...OH GOD, I WAS GONE HERE FOR A LOOOOOONNNNNGGG TIME!
Yeah, sorry for the long radio silence on this site folks. Not only have I been procrastinating and pre-occupied with other things, but I've also had a bit of a struggle regarding health. I don't want to get into details, but I will say I am fine now.
I'll try to be a bit more active here again, and I'd like to start with updating this here AU about scientists making robot children. Enjoy this little installment as we learn more about this version of The Loud's world and even meet a few familiar faces...
Chapter 3: The Family Business.
In the center of Royal Woods, a very tall building, about as high as a skyscraper, stood proudly amongst the others. On the top floor of this building was Lynn and Rita's joint office. However, the room before said office was a quiet waiting room decorated in gray tile floor, multiple marble white columns holding up the ceiling, and a couple potted trees lining the walls. And just next to the door of the CEOs' office, was a large black desk with a woman working at a laptop. The woman had light brown skin, curly dark brown hair that was poofy and had very large amounts of size and volume. Almost as large as the size of her waistline and rear end. She wore a black blazer jacket with a green t-shirt underneath, blue jeans, and black high heels.
The woman grabbed a cup of coffee resting at the side of her desk and took a sip before letting out a peaceful sigh. "Ah, what a wonderful day. Nothing but peace and quiet as I attend to my work." The woman mused happily while typing away on her laptop's keyboard. Her tranquil state was brought to a grinding halt when she heard the excited voice of a man was a Scottish accent following the tone of an arriving elevator.
"Morag! You aren't going to believe this!" It called out. The woman, responding to the name Morag, rolled her eyes and looked beyond her desk to see a man with light brown hair, a thick mustache, and fair skin run out of an elevator at the end of the room. He wore a pure white lab coat that wrapped around his whole upper body, black pants, and matching black shoes. The new arrival was practically beaming with excitement, which Morag responded to by simply reclining back in her chair.
"What is it, Angus?"
"Well, I was talking to Mr. and Mrs. Loud over the phone yesterday. Catching them up with how the lads and I have been doing while they've been out of the office." Angus explained. "And they said that not only would they be coming back today, they'd be bringing their children to show them around the office! Isn't that incredible?" Morag perked up slightly at her co-worker's story.
"Children?" She repeated quizzically. "Angus, I've worked as the secretary for both Lynn and Rita Loud far longer than you've been working in the lab with the other engineers. And they don't have any offspring. I mean, unless they adopted a child or two." Morag mused while tapping her chin. Angus' excitement didn't falter for a moment.
"Oh, that's the thing. They actually made their own." Angus answered, sparking more confusion for the secretary.
"Made?"
"That's right. Android children. They even sent me a picture of them if you want to see for yourself." Angus offered as he reached into a pocket of his coat and dug around for his phone. Hearing all of this with her own ears, Morag couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
"If it were anyone else, I'd think you were popping a hole in me' bagpipes. But this is The Louds we're talking about." Morag ultimately shrugged as Angus got out his phone and tapped away on the screen to find the picture in question. "Alright, what exactly should I be expecting?" Morag looked at the screen presented in front of her and fell silent as she gazed at the image. The digitally captured photograph consisted of Lynn and Rita in a large family photo with all eleven of their children. Morag blinked a few times before clearing her throat. "Um, which robots are supposed to be their children?" She asked.
"All of them." The simple, three word respond from Angus forced Morag into a stunned silence. She pressed her fingers to her forehead. "Morag, are you alright?" Angus asked in concern. Morag lifted one hand up and stopped them from speaking further.
"I'm fine. I just need a moment to take this all in." Morag took a deep breath and tried to force a smile. "After all, it's just a simple case of taking their child to the office. How bad could it be?" She asked, more to herself than Angus. Morag then felt a gentle vibration in her pocket, she reached into it and pulled out her phone. She hit the button to answer it and put it up to her ear. "Hello?"
"Ms. Tully, this is Rita. Are you in the office right now?"
