knife_bender | Hargreeves Mansion | Unnamed City

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Hargreeves Mansion | Unnamed City | Afternoon

It was pouring down rain when everyone met out in the courtyard for the funeral. Everyone was equipped with an umbrella, save for Diego who stubbornly just stood in the rain looking increasingly like an angry wet cat.

Pogo	It was a sad occasion, but Pogo couldn't help but look around at the whole family with a surge of pride. At least one thing brought them together. Even Ben's statue was watching over them today. He looked over at Luther, who was holding the urn that contained Sir Reginald's ashes. "Whenever you are ready, dear boy."
Luther	Luther nodded and unscrewed the top of the urn. In theory when Luther turned the urn over, the ashes would blow away in the wind. But it was raining, and no wind to speak of, so the ashes just fell to the ground with a plopping noise. Just...nobody say anything.
Annie	Annie, who was wearing her best black dress and standing with an umbrella that Pogo had given her, covered her mouth in quiet surprise when the ashes just...fell there. She turned it into a respectful little bow of her head, because this was a funeral but -- huh. It was like the universe agreed that Sir Reginald didn't deserve any kind of a dramatic, meaningful celebration of his life. Whatever. Annie was way more concerned with Diego, and how it seemed like this whole...standing in the rain thing involved making some kind of a point? Which Annie could understand and hadn't questioned -- she was seriously letting him lead here, since this was his family and their dynamics and she was the outsider -- but also maybe catching a spite-cold wasn't the best idea?
Klaus	"Probably would have been better with some wind," Klaus chimed in. You know. Being helpful here.
Pogo	Pogo resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Klaus. This was supposed to be a serious occasion, damn it. "Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo in no way expected anyone to volunteer. Which was why he had his own speech prepared. "Very well. In all regards, Reginald Hargreeves made me the creature I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my friend, and my master. I shall miss him very much. He was a complicated man--"
Diego	"He was a monster," Diego snapped. "He was bad as a person and worse as a father, the world's better off without him." This was why he insisted on going to the funeral. He was not about to let people lie about what his father was.
Annie	"Diego," Annie interjected softly, her head jerking up to look over at him in concern. She absolutely was not going to refute what was said, there -- she was kind of proud of him, honestly, even as much as it was twisting her up with worry for how he was actually doing with all of this -- but this might not really be the time or the place. They needed to get through the next, like, hour, and then they could go home and he could be as mad as he needed to.
Allison	"Diego," Allison said, almost in unison with far less sympathy and more annoyed resignation that he was doing this here and now.
Diego	"My name is Number Two," he said, giving Allison a glare. He understood why Annie was concerned, but he knew Allison was talking down to him. "You know why? Because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. He had Mom do it. Look, you wanna pay your respects? Go ahead, but at least be honest about what kind of man he was."
Luther	Luther's hands clenched at his sides. "You should stop talking now."
Diego	Diego huffed. "You of all people should be on my side, Number One."
Luther	"I am warning you--" Luther started, still trying to maintain the peace here.
Diego	"After everything he did to you?" Diego asked, feigning concern. "He had to ship you a million miles away."
Luther	"Diego, stop talking," Luther snapped.
Diego	Diego moved closer, prodding his finger into Luther's chest. "That's how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!"
Luther	Luther finally lost whatever hold he had on his temper. He swung his fist at Diego's head, but where he had strength Diego had speed, and dodged it. He scrambled behind Luther, shoving him from behind. With a grunt, Luther stumbled forward, barely managing to keep upright. He turned, throwing his fist blindly, and right into Ben's statue which immediately fell to the ground.
Allison	"Aaaand there goes Ben's statue." Annie, you shouldn't be shocked by any of this. Allison sure wasn't.
Diego	Somehow seeing Luther ruining Ben's statue made Diego even angrier. He was conveniently ignoring his own part in the statue coming down. He pulled out a knife, because of course he brought knives to a funeral. For situations just like this.
Annie	Annie had been watching the fight play out in horror, which only grew as she realized no one else thought this was weird. Diego had told her enough about his family that when things got heated between him and Luther, she wasn't surprised -- emotions were already running high, and...look, she didn't have any siblings. She wasn't going to intervene when it seemed like it was just a fistfight, even if she'd called out a, "Stop it!" early on, knowing it was probably useless. Maybe they just needed to -- get all of this out of their systems. But while a few punches thrown between brothers was something she could easily reconcile, that extremely familiar movement to bring out a knife was not, and Annie was halfway across the courtyard before she'd realized she'd dropped her umbrella and started running towards him. She didn't really care if she was making it worse, as she reached out to grab Diego's wrist before he could throw the knife. Her grip was tight, unmoving; he'd have to fight her if he really wanted to throw it, though Annie was really hoping this would just calm him down enough to stop and think before he did something he regretted. "No," she said quietly, her voice harsh.
Diego	Diego whipped his head around to look at Annie, giving her a glare usually reserved for...well, everyone but Annie, really. He didn't try to fight her hold, so that was at least something.
Luther	Luther looked slightly ashamed to have been involved in the whole thing. He spared one glance over to Allison before he headed back into the mansion to be alone.
Vanya	"You don't know when to stop, do you?" Vanya asked.
Diego	"Got enough material for the sequel yet?" Diego dropped the knife to the ground before trying to shake off Annie's hold as if to prove he wasn't about to follow Luther into the house and stab him.
Vanya	Vanya frowned. "He was my father too."
Annie	Annie let him shake her off, letting go of Diego's wrist as soon as he dropped the knife and instead crossing her arms around herself in a slightly-wounded gesture of her own. That glare had hurt, even if she understood. And, honestly, maybe she deserved it, but at least Luther didn't have a knife sticking out of him. "She's right," Annie said, crouching to pick up the knife.
Diego	Having her agree with Vanya certainly wasn't doing anything for his mood, though he imagined some of his siblings were getting a kick out of it. He ignored Annie and Vanya, instead approaching Grace to gently take her by the elbow. "Mom, let's get you out of the rain, okay? Come inside."
Vanya	Vanya sighed as she watched Diego take Grace inside the house. That had gone pretty much as she imagined. She looked over at Klaus, and wasn't surprised to see he was like the only person here who didn't look pissed off. "I bet you're loving this."
Klaus	"The team at its best," Klaus said, though it was possibly for Annie's benefit. "Just like old times. Best. Funeral. Ever."
Vanya	This wasn't exactly the best showing of their family. However, it was probably the most accurate and succinct run through of how things went Annie was probably going to get. "Here, we can share," Vanya said to Annie, lifting up her umbrella some. Annie would still probably have to crouch to fit under there since she was about half a foot taller, but it was the thought that counted. "Let's get inside. That's as much of a funeral as we're gonna get."
Annie	Annie ducked down under the offered umbrella, managing a shy little smile for Vanya. "Thanks." She had been prepared to meet the family -- excited, even! -- but seeing it all in action just made her sort of...sad. Anxious, sympathetic, kind of angry, but mostly just really sad for everyone. Especially Diego, even if she was also kind of quietly furious with him right now. She glanced back towards where Luther had dropped those ashes and murmured a vaguely sincere, "Rest in peace." They'd tried, anyway. It was still more than the man had probably deserved.

