I'm a fighter

A Hospital in Annie's Universe | Wednesday Afternoon

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 13:19:50 GMT

It had been a pretty long night, once Annie and Diego had left for the hospital. And, ultimately, it had been a fairly uncomplicated labor in and of itself -- which, like, Annie was grateful for, but also people could stop saying that like it had been easy, thanks! -- and at the end of it all, mother and babies were all healthy and currently just sort of drowsy. (And, in Annie's case, sore in a way where she knew it was going to eventually be a lot worse, probably.)

Diego, on the other hand -- ha ha -- had an injury. That was, apparently, what supportive husbands got when their super-strong wives were busy pushing and not minding their strength, and Diego's brand-new hand fracture would apparently be healing in 4-6 weeks.

Which meant Annie was left to send out a text (along with a picture of two wrinkly little infants in little caps), once she was awake and lucid enough to think to do so.

Margaret (Maggie) and Benicio (Ben) Hargreeves, born early this morning (11/1/23). Everyone's okay, me included, just very tired. Diego's hand is also broken.

That seemed like enough for now, and Annie set aside her phone in favor of instead looking over towards the two bassinets in the room with them, and -- like, she hurt, but she'd also been on bedrest for forever, so she was tired of sitting around, and wanted to get over there to look at and hold her babies some more.

It just might, like, take a minute to get over there. She might not be pregnant anymore, sure, but Annie was not going to be moving fast again any time soon. (Which was fine. Babies, it turned out, had a pretty slow default speed.)

[feel free to say you got that text, and post is open for calls, texts, and broken-handed husbands!]

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75 Godiva St | Evening

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 16:04:14 GMT

Were you wondering if Annie had maybe gone off and quietly given birth somewhere away from the prying eyes and notepads of squirrels, and it just hadn't been reported yet?

That would have been so convenient for her.

Annie was, instead, lounging in front of the television in the living room, having relocated mostly so she could see the door and wave to any trick-or-treaters, while also viciously making her way through every Almond Joy in the giant bag of candy they had to hand out to the few children who lived on this island.

She felt she was allowed.

"Did those kids have actual McDonald's boo buckets?" she asked Diego after a group passed through and was given their candy, having tried to spy from her vantage point on the couch but unsure if her nostalgia-seeking eyes were deceiving her. "That's both cute and also, like -- they're really missing out by not using pillowcases."

That was, like, basic Halloween wisdom.

( Just a totally normal Halloween over here, don't mind us )

[preplayed with knife_bender, NFI as they are kind of busy and on their way out, but definitely for broadcast!]

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75 Godiva St | Afternoon

Thu, 26 Oct 2023 14:11:12 GMT

Just because Annie wasn't what you might call mobile at the moment, it did not mean she wasn't still doing her very best to partake of the capitalist hellscape offerings that had turned up! And like, bonus points -- did you know this island now had UberEats and DoorDash and Postmates and Grubhub????

(And yet, amongst all those coffee shops, not one Jitter Bean. Bullshit. Hadn't stopped her from getting a dozen Munchkins and some cake pops from Starbucks sent over, but it was bullshit.)

So once Annie had accepted her most recent delivery from Waffle House -- a chocolate-chip waffle with hashbrowns that had been capped, covered and smothered -- and trundled her way back to post up in front of the television, only then did she start to wonder whether this was really a good move for the island. Like, she herself had quite a bit of experience with this sort of thing (maybe more than the average bear, honestly!), and she could tell the island was doing a whole thing with this -- but also, like, what was she going to do about it at this point?

Maybe she didn't have to support it so hard, but also -- like, guys, she was due to give birth any day and her hashbrowns had so many accessories, get outta here with that.

[open for calls, texts, and drop-bys if you are so inclined!]

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Baa Atoll, Maldives | Tuesday

Tue, 01 Aug 2023 13:48:09 GMT

Annie could kind of get used to this, maybe.

