Ben is the kind of blurcock who you will tell "dont post this on insta or I will get ISA'd", and then he will post anyway and then be confuse why you kena ISA.
Which is, again, very Malaysia Truly Asia in my experience. Or idk maybe i just been running into too many blurcocks.
"Mr Whiskey why you reject the Employee Particulars I sent?"
"Brader Store Manager, you didn't notice ke that the photocopy Identity Card is totally black cannot read?"
"but sir the requirement is to send photocopy IC, I send photocopy IC already! y u reject?"
"...You tak faham bahasa isit? Can you see his name an IC number on that photocopy?"
"no, its black"
"Abuthen???!!"
"but sir I send photocopy!"
"you know what screw this i not interested. FUcking redo and resend the photocopy IC."
Or the time when a store manager hired a delivery rider with L lisence. As in a learners permit. And was confused how come you cannot hire someone with a learner's permit to do delivery. "But Whiskey he got lesen!"
You haven't interacted with them enough in-quest to tell! BUUUUUUT...
Some Things Amanda knows about the Ches:
1. What you tell one Che will be known by the other Che. Almost immediately if not literally immediately.
2. They'll probably want to borrow your stuff (Che Din to try to pick up girls with it, Che Mat to show off to his rempit friends).
2a. You have a scarf, fabric softener, a raincoat, Professor McGonagall glasses, and a brooch... none of which mesh with their aesthetics. You should be fine until/ unless you produce something that looks cool to them.
3. But if you do tell them to keep it secret they will keep it secret. (They might ask to borrow your stuff as a return favour.)
3a. Che Mat has been a rempit for like three years now and as far as you know their family hasn't noticed yet. This might be because he sprayed anime girls all over his motorcycle.
3b. They have a large and nosy nuclear/extended family. This makes their secret-keeping more impressive.
3c. Or the family just doesn't talk about it.
3d. Che Mat definitely somehow managed to get a kapcai at 15* and learned to use it. You're still not sure if he legally owns it.
4. Che Mat is a restraining influence on Che Din.
5. When you were in school together they never snitched on you when you messed up.
* in Malaysia, the legal driving age for motorcycles is 16.
To be more specific, a kapcai is an underbone motorcyle, the quissential kapcai being the Honda Cub:
In Malaysia and Singapore this vehicle is commonly known as Kapcai or Kapchai, a slang word derived from Cantonese, being a combination of the word "Cub" from the word Honda Cub and "仔" in Chinese. In Cantonese, "仔" (pronounced "jai", or in pinyin "zai") means "little" (or its derivatives, e.g. "small", "mini", etc.)[citation needed]. Therefore,"kapchai" literally means a "Little Cub". With Honda being a very popular brand in Malaysia, all underbone motorbikes have come to be called "kapchai".
Too bad this is in Ipoh; if we were in KK, I'd argue for us to get a Ninja Turtle asap - which is the local Sabahan nickname for the Toyota Land Cruiser.
What actually qualifies as a Ninja Turtle (or just Ninja) is very much a sabahan "I'll know it when I see it" test, like the porn test, but generally the early 90s J80 series Land Cruiser is commonly accepted to be where the Ninja Turtle begins (my dad's 1985 BJ60 is a Land Cruiser, and so doesn't count ). The more luxurious incarnations of modern Land Cruiser (with Toyota's move to the luxury SUV market) are called Ninja King. The Prado is the Prado, it's not a Ninja.
[X] Tell Ben:
-[X] The partial truth. (What do you leave out?)
-[X] The partial truth. (What do you leave out?)
-[X] You have some cool items but no one can know or they will take them away.
-[X] Do not attract attention to your hair. Do not mention ISA.
[X] Tell Che Mat & Che Din:
-[X] The full truth.
[X] Leave it alone. There's not much more you can learn from this line.
[X] Get your friends in the know to help you grab loot for the gacha spins. Items go in, magic item come out, no refunds. Explain if you put shit in you get shit out, if you put gold in you might get more gold, but sometimes shit also.
[X] Get your friends in the know to help you grab loot for the gacha spins. Items go in, magic item come out, no refunds. Explain if you put shit in you get shit out, if you put gold in you might get more gold, but sometimes shit also.
[x] Tell Ben:
-[x] The partial truth. (What do you leave out?)
-[x] You have some cool items but no one can know or they will take them away.
