I believe this is chapter fifteen. Have any of you ever played The Sexy Brutale? It's a fun game. I finished it recently, and I don't like the ending. It's dumb, and boring, and somehow both super predictable, and also nonsensical. The rest of the game is great though.

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Following Lori this far wasn't easy. When she went into Lisa's room, Lynn couldn't really follow her through the door. Lori and Lisa would have noticed, and they would have asked her questions. She could have lied, no problem, it would have been easy, but she also would have had to leave if she'd done that.

This was much better. Her face pressed uncomfortably up against the vent grate, as she tried to look through the slits into the room. Made her thankful the vents were so big, just like in the movies… Though she was pretty sure vents in real life were supposed to be smaller… Whatever. They were still cramped. Lynn could barely crawl through them, and dust was everywhere, and she had a headache from straining her eyes. It was worth it though.

If she wanted to win, she had to know the rules of the game. So she had to get info on the main players. Lori first. Not that she was doing much. Just standing there with her thumbs up her ass, while she watched Lisa do whatever nerd stuff she was usually doing… Worth it or not, Lynn really wished something would happen.

"So, uh, what are you doing?" The oldest Loud sister asked, shifting awkwardly in place. She leaned forward, craning her neck to see what Lisa was doing, but not actually moving any closer.

Lynn could understand that. Lisa's nerd stuff exploded sometimes. It was usually not the best idea to get near it.

"I could explain it to you, but I doubt you would approve." Lisa kept her eyes pressed up against the… Seeing part… Of what Lynn thought looked like a microscope, or something? But like, stuck in the side of a big vat tube. Had some warning symbols on the side. "You're not here to confabulate with me about that though." Lynn had no idea what that meant. "What are you actually here for?"

"Well…" Lori rested back on her heels, rubbing one arm with the hand of her other. "We literally never talk, and I wanted to thank you."

"Though I am moderately certain that I know what you are referring to when you say that, elaborate." Lisa turned a knob on the side of the tank, and pushed a few buttons, muttering to herself. "Have to make sure the accelerated growth hormones don't impede the neural development of the new subject."

Lynn was pretty sure Lori didn't actually hear that last part… She didn't react to it anyway.

"I wanted to thank you for being so supportive of us."

Lisa balled her fists underneath her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "As I have said previously, I wouldn't necessarily say that I support your romantic choices."

Oh, fuck yes. Lynn knew Lisa was in on this. She shifted her eyes to Lori, waiting impatiently for their older sister to answer. If she could just find out Who Lori was dating. It might give her the edge she needed to come out on top.

"But you've done so much for us." Lori countered, taking a step forward.

"I kept your relationship a secret, and I gave you some contraceptives." Lisa turned away from the vat. Finally looking at their oldest sister. Grabbing the rim of her glasses between her pointer and her thumb, she looked down at the floor between them. "How do I put this?… I don't support your romance, or the choices you and Lincoln have made." Lincoln? What did Lincoln have to do with Lori's relationship, other than that he probably knew who Lori was dating? "But I support You, and I support Lincoln. No matter what you do, I'll always support you, even if I think you're making foolish decisions." Did Lincoln have some power over Lori's relationship? Lynn knew he was in charge, but she didn't think Lori would have let him make romantic choices for her. If that was true, everything just got a little bit… Creepy… "That's still not everything you wished to speak of."

Lori looked a little surprised by Lisa's blunt remark, but she gathered herself quickly.

"I just needed someone to talk to about… Literally everything. I mean, I'm happy, things are great. Lincoln is fantastic. Lucy and I are getting along better than before…"

"But." Lisa waved her hand, inviting Lori to say more.

"I'm just literally totally overwhelmed right now. Leni keeps butting in on our dates, I think Luna has a crush on him too." Whoa! Luna was trying to date him too? Who was this guy? "Luan keeps trying to steel him from me, and ruin our relationship. Lincoln says I should leave Luan to him, and I've started pushing Leni and Luna to hang out more so that they're both out of the way, but… I don't know… I'm just literally mentally and physically exhausted."

Okay, wait… Lynn needed to think about this. So… Lori was dating someone in secret. Lincoln had a significant influence over the relationship, which placed him in a position of power over Lori. Luan, Leni, and Luna were also trying to date the guy… Lucy had a crush on him, but was now working for Lincoln. So Lincoln must have some means to keeping everyone from getting what they wanted. Meaning that he had some sort of power over the guy too. It's why he was able to confidently say that he'd be able to deal with Luan. It was why Lori, Lucy, Luna, and Leni always did whatever he wanted… So, the question was, who was Lori dating. Who did Lincoln have in his pocket?… No… Oh God, could he?… Was Lori dating Clyde!? That was insane! Lynn almost couldn't believe that except that she totally could. Lori was depressed from her break up with Bobby, Lincoln went to comfort her. While doing that, he could have talked up Clyde as a rebound guy. Lynn knew first hand how convincing Lincoln could be, so she had no trouble believing that he would have been able to get Lori to agree to date Clyde while she was depressed. The surprising thing was that Lori seemed to be happy with it… It had been more than six months by this point. Lynn would have thought Lori would have broken up with him by now… Maybe he was actually pretty great? This still didn't explain why Lucy, Luna, and Leni were so interested in him…

Her attention snapped back to the two in the room when Lisa sighed heavily.

