Vought Tower | Friday Evening

[defenderofdesmoines]

So the good news was that the Translucent music video from a couple of weeks ago had been roughly cut together, and reshoots on Dawn of the Seven were wrapped, to boot.

The bad news was -- well, first of all the bad news was that all of that was awful and cheesy and tacky, especially the music video. But the really bad news was that things were in full swing for Citizen Starlight, coming to Vought+ this fall. And so while her day-to-day routine had returned to relative normalcy for Starlight -- for Annie -- and she had even actually been allowed to go on a save this afternoon, in her cape, she knew it wouldn't really last. It never did.

But. For better or for worse, she was getting more comfortable and kind of coming into her own role on the team. Her popularity was soaring, and even if she was exhausted half the time, this was what Annie had kind of...actually figured she was signing up for.

Which was why, when this weekend found her having to stay in New York again for an early Wish shoot tomorrow, she'd invited her friends to come visit her here to hang out at her giant apartment. With its giant bar. And its super fun margarita set, which was what Annie was playing with when she had the realization that she probably should have offered to meet Rey and Summer both in the lobby.

Oh well. Diego and Jessica had made it up here, right?

[for those gal pals mentioned.]

Comments

[thatwaslucky]

This looked like a building Rey would have seen on Coruscant, but it wasn't like she actually went into those buildings. She was mostly trying not to gape at everything.

Going into the elevator would be safe, right? Those could only be so impressive.

[vought_npcs]

It was pretty standard for an elevator, yeah. And while a few boring people in suits totally got on and off of a few of those early floors, the elevator stopped around the tenth floor to let on a pair of boisterous, chatty men, along with a set of quieter ones who were carrying cameras and conspicuous boom mics.

"Very summer chic," Evan greeted Rey, gesturing broadly to her outfit.

"I love it," Seth agreed with a bright, eager nod and an up-and-down hand flourish at Rey. "So flowy."

[thatwaslucky]

"Thanks," she said, figuring she'd leave it at that, though she was eyeing the cameras a little warily.

[vought_npcs]

As she should be, since Evan immediately followed this all up with a cheery, "Are you visiting or do you work in the building?"

It sounded like polite conversation, but the reality was that Rey was cute and had interesting fashion sense, so if she worked in the tower, Evan and Seth would both find her department and ask to borrow her for a shampoo commercial or something.

[thatwaslucky]

"Just visiting," she said. "I'm here for A- Starlight."

She would of course always see her as Annie.

[vought_npcs]

Yeah, don't mind how the cameramen were now shifting their equipment around and discreetly turning things on.

"Our heroine of the hour!" Seth said, wide-eyed and eager as Evan quietly moved one of the microphones into a better spot, because carpe diem, it was one of Starlight's elusive friends. "Would you be willing to tell the camera a little about your friendship with Starlight? It's for her reality show."

And she had been frustratingly private up until now, so they were going to take what they could get.

[thatwaslucky]

"...We're in an elevator," Rey pointed out.

At least she wasn't used to the word turbolift from home or that would probably be a whole other thing.

[vought_npcs]

Turbolift was a way, way cooler word. It would have totally caught on.

"We could go to the studio if you'd prefer," Seth offered. "But we're going for a raw, unfiltered look into Starlight's life. Behind the scenes with America's super-sweetheart. A quick little elevator interview with one of her closest friends?" That was some accidental accuracy, since Seth was just, like, creating a narrative already. "It's just what our viewers want."

Which was why the cameras were now totally on and pointed at Rey. (They'd get a waiver out for her in a second! Forgiveness rather than permission, all of that.)

[thatwaslucky]

"Does she know you're doing this?" Rey asked, totally stalling.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Surprising absolutely no one, Summer was so super stoked about this margarita night in particular, and, surprising no one, she had also brought a few rounds of jello shots (the classic Starlight oevure ones), despite the margaritas, because, um, the more, the merrier? It was a small set, though, because at least one of their squad was probably good on just the margaritas, but she couldn't not bring jello shots, either!

And also cupcakes. Because she had cupcake class earlier, and the butter pecan ones (dressed up with some gold sprinkles, of course, were just calling to her and who didn't love cupcakes?

Also, like, she was definitely expecting this place to be a bit much, and it definitely did not leave her disappointed, as she just sort of shook her head to help prevent herself from just gawking at it, and made her way over to the elevator she'd been directed to.

[vought_npcs]

Maybe someone forgot something on a floor upstairs. Maybe they needed to get a pickup shot from their lead performer. Maybe time was meaningless. For whatever reason, though, Seth, Evan, and the Citizen Starlight crew were getting back into the elevator with Summer.

"Ooh, someone brought treats?" Seth guessed playfully, eyeing what Summer was carrying. "Now do you have lucky officemates, or are you visiting someone?"

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I'm here to see Starlight," Summer said, with a confident and important lift of her chin and accompanying flick of her ponytail, because she had absolutely no qualms about pulling cred in this situation, especially considering what a Big Deal^TM Annie was getting to be around here lately, and, seriously, if one of your besties was going to be Hot Shit^TM at some gigantic messed-up evil superhero corporation pretty much straight out of a comic book, you had to just milk it for all it was worth, right?

"But I brought more than enough to share," she offered, her smile going a little sweeter as she sized up the crew a little. "Do you like cupcakes?" She shifted her hold on them a little so she could open that box up for proof. "They're butter pecan!"

[vought_npcs]

"I love cupcakes," Seth told Summer in perfect honesty, though his counterpart -- and the crew, naturally -- had perked right up.

