thefolder | New Years Festival!

New Years Festival!

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!

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Trixie tilted her hat in acknowledgement.

"A crowd often expects promptness...as it stands however we have only the smallest of crowds. They may be more lenient."

Privately Trixie hoped so. This was her first time playing support for another performer being the star and she would prefer that it all went according to plan.

Kit nodded. "Yeah," she said. "We've still got a little while before we start anyway, so we should be OK."

"And see?" Kit took the sign out of the wagon and held it up for Trixie to see. "Mikey helped me make this sign. That way, we can go have fun ourselves and get stuff to eat between shows." Because no matter how much one liked performing, a festival like this wouldn't be much fun if you couldn't just go enjoy it a bit.

Trixie's smirk curled and gave a nod.

"You are thinking things out well. Covering all the bases." She went on "Of course you can only plan so much."

Which was where improvisation came in. But Trixie was doing her best to act as a mentor and not praise more then guide.

Kit nodded as she began unloading her stuff from the wagon. "Yeah," she agreed. "You can never tell when something weird is going to happen. Like getting sucked through a magic tunnel and landing in another world."

Kit grinned in mischievous amusement to Trixie and giggled a bit. Obviously neither of them were anticipating anything that strange happening during the show; once was quite enough.

Trixie blinked confused but the joke caught up with her and she chuckled.

"Well one would hope it doesn't happen again before we finish doing whatever it is we're supposed to be doing here." She remarked watching Kit unpack her supplies.

"Yeah," Kit said. "Bad enough we all got yanked away from whatever we're supposed to be doing back home; we wouldn't wanna get yanked away from what we're supposed to be doing here too."

The rocks proved the most difficult to get out, given that they were, well, big heavy rocks. Kit got them out of the wagon, one at a time though, and plunked them on a corner of the stage. Kit sighed in relief, then started to bring up the sign; unlike the rocks, it wasn't heavy, but it was awkwardly large for someone her size. "OK," she said. "Now once we get the sign where we want it, we can just sorta slide the rocks into place to hold it down."

Trixie had been perfectly fine watching Kit move the rocks despite worried looks from her Pawnchessmon...

...at least she thought they were worried looks. His helmet made it impossible to tell.

But as she struggled with the sign Trixie felt a pang of guilt. It was a new emotion and one she was not too accustomed to. All she knew for sure was she hated it and so with a sigh she moved over to help take one end of the sign and steer it easier.

"Minion, move those rocks when we set the sign down so that it is secure."

Pawnchessmon gave a sharp salute and scurried over to the rocks as Trixie let Kit lead them over to the proper position.

Minion need not have worried; Kit had put the rocks in the wagon, and she could get them out again. She was just glad that she didn't have to carry them very far.

Kit smiled as Trixie helped her with the sign. "Thanks," she said. "The sign's not heavy, it's just big."

She glanced around the stage trying to determine the best location. It'd have to be off to one side, or no one would be able to see Kit. But which side? The nearer side would probably be easier for them all, sh decided as she headed them over that way.

Meanwhile, there were important questions to ask. "You named your digimon 'Minion'?" she asked, apparently amused by Trixie's choice of name.

"It seemed more polite then Lackie." The blue skinned girl commented idly. She had explained this more then a few times, but far be it from Trixie not to retell a story.

"He seems most suited to support work. Appropriate given Trixie does not usually share a stage. Trixie has heard not all Digimon and chosen get along and considers herself lucky to have found one that appreciates just how important she is."

"I guess so," Kit said. "I mean, I'm glad you're getting along and everything, but I don't really think we're any more important than the Digimon. They're supposed to be our partners, not our servants." Besides, one person or group acting like they were better than everyone else tended to cause trouble, as Thundara had found out the hard way.

"Long as you're both happy, though, I guess it's OK," Kit said. "Different people are good at different stuff, after all."

"Anyway, I think here is good," Kit said, setting the sign down on a corner of the stage. She stepped back a moment to look at it critically before going back and straightening it a bit. "There. That's better. We should probly put the rocks in now." She turned to the Pawnchessmon. "Your turn, Minion."

