InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "What makes a man turn neutral?"

Klaus Hargreeves (quietthedead) wrote in snapthread,
@ 2019-05-09 14:45:00

Entry tags:

ben hargreeves (netflix), klaus hargreeves (netflix)

Who: Klaus Hargreeves and Ben Hargreeves
What: It's time to get spoopy
When: Early morning after the seance
Where: Around town

Well that had been... not a failure, because it was pretty much exactly what Klaus had expected to happen, but he had hoped that maybe things would happen, because it had seemed like a perfect set up. Guy gets ouija board, guy gets gathering of sort of magical people, guy holds seance, guy finds ghost. That's how it was supposed to work, but then it hadn't really gone that way. And eventually everyone had scattered once more and here he was again, wandering the streets on his own.

So there he was, cigarette in hand, not feeling sorry for himself, but wondering just how worthwhile sobriety was - but no that was stupid because he'd gotten Five from it, and maybe that was making a crazy jump from one idea to another, but he'd do it anyway because it was the only amount of control he actually had in this place.

He tipped his head back and sighed, breathing out a stream of smoke before he looked back down the path again. He should probably think about getting back home, maybe sleep? It wasn't too late yet, or was it early? He wasn't sure, whatever, but then someone just sort of popped into existence just ahead of him and it brought Klaus up short. Sure people had magic and abilities, but this was something new and since it wasn't Five, too tall for that, he wasn't sure what to think.

"Uh, hi?" He said and took a step forward and then stopped again recognition clicking into place. "Oh shit, no fucking way." It was Ben.

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quietthedead
2019-05-09 08:44 pm UTC (link)

Ben didn't react like someone who had been missing for months at this point, well maybe not months but definitely enough time that someone should seem worried about it. But Five hadn't seemed like he'd noticed time going by either before he'd arrived, so he supposed it shouldn't have been a surprise that Ben didn't either.

"It worked," He said more to himself than Ben, but also god it was Ben! "I can't believe it fucking worked." He was feeling like a god dammed genius after this, he was going to be absolutely insufferable, Klaus knew it already. He'd done something right for a change and here was the proof of it right here in front of him.

"You have never looked more good, shit Ben." He stubbed out what remained of his cigarette and approached his brother then, too caught up in his own victory, and brilliance to have totally processed Ben's questions because sure they might be valid but he'd been without Ben for so long now and here he was and it was just - the best possible thing that he could imagine.

"Look at you!" He lifted his hands and played like he was going to clap him on the shoulders even while knowing it wouldn't work, only to for his hands to land there on Ben's shoulders, they felt real and solid and Klaus frowned tilting his head. "Stand down man, there's no immanent danger here, you don't have to go all Roadhouse on me."

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number_6
2019-05-09 09:00 pm UTC (link)

"What worked?" Ben was still looking around like he was lost, and it wasn't exactly a stretch to say that sometimes he had to wait for Klaus to calm down before anything he said mattered anyway. Which might have been mean, but this wasn't like his first rodeo or anything. He knew Klaus better than anyone. "Where are we? This isn't. I don't know where this is. It's really quiet."

His observational skills were top notch, frankly. But even he wasn't ready for the clap on the shoulders to actually connect that he only made it half way through an eye-roll before he blinked in surprise. "I'm not doing a Swayze." But maybe he was or more accurately Klaus was because this was as solid as he got. "Whoa." He reached up and swatted at Klaus' elbow. "You got really good." This surpassed that patty cake failure by miles and miles.

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quietthedead
2019-05-09 09:21 pm UTC (link)

He'd get to Ben's questions eventually, he always did - mostly. But this was something else entirely and Ben was standing there feeling more real than he had in over a decade. And Klaus didn't know what to make of this. "Uh, I beg to differ my dude." He said dropping his hands after Ben hit at him and actually connected again, "This feels like a Swazey to me."

But maybe he had gotten really good? That seemed unlikely though, "I have been sober for over a month so you know?" He shrugged not sure of that had actually made a difference or not, but here was Ben feeling as solid as if he was a real boy again, so maybe being sober had done a thing.

"Uh - so we're kind of not in Kansas anymore." He said finally addressing Ben's questions, "I'm not really sure where we are," Not back home, no in the past, not in the future, at least he didn't think so. "You guys have been... god Ben it's been over a month." And he felt that same urge itching under his skin that he had with Five and he knew it was coming. Better to just get it out of the way now while Ben still looked mostly solid.

Klaus wrapped his arms around Ben, half convinced he was going to fall through him or something, or that he'd hate it enough to cancel out any abilities that Klaus had at keeping him solid and instead found that he didn't. He hugged him tightly, wrapped his arms around him and held Ben and he felt - real. Like not just solid, but real and alive.... "Uh, so funny question - how alive do you feel right now?"

