Luke Triton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hisapprentice) wrote2014-09-23 04:57 am
hisapprentice) wrote2014-09-23 04:57 am
[Puzzle 018]
[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.]
[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.]
[Action]
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]
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]
You looked almost as if something was chasing you. I followed you for a while, you know.
[Action]
Luke crosses his arms and shakes his head.]
Nothing was chasing me. I was doing the chasing.
[Action]
[Jack blinks.]
I thought you might have been for a moment, but I didn't see anything there.
[Action]
[Action]
[Given the nature of his own world, he honestly doesn't find that to be an entirely bizarre concept.]
Who was 'he,' if you don't mind my asking?
[Action]
[Action]
[Then, realizing he should probably clarify what he means by that, he continues:]
That is to say, this isn't the first time I've heard of people seeing those who were here before. It seems to be happening quite frequently of late, though I don't have any idea why.
[Action]
[Luke just assumes Jack's seen someone.]
[Action]
[Jack hasn't... yet. He isn't expecting his luck to hold out forever, though.]
[Action]
So who did you see?
[Action]
No one just yet, though I do have to wonder just how long that's going to be the case.
[Action]
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[Jack ponders this for a few moments.]
Perhaps they're trying to test our emotional resolve. See just how much it takes to get us to break down or think ourselves mad...
[Action]
The thought makes Luke half-snort and try to pass it off as a cough, rubbing his nose.]
Maybe. I've seen a lot more than this that'd make me think I was crazy, though. They're not going to win.
[Action]
This would be a rather effective way to do it, though. What better way to hit a person's heart than through the ones they love?
[Action]
[It's a somber flat tone, for a joke...but a joke it is, nonetheless.]
[Action]
[That almost, almost catches Jack off guard, but he's quick enough to catch himself before the mask slips and put a smile back on his face.]
Well, it's difficult not to think about things like that when you've been here for such a long time.
[Action]
It's not exactly an ordinary thing to think about.
[Action]
[It's a plausible enough excuse, certainly. They HAVE been known to deliberately play with people's emotions on more than one occasion.]
[Action]
[Though he only counted two birthdays.]
[Action]
[There, easy subject change. Now they don't have to talk about things that could lead the discussion down a path Jack would prefer to avoid.]
[Action]
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