I tried to get through an entire cycle of Splitting Hairs chapter before I reentered my normal routine, but I just couldn't. I couldn't make myself do that. I was slowly dying…

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"What would you recommend for a beginner?" Lincoln glanced over at Luan's question.

Standing close enough that he didn't rouse her suspicions as to his intentions on this… Outing, but not too close. He could feel her presence next to him, even when he wasn't looking at her. A pockmark that soiled an otherwise fun spot. A curse to cap off a thoroughly shitty day.

"Well, you know." He tried to sound like he was having fun. A grimace, disguised as a smile, painfully stretching his lips. "Given your particular preferences, you might enjoy this."

He handed her a comic. The red and black mask of an insane mercenary winking up from the front cover.

"Oh?" She grasped it, bringing it up to see. "What's it about?"

"It's about a mercenary with super regeneration and the knowledge that he's fictional." His eyes half lidded in feigned comfort, he watched her flip through the pages. Stopping once and a while to nod or laugh.

All the tension in his body, channeled into his casually pocketed fist, clenched painfully around his cell phone. He knew what Luan was doing. To bring him here so freely and easily. The comic shop. Similar to the tactic he'd used to first seduce Lori, she was hoping that bringing him here would set him at ease. That he'd let his guard down and be an easy target. Not the case. Not the effect. Though he couldn't let her know, it felt more like waking up to find an armed intruder in his home.

"Ha, ha. I like this." She flipped the comic shut, gazing at the cover once again.

"If you want. I can buy the first issue for you." Like waking up to find an armed intruder in his home, and than being forced to treat them like a houseguest and invite them for tea.

"Oh, but you worked so hard for that money." Saying all the right things at all the right times. Her words were empty. Calculated to get the perfect reaction, and not genuinely felt.

"It's not that much, and besides; I got this money, in the first place, to spoil my girlfriend." Being forced to invite them for tea and use the good stuff.

Lincoln had never actually hated anyone before, so he didn't know what it felt like. The coldness, like exquisite organ failure, couldn't have been far off though.

They stepped out onto the sidewalk. A truck passed slowly by. Rolling peacefully until Lincoln pushed Luan down in front of the wheels. Her bag spilling open and sending her new comics flying, even as the rubber squished her head like a melon. Crimson and rose slicking up the grooves.

"Where to next Lincoln?" He jerked from his thoughts, turning away from the sight of the truck quietly cruising away to answer his sisters question.

"We've been walking around for a while. Why don't we stop somewhere to eat?"

"Sounds good."

He didn't hate her of course. Otherwise he would have actually done it. Nobody was around, he could have played the part of the distraught brother at the scene of an accident. Who would believe that he was the perpetrator of the tragedy? No, he didn't hate her. She was family, and as much as they might not have gotten along in the past, he couldn't hate her. He wasn't sure he had it in him. He didn't want her dead, he didn't even want her hurt. The chill through him wasn't hatred. It was merely the closest thing to it he'd ever felt.

He smiled at her as kindly as her could manage, and grasped her hand in his to lead her to the nearest restaurant.

I've spend so much time away from this that I've needed to read over the previous chapter before I could complete this one.

Some kind of food. Food, food, snack food. Pushing bowls of mysterious content aside. Juice, milk, a Tupperware container filled with spaghetti. Ideally she'd find something with chocolate in it, like chocolate pudding, or cake. She could grab a chocolate protein bar from Lynn's stash, but they weren't that great, and she didn't want to deal with Lynn's bitching. She sort of wished there was some of Lincoln's chocolate pie left, but of course that hadn't lasted longer than an hour after they all found out about it, and it would have been moldy by now even if nobody had eaten it. Maybe she could get him to make her another… Or they could do it together…

Late in the day. Dinner was going to be soon, and she'd get to eat then, but she wanted something now.

"Hey Lori, fancy Meating you here."

Fuck. She turned around to see Luan standing in the doorway. The reason she even wanted a snack in the first place. Less because she was hungry and more for the distraction.

"Luan."

She had hobbies, but she'd gotten so used to spending time with Lincoln these last months that time away from him was literally cripplingly boring. Besides, hobbies were almost always better when shared with other people, and who better to share her interests with than her beloved younger brother.

"Searching for a little snack? The normal fare not quite satisfying your cravings?"

These were literally the worst puns Lori had ever been subjected to in her entire life. That was saying something because she'd lived with Luan her entire life… Or most of it anyway.

"Just thought I'd get a little something before dinner is all. There something wrong with that?"

The worst part was that she knew what Luan was implying with her doublespeak, and she had to pretend that she didn't. Damn Lincoln for making so much sense all the time… Of course… She didn't actually feel that way. She wished she could address the issue head on, but who knows what would have happened if she'd tried.

