Fluff

Chapter Sixty-Nine - Sugar Rush Crash

They made it back home before the girls finally started to crash.

Emily was relieved; the level of energy her sisters had displayed was just a bit too much for comfort, even if they probably deserved to be a little more energetic than usual.

They arrived and Emily immediately ushered her sisters into the bathroom one at a time for showers while she set out changes of clothes for them. There wasn’t even that much grumbling about it, though she did curse the lack of space in her drawers.

Emily didn’t have too much, clothes-wise, but the jeans and loose hoodies she liked took up space, and they were competing with all of her sister’s stuff.

Soon, very soon, they’d have to find a new place to stay. It probably wasn’t healthy to have them all stuffed into this one room anyway.

Once everyone was showered and yawns were being shared around freely, Emily sat on her chair cross legged, with Maple up on her lap where she could idly play with the beaver girl's still-wet hair.

“So,” Emily said. “Did anyone get any improvements from that?” she asked.

Her Queen questline had improved once after the day’s fiasco, giving her a new skill-slot point. A few other minor quests had gone off too, earning her a whole three new skill upgrade points.

It didn’t feel like a great reward considering the amount of risk they’d been in, but she wasn’t going to complain. She had to go over her quests and pick out new ones, but at the moment she was feeling rather lazy about it.

Her sisters replied with a chorus of yeses. “Anyone feel like upgrading skills before bed?” Emily asked.

“Who goes first?” Teddy asked.

“I think last time it was Athena first?” Emily asked. She was about fifty-percent sure of that. “Which means this time it should be Trinity first, right?”

“Yeah!” Trinity cheered, then all three of her paused mid-cheer to yawn.

Emily didn’t say anything, but she thought it was kind of cute. “So, want to see what new ability you get? Then it’ll be Maple’s turn, then Teddy, then Athena, right?”

She got a bunch of nods and no complaints.

She loved her sisters so much more when they were tired.

“Ohhh,” Trinity said. “I got two new skills and a heap of points for stuff.”

“Two?” Teddy said. “I only got one.”

“She was kidnapped,” Athena said. “Maybe that helped?”

Teddy snorted. “Please, I could get kidnapped like, super easily.”

“Girls, please don’t get kidnapped on purpose just to earn points,” Emily said. Maybe she didn’t love her tired sisters more.

“Got my first one,” Trinity said. “Did you wanna see both at the same time, or like one at a time?”

“Um, one at a time is fine,” Emily said.

Trinity nodded, then grinned. “It makes me more better at spying and stuff. See?” She showed off her new skill, the screen she summoned large enough for everyone to read.

“Huh,” Emily said. “That actually seems really handy. Improved senses are nice.” Her own sense-improving skill had come in handy already, and this one seemed better, if less flexible.

“Yeah, I can make a third of myself three times more good, which is like... uh, that’s one-hundred and sixty-six percent better?”

Emily wasn’t sure about that math, but she wasn’t going to pull out a calculator without having to. “That’s great,” she said.

Trinity grinned, big and proud. “Yeah, got another one. It’s like an Athena-skill.”

Athena’s head whipped around, and she narrowed her eyes at Trinity. “Lemme see,” she demanded.

Emily read the skill’s description, then re-read it to be sure. That was... a very bizarre skill. “That’s, um, interesting.”

“Ain’t it?” Trinity asked. She raised her arms in a cheer, then all three of her flopped backwards onto the bed. “Okay, Maple’s turn.”

Maple bounced on her spot on Emily’s lap. “My turn? Oh, um. I only got the one.”

“That’s fine,” Emily said.

Maple nodded, then her brow knit together as she thought. “Okay, here,” she eventually said while shyly showing Emily the results of her work.

“I, ah, have two points too,” Maple said. “For upgrading. But I can’t use them yet.”

“That’s fine,” Emily said. This was the first time she’d seen one of her sisters get a maxed skill before. It... probably didn’t mean anything though. She’d poke around online if she had time to visit a library. The skill itself seemed useful, except for the vagueness of ‘approximate.’

Emily wasn’t an expert, but she was under the impression that approximates and careful engineering didn’t mix well.

“Does it roll around to me now?” Teddy asked. “I kinda spent all of my upgrade points though.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Emily said.

Teddy grinned. “Yeah, awesome! Here’s what I got!”

“That sounds super strong,” Emily said.

“I will be super strong!” Teddy said. She flexed her bicep, which didn’t do much through her loose bear-print PJs.

“I’m last then,” Athena said. “My new skill’s nothing too impressive.”

“I disagree,” Emily said. “This sounds pretty strong.”

Athena smiled a little. “It’s okay,” she said.

It wouldn’t let Athena know when someone was lying, but it would give her another lever from which to apply pressure on people in tense situations, which was what Athena’s powers were all about.

Emily clapped. “Okay, that’s everyone then? Time for bed?”

“Hey!” Teddy said. “I’m not one to avoid bedtime, but what about you, huh?”

“Ah,” Emily said. She had one skill to unlock, but at the moment it was acting as a buffer between her and her next sister. “I can wait until tomorrow,” she said.

Athena scowled at her, and Emily immediately felt a twist in her gut, as if she was stepping on a stage and a thousand eyes were on her.

“Athena,” she warned.

“Oops,” Athena said.

“But... fine, let’s see what I got,” she said. In the end, it was only fair. Besides, a bit more time with a new skill might help her figure out how to use it.

All it took was a thought to bring up the appropriate question.

Do you wish to spend a Skill Slot point on the Power: Sister Summoning?

“Yes,” Emily muttered,

New Skill unlocked!
Centre of Attention has been added to your Power’s Skills!

She did not like that name, not one bit. With a quick thought, she opened her status screen, taking note of the new skill wedged at the bottom of it.

She tapped the last skill on the list, which opened a new box for her to look at.

“What’cha get?” Teddy asked. “Is it good?”

“Are we going to have another sister?” Athena asked.

Emily rubbed her face. Her powers clearly hated her. This was pretty much exactly the opposite of what she’d want as a skill. And the description... a warning or a monologue? That was pure villain-talk.

“Here, you can look,” she said with a dejected sigh.

Her sisters were overjoyed with the skill, going on about how she’d have to practise proper monologuing and how she could use it to scare heroes.

Emily set Maple down, flicked off the lights, then went to bed. At least she wasn’t cold at night, being covered by a heap of snoring brats.

***