Fluff

Chapter Eleven - A Queen of Sorts

Emily didn’t exactly sleep well. The entire night had been spent curled up in a small ball so that the large towels she’d unpacked could serve as a blanket against the cold in her room. She listened to Teddy’s steady snoring and tried to fall asleep to no avail.

She did sleep, eventually, but when she awoke it was with bleary eyes and no energy.

At least it hadn’t been to the door slamming open as a team of heroes barged into her room that woke her up. She had a few nightmares like that already.

She got dressed in a hurry, tacked a note to the inside door telling Teddy not to step out unless it was an emergency. She also left her number just in case and made a note in her own agenda to maybe find out if getting a phone for Teddy was doable.

Classes started, and within moments Emily found herself zoning out. She wasn’t thinking about Literature and its impact on society, or the artistic merit of stringing words along in pretty ways. She wasn’t even overly worried about the people sitting around her for once.

Her mind was focused on quests.

Now that she knew a bit more about how the system worked, she figured she could start to work on becoming something that wasn’t a Villain.

It was, on the surface, rather simple. She just had to pick out quests that would lead her in another direction and do them.

Quest!
Join the Battle Against the Forces of Good!
Kill or Incapacitate Heroic Figures.
Reward: 3 Skill Upgrade Points Per Hero Incapacitated or Killed. Villainy +4 per Kill!
Accept? Refuse?

That was clear enough. Villainy points would make her even more of a villain. Also, killing people was completely off the table.

Quest!
The Black Queen
Begin to Climb the Societal Ladder... with Violence!
Reward: 1 Skill Upgrade Points Per Person Assassinated, Socially Outcast, or Bullied into Submission. Crime Lady +1 per Societal Rank!
Accept? Refuse?

There were more things she wasn’t familiar with. Societal Ranks? She opened her agenda and added it to the ‘Ask Teddy’ list. A few flips back to another list had her adding ‘find a code’ to her weekly list. She didn’t want just anyone finding her agenda and knowing everything she was up to.

The Black Queen quest was off the table. She didn’t want to become a Crime Lady any more than she wanted to be a Villain. Teddy had said something about points near the same rank sometimes allowing for sideways growth, though it hadn’t been in so many words and there was a warning about Capitalists in there too that Emily didn’t understand.

The next quest was one that had her a bit more on edge.

The Queen With the Silken Sword
Become an Outstanding Member of Your Community!
Reward: 1 Skill Upgrade Point per 10 People Who Recognize You as ‘Good.’ +1 Scoundrel Point per 10 People Who Recognize You as ‘Good.’

That had potential! She had to stifle the urge to smile, or else the people around her might begin to wonder why her mood had changed.

She could do that, she could help the community!

Sighing, Emily sat back down and did her best to pay attention to the lesson. She would have to look up any notes left by students from the previous year, just in case she missed anything important, but that was also something she could do.

In the back of her mind, she was planning out ways to join volunteer groups. Maybe she could pick up trash, or clean clothes at a thrift store? She’d done things like that before! It would be easy once she figured out how to work it around her school schedule.

The points that she made from it... didn’t really matter to her. She had a single Skill Upgrade point at her disposal, and she didn’t mind having more or less, they were part of the thing causing her woes and she decided that they could safely be ignored.

Class ended on a high note, the teacher announcing that the homework he was going to hand out would wait until next Monday.

She gathered her things, then patiently waited as the class emptied a bit so that she wouldn’t be bumping into anyone at the door.

One advantage of suddenly being thrust into the world of masks and villains and such was that her anxiety about being around people had been (partially) replaced by a multitude of new and far more terrifying anxieties.

Emily plotted her course from her English Lit class to the campus cafeteria. If she arrived late enough, they might not question her taking enough food for two, and there wouldn’t be a line at the free food they served.

The rumours online said that it wasn’t exactly... good food, but it was free, which counted for a lot to the student body.

After that she had an afternoon History class. She would need to look at the map on her phone to know exactly where that was on the campus other than the vague idea she’d gotten from her first tour.

Emily was still plotting ahead when she slowed to a stop just outside the English building.

There was a crowd. Not the kind of crowd that appeared when foot traffic jammed, or when people were gathering to protest something, but the sort of crowd that came together to collectively gawk at something.

It only took looking up a bit to see what the fuss was all about.

Jezebelle Winthrop
Defender, Level One

Emily froze, the deer in the headlights. The crowds shifted, bulging out like the sea rising, and somehow Emily was the place where it broke.

The woman under the name was a shorter girl, short brown hair that fell down to her neck, a face that Emily might have called plain, with eyes that were a bit big but that shone with mirth.

She had her hands stuffed in a jeans jacket over a T-shirt with Hot Stuff’s handsome face on it. Jezebelle was grinning from ear to ear, soaking in all the attention around her like a flower indulging in a heavy rain of attention.

And then she bumped into Emily.

“S-sorry!” Emily squeaked. She started to step back.

Jezebelle’s hand caught her elbow.

For a moment, Emily thought that it was all over. Defender was a heroic morality, she was done for.

Instead, Jezebelle only grinned wider. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Emily said.

“Were you waiting here for me?” she asked. At Emily’s quick shake of the head, she chuckled. “There’s no need to be shy,” she said.

“I-I’m sorry,” Emily said. “I should, I should go.” She clutched her backpack close, arms bunching up by her side to ward off the attention. Jezebelle’s hand loosened.

“Fangirls already?” she said as she walked on past.

The laughter had Emily burning up, but that kernel of anger warred with the relief of being free.

Who, she wondered, was that? Public masks were common enough, but to go around on campus... She wanted to smack herself. Power Day was only days ago. She’d gotten her powers then, how could she forget so easily that others would be gifted powers on that day too.

So a new local hero then.

She paused to watch the crowd slowly moving on, at their centre the name of a potential threat hovered.

Emily hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. But if it did... maybe seeing the girl’s smug, too-confident facade break when she came face to face with an angry Teddy would make things better.

She swallowed. That thought hadn’t been very kind. There was no reason for her to dislike or distrust Jezebelle. They weren’t enemies, they were only on different sides of a line that Emily planned on crossing.

That was no reason to be antagonistic.