Jessica Jones (thehword) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-03-05 12:56:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, cisco ramon (vibe), jessica jones |
Who: Jessica and Cisco
What: Watching movies
When: Shortly after this thread
Where: Cisco's place
Ratings/Warning: Low/none
Status: Complete
Jessica wasn’t sure if this was a good idea. Going to some stranger that you met over the internet’s house was exactly the kind of thing her parents had warned her about when she was a kid. And going over to stranger’s, or even people she knew’s houses was a thing that she generally avoided.
But what did she have to lose? An afternoon where, hopefully, she could think about movies instead of Kilgrave?It wasn’t like she’d feel any less safe at Cisco’s place than her own. Ever since Kilgrave had entered her dreams, it was hard to feel safe anywhere. And superstrength, well, that had to count for something.
She frowned on the sidewalk at the house, and closed her fingers around the neck of the thermos that she’d brought, filled with vodka. Cisco had said no alcohol, but it was better to be safe than sorry. She unscrewed the top, took a swig, and replaced it back in her bag before she made her way up the walkway and knocked on the door.
--
Maybe it was a little crazy, but these were different times. People talked online, dated online, made friends online that for the most part ended up okay. The girl seemed like she could use a distraction. The dreams were rough, distraction he could offer. In spite of his dreams featuring superheroes and a fictional city, they were no walk in the park either. He understood, and so did everyone at the Stilinski house. They all dreamed, he was sure even Noah was getting some but the man was a steadfast individual who never waivered even still. It set his mind at ease being there.
He didn’t know what to expect, but everyone who wanted or needed it was offered friendship from him if they wanted it and she took the first step. She took his offer for movies and junk food, so he provided. They could use the livingroom, Stiles apparently had work that evening and so did Noah. Neither one were home, but Cisco was still recovering.
He was dressed in a pair of dark blue sweats and a hoodie labelled S.T.A.R Labs that he’d gotten from the dreams. He couldn’t really wear anything fancy having been cut at the waist, but whatever. It was movie night. Come comfy. He answered the door and held up a hand. “Hey, not scared of dogs are you?” Some yapping and scrambling noises could be heard from the top of the stairs behind them.
---
“No, I’m not afraid of dogs,” she assured Cisco. As far as she was concerned, there was nothing to be afraid of as far as dogs were concerned. It was other people that one had to look out for.
She stepped in the doorway, and closed the door behind her. “So, do you usually invite strangers from the internet over?”
---
“Good, there’s a harmless hairball named Oreo incoming then.” He let his hand down so if the husky wanted to she could lick the new stranger to death.It was a homey little place, if someone came from a rough neighborhood it might look posh but it was lower middle class. A cops salary paid for that place. He shrugged at her next question. “No, not really. But when in Rome. People find dates on the internet, why not friends?” He lead her toward the livingroom. It was a modest two story place. The livingroom was his choice for them. One didn’t just invite new strangers into their bedroom, that would seem presumptuous and probably a splash of assholeish. Cisco wasn’t expecting anything of her except movies. What other kind of expectations could one lay on a network conversation anyway? “Besides, seems like you could use a friend. I’m literally possibly dying of boredom so why not?”
The furry husky that also occupied the home lumbered her way downstairs. She was obviously a black and white dog, looking much like an oreo cookie. She was friendly and still thought of herself as a puppy, so all the puppy actions ensued. Stranger Danger wasn’t thing to her.
---
Now that the dog was upon her, Jessica was a little nervous. Not about the dog itself, but with how full of energy it was, Jessica was afraid that she might hurt it. She thought she had her strength more or less under control, but occasionally she still used too much force when doing simple tasks like opening a door or opening a bottle of beer. “Down girl,” Jessica muttered, gently pushing the dog away.
“You mentioned not being able to do much,” she said, his comment about boredom reminding her. “What’s that about?”
