seen from Italy
seen from Netherlands
seen from Singapore
seen from Türkiye
seen from India
seen from Australia
seen from Türkiye
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Russia
seen from United States
seen from T1
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Japan
seen from Spain
seen from Singapore
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Italy
Sam goes to kingsmen mechanics, sees Arthur, and leaves
Naturally Lance is like ‘what the hell was that all about’
Arthur explains The Target Incident to him
Well looks like someone is getting chased with a rifle–
YESSSSSSSS
Let Lance go to fuckin TOWN
This is my first time drawing Lance sorry if he look a little bit weird (i mean his arm look kinda muscular and idk how to draw muscle)
Mystery Crossing? Animal Skulls? Whatever it is, I decided to draw it and share it with you owo
MSA +1 Between: Familiar Strangers
It was only a few minutes later that Vivi’s family arrived. “Vivi!” Serena gave her a hug before pulling back to look her over. “Are you okay?”
Vivi nodded. “The doctors gave me a clean bill of health.”
“I will be the judge of that,” said Obaa-san as she walked over. She gestured for Vivi the kneel, which she did. Obaa-san frowned and muttered an incantation under her breath. “Something’s wrong.”
“What?” No one had noticed anything odd…Wait. They had no way of seeing if something was wrong. “I am missing about a week’s worth of memories.”
Hiro knelt down. “Okaasan is right. There’s some sort of…film over your eyes. It’s barely noticeable.”
“I can still see just fine so it’s not affecting my vision,” said Vivi. “Any idea what it might be?”
“Hard to say, but it definitely shouldn’t be there,” said Hiro. “The problem is we’d likely need to see it active to know what it does exactly, and it might do something harmful.”
That was a catch 22. Vivi wanted to know what it would do, but she didn’t want to risk damaging her eyes or something.
And that reminded her of Sydney again. She started crying again, leaning into her mother. “I had a fight with Sydney.”
“Friends fight sometimes,” said Serena in an attempt to console Vivi.
Vivi shook her head. “Not like this. There was yelling. She said I wasn’t taking our investigations seriously. That I wasn’t paying attention to how often we ended up in trouble. That I wasn’t letting her and Arthur do other things they might enjoy. That we needed breaks!” Vivi sniffled. “I think…I knew she had a point, but I didn’t want to admit she was right because that would mean I was being selfish and careless. So I said it wasn’t that bad, that we would be fine, and that she could choose the next place we went to. She wasn’t happy. We ended up yelling at each other.” Vivi took a breath. “She was right!”
And as Vivi broke down crying she wondered if her friends would ever want to talk to her again.
Vivi was still crying when Lance arrived with a few other people she didn’t recognize. Lance initially ignored the Yukinos, instead checking in at the front desk. The people who had followed him in came over to the Yukinos. “Vivi, are you okay?” asked the man.
Vivi blinked. “Uh, yes…” Why did he care?
“Did you guys get attacked by a ghost?” asked one of the girls.
Vivi frowned. Her head was starting to hurt. “I don’t know. I can’t-” Her head was pounding. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”
The whole ER seemed to fall silent. Vivi looked around at the shocked faces and felt like she’d said the wrong thing somehow.
Suddenly everyone started talking over each other. Vivi wasn’t sure why, but it felt like her head hurt more and more as the volume increased. She couldn’t breathe! She…she…
Blood.
Vivi passed out.
Once Vivi was placed on a bench with Serena watching after her and the Pepper kids, the rest of the adults met in Sydney’s room to discuss things.
“How is Sydney doing?” asked Mrs. Pepper.
Sydney Sr. put a hand on Junior’s forehead. “The doctor’s say she should be okay. She probably won’t wake up for another day or two.” Sydney Sr. sighed. “I guess she won’t be going to any archery competitions for a while…”
“She should still keep some arrows on her,” said Granny Yukino.
“No now, Mother,” said Hiro. “The most pressing issue right now is Lewis’ location.”
“He wouldn’t have just abandoned them,” said Mr. Pepper. “And they wouldn’t abandon him. So…so what happened?”
“Vivi doesn’t remember him,” Lance said suddenly.
“What? But they’ve known each other for a decade,” said Mr. Pepper.
“I think it’s a curse,” said Hiro. “There’s a…film of some sort over Vivi’s eyes. It’s barely noticeable, but when you arrived and started asking about Lewis, it suddenly became much worse until she passed out. I think it’s keeping her from remembering him.”
“Wait. So it was a ghost or somethin’ like that?” asked Sydney Sr. “I thought Sydney protected them from that sort of thing.”
“She’s too tired,” said Granny Yukino. “She exhausted her powers enough that protection wasn’t possible.”
“Her aura does seem a lot weaker than usual,” agreed Hiro. “It would still take something powerful to do that sort of damage though. It’s not something most investigators ever encounter.”
“Would this entity still have Lewis?” asked Mrs. Pepper.
Hiro crossed his arms in thought. “It’s possible, but Vivi can’t remember where the events took place. I will probably need to wait for Sydney or Arthur to wake up and tell me.”
“Actually, I talked with the nurses before, and it sounded like Sydney didn’t know what happened either,” said Sydney Sr.
“Yeah, the doc said Arthur’s probably gonna have some memory loss,” added Lance. “…And maybe other brain damage.”
Everyone winced at that, but no one knew what to say to console Lance.
“Maybe I can look at Vivi’s travel plans and figure out where they went,” said Hiro, giving Mystery a significant look. Mystery gave a subtle nod. They’d be working on the problem later on. “And…if you’d rather Vivi stay away for now, I understand and would prefer if you tell me now so I can pass it on to her.”
“Damn straight I want her to stay away from Junior!” said Sydney Sr. He gestured towards Sydney Jr. “Look what she did! I know Sydney’s got a habit of getting in trouble, but she doesn’t go lookin’ for it!”
