I've Got the Strangest Feeling This Isn't Our First Time Around

22

As they rejoin Mario, Clark demands, "What the hell was that?"

"I never confirmed or denied being a cop." Luigi tries to defend. "And I swear on anything, he didn't do it."

"I want to believe you, Luigi. I really do." Clark tells him. "But I can't operate solely on a gut feeling. I need the truth, but you going in there like a vigilante is not the way to do it."

"And what the hell was going on with you in there? Huh?" Mario says to Luigi, startling both him and Clark.

"I...have no idea." Luigi admits. "I just...felt something. For him."

"Residual feelings." Mario attempts to wave off.

"Wait, you're saying he's feeling what Linda feels for Whirl?" Clark asks, and at the surprised look from both Mario and Luigi, Clark shrugs, "What? This isn't my first rodeo."

"I felt it." Luigi insists. "Linda knows him better than he knows himself. There's nothing about him she doesn't know. She didn't drive him up the wall. Even as he was saying that, she knew he wasn't serious."

"So what?" Mario's still not convinced, raising his voice, "Then they had a fight, and it slipped out! People can't help but hurt each other!"

Luigi steps back, surprised by Mario's outburst, "We're not talking about Linda, are we?"

That seems to snap Mario out of wherever his mind was spiraling, and says, "Huh? Yeah, of course I am. Who else would I be referring to?"

Then he leaves, prompting Clark to ask, "What was that?"

Luigi can only shrug.

"Yoo hoo!" Spike kicks the side of whatever it is Pauline is working on, prompting her to come out from under it. "What're you up to?"

"Just working out some bugs in the Mount Pajamaja spring water distributor." Pauline replies as she stands up.

"Mount Pajamaja spring water?" Spike asks curiously.

"It induces REM sleep in the dreamer, and sending it into the machine that houses the petrified body also relaxes the mind trapped inside. That's how we're able to connect to them."

"Yeah, you lost me." Spike hisses apologetically. "Red, white, or pink?"

"It's water, doesn't really have a color. Unless clear counts. Though some say it's a little sparkly." Pauline replies.

"No no, I'm asking for your wine preference." Spike explains. "Red, white, or rose?"

"Actually I'm more of a bubbly kind of girl." Pauline replies. "Why?"

"So I can be sure to have it on ice when you and Mario come over to fix up the record player." Spike says.

"Aha!" Pauline points, smug. "You couldn't figure it out, so now you're sucking up to me!"

"Fine, laugh it up." Spike waves it off. "There is no way to know which cartridge is the right one without putting it in, and if we're wrong, we have to take it apart just to get it out! If I had the patience, I'd be at it all night, but if your hands are as delicate and precise as you say, it'll be done before the night is young. Be at our place at 8, and bring Mario."

He starts to leave, turns, "But that gloating's gonna cost you.", chuckles, then leaves.

"When can I dreamwalk again?" Luigi demands once they land in the Dream Lab. "I need to see Linda's dreams again so I can prove Whirl is innocent."