Author's note

Hey hey people, Poop Goblin here with another scene courtesy of the Goblins. I have a few others on hand that just need some editing before I post them down the line.

To give some backstory to some of these Loricoln scenes: they were all initially written for a larger project I wish to revisit at a later time called, "Raising Loan", an episodic story that follows the adventures of Loan Loud's early childhood and the misadventures of her parents in an increasingly hostile proto-cyberpunk world, leading up to her teen years where we see the Loan we all know, with a focus on her struggles of coping with mental illness and social disorders.

This scene in particular would be the inciter for an episode dealing with the Santiagos reintegrating into the Loud's less-than-normal lives, and specifically Ronnie-Anne making peace with the wrongs she perceived to have been done on Lincoln, creating a relatively complex moral dilemma for the character, for if she pursues her own justice on the matter, she risks tearing a little girl's family apart.

As always, we would like to thank our mysterious benefactors at the Merchants' Guild, my girlfriend, and the three goblins holding me hostage under pain of death to write this trash.


The Dinner

Lincoln pulled up into the parking lot, struggling for a bit to find space in the packed rows of cars before managing a tight fit in a lot near the entrance of the building. The sign of the restaurant loomed over their van, a neon icon in the cool night that blared the name of the restaurant: Macgregor's.

"Alright girls, we're here!" Lincoln said.

Lori helped Loan open her door without hitting the adjacent cars, and held her hand as she led her with Lincoln to the entrance of the restaurant. She seemed a little nervous, so Lori held her a little closer.

The three entered the restaurant, but Lori could tell by Lincoln's gaze he was having the same second thoughts as her when he saw how packed the place was. She looked down at Loan, but was surprised to see the little girl only staring at the crowd in bewilderment rather than fear or anxiety.

"You okay for this, sweety?" Lori asked.

"Uh... Yeah... I think I can handle this." The little girl said.

"Alright, but if you feel like you're gonna have an incident, don't be afraid to tell me or mommy, okay?" Lincoln said.

"Okay, daddy." She nodded.

The three checked in their reservations at the desk, and were led to a comfy booth. Lori noted the dim and moody lighting of the restaurant, and the cool conditioned air despite the packed crowd on a warm summer night. Both were factors in Loan's favor for this little event. She didn't like bright lights or hot air.

The three were handed menus and served baskets of fresh bread and butter. Lori was impressed by the variety of the menu considering the focus on seafood.

"See anything you'd like sweety?" Lori asked.

Loan looked up from her menu, and pointed at one of the entries. "I uh... I think want this one."

Lori leaned over to see, and barely read halfway through 5-cheese lobster macaroni when she caught sight of something at the booth ahead of them, and ducked her head a bit.

"Lincoln, over the shoulder, stay low." She hissed.

Lincoln turned around for just a moment before he ducked along with her, practically hiding behind his menu. Loan joined in, not really knowing what they were doing.

"What's wrong?" Loan asked.

"What do we do?" Lori asked.

"Just stay quiet, I don't think they'll see us if we don't move or make too much noise." Lincoln said.

"Don't move? Lincoln, they're not braindead, they're going to see us-"

"Lori?... Lori Loud?" A voice called from the other booth.

"Shit." Lori swore under her breath as a brown-skinned man sporting well-slicked hair and a beard stood from his seat and approached.

"Bobby? Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Lori said with a forced smile.

"Did you say Lori?" One voice said.

"Hey, it is Lori!" Another voice joined.

Half of Bobby's extended family popped out from their own crowded booth, including...

"Wait, is that Lincoln too?" Ronnie-Anne said.

Before the family could even think about escaping, they were enveloped in the Santiagos' undivided attention.

Bobby was the first to reach them, leaning down to hug Lori. "Wow, I can't believe it's you! How long has it been, 8 years?"

"Uh... Yeah." Lori chuckled.

"Where've you guys been? I tried to check in a few years back, but it's like you and little bro here just up and vanished."

"Well, you see-"

"Hey Lame-O, how've you been?" Ronnie-Anne butted in on the conversation,

"We've been... Fine. Just fine." Lincoln replied. His and Lori's attention was being drawn to Loan. They could see she was getting flustered and overwhelmed by all the crowding. "Uh, guys, can we all do this later? Right now-"

"Hey, is that a kid with you?"

"Aw, she's adorable. Here, can I take a picture with her?"

At that, Loan let out an ear-piercing shriek and ran out from under the booth, heading straight for the door.

"Somebody stop her!" Lori yelled.

A waiter bolted into action, grabbing Loan by the waist and lifting her to keep her in the building. She began to scream and thrash against him before Lori took her from his arms, holding her tightly as her screams turned into sobs, and then into low whimpers. Lori continuously whispered calming reassurances into her ear.

