01: i spend too much time ghosting [ota]

[dial6forhorror]

In the name of avoiding everyone and everything until he had sorted out the chaos in his own head, Ben had gone into hiding.

He hadn't left or gone anywhere else, he could still feel that tether drawing him back here, but that was where it got messy. Ben had several truths in his world. Even death didn't stop the Horror. Being dead sucked. He knew where Klaus was.

He was sixteen when he died, just shy of seventeen. And ever since then, nearly half of his existence, he always knew where Klaus was. It was always just a thought and he was right near him, usually in the middle of whatever chaos Klaus had caused.

But there wasn't a Klaus.

He was sure he'd seen at least three by now. One of them was definitely not the Klaus he thought of as 'his', because he had a Ben with him, a living, smiling Ben. And he was fairly sure he'd seen another version of himself, silent and invisible and lurking in a corridor outside a door.

But he wasn't sure which one was his and it was overwhelming and frightening, in a way that the world hadn't been for him for a long time. Which was why he had decided to go to the place he hated most and he knew the others would mostly avoid.

He went to Sir's office and sat down in a corner on an antique chair that they never would have been allowed to touch. He sat and rubbed his stomach where the Horror roiled, unsettled by his own discomfort.

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[fluffyexterior]

She knew there was a ghost-brother, she was fairly sure there was more than one instance of him, the same way there were multiple instances of the brother she'd already talked to, the one who could see her.

She hadn't wandered the house extensively, though she'd done a bit of it, the place was unlike -and at turns distressingly similar to- Mendenham Hall, and it was easy to forget that she wasn't at home, and was somehow a few years ahead of where she'd been. But she was wandering that day, more or less unconsciously following that tug at the back of her mind, somewhere behind her senses that told her of the presence of another ghost and it wasn't long before she was peering around the study door, "Hiya, y'alright?"

Compared to most of the ghosts in or around the house and the crypts, she was downright civil, as well as being far more put-together, "If you don't want company, you can tell me to piss right off, I will."

[dial6forhorror]

Ben looked up and around at the voice, trying to work out who was being spoken to and eventually concluding it had to be him. "You can see me?" He sat up a bit straighter, hands sliding into his pockets so he could surreptitiously rub and soothe the churning. She could see him and she wasn't Klaus, which meant, "You're dead as well. No, it's okay. You're not screaming at me or Klaus, so you're welcome to stay if you want." That was how normal social interaction went. He was pretty sure of it. "Unless you're planning on harassing Klaus. Then I'm going to have to throw you out. Sorry, just how it is."

[fluffyexterior]

She nodded, slipping into the room, "I am. Dead, I mean," her brow furrowed, shaking her head, "Not going to bother anyone if I can help it, especially not people who can actually see me."

A small, fleeting smile followed as she crossed over to lean against the windowsill nearest his chair, "I'm Thelma, by the by. We still aren't entirely sure how I got here, or why, since this isn't where I, you know." She cocked her head, making a quacking sound with the side of her tongue, "Died, and we haven't figured out if I'm related to anyone, but it seems not."

[dial6forhorror]

"Cool." She wasn't going to be a problem, and the thought settled both him and the Horror. "Ben. Ben Hargreeves. I grew up here. Most ghosts haunt things that matter, but it could be that Klaus' ability has drawn you here. Some of the others have said he feels magnetic to them." He felt like gravity to Ben, but he wasn't sure if that was because of Klaus' power or if it was just him and Klaus. He looked at the far wall. "The others probably won't come in here. If you want somewhere you won't accidentally get walked through."

[fluffyexterior]

"Honestly I'm surprised that hasn't happened yet. Still reflex to dodge, I suppose."

She made a thoughtful little sound, head tilting, surprisingly bird-like, "He's a sympathetic sort, isn't he? Even without the, you know, sympathetic vibrations." She wasn't entirely sure where she'd picked up that particular phrase for psychic powers, but she was fairly sure it suited Klaus more than anyone else who'd been able to see her, though that might just have been on account of the fact that he wasn't a witch, didn't have any kind of agenda in being able to communicate with the dead.

[dial6forhorror]

"I guess. You haven't been dead long, then?" Ben sometimes side stepped, because it wasn't always pleasant to feel people move through him, but after so long, he had more or less stopped caring. He glanced up at her past the edge of his hood. "Klaus? I- yeah. I guess he is. I grew up with him." He just thought of Klaus as Klaus, without really thinking about specifics. "Sympathetic vibrations?"

