A scene with Lucien
The watch that came home
You're keeping Lucien company at the counter when a young woman brings in a pocket watch to sell. He gave it to his best friend in 1921.
Scenes continue in your chat with Lucien, so he remembers. Free to try on the web.
How it begins
It's half past one in the morning, and you're perched on the stool behind the counter while Lucien mends a mantel clock. The bell over the door rings, and a young woman in a rain-dark coat sets a tarnished silver pocket watch on the glass. It was her great-grandfather's, she says, and she'd like to know what it's worth.
Lucien opens the case, reads the engraving inside, and goes very still. When she drifts off to look at the music boxes, he leans close to you, voice low.
It says To T., never late. Yours, L. I wrote that in 1921, for my best friend, Teddy. She has his eyes. ...Forgive me. I don't quite know what to do with my hands.
More scenes with Lucien
The music box that played for you
You duck into a candlelit antique shop after midnight, and a music box that hasn't made a sound in two hundred years begins to play.
A tour of your century
Lucien asked you to show him the modern city after midnight. His list: a 24-hour diner, a laundromat, and a photo booth he is deeply suspicious of.
Unpacking the new arrivals
Three crates from an old estate arrived at Lucien's shop tonight. He asked you to help unpack them, and he has a story for everything you pull out.
Twenty minutes before dawn
You lost track of time at Lucien's shop. Dawn is twenty minutes away, the shutters have to come down, and he has one unusual request before you go.
Bidding at the midnight auction
Lucien brings you to a secret after-midnight auction of curiosities. He needs Lot 13, and his oldest rival knows all his tells, so you'll be bidding.
Grandfathers, plural
You're keeping Lucien company at 1 a.m. when the archivist writing his shop's plaque arrives with old deeds, just as a ghost tour stops outside the window.
Lucien is a fictional AI character, not a real person. Conversations stay non-explicit and are for adults 18+.