Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Loud House' or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
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Chapter ten: First Born
Chandler and his main goon-friends were hanging out in Chandler's backyard one well enough day in their hometown of Royal Woods, Michigan. "…Wait a minute," said one of Chandler's cronies, a well-fed boy with yellow-blonde hair that shot straight up in a way that was reminiscent of a certain fighting game character, "Your dad's up for a serious promotion at the sewage treatment plant?"
"Yeah, man," Chandler replied with a nod in the affirmative, "My family will see a serious boost in income if my dad scores the new promotion."
"But you also mentioned that he's going to have to go up against that Francisco guy's dad, who's also vying for the job," said the other crony, a boy who wore a red jacket.
"Yeah, and I've already tangoed with Francisco at least once," Chandler remarked. Giving his goon-friends a knowing look, Chandler asked, "You guys wanna back me up on this one?"
"What, and leave you hanging?" said the first crony, "Chandler, you ought to know us bet-"
"Chandler!" an adult woman's voice called out, cutting off the first crony in the process.
"Yeah, mom?" Chandler called back.
"There are these two older girls asking for you," Chandler's mom called back, "They're high schoolers from the looks of it."
Curious about the surprise visitors that he's gotten, Chandler decided to go check out what's going on. "High schoolers are asking for me?" Chandler said aloud to himself in a mildly confused tone, "What could this be about?"
"Doesn't sound like it makes a lot of sense, dude," Chandler's first goon-friend remarked in a tone that showed he agreed with Chandler like the faithful little lackey he is. Chandler nodded once to the first goon-friend in an agreeing manner before heading into his family's house, leaving his goon-friends to wait in the backyard.
…
Upon entering his family's living room, Chandler saw his mom waiting in the living room with two high school-aged girls. The first high school girl looked vaguely familiar to Chandler; did she work at Gus' Games n' Grub or something? The other high school girl, however, was no one that the conceited boy recognized.
About as tall as the girl she came with, the other high school girl had long yellow-blonde hair that was in twin pigtails that draped a bit down her back. The girl wore a red Sherpa hat with tassels hanging off of the ear flaps, a dark green somewhat baggy t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, white sneakers, and, tied around her waist, a brown leather coat. The neck hole of the jacket was around the girl's waist so that her legs were partly inside of the coat, rather than the coat just covering the girl's rear end. There was also a white cloth bandage over the bridge of the girl's nose, although it gave off the aura that it was just there for aesthetic reasons, that it wasn't there to nurse any actual injury. Lastly, the girl had a thin, rectangular leather case over her back, peeking out from behind her right shoulder and left hip.
"You're the one named Chandler, right?" the unfamiliar girl said as she pointed an accusing finger at the conceited boy. Chandler was a bit intimidated by the girl's voice, which for some reason reminded him of Vikings storming the land and raiding the shore. That, plus the clearly grumpy aura the older girl gave off, tipped Chandler off right away that he might be in some serious trouble. Oh well, it shouldn't be too hard for Chandler to weasel his way out of whatever mess was involved, right?
"Yeah, that would be me," the conceited boy replied in the affirmative, "Why do you ask? Is there anything wrong?"
"You are familiar with Astrid Ace, are you not?" the older girl continued, her tone and expression unchanging.
"Well of course I'm familiar with her," Chandler replied, surprised that this girl apparently knew who Astrid was, "She's the cutest girl at my school." Giving the older girl a curious look, Chandler asked, "Why, is she in trouble?"
"No, but I would literally say that you are," the first older girl said.
"Hey wait," Chandler said as he turned to face the first girl, "Aren't you Larry's older sister who works at Gus'? What was your name…Laila?"
"My brother's name is Lincoln, but yes, I work at Gus'," the first girl said, "Also, my name's Lori, not Laila."
"What makes you say that I'm in trouble?" Chandler asked, a mild amount of accusation and suspicion in his tone.
"I was informed by my friend Lori here that you have recently taken to consistently bothering my younger sister Astrid," the mystery girl replied, snapping Chandler's attention back onto her, "Is this true, yes or no?"
"What? Of course, I'm not bothering her," Chandler defended, "She totally likes me."
