Who: Francis York Morgan and Veronica Mars What: Veronica gets her chaos brand When: Feb. 25 Where: Local buffet Ratings/Warnings: Low, minor language Status: Complete!
Veronica was getting used to working with York. He did ‘explain’ things a lot, but she found that for the most part he was just speaking his thoughts out loud. Probably part of his process and not so much him thinking she didn’t know the exact same thing. Hell she was even getting used to his tendency to wander off. All in all he wasn’t so bad. She’d worked with worse partners before.
Hell she was even taking a lunch break with him. Taking advantage of an all you can eat buffet, Veronica had a plate piled with food in front of her. “So,” she said to York. “What do you do when you’re off duty?”
“It depends on what I’m in the mood for,” York answered. “Or where I happen to be. I like to experience whatever town or city I find myself in.” He helped himself to the chicken in front of him, adding it to the hodgepodge already on his plate. “But there are times I like to keep my time to myself, especially after a particularly tough case. I watch a lot of movies.” He shuffled down the buffet as the line they were in started to move. “My aunt and uncle had a very impressive movie collection while I was growing up,” he explained. “I’m pretty sure that’s where my love of the cinema came from.”
The movement of the line came to a brief stop and York put his plate down to examine the food in front of him. As he did, his hand moved towards his back, absently rubbing the small of it. He hadn’t mentioned to anybody the strange marks that had appeared there one evening a few days ago. He didn’t know how to explain them or where they had even come from.
The line started moving again and York quickly grabbed whatever was closest to him before moving along with it. “What do you do when you’re not on duty?” He asked Veronica.
Veronica was similar in that way. She also liked to experience the town she was in. But that was more because it gave her a better sense of the killer, seeing the area they lived in, places they might go to, that sort of thing.
“Did you live with them growing up?” she questioned. His aunt and uncle that was, given his comment on their movie collection. Or he just spent a lot of time there.
“Other than drink?” she questioned with a smirk. “I take photos sometimes,” she said with a shrug. That was about as her hobbies went. Cases were usually all consuming.
The line moved again and she reached down to push her plate forward, about to put some salad on it, had to have something healthy right? However just as she reached for the tongs she suddenly felt a burning sensation in her wrist. “Shit!” she cried out pulling her hand back, which didn’t exactly help, however it did reveal a compass on her wrist.
What the hell?
York turned sharply in response to her cry. Thinking she’d burnt herself somehow, he instinctively reached out, as if to shield her from further injury. “Are you alright?” A quick glance at what was currently in front of Veronica showed simple bowls containing salad. York’s brows furrowed. What had she burned herself on? Or maybe, she hadn’t burned herself. Maybe she’d gotten a static shock from the metal tongs… It was then that York noticed something on Veronica’s wrist. It wasn’t a burn. At least it wasn’t a burn he’d ever seen before. It looked like...a compass? Funny, York hadn’t seen the mark earlier. “Veronica?” He said, his eyes flickering up to her face. “Are you alright?
York wasn’t the only one frowning. There was a frown on Veronica’s face as well. Because what the hell had just happened? She took a deep breath trying to ignore the pain. She stared at her wrist in shock as the compass faded away leaving a tiny circle on her wrist.
Well shit. Maybe Leon was right. Not a statement she said or even thought often.
“I’m not sure,” Veronica said, brow furrowed the frown still on her face.
York saw the mark fade away until only a circle was left. That was...unexpected. He glanced around them quickly. No one else seemed to notice anything weird, but the two of them were getting some looks from the people behind them. A few of them appeared concerned as if asking if maybe the woman ahead of them had cut herself. A few others, however, looked incredibly impatient. “I think we have enough food for now,” he said, just loud enough for those eyeing them to hear. He then eased his partner out of line and grabbed both of their plates. In a lower voice to save Veronica’s privacy, he said: “Let’s have a seat and we can take a closer look at your wrist.”
Veronica nodded, absentmindedly grabbing her plate and following him over to a table, her wrist still stinging. “What the hell is going on?” Veronica said under her breath as she slid into a seat. “How do things like this just appear?”
Surprisingly, York didn’t have a “mansplation” for her. In fact, he had no explanation at all. He set their plates down on the table and quickly looked around to ensure that they were far enough away from the other buffet patrons so that they would have some privacy. Then his attention moved back to Veronica as she slid into the seat. His eyes settled a moment on her wrist before moving back to her face. “I don’t know,” he answered her truthfully. “But…” he hesitated a moment. He hadn’t wanted to mention anything to Veronica about the marks on his back, concerned she’d think he was nuts, but now… “Something similar happened to me a few days ago.”
First Leon then her now York? Or she supposed York before her but that wasn’t the point. Something very strange was going on. Something that she couldn’t explain or figure out and she didn’t like it. She frowned at that thought. “Would you believe me if I said you aren’t the first person I heard about it happening to?” She had a feeling that he would indeed believe it given what had just happened to her in front of his eyes. “What did you get?”
York tilted his head slightly. “I would,” he told her. He was curious who else had gotten a strange tattoo, but given that both of them were new to Vegas and the small handful of people they’d been exposed to, he could fathom a couple of guesses.
“I’m not exactly sure what it’s supposed to be,” he said slowly. “But to me they look like roots of some kind.”