"Yes I am, Mrs. Loud. Is there a problem?" Morag asked with a hint of nervousness.
"Sort of. The entrance is locked and none of the security systems are recognizing me or Lynn. Could you come and buzz us in?" Rita asked calmly. Morag tugged at the collar of her shirt as she knew what she would be met with in the process of fulfilling this simple task. Regardless, she cleared her throat and tried to remain as calm as possible.
"Of course, I'll be right there." Morag answered as she hung up and groaned before walking around her desk and towards the elevator. "I need to let Mr. and Mrs. Loud into the building because the security system still hasn't been fixed since that tosser, Flip broke it." She explained.
"Oh, I better tag along then. I can't wait to meet the little ones." Angus squealed as he squeezed into the elevator alongside Morag, who groaned in annoyance.
"I can feel today is going to be a long day."
…
Lynn kept swiping his key card in front of the door in hopes that it would let him and his family inside. Unfortunately, every time he tried, he was met with the same pair of buzzes that denied him entry. "Come on, work. We paid good money for you." He complained as Rita looked at him sympathetically while holding Lily in her arms. Despite the parents' struggles with the door, their children couldn't help but marvel at the tower itself. It's windows on the higher floors covered by the Echo company logo: a capital 'L' with a couple wave shapes radiating from the inside into smaller 'L's. Written beneath the logo was the company's actual name.
"It's even bigger than I thought it would be." Lincoln whispered in awe. Lisa nodded in agreement as she subtly scanned the building. Her vision showing various numbers and calculations involving the building.
"Indeed, older brother. In fact, it's approximately 1,036.5 feet tall. Or 315.9252 meters. Which is half the height of The Shanghai Tower in China. The third tallest building in the world." The intelligent android explained. The trivia caught the entire family off guard with how specific it was. Lisa looked around to see her siblings and parents staring at her in bewilderment. However, she shrugged it off. "What? There's no harm in doing research." She reasoned with a stoic expression and tone. Luna mimicked the sound of a cough as she got her mother's attention.
"So, what exactly does this company of yours do, Mom?" She asked. Rita couldn't help but give a small chuckle.
"Well, it does a lot of things. Developing computer software, robotics, and even original inventions and products." Rita explained. "It's kind of like some of those super companies in those comic books your brother likes to read." Just as Rita finished speaking, the air was filled with the noise of a pair of gentle beeps. The whole family looked back towards the front door and found it was opened by a chipper looking Angus and a sour looking Morag.
Before any of the adults could say anything, all the androids quickly rushed into the luxurious front lobby, inadvertently knocking Morag down to the ground in their excitement. The white walls seemed to reflect the light coming from the ceiling, making the room seem to glow. Though the walls were complimented by the dark gray tiled floor. In the center of the room was a receptionist in her early twenties with cyan hair. They couldn't help but jump as the Loud siblings piled into the room and started examining their surroundings. As they chaotically ran around the room, Lynn and Rita walked over towards Angus and Morag, with Lynn bending down to help pick Morag back up off the floor.
"Heh heh, guess they were a lot more excited than I thought they would be to see the place." Rita reasoned nervously. Angus returned the statement with a laugh of his own.
"Indeed they are, Mrs. Loud. They're certainly a lively bunch, wouldn't you agree, Morag?" Angus inquired to his colleague. Morag grumbled as Rita hoisted her back up, then proceeded to dust off her clothes with her hands.
"Yes. Quite lively, indeed." Morag commented in a passive aggressive tone. The secretary took a glance at Rita and saw Lily in her arms. The robotic infant giggled and gave Morag a small wave, prompting them to look away. "So, I take it they were all your 'private project' that you were working on for so long?" She asked. Upon hearing the question, Lynn couldn't help but beam with pride.
