Devil's Nest | Thursday Evening

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie was feeling a touch bittersweet as she opened up the bar and wrote up her specials board tonight. It was a little weird -- and, if she let herself dwell, more than a little nerve-wracking -- to think how long she'd be gone from this place after tonight, and that when she returned, the (very active, thanks kids) twins currently stomping all over her internal organs would actually be little babies at home with their dad.

"Aww, Tiny, you shouldn't have!" Annie exclaimed, upon spying that he was carving two little pumpkins that, to Annie's eye, looked almost identical, but not quite. Definitely like related siblings, though, right? Like little twin pumpkins?

Right?

It would be forever a mystery whether Annie was delusional, or whether Tiny was, possibly for the first time ever, using his art to do something nice for her. (Not much of a mystery, really, when it was put like that.)

~*Specials*~

Mother of Pearl
Mom-arita
Kiss Your Mother
Frosé

[open, OCDless, and this is indeed Annie's last bar post until January!]

Comments

[sword_chocobro]

Naturally, Gladio's eyes went directly to the specials board while he settled into his usual spot at the bar, which he read with an approving snort, before offering his nod of greeting to both Tiny and to Annie, the latter of which also included a questioning quirk of his eyebrow as he asked, "One of these things is not like the other? Unless I'm missing something on that last one."

He would not be afraid to admit that the theme might be a little out of his purview of knowledge!

[defenderofdesmoines]

"One part," Annie told him, grinning as she held up a finger, "that my mom loves frosé. And one part -- I already mixed up the margs on the rocks, so I needed a blended drink."

Because some people -- some people -- were disappointed when she didn't have one! Not naming names or anything here. (And also, like, please, she had to have a blendy drink on her last night.)

[sword_chocobro]

And one of those people, maybe, might have met that response with a terribly proud sort of smirk, shameless and appreciative all rolled into one.

"Well, then," he said, "guess me and your mom are gonna be in the same boat on that one, that sounds perfect."

And, he felt, more to the point: "How you doin', Annie? Holding up okay?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm all right," she promised, actually more serious than her usual flip answer as she started on his drink, considering that...like, this answer could be very serious, these days. "Not going to lie, though -- I'm not really gonna be sad about being off my feet the next month."

She was kind of downplaying it a tad, maybe. She was wildly looking forward to at least a couple weeks of just getting to sit down and have very few expectations of her, honestly.

[sword_chocobro]

"Good," Gladio said, with a firm nod, and an approving grin, at both the report on how she was doing and her take on how she'd likely be for the next month. "Enjoy it, you've been putting up with this for more than eight months now, so it's well earned, and you've got to take care of yourself as well as those little guys. Not that you need me telling you that, of course, but I'm sure it's good to have a..." He snorted. "Fifth opinion in it."

He would be shocked if at least four other people weren't also telling Annie this exact same thing already.

[scarlet_chaos]

Wanda knew better than to go anywhere near Annie's husband, so here she was on Annie's last bar night, with a bag of goodies in tow.

"Hey," she said, lugging the bag on top of the bar. "I have brought you gifts to help you survive while you're on maternity leave."

Well, there was a lot of snacks, some books, crossword puzzles, a sleeping mask and some bath bombs. So stuff to pass the time while waiting for babies, rather.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Wanda!" The 'you shouldn't have' was right there in Annie's tone, but she went ahead and said it anyway as she peeked into the bag with a delighted (if also touched) smile. "You shouldn't have!"

But boy, she was gonna be grateful for those gifts. Spoiler alert: these babies were not exactly 'fifteen minutes early is already late' people. The crosswords were gonna come in real handy.

"Thank you," she added, looking up from the bag. "And thanks for coming by on my last day. Feels kinda weird."

And it would feel less weird the more friends she saw today, probably.

[scarlet_chaos]

"Sort of like the last day before summer break?" Wanda said. "Except you're the only one going on break. And will be working harder than the rest of us after the babies are here."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"And I don't have a yearbook for you to sign," Annie added, since that was a very important cultural touchstone as far as the end of one's high school year. "And like, I don't know -- motherhood sounds pretty exhausting, yeah, but half this island is, like, working superheroes. I might be open to discussion about who's working the hardest once the kids are here."

(She would not be. She would be too tired to entertain this cute little thought experiment.)

[somethingwithturquoise]

Even if Annie's last day at the bar before pumping out those babies (ohgod, there was a horrible Halloween joke in there, wasn't there?) wasn't enough to finally get Summer to pop into the Devil's Nest again on a Thursday, an actual Thursday off being reminded of the importance of best friends who weren't actually probably dead sure was! No, she hadn't asked, she was still terrified of getting a confirmation from Sabine one way or the other, but her showing up ten years later and with that war behind her had left Summer a little shaken and she was trying desperately not to show it.

