Video / Action

[just_displaced]

[There's something to be said for the fact for being so distracted that he hasn't actually noticed this whole mistletoe thing going on yet. And that's amazing in it of itself, because he's actually even left the Welcome Center today, too, for the sake of running a little errand. When he turns on the video, he's morosely picking a piece of cake apart with a fork.]

So. Here's a question. I mean, I'm sure there're a lot of different answers to it, but consider this a poll. Or something. Or just one of those questions that nobody has the right answer to but everyone has their own answer to. What do people do about birthdays around here?

[He pokes the cake again.]

I mean, do you celebrate your birthday on the date that the calendar here says it is? Does it even qualify as a real birthday? Do we actually age here? Or is it better just to forget about that kind of thing entirely and just do whatever you want, because this place doesn't make any sense, anyway?

[A frown, a shake of his head, and then he's turning off the video and heading to drop the piece of cake in the trash... and to go wandering back out into the City, where you might catch him near some mistletoe, inadvertently.]

Comments

[water_wine_wizard]

That's funny. I've was just talking to Chekov about calenders.

[just_displaced]

About how they might not make any sense around here because I'm not even sure what universe or dimension we're in, much less how time works here? Because if you were talking about that with Chekov, I guess it's on all of our minds.

[water_wine_wizard]

Well, my world's calender is completely different than the Gregorian - I think that's what he called it - calender. I have a holiday, I guess you could call it, coming up soon.

[just_displaced]

What's the holiday? Because I was thinking about that, too, about how people from different worlds probably have different calendars, and how those probably don't match up at all to what's going on around here. So how do you know if you've had a birthday or not, if you have to translate it all to this calendar?

[water_wine_wizard]

My brother gave me a calender one of the times he visited that has corresponding dates. He said there was a lot of wiggling around because like... we have a leap year every five years, but it should have all the important things.

It's a day to remember the dead... sort of.

video;

[ex_sorted385]

I say if there's presents and cake involved, you celebrate your birthday and don't worry about whether you're older or not.

Happy Birthday, Mr Ginsberg.

[ She's smiling like she knows something amusing, eyes twinkling. ]

I believe I owe you a meal sometime.

Re: video;

[just_displaced]

Thanks. I think it's my birthday. I mean... okay, never mind, it's a long story, and I'm not going to get into it here, but needless to say, I think it's my birthday. If I can count it that way. Um.

[A smile.]

You mean because you were a little kid over the weekend and I made you a sandwich?

Re: video;

[ex_sorted385]

Then it's your birthday. Who's going to argue it?

[ Her smile grows into a grin. ]

And a safe place to go and a warm spot to nap. I really appreciate your help. God knows I could have fallen into a hole or something, wandering about on my own.

Re: video;

[just_displaced]

Okay, sure, it's my birthday.

[A nod.]

Well, you don't need to thank me. I just thought it'd be a bad idea to let a little kid wander around on their own, and then I figured out that little kid was you, and then it seemed even worse to let you wander around on your own. Not that you're not a competent person, just that once I know someone, I have a more vested interest in their safety, I guess. And I'm glad you didn't fall into any holes.

[Video]

[likehim_likeme]

I spent the day with my sister. But it was Noël in Paris when I found myself here. As it was only a week between my arrival here and my birthday, I did not count it as one. But... next year, I will count it. If only because my sister and I will be together for it.

Either way, bon anniversaire, monsieur...?

Re: [Video]

[just_displaced]

Sure, that makes sense to me. I mean, I showed up here in October, and it'd been November back home, so my birthday was coming up anyway. I guess I might as well count this as my birthday.

Thanks. Ginsberg. Michael Ginsberg. Except I just go by Ginsberg, mostly. I mean, you can call me Michael, but sometimes I forget it's my name, and I might not respond to it, and that'd be awkward. Nice to meet you.

[Video]

[likehim_likeme]

Alternatively, one might count the day of their arrival as a sort of birthday as it is their 'birth' into this world.

Then I shall stick with Ginsberg. I am Jean-Paul Doret.

Re: [Video]

[just_displaced]

I don't know about that -- if we started counting like that, it'd feel almost too much like we were convinced we'd be staying here for long enough that we'd have multiple 'birthdays' here. And I don't really want to think about that. It's bad enough that I've been here two months. I mean, not everything about this place is that bad, but it's not home.

