Who: Veronica Mars and Leon Kennedy What: Taking Backup for a walk When: Late May. After this convo Where: Near Veronica's hotel Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Leon made a couple of stops before arriving at Veronica’s hotel suite. Among them, of course, was to pick up a pizza and a 6-pack of beer for them to share. However, before he did either of those things, he stopped at a pet supply store. He may have never owned a dog before, but he knew there were things you needed for one and he figured Backup probably hadn’t appeared with a bag of dog food, bowl or leash. That would have been convenient, and if Leon had learned anything since these memories had started, they were rarely
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<b>Who:</b> Veronica Mars and Leon Kennedy <b>What:</b> Taking Backup for a walk <b>When:</b> Late May. After <a href=https://asylums.insanejournal.com/pathways_net/34342.html?thread=1600294#t1600294">this convo</a> <b>Where:</b> Near Veronica's hotel <b>Rating/Warning:</b> Low/None <b>Status:</b> Complete
<lj-cut text="What do you do for fun? You do have fun every now and then, right?"> Leon made a couple of stops before arriving at Veronica’s hotel suite. Among them, of course, was to pick up a pizza and a 6-pack of beer for them to share. However, before he did either of those things, he stopped at a pet supply store. He may have never owned a dog before, but he knew there were things you needed for one and he figured Backup probably hadn’t appeared with a bag of dog food, bowl or leash. That would have been convenient, and if Leon had learned anything since these memories had started, they were rarely <i?convenient.</i>
It was getting him thinking, though. If animals were appearing out of the memories, did that mean that Orcot’s death rabbits -- the ones he claimed would eat you alive -- were going to show up? More concerning: were the zombie dogs out of Leon’s own memories going to show up in his living room --
<i>They’re called Cerberus Dogs.</i>
--or would the giant venomous spiders or moths come crawling out of the sewers? Well, rabbits <i>had</i> already appeared out of that damned egg and none of them had eaten him or Orcot alive, so that was one crisis averted. Maybe only cute and cuddly pets would show up? Somehow Leon doubted that was going to be the case.
By the time he got to Veronica’s hotel, though, he’d managed to put those nagging doubts out of his mind in favor of looking forward to meeting Victoria’s new pup. Somehow, he managed to balance the pizza box, the beer and the bag containing the stuff for Backup in his arms and carefully make his way up to Veronica’s room. His arms were too full to knock, so he had to make doe with lightly kicking the bottom of the door to let her know he was there. “Pizza’s here!”
Veronica wasn’t entirely sure what she was supposed to do with Backup. But she did know Backup was <i>hers</i>. He was such a sweet boy too, and so well behaved. He knew ro be quiet when hotel staff was around. Hell he was pretty much quiet all the time, though Veronica had a feeling if he sensed danger that would be a whole different story. She was kind of amazed by what a good boy he was, and that was saying a lot. Veronica was not the type to be amazed easily.
Kennedy didn’t even need to knock, or well kick, the door when he arrived. Backup had already alerted Veronica. His ears popped up as he listened to Kennedy approach, then he was at Veronica’s feet, nudging her legs and looking over towards the door. Veronica was already halfway to the door when she heard the kick.
“About time,” Veronica said with a smirk as she grabbed the beer and bag from him, leaving him with just the pizza box. “What’s all this?” she asked, glancing into the bag as she stepped back to let him inside. Backup was dutifully at Veronica’s side, examining Kennedy.
As a cop, Leon had been trained how to act around unfamiliar dogs. It was important to know so one didn’t get bit when responding to a call at someone’s home. So he wouldn’t acknowledge Backup until Veronica gave him the ok. Backup seemed to be well trained. He didn’t bark, he didn’t jump. He just stayed by Veronica’s side, watching Leon carefully. What a good boy!
“I picked up some stuff I thought you might need,” Leon explained as he set the pizza box down on the table. “Some food, a bowl and a leash. It’d be rude if we had dinner and poor Backup had nothing.”
“This is great. Thanks,” Veronica said as she set the bag and beer down on the small counter in her room, Backup still following by her side. Veronica knelt down beside him, letting Leon set the pizza down. She scratched him behind his ears.
“Good boy,” she said to Backup before glancing up at Leon, her hand still on his head. “Leon here brought you some treats,” she added, giving him one last pat before standing up again. “Go ahead,” Veronica said to Leon with a nod at her new dog.
