6159/Jess or Jewel

Jess or Jewel
Date of Scene:	11 January 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Jessica Jones, Daredevil

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Jessica Jones has posed:
It's been quite a series of events over the last few weeks or so, Jessica got to investigate the Hand, get close to the Sorcerer Supreme or at least the interim one, she really didn't get much of that magical politics thing. She got stabbed through the kidney by someone who may or may not be Elektra. Evil Elektra? As if that Greek bitch needed help being evil. Claire patched her up, as usual for a member of the Defenders, but recovery came with restrictions and was generally hell. Of course, the coup de grace, having Doctor Strange's assistant beseech her to help save the world from the Black Sleep plague.

Jessica doesn't do heroics, she tried it when she start, she was hopeful, and it all went worst case scenario, really REALLY fast. She paid a heavy price, somehow survived, and swore off heroing. She was content with the PI agency, Alias Investigations. She knew what she was doing, she was good at it. So how did she come to this...?

What this is? Well, fresh off helping to save the world, Jessica is sitting on a chair in the kitchen, half finished bottle of Makers Mark set on the table before her. No glass.

In her hand Jessica is holding what looks like quite the sword (), a very unusual item for Jess to be handling. She seems lost in thought as she handles the sword, shifting it in her hand, studying it, and then taking another swill of the bottle.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt enters Jess' crazy week, or weeks, in the middle of his own. Elektra was indeed up and kicking, and somewhat back, but not, it was complicated, add to that his fake relationship with Kate Bishop and working with Frank Castle, and well, things were far from normal for him too. Not holding a sword in the kitchen weird, but weird.

Coming to the door to Jess' office, he knocks, "Jess it's me, Matt."

He knew the detective was awake, but wanted to be sure, she'd come to the door. Though Matt wasn't coming empty handed, he had a bottle of Maker's Mark with him too, this one full up and brand new.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica takes a moment to register the knock, but after hearing who it is, she calls out in feigned surprise, "you're still alive...? I guess that's cause enough for you to come in...I'll drink to celebrate." Turns out while the door isn't broken, the lock is.

She kinda was already drinking, but it fits. The sword? Well, she puts that away, leaning it against the wall of her kitchen.

Assuming Matt comes in, Jess would grin, "lovely of you to bring a gift, you shouldn't have, but fits with the celebration. How did you know today was a Makers Mark day?"

Daredevil has posed:
Matt pushes inside, his hand running over the lock as he closes the door behind him.

"That's new, it's usually the window that's broken," he says with a wry smile before making his way towards the kitchen.

"And yeah, still alive," he confirms as he wanders in. "As for the whiskey, that's a lucky guess, but figured we could drink to the ressurections in our lives. Me with Elektra, you with Jewel, or well, if the news was right about what people saw."

Speaking of 'seeing' Matt cocks his head, pointing towards the wall. "Is that a sword?" His tone suggesting the question was less about what the thing was and more about why it was there.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"I'm trying to switch up a little, keep things fresh, had an asshole that fled before I could show him the way out. I was upset, closed the door a bit too hard, fucked up the lock," Jessica explains while finishing up the bottle on the kitchen table, because heck, Matt just brought a fresh one.

She does do the courtesy of getting glasses for the both of them, going about pouring them equally, "congratulations on Elektra," she says rather emptily, still recalling the down time caused by her, or Black Sky, or whatever. But the mention of Jewel is met with silence at first, though judging by what Matt can read, Jessica is caught off guard for a moment, before eventually snapping, "there's no such thing."

Then she's reminded that for a blind man, Matt sees more than most, causing her to grumble, before noting, "it's not a sword, it's a scalpel." Strangely enough, despite the statement being ludicrous, Jess was actually telling the truth. All while avoiding answering the real quesiton, which was apparent in Matt's tone to begin with.

Daredevil has posed:
Matt chuckles softly, "Smart client," he says of the guy running before Jess could get a hold of him.

He nods appreciatively when the glasses are poured and takes his without hesitaton. "Thanks,"he says of those hollow congratuatlions, the thanks is equally hollow. "No clue what's happening there, but at least I think it's unlikely she'll be stabbing you again." He takes a healthy swallow of the booze and looks like he needs it. "How's the wound healing?" he asks.

Matt doesn't seem taken aback by being snapped at. It came with being friends with Jessica. "Uh-huh," he says. "No judgements, you've seen what I dress up like at night, but I have to admit, I'm curious, given your veiws on the whole costumed hero thing." He leaves that there, letting Jess either talk more or not.

As for the sword.... "Big scalpel. What's it for?"

