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Description

The concept of Contests hadn't appealed to him for any moment in Rhames' life he could lucidly recall. There was just something about it which seemed to relegate the whole show and dance affair to young girls looking for stardom or young men looking for an audience, the screaming fans and the advertising all geared to several slots on E! and it just felt shallow at the end of the day.
Shallow and pointless and vain and what would a prematurely-graying single father of thirty-five have to offer such a world?

"You should!"

Zoe however had other ideas. Zoe who completely contradicted his assessment with a bright-eyed insistence and a fervent shake of the head when he'd laughed the notion off initially after they'd both spotted the pamphlet in the newspaper he was reading over Sunday breakfast.
He'd stared at her and then she'd stared back at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's not just about song and dance, dad. It's stories! You know lotsa those right?"

Stories, he knew.
Stories which were the only link he had to a faraway homeland he couldn't remember; a homeland kept alive through his mother's bedside tellings as she regaled him with the myths and legends of heroes and monsters that colored the region's cultural tapestry.
He was Galarian even if he didn't remember a thing about Galar; Galar lived in her words, in his heart, in those same words he passed down to Zoe and in the imaginations of her friends at school when she proudly told those stories to them in front of class and the world seemed all the more richer for it.

Stories he could do and so he found himself here, on the stage enduring the odd looks from the stagehands and the audience who saw a man a decade past what was considered to be Contest 'prime' dressed in weathered robes and a cloak with little flair and less fanfare and it was the furthest thing in the world from the energetic, youthful glitz and glamour of a normal Contest.

But of course, as they listened to his story of young Finn MacCumhail with himself narrating as Finnegas the druid and he motioned for the stagehands to shift the glass ceiling to change the skies from bright morn to dusk to a brilliant midnight galaxy overhead to portray the passage of time, it was clear this wasn't a normal Contest nor did it need to be.

The fog machines came to life, spreading white mist across the grassy terrain which he had Maergery help him terraform earlier for this appeal as Vendetta who had been playing the titular role as MacCumhail then took a deep breath, spreading their arms around and whether the glow from the seemingly barren tree and the still pondwater was a special effect or a product of the Gallade's Hypnosis remained hard to gage---the smirk on Vendetta's face definitely suggested the latter---but Rhames could feel the entire hall sit up straighter.

With a swish of the cape, Vendetta set to work, using Psychic to churn the surface of the pond; The Gallade waved their arms around in a graceful arc as tendrils of water swirled upwards, each movement they made looping the tendrils around in intricate knots to form a body and then finally the head of a magnificent fish; The Feebas of Knowledge.

There were gasps of wonder from the crowd and shrieks of glee from the children as Vendetta wove the fish among the crowd at ringside with several people reaching out to touch the glowing entity to see if this was truly real, followed by shouts of excitement as those curious found themselves with wet hands and wet sleeves and Rhames couldn't help but chuckle at the shift;
Where they had questioned what he and Vendetta dressed like shabby extras lost on their way to a Renaissance Faire were doing here, they were now captivated by the story he told and by the same wonder he had felt so long ago as a child hearing the tale told for the first time in the dim glow of a secondhand bedside lamp.

What he wouldn't give to see his mother's face if she could have seen this, knowing the home her stories had found on the stage where they belonged.
Rhames and Vendetta are entering a Contest for the first time, hoping to win the crowd over with story rather than glitz!

Level count, EXP Share on!

Panel 1: Rhames recieves +10Lvls! (Shaded fullbody + Detailed BG x 2)
Panel 2: Rhames receives +20lvls! (Shaded fullbody +Detailed BG + NPC bonus x 2)
Panel 3 (Framing Figures): Vendetta receives +2Lvls! (Shaded partial + Trainer Partial)
Panel 4: Vendetta recieves +7Lvls! (Shaded fullbody + Shaded Fullbody Trainer + Detailed BG)

Literature: 1Lvl to Vendetta (725 words)

Amulet Coin in use!
Monetary bonuses: 250 (Panel 1) + 250 (Panel 2) + 250 (Panel 4) + 250 (NPC Bonus) +200 (Lvl100 bonus) x 2 = 2400PD

Other appeals in this Contest:

Description

The concept of Contests hadn't appealed to him for any moment in Rhames' life he could lucidly recall. There was just something about it which seemed to relegate the whole show and dance affair to young girls looking for stardom or young men looking for an audience, the screaming fans and the advertising all geared to several slots on E! and it just felt shallow at the end of the day.
Shallow and pointless and vain and what would a prematurely-graying single father of thirty-five have to offer such a world?

