Judy Hopps (fluffy_cop) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-06-18 02:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, jessica jones, judy hopps |
Who: Jessica & Judy
What: (Non) Drunk & Disorderly
When: After some of Jessica's dreams
Where: On the street to a coffee spot
Rating: Low
Status: Complete!
It wasn’t the first time that Jessica had dreamed of the car accident that had robbed her of her family. Hell, it wasn’t even the 100th time. She had the same dream nearly once a week, and it always required a nice healthy glass of booze when she woke up. It was the first time she’d experienced the dream so vividly. At least, the first time in the last several years. With time, the dream had faded from less of a reliving of the event to more of an actual dream. But tonight the dream had woken her with the force of an actual car accident. Her stomach had twisted into knots, and she’d had to run to the bathroom so she could empty her stomach.
This wasn’t the kind of dream that Jessica could shove into the far corner of her mind with just a glass or two of whiskey for breakfast. No, this was something that was going to need some serious commitment. So she’d left her apartment, found one of the few bars that were open that early in the morning, and drank until the bartender kicked her out.
At least, she thought as she stumbled down the road, it was late enough in the day now that something else would be open.
Another day, another patrol. Judy was on her own as Nick was currently MIA. She had come out at the top newb in the department so far, a fact that rubbed some of the more veteran officers the wrong way. She knew her attitude was different from the rest of the department, but she hoped that it would actually start to rub off on some of them, especially her partner. He seemed to like to keep to himself and she wondered if she got partnered with him as a sort of joke. Still, she didn’t mind days like today when she would get to walk a beat alone. It was the middle of the day, so that usually meant less trouble.
Usually.
She spotted what appeared to be an inebriated young lady walking down the street and she made a face. She glanced down at her watch, surprised to see that it still fairly early for someone to be so drunk. Squaring herself for any type of reaction, she made her way over, her hand out as if to caution the person against any sort of outburst.
“Everything alright?” she asked, trying to catch the girls eye.
Oh great. It was the cops. The last thing that Jessica needed was to spend her day in the drunk tank. But it wasn’t like there was much she could do about it. “Yeah, everything’s fine,” she said, her voice thick with alcohol. Everything was decidedly not fine, as far as Jessica was concerned, but she didn’t need to get into all of that with the officer.
Judy raised an eyebrow at the response. “Obviously you aren’t,” she said, taking a step towards the woman. At least she wasn't driving. But she seemed inebriated enough that Judy was concerned if she had any more, she might end up in a hospital.
“Where is it you’re off to?”
“I was thinking the Inferno,” Jessica said, referencing another bar owned by someone on the Network that wasn’t too far away. “But I can get there on my own,” she added pointedly.
Judy surveyed the young woman, tilting her head as she tried to decide what to do. Nick had told her she had to be tougher, to make them listen to what she wanted to do. That was hard to try and harness as most of the time, Judy was just concerned for the well being of the individual and the people around them.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said, trying to make herself sound stern. “There’s a lot of day left and you look like you should sleep some of this off before going for more.” It was hard to ignore the concern in her tone.
The last thing Jessica wanted to do was sleep. At least, the last thing she wanted to do before she was too drunk to dream was sleep. “M’fine,” she muttered, going to step around the small police officer.
Judy held up a hand and gently pushed it against the girls shoulder; she didn’t want to make her fall over or anything, just to stop her. “I don’t think you are. You can barely walk and your speech is slurred. You, ma’am, are impaired.” To be honest, Judy didn’t know what to do from here. Technically this woman wasn’t doing anything against the law (at the moment), but Judy didn’t think it wise if she kept drinking.
“What about a cuppa coffee? That sounds better, doesn’t it?”
Jessica fought down the wave of annoyance at the police officer. She knew that she was only trying to help, but it would be better if she went to help someone else. Someone who deserved help, maybe, or wanted it. The only help Jessica wanted or needed right now came at the bottom of a bottle.
Still, pissing off police officers was generally not a good idea, even if they were tiny. “Not really,” she mumbled. “But fine. You’re buying.”
Judy’s demeanor changed as she was finally able to talk some sense into the woman. She grinned, happy to hear that their interaction wouldn’t end with Judy taking her downtown in cuffs. “Alright, you’ve got a deal,” she said, removing her hand from her shoulder and moving it to her arm in to guide her around and back towards a coffee shop.
“What’s your name?”
Jessica pulled away from the touch, though to her credit she wasn’t rough about it. “Jessica,” Jessica answered shortly. She couldn’t believe that she was being escorted to a coffee shop by a police officer, though it was probably better than being thrown in the drunk tank. That definitely would have soured her already dark mood. She could still hear the echo of twisting metal, of her family’s screams in her skull, though at least it had been muted somewhat by the alcohol she’d already consumed. “Yours?”
“Judy.” She backed away from her, but was on alert in case she needed any help. Judy had to admit she seemed to keep to her feet fairly well.
