People still play softball after they graduate high school, Vanya. Patrick's best friend was a great softball player. I've seen many bruised knees and black eyes.
[ a friend she probably will never get to talk to again. yay @ bad life choices. ]
Claire is hardly the athletic type and she likes playing soccer. There's more to someone than how they appear. I can look at you and you could be the best tennis player this country has ever seen. You've got a mean left hook.
I hate to break it to you Negative Sally, but when I look at you I know I'm seeing the best violinist this city has been fortunate to watch and listen to.
[ of course! it's vanya. regardless of what's happened in their lives, together and apart, she's always been interested in her sorcery over the violin. confirmed with her own eyes, that's vanya's superpower. ]
No. I mean. Yeah. It's okay. I'm just surprised that you had.
[ she'd always left tickets in reserve whenever she played publicly, hoping some of her family might show, but she's long used to being second fiddle where they're concerned - second if she was lucky. ]
Claire wanted to go see you during one of her musician phases. She got sick that week so I thought I'd go by myself.
[ without any paps knowing, obviously.
claire tends to ask stories about the umbrella academy over and over, as if expecting each retelling to change ever so slightly in the details. although she rotates on which academy member she obsesses over for a short period of time, vanya comes up more than anyone could predict. allison suspects it has something to do with the fact she's the most relatable for a normal girl like claire. ]
[ Her first concert, Vanya had nearly skipped whole bars looking for just one familiar face in the crowd but after the second, the fifth, the tenth, the fiftieth... She'd stopped. Still left tickets at the box office just in case but that became less hope and more routine over the years. Finding out that Allison was there, even just once, is more than she's dreamed of in a long time.
Of course. You're family. Why wouldn't she know about you?
[ allison knows the reason why vanya doesn't think claire would know a single fact about her, and a part of her wishes she hadn't sent her message without thinking it over. dad made it very clear she was nothing to write home about, drilling it into all their heads that being normal was nothing extraordinary. since getting out from beneath the umbrella, allison's begun to realise vanya was the lucky one. in comparison to her, she barely knows how to adapt to reality without needing to change it.
that incapability of living a normal life is the very reason why her family is falling apart. ]
[ They both know the answer and the conversation is going too nicely for Vanya to ruin it with the truth. Won't bring herself to mention just how little she's felt a part of this family. Maybe there's some small blessing in not being foremost under Sir Reginald's microscope but lucky? To always be on the outside looking in? To be the mistake brushed under the rug and forgotten about?
It's not a reality you adapt to without a hollow place inside your chest. ]
[ allison's grateful vanya lets it go. although it'd all been dad, she knows they've all had their part to play. as they've gotten older and become wiser, understanding what reginald had been saying ... they had their chances to rectify the damage that was caused. allison's grateful it hasn't been too late for her. ]
She's tried recorder, xylophone, guitar, piano. The last two seem to stick every now and then.
Asked for an astronaut suit to be more like Luther. Started speaking to the bears in her room like they were ghosts because of Klaus. Now it's a violin to be more like you.
[ There's never a too late— Not when this is something Vanya's wanted for so long that she wouldn't be able to say no even if she tried. Something that has her smiling at her phone almost wide enough for her face to hurt. ]
It's a good age to start from. Learning comes easier when you're that young. I'm no expert but. If she wants tips you can always
[ She cuts herself off because subject change is safer, haha. This is nice, it's good, and she doesn't want to step too far into it before the door gets shut in her face. ]
[ don't think allison doesn't notice when vanya breaks off her sentence — her very kind and generous offer. a part of allison is hurt by it, but then she realises that it's warranted. none of them have been particularly kind to vanya, and her sister has always been the type to stick to her corner, always worrying if she's overstepping.
she's not, not at all. ]
She's tried throwing knives. I gave her plastic ones to toss at the wall. Now she's wearing all black and trying to cut a line through her eyebrow. She thinks he's very cool for that.
[ diego, the brother who claire thinks broods too much. ]
Claire would love to learn how to hold a violin correctly from you.
[ did she really think allison was going to let that thread go? ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Not really. At least other than the time I was six and walked in the middle of Diego's training. Got a softball to the face.
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[ she should not be as excited as she is. ]
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[ based purely on nonlived experience ]
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[ a friend she probably will never get to talk to again. yay @ bad life choices. ]
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You know
Not exactly the athletic type?
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[ 🎤💥 ]
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You've heard me? Recently?
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[ of course! it's vanya. regardless of what's happened in their lives, together and apart, she's always been interested in her sorcery over the violin. confirmed with her own eyes, that's vanya's superpower. ]
Is that ... not okay?
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[ she'd always left tickets in reserve whenever she played publicly, hoping some of her family might show, but she's long used to being second fiddle where they're concerned - second if she was lucky. ]
A good surprise.
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[ without any paps knowing, obviously.
claire tends to ask stories about the umbrella academy over and over, as if expecting each retelling to change ever so slightly in the details. although she rotates on which academy member she obsesses over for a short period of time, vanya comes up more than anyone could predict. allison suspects it has something to do with the fact she's the most relatable for a normal girl like claire. ]
No surprise you were amazing.
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And then on top of that— ]
Claire. She knows about me?
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[ allison knows the reason why vanya doesn't think claire would know a single fact about her, and a part of her wishes she hadn't sent her message without thinking it over. dad made it very clear she was nothing to write home about, drilling it into all their heads that being normal was nothing extraordinary. since getting out from beneath the umbrella, allison's begun to realise vanya was the lucky one. in comparison to her, she barely knows how to adapt to reality without needing to change it.
that incapability of living a normal life is the very reason why her family is falling apart. ]
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It's not a reality you adapt to without a hollow place inside your chest. ]
Music phases, huh. Does she play anything?
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She's tried recorder, xylophone, guitar, piano. The last two seem to stick every now and then.
Asked for an astronaut suit to be more like Luther. Started speaking to the bears in her room like they were ghosts because of Klaus. Now it's a violin to be more like you.
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It's a good age to start from. Learning comes easier when you're that young. I'm no expert but. If she wants tips you can always
[ She cuts herself off because subject change is safer, haha. This is nice, it's good, and she doesn't want to step too far into it before the door gets shut in her face. ]
I wonder how she's gonna work Diego in there.
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she's not, not at all. ]
She's tried throwing knives. I gave her plastic ones to toss at the wall. Now she's wearing all black and trying to cut a line through her eyebrow. She thinks he's very cool for that.
[ diego, the brother who claire thinks broods too much. ]
Claire would love to learn how to hold a violin correctly from you.
[ did she really think allison was going to let that thread go? ]
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Oh.
I knew that.
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[ especially when you shouldn't ]
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Optimism suits you.
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Plus I'm not exactly sure you have the temperament for retail.
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You could even ask mom if she could help out. I'm sure she wouldn't mind sewing for you.
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i'm not exactly known for my amazing fashion choices anyway
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[ oh same hat, bro ]
I know you are. Is what makes you a good brother.
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i'll stay here with you. [ even if she can't see him. ]
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I mean obviously you don't have to ask, you should go, but. Let me know.
[ a moment later: ] Did you do this a lot? Hanging around us even if we weren't
You know.
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whenever you were around klaus anyway.
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Fair warning because I am not crafty. At all. Ever.