fandomtownies | Devil's Nest | Thursday Evening

Entry tags:

Devil's Nest | Thursday Evening

Annie had an absolutely screaming headache by the time she headed into work this evening. Bad enough that she'd felt short-tempered and exhausted all day -- this headache was enough to put her in a pretty shit mood. (At least it didn't seem to just be her? Diego had seemed pretty on edge with her, and her with him, which wasn't really like them.)

But it all clicked into place when she arrived at the bar and discovered that it had not, actually, just been the island fucking specifically with Summer yesterday. "Are you serious?" she asked, loud and rhetorical.

Fine, then. Fucking fine. Annie was just going to respond to this the way she always responded to being overtired and cranky: by eating everything.

~*Specials*~
Orange Slices
Lemon Slices
Lime Slices
Shredded Coconut
Shaved Chocolate
Maraschino Cherries
Vanilla Ice Cream

I will totally make you a Shirley Temple or a float or something if you insist

[open but also with the SP factor, boooooo]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Gladio had been given a little head's up about the situation on the island earlier that day, so when he came into the Devil's Nest as usual that Thursday, saw the board, felt the uncharacteristically hostile energy from the adorable bartender....he wasn't that surprised.

"So Spec--Shoe Guy was right, huh?" he asked, leaning on the bar and quirking his chin toward the specials board. "Something's wrong with the booze?"

"And," Annie added querulously, having just checked the coffee behind the bar on a hunch, "and the coffee. The booze is all juice and it looks like this is decaf."

She hadn't even thought to check whether the stuff at home had been replaced, but that sure would explain a lot.

"It's terrible, Gladio." And Annie was soothing herself with the fruit tray, which she actually lifted up onto the bar and gestured at, because it was a shared trauma.

Gladio hoped his grin came off as more sympathetic than amused, although it was easily both, and, well, if she was offering, he certainly wasn't going to say no to snagging a few berries off that tray for himself.

"Sounds like," he agreed. "Good thing I don't come here for just the booze, then, right?"

"Aww, that's sweet of you," Annie told him with a tired little smile. "Honestly, the booze is kind of whatever for me? Like, I'm very glad this didn't hit over the Christmas party or something. But the coffee thing might actually kill me."

It would not. She was just, you know, tired and overdramatic as hell.

Gladio could have just been talking about the shirtlessness, you know. He wasn't, but he could have been.

"Honestly?" he offered. "Same. Not directly, though. I mean, I can take or leave the stuff either way, but I'm a little terrified of what this is going to mean for me tomorrow if this holds up. Shoe Guy has been mainlining that stuff pretty much since he was a kid. And I share a room," well, more than just a room, really, "with that guy."

He looked very grave as he popped a piece of melon into his mouth.

"I might not survive."

"You'll have the advantage if things get ugly, though," Annie pointed out, actually considering that for a moment longer than she normally would have before deciding, yes, she was right about this. "Because I'm like, new to caffeine addiction, and I've had a headache since this morning and I'm all like...moving in slow motion today. A lifelong coffee drinker?"

She mustered up a little faux shudder. "Poor guy. Maybe this is another time you should, like, go camping." Annie would have offered her own couch again, but between herself and Diego -- not to mention if Five was around, Lord help them all -- the woodland creatures would probably be better company.

"That..." Gladio realized, looking a little impressed, with a small (very quiet) laugh, "is actually a great idea."

He was honestly a little surprised he hadn't thought of it himself.

"I've got some research I need to do out there for class next week, anyway. Might as well make a thing out of it."

He smiled, gave her an appreciative nod. Would have lifted a glass to toast her if he had one, so, instead, he was just going to use a piece of fruit. "Thanks, Annie."

"You're welcome. That's what I'm here for: amazing ideas," Annie decided, and that actually was a nice little ego boost, there. "You'll have to give me, like, a full report. At least it's warmer now."

She had sort of abandoned the worry of Gladio catching a cold, since he'd been coming to her bar shirtless all winter and seemed fine, but still. Camping in the cold just sounded, like, unpleasant.

"Not sure how interesting a full report's gonna be," Gladio admitted. "It'll mostly just be figuring out tracking patterns in the local wildlife."

And finding a bunch of random potions while he was at it, too.

"Was thinking of doing fishing first, but honestly, I am not going to complain about getting to put that off a little longer."

Rey drank coffee only casually, so she wasn't feeling the effects of this herself. She was however finding it hard not to pick up on how it was affecting others on the island, though.

And then looking at the specials she said, "Still, huh?"

Annie, who was practically laying on the bar now with her fruit tray, lifted her head warily to greet Rey with a sigh, a smile, and a little nod. "Still. Coffee, too, for some reason." Which was way, way worse than the alcohol, considering Annie generally helped herself to a shift beer and that was about it. "Want an olive? Oh, shit, I should have put them on the sign, too."