Like, obviously, she could not, considering that the whole reason she was currently stretched out on a lounger next to her own private pool in her own private villa with their own private swath of jungle nearby was because she was less than three months out from giving birth to twins, and she was about to never be able to even think about going on a vacation again, probably. Like. She knew this.

But all the same, after a few days here, Annie had finally relaxed into being on vacation. She didn't even miss the opportunity to, like, take a machete to that swath of jungle -- partly because, you know, pregnant, but also because the vibe here kind of encouraged her to actually relax.

Which was probably the point, right? Getting pedicures and massages (check and check), eating well for the babies (check and like jeez, the food here), and...chilling out with her phone and a virgin pina colada that had shown up in an amazingly brief window after she'd ordered it from room service.

And like, maybe once the kids were old enough, they'd go on a machete vacation with them! That was a fun little daydream, in the meantime.

[for the husband and nfb for distance, natch!]

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75 Godiva St | Sunday Morning

Sun, 18 Jun 2023 12:11:59 GMT

It was rare that Annie was able to beat Diego to being awake -- so rare, in fact, that on the few occasions when she did successfully sneak out of bed before him (and back when she'd had her insomnia-induced midnight Almond Joy raids), she kind of suspected he was letting her.

Today was one such day, which was good because it was Father's Day. A holiday that, right up until this year, had been kind of fraught and/or meaningless for everyone in this house. Annie hadn't seen her father in fifteen years, and Diego's was now dead -- and also, like, a manipulative asshole alien with little regard for the lives of those around him, so. You know. Not big Father's Day people, previously.

Annie had gotten it into her head that Father's Day breakfast was a thing (right? People did that?), and had thus made both her own coffee and Diego's real coffee before setting to work to do just that.

So, when Diego did emerge, he would find Annie quietly cleaning the kitchen, the lingering smell of burnt toast in the air, perhaps a cracked egg shell here and there, and a delivery person on their way with an actual edible breakfast shortly, because that had been stupid of her.

At least she'd managed to not catch the present she'd gotten him on fire or anything. It was still sitting there on the counter, looking all sparkly and gift-like.

[for the dad-to-be!]

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75 Godiva St | Afternoon

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 12:01:18 GMT

You know that stage of moving where your major furniture is all set up, and you can technically live in your home, and you're considering maybe just that your life is cardboard boxes forever, and maybe they're actually sort of cute? Cardboardcore. Start a new trend.

Anyway.

"What should we actually do with all of these boxes when we're done?" Annie wondered, opening up yet another box of books. For such card-carrying members of Team Himbo, they had, like, way too many of these. Kindles for everyone before the next move. "Make a fort in the backyard?"

Aww. They had a backyard now.

[for the husband!]

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MHA #4 | Friday Afternoon

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 13:33:48 GMT

You know, normally, when Annie had been thrown through something on the interdimensional fuckery scale like she had the past ten days (holy shit, it had not felt like that long), Summer would be her first stop just to try to make a little sense of what she'd been through with someone who got it.

But now that Annie had caught up on how much time had actually passed, and how much she'd missed, her own various issues were firmly in the backseat when she ventured across the hall with a pair of ice cream pints in a bag over one arm. She'd not only missed sangria night -- which was going to be a discussion they needed to have for multiple reasons -- but she'd missed sangria float night, which was supposed to be about Summer's breakup. Worst best friend ever, right here.

Hopefully Summer was around for a raincheck. Or the closest Annie's non-sangria-consuming self could come to one, anyway. So! Knocking, knocking -- chipper, perky, annoying-to-a-hungover-person, Annie-style knocking, la la la.

[for she whose apartment it is! and omg baby stuff is still NFB here!]

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MHA #2 | Thursday Evening

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 15:45:47 GMT

Annie wasn't even sure what day it was, but that didn't really matter at the moment. What did matter was that they weren't dead, or swallowed up by a kugelblitz, or trapped forever in a crazy torture machine or whatever the hell it was Diego's dad had surprised them with there at the end.

