luministi | [002]

[Sometimes living here is hard. Being anywhere and hungry is hard for Luke. It gets in the way of his thinking. They've been working to gather up what food they can, but keeping it portioned to account for everyone is getting him down.

So instead of using the bicycle, he's walking into town from East A1. Slow, dejected, and keeping his eyes on the ground or the CAT in his hands instead of the scenery. People have been talking for days about "stuff from their home" showing up, and Luke has seen no such things and rather doesn't want to. What if it's something terrible?

Come now, Luke, my boy.

His head snaps up, eyes searching the immediate area faster than his brain can process. It makes him dizzy and he doesn't care, that was Professor Layton, it's been months-]

Professor? [He turns in a full circle, always looking over a shoulder.] Professor, was that you? ...Am I really hearing things?

[And then he sees it. A dilapidated once-red automobile, sitting in the grass several feet to the side of the path, overgrown with weeds, dirty, rusted. Perfect. It's a perfect Future Laytonmobile.

He hasn't run this fast in a very long time.]

It's real! I can't believe it, it's really his car! [He shakes the CAT a bit, hitting a few buttons that switch the video on.] Professor Layton's car is here! This is great, maybe it means...

...But I don't see anyone else. [Seconds before he has to whirl again at the sound of an achingly familiar, quiet laugh.] I hear him and I don't see him. [This only seems to bother him for the space of a few breaths.] Hey- Kanaya! I can show you now what I meant when I talked about a car. I wonder if it could still move...

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[It's hard to miss him and his four-wheel device, which is quite large and indeed in possession of four wheels. She makes a beeline for it.]

You look cozy.

See? This is a car. ...It's really more impressive in the present.

[She gives it the walkaround. She was expecting something a little less like a big old tin.]

It looks... ripe.

It's not a fruit! [An indignant face looks at her through the window for three seconds.] Actually I think this is his car from the future, and that one didn't work anymore.

[She is unfazed by your indignation, Mr. Triton.]

The future? [She comes around to the other side of the car and opens the front seat door.] So you're versed in the concept of nonlinear processes?

Uhm...it's a little more complicated than just the future, I suppose. [Luke rubs his chin, idly kicking legs that still do not quiiiite reach the floor of the car if he sits all the way back.]

You see...we weren't really ever in the future at all. Someone just really wanted us to believe we were. So this isn't the Professor's real car, either.

It's still excellent though! You wouldn't believe what it does with a few modifications.

[Climbing into the driver's seat and cautiously nudging the steering wheel left and right.]

I see. So it was party to a period-specific construct with the intent to deceive. An impressively dedicated practice of immersion in affection-based insincerity, is that right?

[She is finally getting the nuances of human sarcasm down, man. Rose would be so proud.]

[Ehhh...what? He leans up into the front of the car to see what she's doing, just in case something unusual happens.]

It...uh... [No, he still can't make much sense of it. Is it better to just tell her? The story was all over the papers anyway.]

Someone who wanted revenge for a tragedy created a future London underneath the real London to fool us into thinking we'd traveled through time. This car was there.

Oh. [So just the normal kind of deception. She abandons the wheel and turns in her seat.]

How was fabricated time travel conducive to revenge? Would something simpler not have sufficed?

It's a really long story. [Luke sighs, slumping back into the rear seat before shaking his head and climbing up into the passenger front.]

You need an ignition key in order to make it start.

[Revenge sure can be complicated. As Luke joins her up front, Kanaya leans away and sits up a bit to see over the hood.]

It's a shame it didn't appear as well. I would have liked to see the fabled car in action.

You'd turn the key right here [a finger on the slot in the steering column] and the petrol goes through the engine and that's how it runs. [It's far more technical than that but Luke doesn't know the second thing about cars.]

This one was so run down that it wouldn't work until Don Paolo fiddled with it. And then it could fly!

[Ecstatic, he is.]

[Okay, the mental image of this boxy old thing soaring through the air overhead makes her laugh a little. Sorry Luke, she finds it more funny than cool.]

If the turning of the key is the only obstacle to ignition, then would it be possible to start the car by picking the lock or molding a new key?

I suppose. As long as it had petrol in the tank and there aren't any...um, broken wires, or anything like that.

There might be someone here who knows how to do one or the other. While we're at it, maybe we can patch it up and paint it over and make it look nice and new. What do you think?

Do you really think so? That would be great! I'm not old enough to drive but I'm sure someone here is.

There's an age limit?

You've got to be 17 to really drive a car.

Or else what?

Or else...it's against the law. That's the age where you get a driving license.

I don't see any law enforcement here, do you?

... Terezi doesn't count.

But you could cause an accident and hurt people! Not everyone drives like a gentleman.

[He is suddenly very glad she doesn't get to try it.]

Who's Terezi?

[That is a very rude assumption on her driving potential, sir!!]

A troll like myself, only her horns are both straight and she wears red glasses. You may have seen her broadcasting messages on the network in teal blue font with all capital letters and an assortment of numbers in place of vowels.

...Her name is Terezi? Why...why didn't she tell me so when I got it wrong?

[Oh, so he does know her.]

What did you think it was?

[Waah. No. No don't ask him that he-

...He's turning a very bright red and looking down at his shoes and mumbling.]

Threereezy.

[AND head up]

But that's what it looked like! The way she makes her words is, uhm, well you talked about it just now!

[You seem very embarrassed, Luke, so Kanaya will attempt to hide her smile behind a hand.]

Okay, I can see how that happened. It is just Terezi being Terezi, and she has always been a little eccentric in most regards. She takes some getting used to.

I thought she was nice. [And a little strange. He's not dumb enough to insult a lady's friend.] She did keep talking about fighting and needing to defend ourselves...but she can really cook!

She cooked for you? [She can't say she's ever experienced Terezi in the kitchen.]

[002]

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