directed | IC Inbox - Entranceway

I remember meeting my younger self and vice versa too. As you say. Both perspectives.

[Same as Rip said, it has taken some time for it to harden and he also knows that as a child, the experience has stuck with him, but he hasn't questioned it that much, almost thinking it more dreamlike than something that actually happened. But he recalls.]

But if my memories had been erased, I wouldn't remember. They could have taken me from any point of my life and I could have done whatever, but I'd have no idea.

Which means that one day, you or the others will know things I've done that I don't.

Lovely.

[It does well to make him feel even more trapped.]

[There's a moment of confusion on Rip's features; Leonard had been a newborn when they'd stolen him to protect him from the Pilgrim. But then he recalls that there had been another instance when Leonard went into the past, far earlier on in their endeavors. That is likely the instance in question here, which would make a great deal more sense.

That resolved within his own head, Rip instead focuses on the more recent alteration in question. He nods at Leonard's conclusion, all of it, up to and including the fact that one day everyone else might know some part of Leonard's life the man himself won't be allowed to remember.]

...There are a few details that can be reasoned out based on what we do know. [It's dangerous ground, but with Leonard currently being dead in their world? Rip still operates on the assumption he won't be impacting the future somehow.

Or at least the hope.]

Thawne has, or had, a goal that puts him in conflict with the Legends. He claims to have recruited you, no doubt to that end. He would have chosen a time from before you felt any loyalty to the team as a whole, and also one where your better nature hadn't yet--developed, so much as it has.

[He doesn't mean it as an insult; Leonard should be quite aware of how much he changed over the last few years of his life.]

Moreover, if he knew of your death at the Oculus, and he well might, he would've known that we wouldn't have been able to attack you easily. Not only would defeating you have to be done in such a way to not alter the timeline, but any of us present for that event would likely hesitate. Strategically, it's a sound move on his part.

[An admission made somewhat begrudgingly; Rip does not like the idea of this particular play. But what follows next? Is much easier to say.]

But I know Eobard Thawne, Leonard. His only intention for you would have been as a weapon. A tool to use for his purposes.

M-hm. What was your intention for me?

[Just something to keep in mind.

However, he doesn't really intend to keep any facade up for too long.]

Relax. I just made fun of him for getting betrayed by me and whoever those others are. [He knows the names, but details.]

...Yes. Well. [Rip walked rather expertly into that one, didn't he?] As I recall, you and all the others made your disdain of that mindset particularly well known, didn't you?

[He deserved it too. Then and now, and Rip damn well knows it.

Still. He rather hates the clear comparison drawn between himself and Eobard, even if Leonard does tell him to lighten up a moment later.]

He was working with others? [The question's out before he can stop it, and a beat later, Rip shakes his head.] No, just. Damn. [A huffed out sigh.] You know, I really do hate not having so many of the answers. Especially now when nearly everyone else is apparently from the future.

[Or knows of it.]

I've made my disdain of a lot of things well known. Never seemed to change them much.

[However, he's not holding a grudge, seems rather pointless at that time and it has all been his choice. No regrets.]

If it makes you feel any better, all I know is second-hand. All I'll ever know is gonna be second hand.

You? You just gotta wait.

I'd like to think that there might be some exceptions.

[Because somewhere along the way, Rip had been forced to listen to his team's constant insistence on being treated as something more than pawns in his plans.

Somewhere along the way, he'd also begun to value that.]

Yes, point taken. [Wow Leonard are you just going to use the fact that you died to win every discussion?] Have you considered asking Dr. Palmer if he's aware of what happens? Aside from Thawne himself, he's the only one who might know at this point.

I never really consider that Raymond could be aware of anything, to be quite honest.

[Well.

But truthfully, he has relied on Ray for information more than once, especially at the beginning, before the others even got here. Leonard wants to know things.]

Are you still set on not wanting to know yourself?

You should give him more credit. While there are times he can come across rather absentminded, at others he's proven himself quite observant.

[Certainly he's had Rip's number before. More than once.

The question, however, is easy to answer. Rip even gives Leonard something of a grin as he offers up his reply.]

Still set, indeed. While there's evidence enough for even someone like me to believe I won't remember what I learn whenever I am returned home--I've seen what the people who do carry that knowledge go through.

[He's felt the first hints of that burden, just in the tidbits he's been able to pick up regardless of anyone's best efforts. Rip's observant, analytical, logical. There are traces he hasn't been able to ignore, even as they potentially lead to some place he'd much rather they not.]

Bad enough to spend as much time as I do considering the future. I think the certainty of knowing while it all stands seemingly unchangeable would be far worse.

I get what you mean. It's not a lot of fun, being told the facts and having no influence.

[That's a burden for sure, but in Leonard's case, it's still better than wilful ignorance. As has been established, he has nothing to wait around for. There's no such thing as spoilers, given he has no other way to experience it all.]

Guess as it stands, from here there really is no way to influence a thing.

[If they don't remember anything from here back home, any preparation would be futile.]

Although I gotta admit, Eobard pouting was worth finding out.

[No doubt Leonard would; Rip stands in a position to learn details of a future he'll live through, unable to change, while the other man hears tale of a life that he's no longer part of. Two opposite sides of a single coin, and in the end, Rip has to wonder which destiny might turn out to be worse.

Although in the end, there is one thing he cannot argue. Rip even manages a small little smirk at the thought.]

Oh, I imagine it rather would be. [Especially if it means the man loses.

Even if it means that Leonard, at some forgotten point of his life, has also lost.]

So, there's no way for me to remember any of what whatever version of me may have done and you don't know the future yet either, but at least we can agree that Eobard being a sore loser is worth drinking to.

[He indicates the bottle he's given Rip before, still very much too cold for anything other than to cool a bruise.]

Want something you can actually drink?

The simple things, as they say.

[Although Leonard might not be entirely correct about an inability to recover those lost memories. Yet it's not a topic Rip will broach in length. He knows very little about those future events, after all, and they are trapped in Wonderland besides, with its limits on decent technology--much less the barbarically invasive kind.

Best to leave certain things be.]

No harm in it, I suppose. [And to commiserate when he can with the members of his team. Strange how in this odd little world, Rip thinks they may have stumbled into something resembling a camaraderie with each other.

He sets down the bottle, his jaw rather chilled by now, expecting he'll be getting another one soon.]

IC Inbox - Entranceway

nah. the writers never do!

isn't that the truth

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject