Hotel Obsidian | Afternoon

[knife_bender]

Diego still thought this was the worst possible time to have a wedding, but he couldn't deny that they all badly needed a drink right around now.

Luther butchering Bonnie Tyler was just a happy plus.

Klaus	"Doesn't he have the voice of an angel?" Klaus asked. "Yeah, baby, hit those high notes!"
Diego	"I can't believe Luther is getting married," Diego said, shaking his head. And people thought he and Annie had rushed to the altar.
Five	Five, for one, needed a very large glass of whiskey to sit through this a second time around. What was with this family and their love of karaoke? He snorted at Diego's comment, taking a nice, big swallow.
Viktor	"I can believe it," Viktor said. "I once caught him marrying my action figures in the third grade."
Klaus	Klaus sighed. "Shame the world's running low on strippers and tea cakes."
Five	"I'm surprised you didn't invite Daddy Dearest to join us," Five said, shooting Klaus such a look.
Klaus	"Oh, come on. He's such a kind, thoughtful soul. Not like our Hargreeves." Klaus had really been drinking the Flavor Aid here. "...I'll admit I needed a break from the old dog."
Luther	Luther finished up his lovely singing and bounded back to where everyone was sitting, clearly a couple drinks in. "What're you SOBs so down in the mouth about? This is a party. I'm so glad we got to go out with a big bang while we can."
Klaus	Klaus lifted his glass. "Hey, here's to us. We've had a good run." Which was a lot better than the last toast he had come up with.
Luther	"Who's next?" Luther asked.
Five	Five raised his hand. Which meant he raised his now empty glass. "It's gonna be a duet, my friend," he said, snagging a bottle to replace the glass and gesturing at Klaus.
Five	Klaus reacted like he was being picked as the prettiest girl at the ball. To be honest, this was even more of an honor than being the prettiest girl at the ball. He grabbed one of the mics and gestured at Five. "Ready for you, maestro."
Five	And, would it really be a Hargreeves get together unless everyone got dragged into it with varying degrees of willingness? Halfway into their truly beautiful duet, Five gestured for Luther, Viktor, and Diego to join them. "C'mon, c'mon--"
Diego	Diego was on the upper echelon of willingness, here. One, because he had been drinking. Two, because Dirty Dancing was a great movie. Oh, and he was totally going to do the worm too. Not bad for a bachelor party during the apocalypse.

