westwhere | saying goodbye

[Allison said there would be booze, and she follows through on finding some. Is it as good as the stuff back home? No, but it will do for the purposes of this conversation. She grabs three glasses, plants them down on the table in front of them, and starts to pour.]

So. We have a week to figure out what we want to do.

[As she finishes filling Ben's glass, she pauses.]

Have you been drunk before?

[It's not a question she would ask any other sibling but Ben died before he was alcohol legal.]

[ Ben has to laugh to the question. It would be ridiculous, but no, in this case it's utterly fair. And it's not like he didn't try to sneak some with Klaus when they were younger. ]

Let's go for...not properly. [ So another first for him. ]

Seems an appropriate way to start this off. Get drunk, then figure out what we're doing.

[ Five has been very quiet since he joined them, and he only huffs lightly at Ben's suggestion. Is getting Ben drunk the plan to influence him in whatever decision keeps him alive? He can't be sure, but he does meet Allison's gaze when he takes a glass and backs off to the nearest wall.

It feels weird that everything worked out kind of okay. Somehow he's always surprised when the world doesn't end. He takes a sip from his glass and coughs almost immediately. Shit, that's strong. ]

I'll say this for Akhuras: they've never run out of shitty booze.

[Allison smirks as she settles down with her own glass.]

We stopped an apocalypse and didn't get shunted back in time for our troubles. That means we've earned celebratory drinks with that shitty booze.

[She holds up her glass.]

Good fucking riddance, Matthias.

Right now? Shitty or not, it's booze. I'll take that over no booze.

[ Ben holds his glass up with Allison's ready for all three of them. ]

Good fucking riddance!

[ Five salutes with his drink. ]

Here's to being the last ones standing.

[ He's less enthusiastic, but there's an effort made. Or maybe he's in denial that it's over. ]

I honestly didn't think it'd be that easy. [ All because Matthias has the same weakness he does. It doesn't sit right, knowing how easily he could turn into him without his family. ] Who knew you could stumble your way to victory as long as you don't know how to quit.

[She smirks as she takes a sip of her drink.]

Grim determination will get you far. Especially when there's enough people around to multiply the effect.

[ Ben faces scrunches up as he looks from Five to Allison. ] Isn't that how we normally do this? Just refuse to give up, even after we've failed multiple times?

[ He shrugs, smiles, then takes a drink, as well. ]

[ That's how he does it. He gets up every day tries and fails and tries again. It's happened enough times that when they do finally succeed at something, it feels like a fluke. ]

It is. [ And it only now occurs to him that Ben just recited the definition of insanity. ] The odds are never in our favor. We're here because we refused to read the writing on the walls, even if we had to tear them down and rebuild them brick by brick.

[ They were supposed to be there by now. Safe and alive and together, and not wondering what their lives are supposed to be. If they'll ever be together again, or if that just spells the end every time. ...But he doesn't want to spoil the mood, so he keeps those spiraling thoughts to himself for once. Ben and Allison earned a break from his rambling. After everything. ]

The universe owes us one.

Agreed. But the question is what are we going to ask for?

[Aka are they going to take a shot at what's waiting for them back home with enhanced information or are they going to take the out and stick with the world they saved?]

[ It's not like Ben isn't aware they're hardly sane. Might as well be upfront about that. ]

[ Ben's eyes drop to that, not quite meeting Allison's or Five's. He gets how they feel, and he's going to do what he's always done. ]

We don't even know if I can go back. [ He manages a weak smile. ] That doesn't mean you two shouldn't. Apparently, I was fine after the whole 60s thing, anyway. [ He shrugs a little. Only with an entire different set of siblings, and who knows what other mess they might jump into. ]

[ Ben still isn't sure what he's doing - staying? Going? - but he needs to get out and get some fresh air. That's what he really needs. ]

[ Taking a walk, though, brings him nearly stumbling on an orange tabby cat, that seems to stare at him with more intelligence than most cats. It unnerves him, just a bit, but it leaves him curious, too. He nods his head to the cat, and stops in his walk. Kneeling down, he doesn't touch - leaves a hand up to show he has no ill-intent - and notices the clean, good shape the cat's coat is in, and the collar. ]

Definitely not a stray. So, your owner nearby? [ He looks around them. ]

[ Five eyes Allison, expression pained and questioning if he should bring this up now. She might disagree, but Ben deserves to know what they're up against. ]

Ben... that's not the only issue. [ Although he would argue it's an important one. The Ben that grew up in another timeline would be familiar, but practically a stranger to them. It's him, but it isn't their brother. ] ...We cause another apocalypse. We might just be leaving so we can all die together.

Depending on how the beacons work, if we all go back to the time we left, we won't be going to the same point. I could take the memory potion and know that I'll have ten days to change the timeline, but even then, Allison would know immediately if I failed. Then we'd be putting all of our faith in our father's promise to reset the universe.

