I Don't Need Relationships

It was just another day of school for Lori; she closed her locker and made her way outside. As she walked towards the parking lot and to the family van, she noticed something odd. She thought she saw what looked like Bobby in the distance, but he was near another girl. She squinted and tried to get a clear picture but she needed to get a closer look.  She walked closer and the picture became clearer; she was sure it was Bobby, but she still didn’t know what was going on. Finally she got close enough to see what was going on; she saw Bobby and what looked to be Carol Pingrey locked in a lover’s embrace.

She watched in horror as Bobby and Carol locked lips passionately, her heart shattering into dust. The one who she had devoted everything thing to was now close with another woman. She didn’t know what to do, what to feel. After what felt like years to Lori, Bobby and Carol broke away from each other and parted ways with Bobby unknowingly walking toward her. Lori wanted to just hide away, but she pushed herself forward in front of beloved, a whirlwind of emotions beginning to rage inside of her.

“Hey Baby I missed you-“

“Don’t you DARE call me that! I saw you… I saw you k-kissing Carol!”

Realizing that he was caught, Bobby’s expression became pained; there was no getting out of this one. “Lori, listen to me you just gotta’ understand…”

“Understand what!?”

“I uh, she came onto me!”

“Oh that’s bullshit! I saw your arms around her!” Tears began to stream down Lori’s face as her emotions were released.

Bobby struggled to find the right excuse, but it was clear that Lori was done.

“I-I thought you loved me…”

“I do love you!”

“Then why did you kiss Carol!? How long has this been going on!?”

“…A few months…”

“You mean all of those times… The Dairyland trip, our anniversary… MY BIRTHDAY!? …You were seeing Carol all though that?” Lori couldn’t take much more of this; not only was he seeing Carol behind her back, but all of those memories were stained. Her knees became weak, she wanted to scream, but she had to go and get away from this. She kept herself up and began to walk away, shaking visibly.

“Never… EVER… Speak to me again.” Said Lori as she turned her head, mascara and tears running down her face.


At home…


Lori pulled up to the house and parked van, all of the others piled out as soon as they could to avoid Lori’s wrath in the wake of the day’s events. After everyone had jumped out and walked inside, Lori stepped out and locked the car. She kept her composure all through the ride home; she just had to do it for a little longer. She walked calmly into the house, making her way up the stairs as the rest of her siblings watched; you could have heard a pin drop with the silence and tension. None of the Louds made a single move until Lori entered her room, where they heard some of the loudest cries that any of them had ever heard.

There had been many times where Lori and Bobby “broke up”, which always resulted in crying, but never like this; this time the cries echoed loudly as Lori screamed into her pillow.  She could barely breath, hiccupping as well from her sobbing. There was no respite from her emotions as she continued to bawl.

She stopped though as she heard a knock on the door; it was her mother.

“Lori, sweetie?”

“Go away!”

“Lori, honey what’s wrong, what happened?”

“It’s none of your business! Just leave me alone!” Lori tried to hold up an intimidating face to push her mother away, but the longer she looked at her, the faster it crumbled. Eventually her attempt to push her away broke and she leapt onto her Mother, crying out in agony. Rita guided Lori to her bed and sat her down as her daughter clung to her. She stroked Lori’s hair calmly with soft soothing shushes, waiting for her to finish crying.

The sobbing continued on for quite a while, though it eventually died down. After tears dried, Lori looked up at her mom, whose eyes gave nothing but comfort and affection. The cries stopped, but she still wrapped her arms around her mother, the two of them almost rocking back in forth.

“Now are you ready to talk?”

Lori gave a sniffle and a weak nod as she recounted the events that she had seen.

“I saw Bobby kissing another girl today.”

“What??”

“Yeah… He even said that he’d been seeing her for a few months…”

Rita was enraged; to slight her daughter like this was unforgivable. Tears welled up in her eyes, seeing her little girl like this was unbearable, she wished that she could just make her pain go away.

“I’m so sorry honey…” Said Rita as wrapped her arms around Lori and pulled her in close. “I’m so, so sorry…”


The next day…


It was a weekend; there was fortunately no school for Lori to face as she sat on her bed, wearing her favorite sweater. She wasn’t crying like yesterday; instead it was replaced with apathy. Her soul felt empty now that Bobby was gone forever. She had no idea what she could do to replace the happiness that she felt with him. She was hungry though, and so she got up and walked down the stairs to fetch a snack. As she walked by though, she spotted Lincoln on the couch, playing Super Mega Brawlers Turbo Fighter XXIV.

“H-Hey Lori.” Said Lincoln waving nervously to Lori, afraid of her current emotional state.

“Are you just playing that stupid game by yourself?” Said Lori in an arrogant manner.

“Well yeah, no one else really plays fighting games.”

Lori had played the game before, and she had to admit that it was kind of fun. “Maybe some games might help…” Lori thought to herself.

“W-Well if you really want, I’ll play it with you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you got a problem with that?”

“N-No, go ahead.”

Lori decided to forgo the snack and sat down next to Lincoln, picking up the second played controller and pressing “start” which prompted the game to return to the character select screen. Lori looked through the character roster and found the character that she always played as and waited for Lincoln to select his.

