A/N: The readers have spoken! The majority have voted overwhelmingly in favor of having Lincoln go ahead and tell Luna that he and Sam chipped in together on her gift, so that's what he will do on Christmas morning when the Loud siblings are opening their presents. I'm glad I got input on this before I committed any further to something that you didn't really want to see anyway.
Lisa's Bright Idea
Much like her only brother, Lisa also knows each of her siblings like the hair in the wig she wears over her bald, radio-active head. Not that she is particularly close to any of them, given that the little bespectacled genius, in some ways, felt she had no need for bonds of human companionship, and prefers to maintain an emotional detachment from those around her (or, so she says)… but, she has studied the behavioral patterns of each of her siblings for most of her four-year-old life, in addition to her many attempts at trying to subject any of them to one of her spontaneous little scientific experiments. Even in spite of how impartial and indifferent she usually is in regards to each of her siblings, not to mention how frivolous she feels her parents' Secret Santa Siblings program is, she was still quite certain that regardless of whose name she picked during the drawing at the dinner table the other night, figuring out what to give them as a Christmas present would hardly be much of a challenge at all… and she knew that her Secret Santa Sibling was all about the glitz and the glam.
Opting to create a unique gift for her Secret Santa Sibling, the Brainiac got set to work, which she knew was going to be incredibly painstaking, but no matter how difficult a task before her seemed, nothing was impossible for the incredible Lisa Loud. Among the different instruments she had gathered on her lab table to work with were a variety of carving and rotary tools, such as a small grinder, a small buffer, and a small laser; thick polycarbonate sheets; and some #11 optical fiber cables and wiring, among other miscellaneous instruments that would appear complicated and hard to understand for the average joe. Whenever she had the time to do so, the pint-sized genius went to working on her Secret Santa project, all the while Lily would watch from her crib with great interest. From the thick sheets of polycarbonate material, Lisa used a little laser to etch her designs into the surface to ensure absolute precision and accuracy; from these designs, she set about carving them out of the sheets until the individual little pieces she had carved took on the shapes that she had desired. After which, she used a variety of her other different tools –like the grinder and buffer- to sand and smooth out these pieces, giving them a much cleaner and polished look; it was a good thing that the rest of the Loud family had gotten so used to strange sounds coming from Lisa's bedroom, they usually thought nothing of it. The next step in her project was to not only run the optical fibers through polycarbonate pieces, but also wire them as well, so that they may turned on and off, as well as be re-chargeable, to ensure their longevity… and with Lisa Loud, she was going to see to it that these fiber optic items she was creating were going to be as bright as the human eye could register. Once again using her laser, she burned the tiniest little holes into the items to feed the optical fibers into them, before she set about wiring them to incredibly small power sources that featured tiny activation switches and USB charging ports: the placements of which had to be as in-conspicuous as possible, so as to not ruin the overall visual appearance of these little items otherwise. In a matter of but a few days, she had completed the production process of her creations… now all that remained was the testing process, which she hoped would produce the desired effect she was attempting to achieve. Even though Lisa could get a little careless at times with her experiments, safety was a priority of great importance with her for this project, as she fished out of one of her drawers two pairs of protective goggles, one of which she was going to give to Lily, as she stepped over to her crib.
"Here, let us put this protective eyewear over your still-developing ocular organs, Lily," said Lisa, as she slipped a pair of tinted goggles over her baby roommate's delicate little eyes. "I am not exactly sure of the intensity of brightness these will emit, but nevertheless, I would hate for you to become blinded by science…"
Lisa likewise slipped a pair of protective tinted goggles over her huge glasses, before she proceeded to darken the room by turning off the lights, and closing the curtains. Lily watched with intense curiosity as her Brainiac sister returned to her lab table, and activated the secret project she had been working on for her Secret Santa Sibling; in a flash (no pun intended), the entire room became washed in bright pink light, which prompted Lily to begin gleefully bouncing around in her crib at the awesome sight before her.
Lisa took a step back to observe for herself just how intense this bright pink glow was; even while wearing protective eyewear, the glow was so incredibly intense, but that only seemed to excite both of the young girls residing in this bedroom. "Eureka!" The Brainiac exclaimed. "I do believe my new creations have achieved the exact results I have desired!"
