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.]

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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.]

[Luke knows Firo too well, because "throw himself at it until it breaks" was definitely the first thing he thought of, followed by "chip at it relentlessly with the knife." "Look for a switch" wasn't even on the list.]

A switch? There's a whole god damn maze over here, how am I supposed to find a switch?!

A maze?

[Luke is facing a lurching, rustling mummy thing and Firo has a maze? What gives?]

Well you'll have to get to the other side of it then! Or maybe to the center. You've got the torch still, haven't you?

Yeah, I've got the torch, but it's a maze!

[He sounds very distressed by this complication. What he wouldn't give for a shambling mummy right now.]

How do you even do these things anyway?!

[He's taking the first steps, just charging in without even thinking about a specific direction.]

[Luke doesn't think about how Firo should know more about handling a crisis or mazes or how helping him will lessen the time he has to find a way to deflect the mummy.

He thinks about helping him solve the puzzle. Whatever happens to Luke himself is something he can worry about later.]

Keep your right hand against the outside wall and just follow it, even if it takes you into some dead ends.

[Of course, that only works if you're looking for the maze's exit, not its center. Luke just has to hope they have some luck.]

Right hand..?

[The skepticism in his voice hints that he thinks that sounds far too easy to actually work. But he's sure as hell not going to solve this thing on his own, so he tentatively nods.]

Uh, all right. You, uh, you can handle that thing over there? Try takin' out its knees first, then go for the throat!

[He has to pay back the advice in kind, right?]

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[Puzzle 018]

[House 48 Action!]

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[House 48 Action!]