“Come on hurry up already!” Lori’s thin patience was worn even thinner due to the breakup.

“Okay, okay!” Said Lincoln as he selected his character and the stage.

After a brief load time, the fight started and the two did virtual combat. Using her deep rage at Bobby, she channeled that into her gaming and utterly crushed Lincoln, hitting him with vicious combos. After it was all over, Lori felt a sense of catharsis. The game allowed her to empty out at least some of pent up anger in her system. She selected the “play again” option and then looked at Lincoln expectantly.

“Well are we going to play another?”

“Sure we can play another.” Said Lincoln as he selected the same option.

The two played the same game again, both of them using the same characters. This time Lincoln put up more of a fight as they fought, but it ultimately proved fruitless. As the battle was finished Lincoln was ready to stop playing when Lori turned to him and said.

“Let’s go again.”

“What?”

“Another, I want to play another game.” Lori looked at Lincoln with eyes like a tiger, hungry for more fighting.

“O-Oh okay…”

The two fought again, and again… and again. Hours passed with Lori showing no signs of slowing down, though Lincoln was growing a bit tired. His hands began cramping as the night wore on from continuous button-pressing. He looked over at Lori though, she was so invested in the match that it seemed like everything else had been blotted out.

“I think I’m done Lori…” Said Lincoln, stretching his arms and yawning now that the night had arrived.

“What? But you can’t stop now, we’re still playing!”

“Lori, it’s 9:00; we’ve been playing for FIVE hours! My thumbs are KILLING me!”

“…Will you at least play just one more?” Lori looked at her brother with sad eyes, it was now becoming clear to Lincoln what this was all about; he finally realized what the video games were doing for her.

“Okay. We’ll play one more.” Lincoln picked up the controller yet again and went to the character select screen, turning to his sister who first the first time today, actually smiled.

“…Thanks Lincoln.”

The two played yet another game, with Lincoln finally winning. He looked over at his sibling, worried that she might not take kindly to losing, but was met with an entirely different expression. Lori wasn’t angry; she merely gave a sigh as she leaned back on the sofa.

“Well, looks like I lost…”

“We had a good fight.” Said Lincoln, turning off the T.V. and game console. “I’m bushed though.”

“Yeah we did, didn’t we?” Lori now stood up and stretched before walking over to the stairs alongside Lincoln.

The two walked up the stairs together and were ready to part ways when Lori surprisingly pulled Lincoln in for a hug. Lincoln was taken aback at first, though he reciprocated, hugging back tightly.

“Thank you Lincoln, I needed that.” Said Lori as she slightly nuzzled her head against Lincoln’s.

“Of course Lori, any time that you want to play more games I’ll play them with you.” Lincoln resting his head against Lori’s chest.


The next day…


It was Sunday and Lincoln decided that today was going to be just him, his underwear, and his comic book; no friends to deal with! He threw his shirt onto his bed, dropped his drawers, and grabbed his comic book before heading out to the living room to sit and read. As he walked down though, he spied something out of the ordinary. It was Lori; she was wearing her favorite sweater, her hair was disheveled, and she was sitting in front of the T.V. playing his favorite fighting game while drinking soda.

“Lori?” Said Lincoln in disbelief?

“Oh Lincoln, there you are!” Said Lori as paused the game and looked his way.

“What are you doing?” Lincoln walked down the stairs, almost hesitantly.

“Nothing much, just playing some Turbo Fighters. Want to play a game?”

“Uh, sure I guess.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m just not used to you being home on Sundays, usually you’re out with Bob-“

“DON’T SAY THAT NAME.” Lori looked at him with a mix of rage and sorrow at the mere thought of her ex-lover.

“Okay, okay! I’ll play some games with you.” Lincoln walked over to the couch; there were a couple cans of soda and a bowl of chips on the coffee table.

“Great! Alright I’ll get it all set up.”

“Um, Lori; how long have you been playing Turbo Fighters?”

Lori stopped and thought for a while, staring upwards. “Maybe… nine hours?”

“Nine HOURS?? It’s 2:00 in the afternoon!”

“Is it? I woke up early and I d-didn’t have a-anything to do t-today cause...” Lincoln watched as his sister became a quivering mess as she started to think about the reality that her beloved wholeheartedly betrayed her. “I BROKE UP WITH BOBBY!!!”

By now Lori had broken out in tears, sobbing wildly and covering her eyes. The memories soon began to play out in her mind again as she watched Bobby passionately kiss Carol. She began to hyperventilate, gasping for air. As she began to lose herself to her sorrow though, she felt a warmth coming from her side; it was Lincoln giving her a hug.

“I’m sorry Lori; did you want to play some more?”

Lori couldn’t help but smile; she wrapped her arm around Lincoln and hugged back.

“Thank you Lincoln.”

The two started to play again, though now it seemed like Lincoln didn’t stand a chance. He was getting stomped repeatedly, but just as he was about to give up, Lori offered some sage advice.

“You’re playing him all wrong; he’s not set up for long combos.”

“What?”

“Here; Wolfhawk is meant for short powerful combos.” Said Lori as she took Lincoln controller.

“Watch, what you want to do go for a low, high, medium, high combo.” She proceeded to display what a lot of professional players consider a staple combo for Wolfhawk. “Try it.”

