festival in Louyang ~ CNY special :D

"hey, this doesnt look like Morroc at all... ="= " Sate observed, looking at the ancient fortress' wall.

"well, Morroc is walled like a fortress you know..." the dreamy voice of a young acolyte trailed off upon the look in Sate's pale blue eyes.

"dun tell me you've wrapped us to a wrong place again!" Sate is furious and the dagger in his hand is now treateningly close to the acolyte's smooth neck.

"bullying Ami again? this is not how you should treat a young lady." Grass put a knuckle onto Sate's head. he yelled out in pain and shot Grass an annoyed look while lowering his dagger, trying to make Grass see that the girl should learn her lesson for randomly wrapping ppl to unwanted destinations. Ami had already wrapped him to Lutie. when Sate found the acolyte in the inn where they bunked in Lutie, and was trying to make the girl pay for it, Ami had offer to make amendments by wrapping them to Morroc for real. but it seemed that the acolyte had not really mastered the wrap portal skill yet...

at that moment, the near dark sky suddenly burst out of flames of every colour imaginable. fireworks. some with sparks that twinkles like a thousand stars, some will trailing tails as long as a comets, some took de shape of exotic flowers, some are like firebirds freed from their cage dashing in all directions, some like fairies soaring gracefully across the night sky, and others... all eight eyes of Ami's, Sate's, Grass' and Ai's were locked onto the magnificient show.

someone suddenly muttered that they must be in Louyang. but the fireworks was so breath taking tht no one paid de words more attention than just taking the meaning of them in. the great show lasted more than 15mins and was concluded by a giant fire dragon twisting and dancing and suddenly bursting into a million gold coins before their eyes. they could hear a loud roar and applaus from within the fortress. a huge celebration was going on.

"wow, that was really something O.O" Sate was in awe. he had totally forgot his wrath over Ami.

"we've been forgetting the dates, it is chinese new year eve! we use the lunar calendar in Payon too ^^" Ai explained. she went on to tell them that she'd heard about the huge festive celebration and the splendid fireworks in Louyang this time of the year since she was a girl. and none of the captivating stories from the few travellers who did get to Louyang during the festivals had done justice to the performance they'd just witnessed.

the party agreed to spend the night in the city to enjoy the festival. Sate suddenly thought he'd caught a sly grin on Ai's face. was it a sly grin? on Ai's face? the nice and lovely Ai? he shook his head and dismissed it.

the streets of the city is lighted by red lanterns, big and small, and in all sorts of designs. some fully round, some cylindrical, some egg like, some in rectangular blocks. red papers scribed with foreign characters in black ink decorates most of the doors of the houses. Ai explained that they are for blessings and good fortune, and enlightened them with all the unfamiliar things they encountered along the walk. but the streets themselves were deserted. Ai said evone would be in the raised stage infront of the carved stone wall in the heart of the city. so there was where they went anticipatingly.

as they got closer to the central, the buzzing of a crowd got louder. there were even sounds of drums and gongs and musics foreign to most of them. they turned a corner, and suddenly two dancing dragon sprang into their view.

dancing dragons

"MONSTERS!!" Sate shouted and fled behind Grass, dagger drawn. the arc wand was in Ami's hand, she now stands behind Grass too, shaking slightly but eyes filled with determination. Grass himself was in shock. behind the dancing dragons were a group of munaks, bonguns and hyeguns. a rough count said there were nine of them. and beside that group was a few limemangryangs lurking about. Grass lifted his morning star in a stance of defence, protecting his two younger companions. his heart dropped in dismay when he saw the fair and graceful bacsojin on the brightly decorated main stage, with chung-e and a civil servant flanking her sides. it was a festival for monsters.

munak and bongun ^^

hyegun


more monsters that were scattered around the stage now gathers towards them. but the biggest shock for him came when he turned his head slightly aside to see if Ai is ok. he found her relax in her posture, even a mocking smile playing on her lips, looking at all three of them. he could not fathom the situation. no. surely not. Ai cant be a spy? no!

