Chapter II: A Loud and a Pierce
"Hello neighbors, I'm Lynn Loud, and this is my wife Rita, and some of my kids, Lincoln and Lily. Welcome to the neighborhood." the man says with a smile.
"Oh, why thank you. My name is Isabella Cruz, and this is my son Nathaniel." Nathan's mom responds. "Say hello to the neighbors, Nathan."
"Hey, it's nice to meet you all." Nathan replies, as he goes to shake his new neighbors hands. As he reaches to shake Lynn Sr.'s hand, however, his sees the cake that the adult was carrying. "Woah, is that cake for us?!" he asks excitedly.
"Nathan, manners!" Isabella says as she reprimands her son. This only causes Lynn Sr. to chuckle at the misunderstanding.
"It's okay, Miss, your son is right. My wife and I baked this cake as a welcoming gift to the neighborhood, courtesy of the Loud family. We were hoping we could tell you all about Royal Woods, to make the move a little easier on you."
"Oh! Where are my manners? Come in, come in." Isabella says apologetically, quickly ushering them inside. Nathan takes the cake from Lynn Sr. and sets it down on the kitchen counter.
"Nathan, why don't you and Lincoln get to know each other in your room while I talk with the Louds?" she directs to her son.
"Yes Lincoln, why don't you take the time to get to know each other? Who knows, you two might become fast friends." Rita added, nudging him closer to Nathan.
"Ok mom" Lincoln answers, and followed Nathan to his room.
When they made it to Nathan's room, Lincoln was left in awe. The room itself wasn't exactly massive to him, it was probably just a bit smaller than his sisters' Luna and Luans room, but it gave off a calm, well-appointed vibe that reminded Lincoln of his own room. Nathan's walls was adorned with various posters, some of popular bands- one he knew was of the band 'Panic! at the Disco' because most of his elder sisters constantly talked about them, and a few more obscure bands he'd never listen to- and a couple others were jazz posters, most notably of Louis Armstrong, all of which complemented the dark grey walls they covered. On the left side of the room was a medium sized work desk littered with comics, a small computer, and a few decks of playing cards. To the right of his room next to a queen sized bed was a dresser, that above it was a homemade wooden coin bank, which had a sketch pad and a cup filled with pens and mechanical pencils. But what caught Lincoln's eye was the painted cork-board directly above the wooden headboard, which was decorated in various sketches that resembled that of a storyboard.
As he moved closer to the cork-board, he saw that the sketches looked uncannily like the black-and white comic sketches made by Bill Buck, creator and writer/illustrator of the Ace Savvy comic book series. However, when he got a better look, he noticed that these sketches were different from the cartoonish art style that Bill Buck used, in favor of an anime-esque art style, and there were many unrecognizable characters in the sketches, even to a devout Ace Savvy reader such as himself. That could only mean-
"Did you draw these?" a very curious Lincoln asked, causing Nathan to look over to walk over to the cork-board Lincoln was staring intently at.
"You mean those Ace Savvy storyboards? Yeah, I'm kind of a big fan, so I like making fan made storyboard sketches of the comic, and I sometimes add my own characters. I even have some of the newer issues, and I sometimes used them as a reference. But I can't ever seem to get them to look like the original thing." Nathan responded.
"Dude, these look incredible! These could almost give the original comics a run for its money!" Lincoln excitedly replied. "You're a big Ace Savvy fan too?"
"Well, more of a fan to the comic than the actual superhero himself. In my opinion, One-Eye Jack makes for a better hero."
"Fair enough." Lincoln shrugged, he was just glad he met someone who enjoyed comics as much as him and his friend, Clyde.
Lincoln then makes his way over to Nathan's desk, where he notices the multiple decks of playing cards. Picking up a deck, he walks over to Nathan and asks, "You collect playing cards?" in a curious manner.
"Oh, yeah, I have around four decks that I use for tricks. You wanna see a card trick?"
"Heck yes!" Lincoln responds eagerly, handing the deck to Nathan.
"Ok, but first, let me ask you a question." Nathan instructs Lincoln as he pulls out three cards and places one in his left hand and two in his right, holding each card between his thumb and fingertips. "Do you know the three things it takes to perform a good card trick?"
