Veronica Mars is a marshmallow (ronmars) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-10-05 13:22:00 |
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Veronica had enjoyed getting to know Svetlana over the time they briefly worked together. She would definitely be calling her again if she ever noticed another client distributing the same signs. For now she just wanted to grab some lunch with Svetlana. Talk about something non work related.
They decided to meet at a cafe somewhere in between the two blonde’s offices. “So what do you do when you aren’t saving girls from trafficking assholes?”
Non-work related was always a good thing. And Svetlana was well known for needing to be reminded to go and eat half of the time. So it was one of the main reasons she tended to meet up with people during that time. It ensured that she did eat and that she didn’t forget to do it until it was ridiculously late. So when Veronica had wanted to go for lunch, Svetlana was more than happy to.
With her lunch ordered and the two at the table, Svetlana blinked at the question. It was a good one, and sometimes hard to answer if only because she more or less lived at her job. Even after hours, she was always available to those who needed her help.
“I play chess, meet up with my brother.” Have non-dates with a man she married in the dreams, one whom she knew had feelings for her here even though she was far too guarded to let him in though it was very likely she was doing just that unknowingly. “What about yourself? When you are not working?”
The fact that it took Svetlana a moment to answer and the few facts she gave told Veronica a lot. She could tell Svetlana spent a lot of time at work. Not that Veronica could blame her. Her job was important and probably all consuming. Veronica knew a bit about that from her dreamself. How she managed to have a life outside of solving murders Veronica had no idea. But that was beside the point.
“I’ve never played chess,” she commented as the waiter brought over their drinks. After thanking him she turned her attention back to her lunch companion. “I’ve always wanted to learn though,” maybe Svetlana could teach her. If they ever found the time. “My life is pretty boring,” she shrugged. “I hang out with my roommate. She just had a baby so it’s a little chaotic. Take care of my dog. Drinks with friends. Try to make time for the boyfriend.” Logan was complicated with their shared dream history and Veronica’s trust issues. “Photography,” she added. “I recently got into that too thanks to a dream gift.” Of course it was the camera she used for stake outs in the dreams, but here she used it for regular old photography. A hobby she was slowly taking up.
If there was one thing Svetlana could understand, it was having trust issues thanks to the dreams. Well, admittedly she had trust issues to begin with. But seeing how she was married to Anatoly in the dreams and then he not only cheated on her, but defected while married to her? It was a lot to make sense of for someone who was always so emotionally guarded to begin with. Paranoia also came second nature thanks to living during the time of the KGB in the dreams. Add in recent events….
“Well, I can always help you learn.” It was what she did. Those she was close to ended up either already knowing how to play, or she ended up teaching them. It was interesting that way. Or she was just amazingly Russian, which was also accurate.
“That sounds chaotic.” Svetlana was too involved in her work and had too many trust issues for a family, even in the dreams both daughters had been unplanned. Yet part of her did miss the two girls, no matter how chaotic it had been raising them more or less on her own while Anatoly travelled, and then left before coming back. “Photography? That’s nice. I cannot say I have gained any hobbies from my dreams.” Just reinforced some and reinforced beliefs.
“I’m probably going to take you up on that,” she was always up for learning new skills. And chess well it was an admirable hobby. Was hobby even the right word for it? Either way it was something she wanted to learn.
“It gets pretty crazy. Lots of crying and pooping. But Viv is adorable,” not adorable enough to make Veronica want one of her own. The whole settling down, marriage baby thing wasn’t for her. She was too independent for all that. “Yeah. It’s not really what it was meant for in my dreams, but it’s what I use it for,” although she was thinking about a career change thanks to the dreams. “What are your dreams like?” while they were on the subject.
“Feel free to.” It was an open invitation. Yes, Svetlana kept strange hours and was always on call, but she never had problems in figuring out a time to play a game of chess. Usually it was the way she decompressed. Or have conversations without words with Anatoly, though if he had picked up on that or not, who knew. That was a dream thing and she had noticed it cross over here as well.
“That does tend to be the way of it.” Not that she had actual experience with it. Just dream experience. Complicated dream feelings were complicated. “And there is nothing wrong with that. Adapting things to work for your life here.” But the conversation of dreams, it was a hot topic amongst any who had them. “They are over, thankfully.” Even if they existed in musical format for anyone to see. In different versions none the less. “Chess surprisingly enough. More about living in the Soviet Union.” Which okay, that wasn’t much to go off of and she would expand if asked. “Having a family and then just… dealing with things that happened.” She shrugged as she took a sip of her drink. “And your own?”
Or she could deflect. That also worked. But it did seem to be a dream conversation type lunch.
It was strange, that dreams were such a huge part of their life. But dream talk did seem to come with getting to know someone from the network. It was a strange bond they all had. And if she was going to become friends with Svetlana dream talk was bound to happen at some point or another. Might as well be now.
It made sense that she enjoyed chess in both worlds. That seemed to an occurring thing with dreams, having similarities to your real life. “Things like what?” Things that happened. That could mean a lot. So yes of course Veronica was curios for more details.
“I’m a teenage detective,” she smirked. It sounded ridiculous but that was really the best way to describe it. “My best friend was murdered that’s how I got into it, kind of. My dad is also a PI so I helped him out with cases along with trying to solve the murder.”