[fluffyexterior]

She just nodded at the first question, because it was true enough, and easier than trying to explain that it had only been a few months for her, but apparently years had passed when she wasn't looking.

the rest, however, that was easier to explain, "Yeah, it's something they used to say about psychics and mediums back in the day, that they had some kind of sympathetic vibration that drew spirits to them." And before meeting Klaus, it was something she'd viewed with a little bit of derision, but Klaus definitely was. She figured it was part of the reason she was still there even though their apocalypse had been averted.

[dial6forhorror]

Keeping track of time, for most ghosts, was very difficult. Ben had a tether that kept him more closely locked into daily cycles and aware of the passage of time. "Oh. Well, I don't know about that. He's just Klaus, who set fire to his desk and broke his jaw running in Grace's heels." Maybe his own guests stopped him noticing that sort of thing.

[fluffyexterior]

Her brow creased again, "And Grace is your mum, right? The android? Not your sister the movie star?"

It wasn't that she was bad with names, really, it was just that she'd only heard most of their names in passing and was still cementing which name belonged to which person.

"But broke his jaw? Really?" Somehow this didn't really surprise her, not with as gangly as he seemed to be already, she could only imagine that was worse when he was younger and still growing into it.

👻 oh have you seen my ghost, staring at the ground

[substances]

Klaus has concluded he must be high.

Sure, he hasn't ingested an intoxicant in several days (and counting, slowly but surely) but he must be high because he's hidden from about 47 versions of himself, which is kind of creepy, kind of cool, and way way too...enlightening. Nope. Looking at himself from the outside is a big old nope.

So he moves through the house as quietly as he can (it's not that quiet), waving curiously at the doubles of his siblings but not hanging out for too long in case another him comes along. Ew.

In fact, when he bumps into Ben, it's precisely because he's trying to avoid one of his doubles, sliding sideways into the study with a yelp, pushing the door closed behind himself. Hands braced against the closed door, shoulders lifted, whole body tensed and ready for action, he waits until he hears the way-too-familiar footsteps recede down the hallway before exhaling a long huff of relief and looking around the room.

And who should his eyes fall upon but Ben.

"Oh thank god. It's you."

Slouching his way across the room, hands buried in the pockets of his sleeveless army jacket, he leans a hip against the desk and huffs.

"Crazy world, huh?"

[dial6forhorror]

Ben's managed to find a book, which is no surprise to anyone, and has his boots up on the edge of the seat while he's reading. He looks over the top of the book when the door opens, and he half thinks about trying to vanish when he sees a Klaus, but Klaus looks... strung out. Not in needing a high strung out, just stressed in the way Ben feels. "There's a living me wandering around," Ben says in reply. "And I don't know which Klaus is... the one I grew up with." The one he punched and the one he manifested through and all of that.

[substances]

"Man, I don't even know which Klaus I am."

He waves a hand, as if dismissing the whole concept of doubles. Maybe this is his Ben. Maybe it's not. But he really doesn't want to think about it much, and he really doesn't want to think about a living Ben walking around, because it'll just end up getting him all riled up about how every Ben should be living, and despite all appearances, Klaus doesn't particularly enjoy being riled up.

Instead he slides his skinny ass onto the desk and takes a load off his feet, braces his hands on the desk and leans back, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"This sure is a thing."

[dial6forhorror]

Ben stretches himself out a bit, legs crossed at the ankles and watching Klaus. This... seems like it might be the right Klaus. He can't promise it is, no one can, but he could be, so for now, he's going to assume he is. He folds his hands over his stomach. "Yeah. That's a description for it." A description. Doesn't really cover it, but close enough.

[substances]

Klaus lets out a little barking laugh completely devoid of humour and shakes his head.

"Well, I think the one thing we all have in common is that we feel right at home with weird shit."

Klaus glances over one shoulder, eyes searching Ben's face for a few moments before he drapes back over the desk and tilts his head back, looking at Ben upside-down. He heaves a deep sigh, half-closes his eyes.

"I think you might be mine? You look familiar."

[dial6forhorror]

"I don't feel at home," Ben says. He doesn't. He feels out of sorts and out of place, because home is Klaus and he's not sure which Klaus is the fit for 'home'. This house is not home and even less so filled with noise and people. Big things were probably the same. Five had said something about that once. "Well, we both come from a place where I'm dead. Do you remember me punching you in the face? Or... you got cilantro on your burrito and you didn't ask for it?" He comes over to crouch near Klaus' head, hands tucked in his pockets.

