bravery requires fear

“Oh, come on, it’s not that terrible in here. I’d say this place only has about… Hmm, like, three ghosts? Four tops. Not too many,” she teased, jogging up the stairs until she finally reached the top which revealed a view of the water. It was nice, peaceful. But after a while her hunger did get the best of her. “Get a good look, Bear?”

“That’s not funny.” Barry whisper hissed, honestly really afraid of the possibility of a ghost. He hadn’t ever seen one, but if aliens existed why couldn’t ghosts? He sighed as they reached the top, mostly in relief. The view was really quite stunning... He stared for a while before glancing back over his shoulder. “Huh? Oh. Yeah, yeah it’s pretty incredible.” He mused.

“hey, buddy, you ever heard of personal space?” anna asked the male that had been trying to get close to her all day. anna had never been this close to a boy before and it made her uncomfortable. “help me.” the young girl mouthed to the person in front of her, she didn’t know many people here, so it was either them or try to escape the taller person herself.

Barry glanced at the girl before looking at the guy beside her. He sucked his cheeks in for a moment before looking around. No one was really paying attention, if he was quick enough he figured he could get away with something... Quickly, he untied the guy’s shoes, probably within less than half a second. “Hey man, I think your shoes are untied..” Barry furrowed his brows and pointed, to which the guy glanced down and crouched to tie them up. “C’mon.” He whispered to the girl, waving her over so she could escape.

“are you seriously telling me you’ve never heard of cnco?” maria asked, brown eyes wandering the person she was talking to as she danced to one of cnco’s oldest songs. “have you been living under una rocka or something?” she asked, a small giggle escaping her lips.

Barry watched the girl warily, raising a brow. She seemed suspiciously too happy. Almost everyone he had run into in this town so far did. He hated that he felt so lost but no one else seemed to feel the same. “Uh.. No...” He said a bit unsurely. “Who are they? I’m missing things a lot in conversation but uh, yeah, I feel like this is one of those things where it’s not weird that I’m missing it?” Barry made a slight face.

In his years serving the Jedi Order, Anakin Skywalker had seen and experienced a great many bizarre and strange things; things that had, at the time, seemed beyond explanation. His training had taught him that most of these things could be explained through meditating upon them and using The Force as his guide. After his turn to the Dark Side, and his transformation into Darth Vader, he had become one of those bizarre and strange things; truly terrifying to the most imaginable degree. The event that had just transpired however, was perhaps the most bizarre thing he had seen or experienced yet. One moment, a messenger had barged into Vader’s private quarters and interrupted his solemn reflection, an interruption that had caused the messenger to be on the receiving end of Vader’s favorite method of inflicting pain; using The Force to cut off his oxygen supply. Vader likely would have continued this assault, were it not for the fact that the messenger managed to choke out that he was there to inform Vader that The Emperor had demanded his presence immediately. After releasing the messenger from his telekinetic grip, Vader had opened the door to his chambers and stepped through it, intent on answering The Emperors summons, only to find that as he took that step, he was all of sudden, in a brand new, and completely unfamiliar place. As powerful as The Force was, Vader had never seen it transport a person to another place before. As he stood in the midst of this unfamiliar place, he glanced around looking for any signs of something he even vaguely recognized, before noticing another person walking by. “You there. I demand you tell me what system this is immediately!” He commanded to them.

Barry had wandered the streets for a few hours now, just trying to figure out what was going on. He didn’t recognize anyone. He didn’t know where in the world this town even was. No one seemed to be able to answer that. It was all so frustrating. He just wanted to go home to where things made somewhat sense. He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts by a loud, not normal voice. Barry turned, furrowing his brows as he looked at the source of the question. Well. This wasn’t normal but it was something he could work with, he’d seen metas a lot scarier than this. “Look, if I knew... honestly I would tell you. But I have no idea, man.” Barry put his hands up a bit as if to say he meant no harm. What the hell was going on around here...

“ I WILL BE HONEST WITH YOU , i didn’t hear anything that you said within the past five minutes. i sort of got distracted and just stopped paying attention. “

Barry gave him an incredulous look. He’d literally spent the last 5 minutes explaining the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek, and he’d put so much damn effort into it. “Wow, alright. Well that’s sorta rude.” He muttered in sheepish annoyance.

After shaking the door handle a bit, the worn down wooden door opened with ease, earning a big grin from the girl as she looked back to Barry. “That’s not weird, is it?” she asked rhetorically before sliding inside and looking up the old, rusted tower. “No dust allergies, right? Might die in here,” she teased, grabbing his arm and pulling him inside- instantly heading up the winding stairs to the top of it.  “Maybe we can get pizza after this then? That hot chocolate hit the spot but I’m still starving.”

