[attr="class","PPtitle"]Prompt - Quiet or Loud + birds and/or Flowers

[attr="class","PPtext"]Pastel ran their fingers through their fiery hair a few times before pulling it up and tying it into a ponytail. They also put a fake flower in their hair, today it was a black and white one instead of the usual green-blue-ish one. They had reserved this flower for special occasions like today. Today was the big day, The Crown’s first big show. To say that they were nervous was probably a big understatement, but somewhere deep in their soul they knew everything would go right.[break][break]

After arriving at the venue for preparations, they soon saw that most of the band was already there, only Siel and B were missing.[break]
“Good afternoon,” they greeted their friends with a smile and a small wave of their hand, “how nervous are we?”[break]
“Hiya Pastel,” Dala greeted them, waving back with all four of their hands. “I’m not nervous at all, I’m sure we’re gonna do great!”[break]
“Dala,” Brandt said in a somewhat snarky voice, “didn’t you just say you couldn’t focus on anything because of your nerves for the show?”[break]
Pastel thought that if Dala would have eyes, they’d be glaring daggers at Brandt right now.[break]
“Ah, Pastel, good to see you!” Mias smiled as they walked over to them, “Aren’t you excited to finally perform for a big crowd?”[break]
“Of course I am, but...” They nervously looked around the place, “Has anyone seen Siel and B?”[break]
“Siellenor was here before, I think they went to observe the other parts of the venue a bit?” Mias answered, scratching their leafy hair with one hand. “I haven’t seen B though, but they should be here any moment. Feel free to do something to kill time while we wait for them to get here.”[break]
Pastel nodded before summoning their guitar and walking away from the group. Though before they could actually practice any of the songs that were on the setlist for today they noticed a familiar yet unexpected figure walk over to them.[break][break]

“Rain? What are you doing here?”[break]
“Aw, c’mon Pastel, you should’ve known I’d come over to wish you good luck before the first show?” The taller Fire Primordial smiled proudly at their shorter sibling. “I also got something for you.”[break]
Rain pulled a small flower from a front pocket of his vest and handed it over to Pastel. They could only guess the flower came from the Plane of Void, judging by its dark colors and tiny starry sparkles.[break]
“Aww, you really didn’t have to do this.” The gift from their sibling made Pastel feel a lot more confident all of a sudden. “Thank you! By the way, feel free to say hi to the rest of the band.” They pointed over to where their friends had previously been gathering.[break]
“Oh, the flower isn’t mine. Someone who prefers to stay anonymous asked me to give it to you.” Rain chuckled and walked over to the others before Pastel could say anything.[break]
“It’s from Kichiro, isn’t it?” They mumbled to themself.[break]
Kichiro was a close friend of Rain, and probably one of the only ones of Rain’s friends who knew who Pastel was, but why they would send them a flower was a mystery.[break]
They shrugged and finally started playing some songs on their guitar.[break][break]

After having played and practiced for what vaguely felt like eternity, Mias’ voice boomed in their head. [break]
“PASTEL! Are you ready?” Apparently the Earth Primordial had snuck up on them, because they were standing right beside Pastel right now.[break]
“Uhhhh… I think so,” they answered, “though you don’t need to yell like that.”[break]
“Alright, let’s go then.”[break]
Pastel followed Mias as they skipped towards the big stage. They seemed to be very happy and excited, and genuinely not nervous at all. Once on the stage, Pastel saw that B and Siellenor had arrived too, and that The Crown was complete once again. They also noticed that Rain seemed to have left.[break]
Right now it was still rehearsal and soundcheck time, but it was fun. Hearing B’s lovely voice combined with the various instruments of this “attempt at Folk Metal”, as Pastel liked to call it, was always a pleasure. While being one of the two primary songwriters of this band, they weren’t entirely sure if the band’s genre was actually folk metal, but others seemed to like it and that was more important stan sticking to a maybe too specific genre.[break]
Soon it would be time for the real show, and everyone in the Foundry would meet the greatness of The Crown![break][break]

The first song of the show started with Mias’ drums, lots of drums, sometimes Pastel wondered how one being with only four limbs could hit all those things at the right time. Then Dala and their magical synth would start setting a bit of a tone for this song. Soon after, Brandt would start playing their (for some reason axe-shaped) bass guitar, and Siel would play a flute-like instrument of which Pastel could never remember the name (but it sounded amazing). After those two would start, Pastel themself would be needed to help with slowly building up the song. Once B would start singing, the entire thing would be complete and the crowd would love it, Pastel just knew it.[break][break]

The show went smoothly, and Pastel’s nerves died down rather quickly after the start. The crowd wasn’t as wild or excited as they’d expected, but in the end most people seemed to have liked the show.[break]
“Onto the next show!”