Jessica Jones has posed:
"I'll take not getting stabbed, it wasn't fun...not one bit." Although Jess isn't entirely sure if it's the stabbing she loathed, or the recovery, maybe it would have been better if it was a killing blow. Or if she wasn't so reselient. "That magical martial arts voodoo Richard did helped a lot...it's much better."

"I had no choice..., I embarrassed myself in the company of the world's best wizards or something like that." It's questionable if it was a matter of choice or not, but Jessica seems sold on the idea. Then she downs her glass in one go, before answering, "it's for saving the world, you're welcome by the way."

Daredevil has posed:
"I'm sorry about that Jess," Matt says of the stabbing, frowning a little. "The stabbing, but glad Dragon was able to help you out. That martial arts voodoo is pretty handy no matter what Claire might say about it. She was forever on about his 'bullshit' healing meditation.

Matt cocks his head at the mention of wizards. He knew magic was a thing, he'd witnessed some of it in the past, but it still felt weird to be talking about wizards and saving the world. "So, I am guessing your stint as Jewel, the wizards, the Scalpel and saving the world is all related somehow?" he asks, leaning against the counter. When Jess downs her glass, he does the same and set it down to be refilled.

"Want to tell me about it? Might be nice to know my life isn't the weirdest one around," he jokes dryly.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica pours another round, as she kindly avoids making a remark about what seems more sound to her between Claire's medicine and martial arts voodoo, after all, it did work this one time. Tough to argue with something that helps oneself.

She does answer about the rest though, "I was getting so many calls about the Black Sleep, I informed your ex, the other psycho assassin bitch? She came along with Thor, the freakin' God of Thunder, whatever he claims, he sure looked godly." Jessica muses, before jumping back on point. "Anyways, came down to realize this bullshit putting people to sleep was all magic. Only magic I know is The Hand, thanks for that Matt..." because it's totally his fault that once Jessica's life got interwined with his, she started stumbling into those freaky bastards.

"The lead to my meeting powerful wizards, and in turn got me an invitation to the ball when they went about fixing that Black Sleep. That 'Scalpel' is an artifact, did great help, and I used it to save the world."

She downs the second glass, waits a minute, and then groans, "Jewel was just out of fear..."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt takes his drink grateful for it and the fact that they weren't straying into the whole medicine and magic debate.

"Right, we had a few people calling us about it too," Matt says as he follows along, pausing to rub at the bridge of his nose at the psycho ex remark. He wisely decided to leave it lie. "Right, yeah she works with Thor on the Avengers," he says of Nat, the so-called psycho ex, though he pauses to roll his eyes at the little pause about Thor. "Really?" he asks her, a faint smile coming to his lips. It doesn't last long, with Matt flinching about the Hand. "Yeah, I know, my bad." His expression becoming a bit distant, likely taking another of those Matt Murdock guilt trips.

Though the rest of the story is intriguing enough to pull him out of it, "So, you really saved the world?" he asks, before following it up more gently with, "Out of fear?"

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica doesn't seem to pay attention to Matt's gestures as much as she normally would, else she might have made a comment on how uncomfortable she just made him. Instead she genuinely seems rattled, her eyes veering towards the aforementioned 'scalpel' which honestly looks very much like a sword. "Yes, Matt, really, I heard people talking of a 'body of adonis' or 'built like a greek god', anyways, he wasn't greek, that's for sure. But it's the first time I saw that caliber of body..." she pauses a moment, realizing she's discussing something that's better left to discuss with Claire or Kate, but she probably should definitely not keep discussing with Matt. "Long story short, the guy is fucking gorgeous to look at." Her hand soon reaches to fill up a third glass, which she promptly downs, followed by a fourth and fifth. She then fills the sixth but lets it breathe a bit.

"Yes, out of fear..." Jessica repeats, "yes, apparently I have. And yes, the Jewel thing...I was scared out of my mind before I set out to that meeting of wizards."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt manages a wry smile as he holds up a hand and says, "I'll take your word for it," before he adds. "I guess he technically has the body of a norse god," he reasons as the thought comes to him. "Though wasn't one of them a horse or something?" he asks before getting on track.

"So, you got dressed up as Jewel before you went off to meet the wizards?" he asks her, his lawyer brain trying to piece together the timeline before he realizes it doesn't really matter. "But you're okay right? After all of that? I know the whole tights thing is a touchy subject."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Yeah, that's the one, Norse, never really cared for all that mythology stuff in school, if I had known it involved such studs, maybe I'd have paid more attention," Jessica laughs it off, before starting on her next glass. "Yes, I did do that, and you're never to mention that to anyone, Matt Murdock, just like I don't mention you're Daredevil..."

