Kierkegaard — Roleplayer Guild

Klaus

“If Klaus can put off the work for a bit, I’d join in.”  

Klaus, who had been nodding to himself as he adjusted the generator settings, came to the delayed realization that everyone was looking to him for permission to leave the lab early. 

Klaus looked reluctantly at his clipboard, and then at the rest of his project team. Aaron looked strung out. Mat was doing a weird thing with his eyes, as if trying enlarge them to resemble a golden retriever puppy. Even Józef appeared unusually enthused. 

Loathe as he was to leave the lab early, Klaus couldn’t deny that a drink was exactly what he-they- needed.  “Fine, fine.” He quickly stowed his equipment away and yanked his coat off the rack. “We’ll go to Lederhosen. Aaron, you’d better keep your scarf on, just in case. Mat, no spontaneous combustion.” 

Mat was grinning widely. “Copy that.” 

~
Ros

The first time she forgot she was spying on him, they had just gotten back from the dinner party.

Klaus had missed the General’s joke—the first odd thing. He was always cracking jokes, but this one had flown right over his head. And then with the other officer, she had never heard him say anything so offensive before. He had delivered the line calmly and just watched him, as if someone else completely was controlling what he said.

It wasn’t until she pulled him aside that she realized he had no idea how to read faces.

They were sitting outside Klaus' apartment on the fire escape, dangling their legs over the edge and pointing out constellations.

“You really just…can’t tell?”

He shifted a little, and then shook his head.

“Well…I’ll teach you.”

“What?”

“I know you heard me, Klaus,” she replied, pulling her legs from the edge and folding them beside her as she turned to face him.

“Sorry, what do you mean?”

“Good,” she smiled. “I’ll show you what I mean. Can you see me okay?”

The moon was bright enough for her to see him clearly when he nodded.

“Okay. Watch me. This is how I tell you I’m happy.” A grin split over her face, her cheeks rising and her nose crinkling.

He watched her for a moment, and she saw the corners of his mouth tug upwards.

“See? And this is sad.” She let her mouth fall, pulling downwards as the space between her eyebrows wrinkled slightly.

He nodded.

“This is worried.” Her mouth straightened, and her eyebrows tugged closer together.

“You didn’t change.”

“It’s hard to see, it’s subtle. Here, give me your hands.”

He stretched his hands out wordlessly.

She smiled gently and covered them with hers. “I’m going to look sad, and then worried.” She brought his hands up to her face, resting them gently on her cheeks. She set his thumbs on her lips and two fingers on her forehead, and then pulled her mouth down and her eyebrows in. After a few seconds, she let her lips pull into a line as her eyebrows drew together.

She saw his eyes widen slightly, and she smiled. “Did you feel that?”

Hesitantly, he nodded.

“Do you want me to do it again?”

He nodded again.

She fought the smile from her face and went through the motions again, frowning and creasing and then worrying.

His hand slid down her face, tracing her cheekbone to her chin. Her eyes closed and she leaned into it, her lips curving against his fingers.

He froze, and she opened her eyes to look at him.

“What’s that face?” his eyes were light, reflecting the moon as they searched her face.

Her hand wrapped around his, and she leaned forward. “I’m going to kiss you.”

He watched her with wide eyes, and she felt his sharp inhale when her lips reached his. For a moment he was still, and then he moved to match her.

She pulled away gently, a smile spreading across her face.

He hesitated, “Happy?”

She nodded, and the smile turned to a grin. “Yes.”

~

When she was with him, it was so easy to forget that he was an assignment—that they weren’t really together. She liked who he was and she liked who she was with him.

But she couldn’t afford to do that anymore. Not with the possibility of what he could be doing. She needed to know, to be absolutely sure.

She would never make that mistake of forgetting he was a job again. Tonight, she would find out the truth.

~

Ros finished the last sentence with a flourish of her pen and set the message in the basket. It had taken her twice as long today to decode the message, even though they were using the same key words as last week. Her mind was elsewhere. She looked out the window for the fifteenth time, and she saw them.

She had been checking every few minutes in case they didn’t stay late that day. She was planning to wait outside when her job was done, catch him on his way out, but it looked like he was heading out with everyone earlier than usual.

