[ Ben walks with Julie, not knowing whether she'll have an easier time talking while in motion or whether she just wants to put more distance between herself and that nightmare swarm. Either way it's a good idea. He glances over at her now and then as she speaks, but also stays vigilant of where they're going, making sure they don't head to any areas where he knows these things are lurking, or anywhere too dark.
She isn't telling him much, but that only means the details she does include seem more meaningful. 'Wore her down' sounds mild, but Ben is sure the actual experience of it was much different. And her dad being in the army, that suggests a certain authoritarian ruthlessness. If he had only cared about safety, that didn't exactly suggest the most patient or affectionate parenting.
All of those suspicions being backed up, of course, by the fact that Julie had told him that first time that she and Klaus had a lot in common. And Klaus has never exactly been as discreet about how awful their childhood was as Ben's other siblings. So... chances are there maybe were some similarities, between Reginald and the General. ]
Three years... damn.
[ Ben is braced for it in a way, when she says that she'd had to kill someone when she was only nine and that it hadn't been the last time. He wasn't expecting a happy story. No - what catches him off-guard is that she says you guys - him, and Klaus, no doubt - know what that does to a kid. And Ben falters, falling behind a few steps.
She's right. Of course she's right. Ben had killed people when he was only a kid, too. He knows what it does, intimately. But he hadn't realized until just this moment that Julie would know that he knew that. That, in the process of getting to know Klaus, and some of the stuff he'd been through, that Julie might have also heard stories about him.
And it hits him all at once. There are so many things he has told Klaus that he's never spoken of to another soul. Not to Vanya, not to Diego, not to anyone. What had Klaus told her about him? How much? Which stories, which details? Did she just know the basics - that the Umbrella Academy had gone on missions as kids, had fought bank robbers and murderers, and there had been casualties? Or had he told her other things, too? Things about how their father had trained them? Things about his powers? ]
......... Yeah. I do.
[ The words come out, stiff and awkward. Ben mechanically forces himself to start moving again, but there's a brittleness to it that wasn't there before. His quiet feels louder than it had, when he was listening before. After a few strained moments of silence he says: ]
I was thinking - I was asking questions because I wanted to try to get to know one another. Since you're important to my brother and- I messed things up the first time. But- I didn't realize- I should've asked- I don't know how much Klaus has already told you about me.
no subject
She isn't telling him much, but that only means the details she does include seem more meaningful. 'Wore her down' sounds mild, but Ben is sure the actual experience of it was much different. And her dad being in the army, that suggests a certain authoritarian ruthlessness. If he had only cared about safety, that didn't exactly suggest the most patient or affectionate parenting.
All of those suspicions being backed up, of course, by the fact that Julie had told him that first time that she and Klaus had a lot in common. And Klaus has never exactly been as discreet about how awful their childhood was as Ben's other siblings. So... chances are there maybe were some similarities, between Reginald and the General. ]
Three years... damn.
[ Ben is braced for it in a way, when she says that she'd had to kill someone when she was only nine and that it hadn't been the last time. He wasn't expecting a happy story. No - what catches him off-guard is that she says you guys - him, and Klaus, no doubt - know what that does to a kid. And Ben falters, falling behind a few steps.
She's right. Of course she's right. Ben had killed people when he was only a kid, too. He knows what it does, intimately. But he hadn't realized until just this moment that Julie would know that he knew that. That, in the process of getting to know Klaus, and some of the stuff he'd been through, that Julie might have also heard stories about him.
And it hits him all at once. There are so many things he has told Klaus that he's never spoken of to another soul. Not to Vanya, not to Diego, not to anyone. What had Klaus told her about him? How much? Which stories, which details? Did she just know the basics - that the Umbrella Academy had gone on missions as kids, had fought bank robbers and murderers, and there had been casualties? Or had he told her other things, too? Things about how their father had trained them? Things about his powers? ]
......... Yeah. I do.
[ The words come out, stiff and awkward. Ben mechanically forces himself to start moving again, but there's a brittleness to it that wasn't there before. His quiet feels louder than it had, when he was listening before. After a few strained moments of silence he says: ]
I was thinking - I was asking questions because I wanted to try to get to know one another. Since you're important to my brother and- I messed things up the first time. But- I didn't realize- I should've asked- I don't know how much Klaus has already told you about me.