Culture Mesh, 1-2-3
Eight-year-old Duo Maxwell figited as his mother adjusted the black all-body cloak with the matching hood she had made the previous month just for this occasion.
"Mama! C'mon, stop! I'm gonna be laaate!" He stared up at his mother with ice blue eyes and pouted from behind long brown bangs. His midback-length hair had already been pulled into a braid and he was wearing blue jeans and a red shirt under his cloak.
"Mariemeia can wait. I want to make sure you're warm." Hilde Maxwell scolded, tieing the two ends of the cloak marked by black ribbon securely yet loosely around his neck and pulling the hood up. Duo grinned.
"I'm Shinigami!" He cried happily, waving his arms around.
"Nuh-uh. I'm Shinigami." Duo Maxwell countered, standing from his chair and looking down at his small Mini-version-of-himself son.
"I'm Shinigami!"
"No, I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"Duo, stop arguing with our son! Now I know where he gets that attitude from." Hilde scolded, handing him a black Halloween bag with a pumpkin on it that spelled out D U O in gold letters.
"Aaaugh! Where's my scythe?!" The small boy cried, rushing out of the room just as the doorbell rang. Hilde went to answer the door as her husband disappeared into the kitchen.
A pale blue pair of eyes greeted Hilde as the door opened. She smiled.
"Happy Halloween, Mariemeia."
20-year-old Mariemeia shivered, her long flaming hair falling down her back.
"This holiday gives me the creeps."
Hilde laughed and stepped aside to let Mariemeia in, closing the door in cue to her son's cry.
"MOMMY! ZACK HAS MY SCYTHE!!"
Hilde sighed and walked into the living room with Mariemeia in tow to see a red-faced Duo standing over a small 2-year-old with jet black hair messily falling in front of two currently-defiant and narrowed ice blue eyes, small chubby hands clutching the plastic scythe stubbornly.
"Zack, come with Mommy and have some Halloween cookies."
Zack's eyes widened and his hands fell slack at the word 'cookies'. Duo took this as an opportunity to grab his scythe and run to Mariemeia's side as Hilde picked up Zack. She turned to her son.
"Stay safe, stay warm, and listen to Mariemeia."
"Use your noggin, kid." Duo called from the kitchen. "Happy Halloween, Mariemeia."
She shivered.
"DUO!"
"Whaaat?" Her husband called back with mock innocence.
Hilde sighed and shooed her son out of the house with his scythe.
"Once again, listen to Mariemeia."
She smiled.
"He's always a good little oni." She said, leading him down the steps of their house.
"Be back before 12! Bye Duo, I love you!" Hilde called, before closing the door.
Mariemeia smiled down at the small Duo-mini.
"So, where next?" He asked, ice blue eyes shining, hands clutching his scythe.
"To Aki's house."
Relena Yui quickly hurried to answer the annoying buzz of the doorbell. She opened it and smiled, stepping aside.
"Konbanwa! Come in, you three!" She turned her attention to the stairs.
"Aki-chan! Hayaku ne! Tomodachi-chan ga kita yo!" She said the words so fast the two figures standing by the doorway could do nothing but blink. Duo cupped his hands to his mouth.
"Yeah, Yui! Get DOWN HERE already! Slowpoke!"
A small six-year-old appeared at the top of the steps with a black canvas bag with orange kanji written in one corner and a whole bunch of kanji and kana written in the other. She took the steps two at a time, stopping in front of her mother. Relena stared at her daughter who was dressed in brown pants and a brown turtleneck t-shirt. Her long chocolate brown hair fell loose down her back and her slightly-messy bangs drifted softly in front of prussian blue eyes.
"Kore desu ka?"
"Mm. Doushite?"
Relena shrugged. "Soto wa samui desu ka?"
"Samuku nai."
A shadow was cast into the foyer as Heero Yuy stepped onto the tiled floor, raising an eyebrow at his daughter.
"And?"
Aki made a face.
"It's Aki the Stick." Another voice chimed in as 12-year-old Ryosuke Yuy stepped out from behind his father, dressed as a traditional Edo-period Ninja. Aki akanbe'd her brother before running to Mariemeia's side and clutching onto her blue sweater.
"Ahou!!"
"Futari tomo yamenasai." Relena ordered sternly, handing Ryosuke a bag similar to Aki's
"Remember, both of you. No killing in public. ALWAYS take it out back."
