Trooper Station | Saturday

[knife_bender]

Work was usually slow, but it seemed slower than usual this week. The weirdo townies must have also gone on vacation. Not that Diego was complaining, there was plenty of thrilling stuff he could do on his phone.

[Open with a SP caveat]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

"So like," Annie greeted him when she showed up later in the morning, the usual two coffee cups in hand, "when are we going on a sweet trip? I thought I did pretty good with that treehouse, but their hotel rooms are underwater, Diego."

One of those things Annie had never considered before, but now that she knew about their existence thanks to 5000 pictures of Summer and Barry's vacation, she was kind of obsessed.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah but they're also on a school trip like a bunch of nerds," Diego pointed out. "We are adults who can book our own trip with no children involved."

Could you imagine running into Five on a romantic vacation? Gross.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah, and I'd rather not have to be responsible for anyone but ourselves," Annie added, taking a seat and making a little face. "Kind of like, the opposite of what I want in a vacation."

Annie would so be that chaperone who actually cared what the kids were doing, and no one wanted that.

[knife_bender]

"I'm glad we agree on that," Diego said, reaching for his coffee. "I'll go on vacation with you whenever you want, wherever you want."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm glad I've converted you," Annie teased, sipping her coffee. "Remember this time last year? Russian drone plane vacation."

Kind of tame in retrospect compared to, like, the year of dismemberment and world-ending sisters they'd had, but also still totally insane.

[knife_bender]

"I liked that vacation," he said. "I mean, the whole guest bedroom thing was a little awkward, but we got around it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"But the part where Steve got shot and I got to drive his truck around Honolulu -- that was fine," Annie replied, raising her brows.

...actually, when you put it like that, yeah. That was all pretty sweet. (Maybe not the part where Steve had actually been injured.)

"But yeah -- if and when we go back to Hawaii, we're staying in, like, a hotel." A hotel with thick walls where they didn't know their neighbors at all!

[knife_bender]

"Definitely," he said. "But I wouldn't going back to a Hawaii where we get shot at. Vacations need excitement."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, I think we can find excitement without actual crime and espionage and stuff," Annie suggested -- not that she'd ever mind crime-fighting, but that was sort of also like working on a vacation, right? "Like, I think there was an option to go chase lions or something on the first leg of this school thing. Or we could go, like, hang gliding or something. Get our SCUBA certifications. Sky-dive."

Annie herself would actually find that sort of dangerous, which wasn't exactly a deterrent.

[knife_bender]

"Wait, why would someone chase lions?" He might have been taking that sentence too literally.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, I think they went out in like, jeeps?" Annie replied skeptically. "And they probably just took pictures of them but the point is that wild lions -- like, not zoo lions, real ones -- were, like, as far away from these tourists as you are from me, and that's something we can do, too."

Possible exaggeration. Annie hadn't been there, she didn't know.

[knife_bender]

Diego didn't particularly see the appeal of that, but he wasn't what you would call an animal person. Or a plant person. Or a people person, for the most part.

"I wish there were vacations where you could go look for buried treasure or explore an ancient tomb or something." The Indiana Jones package or something.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I bet that's totally a thing," Annie decided thoughtfully, tapping lightly on the side of her coffee cup as she considered this proposal. "Like, I would be super down for finding some, like, tropical island with haunted ruins we can explore or something."

[knife_bender]

"That would be the best vacation," Diego said. "But until then I'd settle for a beach with some privacy where nudity would go unnoticed."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Like an actual private beach, not just a European one where it's cool to be naked?" Annie clarified, blushing just a bit. Her objections were equally not wanting to be naked in front of some random French dude or whatever, but also like...she probably didn't want to see that random French dude, either. "I'm taking notes. That could probably be arranged."

Once more, what was the point of putting up with all the Starlight bullshit if she didn't spend the money she made?

"Though I do have a number of sand-related concerns."

[knife_bender]

"Totally understand," Diego said with a nod. "But that is what towels are for. Or those beaches you see on commercials where there's a bed surrounded by flowy curtains on the sand for some reason."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Aw, that sounds so romantic," Annie sighed, envisioning a totally-impractical beach bed. "How do you feel about potentially, like, camping? I wouldn't want to, like, rough it for a whole trip, but -- you, me, a tent and some privacy also sounds like a great time."

A pause.

"Maybe even on a beach." Though a tent lacked the appeal of the flowy bed, now that she was really considering it. It just seemed like it'd probably go hand-in-hand with jungle adventuring or whatever.

[knife_bender]

"I could be into camping," Diego said. "Never actually done that before."

Such a city boy.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"No?" Annie asked, feigning surprise (badly.) "I haven't in a long time, but it's fun. And I can teach you all about, like, how to pitch a tent and tying our food up in a tree so animals can't get it."

Camping also had the appeal of being sort of dangerous! Or at least, you know, wildlife-adjacent.

[knife_bender]

"We're not going to have to sing around a campfire, right?" Because he'd draw the line there.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"No, but we can roast marshmallows, and tell spooky stories," Annie replied, widening her eyes emphatically. "And we can even start the fire the old-fashioned way, if I can remember how to do it."

She'd learned as a teenager, but you know. Annie didn't have a lot of use for that particular skill.

[knife_bender]

"And what is the appeal of doing it the old-fashioned way?" Diego asked.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Um, for one thing, you could do it," Annie offered, thinking about it. "For another, it would save me draining whatever battery-operated stuff we have around, too, depending on how far we are from civilization. But also, like, there's something really satisfying about setting a fire like how a caveman would've done it, you know?"

Though, for reals, matches would probably be fine.

[knife_bender]

Diego laughed. "Okay, we can try, but we need to put a solid time limit. Like, if we can't get it after a half-hour we should get to use a lighter."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Super fair," Annie agreed easily, since getting frustrated over something silly and trying to prove a point wasn't a great vacation vibe, either. "Though it's a really useful survivalist skill!" Even for Annie, if she ever found herself deep in the woods and far away from all things electronic. "We should do this once the weather's nice."

Assuming that they didn't end up pseudo-camping in a pawn shop again or something sooner, since last spring and summer had been a touch on the eventful side.

[knife_bender]

"We should," he said. "Though there is something to be said for cuddling up in a tent when it's cold."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That's just something to consider as far as, like, location," Annie told him, grinning. "'Cause there's lots of places where it would be nice during the day for rock climbing or wind surfing or whatever, but as soon as the sun goes down, a tent seems pretty cold."

They could camp in the middle of a heat wave and Annie would probably insist she was cold at night just to be cute about it, let's be real.

[knife_bender]

"And depending on the location there's still a chance we could find an ancient tomb with booby traps in it." That would be the dream.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You would be, like, so great in an ancient tomb," Annie decided, having never been in an ancient tomb, personally, but having seen a lot of adventuring movies, okay. "Like, imagine -- we're in a tomb, we see a thing up ahead that might be a trap? No big deal -- you could trip it before we're ever even in range."

And, in case Diego somehow did not grasp what she meant, Annie even flicked her wrist and pretended to throw something, beaming at him all the while.

[knife_bender]

"It could also spring a trap that sends a boulder after us," Diego pointed out. "But you'd probably be able to stop it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Realistically, that sounded more like a Maeve-level feat. But here in pure hypotheticals, Annie could easily agree, "Totally could! And we're both really fast runners, too."

No need to get into who was faster. Annie didn't even care, okay? It was fine.