A/N: Sorry for the wait, and thank you to everyone who reviewed and faved this story. You really help keep me going!
Disclaimer: OCs are mine, but the concept, people, and locations are not (alas...)
Chapter 4: The Beginning
School was school. I tried to keep my head down, but after Disney had announced who the newest DHIs were, that was easier said than done. Kids kept trying to talk to me and I did my best to polite but it was hard. They just wanted to be my friend because I was a DHI. I didn't want to be mean, but why hadn't people been this friendly when I was just the new kid in school?
At any rate, it could have been worse. At least we didn't have film crews or news stations calling at all hours of the night or camping out at our house. Disney did a really good job of placating the media with some promise of a special interview that seemed to be enough for them. As long as it wasn't an all-exclusive one-on-one with each of us, I would be fine.
The week between the recording and the release date flashed by with almost daily calls from Disney with updates and helpful hints. One of those calls was for my mum to ask for measurements, apparently they were creating a special release outfit for me, which was fine by me –now I didn't have to try and tackle the daunting task of what I would wear to a Disney release event on my own. Other than that call, though, most were for me, talking to Charlotte about what I should do at the release event, which I appreciated. Even if the calls were a bit annoying, I preferred being prepared over dropping dead from stage fright. Sometimes, though, Joe Rohde or one of the other Imagineers would call and ask what I would do in a random situation. For example, he asked how I would find my favorite stuffed animal if I had misplaced it, or what was the last time I had laughed really hard. I mean, none of the questions were really personal nor was I prepared to answer them, so I don't know if my answers made sense, but whoever called would make a noise like what I had said was really interesting and then thank me for my time and say good bye. Other than that, life was pretty normal.
Until I woke up the day of the release event, butterflies doing a tango in my stomach, that is. I really hadn't slept the night before, so "woke up" might not have been the right word, and it was around 5:00 in the morning that my alarm sounded, because I had to get to the Animal Kingdom to do a practice run of the ceremony and get into my outfit, whatever that was going to be. At any rate, I didn't really have to dress up, or even do my hair and make-up, Disney had that completely under control. I just kinda rolled out of bed, took a shower, and grabbed something to munch on –throwing on a comfortable shirt and jeans. My parents said a bleary-eyed good-bye (they would join me at the park later) as I left the house and slipped into the limo that had come to pick me up.
At the far end of the cabin huddled the suspicious kid who had been paired with the golden eagle, he nodded sleepily and I nodded back. He huddled back into his seat and closed his eyes; clearly he wasn't much of a morning person. I hid a yawn behind my hand and slouched back into my plush limo seat too. Then again, I don't think anyone was a morning person at 5:45 in the morning. So silence reigned between us, but it was alright. For one, we were both tired, and for two, all we would have done was speculate about things we couldn't even imagine.
The limo swung us through the Disney estate, passing the exits for the other parks before pulling around to a back lot for Animal Kingdom. Two other limos were already parked there and people were slowly beginning to climb out of their vehicles, moving with a combination of tiredness and hesitation. As our car finally cruised to stop, I stared out the window, gapping at the sight of the backside of the Animal Kingdom. When we stopped, I paused for a moment, sleepy mind struggling to understand what the next step was. The other kid grunted slightly and then nodded at me, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. I nodded back at him and opened the door, scrambling out, followed by the other DHI.
The other four DHIs were already huddled a slight distance away, trying to ward off the slight morning chill and sleepiness. Wandering over to them, I sensed the other kid following a couple feet behind me. What was his name again? my tired mind wondered. Oh right. Seph.
I joined the cluster and we just all kinda stared at each other, none of us quite awake enough to start a coherent conversation. Thomas still tried, nonetheless.
"Can you guys believe it? This it," he said, looking at each us one by one, meeting our eyes. He paused as if waiting for a response. He then sighed when he got none. "This is where it begins," he finally muttered, dark eyes blinking slowly as if trying to register what he was saying.
I nodded, this was the start of a very long day, that much was true, then again, it also felt like the start of something much more. Noticing I wasn't the only one nodding, I looked around to look at the faces of the others. Kimela's face held a thoughtful expression, the corner of eyes crinkled as if expecting mischief, Claire's face was confused as if trying to figure out why she was nodding, and Matt's face was closed, a mask that conveyed no emotion. I couldn't see Seph's face, as he was behind me, but I felt him shift forward and then shift back, as if wanting to join in and then stopping himself.
