4780/Consulting An Expert (follow up to

Consulting An Expert (follow up to
Date of Scene:	18 January 2021
Location:	Alias Investigations
Synopsis:	After being visited by a demon, Jessica has her world view rattled a bit, and she seeks Matt for his expertise in all things religious.
Cast of Characters:	Jessica Jones, Matthew Murdock

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Jessica Jones has posed:
*back scene from end of Sep 2020*

Jessica Jones had a rather extraordinarely terrible life, with one disaster after another. Sure, there was some good things too, like her superpowers that helped her survive it all, but ultimate, she would conclude it's all shit. So it was only natural she was not a very believing woman, in the sense of having any faith in any gods. It's part of why she liked teasing Matt about his Catholic faith.

Recently, something shook her quite a bit, and Matt with his silly religion only seemed like the most appropriate target for getting some answers. She tried to stop by his house, but turns out lawyers sometimes are too busy to just linger about their homes, so to the cellphone she went next.

At first a call, but if Matt was too busy, a text followed. Regardless of method, voice or text, the message was short and to the point: drop everything and come to Alias please, I need you.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt takes the call and shortly afterwards bails on the meeting he was in to head to Alias, Jessica rarely asked for help let alone said she needed someone so he knew something had to very, very wrong. A short time after he hangs up he's knocking on Jessica's door, his senses checking its state of repair, that was usually a good barometer for Jessica's state as well. "Jess, it's Matt," he calls trying the door.

Jessica Jones has posed:
The door, for once was in great shape, more weirdly, turns out it was barricaded too. Because when Matt announces himself, he can hear some stuff being dragged to clear a path, before the door swings open, "get in," Jessica says in an anxious tone, looking out into the hallway, and closing the door as soon as possible after Matt stepped inside. "Thanks for coming so fast, Matt, did you notice anything weird on your way in?"

She was already moving to pour two glasses of whiskey, "drink?"

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt enters his senses fixing on Jess checking her for signs of injury. "Sure," he says about the drink. "And no, nothing strange on my way in except for you barricading your door," he says giving her a concerned look. "Jess, what's going on?"

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica seems perfectly normal, though her heart rate is a bit off the chart, compared to how normally calm and in control she is. Well, relatively speaking. "So...," she extends one glass to Matt's hand, while already drinking the other, "...you know how I keep mocking you for all that Catholic bullshit...? Well, this morning I was woken up by a motherfucking demon outside my window..." Jess sounds rattled, it's not like her, so maybe it's not just a drunken stupor. "He said he was drawn to how comfortable and 'like home' I 'feel'..." she swallows a bit nervously, and immediately follows up with, "is Hell real and this was just a calling card to tell me I'm headed there...?"

Matthew Murdock has posed:
The glass almost falls out of Matt's hand. "A demon?" he asks. He checks her heart by habit then, looking for signs he's being messed with, but the heart rate confirms what a million other signs already told him, Jess believed what she saw and she was scared. Matt chooses his words carefully. "Yes, I believe Hell is real," he says, "But I don't believe you're headed there. You're a good person and believe it or not that actually does count for something," he say before taking off his shades and rubbing the bridge of his nose as he tries to make sense of it all. "But let's start from the top, can you tell me exactly what happened?"

Jessica Jones has posed:
"That's what he said he was...talked of Hell and Satan and everything..." Jessica looks quite distraught, and likely upset with herself for believing in what she saw, but it was kind of hard to refute. "Fuck me..." Jessica grumbles as Matt notes he does believes it's real, though she looks hesitantly at Matt when he assures her he doesn't think she's headed there. "No, Matt, if that place is real...I'm definitely headed there, I'm the worst. I mean, a freakin' demon made his way out of Hell and into my apartment, because I felt like home to him."

