(no subject)

[oncedevil]

Who: Tony, Lazarus, and Feivel
What: The big reveal
Where: A diner in Locke
When: Backdated to the afternoon of the 9th.
Warnings: None yet!

Lunch with Lazarus isn't that strange, well it is a little considering he still barely remembers to eat, but lunch with Lazarus and Feivel is considerably more strange. Not that Tony disliked the kid, actually he's grown quite fond of him fairly quickly. He was daring and had a disregard for authority close to his own heart. It was kind of endearing, actually.

Since Fe didn't know where the diner was Tony had agreed to meet him at the teleporter and lead the way. All of this is slightly strange and struck as if Lazarus was up to something, but not knowing what it could possibly be Tony isn't going to worry about it. Lazarus was one of the few people who had his complete trust, after all, and anything sneaky he was up to would be for everyone's benefit, he has no doubt of that.

Nothing to worry about. Maybe he has something interesting to pass on to them, or a surprise? Who knew. Or heck maybe he just wants to hang out. With everything being crazy, it would make perfect sense to want a calm down period.

Comments

[highly_gifted]

Feivel is a lot less sure about Lazarus's motives and what this whole lunch is supposed to do. But he managed to explain to his parents that no, he would be hanging out at Gabriel's for a project that he'd been able to install in his place.

Gabriel is informed, so that shouldn't become a problem. And now he is in Locke. WELL. "And he hasn't told you why he has invited us like this, either?"

[oncedevil]

Phew! Don't jump out at a guy like that. Tony nearly jumped out of his skin (again, skittish thing when people appear out of nowhere at him) at Fe's arrival. Casually he dusts and fusses with his new coat to conceal the nervous jumping. Nothing to see here just inspecting a buckle yup.

"Nope, not a clue. Was hoping he'd told you something more than just 'lunch'. He sure is acting funny."

[highly_gifted]

"It's an odd combination that he wants to see you and me, and not you and Nathan." He raises and eyebrow at Tony's nervous fussing but doesn't comment, instead walks towards the door out of the room.

"We have half an hour to get there, I hope that will be enough?"

[oncedevil]

"Yeah. Wonder what's his sudden fascination? Ah well, sure we'll figure it out when we get there," Tony follows along. He'll take point when they're actually getting somewhere other than out the door. So efficient, Fe.

"We'll be fine, it's not that far. And even if we're a little late he'll wait on us. L knows I can't drive."

[highly_gifted]

"Why can you not, anyway? I thought all Americans can drive." He'll follow Tony's lead here, primarily because Tony knows where to go and Fe really has no idea at all. He's not proud enough to be dumb.

[oncedevil]

"Don't really need to know how when you've lived in the city all your life. Everything's packed together and there's public transport if you need to go further." It made sense to him. "Besides, cars freak me out." And that, he's a gigantic child and hates riding in the front seat. Or fast stops, or sudden swerves.

Thank goodness for that, it'd be silly and waste time if Fe insisted on leading the way. Tony, meanwhile, knows this city like the back of his hand, so he can beeline for the diner no problem.

[highly_gifted]

"How do they freak you out?" That's a bit of a weird concept to him, but he totally gets the thing about cities. He's lived in large cities for all his life too, after all. And even to his grandmother's place he can get by train without a problem.

[oncedevil]

Fe you ask very personal questions sometimes, dude. He shoots a look over his shoulder, frowning slightly. Ah... he's harmless enough, and he finds it difficult to really stay annoyed at the kid. He's just really, really straight forward.

"Eh, I panic. Not really a safe driver if I lose it because of a sudden stop or something."

He ducks his head between his shoulders a little, hunching up. Don't judge it's a thing okay.

[highly_gifted]

"...why do you panic?" The only thing that he himself can get more antsy than appropriate about when it comes to cars is when people get hectic while inside them. But he figures that he just dislikes people being hectic and loud in small rooms.

And he's not judging. It's more... an almost clinical interest. This is curious.

[oncedevil]

Tony pauses, casting Feivel a wary glance. He didn't sound judgmental, but it was still a sore subject. "You ask a lotta questions you know that?" He grumbles, but something about Fe reminds him a lot of L. So many questions, some not entirely appropriate, and yet with an air that makes it seem all fairly harmless.

How strange.

"Lost my parents to an accident when I was a kid, guess I never really quite got past it." He gives a vague shrug, as if trying to brush it off as no big deal.

