entranceway | [Video]

Entry tags:

[Video]

[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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I suppose it's only fair to say that Kara warned me of a few alternate versions I might want to be prepared for. Not that I feel very prepared. Can you even be prepared for something like this? I mean, sure, I've done enough stuff to know that there's this whole multiverse, but things tend to stay similar and...

[He breaks off, realizing if he keeps talking he'll blur the words together or something else equally embarrassing.]

Well, it's not like I really had a lot of time to know my grandfather. I met him less than a year ago.

[ the rambling's familiar. barry's done it long before he ever got struck with the lighting bolt and the particle accelerator matter. he does his best to keep up, but with missing a few key links, all he can do is narrow his eyes as he tries to picture what bart allen's trying to say. the multiverse is a huge, huge galaxy of alternate selves, but with barry's limited experience, he has only ever met his doppelgänger who was the same age and familiar in his select choices of work and women. his dealings with kara have left him to fill in the gaps — kara knows him, as a blond. rather than ask her who he is to her in her world, he's left it up to (incorrect) assumptions. ]

[ he hasn't dealt with anything futuristic just yet, save for eobard thawne. he can't say his impression of the future is a good one just yet. ]

[ he's a forensic scientist, so barry tries to quickly think of all the clues he's been given. what's the most important thing to pull from what bart's said? he thinks he's found it, and so he slowly, almost tentatively asks, ] Who's your grandfather?

[There's a pause, and he tries to keep himself centered in normal speed. It would be so easy to slip into a more subjective speed, or blur words from sheer nerves. How does he explain who Grandpa Barry is when he's not really certain there isn't some way this can be overheard. He really can be more circumspect than that, no matter what people might think.]

Well, he's no Superman, but I like to think he's made his mark. He works as a forensic scientist for Central City Police. I know I always wanted to follow in his footprints.

[ superman … hadn't he read something about that guy when he visited national city? he thinks to ask, but deems it's not important. he doesn't know if the comparison is important, either. ]

[ barry can be in denial as badly as he wants, but he knows what iris would say if she were here. think about it, bear. think long and hard, and listen to that iron gut of yours. barry allen believes the impossible to be possible, and just because he hasn't gone to the future himself doesn't mean that the future can't visit him. he's a forensic scientist first and foremost. if this was one of his cases, his report would describe something similar to the plot line of back to the future. ]

[ that's what his gut's telling him, and his gut has never been wrong. his brain and legs have just been slow enacting upon that gut of his. ]

[ before he even realises it, he's changed the feed to super duper private. ]

I'm supposed to be blond, aren't I?

[ if he had never met kara here, he never would've felt confident enough to take the plunge. ]

[Bart can't help it, because the line cracks him up. It's not quite the way Max had cut him off in 1941 to keep him from talking about the future events that had brought Bart there, but it was so close. It's nervous laughter, because normally it wouldn't be funny, not like this. The whole situation is just too surreal.

When he finally gets back under control, he takes a deep breath and continues the conversation.]

I'm sorry, it's just...grife, sometimes history repeats itself in the strangest way. You see, the old geezer who taught me most of what I know about the family business once forced me to go through this whole conversation of how he was not blond rather than risk time travel complications. I mean, he didn't even believe me until I mentioned that he never did tell me why he shot his horse.

[And he's babbling again, dammit.]

But, yeah, he's blond. Doesn't mean that there isn't shenanigans going on with the multiverse. Things always manage to be pretty complex.

[ he can't express how grateful he is that he's not this "old geezer" who apparently shot his horse. easy forensic combing tells him that bart would've said "grandpa shot his horse" more than anything else. ]

[ he lets out a breath, but that tension still doesn't leave him. it's how he'd felt on earth-2, except he'd felt tenser around an oblivious detective iris west-allen. ]

Tell me about it. [ time travel is the most complex beast he knows, and he's tried keeping up with the kardashians. but he figures they may be safe here — he hopes so. after everything iris has told him about what he's done and what he's about to do, he has to hope wonderland is a safe little bubble from his time wraith friends. ]

Sorry I'm not him … or blond. To be honest, I don't think I could pull it off.

