fandomtownies | FINALE -- The Park, Saturday Afternoon

Arrive, dodge bad memories if you can.

Barry was very testy when he showed up. Partially because he just had the memory where he was about to shoot his best friend. The other part was the solution to this problem.

“If someone is telling I have stand here and sing fucking Kum-by-yah to get rid of these motherfuckers, I’m going to fucking puke,” he complained. “Seriously. Think good thoughts? This fucking works?”

"It's the best lead we have," Jesse said by way of explanation. "You can yell at the posh English guy if it doesn't work."

“Well, we’ll probably be dead but ok,” Barry groaned. “I’d feel a little bit better if we had more fucking evidence than just the word of a guy with a British accent.”

"That's a little pessimistic," Jesse said.

Admittedly, she was the only one here with a psychic entity keeping her mostly protected, so there was that.

Barry sighed and rubbed his forehead trying not to bring up the memory with Sara shouting at him in the warehouse. “Yeah. Well. It’s the fucking science guy in me. Anecdotal evidence without direct observation, control groups and extensive research makes it hard for me. Hence pessimism.” He replied, then threw up his hands to show he gave up. “But we don’t really have fucking time for that so... hey. Let’s put on a smile and do it. It’s better than the alternative.”

"I know at least one scientist who'd say that the best way to figure out if a theory works is to jump into it with both feet," Jesse said wryly, "but Emily is the most enthusiastic scientist I've ever met."

“If we survive this, I’m going to need to meet her. And have some long talks about the value of following a scientific methodology that doesn’t involve the seat of your pants,” Barry joked.

"Trust me," Jesse said dryly, "She has a good reason to involve the seat of her pants."

Not that Jesse had thought about Emily's pants.

And now I'm thinking about Emily's pants.

Well you are supposed to be thinking about happy thoughts, Jesse. If Emily’s pants will do the trick then think about the pants!

Barry mused on what Jesse said and nodded in understanding. “Gotcha. It’s one of those places where science fucked everything up, right?”

"Got some practice with this last night," Duke said as he arrived. "It's not as easy as it sounds."

Or, you know, possibly other people's bad memories weren't quite as close to their good ones.

Edited 2020-08-22 18:30 (UTC)

"Got any tips?" Jesse asked.

Her hair was beginning to come loose from her ponytail again.

"Don't try too hard to force it," Duke suggested. "It's like someone telling you not to think about an elephant. You've got to let the bad memories happen, but kind of . . . gently redirect them to something good."

"Sounds... good," Jesse said. "Okay. We can do this."

Where do I even start?

"But you still think we can do it?" Karolina asked, with a dorky little wave.

Don't mind the glowing. And the slight floating.

They were fighting a thing that seemed to be afraid of light. Duke would mind if she wasn't glowing.

"Yeah. We can do it. We just need to be ready for a challenge."

Karolina was honestly just sorry she couldn't glow any brighter than this. She'd used up more of her energy over the past couple of days than she'd been able to replenish.

"This is Fandom," she said, trying to offer up a reassuring smile. "We're always ready for a challenge."

Duke chuckled softly. "Even when none of us has slept properly in three days. . . ."

Karolina's smile went a little more wry. Underneath the glow, she looked worn down.

"Even then."

Octavia looked tired and, for want of a better word, pissed. But, maybe that was a good thing?

She'd always found anger to be a great fuel for determination, and she was really going to need the latter if she intended to be of any use to anyone here.

Karolina was glowing, though fainter than she would have liked to have been, because trying to gather a good charge over the last 24 hours hadn't exactly been easy.

But, you know. The night mares were probably not going to dare touch her? Or possibly people directly affected by her light?

It was a shot people were welcome to take.

"Everyone take each other by the hand," Jesse called, and yeah, she felt weird doing it too. "And... think nice things!"

She felt indescribably awkward.

[[ feel free to make this messy, and as establishy/handwavey or interacty as you like ]]

Eleanor has no clue what was really going on. Yes she had bad dreams and memories but no where near the trauma other people did on this island.

She hesitated joining the whole holding hands and thinking good thoughts for a moment and then just shrugged. “Eh. What the fork. I’ll do it.”

Standing there in the park she closed her eyes and began to think good thoughts.

Taking her little cousin to the mall for a churro dog. Shrimp cocktails. Wearing Charles Barclay’s shoes on her tiny feet. That one time she had a fling in the walk-in refrigerator with an employee at a Bruegger’s bagels. Summer’s shrimp Jell-O shots. Tahani’s beautiful and lustrous hair.