"Funny," the mystery girl scoffed in a grumpy tone, "Because after I was informed of what was going on, I asked Astrid about it myself, and she confirmed that not only have you been bothering her every time you see her at school, but that you flirting with her creeps her out."
"You're clearly overreacting," Chandler dismissed in a casual tone, "There's no way that Astrid thinks that I'm creepy. I mean, what about me is there that anyone can find to be creepy?"
"…I shall only give you one warning, little one," the mystery girl said, her brow furrowing a bit in simmering anger, "You shall stay away from Astrid or-"
"What?!" Chandler interrupted, clearly not happy with the idea of being told to stay away from the cutest girl at his school, "What do you mean I have to stay away from As-" This time, it was Chandler who was cut off when the mystery girl stomped her right foot forward so suddenly and hard that Chandler, Chandler's mom and Lori all flinched a bit out of surprise.
"YOU WILL HOLD YOUR TONGUE AND LET ME SPEAK, YOU LITTLE TROLL!" the mystery girl shouted at Chandler, clearly angry to have been interrupted.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lori said to her friend, "Easy there, Allison. No need to go all Stoick the Vast on the kid. I mean, he's roughly Lincoln's age, for crying out loud."
"Larry's age, but whatever," Chandler remarked in a more or less casual tone.
"…" After considering Lori's suggestion for a moment, Allison said, "…Very well. But he will be keeping away from my younger sister." Turning her head slightly so that her gaze was barely just on Chandler, Allison said in a threatening tone, "I'm pretty sure your parents would hate to hear that you've been bothering an innocent girl at your school, after all."
"I'm really sorry about how my son has been bothering your younger sister," Chandler's mother said to Allison in an apologetic tone, "I'll speak with my husband about this when he gets back from work at the sewage treatment plant."
"I would hate to have to come back and redo this conversation with you," Allison replied, "You seem too kind a person to have to go through it. It's a shame your son doesn't take after you in that regard." The two high school girls turned to leave, with Allison saying, "Take care."
…
"…I still don't see why Astrid seemed so hesitant that I'd be the one to deal with that little troll who's been bothering her at school," Allison remarked as she and Lori drove back to the part of the neighborhood that they came from, with Lori in the driver's seat of Vanzilla and Allison in the front passenger seat, "I mean, did you not see how well I commanded the conversation? And I even got an apology out of the little troll's mother."
"Yeah, I literally can't fathom the reason myself," Lori said, the sarcasm in her tone going by unnoticed by her friend in the passenger seat. After Lori's remark, both girls were silent for a bit. As she concentrated on the road, Lori allowed her mind to drift, drift to things that have been bugging her, such as how Lincoln ran away and why, and to miraculously finding Lincoln in the city that Bobby's family almost moved to.
And how she held her little brother, passed out from exhaustion, in her arms as she softly cried over him.
As Lori thought about this, her expression dropped from a neutral expression of someone concentrating on the road, to a resigned, almost sad look. Allison, who was mindlessly looking out the window, happened to turn and see the look on Lori's face. "…Something is bothering you, Lori, is it not?" Allison said, "Come on, I would be hearing about it."
"Astrid's eleven, right?" Lori asked.
"Yes," Allison replied in a mildly confused tone, "Although I fail to see how that has anything to do with anything else."
"…My little brother's the same age," Lori began.
"Ah," the teenage Ace girl said in a tone of understanding, "I have heard that your younger brother Lincoln ran away a while ago, and that he has recently come back to your family."
"Allison," Lori went on, her tone sounding mildly conflicted, "How…how good of a relationship do you have with your siblings?"
"Hmm?" Allison replied in a mildly confused tone, "You mean to say how well I get along with all of my siblings?" After seeing the affirmative nod from the oldest Loud sibling, Allison said, "Hmm, let me think about that. …Well, Aggro and I get along well enough. As well as twins that aren't the same gender as each other can get along, I mean."
"Yeah, I can just imagine what it would be like if either Lola or Lana was a boy instead of both Lola and Lana being girls," Lori remarked dryly.
"As for the rest of my siblings," Allison went on, "Amy and I have gotten along as most would expect of us, although she still expects me to buy a replacement pet bed for Spirit after Fenrir tore up the last one. Alphonse and I seldom ever interact with each other directly, although I think it's safe to say that we're on good terms with each other. Astrid and I get along well enough I suppose, although ever since our father died a few years back, Astrid tends to go to Aggro for pretty much everything."
