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 seventeen: Best Medicine
One day in Royal Woods, Michigan, over at the Loud family residence, Lincoln was currently in the living room. Due to the circumstances that compelled Lincoln to run away a while ago, Lincoln ceased to acknowledge his family as his family, although for reasons that escaped him (at the time, at least), he decided to give the Louds a shot at trying to make things right with him, to be his family again. So far, the white-haired boy has acknowledged half of the Loud girls and the family matriarch Rita as his family again.
While he was sitting in the living room watching TV, Lincoln heard some knocking at the front door, so he decided to get up and answer the door. When he did, Lincoln was surprised to see Allison Ace standing there. "You…you are Lori Loud's younger brother, are you not?" Allison asked, her tone making it clear that something had put her into a foul mood.
"Yeah," Lincoln replied in a mildly apprehensive tone, "You're Aggro-sensei's twin sister, right?"
"Aggro is my brother, yes," Allison remarked in a mildly strained tone. Sighing, the female Ace twin said, "Young one, can you fetch Lori and your trickster sister for me?"
"I can understand you wanting to see Lori," Lincoln began, "But why would you want to see Luan? She doesn't even go to Royal Woods High yet."
"I…would be having words with the trickster," Allison replied, the strain in her tone suggesting she was having difficulty in controlling her temper, "Lori is required as a mediator, partly because she is a friend of mine but mostly because she's probably the only thing that can keep me from sending the trickster straight to Loki's daughter right now."
Confused by what Allison had said, Lincoln said in a mildly unsure tone, "Umm, okay. Can you wait a bit?" Turning around, Lincoln shouted up the stairs, "Hey Lori, Luan? Can you two come down here? Allison is here and she wants to talk to the both of you!" After a few seconds, Lori appeared at the top of the stairs, then began to walk down.
"Allison!" Lori greeted in a friendly tone, "This is literally a surprise!"
"…Where is that trickster sister of yours?" Allison demanded as she crossed her arms over her chest, her foul mood clear in her tone.
Sighing in a resigned tone, Lori said, "What did Luan do?"
"We shall discuss that once she gets here," replied the female Ace twin as she rolled her shoulders, causing the thin, rectangular leather carrying case over her back to shift around a bit. Upon noticing that case over Allison's back, Lori's eyes widened a bit out of worry.
"Did…did you want to play a round of golf when we're done?" Lori asked in a hesitant tone, "Because I noticed you brought your golf club."
"…Maybe, if my mood has lightened by the time we're done," Allison replied, "And assuming that what is done to compensate me for my troubles is sufficient."
Sighing, Lori said more to herself than anyone else, "I am literally not looking forward to this…"
…
A few moments later, Lincoln and all of the Loud girls minus Lori and Luan were standing as close to the entryway that led into the dining room as they could without risking being seen by either Lori, Luan or Allison, all three of which were inside the dining room. While Lori and Luan tried to placate the angry Ace sibling, Leni whispered to Lincoln, "Hey Linky, why is Lori's friend so mad at Luan?"
"I have no idea," Lincoln replied back at a volume similar to his ditzy older sister while gently shaking his head in an unsure manner, "And given how worried Lori sounded upon seeing that Allison brought her-" Lincoln was cut off when he and the others saw Lori and Luan come out of the dining room with Allison. The female Ace twin seemed to have calmed down significantly, along with seeming mildly bemused.
"It seems that I have made a mistake when it came to identifying you as the guilty party," Allison remarked to Luan, "My apologies."
"Well that spoiled brat Sarah who goes to Royal Woods Middle School with me does have a similar hairstyle," Luan replied, "And her outfit usually has a color scheme that's similar to what I usually wear. I can see how you can make that mistake."
"Well thank goodness that Luan literally wasn't the one who pulled that stunt," Lori said with more than a hint of relief in her tone.
"Dudes, what's going on?" Luna asked, sounding mildly confused.
"Allison was under the impression that Luan had pulled some mean-spirited prank," Lori explained, "I'm not going to bother you all with the details, but the prank resulted in Fenrir and Spirit being freaked out, along with Argent being injured."
"Her little brother was hurt?!" Leni said, clearly alarmed.