Nice to meet you, Jean-Paul. Unless you prefer to go by your last name, too?

voice;

[mumbled_truth]

Yes. We age here.

Re: voice;

[just_displaced]

Good. Maybe. I think. I can't tell if that's good or bad.

Re: voice;

[mumbled_truth]

It's, um... it's probably less weird than not aging, after a few years.

Re: voice;

[just_displaced]

Yeah, but see, thinking that requires me to accept that I might be here for several years, and that's just... Not a thought I'm prepared to come to terms with. Yet.

video;

[anunluckypenny]

Aw, why didn't you say it's your birthday? I would've made a cake. You know, if you'd eat it. I mean, I still could, just say the word.

The whole birthday thing is confusing. I don't really celebrate mine since I'm not exactly getting any older.

Re: video;

[just_displaced]

Well, I don't know if it's really my birthday. It's just always the day we celebrated it when I was a kid. It was kind of picked for me. It's as good a day as any, though, I guess. I'd eat a cake, sure. It'd be better than the cake I just threw away.

Yeah, but I guess you could still celebrate yours. A birthday where you don't age but still get presents sounds pretty good to me, actually.

video;

[anunluckypenny]

Tell me if this is a sensitive topic, but why didn't you know your birthday? Not that it really matters. Random days are good, too. [His less than enthused response almost elicits snark.] Do you have no faith at all in my cake-baking abilities?

[Well, she kind of hinted that she's dead there, so that's done and no one's freaking out, so... cool.]

It sounds nice, but once it rolls around, forgetting about it always sounds nicer.

Re: video;

[just_displaced]

Oh, I believe you're a great baker. I have complete faith in you. I don't know my birthday because nobody knows when exactly I was born. When they found me, I was between four and five months old, so they just picked a day. I don't know who picked it, but that's what they gave me, and then I grew up with it, and it just... Stuck?

video

[candothat]

If you would like to debate whether or not birthdays are real on a philosophical level, I can do that, but I think it is simplest to keep your birth date the same in the City as it is at home. Determining your actual age is not so difficult, however, if you would like a more accurate date.

But the way that the City works is this: this universe is temporally isolated from all others. What time passes here does not pass at home. We age here, but once we return home, we are the age we were upon arriving in the City. For example, I had my seventeenth birthday approximately four months before arriving in the City. When I arrived here, according to the City's date, I was six months passed my seventeenth birthday. I acknowledged my birthday in September even though, physically, I was still two months away from being eighteen. I then left the City nine months later, at which time I was fifteen months older here than I had been at home relative to the City's calendar, but only thirteen months older physiologically. I was seventeen and four months old once home and, after six months at there, I returned to the City. In the City, I was physiologically the same age that I had been when I left home for the second time--that is, seventeen and ten months. According to the City's calendar, however, I was eighteen and nine months old. When the date of my birthday came, I considered it my second eighteenth birthday in the City because this was closer, physiologically, to my actual age.

[You asked, Ginzo.]

Now, celebrating. I had few friends on my first birthday here and felt no need to say when my date of birth was, and so I only celebrated by drinking. For my last birthday, friends were aware of my birthday and there was a party. So I think, maybe, it is traditional to have your first birthday in the City largely alone.

Re: video

[just_displaced]

[Oh Chekov, this is why he likes you.]

Okay, so it was November back home and October in the City when I arrived, so having spent two months here now maybe I'm already 24, but because there isn't that much difference when it comes to a matter of a month or two, I might as well call this my 24th birthday. But if I disappeared again, went back home where it was still November, and then came back here in January, I probably wouldn't call it my 25th birthday, but rather my second 24th birthday.

[A nod.]

And I'm okay with celebrating it alone. I've never really been the birthday party kind of guy.

video

[candothat]

Yes, exactly, that is what I would do. See, this is why we get along.

[He's quite pleased with Ginsberg. Most people look at him blankly when he tries to explain things.]

Ah, me neither--not if the party is mine. Too much attention, and everyone feels that they are obligated to be kind so as to not ruin a day that, so far as the universe is concerned, is no different from any other.

Re: video

[just_displaced]

Exactly. And then people try to buy you gifts, which is always kind of awkward, because if they're not sure what to get you, they feel strange about it, and then so do you, but everyone feels sad when they don't receive gifts. And nobody wants to expect gifts, either. And everyone's staring at you... Other peoples' parties are definitely better, you're right.