"I've never been particularly adept at emotional counseling. That said, may I ask why you're not bringing this up with Lincoln or Lucy?"

"Lincoln's been so busy with Luan, I don't want to put any more stress on him…" Lori looked down at her feet. "And Lucy… I know she's trying her hardest to make it up to me, and I appreciate it, and I appreciate her, but I don't know if I can…" She trailed off

"I don't think I'll be of as much help as you're probably hoping, but I'll endeavor to respond to your worries. On the matter of Leni and Luna. I don't know what possessed you to pair them together, and I frankly don't care to know, but you've likely done the best you could with them. I do wish you had directed their attentions elsewhere, but I am cognizant of Leni's particularities, so I can't blame you too much." The family scientist moved across the room to her desk. She shifted through a few papers and wrote something down on one. "On the matter of Luan. Put your worries to rest. Lincoln is not the only one who's noticed a problem. I've been doing my best to deal with the Luan issue as well." She made another note. "Finally, on the matter of Lucy. I can't give you any sort of insight into her character, I'm afraid. As I said before, emotions have never been my forte, and Lucy seems to be driven primarily by her emotions."

"Alright, well, it's literally a relief to know that Lincoln doesn't have to deal with Luan alone." Lori sighed. "So, thanks for that." She fell silent for a minute, until Lisa turned to make her way back to the vat. "I do have one final question though."

"And that would be?" Lisa seemed kind of impatient.

"I wanted to ask you before, but I never got the chance until now… Why is everyone so okay with…" She waved her hands around, gesturing at the room around them. "All of this? Like when I set Leni up with Luna, and Luna hasn't complained, or literally even asked any questions. And we're all…" She coughed into her fist, instead of saying whatever word she was about to say. "To the same guy." It was a really fake cough too.

"You're wondering why our family seems to have such a proclivity for…" Lisa glanced at the door meaningfully. "Dating close?"

"Yeah…" Lori blushed, looking to the side.

Turning back to her desk, Lisa opened a drawer and fished out a small bottle. She tossed it to Lori, who caught it out of the air.

"It just occurred to me that you may be running low on contraceptives, given the… Frequency… of your activities." Whoa! Was Clyde a stud, or something? "I've sought to determine the answer to that question myself, once I became aware of the tendency. I did a bit of ancestral digging, and read a few psychological texts. First, you should know that our family has always been historically very large. Generation after generation of large families has selected for a combination of genes that…" She seemed to struggle for words. Lynn was pretty sure she got it though. The Loud family was thirsty, because they'd always been thirsty.

"I get it." Lori rescued her younger sister from having to explain. "What about the mental part?"

"That part is just that our parents raised us to be open minded… It's much more complicated than that, but those are the basics."

"Huh… Okay…"

"Did you require anything further?"

"No, I think I'm good now. Thanks Lisa."

"I'm happy to be of assistance."

I sliced my toe open on a loose screw, and went to the hospital. It was bloody.

Yellows, purples, and oranges played across the rippling water, some ways off the coast. Lori sat back against a small dune she made, pushing her fingers into the sand around her, and feeling the granules rasp over her skin. She wasn't entirely sure why Lucy insisted that they come out here… It didn't feel like they were hanging out, but she wasn't worried. She, at least, owed Lucy enough trust to not assume the worst. Still, she could see her younger sister from the corner of her eye, and she couldn't help but wonder. It was kinda pretty out. She liked the way the water shimmered in the fading light. She liked the sound of the foam and the waves, splashing against the shore. She liked the cool feeling of the sand underneath her. It was too noisy and crowded during the day time, but when the sun was starting to go down? It was nice.

"He gave this to me a while ago." Lucy said unexpectedly.

"What?" Lori tilted her head to look at her younger sister.

She had something grasped in her hands.

"This." She held it up to show Lori a white plastic hair band. "A month, or two, before you started dating him. He told me that my eyes were beautiful, and gave me this as a gift." She brought it back down to her lap, looking down at it. "He asked me if I'd wear it while we were alone."

"Well, that sounds like him." Lori commented. "He's always going out of his way to make us feel better."

"It meant everything to me." Lucy continued, as though Lori hadn't said anything. "I'm not… Good at dealing with… Life… People always expect me to be better, to be happier. They expect me to ignore everything that's wrong, and focus are what few things are right… I used to…" She paused, just turning the hair band over and over in her hands. "Do you know that most kids my age don't think about the end? It's not that they don't know that things can happen, and that people can die. They just never consider that it will happen to them one day." She paused again. "Sometimes I think that, that's why old people go crazy. They weren't thinking about it their entire lives, but one day they wake up and realize that they only have so much time on the planet, and they don't know what to do."

"But you do?"

"No… Because things end all the time. Good times are fleeting, but the end is forever. I used to think that the only ways to be happy, were to ignore that everything was slowly falling apart, or to look forward to it… I can't do the first one… He showed me another way though. He showed me that you don't have to ignore, or anticipate, the future to be happy. When I'm with him… I can just love the present. I don't have to forget that everything will end. I don't have to ignore that everything is falling apart. But I can still be happy in the now… I don't really understand it."