"Maybe because Aggro doesn't regularly threaten to send people straight to Loki's daughter?" Lori deadpanned. Jerking a thumb over her shoulder to the backseat where Allison's case that she had over her back laid, Lori continued with a mild hint so suspicion in her tone, "I mean, we aren't going to play a round of golf today, so why did you bring your golf club?"
"I have my reasons," Allison replied.
"Uhh huh," Lori said, "So anywho, back to business. How do you get along with the rest of your siblings?"
"Andy looks up to me," Allison began, "And out of all of my siblings, I would say that Andy takes the most after me." With a chuckle, Allison added, "Andy told me how he was holding his own against some notorious bully at his school until your brother came in and stopped the whole show entirely."
"Uhh huh," Lori said, knowing the real events of that day because Lincoln told her and the other Loud girls after everyone was back from school that day.
"Argent respects me, along with the fact that as I'm technically the oldest of my siblings, I have authority over managing the group as a whole when our mother isn't around," Allison went on.
"Oh yeah, you're a few minutes older than Aggro," Lori remarked. After a few seconds, Lori asked, "So, how do you manage your younger siblings when you're left in charge?"
"It varies each time, although the general thing I go for is that so long as everyone doesn't make a whole lot of noise and doesn't do anything that would warrant a visit from a police officer, then I won't go and put the fear of Odin into them," Allison replied. With a chuckle, Allison added, "I mean, it's not like I'm some sort of dictator who makes everyone sit in their rooms quietly and not allow them to do anything at all until mom gets back!"
"Heh, yeah," Lori chuckled in a tone that was partly nervous but overall guilty.
"The last sibling on my list is Anna," Allison said as she finished talking about her younger siblings, "And she tends to stick close to Aggro, sort of like Astrid."
"Well little girls have something of a tendency to view their older brothers as great, invincible heroes," Lori remarked.
"I suppose," Allison said. Arching an eyebrow out of curiosity, Allison asked, "So Lori, what's with the sudden interest in how I get along with my siblings? Is it because how some of them are friends with some of your younger siblings?"
"…Truthfully, my relationship with my younger siblings has been kind of rocky over the last couple of years," Lori admitted in a resigned tone that had just a hint of sadness to it, "I think my connection to my younger siblings dipped right around the same time my popularity started to go up when you and I were twelve."
"Ah, I remember what happened back then," Allison remarked in a tone that radiated with a hint of fondness that came with recollecting the past, "The whole deal that led to you becoming the most popular girl in school. It stayed throughout middle school and accompanied you all the way to high school!" With a mildly curious look on her face, Allison asked, "Umm, was the dip in your connection with your younger siblings pre-make-over or post-make-over?"
"Post make-over," Lori replied instantly, "It was literally post-make-over."
"Hmm," Allison said, "You worry that your younger siblings don't like you." It was more a statement than a question.
"You don't know the half of it," Lori remarked, a hint of bitterness in her tone. Lori's expression became even more sad and resigned as she reflected upon Lincoln running away, especially on how she played a contributing role to prompting Lincoln to run away in the first place. Lori's change in expression did not go by unnoticed by Allison, who gave Lori's right shoulder a soft pat in a gesture of support.
"You are too hard on yourself, Lori," Allison said, "You're acting like Fenrir whenever he poops on the living room carpet."
"I'm sorry," Lori apologized, "It's just…it's just that I literally keep screwing up when it comes to trying to establish sibling bonds with my younger sisters and younger brother."
"…Your siblings do know that you love them," Allison replied, "Don't they?"
"Of course, they do," Lori said. After a few seconds, Lori added in a mildly unsure tone, "…Or at least, I hope they do. I certainly haven't given them much reason to think otherwise ever since I became and stayed popular."
"…You do love your siblings, right?" Allison asked.
"Of course, I do!" Lori replied instantly.
"Well then," Allison said with a hint of amusement in her tone, "It's clear to me that you ought to show your siblings that you love them, and make sure that they don't forget it, either."