"Well, glad to see you here bright and early!" greeted Joe Rohde boisterously. We all muttered greetings and Mr. Rohde beamed at us. "Don't worry, guys. We'll run through the ceremony and then you can relax while our teams work on you to get you all decked out for the event." He paused and looked us over. "So, if you don't have any questions, follow me!"
We followed Mr. Rohde backstage, working our way through a series of back buildings with cream siding, winding our way to the nearest gate into the park. We emerged a few minutes later in Dinoland USA, coming out from a gate behind the Dinosaur ride. As we moved through the silent park, dawn light slowly creeping over the surroundings, the nervous energy that had kept me awake all night bubbled up in me again. The creatures that lived in the park were just waking up, greeting the morning with their calls, but otherwise everything else was silent –no music helping to set the mood in the park, no tourists rushing to the next exciting attraction.
I sighed and smiled goofily. Mr. Rohde must have caught my expression and he shot me a quick grin. "Of all the parks, this is my favorite to visit in the morning," he murmured to me as we left the Dinoland area and crossed the bridge to Discovery Island.
Walking on in silence, I felt the tension in me rise. Everything seemed to be waiting for something. It was like that moment at the very beginning of "The Lion King" right before the sun rose. You knew it was going to happen and you knew when it did, everything would be started in motion, but for just the briefest second, everything was holding its breath before it burst into song. We made a left, heading toward the entrance of the park where we discovered a huge platform was erected.
People were already scrambling all around it, and, even though there was a flurry of activity, everything was also respectfully quiet, keeping most talking at a whisper. I picked out the other Imagineer-judges from the audition scrambling around the area, making sure the site was being put in proper order.
Charlotte spotted us as we arrived, jogging up to meet us, a clipboard in hand. "Good, you're here," she said, smiling at us. "If you'll follow me, we'll begin the rehearsal."
(Sorry, I have to cut the rehearsal out. Thomas says I don't need to go through it, it went smoothly after all. He says that we haven't even gotten to the important stuff yet. I say it's all important. And then Thomas made the very good point that if I went through every detail, our story would never be told. I suppose that's true, I can be a little too thorough sometimes. So, in the end, I'll be skipping the rehearsal, which as I said, went well, and the prep time, which I kind of slept through anyway, and go straight to the Release Event. I'm sorry if you wanted to read about –oh alright, I'll keep writing, Thomas.)
We all huddled backstage nervously. We were going to be carted in from the backstage area on the various floats that they used in the parade. Our families had joined us at some point, I don't know exactly when, I think I dozed off. At any rate I was awake now, nervously rubbing my sweaty palms over my black leggings, part of the outfit that Disney had designed for me.
On my top I wore a short white, black-spotted dress, which, without the leggings, would have made me very uncomfortable. Wearing red flats on my feet completed the outfit; my hair had been styled naturally, complimenting my face, at least according to my stylist.
Everyone else looked really good in their outfits. Kimela wore a knee-length blue dress, patches of greens and darker blues wrapping around her in an attractive way, and a zany yellow necklace around her neck. Claire wore a subdued brown, loose top with dark blue skinny jeans. Her face, however, had gorgeously applied natural-looking make-up and her hair was in glorious curls. Matt wore a sleek grey dress shirt and black pants, his hair firmly parted back –looking like he was ready to go to college. Seph wore khaki loose cargo pants with a primarily blue polo on top (though it also had a faint brown, feather-like pattern on it as well); his hair was left to fall naturally, making him look a little wild. Finally Thomas wore dark blue jeans and a yellow shirt that faded to a deep orange as it moved down his body –his hair was too short to do anything with.
My mum and dad admired my outfit as my brothers bounced around the area, meeting the siblings of the other DHIs and generally being obnoxious. I didn't mind, though mum was beginning to look a little annoyed, with all the nervous energy in the air, how else where the boys going to act? Time ticked by as we milled around, I even managed some small talk, though it was mostly with Thomas, I was too nervous to be really adventurous.
Finally, the time had arrived. The parade was to start at an earlier point in the park before swinging around to pick us up and then drop us off at the entrance where the platform was. Charlotte moved among us, making sure we were all comfortable on our float-seats, each family with their own float-bench, before signaling the gate attendant to open the door. The music of the parade grew louder as the gates swung open and the cheers of the crowd greeted us. I felt my breath catch in my throat before letting out a nervous smile. Here goes, now or never.
