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[ironbuttmonkey]

"You know what to do."

Comments

text

[lyingheart]

When's your birthday?

text;

[ironbuttmonkey]

28th of may
y

text;

[lyingheart]

[ sudden sinking feeling that she's going to get the why a lot ]

Because I didn't know. Now I do. Thank you.

[ how else do you learn these things YOU ASK #science

also congrats on being the second person with an actual answer instead of "yearly" or "i don't look at calendars" or "but i'm a giant alien from the scorpio sector we don't have birthdays tiny earthling" ]

[ironbuttmonkey]

[WELL HE HASN'T CELEBRATED IT IN A FEW YEARS CAUSE OF CIRCUMSTANCES but he's still human in the end.]

naw cmon
u cant ask an then just leave
y
yyyyyyyyyyyyyy

[lyingheart]

[ okay you know what this is when you pull out the defense of ]

But I already told you why. Does there need to be some particular reason beyond that?

[ironbuttmonkey]

[HE'S PRETTY SURE HE HAS AN IDEA...but he doesn't want to assume. Saying it would just imply he thinks she's going to get him something, and no matter whether or not she is or isn't, it would be far too presumptuous. Especially considering they've only spoken like...three times.

Or maybe she really does just want to know, out of nowhere, for no particular reason.

HMM.]

kind of a weird thing 2 ask outta nowhere like tht dont u think

[lyingheart]

[ she's so screwed if she has to get people things, she got told just saying happy birthday with a letter is enough, maybe food, she wasn't told that gifts were mandatory

but it says something that when annie sat down and realized she only knew reiner's birthday on accident (he told her. on his birthday. er.) she thought "maybe i should fix this" and then went about painstakingly sending texts to people she wouldn't mind saying "it is a nice thing that you're alive' to

because that's what a birthday is to her

an affirmation that you are indeed still alive and hopefully even thriving after all these years

and that you're worth the time to say that to also, that's part of it ]

Probably. Then again, I think celebrating birthdays is weird. It's still common around here (is it in Japan? Or in your specific Japan... world circumstances matter).

[ironbuttmonkey]

[He will assure her gifts are not mandatory.

Unfortunately, he's also one of those irritating people who go out of their way to be considerate when it comes to gifts, so if he ends up getting her anything one day for whatever reason, it might send mixed messages about the whole thing.]

uh we do but i dnt think theyre as big a deal back home as they are here
like ur parents might thro u a few parties when ur a kid each year then as u get older unless ur friends decide to do somethin for u generally speakin u dnt go outta ur way to celebrate it urself
plus if u got bf or a gf or w/e ur into usually its in poor taste not 2 spend the day w/ them
i mean u CAN but the other person probs wont appreciate it
cultural thing u kno

[lyingheart]

[ an American immigrant is cluing her in to presents being part of the expectation. this might actually be worse, since Annie's a liiiittle too practical minded, and not very good at expressing sentiment.

the letters are still happening, but, er... she's not going to understand the ongoing give and take of gifting. (especially not the way it's handled culturally in Japan.) ]

Almost all of it is a cultural thing. Birthdays were mostly important among good friends or lovers within the Walls... probably families, but I wouldn't know. I hadn't realized there was anything worth noting a personal passage of time before then. Unless being told you're older, we're stepping up your training counts.

Not that it was limited to then... Time spent with friends or loved ones seems to be based on what time you can find to spend in each other's company, regardless of the day. Festivals, days off - that's usually where people try to indulge each other. Stealing moments the rest of the time. It's fairly usual.

[ #moments with dad ]

[ironbuttmonkey]

yh pretty much
i mean i guess i sort of get where ur comin from
thts probs what its about honestly
showin u appreciate the fact theyre still around i think its kinda nice despite it probs seemin weird to some ppl who aint used to it
its all about the sentiment more than anythin
u can remind ppl u care about em any day but sometimes its easy to forget about that esp if ur busy an dont have the time regular
so havin a day for a person individually is useful i reckon

whens ur bday annie

[lyingheart]

Yes... something like that. I don't know. It makes more sense to me than some other things.

March 22nd, or about then.