"Thank you so much for seeing us Doctor Greenwich," Mom shook the hand of the doctor in question. "I know it was on short notice."
Whatever Mom had done to get the car going, it had worked well enough to carry them to the GP's office (kind of to Lincoln's surprise, when it broke down like it had it usually took Pop-pop to get it going again!). There was even no more weird groaning when Mom changed gears anymore.
But as nice as it was to have the car going again, it didn't change how uncomfortable Lincoln felt in the white office. The doctor looked friendly enough, but Lincoln never liked going to any place where he might have to get a needle or stitches.
"Thank you for coming Ms Alvarsson," The Doctor's eyes crinkled at the corners as he waved her to take a seat next to Lincoln. "And… Lincoln, right?"
"Y-yes." Lincoln nodded, his eyes on the doctor's old desk more than his face, but he could still see the man's body shift as he looked at his computer screen.
"Well then, from the looks of your files here…" Lincoln tensed and instinctively licked his sharp tooth. "…It's been quite a while since either of you had a proper checkup. But you're both to up to date on your vaccinations, so we shouldn't be keeping you too long."
Lincoln relaxed. It looked like the doctor wasn't going to ask about the things in his file from Hazeltucky.
"Lincoln, would you like to go first?" Doctor Greenwich looked at him from his monitor.
"Ah… okay." Lincoln acquiesced.
The doctor led him over to a little room just behind his office with a hospital bed in the middle. Lincoln trailed behind for a moment and instinctively looked to Mom.
She gave him a little nod, and Lincoln reached up to pull himself onto the cold bed while the Doctor pulled over a low metal table on wheels with some medical instruments in oddly shaped open containers atop it. Lincoln swallowed as his eyes drifted to the shelves of the table, knowing all too well how many sharp needles and blood vials were probably within.
"Right then…" Doctor Greenwich
The Doctor took his blood pressure first, all that took was a cuff-thing on his arm that tightened a bit too much.
"Well, a little bit high…" The Doctor admitted as he read the machine. "But I think we can put that on some first-time nerves," his eyes gleamed with a kind of fondness as he leant in. "Nobody really likes going to the Doctors anyway, right Lincoln?"
Lincoln wasn't quite sure how to respond to that without being rude, so he can a non-committal nod. Doctor Greenwich seemed to take that well enough so he moved onto the next test. Lincoln shivered a little as The Doctor raised his stethoscope; "could you take off your shirt?"
Lincoln nodded again and gripped the bottom of his orange polo. He was careful at first, but it got stuck on his shoulders as he pulled it up and-
"My goodness…" The Doctor muttered. "Was there an acc-"
"It's natural through my father's side." Mom abruptly interjected.
Lincoln's face flamed as he scrambled for where his beanie had fallen on the bed, all too aware of how the air touched his slightly sweat-damp hair. He promptly jammed it back into place and pushed some loose locks under the edges.
"It's not bleached or dyed," Mom continued, "it's just very light blond."
Doctor Greenwich seemed taken aback as he observed Lincoln.
Then he smiled again, but it didn't reach his eyes like before; "well, it's certainly distinctive. Do you mind if I just take a listen to your lungs?"
Lincoln nodded again, and tried to relax as the cold stethoscope touched his skin. He knew how it had to look to the Doctor; Lincoln knew he was skittish- and with his hair and how young he was he knew people wondered if Mom had made him bleach it
But he knew from before that insisting that she hadn't done anything would just make things worse.
"Breathe in for me please."
Lincoln did so.
"And Out…"
Things went okay after that. Doctor Greenwich had a few more tests, but he didn't seem worried about the results and he warmed up to Mom again once he spotted the odd white hair on Lincoln's chest.
"Well, there's nothing wrong physically." Doctor Greenwich said as he replaced his instruments to his table. "Though a bit more exercise wouldn't hurt."
Lincoln numbly nodded as he pulled on his polo, being careful this time to keep one hand on his beanie.
"But…" The Doctor paused, then smiled again. "Well; we haven't taken care of Mom yet now have we?"
Lincoln felt Mom pause with surprise before she answered; "oh, that's fine," she insisted. "I couldn't-"
"You can't take care of someone else without taking care of yourself first." The Doctor calmly countered. "It'll only take a few minutes," The Doctor nodded to Lincoln. "And I'm sure that Lincoln wouldn't mind waiting outside for bit, right Lincoln?"
