Central Park | Early Tuesday Afternoon

Annie had...not been as communicative with her Fandom friends as she had promised to be when she left the island.

Every time she tried to text someone, or send something more meaningful than an emoji, she got stuck behind the gigantic thing she couldn't...bring herself to talk about. At all. With anyone.

It was too embarrassing. She still wasn't sure it wasn't somehow something she had -- seemed like she wanted. Like she had brought it on herself. Annie knew it wasn't her fault, that she was only in control of her own actions and that The -- that that asshole had been in control of his.

But had she...sent signals? Had she done something to invite that?

And what would she have done if Queen Maeve hadn't come in? The fact that she didn't know the answer to that question, really, was the biggest thing standing in Annie's way of talking about this.

Annie had a meeting later, but she'd gotten out of the tower for the morning and taken herself for a long walk in Central Park, weighing her options. More than anything, she wanted to talk to Diego, but he was also the most difficult person to talk to about this. And it wasn't really something she felt like she could attempt over the phone, anyway. If she was going to tell him -- and she didn't know how that conversation would even begin, or how she'd get out of it without him running off to potentially get his ass kicked by the biggest indestructible jerk to ever crawl out of the ocean -- it needed to be in person.

But she had other friends, who were level-headed enough to hear something like this and not...immediately flip out. All right, she really had one friend who was level-headed to that degree, but one was enough.

Unfortunately, she got her voicemail. "Hey, it's Annie. Um, everything's fine," it was so not fine, "I could just -- um. Use some advice, when you're around. Something...happened at work. Okay. Talk to you soon, hope you're doing well." This was why she texted. Enjoy the most awkward voicemail ever, Rey.

( Hughie had had a tough few weeks )

[more preplaying with myself! Warning for language, taken in almost its entirety from The Boys 1.01, 'The Name of the Game.' NFB, NFI, OOC remains welcome!]

Vought Tower | Tuesday Afternoon into Evening

Okay. So. She could do this. She could totally do this.

It was just -- there was a statue behind her of these people. Homelander was on the other side of these doors. Never mind that the last time she'd been in the conference room had been -- no. Nope. Not thinking about that. She was just going to remind herself of what that guy -- Hughie -- had said on that park bench.

Just because she'd fallen on her ass didn't mean she had to stay there.

She was a fighter.

And now the doors were opening.

( Starlight, don't want to be late to your first official meeting.... )

After the meeting, Ashley had caught her to let her know she'd be going on her first patrol tomorrow night, which actually lifted her spirits a bit. Finally. She'd been here two days and there had, thus far, been no talk of crimefighting.

She'd retreated to her apartment -- which, honestly, might have been the one thing to not disappoint Annie in the slightest, so far, even if it didn't exactly feel...hers. Maybe that would come with time. She wriggled out of her uniform, feeling a sad little twinge when she had to reach back to undo her zipper by herself, and practically dove into a soft t-shirt and some sweatpants. She climbed into bed with her phone, ignoring the fact that the sun was barely setting, and reached for the remote to turn on the TV.

Maybe there were, like, some Housewives she could watch? And maybe she could order a pizza later, or something? Just sort of...veg out? Feel a little normal? Everything right now felt like too much effort. She had never been so exhausted, and already the idea of waking up and doing this all over again tomorrow was just...a lot.

[totally open for calls and texts, even if Annie is tired lol. Dialogue in the above scene taken from The Boys 1.01, 'The Name of the Game.']