Lance nodded. “Yeah, yer family’s done a lot to help us, but Vivi’s not coming near Arthur until she understands why I’m angry with her.”
“That shouldn’t take too long,” commented Granny Yukino.
Mr. Pepper sighed. “I personally don’t mind, but considering what happened when we saw Vivi before…”
“You probably have to avoid Vivi for her own health, yes,” admitted Hiro. “But rest assured we will be working on figuring out what happened to her and how to reverse it.”
“Aaaand…how long is that gonna take?” drawled Sydney Sr.
Hiro sighed. “I have no idea. It depends on how strong the curse is, what is necessary to remove it safely, possibly the position of the celestial bodies.”
“As it is not actively harming her we are going to be as careful and thorough as possible,” added Granny Yukino.
Hiro nodded. “It’s very inconvenient for all of us, but if circumstances were a bit different it wouldn’t be an issue.”
“We’ll keep the children away from Vivi for now,” said Mrs. Pepper. “They won’t like it, but after how she reacted before I'm sure they'll understand."
Watcher
Lance Kingsmen knew he wasn't the most gentle of men.
He was a gruff, no nonsense mechanic that generally didn't take crap from anyone and had a habit of threatening to throw wrenches at anyone that caused trouble in his shop. Yet he rarely lost his temper in the face of the curve balls he'd been thrown throughout his life. He tended to take the world's weirdness in stride.
His brother having weird, magic-like powers? Okay, so long as he didn't destroy anything, Lance could put up with it.
Said brother marrying a snake lady? Fine. She seemed nice enough, but she better not eat him.
Their weird (but kinda cute) snake kid liking machines? Cool, he could deal. He finally had someone he could talk shop to.
Ending up having to raise his nephew? A challenge, but he wasn't one turn away family that needed him. (Thank god the local library had books on snakes and snake care, though.)
Nephew joining a Paranormal Club? Not too far fetched. Best place to hide a tree is in a forest, right? 'Sides, the friends he was making seemed nice enough.
His nephew loosing an arm, a friend, and a chunk of his memory all in one night? He was NOT cool with that, but he'd do his damnedest to help get the boy back on his feet/tail. They were all family to him, and he'd help them as best he could.
One of those damned, anti-cryptid bastards showing up and talking crap in his shop? HELL to the NO.
Lance openly glared at the man who was all but terrorizing his nephew over the work he'd done on the man's car. He knew, without a doubt, that Arthur's handy work was flawless (as always!) and he could see the pin on the man's chest that labeled him as part of the kind groups that had taken away his brother's life and orphaned his nephew. The guy spouting thinly veiled slander about what Arthur was, covering up just enough to keep from breaking the “no revealing without absolute trust” laws, very quickly working up Lance's temper. (He didn't remember what those rules/laws were actually called at the moment, nor did he care.)
He could also see, out of the corner of his eye, that Arthur's friend Vivi was being restrained by the big guy who had recently joined their paranormal group, and Mystery quietly growling by their feet. The big guy may not like Arthur (for some reason), but even he was looking more and more livid about what he was hearing as the seconds ticked by.
“...Living off your upstanding Uncle like a leech, he should have just dumped you like the worthless thing your kind are-!”
CRASH!
The wrench Lance had been holding was now lodged into the wall beside the “costumer”, having hit it just after ghosting by the man's nose. After letting out an incredibly un-manly squeal, the guy whipped around to face the mechanic and visibly paled at what he saw.
Years and years ago his brother Tristan had told him that, despite his short stature, Lance was utterly terrifying when he was enraged. So much that Tristan had said he'd rather run screaming in the opposite direction than face him in a temper.
Good to know he still had that effect.
“Get out.” His tone was as warm as the Arctic Circle, and the rage in it was easy to hear. “I don't care who or what you are, but no one talks shit about my family. Ever. Now get out and don't you ever come back.” The man gave a fearful swallow, but started to look defiant. “No, you listen here, this is MY place of business and not only are you harassing my employee, but you're harassing a member of my family and I won't stand for it. So you can either leave on your own, or I can let my OTHER employee's finish calling the police and let you be arrested for unlawful HARASSMENT. It's your choice.”
The man started to puff up, only to look around and finally notice that everyone in the garage (employees, costumers, even a couple passers by) were all scowling and sending him dirty looks. A few even had their phones out, either recording what was going on or possibly doing like Lance threatened, calling the police.
It was probably the first time the guy realized just how his little scene must have looked to everyone else.
He could see the man gritting his teeth, before snatching his keys up and storming off to his car.
Lance wasn't a conventional “family man”, but that definitely didn't mean that he wouldn't watch out for his own.
Before MSA + 1: Hamster
Arthur had been eating his breakfast when Uncle Lance looked over his newspaper at Arthur and said, “I think it’s time for you to get a pet.”
Arthur stopped eating and blinked at Lance in surprise. “What?” He’d never asked for a pet. Arthur didn’t even think he’d expressed any interest in a pet. Did he even give off the impression of that he’d be able to take care of a pet? “Why?”
“You like your friend’s dog,” answered Uncle Lance. “And having a pet will help you become more responsible.”
Personally, Arthur thought he was already more responsible than normal for his age. He wasn’t sure how he compared to an adult. “I’m not sure I’m ready for a dog.”
“Yeah, not a good idea,” agreed Lance.
Arthur blinked. “So…” If Uncle Lance agreed Arthur wasn’t ready for a dog, then he probably wouldn’t consider a cat either. “So what then?”
“Maybe a bird or a hamster.”
Arthur blinked. “I don’t really get why people keep rodents as pets. Chickens are pretty useful, but I don’t think that’s what you’re talking about.”
Oh, did Uncle Lance’s face just twitched? It was hard to tell because of all the hair, but it sure looked like Arthur had said something that affected Lance. “We’re going to the animal shelter after school.”
Arthur felt weirdly conflicted.
