The Perk | Tuesday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

So the thing about waking up with a single, kind of unsatisfying cookie on your pillow is that it simply wasn't enough. Like, not only was it weird and mysterious as to how the hell a cookie got there, it was also just, like, a single cookie.

Thus, after her workout, Annie had headed into the Perk to get several more cookies, which she happily took over to a window seat with her accompanying peppermint mocha. And while, yes, she was answering emails on her phone (someone at Vought had finally deigned to answer a question Annie had sent over in September), she was also finishing up some last-minute Christmas shopping.

First of all: yes, December 8th was last minute. And really, she was pretty much done, but then she just kept stumbling across things she'd think people would like and adding them to little virtual carts. (Which was how Annie was going to also end up needing to get some more wrapping paper, while she was at it.)

The sheer festiveness of drinking a Christmas drink and eating Christmassy cookies while Christmas shopping had her in a very merry little mood.

[I have been given the holiday gift of an unexpected day off. Open!]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Dude and you also, like, go to school and do radio and supposedly sleep," Annie noted, eyes wide. And Annie kind of considered herself fairly busy, most of the time, but wow. "Like, at least you make good use of all that energy."

[bookbeltof_love]

"I also own and run the book store in town," Nina admitted, choosing not to admit that she was also a spy in two worlds, officially, while also keeping up with her language studies, magic studies, and all the working out that she would deny doing.

... Nina's life was chaos barely contained. It was as ridiculous as she was.

"I mean, like, being bored is the worst and when it comes to Sir Foomy, it's like really intense for a bit, while we film, but then the rest is mostly stuff I do while I'm working on other things????????"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Being bored is the worst," Annie agreed, though all she ever had to show for being bored was her training, "but like - okay, this might be a dumb question, but like, Nina, are you planning on going to college? Because you're what we'd call extremely well-rounded, where I'm from."

And even if she was skipping college, holy resume, way to get a head start.

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina squirmed a little.

"I haven't really thought about it," she admitted. "Like, college isn't really a thing where I'm from??????? If you want to go further, it's all self-driven studies or apprenticeships with masters of their crafts or family business......."

Though now that she was thinking about it, she was a little alarmed.

"Do you think my dad's going to want me to go to college?????????"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Maybe. I bet he just wants you to do whatever'll make you happy," Annie assured her with a little smile. She was hardly an expert on dads, but she felt like she knew Liam well enough to make that call. "But like, colleges - and jobs, and really any kind of competitive field - look for people who have, like, a lot of skills and accomplishments to make them stand out, that's all I mean."

Because, like, Nina. Seriously. Annie was half-convinced you could beat her out for a spot on a superhero team, at this rate.

[bookbeltof_love]

It was a good thing Nina didn't want to be a superhero!

Liam was still going to get a text later as she flailed. Did people have, like, expectations of her now?

"I never really thought about it," she admitted. "Like, I do a lot of things, and I kind of already have several things I could make a career????????? Like, my brother's bodyguard to a prince," she offered. "I do a lot of information gathering for them????????"

Nina was kind of proud of herself for that one. It was true while also leaving out that she was officially a member of the intelligence service.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Okay so like, that's cool," Annie told her, eyebrows shooting up. "I've never known a bodyguard." She knew someone who used to be kind of a bouncer, so maybe that counted? "But like, seriously, you're right - you probably could make a career out of, like, any of these things. When do you graduate?"

[bookbeltof_love]

"Tell him that," Nina said eagerly. "My brother, like, thinks he's totally uncool and doesn't listen to me about it!!!!!!!! His name's Prompto and he visits me a fair bit!!!!!!!"

She loved him so much.

Um, like, I graduate in 2022??????? I'm a junior right now?????"

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie, who totally knew someone adjacent to Nina, even who used to be a bodyguard now that I have been reminded OOC omg my swiss cheese memory she was thinking about it, nodded along. "I'll keep an eye out for him. Are you, like - "

Annie debated the adjective she wanted, here, and ultimately settled on, "- fighty? Like, I know you do magic, but are you looking to get into, like, the bodyguard game?"

[bookbeltof_love]

"I'm pretty good in a fight," she said, which was majorly downplaying her skills there. Nina was an endgame tank. "I sorta, like, do everything??????? Attacking, healing, defending...........

"But I don't think I'd like being a bodyguard???????? Like, you have to listen to and do what other people want all the time......."

Nina would be so bad at that. So bad.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh yeah, it's a total where-you-go-I-go situation," Annie agreed, sighing just a little enviously because gosh healing especially would be useful. "Way better to be, like, a free agent and do things on your own terms, I think. Though no shade to your brother!"

[bookbeltof_love]

"No, I think it's amazing he can do what he does," she agreed, nodding. She really did. "I mean, like, it helps that he's friends with the prince but if I was in his shoes-------even with my best friends, I don't want to be with them every minute of the day, every day, and always doing what's on their schedule, you know???????"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"And like, what if you want to do something different?" Annie wondered. "Though there is totally a really good movie where, like, a woman falls in love with her bodyguard and it's really romantic." Plus, like, the greatest Whitney Houston song. "But I'm gonna say that's an exception, rather than the rule."

[bookbeltof_love]

"Ohmygosh, right????? Like, I've totally read so many romance novels where the dashing bodyguard falls for the princess he's guarding....... "

Nina sighed, a bit dreamily.

"But, like, I don't know that I'd want someone guarding me all the time anyway either, if I turned the scenario around......." Nina giggled. "In at least one weird weekend, I wind up a queen and I bet my bodyguards are so overworked trying to keep up with me........"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, no, I could like, never be president or queen or anything," Annie agreed, because that of course was the only reason she was not qualified for such a position. "I'd be tripping over my secret service all the time, and I do way too much, like, deciding I'm going for a run at five-thirty because I can't sleep or randomly running out because I have an Almond Joy craving."

[bookbeltof_love]

"My guards would just never be able to find me and, like, I'm pretty sure that's bad form in the world of bodyguards if you keep losing your charge..........."

Nina considered that thoughtfully.

"Though Dad's pretty good at tracking me down and he worked as a bodyguard......."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That is true," said Annie, whose player felt terrible for her egregious oversight a moment prior. "I thought I might've seen you getting busted at a certain party."

Annie had been pretty busy, what with her various drunken activities, but she was pretty sure she had heard someone getting middle-named, maybe.

[bookbeltof_love]

Nina squirmed a little, then laughed.

"I can't deny that!!!!!!!!" she admitted. "Though, like, he did let me stay with the caveat of walking me home!!!!!!!!"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, props for even trying," Annie said, nodding. "I would have never even attempted to crash a party at your age."

Let's be real: Annie would probably still not try to crash a party at her current, not-that-much-older age.