RP: The Arts Festival - Day One

[shh_su]

Date: 10 August 2005
Characters: Su, Rabastan, Caradoc, Ernie, Marietta, Kingsley, Cedric, Slughorn, anyone and everyone
Location: Streets of Stoatshead Hill [Arts Festival Area]
Status: Very Public
Summary: It's Day One of the Arts Festival
Completion: Incomplete

Comments

[shh_marietta]

As they finished Cauldron, the crowd applauded, not just politely but almost enthusiastically. Their response apparently had given Ernie the confidence he needed, and Marietta couldn't help smiling. Once the tent had quieted down, Ernie began playing the introduction to Tiny Dancer and sang the opening words faultlessly and, by all appearances, without breaking a sweat. This was his song, she knew, the one he wanted to sing mostly on his own, and she held back until the chorus, when she sang along with him, hitting the high notes that he couldn't reach.

Ernie's singing and guitar playing were close to flawless. His voice wobbled a tiny bit at one point, but not enough to be noticeable to anyone but Marietta, who had practiced the song with him several times in the last few weeks. As they neared the end of the song, she turned toward him, smiling as she sang:

Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand

Ernie strummed the final chords and the applause this time was louder than before. As he beamed, Marietta took a moment to speak to the crowd.

"Thank you, everyone, so much," she began, taking a deep breath. "This is Ernie Macmillan, and I'm Marietta Edgecombe. I'm sure you recognised our first song, by Celestina Warbeck. The song we just finished is called Tiny Dancer; a Muggle named Elton John sang it in the 1970s. Our last song is also a Muggle hit from the 1970s. It was sung by an American duo, the Carpenters, and it's called Superstar."

Ernie strummed the first few notes, and Marietta closed her eyes, getting into the spirit of the song as she started singing.

Long ago, and, oh so far away
I fell in love with you
Before the second show
Your guitar, it sounds so sweet and clear
But you're not really here
It's just the radio

[shh_ernie]

Was all that applause for him? A large smile crossed his face. Which grew even larger when he spotted Eleanor, clapping harder than anyone else. It hadn't even dawned on him to introduce them so he was a bit surprised when Marietta did. But they were doing well, he didn't care if people knew his name.

He started playing Superstar. Marietta sounded good. Not that she hadn't during the Warbeck song, but this suited her voice much better. His mind went back to their--brief--conversation about the meaning of the lyrics and he wondered if she was thinking of anyone in particular. That'd be a shame as he thought she was a nice person. Plus he just thought that everyone should be as happy as he and Eleanor. When it was time for the chorus, he chimed in, loud and strong:

Don't you remember you told me you loved me baby?
You said you'd be coming back this way again baby.
Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby.
I love you, I really do.

When they came to the end of the song, there was a moment of silence before the applause started. Louder than it'd been for the first two songs. He grinned at the crowd and then at Marietta. Holding out a hand, he gestured to her. That last song had been hers. Completely.

[shh_marietta]

They'd done it. They'd made it through their three songs, and the crowd, though small, seemed to have loved them, or at least liked them enough so that the applause got louder after each song. Ernie grinned at the crowd, then at Marietta, and when he held out his hand and gestured to her, she grinned like the Cheshire cat, curtseying to the crowd. The she raised a hand toward Ernie, encouraging the crowd to cheer him as well. Ernie blushed but didn't run away and soon Marietta had taken his hand and they bowed together.

"Thank you!" she called out to the crowd as she and Ernie left the stage.

[shh_cedric]

Cedric didn't recognize some of the song they'd done, despite the fact he'd listened to Muggle music, although he did recognize the name Elton John. Apparently he failed at music from the 1970s.

But he was pleased that everything had gone off without a hitch, as he knew Ernie had been nervous. Not that he was really any sort of judge when it came to music. Unless something was obviously wrong, and with the rhythm, he'd never know. He gave Ernie another thumbs up before his friend left the stage, then headed off again into the crowd.

[shh_rabastan]

"I recognize him from your sweat. Ernie, wasn't it?" Rabastan smiled at Cedric. "How are you Cedric?"

"It is going well so far for a first time festival. A bit slow getting started, but I think things will pickup over the weekend. Has the museum been busy?"

[shh_cedric]

Cedric stopped at a familiar voice and turned, grinning when he saw Rabastan. "Hullo! And yes, that's Ernie MacMillan." He offered Rabastan his hand, "And I'm well, more or less. At least people aren't head-hunting me for mum's mural. Right now, I'm just mucking about, looking at stalls and listening to people. How are you? Well, I hope. And the museum is doing ... I can't say a brisk business, but that's not really what it's about. It definitely isn't a mausoleum, either."