the crowd of monster was closing in slowly. the group of chinese undeads with amulets on their foreheads had moved behind them and rounded them. the few moments were like years as Sate remembered it. he and Ami were now back to back with Grass to face them. the mob infront of the stage splited in the middle to let the beautiful royal lady and her servants come thru. the cat faced civil servant stepped infront of his mistress and drew nearer. two more steps, two more steps and he would be in striking distance, Grass measured. he would need Ai's attacking power with the bow, but it doesnt seem wise to be counting on it now. no, in fact he should be wary of her. he couldn't believe it. all these years together, all these years that they've known each other. he even thought she loved him.

bacsojin

civil servant

chung-e


the civil servant stopped just outside his attacking range. and bowed. he threw his paper fan open and started,
"humans, my mistress bacsojin and her people welcome you to Louyang on this day." at the sound of that, the two dancing dragon sprang alive with drums and gongs, dancing in welcoming gestures of bows and high spirit. four horongs let out more fireworks in smaller scales. two brightly coloured fire butterflies welcoming the two female guests and two fire phoenix for the males. as these was done, the civil servant continue,
"let us monsters and humans forget our war and be at peace for this day. we offer you our full hospitality." he finished his short welcoming speech with another bow and went back to his mistress' side. bacsojin gave the human party a nod of welcome and Ai bowed back at her. seeing this, all three of the others hestitantly copied her move and bowed stiffly to the monster lady. she went quietly back to her place at the high stage.

A dumpling child ran to the side of Ami and handed her a dumpling skewer. he lolled his tongue at her and ran off before she'd even recovered from the shock. Sate and Grass were still blinking in disbelieve while Ai was grinning at them.

dumpling child


"you knew it! why din you tell us!" Sate suddenly demanded.

"well, i thought it would be a pleasant surprise, was it not?" she smiled affablely to them all. all three sighed in resignation.

the dumpling child was then back with them again, this time handing another dumpling skewer to Sate. he then ran to walk hand in hand back to them with an old man floating on a cloud. a cloud with a face. a taoist hermit ="= and a wild ginseng following them... the three who'd never heard of this monster festival before that day sweated feverously. /swt

taoist hermit


"hey, how nice to see humans here again, it had been three years since any of you came." the taoist hermit greeted them. they replied as civilly as they could. and Ai doing most of the talking as the others were still positively uncomfortable. the taoist hermit told them they floated there all the way from Gonryun, on his faced cloud, to join the festival every year. when the important evil snake lord and evil nymph came to express their welcome and joined their conversation, Grass thought he'd had too much and decided to take the younger ones away for a walk.

evil snake lord, also a taoist ah...


(hi, it's your friendly explaner again~ evil snake lord is a very powerful and formidable MVP monster of Gonryun. bacsojin is a half boss in Louyang. as you might have guessed, we thought Gonryun is 昆仑 and there is no reason to not suspect that Louyang is actually 洛阳 ^^ ah, and horong is simply a ghost fire monster ^^)

the dumpling child had asked for leave from the taoist hermit to follow Ami and Sate. his unlimited supply of delicious dumplings that seemed to materialize in air had bought him the hungry duo's friendship. he was soon showing them around the stalls that was set up surrounding the main stage. the civil servant was now pacing with one hand behind his back and another fanning his paper fan slowly, telling a story from the ancient days. they said de story was called 'the journey to the west'; chung-e was performing a puppet show, with her spirit and her body playing two different marionettes; horongs with their fire shows; dancing dragons rolling up and down the streets; numerous food stalls, lantern stalls, game stalls, fortune telling stalls and all kinds of fun that neither Ami nor Sate had ever imagined.

Grass shook his head in disbelieve at how easily the children had blended in. he walked sololy on the alien streets and bumped into a group of chinese undeads. he tried to smile but found his face frozen and the smile awkward. as he was slowly backing away and tried to flee, a hyegun thrown his arms around his shoulder and pushed a tawny ceramic bottle into his hands.