Now she downs that glass, but she doesn't refill it, she grabs the bottle. "Did I ever tell you my beef with Jewel?" Jessica asks very soberly, considering all the glasses she drank. She's very good at not getting drunk, or at least masking it when she's getting there.

Daredevil has posed:
"They barely touched on it at my school," Matt says of norse mythology, "Guess the nuns didn't want to shill for the competition," he grins taking a drink. "But if you want to know about the lives of the saints, I'm your guy."

There's a nod, a serious one, about the identity thing, he wasn't going to say anything, though that didn't rule out teasing her in private, "So, guess that means now buying you Jewel CD box sets for Christmas?" a beat and a thought. "If people even buy CDs anymore..." he shakes his head to clear the thought.

"No, you didn't," Matt says, before going quiet to listen. He pushes his bottle over to her in case she's in need.

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Well, at your school it was heathen stuff, no? So no point of teaching it, only leads to blasphemies." Jessica snorts, taking another swig from the bottle. "Is there a Saint Hunka Hunka Burning Love?" Jessica jokes, using the Elvis song, before laughing at her own joke. Maybe she is getting a bit tipsy after all.

"That would make a great gag gift, actually, and will win you points for vicious humor. Not sure how I might react when you actually do garner the audacity to try it though," Jessica warns as she takes another swig, sighing when Matt answers what she already knew. She didn't tell anyone that story.

"Fine...you tell me something you're embarrassed or afraid of, and I'll tell you a brief version of it."

Daredevil has posed:
"Yeah, that was likely they're thinking," Matt says of why the myths didn't get a lot of play at St. Agnes, but when it comes to the St. of Burning Love Matt offers a small smile as he considers. "Well, St. Lawrence was grilled to death, does that count?"

"I will take it under advisement, or maybe I'll tell one of the others to get it for you and not tell them why," Matt says with a chuckle. "Or is that too cruel?"

When she mentions something he was embarassed or afraid of, the answer comes easily. "I'm afraid that Elektra won't come back, I mean, she's back walking around, but that she won't be her anymore, just this thing walking around in her body and what I'd have to do if that happens," he puts a hand out for the bottle. "Really, it's about the only thing I think about these days."

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica makes quite the disgusted face, and drinks some more just to wash the taste of that imagery off her mouth. And mind. "God, Matt, they teach that shit to kids? What the fuck is wrong with religious schools?"

All joking dies the moment Matt speaks of his fears about Elektra, Jessica knows damn well he is being truthful with her. "Fair enough, I was afraid I would be successful somehow in saving the world from the Black Sleep, so I dressed up as Jewel once again, so if anyone somehow learned of it...Jewel would get credit, not Jessica fuckin' Jones..." weird, fear of success has to be a new one. "Besides, I owed it to the dumb bitch."

Daredevil has posed:
"Yeah, but it's alright, the best part is when they were grilling him, he tells the guys doing it, 'this side's done, flip me over', we all thought it was pretty bad ass," he says as if that makes it all okay. Though it does say something about where Matt gets his sense of humour from.

Matt's serious when she tells him and stays that way as he mulls it over. "Other than owing her, why'd you want her to get the credit instead of Jessica?" he asks.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica gives Matt a stare, and drinks some more, "whatever you say, sounds fucking sick to me." She gestures with her hand around, "I got a shitty office slash apartment, I'm well known enough in the city that I get constant work and the NYPD let me have what I need, cutting me some slack here and there. I don't need world wide fame, I don't need people to push me to try the superhero thing...and it kinda pushed me to a corner. I expected to die there, if I'm honest...but thinking of what if I don't die? That scared me..." she admits, after having related her twisted logic to Matt.

After a brief pause she takes a deep breath, as if contemplating, before eventually stating, "Jewel was who I thought I would be when I was a stupid teenager with a crush on a guy who wouldn't give her the time of day, and thought that being a superhero would be damn spiffy, and the world will be sunshines and fucking unicorn rides...guess what? It didn't turn out that way." She puts it in an illustrated form, but her tone of voice is unmistakable, she's hiding something big with that simple "didn't turn out that way."

Daredevil has posed:
Matt's senses gave him an idea of the office/appartment as she gestures around at it and he can get not wanting more profile. "I get that," Matt says. "It's not like I really want either me or the Devil getting too much press, that sort of thing messes up your life."

He'd had enough of a taste of that with his fake realtionship with Kate and that was just the gossip page people.

As for being afraid of winning the thing, and living. "I think we've all been there, Jess," he says. "That moment where you're not sure what's worse, losing or going on, but for what it's worth, glad you made it through and saved the world." The last is said with a bit of wryness, saving the world wasn't really in his lexicon, it seemed like an odd thought.