[highly_gifted]

"You can remember it?" There is a faint lining of surprise in the words that are otherwise still technical. "...How old where you?" He has no idea why he was orphaned, not really - he knows that his birth parents are dead due to how the legal proceedings work, but that is about it. He has no reliable memories of anything before being adopted, so he doesn't even know what their faces looked like. "Do you remember them?"

[oncedevil]

"Not really," He confesses, tone a little dreary. "I mean, I remember flashes. It's all kind of foggy now, like a dream. But there are pieces left, I know it happened. I didn't imagine it or make it up," He'd turned fierce there, briefly. Not at Feivel just in general. Too many times had he heard just that, not about the accident itself but it didn't matter now. It all blended together. "I was eight."

Old enough to remember, young enough to be at the mercy of everyone who only had enough compassion to spare so long as he wasn't inconvenient. That last question does earn a small, distant smile. "I do. Pieces, anyway, it was a long time ago."

[highly_gifted]

He nods. "I remember things securely from when I was about six, and I know others do from even earlier." His own memories are just... well, there are a good number of elements that he is quite sure cannot have happened. He spent some thought on if they might have in another life after learning about the echoes, but nothing in his other echoes has so far indicated that those could have been connected. Probably just nightmares of a child. Not worth mentioning. "So there is no reason why you wouldn't remember it."

He pauses, and it almost seems like he would stop there but he does continue. "I don't remember my birth parents at all, but I was younger, so that isn't surprising." It is - he's read up on it. Most people have proper memories from before they were five or six.

At the Diner

[dead_black_eyes]

Lazarus works best when he's caffeinated, a little bit sleep-deprived, and determined to take his mind off of something else. He'd been struck by something strange when he'd originally met Feivel, and though he hasn't been able to commit every waking moment to it, he's revisited it mostly in the evenings and wee hours. He's had opportunities to put some of his detective's echoes to good use, combing back through records and reports and going so far as to track down hospital charts. Though his theory had been early on that there was a connection between Tony and Feivel, he wasn't prepared for what he had found.

He thinks that maybe he should have done more to prepare them. He reflects on it as he sits and drinks his coffee, wearing his typical dark, close-fitting clothing and steel-toed boots and looking a little more tired and disheveled than usual. A manila folder lies on the table in front of him, which he glances at from time to time as he waits for the two young men to arrive.

[oncedevil]

Tony's the first inside, pausing to hold the door for Fe before straightening up and craning his neck in search of Lazarus. Once spotted, Tony makes a beeline for his table and helps himself to the seat across, wedging himself against the wall. Some habits die hard, and finding a position where he can keep his back safe is one of them.

"Hey, L. How you feelin' today?"

He's noticed the look, don't think he hasn't, and Tony looks over L with all the concern of an over protective mother hen. Of course, he knows what the root cause probably is, but now isn't the time to bring that up.

[highly_gifted]

Feivel steps through the door and then lets Tony take the lead, mostly because he throws a glance at the pricing over the counter before he heads over to Lazarus's place - he has a bit of American money now, but it isn't much so he won't be able to buy pricey foods.

He sits with the two older men a minute later, though, without a word, waiting for Lazarus to start with whatever he's up to. Tony can do the niceties, if he feels like he has to.

[dead_black_eyes]

Lazarus glances up when he hears the tinkle of the diner's door bell, automatically reaching for two menus as Tony and Feivel approach the booth he's claimed for their purposes. Tony's leading question isn't particularly reassuring; he realizes that he probably looks a little rough, but being reminded of it is never particularly pleasant.

"I'm feeling fine," he answers. "I always feel good in diners. The rows of booths make me feel like I'm sitting on a train."

He sets the menus side by side across from him, aligning them carefully with the paper place mats. "Please, both of you order what you'd like. My treat," he offers, having noticed Feivel's quick glance at the prices moments before.

[oncedevil]

Sorry L, he just worries. It's in his job description. But he's content to let it drop, not a subject that needs to be discussed in public anyway. Besides, L's comment seamlessly distracts him with a far more curious topic. Trains sound fun do tell stories.

"A train? You've been in a train before?"

Yes, niceties are necessary Feivel, normal people do them it's polite. Especially normal people who are also friends.

Idly he plucks up the menu and flips through it, never one to say no to an offered meal. If he does refuse food, something dreadful is wrong.

[highly_gifted]

Feivel, having grown up in a country that has ample trains for the longest part of his life, really doesn't see the point in this conversation. Mostly he doesn't see it because pleasantries are okay (and he figures that this talk about trains is another part of it) but he is quite sure that they were called here for a purpose and he'd rather not beat around the bush with that. People stalling is the worst.

