"Rough sex is the manifestation of romance. You trust someone so much that you let them do whatever they want with the one thing that is yours." –Anonymous
Tamsin is pretty sure she hates Lauren. She's not even sure why, she's just a human. A human that hadn't really ever done anything to her; who had actually helped her on numerous occasions (though grudgingly). The muscles in her hands would twitch as if trying to engage in some involuntary violent action when the shorter blonde was near and the Valkyrie would cross her arms tightly or ball her hands into fists at her side; anything to keep from doing something to the doctor she could be punished for. Lauren was only human, but she was invaluable to the fae. Plus, the brown-eyed doctor looked like she could be broken under the weight of Tamsin's gaze alone, never mind her hands.
The similarities between her and the human infuriate her as much as their differences. She doesn't understand how Lauren seems to have actual friends, fae friends, while being a human immersed in a world she wasn't made for. Tamsin had no one but herself. The days of Valkyries doing anything communally had faded into a distant memory and they'd been flung so far from each other for so long, they all might as well have been alone forever; maybe that's why she hated her. She wanted the doctor to be as alone as she was. More than she was. She antagonized the human any chance she got, and given how often she needed to be patched up and how much she frequented the Dal, the opportunities to make a pest of herself were numerous.
Perhaps the most enraging thing was that Lauren didn't engage her on the levels she attempted to prod her to. Maybe it was some kind of internalization issues from having been slave labor for so long; maybe the doctor was really as kind as she pretended to be. Whatever the case, it pissed Tamsin off to no end. She would lash out with her words, every syllable tipped with poison, and she knew they would have an effect; the other blonde would flinch when one of her sharp statements tore into the soft flesh of an emotionally sensitive spot. Tamsin felt like she should like that expression, she hated Lauren, after all, but it just fuelled the ire in her. She wanted the human to fight back; physically, mentally, she didn't care; she just wanted her to do something other than show the squishy underbelly of subservient fear.
She could see the fire flickering in the depths of expressive chestnut eyes and she was mad Lauren wouldn't just let it out. Tamsin didn't know why it mattered, why she cared what the doctor did, why the human made her so mad. She thought about it a lot though. More than she'd admit, not that she had anyone to admit such a thing to if she wanted. She just knew that she spent entirely too much time flittering from bar to bar, drinking herself stupid and getting pissed off before routing herself to the Dal. She always played it off like she'd ended up there on accident, even to herself, but everything before walking through the nondescript door set into an unimpressive brick wall had just been a build up to scanning the crowd for the other woman. She was pretty sure she hated Lauren.
Tamsin had almost broken her teeth from clenching them together so hard when she found out she and Lauren had been drafted onto a case together. Whatever bête noir was running the Fae Elders Council this month had given the order and it filtered down to the Valkyrie in the form of a brown manila envelope stuffed with plans and dumped unceremoniously on her desk at her human cover as a detective. She futilely tried to picture who was on the Council, who she could demand change from, but it was no use. The membership of the Council was a revolving door of favoritism and nepotism subject to whims and fancies. They probably wouldn't even do anything even if she'd demanded it; she was barely more than a hostage to the whole political system as it was.
She'd known it was coming. The Cull was a vicennial event where small teams of selected hunters and underfae experts were sent out by the Council to hunt down particular underfae. Part of it was to keep their numbers from growing too large and the other part was to harvest organs and materials from them that were useful. You got drafted by being good at what you did, it was like being selected for jury duty except there was no talking your way out of it or pretending you didn't see the notice.
Tamsin understood why she'd been paired with the doctor. The list of needed parts from particular underfae was shorter than the average two person teams culling list but the creatures populating it were more dangerous and elusive and even she could admit that Lauren was better at her job than most fae who had centuries of experience on her. Tamsin had been selected for The Cull more times than she could count. Enough times to know that she hated being paired with inexperienced scientists and before now, they had all been fae. She knew Lauren would have been given an envelope with similar information inside, but the Valkyrie's hand was forced to go speak to the doctor because she had to lay the rules down before they were shuffled off to practically the other side of the country to go gallivanting in the woods hunting dangerous underfae.
Naturally, she was heavily buzzed by the time she was ready to seek Lauren out. She managed to spot her in the Dal soon after entering in the back of the bar at a booth going over what Tamsin presumed were the instructions from her drafting into The Cull. She ordered and swallowed down several shots of liquor at the main bar, maybe trying to replace the burning sensation in her belly with the burning feeling of alcohol. The placid expression on Lauren's face fell away to wariness the second Tamsin slid into the seat across from her and she smirked as her stomach tightened at the doctor's countenance.
"You get the message?" the Valkyrie asked, already knowing the answer as she pulled a flask out from the inside of her jacket pocket.
Lauren nodded cautiously. "How long is this supposed to take?"
"You're gonna be pretty far from your comfort zone," she said, ignoring the question and taking a short draught from her flask. "Anything could happen to you out there," she added vaguely, her voice hard.
