Everyone's Idol, NICO♥ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
troublebusted) wrote2013-10-04 04:18 pm
troublebusted) wrote2013-10-04 04:18 pm
[LIVE SHOW] Festival of Illumination (Chantes, October 4th)
[In the corner of the square lies a rather large object, shrouded in cloths as though preparing a last-minute sheet ghost disguise. It's not the size of a building, although it's still remarkably large for something that appeared practically overnight. The hastily hired workers from the populace only really seemed to have started bustling in and out towards the end of its construction, although a few members of the ALASTAIR crew were involved earlier (Gintoki, Bolin, Steven, Gilgamesh). About twenty minutes into the festival, the stagehands (Bolin, Steven) remove the covering cloths to reveal the stage.
It's...opulent. It's certainly not as big as the Odette Theatre, but it may be outdoing it in peacocking. Thanks to time constraints limiting it, it might not be outdoing the palace as well. At least, as long as you assume that's just gold-coloured materials rather than actual gold. In that case, one could think this might have been bankrolled by a wealthy foreign merchant rather than an entire nation's GDP. There's good reason to think it's just gold-colour foil, but it's not. It's totally gold. There are frescos. Someone with an eye for literature might recognize scenes from the Epic of Gilgamesh, and possibly a close look might suggest that one of the men subduing a bull in one of the pieces looks oddly familiar. The main visible building material, aside from surely-that-can't-be-gold, appears to be wood. That this wood only covers a base made entirely of packed earth, which one would think would require hoardes of workers to bring in from outside and pack rather than one man with earthbending taking a few minutes while no one was looking to save time without making the stage vulnerable to collapse - that is a ridiculous assertion with no basis in reality. The stage itself is illuminated by banks of candles along the outer edge.
This may be a little more attention-grabbing than even Nico was aiming for, but such is the double-edged sword of being bankrolled by Gilgamesh, King of Heroes. Which people will know, given the banner down near the front which explicitly notes the sponsorship of Gilgamesh, King of Heroes.
Nico herself comes out from behind the curtain stretched across the back - an actual curtain, rather than the bedsheet she imagined she would have to use in another life where it was just her and Steven running the show - wearing a perhaps excessively cutesy outfit. Walking to the front of the stage and taking a deep breath, she addresses the crowds in a loud, clear voice (which, for those who have talked to Nico when she's not in full idol mode, is a little higher-pitched and a lot less grumpy than usual) and a practiced pose.]
Nico Nico Smile~☆ A Nico Nico Smile, straight to your heart! [She makes a heart with her hands.] I'm Nico Yazawa, here to give you a smile! Is everyone doing well? Please listen to my heartfelt song, just for you~♡
[She nods backstage, where Steven, entrusted with her phone, starts up the MP3 of the instrumental track of her song at maximum volume. Since it's a phone, that's not exactly the loudest thing in the world, but hey, it sounds like there must be a quiet band of musicians back there to the parts of the crowd closest to the stage. Initially turning her back to the audience, she starts to sing.]
Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
One step, one jump!
[Turned to the audience, she jumps, continuing the song's associated dance, although the steps are somewhat altered since, being on her own rather than in the nine-person group, she has to sometimes adopt the moves normally done by other members of the group.]
It's frustrating, we're still NO BRAND.
No one knows of us, we're NO BRAND.
Everything starts from this passionate feeling!
[She may have felt the song choice appropriate in their anonimity, continuing the song and dance with great enthusiasm. One small change to the dance steps comes as she sings about crossing "the rainbow of miracles," signalling her backstage crew to begin opening the back curtain. Behind it, there's a veritable fleet of floating lanterns, each tethered at different heights to make a nearly solid wall backlighting the stage in a multitude of colours - though the most common colour is definitely gold. Strangely, they're actually a very effective backlighting, seeming just a little brighter than most of the floating lanterns people have around. That surely isn't the result of strange powers. No, certainly not yet another king of some kind lending her a hand. On an unrelated note, one wonders where Anna's gotten to? Then again, she's small enough she's probably just lost in the crowd.... Meanwhile, as the curtain is pulled open, Nico continues her song:]
Walls (HI HI HI) can be demolished! (HI HI HI) Can be toppled!
Summon more courage from within yourself.
(HI HI HI) They can be demolished! (HI HI HI) They can be toppled!
Bravely, show me our future!
[As Nico moves into another set of OH YEAHs, the backdrop lanterns seem to be flickering, almost as if they're getting brighter and dimmer in what could seem like patterns. Nope no magic here you're all imagining it.]
Hurting each other's NO GOOD.
