video | i got a pair of wings for my birthday

[lyingheart]

[ Annie has damp hair she's wearing in a braid draped over her shoulder, sitting next to Krieg at a wood table, water glasses and what might be alcohol in frosted glasses before them. They're both facing the camera. Annie isn't smiling, but she's holding her one hand up making a victory sign in the least enthused manner ever. ]

Puck, just take the photograph already.

[ Krieg, bemasked as always although presumably?? Also drinking?? Is a little more into this whole photo session than Annie - he leans in next to his buddy and also flashes a victory sign...behind her head. Classic. ]

You gotta say "CHEESE", Honeyshine!

[ She starts frowning, eyes slanting to look askance up at him. ]

Why the hell would I shout cheese—

[ She's cut off as the sound of singing begins, a cupcake with a candle burning brightly in the middle being placed down in front of her. Puck shifts the camera to show the serving staff gathered behind the two diners, everyone smiling as brightly as the candle burns. Happy Birthday to you~ Annie is almost cut out of the frame, but what can still be seen of her face has her eyes going from blinking down at the cupcake, to wide open with the whites showing. What the legitimate fuck?! ]

Because when you say it you smile! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!!

[ The servers finish the song with a loud, “Happy 18th Birthday, Annie!” which anyone who knows she just turned 17, actually, might tip off about why she has a beer. Annie has hunched her shoulders, and the camera's starting to shake as Puck laughs silently. Annie gives Krieg a flat look, plucks the still burning candle out of the cupcake, and without a hitch in her movements, shoves the pretty, frosted cupcake into his masked face.

And blows out her candle. ]

Happy birthday yourself.

[ Krieg, his mask now caked in confectionery, just laughs. ]

PffffmnahahahahAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

[ The video ends as a small, barely there smile curls her lips up at the corners while he laughs and the servers look on in slightly distressed confusion. ]

Comments

[lyingheart]

... Assume he didn't.

[ the topics they covered were all... different. she knows a lot about a flaming monument to his chest that a friend made. that is probably not what Bertolt has in mind. ]

[bertall]

Krieg ended up in jail with Maya and Jean broke him out. By, uh...

_{[He gives Annie the old classic 'Reiner No' look, but there's still the hints of a smile. It's fine to smile about something as dumb as this, right? He hopes so, all things considered.]}

He broke the wall down to bail both of them out, and now he's in jail while it's getting repaired.

_{[Look at his life, Annie. All of the people he catches feelings for have something to do with damaging walls.]}

[lyingheart]

... Congratulations on your taste in men.

[ bertolt...

... your life. not to mention the other two involved, but jail breaks in this place, of all places? why? ]

[bertall]

<sub>[Oh, that's terrible.




And yet he doesn't bother to stifle the laugh - not entirely, anyway. The little Pokemon cocks its head at the strange noise his new person just made, and for a moment it even seems to be considering something... but it shrugs it off in favor of burying its face back into his sweater.]</sub>

I can't really deny that, can I? Maybe there's something about troublemakers that draws me to them.

_{[Or wallbreakers in this case.]}

The Jennies let me visit him though, even when it's past the usual hours. If you're around Violet before he gets out, you should come visit too.

[lyingheart]

[ she doesn't say it, but the idea leaves her skin pebbling with goose flesh. not because she dislikes Jean--he's much more tolerable these days--but jail, confinement, the place she may very well spend the rest of her life unknowing?

no. it leaves a sour, burning taste in the back of her mouth. only tempered by the fact she's glad bertolt's laughing. that counts for something. ]

When does he get out?

[bertall]

<sub>[It goes without saying that he'd find a way to keep her safe, even in a world like this. The feeling of being in a space like that isn't great, but he doesn't have it nearly as bad as Annie.

He'll never have it that bad.]</sub>

I think at the end of the month? At the very least it'd be nice for all of us to meet up sometime and really catch up. And, uh... You've got my permission in advance to knock me over again, too.

_{[For reasons.]}

[lyingheart]

[ her reaction is a little hilarious considering she may or may not remember the time she's encased in crystal, but the why of it, whose hands she's in, the likely ends--they're all thoughts she's turned over and considered and left as undecided until she knows otherwise.

hilarious, and sad.

for what he says, however, she lifts an eyebrow, eyeing him through the screen. meeting up would be good, but... do explain, bertolt. ]

Oh?

[bertall]

W-Well, uh.

_{[Now he just looks sheepish, but it's not a bad sheepish.]}

I told him.

_{[Jean, of course.]}

[lyingheart]

Took you long enough. What happened?

[ she has her guesses, but really, considering this is all public, she figures nothing exploded in anyone's face and quite probably, those two finally figured each other out.

AT LAST??? ]

[bertall]

You were right? I, ah... He actually made the first move.

_{[And for that, Bertolt feels she deserves a free flip or two - she was right, and Bertolt was wrong. It's only fair, isn't it?]}

I'm an idiot.

[lyingheart]

Yes, you are.

[ she's so nice she doesn't even pause before agreeing. but really, after saying so, she lifts her eyebrow even further, because while "i told you so" is the obvious thing he's acknowledging (since she did), what she ends up saying is: ]

When you're the one closet to something is usually when you're most blind to it. Choosing not to listen...

[ her eyes narrow for a moment... and she shrugs. really, she's glad for him, but that's also a complicated emotion she is absolutely not showing on public feeds. ]

Looks like we'll be sparring when we next meet up.

[bertall]

_{[As she trails off, he offers up an ending of his own;]}

...makes me a colossal idiot.

_{[It's much worse than your garden variety idiot.]}

I'll let Jean know when I go see him later, just so I don't worry him when you keep knocking me over.

_{[He can hold his own against her but in all the years he's known Annie, beating her in hand-to-hand is something Bertolt has never been able to do. But he'd always give her his best, and this time won't be any different no matter how out of practice he is.]}

Do you want me to go all out?

[lyingheart]

[ do you really need to say colossal... she sits back, restraining that sigh so that it remains internal. her gaze is more calm and steady. ]

What's the point in holding back?

[ she's not out to kill, and neither is he. that's all the restraint either one of them need, in her opinion. ]

[bertall]

I'll bring my Glaceon along for after, then.

_{[They might be sturdy and the healthcare in this world leagues better than back home, but they were still only human now. They might need some ice for any and all bumps they get.]}

Oh, and Annie? ...Thank you. For, uh... You know, listening and putting up with me before we sorted it out.

[lyingheart]

Do as you like.

[ Granted, her ice types come in to flavours: very large, and very annoying. Rations is likely to be out with her party at that point regardless.

For what else she says, she simply makes a noise of acknowledgement. ]

Not like I brought it up.

[ in other words, she let him chatter on about what he brought up, and repeatedly told him to deal with it. hardly anything graceful on her part, for all she doesn't refuse his gratitude. she just doesn't say he's welcome, either. ]