Dream talk really was inevitable when people were on the network. Some spoke about them and gave updates on the network. Others...did not. However, regardless of how people did or did not post about them, they still would come up in conversation. Getting it out of the way? Probably the best plan really.
“Some similarities in home life. At least growing up.” And subsequent deaths, or two in the dreams but only one in this life. “But things such as a husband I taught chess to growing distant as he rose in popularity, infidelity, him defecting and then the following year being used as a pawn by his handler to get him to return to the Soviet Union.”
Things. And no need to delve into the fact that the man who used her was a man who was always on the peripheral of her life. His daughter here in Orange County who had destroyed one brother emotionally and led the other to his death by manipulating and blackmailing him. But those layers of family history and drama often remained silent or were only known in pieces to those who had known her longer.
Oddly, Anatoly seemed to know all of it, despite her trust issues.
“A teenage detective, that sounds eventful.” Especially when it came about because of a murdered friend.
Veronica couldn’t really imagine what any of that was like. She had never experienced being cheated on. In real life or the dreams. The closest she got was when her and Logan were on their break in the dreams and he slept with Madison Sinclair. And that hurt like hell. So she could only imagine what actually being cheated on felt like. Even if it was a dream memory, they still felt things from the dreams. At least Veronica did.
“Did he return?” she asked choosing to focus on that instead of the infidelity part. Probably not Svetlana’s favorite subject to discuss.
“Eventful is one word for it. As soon as one murder gets solved another one seems to happen,” and of course Teenage Detective Mars was on the case. “And there are also the random cases in the midst of trying to solve a murder, like who stole the school mascot.”
“Only after winning the world championship despite it was to lose and return with our daughters and myself as the leverage.” It stung. But she also knew that some parts Anatoly hadn’t known, such as the direct threat to herself given the way that last conversation had gone. “Once back though, he did start making amends.” Threw the championship in Athens. Started finding himself again.
It was exhausting, knowing both that the possibility was there and yet the strange, almost magnetic draw, between the two despite that fact. It played on so many of her issues when it came to trust. So Svetlana just… went with it because she didn’t know what else to do.
“How many murders can there be? Assuming it’s not in a large city I suppose.” Svetlana knew of course that there were high murder levels in America, she knew that generally speaking, larger cities had more just because of the per capita. Still, sounded eventful for dreams.
Being used as leverage sounded even worse than the whole cheating scenario. “Is it even possible to make amends for all that?” Veronica had been known to hold a grudge. She probably wouldn’t forgive said husband, but she also knew that not everyone was quite as jaded as she was.
The waiter came back, Veronica thanked him for the food before digging into her turkey club. “It depends how you count them. One guy blew up a bus full of students so you could count that per student or as one instance. But yeah it’s a lot. Especially for a somewhat small town,” there went Svetlana’s theory about large cities. Of course it was true, but it didn’t apply to Veronica’s dream world.
For someone who was so used to being their own person, for her to lose that agency in her dreams had been quite unsettling. Add in the fact the man who used her being a real figure in her life even as he remained in Moscow, the threat looming overhead, it left a bad taste in Svetlana’s mouth, but there wasn’t much she could do on that fact. What she could do was focus on the question and take a sip of her drink. “Surprisingly enough, it seems there is. Though it comes with forsaking pride and knowing actions mean more than words.” Which Anatoly did know. Between the girls being taken to push him to play in Athens, her going to him when she had nowhere else to turn, throwing the match in Athens, it was clear then that he was wanting to try and fix things and she found herself receptive.
Then her food showed up and she nodded in thanks, turning her attention back to Veronica and nodding. Yes. Many in one instance made a bit more sense. Still horrible, but one person to go after instead of multiple people.
“I see. That’s horrible.” One would think that the work she did and living in Moscow until a year ago would desensitize Svetlana to violence but that wasn’t the case. She was still appalled at the darkness of human nature. Even when it was just from the dreams.
“I don’t think I could do it. In either world.” Definitely not her dream world. She had too much pride. Maybe in this world. Though she didn’t think Logan would ever cheat on her or use her as leverage. “Does he exist, here?” Veronica asked referring to Svetlana’s dream husband. There weren’t many people in her dream world that existed here. Mostly her family and Logan. But she knew that some encountered lots of others from their dreams.
“Yeah,” Veronica agreed with another bite of her sandwich. “But someone’s got to solve them I guess. Might as well be me.”
A shrug was given as a response because Svetlana couldn’t quite understand how she had forgiven Anatoly in the dreams. Well, no, she understood it. She lived in extremes, there was a connection there that would never die and if she saw actual attempts to move on, to fix things and not blaming other people, being there? It would add up. Even now, Svetlana was friends with Anatoly here despite the initial anger and betrayal. She knew his feelings for her and she knew her own issues at hand. “Yes, he does.”
Eating her own lunch, Svetlana nodded as Veronica said someone had to solve them. “I suppose they do”
“That complicates things,” Veronica stated instead of asking. She understood, she had the same issues with Logan. Well not the exact same but sometimes it was difficult to separate dream issues and feelings from real life. However it didn’t seem like Svetlana wanted to talk anymore about it so Veronica wouldn’t push. For once she wouldn’t be her nosey self. At least not today. They could just enjoy the rest of their lunch together without complicated dream talk.