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[ghoulking]

[ inquiring minds wish to know - ]

Hello, D33.
When is your birthday?

[d33tached]

[This again? And quite out of the blue, as well. What is it with these people and birthdays?]

Hello, Kaneki.

I suppose you might find this strange, but I am afraid that I am not quite certain.

[And the more he's asked, the more strangely self-conscious he starts feeling about that fact.]

[ghoulking]

[ they are important D33! ]

If I may ask, how so? You didn't keep a track of time where you are from?

[d33tached]

Such things were simply not significant where I came from.

[Babies were born in secret, children being brought in from the outside were brainwashed into forgetting their own, and only one was ever celebrated - and that was God's.]

None of us were aware of the exact day upon which we were born. There was no need for it.

[ghoulking]

[ it's a bit sad. When someone is born, it's good to remember when. To celebrate it. Proof they are alive another year.

But Kaneki knows many who didn't have birthdaya, neither were rememebered]

Do you know how old you are,?

[d33tached]

Not precisely.

[Somehow, the answer is embarrassing. It wouldn't have been underground where no one knew their exact age - in this world, it's just one more reminder that something about him just isn't right.]

My estimations put me somewhere between twenty-four and twenty-five, though I cannot be certain.

[ghoulking]

[ they took away what made each person, in a way. No birthday or exact age, no books, no stars, no music- only few chosen ones. Even names, Kaneki realizes.

Kaneki isn't sure if he should ask more. But eventually another text comes through ]

Do you know your name?

[d33tached]

["Do you know your name?"

[The question sends a heavy chill running down D33's spine. How many times had he been asked that very thing? More aptly, "What is your name?", "Tell me your name.", "What is your name?"

[D-thirty-three. It had been drilled into his head - beaten into his head - from the time he was six years old. D-thirty-three, D-thirty-three, D-thirty-three. And yet, he'd never quite been able to say it - "My name is D33".

[He'd known that it wasn't true - even back then, before he'd had proof. But above all things, names had been forbidden. One might have gotten away with a forbidden book, a stolen kiss in a dark dormitory, or a quick glance at the stars. Should one have uttered their name, though, the punishment would have been incomparable to that of any other transgression.

[Numbers didn't have names. Only God had a name - Royce Montgomery.

[But then there had been that dream - that same image of the dark-haired woman, cooing to her child, and a voice: "Dylan McAvoy."

[His arrival in this world, the gift of his file, the stamp marking his posts on the network that he had been so desperate to erase - Dylan McAvoy, confirmed. But he would never have Kaneki know that. He would never have anyone know that if he could help it. D33's name - Dylan McAvoy - is far too sacred; it's the only thing he has left from when the world was bigger.

[He types it out once, a vague and scripted answer - "D33 is the only name by which I have ever been called."

[And then, he deletes it. The typing bubble pops up on Kaneki's screen again, and a much simpler answer appears:]

No.

[ghoulking]

[ Kaneki figured that much. Everything points to wherever D33 was, they robbed him of an identity; no name, no age, no birthday, no possessions. Nothing to make him himself. Or an attempt at that - because D33 shows a lot of personality, even if Kaneki doesn't know (or see) all sides to him.

Of course he doesn't have much more to go on. It's all assumptions and theories. D33 doesn't share much ]

Did you like that place?

[ it sounds like an idiotic question but it's not. Kaneki who has been tortured, brainwashed, was given a new identity, and something more so he'd continue that lie, to this day was still thankful to the CCG for it all. ]

[d33tached]

[Tortured, brainwashed, and given a new identity sounds just about right, but D33 doesn't feel the same way about it that Kaneki does. In fact, the question brings about so much bitterness - rage, even - that D33 doesn't even bother stopping himself from giving an honest answer.

[Maybe he'd have lied about it before - maybe he should be now - but with his blood boiling and his grip tightening on his communicator, he has no desire to cover his feelings with some bullshit answer like "It could have been worse."

[Did he like that place?]

It was Hell.

[ghoulking]

[ Kaneki's situation was incredibly different, so it'd be impossible to compare ]

I'm sorry.

Did you ever think about leaving?

[d33tached]

I did leave.

[Which probably makes it sound simple - doing so more or less ensured his death. If the Porter hadn't picked him up, D33 is damn near certain he'd already have his head on a pike somewhere.]

[ghoulking]

[ Kaneki isn't sure if D33 is talking about being Ported out or if he actually left in his world too, but he decides not to ask. ]

I'm glad you did.
It must be hard, regardless. I'm sorry.

[d33tached]

I have no interest in sympathy.

There is no need to apologize for something you had no hand in.

[ghoulking]

[ ouch. Kaneki already knew it was going to be a sensitive topic, but he may regret having bothered D33 about it now. ]

I'm sorry I brought it up.

[d33tached]

I made no move to stop you.

[He was one step away from saying "stop apologizing" - he's trying, at least.]

It's alright.

[There. Better?]

[ghoulking]

[ it's not alright and Kaneki fucked up. He knows that much ]

Alright.

[d33tached]

I'll see you tonight, then.