"Um…" Lincoln's cheeks reddened with the attention, and his eyes flickered over to Mom. Mom seemed a bit pensive, but she caught his eye and gave a little nod. "Okay."
"Right then," Doctor Greenwich stepped back, and Lincoln carefully slid off the bed. "We'll just be a moment…"
Lincoln did as he was told and waited outside. The Nurse offered him a lollypop and he politely picked one out of the old glass jar, but he didn't feel like eating it right then.
He looked up at the clock, too unsettled for some reason to go for the old magazines on the corner table (they were too old for him anyway) or the toybox (too young) that he might have in visits to other Doctor's waiting rooms if he got bored enough. Instead, he just watched and waited as the minutes ticked by.
One…
Five….
Ten….
But no sounds came through the heavy wooden door down the hall until-
Lincoln jerked out of his daze as he heard the oddly quiet creek of the door and stood up as Mom strode down the hall looking…
Not worried, but she still had those slightly tight lips that showed something important was on her mind. She wiped the expression away as she spotted him standing up for her though and quickly spoke with the nurse.
He could tell she didn't want to talk just yet, so he waited until they were in the car.
"… Is everything okay?"
Mom's eyes tightened at the corners, but she didn't seem nervous- which was a good sign. "… Yes, yes. But let's just get you school, okay?"
"… Seriously; would it have killed him to let us know 'don't touch his head'?" Lori sighed; her rancour momentarily relieved after five minutes' worth of ranting released by Becky's accidental prodding of the sore subject.
"Yeah, that's really screwed up." Becky agreed as she searched through her own locker besides Lori.
"Totally," Dana agreed. "I mean; how were you supposed to know?"
"Exactly," Lori turned to face her friends with satisfaction; "I mean, what is up with that kid? What, we're literally supposed be mind readers now?"
The two other girls nodded along with a mixture of sympathy and acquiescence. In the day or so Lori had been back at school she'd made her opinions on the shortcomings of her family situation quite clear.
But Becky wasn't the sort to just stew in her misery, rather she preferred to find the silver lining in things where she could. As it just so happened; being subject to Lori's venting for the past year now turned into one of the silver linings as something occurred to the ginger girl:
"Hey, maybe it's not so bad." Becky offered up with open palms as Lori gave her a confused look. "Yeah, I know getting a new step-b-"
"Rita's Son isn't my brother." Lori curtly interjected.
"-New Guy moving in literally isn't the greatest thing in the world," Becky amended. "But Rita's got a job, right? And you said she was trying to help out at home too-"
"She's trying to be our mom, yes." Lori folded her arms and her expression turned cold.
Feeling the mood shift for the worse; Becky rushed her proposition;" well- for like the whole past year you've been stuck at home doing things for your family. Now Rita's there and sure, she should probably back off- but she's bringing in money too so your Dad'll probably be home more now as well!"
"… Go on." Lori's expression softened a bit, and Becky could see Dana pensively watching the two of them out of the corner of her eye.
"If your dad's at home, that means you're not going to have do so much anymore; right?" Becky offered. "All those extra chores you had to take on; you don't need to do them anymore. You can go out with us and Bobby again!" The cold look on Lori's face faded and Becky pushed forwards again with a grin, "you could get your job at Gus' back- heck;
Maybe you could even still get into Fairway if-"
"No." Lori cut Becky off, and the ginger girl petered out as Lori's expression fell. Internally she winced, knowing the 'F-word' had just undone all the work her efforts had made. Lori looked up with a kind of sad resignation;
"Thanks Becky, really. But…" Lori sighed. "It's just not possible. We don't have the money for Fairway and even with Lisa…
There's no way I'd get a scholarship at this point." She huffed as she turned back to her own locker. "I've just lost too much time. Besides; I don't even know if this 'Rita' situation is going to last. Even if the thing with her kid doesn't blow up on someone- she and Dad just like; maybe a month or two ago.
I don't think they're even past the honeymoon phase of the relationship, but she jumped into our lives anyway," she fiddled with something in her locker morosely. "I guess we get front row seats seeing if they make it work or not…"
The trio faded into an uncomfortable silence, or at least as 'silent' as a hallway filled with chattering teens between classes could be.
Fortunately for the two, a certain warm hearted young man with a habit for turning up in odd places happened to be right where he was needed the most.
