Voice with possible action. (kinda forward-dated a little maybe?) username: ilikehorses

[shoplifter]

[Well, look. Whenever she gets invited to Alphonse's future birthday, she's got a lot to think about.

She must consider this: there will be cake, that is a certainty. Cake sitting on a table, like in Transigen... in front of a deceptive cartoon painting on the wall; ways to trick outsiders into thinking the place is kind to its patients... She's learned at that facility that cake is a staple of birthdays, or rather, from the nurses. Birthdays involve singing, and they all learned the words for Delilah. All for Delilah. But they weren't allowed to have those parties, not after the first and last time; she never bothered asking about them again, because... she knew there would be nothing beyond the question. It wasn't difficult to tell what blowing out the candles and leading them away meant.

She had whispered happy birthday to Delilah on the way out, though.

Really, she's not sure just how normal those birthday choices even were. Outside of the walls of Transigen, what is a birthday like? Is there still cake? Still the concept of presents, or singing? Did the nurses want to try and do something nice but ultimately fantasy? Like Logan had said, ice-cream for bedwetters. She's curious to learn, though. So again, she uses the network for her own gain: this time, birthday information, instead of school.

(I'm sensing a pattern.)

Her voice is casual, but interested. She's not about to ruin the surprise, but she does need to know what she's getting herself into, here.]

What sort of presents are you supposed to give people, for their birthday?

... Toys, no?

[What the hell do adults like to get, for presents? A long pause, and she's not terribly sure of herself.]

Are there fireworks at birthday parties, too?

[Another thoughtful pause, yet again.]

... How do you tell what day you were born? Is it on a special paper?

[Okay, okay, last question there. She bites back more questions. Easy, Laura, easy.]


[ ADDITIONAL ACTION.]

[If you would like to find her out and about, she is wandering the shops for things that might be nice to give to the birthday boy, especially the department stores. Laura also puts on a cool hat and goes to leave without paying for it, of course, so she can be found getting approached by a very unhappy security guard there who is calling out something about a shoplifter. Look ma, it's my username!

... What? Just because she's getting better at being in the real world doesn't mean she's learned the virtue of paying for things.

Her dad stole cigars. She totally saw him do it. Cigars and a phone charger. 

Or maybe you'll find her violently shaking one of those coin-eating candy machines. Stupid thieving machine - she tried to be nice about this and use real money, and see where it got her? Never fear, she pops claws from her knuckles, long and adamantium-silver, and she slices the top of the candy machine clean off, so she can reach inside and take handfuls for her pocket. Man, living the dream over here. Don't bother asking where Linda is, we all know there's a repeating pattern of juking her.]

Comments

video

[realimperfect]

[ The network is full of interesting things, today, which is helping Re-L on a day of rare inability to focus on a damn thing that might be considered productive. She doesn't mind - perhaps it's her mind's way of making her take a break, though it leads to encounters she may not normally indulge in. As a solitary creature herself Re-L is conspicuously alone in her apartment when she cues up the video feed, clicking away at a computer even if she's not achieving all that much with it - ]

Most people have something like a birth certificate that says the date, time and probably country or location where they were born. [ Though, bringing that up makes her realize - ] I don't have one of those anymore, actually, now that I think about it. Not like it matters, though -

[ Nuclear winter has a way with making that kind of junk not so important. ]

So far as gifts it depends on what the person is interested in and their age... I assume you're asking because you're thinking of gifts for a certain person?

video | private

[shoplifter]

[She nods slowly, before moving to change the feed to private.]

It's... a surprise. But I don't know them, I just know their brother.

[realimperfect]

You don't know him but you're attending his birthday? [ That seems a little odd, but what the hell did she know? Her own birthday celebrations had never been something like a surprise party attended by many people. Mainly gifts and a dinner with Daedalus and Iggy, or something like that. She hadn't preferred anything different, but it wasn't like Re-L would know the difference, either. If the Regent's granddaughter had had a large birthday celebration the whole dome might've attended and that would have been a true torture. ]

Well, regardless, ask their brother what he thinks would be best. What they would be most interested in. Some idea is better than none, right?

[shoplifter]

... They said I could eat what I wanted there.

[That's her primary reason for going; she's got no shame.]

Do people need to know them? To attend parties.

[realimperfect]

Fair enough. [ It would be her main reason to attend a party, if she's honest. She'd crashed one, very early on in her time here in Riverview, and other than a conversation with Gladio it hadn't really been her scene. Too many people, too much social interaction expected of her with strangers - over all something she wouldn't really recommend to most people, or herself. ]

Hopefully they've got good food, then. [ She pauses, seems to think it over - ] I don't think it's necessarily a faux pas or something like that, just - mmn.. a preference of mine.