"Nothing too severe, I assure you," Allison commented to Lori's siblings as a whole, "But it did warrant a trip to the hospital, albeit only just." Folding her arms over her chest, Allison went on to say, "My brother Alphonse, who goes to Royal Woods Middle School, said that he saw a person whose appearance is similar to that of your trickster sister just outside of the edge of his vision as said person fled after the stunt occurred."
"Well with evidence like that, I can see why you would jump to the conclusion that my older sister Luan was responsible for the prank that resulted in two of your family's pets being freaked out and some minor injuries to your younger brother," Lisa stated, "Luan does have a flare for pulling pranks, and with all due respect, her pranks can get rather…excessive. Although to Luan's credit, her pranks outside of April Fool's Day rarely get to a level that would warrant swift intervention from outside forces before said pranks get out of hand."
"…I see," Allison remarked, "This seems like something I shall have to learn more about later. Now then, I am going to return home so I can ask Alphonse about this Sarah girl who goes to the middle school, same as him, Luan and various classmates. Good day." Allison then turned to leave the Loud family residence, opening the door and closing it behind her. After the female Ace sibling had left, Luan sighed in relief.
"Wow, that was a close one, huh?" Luan remarked, getting the other Loud siblings to all turn to face her.
"Yes, but this incident brings up a valid point that the rest of us have literally needed to bring to your attention," Lori replied.
"Which would be…" Luan replied, trailing off in a manner that showed she was expecting to be filled in.
"Your pranks tend to get a little excessive from time to time, brah," Luna explained, "Most of your pranks outside of April Fool's aren't anything too bad on their own, but you tend to pull a lot of those kinds of pranks. Then there are your April Fool's level pranks."
"If Allison, or maybe one of her younger siblings depending on the sibling in question, were to fall victim to one of your April Fool's level pranks," Lori said, "Then Allison would threaten to, as she puts it, send you straight to Loki's daughter."
"If you had any familiarity with Norse myth, then you would realize that Allison's threat is far more severe than our older sister unit's standard threat of turning someone into a human pretzel," Lisa explained to Luan in her usual dry monotone.
Luan looked to the floor, clearly feeling regret and guilt for her actions. "I'm…" Luan said in a fairly quiet tone, one that was barely understandable, "…I'm sorry."
"Pfft, whatever," Lori scoffed in an indifferent tone as she and the others all began to disperse throughout the rest of the house, returning to what they were doing prior to Allison coming by for her little visit. This left Luan alone where she stood, still looking guilty.
…But then again, the comedic Loud sibling was feeling guilty, so that was understandable.
Later that evening, Lincoln was sitting in the living room while the younger Loud girls that he's acknowledged as his sisters again were watching some sort of cartoon on TV. Even though Lincoln, the twins and Lucy were in the living room, they could hear some rather loud music coming from the garage. "UHHG," Lola moaned loudly in a tone of complaint, "Can't Luna and her friends tone it down? The music they play when they practice here is part of the reason why I'm glad that I'm only homeschooled during pageant season. It's too loud for me to focus!"
"…I'm guessing it wouldn't help if I say that it's just Luna and Sam, not Luna and all of her friends?" Lincoln asked in a dry tone.
"Wait, what?!" Lana remarked, clearly surprised, "That's just two people?!"
"Luna and Sam come here and play music like that in the garage to cap off a successful outing together," Lincoln explained. After listening to the music for a bit, Lincoln said, "Judging by the specific music that we're hearing, I'm guessing that Luna and Sam had a particularly fun time on the date that they-" Lincoln was cut off when he felt something in his pocket vibrate, so he reached into that pocket and pulled out his phone. Answering it, he saw that he got a text from Luna; Hey Lincoln, can you do me a solid and get my Mick Swagger drumsticks from me and Luan's room? Sam and I are rocking out way too much for us to just take a break. Kthx.
Slipping his phone back into his pocket after having read the text, Lincoln got up from the sofa, a bemused and annoyed look on his face. "…I'm heading up to Luna and Luan's room to grab a pair of drumsticks for Luna and bring them to her and Sam in the garage," Lincoln informed his younger sisters in a dry, unamused tone.
"Tell her to get the drumsticks herself, Lincoln," Lola replied, "Luna's legs aren't broken."
