What a giant catfish taught me about happiness at Final Fantasy XIV fan festival

“If you notice,” says the catfish, “everyone is smiling around me.”

It’s true. This huge fish person has been waddling through crowds of people who grin even as they duck under the beast’s massive barbels. Several people are taking photographs. I peer into the gaping mouth of the fish. Two human hands suddenly lurch out, gripping onto the creature’s lips from the inside.

“I’m a namazu,” says Missy Allan, the 32-year-old woman in the costume. “It’s a giant catfish… and they’re generally really dumb-looking, and I love them… I thought it would bring a lot of happiness.”

When I suggest that it is also slightly terrifying, Missy is unfazed.

“That’s a part of their joy.”

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