Fluff

Chapter Forty-One - Knots

Emily set her pen down and looked up to her screen. There was a nice wall of text before her, and about eighteen different tabs open on her browser from when she went down a rabbit hole during her research.

Her homework had been pretty simple, but Emily figured that it was okay to go above and beyond. She needed to shore up some points now in case they ever had any sort of group work later in the year. She had never had a good presentation in her entire life, and she doubted that would change.

With a sigh, Emily closed her laptop and ler her hands rest atop it for a moment. Doing her homework had been her last excuse not to get going. If she didn’t leave soon, she might be late, and that was practically unforgivable. “Alright,” she said.

“What’s that, Boss?” Teddy asked.

The bear girl was on Emily’s bed, legs over the edge and arms held out above her with her precious red book in hand. She was nearly a quarter way through it by now.

“I said alright,” Emily repeated. “I think I’m almost ready to get going.”

“Cool!” Teddy said. She snapped her book shut and sat up. “I’m ready already.”

That was true. Teddy had her yellow dress on, cargo shorts and all. Her plastic mask was smiling up at the ceiling from atop Emily’s pillow. “That’s great,” Emily said. “You should get in your hoodie to hide all that.”

Teddy nodded and jumped to rush over to her hoodie which was laying in a corner atop a pile of clean clothes. As it turned out, there was a small laundromat on the first floor of the dorm, so Emily had some clean things, at least.

She considered training Teddy or Athena to clean her clothes, and maybe pick up her room, but that felt a little mean.

She’d probably still do it, because washing up was very much the opposite of fun, and it was just about the only way she could use her powers for something that was actually useful.

Emily stood up, stretched a little, then looked at her notifications.

She had a lot of pending quests, well over a dozen. Most she dismissed without a second though. Any that mentioned killing or maiming were struck out right away. Those that wanted her to rob people could go too.

It left her with a few choices that actually seemed interesting.

The Queen With the Silken Sword, Continued
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 one was easy enough to agree to. She’d done it once, and doing it again seemed easy enough. The upgrade points would probably be a waste on her, but she could use the Scoundrel points.

The Thorn Among the Roses
Convince the Local Heroes that You are One of Them
Reward: 1 Skill Upgrade Point for Every Heroically Aligned Person that recognizes you as an Ally.

That one was... well, it would serve as a way to tell how well she was doing in terms of sneaking into the heroes she was to meet. No Scoundrel points, but no Villain ones either.

“Hey, big sister Emily?”

Emily looked over to Athena. The owl-girl was wrapped up in a pile of blankets. Something that she and Teddy both seemed to enjoy doing. “Yes?” Emily asked.

“Is there anything you need me to do while you head out with Teddy?”

Emily shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. You can just, uh, stay here, if that’s what you want.”

Athena pouted, but only for a moment before wiping the expression away. “But I want to help,” Athena said.

Moving close, Emily dropped to her knees next to Athena, then hesitantly placed a hand on the girl’s head. “Thanks,” she said. “But I think Teddy and I can handle this bit. You can do your own thing.”

Emily imagined that the girl would appreciate a day off, all on her own.

“I’ll leave my laptop here, and... well, we don’t have that many books. We can pick some up next time we head out.”

Athena nodded. “Alright big sister Emily, I’ll do my own thing. I won’t let you down.”

That was a rather strange way of putting it, but Emily could live with it. Her sisters seemed to have a few bizarre idiosyncrasies at times. Athena with her odd determination to seem smart and mature and Teddy with... Teddy could probably serve as the basis for a psychiatric thesis, actually. She had a lot going on in that bear head of hers.

“I’m super ready!” Teddy said as she posed in her hoodie.

Emily cracked a grin, then stifled it before she could offend Teddy. “Good! I’m just going to get my pack, and put my shoes on... and then retie yours, and then we’re off.”

“You can’t even tie your shoes?” Athena asked as she poked her head out to look at the messy knots holding Teddy’s boots on.

“I can! Knots count as tying!”

Emily shook her head and dropped before Teddy. She tapped her lap so that the girl put a foot onto it. “Before we go,” she said as she started to pick away at the knot. “You have an upgrade point to spend, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” Teddy said. “Should I use it to get stronger?”

Emily nodded. “Sure. Better now than later.”

“Cool!” Teddy said. She stared off into space for a bit, then grinned huge. “Oh, cool! My new skill is the best!”

Emily set Teddy’s foot down, then tapped the other. “What’s it called?”

“Iron Bear!”

Emily wondered what that entailed, then remembered that she could look for herself. “Status, Iron Bear?”

“Wow,” Emily said. “That sounds impressive.”

It did sound somewhat impressive. Not terribly imaginative, but certainly interesting. She imagined that it would make Teddy quite a bit more fearsome, and perhaps a little more dangerous.

“Yeah!” Teddy agreed, the pride in her voice and demeanor obvious. “Can I put some points into it? I wanna turn into an Iron Bear more often”

“Um. Sure, but maybe save a couple in case you unlock another, better skill?”

Teddy nodded. “Yeah, yeah.”

“All done,” Emily said as she placed Teddy’s foot down. She brushed her pant leg and climbed to her feet. “Are you all ready?”

Teddy nodded.

“Good. Now, once we get there, don’t threaten the heroes, or anyone else, and try to be nice. Remember, we’re trying to pass ourselves off as heroes. I think Melaton will be around, so she can help us if we have questions. It’ll all go well, I’m sure,” Emily said.

She really, truly, hoped that that was the truth.

Emily picked up her backpack next to the door, then turned to make sure Teddy was following her. “Okay,” she said. “Athena, we’ll see you later, alright?”

“Of course,” Athena said.

“Um. Bye?”

With that awkward exchange out of the way, Emily took Teddy by the hand and headed out.

***