Clara Oswald is going the long way round (alwaysbeenthere) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2019-05-26 12:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, clara oswald, veronica mars |
Who: Clara and Veronica
What: Catching up
When: May 26th, Afternoon
Where: Cafe
Warnings: Low
Status: Partner Thread | Complete
Life in Orange County really did have a way of getting in the way of things and Clara really did try her best to keep up with her friends but sometimes it was just hard. And to say she’d been dealing with some things lately would be an understatement. Rescuing people from Hydra experimentation? Check. Something she had tried to push to the side, the memories it had brought up from her own time as their experiment. But then Bucky had turned to dust right in front of her and it was only because of the TARDIS seeming to pull the dust to it and bring Bucky back that he was even still there and well….
Clara was just dealing with a lot. Like the reminder that even if Bucky was fine now, that because she was frozen between one heartbeat and the last, she would have to go through it all over again and repeatedly as people she cared for grew old and died and she remained as she was until the end of time itself.
It wasn’t a good thought and so she was doing her best to ignore that depressing reality and instead focus on her life here and now. No pushing people away because it would be too painful when they died. Nope. Clara was going to focus on the here and now and not let everything the past few weeks had brought up control her and weigh her down. She wouldn’t be the Doctor in that regard whenever he got broody and not wanting to watch people die and so push them away. She was still Clara Oswald and she was going to hold onto that.
So for now it was waiting for Veronica to show up and see where the day took them.
Veronica’s life was busy as usual. Between work and being a mom it kept her pretty occupied. And then there was Leon who still seemed to be dealing a lot, having Veronica or Keith babysit Chris on a regular basis. Veronica was slightly worried about his drinking habits, especially when he started talking to her dog like he was a human. She knew eventually she was going to have to talk to him about that. But for now Veronica was going to focus on her other friends. She needed to make time for them too.
So getting lunch with Clara it was. It had been forever since they really had caught up. Veronica arrived at the restaurant a little after Clara walking up to her with an apologetic smile on her face. “Sorry,” Veronica replied. “Potty training is not going as well as I’d hoped.”
Life and Orange County had a way with making time seemingly fly by. Still, Clara would never begrudge Veronica the fact she was just as busy, especially with a kid. That really just added to it.
Seeing the blonde, Clara grinned and shook her head.
“Its fine. I just got here myself.”
That was a relief. Veronica hated keeping people waiting. She gave Clara a small hug before they made their way inside.
“I’m starving,” Veronica said as they waited to be seated. “I swear I could eat everything on the menu right now.” Okay maybe not that much. Veronica did have a pretty big appetite but she knew she couldn’t eat a full menu. Maybe two or three things though. Especially if they were all appetizers.
Clara had yet to get to the point of the Doctor, where linear travel was just boring and seemed to take forever even when barely any time at all had passed. So there was no need to worry about keeping her waiting long at that moment. Instead she just smiled and returned the hug.
“I mean, that would be a lot but you do you.” Of course, she was teasing. Even with Veronica’s appetite, Clara had a feeling that the entire menu would be too much. Clara on the other hand? Well, she didn’t need to eat as it did nothing for or to her, but she still did. Mostly for the familiarity and if she was meeting someone for lunch? Well, it would be weird not to.
The hostess led them over to a table, Veronica scanned the menu. “Okay just two things,” Veronica said with a grin. “The mozzarella sticks and the sliders.” Two appetizers too. Which made just one full meal. So she was good. Not that she really cared.
Setting her menu aside now that her decision was made she turned her attention to Clara. “So how have you been? What’s been going on?” It had been too long since they really caught up after all.
Sticking with just mozzarella sticks for herself, Clara debated the question. Mostly because there were parts of it that she couldn’t actually go into since….not her story to tell. But as the Hydra rescue overlapped with people dealing with a dragon?
“Let’s see. My dad has decided to be on an extended space trip following being tethered to someone back in February, officially moved in with Bucky, doing the rescue thing when needed….”
Yep, that totally summed it all up. And not having to dwell on watching Bucky disappear in front of her.
“You?”
“That’s a lot,” Veronica replied. She couldn’t believe she didn’t really know about any of it either. She really needed to get out of her bubble and pay more attention to her friends. Even with all the craziness that was Orange County.
“First of all, it’s about time you and Bucky moved in.” Because really now. It had been at least a year. Probably longer then that Veronica was just failing at keeping track of time. “You doing okay though? Without your dad? Not that I can really blame him from wanting to get away from it all. Especially being tethered to random people.” Veronica was lucky that she had gotten Jessica. There weren’t many people she could put up with for multiple days.
“Not much here. Work mostly. Speaking of being tethered I was tethered to another PI which was actually lucrative.”
“Right?” Then again for Clara, there had always been a worry - that things would go wrong. And for her, going wrong meant death. Which admittedly had happened, even briefly when Bucky had turned to dust right in front of her. “And of course with it being us, it just happened in the middle of a conversation about books.”
Which also made sense. Bucky and Clara tended to just say things as they came to mind. So middle of a conversation? Sure. Why not. “And yeah, I’m okay with that. I can still get a lock on his location if I need to, and K-9 sends me updates if he’s with him. Bit weird seeing at how he dropped his life to come here when I moved but….” The Doctor was the Doctor.
As Veronica said most of her life remained work related, Clara nodded. It did tend to be the way with her. And no major things was also good news. “Yeah? That’s good. I do wonder how that worked out. Seems a mixed bag.”
Veronica could practically see the conversation in her head. Honestly she would have preferred it just being slipped into a conversation herself, when it came time to move in with Logan. But Logan didn’t do things small. He made big gestures all the time or made them a bigger deal than they really needed to be. But whatever, it had worked out.