[TBC in the comments! Preplayed with

defenderofdesmoines and

apocalypsehow. Taken from 1x01 "We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals"]

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"He absolutely doesn't," Annie agreed, softening just slightly. "And I'm proud of you for standing up against that, but you took it way too far."

Refusing to eulogize his father as anything but the monster he had been was one thing, but picking that fight with Luther had been inappropriate and, frankly, kind of immature. And now Ben's statue had paid the price for it, which Annie had to think probably made Diego feel bad enough about it that she wasn't especially inclined to tear that hard into him for it.

The knife, though. The knife was super not okay.

"Yeah," he said quietly, nodding in agreement. It hadn't been his best showing. "You shouldn't have gotten between us, though."

He knew knives wouldn't hurt her, but Luther could have probably done some damage if he accidentally hit her.

"I should have just stood there and let you throw a knife at your brother?" Annie replied, without any heat. She just wanted to see if he could find that at all defensible. "Because you were having an argument? That's -- no, Diego."

And honestly she kind of wished he hadn't put her in a position where she'd felt like she had had to intervene.

"Do you think that was the first time it's come to that between me and him?" Diego asked.

Which probably explained why everyone else had been standing there watching instead of doing anything.

"That doesn't make it okay," Annie said, her voice rising a little in spite of herself. "Just because no one ever stopped it before doesn't --"

She cut herself off, because the reason she was getting upset here didn't really have to do with Diego so much as how someone should have stopped it before.

"It's not okay," she said again, blowing out a breath. "You could have really hurt him."

Diego shrugged a shoulder, not really caring about the hurting him aspect. But still, he knew he was in the wrong here. "You're right, it's not okay. I'm sorry it got that out of control."

"You don't have to apologize to me," Annie said, watching him closely. "But I just -- Diego, I'm worried about you."

It was that simple, when it got down to it. She had always known that Diego's family was one giant sore spot, and while she had known that anger was the easiest emotion for him to reach for when it came to addressing that sore spot, Annie herself was left feeling a little lost on how to help with any of this.

Other than intervening to hopefully prevent him from doing things he'd regret, when the opportunity presented itself.

"He thinks one of us murdered Dad," Diego said. "He's not going to stop until he nails down someone to blame."

And, honestly, Diego preferred being the target of Luther's suspicions until he figured out a way to clear Grace.

"Seriously?" He had said as much earlier, but Annie had attributed that to some emotional sibling in-fighting. (Maybe if she'd been at that family meeting, the funeral wouldn't have been such a shock.) "He seriously thinks one of you guys did it? Who even would have had the opportunity? None of you live here."