Lauren frowned slightly. "The Council would…" she was cut off from reminding Tamsin of the threat that awaited her- should anything suspicious happen to her anyways- when the fae opposite her let out a harsh laugh.
"Please," Tamsin stated, shaking her head. "I'm just saying you have zero experience with The Cull and I'm not going to babysit you twenty-four hours a day to make sure your pretty little face doesn't get mauled by a matapiooyi or worse."
Lauren stiffened. "Is that all you came to tell me?"
Though her voice had strained notes of feigned politeness, Tamsin could see the vexation behind the other woman's eyes in the challenging gaze pointed at her but instead of feeling pleased about it, she felt her stomach roil and scowled at the turbid sensation.
"Just don't fuck this up." She spat back, leaning forward across the table and arching an eyebrow slightly when Lauren didn't lean away from her. "Do what I tell you, when I tell you and stay outta my way. Got it?" She tightened her fingers around the warm metal of the flask when she got that feeling that her hands were going to move of their own accord again.
Lauren leaned back suddenly as if trying to get herself out of striking distance, the action building more heat than light in Tamsin which she quelled by taking another drink; a longer one this time.
Lauren nodded her understanding slightly, almost imperceptibly, and pulled the small silver pendant on her ever present necklace back and forth absentmindedly; but Tamsin felt that she was trying to draw her attention to it, remind her that she was protected under the laws of the Council as if she didn't know. She didn't have time for this passive-aggressive bullshit. She took another drink and brought her hand down on the table hard enough that Lauren startled, a look something akin to enmity flickering across her features before slipping back into cautiousness.
"I got it," Lauren affirmed out loud, the gall never leaving her eyes even though her voice was steady.
Tamsin gave the other blonde a discommoded half-smile and took another drink before replacing the flask back into her jacket. "Five AM tomorrow," she informed, scooting off the booth bench and straightening her jacket.
"Are you going to be sober by then?" Lauren asked acrimoniously, causing Tamsin to whip her gaze to the human whose jaw was clenched, her hands gripping the beer bottle in front of her hard enough that her knuckles were white.
An oddly charmed look was there and gone before the Valkyrie had the chance to process her own reaction and she let out a low humorless chuckle. "S'why they invented seatbelts, doc," she replied coolly before making her way back to the main counter. She ordered a bottle of the strongest liquor they had and didn't take a drink from the ancient looking green glass bottle until Lauren's gaze landed on her.
"Evening, detective." A smooth voice said next to her, interrupting her silent visual battle with Lauren.
Tamsin turned around to face face the bar and turned her head to spy the owner of the voice who had taken purchase on the bar stool next to her. "Rebecca." She greeted with a nod of her head while taking another drink.
The other fae was the closest thing she had to a friend, which wasn't saying much. She was on the short side; her ample curves contradicting the type of strength venatrices were famed for as fae who specialized in the hunt and the woods. She was gorgeous, always responded when Tamsin texted her at three in the morning to come over even when they hadn't spoken in a while and she always left afterwards. Tamsin liked that about her.
"Whose your nerd for The Cull?" the Valkyrie asked, already knowing that Rebecca had been chosen. Like Tamsin, she was always chosen.
The venatrix pushed a mass of unruly sepia curls away from her face with one hand, which was pointless as they all sprung immediately back to their former position and took the shot she'd ordered. "Some harpy from Boston." She sighed out, wrinkling her nose and holding up her empty shot glass to alert the bartender for a refill. "They're so damn temperamental."
Tamsin hummed in agreement but didn't reply and Rebecca's face brightened. "Hey," she said cheerfully. "Since we're talking about it, who'd you piss off on the Council anyways?"
Tamsin seriously considered the question for a moment before realizing that the brunette was referring to some kind of specific event and she had no idea what that was. She grunted a questioning noise while taking another drink from the bottle in her hand.
Rebecca rolled her dark eyes and downed her fresh shot, trying and mostly succeeding in not making a face as the liquid went down. "Word on the street is your nerd is a human." She clarified mirthfully.
"Yup." The blonde replied noncommittally, shrugging slightly.
The other woman snorted and plucked the bottle from the Valkyrie's hand and managed to fill her shot glass before Tamsin violently yanked it back with a scowl.
"So what'd you do to piss them off?" Rebecca repeated, bringing the shot glass up as if to drink but jerking her head back and putting the shot down when the fumes hit her nose.
Tamsin's glower deepened and she sucked her teeth loudly. "Nothin." She replied. "We're getting sent to the Glacier-Waterton area. You really think they'd send me there if I was on the shit list?" her lips quirked up slightly when she noticed the jealous look on the face of the venatrix.
"No kidding? And they're sending a human with you?" she scoffed. "They must love you but hate them. Who is it?" Rebecca wracked her brain for a comprehensive list of humans working in the fae medical field. "Oh my god, is it Marcus?"
Tamsin laughed and shook her head. "Seriously?" she asked rhetorically. "He wouldn't know his ass from a hole in the ground." Her humored tone died down suddenly and she took another drink. "It's Doctor Lewis." She mumbled, trying to ignore the sudden flip in her stomach by taking another drink.