But also, she really should have stopped by the DN more to see her, and maybe tonight could make up for that lost time a little.

"Awwww," she gushed when she saw the specials board, "you're all thematic!"

[defenderofdesmoines]

If it helped, it was far more likely Annie wouldn't be pumping out these babies so much as having them at least partially extracted from her? Was that less Halloween-y?

"You know, it's weird, there's like no daddy drinks," Annie told her, and then immediately made a little face. "I heard it out loud, never mind, I get why there's no daddy drinks."

Maybe in, like, some very specialized clubs?

"But hiiiiiiii!"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"What about a Man-hattan?" Summer offered, absolutely shamelessly, but, honestly, that was a lot better than anything she could have said about daddy drinks right now. She slid onto the stool and beamed over at Annie. "And hi. Hello. I'm so sorry I haven't been able to make it in much lately, but I am glad to get to see you waddling around behind the bar for at least one more time. Are you stoked? Are you, like, so ready for this? Or are you kind of at that moment where you're pretty sure you'll never actually be ready, but oh, well, here we go anyway!"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Hey, I'm sorry I haven't waddled in to have jello shots in awhile," Annie replied, waving a hand. "I have this, like, afternoon nap problem lately?"

A super unreasonable situation for a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy with twins, surely. She needed to apologize for this harder, right?

"And it's the last one," she replied with a point. "I'm stoked, Diego's stoked, we have a bag packed for the hospital by the door, and like...I think I'm ready but I know I'll never be? But also, like."

She looked down at her belly, giving it a gentle poke. "Mommy's ready to meet you, kiddos." And if Summer did not pick up on the unspoken oh my god get out of me this is getting old, Annie would be happy to elaborate further.

[hasaknightjob]

Even Marc wasn't going to miss Annie's last night.

What? Maybe he just appreciated that she knew to get him a drink without too many questions.

"Steven says hi," Marc told her when he had a chance to talk to Annie. Sure Marc himself could say hi but meh. He was there, clearly greetings were implied.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Make sure to tell Steven I say hi back," Annie told him teasingly, a cocktail napkin already snagged as she made her way over. "How's it going, Marc?"

Funnily enough, she kind of figured that if she saw either of them once she was home with these kids, it was not going to be Marc. (Or, well, if he -- and not Steven -- came by with a casserole and diapers, she would be really fucking surprised.)

[hasaknightjob]

See? Annie understood. This was a thing to appreciate about people.

"Doing all right," Marc said. "Weekend went okay. You?"

Was she doing okay? Had her weekend gone all right? Dealer's choice, really.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I had a nice visit with Kimiko, learned a little sign language, caught up with a guy I know from your universe a little bit," Annie shared, nodding as she snagged the whiskey. "And now that that's over, I'm like...so ready to be at home with some distracting TV. I mean, after tonight. This is fine."

Spoken like a woman who really did like her job, but was also carrying two babies and was pretty over it at this point.

[pocketpretzels]

Watts was here, of course, and much like Wanda had come with gifts- namely some cinnamon rolls he’d baked that afternoon, and a copy of The Lost Pharaoh by one George Crabtree.

“Good evening, Annie,” he greeted, settling into his seat at the bar with a twirl.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Hi, Llewellyn!" Annie greeted him, trundling over with a grin. "How's it going? Are those for me?"

It would be downright cruel for him to bring baked goods into this bar on her last night if they weren't for her, just saying.

[pocketpretzels]

Also the book is Curse of the Pharaohs lol I know my own canon that’s what I get for pinging before I’m really awake

“They are,” Watts confirmed. “A little send-off gift.”

“I’m doing well,” he continued. “And yourself?” Apart from being nearly ready to pop, anyway.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Well, that was sort of the focus at the moment, the imminent popping.

"I'm okay," she promised, actually meaning it more than she usually did since, like, it was a very relevant question these days. "The kids are really active, but maybe cinnamon rolls will settle them down -- thank you, Llewellyn."

Also, seriously, Annie was gonna actually make her Goodreads goal this year, at this rate!

[texted3times]

What kind of boss would Eric be if he didn't make an appearance?

Well, exactly the kind of boss Annie knew she had, probably, but look at him making an effort.

"Hello."

Well. A slight effort. "Please take the pumpkins home."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Hi, Eric!" Annie did indeed know exactly what kind of boss she had. It was part of why she was a little extra effusive, because aw, look at him turn up on her last day (for awhile!) "You don't think it'll bum Tiny out if I do?"

Tiny's delicate emotions were such a focus of concern for Annie.

[texted3times]

"It might, but I'm not concerned about it," Eric told her.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, you're gonna be the one who has to deal with it if he's all upset," Annie pointed out, wincing. "And like, Lucifer and Octavia, I guess. But I'll totally take the pumpkins with me, sure."

The twin pumpkins that had been carved as a gift for her children, lovingly, by their good future friend, Tiny.