Application
[Player name] Ryuko
[Age] 22
[Personal Journal] anime_rachiru
[Other characters currently played]
Elliot Nightray | Pandora Hearts | snapekillsedgar
Sunny | Metal Gear | sheltered_sun
[Character name] Luke Triton
[Age] 13
[Canon] Professor Layton
[Point in time taken from canon] Right after they return to the future for the second time.
[Background]
((Warning. This is bloody LONG, for my own canon updating benefit. I'm so sorry, and feel free to skip it.))
Luke is the self-proclaimed first apprentice of Professor Hershel Layton, even though, at first, Emmy Altava was officially the professor’s assistant. Luke is the son of Clark Triton, the mayor of a town called Mist Haley and a good friend of the professor, but he’s not on good terms with him. The town had a legend that stated that in times of danger, a specter would protect it. When the mysterious ‘specter’ really appeared, it began destroying their town instead. Luke was having nightmares of the end of the world because of the specter, but his dad refused to call anyone for help, so he took matters into his own hands and sent a letter to the Professor in his father’s name. Luke joined the professor for the first time to help him solve the mystery in their town, and while he watched the professor, he grew to respect him a lot because of his puzzling skills and gentlemanly personality, and he decided that he wanted to be his apprentice. Eventually, after helping solve the mystery of the Specter’s Flute, his parents let him stay with Layton to become his assistant.
Luke remained with Layton for several years, eventually becoming his only assistant when Emmy left. He had already worked with the professor to solve many mysteries, which usually were all legitimately puzzling, so when the professor told Luke that they would be solving an inheritance dispute, he thought it was a strangely ordinary request. Of course, none of the professor’s cases were ever ordinary. The deceased, Augustus Reinhold, had stated in his will that he had hidden a Golden Apple within the village of St. Mystere. Whoever could find the Apple would inherit the entirety of his estate. The only problem was, no one had heard of this Apple before, and no one could find it.
Upon entering the village, it seems that everyone needs the Professor and Luke to help them in some way, with nearly every villager presenting them with puzzles. Eventually, they made their way to the Reinhold Manor. Just as they meet the Lady Dahlia, there’s a loud explosion that sends her cat running away. After Luke coaxes the cat back, they return to the mansion, only to find… there’s been a murder! Duke Reinhold’s nephew was killed. An inspector, Chelmey, had arrived while they were away to solve the case. Since this was the middle of an inheritance dispute, there were only a few potential suspects for the murder, and clearly the murder was related to the mystery of the Apple. Also, strangely there were cogs lying on the floor in the crime scene. The butler of the Reinhold family, Ramon, also had gone missing.
During their investigations, the Professor and Luke hear more and more about Flora, Baron Reinhold’s daughter. However, she wasn’t Dahlia’s daughter. Even if they looked identical, the baby was the Baron’s child with his former wife. Also, the two of them kept hearing bad rumors about the tower in the center of town. Roars are heard coming from the tower occasionally, and rumors are spreading of villagers disappearing, just like Ramon. Luke and Layton actually see an man running off with Ramon stuffed in a sack. Luke finds another cog at the spot where Ramon was kidnapped. They return to the mansion to get a search party to look for him, but unexpectedly, Ramon returns, with no memories of being kidnapped!
After a night of rest, they find a scrap of a journal on the way back to the mansion. Within it, it mentions Lady Violet, Flora’s mother, becoming ill with the flu. She died, and it crushed Baron Reinhold. Upon reaching the manor, Chelmey tells them to stay out of the murder cases and just investigate the Apple like they were supposed to. Even so, Layton is insistant that the two cases are connected. In the village, he finds a former employee of the Reinhold manor. Oddly, this woman, like most of the villagers, have no idea where Flora is.
After finding the Baron’s journal in his room, the two of them are puzzled as the baron says that ‘it’ looks just like Lady Violet, and Flora doesn’t like ‘it’. He said that he didn’t blame her because he changed ‘its’ memory. He also said that he left everything in ‘Bruno’s’ care. He also said that he disclosed the location of a ‘secret place’ to one of his friends, and that he hopes the seeker of the Golden Apple finds it. As they search for this friend of the Baron’s, they find another torn out journal page… This time, it’s from one of the Baron’s old employees, who mentions he finished a new ‘model,’ and he calls the Baron ‘boss’.
