sticksandbones | There is no escaping the birthday post

Entry tags:

cookie run: timekeeper cookie

There is no escaping the birthday post

Who: Timekeeper and whoever is enough of a snoop!
What: What's in the box, TK?
When: October 23rd, so after the mansion (but before her clock tower is built)
Where: At or around the inn
Warnings: Will update if needed but this is probably just going to be silly/cute

[Well it started as a normal day, or normal enough of one when everyone is still in the midst of weeding out any remaining doppelgangers. Timekeeper has also been slightly more on edge than usual, bothering the few people she cares about more frequently and keeping as sharp an eye as she can out. Still, she's yet to do any of that this morning, and it's when she's on her way back from getting breakfast at the cafe that she's all but ambushed by Ydalir.

Who cheerfully hands her a little boxed cake and wishes her happy birthday.

Timekeeper won't admit later that she had to stand there and blink for a moment, but she did. Oh, it is today, isn't it. Well. Hmm. That's something she hasn't thought about in probably the equivalent of centuries!

So, after that entirely too awkward an encounter for her tastes, she attempts to slip quietly back to her inn room with the box. It's not like she's had reason to tell anyone else her bakeday, after all, and surely it's not something anyone would care to celebrate anyway.

Unfortunately, she's not very good at stealth checks and someone could have totally seen Ydalir stop her.]

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[Guess who was using his powers of induced hallucinations to mask his presence and sneak up on her.]

[This guy!!]

Hey, Timekeeper. Whatcha got there?

[Ah. One of the only people who really can sneak up on her consistently. You're lucky she likes you, Dipper. She doesn't jump, but she might still stiffen a little at the voice out of nowhere, relaxing once she realizes who it is.]

Oh, nothing much. Should I ask how much you saw, first?

[Or heard. Ydalir hadn't exactly been discreet.]

[Hehheh he got her. She’s pretty hard to sneak up on but Dipper has been practicing. Can’t keep her interested in internshipping him if he’s not working on his powers, after all-]

Everything.

[He’s not even going to try and be subtle about this. In fact she might find the look in his eye a familiar sharp and dangerous.]

Don’t worry, I won’t make a huge deal out of it if you don’t want.

[Does that mean you're seriously considering the offer, Dipper...?

Even though it's annoying to be found out, Timekeeper can't help but smile back in kind at that sharp look.]

If you had, I'd make you tell me yours too... it's only fair, right?

[So she could be just as obnoxious about it then! ...Not realizing it's already come and gone and they had a movie night, of course. But, Dipper's said he won't make it a big thing, so she only laughs.]

Well, in that case, this looks to be rather more cake than I'd care to eat myself. Would you like to join me?

[He MIGHT BE, but he has to talk to Mabel first no matter what. That doesn't mean he can't be ready, just in case.]

[Anyway, he falls in step alongside her, putting his hands in his pockets.]

Definitely. In fact, if you really want to know, It's August 31st. There, now we have mutual birthday blackmail.

[That way if he tells, she can tell! All is fair now.]

Sure! I don't- Oh, actually. Let's drop by the Inn really quick.

Oho! I see. Is that what that was about, then?

[And make no mistake, it absolutely will be blackmail if the opportunity arises. She's secretly a little pleased that the movie night was more important to Dipper than she thought, though, and it might show a little in the way her eye smiles with her for a moment.]

Certainly, I was headed back there myself.

It was! Pretty sneaky, huh?

[Please don't call attention to the fact that he was egregiously lonely on his birthday without his twin.]

Awesome, then that means I have a surprise for you.

[Fufufu, to the Inn!!]

Clever indeed! Perhaps I should take notes.

[She won't bring that up. It might take her a while before that particular penny drops in her head, anyway, but she won't. She'd needed the distraction too, after all.

Her eye narrows as Dipper heads off towards the Inn though, even as she follows on his heels.]

A surprise, hmm...?

[One birthday gift is indicative of a generous fool who does that for everybody no matter what. A second, from someone she appreciates, is... hm. Not quite a pattern, yet? Beginning to feel awkward. She hopes this is something Dipper had already planned, though that too...

...who does that for her, truly?]

[He's not going to give up the deets until he has it in his hands, so she will just have to follow him!]

[Up the stairs to his Darkroom. That, uh, place he got murdered in, but it's fine now. It's all been cleaned up. When he unlocks the door and pushes it open it looks perfectly normal. Though, Dipper now keeps his bloodmagic tools put away when he isn't using them. Stab me once, shame on you, but stab me twice-]

Give me a couple of seconds to gather it up.

