Justice for all

She took a long drink before pouring a little of the water over her wrists, sighing quietly as the dampness settled against her skin. It would only last for a short while, but for the moment it was enough. It was then her phone rang, and puzzled by it, she shot Lupe a quick apologetic look to rummage in her bag for it. But one glance at the caller name, she let the voicemail answer it with a low roll of her eyes.

"The beach is tempting," she admitted, turning her attention back to Lupe, "I suspect you have far more important things to be doing than escorting me there." But really, any source of water will do for now. I underestimated how quickly this weather seems determined to undo all my careful planning."

"You sure? Cause you look a little green in the gills," Lupe stated. "Uh, pun not intended." When Nyra emptied the first bottle, Lupe held out the second. "Take it, there's plenty more back at the station." Still, she scanned their surroundings for anything better than a few bottles, but with the power off, that meant both the fountains and the misters had stopped working. Lupe shook her head.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but escorting any citizen to safety is the exact best use of my time, actually," Lupe scolded, waggling a finger at her despite the smirk on her face. She held her arm out. "C'mon, let's at least get somewhere cooler. There should be a nice breeze down by the docks. Maybe we can nick some of the ice they use for storage down there. Perhaps you should start carrying around a personal mister, too. Think that would work?"

Lupe eyed the vampire with a soft glint. Eyes flicking ever so perceptively to the flashed fangs. Lupe knew Zeina wasn't dangerous right now, but vampires had fangs for a reason. It was simply programmed into her head, she supposed, to see everything as a weapon. Even if sharp teeth sometimes made her feel other things. She relaxed into a smile. "Oh, god," Lupe sighed, just as dramatic, putting a hand to her forehead, "the tragedy!" She pursed her lips. "Do I love it? That's oddly presumptuous, princess." Still, she leaned back to give a dramatic bow. "Ever at your service." As she stood back up, she eyed the Zeina curiously. "Well, since I'm not getting paid, I suppose I can let the ogling slide. But do tell me, am I going to be building this shelf alone or will you actually help this time?"

Either way, they both knew Lupe would do it regardless.

Next time for sure, Lupe thought, as if it was a guaranteed thing there'd ever be a next time. Sue her, she was competitive. She liked to win, not just play. And when she got beat? She would train and try harder for next time, friendly competition or not. She was already thinking up strategies on how to outwit a fox, who were notoriously witty and smart, much like Sun-Hee herself. Or, really, was it the other way around? The familiar reflected the witch? Well, either way, a fox made perfect sense for Sun-Hee.

Lupe laughed, shaking her head at her. "You're incredibly transparent, Miss Supreme." She leaned against the counter, arm muscles flexing as she did so. "Green machine," she ordered and handed over her card. The attendant stared at the two before taking it and moving away to start making them. "How's all that going, by the way? No one's giving you shit, right?"

At Bliss, Mika taught a mixture of classes across her varied skillset. The witch believed the body was only one part of the equation when it came to the true benefits of yoga. Through her sessions, she spoke calmly over the room with reminders to breathe and be present in the body. They ended the day in balasana for an extended meditation. One by one, attendees left the session at their own discretion. When Mika finally sat herself up, it was only Lupe left. Unsurprisingly as she was a committed member at Bliss. "You looked a little tense today." Her words came softly and with concern, not judgement. "Still no chance to rest from work?"

Yoga, for Lupe, wasn't just a way to stay in shape, but a way to destress. Kick-boxing and the Coalition's self-defense classes were usually reserved for the more intense workouts Lupe participated in, so coming to Mika's classes at Bliss were much more of a relaxation. She was a regular by this point, too, which meant she could enjoy the time she had and not worry about having to impress anyone or prove anything. Not that she did care about all that too much. Not here. Not now. But other places, and sometimes it bled into other aspects of her life. (She was working on it).

