Weeks had passed and the friendship between Francis and Arthur had grown. Constantly having fun on their free time together, it was nearly impossible to see one without the other at any given time. Soon Francis was also known as a regular in the "Hellhound" and if someone would meet the two for the first time, they would suspect the two had been friends for years. Although Francis had learned many things of his new friend, he still couldn't say he knew him well, since the Brit rarely talked about his family or his past. All he knew was that Arthur came from a big family and that he had left home when he was sixteen, but overall he had a pretty good grasp of his interests, skills, personality, habits; that sort of thing. That much had been cleared to him by their numerous visits to each other, but ever since Arthur won a PS3 and £100 worth of PSN money with a lottery, they've been visiting each other even more, because those rare boring evenings were boring no more.
They were currently in the middle of an intense racing game when discussing about the renovation plans concerning their apartment block. "So they received numerous complaints about the elevator and locks?" Francis asked, furiously tapping the turbo-button. "Yeah," Arthur replied and cursed the powerup in the middle of the road that he missed. "So they started the construction of proper stairs on the opposite side of the one where the fire-stairs are, extending the corridor. They'll still keep the elevator running though, something about historic value or that sort of thing. Oh, and the door-locks? They're going to install new ones free of charge, and those will have new keys and it can be locked from the inside without using a key." "That's neat." While Francis gloated over his close win over Arthur, the latter went to take a few beers from the fridge when there was a sudden knock on the door. Confused, he stared at the door and Francis asked whether he was expecting guests. Arthur shook his head and said he was more worried about how on earth did someone get behind his door in the first place. "Maybe whoever came to visit you used the fire-stairs?" Cautiously Arthur went for the door and opened it. "Scottie!" he exclaimed with surprise when a young man, slightly taller than him, hugged him. "Evenin', Bosey! How 've ye been, faggot?"
Allistor, or Scottie, as he was known midst his friends and family, was the youngest and the most mischievous of the Kirkland siblings, preceded in age by Arthur with three years. Strong and tall, he looked like a typical handsome Scottish highlander with dark red hair. Although constantly nagging at each other's throats, Arthur and Scottie were good brothers.
"Evenin', mutt!" Allistor greeted the English bulldog, having entered the flat. "An' who's that?" he asked pointing at Francis. "It's not polite to point, but it's not like you'd know anyway," Arthur said and took his brother's coat. "This is my good friend Francis. Francis, meet my brother: Allistor Kirkland." They shook hands and Francis had to admit to himself that although the two looked different, you could tell they were brothers. "Why are you here anyway?" Arthur asked, leaning against the counter, watching how Francis awkwardly stood in front of the television and how Scott was playing with Bosey (he was pulling the dog from ears and tail and it didn't give a single fuck about it). The younger brother stretched himself and yawned. "I'm on my way to Edinburgh so I thought I'd drop by for a minute and take the thing with me," he vaguely said, looking around himself. "What thing- oh," Arthur replied. "I'll go look for it." Arthur hurried to his office, shutting the door behind him. Not knowing what to do, Francis decided to talk to Scottie a little. "So... why did you call your brother a faggot? No, better yet, why Bosey? Isn't that the dog's name?" he asked quietly. Allistor continued pulling the dog and answered: "Well, yeah, but we used t' call lil' Artie "Bosey" in our childhood 'n' when he left home, he bought himself a mutt 'n' named it "Bosey", 'cause he felt all alone in th' big ol' worl' without us 'n' all. So he could hear the name on a regular basis, y'know? What a sad pathetic piece o' shit that faggot is." Having managed to understand through the accent what Scottie had said, Francis immediately saw Arthur in a new light. There had been something he couldn't quite put his finger on, but now he thought maybe it was the loneliness. He had always wondered why he had suddenly left his home in just his teenage years. Maybe something had happened, is that why he never talked about it? Francis found it odd, to say the least, because from what he had seen and heard, Arthur was currently on good terms with his family. The subject interested him, but he knew he shouldn't meddle in such type of business until Arthur himself chose to tell him. A few minutes later Arthur emerged from his office, holding a small package. "It was well hidden, sorry it took so long," he apologized and handed the pack over to his brother. "No need, thanks, Artie. Well, I'd better be off then, see ya in spring!" Scott said and left, leaving Arthur and Francis in a slightly less tenser atmosphere.
After an hour of furious sticker-collecting in LittleBigPlanet, Francis finally took up the courage to ask about the package. "I was wondering when you were going to ask me that," the Brit replied, hitting the pause button to get away from the frustrating jump he kept missing. He took a swig from the beer-bottle and continued: "To be honest, I have no idea what's inside it. We inherited it from our great-grandfather when we were young and he told us not to open it at any cost. Although our curiosities were burning, a Kirkland never goes down on his word so we have kept it sealed ever since. We took turns guarding it, it's our... our little thing, you see." Disappointed in just finding more mysteries circling around his friend, Francis only shrugged to the answer and they kept playing games into the late night.