Fluff

Chapter Sixty-Nine - Tippy-Toe Thief

Trinity, the sneakiest sister, walked across the lawn with little tippy-toe hops.

Well, two of her did. The last was standing with Best Sister Emily, but she couldn’t help bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. It wasn’t fair that only two of her were getting exercise. If she wasn’t careful, one of her might not get enough, and she could become one-third fat.

The two of her that were sneaking across the lawn stuck out her tongues and bit on the ends as she skittered across the yard and to the back of the house. She hoped that no one saw her, because if they did, Best Sister Emily might not be very impressed.

Then again, she had picked out a real clever costume.

See, she looked like a burglar, so if anyone saw her in her striped shirt and with her mask and poofy tail, they’d just think she was a trio of thieves, not a singular Villain. It was foolproof!

“Okay,” Trinity said, the one next to Emily. “I’m at the house.”

“Alright,” Emily said. “Now we need to find a way in. Can you check the door for alarms?”

All of Trinity nodded. “Can do!” she said.

One of her peeled away from the house’s wall and zipped over to the balcony at the back. There was a fence around it, and a gate at the top of the stairs leading onto the balcony itself. The underneath was covered by a trellis fence, and was filled with dirt and old rotten leaves that looked like they’d be hard to rake out.

Trinity hopped up, grabbed the lower edge of the fence, then squeezed up onto the balcony right next to a barbeque. Then her butt stayed stuck.

“Uh oh,” Trinity said.

“What is it?” Emily asked.

“Butt’s too big,” Trinity said.

Her other body near the house looked around, and with a happy “Ah-hah!”, found the perfect tool for the job. A big old spade left halfway under the balcony. She snuck over to it, grabbed the spade, and with a big overhead swing, bonked her body in the behind until she popped onto the deck.

“I’m near the door,” she told Emily.

She squeezed her face in up against the patio door and squinted as best she could to make out things within the house.

“Um, Emily? What’s an alarm look like?”

Best Sister Emily blinked. “I… genuinely have no idea. I suppose… look for a box near the door, with wires on it, like a sensor?”

Trinity started looking for just that.

Meanwhile, her other body next to the balcony surfed through her quests. It was fair that her other sisters had a few more skills—they were older, of course—but that didn’t mean Trinity wanted to stay behind forever. She needed to work hard to catch up!

New Quest!
Trash it!
Reward: 1 Skill Upgrade point per home trashed. Mischief Maker +1 per success!
Accept? Refuse?

Well… that did sound fun, even if it wasn’t very Villainous. Trinity accepted it, but then started looking for a quest that fit Best Sister’s Villainous tendencies a bit better. It wouldn’t do for one of her sisters to merely be a Mischief Maker!

New Quest!
Torch it!
Reward: 1 Skill Upgrade point per home burned down. Scoundrel +1 per success!
Accept? Refuse?

She shook her head. What was the point of that?

New Quest!
Thieve it!
Reward: 1 Skill Upgrade point per $1,000 of goods stolen. Villain +1 per success!
Accept? Refuse?

That was more like it!

She finished looking around the door for any alarms. There was a thing, a small while box next to the door. She wasn’t sure if that was it or not, but she didn’t want to take any chances and ruin her reputation as a thief before it even started.

“I’m going in through a window,” she said.

“Alright,” Emily replied.

Now Trinity only had to figure out how to get in through a window. There was one not too far from the door, leading into what looked like a kitchen. She scooted over to the barbecue and pulled it closer, the her that was below helping by pushing it from the ground.

Once it was up against the wall, she clambered up, and was thankful that she was so small, because otherwise the whole thing might tip over.

The window was all old and rimmed with some bare grey metal. There weren’t any convenient latches on the outside for her to tamper with.

What she needed was something to break the seal.

Conveniently, she still had her butt-shovel.

She passed it up to herself, then wobbled atop the barbecue before ramming the edge of the shovel under the glass. She was aiming for the little crack at the bottom, where she’d be able to leverage it up.

Instead, the window exploded.

“What was that?” Emily asked.

“Uh,” she said. “The window’s open now?”

She shrugged all of her shoulders, then poked the glass away from the windowsill. The damage was done; she figured there was nothing to do about it now.

The her that was under the balcony searched around, and found some sort of plant-covering tarp stuff, which she passed up to herself. It was muddy, but she didn’t care. With the tarp along the bottom of the window, she slid in and through the window, this time without her behind getting stuck!

She slithered over a sink, then landed on her hands on the ground and flipped around to land in a crouch in the middle of a little kitchen area. There was an island in the middle, a fridge and stove to the side, and she could make out the dining room further in.

“I’m in,” she cheered next to Emily.

“Well done,” Best Sister Emily said.

Then Trinity preened as she earned herself some celebratory headpats. She’d done good!

“What am I looking for?” she asked Emily.

Emily hummed. “Give the house a quick tour. I think I might need to move in there myself. Or maybe not, but before anything else, we should make sure that it’s clear.”

Trinity nodded all three of her heads. “Just the me that’s inside then,” she said.

“Yeah,” Emily replied.

Trinity started to sneak around the house. The trick of it was keeping her weight on her backfoot, and only shifting it after her front foot had already made contact with the ground, that way, she didn’t make tap-tapping noises as she walked around.

“Keep an eye out for paintings,” Emily said.

Trinity hummed and nodded her understanding even as the her that was inside opened the fridge door and started looking for paintings in there.

She didn’t find any, but she did find some cake.

The next place she looked into was the pantry, where she found an entire box of unopened Winkies. She tossed that out of the window so the her outside could enjoy it while she kept on doing important work.

Unfortunately, there weren’t any paintings in the kitchen, so she didn’t have a choice but to move on into the dining room. There was an image there, hanging by one wall. “Found one,” she said.

“What’s it a painting of?”

“Ship, with water and stuff. I think those are birds in the corner, and there’s a lighthouse.”

“I… don’t think that’s it. Can you move the painting aside?”

It was a pretty big painting, and she was a small girl. She tugged a chair over and winced as it squeaked against the hardwood. She climbed up, and with her arms stretched as wide as they’d go, she unhooked the painting, then let it slip down and down until the edge was against the ground.

“It’s just a wall,” she said.

“Not it then,” Emily said. “Keep looking around.”

Trinity nodded, and left the living room for the dining room. She had to be careful because there was a window overlooking the street, so she rolled behind the nearest sofa and eyed the television.

It was a big one. She bet that it was worth a thousand dollars. But it wouldn’t fit in the window in the kitchen.

Too bad.

There was a small painting in the living room, some image of a forest. She didn’t know much about interior decorating, but she felt like this place was pretty nice. Nice in a sort of very boring way.

She climbed up a sofa and was unhooking the frame from the window when she heard the door rattle.

All of Trinity froze.

The door clicked, and someone stepped in, a black figure, in a long coat, with a hood on their jacket that concealed their masked face.

Trinity stared at the mask, and the mask stared at Trinity.

“Oh, shoot!” Trinity said next to Emily.

“What is it?” Emily asked.

The Trinity in the house flung the picture frame at the mask, then darted away, but to leave, she had to squeeze past the entrance and get back in the kitchen, and that meant that her head start wasn’t all that great.

Still, she was fast!

She scampered past, jumped up onto the counter in the kitchen, and was shuffling through the window when the no-good mean person caught her by the ankle. “Oh no you don’t!” they said. A woman’s voice.

And then Trinity was yoinked back into the house.

“I… may have made a small mistake,” she admitted to Emily.

***