[Puzzle 018]

[hisapprentice]

[For house 48]

[A typical day in this house begins with Luke up and about, making breakfast and tea. Whether Firo shows up to have any is up to him. School's back in session and he needs an earlier start, that's all. This morning is no different, Luke pulls on his sweater while walking into the kitchen, headed for the refrigerator. It's when he pulls open the door that everything gets weird - starting with the whole room losing its household vibe and becoming much more...archaeological.]


[Action]

[Incredulous adventures aside, Luke finds it difficult to adjust to the busier lifestyle that comes with school starting and warmer weather ending. It gets darker, colder, Luke grows lonelier. He's out and about in the autumn sun, off to his usual stop at the bakery (okay, okay, one of his three or four usual stops) when a brownish figure passes him going in the opposite direction.

Luke stops. Spinning left, he sees the figure retreating down the path the way he came, and though all logic tells him it can't be real, he takes off running after it.]

Professor! [Because there is no one else. It must be him.] Professor, wait! Just- hold on a minute, please!

[Luke did not realize a vision from the past could hurt so much. When Layton's back and top hat fade into a false mist and then nothingness, Luke has run himself all the way back across the village, nearer to the rec center. Out of breath and out of spirit, he sits down on a bench to stare at the dirt.

Today is awful.]

Comments

[Action]

[niceguypose]

[Ghosts tend to be everywhere. But not all of them move in dignified patterns.

A green blur dashes along the roof of the rec center and leaps to land right before Luke before dashing off, without making any sound upon hitting the ground.

And then another green blur is following in his footsteps. But this one is audible and more recognizable. Especially given that he shouts right when he's in front of Luke.]

GAI-SENSEI! I WILL CATCH UP TO YOU!

[Action]

[hisapprentice]

[Luke is so surprised by the green whirlwind landing in front of him that he jumps - jumps poorly at that, knocking the bench over backward and himself with it. Ow.]

Wah- [That about sums it up, actually.]

[Action]

[niceguypose]

[As driven as he is, can't help but notice Luke take a tumble.

He can't go to help Luke without turning back from his chase! Or... was this part of Gai-Sensei's test as well?! That must be true... and Gai-Sensei would want him to help someone in need!

So Lee makes a skidding turn and leaps through the air, landing to balance himself on the edge of the upturned bench.]

Luke-kun! Please don't worry! [He reaches a hand to help him up.] Gai-Sensei is testing me!

[Action]

[hisapprentice]

[Oh great of course it's Lee this is so not the time. Luke sits up, groaning; he didn't know he had enough force in himself to turn the bench over.]

Why are you shouting like that? [Too busy wincing and feeling sorry for himself to notice the extended hand.]

[Action]

[niceguypose]

[Or this is exactly the time! He still keeps the arm extended.]

Am I shouting?! Gai-Sensei is nearby so my youth must be at full power! But I cannot ignore your plight, Luke-kun? Has this bench betrayed you?!

[House 48 Action!]

[foundafamily]

[Firo doesn't mind waking up early; though he was never required to be at his casino all day, he liked to be there at the start of things. He has considerably less to wake up for in Luceti (especially now, with so many gone), but the faint noise in the kitchen has him awake and out of bed. Truthfully, he's been more than a little lonely these days and he wants to catch Luke before he goes off to school.

Sleepily slipping into his jacket, Firo enters the kitchen. And suddenly looks very awake when he notices the changes.]

What the hell happened to this place?

[House 48 Action!]

[hisapprentice]

[It's taller somehow, broader, the ceiling supported by pillars with painted hieroglyphs and figures up and down their round surfaces. Luke is no longer holding the refrigerator; it's the lid of some kind of jar instead, which he drops almost instantly. Clatter clatter.

There's also a few-feet-wide drop between himself and Firo, there where the kitchen table used to be. Wide-eyed, Luke rounds on his housemate with his mouth open in shock.]

What did you do?

[House 48 Action!]

[foundafamily]

Hey, don't--

[He's about to scold Luke for dropping that jar and wasting food, but then he realizes it definitely isn't a pickle jar. Or probably anything that holds food. If it did, said food would probably hundreds of years old; the jar looks ancient!

Because he's so distracted by the sudden, probably impossible changes to their house, it takes a moment before Firo responds to Luke's accusation. He turns to face the kid, still too stunned to really look angry.]

Me? You think I could do somethin' like this?!

[He steps forward... and quickly stops when he realizes there isn't as much floor in front of him as he thought.]

[House 48 Action!]

[hisapprentice]

[No. No he doesn't. Luke gets over his surprise almost as soon as Firo asks the question, and shakes his head.]

Um, sorry. If I didn't do it then you probably didn't do it either. But what happened to the house?