He accepts the offer with a brief "Thank you" (see, Tony, he has manners!) because children being invited by adults is a thing, he doesn't feel like it puts any moral debt on his head.

"So. After answering about that train, tell us why you let us come here? You went rather out of your way to talk to us here."

[dead_black_eyes]

Small talk has a way of being pointless, and the perfect storm of L's inherent peculiarity and Tony's efforts to go with it is probably a little awkward for someone to witness. Especially someone who isn't intimately familiar with their typical dynamic.

"A couple times. But real trains, not like a subway. Far too dirty."

He watches them both sit down, trying to appear incredibly relaxed, even though he's honestly pretty excited to show them the fruits of his labors and the results of his famously insane tenacity. His fingertips brush the edge of the manila folder; should he be building up to it, or just come out and say it? Should he insist on ordering first, or just charge out of the starting gate with potentially life-changing news?

He knows it'll be a shock, especially to Tony, and as the waitress approaches, he glances from her back to them.

"We'll come to that shortly. There's a lot to talk about, so... I'd like it if you ordered first." He settles for that approach, and starts with his own order. He's opting for soup and crackers, as well as a coffee refill.

[oncedevil]

"What was it like? I've never been on a train before. They look kinda fun, not like buses." Tony has a bad habit of letting himself get pulled off on tangents by Lazarus, especially when they concern new and curious things he's never experienced before. There are a lot of things he's never experienced before.

Ah, but Feivel is all about efficiency. Very to the point, and Tony looks a tad sheepish realizing he's probably making the kid even more impatient. Too many geniuses, and most don't humor his meandering thought processes like L does. But look at you, Fe! You do have manners, good, that's something at least.

"He's got a point, this is kind of unusual," Idly he paws through the menu, though honestly he's pretty well settled on getting a burger anyway. A tasty one, with mushrooms. "I didn't know you two knew each other well enough for lunch." He muses aloud, more to himself than anything.

Well, partially to himself and partially prying. Tony has a different... round-about way of gaining information.

[highly_gifted]

"We don't." His eyes are focused inquiringly on Lazarus as he says that, gauging his reaction to both Tony's question and his own statement. "We have spoken, and I know his name through other venues," not well, but the world of chess prodigies is only so large so if you're showing any signs of perhaps being headed there, a number of names will come up, "yet this surprised me."

He has already picked a dish and closes his menu, pushing it away to signal that he is done and ready to order.

[dead_black_eyes]

"It was travel..." Lazarus tugs at the hairs on the back of his neck, seeming to be growing uncomfortable with the topic at hand. "They're a lot like buses, actually. Probably smoother overall. I'll tell you all about it in more detail another time, maybe..."

Much like Feivel, he'd rather focus a little more on the subject that's bound to interest all of them. Hopefully more, once it's not a mystery.

"It's unusual, and we don't," he agrees, glancing at Feivel. "But there's a good reason. Since meeting you, I was struck by something, and call it the obsessive completionist in me, but I felt that I needed to check out a few things where both of you are concerned, primarily your history in Locke City."

He pauses, waiting for Feivel to place his own order as the waitress looks on expectantly. A cliffhanger it might be, but making sure everyone is well-fed is important, especially since excitement and shock have ways of killing a person's appetite.

[oncedevil]

"Sure, another time." Now wasn't really the time for their usual small-talk anyway, not with Feivel as the guest. Something about the topic made L uncomfortable, and Tony wasn't about to push while they were out in public. Maybe later, if he felt like talking.

Anyway, lunch was way more important right now anyway, at least to his eternally bottomless pit of a stomach.

Now that L and Fe had both confirmed it, Tony rose an eyebrow and glanced between them. There's a tension he can't quite place his finger on, and the whole situation strikes as incredibly strange. "Our history?" Tony glances questioningly at Feivel, as if he might have some idea what L's on about. Then shrugs. "I've already told you everything about me, but alright. What's up?"

Everything as he remembers it, at any rate.

[highly_gifted]

Feivel suddenly has to think of one of the things that they discussed while coming here. But ...no, he has no idea what Lazarus could have found there, Tony seems to be as young as he looks and if that is so he's far too young to be his father. So what is it?

He orders quickly - the dish is primarily picked according to price, not contents, but in that price range it is the one that looks best (in another life, his family was rich, but in this one they are while not poor still ina moderate income bracket). ...It's also picked because he figures that it won't take long to make, because if Lazarus wants to wait with his reason for bringing them here until they have eaten, so be it.

"So you think that we have shared history - likely while I still lived in Locke?"