Annie	"So are you thinking you just want to leave it down?" Annie asked, from where she was behind Sloane and trying to find enough bobby pins to potentially do anything with her already-gorgeous, flowing hair. "I thought I saw a curling iron earlier." God, Sloane. Annie had to wear a bad wig to even come close to looking like how you apparently just woke up. And during an apocalypse, too!
Sloane	"Down, definitely," Sloane said, trying to keep her head still as Annie messed with her hair. Which was harder than it looked considering she was also trying to hem her wedding dress. "No veil either. Keeping it simple."
Annie	"Good choice," Annie assured her. "My veil was such a pain in the ass. I got rid of it as soon as we were done with pictures, anyway. And your hair is so pretty, you don't even need any kind of headpiece. You're going to be such a beautiful bride, Sloane." Being happy for Sloane and Luther was absolutely a coping mechanism, and Annie wasn't even really pretending otherwise? But she also sincerely would have supported this relationship in more peaceful times, too. They were clearly good for each other; that much was obvious, even after just a few days together.
Sloane	"Thank you," Sloane said, carefully looking up at Annie. "Really, thank you. For everything. This isn't how I imagined my wedding would go, but you're really helping me bring some normalcy to it."
Annie	"No one's wedding goes how they think it will," Annie assured her, leaning forward a little to smile over Sloane's shoulder at her. Even she and Diego had forgotten the rings! "But yours is kind of a winner, yeah. And you're welcome. You guys deserve to be happy." For however long any of them got to be happy for.
Ben	And that heartwarming moment was Ben's cue to come in from brooding about not being invited to the bachelor party to outright complain about the bachelor party. "So, it's official," Ben said. "My ears are broken, and the guy with the knives really can't sing."
Sloane	"You know his name is Diego," Sloane said, frowning. "And that Annie is his wife." So she probably already knew he couldn't sing, but it was still rude to point out.
Annie	Yeah, Annie was already well aware, but that didn't mean this asshole got to say so. "I liked you so much better when you were a ghost," Annie told Ben, sighing. "This whole bitter asshole thing is not a good look for you, Ben."
Ben	"Oh, whatever," Ben said, sitting down on one of the couches with a huff.
Sloane	"She has a point," Sloane agreed. "Maybe you should start being nicer to him and the others. Not that this is a discussion I have time for, the wedding is in an hour."
Annie	"It's kind of silly to keep being bitchy to the only people left," Annie pointed out, shaking her head. Look at her steadfastly not thinking about how she'd never see anyone back in Fandom again, or how she'd never tell her mom she was going to be a grandmother. Being privately sad was different from being outwardly -- like how Ben was being, anyway.
Ben	"Excuse me for being bitchy after my sister just died," Ben snapped. "You remember that, Sloane? Fei is dead."
Sloane	"I know," Sloane said, suddenly super focused on her sewing. "And so are the others."
Ben	"Oh, so that's it? You're just gonna turn your back on the Sparrow Academy?" he asked. "You heard Dad. We have training to do. Something big is about to go down." Like, look out the damn window!
Annie	Annie, who had just had this conversation with her husband -- though with less shouting, and more kisses -- decided to ignore Ben. "Did you get your something borrowed yet?" Annie asked Sloane. "Because I have some jewelry I can loan you." And then they could go find something blue, et cetera, et cetera. The point was that this was about Sloane's wedding, right now.
Sloane	"Well this dress isn't exactly mine." Everybody's formalwear would be secondhand, basically. Due to the rest of the world disappearing. "But I would love to borrow some jewelry." Again, with everything else disappearing. Sloane, while not exactly close to Ben, knew him well enough to know the heart of the issue. "I'm sorry they didn't invite you to the bachelor party, Ben."
Ben	Ben sputtered. "I don't...I don't care about that."
Annie	"Are you sure?" Annie challenged softly, busying herself with taking off her necklace to set it aside. It really, really seemed like that was the issue, Ben, and Annie didn't even know him.
Sloane	"He does care," Sloane replied. "He cares more about being invited to a bachelor party than he does about Fei or any of the others." Oof, shots fired.
Ben	Ben's response wasn't exactly convincing. "That's--that's crazy."
Sloane	"Is it? You and I, we've never been alone. It's always been just the seven of us. Now it's just you," she said calmly, setting aside her sewing. "Congratulations, Ben. You're finally Number One. Of one."
Annie	"I'm sure they'd let you hang out with them if you just, like...." Annie started hesitantly. "I don't know, told Luther you're happy for him, maybe? Acted like you didn't think you're better than everyone?" But considering Ben couldn't seem to be happy for his actual sister, sitting in front of him, Annie wasn't really holding her breath on that happening.
Ben	Ben gestured over to Annie, looking over at Sloane as if to say see what you're making me deal with? "What's so damn special about these people anyway?"
Sloane	"They're a real family," Sloane replied. "They don't exist to sell action figures and tote bags." Oof, Annie could probably relate to that one. "Why is it so important for you to be a Sparrow?" When Ben couldn't verbalize an answer, he left with a scoff.
Annie	Annie watched him go, staying quiet for a moment. "It was high interest credit cards and bad movies, on my superhero team," Annie offered softly to Sloane, in the wake of Ben's silence. "What we were shilling, I mean. I get it." And sex toys, and porn made in her image, and guns, and energy drinks, and cereal, and suggestive lollipops, and....
Sloane	"It took me a long time to realize what we really were," Sloane admitted. "I think a part of me still thought we were a family until I saw yours interact with each other." Even with the constant fighting, Sloane could see everyone cared about each other.
Annie	"It's hard to see how toxic something like that is when you're knee-deep in it, still," Annie told her, shaking her head. "And we're not perfect, by a mile." She considered her words, giving a little shrug. "But we're honest about it, I guess?" The occasional withholding of information was beside the point; the Umbrella Hargreeves loved one another, and didn't pretend to get along when they didn't. There was a certain healthiness to all of that emotional-sleeve-displaying, and that was what the Sparrows lacked, from what Annie could see: sincere affection for one another had been there in bursts, among a few of them, but there was a hard...glossiness to their interactions.
Sloane	"You are, and I love it," Sloane said, reaching for Annie's hand. "I can't wait to join your family." Then she'd get to bicker with everyone else!
Annie	"You don't have to wait much longer," Annie told her, giving her hand an excited squeeze with both of hers (and minding her strength, through that excitement.) "Okay, where're we at with that hemline? I can give you all my Umbrella insider tips while we're wrapping up." Not that there were probably many Charleston Chews left in the world to use to bond with Five, but whatever. Annie had in-law knowledge to share, and she'd impart it dutifully.

[The usual--NFI, NFB but OOC is great. Taken from TUA 3x08 Wedding at the End of the World and preplayed with apocalypsehow and defenderofdesmoines]