#they can probs exist in those two universes simultaneously

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this was supposed to be a transformers sona but it turned into an oc with a hint of self insert. anywayz this is hopscotch!!!! they r funky n fun 🎉

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Hi! So I just had a random thought—does Keith in HAAH remember when his birthday is? Idk why this popped in my head, but I realized with the dicey memories and being raised by scientists probs weren’t big on bdays(?) it was a possibility that he forgot. Feel free to ignore if spoilers, but tbh thinking about Keith’s childhood makes me wanna cry. Especially the “all the stars” line, I feel like that’s one of those lines that’s gonna stick with me for awhile bc its so good and so heartbreaking❤️❤️

I had an answer to this written months ago and lost it before I could finish writing the answer; I’m so sorry anon!

In any case, this is an interesting ask because you’re correct: Keith does not remember his actual birthday–in fact, he never knew what it was in the first place!

In HaaH’s universe, the Galra don’t celebrate individual birthdays; instead, they celebrate “clan days,” the day of their clan’s foundation. Each Galra clan has their own designated clan day (although two or more clans can have the same day–especially in the early years, many ancient clans were founded almost simultaneously as factions warred, split, and allied). Every member of the clan reunites and they all throw a huge celebration, where the older members of the clan give gifts to the younger members to show their appreciation and care for the younger generation, who will carry on their clan’s pride and legacy.

It’s like Christmas and a family reunion all rolled into one!

Even if Keith had a memory of a “birthday,” this would be what he was actually remembering. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have any memory of any large family celebrations because of his circumstances.

So, what this means in practical terms is: Garrison never knew Keith’s actual birth date because Keith never knew his actual birth date. In fact, Keith doesn’t even actually know how old he is!

The Garrison made an estimate based on their observations of Keith’s family before his mother’s death and assigned him an age and birthday for their official records. This is the birthday (good old October 23rd) that Keith uses for functional purposes, such as places where you’re required to fill out a birthday on important forms; however, you’re correct–it was never treated like an especially big deal as he was growing up, so it’s not an especially big deal to him now.

Neuhahn and Ania are far from complete monsters, despite how they might seem currently, so they did actually make attempts to celebrate on the assigned birthday, at least in the early years, but Keith generally wasn’t interested in cake or other sweets, he had no child friends to invite to a party even if he could have one, and he never quite grasped the concept of gift-giving to celebrate mere existence when everything else at Garrison reinforced the idea of gifts being a reward for good behavior… They eventually gave up, which was actually a relief for Keith in the end.

Eventually, Shiro and Matt pried the assigned birthday out of him and started a yearly celebration together; although Keith liked having their company, by that time, birthdays were consigned to the very long list of “Things Keith Doesn’t Really and Never Really Will Get.”

He’s just over here like “Why should I give people gifts just for existing?! THEY DIDN’T EVEN CHOOSE TO BE BORN!”

But you can sure as hell bet the moment he finds out about clan days, he’s gonna wallow in guilt for weeks before scrambling to figure out how to throw his kids the best clan days ever.