Lupe was just rolling her mat up when Mika approached her. She gave a nonchalant smile, a dismissal of the other woman's concern. "It's alright," she said with a wave, "just one of those weeks, I guess. Nothing I can't handle, of course. And coming here helps." She stood, tucking her mat under her arm and turning to face the shorter woman. It always surprised her, just a little, how short Mika truly was. She carried herself in a way that one would not see it until you were standing right next to her. "How about you? Looked like we had some newcomers today. Guess everyone needs a break."

And then there was Lupe. The sight of her among the crowd was almost amusing enough to throw him off. She stood out immediately, not because she was trying to, but because she simply didn't belong to the chaos of it all. Everyone else moved with the music, singing along and letting themselves get swept up in the moment. Lupe, meanwhile, just stood still like she didn't know how to have fun. He couldn't help the smirk that tugged at his mouth. Meeting her gaze, he held it for a second, long enough to give her a wink before turning his attention back toward the rest of the crowd. He still caught her looking over every now and then, though.

By the time the set ended, he figured she'd already disappeared. Which, honestly, would've been very Lupe of her. He'd barely made it backstage before someone tossed a water bottle his way. Zuva caught it easily, blinking down at it before following the movement back to the person responsible. "Hotshot now, am I?"

He unscrewed the cap and poured some of the water over his face and hair, letting the cold trickle down his skin. It didn't do much against the heat, but the relief was welcomed all the same. Taking a drink, he leaned back against the side of the stage, looking at her with an amused sort of satisfaction. "You know, I did spot you earlier. Figured you'd disappeared but glad you stuck around, though." The sincerity only lasted a second before he turned smug. "So? How'd we do, Deputy?"

Lupe rolled her eyes, a common occurrence around Zuva. "You were certainly acting the part up on that stage," she called back, moving around the barricade to invite herself back. And, well, she was technically security for the event, so, really, she should be allowed back wherever she wanted. Was this maybe an abuse of power? Lupe wasn't going to dwell on it. She came to a stop in front of Zuva and, well, it was pride, and hot, and everyone was sweaty and tired, and she really didn't have it in her to pretend she wasn't staring at the opening in his shirt.

When he spoke up again, though, she lifted her gaze to meet his. "Just wanna make sure you don't pass out from dehydration," she said, cocking her head to the side. At least if she was staring, she knew he had been, too. Even before their eyes met in the crowd. She was sure her crop top, which showed off her abs, had something to do with it. She'd worn it for a reason, after all, and not just to help stay cool. "Not bad, I guess," she eventually answered, nonchalant but clearly just trying to get a rise out of him with the blasé answer. "I've heard better."

Talia didn't need to see who was behind her to know that it was Lupe. The arms around her waist were familiar. Arms she had come to know. Arms she had come to adore being in. The vampire giggled and immediately turned around to face Lupe, her face beaming. In all honesty, Talia was amazed that she had convinced Lupe to come out with her at all. Her 'friend' was always so busy. Most days were filled with empty promises. The hopes of seeing Lupe more than once. Talia knew that this was all her own doing. She was the one who set her expectations too high, only for them to fall. It was a vicious cycle, but she couldn't seem to get out of it. Dare she say she was comfortable if it meant that she could be with Lupe.

"Thank youuuu, you're so sweet," she replied in a sing-song tone, taking the water graciously. "oo, yes, I would hate to be the first vampire to ever get heat stroke; that would be so embarrassing." Now she wondered if it was possible and what other odd things could happen to vampires. Stranger things had happened.

She took a few gulps of the water, letting out a small 'aahh' for dramatics, then smiled back at Lupe once again. "Yes! Everything is so amazing. It's better than I ever imagined it would be. No, it's okay. It wasn't too long. Just a healthy amount of wait."

It was moments like these that made Lupe think that Talia truly was the cutest person she'd ever met. From her big, sparkling eyes, to her perfectly squishable cheeks, to her soft, rounded face that could make anyone melt, she was truly a sight to behold. And Lupe, luckiest gal in the world probably, got to see it up close, including that award winning smile. (And, look, she knew somewhere in the back of her mind that it was probably cruel of her to want Talia and to also not want her too close at the same time. But that was just how Lupe was and she'd made that clear from the very first moment they met).