"Pink! Pink! Pink!" Lily squealed as she continued to bounce around in her crib.
Lisa turned toward her baby sister, "Does it meet with your approval, Lily?"
"Pitty! Pitty!" Lily nodded and squealed, while clapping her little hands together.
"I have the utmost confidence that my Secret Santa Sibling will be most pleased with receiving these as a materialistic item of giving for the occasion of this celebratory December holiday our familial unit observes," concluded Lisa. "Wouldn't you agree, Lily?"
"Ciss-mas! Ciss-mas!" Lily nodded and squealed once again, while still bouncing and clapping in her crib.
"I will take your response of enthusiasm as an affirmation," Lisa said with a firm nod.
Very much satisfied with the results she had achieved, Lisa stepped over to her lab table once more to shut off the glowing, fiber optic jewelry she had created for her Secret Santa Sibling; the assortment she had made included a pair of dangly earrings, a few wrist bracelets, and a little choker – all of which her immediate older sister favored wearing as accessories, and not just for whenever she is participating in one of the many kiddy pageants she enrolls in. The little Brainiac opened the curtains to allow the natural daylight to filter into the room once again, before removing the protective goggles from both hers and her younger roommate's faces.
"You know, Lily, even though my valuable time could have been spent on matters of greater importance to the scientific community, I am theorizing that, perhaps, if I could patent these creations of fiber optic bodily ornaments, street name: jewelry, it could possibly revolutionize the otherwise superficial fashion and beauty community…"
Lily responded to her sister's theory with incomprehensible babbling, as well as the blowing of a few raspberries; of which, Lisa merely smirked and rolled her eyes; she still cannot wait for her baby sister to communicate with her by articulating full and complete sentences.
What Wood Lana Do?
Lana had mixed feelings about her Secret Santa Sibling, as they seem to possess something of a complicated relationship. Being the tomboy that she is, she very much possesses a rather close bond to her only big brother, and, like Lucy, is one of the few of the younger sisters who enjoys spending time within his company; her dirty hobbies and pastimes aside, Lincoln does not mind at all spending time with the little tomboy, reading comic books, playing out in the yard, spending time with the family pets, or engaging in video game smack downs. However, the two have also had their fair share of tiffs and misunderstanding where they have put their own selfish desires over the other's feelings for the sake of their own personal gain. There was the time Lincoln was Lola's pageant manager, and really wanted the tickets to Dairyland that were to be awarded to the winner of the pageant the little pink princess was to participate in, only for her to suddenly fall ill; realizing the girls are twins, Lincoln did all he could to transform the slovenly tomboy into her own prissier and girlier twin, having her masquerade as Lola for the sake of winning those prized tickets. More recently, Lana really wanted to play Lincoln's new video game, Total Trash Takeout, but he had not completed it himself just yet, and wanted to reach his way to the final boss level to defeat the Trash King, and only then would he let Lana play the game… but she could not wait; she went ahead and played it anyway, ruining all of progress that Lincoln had made, and tried so hard to keep him from finding out about it, thus violating the bond of trust between the two of them. Although they had since made up with each other over the matter, their relationship still has not been entirely harmonious – even when Lincoln tried to help Lana win the soap box derby by bringing in his friends to sabotage the other racers, while also boosting Lana's Loud Lightning, she at least knew his intentions were, arguably, good, even if his actions were very, very un-ethical, as she wanted to win her way: fair and square.
Nevertheless, Lana was still very fond of her big brother, and wanted to find something really special for his Christmas present – he did not seem too hard to shop for; she knows how much he loves comics and video games, which should provide her with some ideas of what to get for him. Of course, there was still the little matter of monetary security; after all, things like comic books and especially video games could be rather pricey, and large sums of money are something that little six-year-old girls like Lana do not often possess… her twin sister, on the other hand? Unfortunately, when it came to loaning her siblings money from the cash prizes she had received for pageant victories, Lola always had a number of terms and conditions: she was alright with lending small, meager amounts – a dollar or two here and there, as it was hardly a significant financial loss as far as she was concerned; larger amounts, however, was an entirely different matter, and there was no way the little princess was going to part with large sums of her money without whoever she is lending it to re-paying her either monetarily (WITH interest), or with their servitude in exchange. If Lana thought Lola would feel generous enough to loan her some money for a Christmas present for her Secret Santa Sibling without expecting some form of restitution, she would be dead wrong.
