Chapter 1: A Home For All
"In a moment, something to think about. Next week, we begin with a silly argument-" The black and white TV cut off mid-sentence, much to young Lucy's dismay.
"No! Now we'll never know the teaser!" The pre-goth Lucy bellyached from the regal red carpet floor she sat upon beside Harriet's red chair.
"I know, you'd never keep outta me ear about it!" Harriet replied as she jostled Lucy's hair playfully as she silently protested, much to Harriet's amusement. "What? You don't like it now?" Harriet asked cheekily, to which Lucy sighed.
"No, I don't mind..." Lucy admitted. "But, Grana? Are these stories really true?" Lucy inquired, making Harriet pause in thought for but a moment.
"Nope! Just a bunch-a of TV theatrics I tell ya," Harriet answered matter-of-factly.
"Oh," wide-eyed Lucy uttered in devastation, letting her head slink bellow her shoulders.
The sight alone aching Harriet's heart like a knife being buried in her chest. Her eyes scanning the room for a solution to Lucy's disappointment, stopping at an elaborate bead curtain doorway.
"Y'know, every lie has a seed of truth, aye?" Harriet said with a cheeky smirk. Making Lucy creak her head up to Harriet in confusion before lighting up in realisation.
"Wait, Grana, are we gonna-"
"Yes, yes we are" Harriet cut off as she got off her chair and gazing down at eager Lucy. "It's about time you learned a few old tricks that have been passed down, from generation to generation. I wanted to teach you this stuff sooner but I was kinda worried that you would be like your, other siblings," Harriet admitted with a downtrodden look, much to Lucy's visible confusion.
"Wait, Grana, didn't you just say ghosts were fake?" Lucy pointed out to the now astonished Harriet.
"I mean," Harriet snickered, "Sort of, but I said stuff on tv were fake sweetie," Harriet elaborated as she chuckled to herself. "Y'know, it's easy to forget you're just a wee one, hehe," Harriet belittled playfully as she ruffled Lucy's hair again.
"Okay, okay! You can stop doing that now!" Lucy pouted in protest as she brushed Harriet's hand away.
"Aw, but your hair is so beautiful today! Besides, I gotta take what I can get when you're around," Harriet admitted with a hint of melancholy.
A hint that the two shared. "I suppose, I just wish mom and dad weren't so against you all the time,"
"Yeah..." Harriet sympathised, dowering further the longer she took in Lucy's big round eyes.
"So, can we see that thing you were talking about?" Lucy suddenly spoke.
"Oh! Right! Almost forgot! How dare I... hehe, anyways, just through here sweetie!" Harriet proclaimed as she guided Lucy through the bead curtain doorway. Which gave way to a pitch-black room.
"Uhm, Grana? You want me to find the light switch?"
"No need dearie! Watch and learn," Harriet smirked as she pulled back her sleeves and clapped her hands twice. Revealing candles a hundred strong that lit up the room in all its wild splendour.
"Woah..." Lucy muttered as she basked in the room's magical aura. Including an ornate boreal round table lined with strange symbols that sat directly in the centre of the room. And a glass display case, a display case that was filled to the brim with a thick grey fog. Housing a particularly large tome, a tome that could have been double the length of the King-James bible just from eyeballing the thickness. The book's corners lined in the same gold as the book's title, which was written in symbols of a forgotten era. And on top of it, all the cover's skin resembled crocodile skin. Or possibly another prehistoric reptile...
"Oh! I see you're eyeing that. Uhm, yeah, don't worry about that old thing!" Harriet chuckled nervously.
"But it's shiny," Lucy replied not really paying attention to Harriet, entranced by the shiny highlights.
"Uhm, hey! Why don't we talk to Pop-pops' great-grandad!" Harriet said hastily attempting to dissuade interest from the creepy tome.
"Pop-pops' great-grandpa? Ooo!" Lucy uttered googly-eyed, losing her attention towards the murky tome, much to Harriet's relief.
"I wonder what he looks like compared to the family portrait," Lucy asked innocently.
T'was two years ago since Lucy said those words to Harriet.
Two years since the last time she saw Harriet before her bedridden state.
And two years since Lucy lost her Grana, Harriet, right in front of her.
