[open] Chúc mừng sinh nhật

[emotive]

Who: emotive, theshiningone, and everyone else! animated counts, it's his B-Day too!
When: 6/21 | 4/13, late afternoon to late evening
Where: The Sanctuary
What: June birthday celebration with close friends!
Rating/Warning: None except possible sadness and robots being real creeps



Thank you for coming! Please, enjoy yourself by all means! Remember to say, "Happy Birthday," to Hiro too please.

[ This is the greeting given by the birthday girl. Ai's face is aglow with cheerfulness that couldn't be beat as she welcomes guests inside the Sanctuary where some nice music is playing. It's the most convenient place to set up a small party after all and there's even a few things to do for fun if one isn't sticking around just for congratulatory birthday greetings:

A) FOOD

Where there is Ai Thao, there is food. Lots of it. Starring a peach birthday cake made by the Man, the Legend, Chef Archer. Aside from those, there are some Vietnamese spring rolls, roasted meat, some healthy salads, and colorful cookies and drinks! (Hey, did someone bring hard cider to this party...???)

Ai might even collect your plates and clean up after you isn't she nice? Oh, that's not Ai, it's a robot who's taken on the same skin tone as her owner... Creepy. Ah well, at least it's being helpful although it might say every once and a while, "Thank you for coming to my birthday party!"

B) Piñatas

How cute, there's a few of these cute piñatas hanging around in the ceiling. When you try to bat one down for the sweet candy innards though, they are just out of your reach. Ai Thao (real one, not the similar looking skin robot) giggles because she's passing by you. Ah, she's the culprit. Those guys can't move on their own after all.

"Sorry, sorry! I couldn't help it."

Oh, so that's all... Actually hey wait, some of those piñatas ARE trying to run away?! Try to catch one, but these little bastards are pretty fast for cardboard full of candy.

C) KARAOKE

There is a TV screen, mics, a karaoke box and an endless selection of pop music in all languages. All of them. Try to belt out those tunes, serenade your loved one, get the highest score, no one's going home a winner anyways.

(Ai's robot is sitting at the machine and taking the mic, humming in a voice that sounds too similar for comfort...)

D) Late Evening

Let's settle down. Maybe chat and catch up with other people. It's a good a time as any right? The lights are low, the cake's been served, there's hot tea (and booze still???) and there's a lovely lamp projecting stars onto the walls. What a nice mood!

(It might make your robots, should they come to the party look rather eerie though, especially since they developed that layer of skin.)

]

[ OOC: Robots are free to be at the party and tagging each other is encouraged! ]

Comments

d;

[adminproof]

[ Gifts are strange. Birthday gatherings are strange, but if there's anything he'd want to celebrate, it would be birth. The birth of another person, another seed of potential, another being he loves with all his heart...there is no holiday greater, for him.

Alas, despite his love for the very notion, Saiduq himself isn't too great at picking out gifts, and his only experiences with birthdays have been with only...unconventional people. So here he is, with two...boxes floating near him, wrapped in red and black striped wrapping paper of course.

If that wasn't weird enough, perhaps the intensity with which he's staring at the stars projected on the wall and the mumbling he's doing might be. ]

closed!

[emotive]

[The Birthday Girl had suddenly gone absent.

It wasn't hard to slip away with the limited lighting and all. And even though there wasn't a ton of people, it's not like it would have been out of the ordinary for Ai to be gone for a minute or two. She's been keeping up with the party since the afternoon so it wasn't too much to assume that she was taking a break.

Someone is in a corner of the Sanctuary, far from the calmed down festivities, far from other people. That someone, Ai Thao Kha, has her face buried in her knees, legs wrapped around her legs, hair covering her sides like a curtain. In that position, there is the unmistakable sound of muffled sobs, and two drops... No, three tears escape to the ground, creating a few lonely dots on the floor.

Ai Thao Kha wanted to disappear.]

[adminproof]

[ Let it never be said that he wasn't drawn to...well, suffering would be an overdramatic way of putting it, but he can't really quite ignore it either, especially since Ai is supposed to be one of the honored guests at this gathering. So much for that.