With the option of buying her big brother a present for Christmas off the table, Lana decided to consider the alternative option their parents proposed in that she could make something for her Secret Santa Sibling instead… the question was what, exactly, could she even make? When it comes to un-earthing treasure –or, what she perceives to be treasure- Lana is almost like a human bloodhound; she can practically sniff out the location of lost items of value that had become buried under the passage of time, whether it be something she can dig up in a park, exhume from the bottom of a lake, or even scrounge in a dumpster. The current time of the season would prove to be a little difficult, though: it's not exactly a picnic to go digging in the park when blanketed in layers of snow, nor is it easy to head out on a lake when the parks department have them closed to human activity during the winter… plus, Lana knew that, like the rest of her siblings, Lincoln would probably care not for anything she could dig out of a trashcan or a dumpster; that was another option that seemed to be off the table for her.
Still, Lana was un-daunted; she is very good with her hands… when it comes to tinkering with her tools for household repairs, that is… however, she was confident that she still could make Lincoln something for Christmas… if she could only figure what and how. Putting on her thinking cap, the little tomboy got to thinking as to how she could apply her skillful hands into something creative that could result in a Christmas present for her big brother, and it was almost like a little lightbulb moment when an idea came into her mind: she got to remembering about the previous summer in which she spent a great amount of her time playing in Tall Timbers Park. It was during this period of time that she found herself being enthralled by a lonely old-timer who was almost always parked on the exact same bench whenever she visited the park; this old man would spend his time with a crude jackknife and block of wood in hand, and with each time Lana would sit and visit with him whenever she was in the park, the block of wood gradually kept taking on more and more of a defined shape, until, finally, she could see that he was carving a bird in flight. He was a man of very few words, but he still enjoyed the company of the scrappy, yet plucky little girl who would watch him whittle away with her child-like wonder and amazement… he had planned on giving the carving to his new little friend once he had completed it… but, unfortunately, that never happened: just before summer vacation was coming to an end, the Louds embarked on another annual family road trip, and by the time they had returned, school was back in session, which meant Lana had less free time to spend in the park… even so, with the change of seasons gradually ushering cooler weather, the old-timer no longer had any warm sunshine he could sit in while whittling away, and as such, the two never saw each other again. It was still an experience that Lana enjoyed, and the old man's skills with his jackknife was inspiring enough for her to give it an honest attempt herself… there were all kinds of spare wood out in the garage, all she needed was some kind of knife.
One evening, Lynn, Sr. was in the kitchen, working on preparing dinner for his family; as the various pots and pans were steaming on top of the stove, the balding, middle-aged man kept himself amused during the cooking process by clanging away on his cowbell – much to the amusement of his young daughter, who walked in to see him.
"Someone's in the kitchen Lynn-Zest! Someone's in the kitchen I kn-o-o-o-ow! Someone's in the kitchen with Lynn-Zest! Strummin' on the ol' banjo!" He sang to himself while playing his cowbell.
"I don't have a banjo," the little tomboy spoke up, assuming her father was singing about her, since she was the only one who was in the kitchen with him.
Startled, Lynn, Sr. dropped his cowbell; he swiftly turned around, expecting to find it was his Goth daughter popping in on him again, but was a little surprised to see that it was, instead, his handy daughter. Knowing she was among his children who possessed quite an insatiable appetite, he tried to get the little red-capped girl to be a little more patient, "Dinner won't be ready for another half-hour, Lana; you can't rush culinary art."
"Oh, I know that," said Lana. "I was just wondering if you had any kind of knife I could borrow…"
Her father had bent over to pick up the cowbell he had dropped, but upon hearing this request from his young daughter freaked him out into dropping it to the floor again, as he quickly denied this request, "Whoa! Absolutely not!"
"But, Pops…" Lana tried to say.
"Kiddos your age don't need to be fooling around with sharp instruments like knives!" Lynn, Sr. said rather sternly.
"But, Pops…" Lana repeated.
