japanese is lost upon jessica, who’s never taken the time to bother to learn to speak any language besides english. it earns mirai a blank look, followed by jessica raising her eyebrows, only to sigh, not caring enough to ask what the words meant. jessica is observant. she always has been, picking up on the small details that most people don’t give a first thought, let alone a second. it’s likely she would have noticed the discoloration without attention being drawn to it. she laughs, or rather scoffs as she realises what the guy had taken from her. “a ring? seriously? you realise i don’t work for free, right. i’ll probably charge more than the rings worth.”

the girl’s nervousness is obvious, but jessica doesn’t care. she does nothing to try to calm the nerves of the other, although she waits patiently as she takes the time to say what is needed. she leans against the door way as she waits, then folds her arms as the girl searches through her satchel. she stays in this position as the items are presented to her. eyes scan the images in front of her. jessica’s expression is blank, with the distinct impression that she doesn’t reallycare. this changes once she takes in the picture of the two together. a frown forms as her eyebrows draw together, causing deep ridges on her forehead. she snatches the picture from the girl’s hands in order to take a closer look. “it doesn’t look much like you wanted to be with himhere.” she says as she taps a finger against the photograph. “why do you want him found so much now?” 

jessica’s eyebrows raise as she observes the teenager’s bizarre behaviour. then her brow furrows, as her nose wrinkles up, her expression one of bemusement. she folds her arms before sighing, wondering why half her prospective clients seemed to be nut-jobs. the sigh is soft, more tired than she was angery.   “i’m jessica jones. and you might as well just tell me what you what, seeing as you woke me up to answer the god damn door. better be worth my time.”

jessica has fallen asleep at her desk. the knock on her door wakes her. she accidentally pushes an empty glass off the desk as she sits up. “fuck.” she rubs at her eyes, as the light streaming in through the windows makes her head hurt. she stands, slowly, before stumbling across her apartment. she swings the door open with speed. “what?” she snaps, angery to have been awoken from her slumber. luckily what she lacks in customer service, she makes up for by getting the job done.

“thats because i do have questions.” alex smiles gently as she slides her id back into her pocket. “i promise you’re not in trouble. you actually kinda saved my ass. thank you.” she puffs out her cheeks as she wonders where to even start. “okay, i’ll start with something easy. are you an alien?” she asks, feeling that it might be best to sick to yes or no questions, to avoid further freaking mirai out.

“You sure? Cause if I do he will talk?” The thought of this weaker man telling the other ghouls that he was active again will only make this month even harder. He just want to relax for once. “Um are you from CCG? If you are please don’t say anything about me to them. This will make my day even harder.”

The outfit seems kinda off, but that blade really make him nervous from some odd reasons. The was afraid and try to run. “who said you can move huh?” The silent and creepy voice escape him as his kagune grabbed the man by the legs,dragging him closer. “I’m not the enemy…I don’t want to fight...Please take note of that.”

She nods at the first question, sure in her decision to let the ghoul run free - unsavoury as their lifestyle was, Mirai knew that they were unable to live any other way.

“Iē, I’m not the CCG, don’t worry.”

She watches him drag the other ghoul back, frown tugging at the corners of her mouth. He may say he didn’t want to fight, but his actions were rather contradictory.

   Aiko’s eyes slowly turned up to the extended hand to her, looking like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck. The whole situation caught her completely off guard and the words had tears welling up in her eyes. Honey colored eyes traveled up the other’s arm to her young, sweet face. It would be rude to pass up such an offer, but fear of what could transpire and get the other girl wrapped up in just by being around her made her hesitant.

   Aiko sniffled and gave a grateful smile, “I-I don’t want to be a burden.” There was a pause,“B…but I really appreciate the offer and kindness.” And there went the waterworks, tears mixing with the rain that ran down her face. It was so foreign to her now; kindness of a stranger, the world was cruel and unforgiving it was rare for Aiko to see much kindness towards her.

   Slowly Aiko reached forward with her right hand—her normal looking hand and took the outstretched hand. A gentle squeeze of her fingers, as she took the other’s hand and smiled at the pinkette. “Thank… Thank you.”

“Daijobu.”

She pulls the blonde up with surprising strength, stepping back as they moved so as to not be in such close proximity with the stranger.

“Kuriyama Mirai - it’s nice to meet you.”

Hand drops back down to her side, other one adjusting the strap of the bag on her shoulder. She hesitates for a moment, watching the other, before beginning forwards.

“I don’t have much food at home, do you want to stop and grab something? I’m not sure how much I have, but we should be okay.”

Mirai had, slowly, been collecting more and more youmu to be appraised, and so was getting paid regularly. It was a comfort, not having to worry about if she would be able to eat for the next few days or not.

“That was not nothing,” the Doctor presses, oblivious to her discomfort. She grabs her hand, wiping away the blood with her thumb, then brings it up to her nose to sniff at it. “Psychic projection? Or is it tech based? Are you even human??”

She pulls away in such a manner that makes it obvious that she has been grabbed like this before, but with much more sinister intent. Hand cradles to her chest slightly, her stance just that little bit more defensive towards the other than it was previously.

It takes a while for her to respond, a sudden barrier put up at the strangers questioning.

“Of course I’m human!”

“And you killed it?” Jean asks tentatively, the last thing she wants is another thing like that coming after her or any other agents for that matter.

She adjusts her position in the chair and leans forward.

“I killed it.” 

The words seem odd, coming from someone so young. Her youth merely a distraction for those who seeked to harm her, to use her. There is no emotion behind them, no fear at the death of a being at her hands, not like there should be in the voice of a fifteen year old girl. 

“It’s nice to meet you.” The words are genuine. Nothing about Mirai has left her feeling uneasy.  “I work for the FBI.” The lie falls easily from Alex’s mouth. It’s once she’s made many times previously. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her ID, which she shows to Mirai, giving her plenty of time to examine it. Alex still has questions, but she gets the feeling that Mirai isn’t going to answer her questions unless she extends her the same courtesy. Sometimes Alex has to work quickly, maybe even forcefully. But not with Mirai. Slow and steady seems to be the way.

“Kochirakoso.” 

She bows again, the angle less steep than previously and out of greeting rather than fear. She straightens after a moment, eyes narrowing at the ID. Mirai takes a moment to study it, although she wasn’t too sure what she was looking for - she would never be able to spot a fake. 

Finally, her gaze moves back to meet Alex, a soft smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, thinking that this would perhaps be the best way to approach the other. 

“It - it feels like you have questions?”

“That thing? Oh, it was just a vesperform - bit nastier than normal but mostly harmless,” she said, immediately brushing off the question to instead satisfy her own curiosity. “What was that thing? The thing that you did? Never seen that before!”

“Vesperform.” She repeats the creatures name, rolling the word around in her mouth for a few moments. It seemed to fit, though she wasn’t quite sure why.