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[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...!

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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.]

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...

[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.

[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...!

[He laughs quietly for a moment.]

To be honest, I missed my last birthday. I guess it didn't really come to mind at the time... and really, I guess it stopped being so important to me at a certain point. I'm not sure I'll remember my next.

If you feel like you need to keep track of it, then no one would argue with that. But it goes the other way, too.

...Though I wonder what it'll mean if they send us back to the same time and place back home and we've been here enough to noticeably age. [Oop, maybe he's going a little too far into thinking about spacetime shenanigans. He's a fan of sci-fi, but temporal mechanics and their consequences aren't exactly his specialty.] Err, never mind...

You forgot it? Is it just because you've had so many or what? Kind of like when you eat the same thing a lot, it stops being special, right? [It's clearly not a perfect analogy. At all.] ...I've never forgotten it, but my birthday has never been that important either.

[When he mentions the aging, Pilouette goes quiet for a moment. He may have said "never mind" but she can't really ignore that. It takes her a second to process the idea but when it finally hits her...]

Waugh! I...I never even thought about that! Wh-What if I end up being here so long that I get like, a ton older?! And then they send me back and...I can't go back to school if I'm suddenly way older-looking! Aaagh, and what if Daddy doesn't recognize me?!

Th-that's not really... [Did he sound that old?! He knows his voice is a little deeper than people expect sometimes but he's not even in his 20s yet!] I just had a lot going on, is all...

[Oh no. Now he really regrets saying anything.] W-well, if they have the sorts of things to send us back home, m-maybe they can... de-age us or something? [He's not sure he believes that, but it's an idea?]

M-Maybe...But what if they can't?! I mean, they even practically froze or boiled some of us while trying to do...whatever it was they were doing!

[She's not really even sure she understood all of what was said about it.]

B-But maybe I'd be able to make myself look younger anyway...I mean, people do that with make up all the time, right?! But what if I get taller...? It's like every time I have one question about this place I end up with like, a ton more of them...

[... well, he can't really argue with that. He can't exactly be confident the people who brought them there know what they're doing anymore.]

Maybe it's better if we just don't worry about it for now... I mean, it's only been a few months so far. Maybe we'll even get sent back before the next one is over...? [Oh yeah, Shinju, way to sound confident in your statement there.]

I definitely know what you mean about the questions, but it's not just about this place. Who would have thought there are so many different worlds that all happen to have people on them?

I guess you're right. Besides, no matter how much we worry about it, it's not like there's a whole lot we can do besides...well, what everyone's already been doing.

And like, I totally get you. Before coming here I thought my world was the only one. I mean, there are always those weird movies about time travel or different universes or whatever, but you never expect that kind of stuff to be true, right?

I think the most we should try to do right now is talk to those scientists or whoever is in charge of returning us. Just to ask what the plan is, I guess...

[He finally found someone who seems to really get it.] Exactly! It was always just fiction. I had enough trouble dealing with my life without all of this... supernatural sort of thing. But for it to be not only possible, but happen to you? It's a little hard to deal with.

[Of course, he's not mentioning that supernatural things have happened to him back home too, but he'd rather not drag that into the conversation.]

Try is the most we can do. I'm still kind of surprised that one guy actually told us something.

Hard to deal with is like, a total understatement! All I had to worry about at home was going to school and taking care of the house! And now I'm supposed to help like, make energy? It still feels like kind of a weird dream sometimes...

[She lets out a sigh. As much as she thought her life was kind of boring and average, she could really use boring and average right now.]

Yeah, I'd heard they were being pretty secretive about how everything works. But that one person did seem kind of awkward... Maybe they just don't know how to tell us...? [He really wants to believe they're not up to anything fishy.]

No kidding... but after getting to know so many people here, it's hard to think you could just make all of this up in your head. I have to wonder what I'll think about it when we finally get home.

[He feels you there, Pilouette. He feels you.]

I guess you could be right...and he did keep saying sorry.

[Which made her feel a little bad about being so angry about the whole temperature thing. He sounded like he might be more awkward than she is.]

