Redemption for Jessika

Redemption for with Elsa (RfJ) is the second adult game set in the Elsaverse. It was publicly released in English on January 25, 2016 in HTML format, and officially ported to Ren'Py in 2021; it can be found in the Elsaverse Omnibus Vol.1 (2021) compilation. The story takes place some undetermined time after Dreaming with Elsa (2015), and is intertwined with Finding Miranda (2016) and Darkness Falls (2018) first season, as well as with some chapters of the AAA (2018) novella.

In RfJ, superpowers are explicitly mentioned for the first time in the Elsaverse.

Premise
Players take control over Marc, a court transcriber who is infatuated with Jessika, the leader and vocalist of an uprising local rock band called Mayhem. Thanks to a lucky coincidence, he'll get to know her, but she's in a really dark place: a few weeks ago, five people died in a riot at one of her concerts, pushing Jessika towards a self-destructive spiral. While trying to help her, Marc will find out that Jessika's guilt and loss of self-esteem are surprisingly rooted in a supernatural power. And, although they can't know it yet, a chance for redemption will arise less than a week later. Will Marc be the hero she needs to get her out of her misery on time?

Canon Path Summary
''Please, be aware that this is not a walkthrough, but a plot summary. In order to suceed in the canon path, the player must be respectful with all the women he meets, while showing a wide range of traits by balancing fun, sexy and serious answers.''

In the introduction, Marc attends a preliminary hearing related to the riot at his favorite rock band last concert, which resulted in five deaths. To his surprise, not only does he find her platonic love, Mayhem's singer Jessica Springfield (Jessika is her stage name), in the courtroom where he acts as a transcriber, but he also witnesses how the prosecutor, Gary, intends to charge her for the multitudinary brawl, under the incredible claim that she sang in anger and that got people angry. The judge quickly dismisses the case, but Marc can't help but notice that, with her attitude, a gloomy Jessica seems to agree with the prosecutor.

Back in his office, Marc is visited by Sylvia, an attractive policewoman who works with him at the court and wants to introduce him to her girlfriend, who apparently can not believe that a man as polite and respectful as Sylvia describes Marc could actually exist. When Marc arrives at his co-worker's apartment that Friday evening, he finds out that Sylvia's girlfriend is actually Mayhem's drummer and Jessika's roommate, SeraB. And the day just keeps delivering: after testing Marc with her charms, SeraB admits that they have actually invited him over to experiment whether sex would be more exciting with a third person watching them. The women get at it, and Marc keeps true to his word and doesn't try to join in, even though he feels seriously tempted several times.

Once the hot show is over, the three of them discuss that day's events at the courthouse, and Marc states that he'd like to meet and help Jessica. Trusting him due to his remarkable behavior during the evening, and desperate to help her friend, Sarah (that's SeraB's real name) tells Marc that Jessica spends most of her time getting drunk at a bar across the street from their home. On Saturday evening, Marc goes to that bar and finds her beloved Jessica drunk and clearly depressed. After talking to him for a while, Jessica starts to sing an angry song to brush him off, but Marc is the only person in the bar who doesn't react negatively. Then she calls him "immune", and suddenly changes her mood, becoming extremely affectionate and inviting him home; when they get there, Jessica tells Sarah that she is going to have sex with Marc. But then the singer passes out drunk, and Sarah and Marc put her to bed to sleep. In her bedroom, Marc sees a picture of Jessica's ex-boyfriend, Charles, and learns that he broke up with her just before the ominous Mayhem concert, upsetting Jessica before the show.

Sarah offers Marc to sleep on the couch so that he can talk to Jess in the morning, when she'll be sober. When they wake up, Marc tells Jessica about last night events, which she barely remembers, and they end up talking about what happened in court on Friday. He then asks Jessica what did she mean when she called him "immune", and she confesses that she has an unnatural ability: she influences people's emotions when she sings. That's why she feels guilty for the deaths, as she's sure she caused the riot by singing in anger over her breakup with her boyfriend. In her defense, she claims that she didn't quite know back then that she had this power: although a mysterious woman had warned her shortly before everything happened, Jessica just thought that woman was crazy. While keeping to himself that all of this sound indeed crazy, Marc tries to convince her idol that, in that case, she wouldn't be guilty, but responsible, as she would have never done that, had she actually known for sure she could alter people's emotions like that.

