Chapter 2: A Fated Encounter & The Bestowing

Within the inner-city lies Casa de Martinez, a modest home from outside appearances. But for the youth that lives there (and similarly aged visitors), its main draw is the basement that had been converted into a fusion of a home theater and elder son's bedroom. It was a strange arrangement, but Camillio wasn't much of a private person and welcomed any guest to the "Cam-Cave". And when you live with/next to nearly a dozen sisters, it makes for a good retreat.

– –09/07/2012– –

"Fix that turret, dude!" Cam shouted.

"I won't make it in time!" Lee responded desperately.

"They broke through!" Lincoln cried.

"Oh no, I'm dead," Lori uttered in boredom.

The three males of the quartet then sunk into the couch when the inevitable "Game Over" message came on the screen, groaning in defeat. Lori, the sole young lady, just rolled her glazed-over eyes.

"We were so close!" Lee lamented.

"Lori, why aren't you trying?" Lincoln complained to his eldest sister.

"Hey, you just said that you needed a fourth," Lori shot back. "You didn't ask for me to literally be involved."

"Would you have done that if I did ask?" Lincoln proposed.

"It would literally depend on the game," she answered smugly.

"No way, Loud!" Cam objected, "this house is a non-Triple-A area when you're here, comprende?"

"Oh-ho, I think someone is forgetting who's in charge of you all," Lori said, directing a glower to the short future-sophomore. "After all, I could let it slip that my dear little brother has been coming here to play rated M games behind my parents' backs." Lincoln gulped in fear.

Before Cam could make a regrettable retort, Lee stepped in to play mediator. "Hey, guys, could we act like civilized people while we're here please?" Seeing them slowly back off, he continued to say, "Come on, Lori; we'd never let Lincoln play this stuff if we didn't think he was up for it."

"Please, Lori?" Lincoln begged with his eyes resembling that of a puppy's, "I swear that this stuff doesn't give me nightmares." If his sister paid closer attention, she would have heard him mutter the word "anymore".

"Fine, I'll keep this between us," the eldest Loud sister begrudgingly relented.

"And Cam," Lee switched targets, "it couldn't hurt to have just one game with her, right?"

"Un-kay, bro," Cam yielded, "But she can't main as Princess Apricot."

"Fair enough," Lori complied. Just before she picked up the controller again, a buzzing was heard from her shorts' pocket. "Oh, I gotta take this. Be back in a sec, twerps." With that, she ascended the steps, leaving her current charges who immediately let out a sigh.

"How did you know just what to say?" Lincoln asked having rarely seen Lori so agreeable.

"It's all a matter of appealing to both sides' interests and getting them to give a little to get a little," surmised the red/black-haired teen.

"Yeah, man," Cam replied while swapping game discs. "You've been the negotiator ever since we were little."

"You know, I don't think I ever knew how you two met," the white-haired pre-teen pondered.

"You mean how 'you three' met?" Cam returned. "It just so happened that the Ping man and your musical hermana rescued me back in Third Grade; back then, I barely knew a lick of Inglés…"

– –10/2005– –

Mi familia was "fresh off the boat", so it was a struggle to woo the ladies. Luckily, the language of love was universal, and I made my moves on my first field trip: Green Diamond Park. I was wooing some of the popular girls with my natural charms and a carefully selected bouquet of local flowers. Little did I know, that I was stepping over some boundaries.

"Hola mi bellas damas," a primary-school-aged Camillio Martinez started before shifting to English attempts, "I thought of you when I found these." He then presented the pleasant yet rushed offering of wildflowers to the girls in front of him.

The two girls in question (one light blonde dressed in a violet blouse and black skirt; the other dirty blonde with pink-tinted glasses, white sweater, and pink skirt) looked back at him with some confusion before giggling and resuming their little chat.

Young Cam became crestfallen, wondering what he did wrong. Unfortunately, his pondering time was cut short by the sudden presence of a bigger, angrier classmate in a backward-cap.

"Hey, Cam," growled the larger boy, whose football-emblazoned t-shirt heaved as he puffed chest. "What do you think you're doing with Crystal?"

