Scraps and Scribbles IV
May. 11th, 2007 10:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
laleiaTitle: Justifications
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Rating: PG-13/R
Summary: A little bit of self-indulgence, so don't expect much by way of plot. Mac explains part of the Veronica Mars dynamic to Parker. Set mid-season 3.
When Wallace phoned Mac with the latest news on Veronica's and Logan's currently-very-rocky relationship, and Mac mentioned it in passing to Parker, Parker had gotten a very confused look on her face.
“Why does Veronica trust Logan so little?” she had frowned. “Has he done anything to deserve that much mistrust? He seems nice. I don't see what he could have done that was bad enough to earn that much mistrust, certainly.”
And Mac had hesitated. How could she explain the past two years to someone who had not attended Neptune, to someone who had never experienced firsthand the sharp divide between the haves and the have-nots, the 09ers and everyone else? How could she describe the cruelty with which Logan had treated Veronica, or what he had given up for her? Was it even within her rights to tell?
“High school ... high school was bad,” Mac began. “Logan and Veronica... suffice to say, there was a good deal of bad blood between them. He more than made up for it afterwards,” when he had rescued her from she would not think his name, “many times, but ... it does not quite erase his actions. She can try to forget about what he has done, allow his past actions to be outweighed by his present actions. But it is difficult.” Just like how she sometimes tried to forget how kind and sweet Cassidy could be, reminding herself of what he had done, the people he had killed, the way he had left not going there.
“How bad were things?” Parker asked skeptically. “I mean, has he ever cheated on her? I didn't think Veronica was the type of girl to stay with a guy who cheated on her. Why is she always so ... worried?”
“He hasn't exactly cheated on her ...” Mac wondered how much to say. “But in the period in which they were broken up, he did go out with both the daughter of the chief witness of his alleged murder – in order to convince the witness to retract the statement of course – and ... erm, Dick's stepmom.”
“Dick's stepmom?” Parker asked, scandalized.
“The morning after he confessed his continued love to Veronica, when she went to his apartment to ... well, she was there. Dick's stepmom. But it's not just that. Veronica doesn't trust anyone. You know she's a PI, she spends most of her life tracking down cheating husbands and wives.”
“It's just ...” Parker frowned.
“Plus,” Mac sighed, “Neptune High was not nice to Veronica Mars. And Logan, for almost the entirety of his junior year, spearheaded the campaign to make Veronica's life miserable. Whether it involved slashing her tires, slut-coughing, spreading malicious rumors, flushing her clothes while she was in the showers at gym, framing her for whatever they could think of ... Neptune High despised Veronica.”
“And she took this lying down?” Parker asked incredulously. “Veronica?”
“Of course not,” Mac smiled. “Dick makes a rude comment, she slashes his tires. Logan torments her, she plant a bong in his locker, he smashes her headlights, she sets Weevil on him.”
“They did what?” Parker asked, shocked.
“When I say bad blood, I mean bad blood.” And she wasn't going to bring up the drugs that Logan had distributed to Dick, who had tried to date-rape Madison, who had unknowingly passed them off to Veronica. Or the drugs that Logan had given Duncan, who had ... well. Or the guilt that every single one of the 09ers bore for that night, the night that Veronica had only ever shared with her once, when she was moping after the thing with she would have to think about it some time Cassidy. “Veronica trusts nobody. Especially not her boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, and potential boyfriends. With ... good reason, one might say. They've all committed felonies, or been accused of committing felonies. That probably says something about her taste in boys.” She joked about it often. She liked to reform bad boys.
It wasn't a joke.
How to explain all this history to someone who had never experienced it?
“The reason Veronica can continue being Logan's girlfriend, Dick's friend, the reason she can spend time around them without cringing is because she pushes their past misdeeds to the back of her head and doesn't think about it.” It was why she accumulated so many felons around her, Mac personally thought, the way she could almost-forget what they had done. “But she never forgets. And it is very hard for her to forgive.”
“I ... feel like there's a lot of the story that I'm missing out on,” Parker observed.
“Some of it is not my story to tell,” Mac shrugged. “And most of it ... is hard to explain if you didn't live through it. You can't understand the sharp divide between the 09-ers and the rest of us until you go to Neptune High and you experience the indignity.” Mac shrugged.
Seeing Parker's slightly left-out look, Mac added, “But even if you can't share in and understand the old memories, we can always make new ones. Now let's go see that movie.”
And as they left, Mac couldn't help wondering how this long and complicated story would end. Surely they all deserved some happiness ...
But then none of them had deserved the tragedy they had been forced to live through. If life hadn't been fair before, it probably wouldn't start being fair now.