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number_6
2019-05-09 10:09 pm UTC (link)

Maybe it was a -- a really good Swayze. Ben didn't know, because he was still sort of shocked numb to the fact that he was getting any amount of tangible anything in. Klaus being sober for over a month was -- amazing. Hard to believe, too. But also maybe that had a lot to do with this.

"A month?" he asked, bewildered and a little offended somehow, because it sort of just felt like Klaus had forgotten to include him (even though he was aware that wasn't how it worked, it didn't mean his feelings couldn't be hurt about it). "Where was I?"

But then there was hugging and Ben sort of just blanked out for a second there because it was such a new and different experience. He didn't even know what to do with it for a few seconds until his brain told him rather usefully to hug back. Which he did. It felt weird. It felt good.

"Uhm," he said after a beat of silence while he just took everything in. That was a good question, actually. Was there a breeze happening right now? Because it felt like it. And that sort of thing felt pretty alive. "Klaus. What's going on?"

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quietthedead
2019-05-09 10:40 pm UTC (link)

"Not fucking here," Because yeah Klaus had no idea where Ben was or any of them for that matter, they all seemed to have come from the same moment he had, like they'd skipped over the last month that Klaus had lived here and were now just here, that hardly seemed fair though, that he got stuck living on his own trying to maintain sobriety to get them here and they didn't have to deal with any of it.

But well they were hugging and it was new and crazy and just... wow. Ben was hugging him too, and yeah this was new. Big time new and Klaus wasn't totally sure it all came down to sobriety.

He released him finally to watch Ben suss out just how alive he felt, watching him take stock of himself. Klaus knew there were some people here who had been dead, or just died before they showed up here, but Ben - he'd been dead for years now, half his life.... or well half of Klaus' life at least. And it looked like now maybe he was kind of back at it again.

"I think maybe you've joined the land of the living, man." And wasn't that a crazy thought, did that mean he was going to have to share Ben now? "We're in an alternate dimension, Five is here, but other than that it's just us - well I mean you know from our family, there are a lot of other people here too."

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number_6
2019-05-10 09:09 pm UTC (link)

Not fucking here was very much a Klaus response and although it was flippant and a little bothered, it clearly wasn't letting on to the full awful scale it must have been for his brother. Klaus wasn't alone ever. This experience had probably been downright terrifying. That Klaus had managed keeping clean was a true testament to his strength. Ben was, in spades, proud and also concerned. "Well no shit," he said, instead of speaking his thoughts.

It was weird when Klaus let him go and backed up a little and he had to resist the urge to step forward, to reach out for his brother again to keep at least a little contact going because what if he didn't get to do it again? Instead he actively wrung his hands together. "That's not a thing," he said warily. "I'm dead, Klaus."

Still. He kicked at the ground experimentally and scuffed up dirt like he was actually there and solid and someone who could do stuff like that. "Did Five send us here on accident?" He didn't ask where Five was, their older-younger brother had a habit of coming and going as he pleased even more than Klaus.

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quietthedead
2019-05-10 11:25 pm UTC (link)

"Yeah there are a lot of people here who are dead, but they seem to be pretty alive now." Klaus said holding out his hands in a helpless sort of way. It didn't make sense and yeah, normally people rejoining the living wasn't a thing that happened. Ben was only around because well - Klaus wasn't about to let his brother go, he hadn't when they'd been teens and he wasn't about to start now. Even if Ben often disapproved of him and his life choices.

But this was something more than Klaus keeping Ben here with his powers, this was Ben actually here. "Jury is still out on that one," Five seemed to think he had something to do with them ending up here, and maybe the logic followed considering Five had taken charge of getting them somewhere else as the moon came hurtling down to Earth in an end of the world sort of way. But it didn't explain any of the others who were here.

"He's trying to work out the math on all of it - so you know... maybe we'll see him again one day." Klaus shrugged, Five was a little too into math if you asked Klaus. But that was neither here nor there.

"Did you - we had a seance." He said finally, "Did you feel a pull or something? Was there - did you hear me?" He wanted to know if the seance had actually done what he'd hoped it would. That he'd had some sort of influence on getting Ben here in the first place.

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number_6
2019-05-11 02:36 am UTC (link)

"Huh," Ben said -- and it wasn't normally like he was an overly talkative sort, considering his only conversation partner ignored him half the time - but right now he might have been taking the entire cake for the least amount of words used. He was just... surprised. And not sure what he'd do now, actually. Not sure at all. Responding to Klaus seemed sort of second place in his list of thoughts right now.

He wandered over to where there was a big patch of grass and then laid down, just to feel the cool tickle of it against his hands and neck. It was so weird. It felt like both too much and not enough. It felt. "Five'll do the math, there's no stopping him," Ben agreed, because that was Five.

