{Notice: If you want to view what proto Leni looks like this Deviant Pic is a good representation of her x3corez/art/The-Proto-Leni-724362954}
The basement door opened and closed with nary a sound, though it wouldn't have mattered; the washer running could overpower Luna's loudest jams any day. Luan listened for one of her brother's trademark monologues, but even she couldn't make anything out over the jet engine cleaning their clothes. "Heck, I might not even get any decent audio," she grumbled. Still, she'd gone to all this trouble, best to make something of it.
Creeping down the stairs, head panning back and forth to catch any sign of movement, she brought the camcorder up to her eye and filmed the stealthy approach on her favourite prey. "This is going to be double the fun, if something happens to that washer or dryer Lori's going to wring him out!" She chuckled to herself, though she felt a little pain on his behalf at the thought of whatever might be about to happen to him. That pain didn't quite measure up to what came next, though.
As she reached the second to last step, the lights abruptly shut off and the washer's current cycle ended, plunging her into darkness and depriving her of a noise to use as reference. Momentarily shocked, she missed the last step and went tumbling to the floor, crying out as her hands and knees absorbed the impact of her fall. The camera tumbled and slid across the floor before coming to rest against something. "Ow, ow, ow!" Luan did her best not to cry as she rubbed at her battered arms and legs, sucking in a harsh breath as her wrist flared with a likely sprain.
In the silence and darkness she realized she wasn't alone, however. Heavy footsteps approached from her side and stopped immediately next to her. "Lincoln, g-get the light! I fell and-" The words, along with all of the air in her lungs, left her as a powerful force struck her directly in her solar plexus. She doubled over in pain and panic, gasping desperately and curling in on herself. The footsteps ventured further into the room before doubling back and continuing to the stairs, and the lights came back on in a brilliant flash as the washer started back to life.
"Like, I didn't give you enough credit. You really are always prepared, huh? 'Lincoln - All Washed Up.'" The label was already on the tape, Leni discovered, as she popped the camcorder open and examined its contents.
Flopping around, Luan choked out, "L-Leni, w-what did...what d-did...no..." What little breath Luan had regained fled her at the sight of her once-feared sister, clad in an ensemble that paid homage to her signature look years ago. Leni stood confidently near the bottom step, a sky-blue blouse tucked into a jean skirt that reached her knees and framed a pair of brown, heeled leather boots.
Ignoring the prankster's disbelieving gaze, Leni strode over to her, planting the toe of her boot directly next to Luan's head. "Aww, did baby fall down the steps again? Like, you really need to work on that, how many times did this happen when we were younger?" Scenes from their childhood crashed like waves through their minds, one of them relishing the memories while the other quaked in terror. "Maybe those falls are why you're, like, so fucked up in the head." The blonde bared her teeth at her helpless quarry, who was just beginning to appreciate her predicament.
"Leni...no, no, NO. You can't!" Recovering somewhat, adrenaline drove Luan to scramble back from her attacker, unable to bring herself to her weak and wounded knees. "W-what are you doing?!" Leni didn't answer, but slowly stalked after her, a delighted and predatory little smile darkening her face. "L-Lincoln! Where are you? LINCOLN!" No one would hear her over the appliance, however, save for her only company at that moment. Her back met with the dryer, and she pressed herself up against it, unconsciously continuing her escape attempt.
"Oh, didn't you know? I decided to take care of the laundry for him!" Taking a moment to savour the bewildered expression that information earned her, Leni knelt down to eye level with the frightened brunette. "Looks like you've been hung out to dry! Get it?" Leni's face nearly collided with Luan's as she thrust forward. "GET IT?" She narrowly avoided her sister's gargantuan forehead as it rushed toward her face.
Having missed her mark, Luan attempted to roll away from her position against the dryer, only for Leni to grip her on either side of her head and slam it into the metal surface. A hoarse cry escaped her, and she yelped, "let GO of me! G-get away from me, you freak!"
"Let go, huh?" Leni's self-satisfied grin mutated into a menacing frown as she pulled the girl up by her ponytail and shirt collar. "Like, if you say so." She hefted Luan up and tossed her back toward the center of the room and onto her already injured knees and elbows. Through it all, her little sister hadn't started bawling yet, and she wondered just what it would take to hear that sweet siren song.
