Chapter 7: The City of Potswell

"Where are we?" Callie asked as she stepped near the bus's exit.

"Potswell…" Cici swam out with someone's boxers.

"Cici, seriously?" Jack jumped down the stairs and grabbed the boxers off of the green squid. "Stay out of my drawers."

"Cold…" Cici swam out of the bus and under a bush.

"Then just climb up onto someone's head like you always do." He replied and threw the boxer's upstairs.

"Ants…"

"Maybe you shouldn't crawl into random bushes." He replied walking off the bus. She then swam onto his head.

"They biting… "

"Then don't crawl onto my head with them on you!" He started brushing the ants off of him and Cici. "Ah!"

"I think... they like you..." Cici chuckled.

"Get em off! Get em off!" Jack ran around brushing as many ants off as he could. Callie and Marie just laughed from the bus.

"I gotcha!" A person threw ink at them.

"Owie…" Cici said monotonically, "Oh… hello hoodie lady…"

"Hoodie lady?" Jack looked up. "Oh, hey. Thanks."

"Ants were all over you guys. What happened?" Arisara asked

"Sleepy here swam into a bush." Jack pointed to the small squid on his head.

"Oh you mean this ant's mound?"

Cici swam down and up Arisara.

"Hehe hello" She flinched a bit when Cici swam under her hood.

"That was an ant mound?" Jack asked.

"Yup… Ants make me shudder… I don't really like the idea of getting them all over me…" Arisara shuttered.

"Okay…Who are you, by the way?" He asked.

"She's a fan." Callie replied as she and Marie walked off the bus in regular shirts and pants.

"Oh! It's you!" Marie ran over and hugged her.

"Hi Marie! I didn't think you would be that excited" Arisara seemed confused.

"Me neither." Callie raised an eyebrow. She turned back to the door and smiled at Jim. "Thanks again, Jim."

"No problem, Callie." The urchin replied before yawning. He stood up and pulled himself up into a space above the driver's seat.

"Is that where he sleeps?" Callie asked herself.

"I… like … your tentacles…" Cici moved under her tentacles.

"Oh...hehehe… Y-you do?" Arisara got nervous.

"Cici, it's rude to lay under a stranger's tentacles." Jack shook his head and walked up to Arisara. "Well, nice to meet you." He held his hand out to her.

"Same to you" Arisara smiled and shook his hand.

Callie smiled before a look of realization hit her face. "Wait, how did you get here so quickly? Did you leave Quilden before us?"

"Yeah. I drove here… It's something I managed to get..." She pointed to a rusty motorbike.

Callie raised her eyebrow again. "Okay…"

"We need to think of better questions. Or just do something." Jack said.

"I've been hanging around Adstrum a bit. The way he talks is starting to rub off on me." Callie chuckled.

"I never thought I would run into you out of the concert" Arisara smiled at Marie.

"It's a pleasant surprise" Marie smiled back.

"Well, you two seem to be good friends." Jack smiled. "I'm curious now."

"Arisara showed up to every concert Marie did while I was on my… 'break.'" Callie quoted with her fingers.

"I was also her um… therapist… kinda… It was a volunteer thing… They were too star stuck to work with her"

"Oh...I did not know that." Callie rubbed her arm.

"It's okay. Making friends is nice. I understood how loneliness can be painful so I did my best to keep her company. Just not where your manager could see me..."

"What's wrong with Cici seeing you?" Jack asked.

"Oh! I meant your old manager… He wanted to make sure Marie looked 'normal' so I wasn't allowed anywhere near her. He also stopped me from going to the concerts before this tour…"

"Oh." Jack nodded his head. "Okay."

"So that's why we didn't see you in Carti Ridge." Callie pointed out.

"He said he would sue me if I went anywhere near there…" Arisara rubbed her arm.

"Trust me, he was bluffing. He's a coward. And what could he sue you for?" Callie patted her back.

"Harassment of Marie?"

"You weren't harassing her….were you?" Callie raised an eyebrow.

"I just hang out with her, but I had to show that I was a therapist volunteer. So he didn't want the media covering that"

"Okay…" Callie nodded. "That selfish, stupid eel."