“Um, okay.” Lincoln took the controller back and tried out the combo, seeing great success as he landed each hit.

“Wow, how did you know that Lori?”

“Eh I figured it out a while back; I’ve been messing around with all of the characters.”

Her advice had suddenly reinvigorated Lincoln as he and Lori practiced against one another, searching for better combos and tactics. They played for hours, each of them exploring the different characters and having a great time. Lincoln looked over at Lori; she was completely enamored with the game, completely oblivious to her previous plight. Instead of crying her eyes out, she was smiling and having fun, it warmed Lincoln’s heart to see her in a better mood.

After a few hours, 5:00 had arrived and with it, dinner. Both Lori and Lincoln were still in front of the T.V. glued to their fighting game.

“Kids! Dinner!” Said the Mom.

“Coming!” Said both Lori and Lincoln, neither of them turning away from the T.V. screen.

It took an insane amount of willpower, but they finally managed to break away and sit at their respective dinner tables with the rest of the family.  Neither of them were really at the dinner table though, both of their minds were too busy thinking about the game. Lincoln was surprised with himself; never once had he become so enamored with a game like this, it was only with Lori’s help did he get this way.

The two finished up their food quickly and were excused from their dinner tables, both of them dashing back to the couch to start playing again. It was 6:00 now though, and so they were only able to play for a few more hours until it was bedtime.

“Alright kids, it’s lights out! You have school tomorrow!” Annouced the Dad to the rest of the Loud children.

“Oh but Daddy, do we really have to stop playing?” Said Lori as she looked up to her father pleadingly.

“Yes Lori, you still have school tomorrow.”

“Fine…” Said Lori with a sneer as she stood up and marched up the stairs.

“You too Lincoln.”

“Yes Dad.” Lincoln quickly shut off the T.V. and game console before following Lori’s lead.

“Hey Lincoln?” Said Lori as the two reached the top of the stairs.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks again… It’s been a rough weekend and you’ve been a really big help. Huh I never thought I’d say that about my bratty little brother but, really… Thanks.”

“No problem Lori, I’ll be here for you as long as it takes for you to get back on track!”

“You really mean that??” Lori looked at Lincoln with excited eyes, looking ready to burst.

“Sure!”

“Oh thank you Lincoln, I’m sure that I’ll be over it in no time!”


ONE MONTH LATER…


“Oh Tamashi you’re so adorable!” Said Lori as she clasped her hands affectionately.

A month had passed and Lori sat in front of her new T.V.; something that took quite a lot of begging to do. Fortunately it all paid off and now she was free as much anime as she wanted! A soda can in one hand and a bowl of popcorn next to her; she was completely absorbed in her newfound obsession.

“Um Lori?” Said Lincoln, knocking on his sister’s door before opening.

“Shhh, not now; I’m in the middle of watching Auran!” Said Lori as she waved her hand dismissively, not even bothering to look at Lincoln.

“Lori it’s been a month since your break-up, shouldn’t you be going outside now?”

“Why would I do that? I literally have everything I need right here.”

“Well I mean, shouldn’t you be spending time with friends instead of being here by yourself?”

“Well I wouldn’t have to be alone if you’d come watch with me!”

“But I don’t even like Auran!”

“Tch, fine; we’ll watch one of your stupid other ones.” Said Lori as she brought her laptop onto her lap, pausing the show since the laptop was connected to the T.V. via HDMI cable.

Lincoln shook his head, how did it get to be this way?


A few weeks ago…


A week had gone by and Lori still felt empty inside, even though she was spending tons of time playing turbo fighters with Lincoln, there was still a hole in her heart. She spent her nights crying and browsing YouTube looking for sad songs on her laptop; listening to them with earbuds as to not wake Leni up. As she listened to her favorite sad songs over and over, she noticed a song titled “Let It Out” on the related videos, though it seemed to be from what she thought was just a cartoon.

Not exactly knowing why, she decided to click on it and listen. What she saw was an ending theme, watching the animation as well as the credits that were in a mix of kanji and katakana. She couldn’t understand exactly what the woman was singing, but it sounded sad. Fortunately the video provided translation at the bottom so she could comprehend what was being sung and her heart started to break.


The song finished though, lasting a mere one minute and thirty seconds. She wanted more, and more in that pretty language. Looking around, she found the fifth opening for that anime, which also carried a somber tone. As she listened to the music and cried, she began to watch the actual video and found it quite interesting. She started to look for other openings and endings for her to listen to, becoming more and more hooked with each song.

“So just what is this stuff?” Said Lori to herself. “Is it just a cartoon? So why’s it called anime?”

She found herself curious at what separated anime from the cartoons she was used to seeing on T.V., though of all the cartoons she’s watched as a kid, none of them had openings and endings like these. Her fascination caught the best of her and she decided to go back and watch the first episode of the anime that her first ending theme was from: “Fullmetal Brother: Chymistry.”

And with the first episode it was as if her eyes were opened; this was something entirely new for her and she actually liked it. Maybe it was just because she needed something to fill the hole that was in her heart from Bobby, but she found herself absolutely enamored with it. By the time she started the first episode it was already nearing midnight, and by the time she had passed out from exhaustion it was 2:00 in the morning.


She woke up a frazzled mess, her laptop still open and her head resting on it. She quickly bolted up in shock, looking around frantically and trying to get a grasp on her surroundings.

“W-what happened? Where am I?” Said Lori as she closed the laptop and got up from her bed.

Lori rubbed her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror, horrified and what she saw. She quickly started to brush her hair into something manageable before stepping outside her room. She walked out to see that everything was in full swing; everyone was awake and doing their own thing. She stepped back into her room and got dressed before reemerging, walking downstairs to find Lincoln in his underwear reading his comic books.

“Oh hey Lori- Oof, you look majorly tired.”

“It feels like I’ve been LITERALLY hit by a truck.” Said Lori as she walked past him and into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

Shortly after, she returned back to the living room with a coffee mug in hand. She sat down next to Lincoln who was on the couch.

“So what’s got you so tired?” Said Lincoln.

“Hmm what? Oh nothing!” Said Lori nervously.

“Okay…”

An awkward moment of silence passed, Lori was struggling with herself on the decision to tell Lincoln that she had stayed up watching what she still considered cartoons; but to be fair, it was a really good cartoon.

“Lincoln?”

“Uh yeah?”

“Do you know about… Anime?”

“What?”

“Y’know, anime? Like… Cartoons?”

“You mean Japanese shows?”

“Yeah like those.”

“Yeah I know about them, but I never really watched any. Why?”

“Oh nothing; I was just wondering.”

Yet another moment passed where the air was stiff and stagnant.

“…Do you think watching anime is weird?” Said Lori as she looked at her brother nervously.

“Um, I don’t know; I mean I don’t think it’s all that weird.”

“Right… Well would you make fun of me if I said I maybe possibly watched some?”

“Wait what?”

“I may or may not have watched like three episodes of an anime in a row until I fell asleep.”

Lincoln looked at his sister in disbelief; he would have never guessed Lori to like stuff like that.

“YOU watched ANIME?”

“I know I’m LITERALLY the worst!” Said Lori as she turned her head in shame.

“You’re not the worst Lori; I was just surprised because I didn’t think you’d like anime at all.” Lincoln placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

“That ending song was so good that I just had to check the show out! I didn’t expect it to be that good!” Lori was on the verge of crying in shame; she was a 17-year old girl that was still watching cartoons!

“What did you watch?”

“It was called Fullmetal something. I have it saved on my laptop.”

“Yeah I have no idea what that is.”

“It’s really cool actually; I didn’t expect to like it at all.”

“Well what’s it about?”

“It’s about two brothers, and then something happens, and just- you’d have to look it up for yourself. It is LITERALLY the coolest premise though.”

“Sure, okay.” Lincoln looked at his sister rather uncomfortably, worried about what the future could hold now that she has found a new interest. Little did he know just how deep she’d fall into it and how far she’d drag him with it.


Back in the present…


Lincoln looked around Lori’s room, trash was littered everywhere; empty bags of potato chips scattered around with crumbs ground into the carpeting, a few soda cans sat on her night stand and a few more on the floor. Her dirty clothes no longer rested solely in her hamper, now being splayed across her side of the room. All of these things created a very unpleasant “odor” that permeated the room, yet Lori didn’t mind at all.

Lincoln was repulsed at state of Lori’s and was unable to comprehend how Leni was able to put up with such a mess. He immediately left the room, coming back with a large trash bag and disapproving look on his face. He began to walk around the room, putting all of the garbage that was strewn about in the bag and looked at Lori with a shameful glare.

“You’re literally staring daggers at me, what did I do?” Said Lori as she looked up from her laptop.

“Lori this room is filthy! You’ve got soda cans and potato chips everywhere!” Exclaimed Lincoln

“Oh come on, you’re exaggerating.” Lori leaned back; a crunch could be heard under her hand. She raised her hand to inspect it and noticed the she had just leaned back on a chip, the entire thing shattered into fragments. Without hesitating she wiped the crumps on her sweatpants and shrugged.

“Well I guess this room could use a little bit of a cleanup.”

“Little bit?? This place is a pig sty!” Lincoln noticed an empty bag sticking out from under Lori’s bed a reached underneath to grab it, pulling out the bag as well as a pair of what he assumed was dirty panties.

“Ew, ew, gross!!” Said Lincoln, flinging the panties in Lori’s direction, landing near her side.

“Oh so that’s where they went!” Lori picked the panties up in excitement, now reunited with her cotton undergarments. After a second of recognition, she tried to throw them in her hamper at the other end of the room, the panties missing and falling off to the side.

“Eh, whatever.” Said Lori as she went back to her laptop.

While Lincoln could pick up things like Lori’s shirts, pants, and socks, her underwear was a different story. Lincoln began to round up Lori’s clothes barring her bras and underwear and placed them in her hamper. After he was finished though, he looked at the room and saw a sea of unmentionables in front of him. Now that all the regular clothes had been taken care of, he gazed only upon the Lori’s most private clothes, and she didn’t care at all.

Lincoln sighed as he carried on with his cleaning, holding the clothes like one might hold a banana peel, looking pained and embarrassed until the end.

“There, all done!” Said Lincoln, feeling an iota of pride at his job being completed.

“Huh? Oh you cleaned my room, thanks Lincoln!”