Falling out's NO GOOD.
Misunderstanding love is a bitter feeling.
That pain in your chest is NO GOOD - HURRY UP!
Giving up's NO GOOD - HURRY UP!
Yes, if we can become strong, our feelings can come true. YES I GO!
[She glances backstage again and, in the middle of the bridge, makes another gesture to the backstage - this time to the opposite side of the stage than when she'd signalled for the music to start. Suddenly, at the end of the bridge, eight more floating lanterns, these in pink, are pushed out from small holes at the front of the stage and float up to the edges of their tethers to line the front of the stage, four on either side of Nico. Obviously there must be more helpers crouched under the stage, as it would be ridiculous if the lanterns got pushed out by the packed earth under the stage thanks to an earthbender backstage. Also your imagination that all of the lanterns are even brighter than before. No witchcraft here!
Meanwhile, a rather large quantity of glitter begins to drift down from the roof of the stage, filling the air around Nico with sparkles as they catch the firelight. This actually isn't any kind of special powers, being just Steven's enthusiastic suggestion.]
The darkness (HI HI HI), let's blow it away! (HI HI HI) Let's drive it away!
You can change the present from within yourself.
(HI HI HI) Let's blow it away! (HI HI HI) Let's drive it away!
Bravely, show me our future!
That's right, we're all set!
[The dance break is perhaps a little strange for people too far into the crowd to hear the music from her phone, but she doesn't exactly have the option to shorten the song here. However, it is accompanied by the odd but not entirely impossible flickering of the lantern lights from the previous post-chorus, with clearer patterns thanks the longer time to work with and the need to keep attention during the lack of singing. Still not magic and still a coincidence. The song concludes without any other particular special effects, except the occasional unplanned spurt of glitter when some that didn't drop at the right time suddenly shifts.
She performs a minimum of three songs, even if the crowd response ends up lukewarm (or possibly silent just from having no clue what just happened), but if there is enthusiasm, she may go up to five or six before finishing, interspersing each song with enthusiastic tiny speeches to try to energize the crowd. There are perhaps fewer special effects, though variations on many of the previous ones show up from time to time. At the end, regardless of whether anyone is actually listening (she's nothing if not determined), she concludes with one such tiny speech:]
Thank you all for coming! ☆ Nico-ni loves you all~♡ Do you feel the Nico Nico Smile in your hearts? Let's hear you all Nico Nico Smile with me~ Are you ready? It's Nico Nico Smile~ On three. One, two - Nico Nico Smile~♡
[And then, waving to the crowd, she moves back between the curtain and the wall of floating lanterns, continuing to wave and bow until the curtain closes over her.]
It's...opulent. It's certainly not as big as the Odette Theatre, but it may be outdoing it in peacocking. Thanks to time constraints limiting it, it might not be outdoing the palace as well. At least, as long as you assume that's just gold-coloured materials rather than actual gold. In that case, one could think this might have been bankrolled by a wealthy foreign merchant rather than an entire nation's GDP. There's good reason to think it's just gold-colour foil, but it's not. It's totally gold. There are frescos. Someone with an eye for literature might recognize scenes from the Epic of Gilgamesh, and possibly a close look might suggest that one of the men subduing a bull in one of the pieces looks oddly familiar. The main visible building material, aside from surely-that-can't-be-gold, appears to be wood. That this wood only covers a base made entirely of packed earth, which one would think would require hoardes of workers to bring in from outside and pack rather than one man with earthbending taking a few minutes while no one was looking to save time without making the stage vulnerable to collapse - that is a ridiculous assertion with no basis in reality. The stage itself is illuminated by banks of candles along the outer edge.
This may be a little more attention-grabbing than even Nico was aiming for, but such is the double-edged sword of being bankrolled by Gilgamesh, King of Heroes. Which people will know, given the banner down near the front which explicitly notes the sponsorship of Gilgamesh, King of Heroes.
Nico herself comes out from behind the curtain stretched across the back - an actual curtain, rather than the bedsheet she imagined she would have to use in another life where it was just her and Steven running the show - wearing a perhaps excessively cutesy outfit. Walking to the front of the stage and taking a deep breath, she addresses the crowds in a loud, clear voice (which, for those who have talked to Nico when she's not in full idol mode, is a little higher-pitched and a lot less grumpy than usual) and a practiced pose.]