[There are pieces of ancient detritus in arguably the same places as the furniture in the kitchen should be, but the similarities end there. Luke shifts on his feet, looking around and above like he expects something to drop.]

[House 48 Action!]

[foundafamily]

[He looks around more, shrugging helplessly.]

I haven't got a goddamn clue.

[Firo tries not to curse a lot in front of the children, but all bets are off when he's this confused.]

Uh, are you okay over there? I'm not sure how... I suppose I could try to jump this thing, but...

[...He's not sure he'd make it. Still, Firo's achieved some pretty impressive physical feats before.]

[action]

[wipesfaith]

[Jean is on his way home for the day, his mind on dinner and homework - hoping that the pages of his book don't revert to wood pulp in his hands again - when he notices Luke sitting on the bench. He almost walks right past him without seeing him, he's hunched over so small there. Jean hesitates in his step. He doesn't know Luke all that well, but it doesn't feel right to just leave him there.

With his gait unsure and his expression sharpened in concern, he strays from his course to approach Luke.]

Hey...you doing alright?

[action]

[hisapprentice]

[This far off his usual path, Luke did not expect to be found. He's meant to be in school but would be surprised if someone came to search for him, too. Jean's voice startles him out of his saddest thoughts for the moment.]

I'm fine. [Not very far out, of course. Nobody ever believes Luke when he says he's fine like this, either.] It's just...an experiment, I guess.

[action]

[wipesfaith]

[Jean definitely doesn't believe him. Nobody mopes around with their gaze fallen in the dirt when they feel fine. He wields sensitivity clumsily, lacking the finesse for extracting the right thing to say and having the tendency to instead say all the wrong things, but he can try. That's something.]

Yeah...this place has been going haywire lately. [A pause, in which he shifts his weight and then ventures a guess.] Did you see someone you know?

[action]

[hisapprentice]

Mmhmm.

[Luke does all right on his own, as long as he doesn't think too hard about all the people he misses.]

A friend of mine.

[It turns him sullen.]

[action]

[wipesfaith]

[He makes a quiet hum of understanding. Not thinking is harder than anyone wants to make it out to be. He's seen the echoed memory of his best friend more than once already, sitting at the kitchen table in their apartment, walking to school in the morning, smiling Jean's way like they're on the same plane of existence. The mundane little things that life could be composed of. With it, inextricably melded together like the two sides of a coin, comes the heavy knowledge that it's something Marco had lost and could never get back.]

...Uh...if you'd rather just be left alone, you can tell me. [Sometimes, people need to muddle through this sort of thing on their own, he reckons.]

[action]

[raavatars]

[ Korra turns around at someone's yelling, confused. ]

I'm no professor. [ Somehow the ghost must have disappeared right as Korra turned the corner without her seeing him. All she sees now is a kid running in her direction. ]

Hey, hey, slow down. What's wrong?

[action]

[hisapprentice]

[Luke's savvy enough not to run directly into Korra; he skids to a stop, holding his hat on his head to keep it there.]

I just- I saw someone I know heading this way! And I've got to catch up to him!

[action]

[raavatars]

[ She glances in the direction he was running, confused. ]

I didn't see anyone go by... [ But he seems really intent on catching the person, so she nods. ]

You want help catching him?

[action]

[hisapprentice]

You can't have missed him! He just went this way a few seconds ago! He's tall and wearing a top hat.

[action]

[raavatars]

[ She gives a helpless shrug. ]

I think I'd notice a guy in a giant hat, but maybe he's... really fast?

[Action]

[of_sablier]

[The sight of Luke outright sprinting past him draws Jack's attention immediately for the simple reason that Luke doesn't normally run, much less in so desperate a manner, seemingly chasing something.

Naturally, Jack can't help but follow the boy, curious to see just what it is that prompted that sudden burst of activity. What he finds is Luke sitting on a bench looking more than a little dejected and no sight of either a pursuer or any object of chase.]

... Luke? Are you all right?

[Action]

[hisapprentice]

[Oh no.

Luke looks up, wary of teasing and jokes and all the other things Jack does best.]

I'm fine.

[Which he, himself, cannot hope to match with his talentless lying.]

[Action]

[of_sablier]

[Luke's concerns wouldn't be far from the mark... under normal circumstances. Right now, however, he appears too distressed for Jack to want to poke too hard, fun as that may be.]

You looked almost as if something was chasing you. I followed you for a while, you know.

[Action]

[hisapprentice]

[So Jack's stalking him again, too?

Luke crosses his arms and shakes his head.]

Nothing was chasing me. I was doing the chasing.

[Action]

[of_sablier]

You were?

[Jack blinks.]

I thought you might have been for a moment, but I didn't see anything there.