Normal is a lie we tell ourselves

[assholic]

Who: Jessica Jones (assholic) & OPEN
What: May catch-all
When: Early May to the end of May
Where: Wyver (home/city/arenas), the Space Station, the Wilds, possibly Khalo Village
Warning(s): As always, language. Will edit if needed. Edit: NSFW sex in thread w/Clark

She'd gone to the Coalition and surprise, surprise, no one had died. Well, not that she was aware of. Things seemed to be settling down into something less hostile. There were talks of diplomacy, and she'd heard of refugees starting some diplomatic guild or something, which she also trusted about as far as she could throw any of them in it. The Outpost was being turned into some sort of Swiss neutral zone, but it wasn't what she'd been hoping for.

Still, it was probably better than nothing. She'd limited her visits to Olympia, which had left her with time and the need to line her pockets with something other than those deliveries. She'd seen requests for finding things out in the wild, and while Jessica was definitely a city girl, she could at some points during May be found out in the wilds, looking for things to shove in a bag. She was also blowing off steam by continuing to fight in the arenas, though she'd been politely requested to step up a level, since the coordinators were aware that she was pulling her punches and taking easier fights instead of putting in any actual effort. Damn.

So, for May, Jessica can be found:

• Wyver
  • Home - Chilling with Clark and possibly inviting people she knows over so someone will eat the food she's only nibbling on
  • City - She still goes to the pubs, still visits the marketplace, still goes to see what's available for her to do for time and money
  • Arena - Probably the easiest place for people to find her, as she's there more often than not, having 'things at home' she doesn't want to work through
• Station
  • Pod Room - Checking up on those few she gives a shit about and the one she doesn't
  • Market - Spending some of what she's earned getting new jeans and a few bottles of stuff she can't get down on the planet
• Wilds
  • Out and about trying to harvest flora, fauna, or whatever she comes across that she hasn't seen in the markets. This prompt is open for multiple instances and available for team hand-ins
• Wildcard
  • Khalo Village - Someone could talk her into visiting there
  • Flona Cove - If anyone needs to just take a day and chill, it's her
  • Random - Something else in mind?

[Feel free to PM or PP me if you're not sure about something and would like to iron out the details, or if you'd like me to write up a specific starter.]

Comments

[assholic]

"I got some groundbreaking news for you, Clark. Pretty sure no one's going to complain about catching you doing naked anything. You could be squatting and opening a jar of pickles and people would line up to watch."

[apricitous]

"You're biased," he points out, nuzzling in between kisses. "And that is a terrible mental image."

[assholic]

She's smiling as she kisses him back, letting her nails drag down along his side as she does. "Yeah? Maybe a little. But I'd still watch it."

[apricitous]

"Why wait?" he asks as he gets his hands on her ass, "Why watch?"

[assholic]

"Whet my appetite. I get to watch all those muscles flex and move and think about dirty things before I pounce-- hey. I don't know if you're aware or not, Kent, but that's my ass."

[apricitous]

"I was looking around and I found it," he says with a teasing little smile. He gives her ass a little squeeze. "Should I keep looking around or..."

[assholic]

"Mm," she hums as she wiggles her ass under his hand. "That depends on if you're looking for something else or not." She leaned down and nibbled at the edge of his chin. It was stupid and sappy, but he was the only person she could be like this with.

[impavid]

"Oh, you trust me -- I have enough experience with weird magical shit to know and to be inclined to stick to cheap beer."

He's not had a problem with cheap beer so far. Glancing down absently he adjusts the bandage which is currently wrapped, haphazardly, over his jacket and sighs a sigh of resignation.

"Listen, speaking of weird magical shit --"

John's voice lowers to a whisper, so much as it can while still being heard over the crowd, and he frowns unhappily.

"You know anyone who knows about the shamans around here?"

Since he's meant to be following up a lead. He really just wants to drink and forget how frustrating the whole situation is, but equally John's stubborn enough to not let go. The whole thing went wrong on his watch, so he's responsible to some degree.

