hisapprentice | [Puzzle 018]

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All right then. What makes it so different?

[They're Italian-sounding and they call themselves Family and Firo is well-versed in how to kill people and they have Maiza as an accountant.

It looks suspicious, is all.]

[Luke, he is so glad you asked.]

A lotta things! For one, the Mafia's made a' Sicilians and we're from Naples.

[Well. Their boss is. Their primo voto is Japanese, Firo was born in America, and Mr. Martillo doesn't make a big deal about where anyone's from... He actually refers to their organization as "orphans" because they were established in the states.]

And we use knives more than they do--they're more about guns now and maybe a garrote, but even then not that often. And, uh, we have different rules for our people and different names for everything and it's just all organized differently!

[He says that last part pretty much in one breath. But is he done? Nope. He sucks in another breath and keeps going.]

Like we don't have a consigliere or a sotto capo, but we've got a chiamatore and a primo voto and there's this whole period where you're a picciotto d' honore instead a' an associate and when we wanna promote you we don't hafta talk to the other Families about it 'cause we're pretty much on our own.

[And Firo's not going to get whacked for telling all of this to a kid. The Martillos are pretty lax.]

[Good thing it's so dark. Firo can't see Luke's eyes go from wide to glazed to staring at the other wall. Unless his immortality gives him excellent night vision too.]

I don't know whether I should be scared that you've compared the ways you hurt people or surprised about all those words I didn't know.

[Thankfully, his vision is not that good.

Perhaps it's also lucky that Luke can't see the intensity of his pout right now.]

But it's important.

You didn't know any a' those words? I guess they're really only stuff we know...

[He'd feel impressed with himself for knowing something Luke doesn't, but Firo did grow up with all this.]

Well... The chiamatore is like an advisor, I guess. And the primo voto is second in command.

It's important if you're in your Family. How many regular people in your world know all of that?

[At least he can defend himself about 'regular' if Firo gets offended...]

Do you do...like the mafia does in stories? Get paid to go after people? To get revenge for someone else? [Luke has also not read many stories about the mafia.]

I guess you got a point there...

[But he can't let Luke's questions go that easily. If the visibility were better, Luke could see Firo's eyes widen in surprise.]

What? The Mafia usually doesn't take contracts from outsiders--they might have a hitman who's not made, but they'd only contract him for stuff in their organization.

[Murder Inc. has yet to be established in Firo's time. And even then, that was a cooperation between the Mafia and Jewish gangsters who usually got their contracts from others in their organizations.

He frowns. Perhaps it's unfair considering the things he does, but he's a little offended that Luke would think he's the kind of guy to kill for hire. Killing for his Family is different.]

Any, anyway, my Family'd never get involved in that stuff. We take our own revenge and no one else's. We're not thugs for hire, you know.

[Revealing how little he knows about the Mafia isn't something he worries about, really.]

Actually, I don't know. We met a group called the Family too once, but they weren't...necessarily together for the reasons you all are. I guess...er, a lot of the stuff might've been the same, but...

Well, we aren't.

[However misguided he may be, he honestly believes that he needs to do whatever he can to serve and protect them. He got used to pushing aside the urges of proper morals long ago.]

Yeah? What were they together for?

[He thinks he may have an idea. He's not so blind as to think that there are gangsters out there who aren't in it for the money or the glory. They're just not in his Family, of course.]

[Luke tugs down the brim of his hat and keeps his eyes straight ahead.]

They were working for someone...whose plans for revenge included destroying London. I think a lot of them didn't know it, but they acted like, well, like you'd think a mafia sort of gang would do.

[Destroying a whole city? That's definitely not something Firo could get behind and he can't hold back a sound of disgust. It's not so much the scale of the destruction as the sheer numbers of innocents who would be hurt.

Ordinarily, Firo'd be okay with criticizing the Mafia. Though he has close friends in a Mafia Family, he also knows plenty of lowlife mafioso. But knowing that Luke associates his Family with "a mafia sort of gang"...

His response is curt:]

And how would that be?

Er...

[This is difficult for Luke in particular because despite knowing that that person was not him, for a long time he believed it was him - that his future self would be capable of epic plans of vengeance like that.

Also, he thinks he's offended Firo again somehow.]

Sort of...like bullies, sometimes. Really dangerous ones. They came into a casino and just started shooting!

[[ooc: THEY DID HAVE REAL GUNS HAHA]]

[Bullies. Thinking of some of the people he's met--even those who work for his friends--Firo can't disagree. But, being as prickly as a cactus covered in porcupines, Firo reads an insult into Luke's remark that probably isn't there.]

