[FrostWynd]

Millie (#bd2e2e) -- Callahan (#d35800) -- Aare (#d5aa6d)

Time was flying by really quick...

It would only be a matter of hours until the contest would begin, and Millie had been working really hard to prepare herself and learn everything she needed to conduct her upcoming performance flawlessly. Were the costumes that were made for this actually ready? Had she placed her feet correctly during that last spin? Did more adjustments need to be made to her hair?

There were so many thoughts going through her head, and everything had to be perfect...

[FrostWynd]

Slowly waving an arm above her in time to music they had playing in the background to accompany her dance, her practices had continued on without pause. That was, until she felt something fluffy bump into her leg as she went for a twirl, and a misstep occurred. Her concentration would falter, and she knew immediately she'd messed up as her companion, and partner for the performance, let out a yip as they got knocked aside.

[FrostWynd]

Out of instinct, Millie had to stop what she was doing, as she wanted to check on Aare. But before she even had the chance to move towards him, a harsh voice halted her from making even a single step.

"No, no , no!" Came the beginnings of what would undoubtedly lead up to an incoming lecture. "Millie! Please get your head out of the clouds already! You need to be more aware of your partner! And your movements are lacking precision and focus here! You do want to win this contest, don't you!?"

[FrostWynd]

The performance had to be perfect...

While he wouldn't outright say that last part, Millie had a pretty good idea of what her father was thinking right about now. All the while, she did nothing more than stand there to take in every single word he had to say, looking at him with a steely gaze. "Yes, father." She'd respond flatly, once he had finished. "I'll get it right next time..." At that, he nodded. "Good!" Then he'd turn to go and start the music again from the beginning.

[FrostWynd]

Nothing about any of this was new to her. Contests were pretty much everything to her family, for a very long time. This particular festival was especially important to them, that there was extra pressure involved for her to succeed. All because of some tradition that she now had to follow into so that she too could march proudly in the parade that was to follow. Her parents had also been contestants at one point in their lives when they had come of a certain age, as did their parents, and so on. All through those generations, they'd had the honor of being the selected winners to join the parade.

[FrostWynd]

Could she keep up with such expectations?

There was no room for doubt in her mind, not when the contest was so close. But if things were to turn out badly enough that she did fail, who knows what that could bring upon her, on top of the utter shame of knowing among her relatives as the first to be such a failure.

The grip on a staff she'd been holding, that was going to be a prop for the performance in her role as the Seraph, had tightened...

[FrostWynd]

Aare's long ear on that side would twitch just so slightly, and he looked over to Millie with concern. His hearing being sharp enough to detect the sound her hands had made against the polished wood, and he knew it wasn't a good sign. Even if his face was hidden beneath the mask that was fashioned to resemble the Dragon, hiding most expressions, the look he was giving her was still distinct enough. When she noticed him looking at her, Millie's expression softened into a smile, and she whispered under her breath... "I'll be fine, Aare, promise. Sorry for kicking you, by the way..."

[FrostWynd]

Afterwards, the room they were in would fill back up again with the same music which had been restarted, and the practice would resume in full swing. Under her father's added coaching, to help ensure she had the choreography down, Millie forced back all the lingering thoughts to the back of her mind, where they belonged.

Then the time for the contest to soon begin was almost here. And all three of them were in the middle of a huge crowd that had gathered in the middle of the city for the festivities.

[FrostWynd]

They had tried to plan ahead and kept their practicing for the last few weeks isolated to a building that was close enough to be a fairly short walk to the tent that Millie needed to be at right about now to finalize her entry into the contest, as they'd expected travelling to be difficult with all the locals and tourists wanting to participate in just the festival itself. But this... this crowd was absolutely ridiculous!

Traffic through the streets was heavily jammed and backed up as people were busying themselves with the various activities that were available all around the different stalls and tents. Gawking at wares was especially a problem in certain areas, as that made getting through even worse. What only added further to the confusion was when someone started calling for people to start clearing the area, down the same street that they needed to go through... The tent was right there just ahead!

"We're gonna be late at this rate!" Millie realized with dismay as she spotted a nearby clock on one of the buildings.

[FrostWynd]

Even Callahan was not super pleased by the way things were turning out. Perhaps they should've cut the last bit of practice out in favor of coming here sooner... But it was too late to start regretting his choices right now. He had to get his daughter to that tent, right now.

"Out of my way!" The man barked loudly, starting to shove aside anyone that looked easy enough to barge his way past. It didn't matter who it was, child, woman, man, if they got in his way, he'd make them think twice about having stood there.

Weaving his way around, the group would totally ignore whoever was interfering with traffic and moved on ahead to the tent. Where they would only barely make it within the nick of time as Millie and Aare also received a small share of her father's shoving capabilities, and he immediately pushed them right on through the door hastily, following behind them shortly after.

