come_sailaway | They say an end can be a start

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They say an end can be a start

Who: Klaus Hargreeves & you
What: Telekinesis hijinks
When: The last two weeks of January
Where: Library, Windjammer, and the pool (and wherever you want tbh)
Warnings: Definite references to drug/alcohol abuse, withdrawal stuff, depression, Klaus' entire life possibly.
Notes: Are you friends with Klaus? Please assume you got a text about their sobriety. Ilu. Thank you.

1. Library

It’s been…a time recently. Klaus has been doing his best to avoid any establishments with drinking. It’s kind of deprived him of Disney movies and…well…any movies, but it’s fine. He’s gotten used to the idea that things are sort of out of reach. Sure, there’s been a lot of weird stuff happening that he can’t explain recently, but that’s gotta be like…ship stuff. Like a whole piano came to life and tried to eat people. Why wouldn’t a bunch of papers start flailing around in a weird pattern? Sure, he was feeling a little frazzled, a little frustrated after having dropped something because his hands were shaking too bad for him to hold it, but…maybe the papers were just mad?

What do they know?

Speaking of not being able to hold something that well, they are staring very hard at their cup of hot chocolate, which is still very hot. They don’t want to get burned, but their hands are definitely still sort of shaky.

When they pick it up, they at least manage a couple sips without burning their mouth or dropping it. But as they go to set it back down, it falls, nearly ending on the floor except that suddenly it’s back on the table???

Klaus stands up and squints at it in confusion before looking around. “The ship is getting so weird these days.

2. Pool

Watson said to consider exercise and the pool and so Klaus is here to try to take advantage of it. He’s got Under the Sea stuck in his head at the moment, which is forcing him into a better mood.

This good mood sort of turns into a state of pure bewilderment as the pool floaties they’ve brought out start to dance just above the water to the tune, going in a circle, as they hum a little while getting ready to get in. Of course, they drop almost instantly as he seems to notice them. Confused, they hum the song again, but nothing happens. “What the hell?” Okay. Just weird ship things. Guess this is the vibe this month? Weird stuff?

3. Windjammer

Forcing themselves to eat is one of those things that’s just kind of happening. Klaus doesn’t really want to question his craving for baby carrots. It’s just one of those things. They need something that feels simple and probably won’t upset their stomach, right? Sure. That seems fair and accurate.

They are absolutely focused on grabbing more carrots and eyeing the garlic bread from afar, so if anyone comes up behind them, they are getting pelted with baby carrots, or the peas or…whatever else is at the veggies part of the buffet. Not that it seems like Klaus has thrown them. Mostly they seem to have thrown themselves from the buffet at whoever is behind him.

If they’re confused, so is Klaus. What is going on with the ship this month?

4. Promenade

Klaus is supposed to be avoiding these places and...really...he is. He's avoiding them. Mostly. It doesn't stop them from just sitting here and staring at Hurikane very intently from a bench in the middle of the promenade. Their hands are clenched around the seat of the bench, white knuckles obvious if you look. They are very purposely not going over, so that's...that's not nothing??? Probably. He's very obviously not paying attention to anything else around him.

It's only when he goes to stand up, very nearly deciding to go to Hurikane (but not wanting to) that a chair close by comes clattering in front of him and he looks at it in confusion for a moment. "What is with this place? Seriously." But on a more serious note, it might be time to phone a friend.

5. Wildcard

Hit me with whatever you like~ If you wanna run anything by me, my plurk is kingdonkey and otherwise, discord is kingdonkey#6187. This is just some random telekinesis shenanigans, but it can be anything else if you need it!

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"There ya go. In the meantime why don't we wander into Sand Dollars. I want boba tea, and you could use something warm to hold in your hands."

A distraction. Something to talk over.

That and Erin doesn't know there's board games in there...yet.

"Yeah...I need hot chocolate." Cause that's important. He remembers Grace making hot chocolate when he was a kid after Reginald had finally let him out of the mausoleum and he was freezing cold and tired and scared. Somehow it always made things feel better.

To be fair, Klaus doesn't know there's board games in there either. But he's sighing a little. "This is going to make a mess of my ability to watch Disney movies," they lament. "I can't be in the bars."

"Mmm. You might ask SecUnit about borrowing the aux cord so you can use the adult pool, or sharing its media player. My cabin's also got a DVD player these days for reasons I don't understand so like, y'know, drop by sometime with advance warning so I can ask Helena about it." These suggestions given, Erin leads the way into Sand Dollars.

"Oh!" Klaus brightens a little. "I didn't know there was an aux cord for the adult pool...or...who had it anyway." SecUnit would probably let them borrow it by nature of just being themselves. Probably. That could work. And he could just...stay in the pool. And bring like juice. Were there containers for juice?

