Judging by the current rate of the story, I should have enough chapters to last us until the summer, that's just lovely.
Imagine Worlds: Y-You...You haven't played the prequel trilogy. Lord, what are you waiting for?! Go do it right now! At the very least watch a walkthrough on Youtube or something! You're missing out!
The Mocking J: Thanks! That's kind of the idea of the whole story.
Spoilers?: No.
Location: The Convenient Office/Flat of Hershel Layton, London.
Timeline: Anytime after Last Specter but before Unwound Future.
Track Listened to While Writing: The Parrot from Professor Layton and the Unwound Future.
Word Count: 339 words.
Tip NO. 004: Games
"Luke, my boy, a true gentleman expresses sportsmanship of the highest quality in acknowledgement to all losses."
Layton studies the board with a watchful eye, as Luke looks on with a nervous expression. The boy has just made an extremely risky move that may or may not cost him the entire game. The professor catches the look on his face, and smiles, he forwards it with a rhetorical question.
"Why, whatever is the matter, Luke? It's just a simple game."
Luke blinks, quickly realizing that he's been caught in the act, "W-Wha? I-I'm not, I m-mean, I'm fine professor, fine! Y-You can make your move!"
Although Layton seemingly dismisses Luke's suspicious behavior, in reality it's really just him giving the boy a false sense of security. For his next move, Layton studies his possible moves and where his pawns would end up should he choose a particular path.
The professor decides to test Luke's reaction with each movable pawn on the board, touching one in order to get him to believe that that is the one he'll move. For a majority of the time, he seems unphased until he gets to the only pawn in the game that he has refrained from moving.
Luke quivers.
"Hmm."
Layton looks at the potential path for the pawn, and realizes that it's a clear way to automatic victory. So with a smile, he accepts the win with open arms, dashing his pawn across the entire board in one fell swoop.
Luke drops to the floor, "Augh! I thought for sure I had that game! I was really close to winning, closer than all of the other games before even! Darn, you're real good at this game, professor.."
"Not at all, my boy. It was the work of context and observation that gave me this round's win, although I am inclined to believe the rest were won by pure skill." explains the professor as he sets up the board.
Luke gets up and proceeds to rub his head.
"Fancy another go, my boy?"
The young apprentice flashes him a smile of confidence, "You bet, this time I'm sure I'll win!"