Time for chapter sixteen. I have a request of anyone who leaves a review. Not begging more people to do it, but if you're so inclined to leave a review anyway; make it interesting. Actually put some thought into what you're going to say. It's great to know that people like my stories, so leaving something like "Great chapter!", or whatever, isn't unwelcome. However, reading your reviews is part of the fun of writing these for me, so getting a review like that is always subtly disappointing. Whatever you write doesn't even have to be about the chapter you just read. I've had people just tell me about their day in the review section. One dude wrote about his adventures making rice porridge. The fact that you even left a review in the first place tells me you care, so the only thing left is to make sure I don't get bored while reading it.

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Aware, as she was, of her own… Desires… Luna would be the first to admit that these… Outings? That Lori kept pushing her to go on with Leni were a welcome distraction. Or they would be,

"Oh! You should wear this on our next date!" If Leni didn't keep calling them dates.

She was holding up a long sleeve shirt. A blue and purple flame pattern on it, that started a deep blue at the bottom and slowly shifted to purple as it got to the top. It was honestly one of the raddest things Luna had ever seen. As far as clothing went anyway.

"This… This isn't a date…" She wanted to say that firmly. Really tell Leni to knock it off, they weren't dating, but it ended up coming out as more of a mumble.

"Yes it is!" The older of the two argued, having apparently heard her anyway, despite the fact that Luna was pretty sure she'd muttered so quietly that even the most sensitive audio mixer would have had trouble picking her up. Leni was Really paying attention to her, she guessed. "Don't be mean. You could hurt someone's feelings."

It wasn't that Luna was ungrateful for the distraction. Being able to focus on anything else than her definitely unreturned feelings for her only brother was welcome. She just wished the distraction came in the form of someone who knew the difference between dating and just chilling with friends.

Maybe an actual date? With some guy, or girl, who was easy on the eyes. Wouldn't have to go anywhere. Could even be fairly bog standard. It would just have to be entertaining enough to distract her from who she'd rather be doing it with.

"What do you think dating is?" Maybe she could convince Leni they weren't on a date if she knew what Leni considered a date to be.

"This." The other girl answered, oblivious to what Luna was actually asking.

Leni picked up a pair of green and black checker patterned long socks, or stockings, but Luna shook her head. No distracting herself from her… Distraction… That was a bit queer wasn't it? That. What was happening here. Still, she shook herself again. This was actually important. She couldn't let Leni carry on thinking she was on a date with Luna.

What if Leni wanted to start an actual relationship with someone down the line. If she told them she'd only ever been on dates with her sister, things could get awkward, and Luna didn't want to… Well, Leni had her own intelligence, but somehow Luna didn't think Leni's particular kind of intelligence would help in clearing up a misunderstanding like that.

"No…" She trailed off as she gathered her thoughts. How to make Leni understand? "What is dating to you? Like, what do people do on dates that's different from what they do when they're just spending time together?"

"Mmmm." Leni looked up at the ceiling in thought. The tip of her tongue poking from the corner of her mouth, as she absentmindedly folded the checkered sock-stockings and placed them in a tote bag for later. "A date is a date when you're dating a person, not a place, or a thing. It's also when you totes get to be more huggy-wuggy, touchy-feely, lovey-dovey, with the person."

She seemed pleased with her answer, a smile stretching across her lips, but Luna…

"What?" The scratching of insane confusion sounded at the back door of her mind.

Uh… Okay, wait. She could hear the soft sound of cloth rubbing against cloth as an attendant folded shirts in the corner. An AC unit hummed quietly above them.

She understood maybe… A quarter of that. Or. wait, thinking about it more. Bollocks, maybe even half. The second part. Leni meant that people who were dating got to touch each other more intimately. The first Part left her completely gormless.

Catching on to Luna's confusion, Leni's brow furrowed in concentrated thought.

"Like…" A frown of mental focus marred her features. "On a date, you're going out with the person you want to go out with because they're the person you want to go out with and not because of where you're going or what you're doing." Leni brought her hands up to rub her forehead. "Ow…" The effort to put things in the way she had, having apparently given her a head ache.

But Luna thought she understood what Leni was trying to say now. You were dating someone when what you were doing, and where you were, didn't matter nearly as much as who you were with. Luna couldn't argue against that. She didn't even want to. It was a nice thought that she found she liked. It was even flattering to know that Leni thought of her that way. Still, it didn't help her in convincing Leni that this wasn't a date. It also felt a bit unfair to Leni, because for Luna, what they were doing, and where, Did matter more than who she was with. Leni was fantastic company, but bloody hell, she couldn't help feeling like she was using her sister. using her to… Well…

Though, thinking about it, she wondered what Leni's definition of lovey-dovey was. If it was just holding hands, like they'd done before, than it would be that much harder to get Leni to understand. it would also mean that Leni was hopelessly naive, and Luna wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

The bell on the cash register rung, as Leni paid for their stuff, followed by the bell above the door, when they left out onto the sidewalk.

"What kind of touchy-feely stuff do you do on your dates with Lori and Lincoln?" Man, they should really be the ones explaining this to Leni. It needed to happen, but Luna didn't want to hurt her feelings. She could just imagine Leni breaking down into a sobbing fit when she found out.

The older Loud's face brightened like the sun. "We hold hands, we hug each other." Fairly standard stuff, okay. "Sometimes Lincoln kisses me or Lori on the cheek, or the top of our heads." Hmm… "He'll give us massages, a few days ago he touched my boobies." Wait what?! "I like the way his mouth tastes when we kiss. Lori tastes good too."

"What? Stop!" She twisted on her heel to face Leni, taking a few steps back and throwing her hands up to stop Leni in her tracks. "What did you just say?"

"I like the way Lincoln's mouth tastes when we kiss. Lori too."

"You kiss each other?!" She shouted, before looking around in alarm. Hard anyone heard them? Grabbing Leni's arm she pulled them to a more secluded spot. "Like… On the lips?"

"Yep!" Leni chirped happily.

The musical girl stared at her sister, mouth open. A gobsmacked expression on her face. Was the world bloody muted? or was she just so shocked she'd gone numb?

Wait, wait! Leni said something else too.

"What did you say before that, about Lincoln touching you?"

"A few days ago, Lincoln touched my boobies." Leni admitted absolutely shamelessly, before her face flushed and she leaned forward to whisper something else. "Lincoln hasn't done it with me yet, but sometimes I like to watch through the door when Lincoln and Lori do naked stuff."

Luna licked her lips. She could feel her eye twitch. She had no idea how to feel about this. On one hand, Lincoln would probably be a lot more open to forming a romantic relationship with her than she'd previously thought. On the other hand, he was already taken. Did she cheer or cry? She honestly didn't know.

"Luna?" She could tell that Leni was starting to get worried about her, given that she'd just been standing there, staring blankly into space for the last few minutes, but she didn't react.

She wasn't ready to face the world yet.

Recently I've been wondering if my writing style is too abrupt.

"Darkness fading brighter, lighter. Beacons glowing, closer, stronger. As I live, I learn to love and be loved in turn by the one above. Centuries turn, and cities crumble. But now I walk with him."

Leni wasn't sure she understood, but she felt like Lucy's poem thingy ended too quickly. It needed more stuff.

The others in the dimly lit room murmured to each other silently. Leni didn't get most of this, but she was pretty sure that she wasn't the only one who was confused.

"Did Lucy become religious?" Leni heard someone mutter.

"No." Lucy answered, making her way back to sit down beside Leni. "Are you sure you wouldn't like it more if we just went to the mall or something?"

"No, I want to see what you do for fun." It was totally sweet of Lucy to worry about her though.

Leni thought about it awhile ago, that when she and Lucy went on dates, they only ever did what Leni liked to do. That felt unfair. They saw the VOM movie together, but they Both liked that, so it didn't count, and Leni wanted to show Lucy she cared.

"Sigh." Lucy leaned back in her chair, to watch the next person come on stage and start doing their own thing. Leni wasn't really paying attention to them though. She didn't really get this, but Lucy liked it, so she'd stay to. "How have things been going with you, Lincoln, and Lori?"

"Mmmm…" Leni tilted her head in thought. "Things are hard… But not hard?

"Complicated?"

"What's that?"

"It's when…" Leni couldn't see past Lucy's bangs, but she liked to imagine that Lucy made silly faces when she thought. "It's when there's a lot of stuff going on, that you have to keep track of and pay attention to, but things aren't difficult."

"Oh!" Leni understood. "Yes! Things are totes complicated."

"How?"

"I love Lori and Lincoln, and I really like going on dates with them. Lori's been sending me on a lot of dates with Luna though, and I don't really get it. Luna is totes amazing, but…" Her head tilted a little further. The heaviest thoughts rattling around in her brain, and pulling the top of her head to the floor.

"Hmm…" Lucy hummed. "I think I have an idea. I'll tell you when I come back. I'm up again." Lucy scooted her seat back from the table, and slipped back through the crowd to the stage. Stepping back into the spotlight and looking over the people gathered. "I don't usually write poems like this, but I wrote this one for my sister, who's here tonight, and doesn't enjoy writings that play heavily on darker themes. She's more a fan of silly word play." She paused, as though waiting for someone else to say something. "So here it goes." She took a breath. "There once was a duck in a bucket. Someone saw it and called it a ducket. So it signed its resignation of its new designation and retreated to its home in nantucket."

Someone in the audience snorted in laughter, and Lucy stiffly marched back off the stage to sit back down next to Leni. It was a fun poem. Leni liked it. She didn't know some of the words though.

"I liked it." She told Lucy, as the darker girl took her seat again, just in case Lucy didn't know. Leni wanted her to.

"Thanks…" The gloomy girl muttered.

Hmm… Lucy was going to tell her something though, wasn't she? Sometimes Leni's thoughts floated away, it was hard to catch them again. Something about Lori? She waited silently for Lucy to tell her what she was going to tell her, but Lucy didn't.

"What was that thing about Lori you were going to tell me?"

"Oh right." Lucy sat up straighter in her chair. "Have you noticed the way that Luna acts while around Lincoln?"

"Like fluttery and nervous and stuff? Sometimes her face gets red when I talk about him."

"Who else acts a little bit like that around Lincolns?"

Leni narrowed her eyes in thought. It wasn't the same, but she did, kind of. Lori did too, a little bit. They didn't act nervous around Lincoln, but Leni felt her face heat up a lot around him. She saw Lori's face flush red around him too. Was it the same though?

"Lori? But…"

"What if you liked someone, and you were pretty sure they didn't like you back, but you didn't know for certain?"

Oh! Lightbulb! Though she didn't get why lightbulbs were what popped up over peoples heads when they had an idea. Lighthouses would be much better. You could shine the light from those onto whatever you wanted, AND they kept ships from crashing into the land!

Leni understood though. Luna liked Lincoln in the same way that Lori and Leni liked Lincoln.

Maybe a flashlight. A lighthouse would probably be hard to carry around. Could flashlights be used to keep boats from crashing? Leni didn't think so. She felt like the beam wasn't strong enough. You could keep a flashlight IN your lighthouse, so if you ever needed to have an idea while away from home, you could just bring it with you.

Oh! Lighthouse! Leni should invite Luna to date Lincoln too! Than everybody could be happy! It was the best idea ever!

I tried a vegan crab cake. That is, a vegan food item designed to mimic the feel and taste of a crab cake. It wasn't good.

He'd been shying away from actually committing to this for a while. What if the plan backfired? What if Luan had more back ups than he thought? What if Luan knew what he was planning and was just waiting to ambush him when he tried? What if, what if, what if. It was all useless. A plan couldn't work if you never implemented. It would never have the chance to, and he'd told Lori that he'd handle this. So he would.

He found Lisa in her room, working on something. A huge vat of something, with a biohazard symbol on the side. Ordinarily that would have taken a large chunk of the entire room, but Lisa had done something to it. It was smaller than it should have been? No, Lisa was next to it, and he could roughly estimate its size based on her. This thing should be the size of a bed. It should be taking up an entire corner of the room. Than? He twisted around, ignoring Lisa, and the issue he was procrastinating asking her for help with, to look at the walls. He turned around to look at the door, then he stepped back into the hall and stepped into his own room. Examining the walls, and glancing back out the door to see where his room wall would meet the hallway wall. He stepped back into Lisa's room and did the same… Uh… That didn't… Make… Sense. Lisa's room was bigger on the inside than it should have been? He shook his head, what was he thinking? Of course it was. This was Lisa. She could make machines that ripped holes through reality, of course she could make a room bigger than it should have been. Didn't stop him from being curious. Wasn't what he was here for though. He turned back to his little sister, who'd just looked up from the lenses of the in built microscope.

"Greetings sibling unit…" She paused. "Lincoln", she corrected, having apparently decided to be more familiar. "What is it you require?"

"What's that?" He gestured to the vat, licking his suddenly dry lips.

She blinked at him slowly, ostensibly considering him, before sighing.

"I would divulge to you only that which I have already to Lori, but I suspect you would not be satisfied with such a response." As she sighed again, Lincoln noticed the bags under her eyes for the first time. Whatever this was, it was tiring to her. Alternatively, she'd been up all night. "I won't reveal too much, as it's classified, however what I can tell you is that this is related to the formation and development of custom neuro-cerebral intelligences."

"So… Like a biological AI?"

"Yes." Though she seemed vaguely surprised that he'd understood, her expression remained flat and expectant. "Do you need anything else?"

Lincoln took a deep breath, readying himself. It was now or… Later, he guessed. Not never, he wouldn't let himself put it off forever, but he could definitely procrastinate some more. Procrastinate like he was doing right now. As much as he'd like to put it off more, he couldn't allow himself to.

"I was wondering if you'd hack into Luan's computer and delete whatever files she's planning to blackmail Lori and I with." There, he got it out.

"You know, if I do that, Luan will almost definitely deduce the cause?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes."

"And so, I presume, you have a plan?"

"More or less."

"How certain are you that it will work?"

"Eh…" He stalled for a bit. "Ninety percent."

"And the other ten percent?"