"H-hola, Steve," Cam stammered, "What did I do wrong?"

"Crystal is my girl, newbie!" Steve bellowed. "If you don't understand that, maybe you'll understand this!" Just before he could lay the beat-down on the smaller child, two new figures swooped in between them.

Facing the would-be aggressor was a young duo of Lee Ping and Luna Loud; their appearances varied from their older visages ranged from minor (Lee's bangs barely covering his forehead) to major (Luna sporting a full head of hair and wearing a lavender blouse & skirt combo).

"That's not gonna happen, dude," Lee proclaimed.

"Yeah, leave the little guy alone!" Luna added while giving Cam some space away from the bully.

"This doesn't have anything to do with you!" Steve shouted, "He's gotta pay for messing with my girl."

"Hey, I'm pretty sure that he wouldn't flirt with her if he knew she was with you," Luna shot back before turning to Cam. "Right, dude?"

"Sí – I mean, yes," Cam nodded nervously.

"Besides, do you really think she would appreciate knowing that you beat up someone in front of her?" Lee asked rhetorically.

"The name is Crystal," the confirmed girl in violet piped up, "And he has a point, Steve; you could have just told him off and be done with it."

"I – uh, I…" Steve trailed off as words failed him in embarrassment.

"Live and let love be your truth, big guy," Luna stated, "Show that you're worth it."

Steve seemed to ruminate on her words until his own finally came to him. "Fine. Just don't cross me again."

"Fair enough," Lee agreed, "We'll just be on our way." And with that, Lee, Luna, and Cam left the placated giant of a boy.

"Who'd have thought that the new kid would have some backup?" Steve wondered out loud.

"Well, at least we didn't have to get a teacher involved," Crystal remarked before turning the girl next to her. "Isn't that right, Brandy?"

The now-named girl snapped out of her dazed looking at the departing trio to respond with a "Yeah, sure."

"You alright, buddy?" Lee asked his and Luna's new companion once they were a safe distance away from another incident.

"Yes, muchas gracias to you both," came Cam's partially stunned reply.

"Think nothing of it; that's what mates are for," Luna said to cheer him up.

"Mates?" Cam wondered aloud.

"She means 'friends'," Lee answered, "Or maybe 'amigos' if you prefer?"

That sentence sparked a realization in young Cam's heart. These two have been the first kids his age that ever treated him with kindness. "'Amigos', huh? Me gusta eso..."

Little did we know that that day would lead to a beautiful friendship based on sticking up for each other & the little guy and shared love for the arts. Pretty cursi, huh?

– –Present Day– –

"And you guys remained friends ever since?" Lincoln asked amazed.

"Well, you're here; aren't ya, holmes?" Cam joked.

The basement steps creaked as Lori returned to the room, her face exhibiting her annoyance. "Twerps, our parents have the dinner ready, so we're heading off now." She then grinned in Cam's direction, "Looks like I'll have to smoke you in Triple-A some other time, Martinez."

"That's not a guarantee, chica!" came the young host's reply.

"Thanks for the story, Cam," Lincoln said while ascending the stairs.

"Yeah, I'll see you on Monday," Lee started to join them before Cam grabbed him for a moment.

"Be sure to knock them dead with your 'project', muchacho," Cam whispered.

Lee gave a small chuckle followed by a "Thanks, buddy" before joining up with Lincoln and Lori.

The drive back to Hancock Lane was a bit uneventful for Lee aside from Lori shooting down his attempts at getting rides to school from her. "You have your mom, the buses, and the streetcar; I'm not a charity car service that you can use whenever you want," she said. This attitude most likely came to be when she got her own car but was unable to escape her younger siblings' demands of being their chauffeur.

At least now, he was in his room now and readily collected the pieces of his project. "Hey, guys," Lee addressed the unseen audience. "I know you're a bit anxious to see the rest of my 'masterpieces', but you're going to need to wait until after dinner. It's mainly due to the younger half of the Loud sisters' table manners (or lack thereof) being an imminent danger. Nothing against them, but there's a reason that they have a kids' table."

