Chapter Text
"Are you quite alright?"
Pantalones voice snapped you out of your thoughts, causing you to blink away the dryness that had formed in your eyes from staring too long at nothing in particular.
Golden light poured through the windows to his office, making the cold, untouched tea to look almost like liquid gold in its cup.
"Yeah... yeah, l'm fine. You were saying about the budget?"
The budget. Archons, you were so tired of hearing about the budget.
This was your husbands funeral. One that most of Snezhnaya eagerly wished to attend just to make sure it was true.
You just wanted to say goodbye.
"Zandik left a savings of fifty million Mora in his personal vault. To be quite honest, considering his lack of financial prowess, he planned well. For you, no doubt."
"How considerate of him."
Your dry response only served to pull a chuckle from the bankers throat.
"I trust his segments are treating you well?"
His segments. How you hated them.
"I haven't spoke to them since his death."
"Oh? Yes, I imagine it would be rather difficult, all things considered."
You didn't want to see them. Not after the way they treated your husbands corpse with the same respect as a frog laid out for dissection.
Not to mention, seeing and hearing the exact replica of him from all the memories you held dearest - it hurt too much.
"Upsilon keeps peaking into the bedroom."
"You two were rather close from what Zandik had mentioned. I imagine it's a confusing time for him."
You wished that were so. You wished you could believe he cared.
The youngest of his segments; one created so Zandik could study his work from a far more ‘innocent' perspective.
It was never spoken out loud, but the two of you saw him almost like a son.
But now? you couldn't stand the sight of him and those cold, curious red eyes.
"He's not oblivious."
"Perhaps - but he's still Zandik, is it not?"
"no. He's not."
The spite that laced your tone caused Pantalone to frown.
He'd never admit it, but he was also struggling with the change.
They were close - yet Pantalone, for some reason or other, refused to make you aware of whatever conflict he was feeling.
The pride of a Harbinger, you assumed.
Perhaps he thought convincing himselt that nothing had really changed would make everything less complicated.
You knew what he had seen that day he stopped by the lab. You knew it left a mark on him just as much as it did you.
Bringing it up was pointless, though. You were here for business, not to chat.
"I'm assuming Prime is now in charge of any future funding arrangements?"
Prime. The segment of your husband at the peak of his career; and now? his replacement.
To make matters worse, Prime had a god complex to say the very least.
He was obnoxiously egotistical with a selfish streak that ran deeper than Teyvats Leylines.
Was he your husband now? You were still legally bound to his name after all.
You personally didn’t want to find out.
You had even contemplated whether you could use identity fraud as solid grounds for a Divorce if that was the case.
"Actually, no."
The look of confusion on your face cause Pantalones eyes to wrinkle behind his glasses with a smile. One far too amused for your own liking.
"Zandik stated in his will and testament that he'd rather that responsibility fall to both you and myself. Any future financial investment will have to be approved as such."
Oh. Oh no.
"What? But Prime-"
"I'm just as perplexed as you are, I can assure you of that. But I myself would be lying if I said it wasn't one of his more sensible ideas."
It wouldn't take a genius to understand how much that complicated things.
Prime would in no way, shape, or form be pleased knowing that he would have to convince lower rankings into letting him do as he wished.
You also didn't like the idea of having to commune with him.
Whatever Zandik had planned out for you, you didn't appreciate it. Not in the slightest.