Relena's eyes widened slightly and Heero chuckled as his wife elbowed him in the ribs.
"Heero! Yamete."
He smirked at her and smirked, looking at her with an amused expression.
"Nan de?"
Aki raised her eyebrow as Ryosuke pulled his little sister over to the door to stand by Duo, who was already shivering with excitment, anticipating the candy input.
Mariemeia smiled.
"I'll have them back tomorrow morning around 11!"
Relena smiled and stepped forward, brushing back Ryosuke's bangs and placed a kiss on his forehead before hugging Aki and kissing her on the cheek.
"Aww, how touching!" Duo cried, placing his hands to his heart.
"DUO! OMAE O KOROSU!"
"KYAAA!"
Ding-Dong. Ding-Dong.
Duo sighed. "Not again!!!" He pounded on the door. "MAATT! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"
Suddenly, the door flew open and there was Matt, decked all-out in a pirate outfit with a sponged-on makeup stubble on his face and a fake parrot on his shoulder. A bandana was around his head and the tips of his light brown, almost blonde bangs peeked out hanging in front of his emerald eyes.
"Avast, ye slimy scoundrels! Ye shall walk the plank, marty!" He cried, holding up a fake plastic sword.
"Who are you making walk anything, Barton?" Aki growled.
"It's 'matey', sweetie. Marty is that foreign dish we had for lunch yesterday." Midii Barton smiled as she placed her hands on her son's shoulders and locked eyes with Mariemeia. She grinned and peered past Midii into the house.
"Where's Trowa?"
"Oh, he's at work now. He chose to work the night shift tonight on the Saturn reports so that he could be home with us during the day."
"Oh yeah...Mom mentioned something about those..." Mariemeia said, thinking back to about two weeks ago.
"Anyways, it's nothing big now but you never know. Besides, I think you should take them candy collecting before they get out of hand."
Too late, Mariemeia thought wryly as she watched Aki headlock Matt (who was a good 3 inches taller than her) and start screaming in Japanese while Ryosuke tried to pull Aki off Matt and Duo stood a good 4 feet away, cheering all three of them on.
Mariemeia tossed a forlorn glance at Midii.
"Were the pilots this rowdy when they were younger?"
"Oh, no."
"No?"
"They were worse, dear. MUCH worse."
Mariemeia groaned at the possiblities of 'worse' with Heero's daughter, Duo's son, Trowa's son and their friends.
"This night is going to be TOO long..."
"That night was WAY too short!" Duo Maxwell cried as he swung through the door of his house, his candy 'pumpkin' traded in for a pillowcase after a pitstop at Matt's house halfway through their route. Matt bounded in behind him, half his candy already consumed on the way back while Mariemeia wasn't looking. Aki was next, her ability to stay awake heavily relying on those weird-looking American candies called 'pixie sticks'...Ryosuke was last, rummaging through Aki's bag and taking out all those damn 'pixie sticks'. (And secretly putting them in his bag.)
"Well well well, if it isn't all three of the Stooges! And Ryosuke too." Hilde said, stepping out into the kitchen where the boys and Aki were. Her face grew serious.
"Ok Duo, you know the rule. Hand over the candy."
Duo blinked.
"Candy?" He whispered, getting a mystical look on his face. He waved his hand slowly through the air, staring at some unfixed point on the celing.
"What is this 'candy' you speak of? I know not of such a delicious, sugary substance..."
"DUO."
"Ok, ok, woman! Fine. Here's the candy." He shoved the bag at Hilde and got a (fake) tearful look in his eyes. "And just take my pride and dignity while you're at it!" He said, running down the hall and slamming himself into his bedroom to put his pajamas on. Hilde sighed, hoping Duo hadn't waken his father or his brother, both of whom were sound asleep. Zack had conked out from taking a bath and Duo had conked out from trying to give his son a bath. She cringed at the memory before hauling the boys into Do's room and then letting Aki change into her pajamas in Zack's room. (It was empty since Zack was sleeping with his father in their bedroom).
After all four children had finished changing they found that Hilde had laid out sleeping bags in the living room and was popping popcorn for them to watch with a movie. As Aki slid into her sleeping bag she spotted her pillow and pulled it out, walking over to Duo who was decked out in dark blue pajamas. Duo switched his gaze from the TV to stare at Aki.
"Duo?"
"Yes?"