The End
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Rating: PG-13/R
Summary: A little bit of self-indulgence, so don't expect much by way of plot. Mac explains part of the Veronica Mars dynamic to Parker. Set mid-season 3.
When Wallace phoned Mac with the latest news on Veronica's and Logan's currently-very-rocky relationship, and Mac mentioned it in passing to Parker, Parker had gotten a very confused look on her face.
“Why does Veronica trust Logan so little?” she had frowned. “Has he done anything to deserve that much mistrust? He seems nice. I don't see what he could have done that was bad enough to earn that much mistrust, certainly.”
And Mac had hesitated. How could she explain the past two years to someone who had not attended Neptune, to someone who had never experienced firsthand the sharp divide between the haves and the have-nots, the 09ers and everyone else? How could she describe the cruelty with which Logan had treated Veronica, or what he had given up for her? Was it even within her rights to tell?
“High school ... high school was bad,” Mac began. “Logan and Veronica... suffice to say, there was a good deal of bad blood between them. He more than made up for it afterwards,” when he had rescued her from she would not think his name, “many times, but ... it does not quite erase his actions. She can try to forget about what he has done, allow his past actions to be outweighed by his present actions. But it is difficult.” Just like how she sometimes tried to forget how kind and sweet Cassidy could be, reminding herself of what he had done, the people he had killed, the way he had left not going there.
“How bad were things?” Parker asked skeptically. “I mean, has he ever cheated on her? I didn't think Veronica was the type of girl to stay with a guy who cheated on her. Why is she always so ... worried?”
“He hasn't exactly cheated on her ...” Mac wondered how much to say. “But in the period in which they were broken up, he did go out with both the daughter of the chief witness of his alleged murder – in order to convince the witness to retract the statement of course – and ... erm, Dick's stepmom.”
“Dick's stepmom?” Parker asked, scandalized.
“The morning after he confessed his continued love to Veronica, when she went to his apartment to ... well, she was there. Dick's stepmom. But it's not just that. Veronica doesn't trust anyone. You know she's a PI, she spends most of her life tracking down cheating husbands and wives.”
“It's just ...” Parker frowned.
“Plus,” Mac sighed, “Neptune High was not nice to Veronica Mars. And Logan, for almost the entirety of his junior year, spearheaded the campaign to make Veronica's life miserable. Whether it involved slashing her tires, slut-coughing, spreading malicious rumors, flushing her clothes while she was in the showers at gym, framing her for whatever they could think of ... Neptune High despised Veronica.”
“And she took this lying down?” Parker asked incredulously. “Veronica?”
“Of course not,” Mac smiled. “Dick makes a rude comment, she slashes his tires. Logan torments her, she plant a bong in his locker, he smashes her headlights, she sets Weevil on him.”
“They did what?” Parker asked, shocked.
“When I say bad blood, I mean bad blood.” And she wasn't going to bring up the drugs that Logan had distributed to Dick, who had tried to date-rape Madison, who had unknowingly passed them off to Veronica. Or the drugs that Logan had given Duncan, who had ... well. Or the guilt that every single one of the 09ers bore for that night, the night that Veronica had only ever shared with her once, when she was moping after the thing with she would have to think about it some time Cassidy. “Veronica trusts nobody. Especially not her boyfriends, ex-boyfriends, and potential boyfriends. With ... good reason, one might say. They've all committed felonies, or been accused of committing felonies. That probably says something about her taste in boys.” She joked about it often. She liked to reform bad boys.
It wasn't a joke.
How to explain all this history to someone who had never experienced it?
“The reason Veronica can continue being Logan's girlfriend, Dick's friend, the reason she can spend time around them without cringing is because she pushes their past misdeeds to the back of her head and doesn't think about it.” It was why she accumulated so many felons around her, Mac personally thought, the way she could almost-forget what they had done. “But she never forgets. And it is very hard for her to forgive.”
“I ... feel like there's a lot of the story that I'm missing out on,” Parker observed.
“Some of it is not my story to tell,” Mac shrugged. “And most of it ... is hard to explain if you didn't live through it. You can't understand the sharp divide between the 09-ers and the rest of us until you go to Neptune High and you experience the indignity.” Mac shrugged.
Seeing Parker's slightly left-out look, Mac added, “But even if you can't share in and understand the old memories, we can always make new ones. Now let's go see that movie.”
And as they left, Mac couldn't help wondering how this long and complicated story would end. Surely they all deserved some happiness ...
But then none of them had deserved the tragedy they had been forced to live through. If life hadn't been fair before, it probably wouldn't start being fair now.
The End