-[x] Do not attract attention to your hair. Do not mention ISA.
You switch off the phone and toss it on the bed. Your heart is still pounding with adrenaline. Well, the secret's out to Era and Ben and Che Mat and Che Din. If you're lucky they won't actually tell anybody, not even in the "hey what if I had a friend who" way.
…you should probably tell them that too. Just in case they also start searching for pink haired people on the Internet. Maybe not. You're not entirely convinced the Ches know how to Google. Anyway. Ugh. Too much thinking, you're circle-thoughting again. Need… fresh air. Yeah. It's night, it's raining. You throw on the ★★★★★ Raincoat and make sure the ★★★★ Brooch is safely in your purse. Just in case.
It was a dark and rainy night… It's the 一个风和日丽的早上 of schlocky horror. But it is a dark and rainy night. You don't plan to go far. Just… enough time to calm down away from the phone. A short walk, avoiding the street lights… no. Near the street lights. Stay in the light. Bad things happen in the dark.
Ugh, you're even overthinking your walks now.
You wonder if - just hypothetically maybe - you can spend like, handcuffs or duct tape on rolls. It'd be an easy way to get out of -
AAAAAAA. Stop thinking that. Stop thinking ISA thoughts. Think calming thoughts. The rain washes down and flows into a hypnotic film bubble over you. Inside your water-bubble the outside world is muffled and blurry, like looking through one of those old uneven glass panes. Breathe in, breathe out, watch the lights ripple and flow through the water.
Okay.
You go back home. See, nothing happened. The house is not broken into or on fire. Everything's still locked up and untouched. You're perfectly fine. The phone is still on your bed where you tossed it. You boot it up.
It dings for a solid minute. Half an hour of missed calls, missed WhatsApp voice or video calls, DMs on Facebook Messenger and Instagram and reddit - you hadn't even expected Era to remember your reddit handle - and even regular SMSes. Who even uses regular SMSes anymore?
Almost all of them are Era. The messages start out "call me WE NEED TO TALK" and devolve into longer and longer strings of "?!?!?!?!?!" or "HELLO GIRL U THERE ANOT". The Ches seem to have just tried messaging you once and then stopped. And Ben has left you on read. Ugh stupid Ben!
Then your phone starts ringing. Right. Era probably saw ticks start turning blue. You pick up the call before you can think about it. "Hello?" you say, as if you didn't just turn Era's world upside down by revealing to her the weird supernatural thing you can do.
"YA'ALLAH AMANDA WAS THAT REAL?" screech-whispers Era. "WHAT HAPPENED?! WHY YOU NEVER TELL ME?! YOU NEED USTAZ OR NOT? BOMOH?"
You definitely do not need an ustaz. You're pretty sure an ustaz would just screech Quranic verses at you and anyway you're not Muslim, Pa and Ma would have a fit if you went to an ustaz or bomoh -
"THEN TEMPLE LEH? YOU CAN GO TEMPLE KAN?!"
- you're pretty sure the temple monks don't do like, kung fu film-style exorcisms either. At least you've never seen them do one.
"YOU NEVER SEE DOESN'T MEAN THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT." Era's screech-whisper slowly dies down as she, too, takes deep breaths. "When this happen? You got any nightmares? Things missing? Memory loss?"
"That one is Thailand ghost story only happen one, can?" you screech-whisper back at her, waving your hand uselessly at the air. "Real life not like that!"
"Amanda Wong," says Era in a dead calm voice, "real life nobody gets pink hair on their birthday and starts summoning magic raincoats."
You put one finger up, open your mouth, close your mouth, and put the finger down. Right. You hadn't shown her everything. "Not just raincoats. It's all kinds of things okay? Put more in, better thing comes out, not always but usually?"
"What you mean?" She's quieter now. You wonder if she actually knows any bomohs. "Tell me everything."
"That's what I was going to do! Then you tell me call ustaz, call bomoh, go temple!"
"Okay okay! Never mind that one! Tell me first!"
So you do. Starting with your birthday.
"And Uncle and Aunty?" she says, when you're finished.
"Dunno," you say. "They called me once but after that, no more."
She's so quiet that you check to see if the call accidentally ended, but it didn't.
"Anything you need? I can ask my mother send you some food…"
"No. No need, I can cook lah, how you think I live ah? My birthday in November, now already December…"
"One month one phone call?" She sounds aghast.
