Chapter Three: Suspect?!
Luther's eyebrow twitched in annoyance as his brother's little robot hovered softly towards his shoulders, the optic in it looking everywhere but at him. It was just as he thought, he had known that Calvin's little trick would come back to bite him in the ass and here it was. That brother of his was going to get one hell of a talking to face-to-face when he got back home…..
"Who do you think you are, scaring me out of my wits when we've got another masked delinquent running around?!"
The maid stepped up and marched right towards Luther, who took several steps back to find himself trapped between her and the desktop as everybody started to look their way. She wasn't even that tall; she was a petite, four foot woman with frizzy red hair and green eyes with a traditional maid's outfit that he'd expect to see in a large mansion.
"I have half a mind to press charges against you! To think that you'd be so uncouth as to disrespect a lady of my caliber! Your mother-"
"HEY!"
The sudden intrusion of Calvin thrusting his robot between the woman and Luther's face, startled the both of them greatly. His robot's optic had grown a fiery red as it greatly showed how he felt about this woman treating his brother so rudely. It was his fault that all of this was happening, not his! Why the hell was she getting all up on his case about it?! "You leave him alone! I'm the one that scared you and I'll admit, it was uncouth of me to do so, so step off of Luther!" His machine got closer and closer to the woman with each word until she was the one backing up and promptly landed on her rump at the last word in his sentence.
"Ey oh, what's going on here?!"
"This gentleman, er-gentleman's robot crossed onto the Ascot Manor's property and proceeded to spook one of the servants," the man recalled. "We're just here to get an apology-" His gaze fell onto Luther for a split second before Calvin intercepted his stare. "-and to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again."
"Yeah, I promise. Now go away."
"Calvin! I-I'm really sorry about all of this, he's very...Calvin is..."
"I'm a juvenile, christ man, spit it out."
Luther nodded and shrugged.
There was a long pause before the man responded. "Hmph. You wanna press charges, Mr. Ledore?" the chief of police asked. "We've got them right here, after all."
"No, I don't believe that'll be necessary. An apology will suffice...this time."
The optic narrowed as its operator watched the man and woman leave from the building. Something about that guy just really creeped Calvin out for some reason and just couldn't quite get his finger on it. Either way, they were gone and the situation had been nullified before any real harm could've been done to any of them.
"Thank you, Calvin."
"Aw, no problem bro! I'll always be there for you and you know that and I love you and-"
"-aaaand you're still in trouble."
"Damn it!"
The trek through Monte D'or was silent for the two brothers. Luther's was more of a brewing rage while Calvin's was a scared, bitten back tongue. A few of the newer tourists caught their gazes wandering after the disgruntled man and the robot that floated behind him, but neither of them paid much attention to it. Upon first arriving to Monte D'or, they had to learn to get used to people gawking at them, both of them comprising of such an odd duo. It took about an hour to full traverse the city before finding themselves in the outskirts of the grand city. The amusement park, Tingly Town, came into view and so did the harsh desert behind it. As always, getting access behind the scenes of the attraction was a hassle and a number of hoops had to be jumped through before they were allowed to exit through the back
Their home wasn't really a home. It was an enormous, jet black plane with neon blue wing tips and glow in the dark designs - perfect for when the pair needed to fly at night but wanted to avoid a mid-air collision. There were two windows in the cargo area and both of them were propped open; anyone passing by would feel cool air coming out to contradict the desert's blazing heat. Even though Luther and Calvin had only managed to squire the plane through less than legal means, it was pretty much all they had.
The pair heard the sound of hooves clacking against the steel interior inside. A small, tender smile overcame Luther's once enraged features as he brought out the remote needed to open the hatch doors. As soon as it touched the sand, the man found himself getting tackled to the ground by a blur of green and felt the wind get knocked out of him. Excited 'do's' came from the creature that happily cuddled into his chest as he sat up in the sand; green ears twitched here and there as a little deer fawn got comfortable against him. It's beige undercoat blended in nicely with the sand as it continued to rub against Luther and make gentle content noises.
"Hiya, Doughnut! How have you been? Calvin's been treating you fairly, right?"
"Uh! Of course!"
Pawsteps padding against the inside of the plane drew both his and Doughnut's attention as another strange creature walked into the sand. It was a canine; orange fur marred most of its body as black stripes adorned its front and hindlegs; the muzzle, tail and large tuft of fur on it's head were all cream-colored. The large round ears perched atop its head drooped slightly as Luther's bad mood from earlier resurfaced. "Aw, come on, Luther! You know I'm sorry!" A pout was given as the dog, who was actually Calvin, gave the true definition of 'Puppy eyes' to the irritated man. A sigh left the other's lips before he placed the fawn down and made his way inside of the aircraft, the two creatures following behind him. It was getting late and the sun was already starting to descend over the horizon; Doughnut would need to go to bed soon and god knows he didn't want to get two hours of sleep with the fawn around. Like clockwork, the little creature always seemed to wake up at the crack of dawn…..and that meant they were woken up at the crack of dawn. Compact was the only world to describe their temporary living state; there was a small fridge in one corner, a workbench in another and a small bathroom for bathroom things. There were three beds; a long mattress for Luther, a medium-sized dog bed for Calvin and an array of blankets for Doughnut. They tried getting the fawn a bed like Calvin, but he always kicked it away and went back to the blankets, so both of them just stopped trying after a while.
"Come on, Luther! I said sorry!"
"Still doesn't change that you shouldn't have done it in the first place!"
"Oh, how was I supposed to know they'd be a bunch of prudes?!"
"Calvin!"
The exasperation in his voice made Calvin stop cold. A sigh filled the silence between them both before Luther spoke once more. "Calvin, I know it's hard," the dog's ears flattened against his head, ", everything is so different here than it is back home and I know it's not easy for you to adjust." As he spoke, the man placed a hand on the other's head as Doughnut watched on, curious as to what was going on between the both of them. "But please, we can't run the risk of revealing more of ourselves than we need to. Our job is to get the temples and get out, not a soul knowing the truth about anything."
"...I understand."
"...Hey. How about tomorrow when I get back from the stand, we practice on your form?"
That made him perk up a bit slightly before he trudged towards his bed. It was hard for the both of them. This world was so….different than their own. Nobody was like them, all of their family was back home, the thick expanse of space filled with nothing but stars separating them as they could only wonder what they were doing and how they were. Some days Luther just stared off into space and thought about his fiance, Sicilly, and how distraught and scared she had been when he had told her he had accepted the mission. She did everything in her power to try and stop him from going, but finally conceded in the end. God, he hoped she was doing alright.
Another sigh. He was stressing himself out….again. At this rate, he'd never get any sleep. Things were progressing along well and they'd be home in no time. This comforting thought was what kept him going when all of his stress caught up with him. And it was what finally soothe his worries and allowed him to fall asleep…..
A loud yawn came from Luther as he groggily walked towards the Merchant's District the next day. It wasn't a sign of not getting sleep, it just meant that Doughnut had decided to jump on him to get him up that morning. How that little guy managed to be so energetic so early in the morning was beyond him…. As he turned onto the street, Calvin's robot jerked back harshly as he stared in disbelief at what he saw.
"What? What's going o-ooooooh."
Standing before the both of them was the entire police force...and they soon circled around the both of them with the chief of police and the man and woman from yesterday. "Luther! You are under arrest under the suspicion of being "Astral" and having stolen the meteorite from the museum two nights ago."
'Oh fuck." Both brothers thought.