“And then he said we’d be going to the animal shelter after school,” finished Arthur. “I’m…kind of confused. I kind of thought pets were something kids ask for, but Uncle Lance is kind of forcing this on me.”
“Why wouldn’t you want a cute, fluffy pet?” asked Sydney. “I ask Mom and Dad for a pet every year, but they always say that they don’t want to destroy the house.” She paused. “I don’t think it would be that bad…”
“I’d kind of like a pet too,” agreed Lewis. “But, well, it sounds like most animals would be pretty stressed out by living in a haunted house, and I don’t want to do that to ‘em.”
“Plus you don’t have enough room for an alpaca,” added Sydney.
Arthur blinked. “A what?”
Lewis perked up. “Oh, do you know what a llama is?” Arthur nodded. “An alpaca is a friendly, fluffier llama. My parents took Sydney and me to a farm when we were little kids, and it was so much fun!”
Sydney snickered. “We had to drag him away. He wanted to stay with the alpacas.”
“Well, I doubt Uncle Lance will be getting me an alpaca,” said Arthur.
Lewis nodded. “Yeah, you have to get them in pairs because they can die from loneliness.”
…Arthur made a note to ask if that was something that he would need to worry about with whatever he ended up with.
“So can we come with you and look at the puppies?” asked Sydney.
Arthur thought for a minute. “Maybe. You’d have to ask your parents and Uncle Lance.”
Several hours later:
“I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t as long as Mr. Kingsmen says it’s all right,” said Frigg.
Sydney Sr. nodded. “Ditto.”
Arthur stared. “Why are you wearing a skirt?” asked Arthur.
“Hey, if girls can wear pants whenever they want, then I can wear a dress whenever I want,” answered Sydney Sr.
Arthur didn’t know how to reply to that so he just accepted the sympathetic shoulder pats from Lewis and Sydney Jr.
Sydney Sr’s choice in clothing got a surprised double take from Uncle Lance but no comments. He turned to Arthur. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, could Lewis and Sydney come with us?”
Lance raised an eyebrow but shrugged. “I guess. Not much is gonna be going on though.”
“That’s okay,” said Lewis.
“I wanna see the kitties!” added Sydney.
“Not cats this time,” said Lance. “The biggest thing he’s getting is a guinea pig.”
“…Those are cute too,” Sydney decided.
And they all piled into Lance’s truck and started off. It was a bit of a tight fit, but the kids (and Lance but no one was going to say that out loud) were small enough to make that work.
They did not end up at a pet store. This was simply because Lance didn’t want any of the larger animals deciding they wanted to go home with Arthur…or Arthur deciding he wanted a larger animal. The latter didn’t seem likely, but Lance didn’t think he’d be able to say no.
Instead, they wound up at a normal looking house. The kids were visibly confused. “It’s a private rescue,” explained Lance. One that specialized in rodents in particular. If Arthur didn’t see anything he liked, Lance had the address of a bird rescue to try next.
“Do we just go in?” asked Sydney.
“They’re expecting us, but knock first.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, Sydney was the one who ran up to the door and knocked at it. It was opened by a plump, late-middle aged woman. “Yes?”
“Hi! I’m Sydney! My friend Arthur’s here to get a new fluffy friend!”
By that time the guys had caught up to her. The woman smiled. “Oh, then you must be Mr. Kingsman.”
Lance nodded. “Yup. This is Arthur.” Arthur waved. “And his other friend, Lewis.”
Lewis smiled. “Hello, Miss.”
She smiled back. “Hello to you too.” She moved aside so they could enter the house.
The first thing they noticed was a pen full of sawdust and guinea pigs. There were also tubes for hamsters to run through. Sydney let out a squeal and ran over to the guinea pigs, startling a few of them. “Piggies!” Lewis and Arthur followed more calmly.
“They are adorable,” agreed the woman. “But they’re extremely social so you’d have to adopt at least two.”
Lewis grinned. “Like alpacas.”
“Right.”
“I probably should start with only one pet,” commented Arthur. So no guinea pigs then. “So, I guess we look around a bit…”
There were some rabbits, some gerbils, a couple of chinchillas, several hamsters, a squirrel, and a sugar glider.
“Where’d the squirrel came from?” asked Sydney.
“Oh, an older man rescued her as a baby and raised her. He died not too long ago, and she doesn’t know how to take care of herself in the wild,” she explained.
“…Can I feed her acorns?”
“She prefers pinecones.”
Arthur just stared at all the animals that had were in enclosures or wandering around. So…how was he supposed to do this? Did he just choose one? He experimentally poked a gerbil that was chewing on a pellet.
The gerbil didn’t react. Arthur had to admit it was kind of boring. He should probably stick to a pet that he had some interest in.
…Arthur had no idea how to do this. He thought about the interactions between Vivi and Ben. He should look for something like that? But these were hamsters. Could they even form the same type of bond with a human as a dog?
Arthur felt something hit his foot. He looked down and saw a hamster ball containing a tiny hamster. He picked up the ball. “Is this a baby?”
She shook her head. “It’s a dwarf hamster. They’re smaller than the other breeds.”
Lewis snickered and playfully elbowed Sydney. “That sounds familiar.” Sydney’s response was to jump on him. The woman ignored the rough housing in favor of showing Arthur how to open the hamster ball.
Arthur studied the hamster as it scurried around his cupped hands. He quickly put it on the table, where it scurried about. When he put his hand on the table, the little hamster started scurrying back and forth over it.
“Aw…she likes you,” said the woman.
Arthur blinked. “Really?” He pet the top of the hamster’s head. She nuzzled into his hand. “I think…you’re right.”
And that was how Arthur found himself with a hamster in a cage with several pet supplies.
“Cute…” cooed Lewis.
“What ‘cha gonna call her?” asked Sydney.
“Um…” Arthur watched the tiny hamster running on her wheel. It was a pretty small cage. He should use his saved up allowance to get her a hamster ball and some tubing. “My family seems to have a habit of using Arthurian names…” He wasn’t sure he wanted to name his pet after one of the people he’d left behind. “I’m not sure I want to use that sort of name.”
