![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
[For Klaus]
Jan. 21st, 2021 09:16 amKlaus is sober tonight.
At least, it seems that way. He's a little edgier at dinner - not cruel or snappy, just a little less liquid. It's not the sort of thing most would notice. Even on his worst days Klaus is still so very much Klaus. It's a perfect strategy: keep them guessing regardless of sobriety and they'll never know the difference. With family, this is not an afforded luxury. Especially to Vanya. She spent her childhood studying her siblings as fastidiously as she did any of her other studies. Always on the outside, Vanya wanted to see everything she could in hopes that it would make her siblings see her. No one wants to be watched that closely, so it never worked the way she wanted. Until now.
Five helps her clean up after dinner and they all go their separate ways: upstairs or out. Vanya spends some time in the library, but all she wants is to play music. It's been a month and her fingers are itching. She feels like Klaus might: restless and itchy for something to focus on that isn't beyond her control. She goes upstairs to try meditating. The results are okay for a bit, but she ends up just falling asleep.
A sound stirs her. It's like a bump. For a second, she's afraid she's blasted energy out in her sleep again. Her surroundings are intact. No cracked mirror, no jolt of her bed back to the floor. There's another sound - a voice - and she can't tell much except that it's coming from Klaus' room. The first thought she has is that Klaus is doing Klaus things - with Obi-Wan or whoever. She's about to roll over and tune it out, but the next series of sounds is unmistakably distressed.
Before she can register she's done so, Vanya's on her feet and out the door, padding with soft urgency so as not to wake Allison or Ben as she goes by their doors. Now that she's in front of Klaus' door and the sounds are louder, she's starting to create terrible scenarios in her head.
She knocks. "Klaus?" she calls through the door in an urgent half-whisper that she hopes he can hear. As much as she doesn't want to barge in and risk invading Klaus' privacy and possibly seeing something she would rather not, she absolutely will.
At least, it seems that way. He's a little edgier at dinner - not cruel or snappy, just a little less liquid. It's not the sort of thing most would notice. Even on his worst days Klaus is still so very much Klaus. It's a perfect strategy: keep them guessing regardless of sobriety and they'll never know the difference. With family, this is not an afforded luxury. Especially to Vanya. She spent her childhood studying her siblings as fastidiously as she did any of her other studies. Always on the outside, Vanya wanted to see everything she could in hopes that it would make her siblings see her. No one wants to be watched that closely, so it never worked the way she wanted. Until now.
Five helps her clean up after dinner and they all go their separate ways: upstairs or out. Vanya spends some time in the library, but all she wants is to play music. It's been a month and her fingers are itching. She feels like Klaus might: restless and itchy for something to focus on that isn't beyond her control. She goes upstairs to try meditating. The results are okay for a bit, but she ends up just falling asleep.
A sound stirs her. It's like a bump. For a second, she's afraid she's blasted energy out in her sleep again. Her surroundings are intact. No cracked mirror, no jolt of her bed back to the floor. There's another sound - a voice - and she can't tell much except that it's coming from Klaus' room. The first thought she has is that Klaus is doing Klaus things - with Obi-Wan or whoever. She's about to roll over and tune it out, but the next series of sounds is unmistakably distressed.
Before she can register she's done so, Vanya's on her feet and out the door, padding with soft urgency so as not to wake Allison or Ben as she goes by their doors. Now that she's in front of Klaus' door and the sounds are louder, she's starting to create terrible scenarios in her head.
She knocks. "Klaus?" she calls through the door in an urgent half-whisper that she hopes he can hear. As much as she doesn't want to barge in and risk invading Klaus' privacy and possibly seeing something she would rather not, she absolutely will.
