do you suppose that, waiting hands on eyes, Veronica has gone to hide?

[neptune_sleuth]

It had been a long day. A long, nervewracking, more than slightly disturbing day, and Veronica Mars never wanted to live another one like it. Unfortunately, the way this island worked, he figured that was a lost cause.

That didn't mean he had to like it. On the bright side, the rain had long since stopped and the sand was dry again, so he took off

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[dr_robchase]

Chase had been out for a late night walk, heading for a swim. After the surfing 'incident', she had found an actual swimsuit top, wandering out in the bikini top and the denim skirt for the waves. There was something nicer about night swims alone, that Chase never really escaped.

She approached the crashing waves and promptly tripped over something like a log. "Fuck," she cursed soundly, facedown in a lot of sand.

[neptune_sleuth]

"God damn it!" Veronica yelped, sitting up. "Watch where you're going!" The evening seemed determined to be completely ruined, he thought. And then squinted. "Chase? What are you wearing?"

[dr_robchase]

"Clothing," she groaned, trying to right herself without any embarassing positions. "See, I went surfing earlier in...actual clothing, so this time, I wanted a bathing suit and this was what I found."

She winced slightly, still trying to get untangled and straight, smiling nervously. "Thought I'd be alone," Chase confessed, finally managing to get straight and blinked, looking right up into Veronica's eyes.

Oh, damn it.

That damned urge for a man was still there, not cured by the endless flirting with Johnny.

[neptune_sleuth]

Veronica looked warily back. "So did I. I, er, I guess that works for swimming. I'm not sure denim's the best plan, but, you know." Well, this was strangely awkward.

[dr_robchase]

Chase pulled the denim down just slightly to reveal the bottoms of a two-piece. "I came prepared," she promised dryly, brushing sand off her skin and tucking her hair behind her ears, sitting beside Veronica -- probably a little closer than was strictly necessary, but the whole taller, handsome man thing was clouding Chase's judgment.

"How've you been doing?"

[neptune_sleuth]

"I, um," Veronica said. Alright, so being a man definitely affected his ability to articulate anything. "Oh, fine. Aside from, you know, everything. And you? Did you find Jay?"

[dr_robchase]

She kept her attention fully on Veronica, nodding. "Yeah, I found her." She stressed the 'her'. "Walking around topless."

[neptune_sleuth]

Veronica nearly choked at the sudden image of what a female version of Jay would look like, the horrible fascination of which was compounded by the word 'topless.' It as good as leapt out at a person. Oh God. "Good. That's good. So, I take it Jay didn't escape the change either?"

[dr_robchase]

"No escape to be had," Chase agreed with a bit of a laugh. "You make it sound like a terrible curse. Beware the Wrath of the Egyptian Genderswitch?"

[neptune_sleuth]

"Well, it kind of is," he pointed out. "Suddenly, out of nowhere, poof, we woke up - like this. I mean, it's alright for a day or two, but any longer than that, and yeah. Cursed. And there's a good title for another Nancy Drew." Veronica grinned. It was nice to see Chase feeling calmer, even if it was also kind of disturbing, just because she was so cute when she laughed. Stopstopstop.

[dr_robchase]

Something turned in Chase's stomach, in a pleasant way, at Veronica's smile. "I don't think this ever happened to Nancy Drew," Chase pointed out. "I think I'd remember that."

[neptune_sleuth]

"You have to admit, though," he said, the smile edging into a smirk, "that would have been hilarious." Life, Veronica had found, tended to be funnier when it was happening to someone else.

[dr_robchase]

"Then I might have actually read one of them," she pointed out, standing to her feet. "You coming for a swim?"

[neptune_sleuth]

Which would be worse, Veronica wondered: swimming with Chase, who was equally as attractive as a woman as she'd been as a man, or sitting on the beach while Chase flounced around in the water in a bikini? Both. Both are very bad.

Veronica shrugged. "Why not? Sounds fun."

[dr_robchase]

Chase eased the skirt off, stepping out and holding out both hands to Veronica to tug him up. "Come on," she urged. "Ever been swimming at night?"

[neptune_sleuth]

Veronica accepted Chase's hands, getting easily to his feet as he silently resolved to never think about any of this again as soon as it was over - which had better be soon. "Yeah," he said evenly. "I live right near the beach, so." And then there had been Homecoming last year, walking in with her curls ruined by the saltwater... "But it's been a while, and I've never exactly gone like this."