There were other things that mattered, too, and other things that needed to be double-checked. Diego was down a set of powers and his tattoo, but his fingers were restored. Annie still had her powers, but had lost all ten of her ear piercings. Luther was alive now, but Sloane, Five and Allison were all missing. Everything had changed, again.

But. Hopefully not everything.

They'd made a quick stop on the way home to pick up a test, and while the waiting had been nerve-wracking, Annie had never felt so relieved in her life once the time was up. Like, she got why people fainted when they got good news, now.

"Two lines," she told Diego, emerging from the bathroom with a slightly-teary smile. It had been a long day, and she was still pregnant. She got to be a little teary. "All good."

[that Diego and Annie are back from their adventures is fine for broadcast, but all baby-related news is not, thank yoooooou!]

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Hotel Obsidian | Afternoon

Sat, 04 Mar 2023 13:58:58 GMT

You know, Annie led a life of pretty unique experiences. But watching her husband's alternate-universe son try to dislodge the spear that had recently killed her apparently (and thankfully) immortal brother-in-law from the wall of a pretty ugly hotel suite, while the world was ending, was...definitely a new one.

"So, I think we all learned something about gun safety, and how you should never point any kind of gun at a person, right?" she offered, glancing from Stanley's efforts up to Diego. She didn't really want to cross the line into lecturing the kid herself -- it did not feel like her place, but this seemed appropriately...responsible-nearby-adultish to say. "We were really lucky this time."

Like, Stanley could have been hanging out with one of his other, much-more-killable uncles when the harpoon went off, to start.

[for the husband and the AU stepkid, and NFB for distance, obviously! ETA - also going NWS omg]

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Sparrow Academy | Evening

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 18:03:47 GMT

So. This was a hell of a facility. A zen garden, a home theater, a state-of-the-art kitchen, and now Annie was pressing a button on a treadmill to slow it down, since Sloane -- the pretty one that Luther obviously had noticed from the very minute he saw her -- had graciously offered to let them finish their jog in the gym.

Part of Annie was genuinely really impressed by the whole joint. A larger part of Annie was, unfortunately, reminded of Seven Tower, which was also a pretty dope place to hang out and work and live, but that also ultimately kind of didn't mean a whole lot.

At least Sloane seemed like she was genuinely nice. Annie was a terrible judge of character, sure, but she wasn't picking up anything but honest kindness off of Sloane. (And like -- maybe something reciprocal towards Luther? Possibly just wishful thinking, but Annie was maybe kind of getting a vibe.)

"I have to admit, you guys have some pretty sweet digs," she observed as she stepped off her treadmill earlier than she would have liked, thanks to a return of that slightly-sweaty queasiness from earlier. God, what was wrong with her?

( We find out what was wrong with Annie )

[adapted, once more, from TUA 3.02, 'World's Biggest Ball of Twine,' and preplayed with the always-fantastic knife_bender! NFB, NFI, but OOC is totally welcome!]

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A Park to the Sparrow Academy | Morning

Wed, 01 Mar 2023 13:13:26 GMT

Everything involving all of this was weird, because that was just par for the course with this family, but this time around there was a lot of weirdness that was seemingly designed to make Annie uncomfortable. She got that having Stan dropped in his lap wasn't Diego's fault, and thankfully Fandom had prepared her pretty thoroughly for the idea that they lived different, separate lives in other universes, but....

But it still wasn't easy to have your husband tell you that this adolescent child was his, with a woman who was already so aggressive and confident as to make Annie vaguely uncomfortable with her.

So anyway. Annie was also lucky that it was pretty hard to miss her second-favorite Hargreeves when he was up and moving around, and when she ran into Luther on his way out for a morning run, she'd hardly hesitated before asking if she could tag along -- even if she was actually feeling a little queasy this morning. (Whatever. Probably just all the time travel and -- weirdness.)

"Does it look normal around here to you?" she asked as they made their way towards a park, Annie lengthening her stride a little more than she would normally to keep up with Luther. "Like, out here, too?"

She hadn't spent all that much time in the Unnamed City. Especially not during the daytime.

