[ For Existing CR ] Turning 30

[cantstandthenoise]

Who: Anya Kovacs, Grant Curly, Daisuke Kawashima, Artemy Burakh, Melanie King, Johnny Lifeeater, and Radar O'Reilly
What: A real actual birthday party on her real actual birthday
When: December 2nd
Where: O&I
Warning(s): The existential terror of the never ending march of time and entropy that is inherent to a birthday party. (What do you mean your birthday parties aren't like that???)




It's cold out. Properly cold. Anya can't remember the last time she actually got to exist in the world during the winter. For the last few years of her life, she'd been trapped in a big metal box in space, one that was always a little too hot (her usual layers didn't help). And on top of that, they were only allowed to have one birthday party per haul. One communal birthday party. For everyone.

This year, Anya is going to do something that is her own.

On her 30th birthday, she invites her small handful of new friends for drinks at the Oak & Iron. They sit around a table near the fireplace, each with a drink. No paper party hats, no awful gelatin cake, and no crappy coworkers. Just friends and drinks and bar food and cupcakes Anya bought from the cute bakery.

"Okay, I have like four years if birthday wishes to make up for," she announces as she lights the lone candle on her cupcake. "Anyone have any suggestions?"

Comments

[medekh]

Despite his reluctance to attend social gatherings he puts any personal feelings aside for Anya's sake. He is also curious to and wants to make sure that all of Anya's friends are people who will treat her well and with the upmost integrity. You know. As a proper employer should.

So he's come dressed appropriately, with winter garb on. Scarf, fluffy hat, gloves, big winter coat, dressed like a man who knows how to dress for the cold. Though once he's sat inside he's taken off half of the outer layer to reveal an olive knitted sweater with khaki pants.

"Wish for something for yourself. And only yourself." Is his biggest suggestion as he nurses a cup of tea.

[cantstandthenoise]

"Hmm. Something only for myself?" Anya considers this, craning her neck thoughtfully. "I don't even know what I'd want. What would your only-for-yourself wish be, Mr. Burahk?"

[medekh]

Artemy pauses at the question.

And realizes he has absolutely no idea.

But he's quick to throw out something convenient. Something useful and utilitarian. Something believable.

"Oh, maybe a new winter scarf. Sure is getting cold out there." He lies.

It isn't that believable.

[cantstandthenoise]

"Really?" Anya raises a skeptical brow. "You have all the power of birthday wish magic at your disposal, and that's what you'd wish for?"

[medekh]

"I have everything I could ever want here in this town!"

Another very very bad lie.

[stalkholmed]

It's been a long time since Johnny has been to a party of any kind, much less a friend's birthday party. From what little he's gleaned from Anya's time before this place, she certainly deserves to have a good one, and he's happy to be a part of it. And since it's at the Oak & Iron, he can enjoy himself as much as he wants and not have to worry about making it back to his room there.

"My mom always told me if you tell people your wish it won't come true." He teases with a little smile over his drink.

[cantstandthenoise]

Anya laughs. "Well, that's why I need suggestions from everyone. That way I can just not tell you what I decide on," she points out. "Now I have to wonder--- what would you wish for if you could choose anything?"

[incomingchoppers]

"Oh, jeez," says Radar, eyes round behind his glasses. "That many?"

It really needs to be a good one, then! He rotates his glass between his hands -- nothing fancy, just his usual seltzer and grape juice -- and thinks hard.

"Well, is there anything from home you miss? That's usually what I wish for when I got the chance."

[cantstandthenoise]

"Yeah, I was flying with Pony Express for a while," Anya admits, laughing sheepishly. She's got a nice warm mulled wine with an orange slice floating in the top and a cinnamon stick poking out over the rim, warming her fingers on it. Her hands get cold so easily. "Hauls could last anywhere from four months to two years, depending on where we were going. And for each haul, we only got one communal birthday party, total. So we never really celebrated any one person's birthday."

[incomingchoppers]

Radar's nose wrinkles. Indignant on her behalf: "Well, that don't seem fair. Two whole years and only one birthday? For everybody? The whole point's that your birthday's your day, not anybody else's!" A pause. "Unless they got the same birthday as you, I guess. But -- yeah if you're travelin' that long you definitely oughta wish for something from home. Something nice you don't have to share with anybody unless you really wanna."

[cantstandthenoise]

"Radar, you would not believe how cheap the Pony Express was," Anya groans, still half-chuckling. "We made the best of it. We'd pick one of us to surprise each haul and do it at random. It was corny, but fun!"

The suggestion prompts her to think again. "Hmm. Something from home... Maybe I can wish for grunge fashion to catch on around here. Or for Kurt Cobain to come to Pumpkin Hollow. Mortanne, please, hear me out!" She giggles.

[incomingchoppers]

Radar, who was born a solid fifty-five years before Nirvana even existed, blinks in confusion.

"...Like getting mud all over your clothes?" he asks. Then: "Wait, who's Kurt Cobain?"

