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[zoomingupthathill]

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[polarvoid]

[Disorienting isn't even half of it, but the one silver lining is that Basil was spared the pain. He woke up with things just sort of...different, and being forced to get used to it from there. It's not the first time now that this has happened to him, and seems to be starting to become something of a theme with this place...

He knows she's right, as much as he wishes she weren't. He wishes he could have just...one month. One, of nothing. To just...rest. Recover. Figure things out.

What might happen in March? He doesn't know. He doesn't know that he wants to think about it too hard.]

Me too. [...] So it really is the 21st now, right?

[Basil...only remembers the 14th. Again, and again, and again. It's like he lost the entire span of time inbetween.]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ It would be nice to pretend... But Max lost that luxury long time ago. She doesn't think she knows how to, anymore. It's either brutal acceptance or vehement denial. Nothing comforting about either. ]

It sure is. If everyone's actually fixed this and it keeps going, tomorrow'll even be the 22nd, which seems pretty novel to me after all this.

[polarvoid]

[Hm...Basil thought so. Which means he's left with a very odd sort of oversight to deal with. Like, maybe it's not worth worrying about or bothering with, but...

He ends up saying it anyway in a sort of muttered undertone, like he's trying not to really bring attention to it.]

...skipped my birthday, I guess.

[zoomingupthathill]

[ All at once, Max's dour, tired attitude—one that, from Basil's perspective, probably seemed to intensify over night—dries up. She whips her head around so fast the dangling part of her broken antler smacks her her cheek, leaving a small bit of bloody velvet residue. ]

Wait, what?! Your birthday was this week?!

[polarvoid]

[Oh, Basil wasn't expecting a response like that. He blinks quickly, flusters, and looks down into his lap.]

Um! W-well...I guess so. Technically...

[He hunches his shoulders a bit.]

It was...supposed to be on the 18th. But this kindof...skipped over it? So I'm not really sure it counts...

[That, and it's weird to be having another birthday this soon anyway. It was (vaugely) summertime back home, so his birthday was still a half a year away, at minimum.]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ Well, she frowns! ...And wipes off that velvet with the back of her sleeve. ]

What? No, it totally still counts. Like if you were born on Leap Day, it's still been a year, even if February doesn't have a 29th that year.

[ Max chews at her dry, frostbitten-looking lip. ]

...Even if you're aware of it, it still happened.

[polarvoid]

Mm...I guess so. It just...

[Hm. How does he put this.]

It feels a little...weird, to have a birthday this soon. It was summer back home, so my birthday had already passed.

[And the jump from 16 to 17 feels pretty big, at this age.]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ At that, she frowns. It's thoughtful. ]

No kidding? Weird. [ There's a moment. This feels...almost too personal, for some reason. It's just a birthday. But— ] That's sort of the same with me.

[polarvoid]

Is it? What do you mean?

[Assuming that's okay to ask, of course...but he's already done it before he can think otherwise.]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ She half shrugs, just to give herself a little time to figure out...how to say this. ]

Well- I mean, I've been here a little longer, but... Back home, it'd just happened, like...a month before I got here. It was the end of March and then suddenly it was October, and now I'm like... It hasn't even been six months, you know?

[ Quickly, to try and deflect: ] But, like, enough about that, how old're you turning, or- did you turn, is it like, thirteen?

[polarvoid]

Oh...yeah, I understand.

[So she is in a similar situation. Do or don't you count the next "birthday" as your true birthday...or does it only really count when a year has passed? Basil isn't sure, and he doesn't want to think a year's worth into the future either.

But how old would he have been turning, that's a good...

...question...........]

U...uh...oh.

[UM]

I...I'm sixteen.

[...]

If I counted this birthday, I would have been...turning seventeen...

1/3

[zoomingupthathill]

[ .................... ]

2/3

[zoomingupthathill]

[ wh ]

3/3

[zoomingupthathill]

YOU'RE OLDER THAN ME?!