Due to his so-called immunity to her singing, Jessica is convinced that the love and admiration Marc feels for her are real, and she tells him that the worst thing about her power is not knowing anymore if people's love for her is actually sincere, as she might just be influencing them with her voice. Immediately, Marc replies that Sarah really loves her, since she still helps her and cares about her even when she's passed out like last night. Then he suggests Jessica to spend more time with her friend, away from the bar. After kissing goodbye and exchanging phone numbers, Marc goes home as a happy man.

On Monday, at the courthouse, and after reassuring Sylvia, who was worried about him changing his opinion of her due to the events on last Friday, Marc goes to the prosecutor's office. Gary explains to him why that he was at the Mayhem concert with his wife, Cynthia, a huge fan of the band, and the two of them got angry and hit each other during the mass brawl, so blaming Jessika was a way of discharging his own guilt onto a third party. But now, while checking the concert's footage, he has found a frame of the very right moment when the fight broke out: an unidetified man who, who, despite the tense atmosphere, seems to be smiling, is the one who threw the first punch. Although at first he can't remember who that man is, his face looks familiar to Marc, so he asks Gary to send him that frame; later, in his office, Marc realizes that the man is Jess's ex-boyfriend, Charles.

Before talking to the prosecutor, Marc decides to confirm with Jessica that the new suspect is indeed her former boyfriend, so he shows up at her home unannounced. She confirms that the man in the picture is Charles Reyes, sends his contact data to Marc, who forwards it to Gary. Then Jess and Marc go out for a walk, and Jessica confesses that she hasn't sung nor touched her guitar since the riot: not only because she feels guilty for her fans' death, but also because having that power feels like cheating. Marc tries to convince her that she has real talent anyway, and people would love her music even without her power, as he can testify after being to all her concerts and being immune to her voice. Back at Jess's apartment, she offers him a striptease and a blowjob, with Sarah peeking in on them. Afterwards, the three of them stay up late chatting, going over anecdotes from Mayhem concerts.

On Tuesday, Marc talks to Gary, who thanks him for the lead on Charles and says that the suspect has been missing since the riot. The prosecutor also informs Marc that he's patching things up with his wife, and Marc offers to tell Jessica about them and see if she could autograph something for Cynthia. Then Marc gets a call from Jess, who invites him to a concert of some friends of her, a band called "Power Girl". Before picking her up, and despite running a bit late, Marc stops by to buy a book to replace one that Charles borrowed from Jessica and never returned. That's how Marc shows up at Elysian Books, where he meets Elsa and a mysterious woman named Miranda, who seems to be able to guess everything about him. When Elsa shows Marc an used coffee table book about guitars she has recently acquired, they both discover that this is actually Jessica's book, which Charles had sold to Elsa. Of course, she gives it away to Marc for free. With that meaningful gift, Marc goes to Jess's apartment, and she shows him that she's not going to wear panties to the concert.

When they arrive at the concert venue, an old church recycled into a club called "El Cuerpo", the bouncer welcomes them, quite happy to see Jessica doing something music-related again. As soon as the couple get inside, they start dancing; a little while later, they are just kissing and heavily groping each other. They quickly return to Jessica's and, still in the elevator, they have explosive sex. Afterwards, Marc asks Jessica to sing something for him; for Jess, that's even a more intimate act than sex, but she finally agrees to play something for him.

The next day, after work, Marc goes to Jessica's without calling her first, and finds that all Mayhem band is there, rehearsing for the first time since the riot. Marc meets Sven and O-Kumo, the two male members of the band, who thank him for helping Jessica to recover. After a long rehearsal that Marc lives almost like a private concert, the band members leave and Marc is left alone, so he takes the opportunity to try and play the piano. Jess, who had gone to take a shower, appears by his side and plays a Mayhem ballad with him. They end up making love on that same piano, and then, cuddled up on the couch, Marc tells her about the prosecutor and his wife. Feeling somewhat guilty after hearing that Cynthia is a fan and they fought at their concert, and also to thank Gary for being now trying to catch Charles instead of charging her, Jess suggests to have lunch with them.

On Thursday, which is a local holiday in Sangrive, the two couples meet at the Delfinos restaurant. When Cynthia acts as a devoted fan and doesn't hesitate to dismiss that crazy theory of Jessica being the culprit of the riot, a huge weight is lifted from Jessica's shoulders. Later that afternoon, while taking a walk, Marc and Jessica see a large crowd of people heading to a Mayor Joey Bertradino's rally. As the Mayor was a high school classmate of Jess and Sarah who Jess dated once, they decided to go there too. But, as they walk to the square where the rally is being held, they see Charles locking a car and running away. Surprised, they approach the vehicle and discover that there is a bomb inside. As Marc calls Emergencies, gunshots are heard coming from the square: it seems that the terrorists' plan is to make people flee towards the street where the car bomb is planted, and then blow it up to cause as many victims as possible.