“I only did it because I knew you wouldn’t do it!”

“Oh come on Lincoln, I would have done it! Eventually…”

“It was either me cleaning it or you getting yelled at by mom and dad.” Said Lincoln with a bit of a snark, thinking that maybe it would have been better to let Lori just get yelled at by their parents.

Those thoughts were quickly dispelled though when Lori stood up and gave him a hug, holding him in a warm embrace.

“Seriously, thanks Lincoln. I know I’ve literally been a mess this last month and you’re always here taking care of me.”

“Well, when you put it like that…” Said Lincoln, turning a little red at her words of praise.

“As a reward, we’ll watch any anime you want; I don’t mind.”

‘This is how she always gets me. I get angry; she hugs me and thanks me, and gets me to watch even more anime. Every time.’ Thought Lincoln.

Lori held him a little bit longer before Lincoln took a whiff and pushed himself away from Lori.

“Geez Lori you smell awful! When was the last time you showered!?”

“I dunno, maybe yesterday morning?”

“Yesterday morning!?”

“Well yeah! There was a new episode of Auran earlier today and I couldn’t just take a shower!?”

“I’ll watch anime with you later, just go and take a shower already!”

“Fine whatever, but you better have decided on an anime by the time I’m out.”

There was a pause between the two before Lori coughed loudly.

“Ahem!”

“What?”

“I need to change?”

“Oh right sorry!” Said Lincoln as he dashed out of Lori’s room and back to his room.

Lincoln closed his bedroom door and laid down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling in thought.

“Man, it’s been a month and Lori is still hooked on stuff like anime and video games! She’d probably be much happier going out and hanging with all of her friends again, but I just don’t know how to do that!”

“I also really want to watch some anime, but that’d probably just make things worse… I mean what am I supposed to do, take care of her forever??”

“Hmm… I should probably decide what I want to watch… “Lincoln sat up and rested his chin on his hand in thought.

“Well there’s always that one show…”

A short time passed and Lori knocked on Lincoln’s door, him opening it to see a Lori wearing a white, loose tank top and her usual checkered boxer shorts. Lori’s rather casual attire threw him off a little bit; usually Lori was a little more decent with her appearance. Lincoln couldn’t help but look a little uncomfortable at his sister’s choice of clothing.

“Hey, so did you still want to watch some anime? What are you staring for?”

“Huh?? Oh nothing, yeah sure let’s watch some anime.” Said Lincoln as he turned his head slightly, averting his eyes somewhat.

“Well what did you want to watch?”

“Oh well there’s one that I started to kind of get into, but I really haven’t watched much of it since I don’t have my own laptop.”

“What is it?” Said Lori as both her and her little brother walked back to her room.

“It’s a series called Gundom; it’s got really cool robot suits and stuff.”

Lori couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Lincoln’s decision; while she liked things like Fullmetal Brother and the like, mech animes seemed too boyish.

“What??” Said Lincoln, noticing Lori’s snarky expression.

“Nothing, it’s fine.”

Lori opened the door to her room and noticed Leni sitting on her bed, reading some fashion magazines.

“Oh hey guys!” Said Leni with a smile and wave. “What are you guys doin?”

“We’re going to watch some… T.V.” Said Lori, still a little hesitant to use the word ‘anime’ around others, barring her brother.

“Ohhh…. Your ‘special shows’ right?” Said Leni, raising her hands and making a quotation mark gesture with them.

“Yeah, those.”

“Can I watch?”

Lori looked at Lincoln with a strained expression; Leni had never actually watched any anime before, and Lori wasn’t sure how she’d react to it. Lincoln gave her a comforting look and a nod though, silently telling her that it’d be okay.

“Sure, I suppose. I don’t know if it’d be something you’d be interested in though.”

“Well what’s it about?” Said Leni, curious as to what she was going to watch.

“Well I don’t really know; it was Lincoln’s suggestion.”

“It’s about a kid who pilots a robot suit and fights other robots.”

“Robots huh…” Said Leni with a quizzical look on her face. “But why are they fighting?”

Lincoln gave a shrug; he didn’t really know himself since he hadn’t watched it. “I dunno’, I haven’t seen it.”

“Well I guess I can try it out…” Said Leni, a little hesitant now that she knew what she’d be watching

“I mean you don’t have to watch with us, you can just read your fashion magazine; we won’t be too loud.” Said Lincoln.

“Lincoln’s right, we wouldn’t want to force you to watch anything you didn’t want to!” Said Lori, already a little flustered.

“No it’s okay; I’ll try to watch it.” Leni’s remark angered Lori ever so slightly because of her flaky attitude when it came to watching anime.

Lori went to her bed and grabbed her laptop, looking up an anime streaming site and inputting ‘Gundom.’ What was returned was fifteen different anime series, all with tons of episodes.

“What the heck?? Why are there so many??”

“Wow I didn’t realize there were THAT many Gundom series!” Said Lincoln as he peered over Lori’s shoulder to look at the screen.

“I don’t even know where to begin…”

“How about that one? There’s no prefixes or suffixes added to that one, so it’s probably the first.” Said Lincoln as he pointed to the first series.

“Okay; turn on the T.V. and I’ll start the episode.” Said Lori as she pointed to the T.V.

Lincoln walked over and turned the T.V. on and sat in front, waiting for the episode to start. As the first bits of the episode began to start, Lori immediately paused it.

“WAIT!!” Shouted Lori, startling both Leni and Lincoln.

Lori dashed out of the room, leaving the two others dazed and confused before returning shortly with a few bags of chips and a pack of soda cans.

“Totally forgot about the snacks, I literally would have died if I didn’t have anything to eat or drink while watching.” Said Lori as she popped a soda can open.

Lori took a drink from her soda, burping in a rather unladylike manner, and sat back down with her laptop.

As Lori hit the play button, they were greeted with a music theme that was filled with early synth sounds and a campy tone, complete with dramatic singing. All three Louds watched the opening with a blank look on their face as the archaic anime opening played, wondering just what the hell they were watching.

As the song ended and the first episode began, Lori paused the video, still looking at the T.V. in shock.

“What. Was. That?” Lori said, looking at Lincoln with an almost frightened look on her face.

“I-I don’t  know, that was…”

“…So old!” Interjected Leni.

“Yeah, that.” Said Lincoln.

“Just how old is this series??” Said Lori, looking up info on the age of Gundom.

Lori’s eyes almost bulged as she saw the date when Gundom was first released.

“No way…”

“What? What is it?” Asked Lincoln.

“This says that Gundom first came out in 1979! That’s almost as old as Dad!”

“Dad could have been watching this when he was in elementary school!” Exclaimed Lincoln, stunned by the sheer age of the anime.

“Wow… So Dad watched this when he was a kid?” Asked Leni with a confused look on her face, in other words, her normal face.

“I doubt it, it doesn’t look like it was aired outside of Japan until the 90s, and even then it crashed and burned.” Said Lori as she conducted more research.

“Wait, so this show is from Japan??” Leni switched to her second most common face, one of revelation and shock.

“Of course it’s from Japan.” Said Lori with a scoff. “What language did you think they were speaking?”

“It kinda sounded like Russian to me.” Leni merely gave a shrug as both Lincoln and Lori looked at her with an almost condescending expression.

“Anyways, do you still want to watch this?” Said Lori, looking at Lincoln with unease.

“Yeah, I want to see what all of this is about.”


Sometime later…

Lincoln stretched as Lori closed her laptop and turned off the T.V. while Leni looked positively dead as she had fallen asleep out of boredom halfway through the first episode.

As Lincoln stood up, he looked around Lori’s room to see it had returned to its previous state. Lori had gone for snacks multiple times during the episodes and between the  two of them, they devoured the food. Unfortunately, Lori had neglected to throw anything away yet again, and so there were now empty bags and crumbs on her floor yet again.

“Really Lori?” Said Lincoln with an exasperated tone.

“What??” Lori reached her hand into one of the remaining bags that still had chips in and ate a few more.

“Nothing…”

“I don’t know what you’re getting all uppity for, but that was kind of cool. Dorky, but cool.”

“Yeah, I liked it a lot, the fights were super cool and I actually really liked the mech suits!”

“The suits were pretty cool looking weren’t they?” Lori looked almost nostalgic even though she had just finished watching.

“Well we only got to watch about eight episodes or so, you wanna’ keep watching later?”

“Why not now?”

“It’s almost 9:00 Lori, it’s going to be bed time in half an hour!”

“Oh… Right… That.” Lori wore a look of disdain on her face.

“We’ll do some more watching tomorrow night or something if you want.” Said Lincoln as he walked out of his sisters’ room. “And seriously, clean up your stuff!”

“Ugh, you are literally as bad as Mom and Dad. I’ll get it done!”

“Alright then, night Lori.” Said Lincoln as he began to walk back to his room.

“Night Lincoln!”

‘She won’t get it done…’ Thought Lincoln.


The next day...


Lincoln yawned tiredly as he stepped out his room after a good night’s rest and waited in line to get into the bathroom to begin his morning routine.  As he waited though, he noticed one of his sisters was missing; Lori. Wondering where she could be, Lincoln stopped Leni on her way out of the bathroom.

“Hey Leni, is Lori up?”

“Probably not. She like, stayed up all night watching that robot show!”

“She what??” Lincoln was shocked, yet not surprised at the same time.

“Dudes, you talking about Lori?” Interjected Luna. “She hasn't been the same since she checked into heartbreak hotel.”

"Our room is like, a total mess now! There's always chips and stuff everywhere!"

Lincoln couldn't help but sigh in frustration. A month had passed since the breakup and Lori was showing no signs of recovery. Instead, she seemed to be getting worse with each passing day.

"I'll try and talk to her." Said Lincoln, hoping that he could help push Lori out of the pit that she had fallen into. "Right after I go to the bathroom." Lincoln crossed his legs; waiting at the end of the long line to the bathroom began to take a toll on him.

...

His morning routine finished, Lincoln knocked softly on his sister's door before opening it.

"Lori? You awake?"

His question was met with a loud snore as he spotted Lori sleeping in a rather slovenly position; on her bag with her legs splayed out and her laptop fallen off of her stomach and onto the side of her bed.

"Lori!" Shouted Lincoln, annoyed at such a disheveled sight.

