Mission - Pancakes / Backdated to the morning of April 3rd

[oncedevil]

Who: Tony and anyone awake at Willow Ridge after the Kidnapping Incident
What: Demon be hungry, so that means pancakes for all.
Where: Willow Ridge kitchen
When: Morning of April 3rd, after Nathan's rescue
Warnings: Possibly some recollections of violence, but otherwise only pancakes. Maybe eggs. We'll see.

Dressed in jeans and a light T-shit, one could almost forget just the night before he'd been barely able to walk under his own power and bleeding all over himself. Quite the change, though watching closely it was still evident Tony was a little tender and sore. Moving stiff and careful while he cooked.

As it turned out, healing was hungry business. Fortunately Willow Ridge was equipped with a well enough stocked kitchen, and Tony with a little skill instilled by Hajime. Despite his best efforts, he still couldn't really use chopsticks with any kind of efficiency. Fortunately pancakes only required a spatula.

Stacks of them, in fact. The first attempts, under-cooked or over had already been eaten, but now he was on a roll. Why not ask him why he's cooked so much, or join in to help devour the abundance? Surely, he figured, the others would wake soon and they'd be hungry as well. Though likely Tony was far over-estimating their hunger by comparing it to his own.

Comments

[solvethepuzzle]

"Memories. Not good ones." Saying that they're not good is probably unnecessary. He'd been abducted and had a gun pointed at him; that isn't going to bring back anything positive.

"When the gun was pointed at my head . . . Mello, he pulled a gun on Near, angry about how he'd been treated." All in the name of conciseness, using Mello's name. Why use an epithet or a description when he knows the name? A finger winds its way into his hair. "When we got to the church . . . A news report on television. Pictured a burning church. The report didn't say, but Near knew . . . Mello died in there."

Maybe that second memory should be a relief; it would mean that Mello hadn't shot and killed his Other. Clearly the two hadn't been on good terms anyway. But he'd died. Nathan cannot classify remembering the death of someone his Other had grown up alongside as a good thing.

[dead_black_eyes]

It goes without saying that they weren't good memories, but it still gives Lazarus a much-appreciated cue to nod sympathetically and prepare for something truly difficult. In all likelihood, he should be bracing for something, anyway.

Ah, there it is. He stiffens as the bottom drops out of his stomach and he's filled with the now familiar hollowness that accompanies echoes. Nothing rushes to mind concerning the incident, L suspects his own Other was long dead by the time it happened.

"Mello..." he murmurs, brushing at his eyes, very surprised to find them damp. "He was... 14, maybe not quite 15...? I met him. I talked to him in person and told him about a very important case. He was the other one," he says, making a sudden connection. "I knew there were two, and I knew about Near, but... Mello..." he's troubled now, thinking of a person he thinks his Other was fond of dying in a burning church.

He takes a deep breath. "The two of them were both chosen to succeed L, right? So... why were they treating each other poorly? Why did he point a gun at his companion?"

[solvethepuzzle]

The Pulse is not unexpected, and he waits for it to pass. And the questions are inevitable. He doesn't look up, fingers still curling in his hair.

"I've . . . known about Mello since I met Tony." He doesn't like that connection. Tony is different from that. But it's part of what had triggered his Pulse back then. "He was insecure, thought Near was the favoured one. Jealous. They did not get along." It has to be an understatement, considering the threat to kill him. Had he been stopped, or had he been unable to go through with it for some reason? "I do not know what Near's issue with him was, or even if he had one in particular. But when Mello pulled the gun, he was shouting 'I'm not your tool to solve a puzzle.' That implies very callous treatment."

It's the first indication Nathan has about the personality of his Other, and now that he's voiced it, it seems more real. And he doesn't like it.

[dead_black_eyes]

L's eyes are downcast; he knew that there were two, but he feels strangely ignorant for only learning this now. They all have the responsibility to help each other fill in the blanks, of course, but if they were successors, doesn't it stand to reason that Lazarus should have been the first to know?

Not necessarily. What about this entire experience follows any semblance of reason?

"So... when you met Tony, he reminded you of this other boy," he says, trying to follow, already piecing together those sad and unpleasant implications. Then Nathan confirms it by describing Mello's temperament and complex, and he feels another pang of guilt on behalf of his Other. In addition to everything, he pitted children against each other in a competition to be adequate?

