Skyfire Celebration, A Year Later

"Really been a year huh?" Gaia asked quietly as he tuned his guitar.

"Guess so." Fleet was leaned against his side, looking up at the sky.

"Yeah, a year since you two walked into my life uninvited." Beryl huffed. He was sitting nearby.

Fleet rolled his eyes. "Oh just get over here and let our shared idiot do what he's good at."

"Feel like I should take offence to that." Gaia chuckled.

"Yeah well you should only take offence if it isn't true." Beryl more hesitantly pressed into Gaia's other side. "Which it is."

"It's a wonder I even stay with you two." Gaia sighed dramatically. "Now do you wanna hear what music this idiot is gonna play or not? A bunch of people have already started." All around them the Skyfire Celebration was in full swing of its nighttime activities. People were grouped up, some sharing stories while others played music. Despite everything going on it was oddly peaceful. Every noise blended nicely together, no matter how chaotic it might seem on the surface.

"Get a move on. I want to watch The Midnight Ensemble this year." Fleet pat Gaia's back.

"Hey I offered to have us go over when the thing started last year and you said no." Gaia poked Fleet in the nose.

"Yeah well this year is different." Fleet poked him back. "Now get to it."

"You heard the man." Beryl nudged Gaia. "Get at it."

"I'm in such an abusive relationship." Gaia's voice was dripping with sarcasm. He tried to keep a straight face but ended up breaking pretty fast. He snorted softly in amusement before starting to do as asked. He started to softly strum at his guitar, just some random tune at first. He let the environment guide his music. The stars twinkling above them, the hushed conversations and stories being told around them, the lingering taste of lucky treats on his tongue. As he went on he picked up the energy, something to match the energy of the games and celebrating earlier on in the night. Finally he slowly transitioned into something prewritten. Something he'd written for the two wonderful xeros that were currently sandwiching him. He could hear the two of them snort as he started to softly sing, and he swore he heard Beryl call him a sap under his breath. It didn't matter though, he knew the two were enjoying it. They were his after all. It wouldn't make sense if he couldn't read them.

After he finished he continued to strum random tunes on his guitar, just any little bits of music that came to mind. He even picked up some bits of the other music playing around them and tried to copy and change some of the tunes. It wasn't the easiest but he always enjoyed more of a challenge anyway. Plus it had the benefit of his partners enjoying it. Win win really. Eventually he stopped, letting his last note fade into the air.

"Guess that wasn't too bad." Beryl hummed. Sure he may have tried to make himself sound indifferent but Gaia knew he'd enjoyed it. The other xero wouldn't have stuck around if he hadn't.

"You're allowed to compliment things." Fleet pat Gaia's arm. "As long as it doesn't happen often enough they lose their potency."

"If I'm gonna compliment him he's really gotta earn it." Beryl huffed.

Gaia rolled his eyes, smiling. "Geeze, I really gotta put in the effort here huh? Tough crowd."

"You did well enough." Fleet, had a small smile on his face. "That's the best you're getting right now."

Gaia snorted before nuzzling Fleet. "Thanks. I'll take it." He stood up before putting his guitar back in its case. Then he turned around and offered the other two his paws. "Now, I know someone wants to go see The Midnight Ensemble. It's not time juuuust yet, but we should head over in that direction so we can find a good place to watch."

Both of the others looked at each other before shrugging and taking Gaia's offered paws. Gaia pulled the two of them to their feet before letting go and picking up his guitar case. Once it was safely on his back he gestured towards the caldera where the performance would be taking place. "Right right. Let's get a move on." Beryl started walking towards it.

"In a rush?" Gaia chuckled and grabbed Fleet's paw, leading the two of them to be next to Beryl. Once he was close enough he grabbed Beryl's paw too. 

"That's usually you." Fleet bumped his nose into Gaia's shoulder.

"You're the one who wanted to make sure we got a good place to sit." Beryl rolled his eyes.

Gaia just grinned and lead them all up to where the performance was taking place. There were a lot of people already starting to gather but Gaia spotted them a good place and dragged the others over to it. He sat them down and excitedly looked down into where the performance would be taking place. He could already see the performers getting ready. As he was focused on what was below them, his partners once more snuggled into his sides.

Finally the darkest part of the night came about and the performance started. It was mesmerizing to watch the dancers with the skyfire stones. The stones that glowed and stood out so sharply against the dark night. He did his best to follow the story, but frankly he was more moved just by the sight of it all. Part of him was rather upset they hadn't attended the performance last year. It was... so peaceful though. Even as he could feel exhaustion starting to creep in due to just how long he'd been awake at this point. It was all worth it though. Worth it spend time with his partners playing games and playing music. Worth it to witness the performance of The Midnight Ensemble. It was... quite the experience frankly and it felt so much different from last year. It was worth every moment though. He grinned to himself as he felt his partners plastered to his sides and saw the performance starting to wrap up below. Here was to another wonderful year.