Jessica Jones (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
assholic) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
felldenlogs2019-09-23 01:21 pm
assholic) wrote in felldenlogs2019-09-23 01:21 pm
Entry tags:
(Closed/Quest) A politician's smile and a spy's are frighteningly similar
WHO: Jessica Jones & NPCs
WHAT: Sneaking and spying
WHERE: Moon Temple | Wherever target(s) wanders | Kyst
WHEN: Before the Harvest Feast
WARNINGS: Foul language.
It's always when she was minding her own business that trouble, or anything interesting at all, seemed to fall into her lap. Or in this case, run into her hard enough to change her pace. The swear that she almost let out faded when she saw the age of the face she was about to spit it into, turning the breath into a scowl instead. There was a quick apology and an apple handed to her. She felt the rough patch of paper that was hidden from view, pressed to her palm between skin and the fruit. Well, that's interesting... She took a bite, thinking for a moment about if that was a smart idea or not. Snow White thought apples were innocent too, and look where that got her. A shrug and she took another bite, unobtrusively sliding the paper into her pocket until she made it back to her room to look at in private later. She pulled out the slip of paper to see words written in dark block letters:
It took a few days for her to establish his pattern, but once she had, it was almost like clockwork, and she had to ask herself how anyone managed to live like that. Same wakeup time. Same amount of time spent in the bathroom. Same path shuffled to and from the places he went to. She'd found on the first day that she couldn't hear anything when he was in his office, she could slip in a couple minutes ahead of him and slip her phone into a fairly unobtrusive and hidden spot to record while she waited for him to leave. Most of what he spoke about with other officials was boring and made her teeth feel like she'd splinter them if she ground them anymore in frustration. The one that had her stopping and listening to again, if only because of how weird it was, was something about rats. Rat farming? Jesus. She was suddenly picturing Rat McNuggets, or maybe a milkshake made of rat milk. Did rats need farms? Old or new age, they were still considered pests and bred like them. Shrugging, she wrote out the conversation, transcribing everything down to paper.
Jahoth was predictable, and once she'd established his routine, she thought it better to follow the body that slipped in and out of his room at night. An escort, one that she'd viewed through his window to get a look at her face before she settled in to watch through the screen while they engaged in a behavior that Jessica was more familiar with having to sit through and take pictures of. She snapped one, just for posterity's sake- and maybe a bit of nostalgia, before she continued watching. The woman was efficient with her work, and she stayed longer than most hired help did after a bump and grind. But she left, eventually, and on the fourth night, she followed. And was annoyed when she was given the slip, which just prodded at her suspicions. "Fuck," she muttered to herself, but she was also prompted to start asking around about the escort the next day. Someone let her into the Temple. Someone had to be familiar enough not to stop her when they saw her near Jahoth's quarters. She wasn't a stranger, and she had a pattern. She didn't get a name, but she got nods about where she might be. Familiar enough to be noticed and recognized and not questioned, but apparently only within the last few months. "She's from the Court, you see," the laundress had told her when she'd asked her for a name. "Defected. I suppose she saw the error of her ways and found herself to the place she should be. Can't blame them, really. No one has a choice where they're born. No choice in what side their sires land on. But she's old enough to make her own choice now. She may be a harlot, but both sides have those, aye?" A laugh at her little joke, and Jessica gave a soft laugh, keeping up with the game. It hadn't been funny and she hated when women shit on other women for doing what they could, but she'd also learned from Dorothy not to piss off the people that took care of your washing or food. Not because Dorothy Walker had told her, but because Jessica had been witness to the many, many ways that the working class could execute their revenge.
After another night of trying to keep up with the woman when she left Jahoth's quarters, she saw her slip into a mirror, mentally smacking herself in the face for not remembering how easy transportation was to and from the Temple. "Fucking magic," she hissed to herself, stepping through and heading into Kyst properly. Oddly, here was a bit more familiar to her, and she found the tension in her shoulders relaxing. She snagged a robe off the back of a cart driving by, wrapping it around herself to try to fit in more with the bodies around her. She found the flash of blue, the vibrant scarf the woman had been wearing when she'd left the Temple slipping into a pub up ahead and she headed for that direction. It was a packed room, and Jessica headed over to the bartop to order a drink, setting down coin to pay for it before she took the mug. It'd look more suspicious if she came in and just looked around, so she'd opted to blend. Now, drink in hand, she could peruse the bar in the guise of looking for a place to sit. She saw her target, sitting at a table with two men. She looked past them, still 'looking' for a table. She knew the game. While part of her wanted to just go over and grab her, shake the information out of her, she didn't know enough yet. Didn't know what she could do; and in a land with magic and swords and shit, that could turn fatal. She had her moments of foolishness, but she wasn't suicidal.
