do no harm (but take no shit)

It was a question she had considered for a very long time. Because obviously there was always sides, no matter how much someone tried to stay out of it or stay objective. And it was a question she was particularly loathe to answer as she had a foot in both camps without ever really endorsing the war and still a little confused as to how the war had even started or what it really was even - which made the situation much more complicated than it had to be.

So while her answer was closer to 'I just wish it had never happened' she instead said, "Which side has better odds?"

His next question was one she would not have bet on and surprise flittered across her face. She shook her head, not sure why he had said it, not sure what he meant by it, and not sure how she felt about it, only certain that she was certainly not equipped to be 'like a sister' to anyone but the blonde she had somehow signed her soul over to and maybe her actual sister - and the latter only because they at least remembered how the other took their toast. "I don't think so."

Clair had been fishing for a reaction to Ace, but he was surprised by how expressive it was. Molly was like him, if she had emotions, probably Margo was the only one who knew about them. And they had that in common, too.

"But you two are the same age, and your parents are friends, and you grew up together," Clair pointed out. He wasn't completely sure on the last part, but from what Margo told him about Ace tolerating Molly, it fitted. "So you kind of are like sisters."

"I bet you know the odds better than me," he said. "I mean, I can tell they'll break up, because it just seems like Christian asked her out because he thought it was the right thing to do. Heaven help him if he ever sleeps with a girl. But you know whether Ace is actually rabid enough to scare Lottie off on purpose."

Molly shrugged. "I'm barely sisters with my sister, so I dunno."

I dunno was easier, and in so many ways more true. She was of the camp that believed the deeper one delved, the less they understood. On the surface, she and Lucy were sisters, but if you tried to unpack the meaning itself of sister she was not sure she fit the bill. So if she was like a sister to Ace on the outside, that was one thing, she supposed. She wasn't going to argue.

"I don't know that Ace would do that," Molly mused. "Rabid enough to do it, I'll give you, but I think there are matters on her mind that she considers far less pressing." She paused. "Besides, it may be good for Charlotte to be the one to do it."

"Well I am barely sisters with my brother, and I know what he'd do," Clair shot back.

He was willing to concede that it would be good for Charlotte to call it off with Christian.  Hell, it would be good for Charlotte to do  anything that involved exercising her own willpower against someone other than Clair.  But since when had Molly cared what was good for anyone other than herself?

"Matters?" Clair asked.

It was the only link he could make. Molly's attempt to turn the conversation back to Charlotte had to be to distract him from asking more about Ace. Which meant she knew something about Ace. Something interesting. Clair wasn't one to gossip, but that didn't mean he didn't like to know the gossip (an important distinction). So far as he was aware, the only pressing matters Ace Longbottom had were Christian's love life and getting the best marks in the school.  Neither of which seemed to have ever phased her before.

"What matters are these?"