[Tidying Up with the Hargreeves | Ota! ]

[n5]

[ ooc: These are just some ideas for starters but feel free to go wild and make new ones, thread around, run into other characters at the mall who aren't part of the family...have fun ♥. For the mall, feel free to assume they all have money to spend from their inheritance and the like. ]


A) Ashes to ashes

Five honest to god considered just burning everything his father owned. It was a thought not only motivated by his early conversation with Grace -and following breakdown- but years of neglect and all kinds of abuse inflicted on the whole family. He only refrained from it because Grace had suggested putting the old uniforms and badges in boxes instead, and he wanted to show her that they cared about her opinion. Five also had the suspicion that Luther might get upset if they ruined all their father's things, so he was willing to reach a compromise.

The teen has been space - jumping through the rooms of the house all morning, moving things and humming to himself the song Ding dong! The witch is dead, with his puppy trailing after him. Not everything was garbage though, there were clothes and furniture that they could give to charity, both because it was a nice nice to do and because it would have pissed off their father to no end. Sometimes, nothing fueled Five more than pure spite.

Some books he put aside for Ben to keep, knowing how much his brother liked to read and how adverse their father had been to the children touching them. He also kept a pair of suits for Klaus, just in case they needed them in the future.

The painting, though, the painting had to go immediately.

He took it down from the living room's wall and dragged it to the backyard. Five had managed to find a barrel -scavenging was his thing, after all- and threw the damned picture of his father inside it, frame and all. Now it was only a matter of finding some alcohol to burn and a lighter, maybe his siblings could help with that.

B) New home & Shopping Mall trip

Forty-two bedrooms in the house and not one for their mother. That was something that had to change, it was time Grace had a place to call her own. Moving her favorite paintings into the right room and redecorating it was a matter of time, first she had to pick one she liked.

'With windows' had been the only request she has given Five, and that gave them plenty of places to check around the house. They moved around the mansion, opening doors and windows, eyeing the rooms critically -mostly Five- and being open to suggestions.

A little later, once a choice was made, they only need to turn the room into a really comfortable place with new furniture, bedding, and curtains.

Miraculously, they all managed to fit in the minivan and, for once, Five had no issue letting one of the others drive. He didn't want to get stopped by the police, not now that they had managed to get mom out of the house so she could pick out all the things she wanted for her new bedroom and the house as a whole. All of them could use new clothes too, maybe that way Klaus would stop stealing Allison's clothes and Five could wear pants that actually reached his ankles.

The mall was simply huge: cosmetic shops, toys stores, rows and rows of clothing stores, furniture stores, a giant bouncy castle in one of the kid's sections, Ice Cream Parlour & Fast Foods...so it came as little surprise when in a matter of minutes they all scattered around the place, doing their own thing. Sometimes trying to reign in this family really was like herding cats, Five concluded as he stared with light apprehension at the number of people around the mall.

Comments

A; space-jumping gathering

[screamingdahl]

Dahlia is, very slowly, trying to adjust to being in this house. She's pretty glacier-slow at it, because apparently that's just what happens when you spend thirteen years being little more than a science experiment. She's chosen a room-- as close to the Klaus that found her as she could manage-- but she hasn't done anything to personalize it or make it her own. Partially because it doesn't feel like hers, partially because Dahlia really isn't sure who she is as an individual person in her own right anymore.

She'd found some old coloring books somewhere and is sat in the middle of the bed with it in her lap, a splay of colored pencils next to her when a strange snap-pop! sound accompanied with a blue-white light that disappears as quickly as it had appeared makes her head snap up with a gasp, finding a boy standing in the place where the light had come from. She hadn't met everyone yet, there were too many people, and she was mostly isolating herself so far anyway. "Where did you come from?" Her voice has a light sound, almost child-like in nature, though she's the same age as everyone else.

[n5]

"Wrong room." Five says out loud, more to her benefit than anything. He hasn't realized this one had an occupant already but he knew about the girl because Klaus mentioned someone staying over. Probably for the best, Five doesn't like strangers much, not if he doesn't know if they are a threat. But his brother had insisted that she was a friend and Five gave him the benefit of the doubt.

He turns towards Dahlia, hands in his pockets and an air of disinterest that is totally purposeful. Five doesn't want to alarm her further so the best way to act is as if nothing special is going on.

"From the west wing." Not a lie this time, he had been there before teleporting, but Five knows that's not really what she's asking. "I'm Klaus' older brother, Five. He mentioned you."

The coloring books and the juvenile voice doesn't seem to match her age but he is the worst person to start pointing fingers. "What's your name?"

[screamingdahl]

"Older." She repeats, squinting at him. He makes something hum in the back of her mind, but she isn't sure what it means. It's harder to suss out with people she doesn't know, but she supposes, given enough time, she might pinpoint it. "How much older?"