You sigh exaggeratedly to make sure she hears it. "I can cook, Era. And still got water, got letrik, it's fine."
"You say like that." She sighs, too. "Anyway you tell me if got anything you need, my mother now stay at home very free. Every day call me say faster get married., want cucu cicir, as if I come to study nursing to catch husband."
You point out, very reasonably, that she did catch her boyfriend at school.
"That's not the same!" she says, mock scandalised. "Then you leh? You put all the barang-barang together then can get new things right? Can get boyfriend anot like that?"
"How ah? You think I take some random men and put together ah? Or I put Ken dolls?"
"Achelly that one not bad idea…"
"No. No. No. You learn what thing at school? Why you try to corrupt me?"
🎲🎲🎰🎲🎲
The conversation with the Ches goes about the same, except they ask if you're limited to raincoats (no, you're not, you say.) and whether - if they give you stuff - you could do up stuff for them (maybe, you say, and Che Mat's voice gets very speculative). But you tell them to not tell anybody about it. You plan to get your hair dyed and to lay low and all of that. But they had better not go and blab.
Che Mat is quite indignant at the implication that they would blab. "You know that time in Form Four you go and climb the roof I also never tell anybody, remember?"
"Yeah yeah remember remember!" you say quickly, to get it over with.
"And that time you ask Gregory to pose for your Form Three biology lab book -"
"Stop making me remember!" you practically shriek. This was supposed to be a conversation about getting stuff for your Spins and making sure they kept your secrets! How did it end up like this?
"Yah! And that time you cheated the class seating plan!"
You cover your face in shame at the antics of your younger and more foolish self. "…okay okay thanks."
"Lunch tomorrow?" says Che Mat. "Or you want to go and dye or what?"
"Dinner," you say, after some thought. Dyeing your hair black shouldn't take long.
"On!" says Che Din, gleefully. You feel sure that this cannot end well.
🎲🎲🎰🎲🎲
Getting Ben to promise never to tell anybody about it or post pictures or videos of you with pink hair anywhere, ever, forever, is a matter of blackmailing him with the ★★★★★ Raincoat. Or your other "cool items" that you refuse to tell him about until he promises, pinky swear pretty please, extra cheese.
"Because if you tell anybody then people will come and steal everything," you say in your most threatening voice.
"But you already wear in the street," he weakly protests.
"Rainy day nobody can see!" you shoot him down. "Anyway you promise or not?"
"Promise promise!" he exclaims defeatedly.
"Good," you say happily.
🎲🎲🎰🎲🎲
The Ches meet you at the Marrybrown with a bulging duffel bag. You raise your (newly-blackened) eyebrows.
"Wah your hair!"
"Yeah, dye then become blacker than black. See before what."
"Look like student who kena caught by guru disiplin on first day of school."
The Ches giggle at each other.
"What's that?" you ask, pointing at their duffel bag to get their attention off of your matte black hair, even though you share their sentiments. At least people aren't looking funny at your pink hair.
Che Mat grins. "Something lah. Nanti you tengok."
You frown. The Ches are good at keeping secrets but by god they're little blackmailers in progress. "You order already?"
"Now order lah," says Che Din. "You want what?"
The duffel bag turns out to contain… stuff. Most of it is simple household things, but there are several things in it that shoot your eyebrows up. "This looks expensive oi," you tell them, fishing out a few mint-looking Hot Wheels toy cars. "And what is this."
"Old phone," supplies Che Din helpfully. "Still working. We check already. The charger also in there."
You can see where this is going. You should at least be thankful they clearly believe what you're saying (and that they didn't bring somebody along to try to exorcise you or something). And you are, after all, getting dinner out of it.
🎲🎲🎰🎲🎲
There's a little invitation in your post box from the Head Aunty, done up in the same style as the Friendly Food Pandas invitation. She's having a buffet at her house on Christmas night, you're invited to attend, and she really hopes for you to attend.
Huh. You shrug. Sure, why not. It's not like you've got anything else to do.
🎲🎲🎰🎲🎲
8 SPINS AVAILABLE!
1 ROLL AVAILABLE!
🎲🎲🎰🎲🎲
Welp, so that was a thing! I keep telling myself that the plot will start going Properly Unrealistic soon but so far haven't had the heart to launch Anime Protag-ness side effects. Soon(tm).