"That's right, Ms. Tully. They just made me and Rita so happy and proud." The family patriarch stopped himself short and lightly slapped himself in the forehead. "Oh, what are we doing? We haven't even introduced you to them properly." Lynn then let out a sharp whistle and caught the children's attention. "Kids, calm down for a second. We have a few people we want you to meet." The androids looked towards their parents and the two other adults that were with them as Rita placed a hand on Angus' shoulder.
"This is Dr. Angus Shaw. He's one of our most trusted engineers and researchers down at the lab." Rita explained as Angus waved with a bright smile on his face.
"It's nice to meet all of you. And might I say, you're lucky to have parents as brilliant as yours." Angus' praise of his bosses was met with a small giggle from the twins.
"I'll say. If he kisses their butts this much, he's probably going to treat us like royalty." Lola whispered to Lana. Unfortunately for her, her comment wasn't quiet enough and was heard by everyone else.
"Lola Loud, that was very rude young lady!" Lynn scolded. The automaton turned her head down to the floor in guilt as her both her father and mother gave her a disappointed look.
"Sorry, Daddy."
"It's not me you should be apologizing to." Lynn added as he turned to his lead researcher. "I'm so sorry, Angus. Lola tends to be a bit of a handful from time to time. We've been trying to teach her how to be a little more polite." Angus raised a hand up and shook his head upon hearing his boss' apology. His smile never faltering once.
"Oh, don't worry sir. The wee lass is young, er, so to speak. I'm sure she'll mature with time if you keep pointing her in the right direction." Angus rubbed the back of his head and tugged at the collar of his shirt. "Plus, she may be on to something. I do shine people's boots a little too well, so to speak." He bashfully admitted. Rita then walked over to Morag and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"And this is our secretary, Miss Tully. Though she prefers just to be called Morag." Rita stated. Lori raised a hand up and took control of the conversation before anyone else could speak.
"Wait, 'Morag'? No offense when I say this, ma'am. But that is literally a weird name." Lori confessed. Morag tried to remain calm and composed as she responded to the automaton.
"It's Scottish. And it's nice to make your acquaintance… Miss Loud." Morag outstretched an arm with an open palm. Lori looked at it and, without missing a beat, raised her own arm to shake Morag's hand. The two girls locked grips and exchanged a formal greeting, all the while Morag thought to herself in silence. 'So fluid and natural. I don't know about them on a personal level, but with A.I. this advanced I have to admit Mr. and Mrs. Loud really outdid themselves with these children of theirs.' Morag mused to herself in silence as she ended the handshake with Lori.
"Angus, Morag, these are our daughters and our son." Lynn began as he motioned towards each individual android. "Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn Jr., Lincoln, Lana, Lola, Lisa…" He then walked over to his wife, still holding little Lily in her arms. "And our youngest daughter, Lily." He finished as Lily giggled and waved at both Angus and Morag. Rita suddenly realized something and counted on her free hand.
"Lynn, you forgot Lucy." She corrected him. Lynn's eyes widened as he became aware of his mistake.
"You're right! Oh, this is so embarrassing. I know she was here with us when we came in." He muttered to himself as he looked around the room. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called out "Lucy? Where are you sweetheart?"
"I'm right here." A flat voice muttered from behind Morag. The secretary jumped back in fright and let out a quick holler as they fell to the floor. Morag groaned as they struggled to get back up. "Sigh. I apologize for that ma'am. My parents and siblings told me I have a bad habit of doing that." Morag took another deep breath as she slowly got up and dusted her clothes off.
"Oh, it's… quite alright." She apologized, though her tone seemed rather forced. As if trying to hold back some aggression. "Well, it was very nice to meet your children, Mr. and Mrs. Loud. But I think I should go back to attending my duties." Morag reasoned as she turned on her heel and began to leave the lobby. However, she was stopped in place as she felt a purple metal hand placed on her shoulder. Turning her head slightly, she spotted Luna, with a face that seemed somewhat disappointed.