"Exactly what happened...?" She downs the rest of her drink and pours herself more, downing it as well, before pouring herself more again. "I think I can do that..." she stalls, taking a deep breath.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"Or you're good enough a demon thought it was worth his time to try to trick you into despair," Matt counters after another sip of his whiskey. "Demons lie and they tempt and they try to get good people to give up but they usually don't warn people on the road to hell that's where they're headed."

Then he goes quiet as Jessica gets ready to tell her tale.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jessica stalls further when she hears Matt's suggestion that the demon might have been trying to trick her into despair, "demons do that?" She seems a bit skeptical, but heck, if they're real...anything is possible, right?

"Okay," she finally says after drinking half of her...third? Fourth? Whatever glass. "It was right outside my bedroom window, by the fire escape...he was sleeping there, making noise, and when I told him to fuck off he said my apartment felt just like Hell, and that I felt like a comfortable soul to be with, because it was just like home..." she shakes her head, and looks quite disturbed as she takes another sip and mutters, "I told himt o fuck off, and that demons aren't real, he said Lucifer didn't send him to me, he just showed up for...I don't know, at that point I punched him as hard as I could and he crashed down at street level. I then barricaded and called you."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt listens, his face schooled into a sympathetic if otherwise neutral mask, no sign of judgment or other emotions are given any space to grow. "They do," Matt says. "They're whole purpose is to corrupt souls and when they go to hell torment them, but I am not entirely sure that's what were dealing with here, I've never heard of one dropping by to sleep on a fire escape or giving up after just a punch, even one like you can throw. What did he look like? Other than what he said was there anything about him that screamed demon to you?"

Jessica Jones has posed:
"What if I was already tormented on Earth...? Do I get a pass?" Jess sounds surprisingly serious when she asks the question, likely the first time she ever hinted at having gone through some trauam. Even though Matt likely already guessed from her abrasive mannerism, and tremendous drinking problem.

"Well, he looked pretty normal, but his eyes were freaky...like, I don't know, hard to describe, but definitely not human," Jess explains as she finishes yet another glass, "it just freaked me out that this fairy tale might be real, I mean, what if all the nonsense you say about God and whatnot is real? I'm a terrible human being...I'll be fucked for eternity..."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt had guessed, the PTSD symptoms were pretty easy to read with his senses and of course there was the drinking. He never pushed though, letting Jess talk about, or not as she wanted. It seems like now was a time he was getting some of it. "It doesn't work that way," he tells her honestly. "It's not about what you've been through but what you choose to do," he says. He ignores the part about the description for a moment to address the last things Jess said first. "You're not a terrible human being, Jess," Matt says. "You've been through, what it is you've been through but you're still out here trying to help. When I came to you during the Invasion and asked you to help me fight along with the rest of the Defenders, you could have told me to fuck off, or thrown me into the next block, but you didn't you stepped up and helped out, that's not what a terrible person does, Jess, we've both known enough terrible people to know that."

As for the demon, he nods about the eyes. "Beyond the eyes saying he's a demon, did he do anything demonic, or magical?" he asks her. "I mean I trust your bullshit detector Jessica, but I have to say it's a hell of a lot more likely that he was some homeless mutant trying to scare the hell out of you after you woke him up, than he is an actual demon here because your soul felt like home."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"It doesn't...?" Jess looks a bit disappointed at that bit of news, slumping over in her chair, looking quite bitter. "Well...I don't know that my P.I. gig is any good then, I deal with a lot of filth."

"True, I could have," Jess manages a weak smile as Matt tries to find some good she did to lift her spirits, "honestly, though, I was kinda hoping to die that day. It seemed like it would happen...you guys are too fucking good though, you kept me alive."

She shrugs at the questions about how demonic the demon actually was, muttering, "he tried to apologize to me when I got angry. But he was name dropping Hell related sounding stuff, mentioned knowing quite a few of the demons there...so, I don't know, the way he spoke of it sounded authentic. You know I'd loathe to give you any ammunition to tease me with...if I actually bothered to talk to you about it, it felt authetic as fuck."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"I'm afraid not," Matt says with genuine sympathy. "It's a raw deal I know, but it's deeds that count.

