Welcome back to the show. for tonights performance we have a returning guest. Everyone give a big round of applause to Lisa Loud! So Lisa, I understand that you're running some kind of experiment. Why don't you tell us about that?

37912876834jhhfhadkfdandjadffjdjdnvbhjdiua93278932uerigytiuwehfdyhjgrwgsfyzhsdkd249237

Oh, good lord! Why did she think this was a good idea? Did Lisa even understand what Lisa would have to go though?! She, Lisa, Lisa, the control Lisa. That Lisa had no idea what she was sentencing her, Lisa, herself, this Lisa, the Lisa of the tenth splinter, subjectively herself to. It was necessary for the experiment to work, but Jesus, The cramps! Mother wouldn't approve of her choice of swears. It was a good thing than, that Lisa didn't say it out loud.

She rolled out of bed, where she'd been curled into a ball for the last two hours. Hobbling to her desk, where she kept a stash of emergency pain killers, she fumbled to open a bottle of ibuprofen and tapped two pills onto her hand. She tossed them into her mouth, threw her head back, and swallowed. Mental note: invent a better pain killer. Normally she wouldn't be as effected by pain as she was now. She'd broken bones, lost limbs, and been burned multiple times, after all. She'd also suffered though extreme headaches and come out no worse for ware on the other side. There was something different about the pain this time… It could all be in her head, an expectation of pain created the sensation of pain… The nocebo effect. It could also be a side effect of her puberty having been induced before her body was ready for it. Normally this would be something that she would want to study to understand better, and maybe she would again later, but right now she just wanted the pain to go away. There's only so much distracting yourself from the pain can do to alleviate it.

Emptying her lungs with a slow outward breath, Lisa relaxed as the pain killers began to take effect. The ache hadn't completely faded yet, but it was, at least, tolerable. Stepping into the hall, she immediately retreated back a step. Apprehension twisting in her abdomen almost as powerful as her evanescing irritation. It shouldn't, but the sight of Lincoln closing the bathroom door behind him filled her with a sense of anticipatory consternation… Nerves, It was just nerves, of course it was! Just left over from the day before. After all, what could she possibly have to fear from anything? She was just trying to start a romantic relationship with one of the most superlative boys she knew.

Oh God! What if she messed up?! What she ruined her relationship with him? She didn't think she could handle that. Why was she so light headed? Why were there spots in the corners of her vision? Why was the room spinning so much? Why was she so dizzy? It was fine! Everything was fine! STOP! Take a deep breath… Now let it out. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out. Breath in. Breath out. Okay, good. She felt… Not great, but better. A mass of nervous tension was no longer threatening to choke her.

Clearly puberty was effecting her in more ways than she anticipated. Rationally she understood this. It didn't help with the feelings of panic that clawed at the edges of her awareness. She needed to calm down, but. Hhhhhhokay. Oooookay. What if, instead of trying to seduce him, she just tried to form a closer friendship with him. She could do that right? Why not right? She didn't even have to form a romantic relationship with him. She could live with her feelings. How bad could they possibly get? She could just become extremely good friends with him. It was doable. She could feel she anxiety retreating. She could definitely do that… Except for the fact that she only existed in the first place to seduce him… What would happen when the original Lisa discovered that she wasn't doing her part of the experiment? Would she close down Lisa's timeline? Her, Lisa, herself? U-uh… Could… She… Uh… Reinforce her own splinter? So it could continue to exist, even if the original tried to shut it down? Because despite all the negatives that came with her situation, Lisa found that she didn't want to stop existing.

Why was everything so hard?

Ever made french onion soup in a slow cooker? I don't suggest it. It's not pleasant.

As much as she might have wished she was, Lisa, when she was trying to be, wasn't nearly as stealthy as Lucy, when their darker sister wasn't trying. Lincoln didn't know exactly why Lisa was trying to hide from him, her glasses covered eyes peaking around the archway, but it was honestly kind of adorable. She would duck further behind it whenever he moved as if he was about to look in her direction, so he'd resorted to watching her from the corner of one eye, while he used the rest of his attention to flip a flapjack over.

He did wonder though, what was making his normally blunt sister so shy. It wasn't like her at all, and cute or not, it was worrying.