"…Yeah," Lori remarked as her spirits started to lift a bit, "That sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the tip, Allison." The Ace girl nodded once in acknowledgement before both girls turned to face out the front window of Vanzilla. As the two girls continued to move along, Lori said, "So, your dog poops on the living room carpet, too?"
"The things that Fenrir leaves behind can slay a dragon, I tell you," Allison remarked with a bit of a laugh in her tone.
"Feh, can't be any worse than my family's dog Charles," Lori said.
"Why? What kind of dog is this Charles of yours?" Allison asked.
"He's a Pitbull Terrier, although admittedly a fairly small one even though he's a little over four," Lori replied. With an eyebrow ached out of curiosity, Lori asked, "Why? What kind of dog is Fenrir?"
Later that evening, Lori was laying on her bed in her and Leni's room back at the Loud family residence. The oldest Loud sibling stared up at the ceiling above her bed while her ditzy younger sister worked away on something over at the sewing machine. Lori was thinking about what happened a few years ago, about how Royal Woods nearly changed for the worse. If someone were to try and stop what was going on back then, they would have had to seriously risk their reputation among the social circles of Royal Woods middle and high school age students.
Since Lori didn't actually have much of a reputation back then, she figured that she had nothing to lose. Lori's efforts paid off, the day was saved, and she became popular, with the first thing happening being that some girls who wanted to bring Lori into their circle decided to give her a make-over, turning her into what she looked like today. Lori wondered if that make-over from back then changed more than just her physical appearance.
"There we go!" Lori heard Leni say cheerfully as the sounds of the sewing machine came to a stop. Getting up from her bed and looking over, Lori saw that Leni had finished yet another one of her fashion design projects. As always, Leni's work was flawless, but Lori had no idea what Leni had made. From the angle she was looking at it from, the garment looked like some sort of waist-length sleeveless jacket.
"Leni, what's that supposed to be?" Lori asked as she pointed to the garment that her ditzy younger sister had just made.
"Oh!" Leni said, "Lori, I totes forgot you were even here! You were, like, awfully quiet for a while!" Getting up from her sewing machine, Leni showed Lori the garment that she had made. "It's a haori coat," Leni explained, "I really like the one that Aggro wears, so I asked him about it, and he told me about haori coats. I looked them up on the internet, found a bunch of different kinds that all looked pretty, took some notes and made some sketches, and proceeded to make one for myself!"
Leni slipped her homemade haori on, twirled around in place, and said as she faced Lori, "What do you think, Lori?"
"It's very lovely," Lori remarked, "But isn't Aggro's a bit longer than that?"
"Yeah, but I thought the waist length ones were cuter," Leni said, "Although if I had the material for it, I'd totes go for making one as long as Aggro's." After taking her haori off, Leni asked, "Hey Lori, while we're, like, on the subject, what sort of music do you think Aggro likes?"
"This again?" Lori said in a mildly unamused tone, "Seriously, Leni. Ever since you and Luna came to watch the golf game my team had before the game where I used Allison's golf club, you've been thinking about Aggro, rather than helping me figure out how to convince Allison to join the varsity golf team. You need to focus!"
"Sorry," Leni replied in a mildly guilty tone, looking down to the floor in shame.
Lori mentally facepalmed, realizing that she had just made one of her siblings upset, something that she was wanting to avoid. "No, Leni, no," Lori began in a gentle, apologetic tone, "It's not your fault. I'm just a little frustrated with things that are going on, and I snapped at you. I should be the one to apologize here, not you." Walking over to Leni, Lori stood in front of her younger sister, gently laid her hands down on Leni's shoulders, and looked her right in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Leni," Lori said.
With something of a cute giggle, Leni said, "Apology accepted." The fashionable loud sibling the threw her arms around Lori and drew her into a hug. Lori didn't know what to make of her younger sister randomly drawing her into a hug like this, but the hug did tell Lori one thing.
She was making more progress on reconnecting with her younger siblings.
END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER TEN
Author's notes:
Another breather chapter seems like a good idea at the time, and I think this is the first chapter that doesn't see a physical appearance from Lincoln. Anywho, the next chapter should see a return to the main plot, which should hopefully include Lincoln making progress on recovering from the ordeal that he went through. He may even to see at least one more Loud as a family member again.