[ this is the second time he's been proven to be blond, and he's wondering if that's the multiverse trying to tell him something. he lifts his hand to rub at his jaw, then drops it. he's made his mind up; to hell with it. ] But for the sake of unconfusing things … I'm Bartholomew Henry Allen. My parents are Henry and Nora Allen. I'm The Flash … and forensic scientist for the Central City Police Department. I'm from the year 2016, and I'm 27. [ he's missing a few important tidbits in there, but slow and steady wins the race — and avoids causing a headache. ]

[ his lips quirk upward. ] And it's nice to meet you.

[ overwhelming, but nice. he's pretty sure he'll start freaking out a couple of hours, if not days, after this sinks in. ]

[Bart smiled at the introduction, although it was a little sad. He knows this is awkward, and he doesn't know how to make it better. Besides pushing on.]

In my case, some of that isn't as straightforward. I was born with my speed and it had unexpected side-effects. I grew up fast. Like, my third birthday, after we finally got my aging stabilized, I was developmentally 15. I'm probably about 17 now, but pinning that down is hard.

And I go by Kid Flash these days, although I used to be Impulse. With a group called the Teen Titans out of San Francisco. It's not that I don't spend time in Keystone and Central Cities, I just don't really have a place there. Can't spend all my time in the Garrick's guest room, even if Aunt Joan's butter tarts are awesome.

[ barry's not too sure if he should apologise. if this is his grandkid, then that means he has his genetics … god help him. ]

[ his expression, despite his attempts to mask it, show how overwhelmed he's feeling. he may not realise it now, but it's there, bubbling. this is a lot of information for even the fastest man alive to process — and he can only hope he's taking it in stride. ]

Garrick as in Jay Garrick?

[ his father's doppelgänger. again, barry isn't so sure what to make of him. thinking of him brings back hunter zolomon and dad — it's been a year, but he supposes that hurt of losing henry won't fade just because he's in an alternate world. ]

I thought Wally was Kid Flash. That's what Iris told me.

Yeah. I mean, I call him my uncle, but he's not related to us. He's the Justice Society's Flash, the way you're the League's. He's the one who talked Wally into letting me join the Titans. It was his team, first, after all.

[Bart stops for a moment, because he can see the tension in his not-grandfather's face.]

Wally was the first Kid Flash, but that was way before my time. He's been wearing the Scarlet Speedster mantle as long as I've known him, and I should hope being married with kids would make him old enough for that.

[A pause, then he looks at Barry, and tries to change the subject.]

What about your world? How long since the lightning chose you?

[ barry's brain comes to a stop. imagining wally with kids is weird. it's the only thing he can really react to, knowing wally over this justice society, this justice league, this friendly jay garrick … none of it rings any familiar bells. at least on earth-2, he'd known the people he ran into. killer frost, reverb, detective west-allen ... ]

[ he's grateful for the opportunity to grasp at a question that he can easily — and without earning a headache — answer. ]

Two … three years? [ it's not meant to sound like a question. for a quick second he closes his eyes, the opens them. no time to go back and rework that answer. ] It was two back home. I've been here for a year on top of that. It feels a lot longer ... way longer.

[There's a moment where it's obvious Bart is doing some quick mental math, trying to estimate time considering all the snarls and twists his life has taken.]

I was born with my speed. It...isn't anything to be desired. But, yeah, time always seems to stretch when you least want it to. Sometimes it felt like I spent months watching the clock waiting for detention to end.

[Which had never been his fault, really. He didn't find out until that chance comment the night he was asked to join the Titans that his memory was something special.]

I had a bad habit of telling the teachers things like how they were misquoting the textbook in front of other students.

[ he gives him a slightly amused smile. ] I'm pretty sure you don't need me telling you teachers don't like it when you do that. I run my mouth with the Captain at work a little too much, and I can tell you he wishes he could put me in detention for when I do.

[ but that hadn't been a flash thing. that'd been a barry-allen-rambles sort of thing. still, for his goal right now with this conversation, it's to try and find that familiar thread. where does he begin to tie into the barry allen that's found throughout the multiverse? ]

You haven't graduated yet, have you?

It's...complicated. I mean, I sorta passed the GED, because I needed it to even consider applying to the LAPD, but that also wasn't exactly me, even if I remember being...older.

[He looks down, studying his hands, thinking, remembering, and at that moment, he looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulder.]

As my grandmother would say, "You can trust a Flash to be late, even for his own funeral."