But even now, Lucy clings on dearly. Desperately holding onto her memory. For every evening Lucy conjures a spell just before sundown to reach out. And yet every time she tries, Lucy is always left gawking at the still-lit ritual candles upon her makeshift ritual table. Every evening, her family's instance on letting go grows stronger. And every time, she just turns to her diary she leaves beside the candles to mark down how long it's been since Lucy's seen, Harriet.
And today marks two years since she's talked to her great-grandmother, Harriet...
In Lisa's room, she's conducting some sort of elaborate experiment with high tech equipment, and, with Lily?
"Now, surely, if I can figure out C.R.I.S.P.R in this very room! Then this should be like, I-I dunno! Something equally as irritating!? Ugh, where's coffee when I need it..." Lisa bellyached to herself as she rubbed her baggy, gaunt eyes. "Alrighty, are we ready for another take?" Lisa inquired, shooting her tired gaze over to Lily in her crib fiddling with a tripod-suspended camcorder. Whom shot a clueless shrug back at Lethargic Lisa, sighing in agitation as she matched over to Lily. Aiming her finger towards the showcase.
Which consisted of a dentist chair and a metallic bowl positioned above with blue lights that ran around the rim of the bowl. And a robotic arm that connected underneath the dentist chair. Cabling running from the robotic arm and up a large server tower directly in front of the window. Which was connected to a large screen on the wall behind the machine.
"Ooh!" Lily giggled as she adjusted the camera's view, and where Lisa marched back to.
"Okay, start recording! *Ahem* Greetings fellow scientists! I've heard about your recent openings for Bright and fresh minds, and at that, I plan to demonstrate my scientific prowess, with my newest, and possibly most ambitious machine! I bring a device that does the impossible, the thing that has baffled the greatest minds history has had to offer. And yet here I, Lisa loud. I have cracked it! Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…"
Lisa then made way for the machine, with Lily zooming in as rehearsed. "A mind reader! Well, it's more of a mind projector, but that's beside the point. As you might be able to see, if my assistant would just look to the right..." Lisa ordered, with Lily doing just that. "Yes, right there's perfect" Lisa muttered. "But you're probably wondering. 'But Lisa? How can you project the human mind's thoughts when we don't even know how the thing works? Well, that's the thing, we aren't really messing with the brain, we're just converting the brainwaves being read by this crane. Thingy..." Lisa said while motioning to the machine cluelessly.
Lily giggled at Lisa's struggling "Hey! You try submitting a mind-reading device without sounding like a conspiracy theorist, then you can laugh at me," Lisa protested defensively.
"Anyways, now that may sound painful, but I can assure you that I have in fact, only had about…" Lisa muttered the number of attempts as she counted them on her fingers, before realising it went right past her six-fingered hand.
Lisa laughed sheepishly to hide the shock plastered on her face. "A-at least it's been tested?"
"But none-the-matter! Science isn't anything if not separating the possible from the im-possible. Now, since it has in fact been tested numerous times, I haven't a doubt in my mind that this machine will in fact work! As intended!" Lisa struck a stoic pose, only to falter at Lily's doubtful look.
"Ok, I know it might work as intended! Now granted, I was not allowed access to human test subjects. So I've had to get by with simple lab mice, speaking of which! Oh! Why there's one!" Lisa then gestured for Lily to pan over to the doorway, where a lone albino mouse housed inside a black cage sat.
Lisa promptly moseyed over towards the cage, retrieving the white rodent, which ran as far back from Lisa as possible. For he knew, he knew what was gonna happen...
Lisa frowned at his reaction, for she understood the rodent's plight. But for the betterment of the future, sometimes, you just have to suffer. Which for Lisa, involved ignoring the rodent's defiant and fierce prickly teeth.
"Grum!" Lily proclaimed ecstatically.
"Uhm, yes, this, as you can see, is, Grum, and Grum is who shall be graciously demonstrating the validity of my device. All I have to do is just seat him onto this chair," Lisa pointed back to the outlandish construct behind her, setting Grum upon the table, restraining his loose appendages with leather straps.
"Now, I know what you're probably wondering. And yes, We've all equipped out our protective equipment in the unlikely event of something going wrong, Lily,"
Lisa bellowed, bringing Lily's unfocused attention. "C'mon Lily! This thing?" Lisa asked as she revealed a welding mask she hid behind her back, waving it around until Lily got the message.
"Ooh" Lily cooed in realisation. "Poopoo!" Lily proclaimed as she waved the baby-sized welding mask in her baby hand.