"I don't know," Ben said, propping himself up on his elbows and looking over at Klaus. "The world was just about to end, and then I was here. Do you think your seance worked? Timing..."

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quietthedead
2019-05-11 03:18 am UTC (link)

It really did figure the one time he wanted to talk to Ben he got all clammed up about it, Ben was busy trying to wrap his mind around being a real boy again and all Klaus wanted was some answers or maybe to have Five here to present Ben to him as some kind of proof that he knew what he was doing. But in truth Klaus wasn't sure that he did, even if his little experiment had ended up giving him a Ben.

"Yeah I didn't even bother trying to stop him," He agreed nodding, it would be too much to expect their tiny big brother to not try and figure this place out with his equations and things. So Klaus decided it was one thing he'd just not bother getting in the way of.

Okay so it wasn't like Ben had been floating around in some sort of Limbo without him, they'd been separated for weeks now and it had all passed in a snap for him. He supposed that was for the best, or maybe it wasn't? He didn't know. Maybe he should have learned how to let Ben go a long time ago, but he'd never really been able to work up the nerve to even really consider it much less try. Ben was a part of him now, after all these years spent together. Only watching him lay down in the grass Klaus started to realize that maybe that wasn't true anymore.

"Pretty big coincidence if it isn't related." And he knew that Five would agree with that much at least. He'd have to talk to him about it at some point, but for now here they were. "Maybe it worked, maybe it didn't." He huffed as went and stretched out beside Ben. "There aren't any ghosts here," He admitted, and he'd been worried that meant that even if they did find the rest of his siblings he wouldn't find Ben. "And then the ouija board just showed up under my pillow and it felt like the sort of thing I should try if only to say I did."

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number_6
2019-05-11 08:36 pm UTC (link)

That Ben could be separate and different from Klaus was -- not something that had occurred to him yet, not really. He was still focusing on little things, like wind and grass and the fact that his nose was itchy and that was an incredibly new sensation. Anything more would have been entirely too much for the moment -- hell, even getting into conspiracy and travel theories was a bit on the much side -- but at least it was the normal sort of overwhelming. Or, well, their newer normal.

"No ghosts? How's that possible?" There were ghosts everywhere usually. Especially when Klaus was there. He sniffed a little and tilted his head to the side until it bonked against Klaus' and that felt more right, admittedly. Like something wasn't missing anymore. "You know what? Who cares. I'm fine with this. It's -- maybe we just enjoy it?"

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quietthedead
2019-05-11 08:44 pm UTC (link)

"I have no idea," Klaus wished he knew to be perfectly frank, it seemed impossible that there could be a place without ghosts in it. For so long he felt like he just called ghosts to him whether they were from a place or not, he was always surrounded by them - but here ... there hadn't been even a single peep. It left him feeling more than a little useless, like a part of him was missing. But with Ben there he felt a bit more like he was maybe not whole but on his way back to something like that.

"Yeah maybe we could try that," Klaus agreed, the reality of it was probably going to be a little bit more complicated than simply just enjoying it, but they could give it a try. Five would likely swoop in soon and dash all their hopes of normalcy with his theories about what was happening and why, and call it being realistic. "Been a while since you've gotten the chance for that, seems only fair that we try." Because Klaus knew what he put Ben through, all the years that he'd lived with him as his constant companion, making Ben watch him make bad choice after bad choice, overdosing and checking himself into rehab, and then repeating it all over again. Ben had seen it all, his lowest points - so if he had a chance to do things his own way? He should have that, right?

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number_6
2019-05-12 10:35 pm UTC (link)

Ben had seen a lot of the bad to do with Klaus. His low points, and then lower ones. Terrible decisions and constant mistakes. And it'd hurt, really, to not be able to fix things or help him. Advice and urging had fallen on deaf ears and Ben wondered if things would have been different if he'd never died and actually been there for his brother.

Maybe it'd be different this time. He hoped so. Ben rubbed a hand absently over his stomach before sniffing out a little noise for no reason other than he could. "Should we eat something? I miss eating."

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quietthedead
2019-05-13 12:06 am UTC (link)

It was strange, to be with Ben and actually be with him. This wasn't like every other day of his life where he and Ben were obviously together but no one else knew it, no one else believed it, claimed he was just acting out again - trying to make things about him until he'd just stopped trying to convince anyone that Ben was really still there. And that's how it had been, just the two of them for years.

Now he was going to have to share probably, and Klaus wasn't entirely sure what that would mean, but it would mean something, that much he was sure of. But when Ben asked about food, well that was something Klaus could handle. "You wanna eat? Yeah we should eat, I've got food." Klaus agreed readily, already pushing himself up and offering Ben his hand, simply because he could. And with Ben on his feet Klaus slung an arm over his shoulders and pulled him close. "Come on, let's see if your tastes have changed at all."

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