2019-07-31 - Katy Perry Was Right... Except For the Cherry Chapstick

A couple of days after the events on the houseboat and Jessica is taking a break from work. With all the murders it is quite the strenuous time. All the bad luck that seems to curse her even more annoying. At least she is not alone in that. And what is the form of that break? Jogging through the park with music blaring in her ears.

But she won't get away with things that easily - her luck has to give out sometime. First, she steps in dog droppings. Cursing the owner who left it there, she finds a trash can to wipe the soul of her foot against...but it shifts from her weight and she crashes to the ground. Lying in the grass, staring up at the sky, she lets out a long sigh of attempted patience.

The one nice thing about all of this bad luck? It seems like the rest of the town is finally down at Lex's level. Then again, the rest of the town doesn't have the artist's propensity toward destroying inanimate objects... so it all comes at a price, eh? The rest of Gray Harbor will probably stop stepping into the proverbial 'drog droppings'. Lex will keep finding ways to make her luck special. Because what's a drug-addict artist without a nice streak of angst? C'mon, people.

"Well." The woman's alto is becoming familiar, perhaps in sound as well as the lingering Seattle accent. And a touch of Spanish, perhaps, somewhere deeper. "This... isn't how it's usually done." Lex has stopped a foot or two away from the downed reporter, and despite what had to have been an initial inclination to laugh, there's true sympathy -- empathy? -- as she extends a marked-up hand toward Jessica. Hand up?

Oh wonderful. Lexi saw her lose her encounter with droppings and trashcan. Way to impress, Jessica. "Nothing is usually done this way" she points out, not feeling very cool at the moment. She takes the hand and pushes herself up to her feet. "Thanks. Umm...that's not me, I stepped in dog shit." Jessica will try wiping it on the grass this time. "How've you been? You look great."

"Yeah, babe, I know it's not you," Lex assures wryly, though not unkindly. "I didn't see the bastard, but I'm pretty sure he was on four legs. And you..." She continues to reach toward the other, offering what may prove to be a much-needed-balance. "Go jogging. I think that puts you like... four pegs higher'n me on the 'looks great' scale."

As far as appearances are concerned, Lex has drawn her hair into a heavy over-the-shoulder braid, with the shorter strands pulling free to inevitably frame the far side of her face. Black high-waisted jeans, black suspenders, and a red tank-top. And the question? "It's been an interesting few weeks, but I... kinda get the feeling that that's goin' around, mm?"

Jessica is in sweats and a t-shirt - so not total gym gear 'sexy' for the reporter. And there's a braid. It may only be singular, but be still her beating heart. "Yeah, red faced, sweaty, and exhausted. Nothing more sexy than that" she laughs about her jogging. "I mean 'great', not sexy." She reaches back to tug on her ponytail rather than look at Lexi for a moment. Thankfully, there is Lexi with a change of subject. "It sure is" she frowns about the interesting times. "How is work? Still tattooing? Umm...of course you are. What a stupid question." Jessica does get tongue-tied around Lexi.

Does Lex miss that delicious tongue-tied awkwardness? Please. To be fair, the braid was there hours before she ran into the reporter... but it doesn't stop the slightest of smirks from pulling at the right corner of the woman's mouth, emphasizing that glittering black 'dimple' stud. "Hey... I keep some of my stuff down on Spruce. We're about the same size, some I'm sure I could find you somethin' that ain't...." She's tipping a look toward Jessica's shoe, and probably the bottom of the sweatpants. "You can even grab a shower, if you want. The shop's dead around this time, so I'm a free agent 'less somebody sees that damn 'on-call' sign and texts. It's rare."

She takes a few steps away from the dropping-smeared grass, though keeps her hand extended toward Jessica. Open invite.

"Some of your stuff? You have multiple residences?" Poor Jessica is about to proclaim how her clothes are at work and she can catch a shower there before her inner voice chimes in with 'Don't be stupid, bitch! Take the offer'. "Sure, that would be nice, thanks. Looks like you're saving me again." She eyes off the hand, her inner voice groaning with frustration, before finally taking it in hers. "I guess you've seen my place. Lead the way."

"I don't really... got multiple residences, I just got a few different places I crash." Because that's entirely different, right? "This one's got most of my clothes, and a mostly-working shower.... so at least there's that." She's not stupid enough to actually utter 'luck' aloud. They do want to survive the afternoon, right?

"It's down Spruce, not far. It's some old house I rent out with a couple of others, but nobody should be home." The explanation is given as they walk, and thankfully, they are turning into the driveway of one of the houses on Spruce before long. There's a suggestion about kicking off the dogged-shoes before entering, and then Lex is inviting the darker haired woman into the house. Sure enough, the place is empty -- dark and quiet, anyway -- until Lex is flipping on both kitchen and dining area lights.

"You wanna shower, or just change?"

Jessica leaves her shoes at the door before stepping inside after Lexi. At the question about the shower she sniffs at herself and doesn't look too happy with the result. "I might...umm...grab that shower. Do you have a bag I can put my clothes in?" She stands there for a moment. "Which way is the shower? Are you sure your housemates won't mind? I'd hate for them to show up when I'm in the shower or something."

"Uh. You should probably put your shoes in a plastic bag or somethin', but... hang on..." Looking a tad out of place in the old-school kitchen-slash-dining room, the artist is nonetheless wandering around the kitchen island to rummage around the inevitable mess of something-or-another that live under the sink. She comes up triumphantly, holding one of those 'reusable' grocery bags. It's a little rumpled, but the charming blue-plaid and cherry-pie motif are still intact. "Here, for your clothes." The actual bag goes on the counter. "For your shoes." A few ordinary plastic bags, of the 'toss or recycle now' variety, are placed beside it.

