AN: I beat jury duty! And I'm so glad, because that trial was going to run through the entire first half of my summer session, and I was going to have to make a 2-ish hour commute straight from the courthouse to campus every day, hoping that I'd make it to class on time. So that was a HUGE relief for me. And not having to keep trekking down to the courthouse for 7-hour long jury selection sessions freed up enough time for me to get this chapter out in a relatively short amount of time, so everyone wins.
Before I wrap this up though, I'd like to briefly address the issue of Archetypal, because I know people are concerned about that, I've been getting reviews and messages from people wondering when the next update is. Unfortunately, I really don't have anything new to tell you at this time. The thing about Archetypal is that because it's a collaboration story, it's a lot more time-intensive to write than it would normally be. In the normal course of things, I can squirrel away a few minutes a day here or there to pick away at a new chapter, and that's all progress that eventually adds up. Archetypal is a different beast altogether because Hero and I both need to find time to sit down and figure things out together. And unfortunately, we've both been really busy with our respective school schedules since the last update, there just hasn't been a good opportunity to work on the story. It's not even close to being canceled, we've just been going through an ongoing rough patch. I myself will be having a severely reduced schedule once my summer session starts up next week, so I expect that I'll have a lot more opportunities to write than I have this last school year. Hopefully, that'll make it easier for us to find time to put our heads together and get some work done on the story, but it's very much going to be a case of it being done when it's done, and no sooner. Thanks for being patient with us.
Now for the other, other, other superhero story.
Lincoln Loud started in surprise, instinctively leaping from his bed as a sound that had become all too commonplace resounded in the distance. An explosion. Moments later, he wobbled unsteadily in place as a violent tremor rocked the foundation of the Loud house. If A+B = C, then this particular combination of events meant he needed to get into the hallway fast, and hope he could de-escalate the situation. However, just as he was about to do exactly that, his bedroom door burst open, and one of the few blondes in his life that he wasn't related to quickly slipped inside.
"Heeeeey, Linc!" She greeted him with a smile, which was his second clue that something was wrong. Sam had a lovely smile, it came easily, and it was as warm and inviting as the girl who bore it. This wasn't that smile. It was strained, it failed to reach her eyes, and she kept glancing over her shoulder in a way that suggested she was hoping he wasn't noticing any of them.
"Uh, hey Sam," He said with a small wave, taken aback by the sudden appearance of his sister's girlfriend in his bedroom without said sister in tow, which was something that never happened. Friends? Absolutely a common occurrence. Becky loved to pop in in the middle of her visits with Leni, especially if it was new comic book day. Carol was another frequent visitor; sometimes chasing a golf ball, sometimes just wanting to get a quick word in. Paula had hobbled into his room regularly enough, asking for his help with treating whatever her latest training-related injury was, and even Jackee had shown up on multiple occasions, asking him to run lines with her. Which...was actually kind of weird, now that he thought about it, because he couldn't ever recall seeing any of Luan's other theater friends around. Regardless, his sister's paramours generally were not among those unannounced visitors.
"Listen," He said, as another jolt of force shook the house. "I should really get out there and—"
"Not worry about anything!" Sam shouted, pushing her way into the room and slamming the door shut behind her. "Seriously dude, it's cool. Everything out there is just fine!"
Lincoln's nose wrinkled as the faint, acrid scent of smoke wafted into his room.
"...You sure?" He asked, looking warily at the blonde. "Because normally—"
"Hey, guess what!?" Sam shouted, waving her arms wildly, which successfully managed to divert Lincoln's attention, even if only momentarily. "You and Luna are going to be spending the night at my place tonight! Come on and pack your stuff, we already cleared it with your mom!"
Lincoln's puzzlement only deepened.
"Really?" He asked. "Because mom normally tells me I should leave you guys alone when you're having a sleepover. She says you guys do big kid stuff that I wouldn't be interested in. Even though Luna invites me over sometimes anyway, and we always have a blast."
"We do," Sam agreed, her smile briefly softening before quickly regaining its manic edge. "And we will tonight too! We'll watch movies, and eat junk food and stuff. And my little bro has a really sweet video game setup! And we can play as much as we want, because he's off with my parents visiting family!"
"Wow!"
"Yep!" Sam began ushering him deeper into the room. "But we have to leave right now! So hurry up and grab a bag. A-and, maybe pack yourself a couple of extra outfits...just in case. And—"
The pair flinched in unison as the squeaking that normally accompanied the opening of Lincoln's bedroom door suddenly fired off, much louder and at a much higher pitch than usual, due to the door flying open with such force that it nearly flew off its hinges.
"Oh," Lincoln said, turning toward the doorway. "Hey, Lynn."
"Stop yelling at me!"
Lincoln was stirred into wakefulness, and immediately regretted it. Cognizant though he was, he had yet to open his eyes, and a part of that was his inability to focus on anything other than the splitting headache that was currently assailing him.
"Why did you zap him? I told you to use the sleep aid!"
"That's what we call Mister Shocky!"
"No, it's not! I thought you'd use some of those darts we picked up, or even some chloroform! I didn't know you were going to fry him!"
The yelling wasn't helping matters. Though, strangely enough, setting aside the pounding in his head, he was surprisingly comfortable. The ground he was resting his head upon was soft, warm, and inviting. It was so comfortable, in fact, that if it wasn't for the persistent throbbing in his head, he could easily see himself being lulled back to sleep by simply lying here.
"So why did you shock him? And why couldn't you at least catch him? The poor guy slammed his head into the wall on the way down!"
"I tried! He took me down with him! A-and, I...I wasn't expecting...him...to be...bigger…"
Those words seemed alien to Lincoln, given that the girls he hung out with were all taller than him by a good amount, but it certainly felt nice to hear them.
"It's been eight years! Why is that surprising!?"
"I don't know! He used to be easy to deal with! He was all...small, a-and cute! And now he's...older, and...firmer. And he smolders!"
"...Excuse me?"
"He...he looks at you like you're the only person in the room. Like he can see all the weird little things that make you feel all screwed up inside. But there's also this smile that tells you he knows what he's seen, and it's alright because everything is going to be okay."
"…"
"Did...did you know he could do that?"
"...I'm gonna see if I can wake him up now."
"WAIT! STOP!"
"Dude! Leggo!"
"First tell me...does my hair look okay?"
"...Serious question. What the hell is wrong with you today?"
"...I honestly don't know."
A gentle touch softly caressed Lincoln's cheek, and his body took that as the signal to resume motor functions. Which was good, because if he'd had to listen to any more of that, he was pretty sure his face would burst into flames from sheer embarrassment.
His eyes slowly opened, and immediately he flinched at the harsh light that invaded his senses. The touch remained, however. Coaxing, comforting, encouraging. A soft, melodic humming filled his ears, and Lincoln found himself trying again, eyes creaking open ever so slightly, millimeter by millimeter of ground being taken back against the unforgiving light, until finally, he saw them.
Eyes. Soft, brown, warm. The kind you could get lost in. And right then and there, he very nearly did.
"Hey, there...little bro."
A voice like daybreak, banishing the haze that still fogged his thoughts. A thousand details began snapping into place, a deluge of sound and sight and color all blending together in a harmonious cacophony. And when the metaphysical dust settled, it was just him and her, still staring into each other's eyes.
"Luna…" He whispered, scarcely able to believe it.
There weren't words that could describe the emotional turbulence Lincoln was undergoing after the sudden reappearance of the sister he'd long thought lost, one of the longest and lostest of the bunch, at that. As a result, he merely lay there, mouth agape, struggling to articulate anything other than raw emotion.
Fortunately, his musically inclined sister had never been one for silence.
"I'm glad you recognized me, Linc," She murmured, gently tracing one finger down the side of his cheek.
How could he not? She was older, of course, but weren't they all? A little more...worn, than he had expected. There was a tension to her posture that hadn't been present in his previously laid-back sister. Her back remained perpetually arched, as if in preparation to fling herself at, or away from something at any given moment. But those were superficial things. It was her, he could feel it right down to his bones.
That said, while she certainly wore her signature outfit well, even nearly a decade past, the way her shirt rode up just enough to show off her well-toned midriff was something he was certain he would have remembered as a child. It was...distracting, in the best, and worst possible ways. Realizing he was staring, Lincoln quickly averted his eyes, yanking them upward in the hope of correcting the faux pas. Such was not the case, as he only found himself staring directly into those soulful brown eyes again. The edges of Luna's lips quirked upward, into a faint smirk, and instantaneously, Lincoln knew that she'd seen the whole thing.
Uncertain where to go from here, Lincoln turned his head to the side, away from Luna, and all those...qualities of hers, the ones that had kept a young Lincoln up on many occasions, desperately confused as to why his sister so frequently invaded his dreams. In doing so, he inadvertently smooshed his cheek into the soft, inviting surface he'd been resting upon, and at that moment he became all too aware that the comfort he'd been experiencing had been the result of being laid to rest upon his sister's plush, inviting lap.
Another moment of indecision, as Lincoln's desires warred intensely with what had to be the last remaining shreds of his decency at this point. Mustering his willpower, Lincoln jerked his head one last time, fearful that if he were to lose himself in his sister's thighs, he might never (want to) escape their embrace, and forced himself to confront Luna once more.
Luna...and the second head that she'd inexplicably sprouted in the short period of time his attention had been elsewhere.
"Heya Linc!" Shouted the blonde head, startling the poor guy to his core, and causing him to jerk in surprise. The result was several coinciding events. The first was that Lincoln's legs straight up refused to heed his brain's panicked command to go "anywhere but here", their only reply being a firm "return to sender". The second, was his head lurching upward in a motion similar to a sit-up. But, discombobulated as he was, the best he could manage was a short-lived elevation of his neck before it plummeted downward, landing once again midst the velvety softness of Luna's lap, which in turn had an oddly calming effect upon the young man. Which turned out to be very fortunate, because the third and final event was Lincoln's arms shooting outward, presumably in an attempt to effectuate his escape, which immediately failed due to the fact that his hands were shackled together.
...by...fuzzy...pink...handcuffs?
Thoroughly defeated on all three fronts, Lincoln merely sat there, staring dumbly at his brightly colored bonds.
"Why...did you use handcuffs?" Luna hissed, to what Lincoln now recognized as an entirely separate person who just so happened to be looking over his shoulder. "I just wanted to make sure he didn't hurt hurt himself, could we not get something more comfortable? And why did you use the fuzzy cuffs!?"
"Babe, you know we're on a limited budget," The blonde sang back nervously, shooting what he'd assumed was supposed to be a comforting smile his way. It was not, in fact, due to being a bit too strained, but the effect was somewhat lessened once he noticed that the girl was actually quite pretty.
"I had to make do with what we already had," She continued. "And you know as well as I do that those are plenty comfortable. Now could you please stop looking at me like that? You're going to make him think I'm—"
"Sam!?" Lincoln exclaimed as memories of his sister's cyan-streaked gal-pal (and then some) came rushing back.
"...Weird. Is actually what I was going to say."She said, after a short pause. "But yes! Hi Lincoln!"
One hand raised up behind Luna's opposite shoulder and gave him a short, but emphatic wave. Then abruptly halted mid-motion her face scrunching up in concentration.
"Hey...Liiiinky?" She ventured, her voice wobbling unsteadily. Another pause and her entire demeanor shifted, with Sam now giving him a sly wink.
