[ open ] birthday time!

[picky]

WHO: Marcille, Ryoji, and YOU!
WHAT: A party for the April (and May) birthdays!
WHERE: LILICO Game Center in Akihabara
WHEN: April 20th
WARNINGS: TBA

No matter who you are, you receive a text early in the morning from Ryoji (memors):

Good morning! Did you know it's a special someone's birthday today? Actually, we have several birthdays to celebrate, so join us today at the LILICO Game Center! There will be cake! Lots and *lots* of cake. Hope to see you there!

This is an open log, so feel free to tag out or top level or respond to the prompts below. Have fun!

Comments

[picky]

[ She doesn't seem deterred. She likes Raidou, though, so she stops rudely pointing and leans to hold her drink up to her mouth. ]

How long are you gonna live for? [ Said a little more slowly, with a pout. ]

[the_fourteenth]

[Why would someone ask anyone that, especially among Outsiders? Unfortunately poor tipsy Marcille is metaphorically poking an open wound.

Raidou's brow knits in annoyance, but there's a strange amount of resolve in his voice at the answer.]

As long as I can here. Why?

[picky]

[ She's a little too far gone here to notice the annoyance. She folds an arm on the table, sets her chin in it, and watches the ice melt and turn in her glass. ]

Not that. I know that. I mean your lifespan. How long have you got?

[the_fourteenth]

[It's fine, Raidou's emotions are all pretty subtle and hard to miss even when someone is sober. Now he looks more confused than annoyed, though. That's not exactly what he was expecting to hear.]

I don't... Do you mean me, specifically? Or... people where I am from?

[picky]

Hm... What race are you?

[the_fourteenth]

[... Ah.]

Human. We live about fifty to sixty years on average.

[Such is life in 1920, anyway.]

[picky]

Another Tall-Man...

[ She takes another small sip of her drink, sets her elbow on the bar, and drops her jaw on her hand. She looks at Raidou through the slivers of her eyes. ]

Would you live longer if you could?

[the_fourteenth]

[Raidou absently fiddles with his bottle of soda, thinking, brow knitted. One would think this would be an easy question to answer.]

I'd like to live for as long as I could, yes.

[His eyes move her way.]

Wouldn't you?

[picky]

[ Her eyes search over him as she quietly absorbs his answer. More drunk person buffering. She's been doing that a few times this evening.

Then she turns, puts both elbows on the counter, and stares into the bottom of her glass. ]

How long would you wanna live for? What's a good number? A hundred? Two hundred?

[the_fourteenth]

It wouldn't matter to me. A hundred or a thousand. We should be thankful for whatever time we get. It's the quality of life, yes? So long as you're happy and healthy, let it remain as long as possible.

[Strong words on mortality from a teenager. He continues to absently fidget with his bottle, needing something to do with his hands.]

Putting a number on it seems pointless. Sorry. That's probably not the answer you're looking for.

[picky]

[ She lifts her head slowly and looks him over, her grip loosening on her glass. Strong words on mortality, definitely—like he's considered the concept before at least once. A hundred or a thousand. Of all the people she's spoken to thus far, no one else has given her an answer like Raidou's—a willingness to live for as long as one possibly can.

(Yes, she was fishing for validation with these questions. She's drunk and a year older now. She's allowed this much, isn't she? While she's already being unhealthy?)

As he fidgets and apologizes, her gaze softens. She shakes her head and tries to smile reassuringly for him despite her underlying exhaustion. ]

No, I agree with you. As long as you're happy and healthy, why not live for as long as you can, right?

[ She turns her chair to face him, letting go of her drink entirely. ]

... Do you think about this kind of thing a lot?

[the_fourteenth]

[The somewhat distant look on his face as stares ay the bottle in his hand says much more than his words do. Even when it's a typically subdued Raidou facial expression.]

Ah, it's been on my mind a bit, I suppose. I am in a dangerous line of work back home, much like here. My clan never hid that fact or softened the idea for me, even as a child.

[picky]

[ She sobers a little, watching Raidou's expressions carefully. She's trying very hard to speak coherently; her thoughts feel like sheep that need to be wrangled. ]

They were training you to be a Summoner even when you were little? [ She furrows her brows. ] What was it like for you back then?

[the_fourteenth]

[The unexpected question that started this conversation had caught him off guard, but this was a party, right? He doesn't want to be a downer. He looks at Marcille now, a slight fond smile on his face as he nods.]

Yes. My whole life. Though it wasn't until later that I started aiming to warn a title.

[He thinks on that second question for a moment, though.]

Hard to say. Life in the Kuzunoha village was all I knew. I know my upbringing was different than others. I didn't realize how much so until I got to high school in the Capital, and met other boys my age.