“Roots,” Veronica repeated. Well that was interesting. But then so was a compass. “I wonder what they mean. Why would you get roots while I got a compass?” And a butterfly for Leon. It all seemed so random. But as strange as all this was. Veronica didn’t think it was random. There had to be some type of meaning behind it all. “Where is yours?”
“Here,” York answered, touching the small of his back where the roots had appeared. “I felt them when they appeared, like you did. I was able to get to a mirror and I caught a glimpse of something covering my entire back, but it was gone before I could really place what it was.” He took a seat across from Veronica. “You said you know of someone else this has happened to? Who?”
“Your whole back?” That was a lot. Veronica was glad hers had only covered her wrist. Though she still didn’t understand why a compass. “That’s not really my place to tell you.” York could probably figure it out though. It wasn’t like Veronica was the most friendly person, not to mention she spent the majority of her time working. But it still felt wrong to say his name and betray Leon’s confidence like that.
York frowned thoughtfully. Neither he nor Veronica (as far as he knew) were particularly chatty with the other field agents at the local FBI office, so that meant the person in question may have been a member of the Las Vegas Metro Police, which narrowed the possibilities down to either Detective Orcot or Detective Kennedy. Then again, York and Veronica were far from joined at the hip. For all York knew she had become chummy with someone at one of the dive bars she’d gone to. Still, if he were to hazard a guess, his money was on Orcot.
Regardless, Veronica had made it clear that she wasn’t going to give details and York respected her enough to not press the issue, no matter how curious he was. “I understand,” he said. “Though it is strange.” He looked at Veronica carefully. “This other person,” he said carefully. “Did they mention anything else about their mark?”
“A lot of shit is strange here,” Veronica replied. She didn’t like it. Veronica was all about figuring stuff out and solving problems. This seemed a lot like something she might not be able to crack. “No. I didn’t exactly believe them when they told me it just appeared. Figured they got black out drunk and forgot they got a tattoo.”
“That would be a reasonable assumption,” York admitted. “There are a lot of tattoo parlors around and I’m sure not all of them follow the law.” He tapped his collar thoughtfully. He couldn’t say he was thrilled about what was going on either. It was a mystery, no doubt, but they were being given virtually nothing in the way of clues to put together. All York had to go on was the root-like marks on his back and strange feelings and sensations that had followed after them. He wasn’t even sure what the sensations meant.
“Your friend didn’t mention having strange feelings afterwards?” York asked. He looked at Veronica carefully. “Like they were trying to remember something, but couldn’t?”
That was a strange question. Veronica’s brow furrowed. There was only one reason York would ask that. “No,” she answered. If Leon had experienced any of that, the fact that Veronica had treated him like he was insane probably wasn’t all that encouraging for him to tell her more. “Did something like that happen to you?”
York nodded. “I’m not sure how to explain it,” he said. “There have been a couple of times when I’ve been going over my notes and suddenly I’m thinking of another case, but not this case. It’s not a case I’ve ever had either. I don’t know any of the details and the more I try to remember, the less I get. I’d almost call it deja vu, but it’s not a sensation that I’ve done this before. I thought perhaps it was associated with the marks on my back, but if your friend didn’t mention anything, it must be something different, perhaps unrelated.”
Veronica chewed her lip as she thought about what York said. She didn’t want to jump to any assumptions. She hadn’t believed Leon so there had been no reason for him to say more. But then how could a tattoo give off the feelings of deja vu? None of it made any sense. “That sounds confusing.” Veronica couldn’t imagine suddenly getting thoughts on another case that she had never worked on before. “I guess if it happens to me,” which she really hoped it didn’t. “We’ll have a better idea if it has to do with the marks.”
“It is, a little bit,” York agreed. “But it may be completely unrelated. The things I find myself thinking about -- this other case -- I don’t think it has anything to do with roots or trees. At least it hasn’t yet. Though, to be perfectly honest, I don’t know much about it other than it was something I was working on and it was important.” He shook his head. “But, it could mean that I’ve been working too long without a break.” He frowned. “And that is concerning.”
“Maybe after we catch the dumpster killer you should take a break,” Veronica suggested. Though she didn’t honestly expect him to. Especially if he was a workaholic like she was. Which she kind of felt like he was. It was part of why she respected him as a partner and was able to put up with all the explaining things she already knew.
Veronica had York pegged, even if he liked to think that he had a pretty good balance between work and personal life most of the time. It had been a while since he’d taken a vacation. Actually, York couldn’t remember the last time he’d actually taken a vacation that had lasted more than a couple of days. “I’m not sure if that’s an option,” he said. “Since it appears we have a new mystery now. Hopefully this doesn’t get in the way of our main objective here.” He slid his plate towards him and gently pushed Veronica’s plate towards her. They did come here to eat after all. “How does your wrist feel? Does it still hurt?”
“There’s not much that can distract me from that,” Veronica replied. Even with weird marks appearing out of nowhere. Her case always came first. That wasn’t about to change.
“A little,” Veronica said with a frown, looking back down at the circle. “But it’s tolerable,” she shrugged, picking up her fork so she could dig in. Now that York had pushed it closer she remembered how hungry she was. “We better get a move on.” They did have a case to get back to after all.