[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

[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."

[plantfood]

Mathias stops, turning to face Veronica on the boardwalk. Frowning, he tips Veronica's chin up with his fingers, meeting her gaze.

"I am not just saying these things," he insists gently. "You are all these things, Veronica, and so much more and somehow, on top of all those good things, you're also crazy enough to think that I deserve to spend time with you."

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

"I don't know that I'm any of those things," Veronica murmurs, lowering her gaze again before hazarding another look up at him, veiled by her lashes. As the words start tumbling out of her, she thinks she must be shaking, there's such a nervousness to her, and yet she manages to keep very still, hands clasped before her. "And there's nothing crazy about it, except maybe me being crazy about you. You're... you're amazing, Mathias. You just are. If anything, you deserve better."

[plantfood]

"I have the very best there is," he declares seriously and although it's something he's thought all along, actually saying it for the first time seems easier than he once would have imagined. In fact, he wants to say it over and over again.

"That would be you," he adds, just in case she's missed how fantastic he thinks she is. "You're the one who is amazing."

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

The only thing that feels right in that moment is to slide her arms around him and step in close, hiding her shy smile against his chest. "I guess there's something good about this place after all," she said, soft, wondering. "It brought me to you."

[plantfood]

Sliding his arms around her in return, Mathias presses a kiss to the top of Veronica's head and rests his cheek there, against her hair, for just a moment. Whatever is wrong -- and there are many things wrong, no matter how hard he's been trying to forget them -- being with her does feel strangely right.

"I can't help but love the island for that," he agrees, lifting his head again. "It seemed to know just what I needed."

[neptune-sleuth.livejournal.com]

"We've been very lucky," she murmurs. With her eyes closed, the warmth of him against her and the sun on her skin is one more pleasant thing atop all the others, and she can't recall the last time she felt so much at home.