"Now, you're probably wondering, 'Lee, why are your family and the Louds still having this dinner if that block party was the tradition?' Well, it's not against the law to have more than one tradition. And it's a more civil time to catch us all up on what's happened with us over the summer, you know? Share stories, talk about plans for the new school year; that sort of stuff. It almost feels like someone orchestrated our bonding. I mean in the practical sense, not the meta sense as that's obvious."

"Lee!" shouted his mother's voice from behind the door. "We're leaving now! Gather your things and come out of your room!"

"Alright guys, wish me luck!" Lee addressed the audience while rushing out of his room with his art portfolio cases.

The Loud family dinners tend to match their name, whether they had guests or not. And the ones that hosted the Pings were no exception. The array of dishes (Lynn Loud, Sr.: shepherd's pie & cheesy cauliflower casserole; Sue Ping: pineapple fried rice & red velvet cake), while delectable, wasn't the main draw; it was the conversation.

"So, how are you liking the Grown-Up Table, Linc?" Lee spoke to his young protégé.

"It's a nice step up from having to dodge peas at any moment," Lincoln answered with a twinge of satisfaction.

"Don't act like that you didn't enjoy it!" shouted Lana from the kids' table while taking aim at her sisters' faces with some of her rice.

"Plus, I'm stoked that I'm going to be in middle school this year," the white-haired youth announced. "I bet Bonnie and I will actually become popular this time."

"Good luck with that, Stink-coln!" mocked Lynn.

"Pay her no mind," Lee assured him. "Just be yourself. And remember, popularity isn't everything."

"Speaking from experience, huh?" Lori teased with a smug grin.

"Oh yeah," Luan recalled, "Your birthday that year was the one that most of us couldn't attend, so you got desperate enough to ask three of the popular kids to attend so it wasn't just you and Cam."

"Girls," tutted Mr. Loud, "there's no need to get into that."

"Sorry, Dad," Lori mumbled, "And to you too, Lee."

"I a-paw-logize, too," Luan stated while suddenly whipping out gloves shaped like dog paws and giving the puppy-dog eyes. This earned a bit of a chuckle from Mrs. Ping, and the rest of the table was collectively grateful that she didn't add her signature laugh and catchphrase this time.

"It's not like the party was a complete wash-out anyway," Luna spoke up. "Linc and I were there too."

"I don't remember much of it," Lincoln admitted, "but I'm pretty sure it was good."

"Oh yeah, remember when Cam was hypnotized into acting like a monkey?" Luna recalled to Lee. "That was hilarious!"

"Yeah but being on the lookout for the magic word whenever he's around and ready to snap him out of it sort of takes the fun out of it," Lee replied, some of Cam's close calls still fresh in his mind.

"It shouldn't be possible for someone to have a permanently altered state as exhibited by Mr. Martinez without the use of hypnotherapy," noted Lisa from the Kid's Table. "Not even the CIA has been able to produce such results."

"Anyway, what's new with my favorite neighbors?" Dr. Ping inquired, hiding some discomfort from Lisa's assessment. "I've been out of the loop for a while, and I'd love to know what I missed." Dr. Ping could've sworn that his wife's brow furrowed as he spoke.

"Well, Mr. Ping," Leni began, "I was totes going to be in this year's Total Drama season, but Mom and Dad said no."

"We just don't want to see you hurt, honey," Mrs. Loud reiterated. "That show is infamous for its unsafe challenges."

"You're being too nice, Rita," Mrs. Ping commented. "That show is a legal deathtrap; I'd rather my students fail than go on that show! Not that I want any of you to take me up on that."

"Of course, Mrs. Ping," Leni answered. "I'm just glad that I'm finally a sophomore."

"And, I'm glad that you've improved, as well," Mrs. Ping acknowledged before turning her attention the Kid's Table. "And congrats to your little tutor for actually teaching and not just giving you the answers."

Lisa said nothing but blushed at the praise.

"If only someone else would show as much interest in academics and extracurriculars that's proportional to their grades," the teacher-parent not-so-subtly called out her son.

