tampered | Log; Ongoing

When; January 24th.
Rating; PG?
Characters; Kenzo Tenma (

philanthropize) and Johan Liebert (

imputing)
Summary; Tenma and Johan reunite for the first time at Pandora's.
Log;

It had only been a few days since his arrival to the City, and Tenma was still absorbing everything that being there entailed. His years travelling around Europe meant that he had some experience with adapting to new places and their customs, but this was almost nothing like what he remembered; there had never been so many changes to adjust to before, nevermind such important ones.

There was, however, one significant thing in common between then and now: Johan. All those months of being on the move, and his target had always remained the same. Tenma had thought that all of that was over, but the City had apparently seen fit to let him know otherwise. Johan was here and, according to Nina, with different memories. Even now, Tenma felt as though unfinished business was forcing him to pursue him.

It hadn't been difficult to find directions to Pandora's, but now that he approached the place, Tenma couldn't help his nervousness. He had arrived early in the hopes of meeting Johan without Nina around -- he had been glad to see her and grateful for all the help she had given him, but there was still a lingering voice telling him that he shouldn't inconvenience her further. He had no idea how Johan would react to seeing him; no idea how he would react himself, even.

Frowning, Tenma walked to the entrance, his hands feeling useless at his sides. Hopefully Johan would be here already, or at least arrive soon.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Johan had watched Tenma enter Pandora's. He expected him to be early, but he had wanted to be there even before the Doctor arrived. For reasons of courtesy, of course, and nothing else. Johan smiled to himself, putting his hands in his pockets. He took his time in walking towards the restaurant, as if he thought neither of them would be there yet.

Entering the place, he politely regarded the waitress as she greeted him and pointed him to the reserved table. Surprise was not hard to fake, unlike sincerity. Johan thought he might start to master the latter soon enough. He made an expression of pleasant surprise at the sight of Tenma.

"Doctor Tenma, I wasn't expecting you here for another half hour."

Tenma looked up at the sight of Johan's voice, unable to hide his surprise. He had never been very good at hiding his emotions; they always seemed to show themselves plainly on his face. Fortunately, Tenma had never had many reasons to want to pretend, so it had never been very necessary to know how.

"Johan!" He was really here, then. Not that he had really doubted it, but it was a difficult thing to believe unless seen with his own eyes. The last time he had seen Johan, he had been unconscious on a hospital bed. "I didn't want to be late, and I'm still not used to travelling the City," he continued, looking slightly embarrassed. "You're early, too."

"It is bad manners for a host to come after the guests," Johan replied matter-of-factly, as if it was the sole reason for him coming early. Casually, he took a seat across from Tenma, still with the subtle smile on his face. It would be hard to know whether that smile was meant to be cordial or menacing. It seemed harmless enough, but perhaps there was more behind it. One could never know with Johan.

He placed his hands on the table, intertwining his fingers, and gazed out the window on his left. Looking over the world outside the window, there seemed to be some kind of adoration in his eyes, or perhaps only malice. He turned back to Tenma, smiling a little wider. "It really is good to see you, Doctor Tenma."

It was difficult to know how to react. Almost every face-to-face meeting he had had with Johan in the past had involved Tenma pointing a gun at him, and even when that hadn't been the case, Johan had been on his operating table.

But he was determined to make this meeting a successful one -- as successful as it could be. "It's good to see you too, Johan." He smiled, and it was genuine, if a little uncertain. That nervousness from before hadn't subsided, and Johan's unreadable expression wasn't doing anything to ease it. "You look well. How long have you been here...?" Nina had said something about being in the City for months, but that didn't seem right. Surely somebody would have noticed her missing, and he would have heard about it?

Johan thought he should not know how to exactly handle the meeting either, but perhaps it was different for him. After all, then and now, he had never meant any harm to Tenma. If the situation allowed it then, he would not have minded having a nice conversation over lunch with Tenma, even if he knew the doctor would give everything to see him dead.

In fact, that was why he was so eager to meet the doctor; had he not wanted him dead before? Nina was invited as a half-hearted attempt at protecting himself. For some reason or another, his sister did not want him dead. She would stop Tenma from killing him if it came to that.

Still, they were here now and Nina would not be here for at least thirty minutes, if not more. "Two months, at most." It had given him enough time to get back on his own feet. "It has been most interesting, I must say."

"Two months?" That didn't seem right either. That Johan had been awake and missing for two months... he would have known, he was sure of it. But now wasn't the time to ask. Tenma reached for his glass and took a sip of water, trying to think of all the things he had wanted to say, things he had wanted to ask. There were so many things, he was sure that Nina would arrive before he could even really begin, but that was okay. This was just the first meeting, a chance for him to try and understand exactly where he stood in Johan's mind, though he had the feeling that that would take a lot more time, too.

"It's an interesting city. There are so many amazing things to see here." Tenma smiled brightly, not sure that Johan had even meant 'interesting' in that way. "What have you been doing with your time? Two months is quite a while."

Johan mirrored his smile with his own, "I've been settling down, mostly." He shifted in his seat and leaned forward before continuing. "It took far longer than one might expect."

Finding a place to stay was very easy. Finding people to assure his safety was moderately easy. Adapting to the random cycle of curses was reasonably challenging. Yet the hardest part of all was starting from scratch, thinking that the City was a new blank canvas before then discovering that his sister was here.

And now Tenma was also here.

"I thought you'd be more direct than this small talk, Doctor Tenma." He was still smiling, but perhaps now it had taken a strange malicious edge to it. Perhaps it was just the light.

Tenma looked up at Johan, making no attempt to hide his surprise. "You--" he began, then cut himself off, not sure of what it was that he was trying to say. Johan was probably right; he should be more direct. But all the things he had been asking had been genuine questions. Johan still seemed dangerous, but Tenma knew now that there was no such thing as a monster. Johan was human. Nina had taught him that.

"You don't remember what happened at Ruhenheim, do you?" Tenma asked, his eyes not leaving Johan's face for a second.

Johan, in return, kept his gaze on Tenma.

One might think that it was out of courtesy, but those who knew him a little better would think that it was cruelty instead. It would be interesting for a monster like him to watch the results of his handy work shown on the doctor's face, ater all. Tenma would have had a beautiful life had Johan never happened to him.

He smiled amiably. "Of course I do." Resting his hands on either side of him, he leaned back. "Though I might remember less." Nina seemed adamant that she knew more than Johan did.

"Less?" That could mean any number of things, probably all of them bad.

Had his head injury caused him to lose his memory? It wouldn't be terribly surprising -- neurosurgery was tricky and recovery could be unpredictable, Tenma knew that well enough -- but it would be disappointing, to put it mildly. So many important things had happened.

"What's the last thing you remember, Johan?" Tenma asked, unsure of what kind of answer he would receive, if any.

[OOC: Late reply is ridiculously late. D: I'm really sorry! Real life ambushed me for a while.]

"Walking towards Ruhenheim," Johan replied, with a smile, "and arriving here." He knew that Tenma knew more about what happened than he did, but he saw that it had struck fear into Nina when he said it. He did not know what it was they were so afraid of in Ruhenheim. Was it Roberto? Johan did not tell him to massacre the whole town, it was just a suggestion taken too literally. Was it himself?

He dropped the smile, looking at Tenma with eyes lacking in emotions. "What did you see there, Doctor Tenma?" Johan had not planned anything else that would scare them when he was walking towards the so-called peaceful town.

A thought entered his mind and he thought he may have felt afraid.

Log; Ongoing

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject