[audio]

[ribbonbon]

[With the recent temperature fiasco, Pilouette hadn't been paying attention and September kind of snuck up on her. Now with a particular day coming up, she's found that she's ended up with a somewhat...odd problem. Having found herself unable to figure out an answer on her own, she decides to turn to the network. ]

You all know how people can come here from different worlds and different times and stuff, right? Well, um...hypothetically. Say someone just had their birthday. Like, maybe a month before coming here. But only a few months after getting here, it's already their birthday again!

Do I...uh, they just keep being the same age and wait a whole year or should they say they're older now? Oh! But the year is different, too, isn't it? I wonder if that matters...I've been thinking about it all day, but it just seems like, so totally complicated...!

Comments

[video]

[heirrant]

[It's not usually the sort of dilemma that might appeal to Ataru, but it's so odd and the girl seems so bothered by it he can't quite stop himself from answering.]

If it's so close, maybe they [is that an amused glimmer in his eye no it can't be] should call it the same birthday and start again. There's no need to get any older if you don't have to.

[video]

[ribbonbon]

[Give her a second because what even is that mask. No. No, considering the circumstances, that's normal, right? It's just a mask. She frowns thoughtfully as she mulls over what he's said. One can almost hear the gears turning.]

S-So I- er, they should just try to ignore that they've had a birthday already? I guess that kind of makes sense. Especially since it hasn't even been half a year...That's going to feel like, totally weird, though. ...O-Or it probably would. Uh, like, hypothetically.

[video]

[heirrant]

[She's really not very good at this, is she? Not that he can particularly blame her, under the circumstances.]

True. You could try to count it back out to when your birthday would be, but that might cause all sorts of confusion when you get back home. [He pauses, and maybe he's teasing her just a little bit-] General "you", that is.

[video]

[ribbonbon]

[She doesn't quite pick up on that teasing because she's just thinking about this so hard. Probably harder than is necessary.]

I didn't think about that...It really could case trouble back home, especially since they say they put us back from the moment they took us. Then it would be a month after again! Or...or wait, would it be considered a couple months after? ...D-Depending on how long they were here.

...Geez, all this going back and forth in time stuff sounds like, really complicated. Like, annoyingly complicated. But I guess if time science or whatever was easy to figure out it wouldn't be worth thinking about.

[heirrant]

[Even so, she's caught him off guard for a moment there. He straightens his shoulders a little, tilting his head forward in interest.]

They said that? [So you can wriggle more out of them with a little work. He's been ignoring the native presence on the network so far, but maybe it might be more worth digging into than he first imagined.

... he's getting distracted. Unkindly. Quickly, he drags himself back to the matter at hand.] ... in any case- and I'm not usually one to say this- it may be best to live for the moment for the time being. If you want another birthday party, go ahead and have one. ["you" or "they" or... you know what never mind]

[guiding_starlight]

If it's that important to you, I think it's worth celebrating. [ It wouldn't be bothering the girl so much if it wasn't her own birthday, so that's what Nanoha is going with. ]

[ribbonbon]

Well, it's not that important. Besides, I never really celebrate it anyw- I-I mean, it's not...! It was j-just like, a hypothetical situation! I was just wondering because this whole time thing is like, super weird. You know?

[guiding_starlight]

[ Such a bad liar. Nanoha tried not to smile too much, so as not to give away her amusement. She covered for that as best she could by looking thoughtful and tapping a finger to her lip. ] Hmm, then hypothetically... I would count the days and figure out the new date from there.

Unless I thought my horoscope reading was vital. That would complicate things.

[ribbonbon]

N-New date? So the date wouldn't be the same?! S-So, wait, if it was a month after back home...when I got here it was three months before...

This keeps getting more and more complicated, even without horoscopes. If I had known it was going to be this hard to figure out, I would have tried to do it before now...!

[audio]

[hellfire_gouka]

To be honest, I've been wondering about the same thing. In the end, I think I'd wait for the actual year to pass, without worrying about what time it is here.

... That does make a little complicated to keep track of, though. I don't think anyone would blame you if you wanted to celebrate it on the date you're used to in this place's time. [What do you mean she was trying to keep it vague and general? Psshh.]

[audio]

[ribbonbon]

That makes sense...I guess I...er, someone can't really say they're older if it hasn't even been a year yet.

But you think, if it was someone's birthday, w-which it's not, you think they should just...celebrate it on the normal date? Someone else was saying that maybe a person should just consider it the same birthday as the last one and start the year over. That almost feels like cheating, though. Two birthdays without getting any older...

[audio]

[hellfire_gouka]

[He can't help but be amused at her awkward deflections, and it comes through in his voice.]

Sure, if you really want to be technical.

If it's cheating that way, it would be cheating the other way too, right? You'd be celebrating turning a year older even though only a few months passed. It's just a matter of preference at this point... I don't think anyone is really worried about "someone's" exact age here.

[audio]

[ribbonbon]

[She hears that tone in his voice and she's not sure she likes it. She's trying really hard to not sound like a kid. She can't help but pout a little, even if he can't see it.]

I guess that would be cheating...I, er, they would be wrong either way. I think exact age is totally important, though! When you come from a different time or year or whatever, don't you think it's the kind of thing you want to remember? Especially when we're not sure how long we'll all be here...!

[not_really_charlie]

Does this planet actually have the same rotations? [Twenty four hours to a day, three hundred and sixty five to a year?]

[ribbonbon]

Uh...I-I think so? I mean, I haven't looked through a whole calendar, but the days feel just as long as they did back home. Oh, but...what if they are different and I've just been assuming they're the same the entire time I've been here?!

Y-You don't think I've been on the wrong day this whole time, do you?! I could be weeks off by now!

[not_really_charlie]

Well, considering how many people seem to be from the past or future... maybe we're just in some sort of weird post apocalyptic touchy earth.

[ribbonbon]

Post apocalypti-...W-Wait, like, you mean the world ended or something?!

[Wow, that's much worse than being a few days off. Sorry, but her imagination is kind of...running away with her.]

But if the world ended, dates probably don't even matter, right?! Like, how can I be worried about birthdays in a situation like this...?

video;

[feetarestrange]

I don't think it counts. It hasn't actually been a whole year since your last one, right?

video

[ribbonbon]

[Pilouette has pretty much given up the whole "hypothetical" veil by now since she's tripped up so much already.]

Yeah...I think you're right. I think I'm just going to ignore it! I'm going to ignore this birthday and start the year over! I think that's the easiest way to do it...

video

[feetarestrange]

Makes sense. How many years old would you have been if you would've gone through with it?

video

[ribbonbon]

Um, I would have been 17. I mean, it's not an important age or anything, but...[She shrugs her shoulders.] ...well, it's the kind of thing people have to keep track of, right?

[text]

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

if it was closer to a year id call it a year
but a few months isnt really big enough to bother with

[text]

[ribbonbon]

Yeah that's what I've been thinking. I think I'll just start the year over with this birthday. That makes it way easier, I think.

[text]

[dontthesunlookgoodtoday]

yeah for sure
pretty good way to start off any year
get a fireworks display for free
so
got any plans for it

[text]

[ribbonbon]

Not really.

Then again, I never really do anything for my birthday. Usually, I just go home and do my homework or whatever. The same stuff I do every day.