"Come on, Mom," Lee sighed. "I've got time to do that when I'm Lori's age."

"Don't use me as an excuse to cruise through high school, Lee," Lori shot back. "I'm involved with a lot of things; it's just that few of them ever take place at school."

"Hang on now, dudes," Luna chimed in. "Lee and I still have our duo act, so that's something, right?"

"True," the rest of the diners confirmed that that was indeed something.

"And just you wait," Luna began to boast, "When we play the Battle of the Bands, we'll be up to necks in gigs!"

"But, if you don't win, it will just be a Loud Ping to be forgotten," Luan jested, though she seemed to regret it from the look that Lee gave her. "Just messing with you guys."

"Speaking of big developments," Mr. Loud announced. "The Loud House is going to have another mouth to feed!"

The Pings collectively dropped their forks in shock. This prompted Luan & Lynn the younger to get into a fit of laughter.

"You should really consider your phrasing, Lynn," Mrs. Loud chided her husband. "What he meant is that my father is going to be staying with us."

"Wow, did something happen to Big Al?" Dr. Ping asked.

"Nothing's wrong with him physically," Mrs. Loud admitted. "It's just that his retirement home has been put under investigation for abuse charges, and he didn't want to stay with Aunt Ruth."

"I'm so sorry, Rita," Dr. Ping sympathized. "I just hope you have the room."

"We'll be heading back to Royal Woods to pick him up next week, but we might need some help," Mr. Loud added. "Not with the move, the older ones have it covered."

"Darn straight," Lynn Jr. grinned before flexing and kissing her biceps.

"It's just that Lincoln and the little ones need to be babysat for that time," Mr. Loud continued. "I don't suppose you could do us a solid?"

"Wait a minute," Lincoln managed to have a say, "How come I wasn't asked to babysit?"

"It'd be just too much to ask of you, son," Mr. Loud answered. "We're going to be away for most of the weekend."

"We'd be happy to help," Mrs. Ping accepted.

The entirety of the Kids' Table gave a collective sigh, though Lucy literally said the word "sigh". Knowing the no-nonsense household of their new charges, this would prove to be a dull weekend.

"Hey, everyone," Lee drew all eyes to him. "After dinner, I've got something that I wanted to give you all."

"Can't we see it now?" Lola whined.

"It's best to be shown without the risk of food stains," the partial redhead declared.

As the two families gathered in the Louds' living room after cleaning up their food, Lee stood in front of the TV with his portfolio cases flanked on each side of him, just about ready dispense with the gifts. "Thank you for being here, everyone," he began.

"Where else would we be? We just had dinner," Luan goofed before being harshly shushed by everyone else.

"It's been ten years since you've all come to the neighborhood," Lee continued. "In fact, a lot of you were even born here. As time passed, I've felt that we've grown close enough to be like family ourselves, and it's in that spirit that I give these to you in no particular order (I swear)."

Lee dug into the case on his right and took out a large manila envelope that had the words "For Lola" written on it. "Maybe this will inspire your future pageant outfits?"

Out of the envelope was a portrait of Lola Loud in a pink, poofy princess dress, bordered by pink ribbons and chrysanthemum flowers, with a fairy tale castle in the background and her name in cursive letters above her.

"Eeeeeee!" Lola squealed in delight and ran towards Lee to get a better look at her portrait. "Is this really mine to keep?"

"Yep," Lee answered. "They're all for you guys put wherever you like."

"And before you ask," Dr. Ping whispered to the much younger genius next to him, "I've treated them with a coating that should protect the art from Loud House-levels of wear-&-tear."

"That is quite the astute precaution considering my familial unit's destructive nature," Lisa affirmed his decision. "Of course, who am I to talk?"

After handing off the gift to the pageant princess of the family, Lee continued by pulling out another envelope; this one had "For Mr. & Mrs. Loud" written on it.

"For the heads of my family that I see as Aunt and Uncle," Lee announced with some embarrassment, earning a playful chuckle from both sets of parents, before making the reveal.

