entranceway | ( action | text ) here's to all the hearts that didn't make it home

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( action | text ) here's to all the hearts that didn't make it home

[ it is (was?) the season to be jolly, and iris west~~-allen~~ is a terrible gift-giver.

she could probably do worse if she made the effort, but that's not saying much. thankfully, she won't realize the full extent of how lacking her gift is in comparison to barry's. he is currently ushering her through a door, asking that she cover her eyes to keep the surprise intact. she can hear the boyish excitement in his voice, and as always, it's infectious. a flutter rises in her stomach as she waits. ] Open your eyes ... now!

[ and open her eyes she does.

barry is no longer anywhere to be found, and instead of a newly leased apartment, iris finds herself in wonderland again. at least the rabbit hole was thoughtful this time around: it's let her to the mansion steps. it's snowing. it wasn't snowing before when she — when she what?

a light shiver creeps up her spine as iris finds her way inside.

it takes several minutes, perhaps longer than that, for the full weight of her memories to return to her. they come back in pieces, and confusion soon gives way to apprehension. she's been here before. but that doesn't make sense, she was home and how could she possibly forget in the interim?

the click-clack of high heels signals her arrival, her eyes taking everything in. old memories coalesce with new ones, and she almost sways to the side at the impact. this isn't the wonderland she remembers. not exactly. and everything is so quiet, as if the whole world is sleeping. iris takes off her coat, the red velvet dress she wears underneath it suggesting she'd been having a celebration of her own. it's winter in wonderland: how much has she missed?

her steps quicken, iris now in full search mode. she won't stop until she sees a familiar face. ]

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[ iris west is a reporter back in her home world, and it's a shame she has not taken advantage of the network as much as she should. tends to happen when you lose yourself digging up info within the network. ten years worth of it. her notes went missing the day she did, so she'll have to start from the ground up.

let us tell you, it won't be easy. but it's also not impossible.

to iris west, impossible is nothing.

once she is more or less settled in and let those closest to her know she has returned, she reaches out to the network. ]

I've got a few questions for you, Wonderland.

Specifically, I have questions for those of you who've been sent home and were brought back. Note: I won't turn down information even if this technically doesn't apply to you. I'll take everything you've got.

1. Were you able to remember anything about Wonderland while you were home?
2. How long were you gone Wonderland-wise, and were all your Wonderland memories intact when you returned?

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[ her face falls when she sees him, for reasons that go beyond all the shiners that adorn his face.

this is new to iris: knowing things from a future that many have not lived. (leonard snart dies a hero. he dies.)

he is also providing her with a distraction, and at least her reaction can be attributed in part to the sight of him. ]

What the hell happened to your face?

A fist, mostly. You should see the rest of me.

[He doesn't seem too bothered, but it's not as if he's in a habit to show a lot of emotion.]

I take it you're from further ahead in time now? You still look good, in case you worried.

[ she hesitates. ]

You could say that.

[ one never leaves wonderland without gaining some traction, however big or small. ]

You know well and good that's not what I'm worried about. [ deflection will not work on iris west. ]

No? Then I've no idea how to talk to you, I only know very shallow people.

[He leans back against the wall, sitting on his bed currently. The room's not very bright, only lit by a couple of candles. It makes the bruises stand out less, so there's that.]

Happy holidays.

Debatable.

[ man, she'd forgotten how completely impossible he is. she'd forgotten a lot of things. ]

It feels wrong to say 'right back at you.' [ from where she is standing, their holidays have been anything but harry. ]

Are you okay? What's going on? [ more importantly: what did she miss? ]

I'm peachy.

[Mostly he's sarcastic to a fault, but that's nothing new.]

Just had a run-in with someone who wanted to improve my colouring. Other than that, I don't know. The Flash was sad, I fed him special brownies.

[ s i g h ]

Do I want to know what made them special?

[There's a

L O O K.]

Their personality.

[ a L O O K back. ]

Reminds me of a person or two.

[ no, just the one, really. ]

What did I tell you about shallowness?

[He hesitates for a brief moment, considering various scenarios before talking again. Just a question.]

You busy?

[ iris allows the silence. sometimes it does no good to push. sometimes it's good to wait. ]

Not at the moment.

