The Perk | Thursday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie had spent most of yesterday asleep (though she had also kind of picked up on Diego's new obsession with American Ninja Warrior in between naps, and now they were both convinced they could do better than half the contestants), and while she was still moving kind of stiffly, she was worlds better than she had been on Monday.

It helped that her mood was a huge improvement over what it had been the last month or so, even if she was still sporting a bit of bruising along her jaw and throat (as well as under her clothes, but you probably weren't looking there, were you, random Perk-goer?) She was even humming to herself a bit as she got her coffee today and found a seat.

Three texts from Ashley awaited her, which immediately were swiped away in favor of pulling open Pinterest for a little home decorating inspiration. She was going to be moving in to an apartment that was like, twice the size of the last one she'd decorated. And Diego didn't even have, like, a doormat or matching towels.

[totally open!]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

Rey came in mostly just because she spotted Annie through the window, though when she came in and headed over the first thing she said was, "Bad fight?"

Yes there was humming but there were also bruises and Rey hadn't realized those were possible.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"A couple of them," Annie answered lightly with a small smile as she looked up. "You should see the other guys."

Not that she'd put Black Noir in a coma, or had been the one to really take out Stormfront, but still. She was the one who was still walking around, wasn't she?

[thatwaslucky]

"Are you okay?" Rey asked, gesturing to the chair to ask if she could sit.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh my God, please," Annie insisted, waving at the chair. "And I'm okay. Better than I was a couple of days ago. I kind of -- did a bunch of stuff to piss off the people I work for, and they sent people after me and it got ugly for a minute."

[thatwaslucky]

"Your work sent people after you," Rey repeated, eyes wide.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah," Annie said with a careful little nod. "It turns out Vought's been doing a bunch of illegal stuff, and I found out about it and told, like, the news."

She offered Rey a crooked little smile. "Which was both, you know, a good thing and a bad thing." A good thing because it was the right thing to do; a bad thing because, yeah, she'd had to fight a ninja assassin and a superpowered Nazi and had very narrowly made it out of both of those fights.

[thatwaslucky]

Rey blinked.

"I'm glad you did it, though," she said, even though she didn't know what it was. Didn't matter, she supported it.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Oh, yeah. Like Summer was going to pass by the Perk, do a double-take as she glanced through the window, and then not walk right in and plop her butt down into a chair near Annie.

"S'up, stranger?"

[[ probably the S-est of Ps from me today, but omg ]]

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Summer!" Okay, Annie was moving a little stiffly, but please, there needed to be a hug, here. "How are you? I meant to come out last night and I fell asleep on the couch instead."

Her thrilling life.

(Actually, honestly, it had been a little too thrilling lately; she'd take it.)

[no worries omg I love SP!!]

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Uhhhhm, by the looks of it?" said Summer, because, yeah, the looks of it was kind of why Summer herself didn't go in for an immediate crushing high, but if Annie was going for it, so was so getting that hug back.

Just not so crushing. Gentle kind of hug.

"Probably a good choice. But ohmygod, it's so good to see you! What the hell have you been up to? How long are you here for? Should we do something?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm here for two weeks -- so, totally around for your birthday," Annie told her, because yes, that had been something she'd considered in her negotiation, of course, "and like, I'm gonna be around a lot more after that. Shit kind of went down."

Like, obviously. Look at her face, even if Annie was downplaying it all a bit.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Ngl, Summer had been wondering if Annie would be able to make it, but she wasn't going to say anything because, like, she got it, Annie had way bigger stuff going on than just some dumb birthday, so there was a soft, grateful smile at that.

"I kinda figured," Summer allowed, not even necessarily because of the face, really, but just because, hi, Annie, your world was bonkers and between either just general silence or little snippets here and there...

"So....what's been going on? Actually, no wait, hold on. Let me go get a drink first."

So Summer got up, bounced to the counter, and returned a few moments later with something that looked suspiciously like it didn't even know what coffee was, and then got settled in.

"Okay," she said, sipping through her straw, "spill. Unless, like, it's something better spilled over sangria or pedicures or space rock massages."

She'd be down for any of those even if it wasn't, really.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"No, thankfully, I think I'm good there for a minute," Annie noted, giving Summer's drink a very approving glance, "though like, always up for a pedicure."

She considered her own drink for a second before idly offering, like it was no big deal, "Vought's kind of been doing a ton of illegal shit for like, decades -- shocking, I know -- and I busted them on it so, like, they sent half my team after me. It's all cool now, though."

No big, obv.

[superjoanjett]

Jessica was in a grouchy mood this morning and was just giving the barista a horrible withering stare.

How hard was it just to get plain coffee? I mean really.

Finally getting her coffee, she was about to add a judicious amount of whiskey to it when she spotted Annie. Which brightened her mood just a tad.

"Back for a visit?" she asked.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"For two whole weeks," Annie told her, having watched this little coffee order with some amusement. "God, you're like Diego with coffee, aren't you? What's so wrong with whipped cream?"

[superjoanjett]

"If I wanted dessert I'd go get ice cream," Jessica said rolling her eyes.

Even then she'd figure out a way to add alcohol into it.

"So the seven gave you a vacation?" she asked. "Then I'm assuming our little... investigation was successful in some way?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie nodded carefully. "I got the V, and I got it to the press," she shared. "And then, like, a lot of other shit happened, but yes -- I'm currently on sabbatical while they figure some stuff out."

'Sabbatical' was Annie's new favorite word.

[superjoanjett]

"A lot of shit hopefully being good," she said hopefully. "We should hit up the Devil's Nest on Monday. I'd like having my usual drinking routine go back to normal. For at least two weeks."

Which was Jessica saying she missed having Annie around without her actually admitting it.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah, I wonder who they replaced me with," Annie said curiously. The answer was no one, Annie! Just Tiny, who obviously missed you! "It's mostly good. I got banged up, Diego has a concussion, Danny and Steve ended up coming along -- but, like, yes. Things are kind of figured out now."

Thank God.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel came in and ordered the biggest black coffee he could get. Then took a look around after he'd managed to get some of it in him.

"Hey, Annie." He waved. "How's it going?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Hey Miguel," Annie replied, returning the wave. "Can't complain." And in fact, she was doing better than she had been in literal months, actually. "How are you?"

[what_the_shock]

"Can't complain either." Miguel shrugged. "Haven't seen you around in while; been splitting time between the island and home?" He thought he remembered that from radio.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Something like that." Annie would never call New York home, unfortunately, but close enough. "I made it onto one of the big superhero teams back home. Little bit of a juggling act to keep that going and maintain any kind of a social life here."

[what_the_shock]

"Yeah? Hey, congratulations on the big leagues. They ready for you?" He grinned.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"They are now," Annie said, deciding that was the shortest answer there. "There was a bit of an -- adjustment period, but I think we're in a better spot now. There's seven of us -- we're called The Seven, actually -- and we've had a little shuffling in the last couple weeks."