Chapter Forty-Six – Rolling

“Roll!” Liam cheered. “C’mon, turn my luck around, kid!”

Maple counted the number of dice she had in her hand, made sure it matched the little plastic figures on the table, then dropped them into a tray where they rattled about. Eventually the dice settled and she read the pips at a glance. “Um, four of them are over four,” she said.

“Yeah!” Liam cheered. “Eat lasers, Lucas.”

The boys leaned over the table, the ‘fighting’ of their little plastic models done for now, so they started to go into the next turn or whatever. Maple wasn’t sure she understood the rules, even though Liam and Lucas and Ethan had explained them to her. The problem was they all explained them at the same time, and she wasn’t sure which rule went with which part of the game. It was all rather confusing, but she was… well, she was happy that she got to participate a little.

Maple stepped to the side and picked up one figure. It was a little green guy in a little mecha made of bits and bobs. She wasn’t too impressed. If she made a mech it would have a lot more guns on it.

She put the model back, then stepped away from the table. Chloe was nearby, sipping from a can of soda. “Tired?” she asked.

Maple shook her head. She was a lot of things, but tired wasn’t one of them. “I’m okay,” she said.

“So, why did you come out here? You couldn’t have known that we were here. Unless you did?” Chloe asked.

“I didn’t,” Maple said. “We probably should have cameras in the tunnels, and better security.” Maybe she could have defence mechs? She really wanted to build a mecha or three, and having more security seemed like as good a reason as any. “I just came here because… I guess I needed to think?”

Chloe smiled, then gave Maple’s head some pats, which was nice. “You’ve got a lot going on, huh?”

Maple started to nod, then stopped. What if that got Chloe to stop the pats? “Yeah,” she said simply. There really was a lot going on, with the Boss, with Maple, with her whole family. She had so much that she needed to do that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to do. It was just a lot.

“You look too young to be so anxious,” Chloe said. “But I guess there’s no age for it, huh? Well, we’ll be here for another few hours at this rate. I want my turn at the table too. You can hang out with us if you want? Hey, do you like painting? I’ve got so many minis to paint.”

“I guess I do,” Maple said.

It didn’t take long that Chloe whisked her over to one of the tables further into the cabin, then she took out a small case with paints and little brushes and some paper towels. Maple was shown some of Chloe’s other models so she had an idea of what colours to paint, then was left to it.

Maple wasn’t too sure if she even wanted to paint them at first, what if she messed them up? But Chloe said that it was fine, so she decided to give it a try.

It wasn’t long before Maple was biting the tip of her tongue and smudging on paint across a model and also her own fingers.

It was making stuff, which was what her power was all about, but she wasn’t trying to make something too special, she was just painting a little figure. It looked like some sort of sniper character, with a big gun and a little cloak for hiding.

Maple dipped her brush into some paint, then concentrated as she painted the details on the figure’s cloak. It was different than what she usually did. There was no problem to solve, no immediate need to fulfil. It was just painting for the sake of it.

It was nice, but also frustrating because she couldn’t stop the chatting of her power in the back of her mind. She refrained from doing what it suggested. Chloe didn’t need her little figure to move, or for their little guns to fire actual lasers… maybe she could make it so that their little cloaks did make them partially invisible, since that was easy, but no more than that!

So far, Maple and her power had an understanding of sorts going on. It would give her ideas and things it could do, and Maple would sometimes pick one of those to make something. The things she made had to be helpful though, either for her or her sisters. It was a good power, Maple thought. They got along very well.

They could get along even better though.

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That was three points of upgrades she was sitting on, and a single new, unused skill slot.

She had earned it while her sisters fought Rattles. They had used equipment she made, which fulfilled the requirements of a quest. It was enough to push her into gaining a slot. She really needed it. If she was going to catch up to her stronger sisters and be useful, then she needed to hurry up and get stronger!

Maple grabbed her open skill slot (metaphorically) and shoved her free point into it.

Maple blinked. That was… certainly a skill! She smiled as she thought of how best to use it. If they had that fight with Rattles again, then she could use this to fix her machine right then and there without having to worry about anything, at least until she was done fixing it!

Maple put two points into the skill, reducing the cooldown a little.

That was a lot more usable!

“You’re smiling a lot,” Chloe said. “Are you done painting?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” Maple said. She blinked down, then started looking for the model that she had been painting. Where was it? It took her hand brushing across the surface for her to find it. When she touched it, the model turned the same colour as the skin of her hand. “Here it is,” she said.

“Uh,” Chloe said as she took it. The model changed, part of it the same beige as her skin, but there were some streaks of blue, probably from her nail polish. “Well, that’s something. It’s going to be tricky to play with this one.”

“It’s no good?” Maple asked.

“Oh no, this is super good,” Chloe said with a grin. “It’s kinda awesome, actually. I’m not going to be able to match it with the rest of my army though, since it’s so much better. Also, it might be easy to lose on the table.”

“I can make it normal again, if you like,” Maple said. She felt a little bit guilty about using her powers more than she intended on Chloe’s model.

“No way! This little guy’s special now. Plus I can brag so much with this, you wouldn’t believe it. Thanks, Maple.”

Maple perked up as she earned more headpats. They weren’t Big Sister pats, but they were still nice.

The games at the table were still going on, the minions having plenty of fun, but Maple was feeling a little tired. “I think I’m going to go home,” she said. Spending time around so many people that weren’t sisters had really drained what Big Sister called her social batteries.

Could she make something to recharge those?

An idea for later, maybe.

“That’s alright,” Chloe said. “Here, do you want to take some snacks back with you? Liam always brings too many and I don’t know if I want to carry it all back.”

“Okay,” Maple said.

It wasn’t long before she carried a big plastic shopping bag filled with opened bags of chips and some cans of soda. She imagined that she’d be very popular once she got back home. Big Sister Emily didn’t say that they couldn’t have junk food, but she also didn’t buy much of it.

Maple decided not to make a big fuss about saying goodbye, she just picked up her light near the door and then headed homewards.

She was feeling a lot lighter than she’d felt earlier. The next time they fought Rattles, he’d be fighting against her sisters while they were equipped a lot better. He wouldn’t stand a chance.

***

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