Bobby seemed to pick up on what had just happened and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Hey, sorry about that. Is she gonna be ok?"

"Yeah, she does this sometimes. It's all ok, you didn't know." Lincoln said.

"So, I assume she's Lori's daughter?" Ronnie-Anne asked.

"Yeah, something like that. Her name is Loan. She's... Well, she gets overstimulated easily."

"Oh, I'm sorry, little man. The dad not around?" Bobby asked.

"No, he's around plenty."

By that point, Loan had calmed down enough to take her seat again. Lincoln and Lori decided to flank her on both sides to provide her comfort, and to give Bobby and Ronnie-Anne an offered seat at the booth, which the two accepted without hesitation.

The two sat across from Lori and Lincoln.

"Alright, so let's get this out of the way: what happened to you guys, and since when did Lori have a kid?" Ronnie-Anne asked.

Lori thought about how to best answer the questions. She didn't want to outright lie, so she devised a scheme to tell them half-truths. Just like what they did with mom and dad.

At least until Lincoln opened his mouth.

"We disappeared because... We got found out." He said.

"Lincoln, what are you doing?" Lori asked.

"I'm being honest with them. They deserve as much, Ronnie was my friend for years, and you were with Bobby for a while." He explained.

"Ok, what are you two talking about?" Ronnie-Anne asked.

"Yeah, it sounds like something serious." Bobby added.

Lori looked Lincoln in the eyes, and with a sigh looked to Loan. "Loan sweety, follow daddy to the car for a little bit, okay?"

Loan sniffled a bit, but nodded. Lincoln got up from the booth and led Loan by hand to the door. As soon as he was out of earshot, Ronnie-Anne zeroed in.

"'Daddy?' What's going on here, I thought she was your kid?" She asked.

"She is... She's *our* baby." Lori admitted.

"Wha- Wait... No. No, you're not saying you two..." Bobby fumbled over his words.

"Yes, Bobby. We're together. We've been together for a long time."

"How long exactly?" Ronnie-Anne said with narrowing eyes.

"Ronnie, everything we have done together has been completely consensual, and I have taken every step to make sure what we have is fair and eq-"

"I said how long have you been together like this?" Ronnie-Anne snapped.

"For... For about 10 years." Lori finally said.

There was a long silence over the table.

"He... He would have been just 12 at that time..." Bobby said.

Ronnie sat blank-faced for a moment, before her face crawled into a vicious snarl.

"You... You molested him!? He was just a boy and you did that to him!?" She yelled, drawing the restaurant's attention.

"Ronnie, calm down-"

"No, you might be fine getting cucked by a kid, but I am drawing the line at my friend getting raped by his older sister, and then her pretending everything was all hunky-dory." She then turned to Lori. "Where do you get off saying you had consent, huh? I... I... I can't even find the right words for this." Ronnie-Anne said as she stood from the booth, and headed for the door.

Bobby looked a bit lost after she left, before he turned back to Lori. "Sorry about that. She still has that temper.

"It's fine. Mom reacted pretty much the same way when we told her."

"I can imagine... We would have been together at the time. Was... Was I just a cover?"

"No, Bobby. Not at first at least. But when our relationship went long-distance, those feelings started to drift, and I ended up finding that the place they drifted to reciprocated those feelings quite a bit."

"I... I think I understand. I think my sister is right about your relationship, but I can see how things might have progressed for you to... This."

The two sat in awkward silence for a bit before Bobby spoke.

"So... How did your parents find out?"

"Well, Lincoln and I got lazy, and I wound up pregnant with Loan. Mom and dad ended up finding out pretty soon after. Big fight, literally tore the family apart, and we ended up running away together for a while."

"Huh. Sounds like quite an adventure."

"Well it wasn't a vacation, that's for sure." She grumbled.

"Well, what happened next?"

"where to start... Well, Lincoln and I struggled for a while. Mom and Dad never called the cops on us, thank god, and we stayed on the road for almost a year before we managed to get back into contact with the rest thanks to Luna and Lisa. We came back mostly because Lincoln was still so young and I just didn't have the resources to take care of our education and Loan. Thankfully, mom and dad were more or less convinced to 'tolerate' our relationship for the sake of the baby by most of our other sisters."

The two sat for a bit before Lori texted Lincoln on her phone that it was safe for Loan to come in again. Ronnie-Anne followed with them, having gone outside to give Lincoln a piece of her mind. She seemed to have calmed down a little bit though.

The rest of the dinner went fairly well all things considered. Loan ate her lobster macaroni, the Santiagos asked them the occasional question amidst the awkward silence, and eventually returned to their own table and family.

Lori left that evening feeling a bit guilty for Bobby, and especially surprised that they weren't kicked out after the repeated outbursts.