She doesn't seem to find him an immediate threat, regardless, and she goes back to her coloring page, picking up a new pencil as she answers. "Dahlia. Klaus saved me." She offers it like a fact, like she does every time she says it. Grass is green, the sky is blue, Klaus saved her. Period. There's no room for argument that it was ever anything else.

[n5]

"Older than any of us would like me to be. It's irrelevant." It's too complicated to explain too, she doesn't need that kind of headache nor is Five inclined to share. He's in a good mood and those are too rare to waste.

The casual way she admits that Klaus got her here and how he can just accept it without question makes Five wonder if there's anybody out there with a normal life. He moves a little closer to get a look at what she's doing but not enough to cross into her personal space.

"Nice drawing. Do you have any family, Dahlia?"

[screamingdahl]

She shrugs at the obvious brush-off. It doesn't bother her, if he doesn't want to tell, that's his choice. When he moves closer, she tips her head to one side to look up at him. "Thank you." She gives him a small smile, but it fades at his question. "I used to... I don't people who are assumed dead can have family any more, though." She admits sadly.

[n5]

Five appreciates not being pressured with questions, his family has an awful tendency to do that and then they never like the answer he gives them. It's a waste of time for everyone involved.

"Welcome." He gives a smile back. Dahlia caught him in one of those rare moments here Five isn't in a rush to do anything stressing or important and there's also a kind of loneliness to her that makes his heart ache a little due to the familiarity. "Sure they can, look at me. People thought I was dead too, most still do. You can get a new family."

He looks around the bedroom, it's been a while since he's been in this one. The house is so big that most of them are unused, clean but empty.

"We will be going shopping to get mom things for his new room. Do you want anything?"

[screamingdahl]

She looks up at him, her eyes squinted a bit curiously at him as she tries to decide if he was being serious about that comment. After a moment, she decides he doesn't seem like the type to make a joke in that taste, so she eases her features into a small smile. "I guess you're right."

"Oh.. um--" She looks almost flustered at the vast array of choice that open-ended question leaves in front of her. She isn't entirely sure where to begin. Wanting wasn't really allowed where she had been before, so even that is hard to pinpoint into an answer that would make sense for him. "I don't know." it's becoming a familiar set of words in her mouth as she keeps finding herself presented with things to decide upon. "I guess I'm okay." She could certainly be comfortable with the furnishings of the room all on its own and didn't feel like it was her place to request things-- even if he was asking her.

[n5]

Five is 90% of the time being serious about everything, so she's right about his tendency to not make jokes. Unless sarcastic comments count as that, of course. There's something about Dahlia that reminds Five about Vanya when they were younger. She had been his favorite sisters, if a little too quiet.

"I'm often are about the things that matter." The boy says again with ease but he offers a smile in return. He can be patient too when it matters and it looks like Dahlia needs some time to think about the question so Five moves to the desk and sits on the table, looking at her expectantly.

"You could be better than okay. Maybe you would like new clothes? Or more books to color and read? The duvet is clean and all but it's probably old, I'm sure they make nicer ones nowadays."

[screamingdahl]

"Clothes would be nice... it is kind of a hassle having to borrow things all the time." Not that she minds, but her own clothes would be nice, still. Something occurs to her a moment later, and she frowns as she tries to suss something out for herself before she turns her attention back to him. "I don't have any money-- are you sure you want to make such big, vague offers? Or will you require something else in turn?" Nothing is free, right?

[n5]

"Yes, I know how that is." Rather than borrowing, he had to scavenge them in the past but the point still stands. It's a hassle not to have what you need close and available.

"Don't worry about the money, we have enough. You don't have to give us anything back but if you don't my word, you can ask Klaus about it." He says that kindly and without judging Five's not big on trusting people either, so he can understand being wary of such offers. "There's no rush either. You could make a list of the things you need or that you'd like to have, just write it all down and we will see what can be done about it."

[screamingdahl]

She takes in what he says and mulls it over for a moment before nodding a little. "Okay. Thank you." She smiles warmly at him before she starts setting her books and markers away, swapping it out for a pen and a spiral journal. "I'll let you know when I'm done? You can... do whatever it is you were trying to do before?" She really isn't sure what the boy had been doing, but she knows for a fact she interrupted him from it.

[n5]

"It's no problem." He also didn't mean that she had to stop drawing to start the lit but maybe Dahlia doesn't want to forget about it.

"I was checking the available rooms for mom. He still doesn't have a bedroom for herself." There's some bitterness to that statement but Five isn't directing at Dahlia. His father just was a bastard in so many different levels that he didn't even bother giving Grace a place to be. Dahlia's suggestion seems like his cue to leave, though, so he puts his hands on his pockets and straightens, ready to teleport away.

"I won't bother you anymore but if you need anything, my room's down the corridor by the north wing, the green door."