*Welp. I guess that’s that. Though part of me really wants to go and ask Callisto the same question just to see what she says in response… though based on what Vivian just said, Callisto might just ignore the question and run away. Perhaps if I got Sylvie to ask instead? The problem with that is Sylvie would likely figure out why I asked, and if Sylvie can, Callisto can as well.

Would she just play dumb? Callisto is smart… but how good is she really in social situations? She seems… fine, or perhaps even good. She managed to handle things at the science fair pretty well. I guess I don’t have a proper understanding of how good Callisto is with people. She could probably fake ease of conversation with a tonne of effort and mental prowess… but from what I know of real life that’s not quite how it works.

Smart Lily and Sylvie might be, but good at dealing with people they are not. Heck, Penny is a perfect example of my point. Lily is too scared of new people to speak normally with them if I’m not around. Sylvie subtly looks down on everyone who is either the same age, or much less intelligent… so when they’re both she comes off very cold. Penny just doesn’t understand the social contract, which… well it seems learned, or perhaps ’not corrected’ is a better way of putting it.

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So where does that leave me with Callisto? She is an adult, so I’d have higher expectations for her… but adults are really great at pretending things are fine when they really aren’t, and I can see Callisto ending up in that category. Dammit, why does this have to be so hard? Vivian doesn’t even want me to meddle with things. Perhaps her overly optimistic way of looking at the current situation is the right one. Look… I’ll just sit on it for a while. I did have another question.*

"Hey Vivian," asked Kat as she turned to find Vivian now washing up in the sink, "So… what I was originally going to talk about was the fact I put you down as my mother on some forms recently, adopted sure… but I was wondering how you feel about that,"

Vivian nodded and smiled before saying, "I believe we’ve had similar conversations before, but in this instance I don’t mind at all being your mother on paper… but that’s not the question you’re asking here is it?"

"No… I guess it’s not. I’m still struggling to decide how to treat you exactly. I mean… no offence but you’re not exactly old…" Vivian giggled at Kat’s words, and Kat stuck her tongue out in response but kept speaking, "… it just means that our ages are fairly close… and you don’t exactly feel like a mother to me… but I’m sure a big part of that is I’m not really allowing you to?

"I’m away from home a bunch, and I don’t really snug up to you and tell you about my problems… I don’t really see Sylvie doing it much either because she spends more time with Callisto… something I don’t know how you feel about… but yeah… I guess it just leaves me wondering what YOU want,"

Vivian sighed, "I don’t mind that Callisto and Sylvie have found common ground. I think it’s very good for both of them… and besides, Sylvie still sneaks into my bed at night for cuddles fairly regularly when you’re not here so I can’t say that things are quite so tilted in favour of Callisto. That’s not the real sticking point though… is it?" Vivian questioned. Kat shook her head in response.

"Yeah thought so. I mean… I get where you’re coming from. And, not to say that I don’t want you here, because I love having you and Lily around, but I did only adopt you because Sylvie insisted. As lovely as you are, and as little as I mind sharing a house with you… you didn’t NEED a parent.

"I thought Sylvie was adorable, and finding out she was growing up in an orphanage I was struck with the desire to help. Callisto might find my impulsive, and sure, it certainly was an impulsive decision, but this house is pretty big, and I was thinking of perhaps moving to someplace smaller. Getting more people to live here was a much better decision. So much happier, and I do like this house. So an excuse to stay was great. Plus I can exercise my maternal instincts a bit.

"With that… I suppose you’re still wondering how I see you. Well… I’m trying to get our relationship to be similar too siblings, specifically siblings with a reasonably large age gap. I’m not attempting to be your mother, and I don’t think it would work if I tried. I don’t think we’re really at the ’siblings in all but blood’ phase of our relationship though. At best we’re good friends. Though, I suppose considering what happened with you and your best friend, perhaps it’s for the best we’re not quite so close,"

Kat recoiled from the joke, even as she tried to stifle her laughter. "Nope, no way, why would you put that image in my mind?" asked Kat.

"I just said we were at best ’good friends’ so I’ve got to up my teasing obviously. Much more appropriate as an older sister," said Vivian.

Kat’s eyes narrowed, "Have you been chatting with Nira?"

"Perhaps I have, perhaps I haven’t," said Vivian with a grin.

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"Well it’s either Nira or Sue, but I’m guessing it has to be Nira, because Sue’s just a friend and she’s still willing to embarrass everyone by being overly raunchy nine times out of ten," said Kat.

Vivian just shrugged, "I shall not give up my source,"

Kat narrowed her eyes further, "Well that’s just confirmed that someone did put you up to it… and I can probably just ask Kamiko, or Nira herself. Nira would certainly be happy to brag about corrupting a fellow parent in the ways of embarrassment, and Kamiko would be happy to know I share in her suffering. So… was it Nira?"

Vivian pouted, "Ruin my fun why don’t you? Yes it was Nira. She’s fun to talk to, even if we really only get to send one message to each other every day or so. It’s kind of like having a pen pal again. That was something we used to do in school you know? Send letters to another school across the world. It was a cool way to learn about other cultures… is what I would say if the person I was writing to ever sent me back a proper letter. They just sent me back drawings which… well I didn’t mind they were cool drawings, I might still have around somewhere… but it wasn’t exactly informative you know?"

"Um… not really?" said Kat, "We did have to write letters a few times… but they were just for letter writing practice. We sent them to Santa Claus and I think the teachers? Maybe our parents once?"

"You guys still had letter writing classes?" asked Vivian surprised. "I know we’re not that far apart in age, but my parents still got letters from friends and family pretty regularly when I was younger. Most of them switched to electronic stuff, either letters or just phone calls by the time I was fifteen."

"Yeah, well… most of the letter writing was from when I was very little, like, less then ten. Actually, I wonder if Sylvie still has letter writing classes? That might be worth asking about," said Kat.

Vivian nodded, drying off the dishes she’d washed up as well as her hands. "It just might be. It’s a bit weird thinking about what things I learnt in school that are no longer applicable. Not the stuff that’s wrong and was never correct in the first place, but the stuff that just isn’t relevant like writing letters, or… hmm… I wonder. Do you still learn how to properly use the Dewey Decimal System in the library?"

"Um… I think so? Perhaps not properly? I think we only had like… half a class on it once when we got to primary school, and maybe a slight refresher a few years after that? It’s not a focus, but it’s not like it’s particularly hard to use," said Kat.

"I suppose that’s true. No other examples are coming to me though, that’s what makes it so weird. I’m sure there’s a bunch of stuff I learnt in school that you didn’t and vice versa. I’m now quite curious as to what those things are. I wonder if there’s a good website for tracking that sort of thing… I doubt it… but it would be a cool website," said Vivian.

"Did you learn how to make a website? That was like… a whole term long project once. The teachers thought everyone in my generation would NEED to know how to make a website for when we grew up," said Kat.

Vivian nodded, "It was covered… but only in computer class, which was an elective,"

"Eh, it was an elective for me as well… but if memory serves I think we also learnt in… English? I want to say…" offered Kat.

Vivian shrugged.

Kat shrugged back.

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