Luan's mind reeled as she tried to comprehend what was happening to her; what Leni was DOING to her. 'Everything was going so swell since last night...I thought she wasn't mad, I thought...' She blinked back the tears, both from the hurt in her limbs and her heart. The person that was doing this to her wasn't their lovable, airheaded Leni. No, she knew exactly who this was, and that knowledge nearly broke her. Leni had been like this once before, and now she'd finally come back. Just like they'd always been afraid she would.
"You thinking about the glory days too?" Leni's sadistic tone derailed her train of thought as the blonde horror loomed over her. "Ah, it does my heart good to see that, like, neither of us has changed after all this time." She lifted her arms over her head and stretched as she put on a bright smile and asked, "did you miss me?"
Still staring at the ground, Luan spoke more to herself than to Leni, "you...you remember..." She was paralyzed, her worst nightmares couldn't compare to what was happening to her right now. "B-but the medicine-"
"Doesn't work anymore," Leni lied, "which must mean that I'm, like, all better now! Hurray!" The blonde did a little twirl that was completely at odds with the abuse she was doling out. Luan's stomach churned, both from the sight and the emotions roiling inside her. She caught the way Leni lost a bit of balance and discretely rubbed at her back, though her attacker recovered quickly enough. "You must be, like, so happy for me! Right?" Leni batted her eyelashes.
The young girl didn't dare speak, didn't trust her voice not to give way to her fear. And though that fear still froze her in place, it was beginning to thaw in the heat of an equally powerful emotion: anger. Anger at being duped, at falling for the same trick Leni had gotten her with all that time ago, at Leni for doing this to her and herself for letting it happen. That anger warred with her fear as her sister crouched down at her side.
"Alright, listen, trapjaw, and listen good; I'm only gonna say this once-"
"Well." A reckless courage compelled Luan to speak before she could think better of it.
Leni's eyes widened at the interruption before narrowing again. Using one hand to grip her victim's chin, she roughly turned Luan's head to face her and used the other to backhand her. "Excuse me?"
Wincing through the sharp sting, the brunette's face contorted into a sort of angry smirk. "It's listen 'well', not listen 'good.' L-looks like your grammar is as well-adjusted as you are-" Luan's snide retort was cut short by a sharp yelp as Leni smacked her again, harder this time. Before she could bring a hand up to rub at her face it was crushed in the vice grip of her more powerful sister's fingers.
"If you talk back to me one more time, you'll be wearing dentures instead of braces. Get it?" Tears began to well up in Luan's eyes, but she wouldn't give Leni the satisfaction of seeing her cry. Nonetheless, she remained silent. "So, she CAN be taught!" Maybe not.
"Well yeah, I wasn't a retard for four years-" The younger sister covered her head and closed her eyes as the blonde's fist drew back. She braced herself for the impact, but it never came. Finally she chanced a look, only to see no one in front of her. A boot connected with the back of her head, sending her falling forward and into the concrete floor. Her front teeth connected with the ground, cracking under the force. She barely had time to wail before her ponytail was seized and her head ruthlessly jerked back up.
Leni was impressed that the baby hadn't turned into a complete mess yet, it would make for a much more entertaining show in the coming week. "Like, I always was more of a slapstick kind of girl, you know? Definitely a lot more funny than fake spiders and candid cameras." The waterworks were beginning now, though, and she might get found out if she had too much fun.
Even through the agony of her breaking teeth Luan caught the emphasis on 'camera', and she began to truly panic. "Y-you were going through my s-stuff-"
"MY stuff. Like, all of your shit belongs to ME now," Leni accentuated each declaration with another tug on the girl's hair, batting her feeble attempts at resistance away. "And so do you." She let that declaration sink in a moment before continuing, "you know, you and I are kind of alike. We both like to see other people suffer." The blonde released her sister's ponytail and marvelled as she wordlessly writhed. "The difference, Luan, is that the people I like to watch suffer deserve it."
