westwhere | hold my hand in yours

In contrast, Diego never was given the option to hide. His father forced him and his siblings into being heroes when they were still children. They had been famous, whether they wanted to be or not. But all of that involved a lot of lies and manipulation, and it leaves Diego with a bad taste in his mouth. He'd rather piss someone off with the truth than comfort with a lie.

sure, i'm on my way

The other wolves are trotting behind him as he arrived at Emilia's door, knocking on them.

Emilia opens the door just a crack and Grace Three does the rest of the work, swinging it wide open and joining the rest of her pack in the hallway. The grooming session sets her apart a little, orange blossom still tucked into her collar.

Stepping out into the hall after Grace Three, Emilia closes the door behind her. She'd never seen them all clustered together like this, and a startled sound escapes her as she surveys the madness.

"I see you were entrusted with no small task."

Diego squats down to give Grace Three some scritches as she comes out of the room, making sure to give her proper acknowledgement. She's such a pretty girl, after all.

Then he stands up to greet Emilia, scratching the back of his neck a little. He hadn't realized it might be intimidating to someone else -- he's gotten used to his little pack, much to Five's chagrin.

"I don't know that I was entrusted with them so much as we found each other when I arrived -- and by the time I finally got here it didn't seem right to turn them away."

And they never tried to hurt him or his friends or family. Not to say they weren't still dangerous animals, but there's a bond there, if nothing else.

"They seem content to be where they are, so I suspect you're right."

Their group has an odd inventory as it is, that which includes chickens and rabbits. It may create chaos when they finally leave, but she doubts wolves will be the strangest addition. Which isn't exactly comforting, but you know.

Emilia brings her hands together in front of her as she begins to walk in an unhurried pace, the wolves behind them. Her inquisitiveness wars with her desire to respect privacy, before she reminds herself Diego is a blunt sort of fellow.

He'll tell her if she oversteps. "May I ask why they're all called Grace?"

The question surprises him, mostly because the other people he told the names of the wolves too were mostly family. Allison and Vanya seemed to think it was weird but sweet....Five was less supportive but that's sort of their whole dynamic.

"Grace was my mom's name."

And it's as simple as that for him. She may have been made of wires and casing instead of flesh and blood but she had been more loving and supportive than the man who made her, the one who adopted seven children as an experiment, ever was.

"I honestly couldn't think of five names....so it was easier just to name them all after her."

Emilia almost brings herself to a stop.

Allison is the first friend she made upon finding herself in this strange new world. They've touched briefly on deeper things. Emilia knows their father has passed, as well. She is no stranger to losing family, and the Hargreeves moreso.

"It's a beautiful name," she says, a dignified sort of earnestness to her quiet tone.

And she can understand the impulse. Wanting to honor someone you love. Someone that loved you.

Growing up, love wasn't something Diego got a lot of. Reginald had always looked down on Number Two. For his stutter. For his softness. He had his siblings but they weren't always close. He was always jealous of Luther for being Number One. He's probably the closest to Klaus now. But as a kid it often felt like the only person who really cared about him was their mother. She was kind and patient and helped him learn how to get over his stutter.

Just picture the word in your head, Diego

He smiles at her words. It is. Thinking of his mother's last moments, of desperately going through the rubble to try to find her until Klaus pulled him away -- it still hurts, it always will, but it feels nice to honor her in some way.

"It is. I suppose I should have given them all different names...but it was hard thinking of them."

"Arriving in Taravast is an experience all its own. I don't think anyone would blame you if naming them was the last thing on your mind," Emilia reasons. It matters more that they be well-cared for and instructed, which they seem to be.

Her hands meet at her back as she turns a corner.

"Have you been given any trouble for keeping them?"

Wolves are wild things, and not what one first thinks of in terms of guests at the Doxe Palace. She imagines the keeping must give him as much if not more questions than the name he has chosen for all five of them.

"I didn't get around to naming them for a while." Especially since Five kept trying to get him to ditch them -- but Diego is stubborn to a fault and the more his younger/older brother told him no, the more he was determined to keep them and care for them.

It's worked out okay so far.

"Not particularly, people seem to have accepted them as part of my role."

He's surprised he hasn't had more issues, honestly.

"My brother has given more fuss about them then anyone else."

The last thing Emilia wants is her family in Taravast. The steps she took prior to finding herself here was to protect them and protect the mortal realm. She marched straight into the underworld and made sure to lock the threats in with her.

No such assurance here, with the undead swarming ever closer. And still, her heart gives an ache to hear Diego speak of his sibling. To know several of them are within reach for him, something Emilia will never have again.

"Five is..."

Actually, now that she's begun this sentence she has no idea how to finish it. Wrath is the one more familiar with Five, and Five is not an easy person to summarize. "... prickly. But he seems to care for you all deeply."