"I actually kind of have to use the bathroom," Lincoln said, "So I was going to have to get up anyway. I'll just pick up the drumsticks on my way back down." The younger Loud girls asked Lincoln to come back as soon as he can, because they wanted him to continue watching cartoons with them. The white-haired boy was touched by the younger Loud girls' collective desire for him to spend as much time with them as possible.
Especially since they had all asked, rather than try to force it.
…
After having used the bathroom, Lincoln made a turn to Luna and Luan's room, where he saw that Luan was laying on her bunk on the bunk bed that she and Luna shared. The comedic Loud sibling was laying with her back turned so that she was facing the wall that the bunkbed was up against. "Hey Luan?" Lincoln called out gently from the doorway of Luna and Luan's room, "I'm here to pick up a pair of drumsticks for Luna."
Having heard her younger brother's voice speak up, Luan turned around and sat upright on her bunk. To Lincoln's immediate shock and mild worry, the comedic Loud sibling looked like she had been crying a fair amount. "…Luan? Are you okay?" Lincoln asked in a concerned tone.
"I…" Luan began to reply, but she trailed off from what she was going to say, sniffling a bit in a clearly upset manner. This compelled the white-haired boy to head over and try and talk to his comedic older ex-sister, sitting down on her bed next to her.
"…Are you upset because of what all of us said earlier concerning your pranking habit?" Lincoln asked in a gentle tone.
"It's…It's just l-like when you all g-got mad at me before my g-gig at The Chortle P-Portal," Luan said, her crying, which was gentle now, making her stammer a bit.
"Well with all due respect, you were going a bit overboard with the jokes prior to that," Lincoln remarked, "The issue that the girls and I have with your pranks is that you not only tend to pull a lot of them, but some of them, especially the ones that you tend to pull on April Fool's, tend to be rather harsh. And Lori made an excellent point earlier about how you're lucky those harsh pranks tend to be aimed at the rest of this family. If someone from outside of the family got hit by one of your April Fool's level pranks, who knows what they'd do in retaliation?" With a gentle shake of his head, Lincoln continued, "And that brings up one of the reasons why I was so worried that one April Fool's when you called Ronnie Anne over. If she had fallen for any of the pranks that you had set up, who knows what she would have done to you? What she would have done to me since you're my…" Stopping himself short when he realized what he was about to say. "…Since you and I are related to each other?" the white-haired remarked, most of the emotion that his tone was building up dissipating and being replaced with the cool, indifferent tone he's been known to use.
Lincoln's mini-rant just now made Luan more upset than she was, partly because it made her realize how far she tends to go, but mostly because Luan noticed that Lincoln almost referred to her as a sister, only to catch himself and word what he was saying specifically to avoid actually calling her his sister. It was clear that the white-haired boy was still upset with Luan for her part in driving him to the point that he decided to run away from home, and the fact that he took great care to avoid referring to her as a sister had a great deal to do with Luan's upset feeling. So much so that the comedic Loud sister's crying started to return in full. Seeing this, Lincoln sighed in a resigned tone.
"Luan, look," Lincoln began in a gentle, sympathetic tone, "Just like it was back before your gig at The Chortle Portal, the girls and I don't want you to give up on your passion for comedy. However, we would appreciate it if you pulled pranks less often than you usually do. We would also appreciate it if you cut it out with the April Fool's level pranks altogether, because quite frankly, the pranks that you pull at that level go way too far. You don't have to give up on pranks entirely, but you should ease up on how often you pull pranks, as well as how much effort you put into them, alright?"
Sniffling a bit, Luan replied in a bit of a stammer, "A-alright, L-Lincoln, I'll e-ease up on h-how often I pull p-pranks. I'll a-also try to s-stop it with the b-b-bigger pranks."
Smiling gently, Lincoln said, "That's all the girls and I really want, Luan. And hey, if you use your comedy sparingly, you'll run a lower chance of running low on material."
"Heh," Luan remarked as she wiped a tear from the corner of her right eye, her tone sounding like she was starting to feel better, "I never thought of it like that."
"Well now you know," Lincoln replied as he gave Luan a gentle pat on her right shoulder, "And knowing is half the battle." Getting up from where he was sitting, Lincoln said, "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I've got to find Luna's special Mick Swagger drumsticks."