"Hold on, Ms. T. Mom and Pop said you'd help show us around the place. Don't you want to stick around?" She asked. Morag felt an uneasy sensation travel through her nerves. Hesitantly, she looked over at her bosses and saw hopeful smiles on both of their faces. Her gaze then drifted down to Lily, shooting a playful and innocent raspberry at Morag. The secretary's eyes darted to the tiled floor beneath her as she hesitated to answer. Eventually, she responded.
"All right, I suppose I can show you around a little bit."
"Ah ha! Splendid." Angus cheered. "May I suggest we show them The Development Lab first? I'm sure you'll all find it very exciting." Angus suggested. The Louds all let out a collective cheers as Angus led the way. Unbeknownst to them, Morag let out a sigh and rubbed her temples and tried to reassure herself as she followed at a distance.
"Don't panic, Morag. There may be a lot of robot children, but they're under the supervision of yourself and three other adults. How bad can it be?"
…
The Loud family, Angus, and Morag traveled through the building and eventually entered a large laboratory that was mostly a pristine white in color. All around them were scientists and engineers working on various new inventions and machines. Their efforts made clear through the sounds of mechanical whirring and computer beeps echoing through the facility. All of the android children let out a series of amazed gasps and 'awes'. However, none were more excited than Lisa. "This is astounding. Mother, Father, you have so many prototypes and experiments in this one laboratory. I knew you two were intelligent, but this is beyond any of our expectations!" She exclaimed.
Angus let out a laugh in response while the parents blushed. "Ah, it's true lass. For as long as I've known ye parents. They've always been pushing the limits of their knowledge and understanding to find ways to guide the world into brighter futures. They've discovered new forms of generating power, improving safety in what could be considered hazardous work environments, medical technology improvements. Oh, and of course, advanced robotics." Hearing Angus' elaboration of their parents achievements, Luan couldn't help but laugh.
"We don't need a tour guide for that. The proof is standing right here. Ha ha! You see what I did there?" She quipped. Lynn chuckled and rubbed Luan's hair playfully.
"We sure did, sweetie." As the pair shared a moment and the rest of the family looked around with their mother and Angus, Lynn Jr. spotted something rather peculiar. Floating just above a white platform surrounded by computers and monitoring equipment was a vehicle of some sort. It looked like a red inflatable life raft, but it had some sort of console and steering wheel in the front seat. Underneath, it seemed to give off a soft green light. Morag noticed the curiosity in their artificial eyes and walked over to them, clearing her throat.
"Ahem, I see you two found your parents new hover craft prototype." She stated nervously, still somewhat cautions around the android. Lynn Jr. turned towards Morag.
"Hover craft? You mean, like, a flying car?"
"Some what. Everyone major inventor and scientist have wanted to make a true flying automobile for a while. But they always ran into a technical issue or safety liability. Your parents decided to try and take it one step at a time with a weak anti-gravity engine that's only powerful enough to lift it a few feet off the ground." Morag explained. "Even still, they've been running numerous and careful tests on it."
Lynn Jr. let out a laugh and folded her arms. "Sounds sweet. Mind if we take it for a spin?" She asked. Morag blinked in surprise as Lynn approached the vehicle. The secretary immediately tried to get in their way and block off their advance. "Hey!" The red android groaned.
"Absolutely not! This is a highly advanced piece of machinery that your parents and their associates have been working on, and the last thing we'd want is for it to be destroyed and for thousands of dollars to be wasted." Morag insisted. Lynn Jr. quickly walked past her and closer to the hover craft.
"Lady, you do realize that I'm also a highly advanced piece of machinery. Trust me, I can handle this." Lynn Jr. hopped inside the vehicle and began messing with the controls. Much to Morag's frustration, the hover craft whirred to life and started to float higher off the ground. "Oh yeah, now this is awesome!" Lynn cheered as she started to fly the craft around the lab. Her gaze then drifted down to a bright red button on the middle of the dashboard. "Hmm, I wonder what this button does?" Lynn Jr. then pushed the button and the vehicle started to give off an intense hum.
