December Spotlight Series – Christmas Karaoke Party – Part 2
Welcome back! In this scenelette, Zabby runs into an old friend she met at a MetaSpace Halloween party several years ago. If you want to see how that went down, you can take a look here.
Intros and Reunions
Roll Call: Zabby, Nallain, Denise, and Derryl
Song: Step Into Christmas
Scenelette Type: Meta
Zabby held the ornament up and eye level. It was a clear ball filled with white and blue glitter. A silver ribbon was tied in a neat bow at the top, and the name of the song was written in pink glitter puff paint. “Step Into Christmas.”
She knew the song. Really liked it, in fact. Whether or not she’d be able to sing it in front of a crowd was another story, but one worry at a time. She still had to find the rest of her group.
She passed Willow and they shared a quick smile. Even though she knew she wouldn’t be in any songs with him or Bethany or anyone else from her book, it was comforting to have them around. And it was validating that Willow looked as nervous about this as she did.
She spotted a wink of blue glitter from across the room, being held by a woman she didn’t recognize. The woman was tall, cheerful, and probably a little older than Zabby.
As Zabby made her way over to introduce herself, the woman spotted her (or, more specifically, her ornament) and immediately thrust her own glittery orb into the air, waving it wildly like a beacon.
Okay, outgoing, then. That could be a good thing, actually. Maybe that meant Zabby could get away with just singing backup.
“Hi!” The woman greeted as soon as Zabby was close enough to hear her. “Are you ‘Step into Christmas?’”
Zabby found herself smiling, just because that was such an odd way to begin a conversation.
“That’s me I guess,” she said, holding up her matching ornament. “My name’s Zabby.”
“Great. I’m Nallain. And this is actually one of my favorite songs, so I’m really excited.”
“Yeah, I like it too,” Zabby said, getting a very good and positive feeling from her new partner in a way that set her at ease. Sometimes hanging out with extroverts was so nice.
“So, do you think it’s just us, or others?” Zabby asked, looking around the room.
“I’m thinking there are others,” Nallain said. “Four, probably. Unless my ‘dots’ theory is off.” Without making Zabby ask for an explanation, Nallain pointed to the ornaments, where under the title of the song were four dots. Zabby had assumed them to be decorative, but…
“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense,” she said.
“That’s what Kaeya and I were thinking, anyway,” Nallain said. “There’s a lot of dots on the Santa, and I think everyone got one of those. Which should be interesting.”
Zabby nodded. She wasn’t familiar with the Christmas Can Can, but a large crowd like that meant she probably would have to do very little. It also meant that with so many people on the stage, there would be fewer in the crowd to watch them, and that appealed to her. She wasn’t deathly afraid of being on a stage, but it also wasn’t something she’d ever actively sought out.
“Oh, look!” Nallain said, pointing out to the other side of the room. “There they are. Hey guys!” She waved her ornament in the air to get their attention.
Zabby mentally prepared herself for another round of introductions, but when she looked up, she realized that wasn’t completely necessary. “Derryl!” She said, and was relieved enough that she could have hugged the man, except that he didn’t like hugs very much.
Derryl was a doctor from a different story, and they had met during one of the MetaSpace’s Halloween parties. They’d talked for a while about medicine, and she occasionally attended a cross-book medical study group with him. It was nice knowing that the group wouldn’t be completely comprised of strangers.
Derryl had already found the fourth member of their group, and the two of them came over together. When he saw Zabby, he waved and then typed out a quick text, Nice to see you again.
“Yeah, you too,” she said. As much as she wanted to catch up with him, though, she didn’t want to be rude to their fourth member, so she introduced herself to the other girl. “Hi, I’m Zabby.”
“Denise,” she answered, and they shook hands. All other possible introductions were made, hands were shaken, and Derryl completed the obligatory task of explaining to the other two women that he was mute, he could hear fine, and he’d be communicating with them via text. Zabby had to imagine he got tired of having to explain that to every single person he met.
She’d actually been practicing sign language recently with him in mind, but decided to wait to show him until later. For now, the group started comparing schedules for their first official meeting.
Next up – Nope. – Nallain and Onrey aren’t in a song together, but that doesn’t stop the kid from hiding out in Nallain’s house when his first meeting took a bad turn.
December Giveaway!
At the end of December, I’ll be giving these three bookish ornaments to one lucky person! I made these beauties out of upcycled novels (Left – Pride and Prejudice, Middle and Right – Sherlock Holmes)
To enter, just comment on any of my blog posts for the month of December! And, if you really want to increase your chances, you can also comment on the pinned post on my Facebook Page.
Last day to enter is December 30th. Winner will be announced on December 31st. Good Luck!