She fit her way in between a sailor and the girl he was trying to buy for the night, a table away from the escort Jahoth had been seeing. She sipped her drink, resting her head back against the wall and closing her eyes, trying to both relax a bit and hear what was going on with the body she was following. A frown creased her brow when she heard a voice she recognized. It was right on the edge of her memory- ah. Right. She'd heard him talking on her phone. About rat farms. Well, well, wasn't that a coincidence? Too bad for him Jessica didn't believe in coincidences. Two different bodies, both meeting with a suspected double agent, both just happening to wind up in the same shitty bar in Kyst. Yeah, and she was a virgin.
The woman got up to leave and Jessica had a moment of conflict of who to stay with, but she knew that she could find the woman again. Part of the pattern of predictability, after all. The guy, however, was a new element. And when he shifted to move and let the woman up, she'd caught the flash of a tattoo. A constellation of some kind. Another nail in Jahoth's coffin. Court escort, Court sailor, judging by his getup, and suspicions of bad behavior. Wasn't looking good. The other man got up to leave as well, and after a moment or two, the sailor moved to do the same. Jessica pushed away from where she'd been, coming up behind him and tapping him on the shoulder. "Hey, I know you, don't I? Yeah, you're that guy... you know that Temple guy, Jahoth, right?"
Color washed out of the man's face before he shook his head, before surprise was replaced with a flicker of fear. "Temple? I don't hail from the Moon Temple, Lady."
"But you've seen him, right? You know where I can find him?" Jess kept her face somewhat blank, bland, almost empty.
Again, the man shook his head, backing up. "No. I know nothing of this man." When a body or two crossed between them, he turned and fled as if his life depended on it. And Jessica slipped out after him, ditching the robe so it didn't tangle in her legs as she headed into the alley to jump up onto the roof of the tavern. From there, she followed along above as the sailor ran. He never looked up- they never did. She found the boarding house he was apparently staying at, watching to see what window lit up. When she pegged it, she debated what to do next. He could be destroying anything she might need if he thought he was compromised. Sighing, she took a running jump to the roof of the building he was in, then moved to hang down, swinging in to kick through the shutters of the now-lit room. The expression on his face was almost comical, and she moved to throw a book on the desk at him as he reached for something inside his vest. He fell with a quiet thud, and Jess moved over to pat him down. There was a vial there, and she didn't know if it was for her or him, so she took it, slipping it into her bag. She could get the geeks at the Temple to look it over. Trussing him up, she took her time searching his room. Neat, sparse, but there was a safe. Since she doubted that he was going to do her the favor of opening it, even if she woke him up, she opted to just rip the door off the hinges, which took more strength than she was used to using on something so small. Inside were papers, a letter addressed to the Emperor himself, with names on it. A couple she recognized from the audience with the Priestess. Otherworlders, like her. The new arrivals. Well... shit.
She took them, sliding them into her bag as well, then left out the window. Seemed there was at least some merit to the whispers of agents and spies. She took a mirror back to the Temple, then headed to her room. From there, she pulled out a piece of parchment, writing out her report. She had no idea if the sailor would tell the escort or where that would lead from there, so the sooner this particular information got into the hands it needed to get into before it changed and became irrelevant, the better.
Priestess,
Enclosed are the transcripts taken from J. Pay close attention to the one noted: Rats. J's nightly visitor, previously of the Court, led me to the other party involved in that conversation. Constellation tattoo. Enclosed is also the confiscated letter from said party. You'll note who it's addressed to and the subject mentioned. Suspicions confirmed.
Jessica Jones.
Simple and to the point, she signed her name and went to make sure her missive got into the right hands. Then she went to grab a couple bottles of wine from the kitchens, deciding she'd earned a reward.