And, well, fuck it, it was Pride. Lupe wasn't really one much for PDA, but this was a special occasion. She leaned down to press a kiss to Talia's lips before pulling back to smile down at her, too. "I'm glad you're having a good time," she said, "Happy Pride." After another beat, she finally moved back, clearing her throat a little. "So, anything in particular you wanna do? Haven't gotten to do yet? I've got--" she lifted her wrist to check her watch (yes, she had an old fashioned watch. Accessing a phone for the time wasn't always a possibility for her on the job, and it was her father's old watch, anyway, given back to her after his murder case was closed)-- "a little over an hour."

Lupe just shook her head, affectionately of course. "Ridiculous." She understood that in a town full of supernatural people, she was usually outclassed. That didn't really bother her, it just meant she had to try harder to be better. Try harder to be good. Do good. She flashed a full, toothy smile. "Guess I'll just have to try harder next time. And bring anti-fox shoes."

Sun-Hee was being a little obvious and Lupe raised a brow at her, folding her arms across her chest. "For the smoothie," she emphasized, even as she felt a smirk twitching at her lips. "Not sure what you were thinking when I said that." Lupe could pretend to be innocent, too.

Aaliyah offered up a little bow of her head, mockingly sincere. "You said it, not me." She didn't mind playing this game, especially with law enforcement. Over the last few years, it's even become something enjoyable. The kind of criminal activity that Aaliyah engages in now isn't nearly the same as centuries of murder, but it was more risky. There were more people involved, more potential witnesses. So it was always fun to go toe to toe with Lupe.

"You think it's because you're human that you can't keep up?" Aaliyah asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're doing yourself, and other humans, a disservice by insinuating all that," she added, her tone actually honest for once. She grinned, though, any sort of sincerity washed away. "Please, do. Leave the badge at home, will you? The metal burns my skin."

Pouring the liquor, Aaliyah handed a glass to Lupe first before fixing her own. "One celebratory drink, likely to lead to another. Should we toast to something? Your incoming headache, perhaps? Not from the booze, though. Council meetings are always fun."

A smile twitched at Lupe's lips. It was clear Aaliyah enjoyed whatever game the two of them were playing, but wringing that truth out of her was probably going to be just as difficult as prying the truth about herself out.

Lupe half rolled her eyes. "You're twisting my words. That's not how I meant it." She hadn't meant that humans couldn't keep up, but that, inevitably, their bodies would fail them in ways a vampire or a fae could never really experience. And while Lupe was still relatively young, even for a human, she had pushed her body hard for years. She knew that one day it was going to catch up to her. Until then, though, she'd keep going as hard as she could. Still, she laughed, shaking her head. "Oh, are you fae now, too? Sorry, but the badge stays. Off duty or on, it's not something I can just leave behind."

Lupe took the glass, watching Aaliyah the whole time. She raised her glass. "How about to collaboration, hmm? Maybe we can avoid the headaches if we just try."

She had thought she would manage well enough. Watch the parade for a little while, enjoy the festivities, then retreat to her penthouse before the afternoon heat became unbearable. Instead, it had reached that point far sooner than she'd anticipated. Earlier, she'd dampened her hair, then done so again, even resorted to pouring half a bottle of water over her arms and legs hoping it would last longer. But the summer sun seemed intent on undoing her efforts as quickly as she made them, drying the moisture from her skin almost as soon as it touched it. It was an odd reversal that found her wishing the dampness would linger.

She considered simply taking to the air, or portaling herself back to the hotel but both seemed like a needless expenditure of energy. Settling beneath the canopy of a nearby tree, Nyra closed her eyes briefly as the cooler air brushed against her. She had always enjoyed summer once, but these days it seemed determined to wage a quiet battle against her altered form.