"Hey Babe!" Bobby gently touched Lori's shoulder, prompting the Loud girl to turn around with a relieved smile- that was quickly covered up by a surprise kiss.
"Mpph!" Lori 'gasped', but closed her eyes and leant in for the kiss. The two other girls watched on with quiet satisfaction as the lovebirds enjoyed their moment.
But their time was limited, so Bobby pulled back to speak; "so uh, I was thinking about some of the things you said and… uhm…" Bobby's cheeks darkened as Lori looked on with curiosity and flushed cheeks. "C-could we go on a date?'
"Oh Bobby, you know I just don't-" Lori stopped mid-sentence.
"Don't have the time, but you do now!" Bobby excitedly rebutted. "I mean, maybe it's not the way you wanted it but you don't have to stay home all the time anymore- so why not?"
"I…" She looked to Beck and Dana as if for permission, and found a pair of supportive grins encouraging her. "I literally can't think of a reason."
Bobby's face lit up like it was Christmas- but the smile almost immediately faded.
"What wrong?" Lori's voice gained a worried edge.
"Oh, it's just… we'll need to find someone to watch Ronnie Anne." Bobby admitted.
"She can stay over at my house," Lori insisted, her hands clung to Bobby's as if he'd vanish before her. "It's always been fine before!"
"Yeah, but what about…?" Bobby looked uncomfortable. "You know?"
Lori stared blankly for a moment, then her expression turned firm; "Ronnie Anne's been welcome in our house long before Rita or her kid was, and she's going to stay welcome. If he's got a problem with her, then he can deal with it."
Bobby hesitated before answering- and whatever that thought might have been, be it support or doubt, was promptly lost as another nearby Loud happened to overhear the conversation;
"O! M! Gosh!" Leni squealed and thrust herself between Bobby and Lori, drawing them into a crushing hug with her absurd strength. "Ronnie Anne's coming over!?"
"Uhr, yersh?" Lori gasped out.
Leni squealed in glee again; "oh my gosh! It's been so long; like I thought she didn't like us anymore or maybe she didn't like our home- ooohhh!" She gasped; "This going to be like; totally ah! Mah! Zinnng!"
The high-pitched enthusiasm made Lori's ears ache, but she couldn't help but smile at her first little sister's happiness. "Oh, I'm sure it will Leni-"
"When is she coming over!?" Leni gasped as a thought occurred to her; "it's not today is it? Because like; that's great but I've got this…" Leni looked around for a moment before drawing Lori and Bobby into a huddle.
"Secret project," she whispered, "that I'm doing this afternoon but I still really want to spend time with Ronnie."
"Uh-hunh?" Lori cautiously confirmed as Bobby gave her a confused look. She returned it- as who could know what a 'secret project' meant for Leni Loud before she told them?
"Oh, that's fine Leni!" Bobby assured Leni, "we still not sure when we're going out so-"
"Going out?" Leni whispered. Her eyes suddenly grew large and dewy like Lola spotting an abandoned quarter; "like, a date? A date together?"
"Yes Leni, that's usually how dates go." Lori sighed, already feeling the-
"YOU'RE GOING ON A DATE!" Leni's screech of joy provoked the foretold earpain as the decibels blasted Lori at point blank range. "O! M! GOSH! This is SO TOTALLY GREAT!
It's been so long since you guys went out and I like; know it was because you were taking care of everyone and stuff and that's totes amazing of you but…" Leni babbled on as Lori sighed; both endeared by her sister's open glee about her improved prospects and more than mildly frustrated with how she went about expressing it. "… And oooohhhh…."
Lori looked up to see Leni's eyes almost sparkling like they did when she was 'inspired'. The stronger girl beamed; "what? If? You had a double date!?"
"A double date?" Bobby queried in confusion, "with who?"
"With Sam and Luna!" Leni looked over to the next row of lockers, where the couple in question were currently ignoring the rest of the hallway as they chatted.
"So, we're on for a full sesh later?" Luna cheerily queried.
"Sully and Maz are," Sam confirmed, but she had a slight downturn to her lips. "But what about your place?"
"Uh, what about it?" Luna raised an eyebrow as she finally pulled out her science textbook and swung her locker door closed. "The Garage's fine."
"But what about Lincoln?" Sam questioned, "I mean, I liked having him last time; but won't we bother him if we go all out? I heard from my mom that kids like him don't like noise."
