AN: Introducing Gregson and an explanation as to how Vastra's veil can be so flipping see through and still nobody goes "Ooh would you look at that! A lizard lady wearing a veil!" My apologies also, I have been dastardly ill the past few days and thusly have been prevented from updating.
Not every criminal they tracked down ended up at Scotland Yard, either due to Vastra classing them as being too despicable and eating them or it turned out there was a reason behind their crimes. But enough turned up that the police put out a call mid-August, asking for the vigilante "V" to come forward.
"Perhaps it is time to introduce ourselves." Vastra mused as she saw the notice in the paper. Jenny had brought it in to her along with a cup of tea where she was sat reclining in the wicker chair. It had become her favourite and had found a home in the plant room, as Jenny called it.
"Think we'd need to get some better clothes fer that, otherwise they might lock us up too. 'Sides 'ow d'you think they'd take a hooded lizard woman turnin' up on their doorstep?" Jenny snorted into her own tea.
"I'd wear my veil."
"The see through one?" Jenny asked sarcastically.
"I told you, only you have the ability to see through it."
"Oh yeah? An' 'ow'd I manage to gain that then." Vastra had never explained how that worked.
"I have not a clue, only that the Doctor can see through it also. I assume for a similar reason."
"An' what's that?"
"You see what's there, not what you expect to be there."
There was a moment's silence as Jenny digested this information.
"They might just want ter arrest you too, y'know."
"That is a possibility." Vastra mused, tapping her chin with the now refolded paper. "Perhaps you should go as a scout."
"You what?"
"Go along. Say you might have information as to the whereabouts of this "V" and then see what they say, ask what they intend to do with her. It is your talent, is it not? Finding out information?"
"An' risk bein' arrested again meself? No thanks."
"Well, use one of your urchins then. You have a veritable army of them now."
"If it is an army, s'an irregular one." Jenny snorted.
"The Paternoster Row Irregular Army." Vastra smiled. "I've seen them visiting."
"Weeellll s'a bit stupid jus' cookin' fer me an' Parker. I either has to go shoppin' every day or the food spoils that quick…" Jenny shifted uneasily in her seat.
"I don't begrudge them any food you might hand out. I assume that's why they help us after all."
"Well we're a safer bet than 'elpin' out the gangs."
"We don't drag them down dark alleyways you mean."
Jenny hmphed. "I'll see wot c'n be found out." She said and walked off to see if there was anyone coming for breakfast that day.
Vastra pondered that it might be an idea to extend their wardrobe, if they were going to maintain the illusion of being respectable citizens.
Cris considered himself Jenny's second in command, on account of being the first urchin she'd given a sovereign to and asked if he knew anything about anything. He called himself a gentleman of leisure and Jenny didn't enquire too closely as to how he went about being leisurely. He was wise enough not to run with the gangs and street smart enough to follow Jenny back to Paternoster Row without her noticing. After that, he'd always called round for breakfast if he had any tidbits and gossip to add to the table in exchange for food. The main reason that the small gang of urchins coming round for a meal had grown was because he'd brought them with him if he considered they had valuable information to give.
He'd gained favour with Jenny for this action; she considered it honourable for him not to pass off the information as his own and to give others the chance of a meal too. It was one of these, Boggin, a scamp of a boot boy, who had come in the hope of a small snack to start the day with.
He looked up from where he was shining Parker's shoes.
"'ullo Miss Jenny." He winked. "Got anythin' fer me?"
"Gotta job if you want it."
"Oh aye?"
"Nip round Scotland Yard, passin' yourself off as respectable enough that they wouldn't dismiss you out of hand an' tell 'em you have information pertainin' to the identity of the vigilante "V" but as you won't say nuffin' til you know what they got planned for 'em. An' use "them" an' all. No point givin' 'em any clues, though they don't know what to do with 'arf of 'em I bet."
"That all?" Boggin finished Parker's shoes with a flourish of a rag and stood up.
"Tea an' bread fer yer inside, further payment upon deliv'ry." Jenny stood back to allow Boggin in and nodded at Parker.
"'e does a good job on a shoe that boy does. Don't go gettin' 'im into any trouble." Parker had a soft spot for the ragged band that joined him for his meals.