But that was now too much effort. More olives for her, apparently.

"Is it too much trouble to just get a soda?" Rey asked, ready to change her answer if it was, in fact, too much trouble to pour.

"Nah, I can swing that," Annie decided, having abandoned all thoughts of soda herself when she realized all the Coke was also the caffeine-free bullshit. But a soda gun was manageable, as was filling a glass with ice. "Is your magic space coffee still working or are you just not, like, addicted?"

Annie hadn't even realized she had a caffeine addiction until today! What a fun discovery to make about oneself!

"I haven't even tried caf," Rey admitted, apologetic like a weirdo. "I don't have it every day. I think it's a side effect of having to go without things for a long time."

Jakku was awful, but it had set Rey up to do just fine with more than a few weird Fandom circumstances.

"That makes sense," Annie decided, getting that soda and feeling like that was a pretty good accomplishment as she set it before Rey. "I wasn't even a huge coffee person until like, this past year."

Stress-induced insomnia, et cetera, et cetera.

"And how are you doing with it?"

She could tell. But she was trying to be kind.

"I am coping by eating all of these olives," Annie told her with a faint little smile. "Diego's super grumpy, too. I'm glad there's at least a reason."

To be fair, Diego was much more likely to just default to grumpy than Annie was, but the coffee sure didn't seem to be helping either case.

"It's dumb that this is still going, though," she added, because her opinion on this was important. "Like, this feels like one of those things that usually only lasts a day." And as unfair as it would have been to Summer, they would have all totally gotten over it! Instead: this.

"I did think it was just going to be a day," Rey admitted. Maybe she should apologize to Summer for that. "Maybe it's only a couple."

No! Now you were gonna have to apologize to Annie too!

"I might have to, like, go back to New York and bring some Jitter Bean back for people," Annie decided, the prospect of her beloved Jitter Bean at least lifting some of her despair. "And like a flask, or something, maybe."

Way to just set yourself up for heartache when you crossed the causeway with those items tomorrow, Annie.

"That would probably be really helpful. I didn't realize how bad it was not having these things."

She would have probably realized it real fast if Silver was still around.

"I mean, alcohol withdrawal can be pretty serious. My caffeine headache is nothing compared to what someone who drinks every day might be going through," Annie admitted, actually dropping some of her dramatics for the moment. "Someone should probably check on Summer at some point."

At least Summer had her marijuana still (hopefully?) Annie didn't really understand getting high seeing as she never had, but she figured that had to help, right?

"You think she's really that bad off?" Because Rey would text her right now.

"I'm hoping she got herself really stoned," Annie said, frowning because that was not something she had ever said before, about anyone. "But she's my first thought as far as someone who might not be doing great."

Annie would personally stop by Summer's apartment for a welfare check if needed, too. Like, a cranky-ass two AM welfare check, but such was the duty of besties.

"This is definitely not making me want to start drinking more coffee," Rey decided.

"Maybe the caf is safe!" Annie tried. Or, possibly, it was somehow worse, since caf was better than regular coffee normally. "But yeah, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I get the Mormons, now."

At least on this part. She still didn't think the Garden of Eden was in Missouri.

"Do they not like coffee?" Rey guessed.

"No caffeine or alcohol is a tenet of their religion," Annie explained. "I don't think they, like, smoke or anything, either."

Annie could have gotten behind most of that, like, a year or so ago, but come on. Coke was fine. God loved Coke.

"I don't really understand why any religion would care about that, but I'm also pretty new to it," Rey said. Like if the Jedi couldn't have caffeine she'd probably do away with that rule, because life and all.

"I think it's a whole, like, treat your body as a temple thing?" Annie said, not totally sure if that was the answer but pretty sure it was something along those lines. Though Annie liked to think she treated her body pretty well in general, and she still let herself do weekly jello shots. "I mean, I get it right now, for sure."

Rey thought about it. "And I guess if using or or not affects how you act I can sort of see it? I still wouldn't like it, though."

Eric popped out of his office to scowl at the specials board. "What kind of special is shredded coconut?" he asked.

"A soothing kind," Annie told him, seeking out the coconut she'd been nibbling on and offering it out. (Someone was a touch hazy still on what vampires could and could not consume.) "The booze is all gone, Eric. All of it. It's juice. And the coffee's decaf."

So, naturally, she was going to offer out the garnishes to eat while they all suffered through this trying time.

"Is Lucifer fucking with me again?" Eric demanded.

No, but way to be self-centered, Eric.

"Nah, I think it's island-wide," Annie replied, honestly kind of disappointed that they could not blame this, somehow, on the Devil. (That had been such a good excuse growing up, damn it.) "Summer had to serve normal, boring jello at Caritas yesterday, too."

Eric made a face. "I'll bet that didn't work. Jello is disgusting."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Devil's Nest | Thursday Evening

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject