Fluff

Chapter Fifty-Three - Healpats

The first order of business the next day was classes. The weekend was over, the time she could ignore her school schedule was past. She had to keep her grades up, and that meant paying attention in her lectures and doing all of her work.

It was... surprisingly difficult to sit in the back of the class and listen to a lecture about some long-dead author’s work being dissected for meaning that the author probably never intended for anyone to read into it.

It was empty. Not as exciting as the conspiratorial late-night phone calls with info brokers and the day spent patrolling the streets with real live heroes.

It was, essentially, not as fun as doing the whole hero thing, even if the hero thing was terrifying.

Emily returned to the dorm in the afternoon and found both of her sisters cuddled up together on the mattress, hugging each other close. Athena was wearing her leather jacket over her PJs and Teddy was drooling into her smaller sister’s hair.

She sat on her chair after setting her backpack to the side and made herself comfortable as she thought.

Was it worth it?

The risks were high. The rewards were kind of pitiful.

And yet she still wanted to do it.

“Was Teddy right?” she wandered to the near-empty room. Did the system give her villainy as a morality because she wanted that kind of freedom?

She kind of doubted it, and eleven in the morning was not the right time for navel gazing. There were more productive things she could have been doing.

“Status.”

She had points to invest, and a few things to think about. Notably, her Sisterportation power. It was at level one, whereas Double Trouble, the power that gave her Athena, was at Max. The obvious conclusion was that some skills were direct passive upgrades and didn’t have any way to improve.

She could put points into Sisterportaion, likely cutting down on the cooldown to use it, which was admittedly pretty high. But before that.

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

Emily nodded,

New Skill Unlocked!
Healpats has been added to your Power’s Skills!

“Status.”

Emily flicked her fingers at the screen, wishing it gone, and it disappeared. She tried to open her skill status page the same way, but it didn’t work. “Status Healpats.”

That sounded like it had a lot of potential. She raised a hand and patted her head, but nothing happened. So it didn’t work on herself, which was too bad, she could use a little bit of magical healing every once in a while.

It was probably worth investing in, at least a little.

“One Skill Upgrade point to Healpats,” Emily said.

Healpats has reached Level Two!
Cooldown reduced to 540 seconds!

She considered that for a moment. That was handy. “Another two points to Healpats.”

Healpats has reached Level Four!
Cooldown reduced to 420 seconds!

That was seven minutes between healings, and as far as she could tell, those healings were relatively weak overall. It was better than nothing. If she found some time, she could work on doing a few more quests to reduce that to something more useful, but she wouldn’t look that gift horse in the mouth.

With a sigh, Emily got up before her legs fell asleep under her and she moved over to her sisters. She shook their shoulders and smiled as they blinked awake.

“Hey girls,” she said.

Athena was the first to wake up. “Sis?”

“Yup,” Emily said. She pushed Athena’s hair out of her face. “You especially, we need to get you costumed up. I think we’ll be going out for a mission today, and... and I think it would be a good idea if we talk about it properly before heading out.”

Athena yawned, stretched her arms and legs out to push Teddy off her, then started to climb to her feet. “Proper communication is key to successfully leading a villainous life,” she said as she fumbled with her glasses.

“Something like that,” Emily agreed. She shook Teddy. “Hey, wake up, sleepy bear. You’ve been in bed for over twelve hours.”

“That’s it?” Teddy asked as she looked around blearily. “That’s not much.”

“I don’t think anyone else would agree,” Emily said. “Come on, we have to get ready, and then we’ll be grabbing a bite to eat later, alright?”

Teddy scratched at her exposed tummy, then nodded. “Yeah, alright.” She rolled over and got up as well. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Lunch, actually,” Emily said. “It’s a bit late for breakfast.”

Teddy frowned, thought about it, then nodded. “What’s for lunch?”

Emily stood up. “Lunch is for after the two of you get ready. Athena, we have some things around to make a costume for you. A temporary one, at least. Teddy, can you pack yours up in a bag to go?”

“Yeah, sure thing Boss.”

“Can I keep my jacket as part of my costume?” Athena asked. “I want to look tough.”

Emily looked at the rough old jacket. It was thick enough leather, with steel studs on the collars and lapels. It looked very 90s punk, but it likely offered more protection than her own costume. “Sure,” she said. “First thing’s first though, I want to start with you, Athena.”

“I’ve been thinking about this, as I do with all things,” Athena said. “I should get a wig.”

“A wig?”

Athena nodded, then gestured to her hair. It was on the paler side, and rather distinct.

“Ah, that’s fair,” Emily said. “But I don’t have anything wig-like around for now. I guess... a hat? I think I have a baseball cap somewhere.”

Athena nodded. “That might work for now. Oh, and I’ll need a really big mask, because I have glasses.”

“Ah, right. Maybe a scarf then? Something to cover the lower half of your face?”

“Can it be really long and cool looking?” Athena asked.

Emily got up and moved over to her drawers. She had a few scarves, thick woolen ones to tough out the winter’s chill. She found a nice red one. It wasn’t too long, but on Athena it might well be as tall as the girl. “Here, how’s this?”

“Alright!” Athena said. “Red’s a tough colour. And I’ll need pants too. And big boots.”

“I’ve got boots,” Teddy said. “You can’t have boots too.”

Emily pat Teddy on the head. “It’s okay. You can both have boots, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Teddy blinked. “Hey, can you do that again?” she asked as she grabbed Emily’s hand and brought it down atop her head again. She frowned. “No, that didn’t work this time.”

“Ah, I got a new skill,” Emily said. “Healpats. I think we just triggered it.” Emily looked at her palm, but it didn’t feel any different than usual. “How did it feel?”

Teddy frowned. “You know when someone runs their fingers through your fur?”

“N-no?” Emily said.

“Oh, right. Well, it felt like that, but warm. It’s nice.” She grabbed Emily’s hand and placed it on her head again. “Is there a cooldown or something?”

“Yeah, about seven minutes,” Emily said.

“Hey! It’s my turn to get patted next,” Athena said.

“There aren’t enough pats out there to heal whatever’s wrong with you,” Teddy said.

“Teddy,” Emily said. “I thought you of all girls would be keen to share?”

Tedy blushed and looked away. “Yeah, alright. Fine.”

Emily shook herself and pulled Athena over closer to her drawers. She tapped one near the bottom with a foot. “Can you check through your clothes for something simple to wear? I think in this case it might be best if you just go unnoticed.”

“I can do unnoticed,” Athena said. “And if someone does notice me, then I’ll make them notice all sorts of other things instead.”

“Yeah,” Emily said. She tried on a smile and looked around her room, memorizing where everything was, just in case. “Alright. Let’s get everything ready. We have some shady guy to meet before we head out.”

“And lunch,” Teddy said.

“And we need to grab lunch,” Emily agreed.

***