magician's apprentice | we've come a long way from where we began (rp for the_death_card)

[onebehind]

The place Miranda picks for their lunch date is meant to be neutral ground, Dylan is sure. She has them come out to Chicago, and while she is doing a show here, sometime this weekend, if her website is to be believed, it's still not home, not for either of them. It's also not one of the dozen places around town that might have required a reservation and no escape, if either of them thinks this is going south. No, it's just a diner, a literal hole in the wall, in a strip mall between a chiropractor and -- something else, Dylan's not sure, as he misses the sign, etched into the wall as they head in, but either way, the effort all adds up to a massive relief. He's not sure this will go badly, that he needs to think in terms of advantages and disadvantages as if he was playing chess, considering he's changed in the last twenty years, twenty months, twenty weeks, but still. He lets out a breath of relief, as they step into the building and he takes a look around.

It's a little less reminiscent of a dive bar, inside, even if the floors are bare, the ceiling open, and Dylan takes a certain amount of comfort in that, too. He glances to Jack briefly, to gauge his impression of all of this, and then steps up to the hostess's station as he looks out over the tables, trying to spot Miranda in the dwindling late-lunch crowd. When he doesn't see her, he's not surprised (she never could be on time for anything), and so he gets them a table for three, by the window, and settles into a chair. He expects Jack will take up his side of the table, too, and that's fine with him.

Once he's settled, Dylan pauses a beat, before, "Have I mentioned the part where she'd be late for her own funeral?"

Comments

[the_death_card]

Jack looks to Dylan hopefully - and then grins at the shrug. "Oh, man, that'd be fucking awesome, thanks," he says quickly and excitedly. He's watched some crappy videos of her shows online, but seeing it all live will obviously be another thing entirely - and he's one thousand percent on board with it.

[queen_ofwands]

Miranda hums in lieu of a you're welcome, smiling, now, herself. A gesture to the program follows, and then she tells them, "I'm at the Oriental Theatre over on Randolph. Come by the will call, tonight, and I'll have a couple of tickets waiting for you."

[the_death_card]

"Awesome," he says again, because holy shit. Theaters are one of the places he's always had more trouble sneaking into, if just because the tickets are assigned to certain seats and because there's so much activity even behind the main scenes. He's managed a time or two here and there, but actually seeing something live without having to worry about getting caught will be amazing.

[queen_ofwands]

"I'll even sign your program for you, after," she continues after a beat, something in her tone creeping towards teasing, now. She really wouldn't mind signing something for Jack, if that's what he wanted, but he's family, now, as far as she's concerned. Has she mentioned how good he seems to have been for Jake, how good they seem to be for each other? It's sort of mind-blowing.

[the_death_card]

Jack snorts at the teasing, since yeah, he does recognize that for what it is. "Not that I'm saying no," he admits before going on, "but pretty sure I don't have to, like... wait at the stage door or whatever now."

She's practically his aunt or whatever. It loses a little of the impact somehow - though again, he's still not saying no.

[queen_ofwands]

"I could make you, if you're looking for the whole experience," Miranda suggests, still obviously teasing. Funny as it might be to pretend he's just another fan, she won't really make him wait.

[the_death_card]

Jack makes a face, shaking his head. "Uh, nah, that's really okay." He might be a fanboy, but he's less willing to show that in a crowd than around people who already know he is. He has to at least pretend to be cool.

[queen_ofwands]

"I tried," she answers with a shrug. If she has anything to add to that, however, it dies as she catches sight of the waiter headed in their direction. That in mind and instead, she says, "And I think your seventeen orders of cheese sticks are here."

"Next time, I'm actually ordering seventeen," Dylan threatens.

[the_death_card]

Jack reaches out to move his drink out of the way as the waiter sets down the appetizer and plates to go along with it. "That'd be a lotta cheese. That'd feed like... me and a couple friends, maybe?" he jokes in return as he actually takes one of the cheese sticks.

[onebehind]

"I swear to God I'm dragging him over to Moapa River, one of these days, and getting them to give him an Indian name," Dylan starts by way of agreement. As he reaches for a mozzarella stick of his own, he adds, "He Who Sucks the Life Out of the Refrigerator."

"He's a teenage boy," Miranda argues, never mind the fact that it's on the heel of a laugh. Regardless, Dylan waves her and her 'argument' off.

[the_death_card]

Jack snickers at Dylan again as he reaches for the sauce, to pour some out on his plate, and then nods to Miranda's comment as he picks up his cheese to drag it through the sauce. "Yeah, Dad," he drawls in return.

He's improved a lot when it comes to food since he's been living with Dylan. It's only recently that he's been able to bring himself to stop hiding food in his room, just in case. He's still working on slowing himself down when they do eat, on not eating as fast as he can in case someone decides they want what he's eating.

