Overthinking like teens do

[sweetlies]

Who: Ciel Phantomhive and YOU
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: On the Goldstone
When: Afternoon of June 1

[The blue-haired teen is in the kitchen of the Goldstone, a cup of tea steaming in front of him. His communicator is propped up so her can just relax and enjoy his tea. And a small plate of oddly shaped cookies.]

What do you all do when you arrive in a new world in the middle of a year? And yet you left at the end, just shy of your birthday?

[He nibbles at a cookie, sets it down, and takes a sip of tea.]

I arrived in Riverview in July but I left England just two weeks before my fourteenth birthday. So it was sensible to say I was fourteen. I was there a year, so... fifteen. It's been about six months here, would I almost be sixteen now?

[There's a soft sigh, toying with a cookie.] Interesting as all this is, it's a bother to think about it all. I'd be marrying in a year, if I were in England...

[He doesn't seem too concerned about that though and takes a deep breath, smiles, and gestures to the cookies.] There are biscuits here in the kitchen, if anyone on the Goldstone would like. I made too many.

Comments

video

[passingthrough]

Well, I counted out the days and ended up with a birthday and a day I turn a year older. Which can be a little confusing and a bit much. [And considering time was warped in her last place maybe nonsensical too even though it felt reasonable at the time.]

You're getting married at fourteen, fifteen or sixteen? [It's not said with judgment so much as concern.]

video

[sweetlies]

I didn't really count how many days I lived in the Quarantine. I was rather bitter about it at first so I didn't care. [Time is weird and bothersome.]

Sixteen or seventeen. Elizabeth is a year older than me so it's dependent on my age. [Concern? What?]

video

[passingthrough]

I guess just stick with your regular birthday then and make a judgement call with your age. Not like anyone is going to be able to contest it.

[And why worry about getting into things that aren't any of her business?] Any reason not to wait on the marrying?

video

[sweetlies]

I suppose... you're not wrong. There are very few people around who could try or would.

[Isn't that what good people do?] Just our age, I think, kept us waiting. And... however much I care about Lizzie, I'm not sure marrying her would be fair.

video

[passingthrough]

[Good people, schmood people. She's very good at risking her life for people. Keeping her boredom and curiosity at bay when it comes to protecting someone's privacy have middling success.] Oh? Why not fair?

video

[sweetlies]

[There are so many reasons it wouldn't be fair to her but a few aren't ones he's willing to voice. The more damning of the reasons, mostly.]

I'm not the same person as when we were growing up. I'm not sure I could love her as I should.

video

[passingthrough]

That's why it's hard when you're so young I think. You change so rapidly. [She's not really sure when or if that stops to be fair. She's not exactly a well-ripened person herself. But she was married very young once upon a time.] It's hard to know if you'll change in the same direction as the other person or not. Sometimes it works out. [And sometimes you get murdered in the middle of a battle by your husband. You know, differences.]

[video]

[somakemelaugh]

[Of course he's going to reply to this, because this is Ciel and because he can.]

Why does it bother you, my lord?

[video]

[sweetlies]

[And when will Ciel really, ever, ignore or push away Undertaker?]

It doesn't. [It does.] It just feel strange... growing up so much from who I was in England and not knowing what to say if anyone asks how old I am.

[somakemelaugh]

[It's never not going to be strange, seeing the boy through his network screen, but he'll be with Ciel sooner or later. He always is.]

[And he knows that fib for what it is, but he'll let it slide for now.]

You are as old as you feel, my lord. Would you think I'm over six hundred years old to look at me?

[sweetlies]

[Meanwhile, he's still so happy for Undertaker. Especially once he started getting used to his eyesight.]

Not at all. I'd have thought you around father's age, honestly. Even with your hair being white.

[Until he'd learned that Undertaker was a reaper, he never would have been able to imagine otherwise.]

[somakemelaugh]

[He grins and leans his cheek into a palm, watching the boy.]

Perks of the trade, I suppose. How old do you feel, milord?

[sweetlies]

[He picks up another biscuit- a boned-shaped one. Partly to encourage a visit to the kitchen,]

I'm not sure... I suppose I feel around sixteen. However that feels. It fits how much I've changed, I think?

[somakemelaugh]

[Look at this boy, tempting him. Terrible.]

Well there you are, then. [And damnit, it's working.] Do you need any help with the biscuits? I can provide an extra batch, if need be.

[video]

[nightroadsaint]

[In the video, Abel joins in with a cup of tea in hand and eating what looks like to be chocolate pudding with a small silver teaspoon. It's simply the time for afternoon tea and snacks.]

I don't know. I'm so old, I tend to be forgetful of my own birthday! When I remember it was the day, then I would buy myself a cake. I think any day should be a birthday, though I feel birthdays is a special occasion.