[And he will pull out what looks like a few banker's boxes full of folders. He flips through them and pulls out...one labeled Timekeeper! As he opens the folder it becomes clear, though its probably not a surprise, that these are all photos and he has a small stack of them in his hands. He picks out about four or five of them before he offers them to her.]

[They're candids from around the Grove. She's seen him with the camera and everyone at this point knows he's been working on photos for some time.]

These are for you. There's some normal ones, and there's also some cool ones I developed using blood magic. The ones with you in them turned out really interesting.

[He grins because he figures she'd be very interested in those. Anything treated with paleblood is likely to reveal secret stuff, maybe even prophetic stuff? So someone who is drenched in time surely would come out very interesting.]

This place is weird and does stuff to our heads so, photos are important- they're records of points in time that even if we forget, they won't. Hopefully you never need them for that reason, but I'd still like you to have them.

[Ah good, Dipper is suggesting there's a practical use for these, as well. She can work with that. Her smile spreads as she sets the cake down to take the photos, though there's perhaps a bit of melancholy in it. Yes, she's well aware that Dipper has been taking these - and she has her ways of avoiding being in them if she wants, but for him, she's allowed it.]

Records of points in time, hmm? You know, even I hadn't thought of photos that way before.

[The Time Registry Division mostly works with written logs, after all. Photos can sometimes be easily disrupted by temporal anomalies - and indeed, as she shuffles through them, it's one of the paleblood developed photos that catches her eye enough to pull it out from the others.

She hasn't yet had someone tell her what she looks like through the golden glasses, but it's not dissimilar to that. It's as if a multitude of images have been developed at once, overlapping each other until it's a mess of gold and black and brown, and at the center is a blurry silhouette that doesn't much look like Timekeeper... but is familiar nonetheless. Possible temporal instances. It doesn't escape her that where she can discern enough detail, the photo's color is oversaturated or washed out over instances of her left eye, sometimes with cracklike distortions. Hm, what else is new?]

My, that is interesting. You could certainly find ways to put such phenomena to use! I admit, I'm not myself certain whether you would be better suited for... hmm?

[She's reached the very last of the paleblood photos now, sliding it out from the others. It has much the same effects in it, but... the silhouette in the center has an odd shape. Not distinctly Croissant Cookie's outline, as she saw in the others, nor quite recognizable as her past self from the Grove either. The hair and outfit is perhaps the wrong shape?

It's familiar, somehow. She's never worn a hood, that she recalls, but what else could the strange shape of the head be? And that shape near it, a ponytail perhaps, though she never remembers wearing one so low. Regardless, it's certainly shaped like a croissant. What on Earthbread...?

Her smile stays, but her brow knits, ever so slightly.]

Edited (don't mind me realizing my plans changed last second and I ought to edit this for consistency do de do...) 2024-11-02 23:47 (UTC)

[He bounces on the balls of his feet a little in anticipation, before trying to school himself and settle down. Ah, maybe he should stop coming off as such an over-eager kid to the person who literally wanted to hire him for a Time Organization, but he's been working on these for a while and he's been excited to show off. Of course, that doesn't help the touch of anxiety in him, too.]

[He is watching her expression with interest because the photos effects were incredibly curious, and while he wants to know more about what might be presented in them, he's not unaware of the idea that they could be too revealing, too. TK was willing to murder on his behalf, so he doesn't want to accidentally show her something that upset her somehow, too, you know. That wouldn't good, and on her bakeday no less.]

Better suited for...?

[She trails off as something seems to catch her eye. He frowns a little, peering over her shoulder to look at the photo.]

What's up? Is there something weird about that one?

[ Odile was just on her way out of the inn when Ydalir descended, and it's just too quiet in the Grove for her not to overhear. She stops by the door to avoid intruding on the conversation, even if it's short. ]

Happy birthday.

[ It's only polite to say, since she knows. ]

Hmm, bakeday technically, though it's all the same thing in the end.

[She's started to figure out by now that Odile says things like this sincerely. Which still doesn't quite make sense to her, nor does it mean she isn't frustrated by others finding out meaningless personal information that they might want to make a bigger deal of than necessary. Her face settles into a smiling mask, not letting anything slip for the moment.]

A meaningless thing at that. I stopped seeing the point in keeping track ages ago - what use marking a year when you've seen hundreds in a day?

[What use celebrating yourself when anyone else who might want to is gone from your life?]

"Bakeday".

[ She's correcting herself, but is also forced once again to try to wrap her brain around the concept of cookie people. She doesn't like to. It always ends in her wondering if they're edible. ]

It does get less exciting as you get older.

