New Years Festival!

[leaderkun]

Who: EVERYONE! Chosen and Partners, Damemon, Deputymon, Starmon too!
What: The New Year's Festival and Masquerade Ball
Where: Shinjuku Gyoen in the Park
When: December 31st



December 31st has at last arrived, and despite certain events depriving the Digital World of the original creator, the people involved with the New Years Festival managed to pull through. With Roze's work already underway and the designs and directions sent out, it wasn't hard to finish what had been started.

At mid-afternoon, a general text was sent out to all the D-Terminals announcing the festival grounds as open. Going to the Shinjuku Gyoen part of the park revealed a tiny wonderland of games and food manned by Chosen, Partners and Damemon alike.

Every Chosen and Partner have Damemon helpers and shifts rotate at each stall, making certain no one is kept from enjoying themselves to the fullest.

To either side of the festival grounds are picnic areas set up with several tables, all surrounded by bright white and yellow string lights. The four rows of game and food stalls are all decorated with large red paper lanterns, paper dragons and bright string lights, allowing the festivities to proceed well after dark.

At the front of the entire festival grounds Roze's Digimon - Julie the Impmon and Musashi the Kotemon - hand out copies of a simple map. On the back of each map the times for the masquerade dance are printed in case people forgot the time from their invitations.

In the Taiwan Pavilion, from the start of the festival to the end, Maya Matlin and Ryan Evans play music on piano and cello, rotating with Neku Sakuraba who maintains a steady flow of pre-arranged music. Several times throughout the day a handful of Digimon put on a simple but entertaining Taiko drum performance. Two long buffet tables filled with food and punch stay full throughout the day and night.

Jin Uzuki teaches calligraphy at one stall, as well as performs tea ceremony and lectures on Japanese traditions for those not educated on the themes presented by the festival.

Squall Leonhart stands sentinel over the Kingyo Sukui (goldfish catching) stall.

Campbell Saunders covers the ball toss, where people can try their luck knocking down milk bottles.

The Medicine Seller mans the Okonomiyaki cart, where people are free to order any combination of ingredients and eat hot food straight from the iron.

Mikasa Ackerman covers a colorful and pleasant-smelling stall where festival-goers can choose from dozens of bananas on sticks, the fruit dipped in different flavored coatings and numerous toppings.

Shannon Vaughn and Eli Delacroix cover the stall on the center walk where those at the festival can pick up sparklers and handmade papier-mâché masks for fun or the masquerade, if they have none of their own.

A ping pong toss with water-filled glass bowls sits with a pair of Damemon attendants cheering on participants.

Next to the Okonomiyaki cart, Saori Nakagawa and Laguna Loire provide fresh Takoyaki (octopus balls) on sticks, steaming and delicious.

The local Prince, Rowan, cheerily provides personal pies or slices of ready-made large ones and chats amiably with anyone who happens to be drawn in by meat or fruit fillings inside flaky crusts.

Cheerful little Miwako Sakurada watches the Yoyo Tsuri (water balloon yoyo) cart, balloons in bright splashes of color floating in a rotating pool of water, casting a rainbow across the cloth roof of the stall.

The ever large and boisterous Rider struts around a Strongman Hammer game, jeering and cajoling the men and complimenting the women, making bets and offering arm-wrestling competitions.

Little Wily-Kit has a raised platform surrounded by cushions where people can sit and listen to her play the flupe and regale them with tales from her homeland.

Dante sits at a stall of his own, playing guitar when he's not giving kisses for donations to the festival fund.

A ring toss game where one can try to put small rings around the necks of glass bottles stands manned by two Damemon arguing restlessly about the arrangement of the bottles.

Waver Velvet and his Wizardmon stand to dazzle onlookers with card tricks and details of magic performed in Waver's homeland.

Next to Wily-Kit's storytelling and Waver's tricks, Harry Potter serves up a variety of hot drinks close to the front of the festival so people have something to warm their hands and bellies while they enjoy the festivities.

Throughout the entire festival ground, Seifer Almasy and his hand-picked group of Digimon patrol the area, ejecting trouble-makers and seeing to damages while Yu Narukami and his team keep supplies full and assist Seifer with damage control.

The festival continues on through the day until the Masquerade Ball begins. All the stalls close and people are free to dress and attend as they like. Food and punch remains present and the music continues until midnight, when masks are to be removed and the New Year begins!

Comments

Sparklers & Masks - Shannon, Eli

[leaderkun]

[heroofbrightwall]

Leaving his own Digimon in charge of the pie stall for a while, Rowan eventually makes his way out into freedom to explore. His first stop, however, is the stand where Shannon and Eli were meant to be.

"Greetings!" he chimes happily, bearing his teeth in a smile. He was wearing a simple white lace-up shirt and dark purple breeches tucked into his boots for now. Cooking pies was messy work. "I believe I promised freshly baked pies?" the young royal remarked, setting a cloth-covered basket on the stall counter top. "I made you several full pies as requested, and one meat pie, just in case the lot of you get hungry while you're here."

Beaming that smile, bright eyes drifted from Shannon to Eli, a hand dusty with flour jutting out in greeting for a shake.

"Hello. I don't believe we've met. My name is Rowan."