Circling around the defeated younger girl, Leni clucked her tongue as she listed off her sister's sins. "You've got the nerve to call me a retard, but what does that make you for, like, taking advantage of one for so long? Not to mention all your precious videos you've taken of all of us. Especially Lincoln." Her heart raced with excitement at the look of despair on Luan's face as she mentioned their brother. "That's right, I checked out a couple of your best hits. All those times you could have, like, been there for him, wasted on filming him while he was in pain. Pain just like you're in now. I bet he'd help you right now, even if he knew just how much like shit you've treated him all this time."
She came to a stop, glaring down at the pathetic creature on all fours before her. "But he's not here now, and Lori isn't either. Luna can't hear us, and no one else can help you. No one else even wants to help you."
"That's n-not t-true..." Luan denied, but her resolve was breaking as the reality of her situation bore down on her.
Leni adopted an expression of pity. "Like, you have to have noticed it. The way no one laughs at your crappy one-liners. The way everyone scatters when you enter the room. The way no one goes out of their way to see you, to deal with you." The more she piled on, the more she remembered interactions she'd shared and witnessed with the little imp during her lost years.
"Shut up..." Leni couldn't hear the whispered demand, but she could see the way Luan tensed up, adrenaline and shock edging out her common sense. A wounded animal backed into a corner. They'd done this dance enough times in the past that both of them knew what was coming, and yet neither of them could bring themselves to stop.
"Even when people, like, DO rely on you, you let them down. You can't help yourself, because deep down you're the most selfish person in this house. You'll do anything to be the center of attention, and you're the first one to jump in when someone else takes a dive. Pretty sad that even a retard could recognize that."
"Shut. UP." Luan's hands clenched against the concrete and she grit her teeth, her pain dulling as her emotions overtook her. Leni had always said such horrible things to her in the past. ('You know that Mom and Dad didn't, like, WANT to have a fourth kid, right? Guess the joke was on them!') ('Looks like your comedy's good for the same thing as your looks; clearing out the room. Get it?') ('Just remember, sis, we're not laughing with you. We're not even laughing at all! Like, how bad is THAT?') What made this verbal assault even worse, then, was that there was a hint of truth to it this time.
Leni grabbed her by her shirt collar and the hem of her skirt, powering through the pain in her back to heft Luan up and set her on her wobbly feet. "Or what? You'll pun me to death? Come at me with a toy spider or a whoopie cushion?" There was no verbal response, just balled fists and suppressed sobs. "Now, as I was saying, you're going to listen to-" Luan abruptly spun around, latching onto Leni for balance and catching the older girl completely off guard. She formed her good hand into a fist and drove it as hard as she could into Leni's aching back.
The blonde yelled and her knees buckled, bringing her down on top of the smaller girl. Luan took her chance and wiggled out from under her, striking her again for good measure before willing herself to stand back up. 'I need to get to Lori, she's the only one who can stop her!' Unfortunately, she'd underestimated Leni's stamina, as the elder sister leapt after her and caught her around the knees, bringing Luan down yet again.
Literally kicking and screaming, Luan tried to fight her off, but she was at a disadvantage on the ground. Leni shoved her back down, straddling her and preventing another escape attempt. "Cheap shot, you little bitch," she huffed, pain and adrenaline stripping away the last of her filters and mercy. "Be proud of it, because it's not gonna happen again." Roughly grabbing the struggling girl's sprained wrist, she squeezed as hard as possible and flipped her over so they were facing one another. Luan shrieked, and Leni took the opportunity to crash her knuckles against her victim's hypersensitive chipped teeth, uncaring of the braces cutting them open. Under the barrage Luan finally broke, tears flowing freely from her eyes as she tried in vain to shield herself.
Reason began to return to her abuser, and Leni realized she needed to dial it back before she completely blew it. Taking both of Luan's wrists in her hands, she pressed them to the cold concrete and leaned her head next to the crying girl's to avoid another headbutt attempt. "Listen. To. ME." Luan's shaky breaths hitched, and Leni slightly loosened her grip to reward the concession. "If anyone, like, asks about what happened to you, you fell down the stairs. That's not a lie, and your little recording can prove it." The fight began to leave Luan's body, replaced only with dread and defeat. "You're also not gonna to talk to ANYONE about what happened here, or about me. If I even think you did or will, I'll give you four times worse than what you got just now. Do you understand?"
