Chapter twenty-six. I've been invited to a Halloween party… Even though it's May. I'm not complaining or anything, it's just unusual is all.

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Nostalgia was a pretty powerful driving force. Even nostalgia for things you weren't born for yet, or just weren't old enough to experience the first time. After all, the past was an attractive place. Not just for the obvious reasons, like the implication of time travel. Civilization was built on the ruins of the past. As such, the past was seeped into everything. From roller skates, to disco dancing, to the time Lynn punched a hole in the bathroom wall; the effect of it all was felt in the present, so dreaming about the past was only natural. Wanting to go back and revisit your old memories was normal. Did Luna even know any disco song? Anyway, this was all just a very round about and flowery way of saying that Lincoln wanted to play some old video games. Some real classics.

Anything that was worth doing was worth doing with company. Was usually made better by it in fact. Lincoln stumbled briefly on the last step, his foot hitting the floor before he thought it would. He couldn't see passed the box full of wires, games, and such he held in his arms. Catching himself before he fell over, he set the box down and turned to ladder to push it back up into the attic trap door. Turning back around he crouched next to the box and shifted through the contents. Horizon, The Glass Sword, Cosmic Racing. They were all pretty fun games, though ones from before his own childhood. He only even knew about them because Lori showed them to him. They probably weren't older than he was, but they were certainly older than his own old games. Maybe that was better though. Maybe the older a game was, the stronger the nostalgic kick was. And these were definitely the oldest games he could find. They were also better experienced with multiple players.

He had the smallest inkling to ask Luna to play with him… That was a lie. He actually really did want her to play with him, it wasn't just an inkling. She didn't like playing video games though. Not usually anyway. She liked dancing and music games well enough. Those kinds of games required more time to set up than he was willing to spent though, and he didn't want to force he to play games that would no doubt bore her… Not that he actually Could force her, but she might say yes, if he asked, just to make him happy. That wasn't what he wanted. Someone to sit beside him and play even though they weren't having fun.

Who else than? He lifted the box back up and rotated on his heels. Starting for the door closest to the bathroom, he knocked with his foot and twisted the knob with the side of his hand, pushing the door open with his shoulder, so he wouldn't drop the box.

Lori looked up from her computer, her eyelids drooping in boredom.

"Hey Lincoln." She greeted him, sitting up from her previous reclined position. "What's that?"

"Your old console. I was wondering if you wanted to play wi-"

"Yes." She interrupted him before he could finish. Closing her laptop, and standing from the bed.

"Alright, cool." He turned and nodded towards the stairs. "Lets go down to the living room and set it up. If someone's already using the tv. we can come back up and use your computer, but the tv screen is bigger."

I've said "glass" so many times that it's started to lose meaning.

Set in her ways as she was, she'd been planning to work on her music or see what Luan or Lincoln were up to. It's what she did every weekend, and she generally didn't have many reasons to change her schedule. This was interesting though, even though she also had no bleeding idea what Leni just said to her… Not that she wouldn't have helped even if it hadn't been interesting.

"I'd like to help you Love, but I haven't the foggiest idea what we're supposed to be doing." So said, she picked up her guitar and amps anyway. Not one to disappoint when others were relying on her.

"I already told you." Leni pouted. The mewling undertone reminded Luna of a kitten. She was already helping, but if she'd been more resistant, hearing that would have crumbled her will. It was bloody cute is what it was.

"Yeah…" It was true, Leni did tell her, but being told something and understanding what you were told were different things. "But how?"

"With your music and my ears." Her older sister replied, explaining nothing despite her efforts.

Luna liked to think she was a bit of an experienced hand when it came to music. She wasn't a numpty. She knew what she was doing. But she had no idea how you were supposed to turn a song into a sculpture. How were you supposed to turn a purely auditory experience into a purely visual one?

"No, like…" She trailed off, not totally sure what she wanted to say, and started over. "Okay so, I'm going to play a song, and you're going to carve a sculpture of it?"

"Yup!" Leni chirped happily, as she organized her carving equipment in the center of the yard.

"At the risk of sounding a bit daft." Luna sort of felt like it was too late for that, but she continued anyway. "How does that work?"

"Like dancing" Leni explained, as though that answered all Luna's questions. To be fair, it did answer a one or two of them… Or maybe not. But she was probably closer to the right frame of mind now. Still, she had to ask.

"What?"

Leni's eyebrows furrowed, her smile shifting to a confused frown. A popping, groaning, sigh sounded from the back of her throat, from behind closed lips, as she shifted her weight in thought.