🎲🎲🎰🎲🎲
The Ches are asking for favours. You think helping them will also motivate them to keep on keeping the secrets, but that they might also keep coming back for more. Still, they're bringing you stuff to use, and they haven't said when they'd like anything back…
The duffel bag contains about twenty ★ and ★★ items, with the only items of note being four ★★★ Limited Edition Mint Hot Wheels toys. You also have a ★★ Motorcyle Engine (from Che Mat) and a ★★★ Smartphone (from Che Din).
[ ] Spin for them. (You'll automatically use the ★★ Motorcyle Engine for Che Mat and the ★★★ Smartphone for Che Din, but you'll need to choose what else to use for them.)
- [ ] Che Mat:
-- [ ] 1 SPIN. (Write-in list of items.)
-- [ ] 10-SPIN. (Write-in list of items. Incompatible with using a 10-SPIN for Che Din.)
- [ ] Che Din:
-- [ ] 1 SPIN. (Write-in list of items.)
-- [ ] 10-SPIN. (Write-in list of items. Incompatible with using a 10-SPIN for Che Mat.)
[ ] Don't spin for them. Save it for yourself.
Socialising at the Head Aunty's Christmas party brings you into close contact with a bunch of people from the neighbourhood and beyond. (Pick two.)
[ ] Pakcik Arif used to go fishing with Pa every couple months or so. He reminisces about a small fishing village Pa always wanted to retire to...
[ ] Ben is there too. You're not sure how he got the invitation, but he did.
[ ] Farhana is a fellow NEET, which explains why you never met her before. It turns out she's a conspiracy theorist and a hoarder.
[ ] Harinder is a gossipy policeman, complaining about inter-departmental politics and new transfers.
[ ] Aunty Kwan, a weekly Zumba class participant with Ma and suffering from empty nest syndrome, wants to talk to you.
[ ] Madam Priya is a schoolteacher with a deep interest in fortune-telling. You can't get away from her.
CHRISTMAS EVENT! Pick one:
[ ] For one week, Amanda regains three SPINs a day instead of the usual one.
[ ] For one week, Amanda gets to re-roll any SPINs or ROLLs with a result of less than 40. (If the re-roll result is also less than 40, it is similarly re-rolled, until the result is at least 40.)
[ ] For the next roll, every material Amanda uses is treated as if it were one ★ higher than it actually is.
[ ] Anything also can lah.
It'll apply for the first roll you make after Christmas in-story. (I.E. if you choose to 10-SPIN Mat and 1-SPIN Din, it'll go to Din.) The week-long bonuses also start on Christmas in-story, so will last from 25/12 to 31/12 inclusive.
It'll apply for the first roll you make after Christmas in-story. (I.E. if you choose to 10-SPIN Mat and 1-SPIN Din, it'll go to Din.) The week-long bonuses also start on Christmas in-story, so will last from 25/12 to 31/12 inclusive.
Alrighty, here goes.
Che Mat put in a Motorcycle Engine, presumably wants something for gofast.
Che Din put in a Smartphone(wow, much expense), presumably wants a super phone.
[X] Spin for them. (You'll automatically use the ★★ Motorcyle Engine for Che Mat and the ★★★ Smartphone for Che Din, but you'll need to choose what else to use for them.)
-[X] Che Mat:
--[X] 10-SPIN. (Write-in list of items. Incompatible with using a 10-SPIN for Che Din.)
---[X] ★★ Motorcycle Engine
---[X] Skateboard
---[X] Bicycle
---[X] Sport shoes
---[X] Roller Skates
---[X] "The Flash" costume
---[X] Kite
---[X] Red Bull(the drink, not the animal)
---[X] Goggles
---[X] Firework rocket 1 pack
-[X] Che Din:
--[X] Book a 10-SPIN for after you use your christmas bonus for yourself
[X] Madam Priya is a schoolteacher with a deep interest in fortune-telling. You can't get away from her.
[X] Farhana is a fellow NEET, which explains why you never met her before. It turns out she's a conspiracy theorist and a hoarder.
[X] For the next roll, every material Amanda uses is treated as if it were one ★ higher than it actually is.
[x] Farhana is a fellow NEET, which explains why you never met her before. It turns out she's a conspiracy theorist and a hoarder.
[x] Harinder is a gossipy policeman, complaining about inter-departmental politics and new transfers.