It was time to go.

Ros pushed her chair back and rolled out her drawer, picking up her coat and her gun and standing. She pulled on and buttoned her coat and set her gun on her hip, and moved to sign out for the day. One last salute and she was running down the stairs. If she timed it right, she would reach him perfectly. On the last flight of stairs she shook out her bun and pulled on her hat.

She broke out into the cold evening, all dark uniform and sharp lines. After the incident, she’d had to change into her official uniform skirt and jacket, complete with the fur hat and coat with a hip holster. Her boots thundered on the cobblestone.

Ahead of her, the guys were just passing her path. “Klaus!” she called, skipping forward a step and raising up a hand to wave. “Klaus, wait!”

~
Klaus

They had just left the Piethman building when Klaus heard someone calling his name.

As the figure drew nearer, he saw it was Ros. Her face was flushed from the cold, blonde locks cascading over her shoulders. He was momentarily struck by how beautiful she was, and then realized she was waiting him to speak. 

“Can I talk to you?” 

“Ros. Um.” He searched her face, baffled by her non-angry tone, and found only earnestness. “Listen, about earlier-“ He trailed off, realizing he still had no explanation for the water glass.

But Ros was talking over him. “Look, I’m sorry about today. I don’t know- I’m tired, that day with Mengele was exhausting, I think I’m seeing things. I can’t concentrate at work, I knocked over my own water glass- it’s not your fault, Klaus. I’m sorry, I am.” 

“It’s fine.” Klaus was still confused by her sudden turnaround, but there was nothing in her expression that suggested otherwise. Klaus examined her for another moment, then gave up. If Ros had forgiven the incident, he wasn’t about to complain. 

“We’re going to Lederhosen,” he said quickly. “Do you want to-“

“Now?”

“Yes.”

Ros frowned. “Oh, no, I’ve got to meet someone. Are you staying long?” 

Klaus looked over his shoulder at Mat, who was dancing circles in the snow, singing. “Probably.”

“I’ll meet you after. Give me an hour?”

“We’ll be there.”

Ros beamed. “See you.” She leaned forward and pecked his cheek before heading off.

Klaus was silent for a moment. Then- “Mat, I told you she was real.” 

~

Several rounds of drinks later, Klaus was perched on a stool at the darkly lit, far end of the bar, his arms around in front of him like an orchestra conductor, holding forth to his project team as if he were teaching a lecture course.

“All I’m saying is that- all I’m saying is-“

“Professor, I have a question,” Mat said, raising an arm. 

“No. Shut up. All I’m saying is-” Klaus blinked. “Oh, fuck this. Fuck this class. Fuck you all. No one turns in their homework anymore.”

Mat sniggered. “Klaus, you haven’t taught a class since 1937.”

“It’s an abomination!” Klaus exclaimed, slamming his glass down on the counter. “Universities used to be for learning! Where are the students?”

Mat shrugged. “Off fighting the war, I presume. Anyway, didn’t you hate teaching courses?”

“Yes. Not the point. Point is- universities should be centers of knowledge. Spreading knowledge. Disseminating knowledge. Not- not a weapons laboratory. We’re not some craft shop, we’re scientists,” Klaus said emphatically. “Aaron, back me up on this. They lied to us about the Zauber project. This isn’t research we’re doing, it’s war preparations.”  

“Oh boy.” Mat looked around nervously. “Say that a little quieter, would you?”

Hey here's a random thing I felt like sharing: 

So I'm watching M*A*S*H and they start singing this song "Gee Ma, I Wanna Go Home". It's like this funny song about how awful life in the army is. I looked it up to see when it was first sung to see if I could possibly reference it in this RP and what do I find out? It was first sung by the Canadians in WWII!

Lacking relevance, but I'm Canadian and it's always cool when you find out things are from here. Not to mention Canada's history as being some of the best troops in the Allied forces during WWI and WWII, if I do say so myself ^_^ Haha. 

/patriotic rant over (for now). Where are you guys from?@Obscene Symphony

"I'm Canadian"

WE'VE GOT A LIVE ONE

I'm from the USA, going to school in DC (which is incidentally where I just landed.) 

I've never seen M*A*S*H but heard great things. Worth it?

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