Your grandmother, who would have to be my wife ... [ he says it slowly, like it's some delicate thing. in a way, it is. iris has left wonderland once again, and barry feels her absence each and every passing minute. it's not a new concept to him that he's married to her in the future, on earth-2, and perhaps across the entire multiverse. that idea is simply incredibly overwhelming — barry allen is happy, and he hasn't yet lived it. ]

[ assuming grandma is iris here. she has to be, nothing else will ever make sense. ]

[ then he's quick to clarify, all words stumbling over each other: ] Unless it's your other parent's grandmother, I mean, everyone who meets me judges me so that would not be completely out of character for anyone. [ not wanting to assume! ]

No, Mom's side of the family doesn't want anything to do with me.

And I wasn't trying to judge. I mean, I just met you, and not even in person. Being late can be a good distraction, but it usually isn't intentional.

[Bart doesn't really have any clue how to have this conversation.]

Are there a lot of people from your Earth here? I've got my two best friends.

[ people not judging barry allen seems to be a rare unicorn these days. barry often judges himself. the stray thought of wondering what the doppelgängers of his future grandchildren — future family members — will think of him passes by, and he lets it run far out of his reach. iris would tell him to stop worrying so much. ]

There's a couple of people. My best friends ... And I guess some work colleagues? [ that sounds a lot like uncertainty. what does one call leonard snart and mick rory? it's easy to pass off sara lance as a work colleague, given she's the black canary's sister … and then there's rip hunter to think about. life was so much easier when he was just a nerd. ] From my present and apparently my future.

[ and with a breath in, he recalls with an attempt to remain nonchalant, ] And an enemy, although ... I think he's gone. [ scratching the back of his head, he lets his arm drop. ] I probably don't need to tell you to be careful with giving your name out, right? Wonderland's brought in a few people who aren't my biggest fans, and those people tend to make it a point to go after the people I care about.

I don't have any interest in becoming a target, but advertising what I can do isn't my intention, either. Should I be asking who you mean as far as enemies?

[Kara had mentioned Rogues, so he guessed that would be what Barry meant.]

[ he lifts his hand, scratching the back of his neck. once he lets it swing down, he answers, ] The Reverse-Flash and Zoom were here. Two Reverse-Flashes have been here, from two different points in time. Zoom just ... [ he shrugs his shoulder. ] zoomed off, I guess. [ ha. now isn't the time for jokes, however. ]

[ with a breath in, he tries his best to not feel stressed. the idea of thawne and zolomon being back here really makes barry almost go grey. ] I don't know how much I — your grandpa's told you, but they're dangerous. They're no longer here, but Wonderland's brought them here once, and it can do it again.

I know the names. I've met the Reverse-Flash of my world a time or two. Never a pleasant experience.

[Bart doesn't quite know what to think about the differentiation between the two names. Wasn't the Reverse-Flash also known as Professor Zoom?]

If it makes you feel a little less awkward, I really don't know my grandfather all that well. We never really got to spend all that much time together. I don't think he feels any more comfortable about having a grandkid showing up when he hasn't had kids yet, either. It's just another screwy way the Flash family works.

And if you're really worried about how well I can hold up, we can always have a race or something.

[ well, it makes him feel a little better that the blond barry of the multiverse wasn't able to take this in stride, either. he had this picture of blond barry being so perfect, because he was blond. he bets he had great hair, too. ]

Postpone the race for another day. I'm still wrapping my head around the fact that I end up having kids, and one of my kid's named their kid Bartholomew. [ he winces, ] I'm really sorry. It's a terrible name.

I've always considered it an honor. Something else I can only hope to live up to.

[And the fact that he can say that not only with a straight face, but a bit of chagrin on his own behalf doesn't help.]

I grew up knowing my grandpa is one of Earth's greatest heroes, and I got to be named for him. So I've got nothing to complain about in the end.

[ barry can't help but smile. touched, even though he knows it's not him. the flash of thawne's future is someone he aspires to be, hopelessly wanting to be someone who is worthy of having the key to central city in his pocket. he'd wanted the city to look at him and feel hope; he'd never considered he wanted his family — his future family, not the wests, not the team — to be proud of him as well. ]

[ now, "bartholomew" doesn't seem so bad of a name. ]

Bart's a way better nickname than Barry. You've got me beat there.

I somehow think keeping score is a bad idea.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Video]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject