'Dear Diary' Ken scrawled. 'I'm visiting the Belcher family for the first time in a while. Figured they could get used to having Tina back for a while first.'

He was finally starting to feel like he belonged in Bog Harbour. Some of the locals were beginning to recognise him, he was getting less weird stares than usual, and he could actually find his way around town without getting lost any more. For a suburb shaped like a waffle, the place sure could throw a curveball sometimes.

His week had gone by so fast that by the time he'd blinked and realised, it was Saturday morning and he was about to spend a day at the Belchers'. He'd seen the kids at school of course, but it was an entirely different atmosphere to meeting up with them on his own time. At school they were muted, restricted, bored. At home they could be themselves and no one would judge, which was about the difference between coke and diet coke. He knew he was going to get a worse headache seeing them outside of school, but on the other hand the experience just felt that much more satisfying.

Ken bid his farewell to Calvin for the day and took to the streets. The town felt like his backyard now. Sure, that might've been because his actual backyard was dominated by overgrown hedges, Frank the ostrich, and random broken appliances, but honestly he was more of a city kid than some garden dweller. Just lying about in a backyard would've left him bored in minutes and crimson from sunburn in half an hour. The city on the other hand offered plenty of weird and wonderful amenities if you knew where to look for them. Like the fancy ice cream place on Jackson Street called You Gela, Bro?

They had all sorts of weird flavours he couldn't pronounce, but whatever Fragola was, it hurt his stomach less than normal ice cream, which was a bonus. The price tag hurt more though, so that balanced things out.

Fancy ice cream in hand, Ken glanced either way before crossing the road and rounding a corner towards the restaurant, which was as predictably quiet as usual.

Aside from two Belcher kids making noise of course.

"Give me back my stuff!" Louise was hanging from Gene, snatching at something green in his hands. "Gene! Give it back dammit!"

"You said I could borrow it!" Gene immediately retorted, holding the green thing out of her reach with ease.

"And now I want it back!" Louise cried, physically climbing her brother. "How would you feel if I took all of your crap?!"

"You can have it!" Gene said simply. "This is all I need now."

"Kids, calm it down," Bob groaned from behind the counter. His remark went pointedly ignored.

"Well it's mine! You can't have it!" Louise raged. Practically sat on his shoulders, she was stretching as far as her little arms could, but to no avail.

Somehow it took until now for anyone to notice him.

"Ken!" Gene cried, strolling up to him as if the entire Louise hanging from his neck weighed nothing. "Where've you been, buddy? I've been a whole half a day since I saw you!"

"I've uh, been-" Ken had barely opened his mouth when Gene noticed what he'd walked in with;

"Ooh, ice cream! My one weakness!" He cried. The green thing in his hand – was it a walkie talkie? – was thrown into the air as he lunged forwards for it, knocking Louise off his shoulders in the process. Louise made a similarly desperate lunge for the walkie talkie, wrapping her hands around it before it could shatter against the floor.

Ken just sighed and gave the thing to him. What was the point in prolonging? Everyone knew the day was going to end with him having it.

"Alriiiight!" Gene exclaimed, happily slurping on the half an ice cream. "…huh. On closer inspection this is in fact a gelato! Ooh, fancy!"

"Huh. So that's what it was?" Ken was already lamenting it. "Just thought it was ice cream. What's the uh, difference?"

"I have no idea," Gene said. "All I know is that ice cream makes my tummy this happy but gelato makes my tummy this happy."

"When… did you even try gelato, Gene?" Bob scratched his head."

"Right now."

"Huh." Bob frowned. "A-anyway Ken, gelato's basically like a denser sort of ice cream that uses more milk. So uh, how're things?"

It promised to be an interesting day. The Belcher siblings had conned some money out of Bob, and with it, decided on a nearby arcade as their entertainment. Sidestepping their way past the grumpy security guard, they happened upon a treasure trove of low bit graphics and addictive money wasting. Prize grabbers that were a quarter a go, but next to no chance of winning the item. Those coin tipping machines where you put pennies in them and they were pushed all the way to the end in the hope of knocking other stuff down. Obligatory side scrolling platform games with off brand names like 'moats' and 'dragon dude'. The whole place was just a blur of tacky bluish carpets, the tiny metallic clink of falling money, and the sour smell of unwashed teenagers. And it was awesome.

Tina had engrossed herself in the penny falls machine, while Ken sidled alongside Gene on some pixelated fighting game. Apparently named 'Killer Culture', Ken's character was some guy with a cape and a top hat holding onto what looked like a ventriloquist's dummy, while Gene chose a pig riding a motorbike. Go figure. Their opponents were supposedly some sort of gymnast lady with a hula hoop, and what appeared to be a literal walking collection of swords. To make things even more redundant, the mass of swords was also holding swords.

"It's like Game of Thrones, but walking!" Gene said, commanding his motorbike pig to attack. The pig did a wheelie and spun its front tyre against the sword thing's face. Ken had to wonder how the tyres didn't get ruined, but then again this game probably came out before he was even born, so they likely didn't have that attention to detail. His ventriloquist dude went and arranged the limbs of his doll, which prompted the hula hooping lady to move her limbs into the same position. An interesting ability, Ken supposed, that was instantly ruined when ventriloquist guy just kicked her three times in the stomach instead of… anything less cheap than kicking a lady in the stomach.

Ken rolled his eyes but continued regardless. He and Gene worked together to beat the hula lady and sword creature senseless. Their victory let them pass onto the next level, where the pair of them were quickly overwhelmed by a sentient marshmallow thing and what looked like an ordinary musclebound man, but with about seventeen arms.

"Ugh!" Louise groaned, throwing her sponge hammer thing at the whack-a-mole game she was playing. "Talk about a fix! I hit every target, dammit!"

"Including screen," the grumpy security guard rose up out of nowhere. "Screen is for not touching."

"Yeah, well tell that to the stupid whack-a-mole!" Louise shrieked back at him. "I hit all of them, but did it give me any tickets? NoooOOOoooo!"

"I give you ticket," the security guard wrapped a shovel-like hand around most of her arm. "Ticket out of here!"

"Uh oh," Gene cried, and the three of them chased after the security guard, arriving just in time to see her bodily thrown out of the building.

"Oww…!" She rubbed at her sore arm. "Hey, I bruise like a grape I'll have you know!"

"Spare me your grape story, girl." The security guard huffed, closing the door behind them.

"Hey, HEY!" Louise rushed up to the door, banging on it. "At least give me the tickets I earned…!"

Growling and snorting, Louise slid back down and glared at the door.

"Asshole."

"Donkey void."

"Butt… stuff." Tina rounded off the trio of makeshift insults.

Meanwhile Louise did little more than snort angrily at the arcade. She just about kept her composure enough for Tina to gently steer her back towards the restaurant, but there was enough rage seething through her system that her stare alone was enough to repel passers by to the other side of the street.

Louise's bad mood seemed to carry all the way back to the restaurant, where she continued to glower at everything in front of her. Picking moodily at her mash potatoes and something, a furious energy enshrouded her, pressuring everyone nearby into a stunned silence. Even Bob and Linda didn't dare ask what was wrong. Maybe for fear of her exploding?

The youngest Belcher disappeared about as quickly as her plate was cleared, stomping off into her bedroom and slamming the door. Ken couldn't profess to knowing her well, but it wasn't like her to hold a grudge for this long, was it?

"Er… on that note, I guess I'd better get going too." Ken admitted. The sun was starting to set, and the weirdos came out at night, so it was better to be home by then.

"Aw, so soon Kenny?" Linda seemed actually saddened at his news. "Don't you wanna stay the night?"

"Yeah, there's always room for one more at chez Belcher!" Gene flourished outwards.

"Yeah there's plenty of roo – oh." Tina was, as always, two moments behind.

Stay the night? That was a novelty. Ken could only recall one other time someone had asked him to sleep over at theirs, and that was a dare. Something he didn't find out until the next morning, he remembered with a bump. The whole memory left a bad taste in his mouth, but this… probably wasn't the same thing? If Gene was going to pull sick pranks on him, he would've done it long before now.

"I, uh…" his words got stuck in his throat. "I-I… would have to check with Calvin first. I can't just randomly not come home huh?"

"Give him a ring," Tina made her usual earnest contribution. "I mean uh, that's… why you have a phone, isn't it?"

Ken was suddenly reminded of the phone in his pocket. Aside from the occasional text to or from Courtney, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd used it for phone purposes. All he ever seemed to do on it was play Salad Samurai. Did Calvin even answer phones? He'd never contacted the man to find out, in all the time he'd lived here. Ken pulled the device out of his pocket and stared at it. Now was as good a time as ever to find out, he supposed.

He turned down a hallway and dialled the first of only three numbers in his phone directory. All the while, something was percolating in his depths. The prospect of a sleepover with someone… was it excitement that was gurgling away? Nerves? Anticipation?

Could he even dare to be looking forward to this? The waking up in a different house, not so much, but going to sleep swaddled by the comfort of a family atmosphere was lucrative enough on its own. Definitely something he'd never experience at his parents' house or even at Calvin's, despite the man's efforts.

His phone kept ringing, however. And of course, Bob and the guys were watching him from the kitchen, so the tension was increasing with every damn ring. Until;

'Why hello there!'

"Calvin!" Ken cried out, shocked at how much excitement there was in his own voice. "Hey uh, I wa-"

'You've reached the phone of Calvin Fischoeder! If you owe me money, please contact me in person, you peasant! If I owe you money, please press the number two on your phone and someone will speak with you after the beep. If you are Greenpeace, please press the red button to end your call now! Anyone else, please leave a message after the beep. Uugh, yes Felix I know! I did the thing ju-"

*beeep!*

A sigh escaped Ken. All of that energy that was building up within him escaped like a burst balloon. He hung up the phone and turned to face the Belchers.

"…looks like that's a no."

Linda practically exploded from her chair and wrapped arms around him. "Aww, that's a real shame Kenny Benny. Well when you get home, you tell Mr Fish that Linda says you can stay over whenever you want. That sound good, honey?"

"I um," Ken's voice was thick. "I… think so."

Ken made his excuses and bid the Belchers goodbye for the night, even giving Louise's door a knock. She didn't respond, but it was the thought that counted he supposed. Bob had offered him a lift home, but honestly the walk sounded better for once. After having the wind knocked out of his sails it felt like a sobering reality check.

What was he thinking, getting his hopes up? All these magical lucky coincidences were reserved for 80s college movies, not one weird kid, far away from home in some backwater town.

His gloomy evening walk home concluded with the sight of Calvin just sat at his dining table, surrounded by a few empty bottles. He wasn't even busy.

Ken tightened a fist. He was so preoccupied doing nothing that he couldn't answer the phone?

His abilities as a guardian were dubious at best, but just blatantly ignoring him like this wasn't going to fly. Ken took in a breath to confront the man, however Calvin seemed to exhale just as heavily before groaning into the table.

The anger deflated out of him. Maybe there was a reason behind it after all.

"Um…" he muttered. "Is… something wrong, Calvin?"

"Hm?" Calvin looked around. "Oh Ken, it's just you. I wouldn't say wrong, exactly. Just a misunderstanding, so to speak."

Calvin's sentence ended there. He offered no more information, yet he continued to meet Ken's gaze. If Ken didn't know better, he would've sworn there was an odd glimmer of hope in his eye.

He sighed and took the bait, grabbing a chair opposite him. "…wanna talk about it?"

"Welll…" Calvin glanced away from him for a second. "I-I suppose it won't hurt. Now, I'm sure you're aware that Felix and I don't exactly… see eye to eye."

Ken just nodded. It wasn't subtle.

"Yes, yes, we disagree on many things." Calvin explained. "Truth be told, there's a long, boring backstory behind it all, but I won't bother you with those details, Ken. The important thing to remember is that we try to get along, for mother's sake if no one else's. Today was her birthday after all, and we shared a meal together to commemorate her. You know, like a f…"

He cleared his throat. "F-family."

