apocalypsehow | Hotel Obsidian

You know the trouble with trusting in your kind-hearted sibling to do the thing that might save them all?

No? Well, here it was.

"Hey, where's Harlan?" You know, the guy you promised to bring down here

Viktor	What made it worse is that Viktor didn't even feel bad. "He's gone."
Luther	Luther groaned. He knew he should have went and got him. "You let him go, didn't you?"
Viktor	"Harlan's death is not going to stop the kugelblitz," Viktor pointed out. "It's going to be another tragedy on a tragedy, and we can find another--I will find another way."
Luther	Luther was absolutely not having it. This was their one chance and now--now it was all fucked. "Congratulations, Viktor. You managed to destroy everything. Again." If you ever wanted to see a man with a gorilla body flounce away angrily, there it was.
Five	"I really thought you were smarter than that." Which, you know, in this family?
Viktor	Viktor had about enough of this family and their "kill first, ask questions later" mentality. He gave Five a nasty look before walking off. In a different direction than Luther had flounced.
Five	Sometimes murder was the solution! Five let out an annoyed sigh at his brothers before going to join... another of his brothers at the bar. But at least Klaus had alcohol with him, That made everything better.
Klaus	Klaus had been pouring himself a shot, so it was no big deal for him to pour one for Five as well. The bartender had been kugelblitzed so it was free drinks for everyone! "Here," Klaus said, sliding the shot glass over.
Five	"Thanks," Five said, accepting it readily. "I saw my future self die."
Klaus	"That's crazy!" Both the concept and the fact Klaus might have found someone who could understand what he was going through. "Almost the exact same thing happened to me. But I didn't die, but I did, but--"
Five	Trauma bonding! The story of their childhood. "He told me to not save the world. And then he died." And then he'd skinned him. A little bit. "What do you think he meant by that?"
Klaus	"Shouldn't you know?" Klaus asked, lifting up his shot. "Up your ass."
Five	"Salud," Five chorused, lifting his shot to down. "Klaus, I've dedicated my entire life to stopping the apocalypse. Apocalypses, plural. And he tells me, what? That it's meaningless?" His username couldn't be meaningless!
Klaus	Oh. Five actually seemed to be going through Some Stuff. Okay, Klaus could help with that. "Well, I don't know anything--"
Five	He was allowed to have an existential crisis! It was his turn! "Maybe that's a way of saying don't become him, but..." Five trailed off, swirling the alcohol in his glass after he refilled it.
Klaus	"You're really messed up about this, huh?" Klaus said, looking behind him to see if a more qualified sibling was around to handle this.
Five	You were the adult in the room, Klaus! Deal with it! "I've cheated time so much," Five continued, totally not realizing how much Klaus did not want to be there. "I guess I just figured I'd somehow cheat death. But it turns out, I die a one-armed nightmare inside a bureaucratic hellscape of my own design."
Klaus	Klaus lifted his hands up. "Spoiler alert!" God, Five, way to ruin the season for him.
Five	"Not to mention the trashy tattoo," Five said, fishing out the piece of skin he'd taken from himself. Like that was a normal thing to do.
Five	"Ugh!" Yes, Klaus had been there for the teeth in pocket thing but this was a new level of gross. "Is this your skin?"
Five	Look, Klaus. Sometimes you just keep souvenirs. There's nothing wrong with it. "I'll be damned if I go out with an old man tramp stamp," Five said, jabbing a finger at it as he downed his next drink.
Klaus	"If you don't want to end up like this guy, why don't you just do something completely different?" Klaus said. "Move upstate, become an alpaca farmer." Oh, he would love to visit your alpaca farm, Five.
Five	Well, the apocalypse sort of ruined that plan. "Yeah, I could. The timeline's malleable," Five said, possibly just drunk enough to be considering this as a real plan. "We've proven that much. I could try and break the cycle, but-"
Five	"Yeah, sure," Klaus said, loving this idea now. "Just keep your extremities away from sharp objects and don't join the Mothers of Agony."
Five	Oh no, a plot thread. "What?"
Klaus	"The tattoo," Klaus said, pointing at the gross piece of skin. "It's a symbol of a biker gang, the Mothers of Agony."
Five	"You know them?" Five asked, inspecting the tattooed skin again.
Klaus	"Like two timelines ago." Normal thing to say. "They used to be my, ah, farmacistas."
Five	Okay, okay. He could work with this. Five snatched the skin back off the bar to tuck away into his suit, "This is good," he told Klaus before just leaving him there. In a very classic Five move.