Chapter 1727 A Strawberry Corner

--- Kat --- (Wednesday)

Kat had one paint brush in either hand and a third larger brush wrapped up in her tail. "Wait… why am I here painting the fence?" asked Kat with a glance to the side. Vivian was there in painting get-up. She had an oversized set of overalls covered in paint stains and an oversized long sleeve shirt with logos for a construction company Kat didn’t recognise on it. Also covered in paint. Her hair was done up in a ponytail for once and she had a big wide sunhat on.

"Because you need something to do or someone to help and I wanted to talk to you," answered Vivian.

"Am… am I really that bad?" asked Kat. "Wait this doesn’t have anything to do with the fact I was bugging you about the spider tank plans right?"

"Eh… I don’t know if that’s actually the reason but I’ve noticed that you get a bit in your head if you don’t have someone else around to distract you. It’s not long your unfocused just you tend to… muddle a bit if you don’t have a clear goal. I think half the reason you can train without issue is that you know it will let you help more people in the future…" explained Vivian. "And no I think you had pretty valid questions about the tank so we are in fact not talking about it now. Please don’t try to change the subject,"

"Huh… I’ve not really thought of it that way… and you might be right? Something to think about at least," mumbled Kat as she brushed a spot of paint that she’d missed. With her demonic upgrades painting with three brushes was no issue. She could paint one post with each limb with no issues. Well, almost no issues.

Vivian shrugged, pausing partway through her post to glance at Kat. "I don’t mean much by it. I just thought this would be a better way to chat, or at least one you’d appreciate. The fence needs painting anyway. Oh, and in case you’re wondering I bribed Callisto to take Sylvie out for the day so you don’t have to worry about disappointing her with a lack of attention either,"

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Kat winced at that insinuation and let out a long sigh. "Alright that’s… that’s fair at least. What did you bribe Callisto with,"

"Secret," said Vivian with a cheeky smile. "Now, tell me how you’ve been? I’ve got the general gist from your stories but we’ve not really sat down and talked in… hmmm… might be months at this point,"

Kat winced again. "Sorry. Um… I guess I’m doing well? The last Summon was… a bit much but otherwise I think I’m doing well. I’ve settled into this new normal at least,"

"Oh? And it’s not caused any issues with Sylvie?" asked Vivian pointedly.

Kat sighed once again. She was doing that a lot and Vivian was likely going to get a similar reaction a few more times before lunch. "That’s an entirely separate… thing. I guess I just don’t know what to do in regards to Sylvie these days. On the one hand I feel bad that I don’t spend as much time with her as I used to and she clearly still wants to spend time with me…

"On the other hand she’s managing to branch out in ways she never did at the orphanage. She tried making friends but they pretty much universally thought she was too weird. Some would play with her if I was clearly watching over them… and then cause issues for her as soon as I left to help someone out. She was never entirely comfortable in the orphanage without me around and that just made her less appealing to a lot of the other kids around her age.

"Which leads us to now I guess. I’m not sure if I should be sad she’s relying on me less and branching out… or feel awkward that she hasn’t entirely moved passed that. Before we came back I was under the impression that she was doing… better I guess? That she was less reliant on me… but now I’m not entirely sure. She’s tried to spend as much time as she can with me in between school and stuff and the few times she’d had things with her friends and just… I don’t know what to do. What’s best for me, best for her.

"I’m not going to cut her out of my life completely, I’d never do that… but I do wonder if I should be quite as available to her when I’m here on earth. I’d feel horrible if I wasn’t around when she wanted me to be… but I can’t be around all the time forever. Especially because I’m off on contracts. I just… I don’t know. I thought with Callisto around things were already changing but now…" Kat trailed off with a sigh as she dipped the brushes in more paint. Not really sure what else to say.

"It’s alright not to know what’s going on," said Vivian gently. "I think, and this really is just what I think, nothing more. I think that at first everything was nice and new and fresh. Callisto was everything she wanted in an adult in her life. Something I was pleasantly surprised by and regularly makes me smile. At first it was great for both of them…

"But I suspect she started to miss you more and more. The less she needed you the more she wanted you. Sylvie is a smart girl so perhaps she realised just how much of a crutch the relationship you share was for her. Now, she is still a child and it’s not wrong to lean on your family… but once again she’s quite smart and perhaps she was hoping to ’grow out’ of it a bit.

"After finding that chance she jumped at it… but quickly found it wasn’t what she really wanted. So now she’s trying to work out how to give YOU the space she feels like you both need while grappling with the fact that sometimes you can just be gone for weeks at a time. She doesn’t need you around all of the time…

"But with you away so much there are plenty of times where she DOES need you and you aren’t there. I suspect you’re both struggling to deal with that," Vivian gave Kat a light hug when she saw the demon had stopped painting. "I know it’s not making you feel much better now, but I do think Sylvie shares a lot of those awkward feelings you have as well,"

There was only one response of course. A big, long sigh. "That’s really not what I wanted to hear Vivian,"@@novelbin@@

"Well you weren’t going to open up about just yourself now were you? I needed to bring out some of the big guns," admitted Vivian with a grin. "Now that we’re actually talking instead of just giving platitudes I’ve got another question for you. How long are you planning to stay?"

"What do you mean? Why do you ask?" queried Kat.

Vivian shrugged, "Well, you’ve been gone quite a while recently and Lily has been more or less constantly around… plus you’ve earnt a good deal of money from what I understand. This isn’t me kicking you out either. I’ve got more money then I know what to do with and so does Callisto. Sylvie adores you and I enjoy having you around even if it’s only for brief moments… but I felt it needed to be asked. Your answers with Sylvie already give me most of an answer but well…"

"You want a full one," stated Kat. "I don’t plan to leave. As long as you’ll have me I’m happy to stay…"

"But?" asked Vivian.

"But I’m a touch worried. From what rumours and little bits and pieces I’ve heard Rank 5 might be a turning point. It might not happen immediately… but eventually I think I’ll be prevented from visiting Eart except for really small stints. Normally that could be centuries away…

"But it’s also normally decades or centuries to rank up at all and I’m already Rank 4. I’m not sure when I’ll get to Rank 5 and I’m not sure when the universe will start having issues with me… but it might be sooner then any of us would like. I’m… I’m really not sure what I’ll do then.

"The annoying part is that it’s not really something I can properly plan for. It’s just going to happen one day and… well it might also be where a lot of my worries around Sylvie come from. One day I might just… not be able to be there. Sure I’ve got those tokens for her, along with you and Callisto as well if that’s something you want. Just… I don’t want Sylvie using them until she’s older. Mature and smart she may be… but she deserves a chance to grow up first," explained Kat.

"Well as her adopted mother I do agree with that," said Vivian with a smug smile. "Personally, I just wouldn’t worry about it much. If it’s just going to happen at some point? Then just let it happen. Perhaps plan a bit. Leave behind a beacon or whatever if you need to… and just be ready. I know you mentioned that you’d want to get a storage ring for stuff. Perhaps look into one big enough to keep everything you care about. Just in case,"

Kat gave a short laugh. "Pretty sure you can’t keep people inside them long term or at all for most models,"

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