"There's nothing he wouldn't do for us."

And while that may sound hyperbolic, in the case of Five? It's not. He spent how many years trying to get back to them? He joined the Commission, became an assassin, all to get back to his family. To stop the end of the world. To save them. Everything he's done has made him dangerous, but it's like he told Lila shortly before he arrived here:

He knows how it feels to love dangerous people, the difference is they love him back. And his family for all their many, many, many flaws, love one another. Diego's powers may not be as impressive or dangerous as Vanya's, or Allison's, or even Five's, but that doesn't make him any less determined to do his part in keeping them safe.

....Even if he's sometimes dumb about it.

Emilia herself has decided she will go to any lengths for Vittoria. She decided early on she would destroy anything that got in the way of her mission. Some days, it feels like she gave up everything in the pursuit of it.

Including parts of her very soul.

But as much as she would like to bring her twin justice and peace, she's learning there are some lines she may be able to cross, but does not want to. It doesn't frighten her, this fury that grows inside of her, and she thinks it should.

"And you?"

Is there nothing Diego won't do in turn?

"They're my family. I'd die to keep them safe."

Diego is probably the most recklessly heroic -- but that determination comes in handy. He had gotten close to Vanya the last time, using his knives to pull himself closer to her. He had shut down Grace before the others could, trying to give her a peaceful death when it seemed like she might have been the one behind their father's death.

He's gone down the vengeance path himself, after Patch died, but Five had been the one to pull him back from it, remind him that's not how she would have wanted to be remembered.

Edited 2021-11-08 03:17 (UTC)

"I understand."

A certain gravity colors her tone, suggesting her answer is no pleasantry.

The night she stumbled on Vittoria's ravaged body in the monastery, she was consumed with if onlys. All of the different choices she could have made to save her sister, to have the murdering beast take her instead.

She failed utterly in that regard. But she can bring her sister justice. Peace.

Once Emilia brings herself to a stop before a room door, Diego will notice that she's been leading them back to his room all along. The wolves recognize it as well, and sit expectantly. "I believe this is where I bid you goodnight."

Diego remembers seeing Ben die when he was a kid, and how hopeless and powerless he felt. The relief and joy he felt when he could talk to Ben again through Klaus' body. He remembers how empty he felt when the news about his father's death came in. He remembers shutting down Grace to protect her. Finding Patch's body. He remembers all of it, and how most of them (save his father, obviously) were better than him.

He let Hazel and Cha-Cha go because he knew that's not how Patch would have wanted to be remembered. It wouldn't have brought him peace.

They arrive to his room and he's surprised she's led him there without him realizing it -- but Diego is not always the most observant. "I believe so." He pauses for a moment.

"I know you're good friends with Allison and Grace Three here has seemed to have adopted you -- that makes you family too."

Which is his way of saying he'd try to keep her safe, if it ever came down to it.

Emilia lingers at the pause he gives, and it's clear his words reach her even as they surprise. Kindness is not a virtue that Emilia takes lightly in a world, or several as the case may be, that seems to possess a severe lack of it.

It should not surprise her that Diego and Five aren't very much alike in personality, really. She and Vittoria were as different as night and day. Emilia the dutiful and reserved twin. Vittoria the fun-loving and irrepressible one.

When they were growing, Vittoria always rushed whatever task would be given to her. In turn, Emilia would stumble over hers in an effort to keep up. One twin too impulsive and the other too cautious. Neither strategy, in the end, was ideal.

She keeps trying to course-correct, but finding balance is hard.

"Thank you," Emilia says in earnest. She doesn't feel the need to impress she can take care of herself. That's not, in truth, the point of this kindness. "I do care very much about Allison and Grace Three. By extension, I endeavor to do the same with you all. Though I suspect your brother would not be too fond of the offering."

He was highly suspicious of Wrath and Emilia upon meeting them, and did not like Allison befriending either. Then again, Wrath's taken a strange liking to Five, so stranger things have indeed happened.

Diego grew up mostly starved of kindness -- outside of Grace, of course. Reginald had been a cruel man. For a long time all Diego could feel was anger and a desperate need to prove himself -- and while he still feels those things he feels other things too.

He knows sometimes forgiveness is the answer. Sometimes kindness is. A knife can't always solve a problem as well as words can. Sometimes he still stumbles on his words when they matter most, when he feels the most vulnerable.

Balance is hard, and he's not sure he always manages it himself but if there's one thing he knows it's that survival is easier when you have other people you can count on.

Diego laughs a little at her comment about Five. "See, that's just a bonus. Five needs to be tested sometimes."

He loves his brother; his brother is also a paranoid pain in the ass sometimes. Both of these things can be true.

hold my hand in yours

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