Catching sight of Lupe making her way through the crowd with bottles of water, Nyra lifted a hand to catch her attention. "Deputy," she called with a faint, wavering smile. "Could you spare me one? This heat is killing me. Rather literally."

With the heatwave in full effect, Lupe was doing her best to make sure everyone she came by at least had some sort of water with them. Every person she came by that didn't have a bottle in hand was given one, whether they wanted it or not. "We don't have enough ambulances for everyone here, so drink it or pour it on your head," she would tell people in passing, running back and forth between the dwindling supply of bottles in the cooler and the crowd gathering in the town square.

Lupe was still weaving through the crowds on the street handing out water bottles when she heard someone call out to her. "Hey," she called back, making her way over with a wave of her own. She held out one of the bottles. "Oh, shit, really?" she looked around rather frantically, then to the two measly bottles she had left in her hands. "Do we need to get you somewhere with more water? The beach? A pool? I think the beach is closer. I can escort you there, if you need!" Really, Lupe was just eager to help, worried about Nyra's condition, and ready to do whatever she needed to get her what she needed.

Blinking, Andy pulled their gaze away from the brightly lit world; something they hadn't been a part of for a very long time. Jaw tightened, glancing towards the runner. "I can see why." The vampire muttered, head shaking slightly at themselves at being so caught up in something everyone else seemed so at ease with. But after a hundred years of blistering skin when touched by sun, it was an unsettling feeling to be standing so casually in the light.

"It's pretty damn bright, yeah," Lupe chuckled, shaking her head fondly. She came to a stop a small distance away from the other woman, nodding in understanding. "Ah, yeah. I wouldn't really know about all that," she replied, giving just a quick glance up to the sky herself, "though I hear you guys heal at the speed of light, so, hey, maybe you can outlook the sun." Lupe knew enough about most of the other species to understand what they were capable of, but nuanced things like whether staring into the sun would blind a vampire were a little out of her wheelhouse.

"Gracias a dios," Lupe exhaled, pressing the hook into the ceiling finally and hammering it into place with the ball. "I think all the blood has drained from my arms." She made her way back down the ladder, then, pausing at the bottom for a just a moment to admire her handiwork. Lupe finally turned to look over at Zeina, flashing a smile and a cocked brow. "I'm sure you would've found someone else to torture with your indecisiveness," she teased, coming over to the counter across from her leaning on it as well. Still, as much as Lupe liked to tease, she liked to help more. "Really, though, it was no problem. I'm happy to help." Without thinking much else of it, Lupe added, "Need anything else while I'm here? I think I've got another hour or so to kill before I'm needed elsewhere."

Lupe just shot him a look as her answer to that. Whatever it meant, she didn't really want to know. That wasn't how this thing between them worked. So she didn't say anything else, because she was fine.

"It is not," Lupe snapped back, even though it was and he was right. She would never admit that. She did, however, remove her hands from her hips and cross them tightly over her chest. Just to prove a point. She pursed her lips. "I don't try hard enough, sometimes. Otherwise things like this might not happen." She had to live up to her parents' legacy, after all. She had to help those who needed her and she'd found herself in an entire town of people who needed to be protected. It was as rewarding as it was exhausting, to her. She saw no problem with this, despite the lines that had begun to form around her face and the bags under her eyes.

"Or you just don't understand altruism," Lupe said back. "Five, and if you try and argue again, you're going back down to six."

He took a step backwards, "You keep tryin' to save everybody, Deputy. I'll keep bein' a charming nuisance. Wouldn't want either of us losin' our sense of purpose." I'll take five," he gave her a smirk and stepped into a nearby shadow, lifting two fingers in a lazy salute. "Adiós chica," he said, and disappeared from sight.