WHAT: Sneaking and spying
WHERE: Moon Temple | Wherever target(s) wanders | Kyst
WHEN: Before the Harvest Feast
WARNINGS: Foul language.
It's always when she was minding her own business that trouble, or anything interesting at all, seemed to fall into her lap. Or in this case, run into her hard enough to change her pace. The swear that she almost let out faded when she saw the age of the face she was about to spit it into, turning the breath into a scowl instead. There was a quick apology and an apple handed to her. She felt the rough patch of paper that was hidden from view, pressed to her palm between skin and the fruit. Well, that's interesting... She took a bite, thinking for a moment about if that was a smart idea or not. Snow White thought apples were innocent too, and look where that got her. A shrug and she took another bite, unobtrusively sliding the paper into her pocket until she made it back to her room to look at in private later. She pulled out the slip of paper to see words written in dark block letters:
| PROVE YOURSELF. GATHER INTEL ON JAHOTH HUULTRIFT, INFORMANT TO THE PRIESTESS. SUSPECTED DOUBLE AGENT. REPORT TO THE MOST HOLY MOTHER. INITIATION BEGINS. |
It took a few days for her to establish his pattern, but once she had, it was almost like clockwork, and she had to ask herself how anyone managed to live like that. Same wakeup time. Same amount of time spent in the bathroom. Same path shuffled to and from the places he went to. She'd found on the first day that she couldn't hear anything when he was in his office, she could slip in a couple minutes ahead of him and slip her phone into a fairly unobtrusive and hidden spot to record while she waited for him to leave. Most of what he spoke about with other officials was boring and made her teeth feel like she'd splinter them if she ground them anymore in frustration. The one that had her stopping and listening to again, if only because of how weird it was, was something about rats. Rat farming? Jesus. She was suddenly picturing Rat McNuggets, or maybe a milkshake made of rat milk. Did rats need farms? Old or new age, they were still considered pests and bred like them. Shrugging, she wrote out the conversation, transcribing everything down to paper.
Jahoth was predictable, and once she'd established his routine, she thought it better to follow the body that slipped in and out of his room at night. An escort, one that she'd viewed through his window to get a look at her face before she settled in to watch through the screen while they engaged in a behavior that Jessica was more familiar with having to sit through and take pictures of. She snapped one, just for posterity's sake- and maybe a bit of nostalgia, before she continued watching. The woman was efficient with her work, and she stayed longer than most hired help did after a bump and grind. But she left, eventually, and on the fourth night, she followed. And was annoyed when she was given the slip, which just prodded at her suspicions. "Fuck," she muttered to herself, but she was also prompted to start asking around about the escort the next day. Someone let her into the Temple. Someone had to be familiar enough not to stop her when they saw her near Jahoth's quarters. She wasn't a stranger, and she had a pattern. She didn't get a name, but she got nods about where she might be. Familiar enough to be noticed and recognized and not questioned, but apparently only within the last few months. "She's from the Court, you see," the laundress had told her when she'd asked her for a name. "Defected. I suppose she saw the error of her ways and found herself to the place she should be. Can't blame them, really. No one has a choice where they're born. No choice in what side their sires land on. But she's old enough to make her own choice now. She may be a harlot, but both sides have those, aye?" A laugh at her little joke, and Jessica gave a soft laugh, keeping up with the game. It hadn't been funny and she hated when women shit on other women for doing what they could, but she'd also learned from Dorothy not to piss off the people that took care of your washing or food. Not because Dorothy Walker had told her, but because Jessica had been witness to the many, many ways that the working class could execute their revenge.
After another night of trying to keep up with the woman when she left Jahoth's quarters, she saw her slip into a mirror, mentally smacking herself in the face for not remembering how easy transportation was to and from the Temple. "Fucking magic," she hissed to herself, stepping through and heading into Kyst properly. Oddly, here was a bit more familiar to her, and she found the tension in her shoulders relaxing. She snagged a robe off the back of a cart driving by, wrapping it around herself to try to fit in more with the bodies around her. She found the flash of blue, the vibrant scarf the woman had been wearing when she'd left the Temple slipping into a pub up ahead and she headed for that direction. It was a packed room, and Jessica headed over to the bartop to order a drink, setting down coin to pay for it before she took the mug. It'd look more suspicious if she came in and just looked around, so she'd opted to blend. Now, drink in hand, she could peruse the bar in the guise of looking for a place to sit. She saw her target, sitting at a table with two men. She looked past them, still 'looking' for a table. She knew the game. While part of her wanted to just go over and grab her, shake the information out of her, she didn't know enough yet. Didn't know what she could do; and in a land with magic and swords and shit, that could turn fatal. She had her moments of foolishness, but she wasn't suicidal.
