#gempathic

“WOAH! I thought it was going to be less packed because of all the activities but there’s so much snow!” Mumei said to himself excitedly. Yeah he’s used to seeing snow and a lot of it too but there was something about seeing everyone participating in the wintery activities that really struck a cord with him. Though his main place of hanging out was the Sunset Current at the moment, perhaps later he’ll move over to one of the other districts...

For now though, he began rolling up several snowballs- running around to get them big enough so he can start making snowmen when a surprised yell came from not too far away. 

This place puzzled Anna.  This so-called sand was too easy to sink into, and she had never seen such a large body of water.  It was salty -- she knew the sea existed, but she was nowhere close to it in her home in northern Russia.  She had been deep in the forest, and even after the entity took her she never saw such a thing.  The people around here were barely clothed, although it was quite hot.  Her animal hide clothing was beginning to stick to her skin, but there was no way she would take it off.

She would come back another time, perhaps when less people populated the area.  She made her way back to the “boardwalk” -- whatever that was -- having decided that this place was of no use to her.  Frankly she wasn’t looking forward to returning to the inner section of the Golden Ward.  Not that she particularly liked being in any of the wards -- too crowded, too much she didn’t understand -- but something about the oversaturation of shops and “malls” made her uncomfortable.

Anna scraped her boots along the wood in an attempt to get the sand off the leather.  She paused as she heard someone singing a short distance away, moving towards the sound almost on instinct.  It was comforting; while it was clearly the voice of a male, it still reminded her of her mother.  It was perhaps because she could tell there was a twinge of loneliness to the song.  Even at a young age she knew her mother missed her father, but she had never known the man so it made no difference to her.

Eventually she came upon a teenage boy with curly hair singing to himself.  Anna stopped a distance away; he apparently hadn’t noticed her yet.  A deadly mistake, but she had no intention to hurt him.  Yet, at least.  His song ended shortly after, and she found herself longing to hear more.

                   Man not only was this embarrassing but it hurt real bad too -- he meant to make himself a delicious meal for dinner but a stray stretch of the arm sent it splattering all up his other arm instead leaving burns he had HOPED he could take care of but... Pride needed to be set aside and quickly the pain outweighed any desire to avoid a trip to the hospital. 

In an attempt at escape, Sayo finds herself sitting alone in a coffee shop. It’s not glamorous by any means, but it’s better than spending time cooped up in her room.

This place has also become lonely for her. She can’t find a single shred of beauty in her daily life.

That’s why, when she hears a young man playing an instrument and singing, she perks up. It reminds her of Jessica, who always wanted to create music.

But unlike Jessica, this person isn’t trapped. His voice is free, and nobody tries to stop him.

“Excuse me,” She walks over to him when he finishes his song, hands folded politely in front of her. “What song was that, just now? It was very beautiful.”

She clears her throat, trying to overcome her own shyness.

“To be honest I don’t really understand why you humans put age limits on things like this,” Yellow said looking at the human-gem hybrid. 

It was a bit funny to the Pearl that she did not have to ask what trick or treating was. Even though she had never intended to spend much time on earth she was quite familiar with certain traditions by now. She had spent her last Halloween together with Spinel, and they did go trick or treating.

It had been a simple stroll as Itachi explored several options for holiday decorations.  He wasn’t too sure of Sasuke’s plans or if he would do anything, but he figured he would have some options in case.  Halloween and Christmas would be there before any of them knew it, yet Itachi really questioned the point of doing anything at all.  Come around the season, he had a deep feeling that decorations would be far from anyone’s minds.  Hell, he wouldn’t be shocked if the decorations came to life for Halloween.

“Just what I need... A skeletal army and haunted pumpkins...” he muttered before glancing around.  He saw another close by and cracked a bit of a grin.

“Oh yeesh, what kind of fresh nightmare is this place?”  Eda was quite grateful she’d managed to swipe a new pair of sunglasses off some poor pedestrian, because the Sun was absolutely merciless around here.  She stood before a sandy shoreline, citizens of the city scattered about- some splashing about among the waves that crashed ashore, others simply laying around and enjoying...being baked alive, she could only guess.  Maybe it was just the deathly pallor of her skin that made it feel that much worse for her, but she still felt like subjecting oneself to this kind of heat and all the bright light felt like one big exercise in self-torment.  Maybe they were more equipped to handle places like the Boiling Isles than she gave them credit for...