"try it. it's gao liang, you'll like it." the hyegun offered. Grass couldnt see the monster's face as it was concealed by his long hair. and the amulet sticking out on the side of his head made him all de more spooky and frightening. a bongun urged him to drink up. he didnt know wot the heck gao liang was but he didnt want to offend a whole gang of chinese undeads. so he obediently did.

he felt the liquid burn in his tongue and throat as he swallowed it. "alcohol?" he asked. the amulet caught the wind and flipped, and Grass saw his companion's bloodlessly pale handsome face as the bongun nodded. the liquor burned strongly but Grass liked the way it warmed his stomach. he gave his companions his appreciation.

"come, we shall be ashamed if you are not well fed and entertained this night. follow us, there is food a plenty here." the hyegun half dragged Grass to the food street and filled his stomach with a kind of well cooked gravied pork dish they called 'east hill meat', something that reminded him of squashed meat balls coated and bbqed with honey which they called 'meat dry', some delicacy that tasted like fried seaweeds, a kind of yam paste desert, and off the bests, a kind of soup they called 'god jump wall'. fruits seemed to be mainly consist of pomelos, mandarin oranges and enchanted peaches from Gonryun.

Grass was soon drinking more gao liang and teaching the chinese undeads his gambling tricks with guli's while they generally complained about how hard life was in the underworld. later hours found hyegun asking him if he would be interested in a visit to the 'green homes', which he understood to be where man could burn underworld money for private services of munaks ="= he sweated heavily...

midnight brought all monsters and ppl back to the main stage. they were told there would be a mass prayer. lighted incenses was passed out to everyone. all held their own between their closed palms infront of their chests. lady bacsojin herself had three insences in her palms and the evil snake lord was standing beside her with another three. they lead, and the monster crowd muttered quiet prayers in their own language. the four humans mimiced. it was unnerving to see how the monsters practise some ceremonies so human-like. Grass suddenly thought that they are not so different from human after all.

when the prayer ended, a fresh field of fireworks were set ablaze by a mass of horongs, almost making the night as bright as day. these were shaped like flower buds, like young stems unfolding from their seeds, like tender baby animals crawling out of their egg shells, it was a celebration of the arrival of spring. the priest was left stunned, amazed by the wonderful creation of the kind which humans had always dispised and warred with.

shortly after the ceremony, Grass took leave from his company when Ai came looking for him. together, they found the three kids asleep, head leaning against each other on the meadow beside the water way. the taoist hermit came shortly after them, the wild ginseng still trotting behind him. they carried the two human children on their backs, and the taoist hermit floated the dumpling child off after they said good night to each other.

the temporary tents the monsters set up for them was on the other side of the meadow by the water way. Ai and Grass sat side by side outside the tent where the children slept. they were facing the water and enjoying the warm southern wind of spring. Ai leaned against Grass' broad chest as they watched the wind stir ripples on the water. her face glowed red at the reflection of the red lanterns. she closed her eyes and was grateful for the tranquility.

"happy chinese new year." she whispered, before falling into a peaceful and dreamless sleep.

XXX XXX

yo! i decide to escape my bed and write XD

Ami is again anO + kimi, gan dong? haha
nO, why u wrapped me to Lutie? XD

my 'kind' and 'considering' bro had tempted me with all de food they are having at home and de CNY banquet they had which included 'god jump wall' T.T de only thing i could do about it is to plunge myself into fantasy of good food and good company (of monsters) lo T.T

nola, actually i quite enjoy my CNY eve :D de day was mild enough with clear sky and sun. i spent it looking for ingredients all around for cooking dumpling soup. i couldnt find chinese cabbage for a long while... when de dumplings are finally ready, i gave karin a big bowl and then smuggled de rest to share with yean in school. we then had some coffee and tea and cookies for desert. simple eh? ^^ then we went to play pool in de union house. and finally at 10pm we went to book a table for 7 in a chinese restaurant for tomorrow. it will be the first time i eat in a proper chinese restaurant in gothenburg! :D

hooiching promised a curry chicken lunch for tomorrow too :D and weechong is joining us.

meeting lisa at 9am ah... might as well stay awake til then, should go and read my two papers after a bath :P

for the nth time, happy CNY! XD