Ken sat there in what he hoped was a polite silence. Barely being able to say the word would certainly explain why he wasn't exactly built for taking care of others.

"Still not used to it huh?" He managed a smile.

"Oh, very much so," Calvin rang a finger around the rim of his glass. "You know it yourself, Ken. The Fischoeder line is cursed to scatter, like dandelion fluff, helpless in the wind."

Of all the things Ken had seen recently, Calvin showing himself to be vulnerable and… human, was possibly the most terrifying. Were all the sporadic hobbies just a front for another man, locked deep down, with real feelings and heartache?

"A-anyway, as you may have guessed, our yearly commemoration dinner did not end well. I'm as partial to a food fight as anyone, but today was supposed to be a serious event. Mother only dies once a year, you know?"

Ken only had vague memories of grandmother Fischoeder. His mother's aunt, and of course Calvin's mother, his blurry recollections amounted to little more than a charcoal beehive and her cage full of stick insects. He was only about six when she passed. Had it really been that long?

"Well, uh…" Ken's words got lost in his throat. Did he even know what to say? "Th-that's… the thing with families. O-only you can say what one is. So what if it's two brothers, an ostrich, and some kid they're looking after? We're still a family no matter what anyone says."

Calvin smiled weakly. "And what if it's Felix?"

The little bit of confidence Ken had managed to gather vanished. What was that supposed to mean?

"Yes, after he threw a turkey leg at me, I frisbeed a plate at him, and then he went and yelled about not wanting to be a part of this family anymore. On today of all days."

Calvin made a strange huffing noise and emptied his glass. "As if he'd have anywhere to go…"

"…huh," was all Ken could manage. "Do you know where he might go?"

"Probably hiding in some garbage can somewhere…" Calvin dismissed with a wave. "I wouldn't worry about Felix, Ken. He does this all the time. He'll come crawling back when he gets hungry, and I'll have a turkey leg waiting for him when he does!"

All of a sudden, Calvin was back to his normal self. Or at least, it seemed that way. Had he really fixed his guardian by sitting and listening to him for ten minutes?

Ken shook his head. Something told him there was a lot more buried in there. But he seemed happier at least, which was something.

Calvin's mood allowed for a couple games of Salad Samurai to round off the night, letting Ken find his way to bed at about eleven. With a sigh, he glanced around his empty shell of a bedroom. Aside from his big blue backpack thing, he'd barely made a change since moving. Maybe it was time to invest in some things to actually do when he had downtime. Books or something, maybe.

Sunday arrived with a storm of grey clouds and torrential rain. So much for going outside and looking for room fillers. Calvin had a whole stack of books littered about, but he couldn't just poach them, could he? They were also about the weirdest stuff, like otter fishing and elevator maintenance. What use would they have?

It killed time though, he had to admit. There were only so many times you could blow up pixelated opponents in a racing thing. So Ken wasted several hours learning about whatever otter fishing was. As it turned out, it involved using otters to fish, which seemed a bit redundant but at least it came with pictures of otters being cute.

Sunday melted into Monday morning so seamlessly it could've been wiped from the calendar. Aside from otter pictures Ken couldn't remember a damn thing about the day before, so his weekend was essentially cut short to make way for school again. That wasn't ideal, he had to admit.

The rain hadn't let up either. So he grabbed an oversized raincoat that draped around him like a granite poncho and stomped his way through endless puddles to school. Louise still had a stormy expression even two whole days after the arcade incident.

Ken opened his mouth to ask but was forestalled by both siblings shaking their heads furiously. Maybe it wasn't worth it after all. Ken had never really seen the 'bad' side of Louise, so to speak, but if both of her siblings were warning him about it, it must've been terrifying. Her greeting came in the form of half a grunt as she stomped forward ahead of them. Ken shrugged, shared a concerned glance with the two older Belchers, and followed after.

Thanks to Louise charging forward at about twice the usual pace, they made great time getting to school, and that was with Gene needing a snack break halfway there. Ken wasn't going to ask where he got the entire length of sausages.