Barry looked around warily. He didn’t like this, not at all. He couldn’t help but be paranoid around really creepy abandoned buildings... “Yeah no allergies just... afraid of creepy abandoned lighthouses. And ghosts. And death.” He murmured, making a face as he followed after her. Moving so slow up these stairs really was agonizing. He wished he could just move at his own speed up to the top. “Yeah I’m starving too. So we better hurry, before we get too hungry and can’t move.” 

She laughed at his reaction, playfully nudging his shoulder with her own. “I’m playing, I love all dogs. But also, would you think a pizza delivery place would delivery to a lighthouse?” Probably not, but it might be worth a try. She looked up at the tower, head tilted slightly at his question. “Not sure… Never turned one on before… Only one way to find out though, right?” The girl flashed a grin at the other before heading on the rocky trail up to it. “There has to be some plug or something for it though.” It was only another minute until they were at the front door which was surprisingly open. “…You first?”

Barry just shrugged. He was sure they would deliver anywhere, as long as this place had an address. But it wasn’t like he would know that information, considering he had no idea where he even was. Some town he’d never heard of before with zero recollection of how he’d gotten there. He was dying to just tell Eppie about it all, just spill the truth and confide in her how freaked out he was. That was unfortunately out of the question. He followed her up the rocky trail, glancing over the cliff nearby toward the water. Ugh. No. He didn’t like that. “We’ll figure it out.” He answered her before glancing in the doorway, taking a deep breath before walking inside. If they couldn’t get it turned on he had an idea how they could get it working without Eppie noticing, maybe..

“Yeah, but-… Well, their little, scrunched up faces really aren’t useful for them.” She argued, not because she felt particularly strong on the matter but because Barry was fun to rile up like that. “No, you’re right. All dogs are equal. Just some are more equal than others,” she teased, nearing the lighthouse by now and trying to figure out a path up from the rocks. “Speaking of, though… I’m not in the mood for Italian food… Think there’s pizza delivery?”

Barry gave her a look before sticking his tongue out at her. Nobody said he was the most mature. Or really mature at all. But really, who could hate on pugs? “They have delivery for everything nowadays.” He responded as he looked up at the lighthouse. It didn’t seem to be on which was strange.. “Think there’s some sort of switch to turn that thing on?” He glanced at her.

“TENNIS ??” letting out a laugh, “i wish i was a P R O at any sport !!” sadly, all nancy could do was swing a bat, but that was when she was younger. if the other sounded strange in any way, she was oblivious to any changes in voice. “so— hey, since you saved me— it would be super cool to know your name !! i’m nancy !!”

Tennis. How stupid. He couldn’t have thought of something better? Or more realistic? She didn’t seem to think he was weird or anything, though, and that put him a bit at ease. “Oh nice to meet you, Nancy. I’m Barry.” He answered with a smile before reaching out to shake her hand. “Barry Allen.”

She grinned proudly at his answer, nodding in approval. “Good. Right answer. And Italian bread is like, ciabatta which is basically a fat, square baguette I think.” But he was right, that did sound good right about now. It was then that she realized that she hadn’t had anything in her stomach besides that hot chocolate. “You’re making me want bread… Seen any of those bakeries around here?” The thought of going to that lighthouse was definitely taking back seat now. “Pugs are weird though… And they snore. I like corgis.”

Ciabatta? Barry made a face, trying to think of what that was. Was that the same as focaccia? No.. What was focaccia? Did it have something to do with pizza? Maybe it was just Italian like pizza... Barry glanced at her and blinked before glancing around quickly. “Uh. I mean.. Follow the scent of bread?” He joked with a smirk. “And they’re not weird. That’s rude. How do you think they would feel about that? Don’t discriminate. All dogs are equal.” He pointed.

So many new faces showed up so quickly she thought as she missed something. Was there like an event or…? Oh, no it’s impossible to have something in this little town without me knowing it. She sighed a little but continued her way nevertheless. She glanced at Barry, furrowing her brows. “Is everything okay? I don’t mean to be rude but you look like you’re about to lose it. If there’s anything I can help…” she looked at him with a serene look. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m being totally.. out of it. No I’m fine. Just a lot on my mind, yanno? Like when you’re trying to study for a test but you really don’t want to, but you have to so just like... There’s that conflict in your head?” Barry tried to explain in a ramble. “That’s sort of what’s... going on... anyway. Sorry yeah show me your place?” He gave her a warm smile.