This dual portrait consisted of the heads of the Loud household dressed up as a king and queen duo with regal robes matching their usual shirt colors (Mr. Loud: primarily sea green, secondarily light green; Mrs. Loud: cerise pink, white) and seated on thrones. On Mr. Loud's side, his crown was shaped like a chef's hat; the top of his scepter had a cooking knife, and his throne seemed to consist of various ingredients just waiting to be prepared into a dish. On Mrs. Loud's side, her tiara was shaped like the tip of a fountain pen; her scepter's top resembled a writer's quill, and her throne was constructed from books that seemed to be written by its occupant. The parent's full names (Lynn Loud Sr. and Rita Loud) were emblazoned on the top of their respective thrones.

"Wow, Lee," Mrs. Loud managed to make out in shocked happiness, "I'm at a loss for words."

"I haven't seen such a flattering version of myself before in my life," Mr. Loud sighed happily while receiving the art-piece from his honorary nephew.

"Yours was a little… dark for me, Lucy", Lee announced hesitantly after he pulled out an envelope that had this Loud child's name on it.

The art piece was considerably dark in both elements and composition, as Lucy was depicted as lying in a crimson silk-lined, black coffin. She was dressed in a gothic dress that harkened to Victorian-era fashion; her top incisors protruded from her mouth in a resemblance to vampire fangs (which was the vibe Lee intended), and her eyes seemed to have a red glow emanating through her jet-black bangs. The girl's name was written in a red script that had dripping effects reminiscent of blood.

Most of the Loud family seemed paralyzed in fear. They even jumped when Lucy, the sole outlier, seemingly got the picture and returned to her seat in a matter of moments.

"This painting fills my dark heart with immense joy," the goth girl monotoned with the slightest hint of a smile. "Thank you so much, Lee."

"You're welcome," Lee smiled back to mask his fear before pulling out another envelope with Lisa's name. "And now for the residential genius."

Lisa's portrait had the young prodigy surrounded by various scientific equipment and standing in front of a blackboard covered in math equations. The girl in question was dressed in a lab coat that covered a sweater that was like the real thing but with "E=MC^2" emblazoned diagonally like a sash; her glasses had some technological additions that seemed to obscure her eyes from view. The weird thing is that her name didn't appear to be present anywhere.

Lisa stepped up to receive her painting and closely examined it. "Impressive, adjacent domicile inhabitant," she praised in her own way. "The calculations are accurate, and you managed to hide my name in a creative cipher among them."

"Just figured you'd appreciate the extra details," Lee told her as she went back to her seat before pulling out the latest envelope. "Next up is Lynn."

"Oh, I can't wait to see this!" Lynn grinned in anticipation.

The new portrait has the young sports star standing atop a mountain composed of gold medals with a red and white flag as a background. Her attire consisted of similarly colored tracksuit; her pose consisted of pointing her right hand up with the index finger sticking out, and her pompous energy exuded from her prideful smile. Her name was bright and bold against the flag.

"I didn't realize you were psychic, Lee," Lynn praised while retrieving the art piece. "Either way, I'm using this as motivation. Thanks!"

'What have I done?' Lee thought to himself, concerned that he stroked the athlete's ego to levels previously unheard. He recollected himself and took out an envelope with Luan's name on it.

"Well," Luan spoke up, "Let's see it; I'm practically Lee-Ping with anticipation. Hahahahahahaha! Get it?"

The room was suddenly filled with combined groans by every other soul in the room, especially the Pings. Not even Mrs. Ping's sense of humor would tolerate it; Lee to this day wished Luan never knew his name.

Luan's portrait had the girl taking up the left of the frame in front of a brick-wall backdrop. She was dressed in a yellow pantsuit, held a microphone in her right hand and a cigar (engraved with the word "Chocolate") in the left, and was in a pose akin to a certain popular human-sized rabbit. On the right of the frame was a speech balloon that said "Luan't seen nuthin' yet; you'll laugh out Loud!" with the words stacked up vertically.

The picture clearly tickled the Loud comedienne's funny bone. "I should've known, unlike what I'm going to do this baby, that you wouldn't leave me hanging."

"Well, comedy is supposed to mess with expectations," Lee smugly explained.