Luan choked and spluttered on her tears and mucus, managing to croak, "y-yes."
"That's a good girl. Because it won't just be you that gets punished for it, but everyone else too. Starting from the bottom up." Luan's eyes widened at the threat, understanding exactly who it was directed at. She frantically shook her head, and Leni slowly rose back up to a sitting position, looking down at the battered girl. "I'm glad we got to talk like this, Lu," the girl beneath her grimaced at the nickname Luna had always used for her, "like, it's going to take some time, but I think before long we'll all be even for what you did to me."
Patting the beaten girl on the cheek, Leni finally released her and stood to leave, grabbing a towel along the way and throwing it on top of her sister. "Clean up, wait about fifteen minutes, and then go to your room. It's past your bedtime." The toll of the fight began to wear on her as she hobbled up the stairs, pain flaring from her tailbone where Luan had scored her only hit. Entering back into the kitchen, the rain had picked up outside, and the rumble of thunder shook the house.
She quietly returned to her room, the house unusually still despite the severe weather outside. It seemed the kids had all turned in, or were at least getting there. The moment that she reached her room and touched the doorknob, a terrific crack exploded through the house, followed by the lights dying. "Perfect." Well, at least no one would be phoning out or in. Luna's door opened behind her, as did the twins' down the hall.
A low whistle pierced the night air as Luna glanced around, the only light coming from the lightning outside her window and the one in the living room. "Nice." The two of them were assailed by a pair of panicked six-year olds who came tumbling down the hall over one another.
"L-Leni, Luna! You've gotta turn the lights back on!" Lola wailed, gripping onto Lana for dear life.
"N-not that we're scared, or anything," Lana added.
The two older sisters shared a wry smile as Luna informed them, "sorry, dudes, but this is lights out for real this time, at least til tomorrow." That was most definitely not what they had wanted to hear, as lips began quivering and eyes watering.
"Shh, shh," Leni hushed them before they began, crouching down and pulling them both into a hug. "Here's what we'll do. You two can, like, sleep with me tonight. I've definitely got the space. Luna could join us too, if she wants!" She glanced meaningfully at the musician.
Taking the hint, she answered, "err, yeah, sure! Just let me get Luan-"
"Actually, I was hoping it could just be the two of us. Well, us two and these two," Leni hurriedly said, referring to the young girls in her arms. "Like old times."
Chewing on her lip, Luna decided that Luan could make it on her own for one night. "Yeah, we can do that. Heck, Lu will probably be happy to have a room to herself for a change." The four of them alighted to the oldest girl's room, and before long each of the teens was tucked in bed with one of their sisters. Leni briefly got up to enter the closet, using her phone to light the small space as she changed into her nightclothes. It wouldn't do for Luna to recognize what she was wearing, not just yet.
That night, the thunder drowned out a number of noises in the Loud House. As four girls snored and slept the night away, another quietly wept alone in her room, while a sixth took comfort in the sound of shifting papers and crunching numbers. Another would awaken in a fit later that night, not quite making it to the bathroom as she expelled the contents of that nights meal onto the hallway floor while her roommate tried to help her. The only other one who would have any peace was the youngest member of the family, fortunate to be oblivious to the worlds crashing down around her.
It was still dark when Lori's eyes cracked open, the dawn shrouded by the remnants of last night's storm. A toned arm remained wrapped around her waist, and her neck, chest and groin ached in the most pleasant way. A shiver coursed through her at the memory of what had transpired just a couple of hours ago. "Mmm, Bobby boo-boo bear, you up?" She gently shifted back and forth in his embrace, a more imminent need requiring her attention.
A groan emitted from just behind and above her head, and in a half-awake daze he slurred, "s'wha? Whasup, babe?" A long yawn welled up from within him, and he stretched his arm, allowing her to make her move. Slowly rolling to the side, she threw her legs over the edge of the bed and blindly groped around the floor for something to make herself halfway decent with. After a moment of urgent fumbling she managed to come up with a pair of boxers. Uncaring that they were his, she shimmied them on and made a break for the restroom on the other side of the room.