"Yes! That! Now put it on, like this!" Lisa demonstrated how to equip the mask for Lily, fumbling with it momentarily before getting it on successfully. Which Lily mimicked also successfully.
"*Ahem*, now that we're all properly equipped, we can finally move on with the, *yawn*, demonstration," Lisa exclaimed as she made her way towards the control panel that was situated underneath the large screen. Loud whirring sounds and the cool blue monitor accompanied Lisa as she began the startup process. Resulting in the metallic bowl lowering onto Grum, causing him extreme distress as made shrill squeaking cries of fright.
"Aw, don't worry, this process should only last about a few seconds..." Lisa comforted softly, but it didn't seem to ease Grum's fear, making Lisa dower in pity. "I'm sorry little one..." Lisa thought to herself as the machine worked away. Getting louder and louder by the second, the chair itself starting to shake from the pressure quickly building. Mirroring Lisa's panic steadily building. "No, no, no! Don't overload now! Not when I'm so close!" Lisa cried in despair as she gazed at the meltdown. With the server tower catching fire a moment later.
"Aah! Where's the extinguisher?!" Lisa exclaimed as she ran in frantic circles trying to find something to stop the machine's meltdown. With it being confirmed as such by the machine itself as it announced the following as is: "ERROR, SYSTEM OVERLOAD IMMINENT!"
Upon hearing the warning loud and clear, Lisa scrambled to get Lily out of the room as fast as possible. But Lisa wasn't tall enough to simply pull Lily out of her crib and leave, she had to waste time finding a stool first. All the while Lily fixated on precious little Grum. Who was still stuck inside the chair of the machine, still squeaking his shrieks of horror. Of course, Lily wanted to save Grum. So just when Lisa had found an appropriate stool. Lily already clambered out with determination in her step.
"Lily!? What in the blazes are you doing?! Get away from that, Now!" Lisa shouted as loud as she could over the throttling of the chair, the beeping from the monitor, and the constant whirring sound that all were interwoven with each other to make a noise so loud, that it actually got Luna's attention from all the way across the other side of the house while she was just lying in bed listening to tunes at full volume with her headphones.
"Huh? What the hell is- oh. Lisa. Ugh, better go check up on the little douche, even if I might die trying..." Luna muttered to herself anxiously before getting up, and carefully making her way to Lisa's room, bracing herself for whatever explosion might go up in her face.
Speaking of which, Lily was just about to touch Grum's little pink paw as he was trying to reach out, however, Lisa had other plans as just when they were about to grip each other's hands, Lisa snatched Lily out of Grum's grasp.
"Sorry Lily! But I gotta make sure our house actually has eleven sisters!" Lisa exclaimed as Lily and Grum's eyes locked mournfully hand of sweet, for he knew, he knew what was about to happen...
"G-Grum! Grum!" Lily whimpered in sorrow.
"Hey uhm, is everything okay in, there..?"
"Gang-way!" Lisa warned before being flung forth by a powerful shock-wave that not only flung Lily out of Lisa's hands, but also flung Lisa and Luna into the wall. Luckily Lily was cushioned by both the welding mask and Luna's stomach. Lisa however, was not so lucky, landing headfirst beside Lori and Leni's door, completely embedding her welding mask into the wall before plopping onto Luna's face with an audible groan from both parties.
The house also suffered a complete blackout. Earning a round of groans, all across the house, along with the sound of some things falling over. And a few angry comments to coincide with what everyone assumed was probably Lisa's doing.
"You okay Lis?" Luna inquired.
"Can it," Lisa replied angrily through gritted teeth, right before squirming off Luna's face and dusting herself. "Well, go on, tell me how I shouldn't do it again because blah blah this, and blah blah that," Lisa spat while readjusting her glasses that were now slightly cracked at the bottom. "Well to put it frankly, I've heard it once, heard it twice, and I most certainly won't hear it an umpteenth-"
"Hold that thought for a sec Lis, I wanna see if I can pull off that clapping trick from the movies."
"Oh, don't be preposterous! That shock-wave was probably so strong that It put every electronic in this house completely out of, commission..." Lisa slurred, being wrong about yet another thing today. With every light in the house that was previously shut-off by the blast flickered back life. Being accompanied by enjoyment proclaimed around the house.
"You were saying, little dude?" Luna inquired with a smirk.