It may have been a bit of an awkward walk to the coffee spot. Judy felt like Jessica didn’t want any small talk and she tried her best to minimize conversation. It didn’t last for very long.
“So, rough morning?” She held the door open as they walked in.
Judy had assessed correctly; Jessica really wasn’t into small talk. “Rough life,” she muttered. She stepped into the coffee shop, and for a moment squeezed her eyes shut. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to put fluorescent lights into a coffee shop?
Judy stepped through, frowning at her response. “So is this something you do often? Start drinking before 10am?”
“Just on the bad days,” Jessica grumbled. Not that she didn’t usually drink a little when she woke up - hair of the dog was the best cure for a hangover, after all - but she didn’t normally spend her days getting drunk before noon. But, well, she had needed it.
“Well, hopefully you don’t have too many of those.” Judy seemed to doubt it, but Jessica didn’t seem like the most social person either. Maybe she just needed to connect to someone here, get her bearings. Maybe she was having the dreams and it was messing her up. Judy could do a lot of assuming, but she’d have to actually get to know the girl to figure out what she might be able to do to help. That was, if Jessica would let her.
“Well, hopefully coffee will be a better substitute for alcohol this early in the morning,” she said, stepping up to the counter. “What will you have?”
Jessica gave Judy a bit of a wry smile at that, because if she was going to start having vivid dreams of her family’s death again, well, she had the feeling that she was going to have a lot more bad days to come.
“It’s better than nothing,” she said in regards to the coffee, though coffee was hardly a substitute for a good whiskey. “Just a coffee’s fine,” she said. She’d never had much interested in frilly coffee, let alone frilly coffee that cost $5 for a cup. “So, this something you do often? Grab drunks from the street and buy them coffee?” Not that she was complaining. It sure beat spending the day in the drunk tank, which is what most cops Jessica had run into would do.
Judy used the excuse of placing their order to comment on her question. Because it wasn’t something she usually did. But there had been a reason she had thought to act differently with Jessica, she just couldn’t put her finger on it. She didn’t want to go so far as a connection, but she had a feeling Jessica might be one of the fellow dreamers.
“I don’t. Only those that behave well get coffees.” Judy turned to Jessica with a smile on her face and a coffee in her hand. That could fly. She may have been a bit resistant at first, but Judy had handled (or tried to handle) people who were a lot more difficult.
“Are you new to the area?”
‘Are you new to the area’ seemed to be a pretty common question in this place. At least, a whole lot more common than it was in anywhere else that Jessica had lived. “Yeah, you could say that,” Jessica said. “I only moved here a couple of months ago.”
So she’d been here for a bit of time. Judy hoped that their first encounter today would be one of their last; at least in this setting.
She handed Jessica her drink, walking over so she could add a bit of cream and whatever else she might want to her coffee. “Settling in alright?” Alright, so she might have been fishing for some answers now that she didn’t seem so confrontational as she had when they were out on the street. Still, Judy figured it was best to try any opportunity that presented itself.
Jessica made her way to the cream stand and added a little to her coffee before taking a sip. It didn’t beat alcohol, not by a long shot, but it was a start at least. Especially now that she could feel herself starting to sober up.
“I guess so,” Jessica said, frowning. “At least, as well as could be expected with all the weird shit that’s been happening around here lately. Is it always like this?”
Ah, so she was new. At least to the whole dream scene. “Yeah, weirdly enough. Or more, a monthly thing it seems. Like each disaster themes itself to the month.” She shrugged. These were fairly new to her as well, but she began to wonder if she would ever fall into a plain acceptance of everything that was weird with the OC.
“What have you experienced so far?”
“Something to look forward to,” Jessica said flatly. Exactly what had she gotten into when she’d decided that California seemed like a good place to move? “Oh, just killer rabbits and living peeps,” she answered.
Judy gave a small shudder when she thought about those damn Peeps. “What a way to welcome you to the area,” she muttered, shaking her head. “I didn’t encounter the killer rabbits thank goodness, but the Peeps were something else. Those screeches were not natural.” Well, nothing about the situation had been. She glanced at the girl across the table, thinking how it had started with her drunkenly stumbling down the street.
“Hey, if you ever need anything, just lemme know, ok? I’m at the department and on the network so you can find me.”
Jessica took a sip of her coffee. She normally didn’t have great interactions with the police. It wasn’t that she was running around getting in trouble with the law, but police officers usually tended to assume she was for some reason. It must have been her sunny personality.
But this officer was different than the others that she’d had the displeasure of meeting. “Yeah, thanks. If I need anything, I’ll let you know.” Though unless her cases brought her to the police force, she doubted that would ever happen. “Thanks for the coffee, officer…” she said, realizing she’d already forgotten the officers name.
“Hopps,” she said with a grin. “Judy Hopps.” She wasn’t sure if Jessica would actually take her up on the offer, but she could always hope. Who knew? This area always had a way of bringing people together.