"No, no. I myself just had quite the satisfying meal." Luan smirked victoriously at her.

God. Fucking. Damnit.

"Look, Luan. We both know what we're actually talking about here." That was it. She couldn't just say nothing. "You got to spend time with Lincoln today." Didn't mean she was going to flip the table or anything, but she had to let off some steam. "Don't look too into it. He felt sorry for you okay? This isn't going anywhere, so wipe that self satisfied smirk off your face."

"Dispensing with the Seasonings huh?" If anything, Luan's smile grew even more. The corners of her lips curling like she was the god damned Grinch who stole Christmas. "What's the matter? Couldn't stand the heat? You know what they say about heat and kitchens."

"Just, literally stop. Okay."

The only saving grace in this situation is that Lori would be getting the last laugh in the end… She breathed in deeply and let it out slowly, bringing her palm up to her face, even as she completed the thought. She could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on.

"Alright, but I think we both know that today was more than him just feeling sorry for me."

Wasn't Luan supposed to be being Lincoln's Secret girlfriend? Emphasis on SECRET. What was she possibly hoping to achieve by shoving this in Lori's face? The worst part was that Lori still had to pretend like she didn't know the full situation. The Best part was that when all this was over, she'd be able to rub Luan's failure in her stupid face. Then She'd go on to college, get a business degree, become the CEO of a start up company, make a lot of money, move out and get a house with Lincoln, and live happily with him for the rest of their lives. They'd have to keep it a secret from their parents, but with Lisa's help in preventing birth defects they could have kids of their own, and raise their own family. Lori would just need to explain where they came from somehow… She also still needed to set Leni up with Luna, so she could have a monopoly on Lincoln for once.

"Hey guys, what's happening?" Luna greeted, as she stepped into the kitchen.

Speak of the devil and all that.

"Luan was just telling me about how she spent the day hanging out with Lincoln." Lori supplied, tilting her head to glance at their musical sister.

"O-oh" Luna suddenly stuttered, sounding flustered, and looking nervous. "You spent the day with Lincoln?" Her face flushed pink. "T-that's cool… I'll, uh… I'll just be going than." She turned and quickly left the kitchen.

What the hell? Lori could have been reading into the situation wrong, but given the pattern she'd seen so far, she was willing to bet money that Luna had feelings for Lincoln. She could be wrong. Luna could just be embarrassed about something else, but she somehow didn't think it was very likely.

This did raise the question of what was going on with their family that romantic feelings towards other family members seemed to be so common. Maybe she could ask Lisa later.

At least Luna wasn't the kind of person to try to barge into an existing relationship, or steal the target of her affection away from whoever they were currently dating… So there was that. Seemed like setting Leni and Luna up together was getting to be a better and better idea.

Watch me twirl around the dance floor with all the grace and splendor of a drunken giraffe on roller-skates.

A whimper and a hiss, as she dragged her nails across the older girls skin. Shivering lines of pleasure in place of bloody tracks of ruin. Hot breath across an exposed throat belied her hunger to taste the gore beneath.

"L-Lucy…" Her target whined pitifully.

Inky clouds of murder crowded at the edges of her vision. Fingers rolled across sensitive flesh, searching for a weakness. On the hunt, without the death. The weakened frailty of sensual bliss would have to do.

The rasping drag of her tongue across the curve of a body. She shivered in time with her prey. Toxic loathing filled her like a pitcher. Unable to touch the beacon of light in her heart, but pushing up against the inside of her skin. Demanding to be let out in the blood, sweat, and tears of someone not here. Yearning to escape and drive an ten inch nail slowly through the head of a struggling clown, until she was staked to the pavement on the sidewalk outside. A warning to all those who might be so arrogant as to follow in her path.

Her body twitched in aborted motions. Trying to bring pleasure to the innocent mind beneath her, when all she wanted to do was wrap her slender fingers around her throat and squeeze until the girls eyes rolled into the back of her head.

She jerked herself back. This one didn't deserve that. Simple though she was, she chose the light on her own. That, at least, deserved a reward.

Moved down the older girls body, she forced her legs apart, and tore off the scrap of fabric between her and her prize. The opening slick and running already, she lunged in. Invading the girls sacred place with a thrust of her tongue. The purest girl cried out in confused ecstasy. Her legs instinctively moving to pull Lucy closer. Her hands clenching the cloth beneath. Her back arcing, as she let out a long, low, moan.

Shuddering quakes rippled through her targets body. Twitching with indecision, and thoughtless bliss.

Lucy pulled back. Gazing down at the prone and weakened body of Leni under her.

"W-whu-wha?" Leni babbled incoherently.

