taxonomites | [location: outside luthor plaza] you wanna hear about the deal i'm making (backdated to May 6)

In Lex's mind three weeks ample time to not only get himself acclimated, but start being useful to Taxon. He had currently been in this city for two weeks and six days, with his internal deadline drawing near. The temporary population boom during his first few days was a bit of an obstacle, but not one that couldn't be overcome.

Thankfully he was not entirely without the comforts of home as it seemed as if Luthor Plaza had decided to travel with him. That was more than enough motivation to move forward with his plans. First order of business was rendering the unused science labs operational which required gathering and setting up new equipment, as well as a good cleaning that he was damn sure not going to use an extra for. (The latter he wasn't necessarily ashamed of, but Lex was inclined to keep that one to himself.)

With one lab ready to go and his personal office set up, Lex was ready to begin to get to work. Never one to say no to ceremony, even when it was on his own, Lex stands outside the skyscraper and breaks a bottle of champagne against its outer wall.

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After dropping the bottle Lex looks up to see someone staring. This sort of thing doesn't bother him, he's gotten used to life in the public eye. Perhaps this is someone from his world who would be familiar with the Luthor name. He takes a longer look than he normally would have out of curiosity and when he makes out the face Lex has to take a step back to collect himself.

He crosses the other side of the street and walks up to the young man, purposeful, but with a sense of almost forgotten familiarity. "Lucas. You're the last person I would have expected to see here."

Lucas? Stefan's brow furrows and he casts a glance over his shoulder as if to be sure there's no-one standing behind him, despite the fact that the absence of a heartbeat other than his own and this man's tells him no-one is standing there without the need to look. Humans look, though, and Stefan's well acquainted with the necessity to move and act as human as possible, despite instinct demanding otherwise of him.

"Excuse me?" He settles on, unsure of why this man he's never seen before is addressing him as if he's familiar with him, and by a name that's not his own. Stefan's used a lot of fake names over the years, from that train to New Orleans after he'd been turned to the last place he'd lived before he returned to Mystic Falls, but Lucas isn't one of them.

Lex hadn't anticipated that reaction, but after turning it over in his mind he supposed that he should have expected it. He hadn't so much as heard from Lucas in over a year and Luthors were nothing if not fiercely independent.

"I know it's been a long time, but I thought we were on good terms at the very least."

"I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are."

With anyone else, there would be the possibility of his memories having been tampered with, but Stefan's memory is as intact as one's can be. Anything that had been compelled away and locked up when he was still human was restored upon his transition into a vampire. The man's face is that of a complete stranger, one who Stefan's just laid eyes upon not a moment ago.

That comment causes Lex to halt in his train of thought entirely. He again looks at this man and the more he looks, the more he comes to accept that he's been mistaken. Stefan may look exactly like Lucas in appearance but there was a certain way of carrying oneself that every member of the Luthor family possessed that this young man was lacking.

"My mistake," Lex says with an apologetic shake of the head. "You look remarkably like someone I know." He offers a hand to introduce himself and at least clear up one end of the confusion. "Lex Luthor."

This is the first time Stefan's encountered a case of mistaken identity beyond the doppelgänger issue with Katherine and Elena. He was aware of having been in Taxon before; Tara had explained that to him before she'd been sent home. He had no memories of being in Taxon before this time, but that had been him as himself, not this Lucas person he was presumed to be. It was fascinating, though. Of all the people across dimensions and worlds and times, he just happened to look exactly like someone this man new. Interesting.

"Stefan Salvatore," he offers in turn, shaking the man's hand. "First time I've been told I look like someone."

"Well they say that everybody has a double," Lex says as he releases his hand. "I don't necessarily like to treat rumor as fact, but it doesn't hurt to keep an open mind."

Though Salvatore. If this person wasn't related to Lex then he was certainly related to Damon. Interesting. "You don't happen to have a strong inclination towards gambling do you?" It's half light comment, half means of double checking.

If asked, Stefan would confirm that Damon was indeed a relative. His older brother, in fact. It's a good thing Stefan's unaware of Lex knowing Damon, else he would be plagued with hoping the man didn't ask about him. He and Damon weren't exactly seeing eye to eye at the moment to the point where Stefan hadn't been at the house in weeks.

As for the remark about everyone having a double... Lex, you don't know how right you are. There's a set of doppelgängers here masquerading as a pair of twins.

"I'm seventeen," Stefan answers, half-truth, half-lie. "Pretty sure that'd still be illegal, here. I don't even know how to play poker right, so..."

Seventeen? If Lex were the kind to laugh outright at ridiculous statements, this would be the time to do so. Instead his eyebrows furrow slightly and one corner of his mouth quirks slightly upward.

"I'm sorry, but the person who you look like is my brother. He's twenty-two, and the last time I saw him was a year ago. Even so, I feel pretty safe in saying that you look more like him at twenty-one than seventeen."

One hundred and sixty-two, actually, but Stefan's not about to own up to his years any sooner than any other vampire who's spent time in Mystic Falls will. Hiding was in their nature, a tradition that was not to be broken. It was simply what one did, despite being present in an atmosphere where vampires were free to be open as they pleased.

Truth was, they didn't know how to be open.

"Pretty sure my brother would find hilarity in the notion that I look like some twenty-two year old."

[location: outside luthor plaza] you wanna hear about the deal i'm making (backdated to May 6)

[ location: outside luthor plaza ]

[ location: outside luthor plaza ]

[ location: outside luthor plaza ]

[ location: outside luthor plaza ]

[ location: outside luthor plaza ]

[ location: outside luthor plaza ]

[ location: outside luthor plaza ]

[ location: outside luthor plaza ]

[ location: outside luthor plaza ]

[ location: outside luthor plaza ]