"Oh dear…" Morag started to take a few steps back and was barely able to duck out of the way as the hover craft took off at a rather high speed. The combination of it's roaring engine and Lynn Jr.'s screaming got everyone's attention as she was struggling to control to machine and flying around the room.
"Oh no, Lynn Jr.!" Rita cried out in fear. She then glanced over at Morag and shot her a look of both worry and disappointment. "Ms. Tully, what happened?"
"I-I tried to stop her, but she was so insistent." Morag pleaded as she jumped out of the way again as Lynn Jr. accidentally drove the past her and Rita. The craft did a few more mid-air loops as it started careening towards Lori and Luan. The eldest of the androids pushed Luan out of the way just as Lynn Jr. crashed the hover craft into the wall, completely wrecking it as a result.
"Is everyone alright?" Angus called out in alarm. Everyone muttered various quotes of confirmation before Lynn Jr. climbed out of the destroyed hover craft. She laughed excitedly in response.
"Oh man, that was awesome! We totally got to do that again!" Lynn Jr. was barely able to react as she was quickly hugged by her father
"Junior, are you okay? Anything broken?" Lynn Jr. lifted her arm and started to bend it a few times, a few mechanical whirrs being audible as she did.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't see why you're worried though. You built me out of the toughest metal around." Rita looked down at her daughter and let out a sigh before getting on one knee and placing a hand on Lynn Jr.'s metal shoulder.
"Sweetie, there's nothing wrong with being brave. But you need to think your actions because you could get seriously hurt."
"Or hurt someone else!" Lynn Jr. looked over to see Lori and Luan glaring at her. "Your little stunt could have gotten us crushed!" Lori growled in anger.
"Yeah, you could have turned us into scrap metal! Ha ha ha! Seriously though, not cool." Luan added. Lynn Jr. looked down, now feeling somewhat ashamed over her actions. The scarlet bodied android got up and sighed, lightly kicking a piece of rubble across the floor. In contrast to The Louds, Morag was more concerned about the hover craft the robot girl crashed. She tugged at the collar of her shirt nervously.
"This is going to cost so much to repair." She groaned. "Um, perhaps this little ordeal serves as a bit of a warning? How about we take the little ones to a calmer area of the building." All the Loud children groaned in response to Morag's suggestion, but were silenced by Lynn.
"Now now kids, she has a point. We can show you the development labs again some other time." The patriarch glanced at Lynn Jr. "Young lady, you're not to go where your mother and I can't see you for the rest of our tour." He scolded.
"And when we get home, you're grounded for a week." Rita added.
"But Mom…"
"No buts, young lady. Actions have consequences. It's best you learn that sooner rather than later." As everyone started leaving the room to go to another, calmer part of the building, Luna gave one quick glance at Lynn Jr.
"Nice going, brah."
"Aw come on guys, I just wanted to have a little fun." Lynn Jr. grumbled as she followed everyone else out of the lab.
…
After a bit of a trek through the building and a couple of elevator rides, The Loud family, Angus, and Morag arrived at the top floor of the building. The group walked through the waiting room and past Morag's desk over to the double doors. "Brace yourselves, kids. This… Is our office." Lynn proclaimed as he opened the door and revealed the interior of the main office to everyone. The Loud children all gasped in wonder at the sight of everything. The floor was a covered with deep, navy blue carpet. Resting on top of said carpet were two desks that had laptops and multiple stacks of paper resting on top of them. The wall at the back was a dark gray with two book shelves on opposite sides of a large portrait of Lynn and Rita in graduation gowns while holding diplomas. The other walls were actually windows that provided a view outside.
Everyone walked over to the window and looked out to see the city below them. Lori was the first to speak out. "Wow, you can see literally all of Royal Woods from here." Rita pat the oldest android on the head with a warm smile.
"Yeah. Sometimes when your father and I hit a roadblock in our research, we just like to look out the window. It helps us think." The family and their companions were silent as they just admired the sight. The city streets below were filled with cars navigating the road ways that wrapped around the multiple block shaped buildings. Near the edges of the town were a few suburban neighborhoods, and in the middle of it all was a large park with lush trees and greenery.