"Good morning Lou-" Mr Frond had begun welcoming her at the front door, only for her to whoosh straight past him. His eyes widened from shock for just a second, but then he pursed his lips and chased after her.

"Good morning, Louise!" He cleared his throat. "Are you going to say good morning back?"

Louise simply growled, trying to scoot her way around him. Frond kept sidestepping her and staying in the way, however.

"Er, Mr Frond…?" Gene called out. "You might wanna just let her pass. She's having a bad day!"

"Having a bad day is no excuse for rudeness, Gene!" Frond took his fate into his own hands by grabbing Louise at the shoulders. "Look at me Louise. I'm getting a sense of unrest from you. As a guidance counsellor I can't in good stead just leave it alone. Did you wanna t-"

"Get out of the way!" Louise shrieked up at him. Her fist connected with his stomach and he fell like a deck of cards.

With a furious snort, Louise stomped past him once again.

"De… Detention!" Frond gasped behind her. Louise just stomped her foot in response.

"Maybe a long hard talk after school will teach you about respect!" Frond quivered back to his feet.

Louise let out a long, exasperated shriek in response, literally kicking open the door to homeroom and charging in.

"Did you wanna make it a double?!" Frond threatened. The homeroom door just squeaked shut. "Your silence sounds like a huge call for help, Louise! My office is always open!"

Frond 'hmph'ed victoriously, straightened out his sweater vest, and made an obvious attempt to walk away with some pride. It lasted one and a half steps before he hunched forward, grabbing at his stomach and wincing.

She was still furious at lunchtime. Growling at her tater tots, occasionally stabbing one and shoving it into her mouth, everyone within a ten-metre radius or so was stunned into silence because of her.

"…talk about A Quiet Place." Gene whispered to Tina.

"Y-yeah, it's like Silence of the Lambs in here." Tina muttered back.

"Only with less slurping."

Meanwhile Ken's concern was burning. Gene and Tina obviously knew to just leave Louise alone when she was like this, but was that really the way to fix it? Let her bury her fury and burn out like a candle?

That sounded exhausting for all parties.

"Um…" He swallowed. "L-Louise?"

Louise's nostrils flared and she stared him down. This nine-year-old was barely half his size, yet still somehow terrifying him from across the table. Both Gene and Tina were mouthing tiny 'no's at him, but the can of worms had been opened now. He couldn't go back.

"Did you wanna… talk about what's wrong?" Ken mumbled. "I mean uh, it's been a few days now and you're still… really angry. C… can I help?"

"You wanna help?" Louise's voice was like pure acid. "Oh wow, Ken wants to help! Isn't that great you guys?!"

Drawing herself up to her full height, she just stared at him.

"Stay out of it, okay buddy? If I need help, I will ask for it."

Louise backhanded her tray of tater tots, scattering them across the cafeteria, and dismounted the bench they were sat at. Gene barely waited for her to make her exit before springing to his feet and dashing for the fallen tots.

"It's okay, it's okay, Gene's got you now!" He cradled as many of them as he could find in his arms. "Does anyone know CPR?! This one's missing a head!"

Meanwhile Ken felt like he was about three inches tall. For such a small thing, Louise sure knew how to cut others down to size. He had to be honest, it gave him a skelf of relief; if she was going to end up in the Mist World, he felt sorrier for the thing facing her.

Meanwhile Tina was just surveying the madness. She gave Ken a cautionary glance, "Well, you can't say we didn't warn you."

Ken forced a laugh. "Heh. I guess not."


End of chapter stats:

You got your butt kicked in Killer Culture! Your Proficiency has increased!
Your relationship with Gene has improved.
Your Hierophant Rank is at: 4
You read a book. Your Knowledge has increased!

Hey there guys, a Happy New Year and another update for you all. Rather a busy chapter I'll admit, but it's got a nice balance of filler and plot progression, so I'm pretty happy with it.

Louise has gotten furious at basically everyone, so maybe it's best to leave her be for a while.

As always, feel free to drop some feedback if you've got any.