[Backdated to the 18th]

[mostremaining]

Characters: Prussia and YOU!
Setting: The cafeteria. Backdated to the 18th, which also happens to be Gilbert's birthday!
Format: Starting as prose, but will match!
Summary: It's Gilbert's birthday! It's also his 200th year in the tower. Some woe ensues.
Warnings: Brief mentions of character death and suicide. It's not all bad, though!



Gilbert was sitting in the cafeteria, chowing down on the first slice of a rather large stack of carrot cake slices. Next to him was a rather large sign that had written on it, "Today's my birthday!" (Where he got the paper and the marker from is to be left a mystery.) For a moment, he stopped his gorging, set his fork down, and rested his head in one hand.

He had spent 200 years in this tower. 200 birthdays. He had been through so much in the ways of experiments and deaths (some inflicted on himself out of despair) that it all kind of blurred together. He nearly forgot that today was his birthday, and that was coming from a man who always used to take the opportunity to celebrate himself whenever possible. He was more passive now than he used to be, more accepting of pain and suffering. He did not try to rebel as much. He had been reduced to a sorry little sad sack who missed his home dearly and was wracked with sorrow over what he had lost, and he hated that. He hated it so much, but what was he to do about it? The tower had, in a way, "won."

...Eating more cake was clearly the solution. Gilbert resumed eating to distract himself from his negative thoughts. Maybe someone would come by and congratulate him on his 200th year and his birthday. Not every day in the tower was awful, after all. The people suffering with him made it worth it sometimes.

Comments

[tohko_amano]

To keep up appearances, Tohko would sometimes wander into the cafeteria and eat some food so that people didn't get suspicious of her dietary habits. However, when she saw Gilbert eating a large stack of carrot cakes and the sign that said it was his birthday, she ran out of the room, went to her dorm room, got the basket of fruit that she had been rewarded, and ran back to the kitchen.

"Happy birthday, Gilbert!" She cried, walking towards him and putting the basket of fruit on an empty spot on the table.

[wrigurun]

[Quietly she snuck up behind him, carrying a multi-coloured bundle in her hands. When Wriggle was right behind him she released it over his head, sending many coloured butterflies fluttering over him like confetti]

Happy Birthday!

[mostremaining]

Gilbert couldn't help but smile when he saw Tohko come in with the big basket of fruit. "Aww, thanks, Tohko! Did you stop by just to say happy birthday to me? That's so sweet." For a man who had been pretty broken, he could still keep up appearances. He put one slice of cake on a plate and pushed it towards Tohko. "Do you want a slice?"

[mostremaining]

[Gilbert made a nonsensical sputtering noise at first and nearly dropped his fork. However, when he turned around and saw that Wriggle was behind the surprise...]

Hey, Wriggle! Thanks for coming by to say happy birthday to me! [He takes a slice of cake, puts it on a plate, and pushes it towards Wriggle.] Want one?

[tohko_amano]

"Oh, you're welcome! And I did. Birthdays are pretty important, even in a place like this."

It was a bit of a lie, as she had originally came here looking for some food so that she could keep up her mask. However, since her reason had changed, it wasn't a total lie. When Gilbert pushed the cake towards her though, she managed to keep smiling and nodded, picking up the plate before getting a fork and coming back.

"Ah, thank you very much! I would like one..it's been awhile since I've eaten carrot cake. I didn't know that you enjoyed it so much."

[wrigurun]

I read your sign!

[She seems quite enthusiastic about the fact. After a few decades her reading comprehension was finally taking off. The butterflies settle calmly on his shoulders, quite content to sit there if he doesn't make any sudden movements]

Sure, is it sweet?

[mostremaining]

"Yeah! They're one of the few things you can celebrate here." Gilbert watched Tohko as she went to get the fork. "Well... carrot cake isn't really my favorite, but hey, it's cake! I need some sort of special birthday food for today."

[mostremaining]

Haha... well, I guess it is kind of hard to miss. Either way, thanks!