"Oh hey Lisa." He spoke as though he'd just noticed her. She jumped in surprise and shuffled into the kitchen, an embarrassed blush coloring her cheeks. "You doing anything today? I thought you might like to spend some time with me." Manipulative? Kinda. He was, after all, only asking so he'd have an excuse to figure out what her problem was. On the other hand, he found the idea not unpleasant. It'd been a while since they really spent some quality time with each other, and this was as good an opportunity as any.

"H-hey…" She cleared her throat. Straightening her back and standing a little taller. "Greetings brother." Lincoln fought the reflex to lift one of his eyebrows at her oddly formal manner of address. "That is a perfectly acceptable arrangement."

Okay?… Something was clearly going on. If you only knew Lisa in passing, you might not be able to tell; especially if you also knew her when she was younger, but Lisa was, and could be, generally pretty warm towards those few people she liked. Relatively speaking anyway. Most of the people who fell into that category could be found in the same family as her, but there were several people Lincoln could think of who were not. Her change to a more cold manner of speaking to him, spoke of two possibilities. The first was that something had happened and now she didn't like him. The second was that she was suffering some issue. As selfish as it sounded, Lincoln knew which of those two possibilities he'd prefer. Luckily, it seemed more likely that it was the latter. Otherwise, she probably wouldn't have agreed to spend time with him.

I order a lot of stuff online, so I have ton of cardboard boxes lying around. I've decided to get a book and try to make cardboard furniture.

Words can not properly describe how thoroughly uncomfortable Lisa found sitting across a chess board from her self made crush to be. This was the first thing that came to mind when he asked what she wanted to do. Her only solace was that Lincoln actually liked chess as much as she did. Still, this wasn't what she would necessarily consider a good sibling bonding activity. She winced as he took a rook.

I'll color the furniture with black 2.0 paint, the blackest paint on the market. I'll have a chair that looks like a black hole.

This was her chance! Her chance to start her sedu- no, very specifically not that! She wasn't trying to do that. That wasn't her goal. Why would it be? Right? He didn't need to know. No, this was her chance to spend some time with her big brother. Some real quality time. To get closer to him and become better friends with him… For some reason though, And Lisa absolutely DIDN'T know what that reason could be, she found she couldn't make herself move from her spot. Instead she stood frozen, looking through the screen door at the scene that was unfolding before her.

"Give up Mistress Music. We have you cornered. There's nowhere to run." Lincoln, dressed as his super hero counterpart, Ace Savvy announced. He looked really handsome with his cape swirling around his feet in the breeze. Next to him, stood Lily, dressed as her super heroine counterpart, The Deuce. She looked rather silly in her outfit… Of course, The Deuce was originally conceived when she was just a baby… The outfit didn't age well.

"Tell us what you did with Joker and Night Club, Fiend!" The Deu- no… No, Lisa refused to call her that. Lisa shouted dramatically, Her voice echoing across the gap.

Across from them, Luna in an appropriately musically themed costume, though not the one her own super heroine alter ego typically wore. She was obviously acting as the antagonist on this occasion, so that explained the discrepancy. Lisa didn't know who she was supposed to be though. Her characters apparent name was Mistress Music, but that didn't actually mean anything to Lisa. It's possible she was dressed up as a musically themed villain who existed in the comics, but Lisa couldn't say for sure. She only read the first comic in the series, and only because it Was the first one. Perhaps she should set aside some time to read the rest of them. If she was going to actually be doing this, she should try to take an interest in Lincoln's interests. Lisa shook her head, refocusing her attention on the scene.

"Heh, heh, heh." Mistress Music began to chuckle, "Where is Night Club, you ask? You don't get it do you?" She smirked evilly and met their hostile gazes with her own, "I am Night Club, you fools! You can't even see what's right in front of you!" Hm… That was kind of cliché. Hopefully that wasn't canonical… Though Lincoln was intelligent and creative, maybe he'd managed to put a new twist on the tired concept.

"Liar!" Lily screamed across the field, "Night Club would never betray us!" She was held back from attacking, by the attractively steady hand of Ace.

"She's telling the truth." He intoned seriously, his face set in a hard line.

"You knew?" Mistress Music asked, her expression shifting to one of feigned shock. Luna should take acting lessons.

"I Suspected, but I didn't want to believe it."

"Heh, well you are the best detective." Mistress Music chuckled.

"No! Night Club, how could you!?" Lily fell to her knees, completely over acting.

"The game is up Night Club. Now tell us where Joker is." Ace commanded.

