Office Hours

[reminded]

Miscellaneous interactions with Layton go here!

To keep things organized, please title new threads as such:

[Action, January 29th]
[Voice, June 10th]
[Written, October 5th]

Comments

[hisapprentice]

[Sarcophagus.

Luke stops short, turning his walk so that he's well behind Layton and perhaps just for a moment actually hiding behind him, peering around. Mummies come out of those in all the stories.]

Look out Maiza! What if it's cursed?

[reminded]

[Or what if the mummy pops out alive? This is an oddly possible occurrence in Layton's experience. The sarcophagus appears to be consistently layered with dust and therefore untouched.]

[contaeoro]

I'm pretty sturdy. Curses and the rising dead can't get me too roughed up, I don't think. But it looks like it hasn't moved in a long time.

[hisapprentice]

That probably just means he's still inside. [A true gentleman does not disturb the rest of the dead, right?

...No wait Layton's an archaeologist.]

[reminded]

[A true gentleman leaves no puzzle unsolved, and this qualifies as a puzzle well enough!! He approaches the other side of the sarcophagus to help Maiza uncover it.]

We won't know until we take a peek inside, will we? Besides, I see little else we can do.

[contaeoro]

I thought you'd say that. Why don't we tilt it open toward the wall? [so Luke won't be the first thing it sees.]

Luke, stay back a bit.

[hisapprentice]

I'm all right! [Don't treat him like a kid, Maiza.] If he tries anything I-I'll get him back.

[reminded]

[Layton just smiles and moves to help Maiza tilt.]

On three. One... two...

[contaeoro]

[He's treating you as a mortal, Luke. Don't be like that now, he learned his lesson about treating you like the baby you are a child.]

... Three. [He pushes at the lid, keeping an eye on what's inside the box so he can drop it at the first sign of danger.]

[hisapprentice]

[Luke, stuck holding the torch again, raises it like a club in case there's something in there that he needs to bash at while shouting.]

[reminded]

[Inside the sarcophagus is... a dead person. Which makes sense, since that's what sarcophagi are for. And since it's an Egyptian kind of sarcophagus, the dead person is wrapped in bandages with arms crossed over chest. But that's not all; there are three articles of gold along with it: a crook in its right hand, a flail in its left, and an ankh hung from a necklace around its neck.

Despite the disturbance, the dead person stays dead. Imagine that.]

[contaeoro]

[Partially because he doesn't know if mummies move when touched, Maiza does not try to poke at the dead person in there. He slowly removes the lid completely from the rest of the sarcophagus and takes a moment to study the body inside.]

Well, here it is. Royalty, by the look of it.

[hisapprentice]

[Luke can't help drawing closer, though he knows that if it moves he'll go running faster than either of the other two. Right? Right.]

Royalty is dusty.

[reminded]

And well-endowed. I suppose this is the treasure we're supposed to collect.

[Now, what's the best way to attack this? The archaeologist in him laments the certain lack of delicacy to come.]

[contaeoro]

Should we try to hold him down first? In case he decides that our taking his treasure is good enough reason to get up and chase.

[hisapprentice]

You're not funny, Maiza!

[With semi-friends like him and Firo who needs enemies, huh?]

But if we want to finish this scavenger hunt then we've got to take it.

[reminded]

[Meanwhile, Layton considers this suggestion seriously.]

Agreed. But I think I'd rather outrun him than overpower him. Let's do this quickly.

[How convenient that there's three of them and three treasures.]

[contaeoro]

Outrun him. Where are we going to head, anyway?

[He looks around.]

Back?

[hisapprentice]

With the way things like this usually work, we probably can't go back. [Luke gets more genre savvy as he gets older.] But maybe when we take the treasure, another door will open instead.

[You both are a bit slow and the dead body is creepy so he's reaching for one of the shiny bits.]

[reminded]

[And Luke doesn't even play the vidya games. When Layton sees him reaching in, Layton joins in and goes for the crook.]

I can only hope so. It would take up some time to crawl back up the way we came in.

[contaeoro]

[Maiza reaches for the ankh, hovering his hand over it and waiting for the others. It would be best to grab together or slightly after the two so that they have some time to react.]

If not...

If not, we'll find some way to shove him back in here, and hopefully he's not strong enough to open it up from inside.

[hisapprentice]

That's something that ancient Egyptians probably never had to think about.

[Don't call him an expert on history yet. Luke holds his breath, shuts his eyes and grabs the flail, removing it from dear old pharaoh's possession.]

[reminded]

[Layton slips the crook out of the mummy's hand at the same time but with less excitement, mindful not to damage the fragile old body. Wouldn't want to pick up a hitchhiking hand or anything.]

[contaeoro]

[Maiza's a little less gentle about removing his because he has to find enough strength to snap the chain to avoid breaking the mummy's neck. Fortunately it was old and a little brittle so it comes off pretty easily.]

[hisapprentice]

[And-!

Nothing really happens. Luke closes both hands around the base of the flail and looks around.]

Wow. For once I think we'll just be able to keep going.