FATHER ALWAYS SMILING

Chapter 45 ~~~~~

"Well, our gift is going to be delayed, by at least a few days," Vic said.

Elain looked at Vic. "Did you order something online?"

"Nah, she's borrowing my Dad's 3D printer. She made something and is trying to get it to print in pieces so she can put it together and paint it."

That left Elain very confused. "Paint what?"

"A figure of you! Duh!"

"What...?"

Robin shook their head. "I told you it wasn't a good idea Vic,"

"No, it's not!" Vic declared. "El could have died! She deserves an awesome-looking figure of herself, if not more!"

"What's the figure of her look like?" Iesha asked.

"It's Elain, but as a Dule-wielding Rouge Pirate!"

That made Elain very confused "Why a pirate exactly...?"

"Our current DnD campaign has us all as pirates," Robin said. "It has nothing to do with what Iesha got you, pirates are just 'in' apparently."

"Pirates are always in!" Vic proclaimed once again.

"Yeah, yeah."

But then Elain thought of something. "Hey, how about instead of me you make one for Amalie?"

"The Princess?!"

Robin ignored Vic's nickname for Amalie. "What are you thinking?"

Elain was quiet. "Not sure,"

"What about Little Red Riding Hood?" Iesha offered randomly causing the others to look at her. "If you're talking about the radio hosts daughter, you could make her look like Red Riding Hood, at least the vibe I get when I see photos of her."

Vic closed her eyes as if envisioning it. "Oh, that'd be cute. Yeah, I can see that!"

Elain scowled. "It would but... there's a book that Amie really likes, it's a fantasy series, but the name is escaping me right now. But really, you should ask her Dad or even her about it rather than me, since he or she might think it's too much."

"That's fair," Robin said. "Want us to hold off on what we wanted to give you?"

Elain nodded stiffly; it was still a little hard. "Yeah, maybe save it for my birthday or Christmas? Something that cool shouldn't be given like this, at least in my view."

"A figure of you would be pretty cool," Iesha said. "Have you guys made figures of yourselves?"

"For our group in DnD, one of the first things we did after taking photos of everyone's character sheets we surprised them of their characters for new years."

"Now that's cool," Iesha said. "I'm surprised your parents were fine with that Robin."

"My Dad is sometimes commissioned to make little characters or props for models, as long as we chip in for the cost of resin to make them, he has no issue."

"Though with this one, it's no cost at all because our friend kicked ass and is pretty much a hero now."

Whatever good feelings Elain had immediately dropped like a stone, her smile disappearing as her mismatched gaze went to her bandaged arm. "I'm no hero."

Vic clamped her mouth shut; the immediate regret written all over her face.

"I should have done more, at least so Amalie wouldn't have been hurt at all." Elain took a breath. "Sorry, I shouldn't say that... it just... comes to my head sometimes when people say stuff like that. I think it's the morphine the nurses give me."