008; Voice

[andblockbuster]

 [Welcome back to another exciting adventure in the world of Topher Brink. There's a methodical clanking of tools and, once again, it seems Topher has turned his communicator on with the purpose of saying something, and then gotten distracted. Luckily, you're not stuck with ten minutes of dead silence with the actual sounds of someone working. In fact, it's only a few seconds before he starts talking.]

Sometimes I really think I'm the only one who doesn't spend an hour of every... relative day, I guess, thinking how bad I wanna go home. Don't get me wrong. I didn't get possessed by demons or nearly assimilated into a hive mind or chewed on by hellbeasts back home, and all of those things suck, but... It's not that bad. Everyone dies eventually, right? Why not die in space. ...Okay, so it's a touch cynical and I know- I'm terrifying the children. Cover their ears, ban that last bit from future broadcasts, whatever... The point is...

[There's a pause, followed by a pained noise, because genius here probably pinched his fingers or something.] The point is, uh... [Oh, did he have a point? He totally had one.]

... I don't remember what the point is, but I'll tell you something else. Hayley's post got me thinking about the whole... lack of dates thing. And I know it doesn't mean much to most of you, but it was, like... Late May or something when I showed up here and I've been here for eight months now, which means if time in space weren't so kerflooey, it'd be late January. So that means I'm 28 years old now, which... Yeah, that means exactly what I'm implying.

And this is not some big extravagant plea for gifts or attention or anything. I was just thinking about how this time last year, my birthday went by unnoticed and most of the time... Yeah, let's just say I've never had many people to celebrate it with. But here... If I said I wanted to gather some of my buddies up and sit in a common room and... I dunno, raid the library for something watchable and eat cake... It could happen. Not that I'm suggesting that either, because I have my doubts about whether the library has the best kind of bad science fiction when we're living the best kind of bad science fiction, but I could do it. And that means a lot to me.

Ah, I found my way back to the point. With all the bad stuff that happens here and the imminent badness continuing to loom over us and the fact that we miss the people we left behind back home... We can't forget that for some of us... This stupid ship has actually given us something. Fresh starts, the families we never knew we needed, friends, whatever. And that's a good thing.

[There's a thoughtful sigh.] I dunno. It does kinda make a guy wonder what happens if we do all go home. Sure, we lose all the bad things, but what about the stuff we actually wanna remember?

Comments

permavid & text.

[culver]

your birthday is today ?

[andblockbuster]

Uh... Kinda? Give or take a day or two. I mean, there's no calendar, so if I wanna say it's January 27th right now, I can.

Voice

[skindeep]

There's some nice sentiments in there, even if you did take the scenic route.

[Noah draws in a breath. Wait.]

Hellbeasts?

Voice

[andblockbuster]

[THIS IS TOPHER BRINK. He doesn't take any route but the scenic route.]

Brevity might be the soul of wit, but I'm terrible at it. [But he is a Shakespeare nerd, apparently.]

Yeah, the old science department was overrun by monsters. Learned that the hard way.

[AUDIO]

[testgasm]

[WOW GUESS WHAT TOPHER GUESS WHO IS GOING TO DIE IN SPACE EITHER WAY THANKS FOR THAT]

So, wait, okay, maybe you can clear this up for me, because I never understood it.

You don't think there's anything weird about an annual celebration based entirely on celebrating one's mortality? Because I think there's something weird about that. "Oh, congratulations, you're one year closer to death, have a gift, you know, maybe we can have some cake, later, if you want". Of all the things you lot could possibly invent holidays for, you pick that.

[HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEST FRIEND]

I didn't get you anything.

[andblockbuster]

It's the one day a year people you know are required to be nice to you, just because you exist. It was essentially invented so people can feel good about themselves. [WAY TO TAKE THE MAGIC OUT OF EVERYTHING. But there's cynicism for everything]

Considering you just found out five minutes ago, I absolve you of all gift-giving responsibilities. Or you could try not to vanish during the next jump. That would work.

[ voice ]

[amethysts]

I figure they better let us decide if we go back. I sure as freak don't want to. I mean, most people here suck, but some of you are chill.

Happy birthday, dorktron.

[She even hums the first bit of the song.]

I'll make something wicked brilliant.

[andblockbuster]

I'm really torn, because there are people out there I'd never get to see again, but there's also people here I'd never get to see again. And eight months might not be anything compared to five years, but it's a lot of heavy stuff to just come away from and not even remember.