"Do you remember all the ancient battles of the World Wars?"
"...Yes..."
Aki flashed him a sweet grin before pummelting him with the pillow.
"I was BORN near Hiroshima! Take that! And THIS is for NAGASAKI! AND OKINAWA'S OPERATION ICEBERG!"
"YAIII!"
Matt, Ryosuke and Hilde looked on in slight amusement (Actually, Matt was pretty enthusiastic) as Aki pummelted Duo with pillows naming off alot of ancient battles in which America simply CREAMED the Japanese (Sorry, but it's true) while Duo desperately tried to escape her six-year-old wrath. However in doing so he grabbed a pillow which he aimed to hit Aki, but she ducked and the pillow instead smacked Matt, who felt the need to divulge into the pillow fight screaming as well. Ryosuke sighed.
"I wonder what movie we're watching?"
TBC
Next Chapter:
"We had a new student in our math class today." Aki informed them in between slurping soumen noodles. "She's really really nice, and she's Chinese. She's a year older than me but we still get along really well."
Relena and Heero cast glances at each other before seeming very interested in this bit of information. Heero leaned slightly forward.
"Really? What's her name?"
"Mulan Chang."
Relena, whom the children had always thought of as the perfect example of poise, delicacy and good manners, suddenly and unexpectedly choked on her miso soup while their father preferred to choke on his own spit.
"Chang?" Her father confirmed while Relena was still busy coughing. Aki nodded, left sort of puzzled by this sudden action by her parents.
"She has an older sister, doesn't she? Yinmei Chang. She's in my earth Science class." Ryosuke said plainly, gulping down his miso.
Aki nodded. "Yeah, and Mulan also has a twin brother."
At this Relena began whispering to her husband in one of her European languages that she was positive her children wouldn't understand.
"Wufei and Sally's first daughter was Yinmei. I never knew if she had a boy or a girl when she got pregnant the second time..."
"It's too much of a coincidence. Yinmei was named for Wufei's old wife, Meilan. It's not a common name in China. And we can't overlook the last name."
"But would they even dare to place us on the same colony after all that happened?" Relena voice became strained as she continued to whisper despite her daughter's stares.
"I don't know, Relena...I just don't know..."
~Dylan~u
Eight-year-old Duo Maxwell figited as his mother adjusted the black all-body cloak with the matching hood she had made the previous month just for this occasion.
"Mama! C'mon, stop! I'm gonna be laaate!" He stared up at his mother with ice blue eyes and pouted from behind long brown bangs. His midback-length hair had already been pulled into a braid and he was wearing blue jeans and a red shirt under his cloak.
"Mariemeia can wait. I want to make sure you're warm." Hilde Maxwell scolded, tieing the two ends of the cloak marked by black ribbon securely yet loosely around his neck and pulling the hood up. Duo grinned.
"I'm Shinigami!" He cried happily, waving his arms around.
"Nuh-uh. I'm Shinigami." Duo Maxwell countered, standing from his chair and looking down at his small Mini-version-of-himself son.
"I'm Shinigami!"
"No, I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"I am!"
"Duo, stop arguing with our son! Now I know where he gets that attitude from." Hilde scolded, handing him a black Halloween bag with a pumpkin on it that spelled out D U O in gold letters.
"Aaaugh! Where's my scythe?!" The small boy cried, rushing out of the room just as the doorbell rang. Hilde went to answer the door as her husband disappeared into the kitchen.
A pale blue pair of eyes greeted Hilde as the door opened. She smiled.
"Happy Halloween, Mariemeia."
20-year-old Mariemeia shivered, her long flaming hair falling down her back.
"This holiday gives me the creeps."
Hilde laughed and stepped aside to let Mariemeia in, closing the door in cue to her son's cry.
"MOMMY! ZACK HAS MY SCYTHE!!"
Hilde sighed and walked into the living room with Mariemeia in tow to see a red-faced Duo standing over a small 2-year-old with jet black hair messily falling in front of two currently-defiant and narrowed ice blue eyes, small chubby hands clutching the plastic scythe stubbornly.
"Zack, come with Mommy and have some Halloween cookies."
Zack's eyes widened and his hands fell slack at the word 'cookies'. Duo took this as an opportunity to grab his scythe and run to Mariemeia's side as Hilde picked up Zack. She turned to her son.
"Stay safe, stay warm, and listen to Mariemeia."