( Casual jogging where no one gets kidnapped )

( Family breakfast )

[NFI, NFB, OOC welcome! Loosely taken from TUA 3.02, "World's Biggest Ball of Twine" and preplayed with knife_bender!]

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MHA #2 | Tuesday Afternoon

Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:35:52 GMT

Someone around here had been neglecting her plants.

They were alive still, of course; not only had Annie not been so distracted for the last month as to not kill her plants, but she also knew Diego watered them when he remembered, too. But Annie had noticed earlier that they were a little dusty, and more than a few were still clinging to some dead leaves or a withered flower, and they were -- neglected. It was the only word.

Annie even found a string of lights wound through one -- along with a knife, but there were knives in most of these pots -- leftover from the Christmas rager. Damn. She'd been kinda checked out on this kind of thing for awhile, huh?

And while she was working on this, a text message came in to confirm an appointment she'd set up a long time ago, way back before Wanda had ever come asking her for help, and Annie stopped with her little leaf trimmers and read it.

...and then stayed stopped, to think about it, before ultimately setting her phone aside and deciding that needed to be a discussion, and resumed tending to her nearly-self-uprooted aloe while humming to herself.

[for the husband! contents of conversation NFB, please!]

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MHA #2 | Tuesday Morning

Tue, 13 Dec 2022 14:35:33 GMT

So, Annie had gotten a call a few days ago. And now that she'd had a few days to think (and to cry, and to pray, and to drink) about it, she was butting up to maybe actually being able to respond.

There was so much to say? But at the same time, so much she wasn't sure how to say. There was a prevailing feeling of lightness that had ballooned in her chest at hearing Wanda's recorded voice, even after everything -- but that lightness was also chased by something she didn't want to admit was panic that Wanda was still alive, even if she was sorry.

After this summer, and the year before, and now this -- Annie's fear responses were becoming sharper and sharper by the day. She didn't like that about herself -- she was supposed to be a dang superhero, unafraid of anything, but it was happening anyway.

On the bright side, her twitchiness and inability to relax meant that the mistletoe that had been creeping along one wall was now but a scorch mark on the wall across from her. (Which, of course, did not mean more would not be back.)

In any case, she finally willed herself to hit the send button on the text she'd been waffling on for days:

I'm glad you're okay.

And that was all there was to it, really. She was. There was more, but that part was true.

And now she was sending a much easier text to Wong, who had offered to help her find a superhero-friendly therapist, and good God was it obvious that Annie needed one of those.

[mostly establishy but totally open to neighbors, husbands, texts, calls, etc.]

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Kamar-Taj | Morning

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 12:33:24 GMT

It was kind of surreal to be back here at Kamar-Taj, but it was a welcome sort of surrealness, at least.

...also, had that one sorcerer with a bull's head always been here?

"You guys should look into getting on the grid,"Annie commented lightly from where she was seated and assessing her injuries (including whether anything had messed up her be-socked foot, since she was never getting that shoe back.) "Or at least keep some flashlights around. How does anyone charge their phones here?"

Important questions!

( Annie says goodbye to the MCU )

[and that's a wrap for Annie (and Strange, and America!) Vaguely taken from Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and preplayed with scarlet_chaos, who is amazing in general and also specifically for inviting me on this Sam Raimi adventure.]

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Pizza Ball Universe | Afternoon

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 14:00:43 GMT

Annie was falling. But was 'falling' the word to use here? Maybe 'hurtling' was better, since she wasn't falling towards the ground -- she, America, and Stephen (who seemed to have thrown himself in after them? Good.) were hurtling through star-shaped portal after star-shaped portal through...world, after world, after world.

Through space. Through a cavern of geodes. Through a city that seemed to be POPULATED BY GIANT INSECTS? Into the ocean, where Annie's lungs instantly filled, and she was gratified that both she and Stephen reached for America upon realizing they were all drowning, just for that second. Then New York -- her New York? Maybe. They were there for a half-second -- then a world with tiny robots (cute), then a much-less-cute world where there were entirely too many bones everywhere, then they passed dinosaurs, and that was awesome but also even more of a fleeting nightmare for Annie than Kamar-Taj had been.

