Fourside Newspaper Discussion (closed to Lucas)

[mindofathief]

The day after Lucas shows Duster a book about the Runaway Five, Duster wakes up in the afternoon. It's not unusual for him, but he has to talk to Lucas. He spent the rest of his waking hours looking over a newspaper he received from the bar after asking for something specifically written about Porky in the era before Tazmily.

He skips breakfast and heads straight to the gardens, where he's sure Lucas is, carrying the newspaper with him.

Comments

[pullsneedles]

The gardener is indeed out at work, watering the plants (and himself!) in these dog days of summer. He doesn't stay wet for long, the sun making quick work of his sogginess.

Lucas doesn't hear him approach, but he does catch his friend when he turns his head.

"Hey Duster!" he greets, waving a free, gloved hand.

[mindofathief]

The sudden heat and humidity hits Duster in full force. This has happened to him before, walking outside after waking up in a cool basement in the afternoon, but Milliways is warmer than Tazmily. He shivers a little out of shock, but is quick to return Lucas' greeting.

"Afternoon, Lucas," he says as he waves his free hand, the other holding a rolled up newspaper.

[pullsneedles]

"Didja find something?" he asks, pointing to the newspaper.

[mindofathief]

"Yeah." He unrolls the the paper and displays the front page. It's square and thin, like a local paper rather than a major national one.

"I asked Miss Bar about something written about Porky in the old world, and she gave me this. It looks like a news bulletin, only printed like a book."

The front page has "The Fourside Square" written across the top in an unnecessarily complex font, but what's more eye-catching is the title and the photo covering almost half of the space left.

"Monotoli Business Partner Steals Company Helicopter, Escapes." The image looks a little off-center, as if someone was trying to take the photo without much warning. There's a large yellow flying machine with a fat, blond boy in a pinstripe suit flying it, with some figures on the rooftop on the background.

[pullsneedles]

Lucas puts his gardening stuff down and takes off his gloves. He steps closer to look at the photo.

"Wow. That's him, isn't it?"

[mindofathief]

"It says that Porky Minch stole the helicopter, so you're right. Apparently he and his dad were working with someone named Monotoli when this happened."

He hands the paper over to Lucas.

[pullsneedles]

He looks it over, fixated on the picture.

"Wow. He looks like he's my age in this."

[mindofathief]

"It's weird. I only saw him as an old man, but even he used to be a kid, too."

He looks over the article again.

It says that he was a business partner with Monotoli, but that's the most it says. The police said they had no idea why he stole it in the first place.

[pullsneedles]

"There were the Porkybots," Lucas points out. "They really do look like him."

He leans closer to the picture, trying to see the people on the roof.

[mindofathief]

They did, though Duster didn't think to make the connection to Porky's youth.

He's not too quick witted like that.

[pullsneedles]

Lucas has had a few months to stew on it, as well as friends in Milliways to hash things out.

"I wonder how this picture was taken."

[mindofathief]

That is a good question.

"I dunno. It looks like it was taken from the sky. Maybe someone was on a taller building?"

But it didn't look too possible. The skyscraper looks very high up, and only second to the Porky Tower, as far as he can tell.

[pullsneedles]

"Or maybe they had their own flyin' gizmo. Wonder how hard it was to get a helicopter or something like it back then."

[mindofathief]

"I guess. Porky brought a lot of technology with him, I wouldn't be surprised if anyone could fly. But wouldn't they be able to stop Porky?"

[pullsneedles]

Lucas shrugs. "I dunno." He sighs softly. "And I wonder who those people on the roof are. Can you tell if the same person in those pictures from the cinema is there?"

[mindofathief]

Duster leans in closer to the photograph, his nose almost touching the paper.

"Can't tell now, but it looks like the people on the roof are pretty young. I think one of them's a girl in a pink dress. Maybe."

[pullsneedles]

"I bet he's on there. But we can't really tell, I guess. Were there any other papers?"

[mindofathief]

"I only got this one from Miss Bar, but there are stories about other things in it, too."

He turns the pages to the arts section. "Look this one. I asked around, and it turns out people like to write about concerts and other shows they saw and say if they liked it or not."

He points to one two-paragraph review that could easily be overlooked if not for the title: "Runway Five Tour Does Not Fail to Amaze".

[pullsneedles]

"Oh hey!" he goes, leaning closer to read. "Looks like they had another singer with 'em for this one."

[mindofathief]

"You don't know 'bout her from the book?" When he thinks about it, it's a bit odd that he heard a female voice in some of the Runaway Five's tracks but didn't find any pictures of her in the book so far?

"Maybe she's the newest member. Like, there's more than five guys in the band, but there used to be five and they couldn't change the name." Management can be like that.

[pullsneedles]

"It says her name's Venus," Lucas points out, putting a finger to the article.

[mindofathief]

Duster nods.

"I heard a few songs I think she sang in. She's really good."

[pullsneedles]

"Maybe we should look her up, too. I mean, who knows what we'd find?"

If nothing else, Duster seems to like this trail of investigation.

[mindofathief]

"Yeah! I mean," Duster scratches his cheek. "Probably after lookin' at the picture closer. I couldn't find anythin' 'bout the other people in the rest of the newspaper, so all we got is this."

[pullsneedles]

"Ah! But we do have more names to look up now, don't we? We can add 'em to my list and look 'em up later."

He'll scan the article for that later.

[mindofathief]

"Good idea!" Researching his favorite musicians would always be important, but now they had more important things to do.

"Let's go sit down. I think standin' up in the sun makes my eyes hurt."

[pullsneedles]

Lucas chuckles a little. Some things never change.

"Okay," he says, bending down to gather his gardening things. "I'm just about finished here."

[mindofathief]

Duster finds a nice place by the overhanging plants, and carefully sits on the grass, holding the paper right to his eyes as to make out all the details in the photo.

[pullsneedles]

"Any luck on the photo?" Lucas asks once he's finished up his chores.

[mindofathief]

Duster doesn't answer, but moves his gaze towards the people on the Monotoli building. Maybe one of them could be a clue to why Porky betrayed his business partner?

He moves the newspaper to get better lighting.

[pullsneedles]

Meanwhile, Lucas looks through his pockets for his list. Once he does, he smooths it out and adds the names Venus and Monotoli.

[mindofathief]

He still doesn't answer, but something's caught his attention.

"Lucas, in the theater, weren't there a group of kids in almost every picture?"