She would be forever jealous of him for possessing such an amenity. 'What kind of two-story house with thirteen people living in it has only one bathroom?' She flicked the light on and quietly shut the door, taking a brief second in front of the mirror to appreciate how positively spent she looked. Her face and chest were still somewhat flushed, and a veritable necklace of small purple marks on her throat and collar bone reminded her of each little love bite amongst the other affections she'd been showered with. "Oh, Bobby," she swooned, catching herself on the sink before returning to her task.
After relieving herself and freshening up, she exited back to the bedroom where Bobby was beginning to stir now that his source of warmth had vanished. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he flicked the lamp next to his bed on and was rewarded with the sight of his half-clad girlfriend looking high and low for something. Glancing at the headboard above him, he grasped a piece of fabric and held it out for her inspection. "You after this, Lor?"
She gratefully grabbed her bra and donned it swiftly before climbing back into bed, the two wrapping each other up in a tangle of arms and legs once more. "I literally never want to get out of this bed again, sweetie," she drawled, drawing him so close as to try to become one with him. He chuckled, the rumble in his chest giving her goosebumps. "I can't remember ever feeling as relaxed as I do right now."
"Heh, going three rounds'll take the stress out of anyone, I'd say." He'd initially been overwhelmed by her 'appetite', but they'd gotten into a rhythm fairly quickly, a rhythm they might just get into again at this rate. "What's got you so wound up anyway? I hadn't heard from you in a couple days, and then last night was just, WOW."
With a resounding sigh, Lori traced little circles on his chest with her finger. "I just needed to get out of that house, away from those animals. Anything and everything that could go wrong without our parents there has, and there's still an entire week left to go." She pursed her lips and fluttered her eyelashes at him as she suggested, "maybe you'd like to come help me?"
Bobby grimaced through a smile as he replied, "sorry, but you know how it goes now that we're off school. I gotta be at work each day this week from seven to three, then I gotta get Ronnie to and from her tutoring sessions, then I gotta help my dad with the truck in the evenings-"
"Alright, alright, I get it," she pouted, "you're a very busy man." Though she was disappointed, she grinned as she began to run her hand up and down his side. "A responsible man. I like that." She leaned in toward his face, and he caught on quickly enough, the two of them coming in for a long kiss. She shifted onto her back and he followed, straddling her as their legs began to rub against one another. They eventually had to come back up for air, and Lori found herself hungry for more. She glanced down where their legs met, and spied her prize. "Now it's my turn to take responsibility," she purred, hand reaching out toward his package. Her hand stopped just short, though, and he looked down and under himself in anticipation. "Wait..."
"C'mon, babe, don't leave me hanging like this," he pleaded, preparing to help her if necessary. Unfortunately, she drew back before he could react, and she gazed up at him with an unreadable expression. "Okay, I might be able to make some time-"
Shaking her head, she said, "no, it's not that." Taking a moment to let her own head clear, she offered him an apologetic kiss as he uneasily settled back down at her side. "Alright, so this has been bothering me for days now. What's the deal between Ricardo and Leni?" She expected Bobby to be completely pumped for his best friend, and was promptly blindsided by the confused expression he answered her with. "You don't have to keep it a secret from me, I won't bite," she assured, before adding in a slightly menacing tone, "at least not literally."
Scratching the back of his head, Bobby tumbled the idea around for a few moments before shrugging and informing her, "I have no idea. I thought she never really cared for him. Well, at least when we were younger, anyway."
Eyes narrowing, Lori practically coiled like a snake and lunged atop him, finding a seat upon his lap and eliciting a pleased groan from him. "Don't be like that, Bobby," she leaned down to speak softly in his ear, caressing his chest all the while. "I've got half the story from Leni at least, and it sounds like they really hit it off recently. And when I say hit it, I mean 'hit it'." Her hands running along his sides and abs left no doubt in his mind what she meant, and the confusion only grew from there.