[ Non-social animal here that tended to stick to herself, as it was.. ]

If you're comfortable then there's no harm in it I guess.

[shoplifter]

[What's a faux pas.

Oh well.

She's trying to decide how uncomfortable she would be, at a normal party.]

You're not comfortable at parties.

[It's not really said as a question, because it seems obvious.]

[realimperfect]

Not here, no. [ She's good at reading people at least, or reading past her little placations that she tends to include. She doesn't really begrudge it, it's a good thing to have in the end. But, still, she feels the need to explain a little bit more - ]

Parties, here, at least among people my age, tend to be a bit more... mmn.. wild than I'm used to.

It's not bad, just.. jarring.

[shoplifter]

Wild? What are they like? Wild parties?

[Do they break shit or what.

She imagines people swinging on things and throwing stuff.]

[realimperfect]

More drinking than I'm used to, for one. Thankfully I only went to a rave, the first time, to make sure teenagers didn't get ahead of themselves, or at least we're throwing up all over the floor. [ Then she'd gone back on her own and had a little bit of a time herself, but she's a big kid, and one that's a little paranoid about appearances so she hadn't gotten too sloppy. Still, she feels the need to explain a little further - ]

In my world... things were much more.. stuffy. We only drank wine and all group gatherings were small. Grandfather only invited the most important people.. that kind of thing.

[shoplifter]

[..................

She stares at her like she's speaking another language.

Pardon her, she's trying to put definitions to some words.]

Are raves parties?

[realimperfect]

[ It's fine Laura she has this reaction a lot too - though it's more to things like Otabek describing hockey to her and things like that in her case. Destroyed Earth is a weird and rough place to try to come from. ]

Yes. Large, loud, with lots of flashing lights and alcohol generally.

[ Not too bad when you weren't, you know, keeping teenagers from getting a little too rowdy in her experience. Baby sitting has never been her forte, even with robots with four year old brains. ]

Probably not something you'd be allowed in to, just yet.

[shoplifter]

... Why not?

[Who dare pull the red rope on me. Who dare.]

Is it for special people?

[realimperfect]

It's not my rules. Unless you're over 14 they're probably not going to allow you to drink and partake in other things, is all.

[ She shrugs, not really bothered one way or the other. It's not her rules, and Romdeau had never really had drinking laws other than 'don't shame yourself by being too drunk.' ]

[shoplifter]

[... How silly. She's killed many men and endured many things. And there are age limits?

... Maybe she'll sneak into a rave, just to see what it's like.]

There are a lot of those. Rules.

[realimperfect]

There always are... [ Oh Laura, if only you knew just how many times Re-L's thought about that in her time on her part of Earth. Granted, compared to here Romdeau was virtually jail, but - ]

Would you believe there were a lot more of those where I came from before here? And I mean lists upon lists of them.

This place is practically a theme park compared to it.

[shoplifter]

... It's okay.

[Don't worry, Re-L. Laura was from a jail. Almost literally, really, cells and all.]

I came from a place with nothing but rules, too. The rules there were just... very different.

[realimperfect]

[ Re-L's was a bit more like a gilded cage, but in a loose sense, the idea of 'very different' rules still resonate with her. She'd had her own strange kind of rules of conduct to follow along with, accompanied by the typical things expected of a 'fellow citizen' of Romdeau Dome. ]

It was the same where I was from. At least in some ways.

Mainly in how people acted or what was expected of everyone.

[shoplifter]

[She nods in agreement.]

We were supposed to not act like anything. We could not be -- people.

[realimperfect]

Couldn't be people? [ That seems... remotely familiar. She doesn't even dare to think it's the exact same situation, mainly because.. well, she'd be more than annoyed if more places than Romdeau Dome on a Nuclear savaged Earth treated people in the same manner. She also... doesn't really want to try to delve too far in with her. She's a child, after all, no need to have her remember things that may be a little more than difficult for her, right? ]

As someone who lived in a place where you weren't meant to be.. one thing, or another. You can do it. Making it out is just the first and most drastic step.

[shoplifter]

[She gives a nod, but doesn't seem to mind leaving out an explanation. Perhaps she doesn't feel one is really necessary.]

... As long as this place doesn't become like home.

[realimperfect]

If it does I have no intentions of staying. I'd rather live out past the walls than in that again.

[ And you could come too, Laura. She doesn't mind one bit. ]

And I'm sure others will feel the same way.

[shoplifter]

[She nods, before settling into a thoughtful quiet.]

... I'm Laura.

[realimperfect]

Re-L. [ It's good to at least know her name, just in case she runs in to her again. ]

Hopefully your party goes well.