Without a word, he disappears and reappears at Ai's side, making no noise to alert his presence, and places a hand on her shoulder. He won't ask if she's okay, because she clearly isn't, so this will have to do as his first attempt to establish rapport. ]

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[emotive]

Wha... Who...!?

[Her surprise comes out as two choked back gasps as she looks up, eyes swollen, tears, running down her face to see who found her in such a pitiful state. She just wants the night to end and just...!!]

[emotive]

Ah... Oh.

Oh.

[Al Saiduq. The one who served Hiro. His friend. Did he stop just to comfort her...? No, that can't be it right? But Ai must have looked very pitiful if he stopped in front of her like this.

One arm moves to wipe her tears away from her face although a shudder runs through her body.]

... Um... You can... Hiro... Say happy birthday to him.

[The words are hard. Saying his name was the most difficult thing to right now, but she managed.]

[adminproof]

[ He is no stranger to the sight, except this time, he can't quite bring himself to simply look on as a detached observer. Wordlessly, he moves his sleeve to wipe away some of the stray tears on her face, offering her a small smile that he hopes will assuage the feeling somewhat. ]

You look like you need the well wishes more.

[emotive]

I... ["I don't want to trouble anyone," is a useless thing to say, so she manages to stop herself from speaking it aloud.]

... It's too late.

[adminproof]

Is it, now? Is it truly too late to change things?

[ He's not just speaking about her crying, if she hasn't picked up on that. ]

[emotive]

I... I made Hiro angry. I don't know what to do anymore since he doesn't see me the same way.

[It was strange how Ai easily said this to him. Saiduq was barely someone she knew, but his presence was calming and he had taken the time to be with her]

[adminproof]

[ Hopefully, his own calmness will rub off on her and get her to settle down a little more so she can think through the situation more rationally. Clearly. ]

Why was he angry?

[ Truthfully, he was there for the entire thing, but he wanted to hear it from Ai's mouth what she perceived she and he did. Understanding perspectives is the first step to resolution. ]

[emotive]

[She's settling down, tears no longer flowing freely, but her form remains small and helpless as Ai hugs her legs again..]

Why...?

[Ai asked herself the same thing in that moment before she drowned in the hurt. Why?]

Because... Because he thought I wasn't being true to him. Or to anyone. That the things I do, the things I am... Maybe to him it was all just a lie.

[And when Hiro said it like that, doubt and second guessing began to assault her mind. Was she doing all of those to be deceptive? To get others to do what she wanted? Is that all she is? Not only a sham of a human made from the remains of another, but a hypocrite as well?

It's no good. Thinking about it is making her want to cry again and her eyes become misty.]

I didn't know... I mean, I didn't think I was hurting him in any way. Am I just hurting other people around me too??

[adminproof]

Are you being untrue to yourself? Are your ideals and actions lies?

[ And yet, this topic hits a bit closer to home than he'd like. ]

Or do you cling to your own ideals and actions in a tight grasp, desperate and unyielding? Living brings pain, but it is through pain that one can say that they are truly living.

[emotive]

I...

[What am I doing? is what Ai wonders. And tries very hard to remember.]

... No.

I know... I know that I'm pitiful. And before I did try to protect my sense of self without having anything to fight for because I was afraid of fighting.

[Her voice is a little clearer now.]

But I knew I couldn't live that way. And when I found myself here, I found so many things to fight for. So many people. And there were so many painful things, but I knew I could keep moving forward because I wasn't alone. Everyone's trying their best, not just me. And because of everyone... And because of Hiro, I felt like I was actually myself. I felt like I found out who I was.

... But if I'm someone who causes pain...

[adminproof]

[ All the hurt, tangled in a tightly-knotted ball. One tug can tighten the grip, so careful precision is needed. Unfortunately, he doesn't have much experience in untying the knots of the heart, so he'll have to improvise, so to speak, and hope his words get through to her. ]

Then that is what it means to live. One cannot live without hurting or being hurt. It is through such things that one can grow and learn.

[ He holds up a hand, and then runs his fingers gently through the bangs in front of his eyes. ]

Perhaps he will finally learn through this. The both of you.