Matt nods, listneing at first and getting that sense of there being more from her tone. "Guessing there's more to it than the boy who got away."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"Trust me, Matt, I'm still having nightmares over the fact I had something to do with saving the world, it's...bizzare," Jessica admits, and as she downs the bottle to the last fifth of it, she looks at Matt again as if considering whether to share more or not. That experience certainly rattled her, whatever it was.

The fact Matt was being such a good, non-judging listener, helps push her a bit more. Perhaps not nearly as much as the alcohol and the recent events with the fight to end the Black Sleep still plaguing her mind. "Okay...so a friend helped me create that garish custom, pink wig and all, I was bright and cheerful, like a digusting cartoon character...I swear. Off I went to do superheroics, so easy, even Spider-Man can do it..." very like Jessica to find someone to diss even in that story.

"You know why you never heard of Jewel, the hero?" Jessica asks, her voice choking a bit with her leading question.

Daredevil has posed:
Even if he didn't have his senses Matt would be able to tell saving the world had shook Jess to her core. "What happened?" he asks her. "If you want to talk about it." He makes no move to claim the remaining booze.

Matt listens more than he talks from that point, nodding about the costume, glad he didn't come to his vigilante phase until he was well out of his teens, because god knows what teenage Matt Murdock would have dreamed up for a costume. Though, he does manage a dry quip, "He'd be sad to hear that," he says of Spider-Man. They were friends, enough of ones that he knew the man inside the suit. He was definitely going to share this with him. Though that lightness fades with that question...

Matt answers: "No, I don't."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"I'm not ready to talk about that...just yet," Jessica said when the fight to end the Black Sleep is mentioned, "needless to say, if it wasn't for the 'scalpel', I'd be toast." Jessica at least gives credit when due to the good people of the Sanctum. Poor Wong, he probably still wants it back, not realizing why Jessica is delaying. He should have checked her record with library returns first. Somewhere in her old home, before the accident, there must still be a Allo Francais book she never returned to the Middle School library.

When Matt mentions Spidey would be sad to hear Jess' quip, she mouths, "good," almost as if she'd want him to hear it.

"So the reason you never heard of Jewel the hero is because day one, there's a disturbance in a restaurant...I figure, training wheels, telling a guy to zip it and make nice with fellow diners is easy enough, right? What's the worse that could happen..." and then she fades off again, finishing the bottle, and reaching back to the half finished one she was working on before Matt brought a new one.

Daredevil has posed:
"Sure," Matt says about Jess not wanting to talk about it. "But if you need someone to listen sometime down the road, you know where to find me. I've got scotch."

He raises a brow at the 'good' but doesn't press they have other things to talk about.

Listening, when she pauses, he reaches out a hand, leaving it on the counter if Jess wants to take it, not forcing anything, but it was there if she needed the support. "What happened next?"

Jessica Jones has posed:
"I may yet take you up on the offer," Jessica says while shaking her half finished second bottle. She will need to make a resupply run sooner or later.

"What happened next..." she lingers on another swig, before sighing, and letting it out in a bit of a speed talk, as if potentially having Matt not get everything would make it better, "turns our mr. loudmouth causing a racukus and getting the owner to call the cops on him? Well, that jerkface had mind control powers, the kind that don't care if you're weak minded or strong minded like Star Wars, but the kind that say, fuckyou, you do whatever the fuck I say...and you do it..." she literally shudders as she quotes, "with a smile." Speaking that one word makes her throw the bottle against the wall, it shatters, and some good whiskey goes to waste as she starts to cry.

"I'm sorry, Matt, I thought I could do it...but, I can't...can you please just leave?" She sturggles to get up to her feet, wrapping one arm around her mouth to stiffle her crying, not wanting Matt to see her like that, "I'm sorry, we'll catch up another time..." she says while stumbling her way to the bathroom.

Daredevil has posed:
"Anytime," Matt says of the invite. "Don't even have to call."

Then Matt falls back into that focused silence again, listening to Jessica's story, he makes a face at the mention of mind control, he could see where that might lead. "Jesus, Jess," he says in sympathy, only to flinch when the bottle breaks, it echoing loudly in his sensitive ears.

When she makes a break for the bathroom his first instinct is to try and stop her, but he holds back, he didn't need to press here, besides the fact he couldn't stop her if he wanted to, not if she made an effort.

"It's okay," he says standing up and moving out of the kitchen to get his things from the couch. He lets her go, then moving to the door, he lingers long enough to call back, "Like I said anytime, Jess. You're not alone here. You've got friends, I'll help you any way you need it, even shutting up and drinking."

Then he lets himself out and leaves Jessica to wrestle with her demons in private.