[x] For the next roll, every material Amanda uses is treated as if it were one ★ higher than it actually is.
"Anything also can lah" is more a statement that Amanda doesn't much mind which she gets as long as she gets something. It's often heard when people need to decide on what to eat, where to go, etc.
In the context of this vote winning, I'd just have done a random shuffle between the options presented.
E.G.
A: "What do you want to eat?"
B: "Anything also can lah."
[X] Spin for them. (You'll automatically use the ★★ Motorcyle Engine for Che Mat and the ★★★ Smartphone for Che Din, but you'll need to choose what else to use for them.)
-[X] Che Mat:
--[X] 10-SPIN. (Write-in list of items. Incompatible with using a 10-SPIN for Che Din.)
---[X] ★★ Motorcycle Engine
---[X] Skateboard
---[X] Bicycle
---[X] Sport shoes
---[X] Roller Skates
---[X] "The Flash" costume
---[X] Kite
---[X] Red Bull(the drink, not the animal)
---[X] Goggles
---[X] Firework rocket 1 pack
-[X] Che Din:
--[X] Book a 10-SPIN for after you use your christmas bonus for yourself
Rooting through the old duffel bag brings up weird questions - that you do not want answered - about what exactly the Ches have been shopping for over the years. The bike is your own, a rusty old thing that hasn't seen use in years, but the "The Flash" costume looks like it's sized for a kindergartener. And the packet of fireworks, which is very definitely very illegal.
And when the flash of light has died away, you find a bottle of oily fluid left behind. You know what it's called and what it'll do. You just don't know what it would normally do. You hope Che Mat is okay with having lost an engine to get a, uh, this.
🎲🎲🎰🎲🎲
There's a song that you once heard on one of your parents' CDs and have never been able to find again. If it weren't that the chorus is stuck indelibly in your brain (and that you have absolutely no musical talent), you'd have thought you'd imagined it. "It's warm here and sunny - there's no ice and snow. It's Christmas in Malaysia, the kind that I know." [1]
The weather has been doing its absolute best to make up for the week-plus of torrential rain you had only - what was it, a couple of weeks ago? It's been hot and muggy despite the best efforts of your air-conditioning [2]. You leave your house in the thinnest and airiest clothes you can wear in public, plus an umbrella and the ★★★★★ Sunglasses. The reflection of the sun in the windows still blinds you and you're sogged in sweat within two minutes. People shamelessly walk around in public with those tiny USB-powered fan attachments on their power banks or phones, or clog the shopping malls for the free air-conditioning.
The shopping malls, completely unironically, are playing the stock Christmas playlist - the one about winter wonderlands and snowball fights and Frosty. You've been avoiding those the way you've been avoiding anywhere with too many people, even if you've figured out how to tie your hair up and hide it under a cap or scarf.
Just in case. Your ★★★★ Brooch can do a lot but it probably wouldn't stop a bunch of determined adult men.
Christmas Day itself is... also hot and muggy. You stay in your room all day playing Omima Online with the air conditioning on full blast until it's almost too late to shower. You run the water for five minutes until all the hot water is gone before you step into the lukewarm water and then shiver your way through dressing yourself in your comparatively chilly room.
You can hear and smell the party at the Head Aunty's long before you see it. First the roar of outdoor dehumidifers going at full blast, then Christian Christmas music coming from Bluetooth speakers. You smell barbeque and satay and roast lamb. There is a massive row of tents that stretches the entire width and nearly the entire length of the street, covering the tables and chairs arranged on the road. There are regular lights and blinking Christmas lights. The cars (both of the Head Aunty's household and of her visitors) have occupied every parking space for several streets around. The catering buffet fills her porch. Outside on the road are the stalls - satay and barbeque and roasting lamb, but also chendol and aiskrim potong and chai-tao kuey.
The Head Aunty looks entirely un-Aunty-like in her makeup and expensive-looking dress and shoes. Her hair is done up in the style you usually only see on Hong Kong drama taitais. She spots you and waves at you in greeting. "Merry Christmas!" she greets effusively, and you notice that she somehow isn't drenched in sweat the way you are and a flash of envy shoots right through you. "Such a lovely day, isn't it? Come in, come in! Is your friend coming too?"