Oh dear, getting married at that age? Well, it seems your England is a bit... backward yet traditional, isn't? At your age, most of my peers would think about going to a college or university of their choice if they could pass the entrance exams.

Have you made biscuits? I wonder if you could save me some. I may be able to pick it up later.

[video]

[sweetlies]

[There might be the faintest of huffs at the suggestion that England, of all places! Could be backward. And then he lets it go to poke at a biscuit a bit.]

I was an Earl, it's necessary for me to marry and continue the Phantomhive line. And I did, briefly, attend Weston College but I didn't care for it.

[It was boring, he hated it. And the system and rules they had in place were ridiculous.]

I could set a plate aside for you, I don't mind.

[nightroadsaint]

That's understandable. I have worked with nobles in my sister's court and for them finding a suitable noble to marry is always a political fuss. My sister...she was an Empress in her nation and I helped with international affairs and peaceful diplomatic missions for the Vatican.

[Speaking of this, Abel realized he really missed his people. He had been in space for nearly three months now.]

English education is never fun. I remember my professors, if I could help it. Some are lenient and some are strict. I did attended a university in England to study theology and science before I was a priest. But you know, I consider my stay on the ship a fun holiday. At your age, education is such a chore, so it's important to have fun! What I'm saying is, you don't have to rush to get married because that's what expected of you.

[He considerably brightens at the offer.]

You're saving your biscuits for me? Really? Why thank you! I can't wait to try them!

[sweetlies]

I simply didn't care for the school and I've received private education since I was a child. I was already ahead of most of my peers, having taken over as head of my family. It was necessary to learn a great deal more than anyone else my age would have needed.

[There's a little shrug. And a faint smile.]

Why not? I certainly can't eat them all on my own and I don't know how many members of the crew would care for them. [Only one he knows for sure.]

[nightroadsaint]

[The nobles of England are something else. To Abel, Ciel came from England ancient past and for him, it's now called Albion.]

When I was your age, I studied in a private education too. It wasn't fun and the teachers are strict when I couldn't make the grade and I have to learn quickly to know everything more than anyone else. I don't have much of a childhood since I don't know my parents.

[He'll leave it at that since he was raised like a test subject and his education is military based educations and working in labs.]

Well, we're on different ships, so I believe you could send them via mail or package and the ship can transport your mail since I live on SS Caprine. Still, you have my thanks as I like to eat biscuits with tea.

[sweetlies]

Luckily, I'm a very quick study. I've never had trouble with learning what I needed to know. [Or things he wants to know, such as cooking. He'd taken to that very quickly in Riverview. Interest and pure, stubborn, will had gotten him what skill he had before the augments.]

You could always use those teleporters to visit the Goldstone. I know Undertaker and I do the same a lot of the time. Tea isn't the same without biscuits.

[the_tailor]

Good ol' birthday confusion, huh? I feel ya there. I've come and go a bunch of times just here, so it's really hard to keep track of my actual age. Just for tradition's sake, I count myself another year older when June comes around here, but I know by now that I'm older than that 'cause of the time that passed back home in between.

[Confusing stuff indeed.]

Best not to think of it too hard and just approximate, and still party on your birthday date.

[sweetlies]

Is it that common? [He's almost amused. At the same time though, that's really just awful, knowing that it's an issue for other people too. And reassuring. It's a whole mess of feelings.]

I suppose an approximate age works. I wouldn't be too far off from sixteen now if I just went with that. Half a year off, at best.

[A little curious though:] How bad is it for you?

[the_tailor]

It's not uncommon. Happens to a pretty decent chunk of us-- We poof from here temporarily, go home and live more of our lives without remembering life here, then come back here with all our memories back in tact. I've had it happen like, maybe three times?

[He's content with that it's been some time since it's happened, though. And things back home weren't all too awful last he came from, so part of him is fine with where he is.]

Oh, man. So, I was still seventeen when I came here, which I think was in the month of June. So I celebrated my eighteenth birthday in July. Went back home at some point, and time passed, came back. Might've happened twice. Between that time, and the time here, I'm sure than more than a year passed before July swang around again here. But I just celebrated it as my nineteenth. In a month and a half, I'll celebrate my twentieth, but in terms of time that I've actually lived through, I'm guessing I'm closer to twenty one.

[sweetlies]

[Three times- he can't imagine that. He doesn't want to end up returning the England at all if he can help it. Too many things left uncertain.]

I can scarcely imagine. [Well... maybe he can.] You seem to have it all sorted at least, so that's reassuring to hear. I'm sure it could have gotten complicated, being here so long, if you didn't have your age figured out for some systems.

[the_tailor]

As sorted out as it can get. I mean, in the end, the number doesn't matter all that much. I'm just happy to make it to another year.