"Look." He sighed in the face of Lisa's grilling session. "It's the best plan I have. The only things stopping me are… Just, what if it doesn't work. They're not grounded in anything solid, I just… If this backfires, I don't want anyone else getting hurt."

Lisa stared him down. He imagined that she was searching for weakness or hesitation, but he couldn't say for sure.

"Very well. You have only but ask, and I'll help. Do remember that Lincoln. I may not show it often, but I do care about you." She turned and moved over to her computer. "You should expect Luan to have noticed by tomorrow. I hope you're ready. It would displease me to see this negatively impact the rest of the family as well."

"Thanks Lisa." He felt like he should add something else. "I love you too."

Leaving her room, he made his way towards Lucy and Lynn's. His youngest sisterly girlfriend had a part to play in the upcoming events, and he had to explain her role to her.

Man, my cat is cute. She's just the most adorablest wittle thing. Awww…

Luan pushed off the edge of her desk with her feet. Spinning across the floor on her rolling chair. Heh, heh. Weee… Huuuuughaaaaaah. She sighed heavily. Resting her head on the back of the seat, she looked up at the ceiling and closed her eyes.

Things weren't going as smoothly as she would have wished. They weren't going poorly enough for her to fall back on her plan B, but still. Things weren't yet Sunk, but they weren't going Swimmingly. Heh. Yeah, Lincoln agreed to date her in secret, and that was going pretty well, but he wasn't as open as she wished he'd be. It made sense, she supposed. He was cheating on his nominal girlfriend, and he Did know who Luan was. Or, better put, Lincoln wasn't stupid. He knew what kind of person Luan was, and He was almost as good at scheming as her, so he had to know the kinds of stuff that she was capable of. That was bound to put anybody on guard. It wasn't ideal though. She needed to figure out how to convince him of her best intentions. Otherwise, how was she supposed to control the relationship. How was she supposed to reign him in, if she didn't have knowledge of everything he was. You couldn't pull strings you didn't know existed.

Pushing off the floor again, she rolled backwards closer to the opposite wall. Rhythmically tapping her fingers against her other arm as she thought.

The progress was nice. The road blocks were frustrating.

Another frustrating thing was her lack of success in driving him and Lori apart… Confusing too, if she was honest. For all Lori's claimed authority and control, she was nothing but a worm. As dim as one too. Unable to see what Lincoln was doing to her. Luan shouldn't have had any trouble with the older Loud. A choice remark here, and a subtle nudge there, should have been enough to send Lori into a jealous rage, souring her relationship with their brother. Lincoln should have become tired of her by now.

That hadn't happened. She couldn't have misjudged Lori, so she was clearly missing information. Some other party was acting on things, keeping the oldest Loud in check. Maybe Lisa? The scientist wasn't much of a schemer, or a planner, but she was insanely book smart, Luan would give her that. She'd also had suspicions, for a while, that Lisa may have found some way into her camera system. It was possible that Lisa figured out what was going on, and was helping to maintain Lori's sanity. Though Luan didn't consider it very likely. She couldn't see what Lisa would have to gain from it.

Leni maybe? Nnnooo… Pleasant as the simple girl was, she didn't have what it took to Defuse a social Bomb like that. Heh, heh.

She roused herself from her thoughts, pulling herself back across the room with her feet, and dragging herself the last bit with her hands grasping the edge of her desk. Thinking about it wasn't productive right now, and it wasn't fun either. She needed to relax.

Booting up her computer and entering the password, she opened up the folder containing her recordings. Let's see what everybody did today. Maybe she'd find something hilarious.

Scrolling through the video files, from oldest to newest, it was… Huh… There was less files in the folder than usual…. That was… Weird. Did she accidentally delete some files without meaning to? Or maybe her computers memory was corrupted, and it trashed the resulting junk data on its own? Her computer Was pretty old. Maybe it was time she used some of her stored funds to get a new one. It was probably a worthwhile investment.

Still, she should make sure she wasn't missing anything important. Okay, scrolling up and down the folder, she noticed something pretty instantly. She was missing that first video file where Lori and Lincoln sucked face in Lincoln's room. Haaaah… That kinda blew... Heh, hah... That was... That was unintentional... Well, as long as she had the rest of the files it was… Wait. She searched a little more frantically, anxiously biting the inside of her lip. That… That couldn't be right. Where. Were. Her. Files?!

Oh… A chill seeped into her heart. Breathing in sharply through her nose, as a cold rage crystalized the blood in her veins. Her bones ached, her knuckles white, he finger nails dug into her palms, and her lips quivered as she tried and failed to restrain a snarl.

Oh, it was time to take off the silk glove and show her brother the iron fist.

How DARE he.

It was almost funny, except that it wasn't. She'd underestimated him, but he'd underestimated Her More.

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