Patching things up -WIP-

"There! That should fix it."

"We make a pretty good team, pop!" Lana gave him the thumbs up on a job well done. After the small mess she made just prior, with a little elbow grease; a vast assortment of tool; and a little bit of music from Luna's laptop, it was all finished by the end of the day. "How are you holding in there Lori?"

"I need to... go... lay down now." Exhausted, she dragged her feet up the stairs and tried to make a swift turn to the left after reaching the top of the stairs. Unfortunately, she came into contact with the railing. "Ow, my chest!"

"So, what are we doing next; trimming the hedges? Fixing loose legs on some of the tables? Oh! How about messing with that squeaking noise on the garage door! It drives me crazy everytime Luna goes in there to practice."

"Now, now! There's more than enough around here to-"

"EXCUSE ME!" A thunderous voice shook the entire house. Followed by a violent slam, Liam took a quick glance at Lana.

"Looks like we have a bit of a situation upstairs. We're going to have to put the rest of those touch ups on hold."

With a curious Lana right on his heels, Mr. Loud climbs up the stairs to investigate. Worried looks spilled out of every doorway, with no telling what just happened. A quick look to his left shows Lori flat on her ass, still sore from chasing after her father and younger sister.

"Lori! What happened?" Lana rushed over to help her up. The tallest of the siblings elicited a multitude of cracks from her very bones on the way up, a hand placed upon her head as if to ward off fatigue. "Jeez, all your joints need to really loosen up. Hold on, I might have some WD-40 on hand."

Lori quickely chimed in. "No need. Bobby can probably set me up with the masseuse in the mall. I've been meaning to talk with her anyway. But if you want to know what just happened, the pageant princess just came storming by and holed herself up in your room. And judging where she came from, a certain snow haired boy in this house may have a bit of explaining to do." The door to Lincoln's room closed shut in an instant. "I was on my way to my room when I heard a lot of bickering. As much as I wanted to go and lay down, i'd rather have wanted to know what was going on now than later so you wouldn't have to deal with it. Then Lola just came storming out. She looked pretty upset."

Lana tried to fool around with the doorknob to her room, but no matter what the door wouldn't budge. "Nope, no good. She's got it locked tight."

"Well Lana, Lori; I'll just have to leave that to you two girls. For now, just leave Lincoln to me." The boy's door slowly opened, as if magically aware of the imminent stern talking to. Though more than likely, Lincoln heard everything from ouside him room and prepared himself accordingly. A sheepish "come in..." followed shortly.

Mr. Loud, with his quick thinking, decided to ham up the situation. With a clearing of the throat and one foot in the door, he cloudly anounced, "Well, I guess it's time for me to do the fatherly thing and set this whole situation straight. Lori, I'm sure you know what to do!"

"On it." She slowly hobbled away, as Liam then turns to Lana for her instructions.

"And Lana, make sure Lola doesn't escape. Keep your eyes on the door at all times."

The small tyke gave an army salute. "You can count on me!"

"Good! I trust you to do it while I'm in here. Good luck!"

Papa slowly closed the door only to turn around to a sulking Lincoln sitting on his bed.

"Alright. Now that that's out the way, don't worry. You're not in trouble. Just wanted to clear the air with something I thought would be funny." He takes a spot on the bed next to his son, With an assuring arm around the shoulder to further set him at ease. "So, what's the matter?"

"Oh, just... You know how I was going on and on about how Clyde and I would be able to make it to the gaming convention, where they're souping up all the virtual reality gaming devices to 1080 p and a working pad?"

"Uhh... sure. I understand totally."

"Well, we had that planned out, but out of the blue Lola had this pageant come up. She said it could be a really big break for her career, and how she got you and mom to get the van ready for it. She really wanted me to be there for it, but I'm usually there for all of her performances. I told her I wanted to sit this one out, and I can just come out for the next. But before I knew it, she just blew up at me. I thought she was fine enough to not need all of my guidance this time around, but she wouldn't take it for an answer. Then she stormed out and knocked Lori over. I dunno... maybe I should go apologize and try to make it up to her!"

Lincoln got up and was about to make his way to the door when he was suddenly stopped.

"Hold it Lincoln! Sit back down; there's a bit of knowledge I gotta lay on you son. Now, I know you'd do nothing to try and hurt your sisters on purpose. Right?"

Lincoln eyes connected with his father more firm look. As much as he liked to joke, it was easy to tell where the play times ended, and his seriousness began. "Uh-huh."

"And you're always one to make everything right, as a young man should. And I'm glad you want to do the right thing. But you're still young, and there's nothing wrong with you being able to go out and do your own thing. I'd hate to give you the impression that you have to give up every little thing to make all of your sisters happy. That's more my job than anything else." He gave a hearty laugh, which got a small chuckle out of the boy himself.

