Devil's Nest | Thursday Evening

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie could have totally called in, probably, post-space spa. But it seemed like a waste to spend all day relaxing and then head home to relax more, so work it would be.

Besides, she had radiant hair and skin to show off, and more importantly, literally sparkling nails to show Tiny.

Guess who didn't care? Guess who didn't even look at her nails?

Whatever.

~*Specials*~
Apple Cider Mimosa
Whiskey Spritz
French 75

[open!]

Comments

[sword_chocobro]

Don't worry, Annie. Your favorite shirtless regular had your back.

"New nails?" he guessed, as he found his way to his usual spot for leaning on the bar, with a nod toward her hands.

Look, he had a sister. She'd trained him well. Even if he'd deny it and pretend she hadn't sometimes.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Went to a spa in space," she told Gladio, glad someone around here had taste, thank you, and brandished her sparkly nails out for him to see. "They're gonna spoil me right out of regular manicures. No going back after getting the whole, like, iridescent thing going."

[sword_chocobro]

"That is pretty impressive," Gladio chuckled a little, although, honestly? All he could think of was how much of a distraction that would be. Imagine being in the middle of a fight or something, the light catches on your nails just so and gets in your eyes....although he supposed it could be a little tactical the other way around for the enemy, as well. "But good for you. You deserve a little pampering..."

And now that he thought about it, maybe he should do something like that for himself this weekend. While Prompto and Ignis had their own little dates, maybe he could convince Noctis to be his and drag him out to a place. One that did particularly good massages...

[defenderofdesmoines]

Welcome to Tactics with Starlight, Gladio! Sparkly and distracting was, like, her entire strategy, right down to hopefully getting light in someone's eyes.

"It was booked out the wazoo, but maybe we could get you in for their next opening," Annie offered with a smile, kind of following along with that narrative. "There's a masseuse -- masseur? Gender was sort of hard to guess there, 'cause it was an alien -- who got this weird knot out of my back and squared up my screwy hip flexors. It was like magic. And, like, I can recommend some pretty great places here on Earth, too."

[sword_chocobro]

"I got a few places back home that seem to know just the right trick to work around these," pardon him while he took a moment to make sure Annie was very clear what he was talking about, with a rolling of his shoulders, a few tilts of his head to stretch his neck, and a few flexings and streches of his arms across his chest and around his back, "bad boys. This body's a fine-tuned weapon of the kingdom of Lucis, after all. And we take good care of our weapons where I'm from.

"That said," he finished the less-than-subtle display of said weapons with a grin, "I'll never say no to expanding my options a little."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Oh, she was very clear. So clear. Someday she was going to be so sad when Gladio stopped showing up at her bar all shirtless, but for right now she was just going to appreciate this gift.

"Oh my God." Some things, however, could not go without comment. "Did you just refer to your body as a weapon? I'm stealing that."

Sometimes she called her hands weapons, but it was mostly to see the looks on people's faces.

[sword_chocobro]

"It's yours," Gladio said, bestowing his approval with a nod of his head and an almost regal sort of wave of his hand, and a very amused chuckle. "Especially since, well, I mean, if you want to be technical, I'm actually a Shield...officially, that's my title, Shield to the Prince...So..."

And his grin was nothing but pure pride for that fact, too.

It had literally been everything for him since before he was even born, after all.

"Shields can be weapons, too."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"So," Annie asked, warming to her subject, "are you like...captain of the shields? Or is it just you, Lone Shield protecting the prince?"

A pause, and, "Oh, and do you want a drink?"

THE BEST BARTENDER EVER.

[sword_chocobro]

"Maybe that last one?" Gladio said, after a cursory glance toward the specials board, because the drinks were kind of just a side-effect of Shirtless Thursdays at the bar for him, really.

"And just the one Shield," he explained, with a nod. "And it's been an Amicitia as Shield basically for as long as there's even been a Lucis."

So, you know, kind of a big deal.

"That's where this comes in, too," he said, pointing at the eagle tattooed on his chest and spreading out all across his back. "Every Shield gets the ink when he takes on the mantle, in honor of Enkidu, the companion of Gilgamesh, the very first Shield."

His smile had a softness to it now, that pride still there, but simmered into a sort of pleased, content glow.

"The Shield does lead the Crownsguard, though, which tend to the king, or, in our case, the prince, until Noctis takes on the throne, so that does, in a way, make me Specs and Prompto's boss."

A fact that he, of course, never hesitated to hold over their heads.

