005 | video 🍻 two hot messes for the price of one

[hardedged]

[ As the video feed starts, there's some quick, unstable shaking of the camera, panning around the room to reveal a dimly lit dive bar. After a moment, it finally focuses on two intoxicated women making the healthiest of life choices — Sarah Manning and Jessica Jones. They certainly didn't arrive here together, but after a drinking contest gone wrong, they're inseparable now. ]

Shit. [ Jess mumbles, her gaze barely focusing on the camera. ] Sobriety sucks. So does this dump. Stuck here for a goddamn year, and you dumbasses still can't find a way out.

And—and what's with all the complacency? [ Sarah points to the camera and, presumably, whoever is watching on the other end. ] Everybody's so bloody happy here.

Like morons. [ Wake up, sheeple. Jess stops her ranting, only for a moment, to take yet another swig of hard liquor. Apparently, she hasn't consumed enough. ] Jesus Christ.

My sister... [ Sarah laughs, but it's a kind of disbelieving laugh, and then she takes a swig of her own drink. ] My sister got married. To someone from another universe. Married.

The hell? [ Her brow furrows, matching Sarah's incredulous expression. If she was slightly less wasted, Jessica would be able to process this revelation better. ] Sarissa?

No, Cosima. [ She sighs and tips back her drink, draining the rest of it. ] Sarissa's got enough shit going on even without adding a wedding.

[ Oh right. God, there are so many clones, she can't keep track anymore. ] Yeah well, don't we all. [ Brushing off the subject, and the hidden layers of guilt and self-loathing beneath it, Jess leans back in her seat. She lifts her almost empty glass in a mock toast. ] Getting hitched here's a death sentence. Congrats to the happy couple.

Yeah, cheers. [ Sarah refills her glass before sloshing a little toast back towards Jess, then towards the camera. ] And cheers to all of you. It's not gonna last.

[ Amen to that. ] Never fucking does. [ Jess drains the rest of her glass in an instant, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. With one more angry glare at the camera, she reaches out to turn the device off. What a good idea this clearly was. ]

Comments

[heisenbitch]

Uh. [ ...oh. Uh. He's supposed to know you, is he, random hot drunk chick? ] Sure about that? 'Cause... you're both going pretty hard with the drinks.

[hardedged]

It's called common sense.

[infomodder]

I see. You shouldn't get married here because other people might somehow find it depressing. Marriage is about those other people. [A "tsking" sound.] Didn't get that memo soon enough.

[magnitudes]

Uh, I was hoping I wouldn't have to, and that maybe you were capable of at least trying to not go out of your way to make someone feel like shit. What's in this for you? Clara and Cosima have literally never done anything to you, so what's to win by being a dick?

( ah, a beautiful fall tableau of pots and kettles frolicking together, calling each other things, u know )

[hardedged]

[ she huffs an annoyed breath. ]

Wasn't my idea.

[ or maybe it was. she can't exactly recall at the moment. whatever. ]

[infomodder]

In your world, could be.

[heisenbitch]

[ Well, that reaction pretty much confirms it for Jesse. He just gives her this look through the screen. ]

Like I said, yo. I don't mind.

[hardedged]

Just who I am.

[ jess is a dick, duh. she should know that by now. sarissa certainly calls her it enough. ]

[magnitudes]

Bullshit. You care too much to actually pull that crap off.

[hardedged]

Look, you don't owe me anything. Alright?

[hardedged]

Stop acting like you know a goddamn thing about me.

[magnitudes]

That's what you hate, isn't it? People actually getting to know you. That's why you always cut and run.

video;

[coppelganger]

Then I'll deal with that when it happens.

[ Tomorrow is another day, and tomorrow's problems are Future Sarah's problems. ]

[heisenbitch]

Who said anything about owing anybody anything?

[ Jesse did, in his own head. But she doesn't need to know that. ]

voice.

[magnitudes]

Um—

( hi pig wrangling friend with cute doggos good to see you again how are things are things good that's great )

Sorry. They're both ( ??? ) dealing with stuff.

( Gotta love the desire to protect and shield people from judgment even when they are being DICKS. christ on a cracker. )

[hardedged]

[ her fist clenches around the glass, shattering it. while a harsh noise fills the air, she hardly registers the pain. ]

Back off, Sarissa. Now.

[coppelganger]

Yeah, maybe. Probably.

[ She sniffs a little disdainfully and takes another drink. ]

Says I've been talking shit about her.

[magnitudes]

Oh, I'm sorry. It's okay to push other people's buttons, but when someone does it back at you, that ain't so fun anymore?

Gosh. ( The glass isn't lost on her, and she's worried, but she doesn't want to derail. Not so quick, not so easy, and not when Jess is entirely likely to do something like that on purpose to throw her off cutting to the point. )

[coppelganger]

Pretending the shit that happens here matters.

[morethan084]

Because in the end we just forget this place ever existed, right?

[coppelganger]

I don't need a ride.

[infomodder]

What are you saying sorry for?

[Genuine, calm. He spent a great deal of focus making certain blame stayed where it was due, of course that's what he zooms in on rather than strangers dealing poorly with things on the Network. That's, like, a quarter of the Network.]

[oddbod]

Sarissa, leave it. She wasn't being that bad.

[oddbod]

Who spat in your breakfast this morning?

[hardedged]

Don't.

[ how dare you try to help her!!! ]