As soon as the first beam of light came through the old window, Li shuffled out of bed uncomfortably. It had been the coldest night he had ever experience. The weather was usually always forgiving, staying at moderately high temperatures, nothing harsh, so this change had caught him off guard.
Today was an important day for every person in the village of Gao: it was time for the annual Apricot Cake Festival, and it was always as much fun as it sounded.
It was the day everyone made miniature cakes, larger than cupcakes, smaller than a circular birthday cake, and placed them in decorative boxes. If there was a family of two adults and a single child, the family would produce 3 cakes, one to represent each person. The entire point of the festival was to celebrate the end of the apricot season, typically at the latest, mid-august. Anyhow, these cakes would be switched around from person to person in town square right around mid-noon, resulting in everyone receiving one from another villager. It was a fun activity, or well, at least Li though so during his childhood. Decorations were always up, like last year, where red ribbon lined the streets.
He remembered the warmth of being carried, not knowing a thing as to what was going on; the excitement of finally being able to switch around with other children was a feeling that lingered. It had produced a hand full of warm memories.
There were never any trust issues either. The place was so small, everyone practically had heard of everyone else at least once or twice, heck, everyone practically knew everyone else on a personal level.
It invited curiosity for strangers, the way the village worked. It created a little peck of culture where social bonds were born with; basically, it was natural in a sense that no one ever had the anxiety of meeting new people, except maybe when they were children. That's why everyone would stare or gawk when someone knew came around. It had become such an extreme, recently.
The year would be different this time around, as will the growing population had received an additional member just the day before: a foreigner. Was this something outsiders could participate in? Or maybe, it was something that only villagers would participate in?
The unthinkable question, in the short history of the history of Gao, had never appeared.
Li felt troubled. He itched to share this little speck of unusual tradition with Emil. It interested him that no other place celebrated this way. It made sense with their impossible amount of apricots, he soon learned. It would forever be something only native to his area. It only made him more unsettled.
He shifted in his bed before being quickly pushed off. Li landed side first on his wooden floor. The day had only begun. There would be numerous chances of working around sudden problems. It brought a smile to his face.
He leaned over the bed and took a good look at Emil. How would he wake him up? Maybe he could tap his shoulders, maybe not. Maybe he could throw a pile of books on him, maybe not. The possibilities were endless, that is, until Emil woke up by himself.
The blonde slowly arose out of slumber as he felt Li's silent hover over him. Adjusting the light which filled the room, Emil fluttered his eyelashes. Still wrapped in the bed covers, he squinted at the brunette.
"What are you doing?"
"Waking you up." He pinched Emil's nose. Wouldn't this need to be done fast, the introduction of the festival?
Emil grunted and swatted Li's cold hand away.
##
You should wear aprons more often.
Emil just darted his gaze.
"Do you have some sort of pent up apron fetish? Quit wasting paper."
Mei came buzzing around the corner with a pair of thick, pink gloves on her tiny hands. "Quit fighting! Hurry up so we can finish, you guys!"
Oh, yes, they had been hard at work every since Mei had came floating through Li's front door, traditional recipe in hand. "As long as you guys keep together during the festival, it should be fine," is what she had said earlier.
She had made plans, earlier, and those plans were to stay with her little bunch of friends during the switching, like she usually did. Li, in particular, usually tagged along with Yao, who was away this year. Where had he gone, anyway? So, in the end, he would have to stick it out with Emil.
Off and on they were, taking breaks and working on completing various burdensome tasks to finish in a record time. Li cut, Mei baked, and Emil prepared the top layer of icing. The kitchen remained silent during the demanding procedure. Emil wasn't one to start a chat, and their big conversationalist, Li, had gone mute. Strange occurrence, it was, but none-the-less, left the situation plain uncomfortable.
Not long after, 3 miniscule cakes were produced, all in varying colors: white, pink, and red. Little apricot pieces covered the top in no particular order. The cake itself was made out of two tiny layers—cushioned together by preserves—perhaps 2 inches high with a diameter of 5 inches. Crushed almonds surrounded the sides, clinging onto the thick icing. Mei covered her cake, the pink one, with a case that had ribbon tied all over it; Emil preferred to leave his alone, leaving his white pastry to present itself; Li doodled all over his case in a red marker, decorating it with whatever came to mind. It was show time.
##
Emil and Li rushed over to town square, where groups of people had already started forming. Everyone had put on their nicest coat and had pre-determined who their first victims of the evening where. It was a bright, lovely day, with the sun out, and all. Red ribbons were up again, with little fish prints. The fish prints were new. Li wondered who had suggested fish prints. They looked good though. Fish prints on red ribbon looked great, actually. Either way, little bushel of grass peeped out of the sides of the paved areas. Everyone had dug out their old winter hats or had bought knew ones. Smiles were worn by everyone, even the young children. It was that fabulous time of year again.
Now and then, Li caught people staring in his direction. As soon as he caught them, though, they would always turn around, cover their mouths with one of their hands, and whisper something in a quizzical voice to the person next to them, like they had some sort of problem. On and on, it had gone, until everyone was chattering. Li's ears warmed up from embarrassment. Jealous. Everyone was just jealous, is what he had settled for. It was childish, that's for sure, but it was so agitating. That's when he decided he would start the whole thing off. He might as well.
Li grabbed Emil's hand and started pushing through the masses of people. He stomped on the ground and took Emil over to the circular platform in the middle.
"Li, what are you doing?"
The brunette simply gave him a quick honey-colored gaze and continued walking.
"Li."
He stopped as soon as they were in the middle.
Li quickly shoved his hand down his large coat pocket and pulled out his method of communication. He jotted the note down quickly, and stuck it to Emil's forehead before presenting the light blonde his cake.
Emil, happy Apricot Cake Festival. Please accept my hard work.
Emil froze as the crowds of people turned to look. They had all turned around; all of them were gawking at them. What are they doing? Isn't that the foreigner? What's he doing there? Why is there a box in his hand? Is he participating or something? Emil looked at Li, not sure what he was anticipating.
"You're such an idiot. Aren't you supposed to give it to someone that didn't help you make it? Wouldn't ours taste the same? Li, you completely defeat every argument I can come up with."
The air froze again, not just because this had been a strange exhibition, but because little chunks of frozen water started checkering the sky again.
Emil hesitantly gave a sigh. It had been such a busy morning.
"It's been a pleasure switching with you."
They switched boxes.
The crowds slowly diverged their attention, some started switching with their lovers first and foremost, some started walking up to those less-known and requesting exchanges. The battle for apricots had begun.
a/n:
this here chappie is like a little short lol and HEY PEOPLE I'M BACK!
I was over taken by exams and the end of the semester stuff and then switching my entire schedule around for second semester, so I had to take a hiatus! Please forgive me if I somehow caused you inner angst.
Review with a list of my stupid mistakes or if you want me to change something!
(and I tried to do research on apricots after I wrote this and had to edit it to fit the apricot standard. But seriously man, apricots. If you are an apricot expert by any chance, yeah I know, I got a bunch of things jumbled and because of the cold all the apricots might die, so not too cold not under 19 degrees Celsius cold pffha)
I feel like this chapter was kinda dry(I don't know though, let me know!) maybe I should add some western fantasy to it because there was already a wizard?
Zarichka: I might or not still be debating as to who it should be (LOL) hm good thoughts good thoughts
missHydz: hey there! I'll take it into consideration yeahh
hetaliaforever123: I LIKED THAT LINE TOO (hi five aw yeas)
