The socially awkward villain's furry superpower

"Oh, you're finally up?" Athena said as Teddy stumbled out of the bedroom.

Athena loves being the first one up in the morning. Well, the first one up after Sienna. She's not about sacrificing time cuddling with her sisters to get up earlier. Teddy, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Some days, if nothing's wrong, she'll stay in bed hours after everyone else is up.

“Yes, yes,” Teddy replied. She yawned widely, her jaw clicking. “Is there anything to eat?”

“My older sister and I made breakfast,” Athena said. “There’s some left over.”

Sienna set aside a portion for Teddy, placing it on an upside-down plate to keep it warm. This was actually a very common practice in the mornings.

“Oh, not bad,” Teddy said. She stretched out her arms and then scratched her belly. “Why does it smell weird here?”

Athena glanced down the hallway. Trinity's bedroom door was open, and a strong smell of detergent and soap wafted out.

Two dejected Trinity figures trudged out of the room, one carrying a mop and the other a bucket of dirty water. "Trinity messed up the room," Athena explained. "We cleaned it for her. Then we realized her room was always a mess, so the boss made her clean it properly."

“Oh, what bad luck,” Teddy said. “But she shouldn’t have made her room so dirty.”

Athena glanced at her. Teddy's room wasn't exactly model of tidiness. It wasn't terrible, especially compared to Trinity's, but it was still messy. Teddy had about ten times as many blankets as the others, piled up on the bed in a huge heap.

Sometimes, Teddy would squeeze into the pile of blankets like a fat worm burrowing into a clump of dirt, and then all you could see were her feet sticking out. "It doesn't matter. Big Sister has already talked to her. Trinity is a little upset right now."

"Hmm," Teddy simply responded, stroking his chin. "What bad luck."

"Yes. I'm planning to try and cheer her up. You go have breakfast, then take a shower."

Teddy glared at her. "You're not the boss, you know that?"

"Don't you want to eat breakfast?" Athena asked.

“Of course I want to eat breakfast. I just don’t want to hear you telling me what to do,” Teddy said.

Athena glared back. The two of them always disagreed, especially in the mornings, or when Athena was trying to push her plans forward. But it wasn't entirely their fault. Athena knew they were pursuing the same thing, so arguments were inevitable.

Athena wants to be the best little sister so that her older sister Sienna will praise her and say she's the best, and she'll get more cuddles, hugs, and attention. Teddy, on the other hand, already thinks she's the best, and she does have an early advantage.

Teddy is the oldest and probably the strongest of the sisters. This means she has more time to build rapport with the eldest sister.

It's unfair, but that's the truth.

However, Athena will catch up, because she considers herself the smartest of her sisters.

She had a plan. It was a simple plan, and that was the best, because complex plans are more prone to failure. The first step was to become indispensable to the others. This meant helping the leader as much as possible, and Athena was already doing that. The second step was to help the sisters, which was by far the most troublesome part.

“Go take a shower,” Athena said. “Trinity already took a shower, and she’s usually the smelliest, which means you’re the smelliest now.”

Teddy pouted. "I don't like taking baths," she said.

“That would be terrible,” Athena said. “Do you want the boss to smell you and then say you’re not allowed to join the hugging group because you stink?”

Teddy muttered to himself, then stomped his foot as he walked past Athena. "Fine. Whatever. What are we doing today?"

Athena shrugged. "I don't think anything's wrong. Sienna has some things to do in a bit, but we'll just stay home."

“Okay,” Teddy said, continuing towards the kitchen. Athena watched her leave, then turned and went about her own business.

Her plan required all her sisters to look up to her as a model of wisdom and intelligence, but for some of them, it was really difficult. In fact, it was a little difficult for all of them, especially Teddy. The two of them disagreed far more often than they agreed.

She shrugged at herself and decided to fight for every little victory she could.

She went to Trinity's room, peeked inside, and saw one of Trinity's clones sitting on the bed. Her knees were curled up against her chest, and she had a very unhappy expression on her face. She wasn't crying, but she looked like she would start sniffling at the slightest provocation.

Trinity looked up and met Athena's gaze. It was always a little strange to understand her sister's thoughts. Trinity was probably the most "normal" of the sisters, only because her eyes, ears, and limbs were more numerous than anyone Athena had ever seen, resulting in a flood of information flowing into her at the same time.

Athena didn't delve deeper; she merely glanced at the surface and knew that Trinity was very frustrated.

“Hey,” Athena said.

“Are you telling me I have to clean the bathroom next?” Trinity asked. “Or am I going to… take out the trash again?”

“No, that’s not it,” Athena said.

Sienna had already scolded Trinity for wanting to bring home every interesting thing she found at the landfill. Athena saw no need to rub salt in the wound. Instead, she climbed onto Trinity's unmade bed and sat down beside her. Their combined weight created an indentation in the mattress, causing her shoulder to touch her sister's.

“That was a really bad thing,” Athena said.

Trinity pouted even more. "Yeah. I had a blast at the landfill. I thought it was okay to do that."

“Yes,” Athena said. “But do you know why your older sister made you throw all those things away?”

Trinity nodded. "I know. She said other people might get sick, and that you thought the stuff smelled bad, and there were cockroaches. Well, she didn't mention the last one."

Actually, everyone screamed when they found a cockroach. The eldest brother absolutely hated cockroaches, not at all. Athena could understand, because cockroaches are small, can crawl, and are very difficult to kill. Like heroes.

Sienna allowed Maple to convert the microwave into a cockroach-killing machine, and Maple disappeared after that. Once Trinity emptied the trash in her room, most of the cockroaches vanished.

“You know, your older sister still loves you,” Athena said.

It was true. She could see it in Sienna's eyes. She was angry with Trinity, even a little disgusted, but she still loved her.

Athena strives to be the most favored, but she doesn't mind sharing some of that favor. Just a little bit, after all.

“Come on,” Athena said. She turned to the side and began massaging Trinity’s back in circles. “You know, this isn’t about becoming the kind of sisters Sienna expects us to be, but about being the best version of ourselves that she’ll like anyway.”

"But I'm just being myself."

"Yes, that's right, but there's a difference between being yourself and being the best version of yourself, and sometimes that means not letting the stench overwhelm us."

Trinity burped. "I just want to go to the landfill."

"Oh, it's alright. I'm sure my older sister would be happy to go with you, but you know her personality; she does things at her own pace. Sometimes if we act too fast, we'll disrupt her villainous plans. It's a plan that's all interconnected."

Trinity nodded. "Yes."

“I’m sure she just wants the best for us all. Once we rule the world, I bet you can hide an entire superbase in a giant mountain of garbage.”

Trinity laughed. "That would be so cool."

Athena nodded, though she wasn't sure if she agreed. She understood Trinity's fondness for trash—it was hard not to understand when she could see into people's minds—but it still felt a little strange. "Absolutely. But… well, you made a small mistake. Maybe if you had asked the boss first, she wouldn't be so angry?"

“Okay,” Trinity said.

Are you feeling better?

Trinity sighed. "Yeah, I think so." She grinned. "But I also helped Maple Leaf, which is pretty good."

“Mmm.” Athena nodded. Of course, if anyone else asked, she would definitely take credit for the idea herself, provided that doing so wouldn’t hurt Trinity.

Sometimes, it's really not easy to be the smartest one among your sisters.