"You should!"

Zoe however had other ideas. Zoe who completely contradicted his assessment with a bright-eyed insistence and a fervent shake of the head when he'd laughed the notion off initially after they'd both spotted the pamphlet in the newspaper he was reading over Sunday breakfast.
He'd stared at her and then she'd stared back at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's not just about song and dance, dad. It's stories! You know lotsa those right?"

Stories, he knew.
Stories which were the only link he had to a faraway homeland he couldn't remember; a homeland kept alive through his mother's bedside tellings as she regaled him with the myths and legends of heroes and monsters that colored the region's cultural tapestry.
He was Galarian even if he didn't remember a thing about Galar; Galar lived in her words, in his heart, in those same words he passed down to Zoe and in the imaginations of her friends at school when she proudly told those stories to them in front of class and the world seemed all the more richer for it.

Stories he could do and so he found himself here, on the stage enduring the odd looks from the stagehands and the audience who saw a man a decade past what was considered to be Contest 'prime' dressed in weathered robes and a cloak with little flair and less fanfare and it was the furthest thing in the world from the energetic, youthful glitz and glamour of a normal Contest.

But of course, as they listened to his story of young Finn MacCumhail with himself narrating as Finnegas the druid and he motioned for the stagehands to shift the glass ceiling to change the skies from bright morn to dusk to a brilliant midnight galaxy overhead to portray the passage of time, it was clear this wasn't a normal Contest nor did it need to be.

The fog machines came to life, spreading white mist across the grassy terrain which he had Maergery help him terraform earlier for this appeal as Vendetta who had been playing the titular role as MacCumhail then took a deep breath, spreading their arms around and whether the glow from the seemingly barren tree and the still pondwater was a special effect or a product of the Gallade's Hypnosis remained hard to gage---the smirk on Vendetta's face definitely suggested the latter---but Rhames could feel the entire hall sit up straighter.

With a swish of the cape, Vendetta set to work, using Psychic to churn the surface of the pond; The Gallade waved their arms around in a graceful arc as tendrils of water swirled upwards, each movement they made looping the tendrils around in intricate knots to form a body and then finally the head of a magnificent fish; The Feebas of Knowledge.

There were gasps of wonder from the crowd and shrieks of glee from the children as Vendetta wove the fish among the crowd at ringside with several people reaching out to touch the glowing entity to see if this was truly real, followed by shouts of excitement as those curious found themselves with wet hands and wet sleeves and Rhames couldn't help but chuckle at the shift;
Where they had questioned what he and Vendetta dressed like shabby extras lost on their way to a Renaissance Faire were doing here, they were now captivated by the story he told and by the same wonder he had felt so long ago as a child hearing the tale told for the first time in the dim glow of a secondhand bedside lamp.

What he wouldn't give to see his mother's face if she could have seen this, knowing the home her stories had found on the stage where they belonged.
Rhames and Vendetta are entering a Contest for the first time, hoping to win the crowd over with story rather than glitz!

Level count, EXP Share on!

Panel 1: Rhames recieves +10Lvls! (Shaded fullbody + Detailed BG x 2)
Panel 2: Rhames receives +20lvls! (Shaded fullbody +Detailed BG + NPC bonus x 2)
Panel 3 (Framing Figures): Vendetta receives +2Lvls! (Shaded partial + Trainer Partial)
Panel 4: Vendetta recieves +7Lvls! (Shaded fullbody + Shaded Fullbody Trainer + Detailed BG)

Literature: 1Lvl to Vendetta (725 words)

Amulet Coin in use!
Monetary bonuses: 250 (Panel 1) + 250 (Panel 2) + 250 (Panel 4) + 250 (NPC Bonus) +200 (Lvl100 bonus) x 2 = 2400PD

Other appeals in this Contest: