Jessica Jones (thehword) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-02-01 09:15:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, jessica jones, veronica mars |
Rough day?
Who: Jessica and Veronica
What: Veronica finds Jessica trying to drink away her problems
When: Last week sometime
Where: A bar
Rating/Warning: Lowish, with some vague references to Kilgrave
Status: Complete
Jessica still wasn’t sure if the walking dead had had good timing or not. On one hand, being able to wake up in the morning being able to use all her considerable strength to fight the undead had been a good way to take her mind off the dreams. On the other hand, was there ever really a good time to have to fight the undead?
The zombies were gone now, and there wasn’t much to distract Jessica’s mind from turning back to the events in her dreams. To Kilgrave. To the things he was making her do. Just thinking about it made her stomach churn, made her heart beat so fast that she could hardly breathe. Which meant that she turned back to her usual coping mechanism. Namely, getting drunk in one of her usual bars, by herself, scowling at any one who came trying to talk to her.
Things never seemed to calm down for Veronica. Though she supposed that was what happened when you had a kid and lived in Orange County. The holidays had been crazy because of the whole kid thing, and the usual snow storm, and then there was the day Chris ran away. Once that all calmed down freaking zombies attacked again. Now things seemed to be calm again. All Veronica had to worry about was her cases and her kid.
She was done with her cases for the day. As much as she loved her little one, sometimes she needed a drink before getting home to dirty diapers. Which was precisely why she stopped at a bar. Walking in she spotted another PI. One of the few she actually liked. Veronica took a seat next to the brunette ordering herself a beer. “Two PIs walk into a bar…”
Jessica grimaced at the sound of Veronica’s voice. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Veronica - on the contrary, she usually enjoyed her company and considered her a friend - but right now, the last thing Jessica wanted to do was see anyone she knew.
Maybe she should have gone to a different bar.
She turned to Veronica, took a gulp of her beer, and said, attempting a lighter tone but not quite succeeding, “We’ve got to stop running into one another like this.”
“I feel like we are about as cliche as cops and donuts,” Veronica replied. Though PIs and alcohol wasn’t exactly a cliche, but they certainly seemed to be making it one.
The bartender brought over her beer, Veronica took a sip before continuing. “Rough day?” she questioned. Jessica seemed the type to drink at the end of the day whether it was rough or not, so it wasn’t exactly easy to tell. But there was something in her tone. And Veronica, well she was good at picking up on those type of things. Came with the business.
“Rough life,” Jessica muttered, finishing the rest of her drink and then motioning for the bartender to fill it up.
There was a time where Veronica would have replied with ‘I know the feeling.’ But lately the blonde had to admit her life was going pretty damn well. No complaints on her end. “Wanna talk about it?” she asked instead, although she had a feeling she already knew the answer.
“What’s that going to do?” Jessica asked, because she was sure as hell that talking about the problem wasn’t going to make it go away. If anything, it was just going to make her thinking about her dreams even more. “I’d rather just drink.”
“That I can also do,” Veronica said with a smirk. And just to make her point she went ahead and order a glass herself a glass of whiskey. Not even carrying that her beer was still unfinished.
Jessica almost managed an appreciative smile. At least, the corner of her lip raised a small fraction. She turned back to her drink. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad with someone she knew around after all.
While Jessica may have been content to just sit in silence and drink, Veronica would at least attempt a conversation. She also had no problem sharing her day. “My day consisted of chasing down an asshole that was faking an injury,” Veronica replied. Oh PI work. Wasn’t as glamorous as it seemed.
“I’ll take the insurance scammers over the cheaters any day,” Jessica said. For one, when she reported insurance fraud to the insurance company, they never tried to claim she was ruining their lives and tried to refuse to pay her. “Less drama. Also, less weird sex things.”
“Less naked photos,” Veronica added with a smirk. Though one might be surprised how many naked photos one might take while investigating insurance fraud. Had to prove the person was indeed faking an injury. That didn’t always involved said person being clothed. “Why were cases in my dreams so much more interesting?” A bit more deadly too but that was besides the point.
Jessica flinched at the mention of the dreams, and turned her attention back to her alcohol. Somehow, her glass had become empty again, and she motioned for the bartender to top her up. Luckily, the place wasn’t too busy and he obliged quickly.
Veronica thought Jessica was cheering up a bit. That was until she mentioned dreams. It had just been an off handed comment, but she saw how Jessica reacted. How she stopped talking and just ordered another drink. Perhaps Veronica shouldn’t push. But well Veronica wouldn’t be Veronica if she wasn’t nosey. “Rough life really mean rough dreams?”
Jessica took a long pull from her glass, drinking the scotch like it was iced tea, not sure if she wanted to answer or not. But it wasn’t like she could get out of it now. Veronica was smart and perceptive, she wouldn’t believe it if Jessica denied it. “Yeah,” she admitted. “They… they’re pretty bad right now.”
“Explains the drinking,” Veronica commented with a small smirk. “I’ve been there.” For the most part Veronica tried to find the humor in her dreams. Or at least that’s how she made it look to the outside world. Like really, brothers named Dick and Beaver? But having one of the most traumatic events of her life be relived in dreams? It got difficult.
“I can’t drink in the dreams, so I have to make up for it now,” Jessica muttered. She had, of course, tried drinking to avoid the dreams, but that hadn’t done anything to dim the dreams, and had only caused her to wake up with a nasty hangover.
“You in AA or something?” Veronica replied. She wasn’t sure why anyone wouldn’t be able to drink. Unless it was a power thing.
Jessica snorted. The idea of her in AA was one of the most laughable things she’d heard in a long time. “No, nothing like that,” Jessica said, and fell silent for a moment. Just when it seemed like she wasn’t going to say anything else on the matter she added, bitterly, feeling sick to her stomach, “There’s someone in my dreams. And he doesn’t think it’s very becoming.”
Well at least she made Jessica laugh. But then she went back to silence. Veronica took another sip of her drink. She had already pushed Jessica a lot. Yes, Veronica was a bosy person, but she didn’t want to alienate Jessica with too much pushing. Then she spoke again and Veronica couldn’t hide the shock from her face. “So because some douchebag doesn’t like it you don’t drink?” she asked. “You must be a hell of a lot different in the dreams.” Veronica imagine Jessica not doing something for some guy here.
“I don’t have a-” Jessica started, and then stopped. She swallowed. “I can’t-” she tried again. But no, she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t talk about it, not about the things in the dreams. Every time she thought of it, she could hear Kilgrave’s voice in her mind, his British accent, his silky tone. Him telling her to tell him that she loved him, and her having no choice to obey. Or rather, her wanting to obey, her need to do every little thing Kilgrave asked of her, no matter how much it repulsed her in the waking world, or when Kilgrave’s influence was starting to wear off.
She knocked back the rest of her drink, threw a few bills on the counter, not bothering to count them despite the fact that she probably grossly overpaid, and stood up. “I have to go,” she said abruptly, and before Veronica could respond she was already walking toward the door.
Veronica’s brows knitted together. A frown formed on her face. It seemed like Jessica had wanted to say something. But then all the sudden she up and left. If Veronica wasn’t curious before she certainly was now. But it wasn’t like she was going to chase Jessica out of the bar. All she could do was down the rest of her drink, pay for it and head home.