"Umm, skill, flashiness, and a cool magician's hat?" Lincoln responds, perplexed at the sudden question.
"You're close on the first thing, not exactly the second one, and the third one, no, but I always wanted a magician's." Nathan states. "Here's a quick lesson for you. The three things for a good card trick is…" Nathan pauses, before performing a back palm vanish with the card on his left hand, in reality quickly pivoting the card with his middle and ring finger so that it was trapped on the back of his palm by his index and pinky finger, but to Lincoln it appeared as though the card actually 'vanished' into thin air.
"Well, dexterity and quick fingers for starters, the technical term is sleight of hand, but skill is a fine answer." He paused to gaze at Lincoln's mystified expression. "The second important thing is…" he began, but this time went to reach for Lincoln's head, pretending the card was behind his ear, before reversing the trick to make the card 'reappear' in his hand. Now, Lincoln was in total awe, completely baffled on how Nathan did that.
"...Misdirection, the best friend to every magician and gambler. And lastly…" he stops to show Lincoln the card he had placed in his right hand: a Queen of Diamonds, held the corners by his thumb and middle finger. He then begins to rapidly shake his hand, quickly spinning the card with his index finger, so that the card that showed now was the one back-to-back with the previous card. He stops shaking his to show Lincoln his new card: an Ace of Spades.
"Just the right amount of belief." he finishes with a wink as he places all three cards back in the deck. Lincoln followed up the card tricks with vigorous applause, which Nathan returned with a sly smile.
"THAT WAS INCREDIBLE! How'd you do that?" Lincoln asked, the excitement clear in his voice.
"Heh, if you think that was good you should've seen my abuelo, he could practically do this in his sleep. He's the one who got me into card tricks when I was seven, and he'd teach me new tricks every time I came to visit him. This was actually the first trick he ever taught me."
"Well you gotta teach me how to do that sometime!"
"I don't know if I should teach you sometime…" Nathan began, Lincoln's then cheerful expression turning into disappointment, before Nathan finished his sentence with a smirk. "I mean, we've got time, I could show you now. That is, if you're up for it."
"I'm up for anything!" Lincoln smirks back.
"Well then, let's make some magic." Nathan says to the eager Lincoln. "Now, it's a pretty simple trick, you should be able to do it yourself with a little practice."
After a good 10 minutes of explaining the trick to Lincoln, Nathan felt that he was ready to try the trick himself.
"Ok, I think you're ready to try it for yourself. Go ahead and grab a deck off my desk, and pull a few cards out for the trick. I'll be right back, Imma grab a bottle of water. Want one?" Nathan directed towards Lincoln, who answered with, "Yes, please."
As Nathan exits the room to go get water from the kitchen, Lincoln viewed the various decks on the desk; there two Classic Bicycle brand decks, one red and one blue, a deck branded 'Bicycle Black Ghost, though Lincoln decided to grab the final deck, a Brown Wood Bicycle deck, pushed to the very of the desk, although was a little confused. The other decks we're different colors but practically the same, but on the cover of this deck was a black and white photo of a semi-elderly man smiling, and underneath was the caption: Para mi nieto, con amor, which Lincoln didn't understand. Assuming that was just how the deck was made, he pulled out three cards- a Jack of clubs, a Three of Diamonds, and a Joker- all which had a wooden appearance to them, but the Joker had another black and white custom photo of someone, this time a young kid, who couldn't have been more than eight at the time of the picture. Not long after Lincoln picked those cards, Nathan returned with two bottles of water, and tossed one of them to Lincoln.
"So you ready to do this, have you gotten a few cards to start the trick?" Nathan asked, filled with determination.
"Sure did" Lincoln said, equally as determined. "These are the ones I picked." he said as he held up his three cards. And at that moment, Nathan's eyes widened, and he dropped his own bottle of water.
"Nathan, is something wrong? Are you okay?" Lincoln asked, concerned about his new friend.
"Where. Did. You. Get. Those. Cards" Nathan said, although his voice was different than the playful tone Lincoln had heard before. This time, there was a steely edge to his voice, and he said each word slowly, making each word more powerful than the last.