"They're right there," Luan remarked as she pointed to the drum set in her and Luna's room; a pair of drumsticks were laying on one of the drums of the drum set. Upon further inspection, the drum sticks were decorated with Mick Swagger-related stickers. Walking over to the drum set, Lincoln grabbed the special drumsticks.
"Thanks, Luan," Lincoln replied in a gentle tone. As he left the room, Lincoln said in the same gentle tone, "Try to stay funny, alright?"
Sniffling a little bit, Luan said, "Okay, Lincoln." After the white-haired boy took his leave, Luan laid back down on her bunk. Looking up at the bottom of Luna's bunk, Luan began to think about what had happened earlier that day when Lori's friend Allison came by. But the comedic Loud sibling also gave serious consideration to what her little brother had just told her.
He did raise an excellent point about trying to conserve comedic material.
The following day, Lincoln was hanging out with his friends Clyde and Zach, playing video games over at Clyde's place. As they played, Lincoln told the two bespectacled boys about the heart to heart he had with Luan the previous evening. "You mean she's going to knock it off with the April Fool's level pranks?" Clyde said, sounding as if what he had heard his best friend say was too good to be true.
"Seems like it," Lincoln replied.
Sighing in relief, Clyde said, "Well thank goodness for that. I still remember when I tried coming over to your place on April Fool's, and I was hit by that one prank your sister had set up. Man, it took forever to get all the hay out of my clothes."
The white-haired boy merely smiled in response as he and the other boys resumed their video game playing. While the three boys played, Lincoln realized something; he was playing with Clyde and Zach, both of his friends who wore glasses. And a while ago, Astrid Ace had pretty much told Lincoln that she had a crush on one of those two bespectacled boys; she wasn't being all that clear on the matter, though.
"…Hey Clyde, Zach," Lincoln began, "How are Haiku and Giggles doing?"
"I haven't seen much of Giggles as of late," Zach replied, "I mean, I know she's doing well, but she and I haven't hung out a lot in a while."
"I talked a bit with Haiku at school last week," Clyde remarked, "Apparently Haiku had some sort of falling out with a friend of hers because she thought Haiku hoping to be in a relationship with a vampire is unrealistic. I just told Haiku to keep on trucking." With a chuckle, Clyde continued, "I mean, I know what it's like to have your heart set on a relationship that seems borderline impossible to attain."
Well both boys seem to be available, but Lincoln was a bit hesitant to bring up that a girl may potentially have a crush on one of them. Still, Lincoln felt he owed it to the white-haired Swedish and Japanese girl, so he was going to push. "…One of Ronnie Anne's friends from the birthday party I was taken to a while ago said that she has a crush on one of you," Lincoln said to his two friends.
"A girl has a crush on me?" Zach asked, clearly looking surprised.
"I'm not sure if it's you specifically," Lincoln clarified, "And she didn't technically admit to the crush. But when she was talking about my 'friend with the glasses' as she put it, she said that he was, and I'm quoting her on this one, a far nicer boy then that Chandler creep. I also saw the look on her face when she was talking about one of you, and she looked like Lola when she talks about Winston, or Lori when she talks about Bobby." With a nod, Lincoln continued, "I can tell when a girl has a crush on a boy due to all of my sisters, and the friend of Ronnie Anne's I talked to was showing all the signs of having a crush on either you or Clyde."
"Well it doesn't take too much to be better than Chandler," Clyde remarked with a chuckle. Giving Lincoln a curious look, Clyde asked, "So how do we figure this out?"
"Well first I have to go over this with Ronnie Anne," Lincoln began, "Discus a game plan with her. Then, we'll set up a-"
"Excuse me, boys," Clyde's dad Harold said as he peeked into the room the boys were in, "But I'm afraid that Lincoln needs to go home now. I just got a call from his mother telling me that there's been some sort of family emergency."
"A family emergency?" Lincoln repeated, his tone making it clear that he was alarmed. Flipping his hand-held game system closed, Lincoln said to his friends as he got up, "Sorry, Clyde and Zach, but we're going to have to talk more about this later. I'll talk to you guys more at school tomorrow."