The thoughts Lovely day?!?! and NO BEN run smack into each other and you say: "Uh-"
"Maybe next year!" she says, "please help yourself!" and she's off to the next guest. Feeling like you've dodged a giant bullet, you grab a paper plate and load it strategically. [3] Then you look for a table as free of aunties and uncles as possible and plop yourself down at a table where the only other occupant is a girl. She has thick glasses, a hijab, and she is going methodically through her salad. Literally. She has separated it out into its component vegetables and is eating only the purple cabbage, avoiding the corn and green peas.
[X] Farhana is a fellow NEET, which explains why you never met her before. It turns out she's a conspiracy theorist and a hoarder.
She notices you looking, and she glares at you. You kind of wish you had your ★★★★★ Sunglasses on right now, even if it's already dark.
"GMO," she snaps, like it explains anything.
Your face betrays your confused thoughts.
"GMO," she repeats, prodding the corn and green peas with her fork. "America put pig genes to kill Islam." [4]
You instantly regret everything that made you sit down here. You're pretty sure that if the corn and sweet peas are haram then the cabbage she's eating should also be. You do not want to say it.
"I don't think America would want to do that," you say, wondering if she would accept Wikipedia as a source.
"They've been doing it for over thirty years," she says. "All the food from America is full of pig genes."
You look at your plate. Well, at least you can be sure that the breaded prawns are locally sourced. "...nice to know, I guess," you say.
"Farhana." she offers. "Hello."
It takes you a moment to realise she's stopped talking about the pig genes and started introducing herself. "Amanda. Just over there." You wave your fork in the vague direction of your house. "Nice to meet you too." Surely Head Aunty will forgive you your lie. A dreadful gnawing curiosity grows in you, wondering what in the world made her come to a (GMO-filled, Christian-music-playing) Christmas buffet dinner.
You suspect you will never find out, because at that moment the playlist switches to a jazzy cover of O Holy Night and Farhana makes a face and dives into her purple cabbage. You're wiser than to ask why, so instead you fall back on: "So, you working or studying ah?"
Her reply is muffled. "Tada." She comes up for air, still making that face. "Menganggur, but looking lah. But susah cari. Sebab Soros."
Soros? In your confusion you miss the opportunity to head her off. She begins talking about Soros. Somewhere in there you find out that Soros (and only Soros) is the reason she can't find a job. Instead she spends her time looking for cheap thrift bargains on the Internet that she then resells on mudah.my. But Soros has struck again and now her home is full of stuff.
Stuff that, you think, she could really use a buyer for.
Unlocked new action: Shopping with Farhana! Farhana's house is full of strange baubles she acquired from the Internet. It's not great or even good quality stuff, but if you just need to buy a bunch of cheap things to throw at a ROLL...
[X] Madam Priya is a schoolteacher with a deep interest in fortune-telling. You can't get away from her.
[x] Harinder is a gossipy policeman, complaining about inter-departmental politics and new transfers.
Listening to Farhana is thirsty work even when you're not doing most of the talking. You leave to get a refill and when you return to the table Farhana and her plate of segregated vegetables have gone, replaced by an Indian couple. They're talking a mile a minute in Hindi or maybe Tamil, you're not sure, but the moment you sit down they both turn to you. They both smile. He's lean, moustached and thickly bearded, and veiny-armed. She's plump and radiates a teacherly aura.
"Merry Christmas!" she chirps as you approach and sit down. "I'm Priya and this is my husband Harinder."
"Merry Christmas," he says. His deep bass voice rumbles tiredness.
"Sorry about that," says Priya, rubbing his bicep. "It's been a long day for him."
You only nod, having no experience whatsoever with long work days. You've always assumed they'd be something like long school days. "Merry Christmas."
"You look tired too. Long day for you? I thought only policemen never got a day off. Lucky I already knew that when I married Harinder!" Priya shoos flies from her food with one hand while still rubbing Harinder's bicep. Harinder makes a tired little smile. Hash tag relationship goals, you think, except for the whole working on public holidays thing. "Yeah," she says, looking closer at you. "You look really tired. Want to talk about it?"
You don't feel tired. Sweaty and a bit uncomfortable and maybe a bit grateful that Farhana's gone off wherever maybe, but tired? Maybe it's your eye bags - you haven't really been keeping the most regular hours. [5]
"It's okay to rest sometimes," offers Priya. "We all get tired, and it's the winter solstice."
