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

[coppelganger]

Course we did!

[morethan084]

[Someone needs to cut them off.]

So you're not happy your sister got married?

[coppelganger]

I never said that. I think it's pointless, but if she wanted to get married, I wasn't gonna stop her.

[morethan084]

Because we might end up going back home some day?

I'm sure she knows that, but, is it better to be here miserable the entire time?

[As if she hasn't been miserable herself 60% of the time she's been here.]

[coppelganger]

There's a difference between being miserable and being fake.

[morethan084]

What do you mean?

[Is she saying Cosima doesn't actually love the person she married?]

[coppelganger]

Pretending the shit that happens here matters.

[morethan084]

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

[coppelganger]

Yeah. That's it.

[morethan084]

So it's better to just, what? Ignore our feelings when we're here?

[coppelganger]

Ignore, nah. Just stop acting like it matters.

[morethan084]

That's a pretty depressing way to live.

[Not that Daisy hasn't thought along those lines in the past.]

[coppelganger]

Innit? But that's life.

[morethan084]

I mean you're not wrong.

[What a great conversation.]

I'll let you get back to drinking.

[Or, you know, having Jessica bitch to her about Daisy and the others 'ruining' their 'fun'.]

Just be careful, okay?

[coppelganger]

I always am.

[ ha ha just kidding she never is ]