scarletstreak | Open RP Post

[That's the punchline because she's scared too. What if she lets the stars take over completely and there's no Iris West left at all. What if Iris West is already gone and this is all she is. Someone people are scared of. Someone who kills. Someone who likes it.]

You can't.

[Iris tenses when he steps closer but she keeps a tight grip on her light. For now.]

You should go. Before I hurt you too.

You won't.

[Barry keeps his distance, but spreads his arms, open, defenseless.]

You won't hurt me, Iris. I know you. I don't— [He laughs, shaking his head slowly, looks up at her again, and now there's a smile, a wonder in his face that wasn't there before. He's always loved Iris, but now? She's incredible. Can they help her? Maybe. STAR Labs has helped other metahumans find ways to rein in their powers. It's possible they could do the same for Iris.

But right now, he's not thinking about that. He's thinking about her.]

You're amazing.

[Iris is laughing because she's pretty sure if she doesn't, she'll cry. What's happening to her, it is amazing. Amazing and terrible and terrifying and wonderful and empowering and lonely. It's not like Barry's speed. The worst he could do by accident is knock someone over. She's killed people.

She might kill her family. Her friends. Her best friend.]

I can't always control it. And when I can-- You get a rush from saving people right? I get the same rush from punishing the ones that get away. You can't help with that.

[What she's saying is scarier than what she can do, what he's seen her do in the distance, arriving too late to stop her. Her light is so bright, they just...stop existing. Cisco had estimated her average temperature, but what difference did the numbers make? What she could do was impossible, or had been, just like what he could do, and now he wants her to embrace it, learn it, train like he does, help people.

But...she can't like it. Not really. Right?]

Iris, you can't mean that, it's just, it's helping people, and sometimes...yeah, sometimes catching the ones that get away is really satisfying, and sometimes when they're really awful you wish... [You wish you could just step in and remove them from the world.] ...but you can't. Keep doing that. We can help you, Iris, I can help you, just, you have to let me.

[He's getting closer. Slowly. Small step by small step, hands still held out at his sides, unarmed, truce, he's getting closer.]

[She knows it's scary. It terrifies her. She shouldn't like but she does. And how is she supposed to help people with starlight? It's not like she can zip around the city like some people and pull cats from trees and stop muggers with what she does. Those trees burn and the muggers disappear when she shows up.]

Stop, Barry--! [Iris doesn't have full control of her powers yet. It's tied to her emotions and she's angry and scared of hurting him so when he gets too close, her fist flexes at her side and there's a flash of blinding light. He's fast, he can dodge it if he tries.]

[He can dodge. He'd half expected it, although he'd hoped it wouldn't happen, but it does and he evades the blast in a streak of crackling lightning, ending up behind her, blinking spots of afterimage from his eyes. And as soon as the light dissipates, he's back in front of her again, exactly as close as he'd been before.]

I'm still fine, Iris. I don't think you'll hurt me. I trust you not to hurt me.

[Is it unfair of him to say that? Probably. But she needs to learn how to control her powers, and this is the only way he knows how to help her before someone else gets hurt, or worse.

He doesn't come closer again, but he keeps talking, slow and quiet, with a sad half-smile.]

Remember that really bad thunderstorm when we were kids? The blanket fort? You didn't want to be scared then, but you were, and so was I, and we both pretended we weren't. I'm scared now, Iris, and I know you are too. But I don't want to be scared of you. I'm not. Don't be scared of yourself.

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