Reaching for the deck that it came in, he raised it for Nathan to see, which Nathan only responded to with clenching his jaw.
"What's the mat-" Lincoln started to ask, but was immediately interrupted by Nathan's hand quickly and forcefully yanking both the deck and the cards from Lincoln's grasp, then putting the naked cards back in it's deck meticulously. He then stepped closer until his chest was a mere few inches from Lincoln's face, and then glared down at him menacingly.
"Nathan…"
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!" Nathan growled at Lincoln, just quiet enough to not alert their respective parents, but still loud enough to frighten Lincoln. "You have no right to touch that deck Lincoln."
"I didn't know, I'm sorry! Please, I swear I didn't know I couldn't touch that deck! You just told me to pick one, so I thought they were all ok." Lincoln apologized, clearly not wanting to be on his new friend's bad side. Nathan registered Lincoln's words, his expression turning from anger to confusion, and then quickly to regret. He then pointed to the caption on the bottom of the deck.
"...Can you read this at all?" Nathan questioned hesitantly, backing away from Lincoln.
"Not really, I know the last word is love, but that's all I know." Lincoln replied honestly. Nathan, surprised by his answer, slowly registered the situation he put himself, but more importantly Lincoln, through. He just stood there for a moment, looking at Lincoln, before his legs gave way and he plopped down onto the floor.
"Lincoln, I am so, so sorry. I forgot that you didn't know. I should've told you…" Nathan began before his heart caught in his throat.
"Should have told me what? Nathan, if you're that upset about it you should tell me." Lincoln inquired, crouching to Nathan's level to look him in the eyes.
"To my grandson, with love" Nathan said quietly to himself, but Lincoln couldn't hear him.
"What?"
"To my grandson, with love" Nathan said, this time loud enough for Lincoln to hear. "That's what it translates to. It was the only deck given to me from my abuelo, my grandfather. It's the only thing I have of him." Taking careful note of Nathan's choice of words, the saddening conclusion hit him in the gut.
"How? You don't have to answer if-"
"Lung cancer. It was when I was 10, during a visit on summer vacation. I'm sorry Lincoln, I didn't mean to get so hostile. It's that that's the only special thing I have of him, I don't let anyone touch these cards. The photo on the card deck is of him he had them custom-made for me on my eighth birthday. The picture on the Joker card was my picture from when I was little. He used to call it my Lucky Deck." Nathan explained, and Lincoln suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He didn't know that it meant that much to him, and if he had he would have never touched that deck.
"Nathan, I'm sorry. I didn't-"
"Don't apologize Lincoln, I was the one to overreact. I don't want to start this friendship on a bad note. That is, if you still want to be my friend." Nathan commented dejectedly. This time, it was Lincoln who sported the look of confusion.
"What? Why wouldn't I want to be your friend? You're awesome, you like Ace Savvy just like I do, and I know you meant well. I forgive you, but you have to promise me that you'll let me know in advance if there is anything upsetting you. Deal?" Lincoln asked as he outstretched his hand. Nathan looked at Lincoln's hand nervously, then went to shake his hand.
"You got yourself a deal, friend."
Hey guys, XxTheGlichHopxX here with a new chapter. As it says above, this is only part one of the full chapter. I decided to cut the chapter in two parts, mainly because there was too much to add for one chapter. True, I could have cut some stuff out, and I already had cut out some stuff, but I really just want to pad this chapter out. I'm currently working on Part II, and hopefully it will be done by Thursday at the latest.
I decided to have Nathan to be really into card tricks, so to actually know how to write down the process of the card trick, I actually decided to the the card tricks explained in this chapter and all subsequent chapters. I also had his story about card tricks similar to mine, as my grandpa taught me a few tricks when I was younger, but it's been ages since I practiced. Nathan's room is loosely based off my own room, minus the Jazz posters. I was really unsure about whether to add tithe conflict between and Nathan about his grandfather in this chapter or later on, but I just felt adding it now gave more meaning to Nathan's card tricks and his relationship to his grandfather, but I still plan to expand on this.
That's all I got for so far, so enjoy, or try to enjoy, the chapter and let me know how I did. Thanks!