Oddly, while investigating, the two of them begin to learn more about Inspector Chelmey as well. They see in a newspaper article that some of the things he’s been claiming about himself aren’t true, like how he said he disliked sweets, but the article stated the opposite. Luke didn’t see it at first, but this gets the professor to become curious. They also start hearing about another person staying at the same inn as them, and once they see his room and get a description, Luke isn’t sure who it is, but the professor is.
After Luke is convinced they have run out of clues, the professor assures them there is one place in town they haven’t checked yet… The tower. While looking for a way to enter, they see a young girl who could help them, but she runs away from them. Even so, as she ran, she left behind a ticket to the ferris wheel in the amusement park in the village. When the two of them finally gain access to the park, they notice that the logo for it has an image of Flora, the Baron’s daughter, as well. Within the park, they find yet another journal entry, hinting that the ‘Young miss,’ meaning Flora, is catching on to the village’s secret. When they find the ferris wheel, they don’t find any clues at first. Dejected, they turn to leave… And then the Ferris wheel decides to follow them. They get chased by it through the whole park. Layton grabs Luke and dodges out of the way of it just in time, and the Ferris wheel crashes into the lake at the edge of the park, destroying a shed that had previously been locked. The shed is actually an entrance to an underground passage. There, they find a secret room, with a key to the tower.
Layton suspects that someone is after them, and he’s pretty sure he knows who, but just as he’s investigating it, Inspector Chelmey calls the two of them back to the manor. Once there, the Inspector accuses Layton of the murder, and almost takes the tower key from him. He says that Layton wanted the Apple for himself, and killed Simon for it… And then Layton turns it around on him, saying the only person in the room who has something to hide is Chelmey himself. He tricks the inspector into thinking that his wife’s name is Amy, when in fact, it’s Amelie. Also, how could the Inspector have received a report, or came to St. Mystere, when the drawbridge to town had been broken? Finally… How did he know about the key to the tower if he wasn’t there when they found it? The Inspector was actually Layton’s ‘archnemesis’, Don Paolo, in disguise! … In fact, Luke has no idea who he is, and Layton’s only heard stories about him. Layton doesn’t even know what he did to make Paolo so resentful.
The two of them go back to the base of the tower and use the key to enter. The second they enter, the old floor crumbles beneath them. There, they finally meet the man who was writing all of the torn out journal pages, Bruno, who thinks they stole ‘Number 38’. When he figures out that, actually, they are looking for the Golden Apple, he says he was charged with leading its seekers to it. He also says he ‘manages’ St. Mystere. The professor already knows what he means, though Luke has no idea. All of the villagers were actually robots, built by Bruno. The city and the inhabitants were built specifically to find someone smart enough to be worthy of inheriting the Baron’s will.
Finally, they reach the top of the tower and find the Golden Apple, which is a treasure, but it’s not an object… It’s the Baron’s daughter, Flora! The Baron wasn’t trying to find the inheritor of his will. He was trying to find a worthy guardian for his daughter. Just as they discover this, Don Paolo comes, trying to demolish the tower. The three of them try to escape, but Luke is cut off from the Professor and Flora as a staircase is demolished. The professor tells him to keep running. He leaves the tower safely, and the Professor soon follows him on a glider he managed to quickly construct. Don Paolo’s machine is destroyed, and everyone is safe in the end. Flora is happy, and the professor noticed that if Flora was smiling, a birthmark would appear near her neck. This helps him finally solve the mystery of the treasure of Baron Reinhold, seeing that the Baron wanted the person to adopt flora to not only be someone capable of finding her, but someone who could make her happy as well. However, if they decide to take the treasure, the entirety of St. Mystere would be shut down, and the inhabitants shut off. They decide to leave the village as it is, and Flora leaves her home. The two of them agree to keep the events of St. Mystere a secret to protect Flora.
… But this was far from their final adventure.
After receiving a letter from Doctor Schrader, the Professor’s mentor, the professor learns that his instructor has come across the Elysian Box, an artifact that is said to kill any who open it. He was going to finish his research on the box before attempting to open it, but his curiosity got the better of him, so he asked Layton to finish his studies, should anything happen to him… In fact, something did happen to him. Upon reaching the Doctor’s apartment, they find him lying on the floor, presumably dead. Luke runs to call the police, and the Professor finds something curious on the floor… Train tickets for a deluxe train called the Molentary Express.
