(no subject)
Title: Number One Apprentice
Chapter: Crow
Rating: G
Genre: General
Series: Professor Layton
Pairing(s): None
Character(s): Luke Triton, Crow
Summary: Luke and Crow have a moan at each other about how life is hard and things change too quickly.
Notes: This chapter has Luke as the apprentice of Crow, as suggested by The Mocking J on FFN. I'd been hoping someone would suggest him. Set several years post-PL3, when Luke is an adult, with some spoilers for PL3 and PL4.
People may say that the countryside does not change very much with the passage of time. This is not true. Perhaps the scenery still looks the same and the buildings in small towns don't get remodelled very often, but if you were to live in a place like Misthallery, then move away and return to it after a long absence, you'd notice that the differences were to many to measure.
Since Luke had left, the place had become a popular tourist destination for some time, before fizzling out to the general sound of 'Misthallery - the Golden Garden is here and you can come look at it if you want to'. A steady tourist trade is nice, but the appeal does tend to vanish as the next trend comes along to snatch it away. People still visited, but it wasn't as crowded as it used to be.
By the time Luke returned there in adulthood, hoping to settle down for a while, the place was hardly recognisable.
There had been too many people who he'd known in the past that had now vanished and too many other people he'd never met before arrive to replace them. A five year old boy had stared at him like he was an outsider the other day, even though Luke had done more to help Misthallery back in the day than anyone else he could name. Except for the Professor and Emmy, of course.
But now he was just some rich boy who was the son of that old mayor who wasn't very good at being a mayor. And if there's one thing Misthallery didn't like, it was rich kids. Since the dawn of the Golden Garden's popularity, there'd also been a wave of wealthy families retiring there from the city, only adding fuel to the fire that already divided the middle-class from the working-class.
The town had always been divided into two parts between both of those segments. Being born into a middle-class family meant that Luke was never really accepted amongst most of the kids in Misthallery. They tended to not give him a chance and, even after he saved the town, they were cautious of him for reasons that they couldn't put their fingers on. It was a divide that was sadly drummed into the minds of youths and probably wasn't likely to change any time soon.
There had been two exceptions to this shunning when Luke had been younger - Arianna and her brother Tony. Both of them came from the same class background as Luke did (if he was honest, they were probably much wealthier than he was) and had felt the same kind of separation from the other children that he felt.
From everything he'd heard, however, life had gotten better for them in that regard after he'd left Misthallery. With the Black Ravens next to adopting Tony into their group and everyone making more time for Arianna once the misconceptions about her had been cleared.
That had been years ago though and now neither of the Barde siblings lived here any more.
“What did you expect? For them to wait around for you to get back?” Crow dismissed, when Luke brought this up to him.
Luke had come down to the market to visit Crow, as he was one of the few people left here who he was still familiar with. They'd never particularly been close, for all the class reasons that Luke knew, but he was friendly enough for the two of them to talk from time to time.
“That's not what I meant,” reasoned Luke, “It's not like I thought they had to wait for me. But that house belonged to their father and I thought they'd want to keep it.”
“Yeah, but their dad died years ago,” Crow countered, “It was all very sad, but they both grew up and wanted to see more of the world. Misthallery is such a little place and your letters made everything else seem a lot bigger. Can you blame them for wanting to head off?”
“I guess not. So is that what happened with some of the other Black Ravens?” Luke asked.
“Badger, Gus and Marilyn are still here,” Crow replied and there was a definite hint of defensiveness to his tone, “But basically, yeah. They all left for different reasons in the end. Look at Wren and Socket - they wanted to be mechanics, and they were great at it, but because of the rope bridges stopping cars from entering the town there isn't much need for mechanics here. They left to find somewhere that was better for their work. Over time the others moved away for mostly the same thing.”
“But at least you still have some of them here with you,” reasoned Luke, trying to be optimistic.
“Marilyn took over her parents stalls entirely. So while she's still classed as one of us, she doesn't have the time to work here these days,” answered Crow, “It's mostly just the three of us.”
“Must be hard,” Luke mumbled.
“It's a lot of work without much profit,” Crow agreed.
“But you're in the brochure. The one that they made to promote the Golden Garden. It literally tells people to come to the market and try to find the mysterious Black Raven,” Luke pointed out.
The frown that Crow gave him in reply suggested that he was well-aware that they were in the brochure.
He scratched the back of his head, before muttering, “Don't get me wrong, the free advertising is great. But we never wanted to be a tourist gimmick. We wanted to make the business bigger. I expected to move somewhere better by the time we were this age, but everyone else had their own dreams to pursue. I couldn't hold them back. So really, we don't have the money or the help to do anything other than what we always have done here in Misthallery.”
“I could-”
“We don't take charity.”
“That wasn't what I was going to say!” Luke snapped. It was, but Crow didn't need to know that; “What I meant was that maybe if you opened up to a few more members...”