"'e gets into plenty enuff by 'imself I'm sure as 'e c'n take care of any." Jenny shrugged. "You comin' in fer breakfast?"
"Aye that I will." Parker nodded and followed her into the kitchen.
In the evening, after a visit to George's shop to order in some finer dresses, Jenny sat sulking a little in the armchair by the fire and Vastra lounged somewhat more at ease, reading a book.
"Maids don't dress in embroidered gowns." Vastra reminded her, turning a page. It earned her a huff. "I thought you liked the colour black."
"S'the style not the colour I don' like. An' the lace."
"Has your urchin reported back yet?"
"'is name's Cris. An' no."
"Well, at least you don't act like a maid. Take comfort in that."
"An' the same to you." Jenny curled up even further into the armchair, sighing when she heard the knock at the back door. Well at least it got her away from the annoying lizard woman.
Cris confirmed that an Inspector Gregson at Scotland Yard merely wished to speak to the vigilante and advise them to operate within the confines of the law and co-operate with further police investigations, rather than dropping criminals off willy-nilly as it was "causing Scotland Yard some bit of embarrassment".
"Well then, I supposed we'd better call upon the Inspector, just as soon as George is ready with our new finery."
"Your new finery." Jenny muttered. Her maid dresses were to be well made and of a nice material but it didn't stop them being maid dresses. And the boots were new and made of leather but that didn't stop them being serviceable. Style was something Jenny didn't particularly care about but it irked her that Vastra got to look nicer, just on account of how she could talk proper.
A week or so later, they had Parker drop them off outside Scotland Yard and walked in, Jenny following Vastra.
"'Allo missus, what can we do fer you?" a man at the desk asked her.
"My name…" Vastra said pointedly. "Is Madame Vastra. I am…a private investigator of sorts. Adventuring. An inspector here requested the presence of the vigilante dropping criminals on their doorstep. I thought I would acquiesce."
The man laughed. "You?"
Vastra grinned and flipped her veil back. "Yes. Me."
"Ma'am!" Jenny hissed. The man behind the desk ran off calling for Inspector Gregson.
"Yes Jenny?" Vastra tugged her veil down again.
Jenny went to make a What The Hell Do You Think You're Doing gesture but Gregson came out at that point and she put her hands swiftly behind her back and stared at the floor with her jaw clenched in apprehension.
"Ah! Inspector. I believe you wished to see me." Vastra proffered a hand which Gregson shook somewhat dubiously. "Madame Vastra. Private Detective and General Adventuress. Responsible for the increased rate of capture of organised criminals. Or not so organised as the case may be."
Jenny rolled her eyes.
"Right. Yes. Well…why don't you come into my office?" he offered his arm which Vastra ignored, sweeping in front of him. Jenny went to follow but the desk man stopped her.
"There's a waitin' room fer maids." He pointed across the hallway.
Jenny cut her eyes at him and stalked back out to the carriage to wait with Parker, who was quietly smoking a cigarette.
"Why didn't you come with me to see the Inspector?" Vastra asked, a little later, as she climbed back into the carriage. Jenny snorted. Vastra raised an eye ridge at the return of sullenness but didn't enquire further, even when Jenny stayed in the carriage every time Vastra went visiting Inspector Gregson.
She gave up around mid-September after another frustrating visit had resulted in Jenny storming upstairs and finally asked "What is it?" She looked in from the bedroom doorway to find Jenny was already curled up at the farthest side of the bed. Vastra had learnt over the past few months that this was a sign Jenny was upset.
"Nuffin'." There was sign number two.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm fine, ma'am." And that was sign number three. Jenny only ever called her ma'am in their bedroom if she was upset, particularly if she was upset with Vastra.
Vastra smiled at the way she had learnt to read her little ape. Helped by the fact that sometimes her little ape was a little predictable at times. Her little ape…goodness, how possessive of her. She moved round the bed and crouched down at Jenny's side of the bed. The brown eyes were dark and brooding and averted themselves from her gaze.
"They jus' think I'm yer maid." Jenny sighed as Vastra just continued to gaze at her. "I 'elp out, don' I?"
"Yes. The information you provide is instrumental to the arrests I make."