When the police finally arrive, the man leading them is… Inspector Chelmey! Understandably remembering Don Paolo, Luke tackles the man, trying to make him take his disguise off, but actually, it’s the REAL Inspector, not Paolo. Of course, the Inspector is rather hasty in his conclusions still. He assumes the Doctor had a heart attack, but the professor helps Luke figure out that someone could have made it into the Doctor’s flat through the window, where there’s a torn curtain tied from his window to another balcony. Luke also notices that the Doctor is holding pieces of a torn up photograph. However, it’s taken by the Inspector, and their investigations are cut off. Strangely, the Elysian Box was nowhere to be found in the Doctor’s flat. The only clue they have is the train ticket.
While on the train, they soon realize they were followed by not only Inspector Chelmey, but Flora as well! When the train makes an extended stop in a town called Dropstone, due to mechanical difficulties, Luke, the Professor, and Flora explore. They learn that the founder of Dropstone, Sophia, died the previous year, but had been interested in the Elysian box all up until the time of her death. Her granddaughter, Katia, was still interested in finding the box. While in the town, the group also begins to hear about a mysterious phantom town, not on any map, which is tied to the Elysian box. As everyone re-boards the train, the professor notices Katia boarding the train as well.
Upon their return, Luke, Layton, and Flora suddenly feel tired, and don’t wake up until the end of the train’s journey. Within a tunnel, one of the cars splits from the rest of the group, and they find themselves arriving in the town of Folsense. Oddly, the station is abandoned, but there are pictures of what Folsense looked like 50 years in the past. They stangely feel a bit dizzy as the procede, and upon exiting the station, they find the initially darkened town to be full of light, looking exactly as it did 50 years ago!
Upon further exploration, Luke and Layton discover that Folsense used to be a gold mining town under the rule of Duke Herzen, and later, his sons Frederich and Anton. Becoming more and more greedy, the Duke kept the digging going until there was a huge crater under his mansion. 50 years ago, a new kind of ore was discovered in the mine, and then people in the village one by one fell ill and died. Most of the townspeople left, including Frederich, who used his fortune to found the Molentary Express and changing his name to Mr. Beluga. When the Duke died, this left Anton as the new Duke of Folsense. Oddly, there is a rumor that Anton is actually a vampire as well.
Upon going to the hotel in town, Inspector Chelmey is waiting, claiming that the conductor of the Molentary Express, Sammy, stole the Elysian Box from Doctor Schrader’s room. Once again, the Professor proves him wrong, revealing that Flora was actually Don Paolo in disguise, and he was the one who had the box. Curiosity getting the better of him, Layton opens the box… Only to find it completely empty. Nothing happens to them. In order to try to solve the mystery of the box, they resolve to head to the Herzen manor, and Katia decides to go with them. Once there, they meet up with Anton, who is shockingly young looking for a man who is over 50 years old. He locks them up in his manor, trying to confirm that he’s a vampire, but it soon becomes clear that Anton created that rumor to keep looters away from his home.
Luke doesn’t want to stay in the manor, but Layton assures him that searching it is the only way that they will solve the mysteries of the Elysian box. While looking, they find that Katia is still in the manor. When they’re found by Anton, he mistakes her for her grandmother, Sophia, who was once his beloved. He becomes convinced that Layton is trying to steal her away. Years ago, he was told that Sophia had betrayed him for another man, and he’s now sure that it’s Layton. He challenges Layton to a duel, but he begins to become weak during it. Katia tries to explain that Sophia hadn’t betrayed him. She had left Folsense to protect her unborn baby, Anton’s baby, from being harmed by the illness spreading around town. Katia is actually Anton’s granddaughter. After hearing that Sofia had died the previous year, Anton is enraged, eventually causing the manor to collapse into the mines, though everyone escapes just in time.