"Why do you hide… your tentacles?" Cici poked her mantle out.

"..." Arisara was sweating bullets, "Ummm split ends?"

"And there's Cici." Jack smiled. "And maybe she doesn't want to, Cici. That could be why." He reached for the small green squid's mantle. Arisara seemed tensed when Jack came closer.

Cici swam back into her hood.

"Cici. Come out here." He folded his arms.

"No… Ari is soft…"

"A-Ari? I guess that's pretty cute..."

Jack shook his head. "Sorry about her. She pretty much does what she wants."

"That's okay."

He shrugged and looked at the Squid Sisters, noticing Callie staring off into space. "Callie?" He waved his hand in front of her face. "You there?"

"Something wrong?" Arisara and Marie looked at her.

Callie blinked and looked up at them. "I'm hungry. Who wants food?"

"Oh Callie" Marie sighed and smiled.

Arisara smiled.

"Sure, Callie." Jack smiled. "I could go for a bite. Any ideas?"

"Anyplace." Callie answered as she looked around.

"I don't know… what do you guys feel like?"

"Anything." Callie shrugged.

"How about pizza?" Jack suggested, seeing Marie's smiled widen a bit.

"Hawaiian?" Arisara asked, "Oh but it doesn't have to be… I know you don't like pineapple on it"

"I do!" Callie raised her hand.

"I don't…" Jack said and saw Marie nod in agreement.

"Pizza needs... to be chewed…" Cici muttered.

"Why are we just talking? Let's go get pizza!" Callie grabbed her cousin's hand and started to drag her toward the town. "I'm hungry! Let's go guys!"

Arisara quickly followed Marie. She seemed scared of Jack.

Jack followed behind, noticing Arisara's behavior.

"Huh, where are they going?" Adstrum asked himself as he poked his head out of the bus door. In his hand was a can of soda. "Meh, hope they have fun." He walked over to the side compartment on the bus and opened it, pulling out a toolbox. "Inspiration has hit. WOOHOO!"


"Hello, welcome to Pi Zazz!" The crab greeted them all.

"I like this place already." Callie smiled widely.

"Please have a seat anywhere you like I'll take your order in a bit. Um, four people?"

"Nope." Jack carefully and quickly reached up and grabbed Cici's mantle, which was sticking out of Arisara's hoodie, and pulled the small squid out. "Five."

Arisara flinched and started shaking.

"Cold…." Cici wiggled her tentacles.

"You're fine." Jack replied and placed her on the ground.

Cici swam away.

"She'll be back." Callie smiled as she looked at the menu.

Cici swam up under some people's pizza. They just looked at each other.

Jack covered his face. "Dangit, Cici…"

The people just asked for a new pizza and the waitress took the pizza Cici was under.

Jack shook his head and just pulled up a menu. "I'll bet you ten dollars she ends up under our pizza." He said aloud.

"She uses sleep as a coping mechanism, huh? That's really interesting…" Arisara watched the pizza get carried away.

Jack nodded. "Yeah. She does."

"Oh, you know why?"

"No."

Arisara nervously pulled the menu to her face.

"Hey, Marie. What do you want?" He asked, quickly changing the subject.

"Pepperoni sounds good" Marie replied, "Oh shouldn't you take some back to Adstrum?" She looked at Callie.

"Yeah, I'll get him a pizza before we go." Callie replied. A few seconds later her eyes widened and she looked at her cousin. "You care if Adstrum gets pizza?"

"Well… Yeah. Just because he is an ass to me doesn't mean I should be one back."

Callie smiled and hugged her cousin. "Glad you are being the bigger person. But if he ticks you off or upsets you don't be afraid to talk back to him. He's a big softy."

"I still feel I should avoid that. He's only that way to you."

"And to people he likes. And to new people as well." Callie pointed out.

"O-oh really?" Arisara raised an eyebrow

"He says he doesn't be mean to people unless he has a reason. He's big on first impressions." Callie smiled. "Maybe the first broadcast he saw was one you were sassy in, Marie." She shrugged. "Or it could be some other reason."

"That's his business, but don't expect me to take it. One day, if I'm sick of it I'm gonna go."

"Marie…" Callie looked at her cousin with a slight annoyed face.