"Oh. Cool. Yeah. I'll be sure to let you know ahead of time before like...just showing up. At least for movies...and probably everything. Unless I might die...but by then, I might need Watson."

"You might want Watson or Tendi before you're dying. They're, y'know...doctors. If anyone on this ship has hints for goin' clean like you're trying to, it'll be them." Erin goes up to the counter, pauses, turns her head to Klaus. "Hey, y'like your coffee sweet? Bash turned me on to a cup I'm still wild for."

"Yeah. I know. Watson was the first person I texted. And then he came and listened to me shit on myself a bit...not literally. That's gross. But like...you know what I mean...We talked about it and everything. I've been doing pretty okay on the...side effects thing. Lots of shaky hands, the sweats, the hot and cold flashes, the muscle aches and pains, no hallucinations or anything that I'm aware of...unless being cursed is actually hallucinations and then I might need to be mildly concerned." There's a frown at that. They're gonna hope actual curse, not hallucinations. "And then I'm tired all the time but I can't sleep but a couple hours at a time at best and that's only after just being awake for so long that I'm physically incapable of not falling asleep. So you know...it's been fun."

He squints slightly. "Is it that like...cinnamon one? I think it was cinnamon. It was so sweet. But good. Cause I prefer it. Somewhere in the universe, Five is judging my life and my choices...almost entirely based on my coffee habits."

"If you're hallucinating I might be able to help some. Y'know...same hat. And no, it's lavender..."

Erin orders two and hands Klaus theirs. "But yeah. Cold turkey is a rough fucking ride. Not that I don't support you, but what motivated this decision?"

"Oh. Weird. Is it good? I'm not really a coffee person. That's Five's life. But I'll try anything once." A beat. "And I really don't know if I should hope it's a curse or a hallucination, but I guess that is a concern either way. Especially if I'm not able to tell what's real and not." But he's fine now??? So far?

They take the coffee, looking down for a moment. "I guess..." A sigh. "I guess I got tired? After the trial, I got back and I was just...constantly drinking and I just...didn't. I wasn't taking care of myself or caring if I was a wreck. I felt like shit." They frown a little, trying the coffee and peering at it for a moment. They're not sure how they feel about it, but it's fine. "I'm tired of being...this. Of being a disappointment and leaning into it every time I want something bad enough and fuck up. I...want..."

A sigh. "I want people to be right about me for once. Well, the people here. They have expectations and they think I'm not a piece of shit or sexy trash or...whatever else I've said about myself." He shrugs, finding a chair to sit in. "But also I want to be better for me. You know?"

Erin squeezes Klaus on the shoulder, a look of intense, sympathetic understanding on her face. "...Yeah buddy, I know. Day or night, you need me, you get me, okay? Services available range from basic medical care to hanging out to decking you if you want yourself decked, though uh, be sure about that. I've got a good punch."

Klaus lets out a small laugh that sounds much more sad than he meant it to. "Yeah. Really hope I don't need that punch, but like...yeah." At least the offer is there if he needs it? They're not sure if it's to knock them out or to punish them for something, but either option is probably fine. "It's been the worst, but like...at least I don't have to run around after Luther because he's high due to poor ideas about how easy it is to be me on drugs and die briefly in the middle of it."

"Mmm. My folks...we're all hurt in different ways, and some of the ugliest fights you never want to get into are accusations about who has it the easiest. The most fucked ones are between folks whose hurt makes them bad with people, and folks whose hurt makes them liars and killers. The shy ones, they think if they could be the cool edgy loner all their problems would be solved forever." Erin 'looks' away and sips her coffee. "Never stopping to ask if the cool edgy loner feels cool, or edgy, or likes being alone."

Klaus nods. "We've fought about so many things." So many stupid things. "I think...having to feel like he's in charge of us and making sure we're okay got to him and I was obviously just...not that. So I seemed like I had it easy and I tried to tell him he didn't want to be like me, but...he was convinced nothing bothered me and I didn't care about things and it sounded easy...and then he took drugs and Ben dragged me into going after him and..." A shrug. "Well, I died briefly and had the most annoying talk with my dad in the afterlife before coming back. So I lost him and he ended up hooking up with some stranger. So that was...definitely something to come back to."

They look over. "So are you the cool edgy loner in this specific scenario or?"

"...Dare I hope I'm reaching the limits of the wild shit you just say, 'cause, buddy...and I say this with love, that was appreciably less wild than your current tally." Big, deep sigh. "...And no. My kinda thing ain't the cool edgy loner kind. We're the fairy princesses whose lives are so easy since we can just get whatever we fucking want with our MAGIC TITS!"

