The noisy swing set provides the needed energy…back and forth, you sway, alternating between slow and steady, to fast and high.
“D’you always hang out during the night at some playground or something?” a voice asks, you don’t immediately turn your head, it wasn’t like you didn’t hear the footsteps, you just didn’t expect them to actually speak to you.
“…not really, but it’s fun” you answered.
Back and forth, the swinging continues…rusty hooks of this metal contraption emits the usual creaking sound.
“Huh…I guess it is…mind if I just…I don’t know? stay here?”
“Be my guest…just don’t be annoying, like…don’t try to judge me or randomly get creepy”
laughter can be heard, not from you of course. You don’t feel any malice though, you shrug to yourself, perhaps you’re just an amusing person.
“I bought some late night snacks from the nearby convenience store, you want some?”
You slow down your pace, turning to look at the stranger finally, you focus on the bag and the contents that you can make out.
“Hm…do you have a gum or something? if not then…I don’t think I’ll take your offer”
Rustling penetrates the silence moments later before finally, a sigh.
“No luck, I guess I didn’t buy any”
“Alright…then humor me I guess. Why did you talk to me?”
Silence once again, you’re not sure if this is the part where you should run or if the stranger is just thinking.
“I don’t know, something just…tells me that it wouldn’t hurt to talk to you. Pfft, unless of course you prove me wrong”
This time, it’s your turn to laugh, being caught off guard by the joke. It eased the tension a bit, thankfully.
“Do you like rocks?”
“Huh? that’s interesting…well…what kind of rocks? like…for jewelry?”
“Just…rocks…because some common rocks from the ground gets picked up by people, kids mostly…gets cleaned and stuff, named, loved…they didn’t even need to be shiny or different colored or smooth…just…a rock”
More humming ensues, noise that indicates pondering. You’re not really sure why you started the conversation like that, but it just felt right. Hell, it’s not even something you often think about.
“I guess rocks are cool…but…anything can have value for as long as someone sees it as valuable, yeah?”
You don’t know if you’re taken aback or not, but you do feel a slight appreciation towards the sentiment. You know that you weren’t being complimented…but it felt good to know that value isn’t linear or set in stone…
“…that’s true…I wonder if I’m someone’s ‘cool random rock’. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it…feels more like a rock with dirt”
The stranger slowly moves away after looking at the time, walking back to the main street but not before turning to you, you look back.
“I think you’re cool. So…when you feel like a neglected, random rock, just know…someone sees you as a cool rock.”
You snap yourself out of your shock before calling out to the stranger.
A fan week to celebrate Cheritz's games: Dandelion, Nameless, Mystic Messenger and The Ssum
When Is It?
Sunday the 14th to Saturday the 20th of June!
How Do I Participate?
You can post any kind of Cheritz fanwork with the tag #Cheritz Appreciation Week 2026. Your fanwork could be anything though, anything at all. A couple of ideas include-
Art
Comics
Fanfiction
Headcanons
Meta
Edits
Incorrect quotes
Memes
Theory/analysis
Mood boards/stim boards
Cosplay
Animations
Music videos
Fangames
Archives
Character shrines
Fanlistings, fansites
Fan tournaments
Fan merch
Character studies
It can literally be anything you want though, and I encourage you to think outside the box if that's what you wanna do, especially cuz we've got plenty of time to prepare for it!!
As well as making your own submissions, please share the info about the fanweek as far as you possibly can so we can get as many people taking part as possible!
Where Do I Start?
The prompts for the fanweek are as follows:
14th June: Swap
15th June: Fashion
16th June: Career
17th June: Challenge
18th June: Study
19th June: Royal
20th June: Future
However! These prompts are only suggestions :) they are entirely optional and are just there for you to get some ideas for your submission in the fanweek! You could ignore them all completely, or even mix and match - it's completely up to you!
To recap: your submission can be anything related to Cheritz in the 3rd week of June as long as it is posted in the #Cheritz Appreciation Week 2026 tag! ;)
Cheritz Appreciation Week was hosted originally in October of 2016 with the prompts: ladies of Cheritz, candy/sweet pastries, sky/space, LGBT, body swap, flower crown, and thank you Cheritz. Today, Cheritz has a whole new game that did not exist at the time that the original fan week took place, as well as more fans, more fan content, and more DLC! Last year, I hosted it with the prompts: domestic, trio, apology, solar, cherry, thank you, surprise.
Approaching Mystic Messenger's 10th birthday, what's not to appreciate? Let's all come back together this year to appreciate Cheritz again <3