Nico Nico Smile~☆ A Nico Nico Smile, straight to your heart! [She makes a heart with her hands.] I'm Nico Yazawa, here to give you a smile! Is everyone doing well? Please listen to my heartfelt song, just for you~♡
[She nods backstage, where Steven, entrusted with her phone, starts up the MP3 of the instrumental track of her song at maximum volume. Since it's a phone, that's not exactly the loudest thing in the world, but hey, it sounds like there must be a quiet band of musicians back there to the parts of the crowd closest to the stage. Initially turning her back to the audience, she starts to sing.]
Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh yeah!
One step, one jump!
[Turned to the audience, she jumps, continuing the song's associated dance, although the steps are somewhat altered since, being on her own rather than in the nine-person group, she has to sometimes adopt the moves normally done by other members of the group.]
It's frustrating, we're still NO BRAND.
No one knows of us, we're NO BRAND.
Everything starts from this passionate feeling!
[She may have felt the song choice appropriate in their anonimity, continuing the song and dance with great enthusiasm. One small change to the dance steps comes as she sings about crossing "the rainbow of miracles," signalling her backstage crew to begin opening the back curtain. Behind it, there's a veritable fleet of floating lanterns, each tethered at different heights to make a nearly solid wall backlighting the stage in a multitude of colours - though the most common colour is definitely gold. Strangely, they're actually a very effective backlighting, seeming just a little brighter than most of the floating lanterns people have around. That surely isn't the result of strange powers. No, certainly not yet another king of some kind lending her a hand. On an unrelated note, one wonders where Anna's gotten to? Then again, she's small enough she's probably just lost in the crowd.... Meanwhile, as the curtain is pulled open, Nico continues her song:]
Walls (HI HI HI) can be demolished! (HI HI HI) Can be toppled!
Summon more courage from within yourself.
(HI HI HI) They can be demolished! (HI HI HI) They can be toppled!
Bravely, show me our future!
[As Nico moves into another set of OH YEAHs, the backdrop lanterns seem to be flickering, almost as if they're getting brighter and dimmer in what could seem like patterns. Nope no magic here you're all imagining it.]
Hurting each other's NO GOOD.
Falling out's NO GOOD.
Misunderstanding love is a bitter feeling.
That pain in your chest is NO GOOD - HURRY UP!
Giving up's NO GOOD - HURRY UP!
Yes, if we can become strong, our feelings can come true. YES I GO!
[She glances backstage again and, in the middle of the bridge, makes another gesture to the backstage - this time to the opposite side of the stage than when she'd signalled for the music to start. Suddenly, at the end of the bridge, eight more floating lanterns, these in pink, are pushed out from small holes at the front of the stage and float up to the edges of their tethers to line the front of the stage, four on either side of Nico. Obviously there must be more helpers crouched under the stage, as it would be ridiculous if the lanterns got pushed out by the packed earth under the stage thanks to an earthbender backstage. Also your imagination that all of the lanterns are even brighter than before. No witchcraft here!
Meanwhile, a rather large quantity of glitter begins to drift down from the roof of the stage, filling the air around Nico with sparkles as they catch the firelight. This actually isn't any kind of special powers, being just Steven's enthusiastic suggestion.]
The darkness (HI HI HI), let's blow it away! (HI HI HI) Let's drive it away!
You can change the present from within yourself.
(HI HI HI) Let's blow it away! (HI HI HI) Let's drive it away!
Bravely, show me our future!
That's right, we're all set!
[The dance break is perhaps a little strange for people too far into the crowd to hear the music from her phone, but she doesn't exactly have the option to shorten the song here. However, it is accompanied by the odd but not entirely impossible flickering of the lantern lights from the previous post-chorus, with clearer patterns thanks the longer time to work with and the need to keep attention during the lack of singing. Still not magic and still a coincidence. The song concludes without any other particular special effects, except the occasional unplanned spurt of glitter when some that didn't drop at the right time suddenly shifts.
She performs a minimum of three songs, even if the crowd response ends up lukewarm (or possibly silent just from having no clue what just happened), but if there is enthusiasm, she may go up to five or six before finishing, interspersing each song with enthusiastic tiny speeches to try to energize the crowd. There are perhaps fewer special effects, though variations on many of the previous ones show up from time to time. At the end, regardless of whether anyone is actually listening (she's nothing if not determined), she concludes with one such tiny speech:]
Thank you all for coming! ☆ Nico-ni loves you all~♡ Do you feel the Nico Nico Smile in your hearts? Let's hear you all Nico Nico Smile with me~ Are you ready? It's Nico Nico Smile~ On three. One, two - Nico Nico Smile~♡
[And then, waving to the crowd, she moves back between the curtain and the wall of floating lanterns, continuing to wave and bow until the curtain closes over her.]