You think we would do that?

[Yeah, it's pretty safe to bet that Firo's always offended.]

[ooc: Real guns?! Good golly, puzzleworld, I didn't know you could be that violent!]

Who, you and Maiza? Not really. [But, did Luke think he himself could do that? Run a Family, direct all that subterfuge and cunning from behind the scenes?

Not until then.]

But I don't know anybody else there or what your world is like...and hearing the word Family the way you usually say it reminds me of...well, all of that.

[He shakes his head, too roughly, and looks out ahead of them.]

I'm not sayin' we're good people. At least, not that I am. But we're not like that at all.

[It was an honest mistake, but Firo finds himself hurt. And... a little sad, too, that Luke would associate him with people like that.]

[It's not hard at all to tell when Firo's upset or bothered. Luke slows, looking up at him in the torch's shadow.]

What did I do this time?

[He sounds dejected. Is it really impossible to talk to each other without somebody getting angry?]

[For some reason, Firo's surprised to hear Luke ask. He glances back, now stuck debating whether or not to answer honestly.]

Nothin'. It's not you. Just...

[Ugh, feelings. In the back of
his mind, he realizes he owes Luke an answer.]

I just don't want you to think a' me or Maiza like that. I'd never hurt you.

[Well, physically. He's afraid he may have upset Luke a few times already. ]

[Now that's surprising. Luke looks up, caught between dejected and confused.]

Of course you wouldn't. I never thought you would.

[Firo tries his best not to look or sound too surprised at that. Given what Luke (and, let's be honest, most normal people) thinks about people in Firo's line of work, he has to worry.

His casual tone probably sounds way too forced.]

...Yeah. All right, then. I just wanted to make sure a' that.

Even if a whole group's goals are...dangerous, or against the law, or nefarious or something, that doesn't mean every person working for them is like that.

[Years ago, it was a lesson Luke needed to learn, and he's tempered quite a bit since then. Not everyone associated with criminals or other less than savory organizations is in fact a criminal himself, just as not every nice-seeming person has the best intentions. He's sure about Firo, though.

It's so dark in their catacomb (can you have just one catacomb?) and Luke so distracted that he doesn't see the difference in the floor, one Firo neatly stepped across. His shoe lands on it squarely; there is a quick muffled rumble and a sliding wall of stone descends into the space between Firo and Luke. There are holes in it at about Firo's eye-height, but otherwise it's solid.]

Wah-! [And it came down so close to Luke's face that he scrambles backward.] What?

You don't need to tell me that.

[But, secretly, he's pleased. It's encouraging to hear this straight from Luke.

He's trying to think of a more pleasant topic to talk about--maybe ask Luke what did go on back in his world--when everything just goes to heck.

He doesn't notice the flaw in the floor until the wall comes down. He jumps back, safely out of range but now stuck away from Luke.]

What the hell--? Luke? Are you okay?!

[Frantic, he tries to hit at the stone.]

I-I'm fine! [For now. The wall missed him. He can't stand tall enough to see through the openings...but the way the hall on his side, as well as the one on Firo's, lights up with renewed torchlight vigor isn't promising.]

I really hope this is some kind of puzzle and not just a trap, though.

You really think there'd be a puzzle here..?

[But Luke is the expert, both on puzzles and on weird underground tunnels.

Firo glances around nervously at the torchlight. What in the world could that mean?]

I'm gonna try and knock it down, okay? Stand back!

[He's already winding up to do so when he says the warning. Of course, his kick doesn't put a dent in anything but himself and he gives up after a little yelp of surprise.]

[Luke doesn't have a lot of faith in Firo's chances vs. the stone wall, and he's right, wincing at the sound.]

Are you okay? [He's immortal but things still hurt.

It's all forgotten as more sounds rumble in from areas without. On Firo's side, the walls shift back, so the floor can rise into a just-so-intricate maze; on Luke's, there is a distinctive whirr and a door at the far end opens.

And a mummy emerges.]

Wa-aaah!

[Firo's about to grumble to look that he's just fine, but then he's interrupted by some unexpected renovations.]

What the--?

[Whatever is going on in front of him, that scream from beyond the wall can't be good. He turns from the maze to peek into Luke's area. These eyeholes sure are convenient...

That open door and funky creature sure aren't, though.]

Luke? What the hell is goin' on over there?

I don't know! Can you get the hall open again?

[He means 'is there a way' but too late realizes Firo might just try to throw himself at it until it breaks.]

L-Look for a switch or something!

[The mummy has slow shuffly steps; Luke has time. He can't see what's on Firo's side of the hall though.]

[Puzzle 018]

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