THERE I WAS, MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS, NOT EVEN WATCHING THE DARN MOVIE...

[flower_power]

Um, excuse me? Mun?

It's not that I don't appreciate everything you want to do for me, it's just... well....

Are you really sure that's the best place for me? Mother would be furious. And... and I think she might be right. It doesn't really sound safe. And, as nice as it would be not to have to worry so much about my hair... it's part of me. This power... it's part of me. And it's what makes me... special. [She starts finger combing a small section that she pulls over her shoulder, nervously.]

Besides, it's almost my birthday. Couldn't you, oh, wait another few months? Or years, maybe?

Comments

[thetrueme]

Tomorrow? Then I wish you an early happy birthday, then! [laughs] What would you want for it?

[flower_power]

Oh! Thank you! And... happy early birthday to you, too, whenever yours is! And... what I want?

Well, I mean.... the one thing I really want - the one thing I've, like, been dreaming of, actually, for basically as long as I can remember....

Every year on my birthday there are these floating lights that appear, and I just...

Hopefully Mother will take me to see them. Up closer than from my window. And yes, I know that the world is dangerous, and she's just trying to protect me, but....

Well, if Mother was with me, don't you think...?

[thetrueme]

I think my birthday's sometime soon, too. So thanks.

Is your mother that strict about keeping you cooped up inside so you CANNOT go see those lights? If so, then she doesn't want your dream to ever come true. Only you can make it happen, without your mother's permission even.

[flower_power]

[She instantly turns defensive.

It's not like she doesn't care about me - she won't let me outside because she cares about me too much. The world is a very dangerous place, full of ruffians, and thugs, and people who would want to hurt me, or use me.

[thetrueme]

Well, she's right about that. That is exaclty how the world is like, at least how it exists now. But everyone has to live in it. No one is so special that they have to be shut off from the world for the entirety of their lives, not even you.

If you want to go see those lights, then go see those lights. Then you can return home afterwards.

[flower_power]

You can't know that. Mother says I have a gift, and that gift needs to be protected.

[But she bites her lip. She really does want to see the lights.]

[thetrueme]

Your mother can suck it. If you do have a gift, it doesn't need to be hid, even if in protection.

[flower_power]

But....

You just said she was right about how the world is.

[thetrueme]

Yeah, so? I also said that everyone lives in that world and goes out in it. Why should one person have to be shielded from the world when there are dozens of other people living and suffering out in it? Shutting yourself out of life in the world just makes you an outcast.