新年快乐 ((blanche))

Celeste had been spending the New Year festivities with Blanche; it was rather strange to actually full out celebrate the New Year in a more western manner for once. In the past, she and her mama often spent it at home as more of a casual gathering. It wasn't the spectacle the Spring Festival was. She was actually hoping to help Blanche celebrate the Chinese New Year once the time came.

"Do they drop a ball here?"

@Blanche Labelle

Blanche didn't know how to take it all in! She saw so many people she knew and waved to them, but she made a point of not starting a conversation with them. She had suggested to Celeste that they see the New Year in together, and she wasn't going to be rude and start paying more attention to others.

There was also the numerous stands, stalls and kiosks selling various novelties and foods. Blanche was so distracted, she had to bring herself back to what Celeste was saying.

"Do they do what? With a ball?" She was such a poor listener sometimes.

@Celeste Wong

"Drop it? Like the Americans," Celeste responded. It was pretty loud in places.

Her mind drifted off to the incoming year of the Ox. "Have you ever eat mooncakes?"

@Blanche Labelle

"I'm not sure if they have a ball!"

They weren't on the same page here. Blanche made a point of moving to somewhere with less noise. The Wizard Wheezes stand was making the most.

"Mooncakes? Ooh, what are they?!" They sounded cute!

"Oh, ok."

It took a bit for Celeste to realize she managed to mix up foods and festivals. "Mooncakes are a treat for the Mid-Autumn Festival. I was thinking of jiaozi. Dumplings."

She thought for a bit.

"Maybe for Chinese New Year we can make the dumplings in kitchen? I can teach you."

@Blanche Labelle

"Dumplings..."

Blanche was clearly imagining a soft, savoury ball inside stews made out of suet. She wasn't imagining Chinese dumplings. However, she doubted that they were the same thing somehow.

"Really? For Chinese new year? Is that what you would do at home?" She asked, smiling. "I'd love to make dumplings with you. They're good pet names, aren't they? Dumpling, mooncake. My mooncake."

She scrunched up her nose and made a sort of squeaking sound.

Celeste nodded giving a smile. Now she was craving some jiaozi...

"I like my jiaozi pan-fried and boiled. I like it when they sometimes have peanuts too."

Pet names? Hm... "It'll be year of the Ox. I was born year of the horse. Is horse pet name?"

@Blanche Labelle

"Oh! What year was I born in? I'm August, two-thousand and four! The tenth."

She didn't really know why she gave the month and the day, but it seemed the right thing to do. Perhaps there was a slight hope that Celeste would say her birthday as well?

"Pet names are like... cute names you give your precious friends, or children, or romantic partner. Sort of like 'darling' and 'dear' and 'sweetie'. Those are pet names."

"Year of the monkey!" Celeste answered with a smile. "Oh, I was born December 23."

Oh! She knew those things. "In Chinese, we say things like 心肝, it means heart and liver."

((Pronounced xingan))

@Blanche Labelle

"Monkey seems pretty accurate for me."

She giggled.

"Sheen...?" She started, "Shin... gang? Heart and liver! That's wild! It sounds like the name of a song..." She started singing a strange folk song that she had half made up. It sounded like a mesh of several other folk songs. "So... you had your birthday recently?"

She sounded a tad disappointed there.