“There's no one to recruit. We're still about as secretive now as we were back then. The only reason you even know about us is because Mr. Layton found us out,” Crow argued.
“You could always ask me to help,” Luke tried.
There was a moment of silence in which, whether he meant to or not, Crow looked Luke up and down. The frown had not shifted.
“Why would you want to? You went off to be Layton's apprentice and then you moved to America to study a degree or something,” he commented.
“But I'm here now,” Luke answered.
“That's not the point. The point is that you have the potential and know the right people to go anywhere you want to,” Crow debated.
“And yet I'm still here,” Luke pointed out, “Maybe I didn't want to do any of those things. Maybe I've seen enough of the world for the moment and just want to relax back at the place that I started from.”
Crow sneered; “The Black Ravens are not just a holiday home for you to come and go from whenever you want.”
“I know that! ...I'm really making it worse for myself here, aren't I?” sighed Luke, “What I meant was that I'm here right now, not at any of the other places where I could be, and I can help you.”
“Where will you be in two months, though? Or five years? I need someone I can rely on,” Crow argued.
“Funny that, because you let the others go.”
“I already said that I wasn't going to hold them back!”
“All right, that was low, sorry. But you can trust my word. Once I start something I stick with it. I would have followed the Professor forever if dad hadn't decided we were moving. And when I got back... too much had changed with him. It didn't feel right to follow him around any more,” Luke trailed off.
“Just like how it doesn't feel right here any more either?” checked Crow.
“Here and everywhere else. England is different now and I can't just slot back in. I never really felt right in America at all, but now I don't here either,” he replied, “But I'm not going to give up and let it sweep me over. I want to make my place here again. And maybe working with all of you might be what I can do with myself now.”
There was a slight smirk about Crow's face now, the frown having vanished entirely.
He questioned, “You have no idea what it takes to be a Black Raven, do you?”
“No, none at all. I think you just find junk and sell it, but that would be my best guess.”
“And you're probably a real bad liar.”
“The worst. I've got an honest face and as soon as I even try to lie everyone knows that's no truth to it.”
“So that'd back it really bad for when you're trying to pass off an old pot as a Wedgwood original.”
“Probably.”
“You're not very qualified. I think even Tony had more experience than you.”
“So when can I start?”
“Tomorrow. I'll send Badger around to pick you up nice and early.”
“What time's 'nice and early'?”
A grin.
“You'll find out when Badger's hammering on your front door.”
Luke didn't like the sound of that. But he did like the sound of having purpose in his live again. So he'd take it whatever time it hammered on his door to wake him up in the morning.
Chapter: Crow
Rating: G
Genre: General
Series: Professor Layton
Pairing(s): None
Character(s): Luke Triton, Crow
Summary: Luke and Crow have a moan at each other about how life is hard and things change too quickly.
Notes: This chapter has Luke as the apprentice of Crow, as suggested by The Mocking J on FFN. I'd been hoping someone would suggest him. Set several years post-PL3, when Luke is an adult, with some spoilers for PL3 and PL4.
People may say that the countryside does not change very much with the passage of time. This is not true. Perhaps the scenery still looks the same and the buildings in small towns don't get remodelled very often, but if you were to live in a place like Misthallery, then move away and return to it after a long absence, you'd notice that the differences were to many to measure.
Since Luke had left, the place had become a popular tourist destination for some time, before fizzling out to the general sound of 'Misthallery - the Golden Garden is here and you can come look at it if you want to'. A steady tourist trade is nice, but the appeal does tend to vanish as the next trend comes along to snatch it away. People still visited, but it wasn't as crowded as it used to be.
By the time Luke returned there in adulthood, hoping to settle down for a while, the place was hardly recognisable.
There had been too many people who he'd known in the past that had now vanished and too many other people he'd never met before arrive to replace them. A five year old boy had stared at him like he was an outsider the other day, even though Luke had done more to help Misthallery back in the day than anyone else he could name. Except for the Professor and Emmy, of course.
But now he was just some rich boy who was the son of that old mayor who wasn't very good at being a mayor. And if there's one thing Misthallery didn't like, it was rich kids. Since the dawn of the Golden Garden's popularity, there'd also been a wave of wealthy families retiring there from the city, only adding fuel to the fire that already divided the middle-class from the working-class.
The town had always been divided into two parts between both of those segments. Being born into a middle-class family meant that Luke was never really accepted amongst most of the kids in Misthallery. They tended to not give him a chance and, even after he saved the town, they were cautious of him for reasons that they couldn't put their fingers on. It was a divide that was sadly drummed into the minds of youths and probably wasn't likely to change any time soon.
There had been two exceptions to this shunning when Luke had been younger - Arianna and her brother Tony. Both of them came from the same class background as Luke did (if he was honest, they were probably much wealthier than he was) and had felt the same kind of separation from the other children that he felt.
From everything he'd heard, however, life had gotten better for them in that regard after he'd left Misthallery. With the Black Ravens next to adopting Tony into their group and everyone making more time for Arianna once the misconceptions about her had been cleared.