"I uh, stand corrected..." Lisa spoke while adjusting her glasses.
"Yeah…" Luna answered blankly, being tugged at the bottom of her leg by Lily. "Aw, it's alright little bro, Lunes has gotcha," Luna said sweetly as she picked Lily up by the pits, inspecting what happened to her wearily, sighing in relief at no signs of damage. Well, except for a rather dire stench reached Luna's nostrils.
"Oh, god, that smell's worse than your old diapers dude!" Luna retched.
"Gr-Grum! Grum!" Lily got out before starting to cry again.
"Grum? Uhm, d-don't cry Lily! Everything's fine!" Luna comforted as she tried rocking her to sleep. "Alright Lisa, you gotta translate for me here, also, do explain the stench, I mean god-damn, what were you doing in there?"
"Wait, smell?!" Lisa then took a whiff of the air, only for her tiny eyes to widen in fright. "Oh! That? Well you see, Lily likes to get attached to my, test subjects- they're just lab rats mind you! White, lab rats!"
"Uh huh..." Luna nodded with a stilted frown.
"Well, there was this, one particular rodent called: Grum, and…" Lisa elaborated grimly, making Luna gasp in morbid realisation. With Lily struggling and squirming right out of Luna's arms amidst her surprise. Plopping onto the carpet floor, making a mad crawl towards the charred remains of what was once the innocent and pure: Grum.
Luna tried to catch Lily before she got into Lisa room, but by the time Luna even realised Lily was out of her arms, She, and now Luna herself, had borne witness to the tragedy. Which more resembled a burned piece of pizza than a white mouse.
"Okay, that's just... and to think you put Lily near that thing?!" Luna exclaimed at Lisa, who was found digging around in a pile of scientific equipment beyond repair, except for that camcorder Lily piloted, broken tripod included. "Eureka! It was all not, for naught!" Lisa cried out in victory. Only to be interrupted by Luna's ireful glare.
"Hey! I went through a lot of trouble to get this footage!" Lisa cried out in defence.
"And that's supposed to make me not wanna pound you into dirt?"
"If you have any sense, yeah, but considering everyone's too busy to help me, I'm forced to make due, with what I HAVE!" Lisa spat back.
"See that imprint over there? Yeah, we're not your test dummies dude! But I guess Lily is?" Luna pointed out.
"My test, dummy?" Lisa uttered in hurt, dropping the camcorder in her hand, "H-how dare you, how dare you call Lily my TEST DUMMY!" Lisa roared, bringing on the arrival of Lori and Leni.
Investigated the scorched surroundings that reeked of burnt toenails. Lori didn't let the smell get to her, but Leni couldn't take it, and just left Lisa's decimated room, but not before picking up the still distraught Lily. But Lori stuck around...
"Phew, alright, I think I know what's gone on here" Lori muttered, pinching the bridge of her brow in frustration. "Everyone out!"
"But she-" Luna started.
"I said, out," Lori spat firm enough to not break her thin veil of calm.
Seeing that Lori was short on patience, the bickering siblings complied and went outside. All while Lori glared them down every step of the way. Lori followed the two out before stopping to address them after another fiery sigh.
"Luna, I don't care what someone did. You can't talk like that, let alone to a sibling like Lisa. and yes, you're probably gonna say something like: 'oh! She did another experiment as we told her not to do mind you," Lori glared Lisa down as she addressed her, causing Lisa to shrink into her green sweater fearfully.
"But that's beside the point, I don't care what someone does, you should never put them blast them like that, whatever shit you have between each other, ends right now, so just- makeup! I don't care how you do it, just- do it!"
Lisa and Luna turned to each other with conflicted looks, turning back to Lori with uncertainty. "Now…" Lori demanded, almost shouting. Although her encouragement did help in the end, the two reluctantly shaking each other's hands.
"I'm uh, sorry for getting up at you, little dude," Luna apologised with questionable sincerity.
"And I'm sorry for putting Lily in harm's way like that," Lisa apologised, also with questionable sincerity.
"Now Lisa, we told you that you could do experiments still, so long as they didn't involve anything dangerous, and/or if they involved our siblings. So to go behind our backs and use Lily. Is way out of line, and I'm just, well c'mon Lis! You know better than to use a baby in a test like that!" Lori scolded fiercely without breaking eye contact with Lisa.
