Tarantula

It's been three days since I started my training with Fiona. Since she was always nice to me, I thought that this would be easy, but it turns out that she's a completely different person when she's teaching someone.

Still, this is not as bad as I thought it'd be. At first I had my doubts about this training because I thought that they'd make me learn how to juggle or do some gymnastics, but it's quite the opposite.

Apparently, Fiona can't tell me what my act will be, but she says that the only thing I need for it is to get along with the "cats".

And that's what I've been doing, training to get along with them.

The first lessons weren't as weird or hard as I expected. I had to learn how to treat them, how to talk to them, how to differentiate some species, … That's why I'm not treating them as "it" anymore, since I've learnt that we're equals. Ever since I started being nicer, I've been getting along with them.

For example, the lynx cub that was chewing on my clothes a few days ago was now sleeping on my lap.

"Glasc, are you listening to me?"

I woke up from my daydream. Wait, was I daydreaming from the beginning?

"It's Glas, you don't need the 'c'" I told her as I came down from my cloud.

"I know it's the C, dum-dum! I just said it bad on purpose because I knew that I would get your attention that way!"

I watched in amusement as Fiona's face turned pink. She noticed my subtle smile and quickly covered her face, yelling at me because I wasn't allowing her to keep going with the lesson.

"But I think I've understood everything that you just told me" I laughed awkwardly to her. Fiona moved closer to me and pinched my cheek, saying "liar" as she went back to resting her head on her tigress.

"What's more to learn? How to clean their shit?"

"That's exactly what I was teaching you just now!"

As soon as she yelled at me, the feline in my lap woke up. I tried to put him back to sleep, but he kept nibbling on my hand, thinking that I wanted to play with him.

"Are you really expecting my dad to give you a kitten when you can't even take care of this little guy?" the girl asked me before holding the lynx in the air. "Air jail for you, you already destroyed dad's shoes with those teeth of yours this morning" she then added as she scolded the cub.

I smiled peacefully as I saw the little animal struggling to get out of Fiona's grasp, and I'm pretty sure that she was aware of my gaze because of the way that she was trying to cover herself with the lynx's body.

"So, could you repeat the last part of the lesson?" I requested while trying to get the cub back.

Fiona laughed at my attempt, and before I could even react, the tigress she was resting her head on suddenly stood up.

"Glas, how do you expect me to keep going with the lesson if you're still scared when the big cats stand up beside you" she laughed mischievously as she scratched the back of the tigress.

I quickly recomposed and looked at the big silhouette of the animal that was standing in front of me. While it was true that I still had my doubts when it came to interacting with the big ones, I still thought that I was really getting the lesson. Almost…

I took a deep breath and tried to talk to Fiona, but as soon as I started to speak, she disappeared from my sight. Since only the lynx cub was in her spot, I got even more confused that I was in the beginning.

"Glasgow." a voice suddenly said while tickling my back. "If you can't even keep your attention on a girl like me, how do you expect to do it with a bigger being like Mina?!" she said while pointing at her partner, who was yawning.

"I'm pretty sure I can't keep up with you guys because you're so…"

"So what?"

Out of nowhere, Lyra emerged from behind Mina. Since Fiona was used to that, she remained unfazed. Me however, got startled as usual.

I've spent almost 4 days in this place and I still don't understand how they do that. It can't be magic or some dumb explanation like that, so what could it be?

"Well? We are so…" Lyra said while approaching me with a playful smile.

"Unique" I replied awkwardly.

Fiona frowned at my 'conversation' with Lyra and decided to interrupt us. "Ehem, we're still in class, you know?" the girl said while placing herself between me and Daniel's sister.

Lyra smiled gently at her and then patted her head. "I'm here because Johnny told me so. He says that Glasgow needs someone of his age to check on him."

Fiona frowned even harder than before after listening to Lyra's words. In a rush, she got on top of Mina and started to walk in the ringmaster's direction. Prior to leaving, she pointed at the lynx in my lap and then told Lyra to teach me the '6th lesson'.

Lyra nodded and waved at her as she walked away. "NP, I got you" she said before taking the cub into her hands and caressing his head.

Fiona wrinkled her face at us, but quickly let go of the feeling as she approached Johnny.

As soon as the girl was far enough, Lyra placed the lynx back where he was and then gave me a pretty smile.

I felt my conscience leaving my body as I looked at her, appreciating all of the features that she had. She caught my attention from the first moment that I saw her, but I couldn't let that feeling get to my head.

"Quick tip, if you mess with Fiona's age and responsibilities you'll take her off of you for a few minutes" Lyra told me while winking at me.

I gave her a confused stare, not understanding what she was talking about.

"I'm talking about Fiona, it's not that hard to understand."

"Yeah but, I don't know, it's just a bit out of nowhere."

"Is it?"

"Well, yeah."

"Whatever you say, 'big guy'."

I rolled my eyes playfully and we both laughed at our 'argument'.

I threw myself back in the ground and placed the cub in my chest, caressing it as it purred on top of me. As I pet him, Lyra lied down behind me and let out a big sigh after stretching.

Even though her appearance was sudden, I didn't feel startled this time. It was almost as if I knew that she was going to appear in that place.

"Ha, that's weird…"

"Hmm?"

"Dude, you didn't get startled this time. It was about damn time…" she scoffed as she touched my forehead.

I thought about what to say for a few seconds.

"I guess…" I sighed, trying to sound indifferent.

Lyra's head appeared above me as I finished talking, smiling as her gaze locked in with my eyes.

"You guess?" she mocked me.

"Yeah…"

"You're awful to talk to." she sighed.

From that moment on, I couldn't hear anything she said. The mere fact that she was speaking from that angle caused my brain to short-circuit.

"Hello? Are you listening?" she asked while snapping her fingers in front of my eyes.

"Yeah, yeah!" I shouted nervously as I came down from my cloud again.

"Liar."

"Whatever."

I turned to the side in hopes to avoid her teasing gaze, but just as before, she suddenly appeared in front of me.

"It's good to see that you're getting used to this" she pointed out at the fact that I didn't flinch at her doing.

"I'm nowhere near getting used to it, it's only with you that I don't get startled."

A deadly silence invaded us after I was done talking. As soon as I saw Lyra smiling in the same way as she did before, I knew that I fucked up.

"Want me to help you get used to the circus stuff?" she questioned while standing up and tending her hand for me.

"I guess?"

"You guess?" she teased me again.

I coughed before holding her hand and standing beside her.

"My bad. I'd love to get your help."

Once she got my confirmation, Lyra pulled me from my arm and took me away from the spot where Fiona was teaching me earlier. With a wide and warm smile, she guided me at her will.

"I trust that you trust me in this" she said before giving me a final pull as we got to the place she wanted us to be.