"But...." he added, kind of appreciating this chance to actually talk about this sort of thing with someone who didn't already know everything about it, "it's really more of a brotherhood than anything."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, so it's like a whole legacy thing," Annie said, eyes wide as she nodded and started gathering up ingredients for that fancy-ass French thing. "So, okay, just so I'm following -- does Insomnia have a ruling monarch right now? Because if you're in charge of making sure the crown prince stays safe," and thank you, Nina, for laying the groundwork like a year ago and making sure Annie knew very well who Noctis was, hashtag she-ships-it, "who's guarding the person on the throne?"

[sword_chocobro]

Gladio nodded, grinning faintly, because these were excellent questions, Annie.

"We do," he said. "King Regis Lucis Caelum CXIII, Noctis' dad. And his Shield would be my dad, Clarus. If anything were to happen to him or the king, I get promoted, but I'm definitely in no rush for that to happen, and, hopefully, it won't happen for a good, long time."

Um. Spoiler alert....

[defenderofdesmoines]

"So do you have a little brother waiting in the wings in case something happens to you?" Annie asked, not without a note of concern as she set the cocktail before Gladio and gave the bar a superstitious little knock. "Or like...a cousin?"

What if they were all out of Amicitias?

[sword_chocobro]

"You know," Gladio admitted, after tilting his head and thinking it over for a good, long time, before taking up the drink, "I don't think, in all of Lucis' long history, there's ever been an instance where that's come up. At least not in any of the history I've read. I do have a sister, but Iris definitely hasn't been trained in anything like that. I guess, if something happened to both me and my dad, the position would either pass down to the Marhal or, failing that, Ignis."

Which would feel...weird.

Although, really, since in this scenario, he was dead, it wouldn't really make that much of a difference how it felt, would it?

Guess he'd just have to not die, then, which was, you know, kind of the plan anyway.

[scarlet_chaos]

Wanda had a full social docket for this weekend (she had no idea what compelled her to sign up for 3MD), and she figured that she should probably ease herself into being super social for a couple days in a row. So bar it was! And the bar where she already knew a friend would be.

"Hey, Annie," Wanda greeted. "Oooh your nails are cute."

Of course Wanda would notice, please.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Thanks! Summer knows this, like, awesome spa in space," Annie told her, offering her hands out proudly so Wanda could admire them all the better. "We should bring you along next time. My toes are this shiny red that would super match your whole vibe."

[scarlet_chaos]

"Red is my vibe," Wanda said, admiring the adorable manicure for a moment. "Space spa, huh? Is that why you're skin is so dewy and radiant?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It's because I got an alien facial," Annie told her, which, like, Annie clearly did not spend enough time on the internet if she could say a phrase like that with a straight face. "Like, apparently one perk of the multiverse is that they have access to all kinds of beauty treatments and stuff that we've never even heard of."

They were honestly lucky no one had had an allergic reaction to any of these foreign alien substances.

[scarlet_chaos]

That's okay, Wanda didn't know what that meant either. MCU was owned by Disney, after all.

"That makes sense," she said with a nod. "Usually when I think about the multiverse I get anxiety, but there must be perks to it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"What makes you anxious about it?" Annie wondered, frowning. "Also do you want a drink?"

A+ BARTENDER.

[scarlet_chaos]

"The mimosa sounds good, I'll take one of those," she said. "And you don't think the multiverse is weird? Meeting other you's and all that? Seeing what could have been?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I don't know," Annie mused as she got together the ingredients. "It kind of feels like a second chance, in ways? Like, yeah, things went this way, here, but maybe there's an Annie in some other universe who doesn't have superpowers and is, like, an elementary school teacher in Des Moines."

That was totally what she'd do if she'd ever had a choice, probably.

[scarlet_chaos]

"I could actually see that happening for you," Wanda said with a grin. "I don't know, I'm kind of worried I could see something worse? Like evil Wanda who wears a gold sash to indicate she's evil."

She had also watched a lot of OG meta Star Trek, what of it?

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, I'm sure she's out there," Annie decided with a shrug. "And there's evil Annie with, like, a goatee."

Annie was used to simpler evil twin stories, perhaps.

"But," she added, "there's also totally, like, a Wanda out there who was raised in Texas and is real good at lassoing and calls everyone darlin'."

[scarlet_chaos]

"Texas?" she asked with a laugh. "I couldn't even be from somewhere cool?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That's the Wanda who lives in France," Annie explained sagely, setting the mimosa before Wanda. "She's good at the can-can and calls everyone cherie, you see."