But never fear, of course, because they weren't staying there. Annie, America and Stephen, flailing arms out towards one another to stay connected, were turned into cartoons, then cubed (and that was a lot of screaming, Stephen, but like...mood), then splashed through one dimension as paint -- PAINT! -- before hurtling (that really was the word) through several more worlds in rapid succession and landing in...a park?

A park. A park, and solid ground.

Annie was just going to lay here in the grass and stare at the sky and breathe hard for a second, thank you. America seemed to be breathing next to her, too, so that would do for right now. At some point, she'd have to thank Five for desensitizing her stomach to portaling back in 1963, because she barely even wanted to hurl right now. Barely.

( Multiverse travel makes you pukey )

( Time for exposition )

[[NFI, NFB but OOC is always wonderful! Taken from Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and preplayed with the lovely scarlet_chaos!]

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MHA #2 | Saturday Morning...ish

Sat, 03 Dec 2022 14:50:55 GMT

The sun was out, which was terrible of it, really, and the ruins of the Christmas rager lay before anyone who had slept here last night. The tub, miraculously, still stood, full of half-melted ice and gross citrus peels and candy that had not made it into cups. The kitchen was nothing short of a disaster. There was tinsel and glitter everywhere.

But.

There was also coffee brewing, and Annie -- zonked and mildly (success!) hungover though she was -- had put on a kettle in case there was, like, a British person asleep in a corner somewhere. And true to tradition, Barry -- who was absolutely there and had been the whole time, of course -- had supplied a veritable army of bagels for the hungover troops this morning.

Hopefully you don't have any regrets beside a headache, and maybe the sweater you chose to wear.

[open to anyone who crashed here last night (feel free to say you did!), or anyone who'd like to swing by to help clean up the carnage!]

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MHA #2 | Friday Evening and probably onwards - the THIRD ANNUAL Christmas Rager!!

Fri, 02 Dec 2022 12:37:26 GMT

It was a Christmas miracle: an even tackier, way-too-early ugly sweater party.

With way, way too much alcohol, and a kinda ridiculous number of activities.

There were, of course, the ubiquitous plastic snowmen haunting (almost) every corner of the apartment, and one out on each of the Smokers' Balconies for good measure. There were strings of lights lining the ceiling, as well as tracing the edges of each window. There were cookies to decorate (and eat, because you definitely should eat, and there were moddable snacks aplenty as well.) While there was, of course, Christmas music playing, those with keen eyes (or at least, enough wherewithal to look around an apartment before you started potentially drinking heavily in it) might spot a karaoke machine that would come out later. One particularly tinsel-y corner had an abundance of Santa hats and reindeer antlers and wearable strings of lights to wear while taking photos, and in the guest room -- of course -- there was a much-fabled craft table, where you could make an ornament that didn't have to be in an immature shape, but definitely could be.

There was also, hovering slowly through the party, a drone with mistletoe dangling from it. A Mistle Drone, one might call it, even.

And, because this was the Christmas Rager, there was alcohol. There was so, so, so much alcohol. The kegs of Christmas ale had once been reordered, there was a Make Your Own hot chocolate and coffee bar, and while Annie would never argue that Summer's shot table wasn't the star of every party...this year was a little different. Mostly because of how they'd decided to serve Annie's punch: in a freestanding bathtub, just slightly off-center from the room.

Welcome to the third annual Christmas Rager. Hope you wore a sweater, because the hostesses both have glitter cannons in case you didn't show up festive enough!

[~~please hold for way too many threads~~ and we're off! open to literally every single adult on the island -- students are welcome to attempt to crash, but they'll be busted.]

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MHA #2 | Thursday Afternoon

Thu, 01 Dec 2022 12:54:06 GMT

There was so much tinsel in this apartment. Annie was pretty sure she'd be finding tinsel until the day she and Diego eventually moved out of here.

But it was all coming together, at least!