"Take care, man," Zach replied, "And hey, I hope the emergency with your family isn't anything too severe."
"Give your folks my regards, alright?" Clyde said as he shot Lincoln a thumbs-up.
Lincoln smiled, appreciative of the fact that his friends had his back. "Thanks, you guys. Take care!" With that, Lincoln took his leave and went home. However, the white-haired boy could not help but worry what had happened; was there an accident at his ex-father's work, or maybe Lori was involved in a traffic accident? Lincoln sincerely hoped that the emergency wasn't one of the girls dying, especially one that Lincoln hasn't yet reconciled with.
That would break Lincoln's heart.
As it turned out, there was an incident over at Sunset Canyon Retirement Home, the retirement home where Albert, A.K.A Pop-Pop, resides. Due to a screw-up on part of one of the nurses working there (not Sue), at least half of the seniors that reside at Sunset Canyon got rather sick, and all of the seniors in question had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. One such senior was Albert, although according to all reports he is one of the livelier seniors who needed to be taken to the hospital for treatment, and judging by said behavior on Albert's part, he'll be able to recover from his sickness just fine.
…That did not stop the staff of Sunset Canyon from worrying, and it certainly did not stop the Loud family from worrying about his well-being, especially since, to the total shock of Albert's family, at least two of the sick seniors had died due to getting sick. To say that the nurse who is responsible for the screw-up that caused this mess in the first place is in trouble would be a bit of an understatement.
"…Girls," Lincoln said a bit dryly, as some of the Loud girls (especially some of the younger ones) were freaking out about their grandfather, "Pop-pop is going to be fine. He's been through worse due to eating some of Mr. Loud's cooking that one time he came over and had dinner with us sometime before my…extended absence."
"Yeah," Luna remarked in a mild tone of agreement that had a hint of worry, "The goulash dad made back then was pretty sick. And not sick in the cool sense."
"Exactly," Lincoln said as he pointed to Luna while still facing the girls as a whole, "Pop-Pop is loads tougher than you girls give him credit for. He's going to pull through this no problem! You all ought to have more faith in him."
"Lincoln is literally right, girls," Lori said while turning to face the other Loud girls, "Besides, from what mom said before she and dad left to go see how Pop-Pop's doing at the hospital, Pop-Pop is acting just as lively as he always is. Some of the doctors even think that there isn't much need for him to be treated."
"You both raise excellent points," Lisa stated, "But keep in mind that this is our maternal grandfather that we're talking about here. Regardless of how much constitution he has, it is only natural for us to be worried about him if we hear that that he's been taken to the hospital for medical treatment."
Most of the other girls, admitting to Lisa's point, seemed to be very upset with what Pop-Pop was going through right now. Seeing all of the worried, and dare she say sad, looks on the faces of the girls, Luan suddenly strode forward to stand in front of the group, a determined look on her face. "Yeah, I'm not going to stand for anyone in this household wearing their smiles upside down," the comedic Loud sibling said, both her expression and tone carrying strong amounts of determination. Pointing in the direction of the living room, Luan said, "Everyone, living room, now. I'll be out in a few minutes once I get a routine ready."
"Yeah, I'm literally going to have to say no to that," Lori said in a firm tone, "We're all still mad at you because of what we talked about yesterday after Allison had left."
"She's got a point, brah," Luna remarked to Luan, her tone being similar to Lori's, "You're lucky that it wasn't really you who pulled that stunt that compelled Lori's friend to want to call the wrath of her gods down upon you." Most of the other Loud girls regarded Luan with a more or less disappointed look, which seemed to bring Luan's mood down a bit. Seeing this, Lincoln turned around as if he were preparing to head out to the living room.
"…Yeah, I'm going to go get one of the good seats before the mad stampede to the living room happens," Lincoln remarked as he began to walk.
"Lincoln?" Lola said in a confused tone, wondering what her older brother was doing.
Stopping in place, Lincoln turned around to face the girls. "…Well you heard what Luan said," Lincoln said to the girls as a whole, "There's going to be a stand-up comedy show in the living room in a few minutes. I say that we should try to get the better seats before they're all taken up." Turning around so he could continue heading to the living room, the white-haired boy said in a mildly dry tone, "Try not to be last getting to the living room."