"Use your noggin, kid." Duo called from the kitchen. "Happy Halloween, Mariemeia."
She shivered.
"DUO!"
"Whaaat?" Her husband called back with mock innocence.
Hilde sighed and shooed her son out of the house with his scythe.
"Once again, listen to Mariemeia."
She smiled.
"He's always a good little oni." She said, leading him down the steps of their house.
"Be back before 12! Bye Duo, I love you!" Hilde called, before closing the door.
Mariemeia smiled down at the small Duo-mini.
"So, where next?" He asked, ice blue eyes shining, hands clutching his scythe.
"To Aki's house."
Relena Yui quickly hurried to answer the annoying buzz of the doorbell. She opened it and smiled, stepping aside.
"Konbanwa! Come in, you three!" She turned her attention to the stairs.
"Aki-chan! Hayaku ne! Tomodachi-chan ga kita yo!" She said the words so fast the two figures standing by the doorway could do nothing but blink. Duo cupped his hands to his mouth.
"Yeah, Yui! Get DOWN HERE already! Slowpoke!"
A small six-year-old appeared at the top of the steps with a black canvas bag with orange kanji written in one corner and a whole bunch of kanji and kana written in the other. She took the steps two at a time, stopping in front of her mother. Relena stared at her daughter who was dressed in brown pants and a brown turtleneck t-shirt. Her long chocolate brown hair fell loose down her back and her slightly-messy bangs drifted softly in front of prussian blue eyes.
"Kore desu ka?"
"Mm. Doushite?"
Relena shrugged. "Soto wa samui desu ka?"
"Samuku nai."
A shadow was cast into the foyer as Heero Yuy stepped onto the tiled floor, raising an eyebrow at his daughter.
"And?"
Aki made a face.
"It's Aki the Stick." Another voice chimed in as 12-year-old Ryosuke Yuy stepped out from behind his father, dressed as a traditional Edo-period Ninja. Aki akanbe'd her brother before running to Mariemeia's side and clutching onto her blue sweater.
"Ahou!!"
"Futari tomo yamenasai." Relena ordered sternly, handing Ryosuke a bag similar to Aki's
"Remember, both of you. No killing in public. ALWAYS take it out back."
Relena's eyes widened slightly and Heero chuckled as his wife elbowed him in the ribs.
"Heero! Yamete."
He smirked at her and smirked, looking at her with an amused expression.
"Nan de?"
Aki raised her eyebrow as Ryosuke pulled his little sister over to the door to stand by Duo, who was already shivering with excitment, anticipating the candy input.
Mariemeia smiled.
"I'll have them back tomorrow morning around 11!"
Relena smiled and stepped forward, brushing back Ryosuke's bangs and placed a kiss on his forehead before hugging Aki and kissing her on the cheek.
"Aww, how touching!" Duo cried, placing his hands to his heart.
"DUO! OMAE O KOROSU!"
"KYAAA!"
Ding-Dong. Ding-Dong.
Duo sighed. "Not again!!!" He pounded on the door. "MAATT! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"
Suddenly, the door flew open and there was Matt, decked all-out in a pirate outfit with a sponged-on makeup stubble on his face and a fake parrot on his shoulder. A bandana was around his head and the tips of his light brown, almost blonde bangs peeked out hanging in front of his emerald eyes.
"Avast, ye slimy scoundrels! Ye shall walk the plank, marty!" He cried, holding up a fake plastic sword.
"Who are you making walk anything, Barton?" Aki growled.
"It's 'matey', sweetie. Marty is that foreign dish we had for lunch yesterday." Midii Barton smiled as she placed her hands on her son's shoulders and locked eyes with Mariemeia. She grinned and peered past Midii into the house.
"Where's Trowa?"
"Oh, he's at work now. He chose to work the night shift tonight on the Saturn reports so that he could be home with us during the day."
"Oh yeah...Mom mentioned something about those..." Mariemeia said, thinking back to about two weeks ago.
"Anyways, it's nothing big now but you never know. Besides, I think you should take them candy collecting before they get out of hand."
Too late, Mariemeia thought wryly as she watched Aki headlock Matt (who was a good 3 inches taller than her) and start screaming in Japanese while Ryosuke tried to pull Aki off Matt and Duo stood a good 4 feet away, cheering all three of them on.
Mariemeia tossed a forlorn glance at Midii.
"Were the pilots this rowdy when they were younger?"