Erin realizes she's shouting a bit too late to stop from shouting, and huddles around her coffee, ashamed. You'd think with all the constant self-deprecating elf jokes she'd be handling this be-

(You wanna check that line of logic, Peters?)

Yeah, belatedly, it seems like I do.

"...You get turned into something pretty and people think it must not be all that bad. And then because they want you, and want to do things to please you, they think you're some heartless bitch who either dispenses their desires or has no feelings. It's fun. It's real fun. And. I may still be feeling a kinda way about that after Ava...stepped in those feelings by mistake. Didn't tell her. Don't want you telling her either. But it cut. Fucking deep."

"I don't know. I can't promise you anything. Did I tell you Luther almost died because of a mission my dad sent him on alone and to make sure he didn't, he injected him with...something and it made him like...part ape? Or that my brother Viktor blew up the moon accidentally and cause the apocalypse? It's only accidental cause we didn't listen to Allison and things got bad." That's uhh...obviously an understatement. Also there's a whole lot of things that have happened. But those thoughts go out of their brain at the shouting about magic tits. "Huh. I mean...yeah, objectively, sure...you have nice tits...Respectfully. But I haven't seen them cast any spells recently." This is supposed to be a joke, but he doesn't know if that'll land right or not. "Whoever that person is seems woefully unknowledgeable about magic and tits.

And a little more seriously. "Sorry people are dicks." Klaus does arch an eyebrow about the part about Ava, though. "Oh? Like you can talk about it if you want and I won't talk to her about it." She is like their sister now, though...so they don't know if that'll make it awkward.

"I mean it, don't fucking tell her. My revenge will be extended and non-violent." Still, Erin keeps her head tilted down at her coffee, rather than up at Klaus. "...We got into an argument. We sorta made up for it, I think, or at least we're talking to each other in the same room sometimes now, but. And like, again, it's not her fault, she didn't know, but we got angry at each other and Ava accused me of only using people for some...nameless agenda. And that hit hard. Thought I'd let it go and turns out, no I didn't."

"Wow. Okay. Gosh." Klaus considers this information, which makes him want to go ask Ava what happened. Only that probably would be exactly what he's not supposed to do. So it's going to be a one-sided confusion. Maybe Ava will bring it up. "Ava's...you know. Ava. I mean, we get into slap fights and get over things, but not everyone has that same vibe." They shrug. "It's kind of like how Ben and I operate and how my siblings and I operate in general."

"Yeah. We talked, and like, I get her perspective. It wasn't unreasonable, but...a cut's a cut, y'know?" Erin sips the coffee, and then sighs. "I'm not gonna hold a grudge, it was just...a piece of home I didn't expect to get back. She's fiercely protective of her loved ones and that's very admirable."

Klaus nods. “Yeah. I get it. I mean, I think Ava and I can be similar in that we both grew up being honed, basically, into weapons, but I at least had my siblings.” They shrug. “I’m glad she has people that get her and take care of her. I hope they continue.”

"...So do I. Maybe one of these days I'll get to know her better." Erin flashes a fierce grin. "You picked a great sister, Klaus."

"Yeah. I know. She's ridiculous, but she makes sense when it comes to siblings." They smile, humming a little and sipping at the coffee a little. It's sweet but...not hot chocolate. It's fine, though.

"Big secret, everyone worth knowing is ridiculous." Sipppp sippity sip. "How you holding up outside the obvious? Like, y'know, with your other friends and such?"

Klaus lets out a slow breath. "It's been...okay. People have been pretty chill about it. About this. Nobunaga and I have...been talking again. I got...Well..." He pauses, considering it for a moment. "We've had a lot of stuff to talk through and things to get through. We're not like...doing much more than cuddling...cause I feel like shit." But they don't think that's too much information? Probably. "It's probably been good for us, but you know. Still got a lot of shit to work through. Probably. Mostly cause I have a lot of shit to work through. From home."

"Yeah, fucking mood." Erin sipping her coffee here would go a lot better if it was whiskey but the gesture is the same, and she won't be so crass as to say that aloud. "You've got me in your corner, even if usually I'm only good for listening."

Erin looks around the coffee joint. "Nothing else seems to be moving so far but that doesn't disprove anything necessarily. Could just be haunted by a shy ghost."

Klaus shrugs. "I mean...listening is just as important as anything else." They look over at Erin for a moment. "We didn't do that much by way of listening to one another back home and that probably fucked us up as much as anything else." Which is not a lie so much. It's true. They just wanted to speak over one another...which probably has something to do with their father...and being made to compete with each other.

They look around for a moment, remembering before. "Maybe. What if it's Ben?"

"Bash will be able to prove or disprove it either way. Though if it's like a poltergeist sitch maybe relaxing has helped?"

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