A Lonely New Year
Feel free to jump in at any time. You can jump in at any point if your character would be motivated to help!
January 26, 2025 - Sunday before the Lunar New YearRoleplaying as Maria Constança Leung de Almeida from Mahoutokoro - Link to Encyclopedia
Maria woke up Sunday with the sun beaming through the window of her beautifully decorated room. She was the first awake as usual and made her way down to the garden - to her usual spot - after wrapping herself tight in layers of robes over her school kimono. She always liked the cold, one of the very few things she loved about Japan was the snow and how it beautifully settled on trees and the mountains. It made her morning tea time that much more delightful, the tea extra hot just the way she liked it.
She found her place on a terrace overlooking her favorite portion of garden and got the tea set and heater out from a nearby cupboard. This was a beautiful morning, quiet, meditative and…lonely.
One thing she hated about Japan is that she missed the holiday festivities of the Lunar New Year. No other holiday compared to the sheer freedom and excitement of the month’s long celebration. As a child, she remembered getting a whole month off for the holiday. She got to return to her family’s ancestral “hometown” where she played freely with all her cousins, second cousins, third cousins, aunts that were mysteriously younger than her, and all the adults showering her with red envelopes. The decorations and food, fireworks and art prizes; none of that was here. When she got to go back home, everyone was too busy with work and no one wanted to play as they were saving all their energy for the holiday. Last year it was so unpleasant that she decided to just stay at school for the Japanese winter holiday.
She absentmindedly brushed her hair with the comb she always carried around as she waited for the water to heat. And finally a thought out of the gloominess of her contemplations: if she can’t go to the Chinese New Year, she would bring it to her! She knew how to make dumplings (wincing at how many times her grandparents slapped her hand for doing it wrong - often too hard), and the decorations, while intricate, never were too hard to make.
Finally, the tea. She poured water into the small tea pot, waited 30 seconds and poured out tea out on several small tea cups only big enough for a few sips. First cup, dumplings can wait - they should be made fresh the day of. Second cup, she could make lanterns and the blessings today. Third cup, she would bring her family shrine out to the garden and set up the rituals. Fourth cup, surely with all the magic she should figure out fireworks for herself. By the time she was pour the second tea pot, she had a plan for the day.
It was after lunch by the time she got all the supplies she needed and had prepared all the parts for the paper lanterns. She sat herself down in the same spot in the garden, with the same tea set for her afternoon tea and got busy assembling all her morning work. She just needed to make…so many lanterns…if only she had help and someone who was more handy with magic casually than she was. But who else would be interested in her country’s holiday? Surely she was alone. All at once the excitement that had been building, thinking she could make Chinese New Year happen, washed away and as she began her work the overwhelming loneliness that what she was doing only mattered to her threaten to drown her. Tears welling up in her eyes. It was from the needle prick. Yeah. It was the needle prick. That’s all it was…
Last edited by Dennis Tumberton on 10 Feb 2025, 03:09, edited 2 times in total.
Adult: Makaio Kāne | iNPC: Maria Leung de Almeida
A Lonely New Year
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| kim sato tone bakugo | sta • 10 | eva • 18 | str • 2 | wis • 10 | arc • 7 | acc • 20 sta • 10 | eva • 16 | str • 15 | wis • 7 | arc • 4 | acc • 18 |
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A Lonely New Year
01/26/25
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A Lonely New Year
Feel free to jump in at any time if your character would be motivated to help! We will be doing a few activities so if now isn't the right time, check back later!
Maria set down the lantern she had finished making, only a bajillion left, she thought as she poured more tea for herself. There was always time for a nice tea break! On one such break, she heard the whooshing of a broom. She sniffled and quickly wiped her tears on her sleeve and stood up, hands properly folded in front. She was nothing if not perfectly proper in front of guests all the time; eyes still slightly puffy, and the hesitant gasps of someone who had been crying moments ago still fresh.Roleplaying as Maria Constança Leung de Almeida from Mahoutokoro - Link to Encyclopedia
“Oh, hello,” she said lightly with a perfect smile, the one that she was trained to use when confronted by new people. She bowed at the waist, as she learned was polite to do in Japan, though in China people would smirk at you for doing so. Still, etiquette is what separates man from animal. Her smile disappeared for only a moment as the boy did not introduce himself fully. What kind of person comes up to a girl, who is alone, in the middle of a quiet garden, and doesn’t properly announce himself. As quickly as the smile was dropped her instincts kept it in place. Apparently, being a decent person was up to the woman, she thought. “It’s nice to meet you, senpai. I’m Maria,” she said in her shaky Japanese but with still flawless grace.
