[Veronica, Stacy & Webster - Opposite Plot]

[plantfood]

There is something different.

Mathias isn't quite aware of it, although he feels it on some level, he feels brighter and better and just different. He can't name it, can't place it and, most importantly, he doesn't want to. Whatever is different, it isn't bad.

He's headed down the boardwalk with a bounce in his step and a grin on his face, feeling lighter than he has in some time. Nothing can bother him these days, nothing can so much as touch him and he thinks, if he has time, he'll go visit Webster. Maybe they can talk about Veronica, like Webster always wants to. There are stories to tell now, certainly, and Mathias feels like he's in the mood to do some real talking.

Walking along, heading nowhere in particular, he breathes in deeply, enjoying the scent of the jungle around him. Every time someone passes him, he smiles brightly and waves, calling a loud, cheerful, "Hello!" Some people look startled, although he can't begin to understand why, and others greet him in return, looking just as happy as he feels.

Just ahead, he spots a familiar face and he hurries, almost running. "Hey!" he shouts happily. "Hey, hi! It's so good to see you!"

Comments

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

"Oh, Mathias," Veronica says, a little flustered as she presses a hand to her heart. "That's awfully sweet of you to say. On both counts, I mean." Fluttering her eyelashes, she ducks her head a little. "It's the best part of my day, too."

After all, the minute she spotted him, didn't her day just brighten up? And it had been so bright already. Whatever weight had been on her shoulders before seems to have lifted so utterly, she simply can't care what caused it to begin with.

[plantfood]

"You're just so great," he says honestly, lifting his shoulders in a shrug. "Things here are very hard sometimes, trying to be normal and act normal when, in fact, all my insides are sort of broken, but you make everything seem easier."

He isn't sure where this is all coming from, but it's the truth, and that's what counts. For some reason, he's just never been able to say it before, but now it feels right.

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

"Oh, no, no, no," she says, a persistent sort of clucking as she shakes her head and tips it to the side, reaching to take his hands. "You can't think of yourself that way. You've been so brave. It takes real bravery to go through what you did and - oh, well, you know what I mean."

There's a part of her that's afraid that he'll think she's foolish, that her words are silly, and it's so difficult to pretend that isn't so. She doesn't like to think about things as dark as this, but the truth is right there and he ought to know it.

[plantfood]

There are definitely a lot of reasons Mathias likes Veronica so much, but the fact that she's so nice and complimentary doesn't hurt at all. Smiling softly, he squeezes her hands, feeling good to know someone out there thinks he's brave.

"You're not like any other girl I know," he tells her. "Would you like to come for a walk with me? Webster says I should consider baking some cookies for you, but I think Webster just wants to get me laid and you should know, that's not my main priority at all. I just like spending time with you." Maybe that isn't something he needs to be sharing, now that he's thinking about it. But Webster did say it.

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

It makes her blush to hear, not quite embarrassed, but a bit unsettled all the same, and Veronica ducks her head. "Oh, well, I'm sure his motives aren't so unselfishly base as all that," she protests. "It's actually really sweet. But you don't need to bake for me or - or do anything but be your own self. I'd love to walk with you."

The reasons she holds herself at bay are numerous, but it would be awfully inappropriate to discuss them, she decides - unladylike and unsavory, and really, a bit too sad for such a bright day. All she wants is to be happy in his company, and it's soothing to hear him say the same.

[plantfood]

"Oh, no, they are," Mathias assures her, nodding as he takes her hand and begins to walk down the boardwalk once more. It's a nice, quiet stroll, all the green is very calming -- something he hasn't truly felt since before Mexico -- and the distant sound of the waves crashing on the beach makes him smile.

"Webster likes me to tell him about you," he continues. "But I mostly keep things to myself. I'm not sure why I do that anymore. It seems very silly not to tell everyone just how much I like you."

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

Veronica can't - doesn't even try to - suppress a giggle at that. It just seems so miraculous still that someone as wonderful as Mathias - that anyone at all - could care about her as he does. "I want to shout it from the rooftops," she says, bright and laughing. "The whole world ought to know."

[plantfood]

"We should do that," Mathias agrees, wondering why he hasn't thought of such a thing before. "We should have a nice dinner with your dad and tell him how much we like each other, too."

That seems like a brilliant idea, one that's come out of nowhere and he isn't sure how he hasn't thought of it earlier. Veronica is so nice and he remembers her dad being pretty nice, too, especially that day on the beach when he had helped him with Henrich.

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

"Oh!" Veronica's hand flies to her mouth at the thought, and she finds herself nodding fervently. The idea of it makes her a little bashful, certainly, but isn't it about time her father had a chance to get to know Mathias? It only made sense that the two best men in her life should meet. "That's perfect. I love it. Oh, and he'll love you. Oh, can we? We really should. I could cook, too. Oh, what to make..."

[plantfood]

"Yes, let's do it," Mathias says with a smile, feeling excited and nervous all at once. He's already thinking of all sorts of things to tell Mr. Mars; his life story, of course, and just how much he likes his daughter. All things he expects Veronica's dad might be pleased to hear.

"Oh, I'm excited just thinking about it," he continues. "We can cook together and I can really make a good impression on him. I'm very good with parents, I think, I always have been. I hope your dad likes me, I really do."

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

"He will," she says, fervent in her need to believe this. Goodness, if he doesn't, she won't know what to do. "He'll like anyone who makes me happy, and you make me awfully happy. I'll have to arrange something. I know he's just so busy, but I'm sure he can find time for this."

[plantfood]

"Do you think he'll still like me even if I tell him everything that happened back in Mexico?" Mathias asks. This morning, he's felt the need to really talk about it, explain what happened and how it makes him feel sometimes, but he isn't sure who to tell. "It is all pretty gruesome, but he saw Henrich's body. He should know everything, right?"