"Eh, he was fine last time, and that was with him right in with us." Luna shrugged. "Besides, he's been livin' with us for a few days now and we get waaay louder than what he's gonna hear from up in his room.
Little Dude might even wanna come down and meet the whole band if we're good enough!"
"Good point," Sam accepted, her blonde hair shifting a little as she closed her own locker. "Mom just thought-"
"HI GIRLS!" Leni Loud suddenly interjected herself, drawing the two into a surprise hug.
"Ulgh!" Luna gasped under Leni's crushing arms. "H-hi Leni…"
"Okay like; I was just talking to Lori and Bobby when I had this totes fab idea!" Leni beamed at the two and Sam shakily smiled back. "A double date!"
The musicians found themselves rapidly 'guided' over to where the slightly dazed Lori and Bobby still stood, Dana and Becky still standing slightly a ways away with bemused expressions at the proceedings.
"I mean; you can totally all get to know each other!" Leni finally released the girls with a smile.
Luna shook her head to regain her bearings, before sheepishly scratching the back of her head. "I dunno Leni, this is kind of sudden and I don't think Lori's got time-"
"Uh, actually I literally do now," Lori admitted. "It's just… actually…" her tone turned a little hopeful; "you know, I've kind of wanted to do something like this for… well. Since you and Sam got together.
Maybe this could be… nice?"
She offered up the word like she was embarrassed to admit it.
"Yeah!" Bobby quickly rushed to support Lori, "I bet Sam and I have lots of things in common!"
He put on his best smile, which fooled precisely no one; least of all Sam who looked him up and down with clear doubt.
But if there was one thing Bobby was good at: it was being endearing to a fault. And despite herself the blonde musician's lips quirked up a bit as she turned the proposal around in her head.
"… Maybe?" Luna offered, reading Sam as best she could. "I think we're free next Tuesday and Thursday?"
Sam nodded at that, and after a quick look to Bobby; Lori cautiously agreed; "Thursday it is."
She breathed out;"…a date…"
"A DOUBLE-DATE!" Leni cheered, and promptly swept them all into an uncomfortably crushing hug; "oh, I just know this is going to be totally great!"
Lincoln sort of wished he could've stayed at the doctor's a little longer.
Whap!
He might just need one after P.E. was done anyway.
"IT'S EVERY MAN FER HIMSELF!" Liam shouted as he practically bowled over two other kids on the court-
WHAM!
Until he was suddenly face down in the gym floor, not a twitch from any of his limbs to show that he hadn't perished from the strike. The orange basketball that had done him in ricocheted back to the other side of the court, where the brown-blonde haired girl with a blue bow stood with a confident smirk and a single hand outstretched. Somehow, almost like there was a magnet within her palm, the ball arced back to her waiting hand and her fingers clamped around it with ease.
Her eyes lazily scanned the field for her 'opponents', even as she stood still regardless of any theoretical danger of being struck out by the other team.
"Who's next?"
Jordan Rosato, better known as 'Girl Jordan' according to Clyde, was every bit the menace on the field that Lincoln had heard her to be. But up until that very morning she'd been one of the many faces in the crowd of his class, as like with many of Clyde's claims; her alleged assaults seemed far too outlandish compared to the normal girl who sat a little way away-
Whssh!
But her sharp aim proved that yet another larger-than-life Royal Woods rumour was actually right on the money- as the poor ginger girl currently reeling from being beaned in the face could attest.
Again, the ball bounced back to the other team and Jordan effortlessly reclaimed it. Her eyes turned to Lincoln, and he felt a chill go down his spine as she smirked again.
"You." Her lips formed the soundless promise.
Suddenly his choice of beanie- namely one with a pattern astonishingly similar to a bulls-eye- seemed a far worse one than it had that morning.
"GUYS!" Rusty's voice belted out; "SNAKE FORMATION!"
Despite his need to keep moving, Lincoln couldn't help but glance over as the other boys rushed to one spot together. All four boys of Clyde's group lined up in order of height, facing the other team with Rusty at the front before kneeling down and…
"HSSSSS!"
Collectively hissing like a snake.
"Keep it up guys!" Zach called out in between 'hssing' breaths, "I've almost got their secret strategy down!"
Lincoln stared at them dumbfounded. It wasn't until Rusty's head abruptly jerked back and an orange blur rebounded back from his forehead that he jumped back into movement.