[assholic]

If there was anything guaranteed to tense Jessica up when she was in a good mood, talking about the shamans was certainly one of those topics. Her smile melted off, leaving a scowl in its place as she glowered over at him. "What the fuck do you want to know about those fuckwads for? Didn't they all die? I hope they all died. They're going to wish they all fucking died..."

Jessica Jones had a score to settle with them, after all.

[impavid]

"Because they're not all fucking dead," he hisses, "their buddies jumped me escorting something out of Olympia."

John takes a controlling breath, minimises his own spike of rage -- which desperately wants to match Jessica's, to turn everything into a yelling match -- and tries to focus. It's not Jessica's fault, she has her own reasons for being angry. Nobody died, even if -- even if they might as a consequence. John suddenly has a desire for something much stronger than cheap beer.

[assholic]

People had died when she'd been taken. Someone she actually liked, and even if that someone had also been resurrected by the Natha, that didn't make it any less traumatic. Kidnapping and torture tends to leave a mark -- especially on someone that already has that in their past. She still suffered from PTSD flashbacks, but she'd gotten better at not breaking things around her when they happened. The Arenas had helped her focus it. Not that she'd admit it was any kind of therapy.

"What were you escorting?" Because this was the first she'd heard of it, but that wasn't really too surprising. She'd been trying to keep her head down, stay out of whatever political bullshit was happening to make herself less of a target.

[impavid]

He probably shouldn't talk too much more about it in the middle of this crowded area. John scrubs his hair and shoots a casual look around, weighing up his options.

"Got five minutes to get some air?"

That is, to stand somewhere quieter while having this conversation. He tilts his head vaguely toward a clearing, wills Jessica to understand while trying to keep his expression as neutral as he can.

[krasnaya_vdova]

[Ava huffs with a touch of humor, a slight lift of an eyebrow.]

Sure, you might not have a particular style, but you're pretty good at hitting people until they don't get back up which is pretty good too, and fighting's not hard to learn. The flying spin thing is pretty neat. Though, you're probably not wrong- you know how guys are.

[Not that Ava's much different in that particular regard, but that's not really here or there.]

I'm Ava, by the way. I won some money on your fight, so if you have time I could buy you a drink.

[From a lot of people that's probably something skeevy, but Ava seems more interested in friendly conversation, and there's a decided lack of checking Jess out or leering. Although she does quietly file her away as Attractive. Not like Natasha was, more approachable, more real- but definitely nice on the eyes.]

[assholic]

Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of winning in the first place? Or were the odds that bad on my side that you raked it in?

[She could never tell one night from the next what they'd peg her at. Likely because she didn't have a set way of fighting. Some nights she held back a lot and got her ass handed to her. Others, she worked out her issues on someone's face. It varied.]

Jessica. Figure you got my name already if you bet on me.

[assholic]

He may as well have been carrying a sign that said 'SECRET CONVERSATION'. He'd gone all-over tense, and she looked over at the match, figuring she had a bit of time before hers was up. "Not too much longer past that. Bruno's not bleeding yet, so we're good."

Bruno tended to lose his shit when he saw his own blood, so everything was good for his opponent until then. She gestured for John to lead the way to where he wanted to have his super secret chat.

[krasnaya_vdova]

I wouldn't say they were bad, but it's enough to cover a couple drinks and something new in the market.

[Which was about all Ava really wanted anyway. And Jess seemed interesting, so she figured it would be worth the investment. Although, yeah, part of that interest was the powers. She didn't know a lot of people that had them; Bucky, Steve, Wanda. So people with abilities always caught her interest, especially other women, given that her friends tended to lean toward guys.]

Well, it's nice to get introduced officially, instead of them hollering odds.

[impavid]

Right. No more than five minutes. It shouldn't take much more than that. He nods and turns to thread through the people, making his way along until they end up what he judges a safe distance. The roar of the crowd every now and then is still audible, giving them a degree of atmospheric cover.

John sighs, tries to work out where to begin with the whole mess.

"So," he begins softly, "you know the whole... diplomatic council mess?"