She fit her way in between a sailor and the girl he was trying to buy for the night, a table away from the escort Jahoth had been seeing. She sipped her drink, resting her head back against the wall and closing her eyes, trying to both relax a bit and hear what was going on with the body she was following. A frown creased her brow when she heard a voice she recognized. It was right on the edge of her memory- ah. Right. She'd heard him talking on her phone. About rat farms. Well, well, wasn't that a coincidence? Too bad for him Jessica didn't believe in coincidences. Two different bodies, both meeting with a suspected double agent, both just happening to wind up in the same shitty bar in Kyst. Yeah, and she was a virgin.
The woman got up to leave and Jessica had a moment of conflict of who to stay with, but she knew that she could find the woman again. Part of the pattern of predictability, after all. The guy, however, was a new element. And when he shifted to move and let the woman up, she'd caught the flash of a tattoo. A constellation of some kind. Another nail in Jahoth's coffin. Court escort, Court sailor, judging by his getup, and suspicions of bad behavior. Wasn't looking good. The other man got up to leave as well, and after a moment or two, the sailor moved to do the same. Jessica pushed away from where she'd been, coming up behind him and tapping him on the shoulder. "Hey, I know you, don't I? Yeah, you're that guy... you know that Temple guy, Jahoth, right?"
Color washed out of the man's face before he shook his head, before surprise was replaced with a flicker of fear. "Temple? I don't hail from the Moon Temple, Lady."
"But you've seen him, right? You know where I can find him?" Jess kept her face somewhat blank, bland, almost empty.
Again, the man shook his head, backing up. "No. I know nothing of this man." When a body or two crossed between them, he turned and fled as if his life depended on it. And Jessica slipped out after him, ditching the robe so it didn't tangle in her legs as she headed into the alley to jump up onto the roof of the tavern. From there, she followed along above as the sailor ran. He never looked up- they never did. She found the boarding house he was apparently staying at, watching to see what window lit up. When she pegged it, she debated what to do next. He could be destroying anything she might need if he thought he was compromised. Sighing, she took a running jump to the roof of the building he was in, then moved to hang down, swinging in to kick through the shutters of the now-lit room. The expression on his face was almost comical, and she moved to throw a book on the desk at him as he reached for something inside his vest. He fell with a quiet thud, and Jess moved over to pat him down. There was a vial there, and she didn't know if it was for her or him, so she took it, slipping it into her bag. She could get the geeks at the Temple to look it over. Trussing him up, she took her time searching his room. Neat, sparse, but there was a safe. Since she doubted that he was going to do her the favor of opening it, even if she woke him up, she opted to just rip the door off the hinges, which took more strength than she was used to using on something so small. Inside were papers, a letter addressed to the Emperor himself, with names on it. A couple she recognized from the audience with the Priestess. Otherworlders, like her. The new arrivals. Well... shit.
She took them, sliding them into her bag as well, then left out the window. Seemed there was at least some merit to the whispers of agents and spies. She took a mirror back to the Temple, then headed to her room. From there, she pulled out a piece of parchment, writing out her report. She had no idea if the sailor would tell the escort or where that would lead from there, so the sooner this particular information got into the hands it needed to get into before it changed and became irrelevant, the better.
Priestess,
Enclosed are the transcripts taken from J. Pay close attention to the one noted: Rats. J's nightly visitor, previously of the Court, led me to the other party involved in that conversation. Constellation tattoo. Enclosed is also the confiscated letter from said party. You'll note who it's addressed to and the subject mentioned. Suspicions confirmed.
Jessica Jones.
Simple and to the point, she signed her name and went to make sure her missive got into the right hands. Then she went to grab a couple bottles of wine from the kitchens, deciding she'd earned a reward.
WORD COUNT: 2123