There were stacks of yet-to-be-inflated inflatables, though slowly over the course of the afternoon, they would transform into snowmen and reindeer and Santa Clauses. There were strings of lights being detangled across the floor, and little cups of spare bulbs just in case they were needed. (No Christmas light quitters around here!)

There was a tree, which was already decorated in a perfect blend of the residents' taste (read: equal parts sparkles and knives), and a few totes labeled things like 'CRAFT SUPPLIES' and 'EXTRA GLITTER.'

Annie turned on some cheery Christmas tunes, ran herself a cup of eggnog from the faucet, propped the front door open, and stuck a sign to it just in case she was setting up Summer's shot table or something when someone swung by.

Help decorate for the Christmas rager, be rewarded with beer and pizza!

(And eggnog, but you could get that literally anywhere today)

[door and post are very open with a touch of SP this morning, and feel free to mod a text inviting you to help decorate if you'd like!]

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MHA #2 | Late Tuesday Evening

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 12:48:24 GMT

Given that it had been relatively clear out tonight, with no rain or wind in the forecast, Annie and Diego had finally made good on this idea of going back over to Baltimore for a little crimefighting date. And Annie, in turn, had made good on her long-told promise of getting leather pants -- they were tight, but she couldn't deny she looked really good. And like a total badass. Maeve would be proud. (And they were warm, which wasn't especially badass, but you spend most of your adult life fighting in a tulle skirt -- warmth becomes important.)

"I need to figure out how to fly without taking out an entire breaker panel," Annie was saying as she let herself back into the apartment and flipped on the lights. She wasn't still out of breath, exactly, but she was very pink-cheeked still from how fast they'd had to run away from their last set of criminals of the night -- she and Diego had spotted a couple of guys sort of...playing with a window, and while the fight hadn't taken especially long, they still hadn't wanted to be waiting there when the cops came. But this was one of those reasons why it was good to be in shape in their line of work! "How are your knuckles?"

Annie's kind of hurt -- lots of punching, since she hadn't wanted to attract a lot of attention with blasts -- but Annie also had super-skin. (And Annie was also clearly flying on a high of remembering she could do all of that. Even without the cape.)

[for that man she married!]

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The Belvedere Hotel, Baltimore | Saturday Afternoon into Evening

Sat, 15 Oct 2022 10:57:43 GMT

The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and the temperature was hovering comfortably in the 70s over here in Baltimore. Not that the weather mattered much, aside from allowing for outside photos at some point, but at least you didn't have to try to find a fancy coat for this, right?

Welcome to the Belvedere, where the January-Hargreeves wedding was taking place in a pair of elegant ballrooms. Admire the surroundings, find a seat for the ceremony, and get ready for a hopefully apocalypse-free wedding!

(Hopefully! Everyone here was pretty sure, anyway!)

[~~y'all are gonna need to hold for a truly absurd number of threads.~~ and we're off! wedding is open to all!]

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MHA #2 | Wednesday Evening

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 10:40:42 GMT

Twenty-four days.

Invitations were out. The alterations of Annie's wedding dress were nearly done. Their song list had been chosen and vetted and drafted and eventually turned in.

But today, they were working on making one last, incredibly important wedding-related choice, and while Annie was fairly sure which direction they were going, it still required further research -- which was why she was perched up on her kitchen counter next to the box of cake samples she and Diego had brought home with them, idly picking at a very rich, chocolate cube of cake. Had they just spent a couple hours trying cake already? Yes. Didn't mean Annie was, like, done yet.

"I feel like I'm gonna need a bib no matter what we go with," she commented.

But she was still gonna eat the hell out of this chocolate sample, even if she was kind of thinking no thanks on chocolate for the actual thing. Something lighter. Maybe layers of something lighter.

[for the fiancé! and on that note -- invitations have totally handwavily gone out, and if you think you were invited to this wedding, you totally were.]

