Fourteen Bells: [WRITTEN/ACTION] Forward-dated to morning.

[simplestgift]

I understand that Twenty-Six isn't any different from Twenty-Five, and that birthdays are no accomplishment, but I find myself especially grateful for this one. I didn't expect to spend it thinking about being thrown into the lions' den tomorrow, but one can't have everything.

Kennedy

[Archie will be about the library, the grocery store, and Good Spirits today, looking strangely neutral. Catch him pretty much anywhere. Horatio is permitted to tag along wherever, so responses might come from both.]

Comments

[Voice/Filtered from Legato/Yuber]

[goldenglasses]

Hey, every year is important! So, happy birthday, sorry it wasn't with better news.

[Voice/Filtered from Legato/Yuber]

[simplestgift]

[He sounds a little surprised.]

Thank you.

[Voice/Filtered from Legato/Yuber]

[goldenglasses]

I know we have a battle to get ready for and all, but you know what they say about all work and no play.

It sucks.

How about I come over for a bit with some drinks and you can show me how to play that card game?

[Voice/Filtered from Legato/Yuber]

[simplestgift]

Well...if you like, of course. Do you remember where I live?

[He can't quite remember if Vash came over, that week when they thought they'd been friends for years.]

[Voice/Filtered from Legato/Yuber]

[goldenglasses]

Ahahaha, better refresh my memory.

[Voice/Filtered from Legato/Yuber]

[simplestgift]

Building one, the very first flat as you come in on the first floor.

[sherpahat.livejournal.com]

[...Man he doesn't know this guy or really get what's going on, but he sounds way tense for a birthday. Dil pauses a moment, and then chimes in with]

Happy birthday, dude. You got anyone to give you presents?

[simplestgift]

[Surprise, surprise, Archie.]

I don't think I told anyone, actually.

[Except Horatio, who already knows. Who may or may not be too overwhelmed by adjusting here to remember.]

[written]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

Well, happy birthday nonetheless.

[written]

[simplestgift]

Thank you, Miss Kay. Kay.

[Forgive him, he has to remember.]

[written]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

[Poor Archarch. Here, Kay will give you an alternate way out.]

'Mrs. Eaton' is probably next most appropriate after 'Kay.' 'Miss' makes me sound like a schoolgirl, never mind how long it's been since that's been an accurate description.

You ought to have a party after — two reasons to celebrate.

[written]

[simplestgift]

My birthday hardly merits a party. [Plus, it would bank on him surviving--no, he won't think like that. He has to come back.]

[written]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

And here I thought everyone's birthday did.

Gives you something to look forward to, anyway.

[written]

[simplestgift]

Mr. Hornblower and I are going to drink the village dry when I return anyway, birthday or not.

[written]

[poorneedyand.livejournal.com]

[She pauses a fairly long time before responding, hmming at the words.]

Well, that's certainly something to look forward to.

[written]

[simplestgift]

It isn't likely that more than a few of us will return.

[action]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

[she'd come by his apartment earlier, only to find him already gone. So, as the afternoon slides towards evening, she makes her way to Good Spirits. She doesn't enter. Not yet. She's looking for familiar faces, and they'll be easier to spot if she sits outside, looking uncharacteristically pensive as she watches people passing by.]

[action]

[simplestgift]

[He's headed that way for the same reason, since Vash already came by for some drinking and he isn't actually in the mood to be drunk. He's in the mood for sorting things through, somehow. When he sees her sitting outside the bar, he stops short.]

Jilly.

[action]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

Archie.

[it's relief that sweeps over her features when she sees him. Irrational...he wasn't leaving until tomorrow. But it's a relief all the same. Hopping up to her feet, she'll cross the distance to him, though she stops a few feet away, a little uncertain of how he's handling things]

I thought you might come by here.

[action]

[simplestgift]

Looking for company. Horatio's...

[If she's talking to Horatio since the draft was announced, he doesn't need to explain the state his friend is in.]

[action]

[tehoniongirl.livejournal.com]

[she smiles, trying to hide the fact that it's a difficult gesture to make] Well, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's company.

[her head tilts] What do you say, Archie-me-lad? Is it a night for drinking or talking? [or both? Not that she'd drink much, but she'd sit with him as long as he needed]

[action]

[simplestgift]

[He takes a breath in, out, thinking...] It's a night for dessert. And talking.

text;

[survivethesiren]

Forgive me if it's rude to ask, but why do humans place such importance on birthdays. Is it due to you actually aging?

[simplestgift]

Sometimes I think it's congratulatory on the completed task of surviving another year. There's also a bit of superstition involved.

[survivethesiren]

I suppose there is that. Time passes a great deal differently for Programs. We live in Cycles, not years...

And the day I was created, is the same I look now. So changes, growth of a physical sort is unknown to me.