[ She remembers how energetic everyone was when they celebrated Boniface's birthday. The mood was as infectious as it was exhausting. She smiles ever so slightly just thinking about it. It's always worth it to make them smile like that. ]

In Ka Bue you would be honored for your wisdom and experience. Though I've noticed that other cultures seem to honor the elderly in different ways.

[There's an answer to the question of edibility if Odile ever become curious enough to ask it, but does she really want to know?

Timekeeper chuckles dryly.]

That's certainly true, among Cookies as well. I suppose ageing is one reason why most aren't so fond of time - but age is a problem that cannot touch me, anymore.

[How old is Timekeeper? Good question. Keeping track across a whimsical mess of time travel is too complicated, so the world may never know.]

But truly, it is not worth the celebration or honor for me, whatever form it takes. I could see a hundred bakedays in a row if I wanted; it is merely another day among millions.

Is that so?

[ Now Odile is actually very interested. And it has not occured to her that they are lingering just outside a doorway or that Timekeeper probably wants to put that cake away. ]

Do you keep track of your own relative, linear time? A day on a calendar may work well enough for others, but surely it doesn't correspond to your actual age.

[Cake? What cake? This is an interesting discussion now, no brain space to worry about anything else! The box she's holding is irrelevant and at least partly forgotten.]

Oh, I gave up trying to do that a long time ago! Relatively speaking, of course. It's much too tedious for nothing more than a statistic without bearing. Not to mention, tracking timelines other than my own is far more fascinating.

[But then her smile turns sly, eye narrowing in mischief.]

Ah, but you and yours were trapped in a time loop, were you not? Regardless of whether you remember it, does that not mean you are also in a similar circumstance? Or would you personally not count it?

An interesting question.

I wouldn't count it on my own timeline because it isn't something I experienced myself. But it does bear questioning: what happened to the timelines that were left behind? Do they continue to exist? Does it even matter, whether they do or not?

Our experiences are what make us who we are, so it can't be said that I'm the same person as any other Odile with experiences different from my own.

[ She has, perhaps, thought about this more than might be normal. ]

[Good! That's exactly the kind of thought that makes talking about it interesting!]

Oho, fair enough, and fair questions besides! Well then, let me tell you something about time loops...

[She leans back, a glimmer in her eye as she taps her chin.]

Most time loops are not technically loops - they are spirals. Each repetition bears the weight of the one before it, and is shaped by it, even if the differences aren't noticeable by mortal eyes. Of course, I would have to observe your timeline directly to see whether this is the case for the one you were in, or if it is indeed a closed loop producing isolated timeline splinters, but it is still interesting to wonder how much of that weight you might unconsciously bear, is it not?

[ It's habit at this point that makes Odile frown when Timekeeper says she's going to tell her something. At least this information isn't overly personal, or phrased to be upsetting in some way.

She considers it. That raises several more questions, but she asks the most important one first. ]

What are the practical ramifications?

[ At the end of the day, curiosity-driven though she may be, she is a pragmatist. ]

[Timekeeper merely gives a casual shrug, as if it's the least consequential thing in the world.]

Practically? There's not terribly much of a difference, to the average cookie. With a spiral, you may experience occasional deja vu or dreams that pull from the memory fragments of other iterations of the loop, but there is ultimately only one you who experienced it in its entirety. With a true loop, everything is exactly as if you only experienced the final loop - but there are other yous from the other loops out there in the temporal fabric, trapped in doomed timelines. All of that really only matters if you plan to go gallivanting off into time rifts to tinker with your own timeline, however!

[She would know. Her lips quirk into a smirk.]

Ah, and that's assuming the most likely situations, without accounting for anomalies or exceptional circumstances, of course.

[ She needs a minute to think about that from various angles. The idea of tinkering with the timeline, while a tempting thought, doesn't pose much of a threat that she can see. Doomed timelines, though, with doomed versions of all of them... that's the kind of thing that someone like Isabeau or Siffrin might fixate on.

Maybe if she was a better person she might worry about it too. But ultimately, this is the only reality she has to work with. These versions of her team are the ones she's responsible for. ]

...Have you ever spoken to Siffrin about this?

No. He was not terribly receptive the last time I tried to speak to him about time.

[She kind of freaked him out, in other words. Understandably. And they haven't exactly spoken much since. Loop is more interesting anyway!

Timekeeper does seem to consider for a moment, tapping her chin.]

Although Loop tells me he is not fond of croissants, so perhaps that is only natural! [That was a joke. You can tell because her smile widens! Like every other expression she ever has.] Are you saying that you think I should?

No, I can't imagine he was...

[ She did try though.