---
The big puppy wasn’t about to stop her antics with such a gentle command, Cisco had been teaching her a thing or two though. He reached out to give that collar a tug. Nothing that would hurt the pup, no more than a tug on the leash but at that command she stopped trying to jump all over Cisco’s new friend. “Down.” He said in a more firm tone, and she responded. “She’s just learning, needs a bit of a firm hand.” He’d been reading up on training lately since he was home. “Now I need to get her a treat though, it’s a thing.” He grinned, motioning Jessica to follow if she wanted while he went into the kitchen with the puppy following at his heels. He dug into the pantry to find her a biscuit. “Wait.” Simple commands she knew, she sat impatiently while he pulled out the cookie and put it on the floor. The dog didn’t make a move until he used a simple hand gesture to allow her forward to eat her snack and be on her way. She pranced right on back upstairs to where her bed was.
“Ah, right..got a little too involved on zombie day.” He said with a little strained smile. “I’m not exactly good with the fighting. They got handsy. And claw-y.” He pulled up a bit of his shirt where a bandage covered most of the wounds on his side, but several angry red claw marks still crept above it. They were healing at least. “I’m not so good with the fighting...but I honestly don’t even remember leaving here to go out into it.”
---
The corner of Jessica’s lips tugged upwards while she watched Cisco dealing with the dog. It wasn’t anything special, but she hadn’t watched anything this seemingly normal for what felt like years. It was strangely nostalgic, despite the fact that her family had never had a dog when she was growing up.
Jessica had gone out during the invasion as well, and if it hadn’t been for Colleen, the mysterious woman with the katana, Jessica had the feeling that she might be in the same position as Cisco. Except for… “Wait, you don’t remember going out there at all?”
---
The dog responded to Cisco’s voice, obviously the two were close. She respected him as much as a puppy could. She wasn’t afraid, but she did listen. She knew if she did she’d get a reward. “Positive reinforcement work a lot better than fear.” He smiled as he watched her go up those stairs and back off t bed or do whatever dogs did.
When he turned back to Jessica again he shrugged. “There’s an entire day apparently I don’t remember. Those things didn’t come from our reality. They came from another and they weren’t gentle about it. I can feel when something disrupts the fabrics of reality...apparently It felt like they were tearing me apart too..” It wasn’t fun.
---
“That…” Well, it would sound almost impossible to believe, if she didn’t know how often creatures from other realities crossed over into this one. If she hadn’t received powers from her own dreams. Powers, and nightmares that weren’t Dreams but were byproducts of them. “Really shitty. Sounds like you’re going to have a fun time, in a place like this.”
---
“I’m aware how insane it sounds.” He commented as she hesitated to respond and shrugged. “Thing is, I’m tired of hiding who I am. If it bothers you, we don’t have to do anything.” Cisco wasn’t defensive or angry, just tired and a matter of fact. He was prepared to lose people over it,so far nobody had said anything ill will against him, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t ready for it to happen. It would be ridiculous of him not to be prepared for it being a potential outcome. But she seemed to change her mind about her response, so he didn’t press his own further and shrugged. “Probably, unless I find some way to control it I don’t know. I’m not even sure how as of yet though.” The tense tone had faded as he put away the treats and closed up the pantry.
It was a normal little home for the most part. Only it’s occupants were abnormal.
---
“I wasn’t aware we were planning on doing anything, other than watching movies,” Jessica said, raising an eyebrow, attempting a teasing tone and not entirely sure if she managed it. It was hard to joke about anything with Kilgrave constantly in the back of her head. “And I think I can manage that with someone who sesnses disruptions in reality.” Which was, no matter how she looked at it, one of the weirder powers she’d ever heard of.
“Wish I could help you in the controlling it aspect, but I’m still not sure how to do that with my own powers.”
--
“What? Oh I didn’t mean-I wasn’t trying to imply.. “ He was flustered at that comment and glanced back at her not sure how to finish that sentence without sounding like an ass. “I meant movies!” He was so so bad at people he practically stepped all over his own words before he finally did give her an amused look. “Yeah, just movies.” He obviously hadn’t even considered more, he was not a pig. He hadn’t invited her over with anything in mind other than watching a few stupid comedies.
“Come on already.” He huffed a little at her, motioning her into the livingroom where he’d already had few things set up, some snacks and a few movie choices.Some were action, others comedy.
--
That Jessica did smile at. It was hard not to when someone was tripping over their words like that.
She followed Cisco into the living room, and found a seat on the couch, helping herself to a handful of chips as she did so. “So, what are we watching?”
---
There were chips and dip, and candy of course. Twizzlers, they were essential. He had provided red classic twizzlers, good movie candy. Cisco knew science, not people. He didn’t know what she would want, so he just brought out pretty much everything he had. There was popcorn too.
“What are you in the mood for? Action, comedy?” He reached for a licorice to munch on.
---
“I could use a laugh,” Jessica answered, grabbing one of the twizzlers and crossing her legs on the couch, leaning deep into her corner of the couch.
--
“The Three Stooges it is.” Easy enough, Cisco would try it out with her. See if she liked it, if she didn’t- they could just change the movie. “Classic slapstick. If you’re into more sophisticated humor we can probably find something else, but if I’m having a terrible day this is usually what I’ll reach for.” He grinned as he grabbed at the movie to slip t into the gaming console. It was what they were using for movies lately, a ps4 system. He had no idea shed provided her own alcohol or he might have been a little more worried about her, a water bottle was really no cause for him to be concerned.
--
“I think I’m okay with simple today,” Jessica said. Thinking, right now, was one of the last things she wanted to do. Her thermos called to her, but she just took another bite of her twizzler instead.
“So this is what you do to unwind? Hang out on the couch and watch movies?” There was a part of that that sounded almost nice, though Jessica could never really sit still long enough for something like that to become a habit.
--
“Typically yeah, is that lame?” He wasn’t really the type of person who enjoys big outings. Bars were exhausting to him, not to mention expensive. He was more quiet than he’d admit. He could fit in with Stiles and friends on a normal basis, but when it came to roudy things he’d rather stay home and watch an old movie.
“What do you usually do? Any hobbies at all?” He asked curiously. If she only drank, that would be cause for concern. Cisco would want to help her out of that. As it were, he wanted to help her already. It seemed like she could use a friend.
----
Jessica shrugged. “Not really,” she said. “We’ve all got things that keep us busy.” For some people it was movies. For other people, like Jessica, it was work.
She frowned a little at Cisco’s question, thinking it over. “I work, and I drink,” Jessica said, and then added, “so I guess it depends on what your definition of ‘hobby’ is.” If hiding out in fire escapes taking photos of people cheating on their spouses, or following people around to make sure they weren’t trying to cheat their worker’s compensation claims could be considered a hobby, well, that was probably it.
---
He raised an eyebrow as the movie played in the background. “What abou fun?” He didn’t exactly consider drinking to be ‘fun’ so no comment was made on that, he just watched her with a hint of concern.
“If all you do is work you’re going to burn out. I love my job, but if I didn’t balance it with friends and fun I’d lose my mind. Have you ever been to Karaoke?” He grinned at the memory of the recent trip “Or kickboxing? I hear some people like exercise. If I’m doing it, I’m probably running away though..” He grinned as he scratched his cheek and leaned back on the couch to watch a bit of the flick. “I love this stupid movie.” He laughed as they poked eachother in the eyes over some ridiculous scenario.
---
Now that was a question. Jessica didn’t really do things for fun. It had been a long time, probably since she and Sterling had been living together, that she had even considered something like that. She didn’t really do friends, either, for that matter. There was Yondu, of course, and Peter had, for some unfathomable reason, decided to latch onto her. Veronica could probably count, if one counted having the occasional unplanned drink in a bar with someone with the same job and same birthday a friend.
“I don’t do karaoke,” Jessica said bluntly. “And kickboxing would be a bad idea.” It was absolutely off the table now that she had to deal with this super strength of hers. There was no doubt in her mind that she could easily kill someone with a punch. In the end, she didn’t have an answer for Cisco’s question, so she didn’t give one. She very nearly smiled at the movie though.