"I'm up! I'm up!" Lori nearly leaped out of bed, rubbing her eyes hastily. As she fully opened them she saw her little brother looking at her disappointedly. "Oh it's just you. What do you want?"

"Did you stay up all night watching Gundom?"

"No! ...No! ...Yes..."

“Lori this has got to stop, you’re a mess!”

“I’m perfectly fine, so stop worrying!” Said Lori as she scooted Lincoln out of her room.

“You’re going to get in trouble…”

“I have literally done nothing wrong! I’m not going to get in trouble. Now scram!”  Said Lori as she closed her door on him.

Lincoln looked back at Luna and Leni who were watching and gave a shrug before walking back, Luna following suit with Leni in tow.

“Um Leni? This isn’t your room.” Said Luna.

“Oh yeah, I forgot.” Said Leni.

Leni walked back to her room and opened the door, finding Lori sitting on her bed with a saddened expression on her face.

“Um, Lori?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Lori picked her laptop up off the floor and turned it on, her heart heavy.

Lori knew that Lincoln was right; she was a total mess. She didn’t want to accept it though; it seemed much easier to just run away from reality and get lost in anime and video games. She wanted to keep this up for a long as she could, not worrying about anything other than when the next episode of her favorite anime was out.


Later that night…


Lori was still in her room and on her bed, browsing the internet and eating pretzels, tossing any concerns she had to the wind. Meanwhile Leni was also on her bed reading fashion magazines and writing notes down on her next dress.

As the two relaxed, a knock was heard on their door; it was their parents.

“Hi dad!” Said Leni cheerfully. “Hi mom!”

“Hey sweetie.” Said Lynn. “Do you mind leaving us alone with Lori for a couple minutes?”

Lori’s head lifted from her computer screen immediately; she knew this wasn’t going to be good.

“Sure! I’m going to go see if Lincoln wants to model for me. Hey Lincoln!” Said Leni as she walked out of the room.

“Lori.” Said Rita as she shut the door behind her.

“O-Oh, hi mom, dad.”

“We need to talk.”

"W-What about?"

“You know exactly what; it's been over a month since you broke up with Bobby and you're still a mess, I mean look at this room!” Exclaimed Lynn.

“I'll just clean it up, problem solved. Right?” Lori was trying her hardest to dodge the inevitable, but there was no avoiding it.

“Your grades are slipping, you don't go out with your friends anymore, all you do is just stay at home and watch cartoons on your computer.”

“They're not cartoons, it's called anime. There's a difference.” Said Lori with a hiss, eliciting a sigh from both of her parents.

“The point is this lifestyle, it’s not healthy.” Said Rita.

“We want you to clean this room and go out and get some fresh air tomorrow. And if your grades slip any further you can kiss that laptop goodbye.” Said Lynn with an authoritative tone.

“B-but…” Lori tried to protest, but was quickly shut down by the her father’s stare.

“No buts, you’re going to clean this room and you’re going to go spend some time outside tomorrow. Understood?”

“Yes…” Lori huffed in frustration; this battle had been completely lost.

“DADDY! LANA CLOGGED THE TOILET AGAIN!” Yelled Lola from down the hall. “THERE’S WATER EVERYWHERE!”

“Oh! Looks like I got work to do!” Said Lynn as he rushed out of Lori’s room.

“Oh sweetie I know you’re upset but this is for your own good, trust me.” Said Rita before giving Lori a hug and taking her leave.

After her mom left, Lori went back to her computer, grumbling about how unfair everything was.

“Told you so.” Said Lincoln who had suddenly appeared outside of Lori’s room.

“Oh shut up!” Said Lori as she tossed a shoe at her brother who quickly ducked and dodged. “This is LITERALLY the worst.”

“What did they say?”

“They said that my lifestyle isn’t healthy, that I need to go out and get some fresh air, that I need to clean my room. On top of it all they literally called anime ‘cartoons!’”

“So now I gotta clean this stupid room and have to go out tomorrow.” Said Lori as she sluggishly standing up and cleaning her room rather haphazardly.

Lincoln watched as Lori attempted to clean her room, but instead made things even messier somehow. She gathered the assorted clothes off of the floor and threw them in the general direction of her hamper, all of them but one missing the actual basket. As she reached underneath her bed, she found a nearly empty bag of potato chips, noticing that there were a few small chips still left in the bag. Shrugging, she reached into the bag and pulled one out, about ready to eat it before Lincoln came in and swiped the bag from her.

“STOOOPPP!!!”

Lincoln glared daggers at his sister, astonished at his sister’s slovenliness. He quickly crumpled the bag and promptly threw it in her trash bin. Before he knew it, he was picking up her clothes and properly placing them in the hamper, collecting the various snack bags and throwing them away. It was only after he was completely done with the room did he realize exactly what he had done. He looked back at Lori, who was lying on her bed and browsing the internet on her laptop.

“Wait a minute! You were supposed to do this!”

“Well you just seemed so eager to clean the room that I wasn’t going to stop you.” Said Lori, causing Lincoln to pinch his eyes in frustration.

“Mom and Dad said that I need to go outside tomorrow, but I don’t know how to get out of that one…” Lori rubbed her chin in contemplation for a few seconds before her eyes widened. “I got it! Lincoln, you’re coming with me tomorrow.”