"I know you're very good with tools, Lana," Lynn, Sr. continued, "but knives are VERY dangerous, and you're far too young to be handling knives right now!"
"But, Pops, I wanna whittle something!" Lana explained.
"Huh? Whittle?" Lynn, Sr. asked.
"Yeah… you remember that old guy I hung out with in the park this summer who was whittling that bird?" Lana asked.
The patriarch began rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "Hmm, yes, I do seem to recall you mentioning somebody like this a while back…"
"I decided I wanna whittle a Christmas present for my Secret Santa Sibling!" Lana said.
Lynn, Sr. perked up at hearing this, "Oh! Now THAT is an awesome idea, Lans!"
"Well, I don't think I can afford to buy my sibling anything for Christmas," Lana continued to explain, "so, yeah, I thought this could be something I could do to MAKE them a present instead!"
"That's usin' your noodle, kiddo!" Lynn, Sr. complimented, as he went back to stirring the contents of the various different pots and pans that were still steaming on top of the stove. "But still, knives are VERY dangerous, so you better let me help you… I happen to know a thing or two about whittling, myself! Why don't we tackle it over the weekend?"
"Alright!" Lana exclaimed. "Sounds good to me!"
Come that weekend, Lynn, Sr. joined Lana out in the garage, where there was an ample supply of different kinds of wood, not just for any kind of household project that may arise, but some of it was also left over from Lincoln's previous attempts at woodworking for a class assignment. As the two of them took to the floor to sit down, the father pulled a special item from his back pocket that he knew would come in quite handy for this particular little project, "Here's what we'll be using: it's been passed down through the family from Loud, to Loud, to Loud…"
Lana examined what it was her father pulled out of his pocket, and seemed able to identify it almost instantly, as he carefully sprung a knife blade from the bolstered handle, "Oh, cool! A pocket knife!"
"Oh, it's not just a pocket knife, Lans," explained Lynn, Sr., as he began to spring more of the little tools and instruments that were contained within the handle, one by one. "It's also a corkscrew, a cuticle remover, a paper cutter, a screwdriver, a measuring stick, a shaving razor, a toothpick, AND a comb!"
"WHOA!" Lana marveled over what her father owning being no mere pocket knife, but a Swiss Army knife. "That is one of the coolest things I have ever seen!"
Lynn, Sr. smiled at his young daughter, "Well… maybe one day when you're a little older, it'll be yours."
The little tomboy's eyes widened and sparkled over that prospect, "Oh, sweet!"
As the man began to tuck the various little tools back into the bolstered handle, except for the knife blade, that is, he further queried his young daughter about the intentions of her project, "So, do you have an idea of what you'd like to whittle for your Secret Santa Sibling?"
Indeed, Lana had an idea. Prior to setting up this time with her father, she had given the matter a lot of consideration, initially thinking about possibly carving a certain character she knew her brother liked, such as Ace Savvy… but she realized that Lincoln already has action figures of not only Ace Savvy, but as well as his sidekick One-Eyed Jack, and other characters from the franchise also. The more the little tomboy thought it over, she knew that she wanted her wooden creation to be something a little more personal, to make it all the more unique and special as a Christmas gift for her Secret Santa Sibling: she finally decided she wanted to carve a miniature wooden figure of her own brother.
Knowing his young daughter was very good with her hands, and skillful with tools, Lynn, Sr. was confident that Lana could handle the knife rather well, and gave her a demonstration of how properly hold the knife safely, instructing her to whittle and carve the wood in motions away from herself, so as to reduce the risks of cutting or otherwise injuring herself; although Lynn, Sr. was confident in his young daughter's abilities in using tools with her hands, being a parent, he was still very nervous and apprehensive about his little girl handling a sharp knife, and made sure to supervise her at all times. Over the course of two days, Lana was able to transform a small, cubical hunk of wood into an incredibly detailed and intricate miniature wooden maquette of her big brother, Lincoln; with her father's supervision and guidance –as well as him standing guard to make sure nobody else comes into the garage and possibly disturb her from her work, or even spoil her secret- Lana was very, very pleased with her results, and had high hopes that her brother will be most pleased with this unique and one-of-a-kind gift from his Secret Santa Sibling.