And does he have anything to do with the muddy clothes?

[cantstandthenoise]

"What? No!" Anya laughs. "Right, gosh, I forgot you're from a while back. Grunge fashion is just a style. A name for a specific way of dressing. It usually includes thrifted clothes with holes in them on purpose, things that are too big, a lot of plaid and lots of layering, sometimes metal studs or decorative chains. It was people's way of looking cool while refusing to spend very much money. It was a defiance thing, you know? I really liked it. And Kurt Cobain is a musician that I really liked who died young."

[incomingchoppers]

"Ohhhh."

Okay that makes a whole lot more sense! Radar laughs, too, and downs a bit more of his drink.

"Gee, I didn't think that'd ever be something somebody'd wear on purpose. Unless it's their barn clothes I guess. But I get wearing stuff that's different because you wanna stick it to the people in charge -- we got a few guys doing that in Korea." Radar grins. "One of 'em makes his own dresses. Real pretty ones, too."

[lovinglefthand]

First Aid isn't a party-crasher, but the day of Anya's birthday he does approach her to offer a small paper package, tied shut with a blue ribbon.

"I heard from Artemy that it was your birthday," he says with a smile. "So, happy birthday! With any luck this year will be better than the last."

Inside the package is a wool scarf, knitted from yarn dyed an icy blue. A lucky guess on First Aid's part, based on the clothes he's seen Anya wearing around town.

[cantstandthenoise]

He catches her on the way out of work--- because of course she worked on her birthday, medicine waits for no one! But she's out early and delighted to run into one of her new colleagues. "Oh--- afternoon, First Aid! A-and thank you, I really appreciate it. It'll definitely be an easy goal to achieve, I think."

Anya opens the package and---

"Oh wow, this is beautiful! What a lovely color." Immediately, she wraps it around her neck, and true to form, it goes perfectly with her outfit. "I love it! Thank you so much!"

[ghostbullet]

"Ooh, you know, I actually don't remember the last time I made a birthday wish. Maybe when I was still a kid? That's probably depressing. Anyway." Clears throat. Idly rocks her cane on its axis against the seat to tap on the floor. "Now the only things I can think of are kind of boring, like— I dunno, success? A chill year? A cool new opportunity?"

[cantstandthenoise]

"Ugh, I could really use a chill year, though. My last year back home was the worst," Anya groans. "Have I told you much about it? It's--- bad, but..." Anya may leave out some of the gorier details.

[ghostbullet]

"Not much? I mean, I got the sense it was pretty rough but the last thing I wanted to do was be, like, nosy about it." This said with the tone of someone who knows exactly what it's like to deal with someone prying when you don't want them to. "And I know I've not exactly been the pinnacle of sharing either, so, like— tell me as much as you wanna tell me, y'know?"

She wants to know as a friend, but she really is the last person who's gonna be pushy about Knowing Things.

[cantstandthenoise]

"I was... the in-flight nurse for a long haul space freighter. It was actually our last haul. We got word while we were in space that the company was shutting down completely," Anya begins tentatively. She won't get too deep into it, because it's her birthday and she really needs the vibe to stay half-decent. But it's nice to talk about it a little.

"After we got the announcement, though, things got really tense... The captain and the copilot had a huge argument, and I already had kind of a weird uncomfortable relationship with the copilot sooooo." Understatement of the year. "But he and the captain were friends so it was drama, plus I had no savings back home and a health thing going on of my own so it was just already gearing up to be a bad time. But then someone crashed the ship into an asteroid."

Anya doesn't specify who. Because the story she's heard says it was Curly, but the longer she's out of that environment, the less sure of that she is.

"We were stranded for five months. Our captain was burned half to death and I was trying to keep him alive but our mechanic and our intern wouldn't stop getting absolutely hammered on mouthwash and the copilot was playing captain like it was his own personal dictatorship. I don't even know how I managed to stay alive and sane as long as I did."

[ghostbullet]

If that's the birthday-friendly reduction of what happened, Melanie can only begin to imagine how terrible the full story with all the gory details is. Christ.

"Fucking hell. Yeah, no, you deserve a chill year. Actually you deserve a great year but better to ask too little and give the universe room to overshoot it than jinx it I think. And in the meantime, we try make the best of it ourselves." She's not an optimist, what can she say, but that's never stopped her fighting for better circumstances. "Remind me to tell you sometime about how the opposite of getting fired was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Not tonight."

[uselessrayofsunshine]

When Daisuke arrives a little bit late, he does so with a scarf wrapped around his head far enough to only show his eyes and the top of his head. Look, he's not made for this kind of cold! He's got a basket under one arm and a wrapped bouquet in the other, and he's having to sort of sidle through the door. He refuses to accept any help with it, explaining that it has to be Anya that he hands it off to. After all, this is going to be HER birthday present. Nobody else's. No more sharing.

The moment he sees her, he muffles a loud "Happy actual birthday!" at her and shoves a bouquet of wildflowers into her arms that had to be magically coaxed into growing.