NOVEL NEXT Chapter Forty – Everyone Poops
Chapter Forty - Everyone Poops
Athena grunted a bit as she took on her sister’s full weight. Teddy, for all that she was about as big as Athena herself--a bit shorter even--was heavy.
It probably had something to do with the way her belly was protruding way out, making the bear on her hoodie look almost three dimensional. “You’re fat,” Athena remarked quite sensibly.
Teddy’s head turned around and she levelled a flat gaze at her. “No, you’re fat.”
“I am not,” Athena said. She patted her perfectly normal stomach. “See. Nothing.” She reached out and poked at Teddy’s stomach. “But here it’s full of food.”
“Don’t poke it,” Teddy said. “It’s not ready to come out.”
Athena heard big sister Emily sigh from behind them and she turned her head all the way around to look up at the taller girl. “Please... just... watch what you’re saying?” Emily asked.
“I was talking about needing to poop later,” Teddy said.
“Yes, I know. We all know,” Emily said.
“Well yeah, everyone poops,” Teddy said.
Athena poked Teddy again. “Big sister wants you to stop talking about poop,” she said.
Teddy shifted. “Oh. Well she could have just told me that.”
Emily walked around the two of them, and to the door to their rooms which she opened up for them. “Okay, everyone inside,” she said.
Athena helped drag Teddy over to the mattress, then paused next to it. “Want me to dump you here?” she asked.
“Yeah, I need to sleep this off,” Teddy said.
“Oh no,” Emily said as she closed the door. “No sleeping before taking a quick shower.”
Teddy groaned. “But I took one... recently.”
Athena’s eyes narrowed. “What’s recently mean?” she asked.
“Like, yesterday, maybe?” Teddy glared. “You never took a shower in your entire life. You’re probably covered in summon goop or something.”
“I am not!”
Emily coughed, cutting the argument off before it could really start. “You’re both taking showers. Come on, start finding some clothes and such. Put your dirty stuff in that box over there and... and we’ll find out where the laundromat is tomorrow. Thank god it’s Saturday.”
There was some running--and in Teddy’s case waddling--around for clean clothes and stuff, then because she was the fastest, Athena jumped in the shower first. When she came out and let Teddy in, it was to find big sister Emily at her desk, looking at her laptop.
“What are you looking for, big sis?” Athena asked.
“Oh? Ah, I’m looking at the profiles for some of the new heroes,” Emily said.
The screen was on some flashy site, with a few images of people in strange costumes. They were mostly bright and colorful and very high-tech looking. “Alright,” Athena said. “Does it have anything to do with that conversation with Melanie?”
Emily nodded, then paused. “Um, do you know who Melanie is?”
“A woman that paid for our food and tried to get you drunk?” Athena asked. It was a good thing that big sister didn’t drink that drink, or else Athena would have had to do something rude to the Melanie woman.
“She’s a hero. An actual hero. From some company. Her name’s Melaton. She can make people fall asleep.”
Athena flinched back. “A hero? Why would we want to be near one of those?”
“Um, because she helped us with Homie?”
“Does she know that we’re Villains?” Athena asked. She made sure to enunciate the word with all the gravitas it deserved.
Emily shook her head really quickly. “No, no she doesn’t. She thinks that we’re heroes too. Or at worst grey?”
Athena understood. Big sister was being very clever, as expected from her, and was beguiling her way closer to the heroes. She’d no doubt spring some sort of trap on them and murder them all in a frenzy of violence and destruction. Athena only hoped that she could grow strong enough by then that she would be helpful.
“I see what you’re doing then,” Athena said. “It’s very impressive.”
“Thank you?” Big sister Emily said. “I’m just looking at the profiles for these new heroes before we meet them. I think we could maybe push back some suspicion by being close to them.”
Athena agreed. “Of course.”
“Um. I... don’t know if you can be present for that? They don’t know you, and you don’t have any sort of costume. You’d stand out.”
Ah, so big sister wanted Athena not to stand out. “With my power, that’s probably for the best. Teddy is much better at that kind of thing.”
Emily nodded. “Good, good.”
So when Athena did go to this... event thing, it would be out of costume, to help in her own way. Her sister was really turning out to be a top notch strategist.
Athena adjusted her glasses so that they flashed, and held back a bout of manic laughter.
Teddy trampled her way out of the bathroom looking all bedraggled and wet, then she flopped onto the mattress. “I’m sleeping now,” she said.
“Ah, okay?” Emily replied. “My turn in the shower then. Goodnight... in case you fall asleep.”
“Yup! Good night,” Teddy said.
“Mmhm,” Athena agreed as she too went over to the mattress and laid down tummy-first. She slid her glasses off, and carefully set them under the nightstand so that no one would step on them.
Sharing a bed with Teddy wasn’t all that great--Teddy moved a lot in her sleep, and she snored, and she liked cuddling up into Athena’s side and drooling all over her--but it wasn’t awful.
Once they’d taken over a decent part of the country, they would be able to afford a big bunker, or a secret base, or maybe a gothic mansion on a hill somewhere, and then Athena would get a bedroom all for herself, with lots of bookshelves and stuff.
“What are you thinking about?” Teddy asked.
Athena twisted around so she could see Teddy’s face. Her eyes were closed, but the bear girl was obviously still awake. “I’m thinking about later, when big sister becomes a big-time villain.”
“Oh, that’s cool. She wants to become more than just a villain though,” Teddy said. “I think she wants to become a Super Villain, or maybe a Demon.”
Athena’s eyes widened. “Whoa.”
Her big sister was aiming high.
“Yeah. It’s pretty cool,” Teddy confirmed.
“Do you think... do you think she’ll need our assistance?”
Teddy snorted. “Yeah, of course. She can’t turn into a bear on her own or... uh, make people a little bit nervous?”
“My powers do more than that,” Athena said.
“Sure,” Teddy said.
Athena poked her in the tummy, eliciting a groan. “Don’t be mean, it’s against the rules.”
Teddy stuck her tongue out, but flinched when Athena raised her hand for another poke. “Yeah yeah, I get it. We’ll need to be a lot stronger to help the Boss is all I’m saying. I’ll need to turn into, like, a much bigger bear, and you’ll need to be even scarier.”
“Even scarier...” Athena said.
She wondered if she could do that.
Was she scary already?
Probably not. She was a skinny tall-ish girl, with big glasses and near-white hair. None of that sounded scary. She couldn’t even make a disappointed face like big sister could. That face was the scariest thing she’d ever seen.
She could rely on her power, of course, but that felt like it wasn’t enough. Or maybe it was more of a crutch.
No, Athena would need to work on being scarier.
Or maybe she could work on her overall presentation.
She imagined herself looking real cool, posing as people fell into nightmares all around her.
“Yeah,” she said.
Emily came out of the bathroom with a towel around her head, yawned a bit, then trudged over to her bed. “Good night, Teddy.”
“Night Boss,” Teddy said.
“Good night, Athena.”
Athena smiled up at her big sister, the sister she was going to make so proud. “Good night, sis.”
***
