Devil's Nest | Thursday Evening

[defenderofdesmoines]

You know, Annie wasn't really kidding yesterday when she told Summer she kind of figured she should be low-key pre-gaming all week to prepare for this bachelorette party tomorrow, and by all rights, she should have been spending a lot more time with the cute little mojito she'd mixed up for herself.

But instead, she had to assuage what she perceived as some very hurt feelings. ('Perceived' was the operative word here.)

"Tiny, I know it's like, kind of regressive, but no other men are coming," she explained patiently. "Do you want to do karaoke with the guys? I can see if they could take you along, but I just don't think...."

Annie trailed off as Tiny decided he needed to go check the kegs in the back, and walked away from her.

"Oh man, his feelings must be so hurt," she decided, to no one, based on nothing.

~*Specials*~
Cosmopolitan
Prickly Pear Margarita
Pink Snowball

[open!]

Comments

[pocketpretzels]

It was Thursday, so, like clockwork, there was a Detective Watts settling into a spot at the bar with a “Good evening, Miss January.”

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Hi, Mr. Watts!" Annie replied cheerfully. "How's it going? And what kind of a drink can I buy you for being so good with Kimiko while carving that adorable pumpkin?"

Annie's pumpkin had had a face, at the end of all that. The less said about the others, perhaps, the better.

[pocketpretzels]

"I'm very well. It's been a good week." If fairly quiet after the commotion of the weekend, but nothing wrong with that. "And it really was no trouble, Miss Miyashiro was excellent company. But if you're going to insist- I suppose I ought to ask about what's involved with the specials."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"They're all pink -- it's my maid of honor's, like, trademark color, and my bachelorette party is tomorrow," Annie explained. "And, um, Miss Miyashiro has kind of been to hell and back, so I appreciate you rolling with the whole situation."

Starting with the mute factor and going from there.

[pocketpretzels]

"Well, unless there's one in particular you recommend, I think I shall go with a merlot for tonight," Watts decided. "And honestly, it was no trouble. It was- refreshing, actually. To converse with someone so straightforward about what they mean." Well, for a value of 'converse', but.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"She's very straightforward," Annie agreed, grabbing a bottle of merlot and a glass in which to pour it. "I like that about her, too. You'll meet her other half at Diego's party, actually, and he's a lot more -- verbose."

Amongst other things. (Also, that was Annie doing a little speculating; no one had explicitly told her Frenchie and Kimiko were a thing, but like...duh, right?)

[pocketpretzels]

Did Watts grimace a little at verbose? Maybe.

“I should tell you, when the term ‘bachelor party’ was mentioned I was- picturing something else entirely. Initially.” Thank goodness for The Google, clearing that up.

[knife_bender]

Diego figured since he wouldn't be seeing too much of Annie tomorrow and she'd probably be hungover on Saturday, he'd stop by her work today.

You know, just to get one last look at her before he was holding her hair back as she puked.

"What's with the pink drinks?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

Look, she was going to make a real, serious effort not to be too hungover or pukey come Saturday, for his benefit. Call it a birthday gift.

"In honor of my maid of honor," Annie told him with a bright smile before leaning over the bar to give him a kiss hello. No Tiny meant all the over-the-bar kisses she wanted. "Who won't let me help at all with tomorrow and threatened to call it off if I tried."

[knife_bender]

"Well, duh," Diego said, happy to receive over-the-bar kisses even if Tiny was standing there. "You're not supposed to help, it's your party."

Diego was doing absolutely nothing to help with his party.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah, but I also don't want her to stress out over it," Annie decided, a little concerned. "Though she did tell me it's gonna be, like, quiet and intimate, so we're probably not going to Boob World or anything?"

Man, at this rate, Annie kind of wondered if Boob World would even live up to the hype if she ever got there.

[knife_bender]

"Boob World sounds disturbing." Like, even Diego did not want to see disembodied boobs. Gross.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"She's threatened to take me there before." Offered, Annie. Show some gratitude. "Maybe we'll go for someone else's bachelorette party -- I actually feel like this is gonna be kind of low-key, for a Summer get-together."

Which was absolutely great by Annie, who could do with a little low-key these days. She'd been to an orgy last month, after all. She was pretty good on a lot of...bachelorette trappings.