"Well…" She trailed off. Luna didn't often hear the tone of voice she was using from her. She heard it most often from Lisa, but Leni sounded like a teacher trying to explain a concept to a student… Or something. Leni wasn't the same as Lisa, and she wasn't that condescending. "When you listen to music and you dance, how do you know how to move? Different ways you can move your body just feel right, right? When you look at those wavy line machines that wave crazily to measure sounds, they wave the same way to the same sound. I just thought…" The way she described it, and hesitated between thoughts. Luna recognized the tone of her voice now. Leni was trying to explain something that was so easy to get and obvious to her, that she'd never thought about how she'd explain it to someone who didn't immediately understand. "I just thought that movement and flat shapes can be matched to sounds, so deeper shapes should totally have matches too… I don't know how to explain it better than that…"

"No that's…" Huh… That… That sort of made sense. "I've never thought of that. That's really cool Leni." She cast an easy going smile in her older sisters direction.

Leni's smile exploded back into full force, splitting her face with a radiant, toothy, grin. She nodded her head, and bounced in place as she gathered up her things, seemingly overjoyed to be understood. A lilting hum she didn't seem to be making consciously, as she set about her work, only reinforced the impression.

"So what song do you want me to play?" She caught Leni's attention again, once she was done setting up her work station.

"Hmm…" Hummed, tapping her pointer finger against her bottom lip. "Something… Happy."

Okay, that was. Well, it was a good start. Luna knew what direction to go it, but it was still pretty vague.

"Like Pop Rock, or Funk?" She suggested, throwing out genres that fit the bill. "Bohemian Rhapsody, or Hell Horse Dancing?" … Maybe not… Bohemian Rhapsody was a pretty long song, and Hell Horse Dancing got pretty bonkers as the song progressed. It might be better to start with something easier for their first time doing this.

"… And cute…" Leni continued as if Luna hadn't even said anything.

Cute though… "Well that narrows it down a right bit." Excluded any of her previous ideas. Ultimate Battle of Ultimate Destiny? Ha! But no. The song was cute and amusing, but she couldn't rightfully claim that any song about a bunch iconic characters murdering each other was happy.

"Like family…" Leni cut off her thought process again. "I want a song about our family."

"I don't know if there are any songs about our family." Not necessarily true. There was that one song they sang while they did that competition as a family band, but that song didn't really have a structure… Or lyrics… Or a tune. They all kind of just went up on stage and did their own thing while having fun together… It was less of a song really, and more of an event. "Unless you want me to make one up right now… Or…" She could feel her lips involuntarily twist upwards into an easy smile. There may not be any songs about the family as a whole, but there were two songs about Lincoln. "I just thought of something. There may not be any songs written about the whole family, but there's a song, or two, written about one of us."

Now she just had to decide which she wanted to use… Should she?… No… Lincoln might hear her, and she didn't want to ruin the surprise. Better to play the one he already knew and save the other for later.

"Oh!" Leni clapped happily. "I totes love it!"

"Yeah?"

"Mmmhmm!"

I had quite a bit of trouble coming up with the song that Luna sings to Lincoln for this next part. Songs aren't really my forte.

Rolling out of bed, he reflexively reached to turn off his alarm, even though it wasn't on because it was a Sunday.

"Huh…" He trailed off, even as he once again slipped into his habit of talking to an imaginary audience. "What day is it?" He picked up the silent phone, swiping across the screen to check the date. "Oh it's Sunday. I thought yesterday was Sunday? Guess not." He slipped his phone into his pocket. "Still, it's a bit late. I could stay up here and read some comics. Nobodies any more likely to search for me than they usually are." Glancing up at the ceiling in thought, "Nah, I kind of don't want to… Or, I do, but I want to check out Leni's project more."

So said, he gathered up his clothes, and made his way down the length of the hallway to take a quick shower, before making his way down the steps.

"What made you guys want to do this?" He heard Luna's voice, as he reached the bottom step.

"Well you know, Lucy has always thought my career was going to be a Dead end, and I couldn't let such a Grave insult stand. Ha ha, get it?"

Lincoln rounded the corner to see Luna standing by the backdoor. Through the screen, Lucy and Luan were sitting next to each other on the steps. Past them, the rest of their sisters were spread out across the back lawn.

"Sigh, Luan…" Lucy mumbled, slight irritation audible in her voice.

"What?" The comedian ribbed, "You never said I had to stop making jokes out loud. I just can't have them in the poem."

"Sigh…" Lucy sighed again.

"So what's happening?" Luna startled at the sound of Lincoln's question, spinning around to face him. "Something about Luan not being allowed to make puns?"

"Hi Lincoln." Lucy nodded, greeting him. "Luan and I are trading writing styles."

