2019-09-24 - So I Did Porn, Don't Judge Me.

Tessa knew there was something wrong with Detective Stevens the moment she found herself being forced to initiate the smalltalk, the blonde was so silent. A keen eye and a little proding later and it was obvious Sarah was getting down with something. What, exactly, Tessa was no doctor to know, but she went easy on her partner for the remainder of the day.

Didn't even ask about that bullshit that happened to her at the beach. Tessa has been saying suspiciously little about that, waiting for the right moment, which really isn't it.

So after work she invited the blonde to go out. Or, as Tessa puts it, 'Saying where they were going, and making Sarah follow her'. With no alcohol required, Tessa took Sarah's hand and danced with them woman a few luckily slow songs, now knowing not to place her hand by the woman's shoulder blades.

Instead, she guided Hollywood with a firm hand on her hip, and another holding her hand, a little worry showing on her ever-frowning features. "Swear to the Almighty that if you don't start yapping about how proper my education was and how a girl oughta be treated, I will be concerned, Stevens."

Not big on jokes, but there they were, trying to lighten the mood. Tessa leant in, rubbing her cheek against Sarah, briefly, before letting silence and song speak for themselves.

"That sunovabitch was just testing me, see when the short woman was breaking. Some years later he told me they had bets involving it, but back in the day I didn't care. Pop didn't raise a girl with nothing in her head, you know? Always tackling me and next time he did, I rolled under him. Almost broke his knees, bent them so out of shape!"

Tessa chews on some peanuts as she leans into the table, eyeing Sarah with a grin, telling academy stories to the blonde, having managed to lift spirits just enough, with a combination of stories, a bit of smiling and excitement. Most people would think this is a normal couple, but for Tessa, the act of being positive is just exhausting.

She has no clue how Hollywood does it.

"What aboutcha? Date anyone in the academy?" Oh yeah, that was also her date. "I know... Mmm. Before must have been hard to date." Tessa doesn't go into Sarah's past as a porn star, but she makes a LOT of assumptions.

When Sarah Stevens is the quiet one of the duo, and Tess Chen is the one reaching out to try and get her partner to open up, things have gone horribly awry in the universe. There is no other explanation for such a cosmic imbalance on a truly massive scale. Day is night and night is ocean. Nothing makes sense anymore.

But drinks after work are never anything to shy away from! They must be had, to blow off steam and say 'fuck the world' and get wasted. It helps to forget all the bad shit they see every single day of their lives. People at their worst, their scummiest, their biggest tragedies and darkest moments. All they do is meet people on the worst days of their lives. It causes a pain that alcohol eases the burdens of.

The offer to dance is accepted, because Sarah has never met a jukebox she won't boogie to, even if they wind up being slow songs. She drapes a wrist over her fellow detective's shoulder, the other in Tess' palm as they sway back and forth to the music, turning in slow circles, locking eyes. Every now and then, the blonde is twirled and spun.

They move closer, absolving themselves of the Texan's terrible jokes, the Californian resting cheek against shoulder and staring at the rest of the room as they continue.

The story coming out of Tess' mouth is so perfectly fucking Texan it makes Sarah smile, rolling her eyes as she sips at the Heineken in her fist, holding it by the long neck of the bottle. "I'm sure you were a little jaw-breaking badass." The blonde confirms, laughing a little as she looks away, just enough to let her dimples make a hint of an appearance. A dimple cameo. A dameo.

Those thin yellow braise raise up when she's asked a question in return. Stevens toys with the necklace around her throat, a pair of dogtags dangling from them. The white tanktop she wears hugs her form, while the jeans hug her hips. Badge, gun, and collapsible tactical baton are still at her hip, her overshirt slung over the back off the booth. She lifts a shoulder.

"There was this girl, we fooled around about. She was 'bi', but they're never really bi. They're just kind of fooling around with you while waiting for a man to come along. Was for the best, because I didn't really need the destractions while I was trying to get my life together. Academy was hell for me, Chen. I was an undisciplined Daddy's Rich Girl who'd been a failure at everything in my life until then."

"Oh, but before that, well... I had a lot on my plate. Before I got into... films, when I was actually still trying to be in movies, didn't date much, no. After, I met my first serious girlfriend on set. We had a thing for like... a year? But she was into meth and coke and that was a little extra for me."

She grins, looking back at the judgemental Texan. "Believe it or not, people in the adult film business don't really have a hard time finding relationships, platonic, sexual, or otherwise. Everyone's high or fucked up all the time, and when you've spent six hours going down on each other while a bored camera crew is glaring at you to get it right so they can go home, it kind of zooms right past all those little awkward 'getting to know you' conversations."

Tessa's face when Sarah talks about going down on people for six hours straight is just the face of horror. Those eyes get a bit wider, her mouth closes before it can express any opinion, and she is just staring at Sarah trying to digest the little bit of information given.

Boy oh boy, has anyone ever wanted to shoot a whole profession before. Chen cannot even pass judgment, as she takes her drink and takes a healthy gulp of it. Some things might very well never be in her comfort zone, and thinking of the woman she is dating with her head between another lady's legs is just...

No bueno. Just no bueno.

"Makes sense," she says, something stuck in her throat, her voice barely able to get out at all. "Sorry to hear about your academy fling. Some people are not there for the whole thing." Tessa drinks some more, looks around, and drinks more, before she clears her throat and manages to get herself under control.