Well, except Grace and Pogo, but please. Annie didn't know a lot about androids or intelligent animals, but she was pretty sure they were both loyal to Sir Reginald. (Grace had probably been designed that way.)

"Some of us live here," Diego said, pulling the monocle out of one of his pockets. "I found this on Mom."

Annie's heart dropped.

"What is it?" she asked softly, coming closer to see. "Oh, shit, Diego."

That changed things.

(Still was not okay to throw a knife at one's sibling, even if was a roundabout way of protecting one's robotic mother.)

"It doesn't prove anything. But Luther would think it did," he said. "I'm not letting him hurt her."

"But she's his mom, too," Annie said quietly. It wasn't an accusation like Vanya's earlier statement; Annie was clearly confused. "He wouldn't hurt her, would he?"

It was a real question, even if she wanted to believe the best. She'd known these people for hours, after all.

"To him she's just a machine." Which was how the majority of them viewed Grace now, probably. Diego had really been the only one to get attached. "And he worships Dad so, yeah, I think he would."

Annie was about to protest that he should have told her, but then she realized he probably had tried. "This is what you had to tell me before Five showed up, isn't it?"

None of this was making her worry any less, for the record. But it did at least shed a little additional light on his behavior.

He nodded. "Yeah. He has shitty timing."

"Would your mom have...." Annie hesitated, lowering her voice. "Like, could she?"

Again, it seemed like the sort of thing you'd plan for, if you were making an artificial intelligence that might eventually come to resent you for any reason.

Or a lot of reasons.

"Mom is programmed to only help. She can't hurt any of us," Diego said, shaking his head. "But even if--if she somehow could--I mean, who could blame her?"

"No one," Annie assured him quickly and vehemently. If Grace had, then -- honestly, Annie had nearly taken a shot at the man last weekend, and she had barely known him. Absolutely no one would blame Grace. "We'll make sure nothing happens to her."

Annie wasn't sure exactly how she could help, but she wanted to make sure that we came through. They were a team, even if she still didn't endorse a lot of his actions today. Even with the new context, it had all just been kind of...a lot. An understandable lot, but a lot nonetheless.

Edited 2021-08-27 19:36 (UTC)

Just the implication that he wasn't alone in this was enough to get Diego to relax his shoulders and let go of some of the tension that had been building up since he walked into the house.

He went to pull her in for a hug a moment later. "I'm sorry--I was being an asshole."

Annie wrapped her arms up around him, leaning her head against his shoulder. "It's okay. This is all really hard. I don't think anyone's at their best right now."

And maybe Annie wasn't the person who needed to hear an apology right now, but that was as close as she'd come to suggesting as much.

"Understatement," he said, laughing softly. "Dad tends to bring out the worst in us."

"Then maybe things will be a little easier going forward," Annie suggested gently. "But what a hard day."

She slid her hand along his back in a soothing little circle before venturing, "And I'm sorry. I shouldn't have gotten in the middle of you and Luther. I just -- reacted."

Unlike everyone else, and Annie was kind of embarrassed, weirdly, in hindsight? But she also thought -- even if this was for the long haul, even if she and Diego got married and had children and she spent the rest of her life as a Hargreeves-in-law -- she would never be able to stand there and watch, like how the others had. That would never be normal. And she'd do everything she could, without pushing too hard, to try to help shift 'normal' to something less violent, at least.

"Stopping fights is what you do. Couldn't be helped," he said with a slight smile. "He and I were being idiots--but he's actually an idiot that can hurt you. He was not that big when I left."

"Maybe the gravity thing made him bigger," Annie suggested, unsure how that would work but thinking it sounded possible. "But yeah. Not my best day, either."

Though honestly Annie thought she'd done pretty well with it all, up to a point.

She leaned up to press a soft kiss to Diego's cheek, all the better to keep her voice low when she said, "Can we go soon? Get you out of here?"

He could be as angry as he needed to be, about all of it. Even when she'd taken it personally and been upset with his attitude, she had understood it. But she wished she could help more, and right now the best help it looked like she could provide was getting them home and away from this house.

Edited 2021-08-27 20:49 (UTC)

"Yeah. I think some of them have already left anyway," Diego said. "I did tell Klaus I'd drive him to the bus station."

He held up a hand. "I know. I know, I fell for his trap."

"I was gonna say," Annie protested lightly. "After you warned me and everything."

But she also hadn't had much of a chance to talk to Klaus, and he seemed sort of...fun? So this might be all right.

"He caught me off guard." And Diego usually gave in to Klaus' weird demands when it didn't have to do with money. "It'll be quick, I promise."

"It's okay even if it's not quick," Annie assured him with a little shrug. "Whatever you need. Or I guess whatever Klaus needs."

Annie would come to regret this, of course.

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Hargreeves Mansion | Unnamed City | Afternoon

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