It took me two tries to get that scene like that, and I'm still not sure I love it overly much. It's good enough, which makes it leagues better than my last attempt.

Game theory: the opposing team would recognize an attempt at sneaking a score in an instant, unless you didn't look like you were attempting to sneak a score. That may sound obvious, but it was more complicated in practice than most would realize. An example is that if you hid the pig skin under your shirt as you made a play for the end zone, it would be immediately apparent to everyone that you were hiding something. It was also an illegal maneuver, but that didn't really matter in this explanation. Much better would be to have the Quarterback, the Fullback, and the Halfback line up in a row behind the Center, so the Center could pass the football to any of them. When the play starts, you have whoever's on the right pretend to have the football and try to force their way through the defensive line. You have whoever's in the middle pretend to hide the ball under their shirt and run a wide circle around the right side of the formation. You actually pass the ball to whoever is on the left. Have them calmly drop their arms to their side, with the ball tucked under on the far side of their body from the skirmish, and have them calmly make their way to the end zone. Needless to say, you should only do this if you're pretty close to the end zone anyway, because the two decoys will only be able to keep the opposing team distracted for so long. If you do it right though, the other team should have no idea what even happened when you score.

All of that was simply a long way of saying that when following people who know who you are, and can spot you from a mile away, your two options are to not look like you're following them, or not look like you.

"Oh my god, and she's Literally the worst. I mean you… weren't…"

"Yeah…"

"But at least you didn't try to steal him away from me! Who does that?!"

Neither Lucy or Lori would have believed that she wasn't following them. For that reason, she'd let her hair down, used some of Leni's make up to cover her freckles, put on a baseball cap, and stolen some of Links comics to pretend to read while she was following them. What did Lincoln see in this stuff anyway? Who wanted to watch other people do cool stuff instead of just doing it yourself? This guy wasn't even doing it right! You weren't supposed to kick with the inside of your foot while doing a round house kick! That was just a good way to break or sprain something.

"How about this?" Lori held up a purple sun dress. "You think I'd look good in this?"

"I think you would look very beautiful." Lucy's response uncharacteristically complementary.

"Yeah," Lori didn't think so though, apparently. "But do you think He'd find it nice?"

Lucy and Lori Had been hanging out a lot these past months. Maybe Lori was used to compliments from Lucy now.

Lucy hummed in thought. "You'd look a bit like Luna."

"Yeah, see, I was thinking about getting the yellow one, but then I'd look like… Luan." She said Luan's name with a flat sort of anger, Lynn hadn't heard from her in a long time. "It got me thinking though. Since when are we all color coded?"

"Hm?"

"Like, literally all of us have some color that we wear more than anyone else. And I mean blue is my favorite color, fair enough, but when did the other colors become off limit to us? Blue is my favorite color, so you guys can't wear it, or you'll look like me. Green is Leni's favorite color, so we can't wear it, or we'll look like Leni. Purple is Luna's favorite color, so we can't wear it, or we'll look like Luna. Red is Lynn's favorite color, so we can't wear it, or we'll look like Lynn. Black is your favorite color. Orange is Lincoln's favorite color, and so on."

"Huh…" Lucy thought. "I've never thought about it, but you're kind of right… That's stupid."

And it was. Who gave a rats ass what colors her sisters wore? If Lynn wanted to wear blue, she'd wear blue. No stupid hidden rule was going to stop her… She just didn't want to wear blue.

"Yeah, you know what? I'm getting this dress. If My boyfriend doesn't like it, I'll deal with it then."

Oh, so Lori had a boyfriend?

"I think he'll like it."

Okay, time to disengage. She had enough information to put together a pretty good idea of what was going on, and it was always better to leave before you got caught.

She turned around and casually walked the other way. Lori had a boyfriend huh? A boyfriend that Luan was trying to steal. Lucy and Lincoln were involved somehow. So… Lori had a boyfriend that was younger than her. Maybe the same age as Luan, which explained why Lynn hadn't know about him. Lori was trying to keep her relationship a secret because her boy toy was so much younger. Lincoln found out about her relationship and was helping to keep it a secret, and move it along. Lucy was helping Lincoln at his direction. Luan was trying to steal Lori's boyfriend for her own purposes. Lynn doubted Luan actually cared about the boy, she wasn't that kind of person.

Okay… Well, Lynn didn't want to make a play at the boy herself. She wasn't that kind of girl, but surely there was something she could do to gain leverage… She'd need to gain some more information, but she knew what to look for now, so it should be easier. She also needed to think.

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Chapter notes:

Read a book my mom wrote… It was ludicrous.

It's harder to write a scene that's both sexy and murderous than you might think.