The parade had reached our gate and the performers danced to the beat, as we all pulled out into the Asia area, the parade filtering around us as we moved. The audience almost exploded as they saw us, cheers ringing out for the DHIs. My brothers waved, leaning over the edge of the crowd, shouting to one another. My parents were more restrained, waving politely and smiling. I just beamed, the fear that swirled around me banished by the joy I felt. It was like the audition all over again, I was completely calm and actually enjoying myself. The music pulsed through the park as we cruised along; I waved a little, swaying to the music.
Before, it seemed, I had a chance to blink, we were there. The floats slowed to a stop again, allowing the DHIs and our families to get off. Here was the part I dreaded a little bit, I squeezed my dad's hand before my family left me and I walked up to the stage, joining the other DHIs on the stage. My palms were sweaty again and I couldn't swallow, being with my family was fun, being on stage in front of hundreds of people, not so much.
We were all lined up on the stage: Thomas, Claire, Matt, Kimela, Seph, and me. I felt Seph shiver slightly next to me, I glanced at him, though his smooth face didn't show it, he was nervous too. I carefully bumped his side; he looked at me and nodded a faint smile flashing across his face before he sighed and looked out to the audience, confident. I leaned a little farther forward to glance down to the other end of the line and Thomas gave me a brief nod, before we both looked to the podium in front of us where John Lasseter stood, flanked by Tony Baxter, Joe Rohde, and Kathy Rodgers—it was the judges from the audition.
"Welcome to the unveiling of the Animal Kingdom DHIs!" he yelled to the crowd, who, already talking excitedly, let out a below that shook some birds out of the nearby trees. He waited from them to quiet slightly before he continued. "The DHIs of Magic Kingdom was the idea of the brains over at Imagineering Department, so I feel it is only fair that Joe introduce these guys to you."
The crowd cheered again as John Lasseter and Joe Rohde shook hands and traded places. "About half a year ago," began Joe, voice high with excitement, "we introduced the DHIs to Magic Kingdom. The technology in those tour guides was stuff that had never been seen before. They went off without a hitch and have become a great asset to the Walt Disney World experience. After that, of course, we had to make it better!" The crowd whooped again as Joe paused for breath. "We have completely revamped to technology for the Animal Kingdom, making the DHIs more life-like and more able to interact with the guests. So," he paused again and smiled, "without further ado, time to meet the new DHIs!"
The crowd whooped and Thomas stepped forward, separating himself from our line. "Because Animal Kingdom is our most massive, complex park to date, each DHI will be assigned a certain area," Joe told the crowd before gesturing to Thomas. "This is Thomas Maru and he provided the voice for Hamza, the DHI for Africa!"
The crowd to the left surged and parted, a couple screams echoed out as a lion suddenly burst from their midst and leapt to the stage. Thomas just beamed at the lion as it settled beside him. The crowd stood in silence for a second before burst into thunderous applause. There had been rumors on the Internet, of course, but seeing the finalized DHI lion was more than could be believed. "Actual" animals for Animal Kingdom!
Thomas stepped back as the crowd continued to roar, cameras flashing, the lion moving with him. Claire stepped forward, beaming grandly as she watched the crowd move, trying to guess what the next host would be. "Next is Claire Gevry," said Joe, speaking over the crowd, "she provided the voice for Eshana, the host for Asia!"
The aisle to the left that was still cleared from the parade gasped as a deer came trotting down it, looking curiously from side to side. "Eshana is an axis deer native to the Asian continent ," added Joe helpfully. Not a white-tailed deer, I corrected myself nervously, frantic mind trying not to get stage fright. Eshana made her way to the stage, standing next to Claire and nuzzling her shirt. The crowd let out an "aww", furiously texting, murmuring about the deer's cuteness as the Claire and the DHI returned to their spot.
Matt stepped forward and Joe chuckled good-naturedly, waving for quiet. The crowd hushed quickly, eager to see the next host. "This is Matt Song, the voice for the DHI of Dinoland, Aldan!"
Over to the right, the crowd backed away as the great lumbering form of the iguanodon dinosaur passed by. They stood in awe as the dinosaur moved, some reaching out to try and brush the creature as he walked passed. Matt stood proud; he would be the only one who couldn't be joined by his DHI, even though it was only light, it would still fill up the whole stage, and nodded to his DHI. The crowd watched the display before breaking into cheers again, video cameras rolling.
Stepping back to his spot, Matt gave a small smile and Kimela stepped up to take his place. The audience knew the drill by now and quieted down once they saw the next voice actor move, quietly guessing among themselves about what animal the next host would be. "Now I give you Kimela Pang, she is the voice actor for Nalu."