"So, true," Luan agreed as she took her picture with him.

With that out of the way, Lee brought out the next envelope. "Lana, try to keep this clean please?"

"I make no promises," the tomboy twin stated bluntly, though her demeanor would change with the reveal.

This picture has Lana inside of a stylized Yin Yang symbol where one side was filled with various flora and fauna, and the other had mechanical elements that leaned on the inner workings of modern appliances and vehicles. The girl was dressed in coveralls that was covered in a different kind of grime based on where she fell in the symbol; she had her arms crossed with each hand holding a tool that corresponded in their respective environments (binoculars in the "nature" side; screwdriver in the "industry" side). In lieu of opposite dots within the symbol, both parts of her name occupied those spots ("Lana" written in metallic script within the nature side in the upper left part of the frame near her shoulder; "Loud" in grass-dirt script in the industry side in the lower right part near her leg).

"Well?" Lee asked smugly as the Loud girl came to receive her portrait.

"I'll do my best," Lana replied reluctantly as it finally dawned on her that she'd need to clean up her act a bit, unaware that the Ping boy already took precautions and just wanted to mess with her.

"For the sister that looks out for all of us," Lee announced, having taken out the envelope containing Lori's picture.

"Now this, I've got to see," Lori chirped up, putting away her phone.

The eldest Loud sister's portrait appeared simple enough with a golf course as the background. Lori was dressed in a yellow polo shirt, green skirt, and a sky-blue visor; she held a golf club in her left hand and a massive trophy in the right. The clouds above her spelled out her name, and she had a massive smile on her face. One odd inclusion was a shadowy figure whose face was obscured by the trophy; whoever they were was holding a sign that read "Marry Me!"

"As good as this is," Lori pondered while pointing at the silhouette, "who is that supposed to be?"

"Well, you kept telling us about that boyfriend of yours none of us got to see, so I figured he'd get some recognition too," Lee answered. "I could remake it with him in full if you're willing to share."

"Nice try, twerp," the girl playfully denied her neighbor access to her personal life while walking back to her seat with her gift.

"Almost had it," Lee cursed to himself then proceeded to the next envelope. "Leni, you're up."

"Up for what?" Leni asked, making her confusion known. Lee had to resist the urge to smack his head and just unveiled her portrait.

This picture brought back the fairy tale motif with a modern twist by having Leni dressed as a fairy, using her wand to transform roles of fabrics into impressive, fashionable clothing. The backdrop was a fashion design studio, and one outfit was being formed with floating tools for the craft. Rather than a regular dress, Leni's attire had a seafoam pantsuit with glass-like butterfly wings emerged from her back as she flew to tend to her work. Below her person was her name beautifully decorated in glitter to resemble fairy dust.

"This is really good, Lee," Leni complimented, "but I totes think I could make better clothes than these."

"Understood," Lee stated flatly as he handed the painting to the unexpected critic. After regaining his composure, he proceeded to take out the next envelope which was addressed to the baby of the family. "I'm sure you'll grow to appreciate this, Lily."

Lily perked up from her mother's lap, naturally curious about what the boy with the strange hair had in store for her.

This painting had a simple yet meta appeal as the baby girl was making a painting of her family. She was dressed in a lavender smock that enveloped her body below her head, holding a paintbrush and an artist palette with 13 different paint dollops, and had the biggest, bubbliest smile one would ever see. And by feet was Lily's name written in the style of paint splattering.

To show her praise, Lily loudly clapped and laughed. In response, Lee brought the portrait to her parents and rustled her hair, earning him another laugh from him.

"Lee?" Luan piped up, being suspicious. "Are you sure you didn't plan the order on the unveiling?"

"Hey," Lee defended. "I've shuffled these several times to be fair. If you want to blame anyone, blame the Writer."

"Who?"

"Never mind," Lee sighed and just took out the next envelope; a smile grew on his face as he turned towards the sole Loud son. "Lincoln, I think your really going to like this one."

