[thirdbarrel]

— thirdbarrel is a dependent multi-muse blog affiliated with @redfordrp. characters are penned & tortured by len ( thirty-two | she/her | est ).

tessa hayes — forty. rodeo/lifestyle photographer. intro. | pinterest. | musings. | mirror. | threads.

links coming soon !

[thirdbarrel]

location: the guilded room with: cash decker ( @barnsour )

the decision to patron the guilded room had been made on whim rather than any real planning on tess' part. the bass vibrated through her boots and bounced off the walls. the lights, dim with roaming strobes, created pockets of shadow across the place, and tess couldn't remember the last time she'd felt like this. her twenties, maybe? sometime way back when the weight of responsibility had been nonexistent.

tonight, she felt good. and it had felt good to be seen, to feel her boots on the dance floor, and just... be. it was what everyone in redford needed, right? after the fire.

tessa slowly pushed through the bodies moving across the dance floor, chocolate hues landing on a familiar face at the bar. funny. she hadn't realized she'd been looking for him.

"well, look at that— he actually leaves the ranch," she teased, swiping the beer from his hold like it was hers to take, bringing it to her lips.

[redfordmuses]

setting: southern strand saloon who: open

adelaide sat in her usual booth, the one that let her see everything without really being seen. it was routine at this point, watching people, keeping to herself, staying just out of reach. her mind had been restless since the fair, thoughts looping back to that moment with sebastian no matter how much she tried to push it away. it lingered in a way she didn’t like, settling under her skin, making it hard to focus on anything else. she needed a distraction, something to quiet it, even for a little while.

her fingers wrapped around her glass, lifting it as she took a slow sip of her southern drink, letting the burn sit for a second before swallowing. it didn’t do much, but it was something. her gaze drifted across the room, unfocused, until the shift beside her pulled her out of it.

someone slid into the booth without asking, like they belonged there. she didn’t move right away, just turned her head slightly, eyes narrowing a fraction as she looked them over.

“can i help you?”

[thirdbarrel]

tessa's visits to the southern strand saloon were few and far between these days. it wasn't because she didn't love the place. she did. it was one of her favorite haunts, but... life and, well, motherhood, had kept her busy.

it was funny— tessa had thought that as trevor grew up, he'd somehow need her less, and it may have been true if it weren't for the sneaking out and skipping school. the unending rebellious streak that had taken root in her son. everything was a fight. frankly, tess wanted to pull her hair out.

but instead, she'd settled for a drink.

"unless you speak teenage boy, i'm 'fraid not," tess replied on an exasperated sigh, sliding into the booth beside adelaide. her gaze swept over the women, picking up the subtle tension carried on her face, only detectable from knowing someone their entire life. "what about you? anything i can help with?"

[thirdbarrel]

around redford, names don’t stay clean for long. TESSA HAYES is no exception. they are FORTY, born and raised or just passing through the town. when the sun rises, they work as RODEO/LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHER but around here, that rarely tells the whole story. their name has been heard in connection to DECKER ( affiliated ) and like most in this town, they carry their weight in quiet ways. some say they can be GUARDED and SELF-POSSESSED depending on who’s asking and what’s at stake. they’ve laid claim to MAIN STREET DISTRICT though ownership in redford is never as simple as it looks. land shifts, loyalties change, and nothing stays untouched for long. lately, their name has been circling for being PRO PRESERVATION. in a town where legacy matters and progress threatens, the only question that ever really lingers is this: will they hold their ground or lose everything trying? 

— BASICS.

NAME. tessa hayes. NICKNAMES. tess. AGE. forty. BIRTHDAY. october 12th. HOMETOWN. redford, tx. GENDER. cis female. ORIENTATION. heterosexual. OCCUPATION. rodeo/lifestyle photographer. NEIGHBORHOOD. main street district. POSITIVE TRAITS. self-possessed, two, three. NEGATIVE TRAITS. guarded, two, three.

— HISTORY.

daryl hayes worked as a ranch hand for the deckers up until he retired a few years back and his youngest daughter, tessa, grew up climbing over fence posts, running the ranch every moment she wasn't in school. she could ride a horse before she could walk. at least, that's what daryl would tell anyone who'd listen. and as tessa got older, it became clear that she was naturally gifted at riding. so much so, that her dad scraped together every bit of extra money they had to pay for lessons. at six years old, tessa competed in her first barrel racing competition on a borrowed horse named jacks. they didn't place, her overall rank landing somewhere in the 200s. but, she was hooked. the next year she ended the season in the 50s. every spare moment was spent training, pushing herself and jacks to be their best. eventually, the deckers gifted her the horse and she didn't look back. in 2009, at 24 years old, tessa hayes became a world champion barrel racer, clearing the barrels in 13.57 seconds. this was her proudest moment, launching her into a completely different world. one of sponsorships and brand deals. she was the face of WPRA and spent more time on the road, away from redford, than ever before. there were many days she missed home, but she loved it, the pageantry and recognition that came from her hard work. in 2010, unbelievably, she did it again; becoming a back-to-back champion. and then, without a word, she walked away from it all. she retreated quietly to her hometown where, less than a year later, she welcomed her son, trevor. trevor was a result of a celebratory one-night-stand. it was never meant to happen— but it did, and tessa never once tried to pretend otherwise. to most, it looked like she'd just cracked under the pressure, unable to sustain the same level of success. tessa never commented on it, and declined every request for an interview. only those closest knew the truth. adjusting to motherhood took some time. trevor's father wasn't in the picture and so, it was just the two of them. she poured every ounce of who she was into raising her son, but she wanted something for herself too. tessa slowly reentered the rodeo scene. this time as a photographer. it began as a hobby, but a passion bloomed. she was talented at capturing the moments of rodeo — both the show of it all and the quieter moments that existed right before a gate opened, when a cowboy readied his horse. now, fifteen years later, tessa still works as a rodeo and lifestyle photographer in redford. though she does travel to shoot the bigger events from time to time. trevor is a teenager, and things aren't always easy between them. he's rebellious and stubborn, and well, she is too. these days, it seems they bump heads more than anything else, and tessa doesn't know what to do. but she's never been one to walk away from something that matters. not really.

— WANTED CONNECTIONS.

THE BROTHER — ( open. ) thick as thieves, these two. he saw tessa's grind, the obsession, the way she pushed herself and he was always there cheering her on. and when she walked away, he was right there by her side then, too. all other details completely up to player.

TREVOR'S FATHER — ( open. ) it was never supposed to be more than one night, but then tessa got pregnant. i envision him to be someone from the rodeo world, probably on the circuit. he could have known about trevor the entire time and is only just now showing up for whatever reason, or he could have never known about him and something else has brought him to (or back to) redford and surpriseeeee !

THE BEST FRIEND — ( open. ) lifelong best friends, there at every turn. even when tessa left (or they both left), they stayed in touch. probably the only person she's consistently soft with. they call each other on their bullshit, but protect each other fiercely. and they definitely don't hold back on their opinions of each others' lives.

WILL THEY/ WON'T THEY — ( open. ) these two have been orbiting each other for yearsssss, and no one can really figure out why it's never stuck. but the timing has never really lined up. their current situation is very casual, maybe friends with benefits... maybe no benefits and lots of pining??? the kind of thing that they absolutely do not talk about, but both know it's a little more? very open to plotting this one out!

[hclygifs]

" lets show em' how it's done." Minka Kelly & Marianly Tejada in Ransom Canyon Season 1 ep. 10

[haleyatwell]

MINKA KELLY as SYDNEY PRICE CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS (2025) dir. Mark Steven Johnson