"Like you couldn't find it out."
"I think the urchins would have a slightly harder time trusting me." Vastra pointed out.
"Gregson does."
"Gregson and his ilk are not used to a…"
"A guttersnipe."
"Women of a certain class"
"Oh thank you."
"Jenny. It makes sense to the world that you would be my maid."
"Well maybe I don' want the world to make sense!" Jenny flung back the covers, ready to storm out but Vastra stopped her.
"I know how you feel."
"No you don'."
"The world must see me as a respectable widow and you as my maid. Do you think if I were to turn up as the Silurian Warrior and you an ex-thief they would treat us half so well? They'd throw you in prison and me back in the circus. Apes require the world to make sense. Believe me. I know how you feel."
"You get treated better fer bein' the rich widow though. 'sides you did show that desk man."
"I informed Inspector Gregson it was a skin condition and that his man must have an over active imagination."
"A skin condition? It's yer skin!" Jenny said angrily.
"I know, Jenny, I know." Vastra massaged her temples wearily. With a sigh she picked up her veil where it had been flung on a dressing chair. "Do you know what this is?"
"Yer veil." Jenny sat down on the bed, kicking her feet in frustration.
"It's a piece of technology, called a perception filter. When I wear it, all people see is an ape, a human woman, wearing a veil. That is all they know how to see, that is what must surely be there, in order for their world to continue making sense. And they need the world to make sense because if they thought for a second that it didn't align with what they thought they knew, they'd go mad. Or become violent. It's how apes work; the Doctor explained it to me when he gave it to me."
Jenny couldn't really argue with that. "Don't make it right though." She muttered.
"No. It doesn't." She laid the veil gently in Jenny's hands. "I thought once I would never be able to exist outside the circus, that I would never belong anywhere else but in a cage, in this ape-ridden world. I had lost all of my tribe, my family, my entire society; I thought I would never again be seen as what I am. I thought that I was alone, that no-one but the Doctor would ever even know what I was. I left the circus in a fit of anger at the tricks they asked of me but I knew I would have to go back, that that was the only life I could possibly live. And they knew that too."
Jenny was looking at her now, tears in her eyes. Her hands clenched around the veil and they shook in anger and Vastra took it back to save it from being torn in two.
"And then one night, I happened down a dark alley, saved a young ape woman from a gang and took her home. She turned out to be the very same ape child we'd rescued from death, the same ape who'd gone to pick my pockets and I'd threatened to eat them and all they did was bow. The same ape, the only ape I had ever met who saw what I was and wasn't scared by it, or wanted to put me in a cage because of it. You didn't even find it that impressive." She grinned somewhat winningly at Jenny. "And now I have a place where I can be myself, in safety and in comfort, where I am acknowledged and accepted for who I am. I would wish for you to have the same. To the outside world, it makes sense that I am a rich widow and you are my maid, but here, be assured, I do not require you to be anything or anyone other than Jenny Flint."
Vastra could be bleedin' eloquent sometimes, Jenny mused, flushing slightly and awkwardly avoiding Vastra's eyes.
The Silurian leaned forward with a sigh, gently resting her forehead on Jenny's shoulder. "I am sorry, little ape, that this is the way it must be. But I am also grateful, that it does not have to be that way here."
Jenny stood up and, being careful not to touch Vastra's head crests, suddenly hugged Vastra hard, causing an 'oof' from the Silurian. "Not little…"
"Not an ape." Vastra finished, with a satisfied smile. She didn't particularly want to leave the warmth of the hug but then again they'd soon be in bed together and she moved away from Jenny to get dressed in her nightgown.
Jenny led back in bed, her arms draped over her eyes so she couldn't be accused of staring and Vastra took the opportunity to slide over and tuck herself against Jenny's side, causing a bemused grin.
"I'm cold." Vastra offered as way of explanation as she draped an arm across Jenny's midriff. Jenny looked at the fire and the thick covers and thought about the fact that it was August. It wasn't exactly a plausible reason but she let her arm flop across the pillows rather than down at her side and went to sleep without arguing it, a small amount of her frustration having vanished.
An: by the Goddess Vastra...silver tongued Silurian?