"Ulghh!" The ginger yelped; "Ish bitsch my tongsh!"
"Back into position!" Clyde hurriedly insisted, and Lincoln heard the 'hissing' resume as Rusty presumably skulked off to the benches to nurse his 'wound'.
Whatever their strategy was; it was well beyond Lincoln. Which was unfortunate since he could have used one;
He had never liked any kind of gym class for many reasons, even before what had happened. But some gym classes were better than others;
Dodgeball was not one of the better ones.
WHHPPSHH!
Lincoln found himself suddenly kneeling as a well-aimed ball whooshed past where his head had been. In hindsight, he really should have gotten one of his solid colour beanies for today instead of a banded one.
It really did look like an inviting bullseye for the other side's team.
But if there was one consolation: between the instincts borne from years of avoiding attention and his decently developed reflexes from evading quick 'surprises' from bigger kids; Lincoln Alvarsson was actually very hard to hit when he could see the ball coming.
Girl Jordan scowled in disappointment as the ball bounced back to her hand once again, evidently frustrated by her lack of success after so easily beaning Rusty in the face.
"Nice dodge new kid," she smiled through clenched teeth as she drew back her hand for another throw. "Let's see if you can do it twice."
WSHPP!
Lincoln's body snapped a few inches to the right before he heard the ball- and Jordan muttered something under her beath.
It was kind of funny, especially since he was pretty sure he wouldn't have to try and hide from a 'revenge' squad later on like he would in Hazeltucky. But all the other team's pitchers had their eyes on him now and he was getting kind of winded (good reflexes or not, he wasn't very sporty after all).
It was time to take a fall before things got ugly.
WSSH!
He neatly dodged another quick throw from Jordan, and noted with dread as it wacked off the back wall with a downright angry energy- and halted for a second to let another, less well aimed ball fly by him.
Whap!
"I was out already!" Some unfortunate victim moaned behind him.
Lincoln ignored them in favour of scanning the other team again, seeking out the least aggressive looking player. To his luck, Stella was just a little over to the right with a red ball in her hand- the tall girl having been picked out by Girl Jordan to be part of her team at the start of the game.
One might have imagined that she would have tried to avoid beaning her friends out of a sense solidarity. Judging from the look of intense concentration on her face as she lined up the 'snake formation' and the open glee she'd taken in aiming at Rusty for the rest of the game;
One would have been very wrong.
But wrong or not, Lincoln bet she was going to be throwing her ball a lot less forcefully than Jordan or the rest of her team currently eyeing him up. So, he carefully backed away from the centre of the court, towards the group as the balls came his way and when he was close enough and Stella making her throw-
"Oof!" Lincoln 'gasped' as he 'tripped', inconveniently falling before the snake formation- which actually seemed to be moving like a snake now, which just meant the boys were sort of shuffling from side to side.
Whap!
Right into Stella's line of fire.
The ball whacked against his left arm, leaving a light sting as he regained his footing.
"Oops! Sorry Lincoln!" Stella cringed, but quickly ducked as Liam lobbed her ball back to her.
"That's fer bein'-"
WHAM!
Liam was cut short, though not because the ball hit him. Rather Zach was now on his back and clearly dazed as Jordan's orange ball bounced back past Lincoln.
"You snooze you lose!" The Dodgeball Demon cackled from her court.
Lincoln shook his head, and moved to help Zach up from his defeat while Clyde and Liam started darting around each other, still hissing for some reason even though they could hardly form a 'snake' now. Zach muttered something under his breath, but didn't seem like Jordan had hit quite hard enough to warrant any special attention, so Lincoln just walked with him to the bench and kept an eye out in case Jordan accidentally (or maybe on purpose, she really liked getting people with her ball) launched another fast ball in their direction.
Thankfully the blonde girl seemed to have her eyes on another girl in a beret. This left the side Lincoln and Liam were on to Stella and the other less trigger-happy members of her team, so Lincoln could start moving in pe-
Ronnie Anne Santiago was on the other team.
Or more specifically; Ronnie Anne Santiago was clearly meant to be on the other team. The girl wasn't actually doing anything besides standing towards the back and occasionally moving out the way of what opposition Clyde's team could muster in the face of Girl Jordan. She mostly just looked a bit bored, but her eyes suddenly shifted away when Lincoln saw her.
Was she watching him?
Wsshh!