"Well, for the record, I did ask for help from the other siblings you included, and they, respectfully declined to say the least," Lisa testified.
"And it's good you asked, but you do have science buddies right? I mean, if you're trying to impress scientists like you say you are. Then surely they could send like, what? One guy over? Like, do you have any idea how many people would want to help a four-year-old scientist?!"
"I dunno, not, many? Who would actually be dumb enough to believe that?" Lisa pointed out in a meek tone.
"I see... okay, Lisa, from now on, you can do experiments only when we know about it, and when there's some science showcase or something. And Luna, you have to help Lisa clean up the mess in her room until the others come back, then you get a break." Lori declared.
"What!?" Luna and Lisa barked simultaneously.
"And it's final, don't like it? Take it up with mom and dad after they come back, so just suck it up, and get to it! Dismissed!" Lori dismissed sharply before returning to her room and slamming the door behind her. Only to come back out. "Also, this wall isn't gonna fix itself, just saying..." Lori added before whisking away back into her room.
"This is bogus dude…" Luna muttered full of contempt.
"I know right? Doesn't she know that science fairs come around only once or twice a year if you're lucky?" Lisa protested.
"What? No dude- you!" Luna spat while pointing at Lisa and grabbing a nearby mop leaning against the wall, beginning to clean up a particularly ashy spot in the carpet.
"Me? Uh, mind elaborating a bit?" Lisa questioned.
"Gladly. Ya see I've got nothing to do with this! I literally got dragged into this! I mean really, did I mess up the house again? Did I go behind everyone's back!? No! I just up and walked into your mess! But no! Lori doesn't care! Just lumps us together. Hell- if anything, you should be holding this mop! Not me!" Luna ranted.
"Well, you are holding the mop, and while yes, the circumstances behind why might be a tad unjust. But at least you aren't barred from doing what you love. How would you like it, if you could only practice and perform one specific time in the year, every year?"
Luna paused for a spell, taking in, and imagining what that would actually be like. "Yeah, I guess that would suck. If it would ever happen that is, cause there's one simple thing that separates me, and my music from you: my music's never hurt, anybody. But your experiments? Well, just whadda ya think would have happened if I weren't there to catch Lily?"
"Oh, don't waste my time with what-if's, and could've beens'. At that point, you'd be just as sad and lonely as Lucy," Lisa remarked.
"Lucy? What's she got to do with us?" Luna questioned in a confused tone.
"Yeah, that's what I'm wondering too..," Lisa replied.
Just as Lisa said that everyone in the house could hear the family's second van pull in, along with some distant chatter coming from the van's direction simultaneously.
"Welp, that sounds like them, I'm out! Luna Loud's leaving the building!" Luna proclaimed while holding up rocker signs in the air.
"And just where might you be going?" Lisa questioned.
"Me? Remember what Lori said? Well, yeah, See-ya!" Luna justified as she left Lisa to her many devices.
"B-but, what about my room?" Lisa cried out.
"You're a scientist, right? That's your first world problem now!" Luna proclaimed from downstairs as she celebrated in spite of Lisa's circumstances.
"God confounded flimsy contract terms, well you better be back!" Lisa howled with no reply, right before heading back into her room, taking a seat upon the black sodden carpet, resting her head in her knees in contemplation. Only to spot the camcorder Lily held, Lisa's pained face staring back at her through the cracked camcorder lens.
Lisa tried turning on the broken camcorder but got no response. Popping open the camcorder's scrambled memory card revealed that there wasn't much to see anyway. Lisa sighed in defeat as she let the camcorder fall out of her hands. "Well there goes five hundred dollars, and then some..." Lisa bemoaned to no one as her eyes caught her welder's mask still embedded inside the wall.
Grimacing at the defined cracks in the mask, her face would probably not have survived recalling how violently the wall shook upon impact. Would almost make Lisa consider god for how much of a miracle it is that everyone's practically unscathed.
"My god," Lisa uttered to herself in realisation, as Lily probably. No, most definitely would've been a strawberry pancake had Luna not been there.
"What am I even doing anymore..." Lisa muttered brokenly, that was, until she realized.
"*Sniff*, c'mon Lisa, you'll never save Lucy at this rate," Lisa scolded herself as she got up, dusting herself off. She swung her gaze behind her, narrowing her eyes at the doorway before pressing forward and down the stairwell. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she frowned mournfully at who was hiding under the dining table...