Room 122 - Sunday Evening

[marsheadtilt]

Veronica so owed Piper.

Her BFF had cooked an amazing dinner of roast beef and yorkshire pudding upon Veronica's request after Archie mentioned craving it the other night at Caritas.

The food was warming in Veronica's oven, the table was set and she was waiting for Archie.

[locked, obviously.]

[ETA: V & Archie were hit with the truth spell

Comments

[actingltcrumpet]

Archie wasn't sure what Veronica had planned for tonight, but a good officer tried to be prepared for all such eventualities and therefore he was in his best full-dress uniform and had taken extra care to shine his buttons.

He came down the hall from 115 and knocked on the door, wondering what she had in mind.

[marsheadtilt]

"It's open," Veronica called. She was struggling with a corkscrew and a bottle of wine.

[actingltcrumpet]

Archie could smell the roast beef when he opened the door, and he stood there in the doorway with a silly look of pleasure on his face for a moment.

"Good evening, Veronica," he intoned with a bow once he'd recovered himself. "The food smells wonderful."

[marsheadtilt]

Veronica smiled. "Thank Piper, she cooked for us again," Veronica said.

She frowned and looked at the bottle in her hands. "And if I can figure out how to make this stupid corkscrew work, we'll have wine."

[actingltcrumpet]

Archie took a sip of his wine and noticed that Veronica was drinking water instead.

"It really is a good wine. Why aren't you having yours?"

[marsheadtilt]

"I don't drink very much," Veronica replied. "A few years ago I went to a party and was drugged and raped."

She blinked the moment the words were out of her mouth. She hadn't intended to tell Archie quite like that.

[actingltcrumpet]

Archie nearly broke his wine glass, but set it down just in time. "Oh, God," he breathed. She'd made allusions to this happening before, but he hadn't realized the full extent of what had happened.

Whatever had possessed her to tell him right now? He tried to think of something reassuring to say, but what he said wasn't quite what he had intended.

"You remember what I told you about Simpson, the senior midshipman from the Justinian. It wasn't at a party," he said slowly, "and I wasn't drugged, but . . . so was I. On several occasions."

[marsheadtilt]

"Oh, wow," Veronica said, reaching across the table and taking his hand. "That's awful."

She was silent for a moment, wondering what had sparked these revelations.

"At least yours wasn't someone you trusted and thought you loved," she said. "I found out about a year after it happened, that my ex-boyfriend had done it. He claimed it was consensual, but he freaked out and left me alone afterwards because he thought there was a chance we had the same father."