“Oh, please, sit and have some tea,” Maria said this time less stilted, deciding to let the perceived slight go and continue with the one thing that kept her calm: drinking tea. She gestured for him to sit down before taking her own seat again. She poured the tea and again motioned for him to drink as if it were second nature. “I’m making lanterns for the Spring Festival - er, Chinese New - Lunar New Year.” She was definitely still confused as to what they wanted to festival to be called her. She tried not to let it get to her. “If you would like, you can help me. I have a lot of work to do. I don’t suppose you have some magic that can whip these up?”
As if right on cue, another boy, who also failed to announce himself, came over. This time Maria startled a little bit, obviously not used to so many unexpected guests in quick succession. She made a move to get up and saw that it was her classmate Mateo. “Oh, hello, Mateo…san?,” she said, still wishing he had shown proper decorum but at the same time still struggling with the honorifics. In China, everyone was brother and sister - here, it felt more like a hierarchy. Not waiting for either boy to correct her, she again motioned to the tea and sat down properly again. “Please, join us. We were just talking about how best to put these lanterns together.”
“Spring Festival - or Lunar New Year? - is a huge festival where I’m from. And every year I get a little homesick. So I thought, why not bring the festivities to our school?” Maria had shaken off her subtle annoyances and was more interested in the fact she had two people to celebrate with! She showed proceeded to demonstrate how to assemble the lanterns by hand, a feat not particularly difficult but the volume to put enough around the garden would still be quite time consuming alone. She handed them a fresh cup of tea and the supplies. “I don’t suppose either of you knows a spell huh?”
@Kim Sato and @Tracey Bailey
Adult: Makaio Kāne | iNPC: Maria Leung de Almeida
A Lonely New Year
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| kim sato tone bakugo | sta • 10 | eva • 18 | str • 2 | wis • 10 | arc • 7 | acc • 20 sta • 10 | eva • 16 | str • 15 | wis • 7 | arc • 4 | acc • 18 |
PC ENCY iNPC ENCY |
A Lonely New Year
01/26/25
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A Lonely New Year
Roleplaying as Maria Constança Leung de Almeida from Mahoutokoro - Link to Encyclopedia
Maria, for all her charm and grace, was not used to being comfortable with spending time with so many boys. The thought of any more at the moment gave her a mini panic attack that she hid under her well trained smile as Mateo asked if even more boys could join. “Actually, let’s see how much we can get done. If we need more help then we should get as many as possible to help,” was her diplomatic reply. The awkward hug from Tone and the chummy way the two chatted tested her patience but she was never good at introductions that didn’t go exactly as they ought.
She let out a sigh, her perfect smile and observant eyes not betraying the amount of frustration she was letting out. No matter, they both seemed like they genuinely wanted to help and learn more about her precious holiday. It was exactly the kind of thing Maria was asking for anyway. “Oh, I guess we can do this without magic,” Maria said, only a little disappointed this time, putting lanterns together was only fun for the first few for her but their attempts at making them made her smile much more genuine. “Yeah, I know Mateo. We are classmates.” She nodded as Tone asked for more information.
“Like this,” she offered to the boys correcting them on their technique. Showing them this and that as they started to put together the lanterns. “In China, this holiday is very special. Children get a month off, if they are older, they get even more time! We normally spend it with not only our family but all of our other relatives. I can remember how much fun it normally is to have weeks and weeks with nothing to do but play and eat delicious foods!” Her voice was light and the excitement of reminiscing about times past kept her energized.
“Do your families celebrate the holiday?” Maria asked, genuinely curious to how both would respond. In her limited experience living in Japan it didn’t really seem like a major holiday but who knows, she didn’t really know much about the background of either boy. As they were finishing up a large chunk of the lanterns she had prepared, Maria pulled out several long red pieces of parchment.
She started to write the Chinese characters is long beautiful strokes, with a practiced hand with the calligraphy brush: “吉祥如意 (Jíxiáng rúyì - Good luck)” on one, “商多财多福多吉祥 (shāng duō cái duō fú duō jíxiáng - Good business, good fortune, good luck)” on another, and finally, “高好年好景好运气 (gāo hǎo nián hǎojǐng hǎo yùnqì - good year, good weather, good luck)” on the last one. She set them aside to dry and offered either of them the calligraphy brush. “Would either of you like to try to write a blessing? It doesn’t have to be in Chinese to work!”
@Kim Sato and @Tracey Bailey
Adult: Makaio Kāne | iNPC: Maria Leung de Almeida
A Lonely New Year
| xxxxxx |
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xxxxxx |
| kim sato tone bakugo | sta • 10 | eva • 18 | str • 2 | wis • 10 | arc • 7 | acc • 20 sta • 10 | eva • 16 | str • 15 | wis • 7 | arc • 4 | acc • 18 |
PC ENCY iNPC ENCY |