Sitting up and bringing Lori with him, Bobby caught her hands and held them between the two as he rubbed his thumbs over her knuckles. "Babe, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, there's no way the two of them could have hooked up. Leni's not, uh, exactly what Rickie's looking for..."
Stunned by the denial, she gripped him on either side of the head and demanded, "what does that mean? 'Not what he's looking for?' Are you saying he thinks she's not good enough for him?!"
"Wha- no, babe! Leni's great, but Rick, well...let's just say that he's not exactly looking for a girl-"
"A girl who what? Spit it out!" Lori shook him back and forth, nearly sending the two of them tumbling over. "Don't EVEN tell me that he thinks he can get away with getting down and dirty with MY little sister and then leaving her with...with..." She could barely find the words through her anger, her breaths coming hot and heavy as Bobby struggled to comprehend where this was all coming from.
Taking her by the shoulders, he implored, "babe, calm down! Alright, I promised not to tell anyone this, but the reason he couldn't have fooled around with Leni is because..." She eyed him like a hawk as he paused, before finally he finished, "...because he's not looking for a girl at all. Rickie bats for the other team, Lori." He could see the gears grinding to a halt in her head, her eyes searching for something to direct her ire toward. "Not only that, but he's already got a piece of 'guy candy' anyway." He shivered horribly at the term his friend had used to describe his newest partner.
"But that's...she...she wouldn't lie about something like that, Bobby!" The events of two nights ago were coming back to haunt her, and she grasped for any rationalization that seemed even remotely plausible. "She's been sick for like four days at least, and she said that they've been getting close, and-"
"Lori, listen to me," he requested, starting to become unnerved by the entire conversation. "There's just no way that this...whatever you think happened, happened. Ricardo wasn't even in the country a few weeks ago, he was visiting family down in Puerto Rico."
Her mouth opened and closed in a perfect imitation of a goldfish, complete with wide eyes that seemed to be missing everything but what was directly in front of her. Had Leni actually lied to her? 'No...at least, not technically.' Recalling the entire conversation they had the previous morning, only in hindsight did she realize that outside of a few vague variables, Leni had never actually given her definitive answers to her questions. 'He's alright. He seems nice. Just a few weeks.' She could have been talking about their father for all anyone knew, just listening to that. But what did Leni have to gain by, if not lying, then at least misleading her?
"Babe, are you alright?" Bobby's anxiety grew along with the expression of shock on his girlfriend's face. "Lori?"
Her shaking hands came to rest over her heart as she was confronted with her greatest fear. Of the multiple choices she'd had available to her when Leni had begun to act out, only one remained, and the reality of it nearly took her breath away. "No...this isn't happening, it can't actually be happening!" She vaulted from his embrace, pacing back and forth as he rose to follow after her.
"Lori, what's wrong? Did something happen to Leni, or what?" Bobby only knew the second-oldest Loud through association, but he'd be damned he wouldn't do anything for her if she'd been wronged somehow, as it was beginning to sound.
The blonde was on autopilot now, however, as she began to gather up her things. "It's not that something happened to her, but the other way around," she answered in a grave tone. "I have to go..."
Looking toward the clock on his nightstand, Bobby informed her, "it's not even five yet, babe." She followed his line of sight to see that it was indeed 4:54 AM. "Look, whatever's going on, you oughta handle it when you're all there, y'know?" He tapped the side of his head to accentuate his concern. "Come get some sleep, you can head back while I'm heading off to work." Seeing that she was still torn, he added, "Luna and Luan are still there, yeah? I'm sure they can help her hold down the fort, right?"
Lori's shoulders fell as she considered her options. 'Drive back home in the middle of the night while it's still storming out, for something I can't even be sure is the case, or do the same thing when I'm a little more awake...' Resigning herself to her fate, she returned to bed and curled up next to her boyfriend, who placed a supportive arm around her. Resting her head in the crook of his neck, she mumbled, "why can't I just get it right, for once?"
Rubbing a hand along her back, he shushed her, "just get some rest, Lori. It's gonna be alright, just wait and see." Whatever 'it' was. Eventually he lulled her into a fitful slumber, and he followed soon after.