[privatematter]

Despite the festivities going on all around them, Shannon and Eli seemed to be completely content to wait in their own stall and simply comment on the goings-on around them. They had made some sort of game out of it, becoming their own Statler and Waldorf. Kera had even joined in on the games, seeming to miraculously get along better with Eli and his Lucemon, Pip, better than anyone except Shannon himself.

When Rowan approached, Shannon grinned from underneath his mask. Although he had learned quite well that many of these masks were to be worn along the side of the head, he took turns switching masks around and alternating in front of his face or to the side — even the ones with no eye holes on them. Even funnier were the glasses that Eli insisted that they place over the face.

"Oh, it's His Majesty," Shannon greeted. "Bearing his promised gifts. Told ya we didn't need to bring anything on our own, Eli."

[aspectional]

Unlike his partner in crime, Eli was a bit less ridiculous with his mask, mostly due to the fact that he didn't have glasses to play with like Shannon did. He wore a red mask on the side of his head to fit in, but was otherwise dressed plainly. His expression went through a number of phases quickly when Rowan walked up, ranging from grinning to confusion, back to grinning and then wide-eyed curiosity at the basket.

"And here I thought you just wanted to make me suffer, Shannon," he said before taking Rowan's hand and giving it a firm shake in greeting. "Eli Delacroix. It's a pleasure, especially if you come bearing pies."

[heroofbrightwall]

"Ah ha! Yes. No. No need to bring anything. I keep my promises!" Mercy, was that ever that most golden truth told. Millions of gold and saved lives said that much, back in Albion. Not a promise broken by the fair Prince-King.

"You are full and welcome to return the basket and I'll see it filled again, if it please you both," he added, shaking Eli's hand with that smile never faltering. He had a full range of emotions, but the default Rowan offered was ever a sunny smile framed by those brown curls.

"Yes! Pies, smiles, handshakes, words of encouragement, royal decrees. You know, those sort of things. That's me, Rowan, delivering whatever you need in the moment!" he replied pleasantly, holding Eli's hand lightly as he offered a little courtly bow before releasing it. A quick glance and he cleared his throat, laughing nervously with an apologetic look.

"Sorry about that," Rowan murmured, plucking a lace-edged handkerchief from his back pocket and holding it out. "I seem to have, ah, powdered your palm a bit. Haha, Pies. At least it isn't berries?" he pointed out, gesturing to a stain that blended well enough with his purple trousers it was impossible to see without being pointed out.

[privatematter]

"But there are berries in these, right?" demanded Kera. He had already begun to pull the pies out and sort them by who got what after cursory sniffs of each treat. Cherries went straight to Shannon, of course, and blueberries were his domain where no one may tread near. Kera allowed the apple to go to Eli and Pip and then placed the meat pie between them.

"I can smell them from here," Shannon said with an invisible roll of his eyes. "There's definitely fruit in those. They're great," he added for Rowan's benefit. "I'll have to pay you back at some point."

"Why?" Kera asked. "He's just doing something useful for a guy who deserves it. Don't be so hard on yourself."

[aspectional]

Eli waves off the handkerchief with his unfloured hand and a cheerful "don't worry, I've got something better" before wiping the flour off on Kera's head, doing so to upset the obnoxious digimon. Looking at the pies Kera's pulling out and sorting, he grins widely.

"These look great and don't mind Kera. He's always like that. If you ignore him, he'll probably get bored and shut up. Or not, it's a coin toss on whether or not it works." His attention turns back to Kera and he frowns. "It's called being nice, squidlet, which I know is something you've never heard of, but most people like being so. Plus if you're going to be like that, I bet you that you're not going to be allowed to have any of that pie."

[heroofbrightwall]

Wiping a hand on Kera's head surprised Rowan immensely, large chocolate eyes growing even more round as he bit his bottom lip and covered his mouth with one hand. Goodness but he hadn't meant to start anything. It was just pies, after all, and it wasn't as if he didn't agree with the Digimon, Shannon probably deserved plenty of things. But then, who didn't, really?

"Well...the blueberry one I did give my word he would have. It wouldn't seem right if he didn't get to have it. Though, your manners do leave something to be desired," he murmured, arching a brow at Keramon, gesturing vaguely.

"Never mind it though, I've heard far worse. Impolite people are common enough that they cease to be noteworthy in short order." Naturally Rowan would simply smile at that comment, having no idea it could be considered a decent burn. He just thought he was being nice in brushing it off.

"If you all want more, I'd be happy to oblige. I'll be returning to the stall before long. I only took a break to drop these off."

[privatematter]

Kera shifted his head at the last moment, very intentionally letting his mouth open and licking the length of Eli's hand in hopes of creeping him out for being incredibly rude. Lesser beings should learn their place, but Shannon was very fond of this one for whatever reason and so it translated into some kind of rivalry that Kera was oh so obviously allowing. Definitely.

"You give manners to friends, not the jerk who uses you like a napkin," Kera said. Thus, the only one he ever had to be polite around was Shannon. Funny how that worked.

Meanwhile, Shannon had long since taken Eli's advice, having come up with it first, and merely nodded to Rowan. "Sure you don't want anything in exchange? We've got sparklers. Or masks. Ooh, Eli, do we still have that BK one?"