with fingers crossed they'll talk to me

[buildstherobots]

[phone]

[This... this is a drunk dial. It's obvious from Dist's tone, the way he's slurring... hell, even the subject matter. He's been brooding a lot lately, mostly due to being brainwashed. Twice. To have your mind forcibly taken... it's not an easy thing to recover from.]

We're all... here, we're all surrounded by people. Prisoners, like ourselves. But who among us... who doesn't feel lonely? Disconnected from all those around you... I fear that's their goal. Isolation, even in the face of a crowd.

[Dist takes a deep breath, possibly taking another swig from his drink.]

We're overdue for a town attack. Divide and conquer. Without unity... I don't know what we'll do in the face of whatever they throw at us.

Comments

[buildstherobots]

[Klaus. You now have a Dist clinging to you, starting to sob into your coat. He was doing a very poor job of holding back, and finally that dam has broken.]

[myblimpisbigger]

[Oh

Oh no

Oh no oh god Klaus doesn't know how to deal with this, it's all well and good to talk about what friends do but when you have a small, breakable Dist crying into your chest, what do]

...Ah. Um.

[He gingerly puts a hand on Dist's back. It. Pretty much covers Dist's back.

Gosh this is strange.]

[buildstherobots]

[Hey, Dist can be pretty pathetic when... well, when he's breathing, but also when he's being confronted with glaring personality flaws.]

L-last Valentine's day... it wasn't fair. It showed me what my life would have been like if I were actually loved by someone very important to me. It was a lie, of course, but... it just wasn't fair. He was even here. He was here and he had the same memories and he wouldn't even pretend.

[Ooooh no, we're getting into that can of worms. Dist hasn't pulled away; he normally maintains a strict personal bubble but right now he needs the contact.]

[myblimpisbigger]

[Well, if you want contact, Klaus Wulfenbach is a good person to get it from. He's big and grabbable and very easy to cling to.]

You do realize that not all love is by nature romantic?

[Says the man who loved his best friends more than he'll probably ever really love anyone but his wife and his son.]

[buildstherobots]

But they put it there. It wasn't real, but we could have pretended until they took the memories away! I'm not stupid, I know when Mayfield messes with us... but... but...

[Klaus Dist is upset. You may want to grab the tissues on the end table to save your coat.]

[myblimpisbigger]

[Klaus thinks back to that Valentines day, and how it was what really pushed him and Ples together, and feels just a little bit guilty.]

Here.

[He hands Dist the tissues with one hand, and keeps the other on his back. Shhhh it's okay Dist shhhh. He has no idea what to say, but he'll give you something to blow your nose on?]

[buildstherobots]

[And not in a mocking way, either; just recognition and fulfillment of a need. Dist cleans himself up and then slowly, hesitantly, leans his head back on Klaus's chest, nudging the man's chin with the top of his head.]

...Thank you.

[It wasn't just the kindness. It was the thoughtless, automatic kindness; the sort that wasn't an exception made for him. It calms him significantly, but he doesn't let go.]

[myblimpisbigger]

[It's a good sign that Klaus allows him to nestle and doesn't push him away. He's mostly just glad that Dist seems to have stopped drinking. He's so small, he can't possibly handle much more than Klaus thinks he's had...]

You're welcome.

For what it's worth, I understand what it is to be a bit love-starved. I haven't seen my wife in twenty years and likely never will again.

[Yeah that's still a really depressing reality.]

[buildstherobots]

You have a wife?

[Well, he has a son, it's only natural. Dist's tone is still disappointed though.]

...Why haven't you seen her?