[ behind her is very clearly the kitchen, iris holding a mug filled with coffee. ]

[The kitchen seems a bit risky, all things considered, so he provides an alternative.]

Meet me in my room?

[ iris likes getting to the bottom of things. if there's something that needs digging, she likes to be the shovel. if something needs clarification, she wants to be the magnifying glass. iris seeks the truth, and she always will. but she would be lying if she said it was strictly curiosity that's leading her to his room now.

iris doesn't answer so much in words as in action.

there's a knock on your door now, len. ]

Come in.

[Leonard likes Iris, on the whole. He's always liked people that can match him, people who are strong and witty and who don't back down. Still, there's some disparity for someone who likes to not be understood and maybe that is why he resorts to being, as she says, impossible with her more often than he would anyway.

He's sitting on his bed, putting the book he's been reading aside as she comes in. On his desk are nine candles, one of them on top of a pile of books. It's not as if he's religious, but this year, under the circumstances, there'd been something about tradition. Other than that, his room hasn't changed much. His face has, obviously.]

I got apple pie. Want some?

[There is indeed a plate with pie on it, because Riley is adorably sweet and he gestures at it.]

[ sharp-eyed as iris is, she takes in these little details. it only adds to the mystery that is leonard snart. she couldn't remember anything about wonderland while she was home. ray's piece of news had been surprising, but it didn't hit her quite the way it does now that she stands before him.

it's different when there's no longer a communication device between them. he's real and breathing and iris doesn't know how that happens. ]

Not the kind of girl who turns down pie.

[ she remembers how he feels about personal space, so iris respects his, but she does continue to look at him with worry. ]

Have you gotten yourself checked out yet?

Don't need to. I get checked out all the time.

[He pulls his legs up and shifts over so there's more space on the bed, not inviting her with words, but it's pretty obvious anyway. Also, the pie is here, so that's unmistakable.]

Not the first beating I've gotten, don't look so concerned. It's been well earned.

While I don't doubt you were successful at riling someone up, nobody earns getting hurt like that.

[ no matter what they've done.

she sits down at the foot of the bed, her weight sinking the mattress down a bit. ... ooh, that pie does look good. don't mind if she does. ]

Trust me.

[There not really any doubt in him that he's earned the beating. Worse, likely, even more so with how the situation is playing out right now. Things had this habit of going as badly as they possibly could.]

So, what happened with you back home?

Way too much to condense into a sentence.

[ but not coincidentally, it's something she wanted to ask him, too. if she has a ballpark, she might be able to gauge better what she can say. ]

What do you last remember? I don't think I ever asked you. [ she never thought — she never thought. ]

We really need to get a poker game together some time. None of you good guys can bluff worth a damn.

[Might seem like an out of context statement, but he has a fairly good feeling that she knows exactly what he's referencing.]

Who brought you up to speed?

[ in a way, she's almost relieved he saw it written all over her face. iris doesn't know if she'd want to say the words.

they wouldn't feel right on her tongue. she grows uncharacteristically silent, aware it's in his nature to shrug everything off with a sarcastic or incorrigible remark, and this is something she can't and won't treat cavalierly. she grows silent, because impossible things happen every day, and iris west has impossibly grown to care for leonard snart, and this is surprisingly hard. ] There was ... a crisis that required all the teams to work together, Legends included.

[ a pause. ] You weren't there. Ray explained why.

[There's a pause, mostly as he considers Ray relaying information like that. He hopes he's done it in one of his less ditzy moments.

The question that's been on his mind for a long time and more pronounced since Mick's arrival is whether Lisa knows. Whether somebody has told his sister that he isn't coming back. There's no sense in asking Iris, he doubts she even cared much about him dying back there and it's not as if he'd fault that.]

See, that's how I know I won't get sent back just for a quick update, so you better drink up when I leave.

[ it's her turn to give him another L O O K. ]

That is not funny.

I wasn't going for funny. I was going for vodka.

[He considers, then gestures with one hand.]

On the rocks.

[ she eyes him curiously.

iris may not want to shrug this off with any sort of casualty, but she also wouldn't want to be tactless and impose her own will. he has every right to not want to talk about it. but she hopes if he ever does want to talk about it, he remembers there's someone he doesn't have to lie to. ]

Vodka goes well with pie? [ that's news to her. ]

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