As the rubble from the manor seals the mine, Anton sees himself for what he really is, an old man. The town of Folsense changes around them into a ruined and abandoned town once more. While digging in the mines, the miners came across a vein of ore that also held a pocket of hallucinogenic gas. Sometimes, the perceptions and illusions that the people of the town believed in would become a reality. For example, those who opened the Elysian box breathed in the trace amounts of gas in the box, and they would die because they expected to die. Anton is the one who made the box to send to Sophia, and he tried to send it to her with a message, but he heard that the box was stolen so many times that he gave up hope of her receiving it. Luke and Layton open the secret compartment for him, showing that Sophia really did find it, and left a note for him, explaining she still loved him, and why she had left. Anton spends the rest of his life with Katia, Layton and Luke go back to Dropstone to get flora out of a barn where she was locked up by Don Paolo, and Doctor Schrader, who had only been in a coma, quickly recovered from his exposure to Folsense’s hallucinogenic gas.
… Which lead to Luke and Layton’s apparent final adventure together.
((This is just silly by now. If you want to know the events of Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, please follow this link))
[Personality]
Though he hasn’t had the time to mature and develop his intellect like the professor, Luke is very bright, and quite perceptive. He loves to read and study, and he has a natural curiosity. For someone his age, he’s extremely patient, but of course curiosity can make him hasty. Sometimes Luke is taken aback by the sheer gravity of the investigations, wanting to get straight to answers, but he knows that he has to work to solve puzzles, and he is getting closer every day to his goal of becoming a true gentleman… He hopes.
He idolizes everything that Professor Layton does. A lot of Luke’s personality has bits of the Professor’s gentlemanly spirit mixed into it. For example, Luke first got his blue hat when he realized that Layton always wore a hat and never takes it off. Sometimes he meets situations where he has to be a gentleman with some disdain. For example, sometimes he doesn’t want to help out beautiful ladies, but after a quick reminder from Layton that a gentleman never denies a request from one, Luke quickly complies. Even so, he’s a child and sometimes he looses his temper. He quickly regrets it when the professor chastises him for it. He’s also very protective of his position as the professor’s apprentice, and doesn’t like it when people challenge it or question it.
He’s surprisingly organized, keeping the professor’s office tidy for him, and also taking extensive notes on their cases as they solve mysteries. Interestingly, Luke can be considered the Watson to Latyon’s Sherlock. He has a more average intellect, though he’s still very smart for a young boy, and he is the one who writes down all of the adventures that he and the professor have had in letters to an unknown friend of his.
Luke is also rather independent. He’s not shy in the slightest, though sometimes he is slightly awkward when approaching situations he hasn’t encountered before. If he and Layton are ever separated, chances are he’ll still lead whatever group he’s with in their investigations. He may not be as athletic as the professor, and he’s definitely not as strong, but if he knows he has to protect someone, even though he realizes he probably isn’t big enough, he’ll do whatever he can to keep them safe, even risking his life by doing something crazy (like trying to climb up a giant robot, like he did during the mystery of the Eternal Diva). He’ll also resort to physical action more quickly then the professor, considering he isn’t anywhere near as capable of solving things through wit alone as Layton is.
Of course, he’s young, and he likes the typical things that a child would like, such as toy cars, and teddy bears. He also has a particular affinity for animals as well, and somehow he’s learned how to talk with them, no matter what species they are. His appetite has also been described as ‘legendary’, just like any growing boy his age.
[Abilities]
Apart from his intellect, Luke has the strange ability to talk to animals, though this has never been explained. He can find a way to communicate with any kind of animal, as long as they’re not brainwashed, or being controlled somehow. Also, he has been learning to play the violin.
[Other important stuff]
He’s young, and he likes hanging around the professor, but Luke is far more independent then most children. He knows how to take care of himself in a basic sense, and he can survive in Somarium.
[Sample post]
[First Person]
- If you could go back home, would you? Why or why not?
Maybe someday, but there are so many strange things to investigate here! Waking up in a new world is even more unbelievable then traveling in time! With so many mysteries to solve, this world is already a lot like home!
- There is a cake in the rain. What do you do?
Littering is so rude! Um… Is the cake too soggy? It would be a shame to let it go to waste.
- If you could fight in a giant robot, what would it be and what would you do?
((OOC: Warning, this answer contains spoilers for the prequel games))
You mean like the ones that Descole always used? I mean, I would never want to fight anyone. That wouldn’t be right, but, maybe you can use them for other things! I got try to use one of them once, but I wasn’t really that good at it…
- Do you prefer adventure or the peaceful life?