[ Max Mayfield has been utterly and completely destroyed. ]

[polarvoid]

[While Max is busy being destroyed, Basil is...completely flabbergasted, in contrast. If Max looks surprised, how do you think Basil feels?? Her reaction is so sharp and sudden that it causes him to jump nearly off the step he's sitting on, and for a brief moment he can feel his skin ripple with heat. He manages to reign it back in, thankfully.

AND. WELL

NOW HE HAS TO ASK-]

W....wait, how old are you?!

[LIKE at least for his part he can say he assumed Max was like....his age, but...]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ Sorry Basil. This is a lot to process. She has to reevaluate here. ]

That birthday, the one that was like a month before and also in like a week— I'd just turned fifteen!

[polarvoid]

[What. WHAT.......no way that's real. At least, that's what he wants to say...but he can tell that Max is pretty shellshocked by this revelation as it is so, maybe not...]

I....oh...

[He looks quickly down at his claws in his lap, flustering.]

I thought you were my age...

[Okay no that wasn't the right thing to say either, shit]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ And suddenly, Max is the one left feeling incredibly young. She does nothing to dissuade this, as she rushes to clarify: ]

I mean, I almost am!! I mean- if I counted mine, I'd be!

[ But that only sounds like a childish pout. ]

[polarvoid]

W-well...it's okay, I mean...it feels like you're sixteen to me? So, y-you know...you're...you might as well be....basically.

[God, this all feels super backwards. Like, arguably there's actually a reason Basil seems so much younger than he is, but it's not really something he realizes...meanwhile Max could be walking around telling people she was eighteen and Basil is pretty sure he wouldn't have corrected her.]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ After a moment, Max deflates, hanging her head. Her broken antler sways as she does. ]

No. No, I did just say it felt...weird. Ugh, shit, I'm sorry. Here I was treating you like some little kid... Look, one of the most badass people I know's twelve, so I swear it wasn't like I thought you can't handle yourself.

[polarvoid]

It's okay. I didn't take it like that.

[Basil is...used to people belittling him on purpose. He knows what it's like, and that isn't what Max was trying to say at all.]

...I'm glad we're close to the same age, anyway.

[Things probably wouldn't have been that much different if he were thirteen and Max were fifteen, but...he doesn't want to be that age anymore.]

[zoomingupthathill]

[ By now, Max has almost completely recalibrated her brain. This is Basil. Not a kid, but a guy around her age. Older. Shy, soft-spoken, and pretty gentle.

And, she decides... Yeah, she likes this better. Even if it's weird that she's actually the youngest in the palazzo. ]

Yeah, me too. [ A moment. ] Do you, uh... I mean, do you wanna do something? For your birthday, I mean. I know it might not really count, and it already happened, but...

[ An awkward half-shrug. ]

[polarvoid]

[Maybe it's telling, how immediate it is the way Basil shakes his head. Then he realizes "wow that probably looks really bad", so he's quick to clarify.]

I haven't...really done a whole lot for it, the last couple of years.

[With his grandmother sick and Polly busy taking care of them both...Basil isn't going to ask for anything. Even though Polly makes sure he gets a little something for his birthday every year, Basil sure isn't going out of his way to celebrate. It's just another year...nothing more.]

I'm sure everyone else is busy too...with everything that's happened, and stuff.

[zoomingupthathill]

[ It is telling, so Max appreciates the follow-up. It explains a few things...including something stirring in her own gut. Max nods in understanding and glances away. ]

Right. Well... It's whatever you wanna do, I'm not gonna push. I just remembered, last year I kinda... Mine just came and went and it felt...weird, not to do anything, so, if you wanted to just...acknowledge it somehow. Not even with anyone else, or- even me.

[ Fidget, fidget, fidget. This suggestion, half-formed in her mind, felt less weird when she thought he was younger. Just slightly. ]

[polarvoid]

[...oh. That's...so thoughtful, Basil thinks.

Now it's his turn to fidget, though he's moreso toying with his own claws, bright red against the black his hands have become. He doesn't even really have fingers anymore with how big his claws are...they've taken their place entirely.]

Acknowledge it...how?