[Action + Audio] IC-CHECK IN

[the_horror]

Ben feels sick when he sees the TERMINATED photo on the wall. He'd woken up alone in the room he and Klaus had shared. Now, he sat in a hall way, feeling sick. Feeling like this place truly was hell. With his back pressed to one side of a wall, he let his head tilt back and he stared at the image projected on the wall of Klaus. His eyes moved to the 'Good Bye' tattoo on his one hand, frowning at it.

Ben could be found in the hallway outside of the bedrooms he, his little group and others had started to share. To gather in. He was seated there, feet on the floor, knees up, eyes red and staring at the picture. This was hell. That was for sure.

Sometime later he's collect himself and make a audio post for everyone on the network.

---

[He did audio because he didn't want anyone to see him. Not like this. He started softly, but cleared his throat and spoke a bit louder.]

You might have noticed there is another face on the wall this week. That's my brother. He was actually here, and now I don't think he is anymore. [He took a moment to take a breath.] I can... actually say I know he was here. Terminated has me worried. I think we need another check in. And I think we need to do it more often.

So, I'll... start. Ben Hargreeves, still here.

Diego? Where are you...?

---

[He's leaving a text of everyone who has checked in]

C H E C K E D I N:
Ben Hargreeves
Rikki
Cleo
Derek
Carrie White
Jared Jacobs
Lydia Deetz
Malach
Betty
Carol
Diego Hargreeves

Comments

[justaddh2o]

"They haven't actually hurt any of us, though. Not really," she pointed out almost hopefully. Cleo would be so proud of her moment of optimism if she were here to hear it. "They make us think we're going to be hurt, but they don't actually hurt us."

Maybe that was enough to suggest that they'd simply sent Klaus and Dean on their ways and keeping Ben here was a bonus because it meant that Ben would be grieving and emotionally compromised. Double your pleasure, double your fun.

And, as Ben went on, apparently also his father recently died and the end of the world was coming. Christ, could this get worse? Actually, she didn't want to ask that because she was afraid if she asked it, she'd validate it and it would, in fact, get worse. She felt for Ben enough as it was.

In spite of herself and the situation, Rikki smiled a little, nudging his shoulder gently with her own. "It's okay that you're completely full of it, Ben, I still like you." She was joking and the grin on her face suggested as much. It lasted only long enough for her to be sure that he knew she was kidding before it fell away again and she leaned her head back once more. "You want to hear the story of how I became a mermaid, so we can both sound like we're full of it?" she offered quietly, half in an effort to get his mind off his pain and half just because he'd been sharing so much and she felt like she ought to reciprocate.

[the_horror]

"Yeah. I suppose that's true." No one had been hurt yet, just mentally messed with. He bit his lip, considering it, wondering if this was just part of his mental torture. Give him the brother he was closest to and remove him later.

Would they do that to Rikki? Take Cleo away? Or worse yet, take Rikki away so poor Cleo was alone. So Ben would be just as upset about losing her as he is Klaus.

But honestly, the more Ben thought about his life, his death, his family and everything in between, the more he realized it was all batshit insane. Why did she put up with his insane stories.

Oh, right. She's a god damn mermaid. When she nudged him and jokingly said she still liked him he gave back a faint smile. A small snort of a breath, but a smile none the less. Sliding down the wall a bit more, his one leg going out and flat, he rested there, head tipped a bit to hers. "Yeah. Tell me the story of how you became a mermaid. It's got to be more entertaining than this, and more believable than my life."

He understood what she was doing. Distracting him from the heart pains. And he was grateful.

[justaddh2o]

"I dunno about more believable," she replied with a small smile, but she took a deep breath, leaned her head back against the wall, tilted just so to the side to meet his, and she closed her eyes to shut out the depressing black and white image of Klaus with that horrible word stenciled over him.

How far back should she really start? "So," she began, "it started with my ex, who hadn't been my boyfriend yet at the time. He was a jerk. He's still a jerk, but he'd been being a jerk, so I'd snuck onto his boat and took out the spark plug so that the engine wouldn't start. Only, he'd tricked Cleo into getting on the boat and then he'd pushed it off from the docks and she'd been stranded."

Her eyes opened again as she thought back on it. Rikki hadn't thought on it in a while, actually, that first day with Cleo and Emma and how poorly she and Emma had gotten on in the beginning.

She went on to tell him how she'd jumped on board and fixed the boat and then stolen it, essentially, to joy ride with Cleo and then also Emma, out to Mako Island. She told Ben how the boat had run out of gas halfway there, stranding them in the middle of the ocean and how they'd had to row to the island so that Emma could call for help. Rikki told Ben how the signal was poor so they'd been walking all over Mako Island, trying to find a good signal and how Cleo had fallen down that hole and then Emma had followed and, because it hadn't occured to her that there was a reason not to, finally Rikki.

Rikki told Ben about the moon pool and how they'd decided to swim out, only while they'd been in there, the full moon had passed over the opening at the top of the volcano in which the moon pool was hidden and how the water had started bubbling around them and that none of them noticed anything different until the next day.

"So I was just minding my own business walking and a sprinkler started going off and hit me. Ten seconds later, I face-planted right there on the grass out in the open, tail and all. I was really lucky that no one came round while I was drying off because that was before I figured out I had my mermaid power," she finished. "So there, now we both sound like crazy people."

She gave his hand another little squeeze. Hopefully, this wouldn't be as difficult as it was today, later on. Hopefully they gave him some sort of sign to suggest that Klaus was just gone from the house; terminated from this particular hellscape but was back home, safe and sound. Maybe he wouldn't even remember being here and wouldn't be crushed to find Ben as a ghost again when Ben eventually got out, too.

[the_horror]

He was silent for most of this. Listening to her story, about her Ex who wasn't her boyfriend at the time, and about spark plugs and boats, a island called Mako, the girls, and the moon pool.

It was a wild story, but it also seemed more believable than sudden births of 43 random children with powers. Which he hadn't told her all about yet. It was strange though. He stayed leaned there, hand in hers, fingers curled into hers, and listened, smiling faintly.

"It's a good origin story. Believable, I think. You're lucky you haven't been caught yet. It's got to be so hard avoiding water all the time." He said, using her story as his distraction for sure.

Better than dwelling on where Klaus went. What Terminated meant in this case, or if Rikki or Cleo or Derek will be next.

[justaddh2o]

Rikki gave him a sheepish sort of smile, looking over at him. "Well," she countered, drawing the word out, a little higher pitched than her normal voice. "There are a handful of people back home who know. But yeah, we've had loads of close calls. It's hard sometimes."

She realized belatedly that she'd been telling him the story to help distract him from his upset and that she'd nearly unwittingly outed Cleo while doing it. She'd only just managed to leave names out of the story. Her stomach clenched with discomfort at that. What if she did slip up? Rikki was sure Cleo would forgive her the error, given the reason it had happened. She looked over at Ben. "Please keep that story between us, yeah?" If he thought Cleo was ignorant to it, then maybe that would buy her friend more time to tell him on her own if she ever felt so inclined.

Her eyes moved back to Klaus's face on the wall. "D'you want to go for a swim?" she asked, looking back at Ben once more. It was what always helped her relax. It likely wouldn't have the same effect for Ben, but one never knew. Maybe it would. "Or we could just stay here a little longer. Whatever you want, mate."