[It does sound like manipulation, but Vanya doesn't really know why, either. As more and more of his true nature came to light, Vanya was just so... confused and scared. He was the only one she felt like she could trust until he wasn't, and she continued to anyway, because what else did she have?
Until she couldn't ignore it anymore. Until he became unforgivable. Until he became another monster under the bed.]
Allison told me that.
[Stupid, stupid, stupid. Allison told her all along.]
He had all of dad's old notes. From when we were kids. And he used them to...
[Vanya is starting to feel sick. This is too much, right now. Too much too soon.]
[Klaus can see that she's distressed, and he feels a stab of guilt, because he thinks it's about his anger. Trying to tamp it down, he takes a few breaths and nods.]
All of us should have listened to Allison. But that happens, we aren't exactly the most functional family...
[His voice takes on that ridiculous edge it gets sometimes, the affected tone when he's trying to make a joke of something, but that's wrong too, so he drops it, and sighs.]
None of us have ever been willing to listen to anyone, ever since we left. So don't beat yourself up over that.
[An exhalation, and he steps forward toward her again, smiles tentatively while his brain scrabbles around for a different topic.]
That's fine Vanya. We don't have to. Um...so guess what? I'm actually three months sober, except for a little bit of weed. Can you believe it?
[Klaus' joking tone is, weirdly, a comfort, in that darkly sarcastic sort of way that makes her emit a breathy scoff of a laugh.]
Sometimes I think Allison's the only one who figured it all out.
[She's got problems, of course, everyone does. Vanya being one of them. But she seems to know how she's dealing with them in a way Vanya maybe never will.
But yeah. That's enough of that. Especially as Klaus continues, changing the subject with a little smile. She doesn't smile back, but she bites at her lip, trying to awkwardly look like she wasn't just seconds from crying again.
And then she raises her eyebrows.]
Three months? You've been here that long?
[At least time travel isn't such an alien concept that she completely doesn't believe him, but she still has to think about it for a moment. But she knew for a fact when she first reunited with him a week ago that he wasn't sober, so...]
That's... That's really good, Klaus. Wait, how much is "a little bit" of weed?
Well, I'm pretty sure Allison's always been the smartest one of us, you know?
[Sure, she has her issues, and she behaved like a dumb kid past the time she could claim to still be a dumb kid, but didn't they all? And who could blame any of them, after the way they'd been raised? Most of them had turned out better than anyone could've expected, really. Except maybe Klaus himself.
Then Vanya is raising her eyebrows at him, and for the first time, one of his siblings looks surprised at a revelation like that because of the time difference and not because he said he was sober. It's stupid, but his eyes go glassy and he nods.]
Yeah. No, wait, no, I was in another place before this for a couple months, called Hadriel, and I've been here just under a month. And I was two days sober at home before I went to Hadriel. It's pretty close to three now.
[Of course, though, there it is. 'How much is a little bit of weed.' His gut drops, but he can't blame her, and so he laughs.]
In Hadriel, a few joints a week when I could get it. I've had two and a half since I got here. Can't give it all up at once or I'd probably just off myself.
[Well, there's no doubting that at least. Not in academics, of course, that would be Five even now (especially now), but... maybe after years of everything in her life being fake, Allison learned a thing or two about how to piece things together to find what's real.
Not like Vanya's spent hours ruminating on Allison and why she does what she does recently or anything.
This is the first she's hearing of a place called Hadriel, though. Klaus has been bouncing locations like this without any of them knowing? Vanya wonders if he missed Five's apocalypse deadline entirely.]
Do you think maybe... instead of the future, Five went somewhere like this?
[That's the first time that's popped into her mind, but. Five did admit he was a little messed up over the years he'd spent alone, or the travel itself, or whatever. He didn't talk to her about it a lot after that, but...]
I guess I've heard that, uh, [and now she feels awkward, because she doesn't have the ease of talking about this subject that Klaus does,] pot is a lot less addictive, too, so. That's good.
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Until she couldn't ignore it anymore. Until he became unforgivable. Until he became another monster under the bed.]
Allison told me that.
[Stupid, stupid, stupid. Allison told her all along.]
He had all of dad's old notes. From when we were kids. And he used them to...
[Vanya is starting to feel sick. This is too much, right now. Too much too soon.]
...I don't want to talk about him anymore.
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All of us should have listened to Allison. But that happens, we aren't exactly the most functional family...
[His voice takes on that ridiculous edge it gets sometimes, the affected tone when he's trying to make a joke of something, but that's wrong too, so he drops it, and sighs.]
None of us have ever been willing to listen to anyone, ever since we left. So don't beat yourself up over that.
[An exhalation, and he steps forward toward her again, smiles tentatively while his brain scrabbles around for a different topic.]
That's fine Vanya. We don't have to. Um...so guess what? I'm actually three months sober, except for a little bit of weed. Can you believe it?
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Sometimes I think Allison's the only one who figured it all out.
[She's got problems, of course, everyone does. Vanya being one of them. But she seems to know how she's dealing with them in a way Vanya maybe never will.
But yeah. That's enough of that. Especially as Klaus continues, changing the subject with a little smile. She doesn't smile back, but she bites at her lip, trying to awkwardly look like she wasn't just seconds from crying again.
And then she raises her eyebrows.]
Three months? You've been here that long?
[At least time travel isn't such an alien concept that she completely doesn't believe him, but she still has to think about it for a moment. But she knew for a fact when she first reunited with him a week ago that he wasn't sober, so...]
That's... That's really good, Klaus. Wait, how much is "a little bit" of weed?
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[Sure, she has her issues, and she behaved like a dumb kid past the time she could claim to still be a dumb kid, but didn't they all? And who could blame any of them, after the way they'd been raised? Most of them had turned out better than anyone could've expected, really. Except maybe Klaus himself.
Then Vanya is raising her eyebrows at him, and for the first time, one of his siblings looks surprised at a revelation like that because of the time difference and not because he said he was sober. It's stupid, but his eyes go glassy and he nods.]
Yeah. No, wait, no, I was in another place before this for a couple months, called Hadriel, and I've been here just under a month. And I was two days sober at home before I went to Hadriel. It's pretty close to three now.
[Of course, though, there it is. 'How much is a little bit of weed.' His gut drops, but he can't blame her, and so he laughs.]
In Hadriel, a few joints a week when I could get it. I've had two and a half since I got here. Can't give it all up at once or I'd probably just off myself.
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Not like Vanya's spent hours ruminating on Allison and why she does what she does recently or anything.
This is the first she's hearing of a place called Hadriel, though. Klaus has been bouncing locations like this without any of them knowing? Vanya wonders if he missed Five's apocalypse deadline entirely.]
Do you think maybe... instead of the future, Five went somewhere like this?
[That's the first time that's popped into her mind, but. Five did admit he was a little messed up over the years he'd spent alone, or the travel itself, or whatever. He didn't talk to her about it a lot after that, but...]
I guess I've heard that, uh, [and now she feels awkward, because she doesn't have the ease of talking about this subject that Klaus does,] pot is a lot less addictive, too, so. That's good.
Can I ask what made you want to stop?