Leon glanced at Veronica before finally looking at Backup. He gave the dog a grin and holding out his hand, palm up for the dog to get a good sniff of him before he attempted to pet him. “Good boy,” he said. Once Backup seemed comfortable enough, he gave the dog a scratch behind the ears.
“He seems really well trained,” Leon said, looking up at Veronica. “You really think he came from...somewhere else?”
Veronica watched the exchange for a moment, her usual smirk on her face. But then she busied herself with grabbing two plates and dishing up the pizza. She placed a slice on her plate and a slice on Leon’s. Handing it over to him once he was done petting Backup.
“Yeah,” she said as she set her plate down on the counter so she could get Backup some food. “I mean I’m pretty sure,” she went on. Pouring some kibble into the bowl Leon had picked up. “I like remember having him before. Only I’m pretty sure that never happened.” She shrugged, setting the bowl down in front of Backup. Then she grabbed her pizza and a beer cracking it open. “Thanks for doing all this.”
Leon watched the dog as he started to gobble down his food then turned his attention to his own pizza. “You’re welcome,” he said before taking a bite. “It’s been a helluva couple of months. It’s about time <i>one</i> of us got something positive out of it.” He nodded to where Backup was eating. “Considering all the animals I’m remembering are horribly mutated, it's kinda comforting to know that if animals are going to randomly show up, they won’t be monsters.”
“What the fuck are you remembering Kennedy?” Veronica questioned taking a sip of her beer and leading him over to the couch so they could sit. Her own memories were confusing. It all just felt like high school. Only Orcot never seemed to have any idea what she was talking about.
Leon furrowed his brows tightly. It wasn’t as though he’d gotten <i>used</i> to the memories of his time in Raccoon City, but he had gotten accustomed to hearing about what was going on with the other people on the forum. So much so that he hadn’t realized that the only people <i>he’d</i> really talked to about his own weird shit had been Padme and Orcot.
“The zombie apocalypse,” he answered as he followed her to the couch. “An outbreak started in this place called Raccoon City just before I reported for my first day as a cop. The whole city got infected, except for me -- because I showed up late -- my friend Claire, and some other woman who may, or may not, be a corporate spy.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “And apparently when the world goes to shit that means the animals turn into decaying monsters...or giant insects in the sewers.”
“Whoa,” Veronica said, taking a sip of her beer. “Why were you late for your first day of work?” Because that was clearly the important piece of information there.
Backup finished his food and walked over to Veronica, laying down at her feet. “So like there are zombie people <I>and</I> zombie animals?” she asked before taking another bite of pizza. That did not sound fun.
“I, uh, well…” Leon looked at Veronica a little sheepishly. “I got drunk the night before I was supposed to report. I’m not sure why, the memories haven’t really gotten that far yet. Or maybe I was just partying, I don’t know. I’m pretty young at this point, like fresh-outta-the-academy young.” He took a drink of his beer, his pizza still left untouched.
He glanced at Backup as the dog made himself comfortable at Veronica’s feet. “So far, almost everyone I’ve come across has been infected. There were two others...a young girl was running around the police department and...a scientist, I think? Those memories are still kind of hazy.”
He glanced at Backup again. “Everyone else is infected, though. Shuffling around the department and the city. There’s this…<i>creature</i> - a couple of them actually, in the department. I don’t know what they were originally. Rats, maybe? Or maybe people. But what they are now are legit monsters. They don’t have any skin, run around on all fours, are stupid fast and have tongues that go on for days…” he trailed off. There was someone-<i>thing</i> else in the Raccoon City Police Department, stalking him. Leon shook his head, pushing the memory down with a swig of beer.
“Enough about that shit,” he said. “Tell me what you remember about Backup.” Hopefully those were more pleasant memories to live while they ate dinner.
Veronica wasn’t impressed with the fact that Leon was late for work. She was even more unimpressed with his reasoning. Though it wasn’t really fair to judge him for memories he had no control over. Work ethic was just important to Veronica. Her job came above all else.
“Your memories sound a hell of a lot more like nightmares.” Veronica had dealt with a lot of shit in her life. But even she didn’t think she could handle monsters with no skin and long tongues running around town.