Little kids started pointing and laughing as the small form (well, anything was small after Aldan) slipped and floated above their heads. The brightly colored fish floated and swayed as if in the ocean, swimming above the heads of the audience before seeming to notice Kimela and powering toward her. The brightly colored, Pixarfied "humu-humu" fish wove around the girl as Kimela giggled and spun as well, making the crowd cheer and whistle, more cameras flashing. "Nalu will be the special behind-the-scenes tour guide for 'Finding Nemo: the Musical'," Joe explained causing the audience to buzz some more, pondering the idea of seeing the backstage of the theater.
Seeming to float back with her DHI, Kimela resumed her spot and Seph stepped forward, allowing a small smile to creep across his face. That smile, as small as it was, managed to brighten his whole expression, making him look like he was enjoying himself instead of slightly paranoid. "This is Joseph Atwell," continued Joe over the crowd's quiet buzz, "and he provided the voice for Wanbli!"
Seph raised his arm, holding it crooked before him and he looked up to the sky. The crowd looked up as well, following where the teen was looking and gasps rang out at the creature that soared over their heads. The golden eagle came in low, deep gold feathers that darkened to red reflecting in the sunlight, piercing eyes scanning the crowd as if looking for its meal, before its eyes settled on Seph and landed on his arm gracefully. Seph beamed at the bird as Joe continued, "Wanbli will be the DHI for Rafiki's Planet Watch."
Returning to his spot, Seph kept the bird on his arm as I felt like my stomach dropped out of my toes. At least I didn't have to give a speech. Stepping up despite feeling like I was going to faint, I tried to smile as Joe beamed at me. "And, last but not least, we have Emma Lewis who provided the voice for Leala, the tour guide for Camp Mickey-Minnie!"
The crowd knew the drill, looking everywhere and anywhere for the final DHI. I held my breath, trying to keep my smile on my face, trying not to let on what was happening. Suddenly a sound began to grow from Discovery Island. Those that stood on the edge of the parade route in that area were cheering madly. People called to each other, trying to figure out what was coming, craning their necks. The noise grew louder and louder as more people caught on or saw what it was. Down the center aisle came the Big Mouse himself, Mickey Mouse, arm in arm with his wife and holding the leash of a very excited Dalmatian. Leala bounded by their side, at one point trying to get the attention of the couple, at another point trying to smell something in the crowd. At this point, I really was smiling as the two mice made it up the stairs to the stage before passing Leala's leash to me. I nodded a thank you before kneeling by my dog and giving her a hug.
The crowd bellowed—you think they would have lost their voices by now—completely losing their heads. Cameras snapped and cell phones beeped, this would be on YouTube in seconds. Joe smiled, shaking hands with Mickey who gave a thumbs up before turning to wink at us DHIs. "Thank you for coming here today to meet our new DHIs!" he called to the crowd, not even bothering waiting for quiet anymore. "Have a magical day at Animal Kingdom!"
We all waved, standing by our DHIs which roared, crowed, or barked according to their nature. I just stood stunned. Had a really seen Mickey wink at me? I knew they had a new Mickey costume that would make Mickey talk and blink, but I also knew the one before me wasn't it. Was I hallucinating? Dreaming? Disney magic?
"Did you—?" asked Seph, the only one in hearing distant with the crowd yelling so loud.
"Did Mickey just—?" he asked in turn. I shook my head, confused, awed by that little gesture more than anything else I had seen today.
"Em, don't look so confused!" yelled my brother James from beside me, apparently they had let the families on stage after the ceremony was done. Startling me, I just laughed as Leala danced around my family, trying to meet each one of them.
The rest of the day passed by in a rush with autograph signings and following the tours given by our DHIs. We then went to a special media only press conference where the creators talked about the DHIs and we answered some quick, easy questions. After what I had just been through, I didn't have time to be nervous about anything and I just sailed along. It seemed I didn't even have time to catch my breath before I was back home again at the end of the day, completely exhausted but also happy.
Tomorrow, my life would be back to normal, I realized as I lay in bed. I would be famous for being a voice actor, true, but that would wear off, and maybe I could see Thomas, Seph and the others from time to time. Little did I know I would see them sooner than I expected. Well, sort of.
A/N: I know, I didn't give a DHI for Discovery Island, but who would really want to follow a giant ant tour guide? Anyway, this is where the plot kicks off! Did you love it? Hate it? Feel kind of meh about it...I don't care! Just review it =]