That had been years ago though and now neither of the Barde siblings lived here any more.
“What did you expect? For them to wait around for you to get back?” Crow dismissed, when Luke brought this up to him.
Luke had come down to the market to visit Crow, as he was one of the few people left here who he was still familiar with. They'd never particularly been close, for all the class reasons that Luke knew, but he was friendly enough for the two of them to talk from time to time.
“That's not what I meant,” reasoned Luke, “It's not like I thought they had to wait for me. But that house belonged to their father and I thought they'd want to keep it.”
“Yeah, but their dad died years ago,” Crow countered, “It was all very sad, but they both grew up and wanted to see more of the world. Misthallery is such a little place and your letters made everything else seem a lot bigger. Can you blame them for wanting to head off?”
“I guess not. So is that what happened with some of the other Black Ravens?” Luke asked.
“Badger, Gus and Marilyn are still here,” Crow replied and there was a definite hint of defensiveness to his tone, “But basically, yeah. They all left for different reasons in the end. Look at Wren and Socket - they wanted to be mechanics, and they were great at it, but because of the rope bridges stopping cars from entering the town there isn't much need for mechanics here. They left to find somewhere that was better for their work. Over time the others moved away for mostly the same thing.”
“But at least you still have some of them here with you,” reasoned Luke, trying to be optimistic.
“Marilyn took over her parents stalls entirely. So while she's still classed as one of us, she doesn't have the time to work here these days,” answered Crow, “It's mostly just the three of us.”
“Must be hard,” Luke mumbled.
“It's a lot of work without much profit,” Crow agreed.
“But you're in the brochure. The one that they made to promote the Golden Garden. It literally tells people to come to the market and try to find the mysterious Black Raven,” Luke pointed out.
The frown that Crow gave him in reply suggested that he was well-aware that they were in the brochure.
He scratched the back of his head, before muttering, “Don't get me wrong, the free advertising is great. But we never wanted to be a tourist gimmick. We wanted to make the business bigger. I expected to move somewhere better by the time we were this age, but everyone else had their own dreams to pursue. I couldn't hold them back. So really, we don't have the money or the help to do anything other than what we always have done here in Misthallery.”
“I could-”
“We don't take charity.”
“That wasn't what I was going to say!” Luke snapped. It was, but Crow didn't need to know that; “What I meant was that maybe if you opened up to a few more members...”
“There's no one to recruit. We're still about as secretive now as we were back then. The only reason you even know about us is because Mr. Layton found us out,” Crow argued.
“You could always ask me to help,” Luke tried.
There was a moment of silence in which, whether he meant to or not, Crow looked Luke up and down. The frown had not shifted.
“Why would you want to? You went off to be Layton's apprentice and then you moved to America to study a degree or something,” he commented.
“But I'm here now,” Luke answered.
“That's not the point. The point is that you have the potential and know the right people to go anywhere you want to,” Crow debated.
“And yet I'm still here,” Luke pointed out, “Maybe I didn't want to do any of those things. Maybe I've seen enough of the world for the moment and just want to relax back at the place that I started from.”
Crow sneered; “The Black Ravens are not just a holiday home for you to come and go from whenever you want.”
“I know that! ...I'm really making it worse for myself here, aren't I?” sighed Luke, “What I meant was that I'm here right now, not at any of the other places where I could be, and I can help you.”
“Where will you be in two months, though? Or five years? I need someone I can rely on,” Crow argued.
“Funny that, because you let the others go.”
“I already said that I wasn't going to hold them back!”
“All right, that was low, sorry. But you can trust my word. Once I start something I stick with it. I would have followed the Professor forever if dad hadn't decided we were moving. And when I got back... too much had changed with him. It didn't feel right to follow him around any more,” Luke trailed off.
“Just like how it doesn't feel right here any more either?” checked Crow.
“Here and everywhere else. England is different now and I can't just slot back in. I never really felt right in America at all, but now I don't here either,” he replied, “But I'm not going to give up and let it sweep me over. I want to make my place here again. And maybe working with all of you might be what I can do with myself now.”
There was a slight smirk about Crow's face now, the frown having vanished entirely.
He questioned, “You have no idea what it takes to be a Black Raven, do you?”
“No, none at all. I think you just find junk and sell it, but that would be my best guess.”
“And you're probably a real bad liar.”
“The worst. I've got an honest face and as soon as I even try to lie everyone knows that's no truth to it.”
“So that'd back it really bad for when you're trying to pass off an old pot as a Wedgwood original.”
“Probably.”
“You're not very qualified. I think even Tony had more experience than you.”
“So when can I start?”
“Tomorrow. I'll send Badger around to pick you up nice and early.”
“What time's 'nice and early'?”
A grin.
“You'll find out when Badger's hammering on your front door.”
Luke didn't like the sound of that. But he did like the sound of having purpose in his live again. So he'd take it whatever time it hammered on his door to wake him up in the morning.