There's a smile back from Matt. "I'd like to take credit for that, but it was mostly Danny and Luke that did all the heavy lifting that day, apparently bulletproof skin and magic karate trumps a pair of sticks and a costume cobbled together on Amazon when it comes to fighting giants and aliens from other dimensions,," he offers with a self-deprecating smile before adding with a more serious expression, "For what it's worth I'm glad you didn't die even if you wanted to. You're one of my best friends, it would have sucked to miss out on our little chats."

He nods about Jess' read on the situation, "Alright then, until proven otherwise we'll play this like its authentic as fuck, since he apologized and once you knocked him down he didn't come back he might not come back, but if you want you can stay with me and Daisy for a few days. Or even at St. Agnes," the orphanage he and Daisy grew up in. "If you want holy ground. As for the demon himself, did he give you a name? That'll give us a place to start looking into him, see if there's any mention of him anywhere, might give us an idea what his motrives and capabilities are," he says. "As for Hell, you're going to have to take it on faith you're not going there, and if that's not enough then take it on my word you're a good person and God is just. There's a long list of people that are more worthy of hell than you are Jess," he offers as smile then. "As often as the Church is preachy about the little things sometimes, in my experience it's the big things, like standing up when you're needed and helping people that really counts, and I've seen you do that time and time again."

Jessica Jones has posed:
At least Jessica calmed a bit since talking to Matt, judging by her heart rate normalizing, but she does have this bleak expression on her face. Seems she has her mind set on what all this means, and she's dealing how she best knows to deal, pouring another glass for herself. "Hey, they trumped unreasonably powerful fists too," Jess smirks a little as Matt, as he is wont to do, leaves most credit with Danny and Luke, who admittedly, are quite impressive with their ridiculous abilities.

Jessica levels her gaze with Matt, and her smile becomes a bit more genuine, "I'm pretty sure you're the only person I can honestly call 'my friend', so, it's mutual and thank you for that...though I do flirt with death quite a bit. Did a job for Elektra, almost died there too...did you know the Hand are very good at setting traps?"

She grins at the mention of holy ground for protection, "won't I catch on fire in holy ground?" She jokes, but does look very appreciative of the offer, "I don't want to ruin anything for you and Daisy, but I may just take the offer for a couple of days, just to relax a bit."

"He said his name was Levian..."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"And sass," Matt adds to the list of Jess' abilities. "I'm pretty sure some of those guys have healed up from Iron Fist punches, but the emotional wounds?" he says trailing off with a grin.

There's an look of honest appreciation when she says he might be her only friend, a look that quickly becomes one of his usual self-deprecating expressions, even as he boasts, "At least nobody can say you don't have good taste in friends.

"I've run into a few," Matt says of Hand traps. "What'd Elektra have you doing?" he asks unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice.

There's a chuckle for the idea of her bursting into flame. "Only if you've spilled a drink recently and get too close to the votive candles," he jokes. "You'll be fine," he assures her. "I can talk to Father Lantom about you staying there for a few days, and about this Levian, but in the meantime I am sure Daisy won't mind a house guest. She's recovering from an accident, so she hasn't had much chance to get out, she'd probably appreciate the company."

Jessica Jones has posed:
"You know how to cheer me up," Jessica admits with a far more at ease smile aimed at Matt. It does feel good to know the emotional punishment she throws at enemies is appreciated.

"Oh, I have the finest...that's why I go to Josie more often than other dives," Jessica says with wink.

"Oh, some Roxxon investigation, found some informant who went quiet on her, almost got sliced and diced by magic ninjas."

For once, Jessica puts down her glass, and walks up to Matt, giving him a tight embrace, "thank you so much for coming, Matt, it feels amazing that there's someone I can count on."