[handset | video] one love, one life (backdated to 3/5 or so)

[edgeoftheknife]

[The video flips on to show Erskine, gorgeous as always, and actually not looking dog-tired for once! In fact, he's smiling. This is possibly the happiest Erskine has looked on the network while sober.

...which probably has to do with the attractive redhead hovering in the background. Those who've seen Erskine's echo stone will recognize Hopeless. Those who haven't might recognize the man Erskine's been attached at the hip to for the last couple of weeks.]

Right, hello everyone. So, Hopeless had a question--

[The redhead in the background scoffs gently.]

Alright, we had a question. How old are all you Foreigners out there? We're interested in age demographics. You can be vague if you like, and you don't have to answer of course.

And in the spirit of sharing, I... missed my last birthday. It was in February. Which I suppose makes me 409 now.

Comments

[lasergrenades]

You already know I'm nineteen, but happy belated birthday! This calls for cake. Unless you like pie better, and then it calls for pie. Both come with ice cream.

[Pepper may be talking very, very fast, mostly because she's noticed whose baaaaack.]

Hopeless, since you're back and we haven't properly met, I'm Pepper, and I need to give you a hug, like, yesterday.

[scryinghope]

[Hopeless leans over Erskine to see the screen, one hand resting absolutely innocently on Erskine's shoulder. He's got the kind of smile which shows in the crinkle of his eyes more than on his mouth, which altogether makes him seem more scholarly than roguish vagabond unlike some people.]

Hello, Pepper. I'd love a hug. I'm even open to them happening in retrospect, if that's something that can happen here.

[Hey, who even knows.]

[purered]

I'm terribly sorry about missing your last birthday. Perhaps we can have a belated celebration?

Ah- in regards to your question. I'm thirty now.

[edgeoftheknife]

[He smiles wryly]

Klaus, believe me--when you hit 409, the idea of celebrating with anything other than hard liquor loses some of its luster.

You're thirty? Since when?

video;

[denyamenti]

Twenty-four.

[ pause ]

More or less.

[ Not counting, you know, the three and a half millennia in the middle there. ]

[scryinghope]

More or less?

[Hopeless rests his chin on his hand. Is the 'more or less' because he doesn't know when he was born, or a diversion? Hopeless can't tell, through the video feed. Mind-reading isn't long-distance.]

video;

[isochrone]

Happy belated, Mr Ravel!

In regards to your question, I'm nineteen. Why are you interested in demographics?

[scryinghope]

[It's the redhead bending to peer over Erskine's shoulder who answers, with smiling eyes.]

Hello. Actually, I'm the one who was wondering. I was talking about the comparative psychology of long-lived versus shorter-lived peoples within the Foreigner demographic and Erskine decided to take it viral.

Can you tell me what kind of lifespan you expect?

[edgeoftheknife]

Thank you, Elizabeth. [Erskine gives her a warm smile.]

Ah, Hopeless was the one interested, mostly. I'm just here as an enabler.

[justno]

That's one hell of a lifespan. You a Magician?

[edgeoftheknife]

[Erskine nods]

We usually prefer "sorcerer" or "mage," but yes, we both are. And you're from a world with magic, I take it?

Video

[ten_zero]

[ Okay, open video, where she's sharing personal info. She doesn't do this very often but... she has to open up some time, right? Age isn't a big deal... for most people? The fact that Erskine is starting off with being centuries old helps. ]

I don't actually... know. There was a great period of chaos after the Orokin Empire fell, and even something as simple as basic timelines are difficult to come by.

It wouldn't surprise me to find out that I'm close to your age, chronologically. Although most of it was spent in cryostasis.

[edgeoftheknife]

Oh? [Erskine leans closer to the video, looking thoughtful.]

Cryostasis.... What, you mean you were frozen?

Video

[commandandcontrol]

Happy belated birthday, Erskine. And hello... your name is Hopeless? [ Look, it's a weird name. ]

I'm 19 myself.

[ Having read his response to Pepper about life expectancy... ] I imagine I'll live to about 90, if medical technology continues it's expected advances and I don't roll any particularly bad dice in the meantime.

409... I can't imagine what that's like, living so long.

Video

[scryinghope]

That's my name, yes.

[She isn't the first to stumble over it; he gives her a reassuring, eye-crinkling smile.]

We all hope to roll well. Have you been here long?

[Video]

[schrodingersghost]

I think I'm still sixteen? I don't know, I kind of lost track of the calendar.

By the way, who are you?

[edgeoftheknife]

So... sixteen or seventeen. When's your birthday?

[It's easy enough to miss that kind of thing around here, Heaven knows.]

Oh, um. Right. Erskine Ravel. I own the shelter. Sorry, I've kind of fallen out of the habit of introducing myself on these. I've been here so long I figured everyone must know me by now.

And you are?

[Video]

[spoilsfun]

Seven. I think I might be the youngest foreigner here still.

[Video]

[scryinghope]

The youngest I've heard about.

[Hopeless rests his chin on the heel of his palm. Seven is very young, and an outlier given the responses so far.]

I don't suppose you've had any years in-between which you don't remember?

[Or didn't live for, as the case may be. He asks it gently, though. Seven is young, no matter how he's calculating it.]

[backwordscompatible]

Nineteen. For another couple months, at least.

[Time really flies on the back of a giant turtle, doesn't it?]

Happy Belated. If you're looking for a good cake, I can probably recommend a place in town.

[edgeoftheknife]

Zatanna! It's nice to talk to you again. Been a while, hasn't it?

[It... doesn't sound like small talk, oddly enough. He sounds like he's actually not sure.]

Ah, thank you! But Hopeless and Pepper are making a cake as we speak, so I think I'm okay on that score at least. I mean, not that I'd turn down more cake, but I might have to take up jogging or something.

[unetrustworthy]

Why are you interested in our ages?

[There wasn't anything TOO suspicious about that. Not really. Not coming from a fellow foreigner, and one who had already given out his own age first. But curiosity came first.]

[edgeoftheknife]

[Erskine smiles]

Actually Hopeless is the one who wanted to know. He's interested in psychology, and we got to talking about how people's ages and lifespans might affect how they think about certain things.

...so mostly Hopeless was curious and I said 'Hey let's go ask people."

[looksfine]

Might I ask what range of intervals you utilize to determine age?

[Because that might affect her numerical answer.]

[scryinghope]

Of course. Three hundred and sixty-five days to a year, twenty-four hours to a day, sixty minutes to an hour, sixty seconds to a minute.

[dancermoves]

409? Wow.

[ Okay, so that wasn't any weirder than the rest of her life had gotten in the past few years. But most of the people claiming stuff like that hadn't turned out to be good guys, so she's a little wary. ]

So is that... normal, where you're from?

[edgeoftheknife]

[Erskine smiles. He's very, very attractive when he smiles.]

It's normal if you're a sorcerer. Give or take. If you survived the war, and manage not to be a bloody idiot and get yourself killed for four hundred years.

Normal humans don't live nearly so long, of course.

Video;

[purrns]

Sixteen. I was fifteen when I came here, though.

[A pause. ]

Happy belated birthday, Monsieur.

[edgeoftheknife]

Thank you, Adrien.

...and I suppose happy belated birthday to you too, since apparently I missed it. When was it?

[bostonhowler]

I'm 24. Soon to be 25.

[edgeoftheknife]

Yeah? [He grins] When's the big day?

[celticromanstone]

22, darling. Is there a reason for this?

[ 409? Pfft. Whippersnapper. ]

[edgeoftheknife]

[He just shrugs, a light smile on his face.]

Hopeless was curious. Something about the different psychology of people who live longer... I don't know. To be honest he lost me partway through, but he's cute when he's being smart so I thought I'd oblige and pose it to the network.

[shroudofgray]

I have had my first birthday.
[Even though she wasn't technically 'born'.]

I decided it would be the day I came here. I think I am about seventeen.

[edgeoftheknife]

Your... first birthday? You didn't have birthdays where you're from?