"Hey there," She said, her voice suddenly husky. "Lincster," Punctuating the affectation by firing finger guns at him. Lincoln's eyes flickered to the side, and he was relieved to see that Luna was seemingly as weirded out as he felt.
"Again, and I'm seriously asking here," Luna said softly. "What is wrong with you?"
"I reeeeally don't know, Lunes," Sam replied, tittering nervously before turning her attention to the still-prone Loud brother. "How's it going? Um...dude?"
The onslaught of greetings had seemingly stopped with Sam now staring at him expectantly while Luna continued to gawk at her girlfriend as if she was possessed. Sensing that he was actually supposed to respond this time, Lincoln did exactly that.
"I could probably be doing better," He said, jingling his cuffs for emphasis.
"Luna, I can't believe you're here," Lincoln said, shaking his head in bewilderment. "Which I'm saying in a good way, mind you, it's amazing. But...why are the two...of you…"
Lincoln trailed off, blinking slowly as the conversation he'd overheard previously replayed in his head.
"Wait!" He shouted, jerking his still-bound hands in Sam's direction. "You zapped me?!"
"Um, no, sweetie," Sam responded, giggling nervously. "I stunned you. Totally different thing."
"You shot me with a...sparky, zappy thing!"
"Because you sparked emotions in me!" Sam fired back, turning to Luna for support. "Tell him, babe!"
"...And what 'emotions', were those exactly?" Luna asked, peering at Sam through half-lidded eyes.
Silence fell upon the room.
"Look, I think we're getting a little off track here," said the blonde, turning her attention back to the still-prone Loud brother. "Some of us have clearly done things that could be seen as regrettable, and maybe even...unwise, under the circumstances. I think the healthiest thing for us to do would be to just push past it. Lincoln can tell me I look pretty, and then the three of us can make oooooooouuuuuup."
She cleared her throat.
"Make. Up." She stated. Then she took a seat next to Luna and primly folded her hands in her lap.
"...Luna, where have you been?" Lincoln asked. Softly. "The other girls...I mean, at least I've heard of them. I still knew that they were around...mostly. But you and Lisa, you've basically been ghosts. What happened?"
Luna flinched at the pain in her brother's voice. That was a question she'd desperately hoped he wouldn't ask, even though she'd known the likelihood was low. Lincoln was inquisitive at the best of times, but now? Under these circumstances? How do you even begin to answer something like that?
"...Do you want the long version or the short version?" She asked, absentmindedly running her fingers through his hair. Anxious though she was, she couldn't help but smile a little at the faint blush her ministrations brought to her little brother's face.
"Long version," He said, wrapping his hands around her forearm and giving her a gentle, but emphatic squeeze. "Please?"
...That, was not the response she'd been expecting.
"I didn't think you would call my bluff there," Luna admitted, placing one hand atop Lincoln's, and allowing it to linger there just a bit longer than was strictly necessary, before removing his hand from her person and pushing it down against his chest. "But we don't actually have time to swap stories right now. We were supposed to be out of here way sooner. Sam's itchy trigger finger kind of set us back. A lot."
"Wait, you're leaving!?" Immediately Lincoln began fidgeting in place, fighting both against his bonds and his frustratingly unresponsive body. "You can't leave now Luna! You just got here!"
"Hey, hey," The brunette said, soothingly, threading her fingers through Lincoln's and squeezing them reassuringly. "Dude, chill, that's not what's happening. I promise I didn't come all this way, after all this time, just to pick up and leave you again."
"You...didn't?" Lincoln asked, warily.
"Of course not, bro," Luna replied, smiling fondly at him. "No, that would be crazy."
"Oh." Lincoln ceased his frantic movements, breathing deeply as he settled back into Luna's lap. "So then…?"
"Obviously, you're coming with us." She concluded, matter-of-factly before turning her attention back to her girlfriend. "Babe? Would you mind helping me with Linc here? I'm going to need to keep my hands free for this next part.