milliways_bar | (no subject)

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"You have GOT to be kidding me."

Standing in the open doorway, Cisco stares at the bar shaking his head.

With a sigh he tosses his toolbelt onto a bench beside the doorway and steps through into Milliways, letting the door close behind him.

His annoyance at what he had to go through to get here evaporates quickly, and when he takes a seat at the counter he’s all smiles.

"Hi, Bar. Remember me?"

That is absolutely not a squeal of delight when Bar produces a napkin with a cheerful greeting and a mug of Butterbeer to go along with it, anyone who hears one is clearly just imagining things.

Taking a drink, he turns on his stool to observe the bar at large, wondering just what exactly he can get into this time.

[ooc: link leads to a short oom.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I get treated like that. But I assure you, I am not a cryptid." And also that Batboy doesn't exist. Though he can't be sure about Bigfoot. "I am the Avatar of the Green. Protector of the plant kingdom. I just look like a muck encrusted mockery of a man." A favorite line from the tabloids.

"Muck encrusted mockery of a man," Cisco repeats, arching an eyebrow. "Talk about alliteration. I'll stick with Alec." Since his name choice got vetoed and Cisco isn't sold on 'Swamp Thing'.

"You mentioned Central City?"

"Hm, yeah, that's where I'm from," Cisco replies with a nod. "Where are you from?"

If the guy says Central City, too, Cisco is going to jump right back onto the metahuman theory.

"Louisiana for most of my life. Near Houma these days. Ever been?" He suspects that there already being a second person from there in the Bar - Tess Mercer - needs everyone else has never even heard of it.

Cisco shakes his head. "I haven't, but heading down to Louisiana for an authentic crab boil is totally on my bucket list."

"Make sure to try the gumbo. And the beignets." He misses beignets. "I haven't been to Central in a while."

"Totally will do," Cisco pledges.

"Central City is a great place to hit up, if for nothing else than the Big Belly Burgers alone. I swear we've got the best."

He smiles at this. "I can't actually eat anymore. But I never found that a Big Belly Burger is any better or worse when I traveled. Also, there is a lot of vegetable matter filler in them." He can sense it every time he's within two miles of a BBB.

"Then clearly you have never eaten at the right or wrong Big Belly," he replies, matter-of-fact.

Looking Alec over, Cisco cocks his head to the side and guesses, "Photosynthesis...?"

"Photosynthesis. An...acquaintance tried to convince me that it's the most efficient way to eat, and that sooner or later mankind would evolve to do it. I can't really picture that. And I miss food sometimes." Often.

"Not being able to eat does sound like it'd suck," he says. "Unless... does photosynthesis have a flavor?"

Food is of course necessary, but Cisco doesn't exactly eat to survive, he eats because things are delicious.

"No flavor. Really little sensation at all unless I am near starvation." Which happened too often. "Though taking in water can at least feel good, even if I don't have any taste buds."

"Bummer. So what's the tradeoff? You can't eat, can you like, talk to trees? Grow uber tall like a redwood? Awesome topiary skills?"

Surely there must be something to make up for a burger-less existence, right?

"Growth is one ability I have. It has its uses." Like scaring the goddamned Justice League out of the Parliament of Trees' sacred ground. "I can essentially become any plant anywhere, from the redwood to the salad you ate for lunch. Though that one is not a favorite.

"And plants can 'talk' to me but only in the sense that they can let me know when they are in danger, or what is going on around them.

"And beyond all that, I can protect the Green. It's a difficult, thankless task, but it needs to be done."

Cisco makes a face when he hears Alec talk about the salad, but it turns interested as the man goes on.

"Okay, for the most part that all sounds pretty cool. Still, I'd miss food, too."

"I tend not to use the word 'cool' to describe my life that often. But thanks." People in the Bar tend not to be weirded out that much, but Cisco seems incredibly relaxed about this.

Cisco is really good friends with a guy who was struck by lightning and can now run super fast, and he spends at least part of his day taking care of a metahuman prisoner who can turn into a poison gas cloud. As long as Alec doesn't try to kill Cisco or convert him to vegetarianism, Cisco is totally cool with the dude.

"What about booze? Does alcohol have any effect if you like, watered yourself with that?"

"Plants don't get drunk. Some alcohols inhibit growth, others encourage, others have no effect. But our metabolisms don't react to alcohol the way animals do.

"And beer is based on yeast. A fungus. Think about that for a second." It might show that once upon a time, Alec was a professor of botany.

"Oh, ew. Yeah, okay, I gotcha." Certainly nobody wants a yeast infection.

"So, what-- " he starts to ask, then has a thought. "Am I asking too many questions? Because you can totally tell me to stop." He isn't trying to be rude or badger the plant guy.

"You might be asking too many questions, yes. But I can't tell anyone not to be curious." Though he could advocate being discreet.

"Oh, sorry," he says with a wince, then offers, "You can ask me questions, if you want."

To even the score, as it were. Although Cisco doubts he can say anything as interesting about himself as this guy.

"Your questions...they seem to indicate something of a science background." If not an entirely well rounded one. "What do you do for a living?"

"Yeah, I'm a mechanical engineer," he says proudly. "I work for S.T.A.R. Labs in Central City."

"Ahhh." Much is explained. "I don't think I knew anyone at that branch. The botany research was in...let me see if I remember...Atlanta, maybe. Central City...I think the only named I know from there are the McGees. And that's really third or fourth hand, and from a long time ago." The scientific community isn't small, but the people on the cutting edge - which used to includes Alec and Linda Holland - tend to at least know each other.