As everyone looked at the city fondly, Leni spotted something blue in one of the paper stacks on the desks and went to investigate it. She looked at it a little more closely and let out a hum of curiosity as she saw some scribbles on it. Leni then reached out and pinched the corner of the paper before pulling it out of the stack and sending the whole thing collapsing to the ground by accident. "Mom, Dad, what's this thing?" She asked innocently. Everyone turned to see Leni holding the blue paper with the other pages scattered across the desk and floor.
Morag felt her eye twitch and pinched her nose as Rita and Lynn walked over to Leni's side to look at it. "I spent a good half hour organizing those files from most to least important." She groaned quietly under her breath so no one would notice as the parents were distracted by explaining what was on the blue print to Leni. Morag then saw that Lisa and Lucy had taken the opportunity to take a closer look at the book shelves with Angus. "Oh bother, I don't like the looks of this."
Morag approached the group nervously, listening to their conversation. "Such an expansive collection of literature." Lisa said in awe as she browsed the book titles. "Computer programming guides, biographies of Stephen Hawking and Thomas Edison…"
"There are even a few novels in here." Lucy added as she reached out and pulled out a simple black book and started reading it. The black haired android's monotone expression unchanged despite how she was leaning her head deeper into the book's pages, getting visibly invested. "Hmm, this seems like a rather interesting tale." Lucy mused as Angus leaned over her shoulder and read along with her. He flinched and bit his lower lip as he quickly realized what the book was about and quickly took it out of Lucy's hands in concern.
"Whoops! Eh, heh heh. Apologies, Young Miss Loud, but I don't think someone your designed age should be reading something like that." Angus apologized nervously. Lucy looked down in disappointment.
"Sigh, I don't see what the harm in that book was." Morag cleared her throat to try and grab their attention.
"It would actually be much appreciated if you exercised a little more caution when pulling books off of that shelf. It's a bit of an antique so to speak."
"Pffft, nonsense." Lisa countered as she walked over to the bookcase. "This looks like it was crafted and assembled rather recently. I'm certain it could withstand quite a bit of force." To emphasize her point, Lisa knocked her metallic fist against the bookcase a few times. This resulted in one of the shelves coming loose and sparking a chain reaction where a bunch of books comically fell to the floor. "Hmm, it appears I made a bit of a miscalculation."
Morag felt her eye twitch and a lock of her poofy hair spring out of place. "I need to use the bathroom." She muttered as she walked out of the office. As she left, Rita also cleared her throat with a cough.
"Actually, I think I need to use the bathroom too. Lynn, sweetie, can you hold onto Lily or a second?" Before Lynn could answer his wife's question, the sounds of laughter and growls interrupted their discussion. They turned and saw the twins getting into a bit of a quarrel. In Lana's hands was a black stapler that she was using to pelt her twin with little pieces of paper binding metal. And it was pretty clear Lola was reaching her limit very fast.
"Lana, knock it off before I ram that thing down one of your audio recievers
"Uh, I think you should take Lily with you. I still have to keep an eye on the others." Lynn grumbled as his wife let out a sigh of relief and carried Lily with her into the hallway. All the while she heard the voices of her family and friend continue to speak about their situation. "Lana, that is not a toy you put that down."
"But Lola started it when she pulled my hair!"
"Is that true, young lady?"
"Lana wouldn't stop poking me!"
As Rita felt the voices fade from earshot while walking through the hallways, she eventually reached the doors of the woman's restroom. However, before she opened the door, Rita began to hear Morag's voice on the other side. "This is bloody ridiculous. Everywhere they go in the building, disaster follows." Rita retracted her hand and leaned closer to the restroom door to hear her secretary's ramblings. "All eleven of them are nothing but magnets for trouble. I've never met such rude and disrespectful little gremlins in my whole life."