“That what it’s called?” she asked, head quirking to the side. Of course, leave it to the Swiss to made a joke of a cheese. Éponine made a face at his somewhat graphic description of the bodies he encountered, but his small, off-handed comment about his family- or lack of, did pique her interest. Sure, she had a family. They were the worst kind of family, but she knew where they were. Seeing as he moved on so quickly, she didn’t press further. “Sourdough? No. Not part of the question! It’s either French or Italian. I think french is the best since we basically invented the stuff. Italy can eat their hearts out.” Always the competitive one, she even liked thinking her home country was the best in Europe. “Hey, do you think they’ve got dogs around here? Haven’t seen any yet… Random question-”

Barry groaned and looked up at the sky for a moment. “Alright alright!” He said finally, glancing at her subtly. “French. But mostly because I don’t really have any idea what Italian bread is and French bread is a vessel for garlic and butter.” He explained with a sigh. “God that sounds good right now.” Barry smiled at the thought, wondering where the hell he could get some of that around here... “Uhhh. I mean, probably... I’ve never been anywhere where people don’t have a dog. I just really hope there’s some pugs because in my opinion those are the best kinds.”

Science never stuck well in her mind. Literature and words did as well as particularly strong speeches, but numbers and equations flew right over her head. His next question, or rather string of questions, made her chuckle before biting her lip and glancing upwards as she formulated her answers. “Umm… Let’s see. I suppose I’d be a student at home. I mean, I didn’t go to school, but my friends were very smart and went on lecturing for ages, so I’d listed to them. Life at home could’ve been better.” That was an understatement, but she didn’t want to completely unload to this man she just met. “And I love cheese. Just not the ones with holes in ‘em… They feel like a rip off…” She smiled brightly up at him, nudging his shoulder playfully. “My turn. So you’re a scientist. What’s the grossest thing you’ve dissected? Do you have family? French bread or Italian?”

“Okay, okay. Makes sense.” Barry nodded, furrowing his brows. So she was a student but... not? Alright he’d just roll with it instead of asking questions about it. “The holey cheese is disgusting. Isn’t swiss the holey one? I dunno. You’re right, it’s a rip off. And disgusting.” Cheese are okay but he’d probably eat whatever macaroni and cheese was made of for the rest of his life. “Me? Oh. That’s hard. But probably the really gross mangled bodies in crime scenes? That’s gross. You didn’t need to know that.. But honestly the grossest thing.” Barry laughed and pushed a hand over his face before shaking his head. “Um. No I don’t really have family... and uh, sourdough. Because it’s way better than french and italian.” He skimmed over the family part quickly, not really wanting to delve into all that.

“A forensic scientist? CSI? I – I guess so.” The idea seemed foreign, almost as if he never truly heard it before. He had not understood why, figuring that he had. Wasn’t it common knowledge? Officers and forensic scientist? He suppose he saw it somewhere on tv, sometime long before, but nothing came to mind. “That depends. What are you interested in?” Jim questioned, raising a brow slightly intrigued. He wasn’t sure how far his capabilities could ride, but once he had the right pieces of tools, his mind went wild. “I have these random maps and charts. I woke up one day and just went to town, I don’t know what they mean, but it seems important to me somehow.”

Barry wasn’t really sure how to explain to him what he wanted to know. But he was sure he could twist it into some sort of science fiction question.. “Uh, well. I dunno. I just saw this movie once about like, material that doesn’t burn? I was interested to see if that was like. True. I mean I’m sure it is. Space shuttles don’t burn up during reentry right? So that’s cool. Yeah.” He pressed his lips together and looked away awkwardly. “That’s cool.”

When she first heard Barry’s name she wanted make a joke about how much she loves all the berries but then… she remembered that wouldn’t have been really appropriate, right? So she just curiously watched Barry’s frowned face. Somehow his reaction didn’t match. “Oh, there’s somehow so many people suddenly moving here. It’s strange. I mean I’m happy you’re here but, still…” she liked peculiar things, after all she was one of them but this was more than that, she could feel it. “I’ve lived here since I was a baby. I think I’m unable to not like it here.” she didn’t say she was born here because her parents told her the story how she was adopted by them. “Wow, you’re a fast topic changer, aren’t you. No offense, though. There is not much big cities around Jameson, as far as I know. But I’m sure you’ll find everything here. We are here, by the way.” she stopped in front of her house with Barry.

What? So he wasn’t the only one suddenly in this new place... That was so weird. So he didn’t just travel to an alternate universe alone like he had done in the past. No this time, somehow, others came too. Then that meant... This wasn’t his fault. He blinked and glanced at her, trying to recall what she had said while he was lost in his thoughts. “Oh, uh, yeah. Wow. Okay. Everything here...” He murmured as he glanced around. Okay now he was sort of, kinda, maybe a lot freaking out. Barry turned to her before looking up at the place. “Oh it’s nice. Really nice.”