Jess, Haller, Arthur | Time for Walkies
Nov. 15th, 2023 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logs(Backdated) Arthur and Felix meet Jessica Jones as she takes the catatonic Haller out for some exercise. Arthur relates what happened in Oregon.
They made an odd pair in the chilly November morning, a slight frost on the tips of the grass: A 6'4" man with a slack expression, dressed in ill-fitting hospital scrubs and robe and a tall-but-not-that-tall young woman wearing a leather jacket and an irritable expression, like she couldn't believe she was doing what she was doing.
"Come on." Jessica poked the taller man in the back, squarely between his shoulders. "Keep going. You want to learn how to walk again when your brain is back online?" She kept the slow pace next to him, one hand holding her jacket closed against the cold (zipping it implied weakness); her breath rose in front of them. "I don't know what the fuck you did, or what you thought you were doing, but if I know you, it was your own fucking fault, so you don't get to spend the rest of your tragic virgin life in a hospital bed wasting away." He kept walking, silent, but she prodded him again all the same, to vent her frustration.
For once in her life, she was not taken by surprise when she came upon someone else, though chagrin flashed across her face when that someone turned out to be Arthur - a person who just exuded 'cool youth pastor having wholesome adventures with teens'. She wouldn't have minded that as much if he didn't keep insisting on making her have wholesome adventures with teens. "Hey," she said anyway, raising a hand, though she did a quick check to make sure Liam or Sharon weren't anywhere visible.
Her detective work unveiled nothing out of the ordinary — a golden retriever of a man paired off with a golden retriever of a dog, also out for a morning stroll. Arthur was wearing what appeared to be a District X soccer club hoodie matched with men's yoga pants, and the dog was wearing nothing to indicate that Sharon might have expanded her shapeshifting hijinks into other, less proud species.
At the call, Arthur raised a hand in greeting and immediately began to close the distance. It didn't take long, and Felix walked politely at heel behind.
"Jessica Jones," he began, "Are you adding 'physical therapist' to your business card?"
"Just making sure this guy doesn't have to learn how to walk again," Jessica said, holding up a hand defensively. "Whatever he did to himself, it'll be worse if he wakes up and his legs don't work."
This got a thoughtful pause as Arthur considered the ramifications of that scenario. "He's got the T-K, right? Couldn't he just float everywhere?"
Jess paused. "If he could, why didn't he already?" she asked, tilting her head at Haller like this was a new - and annoying - mystery.
"You've met him," Arthur laughed, "If it were easy, he might not trust it. He's got 'gumption.'" That last word was delivered with a Hollywood flourish, a word delivered right before a narrative break.
"Uh, sure." Jessica looked doubtfully at the empty face. "That's one word for it." Grasping for something else to talk about - Haller's gumption being at least temporarily on hold - she asked, "Walking the dog?"
"Actually, Felix was walking me."
Felix just sat there, immune to jokes.
Arthur stretched a little, loosening his grip on the leash. He gave a sad look to his friend as if searching for any response. "It is nice to see Haller up and about. After what he did for all of those people."
It wasn't that Jessica hadn't known there was a story behind Haller's current state; it was just that she purposely hadn't asked, not sure she wanted to know. But once it was presented, she couldn't not ask. "What happened, exactly?" she asked, her glance sliding to Arthur, then back to Haller, standing there unresponsively.
Arthur's blue gaze never left Haller's slack state. He spoke quickly.
"Where to start? Okay, so, we were helping a spouse find their partner — you know how that goes — and it turned out there were a bunch of folks conned into a mutant commune. It was a really lovely place up in Oregon, straight out of a movie. All very Midsommar, but with mutants and less ritual sacrifice.
At first it was just a standard 'partner joins a cult, make sure it was willing' deal, but then everything turned weird when their leader, Radha Dastoor, revealed she had a universe inside of herself and, far worse, plans for an apocalypse. A whole complicated DIY involving that mutant plague that was going around and some really nasty weather. I saw the future, probably, about Haller needing to make a choice about helping at the riot that happened in DX or going against Radha, and...
Well."
He took a breath, finally.
"Radha ate all of the people in the commune and Haller had to pull them back into our reality before punching Radha square in the face. It was more complicated than that, of course, but that's how I imagine it went. He punched her so hard he went into a coma."
Jessica's astonished gaze went from Arthur to Haller, then to Haller's skinny hands, then back to Arthur again, now incredulous.
"Psychic punches," he clarified. "Quentin and Hope were also there. They helped."
"Ah," Jessica said, her face going very neutral as she took Haller's inert form in again. "Well, no wonder he got so fucked up." She looked away from the tall man, back at Arthur and Felix. "Idiot," she said, but with a strange bend in her voice, not quite acid enough to be normal for her.
"Our idiot," Arthur echoed with far more fondness.
Felix, though, had had enough sitting like a good boy. He let out a small whelp and placed a single paw on Arthur's leg in question.
"He's right," the man conceded. "It is cold. Are you two just going out or would you like to join us?"