Wait. What? Where did that come from? Focus Eleanor!

Shrimp. Mmmmm. Shrimp.

Edited 2020-08-22 19:23 (UTC)

Barry still wasn’t 100% behind this idea but fuck it. Couldn’t lose anything except his fucking mind right?

He let out a long sigh and began thinking “good” thoughts. Like when Jeremy rage quit super smash brothers because Roxie was so much better than him and not a spaz. Or when Barry rolled a natural 20 on a death save when he and his friends were playing D&D together. Eating food and experiencing the beautiful sunset on Venusolon 9. When he turned two teachers into dinosaurs. When he got a teacher to drink Civet coffee. His first kiss. Ever. Seeing his friends alive and well, totally oblivious to what happened to them in another timeline. Roxie’s face when she learned she could go to school. Meeting Kathy over a dish of potato salad. Making a trampoline bed for Elsa. Jeremy punching him in the shoulder and calling Barry a pussy after getting kidnapped.

The thoughts went on. There’s one good thing about having a brain like Barry’s. You never forget the good shit that can happen to you.

Edited 2020-08-22 18:46 (UTC)

It was that Lucifer had seen it in action, or he wouldn't have believed it. "She's right!" he called brightly. "It does work, honest!" Probably too brightly. Like heading into 'used car salesman' territory, brightly.

Maybe 'trying to put off actually doing this', brightly.

But he couldn't procrastinate forever, and so he stepped into the circle, held his hands out - ugh - and stared at the trees, trying to will his mind away from all the sharp edges.

Maybe something nice and neutral, like Octavia hugging him at the piano, leaning into him like the safe place she was increasingly becoming. Or a morning eating a ridiculous breakfast bare-handed with Seivarden. Or...

It wasn't quite working, was it? His mind kept gliding away to something else. Chloe, tearstained, in a sweater-- No. Chloe, in a sweater, a smile blossoming on her face as she realized there was golden confetti drifting from the ceiling, and Lucifer took her hand and asked her to prom...

"Ah, the power of positive thinking. Anyone bring any crystals?"

Duke knew for a fact this could work, at least on an individual basis. He'd been there when Lucifer had figured it out, and tested the theory with Octavia last night.

He also knew how insidious the bad memories could get, so he was eyeing any nearby shadows with deep suspicion, even as he held out his hands and prepared some of his favorite memories.

Winning his boat, and taking her out for the first time. The feeling of wind in his hair as he drove with Nathan down a coastal road, all the windows of the Bronco rolled down. Kissing Evi on the hot sands of a Tahitian beach as the old retired ship's captain pronounced them man and wife. Octavia watching the sharks at the Baltimore Aquarium after hours. Free diving off the coast of Argentina.

That goddamn moose, chasing him into his first class at the school.

Hey, sometimes good memories could be complicated, too.

Most of Jesse's memories weren't really terrible or great. They just... were, in-between spaces in the long years between Ordinary and the Bureau. So it took her a while to take her own spot, to hold her hands out.

Just think about Dylan.

And she did. Not Dylan like he'd been the last time she saw him, passed out in a hospital bed, or before that, red and mad with the Hiss. No, she thought of Dylan at ten, playing games with her in the House slide. Knowing there was no one there for miles, messing around with the dolls on the shelf, running around and playing tag. Telling stories.

Just her and Dylan, being happy.

Happy thoughts, Fandom!

Happy thoughts.

For a few minutes, nothing happened. Then... something seemed to lift, as if a fog of sadness and terror was dissipating in ways you could feel but not see. Until you could. See.

The creatures had gathered in the park to feed. Instead the shroud had been lifted off of them: black, messy, muddy things, shifting shapes, each solidifying into the form of a horse for periods at a time before falling apart again.

Then the clouds broke. Beams of sunlight broke through, casting rainbows against the sky - and burning the Night Mares where they struck.

They were vulnerable now, Fandom. Kick the rest of them out, if you're not patient enough to let the sun do it for you.

[[ and open for light-on-shadow violence, if you wish ]]

Edited 2020-08-22 19:48 (UTC)

Thanks for playing, everyone!

FINALE -- The Park, Saturday Afternoon

Gather Up

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The Power of Positive Thinking

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Did It Work?

OOC