“Well,” Veronica began, taking another sip of beer. “His name pretty much says it all,” she gave a small shrug of her shoulders. “Pretty sure I took him on stakeouts with me. And he got protective when anyone threatened me or even yelled at me.” She grimaced remembering how he acted toward Logan at the beach. And Veronica had been in the wrong there.
Leon also was unimpressed with the reason he’d been late reporting to Racoon City. The fact that a night of drinking and then oversleeping had saved his life, but it seemed unfair that <i>that</i> was the reason he survived while everyone else in the department -- in the whole fucking city -- lost their lives.
He looked at Backup again as Veronica talked. “Backup is a fitting name for a dog,” he agreed. His attention moved back to Veronica. “Stake outs huh? Are you a cop in these memories too? Or an agent?”
“Neither,” Veronica said, finishing off her pizza. “Private detective.” Kind of. She didn’t have her license. “It’s not too different from what Orcot and I used to do here.” Mostly her but Orcot had helped out a lot. There were definitely some cases she couldn’t have solved without him.
“You ready to walk him?” she asked, taking one last long gulp of her beer.
Leon hadn’t eaten much of his pizza, but talking about Racoon City had dampened his appetite. He nodded in response to Veronica’s question and quickly finished off the rest of his beer. He figured the pizza would be appealing again once they’d gotten back.
He looked at Backup, grinning. “You wanna go for a walk, boy?”
When the two of them were outside, making their way on the sidewalk, Leon turned the conversation back towards the memories. “So you’re a P.I, huh?” He said casually. “You know, I can see it.”
As they got the leash on Backup he wagged his tail, happily, his tail still wagging as they started their walk.
“Not anymore,” Veronica replied, casually. “But yeah, back in high school I did the whole P.I. thing.” Although she didn’t officially get her license until she was eighteen, that didn’t stop her from solving her best friend’s murder. And whatever other cases she was hired for. The murder thing was all on her own.
Leon matched Veronica’s pace as the two of them walked along down the street, his hands in his pockets and a slightly bemused look on his face. Veronica had been a P.I. in <i>high school.</i> Though he was pretty sure you couldn’t be an official P.I. that young, it was still impressive as hell, not to mention gave off the whole Nancy Drew vibe. Leon glanced at Veronica out of the corner of his eye. Snickerdoodles and pep squad aside, Veronica didn’t strike him as the wholesome girl-detective type. Not that that was a bad thing, of course.
He grunted a laugh and shook his head. “I can’t compete with that,” he said. “The only thing I was doing in high school was getting into trouble and I was damn good at it too.” That coupled with the lame-ass reason why he was one of a handful of survivors didn’t make him feel very impressed with himself.
“What made you decide to join the FBI?” He asked.
“Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me,” Veronica said with a knowing smirk. “If it makes you feel any better I got into my fair share of trouble too.” Though probably not the same kind as Leon had. She more got into trouble for breaking and entering on a job or whatever other mischief she got up to on a case.
“I wanted to help people find justice. Put killers behind bars where they belong.” It was an easy answer. “My best friend was murdered in high school, and ever since then that’s just kind of been my mission in life,” she gave a small shrug. “What about you? What made you want to be a cop?”
“My parents divorced when I was a little kid,” Leon answered. “My mother lived in an apartment in Denver. About a year after she moved in, someone broke in and robbed the place one weekend while I was visiting her. It scared my mother, like, a lot. And because she was scared, I was scared. I don’t remember a lot of details, but I do remember the two cops that showed up. One of them asked to see my collection of Pokemon cards.” He glanced at Veronica with a half-grin. “I was super into Pokemon back in the day, so I was excited to show her. By the time they left, I felt better.” He took a breath and jammed his hands deeper into his pockets, causing his shoulders to shrug up for a moment. “After that I decided I wanted to be a cop so I could do the same thing for other people.”
He was quiet a moment, watching Backup as he walked a little bit in front of them. He glanced at Veronica. “I’m sorry about your friend,” he said. “I can’t imagine what that was like.” Just the thought of either Chris or Claire getting murdered was enough to make his stomach churn.
“You <I>were</I> into Pokemon?” Veronica quipped. It wouldn’t surprise her if he still was. And played that game on his phone or whatever it was. It made a lot of sense though, why Leon wanted to become a cop. Veronica knew of other people in law enforcement who had similar experiences.
