The Casa Dei Portali Piano Competition in Plumblossom Town, Synchron City Part 2 (of 3)

an ai extravaganza story

Jan 31, 2024

….Continued, Part 2

This year Sophia Bianchi, a little girl who almost won last year, is coming back to play again.

Sophia had previously been afraid to perform but she was not afraid of the sasquatch or the idea of a cryptid. She was an orphan who had been raised by a nice Sasquatch family.

Here she is with her Uncle, Alessandro Bianchi.

And here is her other uncle the year he performed as a competitor. His name is Matteo Bianchi.

And finally, her sister Isabella Bianchi.

Anthony Rossi knew her from Plumblossom Town. He was looking forward to meeting her there. He was nervous. He had never done anything like this before.

He got permission to walk to the room where he would perform the night before his performance, to make sure he could find his way there, and he had an uneasy feeling that the walls and ceilings were alive. He was very intimidated.

He felt better when he found her there in the room. She explained to him that Sasquatch are very like regular people, some are nice, and some are not so nice.

He felt at ease with her.

He spent the morning with her in the library before they changed for their performances.

When it was her turn,

she played with a sensitivity no one had ever experienced from a child.

When it was his turn His music was so sweet, a bird flew in from somewhere to sing with him.

They each also changed into bespoke clothing for their improvisation performance, and they both did exceedingly well. It was a coincidence that they had the same clothing style choice, or was it just synergy? I mean, they ARE from Synchron City.

The competition hosts were hoping to make quicker work of choosing a winner this year. They had a LOT of gold bars to give away. The prize was a huge stack of gold bricks and a portal to a tropical island of your very own. They had guys taking shifts to guard it.

There were a lot of weird competition stories “floating around” about the fish day competition they had one year called the “Pesce Pianoforte Splash Competition”

FISH DAY

Yeah, that didn’t go any better than the day they incorporated the owls and birds of prey.

THIS GUY wound up getting involved with the lawsuit against the competition for not accommodating his size.

There is a canal under the mansion and that’s where the fish hang out between performances

…or they can wait in the regular waiting area.

It took an entire year to clean up after the year they invited the fish folk. Here they are in the holding area before they flood the mansion with water and let them in.

Unfortunately, they released the water while two of their nephews were in their rooms practicing. Luckily no one was hurt.

Here is a picture of the exit from the canal…

Back to today’s performances, here are some noteworthy contestants other than those you have already met.

Ethan Drake

Natalia Ivanova, our favorite vampire pianist from previous years, has come back again this year.

We had this beautiful picture of her in the library at Casa Pericolosa last year.

The year prior, she was featured in a section of Vampire Magazine called Eternal Elegance wherein she was interviewed about her experience performing for the competition.

Eternal Elegance: Vampire Magazine

“Because of her appearance in that magazine, we had quite a few vampires join us this time around.” -Judge Serenata Delfino

Rose Kowalska:

Melody Kristiansen:

Tina Novak:

Seraphina Epiphany:

Luis Greene

Maxwell, Goodtothelastdrop: (previously known as Maxwell Ravenhurst)

And of course, Zara comes every year. She is a world-famous pop star so she has no last name. Most people have not seen her in her rat form, but there is a field around the mansion, you must arrive in your “true” form and can only transform or shapeshift after you get into the main building from the waiting area.

Here she is as most people recognize her.

and this year her cousin Avery joins us.

Zara never stays after a performance. She says she doesn’t need money or fame. She just plays because she enjoys it, and then she walks away. She does draw a large crowd, her lack of caring about the results of her playing is part of her allure.

The stairs in the place can be quite intimidating

Here is Everly Winter beginning that climb.

The building can be daunting and confusing, especially if you are “juiced”. He didn’t make it to the piano room.

This little gold nugget of a kokeshi doll was so nervous and overwhelmed by the stairs, you could tell. He made it to his room but then withdrew and ran home.

Here is another one that never made it. The floor was so shiny, she was afraid to step on it, convinced that it was water. She turned around and went back home as well.

More of this year’s contestants….

Yukiko Kurogami:

Emi Harper

Adama Diallo:

Minji Park:

Julian Sinclair

Lyonel Wilson:

Obinna Mbeki:

Here is one of our previous judges taking a moment to listen to Cotton Allegro, explaining the meaning of the piece before he begins to play it. Cotton is Enoch Harewood’s son.

Aria Mei:

Darius Woodman:

Victor Grayson:

Miyako Mizuki:

Sakura Lumière:

Takeo Saito:

This little girl, Elena Noir, was here when the competition started 10 years ago.

She played so beautifully that her music lifted her up and up and up. They had to ask her to stop so she would not get sucked into the portal above that her music had opened.

And now she is back this year, Yowza.

Kwame Adewale:

Antoine Moreau:

This is an image of Teddy that someone took in town. Here he is realizing that he is supposed to be arriving at a piano competition in one hour. He was out shopping and forgot. You will never guess why.

(Hint: He prefers to think of himself as a naruko doll.)