Rita's eyes widened hearing that last bit. Her children? Her greatest and beloved achievements being subjected to such harsh insults? Her gaze drifted to Lily, who seemed confused as they could not fully comprehend the remarks. Yet the tone of Morag's voice as proving to be very upsetting to her. Rita quickly narrowed her eyes and opened the door. "If they weren't the creations of Mr and Mrs. Loud, I would personally…"
"You would personally 'what', Ms. Tully?" Rita inquired rhetorically as Morag turned to face the newly christened mama bear that was her boss. Morag let out a quick yelp in alarm before her speech devolved into a rapid series of gibberish in fear. "Before you ask, I heard enough of what you said. I have half a mind to fire you right now for this."
"B-But Mrs. Loud, you have to understand that ever since they've come here they've been a nuisance. They've caused large amounts of damage and have disrupted the flow of progress in the building."
"They're children, Ms. Tully. MY children. Accidents happen and we have plenty of money in both the company's financial accounts and my family's personal savings to cover any damage." Rita looked down at Lily and the tiny robot giggled with a smile in response. "I know that being a parent comes with risks and can struggle. But I still love them with all my heart no matter what. The least is you could do is treat them with a little respect." Rita looked at Morag again and saw her secretary look ashamed of herself.
"Doctor… I apologize for my frustrated comments. It's just that for as long as I've known you and your husband, I've had a large admiration for your brilliance. Both in and out of the fields of science. You always knew how to keep things in order and how to take charge under pressure with a cool head. But your new children just… They just throw it all into disarray." Morag huffed. Rita closed her eyes and shook her head.
"You did mention that unexpected change was a weakness on your résumé." Rita opened her eyes and looked at Morag's dead center. "Listen, Morag. I know you are very passionate about your work, as am I." Rita took a moment to collect her thoughts and look at Lily. She tickled the youngest android and prompted Lily to giggle. "But my family are not just my work. They are my life. If you were as loyal of an employee and a friend as I thought you are, you'd understand this." Morag had no answer to this, simply looking down in defeat. "Look, you did try to make an effort to keep your feelings private, and you and Angus have been friends with me and Lynn for a long time. So, despite how upset and hurtful your words are, I'm going to give you a second chance."
"You are?"
"But I want you to try and make a better effort to be patient with my son and daughters. Maybe one day you'll grow to like them. But if you can't, I expect you to at least keep your comments in your head. Because if I hear anything like this again, we will have a serious problem. Do we understand each other?" Rita gave her secretary a cold look, to which Morag solemnly nodded.
…
After using the bathroom like she had intended, Rita and Lily returned to the office with Morag following behind. They found the rest of the Loud family and Angus standing in front of the door to the parents' office. Rita was quick to regroup with her husband and children as Luan leaned in and grinned at her mother. "So Mom, did you take care of any important business?" Luan inquired. Rita couldn't help but blush in response as Luan laughed.
"Luan sweetie, I know you have a good sense of humor. But jokes like that aren't exactly appropriate outside our home."
"Aw, don't be a party pooper." Hearing Luan's second joke, Rita couldn't help but chuckle a bit.
"Okay, I'll admit I walked into that one. But seriously, you need to learn what's acceptable in public." As Rita lightly scolded the yellow plated android, Lisa walked away from the group and approached Morag. The Scottish secretary gave her a look of both guilt and distrust.
"Is there something I can help you with, young lady?" Despite the slightly less than pleasant tone Morag greeted her with, Lisa kept a straight face.
"Ms. Tully, I would like to take a moment to apologize for my earlier behavior. I should have heeded your warning to investigate my parent's bookshelf with caution. As such, I would like to offer a token of goodwill." Morag raised an eye brow and followed Lisa as the two walked out of the office and over to Morag's desk. Lisa then gestured to the laptop sitting on top. "I saw you had left your laptop unlocked and noticed that the desktop was cluttered with numerous files. I figured someone such as yourself would prefer a more streamlined method of work. So I made a folder or two and organized all the files alphabetically." Lisa explained with a small manner of pride.