[Because he's heard about people who have gone and come back. They remembered nothing between here and there and only when they came back did they remember it all.]

You don't have to do that. [Embarrassed dork is embarrassed.]

[meddler]

Well happy birthday.

[ does it matter if they don't know each other? Does it matter the Doctor is looking for a way out of this ship at this very moment?

No. Not particularly. ]

[andblockbuster]

[HE'LL TAKE IT.]

Thanks... Guy-I-Have-I-Not-Met-Before.

[voice]

[jurisimpudent]

[His response is stiff and uncomfortable - but what else could you expect from Edgeworth trying to observe social niceties?]

Congratulations.

[voice]

[andblockbuster]

Aww. Look who came out of the woodwork to wish me well. [IS HE STILL MAD? Probably not, but he assumes Edgeworth still is, so he's gonna be a brat until proven otherwise.]

( v i d e o )

[wont]

[ When Alayne smiles at Topher it is brightly, the corners of her eyes crinkling but with something like a secret still couched within her gaze. Something that hints towards understanding or complicity. (She's told him that there are things she is thankful for aboard the ship and so the leap isn't too far to make: that fresh start, those friends. That's what the Tranquility has given her too.)

Though his ultimate question is ponderous, she does not give her attention to it. There will be time for that later; there always is. First, the matter at hand: ]

Cake, I believe, was mentioned.

( v i d e o )

[andblockbuster]

[His smile back is no less cheerful.] Cake is a very important part of any birthday celebration. ...Where I'm from. I don't know if... Do they celebrate them in Westeros?

[theyalldieforme]

Everybody dies.

Is that what you're going with?

[andblockbuster]

Hey, John. Glad to see you're going with the more morbid aspects of my song of hope.

video;

[handelaar]

Prob'ly ain't your birthday. It's - [Uhhhh. Shit, eight months? His brow knits in irritation at that.] - August or September, for me. And Rus.

[But he looks at Topher, sighs and rubs the back of his neck, then crosses his arms as his mouth twists into a frown.]

If I give you a joint will that shut you up or make ya yap even more about that bullshit.

[Hey, he said give. Gefeliciteerd!]

video;

[andblockbuster]

I'm significantly less fascinated by drugs than I used to be, but I appreciate the offer. From you, that means a lot.

video|

[entrapments]

This was kindof- adorably mushy.

video|

[andblockbuster]

Yeah... It was. I tried to preempt it by talking about how everyone's gonna die, but it didn't work.

[voice]

[falsehoods]

Birthdays are a curious thing, are they not? They celebrate another year of not dying...

[voice]

[andblockbuster]

That definitely sounds better than "another year closer to having your foot in a grave."

permavid

[walksonrooftops]

I was thinking about this before, too. Even though a lot of things happened here, I'd be sad to leave it behind. This place, all my friends.

[It's like the family he never really had, and he wouldn't have even thought of using the word 'friend' before coming here. So this definitely hits home for him.]

Congratulations, by the way. For being a year older.

[andblockbuster]

It'd be even worse to not remember it even happened.

[He shrugs.] Thanks. Not that it means much... The whole year older thing, but it's nice to keep up with it.

encrypted and filtered away from the Johns & Moriarty.

[logicals]

I have nothing to go back to, so it really doesn't matter where I am. I'm dead either way.
SH

THAT VERY SPECIFIC ENCRYPTION/FILTER COMBO. FOREVER.

[andblockbuster]

Wow. Every time I think I'm getting jaded, there's always someone else who proves I'm not that far gone yet.

audio;

[dirtyword]

You sound like you died.

[ Brendan's cutting no corners--Topher's rant is met only with five words, even if he's pretty sure he already knows the answer. ]

audio;

[andblockbuster]

I didn't. [HIS ENTIRE WORLDVIEW IMPLODED AND HIS GIRLFRIEND GOT HER BRAINS BLOWN OUT AND HE HAS NOTHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO BUT THE FACT THAT HE WILL EVENTUALLY END THE WORLD

AND THEN DIE.]

voice;

[constructum]

We could do something to celebrate - if you'd like - I mean, for your birthday that is.

[ because yeah, you deserve to have some type of happiness when it comes to that. ]

voice;

[andblockbuster]

What'd you have in mind? ['Cause there's no laser tag. There's not even a decent chess set. Or vidja games. But still. His curiosity's piqued.]