“What?!”

“You’re the only one who understands me anymore! Nobody else will get it! Please?” Said Lori with puppy-dog eyes.

“Fine…” Said Lincoln begrudgingly.

For the first time in what felt like months, Lori took off her wolf sweater and pajama pants and put on her light blue tank top along with her brown shorts. She finally took a brush to her hair, brushing it to a semi acceptable appearance. As she finally finished preparations to venture outside of the house, she looked at herself in the mirror.

“Well here goes nothing.”

Exiting the room, Lori walked down the hall and opened Lincoln’s bedroom door, only to find him changing.

“Lori!” Exclaimed Lincoln furiously.

“What?”

“Do you mind letting me have some privacy??”

“Fine whatever, it’s not like it’s anything I haven’t seen before.” Lori rolled her eyes and closed the door, waiting outside.

After a short while, a flushed Lincoln emerged from his room, giving Lori a dirty look.

“Okay okay, I’m sorry. Happy?” Said Lori in an exasperated tone. “Let’s go.”

Stepping outside, Lori covered her eyes to shield them from the sun. She winced in pained as a confused Lincoln watched her recoil from the natural sunlight.

“Uh Lori, you okay?”

“It burns!”

Lori’s exaggerated response elicited an eye roll from her brother before he took her hand and dragged her to the van.

“No, I changed my mind! I wanna go back inside!”

“Lori, you have to go outside! You’re going to get in trouble!” Said Lincoln, now using both his arms to tug at Lori, who had firmly planted her feet in the ground, not intending to move another step forward.

After much struggle, Lincoln finally pulled Lori to van’s driver seat. Upon reaching the van door, Lori had finally given up resisting, and pulled her arm away from Lincoln.

“Alright, fine. Just get in the stupid van.”

The two situated themselves in the car, turning it on and buckling their seatbelts before pulling out of the driveway and driving off.

“So Lori,”

“What?”

“Where exactly are we going?”

“You’ll see.”


…


After a bit of driving, Lori and Lincoln had finally arrived at their destination: Gus’ Games & Grub. As soon as he caught sight of the arcade, Lincoln’s eyes lit up with excitement, prompting a smile from Lori.

“We’re going to Gus’??”

“Yup.”

“But why?”

“Well Mom and Dad said I had to go out, and I can at least play the arcade version of Super Mega Brawlers Turbo Fighter XXIV here. Speaking of which, you wanna go a few rounds?”

“You’re on!”

The duo pulled into a parking stall and hopped out of the car. Entering the arcade, both of them were filled with elation at the sight of the multitude of arcade machines. The smell of pizza and other snack foods permeated the air. For Lincoln, and now Lori, it was like Candyland.

“Alright, first thing’s first.” Said Lori. “I gotta kick your butt in Turbo Fighter before we do anything else.”

“That’s what you think! I’ve been practicing while you’ve been watching anime!”

The two siblings walked over to the Super Mega Brawlers Turbo Fighter machine, but not before stopping to turn 20 dollars into quarters so they can play. They both stared at each other with vicious eyes, as if they were going to fight to the death, and placed the quarters into the machine.

The cabinet roared to life as the character select screen was brought up, both Lori and Lincoln choosing their characters.

“I’m not going to go easy on you y’know?” Said Lori as the game loaded.

“I wouldn’t want you to.”

The game loaded up, and the two engaged in a fierce duel. Lincoln had improved significantly since their last fight; he was able to react to combos that switched between high and low attacks and learned how to animation cancel.  Lori was impressed by how much skill Lincoln had gained since their last match, and fought without holding anything back.

After a grueling battle that seemed to have lasted for ages, Lori prevailed.

“Rats!” Shouted Lincoln, frustrated at his inability to defeat his sister.

“Woohoo!” Lori pumped her fist into the air with glee.

“Alright, you beat me.”

“Don’t be like that Lincoln; you were much better than last time. I was actually kind of scared of losing!”

“Really?” Said Lincoln, slightly taken aback.

“Yeah, I can tell you’ve really been practicing. That was a lot of fun.”

“Well we could always go again if you want.” Said Lincoln sheepishly.

“Nah it’s okay; we played the game I wanted to play. Now we can play whatever you want to play.”

“In that case, can we play some Dancemania?”

“Sure!”

The two continued to play various kinds of arcade games together, both of them having the time of their life. After a while though, both of their stomachs began to growl and so they decided to take a break and get some pizza.

“Hey Lincoln.”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for dragging me out of the house. This has literally been the greatest day ever.”

“No I should be the one thanking you! I had no idea you wanted to go to Gus’.”

“You know, I thought when I broke up with Bobby that I’d never be happy again.” Said Lori reflectively. “But I think today showed me that I can be happy, even without him.”

“So does that mean you’re going to start going out and spending time with your friends instead of watching anime?”

“What?? Heck no! I’m just saying that I found a way to enjoy life without Bobby. As if I’d give up spending time with my precious Tamashi, who is literally perfect in every way.” Said Lori with dreamy eyes.

“Yeah, because he’s not real.” Said Lincoln, rolling his eyes.

“Shut up. He’s real to me.”

“Anyways, wanna play some more?”

“Duh, of course!”