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

"He's a man who appreciates the truth," Veronica says, just verging on worshipful, nevermind that it's a trait she can't find in herself today. All of this needing to know - she can't really understand, not when there's so many terrible things out there. It's so much better to enjoy the sunlight and the feel of Mathias' hand in hers than to think of all of it.

[plantfood]

"Then I'll tell him," Mathias decides with a firm nod, feeling content and firm in this. More than almost anything, he wants Veronica's dad to like him. He wants her friends to like him, too, and he wonders if he can meet them all soon.

His only real friends are Webster and Stacy.

"Did you ever meet Stacy?" he asks. "We should meet each others' friends, too."

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

At this, Veronica hesitates. "I did," she says, chipper in a kind of brittle, determined fashion. "At Mardi Gras. She seems a... a very sociable girl." The poor creature was drunk as a skunk, if she can be forgiven such crude terms, but she doesn't want to tell Mathias that. It doesn't seem the right thing to say, and anyway, Stacy had been nice anyway, hadn't she? That was all that really mattered. "My friend River wants to meet you so much."

[plantfood]

"Then I want to meet her, too," Mathias says, swinging Veronica's hand lightly as he smiles. "Stacy's very nice, I think maybe you should get to know her a bit better. At the hill, in Mexico, she was a little... well, it was difficult for all of us."

He'd seen her naked, too, although Mathias manages to stop himself from saying that much.

"I think she's great. Sometimes she can be a little bit of a flake, which is annoying, but she wasn't as bad as Amy. Amy did nothing but whine the whole time we were there and not just on the hill, but when we were at the resort, too. What is there to complain about at a resort?"

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'm sure she had her reasons," Veronica hedges, diplomatic. Admittedly, the island itself is a sort of resort and she still finds herself missing Neptune. Not enough, of course, to be sorry she's here now with him, but even so, the little pang of loss is there. How far away it seems now, and how strange to have been away from home so long! "But of course, I'd be so pleased to know Stacy better. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. And after all she's been through, well, I bet she needs friends."

When she puts it that way, it strikes her the teeniest bit as a mission of charity and compassion, and that's too delightful to pass up.

[plantfood]

"She's pretty good at making friends with men," Mathias says thoughtfully, knowing that Stacy has found herself in the arms of more than a few since her arrival on the island. He's never said anything about it until now, feeling it isn't his place to comment.

"She has a boyfriend back home," he continues, realizing he's gossiping and yet not wanting to stop. "Eric. He is the one who killed me, I think. I can't hold that against Stacy, of course, but I wonder why she does not wait for him. Then I wonder what I would have done had I been in that situation. Had a girlfriend back home and then met you here."

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

"Well, the honorable thing, of course," Veronica says, a faint, sweet piousness settling in her expression, though really, she just wants to hear more. Not about Eric, of course - the idea of anyone killing anyone is hard to stomach, and the thought of it being Mathias, that just makes her want to cry - but gossip about Stacy is intriguing, in that 'oh, but I shouldn't... do go on' way.

"It's not my place to say, of course, but... well, if she's committed to him, then it's not right to carry on like that." Her hand flies up to her mouth, eyes widening. "Oh, I shouldn't say that about your friend, I'm sorry."

[plantfood]

A part of Mathias agrees with that, but a part of him feel strangely protective of Stacy and he's torn, struggling with what to say.

"I think we all died back there," he says finally, finding it sort of freeing to say that so often. Dead, dying, it's all the same and it doesn't matter here. He can say it all he wants. "So if we all died, this is sort of a different life, is it not? If that is how she's thinking about this, then I understand."

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

It makes her uneasy, visibly so, to think about that, and after a silent moment where she stands on the brink of falling into petulance, she pulls herself free instead, hands waving as she shakes her head and gives a little shudder.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just - it's such a beautiful day and - and the only life I can think about is this one right here, right now," she insists, cringing a little, heavily apologetic. "The one I have with you. All this - this death and pain and people getting killed, well, I - I just can't. How can you bear to think about such awful things?"

[plantfood]

"Well," Mathias begins, seriously considering the question before he answers it. It isn't that he enjoys thinking about it, but he feels almost like he has to. Like he needs to accept it before he can keep going.

Unable to put words to those feelings, he shrugs and says, "I guess I don't. Instead, I can tell you all the reasons you are so great, if you like. I would like to do that."

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

"Well, I don't think it could be a very long list," Veronica says, ducking her head with a false modesty that's only a cover for a real one. It's not as if she has so very many wonderful traits, after all. It's hard to understand what someone like Mathias could see in her, and though praise is likely to make her squirm and blush, maybe it will be illuminating. "I certainly wouldn't stop you from doing anything you wanted to."

[plantfood]

"You're very pretty, of course," Mathias begins, taking Veronica's response as permission to launch into a list of all the things that are wonderful about her. "But I think you already know that and it is so much more than your looks that I like about you. You are very smart, very clever and you have a fun, dry sense of humour. I like that about you."

He likes it because he can relate to it, but he doesn't even realize as he lists these things that Veronica isn't acting quite the same.

"You're very capable," he continues. "I like that. Confidence is very sexy, you know? I think you display great confidence."

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

Part of her wants to believe it, to think there's a version of her that might be that - confident and sexy and capable and clever - but even as he speaks, she knows it's not her. That lack of confidence comes in spades now, making it difficult to point out the falseness of all his flattery. He likes some pretty girl who isn't her, just the girl he thinks she is, and it makes something twist terribly in her stomach, but what's the good in correcting him? All she would do is alert him to how utterly mistaken he is to be with her.

"That's... very sweet of you, Mathias," she says, straining for a smile, gaze downcast. "Too kind, really."