In the Loud household, there was one resident that had a bit of a... reputation, among the town goers. Her name was Lucy Loud, and as a fan of the occult and spells, not to mention a Goth with a creepy demeanor, people thought she was of the "perverted" kind, who would summon tentacle monsters just to bang it, and possibly even screw her brother in bed and regret nothing from it.

If only she wasn't the exact opposite of those expectations.

But that wasn't even in Lucy's mind at the moment. Right now, she was pacing back and forth in Lincoln's bedroom, trying to figure out how to get out of the situation she put herself in.

"If I had known about the dark, disturbing, disgusting things that community did to keep an image, I would've turned away and ran as fast as I could!" Lucy mentally shrieked, pulling her hair as she stopped and shivered. "Just thinking about doing those things with Lincoln makes me hurl! How am I supposed to do that stuff with him, and get actual proof of what happened?!"

After shivering for a while, Lucy suddenly slapped herself and shook herself back to reality. "No, Lucy, you have to be brave! You have to be bold!"

The goth's rising determination vanished as soon as Lincoln entered the room. "Hey, Lucy-"

The goth shrieked and clutched her chest as she desperately tried to catch her breath. "I think I now know how everybody feels when I "pop" out of nowhere..."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to do it," Lincoln walked closer to the goth. "Anyway, you wanted to talk to me about something?"

Lucy took a deep breath, nodded, then sat on one extreme of Lincoln's bed, with the boy sitting right next to her afterwards.

"Nice weather we have today, right?" Lucy remarked, putting her arms behind her head as she nervously added, "Perfect for shoving your eel up my butt, am I right?"

As the silence from both Lincoln and Lucy proved, that was probably not something that would really get anybody in the mood to do the business.

"Dang it, Lucy, you barely just spoke and things are even more awkward than before!" Lucy thought worriedly. "Quick, try salvaging the moment!"

"I mean, uh-"

"Lucy, is something bothering you?" Lincoln suddenly asked. "You're acting much more nervous than usual."

Lucy looked elsewhere with her worry evident despite her stoic outlook.

"Lincoln, can you promise me..." Lucy clasped her hands and twiddled her fingers. "Can you promise me that, once I tell you why I'm acting weirder than usual, that you won't disown me, or tell everybody else so they'll disown me, or even banish me to another dimension as punishment?"

"Lucy, if it's something personal, I can assure you that whatever you tell me, it'll be just between us," Lincoln answered. "And I can"t even do the last thing, but if I could, I assure you I won't do it. Promise."

And so, remembering the trust she had on her brother, Lucy explained the situation to him.

What was the deal? You figure it out. But one thing was clear: Lincoln was disturbed.

"No freaking way, that's what they wanted you to do?!" Lincoln exclaimed.

"I know, right?!" Lucy frowned. "And worst of all, they didn't even tell me what they planned to do with it!"

Lincoln narrowed his eyes and looked at the reader. "They probably would've posted it on the internet."

"Of course it would go back to the internet," Lucy raised her arms. "If there's anything that's even remotely disturbing, there's a 75% chance it came from the internet!"

Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "What about the remaining 25%?"

"That comes from Japan," Lucy sighed. "Still, now that I've told you what the issue is, what do you suggest I do, Lincoln?"

The boy folded his arms. "Well, first of all, do you actually want to do that?"

The goth flinched and looked elsewhere. "C-Can you ask this some other time?"

Lincoln narrowed his eyes. "Lucy, do you want to do it?"

Lucy scratched the back of her head. "I need time to-"

"Lucy!"

Lincoln grabbed Lucy's shoulders and made her look straight at him as he stated:

"I want you to answer me, right here, right now, Lucy, and I want you to be completely honest! I don't want you to sugarcoat the idea, to try justify it, to try find some sort of loophole to convince me it's okay, none of that's stuff! I want this answer to come from your purest, honest opinion."

Lincoln leaned closer and added, with a worried look:

"And I'll ask again... do you want to do this, Lucy?"

The poet remained silent for a moment... and then, she shed a single tear as she meekly answered, "No... I don't want to."

Seeing the girl was about to break down, Lincoln released her and backed away to give her some space, moments before she spoke:

"I don't want to do any of this. The incest, the gore, the... intercourse, I used Lisa's computer to research that stuff, and I was left utterly horrified at what I needed to do! If I had any other choice, I would reject the requirement and throw them in the trash, but... I can't-"

Lincoln suddenly interrupted:

"Lucy... what do you gain from going through with this?"

Lucy remained silent and motionless, her eyes being stuck firmly staring at Lincoln's as she a pair of tears, and whimpered:

"Nothing."

Lincoln promptly added, "And what could you lose if you do go through with it?"

Without hesitation, Lucy hugged Lincoln, and tearfully answered "everything" before she started crying on her brother's chest, all while Lincoln gently struck the goth's hair, and tried to comfort.

"It's okay, Lucy, you don't have to do it if you don't want to," the boy stated. "Those people just want you to do it for their own sick pleasure. As long as you refuse to comply, and maybe get the police involved, they can't force you to do anything."

Then the duo separated. "And you can always get one of our older sisters to beat them up for you. It worked for me."

Lucy wiped off her tears. 'Thanks for the advice, Lincoln. I'll tell Lynn about it right away."

The gothic girl got off the bed and ran to the door, but stopped shortly before she left.

"And Lincoln?"

Lincoln turned around. She smiled.

"Thank you."