"Don't call me that! I left that name behind, along with my previous life!" Mistress Music bellowed. "As for Joker," She chuckled. "Allow me to introduce you to The Harlequin."

Luan stepped from shed, dressed in a green a purple clash between a suit and an acrobatics unitard. The Harlequin huh? That was a reasonably good super villain name. Luan, or The Harlequin, moved to stand beside Luna, her hips swaying from side to side with each step. A sour feeling, that Lisa had trouble identifying, spoiled inside her. She found herself checking to make sure Lincolns eyes weren't drawn too much by the movement, though she didn't know why. The Harlequin stopped adjacent her older sister, and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Hey Ace, what do you call it when you watch your chances of victory swirl down the porcelain throne? A Royal Flush. Get it?" Her voice was soft.

Ace Savvy set his jaw in a grimace.

"I'm sorry Deuce, We're too late. Joker's already been turned." He looked down sorrowfully, before looking back up and shifting into a fighting stance. "You're right about one thing Mistress Music."

"Oh?" Mistress Music, chuckled, "and what might that be?"
"You're correct that you have the advantage here. With you two against me, I only have The Deuce backing me up, and she's not very experienced yet. The outcome of this battle would seem to have been determined already." The dirt crunched under his feet as steadied his position.

"Well." Mistress Music said, "As long-

"But you would be a fool to count me out yet." Ace cut her off, earning himself a snarl from her.

"It looks like Ace here, isn't playing with a full Deck." The Harlequin scoffed, "Let's just put him out of his misery."

"I couldn't agree more." Mistress Music punctuated her reply by strumming her guitar, prompting Ace to jump out of the way of what Lisa presumed was supposed to be some sort of invisible area attack.

Rolling back to his feet, he dashed towards the guitarist to begin a furious melee battle. He ducked to avoid a swing from her guitar, and she jumped back to dodge his sweeping kick. Some distance away from them Lily and The Harlequin were fighting as well. It was all done well enough that Lisa couldn't help but wonder if they'd choreographed it, or if they were just that good at play fighting. She would applaud them either way. As much as she found fighting to be distasteful, this was legitimately very entertaining.

"The Deuce! I match your hand and Raise!" The Harlequin shouted, hurling a handful of poker chips at Lily, who dived away like her life depended on it.

The fight went on like that for a while, but it soon became clear who was winning. Though older than their opponents, neither Luna or Luan were particularly active in the physical realms. Lincoln was quite agile and did parkour as a hobby, and Lily was full of a youthful energy that was unmatched by anything bar rocket fuel.

The fight was over when Mistress Music ducked under a telegraphed roundhouse kick, only for Ace to barrel roll over her lowered frame. His cape smacked her in the face and disoriented her long enough for him to come from behind and seize her in what amounted to a hug from behind, but in this time of heightened reality, Lisa supposed it was meant to represent some kind of holding grapple, or other martial arts technique.

"The fight is over Harlequin. Give up!" He called to her teammate.

Harlequin turned to look, and froze.

"You may have won this round Ace, but next time we'll see who's really King. I'm going to Jack you up." She snarled, throwing a smoke bomb at her feet and abandoning Mistress Music to her fate.

The scene ended as they each broke down laughing. Lincoln stepped back, releasing Luna from the hug. Chuckling as he approached Luan and Lily, the former's figure revealed as the smoke cleared.

"Well, that was fun." He let out a breath and stretched his back, squinting at the sky. "Do any of you want to watch a movie?"

"Sure, sounds rad." Luna responded

As they all began to move back towards the house, Lisa found the will to move again. This was her chance though! All she had to do was snag a spot next to him during the movie! It was the perfect bonding activity. She turned and sprinted back towards the living room.

183947289rwieojfknbgyr9u4ijrkwnfdhyr9uijk4nwfbgvfy8uirhjkn4wbfvgyfhiurjknwbfshvuijkwnafsbi

Chapter notes:

Lisa is lying to herself pretty hard. You may think that not realistic, or that it's cartoonish, but she actually knows she's lying to herself. She sort of needs to keep up the fragile illusion to prevent herself from having a panic attack though. To keep herself moving forward, she has to pretend she's trying to do something else.

I worried that I was changing Lisa's behavior too much... But I figured it works as an excellent contrast to the Lisa's of the other timelines. Also this Lisa is going through early onset puberty, and that can have a pretty major and unpredictable effect on your emotional state.