"You're here to see Starlight?" Evan asked, eyes wide as the cameramen shifted to turn things on without being prompted. "Are you a friend of hers?"

Don't mind the incredibly predatory way he said that, Summer, it was all normal. As was the waiver that one of the camera guys was fishing out preemptively.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Well, they were in the media business, of course they were bound to be predatory just in the way they breathed. But all of this, going on, right here, with the shifting and the emphasis and all that? Now had Summer's attention.

"Ohmygoooood," she drawled, deciding not to bother holding back the grin that surfaced with her realization. "Don't tell me you guys are here to film for that new reality show. You so totally are!"

She shifted where she stood, just slightly, and, considering the lighting in her, just a fraction more.

"If you guys are going to interview me, try to do it more from this angle, that's totally my better side, and to answer your question, yes, duh, obviously I'm her friend, like, pretty much one of her best friends, and I hope this doesn't take too long," lies, all lies, she would totally do this for hours if they let her, "we're kind of going to have a girls night thing tonight."

If anything, she figured palling it up with her besties would be pretty solid for Annie's branding, right?

[vought_npcs]

The cameramen obediently moved so that one was positioned on Summer's better side as directed, as Seth and Evan both carefully made sure they wouldn't be in the shot. (At least it was a fairly roomy elevator, as far as these things go.

"A girls night thing?" Evan prompted brightly, looking absolutely delighted at this development. "How long have you known Starlight? What's it like being best friends with the most popular girl in America?"

Annie, for the record, would protest that line of questioning a lot.

"Introduce yourself to the camera, if you wouldn't mind," Seth added, pointing to the camera positioned, again, on that better side. They'd get to the waiver in a second, blah blah blah, legal stuff was boring.

[somethingwithturquoise]

Yeah, like, clearly, that waiver was obviously practically already signed, sealed, and delivered.

Summer took a moment to look as cutely considerate of the questions at hand, just in case they needed some extra filler reaction shots before she offered, "So, hi. I'm Summer Smith, I've pretty much been best friends with Annie since she transferred from Des Moines to Fandom Island." They probably had all that background stuff, right? If not, whatever, that was what editing was for. "We hit it off, like, almost instantly, and it's really not hard to see why. Annie's pretty much the best. You can tell right away, within seconds of meeting her, that there's just something so...genuine and strong and caring about her. Plus, she was wearing, like, this super cute outfit," Summer couldn't remember for the life of her what Annie might have actually been wearing when they met, but she would put money down on it being incredibly nondescript and hoodie-based, "and I just knew, right then and there, that this was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship."

She gave a good pause for editing before adding, "Annie's just like that, though, you know? You don't become the most popular girl in America for nothing," sorry, Annie! "and I honestly can't think of a better person for it."

[vought_npcs]

Seth and Evan, rightfully, both looked like they had struck gold. Because, you know, they had.

"So you know her primarily in her civilian identity," Seth jumped in, noting that right away. "Most members of The Seven are very secretive about their identities, but Starlight's been so open about who she is right from the start."

That was some interesting spin on how she'd lost her temper while out in a very hoodie-based outfit and gotten her secret identity busted, like, a week into the job, sure.

"Would you say you spend more time with Starlight, or with Annie?" Evan added, as though this was a very probing, serious question.

[defenderofdesmoines]

And once everyone had finally dealt with their various elevator escapades and was gathered in Annie's apartment, there were, totally, margaritas to be had, not to mention jello shots.

"I'm super glad you guys survived," Annie noted, pouring out drinks for everyone. "I need to start meeting people in the lobby, 'cause this happens, like, every time."

Annie usually just saw boring executives. Or Homelander, but that had been a special circumstance.

[thatwaslucky]

"It does feel like a very long elevator ride when you're being interviewed," Rey said.

It probably felt longer with super short sentences not taking up time.

[somethingwithturquoise]

"Really?" Summer blinked a little in surprise, but then realized who had said it, and...well, you couldn't take back a blink, but if she could, she probably would have. "I mean, it did seem, like, shockingly slow for the kind of elevator you'd expect in a place like this, but I didn't think it was that bad."

Of course, she had sort of come out of it with a business deal, sooooo....

She'd earned these margaritas, dammit.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Jessica got stuck in there with my publicist, who is now my boss, when she visited," Annie shared, looking a little curious. "But anyone who can fly goes in through the roof, and A-Train takes the stairs, so I guess they don't have a ton of incentive to speed it up for, like, our benefit."

And like, if you guys had not realized, everything kind of revolved around the team, here.

"Did they ask anything bad?" she added worriedly. Not that she couldn't, like, break the cameras and destroy the footage if those creeps had gotten anything bad. "They're supposed to ask me before they interview anyone."

A very optimistic and naïve assumption that Annie had not, actually, gotten backed up in writing.

[thatwaslucky]

"Just what it's like to be friends with you," Rey said, and added, "I didn't really answer, which does not reflect on you."

[somethingwithturquoise]

"I got pretty much the same question," Summer offered, then grinned into her drink. "But I definitely answered."

And how!

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Okay, actually, that doesn't surprise me," Annie noted. "Either of those answers. Like, on the one hand, I am super glad you didn't give them anything, Rey, but on the other -- like, Summer, you are kind of a godsend because I don't know how many quiet friends they're gonna buy I have."

A surprising number of them, honestly!

[thatwaslucky]

"Have they been trying to interview everyone?" Rey wondered.