He also doesn't realize the full weight of the fact that he is willing to joke about food, now. He's just chalking that up to the fact that he's more comfortable with Dylan and their whole situation.

[onebehind]

Dylan's aware that Jack's been hiding food in his room; he's aware he's only recently stopped. The gravity of all that doesn't escape him, nor does the weight of Jack actually being comfortable joking about it, now. He flashes him a smile, that in mind, even if Jack misunderstands the reason for it. The fact that he calls him Dad, joking or not, doesn't hurt.

"Alright, alright, fine," he growls, tone at odds with his expression. "I get it. Now eat your damn cheese sticks." He's going to eat his, sans the sauce.

Humming, pleased by all of this, Miranda reaches for a mozzarella stick of her own.

[the_death_card]

Jack snickers again as he takes another one, looking up at Miranda after a moment. "So, uh..." he begins after another moment. "We could go back to those embarrassing stories."

He's trying to get them onto talking about something else but doesn't really know how to do it.

[queen_ofwands]

Dylan picks up on that; it's hard to tell whether or not Miranda does, too, but either way, she launches into, "Well, there was that one time, in Central Park, with those Muslim women ... "

"We were six, Miranda," Dylan protests after a second of sputtering around his mozzarella stick. His face immediately lights with color. "I didn't know, and neither did you."

"I'm not the one who started screaming about ninjas," Miranda answers, shrugging.

[the_death_card]

Jack sputters, too, though it's mostly because he almost chokes on the drink he had just taken, and he raises his eyebrows at Dylan. "Sorry, man, but that's hilarious," he manages after a moment.

Tell him more, c'mon.

[onebehind]

"No," Dylan responds firmly. "No, it's not."

When Miranda starts to open her mouth, either to offer more of the goods or something else entirely, Dylan waves a hand at her, shaking his head. "Hey, no, huh uh. You start, I tell him about the time Dad took us to the zoo in Central Park."

"Oh, God," Miranda breathes, looking horrified, now, herself. "I give. You win."

[the_death_card]

"That's not fair," Jack complains. "You can't start with that and then not tell me the rest of it."

He's trying very hard not to start laughing and not doing a very good job of hiding how much he's about to.

[onebehind]

"There was this little pond area with, like, lily pads and frogs and shit in it," Dylan explains hurriedly, shooting a glance at Miranda in an effort to judge just how close to killing him she might be.

"Jake," she warns, though she looks, sounds more mortified than homicidal, at least for the moment.

"The frogs were screwing around, jumping from one lily pad to another," he continues, looking back to Jack.

"Jacob," Miranda insists, a little louder, now. Dylan shoots her another look, then shrugs as he returns his attentions to Jack. He might be able to guess where this story is going now, regardless. Even if he can't, Dylan offers him the mental image of a little Miranda, soaking wet, where she thought the lily pads might be able to hold her weight, too.

[the_death_card]

Jack manages to keep from laughing at first though he is grinning, amused both at the story itself and at Miranda's reaction to it - and then he gets the mental image and can't stop the laugh that bursts out of him.

[queen_ofwands]

"I'm going to murder the both of you, I swear," she mutters, shooting the both of them a sour look, though the one she offers Dylan is lingering. Blame the fact that he's grinning from ear to ear -- or the fact that he seems even more amused by her displeasure. Paybacks, as they say, are a bitch.

[the_death_card]

"I'd, uh... say it's not my fault but I guess I literally asked for it, so..." He looks vaguely apologetic, but he's also grinning and can't quite stop. Sorry, Miranda. They might actually be too good for each other.

[queen_ofwands]

"It's very much your fault," she tells him. "And his." She points to Dylan, then, as if it's not obvious who she's talking about. "And five years from now, I'm going to ask him for stupid stories about you, because by then, there's bound to be something."

She's not sure there isn't something now, but she's also pretty sure none of them involve Dylan, and she doesn't want to cause Jack pain, asking him about his life before.

[the_death_card]

Jack snorts again in response to that and looks at Dylan. "I mean, I guess the trying to pick a Fed's pocket is the big one right now."

She already knows that one, but it was still definitely not his brightest moment, even if he didn't know Dylan was a Fed at the time and even if it turned out for the actual, literal best.

[queen_ofwands]

"I'd say it probably wasn't your best plan, but ... " But yes, it worked out for the literal best. She's not sure whose luck it was, in this situation, Jack's or Dylan's, but someone sure as hell was lucky. All of this could have ended much worse in a hundred different ways.

That in mind, after a beat, she continues with, "And if you haven't used up all that luck, you might want to think about bottling it."

[the_death_card]

It definitely worked out in ways he never would have imagined before. He laughs a little when Miranda goes on. "Too bad I'm not old enough to hit up a casino," he jokes with a look at Dylan, clearly and already half-expecting any one of a few possible responses to that.