[He stares at the butterflies on his shoulders for a moment.] Where did you get these, by the way? And of course the cake is sweet! That's why I'm eating it. [Comfort eater logic gooooo.]

[wrigurun]

They live on the floor with all the insects on the walls. I should probably take them back soon, I think it's a bit cold down here...

[Her smile brightens at the prospect of cake]

Sure, I'll have some then!

[tohko_amano]

"That's true..that and holidays..and times when you can stick it to the Administrators."

Tohko then smiled and nodded at the second comment.

"Well, that's true! It's not really a birthday without some cake or something similar."

[mostremaining]

"Oh yeah! Times when you can stick it to the Administrators are the best!" They were few and far between, but damn were they satisfying. "And tell me about it. I can't even count the number of birthdays I've had where there's been no food worth celebrating with." And there, Gilbert let his temporally-distorted state slip.

[mostremaining]

There are butterflies on that floor, too? I thought there were just creepy crawlies.

Here you go! [Gilbert scoots the plate a little closer to Wriggle.]

[tohko_amano]

While Tohko agreed with Prussia, the way he said something struck her as rather..odd.

"While it is terrible when you don't have good food and company on a birthday, it sounds like you've spent more than one birthday here."

Which couldn't be true..after all, he had arrived shortly after Tohko did, so there was no way he could have had two birthdays so far.

[wrigurun]

There are all kinds of insects up there. All seasons too, I was surprised.

[Wriggle gratefully takes to cake and starts picking bits off to eat with her hands]

And don't call them creepy crawlies, that's kinda rude y'know.

[mostremaining]

"Yeah... I've been here for 200 years. What's up?" It didn't occur to Gilbert that something wasn't quite right, but there was the bombshell right there.

[mostremaining]

Color me surprised, too. I haven't seen anything really colorful when I've had to go by that floor.

Right, of course. [...He's still going to call them creepy crawlies though. Because they are.] Hey, should I get you a fork or something?

[tohko_amano]

Oh..this was just cruel. Tohko sighed after she heard that and put the plate down on the table.

"Prussia..you haven't been here for two hundred years. The Administrators are putting several people through time experiments right now-some think a thousand years have passed, others say twenty or thirty, and some can't remember at all. It looks like..you were one of them. I'm sorry."

[wrigurun]

'sfine!

[Wriggle isn't exactly the best at table manners, talking with her mouth full and licking the frosting off her fingers]

It's just a dark room, that's probably why.

[mostremaining]

Here Gilbert stopped in his tracks for just a moment. "Other people think time has passed, too? That's... weird. Is the passage of time really that different for other people?" He was thinking relatively- maybe 200 Earth years was the equivalent to a thousand or twenty or thirty other years.

[tohko_amano]

Tohko sighed again and nodded.

"It's weird, but trust me, it's the truth. People's bodies have been changed to match how much time they think has passed too."

[mostremaining]

[Gilbert couldn't help but smile a bit. He had rotten table manners on occasion, too, and Wriggle's reminded him of he was a kid.]

Yeah... I don't really investigate the dark places that much. Maybe I should.

[wrigurun]

You should! There's always interesting stuff there!

Oh, but sometimes there are monsters so you need to be careful... if you want to explore I can help protect you, I can offer a light too!

[mostremaining]

"Well, in that case, I guess I'm lucky! Our ages depend on the status of our countries, so... I don't really get to age that much, if at all." Growing up was a slow process for him; he had been a child for at least several decades, if not nearly a century.

[mostremaining]

There are "sometimes" monsters everywhere. But sure! I wouldn't mind exploring with you sometime.

[tohko_amano]

Tohko sighed and..tried to pat Prussia on the head.

"Well..you didn't age physically..but you probably experienced a lot of things mentally."

[mostremaining]

Gilbert tried to smile when he was patted on the head. It reminded him of times long gone by, and that quickly made the smile fade. "You can say that again. 200 years in the tower is a lot of deaths."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko, who was a frequent wearer of smiling masks, realized when Prussia tried to wear one, but said nothing about it.

"A lot of deaths, hellos, goodbyes.."