Rebecca's eyes widened and she finally took her stolen shot, this time failing miserably in her attempt to keep her face neutral. "Lauren Lewis?" she asked in a scandalized tone. Her curls bobbed around as she chuckled and shook her head. "Maybe it's not too late to ask for Marcus, yeah? Lewis seems like she's got more looks than brains, but damn, those are some kinda looks, if you ask me."
Tamsin felt an inexplicable bubble of indignant anger course through her and she let out a loud huff of air through her nose. "Yeah?" she started harshly, the words tumbling out of her mouth before she could stop them or before she could even really think about them. "Well I didn't ask you. You know, if it wasn't for her, that disease in the Congo would have spread and probably would have wiped half of us out before someone else was smart enough to come up with a cure."
"Oh shit, that was her?" Rebecca asked, impressed.
Tamsin flexed her hands open and closed, having just realized that they had been balled tightly into fists. "Yup." She frowned at the odd note of pride in her response.
Rebecca hummed and used Tamsin's distraction with her hands to pour herself another shot from the Valkyrie's bottle. "Okay, so you get smart and hot and the best culling area? I change my mind. I don't wanna know who you pissed off on the Council, I wanna know who you're fucking."
The blonde sneered and drank greedily from the bottle before the smaller woman could steal anymore. "Really?" she asked, her voice sharp with disapproval. "I get the dream cull and I'm gonna have to spend it making sure the good doctor's squishy insides stay on the inside."
The venatrix laughed lightly and brought her shot halfway up to her mouth before setting it down again. "You're such a brat." She informed the blonde. "You get the best hunt, beautiful scenery, gorgeous super smart human… I mean, why are you even complaining right now? You tell me with a straight face right now that you're not going to waste the first week in sexual congress with the good doctor."
Tamsin felt her body flush with heat again and grimaced as it settled low in her stomach. "Get fucked, Becca." She shot tersely, finishing the contents of the bottle in her hand.
Rebecca laughed, unfazed and took her shot, coughing slightly while sliding off her chair and pressing her body close to the Valkyrie's. "Is that an offer, detective?" she cooed lowly, pressing a firm hand to the blonde's hip to get her to turn around.
Tamsin smirked, thankful for the change in topic and moved so that she was facing the shorter woman. "S'matter?" she asked, her voice cocky as she put an elbow on the countertop behind her. "Darrel still not doin it for you?"
"Darren." The brunette corrected, biting her lower lip when Tamsin chuckled in a manner that indicated she'd gotten the name of her on again off again boyfriend's name incorrect on purpose. She slid her hand up to the small section of exposed skin between the top of the Valkyrie's pants and the hem of her shirt.
"Whatever." Tamsin replied flippantly. "Like I'm gonna remember his name."
Rebecca grinned and ran her fingers around to the flesh of the blonde's stomach. "I'm not leaving till tomorrow night." She purred, leaning forward to shield any prying eyes from the fact that her fingers were dipping below the waistline of the other woman's tight pants. "Y'wanna get out of here?"
Tamsin pushed away from the counter with a low laugh and roughly tilted the shorter woman's head up by several fingers tucked under her chin. "Is your boring boyfriend there?"
Rebecca smiled dreamily and shrugged. "Does it matter?"
Tamsin tilted her head to one side as if she was thinking about it. "Nah, but you're the one who has to deal with him when he gets left out, not me."
She felt the prickle of eyes on her that didn't have to do with Rebecca's glazed over gaze and peered over the top of the mass of curls to scan the bar. Her eyes immediately latched onto Lauren who was staring at her with a completely unreadable expression on her face. Tamsin's whole body stiffened and she wasn't able to regain control of her faculties until the doctor's gaze was torn away from hers when Lauren took a drink of her beer.
"I gotta go." The Valkyrie mumbled, taking a step back and removing her hand from the venatrix's face.
Rebecca pouted, but removed her hand from halfway down the front of Tamsin's pants. "Go where?" she whined.
Tamsin smirked and stuffed her hands in her pockets and shrugged. "I just remembered I gotta leave at five. I got all kinda shit to do beforehand."
Rebecca nodded her understanding but her face was disappointed. "Can't say I'm happy about it, but you're right. Call me when you get back into town."
"You think you're gonna be done before me or something?"
Rebecca chuckled and put a hand on her hip. "Oh I know I'm gonna be done before you." She shoved Tamsin's shoulder lightly. "Just call me when you get back. God knows the kind of state I'm gonna be in after spending so much time with a harpy in seclusion." She gave a small wave before moving to sit back at the bar. "Good luck, Tam."
"Save it for yourself, Becca." She retorted, moving to leave. Tamsin's eyes focused themselves on the booth Lauren had been occupying without registering the action consciously and she felt her mouth pull into a frown when she noticed the booth was empty. She pulled a hand through her hair and mumbled a harsh "fuck it" to no one and nothing in particular before leaving the Dal to live up to her excuse and prepare for the five AM departure.