(no subject)

[belheir]

From: Kazuya Minegishi
To: Everyone
Subject: Birthday Boy

Two months ago, my cousin Naoya decided to announce to the world at large that it was my birthday. Today I get to return the favour.

Please send him your best birthday regards. He's older than dirt and will need them before inevitably expires due to being a literal fossil.

I know you saw this coming, Naoya.

Comments

[crouching_sin]

Good. ... I may be what my cousin terms a 'grumpy old man', but that doesn't mean that I want most people to suffer.

[Just some people, but everyone has enemies, right? Right.]

... Do you have a birthday some time soon?

When the majority of NPCs in your canon do not have assigned birthdays...

[beshackled]

Such days are not as significant to us as to many of those here. Mayhap it is because our lives are so very long...

[Without that hard upper limit, it becomes a little less important to mark each year as a notable achievement.]

But the days are shortening. If you'd like to do something special soon... mayhap for the winter solstice?

It doesn't help that the calendar doesn't exactly match up, either...

[crouching_sin]

Ah, I see. No... dying from old age in your culture, I take it?

[It's an interesting thought. Not one that he'd like for himself. Sometimes lives have to end, and that's okay.]

The solstice sounds good to me. There are some holidays that people celebrate in my home world that I... do not care for. ... The god who cursed me is associated with them, you see.

Re: It doesn't help that the calendar doesn't exactly match up, either...

[beshackled]

[Erichthonios nods at the first. Death due to old age... is not a thing for his people, really.]

Ah... That is... unfortunate. Do they celebrate them here, too?

[crouching_sin]

I'm... not certain. I'm sure some do, being from some version of Earth - but I haven't been here long enough to know.

I'd hope not, but it's not as if my hopes have been that helpful. Heh. Do your people celebrate any sort of winter holidays?

[beshackled]

[Starlight is a long, long ways from coming into existence. Many, many, many years from his time.]

Mayhap not in the same way that people here seem to celebrate [With elaborate displays and costumes and so forth.] but I recall some enjoying the marvel of the turning seasons.

I fear I cannot tell you much else beyond that. I never had much cause to indulge in revelry in the past.

[crouching_sin]

Oh? Based on personality, experiences, or something else?

[He’s a little surprised - most people like holidays. He doesn’t, but he’s weird.]

[beshackled]

A combination of the above, truth be told. I... was not very outgoing, growing up. And though keyward Hesperos... was kind, after my mother died...

[And here, Erichthonios grows increasingly uncomfortable, visibly cringing at memories less than pleasant to recall.]

...he was more mentor than friend. I had colleagues, but friends are... a more recent experience for me.

[crouching_sin]

'Keyward'? I'm curious what he - or you? - was warding, but... if you don't wish to speak of it, we don't need to.

... Friends are difficult. I tend to find them happening to me rather than actively going and recruiting them. And yet... for most people, being social is part of their being. Not that it's easy for everyone, far from it. But if you have friends who do accept you for who you are... those are the best kind.

Somehow this got marked as read and got lost in the tags, sorry

[beshackled]

...Aye. That they are.

[At this, he cannot help but smile. A small, serene expression, though it quickly fades as he returns to the former subject, the tall man shifting awkwardly in his seat.]

...As for the nature of our work, and those I worked with... 'tis a difficult story for me to tell. Mayhap not one best suited for celebrations. But... another time.