"We can walk with you guys," Jessica said, letting Felix sniff her fingers for a moment before giving him a scritch behind an ear. "This way?"
They made an odd pair in the chilly November morning, a slight frost on the tips of the grass: A 6'4" man with a slack expression, dressed in ill-fitting hospital scrubs and robe and a tall-but-not-that-tall young woman wearing a leather jacket and an irritable expression, like she couldn't believe she was doing what she was doing.
"Come on." Jessica poked the taller man in the back, squarely between his shoulders. "Keep going. You want to learn how to walk again when your brain is back online?" She kept the slow pace next to him, one hand holding her jacket closed against the cold (zipping it implied weakness); her breath rose in front of them. "I don't know what the fuck you did, or what you thought you were doing, but if I know you, it was your own fucking fault, so you don't get to spend the rest of your tragic virgin life in a hospital bed wasting away." He kept walking, silent, but she prodded him again all the same, to vent her frustration.
For once in her life, she was not taken by surprise when she came upon someone else, though chagrin flashed across her face when that someone turned out to be Arthur - a person who just exuded 'cool youth pastor having wholesome adventures with teens'. She wouldn't have minded that as much if he didn't keep insisting on making her have wholesome adventures with teens. "Hey," she said anyway, raising a hand, though she did a quick check to make sure Liam or Sharon weren't anywhere visible.
Her detective work unveiled nothing out of the ordinary — a golden retriever of a man paired off with a golden retriever of a dog, also out for a morning stroll. Arthur was wearing what appeared to be a District X soccer club hoodie matched with men's yoga pants, and the dog was wearing nothing to indicate that Sharon might have expanded her shapeshifting hijinks into other, less proud species.
At the call, Arthur raised a hand in greeting and immediately began to close the distance. It didn't take long, and Felix walked politely at heel behind.
"Jessica Jones," he began, "Are you adding 'physical therapist' to your business card?"
"Just making sure this guy doesn't have to learn how to walk again," Jessica said, holding up a hand defensively. "Whatever he did to himself, it'll be worse if he wakes up and his legs don't work."
This got a thoughtful pause as Arthur considered the ramifications of that scenario. "He's got the T-K, right? Couldn't he just float everywhere?"
Jess paused. "If he could, why didn't he already?" she asked, tilting her head at Haller like this was a new - and annoying - mystery.
"You've met him," Arthur laughed, "If it were easy, he might not trust it. He's got 'gumption.'" That last word was delivered with a Hollywood flourish, a word delivered right before a narrative break.
"Uh, sure." Jessica looked doubtfully at the empty face. "That's one word for it." Grasping for something else to talk about - Haller's gumption being at least temporarily on hold - she asked, "Walking the dog?"
"Actually, Felix was walking me."
Felix just sat there, immune to jokes.
Arthur stretched a little, loosening his grip on the leash. He gave a sad look to his friend as if searching for any response. "It is nice to see Haller up and about. After what he did for all of those people."
It wasn't that Jessica hadn't known there was a story behind Haller's current state; it was just that she purposely hadn't asked, not sure she wanted to know. But once it was presented, she couldn't not ask. "What happened, exactly?" she asked, her glance sliding to Arthur, then back to Haller, standing there unresponsively.
Arthur's blue gaze never left Haller's slack state. He spoke quickly.
"Where to start? Okay, so, we were helping a spouse find their partner — you know how that goes — and it turned out there were a bunch of folks conned into a mutant commune. It was a really lovely place up in Oregon, straight out of a movie. All very Midsommar, but with mutants and less ritual sacrifice.
At first it was just a standard 'partner joins a cult, make sure it was willing' deal, but then everything turned weird when their leader, Radha Dastoor, revealed she had a universe inside of herself and, far worse, plans for an apocalypse. A whole complicated DIY involving that mutant plague that was going around and some really nasty weather. I saw the future, probably, about Haller needing to make a choice about helping at the riot that happened in DX or going against Radha, and...
Well."
He took a breath, finally.
"Radha ate all of the people in the commune and Haller had to pull them back into our reality before punching Radha square in the face. It was more complicated than that, of course, but that's how I imagine it went. He punched her so hard he went into a coma."
Jessica's astonished gaze went from Arthur to Haller, then to Haller's skinny hands, then back to Arthur again, now incredulous.
"Psychic punches," he clarified. "Quentin and Hope were also there. They helped."
"Ah," Jessica said, her face going very neutral as she took Haller's inert form in again. "Well, no wonder he got so fucked up." She looked away from the tall man, back at Arthur and Felix. "Idiot," she said, but with a strange bend in her voice, not quite acid enough to be normal for her.
"Our idiot," Arthur echoed with far more fondness.
Felix, though, had had enough sitting like a good boy. He let out a small whelp and placed a single paw on Arthur's leg in question.
"He's right," the man conceded. "It is cold. Are you two just going out or would you like to join us?"
"We can walk with you guys," Jessica said, letting Felix sniff her fingers for a moment before giving him a scritch behind an ear. "This way?"