The question about roommates earns an audible snort from Lex, though the sound is more of a sharp laugh than anything else. "I'd love for them to show up with you in the shower," she counters. "And if they do, you damn well better go along with me bein' in there with you..." It's hard to tell if she joking. Genuinely. Difficult. She's probably not.

"You hungry? There's...always something Mexican here, and I got Poptarts. And chips. Or we can just go somewhere when you're done."

Seeming to remember that the other doesn't know the 'lay of the land' before she starts pretending to be domestic, Lex is stepping out of the kitchenette and toward the house's single bathroom. Hardly elaborate, but clean -- and Lex is even pulling out a clean towel from the lining cabinet to tuck none-too-carefully over the towel-holder. Helpful, if not necessarily... graceful... Lex has her strengths. Domestics just may not be... one of them.

"I should burn my shoes" Jessica snorts, "If they didn't cost so much." A nod of thanks to the assembled bags before she grabs the one for her clothes; the shoes can wait. A bright blush to the shower sharing idea before Jessica laughs along with the 'joke'. "Definitely. That's totally why you were there. Something to eat would be great, thanks. I'll even go with Mexican."

Jessica follows Lexi to the bathroom, trying to keep her eyes on the walls as she does so. Such pretty walls - no wonder Lexi likes staring at them. A smile of thanks for the towel before she stands there, unsure what to do next. Lexi is still in the room with her. But, hey, Jessica is hip and happening, she can strip off to her underwear at least and retain her casual cool.

This would be about the time a polite person would step out. Or maybe that would've been a few moments ago. As it were, neither occurred... and no one should really be surprised. Lex is watching the other woman strip with unabashed interest, though it doesn't seem to be in an effort at making Jessica uncomfortable. It's more as if, for Lex, this is just... how things work. Worked?

"Oh, fuck, sorry," she's muttering as she seems to catch herself, proving non-immune to the 'awkward' and 'damnit!' that tend to be dominating recent days. "I'll get out. You need anything? Use the white soap with blue specks, 'cause a guy uses the other and that's nasty. Unmarked hair stuff's mine... the tan one's shampoo, the white is conditioner."

Standing there in her underwear, Jessica is not sure what she should do next. Though Lexi did apolgise for still being in the bathroom, she is still in the bathroom. The Latina undoes her ponytail because that is, obviously, the additional time the braided lovely needs to leave. A shake of her hair as she looks around at the soap and hair products. "That should be enough" she smiles, reaching into the shower to turn on the water. "You've been very kind. Thank you." Jessica moves to undo her bra in a 'I'm about to get naked so you should leave now way'. Then a deep breath. They're both girls here. Nothing to worry about. She undoes her bra and lets it slide off down her arms.

Yes, that's everything. Lex should go now. She's been very kind. Lex should go now. They're both girls here, nothing to worry about. Lex should go now.

"Is it true, what you said the other night?" Lex is very much still there. She's nudged the door at least partially closed with a socked foot -- maintaining Jessica's decency, and keeping any steam from escaping from the shower. "You never kissed a girl?"

Jessica casually crosses her arms over her naked breasts as Lex asks those questions. "It's true. Never kissed a girl. No matter the recommendations from Katy Perry." See how cool she is. She's even making jokes. Bad jokes. Though she's also no fool. It's not usually the kind of question you ask of a half-naked woman in your bathroom unless there is some meaning behind it. Her voice is soft. Nervous. "Do you want to kiss me?"

Lex is a lot of things. Some good. Some bad. Maybe a lot bad. But 'nervous' isn't one of them. Whether the woman has actually mastered that 'unshakable' mask, or she's truly is an unfazed by living on the Hellmouth as she seems to be... Lex is solid. How is it one of the other girls put it? 'Hard-core'?

She remains leaning against that wall for a moment, her own arms left before with only the suspenders and tank top. It's when Jessica's raising her own arms, covering herself, that Lex is giving a soft shake of her head. "You're beautiful, babe. Don't hide. You don't got to kiss me unless you want to... but you got nothing to hide." A pause, and then another of those one-sided smirks. "I taste like watermelon lifesavers, so Perry can fuck herself..."

"I don't think she was talking about lips" Jessica smirks about Ms Perry while slowly lowering her arms. Her fingers then gripping her panties to pull them down. And now she's naked in front of another woman who is not Harper. And her intentions are very different from when it is Harper. "I want to" she nods, stepping closer to place her hands on Lexi's hips. This is no different to kissing a guy...right? And she's done that plenty of times...in the dark, distant past.

Oh, there's a difference. For one, those hips that Jessica's hands close in on? There's a curvature there, a softness that not even a gym could argue away from nature, that betrays more of a shape than even Lex's typical wardrobe displays. Then again, considering how many of her tattoos are distinctly unfinished where they're cut off by clothing, there's quite a bit more than said wardrobe displays. One of the artist's hands is raised as Jessica steps closer, the back of black-painted nails teasing along the other woman's jawline before her fingers move to fist loosely into the newly-freed hair. She doesn't force the other into the kiss -- but she takes what she's given, and offers maybe a fraction -- just a fraction -- more. Allowing the naked woman to truly initiate, should she choose to be done with this particular 'first'. Just... making herself available. Lex is accommodating like that.

Lexi should be sainted for her accommodation. Jessica kisses softer lips than she has ever kissed before. Ms Perry was right about something, Jessica likes it. Lips part, tongue seeking out Lexi's as she presses her body against the other woman's; being the same height makes things easier. Hands gently caressing the curve of Lexi's hips before moving round to rise up to her back. The kiss breaks, Jessica catching her breath a little since her world has just changed dramatically. "I think I may be fluid."