[ Ben has never heard Klaus mention 'Hadriel' before and it seems an odd sort of a name for a place in Vietnam, but perhaps it was the name of some kind of U.S. station or-
-or it is something else, entirely. Because Klaus is looking at him with dawning realization and asking whether he had been there at this place, and the two of them both know he had not traveled in time when Klaus had. Worry knits itself across Ben's brow, and his jaw goes tight and his expression set and neutral in a way that betrays his unease. ]
Again? Was it - a briefcase?
[ How strange to think that, now, those briefcases are the comparatively familiar mode of travel that Ben can mostly wrap his head around. He had heard the same welcome materials as everyone else. He was paying attention, even during the bits where the inhabitants are warned that they or others may be coming here from a secondary location.
Even moreso than the specifics of how this is possible and where he was, Ben gets stuck on that vague sum: a couple of months. Klaus had been gone for him for another significant stretch of time? It had been so jarring the first time, realizing with a lurch that in a few hours, months had passed for Klaus. He'd hardly blinked and his brother had become a different man. Had it happened a second time? ]
You didn't miss anything. I wasn't anywhere. All of us were there together, with the moon going to pieces, and- now we're here. Right?
[ Aren't they? Except Klaus has no reason to lie about this, and Ben has seen no sign of his siblings, so how can he really argue that they all must have been brought directly here? His breathing quickens, hand wrapping around Klaus's wrist and hanging on there. ]
no subject
-or it is something else, entirely. Because Klaus is looking at him with dawning realization and asking whether he had been there at this place, and the two of them both know he had not traveled in time when Klaus had. Worry knits itself across Ben's brow, and his jaw goes tight and his expression set and neutral in a way that betrays his unease. ]
Again? Was it - a briefcase?
[ How strange to think that, now, those briefcases are the comparatively familiar mode of travel that Ben can mostly wrap his head around. He had heard the same welcome materials as everyone else. He was paying attention, even during the bits where the inhabitants are warned that they or others may be coming here from a secondary location.
Even moreso than the specifics of how this is possible and where he was, Ben gets stuck on that vague sum: a couple of months. Klaus had been gone for him for another significant stretch of time? It had been so jarring the first time, realizing with a lurch that in a few hours, months had passed for Klaus. He'd hardly blinked and his brother had become a different man. Had it happened a second time? ]
You didn't miss anything. I wasn't anywhere. All of us were there together, with the moon going to pieces, and- now we're here. Right?
[ Aren't they? Except Klaus has no reason to lie about this, and Ben has seen no sign of his siblings, so how can he really argue that they all must have been brought directly here? His breathing quickens, hand wrapping around Klaus's wrist and hanging on there. ]