After Lincoln went into the living room, the Loud girls all looked to each other, giving each other looks that were a mix of confused and surprised. …Well, the girls aside from Luan had those kinds of expressions; Luan herself seemed touched that her little brother seemed to be going to such lengths for, then a hint of giddiness seeped into the comedic Loud sibling's face when the other Loud girls all started filing into the living room.
Eventually, all of the Loud siblings minus Luan had seated themselves in the living room. Lincoln was sitting in the middle seat of the sofa, with Leni on his left and Lynn on his right. Lori was sitting on the armrest next to Lynn, Luna was sitting on the armrest next to Leni, Lily was seated on Luna's lap, Lisa was sitting on the floor in front of the sofa with Lana on her left and Lucy on her right. Since there wasn't a whole lot of room, Lincoln allowed Lola to sit on his lap; the six-year-old princess was quite happy that her big brother allowed her to do that.
After all of the other Loud siblings were seated, Luan came walking out in front of them. "Thanks for coming out everyone," Luan said to her audience, "Seriously. Anywho, did you all hear about those fidget spinner things? They were pretty popular when they first came out. Now you can't go to the local grocery store without seeing bins full of them, marked at an average of two dollars a pop. I bet that a ninja can buy like a dozen of them, and then lob them at targets like they were those little throwing stars of theirs!"
Surprisingly, some of the Loud siblings began to laugh due to imagining ninjas throwing those little spinners at opposing ninjas as if they were shuriken. Luna found the idea to be particularly funny for some odd reason. "But enough of that," Luan went on, "Did you hear about this dangerous thing that teens on the internet have been doing that involves daring each other to put laundry pods in their mouths? You know, a few decades ago, people were saying that in the future, cars will fly. Well now it's the future, and we're having to tell people not to eat laundry cleaning agents." Holding her arms out at arm's length, Luan said, "Welcome to the future!"
This was also met by laughs from the other Loud siblings, all of which were laughing, although Lily giggled due to hearing her older siblings laughing. Leni, although she didn't quite get why her siblings found what Luan said to be so funny, laughed anyway for reasons similar to why the baby Loud sibling was giggling.
"And last week," Luan went on, "When some friends of mine and I went to Jean Juan's French Mex for lunch, our waiter apparently couldn't decide if he wanted to go for a mime theme or a mariachi theme, so he decided to be a mime mariachi hybrid! That has got to be the most confusing occupation in the world! Either you're way too noisy for a mime or you're way too quiet for a mariachi! What do you do?!" This time, all of the Loud siblings found what Luan said to be funny, aside from Lily, who was too young to know what they were talking about, but the baby Loud sibling still giggled nonetheless.
As the Loud siblings continued to laugh, the front door opened, and in walked Rita and Lynn Sr., both of which looked greatly relieved, even though there was still a very mild hint of worry in their respective faces. Seeing that their kids were laughing, they decided to see what was going on. "Hey kids," Rita said, "What's going on here?"
"Oh, mom!" Lincoln said, "Yeah, we were all worried about how Pop-Pop's doing, so Luan decided to try and cheer us all up by performing a comedy routine. The material she used was actually pretty funny!"
"Well isn't that sweet," Rita remarked, "And as for your grandfather, don't you kids worry. He's going to make a full recovery!" Upon hearing this news, the Loud siblings all cheered, happy to hear that their maternal grandfather was officially out of the woods. "Yes," Rita remarked with a nod, "Your grandfather will be out of the hospital before you know it."
"Your grandpa still got a little bit of time left in the hospital, kids," Lynn Sr. said, "So let's try to send him all the love that you can, alright?"
"Would it be a good idea to call Pop-Pop right now, daddy?" Lola asked.
"I believe so, and I'm certain your grandpa would love to hear from all of you," Lynn Sr. replied, "Why don't we try calling him?" Lynn Sr. led the way over to where the family phone sat, with Lola and a few of the other Loud girls following their father, leaving Rita in the living room with Lincoln, Lori, Leni, Luna and Luan.
"So, Luan," Rita began, "You tried to keep your siblings' spirits up?"
