[Puzzle 011]

[hisapprentice]

[It's early in the morning, and there's a commotion. The village knows about this commotion because things are scattered in the scuffle, including Luke's journal. It thunks onto the floor of the apartment, open and 'on' enough to record...well.

The sounds of a scuffle.

Bangs and clangs and the occasional mechanical whirr or someone shouting (classic noir American accent or subtle/overt British one, take your pick!) and the end result is a nice, spread-out flurry of chaos.

In which one of the people living in the apartment is no longer there.

After a while, there are footsteps; it's Luke trudging over to pick up his journal and gingerly talk into it.]

Um. They came and...took Czes- Benjamin. [Not without a fight!] Maiza and Professor Layton and I tried to stop them, but it- it didn't work. Sorry. [...] Maybe he won't be gone for long.

[[ooc: Those replying may get an answer from Luke, Maiza, or Layton! Depends on who's got the journal at the moment, and who's off trying to clean up the mess in a dejected manner.]]

Comments

[contaeoro]

I can't blame him for being unnerved, then. He's always been a jumpy kid. [In one way or another.]

[immamartillo]

Yeah, I guess he is.

[He sighs.]

I just wish i could do somethin' about it. Back home, it seemed like it was Ennis who he really warmed up to.

[contaeoro]

She's a hard one not to befriend, with how kind she is. Maybe he's jealous.

[immamartillo]

She really is...

[No, no, he's not blushing at all.]

Jealous? Why?

[contaeoro]

She is his older sister now, after all... I suppose. [Isaac and Miria called him a "gift" though.]

[immamartillo]

Yeah, she says she is. But why would that make him jealous? He's jealous of the people who're still back home with her?

[To be honest, Firo sort of is too.]

[contaeoro]

He's probably jut jealous of the guy who gets along with her so well.

[immamartillo]

But Czes gets along with her just fine, who else-?

[Thinkthinkthink...

Oh.]

...You mean me?

[contaeoro]

Yeah, who else?

[immamartillo]

I-I dunno. I just didn't think he'd be jealous... She's close to both of us.

[This after they got into an argument over if Firo knew her well enough to trust her as much as he does.]

[contaeoro]

[Poor Firo.]

... Czeslaw is a lonely guy. [Maiza remembers the tiny "family" Czes had back when he was younger. He thinks about how the kid showed up alone in New York, and how Begg was alone when he met him through the Runorata, too.]

Thank you for agreeing to take him in that time, Firo. I'm not sure if I coulda done for him what you and Ennis have been able to do.

[immamartillo]

Of course, we love havin' him around. Especially Ennis.

[His smile fades. Why would Maiza go and say something like that?]

What? ...That's not true. I'm not tryin' to get rid a' him, but I'm sure you coulda' done just fine with him!

[Maiza did help Firo out, after all. Even after what Firo can remember about Gretto, he still doesn't doubt that Maiza's a good big brother figure.]

[contaeoro]

Nah, what I think he needed was someone new, really. Between the two of us we only had sad memories to share, from before.

[He doesn't expect Firo to need him to explain, as much as he doesn't want to remind him.]

[immamartillo]

Ah.

[He doesn't need to ask, nor does he want to.

Deciding to ignore those memories as best he can, he smiles.]

Still, I think it's good he's got you around. Even before you got here he'd talk about you all the time.

[Not quite, but Czes did mention Maiza at least fleetingly in their conversations.]

[contaeoro]

Did he? [He's genuinely surprised, but he chuckles.]

I hope he didn't have any embarrasin' stories to tell about my youth.

[immamartillo]

Not any that I know of.

[He smiles teasingly.]

Should I ask him? You know, to check for you?

[contaeoro]

If you want, although even I'm not sure how much he actually knows.

[immamartillo]

Yeah? He seems pretty smart.

[And very secretive about what he does know.]

[contaeoro]

I think he's brilliant, but he wasn't any older than he looks when we met each other. [He moves his hand to indicate the height he remembers Czeslaw being -- slightly shorter than what he is now, if Firo notices.]

[immamartillo]

[Firo doesn't pay the difference much mind. Czes is short, and once you get below a certain point it all seems close enough.]

Right...

[He sighs.]

It's confusing. He doesn't act like a kid most a' the time.

[Firo can't seem to get the balance between treating Czes like the child he physically resembles, or the adult he acts like.]

[contaeoro]

... Well, he hasn't been ten years old in a long time. I've looked this way for years but I feel much older than I look, so I'd expect it was the same for him, if not even more so.

[Kids grow fast. With Czes, it's just not visible to the eye. That is what Maiza tells himself, anyway.]

I try to treat him like I'd treat the guys back home.

[immamartillo]

That makes sense, I guess.

[He rocks back on his heels, thinking for a moment.]

...I should probably try doin' that too, shouldn't I?

[contaeoro]

If you want to. I think you can treat him whatever way is most comfortable for you.

[immamartillo]

[He shakes his head. Czes is a part of the family, Firo owes it to him to try and treat him how he wants to be treated.

Even if he is a real brat sometimes.]

I think I'll be fine either way. I just gotta get used to it.

[contaeoro]

You're a flexible fellow. I'm sure you'll be fine. Czes, on the other hand, is a little stubborn.