Unexpected Souvenir

Latvia Mochi

You sigh unhappily at the neon letters that seem to glare at you mockingly.

Kavējas (Delayed)

The weather in the Baltics has been unpredictable lately, hence your delay in Riga. This was the first of many connection flights you have yet to make to reach your destination. You decided a while ago that you want to visit Russia, but Mother Nature seems to have other ideas for you. Now you're stuck in Latvia as a nasty storm rages outside.

You wait patiently for a while, hoping the weather would change for the better. A glance at a clock tells you it's been 20 minutes, and still no sign that the storm would let up. All this waiting is going to drive you crazy, so you get up to find something to do. You maneuver yourself, and your small rolling suitcase, through the crowd of irritated people, who are also disappointed to see their flights delayed. It's a good thing you packed light because you're having enough trouble getting around people with your carry on as it is.

A few people give you annoyed looks as you try to slide past them, but you manage make it through just fine. You spot a place selling coffee and decide that would be just the thing to get your mind off of the awful gloom outside. Luckily, the person behind the counter knows enough English to understand what you want, and you're soon met with the smell of warm, steaming coffee.

You sit in an empty seat near enough to your terminal that you'll be able to see if anything changes, but far enough away that you won't have to deal with any disgruntled people. The coffee beckons to you with its warm, earthy smell, so you take a careful sip. It leaves a slightly bitter taste in your mouth, but that's just the way coffee is. You stare out the window while taking another sip. Dark clouds roll across the sky as heavy winds howl relentlessly.

"Shoot," you murmur. There's no way this storm is blowing over any time soon.

You're about to drink more of your coffee when a quiet squeak from the seat next to you draws your attention. You look over to find a round, white object with big blue eyes trembling as if it had just seen a ghost. It's eyes flicker up to you for a moment before going back to staring straight ahead.

"Hello," you say gently. You're afraid you'll scare whatever it is more than it already appears to be.

"S-sveiki (hello)," it says. Its voice also shakes as much as its round little body.

You have no idea what this strange object could be, but you feel oddly responsible for consoling the poor thing. It looks absolutely terrified, and you want to change that. A cute little thing like that shouldn't look like it thinks it's going to be murdered any second.

"My name's (y/n). What's yours? Er...um do you speak English?"

"Y-y-yes," the little thing answers. "M-my name is...L-Latvia Mochi."

"Nice to meet you, Latvia Mochi," you say with an encouraging smile.

"Y-yes, nice t-to meet you."

"Can I ask you a bit of a personal question?" you ask.

"Um, yes. I-I think that's okay," the shaky thing says.

"What are you, exactly? I've never seen anything like you before," you tell it curiously.

"W-well, I'm a mochi," it answers.

"Mochi?"

"Yes, it's a kind of rice d-dumpling," it explains. It doesn't really make much sense to you, but you don't want to pressure Latvia Mochi into explaining further.

"And you're a boy, correct?" you ask.

"Oh! U-uh, y-yes," he replies. His shaking has calmed down a little, and he looks more comfortable that before.