"Heya Link." Luan waved jauntily through the screen door, picking up where Lucy left off. "She has to see if she can turn her classic morbid Deadpan towards comedy without Killing the joke. Ha ha, get it?" He waited for her to finish, as she chuckled at her own wit. "And I get to show her that I can write a depressing poem without turning into the Laugh of the party. Ha ha."

"I don't always write depressing poems." Lucy muttered in protest.

"No," Luan allowed, "Just most of the time."

Lincoln turned away to contemplate his breakfast options, while Lucy grumbled discontentedly and returned to her work.

"So what ah you up to today bro?" Luna cracked an easy grin, dropping the soft r as her British accent slipped in.

Lincoln tilted his head in acknowledgment of her question. One hand slipping into his pocket, as his other hand rose up to mime his thought process.

"I didn't really have anything planned to be honest." He could make some waffles or pancakes, or he could eat a bowl of cereal. "I thought about just taking the day to read comics in my room, but I was pretty curious about Leni's project." There was also merit in considering a bowl of fruit, or eggs, or eating one of Lynn's protein bars. She usually didn't mind, unless you ate one of the chocolate ones.

"Oh yeah?" Luna strolled over to the table, spinning a chair around and sitting down on in backwards. Her legs spread to either side of the back, and arms folded over the top, with her chin resting on them. "She was wuhking really hahd on it yesterday. It was pretty brilliant."

"Yeah, I heard you helping her." Thinking about it, pancakes or waffles were out. They usually took a bit of work. Not in their creation, but in the cleanup. And the more he made the more there would be to cleanup. A problem with all his sisters gathered so close together, and so close to him. Even if they'd already eaten, they were always up for dessert; and that's basically what pancakes were after all, dessert for breakfast. It'd be different if he had more energy, but at the moment he wasn't sure if he was up to cleaning up after eleven people. "I have two questions that I'd like to ask you."

"Alright, shoot." She reached forward and began drumming her fingers and palms across the top of the table. Laying out the timing with the heavy, regular slaps of her palm, even as the tips of her fingers, on her other hand, tapped out a meaningless tune. The results of getting so good at something that you were better than other people even when you weren't paying attention.

"First of all, you've probably been asked this a bunch, but what Is she actually doing?" He could eat a bowl of cereal… It would be easy to create, easy to eat, and easy to clean up. "Like, I heard that she was making a statue of a song, but I'm wondering how that actually works." It wouldn't be very filling though. He'd probably have to eat two or three bowls before he was satisfied. Not exactly a problem, just a bit time consuming… Note to self; never say that in front of Luan.

"Eh, not really." She blew out a sigh. "Only Lana was curious enough to ask, and she asked Leni directly… Not sure what happened with that." Lincoln glanced in her direction when she stopped tapping the table. "I asked Leni when I was helping her, and she said that it was something like dancing. How you can move to a beat, even though dancing and sound… Uh…" She trailed off.

"Wait. give me a second to think about this, and we'll see if I understood what you said." So… Okay, yeah… It was a bit alien, given the almost automatic reaction, but. "There's not actually a real connection between dancing and music, other than… Well we decided to start moving to music, and there's no real right way to do it, but there are movements that click more easily. One is physical movement through space, while the other is a pattern of vibrations through the air… Uh… If you really think about it, they don't have a lot in common. Not like fries and ketchup. Both of which are, at least, food. So she's thinking that if you can fit something as unrelated as physical movement to music, it should be possible to fit… She should be able to alter the kinds of movements she's taking, and the effects they have on the world?" Wow… Uh… He kind of forgot what he was doing in here… Oh right, breakfast.

"Bloody hell, that's… That's, wow… I think you're right. I feel like I understand it a lot better now."

Eggs were out. He didn't feel like cleaning up the pan. "Yeah." He nodded his head in agreement. "It's time's like these when you can really see how similar Lisa and Leni are."

A bowl of fruit was a promising choice, but it depended on the fruit. Lincoln wasn't an enormous fan of plums, so if they were the only fruit in the fridge, he'd probably have to go with cereal. He wasn't in the mood for a protein bar anyway. He started towards the fridge.

"How do you mean?" Luna sounded from behind the open fridge door.

"Well…" Lincoln glanced up as he considered his words. Oh, nice, watermelon! "It doesn't happen as often with her, but Leni is able to put together pieces for a puzzle that nobody else even knew existed." He moved the watermelon to the counter and reached back in for some strawberries and honeydew. "She's able to come up with stuff in an instant, that takes me serious thought to…" He trailed off. Maybe some grapes? If he mixed in a dollop of mayonnaise it would hold together better, and a drop of vanilla would help the flavors blend nicely. "Creating something from scratch, or creating an entirely new path is always harder than retracing someone else's steps. Leni is able to create something new so easily, that takes me hours of serious thought to understand. She's able to create new paths of thought, that I'm completely blind to until she shows me." He began mixing the fruit evenly into the bowl, spooning some mayo on top and dribbling some vanilla on last, before stirring it all together. "The only other person who I get that from is Lisa… You get what I mean?"