The croissant bit is getting filed away with all the other cookie things she doesn't want to think about too hard. Maybe she'll ask Loop about it one day; they seem to be on... dying-together terms? ]

No, I think you should avoid it. It's not very practical information, and it likely falls under the "antagonizing" category.

[ Which as we all know means that Odile would gladly go to war over it. ]

Oh! Hmm.

[Timekeeper seems genuinely surprised by this assessment, taking a moment to consider, tapping her fingers against the cake box.]

I would not consider it impractical myself, but of course I would normally be editing time nonstop. If you think it so, I will not bring it up - [She won't because she doesn't want to make an enemy of Odile right now, in other words] - but I did not expect "antagonizing."

[It follows, though. She's upset Siffrin before when only trying to explain something she thought would be interesting and useful to know. Are time loops really so rough on normal people? She's seen agents get stuck before and not come out that worse for wear, but... of course, she cannot simply go and see the extent of this particular loop for herself.

And maybe she shouldn't even care. Normally, she might not, only wanting to pick at their story like a scab on a wound to satisfy her own curiosity. But she's gotten herself wedged into an awkward place, here, actually having started to build a... whatever it is they have going on with Loop. And Loop cares about Siffrin, and Odile cares about them all, and...

Sigh.]

Well, you certainly know them well, do you not? I do wish to see your timelines someday, but if there is anything particularly interesting to discover, perhaps it is you I should tell first.

[ She just watches Timekeeper for a moment, considering. She'd thought maybe the woman said such things just to get a reaction, looking for open wounds to pick at. Was she wrong? ...Debatable. ]

Of all of us, I'm probably the most interested in the mechanics of time loops anyway. But no, it isn't practical knowledge. None of us have the ability to make 'edits', nor do we want to. We humans are stuck with the timeline we have, mostly.

[Congrats, TK, you made it to your room! Surely this means no one else could possibly bother her about the ~~birthday~~ bakeday cake again—]

If people are cookies in your world, does that make cakes anything? [jk lmao, have a Loop perched on your windowsill. They may have been napping on the roof, and may have overheard some things while she was still outside a few minutes ago, and then may have decided to climb down and hassle her about it... alas, the truth remains a mystery.]

[Is the cookie well known for popping up out of nowhere and bothering people going to complain when ~~a friend~~ someone breaks into their room out of nowhere and bothers them? Haha yeah, no. If anything, she finds the gremlin behavior commendable. Her lip quirks in amusement as she sets the boxed cake down on a small table.]

My my, everyone has sharp ears today, don't they? Cakes are beasts and monsters, of course.

Incorrect! I have no ears at all.

A world of vicious cookie-eating cakes... how terrifying! Good thing this one is already as good as slain. Congratulations on your victory, palmier~ You should savour this day while it lasts~

Yet if you did, they would certainly be sharp! [Timekeeper is too touch-averse herself to poke at the pointy light burst that is Loop's head, but she does tap the brim of her hat to punctuate her meaning.]

Oho, so quick to paint them as vicious! Have you not seen Sparkling Cookie walking that cake hound around town? Nor are they the same as a cake you would eat - that would be quite silly.

[You know, says the cookie person from the sweets world.]

You're the one who called them monsters! It's not like people keep Sadnesses as pets, how should I know it's different for your world, hmm?

[swinging their legs, still perfectly content to sit on the window and not move inside or find a chair like a normal person... if they fall out the window and break their neck it's fine they still get their free respawn]

Does that mean you do also have cakes you can eat? Next you're going to tell me you have cookie-sized cookies, too. Surely at some point even a cookie would think it's weird.

Of course, there are even cake shops offering custom decorations! We have many baked goods among our foods, even croissants... though certainly no cookies, naturally.

[Really, the rule of thumb about cookie world probably ought to be "don't think about it too hard." Timekeeper retrieves a plate, knife, and fork from a drawer, then sits at the table. There is a second chair should Loop deign to come inside properly, but she won't be fussed if they don't. She starts to unbox the cake, removing it delicately and setting it on a proper platter. It appears to be a simple vanilla cake with white and gold buttercream frosting, the top decorated with small gears that look to be made of chocolate and spun sugar.]

Huh! I guess if you think about them as more beast than monster, it's not that weird... but no cookies! Makes sense.

[They are still thinking too hard about this, probably, but hey it's definitely interesting. Cookie culture sure is weird.

...

Wait, they were supposed to be subtly wishing her a happy birthday, not bugging her about the ethics of cake-eating. Gotta stay focused!]

So, who gave away your secret? You don't seem like the type to celebrate much.

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There is no escaping the birthday post

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drags myself out of the brain funk for a minute

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