[knife_bender]

"Mine's going to be on the low-key side too," Diego said. "To be honest, if I want to go to a rager I'd want you there with me."

[pocketpretzels]

"Mr. Hargreeves," Watts acknowledged with a nod. "Good evening."

[knife_bender]

"Boss," Diego said with a nod of his head. "How are you?"

[pocketpretzels]

"No complaints," Watts said. He had a drink, and the bartender was pleasant company, after all. "You?" Given that said bartender was also Diego's fiancee, he anticipated a similar answer.

[knife_bender]

"Good," Diego said with a nod. "Just checking in on Annie before she gets swallowed by her party tomorrow."

[pocketpretzels]

“That sounds rather ominous,” Watts noted.

[sword_chocobro]

So Gladio's day had definitely not turned out the way he had been expecting it to! And it was a...lot to process, and he was definitely more than just a little mad about it, but, at the same time, there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it right now, either.

But...as it so happened, it was Thursday. And, apparently, it had only been about four month's time here since they left...he still wasn't sure he was buying it, in which case that was a hell of a scam Liz was managing to pull on Prompto with that kid of hers and he would be one to fall for something like that, too...but, well. There was the date on his phone, and if it hadn't been then long, then maybe...

Getting a drink (or several) definitely beat having to deal with whatever little domestic final fantasy Prompto had gotten himself wrapped up into, at least. If he was stuck crashing on their couch until he figured things out, the less time spent there, the better.

So walking into the Devil's Nest that evening (shirtless, of course, which meant showing off a whole new mess of scars, especially the brutal gash that was never going to really heal across his chest) brought on a whole new mix of emotions, especially seeing Annie there behind the bar, sure enough, not much different for the most part lol from the last time he saw her ten years ago...

So he was just going to lean on the bar, cock his chin toward the specials board, and just ask, "Shirtless specials still a thing?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh my God, Gladio." Annie had, true to her word, said a little prayer and lit a little candle for him, and for Ignis, and even for Noctis, who she didn't even know, but -- chalk it up to recent events, but Annie hadn't really gotten her hopes up that she'd get to see a second miracle in as many weeks.

So that would be Annie actually pushing herself up to go over the bar to hug him, heedless of the shirtlessness factor (which, frankly, was how it should be, and spoke to the fact he was actually back), but definitely watching for signs that such a greeting wouldn't actually be welcome, given that it had probably been a decade for him, too, and that was...a lot of scars. "Oh my God, I'm so glad to see you."

[sword_chocobro]

Well, that didn't really answer his question, Annie, but...he could probably go for a hug. He probably actually needed that hug, really, in light of the last not-even-twelve hours. If things had worked out a little differently, timing wise, he probably wouldn't have squeezed back into that hug as hard as he had in that moment, but, well, he was still kind of processing a lot, and a hug was simple and nice and he knew he was damn good at them, too, so, yeah. Definitely good with a hug, and a good squeeze, and a complicated sigh before he drew away out of it.

"So," he then said, with a faint, sardonic smile. "How'd you been?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

At least Annie, of all people, could handle a fairly tight hug from someone like Gladio. And while she still wasn't quite answering his important first question -- which was irrelevant at the moment, anyway, because Annie was going to insist on buying his drinks tonight and apparently Eric was just making all his profits off his actual bartender, this Thursday -- she did have an answer to this one.

"I'm good," she assured him, pulling back and making her way back behind the bar, slowly. "But from what I hear, it's been a whole lot less time for me, Gladio. When'd you get to town?"

[sword_chocobro]

"What time is it right now?" asked Gladio, regaining his position of leaning on the bar now that Annie was sliding on behind it, and pulling out his phone to check, with just the slightest bit of a grunt at the reminder of this fun little dimension-hopping, time-traveling adventure he was having right now. And another thoughtful grunt at the time itself.

"About ten hours ago," he reported, tucking the phone away again.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Holy fuck." Was there really any other response, besides wide eyes and an exclamation like that? Though, also, Annie was kind of touched to be such an early stop on Gladio's Fandom Reunion Tour. "Okay. Wow. First of all -- anything you want is on the house. They're all pink, that's the theme," she noted, gesturing to the board. "And secondly, where are you staying? Tell me you're not camping?"

At least it was actually camping season, this time.