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Callisto had decided to use this as a chance to make some products as well. Instead of flimsy paper decoration she was going all out and with Kat not really doing anything else, she was conscripted into the preparation plans. It wasn’t really a bother for Kat, but it did mean she wasn’t doing anything all that intellectually engaging. She also felt like contacting Lily while she was spending time with her parents would be a bad idea.

So, she just followed instructions. Find this piece of fabric from there, stitch these two things here. Apply paint here, stand it up there. Don’t let dust touch this, spill water across that. Wipe out this mess, move the mess over there. All simple stuff really. Kat was keeping herself entertained by holding a bit of flame above her head and imagining it in different shapes. Of course, she couldn’t actually see the fire in question, what with it being above her head and all. So she had rely on her senses to tell just how close she was… while occasionally checking with the mirror of course.

“So… do you think the boardgames I picked out where interesting enough for Sylvie?” asked Kat.

“You are truly worried about this are you not?” responded Callisto.

Kat wanted to say that she wasn’t concerned… but of course her mouth couldn’t form those words. “Dammit… yes I am. I don’t know why. I spent hours picking out just the right games. I know she’ll enjoy them at least a bit… but I just don’t really know what I’m doing I guess…”

Callisto walked over and gave Kat a few awkward pats on the head before she continued with her work, “I cannot say I understand, not fully, but I do empathise. This is your first chance to buy something nice for Sylvie. Vivian and I are in similar situations you know? While I think it is clear we have not agonised to the same extent, you do, it is still important. This is the first proper birthday since the adoption. Vivian is probably more excited than Sylvie truth be told,”

“Huh… but you’re not?” asked Kat warily.

Callisto gave a long sigh, “It would be wrong of me to say that I hold no excitement… but I do not celebrate my own birthday. I am happy for Sylvie, and I will take this chance to spoil her without worry in both hands… but I still do not really think of birthdays in a fond light. I have not even told Vivian my birthday, though I suspect that she knows when it is by now. As an… odd show of support she has not be celebrating her birthday either when she can get away with it.

.....

“Unlike myself, she has many others that are quite fond of her. So even if she were to swear of the holiday, meaning every word, she would still find presents on her doorstep. At the very least Vivian’s parents would send her a box of cookies, no matter how much she protested. I imagine a few business associates would send her cards as well. So I suppose it is more accurate to say she tries not to do anything fancy for her birthday. I do not mind, but she can be rather stubborn about what she deems fair,”

Kat licked her lips as she grabbed the tape. *There’s… well there’s a lot to unpack there. The obvious question is ‘why don’t you celebrate your birthday’ but do I really want to touch on that? Hmm… no… no I don’t think I do. At least, not yet.* “Are we likely to meet Vivian’s parents?” asked Kat, hoping that at least was a safe topic.

Judging by Callisto’s smile, it seemed to be. “It is likely you will at some point. They are travellers. Vivian’s parents are quite wealthy. Most of that isn’t in simple liquid assets, but they own a number of homes all around the world. They rent most of them out and use the money to travel. If they like a destination they tend to pick up more property. They will visit at some point I am sure. Though… actually…”

Callisto paused for a moment, a frown settling on her face. “Now that I am thinking of it, I am rather surprised they have not dropped by to see who their daughter adopted. That is rather atypical behaviour from them… unless… would she? She might… hmm…”

“Care to enlighten me?” asked Kat.

Callisto slowly turned to look at Kat and said, “It should be obvious from my context clues. My best guess is that Vivian neglected to inform her parents that she had adopted two girls. Vivian is a little scatterbrained sometimes and she exchanges letters with her parents instead of text messages. This is both due to a lack of cell phone reception at many destinations, and also because the whole family believe letter writing to be more intimate.

“In this case, I would hazard a guess that Vivian mentioned it in a letter she drafted but forgot to send, and then believed that her parents would already know she adopted you both in subsequent letters. I imagine she mentions you both, but without context you may just be new friends or short term charity projects. I… may need to get confirmation about this. They will be awfully annoyed to know that we celebrated, what is essentially their grandchild’s birthday without even informing them they had a grandchild,”

“Surely it would have come up…” said Kat with a wince.

Callisto shook her head, “Potentially not. It can take up to two months for a reply to come through. It is also possible for letters to get lost in the mail. I suspect that we won’t know until they show up one day to visit unless I can contact them with a phone. I will have to double check where they are as well, it would not do to call them in the middle of the night without warning after all.”

Kat nodded but didn’t say anything else on the topic. It seemed that Vivian inherited her attitude from her parents. Carefree but with a penchant for making money somehow. “How old are Vivian’s parents?” queried Kat.

“Not very old at all,” said Callisto, “They are just a little past forty,”

“Seems odd that they’ve basically retired already,” said Kat.

“Some might see it that way, but as far as I can tell, they made enough money to retire… and then did so. They realised that their bank accounts could go up forever if they wanted… but it wasn’t at all what they dreamed of. So they transferred the ownership of the company, kept a good chunk of the shares and then made good use of their real estate investments. They may also have an online video series? They joked about it for a while so now it is unclear if they actually went through with it not,” said Callisto.

The conversation sort of stalled there. It was clear that Callisto knew some things about Vivian’s parents but really, it would be better to ask Vivian herself about them instead. Callisto did know, but it was likely her information about them was filtered through Vivian for obvious reasons. It meant Callisto had to make assumptions and leaps of logic or stick to more generalisations about them. Kat felt a little bad about not even knowing their names… but Callisto hadn’t mentioned them either. Well, if Vivian’s parents were anything like their daughter it was quite likely they had some strange nickname they insisted on being known by.

The quiet was fine for a while… but then Kat felt the need to ask. Perhaps it was corruption from spending too much time with Lily. Perhaps it was because Kat felt comfortable with Callisto. Perhaps, she felt the urge to tease a bit. Whatever the case… eventually Kat could not help but ask, “What about your own birthday? Would you like to talk about why you don’t celebrate it?”

Kat watched as a ripple seemed to go through Callisto’s body. Every muscle locking up one after another starting at Callisto’s toes. Her legs froze in position and her arms paused in their motions. Callisto’s eyes were sharper then ever, looking ready to lash out at the slightest movement. Then a shuddering breath racked Callisto’s frame. Her legs relaxed, her arms resumed moving, and Callisto carefully spoke the words. “No Kat. I do not believe I have any interest in discuss that matter with you right now. Perhaps another time,”