[assholic]

[Maybe it was the fact that she'd come over first that had Jessica pegging her as another refugee. There were plenty of natives around, but Jess had found that most of them seemed to just tolerate or deal with new faces. They seemed less inclined to make friends with or initiate conversation that didn't benefit them in some way.

Of course, Jess was still not entirely comfortable with the natives here after her recent incidents with the Shamans and the attitudes from those that lived in both Olympia and Wyver. It had been why she'd suggested a third alternative living space. Look how well that had gone.]

How long you been here?

[assholic]

"I know there is a diplomatic council. Other than that, I've been trying to keep out of the rest of it." For her own safety. And for Clark's sanity. She didn't know how well he'd react to her getting kidnapped again, and since he was still trying to keep his abilities under wraps, she didn't want to be the reason he wound up getting outed as something other than just what he appeared to be. "I take it there's more shit I haven't heard."

[impavid]

"Probably a wise choice."

He grimaces a little, rubs at the side of his face.

"Both cities have been holding artefacts hostage. They agreed to trade them as part of a sort of peace process, you know. Building bridges or whatever. Olympia's been holding a dragon heart. It's real creepy, still beating. We escorted it of Olympia but got jumped just as we made the southern outpost. Did my best bad cop, worse cop routine and managed to get one of them to tell me they were working with the shamans. Want to bring the thing back to life."

Which... well, whatever they might think John can't quite envision a good end to that whole situation. He flexes his fingers uneasily, trying to press down the wave of frustration threatening to build up.

[krasnaya_vdova]

[To be honest, Ava wasn't frequently the sort that reaches out to people, but Jessica had caught her eye. There were always people she was willing to make an exception for, people that hit her just the right way. And Ava didn't know enough other women here, let alone ones that could fly and punch that hard.

So here she was. She'd missed the drama with the kidnappings, but knew the basics. The question though; it's an odd one for her.]

I first arrived to Olympia a little under a year ago. Though I was sort of laying low for a few months and then recently decided to trade up for Wyver.

[If Jess is a refugee, she can probably parse through what she means, and if she's not, it's entirely non-committal.]

[assholic]

Her brows furrowed as she listened to him, trying to think of exactly what that meant. "Wait, wait. They had a dragon heart and they want to bring the dragon it belongs to back to life? Oh, fuck me." She'd been through this before, albeit with ninjas and supposedly dead ex-girlfriend assassins, but undead anything made her eye twitch. She had no reason to think that this world's undead was anything like what she'd seen in hers, but she had a feeling that it couldn't be a good thing. Zombie dragons or whatever the fuck it would be sounded like an incredibly bad idea.

"I swear to god, I'm going to kill every one of those fuckers. They're right up there with winners of the bad fucking idea of the year awards."

[impavid]

"Yeah!" John confirms, with the tone of someone glad that his sentiment is shared because it is absolutely the worst idea he has ever heard. "They seemed to think it was already powerful enough on its own -- which, I guess it is the still beating heart of a dragon and all. Bringing the dragon back to life seems even more dangerous, though. I mean sure, she claimed it was a wise dragon -- but she also said if anywhere was going to burn Olympia would be first and I've grown moderately attached to the place I'm renting there. It would be a hassle to move."

So, you know. He'd rather the burning not happen.

[assholic]

"Like I trust a goddamn thing out of anyone's mouth here. They say safe, I say bullshit." Jessica's track record with trust and those in positions of authority here hadn't exactly grown better with time. If anything, she'd gotten even more suspicious; of both the motives of those that lived on the planet and the Natha, who she felt were holding people hostage in a very thinly veiled threat. "So... that shamans got the heart?"

[beatupgrass]

You were the first person I saw that I knew and wouldn't give me crap about it.

[He shrugs. It's half true. She was the first person he saw that he knows, anyway, and he figured she's the type who might have fun with it.] Besides the usual amount of crap, but I can deal with that. I'm just not in the mood to hear "Rocket, stop setting shit on fire" today.