Fandom Trooper Station, Wednesday

[hatesparadise]

Things were mercifully back to normal. Or what counted as normal at the station.

"I already answered her, it's your turn now," Danny said, ignoring the ringing phone. Because the Bee Lady needed to find a new hobby. One that didn't involve calling the station constantly.

Yep. Normal stuff again.

[open! subject of Annie's thread NFB, please!]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

Well, look who was out being social today. And she'd gotten clothes (or, well, Diego had gotten clothes) for her, so Annie didn't have to mod the whole town, lol creep around in her new...streamlined uniform and avoid people, either!

Instead, she appeared in the trooper station bearing two coffees and a smile. "Bee Lady?" she guessed, catching the tail end of that and the ringing phone.

[hatesparadise]

"Bee Lady," Danny confirmed grimmly before smiling at her in greeting. "You come back here to slum with us?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Just for a couple days," Annie replied, wandering over and bearing out one of the coffees in greeting. "I had a gigantic autograph signing thingie yesterday while supporting one of my teammates, and I got a whole day and a half off in exchange."

But tomorrow she'd be right back at it, taking a meeting with Ms. Stillwell and some director about the idea of her own reality show.

[hatesparadise]

Don't do it, Annie. He hid most of the time his team got shadowed by a film crew.

"C'mere," Danny said, getting up to offer her a hug. "Its great to see you either way."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Of course Annie was going to take that hug, please. Half the reason she'd come here was to hug Danny. "I feel like I've been away for, like, ages."

The full week of isolation in New York with Diego while like, monsters were here or whatever, was probably a contributing factor.

[hatesparadise]

"Well, maybe we need to try makin' the trip to go visit you. Island willing of course," he added, giving her a clinical once over as he pulled away. "You need a donut."

She definitely seemed skinnier than last time.

[defenderofdesmoines]

She totally was. Lots of people around to issue judgmental, withering looks over things like donuts at Vought.

But they couldn't see her now, so while Annie hesitated just a smidge, she decided, "I'm never going to turn down donuts."

She just didn't have that kind of willpower. Especially if one of them had either a cream center or coconut.

[hatesparadise]

Danny nodded, pretending not to see that hesitation there. Because he might yell at someone.

"How's it going? You enjoying the big city?" He said that last part with as much humor as someone who periodically went into New York half his life.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I know this is going to sound super cliché," Annie told him, going ahead and getting herself into those donuts to make a selection, "but so far I like Central Park the best."

Big, wide, open spaces. Nature. Nary a poster of her to be found.

[hatesparadise]

"Lemme guess, it's all the mimes in metallic paint," he teased, snagging his coffee.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Those I tend to avoid," Annie admitted. Partially because the first busker she'd tried to give money to had actually recognized her and followed her for a little while, trying to get an autograph. "But no, mostly it's that it's so weird being, like, deep in a city."

How did New Yorkers live without seeing the horizon????

[hatesparadise]

You just went toward the water if you wanted that. You damn mid-westerner.

"See, I had the opposite issue when I moved to Honolulu. Takes some getting used to."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Kind of helps that my apartment is on the ninety-ninth floor of my building," Annie noted with a smile, selecting a donut and immediately breaking it into smaller pieces (so it would last longer.) "So I've got a nice view and can see pretty far."

And it meant that anyone who came to visit her was doomed to a long, long elevator ride with some random weirdo.

[hatesparadise]

That almost made Danny miss Honolulu, to be honest. It was terrible.

"Swanky," Danny replied with a distracted smile. He was gonna end up sending her home with cookies next time.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It's extremely swanky," Annie sighed, not actually sounding too delighted about that. "Oh, here, want to see something fun?"

She flipped through her phone for a moment before producing a picture of Diego in -- gasp -- a red shirt that proclaimed 'Queen Maeve' on the front. "Someone didn't pack enough clothes to come visit me last week."

There was also a bit of her admittedly extremely swanky apartment in there, yes, but look at Diego and his basketball shorts.

[hatesparadise]

Danny laughed with cruel delight at that. "Oh, you gotta let me print that for the office."

So Diego could retaliate, undoubtedly.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Of course," Annie agreed with a ready nod. "I mean, I think you should frame it."

Diego was really lucky he had gotten home before she'd forced Homelander clothes on him.

"Everything going okay here?" she added. "I heard about the monsters and whatever."

[hatesparadise]

Danny sighed and made a face. "Yeah, it wasn't the greatest. Had to stop that new firefighter from tryin' to knock my head off."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Travis?" Annie asked skeptically, eyes going wide. "Wait, Travis hit you?"

Travis did not really seem like the hitting type, to Annie, but she'd been wrong before.

[designateddadfriend]

Travis swung by sometime in the morning with a box of donuts. Because what said "thank you for keeping me from rage-killing anyone and sorry about attacking you" like bavarian cream?

"How's it going today, Detective Williams?"

[hatesparadise]

"There were these rocks that caused people to go a little nuts," Danny replied. "A squid monster tried to kill Steve."

So maybe they really lucked out in New York?

[hatesparadise]

"Well, that would depend on what's in that box," Danny said, pushing Steve's paperwork to the side.

[designateddadfriend]

Travis set the box down and popped the lid, revealing a moddable baker's dozen donuts from JGOB, including his favorite, the aforementioned bavarian cream.

"Donuts!" he said proudly. And unnecessarily. "Just a, uh. Thanks. For last week."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh my God." Yeah, that was all a lot more alarming than the 'creepy shit and monsters' she'd picked up from Summer, and now Annie looked pretty genuinely concerned. "Is he okay?"

[hatesparadise]

"Better now, but it spooked him," Danny said with a little sigh. "Think that might been part of the whole thing, though. Guy barely flinches at brushes with death."