[Puzzle 001]

[hisapprentice]

[In the plaza, near its southern edge, there is something strange. It is most noticeable now that snow is falling in earnest - a shape, smallish and curled up on itself. There is a boy in the snow. Asleep, dressed only in new feather pants, shivering. When he finally shivers himself awake, it's a groggy half-there voice that broadcasts. Seems the journal's open.] Just...a few m-more...minutes, Prof-ffessor...

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[emp3thy]

I'm Minato.

[and just so they're clear, and he doesn't get Luke accusing him of kidnap or something next -] I'm the same as you. I've just been here longer.

[his-apprentice.livejournal.com]

You haven't...been here as long as it took you to get that old, right?

[emp3thy]

[blink...

Did you just call him old, Luke?]

No, not that long.

[his-apprentice.livejournal.com]

[Well if you started at his age, that's a long time!

But now that he's not frozen or panicking, Luke's rational thoughts are taking back over. It's time to find out exactly what's going on here. ...He just tried to pull his notebook out of his bag, both of which are gone]

Could you start at the beginning and tell me...all of that again?

[emp3thy]

[This kid is prepared. Minato likes him already.]

I can do better.

[he picks up Luke's journal again, and opens to the guide.] This should answer some questions.

[his-apprentice.livejournal.com]

What is it?

[He takes the book, and reads the first few lines of the guide out loud, quietly. And stops.]

I don't think I could hallucinate this much information...

[emp3thy]

It's real.

[Logical, too. Maybe he's some kind of kid detective. He should introduce him to Loki.]

[his-apprentice.livejournal.com]

[No, he's just a puzzle apprentice. He doesn't even like archaeology all that much. Not...not the way Layton does, anyway. Professor is such a nerd sometimes Luke continues reading quietly for a while, skipping a few things that seem...like many paragraphs.

Maybe someday he'll come up with an easy abridged guide.]

But most of this is impossible.

[emp3thy]

Growing wings should be, too.

[his-apprentice.livejournal.com]

It doesn't sound like I grew them. It sounds like...u-uh, never mind what it sounds like.

[That's just a bit frightening to think of, right? Besides, Luke's seen some impossible things happen anyway so...only most of it makes no sense.]

Someone's got to be behind all of this, really.

[emp3thy]

Or something. [Minato knows better than to assume a 'human' origin for everything.] But we don't know what yet.

[his-apprentice.livejournal.com]

But it's been...years! You haven't found out enough?

[emp3thy]

Information's hard to come by.

[his-apprentice.livejournal.com]

[Is this another of those places where the people just can't be bothered to figure anything out? Or they don't even notice that things just aren't right? Luke looks frustrated.]

...So what am I supposed to do now?

[emp3thy]

Look for someone you know. [....] If you can't, then find a place to stay. The Welcome Center can help.

[his-apprentice.livejournal.com]

Someone I know... [Maybe someone will be here. Right now, he doubts it.]

All right. So where is the Welcome Center from here, then?

[emp3thy]

It's across the road.