Hotel Obsidian | Morning

[knife_bender]

Stan's pyro skills during the fight had ensured that a good part of the lobby had soot all over it, and one of the drapes was burned to a crisp. He could only get side eye from Chet so many times before hauling Stan from upstairs to clean up his mess.

"You're gonna clean up every square inch of this."

Stan	"What?" Stan whined. "Most of it wasn't even my fault. It was the man, the octogenarian."
Annie	"Hey, I think it was an accident on his part, too," Annie offered gently, thinking that was name-calling. Mostly because she did not, in fact, know what 'octogenarian' meant.
Diego	Better than Diego's guess of "a place", because he didn't know what octogenarian meant either. God, they were so screwed when they had to help their kids with homework. "Also it doesn't matter whose fault it was," Diego said. "You're gonna clean--"
Stan	Stan rolled his eyes. "You're both just mad you got your ass kicked by a floating cube."
Diego	"That's it, you're grounded!" Diego looked over at Annie after he said it, like he wasn't sure if that was allowed. He was allowed to do that, right?
Annie	He was totally allowed to do that, but Annie didn't really want to point out that grounding a child when he already was confined to a single building seemed a little ineffective. Besides -- it was kind of attractive to see Diego reach for known parenting techniques, rather than just try to get Stanley out of his face wholecloth. And while Annie still wasn't real happy with this whole situation, and she still was pretty pissed at (and a little insecure about) Lila, and she had a raging headache and wanted to go lie down...she was, in spite of herself, kind of giving Diego some heart eyes over that grounding. Natural dad. She'd known he'd be good at it, even if he was still trying some things out. "Maybe if we clean this up, we can get you ungrounded," Annie suggested to Stanley with a slight smile. "You're not wrong, though, dude -- that cube meant business."
Diego	And that was when Klaus rolled in, laughing when he saw Diego and Annie attempt to parent. "What are you laughing at?" Diego asked. "You were conveniently absent when all of this shit went down."
Klaus	"I was talking to Dad," Klaus said with a flourish.
Diego	Which was immediately intriguing to Diego. "Did you ask him about the mother thing?"
Klaus	Klaus nodded. "Yeah." The tea was piping hot, Diego.
Diego	Diego looked from Annie to Stan, and then back to Annie again. "Can you make sure he doesn't make a run for it?"
Annie	Annie actually gave him a little eyeroll in response, though it was much more affectionate than her expression had been the last day or so, and turned to Stan. "Thumb war?" she proposed, holding out her right hand with lifted eyebrows. Annie did not think her superpowered thumbs would actually give her an advantage here. And this approach seemed more productive than to stare at Stan and pretend they weren't both eavesdropping.
Diego	Diego gave Annie a fond smile (because that was super cute) before dragging Klaus away to the side. He figured whatever Klaus had to say, Stan didn't need to hear. "What did he say?"
Klaus	"That he didn't kill them," Klaus said, actually looking like he believed it.
Diego	Diego rolled his eyes. There was always one that seemed to have Dad's side. "You don't believe him do you?"
Klaus	"Well, I don't know. It's hard to say," Klaus said with a shrug. "The Sparrows have him doped up like a...like a me!" He frowned at the lack of reaction from Diego. "It doesn't alarm you at all, the fact they're drugging their father?"
Diego	"Wish we thought of it," Diego replied. "Anything else?"
Klaus	"Oh, you know the luggage room in the basement of the Academy where we used to huff paint?" Klaus asked.
Diego	Diego turned slightly to make sure neither Annie or Stan had heard any of that before pulling Klaus towards him and lowering his voice. "Vaguely."
Klaus	"Do you recall a blinding orb of light?" Klaus asked.
Diego	"...and now we're done," Diego said, pushing Klaus away and heading back over to Stan and Annie. And look at that, Chet had great timing, because here he was with a bunch of cleaning supplies.
Annie	"Darn it. Rematch later?" Annie suggested to Stan with a smile, shaking out her hand as they parted and definitely doing her best to give the impression that that had been a hard-fought thumb battle. Also, she'd totally let him win, but the trick was to make him work for it a little. He was clearly a smart kid. "Maybe after, um. This?" she added, eyeing the cart and having a feeling she knew where this was going. (And like...if she had been dad-crushing on Diego before, she was about to get downright weak-kneed if she was right about this.)
Stan	Oh, Stan knew work when he saw it. "What the hell is this?"
Diego	"Your punishment," Diego said, taking the mop and keys Chet was holding out before handing them right over to Stan. "And when you're done here, you're gonna clean every room on Chet's list to pay for this shit, okay?" Then a brilliant idea hit him. "And Uncle Klaus is going to watch over you."
Klaus	Klaus groaned and stomped like he was being punished. "Oh, come on. Why can't you guys do it?"
Diego	"Because Annie and I need to babysit Luther if Allison decides to pop off again." And it was very much a two person job.
Annie	"Come on, you get the fun job," Annie offered to Klaus, like it was obvious. "Stan's going to be way better company." She honestly thought that.
Diego	"Besides," Diego said. "You two have tons in common."
Klaus	"Like what?" Klaus asked.
Diego	"Being a pain in my ass." And with that Diego shooed the both of them away. Surely nothing bad would come of that team up.

