Lisa listened and occasionally nodded her head as he spoke to show that she was listening. It was something she had picked up from watching her father and older siblings in conversation. The game that Atlas described sounded fun. It sounded like a good way to learn and increase your vocabulary (so you could sound super intelligent which is something Lisa LOVED) as well as a great way to debate. “We should play it sometime!! Maybe we could get a group together and do that?” Maybe Aries could come too? And Remy? And more friends?

She gasped when something dawned upon her. It happened right after he mentioned making something look like a freak accident. Her brother’s cat liked to rub up against her legs when she was at home last year. WAS JINX TRYING TO PLOT HER DEMISE?! “That’s exactly what they do. Make it a freak accident… absolutely brilliant,” she said with widened eyes. Kneazles could get away with ANYTHING. They were so SMART. “The detective would never expect it….”

No one likes a try hard.

That comment hit really hard as well as the other sentences next. She stared at the Kneazle as she listened to Atlas. He was wise like so WISE- practically Saint like? Or was it sage like? She couldn’t remember. Lisa was fairly certain it was sage like. She found herself nodding this time in agreement because the words really hit home. She did try too hard, didn’t she? She had tried all summer long to keep all of her siblings happy because they were all so upset and tired with what happened last year at school. They didn’t tell her what had happened but she just had a feeling it was very, very, very bad. So she did her usual Lisa thing which was entertain and try to keep group morale up but it was exhausting. She took a shaky deep breath and nodded twice in a row. She gripped her left arm with her right hand just above her elbow before rubbing it. “So…I gotta be more distant and not try as hard to please… I’ve been feeling that way since the mandatory therapy session,” she sighed as she looked down at her shoes.

She cleared her throat, trying to push back the sinking feeling in her stomach. It was easier than she expected because what Atlas said next piqued her curiosity. Lisa blinked. “Is your familiar a spider? Mine’s a chameleon.” Note to self- if it was a bug… don’t mix the two together.