"Yeah, yeah… Huh…" Luna stared off in thought.

"Right well, I'll see you outside." He waved with the bowl as he passed her.

"Oh! Wait!" He paused as she got up from her seat and walked towards him. "Could you actually come with me for a sec? I have something I wanted to show you." She bobbed her head towards the stairs.

"Sure." He nodded to her. He was happy to help her with anything; though he hoped it wasn't going to take too long, as he'd been hoping to take a look at Leni's sculpture before it was finished.

Luna silently turned on her heels, striding across the tiled floor and around the arch. She ascended the steps, as Lincoln followed in her wake. Reaching the second floor landing, she turned towards the room she shared with Luan and led him in, closing the door behind them.

"What'd you want to show me?" He glanced curiously around the room. Nothing looked particularly different, which decreased the likelihood that it was something physical, but didn't erase it entirely. It wouldn't be the first time she'd asked for his opinion on some piece of music she was working on, and Lincoln couldn't really think of a reason for her to hide something.

She took a breath, "Remember your birthday two weeks ago?" She asked somewhat unexpectedly, even as she predictably lifted her guitar and slipped the strap over her shoulder, letting the instrument hang level with her waist.

"Yeah, it was fun." He cocked an eyebrow at her. "I spent time with Lynn, you, and Clyde. We all got to go out and eat dinner as an all you can eat buffet."

He didn't ask, but he didn't need to. The question, as to how his birthday and this were related, hung in the air without needing to be physically spoken.

"Yeah… Yeah." Luna rocked her head slightly, as though to a beat only she could hear, as she seemed to gather herself. "I didn't play you the normal birthday song I usually do…" She paused for a moment. "I just thought that you deserved better than that. So this year I worked on a song just for you. It doesn't have a name yet, but I've been calling it your theme song in my head."

"That's…" He wasn't going to say that she didn't have to do it. He knew her better than that by now. If she did it, she did it because she wanted to, and there wasn't much he could do to sway her away from her chosen course. Aside from that, it wouldn't do much in this case. She'd already written the song… Man, he over thought things a lot. Honestly, he was happy. The corners of his lips turned up.

"Right, here goes." she breathed in deeply.

"Hey Lincoln remember when you went to see your first show, and I was right there by your side.
Remember when you Woke me up and I held you through the night?
Remember when we Broke apart, then came back stronger again?
I know you do.
I know you do.
I want to to know I always looked up to you.
Putting up with so much stuff.
I want you to know that it's enough.
We all love you more than we can say.
But I'll try to anyway.
Lincoln, you're my best friend."

"Wow." Was all he could say.

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Chapter notes:

The only real difference between the Lori timeline and the rest of the timelines, in regards to the morning of the first day of the third cycle, is what prompts Lincoln to seek her out. In the Lori timeline, it's a combination of him wanting to hang out with her, wanting to reciprocate her obvious desire to spent time with him, and mild concern. In every other timeline, it's just that he wants to play old video games and Lori is the only other sibling who likes doing that… Other than Lily… Regardless, in every other timeline he only becomes mildly concerned for her After the video game scene happens.

I debated with myself on whether or not I should name the specific console that is being used, and furthermore, whether or not the console should be one from real life, or it I should make one up. I obviously didn't name the console in the chapter, but in my imagination it's an Atari console, if Atari had lasted longer. Like an Atari Axis 2, or something. Anyway, that's not canon or anything, so I may decide it's something else later.

I read back through the previous two chapters in Luna's timeline, and I think I could have handled them better. They say writers hate everything they wrote more than five years previous. I don't hate the previous chapters, but they definitely could have been written more skillfully.

Okay, this isn't working. I've been trying to get through an entire cycle of Splitting Hairs before working on other stories, but I can't do that anymore. I keep my motivational juices flowing by switching between three separate stories. Every time I finish a chapter in one I move onto the next. Trying to force myself to work on the same story for so long is killing me. I've been grinding to a halt slowly and painfully. The next time I update, expect it to be for Mirror More.

There's no tune to the song I wrote for this chapter. I can write lyrics just fine, but I have no experience with instruments… Not true, I can play the drums. That's not really the same thing though. If anybody else wants to come up with the actual music part of the song, go ahead. Just send me a link, or something, when you're done. I'm honestly curious to see what people come up with… Assuming anyone actually takes me up on that offer, which I consider to be somewhat unlikely. I don't imagine it's a very good song anyway… I should take song writing classes, or something.