Marc and Jess run to alert the crowd, but the gunfire has caused a panic and no one listens to them. Jessica goes on stage and tries to make herself heard over the loudspeakers, but people keep running away towards the bomb. Distraught, she looks at Marc, who thinks it's the end. But then Jess starts singing a soothing melody, and her power causes the crowd to calm down and stop running towards the bomb, preventing a massacre. That same night, the news talk about the artist's redemption: after the deaths at her last concert, today she has saved hundreds of lifes. Then Jessica thanks Marc for all what he has done for her, considering him the real responsible for her saving so many lives: without him, that night she would have been at the bar, getting drunk while the city suffered a dreadful attack. The couple end up making love in Jessica's bed, and it is established that they will stay together during Mayhem's rise to stardom.

Non-canon Path Summary
''Please, be aware that this is not a walkthrough, but a plot summary. To unlock this path, Marc has to show some inclination towrds lewd answers, but not too much, in order to be invited by Sylvia; then he must endure the lesbian show until they change positions; and then be as straightforward as possible with Jessica.''

On this route, Marc is a bit too lewd with the people around him, although he still shows some signs of decency. Sylvia and Sarah kick him out when he tries to join in during their lesbian sex session, after he agreed to be a mere spectator, so Sarah does not tell him how to find Jessica; however, as he leaves Sylvia's apartment, he sees a car that could be Sarah's and, knowing that she lives with Jessica, he uses the courthouse network to access the Department of Transportation's billing database and get their address. As he approaches the building to meet his idol, he realizes he doesn't have a plan that wouldn't make him look like a crazy, stalker fan, so he decides to go into the bar across the street to think. Jessica happens to be there, and their meeting goes as in the canon path; this time, though, Sarah doesn't invite him to sleep on the couch, so he can't talk to Jessica the next day.

On Monday, at the courthouse, the scene with Gary varies slightly, and the conversation focuses a bit more on Cynthia, hinting that Gary's wife finds Marc attractive. With Charles' image on his phone, Marc returns to the bar where he found Jessica to see if she can confirm that he is her ex-boyfriend. Jess nods, but she doesn't share any further details about Charles, not even his name, and asks Marc to leave her alone for good. The next day, Marc tells Gary what happened, and the prosecutor tells him that his wife is convinced that he has been unfaithful with a red-haired intern, something that is false. A bit later, a red-haired, tattooed intern named Chloe arrives in Marc's office and asks him several questions about his work, while they flirt lightly. Marc tells her about Jessica and, once she confirms that Marc won't try to mingle with the singer again, Chloe leaves.

On Wednesday, Gary asks Marc to come his office. Cynthia is there, and she proposes Marc to get revenge of her husband's infidelity in front of him, right then and right there. If the player accepts, the scene ends with a threesome with the prosecutor and his wife, who reconcile. In any case, on Thursday, Marc is walking alone around Sangrive and approaches the Mayor's rally, but Chloe sees him and tries to lead him away from the car bomb, just before it explodes. Marc wakes up in a small apartment, naked and handcuffed to a bed, with Chloe next to him, also naked. The news on TV inform about a terrible bombing that has caused a lot of victims.

Chloe tells Marc that she is not an intern at the courthouse, but kind of a secret agent for some powerful man from her family who orders her to do dirty jobs for him. Her last mission was precisely preventing Marc from starting a relationship with Jessica, and Chloe thanks him because, with his own actions, he ruined his chances by himself without her intervention. After explaining that, in her job, she is often forced to have sex, she offers Marc a sex session as a way to thank him, but he convinces her to do only what she'd really want to do, the way she'd want to do it. In an emotional and torrid sex scene, Chloe lets her passion take over and enjoys a pleasurable and satisfying experience for the first time in a long time. But, at the end, with Marc exhausted on the bed, she injects him with something. Whether she has murdered or simply sedated him is left for player's interpretation.

Miscellaneous

 * The night of the "Power Girl" concert, after having sex with Marc in the elevator, the recording studio she has in her home, Jessica sings a beautiful song about how people is generally good inside; Marc doesn't recognize that song, but Sarah, who is listening her friend from the sound room and seems to be singing along with her, cries with emotion.