"Uh uh. Uh uh," Z nodded their head as their eyes scanned up the length of the very generous and sexy sheriff who'd agreed to hang up their disco ball for them. They hadn't even registered what all the other had said. They had been all too busy gawking. Their teeth grazed across their bottom lip as they offered up a, "Maybe a little to the left?" It might make the Disco Ball permanently off centered, but for a few more minutes taking in the view, Zeina would say it was worth it.

Lupe was not short, by any means, but she still had to stretch and stand nearly on her tiptoes as she reached up with the disco ball she'd agreed to hang. She just liked being helpful and she was handy enough around the house, she figured it would be an easy task. And it certainly wasn't hard, even though her body strained as she reached up, but she'd been on the ladder for at least fifteen minutes at this point, shifting the ball from side to side as Z instructed her where it looked best.

"Left now??" Lupe balked a little, glancing over her shoulder and down at Z. "Didn't I just move it over to the right?" She wasn't annoyed, per say, but she had a feeling all this moving around was for a different reason. Perhaps something to do with the way a sliver of her stomach and back showed whenever she raised her arms as her shirt lifted with them. She quirked a brow. "At this point, my arms are gonna fall off."

"Humble, too," Aaliyah said wryly. She looked around and raised an eyebrow. "You know, I'm at least a few decades older than you, and I still like going to night clubs. Drinking and dancing and listening to music doesn't really get less enjoyable because you're not in your early twenties. Unless you're just not very fun," Aaliyah added, leaning back. It was like poking a sleeping bear. It wasn't a matter of if but when the bear would wake up, and it was always more than a little amusing to make Lupe agitated while Aaliyah appeared unaffected.

Aaliyah hummed. "Two, then? You seem like a bit of a lightweight."

"Guess we've got that in common," Lupe said back, just as dry. She usually tried to sound genuine and real, but Lupe contained multitudes-- she could shoot sarcasm as well as any other. It certainly came in handy when speaking with Aaliyah. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Lupe knew she felt as if she had to prove a point, as if the elder vampire might think Lupe stupid or not smart enough to run in the same league as her. But Lupe was smart, she had to be. Her parents used always tell her how intelligent she was, how she would go far in life. Well, look at her now. She hoped they would be proud.

Lupe let out a breath laugh. "Yeah, well, my delicate human sensibilities can't exactly keep up with age like a yours can," she said simply. She understood a lot of people looked down on humans. They weren't special, they didn't have powers. But Lupe never let that bother her. She didn't comment on the fun part. Not talking about the "fun" they'd had together was part of the game. It was the deepest and guiltiest of pleasures Lupe indulged in. Only a few times. Her brows scrunched. "Should I schedule in another visit to your bar, then? Just to drink, of course. Have some fun."

Rolling her eyes, Lupe chose not to comment again. She nodded at the two empty cups and the liquor still sitting on the desk. "How about we do this celebratory drink and go from there?"

"Wow!" Sun-Hee teased upon her victory. "Who needs to work on their cardio now?"

"I am, yeah," Lupe stated blatantly with a grin of her own. She contemplated the offer. She understood the innuendo. For now, she chose to ignore it, tugging her up. "Hmm, you know, I don't think I'll ever get used to that. Must be a pretty handy ability, though. As long as you can turn it off." Lupe started walking forward as well, set to follow alongside Sun-Hee when she felt her tug her hand away. Before Lupe could even react (she was just human, after all) Sun-Hee was taking off. "Woah, hey! Not fair!" She started after her, fast and excited. She loved doing silly things like this. She was a lot more lighthearted between moments of life than people gave her credit for. Most people would call her uptight, which wasn't necessarily wrong in certain situations. But, at heart, she was just a big kid. Really, she kinda thought all people were.

She was just catching up to Sun-Hee easily when something tugged at her shoe and she stumbled, looking back to see the witch's familiar nipping at her ankles. "Hey!" she called out, her stride stuttering as she fought to not trip completely. Eventually, she shooed the fox away and jogged up to the stand, shaking her head. "Cheater," she smirked. "I should make you pay just for that."