Lori was a little disappointed that she didn't go for a dare, but at the same time, she could see why she wouldn't. Not only was Lisa usually only a daredevil when it came to her experiments (the amout of experimentation she did on herself was enough proof of that), but the game had just begun. Now, the question was, what was she going to ask her?
"Hmm... is it true..." Lori started. Lisa was sweating profusely as her eldest sister stared at her with intent, most definitely to embarrass her in front of the whole table. "...that you sleep with a stuffed animal?"
Lisa sighed. While saying that she never told a lie would, in itself, be a lie, she wasn't one to break promises. And she had just promised to follow the agreed-upon rules of the game. One of those rules was that she couldn't lie when she picked truth. No matter how much she wished she didn't have to admit to what she was accused of, she had no choice.
"Yes... I do in fact sleep with a plush doll at my side. He's a Vulpes Vulpes, street name Red Fox, whom I had given the nickname of 'Todd.'" she said, a slight blush forming on her cheeks.
The room went silent, except for a slight snicker or two. "Yes, yes, I know, someone of my level of intelligence and mind-wise maturity should not be engaging in such childish behaviors-" she started.
"Aww, that's not true, Lisa!" Lincoln cut her off. "While you're definitely the smartest out of all of us, that doesn't mean you're not allowed to act your age as well. Besides, I myself have Bun-Bun."
"Yeah, and the entire half of my room filled with stuffed animals!" Lola added on.
"And, to tell you the truth, when I'm feeling gloomy, or really more gloomy than usual, sometimes I just lay down in my coffin bed with Edwin for a few minutes." Lucy also said. She put her Edwin bust on the table in front of her. Leaning to Lincoln, who was sitting to her right, she also whispered to him, "And read Princess Pony in the vents at night, when I know nobody else would be crawling around in there."
Hearing this took a lot of the worry off the prodigy's shoulders and got rid of the redness on her face. "So you're... not going to make fun of me?"
"Nope." everyone else replied, shaking their heads.
"Phew." Lisa breathed a sigh of relief. "Anyway, I believe it's my turn to ask someone else the question of 'Truth' or 'Dare'." She turned to Lola. "Lola, truth or dare?"
"Hmm... I think I'll go with truth this time, too."
"Is it true that... you have enjoyed engaging in sport and/or play in mud, in the same manner that your twin sister has?"
"What?! No! Why on Earth would I, Lola Loud, ever do something as... gross as that?" Lola asked in a dramatic but genuine tone of surprise.
"Are you sure? Not even when you were little? Lana asked, elbowing her sparkly twin's shoulder.
"Yes, I am positive!" To prove her point, the pageant queen got up from the table, went into the living room, and came back with a photo album specifically dedicated to pictures that included her. In a family this big, one family photo album for everyone just wasn't going to cut it, after all. She flipped through the pages, confident in her beliefs. That didn't last long, however, because when she turned to one page, it showed a picture of a little girl of about 3 years in age, in a pink shirt and white skirt, along with one missing front tooth, playing in the mud. She seemed pretty happy in the picture, too. Lola, along with Lisa and Lana, gasped at this. The other Loud kids were less surprised since it was more recent for them. Even Lucy remembered it fairly well, despite being only two years older.
"But-but how?! This has to be a mistake! Maybe Mom and Dad accidentally put a picture of Lana in here instead!" Lola frantically tried to come up with possible explanations for what she was seeing right now.
"Nah, I would never wear something as girly as that." Lana chimed in. She took in every moment she could to stare at the picture, not believing her eyes either. Who knew her twin had more in common with her than she thought? If only she would still play in the mud, maybe she'd even play with her!
"And here I thought I would never play in the mud, but here we are, with a photo too. At this point, I'm pretty sure anything is possible." And with that, she closed the book, put it back, walked back in and sat down with her arms folded. If that really was her in the picture, then when and how did she change to become the person she was today? "Oh well, it was for the better and who I am right now is the true me, and that's all that matters." she thought to herself.
"Lana, truth or dare?" she asked her polar opposite of a twin.
"Dare!" Lana replied with an excited and confident tone.
"Nice." Lola said.
"Of course, they don't call me the 'Queen of Risks' for nothin'!"
"Well then, Little Miss 'Queen of Risks', I dare you to... lick a bar of soap!"
Lana stared at her for a full 10 seconds. Lick a bar of soap? She would have been fine with the dare, and even may have believed it to be a weak one, if it weren't for the fact that it was going to involve soap. She considered it to be one of her biggest enemies, aside from bullies, rhubarb and seemingly-rich enough mud that somehow ends up actually being dried up, of course. But hey, it was a dare, and there was no way she was going to turn one down.
"I'll do it, but only because you dared me." She went to the bathroom and came back with a bar of soap. She grimaced at the smooth, green object in her hand that was also almost as big as it. Nonetheless, she gave it a lick on the side. It was... surprisingly not as bad as she thought it was, but still horrible. No wonder parents so often threatened to punish their kids with it for swearing. She spat the flavor out onto the floor a few times (much to the disgust of most of her siblings, save for Lynn) and put the bar back as well.
"Lori, truth or dare?"
Without a second thought, Lori chose "truth."
A mischievous grin broke out on the little plumber's face. "Lori... is it true that all those times you said it was your shoes, that you actually farted?"
Lori's face went blank as all eyes were on her. "N-no! It is my shoes, see?" She got up and rubbed her right foot on the floor, which emitted not even a single squeak. "Well of course it's not doing it now, ugh."
