die, and so does Kon. And then they both come back. Wow, that's... still just as depressing as when Cissie first told them. And since he doesn't know when Bart's from, besides sometime after his knee got shot, he doesn't know if that's happened or not.

Huh. He kind of gets how Cissie feels now. It would suck to be the one who breaks that news if it has to be broken. He shrugs.]

Haven't thought about it much.

video.

[crisised]

Bart? Oh, wow. This place is just collecting Titans, isn't it?

[kid_flash_found]

Hey, is that a complaint? Maybe this place understands how awesome we are.

[crisised]

I would rather be home than here most days, so I wish it didn't.

[ but other days she really hates the thought that she might have to leave certain people here behind eventually. ]

Hey, what was happening before you got here? We've got some weird time travel shenanigans going on. Tim's like... barely sixteen.

[sawny]

[Jamie's been shot more than once but he's never felt so dire as to make his last will and testament over it. Where had this boy been shot that he had? Strange business. ]

This place is strange to everyone, I think. Dinna think I'd ever find myself in a place like this and here I am.

[kid_flash_found]

I don't even know where to begin. Although at least it doesn't seem cramped.

[sawny]

Aye, it seems to have plenty of room for all of us.

VIDEO.

[accelerate]

[ barry's barely been on the network for the last couple of months, but when someone pretty much says your name on the network … well, it calls for you to respond, doesn't it? ]

[ connecting via video, barry's brows furrow in amusement. ]

Your name's Bart Allen? That's a pretty funny coincidence. My name's Bartholomew Allen, too. Don't go by Bart, though. My mom didn't think I could pull it off.

[ did nora allen really believe the apple of her eye couldn't pull of the nickname "bart"? we just don't know. ]

[kid_flash_found]

[If Kara hadn't mentioned the existence of an alternate Barry, this would have really have shaken him. Because, yeah, it's not a common name. Even now, he studies the face in the video, looking for the resemblance.]

Maybe a little less of a coincidence. It's a family name. My grandfather's. He goes by Barry, though.

[He's not sure how much more to say, because, well, this guy isn't Grandpa Barry, but he's still a Flash.]

[accelerate]

[ despite how optimistic barry wants to be, he can't quite be as ignorant as he wishes he was right now. time travel is something he's slowly becoming a good friend to; alternate universes almost feels like a partner in crime, but he's only ever met his doppelgänger, married to iris as he had always hoped himself to be. never has he met any other family member — and he cuts himself off from thinking that right now, because ... ]

I go by Barry. [ it's not as upbeat as his previous statement had been, a joke in itself. it's a statement, factual. ] My name's Barry Allen. Really weird someone else has the same name, but I guess they're both pretty popular.