"Priya," says Harinder, and then rattles off a long string of dialogue that you don't understand. You sip at your drink awkwardly - you're too polite to play with your phone in front of them, but you don't have anything to contribute to their chatter. "Sorry," he says again eventually. "It's her job hazard. I always tell her." He sighs into his drink.
"Helpfulness is a virtue, dear," says Priya. "I'm a teacher," she says to you in an explanatory tone. "SJK All Saints."
Your teacher-senses weren't lying after all. "I was from SM Lee Rubber," you offer in return.
Priya perks up. "Oh! Do you know Madam Lee Sin?"
You do know Madam Lee Sin. "I had her for chemistry, but only in Form Four." You'd accepted intellectually that teachers must have lives outside of school and tuition classes, but it's still weird thinking of Madam Lee Sin as having friends. Even if those friends are other teachers. "I don't think I had her in Form Five or Six."
"No," agrees Priya. "Politics, I think. You'll learn about that when you start work."
Harinder looks up from his plate again. "Priya," he says.
"Yes, dear," says Priya. She gives you a conspiratorial look - Men! - and explains. "It's like that at Harinder's too - Harinder, dear, it's fine," she says, and he goes back to his food with a defeated look. "I told him it was going to happen, you know, and he didn't believe me, but the cards don't lie."
You blink.
"It's destiny, you see," she says. "I learned from a real certified guru from Mumbai and," and she's off. You're not sure how much of it to disbelieve. Normally you'd disbelieve all of the stuff she's saying about card divinations and star charts and things, because... look, who believes that sort of thing anymore anyway. But here you are sitting with a BROOCH that could, if you wanted it to, broadcast Priya and Harinder and the Head Aunty's entire Christmas buffet over every TV, radio, smartphone, and Bluetooth speaker in the taman. And at home is the RAINCOAT, and Che Mat's... thing. So you really aren't sure how much of it to believe. Priya eventually winds down with, "and so I'm now also a certified guru for card reading and astrology. Isn't that nice?"
"That's really interesting," you lie completely smoothly, and take a sip from your cup.
Priya beams with acknowledged accomplishment. "So you see, if you ever want to talk about anything," she says, and slides a business card at you. It looks like a stylised playing card, except the figure on it has eight hands. On the reverse side is Priya's name, phone number, and email address.
Unlocked new action: Card Readings! Priya is a certified guru of card reading and astrology. You don't know how accurate she is, but she says the cards led her to you, so... maybe there's something there? You can ask her to do readings for you or give you advice.
Harinder finishes his food. "Drink refill, Priya?" he asks, taking her empty cup.
"Sprite, dear," says Priya, smiling.
"Amanda?" he says, taking your empty cup.
"Um, water chestnut, thanks."
He disappears in the direction of the buffet drinks table and Priya looks at his behind with a smitten look. You have to admit he does have a nice butt - definitely not like the usual overweight traffic cops you see directing traffic when a light breaks down.
"He's such a good man, but good men don't have easy lives," sighs Priya. "Department stuff, though, don't tell him I told you."
"I won't," you promise. "Politics, right?" Most of your experience with politics is the stuff you see on the news.
"Yeah," she says, stabbing her fork into her plate in the most vicious display you've seen of her in the last (oh god has it been) two hours. "He's really the most senior officer in the branch, but they started bringing in people from other branches - not even the same type of people, you know." She sees your confused look, and explains. "Different divisions, so it's not like they're helping him do anything, and they just call everything top secret classified while they take over everything."
You're only even more confused.
Harinder reappears with refilled drinks. He's also got a can of Anchor for himself, which he pops and gulps from as he sits down. He burps a bit, and excuses himself with a flash of white teeth under the bushy moustache. "Ah, that's good," he sighs. "So what were you ladies talking about?"
"Nothing much," says Priya with deliberate unconvincingness. She gives him a flirty look. "Just my wonderful handsome hubby."
Ew. But also, hash tag relationship goals.
"Handsome hubby still not getting promotions," he grouses. "F- Stupid new transfers can't do anything but ask for men." He tosses back more Anchor. "At least I have my lovely talkative wife at home." And now they're both giving each other soppy looks. "And tomorrow off, since I had to work today because they couldn't do a job rotation schedule if their fat asses depended on it." The soppy looks intensify. You wonder if his bicep will bruise from how hard Priya is gripping it. Maybe he's into that -
Bad! Bad Amanda! Time to go home! Look for an excuse!