Free from its covering, Lincoln's portrait closely resembled a superhero comic book cover. His costume resembled the appearance of the boy's favorite superhero, Ace Savvy, but its usual red was replaced with Lincoln's signature orange. The scenery was a city backdrop where the boy seemed to be flying above it. "Lincoln Loud is Ace Savvy" was written in the usual cover format with a perfect recreation of the Ace Savvy trademark.

"This is amazing, hyeong!" Lincoln commended as he approached. "Though, I am curious as to how I become Ace in this thing."

"Well, maybe Ace decided to pass on his power to someone he found worthy," Lee answered. "Someone that's got the heart of a hero. Someone like my little bro," He added while putting his free hand on Lincoln's shoulder.

"Thanks," Lincoln replicated his portrait's smile before heading back to his seat.

"Guess that leaves oh lonesome me," Luna playfully summed up.

"Again, it's a total coincidence on my part," Lee stated with a sly grin before unveiling his final piece.

This meticulously crafted work depicted the musical Loud girl performing an intense solo on her color-coordinated guitar. She was also singing her heart out with an open-mouthed smile. A concert stage was the setting with silhouettes of indistinct band members behind her and the raised fists of the audience below her. And the final touch was Luna's name in the form of lights atop the stage.

"Well?" Lee asked the stunned rocker girl. "What do you think?"

It was Lee's turn to be shocked when Luna answered his question with a kiss on the cheek. "How's that for a seal of approval?" she smirked.

Both sets of parents exchanged knowing looks while the rest of the Loud siblings gave reactions that varied from "Aw" to "Ew".

This caused Lee and Luna to separate from each other (with the painting now in the latter's hands), blushing heavily.

"Well, they're never gonna let us live this down, huh?" Lee sighed.

"Preaching to the choir, love," Luna agreed.

Inside his quarters, the boy with teal-flecked hair was sitting on his bed, bouncing a ball against the wall. Now that it has since been cleaned of the botched face-painting, the boy's frustration could be seen in his Eurasian features. 'This is all too weird,' he thought. 'They're right here, but we can't just go up to them. There's so much that I want to ask them, but they don't have the answers yet. Especially the big question: just how did they all —'

"Hey, Stink-breath," interrupted the girl with the scarlet skunk-stripe as she stepped into the room. "How are you holding up?"

"Just thinking about how crazy this all is," Teal-Flecks shared. "The stuff we were only told in stories are going to happen while we're here."

"Good luck trying to get an eyewitness of the stuff," Scarlet-Stripe lectured. "Agent Chrono-Flower was very lenient on allowing us to attend that party. And even then, we were still lectured for directly interacting with our aunts."

"Hey, at least I wasn't the one who got in touch with one of the two who could've exposed us, miss 'What's one fortune-telling session going to do?'," Teal-Flecks shot back.

"Fine, you've made your point," Scarlet-Stripe sighed. "I'm just as curious as you, but we've got to play it safe for now."

"We crossed the line of safety by just joining this mission; why can't we get a closer look?" Teal-Flecks whined.

"We have to let the events play out naturally or else we might end fading out of existence, like in that ancient movie," Scarlet-Stripe asserted. "Besides, how could we even explain our family situation when it hasn't even been legalized yet?"

"I figured that we could at least tell Dad," Teal-Flecks shrugged. "At least his reaction would be hilarious no matter how he takes it."

"Can't you take any of this seriously?!" Scarlet-Stripe yelled, visibly frustrated by her fraternal twin.

A knock on the door interrupted the sibling feud, followed by the entry of their swarthy compatriot in orange-black dreads. "Luke? Lian? Good, you're both here," he said, "Agent Chrono-Flower has an update for us."

"Don't think this is over," the newly dubbed Lian growled at Luke before exiting the room.

"You've been talking about messing with the timeline, haven't you?" Orange-Dreads asked Luke rhetorically.

Luke's answer was an awkward smile to which Orange-Dreads responded by shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"This is precisely why you were restricted from interacting with any relatives outside of Aunt Leni," he bluntly condescended.

A/N: Well, this was tough to churn out. Feel free to leave a review and/or constructive criticism; I'd really appreciate it.