"Heh, well you know me, mom," Luan replied a bit bashfully, "No smile will be upside down while I'm here!"
"Well that's nice to hear," Rita replied with a nod, "I'm glad to see that you're-"
"Hey Rita!" Lynn Sr. called from over at the phone, "Your dad wants to talk to you!"
"Okay, I'll come over!" Rita called back. Turning to face her four oldest daughters and her only son, Rita said, "I'm going to go see what your grandfather wants, kids." Rita turned around and headed over to where the phone was kept. After Rita was gone, Lincoln and the three oldest loud girls turned to regard Luan.
"I have to admit, Luan," Lori began, "You actually did pretty well with keeping our younger siblings distracted from Pop-Pop having to be taken to the hospital."
"Thanks," Luan replied.
"And it wasn't just one person laughing at your comedy, Luan," Lincoln pointed out, "Unlike when you pulled some pranks in the past, where it was just you laughing, pretty much everyone was laughing." Giving the comedic Loud sibling a knowing look, Lincoln said, "And that is the goal of comedy, right? Making everyone laugh rather than just make yourself laugh?"
Smiling a bit, Luan said, "Heh, yeah. I guess I occasionally forgot my own rule, huh?"
"Well you certainly didn't forget it today," Lincoln remarked, "I think that if you can keep that up, you'll be one heck of a comedian."
"Don't give it up, dude," Luna said to her sister and roommate, shooting Luan a thumbs-up.
"Group hug!" Leni declared as she gathered her siblings that were present in the living room with her into a group hug. Granted, Lori (and Luna to a lesser extent) wasn't too willing to join in on the group hug, the sentiment behind Leni spontaneously declaring the group hug was appreciated all around nonetheless. Especially by Luan, who was roughly in the middle of the group hug.
With Lincoln hugging her around her waist.
The following day, Lincoln walked by Luna and Luan's room on his way from the bathroom when he noticed Luan doing something in the bedroom. Curious, the white-haired boy peeked in and saw Luan getting a load of her comedy props ready for a trip. "…You got another party to perform at, Luan?" Lincoln asked, getting the comedic Loud sibling's attention in the process.
"Oh, hey Lincoln!" Luan greeted, "Yeah, looks like Funny Business isn't wanting for work!" Gesturing to her wagon of props, Luan said, "I got a lot planned for the party I'm going to perform at today!" Leaning to his side to get a better look at what Luan was planning on taking along with her, Lincoln saw that the wagon was rather full.
"Will one of the girls be helping you?" Lincoln asked, "I mean, that does look like a lot of stuff you're planning to bring along."
"Oh, that," Luan replied, a hint of concern in her tone, "Yeah, the girls are all busy with something else. Not to mention the fact that whenever I end up with either Lynn, Lucy, Leni or Lisa as an assistant, they usually end up messing things up. And that's saying nothing of the one time when I had Lana as an assistant." With a resigned sigh, Luan said, "I'm afraid that none of o…sorry, none of my sisters, are available to help me."
"…Well what about me?" Lincoln replied.
Having heard what Lincoln had just said, Luan perked up instantly. "…Huh?" Luan said, her tone a clear mix of confusion and surprise.
"Well I may not be a sister," Lincoln began to explain, "But I am a brother, and that should be just as good to act as a comedy assistant, don't you-" The white-haired boy was cut off when Luan came up, got down on one knee to be level with Lincoln, threw her arms around him, and drew him into a hug. The comedic Loud sibling even cried gently a little bit as she hugged her younger brother.
Especially since she was his older sister again.
END, RESTORED IMAGE CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Author's notes:
I would like to think that after hearing Luan promise to refrain from pulling pranks too often, as well as nix the April Fool's level pranks altogether, and then use her comedy skills to try and raise everyone's spirits and not just her own, that a lot of Lincoln's faith in Luan would be restored, thus giving him some excuse in accepting Luan as a sister again. As a side note, Lola mentioning that she was homeschooled is a reference to the January 2018 episode 'No Place Like Homeschool', which said that Lola was homeschooled despite depicting Lola as a student of RWES in past episodes. Thankfully, she's only homeschooled during pageant season, so that saves a lot of confusion.
Anywho, the next chapter will see the result of one side of a rivalry winning against the other.