"Ooff!" The cry of a less fortunate teammate reminded Lincoln that it didn't matter at the moment, and he quickly escorted Zach off the court to join the other fallen team members on the benches.
"I can't believe they beat the snake formation," Zach muttered as Lincoln settled in next to him. "Girl Jordan must have put a homing device in her ball- yes! That's it!" The smaller boy's eyes grew comically wide behind his glasses. It explains everything!"
"Everything?" Lincoln couldn't help but wonder exactly what he was talking about.
"About how Girl Jordan keeps hitting everyone in Dodgeball!" Zach insisted. "Think about it; she's hit all these people!" He swept his arms to indicate the entire team bench, and while it was an exaggeration to say all of them were Jordan's victims- the majority certain were nursing small injuries from where she'd taken them out. "And the snake formation- there's no way she could have broken it without inside help!
And Stella…" Zach gasped, before turning to Lincoln with excitement and a raised finger. "Stella's on the other team!"
Lincoln looked at the finger with bemusement. "… Okay?"
"You don't understand!" Zach frowned, then pointed at the tall girl still playing instead. "Stella's a real techie, she makes all kinds of stuff including my tracking devices-"
"Tracking devices?" Lincoln stared at the boy.
"Yeah, my parents are professionals," Zach explained, "but their equipment is expensive so Stella makes me hidden trackers and microphones instead. And now she's on the other side- she and Rusty are always arguing- she must have planned this all with Girl Jordan so she could get him back!"
The Boy jumped to his feet and thrust his finger into the air with his accusation.
Lincoln stared at him, and was about to ask what exactly his parents were 'professionals' at when-
"Zach!" He hissed as he dodged the other boy's shirt. "W-what are you doing?"
"I'm finding Stella's trackers!" Zach declared as he ripped off his shoes. "She had to planted them in our gym clothes-"
"GURDLE!" Lincoln jumped as The Gym Teacher shouted, the slightly overweight man rapidly approaching with a frown. "Just what do you think you are doing!?"
The background noise faded away as Lincoln became aware of everyone else's eyes coming over to where they were. He swallowed and kept his eyes on Zach instead.
"I know I've been bugged!" The ginger exclaimed, "it's how-"
"Oh for….this again!?" Lincoln heard the distinctive sound of a palm meeting a face, and a low chortle started resounding from the rest of kids. "Loud!"
Lincoln jumped a little again, and instinctively looked at Gym teacher. "Y-es Sir?"
"Take Gurdle to the change room and make sure he stays there," He shook his head. "You're both dismissed from the rest of today's gym."
"Ah- okay?" Lincoln looked back at the other boy. For a second the urge to correct the teacher about his name rose up, but the reminder of just how many eyes were on him pressed down on him like a vice.
So, he just went along with it.
"C-come on Zach," he stood up and moved towards the changing rooms. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to get Zach to follow him if he didn't want, but the other boy seemed content to trail behind even as he fidgeted with his clothes.
He kept muttering things as they walked, but Lincoln tuned him out after Zach started wondering if Stella could have put 'them' into their food instead somehow- and how she could infiltrate their breakfasts so easily. Zach wasn't too much trouble beyond his words after that though, Lincoln just stayed with him once they changed and let the other boy rant on for a bit.
It wasn't until lunch that he became properly unsettled again;
"Give it a rest Zach," Stella rolled her eyes. "Girl Jordan is just a monster at Dodgeball- my trackers can't even do that kind of thing!"
Lincoln paused as the words sunk in.
Up until that point the entire idea of Stella making trackers for Zach seemed… well as absurd as anything else in this town. But like what was rapidly becoming his usual, the insane seemed to have actually panned out.
His skin crawled as a terrible possibility came to mind, and even later on after he'd checked his bag and clothes for anything 'extra', he didn't quite feel as safe as before.
A/N:
Special thanks to Nuuo for Beta-Reading.
Sorry about the lateness and lack of content. The planning for all the various plotlines have been done in advance, but the nature of where some story beats have to come and how mean that some 'time slots' are sparser than others.
As a result; I've decided to break from Spartan's format of 'Morning' and 'Afternoon' chapters of approximately 5000 words whenever there will not be enough content to justify two chapters from now on; thus providing 'whole day' chapters of approximately 7000-10,000 words when necessary. I will try to retain the Morning-Afternoon format otherwise though.
The next update should be in two weeks or so.