Birthday Argument

"Where have you been?" Vivian asked with a scowl on her face. A scowl I had seen entirely too much recently. We were still best of friends, but she didn't like my free spirit. I understood that, but I wish she wasn't such a mom all the time. She was my big sister, she was supposed to conspire with me, instead of being my jailer. It wouldn't matter much longer. I'd be going to the sect. It wasn't far, but I'd be sleeping, eating, and training there. I could visit Vivian or vice versa. I hoped our relationship would improve without her being in a position of power over me. It always hurt me to be in conflict with her like this. I couldn't deny my nature though. I tried, I really did.

When I made that promise with Vivian, I entirely intended to keep it. The more I tried to constrain myself, the more I needed mischief. At first, I could cope with playing pranks on those whom I interacted with directly like the tutor who fired me as a student. However, it limited my creativity greatly. So I started sneaking around. I would throw water balloons at the guards in the training yard from the rooftop; many actually enjoyed this. There were a few times I would rip a page out of a popular book in our library with a critical plot point and hide it, leaving cryptic clues in the book using the book's own plot. I once let a stinkbug out in the kitchen. Unlike stinkbugs from Earth, these smelled ghastly. Like a mix of sulfur, rotten egg, and a juicy fart. Needless to say, I didn't get dinner that day.

I felt as if I had gone through this whole scenario before but with something different. Alas whatever it was, was among the memories that I lost. It hurt me that Vivian seemed to be causing me the same kind of pain that I suffered in my previous life. I understood though. I was a handful. Vivian had her nature that she had to deal with as well. Her nature of control and order directly clashed with my nature of entropy and power. So I didn't get angry, maybe a little sad though. I picked up the robe I had left behind to restore my modesty. Then I approached for my lecture. "I was out for a stroll around the house testing my abilities," I replied. There was no use hiding it now, she had seen me transform directly in front of her ... again.

"Without guards?" she demanded tersely.

Normally I might make a snarky reply, but I wanted to try something different this time. I wanted to reach her. Show her that I understood her, and maybe help her to understand me. "I understand you are angry I didn't take my guards with me."

"That's right! I am angry!" she snapped back, enunciating every word.

"I get that, I really do, I'd be mad at me too," I paused to gather my thoughts before continuing, "Vivi," she winced at hearing her nickname, not a good sign. "I really wanted to be a good girl and let the guards follow me wherever I went, I really did. I didn't want to let you down. You're the most important person in the world to me. Even more important than myself, and you know how self-absorbed I am. Well okay, Rosie might outrank you, but look at her, she's too adorable." I tried to lighten the mood a little.

"If all that is true, then why do you keep doing it? Why did you do it this time?" She said every word through clenched teeth. Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes. We have had this fight many times. She was growing bitter.

"This time, I needed to find out about something peculiar in my cultivation. I wanted to see Fred cultivating to compare it to mine. If I had taken the guards, the first thing they would've done would be to use the intercom Mom installed to notify Fred we were coming and he wouldn't have been cultivating when we got there. Beyond that, I needed to test a new ability. A secret ability. I can't just be telling everyone about my secret abilities," I paused.

"But those are just excuses and you know it," I decided to take a gamble and explain the root of the problem, "Vivian, the truth is I need the freedom, I need the devilry, and I need the excitement. Not just because I'm growing older, not just because I could probably kick Fred's ass now, not just because my future life is going to be wild, reckless, and dangerous. I need the mischief in my life to feel like myself, just like you need the order in yours to feel like yourself. It is part of who I am, I tried to deny that for a very long time, especially since that's not who I was in my past life. I, like you, did not like my new predilections. I tried to control them, to some degree, I succeeded. My pranks are no longer harmful, at worst they might cause a little inconvenience. Even when I ditch the guards, I'm still in the villa. Vivi, I need to be free," I said earnestly, "But while I am free, I still want you on my side. We may be like oil and water, but you're still my bestest friend and sister. We may just need to agree that we don't agree on everything."

Vivian still seemed to be taking in what I had said.

"Vivian you have been the best mother to me, even when it wasn't your job, and I appreciate that. I'm sorry that I wasn't always the greatest daughter. But I'm about to leave the nest and go on my own journey. How about we choose this moment to stop being mother and daughter and start being sister and sister? You can drop the burden of being a mother to a miscreant like myself and pick up the much lighter and more fun responsibility of being my sister, what do you say to that?"

Vivian seemed contemplative for several moments. I saw her expression change several times. From anger to sorrow to concern to introspection. Finally, it landed on peace and her face brightened up. "I say we've got a deal," Vivian said, her voice full of croaks after nearly crying. Always the businesswoman, she stuck her hand out to shake on it.

I stuck my own hand out and shook hers, "Deal! Now wipe those tears away, get dressed into something nice, and let's go get our birthday breakfast. I want bacon, and that stingy master of mine isn't stopping me this time!"

I gave Vivian a quick hug and got ready myself. This whole time, Rosie was completely unperturbed. She only twitched a little in response to something she was chasing in her dreams. That girl could sleep through a hurricane. I was envious of her. Maybe I should call her Little Sloth from now on. At least until she taught me her ways.