Join the contest.

[FrostWynd]

The whole time that Millie was being practically dragged around through that crowd and taken right to the tent, the girl thought for sure that she was going to seriously trip or something. Luckily that didn't actually happen, and they were now actually where they needed to be. However, they were still far from being able to relax, as they now needed to find the one organizing the contest to get her properly signed up...

Amid all the hustle and bustle that Millie had to assume was from people who were either staff, or even other participants, busying themselves with setting things up, her father would take hold of her wrist and lead her down towards the center. Aare would be closely following behind.

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When they got to the center, and found the individual that appeared to be the one they'd been looking for, it was a safe bet to say that the small group were filled with relief at having finally made it, and even hopeful as Callahan was about to address the man in the suit. But the incoming pleasantness her father was about to build up to was quickly swept away in just seconds, as soon as all parties were looking to one another, and the apologies followed.

Callahan's face twisted up into a scowl, and they all looked over to the strange man that had taken away Millie's chance to join the contest. Even Aare could sense that Callahan was now in a foul mood, that his ears drooped suddenly. Uh-oh...

It was on the verge of getting ugly.

Was this actually happening? Did this mean she wouldn't have to go through with her family's tradition after all? Such a thing had never happened before as far as Millie knew, and now she worried if that meant she'd automatically become a failure in their eyes just because of one thing that was totally out of their control. This man had gotten the slot fair and square, there was absolutely no denying that.

But she knew her father was going to try and argue with the host to reconsider their decision.

[FrostWynd]

When the other man would offer his idea of having both of them do a performance together, both the girl and fox had to look up at Callahan suddenly, with doubt and uncertainty painted all over their faces. They were faced with a choice that Millie never expected at all, and she wondered if such a thing could actually even work.

The main problem would be her father, who resorted to glaring daggers at them. "No. There is no way in hell my daughter is doing her performance with someone like you." He didn't like that look in their eyes one bit, and his appearance already had the more professional man judging him...

"Dad!" Millie had butted in, before Callahan could go any further than that. She reached for the sleeve of his coat and gave it a rough tug. "Stop. You heard that man earlier. If we don't do this, I won't be in the contest period. Is that what you really want?" Before he went and let his feelings get in the way, they needed to keep in mind why they were here in the first place!

Both father and daughter would exchange looks, as neither one was happy about the situation, for a solid minute, before Callahan finally relented. "Fine. But if you cause my daughter any trouble..." He had started toward Auberon, and Millie had to intervene again. "Dad! Enough already! I think he gets the point!"

[FrostWynd]

Callahan would then fall silent, giving the man one final glare before turning away. "I'll go speak with the host, and get your stuff ready..." He'd mutter, and would walk off to somewhere else in the tent. Thankfully that was enough to get him to back off for now, but jeez they were starting to attract attention with the scene that her father was making as she noticed some people were now staring at them... Millie let out a major sigh, before turning to Auberon. "I'm... sorry about him. This wasn't exactly part of the plan, you see..." She tried to explain, but Auberon didn't appear too fussed about it as he shrugged. "Eh, it's alright. No harm done, really." She kind of disagreed, as her father could have handled that better, but... whatever.

Now that Callahan was out of the way for the time being, and things were beginning to calm down, Millie could finally focus on what was clearly going to be a problem. The performance the pair needed to do for the contest... "Right... So. Auberon was it? You said you can at least dance?"

[FrostWynd]

"Yep, that's right. It's nothing super snazzy, but it should work if that's what you need from me." Auberon would respond, now taking a gander at what he was getting from this young girl. "So you're, uh... Not doing that dragon part yourself too?" In their rush to reach the tent, Millie still had some bits of the Seraph's costume still being worn, so it was kind of an obvious observation as she shook her head. "No, it was actually supposed to be my partner here that was going to be fulfilling that part." She'd motion with a hand to the small brown fox that was by her side, and Aare stared back for... probably only a couple of seconds before he started feeling intimidated by Auberon's gaze.

"Hmm... I see! Think we'll need two dragons for the performance though? ...Ah, not judging or anything, of course." And that was... a good point actually. Despite how hard Aare had been working just as much as Millie to get this performance perfected, having a second dragon was probably unnecessary, and may only hinder things rather than help... "I suppose not... Are you okay with that though, Aare?" The fox would be disappointed, based on how his ears drooped, but he soon nodded. Clearly he was going to have to sit things out, as much as he didn't like it.

"Alright... I'll need to see what kind of dancing you can do, and try to work both that and my routine into the performance if I can. And do you have your own costume?" Millie would ask, her mind quickly starting to turn. They were going to have a lot of work to be done in a very short span of time... "Oh, uh... A costume? Yeah, I got something. It's over here, lemme show you."

Team up with Auberon.