"HEY!" Jack spoke up. "Let's change the subject before we go too far, huh?" He smiled. "Hey, our pizza's here!"

"Um…" The waiter came over with said pizza. "You'll be happy to know you are getting a free pizza. Here's the one you ordered…" The crab placed it on the table. "And here's one your friend wouldn't get out from under it." He placed it on the table as well.

"...it burns…" Cici moved under it

"Cici…" Jack facepalmed.

"Come here, sleepy." Callie lifted the pizza up and pulled out a now grease covered Cici. "Woah, you are more slippery than before." The small squid slid out of Callie's arms and onto her lap.

"He really liked this kind of pizza…" Cici was hugging a slice.

"Who?" Callie asked with an eyebrow raised.

"..." Cici held the slice tighter.

"Who knows?" Jack shrugged. "Who's hungry? I am." He grabbed a slice and took a bite.

Cici put the slice on an empty plate beside her.

"Cici's cute in her own weird way." Callie smiled as she looked on the squid on her lap. She looked up and smiled at Marie. "So, how do you think the concert will go?"

"It will be great! I wonder what kind of little town this place is."

"I think it's just a normal little town." Jack shrugged. "From what I heard."

Cici swam off Callie's lap and turned into her humanoid form. She watched the diner's TV.

"Wow, Cici in her Inkling form. A rare thing to see in the wild." Callie whispered, getting a chuckle out of Marie.

"Only the TV can have that effect… but don't ask why…. Just don't." Marie patted Cici's head.

Callie looked at Cici with an eyebrow raised. The rest of the meal went on in silence before the waiter came back.

"Would you like anything else?"

"Another pizza. To go, please." Callie smiled. "A pepperoni. Large."

"Gotcha." The crab wrote it down on a notepad.

"...here…" Cici handed him a handful of cash more than necessary , "Rest is….tip…"

The crab smiled widely. "Thank you, miss." He turned and headed for the kitchen.

Cici seemed completely focused on the TV.

"Hey…" Callie whispered toward Arisara. "You have any clue as to this?" She pointed at Cici with her thumb.

"I heard about her case at the hospital… but um… maybe not here. In front of her."

"Okay." Callie nodded. "Later then."

About ten minutes later they had all gotten out of the restaurant, Callie carrying a pizza box with her. Marie walked out followed by Arisara, while Jack was pulling Cici out by the hand, her head still looking at the TV.

"..." She seemed to go back to sleep and walked with him more easily.

"And she's out." Jack said as he saw her eyes close.

'Sleepy is back. Yay!" Callie cheered. "So we'll see you at the concert?"

"Yeah." Jack nodded. "See you then, Callie!" He waved before Cici started to drag him along, the roles reversing. "Hey, slow down, Cici. I'm coming."

"...Sorry…" She let him go and walked beside him.

"Alright...so we'll see you at the concert too, right?" Callie looked at Arisara.

"Of course. Later then, guys" Arisara bowed and walked away.

Callie and Marie both waved before turning and walking away.

"I wonder what Adstrum did while we were away...He wouldn't sleep all day. He hates it." Callie wondered.

"You know him better than me… so I don't know" Marie shrugged.

"I guess we'll see when we get to the bus." Callie smiled as she looked toward the sky, seeing it getting cloudy. "Huh. Hope it doesn't rain during our performance."

Author's Note: Hello again! I am back with another chapter. Sorry again for taking a while. Just...distracted with life. And other games. Currently freaking out because my Call of Duty: WWII disc is broken and I need to get it fixed. Unsure of a shop I used to go to is still around, but online reviews from a week ago give me hope. Anyway, you don't want to hear about that. So I'll shut up about it.

Thank you The Bowser Monster, boogfish72, SpikedFruitPunch, and Ashanti for leaving reviews. I greatly appreciate them.

Don't worry, Ashanti. The final chapter won't be for a while. Well, hopefully I can make the fic longer if I get some more help. I've been trying to do something with this fic.

As always, leave a review if you want to. And if you want to say something you don't like about the fic, then let me know. But you have to say ONE thing you do like about the fic. It can even be something small that you like. Anyways, thanks for reading everyone and I will see you next chapter!