"Oh, no."
"No?"
"They were worse, dear. MUCH worse."
Mariemeia groaned at the possiblities of 'worse' with Heero's daughter, Duo's son, Trowa's son and their friends.
"This night is going to be TOO long..."
"That night was WAY too short!" Duo Maxwell cried as he swung through the door of his house, his candy 'pumpkin' traded in for a pillowcase after a pitstop at Matt's house halfway through their route. Matt bounded in behind him, half his candy already consumed on the way back while Mariemeia wasn't looking. Aki was next, her ability to stay awake heavily relying on those weird-looking American candies called 'pixie sticks'...Ryosuke was last, rummaging through Aki's bag and taking out all those damn 'pixie sticks'. (And secretly putting them in his bag.)
"Well well well, if it isn't all three of the Stooges! And Ryosuke too." Hilde said, stepping out into the kitchen where the boys and Aki were. Her face grew serious.
"Ok Duo, you know the rule. Hand over the candy."
Duo blinked.
"Candy?" He whispered, getting a mystical look on his face. He waved his hand slowly through the air, staring at some unfixed point on the celing.
"What is this 'candy' you speak of? I know not of such a delicious, sugary substance..."
"DUO."
"Ok, ok, woman! Fine. Here's the candy." He shoved the bag at Hilde and got a (fake) tearful look in his eyes. "And just take my pride and dignity while you're at it!" He said, running down the hall and slamming himself into his bedroom to put his pajamas on. Hilde sighed, hoping Duo hadn't waken his father or his brother, both of whom were sound asleep. Zack had conked out from taking a bath and Duo had conked out from trying to give his son a bath. She cringed at the memory before hauling the boys into Do's room and then letting Aki change into her pajamas in Zack's room. (It was empty since Zack was sleeping with his father in their bedroom).
After all four children had finished changing they found that Hilde had laid out sleeping bags in the living room and was popping popcorn for them to watch with a movie. As Aki slid into her sleeping bag she spotted her pillow and pulled it out, walking over to Duo who was decked out in dark blue pajamas. Duo switched his gaze from the TV to stare at Aki.
"Duo?"
"Yes?"
"Do you remember all the ancient battles of the World Wars?"
"...Yes..."
Aki flashed him a sweet grin before pummelting him with the pillow.
"I was BORN near Hiroshima! Take that! And THIS is for NAGASAKI! AND OKINAWA'S OPERATION ICEBERG!"
"YAIII!"
Matt, Ryosuke and Hilde looked on in slight amusement (Actually, Matt was pretty enthusiastic) as Aki pummelted Duo with pillows naming off alot of ancient battles in which America simply CREAMED the Japanese (Sorry, but it's true) while Duo desperately tried to escape her six-year-old wrath. However in doing so he grabbed a pillow which he aimed to hit Aki, but she ducked and the pillow instead smacked Matt, who felt the need to divulge into the pillow fight screaming as well. Ryosuke sighed.
"I wonder what movie we're watching?"
TBC
Next Chapter:
"We had a new student in our math class today." Aki informed them in between slurping soumen noodles. "She's really really nice, and she's Chinese. She's a year older than me but we still get along really well."
Relena and Heero cast glances at each other before seeming very interested in this bit of information. Heero leaned slightly forward.
"Really? What's her name?"
"Mulan Chang."
Relena, whom the children had always thought of as the perfect example of poise, delicacy and good manners, suddenly and unexpectedly choked on her miso soup while their father preferred to choke on his own spit.
"Chang?" Her father confirmed while Relena was still busy coughing. Aki nodded, left sort of puzzled by this sudden action by her parents.
"She has an older sister, doesn't she? Yinmei Chang. She's in my earth Science class." Ryosuke said plainly, gulping down his miso.
Aki nodded. "Yeah, and Mulan also has a twin brother."
At this Relena began whispering to her husband in one of her European languages that she was positive her children wouldn't understand.
"Wufei and Sally's first daughter was Yinmei. I never knew if she had a boy or a girl when she got pregnant the second time..."
"It's too much of a coincidence. Yinmei was named for Wufei's old wife, Meilan. It's not a common name in China. And we can't overlook the last name."
"But would they even dare to place us on the same colony after all that happened?" Relena voice became strained as she continued to whisper despite her daughter's stares.
"I don't know, Relena...I just don't know..."
~Dylan~u