“What about Shakespeare?” asked Sydney.
“I don’t know any girl names from that except for Juliet,” said Arthur. Not the best option.
“What about Puck?” suggested Lewis.
“What does hockey have to do with it?” asked Arthur.
“No, it’s a character from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’,” explained Lewis.
“But she’s the size of a hockey puck,” added Sydney. “So she is sort of like one.”
“Definitely shouldn’t try using her like one though,” said Lewis.
Sydney winced. “Yeah, that would be awful.”
Arthur shuddered at the mental image. “No, no, no pucks.”
“Maybe Cadence?” suggested Sydney. “I have no idea if that’s Camelot or Shakespeare or what, but it sounds fancy.”
“Fancy counts I guess,” said Arthur. “Sure, let’s go with that.” He stuck a few fingers into the cage. “What do you think?” Cadence the hamster sniffed at his fingers for a moment before going back to running on her wheel. “Cadence it is.”
They watched Cadence for a few more moments.
“So, how are we going to introduce Cadence to Vivi and Ben?” asked Sydney.
“…Do dogs eat rodents or is that just cats?” asked Arthur.
“They have sharp teeth,” admitted Lewis. “So I guess they might.”
“Ben’s pretty tame though,” said Sydney. “Have you ever seen him act threatening at all? I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him bare his teeth or growl.”
Ben was pretty well behaved. Maybe it would be okay to introduce him and Vivi to a small dwarf hamster.
Vivi and Ben stared at the small hamster currently running around the dojo in a hamster ball. “She’s adorable,” said Vivi.
“Yeah, it kind of makes me want one,” agreed Lewis. “I think my parents would want to wait until Belle’s a bit older though.”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be responsible enough to take care of another living being,” said Sydney.
“Does that include children?” asked Arthur.
Sydney paused. “That is a good question.” Her eyes averted, and she giggled. “Heh, Ben.”
Ben was batting at Cadence’s hamster ball. “Is that okay?” asked Arthur.
“Um…probably. Ben sometimes chases squirrels, but this doesn’t look like that,” said Vivi. Ben decided to lay down with the ball and Cadence between his front paws. “See? He’s making himself smaller so he looks less intimidating to Cadence.”
“Does Ben have any animal friends?” asked Lewis.
Vivi frowned. “Actually, for some reason he seems to scare most other dogs. No idea why.”
Ben winced because he knew why other dogs didn’t like him. Along with most animals. Including Cadence, who seemed rather nervous about her current position. He wasn’t exactly sure how to calm her down though. Hamsters were…simple.
“I think he’s scaring her,” said Arthur. He immediately walked over, picked up the ball, and took a few steps away from Ben. “Hold on a sec.” He opened the ball and let Cadence tumble into his jacket pocket. She poked her head and front paws out.
“That’s so cute!” gushed Vivi even as she moved to comfort Ben. “How’d you teach her to do that?”
“I felt kind of guilty I couldn’t spend as much time with her, and I thought if holding her was good enough…” Arthur trailed off. “I’m not sure how to keep her from making a mess.”
“Hamster diapers!” proclaimed Sydney.
“I’m not sure that’s a thing,” said Lewis.
Arthur’s head was bowed in thought. “But maybe I could make something like that…”
“How would that work?” asked Lewis.
“Well, it would need an impermeable outer layer and some sort of absorbent layer. But Cadence wouldn’t wear it unless it was comfortable so it would need some cloth. Or maybe I could make it like a pocket liner…” muttered Arthur.
“Wow, you’re serious about that,” said Vivi.
Arthur blinked. “Er…Should I not be?”
“I like the idea,” said Lewis. “You can bring your cute pets with you everywhere without getting your shirts dirty.”
Sydney nodded. “There’s diapers for birds!” Everyone gave her an odd look. “What? I saw it on TV once.”
“Sydney…”
“It wasn’t a cartoon.”
“Ah. Nevermind then.”
Arthur, Vivi, and Mystery felt like they were missing something.
Before MSA + 1: Finding Kin
Lance had been having a pretty normal day before he got a phone call at 1:13PM.
“Hello, may I speak to Lance Kingsman?” asked the man on the other side.
“Speaking.”
“This is Child Protection Services.” He was a bachelor with no kids. “Are you related to an Arthur Kingsman?”
Lance paused. “No idea.” It had been a while since he’d spoken to the rest of his family. “I got a cousin living in the states.”
“Percival Kingsman?”
Lance nodded. “Yeah.”
“We determined Percival Kingsman is the name of Arthur’s father, but when we suggested reuniting Arthur with the rest of his family, he had a panic attack. We checked the records and found your name listed as a relative. Do you have any idea if Percival might be abusing Arthur?”
Lance shrugged. “Can’t say. I haven’t seen Percy in 20 years, but he did have a bit of a temper. I lost touch with him after he joined that cult.”
“Yes, the Return to God Movement…” The agent seemed rather unsure. Not that Lance could blame her. He found the whole concept confusing.
“So, what’s gonna happen to Arthur?” asked Lance.
“Well, he’s being evaluated. If he’s mentally stable, he will be placed in foster care.”
Lance briefly wondered why the kid’s sanity was in question before deciding it was unimportant. Then he made another important decision. “Nah, I can look after him.”
“That’s…allowed,” admitted the officer. “But you just found out about Arthur. Are you even prepared to look after a child?”
“No idea, but I intend to give it a try,” said Lance. Maybe it seemed to come out of the blue to the case worker, but Lance’s father and uncle had been trying to get Percy out of that cult almost as soon as he joined and had made plans and preparations in case he left. When they’d gotten old and become sicker, they’d asked Lance to take over in case Percy or anyone else got out.
Lance hadn’t actually been expecting to keep that promise, but he wasn’t going to just abandon his kin. “Now, where is he?”
“Calhoun, Mississippi.”
After exchanging a bit more information, Lance promised to be there tomorrow and hung up to go get ready. He threw his things into an overnight bag, made some calls to customers to let them know he’d have to delay some repairs, and cleaned up the guest room. He called in a guest room, but it was more like a storage room that someone had shoved a bed into for some reason. He’d have to find somewhere else to keep the boxes now.
Most of them ended up in Lance’s room. He decided this was fine for now, got into his truck, and started driving.
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Lance got to Calhoun with no problems and went to the CPS building first thing in the morning. He introduced himself to the secretary, was taken to a large room in the back, and sat down to wait.
After several minutes of waiting, the door opened to a middle-aged woman with a clipboard. She smiled at Lance. “Hello, I’m Wanda Byrd.”
Lance nodded in greeting. “Lance Kingsman.”
Wanda nodded back before looking behind her. “C’mon. One foot in front of the other.”
A kid, 11 or 12 shuffled in. He was hunched over and hugging himself. He glanced at Lance nervously before looking away. Lance noticed that he had the Kingsman hair: Orange hair that quickly faded to bright yellow with a black lock at the front. The kid also had the odd orange-brown eyes that sometimes popped up in their family.
“Hey kid.” Lance got up off the chair, noting he was about the same size as the kid. “It’s Arthur, right?”
Arthur nodded. “Yes sir.”
“Right, I’m gonna be honest. I have no idea how to do this,” admitted Lance. That got Arthur to look at Lance again. “I have no experience with kids. I’m making this up as I go along. I might say something that upsets you, but it’s not intentional. I’m just blunter than most people.”
Arthur blinked in confusion.
“Now, we don’t know each other. That’s not your fault. It’s not my fault.” Personally, Lance thought it was Percy’s fault, but he wasn’t going to say that within the first five minutes of meeting the man’s son. “But we are kin, and I would like to get to know you and help you. I’m not sure how much I can help you, but I’m certainly going to try to do as much as I can.”
Arthur shuffled. “I…Why is everyone trying to help me?”
Wanda smiled at Arthur. “I know the leaders of your community said that the world is full of horrible people, but most people are genuinely good. People who will do what they can to help others.”
Arthur looked away. “But I killed-”
“Someone who was going to hurt you,” finished Wanda.
Lance’s eyebrows rose to his hairline. Seems that someone had forgotten to share that piece of information with him. Arthur’s eyes darted towards Lance. “I’m not gonna judge ya.” He turned to the Wanda. “So, how are we gonna do this?”
“Well, we need to see how the two of you interact with each other. Then we have to determine if you’ll be able to deal with Arthur’s particular needs.”
Right. Kid probably needed therapy. Lance had some money saved up. They should be okay. He just needed to be sure the kid liked him. He still wasn’t sure how to go about that, but he figured they could at least sit down while they got to know each other and pulled out the chair at the nearby table. It took a few moments for Arthur to follow his example with the caseworker right behind him.
“So, what do you like to do?” asked Lance.
“I…” Arthur paused. He looked lost. “I don’t know.”
“…” Okay, this was just wrong. Lance turned to Wanda. “Do we have to do this here or can it be anywhere in the city?”
“As long as the two of you have supervision.”
Lance nodded. Seemed reasonable. “You got any arcades around here?”
Wanda winced. “Arthur doesn’t seem comfortable around crowds yet.”
“Ah, sorry, didn’t think of that.” Lance thought a bit more. “What about a comic store? One with chairs?”
Surprisingly, the center listed three comic stores like this. Lance asked if any were near restaurants. That narrowed it down to one. Lance loaded them up into his truck and they were at the store roughly 20 minutes later.
“If you see something that looks interesting, go ahead and grab it,” said Lance as he looked for anything he might like. Lance wasn’t a huge comic fan, but he had read some as a kid. And comics had come a long way since then. Some comics were serious and had plots that were genuinely interesting even to adults. He should be able to find something he can read.
Arthur was just staring at the various comics in confusion. “Which comes first?”
Lance paused. “Most of these comics have been running for decades.”
Arthur stared. “But-how does anyone know what’s going on?”
Aw Hell. This might be more complicated than Lance had thought. He looked around for maybe a graphic novel or a one shot and noticed several thick books that were the first volume of various Marvel titles. That ought to work. “Try these. They’re the first few issues from the 60’s.”
Arthur stared at the thicker volumes in confusion for several minutes. He eventually picked up The Incredible Hulk and cautiously read the first few pages. He frowned. “Science doesn’t work like this.”
“Hm?”
“Radiation poisoning does not give people special abilities. It causes random mutations that vary cell by cell and causes the body to break down rapidly to the point where organs break down. If one somehow survives, they would definitely suffer from various types of cancers. Besides that, Dr. Banner breaks the Law of Conservation of Mass. Perhaps energy could be converted into mass, but that would only be possible during the explosion, and changing back into his normal form would cause some sort of release of energy. And the physics are all wrong…”
“They care more about the story than the science,” interrupted Lance. Arthur abruptly seemed to shrink back from him. Lance mentally kicked himself. “Sorry, that came out wrong.” Arthur gave him a surprised look. “What I mean is…people don’t read ‘em for the science. It’s to see people overcome odds that they normally wouldn’t be able to, and powers make it so that they are more capable of that. Yeah, some of ‘em don’t make sense. The writers aren’t scientists so they have to do some guesswork. It’s just good fun.”
“Fun…” Arthur stared at the comic. “I…Can I have fun?”
Lance nodded. “Yeah, you just have to figure out what you enjoy doing. You sounded pretty passionate about science just now. Want to tell me a bit more about what the writers got wrong?”
Arthur glanced between Lance and the comic a bit more before hesitantly nodding. The three of them sat down at one of the tables with their purchases. Arthur took a few minutes before he found something else that bothered him and started talking about it, showing more knowledge on the subjects than Lance would have expected from a kid his age.
Lance made a note that Arthur was probably smarter than him.
Around noon, Lance decided it was time for lunch and hustled everyone to a burger restaurant.
Arthur stared at the burger and fries and milkshake like he’d never seen something like them before. Maybe he hadn’t. “What do you usually eat?”
“Roasted meat. Cooked vegetables. Bread.” Arthur picked up a fry. “What is it?”
“Hamburgers are beef between a couple of slices of bread basically,” said Lance. “You can add things like tomatoes and lettuce and onions to them.” He pointed at the fries. “French fries are potatoes sliced and fried in oil and salted.” He pointed at the milkshake. “That’s ice cream blended with milk. Ice cream is cream mixed with sugar and some other flavors and then frozen.” Lance took a bite of his own hamburger. “Just take one bite of each and we won’t nag you about it.”
Arthur cautiously bit a fry in half. He blinked in surprise as he chewed it and decided to eat the rest of the fry. Then he ate a few more. He took a cautious sip from his milkshake and blinked in surprise. He took another sip. He ate the rest of his fries. He drank some more of his milkshake. He studied his hamburger and took a bite, less cautious than before. He ate about half of his burger before Lance noticed Arthur was starting to look a bit sick. “You don’t have to eat it all.”
Arthur winced. “But…you can’t waste food.”
“You shouldn’t,” agreed Lance. “But accidents happen. As long as you don’t make a habit of it, don’t feel too bad about it.”
Arthur gulped but stopped eating at least. Lance decided to count it as a win.
Lance wasn’t entirely sure what to do after lunch. He considered a movie, but thought maybe it would be better if Arthur got his first movie experience in a controlled environment.
They ended up going to a library instead. Books were practically the same as movies except you had to come up with the pictures yourself.
Arthur seemed a lot more comfortable in the library than anywhere else they’d been. He went straight for…the nonfiction section? Arthur studied where various subjects could be found and headed for one particular shelf where he grabbed a book on robotics.
Lance took a moment to grab a book on refurbishing cars and glanced towards Wanda. She just shrugged. Fine.
They went to a set of chairs where Lance and Arthur started reading. Lance occasionally glanced towards Arthur. Arthur seemed engrossed in his book. “So, you like robots?”
“Oh, uh, I like mechanical stuff,” explained Arthur. “And I’ve never gotten the chance to learn about robots before.”
Lance nodded. “I’m pretty fond of mechanical stuff too. Even repair cars for a living.”
Arthur looked up. “Really? What’s that like?”
It was the first time Arthur had asked about Lance’s life, and Lance was relieved to answer. “It’s more fulfilling than you’d think. Been doing it since I was a kid. Got a junker of a car to fix up when it was getting around time for me to get a car. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. More expensive too, but I didn’t give up. Asked local mechanics for advice. Read some books. Eventually, I got it running again, and I enjoyed working on it, so I thought I ‘d see if I could make a career out of it. It was hard work, and it took a while to pay off my student loans, but I can’t see myself doing anything else.”
Arthur turned around the book he was reading so that a robot arm was showing. “Could you make an arm?”
Lance chuckled. “That’s a bit outside my area of expertise. I mostly work on cars. I know enough do some repairs around the house, like the air conditioning unit or the oven. That’s…” He pointed at the picture. “…a lot more complicated.”
Arthur frowned and turned the book around to look at the picture. “I wanted to build robots, but we didn’t have anything like that.”
“That’s…specific,” said Lance. He wasn’t sure what Arthur could do with that, but with how many things were automated nowadays he could probably find something. “Well, I don’t think you’ll be able to take any mechanical courses until high school, but I can get you started on the basics when I have some free time.”
Arthur gave Lance a startled look. “What do you mean?”
Now Lance was a bit confused. “You like robots?” Arthur nodded. “You like science?” Arthur nodded again. “Would you like to make a living building robots?” Arthur nodded. “Then you’ll need to take the proper courses to get into college and learn how to do that.”
Arthur gaped at Lance. “You-you’re okay with me making robots for a living?”
Lance nodded. “The way things are going it’ll be a good field to get into, and even if you decide robots aren’t for you, you’ll still be pretty good at fixing things, and things’ll always need fixing.” Arthur was still staring. “Okay, I’m thinking I’m missing something. What’s got you so gobsmacked?”
“You’re letting me choose what to do!” exclaimed Arthur, getting a few hushes.
Lance grunted. “’Course I am. It’s your life. You should get to choose how to live it.” He paused. “Well, as long as you’re not hurting yourself or anyone else. No drugs or stealing or the like.”
Arthur nodded, still looking shocked. “Are children always allowed to choose what to become?”
“Well, they might change their mind. Can’t grow up to be a dinosaur.” That got a snort from Arthur. “And well, you shouldn’t encourage someone who wants to join a gang or the like. Still, it’s best to let people choose what they want to be on their own. Most people want to do what they enjoy, and that makes sense. If you enjoy something, you do it when you have free time, and you become good at it. And people want jobs done well and correctly the first time since it saves everyone time and money.”
Arthur blinked. “Huh. I never thought about it like that. I was always told my role would be chosen by my commander when I was old enough.”
Lance snorted and shook his head. “Stupid.”
Arthur bit his lip. “So, you would be all right with me pursuing a career in making robots? Even if it was unrealistic?”
“I don’t think it’s unrealistic,” said Lance. “And even if it was, I’d at least let you give it a try while making sure you had useful skills for a backup job.”
“Like fixing cars?” suggested Arthur.
Lance nodded. “Or cooking or child care. Things that will always be in demand.”
“I’m not allowed near children,” said Arthur rather nervously.
“Why?”
Arthur’s eyes widened. “I, uh, I wasn’t…They didn’t…” Arthur trailed off. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Fair enough.” Arthur would talk about it when he was ready.