---
Okayyy so that was out of the picture then. Cisco put his feet up on the able in front of them, though not too close to the food. He folded his arms thoughtfully as he munched at a twizzler and watched for a moment without saying anything. What did he say when someone was so touchy about karaoke?
“Well, then how about once a week coming over here and doing this. With me. You can’t deny it’s a little funny. No one hates the Stooges. And I mean, there are a ton of movies.”
This was either a good idea or really bad one, but he figured she could use something stable. So he offered it.
--
Jessica frowned, wondering what Cisco’s ulterior motive could be. He seemed genuine enough in his claim that he didn’t want to sleep with her, but Jessica hadn’t lived this long, hadn’t become such a good PI, without realizing that people, generally, were only out for themselves.
But, there was no harm in it, at least until she found out what he was really hoping to get out of this. “No promises,” Jessica said. She had an unpredictable job, and sometimes she just didn’t feel like going out, “but why not?”
--
He didn’t have one, if she went looking all she’d find was a nice guy who was a bit awkward when it came to making friends and genuinely wanted to help people. Of course he had a few skeletons, but none of them were ones that would affect movies and offering her a friend.
“Got your phone?” He would give her his number with a simple tap of his own phone to hers An app he was perfecting. It’d come out years ago, but he’d made some adjustments to it. Like it actually worked. She didn’t have to say or do anything to inter the number he gave her. “Beware, I like texting memes.” He mused as he leaned back on the couch with his arms behind his head to watch the rest of the movie.
He didn’t expect her to chat about her past, or nightmares that caused her to drink-but he did expect her to remember the movies later. AKA drunken movie binging wasn’t a thing for him, it wouldn’t be while she was there either if he could help it. He wanted to help her out. “Try this.” He handed her a mixed soda, various flavors in it before sitting back on the couch again to get comfortable.
--
Jessica glanced at the number saved in her phone, a little surprised about how easy that was but not too surprised. “Do not send me any memes,” she told him, putting the phone back in her pocket.
Jessica took the drink, wondering if she shouldn’t add a little extra kick to it, and then eyed Cisco. The last thing she needed right now was a lecture from someone she’d barely met, and so, for now, she decided against it and took a sip. “Swamp water,” she muttered to herself, smiling a little as she remembered a conversation with Peter a couple of weeks ago about the exact thing, and how they’d both called it the same thing when they’d been kids. “Thanks,” she said,
--
He grinned “We’ll see.”He put the phone back in his pocket as well without a second glance. He knew it would work.
With that he settled back in to watch the rest of the flick, knowing she’d probably hate that drink, so he snickered when she muttered at it. “Trade it if you want. Make yourself at home.” And unless she decided to chat at him that was the last thing he said until the movie was over.
“Next week? Same bat time same bat channel?”
---
“We’ll see,” Jessica said, and then, because Cisco deserved that much at least, she softened a little and added “but probably. This was alright.”
--
“Hey, it’s a start.” He grinned and shugged, he wasn’t expecting more, so he was glad for that comment at least. “If you need someone to talk to or want to come by and not talk we can just do this again. Any time.” He offered. “I don’t expect anything from you except to keep the alcohol out of the house, barring that you’re welcome here any time.” He wasn’t against drinking per say, he wasn’t one hundred percent sober but he had a feeling she might need a place like that. He could keep it out for her if she wanted something comfortable, something normal then she had it.
--
Jessica’s hand almost guiltily went to her thermos, but to her credit she hadn’t actually drank any of it inside Cisco’s house. That had to count for something. “I guess I’ll see you around,” she said, a little awkwardly, not sure how this whole ‘good-bye’ thing worked. Half the time her good-byes involved her either throwing people out of her office or getting thrown out of wherever it was she was. So, she just turned and headed for the door.
---
He nodded at that. “Don’t be a stranger.” She was welcome any time if it helped, if it didn’t well-he wished her the best. He didn’t have an ill intentioned bone in his body. He did get up to see her out though, giving a last wave as she left.
---