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It feels like a lifetime ago that they all gathered in the kitchens on their off time, that they all laughed and joked and fought in their fleetingly spare moments. Allison's warmth is surprising, what with the playful quip, the smug tease. It takes him be surprise and he huffs softly, not quite a laugh and not quite a smile on his lips, but recognition all the same.

"If it had gone any better then it wouldn't be the Umbrella Academy, would it? Dysfunction is just a prerequisite at this point."

But he turns his eye on her when she begins to explain what happened when he left, and he can't fathom. He'd read Vanya's book, so he has an image of life after his departure cast through her eyes, but he knows it doesn't paint a clear, unbiased picture. Nothing ever will, after all. But Ben, everyone leaving, the way Reginald behaved, they way Vanya was treated... well.

He has to deal carefully here. Vanya's already likely looking up shrinks in the phonebook, and if he decides to show his hand to Allison, she could very well end up doing the same. He thought he'd be able to level with Vanya, considering their relationship as children, considering she doesn't have powers with which to act, but he begins to weigh the option of Number Three, now, as if he could somehow peek into the future and see how she'd respond.

"You must be eager to get home to Claire," he says, all matter-of-fact, as though he's talked to her about it dozens of times before. "And forgive me if that's presumptuous. Tact is something that goes away with old age." A single shoulder shrug, a tilt of the head. "Or so I've been told." A sip from the mug.

Well, he's right about that. If there's one thing they're all apparently very familiar with is how dysfunctional they all are, and when they get together...

Let's just say she's still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because Diego and Luther fighting was not really that surprising and, honestly, it falls very low in the list of shitty things that can happen when they're together.

Just as she's about to take a sip of her coffee, Five mentions Claire and Allison stops. While it doesn't surprise her to hear her daughter's name from their other siblings, considering how famous she is and how the divorce had gone so public that she doubts anyone on this earth doesn't know at least something about her, she had not expected it from Five. He has been gone, after all. And yes, she remembers his comment about knowing things since he had been in the future, but...somehow it didn't click that he might know about Claire.

"Yeah, I am," she finally answers, her voice a tad softer. It's the effect her daughter has on her; it disarms her in a way that nothing else can. That, plus the regret and guilt she has been drowning in for the last ten months...

She frowns slightly, but there's a slight smile on her face. "I didn't realize you knew about her."

"I know everything," Five bites, jaw clenched, a touch on the defensive. Oh, if only they knew what he saw when he traveled as a kid, when he went rushing through time, not knowing that the road led to a dead-end. He still finds himself remembering the way they looked in the rubble, their faces the same as they are now, but charred and dusted and cold, burned into the back of his mind.

He drinks deeply from his mug, thankful that the coffee isn't burnt, that it goes down bitter and hot. He needs to sleep, he knows that much, but there isn't time for that here.

"Plenty of resources at my disposal in the future, among other things," he looks down at his cup, nearly empty. His mouth twists into a tight line and he blinks, body evaporating from his place at the pool table, into a chair at the table across from her. "When I went forward in time, the library was one of the only things left standing."

Even then, standing is a relative term. It had some walls remaining, had some shelter from the elements, a small collection of books and newspapers protected by a layer of grime and dirt. "I read Vanya's book, though from what I understand it wasn't exactly a crowd pleaser." Not that it exactly gave many details about their adult lives, but it painted a picture for him, of how things were when he left.

Maybe, just maybe, he can try confiding in Allison. The risks are just as high as it might have been with Vanya, but the Rumor leaves something to be wary of, even if they are siblings. It's been a long time, they've all changed. Best to refrain from making assumptions. But as she said, she'd be leaving on the next plane which is, frankly, for the best. One less body in the way as he tries to hurtle his way toward the apocalypse and whatever causes it.

"Can't say I'd blame you, either."

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