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MM's Apartment | Evening

Wed, 31 Aug 2022 12:33:02 GMT

Even after a couple days in space, Annie felt a little uneasy even stepping back into New York again. It helped that she had no intention of doing so again for a long, long time after this. She'd been out in the city long enough to see the coverage about her was waning and that Homelander and Ryan were off the grid still, apparently, but to also catch sight of a few protesters bearing signs that urged people to #BelieveStarlight, and that...helped.

But she also knew it wasn't enough to keep her here, anymore.

"Hello?" she called, letting herself into MM's apartment with the key he'd given her (and that she would be leaving in a discreet spot on top of his doorframe when she left, since she wouldn't need it again.) "It's me."

And when no answer came, she -- well. It had been a long, long few weeks, and she had good reason to be wary of not hearing an answer.

"Are you there?"

( Guess who )

[An epilogue, taken from The Boys 3.08, preplayed with myself, and NFB/NFI/OOC is welcome! (I'm actually done for real now!)]

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MHA #2 | Late, Late Wednesday Evening

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 14:55:16 GMT

It had been almost two weeks since Annie or Diego had stepped foot in their own apartment -- Annie wouldn't even be able to bring herself to look at their poor plants until the light of day forced her to in the morning -- and so much had changed in just those thirteen days since they'd been home.

Already, her phone was alight with news alerts about Queen Maeve and her legacy as Vought's bravest lesbian (Annie was annoyed on her behalf, don't worry), and the way she'd saved America from a radicalized Soldier Boy. It was a little comforting to know the truth -- that the explosion hadn't killed either of them. Soldier Boy was currently in the custody of Colonel Mallory, who would keep him sedated until they could figure out what to do with him. And, better still, the woman who had been ready to sacrifice her life hadn't actually had to. Annie had nearly burst into tears an hour or so earlier, when MM had stopped their van near a completely uninteresting dumpster and there had been stirring before she and Diego had gently pulled Maeve's shaky, bruised -- but breathing -- form into the van. It was almost enough to make her believe in miracles again.

"I kind of can't believe we're actually home," Annie noted softly as she let them into the apartment, smiling a little. "I'd pinch myself if I didn't still hurt from earlier."

No need to pinch oneself when you could still feel where a beautiful man had repeatedly thrown you into things, after all.

[for the fiancé!]

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Vought Tower | Wednesday Evening

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 13:06:44 GMT

When they got to the tower, and had followed Diego in through the Lamplighter Schoolgirl-Sneaking Entrance (ew), the group split up.

Diego was directed to the master tech controls for the building, where he'd have access to the PA system as well as any emergency systems that might be helpful in getting people out of the tower. Frenchie and Kimiko headed for the main lab, taking Hughie with them (for no reason other than that MM didn't want Hughie with him, right now.)

And that turned out to be a good call, since Annie and MM had made their way up to the upper floors and just had to follow the way the building shook to figure out where the action was.

( It all ends here )

[THE END. Most of this is taken pretty straight from 3.08, and warning for the (apparent) death of two NPCs, as well as quite a bit of descriptive violence. Preplayed with knife_bender, who talked me off several ledges throughout this, deserves some kind of medal, and is also taking a well-deserved bow as Homelander here. NFB, NFI, but OOC is very welcome, and I'm almost done with spam now!]

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A Gas Station in the Middle of Nowhere to MM's Apartment | Wednesday Morning

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 10:15:13 GMT

Annie had gotten a call this morning from an unknown number, and while she would have ignored it, it had called back three times. And then it had called collect, which Annie had not even known you could still do.

And once she'd talked to the person on the other end -- well, frankly, she had very nearly hung up the phone upon hearing his voice. And as it was, she had absolutely no intention of having any kind of a conversation while she drove this fuckstick's ass back to the city.

But here she was, pulling up outside of a gas station in the middle of goddamn nowhere. At least she got to drive MM's sweet car.

( You know what buys forgiveness for being a total asshole all season? A sad story about Pizza Rolls, for sure )

( Meanwhile, something nice actually happened for once )

[and we are in the home stretch -- welcome to 3.08, 'The Instant White-Hot Wild.' Preplayed with knife_bender, and NFB/NFI/OOC welcome!]

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