"That was really great," you say, standing up and trying hard to look tired. "But I have to, uh, find my parents..."
"Merry Christmas!" says Harinder, looking like he's finally getting into the Christmas Day spirit at 10pm on Christmas Day and only after a huge dinner followed by a beer. "See you around."
"Call me!" says Priya cheerfully. You wonder what exactly her cards told her about you.
Head Aunty sends you home with a Tupperware of fruit salad and a door gift that includes an invitation to her church service on New Year's Day.
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When you get home there's a small package by the door. It contains a box of new Adidas running shoes, several packs of sports socks, and a dry-fit t-shirt. There is also a small framed photograph of the three of you standing around a birthday cake - your most recent one, because your pink hair is super obvious in it. Pa's smile looks stressed and Ma's eyes are already turning red in it. 'Merry Christmas Amanda. Miss you. Love, Ma & Pa' is written across the front of it in Ma's handwriting, in black marker.
The package has no stamps or anything on it to indicate how it was delivered or where it was delivered from, and postmen don't work this late anyway. It almost had to be a hand delivery. But-.
You gather up the stuff and lock yourself in the room. You stare at the photo and the gifts. You - you're crying. You miss them, you don't know where they are, you don't know when you'll see them again - and you're pretty much sure they're not at the kampung, but you also don't know what to do to find them or get back to normalcy or anything.
🎲🎲🎰🎲🎲
You didn't get much sleep, but you still wake up early on the 26th anyway because... whatever. Circadian rhythm something wonky something. And also because the doorbell is ringing.
You look out.
You say: "!!!"
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oh my god it's been four whole months since last update ugh
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[1] That song also actually exists (it's called "The Christmas I Know" and was written/performed/recorded by a short-lived musician duo and - as far as Google can tell - has been lost to memory). It's the most accurate song I know about... well, Christmas in Malaysia. One day I'll track the CD down in my parents' house and get it.
[2] Lee Kuan Yew once called air conditioning the greatest invention to come to Southeast Asia. It's not much of an exaggeration.
[3] No carbs, no chicken, no vegetables, heavy on the seafood, beef, and sweet snacks.
[4] No conspiracy theories were harmed in the making of this update. I think.
[5] Omima Online is running a Christmas event, of course, but it's the same one they run every year: limited-availability mobs with special drops for a limited-availability shop and some themed loot. You already have most of the good stuff but you're helping the guild newbies [6] grind - which means Aunty 24/7 is back on duty.
[6] There are a lot of guild newbies. Having placed so high in the guild vs guild event kind of brought you a lot of fame.
🎲🎲🎰🎲🎲
0 SPINS AVAILABLE! ( For the next roll, every material Amanda uses is treated as if it were one ★ higher than it actually is.)
1 ROLL AVAILABLE!
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Who's out there?
[ ] The Ches, impatient to see what you've got for them.
[ ] A group of men in police uniforms and an unmarked car.
[ ] An aunty you recognise from The Friendly Food Pandas.
[ ] A postman, holding a package.
Instead she spends her time looking for cheap thrift bargains on the Internet that she then resells on mudah.my. But Soros has struck again and now her home is full of stuff.
I've never seen any being done, nope. Storage space is cheap and easily forgotten about here, as warehouses full of thirty-year-old goodness-knows-what can attest to.
You stay in your room all day playing Omima Online with the air conditioning on full blast until it's almost too late to shower. You run the water for five minutes until all the hot water is gone
The buffet is at dinner time - Amanda stayed in gaming until there almost wasn't enough time to shower before going to the buffet. (These things are usually pretty relaxed schedule-wise anyway, but you don't usually want to show up too late.)
The hot water is the water that got heated up in the pipes that the sun has been shining on all day! Amanda ran the hot water out so she could get a cold shower.
Yeah, we JUST got a super roll upcoming. We want to be able to dump expensive things into the gacha this time, not be in lockup and either waste the super roll making something desperately or be unable to roll for fear of wasting it!
To clarify for the non-Malaysians/Singaporeans, the malay word mata literally means eye, and mata-mata means eyes, plural.
However, because TV detectives in the 60s and 70s were always wearing them bitchin' shades, the term "mata-mata gelap", literally "dark eyes", came into being to refer detectives. It's since been shortened to mata.