[substances]

"You too, huh?"

A sigh, because he was being just a touch facetious with that. Maybe they're used to weird shit, but at home is a little much.

"At home. Just a turn of phrase, really. I guess I should say we're...used to it. Which isn't to say we like it."

He gestures vaguely at the ceiling with one hand, as if giving a lecture to a recalcitrant student, and when Ben comes over to crouch near him, he smiles up at his brother.

"'Course. I hate cilantro, ugh. Waste of a burrito topping, a travesty really."

A pause, and he meets Ben's eyes, brows raising, "And yeah. Uh. Unicorn, there was a unicorn. Which I disemboweled to get at some pills, and then you..."

He lifts both hands, punches his fist into the palm of the other, "...punched me sober. Bam. Truly your most heroic moment."

[dial6forhorror]

Ben doesn't try to touch Klaus, because he's too aware of the fact that he can't (he did, briefly, so briefly, but it's at the whim of Klaus' fickle power) so he leans a bit more over him, balancing on his toes. "Yeah, you do. And the-" Klaus tore open a unicorn he hid a stash in. "Yeah. I punched the pills out of your mouth." He shifts his weight slightly. "Not saving you guys from those machine gun wielding maniacs after Five? Punching you sober was my most heroic moment?"

[pyrotechnist]

Somewhere along the line Warren had realized just who and what he was. Not just a pyrokinetic but one of these kids born to parents who never got pregnant with them, and six of whom had turned into super heroes and plastered all over media.

Baron, who would spend the rest of his life in prison, hadn't killed those people, and hadn't been his father though he took the rap for him so that a teenage boy didn't go to prison for something he couldn't control.

He's not sure why he came to the Academy but they're others here who maybe can understand it all, and something tells him he needs to be here.

Which is how he wanders into the office, shaking his head. "Fucking place could be broken down and sold and feed an entire village for months," he mutters, picking up something and tossing it in the air, catching it as it comes down to him. It's probably worth more than he is on the black market.

Tossing it again, he misses the catch and it hits the floor, shattering. "Well, shit."

[dial6forhorror]

Ben had planned on just watching, but- Seriously? "Seriously?" He's only barely visible, a flicker of pale blue peering around a doorway and a whisper on the air. "You came to our house just to break shit?"

[pyrotechnist]

"No, I came to your house for he..."

And the words died on his lips, staring at... him. It's a him. Maybe. He's not even sure but, maybe?

"Breaking shit was an accident," he says, head canting to one side, peering at him. "Wait, you look familiar. You're one of the kids, right?"

As if he's not, but then he sees the kids of this house and the rest of them differently.

[dial6forhorror]

Ben vanishes. He fades back into view slowly by focusing on his anchor point, pulling on Klaus' power to make himself a little more real. "Six." It was his name before he became Ben. The public name.

[pyrotechnist]

"Six." He repeats it and then he stops, blinking at that. "Oh. Well shit," he says, shoving his hands in his pockets and staring at this guy... well trying to stare at him, given he's not really all there because, yeah dead.

"That's kind of crazy impressive," he says. "I mean, coming back from the dead. Lots of people have tried for centuries to do that."

[dial6forhorror]

He's still that pale, pale blue, hardly visible and whisper soft. He's shy. Always has been, and years of not being able to interact haven't helped. "I'm not. I'm dead. Died years ago." He edges around the doorframe a little more. "My brother can conjure the dead, remember?"

[pyrotechnist]

He looks a bit sheepish then, rubbing the back of his neck as he looks away. "I didn't really look... I didn't read it all. Your all became famous about the time I learned what I could do and it was painful and it was shit and it ruined my life so I really didn't want to know about a bunch of kids who were making a life with their powers.

"I didn't even really think about it when I came here either," he admits. "I just... I felt I didn't have a choice. I had to be here," he says, shrugging, not sure what to think about that. "But sorry. I mean, that thoroughly sucks."

[dial6forhorror]

"We weren't making a life with our powers." That would imply they had any say in it. "Our father bought us to make a team of teenage superheroes." Sir hadn't told them that to be cruel. That was the worst of it, his cruelty was sheer indifference to them. He shrugs a little. "It's fine. Just weird being able to talk to people."