"Hehe. I think I already got the point dad. I was still planning to go no matter what, but I don't want to leave Lola like that! It'll break all of her focus if she goes there mad and upset, and it'll really be my fault at that point..."

"Don't worry son, I think I may know just what to do! I should be able to soften her up for you."

"Thanks."

Mr. Loud quickly made his way out of the room, and could only continue to chuckle to himself.

"(Maybe I was a bit too worried about this over on Lincoln's side of things. He's a big kid. He'll know how to pull through. Lola, on the other hand... When something gets her fire going, it'll take a little 'something something' and a bit of luck to douse it out.) Oh! Any luck there Lieutenant Lana?" He gave an army salute, which Lana played along with and gave in return.

"Negative. I've remained at my post, but not a single thing has happened. But she's still in there. We'll smoke her out of that bunker room eventually."

"Hahaha! Good to hear. Say... where did Lori go? I couldn't have actually been gone that long."

"She went to go and get reinforcements, general. Very soon, we should be able to breach enemy lines!"

"General, sir!" It was Luna; Armed with her axe and pick in hand, she stood in a ready position. "On your command, i've primed a special sound bomb in the attempts to disorient the enemy and storm the commpound, sir."

"At ease, private Luna! Its misuse can blow us all sky high. I know you're experienced in the art of war, but I'll have you stand down until further notice."

"I can only ashume that means my actual exploshives won't be in need of any ashistace."

"I'm afraid so, Lisa. Also.... i'll need you to dispose of that posthaste. We don't need another Loud harbor. (It actually took me a while to refix the back porch.)"

"Affirmative. It was a lacklushter batch anyway."

"There's my oldest and her second in command. Have anything in mind?"

"We should have something general. Sorry, I couldn't play up the role with my army gear, but I'm literally much too sore to go the extra mile. I think I need an honorable discharge."

"But you didn't walk an extra mile. It was only a few steps from our room."

"Leni... Nevermind. We're going to need your help. Lola's stuck in there, and you have the skills to set her free."

"She's stuck in the door? That's impossible."

Lori uses what ounce of strength she had left to connect face with palm, before her arm drooped back down. "Let me rephrase myself. Lola locked herself inside, and we need you to unlock it so Dad can talk to her."

"Ohhhhhhh! Now I get it." She wrestles a pin from her hair before kneeling down and going to town on the lock. " Just gotta worm it in there, mess with the lock-lock thingy here, and-" The door swung wide open.

"It's Germany. I give up. The Allies win."

"Well mate, that was quicker than I thought. You know what that means? V-day celebration for everyone!" Luna belts out a riff that goes into the national anthem, as the rest of the sisters cheer.

"Man down, man down. Whoever says war isn't sticky business clearly hasn't been on the fron lines. Thankfully, there's everything 'casual' about this 'casualty'. haha!" Luan helped Leni up and prceeded to take her to the "infirmary".

"Hah! Ain't she a card. Well, would you mind if I just came in for a bit?" Lola gestured an arm, signaling Mr. Loud to come inside. There was a plate of cookies situated on her table, with a tea pot just next to it. Like the gentleman he is, he offered the tiny beauty queen a seat as he walked to sit opposite of her. She poured him a cup, as was customary; the drink was still just warm enough to emit abit of steam. "So, I guess it's time to officially begin the Nuremberg trials. Lola Loud, I'm sure you know why you've been summoned here. What do you plead to the war crimes of the illegal production of armaments, mobilization of an immense army and leading the blitzkrieg, crossing the border into PoLincoln; G-"

"Guilty." A loud sip set the tone for what felt like a long spell of silence. She stared down at her reflection, as if hoping that seeing it would help lift up her spirits. Instead, her head never came back up, the surrounding air growing heavy. She mirrored the way he had found Lincoln just a few minutes before. "[sigh] I'm... I'm sorry. I know you're here because of what I did to Lincoln. It was wrong of me, and as a pageant winner I need to be able to control my emotions a lot better than I just did. I-"

That was his cue. What could possibly trump the power of the fatherly stare? The folded arms and scowl "one-two" punch. In Lola's current state, she couldn't even put up a tiny form of protest. A look like that could kill, but in this case he let her off a bit easy. "You know, beating around the bush like this isn't going to solve anything, nor will it make me leave any sooner. And you and I know being a pageant winner has nothing to do emotions and composure outside of an actual competition. Now come here and give your dad a hug." Lola slowly sauntered over, colliding into his chest as he pulled her in for a gentle embrace.

"I hate it when you do that."

"I hate it too munchkin. It's not often I have to get so serious, but today seems to be the rare exception. Now, let me guess; you want to apologize to Lincoln, but you aren't sure how to do it."

"Mhmm.