“So, um, you want me to live with you?” asked Arthur. Lance nodded. “And you don’t mind me doing what I want as long as no one gets hurt?” Lance nodded. “Including working with robots when I grow up?” Lance nodded. “Even though we’ve never met.” Lance nodded. “Just because we happen to be related.”
“It’s more than that,” said Lance. “You need help. Have needed help for a while from the sound of it, and no one would step up. Now, a lot of people could help you. Would you trust them?” Arthur shook his head? “Do you trust me?” Arthur shook his head. “Didn’t think so. Can’t really blame ya either. But I know a thing or two about our family. Like the fact that’s your natural hair color. Your family had a Knights of the Round Table naming theme.” He gave Arthur a pointed look. “That your old man had a short temper and refused to believe anything was his fault.” Arthur winced. “Yeah, and I bet the sort of people he fell in with were pretty similar to him.” Arthur nodded. “That’s all the reason I need.”
Arthur looked down in thought for several moments before finally looking up and looking Lance in the eye. “Okay. I’ll…I’ll try to make this work.”
Lance chuckled. “That’s my line.” He glanced towards Wanda, who gave him a nod and a smile.
Looks like he was getting a kid then.
Before MSA + 1: Vivi Meets Arthur
Vivi had been having a boring day. She’d been planning on training with her dad, but he’d said someone had scheduled a private lesson so instead she was reading a book of ghost stories outside with Ben next to her.
Vivi was trying to figure out if the story about the silver man with a third eye was true when a short, stout man walked over, sat in one of the porch chairs, and opened a hunting magazine.
Vivi studied the man for a moment. He looked pretty tough even though he wasn’t that much taller than her. His body shape sort of reminded Vivi of how dwarves were often portrayed in fantasy series. Plus she was pretty sure that was a wrestling championship belt he was wearing. Also, his hair was pretty cool looking. Orange and yellow with some black thrown in. It even extended to his beard. “Hi mister!”
He glanced over the top of his magazine. “Hey.” Was that an accent she heard?
“I haven’t seen you before. Are you new?”
“Nah. Just prefer to keep to myself,” said the man.
He definitely had an accent. There were some elements of the typical southern accent a good portion of Tempo had, but it also had a lilt that she hadn’t heard from anyone else local. Vivi wondered if she could figure it out if they talked some more. If not, maybe after a bit of talking she would be able to ask without coming off as rude. “I’m Vivi. Who’re you?”
“Lance.”
She got a name! “Did you schedule the private lesson?” asked Vivi. “Dad doesn’t get many of those.”
Lance was silent. “My nephew needs some help.”
That caught Vivi’s attention. Nephew, not son. Was said nephew just visiting? Or was this a permanent situation? Was it a recent change or had it been like this for a while? Was there a way to ask without being nosy? “What’s his name?”
“Arthur.”
Vivi giggled. “Like the king.”
Lance groaned. “Yeah. The king.” Huh? Sore point?
A loud thump came from the dojo. Vivi looked in that direction in surprise. Wow, what were they doing in there? Vivi glanced towards Lance and saw him looking in the same direction with a furrowed brow. Was he worried?
Ben suddenly sat up and looked towards the dojo doors right before they were opened by Hiro. Vivi’s greeting died on her tongue when she noticed that A: He was bleeding, and B: He looked furious. “Dad?”
Hiro’s eyes darted to her before turning his attention to Lance. “Why does your nephew know how to kill?”
Vivi’s mouth dropped open. Lance winced, but didn’t seem too shocked. “That bad?”
“He just…If that knife had been real…” Hiro frowned and started pressing down on his head wound with a sigh. “Were you even aware?”
Lance glanced at Vivi. “I only know what I told you before.”
Feeling curious, Vivi peered past her father and into the dojo. Inside was a boy a bit younger than her who was clearly related to Lance. He was hunched in on himself and looked like he was about to have a panic attack. He didn’t look like a killer. He looked like a scared kid.
Ben stood and walked into the dojo. “Ben?” Ben walked over to the boy, Arthur, and sniffed him. Arthur blinked and held out a hand. Ben licked Arthur’s hand before Arthur started petting him. Vivi debated for a moment before following Ben into the dojo. Arthur stopped petting Ben and looked up at her with wide eyes. Vivi waved. “Hey.”
“Hi,” said Arthur.
“So…You live with your uncle?” Arthur nodded. “I’m kind of surprised you managed to land a hit on my dad. He’s pretty tough. Must be getting old.” Speaking of which, she could hear the two men talking in hushed tones that she couldn’t quite make out.
Arthur looked a bit uncomfortable. “I didn’t mean to!” he said, an accent similar to his uncle’s coloring the words.
Vivi blinked. “Oh, did you mess up a move? I do that all the time.” She huffed. “I just can’t seem to move correctly when I try to copy what Dad shows me. I guess I’m just not suited for fighting.”
“You’re lucky,” muttered Arthur.
Vivi blinked. “Huh?”
Hiro walked back in, pressing some gauze to his head. “Vivi, please step out so Arthur and I may continue the lesson.”
“Can I watch?” asked Vivi.
“Yes, you can. No, you may not,” responded Hiro.
Vivi pouted at her father’s grammar correction and walked back outside with Ben on her heels. Hiro closed the door behind her. Vivi huffed and sat down near Lance. The silence was awkward so she turned towards him. “So, where did Arthur learn to fight anyway?”
Lance gave her a look. “That’s personal.”
“Okay.” Something about Lance just made it clear that was settled. “So, where’s Arthur’s parents?”
“Not here.” Once again Lance somehow made Vivi not want to pursue the subject even though she wanted to know.
It was like some sort of mundane super power.
“You guys have pretty cool hair,” commented Vivi. “How do you get it like that?”
“Gel.”
Vivi waited. Lance didn’t go into detail. “Wait. That color’s natural?!”
“Yeah.”