"Lucy…"

"I love him." Lucy slipped on her hairband, and finally Really Looked at Lori. Her eyes sparkling in the fading light, and Lori had to agree that Lucy had pretty eyes. "I'm sorry for what I did to you, but he's always been the light in my darkness, and you didn't love him at all. You were just being selfish… You're different now. I can tell. You have his heart, and I'll never like it, but you do. And I'm just… I'm so sorry."

"I… I forgive you." She finally said. This time she meant it.

She wrapped Lucy up in her arms and pulled her younger sister onto her lap. Just holding the younger girl in place for a few minutes.

"Let's go back home." She stood from her seat. Setting Lucy down onto the sand, and taking her hand, to lead her back to the car.

They walked the distance in a comfortable silence. Lori unlocked the van, helping Lucy into the front seat, and climbing into the drivers seat after. With a bit of struggle, and a few repeated turns of the keys, the engine hummed to life.

I thought about placing that scene in the park, given the significance the clearing has had in this story. I didn't think it would fit the tone though.

Oooooh, this was totes going to be the bestest thing ever! Lincoln Bear was going to get the wittlest, most adorbs, outfit! It was even more perfect than perfect, because Lincoln was going to help her! She lifted the tiny, white, bear above her head, and danced on the tips of her toes. Spinning around, a very smilely smile stretching her smile muscles. She turned back to Lincoln, who was sitting on her bed, watching. She thought she saw his eyes looking at her chest for a second, but then he was looking into her eyes.

"Isn't he just the cutest?" She held Lincoln bear out to her brother, for him to hold.

"It's certainly pretty cute."

"He." She corrected, snatching Lincoln Bear back before her brother could take him. "Don't call him it. It's not nice."

"He's certainly cute." Lincoln said again.

"I know, and he has white hair, just like you."

"Yeah, I can see why you were reminded of me."

She hugged Lincoln Bear to her chest, wishing she could carry Lincoln the same way. He was too big though… Or maybe she just wasn't strong enough? If she got muscley muscles, would she be able to pick up Lincoln too? She'd ask Lisa later. Lisa was smart.

Walking to a chest she kept all her fashion stuff in, she unlatched the lock and lifted the lid. Setting Lincoln Bear down beside her, she searched the inside of the chest. Then she thought of something.

"Lincoln?" She looked over her shoulder. "Come here." She waited for him to walk over. He crouched behind her, and leant into her back, placing his chin on her shoulder, and looking into the chest too. "What do you think his outfit should be like?"

"Well, you want him to be like me, right?" he reached one arm down for Lincoln bear, and wrapped the other one around her hips. He lifted Lincoln Bear up for her to look at. "So he should wear something orange, don't you think?"

"Hmm." She tilted her head in thought. "That makes sense."

She pushed a few bolts of cloth to the side, while she searched for a roll in the same color as Lincoln's shirt. While she did, Lincoln set Lincoln Bear back down, and rested his other hand on her hip. She held up a few bolts, in different shades, and compared them to the orange t-shirt in her imagination. She could have turned around for it, but Lincoln seemed comfortable, and she was too. Though she couldn't help but look down when his hands rose and cupped her boobies.

"Lincoln?" She gasped softly, when he gently squeezed them.

"You can tell me to stop if you want, but I wanted to do this."

"Are we going to do girlfriend and boyfriend stuff?"

"Only if you want to."

"Would we have to stop making an outfit for Lincoln Bear?"

"Hmm…" He hummed in thought, one hand slipping down the top of her dress to touch them directly. "Probably. It would be pretty hard to do both at the same time."

"Okay, than I want to continue making clothes for Lincoln Bear."

"Okay. That's fine." His hands came away from her boobies, and fell back to her hips.

"We can do boyfriend and girlfriend stuff later though… If you still want to?" She hoped he still wanted to. She wanted to do that kind of stuff with him, just not right now.

"I'd like that." He hugged her back to him for a second, before moving from his crouch behind her, and leaning over the chest too. "Just tell me what to do, and I'll help the best I can."

Leni sort of missed how close he was before, but now she could see his shirt better, so she supposed it was okay. Besides, they were going to get close like that later.

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Chapter notes:

Over the next few chapters, I'm going to be focusing almost exclusively on everything and everyone, other than Lincoln. He'll still interact with the other characters, but he won't be the focus. I need to bring a few plot points up to speed, that I've been neglecting while I focused on other stuff.

I originally had two more sections planned for this chapter, but I decided the story would flow better if I put them in the next chapter.

Man… Boobies is Not an attractive way to refer to breasts. I struggled with calling them that for a bit, but I honestly think that this version of Leni would need to be taught to call them something else, before she did.

I wanted to include more eroticism in this chapter, but I thought it was more valuable to show the exactly nature of Lincoln's relationship with Leni, outside of their mutual interactions with Lori.

I forgot to make the segment separators bold the last time I uploaded this... So... Sorry about that.