"I thought we were not allowed to lie when we chose the 'truth' option in this game." Lisa pointed out.
"Yeah, you're right... I literally broke my own rules, and that's not okay. All those times, I did fart." she sighed in defeat. Of course, her statement was met with some snickering too, some rather quietly like Lucy, and some downright cackling like Lana. "I'm starting to regret agreeing to play this game..." Lori muttered under her breath.
"Wait, I just remembered something, dudes. Weren't we supposed to go clockwise with who gets to ask, rather than the person being asked being the one to ask next?" Luna piped up. She was met with a few oh yea's.
"Ehh, I personally prefer it this way, to be honest." Lynn said with a shrug.
"Alright, in that case, we'll continue in the order we've been going with for now." Lori decided, to the agreement of the others. "Speaking of, Luna, truth or dare?"
"Hmm... I think I'mma go with dare. Feelin' kinda adventurous today, ya know?"
"I dare you to serenade Sam with a love song, over the phone." Lori's smile was not a mischievous one, but rather a knowing and encouraging one.
Luna blushed at the thought of Sam, especially at the thought of singing her a love song. Although she did get enough courage to send her a confession letter thanks to Lola and her parents' encouragement, she was still rather shy around her crush. At the same time, though, they were both united in their love for music of nearly all genres, and it would be pretty cool to be able to do what Lori was suggesting. She would have preferred to do it in person, but it sounded like an awful lot of trouble to ask her to come over for just a few minutes and then leave. Unless... unless she could stay? Maybe Lori wouldn't mind.
"I think it'd be better if I did somethin' like that in person, Lori. Maybe she would like to come over and even join in on our game? It could be fun." she asked, a tone of hopefulness in her voice.
They all aww'd at this, especially Lori, Leni and Lola. "Hmm, you know what? You're right, Luna. And that could be fun. After all, Mom and Dad never really said we couldn't have a friend over." Lori obliged.
"Sweet! Thanks a lot, brah!"
Luna ran into her room to get her phone, dialed up Sam, and waited as the ringer played in her ear. Soon, Sam answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey, dude. So me and my fam are playing Truth or Dare right now, and I was wondering if ya wanted to come over and join in with us? I also have a little surprise for you if so."
"Ooooh, I love that game! I'll be right over! See you soon!"
"Alright, cool! Bye."
She hung up and placed the phone on the table. "She said she'll be here in 10 minutes."
10 minutes later...
A knock on the door was heard. Luna got up and walked over to the window to see who it was. Seeing that it was in fact Sam, she opened the door.
"Hey, Lunes! Thanks for letting me join you guys!" she said in a perky tone.
"And thank you for coming too!"
Sam walked inside the house and into the dining room. Only then did she realize just how big Luna's family was; she was only expecting two, maybe even three siblings at the very most, but 9?! "Whoa, I've never seen such a big family in my whole, entire life!" she gawked. Man, by the looks of it, her parents sure were busy.
"Yeah, that's what they all say when they first see this. There's even an extra little one upstairs takin' a snooze." Luna clarified in the most chill way anyone could ever mention having 10 siblings. The very thought of it still boggled her mind to this day, and why shouldn't it? Of course, she loved each and every one of them to bits, and she knew they all felt the same way about each other. The members already seated at the table gave a short "Hello!" and waved to the new guest.
"Anyway, Luna, I dare you to serenade Sam." Lori repeated, just to clarify to Sam what was going on.
Luna picked up her acoustic guitar, sighed, and looked Sam in the eye. With that, she began strumming and singing to the tune of "In My Life (I Love You More)" by the Beatles.
"There are places I remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more"
When she stopped and put her guitar down, she saw Same grinning ear to ear at the little ditty she had just played. "Whoa, I know I've heard you play Beatles songs before, but that one, that one in particular was beautiful."
Luna smiled back at this praise. The blush she had developed hadn't gone away; in fact, it had gotten even stronger. "Aww, thanks!" she responded sheepishly, trying her very best to not let herself squee right there in front of her crush.
She did manage to snap out of it soon, though. Once they both took a seat next to each other (with Leni and Lori scooching over one seat) the rocker inhaled and exhaled deeply. It was now her turn to ask someone else "truth" or "dare." She turned to the spooky girl herself, Lucy.
"Lucy, truth or dare?"
Lucy turned to Luna as well. "I think I'll go with 'dare,' it will make no difference to my journey to an eventual darkness to eternity." the goth replied in her usual monotone.
Lynn and Luna rolled their eyes a bit at their younger sister's usual morbid quips. "Hmm... I dare you to... dye your hair pink for the rest of the game."
Without a word, Lucy got up and left the table, walking upstairs to her room. From her arms being held stiffly to her side and her frown being more pronounced than usual, it was obvious that she wasn't about to be wearing any pink.
"Hey, get back down here, Lucy! I literally gotta keep watch over all of you!" Lori yelled with as much ferocity as she felt was needed - which wasn't all of it, thankfully. Now that would be true terror to witness.
Lucy slowly trudged back downstairs and sat back down. "I'm not doing the dare." she said flatly.
"Alright then, that's fine, but you won't get a point." Lori responded. Lucy could barely care less, to be completely honest. No game of Truth or Dare was going to ever make her wear such a... bright and girly color. Unlike her roommate, who seemed as though she would do anything to win, no matter what. Now there was an idea she could have fun with.