Well, no matter what we think about it, it's not like we can tell anyone at home this stuff. What am I gonna say? "I sucked into another world to help power their city?" People would think I was like, totally losing it...!

[Well, it was over now, at least. No harm done...?]

Same here. I'd rather not be branded as a lunatic. But keeping that kind of thing a secret? I'm not sure if I could keep it all to myself. [He feels depressing thoughts coming on, and it comes through in his voice.] Especially when I think of the friends I've already made here. When I get home, how am I going to explain why I feel so awful?

[... oops, there he went again, into awful territory he should have probably avoided. Sorry about that.]

No kidding! It's not the kind of thing a person can just pretend never happened! [She can't help but let out a little sigh when he mentions his friends.]

O-Oh...Y-Yeah. Leaving friends behind is always pretty hard to deal with. I can like, kind of understand that.

[Though, moving away to a different part of a city and leaving them behind somewhere that's completely unreachable are two different things. Also, leaving friends behind here requires one to have actually made friends in this place. At least he has that going for him?]

That makes me wonder though...I wonder if any of us are from the same world and just don't know it. I mean, a whole world is probably pretty huge, isn't it? It's not like you can meet everybody, right? M-Maybe you wouldn't be leaving all of them behind. Possibly.

[He lets the topic drop, not wanting to depress himself further. He doesn't want to think about when he gets back.]

I guess it's possible. I usually just end up assuming they're different because half the time where they're from doesn't exist in my world anymore. [The one time he actually mentioned that to the person the situation really got awkward, so he won't be doing that again.]

Doesn't exist anymore...?

[Pilouette doesn't seem to get what that phrase might imply.]

So you must be from a time way ahead of them, huh? That's probably feels really weird just in itself. Just imagine if you ended up meeting someone from before you born...it would be like, way weird.

Something like that. Either way ahead of them, or in a different version of their world.

I think it's sort of like what if in the past, something major like a war didn't happen? It could really change things in the present, right? [He pauses, sounding unsure.] It feels that way, anyway... I guess I can never really know.

But you're right, it would be really strange. What if you became famous in the future or something and met people who knew your life story? [Is it alright to mention Steve? ... Yeah, he'll just leave names out of it.] I talked with someone who'd met a man from his future like that.

So, like, a kinda...[What's the term for it?] ...an alternate universe kinda thing? This place really is like being in a movie...

You really met someone like that, though? Meeting someone from a different part of time is probably weird enough, but finding out that people in the future know everything about you? That has to be like, totally hard for him. I don't think I'd be able to deal.

Yeah, exactly like that. It's bizarre to think about... so I usually try not to.

Y-yeah, the way he talked about it, he did seem to be having a hard time. I can't blame him. Knowing your future ahead of time? I'm pretty sure I'd rather keep all that a mystery...

This whole situation is just hard to understand.

No kidding...knowing what happens in the future, even all the bad stuff? It's not just hard to understand, it's like totally unreal. Except, uh, n-not unreal because it's actually happening. So it's like, totally real. ...W-Wait. That sounds really stupid...

[A brief pause.]

Y-yeah, it's totally hard to understand.

I get what you mean.

So, uh... I'm Shinju, by the way. I hope I helped answer your question, at least. [Even if he did add about ten more. It's probably better to go back to the original subject at this point.] Just go with whatever you feel like doing. Oh, I mean... they should go with whatever they like. And maybe they could invite me to this hypothetical celebration if they feel like it.

[Teasing? Nah...]

My name is Pilouette. [She lets out a small huff at his teasing, followed by a sheepish little laugh. She's started to realize that her vague little veil of "hypotheticals" wasn't to convincing after all.]

Yeah, I think I have a pretty good idea what to do about my problem now. I've never really celebrated my birthday and I probably won't this time either.... But if you wanted to hang out sometime or something, we could.

[After all, it might be nice for her to make some more friends in this place if she has to go around touching people all the time.]

[He's glad to hear she's open to the idea.]

I understand. [He'll probably end up skipping his own, too, if they're stuck here long enough.] But I'd like that. I'm learning a little more about fun places to go, so I'd be glad to show you some sometime.

[There's no turning back now, Pilouette. The friendship contract is sealed.]

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