You're from earlier, so maybe you could stop us from causing the paradox in the first place. [ Which would mean... passing a message on and hoping it stuck. ] It's risky no matter what we do. I don't know what's going to happen.

And new Ben isn't a substitution for you.

[She wants to make that clear. She grew to tolerate the new Number Two but she preferred the original Number Six.]

I don't know either. I don't want to make things worse at home, again. And I don't like the idea of just putting all our trust in Dad. But if we choose to do something else, it may mean that we never see any of the others again.

[The others being their siblings.]

Edited 2024-03-04 02:58 (UTC)

[Goose has made a habit of following around the people Kamala spends her time with, just in case, and since Ben is connected to both Allison and Five she's being pretty chill. The Hargreeves are generally friends. It's good that Kamala has made so many friends because she's prone to finding trouble, otherwise.

But as she winds herself around Ben's ankles, she gives a quiet meow of agreement. Yes, Carol's around somewhere. She'll catch up eventually.]

[ Ben closes his eyes and considers that for a moment. ]

Okay, but let's say I go back remembering. I can only tell Klaus, who might not even tell all of you. And if he does, are you going to believe Klaus? Because even knowing this? I wouldn't believe me, and I wouldn't believe Klaus.

[ Partially because they're all stubborn, and even if they go through the impossible on the regular, this is still out there enough to brush off as some sort of nightmare fuel breakdown. ]

[ Ben smiles at Allison's words, touched. ] I'm glad he's not a substitute. But we have no guarantees about my situation, and I hope you both are ready to be all right with that.

[ He shakes his head, growing far more solemn. ] We should never trust Dad. We trust us. For a reason. [ This whole thing seems fraught with possible outcomes that could just be worse than what originally happened. ]

[ He frowns to the meow. ]

I should have considered the translator doesn't work on cats. [ She winds through his ankles, and slowly, he reaches out to see if she'll sniff his hand, rub it, or let him otherwise pet her. ]

Friendly, huh?

She's a people person, that's for sure.

[Oh look, Carol's finally caught up.]

Goose, you can't take them all home with you. You realize that right?

[Goose gives another meow as she brushes her cheek against Ben's fingers. Don't judge her, she can sense he is one of them.

(Also just watch her.)]

Goose, huh? [ Ben laughs to Carol's words and moves his head back and forth. ]

I don't know. Taking me home with her would solve some problems. [ Gently, he moves his fingers behind one of Goose's ears. ]

What do you think, Goose? Your world have room for me?

[Goose is very down with this plan. But Carol tips her head to the side curiously.]

You don't want to go home?

[ No, he isn't ready to be all right with that. Five looks incredulous for a moment, then dour, then proceeds to down his drink and turns his head to the side as he fights to keep it from coming back up.

It passes quickly enough, and then he briefly glances at Allison before pointing at Ben. ]

So we all agree, dad can't be trusted. [ Not even to stay dead. He'll breeze by that to refocus on them. ]

Bringing you back is the one thing I couldn't do, so in that way, they've done the hard part for us. We just need to find out how to pull our family out of the end of the universe and tuck them safely somewhere with us until we can figure out the rest.

[ He says this like he hasn't been trying to figure this out for months, parts for years and/or decades depending on how you look at it. ]

...There's a few problems. If we assume that we'd be returning to three separate points in time, we'd see ripples. Meaning we could split into three separate splinters of the timeline and never meet up again to compare notes. Or the things that Allison remembers happening might be undone, and the reset never happens.

I'm not saying we shouldn't take the memory potion, but we have to be prepared for the consequences. We're only lucky they're moot when you're talking about the apocalypse.

So where does that leave us?

[Allison tips her head to the side curiously.]

Trying to sneak into another world behind someone else and take the memory potion just in case we can change something?

[ After everything they've done, and some of the weird shit Ben's witnessed - ]

Is that really the strangest thing we've ever done? That almost sounds normal, by this point.

Orrrrr.... [ He shrugs a little. ] We could just go somewhere else. See if we can find everyone else and drag them to a whole new world. One by one, if we have to. [ Press restart entirely, so to speak. ] Might be safer for our world, and us.

More like [ a pause while Ben tries to think of how to put this - he runs a hand over his shoulder ] this very solid, and nice body I'm in? Is sort of borrowed. There's no guarantees I get to keep it if I go back.

[ There. That's a less horrible way of saying, 'I'm dead and my spirit was on its way to the afterlife last I was there,' right? ]

[ Ben likes the way Goose thinks. He, gently, rubs his hand down to her neck, then under her chin, seeing what else she might enjoy. ]

[Carol looks confused at first, because what is that supposed to mean, but for a tank, she's not stupid. She can read between the lines.]

That sucks. They shouldn't just revoke a body because you want to go home.

saying goodbye

decisions, decisions | five + ben

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For Carol & Goose, lmk if this works

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