However, she noticed that Morag seemed rather shocked with the development. "Is there a problem? If you preferred the old placement, I can undo my work. I took the liberty of photographically memorizing the exact placement of each individual file." Lisa offered. Morag then shook her head dismissively.
"Oh, no no. It's fine. It's actually very thoughtful in fact. Um, thank you, young Miss Loud."
"The pleasure is all mine. And please, simply addressing me as Lisa will be suffice." Lisa then walked away, rejoining the rest of the group as her siblings were all speaking about who knows what over each other. Eventually, Lynn got everyone's attention as he raised his voice and his arms slightly.
"Alright, settle down everyone. I think we can all agree it has been a pretty long day. So how about we wrap up this little day out and head home?" He suggested. Lynn Jr. however, let out a bit of a groan.
"Really? We were having so much fun here. Couldn't we stay for just a little longer, Dad?" Lynn Jr. asked in an overly sweet manner. Her answer was a collection of unimpressed stares from both her parents and siblings. Lynn Jr. rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine, I get it. I'm in trouble. It's not my fault I wanted to spice things up." Her parents were not pleased with this reasoning as Lynn simply shook his head.
"We're going to have a talk when we get home, young lady. A very long one about the value of personal safety and self-control." The family patriarch informed. Angus then chimed in with a fake cough.
"Well, despite the hiccups we experienced, it was really delightful meeting your family, Mr. and Mrs. Loud. Wasn't it, Morag?" Angus remarked while playfully elbowing his co-worker. Morag couldn't help but nervously sweat as Rita gave her a stern look. Morag didn't respond verbally and opted to give a simple nod. Lynn noticed this and turned his gaze towards his wife.
"Rita is everything okay?"
"I… I'll tell you later." Rita answered as she kept one arm cradling Lily and placed another on Lynn's shoulder. "For now, let's just go home and relax." With that, the Louds made their way back to the elevator so they could return to the main lobby. As they stepped in and pressed the button for the doors to close again, they all gave Angus and Morag one final set of waves good bye. As they were waiting for the elevator to make its trip, Lincoln spoke up.
"This was really cool. Mom, Dad, thanks for taking us here." Rita smiled and bent down to give her son a kiss on the cheek while Lynn ruffled his hair.
"Aww, you're welcome kiddo."
"All you kids have to do is ask and you can come here with us again whenever you want… But Lynn needs a chaperone."
"It was an accident!"
Well, that was an interesting little delve into Lynn and Rita's background wasn't it? And Rita showing that even though her offspring weren't born o genetics, she's still the mama bear of the den.
Now, I bet a lot of you are going on with things like "OH MY GOD! MORAG IS HERE! SHE'S GOING TO DO SOMETHING SUPER EVIL!"
...
Well, I'm actually shooting that down right now. I have no plans to make any chapters with Morag doing anything of the sort. And I have four good reasons as to why.
Firstly, I already have Morag as an antagonist in The Sound Barrier (which I really should get back to sooner or later).
Secondly: That kind of plot is not what this story is about. This isn't some corporate war, this is a series about heart, life, and love.
Thirdly: If I ever did want to do something like that, I have plenty of other options to serve as an antagonist for such a plot.
And finally (and I know you're all going to think I'm crazy when I say this): I've actually grown to feel sympathy, mostly pity, for Morag. Yes, canonically she is a total psychopath. But honestly, if a family of thirteen that's practically bouncing off the walls and screaming at the top of their lungs everywhere they go just waltzed into my life out of nowhere? Well, I wouldn't destroy a town over it, but I probably would do something comparable to traveling to the middle of nowhere to scream in frustration.
So, I decided to bump Morag up the morality scale a little bit. Whenever she shows up again, she's not going to be anything like Plankton... She's probably more comparable to Squidward here.
Well, I hope this was worth the wait. Thank you all for reading.