[ But his fingers are still on her face, his sleeve ready to brush away any misty eyes or teary stragglers. ]

[emotive]

[His gestures are.... Unnerving, but comforting? Is it because he wasn't human? And yet Saiduq spoke as if he knew of humanity all too well. And even though a part of Ai acknowledges his words as truth, why was it that she felt so drained? Too drained to be completely put off by Saiduq right now anyways.]

... I understand what you say. More than you think.

[A balled up fists reaches up to wipe away another tear, her words being jumbled up because of the imminent crying.]

But I keep getting hurt again, and again, and again. Some of those times, I was able to stand up and endure. And a lot of those times, it was because of him. I owe him so much, why wouldn't I have...??

... This is the worst. [She sniffs.] I hate it and it makes me wish I was never made.

[adminproof]

[ Sleeve, meet eyes.

"Made". Ah, that word brings up so many questions and answers at the same time. It's not the time or the place for questions, however, so he'll refrain...just this once. He's not good at dealing with heartbreak. Only a small sigh escapes his lips. Honestly, must he do damage control in Hiro's stead? ]

And what of the times that you are grateful for existing? Were they for naught?

[emotive]

They... No. Of course not.

[She shakes her head, hair swaying back and forth. Ai sits up a little straighter, thinking with a little more clarity. Saiduq's kindness was helping her form more coherent thoughts.]

... Hiro.... He got angry when I said that I know that the things that we experienced here aren't permanent. That someday, we wouldn't remember what happened here and about the bonds we formed.

[Ai sighs and closes her eyes.]

I wanted to say that not because I'd given up. Not because I thought it was all worthless. It's just that I knew. I'm not a hopeless dreamer, but it doesn't mean I stopped hoping. It didn't mean that I stopped wanting to live and be happy and wanting to make others happy.

[If anything, Ai had been ready for Hiro to say, it wouldn't work out. And in the end, it did happen, but not in the way she was expecting.]

[adminproof]

[ And there's the crux of the issue. ]

Did you tell him that?

[ He thinks Hiro might've appreciated it. ]

[emotive]

I wanted to. I really did.

[And it all fell apart before she could even properly explain herself; it set him off and the fury slapped her in the face leaving her with only shock and hurt.]

He must have taken it differently, or rather, it made him see me differently. I'm not the person he believed me to be. I didn't even realize he was seeing someone else.

[She covers her eyes with her hands again. They feel like they're burning with psychic energy (she had been exerting herself for a bit after all).]

I'm not... Someone to idealize. Not when I'm already flawed from the beginning. It's the worst.

[adminproof]

[ ...His boss is such a handful sometimes. ]

Those who only wish to peer into a light without acknowledging the darkness around it only end up blinding themselves.

[ Saiduq loves humans, but he sure as hell isn't going to pretend they're some perfect species that can do no wrong. Oh, he's had plenty of time to see how they can do quite wrong indeed.

Basically, he's saying that it's not really Ai's fault that Hiro chose to see her as someone else and then had his expectations shattered. ]

[emotive]

... Saiduq? Thank you for listening to me.

[Her hands are set down by her sides and shoulders are more relaxed.]

I'm sorry you had to see me in like this. It was supposed to be a birthday after all...

[adminproof]

There is no need to apologize. I am always available to hear concerns and worries. They are a window into the soul, opened willingly.

[ He literally just people-watches for his hobbies. It's kind of sad. ]

[emotive]

I... I do have a question, if you don't mind indulging my curiosity.

[She pauses before continuing with her inquiry.]

Hiro told me that he isn't a human anymore. Is... Are you both the same as each other?

[adminproof]

Hm...in a sense. We are similar beings now, but not entirely.

[ He pauses to think for a bit. Since Hiro told her about the administrator situation, then it stands to reason that he might have told her about the whole Septentriones and Swords things too. As it stands, it...shouldn't be a problem to tell her a few things, especially since she just opened up her heart to him and it would be remiss to leave her in the cold. If she really is going to...pursue a relationship with Hiro, then there are a few things that she'll come across, sooner or later. ]

He was born human, while I was created as a tool. He has only witnessed 18 years of life, while I have been witness to far, far more due to my inhuman lifespan. I do not know the exact number, but...it surpasses a few billion years by human reckoning, to my memory.

[ And so on. They're supposed to be similar beings at this point, but just from the very nature of their births, they were already different.

what an old man ]

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[emotive]