There’s nothing like a good adventure! Peaceful days are nice, but sometimes they get kind of boring... There’s so much that I want to see in the world!
- If you were to describe yourself in one sentence, what would that be?
Professor Layton’s one and only top-notch apprentice!
- You are a given a mission. Would you complete it effectively or would you goof off and do something else? Expand a little on the response.
I would do my best! A gentleman would never leave any mission unfinished! I’d be a terrible apprentice if the Professor didn’t know he could trust me.
[Third Person]
It was completely silent, except for the chorus of ticking echoing from hundreds of clocks. Finally, after what had seemed like ages, the ground wasn’t shaking beneath Luke’s feet... Actually, it would probably be more accurate to say it wasn’t shaking beneath his knees, because the poor boy was on his hands and knees. He may have known what the time machine was going to feel like, but he still wasn’t ready for it. How could the Professor keep standing every time they traveled like this?
“Ugh… My stomach’s doing backflips again.” Luke moaned, swallowing at the queasy feeling rising up in his throat. He reached a hand up to his stomach as he slowly tried to get to his feet, even though his knees were wobbling so badly that it was hard to stand. Luke’s vision swam in and out of focus, lurching in his dizziness. It didn’t help that the clock shop was already dark and dull, and it was already hard to see clearly.
Then he remembered, even if time travel had done a number on him, they couldn’t wait. Big Luke was waiting for them, and what would the professor do if his apprentice lost focus now? Shaking his head to try to clear away the dizziness, but even before he began to get his bearings back, Luke began to realize that something was very strange… Why was it so quiet? No one was saying a thing, and knowing Inspector Chelmey, he would certainly have a lot to say after feeling what they just did.
Luke’s eyes widened, finally realizing in delayed shock that he was completely alone, only accompanied by the dusty clocks of the back room of the shop. He didn’t even think to look behind him at the gigantic clock on the time machine as he left.
“… Professor?” He looked behind him… No one. “Flora?” He walked slowly to open the door to the main room of the shop, and there was no one. “Where are you?”
For a brief second, Luke’s heart sank in dread. What if they left him? The Professor would never leave him like that, ever! He would be a gentleman like always, and he would have made sure that his apprentice was ok! He couldn’t be gone. Maybe he was waiting right outside the shop… That had to be it!
The boy quickly ran to the door, yanking it open and staring outward, expecting to be looking out at the back alleyway of London, ten years in the future from his time, and instead, his gaze just went up for as high as he could see, staring wide in eyed wonder at the impossibly huge buildings towering over him.
“Did we go even further into the future this time, profe---?” Halfway through finishing his sentence, Luke finally drew his eyes away from the awe inspiring skyscrapers, only to realize that the professor was still nowhere to be seen. All that he could see was a busy bustling street, endless streams of people rushing by the darkened shop. Luke took a few steps out of the entranceway, whipping his head from side to side as he scanned the crowd, truly hoping that at any second he would spot the professor’s top hat over the heads of the crowd.
After a few moments, his hopeful look sank, as he finally began to understand that, even if it made no sense, suddenly he had somehow been separated from everyone else. More importantly, he had absolutely no idea where he was. Luke turned on his heel and darted back to the door of the clock shop, even if it looked nothing like he remembered… only to find it locked. Now halfway to panic, Luke hastily tried using the secret knock that got them into the shop before, but to no avail.
No one came to answer the door. His hands shook slightly as he tried giving the handle to the door one last tug. Taking a deep breath, Luke turned back around towards the street. He couldn’t let himself believe that he was stuck here. If he got scared now, it wouldn’t get him anywhere. There had to be some kind of explanation for this, and if he wanted to get home, he would have to start investigating somewhere…
… But it still would have made him feel a whole lot better if the professor was there with him.
[Why do you want to play this character in Somarium?]
Partially because I love Somarium, and partially because all the cool kids are aping Layton right now, and I’ve loved Layton for so long! My playing style seems to fit young children, so Luke seemed the appropriate choice!
[Which rule was your favorite and why?]
The one that says you can’t RP with yourself.
[Any questions?]
B-B-B-BASEBALL!