Diego	Diego should have known this family meeting would be stupid as soon as he found out Luther was the one that called it. He should have known it'd be super stupid once he saw Luther and Sloane standing together as a united front.
Allison	Luckily it was Allison, who was becoming a lot more fun these days, who voiced her displeasure before Diego could. People seemed to listen to her more. "Are you serious?"
Luther	Allison, you were even meaner sounding with your hair cut short like that. "We use Sloane as an olive branch," Luther said, gesturing to the Sparrow in question. "We let her go as a gesture of peace, along with the bodies of Jayme and Alphonso."
Sloane	Sloane nodded. "Once I'm back with my family I can convince them the old guy had nothing to do with you and get them to stand down."
Annie	Annie was quiet for a moment before tentatively offering, "I don't know if that's really fair, guys." She glanced to Sloane, almost apologetic as she noted, "I mean, you did kind of show up here to attack us with the rest of them, right?" Warnings of 'fun' and 'bun' notwithstanding, she had stood with the rest of the Sparrows when Christopher had started hurting everyone.
Sloane	"Fair?" Sloane repeated. "I lost two siblings to you and your murder troll."
Luther	"Again," Luther said calmly. "Harlan is not with us."
Diego	"Well he's not not with us," Diego mumbled. He protected them, right?
Annie	"I'm so sorry about Jayme and Alphonso," Annie offered quietly, looking to Sloane as she placed a hand on Diego's arm, because...like, he had a point, too. "But was Christopher gonna back down if Harlan hadn't shown up?" That could be a rhetorical question. They all knew the answer. Annie's point, more than anything, was to keep using Sloane's siblings' names. They were the enemy to them, yes. But these people were Sloane's family.
Sloane	Sloane crossed her arms over her chest. "This only works if I can convince my family he isn't part of your team, so is he with you or not?"
Diego	"Harlan saved our asses, he can stay here as long as he wants," Diego said. "You what Luther? He can take your bed, since you're sleeping with the enemy."
Luther	"Watch it," Luther said, hand already turning into a fist.
Annie	"Babe," Annie tried, hopping off the table she'd been sitting on to actually get herself between the brothers. Subtly. Not like, in a 'don't throw a knife at your dad's funeral' dramatic way. "Maybe she can help. From the inside." And what Annie wasn't saying, but was trying to get Diego to see without her saying it, was that Sloane reminded her of herself in a lot of ways. She could help them from the inside, and she'd been through hell this week with personal losses, and they weren't sure if they could trust her...but Annie wanted to.
Allison	"We don't know we can trust Gravity Barbie." Though Allison was willing to give Annie a pass, since she was too sweet and pure for this world. Basically the only person Allison didn't resent right now.
Luther	"I trust her," Luther said.
Diego	"You trusted e-mails from a Nigerian prince!" Diego argued.
Luther	"Tunde was not a prince," Luther said. "He was a king, and he was unjustly deposed."
Sloane	Sloane held up her hands. "So rumor me again. Go on, not hiding anything. Whatever it takes." Uh-oh, Sloane used the phrase they weren't allowed to use anymore.
Annie	Annie had already heard Stormfront's words echoing in her ears from two years ago -- Vought Barbie -- and then Sloane had said that. And now Annie was staring hard at Diego, willing him to see what she saw so clearly. "Whatever it takes, right?" she said softly, mostly for his benefit. That was what they'd had repeated to them over and over and over when they had been captives of the enemy last summer, and working from the inside, and had lost so much themselves. Don't be the Billy Butcher in this situation, Diego.
Allison	The decision turned out to be a moot point anyway, since Allison didn't seem to be in the mood to go overboard again with the powers. "Do whatever you want to do, Luther. That's on you. I've got bigger shit to deal with." Bigger shit that did not involve this hotel lobby, since Allison was heading right on out of it.
Diego	"I should go after her," Diego murmured to Annie. "Something's not right." More not right than usual, anyway.
Annie	That was incredibly clear to Annie as well, and had been since that initial rumoring of Sloane. Part of her wondered if it had a little to do with Luther, but it probably had a lot more to do with how Allison had returned from California Claire-less. "Go take care of your sister," she agreed softly, giving his bicep a quick, affectionate squeeze. "We've got this." And it might be better for everyone to cool off a little, too. God, Annie wished she could drink.

[Same drill as always -- NFI, NFB but OOC is great. Taken from TUA 3x04 Kugelblitz and preplayed with defenderofdesmoines]