Minion trundled forward, clanking and clicking as he did.

"Of course Miss Kit!" He chimed in his strange echo of a voice before setting the rocks down.

Trixie meanwhile was pacing around the audience seating area trying to find a bad angle. "This is good. This is very workable."

Kit giggled a bit at Minion. "You don't have to call me 'Miss' you know," she said. "Just Kit's fine."

Kit held the sign still while Minion put the rocks in place. She looked up when Trixie commented that the angle was workable. "Yup, I thought so," Kit said. "Wouldn't wanna block anybody's view or anything, after all."

And to that end, while Trixie had been walking around the audience area, Emerick had been exploring the stage, looking for the ideal spot for Kit to sit. "Hey, can you see me OK from where you are?", she asked Trixie when she thought she'd found a good spot. "Do you think this would be a good place for Kit to sit?"

Trixie peered in the direction of the stage and nodded. "Yes, Trixie can see you clearly. So long as Kit projects her voice she should have no problem keeping the attention of the crowd."

The former Unicorn found it particularly exciting and she wasn't sure why. It wasn't like it was her performance. But the idea of this girl having her first big group performance and being able to help make that happen sent a thrill through her.

"Great!", Emerick said. "Thanks!" The Salamon scurried off back stage, only to return a moment later dragging a comfy looking cushion that Kit would be sitting on for the performance into place.

Kit, meanwhile, looked around the stage with a slightly nervous grin as they got things set up. "I've never played for a real audience before," Kit said. "I mean, there've been people around who listened, and stuff, but they just kinda... happened to be there, ya know?" She paused a moment. "I hope everything goes OK."

Trixie considered this for a moment and gave a nod.

"It is time to build up your confidence Wilykit." She declared. "This is your show. Your stage and your stories! You are doing this audience a great service by sharing it with them and they should be grateful and respectful of the work you are putting into it."

At least that was how Trixie handled things.

"Stand tall and proud! You are an amazing girl. A great girl with untapped potential! Are you going to let anything stop you from putting on the best performance possible?"

Kit listened, tilting her head slightly to one side thoughtfully. "I think I understand," Kit said. "At least about the respect part. If somebody puts a lot of work into something, that always deserves respect." That was one of the main points of 'The Cleric and the Candlemaker', in fact; dedication was something to respect, whether it resulted in something as powerful as magic, or a ordinary as a simple candle.

"But Roze and everybody put in a lot of work to make the festival nice too," Kit said. "Which is why we have to make sure we do a good job; Roze and everybody deserves that."

"I've just always played because I like playing," Kit said. "I never really saw it as doing anybody a favor. I just... wanna make sure everybody has fun here. I mean, that's what festivals are for, right?"

"But whatever happens, I'm totally not gonna let anything stop me from doing my best!", she agreed with a grin. Though a moment later, she added, "Well, unless it's something like an earthquake or other big thing like that. Don't think anybody'd be sicking around to watch in that case anyway, tough."

Edited 2014-02-25 02:23 (UTC)

Trixie couldn't help but smirk. This child was still so pure and innocent to the world of entertaining. It would be wrong of her to spoil that.

"Of course. Though if you are that amazing a story teller they may ignore the earthquake just so they can hear the end of your story." She teased.

Kit giggled. "Maybe," she said. "But that's only if I decided to stick around and try to keep telling it, instead of trying to take cover." Because as fun as performing would likely be, Kit was not dumb, and taking shelter in case of such a disaster was important.

Trixie rolled her eyes because well obviously.

But kit was still a filly so she could be forgiven. A talented filly no less.

"Let us continue the preparations, perhaps you'll even have time to enjoy the other booths before your show."

Edited 2014-03-02 20:31 (UTC)

"OK!", Kit said, grinning as she went back to work setting up. This was going to be a night to remember.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

New Years Festival!

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

Re: Storytelling & Flupe - Wily-Kit

And time to wrap it up?

Works for me! :)