"What is it with the dogtags? I never asked." Perfect change of subject, unless it turns out it was some prop from the 'Cucking Army Wives Vol. 24' smash hit or SOMETHING. Tessa can't take much more of that right now.

Still, her eyes still find themselves going past Sarah's neck every so often. Ever since they have started dating, Tessa has been more open about how attractive the blonde policewoman is. And if her eyes are any indication, Tessa Chen finds her very, very fetching.

She smiles some, then, something that Sarah said previously catching Tessa's attention in a flash. "I am sure your daddy would be proud of you right now." She offers another, more self-assured smile, reaching across the table to squeeze the other woman's hand, trying to be as supportive as her unsupportive self can be.

Good at passing judgment, not very good with pep talk.

She finishes her beer, "How's your morning looking tomorrow, by the by?" Tessa kills the budding grin on her lips, and tries to act as disinterested and casual as she can about the question. You know. She is just asking. No bigs.

Sarah scoffs at the face she receives when talking about her former profession before turning cop. She tilts her beer upwards, taking a long draught of the alcoholic concoction. "Wow, Tess. Without saying a word, you really know how to make a girl feel... special." The blonde quips dryly at the expression of sheer, utter horror. Maybe a little disgust, too, she couldn't tell. The Texan looked like every actress ever who found a dead body in a movie.

"Eh." She dismisses the Academy fling that never turned into anything more. "I've had more painful breakups than that. That was barely a blip on the radar. A little crush shared at a stressful time. Can't blame her for wanting to try something new, but eventually I figured out to stop investing in the bisexual crowd. Good for a hookup, not a romance."

She looks down at her dogtags. She doesn't wear them every day, but often enough that they've become a feature, usually under her clothes. She simply has enough cleavage today that they're visible. "My brother's. Lost him in Afghan." At first it doesn't seem she is going to elaborate, but after another hard drink of her beer, she continues. "Delivering supplies to displaced refugees, came under sporadic sniper fire. He was hit trying to save a friend. Died at a field hospital."

When she next looks at Chen, it's to find the Asian checking her out from across the table. Those lips pull up into a small, sinful smile, and she blatantly lets her eyes roam over the conservative woman's very conservatively-clad body. She needs to get Tess in tighter clothes. Maybe a dress.

"Dad's an asshole. I talk to him twice a year. Christmas and his birthday. Never asks me about my job. Never congratulated me on my promotions. Thinks money is a replacement for love. But hey..." She lifts her beer in a mock salute. "I have a bitchin' ride, a boat, and a trust fund."

The hand that comes across the table at her is taken in her fingers, pulled closer as the surfer girl sets her beer aside and leans in. She brings them to her lips, brushing them across her girlfriend's knuckles with a smile. Stevens folds all but Chen's middle finger into a fist, popping that digit between her lips as she slides her mouth down and around it, to the root, and then back up, letting it pop out from between them.

"That your way of asking to stay over, Chen? Even though I'm, what was it? A coverhog?" She laughs softly, pressing the pad of Tessa's middle finger against her puckered lips. "Only if you make breakfast. Deal?"

"So tell me..." Sarah finally lets that hand go, leaning an elbow on the table, fist propping up her cheek. "Why do you get so upset when I talk about my past? I've done some stupid things. Had some bad shit. Haven't we all?"

"It is nothing about you," Tessa interjects when it comes to how Sarah feels when talking about her porn career. Still, she doesn't say no more, and nods along with the stories of romance. It is clear in the Chinese-American woman's face that she is sympathetic for Sarah's rocky road, even if she herself shared very different experiences.

It is the subject about the woman's brother that has Tessa's eyes narrowing, and it is clear that if the porn career had a weird impact, the dog tags and that Sarah carried them with her makes the grumpy officer feel a wave of shame going through her. She nods respectfully, and if this wasn't Tessa trying to lift her date's spirits, she would talk about it.

And yet, she almost does, but her hand is taken, and the detective just grins, somewhat self-conscious as Sarah teases her, kissing the raspy knuckles of her hand.

Eyes go wide as saucers when the lips wrap around her finger, and that right then has Tessa looking around before staring back at the blonde, mystified. Sarah can weave a mighty spell and it works wonders on the tough detective. She cannot stop staring, even as her cheeks color some, her face heated as tha tongue dances along her digit.

"Yeah. I can deal with coverhogs," she half-mumbles, eyeing the other woman and clearing her throat. Silently, she acquiesces the breakfast pact, and stands up. Money is left on the table, maybe more than they owe, as she reaches for Sarah's hand.

"I am not judging you for it. I'm a bad sharer."

That is all Tessa can say, really trying hard not to give any nugget of cowgirl wisdom, as her fingers entwine with Sarah's, and they leave the bar together, Tessa in a hurry, and keeping the other detective close to her.

They will be lucky to wake up in time for work, it seems.

Sarah laughs at the effect she has on the Asian-American woman, squeezing her hand and leaning back in her booth seat. But then Tess is rising up out of her chair, and Sarah doesn't follow, letting go of the wrist in her grasp, brows arching up as she grins with her tongue peeking out between her teeth just a bit.

"Oh, bad, are you? I think we'll find out about that tonight, honey."

There's another laugh as her hand is taken again, grabbing her Heineken for the road. What? Cop's exemption! Cops don't pull over cops! She finishes it out in the parking lot before tossing it over her shoulder without looking, exiting the Pourhouse hand-in-hand with her fellow detective. Of course people are going to start talking about them now. What else are they going to talk about in this shitty little town?

All the murders and kidnappings? HA! Not likely!