Luca But Make It Gay(er)

Part 8

(fanart by SavvySnake on DeviantArt)

After Luca picked up the barnacle-bottle and the rusty wrench and can, he followed Alberto up from the beach to the middle of the island.

And then he saw it.

There was a half-broken stone tower with a makeshift wooden ladder up to about ⅔'s of it.

"Mother of pearls!" he exclaimed quietly, pupils dilating. "You live up here?"

"Yeah! Me and my dad." Alberto took the bottle, can, and wrench from Luca and gently took it away from him. "He's not even here a whole lot, so I pretty much just do whatever I want."

"Isn't it dangerous?" Luca fretted.

"Yeah, it's the best!" Alberto grinned. "Everything good is above the surface."

He tossed the three objects into his treasure-filled helmet.

"Like, what else..?" Luca asked timidly.

"Air!" Alberto exclaimed and inhaled deeply.

Luca inhaled as well, but his pupils quickly constricted as he inhaled not only air, but a fly as well.

He gagged and coughed, and was saved by Alberto, slapping him to dislodge the fly.

"Gravity! Also known as falling!"

The older male jumped off the top of his tower into a tree, and fell through the branches and the air onto the ground, where he lay still for a bit, then reassured Luca by making a thumbs up.

"The sky, clouds, the sun." Alberto waved to all of the objects he said, but then clapped his hand over Luca's eyes as he looked over at the sun.

"Whoa! Don't look at it!" Alberto scolded again, then eased up and took his hand from Luca's eyes. "Just kidding. Definitely look at it."

Luca looked at the sun, then yelped as it was too bright for his eyes.

"And then..." Alberto rubbed his hands together, backing up, then spread them at the tower behind him. "There's human stuff."

They climbed the ladder, and Luca got to see the first room to the stone tower.

It was littered with junk - but none of it trash - and a window on the far side with a table under it, also object-scattered.

There was a poster off to the side too.

"Whoa..." the younger sea monster whispered, looking around idly.

"As you can see, I've been collecting for a long time, so ask me anything," Alberto mused, following him up.

Luca walked toward the gramophone he had explored before, on the table, and looked into the golden tube.

"Whoa..."

His voice echoed in the machine.

"Ah, yes. That's the Magic Singing Lady Machine," Alberto told him, leaning against the table by him. "It's broken, unfortunately."

He began to walk away, but Luca grabbed a stick-like-handle and stuck it into the machine, winding it.

It began playing aria, and Alberto quickly slipped back.

"Whoa! Dude, you unbroke it!" he gasped.

They leaned into the machine, listening to the music it was playing, but Luca's gaze got sidetracked to the poster.

He padded over to it.

"What's that?" he asked as Alberto joined him by it.

"Oh, it's just the greatest thing humans ever made," the taller of the two cooed. "The Vespa."

"Whoa..."

"You just sit on it, and it takes you anywhere you wanna go," Alberto murmured, nudging his arm. "In the whole stinkin' world!"

Luca admired the poster, reading aloud what it said.

"'Vespa is freedom'..."

He daydreamed yet again about the magical machine...