"I think that's a fair assessment," he says quietly. "I wonder if Near would have been callous if L was not. Just as you and I are similar, Near and L were, too. To an unsettling extent, even. Someone with the same goal would be driven mad by it if they wanted it enough."

In any cult, being close to the Leader is the be all, end all. Not achieving it is failure, exclusion, death. Mello burned.

[solvethepuzzle]

It would be an interesting thing to ponder, were it not so unpleasant. Is that the reason Near had been so cold? Possible of course, always possible. But not a guarantee.

"You and I developed our similarities independently. It is equally possible that the two of them had as well." That Near had been chosen because of those similarities and not that he'd developed them as a result of being chosen. Nathan's voice carries a hint of emotion in it when he speaks next, the first chink in the unfeeling armor he's encased himself in. A determination. "I will not be that."

If that is who Near was, using people that way, uncaring of their feelings, what pain he may be causing . . . that is not what Nathan wishes to be. It's another thing for him to fight against becoming. That kind of battle is something he's accustomed to.

[dead_black_eyes]

The point is a fair one, and an excellent one besides. Lazarus nods vehemently in acknowledgment; from their strangely similar eyes to their skill in chess and their similar tics and tendencies, the two young men have developed mostly independently of each other before being reunited with the exception of a significant but brief encounter almost a decade ago.

"You're correct... as strange as it is, we know from experience that it can and does happen, so... there's no reason it wouldn't have in this case. Attending this school likely contributed but if that was the only factor, I think this 'Mello' would have been more satisfied with his lot. What I remember of him is that he was not adverse to working hard in the least, especially when he really wanted something."

He reaches out, patting Nathan's shoulder.

"Let's both make that promise, for the sake of everyone in our lives... I admire my Other for his skill and his drive, but I think that I can be a better man than that."

[solvethepuzzle]

It would make Mello's frustrations all the more understandable. He works hard, tries his best . . . and yet still perceives himself as coming up short to someone who seems to do it all naturally. For all Nathan knows, Near hadn't done anything to discourage this perception, either. It hardly excuses the threat on his life, but it's easy to see how the situation could have come about, sad as it is.

It's the bruised shoulder that Lazarus ends up patting, but Nathan doesn't flinch. A little bit of pain, but familiar and negligible.

"Yes. We can both be better people, I think."

Their Others had been talented people, without a doubt. Had useful skills and keen minds. Nathan and Lazarus can use those skills, but they do not need to be their Others in order to do so. And for all concerned, that is likely a very good thing.

[dead_black_eyes]

Lazarus is gentle every time he touches nearly anything, almost as if he's afraid of inadvertently hurting it, whether he's aware of an injury or not.

"If he ever turns up as a Numbered, I genuinely hope that you can be amicable, if not friends. I also hope that I can get to him before anyone less scrupulous..."

[solvethepuzzle]

He nods, untwisting the finger from his hair, finally. "I hope so as well."

[dead_black_eyes]

"Is there anything else you remember about Mello?" L asks quietly. "We're in this together, so... I hope that you'd be willing to share, if you do."

[solvethepuzzle]

This time, he shakes his head. "No. For now, that is all I have about him."

That they'd been awful to one another, and then Mello had died. What lovely memories. As time goes on, he will likely gain more. They'd grown up together, crossed paths on that case. Surely, Mello had figured into his Other's life prominently, regardless of their inability to get along.

[dead_black_eyes]

Lazarus nods, staring at the tabletop. He senses that maybe Near doesn't want to talk at all, much less about such an unpleasant topic, and he's too soul-sick and tired to force what isn't coming naturally. He's sure that Nathan would listen if he had more to say, but talking for the sake of talking isn't a trap he wants to fall into just because he's anxious.

"In that case... do you want more pancakes? I'm trying to talk myself into being hungry."

[solvethepuzzle]

"... We should both probably eat more."

If ever there were a statement that is continuously accurate. They honestly and truly should.

[dead_black_eyes]

"If you can acknowledge it, I guess I have no choice but to do the same. Tony's a good cook, and I don't want to insult him by turning my nose up at all his hard work."