“And how do you like it?” Veronica questioned. “Does he remember to put the seat down?” That had taken Logan awhile to get used to at least.
“i don’t think I could imagine my dad not being here… and I’m not just saying that because of the free childcare.” Though that was a definite plus. But Veronica and Keith had a special bond. It had been just them against the world for years. “At least you can still find him though.”
The server came. Veronica waited until he took their orders and left to answer Clara’s question. “How what worked out?” she questioned back. “How people got tethered? Fuck if I know.”
It was definitely one of the things Clara appreciated about Bucky. That it was just so easy. Okay, easy might not be the exact word. There was a lot of PTSD related issues that came up because of the Dreams, Bucky losing his arm repeatedly and all. Let alone the latest one. But in terms of just...being together and decisions like that? It was just easy.
“It’s good. I mean, I’d already been there a lot of the time as it was since I was going between his place, my TARDIS or my dad’s. So it just sort of made sense.”
The question on the toilet set did get a laugh though as Clara nodded.
“Thankfully.” Not that Clara actually had use of the toilet thanks to her whole state of being. But it was amusing all the same.
“Yeah, it’s weird but….also not surprising.” It would probably always be a little weird. Clara didn’t do well with losing people. But her dad wasn’t dead or anything, so it was fine.
“Not the how it happened,” It wasn’t like they ever got answers about the weirdness that happened if it wasn’t from someone’s dreams, “Just being tethered to someone? How was that?”
“Well congrats and all that,” Veronica replied trying to keep it casual. Clara wasn’t the type to expect squealing over that sort of thing. And Veronica wasn’t the type to squeal about anything.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Veronica replied with a shrug. “Although that could have to do with who I was tethered with.” She and Jessica were already friends in a way. And they worked in the same field so it just made everything more efficient really. “It did get a little annoying constantly having someone there though.”
The fact that neither was big on the squealing about such matters really did make it easier to know how to react. At least they understood that, so instead she just nodded with a smile.
“Thanks.”
Hearing about Veronica’s experience with being tethered to someone, she supposed that made sense.
“I was wondering if there were people tethered who knew each other or not.” Shrugging, she took a sip of water, “Still, I can imagine.”
“Apparently there were,” Veronica replied with a shrug. “Not exactly something I want to relive though,” she added as their food was brought over. Veronica picked up a mozzarella stick taking a bite before continuing. “I’m gonna guess your dad got stuck with a real pain in the ass?”
That was definitely interesting. Then again, there rarely were ever any sort of rules or logic to the things that happened in Orange County. So sure, some people getting tethered to strangers and others to people they already knew? Why not.
“Given my dad, it’s hard to say if the person actually would be considered annoying or just my dad being grumpy. Apparently the guy talked a lot and my dad was asking if people had an off switch and wanted to make a mute button for them.”
But again, if it were an actual annoying person or her dad being her dad, Clara had no idea.
“Yeah,” Veronica said with a small laugh. “I can see that happening.” If she had to be tethered to someone she was glad it was someone she could stand. And that didn’t talk too much. Jessica didn’t really talk anymore than was necessary. “You’re lucky you missed that particular brand of weirdness,” Veronica added grabbing another mozzarella stick.
Clara was used to her dad and his grumpiness. Both as Duncan Fletcher, but also as the Doctor. There were reasons she had made him flashcards with how to deal with people. But some things one could not prepare for. Such as being tethered to people whole apparently talked a lot? Or at least in her dad’s opinion? Not something she could be prepared for. Even after being used to Orange County.
“It seems that way. I mean, it was great fun laughing at him for it. But glad I didn’t have to deal with it myself.”
“Hopefully you’ll miss out on the next round of insanity too,” Veronica replied. Of course random attacks they were all affected by in one or another. But changing ages, getting tethered to someone. That kind of thing only seemed to affect certain people. “I’m just glad my dad doesn’t dream.” Not only because Veronica didn’t want him taking off, but also because she liked knowing she always had child care whenever shit hit the fan.
“One can only hope. Then again I doubt it works that way. But who knows, you never know.” She had gotten pulled into the rescue game during the dragon thing. Though admittedly that had also involved rescue missions not related to that. Still, impacted so if these things actually seemed to alternate when they affected someone (which Clara still doubted), then she should be free.
“I mean on the one hand, at least he’d get it more? On the other...probably best he doesn’t Dream.” Then again, Clara’s situation with her dad had been interesting given the nature of the Dreams, “Is he at least still your dad in them?”
Veronica didn’t think it alternated either. But she also believed if someone was lucky enough to miss one or two things that it wouldn’t last. Especially of the extra weird shit like getting tethered. Attacks seemed to happen often enough that it was more of a choice whether one was affected or not. Minus the property damage of course.
“Well he misses a lot of the crazy,” Veronica replied. Living just outside of Orange County helped. “Except when he’s at my house.” Which he did tend to stay at sometimes. Especially when she needed the childcare. “Yeah, he’s a huge part.” Of her dreams. As was Logan.
“Yes, being at your house would definitely have him around. Still, it is good he misses it.” And as for Veronica’s dad still being her dad in the Dreams? “That’s good. Because believe me, it can get really weird otherwise.”
There were definitely things she and her dad had never talked about from them. Things she purposefully ignored until she couldn’t because of the awkwardness of it all.
Veronica knew enough about Clara’s dreams to know her dad was The Doctor in them and not her actual dad. Which yeah had to be weird. She couldn’t imagine dreaming of following Keith Mars throughout time and space at least. She couldn’t imagine her dad being anything but her dad.
“Oh I believe you,” Veronica said biting into another mozzarella stick. “But that’s enough about our dads. We’d probably blow up their egos if they knew how much we were discussing them.” At least her dad.