How did that even work?! She guessed the orange to yellow could be the color fading somewhat, but what about the bits that were black? Especially the end of his beard? How do you even go from orange to black naturally? Vivi thought that sort of thing only showed up naturally in anime.
…Actually considering some of the anime hair people came up with, this was pretty tame. Vivi fingered her own black hair.
Her family’s hair turned blue when their power awakened. Her father died his hair black to avoid questions simply because he didn’t think he had the personality that would make dying his hair blue believable. Her Obaa-san’s hair had turned gray before Vivi was born.
Vivi wanted blue hair. She didn’t like the way black hair looked on her, didn’t like how it looked with her clothes. “I’m thinking of dying my hair blue,” she randomly said to Lance. Lance gave a grunt in response. “It’s kind of annoying how limited hair color is in humans, don’t you think? Mostly black and brown. Some red and orange and yellow. I think it would add more color…More eye colors would be nice too. We have more eye colors than hair colors, but it’s still mostly brown I think. Some blue. Some green. Hazel. Gray or purple if you’re lucky. I guess red if you’re albino. No orange or…” She trailed off. “Actually, your eyes look kind of orange. Maybe those are just super rare too…”
“Pops up in the family,” said Lance as way of explanation.
Did Arthur have orange eyes too? Vivi made a note to check when he came out of the dojo because she was definitely sticking around for that.
“So what do you do?” asked Vivi.
“Car mechanic.”
“Oh!” A couple of things snapped into place in Vivi’s head. “Kingsman Mechanics!”
She’d never been there. Tempo was just big enough to have three garages. Two were big chain garages that you could find anywhere. The last was Kingsman mechanics, which everyone preferred to the other two. It was a bit out of the way and owned by the only employee, but the work was second to none, and the owner (Lance if Vivi was right.) was willing to do payment plans that other places wouldn’t consider. Was apparently willing to barter to an extent if someone was in a tight spot. Even had a junkyard behind the shop that Vivi could only assume was for scavenging or something. When her father needed to have the car’s oil changed, he’d schedule at Kingsman Mechanics if he could get an appointment and they weren’t too busy. The way he’d described the owner, he was shorter than most, muscular, no nonsense, practical, and Scottish.
Huh, so his accent must be a combination of Southern and Scottish. No wonder it was so unusual. “What got you into cars?”
“…Seemed like a waste of money to buy a car when I could fix one up for myself.” Lance shrugged. “Turned out I liked fixing up cars.”
Vivi nodded. “Yeah, it’s lucky to get a job you enjoy.” She huffed. “I know what I wanna do, but I’ll probably have to get a second job or something.” Paranormal investigating wouldn’t pay all the bills.
At this point, Baa-san suddenly appeared, walked over, and plopped several ofuda on Lance’s leg. “Put those on your windows. They’ll repel negative spirits.” Lance raised an eyebrow as Baa-san walked back into the house.
Vivi was more surprised by how many ofuda Baa-san had given Lance. Why would he need that many so suddenly? If he’d never needed them before…
Unless they weren’t for him.
“What exactly does your grandmother do for a living?” asked Lance.
“She’s a former miko, Japanese shrine maiden, a sort of priestess,” explained Vivi. “Ofuda are…sort of like charms for luck or protection.” Vivi took a closer look. “Like Baa-san said, these are for repelling negative spirits that might try to hurt you. Kind of surprised she just came over and gave them to you. Usually she asks a bit more about what’s going on.” Actually, now that Vivi was looking closer, she could see these were ofuda that Baa-san had made, not Vivi, which would make them stronger than what they usually gave out. “Are you being followed around by something nasty?”
Lance glanced toward the dojo. Something to do with Arthur? Lance looked back at Vivi. “What exactly does your family do?”
“Well, like I said my Baa-san is a former miko, but still does little things out of habit. Dad is a theology teacher at the community college and teaches martial arts. Mom’s a psychologist.” Vivi grinned. “But we also occasionally do paranormal investigations. Not a lot though. Not much happens in Tempo.”
“Uh huh.” Lance studied the ofuda for another few moments before stuffing them in his pocket. So he was keeping them! “Any other way to keep away ghosts?”
Vivi grinned. “Having a priest bless your house usually helps. So does burning sage while praying. Some places sell sage bundled into sticks specifically for that purpose.”
“Hm.” Lance looked down for several moments.
Vivi opened her mouth to try and ask Lance if anything odd had been going on at his house, but Ben headbutted her in the stomach. She huffed and gave him a look. He just yawned.
“Does your dad give religion lessons?” asked Lance.
Vivi blinked. “What? At home?” Lance nodded. “I don’t know. He already has his lectures at the college.” What did religion have to do with seemingly unnecessary defense lessons and a possible haunting? “You could probably sit in on Dad’s classes for free if you don’t care about getting credits.”
“It’s not for me.”
Wow, what was up with Arthur? Before Vivi could ask, the dojo door opened. Her dad walked out, Arthur following a moment later. “That’s it for today. Lessons will be Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The lessons on Saturday will be longer since school will not be an issue.”
Arthur looked at her dad in surprise. Lance nodded. “Thanks. Was getting worried I wouldn’t anyone. Any chance you could teach him theology or something?”
Hiro blinked, frowned, and studied Arthur. Arthur looked away, grasping at his arm. Hiro nodded. “That might not be a bad idea. Can you bring Arthur after school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?”
Lance nodded. “I’ll make it work. Somehow.” He gestured turned, gesturing for Arthur to follow him. Arthur gave the Yukinos one last confused, lost look before leaving as well.
“What was that about?” asked Vivi.
Hiro sighed. “Arthur has had a rough life. He needs a lot of help if he wants a chance at living normally.” He turned to Vivi. “Would you mind sitting in on the theology lessons? It might help him if someone his age is present.”
An opportunity to figure out what’s going on? “Sure.”
“And don’t try to push Arthur for answers. He’s nowhere near ready,” continued Hiro.
Darn it.
