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]

Then why the fuck are you being so bloody weird?

[hardedged]

[ because jessica jones doesn't have friends. duh. ]

I'm not being weird, you prick.

[coppelganger]

[ Jessica pls ]

You are.

[hardedged]

[ she leans in closer, intoxicated and irritated all at once. ]

Shut up.

[coppelganger]

Are you afraid to have friends, or something? Think people are gonna— [ She waves a hand. ] Think you're weak?

[ Honestly, she doesn't know whether to be judge Jess or pity her. Sarah is a fuck up, sure, and she's got terrible habits and she can be an awful person, but at least she's willing to have a few friends in the world. ]

[hardedged]

[ she doesn't budge, in an attempt to appear as intimidating as possible, even as her head spins from the alcohol. ]

You don't know a goddamn thing about me.

[ she sounds just like sarissa right now — looks like her too, of course. fuck everything. ]

[coppelganger]

No. And you'd never let me. [ Sarah leans closer, too, under the pretense of looking closely at Jessica's face. She sounds slightly sad and very tired, all of a sudden. ]

[hardedged]

[ those six small words strike jess to her core, and she swallows hard in response. sarah's resemblance to her sister has been a heavy weight on her all night, but she can't ignore it any longer.

shifting forward, she closes the distance between them. one hand reaches out to grasp sarah gently by her head, her fingers brushing through soft strands of dark hair. then, without another moment to waste, jessica presses her lips against hers. ]

[coppelganger]

[ Sarah's first instinct is to break the kiss and back away, because this is so wrong. This is Sarissa's—Sarissa's ex. She almost does it, but a stronger part of herself is thinking what she doesn't know won't hurt her and she's so drunk and kissing Jess back is so much easier than pulling away would be. She's pissed off, is the thing. Pissed off about everything happening at home and everything happening here, and kissing someone who's equally pissed off, who's equally unconcerned with what the right thing to do in this situation would be, is so gratifying. She parts her lips, deepening the kiss, and tastes whiskey on Jess's mouth. Yeah. Doing this is easy. It's everything else that's fucked up and hard. ]