“It was a long time ago,” Veronica didn’t particularly like to talk about it anymore. Or dwell on it really. Of course she still thought about Lilly almost every day. But to everyone else, she just liked to portray it as something that had happened to her.
Leon may not have been a detective long, but in his experience with cold cases “it was a long time ago” meant either “I don’t remember” or, more often than he liked, “I don’t want to talk about it.” He looked at her carefully and nodded. “Right,” he said, knowing well enough to leave the topic alone.
Instead he took the other path of conversation she’d opened. “I’m not still collecting cards,” he said with a laugh. “I sold them all right after I graduated high school.”
Veronica gasped dramatically. “You <I>sold</i> your precious Pokemon cards?” she teased. “Hope you got a lot of money for them.” She honestly had no idea how much those things were worth. She felt like she heard they were worth a good amount of money at some point. But she could have been imaging that, she hadn’t paid that much attention.
Leon laughed. “I had to,” he said. “It's expensive living on your own for the first time. I didn’t have any super rare cards or anything, but it gave me some money so I didn’t have to sponge off my parents while I was at the academy. Besides,” he shrugged. “It wasn’t like I was collecting them any more anyway. We all gotta grow up sometime.”
“You <I>sure</I> you grew up?” she quipped. She didn’t truly mean it though. She may give Kennedy a hard time but she did think he was a decent detective.
“I didn’t have anything like that,” she added as Backup continued to lead them on the walk. “Wasn’t a big collector.”
Leon gave her a sheepish grin. “Alright, I <i>may</i> own a DS and a couple of games. They’re a fun distraction. God knows we need that in our line of work.” He glanced at Veronica. “What about you?” He asked her. “What do you do for fun?” He grinned at her teasingly. “You do have fun every now and then, right?”
“You know, that doesn’t surprise me,” Veronica replied, returning his grin before letting out a fake gasp. “What? You mean solving murders <i>isn’t</i> fun?” she asked dramatically. “I read,” she said with a shrug a bit more seriously. “Play games on my phone when I need to pass time.”
Leon laughed. “Well, I mean, in a way it is. We wouldn’t be in the line of work we are if we didn’t get some kind of enjoyment out of it.”
Leon adjusted his walk a little, tripping slightly over his own feet when Backup decided the lamppost they were passing needed his immediate sniffing attention. “What do you like to read?”
Veronica stifled a laugh when Leon practically tripped. She stopped in her tracks while she waited for Backup to finish his sniffing.
“Would it surprise you if I said mysteries?” Granted she usually figured out who the killer was by like page ten but she still enjoyed them. “What kind of games do you play?”
Leon looked at Veronica with a raised brow. “Kind of,” he said. “I mean, you solve mysteries every day. Then again, I guess it's different if you’re reading them instead of solving them yourself, huh?”
Backup seem to be done with the lamp and the three of them were on their way again. “I play whatever I’m in the mood for. Sometimes I like a good puzzle game, other times some mindless platformer.” He chuckled. “Sometimes if I’ve had a rough day, I’ll come home, loud up Sonic 2 and turn on some music and just speed run the whole game.”
“Not really. Gotta keep the mind sharp,” Veronica quipped, tapping her head with her finger for emphasis.
“I’d probably be more into the puzzle games.” Veronica wasn’t much for mindless anything. No matter what kind of day she had. She liked to keep her mind occupied.
“Maybe we should start calling you Poirot,” Leon joked. “Since you like to keep those ‘little grey cells’ in working order. Have you read any of Christie’s books? My mother would sometimes watch the made for TV movies on cable back in the day.”
“I read some as a kid,” Veronica admitted. “But I got way more experience watching my dad work. Well back then he was a sheriff not a PI.” Until the town turned on him that was, but Veronica didn’t want to get back to the topic of Lilly’s murder.
“To be fair, they probably wouldn’t have given you any experience,” Leon said with a shrug. “Agatha Christy is great at creating a whodunit, but not every case can be wrapped up all neat and tidy.” He frowned. “As much as I’d like them to be.”
“You’re clearly not a good enough detective,” Veronica teased, nudging him with her shoulder as they walk. But then her features grew darker, a frown forming on her face. “But yeah, I get what you mean.” </lj-cut>